3rd Trinity IV 2022, Enduring Form

November Trinity

Revelation 21:1-27 

And I beheld the events in the spirit out of which a new heaven and a new earth proceeded. For the earlier heaven and the earlier earth were gone, and the billowing ocean is no more. 

Maronite

And further, I saw the Holy City, untouched by the Briearthly, coming forth out of the being of God, descending out of the spiritual worlds: the New Jerusalem. She appeared in her beauty like a bride who has adorned herself for the bridegroom. 

And I heard a powerful voice coming from the throne that said: "Behold the dwelling of God in the midst of humanity. He will indeed dwell in your midst, and the people will be His people.

God himself will be with them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eye. There will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain for the old world is gone." 

And He who was seated on the throne said: "Behold: I am creating all anew." 

And He said, "Write, for it is these words that shall make faith and knowledge into true reality." 

And He said to me: "It is accomplished! I AM the Alpha and the Omega, World Beginning and World Goal. To the thirsty, I will give from the springs of the waters of life, outside the workings of destiny, as grace. Whoever overcomes shall inherit all this. 'I will be His God, and to me, He will be like a son.' 

And there came to me one of the seven angels who have the seven bowls filled with the last seven plagues of the world, and he spoke with me and said, "Come, I will show you the eternal Feminine, the bride, the wife of the Lamb." 

But as for the fearful souls, those who have no faith, who pervert the image of the human being, those who spread death around them, who tread impure paths of soul, make use of dark magic forces and serve demonic powers, as well as all frauds—the fiery swamp of the abyss opens for them and flames of sulfur blaze. That is the second death. 

 And he carried me in spirit-form up to a great high mountain, and let me see how the Holy City, Jerusalem, the City of Peace, descended out of the spiritual worlds, coming forth from the being of God, wrapped in the most intimate splendor of the revelation of God. 

Her shining [or, gleaming] is like that of a precious gemstone, like the stone jasper, clear as crystal. 

Her walls are of mighty size and height; she has twelve gates and at the gates stand twelve angels. On the gates are written the names of the twelve sons of Israel: three gates from the East, three gates from the North, three gates from the South, and three gates from the West. 

And the wall of the City rests on twelve sacred foundations, and the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb work in them. 

Ottheinrich Apocalypse

And he who spoke with me carried a golden
measuring rod to measure the City and her gates and her walls. 

And the City is spread out in a square; her length is the same as her width. And he measured the City with the measuring rod. It measured twelve thousand miles; the length and breadth and height were alike. And he measured her walls at one hundred forty-four cubits [ells], the measure of a human, which now the angel was using. 

The covering of her walls was of jasper, and the City herself of purified gold, clear as glass. And the sacred foundations of the walls were adorned with every precious stone: 

the first, a jasper,

the second, a sapphire,

the third, a chalcedony,

the fourth, emerald,

the fifth sardonyx,

the sixth, carnelian,

the seventh, chrysolite,

the eighth, beryl,

the ninth, topaz,

the tenth, chrysoprase

the eleventh, hyacinth,

the twelfth, an amethyst. 

The twelve gates were twelve pearls, and each of the gates made of a single pearl. And the City was of purified gold, like a transparent crystal. 

I did not see a temple in the City, for the Lord God, Ruler of All, is her sanctuary, and the Lamb. 

And the City needs neither sun nor moon, for she shines from within; for the shining revelation of God is streaming brightness in her, and her light is the Lamb. 

And all nations shall walk in her light, and the rulers of the earth will carry their spiritual treasures into her. And her gates will never be closed by day, for there, the night will be no more. 

And all the shining treasures of the revelations of the world, and all the spiritual worth of the nations and all achievements of the soul will be brought into her. 

And nothing can enter that is not spiritualized [or, is not consecrated], nothing that perverts the image of the human, nothing that remains under the power of the Lie, but rather only those who are written into the Book of Life of the Lamb.

3^rd Trinity IV

November 13, 2022

Revelation 21:1–27 

“The wall of the city rests on twelve sacred foundations, and the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb work in them.” Rev. 21:14 

The heavenly Jerusalem, a city of peace, is the future residence of humanity. It rests upon the working of the twelve apostles, on human efforts. Even today, human virtues flowing into and from Christ are creating the basis, the foundation of our future residence. 

Patient self-control, enduring courage, compassionate and courteous unselfishness are some of the virtues that sustain our future. Our efforts in these areas are born out of our love for humanity and for the world of the spirit. In this work toward the future, we join Christ’s apostles, the ones He sends out to do His work. 

In every effort to create virtue, Christ joins His power to ours. We offer Him our best efforts, and however imperfect they may be, Christ adds the power of his strength and endurance to them. Through Him, they are solidified and become enduring foundation stones. 

In consecrating the human being, we are given
the opportunity, week by week, to offer Him our endeavors. In the offering, a fire is enkindled in which human love and divine love intermingle. This love-fire is not destructive; it is creative. The flames of this love give vitality to what we offer. Our offerings of the work of virtue are kiln-fired at the altar to give them strength and holding power so that their goodness endures. They become living gemstones. 

We bring our inner materials to the altar. There we offer them into Christ’s flame of love. Our raw efforts are given a finish and fired, transforming them into an enduring form, into the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem, the city of Peace. 

www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

2nd Trinity IV 2022, Awaken, Remember

November Trinity IV

Rev. 3:1-6 (Sardis)  

"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. 

Tiffany, Angel of Sardis

"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 6, 2022

Revelation 3:1–6,  Sardis 

Inner loyalty is difficult to maintain. For it is our human nature to be distracted by all the claims made upon our souls. There is so much in the world that cries out so loudly for our attention. And the spirit only whispers. 

Memling

We need to quiet ourselves from time to time, to listen; to listen to the voice of the spirit; to listen to its echo in our hearts. We need to quiet ourselves to remember, to remember how we were once open, to generate that openness again. 

All of us have been led to this community because once upon a time, we heard the living voice whispering from the world of the spirit. We recognized: Something important speaks here, something alive. That word found a resonance in our hearts’ love. And so we made a promise, a commitment both to the spirit and to ourselves, that we would continue to try to be open and awake to that voice whenever it speaks. 

It is so hard to stay awake in the spirit in between times. The world is so loud. It drowns out His voice, and in spirit, we go to sleep. 

But once a year, as the year itself dies away, especially those of us present here are privileged to hear His voice speaking clearly once again—

Awaken.

Remember.

Care for the words and workings of the spirit in your soul in inner loyalty. 

His is the voice that awakens us, the voice that reminds us to remember the love we first felt, the voice that encourages us to care for the inner realities in loyalty. 

And we respond—Yes, Lord; may you be in us. May the fire of your loyal love ignite in our hearts. May our prayers be for your listening ear.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

1st Trinity IV 2022, Seed-Sized

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:

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: 

Ninetta Sombart

clothed with a long billowing garment,

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 Trinity IV

October 30, 2022

Revelation 1:1–20 

John, the writer of the book of Revelation, struggles to put into words what he hears and sees in the spirit. Through his words, he creates a picture for us. In his word picture, we see the One he sees and hear the One whose voice he hears. 

The altar is a kind of re-creation of what John saw. Like John, we are here in the spirit on the Lord’s Day. We see the seven lampstands in the seven candles. And amongst the burning candles is a picture of the One we hear about in John’s vision: 

clothed in a billowing garment…

eyes like a flame of fire…

face shining like the sun in full radiance. 

Oleg Shuplyak

The picture painted above the altar is a kind of stand-in, over and against the day when we are able to see the Living One himself there, face to face. For He is indeed there at the altar, amidst the candles. At the altar, we are offering Him what He needs to transform himself into yet another form. After our offering of substances united with our most noble selves, He changes himself in yet another picture. We then receive Him, clothed in snow white bread from a silver paten, shining in wine in a golden chalice. 

In bread and wine, he makes himself small, bite-sized, seed-sized, 

so that we can take Him into our Selves.

so that He can grow in us,

so that we may become his community.

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

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.

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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.” 

 

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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.

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