2nd Trinity II 2021, Soul and Spirit

 

2nd June Trinity II

John 4:1-26 

At this time, the Lord became aware that it was rumored among the Pharisees that Jesus was finding and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, though his disciples did.) Therefore he left Judea and went back again to Galilee. 

Now he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was also there. Jesus was weary with the journey, and he sat down by the well. It was about midday, the sixth hour. 

Then a Samaritan woman came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, "Give me to drink," for his disciples had gone into town to buy bread. 

Then the Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?" For the Jews avoided all contact with the Samaritans. 

Tissot

Jesus answered her, "If you knew how the
divine world now draws near to human beings, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me to drink,' you would ask him, and he would give you the water of life [or, the living water]. 

"Sir," the woman said to him, "you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where will you draw the living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his flocks and herds?" 

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give them, their thirst will be quenched for all time. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up as true life for eternity." 

The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may never be thirsty again, and need never come here again to draw." 

He said to her, "Go call your husband and show him to me." 

"I have no husband," she replied. 

Jesus said to her, "You have well said that you have no husband. Five husbands you have had, and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly."

"Sir," the woman said, "I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews say that only in Jerusalem is the place where one should worship." 

Jesus answered, "Believe me, O woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship a being you do not know; we worship what we do know. That is why salvation had to be prepared for among the Jews. But the hour is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father with the power of the Spirit and in awareness [or, knowledge] of the truth." 

Then the woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When he comes, he will teach us all things." 

Jesus said to her, "I AM he who stands before you and speaks to you."

2^nd June Trinity

June 6, 2021

John 4:1-26 

Sometimes a person is too ill to take anything by mouth, and it becomes necessary to give fluids directly into the bloodstream. As a result, the person feels no thirst, for thirst is quenched by another source. 

In this gospel reading, Christ meets a woman drawing water from an ancient well. It was a well established by Jacob the Patriarch and over the centuries had quenched many a thirst. But over those same centuries, humankind had become more and more ill. This illness produced a deep existential thirst that needed to be quenched in another way. 

Julia Stankova

The hope was that this thirst for meaning, a thirst for guidance and purpose, could be quenched by the five senses, represented by the woman’s five husbands. She is the Soul, looking everywhere for her missing half, for her completion by the Spirit. She looks for meaning through taste and touch, through sight and sound and scent. She looks to the past and the ancient ways; she looks for purpose in high worship on the mountain. But no longer does any of this suffice. This experience is captured by Rumi: 

I have a thirsty fish in me

that can never find enough

of what it’s thirsty for!

Show me the way to the ocean!* 

Humanity’s Soul is ill. She needs the World Physician who will quench our deep thirst another way. “Whoever drinks the water that I will give her, her thirst will be quenched for all time. Indeed, the water I will give her will become in her a spring of water welling up as true life for eternity.”  John 4:14 

Through our union with Christ, our deep existential thirst will be quenched, for we will be connected to the Source; we will find our way to the great ocean, drinking in, filling ourselves with His life-giving love. 

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*Rumi, “A Thirsty Fish”, in The Essential Rumi, by Coleman Barks, p, 19.

1st June Trinity 2021, Waking Up

 

1^st June Trinity II

John 3:1-17

There was a man in the circle of the

Tissot

Pharisees, whose name was Nicodemus; he held high rank among the Jews. He came to Jesus in the night and said, "Master, we know that you are a high teacher of humankind, come to us from God, for no one can do such signs of the Spirit as you do unless God himself is working together with them in their deeds."

Jesus answered and said to him, "The truth out of the spirit I say to you: whoever is not born anew from above cannot behold the kingdom of God."

Nicodemus said to him, "How can someone be born again when they are old? Can they return to their mother's womb to be born again a second time?

Jesus answered, "The truth out of the Spirit I say to you: whoever remains as they are and does not come to a new birth out of the formative power of the water and out of the breath of the Spirit [or, …and is not born anew out of the spiritual power of eternal becoming and out of being touched by the might of the Spirit world] cannot enter into the kingdom of God. What is born out of earthly elements is of earthly nature. But what is born out of the breath of the Spirit is itself Spirit. Do not wonder that I said to you that you must be born anew from above. The Spirit wind blows where it wills; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born anew out of the breath of the Spirit."

Nicodemus replied and said to him, "How can one attain this?"

Tissot, Moses 

Jesus answered, "You are a teacher of Israel and do not know? Amen, the truth I say to you: we speak of what we know, and we bear witness to what we have seen in the Spirit, but none of you accepts our testimony. When I speak to you of earthly things, and you do not believe them, how shall you believe when I want to speak to you of heavenly things? No
one has ascended to the spiritual world who has not previously descended out of the spiritual world, that is, the Son of Man.

"Just as Moses once lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who finds his power in their hearts can win a share in the higher life beyond time. God has so loved the world that he has given his only begotten Son. From now on, no one who fills themselves with his power shall perish, for they will share in timeless, higher life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn it, but so that the world be saved [or, healed] through him and not fall prey to ruin."

1^st June Trinity

May 30, 2021

John 3:1-17

The plants have grown enthusiastically. Their flowering has released clouds of pollen. Carried up by the wind and thermals, the pollen is kissed by the life-giving power of the sun. When it returns to the plants, it will bring them the potential to create the seeds of new life.

We, too, have our times when we expand out into the universe. Mostly we do so unconsciously, in our sleep. When we return to our bodies in the morning, blessed and strengthened by an encounter with our angel, we are refreshed and ready for new life in a new day. 

Nicodemus comes to Christ in the realm of night. And Christ tries to make clear to him that it is now necessary to become aware, to work consciously with these spiritual forces of new birth from above with our day-waking consciousness. The Spirit-breath, the Spirit-wind, carries with it words of creation, the potential for the next step in humankind's evolution. The Spirit gives us the impulses for the new—a new way, a new direction, a new paradigm. For the old is falling away. But the Spirit needs our voluntary cooperation. 

It is time to open ourselves. It is time to receive the blessing and strength from the Spirit for what is coming. We may not know where exactly which direction the impulse for the new is coming from; we may not know where it will lead us. 

It will most certainly at first lead us through the death of the old way, just as following Christ led Nicodemus through the events of Christ's death and resurrection. For we hear of him helping to prepare Christ's body for the tomb (John 19:39). Nevertheless, we can listen for the sound of the Spirit-wind and rise to hear the words of becoming, sounding on the breath of the Spirit. As we do so, we will begin to share in Christ's timeless, higher life. 

As poet Antonio Machado said:

Beyond living and dreaming

there is something more important:

waking up.*

 

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

 

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*Antonio Machado, The Winged Energy of Delight, translations by Robert Bly

 

Whitsun (Pentecost) 2021, Don' Mind the Fire

 

Pentecost

John 14:23-31 

Jesus replied, "Whoever truly loves me reveals

Mark Wiggin

my Spirit, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and prepare with them a dwelling in the everlasting [or, an eternal dwelling]. Whoever does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me. 

"I have said this to you while I am still with you. But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all that I have said to you. 

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. 

"You have heard how I said to you, 'I am going away, and yet I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice because I am going to the Father(ly Ground of the World), for the Father is mightier than I am. 

I have told you now before it happens so that when it happens, you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon, the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me, he has no power. 

But the world shall see in this how I love the Father (Ground of the World) and how I act according to the Father's purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise,  let us be on our way. 

Whitsunday

May 23, 2021

John 14:23-31

 

Fra Angelico

At the first Pentecost event, the disciples see a mighty fire that divides itself into separate flames. Each flame comes to rest over the head of each of them. 

In paintings by Fra Angelico, the flame also appears above the heads of angels. It is the symbol of an expanded awareness. The flames are the fire of love, a love which creates. These flames are an awareness that a river of love, the water of life, flows through all of creation, pervading the entire universe. 

A sudden awareness of the love that creates and bears the universe can at the same time make us aware of our own shortcomings in the realm of love. How loveless we can sometimes be! This painful self-awareness becomes the fire that burns, that burns away the dross of our selfish egotism. Once overcome, however, we can then proceed to generate the fire and warmth of a quiet but enthusiastic love for others, especially for those whose path is different from ours. We can generate an enthusiastic love for the truth. We can generate enthusiasm for deeds of service. 

The poet Rumi helps us become aware of our fear of this transformation of the lower self. He says: 

On the left is a blazing fire and

On my right a cool flowing stream

One group of people walk toward the fire, into the fire

And the other toward the cool flowing waters

No one knows which is blessed and which is not.

Robby Donahey

But just as someone enters the fire,

That head bobs up from the water

And just as a head enters the water

That face appears in the fire….

The voice of the fire says:

I am not fire, I am fountainhead

Come into me, and don’t mind the sparks. 

Our true self is a fire that burns; it burns away egotism; it burns unextinguished in the waters of life-giving love.

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Announcement

 Dear Email Subscribers,

Blogger has announced that starting in July, email subscription services will no longer be supported for this blog. I will still continue to post, but you will no longer receive these blog posts by email. 

You can however still receive by email the same weekly gospel readings and homilies by subscribing through The Christian Community's website. Go to www.thechristiancommunity.org. At the bottom left of the homepage, you can enter your email address and sign up to receive the weekly Homilies by email from there. Using that subscription service (through Mailchimp) also gives you the advantage of an audio version of the same materials as well. 

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Warmly,

Cindy Hindes

Ascension 2021, Pull You Out of the Sky

 

Ascension

John 16:22-33

 

"So you have to suffer pain now. But I will see you again, and then your hearts will be filled with joy, and no one can take that joy from you. Up to now, you have not prayed in my name. Pray from the heart, and it will be given to your heart that your joy may be fulfilled.

Stephen B. Whately

"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 openly and unveiled about my Father so that you can grasp it in full, knowing consciousness. Thus will I proclaim to you the being of the Father. 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 will love 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 leave the sense world again and return to the world of 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. This makes us 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 his own loneliness. You will then also leave me alone. But 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."

 

Ascension

Sunday, May 16, 2021

John 16:24-33

 

The petals of the blossoms begin to drop. The vision of loveliness falls away. Yet deep at the blossoms' base, fruit is forming, seeds of a new life. It will be a while before they are ripe. But they are there.

Stephen B. Whately

During the forty days of the time after His Resurrection, Christ continued to walk with His disciples. They could see Him in His otherwise transparent Resurrection body. Their deep love for Him, aided by their sorrow and suffering at His death, had opened their souls' eye. Through seeing Him after His death, they knew that the human spirit lives on after death.

But on the fortieth day, at His Ascension, He dies to them again. Their spirit sight cannot follow Him as He is elevated into yet another form, so their vision clouds over. They experience once again losing Him, this time in an indescribable depth of sorrow.

Sorrow and grief serve to deepen the soul. During the ten days after His Ascension, the disciples cocoon themselves together in the upper room. They remember that He said, "Pray from the heart, and it will be given to your heart (Jn. 16:24)."  So they pray. They go over all their memories of all they had experienced with Him. They remembered that He said, "The hour is coming when I will speak to you, openly and unveiled so that you can grasp it in full knowing consciousness (John 16:25)."

Although their soul's eye can no longer see Him, their prayers and sorrow, and memories are molding their souls. Their interior awareness is deepening. "Do you now feel my power in your heart?" He asks. "Take courage (Jn 16:31, 33)."

Rilke captures something of the mood of Ascension:

Laudario of Sant'Agnese

In deep nights I dig for you like treasure.

For all I have seen

that clutters the surface of my world

is poor and paltry substitute

for the beauty of you

that has not happened yet.

…Reaching, these hands would pull you out of the sky

as if you had shattered there,

…What is this I feel falling now,

falling on this parched earth,

softly,

like a spring rain?*

 

Christ's disciples are gestating. A new capacity is forming within them. It will be a little while until it makes itself known. But it is coming.

* Rilke, Rilke's Book of Hours, Barrows and Macy, p. 124.

 

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

 

 

 

 

5th Sunday after Easter 2021, Let Us Be On Our Way

 5^th Sunday after Easter

John 14:1-31  

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in the power that leads you to the Fatherly Ground of the World and Me. In my Father's house, there are many rooms. If it were not so, how could I have said to you, 'I go there to prepare a place for you'? And when I have gone and prepared a place for you, I will come again and take you up into the realm of my Being and working, so that where I work, you also may work. And you know the way where I am going."

Then Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"

Jesus answered, "I myself am the Way—the Truth— and the Life. No one finds his way to the Father but through me. If you had known my Being, you would have recognized my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him."

Then Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father; that would satisfy our deepest yearning."

Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Does your heart's voice not tell you that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you are not just my own. But the Father, who lives eternally in Me, continues to do His works in them. Build your faith on the power of my Being that lets you know: I in the Father, the Father in me. Or at least learn to trust through looking at the works themselves that have arisen.

Truly, truly I say to you, whoever trusts in my Being will also do the works I do—and greater deeds will he do because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask for in unity with me, I will do it so that the Father's deeds may be revealed in the working of the Son. When you turn to Me in prayer in the power of my name, I will be the Creating One in all your works. If you truly love me, you will share in my spiritual goals. And I will ask the Father, and He will send to you another Counselor, who will stand by you forever, even the Spirit of Truth. The earthly world cannot receive this Counselor, for it cannot perceive his working and does not recognize him. But you know him, for he will live with you and will work in you.

Stephen B. Whatley

I will not leave you desolate—I will
come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see Me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. On that day, you will truly know what it means that I am in the Father, and you in Me and I in you.

Whoever bears my spiritual goals within themselves, and brings them to revelation in their working, is one who truly loves me. And whoever truly loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and will reveal myself to them."

Then Judas (not the Iscariot) said, "But Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the people who are in the world?

Jesus replied, "Whoever truly loves Me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and prepare with them a dwelling in the everlasting [or, an eternal dwelling]. Whoever does not love Me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.

These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the health-bringing Spirit, the Counselor whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, nor let them be afraid.

You heard Me say to you, 'I am going away, and yet I am coming to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I am.

I have told you now before it happens so that when it happens, you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon, the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over Me.

But I act in accordance with the Father's purpose, as it was entrusted to Me so that the world may know that I love the Father. Do the same. Arise, let us be on our way.

 

5^th Sunday after Easter

May 9, 2021

John 14:1-31

The surface of a lake can be choppy or calm. When the surface is covered with high waves, their movement arouses excitement or even fear. When the surface is calm, one can see the reflection of the heavens.

Ivan Aivasovsky

Our souls are deep lakes. We float on their surface with our awareness. In times of storm, our souls are agitated; we feel anxiety and fear. Yet always with us in the ship of our life is Christ. He may seem 'asleep' in our boat, as in the story in Mark 4:35. But what that really means is that we may have to awaken our awareness of His Presence. Or we may see Him walking toward us on the waves, as in the story in Matthew 14:22. In either case, once we are aware of His Presence, near or far, the storm subsides. The waves of agitation flatten, and we can see the calm majesty of heaven's purpose reflected in the surface of our lives, in the calm surface of our own soul.

For He said, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in the power that leads you to the Father and to Me" (John 14:1). One of those powers is finding the calm center within ourselves as quickly as possible after experiencing fear. In our efforts to pray, to calm ourselves, we awaken Christ within us. By awakening Him in our souls, we can become aware of the higher purpose of the events in our lives. We can come to an awareness of the deeper currents propelling our lives. And we can come to the conviction that Christ is the Pilot, the calm and purposeful center within us. We experience what He says of Himself: "I myself am the Way the Truth and the Life….Arise, let us be on our way."

 

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.*

 

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

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