Contemplations
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Contemplation archives |
ADVENT - CHRISTMAS - EPIPHANY –
By Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
ADVENT - CHRISTMAS - EPIPHANY –the archetypal triad of the year has begun to ring out. Like the sound of the silver bell which begins the Act of Consecration. It is familiar, yet brings focus into NOW. What will come to meet us now. It seems to become more and more difficult from year to year to tune in to the subtler tones of the festivals, to even connect and join in with their sounding power.
If we ask: 'What do I get out of the festivals?', we tend to hear mostly our own wishes and want to consume. This attitude is emphasised by the mood being summer, warm, and holiday time. We all look for ways to replenish our depleted resources, to find well-springs to draw strength from. And for this we mostly go into nature and draw its forces into ourselves. We all are by nature consumers.
Christmas also makes us keenly aware of the power in relationships and what a source of strength they can be.
The triad of festivals with which we begin the Christian cycle of the year alerts us to all of this and then leads us a step further. Why do we give gifts? Not only to use festivals as occasions for personal pleasure, but to truly nurture relationship. The festival itself asks to be 'worthily fulfilled'.
If we ask: 'What can I give the festival?', our heart opens to notice that also here it is about a relationship. It gives opportunity for a focus, for a space to open up in us to nurture a special relationship. Our heart becomes the crib ̶ if we choose.
ADVENT - CHRISTMAS - EPIPHANY –the archetypal triad of the year has begun to ring out. Like the sound of the silver bell which begins the Act of Consecration. It is familiar, yet brings focus into NOW. What will come to meet us now. It seems to become more and more difficult from year to year to tune in to the subtler tones of the festivals, to even connect and join in with their sounding power.
If we ask: 'What do I get out of the festivals?', we tend to hear mostly our own wishes and want to consume. This attitude is emphasised by the mood being summer, warm, and holiday time. We all look for ways to replenish our depleted resources, to find well-springs to draw strength from. And for this we mostly go into nature and draw its forces into ourselves. We all are by nature consumers.
Christmas also makes us keenly aware of the power in relationships and what a source of strength they can be.
The triad of festivals with which we begin the Christian cycle of the year alerts us to all of this and then leads us a step further. Why do we give gifts? Not only to use festivals as occasions for personal pleasure, but to truly nurture relationship. The festival itself asks to be 'worthily fulfilled'.
If we ask: 'What can I give the festival?', our heart opens to notice that also here it is about a relationship. It gives opportunity for a focus, for a space to open up in us to nurture a special relationship. Our heart becomes the crib ̶ if we choose.
Sustainable Growth
by Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
With startling suddenness the first rays of the sun break through the horizon every morning. Day has arrived completely. Yet the light continues to grow. Then warmth arrives and it too continues to intensify.
There are destiny moments which arrive in our life with equal suddenness, but it is only over time that the deeper meaning and effect they have for us permeates our life completely.
It is because of Easter that we celebrate a Christian Festive cycle throughout the year. It is because of the startling impact of the Deed on Golgotha, which broke through into the material physical world with profound suddenness once, that the world is what it is today and we are slowly realising who we truly are.
We are spiritual beings in a material form and there are other spiritual beings connected with us, but they manifest in different forms. Some of them are disturbing and hindering our development, others are supporting and furthering our evolving. And we do the same for them, either as hindrance or enhancement.
The light of Christ's deed on earth is still growing, its warmth could reach ever deeper layers of existence, enlivening, transforming. But when day arrives, we humans wake up and begin our daily life's work. The Deed on Golgotha is done. Now it is up to each one of us to wake up and begin work, so that this heavenly light continues to grow. The archangel Michael is called the 'countenance of Christ'; every day we 'face' destiny moments which require a moral decision, face situations which beckon us to think for ourselves and make individual personal commitments.
In the light of day we have many opportunities to let the light of a free responsible individual continue to grow and the warmth of true humanity penetrate the social environment we are part of, both in the visible and invisible dimensions.
With startling suddenness the first rays of the sun break through the horizon every morning. Day has arrived completely. Yet the light continues to grow. Then warmth arrives and it too continues to intensify.
There are destiny moments which arrive in our life with equal suddenness, but it is only over time that the deeper meaning and effect they have for us permeates our life completely.
It is because of Easter that we celebrate a Christian Festive cycle throughout the year. It is because of the startling impact of the Deed on Golgotha, which broke through into the material physical world with profound suddenness once, that the world is what it is today and we are slowly realising who we truly are.
We are spiritual beings in a material form and there are other spiritual beings connected with us, but they manifest in different forms. Some of them are disturbing and hindering our development, others are supporting and furthering our evolving. And we do the same for them, either as hindrance or enhancement.
The light of Christ's deed on earth is still growing, its warmth could reach ever deeper layers of existence, enlivening, transforming. But when day arrives, we humans wake up and begin our daily life's work. The Deed on Golgotha is done. Now it is up to each one of us to wake up and begin work, so that this heavenly light continues to grow. The archangel Michael is called the 'countenance of Christ'; every day we 'face' destiny moments which require a moral decision, face situations which beckon us to think for ourselves and make individual personal commitments.
In the light of day we have many opportunities to let the light of a free responsible individual continue to grow and the warmth of true humanity penetrate the social environment we are part of, both in the visible and invisible dimensions.
The Marriage Of The King's Son
by Rudolf Frieling, a founding priest of The Christian Community
Entering the Festival Time of Michael, during the service, The Christian Community reads the parable of the marriage of the king's son (Matthew 22;1-14).
This parable speaks to our souls in a solemn way, showing warningly how people can fail to meet the divine invitation in various ways.
There are those who think little of the invitation. They have other things to do. They do not want to enter into the sacred inner space. They 'stay outside'. Out there, though, in their devotion to outer pursuits, they are overtaken by the 'death of matter' and their city (everything they have built up) burns down to ashes.
There is also that dubious guest without a wedding garment. In those days, it was the custom for those who had been invited, upon entering, to receive a festive garment from their host. This person obviously had not thought it worth the effort to dress himself in a festive manner to meet the occasion, (or, to enter into an uplifted respectful state). 'Take me as I am, I am good enough.' To be sure, he did not stay 'outside', but God cannot be delighted about his quality of entering. Just as he was in his everyday manner, not cleansed at all, he had wanted to force his way into the sacred inner space which therefore cannot house him. (He offered no way of connecting with and remaining in this festive space).
Amongst aberrations the right way has to be found.
Entering the Festival Time of Michael, during the service, The Christian Community reads the parable of the marriage of the king's son (Matthew 22;1-14).
This parable speaks to our souls in a solemn way, showing warningly how people can fail to meet the divine invitation in various ways.
There are those who think little of the invitation. They have other things to do. They do not want to enter into the sacred inner space. They 'stay outside'. Out there, though, in their devotion to outer pursuits, they are overtaken by the 'death of matter' and their city (everything they have built up) burns down to ashes.
There is also that dubious guest without a wedding garment. In those days, it was the custom for those who had been invited, upon entering, to receive a festive garment from their host. This person obviously had not thought it worth the effort to dress himself in a festive manner to meet the occasion, (or, to enter into an uplifted respectful state). 'Take me as I am, I am good enough.' To be sure, he did not stay 'outside', but God cannot be delighted about his quality of entering. Just as he was in his everyday manner, not cleansed at all, he had wanted to force his way into the sacred inner space which therefore cannot house him. (He offered no way of connecting with and remaining in this festive space).
Amongst aberrations the right way has to be found.
Contemplation
Each year during the ten weeks spanning from St. John’s Tide until Michaelmas we have the opportunity to experience a point in time at which we are the furthest away from any Christian festival. This happens between the fifth and the sixth week. Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Passion tide, Holy week, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost: these are the festivals which build the great Christian Palace of the year.
Now we have wandered out of this palace, so to speak, having travelled out through the gateway of that unique festival, St. John’s, which is the only time we stand before the altar and speak a prayer directed towards a single human spirit. St. John’s gateway leads us into the special territory of the year which is distinctly ours, that is, it belongs to humankind. Ahead of us we can see that other curious festival, Michaelmas, which is the only festival during which we speak a prayer directed to a single angel. In between these two we can recognize this time of ten weeks, as a time to celebrate our unique humanity.
There is a story told in the Golden Legend about a certain high-ranking roman officer said to have lived in the early days of Christianity. Now, when it was discovered by his commanders that he was indeed a Christian and was himself the means by which many others had found their way to Christianity for the first time; for twice in his presence two separate women were healed of their incapacity to speak, this healer was ordered to die. He was tied to a pillar and fired upon by roman soldiers until, it is said, that his body was full of arrows like a sea urchin.
I think the Italian artist Montegna depicts this scene most truly because he includes the impossible shot of the arrow which comes from below and behind the bound saint. This shot enters in through his neck and is shown exiting right between his eyes; the direction of his gaze is thus oriented by the arrow’s flight up towards the one who loosed the arrow in the first place, namely, Christ. The saint then bears this wound which keeps him alive; the wound which in itself becomes the organ with which he perceives his Lord. The arrow-shot wounds to his limbs and torso are nothing compared to this wound which keeps him alive; this wound which he receives as a gift in his heart, that opens his eyes and ears and looses his tongue to cry out in the name of his saviour.
We tend to underestimate what we can bear in life, or what we are capable of achieving. We may even entertain the thought that we might die soon but truly we do not know when that day will come. Saint Sebastian survived his execution the first time. His heart beat in defiance against all the wounds to his flesh empowered as it was by that other wound which had pierced it and kept him alive. As John said, “Those whom I love, I teach them through blows of destiny.” Rev Hugh Thornton
Now we have wandered out of this palace, so to speak, having travelled out through the gateway of that unique festival, St. John’s, which is the only time we stand before the altar and speak a prayer directed towards a single human spirit. St. John’s gateway leads us into the special territory of the year which is distinctly ours, that is, it belongs to humankind. Ahead of us we can see that other curious festival, Michaelmas, which is the only festival during which we speak a prayer directed to a single angel. In between these two we can recognize this time of ten weeks, as a time to celebrate our unique humanity.
There is a story told in the Golden Legend about a certain high-ranking roman officer said to have lived in the early days of Christianity. Now, when it was discovered by his commanders that he was indeed a Christian and was himself the means by which many others had found their way to Christianity for the first time; for twice in his presence two separate women were healed of their incapacity to speak, this healer was ordered to die. He was tied to a pillar and fired upon by roman soldiers until, it is said, that his body was full of arrows like a sea urchin.
I think the Italian artist Montegna depicts this scene most truly because he includes the impossible shot of the arrow which comes from below and behind the bound saint. This shot enters in through his neck and is shown exiting right between his eyes; the direction of his gaze is thus oriented by the arrow’s flight up towards the one who loosed the arrow in the first place, namely, Christ. The saint then bears this wound which keeps him alive; the wound which in itself becomes the organ with which he perceives his Lord. The arrow-shot wounds to his limbs and torso are nothing compared to this wound which keeps him alive; this wound which he receives as a gift in his heart, that opens his eyes and ears and looses his tongue to cry out in the name of his saviour.
We tend to underestimate what we can bear in life, or what we are capable of achieving. We may even entertain the thought that we might die soon but truly we do not know when that day will come. Saint Sebastian survived his execution the first time. His heart beat in defiance against all the wounds to his flesh empowered as it was by that other wound which had pierced it and kept him alive. As John said, “Those whom I love, I teach them through blows of destiny.” Rev Hugh Thornton
Bringing Ideals Down To Earth
To see the stars it needs to be dark. In the long dark African nights we have many opportunities to lift our gaze and stand in wonder at the abundance of sparkling stars. Fixed stars we call them. They are always there, can be found reliably in that higher order, and they never stop shining. The experience is: stars stand above us. Even if they rise and set, we ‘look up’ to them.
In contrast, the sun always rises up from below. Strong and powerful its rising light lets the stars recede as if they are not there anymore. We don’t usually look up to the sun: we look into the world, work in the world, live our destiny in the bright sunlight.
Ideals shine above our head like stars. There are moments, when we see them clearly, when they motivate and inspire the course we take in life. Then there can be long periods when we seem to lose sight of them, even doubt they are real. When in the soul the darkness of confusion. loss of orientation and motivation spreads itself, it requires a decision to turn the inner gaze upward and trust that the star of my ideal is still shining. When we make such a decision, we experience what a free deed is truly about. And the more such a free decision is practiced, the stronger the connection to the ideal we once saw so clearly becomes. Then something interesting happens with the ideal. It seems to come nearer and move from above to within. It begins to rise up in the midst of profane daily events. The way we look into the world changes, at least for moments; the way we work in the world and accept what life brings shifts subtly. We begin to notice, mostly in retrospect, the presence of a power that was ‘totally I, but much more than I’. Things were possible that seemed impossible. We were awake. We felt free. We stand in wonder.
The following meditation can support the decision to turn the inner gaze upward. The author is unknown to me. It most likely stems from the circle of personal students of Rudolf Steiner.
A star stands above my head.
Christ speaks from the star:
Let your soul be borne by my strong power
I Am with you
I Am for you
I Am in you
I AM your I.
Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
In contrast, the sun always rises up from below. Strong and powerful its rising light lets the stars recede as if they are not there anymore. We don’t usually look up to the sun: we look into the world, work in the world, live our destiny in the bright sunlight.
Ideals shine above our head like stars. There are moments, when we see them clearly, when they motivate and inspire the course we take in life. Then there can be long periods when we seem to lose sight of them, even doubt they are real. When in the soul the darkness of confusion. loss of orientation and motivation spreads itself, it requires a decision to turn the inner gaze upward and trust that the star of my ideal is still shining. When we make such a decision, we experience what a free deed is truly about. And the more such a free decision is practiced, the stronger the connection to the ideal we once saw so clearly becomes. Then something interesting happens with the ideal. It seems to come nearer and move from above to within. It begins to rise up in the midst of profane daily events. The way we look into the world changes, at least for moments; the way we work in the world and accept what life brings shifts subtly. We begin to notice, mostly in retrospect, the presence of a power that was ‘totally I, but much more than I’. Things were possible that seemed impossible. We were awake. We felt free. We stand in wonder.
The following meditation can support the decision to turn the inner gaze upward. The author is unknown to me. It most likely stems from the circle of personal students of Rudolf Steiner.
A star stands above my head.
Christ speaks from the star:
Let your soul be borne by my strong power
I Am with you
I Am for you
I Am in you
I AM your I.
Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
To Hear Is To Be Near
How important it is to be heard. It seems to be a deep, even existential, need. How sensitive we can be to the slightest nuances when someone speaks. Before we learned to speak, we learned to hear.
We have all gone through a profound school of hearing and listening before we were born. The wondrous images of the embryo in the womb show that its shape is like a large ear. The ear itself is shaped like an embryo. Is it only coincidence? The ear is always open and receptive. Might it be that it wasn't only the heart-beat of the mother the embryo was hearing? Does the ear-shaped embryo possibly indicate that the whole human being is listening as a totality? Or, that the human being is 'heard into existence'? What depth of hearing that would be!
We can hear outwardly, superficially, or we can concentrate and listen inwardly, with focused attention. Then we absorb and understand more of the imponderable. Maybe there is more than one level or layer or depth to this inner hearing, like listening into, hearing into a wholeness and completeness. Becoming One. How many times does Christ call out: 'He who has ears, hear!' Are there levels of evolving ever deeper, intensifying hearing, of hearing the Cosmic Word?
John the Baptist proclaimed mightily a message that brought about a paradigm shift. To do that he first had to be able to hear, comprehend and become one with this message. Paul the apostle also proclaimed mightily a message that changes lives until this day. Both John and Paul first heard. What came to them encompassed the whole being; enveloped and permeated like a heart-beat. Inner ears opened first, then they could speak.
The Act of Consecration of Man is a school of hearing and listening, for inner ears. Maybe it is not only we human beings that have an existential need to be heard. Rev.Reingard Knausenberger
We have all gone through a profound school of hearing and listening before we were born. The wondrous images of the embryo in the womb show that its shape is like a large ear. The ear itself is shaped like an embryo. Is it only coincidence? The ear is always open and receptive. Might it be that it wasn't only the heart-beat of the mother the embryo was hearing? Does the ear-shaped embryo possibly indicate that the whole human being is listening as a totality? Or, that the human being is 'heard into existence'? What depth of hearing that would be!
We can hear outwardly, superficially, or we can concentrate and listen inwardly, with focused attention. Then we absorb and understand more of the imponderable. Maybe there is more than one level or layer or depth to this inner hearing, like listening into, hearing into a wholeness and completeness. Becoming One. How many times does Christ call out: 'He who has ears, hear!' Are there levels of evolving ever deeper, intensifying hearing, of hearing the Cosmic Word?
John the Baptist proclaimed mightily a message that brought about a paradigm shift. To do that he first had to be able to hear, comprehend and become one with this message. Paul the apostle also proclaimed mightily a message that changes lives until this day. Both John and Paul first heard. What came to them encompassed the whole being; enveloped and permeated like a heart-beat. Inner ears opened first, then they could speak.
The Act of Consecration of Man is a school of hearing and listening, for inner ears. Maybe it is not only we human beings that have an existential need to be heard. Rev.Reingard Knausenberger
The Threefold Revelation of Spirit
How quickly the sun rises and sets. How suspended in timelessness the sun at noon seems to be. Every morning we can watch this monumental flame rise up above our heads, opening up and holding us in a vibrant, colourful world of life. All day we live in, within, the sun!
It is the gift of nature, the endowment of the Father-God, to send the light that awakens consciousness. It is the sun which wakes us up to ourselves every day. In its light we awaken to the problems and memories of yesterday and to our destiny. To recognize light in its original, timeless eternal quality, self-sufficient, self-producing, self-luminous is to sense: the Father sends the Spirit.
When we then see and feel how the light-filled world reflects, shimmers, glitters, enhances, shines, glows, absorbs and warms up we are drawn to a different aspect of the working of light. We can notice how light brings order and orientation, overview, cohesion and meaning, and that light warms and enlivens also inwardly. As the light draws us into the world with heart and soul we awaken to our humanity as unique individuals, all with different impacts, yet all with the same spirit-source. Like the flames lit at the altar in the morning, we receive this gift of individualisation in unity from the Son-God: to be light in light, light from light, the same yet different. Then Christ-light is in our daylight.
Finally the third aspect of light appears when it reveals itself within us as pure spiritual light. The ability to permeate matter, the substance of the earth, with thinking and understanding makes such a revelation possible. Here the moral integrity of the thinking human being makes the difference between Spirit-light becoming holy and healing or not. In the Eucharist the Spirit-light of Christ appears in the transubstantiation of bread and wine. Yet as the true nature of light itself is invisible and waits for certain earthly conditions before it can be visible, so is this Christ-light invisible and waiting – for what? For thinking purified of desires, for commitment from the heart and warm devotion in a human being willing to receive communion. Christ sends the Spirit so that it can reveal itself in us as Christ-Consciousness. Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
It is the gift of nature, the endowment of the Father-God, to send the light that awakens consciousness. It is the sun which wakes us up to ourselves every day. In its light we awaken to the problems and memories of yesterday and to our destiny. To recognize light in its original, timeless eternal quality, self-sufficient, self-producing, self-luminous is to sense: the Father sends the Spirit.
When we then see and feel how the light-filled world reflects, shimmers, glitters, enhances, shines, glows, absorbs and warms up we are drawn to a different aspect of the working of light. We can notice how light brings order and orientation, overview, cohesion and meaning, and that light warms and enlivens also inwardly. As the light draws us into the world with heart and soul we awaken to our humanity as unique individuals, all with different impacts, yet all with the same spirit-source. Like the flames lit at the altar in the morning, we receive this gift of individualisation in unity from the Son-God: to be light in light, light from light, the same yet different. Then Christ-light is in our daylight.
Finally the third aspect of light appears when it reveals itself within us as pure spiritual light. The ability to permeate matter, the substance of the earth, with thinking and understanding makes such a revelation possible. Here the moral integrity of the thinking human being makes the difference between Spirit-light becoming holy and healing or not. In the Eucharist the Spirit-light of Christ appears in the transubstantiation of bread and wine. Yet as the true nature of light itself is invisible and waits for certain earthly conditions before it can be visible, so is this Christ-light invisible and waiting – for what? For thinking purified of desires, for commitment from the heart and warm devotion in a human being willing to receive communion. Christ sends the Spirit so that it can reveal itself in us as Christ-Consciousness. Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
A Message to the Confirmees
On Palm-Sunday, you planted seeds and throughout Holy Week you watched how they started sending up green shoots. By Easter they are already high enough to be seen well above the container rim. Why do you think they could grow so quickly? - Because they were planted in good soil and had light, air and water.
You might remember the parables about the kingdom of heaven in the gospel of Matthew 13: 'A sower went out to sow his seed...' and that it matters a lot where the seed lands if there is to be a good result. We hear that the seed is the Word of God. We all have experiences of how powerful a word can be, depending on where and how it lands in us. We know how it feels to be criticised and hurt by anger and how difficult it is to pull that thorn of hurt out of the heart. But we also know the opposite, how a kind and caring word can warm us through and fill us with joy and strength from the inside out.
Then we can think of the very beginning of the Bible, the book of Genesis, where we hear how God created the world in six great cosmic world-days through the power of The Word. It was God's own initiative to speak His substance out like a seed. The whole of creation, this world around us, is the seed He has sown.You and I and we all are a seed God planted into this world. And He says: 'it is good' – planted in good soil. On the seventh day He pauses, eager to see what will become of the seed He has sown.
A lot of things happened in the world since then, the whole of history until now is about growing that original seed. Getting the conditions right so that something can find its place and grow is the first challenge. After a while, though, when it is established and growing, another question arises: what is its purpose, where is this headed, what will become of it? At that point in history, when this question was existential, a very special human being was born with a unique mission. Jesus gave Christ, the son of God, the opportunity to enter into His creation and show us what God's power can do when a human being brings it alive within his heart. The meaning of creation became real when Christ died. Now we can understand better the first verses of the gospel of John: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God'. The power of Creation, the power of His Word that can become anything, was with God. Long ago, God spoke it out, ... have you ever tried to take a word back you spoke? Was it possible? You will find that it can never be made 'unspoken' again, even if you try to correct and change its impact.
So the question for us is: where is God's Word now? Christ, the spoken-out Word of God, died! Where, how, does it become alive again?
You see, this question leads us to an altar. Everything we experience at an altar in celebrating a sacrament is about The Word. Sacraments are there because The Word was with God and is now with us! The deed of Jesus Christ on Golgotha fulfilled the original purpose of creation and has produced a new seed, sown deeper into our being, right into our heart, into our flesh and blood. Christ, The Word, is now in us. What was with God is now in you like a seed, a magnificent creative potential, a spiritual 'power point'. It is a possibility waiting to come alive in your heart. That is why it matters where this experience of receiving a sacrament lands: on the path where it will be trodden underfoot among all the many experiences we have in the course of life, on the rock where it is of momentary interest and then forgotten, among thorns where it isn't given any exposure to light and air, or in good soil where it can take root?
The ritual of a sacrament gives us the opportunity to lift our creative power into the light of the Spirit and let it be energised by the breath of a greater purpose. We are responsible for the conditions they land in. Each one of us is responsible what becomes of them. That is our freedom. With the sacrament of confirmation the Word of God has been given to you: a mighty creative power. No one says it is easy to nurture this and let it live and grow in a positive way, but when you keep at it, like a gardener does, you will find it leads to the most fulfilling and meaningful experiences in life. Later when you look back on things you have done and who you have become in the course of this effort, you will be able to say: it might have been difficult at times, but it was GOOD. And the Good will endure.
Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
In our Southern African Region twenty-four young people received the blessing of the Sacrament of Confirmation: eight in Johannesburg, four in Cape Town, five in Hillcrest, KZN, seven in Windhoek. They join the world-wide community of young people confirmed this year during Easter in the Spirit of the Christian Community.
In our Johannesburg community the following young people received the Confirmation and their first communion on Easter Monday, 9th April:
You might remember the parables about the kingdom of heaven in the gospel of Matthew 13: 'A sower went out to sow his seed...' and that it matters a lot where the seed lands if there is to be a good result. We hear that the seed is the Word of God. We all have experiences of how powerful a word can be, depending on where and how it lands in us. We know how it feels to be criticised and hurt by anger and how difficult it is to pull that thorn of hurt out of the heart. But we also know the opposite, how a kind and caring word can warm us through and fill us with joy and strength from the inside out.
Then we can think of the very beginning of the Bible, the book of Genesis, where we hear how God created the world in six great cosmic world-days through the power of The Word. It was God's own initiative to speak His substance out like a seed. The whole of creation, this world around us, is the seed He has sown.You and I and we all are a seed God planted into this world. And He says: 'it is good' – planted in good soil. On the seventh day He pauses, eager to see what will become of the seed He has sown.
A lot of things happened in the world since then, the whole of history until now is about growing that original seed. Getting the conditions right so that something can find its place and grow is the first challenge. After a while, though, when it is established and growing, another question arises: what is its purpose, where is this headed, what will become of it? At that point in history, when this question was existential, a very special human being was born with a unique mission. Jesus gave Christ, the son of God, the opportunity to enter into His creation and show us what God's power can do when a human being brings it alive within his heart. The meaning of creation became real when Christ died. Now we can understand better the first verses of the gospel of John: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God'. The power of Creation, the power of His Word that can become anything, was with God. Long ago, God spoke it out, ... have you ever tried to take a word back you spoke? Was it possible? You will find that it can never be made 'unspoken' again, even if you try to correct and change its impact.
So the question for us is: where is God's Word now? Christ, the spoken-out Word of God, died! Where, how, does it become alive again?
You see, this question leads us to an altar. Everything we experience at an altar in celebrating a sacrament is about The Word. Sacraments are there because The Word was with God and is now with us! The deed of Jesus Christ on Golgotha fulfilled the original purpose of creation and has produced a new seed, sown deeper into our being, right into our heart, into our flesh and blood. Christ, The Word, is now in us. What was with God is now in you like a seed, a magnificent creative potential, a spiritual 'power point'. It is a possibility waiting to come alive in your heart. That is why it matters where this experience of receiving a sacrament lands: on the path where it will be trodden underfoot among all the many experiences we have in the course of life, on the rock where it is of momentary interest and then forgotten, among thorns where it isn't given any exposure to light and air, or in good soil where it can take root?
The ritual of a sacrament gives us the opportunity to lift our creative power into the light of the Spirit and let it be energised by the breath of a greater purpose. We are responsible for the conditions they land in. Each one of us is responsible what becomes of them. That is our freedom. With the sacrament of confirmation the Word of God has been given to you: a mighty creative power. No one says it is easy to nurture this and let it live and grow in a positive way, but when you keep at it, like a gardener does, you will find it leads to the most fulfilling and meaningful experiences in life. Later when you look back on things you have done and who you have become in the course of this effort, you will be able to say: it might have been difficult at times, but it was GOOD. And the Good will endure.
Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
In our Southern African Region twenty-four young people received the blessing of the Sacrament of Confirmation: eight in Johannesburg, four in Cape Town, five in Hillcrest, KZN, seven in Windhoek. They join the world-wide community of young people confirmed this year during Easter in the Spirit of the Christian Community.
In our Johannesburg community the following young people received the Confirmation and their first communion on Easter Monday, 9th April:
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Christian Lukas Weber
Thandi Sophie Herzog Shekinah Machiri Aidan Tyler Benn Bradley Mark Heathfield Robert John van Zyl Johnathan Miguel Holme Jean-Luc Cardoso |
A Word. And it can be with God or Devil
A sower sows his seed...the seed is the word (Matt. 13). Depending how it ‘lands’, the word becomes a working factor in the soul-life. How true this is we know of words that have wounded us, how they become like an abscess of toxic emotions and thoughts. Then again, years later a forgotten word can suddenly rise up into awareness and take on a new depth of meaning and change the course of our decision making. We are all sowers of such seeds. We have the power of the word. Mostly we don’t know how they land in others, only in ourselves. But there, in our own soul, we can influence how a word unfolds, if toxic or enlivening.
In nature seeds are sources of new life, concentrated points of enlivening forces. Originally this is their power. Today we are able to manipulate this power according to egoistic intent, then what guarantees life and nourishment for us from one year to another starts becoming the opposite.
We can compare the many words we speak, the manifold thought pictures that gothrough our mind in one day with the countless seed kernels that are on the stalks in a wheat field. Of all these kernels,the owner of the field will choose a few to separate them from the bulk of the harvest. While the main bulk of the seeds will serve as nourishment, the ones that were kept separate will serve as seeds for a new sowing. These are to bear fruit out of themselves in future, they ensure our own future.
Of all the words and images that fill us, we can choose a few and separate them from the ‘overflow’. Instead of using them for our own purposes, we concentrate on them, give them space in us with interest. We choose a word or image and now not use it like a tool or messenger for us in the outer world. Instead, we let it live in the soul, just be itself, hold it in a warm, caring space. Visit it regularly, tend it as something precious. It will begin to live in us, then become part of us and then we notice, how we live in it, become one with it. It is as if ‘it thinks and speaks in us’. A word has become an enlivening, strengthening force in the soul. A word, that becomes a source of inner spiritual growth. Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
In nature seeds are sources of new life, concentrated points of enlivening forces. Originally this is their power. Today we are able to manipulate this power according to egoistic intent, then what guarantees life and nourishment for us from one year to another starts becoming the opposite.
We can compare the many words we speak, the manifold thought pictures that gothrough our mind in one day with the countless seed kernels that are on the stalks in a wheat field. Of all these kernels,the owner of the field will choose a few to separate them from the bulk of the harvest. While the main bulk of the seeds will serve as nourishment, the ones that were kept separate will serve as seeds for a new sowing. These are to bear fruit out of themselves in future, they ensure our own future.
Of all the words and images that fill us, we can choose a few and separate them from the ‘overflow’. Instead of using them for our own purposes, we concentrate on them, give them space in us with interest. We choose a word or image and now not use it like a tool or messenger for us in the outer world. Instead, we let it live in the soul, just be itself, hold it in a warm, caring space. Visit it regularly, tend it as something precious. It will begin to live in us, then become part of us and then we notice, how we live in it, become one with it. It is as if ‘it thinks and speaks in us’. A word has become an enlivening, strengthening force in the soul. A word, that becomes a source of inner spiritual growth. Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
WANT the Change
A seed is a great idea still asleep. Both, the seed-power and the idea, need to be received into conditions that support them to break through and unfold. There is an extraordinary description of this process in the gospels (Mk 4 and Lk 8), where first attention is drawn to the seed as carrier of a powerful idea which can either be aborted or bring true new breakthrough development; then follows the narration of the disciples' harrowing experience of nearly drowning in a storm. Leading on from the parable of the seeds that fall into different kinds of ground, the image of Christ being taken into the boat of the disciples has a particular ring. 'They took him into their midst', into their receptive souls. But then they loose sight of him, there are more immediate things to attend to.
There is a deep ingrained feeling that 'God does not sleep'. A kind of unspoken existential sense of security rests on this 'eternal wakefulness' of a higher encompassing power. (Like Psalm 121 expresses it: 'I lift up mine eyes to the hills ... he who keeps you will not slumber, ... will neither slumber nor sleep.') Yet now, in the moment of danger and greatest need and searching for help, Christ is found asleep in the back of the boat. He is in the stern where the rudder is which should hold the boat on course. Like a seed, a great idea still asleep, He needs to be awakened, received into their reality. The air-element has an intimate relationship to the soul, as does the water-element to the life-giving principle. We can observe in ourselves how intimately feelings affect our breathing, for instance, or how 'stormy' desires can be. Now, upon turning to Christ, the disciples have two frightening experiences. Firstly, the experience of the idea that God withdraws and gives space for human freedom is frightening, and equally unsettling is the experience that the power one calls in is a real power that works and brings about change very different to anything expected or imaginable. Upon arriving at the other shore, this is underlined by the person who runs towards them from the place of the graves, possessed by a legion of demons. The power one awakens and calls in can also be destructive and negative.
In the storms of life, in the unexpected turbulences and confusions that throw us about, it can be life-saving to know that Christ is already on board. That His power can be found and awakened. That He is in the place where the rudder is. That I can, and am expected to, take charge of the process of awakening. But then, want the change. It will be different to what you expect. It will be NEW. Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
There is a deep ingrained feeling that 'God does not sleep'. A kind of unspoken existential sense of security rests on this 'eternal wakefulness' of a higher encompassing power. (Like Psalm 121 expresses it: 'I lift up mine eyes to the hills ... he who keeps you will not slumber, ... will neither slumber nor sleep.') Yet now, in the moment of danger and greatest need and searching for help, Christ is found asleep in the back of the boat. He is in the stern where the rudder is which should hold the boat on course. Like a seed, a great idea still asleep, He needs to be awakened, received into their reality. The air-element has an intimate relationship to the soul, as does the water-element to the life-giving principle. We can observe in ourselves how intimately feelings affect our breathing, for instance, or how 'stormy' desires can be. Now, upon turning to Christ, the disciples have two frightening experiences. Firstly, the experience of the idea that God withdraws and gives space for human freedom is frightening, and equally unsettling is the experience that the power one calls in is a real power that works and brings about change very different to anything expected or imaginable. Upon arriving at the other shore, this is underlined by the person who runs towards them from the place of the graves, possessed by a legion of demons. The power one awakens and calls in can also be destructive and negative.
In the storms of life, in the unexpected turbulences and confusions that throw us about, it can be life-saving to know that Christ is already on board. That His power can be found and awakened. That He is in the place where the rudder is. That I can, and am expected to, take charge of the process of awakening. But then, want the change. It will be different to what you expect. It will be NEW. Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
When is the Best Time to Change?
A turning point in time is the moment when one can turn the gaze away from the emptiness and hopelessness of the abyss and take on a new perspective and begin to purposefully give life a new orientation from within. The year 2012 has come with the indication that the Mayan calendar, which began on August 13, 3114 B.C. ends after 5125 years on December 21, 2012. This time frame is called an epoch, where one kind of consciousness is spanned from beginning to end. Endings challenge and make possible new beginnings. Orientating one's life anew, so as to achieve permanent consciousness is a path of long-term learning. It is the peaceful form of protest against escalating inequalities and imbalances in the world, very effective and without aggression.
The Gospel (Mt 8) describes a behind-the-scenes-drama of such a life changing turning point in a man who is in his prime. He is competent, experienced, with authority and confidence, a Roman officer in the occupying army in Israel. Used to giving orders and having them obeyed, he knows how to be disciplined and focused. And yet 'at home', in his most private space, he has a son who is weak and lame and cannot sit up or walk. One could say, in his innermost 'heart of hearts' there is no activity, no strength, no power. Of course he has tried everything: every therapy, everything professionals recommend, even force ('get up now and pull yourself together'), tried many regimes of practice, but with no lasting result. One can feel how deep his pain and desperation is when he, a leader of the occupying forces, begins to search in unusual places for help, even to the extent of going to an obscure wandering healer called Jesus. But he goes with a real need and a discerning mind. He knows how to relate to 'the son in the heart' and access his inner soul space, but he cannot strengthen, nourish or free it from its paralysis.
If human words (methods, etc.) ultimately remain ineffective, what else can reach this 'son of man' within? The Roman is himself a commander of the word and knows their power, even their manipulative, destructive magical ability. His search is for greater words of power, for 'words of eternal life', and he is willing to make sacrifices of being in control in order to listen and serve. After Jesus expresses his amazement, he then speaks to him. What is the requested 'only one' word? 'Go' (or: 'go home'). And he goes! In this moment the officer makes himself a servant of Christ, an apostle (one who is sent). He allows the Christ-word to move him, completely take hold of his heart, even down into his feet. He lets the word, which is not his own, work in him until he makes it his own. That is the moment in which the son in his home-sanctuary begins to live, stand up and walk his path.
In this narrative of healing, the great expertise of the officer is not what is asked for, but rather that he becomes one who is willing to learn and has faith that he can learn. 'You speak but one word...', speak in my speaking, work in my working. He proves to himself by doing: I can learn, I can bring healing into my weaknesses when I let 'words of eternal life' live in me.
When President Obama was elected he touched many hearts with the words: Yes, I can. The hope and strength this released worldwide, prompted the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which includes a host of Nobel Prize winning scientists, to move the 'Doomsday clock' one minute further away from midnight. This was the effect one human being had! The scientists had created the Doomsday clock in 1947 as a barometer of how close the world is to an apocalyptic end. But the hopes for global cooperation regarding nuclear power and climate change have turned into uncertainty. On January 10, 2012 the clock was again moved one minute forward, pushing it to five minutes before midnight.
'One alone does not bring healing, but who unites at the right time with many' (Goethe). This characterises the new, needed culture of change. My little struggling efforts make a difference? But yes, when I experience how the human being in me strengthens and takes courage through Christ's word (and His prayer), then my moral self is nourished and becomes active. Then that is not just a private affair, but changes the way I go about doing things in the world. Yes, I can release the 'son of man' in my heart of paralysis when my good will is supported and magnified by Words of Eternal Life. United with others at the right time, they are a blessing flowing with great power into the earthly world waiting for change. Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
The Gospel (Mt 8) describes a behind-the-scenes-drama of such a life changing turning point in a man who is in his prime. He is competent, experienced, with authority and confidence, a Roman officer in the occupying army in Israel. Used to giving orders and having them obeyed, he knows how to be disciplined and focused. And yet 'at home', in his most private space, he has a son who is weak and lame and cannot sit up or walk. One could say, in his innermost 'heart of hearts' there is no activity, no strength, no power. Of course he has tried everything: every therapy, everything professionals recommend, even force ('get up now and pull yourself together'), tried many regimes of practice, but with no lasting result. One can feel how deep his pain and desperation is when he, a leader of the occupying forces, begins to search in unusual places for help, even to the extent of going to an obscure wandering healer called Jesus. But he goes with a real need and a discerning mind. He knows how to relate to 'the son in the heart' and access his inner soul space, but he cannot strengthen, nourish or free it from its paralysis.
If human words (methods, etc.) ultimately remain ineffective, what else can reach this 'son of man' within? The Roman is himself a commander of the word and knows their power, even their manipulative, destructive magical ability. His search is for greater words of power, for 'words of eternal life', and he is willing to make sacrifices of being in control in order to listen and serve. After Jesus expresses his amazement, he then speaks to him. What is the requested 'only one' word? 'Go' (or: 'go home'). And he goes! In this moment the officer makes himself a servant of Christ, an apostle (one who is sent). He allows the Christ-word to move him, completely take hold of his heart, even down into his feet. He lets the word, which is not his own, work in him until he makes it his own. That is the moment in which the son in his home-sanctuary begins to live, stand up and walk his path.
In this narrative of healing, the great expertise of the officer is not what is asked for, but rather that he becomes one who is willing to learn and has faith that he can learn. 'You speak but one word...', speak in my speaking, work in my working. He proves to himself by doing: I can learn, I can bring healing into my weaknesses when I let 'words of eternal life' live in me.
When President Obama was elected he touched many hearts with the words: Yes, I can. The hope and strength this released worldwide, prompted the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which includes a host of Nobel Prize winning scientists, to move the 'Doomsday clock' one minute further away from midnight. This was the effect one human being had! The scientists had created the Doomsday clock in 1947 as a barometer of how close the world is to an apocalyptic end. But the hopes for global cooperation regarding nuclear power and climate change have turned into uncertainty. On January 10, 2012 the clock was again moved one minute forward, pushing it to five minutes before midnight.
'One alone does not bring healing, but who unites at the right time with many' (Goethe). This characterises the new, needed culture of change. My little struggling efforts make a difference? But yes, when I experience how the human being in me strengthens and takes courage through Christ's word (and His prayer), then my moral self is nourished and becomes active. Then that is not just a private affair, but changes the way I go about doing things in the world. Yes, I can release the 'son of man' in my heart of paralysis when my good will is supported and magnified by Words of Eternal Life. United with others at the right time, they are a blessing flowing with great power into the earthly world waiting for change. Rev. Reingard Knausenberger
Christmas Contemplation
Now we are making our way through the holy nights. Or rather the holy night. Just as the day is born out of the night which preceded it so will the coming year be born out of this one long holy night through which we are now passing. Even the days take on the quality of night, and what we do during them certainly makes a difference for the coming year. We have celebrated the three Christmas services. It is difficult to describe the intimate quality of the words spoken during the three Christmas epistles, for example, the Christmas morning epistle. These are words which are not spoken any other time during the entire course of the year. In this epistle we hear about the power of the blessing word of our healing creator which comes to meet us that our speaking lips be touched and that our speech-bearing blood be warmed and that our spirit devoted willing be strengthened. Early Christmas morning it is palpable that we stand in the stream of the blessing word of our healing creator. This stream comes to meet us from outside of us and wants to work upon us, wants to develop us
further. We can feel this stream as a force of nature; as a Christ force which works
in nature. Towards this new outer force of nature we can turn and make
ourselves receptive.
It is an intimate image indeed which we hear in these words which perhaps can only be spoken on Christmas morning when we have the chance at all to receive them in the right way, to even dare to think about how we may be changed by receiving the touch on our lips of Christ in our learning to speak healing words.
Warm our speech-bearing blood; it continues. And we face another deeply intimate image where the very inmost core of our bodies, namely, our blood is warmed by Christ. How can we even have an experience of this speech-bearing-blood of ours? Can warmth speak? It speaks very loudly, of course, when it is lacking. Warmth can speak on its own as a gift from one to another; it is indeed the most important thing we can say to one another.
Strengthen our spirit devoted willing sounds the third plea of the morning epistle and we can notice in it a change from the first two. The body is not explicitly named, yet the instruments of our willing, our hands in particular, come to mind. That they receive the strength to move in service of the aims of the spirit. To move with Christ.
In this epistle and indeed in all three of the Christmas epistles we are being addressed as Christians by Christ himself. We are being shown by Him how we may develop further in his likeness. Rev. Hugh Thornton
It is an intimate image indeed which we hear in these words which perhaps can only be spoken on Christmas morning when we have the chance at all to receive them in the right way, to even dare to think about how we may be changed by receiving the touch on our lips of Christ in our learning to speak healing words.
Warm our speech-bearing blood; it continues. And we face another deeply intimate image where the very inmost core of our bodies, namely, our blood is warmed by Christ. How can we even have an experience of this speech-bearing-blood of ours? Can warmth speak? It speaks very loudly, of course, when it is lacking. Warmth can speak on its own as a gift from one to another; it is indeed the most important thing we can say to one another.
Strengthen our spirit devoted willing sounds the third plea of the morning epistle and we can notice in it a change from the first two. The body is not explicitly named, yet the instruments of our willing, our hands in particular, come to mind. That they receive the strength to move in service of the aims of the spirit. To move with Christ.
In this epistle and indeed in all three of the Christmas epistles we are being addressed as Christians by Christ himself. We are being shown by Him how we may develop further in his likeness. Rev. Hugh Thornton