2nd Passiontide 2019, Bread of Life

2^nd Passiontide

John 6: 26 -35

Amedee Varint

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?"

Woloschina

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.

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.’”

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 31, 2019

John 6: 26 -35

Today’s gospel reading takes place right after the feeding of the five thousand. The disciples are in a boat, rowing hard in stormy darkness. Christ comes toward them, a shining beacon. “Have no fear,” he says. “I AM.” His earlier feeding of them has awakened in them a capacity to see and distinguish Him elsewhere when they are at sea in the darkest storm. When they take Him in, they are immediately where they need to be.

Arild Rosenkrantz

In our lives, there are of course also times of stormy darkness, where efforts are needed to keep our souls from capsizing. To us too, he says, Have no fear. He has nourished and fed us at the altar. We have taken him in. When we remember this with all the strength of our trust in Him, we take him into our soul-ship with us, and we are where we need to be.

Indeed, to the crowd the next day Christ points out that they have sought him because of spiritual nourishment because they had eaten of the spiritually strengthened bread and were satisfied. And He urges them, as He urges us, to search for such spiritual nourishment; to search for Christ Himself, who is the Bread that supports the eternal life of our souls. He urges us to recognize Him, He who approaches us always amid the storms of life. We can pray in the spirit of the Lord’s prayer:

Grant what we need each day in bread and insight.*

*Neil Douglas-Klotz, Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus

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1st Passiontide 2019, Be the Sun

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 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.”

And as the crowds increased, Jesus began to speak. “The men of this generation are strangers to their true being. They look for signs and outer proofs of the spirit, but none other will be given to them but the sign of Jonah. For just as once Jonah shared the experience of the spirit with the inhabitants of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man share the experience of the spirit with this present generation. The Queen of the South will rise in the time of great crisis and decision against the men of this present generation and judge them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But know this: here is more than Solomon.

The inhabitants of Nineveh will rise up in the days of crisis and decision against the men of this present generation and will pronounce judgment over them. For they changed their ways after the proclamation of Jonah. But know this; here is more than Jonah.

No one lights a light and then puts it in a hidden place or under a vessel, but rather sets it on a lampstand, so that all may see the light shining.

The light of your body is your eye. When your eye looks at the world clearly and impartially, the processes of your whole body will be inwardly filled with light. If however, the eye’s desire sees the world separated from the spirit, darkness will pour itself into you.

Protect yourself that the light does not become darkness in you.

If your body is now filled with light, so that it no longer takes part in darkness, everything will be completely illuminated, so that, with lightning brightness, the light irradiates you completely from within.

1^st Passiontide

March 24, 2019

Luke 11: 14 – 35

In older cultures, each house had a small shrine. This was the place where the image of the god lived and was honored. It was the center of the home culture.

What was once done outwardly has now moved inward. We each have a center – the deep shrine of the heart. It is there that Christ dwells in us. But who else lives with us in the home of the body? Are our soul and body a noisy gathering place for other spirits? Do we remember to worship at the shrine of the heart?

The gospel reading tells of a person occupied by a spirit of deafness and muteness. Christ encourages us to listen at the shrine of the heart: ‘Truly blessed are those who hear the divine word in their hearts and tend it there.’ Luke 11:28

We, together with Christ in our deepest selves, can strengthen and expand our own sovereign occupation of our souls and bodies. Gathered in inner composure with Him who is Love, we can fully occupy our own body and soul. Thus we leave no room for spirits of division and darkness, for demons of hatred, doubt and fear. Composed with Him who stands at peace with the world, we can radiate Christ-light within, from the center, from our Christ-core in the shrine of the heart. For as the poet Thomas Centolella reminds us:

On a gray day, when the sun

has been abducted, and it’s chill

end-of-the-world weather,

I must be the sun.

I must be the one

to encourage ….

to remind [myself] …..

I must issue forth a warmth

without discrimination, [or]and any guarantee

it will come back to me.

On a dark day I must be willing

to keep my disposition light, ….

I have to be the sun,

I have to shine as if

sorry life itself depended on it.

I have to make all the difference.*

And we do this by finding and amplifying the Christ-Light in us.

---

*Thomas Centolella, “Solar”, in Views from along the Middle Way.

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7th February Trinity 2019, Sun Within the Sun

February Trinity

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

Transfiguration, Fra Angelico, Wikimedia Commons

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

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone as 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.

Baptism, Verrochio, da Vinci

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.

 7^th February Trinity

March 17, 2019

Matthew 17: 1-13

The rising and setting of the sun create our sense of time, our day and night, season after season. At its highest, the sun is too bright to look at. Only when it is near the horizon can our eyes bear to look at it directly.

Our lives too have their seasons, their rising and setting. In the midst of our lives, it is often not possible to see what shines within them. But near their setting, it is easier to view.

Jesus bore the Christ-Sun within him. In today’s reading, the sun of Christ’s earthly human life is approaching its setting.

The three disciples with Him are granted a glimpse into the Sun-brightness of

His being. He stands in conversation with Moses, the past giver of the Law, and Elijah, the prophet of the future. Christ stands in the middle between them as the ever-present Now, for he has gathered into himself all of time. His earthly life is setting; and yet the Christ Sun will rise again. He is both Alpha and Omega, beginning and goal.

Our lives in Christ, the Christ-Sun in us, is the eternally present Now. He allows us to see the meaning of our lives in clarity, especially in its setting. Christ in us allows us to hope for another rising when this life reaches its close.

For as Angelus Silesius said, we are to become radiant suns:

My spirit once in God will eternal bliss become

Just as the sun’s own ray is sun within the sun.*

---

*Angelus Silesius, Cherubinic Wanderer

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6th February Trinity 2019, Become His Likeness

February Trinity 

(Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Matthew 4:1-11

Tissot

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

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

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

Tissot

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

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

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

Tissot

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

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

6th Feb Trinity

March 10, 2019

Matthew 4: 1-11

  

A tree lives and develops in three zones. It is rooted in the earth where it is nourished by the soil. It weaves and works in air and light; it blossoms and fruits in the warmth of the sun.

In overcoming the three temptations, Christ, the divine human being, clears the three basic areas in which our living souls develop. He reminds us to root ourselves, nourished ‘in the creative power that comes from the mouth of God.’ Matthew 4:4 That is, we are to recognize that we are not fed and sustained by the material nature of bread, but rather by the living power of the universe that God places in the grain.

Tree of Life

While rooted in God’s creative power, we are to weave in the light and air of the divine world and its lawful order, within the divine ‘ordering of space and course of time’. To make one’s ego supreme, to impose one’s own wishes and desires on the world, to test the divine order, is to be like leaves trying to fly—such leaves, separated from the tree, are in fact already dead.

And we are to blossom in the warmth of divine love, not in the heat of overbearing pride. For it is the wise guidance of God that brings us to our full glory and fruitfulness, not our own seeming mastery over the world.

Rooting our souls in God, working and weaving in His light, blossoming in His warmth, we will gradually develop into what God intends us to be—fully and divinely human. Overcoming the basic standard temptations, the temptations of materialism and egotistical pride, our true humanity will blossom.

We were created in God’s image. Through Christ’s strength of overcoming, we will weave and work His purpose, in His daylight. Through Christ, we will blossom into God’s purpose and promise for us: that we become His likeness.

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5th February Trinity 2019, Let It Go

Sunday before Ash Wednesday, 7^th Sunday before Easter)

Luke 18: 18-34 (adapted from Madsen)

One of the highest spiritual leaders of the people asked him, “Good Master, what must I do to obtain eternal life?”

Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but One—God alone. You know the commandments, you shall not destroy marriage, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not speak untruth, and you shall honor your father and your mother!

He said, “All these I have observed strictly from my youth.”

[Jesus, looking at him, loved him… Mk 10:21] When Jesus heard this, he said,  “One thing however you lack: Sell all of your possessions and give the money to the poor; thus will you achieve a treasure in the spiritual world—then come and follow me!

He was sad about these words, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw him thus, he said, “What hindrances must those overcome who are rich in outer or inner possessions, if they want to enter into the kingdom of God. Sooner would a camel walk through the eye of a needle than a rich man be able to find the entrance to the kingdom of God!”

Those who heard this said, “Who then can be saved?”

He said, “For man alone it is impossible; it will be possible however through the power of God working in man.”

Then Peter said to him, “Behold, we have given up everything to follow you.”

He replied, “Amen, the truth I say to you. No one who leaves home or wife, or brother or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in earthly life, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Then he took the twelve to himself and said, “Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything which the prophets have written about the Son of Man will fulfill itself: He will be given over to the peoples of the world; they will mock and taunt him, they will spit upon him and scourge him and kill him, but on the third day he will rise up from the dead.”

Yet his disciples understood nothing of all this. The meaning of his words remained hidden from them, and they did not recognize what he was trying to tell them.

5^th February Trinity

March 3, 2019

Luke 18: 18-34

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are anticipating the richness of spring and the fullness of summer; but below the equator, it is turning into autumn and winter is approaching. This great balance over the whole earth is a picture of a great truth that also exists on the soul level:  over the whole of a lifetime, no matter what our inner or outer riches, we must pass through loss and death to arrive at a new life.

In the gospel reading, Christ brings this home to the rich young man.

Heinrich Hoffman

The young man is rich, both inwardly and outwardly; he is in the summer of his development.  But Christ is asking him to take the next step—the step into an autumn shedding, the step into a winter sleep. The episode ends before we find out whether the rich one does carry out Christ’s request. At this moment in the gospel story, the young man is very sad—he already anticipates the grief of loss.

But when the young man summons the courage to follow through, he will leave behind his wealth for others and lay down his life. His loss and death will be real and complete. But so will his completely new and unforeseen life. He is to become a Lazarus. Christ will call him forth to a whole new level of being.  And Christ will intimately and continually accompany his further development – through loss and death, and into a further life. 

The recently deceased poet Mary Oliver* says:

Every year

everything

I have ever learned

in my lifetime

leads back to this: the fires

and the black river of loss

whose other side

is salvation

….

To live in this world

you must be able

to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it

against your bones knowing

your own life depends on it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,

to let it go.

*Mary Oliver, “In Blackwater Woods.”

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4th February Trinity 2019, Inner Household

February Trinity

Luke 12: 35-48

Burnand

“Be dressed and ready for service and keep your lamps burning. Be like men who are expecting their master back from the marriage feast, so that they can open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are the servants whom the master finds awake when he comes! Yes, I tell you, he will put on an apron himself and show them to the table and serve them. And if he does not come until the second or third watch of the night, and yet finds them awake: Blessed are the servants! You know: If the master of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would not let his house be looted. So be ready: The Son of Man comes at an hour that you had not thought.”

Then Peter said, “Lord, are you telling us this parable, or is it for all human beings?”

And the Lord answered, “Imagine a faithful and competent steward whom his master appoints to be in charge of the whole staff, to give to each one what he is entitled to. Blessed is that servant if the master comes and finds him carrying out his duties.  I tell you, he will entrust him with all his goods. But if the servant says in his heart, ‘My master will not be coming all that soon,” and begins to mistreat the other servants and the maids, himself all the while eating and drinking and becoming intoxicated, then the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour that he does not know. The master will virtually tear him to pieces; he will treat him as those deserve who have not proved faithful.

A servant who knows his master’s will but does not act according to it and so does not carry out his will deserves the severest punishment. If he does not know the master’s will and then does something that deserves punishment, he will escape more lightly. From one who has many gifts, much will also be expected; and from one who has been entrusted with much, much more will also be demanded.

4th February Trinity

February 24, 2019

Luke 12: 36-48

The theme of this gospel reading is service. It is easy enough to apply this parable to our outer lives. For we all have interactions with people who serve us—waitpersons, public servants the grocery store clerk. Obviously, we are to treat them well. Likewise, many of us may serve and direct others in some capacity.

But the characters in the parable could also be seen as the various members of our own nature. We could think of our own “I” as the faithful and competent steward whom the Master has appointed to be in charge of the whole internal household of the soul. It is our duty to treat the various parts of ourselves firmly but well, to nourish them and coordinate their working, so that our inner house functions smoothly.

Our wills need directing; our feelings need to be wholesome; our thinking pure and engaged. Even our lowliest servant, the body, needs direction, nourishment, and care.

Juan de Juanes

Our own Self, our I, is itself the servant of the greater Master. To most of us, the Master seems to be away just now. But His arrival is imminent. “The Son of Man comes at an hour that you had not thought.” Lk 12:40

In the story, the Master may appear harsh to those who are not ready for him. But it is easy to overlook the fact that here, the Master himself acts as a servant. When He comes and finds that his servants are awake to open the door, he offers to nourish those who have served him, who have taken good care of the inner household for him. The reading says, “He will put on an apron and show them to the table and serve them.” Lk 12:37 For it is within us, in the house of our Selfhood, entered through the door of our wakeful heart, that Christ would dwell. And even today, we hear Him say: Take bread; take wine. Be nourished by Me, and I will give you my peace.”

3rd February Trinity 2019, Another Sowing

Luke 8: 14-18 (adapted from Madsen)

And as a great crowd had gathered, and ever more people streamed to him out of the cities, he spoke in a parable:

van Gogh

A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell on the path. It was trodden upon, and the birds of the sky (air) ate it up. Other seed fell upon the rocks, and as it sprouted, it (the sprouting green) withered, because it had no moisture. Still other seed fell under the thorns; the thorns grew with it and choked what came up. And some fell upon good soil, grew, and brought forth fruit a hundredfold. When he had said these things, he called out:

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

His disciples asked him what this parable might mean. And he said:

To you it has been given the gift of being able to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but to the others, it is given in pictures and parables, for they see and do not yet see, and hear, although they do not yet understand with their thinking. The meaning of the parable is this:

The seed is the Word of God. That which fell upon the path are those who hear it; afterward, the tempter comes and tears the Word out of their hearts so that they cannot find healing through the trusting power of faith working in them.

Those on the rock are those who, when they hear the Word, take it up with joy; but they remain without root. For a while, the power of their faith works in them, but in times of trial, they fall away.

What fell under the thorns are those who hear the Word from the spirit, and as they go on their way, the sorrows and the riches and the joys of life choke it, and they bring no fruit to maturity.

And the seed which fell in the good soil are those who hear the Word, and take it up into their hearts, feel its beauty, become noble and worthy and patiently keep it alive, tending it there until it brings forth fruit.

No one lights a light and hides it under a vessel or under a bench; instead, he places it on a lampstand so that all who come in see the light. For nothing is hidden which shall not be revealed, and nothing is secret which shall not be known and proclaimed. So attend to how you listen. For he who has enlivened in himself the power to bear the spirit, to him more will be given. He however who does not have this power, from him will be taken that which he thinks he has.

3rd February Trinity

February 17, 2019

Luke 8: 14 – 18

Anyone who has tried planting a garden knows: the conditions must be right. The right season, the right temperature, neither too hot nor too cold. The right level of moisture, neither too hard and dry, nor too muddy. The right level of fertility.

Our hearts are also gardens waiting to be cultivated; cultivated through art, through truth, through spiritual and religious practice. Some of us may be just starting. Or maybe we tried before, but we lacked sufficient depth. Or maybe our hearts wandered off into the busyness of life. But there comes a moment.  The poet says:

Tissot

My soul is a dark plowed field

In the cold rain;

My soul is a broken field

Plowed by pain.

Where windy grass and flowers

Were growing,

The field lies broken now

For another sowing.

Great Sower, when you tread

My field again,

Scatter the furrows there

With better grain.*

Our hearts plowed by life’s sorrows, broken open with gratitude, watered by tears. And the Word-Seed is sown. Recognizing our fertility, our heart’s potential, the Creator drops his Word – I AM – into our hearts.

And the Word-Seed takes root. We recognize that it has the potential to grow into a thing of beauty in us. And so we straighten up and do our best to cultivate the garden of our heart. With patient effort, we tend the Word-Seed. We keep our hearts moist and soft. We weed out our bad habits. With patient effort, we tend the creating Word in our hearts until it grows and blossoms forth in beauty of soul. Until it matures into fruitful deeds of love.

---

*Sara Teasdale, “The Broken Field"

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