8th Trinity III 2022, His Great Heart

8^th Trinity III

Luke 17:5-37 

Jesus said to his disciples, "It is not possible for all hindrances to inner growth to be avoided. But woe to them through whom they come. It would be better for them if a millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea than that they should be the cause of disruption in inner growth for even one single delicately burgeoning human self. 

"Take heed to yourselves! If your brother has done you an injustice, reproach him with it. And if he changes his heart and mind, forgive him. And even if he treats you unjustly seven times a day and turns to you seven times and says, 'I have changed my heart and mind,' you should forgive him." 

And the apostles said to the Lord, "Strengthen our faith!" 

And the Lord said, "If you had faith as full of life as a mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine [or, mulberry] tree: be uprooted and be planted in the sea!  And it would obey you. 

"Who among you who has a servant for plowing or for herding sheep, who would say to him when he comes home from the field, 'Come at once and sit down at table?' Instead, you would say, 'Put on your apron, prepare the meal for me, and wait on me until I eat and drink; afterward, you can eat and drink too.' Does the servant deserve special thanks for doing his duty? Think of yourselves like that; when you have done all that you have been told to do, then say, 'We are feeble servants; we have only done what we were obliged to do.' " 

And as he was on the way to Jerusalem, he passed through the middle of Samaria and Galilee. And as he was entering a certain village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance, and they raised their voices, saying, "Master, Jesus, have mercy on us!" 

And seeing them, he said, "Go, and show yourselves to the priests." And it came about that as they went on their way, they were cleansed.

Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and fell on his face at his feet and thanked himꟷand he was a Samaritan. 

James Christensen

And Jesus responded and said, "Were not all ten cleansed? And the nine—where are they? Was no one seen returning to praise the revelation of God's working in this event except this foreigner?" And he said to him, "Rise and go your way. The power of your trust has healed you." 

At that time, the Pharisees asked him, "When will the Kingdom of God come?"  

And he answered, "The Kingdom of God [The human Kingdom of the Spirit, permeated by God], does not come in a form which is outwardly perceptible. Nor does it come in such a way that one can say, 'Look, here it is, or there.' Behold—the Kingdom of the Spirit will arise in your own hearts." 

And he said to his disciples, "There will come times when you will long to experience even one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not experience it. Then they will say to you, 'Look—there!' or 'Look—here!'  Do not follow this call; do not go on their spiritual paths. For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning that flashes up in one part of the sky and yet instantly pours out its bright light over the whole firmament. But first, he must suffer great agony and be rejected by this present earthly humanity. 

"As it was in the days of Noah, so will it again be in the day when the Son of Man will reveal himself—they ate and drank, they came together in marriage as man and wife, until the day when Noah entered the Ark, and the great flood destroyed everything. It was the same in the days of Lot—they ate and drank, bought, sold, planted, built until Lot left Sodom, and fire and sulfur rained from heaven, and everything perished. It will be like that, too, in the days when the Son of Man will reveal himself. 

"When that time comes, let whoever is on the roof of the house, having left their goods in the house, not go down to fetch them. And let whoever is out in the open field not go back to what they have left behind. Remember Lot's wife! For whoever tries to preserve their soul unchanged will lose it, and whoever is prepared to give it, will in truth, awaken in themselves a higher life. I tell you, then there will be two sleeping at night in one bed; when the power of the spirit comes, one is gripped by it, the other is left empty. Two women will be grinding at one mill; one is deeply stirred, the other is left empty." 

And they said to him, "Where shall we turn our gaze, Lord?" 

And he answered, "Become aware of your life body, and you will see the eagles [of the Sun] that are gathering [within you]."* 

[or, Where there are descent and disintegration, there also is revelation.] 

[or, Where the formative life forces in the human being begin to work in freedom, there the Spirit of the World reveals itself.]

* The usual translation is "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather." But the Greek original uses the word 'soma', a word for a living body, not 'sarx', corpse. And 'aetoi' refers to eagles, not vultures. 

8^th August Trinity

September 11, 2022

Luke 17:20-37 

The human heart is complex. Not only does blood flow through it but also invisible components: Varied and intricate thoughts enter the heart and arise from it. Nuances and tides of feelings wash through it. Decisions and resolves of will form in it. 

Because of its nature, the human heart can become a place for Christ to visit,

Stephan B. Whatley

even to dwell. Our private individual religious practice, our daily prayers, and devotionals prepare and tune our hearts to receive the flow of Christ’s lifeblood through us. 

A congregation, too, has a heart. In the congregation, the invisible heart of each member becomes part of the larger heart of the community. Each contributes their thoughts, their feelings, and will. Each is indispensable. Whenever someone joins us, the communal heart swells and beats a little higher and stronger. 

The congregation’s religious practice is the sacraments, especially the Act of Consecration. In the Act of Consecration, when we join together our individual hearts to form the community’s heart, Christ’s life-giving blood flows further and even more strongly. 

Our collective heart is also joining invisibly with the collective hearts of other communities. On Sundays, all across the world, beginning in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and soon Korea, a great communal heartbeat sweeps sequentially through the time zones. As individual hearts join to form the communities’ hearts, congregations become vessels for the even greater heart of Christ. In Acts of Consecration, His powerful life pours in a mighty stream from east to west, gathering momentum and strength as each community celebrates His act of life. All through our night, in our sleep, we have been washed in the stream of the sequence of Acts of Consecration from east of us. The communities in Europe and Africa were strengthening us. And now, we communities on the east coast [of the US] join in pouring this creative and life-giving stream westward and into the future. We do this,

 so that the high and unifying thoughts of Christ’s great heart can enlighten humankind;

so that the life of His pure and ennobling feelings can warm and uplift our humanity;

so that His resolutions for our future, steeped in His love, can permeate the life of the world.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

7th Trinity 2022, Mantle of Peace

Burnand

 7^th Trinity III

Luke 10:1-20 

After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him, before his face, to every town and place where he himself was about to go. He told them, "An ample harvest, and few workers! Ask the harvest master, therefore, to send out workers to help with the harvesting. Go: I hereby send you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a wallet or knapsack or sandals, and do not pause to greet anyone on the way. 

"When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a person of peace is there, your peace will alight on them; if not, it will turn round and come back to you. Stay in that place, eating and drinking with them, because the worker is worth his wages. Do not move around from house to house. 

"When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you, and heal the sick and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is close upon you.' But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we are shaking off before your eyes. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is approaching.' I am telling you, Sodom will be better off than that town on that day.

 "The worse for you, Chorazin! The worse for you, Bethsaida! Because if the deeds of the spirit that happened in you had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, they would long since be sitting in sackcloth and ashes as a sign of their change of heart and mind. But Tyre and Sidon will be better off on the day of decision than you. And you, Capernaum, won't you be exalted to the skies? You will go down to the depths. 

"Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me, but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me." 

Tissot

The seventy-two returned with joy and said: "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." 

He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Here, I have now given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and all the power of the enemy, and none of it shall ever hurt you. But do not be glad that the spirits submit to you; be glad that your true being is taken up into the world of the heavens [or, that your names are recorded in the heavens]."

 

7^th August Trinity

September 4, 2022

Luke 10:1-20 

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that place….”

 These words of Christ give us insight into the true nature of peace.               

Equanimity

First of all, peace needs to be invoked. At the threshold of any new situation, we
need to stop for a moment and inwardly call up peace from within ourselves. We do so in finding the calm center of our being in which Christ can be found. Then we can send the peace we find there out before us into the situation. 

Then if that situation contains those who are also capable of calling up peace from within, if they too are sons and daughters of peace, our peace alights on them like a mantle that strengthens their peace. Peace multiplies, for they, in their turn, send peace back to the giver. 

If not, then the peace we send out will turn and come back to us. Peace sent out does not dissipate just because there is no one out there to receive it. In such a situation, there is always at least one person of peace – the one who sent it out. Such a precious commodity is never poured out in vain. If not received by another, it can always return to the giver as a strengthening of their own forces of peace. It only dissipates if not caught again. 

Stephen B. Whatley

Returned peace strengthens the giver so they can fulfill Christ’s next words – “Stay in that place….” We are not to run away, discouraged or dismayed by a lack of like-mindedness. We are to calmly remain for a while. A calm person of peace has the power to keep underfoot the snakes of deceit as a quiet champion of the truth. We have the power to neutralize the destructive power of the scorpion. With peace invoked from within our own hearts, Christ assures us that the destructive powers shall not hurt us. Our peace shines with His peace into the realms of the heavens. The names of those of peace, names that are both given and earned, shine in the heavens. 

For Christ says, “This peace with the world can envelop you and radiate from you because it is I, the Prince of Peace, who give it to you.”  His power of truth and self-disciplined love guide us toward humankind’s future. May we walk with him wrapped in the mantle of his ever-flowing peace. 

www.thechristiancommunity.org

https://cynthiahindes.blogspot.com

 

6th Trinity III, 2022, Be Opened

 6th Trinity III

Mark 7:31-37 

Julia Stankova

As he was again leaving the region around Tyre,
he went through the country around Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the region of the ten cities of the Decapolis. They brought to him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty and asked him to lay his hands on him. 

And he led him apart from the crowds by himself, laid his finger in his ears, and moistening his finger with saliva, touched his tongue, and looking up to the heavens, sighed deeply and said to him, "Ephphata, be opened." His hearing was opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he could speak properly. 

And he commanded them not to say anything to anyone. But the more he forbade it, the more widely they proclaimed it. And the people were deeply moved by this event and said, "He has changed all to the good: the deaf he makes to hear and the speechless to speak."

 6^th August Trinity

August 28, 2022

Mark 7:31-37 

Before the sun rises, the world is hushed. It is as if creation awaits in silence the making of a new day. The one in the gospel who was deaf and mute was enclosed, enwrapped in silence. And silently, Christ worked to prepare him. 

First, he drew him aside, apart from the crowds. He helped him come to himself. Then silently, Christ touched those senses in need of healing — the closed ears, the fettered tongue. Christ’s silent gesture spoke volumes. ‘Here,’ he says, ‘through your closed ears, you are self-enclosed. You can only hear your own thoughts. And thus your speech is captive.’ 

Then he looked heavenward. The deaf one, too, perhaps, raises his eyes to the heavens, to the profoundly silent world of the Father. And like a breath of fire — Ephphata! — Be Opened! — sweeps through him. The Word blazes within him. The man opens, he hears; he begins to speak, clearly, joyously. And this word of flame ignites the crowd and begins to spread. A new life begins. 

Christ burns away our dross. It is he who removes our impediments and barriers. It is he who shows us the way into our future. 

Ephphata, artist unknown

In our own moments of self-created silence, we pray to him to release our future. In the words of Rilke: 

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken

I want to free what waits within me

so that what no one has dared to wish for

may for once spring clear….

May what I do flow from me like a river

no forcing, and no holding back…

Then…I will sing you as no one ever has,….*

 

* Rilke’s Book of Hours, Macy and Barrows, page 58

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

5th Trinity III 2022, Divine Working Within

 5th Trinity III

Luke 18:35-43
 

Julia Stankova

It happened as he approached Jericho: a certain blind man was sitting by the road begging. Hearing the crowd going by, he wanted to know what was happening, and they told him Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He cried out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
 
Those leading the way threatened him and wanted him to be quiet. But he cried all the louder, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
 
Jesus stopped and had him led to him. And Jesus said to him, "What do you want that I should do for you?"
 
He said to him, "Lord, that I may look up and see again."
 
And Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight. Through your faith and your trust, the power for healing has been awakened in you." [or, your faith has healed you.]
 
At that moment, his eyes were opened. He followed Him and thus revealed the working of the divine within the human being—and all who saw it praised God.
 
5^th Trinity III
August 21, 2022
Luke 18:35–43 
 
Christ is always willing to work with us. He moves along with us in our lives, always nearby. But a veil of opposition, all the attempts of the adversary to prevent a face-to-face encounter, blind us. Christ waits for us to call out to him. And with great respect, he asks us: “What do you want that I should do for you? (Luke 18:41).
 
What would each of us answer? What is our deepest wish?
 
The blind man asks for vision. His physical blindness is a metaphor for the blindness of all humanity. He is asking not only for the healing of his earthly sense of sight. He is also asking to be able to perceive the beings and workings of the upper worlds. He is asking for the healing of the old, deep wound; it was caused long ago by the Fall when we were catapulted out of conscious companionship with the angels. We are blind to their presence and working.
 

Julia Stankova

The blind man himself had taken the first few steps. He had overcome outer obstacles. He asks for a deeper level of healing, and because he is ripe for it, Christ can point out that the potential for healing is already within him. “Through your faith and trust,” he says, “the power for healing  [the old human wound] has been awakened within you” (Luke 18:42).
 
At that moment, his eyes are opened. And what
does he see? He sees the miraculous paradox. He sees standing before him the highest Son of God within the flesh of the noblest human being. God in the flesh.
 
In the Act of Consecration, we, too, have the opportunity to become seeing. We have overcome obstacles and resistances to arrive here. We ask that we, too, may look up and see. Our eyes open, and we perceive the miraculous paradox — the highest God in a body of bread and wine. And we begin to see on a higher and deeper level.
 
“Thus is revealed the working of the divine within the human being” (Luke 18:43).

4th Trinity III 2022, Tree of Life

 4th Trinity III

Luke 9:1-17 

He called the twelve together and gave them potent authority and formative power to work against all demonic mischief and heal all sickness.  And he sent them out to heal and to proclaim the Kingdom of God, appearing now on earth, the kingdom of human beings filled with God's spirit. 

And he said to them, "Take nothing with you on the way: no staff for support, no bag for collecting, neither bread nor money, nor change of clothes. If you enter a house, remain there until you go further. And where they do not accept you, leave their city and shake the dust from your feet as a sign that they have refused community with you." 

They left and walked through the villages of the country, announcing the joyful message of the new working of the kingdom of the angels and healing everywhere. 

Meanwhile, Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was happening, and he was very perplexed, for some said, "John has risen from the dead," and others said that Elijah had appeared, and yet others, "One of the Prophets of old has risen again." And Herod said, "John, I have had beheaded; who now is this, about whom I hear all these things?" And he wished to see him himself. 

And the apostles returned and reported to Jesus everything that they had accomplished. So he gathered them to himself and retreated with them to a city called Bethsaida for special instruction. But the people became aware of it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them of the Kingdom of God of the future, of the human kingdom on earth filled with the divine spirit, and he healed all who needed it. 

Woloschina

But the day began to decline. The twelve came up to him and said, "Send the crowd away so that they can reach the villages and farms in the vicinity and find food and lodging, for here we are in a deserted place." However, he said to them, "From now on, it falls to you; you give them to eat." 

They answered, "We have nothing but five loaves and two fish. Or shall we go and buy food for all of them?" There were about five thousand people. 

Then he said to the disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of fifty." And they did so, and all reclined. 

Then he took the five loaves and the two fish and, raising his soul to the spirit, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. And they ate, and all were satisfied. And they took up the pieces that remained: twelve baskets full. 

4^th August Trinity

August 14, 2022

Luke 9:1–17 

Here in this gospel, the spirit, the life of God, begins to live and breathe within the human community. First, an in-breath — “He called the twelve together and gave them potent authority and formative power.” He breathes into the community of the twelve his powers of life, the power to order and to heal. 

And then he breathes the twelve themselves out into the world to bring his powers of life to others. He warns them first not to crowd out his spirit with stuff, to satisfy a need for sticks, bags, bread, and money. And so, free and unencumbered, they go forth, breathing out his healing and joyful spirit into the world.               

Then they return for another round of inbreathing, of inspiration. And Christ gathers them together again to deepen the working of his spirit into their community. Now they are not only able to order and heal. Now they are to join themselves together with his power to nourish, feed and sustain. “From now on,” he says, it falls to you to give them to eat.” 

For a moment, they are confused—food is surely something tangible, countable. And what they have isn’t enough. 

artist unknown

But he shows them that true nourishment and sustenance come from both a higher and yet a deeper level. They come from a level where living forces multiply themselves before they divide. 

Christ demonstrates the laws of how

this mysterious process works. He breathes out his own spirit up to the Father of all Life in a great outpouring of gratitude. In so doing, he makes his own spirit into the trunk of the great Tree of Life itself. His gratitude brings nourishment to this tree, a tree that is ever fruitful, ever-bearing. The fruits of this tree nourish by bestowing life itself in abundance. The community, united in thanks with Christ, is allowed to harvest and eat of the fruits of the tree of life. 

Together they give thanks. And together they eat and are satisfied. For with Christ, they had breathed themselves into the realm of multiplication — the realm where there is more than enough. Enough for all time, and for everywhere.

 

 

3rd Trinity III, 2022, Road Homeward

 3^rd Trinity III

Luke 15:1-32 

Tissot

Now many customs officials, despised by the people, who called them sinners and expelled them from their community, sought to be close to Jesus. They wanted to listen to him. The Pharisees and teachers of the law, however, were upset by this and said, "This man accepts sinners and eats with them!" 

So he told them this parable: 

"Who among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open and go looking for the lost one until they find it? And when they have found it, they lay it on their shoulders rejoicing. And when they come home, they call together their friends and neighbors and say to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost!' 

"I tell you, there will be more joy in the heavens over one human being, living in denial of the spirit, who changes their mind, than over the ninety-nine righteous who think they have no need of repentance. 

"Or

Tissot, Lost Coin

which woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one, does not light a lamp, sweep the whole house and carefully search until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost!' 

"In the same way, I tell you, there will be joy among the angels in the world of spirit over one human being living in denial of the spirit who manages to change their heart and mind." 

And he said further, "A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Give me the share of the estate which falls to me.' And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey to a far country and squandered his estate in the enjoyment of loose living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine came over the land, and he began to be in need. So he went and attached himself to a citizen of the country who sent him out into his fields and let him herd swine. And he longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, but no one gave him anything. 

Tissot

"Then he came to himself and said, 'How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here of hunger. I will rise up and go to my father and say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against the higher world and against you. I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Make me one of your hired men [workers].' 

"So he rose up and traveled along the road to his father. When he was still a long way off, his father saw him, felt his misery, ran toward him, embraced him, and kissed him. And yet the son said, 'Father, I have sinned against the higher world and against you. I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Make me one of your hired men [workers].' 

"But the father called his servant to him. 'Quickly! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and slaughter the fattened calf. Then we shall eat and be merry. For this, my son was dead and is risen to life. He was lost and is found again.' And they began to celebrate. 

Welden Andersen, Older Brother

"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he returned home and came
near the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants to him and asked him what it meant. He gave him the news, 'Your brother has come home again. So in joy, your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back again safe and sound.' 

"The son grew dark with anger and didn't want to go in. But his father came out and pleaded with him. He, however, reproached his father saying, 'Look! For so many years, I have been with you and have never neglected one of your commands. But you never gave me so much as a goat that I might be merry with my friends. And now comes this son of yours who has eaten up your wealth in scandal, and you offer him the fattened calf.'

However, the father said to him, 'Child, you are always with me, and all that I have belongs to you too. But now we should be glad and rejoice; for this, your brother was dead and lives; he was lost and has been found again.' "

3^rd August Trinity

August 7, 2022

Luke 15:1–10 

The gospel reading speaks of lost things. The caretakers and owners are concerned. The shepherd brings the lost sheep back because it is in danger of losing its life. The woman searches for the lost coin because otherwise, it cannot exercise its value in supporting life’s necessities. 

It is not for nothing that in both cases, the parable stresses that what is important is the one, the single unique individual. It is not primarily belonging to a group, the herd, or collection that is important. What is stressed is singularity. 

The Pharisees and lawyers are concerned with belonging to the group and abiding by its rules. Anyone not abiding by the group’s rules is shunned. But that is like expelling a sheep from the flock for an imperfection or taking a coin out of circulation because it is tarnished. 

Julia Stankova

From where the angels stand, it is the unique value of each individual human spirit that is important. Tarnish, imperfections are accepted as a matter of course. It is the way we were made—incomplete. It is the survival of the human spirit that is the important thing. 

In Jesus’ time, the rising individuality of the human spirit was endangered by being forced to serve group cohesion. Those who inhabited the shadowy borderlands of the group, such as Jews who collected taxes on behalf of the hated Roman oppressors, were strangely on their own. They were souls working on being independent, becoming single individuals. And Christ accepts them and eats with them because they seek to be close to him. 

The spiritual world has enormous respect for our freedom. We are free to wander away, free to live in denial of the spirit. 

Christ came down from heaven to look for, to gather together lost and endangered souls. He and his angels seek after those who have wandered away from awareness of the spirit. They don’t want to lose us. They are concerned for the life of our spirits. 

They seek after us until we find them. 

Our shift of awareness, our turning to see who is following us, and our change of heart result from their spirits seeking ours. 

Allowing ourselves to work our way toward spirit consciousness is our choice.  

And there is great joy in the world of the angels over every unique individual who manages to notice that they are being sought after. The Good Shepherd rejoices when our awareness broadens, our hearts enlarge and open, and we turn and set ourselves on the road homeward.

www.thechristiancommunity.org 

 

 

2nd Trinity III 2022, Hard to Surrender

 2^nd Trinity III

Matthew 7:1-29 

"Do not judge your fellow human beings, so that your judgment will not someday be visited upon yourself. For in the way you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, you too will be measured. Why do you look to the splinter in your brother's eye but do not become aware of the beam in your own eye? And how can you say to your brother: "Wait, I will pull the splinter out of your eye" while there is a beam in your own eye. You hypocrite, first remove the log from your own eye, and then you may be able to see how to remove the splinter from your brother's eye. 

"Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor throw pearls to the swine, for these will tread them underfoot, and then turn upon you and tear you also to pieces. 

"Ask from the heart, and it will be given to your heart; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; for whoever asks in uprightness will receive; whoever earnestly seeks will find; whoever knocks, to them will be opened. Or are there among you those who when their son asks for bread would give him a stone, or when he asks for a fish would offer him a snake? If then you who, despite wickedness, know how to give good things to your children, how much more goodness will your Father in the heavens give to those who earnestly ask him for it. 

"All that you want that someone should do for you, do first for them. This is the true content of the Law and the Prophets. 

Narrow Gate, David Hayward

"Walk through the narrow gate, for the gate is
wide, and the path is easy that leads to ruin [the abyss], and many are they who walk it. But narrow is the gate and difficult the path that leads to Life, and it is only the individual who finds it.  

"Be on your guard against false prophets of healing. They come to you in the garments of peaceful lambs but inwardly are rapacious wolves. You shall recognize them by the fruits of their deeds. Never will you harvest grapes from a thorn bush, nor figs from thistles. Every noble tree brings forth good fruit, but a wild tree only forms unusable fruit. A noble tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a wild tree cannot form good fruit. A tree that does not bring forth good fruit will be cut down and put in the fire. Therefore, recognize them by the fruits of their deeds. 

"Not everyone who addresses me with 'Lord! Lord!' can be taken up into the kingdom; only whoever accomplishes the will of my Father in the heavens. In the future, when the light of God breaks over the earthly darkness, many will call to me. They will say, 'Lord! Lord! have we not worked in advance for your revelation? Have we not driven out spirits of destruction in honor of you? Have we not gathered multiple powers for your word?' 

"Then I will freely say to them, 'I do not know you. My paths are not your paths. Depart from me, for you serve the forces of chaos [the downfall of the world].'

"Everyone who hears such words from me and acts accordingly will be like someone who wisely built their house on bedrock. The clouds burst, the waves rose, the winds blew and beat against that house. But it did not totter, for it was founded upon the rock. 

"However, whoever hears such words from me and does not act accordingly is like someone who foolishly builds their house upon sand. The rain comes down, the floods rise, the winds blow and beat upon the house, and it collapses with a great crash." 

When Jesus had finished saying this, the people were greatly moved, for he spoke to them out of spiritual authority, as if the powers of creation themselves spoke out of him, and not like their teachers of the law [or, canon-lawyers].  

2^nd August Trinity

July 31, 2022

Matthew 7:15–27 

In the spring half of its growth cycle, a fruit tree is all about manifesting. First its blossoms break forth, then its tender green leaves that broaden into summer’s crown. But the second half has to do with ripening something hidden: small living seeds, hidden in green fruit, hiding among the green leaves. They have to do with developing something that will survive autumn’s death: Seeds that will outlive the winter. 

What kind of trees are our souls? Are they cultivated, nourished, pruned, cared-for? Or like wild trees, left to fend for themselves, to eke out their existence in a hostile environment? For the important fact about our souls, and the lives they produce, is that we ourselves are both tree and gardener. We ourselves are called upon to recognize and work with our own nature. 

The fruits of noble souls are characterized by a fulsome beauty and regularity of form, by a robust generosity, flavored with a certain sweetness, nourishing others. Noble souls nourish the seeds of a life that will survive death. 

But like wild trees, untended souls create fruits that are dry and hard, measly and bitter, often corrupted from within. For such a wild tree, being turned into warming, useful firewood is an act of redemption. 

To do the will of the Father is to care for souls so that they become fruitful. So that they nourish others; so that they can offer themselves to nourish the Father’s purposes, to surrender to his greater life in the realm beyond the threshold of death. Eventually the tree will die. Its essence will be reduced to either seed or ash. 

For as Rilke says,* 

we are only the rind and the leaf.

The great death that each of us carries inside

is the fruit.

Everything enfolds it. 

For untended souls, he continues, it is 

 … hard to surrender what you never received.

Their exit has no grace or mystery

It’s a little death, hanging dry and measly

Like a fruit inside them that never ripened. 

God gives us each our own death

The dying that proceeds

from each of our lives

the way we loved

the meanings we made…. 

*Rilke, Book of Hours, Barrows and Macy, pages 130-132.