4th Johnstide 2021, Beautiful Deeds

 Johnstide

Matthew 11:2-15 

When John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, he sent his disciples to ask him, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?" 

Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are awakened, and those who have become poor receive the message of salvation. Blessed are those who are not offended by my Being." 

When they had gone, Jesus began to speak about John. "Why did you go out into the desert? Did you want to see a reed swaying in the wind? Or was it something else you wanted to see? Did you want to see a man in splendid garments? Those in splendid garments are in the palaces of kings. Did you go to see a man who is initiated into the mysteries of the Spirit, a prophet? Yes, I say to you—he is more than a prophet. He it is of whom it is written:               

Behold, I will send my angel before your face;

He shall prepare the way of your working in human hearts

So that your Being may be revealed. 

"The truth I say to you: among all who are born of women, not one has risen up who is greater than John the Baptist, and yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist, and even more, now, the kingdom of heaven is advancing and will arise within human beings through the power of the will; those who exert themselves can freely grasp it. The deeds of the prophets and the content of the Law are words of the Spirit that were valid [worked into the future] until the time of John. And if you want to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear."

4^th St. Johnstide

July 18, 2021

Matthew 11:2-15 

Sometimes one hears a parent telling a child not to do something which the parent themself is doing. It is a case of “Do what I say, not what I do.” However, children imitate, and we have to set a good example. We need to model and be the change we wish to see. 

In the reading today, Christ lays emphasis, not on talk, nor on affirmation, but on deeds. John sends to ask if Jesus is the Messiah, the expected new political leader, or great prophet. Christ Jesus does not say, ‘Of course I am’. He does not use self-affirmation or point to great teachings. He points to deeds accomplished on behalf of others. Through Him, human beings are cleansed, strengthened, and elevated. 

Christ further emphasizes that it is our own activity of will that moves humanity forward. Through energetic inner activity, the kingdom of the heavens will arise within human hearts. It is through the kingdom within that we ourselves are healed, strengthened and elevated. It is through the kingdom within that we can strengthen and elevate others.

The Buddha said, 

The perfume of sandalwood,

Stephen B. Whatley

the scent of rosebay and jasmine,

travel only as far as the wind.

 

But the fragrance of goodness

travels with us

through all the worlds.

 

Like garlands woven from a heap of flowers,

fashion your life

as a garland of beautiful deeds.*

 

*From the Dhammapada of the Buddha, translator unknown.

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3rd Johnstide 2021, Kindness is Eternal

 

Johnstide

John 1:19-34

This is John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 

Freely and openly, he confessed. He did not deny but confessed, "I am not the Christ [the Anointed]." 

Domenico Ghirlandaio -

Then they asked him, "Who are you then? Are you Elijah?" 

And he said, "No, I am not." 

"Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No." 

Then they said, "Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" 

He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, "I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul [or, inmost self]." 

And those sent by the Pharisees asked him, "Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" 

John answered them, "I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals." 

This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 

Notre Dame

The next day he [John] sees Jesus
coming to him and says, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: 'After me comes one greater than I  for he existed long before me. Even I did not know him; but for this, I have come, and have baptized with water so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being." 

And John testified: "I saw how the Spirit descended upon him like a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the (breath of the) Holy [or, Healing] Spirit.' And I saw this, and so I testify that this is God's Son."

3^rd Johnstide

July 11, 2021

John 1:19-34 

Each of us, at the core of our being, has an eternal self. Over time, this eternal Self clothes itself in different personalities, each with its own particular time and destiny. Our self-awareness is usually limited to our current incarnation. The eternal core self is hard to find, hard to recognize. 

When John the Baptist is asked who he is, he answers from an awareness of his temporal self. ‘I am not Elijah, not the Christ, not the prophet.’ At the same time, he is clear about his personal destiny—that he came to baptize. 

He is also clear about Jesus’ identity. He sees past Jesus’ earthly personality to His eternal core as the Lamb of God, upon whom the Spirit of God descended and remained. And John is aware that his own destiny is to serve Christ Jesus. 

Carracia

Awareness of one’s own eternal core Self is a gift of grace. Perhaps it is more important to develop an awareness of the eternal selves of others than it is to look for our own eternal core. Perhaps it is more important for us to stand as witnesses for each other—to recognize, as John did, the eternal self of the other, to witness and accompany their destiny. Perhaps this is part of the change of heart and mind that John advocates: that we turn away from self-involvement, toward a humble support of others. 

Something like this is hinted at in Psalm 15:

Those with a passion for justice,

who speak the truth from their hearts;

who have let go of selfish interests

and grown beyond their own lives;

…Their compassion lights up the whole earth,

and their kindness endures forever.* 

 

The Psalms, translations by Stephen Mitchell

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2nd Johnstide 2021, Heart-Warm Thanks

Johnstide

John 3:22-33
 
After this, Jesus and his disciples came to the land of Judea. There he stayed with them and baptized. John also baptized; he was at Aenon near Salim because there was much water there, and people came to him and were baptized, for John had not yet been imprisoned.
 
Then a dispute arose between the disciples of John and the Jews about the path of purification. And they came to John and said to him, "Master, he who came to you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness – here he is, baptizing, and everyone is going to him."
 
John answered, "No human being can grasp spiritual power for himself that is not given to him from the higher worlds. You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.' He who has the bride, he is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, is filled with joy at the bridegroom's voice. This joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease.
 
"He who descends from above, out of the

Sombart

spiritual world, is elevated above all beings of the earth. Whoever is only of the earth, whose being arises from the earthly, his word is also earthbound. He who comes from the heavens is elevated above all who have arisen from the earthly. What he has seen and heard in the world of the Spirit, to that he can bear direct witness, but no one accepts his testimony.
 
"But whoever accepts his testimony sets his seal to this: that God is Truth [or, that there is no higher truth than the reality of God]."

2^nd Johnstide
July 4, 2021
John 3:22-33

John the Baptist came with a mission. He was to witness the incarnation of the Light of the World in Jesus at His baptism. He came to prepare souls to also be able to perceive Christ. He inaugurated a rite of purification, a ritual immersion, which allowed individuals to have their own unique spiritual experience. Some saw the quality of their own lives pass before them; others felt the glorious beings of the spiritual world.

Sombart

As we hear in the reading, those following Jesus were also undergoing baptisms. John’s reaction to the ‘threat of competition’ is noteworthy.

John’s very name means ‘God is gracious.’ God graced John with the opportunity to complete what he had come to do. He witnessed; indeed, he helped midwife the incarnation of God’s Light and Love. And John speaks out of the meaning of his own name when he says that spiritual power is given as grace. He recognizes that his own day is beginning to decline while Jesus’s sun is rising. And so John graciously lets go the baton as he passes it on.

God is gracious. He gives us our lives and sends us to fulfill our tasks. And when we have accomplished what we have come to do, when we have borne witness to our times and loved those whom we were sent to love, we send the Father our heart-warm thanks for the opportunity to be on the earth, doing what we do. And so as the poet says:

May the light of your soul bless your work
with love and warmth of heart.
….
May the sacredness of your work bring light and renewal
to those who work with you
….
May it release wellsprings of refreshment,
inspiration and excitement.
…..
May dawn find hope in your heart, ….
May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.*

---

*John O’Donohue, "For Work," in To Bless the Space Between Us, p. 146.

1st Johnstide 2021, Shine in Darkness

1^st Johnstide

Mark 1:1-13

This is the beginning of the new word from the realm of the angels, sounding forth through Jesus Christ. Fulfilled is the word of the prophet Isaiah:

Behold, I send my angel before your face.

He is to prepare your way.
Hear the voice of one calling in the loneliness of the human soul
Prepare the way for the Lord within the soul,
Make his paths straight so that he may find entrance into the innermost human being!
 
Thus did John the Baptist appear in the loneliness of the desert. He proclaimed baptism, the way of a change of heart and mind, for the acknowledgment of sin. And they went out to him from all of Judea and Jerusalem and received baptism from him in the river Jordan and recognized and confessed their failings.
 
John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist. Fruits and wild honey were his food. And he proclaimed, "After me comes one who is mightier than I. I am not even worthy to bend down before Him and to undo the straps of His sandals. I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the fire of the Holy [or, healing] Spirit."
 

Julia Stankova

In those days, it happened: Jesus of Nazareth came to Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
 
And at the same time, as he rose
 up again out of the water, he beheld how the spheres of the heavens were torn open, and the Spirit of God descended upon him like a dove.
 
And a voice sounded from the world of the Spirit, "You are my son, the beloved—in you is my revelation."
  
And suddenly, he felt himself driven by the Spirit into the desert, and he remained in the loneliness of the desert for forty days, tempted by the Adversary. And he was among wild animals, and the angels served him.

Daniel Bonnell

1^st Johnstide
June 27, 2021
Mark 1:1-13
  
At Christmastime, we awakened into mid-winter darkness.
The starlit heavens opened up, and a choir of angels announced the approach of the great Sun-Spirit who was to be born in humankind. Through late winter and spring, we watched as Jesus of Nazareth grew, teaching and healing. He died and overcame death, appearing to his disciples as they learned to know him in a new way. He united heaven and earth in his Ascension. And at Pentecost, he sent his Spirit awareness to keep himself alive in human hearts.
 
Now we stand at another turning point of the year.  It is mid-day [midnight in the Southern Hemisphere] in the earth’s year. And oddly, the gospel readings seem to start over—Jesus is baptized.  It is as if the gospel readings would like us to take a closer look, to focus in on something.  We see the moment in which Jesus, the man, offers himself.  He steps into the streaming, living waters of the Jordan.  The heavens are torn open. The Father's voice resounds, affirming His Son. The Son-God himself, Christ, enters Jesus.  Jesus becomes the Christ-bearer. 
 

Anton Mengs

At this midday in the year, instead of a choir of angels, one lone human voice, John the Baptist, urges us to offer ourselves, as Jesus did, to the intimate working of Christ in us, through us.  Now it is we who are to become Christ-bearers.  Now it is we who are to become true sons and daughters of the Father. 
 
From now on, the outer sunlight will gradually lessen [grow] as the days grow shorter [longer].  But the Christ-Sun wants to rise within us.  He wants to irradiate our being as he once did the man Jesus.  He wants us to see and hear, to change.  Within us, he wants to become the light that always shines in the darkness. 

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4th June Trinity 2021, Healing to This House

 

June Trinity, additional
Luke 19:1-10
 

And he came to Jericho and went through the town. See, there was a man called Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector, and a rich man. He wanted to see Jesus to know who he was; but because he was small of stature, he could not see him in the great crowd. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a mulberry-fig tree to see him, for he had to come past there. 

And when Jesus came to the place he looked up to him and said, `Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must be a guest in your house!' 

And he came down hurriedly and made him welcome in his house with great joy. All who saw it became indignant and said, 'He has gone in to be a guest in the house of a sinner.' 

Then Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, 'Lord, see, half of all that I have I give to the poor, and if I have taken too much from someone, I give it back to him fourfold.' And Jesus said to him, 'So today healing has come to this house. This man, too, is a true son of Abraham, and the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.'

4^th Trinity II
June 20, 2021
Luke 19:1-10

This lovely episode in the Gospels is encouraging on so many levels: The 'little guy' gets noticed. His efforts at running ahead and raising himself are rewarded. Not only does Jesus notice him but says that He will visit his house and dine with him.


Meanwhile, Zacchaeus had also prepared himself inwardly for an encounter with Christ. Half his riches he shares with the poor—a sign of his awareness that he is embedded in a community from which his wealth is earned; and a community for which he is in turn responsible. He makes recompense for his wealth. He also acknowledges any mistakes or errors toward individuals and makes fourfold restitution.

Zacchaeus has schooled himself in creating right relationships to the divine and to his fellow humans. His open-hearted generosity and willingness to make restitution have brought healing. They are the openings through which Christ is able to commune intimately with him.

Openheartedness is the first step toward an encounter with Christ—Christ on the Way, Christ in us, Christ in others. He is always ready. He says: "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me" (Rev 3:20).

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Announcement

 Dear Email Subscribers,

Last chance. 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. 

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Cindy Hindes

3rd Trinity II 2021, Come and See

 

June Trinity II, additional

John 1:43-51

The next day Jesus wanted to set out for Galilee. And he found Philip and said to him, "Follow me!"

Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote. It is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth."

Then Nathanael said to him, "Can good come out of Nazareth?"

Philip said to him, "Come and see."

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "He has reached the stage of an Israelite in whom there is no untruth."

Then Nathanael said to him, "From where do you know me?"

And Jesus replied, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

Then Nathanael said, "Master, you are the Son of God; you are the spiritual leader of Israel."

And Jesus answered, "Because I said to you I saw you under the fig tree, have you found confidence in me? You will experience greater things than this." And he said to him, "Yes, I say to you all: You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending above the Son of Man."

3^rd Trinity II

June 13, 2021

John 1:43-51

Out of all the facts, all the things we have experienced, all the things we know, our souls construct a coherent story that makes sense to us. For Nathaniel, in this gospel reading, the One whom they were awaiting wasn't expected to come from Nazareth. It didn't fit with the narrative. Not until Nathaniel experienced Christ Jesus himself, not until Jesus supplied additional knowledge and facts, could Nathaniel expand and change the whole narrative. His encounter with Christ changed not only his view of the Messiah but also changed the subsequent storyline of his own life.

In our lives, too, we have built up stories, both individually and culturally. As new experiences arrive, the stories through which we make sense of the world need to be constantly revised and expanded. We need to be open to incorporating new events and facts, especially when they are life-changing.

At the center of this gospel reading is an invitation: Come and see. Come—approach the One you are hoping for. See for yourself. Perceive Him, listen to Him, converse with Him.

Today the invitation still goes out: come and see for yourself. Converse with Him—in your own personal encounters, in the gospels, in the narrative of the Act of Consecration. Perceive Him in the changing life and color of nature and the seasonal prayers. We can hear His invitation in the words of Hafiz: 

Tissot

…our Beloved,

… eternally says, 

"Yes, dear ones, come this way,

Come this way toward Me and Love!"*

 

* Hafiz, in I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz, by Daniel Ladinsky

 

 

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