3rd Advent 2012, Birthing Trust

1 Thessalonians, 5, 1-8, 23, 24

About time spans and right moments, dear brothers, I have no need to write to you. You know very well yourselves that the Breaking of the Day of Christ comes like a thief in the night. When people say, ‘Now peace reigns, and all stands secure, then suddenly catastrophe breaks upon them, like the birth pangs of a woman with child, and there will be no escape for them.

You, however, dear brothers, are not to remain in darkness, so that the breaking of day will not surprise you like a thief. For you are sons of light and sons of the day. Our being is not filled with night and darkness. So let us not sleep like the others, but rather cultivate an alert and sober state of mind. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk are likewise of nightly nature. But since we belong to the brightness of day, let us be sober, clothed with the breastplate of faith and love, our head armed [protected] with the hope of healing….May God himself, however, the source of all Peace, hallow and heal your whole being. May your complete and undivided being,

Spirit

Soul, and

Body

remain pure and unclouded at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You may trust in him who calls you. He it is who also lets you reach the goal. 

3^rd Advent

December 16, 2012

1 Thessalonians 5:1-8 and 23, 24

Birth of the Light, Roland Tiller

The darkness of night hides what is happening on earth. And the darkness of our unawareness hides processes that may be gestating quietly below the surface. And just as the inevitable rising of the sun reveals the myriad majesties of the earth, so too does the rising light of the Christ-Sun work to reveal our secret selves, what we are laboring to become, whether for good or for ill.

Today’s reading suggests that there are processes in the world that are generating what appear to be catastrophes. Yet Paul compares them to the inexorable onset of a pregnant woman’s labor, which heralds a new birth.

So also are there such events in our souls. There are seeming catastrophes in our lives that may have been gestating quietly beneath the surface of our awareness. Yet even here, something wants to be born in us through such events. What wants to be born is our awareness and trust in a beneficent Providence; an admiration and love for our own God-given destiny; a compassionate love for the destinies of others; and a healing of our destinies through the pangs of conscience.

The trials we undergo are the labor pangs we must endure so that Christ, the Lord of our human Destiny, can dwell in us; so that the Being of Love can be born in us; so that through us, He can work His Peace into the world.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

3rd Advent 2013, Promise

3rd Advent 

1 Thessalonians, 5, 1-8, 23, 24

About time spans and right moments, dear brothers, I have no need to write to you. You know very well yourselves that the Breaking of the Day of Christ comes like a thief in the night. When people say, ‘Now peace reigns, and all stands secure, then suddenly catastrophe breaks upon them, like the birth pangs of a woman with child, and there will be no escape for them.

You, however, dear brothers, are not to remain in darkness, so that the breaking of day will not surprise you like a thief. For you are sons of light and sons of the day. Our being is not filled with night and darkness. So let us not sleep like the others, but rather cultivate an alert and sober state of mind. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk are likewise of nightly nature. But since we belong to the brightness of day, let us be sober, clothed with the breastplate of faith and love, our head armed [protected] with the hope of healing….May God himself, however, the source of all Peace, hallow and heal your whole being. May your complete and undivided being,

Spirit

Soul, and

Body

remain pure and unclouded at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You may trust in him who calls you. He it is who also lets you reach the goal.

3^rd Advent

December 15, 2013

1 Thessalonians 5, 1-8, 23, 24

The Advent prayers speak of the chariot of the sun, whose path inscribes an arc in the heavens. The mention of a chariot implies a Being that travels in it. In myth He is called Helios. He daily rises from the edge of the world, dispelling the darkness. He sets into the darkness at the end of the day, to rise again, moving time forward.

The prayers also speak of the bow of color, which also inscribes an arc in the skies. In mythology she is called Iris, the messenger of the gods. The interplay of light and darkness, of water and air, of Helios and Earth, create Iris the many colored rainbow. Her message has always been a promise; she brings hope.

Our deepest hope is that one day, Heaven and earth will become one; that the wounds of worlds will be healed; that love and peace will reign because Helios and Earth’s sons and daughters will hear Iris’s message. Her message continuously calls us, invites us to work on the creation of the new heaven and the new earth. All of creation is waiting for us. As the poet Mary Oliver says in a poem called “The Fist”, in Thirst:

Sulamith Wulfing

There are days

when the sun goes down

like a fist,

though of course

if you see anything

in the heavens this way

you had better get

your eyes checked

or, better still,

your diminished spirit.

The heavens

have no fist,

or wouldn't they have been

shaking it

for a thousand years now,

and even longer than that,

….

Instead: such patience!

Such willingness

to let us continue!

To hear,

little by little,

the voices -

only, so far, in

pockets of the world -

suggesting the possibilities

of peace?

Keep looking.

Behold, how the fist opens

with invitation.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

2nd Advent 2007, Guardians of Beauty

2^nd Advent

Philippians 4:1, 4:4-9

Therefore my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown of glory, stand firm in the power of the Lord.

Rejoice in the nearness of the Lord at all times! And I say it again: Rejoice!

Let a gentle kindliness be evident toward all human beings you encounter. The Lord is near! Let not worry have power over you; let your concerns in all things be known to God by sending your supplication and prayer upward in thankful thoughts. And the peace of God, which transcends anything that the intellect can grasp, will keep your hearts and thoughts safe in the Being of Christ….

And lastly dear brothers I say to you:

all that is true,

all that is worthy of reverence,

all that is good and holy,

all that is lovely to look at and beautiful to hear,

all that has virtue and deserves praise:

let these be the content of your conversations and thoughts. All that you have had handed on to you, what you have heard from me and seen in me—put all this into practice; then the God of Peace will be with you!

2^nd Advent Sunday

December 9, 2007

Philippians 4.1 and 4.4-9

If you want to worthily prepare your home for a special guest, first you would de-clutter. You remove the ugly, the useless and outdated from the furnishings. Then you can proceed to add beauty: light a warm fire or fragrant candles, arrange fresh flowers, set the table and prepare refreshments.

On this our second Advent Sunday, we continue our inner preparations for Christ’s coming. We are preparing the house of the soul for the coming of the Guest.

Paul suggests first that we clear out the ugly debris of worry, through prayer. And when that inner housekeeping task is done, we can proceed with positive additions to our own soul space. Paul encourages us to fill our inner house with the aroma of gratitude and the warmth of loving-kindness. He suggests that we beautify the soul with thoughts that celebrate truth; with good and wholesome things to contemplate that evoke reverence; with lovely and praiseworthy virtue.

In this way we truly ready the soul’s house for the coming of Christ, by making our hearts a beautiful and worthy place for the Great Guest, the Prince of Peace.

For in the words of the poet:

We are the guardians of His Beauty.

We are the protectors of the Sun.

There is only one reason

We have followed God into this world:

To encourage laughter, freedom, dance

And love….

We are the companions of His Beauty.

We are the guardians

Of Truth.

Every man, plant and creature in Existence…

Is a servant of our Beloved—

A harbinger of joy,

A harbinger of

Light.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Hafiz “Guardians of His Beauty,” in The Subject Tonight is Love, by Daniel Ladinsky, p.46.

2nd Advent 2008, Radiate Warmth

2^nd Advent

Philippians 4:1, 4:4-9

Therefore my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown of glory, stand firm in the power of the Lord.

Rejoice in the nearness of the Lord at all times! And I say it again: Rejoice!

Let a gentle kindliness be evident toward all human beings you encounter. The Lord is near! Let not worry have power over you; let your concerns in all things be known to God by sending your supplication and prayer upward in thankful thoughts. And the peace of God, which transcends anything that the intellect can grasp, will keep your hearts and thoughts safe in the Being of Christ….

And lastly dear brothers I say to you:

all that is true,

all that is worthy of reverence,

all that is good and holy,

all that is lovely to look at and beautiful to hear,

all that has virtue and deserves praise:

let these be the content of your conversations and thoughts. All that you have had handed on to you, what you have heard from me and seen in me—put all this into practice; then the God of Peace will be with you!

2^nd Advent Sunday

December 7, 2008

Philippians 4:1 and 4:4-9

When we are cold, we seek a heat source. We do so because, of course, warm objects, warmth itself, radiates itself outward. And one can receive it, absorb it. Snakes need to receive their warmth from the sun before they can begin to move. We human beings, on the other hand, are warm-blooded. We can generate and maintain our own heat, although we may need help from time to time from warm surroundings. A room full of people gets warm.

There is also the matter of inner warmth, warmth of soul. We are also capable of generating soul warmth, and radiating it outward, so that others, too, are warmed. In this reading, Paul encourages us to generate soul warmth. This warmth is intimately connected with the quality of mood. He encourages us to generate the warm mood of joy in the place of fear; a warmth of kindness instead of the pinch of concern; a radiance of gratitude in place of the cramp of worry.

In these times, we may feel we are having trouble keeping our souls warm. We need help in maintaining inner warmth. We are able to do so when we turn to the Christ Sun; His radiance warms human hearts. Through the nearness of His eternal presence, our souls can warm and expand. Through His warmth, our souls can radiate warmth and light, in joyful kindness and gratitude.

Maulsby Kimball

Hafiz wrote a poem about the moon, whom we can think of here as an image of the soul. The moon says:

The Sun has been my faithful lover

For millions of years.

Whenever I offer my [self] …to him,

Brilliant light pours from his heart

Thousands then notice my happiness

And delight in…my beauty.

…Is it true that our destiny

Is to turn into Light

Itself?[1]

The soul can turn to the Christ Sun. He helps generate the radiance of the soul’s beauty and happiness. He helps her generate her warmth and light.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Hafiz, “Faithful Lover”, in The Gift, by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 159.

2nd Advent 2009, Sow Gratitude

2^nd Advent

Philippians 4:1, 4:4-9

Therefore my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown of glory, stand firm in the power of the Lord.

Rejoice in the nearness of the Lord at all times! And I say it again: Rejoice!

Let a gentle kindliness be evident toward all human beings you encounter. The Lord is near! Let not worry have power over you; let your concerns in all things be known to God by sending your supplication and prayer upward in thankful thoughts. And the peace of God, which transcends anything that the intellect can grasp, will keep your hearts and thoughts safe in the Being of Christ….

And lastly dear brothers I say to you:

all that is true,

all that is worthy of reverence,

all that is good and holy,

all that is lovely to look at and beautiful to hear,

all that has virtue and deserves praise:

let these be the content of your conversations and thoughts. All that you have had handed on to you, what you have heard from me and seen in me—put all this into practice; then the God of Peace will be with you!

2^nd Advent

Dec 6, 2009

Paul to the Philippians, 4:1 and 4:9

In winter fields, the farmer sows winter crops. It’s amazing to think that anything can grow at all. But indeed, even if nothing is sown, nonetheless the weeds will grow.

In today’s reading Paul is urging us to sow our winter crops of soul: Joy in God’s nearness, for the Spirit Sun is always shining. Rumi said somewhat pointedly:

Your depression is connected to your insolence

and refusal to praise….

The sun goes out whenever the cloud of not-praising comes near.[1]

Therefore we shall sow joy! Plant gratitude and harvest peace. Plant truth and goodness and reverence. Plant beauty and virtue. For the Prince of Peace, who is here and is coming, hopes to receive from us an abundant and radiant winter soul harvest.

And so in the words of John O’Donohue,

As stillness in stone to silence is wed

May your heart be somewhere a God might dwell….

As the breath of light awakens colour

May the dawn anoint your eyes with wonder.

As spring rain softens the earth with surprise

May your winter places be kissed by light.

As the ocean dreams to the joy of dance

May the grace of change bring you elegance.

As clay anchors a tree in light and wind

May your outer life grow from peace within

As twilight fills night with bright horizons

May Beauty await you at home beyond.[2]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1]

Rumi, “Praising Manners”, translated by R. Bly from Night and Sleep, (Somerville MA, Yellow Moon, 1981)

quoted in The Maiden King, Bly and Woodman, pg 76

[2] John O’Donohue, A Beauty Blessing, from Beauty, p. 249.

2nd Advent 2010, Clear the Attic

2^nd Advent

Philippians 4:1, 4:4-9

Therefore my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown of glory, stand firm in the power of the Lord.

Rejoice in the nearness of the Lord at all times! And I say it again: Rejoice!

Let a gentle kindliness be evident toward all human beings you encounter. The Lord is near! Let not worry have power over you; let your concerns in all things be known to God by sending your supplication and prayer upward in thankful thoughts. And the peace of God, which transcends anything that the intellect can grasp, will keep your hearts and thoughts safe in the Being of Christ….

And lastly dear brothers I say to you:

all that is true,

all that is worthy of reverence,

all that is good and holy,

all that is lovely to look at and beautiful to hear,

all that has virtue and deserves praise:

let these be the content of your conversations and thoughts. All that you have had handed on to you, what you have heard from me and seen in me—put all this into practice; then the God of Peace will be with you!

2^nd Advent Sunday

Dec. 5, 2010

Philippians 4:1 and 4:9

An old-fashioned house has three or four stories. The lowest is the basement. The furnace is there. The second and third floors are the living spaces. This is where most of the life of the home plays out. And the top story is the attic. This is where we have carried up and stored an assortment of old things; some things, like albums, we treasure; some are seasonally useful, like the winter quilts; other things are simply decrepit junk. Properly cared for, an attic can become a repository for the future.

This picture of the house is analogous to our human constitution. Our lower regions of metabolism are the furnace, keeping us warm; our middle realm, the realm of the feeling heart, is where we live out our day-to-day loves and hates. And our head is the repository. Like an attic, it doesn’t fill up by itself—we carry things up there, place them there; we order them and store them. It contains our memories and thoughts from the past.

From time to time, it is appropriate to sort through an attic. What is still useful and meaningful we can keep. What we can no longer use, we can give away. And the junk we simply get rid of. And so too with our mental state, the attic of our thoughts and memories.

In today’s reading, Paul urges us to clear out the attic. He urges us not to clutter up our head space with worried thoughts. He urges us that, rather than hoarding our good fortune with thoughts of entitlement, we instead send our thoughts of gratitude to the angels and to God. He urges us to pass on kindly thoughts to those around us.

Above all, he urges us exercise our own freedom of thought, to bring what is truly needful for the future into ourselves. For what exists in the living spaces of our hearts, and what is stored in the attics of the mind, we ourselves have placed there. He encourages us to fill our hearts and heads with what is true, what is good, what is beautiful.

We are in the season when we hope and expect the Coming One. We are preparing to receive the Christ Child into the warm and peaceful living space of the heart. And so we are sorting out the attic, getting rid of the clutter. We want to blanket Him in quilts of reverence and love. We want to offer Him the albums of our most treasured memories. And so we prepare our inner heart-home with loveliness, with beauty and with goodness, in anticipation of the Guest who is on the way.  

www.thechristiancommunity.org

2nd Advent 2011, Soul Bridge

2^nd Advent

Philippians 4:1, 4:4-9

Therefore my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown of glory, stand firm in the power of the Lord.

Rejoice in the nearness of the Lord at all times! And I say it again: Rejoice!

Let a gentle kindliness be evident toward all human beings you encounter. The Lord is near! Let not worry have power over you; let your concerns in all things be known to God by sending your supplication and prayer upward in thankful thoughts. And the peace of God, which transcends anything that the intellect can grasp, will keep your hearts and thoughts safe in the Being of Christ….

Sulamith Wulfing

And lastly dear brothers I say to you:

all that is true,

all that is worthy of reverence,

all that is good and holy,

all that is lovely to look at and beautiful to hear,

all that has virtue and deserves praise:

let these be the content of your conversations and thoughts. All that you have had handed on to you, what you have heard from me and seen in me—put all this into practice; then the God of Peace will be with you!

2^nd Advent Sunday

December 4, 2011

Philippians 4:1 and 4:9

Rainbows appear amid storms. They inspire within us an awed delight, for the great arch bridges heaven and earth. God set the rainbow in the sky after the great Flood, as a promise that he would never again destroy the earth by water.

 

The seasonal prayer heard during the Act of Consecration of Man during Advent speaks of a bow of color that spans the sky. It is a picture of God’s Word.

In the Gospel reading, Paul’s letter provides us with another rainbow—a rainbow of qualities. These are qualities of our human souls, qualities that shine with the radiance of the rainbow bridge: gentle kindliness, truth, reverence, goodness, wholeness, beauty and praiseworthy virtue. They form a rainbow that the human soul engenders.

This soul rainbow is the bridge that the Christ being seeks as He once again draws near. It is His bridge into our hearts, His bridge onto the earth. When we cultivate the building of the soul’s rainbow bridge, then the God of Peace will be with us.

So as the poet says,

May the light of your soul bless your work

with love and warmth of heart

May you see in what you do the beauty of your soul.

May the sacredness of your work bring light and renewal to those

who work with you

and to those who see and receive your work.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] John O’Donohue, “The Light of Your Soul” in To Bless the Space Between Us, p. 146.