On Readings for November 6, 2022

Opening question for sharing

Have you ever felt a strong connection, had a dream, felt the presence, or saw an animal that reminded you of a loved one who has passed on?  Would you like to share that experience?

Scripture

 Job 19:23-27a

O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book!  O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever!  For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

Luke 20:27-38

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to himand asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless.  Finally, the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.” 

Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.   Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.  Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

I (Mary Ann) notice in this reading that Jesus pretty much dismisses the false question the Sadducees were asking – Whose wife will she be?– and answers the unasked question behind that silly scenario – How can you say that there is a resurrection of the dead?  Jesus mentions Moses and the burning bush, where God maintains that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Jesus maintains that God is not God of the dead but of the living, so all three of those forefathers must still be alive.

Yay, Jesus, for getting to the heart of the matter!

Your thoughts?

Paired Readings and Music

Luke 9:28-36:  The Transfiguration

About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

LIVE WITHOUT THOUGHT OF DYING

We work so hard to fly

and no matter what heights we reach

 our wings get folded near a candle,

at the end,

for nothing can enter God but Himself.

Our souls are some glorious substance of the divine

that no sentry wants to stop.

Live without thought of dying,

for dying is not a truth.

We have swayed on the sky’s limb together,

many years there the same leaves grow.

But then they get that look in their eyes

and bid farewell to what they disdained or cherished.

This life He gave the shell, the daily struggles we know,

sit quiet for a minute, dear, feel the wind,

let Light touch you.

Live without thought of dying,

for dying is not a truth.

Catherine of Sienna (1347-1380)

“For me (Matt Linn), our ongoing connection with those on the other side has been especially moving… Immersing myself in stories of NDEs has taught me that there is no separation between me and those I love who are on the other side…As I open myself to the stories of NDErs and their growing awareness that they are the Light, I understand that I, too, am that Light and that we are all one. This means that I am one with those who have gone on to the other side in a way that goes far beyond what I was taught as a child.  Communication between the two worlds is constant and instantaneous, and so I am never alone.

          For example, recently I was in tropical Florida with its lush orange groves and trees draped in Spanish moss.  I longed to share this with my father, who as a former farmer was enchanted with every plant.  I wished he were there with me.  Then I realized that my dad is the same Light that is me, and that he really was with me, admiring the same trees I was seeing…

          So, I asked my dad to show me what most delighted him.  I had a sense that he was saying, “Did you see that eagle?”  I thought, “This is crazy! Eagles aren’t a tropical bird, and I’ve never heard of one in Florida.”  Nevertheless, I searched and there he was – in an oak tree.  As soon as I notice him, he started to flap his wings as if ready to fly way in fear.  So, I looked at him and consciously held the awareness that we were one in our shared loving Light.  His fear seemed to vanish, and he allowed me to approach until I was within about fifty feet of him. We admired each other, and my sense of our connection grew even greater, until I felt as if I were the eagle!  I sensed he wanted to fly home.  I told him he could, and off he flew!  It seemed to me that my father was smiling and that he had given me his eyes that always saw the surprise in the corn field.”

Matthew Linn, The Gifts of Near-Death Experiences. pp.169-171

“I Know That My Redeemer Liveth,” Handel’s Messiah

Sylvia McNair, soprano

Meditation

          Close your eyes; place your hands on your heart.  Breathe God’s love, light, comforting darkness, and healing power directly into your heart.  As you breathe out, surround yourself with those aspects of God.

          Imagine that you are in a lovely park, sitting on a bench with some comforting image of God – Mother/Father God, Jesus, Holy Spirit as friend.  Hold an imaginary conversation with that God image and with a departed loved one, or a beloved pet.  What would you long to say?  What words, feelings, memories, thoughts, or images might come back to you?

Closing Prayers

The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant: Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight; through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.  Amen.

Cycles in Life

Green turned to brown

a season ended,

Leaves drop;

Great Determiner of the seasons of our lives

   there are greens

      colorful changes

         then brown

And a season ends.

Death!

Yet not ultimate death

for there remains a cycle

of endings

and birthings of new beginnings,

Fashioner of the seasons of our lives

may we celebrate the changes

   of green

      colors mixed

         brown;

And in our celebration may we

humbly

hopefully

anticipate the recreation of a new season,

One in which new birth while not like the last

brings forth new order,

   color

      purpose,

and in which brown turns to green again;

One in which life emerges from that which is let go

of its present life cycle;

Great Determiner of the seasons of our lives

startle us anew with the colors

of new birthings;

To experience recreations from that which had died

to its present life cycle.

         Rev. Dr. Raymond (Budd) Hearn, Come Sit with Me in a Quiet Place, pp 75-6