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Addresses given at services or written for various publications. |
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Advent |
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2006 |
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Preparing our gifts for Christ - Advent Sunday
Contemplating the Christmas story as portrayed in Matthew and Luke can reveal the qualities we may need to develop in this time of Advent.
The Matthew story highlights the role of Herod and the Magi with Joseph playing a leading role, actively following the guidance of angels. Mary is more in the background. Herod represents that aspect of self that fears spirit and wants to kill it off. The Magi represent the ability to remain focused on a spiritual goal, the star, to endure, to journey a long way with perseverance. Joseph represents doingness.
In Luke, Mary and her experiences are at the forefront. The angels appear to Mary, not Joseph. We also have the shepherds. The characters here demonstrate the quality of beingness.
The qualities in Matthew and Luke seems to come from two different poles within our nature - Joseph and the Magi on one hand and Mary and the shepherds on the other. These can be labeled as Doing and Being and both aspects are brought together through the birth of Christ and both bring forth unique qualities of service and offering to the Christ in our hearts.
An address for the Cosmic Mass  3rd December 2006 Rev Lukas
Matthew 1:18-25, Matthew 2:1-21 |
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2007 |
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Worship and Christmas - Advent Sunday
At the beginning of Advent, we look forward with longing and anticipation to the fresh inflow of the light of Christ that Christmas brings to us and to our world.
An address for the Cosmic Mass 2nd December 2007 Rev Heather
Luke 1:26-56 |
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Hearing the call of the shepherd - 2nd Sunday in Advent
Let earthly matters be submerged and spiritual things become elevated.
An address for the Cosmic Mass 9th December 2007 Rev Grace
John 10:1-4, 11-15 & Luke 2:8-20 |
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The Spirit of Mary - 3rd Sunday in Advent
Mary is an eternal spirit which assists us in the crisis of living, which prompts us to enter into the depths of our being, and which opens us to the breadth of our being.
An address for the Cosmic Mass 16th December 2007 Rev Max
Luke 2:8-20 |
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The Song of the Angels - 4th Sunday in Advent
The lifting of the human spirit, the enlarging of our borders, freedom from the limitations of our present minds, the recovery of relationship with the whole of the universe, these things are what real life is about.
An address for the Cosmic Mass 23th December 2007 Rev Max
Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 & Luke 2:8-14 |
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2008 |
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Advent - time of fullness - Advent Sunday
Advent is the time of fullness, of purposeful waiting. It is a time for listening with our inner ear and responding to the quiet prompting of Spirit. Each day of Advent brings us the opportunity to choose inner stillness, to listen for the Spirit so that with glad and grateful recognition we will welcome the awakening of the holy child within us.
An Address for the Cosmic Mass 30th November 2008 Rev Heather
Lamentations 3:22-26, Luke 2:25-38 |
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Opening to the Light of Christ - Third Sunday of Advent
John writes in his gospel "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has comprehended it not." This verse could be seen to describe our consciousness today as individuals. Three hindrances to receiving the light of Christ, hindrances that maintain attachment to darkness are taken from John's Gospel and explored.
Our doubtful thinking is seen in Nathaniel when he says to Philip 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?". Hatred in our feeling life is portrayed by Nicodemus when he visits Jesus in the night and seems to mock Jesus when he doesn't understand Jesus. Fear in our willing life is shown by Peter when he denies Jesus three times.
Each time we allow doubt to subside, each time we choose to balance our feeling life, and each time we allow our experiences of the love of Christ to be greater than our fear, then our patterns of karma are cleansed, and our darkened consciousness becomes enlightened.
An address for the Cosmic Mass 14th December 2008 Rev Lukas
1 John 1:1-7, John 1:1-5 |
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Inner Peace
An Address for the Cosmic Mass on the Second Sunday in Advent
6th November 2009 Rev Lukas
Luke 14:1-14; 25-27, 33-34 |
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Nurturing Our Emergent Christedness
An Address for the Cosmic Mass on the Fourth Sunday in Advent
20th December 2009 Rev Robert
Jeremiah 31:15-17; Matthew 2:13-21 |
The Festival of Christmas |
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Addresses given by the Meritus at the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass are usually published together with the New Year Reading in a booklet which is obtained from Headquarters. |
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The Fullness of Time - Christmas Eve Midnight Mass
Tonight is the night when we celebrate the fulfillment of a promise. A promise that is deep within our human consciousness. A promise that one day God would send a saviour, one who would make us whole. That promise is the coming of Christ into our world. Paul wrote of this promise in these words, "In the fullness of time, God sent forth his son."
Advent was the time of yearning, the possibility of newness. Tonight we celebrate this newness; the Bethlehem who child lives in us; a joy that comes as a gift of God and springs up within us.
An address for the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass 24th December 2008 Rev Heather
Luke 2:8-20 |
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On Us Great Light Shines!
An Address for the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass 24th December 2009 Rev Robert
Isaiah 9:2-7, 2; John 1:1-5, 9-14 amended |
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Christmas, Easter and the Tao
A contemplation about what is gained at Christmas, taken forward to Easter and the Taoist ideas that emerged in the contemplation.
An article for Feb/Mar 2007 CentreCOMM Rev Lukas |
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From Advent to Epiphany
A journey into the growing light involving four stages: Advent, Christmas Eve, the twelve Holy Nights and Epiphany.
An article written for the Dec 2006/Jan 2007 CentreCOMM Rev Heather |
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Epiphanies and Faith
Epiphany is a celebration of the fact that light does shine in the darkness and light it up. It
brings before us again the awareness that we are beings of both the heavens and the earth,
that our human existence is shot through with the divine glory. That is what was manifested,
shown forth, in Jesus Christ. Epiphany is the culmination of the Christmas festival. It is associated with two events in the life of Jesus – the visit of the Magi and his baptism by John. From the story of the Magi, we can discover something about faith and how this will lead us to the moment of epiphany.
An address for the Agape on Epiphany 6th January 2008 Rev Heather
Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 |
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An Epiphany Reflection
Epiphany concludes the period of time we know as the twelve days of Christmas. These days, these holy days, are days of mystery and wonder when we feel the closeness of the heavens and the angels.
At Epiphany we see the adoration of the Magi of a babe who was born to be a vessel, a body for a god. Epiphany also marks the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by John. At Epiphany we move from the the birth to baptism; from birth to a fuller manifestation of the godhead.
And how are we to make ourselves ready to become manifestations of the divine? In Luke's account of John's mission of baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, there are three groups of people who question John. In the answers given by John, the love principle within us, we can discern how our thinking, feeling and willing faculties of our soul life may be strengthened.
An address for the Agape at Epiphany 6th January 2009 Rev Louise
Luke 3: 2b-6, 10-16, 21-26 |
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Last Updated: 30 April 2010 |
