2nd Easter 2018, Joy Inside

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2^nd  Easter
John 20: 19-29
 
On the evening of the first day after the Sabbath, the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the authorities. Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you!” And while he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
Full of joy the disciples recognized the Lord. And again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”
And when he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive Holy Spirit through which the world will receive healing. From now on you shall work in human destinies with spiritual power so that they shall have the strength to wrest themselves free from the load of sin, and at the same time to bear the consequences of their offences.”
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called

Tissot

the Twin, was not there with them when Jesus came. Later the disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he replied, “If I do not see in his hand the marks of the nails, and do not put my finger in the place where the nails were, and place my hand in his side, I cannot believe it.”
Eight days later, the disciples were again gathered in the inner room and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Stretch out your finger and see my hands, and stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Be not rigid in your heart, but rather feel and trust in my power in your heart.”
Then Thomas said to him, “You are the Lord of my soul; you are the God whom I serve.”
And Jesus said to him, “Have you found my power in yourself because you have seen me? Blessed are those who find my power in their hearts, even when their eye does not yet see me.”
 
2^nd Easter
April 8, 2018
John 20: 19-29
 
Movies nowadays are capable of creating amazing visuals. Characters in 3D can seem to hover in the space before us. They can become transparent and finally disappear, while their voice still continues to speak.
 
On Easter evening, Christ Jesus appears in the room though the doors are locked. He must have looked somewhat different, for it takes a moment for his friends to recognize him. His wounds are the keys that open their hearts. And his breath. He breathes peace into them. And He also breathes His power and strength into them, and into us—the strength to gradually work ourselves free from the burden of our destinies; the strength at the same time to carry the necessary consequences of our deeds.
 
Thomas was not present when Christ appeared, and so he questions the reality

Giambattista_Cima_da_Conegliano

of what his friends had experienced. Thomas is a figure for our time. For we are all struggling to recognize the reality behind the appearances. Pilate’s question to Jesus—what is truth?—is answered through Thomas. For Thomas learns that truth has many layers, of which the material is only one. Thomas must learn to trust in the non-material physical evidence. He trusts in what he can see, but also in what he can perceive as body warmth through his sense of touch, and through his recognition, his intuition, that the One who appears before him really is who He seems to be.
 
For at that moment, Christ inhabits a non-material body. It looks like a human body, yet I imagine it is transparent, and yet still visible, still bearing the marks of His suffering, still touchable, still real. As real as warmth, as real was His death, as real as is His Love. And through trust, Thomas awakens within himself the reality of Christ.
 
As a poetic theologian says:
 
… let yourself receive the one
who is opening to you so deeply.
For if we genuinely love Him,
we wake up inside Christ's body
 
where all our body, all over,
every most hidden part of it,
is realized in joy as Him,
and He makes us, utterly, real,
….
he awakens as the Beloved
in every last part of our body.*

---

*  “We Awaken in Christ's Body” by Symeon the New Theologian (949 – 1032 AD) English version by Stephen Mitchell.

Easter Sunday 2018, Rejoice and Open

Easter Sunday 

Mark 16: 1-18

Women at the Tomb, Fra Angelico

And when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb just as the sun was rising. And they said to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?”

And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back—and it was very large. And they went into the tomb. There they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clad in a white robe; and they were beside themselves with amazement. And he said to them, “Do not be startled; you seek Jesus of Nazareth the Crucified One. He is risen; He is not here; see, there is the place where they laid Him [his body]. But go and say to his disciples and Peter “He will lead you to Galilee. There you will see Him as He promised you.”

And they went out and fled from the tomb in great haste, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and being awestruck, they were unable to say anything to anyone about what they had experienced.

When He had risen early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene from whom He had driven out seven demons. And she went and told those who had walked with Him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, their hearts could not grasp it.

Emmaus, Bonnell

After this, He appeared in another form to two of them on the way as they were walking over the fields. And they went back and told the rest, but they could not open their hearts to their words either.

Afterwards, He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were celebrating the meal. He reproached them for their lack of openness and for their hardness of heart because they had not wanted to believe those who had seen Him, the Risen One.

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the new message from the realm of the angels to the whole of creation. Whoever unites his heart with it [believes] and is immersed in me [baptized] will attain the salvation. But whoever closes himself against it does not let the power of selflessness into his heart [does not let the power of My Self into his heart] will meet his downfall. And spiritual powers [these signs] will stand by those who unite themselves with it and will attend their path [believe]: Through the power of my being [in my name] they will drive out demons; they will speak a new language; serpents they will make upright, and poisons they are given to drink will not harm them. They will lay their hands on the sick and give healing forces to them.

Easter Sunday

April 1, 2018

Mark 16:1-18

The heart is a house with many chambers and many doors. With each beat, doors open and doors close, letting in enlivened blood from the breath, and sending the spent to be renewed. Our heart is also where our souls and spirits reside. And the soul’s chambers also have doors.

Christ the Gardener and Magdalene, Rembrandt

Three days after his death, Christ appears in various unfamiliar ways to those who love Him. To the women at the tomb, He is a young man in white; to Mary Magdalene He seems to be a gardener until He calls her by name. The two on the way to Emmaus don’t recognize Him until He breaks bread. ‘Did our hearts not burn within us as he was speaking?’ they say. Yet even some of his devoted followers cannot open the soul door of their hearts to the possibility that He lives. When, finally, they all experience Him together, He chides them for their closed hearts.

Christ is the being of Love. He says to them, to us—whoever unites his heart with the new message of Life, whoever is immersed in Me, in Love, will be healed of the rift between God and the human.

Our hearts are the key. They are the place where the Being of Love would dwell. The Sunday Service for the Children says that although Christ died, He, Love, becomes alive in the hearts of those who make room for Him there.

Christ Knocking, William Holman Hunt

Every Easter His love is renewed in us. His warmth changes our heartbeat into jubilating, healing power. As He says in his Revelation to John, ‘See I am here. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door [of the heart] I will come in and share the holy meal with them and they with me.’* So rejoice and open. As the poet says:

Every breath is a resurrection.

…We're reborn in all the sacred parts

Of our own bodies:

the heart

… the brain

Releases its shower

Of sparks,

and the tear

Embarks on its pilgrimage

Down the cheek to meet

The smiling mouth.**

*Rev 3:20

**Gregory Orr, “Resurrection”, in Concerning the Book that is the Body of the Beloved

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4th Passiontide 2018, Palm Sunday, Christ Light

4^th Passiontide

Palm Sunday

Matthew 21: 1-11

Lippi Memmo

And they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage by the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus sent two disciples ahead and said to them, “Go to the village which you see before you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there and her foal with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will let you take them right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

‘Say to the daughter of Zion,

Behold, your king comes to you in majesty.

Gentle is He, and He rides on a donkey and on a foal of the beast of burden.’

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the foal, placed their garments on them, and Jesus sat on them.

           

Many out of the large crowd spread their clothes on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of them and followed Him shouted:

Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is he who comes in the Name and Power of the Lord!

Hosannah in the highest! [Sing to Him in the highest heights!]

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is he?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

4th Passiontide, Palm Sunday

March 25, 2018

Matthew 21: 1-20

Entry into Jerusalem, Ninetta Sombart

Spring, new birth in nature; the tender wonders of youth and love; sunrise, the beginning of a new day; in these our souls rejoice.

Yet these are not the whole story, for every spring has its corresponding autumn. Every sunrise has its sunset. Every birth moves toward inevitably toward a death. Together these create a necessary balance, the whole of reality.

The crowd rejoices as they perceive the sparks scintillating from the God of the Sun. They feel the surge of spring; in an ecstasy of joy, they lay before Him the branches of the sun-tree, the palm.

Yet Christ moves through their wild joy in calm solemnity. He is moving resolutely toward His own autumn; for the sun of his human life is about to set.

Yet His death will reverse the old pattern. His death will bring about a new birth; the birth of a new kind of sun; a sun that shines steadily, a spirit sun that never sets. He rises on a Sunday to become the first born from the realm of the dead. (Rev. 1:5) He is the bright star that shines in the morning. (Rev. 22:16)

It is our heart’s deepest desire to find the spirit sun here on earth; to find and follow the light that shines in the darkness in solemn joy; to behold the Christ light in our daylight.

3rd Passiontide 2018, Dark Woods

3rd Passiontide

March 18, 2018

John 8: 1-12

Halfway through his life, the poet Dante finds himself in a dark forest, not quite knowing how he got there. He is threatened by three beasts who impede his path. In his despair, he appeals to one who guides him further along his way by offering to take him along another path.

We too, sometimes find ourselves ‘in a dark wood’, not quite knowing how we got there, lost and imperiled. If someone were to approach and judge us, criticize us for being hopelessly lost, it would not help—we already know that. What we need is a guide who takes us under his care and shows us another path, a way through.

Christ did not come to earth to pronounce judgment on human lives. By becoming human, he came to understand the human condition from the inside. He came to offer his strength, his clarity, his guidance. He can extend our clouded vision. He can help us recognize that we need to take another path, go in another direction. To the soul who had adulterated her true life’s path, he said, ‘Go. Go elsewhere; walk another path that does not send you to the beasts’.

For us too, Christ appears in our extreme need. He comes to give life’s light to us. Christ is here as a guide. He is here as light along the path in the darkness in which we all walk. In the words of Hafiz:

God

pours light

into every cup,

quenching darkness.

The proudly pious

stuff their cups with parchment

and critique the taste of ink

while God pours light

. . .  

pours like rain

into every empty cup

set adrift on the Infinite Ocean.*

2nd Passiontide 2018, Ground Under our Feet

2^nd Passiontide

March 11, 2018

John 6: 16 - 26

When evening came, his disciples went

Aivasovsky

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 11, 2018

John 6: 16 - 26

Aivasovsky

We are in rough waters. The wind of events are howling; the seas of emotions are running high. We are making efforts toward our goals, but are being pushed back. Fear is rising.

This is the moment when our hearts can call on our awareness of the spirit. We know that there is an over-arching divine consciousness. Our awareness of the trust, and the radiance of love. For we have eaten of the bread and were satisfied.'

spirit becomes a Presence; it can itself be terrifying at first. But in compassion, the Presence says: Fear not. I AM. And immediately we are at our goal. We find the ground under our feet. We experience calm

The heart’s song did not sound in vain,

for many now can hear again

the word of angels: Do not fear!

New light and sound in us appear

for strengthened heart and wakened ear.*

*Lent Song, German folk song, translation from Camphill

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1st Passiontide 2018, Our True Self

First Passiontide
Luke 11: 14-35

Jesus was driving out a demon from a man who was mute. And it came to pass that as the demon left, the man

Ottheinrich Folio

who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. However, some of them said, “He drives out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.” Others sought to test him by asking for a sign from heaven as proof of his spiritual power.

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself will be desolated, and house will fall against house. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? And you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub? Now if I were to drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers do it? Therefore, they shall be your judges.
        
But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, it follows that the kingdom of God has already come to you.
        
When a strong man in full armor guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, the victor takes away the armor in which the man had trusted, and divides it up as spoils.

He who does not unite with my being is against me, and he who does not gather in inner composure with me [work for inner composure with me] scatters.

When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it wanders through waterless places seeking a place to rest; and if it cannot find it, it says, ‘I will return to the dwelling out of which I have come.” When it returns to this dwelling it finds it cleaned and adorned. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself and enters and dwells in that man. And his final state is worse than the first.”

As he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, “Blessed is the mother who bore you and nursed you.”

But he said, “Truly blessed are those who hear the divine word in their hearts and tend it there.”

1^st Passiontide
March 4, 2018
Luke 11: 14 – 35

Dig a hole deep enough and

eventually you will find water. On the beach near the tideline, the hole fills immediately. Further inland you have to dig deeper.  If you want to use the water, you have to keep the well clear of debris, and keep drawing the water up.

Our capacities of thought and speech are some of the hallmarks of our being human. In today’s gospel reading, the adversarial spirit is hindering the man from the expression of his full humanity. It is Christ who removes this hindrance.  One can imagine the event in the words of the poet:

At the spring
we hear the great seas traveling
underground,
giving themselves up
with tongues of water
that sing the earth open.
 …
We have stories
as old as the great seas
breaking through the chest,
flying out the mouth,
noisy tongues that once were silenced,
all the oceans we contain
coming to light.[1]

But driving out a hindering spirit leaves a hole, a space in the human constitution. And Christ makes it clear that just being rid of the spirit is only a first step. What will be drawn into the now empty space?
Christ removes the opposing spirit in order to make a space for our true self, who is Himself. Yet he does not impose Himself. He waits to be invited, to be drawn in. When we invite Him, He says, ‘Truly blessed are those who hear the divine word in their heart and tend it there.’ Luke 11:28 We need only keep the well free of debris and keep drawing the Living Water.

---

[1] Linda Hogan, “To Light” in Seeing Through the Sun

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4th February Trinity 2018, Creation's Hour

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

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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 25, 2018
Matthew 17: 1-13

The sun sings. Most of us do not hear the song; it is part of 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.

Today’s Gospel reading enables us to see how the sun orb sings. Christ, the great out-pouring Spirit of the Sun, descended from the Cosmos. In this reading, 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 joining together with Christ, as past, present and future come 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). Raphael continues:

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. Today’s reading is a wake-up call - keep your eyes and ears and hearts open. Christ says, ‘Rise, and do not be afraid.’ (Matthew 17:7) and then He comes down the mountain, down from the heights, and walks the path toward his death, his own transformation and resurrection.

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

And rival storms abroad are

Aivasovsky, The Ninth Wave

 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 sounding light of a thousand suns will burst forth. The light will scatter and each human being will receive a spark of new life. The archangels will 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.*

*Goethe's Faust, Part 1