5th February Trinity 2012, Morning Star

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

Fra Angelico

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

February Trinity, 5^th Sunday before Easter

March 4, 2012

Matthew 17: 1-13

When the sun is hidden, either at night, or behind clouds, the earth seems dark and the heavens distant. But when the sun shines, it envelops the earth with its light and warmth. Heaven and earth are re-joined in an embrace.

Today’s reading shows us another level of how heaven and earth are rejoined. The Sun-God came down to earth. He embraced earthly life. At the top of the mountain, He revealed Himself by shining like the sun, and He converses with Moses and Elijah in the heavenly world. The disciples hear the voice of the Father resounding from the sun-bright realm.

When they come back down, they ask about Elijah’s return as the forerunner of the Messiah. But Christ tells them that Elijah has already come and gone. They are given to understand that Elijah had reincarnated as John the Baptist.

Earth and heaven are united for each human soul. We sojourn in the heavenly worlds in sleep, in death; we return to earth at birth, and each morning, bringing with us radiant gifts from heaven. And Christ is the Sun that shines both on earth and in the heavens; He is the one who guides us in both realms. For as He says, ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age.[1] I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death….[2] I am…the bright Morning Star.’[3]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Matthew 28:20

[2] Rev 1:18

[3] Rev 22:16

Picture: Fra Angelico, The Transfiguration

5th February Trinity 2009, Sun-Orb Sings

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

Fra Angelico

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

  

Archangel Raphael, Woloschina

5^th February Trinity

March 8, 2009

Matthew 17: 1-13

The sun sings. Most of us do not hear the song; it is what the ancients called the harmonious music of the spheres. The poet Goethe, in Faust, has the archangel Raphael say:

The sun-orb sings, in emulation,

Mid brother spheres, in his ancient round:

His path predestined through Creation

He ends with step of thunder-sound.[1]

Today’s Gospel reading enables us to see the sun orb singing. Christ descended from the Cosmos. He is the great out-pouring Spirit of the Sun, which creates life. He now shines in radiance from within Jesus. Two others, like planets circling, are with Him; one is Moses, the great leader of his people down into spheres of earth. The other is Elijah, the prophet, half angel, who works in sun, wind and air. They are singing together with Christ, singing past, present and future into existence. A fourth voice joins them from a cloud, the voice of the Father. ‘This is the son of my love; My love is visible in Him. Hear Him; take him in.’ Matthew 17: 5 . Goethe continues:

He ends with step of thunder-sound.

The angels from his visage splendid

Draw power, whose measure none can say;

The lofty worlds, uncomprehended,

Are bright as on the earliest day.

We have come to a time in human history when we must begin to hear, to see, and to understand what happens next, long ago, and now. Next Sunday Passiontide begins. Today’s reading is a wake-up call—keep your eyes and ears and hearts open. Watch what happens next. Christ sings to us: ‘Rise, and do not be afraid.’ Matthew 17:7 Christ comes down the mountain, down from the heights, and walks the path toward his own transformation.

Goethe’s poem goes on; and now it is the archangel Michael who speaks:

Archangel Michael, Woloschina

And rival storms abroad are surging

From seas to land, and land to sea.

A chain of deepest action forging

Round all, in wrathful energy.

There flames a desolation, blazing

Before the Thunder's crashing way:

Yet, Lord, thy messengers are praising

The gentle movement of Thy day.

Around us there is desolation and frantic action. On Good Friday the sun’s light will go out. All will be wrapped in the silence of the tomb. But on Easter Sunday, the joyful singing light of a thousand suns will burst forth. The light will scatter and each human being will receive a spark of new life. Will we see it? Hear it? Will we understand? Will the archangels sing:

Though still by them uncomprehended,

From these the angels draw their power,

And all Thy works, sublime and splendid,

Are bright as in Creation's hour.

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[1] Goethe’s Faust, Part 1

5th February Trinity 2007, Do Not be Afraid

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

Transfiguration, Lewis Bowman

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

5^th February Trinity

March 4, 2007

Matthew 17: 1-13

In Southern California at this time of year, the pruned rosebushes are woody and full of thorns. They are just beginning to leaf out. But we could not claim to know this plant by only seeing what we see now. We will only know it fully when we have seen the blossoms and the fruit. The glory of the blossom and the concentration of the fruit, unfolding in a process over time, reveals the rosebush in its full nature.

In today’s Gospel reading we see Christ Jesus’s transfiguration. He becomes like a great radiant human blossom, shining in the light and love of his Father. He is blossoming as a human form suffused with heavenly light. This suffusion of the human with heavenly light is the completion of one of the goals of our true human nature. He shines before us as our future. The intensity of this is terrifying to those who see Him.

We are all in awe and terror of our future. Yet just as it flashes up in our awareness, overpowering us, Christ touches us and says: do not be afraid; for I am with you always.

Because He himself has already gone through them, he can walk us through our most terrifying changes. He shines before us as the light on our way, the illumination of our process. He assures us that He holds the full truth of our being for us. He assures us that even in apparent death, He is leading us into His Father’s cycles of life. For His eternal life in us keeps our lives eternally. 

www.thechristiancommunity.org

4th February Trinity 2010, Cosmic Blossom

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

 4^th February Trinity

February 28, 2010

Matthew 17: 1-13

Dandelions rise in leaves and blossom in the warmth of the sun. The blossoms form seed globes, a miniature cosmos. The wind disperses the seeds so that they fall to the earth in a different place; so that the cycle of living growth and development on earth can continue and spread in a new season.

In the scene of the Transfiguration, Christ blossoms before the eyes of His three disciples. They begin to understand the cosmic, divine nature of Jesus, the Christ, and to perceive how he converses with the two great luminaries of the Hebrew cosmos, Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the prophet who gives voice to the divine.

Peter responds in the traditional way of his forefathers by offering to build external shrines for these spiritual beings. But the voice of the Father intervenes—‘This is my Son; listen to Him; take his words into your heart.’ Matthew 17:5 And the three disciples fall to the ground.

Christ came to establish a new relationship between the beings of the spiritual world and human beings on earth. It is to be a relationship of conscious understanding, of conversation, rather than an adherence to the law and traditional procedure. So Jesus helps them up, and continues to enlighten their understanding. He says to them that the being of Elijah, whom they had just seen conversing with Him, had indeed already returned to earth to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. He had been John the Baptist, who by then had already been put to death, just as Christ predicts that He Himself soon would be. With John the Baptist, the process of seeding this new relationship between heaven and earth began; human beings dwelling in the cosmos again return to earth.

The cosmic blossom creates out of our lives seeds that fall to the earth, to live and grow and blossom again. Thus do our human spirits blossom in God’s warmth and light; seeds of a new life are carried by the spirit-wind, to return again to the earth in a new place and time, to live and grow further in the light of God. 

www.thechristiancommunity.org

6th February Trinity 2014, Have No Fear

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

Transfiguration, Fra Angelico

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Lewis Bowman

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

 6^th February Trinity

March 16, 2014

Matthew 17: 1-13

Sunrise approaches in stages. First the lightening of the black sky; then the world resolves into color; and finally the sun itself appears over the horizon, shining white, calling to life all things in the world. Musicians have often tried to express the experience of the sunrise in sounds of rising tones.

In today’s reading, the three apostles behold a mighty stage in Christ’s penetration of the body of Jesus. They see His living body take on the characteristics of the sun—a white radiance of pure living forces. And then they hear--first of all the voice of the Father of All Being. He proclaims that Christ Jesus is His Son, the out-flowing of His own Being’s love. And the Father directs their hearing, their attentive listening, to Christ. And what does Christ say to them, to us? What do we hear from Him? He speaks in the voice of an angel: Rise, and fear not.

Photo Mike Fisk

Thus is implanted the beginnings of a new sunrise in the bodies of human beings: Rise and fear not.  In the words of the poet:

The red dawn now is rearranging the earth

 ….

Child stirring in the web of your mother

Do not be afraid

Old man turning to walk through the door

Do not be afraid[1]


www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Joy Harjo, “MORNING SONG”

4th February Trinity 2007, Loneliness

3^rd, 4^th February Trinity

(Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Blake

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience the tempting power of the adversary.

After fasting forty days and nights, He felt for the first time hunger for earthly nourishment. Then the tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, let these stones become bread through the power of your word.”

Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘The human being shall not live on bread alone; he lives by the creative power of every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the parapet of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Again a third time, the devil took him to a very elevated place, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give to you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me  as your Lord. “

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship [pray to] God your Lord who guides you and serve him only.’”

Then the adversary left him, and he beheld again the angels as they came to bring him nourishment. 

4^th February Trinity

Blake

February 25, 2007

Matthew 4: 1-11

 In the desert, the cactuses don’t crowd together in groups. Each one has its own space; it stands out as a separate, individual entity.

In these times, human beings can feel a bit like being in a desert – alone, separated from others. This separation enhances our sense of ourselves as individuals – not a bad thing. But the shadow side of experiencing our uniqueness is loneliness.

As a human being, Christ Jesus experienced the loneliness of being an individual. Interestingly we are told that He was sent into this condition by the Spirit. To wrestle with the adversary in loneliness is a divinely intended experience. The adversary’s intention was to cut Him off from both from His divinity and from His humanity.

The temptation to work magic with stones would certainly have given a few hungry people bread in abundance, for a couple of years at least. But would Christ then have been able to offer to all of humanity the eternal bread of His divinely penetrated body?

Blake

In throwing himself down from the parapet, succumbing to egotistical pride in being God’s Son, Christ would simply have ended His human life prematurely. And of course, worshipping the adversary as the giver of the world’s kingdoms would have cut Him off from His Father. Through overcoming the temptations in loneliness, Christ Jesus establishes for all of humanity the middle way – of being a unique individual human being, who at the same time remains openly connected to the Father’s Spirit.

Christ’s experience in the loneliness of the desert gives us a key to the meaning of our own experiences of loneliness. Loneliness gives us the opportunity to meet our spiritual adversaries in full clarity. Loneliness provides us with the opportunity to become aware of our greater God-given task in life; it gives us the opportunity to cleanse ourselves of egotism and pride; to maintain and strengthen our connection with the Spirit of our heavenly Father. Overcoming the temptations in the desert is possible for us now through Christ, and prepares us, too,  for angelic nourishment.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

4th February Trinity 2009, The True Shape

3^rd, 4^th February Trinity

(Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience the tempting power of the adversary.

After fasting forty days and nights, He felt for the first time hunger for earthly nourishment. Then the tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, let these stones become bread through the power of your word.”

Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘The human being shall not live on bread alone; he lives by the creative power of every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

  

Carl Bloch

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the parapet of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Again a third time, the devil took him to a very elevated place, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give to you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me  as your Lord. “

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship [pray to] God your Lord who guides you and serve him only.’”

Then the adversary left him, and he beheld again the angels as they came to bring him nourishment. 

4^th February Trinity

March 1, 2009

Matthew 4:1-11

The story of Christ’s temptation is the archetype of the three areas in which all human beings are tempted.

The first temptation is to concentrate on the material aspects of life. The devil tries to tempt Christ into magic-ing stones into bread. Christ’s answer points to the fact that the magic is already there, in the food; it is God’s creative power that bids what we eat, and thus we ourselves, to live. It is the divine life that nourishes us, not the mineral.

Vasily Surikov

The second temptation is to believe that we can do anything we want and that God will save us. Christ’s answer: No arrogance: God’s love is unconditional; nevertheless, we human beings will ourselves have to bear the consequences of our own deeds.

The third temptation is to misunderstand where true power comes from. True power comes from freely and voluntarily letting ourselves be guided by the divine. Divine guidance will ultimately lead us toward the kind of sacrificing of personal power out of love of others. This is something that the devil, the prince of this world, cannot comprehend—the power of sacrifice.

Christ’s answers to these three temptations are all linked by one theme: to remember the divine world from which you come; to volunteer in humility to take the creative guidance and sacrificial power of God’s realm into our thinking. This has become all the more urgent in our time, since we Westerners have essentially been nourishing ourselves on the stones of usury, worshipping our own prowess and testing the limits for far too long.

The poet David Whyte says:

We shape our self 

to fit this world

and by the world 

are shaped again.

The visible 

and the invisible

work[ing] together 

in common cause,

to produce 

the miraculous….

So may we, in this life 

trust

to those elements 

we have yet to see

or imagine, 

and look for the true

shape of our own self 

by forming it well

to the great 

intangibles about us.[1]

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] David Whyte, “Working Together”, in House of Belonging