2nd Advent 2020, May We Be Strengthened

 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th Advent

Mark 13:24-37 (Madsen)

Collot d'Herbois

In the days after those hardships, the sun will be darkened, the moon will no longer give its light, the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers of the heavenly spheres will be thrown off course. Then the coming of the Son of Man will be visible in the realm of the clouds, invested with power, illumined by the light of the revelation of the world of spirit. And he will send out the angels to gather in all those who feel themselves united with him, from all four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

Learn from the parable of the fig tree: When the sap rises through its branches, and it puts forth leaves, then you see that summer is near. So also when you see these things coming about, you shall be aware that the revelation of the Son of Man is near, at the very door. Yes, I say to you: Even before the time of human beings now living shall have come to an end, all this will begin. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. No one knows anything about that day or that hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Be observant and be awake, for you do not know when the time will be. It is like when a man goes on a journey and leaves his house. He gives his servants authority, gives each one his task, and tells the doorkeeper to be alert. So you, too, be alert. You do not know when the master of the house will come, whether in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrow in the morning. Take care that he does not find you sleeping if he comes suddenly. And what I say to you applies to all human beings: Be alert!

2^nd Advent
December 6, 2020
Mark 13:24-37
 

Living things are always changing. The plants change form from seed to shoot to leaves, from leaves to blossom and fruit and seed. The living light of the sun is in constantly changing flux. These changes affect our experience.
 
Every year at this time, Christ slowly descends once again toward the opportunity for an intimate connection with humankind. Because He is Life itself, His approach stimulates change, change in the cosmos, change in our souls. One natural reaction to great change is anxiety.
 

The gospel encourages us to recognize in advance that our anxiety is caused in fact by the approach of Christ, the giver of Life, the refresher of our life’s true meaning. He is the giver of transformative change. We are encouraged not to just smother our unease with excess of food and drink. Rather we are encouraged to practice a state of vigilant, strengthening prayer.
 
Christ is seeking an encounter with our wakeful spirits, to take place during the days and nights of Christmas. We may pray that
 
…we be strengthened from the founts of will that bear us toward freedom;
 that we be illumined from the founts of wisdom that warm the inmost heart;
 that we feel peace from the founts of love which bless human work.*
 
*Adapted from the Intercessory Prayer in Meditative Prayers for Today, Adam Bittleston. Available here.

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1st Advent 2020, Everything You Need

1^st Advent

Luke 21:25-36
 
And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth, the nations will be constricted with anxiety and doubt with the advent of these spiritual revelations, as before a roaring sea and waves. And people will lose their inner strength of soul out of fear and foreboding of what is coming over the living earth: for the dynamic powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, in the sphere of life, with dynamic power and great radiant glory. 

And when these things begin to
happen, stand upright and lift up [raise] your soul to the spirit, for your deliverance draws near.
 
And he gave them a comparison, saying, ‘Observe [behold] the fig tree and all the trees when they burst into leaf. Seeing this, you know yourselves that summer is near. So also, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
 
Amen, the truth I say to you: this present age of being human shall not pass away until all has happened.
 
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
 
Guard yourselves lest the perceptive power of your hearts be smothered by an excess of food and drink and by over-concern with the cares and worries of life, and the light of these spirit events break upon you suddenly like a snare, for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. So be awake in the spirit at all times, praying, so that you may have the strength to live through all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.

1^st Advent Sunday
November 29, 2020
Luke 21:25-36
 
A woman who is about to give birth experiences pain. Wave after wave of contraction sweeps over her, hard labor requiring endurance and strength. But in the end, she and all around her experience the radiant wonder that a tiny human being, surrounded by angels, has arrived on earth.
 
Today’s reading is a description

Jolan van Eyck

of the birth pangs of humanity. Constriction, anxiety, and doubt wash over us as world events, earth events, sweep over us. They require our strength and endurance.
 
These birth pangs also require our wakefulness. For this birth is not a physical one. It happens instead in the realm of life that permeates both us and our earth. It happens within perceptive human souls. For the outcome is the birth of the Son of Man. To perceive this birth, we struggle to stay awake amid the excesses of the season. We labor to remember that angels surround us.
 
Many are the human beings who, in their hour of extreme need, have raised their souls to the spirit in prayer. And in their soul is born the power and radiance of a paradoxical peace. A calm settles over them, and they feel the nearness of God. They sense that angels surround them.
 
Perhaps we can sense, as the poet David Whyte describes:
 
These are hard paths we tread
…..
I know that …

Larissa Khimich

storms break over,
…and you will not move
while the voice all around
tears the air
and fills the sky with jagged light.
 
But sometimes unawares
those sounds seem to descend
as if kneeling down into you
and you listen strangely caught
as the terrible voice moving closer
halts,
and in the silence
now arriving
whispers
 
Get up, I depend
on you utterly.
Everything you need
you had
the moment before
you were born.*
 
*David Whyte, “Waking”, in Where Many Rivers Meet

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4th Trinity IV 2020, Root and Star

November Trinity

The end of Revelation 22:12-21

Apocalypsis in dietsche Gallica

“Watch, I am coming soon, and I will have my rewards with me to give to each person according to what they
have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the goal.”
 
Blessed are those who cleanse their garments so that they will have power in the realm of the Tree of Life, which overcomes death and may go through the gates into the Holy City. Outside shall remain those who are bound to low senses, those who serve evil powers, who walk impure paths of soul, who spread death around them, who give themselves up to demonic forces, and who, through their ways and deeds, falsify their true being.
 
“I, Jesus, sent my angel to report these things to your assembled communities. I AM the root and stock of David, the star who unfolds his brightness in the morning”.
 
And the Spirit and the Bride, the Holy City, say, “Come!
 
And may whoever hears also say, “Come!” And may the thirsty come and may everyone who wants it get to drink the Water of Life freely, as grace.
 
Everyone who hears can find their inmost being strengthened in the prophetic words of this book. Whoever does not yet sense its greatness and truth, God will lead them to full knowledge through the trials of destiny that are written in this book. And whoever diminishes the words of this prophecy, God will remove from them their share in the Tree of Life that overcomes death, and their share in the Holy City written about in this book.
 
He who lends these words their power says:
“Yes, I am coming quickly!”
 
Ye, so be it. Amen:
Come, Jesus our Lord
 
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all!
 
4th November Trinity
November 22, 2020
Revelation 22:12-21
 
If we go through an airport, there are certain items that are not allowed. If we have thoughtlessly brought them, we have to leave them behind before we can proceed on our journey.
 
The gospel reading speaks of certain human qualities of soul, soul baggage that we have to leave behind at the gates of the Holy City. These soul qualities are not allowed to enter, for they serve

Apocalypsis in dietsche Gallica

the forces of mortality and death. They cannot enter, because the Holy City, the city of mankind’s future existence, is a realm of life. It is a realm where the Tree of Life grows and blossoms and bears fruit; a realm where the Water of Life flows freely and endlessly; where the Star of the Morning shows us the way forward.
 
This is the last week of the church year. We have come to a kind of portal. We are about to enter a new beginning. What baggage shall we leave behind?
 
At this threshold, we meet the One who calls Himself the Door. We enter through Him. He calls himself both the beginning and the goal. He is the place where endings and beginnings come full circle and meet. He encourages us to wash our garments, to continue to purify our souls through prayer and sacraments and meditation, to purify our life’s bodies through our striving to overcome the death forces in ourselves and to create habits of virtue.
 
He is the root and the star. He is the source out of which we all grow and blossom and become fruitful; He is the morning star which announces the beginning of a new day. ‘Come’ He calls. ‘Let go of the old; enter into My realm of the ever-flowing, ever-creating newness. For I wish to give you My power to create.’

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3rd Trinity IV, Divine Courage, Freedom and Light

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14th-Century Tapestry

November Trinity
Revelations 21:1-27


And I beheld the events in the spirit out of which a new heaven and a new earth proceeded. For the earlier heaven and the earlier earth were gone, and the billowing ocean is no more.
 
And further, I saw the Holy City, untouched by the earthly, coming forth out of the being of God, descending out of the spiritual worlds: the New Jerusalem. She appeared in her beauty like a bride who has adorned herself for the bridegroom.

And I heard a powerful voice coming from the throne that said: “Behold the dwelling of God in the midst of humanity. He will indeed dwell in your midst, and the people will be His people.
 
God himself will be with them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eye. There will be no more [bodily pain, nor soul pain, nor any other burdens of the inmost being] death, nor sorrow, nor weeping [uproar] nor any other sound of pain, for the old world is gone.”
 
And He who was seated on the throne said: “Behold: I am creating all anew.”
 
And He said, “Write, for it is these words that shall make faith and knowledge into true reality.”
 
And He said to me: “It is accomplished! I AM the Alpha and the Omega, World Beginning and World Goal. To the thirsty, I will give from the springs of the waters of life, outside the workings of destiny, as grace. Whoever overcomes shall inherit all this. ‘I will be His God, and to me, He will be like a son.’
 
And there came to me one of the seven angels who have the seven bowls filled with the last seven plagues of the world, and he spoke with me and said, “Come, I will show you the eternal Feminine, the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
 
But as for the fearful souls, those who have no faith, who pervert the image of the human being, those who spread death around them, who tread impure paths of soul, make use of dark magic forces and serve demonic powers, as well as all frauds – the fiery swamp of the abyss opens for hem and flames of sulfur blaze. That is the second death.
 
 And he carried me in spirit-form up to a great high mountain, and let me see how the Holy City, Jerusalem, the City of Peace, descended out of the spiritual worlds, coming forth from the being of God, wrapped in the most intimate splendor of the revelation of God.
 
Her shining [gleaming] is like that of a precious gemstone, like the stone jasper, clear as crystal.
 
Her walls are of mighty size and height; she has twelve gates and at the gates stand twelve angels. On the gates are written the names of the twelve sons of Israel: three gates from the East, three gates from the North, three gates from the South, and three gates from the West.
 
And the wall of the City rests on twelve sacred foundations, and the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb work in them.
 
And he who spoke with me carried a golden measuring rod to measure the City and her gates and her walls.
 
And the City is spread out in a square; her length is the same as her width. And he measured the City with the measuring rod. It measured twelve thousand miles; the length and breadth and height were alike. And he measured her walls at one hundred forty-four cubits [ells], the measure of a human, which now the angel was using.
 
The covering of her walls was of jasper, and the City herself of purified gold, clear as glass. And the sacred foundations of the walls were adorned with every precious stone:

the first, a jasper,
the second, a sapphire,
the third, a chalcedony,
the fourth, emerald,
the fifth sardonyx,
the sixth, carnelian,
the seventh, chrysolite,
the eighth, beryl,
the ninth, topaz,
the tenth, chrysoprase
the eleventh, hyacinth,
the twelfth, an amethyst.

The twelve gates were twelve pearls, and each of the gates made of a single pearl. And the city was of purified gold, like a transparent crystal.
 
I did not see a temple in the City, for the Lord God, Ruler of All, is her sanctuary, and the Lamb.
 
And the City needs neither sun nor moon, for she shines from within; for the shining revelation of God is streaming brightness in her, and her light is the Lamb.
 
And all nations shall walk in her light, and the rulers of the earth will carry their spiritual treasures into her. And her gates will never be closed by day, for there, the night will be no more.
 
And all the shining treasures of the revelations of the world, and all the spiritual worth of the nations and all achievements of the soul will be brought into her.
 
And nothing can enter that is not spiritualized [is not consecrated], nothing that perverts the image of the human, nothing that remains under the power of the Lie, but rather only those who are written into the Book of Life of the Lamb.

3rd November Trinity
November 15, 2020
Rev 21:1-9
 
To create a building, we need a clear idea of its purpose so that the architect can create an appropriate design, and the builders can work accordingly.

At earth's beginning, Adam's sons had to learn how to build dwellings on earth in which to live. So too, does humanity as a whole need to learn to build a future collective dwelling place. But this future dwelling place of humankind will not be on the earth. It will exist in the spirit and will include God and His Son.

This dwelling place will arise out of the collective heart of humanity. It is imaged as a place of many mansions, a city. It will be a place where all the beauteous inner treasures of humankind are gathered as gem-like building stones. This heart-city will be a place where the divine enters and dwells like a groom enters the bridal bower.

Paradoxically, this heart-city that we are building also emerges from the heart of God. For all of our noblest thoughts and feelings, all our love and devotion, all our striving and work, we can offer to God. He treasures it in His own great heart until the time comes when humankind's heart-city is complete. It will be a place where Christ's light is our daylight; a place where mercy and comfort abound; a place where grace makes everything anew. For in the words of the poet:

We have not come here to take prisoners,
But to surrender ever more deeply
To freedom and joy.
 
We have not come into this exquisite world
To hold ourselves hostage from love….
 
For we have not come here to take prisoners
Or to confine our wondrous spirits,
 
But to experience ever and ever more deeply
Our divine courage, freedom and
Light!*
 
*Hafiz, "We Have Not Come to Take Prisoners," in The Gift—Versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky

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2nd Trinity IV, Awaken, Remember

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November Trinity

Rev. 3:1-6
 
And to the angel who penetrates the

Tiffany, Angel of Sardis

congregation of Sardis write:
 
Thus speaks he who has power over the seven creating spirits of God and the seven stars: I know the consequences of your deeds, for one says of you that you live, and yet are dead. Awaken, and strengthen what remains in you, that is otherwise about to die, for I have not found that your works possess reality before my God.
 
Remember how you were once receptive for all the workings of the spirit, and for all words which came from the spirit. Care for them in your soul in inner loyalty. Change your heart and mind.
 
If, however, you do not awaken, I will come over you suddenly like a thief, and you will not know at which hour I will come over you.
 
But you have some names in Sardis whose souls have not been darkened by illusion and addiction to the senses. They will walk with me in white garments, for they are worthy of them.
 
Whoever overcomes, they shall be clothed with white garments, and I will not wipe out their name from the Book of Life. I will speak out their name and acknowledge them before my Father and his Angels. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

2^nd November Trinity
November 8, 2020
Revelation 3: 1-6, Sardis
 
Inner loyalty is difficult to maintain. For it is our human nature to be distracted by all the claims made upon our souls. There is so much in the world that cries out so loudly for our attention. And the spirit only whispers.
 
We need to quiet ourselves from time to time in order to listen; to listen to the voice of the spirit; to listen to its echo in our own hearts. We need to quiet ourselves in order to remember; to remember how we were once open; to generate that openness again.
 
Each of us at one time heard the li
ving voice whispering from the world of the spirit. We recognized: something important speaks here, something alive. That word found a resonance and awakened our hearts’ love. And so we made a promise, a commitment both to the spirit and to ourselves, that we would continue to try to be open and awake to that voice whenever it speaks.
 
It is so hard to stay awake in the spirit in-between times. The world is so loud. It drowns out his voice, and in spirit, we go to sleep.
 
But once again, as the year itself dies away, we are privileged to hear His voice speaking clearly—
    

Bamberg Apocalypse 

    Awaken.
    Remember.
    Care for the words and workings of the spirit in your soul in inner loyalty.
 
His is the voice that awakens us, the voice that reminds us to remember the love we first felt, the voice that encourages us to care for the inner realities in loyalty.
 
And we respond—Yes Lord; may our prayers be for your ear. May you be in us. May the fire of your loyal love ignite in our hearts.

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1st Nov Trinity 2020, Don't Mind the Sparks

 

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November Trinity

Revelation 1:1-20

This is the unveiling of the being of Jesus Christ, which proceeds out of the divine world for those who would serve Him. To them shall be revealed what must of necessity happen in the future and which powerfully presses into world events. God formed this revelation in imagery and sent it through His angel to His servant John. And so John speaks as a witness to everything he saw, that is, to the Divine Word, and to the life of Jesus Christ, which serves as a testimony. Blessed are they who know how to read the prophetic words, and blessed are those who know how to hear them, and all who take what is written in this book into their souls; for time presses.

 John, to the seven congregations in Asia:

Grace and peace to you

From Him who is, and who was, and who is coming

And from the seven creating spirits before His throne

And from Jesus Christ.

By His witnessing, He is the archetype of trust.

He is the firstborn from the realm of death,

He is the leading spirit of the Kings on earth.

He has turned to us in love, and by the power of His blood

He has released us from the spell of sin which lay upon us.

He has established us as true kings and made us into priests

before the divine Ground of the World, His Father.

To Him belongs all light of the spirit and all power of soul from eon to eon. Amen.

See: He comes in the realm of the clouds.

All eyes shall see Him, also the eyes of those who pierced Him. And those down the ages will lament about Him. Yes. Amen.

I am the Alpha and the Omega,

Thus speaks the Lord our God, who is, and who was, and who is coming,

the divine ruler of the world.

I, John, your brother and your companion in all trials and also in the inner kingdom and the power of endurance which we possess through our oneness with Jesus: I was on the island of Patmos. There it was granted to me to receive a share of the divine Word and to bear witness to the sufferings of Jesus.

On the Lord’s Day, I was lifted up to the world of spirit and I heard behind me a mighty voice like the sound of a trumpet. It said: write what you see in a book and send it to the seven congregations: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia and Laodicea.

And I turned to see Him whose voice was speaking to me. And as I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and amid the lampstands, a figure like that of the Son of Man:

clothed with a long billowing garment,

encircled round His breast with a golden band;

        His head and His hair shin

ing white like snow-white wool,

His eyes like a flame of fire,

His feet like burnished bronze glowing in a furnace,

His voice like the rushing of many streams of water.

In His hand He held seven stars;

from His mouth issued a sharp two-edged sword

and His face shone as the sun shines in its full radiance.

And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet and was as if dead. But He laid His right hand upon me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last and the living one. I was dead, and look! I am living, and I bear the life of the world through all eons. Mine is the key to the realm of death and the shades. Write down what you see: what is now and what is to come.

The secret of the seven stars, which you see in my right hand, and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the picture in the spirit for the angels of the seven congregations, and the seven lampstands are the seven congregations themselves.”

1^st November Trinity

November 1, 2020

Revelation 1:1-20

Experienced bird-lovers can identify a bird on sight by its size and coloring. But even when they cannot see a bird, they can identify it by its song.

In the magnificence of this reading,
we both see and hear. The Risen Son of Man presents Himself, it is true, in a human form, but as a kind of human ‘bird’ with different plumage: snow white hair, eyes of flame, face of sunlight, glowing feet. He holds seven stars and a sword issues from His mouth.

The vision may be strange to us.

But His song is distinctly recognizable. His voice of Living Waters sings: I was dead, and look, I am living. I bear the life of the world…. Mine is the key that releases from the realm of death. And you are connected to me. For I hold the star of the angel of your congregation in my hand.

Christ, the great Phoenix, once destroyed, rises ever anew from the ashes. He is the new fire. And He is the living water. Perhaps we can hear Him say, in words adapted from the poet Rumi:

The Truth stands before me…

The voice of the fire says:

“I am fire, I am fountainhead,

Come into me and don’t mind the sparks.”*

 

*adapted from Rumi

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4th Michaelmas 2020, Trials of Summer

 

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2^nd 3^rd or 4^th Michaelmas Sunday

Revelation 19:11-16

And I saw the heavens opening up.

G. Roland Smith

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

4^th Michaelmas

October 25, 2020

Revelation 19:11-16

In a game like chess, there are rules. Certain moves are allowed, and others aren't. All the moves are sequential. And all the moves have their ultimate consequences.

God created the greater universe with a certain structural integrity. Things happen in a certain way in a particular order. There are consequences for everything that happens. Thank goodness!

The reading two weeks ago gave u

Albrecht Durer

s the image of the great feminine archetype, the soul of humanity. She is impregnated with the sun-radiant Son of God. She struggles to give birth to the Son of Man, the God of Love within and among us.

In today's reading, we hear how this Son of Man operates when he is fully grown. He battles to maintain the greater order, the order of justice, and just consequences. He, humanity's great I AM, the Creating Word of God subdues the nations.

God's love for us and ours for Him is not to be supplanted by a nationalistic and a warring love of country that destroys other nations. That time in the game has passed. That belonged to the age of Gabriel, the age of exploration and dominance. Gabriel's period ended over a century ago.

Arild Rosenkrantz

Now we are well into the age of Michael. His is the age of recognizing that all of humankind is one family. He hopes that we elevate all our human encounters. He invites us to work consciously with spiritual realities, with the angels, with those who have died.

God's long-term game plan for humanity is that we learn how to love, truly, and wisely. If humankind continues to ignore what is truly just and in line with God's greater plan, we will be defeated by our own maneuvers.

If humanity continues to behave unjustly based on greed or mere national interests, we will have to experience the other side of God's love. We will experience the 'wrath' which is simply the natural and objective consequence of our defying the greater order and purpose.

If we consistently fail to learn to love, if we set ourselves against the greater spiritual reality of God's hopes for us, we can only ultimately lose the game. And we are given the freedom to do that. Perhaps our personal endgame could be expressed in the words of the poet Stanley Kunitz:

In the haze of afternoon,

while the air flowed saffron,

I played my game for keeps—

for love, for poetry,

and for eternal life—

after the trials of summer.*

 

*Stanley Kunitz, "The Testing Tree," in The Testing Tree: Poems

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