3rd St. John's Tide 2014, God is Gracious

St. Johnstide

van der Weyden

John 3: 22-36

After this Jesus and his disciples came to the land of Judea. There he stayed with them and baptized. John also baptized; he was at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there, and people came to him and were baptized. For John had not yet been imprisoned.

Then a dispute arose between the disciples of John and the Jews about the path of purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Master, he who came to you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness – here he is, baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

John answered, “No human being can grasp spiritual power for himself that is not given to him from the higher worlds. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’

“He who has the bride, he is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, he is filled with joy at the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease.

He who descends from above, out of the spiritual world, is elevated above all beings of the earth. Whoever is only of the earth, whose being arises from the earthly, his word is also earthbound.

He who comes from the heavens is elevated above all who have arisen from the earthly. What he has seen and heard in the world of the spirit, to that he can bear direct witness, but no one accepts his testimony.

But whoever accepts his testimony, sets his seal to this: that God is true [truth] [that there is no higher truth than the reality of God]. Whoever God has sent, his words are filled with the power of divine thought, for God gives the spirit to human beings not according to human rules, but according to the creative power that he awakens in man.

The Father holds the Son surrounded in his love, and has given everything into his hands. Whoever trusts in the power of the Son within himself, he grows out of the earthly into timeless life.

Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within will not behold the world of life; rather the working might of the spirit world must one day burn him like a fire that will consume him.”

3^rd St. John’s Tide

Sombart

July 13, 2014

John 3: 22 – 36

John the Baptist came with a mission. He was to witness the incarnation of the Light of the World in Jesus at His baptism. He came to prepare souls to also be able to perceive Christ. He inaugurated a rite of purification, a ritual immersion, which allowed individuals to have their own unique spiritual experience. Some saw the quality of their own lives pass before them; others felt the glorious beings of the spiritual world.

As we hear in the reading, those following Jesus were also undergoing baptisms. John’s reaction to the ‘threat of competition’ is noteworthy.

John’s very name means ‘God is gracious’. God graced John with the opportunity to complete what he had come to do. He witnessed, indeed he helped midwife the incarnation of God’s Light and Love. And John speaks out of the meaning of his own name when he says that spiritual power is given as grace. He recognizes that his own day is beginning to decline while Jesus’s sun is rising. And so John graciously lets go the baton and passes it on.

God is gracious. He gives us our lives and sends us to fulfill our task. And when we have accomplished what we have come to do, when we have borne witness to our times and loved those whom we were sent to love, we send the Father our heart-warm thanks for the opportunity to be on the earth, doing what we do. As the poet says:

May the light of your soul bless your work

with love and warmth of heart.

….

May the sacredness of your work bring light and renewal

to those who work with you

….

May it release wellsprings of refreshment,

inspiration and excitement.

…..

May dawn find hope in your heart, ….

May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.[1]

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[1] John O’Donohue, For Work, in To Bless the Space Between Us, p. 146.

3rd St. Johnstide 2013, Another and Another

St. Johnstide

John 3: 22-36

After this Jesus and his disciples came to the land of Judea. There he stayed with them and baptized. John also baptized; he was at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there, and people came to him and were baptized. For John had not yet been imprisoned.

Then a dispute arose between the disciples of John and the Jews about the path of purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Master, he who came to you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness – here he is, baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

John answered, “No human being can grasp spiritual power for himself that is not given to him from the higher worlds. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’

“He who has the bride, he is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, he is filled with joy at the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease.

He who descends from above, out of the spiritual world, is elevated above all beings of the earth. Whoever is only of the earth, whose being arises from the earthly, his word is also earthbound.

He who comes from the heavens is elevated above all who have arisen from the earthly. What he has seen and heard in the world of the spirit, to that he can bear direct witness, but no one accepts his testimony.

But whoever accepts his testimony, sets his seal to this: that God is true [truth] [that there is no higher truth than the reality of God]. Whoever God has sent, his words are filled with the power of divine thought, for God gives the spirit to human beings not according to human rules, but according to the creative power that he awakens in man.

The Father holds the Son surrounded in his love, and has given everything into his hands. Whoever trusts in the power of the Son within himself, he grows out of the earthly into timeless life.

Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within will not behold the world of life; rather the working might of the spirit world must one day burn him like a fire that will consume him.”

3^rd St. Johnstide

Sombart

June 14, 2013

John 3: 22 – 36

Here in the northern Hemisphere the sun has reached its zenith, and is turning, while in the south it has begun its slow ascent. Yet north or south, the sunlight pours forth its power, generating life on the earth. We receive the life that glides down to us on the rays of the sun. The gift, the grace of life descends with the light.

Christ is the Source of Life in the universe. He is the Spirit Sun. He is surrounded by the Father’s love. He receives the Father’s love and pours it out as life into the world.

When we take His life-giving light into ourselves, our spirits grow out of the earthly into timeless life.

We learn to trust the power of Christ working within us, for this power of His is the life-giving power of Love. We learn to trust in the life-generating power of His cycles of life. As the poet says:

            Why cling to one life

            Till it is soiled and ragged?

            The sun dies and dies

            Squandering a hundred lives

            Every instant

            God has decreed life for you

            And He will give

            another and another and another.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Rumi, Fragments--Ecstasies

2nd St. Johnstide 2007, Word of Flame

John 1: 29-34

Carracia

The next day he [John] sees Jesus coming to him, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: ‘After me comes one who was before me, for he is greater than I  [for he is ahead of me].’ [After me comes one who was (generated) before me, for he is the prototype.] Even I did not know him; but for this I have come, and have baptized with water, so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being.”

And John testified: “I saw how the Spirit descended upon him as a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend, so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the [breath of the] Holy [Healing] Spirit [and with fire].’ And I saw this, and so I testify that this is God’s Son.”

2^nd St. Johnstide

July 1, 2007

John 1: 29-34

In the very broadest sense, sin, wrongdoing, errors and failures are deviations from the overall plan that the divine world has for us, and for all of mankind. Through wrongdoing we have become separated from God and His angels. We have walled ourselves off from the flow of the meaning, the love, the goodness that unites all creatures in their ongoing evolving. This is painful both for the divine world and for us.

Paschal Lamb, Ghent Altar

Christ, the World Physician, came to heal the sickness and pain that arises from our having separated ourselves. John describes Christ as the Lamb who takes upon Himself the burden of the wrongdoing of Mankind. The Lamb does not, cannot take away the consequences of our misdeeds. The compensation for our wrongdoing is our own task and responsibility.

But Christ carries for us the weight of the burden of our misdeeds. He bears our misdeeds within Himself, sheltering them in forgiveness, so that their future resolution can be dealt with creatively, so that our compensations can serve mankind’s ongoing evolution.  When we recognize and take responsibility for our failings, and when we then take in Christ’s loving acceptance and forgiveness of them, then He sends us His Healing Spirit. His Healing Spirit cleanses the cause of our illness: it purifies us of egotism. The Healing Spirit inspires in us the creative healing of our destiny relationships. It is when we accept both our own responsibility and Christ’s empowering love and healing Spirit that we can see our way forward.

John’s guilt-conscious health-bearing word of flame is: “Change your way of thinking! Change your heart and mind!”  This is the preparation that allows us to hear and respond to Christ’s continually resounding invitation – “Come and see!” John 1:34

www.thechristiancommunity.org

2nd St. Johnstide 2008, Just and Moderate

St. Johnstide

Luke 3: 7-18

Tiepolo

John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You are sons of the serpent yet! Who led you to believe that you can avoid the decline of the old ways of the soul? Produce true fruits in keeping with a change of heart and mind. And do not begin excusing yourselves by saying, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I tell you that God can raise up sons for Abraham out of these stones. The ax is already poised at the root of the trees, so every tree that does not produce good fruit is felled and thrown into the fire.”

“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

John answered, “Let the man with two tunics share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”

Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

“Do not collect any more than you are authorized to do,” he told them.

           

Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He replied, “Do not intimidate and do not accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ, the Messiah.

John answered them all, “I wash you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will wash you with the breath of the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, while he burns up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

And with many and various exhortations John preached the good news to the people. 

2^nd St. Johnstide

July 6, 2008

Luke 3: 7-18

There are certain parts of the soul that we share with the animal kingdom: the need for food, for reproduction, the need to exert power and defend our territory. If these animal parts of the soul rule us, they can become insatiable beasts who overtake our lives and enslave the self. Our truly human task is to tame the beasts; not to kill to them, but to become master over them.   

John the Baptist encourages us to put ourselves through a change of heart and mind, that is, to work at recalibrating the balance between the head, the lower nature and the heart.

The mind, the rational, clever intellect, is gifted in supporting our own interests. But it can become a servant of the beasts, a ravenous taker and collector, even a destroyer.

The heart’s great joy is in giving. The heart enjoys pouring itself out. In extremes, it can foolishly empty the giver.

In this reading, John suggests establishing a balance between giving and taking, between heart and head. He suggests that we set limits to our taking and collecting. Let the one who has more than they really need give to those who have none. The soldiers and the tax-collectors, who in those days were not regulated, were enjoined to take no more than was in truth their due.

To set self-limits in food and clothing, and in the exercise of power is to begin to tame the wild beasts of the soul’s desire. Increasing the capacity for self-control strengthens the sovereignty of the self over the greedy beasts of our lower nature. Paradoxically, it is this sovereignty of the self that strengthens the capacity to give of ourselves. For without self-possession, there can be no true giving, no balance between self and others, between head and heart. Without self-possession there can be no brotherhood or equality. For it is the sovereign, enlightened self which wisely chooses when to give and when to take.

This balanced, sovereign self can then come to recognize that other, greater Self, the I AM, He who was and is and is coming. He it is who, in the words of St. Francis, is

…Our true and living Master.

Love and lover manifest.

Wisdom and the wise.

The humble and the patient,

Beauty beckoning. Gentle shelter.

The peace and joy and hope of all.

Just and moderate, you are our

treasure, all sufficient. Protector

and the shield of our souls.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] St. Francis of Assisi, ( 1182 – 1226), “The Reach to Speak His Name.” in Love’s Immensity, Scott Cairns, p. 81.

2nd St. Johnstide 2009, Greet them All

St. John’s
Mark 1, 1-11

This is the beginning of the new word from the realm of the angels, sounding forth through Jesus Christ. Fulfilled is the word of the prophet Isaiah:

Behold, I send my angel before your face.

He is to prepare your way.

Hear the voice of one calling in the loneliness of the human soul

Prepare the way for the Lord within the soul,

Make his paths straight, so that he may find entrance into Man’s innermost being!

Thus did John the Baptist appear in the loneliness of the desert. He proclaimed Baptism, the way of a change of heart and mind, for the acknowledgement of sin. And they went out to him from all of Judea and Jerusalem and received baptism from him in the river Jordan and recognized and confessed their failings.

Sombart

John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. Fruits and wild honey were his food. And he proclaimed:

           

‘After me comes one who is mightier than I. I am not even worthy to bend down before Him and to undo the straps of His sandals. I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the fire of the Holy [healing] Spirit.’

In those days it happened: Jesus of Nazareth came to Galilee, and was baptized in the Jordan by John.

And at the same time as he rose up again out of the water, he beheld how the spheres of the heavens were torn open, and the spirit of God descended upon him like a dove.

And a voice sounded from the world of the spirit:

‘You are my son, the beloved —in you is my revelation.’ [‘Today I have conceived (begotten) you.’ Luke 3:22]

July 5, 2009

Mark 1, 1 – 11

Through the fire of the sun, seeds are forming in the cups of the flowers.

Once the seeds fall to earth and are watered, they will burst open and a new life will begin.

In today’s reading, Jesus, the purest and most perfectly developed seed of humankind is dipped into the waters and opens. At the same time, the healing spirit descends into the seed of mankind, needy of healing on the field of earth, and a new kind of life for us begins.

It all started with a human soul that was open, open to change, open to becoming something, even someone, else, someone totally new. And therein lies the healing. In opening ourselves in study and prayer, in conversation, we are allowing ourselves the opportunity to change heart and mind. We are allowing something or someone else to enter into our souls. We are allowing ourselves to be fructified, baptized by sun-fire, so that something new can develop and grow in us. Even in everyday life, we can practice this opening daily. Rumi said,

This being human is a guest-house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you

out for some new delight.

 …meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Rumi, “The Guest-House”, in Say I Am You: Poetry Interspersed with Stories of Rumi and Shams, Translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks, Maypop, 1994.

2nd St. Johnstide 2010, God Pours Light

St. Johnstide

John 1: 19-28, 29-34, 35-39

This is the testimony of John, when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” Freely and openly he made confession. He confessed, “I am not the Christ [the Anointed].”

Then they asked him, “Who are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “No, I am not.”“Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”Then they said, “Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul [self].”

And those who had been sent by the Pharisees asked him, “Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

John answered them, “I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals.”

This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan where John was baptizing.

Habegger

The next day he [John] sees Jesus coming to him, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: ‘After me comes one who was before me, for he is greater than I  [for he is ahead of me].’ [After me comes one who was (generated) before me, for he is the prototype.] Even I did not know him; but for this I have come, and have baptized with water, so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being.”

And John testified: “I saw how the Spirit descended upon him as a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend, so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the [breath of the] Holy [Healing] Spirit [and with fire].’ And I saw this, and so I testify that

this is God’s Son.”

2^nd St. Johnstide

July 4, 2010

John 1: 19 – 34

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the daylight is beginning its decline, while in the Southern half, the days are just beginning to grow longer. The light of the whole world rises and falls like a slow, giant see-saw. The shorter days on one side are balanced by longer days on the other.

John the Baptist points to Christ and calls Him the Lamb of God who takes upon Himself the burden of the sins of the world. Humankind has so overburdened world destiny on the dark side, that it takes a great and ongoing sacrificial deed of light to balance it out. And so it is: Christ continues to shine the light of His ongoing sacrificial deeds into the world to balance out its darkness.

Today in the US we are celebrating the great gift of freedom. To us human beings, God grants the freedom of choice: we can continue to choose thoughts, words and deeds of darkness, or those of light. Some human beings open themselves, open their hearts like a chalice, to the Christ-light. The healing Spirit descends upon them too, even if only for moments, as it did for Jesus at His Baptism. They catch fire, and begin to shine Christ’s light into the world along with Him. They add the brightness of their human light deeds to His, to help add to the balance of light overcoming the darkness. For as the poet says:

God

pours light

into every cup,

quenching darkness.

….God pours light

and the trees lift their limbs

without worry of redemption,

every blossom a chalice.

….light

pours like rain

into every empty cup

set adrift on the Infinite Ocean.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1]  Hafiz, (Interpretive version of Ghazal 11 by Jose Orez)

2nd St. Johnstide 2012, Divine Union

St. Johnstide

Da Vinci

John 3: 22-36

After this Jesus and his disciples came to the land of Judea. There he stayed with them and baptized. John also baptized; he was at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there, and people came to him and were baptized. For John had not yet been imprisoned.

Then a dispute arose between the disciples of John and the Jews about the path of purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Master, he who came to you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness – here he is, baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

John answered, “No human being can grasp spiritual power for himself that is not given to him from the higher worlds. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’

“He who has the bride, he is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, he is filled with joy at the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease.

He who descends from above, out of the spiritual world, is elevated above all beings of the earth. Whoever is only of the earth, whose being arises from the earthly, his word is also earthbound.

He who comes from the heavens is elevated above all who have arisen from the earthly. What he has seen and heard in the world of the spirit, to that he can bear direct witness, but no one accepts his testimony.

But whoever accepts his testimony, sets his seal to this: that God is true [truth] [that there is no higher truth than the reality of God]. Whoever God has sent, his words are filled with the power of divine thought, for God gives the spirit to human beings not according to human rules, but according to the creative power that he awakens in man.

The Father holds the Son surrounded in his love, and has given everything into his hands. Whoever trusts in the power of the Son within himself, he grows out of the earthly into timeless life.

Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within will not behold the world of life; rather the working might of the spirit world must one day burn him like a fire that will consume him.”

2^nd St. Johnstide

Baptism, Sombart

July 1, 2012

John 3: 22-36

Here in the Northern Hemisphere it is high summer. The earth is in the sun’s embrace. Meanwhile the other side of the earth is in midwinter. With both sides of its being, the earth is looking to her sons and daughters. Her greatest wish is that the soul of humanity be joined with the Sun-Spirit, just as she herself has joined with Him. In joining with Him we will become fruitful, and fulfill our divine destiny.

It is no accident that the gospel reading mentions a bride and bridegroom. For it is the time when the soul of humanity is to wed its Beloved.

St Francis of Assisi said:

Baptism, Habegger

I hear you singing, dear, inviting me to your limb.

I am coming , for all that we do is a

preparation for love.

I hear you singing, my Lord, inviting me to your throne.

We are coming, dear, for all the toil you have

blessed us with is a preparation to know and hold the

sacred.

I hear you singing, my soul, but how can it be that

God’s voice has now become my own?

“That’s just a wedding gift for our

Divine Union,”

my Beloved

said. [1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] “A Wedding Gift”, St Francis of Assisi, in Love Poems to God, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 44. Picture by Titian.