Illumination • Sermon by Rev. Carol Kelly
“From time to time
We feel it
Like flames
Streaming through our
Body
As if we were woven
With the first light
Of the stars.”Nelly Sachs
The Holy Spirit comes to us as individuals but we have to create a new world together. The Holy Spirit comes in the flash, igniting for a moment something which has been with us all along.
The Disciples spoke out of it, and were able to become active in its service. It released their tongues and ignited their wills.
What happens when a “Universal Language” breaks into our everyday consciousness? What happens when art or music enter our lives? The cultural event called a “flash mob” is an example of an invitation to a shift in consciousness, in the middle of otherwise “normal” activities such as shopping or waiting for a train. People are lifted out of the everyday world into what is invisibly there all along. They pause, smile and rejoice in this affirmation of their true humanity. Some people are also annoyed that anyone would interrupt their daily tasks.
When a flash of inspiration comes, then there is a decision to be made out of our will: How shall we keep this flame alive? How can we bring it into earthly reality, like true works of art or like the unfolding of love itself? Do we allow the Holy Spirit to fill our souls with blessing Spirit? Can we raise ourselves above ourselves? How often are the flames quenched before they ever take hold?
We can be re-ignited from above. We can learn to reignite one another in love. Perhaps we can remind one another, without reprimand, what we have come here on earth to do. This requires that we do not remain static; that we take in knowledge as a living, breathing process, always ready for the challenge, rather than as “storage for information.”
The world is woven out of wisdom. Everything in nature is a revelation. Now we can develop human wisdom, which is qualitatively different. Human wisdom comes from experience, from thoughtfulness, from being attentive.
In the world, we have much hardship because we have forgotten that our lives are paths of initiation and we think that we have lost or do not connect with or cannot believe in Christ’s Being. But what could give you greater relief, joy, and peace right now than an illumination of the Truth? There is in fact, no problem that we suffer on earth that could not be solved through Human Wisdom. The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Spirit Courage sends illumination to us directly. We are allowed moments, however fleeting, to grasp the Universal Truth which sustains itself and unites us all. We are vessels for the Spirit in love, devotion, and in praise to God.