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
