The Greening Power

www.thetemplelife.com/The Greening: A Play

Hildegard Von Bingen and The Greening Power of Christ

Less fortunately, Hildegard’s visions and music bears some resemblance to ethereal airs. Her story is important to all students of medieval history and culture and an inspirational account of an irresistible spirit and vibrant intellect overcoming social, physical, cultural, gender barriers to achieve timeless transcendence (Fordham University).

It was many years following my illumination of Jesus Christ that I discovered a woman who lived during the Middle Ages named Hildegard Von Bingen. This woman was the 10^th child considered the “tithe” in a family who dedicated her to a cloistered life in the Catholic Church. At age 8, the family sent this strangely profound girl to an anchoress named Jutta to receive a religious education. Jutta was born into a wealthy and prominent family and was reputed to be a very beautiful young woman.  She abandoned all worldly affiliations and decided to dedicate her life to God. Instead of entering a convent, Jutta followed a rather intensely extreme path and became an anchoress. Anchors led an ascetic life–shut off from the world inside a small room, usually built adjacent to or off of a church so that they could follow the services. With a small window acting as their only link to the rest of the world, they took their meals and passed whatever was needed for their daily activities through the window (Fordham University). Symbolically, this confinement represented “death to the world.” In our Baptism in the Holy Spirit of God, we are now dead with Christ and resurrected to be seated with Him in heaven at the right side of God. Therefore, we are new creatures in Christ–the old self is dead and the “new man” is a “resurrected” being transformed by the Word from Glory to Glory.

This awakening began her path in imparting her visions and concepts

Hildegard among other young girls found their way into the small chamber and received from Jutta a rudimentary education—an education that would leave Hildegard feeling inadequate and inferior until an awakening in her 40’s. This awakening began her path in imparting her visions and concepts regarding the potency of the workings of the Holy Spirit, or “Greening Power.”

And it came to pass when I was 42 years and 7 months old, that the heavens were opened and a blinding light of exceptional brilliance flowed through my entire brain. And so it kindled my whole heart and breast like a flame, not burning but warming… and suddenly I understood of the meaning of expositions of the books. . . (Fox, 9).

“The living light and obscured illumination”

The book I owned on Hildegard was in my library for years. It was Hildegard’s entire mission to illuminate the world on the “Fiery Comforter Spirit, Life of the life of all creatures.” Hildegard writes this: “The Holy Spirit is a Burning Spirit. It kindles the hearts of humankind. Like tympanum and lyre, it plays them, gathering volumes in the temple of the soul . . . . The Holy Spirit resurrects and awakens everything that is” (Fox,10).  Hildegard’s calling on this earth during one of the darkest times in human history embraced the idea of inflaming the hearts of humankind with the compassion and power of Jesus Christ. She celebrated God as “the living light and obscured illumination” who appointed her to speak regarding the “viriditas” or  “Greening Power” of the Holy Spirit. The viriditas of the Holy Spirit which means the “dew” of Christ who brings greenness to shriveled and wilted people and institutions. “Greening love hastens to the aid of all—with the passion of heavenly yearning, people who breathe this dew produce rich fruit” (Fox, 30).

Yet Hildegard was also overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy and hesitated to act.

But although I heard and saw these things, because of doubt and low opinion of myself and because of diverse sayings of men, I refused for a long time a call to write, not out of stubbornness but out of humility, until weighed down by a scourge of God, I fell onto a bed of sickness (Fox 9).

The Spirit of Hope

Therefore, since we have been justified [that is, acquitted of sin, declared blameless before God] by faith, [let us grasp the fact that] we have peace with God [and the joy of reconciliation with Him] through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed). 2 Through Him we also have access by faith into this [remarkable state of] grace in which we [firmly and safely and securely] stand. Let us rejoice in our hope and the confident assurance of [experiencing and enjoying] the glory of [our great] God [the manifestation of His excellence and power]. 3 And not only this but [with joy] let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship (distress, pressure, trouble) produces patient endurance;4 and endurance, proven character (spiritual maturity); and proven character, hope and confident assurance [of eternal salvation]. 5 Such hope [in God’s promises] never disappoints us, because God’s love has been abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us–Romans 5

There have been centuries of a form of spiritual genocide that is replacing the Power of God with a system of control and abuse. The original Gospel speaks about hope and the confident assurance of experiencing and enjoying the glory of our great God which is the manifestation of His excellence and power especially in the midst of hardships and trial. However, the early  Church of Rome (313 AD) used the hardship and trial part in often controlling the people. Hope in God’s promises was annihilated leaving a spiritual graveyard in place of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Hildegard was a forerunner of reform for the Church. She was a prophet, visionary, artist, musician, healer, author and above all, lover of Jesus Christ and His church. She inspired hope in the lives of hundreds of people during a dark and oppressive time.

What is Hope?

Hope comes with the package of humanity–we are created in God’s image. Within the hearts of each person is the Spirit of Hope. Hope is innate within our being and can be understood as a divine attribute that recognizes our dreams and aspirations. Innate Hope is more than a desire for physical survival; for every living thing desires to live. The consciousness of God that is innate within our being is Hope. Hope cannot be contained or imagined. Hope is rather “contained” with love, acceptance, validation and in essence an aspect of the consciousness of God that cannot be seen. When we come to “the knowledge of the truth” that there is one God, innate hope becomes activated to the purpose and calling of our being; ignited to become all that God created us to be. Innate hope is then joined with “transcendent hope;” the eternal consciousness of God, which is “the mind of Christ” is joined with our spirit–we are reborn. This concept is not “prosperity” doctrine it is scriptural truth:

Innate Hope Joins with Transcendent Hope

Within the nature of Hope, the entire creation was created and continues to transform and develop according to the ultimate will of God. Hope is something that transcends the ordinary. We see the manifestation of Hope all around us: the solar systems, the Earth and all her beauty and miraculous LIFE. Hope is a mystery yet, Transcendent Hope is the “substance” that makes the impossible possible. Hope is not a nebulous idea; Hope is God; the person of Jesus Christ, the person of the Heavenly Father, the person of the Holy Spirit. (However, we know that God is in a category all to Himself; in other words, God is actually more than Hope.) We are talking about Hope now–our innate Hope is directed to the “person” of the one God. Transcendent Hope actually embraces the reality of the grand. Each person has been given the divine right to greatness in terms of their unique soul and the fact that they were created by God for a wonderful future and a Hope beyond the dictates of ordinary life in this world. We are not subject to futility in Christ but this does not grant a “get out of jail free card” in terms of the trails and tribulation we face in this life. However, we can “count it all joy” in working out our salvation and transformation.

We Become Enlightened to Who We Are 

Through faith, the mercy of God is received. This is the first step in entering the Kingdom of Heaven on this earth: it is through recognizing the salvation principle of grace through faith that Hope encompasses eternal possibilities. This idea is foundational in transformational growth in finding our identity in Jesus Christ–the author and finisher of our faith. The eternal reality of Hope is the mystery of the consciousness of God igniting a passion for living in the abundance and purpose He created us for through God by faith. Hope in God combines our will with the will of God. When this happens we see our God-given attributes develop and our inmost desires and dreams come to pass now and forever.

The Relationship Between Hope and Faith

Hope in God is the foundation of faith. However, where Hope is limitless, Faith is measured. Faith is a measurement that expands with Hope. Faith allows the things hoped for to manifest. Faith grows because the “yeast” of Hope is put into the mix we were created with by God. In essence, we are co-creating our reality with the supernatural reality of the Kingdom of Heaven. I say this because although God has a blueprint for our lives from the foundation of the world, He has also given us free will. Free will allows us to make choices–the more we see “the things Hoped for” manifest in our lives, the more we stand on the desire to chose the will of God because we recognize His greatness and power “in which we stand.” Standing means: relying on, counting on, adhering to, and hoping in the person of God to come into our situations; to bring us into a place of abundant joy, healing, deliverance, understanding and above all love.

During a time in history, it is to be noted that the Roman Church did not teach the fullness of a Life in Jesus Christ. Hildegard understood that she was a new creature in Christ growing in the “greenness” of a Kingdom life. In the midst of the darkness of the times, she saw the green meadows, the flowering gardens, the abundantly living beauty of Jesus Christ, and lived her life reflecting the Light. Hildegard used herbs for healing, she studied the human body, and received insight from the Holy Spirit on how to heal and minister–she was gifted by God to serve humankind. The cool thing is–the Church recognized her in a time that women were stationed below men, especially in the Church. Bishops, popes, priests, and kings consulted this prolific and prophetic woman of God. Her music is the first in history to be recorded in biographical writings.

Hildegard wrote and spoke extensively about social justice,  freeing the downtrodden,  the duty of seeing to it that every human being, made in the image of God, had the opportunity to develop and use the talents that God gave them from the foundation of the world, and to realize their God-given potential. Hildegard understood the place of humankind upon this earth living a Kingdom Life–a life of balance with our natural surroundings–she heard the music of the angels singing: “Holy, holy, holy” and imparted that song to others as a Living Stone praising the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Hildegard imparted a spirit of hope to the people she touched.