Thanksgiving Day Service #1

from

Thanksgiving  Day  Service  #1

Home - Heaven  —  Heaven - Home

Uranda   November 26, 1953

In giving thought this morning to the spirit and purpose of Thanksgiving, we are reminded of something our Master said while He walked among men, something that is of vital significance to us today; for He said: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” In this we recognize that to whatever degree we have found the things of heaven, the things of joy, the things of peace, things Divine, added to our lives, we have evidence that we have first sought and found something of the kingdom of God and His righteousness. But even as we give thanks for all these things, we know in our hearts that we have not yet adequately found the kingdom of God, the control of God, on earth, and His right use of our lives, our capacities on earth, and as a consequence there are many blessings which God would have added unto us had we permitted it to be so.

Therefore, even as we give expression to the Spirit of Thanksgiving, we find it in our hearts to begin a soul-searching, an examination of those factors which have heretofore prevented the larger expression in life; for we know that we have not permitted God to give as He would have given through our lives; we know that we have not allowed enough of His spirit to find expression in body and mind and heart; we know that we have not allowed enough of His power to manifest under the control of His kingdom; we know that we have not allowed life to be, in fulness, that vibrant and glorious thing which God would give to all His children. So, thanking God for that which we have received, let us examine somewhat this morning the reason why we have not received more fully of the great gifts which God would give to His children.

First, inasmuch as the Master said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” we need to give heed to the pattern of our searching, our seeking for the kingdom of God and His righteousness—for it is evident that if there have not been an adequate number of the things of God added unto us on earth in the expression of life, we have not adequately sought and found the kingdom of God and His righteousness. We agree on earth as touching this, that the kingdom of heaven is supposed to be on earth, even as the Master taught men to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Therefore it is not some kingdom for the hereafter to which we give attention in this hour but the kingdom that is supposed to be made manifest in this hour, knowing full well that as we obey our King and serve Him well the times that come hereafter will allow an adequate manifestation of His kingdom. But it is now, here in this place and in our own lives, that we must give thought to the fact that the kingdom of heaven has not yet been adequately found by us. Seeing that we agree that heaven and earth should be one, that the kingdom of heaven should be made manifest on earth, that the control of God should extend into all phases of our lives, we need to ask the question, having accepted this truth and having accepted the truth the Master spoke—Why? What is the reason for this intellectual acceptance of the idea of the coming of the kingdom of heaven on earth and our failure to let it be so in a larger sense than we have yet known? Why? Surely that is a question to which each and every one of us may well give serious thought now.

Looking back along the way by which we have been drawn to this hour, we can see the working of God's hand in our lives. We can count many blessings and recognize that there are more blessings which we cannot count; but we can't find any basis for smug self-righteousness, we can't find any basis for feeling that what has been achieved is enough. We are not concerned about having enough for the future now; all we are concerned about is having enough for the now made manifest now. We trust that a larger expression is to appear in the days to come, but we are not concerned about that coming in this moment. We are concerned about the coming of that which should appear in this moment, in this hour, in this day, in this week, in this month, and in this year—yea, in this life which we now live. So—Why? Why is there not enough in the kingdom of God and His righteousness made manifest in our lives now to take care of this present time?

When we recognize that God has done so many things to draw man nearer unto Him, and when we recognize that this Divine Pattern of action has extended back over a period of thousands of years, when we remember the prophets of old, the blessings of God made manifest at the time of the children of Israel, when we remember such men as Abraham and Joseph and Solomon, when we remember the prophets, when we remember Moses and Caleb and Joshua—on down to the present time their influence has extended—and when we remember that even our Master Himself came into the world nearly two thousand years ago, and that nearly two thousand years have elapsed and yet man has not allowed himself to come sufficiently into attunement with God and His kingdom, His right-useness, His will, to permit in this day an adequate manifestation of the power to meet the troubled conditions in the world, we must recognize that this barrier is not something that is peculiar to ourselves. It is not something that is limited to us personally or as a group, it is not something limited to the people of this day in the world, but it has been a consistent thing down through the period of recorded history.

Since this is true, we need to search and to find what it is that has so consistently stood as a barrier between the intellectual idea of God, the power of God, the kingdom of God, the will of God, and the practical, functional expression in daily life. Why this vast difference? Why the separation? Why the gulf between? Some might answer, “Man's self-activity,” and that would be true. Or, “Man's disregard of God's will,” and that would be true. And yet, consider the untold millions of earnest, sincere men and women who have gone before us and who now live upon the face of the earth in every land, in every race, in every religion, and here we see the spectacle of a world torn with turmoil, filled with misery and suffering and sorrow, even while there are untold millions of earnest, sincere men and women, of every race and color and creed, who seek to the best of their knowledge and understanding to do God's will or to let God's will be done, as the case may be.

So we cannot attribute this state of separation, this gulf between, to wilful disregard of God's will. It isn't a lack of religious patterns in the world; it isn't because there aren't enough churches. It certainly isn't because there aren't religious denominations—we surely have enough of them. And yet here we have the condition. And we read the pages of history and we see how these men and women of the past have sought to serve God, have dedicated themselves, have gone through untold difficulties, troubles and problems, and lo, the condition still remains. We can't say that there are not earnest, sincere men and women today. There are. Wherever we go we find them. I have traveled in many places on this continent and I have never yet been in any place where I could not find earnest, sincere men and women who were seeking to serve God, who were doing the best they knew in selfless service, and in many, many ways, to serve God and man. Why? We come back to the Why. And in consideration of the picture, our minds turn to our Master Himself. He surely did enough on earth; He surely said enough; He surely accomplished His purpose. We can't say that He didn't speak the truth when He said, “Father, I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.” We can't put the blame at His door and say that He should have done something more.

And so, what is it, and why? I wonder how many of you have meditated upon these things and asked yourself the question, Why? Then we stop looking at the pages of history, we stop looking out into the world, and look at ourselves for a moment. Here on Sunrise Ranch is a place set apart to prove the reality of God's Plan, His purpose, His will, His power, a place completely dedicated to one purpose—to prove that God's way can have a larger meaning on earth than has yet been known. We look at ourselves this morning and we cannot say that the expression of the Divine in and through us here has in any sense been adequate. We can recognize with deep thanksgiving that it has been growing, increasing, that we have made progress, and for all the blessings we are grateful and gratitude is in our hearts; but we need to come face to face with the question as it relates to ourselves.

Why is there yet such a separation in those of us here who have acknowledged the fact that the kingdom of heaven should have form on earth? We have accepted the idea, we are not rejecting it intellectually, and yet when it comes to the functional processes of daily living we have not let it be so. Why? I could, if I was so minded and felt it would be wise and proper in the service of our King, I could begin with the front row, or the back, and point to you one by one through the entire group here this morning, and individually indicate some of the reasons why you have not been letting an adequate expression of the kingdom of God and His righteousness find manifestation in your life. But I don't think that that would be the wise course.

As I watch your lives I see these things, whether I mention them or not. I see you here, earnest, sincere men and women, who have been willing to dare so much for the service of God, who yet consistently reject the functional processes of seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness, so that all the things we need in this present time might be added unto us. Not one of you can stand up and say, “I have let all the things that I should have allowed to manifest be added unto my life in expression, in the service of God on earth”—not one. We need to face it and to acknowledge it, and give thanks to God for the vision, the ability to see it, and the strength of character to acknowledge it and do something about it.

We know that we cannot in our human strength correct whatever needs to be corrected. What is this reason why? Even if we found it, even if we could put our finger on it and give the answer, as I believe we can, we cannot in human strength, by the imaginings of our hearts, through the working of our minds, as human beings, solve the problem or correct the situation. There has to be a realization that it is only as we obey the Master's injunction to seek first—not second; first—the kingdom of God and His righteousness, that we can share the experience of having all these things added unto us. Wherein have we as a Unit failed? Wherein has there been a consistent stumbling?

Now if I were to point to you, one by one, and illustrate the particular pattern of your failure in this, while it would be different in every case, it would simply be an individual manifestation of one thing. There is one answer, and it applies to each and every one. The peculiar ways in which the individual as a human being gives form to his own failure is not the vital point. The point is—What is it that applies to all alike? What is it that is given form in so many ways? If we say self-activity, it is true, and yet it does not give the answer. And again we come back to the question, Why? Earnest, sincere, yes. Why? Is there anything more important to us in this hour than finding the answer to that—Why? Let us see if we can't see and know and understand this question and the answer.

In our search for a clear understanding of the question, which must precede an understanding of the answer to the question, our minds turn to the fact that in the popular concept the tendency has been to see the fulfilment with respect to heaven after death or sometime in the future, far away, or after Jesus comes, or something of that nature—when we go to heaven—a hereafter of some kind, either in heaven now or in heaven sometime, someday. We see that whether the concept rests with respect to something that is to come in the future or the concept rests with getting to heaven when one dies, it is the same principle of separation between the acceptance intellectually and functionally of what the Master taught.

Intellectually, yes; but functionally, how? when? under what circumstance? Actually there is no disagreement intellectually. There may be a little variation in idea, but no basic disagreement in all Christian peoples, religions, churches, denominations, with respect to the idea that the kingdom of God is supposed to have meaning, yes, to some degree in our lives now, but to have its fulfilment either when we die and go to heaven or sometime in the future—some variation of these ideas. But to get it down to the present: Seek ye first. “Now I will live on earth, and I will seek to enter the kingdom of God when I die.” Or “I will first live on earth and then I will seek to enter the kingdom of God when Jesus comes, or when there is a resurrection, or when there is something in the far-distant future somehow.” But the Master put it, Seek ye first. Most human beings say, “I will live on earth first and then I will seek to enter the kingdom of God, and I'll go to heaven.” It is separated.

When we think of heaven and earth we naturally begin to consider the One Law, the positive aspect of Being and the negative aspect of Being—and the invisible realm that is called heaven is normally positive and this earth, ourselves, and that which is in this world, normally negative, or responsive to that positive. Now if the mind of man says, “I can't penetrate into this invisible realm. I can't adequately comprehend God and just how that is—not now anyway,” well we shouldn't say we can't understand it; for if this problem appears in a range where we can't see it clearly we can rest assured that it will be projected, by that very fact, into a range where we can see it clearly, because we are living in the world as it is. We don't want to have any fanciful ideas about it; we need to be practical. So if there is a condition here which prevents man from having a full comprehension and an understanding of the relationship of the invisible positive and the visible negative, and that is out of tune, then that very fact in and of itself will guarantee the projection of exactly the same principles into the visible pattern of our daily lives. So we don't have to try to go into some invisible realm to see—we can see right here where we are. We could examine the principle in the vegetable kingdom perhaps, or the animal kingdom, or something of that nature, and see the principle. Yet it is here in the level of human beings where we need to examine it and where we can see it.

Now the normal, natural impulses that function in humanity as a whole suggest that the positive and negative aspects of mankind should live together in peace and harmony; in other words men and women. It is evident from the pattern of function. There are many, many evidences of it. Something appears in the life of practically every individual on the face of the earth for at least a short time. It may be destroyed and it may be lost, thrown away in some fashion, but there is that which comes to play in every individual life which emphasizes the fact that men and women should live together in peace and harmony and love, to express and make manifest a beautiful life.

Young people are drawn together, and they begin to have dreams of the future. They are going to be different from their parents or their friends or their relatives or their neighbors. They are going to get along; they feel this drawing together and they dream rosy dreams and plan plans and build hopes. And then, generation after generation, the history has been that those rosy dreams dim, the plans fail to come into full manifestation, there is discord, even though husband and wife may live together in the same house and have a certain amount of, well, harmony. They may not fight all the time, but how often we find that they have grown apart, that they really don't fit. They have gotten in the habit of each other, and yet they know within themselves that that which could have been has been lost. They didn't experience it; it didn't come to full fulfilment. It started out so nicely, and then where did it go? What happened to it? Why? Generally speaking, they tend to blame each other. “If my wife had only done so-and-so, if my husband had only done so-and-so, then it would have been all right.” But that isn't true.

This is exactly the same Why in a different setting—why heaven and earth are separated, why men and women are separated vibrationally, why they have not come into a pattern of understanding and harmony, why this widely accepted idea of the conflict between the sexes. How is it that there is something in human lives which keeps women from fully understanding men and men from fully understanding women? It's a failure to understand each other. I think we have a pretty good standard of human relationships between husbands and wives here on Sunrise Ranch, and yet it is far from perfect, according to my view anyway. If you think it is perfect, well I suppose we could say ignorance is bliss! So, Why? again. It is the same Why on a different level, on a level where we can see enough of it so that we should be able to understand the question and the answer. And if we can see it here, see the principles at work, we should begin to be able to see how it functions in relationship to this matter of heaven and earth, of God and man.

There are two different patterns of function. The tendency—and it has been quite justified in the world as it has been; I am not finding fault, but we must examine the facts—the tendency for the lady, when she begins to aspire to the establishment of a home, has been to find her man, corral him, get a little house, build a fence around it, and keep something inside that fence and everything else outside. That which the woman wants to build a fence around and establish on a tight little basis is her heaven. Now the man, if he has a wife who inspires him and helps him, he wants to go out and give this little heaven expression in the world. He may want to come home and find a place of peace, a place where he can relax and be understood and not be on the offensive or defensive, where he can just let go, but to him, as much as he may have joy in his home—now I am talking about general principles, and there are individual variations—as much as he may enjoy his home, it relates to his business. It [his professional life, his business] is a sacred place to him too, it is a heaven, but to him this home-heaven, heaven-home—that is what it is supposed to be; that was God's intent; that was the original idea with respect to home, that it should be a place of heaven, a place where heaven should manifest—to whatever degree there is something beautiful for him, he seeks to let the inspiration which he knows in his heaven-home find practical expression in his professional life, or whatever he does out here.

Let's take an honest look at things. If the woman becomes what is called successful in the professional world, she is doing one of two things. She is either, as a career woman, married to her work and not to her man, so that she has carried the sanctity of her individual pattern over into this and it becomes the same thing there in its manifestation—she is married to her task, her expression in the professional world—or if she undertakes to function both in the business world and on the basis of a home as such, she does not know, generally speaking, how to carry the current of the home pattern into a normal, natural, blended, positive projection into the business world. She cannot, ordinarily, balance the two.

I do not say that in any condemnation, any judgment, but as a simple fact. And under the circumstances as they have been in the world the woman has been justified in trying to keep them separate, because generally speaking the world pattern would have degraded what she was trying to produce.

Sometimes the man didn't have adequate comprehension of what she was trying to produce, and it wasn't to him the sacred thing that it was to her. Other times the man was able to appreciate that and maintain it and carry the current out so that he was, as far as he was concerned, functioning in one thing, and everything he did out here in the business world—giving form, giving meaning from his standpoint to the heaven of home—was for the purpose of glorifying the heaven of home. 

Now it is in these two patterns of vision, feeling and attitude that we have the basic causes of the so-called conflict between the sexes. We don't have time this morning to analyze it down into all of its aspects; we can perhaps in future meditations, if it is your pleasure. But here it is.

In the world, the earth as it has been would have violated all the beauties of heaven if we could have somehow put them together, and the heaven up here, the invisible realm, would have turned into a hell if we had just simply taken the earth as is into it. The way the earth was we could not bring heaven into the earth, so we had the gulf between and no true coordination, no true manifestation of the kingdom, no true revelation of the power.

How many times have you seen married couples where they started out on a basis of really being in love but where the inspiration of the home-heaven proved inadequate or something, or the man didn't prove to be capable of carrying the pattern out successfully one way or another, and the husband and wife began to feel individually that they were robbing each other of something? And it starts. They either separate or they learn how to get along with each other in a certain amount of friction, tolerating each other for convenience sake, for the children's sake—for some sake tolerating each other, but no true blending, no true harmony, no true oneness of heaven and earth in relationship to the pattern of everyday living out here. Now we see this opening up into all channels of human relationships and it becomes a tremendously big subject, but here is the center of it, here is the reason Why.

This has not as yet presented the answer. That is something I hope to consider with you tonight. But we first had to begin at least to see something of the basic nature of the question and to see it in relationship to ourselves. We can examine it over there, on a basis segregated from ourselves, from now to doomsday and get nowhere. We may develop theories and ideas and concepts, but they will mean nothing. It must be brought down to a point where the pattern of personal relatedness begins to be clear, so that we can see it in relationship to our own lives. Once that begins to be the case, we can begin to see the true nature of the question. Why this failure to have coordination between the male and the female, the man and the woman? When we understand that, we will understand the why of the separation between heaven and earth. And unless we are willing individually to allow the changes to take place in ourselves which remove that which we individually may have contributed to that discord, we will never know the reality of the oneness of heaven and earth.

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then these things shall be added unto you. You cannot maintain an individual contribution to the conflict patterns of the world and at the same time experience the fulfilment which may be known by entering the kingdom of God. And tonight, in our hour's meditation, I hope to carry this further so that you can begin to see it more clearly and more effectively in relationship to yourselves—some more of the reason Why and, I trust, a beginning at least of an understanding of the answer to the problem.

© emissaries of divine light

Is It Possible On Earth At The Time?

Is  It  Possible  On  Earth  At  This  Time?

from  Sunrise Service Number Thirty-Three

Uranda  December 23, 1949

Suppose, on good authority—remember I said suppose—you were informed that the fulfillment of that toward which we look would take a great deal more time than we had anticipated, and suppose you were informed, on good authority, that it would be some future generation that would experience the fulfillment toward which we look. What change would it make in your attitude? Would it make any difference? Would you say, “Well, then, what is the use? What are we doing here? Let us go somewhere else”? Or would you say, “Whether it be in this generation or in some other in days to come, there is no cause more worthwhile, no purpose more appealing”? Would your devotion to God and to the cause for which we are gathered be just as deep or deeper than it has been? What would be your attitude? I will let you answer that in your own hearts, for the moment at least.

Since the beginning of recorded history, with indications extending back beyond the memory of man, there has been, in one way or another, though sometimes perhaps hidden or limited to a few, a recognition that the Truth is the way to freedom. It has been portrayed as being veiled, and if any should reach the point where the Truth could be unveiled, then the Truth would receive such an one into Oneness, and such an one would partake of the nature of Truth, which is eternal. When the Master expressed the words, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” He was not expressing an idea that was new in the world. He was repeating a truth that had been known among men a long, long time. 

We are here to prove something. In the world the greatest governing, controlling force in the development of what we are pleased to call society has been fear. Fear of want has driven to hard labor. Fear of being looked down upon by others has driven to the building of those evidences of success which the world accepts. The violent forms of evil doing are held in check more or less by the fear of penitentiary or some form of death. Much of the obedience to rule and regulation is because of fear of consequences if one does otherwise. The religions that have the greatest influence in the world in this present day use the whip of fear. Governments are established and maintained in various ways through the impetus established by fear. Dictators rule and maintain themselves by maintaining terror. All of these things are in the world.

People work with a certain degree of diligence in their jobs, arriving on time, and working a certain number of hours, for fear they will lose their jobs. Organizations are built and maintained primarily on the basis of fear. There are those things that would appear to be evidence that fear is a much better means of governing than is love. A much more efficient organization can be built in the world through the whip of fear than we have yet achieved on the basis that we seek to utilize. We are here to prove whether it is possible to govern human beings in this world through love, or must the whip of fear continue to be used for the welfare of human beings?

What is it that governs truly? Is it possible to actually govern human beings through love and have an efficient, effective organization or society, whatever you want to call it? Human beings seem to think that as soon as the whip of fear is laid away they can just about do as they please. Oh, lift the whip of fear and you see a tendency to snap back to attention and begin to settle down to business, but as soon as the Voice of Love says, “I have put away the whip,” we see lagging and all kinds of human foolishness begin to appear. We are here to prove whether the theories we profess to believe are workable and practical in the world.

I cannot find it in my heart to condemn the multitudes of those who are quite firmly convinced that a rule of love in the world is impossible. They say it is alright to have charity and try to do the right thing by one another, but in the final analysis, unless you can hire and fire, unless you can put people in jail or hang them, unless you have guns around, it is impossible to keep human beings acting half-way decent or in any sense organized as a society. You can go back any number of years and you find governments built on the rule of fear, maintaining power by terror, accomplishing things through slavery.

There was a certain King Who came into the world to establish another kind of Kingdom, another kind of Government, and He never even got a government started—and there are those who have supposedly followed Him in various ways for nearly two thousand years and His Government still is not even started. We may say the Romans only lasted a short time in their great world government, or that some other dictators rose to power but they passed away.

But there was a King, the KING of LOVE, Who came into the world and the people crucified Him to start with, and His Government just simply never even got started. It has never appeared. It is at hand, just as He said it was, but the Government never even got started, so far. The dictators did better than that. They at least had a few years. We are not interested just in a few years; we are interested in eternity. But what about it?

In the 19th chapter of I Kings, we find these words: “And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: “And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.”

The Fire, the expression of God's Love, may be seen and recognized and felt to some degree by devoted people, but it is not in that that they find the Lord, in the sense that the Lord longs to be discovered by His Children. The Father knows His Children, but the problem is how to get the Children to know the Father. Is not that the problem? How to get the Children to know the Father?

“The still small voice” here is the Voice of Truth. Even though there is love, that alone is not enough. As the Master said, “God seeks those who will worship Him in Spirit—yea in Spirit—and in Truth.” This matter of seeing, recognizing and accepting Truth, that the Truth may be unveiled to the vision of human beings, is sometimes the greatest problem of all. Man's fall was brought about by his acceptance of that which was contrary to Truth. His function accordingly caused Truth to become blurred, so that he could not see it clearly. His vision became distorted and since that day Truth has indeed been veiled from the eyes of man.

Truth, if it be in a realm of human limitation somewhat separated from love, can compel many things. Truth can force and establish a type of control, but that is a distorted, limited situation which does not allow the full beauty and perfection of Truth to appear, because there are three things which need to blend if we are to be that which God wills us to be—Love and Truth and Life. Any lack of alignment, any imbalance in relationship or proportion, and the fullness of being becomes impossible. The Power of Love makes adoption, or Rebirth, possible, but until Truth is allowed to operate that Rebirth does not become a reality.

We commemorate the Master's birth on earth but it has real value to us only as we thereby become the Children of our Heavenly Father, reborn into the Kingdom so that the Truth makes us free—Free Citizens of the Kingdom. We have often heard, or recognized the claim, that we are free citizens of the United States of America, and that is a blessed, holy privilege in this world—we rejoice in that. But what about being free Citizens of the Kingdom of the LORD of Love?

Is it possible on earth at this time, with people in this generation, or must the fulfillment await some future time when there are more convenient circumstances, supposedly? Is it necessary that we wait for a greater King? Is it necessary that we wait for a greater Prophet or Teacher? Is it necessary that we wait for other people in another generation? Why should we wait? What more is required before you will receive the Blessings offered to His Children by my Heavenly Father, our LORD and KING?

These are the things about which I wished to commune with you this day, that I might be certain that I have done all things possible to the end that you may receive fully and truly the Gifts of our Father in Heaven, our LORD Jesus Christ, and having so said, I rest my case. You are the ones who must return the verdict. You are the ones who must determine whether it is enough or whether hopes must be pinned on some future generation.

In the Name of my LORD and KING I say: Peace be unto you, that as you go your several ways you may find and know the Way, the Truth and the Life. Aum-en.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

from

The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth

Uranda   November 22, 1953

My mind turns to the words that are contained in the first two verses of the 21st chapter of Revelation: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” The earth as such is not going to pass away, but the earth as man has made it to be, the old earth, carrying the scars, the pattern of suffering and misery, of chaos and turmoil, must pass away. But first we note that the new heaven is necessary and that the first heaven has passed away, in relationship to the fulfilment of these words. This heaven, individually speaking, is that which must be changed in us before we can be changed, and before we can do our part toward changing the earth into the new-earth state. I think that most people, reading or hearing these words, fail to recognize the vital significance they contain for us in these days: “And I saw a new heaven.”

When I looked at you for the first time, or when we gathered together as a group for the first time, I saw for you a new heaven. I was not so much concerned about changing the earth of your bodies, changing the circumstances of your earth, your affairs, as I was concerned about changing your heaven, that your former heaven might pass away and that you might have a new heaven. And this must work out individually for each and every one of us before it can manifest collectively and have meaning in the world.

In the whole world there is a movement away from the old toward the new. But there is another movement in the world—not just away from the old to the new, by those who know not where to turn, seeking they know not what—but a movement at work in the old, that it may pass away. Millions of people feel, without understanding, the decay and the uncertainty in the old world pattern, and there is movement away from it. But there is also a movement to try to maintain that which is dying, that which is passing away.

We know that this old world, the old heaven and the old world, must pass away. But concurrently with that passing away there must be the emergence of the new heaven and the new earth—the new world. In the world pattern this that seeks to maintain the old order has become desperate. It manifests in various ways. And one of the outstanding ways in which it has been made manifest is in man's desperate effort to try to find some way—without God, disregarding God and even denying God—by which he may perpetuate his pattern of existence on earth.

Water is the symbol of truth. Here we read, "And there was no more sea," which is to say, there was no more contamination of the water of truth which would cause man to die. The heat of the sun, the fire of the sun—symbolizing God's love, an essential thing—without the compensating factors of the pure water of truth will bring destruction. The pollution of the waters. “And there was no more sea”—that the water might no longer be so contaminated that it would not bring about a balance in the pattern of the working of love and truth on earth in the expression of life.

We see individuals banding together in desperation and fear today, working together, when in actual fact there is hate, there is animosity, there is a lack of trust. And we listen to the voices in the world and we hear the voices of the Tower of Babel, and they are scattered. And there is dread, there is terror, there is darkness in the world. These things we recognize and acknowledge. But what do we do about it, and what can we do about it? The peoples of the earth are scattered. The old heaven and the old earth must pass away—the old earth pattern, the old heaven pattern of your own being. If you refuse to let your old heaven and your old earth pass away, how can you expect the world to let it be so? If you refuse to receive your new heaven and your new earth, how can you expect the world to do so?

This new heaven—“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” “Behold, I create all things new”—it begins with the heaven and comes into the earth. “And I John saw the holy city coming down from God out of heaven.” The holy city. A city is an abiding place, a place of living. And where does it come from? Down from God out of heaven. And when it has come on earth, does it cease to be heaven? Does it cease to be a revelation of heaven, a place of heaven? If it did it would cease to be the holy city, the holy abiding place. And an abiding place is the place where we live. The centering of our thoughts, the centering of our feelings, our hearts, is really in the place where we live—Home.

In the world pattern human beings are turning aside from the idea that the old earth can provide a home. We see that the coming of the holy city, down from heaven, down from God out of heaven, brings heaven into the earth, and there is a new heaven and a new earth, “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” If this truth can penetrate heart and mind with sufficient force so that we never forget it, so that we do not turn aside from our purpose here, we can begin to see what we can do to share in something that gives hope, valid hope, meaningful hope, trustworthy hope, to the children of men.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” You cannot have the new earth until you have the new heaven. And I have seen for you a new heaven, a vision if you please—not just a dream of the night but a vision of the day, something to be fulfilled, attained, accomplished, a goal that is worthy of our best endeavor. A new heaven. And out of this new heaven comes a holy city from God's own hands into the earth, a holy city to provide for us an abiding place, a living place, a Home on Earth. Is there anything that can stir the heart more deeply, more surely, than this?—the fulfilment of God's plan for man, by which man may no more be a creature of the darkness of the world. And how shall this heaven appear? How shall we see it? Can you? Do you share the vision of a new heaven? It is more important immediately than attempting to figure out what the new earth would be like. There needs to be a place of heaven. And this little valley here affords us an opportunity to let that new heaven be a reality on earth, that we may begin to receive the holy city from the hands of God, right here where we are. If we acknowledge the new heaven, we will acknowledge the God of that heaven, and we will begin to worship the God of that heaven, and in our serving we will begin to do those things which will let the Temples of the Living God take form on earth—the Temples of the Living God.

Blessed ones, anything that comes from God's hands, out of the invisible realm into the realm of form as we know it, is supposed to be something which we are to receive to be used in the building of the holy city. Must we imagine that the holy city comes down from God out of heaven completely built, completely made, all of its parts in place—something to settle on the face of the earth out of the sky and be ready-made, ready for you to start walking down the golden streets? I think not.

That which is to come down from God out of heaven, the holy city, is to come down and take form in its parts. It is to take form here on earth. And certain parts of that holy city are to come down from God out of heaven into the earth through you, each one of you, and all of us together. We cannot hope, just the few of us that are here, or even the few who are working consciously with us on the face of the earth today—we cannot hope to bring all the parts of the holy city together and assemble them on earth, but we can do our part. We can begin the work. We will need the help of many, many more. But we are supposed to be here for that very purpose, that the holy city may begin to truly come down from God out of heaven into view. And that holy city is so large and contains so many buildings, so many temples and palaces, so many beautiful and wonderful things, that before it is complete every responding person on earth, every man, woman and child who will share in the works, will have been the instrument by which some part of it has come down from God out of heaven into the earth, so that it could be given form.

We have noted in times past that your physical body in itself has no choice but to receive, to accept, that which is imposed upon it. You can see how that is true with respect to your physical body, for the state of your spirit and mind and heart, whatever your spirit may be, is made manifest in the body, because the body conforms in the physical substance to that which is imposed upon it out of the vibrational realms of mind and heart. Now if this is true with you, and with all others, it is likewise true of the earth as a whole. The physical substance of this earth has no choice but to receive that which is imposed upon it. And what is it that is being imposed out in the world? We have no need to describe it. You know well enough. The earth has no choice but to accept and receive that which is imposed upon it, for the substance of the earth conforms to that which is imposed upon it. It conforms.

Now this holy city, the new Jerusalem—the new spiritual consciousness—yes, the substance and the form of it—comes down out of heaven from the hand of God through you. We must begin to let ourselves be changed before we can be worthy workmen in the building of the holy city. We must let the things of God be imposed upon our bodies. And how shall the things of God reach our bodies? Through our minds and through our hearts. And if we do not let that which is of God reach our bodies through mind and heart, how can we hope to let the things of God reach the substance of the earth, that the holy city may take form?

I would that somehow I might find words, in the current of the spirit, to impress deeply upon your hearts and minds tonight the fundamental fact that until this becomes the most important thing in life to us we are going to be devoting our time and attention, our abilities and capacities, to the building of that which is not of the holy city. Ugly things will take form, destructive things, and there is enough of that in the world. We must be delivered from the old heaven to the new while we live here on earth, and then we must stay true to the new heaven long enough for the new earth to appear, for the creative pattern to be worked out. Human impatience spoils so much. The new heaven begins to take form for the individual, he begins to be aware of its coming from the hand of God, and then, because it does not instantaneously appear in full form on earth, he rebels and becomes impatient and dissipates the new heaven and re-establishes the old, spoiling the new.

The new heaven must take form in your life as a specific creation in which you share with God the responsibility of creation. But until the new heaven is there in actual fact, and you have shared with God the responsibility of His creation, you cannot possibly begin to share with God the creating of your new earth. It cannot be done. Man has tried every sort of method to try to get around this necessity. He has tried to take a shortcut of some kind. He was going to ignore his responsibility in creating the new heaven, and by his own effort, if God would not work with him, he was going to create a new earth according to his own fancy. And it has failed, over and over again. Human beings are in such a hurry. They are so impatient. If it does not appear overnight they violate centering, turn their capacities to the uses of ill vibrational factors, and bring forth hell once more.

Blessed ones, why should we forget so easily, so readily, our task?

How is it that human beings become impatient so quickly? Instead of being true to the new heaven when it begins to appear, attention is turned to something one does not like in the old earth, before it has disappeared, and lo and behold, the new heaven becomes an old heaven. But what did we find in our previous meditations? The old dragon, the serpent, the devil, was cast out of heaven. The self-active expression of man cannot get into heaven, and the moment the consciousness of man or woman becomes self-active, even though it has been received into heaven, in that moment it is cast out of heaven and it is in hell. It is an instantaneous thing, for the self-active mind and heart cannot remain in heaven. The heaven simply dissipates, and it must be built or created anew.

When we begin to feel and know that heaven, when we touch it in some hour of our togetherness, why should we so quickly forget it and start reacting to the old things in the old world that have not yet passed away? If that new heaven really means something to us we are not going to forget it; we are not going to forget the God of that heaven. We are going to so function that we can be workers to receive from the hand of God out of heaven the material by which the holy city may be given form right here on earth. But the substance out of which that holy city must be formed is already right here on earth. The physical substance of that holy city is not going to come drifting down out of the sky. It is right here now. This substance of the earth must be caused to conform to that new heaven. Blessed ones, the substance of the earth has no choice but to conform to that which is imposed upon it. It will not resist forming to the patterns of heaven. It may resist forming to the patterns of hell, but it has no choice if you insist.

If we let the old heaven pass away, the old concepts of heaven, the old limitations, so that we begin to see and know a new heaven, we begin to be in position to share with God the work of creating on earth the manifestation of the holy city. And you have a part to play. It is for you to share that creative work with God. And before this holy city can be complete, all those who dwell on earth who respond and yield, now and in the days to come, must play their parts. We cannot build it alone. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” So the Lord must build it, and we must build it; we must share the building with God. And if we do, there will be something coming from the creative hand of God out of heaven to us, and we will give it form. And we will be true to the heaven, regardless of what is yet manifest on earth, regardless of the things on earth that must still pass away, regardless of the things that we may say we do not like on earth. But if we react on earth to the things we do not like on earth we become subject on earth to the things we do not like, and in that moment we are no longer subject to God, no longer sharing with God the work of building, creating the holy city, letting it come down from God out of heaven into the earth.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Now how is this city prepared? As a bride adorned for her husband. God is the husband, the Father, our King, however we might say it. You did not create your own body, but you have adorned your body with whatever adornments it has, its clothing.

In the beginning man was instructed to dress the garden planted eastward in Eden—to dress it, give it form, and to keep it. He was to give it form, give it its pattern of appearance. The holy city is “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”—the bride's clothing, the pattern of her appearance. The appearance of her body was by reason of her clothing. So it is with the holy city that comes down from God out of heaven. That holy city is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. God provides the form of the bride, but the substance of the appearance, the dressing, the form, must be provided here; for the holy city will remain invisible until we give it the clothing of its appearance.

“I saw the holy city coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” That means that the outer manifestation of its form must appear by reason of what we do on earth, and that appearance must precede the wedding. It does not come afterwards. It comes first, before the union of heaven and earth, before heaven and earth become one in actual fact, in relationship to the patterns of being. We are responsible for giving the dressing, the outer appearance of the form, to that which God provides—exactly the same as a bride adorned for her husband. Blessed ones, once we begin to see that, and know it and remember it, we will not do those things which keep the bride, the holy city, hidden from view in her secret chambers. We will do those things that provide the clothing, the adornment, the outer means of manifestation and appearance, so that the bride may come forth from her secret chambers; the bride, the holy city, may come forth from this invisible place and be given form, that it may appear to the children of men, that it may be seen—not in its nakedness, but in its adornment—the holy city, new Jerusalem, the manifestation of heaven on earth. And it takes our sharing with God in creative work.

But when we begin to touch the spirit of heaven, the coming of the wedding, so to speak, the beginning cycles of the union of heaven and earth, we must not violate those sacred things by reacting to what we do not like that remains as yet on earth; because this which is on earth cannot be given a different form and appearance until something is received out of heaven from the hand of God to change that appearance, to change that form, in the building of the temple of the living God, the holy city.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Here we see the portrayal of exactly the same principles that we have seen at work, as recorded in the Book of Genesis, in relationship to the creation of the earth in the beginning. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” The light of understanding, the light of illumination, so that we may now, in this day and time, do our part in the recreative work by which the holy city may be given form on earth.

So let us not forget our calling. Let us not use our capacities for building chaos or increasing difficulty, or rebellion or fighting against God in any way, shape or form; but let us be true to our calling, in the name of our King, that we may now, and in the days to come, do our part toward dressing and keeping the holy city. For as it comes down from God out of heaven, as it comes from the garden that God planted eastward in Eden—both the same thing—we must dress it and keep it; we must give it form and adornment, that it may appear and have meaning on earth. And the holy city will remain in its secret chambers, in the invisible realm, until we provide the clothing of its appearance, the adornment of its manifestation—it will not come forth otherwise. And each has a part to play in giving form to something of that holy city. We cannot do it all, but we can do our part, that others may share, until the task is done. And when the holy city is prepared, adorned, made manifest, then we can receive our Lord and King into that holy city, and the marriage, the union of heaven and earth, shall be reestablished in the absolute sense, according to the divine design. Then we shall have accomplished that to which we are called in the holy name of our King.

© Emissaries of Divine Light