Sermon 28th March 2021

Palm Sunday: Blessings

Gospel Reading: Matthew 21:1-11

“Blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord.” We have an inherent knowledge that sunlight and rain are a blessing for the earth and for nature. This blessing brings forth continual blossoming and fruition. Do we still know that these are divine forces?
Dear Community of Christians,

In many images, describing the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, we see him riding on a donkey, with his right hand raised in blessing. His sun-like divine radiance embraced, blessed the people all around.

It is ancient knowledge that curative power emanates from blessing, bringing certainty of life, and life’s quickening. It was not so long ago that grandmothers or even mothers blessed the children before they left home. This blessing offered security and enhanced life forces for the children.

Can we still bless today and what must actually radiate from us that we can give a blessing?

What is missing in our world is that human beings no longer bless each other. Indeed, can they still do so? As an extension of this blessing force, Christian communities are compelled to hold services and to attempt to bless electronically. Such extreme examples make clear that blessings can only flow when prayed for, from person to person.

The word of blessing is still spoken today in Christianity and the Jewish faith over the whole congregation: “The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."

​In the renewed religious service of the Act of Consecration of Man the blessing word is given to every single person individually: “The peace be with you”. And when the finger of the priest touches the upper part of the cheek, the congregant becomes for a moment awakened, and is penetrated by the Spirit Self. This means, nevertheless if it happens completely subconsciously, our unexplained urges, desires and all the impressions that live in our soul are influenced by this spiritual force. These qualities become lightened by what has been experienced in the encounter with Christ during the service. We can take from this experience self-conquest and ennoblement from the religious life, because these are even stronger strengths than any moral impulse. The power of the spiritual self is all the stronger the more we have worked into our soul. The penetration of this Spirit Self, our Higher Spiritual Nature, into our Soul-Spiritual constitution and into our physical world, becomes ever more difficult in our materialistic times. The human being must bring back the quality of blessing into the world today, and as a seed for tomorrow.   

Rev. Ute Koenig