1st August Trinity 2011, The Task

Mark 8, 27-Mark 9-1 (Peter’s Confession)

1^st August Trinity

And Jesus went on with his disciples into the region of Caesarea Philippi (in the north of the land at the source of the Jordan where the Roman Caesar was worshiped as a divine being). And on the way there he asked the disciples (and said to them), “Who do people say that I am?”

They said to him, “Some say that you are John the Baptist; others say Elijah, still others that you are one of the prophets.”

Peter

Then he asked them, “And you, who do you say that I am?’

Then Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

And Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

 

And he began to teach them: “The Son of Man must suffer much and will be rejected by the leaders of the people, by the elders and the teachers of the law, and he will be killed and after three days he will rise again.” Freely and openly he told them this.

Then Peter took him aside and began to urge him not to let this happen. He, however, turned around, looked at his disciples, and reprimanded Peter, saying to him, “Withdraw from me; now the adversary is speaking through you! Your thinking is not divine but merely human in nature.”

And he called the crowd together, including his disciples and said to them, “Whoever would follow me must practice self-denial and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever is concerned about the salvation of his own soul will lose it; but whoever gives his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, his soul will find power and healing. For what use is it to a human being to gain the whole world if through that he damages his soul, which falls victim to the power of an empty darkness? What then can a man give as ransom for his soul? In this present humanity, which denies the spirit and lives in error, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the shining revelation of the Father among his holy angels.“

And he said to them, “The truth I say to you, among those who are standing here there are some who will not taste death before they behold the kingdom of God arising in human beings, revealing itself in the power and magnificence of the spirit.”

First August Trinity

July 24, 2011

Mark 8:27 – Mark 9:1

  

In today’s reading we hear Christ’s mysterious words: ‘whoever is concerned with the salvation of his own soul will lose it.’ Strange— isn’t that what Christianity is all about? The saving of one’s soul?

There is a story of a man who awakens one night to the presence of an angel writing in a book. The man asks, with humble courage, what the angel is writing. The angel replies, ‘The names of those who love the Lord’. Yet the man’s own name does not appear on the list. So he asks the angel to write him down as one who loves his fellowmen. The next night the angel returns, showing the names of those whom God has blessed, and the man’s name shines at the top of the list.[1]

The Gospel, the Good News from the realm of the angels, is that through Christ, we are all given the power and strength to love our fellow human beings. For the salvation of our own souls is not the goal. It is the result, a sort of unintended consequence of loving others. Our task is not the salvation of our own soul; it is the salvation of the world, through love. For Christ did not say, ‘save yourself’. Instead He has given us all a task. He asks us ‘to love one another as I have loved you’ (John 13:34)

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] “Abou Ben Adhem”, by Leigh Hunt, in The Golden Treasury of Poetry, Untermeyer, p. 315

1st August Trinity 2012, Begin

Mark 8, 27-Mark 9-1 (Peter’s Confession)

1^st August Trinity

Kings Library, The Hague

And Jesus went on with his disciples into the region of Caesarea Philippi (in the north of the land at the source of the Jordan where the Roman Caesar was worshiped as a divine being). And on the way there he asked the disciples (and said to them), “Who do people say that I am?”

They said to him, “Some say that you are John the Baptist; others say Elijah, still others that you are one of the prophets.”

Then he asked them, “And you, who do you say that I am?’

Then Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

And Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

 

And he began to teach them: “The Son of Man must suffer much and will be rejected by the leaders of the people, by the elders and the teachers of the law, and he will be killed and after three days he will rise again.” Freely and openly he told them this.

Then Peter took him aside and began to urge him not to let this happen. He, however, turned around, looked at his disciples, and reprimanded Peter, saying to him, “Withdraw from me; now the adversary is speaking through you! Your thinking is not divine but merely human in nature.”

Raphael

And he called the crowd together, including his disciples and said to them, “Whoever would follow me must practice self-denial and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever is concerned about the salvation of his own soul will lose it; but whoever gives his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, his soul will find power and healing. For what use is it to a human being to gain the whole world if through that he damages his soul, which falls victim to the power of an empty darkness? What then can a man give as ransom for his soul? In this present humanity, which denies the spirit and lives in error, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the shining revelation of the Father among his holy angels.“

And he said to them, “The truth I say to you, among those who are standing here there are some who will not taste death before they behold the kingdom of God arising in human beings, revealing itself in the power and magnificence of the spirit.”

1^st August/September Trinity

July 22, 2012

Mark 8:27 – Mark 9:1

We have passed the half-way point in the year. Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere are descending from the year’s zenith. For those in the Southern Hemisphere, the time of deepest darkness is past. Now begins the ascent into the light.

In today’s reading, Peter’s recognition of the Christ in Jesus is a kind of a high point. It allows Christ to further reveal even more of Himself—He says that the Son of Man must suffer much, be rejected, killed. But He will rise again. He speaks of a descent into the depths of human existence, into death, and beyond; for He will rise again.

This revelation seems to spur Peter’s thinking into a narrow abyss of fear—he urges Jesus to save His skin; but thereby Peter’s practicality misses the bigger picture, and he inadvertently opposes Christ’s mission. For in conquering death, Christ will ultimately make the earth itself into His body.

In our lives too, there are moments when the working of the divine reveals itself, often in the midst of an ordeal. We may not recognize it until later. And we may also then see how we resisted it out of fear or pride.

Though it is certainly human enough that we resist suffering, we ultimately need not fear it. These are indeed just the places where Christ is most easily found. For He has placed Himself forever into the depths of human existence. Whether we are ascending into the light, or descending into darkness, He always there to help us begin anew. As Vaclav Havel said,

Road to Emmaus, Bonnell

It is I who must begin.

Once I begin, once I try --

here and now,

right where I am,

….-- as soon as I begin that,

I suddenly discover,

to my surprise, that

I am neither the only one,

nor the first,

nor the most important one

to have set out

upon that road.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1]  Vaclav Havel, “It Is I Who Must Begin’ in Teaching With Fire, ed. by S.M. Intrator and M. Scribner

1st August Trinity 2014, Two Questions

Mark 8, 27-Mark 9-1 (Peter’s Confession)

1^st August Trinity

And Jesus went on with his disciples into the region of Caesarea Philippi (in the north of the land at the source of the Jordan where the Roman Caesar was worshiped as a divine being). And on the way there he asked the disciples (and said to them), “Who do people say that I am?”

They said to him, “Some say that you are John the Baptist; others say Elijah, still others that you are one of the prophets.”

Then he asked them, “And you, who do you say that I am?’

Then Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

And Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

 

And he began to teach them: “The Son of Man must suffer much and will be rejected by the leaders of the people, by the elders and the teachers of the law, and he will be killed and after three days he will rise again.” Freely and openly he told them this.

Then Peter took him aside and began to urge him not to let this happen. He, however, turned around, looked at his disciples, and reprimanded Peter, saying to him, “Withdraw from me; now the adversary is speaking through you! Your thinking is not divine but merely human in nature.”

And he called the crowd together, including his disciples and said to them, “Whoever would follow me must practice self-denial and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever is concerned about the salvation of his own soul will lose it; but whoever gives his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, his soul will find power and healing. For what use is it to a human being to gain the whole world if through that he damages his soul, which falls victim to the power of an empty darkness? What then can a man give as ransom for his soul? In this present humanity, which denies the spirit and lives in error, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the shining revelation of the Father among his holy angels.“

And he said to them, “The truth I say to you, among those who are standing here there are some who will not taste death before they behold the kingdom of God arising in human beings, revealing itself in the power and magnificence of the spirit.”

1^st August Trinity

July 27, 2014

Mark 8: 27 – Mark 9:1

Changing our angle of vision brings us very different information. Looking at an object from below shows us a different aspect than from above; the right side may be different from the left, as inner is from outer.

Christ asks two questions of those following him. One is “Who do others say that I am?” And the answers are multiple: John, Elijah, a prophet. Then he asks, “Who do you say that I am?” It is a question that directs their attention within, to their hearts. And Peter expresses the recognition that in Jesus there lives the promised Messiah, Christ, the Son of God.

For all of us, what matters about Christ is not what others say about him, for there are as many opinions as there are people. What matters is our soul’s own inner recognition of who Christ Jesus is. For he wants to live in and light up each human soul. He wants to live in our thinking as the light of reverent wonder. He wants to live in our hearts as the light of compassion and empathy. He wants to live in our will as enlightened deeds that repair the past and prepare the future.

We can perhaps hear His voice in the poem by Rumi:

Jacopo Bassano

If you put your hands on this oar with me,

they will never harm another, and they will come to find

they hold everything you want.

If you put your soul against this oar with me,

the power that made the universe will enter your sinew

from a source not outside your limbs, but from a holy realm

that lives in us.*

www.thechristiancommunity.org

*Rumi, “THAT LIVES IN US”, in Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West by Daniel Ladinsky

1st August Trinity 2013, Peter's Confession

Mark 8, 27-Mark 9-1 (Peter’s Confession)

1^st August Trinity

And Jesus went on with his disciples into the region of Caesarea Philippi (in the north of the land at the source of the Jordan where the Roman Caesar was worshiped as a divine being). And on the way there he asked the disciples (and said to them), “Who do people say that I am?”

They said to him, “Some say that you are John the Baptist; others say Elijah, still others that you are one of the prophets.”

Then he asked them, “And you, who do you say that I am?’

Then Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

And Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

 

And he began to teach them: “The Son of Man must suffer much and will be rejected by the leaders of the people, by the elders and the teachers of the law, and he will be killed and after three days he will rise again.” Freely and openly he told them this.

Then Peter took him aside and began to urge him not to let this happen. He, however, turned around, looked at his disciples, and reprimanded Peter, saying to him, “Withdraw from me; now the adversary is speaking through you! Your thinking is not divine but merely human in nature.”

And he called the crowd together, including his disciples and said to them, “Whoever would follow me must practice self-denial and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever is concerned about the salvation of his own soul will lose it; but whoever gives his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, his soul will find power and healing. For what use is it to a human being to gain the whole world if through that he damages his soul, which falls victim to the power of an empty darkness? What then can a man give as ransom for his soul? In this present humanity, which denies the spirit and lives in error, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the shining revelation of the Father among his holy angels.“

And he said to them, “The truth I say to you, among those who are standing here there are some who will not taste death before they behold the kingdom of God arising in human beings, revealing itself in the power and magnificence of the spirit.”

1^st August Trinity

July 28, 2013

Mark 8:27 – Mark 9:1

Sometimes things wear masks. The ugly bug in the garden turns out to be a beneficial. The carpenter building your cabinets turns out to have a Master’s in literature. If you can see beyond the surface, the world is full of surprises.

Christ Jesus wore the mask of a poor, homeless itinerant preacher and healer. It took a flash of moral intuition for Simon Peter to catch a glimpse of what vastness lay behind the mask. He caught the flash of the Messiah, the Son of God.

The world itself wears a mask, much of it pasted on by our own way of perceiving it and thinking about it. And so Peter, although he caught the greatness of Christ, rejects Christ’s prediction of what he will do and suffer.  It is too radically different from Peter’s expectations.  And so he pastes a mask of human reasonableness onto the vastness of a truth he cannot comprehend.

Sometimes we too have a flash of insight. It can be fearsome. What seems to matter to Christ is that we not set ourselves in opposition to what must be; that we surrender ourselves to what He means to have happen in the world, no matter how frightening or repulsive or puzzling the mask may seem to us. We need to be able to say in the words of Adam Bittleston:

May the events that seek me

Come unto me;

May I receive them

With a quiet mind

Through the Father’s ground of peace

On which we walk.

May the people who seek me

Come unto me;

May I receive them

With an understanding heart

Through the Christ’s stream of love

In which we live.

May the spirits who seek me

Come unto me;

May I receive them

With a clear soul

Through the healing Spirit’s light

By which we see.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Adam Bittleston, Meditative Prayers for Today. Click here to purchase

1st August Trinity 2007, Shining Revelation

Mark 8, 27-Mark 9-1 (Peter’s Confession)

1^st August Trinity

And Jesus went on with his disciples into the region of Caesarea Philippi (in the north of the land at the source of the Jordan where the Roman Caesar was worshiped as a divine being). And on the way there he asked the disciples (and said to them), “Who do people say that I am?”

They said to him, “Some say that you are John the Baptist; others say Elijah, still others that you are one of the prophets.”

Then he asked them, “And you, who do you say that I am?’

Then Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

And Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

 

And he began to teach them: “The Son of Man must suffer much and will be rejected by the leaders of the people, by the elders and the teachers of the law, and he will be killed and after three days he will rise again.” Freely and openly he told them this.

Then Peter took him aside and began to urge him not to let this happen. He, however, turned around, looked at his disciples, and reprimanded Peter, saying to him, “Withdraw from me; now the adversary is speaking through you! Your thinking is not divine but merely human in nature.”

 Luca Rossetti da Orta

And he called the crowd together, including his disciples and said to them, “Whoever would follow me must practice self-denial and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever is concerned about the salvation of his own soul will lose it; but whoever gives his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, his soul will find power and healing. For what use is it to a human being to gain the whole world if through that he damages his soul, which falls victim to the power of an empty darkness? What then can a man give as ransom for his soul? In this present humanity, which denies the spirit and lives in error, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the shining revelation of the Father among his holy angels.“

And he said to them, “The truth I say to you, among those who are standing here there are some who will not taste death before they behold the kingdom of God arising in human beings, revealing itself in the power and magnificence of the spirit.”

1^st August Trinity

July 22, 2007

Mark 8:27-9:1

  

Sometimes we hear a sound of something we can’t quite make out. Our mind tries to identify it based on things we have already heard. But if it is something we have never heard before, we may either give up trying to comprehend, or we may force the sound to fit into something we already know. A third option would be to expand a space inwardly to make room for something new.

Daniel Bonnell

In this gospel reading, Jesus is perceived as the Christ, the One Anointed for a special task. He tries to explain what being mankind’s highest leader will mean; it will mean suffering and death, but also resurrection. In order to journey with Him into the next phase of humanity’s evolution, His disciples will have to give up their hopes and expectations of His earthly kingship. They will need to free themselves from their preconceptions, for the old is at an end.

At the same time, they will need to bestir themselves, to pour their souls’ activity into following Him on this new path. They will need to change the way they think. They will need to re-tune the instrument of their feeling so that their actions fit this new path. For His path is one of selfless service, of selfless selfhood. It finds its power through hearing the good news from the realm of the angels. It is a path that heals and bridges the gulf between heaven and earth, between life and death, between the old and the new.

Today humanity is being called to perceive the new revelation of the Christ. We are being asked to free ourselves from preconceptions based on what we think we already know. We are being asked to hear His voice from the realm of the angels in inner silence. We are being invited to give up our self-preoccupation and to offer ourselves to His guidance. Walking with Christ, we walk through suffering and pain into the healing of our fellow human beings, into the healing of the earth.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

4th St. Johnstide 2007, Rest In Prayer

Sombart

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.

Nicoletto Semitecolo

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.”

4^th St. Johnstide 

July 15, 2007

John 3: 22-36

To plant a seed is an exercise in trust – we trust that this tiny hard little thing we stick in the ground has the power to develop into something quite different. We trust that the seed will grow up out of the earth, into the light and air, and will undergo its enormous changes of form. These changes are generated by the life-giving power of the sun.

Something similar takes place within us. Our lives, our souls, undergo tremendous changes and development. The powers that be have planted us here on earth. They have tremendous faith in our ability to develop. They have even given us all the potential. It all depends on our capacity to trust in the power of God’s Son within us.

“Whoever trusts in the power of the Son within himself, he grows out of earthly life into timeless life.” John 3:36

If the seed were too afraid to stretch into the light and air, it would remain in the earth and moulder away. If our souls and lives are ruled by fear and anxiety, we remain chained to the earthly.

“Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within will not behold the world of life. John 3:36 The Son God is the power behind our becoming. He is the power that gives us the courage to proceed through all our changes, to keep growing, ever higher, ever deeper. We don’t need to be so anxious, so full of our own efforts. We have help.

Catherine of Sienna wrote:

The sun hears the fields talking about effort

And the sun smiles

And whispers to me

“Why don’t the fields just rest, for

I am willing to do

Everything

To help them grow?”

Rest my dears, in

Prayer.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Catherine of Sienna, “Rest in Prayer,” in Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky. P. 195.

1st August Trinity 2008, Hiding in Plain Sight

Mark 8, 27-Mark 9-1 (Peter’s Confession)

1^st August Trinity

And Jesus went on with his disciples into the region of Caesarea Philippi (in the north of the land at the source of the Jordan where the Roman Caesar was worshiped as a divine being). And on the way there he asked the disciples (and said to them), “Who do people say that I am?”

They said to him, “Some say that you are John the Baptist; others say Elijah, still others that you are one of the prophets.”

Then he asked them, “And you, who do you say that I am?’

Then Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

And Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

 

And he began to teach them: “The Son of Man must suffer much and will be rejected by the leaders of the people, by the elders and the teachers of the law, and he will be killed and after three days he will rise again.” Freely and openly he told them this.

Then Peter took him aside and began to urge him not to let this happen. He, however, turned around, looked at his disciples, and reprimanded Peter, saying to him, “Withdraw from me; now the adversary is speaking through you! Your thinking is not divine but merely human in nature.”

And he called the crowd together, including his disciples and said to them, “Whoever would follow me must practice self-denial and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever is concerned about the salvation of his own soul will lose it; but whoever gives his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, his soul will find power and healing. For what use is it to a human being to gain the whole world if through that he damages his soul, which falls victim to the power of an empty darkness? What then can a man give as ransom for his soul? In this present humanity, which denies the spirit and lives in error, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the shining revelation of the Father among his holy angels.“

And he said to them, “The truth I say to you, among those who are standing here there are some who will not taste death before they behold the kingdom of God arising in human beings, revealing itself in the power and magnificence of the spirit.”

1^st August Trinity

July 27, 2008

Mark 8: 27 – 9:1

We may have had the experience of being introduced to someone about whom we have already heard a lot. In the first few seconds they are just an ordinary blank stranger. But as it dawns on us who they really are, a whole inner story lights up around them.

Our relationship with Christ begins with a kind of introduction, followed by a first dawning recognition. The disciples had long before heard about a coming Messiah, a prophet and a priest-king. In today’s Gospel, Christ is in a circumspect way introducing Himself to them: “Who do people say that I am? What do you say?” No boasting here. He counts on them to recognize who He truly is. It is Peter who on whom it dawns that the Jesus they already know and love, is the Christ, the Messiah. But Christ Jesus is careful to warn them that there is a darker side to His story than the glories of priest, king and prophet: there will be suffering, rejection, and death; but also resurrection.

Christ in fact still walks the earth.  And today it is just as important to Him that we come to an inner recognition of His presence and being. He walks and operates among us.

How can we recognize Him? He “hides” in plain sight. His self-description in the gospel gives us a hint at where to look. Whenever we see suffering and death, He is there at work. Whenever we rise up again, from our griefs and blows, from our sick bed, even from a night’s sleep, there He is working. He lives every moment in every breath we take. We only have to open our eyes, and our souls. We can see Him everywhere, working in everyone, infusing the world with the strength of His life and His love.

The poet Hafiz writes:

When your eyes have found the strength

To constantly speak to the world

All that is most dear

To your own

Life,

When your hands, feet, and tongue

Can perform in that rare unison

That comforts this longing earth

With knowledge, your soul

Your soul has been groomed

In His city of love….[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Hafiz, “I Vote for You for God”, in The Gift, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 175.