Edna Lister's Sermons from March 1958

Immortality Now

Palm Sunday, March 30, 1958 outline

Matthew 21:1-13

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying unto them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them, and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them." All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, "Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, meek, and sitting on a donkey, a colt the foal of a donkey.’" And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees, and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying, "Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" And when he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?" So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee." Then Jesus went into the temple of God, and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of those who sold doves. And said to them, "It is written, ‘My house shall be called the house of prayer,’ but ye have made it a den of thieves." Matthew 21:1-13

Jesus summed up the whole of his ministry between Palm Sunday morning and the Last Supper, Thursday evening. Beginning with the cleansing of the temple, turning it from a "den of thieves" back into a "house of prayer," he cut the purse-strings of the vested, monied interests in Jerusalem. The first thing he did was to offend them, saying exactly what he meant about the lawbreakers, then fulfilled their greatest prophecies of the Messiah.

His whole ministry was a preparation for what he taught that final week: To live now, to be well now, and to live forever. Under preparation for immortality now, we must consider repentance, reconciliation and atonement.

Repentance begins when we become aware of our disobedience. Repentance comes in many kinds: We have pain-repentance from buying uncomfortable shoes, or indigestion-repentance from eating too much or the wrong foods. We have shame-repentance when they "catch" us or "find out." Yet love-repentance creates a sense of contrition, not just being sorry we were caught, but grieved to have hurt another. This is soul growth, opening into Christed consciousness. "I wish I hadn’t" is the first sign of preparation in assuming full responsibility.

Contrition is deep grief that deals with reconciliation of our relationship to God and to others. It’s a long step before we can say, "I am reconciled," and mean it. We learn Law, make friends, submit to the disagreeable unavoidable facts and actions of others. In the "I’ll try" stage, we "don’t like it," but submit. This is the first surrender of self to be possessed by the Power. "I follow him."

On the second step of surrender, we take the blame and begin to live by the Christ Light and the "I AM" of Christed stature. Our penitence here is a form of rejoicing that we "know."

Atonement means to be at ease with God, with our self, and with others. This super-repentance opens high penitence, a desire to make everything right, to cover others’ debts. We want to repair past damage and make amends for past failures. "This one thing I do now," I set-at-One my soul vibration. We move from "contrition" to "penitence," raising our vibration in all the cells of the body and lifesparks of the soul.

So, the Palm Sunday celebration reminds us of Jesus’ humility under trying circumstances. If he’d ridden a white elephant or a horse, it would have aroused hatred, not scorn, and he could not have done his most important work. Nothing is more humble than the small colt of a white donkey. The priests could laugh at him and make fun!

Jesus was not fearful receiving the crowd’s honor and praise. He accepted it as love. We forget how important it is to praise others. Take the time to pleasure another, even if you sometimes do it with tongue in cheek! Just do it. Why? Because praise opens your vibration of immortality. The multitudes’ praise and songs opened the Gates of Light for his Ascension. Praise opens the Gates for our Ascension.

That Light from above that rolled the stone away on Easter morning can touch us! We, too, can start a chain reaction with our words of praise, laughter and song. One footfall, one gunshot, one shout can start an avalanche. One small breeze in the South Pacific can start a cyclone.

When we accept Law with no inner conflict, we move from repentance and reconciliation to atonement. We set-at-One our independence to walk our path to immortality. To make our bodies a "house of prayer" is our preparation to become immovable and untouchable to any thief of peace. This is the vibration we open on this, our Palm Sunday of Glory.

The Lord has need of me. Thou hast need of my praise, O God, as I need Thy Immortality now!

Immortality Now

Palm Sunday, March 30, 1958

Matthew 21:1-13

Jesus’ ministry up to Holy Week was remarkable, extremely so. Yet the Gospels imply so much more, as here, "you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat," to "follow the man carrying a pitcher." The world doesn’t know, from the written words, what Jesus said during his ministry. From age twelve to thirty is a gap in the record, yet he never stopped teaching. His ministry taught preparation for the way to the kingdom.

From Palm Sunday to the Last Supper, Jesus summed up his whole teaching. He revealed the obstacles that the priests and temple guards had placed in the paths of the common people, and he dealt their pride a blow when he overthrew the tables of the money changers. The Lord opened a vibration with this one gesture that has come down through the ages, and is still overthrowing the money changers.

Jesus’ gospel of preparation contains three steps, repentance, reconciliation and atonement, or at-one-ment. Palm Sunday is supposed to represent eternal life. A single earth incarnation has finite duration, but Life is immortal. How can life be anything but immortal? It will change its form millions of times, yet we haven’t yet touched the fringes of healing in our bodies because we do not believe that life is immortal, or that the body is life itself.

We experience a half-dozen forms of repentance. For instance, we repent when we experience pain, which we shouldn’t need to have. Women who repent from "shoe" pain should remove the limits to their understanding. "Shame" repentance is what we feel when we’ve been caught at something. "They’ll never catch me on that again!" Such words leaven us until we hurt someone, which leads us to contrition, our first touch of true repentance.

Contrition is the prologue to reconciliation, for we must feel sorry before we may reconcile ourselves to Law. We must pass through the repentance stage to reach reconciliation. We spend our whole life becoming reconciled to Law, from the rules we must learn to drive a car to becoming the Laws of the Divine. Most of us are still only grasping the simple Laws: "I give of the Love of God. I give of the Love of Christ. Last year’s good isn’t good enough for this year. Every day is a day of judgement." Under our desire to know about life, we discover Law.

Reconciliation is submission. The first step we learn is, "I submit to the fact that I have someone to live with." We realize then that giving the other fellow the last word, and letting him talk is easier.

The second step is finally to be companionable and know that the other fellow does his best. Never forget the Way of the Christ. Step beyond "I’ll try. I’ll put up with it." We move through reconciliation with Law until we live Law and watch it work. You can stand on a point of Law and watch the tangles unravel. We are happy here to conform to knowing that Law uses us. This is the first step to "I AM" consciousness, and the first glory of Illumination, which is atonement.

‘A’ is a point of conflict between God and man, in subconscious, egoic consciousness and Oversoul conscience. This is where we let things "get at one." Atonement sets a keynote and a rate of vibration for our life immortal now. Jesus taught us how to live now, a moment at a time without dragging a dead carcass – like saying, "I’m going to walk with my wings dragging and tail feathers in the dirt," when we should be like an angel of Light.

We have his advice on how to get through the "I’ll try" stage: Repentance through contrition, and reconciliation through recognition that we must obey Law every time. Then we reach the greater place where the Wings of the Holy Ghost cover us, which is at-one-ment. Here we cannot bear to repeat anything outer and lesser, but can only give what is within from above. The Palm Sunday vibration is designed to "get at one."

Picture Jesus’ humble entry in Jerusalem, the temple priests laughed at him as a fool on a donkey. If he had ridden in like a prince on an elephant or a horse, they would have imprisoned him. He knew that his people’s praise, added to his message, would build the outer vibration for his crucifixion, until that shot of Power from above met the force of earth to break the stone and release their penitence and grief.

A gentle breeze can start a whirling that can end as a hurricane. A small stone tumbling can begin a landslide. A single word can trigger an avalanche. A word can start a chain reaction. Today we are starting a chain reaction for the coming year. On Easter morning the Power of the Holy Spirit comes, which builds all summer.

Jesus left behind this teaching of preparation for the life immortal now. Life is self-renewing and continual in the body’s physical cells. Choose. You can modify it or adulterate it if you think you are giving too much – your cells act out the idea, "I am doing too much for you." Jesus easily took on the greatest of honors and the meanest of scorn meant to color him drab, and turned it into bright glory from his millions of years of experience. Yet you let one individual’s ridicule dull your colors.

"I know that Thou hast need of me as an immortal one, as one who preaches the gospel, never counting the cost of what I must give." But what can we give our Father? We do not thank God enough for the Life Immortal, which is resurrecting the cells of our bodies, the glory of our souls.

The Power we build this morning, the Love going forth to cover the world’s illnesses, is the Christed vibration. This is what Palm Sunday means to us. "Set" yourself on the vibration of Life Immortal today.