Jesus Christ

The teachings of Jesus for me are not  connected with any religion. For me there is only one religion and that  is the religion of LOVE just as there is only one GOD and that is the GOD of LOVE.  Jesus to me was a prophet who came to teach us love and how to live in accordance with the Laws of the Universe.  I do not believe that the only way for salvation is through Jesus because many other Prophet's have given us the same messages and their teachings are as important as any others, so to me it is Human Kind who has made the divide between themselves and God by demanding that their way is the only way.  There are as many ways as there are people inhabiting this Planet and at our peril we forget this. Because I was born in the West and bought up with the teachings of Jesus does not make me discount any other words spoken by the prophet's from all faiths and traditions. I pray for unity through religion, not division.

The Lord's prayer

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and power, and the glory for ever.

Amen

Jesus taught his disciples the above prayer and it is recited by Christians everywhere, ever since this time.

But contained in this prayer is a very ancient wisdom handed down by a tradition which had existed long before Jesus' time. The Lord's Prayer is expressed in such a condensed, encapsulated form that it is not easy to grasp the full depth of its meaning.

Within a seed is contained the whole end product whether that is a tree, flower or a human. A seed starts off its life in darkness and within this image Jesus condensed all this sacred wisdom into the Lord's Prayer hoping it would take root in the souls of those who recited it and meditated on it and that, as it grew, they would gradually discover the untold grandeur of all it contains.

"Our Father which art in Heaven"

In the Old Testament of the Bible we have a God who is seen as vengeful and jealous but Jesus came to teach us that  God is loving and replaced the fear with love.  He taught that we can expect to reside in heaven with God at the end of our days and that our Mother/Father would give us everything as we were created in His/Her image and we are the Heirs of God.

"Hallowed be thy Name"

In the Hindu tradition there are 108 Names of God. Christians are not accustomed to calling God by name, they just call Him/Her "God", but Jesus was heir to an ancient tradition and he knew that God has a mysterious unknown name.  Once a year, when the High Priest uttered God's name in the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem, his voice was covered by the sounds of trumpets, drums, flutes and cymbals, so that people gathered before the temple would not hear the sacred Name.  In the Old Testament this name is given as Yahveh (Yahweh) or Jehovah.

What does it mean to Hallow or sanctify God's name? We need to call to mind the four elements; earth, water, air and fire of which the world is made.  There is a connection between the forces and virtues of the four elements and our bodies, hearts, minds, souls and spirits, and each element has its own presiding Angel.  When we want to purify, we ask the Angel of earth to absorb all the impurities of the physical body, the Angel of water to wash the heart, the Angel of air to purify the intellect and the Angel of fire to sanctify the soul and spirit.  Blessing or sanctification corresponds to the highest level, that of the soul and spirit, the level of fire and light.  When one possesses the Holy Spirit and the Light we have the power to draw God into us and everything around us, to sanctify all objects and all living creatures. To hallow God's name is a work of the spirit and it takes place, first and foremost, in our minds.

"Thy Kingdom come..."

From this we see that the Kingdom of God does exist and that it has its own laws, and its own harmonious organization. To imagine what it is like is totally beyond us! but we do seem get a fleeting glimpse of it every now and then in our purest, most spiritual moments, but it is only at these special times that we can begin to have any idea of what the Kingdom of God means.  It is possible to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, but it is not enough to ask for it in our prayers we must ourselves do something about bring it about.

Sorry still to be continued.  January 2007  Daphne

The Lords Prayer –(Translation from Aramaic)

This translations was kindly sent to me from a member of the Unity Church in Oklahoma USA

“Margie”spiritdove@starcomm.net

O Thou, the breath, the Light of All,

Let the Light create  HEART-SHRINE within,

And Your Counsel rule ‘til Oneness guides all.

Your One Desire then acts with ours.

As in all light, so in all forms.

Grant what we need, each day,

In bread and insight.

Loose the cords of mistakes binding us,

As we release the strands we hold of other’s faults.

Don’t let surface things delude us.

But keep us from unripe acts.

To you belongs the ruling mind,

The life that can act and do,

The song that beautifies all,

From age to age it renews.

In faith I will be true.

R12.  This translation is one version of the Lord’s Prayer in Syriac Aramaic, most likely the closest to what Jesus spoke.  The author’s English version, while limited, as all translations are, attempts to maintain some of the Aramaic rhythms and nuances of meaning.