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This week we continue on into the season of creation, learning from St. Francis of Assissi, a saint in the Catholic tradition. And by an odd coincidence, we are also touching on Saint Bernadette of Lourdes, and the many layers of fascinating story around the song written in her name. Jesus brings us also the parable of the Tenants in the Vineyard as we consider the way of the human mind when it allows itself to be separated from God, the divine mind.

Sabbath, you will remember, is an atmosphere which we enter voluntarily that we may rest from the weary press of the world, let go of the will to shift and change the world, and concentrate instead, on the shifting and changing of our internal landscape – we concern ourselves on the Sabbath, with our soul. And as we consider our own soul, so we aid and uplift the collective soul of the world.

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Here is a dabbling of gathered treasures to enrich your life this very day – some beautiful music from visiting musicians and composers, reflections on the wonder and power of nature, and narrative and musical scripture readings exposing a faith that is pliable, alive, and full of questions that we may live out the answers, not claim ownership of them.

Deep Breaths. One of you this week, having experienced a great disappointment, quoted back to me, the wonderful words of Julian of Norwich, the words that were the theme of her shewings as she called them, or visions, as we might call them. An anchoress living an isolated life in the midst of the black plague in England, she experiences Jesus saying to her, “And all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.” And so, it shall.

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Peace be with you this beautiful September week, with the frost creeping into our gardens, and the trees beginning to show off their beautiful fall colours. Our podcast today, is the podcast that aired last Easter morning, full of music and beautiful readings, and a simple message: Love is the conduit for the miraculous. It was true last Easter, and it is true this September as well.

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Today we have a quiet, reflective time as we listen again to the Holy Saturday Vigil Podcast. And we have as our guide, Macrina Wiederkehr’s wonderful book Seven Sacred Pauses, Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day, as our guide. We studied this book last year as a group. It is readily available digitally and in print. I would encourage anyone who wishes to bring calm to their lives to acquire a copy.

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Here is Part Two of our Good Friday Podcast from last April. It is a personal reflection in music and story of what I think it means to stand at the foot of the cross today, to embrace the mystics life, and that in its simplest form, is to embrace the sacred in all people and all matter. And this, of course, is open to all people, regardless of formal religious inclinations, or lack thereof.

Still, there is, on this Good Friday, an opportunity to contemplate the unique mystic tradition within the Christian faith.

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We can learn from the stories of our faith about what happened then, so we can better negociate what to do now.

So, in the relistening of our foundational story, I want you to listen for three things: three things you might consider and watch for in the story. Jesus’ steadiness. The crowd’s seeming power. And our required stand against the power of empire.

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It has been said that those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus are Easter People, though I would contend that you need not be a Christian to be an Easter Person. An Easter person is someone who understands in a profound way that suffering and death, sorrow and pain, are never the final story. To be an Easter person is to understand that the end of the road is the beginning of a new journey. It is to understand than in the bleakest of forecasts there are unseen possibilities.

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Jesus had startling news for his generation. The kingdom of God is already here, he declared. It is not coming soon, it is right here, right now.

That was a big idea to absorb, because you will remember that the Roman Empire ruled the roost back then and they kept the Hebrew nation under their heavy boot, demanding allegiance, obedience and taxes.

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As we continue our stroll through the parables of Jesus, we look at the story of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35) and our theme of embodied spirituality. In the Christian faith we cluster around a person – Jesus of Nazareth – rather than a book, or a set of laws, or a particular practice. Personhood, people, are important in our faith, for it is here we see the divine and the human working together.

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Our parables today will remind us that though we may be the sower of seeds, and we are also the soil that receives the seeds, it is not we who are in charge of the way things go. We are only in charge of our own personal behaviour and response. Perhaps a little more leaning on the everlasting arms would do us all good.

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We have three different short little parables to look at today, all concerned with seed and its sowing. They are simple parables, deceptively simple, for within them are deep truths we are asked to absorb. And sometimes, those very simple truths can be very challenging.

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God needs us to come and participate in creation, is desirous our company, invites us to be co-creators, to be co celebrants, to join in the feast, to be companions in The Great Work. Do you not feel sometimes somewhat sorrowful at all the times you have told God you were busy? I do.

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To help us all with the challenges we have been going through, and the uncertainty that surrounds us, it may be helpful to bring our thinking back to Jesus’s foundational teaching by exploring a collection of his most memorable parables.

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Today, we consider the simple practice of awareness, which has the power to initiate transformation. We cannot shift how we live if we are not aware of how we live. We are living through a time that is demanding that we shift and change our worldview - how we perceive ourselves, how we perceive others, what the very nature of being human is all about. 

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It is time to deeply absorb the knowledge that we are all fearfully and wonderful made. Everyone. Not just some people. And in coming to understand this, we will know that we must treat all people as sacred, as we do ourselves.

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Humanity is rising and resisting the old story of separation, and embracing the new story of the collective, the desire to include everyone, because everyone is part of the divine family and there are no exceptions, and certainly no hierarchical form of governance based on something so seemingly random as the colour of one’s skin. But we are a long way off from realizing this dream, and there is much work to be done to break down old thinking, old prejudices, old fears, binary ways of being that like to divide and conquer. 

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In times of uncertainty, when we don’t know all the answers – and we can’t know them anyway – it gives us a chance, as German writer and critical thinker Rainer Maria Rilke would instruct, to ‘live into the questions.’ And I suppose that is what we are trying to do when we gather together in Sabbath time, to explore the world of thought and spirituality as we live the questions.

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It is good to be reminded that everyone we encounter is fighting a great battle, something we can’t see and can’t understand. Somehow knowing that, gives us courage for our internal battle – to be good, to find our best selves, to see that everything and everyone does not bear the mark of commercial branding, but of its creator, which is a mystery we cannot unravel.

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Our podcast this week focuses on sharing, though not what one would think of as the ordinary kind. Rather it explores the larger landscape of sharing as we connect with others at a deep level, where a shift of worldview is required.

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