Whitsun III 2009, Odor of Roses

Pentecost

John 14: 23-31

Jesus replied, “He who truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. He who does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.

I have said this to you while I am still with you. But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid [have no fear].

You have heard how I said to you, ‘I am going away, and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would rejoice because I am going to the Father[ly Ground of the World], for the Father is mightier than I am.

I have told you now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me he has no power.

But the world shall see in this how I love the Father [Ground of the World] and how I act in accordance with the Father’s purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be on our way.]

Whittuesday

June 2, 2009

John 14:23-31

Another image in the Pentecost story is the picture, or rather the sound of the wind. The disciples are sitting together in prayer, shut up in a room, when the roaring of a strong wind is heard. This sound fills the whole house. And on the back of the wind comes a fire, tongues of the flame of spirit awareness, which settle over each of them. A heightened understanding of the great truth of things, that the universe is permeated by love, is often accompanied by an awareness of one’s own smallness.

The poet describes this Pentecostal mood:

The wind, one brilliant day, called

to my soul with an odor of jasmine.

"In return for the odor of my jasmine,

I'd like all the odor of your roses."

"I have no roses; all the flowers

in my garden are dead."

"Well then, I'll take the withered petals

and the yellow leaves and the waters of the fountain."

The wind left. And I wept. And I said to myself:

"What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you?"[1]

Expanded awareness is the key to Pentecost, and expanded awareness inevitably means the pain of an expanded and true self-awareness.

Yet note in the poem that the spirit wind will take away anything we have to offer—even the withered petals and leaves of our failures. For on the back of the spirit-wind comes the purifying fire, the fire of love, creative of being. Autumn’s leaves and withered petals will spirited away to be burned, but there will  always be the water in the fountain, so that even what has died will be transformed into new life

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Antonio Machado, “The Wind, One Brilliant Day”, translated by Robert Bly.

Whitsun II 2009, Loving Through Death

Pentecost

John 14: 23-31

Jesus replied, “He who truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. He who does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.

I have said this to you while I am still with you. But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid [have no fear].

You have heard how I said to you, ‘I am going away, and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would rejoice because I am going to the Father[ly Ground of the World], for the Father is mightier than I am.

I have told you now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me he has no power.

But the world shall see in this how I love the Father [Ground of the World] and how I act in accordance with the Father’s purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be on our way.]

Whitmonday

June 1, 2009

John 14:23-31

A second image that belongs to the Pentecost story is the image of the dove. She is a creature belonging to both the air and the ground. She descends and ascends again and again, to the realm of light and warmth where gravity has little pull. And she returns to earth, happy to walk and feed there.

We too are creatures of two worlds, the airy world of soul and the world of earth. The poet explores our dual nature:

What's it like to be a human

the bird asked

I myself don't know

it's being held prisoner by your skin

while reaching infinity

being a captive of your scrap of time

while touching eternity

being hopelessly uncertain

and helplessly hopeful…

it's being on fire

with a nest made of ashes

eating bread

while filling up on hunger

it's dying without love

it's loving through death[1]

In the Pentecost story, the dove is the bird of truth, sent by Christ from the Father’s realm. Christ has expanded His being, so that now His feet are grounded in the earth, and His heart is in the clouds that surround the whole earth. Through the dove He sends the truth that we shall indeed keep on being creatures of two realms. But gradually, through love we shall make earth’s nest of ashes into a phoenix fire; we shall reach infinity through hope, touch eternity by loving through death. And one day the two realms will be one.

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1]  Anna Kamienska, in Astonishments: Selected Poems of Anna Kamienska,

 ed. and trans. by D. Curzon and G. Drabik)

Whitsun 2009, Voice of the Fire

Pentecost

John 14: 23-31

Jesus replied, “He who truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. He who does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.

I have said this to you while I am still with you. But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid [have no fear].

You have heard how I said to you, ‘I am going away, and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would rejoice because I am going to the Father[ly Ground of the World], for the Father is mightier than I am.

I have told you now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me he has no power.

But the world shall see in this how I love the Father [Ground of the World] and how I act in accordance with the Father’s purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be on our way.]

Whitsunday

May 31, 2009

John 14:23-31

At the first Pentecost event, the disciples see a mighty fire that divides itself into separate flames. Each flame comes to rest over the head of one of them.

In paintings by Fra Angelico, the flame also appears above the heads of angels. It is the symbol of an expanded awareness, an awareness that a river of love, the water of life, flows through all of creation, pervading the entire universe. The flames are the fire of love, a love which creates, whose flames are creating our eternal existence.

A sudden awareness of the love that creates and bears the universe can at the same time make us aware of our own shortcomings in the realm of love. How loveless we can sometimes be! This painful self-awareness becomes the fire that burns, that burns away the dross of our selfish egotism. Once overcome, however, we can then proceed to generate the fire and warmth of a quiet but enthusiastic love for others, especially for those whose path is different from ours. We can generate an enthusiastic love for the truth. We can generate enthusiasm for deeds of service.

The poet[1] helps us become aware of our fear of this transformation of the self:

On the left is a blazing fire and

On my right a cool flowing stream

One group of people walk toward the fire, into the fire

And the other toward the cool flowing waters

No one knows which is blessed and which is not.

But just as someone enters the fire,

That head bobs up from the water

And just as a head enters the water

That face appears in the fire….

The voice of the fire says:

I am not fire, I am fountainhead

Come into me, and don’t mind the sparks.

Our true self is a fire that burns; it burns away egotism; it burns unextinguished in the waters of life-giving love.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Rumi

Whitsun 2011, Hidden

Pentecost

John 14: 23-31

Add caption

Jesus replied, “He who truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. He who does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.

I have said this to you while I am still with you. But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid [have no fear].

You have heard how I said to you, ‘I am going away, and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would rejoice because I am going to the Father[ly Ground of the World], for the Father is mightier than I am.

I have told you now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me he has no power.

But the world shall see in this how I love the Father [Ground of the World] and how I act in accordance with the Father’s purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be on our way.]

Pentecost (Whitsun)

Danny Hahlbohm

June 12, 2011

John 14:23-31

One of the most elemental games we play as children is hide-and-seek. Everyone hides and one child looks for them. One of the comforting rules of the game is that if, after diligent searching, maybe with help of others hidden and found, one can call out, ‘Come out come out wherever you are!’ and the one still hidden will show himself.

Today is Pentecost or Whitsun. The disciples had lost sight of Christ ten days previously at His Ascension into the realm of the clouds. He hid Himself in the biosphere. In today’s reading Christ stresses trusting and loving Him even when He seems to have gone away. He said he would not leave us as orphans; He said he would be with us till the end of the ages. Christ assures us that although He seems to be hidden, we can trust that He will appear, though not in the way we might expect. We are not to become upset or afraid; but to trust. He will send us His Spirit of Healing Love. For He has hidden Himself in plain sight.

John O’Donohue gives us some hints about seeking and finding this Spirit of Healing and Love. He says:

Take refuge in your senses, open up

To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain

When it falls slow and free.

….Draw alongside the silence of stone

Until its calmness can claim you.

Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.

Learn to linger around someone of ease

Who feels they have all the time in the world.

Gradually, you will return to yourself,

Having learned a new respect for your heart

And the joy that dwells far within slow time.[1]

Christ’s disciples, waiting mournfully for Him to appear, experienced wind and fire, visions, speech and an upwelling of joyful enthusiasm. They had to wait for ten days. But they stuck it out. And He came to them through what they saw and heard, as understanding and inspiration.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] John O’Donohue, “A Blessing for One who is Exhausted”, in To Bless the Space Between Us, p. 125. 

Whitsun III 2012, Awaken

He Qi

Pentecost

John 14: 23-31

Jesus replied, “He who truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. He who does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.

I have said this to you while I am still with you. But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid [have no fear].

You have heard how I said to you, ‘I am going away, and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would rejoice because I am going to the Father[ly Ground of the World], for the Father is mightier than I am.

I have told you now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me he has no power.

But the world shall see in this how I love the Father [Ground of the World] and how I act in accordance with the Father’s purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be on our way.]

Whitsun III

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

John 14: 23-31

Coming back into our bodies from sleep, we experience the lighting up of our consciousness. We become awake and aware of the things that surround us.  Sometimes we can even have this experience during our waking hours—we suddenly become aware of something that was perhaps always present, and our consciousness expands. Perhaps this leads to our understanding things that seemed like puzzle pieces before—they fall into place.

On the first Whitsun, the disciples experienced a great expansion of awareness. They had been benighted by their grief over the loss of their Beloved. But at Whitsun they wake up. The puzzle pieces fall into place. They become aware of how Christ’s Spirit of Oneness surrounds them, surrounds everything. They understand in retrospect how everything He does is immersed in His love; how everything He does generates life; how everything He gives us wants to increase the light of our awareness.

He Qi

The poet Antonio Machado said:

I love Jesus, who said to us:

heaven and earth will pass away.

When heaven and earth have passed away,

my word will still remain.

What was your word, Jesus?

Love? Forgiveness? Affection?

All your words were

one word: Awaken.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Antonio Machado, (Translated by Robert Bly, in The Soul Is Here For Its Own Joy,

Whitsun II 2012, Invisible Element

Pentecost

John 14: 23-31

Jesus replied, “He who truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. He who does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.

I have said this to you while I am still with you. But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid [have no fear].

You have heard how I said to you, ‘I am going away, and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would rejoice because I am going to the Father[ly Ground of the World], for the Father is mightier than I am.

I have told you now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me he has no power.

But the world shall see in this how I love the Father [Ground of the World] and how I act in accordance with the Father’s purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be on our way.]

Whitsun II

Monday May 28, 2012

John 14: 23-31

We are all surrounded by an invisible element. It is an element that is vital to our life. It weaves among all things. It is the air. Filled with life-giving oxygen, exhaled by the plants, the air sustains our life. Yet most of the time we remain unconscious of it.

There is another invisible element that weaves among all things, that surrounds and sustains the very nature of the universe. This invisible, omnipresent element is God’s love. God’s love for all of His creation surrounds everything, sustains everything, gives everything existence and life.

After their apparent loss of Christ at His Ascension, His disciples were encapsulated by grief. After ten days Christ sends His and His Father’s healing Spirit of Love. This Spirit of Love, of understanding and comfort now not only surrounds them, but in fact enters into them. Christ and His Father make it possible for their radiant, life-giving and sustaining love to begin to enter and operate from within human souls.

This is what He means when He says: He who truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and prepare with him an everlasting dwelling. John14:23 But we need to make space in our hearts. The poet says:

What makes a fire burn

is space between the logs,

a breathing space.

….

When we are able to build

open spaces

….

then we can come to see how

it is fuel, and absence of the fuel [air]

together, that make fire possible.

….

A fire

grows

simply because the space is there,

with openings

in which the flame

that knows just how it wants to burn

can find its way.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Judy Brown, “Fire” in Leading from Within, ed. by Sam M. Intrator and Megan Scribner

Whitsun 2012, Creative Love

Pentecost

John 14: 23-31

Jesus replied, “He who truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. He who does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.

I have said this to you while I am still with you. But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid [have no fear].

You have heard how I said to you, ‘I am going away, and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would rejoice because I am going to the Father[ly Ground of the World], for the Father is mightier than I am.

I have told you now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me he has no power.

But the world shall see in this how I love the Father [Ground of the World] and how I act in accordance with the Father’s purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be on our way.]

Whitsun I

May 27, 2012

John 14: 23-31

Continuously the sun streams its warmth and light onto the earth. It stimulates and supports the life of the plants. It warms and sustains both bodies and souls. For the warmth of the sunlight is the vehicle for the light of God’s life-giving love.

On the first Pentecost, or Whitsun, the disciples are sitting together, mourning the loss of their Beloved at his Ascension ten days earlier. In his expansion into the universe, He was lost to their view. On Whitsunday, at first they experience a movement of air, the sound of a mighty wind. And then a fire descends, which divides itself into single flames. A flame comes to rest on each one of them. And they are filled with God’s Spirit of connecting love.

There are times in our lives, too, when we have our Whitsun moments. A flame of warmth descends; we sense it, we open to it—the fire of a creative love. We become vessels for God’s love, His light, His purpose for the earth. We become suns on earth.

There are words to a hymn that express this wish of ours, to be a vessel:

Come Down o Love Divine

Seek thou this soul of mine

And visit it with thine own ardor glowing

O Comforter draw near

Within my heart appear

And kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.

…For none can guess its grace

Till he become the place

Wherein the Holy Spirit makes his dwelling.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] “Come Down, O Love Divine”, words by Bianco da Siena, translated by R. F. Littledale, set to music by Ralph Vaughan Williams.