Good Morning Beloved!
A little boy was walking down a dirt road after church one Sunday afternoon when he came to a “Y” in the road where he met a little girl coming from the other direction.

He said, “Hello.”

‘Hi,’ replied the little girl.

‘Where are you going?’ asked the little boy.

‘I’ve been to church this morning and I’m on my way to my aunties,’ answered the little girl.

‘I’m also on my way home from church. Which church do you go to?’ asked the little boy.

‘I go to the Catholic church down the road,’ replied the little girl. ‘What about you?’

‘I go to the Protestant church back at the top of the hill.’

They discover that they are both going the same way so they decided that they’d walk together.

They came to a low spot in the road where spring rains had partially flooded the road, so there was no way that they could get across to the other side without getting wet.

‘If I get my new Sunday dress wet, my Mom’s going to skin me alive,’ said the little girl.

‘My Mom’ll tan my hide, too, if I get my best Sunday suit wet,’ replied the little boy.

‘I’ll tell you what I think I’ll do,’ said the little girl. ‘I’m gonna take off all my clothes and hold them over my head and wade across.’

‘That’s a good idea, replied the little boy. ‘I’m going to do the same thing with my suit.’

So they both undressed and waded across to the other side without getting their clothes wet. They were standing there in the sun waiting to drip dry before putting their clothes back on, when the little boy finally remarked:
‘You know, I never realized before just how much difference there really is between a CATHOLIC and a PROTESTANT !!!

So, good morning! How are you all today? Well, I hope, because today we have some big, important questions to ask….and anyone that knows me knows I love to ask good questions. I wish to make you think. I believe THAT is part of my job, for you to leave here asking yourself if you are being the person you wish to be.

So, here’s the big question for today—–How Big is your God? Have you even thought about your Creator lately? And your relationship to the Divine Being that is ALL. I know some of you are getting comfortable with what ever it is that your call that energy that is in all – and of all – and creater of all.

But have you thought about what your concept of God really is? And, for brevitys sake, we’ll use that term loosely.
Look at your concept of God as you were growing up…here’s mine…in Sunday School, it was all about a loving, kind “Father type” guy in the sky. Growing out of Sunday School and into the church service, I sat and listened to a mad, angry God and heard all about sin, hell and damnation, and how I needed to be saved.

How has that changed? Or has it? Do you need to have a ‘concept cleanse’ regarding your thought about the All Mighty that is?

And what exactly do you mean when you use the word God? When do you use the term? Only when referring to the Divine Universe? Or do you throw the word around like, say the word Love…I love your dress…I love my car….I love black raspberry crumb pie….I love my brothers….I love my Harry Potter collection…..are you getting the picture?

When we use a word casually, it loses it true meaning. We then have to define what it means to us…I love you…as a friend, not Love as in love, not love like I love my dogs or I love juicy fruits, or PA Bakery whoopie pies..you get the picture.

Think a few moments how often you use the term God.

In the Near East, it is very common to use the term very loosely… As God is my witness, this camel is only 3 years old and there for worth the price! God strike me down if this shirt isn’t worth 5 dinars! These dates are fresh and for you, because God guides me, I will let you have them for only this price….

Maybe we DO need a’cleanse!’

As my metaphysics instructor would always sa , “Watch your words.”

Now lets look at what all that Divine Mystery could encompass. As our consciousness expands, so does our concept of what we mean when we say God.

There was a time when many believed the family of God did not include women. And there are still some places and beliefs that remain so. Is your God big enough to include women? ALL women?

Would it include Kim Davis? (The clerk sent to jail for a few days in contempt of court for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples) Catlin Jenner? The Black woman in the grocery store? The Muslim one?

Our Wayshower, Jesus was anointed by women,learned from a Gentile woman, spoke up to defend a woman, raised the dead for women, healed women, constantly helped the unnoticed women, enjoyed the attention and the company of women, said that there was no hierarchy in faith, and had female disciples traveling with him. Possibly married one….

He never once in word or deed spoke ill of or did harm to a woman. His resurrection was revealed first to a women, who was also the first to announce it to the others. Jesus is absolutely a feminist.”

Is your God big enough to include your family? Look at what happened to Joseph…his brothers were jealous of him and they wanted to kill him. Finally they choose to sell him into slavery. Of course that eventually turmed out for the good, the Divine Plan usually does if we keep an open mind and heart. Joseph always kept the love of his family with him through it all.

Is your God big enough to hold your family?

Does your God include our government? All of it…even the other party? Are you doing what is yours to do to encourage your government to do what is theirs to do for the citizens of the nation? The world?

Is your God big enough to include Muslims? All Muslims? Aren’t they the ones who want to kill us all? An appropriate question since we just had the anniversary of 9/11.

How about the Buddhists? Well, they have similar beliefs as us so they might be ok, right? But the Jews….didn’t they play a part in the killing of Jesus?

Is it big enough to include say, Hitler? Stalin? Sadam Hussain?

Or, lets get personal, the person who hurt you the most, whomever they may be. An ex, your family, a friend…
Would your God be big enough to include you?

In Galatians 3:28, it says, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one….“

If we look at our progression through the evolution of our soul know as our Journey, we can see how and maybe even where we have progressed to include women, and gays and Muslims, and killers and rapists and the Right Wing Christians and the people who hurt us, in our family of God.

SO before you judge whether someone can be or not be in your family of God, consider this: We can see less than 1% of the electromagnetic spectrum and hear less then 1% of the acoustic spectrum. Right now you are traveling at 220 kilometers per second across the galaxy. 90% of the cells in your body carry their own microbial DNA and are not ‘you.’ The atoms in your body are 99.99999999999999% (14) empty space and none of them are the ones you were born with, but they all originated in the belly of a star. Human Beings have 46 chromosomes, 2 less than the common potato. The existance of the rainbow depends on the conical photoreceptors in your eyes; to animals with out cones, rainbows do not exist. So, you don’t just look at it, you create it, even though of all the beautiful colors you see, they only represent less than 1% of the electromagnetic spectrum.
We must all work on our prejudices, we obviously do not see as much as we think we do!

So what would a God for grownups be? Well, according to Ellen Davenport, Unity Minister and author of “The Five Principles” it might look like this:

First, one that meets us where we are and welcomes our questioning, growing, changing and doubting. The idea that God is made in humans’ image is usually leveled as a criticism of religion, but what else could God be? Our human minds cannot conceive of All That Is, cannot encompass a universe of spiritual laws and dimensions that we only guess about. Our world religions are but feeble attempts to describe our varied experience of the unknown. God is understood as best we can, and we need a growing, malleable image of God that expands with each spiritual insight we glean.

Second, God for grownups has to be more than Santa Claus. The All Being surely is not making a list of who’s naughty or nice and arranging eternal reward or punishment for each. This God is the creative force behind sweeping galaxies and infinitesimal life forms, of bewildering fractal patterns and perfect seasonal cycles, of mind-blowing beauty and pure potential, the oak tree in the acorn, the child in a microscopic twist of DNA. God for grownups is far outside the human pattern of thinking. Any limits to God are our own.

Third, most people want to believe that God is involved in their lives. Humans have always intuited a Presence they could not see, a silent source of guidance, wisdom and support—even love—and have sought throughout history to connect with this power.

Descriptions of the divine force in the world have blossomed into a fascinating array of expressions through the world’s religions, and they have changed over time. The Bible itself is the story of humans’ developing concepts of God described in a range of ways, from a harsh judge to a mother comforting her child. Jesus introduced a personal, paternal God that he called Abba, the Aramaic word for “papa” or “daddy.”

The Bible also reflects the expanding consciousness of human beings, which continues today. Our task is to nurture the evolution of our own species, which will naturally include a deeper understanding of how the universe operates and our role in it. Quantum science now accompanies us on the journey.

Yet we struggle with words adequate to reflect our experience of the divine, and we haven’t even begun to realign religious language with the discoveries of science. We will never understand the totality of the divine, but it permeates our lives nonetheless.

We have lived so long with our childhood idea of God as an old man in the sky, keeping books on our behavior or at the very least watching from a distance, that we may struggle to bend our minds around the idea of our oneness with Being.

Where are you on that struggle?

We are made in God’s image.

Remember that every single moment of your life, you have the choice to either be a host to God or a hostage to your ego.

Good Morning Beloved!

A blind man walks into a gay women’s bar by mistake. He feels his way to a stool and asks for a bourbon. After sipping awhile, he says, “Hey, anybody here want to hear a blonde joke?”

The whole place goes totally silent.

In a husky, deep voice, a woman says, “Before you tell that joke, Bub, you should know a few things.

One, the bartender is a blonde.

Two, so is the very large bouncer.

Three, I’m a blonde professional wrestler.

Four, The lady sitting next to me is a blonde champion kickboxer.

Five, the woman to your left is a tall, 200 pound weightlifter, also blonde.

So consider it carefully, Mister. Do you really want to tell that blonde joke?”

The blind man thinks for a minute, then shakes his head and says,

“Nah, not if I’m gonna have to explain it five times.”

Welcome to September!  Our Power this month is ZEAL!  What is zeal?  It’s enthusiasm.  It’s passion!  Charles Fillmore, at age 94, wrote “I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm and spring forth with a mighty faith to do the things that ought to be done by me.”

Get the idea?  Let’s say this month’s affirmations together….

This week we want to talk a bit about the World Day of Prayer.  World Day of Prayer is one more way we can all help to make a difference in the world, one person at a time.  So on Thursday, September 10^th, please take a few moments during your day to BE, to be silent and let the  power of prayer take over in your heart and mind.  Maybe bring to mind the names you submitted to Big Unity for prayer.  Maybe bring to mind an affirmation you are using at the moment.  Maybe just be quiet and BREATHE!

PAUSE

The theme for this year’s World Day of Prayer is Pray Up Your Life, Pray Up the World. You can feel some ZEAL in that affirmation, can’t you? The affirmation for World Day of Prayer is: As I pray, I connect my highest thoughts with my deepest faith.

Let’s say that together…

Prayer in its simplest form is any conscious attempt to experience the presence of whatever you name that energy or vibration that is ALL,— God, Spirit, Universe, Goddess, Christ, Buddha…, you get the picture. You enter the word you are using to identify with that energy.  We all know there is NO word that can truly identify IT.  In fact, maybe THAT is why the Israelites didn’t say the name at all….

Prayer can be a deliberate activity—one of seeking to recognize our oneness with God, of opening ourselves to the power of that Divine Spirit as it moves through us in new and wonderful ways.

Once this happens, however, prayer becomes something even more. As our awareness of the presence of God expands, prayer becomes the experience of being part of that Oneness, of centering ourselves directly in the creative flow of the universe, of perceiving things not with human eyes or human ears or human minds but from the divinity within us. We pray not to God or for God, as something separate from us, but from that sacred presence which is our very essence.

And so we come to see that the purpose of prayer is not to fill an earthly need—new car, better relationship, healing—but to satisfy the natural longing in our souls not only to experience our Creator but actually to live from that experience.

“God is in the yearning” as my one mentor would say. And every cell in your body is in THAT yearning.

Even if we pray for specific things, the underlying need is really the need to experience our spirituality, to feel our oneness with our Creator, to sense the comfort and the guidance and the healing that rise up out of opening ourselves to that Energy.

Can “things” ever really satisfy our souls? Sooner or later we realize that true satisfaction comes only from finding that connection. As Charles Fillmore declared, “The real search of all people is for God. They may think they are looking for other things, but they must eventually admit that it is God they seek.”

While historically we may have prayed to a Higher Power outside ourselves, imploring for things and outer changes in our lives, we are now discovering that this Power is omnipresent and dwells within each of us.

As a separated drop of ocean water eventually makes its way back to the sea, we are inexorably drawn back into the awareness of our oneness with God. The drop of water may evaporate and be drawn into the clouds to be blown by wind and fall as snow on the highest mountain. Eventually the snow will melt and the drop will become part of a trickle and then a stream and then a river until finally it returns to the sea.

If we could suspend reason for a moment, it might seem that at various points in its journey, the drop may pray to melt or to be part of the trickle, or it may pray to join a stream or a river. But what it really “wants” is to find the ocean again.

Again I say, God is in the yearning…can you imagine yourself, for a moment, that drop of ocean as it travels back to its source?

PAUSE

Our prayers are to find God again—to be lifted by Spirit as It speaks and thinks and acts as us.

Since the beginning of time, people of all civilizations have prayed. From prayer beads to prayer wheels, from solemn Gregorian chants to foot-stomping gospel music, from the fervent worshipers flogging their backs with ropes to the seeker quietly sitting cross-legged atop a mountain, from the people at the Universal Dances to those sitting here today, there are as many ways of praying as there are people who pray.

And so, how does Unity say to pray?   We say to pray Affirmative Prayers.

Affirmative…it means asserting the truth, validity, or fact of something; positive; not negative.

So when we go into a time of prayer, we do so in a positive frame of mind.  We keep our thoughts positive.

When most people think of prayer, they think of asking God for something.  Not so in Unity.

With “affirmative prayer,” rather than begging or beseeching God, we connect with the spirit of our Higher Self within and assert positive beliefs about the desired outcome. Affirmative prayer is the same method of prayer Jesus taught when he said, “So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).

It is also the Lord’s Prayer…which is really a set of affirmations.

If, for example, one were to pray traditionally, one might say: “Please God, help me find a job.” By contrast, an affirmative prayer might be: “I am now guided to my right and perfect employment.”

Affirmative prayer reflects the certainty that we are each being led to our highest good, despite any temporary appearances.

Metaphysicians believe that thoughts transmit energy and this energy attracts other energy of the same frequency. Whether you are conscious of it or not, your thoughts are transmitting energy that is attracting more of the same. When you remain focused on your intentions, you will draw those things into your life.

On our way home from Service last Sunday, Barbara, Emma and I stopped at the Seafood Place along route 1.  As Emma and I sat in the car waiting for Barbara to return with her choice for our meals, I thought, “I hope she gets scallops or salmon.  Or even better both!”  We waited for more minutes than I thought were needed but we were fine in the air conditioned vehicle.  When she finally returned, I asked, “What did you get?”  And she said “Scallops and salmon.”

Thoughts create your world!!!!

Rosemary Ellen Guiley, author of Prayer Works, states that affirmative prayer “sets into motion the forces that enable us to manifest what we pray for.”

She adds, “Prayer is ineffective when it is accompanied or followed by negative thinking, or the endless repeating of affirmations. We have to put power and intensity into our thought, change our thought, and believe in the guidance we are receiving. If we spend energy on negative beliefs and feelings, we will get negative results, even if we and others pray daily for us. For example, if you pray for a job and then complain to others that you have no job or can’t find one, you are undermining your prayer.”

“In Unity, we believe that all things work together for our highest good,” says Lynne Brown, vice president of Silent Unity. “We pray to align ourselves with God and to allow ourselves to be inwardly guided to that good. Through affirmative prayer, we help co-create the good that is possible in our lives. This is 125th anniversary year of Silent, Unity, and we continue to pray and celebrate the power of prayer expressing in individual’s lives and in the world.”

By using an affirmative prayer approach, we can visualize and plan for the future with faith that the power of the Divine Universe is continually blessing our lives with unlimited possibilities. Affirmative prayer leads to an awakening of our spiritual selves. In faith, we pray giving thanks in advance that the Universe is meeting our every need.

And we trust that our prayers come to fruition, so, ‘asking’ again and again for something will not help bring it to you, by repeating your request, you are showing little faith in what you are attempting to manifest.

But what Is Prayer?

Virtually every religion embraces some form of prayer, and followers of each religion are told to pray. But seldom are they taught how to pray, so most people are troubled by doubts about whether they have been praying correctly.

Since the purpose of prayer is to know God, the highest use of prayer, then, is to announce our intention of opening ourselves to the presence of God. It is our endeavor to merge with and accept all the qualities of the Divine—a heartfelt invitation to allow that Spirit to be lived through us.

Therefore, we don’t have to pray specifically to change people or circumstances. Our prayers are for the purpose of knowing God. Yet, interestingly, when we pray to experience God, the people and circumstances in our lives do change! Why? Because prayer has changed us. Centered in God’s presence, we then deal with the people and the circumstances of our lives in more loving ways. Prayer—seeking more of an awareness of God—changes us, and in changing us, changes all aspects of our lives. It’s been said that prayer doesn’t change things; prayer changes people, and people change things. And this is so.

There is no need to beg God for anything, because we already have access to all that She is. So prayer becomes the way to express our thanks for life and its blessings—those we already have and those still to come. This is “affirmative prayer.” It acknowledges the truth that God is present in us and in every situation, and therefore the potential for us is beyond anything we can humanly imagine.

Thus, if we are praying specifically for more money, for instance, we may attain it simply because we are focusing our energy on that and making it a priority in our lives. Such attention may yield the results we are looking for. But that is opening ourselves to only part of what there is for us to experience. We have limited ourselves and may not be fully open to all the true prosperity – health, love, joy, peace and the teeming font of absolute soul satisfaction that is available simply because we are filled with the presence of the Divine.

What exactly is the right method of prayer? There are as many “right” methods of praying as there are people who pray! You must pray the way it feels comfortable for you.

More important than the method of praying is the reason for praying. Again – Prayers are not to change the Divine. They are to change us—to lift us into the experience of the presence of God. The Creator cares about, sustains, maintains and expresses Itself through the created. God is waiting for us to open ourselves to the sacred Presence being lived through us. God is waiting for us to express our willingness to be guided and nurtured. Therefore, one of our prayers might be to express this willingness: “Here I am, God. Live Your life through me”.

One of our opening songs by Clauell County is such a prayer, “Here I am God, Use me, guide me, fill me, take me, lead me by Your will.  Here I am Lord ready to follow, to serve You, to love You, to be You in this world. …

Next time we use this song as our ‘settling’ music, follow the words in your Song Book.  Allow them to center you into that peaceful place that is your Christ Center.

By opening our hearts to the love already there, by expressing our willingness to let the sacred Presence live through us, we take a big step in getting into a prayer mode. We each will do this in our own unique ways, of course, but a helpful means of preparing for our prayer experience is to relax the body, breathe easily and turn the attention inward.

What kinds of words to say? Whatever is in our hearts. Praying is a very simple activity and requires no special words—only the willingness, the hunger, to know God. Whatever phrases, in any language, that help move us into the place deep within our souls where we can begin to feel our oneness with ALL that IS—these are prayers.

Eventually, however, we move beyond words—beyond thoughts—into the vaster realm of pure Spirit. This is what is sometimes called “the silence.” During our times of prayer, we discover what is waiting in the silence to be discovered. We dip into the eternal wellspring of divine life that exists within us. And there, in the absolute stillness, we simply rest in the exquisite sense of the presence of God.

During our times of prayer, we want to let go of any preconceived ideas, any doubts, any desired outcomes, and surrender ourselves completely to God. If we find a parade of thoughts marching by as we sit in the stillness, we can merely become indifferent to them. We can just allow them to pass through and then gently bring our focus back to the inner silence. Nonresistance is the key here, (resistance is FUTILE!),  so that we remain tranquil and able to savor the experience.

A few moments in utter stillness will quickly bring us back to the realization that we are part of our Creator, part of the universe, and that truly we are not alone.

There are numerous opportunities every day to still the body and quiet the mind, allowing us to slip between the cracks of our outer world and into the inner one of silence. It might be in the quiet of the early morning or during some wordless moments of a prayer service or even during those brief times when we sit in noisy traffic waiting for the light to turn green! The stillness, in other words, is always available.

Prayer is a holy time within our hearts—a time of worship, joy and thanksgiving deep inside ourselves. It is a time of lying down in green pastures, being led beside the still waters and having our souls restored. We come away from prayer renewed in body and mind and at peace with ourselves and our world.

Taking time to pray is the highest blessing we can give ourselves and others.

Rosemary Fillmore Rhea, the daughter of Rickert Fillmore and granddaughter of Unity founders Charles and Myrtle Fillmore said this in an interview;

“I learned about prayer from my grandfather. He would come to our home every weekend. I spent a lot of time with him. No child could have had a better grandfather. He enjoyed doing things kids liked to do. At least once a week, we went to a movie and had a soda afterward.

He was different from other grandfathers; when he was not involved in conversation or activities, he went into “the Silence” (meditated). It was so much a part of him that I assumed all grandfathers meditated. However, one Saturday some school friends came to play and they noticed my grandfather sitting with his eyes closed, but not sleeping. When we went outside, they asked me why my grandfather just sat with his eyes closed. I replied, “He is in the Silence, of course. Doesn’t your grandfather sit in the Silence?” They assured me that their grandfathers didn’t and wondered about the Silence. I explained he was praying.

My grandfather taught me that we do not need a special place to pray. Wherever we are, whenever we have the time, we can meditate. If we are waiting in an airport or doctor’s office, riding a subway or bus, or just sitting in the park, if we really listen, we will be guided and inspired.”

Charles has said, “Affirmative prayer is the highest form of creative thought. It includes the release of counterproductive, negative thoughts, as well as holding in mind statements of spiritual truth. Through meditation, we experience the presence of God. Prayer and meditation heighten our awareness and thereby transform our lives.”

Affirmative prayer is a useful tool for focusing our thoughts on the truth that we are spiritual beings, filled with vibrant energy and renewing life. We, too, can use this tool in our daily lives. When we pray affirmatively about a health challenge, or opportunity as I rather call it, we are recognizing the life of God within.

As you pray, remember that you were created to be healthy and strong. Affirm this truth, become aware of your oneness with God, and be enthusiastic about the healing that is taking place within your mind and body.

So this, then, is how Unity suggests you pray. There are 5 steps.

1. Relax – Close your eyes. Relax, breathe deeply, and let go of outer concerns.

2. Concentrate – Quiet your mind. Begin to focus your thoughts on the spirit of God, the Christ within you.
3. Meditate – With an open mind and a receptive heart, feel the peace of God’s presence. “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10 RSV).
4. Embrace the Silence – In the silence of your soul, know that you are one with God. Allow this realization to permeate your being.
5. Give Thanks – always be grateful for what you have.

So, with that, let’s take these words into prayer.  I ask that you get comfortable and relax.  Focus on the Spirit of Good, of Love, of all that IS within you.  Now the Silence…………………

AS we come out of the silence,

GOD BLESS ALL THOSE WHO SERVE WITH LOVE.

GOD bless all those who labor with their hands, who tend the loom and cultivate the sod; merchants and miners, cobblers, cooks, and all whose hands, by proxy, are the hands of God.  And bless all those who labor with the mind: But most of all, bless those who serve with love! No matter if the task be great or small, A kindness done to one or meant for all!  Head, hearts and hands- all three are instruments of our Creator who made the world and found it good,

(R. H. Grenville, in part)

And as we close, some simple examples of Affirmative Prayer…

Thank You, God, for Your ever-present sanctuary of love and joy and peace within my heart. My only need is to savor Your sweet presence in my life. I trust—truly trust—that I am in Your care and that all is well. Thank You, God.

Thank You, God, for Your living truth as it speaks to me in unmistakable ways. I still my body. I still my mind. I relax completely. I surrender myself to You, God. Fill me with Your presence as I listen in the silence.

Holy Presence within me, I am willing to release all feelings of hurt and anger and resentment. Help me know true forgiveness and see each person as part of You. Let my words and my actions serve only to glorify You. May they heal and comfort and harmonize my life and the lives of those around me. Thank You, God.

Great Spirit of this universe, how glorious are Your ways. My human mind cannot fully grasp the magnitude of all You are, yet I know I am Yours. Thank You for the safety of Your guiding presence—wherever I am, whatever I do.

Thank You, God, for the growing awareness of who I am. You have created me to express You. I make the commitment today to be Your hands, Your voice, Your heart. Live Your life through me—fully and completely.

The cells of my body shout for joy as they resurrect into new life! Thank You, God, for Your powerful healing presence as it touches every atom of my body, calling forth a radiant wholeness.

I choose this day to serve You, God—to let my love radiate to all people and to be an inspiration to help lift others. My only prayer is to know You. Aware of Your sacred presence within me, I am a blessing to all whose lives I touch.

Gentle Spirit, I have heard Your call. I feel You drawing me closer to the realization of Your presence in my life. I hunger to know You more. I want to love You more and serve You more. I am willing to let You take charge of my life. Show me Your way, God, for I am ready.

And we Say Thank you and Amen, and So It IS.

Good Morning Beloved!

Jesus and St. Peter are at the Pearly Gates, and there’s a long line of souls waiting to get in. Jesus spots an old man far down the line, and thinks he looks familiar.

When the old man finally gets to the front, Jesus asks, “Excuse me, sir. Where do you come from?”

The old man says, “Oh, I come from a land far far away.”

“Hmmm…What did you do there?” Jesus asks.

“I was a carpenter,” replies the old man.

Jesus, growing excited, asks, “Did you have a son?”

The old man answers, “Well, some says I did, some says I didn’t.”

Jesus jumps up, spreads his arms, and says, “Father?”

The old man squints for a minute, then says, “Pinocchio?”

The Beatitudes Pt. 2

If you recall, we started the discussion on the Beatitudes a few week back. These ‘Blessings’ are part of the Sermon on the Mount, one of the most famous of Jesus’ lessons and some say, a summary of His teachings.

Some people treat the Beatitudes as a New Testament version of the Ten Commandments, and they may be missing the point. Jesus began his ministry with people who felt rejected by, or at best uncomfortable with, the religious faith and structure of their day. They had come to believe that just as there was no place for them in the kingdom of Israel, so there would be no place for them in the kingdom of God.

Jesus wanted to shake them out of their spiritual stupor, to teach them that the mortal challenges that seemed to be defeating them were, in fact, Good News. Feelings of restlessness and discontent are, in Truth, a sign that an awakening has begun.

And isn’t that why and how many of us came to Unity’s teachings? Being discontent with our lives, as they were? Maybe searching for something more? Possibly wanting to believe but not knowing what to believe?

WE could have been on that mount, waiting to hear a message that would take us on a new journey.

For those listening to Jesus, their discontent had nothing to do with theological concepts and everything to do with getting through a day. ‘This can’t be enough’ they were saying; and Jesus’ response was ‘You’re absolutely right. It isn’t nearly enough. And you can begin today to feel more and better expressing in your life.’

So the original Beatitudes are a bridge from the practical challenges of living in this dualistic world to the even more practical spiritual Truth of infinite possibility that is always available to us.,

We talked about what exactly the word ‘Blessed’ might mean. We are reminded that it is often translated, “happy.” But that does not capture all that is intended, primarily because of how we have devalued the term ‘happy’.

Blessed in this sense is an exclamation of the inner joy and peace that comes with being right with your God. You are at peace.

Happiness may indeed be a part of it; but it is a happiness that transcends what happens in the world around us, a happiness that comes to the soul from being favored by God. That is why it can call for rejoicing under intense persecution. In some ways the Jesus’ declaration of “blessed” is a pledge of divine reward for the inner spiritual character of the righteous; in other ways it is His description of the spiritual attitude and state of people who are right with God.

And, again, keep in mind who these messages were intended. The Hebrews who are deep in their traditions, their domestication. He was giving them hope.

Now we look at the Beatitudes and ask ourselves, what do they mean to me?

The first three we already looked at were: Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven; Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted; and Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. You can review these online.

DO you remember what they meant to you?

Today we will look at the next three.

Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.

Mercy is the loving disposition towards those who suffer distress. Love, compassion, and forgiveness towards one’s neighbor will bring peace in your relationships. We say in the Lord’s Prayer: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Jesus reminds us that whatever “you did to the least of my brethren, you did it to me (Matthew 25:31-46).”

To have mercy is to be loving and kind to others. This doesn’t mean just being loving and kind to your family and friends but also to those who you might not know and even those you don’t like.

We all like to consider ourselves to be merciful people. And yet the opposite of merciful is judgmental. And the human tendency to judge ourselves and others is the most stressful of all our self-created obstacles to realizing and connecting with God.

If someone else enjoys good fortune, we feel a spasm of judgment that they don’t deserve it – based on a fear that because they are enjoying their good we might be denied ours.

If something unfortunate happens to someone else, we succumb to a pang of relief that it did not happen to us instead. Here we are judging ourselves, being in fear that we will in fact receive the negative energy we think we deserve.

Judging is an insidious process, apt to wear a very righteous mask. But it becomes increasingly uncomfortable and we look for an alternative. The great Hindu writer Patanjali wrote these words: “Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, mercy and compassion toward the unhappy, delight in the virtuous and indifference toward the wicked.” Or, as a contemporary writer put it, “Love me or leave me alone. Don’t waste your energy in judging.”

So it comes down to, are you showing mercy in your thoughts as well as your actions. Kind actions coupled with unkind thoughts are hypocrisy dictated by fear. They bless neither the giver nor receiver.

True thought blesses spiritually, mentally and materially.

How do we show mercy? Feed the Hungry, Give drink to the thirsty, Clothe the naked, Shelter the homeless, Comfort the imprisoned, Visit the sick, teach the uninformed, Counsel the doubtful, Comfort the sorrowful, Be patient, Forgive, Pray.

Can you think of any others? (Just sit in silence with someone, hugs, …)

Giving from the heart.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.

Righteousness means right conduct as well as right thinking. We are reminded that outside things are merely the expression or out-picturing of our inner thoughts and beliefs. We are reminded that we have been given dominion over our thoughts.

We can only change what is happening out side by changing what’s happening inside. As within, so without.

Here we are being reminded not to be discouraged because we do not overcome everything at once, or if our progress seems slow. We are reminded that if we are stuck or not progressing as fast as we would like, we must be careful to hold only harmonious thoughts.

Take a mental stock of your life and see if you are still thinking wrongly about some part of your life. Is there something wrong in your line of conduct? Is there someone you haven’t forgiven yet? Are you indulging in some sort of political or racial or religious hatred or contempt? Are you jealous about something or someone? Are you holding remorse or regret?

These are thoughts that we must all work on to release. To forgive. To let go.

And we are again reminded how difficult this is. But with our Spiritual Guides, with prayer and contemplation, with meditation and fellow travelers, we can use all that is available to obtain the clarity of mind and so, find righteousness, for ourselves and for all. Being spiritual is impossible on our own. But we can all assist each other and better this world.

We can ALL better our world!

Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.

 

Purity means to recognize that God is the only real Cause, the only real Power; the only real Presence in existence.

Heart in the Bible usually means that part we know as the subconscious.

Being pure is like having a clean heart. Like the heart inside of us, it pumps blood and keeps us alive and if something is wrong with our heart it doesn’t work right and we won’t work right.

This simple statement sums up the whole philosophy of our Spiritual journey – to see God, in a spiritual perception…the true nature of being. To experience heaven, which is all around us.

Heaven is the religious name for the presence of God, Divine Mind.

Moses (Exodus 33:20), John 1:18, and Paul (I Timothy 6:16) all say that no one can see God here on earth! But Jesus says the pure of heart shall see God!

To be pure of heart means to be free of all selfish intentions and self-seeking desires. To do God’s Will, not our own. Jesus is talking about the place where we think and make choices, ask why we do things, and where our thoughts are born.

The “fall of (hu)mankind” is the limitations we obtained when we were given free will. It is that free will that may be in opposition to God’s Will; that limits our ability to experience Heaven on Earth.

It is our task to overcome those limitations so we can KNOW who and what we truly are – God, expressing through us, each, individually.

Thus, to SEE God.

What a wonderful, beautiful goal! How many times have any of us performed an act perfectly free of any personal gain? Such an act is pure love. An act of pure and selfless love, of giving, brings happiness to all.

Truth must be accepted in consciousness as well as the subconscious; assimilated into the whole mentality to make a difference in one’s character or life. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

So, we could rephrase as Emmet Fox has: “Blessed are they who recognize God as the only real Cause, and the only real Presence, and the only real Power; not merely in a theoretical or formal way, but practically, and specifically, and wholeheartedly, in all their thoughts, and words, and actions; and not merely in some parts of their lives, but in every nook and corner of their lives, and mentalities, keeping nothing back from the Divine, but bringing their own wills in every last particular into perfect harmony with Divine’s Will – for they shall overcome all limitation of time and space and matter and carnal mind; and realize and enjoy the Presence of God forever.

WHEW! Powerful stuff.

These three Beatitudes give us a lot to think about. They give us a lot of possibilities to do, to put into action, if we haven’t already.

There is much happening all around us, each and every day. We listen to the news, peruse social media, chat with friends and neighbors…all opportunities to put these Beatitudes into action by watching what we are thinking, saying and doing and what is behind each of these acts.

Yes, powerful stuff. Our responsibility to overcome our fears and move toward the Kingdom of Heaven.

Good morning. Thank you for being here. I appreciate your presence this morning as we look at one of my favorite stories from the Bible. It’s a story where Jesus is walking with his disciples and he asks them what I think is a very thought provoking question. He asks: “Who do people say I am?”

                How interesting! Just think about that for a moment. Why would Jesus Christ want to know what other people were saying about him? Could he or would he really be effected by their answers? I mean, even today, if I were to ask you, “What do you believe about Jesus?” what might some of your answers be? Some would say he is one of many ascended masters. Some would say he is the master teacher. Some would say he was a great prophet or a great healer – or both. In Unity, Jesus is often called the way shower – meaning he is both God and man and he shows us the divine Christ potential that lies within each of us. Others may call him, as I do, their Lord and Savior, or even Messiah. But does it really matter to Jesus what you or I call him? I mean, does the label we choose for him change who he is? No, of course not, it simply helps us to consciously define our own relationship with him.

                “Well,” the disciples say, “some say you are Moses, or Elijah, or another one of the other great prophets – or even John the Baptist – come back to life.”

Really? Interesting again! Does this seem to suggest that the people might actually believe in reincarnation? Or does it suggest – as Unity teaches us – that we are all unique expressions of the same Divine essence? If so, maybe –just maybe – when the people recognized that God spark – that light of truth in someone – as they certainly must have in Jesus as well as in the prophets of old – maybe they thought or sensed that it was really the same person, the same spirit, or the same God revealing itself to them over and over again. More importantly, if we believe this today, then that same God spark we see in them – in Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and yes even in Jesus – we must also see in ourselves and in one another for we are all one.

 

“And you?” Jesus asks. “Who do you say I am?”

Does he really need to ask this question? Do the apostles’ answers or our answers benefit him or us? Remember at this point the people – and surely the disciples and apostles – would already know the story of the burning bush when God revealed his name to Moses as the great I AM Who I AM, a story that most people know well today. Even the very name God gives to himself as he addresses Moses seems to suggest that God simply is. I AM is unchanged. He is unshaken. He is unmoved. He  is the same always: yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I Am is the source of all good. Myrtle Fillmore, the Mother of Unity, says, “When we learn to be still and know the I AM, we lack nothing.”

So why would Jesus ask, “Who do you say I AM?”

Perhaps Jesus is not asking us simply to decide an answer in reference to himself. Yes, surely our answer can and will define our relationship with him, for as we’ve discussed many times our thoughts and words do have creative power. They define and shape our reality. They also reveal our core beliefs and values hidden beneath them. Perhaps though, Jesus is also asking us how we define ourselves. Who do you say you are, Sandy Souder? Who do you say you are, Susan Davis? This answer is quite important too, isn’t it? The labels we place on ourselves matter too.

In asking the question, “Who do you say I AM?” Jesus is really giving the apostles – and by extension us – an opportunity to move from unconscious thoughts, words, and beliefs about God, ourselves, and others into consciously defining our relationships with the Divine and with others, as well as consciously deciding just who it is we want to be. Whether we call him the Christ, or God, or the Messiah, Master, Lord, or simply Teacher greatly shapes that relationship just as it does if we identify our Higher Power as Father or Mother, or as Creator, Universe, Buddha, or Goddess.

 

So too, what we call ourselves and think and say about ourselves also greatly shapes our relationships with God and others. If we believe that we are each unique expressions of the same great I AM, we should not think or say anything about ourselves or each other that we would not say of God. Yet, we do this all the time. I know I am guilty of it. The bible says we are made in God’s own image and likeness, so really we are not in alignment with our higher self, our higher power, or our divine nature when we declare ourselves – or anyone else – as anything less than whole, healthy, blessed, abundant, complete, and loved. Again, Mother Myrtle, says “God is love, and it is the nature of Divine love to give life, joy, peace, and health.” Sadly, we often say and think things about ourselves that are out of alignment with this, don’t we? Let’s take a moment to examine some of the things that we may unconsciously think and say about ourselves. Do these phrases or similar ones ever enter your mind or pass through your lips?

I am so tired.                                                                                     I’m so sick and tired of this.

I’m out of shape.                                                                             I’m so overweight.

I’m ugly.                                                                                              I’m never going to find a mate.

I’m always going to be alone.                                                    I’m so broke.

I’ll never get out of debt.                                                             I’m never going to be able to retire.

I’m never going to get ahead with money.                          I’m getting old.

I’m a failure.                                                                                      I’m a loser.

I don’t deserve happiness.                                                          Nobody really likes me .

I’m bad. I’m a sinner.                                                                     I’m not good enough.

 

Ever get a case of the not enough? Not smart enough. Not good enough. Not successful enough. Not pretty enough. Not thin enough. No rich enough. Not whatever enough. Yuck! Just

 

thinking those kind of thoughts or speaking those kind of words feels awful! It changes the very energy around and within us, and it affects those around us too. Yet, we get stuck in these bad habits, don’t we? I know I do. The tapes unconsciously replay in our minds. They are like a broken record repeating over and over and over again. But if we stop to really listen to them what are they telling us? They tell us what we really think and believe about ourselves – about others – about our God. Are these the things we really want to tell ourselves? Are these the labels – or the limits – we want to place on ourselves and others? Do you ever think or say something like:

He’s so cheap.                  She is so stubborn.                         That kid has a bad attitude.

Really? Is that so, or is that simply our perception of another individual? When we say someone is cheap, we have to ask ourselves do I have a right to judge someone else’s financial decisions or to expect someone else’s generosity? If we say someone is stubborn, are we really the one who is being inflexible? If we don’t like someone’s attitude, is it really because we just don’t like that individual or certain aspects of their personality? Or is it our own attitude that needs to be adjusted?

So I want to challenge us this week to stop to think consciously about what we are declaring over our own health, our finances, our relationships, and our beloved friends and family simply by thinking and talking unconsciously.

Where are my Law of Attraction peeps? Listen up! You’ll like this part. The Law of Attraction states, “You are what you think. Whatever you focus your thoughts, words, and feelings on consistently  will manifest in your life. There are no exceptions to this rule.” See, we aren’t talking about fleeting or random thoughts here. Those will happen. We are talking about thoughts and words

 

that stem from our core beliefs. Often, these false beliefs come out unconsciously. They are so subtle that sometimes we can only identify them by examining our emotions. Why look at our emotions? Regardless of what we are thinking and speaking – no matter how PC or educated or evolved we think

we are – it is our feelings that reveal to us what we truly believe. As humans, we feel things deeply. So deeply that we sometimes don’t consciously realize how those feelings are bleeding out into our thoughts and words – and our actions. Ever sabotage yourself? Look at your emotions. Look at your core beliefs. You will see why pretty quickly. Okay. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that once we know what these false beliefs are we can begin to consciously reshape them into beliefs that are more aligned with our higher self, our divine mind. How do we do this? We can begin simply today to think and speak words of gratitude and appreciation to the people in our lives. Do you have a challenging person in your world? Find something to appreciate about them. Tell them what you appreciate about them. You’ll see that relationship change. If you already love someone and think they are fabulous, tell them that too. We get more of what we focus on. We can also begin to consciously declare God’s blessings of health and abundance over ourselves and others. If we do this regularly and consistently, our core beliefs will change. It is a process, but change will come. Try it. You’ll like it. Do it consistently.

Then something incredible happens. We begin to see our life’s work, our passions, our health, our finances, and our relationships coming into Divine order. They have to because by changing our thoughts and words we are changing our feelings and our core beliefs about who we say we are, who we say each other is, and who we say our God is. By doing this we are aligning ourselves with the Truth. We simply begin to declare what it is that we already know.

 

This is why in Unity we turn to affirmative prayer. We begin to consciously and purposefully declare health, abundance, prosperity, and all good blessings over ourselves and others. We affirm who we say we are by declaring things like:

I am healthy.                     I am happy.                        I am whole.

I am alive.                           I am free.                            I am blessed.

I am joyful.                         I am beautiful.                  I am successful.

I am prosperous.              I am abundant.                 I am peaceful.                  

I am calm and serene.   I am hopeful.                     I am connected .       

I am loved.                         I am love.                            I am a child of God.

I am made in God’s own image and likeness.

And if you feel comfortable in going even further you can also say things like:

I am a divine expression.

I am one with God.

I am that I am.

I am God.

Do you feel the difference in the energy of those statements? They resonate because they are true! So as we enter into our meditation today, I challenge us each to see Jesus standing before us in our mind’s eye asking each of us, “Who do you say I AM?” Take the time to answer for yourself in a conscious way – not only who you think Jesus is – but also how you wish to see others and just who it is that you want to be. Then as we go forth from this place, we can begin to consciously think, say, and live as who we say we are.

[SS1]Maybe you might consider using a feminine reference in a couple of these?

[SS2]Never enough time, maybe some more common ones, I’m hurt, I’m lonely, I’m mad, scared,

[SS3]This isn’t Law of Attraction…really, it’s New Thought….

[SS4]You might want to take a couple and have them repeat them with you are a power builder into meditation

Good Morning Beloved…

A cowboy, who just moved to Wyoming from Texas, walks into a bar and orders three mugs of Bud. He sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn. When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more.

The bartender approaches and tells the cowboy, “You know, a mug goes flat after I draw it. It would taste better if you bought one at a time.”

The cowboy replies, “Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is an Airborne Ranger, the other is a Navy Seal, both serving overseas somewhere. When we all left our home in Texas, we promised that we’d drink this way to remember the days when we drank together. So I’m drinking one beer for each of my brothers and one for myself.”

The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there.

The cowboy becomes a regular in the bar, and always drinks the same way. He orders three mugs and drinks them in turn.

One day, he comes in and only orders two mugs. All the regulars take notice and fall silent. When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, “I don’t want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your loss.”

The cowboy looks quite puzzled for a moment, then a light dawns in his eyes and he laughs. “Oh, no, everybody’s just fine,” he explains, “It’s just that my wife and I joined the Baptist Church and I had to quit drinking. Hasn’t affected my brothers though…”

 

“You will know we are Christian by…”

 

When I was in college and searching for many things about myself, on occasion, I attended Folk Mass. I was in and out of the Catholic tradition for some time at that time, not finding what worked for me but still wanting SOMETHING!

Folk Mass was always up beat and had some really nice music. One of the songs we would sing was titled “You will know we are Christians by our love.”

Do any of you know it?

Listen to the words: I’ve taken the repeats out to make it shorter….but you’ll get the gist.

We are one in the Spirit, We are one in the Lord;

And we pray that all unity, May one day be restored.

We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand,

And together we’ll spread the news, That God is in our land.

We will work with each other; we will work side by side,

And we’ll guard each man’s dignity, and save each man’s pride

And the chorus is: And they’ll know we are Christians, by our love, by our love, Yes, they’ll know we are Christians By our love.

We could exchange Christian with Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, etc., it would still be relevant. It would still and most importantly, be SPIRITUAL.

This song has been playing through my mind for some time now and so, I figured I needed to turn it into a Lesson. So, here we go…

So I ask, what does it mean to be a Christian?

Well, lately, it may mean something completely different than what it started out as; and if you know anything of the early ‘church,’ you know that there were many ideas of what it was supposed to mean to be Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. In the beginning, there were many factions of “Christians,” until one ‘belief’ was chosen to be the legal Religion of the State and all others we considered illegal. Don’t get me started on THAT!

We could look at the dark times that has followed that title, Christian…but we won’t. Not here, not now. WHY? Because that is past. That is history. WE are not looking at what happened. WE need to look at today…and to the future. We need to ask ourselves, each one, what it means to be a follower of the TRUTH that Jesus taught.

Unity is a combination of teachings of the Christ, known as Jesus. Let’s look those words, Jesus, Jesus Christ, and the Christ. Jesus is the man, the historical person of the New Testament times. Jesus is a Way Shower or Elder Brother who provides a direction and an example for all humankind to follow.

Christ is a title added to Jesus’ name. The word comes from the Greek Christos, meaning “anointed.” Jesus was so called because He was considered anointed by God.

He recognized His own divinity, but more importantly, He recognized the divinity of all God’s creation. He knew that God anoints each person, “you anoint my head with oil,” and repeatedly directs us to recognize our own God nature. “You are the light of the world,” (Mt. 5: 14). Paul adds to this idea: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).

The Christ is the presence of God with which each person is anointed at creation. It is the eternal essence of God that is our true spiritual nature. It can be called the spark of God that ignites the human flame. And I repeat…at CREATION…we are born with it!

Christ is the name to describe the universal spiritual energy that is common to all people. The same energy has other names in other traditions, but its Truth is universal.

Charles and Myrtle Fillmore were clear and succinct in their realization of the Christ within: Charles states, “Christ is the mind of God individualized.” And Myrtle says, “Christ is the life principle within each of us.”

So you can see that the Christ within is actually the very presence of God at the core of our beings, that It does its work by simply being recognized. Remember that we remain spiritual beings no matter what appearances may suggest to the contrary.

We all know that the Fillmore’s researched the Spiritual Cultures of the day when they came across the teaching of New Thought. They wanted to make sure that when they said, “This is what I believe,” it was what they believed.

And Charles always said he reserved his right to change his mind, which tells me he questioned his beliefs throughout his life, yet, he still retained those fundamental beliefs they started with because they still fit.

Through that research, many of the teachings of Unity are very similar, if not the same as, the teachings of the Eastern Masters. Meditation is part of our prayer process, we believe each and every one of us can and should go to the God of their belief, directly, no intermediary; no priest. We believe that each and every one of us is responsible for their thoughts and therefore their lives.

The Buddha said: “In the end these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go?”

Love is the main lesson in the teachings of Jesus, yet here the Buddha says the same thing.

That thought is reinforced by Bob Goff, “It will be our love, not our opinions, which will be our greatest contribution to the world.”

Christianity does not have a monopoly on the Christ within. We recognize it in all people, whatever nationality they may be or on whatever spiritual path they may walk.

The Christ is the universal presence of God at the center of every individual. It is God’s gift to you. WE in Unity recognize that there are many names and descriptions that are used to attempt to connect and understand that Divine Spirit. God, Spirit, Universe, Buddha, Goddess, Divine, Jesus, Muhammed….as we are individual sparks of that presence, that is how many ways we relate to that Spirit.

We are born as creations of God to express our Christ Selves. In fact, it is our only responsibility because if we do this, as we express that innate Presence, we will be loving, compassionate, forgiving, gracious, joy-filled, and all the other things that are part of our divine design.

St. Teresa of Avila says it well (interject whatever word you resonate with in to relate to the ALL that is): “Christ has no body now on earth but ours, no hands but ours, no feet but ours; Ours are the eyes that look out with Christ’s compassion on the world, ours the feet with which he goes about doing good; Ours are the hands with which he is to bless humanity now.”

And THAT is what it means to be CHRISTIAN.

Unity is not your everyday Christian church! Most Unity’s don’t even use the label ‘church.’ It is not your traditional Christianity. It is Practical Christianity….taking the teachings of Jesus, and making them useful to daily living.

So, in that respect, we ARE Christians. But we always, unfortunately, have to say something to differentiate us from traditional Christians. Because we do not worship Jesus…that was not his purpose or his desire. His purpose was and is to show us the way to re-member who and what we are.

So, the Fillmore’s chose Jesus’ teaching as the teaching they wished to practice and teach about, but they put an additional spin on it…they said, let’s look at it metaphysically. That too, differentiates us from traditional Christian churches

When we look at things metaphysically, we change the perspective. And, that makes all the difference in the world. For example: Charles said:

“Have faith in the innate goodness of all men and all conditions. Do not condemn, no matter how great the provocation. What you think, you create in your own consciousness. Enlarge your range of vision, and you may see good in what now seems evil. God is good and God is all, hence there can be no real condition but the good.”

When we look at things metaphysically, we look at them through our own eyes, through our own hearts. We look at how it feels, fits, belongs to us…each one, individually. That makes it more personal.

In this era of religious pluralism, the question often arises: Is it possible to be Christian and still honor all paths to God? Doesn’t it have to be one way or the other?

If you follow the teachings of Jesus, rather than the teachings about Jesus, the answer appears to be yes. If you study what Jesus taught and did, you see that he was, in the words of Bible scholar Marcus Borg, “radically inclusive.” He said to love one another, and he exemplified that by honoring and caring about people of all backgrounds.

Spiritual leaders through the ages have asserted that Jesus was not just the example and advocate for Christians, but for everyone. Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu, once said: “Jesus gave humanity the magnificent purpose and the single objective toward which we all ought to aspire. I believe that he belongs not solely to Christianity, but to the entire world, to all lands and races.” (Incidentally, Gandhi also said, “If Jesus came to earth again, he would disown many things that are being done in the name of Christianity.”)

In his book Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, Marcus Borg writes: “Jesus saw the divinity in all people, and he challenged all people to see the good, the God-self, in all with whom they associated.”

Indeed, Jesus purposefully rebelled against prejudice and discrimination. Writes Borg: “One of the hallmarks of Jesus’ teachings was his pointed attacks on the purity system. This was the dominant theme in the Jewish social world during his time, and it was focused on creating a world with sharp social boundaries: between pure and impure, righteous and sinner, whole and not whole, male and female, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile. Jesus deliberately replaced the core value of purity with compassion.”

His compassion was notably evident in his habitual participation in an open and inclusive table. Sharing a meal with someone in those days signified mutual acceptance, and, might I say, trust…breaking bread in the Near East was a sacred happening. Jesus ate with the outcasts, the downtrodden—anyone who was considered “impure.” In so doing, he out-pictured a vision of an inclusive community. Through his actions, Jesus demonstrated that all people are welcome at the table of God’s kingdom—and all means all. Jesus was a champion of the oppressed—the living example of unconditional love—and he vehemently opposed exclusionary practices.

We can equally expect that Jesus honored and respected people of other faith traditions. In his best-selling book ‘Discover the Power Within You,’ the late Unity minister Eric Butterworth wrote:

“I have often speculated on what Jesus would have done if he had been seated around a table with a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Muslim and a Shintoist—discussing ultimate Truth. I just can’t believe that Jesus would have said, ‘You must all forsake your beliefs and come and follow me.’ I think he might have pointed out that the differences were chiefly a matter of semantics, and that there is an underlying principle similar to the Christ idea in every religion. I think he would have stressed the basic unity within the diversity of religions, pointing out that the greatest need of all persons is to find that indwelling unity with God, which is found in the principle that we call the Christ, but others call the Buddha Heart or the Goddess, or the Universe….”

As far as we know, Jesus did not say anything negative about other religions. He did, however, sharply criticize his own.

Marcus Borg offers a good example of how Jesus related to other religions in his analysis of the story of the Good Samaritan told in Luke 10:25-37.

On the surface, it appears to be a tale about a kind-hearted humanitarian. A traveler on the way to Jericho falls among thieves and is robbed and severely beaten. Two people pass by and decline to get involved. A third arrives and takes pity on the man. He bandages up his wounds, takes him to an inn, and pays for his care. The teaching seems to be about practicing kindness to strangers, (which is actually a law in the Near East).

But in actuality, Borg emphasizes, this is a radical and subversive story. Because when the traveler—who we assume was a Jew—is robbed and beaten, the two people who pass him by are Jewish (a priest and a Levite, who is a member of the Priestly tribe) and the rescuer is a non-Jew—a Samaritan. To Jews at that time, the Samaritans were the despised people. They were considered untouchables who could do no good. Thus in this simple story, Jesus is forcing the question: “Do you really know what’s good and what’s bad? Who are the righteous and who are the not righteous?”

Imagine the impact of the Good Samaritan story today if it were told about a traditional Christian whose brethren pass him by, but who is then generously brought back to health and safety by a Muslim stranger. The message is clear: Don’t judge by appearances and, even better, don’t judge at all.

Unity is part of a movement to return to the inclusive teachings and philosophies of Jesus. It is evident in the books, and blogs, and activity on social media. All of these voices, these “believers in exile,” as former Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong calls them, are “trying to find their way back to a feint voice from the past. It’s the voice of a young Jewish carpenter who invited us to discover the Truth for ourselves, and who pointed us in the direction of God.”

The path to God is through believing in, embracing and fully expressing our own unique and eternal spiritual energy. Our innate and eternal Oneness with all that God is constitutes a universal spiritual truth. There are many paths to discovering and embracing that Oneness; Jesus offers one clear path, Buddha another, Muhammad another, etc. What’s essential is the universal spiritual truth itself; the path we choose to follow to reach that essential awareness is up to us. (Even those who consider themselves to be agnostic or atheistic are on a spiritual path toward Christ awareness, whatever their opinions of specific religions may be!)

Unity believes—and understands Jesus to have taught—that “Christ” is not one unique person, but rather the divine essence of every person. So we are not to ‘await’ the Messiah, or to follow another person in the belief that he is uniquely the Christ. We are rather to follow the teachings and example of Jesus to recognize, release and express our own Christ identity—the Oneness with God that is the truth of who we are.

Paul Enso Hillman wrote, “Do you know who I am?

I say ‘namaste’ because I like what it means, not because I am Hindu.

A lot of people here think I am a Christian because they think I talk about Christian values, but the truth is I am really talking about human values.

I’ve been asked if I am a Buddhist, just because I have discovered inner peace.

A lot of my friends are Pagans, and they think I am one too because I say that being in Nature is my idea of going to church.

Do you really want to know what I am? It’s very simple. I don’t need a label to define me. I am a piece of the Universe, sentient and manifested. I AM AWAKE.”

So, are you Christian?

Good Morning Beloved

A man was sitting at the bar staring at his drink when a large, trouble-making biker steps up next to him, grabs his drink and gulps it down in one swig and menacingly says,

“Thanks SHORTIE, whatcha going to do about it?”

The man burst into tears.

“Come on, man,” the biker says, “I didn’t think you’d CRY. I can’t stand to see a man crying. What’s your problem?”

“This is the worst day of my life,” he says. “I’m a complete failure. I was late to a meeting and my boss fired me. When I went to the parking lot, I found my car had been stolen and I don’t have any insurance. I left my wallet in the cab I took home. I found my wife in bed with the postman and then my dog bit me.”

“So I came to this bar to work up the courage to put an end to it all. I buy a drink; drop a capsule in and sit here watching the poison dissolve; then you show up and drink the whole thing!”

“But enough about me, how’s your day going?”

Will & Strength of Spirit

Strength of Spirit is this month’s theme. And we wish to marry that theme with the Power of the WILL.

When you think of strength of Spirit…what comes to mind? Often when we think of strength we think of physical strength, but that is not what we want to focus on today.

Strength of spirit fits so well with the Power of the Will because we must relinquish our will, which is pretty much our ego, and let Spirit take over.

When we realize that our ego has taken control of more than what it is intended to control, we “miss the mark.”

What is ego necessary for? It is needed in order that we survive. Well, physical survival, right? If our ego didn’t want to survive, we wouldn’t concern ourselves about traffic, or fingers in fire, or shelter in a storm.

But we also, wouldn’t fight so hard to establish and maintain ourselves, our personalities. We need some of that to experience life as we are meant to experience it.

Eckhart Tolle says, “The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, person and family history, belief systems, and often political, nationalistic, racial, religious and other collective identifications. None of these are you.”

This is the point where the ego, let’s say, over extends itself. It wants to be in charge All the time. It wants to control others, wants to always be right, it wants to do whatever it must to be in charge. The ego sometimes thinks it knows what is best for us, and so exerts itself to control our thoughts and actions. It wants to edge God out.

And this, my friends, is where our WILL and Strength of Spirit comes into play.

The Will is the ability to choose, lead, determine. It represents the choice-making part of the brain.

It is our job in developing our God-given potentialities to reeducate the will, to teach it to become receptive to spiritual motivation, rather than to goals determined by our materialistic pursuits alone.

One way or another, we are using our will, all the time. We choose a course of action. We resist or resent. We submit or fight back. We aim high or we slide backward. Or we are willing to consecrate and dedicate our will to God and to let it be reeducated to go the way of Spirit.

Jesus is our great Way Shower in overcoming the human, selfish motivation of the will and allowing it to be replaced by a great unification with the divine will, thus producing good for all. That is the definition of God’s will…good for all.

The rewards of unifying our wills with the will of God are great. They include health, happiness, joy, peace, harmony, prosperity and other good that we cannot even visualize in our present state of consciousness.

When we begin to discover who and what we truly are, sometimes, – admit it, we find we have to battle a strong ego. This is where Strength of Spirit helps us.

Jack Kornfield said, “We each need to make our lions roar – to persevere with unshakable courage when faced with all manners of doubt and sorrows and fears – to declare our right to awaken.”

We use our strength of spirit to awaken, to become the Spiritual being in this human form. Think about all the people who have overcome what we would call hardships in this physical life…how do you think they did that?

With a strong will to tap into their spiritual strength. That’s how the survivors of the death camps during World War II survived; that’s how parents who must overcome the death of a child survive; that’s how we all survive when we are faced with the ‘growth opportunities’ that life presents to us survive.

These are instances where the ego works with the will for survival by stepping aside so we can tap into our spiritual strength.

If that doesn’t happen, anger, hurt, victimhood, etc. exists. And that holds us back from awakening, from enlightenment.

Many in-harmonies in human relationships result from the clash of human wills. Learning to activate the divine will in your life does not mean that you will simply submit to the human will of others. Instead, it will give you a new freedom that recognizes the human force applied by others but does not submit to it.

When you find yourself confronted by a strong will that insists you go its way, turn within to the Christ, the God Self, the spiritual core of your nature, and silently say to the other person, “The Christ in me beholds the Christ in you.” Let the love of God and the understanding of the spiritual nature of that other person pour forth from you so strongly that there is no conflict of human wills. Rather, there is a higher power at work, establishing harmony and order.

This is what ‘NAMASTE’ means – my soul honors your soul. I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honor the light, love, truth, beauty and peace within you because it is also within me. In sharing these things, we are united. We are the same. We are ONE.

This is part of the forgiveness process.

We can start first to awaken the will and train it by consciously watching its activities and directing it through our growing spiritual understanding.

Deepak Chopra suggests; “Instead of thinking outside the box, get rid of the box.”

A very good idea as we take control of our ego and will and tap into our inner strength, the strength of spirit that we all have. We do not have to follow what has always been done. We do not have to listen to our domestication. We do not have to be our mother or our father or someone that another is trying to make us into…we get to be ourselves.

You. Me. Each and everyone one of you get to be who you are meant to be….

What will that be? Who will that be?

Here are five basic ideas to help use our Spiritual Strength; ways to redirect your personal will in accordance with the divine will, adapted from Dr. Barbara King:

 

Seek personal truth. We must live beyond the ego and get in touch with the heart. Intellect is not enough. Cultivate daily relaxation, meditation, prayer and spiritual study. Place your journal nearby and note what comes up in these times. Ask the question, “Thy will or mine be done?” Journal what comes up?

Stay on course. Positive change begins with the individual. God never overrides our will, even if it is divided and conflicted. Whenever the question, “What good can I bring about?” is replaced by “How can I get my own way?” the will is being directed by the ego rather than God. Think about a situation in which you have experienced difficulty. What did you really want in it? Try asking yourself this question repeatedly until you get a sense of which basic question was orienting your will. If you find your response was ego motivated, what would it take to shift to God’s direction? Stay with it until you feel a shift. This process can also be helpful when written out in your journal.

Cultivate an awareness of your human resources. A sense of shared humanity with all people teaches us the value of each of us and the gifts we all bring. Consider what it would look like to have your will more closely directed by God. What would your next steps be? Take this into prayer, considering the possibility of being in closer community with others on this path or those who would stretch you on this path. Discuss any new ideas with a close spiritual friend or counselor. In what ways can you offer support for one another?

Develop and maintain a sense of destiny. Great leaders inspire others to the degree that they are able to reach into the future. Write an affirmation and use it throughout the day. Take it into prayer, slowly “chewing” on the words until the meaning begins to seep into your heart. What insights do you have about the power of the will?

Become involved in life. Knowing the Truth is not enough you must practice the Truth you know. Try serving others in such a way that getting your way takes a back seat to serving God in others. This may take place at Unity, your work, with friends, or at home.

Let’s take this prayer into meditation: We open our hearts and minds to the love that IS, that we all are. We connect with the Oneness of the multiverse that this planet is a part of.   We choose to release the self-centered ego and open ourselves to the Christ center that is our true self.   We now choose to cleanse ourselves and release any and all thought forms, beings, situations and energies that are no longer of service to our highest and greatest good…we choose this across all planes of our existence, across all universes, and across all lifetimes, We ask that all energies that are less than love be transmuted for the highest good of all. And so it is.

Good Morning Beloved!

A cowboy lay sprawled across three entire seats in the posh Amarillo Theater. When the usher came by and noticed this, he whispered to the cowboy, “Sorry, sir, but you’re only allowed one seat.”

The cowboy groaned but didn’t budge. The usher became more impatient:

“Sir, if you don’t get up from there I’m going to have to call the manager.”

Once again, the cowboy just groaned.

The usher marched briskly back up the aisle, and in a moment he returned with the manager. Together the two of them tried repeatedly to move the cowboy, but with no success.

Finally they summoned the police. The Texas Ranger surveyed the situation briefly then asked, “All right buddy what’s your name?”

“Fred,” the cowboy moaned.

“Where ya from, Fred?” asked the Ranger.

With terrible pain in his voice, and without moving a muscle, Fred replied, “the balcony.”

“Look Where We’ve Come”

A year ago, tomorrow, August 3^rd, many of us met here, in the smaller room, to continue a journey. That journey started many years ago, for some of us, and for others, maybe it stared a few days before blessing us with your presence.

Either way, we gathered together to continue a journey that was Divinely Ordered. We were meant to be there on that Sunday, just as we are meant to be here, today.

Many people ask, when they first hear the word Unity – what is it? A church? A center? Is it Christian? A cult? Or what????

Unity IS based on the teachings of Jesus, often referred to as the CHRIST, so, in that sense it is Christian, but we like to say, Practical Christianity. Why? Because we like to think our teachings help us to live a life following the teachings of Jesus…not worshiping him. We look at Jesus as a teacher, someone who showed us how we could connect with our Higher Self, and live our lives through that connection.

That sets us apart from traditional Christianity teaching because we do not believe in much the negative teachings of hell, and damnation and original sin. So, often you will not see the term ‘church’ used, but instead Center, Temple, Society, if anything at all.

Unity emphasizes the belief that God is good, God is love. Therefore, God’s will for you is good—happiness, health, supply, whatever contributes to your growth and unfoldment.

Unity emphasizes God’s impersonal aspect, God as principle. There are no favorites…or we ALL are favorites!

Above all, Unity emphasizes the belief that God is within you. You have a divine potential.

Unity does not demand that you subscribe to a creed.

Unity does not ask whether you are a member of some particular religious organization.

Unity does not require you to perform certain rites and practices.

In all these matters, it leaves you free.

This is one of the great characteristics of Unity. It leaves people free to practice their spirituality at whatever level they have come up to, and to do whatever they feel is right and necessary to establish their own right relationship with their God.

Unity crosses all religious bodies, all denominations. It does this not as a separating, divisive force, but as a harmonizing, strengthening spirit. The work of Unity—its Spiritual activity as an organization—is done with no regard to sect or denomination.

It started as a continuation of the Sunday morning discussions, often held Sunday afternoon or later during the week.

The ministry of Unity is one of prayer. Its prayer work is centered in Silent Unity.

Unity is as much an attitude as an idea. We do not say, “Here is a creed, you must subscribe to it.” Instead it says, “Here are ideas that we feel are true about God, about yourself, about life. If you feel that any of these ideas are acceptable and useful, then use them.”

We do not offer teachings as final truths that you must accept or be lost. We offer teachings as a set of directions that will help you to find your way. And it is YOUR way.

Unity is the church spiritual, the church of the individual, growing, seeking, unfolding, becoming what he or she is meant to be.

It was not founded to separate people into another body, bounded by religious laws, doctrines, practices, and rituals. It was founded on the notion that God is within you, and therefore your purpose in life is to express your divine potential. Everything Unity has done as an organization, it has done to help you achieve this purpose. It accepts you where you are and for what you are, and it helps you become the child of God you were born to be.

To help you to do this, Unity will pray with you, and will teach you.

Unity may be a church, but a new and different kind of church. It has teachings, but not a creed.

It is more a week-day application of spiritual principles to daily problems than it is a Sunday service.

It is more a movement than a body of believers. Those who study its teachings jokingly call themselves Unitics

The name says it all – UNITY. This name leaves no one out.

Unity started for me, officially, you could say, in the early 90’s when I met Darla. She was and has been a Unitic for many years. And she started talking about Unity’s ideas to me and they were in sync with much of what I had been thinking and discovering as I journeyed searching for where I fit, spiritually.

The friendship with Darla and her partner O’Neal grew and we have been good friends since. One day, sitting on their deck, on the Indian River Bay, after I had become a student of Unity and was working on becoming licensed, we said, “The energy here is so ready for a Unity.” And someone said, well when you are licensed, you should start one.

And, that, folks, is how we got here…that and a whole lot of work from a great couple of hands full of people.

So, stand, please, those of you who helped to start URB (Darla, O’Neal, Terry, Rose, Barbara, Susan who help in the very beginning….and Chuck, Marian, Carol who stepped into leadership …and the volunteers, if you helped in any way….Sharon, Annette, Holly, Jim, Bonnie, Marcia, Greg, Kim, Luke, did you bring food for Fellowship? Stand, did you help set up or clean up, stand, did you contribute to the service – Andrea, stand)

See everyone standing, they are URB. We all are URB. And we all make it or break it.

This Community of Unitics is on the forefront of a great Spiritual movement, we are living examples of what Jesus meant when he said, these things and even greater will you do….

Give yourselves a round of applause!

Good Morning Beloved!

One day a housework-challenged husband decided to wash his Sweat-shirt.

Seconds after he stepped into the laundry room, he shouted to his wife, “What setting do I use on the washing machine?”

“It depends,” Replied the wife. “What does it say on your shirt?”

He yelled back, “University of Oklahoma.”

The Beatitudes, Part 1

Today we are starting a series on the study of the Beatitudes.

The Beatitudes are eight blessings shared during the Sermon on the Mount, as related in the Gospel of Matthew. Each is a proverb-like proclamation, precise, and full of meaning. Each one includes a topic that forms a major biblical theme.

Four of the blessings also appear in the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke. Luke states them directly to the listener, though, saying Blessed are YOU… Matthew changed the wording, we can only guess to make them, more appropriate to ALL listeners, and added to Luke’s list with four additional Blessings.

We see similar verses in the traditional writings of Buddhism, in the Qur’an, the teachings of the Baha’i, and in the Book of Mormon where Jesus gives a sermon to a group of indigenous Americans including statements very similar to Matthew and evidently derived therefrom. Proving once again that we are all one in Spirit; that ALL teachings are of love.

The term beatitude comes from a Latin noun beātitūdō which means “happiness”.

Each Beatitude consists of two phrases: the condition and the result. In almost every case the condition is from familiar Old Testament context, but Jesus teaches a new interpretation. As He said in Matthew 5:17, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” He is making a statement of how the spirit of the law should be followed.

Matthew constantly shows how Jesus came in the light of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.

So, again we have an example of taking Old Testament or Hebrew Bible teachings and re-purposing them into new directions for us. We have learned the basic laws of God through our journey in the OLD and are now learning how to put them into practice in the NEW.

The Beatitudes present a new set of Christ-like ideals that focus on a spirit of love and humility different in orientation than the usual force and demand. They echo the highest ideals of the teachings of Jesus on mercy, spirituality, and compassion. These were and ARE the basic teachings of Jesus.

It’s important, I think, that Matthew has the setting of Jesus “Up into the mountains” leaving me to believe that he lifted his thoughts to higher more spiritual realms. Metaphysically, we go to higher perspectives or thoughts when we see mountain mentioned, just as we do when we see mention of Jesus looking up toward heaven.

This scene also takes us to the Hebrew Bible where Moses goes up in the mountain for laws of Obedience, the Ten Commandments.

We have learned these laws, supposedly, as we take our soul’s journey and are ready to put the Spirit of the Laws into practice, via Jesus’ teachings.

The message of Jesus is one of humility, charity, and brotherly love. He teaches transformation of the inner person. Jesus presents the Beatitudes in a positive sense, virtues in life which will ultimately lead to reward. Love becomes the motivation for His followers.

All of the Beatitudes have an eschatological meaning, that is, they promise us salvation – not in this world, but in the next. The Beatitudes initiate one of the main themes of Matthew’s Gospel; that the Kingdom so long awaited in the Old Testament is not of this world, but of the next, the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus proclaimed that God’s kingdom was at hand.

And we now know that that Kingdom can be found here on earth, within and without each and every one of us. It is ‘at hand’, because it is us.

The Greek word translated “blessed” means “spiritual well-being and prosperity.” When we bless someone or something, we are asking that they or it be increased, be prospered, be one with all.

There is a desire today to translate the word with “happy.” But that does not seem to capture all that is intended here in the text, primarily because modern usage of the word “happy” has devalued it. This term is an exclamation of the inner joy and peace that comes with being right with your God. Happiness may indeed be a part of it; but it is a happiness that transcends what happens in the world around us, a happiness that comes to the soul from being favored by God. That is why it can call for rejoicing under intense persecution. In some ways the Lord’s declaration of “blessed” is a pledge of divine reward for the inner spiritual character of the righteous; in other ways it is His description of the spiritual attitude and state of people who are right with God.

Those who experience the first aspect of a beatitude (poor, mourn, meek, hungry for righteousness, merciful, pure, peacemakers, and persecuted) will also experience the second aspect of the beatitude (kingdom of Heaven, comfort, inherit the earth, filled, mercy, see God, called sons of God, inherit the kingdom of Heaven)

The Beatitudes describe the ideal disciple and their rewards, both present and future. The person whom Jesus describes in this passage has a different quality of character and lifestyle than those still “outside the kingdom.” They have journeyed and are re-membering who and what they are.

Let’s look at each Beatitude….and keep in mind who Jesus is teaching….The Hebrews who are deep in their traditions or we could say, their domestication. We’ll look at the first 3 this week.

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

In Aramaic, it is “Blessed are the humble, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Or “Delighted are those who surrender to God because heaven’s reign belongs to them!”

The history of the Israelites had them under Roman rule for over 500 years. They were a very prideful nation, believing that their country, their God and their people were better than any other country, god or people. And their pride even went so far as to think it below themselves to do work below their caste. They would rather starve than do a job outside their customary work.

It is this pride that Jesus is referring to in his lesson. This and the pride of the Pharisees and Sadducees and their self-righteousness.

In this verse, spirit is referring to those who are humble, unassuming and free from racial prejudice. It means we have emptied ourselves of all desire to exercise personal self-will and pre-conceived ideas in the search for Truth. It means we are willing to set aside our present habits of thought, our present views and prejudices, our present way of life… anything that gets in the way of connecting with Spirit.

To have poverty of spirit means to be completely empty and open to the Word of God. When we are an empty cup and devoid of pride, we are humble. Humility brings an openness and an inner peace, allowing one to experience the connection with Spirit.

In this Beatitude, Jesus is praising the people for their character and pledging divine rewards for it. He acknowledges that they bring nothing of their own power, possessions or merit to gain entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven. God does not judge if one is rich or poor on the material plane.

Jesus did not make them rich in earthly possessions and power; but he fulfilled their greatest need, their Spiritual need.

Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Basically, we could simply say this has to do with the fact that there were many uprisings in the Near East at this time. The Israelites were often fighting against their Roman oppressors. When the people came to Jesus and complained about this, he told them of the new kingdom.

Mourning indicates the pain and the grief and the anxieties of the soul over some loss, often the death of a loved one. But it could be over the loss of a valued life, such as those Israelites who went into exile. Or it could be over the loss of possessions, or status, or health. People mourn over any disaster or tribulation. And in times of mourning they look for hope. And often in this world people see little hope.

Mourning in the Psalms (cf. Psalms 119:136; 42:9; 43:2; 38:6) was often associated with grieving over personal or national sin, over the oppression of an enemy, over injustice, or over lack of respect for God’s Law. In this context the corresponding parallel in the Beatitudes explains it perfectly, the mourners are ‘those who hunger and thirst for righteousness’, the coming of the ‘reign of God’ (the kingdom) will comfort and satisfy (‘fill’) them.

I believe it also tells us of our comfort as we come to the realization that our ‘sins,’ our ‘missing the mark,’ is just that, a mistake. It is not a condemnation to everlasting damnation as the Hebrew Bible tells us.

AS we mourn our error and reach into our Christ self, we may mourn that we missed the mark, but we rejoice in the fact that we have ‘seen the light’ and can move forward. Our problem, many times, is we do not forgive ourselves, and may continue mourning our errors.

Emmet Fox, a prominent New Thought writer, looks at this Beatitude quite differently…see what you think. His take is that we have to face troubles, woes, illness, etc. so we will ‘hit bottom’ and then finally turn to God and recognize our true source. What do you think?

The interesting thing about metaphysics is, you get to figure out what it means to you!

Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. In the Bible, the meek are those who have a spirit of gentleness and self-control; they are free from malice and a condescending spirit. Being meek is being patient, not easily angered and not thinking of yourself to highly.

A bad example of meekness were the Pharisees. They would make sure people knew that they were fasting and praying and seemed proud about what they were doing for God.

Except God is looking for us to do these things without putting on a show for others but doing it just for God, not for approval from others. Doing a nice, kind thing for someone is what we are here to do.

Meekness is not weakness, the meek are gentle; they practice nonresistance such as Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, and Nelson Mandela.   The meek do not exploit and oppress others; they are not given to vengeance and vendettas, they are not violent, and they do not try to seize power for their own ends.

In short, they have emulated the nature of Jesus in their lives and learned from him. This does not mean that they are weak or ineffective in life. They may be gentle and humble, but they can and do champion the needs of the weak and the oppressed.

Emmet Fox believes this is one of the most important statements in Jesus’ teachings- the key of life – the secret of overcoming every kind of difficulty.

The term Earth in this sense, means manifestation or expression, the result of cause. Inherit the earth means to have dominion over that outer experience, to have power to bring your conditions into harmony and success. So meekness is a combination of open-mindedness, faith in God, realization that the will of God is always good.

The Hebrew Bible’s religion is based on strict adherence to the mechanics of cause and effect (“eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth, etc.”) This is the accepted standard for Jehovah worship. Jesus reveals God as Pure Spirit, Father, and Absolute Good. A different standard applies in the worship of God as Spirit. The Sermon on the Mount reveals this new standard of religious thinking.

Mosaic (from Moses) Law helps show us right from wrong (Ten Commandments). It helps us to behave properly. It is necessary for basic survival.

The higher and greater dimensions of the law (grace and Truth from Jesus Christ) present good as the only enduring reality. They (grace and Truth) do not just tell us to behave properly in order to survive, but they point the way for our consciousness to begin evolving toward regeneration and perfection.

The Beatitudes which open the Sermon on the Mount are remarkable for the fact that they describe mostly negative states, but call them “blessed.” Upon careful reading we find that the “blessedness” really does not lie in the state itself, but in the fact that help for all those states is available because of God’s spiritual laws. When we open ourselves to God’s help, the negativity of any state is transformed into the blessing of overcoming it and receiving recompense for such overcoming.

We will continue this discovery of the Beatitudes later in the year. Keep in mind, when looking at anything metaphysically, you want to see what the meaning is for you. So, what do these first three Beatitudes mean for you?

Good Morning Beloved!

On their way to get married, a young Catholic couple is involved in a fatal car accident. The couple found themselves sitting outside the Pearly Gates waiting for St. Peter to process them into Heaven.

While waiting, they began to wonder: Could they possibly get married in Heaven? When St. Peter showed up, they asked him. St. Peter said, “I don’t know. This is the first time anyone has asked. Let me go find out,'” and he left. The couple sat and waited, and waited.

Two months passed and the couple were still waiting.

While waiting, they began to wonder what would happen if it didn’t work out; could you get a divorce in heaven?

After yet another month, St. Peter finally returned, looking somewhat bedraggled. “Yes,” he informed the couple, “You can get married in Heaven.”

“Great!” said the couple, “But we were just wondering, what if things don’t work out? Could we also get a divorce in Heaven?”

St. Peter, red-faced with anger, slammed his clipboard onto the ground. “What’s wrong?” asked the frightened couple.

“OH, COME ON!” St. Peter shouted, “It took me three months to find a minister up here! Do you have any idea how long it’ll take me to find a lawyer?”

No Complaints!

What did you think of that song – ‘No Complaints’? I can’t say that I am at a place where I don’t have a complaint or two, even if it may be in my head, to myself. Can you say you are at the place where you have no complaints?

Most of us, I would think still have a complaint or two. Unfortunately, it seems to be part of the human condition. Our society certainly believes we ‘deserve’ it all…more money, more clothes, more importance, status; more shoes….I could never figure out the shoe thing!

Where does all this come from?

Eckhart Tolle said, “The basis for true change is freedom from negativity.”

How do we get that?

Everything comes to us in Divine Order, and for our highest good, the best for all concerned. This means that what we might feel is a “burden,” a problem, a challenge or an issue, is part of the divine plan of our lives. We are being called to a higher consciousness to experience [each] situation from a different point of view and to bring into spiritual activity our divine capabilities and powers.

The challenge, I’d rather call them ‘growth opportunities,’ is most often based upon a choice we made some where along our way and now we have the result of that choice. Cause and effect.

Or maybe we agreed to honor another soul on their journey by presenting this opportunity for their growth. I believe we make Sacred Contracts before incarnating, to give the other a growth opportunity, but that’s another lesson…

Wayne Dyer said, “With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.”

And I remind you, it’s ALWAYS a choice.

It doesn’t matter what the situation is. If there is something not working and we can fix it, it is right to give it attention while we fix it, but to indulge the bad habit of looking for flaws and dwelling upon them when we cannot remedy them actually hurts us more than anyone else. Thinking about mistakes, troubles, disappointments, slights, and grudges opens the gates of our consciousness to negative results.

 

An entire sea of water can’t sink ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world can’t bring us down unless we allow it to get inside.

We need to understand that life isn’t what we are given; it’s what we create, what we overcome, and what we achieve that makes it beautiful.

Or as Professor Dumbledore said in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, “It is our choices…that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

It is unfortunate how many people allow their negative, fear-ridden thoughts to control their lives and their reality. The truth is we all have the power to take back our minds and direct our energy in a positive way, serving both ourselves and those around us. Gratitude gets us there fastest. It’s a major step in unwinding our negative mental habits.

And it is really a habit. SO, how do we break a habit? Well, one minister from the Kansas City area asked himself that same question. And he came up with an idea to help to break the negative thought habit.

His idea turned into A Complaint Free World. Rev. Will Bowen researched the idea of habit breaking and complaining and found, as many of us know, that 21 days are required to break a habit.

So, for 21 days, he used a bracelet like this, (show purple bracelet), and every time he complained, gossiped or criticized, he moved it from one arm to the other arm. He did this for 21 days. In this way he ended his negative ‘talk’ about himself, about his family, his community, his world. He put Gandhi’s words to action – “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

I have a few of these purple bracelets for anyone who wishes to take these steps to better their world. They will be on the information table.

And what thoughts can we put in place of these negative words? How about gratitude? How about affirmations?

Anyone who lives their entire life without realizing how precious, miraculous, and unique this life experience is (or without understanding the value of getting present with a grateful heart) can never truly realize what this life truly means. When we live in fear for our future or sorrow for our past, we miss it. We walk past the miracle of the moment with a blind eye.

Through gratitude, however, we can access presence. We are able to receive the blessings of being alive. As we open our hearts, aligning our minds and our thoughts with feeling grateful, we are able to witness the true magic of life. This is an indescribable magic unique to each one of us.

On the other hand, when we are not aligned with gratitude—when we’re feeling like a victim, complaining about whatever is happening, or blaming others—we cloud our perspective and miss the whole miraculous Universe.

By learning to say, “Thank You” to every experience we have, we move from a place of resistance, where we feel like a victim, to a place of acceptance, where we can be okay with change and eventually even embrace it. This simple act allows us to move forward with our lives in leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, most of the time we’re so caught up in either avoiding pain or just getting through the day that we forget to say to ourselves, Wow! Nature is crazy beautiful. This food tastes delicious. I can be the person I want to be right now. What do I want to experience next?

Instead, we are too busy thinking; How will I ever pay my rent? I hope I don’t look stupid! I wonder if anybody will notice me today. Why do bad things always happen to me? I’m not good enough to have what I want. I don’t know what to do, so I’ll just do nothing. Life is boring.

What’s up with that? Isn’t it obvious that this moment, this experience we are having on this unique planet in the infinitely expanding Universe, is precious and will never happen again? And that there is no other you? By digging deep into ourselves and getting over what society wants us to believe is important and instead focusing our energy upon the blessings of simply being here now, we can live much happier, simpler, and more fulfilling lives. By doing this we bless the people we meet with our epically positive vibes.

This isn’t rocket science. It’s just being grateful! Remember, wealth is just a matter of perspective, and if you feel poor, chances are you are not taking enough time to bear witness to the miracle of right here, right now. Stop the crazy mental chatter for a moment and concentrate your thoughts on finding one or two things you can be grateful for—then look for more. This will lift the veil of fear clouding an ungrateful heart so you can see life for what it truly is: one amazing miracle.

A Course in Miracles tells us that perception is not a fact, but an interpretation. The world we see is determined by the kind of vision we use to observe it. When we view the world as unsafe and threatening, populated by ignorant, evil people, we will find plenty of evidence to prove our assumption. All belief systems are self-validating. If, on the other hand, we view the world as a place of kindness, filled with people willing and able to make life easier for each other that is the world we will experience. An infinite variety of realities exist simultaneously. The one we live in is the one we focus on.

You recall the story of a stranger coming up to a new town and asking a farmer working in the field near the road what kind of town it is? The farmer asks the traveler what kind of town he came from?

The traveler responded, “My old town was mean, the people were not friendly at all.”

And the farmer replied, “Well, then you won’t be happy here, the people are about the same.”

A short time later another traveler came by and asked the farmer the same question.

And the farmer asked him the same question, what was it like at your old town?

This traveler responded, “The people were great, very friendly. I hated to leave.”

The farmer smiled and said, “Welcome home, this town’s people are exactly the same.”

Perspective!

This is faith in what you believe- as in Philippians 4:11-13, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

That is how we move forward on your journey. We receive energy back according to how we put energy out – whether that energy is expressed as money or as love, appreciation or respect.

Dave Willis said, “Pray when you feel like worrying. Give thanks when you feel like complaining. Keep going when you feel like quitting.”

I have often said to my Mother, after she says how she worries about me…you cannot worry about me and love me at the same time…two completely different emotions. Think about it…

Here’s a thought to close with…

“A small trouble is like a pebble. Hold it too close to your eye and it fills the whole world and puts everything out of focus. Hold it at a proper distance and it can be examined and properly classified. Throw it at your feet and it can be seen in its true setting, just one more tiny bump on the pathway to life.”

— Celia Luce

Good Morning Beloved!

During a trial, in a small Southern town, the prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grandmotherly woman, to the stand. He approached her and asked, “Mrs. Jones, do you know me?”

She responded, “Why yes, I do know you. I’ve known you since you were a boy, and frankly, you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie, cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you’re a big shot when you haven’t the brains to realize you’ll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.”

The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, “Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?”

Again, she replied, “Why yes I do. I’ve known him since he was a youngster too. He’s lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can’t build a normal relationship with anyone, his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him.”

The defense attorney nearly died!

The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice, said, “If either of you idiots ask her if she knows me, I’ll send you both to the electric chair!”

This month’s theme is Discover Compassion. And today we will relate it to the Power of Understanding for our prosperity discussion.

Let’s say the prosperity affirmation together: Affirmation: I find joy in living by giving from the spirit of God within.

I feel it’s easy to discuss compassion and understanding together. They seem to fit nicely.

In his brilliant book, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, author Marcus J. Borg writes: “To put it boldly, for Jesus, compassion was political. He directly and repeatedly challenged the dominant sociopolitical paradigm of his social world and advocated instead what might be called a politics of compassion.” The concept of compassion was central to Jesus: “Be compassionate as God is compassionate,” he said. He was compassionate to everyone, including and especially those who were considered outcasts or untouchables: the poor, the maimed, the chronically ill, lepers, untouchables, Samaritans, Gentiles, tax collectors, sinners and women, who fell to the bottom of the social strata at that time. Jesus pointedly rejected the purity system that dictated who had rights and who didn’t; who was to be acknowledged and who wasn’t; and who one could speak to, eat with, touch, help, defend or befriend.

Jesus demonstrated again and again that the letter of human-made law is less important than the spirit of God’s law, which is love and compassion.

We can understand why the Fillmore’s, our founders, choose Jesus as our way-shower.

Now let’s look at understanding.

Charles Fillmore defines “understanding” on two levels. First, it is that in us that comprehends and knows in wisdom. He then goes a step higher to define “spiritual understanding” as that quickening (or awakening) of the Spirit within. It is the ability of the mind to apprehend and realize the laws of thought and the relation of ideas to one another.

Notice, it says he goes HIGHER. Higher to Spiritual Understanding.

Spiritual understanding is developed in many ways-no two people have exactly the same experience. Some come to it like Saul as he became Paul, in a blinding flash while others receive it gently and harmoniously. And some, experience the Spiritual 2×4! I’ve ha that a few times!

Either way, spiritual understanding leads us to live with the awareness of God, of the Divine Spirit, and to depend upon and expect from that Divine Spirit the good that shows up as prosperity in many ways. We are children of God, who desires to give us the kingdom of heaven. With this spiritual understanding, faith in that Universal goodness never waivers.

Understanding comes natural to us. It expresses as intuitive knowing, which comes from the “still, small voice” within. Your intuition, or inner teacher, is your highest form of understanding. Listen to that still small voice. Be aware when you know something and you cannot pinpoint where you learned it. This is your intuition kicking in. This is spiritual understanding.

And it is that “Still small voice” that guides our compassion. Think about it. Do you need to think or plan your feelings of compassion? I think not.

“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourself in love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col. 3:12-14 NRSV).

We must have compassion for ourselves or else we add to our suffering. After becoming aware of and accepting our initial responses, we may then ask ourselves, “Is there another way to see this?”

Positive emotions like gratitude, appreciation, love, and compassion don’t just feel good. They balance the electromagnetic signals that our hearts and brains use to communicate.

If we are in balance, we prosper. Simple.

Here are some signs of a compassionate person:

Lets’ go of judgment;

Is more accepting of others;

Appreciates how other people feel;

Tries to help in difficult situations;

Acts as a sympathetic listener;

Renounces anger and aggression;

and works to maintain a harmonious, peaceful atmosphere at home and at work.

The awakening of our own faculty of understanding starts with questioning—questioning the old ways of thinking that may have been taken for granted. … The desire for understanding leads to thinking about what is learned and seeking to put it all together in a body of information that will provide a basis for living. Our integrity.

Understanding is different from wisdom. Charles Fillmore defines wisdom as “intuitive knowing; spiritual intuition, the relation of ideas to one another.”

To put it more simply, wisdom knows. Understanding knows why. When your understanding is developed in both head and feet, not only will you have the light in mind, but you will also have the ability to apply it in your world. Which is Unity’s 5^th Principle.

Webster’s dictionary defines “understanding” as the mental quality of comprehension, discernment, or the ability to think and learn. Intellectual understanding usually means knowledge independent of feeling. It is literal knowledge without the consideration of Spirit.

“Intelligence without wisdom is fruitless and wisdom without compassion is simply not wise.” Unknown

Here is a story of wisdom, compassion and understanding…

His name is John. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college. He is brilliant. Kind of esoteric and very, very bright.

Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students, but are not sure how to go about it. One day John decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started, so John starts down the aisle looking for a seat.

The church is completely packed, and he can’t find a seat. By now people are looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. John gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit and when he realizes there are no seats, he just sits down right on the carpet. (Although perfectly acceptable behavior at a college fellowship, this had never happened in this church before!) By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick.

About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward John. Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, a three-piece suit, and a pocket watch. A very elegant, very dignified man. He walks with a cane and as he starts walking toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves, “You can’t blame him for what he’s going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?”

It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy. The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man’s cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can’t even hear anyone breathing. The people are thinking, “The minister can’t even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do.” And then they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty he lowers himself and sits down next to John and worships with him so he won’t be alone.

Everyone chokes up with emotion. When the minister regained control, he said, “What I’m about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget.”

A simple gesture of compassion, welcoming and love. I hope everyone feels that kind of welcome and love when they come to Unity of Rehoboth Beach.

You see, every time you put something positive into the universe, the world changes. Your kindness, compassion, love and understanding invite miracles to show up. In the whole world.

Myrtle Fillmore, said in ‘How to Let God Help You,’ “If you would grow in understanding of spiritual things, become as a little child and let the universal Spirit of good teach you.”

Here’s an example of ‘becoming as a child,’ showing us compassion and understanding.

This is story about a young boy named Shaya who was learning-disabled.

One Sunday afternoon, Shaya and his father came to where his classmates were playing baseball. The game was in progress, and as Shaya and his father made their way toward the ball field, Shaya asked his father, “Do you think you could get me into the game?”

Shaya’s father knew his son was not at all athletic, he knew his son didn’t have the hand/eye coordination to hit the ball with the bat, he knew that he son couldn’t run very fast, and most of all, he thought that none of the boys would not want him on their team.

But he knew something else as well. He knew that if his son were chosen in, it would give him a sense of belonging. So, it was worth the risk.

So he approached one of the boys in the field and asked, “Do you think my son could get into the game?”

The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said,

“We are losing by six runs and the game is already in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning.”

Both father and son were ecstatic. Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shaya’s team scored three runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, his team scored again, they are now only two runs behind.

Now there are two outs and the bases are loaded. And guess who was scheduled to bat? Shaya! His father held his breath. Would the team actually let Shaya bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shaya was told to take a bat and try to get a hit. Everyone figured that it was all but impossible, for he didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it.

Now the game’s dynamics changed. As Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so he should at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came in and Shaya swung clumsily and missed. One of Shaya’s teammates came up to Shaya and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch.

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shaya. As the next pitch came in, Shaya and his teammate swung the bat and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman and his team would have won. His team would have won. But he didn’t.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball in a high arc to right field, far and wide beyond the first baseman’s reach. Everyone started yelling, “Shaya, run to first! Shaya, run to first!” Never in his life had Shaya run to first. He scampered down the baseline wide eyed with excitement.

By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who could easily tag out Shaya, who had rounded first and was still running. But the right fielder understood what the pitcher’s intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman’s head, as everyone yelled, “Shaya, run to second! Shaya, run to second.”

Shaya ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shaya reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran towards him, turned him towards the direction of third base and shouted, “Shaya, run to third!”

As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, “Shaya, run home! Shaya, run home!”

Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero.

I get chills each time I read this story. And as happens so often, our children show us true compassion and understanding.

Jane Goodall said, “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

We see scenes like the stories mentioned playing across the world all the time. People stepping up to feed or clothe those in need, others saving people from harm, or saving all sorts of animals and wild life.

We hear about individuals making changes in their lives in sometimes drastic ways, like Caitlin Jenner and those who have stood for equality for all, paving the way for others to better their lives.

Each example reminds us of ways we too can express our compassion and understanding in our lives, with ourselves and for each other. True prosperity.

What are you focusing on when you leave your Spiritual Community each Sunday? Are you being the best you are capable of being with all the wisdom and understanding you have at the time?

A question I found on one of the minister’s Facebook pages has been in the back of my mind for some time, and maybe now is a good time to ask it…how do we treat others ‘after the Celebration Service is over and we lead our lives through the week?

That is the question of a successful Spiritual Community.

Let’s take that Question into meditation…