3rd Passiontide 2013, Watered Down

3^rd Passiontide

Rembrandt

John 8: 1-12

Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives; but as soon as day dawned he was already in the Temple court, where the people flocked to him, and he sat down and began to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees led in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand in the middle, and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this only as a trap, in order finally to have a reason for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down, and started to write something in the earth with his finger. When they kept on pressing him with questions, he stood up and said to them, “Whoever among you is without sin, let him cast the first stone at her.” And again, he bent down and wrote in the earth.

When they heard this, their conscience began to stir within them, and they went out, one after the other, beginning with the eldest. And only Jesus was left and the woman who stood in the middle. Jesus stood up, and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one passed judgment on you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I judge you,” Jesus declared. “Go now, and leave your life of sin.”

3^rd Passiontide

March 17, 2013

John 8: 1-12

If someone adds something to food or drink to thin it out, or to poison it, we say that it has been adulterated. It has been watered down, or made harmful.

Humanity’s soul has been adulterated. The adversary forces have added the thorn of evil, the sting into our hearts. Because of this wounding, we have become weak. We are both ‘watered down’, not fully potent, and at the same time capable of harm.

Christ came to the earth to experience what it is like being a human being in a body of flesh. He knows in depth the basic human condition of weakness. And in His empathy and compassion, he does not judge us. Rather He seeks to give us strength, to heal us, to raise us up. Eventually we will rise and expand. We may now feel shriveled, in grief. In the words of the poet, we may ask Him:

My heart is so small

it's almost invisible.

How can You place

such big sorrows in it?

Yet he answers:

"Look," …"your eyes are even smaller,

yet they behold the world."[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Rumi,  in Whispers of the Beloved  by Maryam & Azima Melita Kolin)

2nd Passiontide 2007, More Than Enough

2^nd Passiontide

Kenneth Dowdy

John 6: 1-15

After this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee near Tiberius and a great crowd of people followed him because they had seen the signs of the spirit, which he had performed on those who were ill.

Then Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near.

When Jesus raised his eyes to the world of the spirit, and beheld how crowds of people were coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that all these people may eat?”

He asked this to test his understanding and presence of mind, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “200 denarii [seven months wages] would not buy enough bread for them each to have only a little.”

Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up: “A boy is here with five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are these among so many?”

Jesus said, “Let the people sit down in groups.” There was plenty of green grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave to those who were seated, likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.

Now when they were satisfied, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost.” So, they gathered them, and they filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. Seeing the sign that he had done, the people said, “Truly, this is the prophet who is to come into the world.”

When Jesus became aware that they intended to come and make him king by force, he withdrew again to the mountain alone by himself.

2^nd Passiontide

March 18, 2007

John 6: 1-15

To maintain our earthly existence, we must eat. There are saints who have been able to exist by taking in no other bread but Communion. We ask ourselves how this is possible.

In the gospel reading, Christ’s question to Philip – where shall we buy bread – is in essence a question about whether nourishment can only be mediated by the earthly, by money. And Philip’s answer is accurate on the earthly level—seven months wages would not be enough to feed so many.

Woloschin

However, the answer to how to feed the people can also have another starting point: a young boy’s gift, five barley loaves, made from spring’s first harvest, two fish from the watery element. In paradisal Galilee, the people sit in an elevated place, on green grass, between heaven and earth, as the sun is going down. The first stars become visible. And to what seems to be very little bread in earthly terms, Christ, with gratitude, adds what truly feeds us—the Father’s light, His life, His love from the realm of the stars. Christ leads the peoples’ hearts into an awareness of the realm of pure Life itself. The life realm is where living things multiply, thirty, sixty, a hundredfold. It is a realm of more than enough. The material part of bread is a necessary carrier; but a bite, a crumb of living bread suffices; what nourishes, what satisfies our heart’s deepest need, is the thirty, sixty, hundredfold life in it.

It is also quite possible that in this realm of more than enough, the people too were able to offer what they had brought. They multiplied the gift. Filled with the Christ blessing, there was more than enough; there was enough left over to show them, and us, that our true nourishment is mediated, not only through the forces of the earth, but through the living forces of the Father’s circle of the stars. There is more than enough, in order to show that

‘…What in the bread doth feed,

Is God’s Eternal Word, His life, His light, His deed.[1]

In consecrating ourselves today, we offer and receive in gratitude. We partake in a process wherein Christ blesses and fills bread with his Life. One day, for us too, more than enough will be all that we need to live. 

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] After Angelus Silesius

2nd Passiontide 2008, Bread from Heaven

2nd Passiontide

John 6: 26-35

Do not work for the food that spoils, but create for yourselves the nourishment that leads to imperishable life, which the Son of Man will give you because he is totally permeated by the being of the Father God [upon him the Father has set his seal].

Thereafter they said to him, “What must we do in order to learn to do deeds which endure [that our deeds may work with the working of God]?

Jesus answered, “The working of God is [already in] this: that in your whole being there begins to stir trust in him whom he has sent.”

And they asked further, “What sign of the spirit can you perform in order that we see and therefore come to trust in you? What effect do your deeds have in the present time? Our fathers ate manna in the desert, as it says in scripture: ‘Bread from the heavens he gave them to eat.’”

Egbert Codex

Jesus said to them, “The truth I say to you, it was not Moses who gave to you bread from the heavens, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from the heavens. The bread from the world of the spirit is he who descends to you from the heavens; he gives himself as the true, unceasing life of the world.”

Then they said, “Lord, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I AM the bread of life. He who finds the way to me will hunger no more, and he who comes to me in faith and trust will nevermore thirst.

And they asked further, “By what sign that you do shall we be able to see your essential nature and therefore come to trust in you? What is your working? Our fathers ate manna in the desert, as it says in scripture:

'Bread from the heavens he gave them to eat'.”

Jesus said to them, “The truth I say to you, it was not Moses who gave to you bread from the heavens, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from the heavens. The bread from the world of the spirit is he who descends to you from the heavens; he gives himself as the true, unceasing life of the world.”

Then they said, “Lord, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I AM the bread of life. He who finds the way to me will hunger no more, and he who comes to me in faith and trust will nevermore thirst.

2^nd Passiontide 

March 2, 2008

John 6: 26-35

When one has not eaten for a long time, one’s consciousness can become fuzzy and faint. We feel perhaps like we are beginning to float away. In such a case, food becomes the anchor that brings us back to earth again. Bread brings body and soul together again; we experience food as medicine.

Something similar can also occur from the opposite direction. The simplest, perhaps even the smallest amount of bread, can become richly nourishing, provided we bring our devoted attention to the act of eating. Candles, flowers, white table linens, a treasured company of guests help focus and enrich our attention. Nourishment comes from both the food itself, and from what we bring to its ensouling.

In the Act of Consecration of Man, these two elements come together with a remarkable result. We provide the ritual setting, the candles and flowers and linens, even the bread and wine. And to them we add the very best of our souls’ forces: our purest thoughts, the love of our hearts, a devoted will. Thus do bread and wine become ensouled by our speaking our energies into them. Then we offer these ensouled foods to the Guest and His Father on the other side of the table. And they in turn add their life, the very essence of their being into them. Bread of earth becomes bread of heaven, bread for the angels. And then it is given back to us as the consecrated living essence of God, the food that truly brings the body and soul of Man and God together, the food that is the true medicine.

The early mystic Ephraim of Syria said:

His holy body wholly mixed

with our bodies, and His pure

blood poured generously out

to fill our veins, His voice

now pulses in our ears,

and look! His lighted vision

pools within our eyes. All of Him

is mixed with all of us—

compassionate communion. And as

He loves His church His body

utterly, so He gives

it more than bread, more

even than bread from heaven,

but gives His own, His

living bread for her to eat.

….and we

rise strengthened, comforted, luminous.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Ephraim of Syria († 373), “The Living Bread”, in Love’s Immensity, Scott Cairns, p. 21.

2nd Passiontide 2009, Meadows of Heaven

2^nd Passiontide 

Speyerer

John 6: 1-25

After this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee near Tiberius and a great crowd of people followed him because they had seen the signs of the spirit, which he had performed on those who were ill.

Then Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near.

When Jesus raised his eyes to the world of the spirit, and beheld how crowds of people were coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that all these people may eat?”

He asked this to test his understanding and presence of mind, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “200 denarii [seven months wages] would not buy enough bread for them each to have only a little.”

Kenneth Dowdy

Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up: “A boy is here with five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are these among so many?”

Jesus said, “Let the people sit down in groups.” There was plenty of green grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave to those who were seated, likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.

Now when they were satisfied, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost.” So, they gathered them, and they filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. Seeing the sign that he had done, the people said, “Truly, this is the prophet who is to come into the world.”

When Jesus became aware that they intended to come and make him king by force, he withdrew again to the mountain alone by himself.

Woloschina

2nd Passiontide

March 22, 2009

John 6: 1 – 15

These difficult economic times are creating an odd opportunity: instead of eating out, many are finding it necessary to cook at home. The opportunity in this is the possibility of infusing the food we create with the love that we feel for ourselves and our families. And it is this element of love that is the true nourishment for body and soul.

In today’s gospel reading Christ pointedly asks, ‘Where shall we buy bread that all these people may eat?’ And Philip answers that seven months’ wages would not be enough. I think Christ was trying to point to the inadequacy of trying to nourish human bodies and souls with money alone.

To thrive, we need so much more. We need the ordering element of sitting down in groups together. We desperately need the soul mood of gratitude for that which we do have, however little it may seem. And we need to contribute to the atmosphere of generosity, of magnanimous giving, as much as people want, as much as God wants.

In the Gospel, the people are seated on a grassy meadow. It is evening. The stars come out. Longfellow said,

Alex Ruiz

Silent, one by one,

in the infinite meadows of heavens,

blossomed the lovely stars,

the forget-me-nots of angels.[1]

And Emerson said: “If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.” [2]

Night sky as meadow and city. The twelve basketsful gathered in the gospel were the leftover abundance of the star bread from the city of the Father.

With gathering, with gratitude and with greatness of heart, we can access what truly nourishes us: the life-giving love from the stars. For God’s nature and the nature of His Son is overflowing abundance itself. But we must first take our place in the greater, healthy order of things. We must open our hearts in gratitude and generosity, toward God, toward our fellow human beings, and toward the kingdoms below us.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Longfellow: Evangeline

[2] Emerson, Nature, Chapter 1.

2nd Passiontide 2010, Bread of Stars

2^nd Passiontide

John 6: 1-25

Woloschina

After this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee near Tiberius and a great crowd of people followed him because they had seen the signs of the spirit, which he had performed on those who were ill.

Then Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near.

When Jesus raised his eyes to the world of the spirit, and beheld how crowds of people were coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that all these people may eat?”

He asked this to test his understanding and presence of mind, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “200 denarii [seven months wages] would not buy enough bread for them each to have only a little.”

Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up: “A boy is here with five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are these among so many?”

Jesus said, “Let the people sit down in groups.” There was plenty of green grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave to those who were seated, likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.

Now when they were satisfied, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost.” So, they gathered them, and they filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. Seeing the sign that he had done, the people said, “Truly, this is the prophet who is to come into the world.”

When Jesus became aware that they intended to come and make him king by force, he withdrew again to the mountain alone by himself.

When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off over the sea for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the sea; and they were terrified. But he said to them, "I AM, have no fear" Now when they wanted to take him into the boat, immediately the boat was at the land, at the place where they wanted to go.

The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, the truth I say to you: You are seeking me not because you saw signs of spiritual power, but because you ate of the bread and were satisfied.

2^nd Passiontide

March 14, 2010

John 6:1 -25

Some movies are made that require you to put on special glasses. Then what you would ordinarily see flat, out there, pops you into another dimension that surrounds you.

Vanaesch

In today’s reading, Christ gives his followers the means to see him in another dimension. In feeding the five thousand, He gives them bread and fish imbued with the teeming invisible life of the twelve stars of heaven. This nourishment becomes a lens.

That night in the boat the disciples enter another dimension. They see Him as the Son of Man, walking on the surging realm of the sea of life that surrounds them. They are agitated and fearful. But He assures them that He is no mere apparition. He is reality—I AM. He becomes the stabilizing centering force that they take into their ship.

When we come to the altar, Christ gives us, too, the bread of the stars. It is the bread of life, the reality of Himself. In us it gradually forms itself into an instrument. It becomes the lens by which we can begin to see Him, and orient ourselves toward His reality. For this bread is not ordinary food; it is the nourishment for our life in the imperishable, welling life of the starry sea. It is the spirit bread of Christ Himself. Taking Him into the  little ship of  our lives, He becomes our calming, centering force. He is the steadying but motive power that we can trust on life’s stormy seas.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

2nd Passiontide 2012, Hungry

2nd Passiontide

John 6: 16 - 26

Amadee Varin

When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off over the sea for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the sea; and they were terrified. But he said to them, "I AM, have no fear" Now when they wanted to take him into the boat, immediately the boat was at the land, at the place where they wanted to go.

The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, the truth I say to you: You are seeking me not because you saw signs of spiritual power, but because you ate of the bread and were satisfied. 

2^nd Passiontide

April 3, 2011

John 6: 16-25

The created world is full of wonders. Among the greatest of these wonders is the human form, the dwelling place of our spirits. Although we think of our body as solid, it is mostly flowing liquid. We live within a surging sea.

Roland  Tiller

The disciples are in a little boat when the wind and seas rise. On this surging sea they perceive their teacher. His appearance in such a place terrifies them; it seems to defy all logic. He calms them with the mysterious words: I AM. The meaning behind these two simple words in Hebrew is expanded into its full meaning in the hymn we sing: He who was, He who is, He who is to come. Or, I AM who I will become.

His ‘I AM’ is meant to convey to us that no matter what happens to the body, no matter how threatened or threatening the body may become, He, the Being of Love, is always present. His eternal loving uprightness is always present as a source of strength and courage for us. He encourages us not to fixate too much on the transitory things, on ‘the food that spoils’[1]. Rather we are to seek and find Him as a source of nourishment that feeds our own I AM, our spirits, the eternal part of our being. ‘I AM the Bread of Life, He says. ‘He who finds his way to me will hunger no more, and he who comes to me in faith and trust will nevermore thirst’.[2]

As the poet David Whyte says:

….

This is not

the age of information.

Forget the news,

and the radio,

and the blurred screen.

This is the time

of loaves

and fishes.

People are hungry

and one good word is bread

for a thousand. [3]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] John 6: 27

[2] John 6: 35

[3] David Whyte,  “Loaves and Fishes”

2nd Passiontide 2013, Earth is Living Flesh

2nd Passiontide

John 6: 16 - 26

When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off over the sea for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the sea; and they were terrified. But he said to them, "I AM, have no fear" Now when they wanted to take him into the boat, immediately the boat was at the land, at the place where they wanted to go.

The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, the truth I say to you: You are seeking me not because you saw signs of spiritual power, but because you ate of the bread and were satisfied.

2^nd Passiontide

March 10, 2013

John 6: 16 – 26

We can picture the disciples in the boat. It is night, and stormy. They begin to fear for their lives. Yet Christ Jesus comes to them. He shines like a lodestar. He tells them to have no fear, for He is the I AM, the guide for all mankind. They take Him on board, and are immediately at their goal.

Today humanity, and especially some of us individually, are traveling in rough seas, in darkness. And Christ the Star says to us: Have no fear. I am your guide. I will take you to your true goal. Our difficulty sometimes is in seeing Him, hearing Him. For the thunder is roaring and we feel swamped. Yet He is there, a quiet, calm. We have trouble holding on to these flashes of His presence. The poet says:

Roland Tiller

Hope is with you when you believe

The earth is not a dream but living flesh,

That sight, touch, and hearing do not lie,

That all things you have ever seen here

Are like a garden looked at from a gate.

You cannot enter. But you're sure it's there.

Some people say we should not trust our eyes,

That there is nothing, just a seeming,….

Could we but look more clearly and wisely

We might discover somewhere in the garden

A strange new flower and an unnamed star.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1]“Hope”, Czeslaw Milosz, in The World