**[[Sun Papers]]**
====== An Easter Message ======
== SUN PAPER NO. 52 | APRIL 1933 ==
ALL WHO have taken seriously what has been said in the heart-to-heart talks we have had the last four months—and we earnestly hope all have so taken it—must realize that we have been trying to prepare every member of The Impersonal Work for something most important, and that we have been so strongly impressing the necessity of finding and abiding in the Christ Consciousness for a very definite purpose.
We have indicated this almost from the beginning, but now the time has come when the need has grown so great that we shall make one more appeal—to those who have followed with us and have not yet found and entered It, to lay aside everything now for a supreme effort to find the Kingdom, which of course means the Christ Consciousness; and in very truth to make that FIRST discovery above every other thing else in life.
Remember, when coming into this Work, you came allowing us to assume that you were responding to the call given and were then making the finding of the Kingdom FIRST. But can you face your Higher Self, and our Great Leader, Christ Jesus, and say it has actually been your first duty all these past four years?
Do you realize what that means? And can you now see why you have not found the Kingdom? And why others have found it? For it has been FIRST—not second or third—to everyone who has found the Kingdom. Yes, it must be the one and only desire of the heart—the only thing for which you are now living. For surely you have caught at least a glimpse of why you are here; of what life here has meant, and the purpose of it—that you are but preparing your human instrument for something that is the sole reason for your being in physical expression?
Whether your human mind has deemed that glimpse of any significance before this matters not. NOW, we make this further appeal to you to wake up—you who are still lagging behind because of other matters that are allowed to interfere.
Are there any other things of more importance than what we have asked? If you do not believe us, then neither do you believe your beloved Master, Who said,
“Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness—AND ALL THINGS ELSE WILL BE ADDED.”
Can we offer you any more than He thus promised? Yet you daily, and think, fret and worry about all those petty, futile things in the outer, that are fast slipping from your grasp, being taken from you by your Higher Self, so that there will be nothing more to consider you coming within into the Kingdom of His Consciousness—causing you to surrender every outer desire, and to turn your forces upon finding and abiding in Him.
Of course we have said this over and over again many times, in different words and in various ways. And what think you we have said it and have been so persistent? We and your Brothers of the Kingdom are trying to wake you up and to remind you why you are here in incarnation and of the work that lies ahead and which you came here expressly to do.
As we said above, the time is here when you must make a supreme effort to regain your True Consciousness, and thus prepare your human expression for active service. The Call has come for conscious workers. Are you one? If not, why not? Because you have not yet found your Divine Self within—despite all the teaching, helps and opportunities given you the past four years—all due to your not making the supreme effort you should have made.
But that is past. NOW is the accepted time. And if you will make that supreme effort today and every hour hereafter, actually making the gaining of the Christ Consciousness FIRST, it will be granted you.
And to that end we are offering you the following chance to earn what is already yours, waiting for you to claim it.
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====AN EASTER MESSAGE====
WE HAVE arrived at another Easter Season, when all nature is preparing to burst forth into a renewed and beautiful expression of the Life within, which through its myriad forms thus pictures to the minds of men what lies within the soul of Nature.
Likewise in man, the highest and most perfect form in which Life dwells, it is trying to come forth and express to man’s mind the beauty and perfection of what lies deep within his nature—a part of the great Cosmic Nature.
At each Easter Season, whether he is aware of it or not, does man advance one stage nearer to that beauty and perfection, until finally he reaches Spiritual maturity; when he recognizes his part in the All, gives himself to the All, and ever afterward seeks to co-operate with and let the beauty and perfection of the Life within come forth and express in glorious harmony with the Life in nature everywhere about him, in the outer as well as in the inner world.
And by this same token are men’s souls who reach maturity during each Harvest Season, and who following Spring are later brought into conscious realization of their Divine Estate, in the soul realm.
This Life within man and within all nature is the Life of our Father God and is called the Christ Life, because it expresses through the Life of His Son, the Christ, Who represents the Father and is our Lord God on the planet Earth. But as was said before, not until that Life has built a perfect form in man, and the outer consciousness is unfolded to where it can co-operate fully with the Christ Life within, is that form matured and ripened; and so at each Easter Season, for all souls who have reached that stage, a great celebration is held in the soul realm to rejoice over the return of these sons of God again to their Father’s Home, and at the same time to celebrate the rebirth of the Christ in them.
For this reason have we been trying to prepare you for that return, by giving you a foretaste of it in the joy of working with your brothers in small groups in the outer. We have tried to have you realize that in group work alone can you come into a consciousness of that great inner Group in the company of kindred souls, all meeting in “His Name” and seeking to fit and make themselves worthy for His Service, conscious that realization has come only through consciousness of the Christ Consciousness attained, and only through the Christ Consciousness is the Consciousness of the Great Christ Brothers attained.
Only through group consciousness is the Christ Consciousness attained. Group consciousness may have been attained in a previous life, and the consciousness that comes from the Christ Consciousness may have been attained in a former life, and the Consciousness of the Brotherhood must be earned and acquired in this life. But each soul must be gained only through an intense yearning to serve. Such souls will eventually carry you to the highest.
At this Easter Season a great gathering of Christ Conscious souls will meet together as usual at Jerusalem in the soul realm. Among them will be many who are incarnated in the flesh, doing their part in helping move the complicated machinery of the outer world.
Many of those present will be Christ Conscious in the outer as well as in their soul consciousness, and at the coming celebration a considerable number of those who have waited to be Christ Conscious the past year will be welcomed into the Great Brotherhood. They from then on will work consciously with their Brothers in the outer world to bring as many more as possible into the Light of the Christ Consciousness.
Through the efforts of all these workers the band of outer conscious members will soon grow to vast proportions, all working for the Christ Cause; each succeeding Easter seeing larger and ever larger numbers of new members added to the Group, on the inner plane. But no matter how powerful and far-reaching the Work may become in the outer, none will be admitted to the band of workers until they have first become truly conscious of the Christ within and are waiting upon and serving Him there. In such manner will the Work be kept pure and unpolluted until the actual coming of God’s Kingdom on Earth, through the efforts of these chosen ones, who will be truly doing the work of the Kingdom even while here in the outer world.
We wish all to note the distinction between being the Christ Conscious, and being conscious of the Christ Consciousness attained, and only through the Christ Consciousness is the Consciousness of the Great Christ Brothers attained.
Try to realize that once the Christ Consciousness is attained, the outer consciousness becomes wholly directed toward Service for others and serving Divine Teachers or Masters of other Faiths.
On the other hand, those who are serving and waiting upon other Holy Ones or inner Masters or Teachers, are being guided and helped by them and are learning and unfolding to the stage where they can become aware of Christ, the Comforter within, instead of just loving and venerating Him Who lived and taught these great truths nineteen hundred years ago.
This would mean that those who are following other Faiths and other Teachers, no matter how beautiful their teachings or how wonderful the powers of such Teachers, unless these Teachers always point their disciples directly toward God’s Holy Spirit within themselves, they are not being consciously guided by that Spirit, and are therefore still in the consciousness of self and of separation.
All men, no matter what their religion or faith, no matter what Divine Teacher or Master they are loving and following, eventually will unfold in consciousness to where Divine Love, God’s Holy Spirit, the Comforter, will come forth and rule in their minds and hearts, will then live His Life, do His Will, and be their core and only Self.
When the Comforter comes to a man, as Jesus promised, He will teach him all things and lead him unto all truth; which means will lead him straight to the Kingdom of God’s Consciousness, and he will then be conscious and only about doing his Father’s will on earth even as in Heaven.
For such, the Kingdom is not only a reality in the inner realm, but it will have become a reality in the outer; for in doing the work of the Kingdom they are thus inevitably and surely bringing the Kingdom down upon the Earth. Think on this, until you see how true it must be.
WE TELL you all this for one purpose only—to show that you must strive to attain your place as a living sacrifice to altar of the Lord, giving yourself as a living sacrifice to the Father, that He may accept and endue you with the power to serve selflessly and to make your human self a perfect instrument for Christ and the Brotherhood’s use.
This must be the one desire of your heart from now on—if you are to be a conscious participant in the Easter Services and conscious of your membership in the Great Christ Brotherhood. And above all must this desire be untainted by personal longing so to participate with or to be conscious of your Brothers in Spirit. You must give up all desire for such pleasures, for they are of the self, and will only hold you back from the real attainment your soul intends for you.
Therefore, make careful analysis of your desires, both open and secret, and see that nothing is reserved and the surrender is complete. Then place all upon the altar, and abide serenely in the silence of your soul, allowing the Divine One there to take full charge and to lead henceforth.
Above all things, dear ones, our desire is for you to reach the goal this Easter time. For that, for which you have been so long preparing your human instruments, awaits now that day you may participate in it.
What we have stated above we have made as strong as we could, to impress upon you its vital importance. Of course none of it applies to those who have already made the Christ Consciousness and are now more or less thinking, speaking and acting from it.
If any experienced have come since assuming the Christ Consciousness, but you have not told us, but which convinced you that you have made the grade, we earnestly urge that you write us of them at once. We are preparing for some definite work and every Christ Conscious worker that is available will be needed in it. We hope that you can write us that you are now ready for Inner Service.
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[[Sun Papers]]