4th Sunday after Easter 2021, Cup of Solace

 

4^th Sunday after Easter

John 16:1-33

"All these words I have spoken to you

Stephen B. Whately

so that you will not go astray [because you discover what destiny falls to you through being connected with me]. For they will exclude you from their communities, and the hour will come when those who kill you will think they are offering service to God. They will do all this because they have not known my Father or me. All these words I have spoken to you so that when the time comes, you will remember that I told you about it. In the beginning, I did not need to say such things, for I was with you. But now I am going away to him who sent me; yet, none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'  Now that I have said these things to you, sorrow enters your heart.

"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is for your salvation and healing that I leave you, for if I did not go away, the Helper, [the giver of spirit courage, who will stand by you in all trials, or, the Spirit upon whom you can call for assistance at any moment,] would not come to you. When I now go away, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will call humankind to account for the decline into sin, for the working of human's higher being and for the great world separation; for the decline into sinfulness, because they did not fill themselves with my power; for the working of their higher being, because I go to the Father and you see me no more; for the great world-separation, because the decision has already been made about the ruler of this world.

"I have yet much more to say to you, but you cannot bear it now. But when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will be your guide on the way to the Truth that Embraces All. he will not speak out of himself, but what he hears he will speak, and he will proclaim to you what is to come.  he will reveal me, for what he draws out of my being, he will proclaim to you. Everything that the Father has is also mine. That is why I can say, 'He will draw upon my being and proclaim to you.'

laudario of sant'agnese

"In a little while, you will see me
no more, and again a little while, and you will see me."

"Then some of his disciples said to one another, "What does he mean by saying 'In a little while you will see me no more, and again a short time and you will see me,' and 'I am going to the Father'? They kept asking, "What does he mean by 'a short time'? We do not understand his words."

Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, and he said, "You are wondering that I said, 'A short time and you will see me no more, and again a short time and you will see me.' Yes, the truth I tell you, you will weep and lament while other people will rejoice. You will be filled with sorrow, but this your grief will be turned into joy. A woman giving birth must bear pain, for her difficult hour has come. But when the child is born, she no longer considers the anguish because of her joy that a human being has been born into the world.

"So it is with you. Now is your time of grief. But this your grief will become the power of Spirit-Birth, for I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one can take that joy from you. On that day, you will no longer need to ask me anything.

"Yes, I say to you; from now on, what you ask of the Father in my name, He will give to you. Until now, you have not been able to pray in my name. Pray from the heart, and it will be given to your heart so that your joy may be full.

"All this I have given to your souls in imagery. But the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in pictures but will tell you plainly about the Father, [so that you can grasp it in full, knowing consciousness]. On that day, you will ask out of my power and in my name. And no longer will I ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me, and have known in your hearts that I have come forth from the Father. I have come forth from the Father, and I have come into this world. I am leaving the [sense] world again and going to the Father, [of which you say that it is the world of death]."

Then Jesus' disciples said, "Now you are speaking in clear thought and without imagery. Now we know that all things are revealed to you and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. By this, we believe that you came from God."

 

Jesus answered, "Do you now feel my power in your heart? Behold, the time is coming and has already come, when you will be scattered, each to their own loneliness. You will then also leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is eternally united with me.

"All this I have spoken to you so that in me you may find peace. In this world, you will have great fear and hardship. But take courage. I have overcome the world."

4^th Sunday after Easter

May 2, 2021

John 16:1-33

Hiking in nature, we need to find a path. The path may lead us to a high and windy peak, where we can see everything. We could imagine that spreading our arms to the wind, we could be airborne. But we know better than to try. On the path downward, we may try to take a shortcut down through a ravine; but losing our footing could also cause us to lose our life. We need to find a sure path.

In today’s reading, Christ promises that He will send us the spirit of Truth. The Truth that Embraces All is the firm ground in our walk of life. In the truth, we remain both grounded and mobile. We neither fly away nor fall into an abyss. For the Truth that Embraces All is large. It is so large that it also embraces all human beings. It is our comfort in whatever landscape we find ourselves. And truth is our guide toward what is yet to come.

One thing that is definitely coming is the need to extend that comfort to our fellow travelers. Not by trying to hammer them with the truth as we perceive it. But by offering our compassion.  As the 13^th century Persian poet Hafiz said:

 

Here soar

He Qi

Not with wings,

But with your moving hands and feet

And sweating brows -

 

Standing by your Beloved's side

Reaching out to comfort this world

 

With your cup of solace

Drawn from your vast reservoir of Truth.*

 

---

*“Not With Wings”, by Hafiz in The Subject Tonight is Love - versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky. 

www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

 

 

3rd Sunday after Easter, Everlasting Wine

 

3^rd Sunday after Easter

John 15:1-27

 

Burnand

"I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit HE takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit HE makes pure that it may bear more fruit. You have already been purified by the power of the word that I have spoken to you.

"Abide in me and I in you.

"As the branch cannot bear fruit out by itself unless it is given life by the vine, neither can you unless you stay united with me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me and I in them bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain united with me withers like a branch that is cut off. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words live on in you, pray for that which you also will, and it shall come about for you. By this, my Father is revealed that you bear much fruit and become ever more my disciples.

Arthur Ernst Becher

"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.
Live on in my love. If you take my aims into your will, then you will live on in my love, just as I have taken the aims of my Father into my will and live on in HIS love.

"These words I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

"This is the task I put before you: that you love one another as I have loved you.

"No one can have greater love than this: that they offer up their life for their friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No longer can I call you servants, for servants do not know what their master is doing. But I call you my friends because I have made known to you all that I have heard from my Father.

"You did not choose me, but I have chosen you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should live on after you so that what you ask the Father in my name HE should give it to you. I say to you out of the fullness of my power: Love one another.

"If people hate you, remember that they hated me before you. If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them; but because you do not belong to them since I chose you out of humankind, people hate you.

Sjodin

"Remember the word that I spoke to you: 'Servants are not greater than their master.' If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have held on to my word, they will hold on to yours also. Everything that they do to you, they will do as though they did it to me, for they do not know HIM who sent me.

"If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would be without sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them, such as no one else has ever done, they would be without guilt. But now they have seen me and have still hated both me and my Father.

"But it was to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without a cause.'

"But when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, HE will bring knowledge of me and will be my witness. And you also will be my witnesses because you have been united with me from the very beginning."

3^rd after Easter

April 25, 2021

John 15:1-27

Grapevines send their roots down into the earth. They draw up life-giving water from the depth. They also draw up light-related minerals like phosphorus into their sap. In the inner light from the depths of the earth and the outer light from the sun, the water becomes red, rich, and sweet. Pulled up from the depths, the sap offers itself as fruit.

18th century Ukraine

We, too, are like vines on the earth. We put down our roots to find earth-light. We draw up life from deep in the earth. We rejoice in the light of the sun.

Our lives are the branches of Him, who is the Living Vine. It is He who helps us to find the light in the dark depths. It is He who brings us the water of life. Embedded in His life, we are transformed. He makes our lives fruitful.

What is a fruitful life? A fruitful life is one that, on some level, offers itself to nourishes others. One that supports and cares for the earth and the creatures on it. One that supports the beings of the spiritual world.

Yes, just as the kingdoms below us, the plants and animals, the minerals support us, we too support the angelic realms above us. We offer our thinking, our hearts' love, the devoted actions of our lives as fruit to the angels. But being eternal, angels need everlasting wine. Christ the Vine helps our lives bear immortal fruit. His transformative magic changes the water of our lives into wine as refreshment and support for the angels.

 

 

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2nd Sunday after Easter 2021, Drink In the Life

 

2^nd Sunday after Easter

John 10:1-16

“Yes, I say to you: Anyone who does

not go into the sheep through the door, but breaks into the fold somewhere else, he is a thief and a robber. He who enters through the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls each one by name, according to its nature, and he leads them out.

When he has brought them out, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow; they flee from him because they do not know the stranger’s voice.”

Jesus used picture-language with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Sanz-Cordona

And Jesus went on.
“Yes, I say to you. I AM the door to the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them. I AM the door. He who enters through me will find healing and life. He learns to cross the threshold from here to beyond, and from there to here, and he will find nourishment for his soul. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I—I have come that they may have life, and overflowing abundance.

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, and who is not a real shepherd, and does not care about the sheep, abandons the sheep, and runs away when he sees the wolf coming; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. For he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD and I know who belongs to me; and those who are mine know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I offer my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must also lead them, and they will listen to my voice, and one day there will be one flock, one shepherd.

3rd Sunday after Easter

April 18, 2021

John 10:1-21

In this Gospel story, the shepherd is the one who calls, who gathers, who leads his own to food and drink. The wolf, by contrast, scatters and devours.

We all have a bit of wolfishness embedded in our nature. We are opportunists who devour what others have cared for.  We are at least occasionally snarly and divisive.

Stephen B. Whately

But at times, we are also shepherds. We may have occupations or families that we love so that we are not mere day laborers. We work so that others may eat. We gather where all are content to be together.

Christ is the ultimate shepherd. His is the voice we hear calling us, the voice of the shepherd who walks in the spirit before us. It is He who leads us to true nourishment. He leads us to the celebratory meal, sharing himself—the bread of his body, the wine of his blood, his life which He gives away voluntarily. It is He who creates this place where hearts and minds gather and are strengthened. In the words of the poet Rilke we can hear Christ calling:

         I am, you anxious one.

Don’t you sense me, ready to break

Into being at your touch?

My murmurings surround you like shadowy wings.

Can’t you see me standing before you

Cloaked in stillness? *

And we answer:

… you take pleasure in the faces

Of those who know they thirst.

You cherish those who

Grip you for survival.

…and drink in the life

that reveals itself quietly there. **

 

* Rilke, Book of Hours, Macy and Barrows, p. 66.

** Ibid, p. 61.

 

https://www.thechristiancommunity.org/blog-posts/

1st Sunday after Easter 2021, Take Joy

1st Sunday after 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 the 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 offenses.”

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called 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.”

Rembrandt

Eight days later, the disciples were a
gain 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.”

2nd Easter
April 4, 2021
John 20:19-29

The disciples had locked themselves in out of fear. This year especially, we can imagine how their souls were in a state of agitation. Even though some of them had reported seeing Christ Risen, the shock waves of the previous week were still reverberating. Everything that had happened, the earthquakes, the torture and execution of their Beloved, His rising from the dead, it was all so stupefying. They retreat.

Then He appears. 'Look, He says, here are my wounds.

Coptic

I even died, but I am still radiantly and joyfully alive.' He brings them the gift of Himself. With that gift, He brings them another, the gift of calm tranquility. The creative Word of God speaks peace into their hearts. He breathes the love of His healing Spirit into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit through which the world will receive healing."

Fear can signal important information to us: Danger may be near; we may need to take action to protect ourselves. But by His own actions, Christ indicates that we are nonetheless to move fairly quickly into a state of peace, balance, and tranquility.

Christ would have us work calmly, in peace and love, from the center of our being. And whether we see Christ or not, we can hear Him say to us in every Act of Consecration: 'My Peace can be with you because I give it to you.' The healing breath of His Spirit of peace is available for us to inhale always. We can always ask Him: Make me a channel of Your peace. For as Fra Giovanni said in the 16th century:

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven!
No peace lies in the future that is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace!
The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy.*


*Fra Giovanni Giocondo, written on Christmas Eve 1513.

https://www.thechristiancommunity.org/blog-posts/

Easter Sunday 2021, Dreaming the Meaning

 

Easter Sunday

Mark 16:1-18

And when the Sabbath was over,

Julia Stankova

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.

Julia Stankova

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.

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. Afterward, He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were celebrating the meal. He reproached them for their lack of openness and 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 their heart with it and is immersed in me will attain salvation. But whoever closes themselves against it will meet their downfall. And spiritual powers will stand by those who unite themselves with it and will attend their path: Through the power of my being they will drive out demons; they will speak a new language; serpents they will make upright, and poisons they drink will not harm them. They will lay their hands on the sick and give healing forces to them."

Easter Sunday

April 11, 2004

April 4, 2021

Mark 16: 1-18

When we are asleep, we dream. Images, pictures pregnant with feeling tones unfold before our inner eye. These images are sometimes nightmarish, sometimes marvelous.

The poet Antonio Machado* describes this. He says:

Last night I had a dream–

Tracy Silva Barbosa

…I dreamt of a hive at work

deep down in my heart.

Within were the golden bees

straining out the bitter past

to make sweet-tasting honey,

and white honeycomb.

Sometimes dream images picture a higher reality, for our hearts are indeed a center of teeming activity. It is in our hearts that our old failures and mistakes are digested. In our hearts, they are transformed into the "white honeycombs," the breeding places for new life. In our hearts, errors and failures are transformed into sweet nourishment for the Self we are to become.

He goes on:

 Last night I had a dream–

J. Hahn

…I dreamt of a fountain flowing

deep down in my heart.

welling up with new life

 

Last night I had a dream–

I dreamt it was God I'd found

deep down in my heart.

This morning we are awake. And the dream has come true. The Sun-God has arisen in our hearts. We can feel His transforming power, making our errors fruitful, His new life welling up as strength and joy. We have awakened and it dawns on us—Christ is risen to us as the meaning of the earth.

 

*Antonio Machado, "Last Night I Had a Dream," translated by Alan Trueblood.

4th Passiontide, Palm Sunday 2021, He Suffers In Us

 4^th Passiontide (Palm Sunday)

Matthew 21:1-11

 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 a foal of the beast of burden.'

Julia Stankova

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 from 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!

Hosanna in the highest! [or, 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."

4^th Passiontide, Palm Sunday

March 28, 2021

Matthew 21:1-11

We are entering Holy Week. The altar and vestments are black. Especially in this week, Christ battles the forces of duality. These are the false polarities of either/or, black or white, the yes or no of dead binary thinking. Good or bad; heaven or hell. By the end of the week, He will arrive at Golgatha, literally the Place of the Skull. At the place of the skull, He will die. And in a garden, He will rise again.

Christ exists in the living world of flow,

Julia Stankova

change, and metamorphosis. He operates in the changing subtleties of the grayscale, in the nuances of color in transforming one form to another. His opponents ask Him questions designed to entrap Him. He gives them answers from outside of their framework, answers from the flowing world of a greater reality.

Today we still battle with the deadness into which our brain-bound intellect so quickly falls. We still tend to use ill-making polarities in the way we think, thus closing ourselves off from more significant possibilities. Nevertheless, we strain to open our thoughts in reverence. We struggle to warm our hearts in empathy. We strive to act according to inspirations of our conscience, our higher self.

In those moments when we manage reverence of thought, when we burn with heart’s love, when we act out of inspirations of conscience, in such moments, Christ can operate in the world. In such moments Christ is in us.  It is He that thinks in us, suffers in us, dies, and rises in us. As Rilke says,

To work with Things in the indescribable

relationship is not too hard for us;

the pattern grows more intricate and subtle,

…

Take your practiced powers and stretch them out

until they span the chasm between two

contradictions ... For the god

wants to know himself in you.*

 

---

* Rainer Maria Rilke, in Ahead of All Parting, ed. and translated by Steven Mitchell

 

For more inspiring resources, go to https://www.christiancommunityseminary.ca/podcast