St Mary's

On Tuesday night I had the good fortune (or bad fortune) of not being able to sleep, so I got out of bed and went outside to be greeted with a magnificent display of stars. I was in the country away from the city lights so the clarity of the display was all the more spectacular. I had recently paid a visit to the Brisbane Planetarium, where as part of the show they spend 20 minutes explaining the present position of the stars in the summer sky. If you have never gone to the Planetarium, it is well worth a visit. Apart from giving you reclining comfortable chairs, the night sky is placed before you on the domed roof in a way that makes for fascinating viewing.

One of the constellations that dominates our summer sky at the moment, is the constellation of Orion, or as we liked to call it as kids, the BIG DIPPER or the SAUCEPAN. The bottom of the saucepan or what is known more popularly as Orion’s Belt, is what I would like to speak about briefly. It has a lot do with the feast that we celebrate today, the Epiphany.

Many of us know that the 25^th December is not the real Birthday of Christ. The 25^th December is a birth date shared by many Avatars around the time of Jesus. So why was this date so significant to the ancients? Many of you may have heard what I am about to say, but it bears repeating as we celebrate this feast. It also serves as a reminder to us that many of the stories we have in the Bible were borrowed from other religions, particularly those we described and dismissed as Pagan. They were people who were very connected to the earth and its many cycles.

They were people familiar with the stars and their connection to the earth cycles. The three stars of Orion’s Belt were also known as the three wise men or three kings and throughout winter, they seemingly follow the brightest star of the sky, Sirius. Hence, the story of the three wise men following the Star to Bethlehem. At a point, three days prior to the 25^th December, on the  Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, in the Northern Hemisphere.

The three stars line up with Sirius, and when a straight line is drawn through the four stars to the horizon, the point on the horizon marks the spot where the winter sun stops the journey south. The point on the horizon where the sun rises, it no longer journeys, and appears dead for 3 days and on the third day it seemingly wakes up and begins its journey north to become the strong bright summer sun. Hence the 25^th December marks the coming of the Light (of warmth).

A very important day, a day to be celebrated if you live in a cold northern country. You would definitely want to celebrate this day. Any Avatar worth his/her salt would want to be seen as the bringer of Light, a perfect day for the birth of a Messiah. In this event we see not only a perfect day for a birth, but the connection to the three days of death before resurrection, and again the coming of Light. A very sacred day indeed.

Unfortunately, much of the connection of this day to rejoicing in the coming of light and warmth, when for us in the Southern Hemisphere and particularly Australia, we have enough light and warmth this time of the year – sometimes too much. So the beautiful light into the darkness in the Midnight Mass often gets lost amidst the simmering heat of summer.

But the powerful symbol of the coming of the light found in the Jesus story remains at the very heart of Christianity. And at the heart of the very prayer and only prayer Jesus teaches his disciples.

Mary Nelson shared with me this wonderful translation of the Lord’s Prayer from the original Aramaic, translated by Neil Douglas-Klotz where Aramaic is his first language. It is found in the book “Prayers of the Cosmos”.

I will read it through.

“O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos.

Focus your light within us – make it useful.

Create your reign of unity now – through our fiery hearts and willing hands.

Help us love beyond our ideals and sprout acts of compassion for all creatures.

Animating the earth within us: we then feel the wisdom underneath supporting all.

Untangle the knots within so that we can mend our hearts

Simple ties to each other

Don’t let surface things delude us,

But free us from what holds us back from our true purpose.

Out of you, the astonishing fire, returning light and sound to the Cosmos.”

Amen

Jesus praying to the source of life. Prays that the Light which emanates from the source will be focused within us, so that it can be used for good. Jesus recognizes our dependence on this Source. “this astonishing fire” which animates us and brings light and life to the Cosmos.

The closer we are to this light, this astonishing fire, the more it allows us to love beyond our ideals, and sprout acts of compassion for all creatures.

Maybe we could begin to pray this form of the Lord’s Prayer in the original Aramaic in our liturgy to remind us of our dependence on this astonishing fire which is the source of all life.