DAVID KARCHERE
Here is a teaching of Jesus from Matthew 25. He often taught in stories, using symbology familiar to people of his day, as he did here. Our Pulse of Spirit illuminates what this story holds for us.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
(Matthew 25:34-40)
A common interpretation of this story is that it is an instruction about charity—and it is. But beyond the plain meaning of what he said is a mystical truth that is relevant to our practical living of life.
David Karchere (Sunrise Ranch)
dkarchere@emnet.org
HOWARD GOODMAN 
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat….
What does it mean to feed the hungry? It begins with recognizing the hunger in our own hearts and minds, where there has been loneliness and perhaps even despair at times, an experience of disconnection with the very source of what gives us life. The disturbed places where human thought and feeling sometimes go can rupture our sense of connection, creating an experience of pain, suffering, and displacement. Those are the places in the human heart that we feed with warmth, heat, and light, and the ferocity of knowing that we have ourselves inherited the kingdom of heaven from the foundation of the world.
Receiving that great gift, we know we are capable of feeding the desperate needs of the human heart and soul.
Are you happy to let the transforming power of the love that we feel for one another bring that love, warmth, fire, and light to all our brothers and sisters—in Jesus’ words, “my brethren”?
Howard Goodman (Cape Town, South Africa)
hgoodman@emnet.org
MARILYN MANDERSON
I was sick, and ye visited me.
We are speaking of visiting the sick, literally, here. We are a blessing to the sick when we carry an awareness of wholeness, abundance, and vitality. With that awareness, we bring a powerful presence. The individual being visited has an opportunity to be made whole, whether the issue is physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. We bring that opportunity by our presence, atmosphere, and words.
In Jesus’ healing ministry, the question always was “Wilt thou be made whole?” Will you turn to the sun within you and receive the magic of life? Will you face the beauty of who you are and access the doorway that both receives and gives love, truth, and life?
When ill, there can be an all-consuming focus on the illness itself; and in some cases, that is all that is obvious for the individual. They feel overcome by their sickness, and overwhelmed. And in this instance, when visiting, one can gain perspective on the miracle of the energy field of that individual. You have the opportunity to see the largeness of that field, compared to the illness.
With a loving connection to the core of that one you are visiting, there is such immense potential for pure blessing and healing. Your touch, your presence—it is all that is required for the healing process to be activated and supported.
I was speaking with a nurse practitioner this week, and she told me that a large percentage of the referrals she gave out at this time were related to mental and emotional support. That shocked me. In visiting anyone these days, there is an opportunity to be wise about your surround of them at all levels.
The word mercy is often mentioned when wishing to enhance the quality of life of an individual. You come with a passion to connect and listen to their heart—their feelings, their thoughts, their concerns—to offer compassion and let it be known that they are not alone in the healing taking place.
Gift-giving can be a symbol of your love. I know it is a small thing, but a gift is something that they can look at and touch.
Deliberate interest in their surround of family and friends can reassure and enrich the time you spend with someone. All the while, you are sensitive to the person’s energy level and the timing of the visit. Even phone visits can be tiring for someone who is ill. So, making a specific time for visits can be helpful. Being open to the individual contacting you when it is right for them to call you can be such a blessing as well.
In these caring exchanges, you bring something new, and the wholeness of the Christ spirit is born between you.
Marilyn Manderson (Kamloops, BC)
mmanderson@emnet.org
SECE FOSTER
I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
At face value, you can see that as taking in someone in need, actually inviting them into your home. But as I read this verse and meditate upon it, I see the home Jesus was speaking of as the human heart. Home is where the heart is. Love, present through an open heart, is the tonic that heals, renews, and restores. And that energy, that light, that Christ spirit that is in us is home. It is where we came from, and it is the reality to which we are returning.
Jesus said this:
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
It is not that there are lowly people. He invites us to see the people who need to be welcomed in, to be loved into their wholeness, and to be seen as the Christ. And it points to one of the tendencies we have in our culture, to see certain people as less than. Jesus is clearly saying nobody is less!
These are my brothers. Removing the tinted lenses that make us see another person as lesser than us is so much a part of welcoming in strangers. When we open our eyes and our hearts in that way, the true Christ spirit comes through us. Is that not what Christmas is about?
Meditating on what it means to take in a stranger, I hear a call to go deeper and open up more fully to actually see the people around me. That is the spirit of the Sunrise Ranch community. This is a place on the planet where we welcome in strangers all the time. We are a community of people opening our hearts to see the Christ in them, even when they cannot see it for themselves.
Sece Foster (Loveland, CO)
sfoster@emnet.org
JANE ANETRINI
I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
The word prison evokes the picture of a building where society incarcerates criminals. But I would like to address the prisons people live in every day.
Have you ever been imprisoned by your thoughts? Have you ever been imprisoned by your culture? Or your belief about yourself, based on what someone said?
When we realize that a person is in a prison of irrational thoughts and distorted belief, we have the opportunity to come to them with a truth that liberates them. If someone is imprisoned by false beliefs about themselves, we see them for who they are and release them from that hell. And what is hell but forgetting the heavenly experience that we access through an open heart?
So, for any in my world who find themselves in prison, may I come unto them and see them as the angel who I know is there. May they see me as a mirror that reflects the truth of who they are. May I come unto them as a Being of wholeness and blessing.
Ultimately, this prison door is opened from the inside. What are the keys?
To remember the heavenly home from whence you came.
To return to that home in life, knowing yourself as someone who belongs in that home.
To reveal the truth of yourself to the world.
We all have the opportunity to come unto a person who is imprisoned by their thoughts, by their beliefs, by their culture, by their memories, or by their heartache. We can hand them these keys and assist them to be free.
Jane Anetrini (Loveland, CO)
janetrini@emnet.org
DAVID KARCHERE
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
This teaching suggests there is another way to be with people that is radically different from what is common in our world. It suggests that all people are an expression of God. All people are God’s people. All people carry the potential to be a living embodiment of the Christ within them. And to whatever degree, they are. When we see and know that, we have a different kind of compassion and commitment. We receive the power to make a difference in other people’s lives.
…inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world….
We inherit something that is available for us when we see the people around us not just as strangers but as God’s people. That is a life of compassion in which we see the people in our world as being an expression of the One. You may see me as strange, and I may see you as strange. But we leave that experience behind to love another person as an expression and an embodiment of the One.
When we have that experience with another person, what we share is lit sky-high. We know each other as the One, yet we do not become the same. We are part of one reality of Being. And yet, the unique wonder of each of us lights up.
David Karchere
dkarchere@emnet.org