Brief Thoughts on the Nature of Sacrifice...

Its late at night, and I am on my way to bed after this...tomorrow night - tonight rather - is my 3rd Degree Initiation. Part of what I have been asked to consider is the nature of sacrifice, and what sacrifice do I bring to become a 3rd Degree priest.
I don't know what my group has planned for this...they are doing a ritual drama, that much I know, and it centers around the image of the Green Man, the Horned God, the Lord of the Harvest. That is the God of Sacrifice, in any of His incarnations. Note please - sacrifice is not martyrdom. Sacrifice to me does not mean self abnegation, or destruction. Self sacrifice is commitment in totality...is not self forgetfulness, but rather self transcendence. Self is not lost, but is laid down and then received back again.

The Green Man, the Lover of the Goddess, whose love is sacrificial in that it is total commitment to the moment, to the joy, to the giving and receiving...

The Horned God, who is the Hunter and the Hunted...who seeks to feed and care for a family, who is the prey who gives itself to the Hunter and whose soul is honored, and whose entire body is used to sustain life, not wasted for sport or cruelty...

The Lord of the Harvest, the Reaper of the Harvest, the seed that was sown and died in the earth to bring forth fruit and grain for the winter and the famine and the time of need...to nourish others with food and fulfillment...

And finally, Jesus, known as the Christ, who came into this world out of balance, from eternity into time, to lay down himself, and his life to restore unto the world life and wholeness...and lived again, receiving Self back with the rising of the sun...

As a Priest of the Green Man, and a Priest in the Priesthood of Believers, I seek not to martyr or destroy Self, but to transcend Self, to find my greatest joy in my daily life, my commitment to my wife and our rich full relationship, my commitment to serve and to care for those in need, to reach my utmost for His highest, my connection with Deity, and with the great world around me.
I lay down self in this...I have been the Fool on the journey, of self discovery, of life, of learning. It is a journey of transformation, of change and it is one that is not over, but will continue to spiral around, forever the same and forever changing and new. And I will receive back myself, whole and entire, reborn and cradled in the earth and the light and the love of this world. I will allow those who seek to nurture and care for me to do so, as I seek to nurture and care for them. And I will be shelter and comfort and love to those around me.
I seek to be in this world the God who dwells within, and with both hands - their toil, their art and craft, their strength, yes and even their weakness - to give back to the world what has been given to me.

Thus the nature of sacrifice.
Blessed be.