2nd Epiphany 2019, Good Fruit

2^nd Epiphany

Luke 2, 41-52 (adapted from Jon Madsen)

Pinturrichio

Every year his [Jesus’] parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they took him with them. Now after they had gone there and fulfilled the custom during the days of the feast, they set off on their way home. But the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know this; they thought he was among the company of the travelers. After a day’s journey, they missed him among their friends and relations. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.

After three days they found him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And those who heard him were amazed at his mature understanding and his answers.

And when they saw him, they were taken aback, and his mother said to him, “My child, why have you done this to us? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”

And he said to them, “Why did you look

Tissot

for me? Did you not know that I must be and live in that which is my Father’s?”

But they did not understand the meaning of the words he spoke to them. And he went down with them again to Nazareth and followed them willingly in all things.

And his mother carefully kept all these things living in her heart. And Jesus progressed in wisdom, in maturity and grace [favor] in the sight of God and man. 

2^nd Epiphany Sunday

January 13, 2019

Luke 2: 41 – 52

It is such an everyday occurrence that it fails perhaps to amaze: after sending out green leaf after green leaf, suddenly

something new appears—a complete change of form and color into blossom; and further on, a change into fruit. Nothing in the leaf predicts these changes.

Human lives too often undergo astounding transformations. The child who year after year just grows bigger suddenly transforms into a stranger. Or years of doing the same thing as an adult result in a change of career. Or a chance encounter turns the direction of a life.

This archetypal pattern was taken up by the young Jesus and guided into three channels.

As an infant, he had received from the three Magi three inner gifts: the radiant gold of wisdom; religious devotion in fragrant frankincense, and the healing capacity in self-sacrifice in bitter-sweet myrrh.

Through the youth’s own inner efforts, these gifts progress into the all-embracing world knowledge of his people. His reverence develops into devotion to both his Heavenly Father and his earthly parents. And despite the glorious revelation of his nature in the Temple, his capacity for mature and wise self-sacrifice returns him to his humble home in quiet beauty and grace.

He achieves wisdom, maturity, and grace through his active struggle to balance the inner demands of a changing soul with the requirements of earthly life. 

There are times in our lives when we humbly and patiently send out our green leaves, building a sustaining inner and outer structure. Then comes the moment of blossoming revelation, when our work shows its true purpose, embedded in a greater whole. We continue, then, to develop fruitfulness, not so much for ourselves, as for nourishing and sustaining others, for life itself.

Wisdom, maturity, and grace are the fruits of the soul’s work, the signs of an individual in alignment with both self and the world. One day this young man, by dint of his own work on himself to produce wisdom, maturity, and grace would be qualified to say, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit… You shall recognize them by their fruits.” Matthew 7:18-20

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1st Epiphany 2019, The World's Ills

Egbert Codex

1^st Epiphany

Matthew 2: 1-12 (adapted from RSV)

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea—during the time of King Herod—behold: wise priest-kings from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,

           

“Where is the one born here King of the Jews? We have seen his star rise in the east and have come to worship him.”

           

When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. And he assembled all the high priests and scribes of the people and inquired of them in what place the Christ was to be born.

And they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it was written by the prophet:

And you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

Are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah;

For out of you shall come forth the ruler

Who will be shepherd over my people, the true Israel.”

Leyendecker

Then Herod, secretly calling the Magi together again, inquired from them the exact time when the star had appeared. He directed them to Bethlehem and said, “Go there and search carefully for the child, and when you find him, report to me, that I too may go and bow down before him.”

After they had heard the King, they went on their way, and behold, the star that they had seen rising went before them, and led them in its course over the cities until it stood over the place where the child was.

Seeing the star, they were filled with [there awakened in them] an exceedingly great and holy joy.

Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; they fell down before him and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and offered him their gifts: gold and frankincense and myrrh.

And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their country by another way.

Epiphany

January 6, 2019

Matthew 2:1-12

Cogniet, Slaughter of the Innocents

Evil seeks to destroy. Herod tries to destroy the Child and cuts a wide swath. Although the bodies of the innocent children had died, their souls and spirits form a living crown of supportive life. They form a living sacrificial crown around this one Child who will one day sacrifice himself in service.

Today Christ wants to be born and operate within every human being. He wants to be seen working in the world. And today, evil still seeks to destroy the innocent. Recent deaths of innocent people are a prompt to us. They prompt us to fulfill the conditions within ourselves that allow Christ’s work to be seen and experienced in the world.

Those innocent souls want to encourage our open reverence before the mysteries of the world.

They want to encourage our empathy and compassion for all who suffer,

Christ as Good Samaritan, Codex Rossanensis

including those caught up in evil through their own illness.

They want to stimulate our conscience, that is, our knowing and acting on our part to play in the remedying of the world’s ills, starting with ourselves.

The world cries out for redemption. It needs men and women of selfless selfhood, men and women of good will so that Christ can work His salvation through them. Only thus can His Being of Love operate on the earth.

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New Year's Day 2019, Unbearable Light

Holy Nights

John 1: 1-18 (after a translation by Craig Wiggins)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God.

This was in the beginning with God.

Everything came into being through the Word, and without it was not anything made that was made.

In the Word was life, and the life was the light of humankind.

And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that through him all may find faith. He was not the light, but a witness to the light, for the true light that enlightens every human being was coming into the world. It was in the world, and the world came into being through it, but the world had not recognized it.

Into those who had recognized it the light had come, but those individuals did not take it in. But all who did take it in received authority to become children of God. Those who trusted in its name are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of the human beings, but are born of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among (in) us.

And we beheld its revelation, the revelation of the only begotten son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John bore witness to Him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘After me comes one who was before me, for he is the very first’.” For out of his fullness, we have received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth have come about through Jesus Christ.

Until now human senses never beheld God. The only begotten Son, who was within the Father, has become the guide to this beholding.

Holy Nights

January 1, 2012

John 1: 1-18

Words contain a great mystery. They are handed down to us by our parents. Words are a legacy. They are the memory of how the world is structured, structured with things, with beings, with actions, with qualities. Words are also the garments of thoughts. Thoughts not only reflect the past; they can also create the future.

This creating power of the Word manifested in the ancient past as the creation of the world. The Word’s first creation: Let there be light. And the Word became light.

The creative Word is still resounding as a sounding power, creating the future. Now it says: ‘Let there be love’. But unlike the first creation, this resounding of the Word requires our human cooperation. Human beings must hear it; human beings must take its creative power into themselves.

Roland Tiller

Christ Jesus is the prototype of the human being who takes into Himself the divine force of creating love and shines it forth as a revelation. Through Christ, through Christ living in us, working in us, God’s grace shines forth into the world. Through Christ living and working in us, the truth of human creation reveals itself, as it says in Psalm 82: ‘I have said you are ‘gods’. The poet David Whyte expresses it thus:

You were there in the beginning

you heard the story, you heard the merciless

and tender words telling you where you had to go.

….

you couldn't live

so close to the live flame of that compassion

you had to go out in the world and make it your own

so you could come back with

that flame in your voice, saying listen...

this warmth, this unbearable light, this fearful love...

It is all here, it is all here.**

---

*John 10:34-37 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’?  If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside—what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?

Jesus’ reference is to Psalm 82: ‘God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the “gods”…. “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’

 **David Whyte “In the Beginning” in Fire in the Earth

Holy Nights 2018, Light of Life

Holy Nights

1 John 1: 1-10

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have beheld, and touched with our hands: the Word of God which bears all Life within itself -  the very Life revealed itself, and we have seen it and so bear witness to it and proclaim it to you as the life which is through all cycles of time. It was with the Father; now it has revealed itself to us. We have seen it and heard it, and we proclaim to you so that you also can live in spiritual community with us; that is, our community with the Father and with Jesus Christ his Son.

           

These things we are writing so that your joy may be full.

And this is

the message we have received from Him and proclaim to you: that God is Light, and there is not any kind of darkness in Him.

If we say that we have community with Him and yet conduct our lives in the darkness, what we say is a lie and what we do is without reality.

Only when our life is fully permeated by light, as He Himself is in the light, are we truly united in community, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us of all sin.

If we say that we are without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we are conscious of our sinfulness and confess to it, then He proves faithful and just; he takes the sin from us and cleanses us of all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have never fallen into sin, we make Him a liar, and the divine Word which goes forth from him is not in us. 

Holy Nights

December 30, 2018

1 John 1: 1 – 10

The sun shining onto a lighted candle will naturally cast a shadow. The shadow of the solid candle. The shadow of the wick. But the light of the flame casts only the barest image of itself, outlined in white. The heat shimmer, the faintest shadow of smoke we can see. But the light itself casts no shadow.

 We can liken ourselves to the candle. Our bodies are like the solid wax. They cast shadows. But we can offer our inner substance to worlds, divine and earthly. The offering of self to God reflects back from Him to generate in us a love that is creative. The warmth of our love and enthusiasm ignite an invisible flame. The purity of our living thinking generates a light that is clear and without shadow.

John announces to us that God is light; and that in Him there is no darkness. What is it that casts shadows? Solid matter. But love and joining our lives with Christ generates light – Christ light in our daylight. The light of His life. We can hear in the poem by Nelly Sachs of the light of the living Christ:

All the while like flames

It chases through our body

As if it were yet woven through with

The star’s beginning

How slowly we light up in clarity –

O after how many light-years have

Our hands folded to ask,

Our knees sunk

And our soul opened itself

To thank?

Christmas Day 2018, Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

Christmas Day

Luke 2: 1-20 (adapted)

Now it came to pass in those days that a proclamation went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone set out to be enrolled, each to the town of his ancestors.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he belonged to the house and lineage of David. He went to be enrolled with Mary his betrothed. And Mary was with child. And it came to pass that while they were there, the time was fulfilled for her to be delivered. And she bore her son, her first-born. And she wrapped him in linen and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks in the night. And an angel of the Lord came upon them [appeared before them] and the light of the revelation of God shone about them. And great fear came upon them [they felt the fear of fears].

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for I announce to you a great joy, which shall be for all men on earth: today is born unto you the Bringer of Healing, in the city of David, Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign for you: you will find a little child wrapped in linen, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly around the angel was the fullness of the heavenly angelic hosts: their song of praise sounded forth to the highest:

God’s Spirit reveals itself in the heights

And brings peace to men of earth

         In whose hearts good will dwells!

Nativity by Gerard van Honthorst

And as the angels withdrew from them into the heavens, the shepherds said to one another: “Let us go to Bethlehem to see the fulfillment of the Word that has happened here, which the Lord let be proclaimed.”

And they came hastening and found both Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger. And when they had seen, they made known the Word that was spoken to them concerning this child. [or, When they saw that, they understood what had been told them concerning this child.] And all who heard it were astonished about what the shepherds said.

But Mary treasured [preserved] all these words, pondering them [turning them over] in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God to everyone for everything they had heard and seen, which was just as it had been announced to them.

Christmas II, Dawn

December 25, 2018

Luke 2: 1-20

Lucas Cranach I, Virgin and Child under an Apple Tree 

An old legend describes a very first gift to the Christ Child very early Christmas morning. Mary and Joseph and the Child are settling, in the quiet light. The door opens to the figure of an ancient woman. She is dressed all in gray, with a hood covering her face. Mary is concerned. Slowly, with each step an eternity, the woman approaches. As she comes to the crib, the Child awakens, and Mary notices that the eyes of both are the same. The old one bends down over the Child, and her hand brings forth something from under her gray mantle; she hands it to the Child—His first gift.

The old figure straightens, as if freed from a great weight. Her face shines wonderfully young. Her head rises nearly to the rafters. She moves away and disappears into the night.

Eve, for it was she, had come to bring the Child, as His first gift, the red apple of the first sin, the calamity of all mankind. And now, in the Child’s little hand, the apple turns golden. It becomes the image of a new world that is born with Him. There is an old hymn that likens Christ himself to an apple tree:

Christ Child with Apple, Michel Erhard 1470

The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green…

His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell…

This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive…

Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree. *

*Elizabeth Poston, Jesus Christ the Apple Tree. Lyrics: http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/jesus_christ_the_apple_tree.htm

For a lovely performance, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SixnHKwyrjI

4th Advent 2018, Human Form Divine

4th Advent
Matthew 25, 31-46 (Madsen)

When the Son of Man comes, illumined by the light of revelation, surrounded by all angels then he will ascend the throne of the kingdom of his revelation. He will gather before his countenance all the peoples of the world and he will cause a division among them, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, the sheep on his right, and the goats on his left. Then, as king, he will say to those on his right, “Come here, you who are blessed by my Father, you shall receive as your own the kingdom which has been intended for you from the creation of the world. I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; I was naked, and you clothed me; I was ill, and you looked after me; I was in prison and you came to me.”

Then those who are devoted to God will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you starving and we fed you, or saw you thirsty and gave you to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and take you in, or see you naked and clothe you? When did we visit you when you were you ailing or in prison?

And the king will say to them, “Yes, I say to you, what you did for the least of my brothers and sisters, that you did it for me.”

S. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna

Then he will say to those standing on his left, “You will not remain near me. You are subject to the burning fire in which the aeon is consumed, and in which dwells the Adversary and his messengers! I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me to drink; I was a stranger and you did not take me in; I was naked, and you did not clothe me; I was ill and in prison and you did not visit me.”

Then they will also answer, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and did not give you to eat, or thirsty and did not give you to drink, or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison and did not help you?”

Then he will answer, “Yes, I say to you, what you neglected to do for the least of my brethren, you failed to do for me.” And thy will become subject to the aeon of anguish, while those devoted to God shall find the aeon of life. 

4^th Advent

December 23, 2018

Matthew 25:31- 46 (Madsen)

By their nature, goats are curious and adventuresome. They are lusty and will eat anything. They are often used to symbolize our lower nature and even the adversary forces that work in us. Sheep, on the other hand, are by their nature mild. They give freely of their coats of wool. And they allow themselves to be led to the slaughter without resistance. John the Baptist referred to Christ Jesus as the Lamb of God. This Lamb represents the highest forces in us – the offering of self for the good of the other.

We human beings are of dual nature. We each have a goat and a lamb within us. In the end, whether our soul stands on the right or the left of the Lamb’s Throne will depend on which side of our nature we breed and cultivate: Whether we cultivate our own self-enjoyment or the Lamb within the soul.

In the parable, Christ makes it clear that our curiosity and adventuring, our relationship to food and drink and love are to become Lamb-like. They are to be placed in the service of others. We are to feed others; place the courage of our adventurousness at the service of the approaching stranger, the ill, the imprisoned. Like the Lamb, we are to clothe others out of our own substance. For it is clear that Christ dwells in other human beings.

Interestingly, it is not necessary to be able to recognize Christ in other human

Homeless Man

beings before being inspired to give of oneself. Those on the right were just as surprised and unaware of Christ in the other as those on the left. But nonetheless, they had acted in right relationship, in self-forgetfulness. And in the end, it was revealed to them what their deeds amounted to. The preponderance of their mercy toward others compensated for the times when their otherwise natural self-centeredness held sway.

The poet Willam Blake* sums up our complicated nature:

To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love

All pray in their distress;

And to these virtues of delight

Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love

Christ as Good Samaritan, Codex Rossanensis

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.

Then every man, of every clime,

That prays in his distress,

Prays to the human form divine,

Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.

And all must love the human form,

In heathen, Turk, or Jew;

Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell

There God is dwelling too.

* William Blake. “The Divine Image” 

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3rd Advent 2018, Pregnant Souls

Annunciation, Arthur Hacker

3rd 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!

3rd Advent

December 16, 2018

Philippians 4:1 and 4:4-9

Mili Weber, Moonrise

We are entering a time of the year when the souls to be born in the coming year are gathering near the gateway of birth. They are still carried in the arms of the angels, who will show them a vision of their future life. Yet no matter what their future, as they enter earthly life, they will be supported and strengthened by the living Christ, working here on earth.

Today’s reading holds out to us something of this pre-earthly radiance, a radiance which we have all passed through on our way to earth. And the reading helps us to remember the warmth of our intention to unite ourselves with Christ’s working here on the earth.

Mili Weber

Particularly now at Advent, here on earth, our souls are pregnant with the possibility of giving birth to Christ within. It is God’s Healing Spirit that impregnates us with the possibility of giving birth to the Being of Love. The pure light of His being can become a rainbow in us: shining with the colors of awe, truth and goodness; radiant with the hues of integrity, beauty and virtue, which overflow as joyous praise.

In growing this rainbow of qualities within, we become those in whom good will dwells; those through whom the God of Peace is born anew in the world.