2nd Trinity II 2022, Source of Life

 2nd June Trinity II

John 4:1–26 

At this time, the Lord became aware that it was rumored among the Pharisees that Jesus was finding and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, though his disciples did.) Therefore he left Judea and went back again to Galilee. 

Julia Stankova

Now he had to pass through Samaria.

So he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was also there. Jesus was weary with the journey, and he sat down by the well. It was about midday, the sixth hour. 

Then a Samaritan woman came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" for his disciples had gone into town to buy bread. 

Then the Samaritan woman said to him, " You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" For the Jews avoided all contact with the Samaritans. 

Jesus answered her, "If you knew how the divine world now draws near to human beings, and who it is who says to you, 'Will you give me a drink,' you would ask him, and he would give you the water of life [or, the living water]. 

"Sir," the woman said to him, "you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where will you draw the living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his flocks and herds?" 

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give them, their thirst will be quenched for all time. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up as true life for eternity." 

The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may never be thirsty again, and need never come here again to draw." 

He said to her, "Go call your husband and show him to me." 

"I have no husband," she replied. 

Jesus said to her, "You have well said that you have no husband. Five husbands you have had, and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly."

"Sir," the woman said, "I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews say that only in Jerusalem is the place where one should worship." 

Jesus answered, "Believe me, O woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship a being you do not know; we worship what we do know. That is why salvation had to be prepared for among the Jews. But the hour is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father with the power of the Spirit and in awareness [or, knowledge] of the truth." 

Then the woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When he comes, he will teach us all things." 

Jesus said to her, "I, I AM he who is speaking to you."

2^nd Trinity II

June 19, 2022

John 4: 1-26 

The Persian Muslim poet of the 14th century, Hafiz*, wrote:

In many parts of the world

Water is

Scarce and precious

People sometimes have to walk

A great distance

Then carry heavy jugs upon their

Heads.

Because of our wisdom, we will travel

Far for love.

All movement is a sign of

Thirst. 

We might think of death and life as our close companions. We might imagine life as a woman carrying a water jar walking ahead of us, leading us onward, turning to quell our body’s thirst, then going on. And behind us is our other companion, for most of us, a shadowy figure. Though we may hasten from him in fear, he inspires us to make our journey meaningful. At a certain point, he comes from behind, takes our hand, and leads us home to the Father. 

Christ came to the well of his forefather Jacob, bringing water of a different order — not the maternal water of earth that sustains our bodies, but the divine water from the Father’s kingdom that sustains our souls and spirits. With Christ, the Father’s never-ending water of life is brought to earth. It does not keep our bodies from dying, though it may heal our illnesses; it is the water of life, of love, that keeps our souls and spirits alive.

Julia Stankova

Since Christ died, he has become the one who is walking both behind us and before us. Christ died and poured the water of life into death. Though we may run from him, it is he who inspires us to make our lives meaningful. And He is the one bearing the water that keeps our souls and spirits alive. He is the one who takes us to the Father.   

In our time especially, the divine world draws near to us. And now Christ approaches us and asks us, “Will you give me a drink?” He thirsts for what we can give him – our purest thoughts, our noblest feelings, our devotion. In return for what we offer him, he will not only keep our souls and spirits alive. He also offers to transform them into a wellspring, a source of eternal life. In Christ we become the woman with the water jar, quelling His thirst. Through Him, we can become a source of sustenance and healing, a source of life for others and for the earth. 

*The Subject Tonight Is Love, Poems of Hafiz, transl. by Daniel Ladinsky

www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

1st Trinity II, 2022, Living Tree of a New World

 1^st June Trinity II

John 3:1–17 

John La Farge

There was a man in the circle of the Pharisees, whose name was Nicodemus; he was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus in the night and said, "Master, we know that you are a high teacher of humankind, come to us from God, for no one can do such signs of the Spirit as you do unless God himself is working together with them in their deeds." 

Jesus answered and said to him, "The truth out of the spirit I say to you: whoever is not born anew from above cannot behold the kingdom of God." 

Nicodemus said to him, "How can someone be born again when they are old? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born!" 

Jesus answered, "The truth out of the Spirit I say to you: whoever remains as they are and does not come to a new birth out of the formative power of the water and out of the breath of the Spirit [or, …and is not born anew out of the spiritual power of eternal becoming and out of being touched by the might of the Spirit world] cannot enter into the kingdom of God. What is born out of earthly elements is of earthly nature. But what is born out of the breath of the Spirit is itself Spirit. Do not wonder that I said to you that you must be born anew from above. The Spirit wind blows where it wills; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born anew out of the breath of the Spirit." 

Nicodemus replied and said to him, "How can one attain this?" 

artist unknown

Jesus answered, "You are a teacher of Israel and do not know? Amen, the truth I say to you: we speak of what we know, and we bear witness to what we have seen in the Spirit, but none of you accepts our testimony. When I speak to you of earthly things, and you do not believe them, how shall you believe when I want to speak to you of heavenly things? No one has ascended to the spiritual world who has not previously descended out of the spiritual world, that is, the Son of Man. 

"Just as Moses once lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who finds his power in their hearts can win a share in the higher life beyond time. God has so loved the world that he has given his only begotten Son. From now on, no one who fills themselves with his power shall perish, for they will share in timeless, higher life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn it, but so that the world be saved [or, healed] through him and not fall prey to ruin."

1^st Trinity II

June 12, 2022

John 3:1–17  

A tree’s green leaves together create a certain structure. In its leaves, the tree shows itself to be characteristically—itself. But if it were to stop at that, its life would end with its death. The tree needs to a form new structure—the blossom, and out of that fruit and seeds—these ensure the continuity of its life. 

British Library Catalogue of Manuscripts 

In today’s Gospel, Nicodemus is richly leaved, well-formed growth. But he has come as far as he can. He is drawn toward the light of the Sun-God on earth. And the light tells him that he must be born again from above. His attraction to the Sun must so work in him that something new forms in him, a new structure. His soul and heart must form a blossom, a blossom that opens to the light of the sun, that opens to the working of the breath of the spirit wind, so that seeds of his own higher life can form.

And Nicodemus does so in a remarkable way. For he becomes one who supports the Sun of Christ as it sinks toward its setting. Nicodemus defends Christ during his trial, (John 7:50) and when the Light of the World dies, he helps provide a princely burial (John 19:39). Thereby Christ’s body is protected in such a way that the sunrise of a new life body for all of humanity can be formed.  

This is the way that the life of the world is healed, is preserved, is saved. Each individual human soul, first perhaps in curiosity, then in deep striving, seeks out the Son of God. Each person forms within themselves a new structure, a blossom of the soul. The spirit breathes the seeds of the new in us. This how we ensure life’s continuity, not only for ourselves, but for the life of all the world. For we human beings are truly the blossoms in the creation, the greening, and growth of the living tree of the new world.

 

Whitsun (Pentecost) 2022, The Human Form Divine

Pentecost

John 14:23-31 

Tina Chwala

Jesus replied, "Whoever truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and prepare with them a dwelling in the everlasting [or, an eternal dwelling]. Whoever 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. 

"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 according to the Father's purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [or, let us be on our way.]

Whitsun (Pentecost)

June 5, 2022

John 14: 23-31 

Many seeds, like sunflower seeds, are often flame-shaped. If we could see behind the way they look to our ordinary senses, we would see that they are indeed little flames, glowing with life, awaiting the right conditions.
 

Ain Vares

On that fiftieth day after Easter, described in Acts 2, the disciples were in the upper room where the Last Supper had been held. They were all together of one accord. They heard the rushing sound of a mighty breath, and flames appeared above each head. Suddenly they understood the meaning of Christ’s life. They were enlightened and filled with wisdom. Glowing with enthusiasm, they begin to pour out love in words and deeds. That day they baptized, immersing in the waters of life, three thousand people gathered from all around the world. 

The heart seeds of the next phase of Christ’s life had begun to burn within them, to burst into creative flame and grow. A new kind of human form is born –  a human form connected with its origins in the Father, working with the Spirit through Christ the Son. This new humanity is described by Blake: 

Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love

Is God our Father dear,

And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love

Is Man, His child and care.

 

For Mercy has a human heart

Pity a human face

And Love, the human form divine

And Peace, the human dress.* 

Christ came to earth as the Divine Human Being. Christ comes again, in us, through us, in the Human Form Divine. He manifests his Spirit as mercy and forgiveness in human hearts, as the compassion and empathy shining from human faces. He takes form as deeds of Love, clothed in Peace. “My peace I give you,” He says. It is a peace that comes from connecting with our own divinity through Him. 

The seeds of the Human Form Divine have been planted in all human hearts. They burn there quietly. They are waiting until hearts drink in Him, who is the water of life. Then will the Human Form Divine arise. Then do his flames of love and peace reveal His Spirit through human hearts, shining from human faces, in human form. Then do Christ’s deeds become what we do.  

* William Blake, “The Divine Image,” in Masterpieces of Religious Verse, J. K. Morrison, p. 139

www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

 

Ascension Sunday 2022, Who Is Living Life?

Ninetta Sombart

 Ascension

John 16:22–33 

"So you have to suffer pain now. But I will see you again, and then your hearts will be filled with joy, and no one can take that joy from you. Up to now, you have not prayed in my name. Pray from the heart, and it will be given to your heart that your joy may be fulfilled. 

"All this I have given to your souls in imagery. But the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in pictures but will tell you openly and unveiled about my Father so that you can grasp it in full, knowing consciousness. Thus will I proclaim to you the being of the Father. On that day, you will ask out of my power and in my name. And no longer will I ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself will love you because you have loved me and have known in your hearts that I have come forth from the Father. I have come forth from the Father, and I have come into this world.

I leave the sense world again and return to the world of the Father, of which you say that it is the world of death." 

Then Jesus' disciples said, "Now you are speaking in clear thought and without imagery. Now we know that all things are revealed to you and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God." 

Jesus answered, "Do you now feel my power in your heart? Behold, the time is coming and has already come, when you will be scattered, each to his own loneliness. You will then also leave me alone. But I am not alone, for the Father is eternally united with me. 

"All this I have spoken to you so that in me you may find peace. In this world, you will have great fear and hardship. But take courage. I have overcome the world."

Ascension

May 29, 2022

John 16:24–33 

All creatures in rivers, lakes, and seas are surrounded by water; water fills the spaces between them. All the cells of our own bodies are bathed in fluid that fills the spaces between them. The water of life flows within us. 

On Ascension Day, Christ assumed a new form, a new kind of body. He became an in-between. 

He is in-between the physical material world and the living weaving world of life; in-between the life in us and the inner world of our souls; in-between our souls and the objective world of the spirit; in-between humanity and God. 

Rilke senses this:

I sense there is this mystery:

All life is being lived.

Who is living it, then?

Is it the things themselves,

or something waiting inside them….

Who lives it then? God, are you the one

who is living life?*

 

Bamberg

Since His Ascension, Christ is like a super-sensible sea in which we live. He surrounds us. And He is inside us. 

He is present in spaces, in pauses, in moments of stillness. He is there, in the space between our thoughts and our feelings, in-between our urges and our actions; he is in the core of our being, our heart, and in-between, among us. “Where two or more gathered in my name, there I am in their midst” (Matthew 18:20).

 He is our sea within and a sea without. “Pray, “he says, “connect with me, from the center of your heart, and life will be given to your heart…Despite fear and hardship, accept my sea of courage, for I have overcome the world” (John 16: 24, 33). 

We are now living in Christ’s new life. His light, his life, and his love are flooding the world, flooding us. We are the cells of his new body. 

 

*Rilke, “And Yet Though We Strain” in Book of Hours, Barrows and Macy, p. 113.

 www.thechristiancommunity.org.

 

5th Sunday After Easter 2022, The Way I Loved

 5^th Sunday after Easter

John 14:1-31  

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in the power that leads you to the Fatherly Ground of the World and Me. In my Father's house, there are many rooms. If it were not so, how could I have said to you, 'I go there to prepare a place for you'? And when I have gone and prepared a place for you, I will come again and take you up into the realm of my Being and working, so that where I work, you also may work. And you know the way where I am going." 

Then Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" 

Ain Vares

Jesus answered, "I myself am the Way—the Truth— and the Life.
No one finds his way to the Father but through me. If you had known my Being, you would have recognized my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him." 

Then Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father; that would satisfy our deepest yearning." 

Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Does your heart's voice not tell you that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you are not just my own. But the Father, who lives eternally in Me, continues to do His works in them. Build your faith on the power of my Being that lets you know: I in the Father, the Father in me. Or at least learn to trust through looking at the works themselves that have arisen. 

Truly, truly I say to you, whoever trusts in my Being will also do the works I do—and greater deeds will he do because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask for in unity with me, I will do it so that the Father's deeds may be revealed in the working of the Son. When you turn to Me in prayer in the power of my name, I will be the Creating One in all your works. If you truly love me, you will share in my spiritual goals. And I will ask the Father, and He will send to you another Counselor, who will stand by you forever, even the Spirit of Truth. The earthly world cannot receive this Counselor, for it cannot perceive his working and does not recognize him. But you know him, for he will live with you and will work in you. 

I will not leave you desolate—I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see Me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. On that day, you will truly know what it means that I am in the Father, and you in Me and I in you. 

Whoever bears my spiritual goals within themselves, and brings them to revelation in their working, is one who truly loves me. And whoever truly loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and will reveal myself to them." 

Then Judas (not the Iscariot) said, "But Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the people who are in the world? 

Jesus replied,

Roland Tiller

"Whoever truly loves Me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and prepare with them a dwelling in the everlasting [or, an eternal dwelling]. Whoever 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. 

These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the health-bringing Spirit, the Counselor whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, nor let them be afraid. 

You heard Me say to you, 'I am going away, and yet I am coming to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater 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 ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over Me. 

But I act in accordance with the Father's purpose, as it was entrusted to Me so that the world may know that I love the Father. Do the same. Arise, let us be on our way.

 

5^th Sunday after Easter

May 22, 2022

John 14:1-31 

The sun is visible to us as a clearly defined, round object in the sky. At the same time, the real sun is actually bigger than that. Far beyond that visible object in the sky, the sun's life-giving light and warmth radiate out in all directions into the universe. It would be accurate to say that we on earth are, in fact living within the sun. We are attached, enlivened by invisible rays, to the heart of our universe.

Our own hearts are a place where the essence of our being both concentrates itself and pours itself out into the world. We shine on whatever we love. We are attached to others with our heartstrings. Our love makes our heartstrings vibrate, sing out warmth, kindness, strength, and light. In love, our hearts grow large, great-hearted, whole-hearted, and radiant. 

Christ, the Spirit Sun, says in effect to us: 

'Let not your hearts be troubled; do not quiver and shrink in fear. Does not your heart's voice tell you that I am in my Father's light, His life, and His love and that the Father shines out in me? The world shall see how I love the Father, how I shine forth, pour out His light, His life, His love. If you love me, you will rejoice…you will love one another, as I love you.' 

He speaks to our hearts. His creating Words pour trust and strength into our hearts. The music of His heartstrings plays great-heartedness, peace, and courage, the song of his love. We are living within His heart. He is teaching us to play His life-giving music. 

Catherine of Sienna, one who loved Christ, says: 

God's art is mine. I did not want his divine talent.

It simply grew in my heart from

the way I

loved.* 

 

*"Until Your Own Dawn," by Catherine of Sienna, in Love Poems from God, by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 208

4th Sunday after Easter 2022, Forming the Seeds

 4^th Sunday after Easter

John 16:1–33 

"All these words I have spoken to you so that you will not go astray [because you discover what destiny falls to you through being connected with me]. For they will exclude you from their communities, and the hour will come when those who kill you will think they are offering service to God. They will do all this because they have not known my Father or me. All these words I have spoken to you so that when the time comes, you will remember that I told you about it. In the beginning, I did not need to say such things, for I was with you. But now I am going away to him who sent me; yet, none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'  Now that I have said these things to you, sorrow enters your heart. 

"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is for your salvation and healing that I leave you, for if I did not go away, the Helper, [the giver of spirit courage, who will stand by you in all trials, or, the Spirit upon whom you can call for assistance at any moment,] would not come to you. When I now go away, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will call humankind to account for the decline into sin, for the working of human's higher being and for the great world separation; for the decline into sinfulness, because they did not fill themselves with my power; for the working of their higher being, because I go to the Father and you see me no more; for the great world-separation, because the decision has already been made about the ruler of this world. 

"I have yet much more to say to you, but you cannot bear it now. But when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will be your guide on the way to the Truth that Embraces All. he will not speak out of himself, but what he hears he will speak, and he will proclaim to you what is to come.  he will reveal me, for what he draws out of my being, he will proclaim to you. Everything that the Father has is also mine. That is why I can say, 'He will draw upon my being and proclaim to you.' 

"In a little while, you will see me no more, and again a little while, and you will see me." 

"Then some of his disciples said to one another, "What does he mean by saying 'In a little while you will see me no more, and again a short time and you will see me,' and 'I am going to the Father'? They kept asking, "What does he mean by 'a short time'? We do not understand his words." 

Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him,

Dvorak

and he said, "You are wondering that I said, 'A short time and you will see me no more, and again a short time and you will see me.' Yes, the truth I tell you, you will weep and lament while other people will rejoice. You will be filled with sorrow, but this your grief will be turned into joy. A woman giving birth must bear pain, for her difficult hour has come. But when the child is born, she no longer considers the anguish because of her joy that a human being has been born into the world. 

"So it is with you. Now is your time of grief. But this your grief will become the power of Spirit-Birth, for I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one can take that joy from you. On that day, you will no longer need to ask me anything. 

"Yes, I say to you; from now on, what you ask of the Father in my name, He will give to you. Until now, you have not been able to pray in my name. Pray from the heart, and it will be given to your heart so that your joy may be full. 

"All this I have given to your souls in imagery. But the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in pictures but will tell you plainly about the Father, [so that you can grasp it in full, knowing consciousness]. On that day, you will ask out of my power and in my name. And no longer will I ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me, and have known in your hearts that I have come forth from the Father. I have come forth from the Father, and I have come into this world. I am leaving the [sense] world again and going to the Father, [of which you say that it is the world of death]." 

Then Jesus' disciples said, "Now you are speaking in clear thought and without imagery. Now we know that all things are revealed to you and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. By this, we believe that you came from God." 

Jesus answered, "Do you now feel my power in your heart? Behold, the time is coming and has already come, when you will be scattered, each to their own loneliness. You will then also leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is eternally united with me. 

"All this I have spoken to you so that in me you may find peace. In this world, you will have great fear and hardship. But take courage. I have overcome the world."

 4^th after Easter

May 15, 2022

John 16:1-33

 

In spring, the fruit trees blossom like a revelation from heaven—purity of color and heavenly fragrance. But, in a short time, the revelation is lost; petals drop; the glory disappears. Yet at the places where the petals shone, there now appear tiny green fruits. The tree sacrificed the glory of its petals in order that fruit could form. 

Once upon a time, we human beings shone with the glory of heaven; but we lost our glory as we descended to earth. With the loss of our awareness of our heavenly origins, we are threatened with barrenness. Without conscious sacrifice, it is possible that our lives will bear no fruit. 

Christ, the Divine Human Being, descended into earthly human existence. His radiant purity shone at his Baptism. He sacrificed the flower of his divinity. Through his death, he offered his divinity to us. He transplants it into us so that our lives can once again become fruitful and that humankind will have a future. He transplants the radiant blossom power of His being into the human spirit. In awakening to Him, we can become pure of heart, radiant with life. 

All this He accomplishes, like the woman giving birth, through His pain, a pain that continues to be fruitful, a pain that is becoming an immense and deep joy. Christ's continuing pain and sacrifice ensure that our losses, our pain, and our sacrifices will be fruitful and create joy. Christ's continual self-offering ensures that the loss of our original innocence will be transformed into a more conscious power of purity, into a power to grow rich future-bearing spiritual fruit. 

Angelus Silesius said, 

The Godhead is my sap; what in me greens and flowers

It is His Holy Spirit who all the growth empowers.* 

In the Act of Consecration of Man, we make a conscious offering, a conscious sacrifice along with Christ. We offer our purest thoughts, feelings, and intentions. We do this so that our lives, our souls, and spirits, joined with His, can grow and be transformed. We do this so that our soul fruits grow and ripen into the future. We do this not only for ourselves but for all of humankind, for the whole earth. For together with others, together with Him, our many offerings are forming the seeds of humanity's new future, a City of Peace, a shining new earth. 

*"The Godhead Brings forth Growth," Angelus Silesius, in The Cherubinic Wanderer, transl. by M. Shrady, p. 43

 

 

3rd Sunday after Easter, May 8, 2022, As Friends

  

3^rd Sunday after Easter

Christ the True Vine, icon (Athens, 16th century)

John 15:1-27 

"I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit HE takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit HE makes pure that it may bear more fruit. You have already been purified by the power of the word that I have spoken to you. 

"Abide in me and I in you. 

"As the branch cannot bear fruit out by itself unless it is given life by the vine, neither can you unless you stay united with me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me and I in them bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain united with me withers like a branch that is cut off. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words live on in you, pray for that which you also will, and it shall come about for you. By this, my Father is revealed that you bear much fruit and become ever more my disciples. 

"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Live on in my love. If you take my aims into your will, then you will live on in my love, just as I have taken the aims of my Father into my will and live on in HIS love. 

"These words I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 

"This is the task I put before you: that you love one another as I have loved you. 

Arthur Ernst Becher

"No one can have greater love than this: that they offer up their life for their friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No longer can I call you servants, for servants do not know what their master is doing. But I call you my friends because I have made known to you all that I have heard from my Father. 

"You did not choose me, but I have chosen you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should live on after you so that what you ask the Father in my name HE should give it to you. I say to you out of the fullness of my power: Love one another. 

"If people hate you, remember that they hated me before you. If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them; but because you do not belong to them since I chose you out of humankind, people hate you. 

"Remember the word that I spoke to you: 'Servants are not greater than their master.' If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have held on to my word, they will hold on to yours also. Everything that they do to you, they will do as though they did it to me, for they do not know HIM who sent me.

 "If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would be without sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them, such as no one else has ever done, they would be without guilt. But now they have seen me and have still hated both me and my Father. 

"But it was to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without a cause.' 

"But when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, HE will bring knowledge of me and will be my witness. And you also will be my witnesses because you have been united with me from the very beginning."

 3^rd after Easter

May 8, 2022

John 15:1–27 

"No one can have greater love than this than that he offer up his life for his friends." 

To offer up one's life will not necessarily require that we be martyred. Nevertheless, we all have ample opportunity to offer our lives to others—for our lives are bound up with our time, our presence, and our attention. 

Wulfing

Today is Mother's Day in the US. To be a mother, to be a parent, is to be allowed to give one's life to a friend. For as many who have been parents sense, the child given to us to nurture is someone with whom we have been long connected in other past relationships. And one of the best future outcomes of the parent-child relationship is becoming adult friends. 

As all know who have ever been a parent, parenting means giving large amounts of time and attention, of offering up one's life forces for another. Such an offering creates both joys and sorrows. Joy in watching the child grow, as each new step in their development reveals more and more of their nature. Sorrow, for their difficulties. Times may even come when the child may rail against us. But the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, comforts us with the knowledge that this is because they need to take a step in the direction of independence. And once they have mastered the new level, they will return. 

Artist unknown

Today we rejoice that we all have had a mother whose life gave us our lives--our bodily mothers and Mother Earth. 

In this gesture of giving life, we can see an image of Christ, the God who gave life to us all, indeed even to Mother Earth herself. And we are also reminded that in His great love, He made the extreme offering of his own life so that all creation on earth could live. He lived and died for all creatures, for the earth herself. He lived and died so that humans could develop from spiritual children into servants and finally into his friends. 

Christ rejoices in our independence. He rejoices in the further revelation of our essence. And He rejoices when we turn to him as friends.

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