Thursday2020: Breaking Bread Together

Read slowly, and allow the words to come alive within you.

Thursday of Holy Week

 From the beginning of Holy Week, we have been tracing the journey of the seven planetary forces that rule the seven days of the week, standing as prototypes for our human experiences. We have passed from the shining Sun forces of Palm Sunday, to the reflective character of the moon, the assertiveness of Mars, and the fulcrum balance-point of Mercury. Mercury, celebrated as the god of healing and as the god of communication, commerce and even thievery in ancient Rome, inspires inner and outer movement. As we learn to understand the lessons of Mercury, we can find the quiet center of all movement in our heart. This marks the first step in the journey towards the awakening of the true I-Am.
     Thursday represents the next step on the journey through the planets, in which the awakened self reaches out beyond its own inner core, learning to embrace the world with love.
     Thursday stands under the rulership of Jupiter, celebrated in ancient times as Jove or Zeus. As a king, he rules with wisdom and generosity. The task of the true king is to have an overview over the well-being of his kingdom, caring for it with love and compassion. He must forego his own self-centeredness, and expand his awareness to embrace the whole kingdom. (And of course it goes without saying that this is not gender-specific!) The new king must become a participant, must become a servant.

CHRIST AS THE BESTOWER OF THE I-AM

    Meditations on the nature of Christ the cosmic creator spirit and Jesus the great initiate human being unveil to us deepest questions of human existence. Among them is this: in offering himself to become a bearer of Christ, Jesus was able to give over his separate human self for the greater good of humanity. And Christ was able to give over his all-sovereign spiritual majesty to become a human being. 
      In do doing, Christ as a “king” became a servant of humanity. Every word he spoke, every deed he did in his years as a human being served to lay the seeds of a future for humanity. Uniting himself with Jesus, He gave to human beings the possibility of taking the next step in evolution, so that we could become bearers of the I-AM consciousness.
     Christ gave to human beings seven powerful meditative pictures of what the I-AM is. Each of these is a mantra that we can meditate upon: each has the possibility of opening new insights to us.

I-AM the Bread of Life
I-AM the Light of the World
I-AM the Door
I-AM the Good Shepherd
I-AM the Resurrection and the Life
I-AM the Way and the Truth and the Life
I-AM the True Vine

CHRIST AND THE LAST SUPPER

  On Thursday of Holy Week, Christ Jesus celebrated the Passover Meal with His disciples.We can find this described in beautiful language in the Gospel of St. John, which describes how He speaks with great love of His connection with humanity. Then, we read, He knelt at the feet of His disciples and washed their feet. When I consider this image, I am moved at the image of the Lord kneeling in service of those whom he came to serve. The archetype of the king no longer stands above his folk: Spirit bows to the world in love.
     Other gospels tell us then of how Jesus picked up the bread and the wine at the table of the supper, and blessed it before sharing it with his disciples. Christ said to those sitting with them “Eat this, drink this, and do it in remembrance of me.” In this, He poured all of His life forces, then, now and into the future, into the world of matter. Christ promises that He will be in matter, working as a seed force, forever. We will walk on him with our feet, touch Him with our hands, see Him through our senses. We need only choose to perceive Him, and we awaken in our selves.
     Through the presence of Christ,  the I-AM has entered into the life of the earth, and is active, everywhere. Spirit does not stand aloof from its Creation. It lives in my mind, my heart, my body, even as it lives in the material substance of the earth. 

THE DARKNESS OF NIGHT

      As He sat with his disciples for the Passover feast, Christ Jesus shared with them his most intimate thoughts. Only hours later, in the darkness of night in the garden of Gethsame, Christ was taken prisoner by soldiers, and delivered into the hands of the those who would eventually crucify Him. The next step in the drama of Holy Week becomes a dark tale of betrayal, cruelty and evil. 
        Christ, obeyng a higher lawfulness, allowed himself to become vulnerable. In the darkness of night, the seed forces he offered to humanity would be laid into the earth. 

OH, THE VOWEL OF JUPITER

     Thursday is the day of Jupiter. We perceive its signature in the gesture of the king: wisdom, life and abundance. In the body, it rules the liver, long honored as the source of good health and vitality. In language, Jupiter speaks the sound “Oh.”
    To move the sound “Oh” in eurythmy, we round our arms in a great, symmetrical circle. This roundness is buoyant and light-filled, overcoming the heaviness of gravity. But most importantly, in making the Oh, our soul needs to step outside of itself. The singular “I” of Mercury evolves to become an experience of community, caring for others as much as it cares for itself. In rounding the arms in Oh, we aspire to embrace the entire world, thereby experiencing that we ourselves are but one point on the circle of community. 
     So Christ, in entering the earth, created a circle of abundance. At the Last Supper, His radiant love embraced the disciples in the archetypal “Oh.” And the circle of His never-ending love continues to expand throughout the entire earth.