"Our God is God of the living"

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus took Peter, James and John with him to pray.  Jesus said to them "I am grieved ... stay awake with me.  And going a little farther he threw himself on the ground and prayed. "  (Matthew 26:36) 

In Greek, French and Hebrew, Gethsemane means oil press, to extract ointments.  When we are in the midst of difficulties, we feel as if we are being pressed beyond our human limit.  And in Truth, we are.  That is the point.  When we turn within and tap into the sanctuary of our own Being,  we become aware that we are a unique individualized expression of the  One Life.  We want to be immersed in this awareness and so we take with us, Peter, James and John who represent Faith, Wisdom and Love and ask them to stay awake with us.  The struggle that takes place within us can be agonizing, for we are extracting out from us our human conditioning in consciousness and incorporating the Christ mind in our Soul and body.  Yes, faith, wisdom and love fall asleep and still Christ says  to them "get up, let us be going."

In other words, Jesus, who represents the Christ of our Being,  is saying "nevertheless," I am willing to be, do and act to fulfill that which I was born to do.    

Easter is a promise of eternal life.  It is like being given a pair of new eyes where you see the  underlying pulsating current of life that interconnects all Being.  What must we do to "stay awake?"  Jesus in the garden prayed "My Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from me; yet not my will but thy will be done."  What this is saying is in surrendering our personal egoic need to control, fix, manipulate, get out way, we let God, Spirit,  Life work.  In this moment of release our eyes shift away from the Thing and we SEE, we HEAR, and our our heart opens as we understand we are momentary expressions of the One and so we are expressions of One another.  God shows up in many wonderful and wacky forms!  In the garden, be not afraid to touch the depth of sorrow for in that moment our eyes open and we see no error tomb thought can hold us .  To be born into this world is to learn how to forgive;   to be born anew is to remember and reclaim our true identity as Spiritual Beings; to transcend all things, is to be Present to seeing the Glory of God on display everywhere.   

Happy Easter, Rev Janice