Let Us Ascend To The Father
Easter Night
Uranda April 9, 1950 8 pm Sunrise Ranch
We come to the close of Easter Day in the year of our LORD, One Thousand Nine Hundred Fifty. We cannot waste time in vain regret for the delays of the past. We cannot let ourselves look back in any manner that brings a re-attunement with the things that have passed away. In the processes of attunement with God and the things of God, the attunement with the things that have passed away and are passing away has been broken, that the identity of Being may be according to that which is Divinely Ordained. Forgetting those things which are behind and pressing on toward the mark of our High Calling in Christ Jesus, we have the opportunity of this hour and of the days allotted to us in time to come. It is for us to let this hour and all the hours that follow it be filled with the Golden Glow of Divine Reality, uncolored, unspoiled by the unrealities of the past or the unrealities of the world.
We have recognized that to follow all the way, we must let ourselves be lifted up to Him Who was lifted up, that we also may ascend unto the Father. That ascension which comes with the leaving of this world is important, but it is not that which we consider. While living on earth in the Kingdom that is at hand, we follow our Master in ascension. In this hour which God has granted us, let us let the inspiration of the Spirit bring a larger vision, a deeper understanding of what it means to ascend unto the Father.
The human mind which has been conditioned in time past to the unrealities of the world does not, immediately on coming into the Atmosphere of the Kingdom, have the ability to grasp and to understand clearly without a consideration of contrast. Coming into the Kingdom, we see that the contrast that is found in evil is not essential to an understanding and a realization of that which is Divine. We refuse to accept the old idea that the good is dependent upon the manifestation of the evil, or that the good cannot be seen and appreciated without the evil. Such ideas we reject, but as yet contrast, the recognition of contrast, helps to an understanding.
We have spoken of, and meditated upon, that Call to ascend unto the Father, as the Master put it, “To my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” If there is the opportunity of ascension, then there must likewise be the opportunity of descending. We remember Jacob’s ladder whereon he saw the Angels of God ascending and descending between Heaven and earth. While we recognize that there is a cycle of ascending and descending in this regard, it does not immediately portray that which is essential to our understanding tonight. There is, then, a process of ascending and descending which is not wrong, which is not contrary to the Divine Will, but the descending which is possible to human beings who are not in the Kingdom is to that which is unworthy of God’s Crowning Creation.
The idea of ascending to the Father tends to be vague to the human mind, or to be hedged about with fanciful ideas of some sort. What does it mean to us tonight? The Master said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” The Father is in the Kingdom. I think the popular concept, by and large, is that after leaving Mary at the tomb, the Master must have gone off somewhere up into the skies, perhaps a million miles or so, and then speeded back in time to meet the disciples. I do not think we have to go a million miles or so to ascend to the Father. The Kingdom is at hand, and the Father is in the Kingdom, and He is near. We do not have to try to perform some Indian rope trick, to hang a rope upon some imagined sky-hook and try to climb it. No. Such mental gymnastics are as foolish as the fancy, the delusion, that comes to those who see the so-called rope trick. No, if we are to ascend to the Father, we need to let our minds be cleared of all the human concepts that have developed out of the past in relationship to this fulfillment.
The human mind needs to remember, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love and serve Him.” From the standpoint of that glorious example our Master gave, from the standpoint of His instruction and admonition, yea of His command to follow Him, we see that one of the things which God hath prepared for them that love and serve Him is that they should ascend unto the Father—but, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,” and that which I say tonight is not supposed to tell you in just so many words just what you will experience. I am not seeking to express some fixed concept that will stand in the way of your fulfillment, but that in the Current of the Spirit, the realization may be gained whereby we may together be lifted up according to the Promise, “And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” Surely this is vitally important to our Spiritual fulfillment whereby we may be in position to render service on earth to the Glory of God and to the Blessing of our brother man.
So, letting the former things remain where they are, passed away, and letting the mind be filled with that which God creates New, let us consider what it means to ascend to the Father. If we were to undertake to completely enumerate the Aspects of Being contained in the Father of which we know, our hour together would be far too short to consider it all, and having enumerated what we know, that which the mind can at the present time comprehend would not be adequate to the reality that is, but a few of the things that we know concerning the Father are: first, His Infinite Love. His Infinite Love. Ascending to the Father is opening ourselves still more fully, still more completely, to that which is of the Father. That which is of the Father and the Father cannot be separated; so the first thing necessary is the conviction in the mind and heart that we do not have to perform some impossible thing, that it is possible here and now, and that we do not have to try, but that we can let this thing take place and be a Reality in our own lives here and now. That which is of God is not to be separated from God.
So, we might conceivably, day by day, take some Aspect of the Father about which we know and deliberately consider that phase of the Father’s Being in relationship to all of our functions through the day, opening ourselves deliberately to that which we know to be of the Father. His Infinite Love—we have tasted much of that Love, the richness of God's Blessings to us, but there is more to be known. In opening ourselves to His Love, we remember that Love is that which produces all true union, all true blending. Without Love there is no true union. Heaven and earth are to be One, according to the Word. Heaven and earth are to be One. There is to be a union between this world and Heaven. There is to be a union between the human being and His God, and the only thing that produces true union is Love. So, the Father's Love is that which makes possible our ascending to Him, that we may be one with Him and let His Will be done on earth.
There is much more that could be said about His Love and about our function in relationship to His Love, but next I would put His Truth—the Father’s Truth, the Patterns of Being. The Father's Love and the Father’s Truth. We think of the Cosmos and we think of something far away and vast and incomprehensible, and yet we are not outside the Cosmos. This world in which we dwell is contained within the Cosmos. We are a part of that Cosmos. So, while there may be the applications of Truth that are peculiar to the far distant parts of the Cosmos, all the Truth that relates to us in any way, shape or form is contained right here where we are. The Father's Truth, then, is not far away. It is here at hand. It is here where we are. So, there are many avenues of meditation open to us in the consideration of the Father’s Truth.
Next, I would place His Life—the Father's Life. The first phase of that consideration would have to be the revelation of the Father’s Life as made manifest through Jesus Christ our LORD, because He revealed the Father, the Father's Life. We have much to consider there. We have given it much consideration, but there is much more. Then, as we have responded we have begun to recognize in relationship to ourselves something of the reality of the Father’s Life, the recognition that it is the Father’s Life that allows us to live, that our life is not apart from Him; it is not separate from Him. The fact of our lives depends upon the fact of the Father's Life. So, our consideration of this is not limited to something that was made manifest over nineteen centuries ago, as beautiful as that was. It is here; it is at hand. The Father’s Life here at hand, contained within ourselves, permits us to live and breathe and have our being. So, the Father's Life is not far away.
Contained within these Three Aspects of the Father’s Being of which we are aware, there are many phases of His Being—the Father's Power is one. We could look into the star-studded sky and marvel at God’s Great Creative Power, and it seems so vast and far away and we seem so small and insignificant. That is a manifestation of the Father's Power in which we rejoice and from which we can learn much, but let us not, seeing that, lose sight of the fact that right here, all around us every day, there are evidences of the Father's Power. We see a blade of grass coming up through the soil. We see a bird on the wing or hear its song. We see the mountains and the plains, the trees. We see the human being, fearfully and wonderfully made, with all of his members coordinated, working together, the heart beating, the lungs pumping the air, and all the mysterious, wonderful processes contained in the human body.
Yes, everywhere we look there is evidence of God's Power that is not far away, but is here, near at hand, manifest in ourselves, else we could not lift a hand, we could not breathe a single breath of air. The Father's Power—it is near at hand. It is one of those things that we must realize more deeply if we are to ascend to the Father, because we cannot exclude from ourselves those things that are of the Father and ascend to the Father at the same time. To whatsoever degree we segregate ourselves in mind or heart from that which is of the Father, we place ourselves in a position where we cannot draw near to the Father, and in ascension to Him we must surely draw near to Him. So, there is the Father's Power.
Then, we might note His Wisdom, the Father's Wisdom. Human beings can study the various things that God has made and gain knowledge about them, but whatever it is, from the tiniest form of animal life or plant life to the most complicated forms of life, whatever one may study, however much knowledge one may gain, one must recognize that the Wisdom that brought all these things forth is wonderful indeed, and always there is something amazing, something beyond the comprehension of man. How does life work and manifest in the blade of grass? Does any man know the secrets of life working in a blade of grass? Can he reproduce it? Can he take the substances found in a blade of grass and make that grass to appear—a living thing? No. Then, we must recognize that God's Wisdom is infinitely great, and that it is not just far away. The Father's Wisdom is here. These things could not just appear. What kind of a marvellous force would be causing all these things just to happen?
Sometimes human beings say, “But I do not know how I can have faith in God. I think I will follow along with those who are agnostics or atheists. I believe these things just happen.” What a wonderful happening. Growing up from an amoeba—and where did the amoeba come from? Faith—O. I admire such faith. It is far more than the faith a Christian needs, to believe that all these things could just happen. No. We do not need that much faith—thank God. So, there is the conviction about God's Wisdom and the recognition that it is not far away, that when the Master said, "The Kingdom is at hand," He meant exactly what He said. God’s Wisdom is certainly in the Kingdom and we see it near at hand, evidences of it all around us all the time, and if we are to ascend unto the Father we must open ourselves to His Wisdom, not shut ourselves off from it and say, “This is not for me; God has that over there, but He does not intend I should draw near to it; that is of God, but.” No, no. The Command the Master gave was to follow Him in the ascension unto the Father in the Kingdom that is at hand. So, His Wisdom, an Aspect of His Being, is all around us, available to us here and now as we open ourselves to it and let His Wisdom have meaning in our lives.
With all this Wisdom made manifest around us, with His Love to us, His invitation to ascend unto Him, to receive of His Love and His Truth and His Life and all the rest, why must human beings imagine that they are condemned to blindly stumble this way and that through life as if they were to be cut off from the very things which God says He longs to give to His Children? Why must human beings imagine they must stumble this way and that, with uncertainty? No, man is not supposed to be walking the way blindly. Wisdom is available for the understanding.
Another Aspect of the Father’s Being is Vision. When we have come in contact with sightless persons, we have surely given at least a second thought to the fact that we are thankful for the gift of physical eyesight. What a blessing it is. But vision is more than just physical eyesight. It is perception in all realms of being of which we may be aware, and it is evident God does not desire that we should go blindly stumbling this way and that. God has Vision. Consider the flowers, all the things that He made, all the things that they mean to human beings. Let us see now—God’s Vision. He made these things quite a long while ago, these things that human beings are just discovering have some use. Thousands of years ago God brought forth something, established it on earth, and for thousands of years human beings have passed it by, had no use for it at all. Maybe it was a weed, maybe something else. It has been there all the time and man just now is discovering that it really has a use.
Now, God's provision of that, so that it would be available when man awakened to the necessity—is that Vision? Does anyone need to be convinced that God has vision? That is what we mean by Vision. The ability to perceive in the outworking of things the natural sequences essential to our own points of responsibility, so that we are not asleep, we are not dull and failing to take account of the factors that are involved, at least insofar as we can perceive them, is Vision. But if we neglect to use our vision now possible to us within the scope of our present ability and we pray God for more vision, what is it? It is a futility; it is a farce. God's Vision is part of the expression of His Being and we are to ascend to Him, but if we fail to utilize the abilities of vision we have, we are separating ourselves from God and saying, “I will not ascend; you must come down to me and convince me of it all; I am not going to ascend.” That is not the way it works.
In all things whatsoever with respect to these phases of the Father’s Being, we must utilize that which is in us already, that which is available to us within the range of our present abilities, because a neglect of that use is a refusal to accept more, and until we are ready to receive more how can we draw nearer to God, ascend to the Father? Are the manifestations of the Father’s Being going to get less and less as we ascend to Him? No, not at all. They are going to increase. So, wherever we are, whatever our responsibilities and abilities, there must be an alertness, an openness and a willingness to use those phases of our own beings which correlate with the phases of the Father's Being of which we know. God is not requiring us to do something about that which we do not yet know, but with respect to the phases of the Father's Being about which we do know, there are certain aspects of being in ourselves of which we are likewise aware that should correlate, and if those phases of being in ourselves are not open to that in Him, and if we are not using those phases of being in ourselves for His Purposes, how are we going to ascend—how are the things of God going to increase in our lives?
So, when the Master admonishes us to ascend to the Father, to follow Him—and He led the Way—it is not some fanciful, far distant, vague something or other. It is something that is practical and near at hand; it is right here open to each and everyone, and in letting the phases of our own beings which properly correlate with these phases of the Father’s Being of which we know be brought into the practical play of living, we are beginning to ascend. It is not by struggling or by mental gymnastics, but by the simple process of recognizing plain, simple facts, by using a little of that Wisdom God has granted to us, a little of that Vision. So, we could go on and talk about more of those phases of His Being, but to what end? You can meditate upon them; you can detect them, but the phases of the Father's Being about which we are aware are the Open Gates through which we may ascend to a closer union with Him, but until the correlating phases of being in ourselves are open to that in the Father, we are not going to get anywhere. That which is in us, that which we now have that correlates with those phases of Being in the Father, must be open to Him so that we can begin to feel a union with the Father, a Oneness with the Father in Love, in Truth, in Life, in Power, in Vision, in whatsoever phase of being we may be considering.
I suspect that if I would not conduct another Service for a whole year, you could not properly run out of something to meditate upon—just from this one focalization of consideration. You could find it opening up more and more and more—not just in a year or ten years. In fact, I anticipate considering it for Eternity and I do not expect to run out of something to meditate upon. So, let us ascend to the Father, not just using fanciful words, not trying mental gymnastics or wishful thinking, but a practical recognition of the fact that the Kingdom is at hand, and that these Phases of Being are in the Father and we know it and He has given us the correlating phases of being which can be opened to Him and used, and union with the Father will begin to manifest through the individual by reason of the working of the Law.
So, I thank God for you, for your progress in time past, and in this Easter Day for the fulfillments that have been made manifest. I thank God for all the multitudes of blessings we have received and for that which has been accomplished, but we are just beginning, and we have a wonderful opportunity. This process of ascending to the Father, of letting that which is of the Father find expression in our lives, is as endless as Eternity itself—always something new, something wonderful and glorious. Let no one in self-righteousness imagine that he has arrived. No, but let us truly follow our LORD and ascend unto the Father, “Unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”
Martin Cecil — O LORD of Lords and KING of Kings, we lift up our hearts in thanksgiving this evening for that outworking that we have experienced this day, and not only that which we have experienced this day, but that which has come into manifestation in all the days that have led to this day. We recognize and give thanks for that increased Vision which permits us to know as never before Thy Loving Kindness, and as we draw to the close of this Easter Day we rejoice in that outpouring of Thy Spirit in the Currents of Thy Love and Truth and Life which we have experienced here this evening, for the joy and the wonder of the Vision that is opened before us, that we may truly, according to Thy Commandment, ascend unto the Father. O LORD GOD, we thank Thee that Thou hast turned our heart back again, that coming into the Kingdom we may abide therein, letting ourselves fulfill those Purposes, according to Thy Will, to which we have been called in Thy Name, that the fulfillments to which the prophets of all ages have looked may come to pass surely and certainly in Thy Love and Power and Wisdom whereby all things are made New, in the Christ. Aum-en.
Uranda — Aum-en. Peace be unto you under the Law of the Kingdom, Now and Forever.
© emissaries of divine light
