2nd Trinity IV, Aerial Bridge

 Rev. 3:1-6, (Sardis)

Sardis, Tiffany

"And to the angel who penetrates the 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 words and workings of 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 7, 2021

Revelation 3: 1-6

This letter is from the Son of Man. It is written to the angel of the community of Sardis. It can be heard as a letter to an entire community, ‘a community whose members feel the Christ within themselves’.

It is natural that a community tends to drift away from its original receptive gesture of soul. After all, things change. Habits form. And over time, a community’s relationship to the spirit may become dull. It needs renewal. This letter stresses being open to the words and workings of the spirit. Christ encourages us to revive our original prayerful openness, in loyal dedication to Him.

Such openness helps us to overcome illusion through the Truth of Christ’s Being. It helps us overcome our need to see, hear, touch a physical, material God. The poet Czeslaw Milosz was asked about praying to a God one could not perceive:

Glass Sky Walk, Grand Canyon

You ask me how to pray to someone who is not.

All I know is that prayer constructs a velvet bridge

And walking it we are aloft, as on a springboard,

Above landscapes the color of ripe gold

Transformed by a magic stopping of the sun.

That bridge leads to the shore of Reversal

Where everything is just the opposite and the word 'is'

Unveils a meaning we hardly envisioned.

Notice: I say we; there, every one, separately,

Feels compassion for others entangled in the flesh

And knows that if there is no other shore

We will walk that aerial bridge all the same.*

 

---

* Czeslaw Milosz, “On Prayer” in New and Collected Poems, 1931-2001, trans. Robert Hass

 

 

 

1st Trinity IV, Plant Me

 

November Trinity IV

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 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 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:

Memling

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,

Sombart

encircled round His breast with a golden band;

        His head and His hair shining 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

October 31, 2021

Revelation 1:1-20 

Imagine being given two large seeds, a real one and a cleverly made replica. Could we tell just by looking which one was real? Using all of our senses, could we distinguish between the living one and the merely material one? We could certainly test them by planting them and seeing which one sprouts. 

There are many images of Christ in art and descriptions of people’s experiences of Christ Jesus. Perhaps not all of them correspond to the true, living, creative essence of His being. How can we tell the difference? 

In His revelation to John, we have been given a living image of Christ. He bears a human form, yet one infused with fire. His head shines sun-white with the pure radiance of His thought. His breast is encircled with the gold of a merciful, loving kindness. His hands hold the creative weaving of the seven-fold evolving nature of life. His feet glow with the burning activity of purifying transformation. 

His eyes shine with the creative fire of love. And as we listen, his voice resounds with the music of living waters. 

This is the true picture of Christ. And we can know that He is the true living seed because he was planted in the earth and was born out of the realm of the dead. ‘I AM the Living One,’ He says. ‘I AM the true seed. Plant Me in your hearts. Plant Me in your midst. Hear my life-giving voice in your congregations. Let Me live in you.’

www.thechristiancommunity.org 

4th Michaelmas 2021, God's Justice

 

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

Revelation 19:11-16 

And I saw the heavens opening up.

Queen Mary Apocalypse

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 God's will, 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 Sunday

October 24, 2021

Revelation 19:11-16 

A child who breaks a window can make amends by paying for a new one. Or perhaps the child could even learn how to repair and replace broken windows themselves—a life skill acquired that could serve them and others in the future.

In today’s reading, we are given an uncomfortable picture of a warrior on a white horse, battling for justice and proper discernment. What issues from his mouth is the sharpness of the Word of God, He who sees all as it truly is and directs us in what needs to be done.

Although not a gentle or easy picture, we can nonetheless draw a certain comfort from it, for it implies that with God’s justice, a certain order and guidance will be maintained. There will be predictable consequences for what we do and lessons to be learned from them, lessons that will benefit both us and others. The fierce wrath of God’s will is the corrective, aimed in love at bringing us back into a right relationship with Him and others, repairing our own brokenness, and acquiring crowning life skills.

Through many, perhaps difficult, life lessons, we can learn the art of amends, recompense, and repair. And when we have acquired the skills, whitened our garments, we can join with the hosts of those in white who also battle for what is just according to God’s Word.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

3rd Michaelmas 2021, Enduring Fire

2^nd 3^rd or 4^th Michaelmas

Revelation 12:1-17 

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

And at the same time, a second image

Benjamin West

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

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

And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying: 

"Now can begin the deliverance, the power, and the kingdom of our God.

[or, Now can begin the working which proceeds from our God—

the power to heal the world,

the power to transform all being,

the power to draw everything into godly being.]

Arisen is the spiritual leadership of his Christ.

Overthrown is the accuser of our brothers,

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

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

And by the divine Word to which they bore witness.

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

Therefore, rejoice you heavens

And all who lodge therein!

But woe to the earth and the sea:

For the Adversary has come down to you,

And he seethes with measureless fury,

For he knows that his time is short." 

And when the dragon recognized that he had

Durer, colorized

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

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

3^rd Michaelmas

October 17, 2021

Revelations 12:1-17 

We have before the eye of the soul two great images. One is the cosmic eternal feminine, the soul of humanity, laboring to give birth to the Son, the God of Love, who will shepherd nations. And the other is a destructive, devouring red Dragon, full of rage, who tries to prevent this.

Norman Cloister

And we are told that the hosts of the Archangel Michael have thrust this
destructive Dragon and his minions onto the earth. Michael has done so in order to cleanse the heavenly realms so that Christ’s healing and transforming power, his power to spiritualize, can work unhindered from the heavens.

But woe to us. The Dragon has come down to us, seething in measureless fury. Recent events can prompt us to ask: why does God allow war and massacre; why does He allow such tragedies to happen to innocent people? But that is the wrong question. Given the fact that it was necessary for the Dragon to be sent down to earth, the question now comes toward us, from Michael’s heavenly hosts: How can human beings allow such tragedies to happen?

The beings who oppose our human development are making war upon us. We have the armor of God, the armor of truth, trust, and peaceful intentions to protect us. It is now the task of the human world to keep the Dragon in check, to keep the Dragon’s fury and destruction from infecting our souls and destroying the earth. Should we choose to accept the task, Michael, the strong leader of Christ’s heavenly forces on earth, will come to our aid.  In the words of Adam Bittleston,

Amid the storm of the world,

In which our souls share

We seek the leader of the Angel-host,

Michael, who casts down the Dragon.

Into our thoughts may come through him

The sense of gentle awe,

Of patient reverence for the hidden wisdom

That is in all things.

And in our acts his courage

Will overcome the cramping fear

Which makes a slave of man.

Michael calls, when autumn darkens earth;

He leads to Christ, and fights for Christ, for ever;

So may we follow him, and fight beside him

Against the Dragon with enduring fire.*

 

* Adam Bittleston, “Michael I”, in Meditative Prayers for Today 

2nd Michaelmas 2021, Healing Spirit's Light

 2^nd 3^rd or 4^th Michaelmas

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

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

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

against spirit beings mighty in the stream of time,

against spirit beings powerful in the molding of earth substance,

against cosmic powers whose darkness rules the present time,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May this armor clothe you in all your prayers and supplications so that in the right moment, you raise yourself in prayer to the Spirit. To this end, direct your spirit-strength in all your efforts of soul and your intercessions for all who would know Christ’s healing power. 

Feel yourself united in prayer with all other bearers of the Spirit. Take me into your prayers so that when I open my mouth, the strength of the word will be given to me.  Then I can courageously and openly bring the knowledge of that holy mystery that lives in the message of the Gospel, for which I am a priestly messenger enchained. Out of the Gospel itself, there streams to me the free strength to speak with the courage I need. 

2^nd Michaelmas

October 10, 2021

Gospel: Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 6: 10 – 19

In this reading, we are presented with the image of a strong warrior. He stands upright, stands his ground, withstands. He spreads, not destruction, but Christ’s peace, which radiates from him down into the ground, guiding his path.

His power comes from Christ, who is truth itself, the real, true reality beyond illusion, beyond death.

The warrior shields himself with trust in God. His head and thoughts are helmeted with the certainty of Christ’s healing deed on Golgatha so that he can be sure to survive beyond death.

He grasps and takes hold of the Word of God, who is Christ the Creator Himself.

In this posture of defense, the warrior protects himself from fear, from doubt, and from hatred. All of these are dark spirit beings of our time. Becoming spirit warriors, we put on the armor of God, the armor of peace, of truth. We clothe ourselves in the certainty of Christ so that we may withstand the attacks of these beings, who are trying to conquer our souls. We may hear the voice of the spirit-warrior in the prayer against fear by Adam Bittleston:

 

May the events that seek me

Come unto me;

May I receive them

With a quiet mind

Through the Father’s ground of peace

On which we walk.

 

May the people who seek me

Come unto me;

May I receive them

With an understanding heart

Through the Christ’s stream of love

In which we live.

 

May the spirits which seek me

Come unto me;

May I receive them

With a clear soul

Through the healing Spirit’s Light

By which we see.*

 

* Adam Bittleston, "Against Fear," in Meditative Prayers for Today

 

1st Michaelmas 2021, Clothed with Mercy

1^st Michaelmas

Matthew 22:1-14 

And Jesus continued to speak in parables to them: 

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

Botticelli

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

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

"Then the king grew angry; he sent out his army, brought the murderers to their destruction, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'Although the marriage feast is prepared, the invited guests have proved themselves unworthy. Go out, therefore, to the crossroads of destiny and invite to the wedding whoever you can find.' And the servants went into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 

"Then the king came in to see the guests, and among them, he noticed a man who was not dressed in the wedding garment [that was offered to him]. And he said to him, 'My friend, you are sharing the meal; how did you enter here not having a wedding garment?' 

"But the man was speechless. 

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

1^st Michaelmas

October 3, 2021

Matthew 22: 1-14 

Burning of cities, a good king casting out someone who can’t speak up—these elements of today’s gospel reading make us uncomfortable. What do these have to do with a divine King whom we would prefer to see as peaceable, merciful, inclusive? What is God like? 

This reading is, in fact, a picture of the relationship between God and present-day humanity. Something new and wonderful is to happen now. God has drawn near inviting us to a wedding, a celebration, a feast. The first call has gone out to a pre-selected group—those who perhaps could be expected to be close to him. But they have fallen prey to the dragons of indifference and extremes. The one wants to be his own master, set his own time, dictate how and when for himself. He refuses to respond. The second is overwhelmed by too many outer demands. He has no time to respond. And the rest are overtly hostile and destructive. Ultimately they receive back what they have sown as their own destruction. 

So now the wedding hall of the heavens is filled with guests of all types. Humankind of today, everyone, regardless of their moral state or apparent unworthiness, has been drawn into the hall of heaven. 

As was customary in those days, a king would not expect all such invited guests to possess the garments appropriate for such an event. His mercy and consideration are shown in that he provides a wedding garment for all who enter. Their mere willingness to accept and wear this mercy is all that is needed to feast in fellowship with the king. 

Who was this man who refused to wear the offered garment?  Someone who had come in through an improper entrance?  Someone who thought he ought to be acceptable just as he was? In modern terms, this would perhaps be like a wedding guest who climbs over the fence into a wedding reception in shorts. 

In this case, the man not only lacks the humility and gratitude to accept the king’s gift. He lacks that which makes us truly human—ego presence, human speech. He makes no apology, no offer to go out and come in the right way. He just sits there.  There is no interaction because he offers nothing of himself. That he is being cast out is merely the natural consequence of his own state. He lacks the strength of self to participate in a festival of the higher life. He cannot operate in that realm. So he must still spend his time in the ordinary world, limited in where he can go and what he can do, still subject to the soul’s tendency to swing between the extremes of high wailing hysteria and grinding anger.

Arild Rosenkrantz

 

Michael, whose name means “Who is like God,” helps humanity overcome the animal dragons of wailing and anger, stubbornness, and the egotistical dragon of total self-determination. He helps us rise above the dragon of haste that overwhelms and devours the self. Michael extends his sword of gleaming star iron in threat against our lower, egotistical nature. But for moments, he softens his glance, and he beckons. “Follow me,” he says. “I will lead you to the wedding feast in the kingdom of the heavens. I will lead you to your true king.” When we follow, in high earnest and courageous humility, we will be gifted with mercy.

10th Trinity III, Eternity That Shaped You

10^th Trinity III

Luke 7:11-17 

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

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

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

The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him to his mother. Astonishment and awe seized all who were standing there, and they began to praise God and to glorify what was here revealed, saying, "A prophet powerful in spirit has been raised among us, and God has come down to us, his people." 

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

10^th Trinity III

September 26, 2021

Luke 7:11-17

Iris  Sullivan

Every night we go to sleep. We meet with our guardian angel, our higher self and guide. We are cleansed of our fatigue and together we and our angel look back at the events of the previous day. We then plan for the coming day, what we need to do, how we will need to act. The next day, we rise to our tasks and inspirations.

When we die, we meet with Christ. We are cleansed of our weariness and ills. With him we look at our previous lifetime. And we plan for what we need to do and be, how we shall conduct our next life. After a rest, we will hear his voice, “Young one, I say to you, arise!” And we will be given to our mother.

Our fear of dying is sometimes a fear of not having lived the life that we intended before we were born. For we have all come with a unique mission. We would do well to pay attention to those glimmerings of inspiration, those subtle intentions, the angelic promptings that we bring back with us from sleep. For they are our day-by-day guide for living the life we truly intended. The poet’s John Donohue's words express the hopes of our angel:

Sulamith Wulfing

May the beauty of your life become more visible to you, that you may
glimpse your wild divinity.

…May the light of dawn anoint your eyes that you may behold what a miracle a day is.

May the liturgy of twilight shelter all your fears and darkness within the circle of ease.

 …May you find enough stillness and silence to savor the kiss of God on your soul and delight in the eternity that shaped you, that holds you and calls you.*

 

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* John O’Donohue, “A Blessing for Beauty”, from Beauty – The Invisible Embrace