September
22, 1999
To my loved
son, Gerald,
You have prayed to me, God says. You have asked me for words for my
people who gather at St. Michael on the evening of October 3. I
will give you my words. I will give you these words to speak to
my people. Tell them this:
I am, God
says, their creator. I was before there was time. But for all
eternity I knew them and I loved them. I loved them because
I am love, God says. But these people have been such stubborn
and strange creatures of mine. They are not at all like anything
else that I have made. I made the sun and the stars. I made
the moon and the planets. I made the earth, and I made all
of them out of cosmic dust. And as grand as they all are, they
obey the laws by which I created them.
But those
human beings, how strange they are, God says, how strange are
those creatures called human beings. But I know them, God says,
for I have made them, and I know why they are so strange. I
made them so that they did not have to exist according to any
cosmic laws. I made them, God says, in my own image, and they
are not bound to love, they are not forced to love as I have
loved them. But, God says, that is what I want them to do because
of their own will and because of their own love.
They are
capable of great things, God says. I proved that when my own
Son became one of them and lived completely as one of them.
He showed them, God says, my son Jesus showed them that they
are capable of a great love that truly reflects the love that
I have for them. He showed them that they are capable of growing
in love and becoming what I so much want them to become.. a
true reflection of my love for them.
I know, God
says, that this is the only way that they shall come to know
their own greatness. This is the only way that they shall come
to know who they really can be. I know, God says, that this
is the only way that they can really come to know me who loves
them so very much!
For so many
of their early years I watched them struggle with such an imperfect
understanding of my love for them. I , who have created the
universe and all of its millions of stars and all of the wonders
of the universe, and all of the wonders of this planet, I,
God, watched them as they wanted more than my love for them.
They did not understand that my love was everything. They turned
from me, God says. They turned from me and they lost the knowledge
that would bring them true greatness. I watched them struggle
for centuries. I sent them prophets, I sent them my messengers.
I sent them great blessings and I sent them great hardships.
So much of this was in vain, God says. Even when they turned
back to me and came to know my love for them, soon they strayed
again.
Then there
were a few that I chose to be my special people. I chose some
of them to cherish my name and to know my special kindness
so that they could come again to know the fullness of my love
in the person of my own Son who would come to them and from
them in due time.
They were
my chosen people. But they thought I was theirs, instead of
knowing that they were mine. How foolish these creatures of
mine are, God says. They seem to think that if I love them,
I can love no other. They know true love, but they think it
is limited and unsure as their own love is limited and unsure.
That is why I sent them my Son. I wanted them to know that
my love was for all of them and I wanted to call them to imitate
this love. I wanted to show them again what I had called them
to. I, God says, wanted to call them again to the greatness
that I placed in each of them and in all of them together.
They listened to my son. Some of them listened to my Son, but
they struggled with his message and with his example.
Eventually
they came to call themselves Christians, these people who had
heard my Son. I was so pleased, God says. I was so pleased
that they had heard my son and with the help of our Spirit,
that these creatures in whom I took so much pride, that these
creatures began to follow the example of my Son and to love
one another.
But they
are a strong willed people, God says. I know they are a strong-willed
people, for I made them that way, God says. How could they
be capable of the greatness of my love if they were a weak-willed
people? God says. Of course they are a strong-willed people.
I made them that way. But they persist in using that strong
will to make decisions that move them away from the love I
have. They persist in using that strong will to move away from
the example of my son and away from the influence of the Spirit
I have sent to be with them.
My message
did spread though, God says. My message of love and the greatness
I had called them to in that love, that message did spread.
But so soon that strong will of theirs led them to limit the
love I had given them. So soon they began to push out those
who did not think and act exactly like them. So soon they began
to reject and expel rather than to welcome and hold to their
hearts those who were different. So soon they began to think
that my love was as limited as their hearts. They began to
think that there was only one way to pray to me their God.
They began to think that their laws and their decrees could
limit the love my Spirit was pouring into the land and into
the hearts of all of my people. They began to act as if my
Son had not come to them. They began to act again, as if they
were an exclusive people just as they had thought before my
son came to them. When my Son came, my beloved son came to
them, and told them that my love was greater than their imaginations
and greater than their places of worship and greater than the
nation to which they belonged, they took my Son and they killed
him. They did not want to hear this message. They wanted me
to be a petty God who could love only them alone and who would
side with them against all the others.
But I am
not a petty God, God says. I am love and I have great love
that cannot be held by one person or by one people. My love
is for all and calls all. But they persist in treating each
other as if I belonged exclusively to each group alone. How
foolish... how contrary to the message my Son brought them
nearly two thousand years ago.
Now that
I mention it, God says, it was two thousand years ago that
my Son came to bring them the good news that I loved all of
them as the Father that I am. My son came to tell them,...
no , I take that back... my son came to show them that they
did not have to earn my love, that they could not earn my love,
but that I poured it out for all of them as freely as the blood
and water poured from the side of my son.
Some of my
creatures say that since I am God that I cannot feel pain and
sadness and disappointment, that my eternal being is unchanging
and incapable of such experiences. I let them think that in
their foolishness, it is of no great concern to me what they
think. But, God says, I am really a father, and I am the first
father and the most complete father, and a father can feel
great pain and sorrow at the pain and sorrow of his son. When
my son died for their sins and for their stupid ness and for
their narrowness and for their refusal to see and accept my
love that I sent in the person of my only son, when my son
died such a horrible death for them, the father that I am knew
great pain and great sorrow. They did not seem to understand
that I bore this sorrow and my son bore this sorrow because
it was necessary for them to really come to see the vastness,
the immensity of my love for them.
And now,
and now, God says, they seem to think that I am again a petty
and exclusive God. They seem to think that I am their private
possession and that they can claim my love just for themselves.
I want to
tell them that my love is greater than their rules and their
forms of worship. My love is greater than their denominations
and greater than their sacraments. Let me tell you about the
sacraments, God says. They argue about how many sacraments
there are!! Can you imagine this. .they argue about how many
ways I can come to them in my love. They cannot count the number
of ways in which I come to them in my love. Instead of trying
to count the ways and instead of trying to limit the ways I
come to them in my love, they should just break out in a joyful
dance that my love knows no such boundaries and that my spirit
finds so many ways to come to them. Oh yes, God says, let them
celebrate the Sacraments. They should be celebrated. It is
most proper, God says, that they should be celebrated, because
they are paths of my love for them and paths by which they
can come to know me. But let them not think that these are
the only ways in which they can come to know me.
And the sacred
scriptures which they hold up, and the sacred scriptures which
they sometimes hold up as a weapon against others. Let us consider
these scriptures for a moment or two. You have a moment or
two, do you not? Yes you do, after all, I have given those
moments to you, so bear with me for a few moments, God says.
Those scripture are my word to my people. Those scriptures
are the written version of my words to them. My Son was my
total word to them, and sometimes the way they look at my scriptures,
sometimes the way they interpret those scriptures, you would
think that they would rather argue about my words than to be
open to them and to let them be a channel for my spirit to
enter into their minds and hearts. They forget that those scriptures
are not the only way that I choose to speak to my people. They
forget that my spirit speaks to each of them and enters their
hearts while they sleep and while they dream, and while they
are awake. I encourage them to read my word in those books
that they call the bible. I encourage it. It is a great thing
for them to read and to study my word in the bible. I recommend
it most highly.
But while
they read and study my scriptures, God says, I do not want
them to close their hearts to what my spirit calls them to
in the silent whispers of my love in their hearts. I want my
word in those scriptures to open their minds and their hearts
so that can see me and hear me and know my call to them each
and every moment of their lives. I want them to read my scriptures
and to find there the seeds of my love. Then I will plant those
seeds in their minds and in their hearts. That is why I gave
them these scriptures and this book they call the bible. I
did not, I repeat, God says, I did not give it to them to be
a source of division.
I know these
creatures so well, God says. Have you forgotten? Have you forgotten
that I made them and that I know them so well? Oh yes, I made
them, and I know them, God says. I know how they love to create
rules that give them the false assurance of control. They love
to make rules and prescribe what my people must believe about
me and about my love for them. I do not mind that they make
rules. They seem to find some comfort in making rules to regulate
their lives and the communities they form. I do not mind that
they make rules, God says, but I do mind very much if they
make rules that drive people away from my love. I mind very
much if they make rules that give the impression that my great
love is restricted by their rules. I remind them, that those
rules are their rules, and govern them only if they choose
to have them govern them. But their rules can never control
the love I have for all of my people. Their rules can never
deny the purpose for which my son came among them. Their rules
can never deny that my son died for all of them, and that his
death has freed all of them from sin and from death, and that
the blood and the water that flowed from his pierced side baptized
all of them as my sons and daughters. It is the blood and the
water and the love that flowed from my son which has earned
for all of them, God says, which has earned for all of you,
the fullness of my love and the full forgiveness of all your
petty sins and all your great sins alike. Do not make your
institutions and your rules an obstacle for any of my people
to know and understand the greatness to which my love calls
each of the m.. Make your institutions and make your rules,
if you must have them at all, make them instruments by which
people are led to the greatness of my love for them. And let
them remember that my Son came to set them an example. Let
them remember that my Son created no institutions and that
my son only commanded them to love one another as he had loved
them.
You are my
people, God says. You are my creatures God says, and I know
you well. I know each of you sitting here in the church of
St. Michael. I know each of your small and each of your great
secrets, the secrets that you harbour in the silence of your
hearts. I know you very well, I am your God and you are my
people, so I know you well. I want to tell you again, my precious
people, that if any one of you was the only one creature in
all time that did not know how much I love you, If any one
of you was the only creature ever to need my help to be forgiven
and to know your greatness, that I would have sent my son just
for you. I want you to know that deep within your hearts my
people here at St. Michael. I want for you to know this love
I have for you. I am calling to you in this love I have for
you. I am calling to you tonight to know in the utter depths
of your heart that I love you and that I have this same almighty
love for each and every one of your brothers and sisters. I
call all of you to know me, and I call all of you to know each
other as my sons and daughters and to know each other as brothers
and sisters of my love.
If you have
heard my words to you this evening, God says, if you have heard
my words to you this evening in your minds and in your hearts,
then you understand the unity to which I have called all of
my sons and daughters. And if you have heard my words, you
will be called forth today and every day of your lives, to
create the unity in love that I wish for all of my people.
If you have heard my word, you will never again be able to
look on a brother or sister and see a stranger. You will always
see the face of my Son where before you saw a stranger. If
you have heard my words this evening, you will be ready to
follow the urging of my spirit working within your hearts and
within your community that coaxes, that pushes, that commands
you to reach out in respect, in reverence and in love to all
the brothers and sisters from whom you have been estranged
for so many years and so many centuries. If you have heard
my words this evening, God says, I will bless you and I will
be with you in this third millennium after the birth of my
son. I trust you my people here at St. Michael, God says. I
trust you to open your hearts and to open your hearts in this
preparation for the next millennium. I trust you, God says,
to know that you are all my people. I trust you to know that
while my ways are not your ways, I am always with you, even
to the end of all time. I AM.
Yahweh