Let The Grave Clothes Be Removed

Let  The  Grave  Clothes  Be  Removed

Uranda and Martin Cecil  April 8, 1950  Noon  Sunrise Ranch

Uranda — Beloved LORD of Heaven and earth, we thank Thee for the multitude of blessings which we have received at Thy Hand, and we thank Thee for the holy privilege we have of letting the self of self-activity be crucified that we may know the joy of the Resurrection and the Life in the Body of Thy Being. We thank Thee for that Resurrecting Power which Thou didst make manifest on earth and which we are privileged to share that the tomb of this world's darkness may not have power over us but that the stony hardness of the human heart may be rolled away and that we may come forth in Thy Name into the Light of Everlasting Day. Father, Thy Will, not ours, be done. We know that the self-active human will rejects the Kingdom and the things of the Kingdom that is at hand, but we know that it is Thy Will that we should enter into the Kingdom and that it is Thy good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. Therefore, we would leave behind in the tomb all those things that are contrary to the Kingdom, and we would let Thy Power cast into outer darkness every human spirit that is contrary to the Holy Spirit of Thy Kingdom on earth that, coming forth from the tomb pure and clean, undefiled, we may truly be Temples of the Living God through which the Spirit of God may be revealed on earth. We thank Thee that in the silences of our own souls, having entered into the closet and shut the door, we are privileged to let our minds be stayed on Thee that the mind that was in Christ Jesus may be in us, controlling the many members of this Body. We thank Thee that, in this day of the tomb, we are privileged to leave behind the old order of human life, that all that is not of Thee may pass away. We thank Thee for the Resurrecting Power by which Thou art making all things new. We thank Thee for the holy joy, O LORD, of seeing Thy Kingdom coming into the earth, for the joy of living in this hour and in these days when Thy Kingdom is coming into manifestation on earth because of the members of this Body who are letting Thy Will be done on earth as It is in Heaven. We thank Thee for those here gathered in whom there is a vivid realization that it is impossible for the human expression of word or idea to convey that which Thou art bringing forth in the heart so that in each there shall be a willingness to let that which Thou dost bring forth in the heart grow and expand until it shall fill the whole Body of every member of Thy Body.

Martin Cecil — Resting enfolded in the Current, in the Spirit of Uranda's Prayer, we share as One Body and, letting our Eye be single, first of all, individually speaking, then according to the Master’s Words, the Body of each one is filled with Light that each may know his or her own Reality of Being. Then, letting go therein, each one being received into his or her place in that Body in which we are privileged to be members, as a Body our Eye shall be single because, individually speaking, our Eye is single.

We recall the Words of the Master when He said that He should lay His Life down and that He would take it up again. He said that this was the Commandment that He had received of His Father. We, too, have received that same Commandment of the Father—that we should lay down our life willingly, freely, without reservation, that in response to the Commandment of the Father, we might, at the time appointed, take it up again. But, taking it up again, it does not manifest through the same form as when it was laid down; there is a difference.

In recalling the story of our Master’s Resurrection, we remember that His Body was wrapped in grave clothes and laid in the sepulchre. The grave clothes were not a part of the Body, even though they clothed the Body. So, also, in that which we have laid in the tomb there are the grave clothes, the things of the self-active self which have hitherto received life by reason of the Life in the Body. When an individual wears clothes, they partake of the life of the body upon which they are worn, moving with it, but they have no life of themselves and, as the body is laid in the tomb clothed in the grave clothes, there is the necessity of letting the grave clothes be separated from the body that they may be laid on one side and left in the tomb. In the processes of the Resurrection we may perceive two factors, the laying aside of the grave clothes in the tomb, and the rolling away of the stone from the mouth of the tomb.

On that first Easter morn when Mary Magdalene came looking for her Lord, she looked into the tomb and she saw the grave clothes there remaining. It is also recorded that she saw two Angels sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet where the Body of Jesus had lain. She saw them there after the Resurrection had taken place. The fact that there were two Angels in the tomb did not mean to say that the tomb was the dwelling place of the Angels. They were evidently there for some purpose. Mary saw them after the Resurrection had taken place; there was no one there to observe before the Resurrection within the tomb, but the Angels were there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body lay.

In the tomb, sealed with a stone, in the ordinary course of events it would be dark, pitch black. One might be able to feel the granite walls all around, but seeing would be impossible—it would be impossible to tell where, or even if there was a mouth to the tomb. The stone in the mouth would appear as the walls and there would seem to be no way out, but where the Angels of the Lord are, there is Light. There is Light so that the tomb can be seen for what it is, so that the grave clothes can be recognized for what they are, so that the stone at the mouth of the tomb can be known as that which prevents movement from the tomb, from the darkness of the tomb which is lightened by reason of the Presence of the Angels, into the Garden beyond. As we are, in this day of the tomb, by reason of the Light which we have in our tomb, we can see these things in their application to ourselves here and now. The Body cannot come forth from the tomb as long as it is bound about by the grave clothes. Let the Body be separated from the grave clothes that it may be free to stand naked and unashamed before the Lord.

The Master Himself opened the Way before us; we have the record; we have the Light within the tomb. We are privileged to share in that which He established as He walked before us every step of the Way. In His Resurrection, just the grave clothes were left behind; the whole of His Body passed from the tomb into the Garden. The precedent of wholeness has been set for us so that His Body of many members may pass from the tomb into the Garden as the members of the Body who let themselves share in that which He established. Let us, with one accord, let the grave clothes be removed from the Body and placed upon one side to be left in the tomb. Let us let the whole Body see with the single vision the Light that is in the tomb, that in response to the provision of God’s Love and Light and the Current of His Life, the Power of His Angels may be allowed to roll away the stone of the hardness of the human heart which seems as a wall of granite in the darkness of the tomb, that the whole Body may come forth following our LORD and KING all the Way.

As He said, we should deny the human expression of Being and take up our cross and follow Him, but it is not enough to follow Him only part of the Way. We must follow Him through the tomb, through the process of allowing the Angels to remove the binding grave clothes, through the process of seeing in the Light that is provided in the tomb, and follow Him in letting the stone be rolled away, and follow Him in stepping forth into the freedom of a New Day.

Uranda — So let it be for this Body and for all of its Members in the Name of Jesus Christ, my LORD and KING. Peace be unto you in the tomb, that you may come forth from the tomb into the realm of the Prince of Peace and abide in the Kingdom of our LORD forever, for His Kingdom is just beyond that stone at the mouth of the tomb. It is near at hand, and He has sent His Angels to remove the grave clothes and roll the stone away, that whosoever will may come forth from the tomb into the Kingdom here on earth. Peace be unto you that in the silences of your own souls you may begin to hear that which is of the Spirit working in the tomb preparing for thy Resurrection Morn, for thy Easter Day. “Peace, be still,” thus saith the Lord. “Be still and know that I am God, for I am no less thy God in the tomb than in the Heights of Heaven. I have sent My Angels unto thee that thou mayest know that My Hand is not shortened that it cannot save even in the tomb where thou art.”

Peace be unto thee in the Holy Name of my LORD and KING Who led the Way and Who established that first Easter Day that we may share an Easter Day in truly following Him and ascending unto the Father, according to all that which He did. So let it be, IN the Christ. Aum-en.

Now, as we go our several ways about our Father’s Business, let each one meditate upon these things and let the working of the Spirit be real and true in each heart, for the grave clothes shall be left behind. Let no one identify himself with the grave clothes lest he also shall be left behind. Let each one share in the Victory of our KING.

© emissaries of divine light