Friday, December 6, 2013

1st Advent 2008, Calm Watch

1st Advent
Luke 21:25-36

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth, the nations will be constricted with anxiety and doubt with the advent of these spiritual revelations, as before a roaring sea and waves. And men will lose their inner strength of soul out of fear and foreboding of what is coming over the living earth: for the dynamic powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, in the sphere of life, with dynamic power and great radiant glory.

And when these things begin to happen, stand upright and lift up [raise] your soul to the spirit, for your deliverance draws near.

And he gave them a comparison, saying, ‘Observe [behold] the fig tree and all the trees when they burst into leaf. Seeing this, you know yourselves that summer is near. So also when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Amen, the truth I say to you: this present age of Man’s being shall not pass away until all has happened.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.


Guard yourselves lest the perceptive power of your hearts be smothered by excess of food and drink and by over-concern with the cares and worries of life, and the light of these spirit events break upon you suddenly like a snare…for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. So be awake in the spirit at all times, praying, so that you may have the strength to live through all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.

1st Advent Sunday
November 30, 2008
Luke 21: 25 – 36

One can watch a rose in the process of blossoming over time: what was enclosed, inside the bud, opens and unfurls in a profusion of petals. In the center is a crown with pollen. What takes place there at the center with pollination is gradually drawn down and inward again. The crown draws inward, becomes the cluster of seeds enclosed in the fruit.

Our experience of the world at any moment is often divided into polarities like inner and outer. But we can see, if we look closely, that, over time, like the rose, inner becomes outer and outer becomes inner, in a kind of breathing.

Today’s Gospel reading has something of this same quality. It starts with a profusion of outer signs, in sun, moon and stars. They are transported inward and become fear and anxiety. But at the same time, like the crown of the rose, the Son of Man appears ‘in great radiance and glory.’ He seems to come from outside, ‘in a cloud’. And yet His qualities, His uprightness, His soul rising to the spirit, can also be absorbed inwardly by human beings. The outer becomes inner. He gives inner strength and uprightness and awakens prayer.

The reading makes it clear that the quality and accuracy of our perception is of utmost importance. For perception is the doorway, the entryway into our souls. We are to keep the threshold clear and free of the debris of material excess and free of worry. We are to keep calm and open watch at the doorway of the soul and recognize the signs: just as new leaves signal summer’s return, so do dire outer signs signal the approach, the nearness of the Divine Human Being. We are to perceive His presence. We are to invite Him into the soul’s house, take Him in. For He is our heart’s calm center.

Sanz-Cardona
Meister Eckhart wrote,

What is the prayer of a heart grown calm
in the peace of God?
From such a purity one no longer prays
as we are wont to pray.
…A heart in calm detachment asks
for nothing, nor has anything
it would wish to shed.
Its prayer is finally only for uniformity
with God. This is its entire prayer.
…With such a disposition you
can easily accept honors and ease.
Should hardships and disgrace arrive,
you will bear them also, and be
oddly pleased to bear them.[1]


www.thechristiancommunity.org



[1] Meister Eckhart, “The Prayer of a Heart Detached”, and “Unburdened”,  in Love’s Immensity, Mystics on the Endless Life, Scott Cairns, p. 99.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

1st Advent 2009, Core of Uprightness

1st Advent
Luke 21:25-36

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth, the nations will be constricted with anxiety and doubt with the advent of these spiritual revelations, as before a roaring sea and waves. And men will lose their inner strength of soul out of fear and foreboding of what is coming over the living earth: for the dynamic powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, in the sphere of life, with dynamic power and great radiant glory.

And when these things begin to happen, stand upright and lift up [raise] your soul to the spirit, for your deliverance draws near.

And he gave them a comparison, saying, ‘Observe [behold] the fig tree and all the trees when they burst into leaf. Seeing this, you know yourselves that summer is near. So also when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Amen, the truth I say to you: this present age of Man’s being shall not pass away until all has happened.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.


Guard yourselves lest the perceptive power of your hearts be smothered by excess of food and drink and by over-concern with the cares and worries of life, and the light of these spirit events break upon you suddenly like a snare…for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. So be awake in the spirit at all times, praying, so that you may have the strength to live through all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.


1st Advent
November 29, 2009
Luke 21: 25 – 36

He Qi
Novice sailors need some time to learn to remain upright with the pitch and roll of the boat. For the great sea, the mother of all life, is only sometimes a calm, smooth place. Unlike solid ground, she is in constant movement.

There is the well-known incident in Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 8: 23-27) Jesus and his disciples have mounted a boat. It is the end of a long day, and Jesus falls asleep. A sudden squall erupts and the waves start to swamp the boat. His disciples wake Him—“ Lord, save us! We are going to drown!” Jesus notes the smallness of their trust, and calms the wind and the waves. Their fear gives way to amazement.

Times of great change such as ours require us to become sailors on life’s high seas. It is clear that fear and foreboding are of no help. We need to find an inner center, a core of uprightness and calm. This inner stabilizer is the Christ in us. When life becomes unsettled, begins furiously to change, He is our calm center, the core of our uprightness

Today’s gospel reading talks about life’s heavy weather. The poet says:
  
I can't talk about God and make any sense,
And I can't not talk about God and make any sense.
So we talk about the weather, and we are talking about God.

Pause with us here a while.
Put your ear to the wall of your heart.
Listen for the whisper of knowing there.
Love will touch you if you are very still. [1]  



[1] Tom Barrett, “What’s in the Temple?”, in Keeping In Touch.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

1st Advent 2010, Surrounded by Angels

1st Advent
Luke 21:25-36

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth, the
nations will be constricted with anxiety and doubt with the advent of these spiritual revelations, as before a roaring sea and waves. And men will lose their inner strength of soul out of fear and foreboding of what is coming over the living earth: for the dynamic powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, in the sphere of life, with dynamic power and great radiant glory.

And when these things begin to happen, stand upright and lift up [raise] your soul to the spirit, for your deliverance draws near.

And he gave them a comparison, saying, ‘Observe [behold] the fig tree and all the trees when they burst into leaf. Seeing this, you know yourselves that summer is near. So also when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Amen, the truth I say to you: this present age of Man’s being shall not pass away until all has happened.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.


Guard yourselves lest the perceptive power of your hearts be smothered by excess of food and drink and by over-concern with the cares and worries of life, and the light of these spirit events break upon you suddenly like a snare…for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. So be awake in the spirit at all times, praying, so that you may have the strength to live through all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.

1st Advent Sunday
November 28, 2010
Luke 21: 25 -36

A woman who is about to give birth is racked with pain. Wave after wave of contraction sweeps over her, for giving birth is hard labor. It requires endurance and strength. But at the end she and all around her experience the radiant wonder that a tiny human being, surrounded by angels, has arrived on earth.

Today’s reading is a description of the birth pangs of humanity; constriction, anxiety, and doubt wash over us as world events, earth events, sweep over us. They require our strength and endurance. For the outcome is the birth of the Son of Man.

They also require our wakefulness. For this birth is not a physical one. It happens rather in the realm of life that permeates both us and our earth. It happens within perceptive human souls. To perceive this birth, we struggle to stay awake amid the excesses of the season. We are surrounded by angels.

Many are the human beings who, in their hour of extreme need, have raised their souls to the spirit in prayer. And in their soul is born the power and radiance of a paradoxical peace. A calm settles over them, and they feel the nearness of God. They are surrounded by angels.

As David Whyte remarks:

These are hard paths we tread
…..
I know that …
Sulamith Wulfing
storms break over,
…and you will not move
while the voice all around
tears the air
and fills the sky with jagged light.

But sometimes unawares
those sounds seem to descend
as if kneeling down into you
and you listen strangely caught
as the terrible voice moving closer
halts,
and in the silence
now arriving
whispers

Get up, I depend
on you utterly.
Everything you need
you had
the moment before
you were born.[1]



[1]  David Whyte, “Waking”, in Where Many Rivers Meet

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

1st Advent 2011, Sphere of Brotherhood



1st Advent
Luke 21:25-36

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth, the nations will be constricted with anxiety and doubt with the advent of these spiritual revelations, as before a roaring sea and waves. And men will lose their inner strength of soul out of fear and foreboding of what is coming over the living earth: for the dynamic powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, in the sphere of life, with dynamic power and great radiant glory.

And when these things begin to happen, stand upright and lift up [raise] your soul to the spirit, for your deliverance draws near.

And he gave them a comparison, saying, ‘Observe [behold] the fig tree and all the trees when they burst into leaf. Seeing this, you know yourselves that summer is near. So also when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Amen, the truth I say to you: this present age of Man’s being shall not pass away until all has happened.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.


Guard yourselves lest the perceptive power of your hearts be smothered by excess of food and drink and by over-concern with the cares and worries of life, and the light of these spirit events break upon you suddenly like a snare…for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. So be awake in the spirit at all times, praying, so that you may have the strength to live through all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.


1st Advent Sunday
Nov 27, 2011
Luke 21:25-36

A woman about to give birth is seized by fearsome convulsions; she feels dragged along by the mighty forces of birth. Yet knowing of the immanent arrival of the child can give her powers of endurance.

Humankind is now being seized by mighty convulsions of change. The dynamic powers of heaven are being shaken, for we are all in the midst of a new birth. The kingdom of the heavens, the realm of divine love, that wants to be born in human hearts, is approaching.

We are feeling the convulsions most especially in the economic sphere because it is the sphere of brotherhood. We hear the cries for human dignity, for equitable standards of living and care for all, not only here, but elsewhere in the world as well. What humanity is laboring to bring to birth is the compassionate Son of Man within our hearts. For the present, we must stand. We must begin the labor of bringing to birth. We must endure. For as Vaclav Havel says:

It is I who must begin.
Once I begin, once I try --
here and now,
right where I am,
…I suddenly discover,
to my surprise, that
I am neither the only one,
nor the first,
nor the most important one
to have set out
upon that road.

Whether all is really lost
or not depends entirely on
whether or not I am lost.[1]






[1] Vaclav Havel, “It Is I Who Must Begin”, in Teaching With Fire, ed. by S.M. Intrator and M. Scribner

Monday, December 2, 2013

1st Advent 2012, Tree of Life

1st Advent
Luke 21:25-36

Roland Tiller
And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth, the nations will be constricted with anxiety and doubt with the advent of these spiritual revelations, as before a roaring sea and waves. And men will lose their inner strength of soul out of fear and foreboding of what is coming over the living earth: for the dynamic powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, in the sphere of life, with dynamic power and great radiant glory.

And when these things begin to happen, stand upright and lift up [raise] your soul to the spirit, for your deliverance draws near.

And he gave them a comparison, saying, ‘Observe [behold] the fig tree and all the trees when they burst into leaf. Seeing this, you know yourselves that summer is near. So also when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Amen, the truth I say to you: this present age of Man’s being shall not pass away until all has happened.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.


Guard yourselves lest the perceptive power of your hearts be smothered by excess of food and drink and by over-concern with the cares and worries of life, and the light of these spirit events break upon you suddenly like a snare…for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. So be awake in the spirit at all times, praying, so that you may have the strength to live through all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.


1st Advent
December 2, 2012
Luke 21: 25-36

Yggdrasil, Tree of Life
Although we are approaching the depth of northern midwinter, Christ, oddly perhaps for us in the north, speaks of the coming spring, and the fig tree bursting into leaf. The fig tree in His time was the tree, like the bodhi tree, which represented a broader, enlightened awareness.

This reading images for us the content of a higher awareness: the living Son of Man, radiant and powerful, coming toward us in the realm of the clouds, the biosphere, the realm of life.

This year has been seen as a year in which a shift of awareness is anticipated. There are signs…signs that human beings are moving into an anxious awareness of the wholeness of the living earth, into an heart awareness that humankind is all one family; signs that the kingdom of God is arising in human hearts. The angels are watching closely.

Denise Levertov says

Sometimes the mountain
is hidden from me in veils
of cloud, sometimes
I am hidden from the mountain
in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,
when I forget or refuse to go
…to reconfirm
that witnessing presence.[1]


We are urged to pay attention, to stand, awake and at the ready. For He who is the living Spirit of the Earth is drawing near.







[1] “Witness”, by Denise Levertov in Selected Poems

Sunday, December 1, 2013

1st Advent 2013, Being Still

1st Advent
Luke 21:25-36

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth, the nations will be constricted with anxiety and doubt with the advent of these spiritual revelations, as before a roaring sea and waves. And men will lose their inner strength of soul out of fear and foreboding of what is coming over the living earth: for the dynamic powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, in the sphere of life, with dynamic power and great radiant glory.

And when these things begin to happen, stand upright and lift up [raise] your soul to the spirit, for your deliverance draws near.

And he gave them a comparison, saying, ‘Observe [behold] the fig tree and all the trees when they burst into leaf. Seeing this, you know yourselves that summer is near. So also when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Amen, the truth I say to you: this present age of Man’s being shall not pass away until all has happened.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Guard yourselves lest the perceptive power of your hearts be smothered by excess of food and drink and by over-concern with the cares and worries of life, and the light of these spirit events break upon you suddenly like a snare…for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. So be awake in the spirit at all times, praying, so that you may have the strength to live through all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. 


1st Advent
Dec 1, 2013
Luke 21:25-36

In the midst of turmoil and destruction, somehow, somewhere, a silent light shines. The breaking up of the old, the disturbances are themselves a sign that something new is beginning.

We are entering the season of Advent, which signals the beginning of the liturgical year. It is not an easy time; for something new is trying to be born. In the reading we hear about the coming, the advent of the Son of Man. His is a great light-filled power. We are challenged to raise our sights, to rise up and to remain upright before His face.

To do so requires that we find our own still point, our center. It is in inner stillness and silence that the light of what is coming into being can be perceived.  This is a particular challenge at this time of the year. And yet this is where the seasonal prayers would direct our attention—to find the stillness; to listen to the silence of a new beginning. Our material culture tries to shout Him down, suffocate Him in a blanket of sound, wrap Him in a mantle of commercial images.  But in the words of the poet:

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.
.…
If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves
with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead in winter
and later proves to be alive.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org



[1]  Pablo Neruda, “Keeping Quiet”  in Extravagaria, translated by Alastair Reid

Saturday, November 30, 2013

5th November Trinity 2007, Waters of Life

4th  or  5th November Trinity
The end of Revelation 22: 12-21

“Watch, I am coming soon, and I will have my rewards with me so as to give to each person what his deeds amount to. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the goal.”

Blessed are those who cleanse their garments so that they will have power in the realm of the Tree of Life, which overcomes death, and may go through the gates into the Holy City. Outside shall remain those who are bound to low senses, those who serve evil powers, who walk impure paths of soul, who spread death around them, who give themselves up to demonic forces, and who, through their ways and deeds, falsify their true being.

“I, Jesus, sent my angel to report these things to your assembled communities. I AM the root and stock of David, the star who unfolds his brightness in the morning”.

And the Spirit and the Bride, the Holy City, say, “Come!

Water of Life, Blake
And may he who hears also say, “Come!” And may the thirsty come, and may everyone who wants it get to drink the Water of Life freely, as grace.

Everyone who hears can find his inmost being strengthened in the prophetic words of this book. Whoever does not yet sense its greatness and truth, God will lead him to full knowledge through the trials of destiny which are written in this book.

And whoever diminishes the words of this prophecy, God will remove from him his share in the Tree of Life that overcomes death, and his share in the Holy City written about in this book.

He who lends these words their power says:
“Yes, I am coming quickly!”

Yea, so be it. Amen:
Come, Jesus our Lord

The grace of the Lord Jesus, be with you all!




5th Sunday November Trinity
November 29, 2007
The end of the Book of Revelation, 22:112-21

In this festive season, we may attend celebrations which inspire us to wear our holiday best. Clean fresh festive garments help elevate us to the level of celebration.

“Blessed are those who cleanse their garments so that they will have power in the realm of the Tree of Life that overcomes death, and may go through the gates into the Holy City.” [1]

We have God-given powers of soul, soul garments, which have become sullied through coarse earthly work and pleasures. We are fortunate if through grace we can cleanse these soul garments and purify them so that we are fit to present ourselves in the realm of the Tree of Life at the gates of the Holy City.

We purify our soul garments by developing our use of the senses in such a way that they reveal the divine in the world. We strive to keep ourselves from being enslaved to mere earthly pleasures that are connected with demonic beings; from being enslaved to forces of destruction and lies.
 
Through our cleansing of the soul garments, our true being shines forth. Through our cleansing of soul we fit ourselves to be at the foot of Him who is the Tree of Life, He who is rooted in a divine-human ancestral line and is crowned with the morning star. There we find ourselves graced to be partaking of the effervescence of His Waters of Life.

Joy fulfiller…our spirits refresh as well:
So that God’s fruits of grace…we enjoy.[2]

We find ourselves graced to be at the great gathering, entering the bridal Holy City of God.






[1] Rev. 21:14.
[2] Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg, “On the Fruit-Providing Autumn Season”, in Women in Praise of the Sacred, ed. by Jane Hirschfield, p. 153.