Edna Lister on Lent

Lent is the season of repentance, forty days of sacrificing negative expressions of the self and appetitive soul. Repentance is not merely the act of turning to God, but of returning to God completely, to walk the Via Christa. We believe that the way Jesus lived his life is the way we must strive to live. The events of his life, the challenges to faith he faced, metaphorically symbolize the kinds of events and challenges that we must face as well.

What Is Lent?

Edna Lister created this sermon outline for February 7, 1937, Buffalo, New York. Scripture: Mark 1:9-13.

"And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him." – Mark 1:9-13.

To the world, Lent is forty days of fasting to commemorate and emulate the Master's forty days in the wilderness. The idea is to sacrifice something you care about. Yet, you cannot sacrifice anything unless you desire to do so. You must desire to sacrifice for some reason.

The self-satisfied soul says, "I'm all right where I am, so why climb higher? Why struggle harder? I don't see anything better than what I have." Since they cannot see any further, they find no reason to let go of the good old ways.

Each year-end, merchants inventory their stock, which they call "taking stock." They separate the old merchandise, shopworn and outdated, which will never sell at list price, from the good. They put these goods on sale.

Your mind operates the same way. While mind may have four seasons a year, you only notice that different decades produce different thinking, speech and attitudes. You must trade your old thinking for a new mind, your old existence for a new life.

You can have no real repentance without taking stock. You can make no worthy sacrifice without taking stock. You make no meaningful vows without taking stock.

As you take inventory, ask, How much progress have I made? How much spare time did I have or waste? How much wear on my nerves did I experience? How much less self do I have to overcome this year?

Pull all the old ideas and false impressions off your shelves and trade these non-dividend-paying stocks for gold. God will give you pure gold, refined in the fire of Spirit, for all the selfishness and self-ness you give Him.

The Father is waiting, the Master is waiting for you to lift all your lines of Light and responsibility up to them. Lent is the time to eliminate all poor investments of personality, all poor stock.

The Story of Lent

Edna Lister created this sermon outline for February 27, 1938, Cleveland, Ohio. Scripture: Luke 4:1-14.

"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee." – Luke 4:1-14.

Jesus did not open the forty days of Lent himself, although he was fasting for forty days before his entry into Jerusalem. His disciples inaugurated Lent after he ascended, to commemorate his passion and death.

Forty is the number of days for candle lighting in heaven for sacrifice or in joy because he fasted that long in the wilderness. Forty signifies spiritual service.

Jesus worked with his disciples before his entry into Jerusalem. Repentance of the soul is soul purification, taking stock of the little self. The Catholic church so arranged their teachings to enable sinners to pay for all their sins in forty days. Yet constantly charging new debts to repay holds you in the same old place.

When people try to save anything, they usually squeeze it to death or until they lose it. When you give up the effort to save, you receive. You will find no lasting satisfaction in the world, for you find true delight only in the kingdom.

Why We Observe Lent

Edna Lister created this sermon outline for March 6, 1938, Cleveland, Ohio. Scriptures: Luke 3:15-22, Luke 4:1-2.

"As the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not; John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people. But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased." – Luke 3:15-22.

"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil." – Luke 4:1-2.

We celebrate Confirmation once a year before Easter, the Resurrection. Each must give up the old things before the new can be established.

The three sacraments of the Christian religion include Baptism by Water, the Holy Ghost and Fire, Confirmation and the Last Supper, the Eucharist. Jesus ordained Baptism and Confirmation, but the disciples commemorated the Lord's Supper.

Sacraments are an outward visible sign of an inner sacred symbol or mystery. Baptism gives back your right to the place you left on the inner when you descended. Confirmation establishes you where you have climbed, and establishes your right to what you have earned.

You take inventory of soul during Lent. You ask yourself, How much progress have I made? How have I used my spare time? What have I allowed to wear on my nerves? How much less do I have to overcome this year?

Are my vows such as to take me clear through to the highest Source? Do my vows leave me feeling happier? Are my vows aiding me in lifting the people and situations around me?

We celebrate the Lord's Supper with wine and bread, symbolizing blood and flesh. Blood represents substance, which nourishes and sustains. It is symbolized as blue at the Source, as Mother Love, but red in expression.

Flesh symbolizes the solidity of bone and skeletal structure, or law as the framework of the universes. Flesh and blood, bread and wine represent the substance of God, which you take in and of which you are made.

Aspiration

Edna Lister created this sermon outline for March 4, 1945, Tacoma, Washington. Scripture: John 1:29-34.

"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God." – John 1:29-34.

Aspiration means "to have a desire for, desire after, to look up in consciousness." From the most primitive savages to the highest intellectuals, people have sought something greater than the self. This aspiration serves as the basis of religion.

We have created so many problems and such confusion in the world because of how and what we name things. Some people, for example, cannot discern the difference between nature and God.

Nature is but a part of the All That Is, separated in limited perception only. God is all, the absolute unity of the All That Is.

What the world needs today is a religious renaissance. Right now, our soldiers are praying, and their mothers and fathers are praying for them and with them. If the whole world prayed together, we would have heaven on earth.

Lent is the season appointed for the cleansing of soul from all earthly stain. During Lent, you enter the wilderness of self and face temptations on the misuse of God's Mind, Substance and Power.

Jesus' life is an ensample of Christed living, not an ordinary example. An example showcases just one part of the Christlike pattern for living, but an ensample illustrates the whole.

The prefix "en" means "to put into or on; to bring into the condition of." The prefix "ex" means "outside; out of; away from; not including; without; former." It suggests a problem and serves as a warning to others.

Aspiration also means "a hope or ambition of achieving something; the action or process of drawing breath." Aspiration symbolizes the function of the lungs; when you aspire, you reach for more air. Today, folks aspire to more love, more money, more fun, when what they need is more God.

Jesus could always "see around corners" and knew his mission would lead to the cross. Jesus hesitated to step out and begin at the wedding in Cana. His first miracle, turning the water into wine, was to honor his mother's request and to please her.

You can and must dream of using substance creatively, but to build steps in ascension, not crosses of crucifixion. Once you extend your steps so far, they become a ladder of ascension.

You're tired of waiting. I'm tired of waiting. God is tired of waiting! We ask, How long, oh God? He answers, How long, oh child? Look up and come up over the obstacles on the way.

God's Eternal Purpose (a)

Edna Lister created this sermon outline for February 24, 1950, Tacoma, Washington. Scriptures: Ephesians 1:9-12 and 3:9-19, Philippians 3:13-15.

Many people feel that God has no purpose in creation today. But His fine hand has written His purpose into the history of the universe from the beginning.

Three vast inhaling breaths created the explosions that formed the River of Life, the three Emanations of Wisdom, Love and the Logos, which we often call the Father, Mother and Son. Jesus, as the Word, is one-third of the whole with the Father and Mother God.

From those Emanations has come everything that exists today. The Father sent forth millions of creators-to-be. Yet many have forgotten that they must return as creators, pure, holy and perfect.

"Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ." – Ephesians 1:9-12.

Jesus, the Son, represents God's eternal purpose in action. He was the selfless lifter of darkness. He showed us how to ascend, and how to enfold all earth and our personal kingdoms of influence back into God's arms.

Increased Power must use you now to lift the world. So, during Lent, you must clean house and lift all your selfishness and treasures of darkness to the altar. So, plan to fast from darkness during Lent. Ask for Light to move through your darkness and cleanse you.

Light can stir you up, so plan to make a sacrifice of every bit of self that comes to the surface, and to return to God all soul substance, misused by the appetitive self. Greater Power can bring sensitivity and greater irritability, but you can let the fires consume the skeletons in your closet.

The only way you can forget the past is to reach up in consciousness, to press onward and upward in soul-conquering ascension. Declare, "Today, I ascend. I lift my resentments, opinions and prejudices to the altar. Let me be healed. Thank You that I AM healed now."

To use all phases of your mind and being creatively, you must constantly quicken, revitalize and renew your mind, body and soul. Since you have no room for self-pity, opinions or criticism, go to God no matter what happens in between. Make a sacrifice of selfish motivations.

"And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." – Ephesians 3:9-19.

Every facet of Jesus' life shows you how to act like and be a conquering soul. He raised Lazarus from the dead with the Power he released on the statement, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God."

When Jesus reached Lazarus' home in Bethany, his every statement was positive, with nothing negative. So must you do to create.

God's eternal purpose for you is that you become a creator, so "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

The desire to be perfect is all-important, so God sent His Son to show you how to become perfect. God has planted within you the desire to seek and return to Him. He has predestined you to return, and the path home is always open.

God's Eternal Purpose (b)

This Edna Lister sermon transcript is dated February 24, 1950, Tacoma, Washington. Scribes: Kay Wilder Abstein, Ruth Bender Collord, May Clark Wilder. Scriptures: Ephesians 1:9-12 and 3:9-19, and Philippians 3:13-15.

People often question the purpose of God's Creation. Atheists and many agnostic intellectuals believe that Creation has no purpose, yet His fine hand has written the mystery of His will in the history of the universe from the first, when God breathed and created the explosions of Light that formed the River of Life.

Creation sprang from the Emanations of Wisdom, Love and the Logos, the Father, Mother and Son, as God said, "Let there be Light," through the Logos, the divine Word. The Father sent forth millions of living souls as potential creators, yet many have forgotten that they must return to Him as pure, holy and perfect creators.

Jesus, the Only Begotten Son, represents God's eternal purpose. He was the selfless lifter of darkness who showed us how to ascend, and enfold earth and our personal kingdoms into God's arms, "that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ."

As a creator, you must return all misused soul substance to God, yours and the world's. Increased Power to lift the world must use you now. Yet Light can really stir you up because greater Power heightens emotional sensitivity and can cause irritability.

Clean house of self now. Fast from darkness, ask for more Light to move through your subconscious mind, then sacrifice and lift every bit of self that surfaces onto a cloud continent of Light.

"This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind." – Philippians 3:13. The only way to forget the past and its petty limitations is to go to God, no matter what happens.

Let the heavenly altar fires consume the skeletons in your closet. Press onward and upward, reaching higher in consciousness, using the subconscious mind creatively to quicken, revitalize and renew itself until no room remains for self-pity, opinions, prejudice or criticism.

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead on the declaration, "This is for the glory of God." When he reached Lazarus' home in Bethany, his every statement was positive, as yours must be to create perfection.

Declare, "Today I ascend. I lift my resentments, opinions and prejudices, and shall closely monitor how I use the spoken Word."

The desire to be perfect is all-important, so that God can show you how to attain the mark and become perfect. The path home is always open, so reach for the prize of becoming a perfect creator.

Perfection is, always has been, and always will be God's eternal purpose for you.

Your Life Practice (a)

Edna Lister created this sermon outline for May 23, 1954, Cleveland, Ohio. Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5.

"But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen." – 1 Thessalonians 5.

Your life practice is an intriguing thought, but your life practice of what? Your practice of ascension. From Rebirth to Ascension, the whole story of Jesus' teaching is contained in "I believe to see." He had promised to appear to his disciples "in person."

The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ records that he did so seventeen times. The Gospels contain eleven occurrences, from his appearance at the tomb to the events recorded in the last chapter of John, where he "precipitated" or "condensed" his body to be seen by physical eyes.

From January 12 to Ash Wednesday is a period of repentance, during which you take soul inventory. Lent is a period of sacrifice or "remission of sins." From Easter to Ascension Day, you release Power through surrender of self, to sanctify your soul for the descent of the Holy Spirit. We call this period the Way of Initiation, the Via Christa, the Way of Christ.

To unfold the word "repentance," the prefix "re" means "to refer to, to go back to." "Pent" means "closely confined, shut in, shut up" or "exclusive, wealthy." So, in repentance, we have a state of returning to a place. Repentance is a Rebirth, to return to the penthouse of soul. Soul inventory requires that you make choices and decisions. So under repentance, you prepare to become an initiate.

Why do you need to return or be reborn? You must return to your original image and likeness of God in the Garden of Eden.

You hew a path though the jungle of self to find your buried treasure. You had forgotten where you had buried it. You may have to dig in many places, until your hands are bleeding and life hurts. This is the Rebirth. Your treasure is your "pearl of great price," which you buried when you left Heaven, and can find only by ascending to the Garden of Eden.

"Remission" means that you return to God for your original mission, to make sacrifice to make room to be refueled with the Holy Spirit. During your "repentance" phase, you think/ about making sacrifices.

From Ash Wednesday you ascend while in a consecrated state of Baptism by Water, to meet the Holy Spirit descending as a Baptism by Fire at Easter. From Easter to Ascension Day, you "sanctify" yourself to surrender to God. Reborn and renewed, you are vitalized and quickened by the full descent of Christ Power.

You consecrate yourself with new vows, and become "set apart" as you observe these days as "holy," and free from "sin," which is disobedience. Consecration is full surrender and complete transformation.

So you choose. How do you go? You can "back out" (turn your back on the Light), you can "keep out" (do nothing), or you can push out of what you allow to limit you and up into greater ascension.

However, you can "back away" and "keep away" from responsibility until soon the "little you have" is gone. You may push up into a new place of glory, yet soon ask, "Is this the end?" It is, until someone challenges your right to the place you occupy. Then you must defend your square foot of ground, but how?

Polish your life's practice, put on the breastplate of righteousness, rejoice always, and pray without ceasing until you open the three "windows of the soul," as Daniel did. Open up in consciousness toward Jerusalem, the city of peace.

Each day is divided into three parts: Repentance, remission and sanctification through joy. Shall selfishness be your anchor, or will surrender open your soul wings?

Your Life Practice (b)

This Edna Lister sermon transcript is dated May 23, 1954, Cleveland, Ohio. Scribe: Ruth Johnson. Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5.

Jesus' teachings had just one common denominator: "I believe to see." He came to open the Gates of Heaven, preparing the way for the earth's Ascension of consciousness.

The record of man's religions proves that many lesser messiahs have come to earth, bringing new teachings, which man then forgot over time. For example, Osiris and Isis first opened the vibration of the soul's immortality, brought knowledge of God as Light to earth, but may degraded it to sun-worship.

Jesus taught our way, which is ascension of soul. We divide our year into periods specially devoted to soul inventory, repentance, surrender, sacrifice, sanctification and remission of the self. January 12 to Ash Wednesday is a preparation period for soul inventory.

Lent is the period of repentance, surrender and sacrifice of the little self, which culminates at Easter, when we begin to release the Power for the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

We reach the finale of forty days of sanctification and Ascension in a fulfillment of surrender on Ascension Day. This paves the way for the Holy Spirit to descend.

The world is afraid to surrender self, fearing that it means loss of identity. Their fear crucified Jesus, yet his name is on tongues all over earth, as it was prophesied. Why do we place such stress on the idea of surrender?

Jesus taught that the invisible world is real, but most people must see it to believe it. He began to appear and disappear at age twelve by expanding his atomic body to the point of invisibility. He raised his vibration to disappear in his high body, lowered his vibration to appear in his physical body.

He appeared seventeen times in The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, and eleven times in the New Testament Gospels. At his final appearance, recorded in the last chapter of John, he "precipitated" or "condensed" his body to be seen by physical eyes.

Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love me," three times to wipe out his disciples' doubt about the invisible world's reality. Thus, he healed their ability to believe to see. This is the Way of Initiation, the Via Christa, the Way of Christ.

"Choose this day whom you will serve." – Joshua 24:15. Decision is the ability to throw out the old and accept the new, which pays dividends. Soul inventory reveals how much you love God, and you must decide this every day.

Self love is bondage to darkness, but soul love is ascending into Light. Soul inventory means sacrificing little self to buy tools to dig up the pearl of great price that you buried when you descended to earth.

Some people are undependable because they cannot bear to give up the past. Repentance means to turn around, to do an about-face. "Re" means to go back to, "pent" means "wealth, high place," as in "penthouse, exclusiveness, or closely confined, shut in or shut up."

God fashioned your soul in His image and likeness in the Garden of Eden. You must return to your original high estate as a creator, sacrificing self and working out your salvation.

Someone who says, "I wish I could find my right place," is subconsciously remembering his lost treasure. People usually search everywhere but up, where it resides.

Repentance means to sacrifice opinions and prejudices for an open mind. You "think about" and "try" to sacrifice self during Lent. "I'll try" means that "I'm not ready to accept or become." To sacrifice self is to walk in beauty. Under repentance, you prepare to become an initiate.

You hew a path through the jungle of self to find your buried treasure. Since you have forgotten where you buried it, you dig, dig, dig all over the place until your blistered hands bleed, and life hurts. This is Rebirth. You can find your pearl of great price only by ascending to the Garden of Eden, where you buried it.

You move from Baptism by Water, which is the soul ascending to relieve spiritual thirst, to Baptism by Fire, the descent of the Holy Spirit. The only sins against the Holy Spirit arise from the emotional life, the "little self."

You must "walk on water" to transcend emotions. How can you do this? Put some iron in your spine, and wait upon the Lord until He makes your enemies your footstool.

You can use a person who calls you the worst names to release great Power. Declare that he speaks only one vibration, love. Reach out to darkness with love, and it becomes Light again to fill your creative prayer molds.

Get hot about God. White heat is healing Power, which orbits the world, condensing and filling your molds as you speak truth. The condensation of love's Power remits sins.

Remission of sin implies that you can disobey the laws of the soul. "Re" means to go back to, and "mission" means a service. Your service is to rejoice and pray. Love, enough to dissolve the world's porcupine quills, another's or your own, is remitting sins.

You reconsecrate and rededicate yourself to the mission from Easter to Ascension Day. Consecration means to sanctify into a state of holy grace, beginning to fall in love with God. Consecration is full surrender and complete transformation. So you have to choose: How do you go?

The descent of the Holy Spirit creates a symphony of Light at Pentecost. You are reborn, renewed, vitalized and quickened by the descent of Christ Power. The greater the Source of Power you contact with your live wire of omnipotent faith, the more Power fills you from on high. You cannot bear that high degree of Power on earth unless you fully surrender to become the servant of all Power.

You can back out, turn your back on the Light, back away from responsibility. You can keep out, join the "do nothing" class, and soon the little you have is gone. Or you can push out and up into a new place of glory. You can stay in that place until someone challenges your right to the place you occupy. Then you must defend it with your breastplate of faith and love.

The Holy Spirit can flow through and individualize you when you become an instrument of God's Power. Identify with God. The Supreme Being cannot derive identity from His creations, for He is the identity we all seek.

People may call you an egotist or arrogant when Power expresses through you positively. Some people, though they face the Light, are still afraid to make that sacrifice until their love of God becomes too great to back out or to avoid their responsibility.

You are descending when you "draw your skirts aside" or look at others' failings. Ascend to the River of Life and lose the self. Push up over the obstacles. Most people try to burrow beneath instead of climbing over or going around. Sometimes a dozen people concentrate their criticism to push one person off his point.

As a creator, open wisdom, love and joy, the windows of soul in your higher creative center to see New Jerusalem. Daniel's enemies in Babylon made a law that you could not pray facing Jerusalem, yet despite his enemies, Daniel opened his three spiritual windows to Jerusalem. He fell in love with God, who became his breastplate of protection.

Daniel ascended until faith conquered him. He looked up and loved God so much that the Holy Spirit filled the den. The hungry lions cowered in a corner, and he did not see lions. Love made them good little lions, who saw only Light while Daniel worshiped and loved God. The seven lions represent seven worldly "devils" that can drag you from the penthouse of soul. Stand until enough love fills you to erase lions from the earth.

Paul describes a perfect ascension practice in his first Letter to Thessalonians: Be at peace among yourselves. Warn those who are unruly. Comfort the fainthearted. Uphold the weak. Be patient with all. Never render evil for evil to anyone. Always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophecies. Prove all things. Hold fast what is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.

What is your ascension practice? Do you want to be the strongest person in the world? Do not limp. Do you want to be the most selfless person in the world? Sacrifice and surrender the little self. How gloriously great is your practice of Ascension? Sell all self to buy the penthouse of soul.

Each day is divided into three parts — repentance, remission and sanctification through devotion to joy comsciousness. Selfishness acts as an anchor to earth, but surrender spreads the wings of soul in ascension.

Let Me Keep Lent (a)

Edna Lister created this sermon outline for February 12, 1956, Tacoma, Washington. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13.

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." – 1 Corinthians 13.

The immortal words of 1 Corinthians 13 thrill us. The old translations use "charity," yet for years I have read this chapter as "love." Finally, I realized that the Master wanted Paul to set a keynote for love as compassion, to teach us to practice love.

All Jesus' teachings from the Sermon on the Mount to his Ascension teach one great theme, man's responsibility to God for the brotherhood of man. This chapter outlines your responsibility to live in such a way as to establish peace on earth.

Lent is a period designed to help you take time to think, to become peaceful within, to strip away self, to find your own soul. After you strip away self, you find yourself to be in a state of expectancy. You wait expectantly. Expectant of what? Enough life. Everyone is really seeking enough life.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the substance of all form, your body and creations. Yet faith is also the form of your imagination, thinking and feelings. You can see the results of faith, though it is fourth dimensional and invisible.

Hope is the expression of the soul, and your determination to do springs from the quality of your hope. A spider spins her web with deathless determination. She never asks, "Does God want me to have it?"

What have you to do with obstacles? If you keep your mind on your needs, your needs will multiply.

Life is like a painting. What you see depends on the background. You paint life's background stroke by stroke. A section painted too dark shows a lesson not learned.

A background painted black with grief, resentment or blame is ugly. A painting with no background is insipid, characterless, honey sweet and cloying. Paint your conquering background with light strokes. Use the brush of charity, love of God, and compassion for man, to cover others' transgressions.

The quality and quantity of your faith, hope and charity determines the difference between being faithful and faithless, hopeful or hopeless, and lovely or loveless. Your life's expression and practice are founded on your soul's hope. Life is your challenge, and love as charity is your answer.

"I am intimate with God. I have fallen deeply in love with life, and base the form of my body and my life in faith. My life's expression is founded in hope. I base my hope in God. I practice the love of my life as charity. Now I 'see face to face.' I love the Light. I know others as God knows me, through faith. Lent is my aid in living in peace."

Let Me Keep Lent (b)

This Edna Lister sermon transcript is dated February 12, 1956, Tacoma, Washington. Scribe: Ruth Bender Collord. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13.

All Jesus' teachings throughout the New Testament have one great theme, responsibility to God and the love of God that produces love for your fellow man. People are making progress in their practice of love of God and responsibility to God and for man in the teachings of Christianity. Most Christians say, "I am trying."

Everyone must be free in his choice of approach to practicing his faith. Each must be free to seek God his own way. So many find their way to God, then crack down on everyone else to follow and do it their way.

God gives no one a measuring rod to judge another soul's amount of devotion to God. Each man's highest thought is his prayer. How can you measure this?

"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." – Matthew 7:1-2.

"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." – John 7:24. Righteous judgment is high vision in action.

The whole of the teachings of Jesus points to a personal responsibility to love God enough.

1 Corinthians 13 is among the immortal messages given to Paul. The message holds two points. Charity (love) refers to the brotherhood of man. You must love God enough and first.

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." – 1 Corinthians 13:4-10.

Law credits you with your devotion to God and your charity toward your brother, not by what you do or the success you achieve in the outer. Do you "suffer" to be good?

Love does not envy. The roots of envy grow when you blame someone else for doing what you should have done while on duty. You then suffer from a sense of guilt. Do not run away from the responsibility then judge another for doing it his way.

Be too happy and too in love with God to cause offense or to be "caught out" by the law. Let nothing remain within you to react to the outer world. Love rejoices in the truth.

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." – 1 Corinthians 13:11.

You finally put away the childish things because your soul is always urging you to take on your full responsibility to God. Acknowledge your mistakes and admit that you do not know everything. Finally, admit that you never could know all that God knows.

You cannot create a chart of "How to Do It" unless you know how not to do it. You must know and understand what has caused your past failures before you can outline for success and how to do it.

Faith is the substance of all form, all bodies, all matter. All expressed creations are faith. You cannot leave faith in the fourth dimension when you create. Everything visible is faith. Since the body you wear is the substance of faith, you must care for it. All bodies are faith, made into flesh and blood.

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." – 1 Corinthians 13:13.

Hope is the expression of soul and you cannot get very far without it. It is that combination of idealism and action that pours forth and puts into outer expression as deathless determination.

The world needs life and enough hope as determination to achieve everything, including outer success and loving God. Charity is loving moving forth as compassion.

Your experiences give you your background, the depths and shadows, the difficulties the suffering, the overcoming. You paint your picture with the brush of charity.

Charity is covering others' transgressions. You have charity when you have forgiven yourself for failing, and love God enough. The Father says, "Come, child. This is the right time to enter My kingdom."

Declare, "This one thing I do, forgetting all those things which are behind, in the last year, the last hour. I forget this past." Charity forgets the grudge.

Love your so-called enemies, pour out compassion on the frailties of others. Hope is born of your expression of faith, and faith in form is all form.

When you fall in love with God, you fall in love with life. Then you know where and when to draw on all faith for life.