4th Michaelmas 2022, The Great Moral Order

 2^nd 3^rd or 4^th Michaelmas Sunday

Revelation 19:11-16 

Giusto de 'Menabuoi, Padua Baptistry

And I saw the heavens opening up.

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

October 23, 2022

Revelation 19:11–16

To make wine, the grapes have to be crushed. All the long nurturing and tending seems to be turned into its opposite — the grapes are destroyed. Why? Ironically, to preserve them. They undergo a change of form so that they can yet continue to exist on a different level as wine.

Christ in the Winepress, 17th century artist unknown

Our lives also have their harvest times. There are periods when all we have worked for seems to undergo a change, transformed by something that feels to us wrathful and destructive. 

But we must realize that all forms of life are subject, fortunately, to transformation. Indeed, if this were not so, life could not continue. Old forms need to be broken down and destroyed so that new forms can arise. Breaking down ultimately serves the ongoing evolution of life itself.

We can be comforted when we realize that the treading of the winepress of change that may appear to destroy our efforts is driven by the Creating One of God, the White Rider. He came to earth to clothe himself within our human blood.           

He is faithful, loyal not only to God his Father but also to those of us who feel ourselves trodden upon by life’s burdens. For he requires nothing of us to which he himself has not been subjected. He allowed himself to be crushed so that the wine of his redeeming blood could flow. 

And he is true, rightly and completely aligned with the great moral order that underlies true justice. He shepherds us toward the winepress. His harvesting stroke and his treading the winepress with its apparent destruction serve a higher order and purpose. They create a higher kind of life out of what we have so far created and tended. The juice of our lives becomes His wine so that the true value of our lives is preserved. He begets timeless existence so that the true good of our lives may endure.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

 

3rd Michaelmas 2022, Heavy with Fruit

 2^nd 3^rd or 4^th Michaelmas

Revelation 12:1-17 

Durer

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 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. 

Flemish Apocalypse

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 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 16, 2022

Revelation 12:1–17 

The trees are now heavy with the last fruits. This fruit protects and nourishes a seed. In the seed, there lies future life. 

Benjamin West

In the distant past, a great heavenly mother was heavy with the fruit of a new creation. She labored to bring forth a son, a particular Man-Child. The fruit of her labor was threatened by a devouring adversary. But the Man-Child was rescued, withdrawn to God’s throne. He emerged later as the Anointed One, the Christ, who became the leader of all humankind into the future. 

The heavenly mother brought forth other offspring — us. Our souls, too, are endangered now on earth by the same adversary. He threatens to devour us with fear, with hatred, with war. He wants to destroy the future self that our souls are now laboring to bring forth. 

But just as the Archangel Michael once overcame the dragon in the heavens, so now does he continue to help us contain the dragon on earth. The earnestness of our situation shines forth from Michael’s eyes. Keeping our gaze fixed on Michael’s countenance, we see the adversary held under his foot. Keeping our gaze fixed on his countenance, we see him beckoning to us to follow him. He stands guard as a priestly warrior at the gateway before the place that we enter in order to consecrate our highest, truest, and future selves to Christ. Michael’s eyes are a portal. Through his eyes shines the earnest, gentle light of Christ. 

In the Act of Consecration, we enter through Michael’s earnest eyes into the hall of Christ. We come into the presence of the gentle, luminous shepherd king with the upright iron staff.  He sits at the table of the altar, offering us himself as nourishment and strength. We are gathered to offer him the purity of our noblest thoughts, the warmth of our heart’s love, and the strength of our dedicated devotion. In consecrating, commending, and dedicating our best to Christ, we are offering him the fruits of soul that surround the kernel of the eternal self. In consecrating our souls to Christ, we are bringing to birth the new Man-Child within, He who is the future of all humankind.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

2nd Michaelmas 2022, Pure Spiritual Strength

Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, 6:10-20 

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. 

Arild Rosenkrantz

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 9, 2022

Ephesians 6:10-19 

“Grasp what streams to you in the experience of Christ in the soul, in the powerful regency of his pure spiritual strength.” 

When do we experience Christ in the soul? Some may wonder if that has ever happened to them. But we have all had Christ moments: 

Annael

We experience Christ in those moments when our intentions move us toward healing, toward wholeness and integration; when our intentions seem to be impelling us toward our own future development. Sometimes we only recognize such moment with hindsight. But they are moments when we sense the rightness of our path, that despite pain and confusion, we are moving in the right direction. These moments create in our soul a dynamic peace of will.               

We experience Christ in moments when our feelings are those of courage, of love, and of hope. These moments are Christ working in our soul. They create in our soul a warm and expansive feeling of peace through his love blossoming in us. 

We experience Christ in those moments when our thinking is clear, ordered, insightful, even inspired. These moments create in our soul peace-giving thoughts of trust and faith in ourselves and in the world. 

When our thinking is full of trust in the divine order, supported by our love for Christ and hopes for our future together with him; when our intentions, our motive force moves us toward healing, wholeness, integration, we are moving toward becoming the human being of the future who has chosen to evolve into what God intended for human beings to be—the human being who has evolved into the image and likeness of the Trinity. 

In the Act of Consecration we warmly, intentionally and consciously offer the contents our souls to the Divine. We pray: 

May my will turn toward healing

May this will toward healing arise from my love for Christ

And may I live with the Father consciously through Christ, my thinking enlivened and irradiated by his Spirit. 

This is the requirement that we must fulfill, the toll we must pay in order to enter into the Kingdom of Peace. We offer our souls’ best, which is him in us, 

  

so that our soul’s bodies may worthily receive his bright Body

  so that our soul’s life may stream with his Lifeblood

  so that our souls themselves may receive the Peace he wants to give us. 

Then will our souls feel, think, and will peace. Then will we be able to stream peace from above, all the way down through us to our feet, so that we walk with Christ in peace, along his ever-evolving path of peace. 

“Grasp what streams to you in the experience of Christ in the soul, in the powerful regency of his pure spiritual strength.” 

 

wwww.thechristiancommunity.org

 

 

1st Michaelmas 2022, A Place for You

 

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. 

"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 2, 2022

Matthew 22:1–14 

Burnand

We have probably at least once had a dream where
we showed up for an event and looked down at ourselves only to realize that we were not appropriately dressed. In the dream, we don’t know how we got that way. And we don’t know what to do — we are paralyzed. 

As human beings today, we find ourselves in a similar position. We find ourselves in horrifying situations and circumstances, not knowing how we got there or quite what to do about it. What we may not recognize is that, in fact, we are standing at the crossroads of destiny spoken of in the Gospel reading. We are all being called, invited to a wedding. Outer events have brought us to the place where the wedding is taking place. The Bridegroom is God’s Son. The Bride is the Soul of Humanity. 

Each of us is individually invited to be aware of the union of God and Humanity, to acknowledge and partake in the wedding. To begin with, we don’t have to “be good.” Whether we are good or bad seems to matter less than whether we are able at the right moment to hear the invitation, recognize its significance, and respond appropriately. We only have to respond by accepting the wedding garment offered to us and joining the process. 

One of the places, one of the portals to the wedding feast between the Divine and the Human is the Act of Consecration. An invitation goes out every time it is celebrated. To join in the celebration is to answer the invitation. And the appropriate dress, a wedding garment, is given to each of us at the beginning of the service. And what is the wedding garment? It is the reading of the Gospel. The Gospel reading itself is the festive garment in which to clothe our souls. 

The vestments the priest wears are an outer picture of what we all look like to the angels when we clothe our souls with the content of the Gospel, the good news from the realm of the angels. Each individual is asked to inwardly take it up, clothe themselves in it so that the wedding of God and Humanity can continue; so that the Son’s Father, the King, can come in and converse with us. Otherwise, we keep ourselves wailing and grinding our teeth in the outer darkness, when he would much rather nourish us with his comfort, strength, and purpose. For more than anything, he wants to call us friends, co-celebrants, as part of his kingdom. 

Having come, having clothed ourselves in the good news, having participated in the King’s service, we become the King’s people. We feel strengthened by our contact with Him and with his Son, by our conversation with them, by their words and deeds. And when it is time to leave the sacred hall when we have thanked them, we can say to them in the words of Rilke:* 

May both voices accompany me

when I am scattered again in city and fear.

They will serve me in the fury of our time

and help me to make a place for you

wherever you need to be.  

 

*Rilke’s Book of Hours—Love Poems to God, page 135.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

10th Trinity III, Reborn in Death

 10^th Trinity III

Luke 7:11-17 

Pierre Bouillon

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 August Trinity

September 25, 2022

Luke 7:11–17 

The Sunday Service for the Children speaks of Him who leads the living into the realm of death so that they may live anew. But it is not enough to simply come back to life again. It does not explain the real purpose behind the great cycling of life and death. That purpose is given in the next line of the children’s service: Christ leads what is dead into the realm of life so that it may behold, see, and grasp the Spirit of God itself. 

The funeral service speaks of the realm of the boundless, timeless world. This realm is filled with the power of God’s forward-streaming will. When we die, this
power of God’s will weaves together with the willing of our human soul. This weaving, knitting together of Christ’s will and human will creates an eye, an ocular in the soul. In the realm of death, this eye opens to behold Him, shining powerfully in the light realm of the Spirit. 

The widow’s son had been someone whose will had striven mightily toward beholding God. In the man’s visit to the realm of death, Christ’s creating will opened the widow’s son’s soul eye. And what he saw when his eye was opened was an opening between the realm of earth and the realm of the Spirit. And across that opening was a bridge between the realm of the living and the realm of the so-called dead. That bridge is Christ himself. 

Through Christ, we enter the realm of death. Through his power in our thoughts and hearts, we pass through time into the unbounded realm of timelessness. Through Christ, we are reborn within the realm of death. Through him, our soul’s eye no longer weeps but sees.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

   

9th Trinity III 2022, Harmonious Order

 

9th Trinity III

Matthew 6:19-34 

Arya Sheffer

"Do not save up your treasures on the earth, where moths and rust destroy and thieves tunnel in and steal. Save up your treasures in heaven, where no moth nor rust destroys, and thieves do not tunnel in and steal. Because where you have gathered a treasure, there your heart will bear you. 

"The lamp of the body is the eye. So if your eye is wholesome, your whole body is lighted, whereas if your eye is bad, your whole body is in darkness. So if the light inside you is dark, what great darkness! 

"No one can serve two masters: either they will hate one and love the other, or they will put up with one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and greed's demon of riches [Mammon - spirit of hindrances or avarice]. 

"Therefore I tell you, do not trouble your heart about what you will eat and drink or with what you will clothe your body. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds in the sky: they do not plant, do not harvest, and do not fill barns, and your heavenly Father still feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Can any of you, by being vastly concerned, add one moment to the span of your life? 

Jan de Kok

"And why do you worry about clothing? Study how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not work, and they do not spin cloth. But I am telling you that not even Solomon in all his glory was ever arrayed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the wild grass of the field, here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will He not do much more for you, O small in faith? 

"So do not worry, saying, 'What will we drink? What will we wear?' The nations ask for all these things, and indeed, your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Ask first for God's kingdom and its harmonious order, and these other things will be delivered to you as well. 

"So do not worry about tomorrow because tomorrow can worry about itself. Today's trouble is enough for today."

 9^th August/Sept Trinity

September 18, 2022

Matthew 6:19-24 

It seems that suddenly the days have been shortened. It gets dark so early. Everything begins to seem so pressured and insufficient. A half-conscious anxiety creeps over us—we worry whether we will get everything done today, this month, this lifetime. We sense that the light is declining. 

This gospel reading comes at a good time. It tells us to look closely at the worries and fears that darken our inner landscape. It tells us of the importance of maintaining the inner light in the face of growing outer darkness. It encourages a light generated by an undivided trust in and devotion to the divine, in whose hands we are held. 

Ultimately worries and anxieties can be traced to the greatest fear that our little ego has — the fear of annihilation. The poet Rilke* gives us an interesting view of this fear: 

I cannot believe [he says] that little death

Collot d'Herbois

whom we so busily ignore

should still trouble us so.

 

I cannot believe that he is that powerful.

I’m still alive, I have time to build.

My blood will outlast the rose. 

For, (as he points out):

My knowing is deeper than the teasing way

he [death] likes to toy with our fear.

I am the world

he stumbled out of. 

What a thought! We human beings were here first. The fact that we live comes first; death is a secondary aspect of our existence, an emanation out of us. “I AM, I grow, I know” is primary and far more powerful than death’s mocking threats of annihilation. 

Death and life are not polar opposites, like black and white. Just as the year does not end in total darkness, but gradually segues into another spring, so death is not the end of life. The moment of death, like the moment of birth,  is actually a kind of solstice, the transition to yet another phase of life. Life does not end with death, but life and death become resurrection, life in another form, on another level, another kind of life. 

To recognize this threefold aspect of our existence, to recognize the life/death/life cycle is to know and therefore experience the revelation of God, as demonstrated by his Son. Being born, growing, dying, rising, knowing — this is the pattern of all human existence, the pattern which Christ, the Human God, fleshed out for us. This pattern lives in the smaller events in our lives and in the overall pattern of life itself. 

“So be not anxious; seek first for God’s kingdom and its harmonious order.” To connect with Christ is to know the Truth and to connect with the Way, the path to another level of Life. 

*Rilke, Book of Hours, Barrows and Macy, page 72

 

 

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