The Covenant That Receives- Humility as the Heart of the Bond
Hod of Yesod Day 40 of 50 · Splendor within Foundation
Ascension, The Covenant That Receives, Humility as the Heart of the Bond
Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to his brother James and then to the apostles.1 He walked with them as far as Bethany. There he lifted up his hands to pray, and blessed them.
And it happened, while he was blessing them, he began to separate from them and was being carried up into heaven.
Two of the Holy Ones stood with them and blessed them.
Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem.2
Mary Magdalene stood before James, the brother of Jesus, and the apostles.
The fortieth saying of the living Christ, as spoken by Mary Magdalene:
Christ has gone to the Father, but the Living Word is still with us. Death could not swallow the Word. The Presence has always been with us. The Glory revealed the risen Christ to me and the women, and I bore the message to you.
We are one in him. He is the vine and we are branches. We love one another as he loves us, and we love our neighbors as ourselves. Let us love God with all our hearts, our minds, and our spirits.
We cannot lose our hearts now. The Living Word is always with us, calling us to the Way. Our feet cannot leave the ground. A vine uprooted from the soil collapses and falls. Our offerings are a blessing for all, not a collection for a few. They are not a treasure hoarded in a jar. Our own spirit, our own sight, and the word given to each of us are our own to offer, but not for the community to swallow up. Do not sit and listen, waiting so long and so quietly that you forget how to speak the Living Word yourself. We are called not only to have ears to hear and eyes to see, but mouths to speak and hands to act.
The Covenant of the Way does not rest on any one person’s shoulders. It is shared among all who walk the Way. We give and we receive. It is a blessing to take care of the community, and a blessing to be taken care of by the community. We care for one another as the Holy One takes care of all. The covenant thrives as we take care of one another.
Receptive faithfulness is our partner in the covenant. With her we learn not to push on, only giving, and guarding the borders of the kin-dom that do not exist. She teaches us to open our hands so we might receive the gifts we did not bring ourselves. The Holy One overflows into the world through us.
Let humility be our heart because it does not forget to give or to receive. Our covenant is not maintained through sacrifice and groveling prayer. We are called by Christ to be the friends of God, and friends do not act this way. Our covenant is lived with open attention. Our eyes are open so we are present to what our relationships are actually doing, rather than what we are expected or commanded to do.
We are the disciples at the feet of our teacher, the Living Word who speaks in the silence after prayer. Our souls yield to the power of the covenant to reshape us through trust, not resistance.
Open your hands and let the covenant give back to you.
Christ restored the willingness to accept grace into the covenant. We learn to receive without grasping or falling down before the light, allowing our relationships to teach us what we could never learn from persistence alone.
Let us heal our souls through these relationships, receiving and learning that humility is not weakness, but the opening through which the deepest gifts arrive. The kin-dom cannot be built by givers alone. Receive what comes to you through others with reverence and a thankful heart, and do not resist the change it brings. This is how the kin-dom restores the world.
To receive well is as holy as to give well.
1 Corinthians 15:7
Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:3-12
The oak knows. The well knows. The land under your feet has always been the first teacher. Creation’s Paths: A Creation Spirituality Primer gives that knowing a companion for the journey.
