4th Michaelmas 2019, Battle for Truth

4^th Michaelmas Sunday

Revelation 19, 11-16 (adapted from Madsen)

Queen Mary Apocalypse

And I saw the heavens opening up. And behold, a white horse! And the rider who sat upon it is called faithful and true, who judges justly and battles for justice. His eyes are like flames of fire, and his head wears many crowns, inscribed with a name which no one knows but he himself. The cloak that covers him has been dipped in blood, and he is known by the name “Word of God”.

And the warriors of the sky ride behind him upon white steeds, clad in clean, white linen. And he has a sharp-edged sword coming out of his mouth with which to subdue the nations, and he will shepherd them with a staff of iron. He treads on the winepress holding the wine of the wrath of the will of God, the ruler of all.

And written on his cloak and on his thigh is the name: King of all kings, Lord of all lords.

4^th Michaelmas

October 20, 2019

Revelation 19: 11- 16

In our unsettling times, it can be hard to hear the message in today’s reading. Its tone seems strong, harsh even. But a closer reading can reveal a pattern of truth.

Schongauer

This tone is a kind of mask. It is the face of the archangel Michael that the Christ being wears at the moment, the earnest expression that threatens the adversarial powers who intimidate humankind. The reading reassures us that He, who judges justly and battles for truth is the guiding force in the evolution of our humanity.

He is pictured as wearing a cloak dipped in blood, with an iron shepherd’s staff. This is a picture for the iron in our blood, which keeps us strong, upright and moving decisively forward. This iron is strengthened yearly by our breathing of the meteoric iron in the atmosphere as the earth moves through the late summer meteor showers. With it comes an infusion of heavenly intent.

His two-edged, discerning sword—the creative Word of God—strikes down the nations, perhaps not so much because they need punishing, but because each nation has its season. A nation rises and falls according to what the human evolution toward love needs at any given time.

Mystic Winepress

He treads on the winepress containing the wine of God’s will. This ‘wrath’ of God’s will is transformational, regenerative, perhaps like a furious cleaning that creates order. This will of God separates out impurities, creating a purifying essence, a healing wine.

We are being reminded that it is time for the old and no longer useful in us to be discarded; that we need to join the warriors in white; for we are to press the essence of our lives, our love, into a nourishing drink in support of what the angels are trying to accomplish with us.  

3rd Michaelmas 2019, Sun-Child

3^rd Michaelmas 

Revelation 12: 1-17

Benjamin West

And a momentous image was unveiled in the world of spirit: a woman, clothed with the radiant power of the sun, the moon under her feet, her head adorned with the crown of the twelve stars of heaven. And she is with child and cries out in the labor and pain of giving birth.

And at the same time, a second image was revealed in the heavens: a great fiery-red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. On its head, it has seven crowns and its tail is sweeping a third of all the stars in heaven and dashing them onto the earth. And the dragon is standing before the woman about to give birth so that when she bears the child he can devour it. And she bore a child, a son ”who would shepherd all nations with a rod of iron.” And the woman’s child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place that God keeps ready there, so that they can take care of her for days numbering one thousand two hundred sixty.

And a war flared up in the spirit world. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. And the dragon fought in the midst of his own angels, but he was not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. Down came the dragon, the giant, the serpent, the evil one called both Satan and the devil, deceiver of all the world. Onto the earth, he came hurtling down, and all his angels with him.

And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying:

Bernard Eyb

Now can begin the working which proceeds from our God—

The power to heal the world,

The power to transform all being,

The power to draw everything into godly being.

Arisen is the spirit leadership of his Christ.

Overthrown is the accuser of our brothers,

He who accused them night and day before the countenance of God.

They have overcome him through the blood and the sacrificial power of the Lamb

And by the divine Word to which they bore witness.

They did not love their own lives too dearly, nor did they fear death.

Therefore, rejoice you heavens

And all who lodge therein!

But woe to the earth and the sea:

For the Adversary has come down to you,

And he seethes with measureless fury,

For he knows that his time is short.

And when the dragon recognized that he had been cast onto the earth, he began to persecute the woman who had borne the son. Then the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle so that she could fly into the desert to her appointed place, where she is to be nourished for a cycle of time, for cycles of time, and for half a cycle of time, far from the face of the serpent.

And the serpent opened his mouth and spewed out a river of water after the woman so she would be swept off her feet by the river. But then the earth came to the woman’s assistance; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon spewed from his mouth. And the dragon burned with fury against the woman. He stormed away to make war on the rest of the woman’s seed, people who keep to the divine world aims and who are united with the destiny and witnessing of Jesus. As I saw this I was standing on the sandy shore of the sea.

3^rd Michaelmas

October 13, 2019

Revelation 12: 1-17

Rosenkrantz

In grand and mysterious pictures, this reading from the Revelation to John places before our souls a kind of mirror.

In this mirror, we see the woman clothed in the sun, crowned with stars, the moon under her feet. This is a picture of the great heavenly soul of all mankind. In the realm of sleep, from the heavenly realm of night, all of humanity has collectively labored to bring forth the shining, innocent Son of Humanity. In and from the realm of the stars, all of humanity has labored to make manifest this shining being who would shepherd all the nations.

But, of course, the opposition appeared. Its seven crowned heads are the devouring negative spiritual forces that have ever sought to threaten humanity’s great soul and to prevent the birth. But the Son of Man was indeed born. He was not destroyed, nor was humanity’s soul. And Michael expelled the dragon from the world of the stars, from the night world. Humanity’s soul and all the good it brings forth are safe in the realm of night.

The dragon of the destructive soul forces can now only work on earth through our day being. Now he tries to destroy human souls on earth one by one. But we have been given the wings of the eagle, the far-seeing power of thought, of insight and oversight. These wings help us rise above the threat of negative forces within the soul. And our very earthly constitution, woven of wisdom, the secret, helpful will-forces connected with our bodily nature, these will-forces help swallow and neutralize our flooding passions. No feeling, however strong and negative, lasts forever.

 

Roland Tiller

The dragon, the old enemy of mankind, continues his ancient war upon humankind by attacking individual human souls. But Christ, the Son of Man, with Michael, his defender, has the power to heal the world; He has the power to transform all being, the power to elevate everything into godly being. Through the Christ-power of love, Michael holds the dragon beneath his feet. He helps us raise all earthly being into heavenly heights. He draws forth from our hearts the power to carry the earthly contents of the day into the divine regions of the purified night. Through Michael, our soul’s days, too, can now bring forth the heart’s bright Sun-child, here on the earth.

2nd Michaelmas 2019, Endless Chaos

2^nd 3^rd or 4^th Michaelmas

Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, 6:10-19 (adapted from Madsen)

What it comes to in the end is this: grasp the power that streams to you in the experience of Christ in the soul and in the powerful regency of his pure spiritual strength.

Put on the power of God as one puts on full armor, so that you may stand against the well-aimed attacks of the adversary. For our struggle is not to fight against powers of flesh and blood, but against

spirit beings mighty in the stream of time,

against spirit beings powerful in the molding of earth substance,

against cosmic powers whose darkness rules the present time,

against spirits who carry evil into the realms of the spiritual world.

Therefore take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand your ground on the day when evil unfolds its greatest strength and victoriously withstand it.

Stand firm, then, girded with the truth, like a warrior firmly girded. Connect yourself with all in the world as is justified in the spiritual world, and this connection with the spirit will protect you like a strong breastplate.

And may Peace stream through you, down to your feet, so that on your path you spread peace, as the message that comes from the realm of the angels.

In all your deeds have trust in God. This trust will be like a mighty shield; with it,  you can quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take into your thinking the certainty of Christ’s healing deed. It will protect your head like a helmet.

And the spirit, which has become living in you, you shall grasp as one grasps a sharp sword. The sword of the spirit is the working of the Word of God.

May this armor clothe you in all your prayers and supplications so that in the right moment you raise yourself in prayer to the spirit, and at the same time practice wakefulness in inner loyalty.

Feel yourself united in prayer with all other bearers of the spirit—also with me, Paul, so that the power of the word will be given to me when I am to courageously and openly bring the knowledge of that holy mystery which lives in the message of the gospel.

2nd Michaelmas

October 11, 2015

October 6, 2019

Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, 6:10-19

When we ship out a package containing something valuable, we know to pack it well. We give it layers of protection so that it can withstand the shocks and drops and weight of the shipping process.

In this reading, called The Armor of God, it is clear that we are being sent out in the midst of a battle against spiritual adversaries. And like the valuable beings we are, we are to be wrapped in layers of protection. We are to receive and bear protective armor. We are to put on the firm protection of truth; shielded by trust in God, and of the knowledge that Christ heals. The only weapon we hold is the sword of spiritual discernment, using the weapon of discernment according to Christ’s Word.  Yet we are not being called upon to attack the adversaries, nor to destroy them. Our part in the battle is a defensive one. We are to endure, deflect their attacks, and remain standing, inwardly upright.

Through the wearing of this armor of truth, trust, and discernment, we are called upon, not to thrash about and flail with our weapons. We are called upon to become protected vessels that contain and pour out peace, a peace that reaches down into the way we walk in the world. It is a peace that streams out from us so that we ourselves become messengers of the good news from the realm of the angels. As Adam Bittleston says:

Rosenkrantz

We need in the strife of our day

The eternal Peace of the Word of God.

Seeking this Peace with our whole being

On the path which leads from the nightmare

Of endless chaos,

Into the order of heaven

And to the Father of all things—

We shall meet Michael

Who reveals how Christ

Awakens Man

That he may serve God.[1]

---

[1] Adam Bittleston, Michaelmas II, in Meditative Prayers for Today, Buy here

1st Michaelmas 2019, Married to Amazement

1^st Michaelmas 

Matthew 22, 1-14 (adapted from Madsen)

And Jesus continued to speak in parables to them:

Corina Ferraz

The kingdom of the heavens arising in human hearts is like a man, a king, who prepared a marriage feast for his son. And he sent out his servants to call the guests who had been invited to the marriage, but they would not come.

Then he again sent out other servants, and said, “Say to those who have been invited, ‘Think, I have prepared my best for the banquet, the sacrificial oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered; everything is ready. Come quickly to the wedding.”

But they were not interested and went off, one going to his field to be his own master, another falling into the hectic pace of his own business. The rest, however, took hold of the servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

Then the king grew angry; he sent out his army, brought the murderers to their destruction, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, “Although the marriage feast is prepared, the invited guests have proved themselves unworthy. Go out therefore to the crossroads of destiny and invite to the wedding whoever you can find.”

And the servants went into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Eugene Burnand

Then the king came in to see the guests, and among them, he noticed a man who was not dressed in the wedding garment, which was offered to him. And he said to him, “My friend, you are sharing the meal; how is it you came in here without putting on the wedding garment that was offered to you?”

But the man was speechless.

Then the king said to the servants, “Bind him hand and foot and cast him out into the darkness, where human beings wail and gnash their teeth. For the call goes out to many, yet only a few make themselves bearers of the higher life.”

1st Michaelmas

September 29, 2019

Matthew 22, 1-14

A wedding is an occasion for joy. The whole community rejoices when a couple finds their way to each other on earth. For indeed, their union is a symbol of the work that each of us is meant to do inwardly.

Like the partners in a couple, we each of us have two contrasting capacities.

 Individually we have a kind of willpower that is like an arrow – actively and unswervingly headed toward a goal. This kind of will has a masculine quality. We also have a will that is more like a vessel – open, able to receive, to bear, and to let go. This kind of softer will has a more feminine quality.

Rosetti

It is our human task, as an individual, to integrate and harmonize both of these types of will, the softer receptivity, and the goal-directed will, within ourselves in a way that is fruitful and productive.  We could call it the wedding of the masculine and the feminine within our soul. This kind of integration is also the goal of an earthly partnership.

Today’s reading, the wedding of the King’s Son, represents a third level of wedding. It is the wedding of the will of God to the receptive soul of humanity. The king’s son, Christ, has pledged himself to the soul of humanity on earth, and to the earth itself. He is Love Incarnate, the Being of Love itself. The Father has invited us all to this wedding and urges us to accept the invitation so that humanity can progress.  Yet respecting our freedom, He allows us our choice. However, being immersed only in business, being only one’s own master, unwilling to respond properly to what is being offered can lead us into destruction. The arrow of self-will turns against us.

Collectively we are to cultivate openness and receptivity so that we can heed the invitation and put on the garment of open prayer. We are to receive the Bridegroom in the joy and celebration that is offered to us. We will find Him in our appreciation of the wonders of the created world, in the compassion of hearts, in deeds motivated by conscience. In the words of Mary Oliver:

When it's over, I want to say: all my life

I was a bride married to amazement.

I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.*

---

*Mary Oliver, “When Death Comes” in New and Selected Poems, Volume I

9th August/September Trinity 2019, Last Fruits

August/September Trinity 

Luke 7, 11-17

And it came to pass that on the next day Jesus went into a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. And as he drew near to the gate of the city, they became aware that a dead man was being carried out—the only born son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd of people from the city accompanied her.

And seeing her the Lord felt her suffering, and said to her, “Weep no more.”

And approaching, he touched the coffin, and pallbearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!”

The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him to his mother. Astonishment and awe seized all who were standing there, and they began to praise God and to glorify what was here revealed, saying,

“A prophet powerful in spirit has been raised among us and God has come down to us, his people.”

Word about him spread out into all of Judea and all of the neighboring regions

9^th (of 9) August Trinity

September 22, 2019

Luke 7: 11-17

Fruits of the vine have ripened. They enclose the seeds for a new life. In nature, the fruit falls and dies away, releasing the seeds to begin a new cycle of life. But fruits can also be tended and harvested to another purpose—to be made into wine.

Today we hear of the young man; his life’s fruit had fallen green. Christ catches his soul; He finds the soul’s seed of the new, and plants it again on the earth. This is Christ as the great Gardener. He is tending a harvest for his Wine. But no matter whether the soul’s fruit falls

Pierre Bouillon

early or late, Christ is concerned with ongoing life, with the seeds within; He preserves them, carrying them and planting them where they next need to go.

In one lifetime, we may ripen soul fruits of many kinds. When ripe, the fruits must separate from the vine on which they grew, for their current cycle is finished. Things end, sometimes painfully. But what is valuable in our soul, the ripened sweetness, we can offer for the wine harvest. Our soul’s purest thoughts, our most noble feelings, the dedication of our will, form the sweetness of the soul’s fruit. These we can offer for the wine.

What is viable in our soul fruit, seeds for the future, are gathered up by our angel, under the direction of the Master Gardener. They will be preserved, be planted, grow and develop. It may be in another place and time. It may be for an entirely new and different purpose. But even in all of life’s apparent endings, the living seeds are not lost. Knowing this, we can keep trying, keep working to ripen our inner fruit, developing the sweetness, however late, in whatever cycle we find ourselves.

So now, in all the layers of our autumns, we can say with Rilke:

Lord: it is time. The summer was great...

Command the last fruits to be full,

give them yet two more southern days,

urge them to perfection, and chase

the last sweetness into the heavy wine.*

---

*Rilke, “Autumn Day”, translated by J. Mullen

8th August/September Trinity 2019, Betrothed

August Trinity

Matthew 6: 25-34

“Therefore I say to you, do not trouble your heart about what you will eat and drink or with what you will clothe your body. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds in the sky: they do not plant, do not harvest, and do not fill barns, and your heavenly Father still feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Can any of you, by being vastly concerned, add one moment to the span of your life?

And why do you worry about clothing? Study how the lilies of the field grow: they do not work, and they do not spin cloth. But I am telling you that not even Solomon in all his glory was ever arrayed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the wild grass of the field, here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will He not do much more for you, o small in faith?

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What will we drink? What will we wear?’ It is the nations who ask for all these things, and indeed, your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Ask first for God’s kingdom and its harmonious order, and these other things will be delivered to you as well.

So do not worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow can worry about itself. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

8^th August Trinity

Sept 15, 2019

Matthew 6: 19-34

Marc Adamus

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are in the time of diminishing light. The days are shortening; the dark is rising. And what can result in our souls, often unconsciously, is the rising of a subtle level of anxiety.

The gospel reading addresses our human tendency to worry, our fear of insufficiency. Christ encourages us not to diminish the range of our attention, through concentrating only on food and drink, clothes, and riches. Rather we are to pay some attention to our own powers of perception. A few verses before today’s reading, He says,  ‘If your eye is wholesome, your whole body will be filled with light.’ That is, if our way of seeing, our way of picturing the world is wholesome, then our body and soul will be filled with light, radiant with love. What does a wholesome way of seeing the world consist of?

It consists of looking at what has already happened through the lens of gratitude. Gratitude expands and enlightens our inner vision. It widens the angle of what we see. Gratitude helps us see the small miracles in each day.

Wholesomeness also consists of imaging the future through the lens of trust; trust in God’s harmonious ordering of events; trust in the beneficence of His guidance through the course of the day. Correcting our vision with the lenses of gratitude and trust lets the light into our bodies and souls.  Filled with an inner light, our souls can radiate the light of love out into the world.

The poet John O’Donohue says,

We seldom notice how each day is a holy place

Where the eucharist of the ordinary happens,

Transforming our broken fragments

Into an eternal continuity that keeps us.

Somewhere in us, a dignity presides

That is more gracious than the smallness

That fuels us with fear and force,

A dignity that trusts the form a day takes.

So at the end of this day, we give thanks

For being betrothed to the unknown

And for the secret work

Through which the mind of the day

And the wisdom of the soul become one.*

* John O’Donohue, in To Bless the Space Between Us

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7th September Trinity 2019, Eagles of the Sun

August/September Trinity

Luke 17: 20-37

At that time, the Pharisees asked him, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”  And he answered, “The Kingdom of God [The human Kingdom of the Spirit, permeated by God], does not come in a form which is outwardly perceptible. Nor does it come in such a way that one can say: Look, here it is, or there. Behold - the Kingdom of the Spirit will arise in your own hearts.

Aaron Douglas

And he said to his disciples, “There will come times when you will long to experience even one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not experience it. Then they will say to you: Look - there! or Look - here!  Do not follow this call; do not go on their spiritual paths. For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning which flashes up in one part of the sky and yet instantly pours out its bright light over the whole firmament. But first, he must suffer great agony and be rejected by this present earthly humanity. As it was in the days of Noah, so will it again be in the day when the Son of Man will reveal himself: they ate and drank, they came together in marriage as man and wife, until the day when Noah entered the Ark, and the great flood destroyed everything. It was the same in the days of Lot: they ate and drank, bought, sold, planted, built until Lot left Sodom, and fire and sulfur rained from heaven, and everything perished. It will be like that, too, in the days when the Son of Man will reveal himself.

When that time comes, let him who is on the roof of his house, having left his goods in the house, not go down to fetch them. And let him who is out in the

Sherry Barnes

open field not go back to what he has left behind. Remember Lot’s wife! For whoever tries to preserve his soul unchanged will lose it, and whoever is prepared to give it, will in truth awaken in himself a higher life. I tell you: then there will be two sleeping at night in one bed; when the power of the spirit comes, one is gripped by it, the other is left empty-handed. Two women will be grinding at one mill; one is deeply stirred, the other is left empty-handed.

And they said to him, “Where shall we turn our gaze, Lord? And he answered, “Become aware of your life body, and you will see the eagles [of the Sun] that are gathering [within you]”.*

[or, Where the formative forces in the human being begin to work in freedom, there the Spirit of the World reveals himself.]

[or, Where there are descent and disintegration, there also is revelation.]

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* The usual translation is "Where there is a corpse, there the vultures will gather." But the Greek original uses the word ‘soma’, a word for a living body, not ‘sarx’, corpse. And ‘aetoi’ refers to eagles, not vultures.

7^th August Trinity

Sept 8, 2019

Luke 17:20-37

There are creatures which, when they reach a certain stage, have to shed their skins or shells, in order to grow further. This is one of the great themes of evolution. Again and again, there come nodal points in development where what is no longer suitable is expelled or left behind. Children regularly outgrow their clothes. We will all eventually shed the shell of our material body. In the future, in order to progress, mankind will shed materiality altogether.

Today’s reading touches on this theme of growth and shedding. Christ says that the future kingdom of God, when human beings will be filled with the spirit of Love, is an invisible kingdom, not a material one. It arises in human hearts. He uses examples from ancient times to illustrate that the evolution toward this invisible kingdom always involves moments like the Flood or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  The inwardly unsuitable, the outgrown, the not-love, has to be destroyed and risen above. All the elements of our not-loving will eventually have to be ejected so that we can ascend to the next stage.

Uncomfortably, this entails suffering. For, as He says, “Whoever tries to preserve his soul unchanged will lose it, and whoever is prepared to give it [that is, to offer up the soul to be purified of egotism and filled with love] will in truth awaken in himself a higher life.” Luke 17:33 He goes on to tell us not to worry or be too anxious about the falling away and disintegration of the old, the painful shedding of the shell. For where this happens, the progressive evolutionary forces within the human soul begin to work in freedom. There, in the cleansing, the Spirit of the World, who is Love, reveals Himself. He is working to create a new kind of body for humanity, His Body, a living, tender, invisible form in which we will dwell.  He couches this in the mysterious formulation, “Where the living body is, there the eagles will gather.” Luke 17: 37. Those souls who can rise above not-loving will gather within Him, in His name, in his power, in his radiance.

Perhaps the words of the poet can illuminate:

My heart sits on the arm of God

Advocacy Falcon Fern with Dianna, Brancott Estate

 

Like a feathered falcon….

My piercing eyes,

Which have searched every world

For Tenderness and Love,

Now lock on the Royal Target—

The Wild Holy One

Whose Beauty Illuminates Existence….

Quivering at the edge of my Self

And Eternal Freedom….**

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**Hafiz, “A Feathered Falcon”, in I Heard God Laughing, Renderings of Hafiz, by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 97.