3rd November Trinity 2007, Increase the Light

3^rd November Trinity

Revelation 7: 9-17

Next I looked and saw a great crowd beyond anyone’s power to count, from every nation and all races and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb draped in garments of white and with palm branches in their hands, and they shout with a great voice saying,  “Healing and help [salvation] to our God who sits on the throne and through the Lamb.”

And all the angels were standing in a ring around the throne and the elders and the four living beings, and they fell down in front of the throne upon their faces and adored God saying,

Yea, so be it. Amen. [To our God be blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength for an age of ages. Amen.”]

All the blessing power of the Word, that creating permeates the world, all the revealing might of the spirit, that enlightens the senses appearance, all the light of wisdom that leads us to true knowledge, the secret of transformation which gives worth to all being, that brings the world forward, and all the strength and power of the spirit –they belong to our God from aeon to aeon. Yea, so be it, Amen.

And one of the elders spoke up, asking me: “These people draped in garments of white, who are they and where did they come from?”

And I said to him, “Good sir, you yourself know.”

And he said to me:

These are the ones just come from the great Suffering. They washed their garments clean, and made them shining white in the blood of the Lamb.

That is why they can stand here before the throne of God

And serve him day and night in his temple.

The One who sits on the throne shall settle down upon them [dwell upon them].

They shall not hunger ever again, nor thirst again;

The sun shall not bear down too hard upon them, nor anything burn them,

Because the Lamb, in the midst of the throne, will be their shepherd

And guide them to the springs of the water of life,

And God will wipe away each teardrop from  their eyes.

3^rd Sunday November Trinity

Durer

November 11, 2007

Revelation 7: 9-17

  

This wonderful image: a Being of Light and sacrificial Love on a great throne; the four living beings of space, the twenty-four elders of time; and all the angels, all of them prostrate in a ring around the source of light and love. In the humility of their great power, they are sending toward Him a counter-offering: all their own praise and radiance, their wisdom and gratitude, their honor and strength, thereby strengthening His light, His love, His healing work.

And with them are the countless purified human beings who have died. They are standing upright, themselves radiant Selves clad in white, raising their own voices in praise and in the recognition that all help and healing comes from the Son on the Father’s throne. In their very understanding and praise of this, they are sending their own strengthening forces toward the Lamb and the Spirit God, who is the light radiating from the throne. Those purified, living across the threshold are helping increase the light in the spiritual world, to strengthen it, so that it shines even into the earthly realm. This is their task, and ultimately also ours.

Earth has become a place of spiritual darkness, of suffering and pain. But we, both those living on earth and those living in the heavens, are led by the Lamb who is also the Shepherd. He leads us through the suffering, to the living wellspring, the shining waters of life, where all suffering and grief is transformed into joy, into light and living love.

Let us join the ones in white in singing our praise of the Lamb. Let us offer Him the joy and strength of our grateful awareness of his healing of mankind. Let us help Him increase the light, the life and the love shining into the world through our offering of our noblest thoughts, our heart’s love, our active devotion.

3rd November Trinity 2008, Pray

3^rd Nov. Trinity

Revelation 14, 1-20       

And I looked, and there was the picture of the Lamb, standing atop Mt. Zion and with him one hundred forty four thousand having his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

           

And I listened and heard a voice from the heavens, a voice like a mighty rush of waters, and like a mighty thunderclap—the voice I heard was like the voices of harpists playing on their harps.

And they all sing a new song, there in front of the throne and in front of the four creatures and the elders, and no one could learn the song but the one hundred forty-four thousand ransomed from the earth. These are the ones who did not defile themselves by the straying, through which the spiritual in man is betrayed; they have remained virginal [pure] in their inmost being and follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were ransomed as the seed of a new humanity which belongs to the Father God and to the Lamb. Deceit and lies are not found in their mouths; pure and unblemished are they in their innermost being.

And I looked and saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, bringing the good news which is good news forever to those live on earth—to every race and nation and every tongue and folk. And the angel cried out with a great voice, saying:

“Stand in awe of God and turn to honor him. For we have come to the hour of his divine decision. Raise yourself in prayer to him who in truth created the heavens and the earth and the sea and all the springs of water.”  

And a second angel followed, who said, “Fallen, fallen is the great city of Babylon, who made all nations drink of the wine of her sacrilege, in order to draw the holy into misuse.”

And a third angel followed them, who cried out with a powerful voice: “Whoever adores the beast and its likeness, and accepts its stamp on forehead or hand, he will drink of the wine of God’s anger, thick and strong and undiluted, from the cup of his wrath. And in the presence of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb shall anger be transformed into pain like the pain of fire and sulphur.

Their suffering rises and darkens the encirling air like smoke through the cycles of time. And day and night those who made the beast into their god, who honored its picture as the highest, who took its being into their innermost being, find no peace. In this place however there works the power of the steadfast endurance of those who have taken the healing power of the Spirit into themselves, who have fulfilled the goals of the Spirit, and who have worked trusting in Jesus’ healing deed.

And I heard a voice out of the worlds of Spirit which said, “Write this down: People of heaven are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit, let them rest from their efforts and labours, since their good deeds, the fruits of their lives, are not lost along their paths of soul, but have preceeded them here.

And I looked, and suddenly I saw in the spirit a white cloud, and seated upon the cloud the figure of a son of humanity, with a golden crown upon his head and a sharpened sickle.

And another angel stepped forth from the temple crying in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud:

“Let your sickle go forth and harvest, for the hour of harvest has come; ripe and dry and firm are the crops of the earth.”

And the one seated on the cloud threw his sickle down upon the events on earth, and the earth’s crop was harvested.

And again another angel came out of the temple in the heavens; and he too held a sharpened sickle. And a further angel came out who tended the fire at the altar. He cried out with a mighty voice to him who held the sharpened sickle and said, “Let your sickle go forth and harvest the grapevines of the earth, for their grapes have reached their prime.”

So the angel threw his sickle down to the events on earth; and he harvested the earth’s vineyard, and threw the grapes into the great winepress of God’s anger. And they took the winepress outside the city and trampled the grapes. Blood flowed from the winepress that reached to the muzzles of the horses for sixteen hundred miles around.

3^rd November Trinity

November 16, 2008

Revelation 14: 1-20

From myth we know the centaur. From the waist up, it is a human being. The lower half is a horse. The most famous of these creatures was a great healer, for its animal instincts contained great wisdom. But its animal nature also harbored great aggression and destructiveness.

The centaur is a picture for the composition of the human being. Our physical nature is like the horse, with all its instinctual wisdom as well as its aggression. Our eternal spirit, our true humanness, is wedded on earth to our animal nature. Our self-awareness rises above our animal nature. Our truly human self is meant to guide and direct our animal nature, and ultimately to transform it.

Arild Rosenkrantz

It is humanity’s task gradually, over lifetimes, to make ourselves fully human, to transform the beast in us into something more akin to an angel.

Today’s gospel reading from the middle of the revelation to John shows a future division of humanity into those who have achieved this transformation, and those who have not. There is the great crowd in white, standing before God’s throne. They have remained true to developing their pure human core. They have taken the image and activity of the Son of Man into themselves, the activity of the Divine Human Being. What is inside them shines out of their countenance. Therefore they have the name of the Lamb and of the Father written on their foreheads. They have become the seed of a new phase of human existence. They sing a new song. What they have achieved, the development of their true humanity, will carry over into a new spiritualized world.

What is ripe is harvested. What is no longer of use is destroyed. One day, humanity’s inner ripeness will be tested. Those who have transformed their animal nature into something higher, who have matured their true humanity, will enter the company of the angels. Those who have failed to master their beastly nature, who wear the mark of the beast on their foreheads, will have to suffer the purifying fire. For the beast in us must be overcome.

Through Christ, the Light of the world, we can achieve this transformation. He is our bridge to our true humanity. Connecting with Him, conversing with Him, is the Way.  A medieval mystic says:

No one can be saved

Arild Rosenkrantz

without divine light.

Divine light causes us

to begin and thereafter

enables our progress

as it leads us

to the summit of perfection.

Therefore, if you desire

to begin

and would receive

this divine light, pray.

If you have begun to make

some little progress

and would see this light

intensified within you, pray.

And if you have reached

the summit of perfection,

and desire to be super-illumined

so as to remain in that state, pray.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] Blessed Angela of Foligno (1248 – 1309), “Divine Light”, in Love’s Immensity, Mystics on the Endless Life, Scott Cairns, p. 87

3rd November Trinity 2009, Too Small

3^rd November Trinity

Revelation 7: 9-17

Next I looked and saw a great crowd beyond anyone’s power to count, from every nation and all races and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb draped in garments of white and with palm branches in their hands, and they shout with a great voice saying,  “Healing and help [salvation] to our God who sits on the throne and through the Lamb.”

And all the angels were standing in a ring around the throne and the elders and the four living beings, and they fell down in front of the throne upon their faces and adored God saying,

Yea, so be it. Amen. [To our God be blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength for an age of ages. Amen.”]

All the blessing power of the Word, that creating permeates the world, all the revealing might of the spirit, that enlightens the senses appearance, all the light of wisdom that leads us to true knowledge, the secret of transformation which gives worth to all being, that brings the world forward, and all the strength and power of the spirit –they belong to our God from aeon to aeon. Yea, so be it, Amen.

And one of the elders spoke up, asking me: “These people draped in garments of white, who are they and where did they come from?”

And I said to him, “Good sir, you yourself know.”

And he said to me:

These are the ones just come from the great Suffering. They washed their garments clean, and made them shining white in the blood of the Lamb.

That is why they can stand here before the throne of God

And serve him day and night in his temple.

The One who sits on the throne shall settle down upon them [dwell upon them].

They shall not hunger ever again, nor thirst again;

The sun shall not bear down too hard upon them, nor anything burn them,

Because the Lamb, in the midst of the throne, will be their shepherd

And guide them to the springs of the water of life,

And God will wipe away each teardrop from  their eyes.

3^rd November Trinity

November 15, 2009

Revelation 7: 9-17

When a child gets hurt, the grownup naturally responds with empathy. He or she holds the child, rocks it, soothes it. The adult feels the child’s pain, and accompanies the child’s suffering.

One of the central issues of human lives is the question of suffering. Why does it exist? What is its purpose and meaning? This is the question raised by the ancient story of Job. As Job’s story begins, he is a wealthy and prosperous man. He loses everything.

Today’s reading suggests one answer: to suffer is to cleanse, to strip away that which prevents us from seeing God. We have sunk so deeply into earthly matter, into earthly matters. The way of being that allows us to operate well in the earthly sphere closes the door to our perception of God. We have shrunk to being mere humans on earth. We are no longer aware of ourselves as a spirit among spirits. We have lost our perception of God. In order to perceive Him, and our relationship to Him, we need to be cleansed of our materialism. And such cleansing is accompanied by suffering.

It seems unfair in a way that God so made the world that his creatures must

Ghent Altarpiece

suffer on their way to Him. But the reading also presents our seeing with an important picture. It is the image of God as the Lamb. The Lamb, too, has suffered. This is God the Son, who here, today is with and within every human being; who continues to suffer alongside, inside all who suffer. He offers us His own blood to cleanse earthly matter. He leads us through our process of cleansing and suffering, through all our greater and smaller deaths. He brings us to the wellspring of the waters of ever renewing eternal life. He wipes away our tears as we undergo our own cleansing, our own process of transformation. If we listen we can hear, inside, His words in the words of the poet:

When your vision has gone

no part of the world can find you.

… Time to go into the dark….

There you can be sure

you are not beyond love….

You must learn one thing:

…Give up all the other worlds

except the one to which you belong.

Learn [that]…anything or anyone

that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] David Whyte, “Sweet Darkness” in House of Belonging

3rd November Trinity 2010, Standing Bare

3^rd Nov. Trinity

Revelation 14, 1-20

       

And I looked, and there was the picture of the Lamb, standing atop Mt. Zion and with him one hundred forty four thousand having his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

           

And I listened and heard a voice from the heavens, a voice like a mighty rush of waters, and like a mighty thunderclap—the voice I heard was like the voices of harpists playing on their harps.

And they all sing a new song, there in front of the throne and in front of the four creatures and the elders, and no one could learn the song but the one hundred forty-four thousand ransomed from the earth. These are the ones who did not defile themselves by the straying, through which the spiritual in man is betrayed; they have remained virginal [pure] in their inmost being and follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were ransomed as the seed of a new humanity which belongs to the Father God and to the Lamb. Deceit and lies are not found in their mouths; pure and unblemished are they in their innermost being.

And I looked and saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, bringing the good news which is good news forever to those live on earth—to every race and nation and every tongue and folk. And the angel cried out with a great voice, saying:

“Stand in awe of God and turn to honor him. For we have come to the hour of his divine decision. Raise yourself in prayer to him who in truth created the heavens and the earth and the sea and all the springs of water.”  

And a second angel followed, who said, “Fallen, fallen is the great city of Babylon, who made all nations drink of the wine of her sacrilege, in order to draw the holy into misuse.”

And a third angel followed them, who cried out with a powerful voice: “Whoever adores the beast and its likeness, and accepts its stamp on forehead or hand, he will drink of the wine of God’s anger, thick and strong and undiluted, from the cup of his wrath. And in the presence of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb shall anger be transformed into pain like the pain of fire and sulphur.

Their suffering rises and darkens the encirling air like smoke through the cycles of time. And day and night those who made the beast into their god, who honored its picture as the highest, who took its being into their innermost being, find no peace. In this place however there works the power of the steadfast endurance of those who have taken the healing power of the Spirit into themselves, who have fulfilled the goals of the Spirit, and who have worked trusting in Jesus’ healing deed.

And I heard a voice out of the worlds of Spirit which said, “Write this down: People of heaven are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit, let them rest from their efforts and labours, since their good deeds, the fruits of their lives, are not lost along their paths of soul, but have preceeded them here.

And I looked, and suddenly I saw in the spirit a white cloud, and seated upon the cloud the figure of a son of humanity, with a golden crown upon his head and a sharpened sickle. And another angel stepped forth from the temple crying in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud:

“Let your sickle go forth and harvest, for the hour of harvest has come; ripe and dry and firm are the crops of the earth.”

And the one seated on the cloud threw his sickle down upon the events on earth, and the earth’s crop was harvested.

And again another angel came out of the temple in the heavens; and he too held a sharpened sickle. And a further angel came out who tended the fire at the altar. He cried out with a mighty voice to him who held the sharpened sickle and said, “Let your sickle go forth and harvest the grapevines of the earth, for their grapes have reached their prime.”

So the angel threw his sickle down to the events on earth; and he harvested the earth’s vineyard, and threw the grapes into the great winepress of God’s anger. And they took the winepress outside the city and trampled the grapes. Blood flowed from the winepress that reached to the muzzles of the horses for sixteen hundred miles around.

3^rd November Trinity

November 14, 2010

Revelation 14: 1-20

“Stand in awe of God and honor him. For we have come to the hour of his divine decision. Raise yourself in prayer to him who in truth created the heavens and the earth….’ Revelations 14:7

---

This year’s leaves are falling from the trees. They have finished their work of drinking sunlight, and so the tree lets them go. But just where the old leaf attached to the branch the tree has already formed the buds of next year’s leaves. The tree will remain standing bare, over-wintering, yet already equipped to be able to drink in the light of the future.

Our lives, too, have had their old leaves, long since left behind. Even our bodies have let go of old forms—infancy, childhood, youth, maturity—all give way. But the buds, the seed of the next phase are already laid down.

When the body itself falls away, we will find that we have already formed the buds for the next life. The reading hints at this: ‘Stand in awe of God and turn to honor him….Raise yourself in prayer….’ Rev. 14:7

Our prayers of praise and honor, our prayers of thanksgiving, form the buds for our future life after life. Praise and thanksgiving are the buds for a new humanity. Those who praise and give thanks in the purity of their inmost heart ‘…have been brought out of mankind to become the foundation of a new humanity, which belongs to God and to the Lamb. Rev. 14:4

And so we pray:

Master of beauty, craftsman of the snowflake,

inimitable contriver,

endower of Earth so gorgeous…

thank you for such as it is my gift.

I have made up a morning prayer to you

containing with precision everything that most matters.

'According to Thy will' the thing begins….

I only as far as gratitude & awe

confidently & absolutely go.

…Whatever your end may be, accept my amazement.

May I stand until death forever at attention

for any your least instruction or enlightenment.

I even feel sure you will assist me again, Master of insight & beauty.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

[1] John Berryman, “Eleven Addresses to the Lord” in Collected Poems

3rd November Trinity 2011, Depth of Soul

3^rd November Trinity

Revelation 7: 9-17

Next I looked and saw a great crowd beyond anyone’s power to count, from every nation and all races and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb draped in garments of white and with palm branches in their hands, and they shout with a great voice saying,  “Healing and help [salvation] to our God who sits on the throne and through the Lamb.”

And all the angels were standing in a ring around the throne and the elders and the four living beings, and they fell down in front of the throne upon their faces and adored God saying,

Yea, so be it. Amen. [To our God be blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength for an age of ages. Amen.”]

All the blessing power of the Word, that creating permeates the world, all the revealing might of the spirit, that enlightens the senses appearance, all the light of wisdom that leads us to true knowledge, the secret of transformation which gives worth to all being, that brings the world forward, and all the strength and power of the spirit –they belong to our God from aeon to aeon. Yea, so be it, Amen.

And one of the elders spoke up, asking me: “These people draped in garments of white, who are they and where did they come from?”

And I said to him, “Good sir, you yourself know.”

And he said to me:

These are the ones just come from the great Suffering. They washed their garments clean, and made them shining white in the blood of the Lamb.

That is why they can stand here before the throne of God

And serve him day and night in his temple.

The One who sits on the throne shall settle down upon them [dwell upon them].

They shall not hunger ever again, nor thirst again;

The sun shall not bear down too hard upon them, nor anything burn them,

Because the Lamb, in the midst of the throne, will be their shepherd

And guide them to the springs of the water of life,

And God will wipe away each teardrop from  their eyes.

3^rd November Trinity

Durer

November 13, 2011

Revelation 7: 9-17

Once again the gospel reading speaks of those in white garments, this time around the throne of God. One of the twenty-four elders points to their significance by asking, ‘Who are they? Where did they come from?’

And the answer is, not a place, but an activity.

Those draped in white garments are those who have traversed the land of suffering, and who, through endurance, have become strong and patient. Their soul garments have been purified, washed clean in the sacrificial; capacity of the blood of God’s Lamb, the Christ. They have been purified because they accepted the suffering as a necessary part of the destiny of humanity. They took it on, but did not give up hope of eventual release. They could do so because they knew that despite everything, they are loved—loved by family and friends, loved most intimately by their guardian angels, loved with great mercy and understanding by God and His Son, the Human God.

Their suffering has given them not only purity of soul, but also depth and breadth of soul. They will be compensated for what they have endured. At the same time, one of the compensations is that their souls have become clean and shining containers for God’s light; pure vessels for the living water, tempered containers for the radiant warmth of God’s love.

“These are the ones just come from the great Suffering. They washed their garments clean, and made them shining white in the blood of the Lamb.

That is why they can stand here before the throne of God

And serve him day and night in his temple.

…

They shall not hunger ever again, nor thirst again;

…nor anything burn them,

Because the Lamb… will…

guide them to the springs of the water of life,

And God will wipe away each teardrop from their eyes.” Rev. 7:14-17

---

www.thechristiancommunity.org

3rd November Trinity 2012, Angel of Hope

3^rd Nov. Trinity

Revelation 14, 1-20 

      

And I looked, and there was the picture of the Lamb, standing atop Mt. Zion and with him one hundred forty four thousand having his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

           

And I listened and heard a voice from the heavens, a voice like a mighty rush of waters, and like a mighty thunderclap—the voice I heard was like the voices of harpists playing on their harps.

And they all sing a new song, there in front of the throne and in front of the four creatures and the elders, and no one could learn the song but the one hundred forty-four thousand ransomed from the earth. These are the ones who did not defile themselves by the straying, through which the spiritual in man is betrayed; they have remained virginal [pure] in their inmost being and follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were ransomed as the seed of a new humanity which belongs to the Father God and to the Lamb. Deceit and lies are not found in their mouths; pure and unblemished are they in their innermost being.

And I looked and saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, bringing the good news which is good news forever to those live on earth—to every race and nation and every tongue and folk. And the angel cried out with a great voice, saying:

“Stand in awe of God and turn to honor him. For we have come to the hour of his divine decision. Raise yourself in prayer to him who in truth created the heavens and the earth and the sea and all the springs of water.”  

And a second angel followed, who said, “Fallen, fallen is the great city of Babylon, who made all nations drink of the wine of her sacrilege, in order to draw the holy into misuse.”

And a third angel followed them, who cried out with a powerful voice: “Whoever adores the beast and its likeness, and accepts its stamp on forehead or hand, he will drink of the wine of God’s anger, thick and strong and undiluted, from the cup of his wrath. And in the presence of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb shall anger be transformed into pain like the pain of fire and sulphur.

Their suffering rises and darkens the encirling air like smoke through the cycles of time. And day and night those who made the beast into their god, who honored its picture as the highest, who took its being into their innermost being, find no peace. In this place however there works the power of the steadfast endurance of those who have taken the healing power of the Spirit into themselves, who have fulfilled the goals of the Spirit, and who have worked trusting in Jesus’ healing deed.

And I heard a voice out of the worlds of Spirit which said, “Write this down: People of heaven are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit, let them rest from their efforts and labours, since their good deeds, the fruits of their lives, are not lost along their paths of soul, but have preceeded them here.

And I looked, and suddenly I saw in the spirit a white cloud, and seated upon the cloud the figure of a son of humanity, with a golden crown upon his head and a sharpened sickle. And another angel stepped forth from the temple crying in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud:

“Let your sickle go forth and harvest, for the hour of harvest has come; ripe and dry and firm are the crops of the earth.”

And the one seated on the cloud threw his sickle down upon the events on earth, and the earth’s crop was harvested.

And again another angel came out of the temple in the heavens; and he too held a sharpened sickle. And a further angel came out who tended the fire at the altar. He cried out with a mighty voice to him who held the sharpened sickle and said, “Let your sickle go forth and harvest the grapevines of the earth, for their grapes have reached their prime.”

So the angel threw his sickle down to the events on earth; and he harvested the earth’s vineyard, and threw the grapes into the great winepress of God’s anger. And they took the winepress outside the city and trampled the grapes. Blood flowed from the winepress that reached to the muzzles of the horses for sixteen hundred miles around.

3^rd November Trinity

November 11, 2012

Revelation 7: 9-17

To arrive on earth is to be exposed to pain. Some of us undergo a lifetime of suffering; others less so. But whether we experience it ourselves, or witness it in those around us, we all undergo pain in this life.

Why do we have to suffer? What is the point of pain? Pain and travail can open us, break open our hearts. It allows us to find true compassion. Its purpose is to create organs of perception.

The eye was created by receiving arrows of light, holding them and letting them form it into an organ to receive and organize a world of images. Just so within the soul; a process that begins with pain ends in conscious seeing.

Angel of Hope, Joan Nee

Holding and working with pain creates an eye in the heart that can receive and make meaning out of what surrounds us. It allows us to form images, to become more conscious of what or who, stands before us.

It can allow us to see that an angel of hope[1] is holding a glowing light in front of our heart; a light to lead and guide us through misery. A light that shows us the way to the place where we can wash our soul garments in Christ’s healing blood. A light that aligns our thinking with truth, steels our will with the strength of endurance, drenches our feeling with love.

And one day we will recognize how our pain and travail has brought us to stand before an even greater being: to stand before the compassionate and loving face of God, who himself went through the Great Suffering.

---

[1] Lorna Byrne, A Message of Hope from the Angels.

3rd November Trinity 2013, Flowing Blood

3^rd Nov. Trinity

Revelation 14, 1-20       

And I looked, and there was the picture of the Lamb, standing atop Mt. Zion and with him one hundred forty four thousand having his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

Ghent Altarpiece

           

And I listened and heard a voice from the heavens, a voice like a mighty rush of waters, and like a mighty thunderclap—the voice I heard was like the voices of harpists playing on their harps.

And they all sing a new song, there in front of the throne and in front of the four creatures and the elders, and no one could learn the song but the one hundred forty-four thousand ransomed from the earth. These are the ones who did not defile themselves by the straying, through which the spiritual in man is betrayed; they have remained virginal [pure] in their inmost being and follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were ransomed as the seed of a new humanity which belongs to the Father God and to the Lamb. Deceit and lies are not found in their mouths; pure and unblemished are they in their innermost being.

And I looked and saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, bringing the good news which is good news forever to those live on earth—to every race and nation and every tongue and folk. And the angel cried out with a great voice, saying:

“Stand in awe of God and turn to honor him. For we have come to the hour of his divine decision. Raise yourself in prayer to him who in truth created the heavens and the earth and the sea and all the springs of water.”  

And a second angel followed, who said, “Fallen, fallen is the great city of Babylon, who made all nations drink of the wine of her sacrilege, in order to draw the holy into misuse.”

And a third angel followed them, who cried out with a powerful voice: “Whoever adores the beast and its likeness, and accepts its stamp on forehead or hand, he will drink of the wine of God’s anger, thick and strong and undiluted, from the cup of his wrath. And in the presence of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb shall anger be transformed into pain like the pain of fire and sulphur.

Their suffering rises and darkens the encirling air like smoke through the cycles of time. And day and night those who made the beast into their god, who honored its picture as the highest, who took its being into their innermost being, find no peace. In this place however there works the power of the steadfast endurance of those who have taken the healing power of the Spirit into themselves, who have fulfilled the goals of the Spirit, and who have worked trusting in Jesus’ healing deed.

Bamberg Apocalypse

And I heard a voice out of the worlds of Spirit which said, “Write this down: People of heaven are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit, let them rest from their efforts and labours, since their good deeds, the fruits of their lives, are not lost along their paths of soul, but have preceeded them here.

And I looked, and suddenly I saw in the spirit a white cloud, and seated upon the cloud the figure of a son of humanity, with a golden crown upon his head and a sharpened sickle. And another angel stepped forth from the temple crying in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud:

“Let your sickle go forth and harvest, for the hour of harvest has come; ripe and dry and firm are the crops of the earth.”

And the one seated on the cloud threw his sickle down upon the events on earth, and the earth’s crop was harvested.

And again another angel came out of the temple in the heavens; and he too held a sharpened sickle. And a further angel came out who tended the fire at the altar. He cried out with a mighty voice to him who held the sharpened sickle and said, “Let your sickle go forth and harvest the grapevines of the earth, for their grapes have reached their prime.”

So the angel threw his sickle down to the events on earth; and he harvested the earth’s vineyard, and threw the grapes into the great winepress of God’s anger. And they took the winepress outside the city and trampled the grapes. Blood flowed from the winepress that reached to the muzzles of the horses for sixteen hundred miles around.

3^rd November Trinity

Luther Bible, 16th Century

November 10, 2013

Revelation 14: 1-20

This is the time of harvesting. The grapes have been brought in. They are crushed and their juice is separated from skin and seed. The juice is collected to serve as wine for winter nourishment.

In today’s reading we are shown earth’s mid-time in mighty pictures. We have been planted on the earth. We are shown the spiritual harvesting of humanity, the fruits of our inner nature, our work and our striving. We have engendered both noble and ignoble thoughts, feelings, deeds. All these are harvested by Christ and his angels. Our funeral service reminds us that we are beholden to the spirit for everything we think and say and do. For what we bring forth, our inner and outer fruits will be the nourishment for divine beings, offered on the high altar.

Naturally not all of what we have produced is good. In the picture of the winepress, the pure juice of what flows in our blood is separated from skin and seed. What flows in the blood is the effect of our thoughts and feeling, the impulses behind our deeds. And what also flows in the blood is God’s faith in humanity. For Christ, God’s own Son, has poured out his own Blood into the earth. Taking up His Blood, drinking of His Wine, we can produce a good, rich and abundant harvest for the beings of the divine world. With His Blood in our blood, we can pray in the words of the poet:

Lord: it is time. …

Command the last fruits to be full,…

urge them to perfection, and chase

the last sweetness into the heavy wine.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Rilke, “Autumn Day”,  translated by J. Mullen