Come With Me In the Spirit for a Moment

Come  With  Me  In  the  Spirit  for  a  Moment

from

Communion  Service — Winnipeg,  Manitoba,  Canada

Uranda   September 26, 1943

Come with me in spirit for a moment, away from this time and place, to a day gone by—and as we walk along the road that leads to Jerusalem, we see a multitude crying, “Hosanna to the King.” As we hasten forward we see a Man, and as we see Him His appearance strikes home somehow. He is riding upon a donkey, and there are olive branches and garments strewn upon the path before Him. And He rides on. The tumult of the crowd, the excitement—somehow these things seem to leave the One Who rides untouched. The rider is not excited, but seems to be saddened by the failure of human beings to see. We watch. There is nothing in His bearing or His attitude that makes one feel that this tumultuous crowd has come anywhere near seeing Him, let alone feeling what He feels—and in spite of the throng we see at once that He is alone.

He knows the fickleness of human beings, the changes of their passing fancies. One look into His eyes and we know that He longs with a Soul so great and deep to tell them something that they need to know, but they are shouting so loudly that they are far from being able to hear. They do not even perceive that He has something to say. That which is of Him, that which He would give, is so lost to them that nothing but their own tumultuous cry has any meaning to the throng. And so in loneliness, feeling the discord of the thing that it is out of order, we who walk along that lonely way marvel at the density of that throng that fails to heed the One, for He knows that this throng cannot accomplish by such actions what it desires—that it will but breed trouble for them and for Him. We remember how one night upon the Mount of Olives we saw Him go and stand alone looking forth upon the city, and we heard from the agony of His Soul the words: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathereth its chickens, but ye would not.”

So, finally, we reach Jerusalem. Suddenly, the throng, that has been shouting, wanting to crown Him king (One Who, it is observed, had no desire to be an earthly king according to earthly standards), begins to realize that it has not been discreet. It begins to be fearful of what the authorities will think. So they begin to drift away, and soon they are gone, and the lonely Man moves on—alone. It is just before the time of the Passover. And later, as the celebration of the Passover is drawing to a close, we are walking with this lonely One. He sends disciples on ahead to prepare a room where He had often gone before, a place well known to Him where He and the Faithful Ones might gather. So He came with the rest and entered that upper room.

They had prepared for the usual Passover Feast, and after they had partaken of it Jesus arose and took water and washed their feet. Peter, the impetuous, was indignant, and he said, No, Thou shalt not wash my feet. Jesus answered, If I wash not thy feet, thou shalt have no part with me. Again, the impetuous one said, Not my feet only, but wash me fully, completely. We meditate upon His meaning—the Water of Truth, to cleanse our understanding, to wipe away the dust of the passage along the Way of Life, that we may come with hearts and minds pure to this Hour. As they reclined about the table, He partook of bread and broke it and gave it unto each, saying that they should partake of it. Unleavened bread—showing that the leaven of self-activity had been eliminated—that as they, symbolized by this unleavened bread, ceased to function from the mortal mind alone and let the Will of God be done, their bodies should be lifted up as they lifted up the bread, and be received into the One Christ Body as they received the bread into their own bodies.

He took the sweet juice of the grape and gave them of it to drink, saying—This is of My life stream, a symbol, and as you lift this wine into your own body, so that it becomes a part of your life stream, so shall you, as you respond to Me, as you walk in the Way of Life and Truth, let your life stream be lifted up into the One Christ Body, that all may be members of that One Body. And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it unto them and they all drank of it, and He said unto them, “This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the Kingdom of God with you.” There in that upper room He said, “I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new with you in the Kingdom.” What a wonderful promise!

As we remain, we are instructed to drink of it in recognition of that which is symbolized. He Himself promised to refrain from drinking of the fruit of the vine until the day that we should go to sit with Him in that New Day in the Kingdom, and He would drink it new with us. This is one of the most beautiful, the most glorious, promises—a promise made to you and to me, for He is waiting for that day, by that same token, as surely as we are, and all the others who follow faithfully along the Way. Blessed Ones, with what joy we anticipate the fulfilment of that promise; until the day that He fulfills His Words: “I shall drink it new in the Kingdom of God with you.” If ever there is a tendency of the human mind to waver, to fret, to turn away, to become discouraged, to quit, let us remember He looks forward, too, to that day when He may sit with us and drink it new in the Kingdom.

But that is not all that He said in that Upper Room. After they had partaken, He gave the climaxing discourse and prayer of His Ministry. Did you ever realize that it was in the Upper Room that the words of the Fourteenth Chapter of John were spoken—yes, and all of the Fifteenth Chapter, too, and all that glorious prayer. Consider that Service there in the Upper Room conducted by the Master Himself. I would like to read: first Jesus spoke, and then Peter saith unto Him, “Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; and ye are clean, but not all.” The feet are the symbol of understanding, of the means by which we walk in the Way of Life. (Reading John 14:21-25). That commandment was given in that Upper Room. (Reading John 14:1-4). And on through the Fifteenth Chapter, and the prayer of the Sixteenth Chapter, and the prayer of the Seventeenth Chapter. All of that which is recorded in these beautiful passages had been spoken in that Upper Room. I suggest that at your earliest opportunity—tonight if you find it possible and pleasing after you go home—you take your Bible and read those chapters recording the Words which Jesus spoke in that Upper Room.

And then after the Upper Room there was Gethsemane—the darkness, the agony of that hour, the betrayal, the farce of the trial, the cross under which he staggered to Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. For there He was sacrificed on the skull of human concepts. It was in the place of the skull that human beings crucified Him then, and so it is surely on the cross of their own human bodies that they crucify Him today—the self-willed human beings who refuse to recognize or comprehend the Way and the Will of God. At last there came that darkest hour, and He was on the cross. His closing words were spoken to His mother, and to that disciple whom He loved, and He said, speaking from the cross: “Woman, behold thy son,” and to him, “Man, behold thy mother.” And so, while all the others had followed far away—one had betrayed Him; one denied Him—only one stayed with Him beside the cross at the hour when He should give up the ghost, and to him He bequeathed the responsibility of carrying on the Work that He had begun.

And, as He gave that Commission from the cross to John, He gives that Commission unto us individually, to carry on that Work to which He gave His Life, and it is in Remembrance of that Work and that Life, of the Principles of Truth He there revealed, that we have the Communion Service — He took the bread and broke it, and He gave thanks before giving it to them.

Our Most Gracious, Heavenly Father, our Beloved Lord and Master, we thank Thee for this Holy Hour, and the privilege of sharing in that Communion, that symbol of the way of Truth which Thou dost grant and direct that we should use, and as we take this bread, which is a symbol of Thy Body, we remember that we are properly of Thy Body, even though through wayward action we may have gone astray. Therefore this bread, symbol of Thy Body, is the symbol of our bodies which are a part of Thee. And as we take this unleavened bread, which has ceased all self-activity, and lift it in our hands and hold it, we remember that just so dost Thou in Thy Love and Power and Mercy take us in Thy Hands to Lift and Hold us; and that when we shall lift this bread in unison unto our lips, just so shalt Thou, by Thy Hand and Power, Lift us up unto Thyself that, being a part of Thy Whole Body, we may truly be a part of Thee. And as we receive into our bodies this bread, so that it becomes a part of us, so shall we be received into Thy Body, and, be blended eternally with Thee. We thank Thee, therefore, that as we partake of this bread we are lifted up, and thereby render service in the world according to Thy Word wherein Thou dost speak: “And I, if I be lifted up, shall draw all men unto me.”

Spoken while passing the bread — So now, Blessed Ones, take the bread and hold it in thy hand. Partake not of it until I come again before the altar, that we may receive of it in Oneness. But hold it in thy hand; consider well how easy it is to lift it up; consider well how this bread seeks not to fight against thee, but gives itself to thy hand and to thy use. And as thy hand so easily holds this bread, so does the Lord hold thee so easily, when thou dost cease to fight against Him, when, letting go of all self-activity, thou shalt rest in His Hand as He holds thee in the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is no more difficult for the Lord, thy God, to hold thee and to lift thee up than it is for Him to hold thee in His Love, for thy body is an ordained part of His Body now and forever more. But unless thou lettest go of all self-activity, He cannot lift thee. As thou shalt lift this bread to thy lips, letting go unto the Lord, so shall thy body be lifted up and received into the Body of the Lord. And so we know that the symbol of thy body is this bread, which is also a symbol of the body of the Lord, of which we are a part, and as we shall receive this bread into our own body, so shall He receive our bodies into His—that One Great Christ Body may fill all the earth and the earth made new shall manifest to His Glory, when all evil may be cast out forever. — Having finished distributing the unleavened bread, the Bishop again resumed his place behind the Altar.

O Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that as we shall lift this bread, so shall Thou lift us, and so fulfil Thy Promise: “And I, if I be lifted up, shall draw all men unto me.” — All in unison partake of the unleavened bread — O Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that as we have thus received the symbol, so are we received of Thee, and we thank Thee that this bread which had no life has been received into our own bodies and given the life that we are, and even so shall we, as we are received into Thy Body, receive of Thy Eternal Life, to dwell eternally with Thee. And as this bread which was not received into our bodies, and so has no life of itself, is returned and is covered from the sight of man — covering the remaining unleavened bread — so do we know that all who do not respond to Thee shall be returned to that place from which they came, and covered from the sight of man, for only in Thee, and in response to Thee, is the Resurrection and the Life.

And He took the cup and drank of it, and gave it unto them, and said that He would not drink of it again until that day when He would meet them in the Kingdom of God, and so is the promise also unto us.

O LORD of Lords and KING of Kings, our Great and Beloved Master, we thank Thee for this symbol of Thy Lifestream, which is likewise a symbol of our lifestream as we respond to Thee, for we know that our lifestream is ordained a part of Thy Lifestream, as we let Thy Will be done. And as this sweet juice of the grape shall be received into our bloodstreams, so shall our bloodstreams, having ceased all self-activity, being free of the fermentation of human self-willed expression, be received into Thy Lifestream to Thy glory that we may serve our brother man, and, as we are lifted up, be instruments in Thy Hand by which Thy Word shall be fulfilled in all the earth: “And I, if I be lifted up, shall draw all men unto me.”

Hands individual cups of grape juice, speaking as follows while so doing — So, Blessed Ones, as you receive the cup, hold it in thy hand: consider well the ease with which thou dost lift it; it fights not against thee; it seeks not to do that which is contrary to thy will. This, the symbol of thy bloodstream and the symbol of the bloodstream of our Great Master, responds to thee. It is the sweet juice of the grape, without the fermentation of human self-activity. So is it with you; as you let His Will be done, all self-activity shall cease and thy lifestream, purified and made perfect, shall be received into His Lifestream, as surely and as easily as thou shalt receive this sweet juice of the grape into thy own body — Uranda returns to the Altar.

O LORD of Lords, and KING of Kings, we thank Thee here and now that, as Thou didst ordain that Blessed Night so long ago in the Upper Room that we should share this symbol of Thy Life, of Thy Bloodstream. So do we now in this hour partake thereof, that our lives may be transformed, and be received of Thee into Thy Life, until the One Christ Body fills all the earth, and Thy Will shall be done in the earth as it is in Heaven, and in the earth made new all evil shall be cast out, for, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my Holy Mountain, saith the Lord,” and so it is we give ourselves, as this juice of the grape gives itself unto our bodies, to fulfill the words, “And I, if I be lifted up, shall draw all men unto me.” — All present partake in unison — O Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that it is so, and that by this Sacrament we are drawn nearer, ever nearer, to Thee, that Thy Spirit working through us may accomplish its perfect work, not only in our lives, but through us, in the doing of Thy Will in all the earth, that the children of men may come to know the peace in Thy Presence, and rejoice in Thy Holy Name. O Father, we thank Thee that it is so in the Christ, now and forever more.

And so now, as you have received of the fruit of the grape into your being, so is your lifestream received into the One Body, focalized in the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings, Jesus the Christ. In this we come to know more fully, more deeply, the meaning of the Great Christ Kingdom which shall be established in all the earth, which even now is established in actuality in eternal Reality. The Christ Kingdom has never ceased to be; it has always been. It did cease to manifest in the world and in the lives of men—but even so, as it has continued always, so shall it again manifest in fulness, and man's failure to recognize the existence of the One Christ Kingdom shall surely be changed. That which does not change, and that which is not received into the One Christ Body and so into the One Christ Kingdom, shall be returned to that from which it came, and covered from the sight of men.

So in this we may come to know the glories of that Resurrection Morn when the Master folded the linen garments neatly in the tomb and stepped forth to prove the Victory over death, that we might know that the Promise that the former things shall pass away, that there shall be no more crying, nor suffering, yea, no more death, are not just empty words, but rather, that which is of the Plan which shall surely be fulfilled. As the world rejected Him and Crucified Him that day, and just as He was Resurrected from the tomb, just so shall that old world in its self-activity crucify itself, as it is now doing, for we stand upon Golgotha Hill insofar as the world is concerned.

For it is written in Daniel that knowledge shall be increased, that many shall run to and fro, and then in Revelation, that after Satan is released from the bottomless pit he shall come forth to deceive all nations—and we have seen how it is done, and now that man's knowledge has increased, that evil is rampant in the world, we see that in this place of human knowledge, in the place of the skull, man in his self-activity is crucifying himself even as the Master was crucified. As the world continues to crucify itself, so shall the world move into the tomb, a period of darkness—and thereafter, there shall come for those who carry through, to those who are obedient, to those who are of the One Christ Body, the day of release from the tomb, when the stone shall be rolled away, and the Victory shall be known in all the earth, the Victory over death, and the earth made new shall be made manifest, the Kingdom of God on earth, the Garden of Eden, Paradise restored.

So it is all of this that we see and feel and meditate upon, as we receive the Sacred Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, for it speaks to us from within our hearts, in the Soundless Voice of the Spirit, of the beginning of things, of the Way of the Lord, of the Vision made manifest and of the Promise of things to be, that we may live a life on earth by which He may be Glorified and all the Children of men may be blest.

© Emissaries of Divine Light