The Resurrecting Life by Rev. Christine Emmerling DD, 4/20/2025

Today for Easter, I’m speaking on “The Resurrecting Life.” Last Sunday we completed our Lent series on “Understanding the Beatitudes” based on Jesus the Christ’s Sermon on the Mount in the 5th chapter of Matthew. As part of my talk today I’m going to briefly summarize the metaphysical, symbolic meaning to each of the eight Beatitudes, and how it leads us to living a resurrected life.

Jesus the Christ was teaching his disciples about heaven of God, our relationship with God, and how prayer and meditation are the means to building this relationship. It’s a journey in discovering our spiritual nature and the world’s.

Christ Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with first preparing his consciousness, and then he spoke the 1st Beatitude, saying, “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The word “blessed” can also mean happy, joyful, content, delighted, blissful. Being “poor in spirit” means to be humble. We are to surrender our ego centered self to God.

Next phrase is “Kingdom of heaven” and in Luke it reads “Kingdom of God.” We are told that this kingdom is within us as the Father within. Heaven is a state of conscious union of peace, love, joy, oneness, inspiration and guidance. We are learning about prayer and/or meditation. We must be in a receptive quiet state of mind. Turning our thoughts away from the outer worldly scene for the inner world - our kingdom of heaven.

The 2nd beatitude reads “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Besides meaning sorrow, to lament or grieve, in the eastern tradition, mourning also means “longing,” and for a disciple this would be longing for our connection with God.

That deep longing in knowing there is something more, will eventually bring us closer to God. Then we will find comfort. Persevere in our quest to knowing God within us is a life long journey of seeking, studying, and practices which brings us closer to knowing God.

The 3rd beatitude reads “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” To be meek is to be patient, mild, calm, gentle or kind, and not inclined to anger or resentment. These are inner strengths to be desired.

By surrendering all our willful and inharmonious ways, we have gained the greater good – our true inheritance. We have dominion of the physical realm, dominion of our thoughts, body and emotions. All is calm, peaceful and harmonious. In prayer or meditation it’s about becoming teachable listening to the still small voice - the Christ consciousness within us.

The 4th beatitude reads, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Another meaning for righteousness is in “right-use-ness.” Jesus Christ is teaching us to seek right use of our thoughts, emotions, actions and spiritual power. Christ Jesus was tested to see if he could be tempted to misuse spiritual power. We each go through our tests to make sure we are ready spiritually for the next level.

We are to have a deep desire, an urgency, and persistency – a never give up attitude in our quest to experience this Presence of God. When we seek God for the sole purpose of knowing God, not for personal gain, but for just knowing, then all that we ever need is provided, we are filled. Great things can be done when we are aligned in the Truth of our self and of God.

The 5th beatitude reads, “Blessed are the Merciful: for They Shall Obtain Mercy.” This beatitude is teaching that we are to be kind, compassionate, charitable and forgiving. These are attitudes or state of being in thought, feeling, and in our actions.

As we prepare for prayer, we let go of all negative thoughts towards others and to our self. We give love, kindness, and compassion in place of judgement until we find that place of peace – the peace that passes all understanding. And, what do we get back, more love, kindness and compassion, and peace of mind.

The 6th beatitude reads, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” In the Aramaic “Pure in heart” means “Pure in mind.” I see it as being congruent, in agreement, in thought, feeling, and action to our true divine nature. This is about our true intentions behind our actions. Do we have pure intentions? Or is there an agenda in wanting something in return as in healing, wealth, recognition or gratitude.

When we go into prayer or meditation it is to know God, to have no other want but to just know more of God. We are told to go inward, and be in silent communion with this Divine Presence that is within us. Then we shall know the truth and see God everywhere as everything and everyone.

The 7th beatitude reads, “Blessed are the Peacemakers; for they shall be called the Sons of God.” This world cannot give peace. In meditation we can reach a place in consciousness where there are no thoughts. There is a silence while still being fully present as a silent observer. It is in this silence that we touch the hem of the garment of the Christ within, a great peace and joy comes from being in communion with God - the Christ consciousness within us.

This is the Kingdom that Christ Jesus spoke of as “my kingdom is not of this world.” His kingdom, is the inner realm of consciousness where the true power and peace resides. Now for the last part “for they shall be called the children of God.” In some Bible translations the word “sons” is used in place of children. I like to use the original form of the word son as s-u-n, sun or light. For Jesus said, we are the light of the world.

The 8th beatitude reads, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely; for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

How many times a day do we say against our self falsely? Do we revile ourselves? We affirm the truth, and then turn around the next moment denying our truth. It is these times when we must stand firm in our truth. Inwardly, deny the false and speak the truth. This is a form of crucifixion and resurrection. We are taking dominion of our Holy Temple.

Giving up our beliefs is the most challenging. People will fight to death in defense of their beliefs. Yet, to take that next step in consciousness, we must be willing to let them go for the greater truth. Then we enter in that high state of Christ consciousness. Our world is shaken and transformed, the rock is rolled back, and we are free to be.

The following is from the Come Unto Me volume 3 - The Christ by Malinda Cramer, “The resurrection represents rising beyond appearances. Every person is a child of God; but this son-of-God or Christ self is a stranger to many because it is buried under a mass of their unspiritual thoughts, which are based upon the premise that the material world is the only real world.

“Because the Christ self is Spirit, it cannot be seen by material eyes. We cannot see God’s true world of oneness when we are looking through eyes veiled in the belief of materiality and mortality.

“Resurrection comes to mankind, when they put aside separateness from God, each other, and of all life and creation. The resurrection must first come into our consciousness to lift our thoughts out of the tomb of belief in things as they appear to be.

We find Christ within ourselves by following the spirit of the teachings of Jesus the Christ, and entering into the way of ‘the truth, and the life,’ which leads to resurrection of the soul and body.” (End)

Christ Jesus so embodied the Father within, God Consciousness as his entire being that his life resurrected to a new spiritual state of being. We’re all spiritual beings experiencing this 3rd dimensional world and call ourselves human beings. Many people of today say that “We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

Science says humans are of the earth, but we’re more than an earthly life. Our spirit/soul lives before this life on earth and goes on living after this earthly life. Now Jesus the Christ awakened to his true spiritual nature of living eternally. He became master over his emotions, weather, earth elements, and death. Christ Jesus demonstrated through his resurrection of being able to appear, disappear, and at will reappear in full denseness of body. He was a fully conscious multi-dimensional being.

In truth, we all are multi-dimensional beings. We just haven’t awakened those capabilities to do it at will. Yet it is possible as Jesus showed us, and it is our future normal state of being. Christ Jesus told us that we too can do these works and even greater works than these shall we do. Christ Jesus’ resurrection then isn’t a one-time miracle, but a demonstration for us to learn by.

Every night we go to sleep leaving a conscious state of our body, and then we awaken in the morning revitalized to a new day. This new day can be a new start in life. Every day is an opportunity to see and experience life in a new way. We can do this by a change in our consciousness. Think about what holds us in our same patterns of living. Day in and day out we have our habits, thoughts and beliefs. When we start to change any one of these then its like a ripple effect that gradually shakes up the others.

Then one day we realize our whole way of life has changed. For some this can be a very slow process, but with intention we can speed this process up. We can consciously evolve and awaken to our fully realized spiritual nature.

We start by daily taking time to study, meditate and pray. We reflect on our day paying attention to our thoughts, our beliefs and our habits. Review and challenge them by asking, “Is it true, is it necessary, is it helpful?” What doesn’t pass the test then begin to eliminate, and replace with what is true, necessary and helpful. Don’t be surprised when that old way of life isn’t even recognizable, because we’re living life on a whole new frequency of vibration as a resurrected soul.

The I’ll close with a prayer by Malinda Cramer. I invite us to get comfortable, turn inward and take these words inward for our self. .

“God is Omnipresent and expressed in all creation. I am all present, Spirit, Soul and Body. I am health in Spirit, health in Soul and health in Body. I am one perfect whole. I am one with the infinitude of Spirit, the infinitude of Soul and the infinitude of Body.

“I, Spirit, am one with all visibility. I, Body, am one with all that is invisible. I am one with God Almighty expressed in heaven and earth. Every atom of substance is intelligent and hears my voice. There is no lack of consciousness, no partial truth, mortality, loss, nor gain. I am now absolute life, consciousness its self, and am immortality.” So it is! Amen.