And so we come to the evening of Christmas Day, and as we are gathered here in the Chapel after a beautiful day, and the manifestation of many, many blessings, I am reminded of a text in the 21st Chapter of the Gospel according to John, beginning with the Fifteenth Verse: “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” This was the occasion of the third time that the Master had appeared to His Disciples after the Resurrection, and they had dined, and Jesus asked the question, “Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him. Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto Him, Lord thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”
And so we come to the evening of Christmas Day, in the Year of Our LORD, One Thousand, Nine Hundred fifty-three, and to our meditation period on Sunrise Ranch. And as we are gathered here in the Chapel after a beautiful day, the manifestation of many, many blessings, including a most delightful dinner a little while ago. And then having listened to the music with which our programme began, I am reminded of a text in the 21st Chapter of the Gospel according to John, beginning with the Fifteenth Verse: “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?”
Now this was the occasion of the third time that the Master had appeared to His disciples after the resurrection, and they had dined, and Jesus asked the question, “Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him. Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto Him, Lord thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”
And as we note these three expressions, the questions and the answers, followed by the admonition in each case, we are reminded of the fact that Peter had denied our LORD three times—three times he had denied. Peter was supposed to understand something of the basic principles of being, and yet when he was asked the question the third time, he was grieved—he felt that the LORD was picking on him unjustly. If he had been aware of the basic principles of being, he would have recognized the opportunity to establish a clearing with respect to those three denials, and likewise to have that clearing established in all three planes of his own being. “Lovest thou me?” Lovest thou me more than these who are round about you? Do you love me more than you love them?
I know that a different interpretation has been put upon those words, and some have assumed that it meant, “Do you love me more than these love me?”—and I suppose the way it is worded here, that could be read into the text. But His question was, “Lovest thou me more than these?” Do you love me more than these others, which would include Himself—and in view of later events we can see that our LORD was well justified in asking that question.
Each time Peter gave assurance, “Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee.” It has always seemed to me that Peter gave a very tame answer to a very vital question: “Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee”—almost offhand, almost suggesting that the question was obviously superfluous, it was really unnecessary; as much as to say, well you know that I love you, why do you ask the question?” Instead of recognizing the opportunity to give verbal assurance in a deep way to his love, it was a, more or less, offhand reply, containing a hint of rebuke to the LORD, for even having asked the question. “Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee.” What a wonderful opportunity that was for Peter to have said something about the depth of his love, to have given expression to something that would have given vital form to that love.
If our Master were to appear here tonight, at the close of this day on which the world celebrates His birth, and if He were to ask that question of you, “Lovest Thou me”—I wonder, what would your answer be? Would you say, “Why yes LORD, you know I love you”? If you answered that way I would be utterly ashamed of you. If you could not find some better way than that, to voice the depth of your love, I would feel that my years with you had been in vain.
You might express it in a thousand different ways, but surely you would say something about the longing you have known, through the days of your years, to know Him and to know His Love more deeply. How there had been a longing in the hearts of men for so long, with respect to which they did not know how to act, and the precious joy of such a moment in His Presence, consciously to see and to hear, would surely inspire an expression—recognizing that words were inadequate—giving assurance, or establishing your position as the case night be, being thankful for the privilege of living life on earth, to the end that there might be evidence of the unspeakable love in one's heart, in your heart. But it is not the question here so much, in relationship to Peter's answer, about which we are concerned tonight, but the question to you, your answer, and the admonition.
First, “Feed My lambs”, and then the following two times, “Feed My sheep”—and if the Master asked you three times over, would you be grieved, and take the attitude that He was doubting you, that He was asking unnecessary questions, that He might better occupy Himself otherwise? If He asked you thirty times, would there be enough trust, enough centering, to be assured that He must have some reason, that He must be doing something of importance, to accept a cue, as it were, and to work with Him, to give the answer, no matter how many times the question might arise. And if the question was given twice, or thrice, or more times, would you repeat the same answer each time? The third time he changed it enough to say, “Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee.” There was an attitude of rebuke, to our LORD, that was wholly and completely out of place—to tell the LORD He knows all things, therefore He knows that you love Him. When you stop to think about it, wasn't that a very unresponsive attitude for him to take?
If he had said, “LORD, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest whether I love Thee. I feel I do. I trust that my life shall reveal the fact that I do, but if Thou dost perceive in anything, a quality of lack in this, then pray help me, that it may be healed, and that I may love Thee fully.” Isn't that a different attitude? Instead of simply saying, “Lord, thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee; it goes without saying; you have asked a foolish question.” But in each instance He said feed. “Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep, Feed my sheep.” There is not any purpose in life on earth, other than this, that has any real meaning. To the degree that we are feeding the lambs, and the sheep, feeding the Bread of Life, offering the Water of Truth, our lives have meaning.
And it is in this connection that I would share with you something of what I feel, see, and experience, when I am working in the field, seeking to feed the lambs and the sheep. When lives are changed, it is evidence that those in whom the changes appear have been fed. But it must be that there are those who hear the question, even if I do not voice it in so many words, “Lovest Thou me?”—the question sounding through the centuries from the lips of our LORD, and an answer that does not have the mediocre nature of the one which Peter gave so long ago, an answer that springs from the depths of a full heart. “Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep.”
I have here a letter from one of your number. Unless there is change and progress we stagnate and come to naught. This letter expresses some realizations, indicating progress along the way The first of these realizations: “… that to love God, to let His Love move through all we think, say or do, is true salvation from all that besets us, whether from the world, from the pressures here, or from our own temporary un-wisdom, or mis-function—and it is also the avenue of our guidance into service. Also, service does not begin with accomplishing. It begins with being. It is the being that accomplishes when the Father does the works. When the human being tries so hard to accomplish, he invariably stirs things up, muddies the water, spoils the pattern. It is not just in doing, as important as doing in the outer sense may be, it is in being—and it is being that accomplishes when the Father does the works.”
What are we doing?
It is not the external bustle of doing, according to the worldly pattern, that accomplishes. First there must be being, and then within the reality of being, something is done. We need to do many, many things, we need to feed the lambs, and the sheep. In the doing of this, we have a great variety of actions, many, many places to be filled, responsibility in many directions. Here we might raise the question of what has it been in relationship to myself, which was most effective in achieving the results that have been achieved in you, and through you? You might say the services, or the Truth presented through the services, and that would be fine. Has it been what you have seen me rushing about to do? Or has it been the constancy and the consistency of being, that finally put it across in your heart? Just the word that I spoke? That had its place. The things that I did, those things had their place. But wasn't it the constancy, the consistency of being?
At first, I think with most if not all of you, there were tendencies to expect that stability of being to topple over now and again, to be a sort of humpty-dumpty thing. But while the words came, and words went, and the deeds were done, the days passed, and you forgot the words, and you forgot the deeds. Wasn't it the fact of being? Didn't most of you try to upset that being? And when you could not, you argued with yourself, struggled with the words that were spoken, looked for something to find fault about, the way things were run, or what somebody else did, or something? There have been, with most at least, various reactionary theories, and unless it got too severe I just ignored it and went on, and I let the waves of your own reactions come and go. They washed up on the rocks and made it splash, and were gone. You pushed and you shoved and you pulled and you struggled, trying to shape things around, but finally you began to come to a realization of being. And either you had to share that being, that reality of being, that state of being, or find that what you did turned out to be of no avail. You began to find that that state of being could not be pushed around, no matter what came or went—there it was. That constancy of being is what finally drove home to you the fact that it was more than mere doing. You had to share a state of being if you were to be a part of this that is Sunrise Ranch.
You cannot give what you do not have. People are not looking for works, as such, though works are necessary. People are looking for a revelation of being. Until they begin to sense—see, feel, know that reality of being, they won't have any faith in what you try to feed them, will they now? You can offer it to them. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. What is it that makes the individual finally receive the food you offer, receive the cup of cold water that you extend? Not merely the fact that you have some food, or say you do, to offer. It's the persistent influence of your being. At first there is not any faith in it, there are doubts, there is skepticism, and efforts to upset the being, just to prove that it doesn't work, that it does not amount to anything. But as you hold steady, in being, a part of the Central Being of the One Body, finally there begins to be enough faith in you to make people willing to accept the cup of water and taste it.
Of course, once they taste it and find out that it really is so, that there is something in the cup, then they begin to drink more freely. But they have been handed an empty cup so often that they still think that if you offer a cup that it is going to be empty. So they won't take it. They have been fooled too many times, so that it is not just a matter of extending the cup of cold water, or a piece of the Bread of Truth—that is not enough, not nearly enough. The convincing thing, the thing that turns the tide—against which no arguments can avail, no twistings and turnings of the mind, no judgments or resentments, no struggles—that consistent, constant state of Being, that remains unmoved by all the pushings and the pullings, the ups add the downs. And unless you share the state of being, you cannot share in any true sense the work of feeding the lambs or feeding the sheep.
Our Gracious LORD, and Holy KING, we thank Thee for the privilege of being the Body of Thy Being on earth, that the evidence of Thy Presence may be revealed to the children of men. We realize that millions accept the idea that the evidence of Thy Presence was on earth long ago, and that the evidence of Thy Presence will appear on earth some day, but few there are who are yet aware of the Way, the Truth and the Life, relating to the Second Coming of the evidence of Thy Presence on earth. We would do our part toward letting the evidence of Thy Presence again appear on earth, and if we would let that evidence be made manifest, we realize that we must first be so centered in Thee, so centered in Thy Being, that the reality of Thy Being in us may be made evident through us, in the processes of our living, that Thy Kingdom may come, and Thy Will be done in earth as it is in heaven, for Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power and the Glory forever. And as this Christmas Day comes to a close, we would, in the seven days intervening until the beginning of a New Year, be filled with meditation upon these things, that we may ponder them in our hearts, and be prepared for a greater service than we have yet rendered.
O LORD, we would be honest in examination, facing the issue with respect to the evidence made manifest through us—evidence of the lack of the Kingdom, or of the reality of the Kingdom; evidence of defiance of the KING; or evidence of the Being of the KING; evidence of our sharing a state of being in Thee, or evidence that we are failing to share any true state of being. What is the evidence as revealed through thought and word, and deed, through attitude, now and in the days to come. Gracious LORD, I thank Thee for the Love which Thou Dost bestow upon these here, and all who serve with me on earth in Thy Name.
We are concerned with righteousness, with the coming of the Kingdom. It's interesting, isn't it, how good Christians have been praying for centuries, "Thy kingdom come," without anyone apparently realizing that the only way it would come was if they themselves were in position to bring it. We have known about this for some time, but I believe there was a new awareness of the real nature of our responsibility this morning. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2024/01/bringing-kingdom-into-this-place.html] The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; every location on the face of the earth is His. We need to live with this conscious awareness, so that we always assume the responsibility for the presence of the Kingdom. We no longer think of the Kingdom merely in terms of material change. This Kingdom is not of this world. It is a Heavenly Kingdom and our representation of it is based in spiritual expression. The preaching of the gospel is the coming of the Kingdom. "And this gospel ... shall be preached in all the world ... and then shall the end come." Naturally! The end of the old world because the Kingdom has come. And that coming is our responsibility, in company with others who are in agreement. Wherever we may be, moving from here to there, we bring the Kingdom with us, a Holy Place.
All that is present in any particular location is invited into our encompassment, which is in fact the encompassment of the Kingdom. Of course we can only do this if we ourselves are there. We're there because we know the reality of that Kingdom in our living. This is what we have chosen to know. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness we are filled with righteousness, the right expression of living; we are filled with the Kingdom. There is no more unrighteousness present, no more complaint, no more judgment. It should be rather easy to see what there is no more of, but what is the nature of the righteousness with which we are filled? As I have indicated, an invitation is extended. We have an attitude of encompassment which includes all that is present in the particular environment.
As we have already noted, there will be response to that invitation. There will also be some reluctance and some resistance, and some outright rejection. This is of no particular concern to us. We do not have to get into a battle about it. We are not in the business of trying to force anyone to respond the way we think they should. If we made this effort it would be proof positive that we were not, ourselves, in the Kingdom. No one can be forced to come into the Kingdom; no one can force his way into the Kingdom. The door is open because there is someone on hand in the Kingdom to extend the invitation. We are concerned with response primarily, response to that invitation.
This response comes out of the kingdoms of the world, as we were considering them this morning. There is the human kingdom; we extend the encompassment there, and the invitation. There is the animal kingdom, the kingdom of vegetation, the mineral kingdom. We need to have a balanced outlook. It may be that some are naturally in better position to handle one kingdom than another. There are those who have some sort of affinity with animals, there are others who have what is sometimes called a green thumb, and there are those who are chiefly interested in mechanical contrivances. But of course our primary field relates to the human kingdom. In considering all these kingdoms we may be aware that they are all living kingdoms. Presumably we are aware that this is so in the human kingdom and the animal kingdom and the kingdom of vegetation. Perhaps it's not quite so obvious in the mineral kingdom. Time elements tend to be longer in the mineral kingdom; the movement is slower. But there is no kingdom in which life is not moving. There is nothing inanimate in creation.
We have previously taken note of mechanical contrivances of various sorts and the attitude of enfoldment that is necessary. When there is such enfoldment these contrivances become more lively, it might be said. We are bringing life and more abundant life even to the mineral kingdom. A good workman, it is said, takes care of his tools. He loves them, he enfolds them, and the tools respond to his hand; so with mechanical contrivances of all kinds. If one of these contrivances, such as an automobile, is committed to our care and keeping, for whatever period of time, we are responsible for maintaining the life relative to that piece of equipment. There is an attitude of enfoldment, an attitude which extends an invitation to that automobile to share our life. Thereby it becomes an extension of ourselves and usefully conveys us from here to there. We extend the invitation to these mineral contrivances at a certain level. It wouldn't be fitting to try to drive an automobile into this Chapel. There may be occasions when other more discreet tools are brought into the Chapel for various reasons. We have a video camera here and this is a piece of equipment that needs our enfoldment, encompassment. It is indeed invited to share in our service. We appreciate what all these types of machinery can do for the LORD. From our standpoint that's the only reason they exist. Other people have other concepts about it of course. The only valid reason for the existence of any of these contrivances is their value to the LORD. We have opportunity from time to time to extend our encompassment, to include more at that level; and if we love one another, love what is present in our environment on the right basis, all these things respond. We have a responsibility, all of us, to maintain functional and effective operation because of our enfoldment. Sometimes not too much thought is given to this and yet it is part of our responsibility, part of our world. Of course there are other ways in which the mineral kingdom is enfolded too. Perhaps we could think about it a little. But for the moment maybe that's enough.
Obviously there is a right enfoldment of the kingdom of vegetation. We are concerned to raise a garden on Sunrise Ranch, do some farming. We are concerned even with the esthetic value of vegetation. We offer space for vegetation to come into our enfoldment; an invitation is extended. There have been those on Sunrise Ranch who thought of the garden as a chore. It might even be considered to be an unnecessary evil; after all, we could go to the supermarket and buy stuff. But it's part of our responsibility here. This is our immediate contact with the vegetation of the earth. It needs to be handled with love and understanding and enfoldment. The seeds should be lovingly placed in the garden, or in the flats in the greenhouse or wherever, so that they have opportunity to germinate. There should be an enfoldment by all concerned. I'm speaking about Sunrise Ranch particularly, but of course others of you may be associated with other patterns in which there is opportunity to enfold the kingdom of vegetation, inviting that kingdom to receive the Kingdom which we offer. This encourages growth and a goodly harvest. But when we come to the time of harvest, what is the attitude then? That it's a very tiresome labor for the people who are required to go into the garden and reap the harvest? That would hardly be the attitude of one who was bringing the Kingdom, would it? We bring a blessing, we bring enfoldment, we bring love.
We might even verbally invite whatever the crop is to share with us in the spirit of ascension. Of course if we ourselves know nothing of that spirit in our own living we have nothing to share with the vegetation, or with anything, or anyone else either. Our own bodies are the Lord's. These individual earths are the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; that includes mind and heart as well. These are being lifted to Him. So anything that is offered and lifted to us is part of the process by which ascension is occurring, and the fruit is being restored to the LORD.
The same thing of course is true in the animal kingdom. Chickens lay eggs for us. Do we bless and enfold the chickens? Do you ever think about the chickens? Those who look after them probably do, but what about the rest of us? Or do we take eggs for granted? Do we ever have a spirit of thankfulness directed toward the chickens? Those who collect the eggs might well, when they pass through the chicken house, give thanks for the chickens and say so. Bring the thankfulness to a point of focus; don't just brush it aside and say, "Oh yes, I'm thankful." Here are some creatures serving, offering themselves to the Lord through us. Surely we should have an attitude of appreciation, even if we're not present with the chickens.
There are those other creatures who offer themselves as meat. I wonder if any of you who participate in the receiving of that meat from the animal, or the fowl, or whatever, see it in the light of something being offered to the LORD? You know of old, in the days of the Israelites, for instance, there was a good deal of animal and bird sacrifice which was seen as being unto the LORD. I think the priesthood ate some of the fruits thereof but it was still unto the LORD. And so it is from the standpoint of the way we handle what is being offered by these creatures to the LORD. One might well express thanks for the willingness of the particular creature to allow the substance of the form to ascend to a higher level, to receive a greater blessing. Of course we need to be sure that if it does ascend into our bodies it is receiving a greater blessing and that our attitude is not one of cursing in daily living. But we see our own bodies as a way station, so to speak, in the ascending cycle.
Now we see this even in the human kingdom. I'm not suggesting that we become cannibals; but our concern is with human sacrifice, that all that belongs to the LORD should be returned to Him, whether it's in our own bodies or in the bodies of others. We live in the world the way it is. In human consciousness none of us have any awareness of the way it may have been in the past, we'll say before the human failure; we don't know what that was. Some have made the attempt to reproduce that now but it was only a reproduction according to some human concept; it couldn't possibly be a reproduction of the reality, because the reality now is quite different. Our concern is to live righteously in the world the way it is; it's the only one we have, after all; to bring the Kingdom here and therefore to handle everything that is handled in our world rightly. If we handle rightly the state of affairs as it now is, that state of affairs will no doubt change. It's the only way it can change rightly, that's for sure, so that out of what now is may emerge what should be. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard" what it should be. All we can do, and this is enough; I'm sure it will keep us busy--is to handle things the way they now are, righteously.
All the things with which we deal are things with which other human beings all over the earth have to deal. Our concern is to do these same things as they are necessary to do but do them righteously. We can't start to handle something that isn't the present fact! The righteous approach is a very down-to-earth approach. It doesn't require anyone to start floating around in some imaginary never-never land but to deal with things the way they are, to bring the Kingdom into whatever is present in one's immediate location of living. This is the way the world is transformed. It is our responsibility to make right use of our worlds and all that is in them. And we find ourselves, individually, handling certain aspects of these worlds. We are cognizant of the fact that countless other human beings are handling these same aspects in their worlds without any awareness of what righteousness in that regard would mean. But we know, and what we don't yet know we will know if we handle what we know in our present environment. Handling that rightly, your environment expands. From the human viewpoint the individual may be inclined to say, "Oh dear, I'm going to have more to do." That's right! The devil is lazy. A little self-examination will see how closely you are aligned with this particular devilish trait. I suppose it may be said that there is an inclination to be lazy because of orientation downward. The ultimate laziness is being dead.
There has been some speculation, I believe, on Sunrise Ranch (and this can be informative to everybody whether they live on Sunrise Ranch or not) as to the possible necessity of reducing the number of people. With this in mind there have been those who have been looking around to see how the work could be reduced, which is not the point at all. The question arises as to how effective those who are now present are in handling the work that is necessary. I don't know what the scale of efficiency would be exactly, but on a percentage basis I doubt if it would exceed fifty percent. I was reading an article recently about the capacity of the brain. I don't know who measured it! But in the computer world I believe there are such things as "bit seconds"; isn't that right? Anyway the human brain is apparently capable of accommodating a hundred and forty billion bit seconds. Now, as I say, I don't know how they measured that, but in the ordinary function in the human world the way it is, most people use only about twelve or fourteen. It seems to me that this is indication of the fact there is a little unused capacity! And it's not only a matter of the brain. After all, the brain is just one part of the whole instrument.
Where there is righteousness, factual righteousness, we find ourselves capable of encompassing undreamt-of fields. This includes physical action too. All this immediately comes within the range of experience once there is alignment with the cycle of ascension. If one is aligned with what is descending, one presumably gets more and more tired, more and more filled with sludge physically, mentally and emotionally, until it becomes scarcely possible to move at all, physically, mentally or emotionally. Our participation in the ascending cycle relates to this matter of preaching the gospel, of bringing the Kingdom into one's environment, so that one is inviting all that is in the environment to rise up and share in the ascension with which we ourselves are aligned. When everything is rising up; perhaps it's not accurate to say everything, for a while anyhow, but when there is a rising up, which there hasn't been heretofore to any adequate extent, then we begin to find ourselves buoyed up. We begin to find that there is burgeoning energy; no energy shortage here. But we have to do it. We can think about it, we can discuss it, and be just as lazy as usual; or we can actually let it happen because our one concern, by reason of our hungering and thirsting after righteousness, is to let the Kingdom be present in every circumstance.
We extend the invitation into the human kingdom, of course; and we provide encompassment for those who begin to rise up in response. But let us recognize that at this level, as at the other levels, there is a variety of encompassment required; it's not all the same thing. We do not, for instance, fling open the doors of the Holy Place and say to the world, "Come in." It wouldn't stay a Holy Place for long, would it, if the invitation happened to be accepted! Of course you wouldn't stay in the Holy Place either. So there needs to be a certain amount of discernment. I suppose as illustration we could recall what the state of affairs was with the Israelites long ago, particularly when they were wandering in the wilderness. They were surrounded by many tribes of the earth, many people. But they had their own Encampment. As you may recall, in the middle of the encampment was the Tabernacle, which included various parts: there was the Outer Court, there was the Holy Place and there was the Holy of Holies. Obviously all those present in the Encampment couldn't be fitted into the Outer Court, let alone into the Holy Place. Nevertheless the Encampment was a part of the design of things. If we see this in terms of our present experience, there is a level here which includes the most people, into which the tribes of the earth may be invited, to be enfolded in the Encampment. Presumably out of the Encampment an invitation is extended to those who might be included in the Outer Court and encompassed there. As I say, that would certainly not include all the people who are in the Encampment. And then, again, from the Outer Court there might be those who could be invited into the Holy Place. Looking at it this way, I suppose you can see three grades. We need to have a certain discernment in our handling of what is present in our human environment, as to the nature of the invitation that is extended to people.
Back along the way particularly, the idea was that everybody should come into the Emissary ministry. Not everybody did; but the invitation was extended pretty well to anyone who would take it up. Of course some took it up who shouldn't have. Perhaps this was necessary in the beginnings of things, because after all there was nobody to start with, so some human substance had to be generated somehow. But there is a design; there is a way things work; and as we proceed there must be a refining process. From the standpoint of our own physical bodies we're not just a blob of flesh; that would be awkward. We have very specific parts, which enable us to live as human beings. The same specific differentiation is required in the larger Body, the Body of the Son of God on earth, so that the invitation may be extended to all the tribes of the earth by the Son of God. But that invitation is extended intelligently, not blindly.
Those who belong in the Encampment are invited into the Encampment. They're not invited into the Outer Court or into the Holy Place. Enfolded in the Encampment, they reveal constantly where they belong. Maybe some who come into the Encampment don't belong even in the Encampment, and out they go again. There is a selective process here, just as there is in our own physical forms. However we have the responsibility of a certain spiritual discernment so that we may recognize what the nature of the invitation should be to those who give indication of response. There are some who move quite quickly. They might find themselves in the Encampment and the door would be opened into the Outer Court. Sometimes that is done too quickly. Anyone who is going to come through into the Holy Place, for instance, will; you can't keep them out. So don't be in too much of a hurry. Let it prove itself out a bit. There has been more trouble generated by those coming in too quickly to a level that they couldn't handle.
Remember, the earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; and it is all holy. People need to learn how to keep sacred things sacred. All too often there is too much talk, isn't there? People talking about things of which they know very little and the rumor mills get to grinding. Trouble ensues. There are those who even feel hurt because they were not informed of something. Well maybe it was none of their business. There was a time back along the way when the ministry was very small, when I suppose everybody knew most everything that was going on. But it's not so now, and it shouldn't be so. I suppose if anyone should know everything it would be me. The Lord preserve me from this! I receive an immense amount of information and in spite of the hundred and forty billion bit seconds in my brain I cannot retain everything. I do not make the attempt; it's not necessary. When something does come to me I look at it in that moment, and deal with it in that moment, and let it go. When people come later and say, "I wrote you a letter on such and such a day outlining all this," I may not remember that I even received the letter, let alone what it contained. But I knew at the time and it was dealt with at the time; and a person doesn't need to drag it forward. It only seems necessary to drag it forward if the person hadn't allowed himself to participate in what had been dealt with. There are those who are inclined to want some sort of a reply to their letters from me. If it takes all day to read them, I don't know when I would reply to them all! It's not necessary. Each individual is responsible for bringing the Kingdom into his own circumstance. I can't do it for anybody. I have my responsibility. Each other one has his or her responsibility. Let them handle it.
Yes, there is a need for a certain amount of training, and it seems to me we have provided facilities for that in various ways: seminars and classes and all this. But it takes someone to accept the responsibility, presumably on the basis of hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and then do it and not expect somebody else to take care of one's own responsibilities. Maybe some of our responsibilities include others and therefore require that others be consulted in the matter. What is brought to me is often to get my decision, as though I wouldn't consult anybody. I usually direct people to those who are right beside them. That's where the learning is needed. Nobody ever learns anything if you answer their questions. Did you ever discover that? Least of all children; they come up with another question.
So let us accept the responsibility of righteousness and bring the Kingdom into the place where we are, consistently. If we do that we are part of the ascending cycle; we have all the understanding, the energy, whatever is necessary, to do what we're there to do. Just because there has been quite a resistance to participating in this process doesn't mean that the results of nonparticipation should be given any particular consideration. If a person is tired and sick, or whatever, that's the way they wanted it apparently. I suppose in a sense we get a little hardhearted. Not really, though. There is a compassionate encompassment; but we're not doing anyone a favor by preventing them from taking their own responsibility. Let's remember that, and live and serve righteously.
And so it is good to gather with you once more to share this hour of meditation. Let us have a moment of devotion: Our gracious and loving Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the assurance that as we let Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven there are many factors which begin to take form far beyond the range of human vision. Many things begin to work which the human eye cannot immediately see. Many opportunities begin to develop which cannot from an outer sense be immediately foretold. And that as we remain steady all of these things begin to come to focus in the Divine Pattern of Being, that we may begin to so let Thy Kingdom and Power have meaning in our lives, that Thy Glory may appear because of alignment and coordination established on earth. So that opportunity and that which is necessary to the fulfilling of opportunity may come to point at the same time, in all spheres of Life, with respect to all those things by which the children of men may be blessed and Thy Kingdom extended on earth. For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. Aum-en.
We have been at various intervals considering the basic principles of Being. Tonight I would like to continue this particular pattern of meditation with you. We have already covered the first part of the Beatitudes. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2023/12/blessed-are-meek.html] And there is much more here worthy of our meditation as we consider those factors which make it possible for us to have the attitudes which will let us be instruments in the hand of God for the accomplishment of those things which are according to the Divine Design. The Master’s words in many places had for their particular purpose the revelation of the means by which human beings could move out of the sphere of mediocrity in relationship to the spiritual life. A practical life on earth. No human being likes to be classified as being mediocre. And yet human inconsistencies, which nullify individual efforts and bring futility, produce the net result of mediocrity.
The adjustments necessary in the individual life, which would allow fulfillment to come, are generally speaking, for those who are classified as good, who are seeking to live good lives, comparatively speaking, very slight. The human consciousness is generally speaking blind to its own necessities of adjustment. Perhaps in some major respect there may be some recognition but from the standpoint of the more delicate adjustments essential to individual and unit fulfilment, there is a failure to see, to recognize. If we have a delicate instrument we can expect the necessity for delicate adjustment. If we have a comparatively crude instrument, we might say a heavy duty machine, it might appear on the surface at least that there would not have to be delicate adjustments. But consider even such a thing as a road grader. The operator must become expert in establishing the right angle and the right height or depth for the blade. And if he ignores certain necessities of his work, he can spoil the road instead of making it better. So there is precision necessary in the operation of a road grader. However, when we think of the human being, we should have a consciousness of a delicate mechanism—not only with respect to certain organs of the body but with respect to the correct function of mind and heart.
The larger adjustments most people accept and are considered to be socially acceptable. When we speak of a delicate adjustment, many people think of something exceedingly frail, something not too important. But if we think of power plants with any understanding, we recognize that there are certain delicate adjustments necessary to the correct functioning of a powerful engine or motor. Delicate adjustments do not necessarily indicate frailty. Many people think of delicate adjustments as being unnecessary. Why be bothered? “Why can’t I do it without those delicate adjustments? Why can’t I accomplish what I want to without paying attention to all these little things? If it’s something big, all right I’ll listen.” But the delicate adjustments that are essential, what of them? Our attitudes with respect to these delicate adjustments go a long way toward determining whether we are going to be mediocre with respect to our particularized individualized patterns of life or whether we are going to be effective or perhaps brilliant. It is a common feeling that one is functioning adequately if he is not below the common level. But the common level does not permit the needed change in the lives of common people.
These attitudes which the Master outlined go much deeper than might seem to be the case on the surface. For instance, these words: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” The mind may think of the brutality which is common in Soviet Russia, the brutality of slave labor camps in Siberia. And one may think “Why can’t those guards be more merciful? Why can’t those people be more merciful to each other? Why can’t the judges be more merciful? Why can’t the rulers be more merciful?” But what about us? Perhaps we can see something of the need for mercy somewhere else. But what about the quality of mercy yet on Sunrise Ranch? From observation and examination, I would say that generally speaking the meaning of the word mercy escapes most human beings. They imagine that if under some peculiar circumstance they might have another human being under their power, to let that person live or condemn that person to death, that then they would be merciful. But does one have to be in such an extreme situation in order to let mercy have meaning? Is there a day, is there an hour, in the practical living of life where this quality of mercy should not come into play? If there are attitudes of resentment, what about the quality of mercy? What about the attitudes of judgment, one of another, in little things? What about the quality of mercy? The human mind may say that such and such a course of action is justified, but what does one lose using the quality of mercy? [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2014/05/from-nature-and-work-of-shekinah-uranda.html]
To what degree do you need to have mercy extended to you? Here is a clear pattern of the Master’s teaching, expressed many times in many ways, where that which one expresses becomes available to oneself. That which one expresses returns. Sometimes human beings do not like it when it is returning because they have sown that which they would not reap. But they have to reap it anyway. “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.” Where? Merely that God up in heaven is going to be merciful to you when you die? All too often that is about the only aspect of mercy that human beings think about, that God should be merciful. But what about the quality of mercy in expression through us day by day? Here is a key, a fundamental key of Being with respect to some of those delicate adjustments essential if human beings would stop defeating themselves, stop maintaining an arbitrarily established level of mediocrity. Generally speaking, human beings do not come anywhere near the expression of their own true potential. Generally speaking, the individual cannot say, “If circumstances were different, if I had this, if I had that, if people around me were different, then I could express, then I could experience, more than I am.”
Blessed ones, we recognize in the overall pattern that there must be changes before we can come to the fullness of that which God would have us to know. But let us be honest in facing the fact that we have not achieved anything like all that is possible under the present circumstance, within the scope of the present factors of limitation. Once you fill the factors of limitation, or the area established by the factors of limitation, with the fullness of that which is possible to you under the circumstance, the boundaries are going to give way. But if, because there are factors of limitation, we say, “What is the use of filling this area? By itself it couldn’t achieve very much. What is the use of doing all that we can in the face of all of these obstacles?” Of course there are obstacles. Many of them. There are limitations. There are many things that ought not to be as they are. But if everyone says, “I will wait until the unit does some more growing. Or my neighbor does, my husband does, my wife does, my friend does, then with a better circumstance I will begin to grow, then I will achieve something.” With all having that same attitude we will never rise to a higher level.
Someone somewhere, even here, has to dare to move into a Higher Pattern of Being, without regard to the supposed limitations established round about. When you can come to me and convince me that you have filled your available opportunities, taken full advantage of them within the scope of present limitations, you can convince me of it, then I will consider the possibility that you are being held back by someone, by some person, some group of persons, the unit as a whole, or circumstance. But be sure that you have completely achieved all that is possible within the scope of the present pattern of limitations.
What has this to do with mercy? You say that if you were governing Russia, for instance, you were set there as a ruler, you wouldn’t be so cruel, you would be more merciful. You wouldn’t send so many people to their deaths. The firing squads wouldn’t be so busy. The torture chambers wouldn’t be in operation. The Siberian slave labor camps wouldn’t be needed anymore. I wonder. Did you ever stop to consider the extent to which you now in your present pattern of living and action are condemning other human beings to misery, suffering and death? To what degree you are responsible now? If you would be merciful in the true sense, is it not necessary that you begin to recognize that if you fail to do everything you can to cause the Kingdom of Heaven to have meaning on earth, you are condemning other human beings to suffering and misery and death as surely as if you are a ruler or a judge in Russia. What is your quality of mercy? Is there any concern about what others must suffer if you do not fulfil your responsibilities? If you only delay the Program, not perhaps for a year but for a day or even an hour? If you slow down the operation for a day for some unnecessary self-centered reason? Do you think that that can take place without causing others to suffer?
What is the quality of mercy in you? Do you ever say anything that places an unnecessary burden on another? Do you ever do anything or fail to do something? Many of the failures to be merciful result from failures to do, just non-doing, just putting something off, just waiting for some more convenient time, and others can get along the best they can. If God’s service is slowed down on earth, well, what difference does it make? Have you ever examined the picture as it relates to yourself? Are you in expression on earth all that you ought to be from the Divine standpoint? Any moment of delay, unnecessarily engendered, with respect to your accomplishment of that to which you are called, the fulfilling of your duties and responsibilities in the Divine Design, is an expression of a lack of mercy, a heartlessness.
Merciful? What does it mean to be merciful? To live in a little self-centered shell, ignoring your opportunities of extending mercy? “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Do you think that now or in some future time you might need mercy? How often I have seen individuals fail to be merciful and then start begging God for mercy when their own failure to be merciful caught up with them. Then it was a different story. They wanted to obtain mercy but they had never sown any mercy, they had never shown any mercy, the seeds of mercy had not been planted in their Garden of Life.
Sometimes firmness is mercy. If I took the attitude toward you collectively or individually, “Well, now, I’m going to be merciful. And by merciful, I’ll have to be real gentle. I’ll never put any pressure on these good folks that are trying to do the best they can. I’ll never put them in a corner where they’re forced to see the truth. Oh, I’ll be so gentle with them. I’ll be real merciful and just let things slide along.” Would that be merciful? No! That would be a failure on my part to at least undertake to head people off from moving in the wrong direction. If I am not firm and, sometimes to the point of hardness—compelling—then I am not merciful. But if by firmness I establish those conditions which make it possible for you to avoid unnecessary suffering, difficulty, delay, so that you in turn can, by living effectively, so that you in turn by your daily function can be merciful, then you can obtain mercy.
Holding back, just human stubbornness generally speaking when its brought down to its real nature, just holding back and refusing to do that which one could do to further the work of God on earth is one of the most prevalent ways in which people show their merciless attitude. Just stubbornly holding back and saying, “Well, if it works over there, if they can prove this, if they can do that, if they can achieve something without my help, then after a while I’ll come in and help, then I’ll do something.” I wonder sometimes how much it would take to convince people of the truth. Of course it’s little or much on the basis of whether the individual wants to be convinced or not. If the individual does not want to be convinced, then he won’t be convinced, because he knows that if he were convinced, some change would have to take place in his life and he thinks he doesn’t want to change, he wants to keep things as they are.
What is the greatest obstacle to forward movement, whether with a group such as this, or with the state or with the nation? Those who want to make it worse, are they the ones that are the greatest obstacles? Those who would like to tear it down and make it vile in some way? No, they have precious little influence, actually. Who are the ones who prevent more rapid progress? The good people who want to maintain the status quo. They don’t want any change. They’d like to keep it about like it is. “If it doesn’t get any worse, it’s not too bad. And if we do thus and so we’re not sure it’d be better. We know what we have so we better keep it this way.” They object to change. They want to maintain it as it is. “It’s pretty good just this way.” And what happens when such an attitude is taken? There begins to be loss. Why? Because of disintegration. And generally speaking human beings wake up too late to save anything. They hold back, and resist, and say, “At some more convenient time, or when it pleases me betters, or when I’m more thoroughly convinced, then I will do thus and so.” How are you going to be convinced if you do not step in and share the building, share the doing, share the accomplishment?
If we consider our Program here as having enough value, enough meaning, to cause us to gather for an hour of meditation such as this, who is supposed to accomplish what? Is it just me? Or just a few of us here? Or is it all of us together? Certainly it’s all of us together. And it is not by holding back but by a full and free expression of our whole potentiality to the degree that it can be expressed at the present time—by doing. And a failure to do what one could have done is one of the most merciless things. Those who show no mercy in Russia generally speaking make no pretense about being something that they are not. They just go ahead and they are that way. But all the millions of good people—and there might even be some, well not more than ten miles away—of all the millions of good people who stubbornly refuse to do what they could, refuse to step in and share, they are more merciless, more brutal, than that obvious brutality in Russia.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Until we learn to express mercy—how? when? Constantly, in the fulfilling of our responsibilities, by doing what we can do, by refusing to remain mediocre, refusing to be satisfied in the common herd. Blessed are the merciful, those who dare to do, that the mercy of God may be extended into the earth. From whence does mercy come? From God. Are you going to be merciful and just not make as much trouble for other people as you could, if you had a mind to? You may say, “Well, I’m being very merciful. I could make a lot more trouble for other people than I do if I just had a mind to. I sure could.” Probably you could too. So you’re going to be merciful just because you don’t make as much trouble for other people as you could.
If we do not so live that the current of that which is of God flows through us in a vibrant, creative, active doing, we are not being merciful. Until we do everything we think we can do and a little more toward letting the power of God, the spirit of God, the meaning of God’s truth find expression through us or because of us we are not being merciful. If we give just a little of what we can give, just enough to soothe conscience and give the right appearance, “Oh we’re going to maintain a pattern of goodness.” No. We must do all that we can do and more, and keep doing it, not just for an hour or a day or a week or a month or a year. If what we are doing is not being willing to do that without any assurance as to how long it will take, then what is the value of life? What is the gain for anyone? Why even live? If we would be merciful, then in this time, in this hour, in these days, we need to be causing all that we possibly can of that which is of God to find expression on earth.
It seems so easy to the human being to forget the hungry and the thirsty ones out there. I’ve been maneuvering, doing everything I could, to work out a Program to make it possible for me to visit other groups, to hold some services in certain places to which the public would be invited, but so far I haven’t been able to do it. Why? Well, actually, there isn’t any reason except that a lot of people are not merciful. They do not care whether the blessings of God reach those people or not, or whether it reaches them this summer or next summer. And if they die in the meanwhile, well it’s just too bad. “I’ll do so much and no more. I am not going to do all that I can. I’m going to look after myself. I’ll be merciful to myself.” You will, will you? There might come a day when your own mercy for yourself is not enough mercy for you.
“Blessed are the merciful.” What of all the others in the world? We here are not the only people on earth. Not by a long ways. Is that which we live for, is that to which we are dedicated, is that upon which we meditate of any value to anyone else? If it is, then everyone here can do more. Not just part of you. Every one of you can do more toward making that possible to others. And in making it possible to others, you will be merciful. Suppose it were turned around. That other person were here and you were there. And you were waiting, hungering and thirsty, for the privilege of hearing what you are privileged to here. Yes. And if we did not do all that we could to make it available to you then, would we be merciful?
Of what value are the things of God to you?
Do you have the capacity for taking everything for granted?
These hours of meditation, how much are they worth to you?
Would you be merciful?
We cannot take the things of God for granted, merely to satisfy ourselves or to fill some personal need, and say we are being merciful. If there was a fountain of water in a desert place and you found out about it and you were thirsty and you went with your little water bag and got some and then went off where nobody else could see you, so you could sip it all by yourself, would that be mercy? Or would you know that back along the way somewhere there was someone fainting, falling and dying for lack of water. Would you fill your water bag and hasten back along the path, saying “Here, I bring you water. Keep going. There is water. I have brought you some. Keep going.” Would that be merciful, to convey as much water to others as you could? Water is the symbol of Truth. The world is in desperate need of that Truth. Can we take it for granted? If we do, are we merciful? And if we are not merciful, think you that we shall obtain mercy?
Blessed ones, I can look at any one of you here and see in relationship to you where you have been subjected to difficulties, limitations, problems, that were absolutely unnecessary, they did not need to be. But you were not merciful. You did not function in a manner which would allow the whole Pattern to come to point, so only a part of a Pattern appeared, and there were difficulties and problems, and loads and worries, and unhappiness of various sorts, limitations. Limitations that did not need to be. We have them all around us right here on Sunrise Ranch. Limitations that do not need to be. And when shall you obtain mercy so that you do not have to live on a basis of where you have to contend with these limitations? When you become merciful. All too often the human attitude is, “Well, someone wasn’t merciful to me so I certainly won’t be merciful to that person; I’ll just show them.” Oh, yes. And what happens? It only destroys, prevents the outworking of God’s Design, spoils opportunities, spoils the beauty of life, prevents the expression of Life itself.
Blessed ones, when shall we hear the sweet, vibrant voice of our LORD sounding down through the centuries, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy”? The individual who says, “I will do what I have to do but no more. If I can get out of doing something, I’ll let it slip by. I’ll be careless of my responsibilities. If I’m late on the job, maybe somebody else will have most of it done and I won’t have to do too much.” Is that being merciful?
What is it to be merciful? To express the fullness of the potentiality of your own Being now, in these days, in service, in blessing to others. And if you do not see a return appearing immediately, you’re going to quit, are you? I’ve seen so many people throw away the blessings of their own labors because they wouldn’t stay steady, hold true and carry through. There are certain ones right here within the sound of my voice—of course, it’s your neighbor. I’ve seen you all throw blessings away, blessings and opportunities and privileges, just because you refused to be merciful, just because you refused to do what was required of you the way it should have been done—really carrying through in the right spirit, in the right attitude. Oh, I do not say that always it has been so. You have received certain blessings, certain blessings that have made it better than it was before. You have obtained some mercy, but not enough. Of course if you decide you will be merciful in order to obtain mercy, it probably will not work. You can’t bargain with God.
But I pray that the day is not far away when I shall not have to watch so many people throwing blessings away, spoiling the outworking of the Divine Pattern because of a more or less take it for granted attitude, a holding back pattern, a refusal to be merciful and to really consider the needs of the waiting ones. Opportunities are coming to us so much faster than we are able to take care of them. Why? Because those who are supposed to be sharing this ministry, this service with me, have not yet learned to be merciful. They have not yet learned to be truly thankful for the blessings extended to them. And that could include someone on Sunrise Ranch. It could include someone here as well as someone out there.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Let us be merciful. Not because we are so concerned about getting mercy but because it is a Divine Attribute and we have the privilege of letting this quality of God find a much larger expression in our lives than we have so far. Until you begin to let this quality of God characterize you in the expression of your life, you cannot begin to know the joy of an ever-increasing service to God and to man, that you may see the victory appearing in others. To see others finding God and obtaining mercy—there is such a joy in the privilege of seeing others obtain mercy. And that is one of my primary concerns tonight. Perhaps you can say it is a bit selfish on my part, if you wish. I would like to have the joy of seeing you obtain a larger measure of mercy. And you need it, whether you know it or not. But if you would obtain it, you must be merciful. And begin to have a larger view of the possibilities of your own service to God and to man. Let us let this quality of God have a larger measure of expression through us in our dedication to the ministry of our LORD and KING. And let us never forget our responsibility to those who hunger and thirst, for those who seek the Bread of Life and the Waters of Truth.
Heavenly Father, I thank Thee for these blessed ones here gathered and for all who are with us in spirit, for all who are turning to Thee, whosoever wheresoever they may be, that as we release human boundaries and human concepts of limitation, we may by our unified patterns of action accomplish that to which we are called, that through the reality of our ministry to the children of men, in Thy Holy Name and by Thy Power we may of a truth be merciful, that Thy Glory may increase in the earth and all who will may come to abide in Thy Kingdom. I thank Thee, Father, that it is so, in the Christ. Aum-en.
