GOOD MORNING BELOVED!

 

A new business was opening and one of the owner’s friends wanted to send him flowers for the occasion.

They arrived at the new business site and the owner read the card, “Rest in Peace.”

The owner was angry and called the florist to complain.

After he had told the florist of the obvious mistake and how angry he was, the florist replied, “Sir, I’m really sorry for the mistake, but rather than getting angry you should imagine this. Somewhere there is a funeral taking place today, and they have flowers with a note saying, ‘Congratulations on your new location!

 

Parables Pt. 2 The Lost Parables

 

When I was younger, much younger, about 13-14 years old, maybe, my family along with several Aunts and Uncles and their families were at the beach, North Wildwood is where we went several times as a group.  You know, rented a house a few blocks from the beach, each family had a couple of turns at cooking dinner for the whole gang, we’d spend the day by the water and a few evenings on the Boardwalk, riding rides, eating treats and exploring the shops. Our family was very grateful for an Aunt & Uncle who were pretty well to do.

Well, my youngest brother, Frank, was about 2 or 3 and just getting around on his own, but usually in a stroller.  As my Mother and the others, would venture in a shop someone was in charge of the little ones. 

One time it was my Father, he was to keep an eye on Frank who was out of the stroller at the time, but always close by someone in the large group of people.

Well, you guessed it, somehow he wandered off without being noticed and was ‘lost’.

Of course we were all frantic looking for him and finally, after some time had passed, I recalled a playground we had pasted by and went there, and there he was.  I’m not sure if HE thought he was lost…

After all, not all who are searching are lost.  He may have just been searching for that one more time on the swing!

SO,

Why tell a story of my wandering little brother…because today we look at some of the “Lost Parables”…parables about losing something of value and then finding it.

Most parables, there is only one point, just one ‘central lesson’ by traditional standards.  But when we add metaphysics to it, it becomes something much more.  And I always like to remind you, that what it means to YOU is the most important thing.

The word parable comes from Greek, meaning ‘to place beside or side by side for the purpose of comparison’.  This was the method of teaching Jesus used most often.

The ‘Lost Parables’ are The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, and The Lost Son, or the Prodigal Son, as most refer it.

We will look at the Lost Coin and The Lost Sheep today.  The Lost Son has much to be shared and needs its own lesson.

The Parable of ‘The Lost Sheep’ is the first member of this trilogy about redemption that Jesus tells after the Pharisees and religious leaders accuse him of welcoming and eating with “sinners.”

Here’s what it says:

Read Luke 15:1-7

 

So we can readily see that the story is saying how important even one of us is to God.  And traditionally, that is how we have been brought up to understand this story.

Metaphysically, though, we are to look beyond the story for even more, deeper meanings.

In his Metaphysical Bible Dictionary Charles Fillmore writes that sheep represent harmless and innocent animals; they represent the natural life that flows into our consciousness from Spirit. It is pure, innocent, guileless, and when we open our mind to this realization of Spirit life we open the gate by the sheep market. This is where sheep and goats are separated.

 

The separation of goats from sheep is a mental process wherein the good, obedient, and profitable thoughts (sheep) are retained (placed on the right hand, considered good in the Near East). The stubborn, selfish, useless thoughts (goats) are put away (placed on the left hand, considered evil in the Near East).

 

According to Rev. Ed Townley, “In this passage Jesus has just told his disciples that they must “become like children” to enter the new consciousness he describes as the kingdom of heaven. That’s not the final step into kingdom consciousness; it’s the first. In becoming like children we release any accumulation of fear-based thought energy; we let go of “knowing what we know”; we return to the spiritually empowered thoughts with which we enter into these human experiences.”

“Those childlike thoughts may become scattered and lost through the dramas and challenges of our human lives. But the shepherd within us—the Christ Presence—will always be able to patiently gather them and bring them together, so that the creative Power we are here to express can become the only energy in which we live our lives.”

 

Now the Lost Coin….

Read Luke 15:8-10      

Traditionally, the lost sheep or coin represents a lost human being.  Again, that’s Traditionally.  Let’s look at this parable a bit more.

 

Joel B. Green, New Testament scholar and Dean of the School of Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, notes that the woman described is likely, a poor peasant, and the ten silver coins, corresponding to ten days’ wages, “likely represent the family savings.”  The coins may also have been the woman’s dowry, worn as an ornament.  Both theories may be true, and either one explains the urgency of the woman’s search, and the extent of her joy when the missing coin is found.

this woman was desperate! She turned over her whole house, in the hope of finding her lost coin: it was very important to her!  The woman does not take a lax attitude towards her lost possession.

We can imagine the heart of this woman skipping a beat and her gasping with shock when she learns the coin is missing. Has she mislaid it or dropped it? Has someone taken it? This was enough to send a person into a panic. Where could it be?

 

A typical house of that time had a few small slits for windows or no windows at all, so that there was little light. To search for the lost coin requires more light. Oil for a lamp is not cheap, and she normally saves it for the night. But she must find that coin.

 

The search is on. Out comes her broom, and carefully she begins a systematic and thorough search. Across the packed-earth floor and under mats and pottery vessels she searches. Nothing shows up. Again she goes back over the same area but from a different angle, the light from the lamp casting different shadows this time.

 

Just as she is about to end the second sweep without any success she sees a small glimmer. There it is! The coin is found! Quickly she picks it up and blows away the dust. Yes, she exclaims: “There you are! I thought you were gone, never to be found!”

 

She rushes out of her house calling to her neighbors: “Come, rejoice and celebrate with me! The coin I lost has been found!” Life is once again normal and peaceful.

 

SO we have a parable of a man losing one sheep out of a hundred and goes to find it, leaving the 99 to fend for themselves.

And we have a woman losing a coin and searching until she finds it throughout her home, using precious oil to search.

In each instance, God or the Christ is represented by the person who lost something.

Jesus is comparing this woman to God and the coin to the one who has ‘missed the mark.’  A fairly brave thing to do back in the day, comparing God to a woman.

The shepherd celebrates with his friends and family but she celebrates with the other women.  Women again mentioned in relationship to God, Spirit, importance.

 

These are parables that Jesus gives as He tries to defend Himself against the Pharisees and their condemnation of His interest in the tax collectors and “sinners”. Jesus was seeking out these sinful people and was making a difference in their lives. The Pharisees saw this and were offended and condemned Jesus for even eating with these type of people.  Jesus wants the religious leaders to understand God’s attitude about those who have missed the mark and those that are lost.

To the Pharisees, Jesus was actually rebuking them, saying: “How dare you say that I can’t mix with tax collectors and sinners. These people know that they have not led a good life: these are the ones that need to be brought back to the flock. They are the one lost sheep of the one hundred. They are the lost coin of the ten. How dare you judge me? I am here for them.”

The Pharisees of all people should have been rejoicing with Jesus! The disenchanted wanderers are finding home again. Instead, they griped and complained. They were sheep that had never left the fold, but their heart was far from the shepherd. They were like a lost coin, still at home, but nevertheless lost and out of spiritual circulation.  It forces upon us the question, “Do I have something lost at home, something out of spiritual circulation?”

Perhaps better, “Is someone lost at home or in my extended family?” Is someone lost in your home through inattentiveness and neglect? Is someone lost in your home — that you have taken for granted?

Being lost in these parables means being away from safety and in a place of danger; it means being uninformed about a better way to live; it means not serving God for all the wrong reasons.

I think here I would add lost is being Spiritually Immature, as we mentioned last week.

“Lost” is also being where you’re not supposed to be. “Lost” does not really know where you belong, or how to get there. “Lost” is having no valid point of reference outside of “self.”

“Lost” is waking up one day and realizing that among your most valuable treasures on earth, among your family members, there is one who is lost and out of spiritual circulation.

 

So we see, the Pharisees did not complain that Jesus is teaching ‘sinners’. Since the Pharisees thought themselves to be righteous teachers of the law and all others to be wicked, they could not condemn His preaching to “sinners,” but they thought it was inconsistent with the dignity of someone so knowledgeable in the Scriptures to “eat with them.” The presupposition behind the statement of the Pharisees, “this man welcomes sinners,” is what Jesus addresses in both parables.

Maybe this is another reason we like our Fellowship so well?  We do not mind ‘eating with sinners’ since we all miss the mark at one time or another.

The picture we get from Jesus is that each and every person is very important to Divine Spirit, our Creator.  Every relationship with God is important. YOU are important.

And these parables are about the restoration of lost relationships—ultimately God seeking out human beings who were lost and bringing them back into a loving relationship.

But we should also recognize that our Creator desires us to see the importance of relationships with other people and striving to reconcile and restore fellowship with them.

Maybe it’s time to reach out and mend a relationship.  Maybe it’s time to heal.

 What’s your 1 coin?  Who is your ‘lost sheep’?

Good Morning Beloved!

 

Once upon a time, a woman died and went to heaven. When she reached the Pearly Gates she was met by St. Peter. She said, “Am I in heaven?”

He said, “Yes, you are at the Pearly Gates.”

“Do I get to come in?”

“Yes, if you can spell a word.”

“What word?”

“Any word.”

She said, “Okay, I’ll spell love.” She did and was allowed to enter.

A few minutes later, St. Peter approached her and said, “I have to leave for a minute. Would you watch the gate?”

She was astonished and said, “You want me to watch the gate?”

“Yes.”

“What do I do if someone comes up?”

“Just what I did. Ask them to spell a word.”

As she stood looking around at all the beautiful sights in heaven, she saw a man walking toward the gates. As he drew closer, the woman recognized him. It was her husband. She was shocked!

“What happened?” the wife asked.

“Well,” he replied, “I was drinking and I had an accident and died.  Am I in heaven?”

“You are at the Pearly Gates.”

“Do I get to come in?”

“Yes, but you have to spell a word”

“What word?”

“Czechoslovakia.”

 

 

 

 

Living off your card (or ON it!)

 

Many of you participated in the Visioning Weekend with Rev. Stephanie Seigh and you may recall one of the exercises she led us through called the Hero’s process, where we determined the characteristics or ‘values’ that we each individually, considered important in our lives.

We did that by looking at those people, living or past, real or imaginary, who we look up to…who are our hero’s and heroine’s?

Think about that for a minute.  ————–

DO you have your list?

For me Jesus and the Buddha, but also Yoda!  My mentors.  And Eleanor Roosevelt.  And Jodi Foster!  And some writers like JK Rowling….

Now, look at the characteristics that draws you to that person….what are they?

Those characteristics that you find in those hero’s are also in you. If you can see them in another, you have, at the very least, the potential to have that same characteristic.

And that is what you list on your CARD…your Standards of Integrity.

And this is what we did during the Visioning Weekend.  We looked at what OUR Standards of Integrity were and then we applied them to Unity of Rehoboth Beach.   Because we ARE Unity of Rehoboth Beach!

We then worked further to weed them down and established what 5 values were most often found at Unity of Rehoboth Beach…and they are: Community, Spiritual, Shining Light, Love, Inclusive.

From there we worked on Vision and Mission Statements.  We are still refining these and should have something for you to vote on next week.

We each have values that we consider important.  Sometimes we don’t realize them. Especially if we haven’t taken the time to get to know ourselves.  Often we are ‘too busy’ to take the time, that is often why we hear of “mid-life crisis” or why it is later in life that we find people making changes in their lifestyles, changing jobs for a lifelong dream, or buying that sports car!

That may be why some of you are here, sitting in those chairs, at Unity of Rehoboth Beach.  You were looking for a deeper connection, maybe more meaning to your life.  Maybe you finally listened to that still small voice.  That is, in part, what got me here.

Remember, one of Unity’s 5 Principles is self-responsibility.  It is YOUR responsibility to live ON YOUR CARD.  Or I like to think of it as within my INTEGRITY. It’s at the heart of what each of us controls—ourselves. Nothing else.

A sign of maturity is acknowledging that we are responsible for our own needs.  It is also a sign of Spiritual Maturity.  We can be Spiritually awake, meaning we are learning the TRUTHS, but applying them takes Spiritual Maturity.

That’s Living On Your Card.

The way we choose to think, feel and act directly comes from one of two places—our egos or our higher self. If ego or personality is at the root of our thinking, feeling and acting, our choices may be based on lack, survival,….which all stem from fear. None of these would come from our higher self.

Rather, our higher self shows up as possibility thinking, gratitude and inquisitiveness.

When we listen to our higher self; choices, thoughts, feelings and actions take on a whole new realm of possibility. Our perceptions are more objective, our thoughts are more compassionate, our feelings are more loving and our actions are in integrity.

 

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “If you are called to be a street sweeper, sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, “Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

 

Dr. King’s quote is one that is steeped in choice, intention and right action and that power is ever-present with each breath we take. Isn’t choice something we would all say yes to each and every moment?

Of course, and yet we often unconsciously say no to choice because we rely on that automatic pilot—our habits, our ego-self—that we have relied on for many years.

 

We don’t even think about it. Many of us manage hourly, daily, weekly and yearly with our habits and ego guiding our thoughts, feelings and actions.

To be unconscious to our own light and power could be due to many things: our lack of awareness of who we really are, our lack of discipline, our lack of a plan, our willingness to play small.

 

We don’t have to hold a management or executive title to lead and show up in ways that move an organization or a household, (or a Spiritual Community!), forward toward its mission and vision. We just need to clearly remember and recognize who we are at the core of our being and act from that place of love and strength.

How do we so that?  How do we stay Living On Our Card?  How do we live our integrity?  How do we walk our talk?

Here’s one way that might help:

 

1. Identify your intention.

Maria Nemeth, author of Mastering Life’s Energies and owner of the Academy of Coaching Excellence teaches her students to start each day by asking: “Who am I willing to be in order to produce an extraordinary result out of this day?”

 

2. Become a self-observer.

We have to be able to observe our thoughts and the stories we are telling ourselves about our encounters. Ego loves drama, fear and power, and many of the stories we make up are great tragedies.

It’s important to quickly observe the stories and stresses we are experiencing … and to be able to redirect our reactions in ways that will be helpful to ourselves and others.

 

3. Take authentic action.

“Authentic” in this context means to act from our higher source—our intention—not from the ego, but from that spark of divinity that is in all of us. When we act from that place, we know we are being true to ourselves. We are expressing energy that is coming from our soul. We are spirit in action.  We are living our truth being in alignment with who we truly are.

 

Choice is the only freedom we really have. As we go about our work, whatever form that might take, let’s all remember to say yes to what really matters in our life; to say yes to choice; to take time to pause, reflect and choose our intentions carefully; to self-observe our thoughts and feelings; and to act authentically from that sacred place of love and strength.

 

Consider these statements:

If I live my life to perfection, doing what is right and good on behalf of others, but act with compulsion and without love, then I am nothing at all.

If I take care of the needs of everybody in the world, especially the poor, because of my own need to help, but am without love even for myself, then I am nothing at all.

If I am efficient and successful in all that I do for the sake of justice, but act out of drivenness and without love, then I am nothing at all.

If I am cultured and refined, and in touch with the pain of existence, but am absent from the pain of persons in the present moment who need my empathy; and if I act without love and compassion, then I am nothing at all.

If I have the gifts of wisdom, insight, and understanding, but am not engaged with those around me in the present moment and am without a spirit of compassion and love, then I am nothing at all.

If I am faithful, loyal, and obedient, and never deviate from the law, but am judgmental and blaming, and am without love, then I am nothing at all.

If I live in a pain-free world of dreams and plans, enjoying optimism and pleasurable options, but am not addressing present problems and am avoiding people in actual distress and am without love, then I am nothing at all.

If I am strong and powerful, but lose my best self in a spirit of resentment, retaliation, and vindictiveness, and know nothing of the vulnerability of love, then I am nothing at all.

If I am settled and accommodating, holding onto a sense of distance and calm, but am not journeying inward to know and appreciate my weaknesses and gifts, and am neglecting my own legitimate calling to love myself, then I am nothing at all.

 

Each statement can be another way to question if we are being Spiritually mature.

Good Morning Beloved!

When Bob found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a woman to enjoy it with. So one evening he went to a singles bar where he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Her natural beauty took his breath away. “I may look like just an ordinary man,” he said as he walked up to her, “but in just a week or two my father will die, and I’ll inherit 20 million dollars.”

Impressed, the woman went home with him that evening.

Three days later, she became his stepmother.

 

 

Mother’s Day

For some of us, Mother’s Day is a beautiful and joyful event to be spent with our Mother or to remember them if they have passed.

But for many of us, Mother’s Day is filled with emotional complication and mixed feelings.

Some had beloved mothers, who have now passed away, and this loss fills you with grief.

Some desperately wanted to be mothers yourselves, but destiny did not allow it.

Some had mothers who were unavailable in one way or another.

Some of you have lost a child.

Some of you — like me — are not mothers in the usual sense of the word.

Some of you are not even female, but men who have stepped in to the role of nurturing as a Mother would.

 

There’s a Jewish Proverb that says, “God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.”

Could possibly be true….

I would alter that a bit and simple say God made those of us who nurture. God is after all, LOVE.

 

We often hear about how a Mother’s love is so profound, that nothing and no one can stand in the way of a Mother and her child.  We only need look at nature to see the overwhelming steps a Mother takes to ensure their offspring, whether animal, bird or human; is safe.

But, most Mothers also take the steps necessary to show their off spring that there is a time to ‘leave the nest’, so to speak.  I think for most of us, we weren’t pushed out of the nest, and left to find our wings before hitting the ground as some fledglings are.

But even for those of us who were pushed out the nest and left to find our wings on our own, we did!  And we found our way, sometimes close to ground, and sometimes we came close to ground several times before truly finding our wings.

Our Mothers may have been secretly hovering beneath us, trying their best to make sure we don’t hit ground.  I know mine did, in her own way.

And I think that is where we need to see our Mother’s, when they didn’t fit the picture we saw on TV…the Mrs. Cleaver from Leave it to Beaver and Mrs. Anderson from Father Knows Best, or Harriet Nelson in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

My Mother and I have a very nice relationship.  We didn’t always though.  I bet a lot of you have similar stories, where there were times of contention between the two of you.  But there is also a point in your life when you said to yourself that the time is right for a good relationship with the woman who brought you into the world.

Or, for the woman or man, who watched you grow and helped as best they could.

And that is where the misunderstanding between each other can be replaced, at least a bit, with at least acceptance and maybe even understanding.

That’s the answer, you know…. understanding that they did the best they could do with what they knew at the time. When I realized that, I could come to grips with how my childhood was and then, at least attempt to let it go.

It’s a choice to take a different perspective, to look at the situation a different way.

SO they did the best they could with what they knew at the time.  Maya Angelou said it better: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

Think about that.  When my Mother had me, she was almost 20 years old.  What do you know about the world and life at 20?  Now go back to 1949, my birth year, when things weren’t easily available.  And add another baby just about a year and a half old, my older brother and a husband who was alcoholic and not responsible as far as holding a job.

And though she is an intelligent woman, her education didn’t go past elementary years.  It was out to the fields and work for her and her siblings. She had a rough life as a child.

I’m proud of my Mother and the growth she has made.  Most times she does not revert to her victim mentality, though it would be well understood if she did.  She and I both have traveled that road several times.

No, she has moved along nicely, coming into her own.

What have you seen in your Mother’s journey as you look back through your years together?  Think about that journey, what have and can you learn from it?

   I asked some folks to say a few words about their Mother….

 

 

Our Mother’s hold a special place in our lives…whether they were the best Mother or akin to Bette Davis…. there is always something that connects us to them.

 

Here’s a story…

 

Lionel phones his mother living in Springfield, MA USA.

‘Mum, how are you?’ he asks.

‘Not too good,’ answers Lionel’s mother, ‘I’ve been very weak.’

Lionel, concerned asks, ‘Why are you so weak, mother?’

She says, ‘Because I haven’t eaten in 23 days’

Lionel stammers, ‘That’s terrible. Why haven’t you eaten in 23 days?’

His mother replies, ‘Because I didn’t want my mouth to be filled with food if you should phone.’

 

Unfortunately, this is true for many Mothers and their families.  Have you called home lately?

I found this little reminder that fits in many places, especially here…

 

Have you checked your love walk?

Good Morning Beloved!

A woman goes into a coffee shop and notices there’s a ‘peel and win’

sticker on her coffee cup.

So she peels it off and starts screaming, “I’ve won a motor home! I’ve won

a motor home!”

The waitress says, “That’s impossible. The biggest prize is a free Lunch?”

But the woman keeps on screaming, “I’ve won a motor home! I’ve won a motor

home!”

Finally, the manager comes over and says, “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but you’re

mistaken. You couldn’t have possibly won a motor home because we didn’t

have that as a prize.”

The woman says, “No, it’s not a mistake. I’ve won a motor home!”

She hands the ticket to the manager and HE reads…”W I N A B A G E L.”

 

Honoring the Earth for Earth Day

Our Way-shower gathered His disciples around him, not by promising an easy life.  On the contrary, he told them they had to leave their families and their livelihood to join him.

Even the rich young man, when asked how he too, could gain Heaven on earth, was told how hard it would be, he had to give everything he had away to the poor to follow Jesus.

When we came to Unity, we didn’t have to give away all our possessions, but in many instances we had to give away the life we were living to gain a much fuller, more fulfilling life.

Honoring the Earth and Her ecology is like that.  We can continue living our lives without understanding that we are all in this together or we can make the changes needed and necessary to help stop and possibly reverse the damage done to the Earth.

Jesus spoke of true union at all levels: with oneself, with the neighbor, with the outsider, with nature, and–through all of these–with the Divine.

The Fillmore’s were very ecologically minded.  They promoted organic farming on what is now Unity Village.  They were vegetarians. They believed as Frijoy Capra states, “Ecology and spirituality are fundamentally connected because deep ecological awareness, ultimately, is spiritual awareness.”

 

Gaylord Nelson said, “The wealth of the nation is its air, water, soil, forests, minerals, rivers, lakes, oceans, scenic beauty, wildlife habitats and biodiversity… that’s all there is. That’s the whole economy. That’s where all the economic activity and jobs come from. These biological systems are the sustaining wealth of the world.”

I would add its people too.

And yet we are killing those very resources.

Earth Day is April 22^nd, this Friday.  And in many places, the entire week is celebrated as Earth Week.  Have you asked yourself what is yours to do regarding our environment?  That can be and IS a very important question.  And how you answer, is important, and possibly life changing for you.

Why do I say that?  Because as we get more and more aware of the Earth and what billions of people on her are doing to her, we most often get a little more motivated with regard to what is our part to do to help lessen the damage.

So, what is our part?  It is so easy to help with the Earth’s care.  And that is the name Unity Worldwide Ministries has for its ecology and environmental program…Earth Care.

Earth Care is something I envision that we can strive for when we arrive at our own building.

For now, there are things we can do to do our part.  You know what they are…but we forget.  Or we talk the easy way.  Or maybe we get lazy.

I think we are not CONSCIOUS of what we are doing a good bit of the time.  We miss opportunities to be of service to each other and to the earth because we are caught up in doing instead of BEING.

I don’t know what is yours to do for each of you.  But I do know that we all need reminded now and then. So –

Here are some reminders while we are in this building:

Conserve electricity by only have the lights on when we are here, making sure to turn them off when we leave a room and to turn the heat/cooling back to where it was when we got here.

Take care that when you are snacking, that you don’t drop any food or drink on the floor.

Reduce the use of paper products by bringing our own cups for coffee and tea.

Reduce the use of plastic water bottles by again, bringing our own cups or water bottles.  There are very nice glass water bottles now to eliminate further, the use of plastic.

Make sure we recycle as much as possible.

And we can take this further as we apply these ideas at home and expand them there and at work and play.  How you ask?

Reduce the amount of water you use at home.  Just because we have plenty coming through the water lines does not mean we should take it for granted.  Don’t let it run as we brush our teeth or do the dishes. Full loads when we do laundry and the dish washer.  Sun dry your clothes….

Recycle. Recycle. Recycle.  Almost everything is recyclable.  Not just paper and plastic and glass, but CFL bulbs, batteries and even computers.  Find out where in your area and recycle as much as possible.

Compost!  It’s good for the landfills and good for the gardens.

Switch out your old light bulbs for CFL’s and LED’s and go solar where you can out of doors.  Unplug appliances when you are not using them, like chargers and kitchen appliances.

And while you are outside, check what you are planting and where.  Plant placement can aid in the need to heat and cool your home.  And the plants you plant make a difference too.  Plant native to your area to reduce the amount of water they need.

And plant for nature…that means plants that will encourage nature not kill it.  Using pesticides and insecticides only does further damage to our ecosystem.  And killing via insecticides does not encourage the predators you want to encourage to your gardens.  A praying mantis or lady bug will not come to your garden if there are no aphids, mosquitoes, caterpillars, scale insects, mealybugs, spider mites and other soft-bodied insects there to munch on.  And you really DO want the good guys in so the bad guys get out.

And if you don’t like spiders in your house, just gently place them outside, don’t kill them.  They are predators too.

And do not forget that as you kill insects you consider bothersome, you are also killing ones that are needed, like bees, wasps, butterflies and even ants, that pollinate our plants.  Without them, our food chain will falter.

Speaking of our food chain…. plant a garden!  And use organic soil and plants grown organically.  Or start your own from organic seeds.  Not only is this helping your environment it helps your grocery bill too!  And teaching our children about gardening will benefit us all in the long run.

And while you are at it, plant a tree too, if you are able.  We need plants to return oxygen to the air.  Remember oxygen…that element we need to breathe…. trees, plants, they are our friends.

Shop Farmers markets and look for organic as much as you are able.  Ask the grocers to wrap your items in as little wrapping as possible.  Do we REALLY need those Styrofoam platters that food is placed on just to be wrapped up in…? You guessed it, plastic?

Eliminate to need for the plastic bags at any store by always having your own reusable bags.

And eat less meat…it takes a lot to put a steak on your plate.  Growing and feeding beef cattle is expensive for the farmers and ranchers and for the earth. Go vegetarian once or twice a week, or more often if you are able.

Eliminate junk mail and reuse and recycle what you do receive.

I know this may be difficult for some of us, but drive the speed limit.  Keep your car in good working order and have the tires checked for the correct air pressure. And drive smart, organize your errand trips so you don’t drive more than needed to get where you want to go.

I know there are many, many more actions we can take.  But we must be vigilant, as Professor Moody from Harry Potter would say.  We need to keep ourselves aware of our actions.  They make a difference and are part of our integrity.  And others watch what we do, especially younger folks, and they see what we do and copy it.

So, we are always examples to the rest of the world.  What are we teaching as we walk and talk and drive and buy….?

Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtfully committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

And it doesn’t have to be a group, though that helps.

In the face of such huge global problems, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless, and to find ourselves asking, “What difference can one person make?” Just like voting, one person can make all the difference in the world:

• Rachel Carson was just one person who wrote Silent Spring, a book credited with launching the environmental movement in the United States.
• John Muir was one person who saved the Yosemite Valley, founded the Sierra Club, and inspired generations of conservationists who continue to do life-giving work.
• Wangari Maathai is one person who started planting trees and empowering women in her native Kenya, and eventually was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2004 for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace. There’s actually a song about her, called “Women Planting Trees.”
• Al Gore is just one person who traveled for years to any conference room or auditorium where people would gather to hear his call to action and see his slide show, which became the Academy Award-winning film and best-selling book, An Inconvenient Truth

 

You may not be able to reduce global warming, end pollution and save endangered species single-handed, but by choosing to live an earth-friendly lifestyle you can do a lot every day to help achieve those goals.

Here at the beach there are unique ways to help sea life, the beaches and the seas.

By making wise choices about how you live, and the amount of energy and natural resources you consume, you send a clear message to businesses, politicians and government agencies that value you as a customer, constituent and citizen.

The spiritual question is this: Does one’s life give any evidence of an encounter with God? Does this encounter bring about in you any of the things that Paul describes as the “fruits” of the spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22)? Are you different from your surroundings, or do you reflect the predictable cultural values and biases of your group?

We often forget that WE ARE NATURE.  Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say we have lost our connection to nature, we’ve really lost our connection to ourselves.

And to the God of our understanding, whether we name that energy Spirit, Goddess, Krishna, or Buddha; we need Nature to helps us with that most important connection.

 

The Native American Proverb reminds us, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

 

So please do what you are able to do for us all by making Earth Day every day.

 

Good Morning Beloved!
A woman goes into a coffee shop and notices there’s a ‘peel and win’
sticker on her coffee cup.
So she peels it off and starts screaming, “I’ve won a motor home! I’ve won
a motor home!”
The waitress says, “That’s impossible. The biggest prize is a free Lunch?”
But the woman keeps on screaming, “I’ve won a motor home! I’ve won a motor
home!”
Finally, the manager comes over and says, “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but you’re
mistaken. You couldn’t have possibly won a motor home because we didn’t
have that as a prize.”
The woman says, “No, it’s not a mistake. I’ve won a motor home!”
She hands the ticket to the manager and HE reads…”W I N A B A G E L.”
Honoring the Earth for Earth Day

Our Way-shower gathered His disciples around him, not by promising an easy life. On the contrary, he told them they had to leave their families and their livelihood to join him.
Even the rich young man, when asked how he too, could gain Heaven on earth, was told how hard it would be, he had to give everything he had away to the poor to follow Jesus.
When we came to Unity, we didn’t have to give away all our possessions, but in many instances we had to give away the life we were living to gain a much fuller, more fulfilling life.
Honoring the Earth and Her ecology is like that. We can continue living our lives without understanding that we are all in this together or we can make the changes needed and necessary to help stop and possibly reverse the damage done to the Earth.
Jesus spoke of true union at all levels: with oneself, with the neighbor, with the outsider, with nature, and–through all of these–with the Divine.
The Fillmore’s were very ecologically minded. They promoted organic farming on what is now Unity Village. They were vegetarians. They believed as Frijoy Capra states, “Ecology and spirituality are fundamentally connected because deep ecological awareness, ultimately, is spiritual awareness.”

Gaylord Nelson said, “The wealth of the nation is its air, water, soil, forests, minerals, rivers, lakes, oceans, scenic beauty, wildlife habitats and biodiversity… that’s all there is. That’s the whole economy. That’s where all the economic activity and jobs come from. These biological systems are the sustaining wealth of the world.”
I would add its people too.
And yet we are killing those very resources.
Earth Day is April 22nd, this Friday. And in many places, the entire week is celebrated as Earth Week. Have you asked yourself what is yours to do regarding our environment? That can be and IS a very important question. And how you answer, is important, and possibly life changing for you.
Why do I say that? Because as we get more and more aware of the Earth and what billions of people on her are doing to her, we most often get a little more motivated with regard to what is our part to do to help lessen the damage.
So, what is our part? It is so easy to help with the Earth’s care. And that is the name Unity Worldwide Ministries has for its ecology and environmental program…Earth Care.
Earth Care is something I envision that we can strive for when we arrive at our own building.
For now, there are things we can do to do our part. You know what they are…but we forget. Or we talk the easy way. Or maybe we get lazy.
I think we are not CONSCIOUS of what we are doing a good bit of the time. We miss opportunities to be of service to each other and to the earth because we are caught up in doing instead of BEING.
I don’t know what is yours to do for each of you. But I do know that we all need reminded now and then. So –
Here are some reminders while we are in this building:
Conserve electricity by only have the lights on when we are here, making sure to turn them off when we leave a room and to turn the heat/cooling back to where it was when we got here.
Take care that when you are snacking, that you don’t drop any food or drink on the floor.
Reduce the use of paper products by bringing our own cups for coffee and tea.
Reduce the use of plastic water bottles by again, bringing our own cups or water bottles. There are very nice glass water bottles now to eliminate further, the use of plastic.
Make sure we recycle as much as possible.
And we can take this further as we apply these ideas at home and expand them there and at work and play. How you ask?
Reduce the amount of water you use at home. Just because we have plenty coming through the water lines does not mean we should take it for granted. Don’t let it run as we brush our teeth or do the dishes. Full loads when we do laundry and the dish washer. Sun dry your clothes….
Recycle. Recycle. Recycle. Almost everything is recyclable. Not just paper and plastic and glass, but CFL bulbs, batteries and even computers. Find out where in your area and recycle as much as possible.
Compost! It’s good for the landfills and good for the gardens.
Switch out your old light bulbs for CFL’s and LED’s and go solar where you can out of doors. Unplug appliances when you are not using them, like chargers and kitchen appliances.
And while you are outside, check what you are planting and where. Plant placement can aid in the need to heat and cool your home. And the plants you plant make a difference too. Plant native to your area to reduce the amount of water they need.
And plant for nature…that means plants that will encourage nature not kill it. Using pesticides and insecticides only does further damage to our ecosystem. And killing via insecticides does not encourage the predators you want to encourage to your gardens. A praying mantis or lady bug will not come to your garden if there are no aphids, mosquitoes, caterpillars, scale insects, mealybugs, spider mites and other soft-bodied insects there to munch on. And you really DO want the good guys in so the bad guys get out.
And if you don’t like spiders in your house, just gently place them outside, don’t kill them. They are predators too.
And do not forget that as you kill insects you consider bothersome, you are also killing ones that are needed, like bees, wasps, butterflies and even ants, that pollinate our plants. Without them, our food chain will falter.
Speaking of our food chain…. plant a garden! And use organic soil and plants grown organically. Or start your own from organic seeds. Not only is this helping your environment it helps your grocery bill too! And teaching our children about gardening will benefit us all in the long run.
And while you are at it, plant a tree too, if you are able. We need plants to return oxygen to the air. Remember oxygen…that element we need to breathe…. trees, plants, they are our friends.
Shop Farmers markets and look for organic as much as you are able. Ask the grocers to wrap your items in as little wrapping as possible. Do we REALLY need those Styrofoam platters that food is placed on just to be wrapped up in…? You guessed it, plastic?
Eliminate to need for the plastic bags at any store by always having your own reusable bags.
And eat less meat…it takes a lot to put a steak on your plate. Growing and feeding beef cattle is expensive for the farmers and ranchers and for the earth. Go vegetarian once or twice a week, or more often if you are able.
Eliminate junk mail and reuse and recycle what you do receive.
I know this may be difficult for some of us, but drive the speed limit. Keep your car in good working order and have the tires checked for the correct air pressure. And drive smart, organize your errand trips so you don’t drive more than needed to get where you want to go.
I know there are many, many more actions we can take. But we must be vigilant, as Professor Moody from Harry Potter would say. We need to keep ourselves aware of our actions. They make a difference and are part of our integrity. And others watch what we do, especially younger folks, and they see what we do and copy it.
So, we are always examples to the rest of the world. What are we teaching as we walk and talk and drive and buy….?
Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtfully committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
And it doesn’t have to be a group, though that helps.
In the face of such huge global problems, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless, and to find ourselves asking, “What difference can one person make?” Just like voting, one person can make all the difference in the world:
• Rachel Carson was just one person who wrote Silent Spring, a book credited with launching the environmental movement in the United States.
• John Muir was one person who saved the Yosemite Valley, founded the Sierra Club, and inspired generations of conservationists who continue to do life-giving work.
• Wangari Maathai is one person who started planting trees and empowering women in her native Kenya, and eventually was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2004 for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace. There’s actually a song about her, called “Women Planting Trees.”
• Al Gore is just one person who traveled for years to any conference room or auditorium where people would gather to hear his call to action and see his slide show, which became the Academy Award-winning film and best-selling book, An Inconvenient Truth

You may not be able to reduce global warming, end pollution and save endangered species single-handed, but by choosing to live an earth-friendly lifestyle you can do a lot every day to help achieve those goals.
Here at the beach there are unique ways to help sea life, the beaches and the seas.
By making wise choices about how you live, and the amount of energy and natural resources you consume, you send a clear message to businesses, politicians and government agencies that value you as a customer, constituent and citizen.
The spiritual question is this: Does one’s life give any evidence of an encounter with God? Does this encounter bring about in you any of the things that Paul describes as the “fruits” of the spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22)? Are you different from your surroundings, or do you reflect the predictable cultural values and biases of your group?
We often forget that WE ARE NATURE. Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say we have lost our connection to nature, we’ve really lost our connection to ourselves.
And to the God of our understanding, whether we name that energy Spirit, Goddess, Krishna, or Buddha; we need Nature to helps us with that most important connection.

The Native American Proverb reminds us, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

So please do what you are able to do for us all by making Earth Day every day.

Good Morning Beloved!

 

A guy walks into a bar and orders a double martini. He slams it down in one gulp and orders another one. He slams that one down too and orders a third.

The bartender says, “Hey buddy, what are you doing? You are going to kill yourself drinking like that. Do you have a problem?”

The guy replies, “My wife and I got into a big fight and she is not speaking to me for 30 days.”

The bartender says, “Well, that might not be all that bad. Think of it positively. A little peace and quiet isn’t going to hurt anything. Enjoy it.”

The guy said, “Yes, but this is the last day.”

 

The Power of our Words

 

Have you ever seen this phrase of Lao Tzu?  Or heard it maybe?

Watch your thoughts; They become words. Watch your words; They become actions. Watch your actions; They become habits. Watch your habits; They become character. Watch your character; It becomes your destiny.

 

What does that say to you?

It tells me that our thoughts and words have Weight, they have power.

 

Just as the Hebrew Scriptures showed us that a spoken Word can create the heavens and the earth, we too can create the life we desire by thinking and speaking faith, positive filled words. The words we speak will either give life or cause death.

 

A lot has been said about the power of our thoughts and words.  If you have seen the experiments that have been done with water by Dr. Emoto and others, and the effect of positive and negative words on the crystals of frozen water, you would be convinced that we all need to be doing that same scientific process to ourselves.

After all, aren’t we made of mostly water?  But instead of walking around with little pieces of paper with all sorts of positive and loving words sticking to us, maybe we should just speak more kind words to ourselves and while we are at it, to others too.

Our thoughts produce chemicals in our body as a result of those thoughts; positive thoughts give rise to health-supporting chemicals while negative thoughts give rise to ‘harmful’ chemicals. Our thoughts can depress our immune system.

What we want to do is become more conscious of what we are thinking and saying.  The more conscious we become, the more we deepen our relationship to the words we use so that we speak from a place of actually feeling what we are saying. We begin to recognize that words are not abstract, disconnected entities used only to convey meaning; they are powerful transmitters of feeling.

For the next few days, you might want to practice noticing how the words you say and hear affect your body and your emotional state. Notice how the different communication styles of the people in your life make you feel. Also, watch closely to see how your own words come out and what affect they have on the people around you.  AND on you….

Here’s another thought to ponder – Speaking quickly, without thinking, or rushing to get our ideas across, our words don’t carry the same power as when we speak slowly and confidently, allowing those receiving our words time and space to take them in. When we carefully listen to others before we speak, our words have more integrity, and when we take time to center ourselves before speaking, we truly begin to harness the power of speech. Then our words can be intelligent messengers of healing and light, transmitting deep and positive feelings to those who receive them.

Of course, they can also be thoughtless words that harm.  And we probably have all thought, said and maybe even done things that we wish we could take back.

Well, we can’t. So as my Metaphysics Instructor would often say…. WATCH YOUR WORDS.

From the Aramaic translation, Proverbs 12:18: “There are those whose speech is like the piercing of a sword; but the tongue of the wise heals.”

 

There are many troubling phrases in our language that we use without considering their full meaning simply because they have been accepted into common knowledge.  Our domestication brings with it words and phrases that often have damaging effects.  Even as our ideals progress, our language maintains some phrases from our past that no longer serve us, for example: Boys don’t cry; boys will be boys; illegitimate child; and one that I was told, girls don’t do that.  I am sure there are many more.  Do you have any?

You may want to look back and try to remember some of the words you have been carrying with you through the years and work on eliminating them from your life, because boys DO cry, and there is no excuse for unacceptable behavior from anyone, including boys; ALL children are born with Blessing, and girls do run and play sports and go to college.

While these phrases may be intended to be harmless, they are inherently negative. Children can be especially sensitive to such phrases, which may stay with them their whole lives, adversely affecting their self-image and wounding their self-esteem. We can create positive change by choosing not to use these and similar words and phrases as we come across them in our vocabulary and our daily lives.

 

Language is an area where we can exercise our free will, creating positive change in the world around us by simply choosing carefully the words we use. It is one way the phrase, Peace Begins With Me is placed into action.

It may seem like a small thing, but our words have a rippling effect, like a stone thrown in a pond. People naturally pick up on the way other people speak, consciously or unconsciously changing the way they speak in response.

While I was teaching and to this day to some effect, I had always asked people who used what most would deem bad language to refrain from using it around me.  I wasn’t judging them, I just didn’t want to pick up the habit of using it and have it slip during class or coaching!

We want to control what we say, to think before anything comes out. Once said, it cannot be returned as if nothing was said.

Every time you speak, you influence your world. You are either building it up or tearing it down.  Kind of like Part of the solution or part of the problem…

 

The intensity of the effect of our words depends on the intensity of the thought and feeling behind it and the way the word is spoken.

An obvious and very basic example of this is the fact that soothing words create the release of “soothing” chemicals in the body. This is true for the speaker of the words as well as the listener.

Angry words, on the other hand, cause the release of harmful “fight or flight” chemicals. Again, this happens not only in the person speaking the angry words but in the one spoken to as well.

It is common knowledge that speaking soothing words of love and encouragement to plants makes them grow faster and better. Harsh, hateful words spoken with vehemence tend to make them wither. If our words can have such an impact on plants, imagine the impact we have on ourselves!  And watching what is happening in our society and across our world, we can see the results of words gone awry.

 

Every word we speak is saturated with energy that will create or destroy. We cannot help becoming what we say we are. The more resolutely and intensely we speak the word of who and what we are, the more surely we move toward becoming what we say. If we happen to accept the words directed to us by others, if we make their words our own, then we will move in that direction as well.

“As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.” Proverbs 23:7 Peace, love, joy in our hearts will show in our lives.

 

There is no doubt that all words affect us, but it is our own words which affect us the most. Whether we make our statements kiddingly or seriously, they have an impact. The subconscious has no sense of humor. It doesn’t know the difference between your jokingly referring to yourself as “such a dope” and you actually thinking that you are a dope.

So be careful of the seeds you are planting.  In reality it is Blaspheme to talk badly about yourself.  You are made of the same substance as your creator.  When we say be careful of the words you place after the I AM, that is because we consider I AM one of the names for that ENERGY that is everything. SO, then we are describing that ENERGY with whatever adjective we place after it.

It’s like me saying I AM magnificent.  Or I AM stupid.  God IS magnificent.  But God is not stupid.

 

The words you use reflect your state of consciousness, but they are more than that. They are the very cause of the maintaining of that consciousness. So, if you tell yourself, “You messed up again. You really are worthless,” you are not only affirming your present sense of worth, you are setting the parameters of your worth for the future: Today’s words become tomorrow’s reality.

 

You are a co-creator with the Universe. You co-create your own world by linking your mind with Divine Mind. That link comes through your words. Your words tell God, the Ultimate Creative Intelligence, just what it is that you want.

If you want prosperity and abundance in your world, speak only words of prosperity and abundance. If you want peace in your world, speak only words of peace. If you want love in your world, speak only words of love.

This is not a denial of the fact that there is less than abundance and peace and love in your world. On the contrary, it is simply declaring to the universe and to yourself just what it is that you want.

And how you say what you want is important, as anyone who follows the Law of Attraction knows.  So, state your desires positively.  Do not use don’t, doesn’t, can’t, etc….no negative statements to the Universe.  State your desires in a positive way. I desire a safe, comfortable, home that provides for all the needs and wants for myself and my pets.

 

AND, Words become more empowered when spoken aloud.

How much more emotion and power when we speak the word with others, when a like-minded group affirms a statement of truth with passion and intensity.  Words spoken like this can have astounding effects.

This is one reason why we say affirmations together every Sunday.

And another reason why Unity practices Affirmative Prayer.  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… 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.”

 

Rather than begging or beseeching God, Affirmative Prayer involves connecting with the spirit of the Divine within and asserting 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).

 

Need more proof?  A scientific experiment took place in which a handful of iron filings are placed upon a thin metal sheet. Then a certain musical note was struck and those iron filings formed themselves into a star pattern. Then a different musical note was struck and they formed themselves into a snowflake.

This experiment demonstrated how a certain kind of vibration, a certain sound vibration, literally demonstrated itself into the physical world in a different pattern.

So it is with every word that proceeds out of our mouths. Those sounds have specific vibrations that affect the patterns of matter in this world.

 

From Face Book: There are two things to remember in life: Take care of your thoughts when you are alone and take care of your words when you are with people.

 

So, Watch what you say. Before you speak, Ask, Is this positive? Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?

 

Meditation

TODAY – I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle my whole

life’s problems at once.

 

TODAY – I will be happy. What a very wise man was Abraham Lincoln, when he said, “Most folks are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.” I will smile and others, witnessing my happiness will smile WITH me.

TODAY – I will adjust MYSELF to what IS, and not try to adjust everything

to my own desires.

TODAY – I will do something for my own soul.

TODAY – I will be agreeable.  I will speak softly, look my best, be kind

and considerate, neither criticizing nor finding fault with anyone.

TODAY – I will have a quiet half-hour all to myself — to RELAX. During

this half hour, some of the time I will try to get a better perspective on

myself, to see myself as others see me, and ask myself if I LIKE what I

see.

TODAY – I will be unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to be RIGHT

and to stand by what I believe IS right, if I know the God of my understanding and my conscience are on my side.

TODAY – I will be very careful of my words.  If I can’t find something

nice to say, I will be silent for the spoken word, no matter how much

regretted, can never be recalled.

TODAY – I will keep smiling. It takes seven muscles to smile and 84 to

Frown, so SMILE!

TODAY – Everything I do, or say, or even THINK will be constructive.

Whatever I do will be done to the best of my ability. It may not, and

probably WILL not be the best that can be done, but it will be MY best

for “If you give to the world the best you have, then the best will come

back to you.

Good Morning Beloved!

At the end of his sermon each week, Father Richards offers an altar call, inviting anyone who needs prayer to come forward. Last week, Father Richards gave the invitation and was surprised to see Lee Johnson, a local roustabout, coming forward.

“Brother Lee, what do you need prayer for today?” Father Richards inquired.

“My hearing,” Lee answered quietly.

Father Richards put his hands on each side of Lee’s head and prayed a prayer so beautiful that surely the Angels in Heaven must have been crying. It was a prayer so profound there were only a few dry eyes among the congregation. When he finished, Father Richards removed his hands from Lee’s ears and bellowed, “So Brother Lee, tell the congregation how your hearing is now!”

Lee answered, “I don’t know, Father. It’s not until next Tuesday.”

The Parable of the Sower of Seeds

Parables are a well known method of teaching used by Jesus. According to Elizabeth Sand Turner in “Your Hope of Glory”, a parable is a short, fictitious narrative based on a familiar experience and having an applicaition to spiritual life. And John Dominic Crossan calls parables ‘fictional stories for moral or theological purposes.”

Personally, I enjoyed the ‘moral of the story’ with a bit of humor from Rocky & Bulwinkle! But I digress….

There are 9 parables referring to the mysteries of the kingdom of God or Heaven, depending on which gospel you are referring to. Both terms refer to the spiritual plane of our being. To realize the kingdom within is the highest ideal we can set for ourselves.

The Kingdom of Heaven is within you. Jesus didn’t see himself as the exception, but as an example. He said, “What I have done you can do also.”

The Gospels were originally written in Greek, in which the word kingdom means realm. The word heaven means a process of rising up to higher levels of happiness and empowerment. So the Kingdom of Heaven translates as a higher realm of awareness within us, characterized by greater degrees of happiness and empowerment.

The 30 parables of the New Testament are put forth in a particular sequence so they become like stepping-stones on a secret pathway that leads to a deeper state of well-being and personal evolution.

Shortly after embarking on his ministry; after teaching the first three parables, Jesus realized something was wrong. The people weren’t catching on; they weren’t getting it.

 

So the fourth parable was his response to the problem. It is the parable of the sower, and is often called the key that unlocks the deeper level of meaning in all the other parables.

Read the parable

There are several ways to interpret this parable, here’s one….

We are like the farmer. Instead of creating a field full of crops, we are creating our lives. The seeds represent our potential. We have the potential to become more, to live better, to be happier, to love more. And just as the seeds need to be planted in good soil, nurtured and tended to in order to grow, our potential is totally dependent on the thoughts we think. Positive thoughts nurture our potential, and we get positive results.

So here lies the problem in the parable of the sower. Some seeds fall on the roadside and the birds take them away. Some seeds fall on a rock and they can’t take root. And some seeds land in the weeds and the sprouts get smothered out. Seventy-five percent of the farmer’s efforts are wasted because he is not paying attention, he is not focused, he is not truly committed to what he is doing.

And so it is with us at times. We hear the good news about the potential we have to change our lives in many positive ways, but we don’t really set our intention, our unwavering intention to commit to that process, so what we hear is like the seeds carried off by the birds.

Or we allow the negative attitudes of the past to continue and dominate, so new thoughts can’t take root, like the seeds that landed on the rock.

Or we let the attitudes of others smother out the new thoughts and they can’t grow, like the seeds that landed in the weeds. …

Does this resonsate?

Here’s another interpretation:

The sower is the indwelling Christ who is always speaking the word of truth to us (sowing the seeds).

There are 4 types of hearers: 1. The hearer hears the word but is so lacking in spiritual understanding that sense consciousness quickly obliterates it…the seeds ‘fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.’

2. The hearer hears the word, receives it gladly and remembers it for a time. However, this person has only a superficial knowledge of Truth and when trials come thrusts the word aside. This hearer’s mind is like the ‘rocky ground, where they had not much soil’. The sprouting seed, not having enough roots, is scourched by the sun’s rays.
3. This third person’s mind is like thorney ground, they are obsessed with a sense of burden (cares of the world) and absorbed in the pursuit of wealth (they delight in riches.) These are the thorns that choke the seed and keep it from growing.

4.The 4^th hearer, as a result of study of spiritual things and love for God, has a receptive mind. This represents the ‘good soil’ that produces an abundant harvest.

The parable of the sower tells us three things.

First, if we truly want our lives to change for the better, if we want to express a greater degree of our potential, we have to commit 100 percent of our time, energy and focus.

Second, we have to become aware when old, negative, defeating ways of thinking surface and do what psychologists call a pattern interrupt. We interrupt the pattern of negative thinking by putting our attention back on our intention. Denials and Affirmations help here.

And third, we need to spend our time in a positive environment with positive people, doing positive things.

Sound like Unity of Rehoboth Beach!

To some this might seem like a lot of work. You might even wonder if it is worth the effort. But in truth, it is much, much harder to live in an unsatisfactory way, with a low sense of well-being or an unsettling notion that there is more to life than what we are experiencing.

Each of us has the power to choose the kind of consciousness that we will have and the outcome of our hearing the word will either be indifferent or beneficial according to the way in which we receive it. The seed falls into our mind and responds to our consciousness.

Nothing brings intensity, satisfaction, meaning, pleasure, passion, and fulfillment like your life becoming more than it has ever been.

What is YOUR interpretation of this parable?

Good Morning Beloved!

A couple had two little mischievous boys, ages 8 and 10. They were always getting into trouble, and their parents knew that if any mischief occurred in their town, their sons would get the blame.

The boys’ mother heard that a clergyman in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed and asked to see them individually.

So, the mother sent her 8-year-old first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.

The clergyman, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, “Where is God?”

The boy’s mouth dropped, but he made no response, sitting there with his mouth hanging open.

The clergyman repeated the question. “Where is God?”

Again, the boy made no attempt to answer.

So, the clergyman raised his voice some more and shook his finger in the boy’s face and bellowed, “Where is God!?”

The boy screamed and bolted from the room. He ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him.

When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, “What happened?”

The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied: “We are in real BIG trouble this time! God is missing, and they think we did it!”

 

Easter Sunday

 

Last week we took a look at the metaphysics of the Holy Week from the raising of Lazarus the Saturday before Palm Sunday to the Dark Night of the Soul in the tomb on the Saturday, after the crucifixion.

You were presented with more than a few questions regarding the events that occurred throughout the week and what they could possibly mean to your life as it unfolds Spiritually.

So, how did you do with those questions?  Did anything resonate with you? I do not hold it against you if you didn’t contemplate any of them or if you didn’t go and read the additional questions that were posted; we all must travel this journey on our own time. So, maybe something will come up and prompt you to look at the questions again.  It’s all in Divine Order.  We are just glad that you are on the journey with us.

 

So, today we look at the Resurrection.  What does THAT mean to us, to you?

You all know that Unity does not follow the traditional Christian belief that ‘Jesus died for our sins.’  We do not believe we are sinners.  Not born in original sin.  Nope.

We believe we were born with Original Blessing.  Big difference there.

So, no sin.  Mistakes, yes.  Error thinking.  Yes.  Not sin, but missing the mark.  With the opportunity to choose again.  And again. And again, if necessary.

What DID Jesus die for then?  What is the whole thing about the crucifixion and resurrection?

Well, part of it is what the Prophets proclaimed in the Hebrew Bible, a Savior would come to free the people; would ride, humbly, into Jerusalem to the song, Hosanna in the highest, a Son of king David no less.  And then there is the predictions from Jesus himself that the Temple would be destroyed and built back in three days.

But you know that much of the story of Jesus parallels that of other “GODS”…for example the Egyptian god Horus or the Greek god Dionysus. {dahy-uh-nahy-suh s] Their histories are similar and the writers of the Gospels may have thought they needed to ‘build Jesus up’ for whatever reason.

In the long run, is it important? No.  One has FAITH in the teachings, not the person.  You do not worship me, but you follow the teachings.  See the important difference? Jesus is our Way-shower, just as many other Masters have wisdom that they have given to us through the ages.

And all of us are teachers in our own ways, showing the way to who we truly are.

SO, what does the crucifixion, resurrection and transformation have to teach us?

We ALL have these moments in our lives, do we not?   Times when we felt abandoned, alone, getting hit from all sides.  Look back through your life…those times when you felt as if you were being crucified for whatever reason.  Did you recover?  Are you recovering?  THAT is your resurrection.

 

I can recall a situation when I was working for the State of PA, my Big Boss had put me in a group of co-workers with the direction to look for ways to improve communication among our Division.  When we came with suggestions at our Division meeting, I was presenting our ideas to the larger group.  And I was left alone and hit from every side from the people in the Division, reacting from fear of change. I received no support from anyone, not even the other people in the group assigned to make these same suggestions.  Not from the Boss who place me in the position in the first place.

When I walked out of the meeting, I felt like I was crucified…and I said so.

 

But we are defined more by our resurrections than our crucifixions, are we not?

 

Though it doesn’t feel comfortable at the time, we must allow ourselves to be vulnerable, what Jesus meant by “you must lose yourself to find yourself” in Mark 8:35, that vulnerability allows for change, growth, and transformation to happen.

This was just one example of a ‘growth opportunity’ that strengthened me.

 

In his book Keep a True Lent, Charles Fillmore explained, “The resurrection takes place in us every time we rise to Jesus’ realization of the perpetual indwelling life that is connecting us to the Father. A new flood of life comes to all who open their minds and their bodies to the living word of God.”

So, we experience EASTER every time we are open to the Christ Presence within each of us.  It happens every day.

The Easter story is about an old way being crucified so something new can be born. This is not a once-in-a-lifetime event. When someone experiences a divorce, the death of a partner, loses a job, or experiences a shift in external circumstances, an old identity dies so a new one can be born.

Think about the different times you ‘re-make’ yourself.  Old becomes new.

“Metaphysically, the resurrection is our power to overcome, to restore, to renew with health, peace, love, prosperity, and joy, whatever it is that we are trying to revive,” this according to Rev. Gaylon McDowell, senior assistant minister at Christ Universal Temple in Chicago.  “For those in poor health, regaining health is resurrection. People experience resurrection when their relationship or financial problems are resolved through the realization that God is the source of their supply. Anytime we explore new ideas or new possibilities, we are experiencing a resurrection.”

 

The Easter story demonstrates that there is something within us that was here before we incarnated and remains after seeming death. Death is not the end of life, rather the continuation of the life process. Jesus proved this in the great demonstrations known as the resurrection and the ascension. Jesus’ essence was so spiritualized that he was able to say “the Father and I are one.” He was serving as a reminder that there is no separation between us and Spirit. It is the recognition that there is only Divine Spirit; all else is just an illusion.

Interesting enough, in Aramaic the word for death also means “not present, but somewhere”.  Think about that….

 

We look to Jesus as a model for how to resurrect from our own crucifixion experiences. The Easter story is a reminder that no matter what seems to happen to us, it does not have the final word. Everything is not as it seems. We can look beyond appearances and recognize that there is a divine plan unfolding. Our task is to hold on to that vision until our life bears witness to truth that liberates us and sets us free.

 

Any resurrection is built on the consciousness of forgiveness. Only then can we see the gift in the seeming betrayals in life. When people or situations betray the pictures that we have in our mind of how things should be, that is when we must invoke the consciousness of forgiveness.

And not just forgiveness of the other, but also of ourselves.  Byron Katie would have us ask, Is it true?  Is it still true that the situation is happening?  NO, we are in a different present moment now.  It was a picture we had in our mind of what was or should be.

What are you holding onto as if it is happening now but is a past experience?  This is where your forgiveness work begins.

 

We can see the statement of “forgive them for they know not what they do” from a different perspective. Our critics or so-called enemies are really our best friends in disguise. Such people push us to new levels of being and make us do things we wouldn’t likely do without their assistance. Such people make us pray when we don’t want to or when we don’t have the spiritual discipline to do it on our own. They make us see our part in the fray.  They make us realize we are ready for a change.

They make us look at things and situations from a different perspective; at least they do if we are willing to go there….

 

Those people who seem to be against us don’t know what they’re doing. They’re actually making us access dimensions of our being that we would not be able to touch without their help. So we forgive them, for they didn’t really know what they were doing. They are supporting our own resurrection process and helping our life become fully supported by Spirit. We realize there is only God, only good, and we don’t need anything else.

In other words, we can say this situation is an opportunity to go beyond our self-imposed boundaries. This opportunity is calling for the highest and best within us to shine as never before.

We are reminded of our workshop with Rev. Stephanie, “No one and nothing is Against you,” From the book, “The I of the Storm.”

 

Jesus has been giving us clues all along on how to access this eternal dimension and spiritualize all aspects of our life. We would ask ourselves: What did he do? What was his way of being in the world?

Well, he prayed all the time. He often stole away from the masses to keep his communion with Spirit high. He did this as a way of life and not just in an emergency. Nowhere in the Scriptures does it say, “There was an emergency and Jesus went to the mountain and prayed.” No. He prayed all the time and, as a result, when the big moments came, was “prayed up.”

I can remember when I was at Unity Village, hearing that phrase a lot.  Being ‘prayed up” meant you were ready for what came.  Every breath is a prayer.  What are you breathing into your prayers?

So, when the seeming betrayal in the form of Judas took place, Jesus was ready. We are reminded: it was a seeming betrayal. Judas is often unjustly maligned. But without Judas sacrificing himself, Jesus would not be remembered today. Sacrifice means to make sacred. Judas is often condemned as the one who loved Jesus the least. In fact, he may have been one who loved him more than anyone. He served as the catalyst for the resurrection to take place.

So we see the seeming betrayals in our life from that vantage point and begin to practice a new way of being in the world. We no longer see ourselves as victims but as vehicles of pure Spirit.

 

The entire universe is asking that we be our true selves.

 

St. Catherine of Siena said, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”

Within everyone is a sacred gift, our divine purpose.

It was for this purpose we were born. Spirit transforms our world a little at a time by means of us. WE are needed to shine our light to make this world a better place. When we let our light shine, we will rise above any crucifixion experience and the entire world will celebrate the Easter of our hearts and we will rise.

“I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.”

Easter is not merely the celebration of the life of Jesus. He reminds us that we are capable of doing even greater things than he did. We love and celebrate the master teacher by practicing his principles, living his teachings, and following his example.  Let God be God through you.

 

 

 

 

 

Good Morning Beloved!

 

Now that they are retired, a longtime married are discussing all aspects of their future.

“What will you do if I die before you do?” The husband asks the wife.  After some thought, she said that she’d probably look for a house-sharing situation with three other single or widowed women who might be a little younger than herself since she is quite active for her age.

Then the wife turned to her husband and asked, “What will you do if I die first?”

He replied, “Probably the same thing.”

 

Holy Week Metaphysics

I thought we’d take a look at the week leading up to Easter from a metaphysical point of view this Sunday.  We all know what the Bible and some histories say about these special days.  But there are underlining meanings to each step our Way-shower takes toward this part of His journey.

And please remember, when we look at anything metaphysically, we appreciate the suggestions given by some of our leaders and founders, and myself, even, but we are to each of us, individually, look at what it means to us.  What something means to me, ultimately, can and probably truly is, different than what it means to you.

So take the word or story and let it sink in.  Where does it take YOU?

 

Holy Week has many messages for us to look at as we get closer to the crucifixion and the resurrection.

LAZARUS SATURDAY:

Let’s start with the Saturday before Palm Sunday.  Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead!  Did you know that? That took place in Bethany which metaphysically means wailing, lamentation and signifies the demonstration over these conditions, and explains what happened during that time of Lazaras’ Illness, death and being ‘awakened’.

Jesus is told of Lazarus’s illness yet waits 2 days before walking to Bethany.  When he arrives. Lazarus has been dead 4 days and has been laid in the tomb.

John 11:14-15: “Then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazar is dead; And I am glad I was not there, for your sakes, so that you may believe;”

When he arrives, he meets Martha. John 11:21-27 “Then Martha said to Jesus, My Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, he will give you. 

Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise up.

Martha said to him, I know he will rise up in the resurrection of the last day.

Jesus told her, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, even though he dies, he shall live. And whoever is alive and believes in me shall never die.”

Then Jesus went to the tomb, he was in tears.

John 11: 39-43 “Jesus said, Take away this stone….did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?

So they took away the stone.  And Jesus lifted his eyes upwards and said, O Father; I thank thee for thou hast heard me.  And I know that thou always hearest me; but I say these things just because of this people who stand around, so that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

…he cried out with a loud voice, Lazar, come out.”

So, some thoughts on what this first day on the Holy Week could mean to us:

1. Bring out what is buried in our subconscious: roll the stone from the tomb – remove any blocks to that which we have neglected or allowed to die within us (Some quality or activity we are not allowing to be manifest in our material world.)

 

1. Jesus’ prayer “Arise” “Come out” restoring the idea which is asleep in our subconscious, trapped in the “tomb” of our body. E.g. an old talent (musical instrument, pottery, writing), relationship improvement; health commitment etc.

 

1. When Jesus saw Mary weeping, He too wept: our spiritual self needs to be integrated with our human self with love and compassion.

 

That’s day 1.

 

PALM SUNDAY:

He and His disciples then walk on Sunday from Bethany to Bethphage, just outside Bethany at the Mount of Olives.  Bethphage means a place in consciousness where grace is realized.  That makes sense to me, Grace was certainly realized at the Mount of Olives.

He sends two Apostles to find a colt, a donkey for him to arrive in Jerusalem.  The donkey represents meekness, stubbornness, persistency and endurance. Do these characteristic sound like Jesus’ personality traits?

Of course they do.  He has done as much as possible to fulfill the prophet Zechariah’s declaration, found in the Hebrew Bible.

To ride a donkey and make them obedient represents control over will. Remember, in Genesis and the creation story, we all were given dominion over all the animals, fish and birds, meaning over every kind of thought.

So Jesus is again taking dominion over thoughts by riding the donkey.  Our Christ consciousness ruling our “animal” or physical self.

Laying the Palms on the road signifies unlimited resource of strength.  The road is paved with strength.

One would need strength to move forward to the confrontation ahead.

And the people shouted and praised Him, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Even the praise bestowed onto Jesus means something, hosanna, means ‘save now’.

In today’s metaphysical terms; ‘This is the supreme I AM (Jesus) stating the law of Spirit in the development of life action.’

Or over coming every day troubles and entering Jerusalem, a place of peace by controlling our thoughts.

 

And do you recall that at the other end of the city, Pontius Pilate was entering from the west while Jesus entered from the east.  And Pilate had his armored troops and his fine horse.  Everyone complete with their armor and swords.  A show of force in preparation for Passover celebrations.

Compared to Jesus’ humble entry at the other end, Pilate was like a King of the material world.  Showing force in place of love, wisdom, and compassion.

Metaphysically—what Jesus “acts out” in his own entry to the city—is that great spiritual power does not need tangible physical expression, no fine horses or clothes, no strength in legions of troops.

Like Jesus, our own spiritual power is not of this world. It lies in—and expresses through—a quiet grace, a loving Presence. If we are truly centered in our Christ energy, the world around us will recognize its gentle power, and respond.

 

What do you think the significance is of entering East vs. West?

 

HOLY MONDAY: Jesus and His followers arrive in Jerusalem again, and he goes to the temple.

Then Jesus goes to the Temple:  After Jesus rode into Jerusalem, he entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying there, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  He said to them, “It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of thieves.”  Once the temple was cleared, the blind and the lame came to him, and he cured them.

The cleansing of the temple represents Jesus cleansing the temple of his consciousness and then was free to heal; free to express the power of the divine within.  This Palm Sunday as preparation for expressing our divine nature, I invite you to clean the temple of your mind.  Deny the erroneous thinking.

Rumi said, “God is saying… “Be careful, my servants, and purify, attune, and expand your thoughts about Me, for they are My House.”

One of the questions that my Tuesday group was asked while discussing the book, “Ask Yourself This” is “How safe is it for someone to walk through your mind?”

 

The message here: Stop the cheating and short changing ourselves. Be authentic with ourselves and our core values.

Questioning Jesus’ authority Matthew 21:23 “When Jesus came to the temple, the high priests and the elders came up to him, while he was teaching and said, By what authority do you do these things?  And Who gave you this authority?”

The message: Inner authority is not accountable to anything or anyone outside of us.

Remember, you are one with God.  You are gods, children of the Most High and the story of Jesus is your story; your awakening.   As you grow in your understanding of the way of God, you become ready to show the full depth of your true power.  You become ready to give life to who you really are.

 

HOLY TUESDAY:  On Tuesday, Jesus is again teaching using parables of the Kingdom of Heaven.  He has been teaching in parables for some time now to his disciples and to the masses.  “For those who have eyes, that they may see and those who have ears that they may hear.”

If you look around you at the many ways that the message of love is presented, you can see that it is given in every which way possible so that ALL may hear and see, if they are only ready.

We will be discussing parables throughout the year.

 

SPY WEDNESDAY: Judas Betrayal: On Wednesday, Judas is offering the betrayal of Jesus to the High Priests.  The agreement is made and Judas just waits for the opportunity to turn Jesus over to the authorities.

Judas represents the unredeemed life forces. He also typifies that in humanity which, though it has caught the higher vision of life, still resorts to underhanded methods in order to meet its obligations. Judas carried the money bag, and he betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.

30 – symbolize dedication to a particular task or calling the age when a person reached both physical and mental maturity and could therefore handle major responsibilities, John the Baptist, Jesus began ministries at age 30, buy potter’s field for same price of a slave, indicating Jesus was for ALL people, silver & 30 associated with redemption

Here we ask ourselves: Are you selling out to the material world? Or settling for less because of lack of faith that Spirit can and will work through you?

And I ask that you keep in mind that all is in Divine Order, for the betrayal and what follows, so do not be so harsh on Judas….

 

MAUNDY THURSDAY: Luke 22:7-23;  The Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane

Maundy means Commandment. This is the commandment I give to you, to love one another as I have loved you.  We need to love all parts of our self in the transformative process – the finished and unfinished parts, the working and the broken parts. It is all part of the whole and we can’t be authentic unless we accept all parts.

There are parts of me that I face and must acknowledge if I wish to be authentic.  So, acknowledge your shadow side as well as the light.  And then we can bring light to shadow and heal, realize our wholeness, our Divine self.

To Charles Fillmore, bread has always represented substance and the wine represents energy of the Divine.

Pontius Pilate,

In the Easter story, Jesus and his experience with Pontius Pilate has a very symbolic meaning for us.

Pontius Pilate symbolizes the external circumstances that at times seem to be overwhelming. Pilate thinks he has power over Jesus and asks him several questions. However, Jesus’ response is essentially that the power does not lie with Pontius Pilate, but with God. It didn’t matter what Pontius Pilate did, and ultimately he decided he didn’t want to be bothered, so washed his hands of the whole deal.

Jesus in that moment was demonstrating that no situation, circumstance, or external authority figures had any power over him.

 

In your own life, you may be facing some kind of Pontius Pilate. There may be someone in your life who thinks they can control or manipulate you. It may even be your own EGO manipulating yourself.  You may have a boss who thinks he or she has the final say-so about your prosperity or happiness. People think that if they are in or out of your life, your joy is dependent upon them. You may have allowed them to think that. There may be all kinds of Pontius Pilates running around thinking that they have the final word on your life.

Pilate is judgement, our inner critic, and the fear of Love, our projections and stories is expressed by the mob calling for crucifixion.

Some questions you might begin asking yourself: “Where and in what ways, do I allow myself or others to judge, ridicule, and kill my own goodness?

What ways do I excuse or rationalize things that I know no longer serve me?

Where and how do I take “the safe road”, point at others as the problem, and stick to justifiable reasons why I can’t do what my heart longs for?

“How are the ways that I betray my heart’s wisdom?

I have more thought provoking questions, and you can look them over and ask yourself when we post this lesson on the webpage.

What do I use or do as distractions to stay in denial, distracted, and disconnected from my heart or “asleep” spiritually?

Where are my intentions good, but my “spiritual muscle” to remain present, weak?

What are “all my good” rational excuses for not being able to enter into this quest right now (i.e. how familiar are you with these reasons, and how do they negate what you say you want in your life?)

What, in your heart of hearts, longs for comfort (and is asking you to stay beside, pray and keep awake with it)?

 

GOOD FRIDAY:     Crucifixion and 2 thieves Luke 23:32-43

To further augment our own resurrection and ascension process, there are things Jesus said on the cross. The two thieves on either side of him represent the past and the future, the relative world and the 2 sides of us – one concerned with human power and one concerned with the spiritual.  One thief is living in the past when he says to Jesus, “I know I deserve what I’m getting because I know I’ve done a lot of negative things. However, you don’t deserve this, Jesus.” He identified with all the negative things he had done in the past. The other thief said to Jesus, “What’s going to happen to us after this experience?” This thief was lost in the future

 

Jesus being between the two thieves represents the vortex of creativity where heaven is revealed on earth. It represents the here and now. Jesus said “Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.”

Paradise is in our own minds and hearts.

The cross represents to “cross out” error thoughts, we will experience the two viewpoints, but the now moment is what counts.  That is our choice moment.

 

For this purpose, I was born

The King James Version of the Bible quotes Jesus as saying during the crucifixion experience, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” However, the Lamsa Bible translation suggests that the original Aramaic language does not say that. In the Lamsa Bible, Jesus says “It is for this purpose that I was born.” This suggests that Jesus was fully aware that this was his great moment. It was the moment he was waiting and preparing for all his life.

 

It’s like an Olympic champion who has prepared and trained for years to reach the final race and, just before the event, is asked, “How does it feel to be getting ready to perform before thousands of people in the stadium and millions watching on television?” And the athlete responds by saying, “This is the moment I’ve been waiting for. I was doing all the things I needed to do to prepare for this moment—waking up and going to bed early, eating nutritious foods, practicing, lifting weights. All of that was for this moment.”

 

This was the case for Jesus and is the case in every moment of our life, when we realize that whatever we’re going through, we are not to shirk from any situation or circumstance that seems to overwhelm us. It is in such moments we are to remember who we are spiritually—we are spiritually made in the image and likeness and out of God. When we see from this vantage point, we will stand and say “For this purpose we were born.”

 

In other words, we can say this situation is an opportunity to go beyond our self-imposed boundaries. This opportunity is calling for the highest and best within us to shine as never before.

 

So we see the seeming betrayals in life from that vantage point and begin to practice a new way of being in the world. We no longer see ourselves as victims but as the vehicles of pure Spirit.

 

 

EASTER SATURDAY – THE EASTER VIGIL

Jesus’ body is laid in the tomb.

The dark night of the soul – a time for introspection. This is a time when you give yourself permission to move from the formed to the un-formed to reform in a transformative experience.  Not unlike a caterpillar transfiguring into a butterfly. At one point in the cocoon, the chrysalis becomes entirely liquid and then breaks through as a beautiful butterfly.

We are prepared for the Resurrection next Sunday.

Charles Fillmore wrote, “The three days Jesus was in the tomb represent the three steps in overcoming error. First, nonresistance; second, the taking on of divine activity, or receiving the will of God; third, the assimilation and fulfillment of the divine will.” I overcome resistance and step forward to claim the Christ in me.

Over this next week, look at yourself.  Ask the questions I’ve asked you today and check out the ones that will be included when this is posted.

They will encourage us to look at ourselves from a different perspective.  Let me know how you make out.

 

 

More Questions for your contemplation:

“Am I riding the ass …or is the ass riding me in my life? (Ass is in case = the instinctive or conditioned beast aspect of the human mind.)

A few following questions to contemplate this week could include these: “Who is reining the conditioned impulse parts of me? Do I have a centered authority …or do my thoughts and feelings run – willy-nilly – leading my experience of life according to each impulse or conditioned response it comes its way?”

Another way of entering Palm Sunday as Metaphor for inner self questioning could be asking one or more of these questions of yourself: “By what authority is my life being lived right now? i.e., What am I making my God, by way of my values? What am I feeding in my life: love or fear? What am I RIDING my life upon? …How and where do I set up bi-polar opposites (i.e. inner confusion or split directions)… And how is this fragmenting, polarizing and paralyzing me between fear and Love?”

PRAYER – YOUR SUPERPOWER

Eric Butterworth, author of many Unity books, says in THE UNIVERSE IS CALLING, that “Prayer is our natural state. It is a natural function of life, and not something superimposed on our life.” He further says, “Prayer is indigenous to every person.” Imagine, “natural, indigenous” – that means part of our integral inner culture; organic to our fullest functioning. From the Buddhist fingering prayer beads to an American farmer nailing a horseshoe over the barn door; we are a ‘praying animal.’

David Foster Wallace, who keeps a blog called “The Spirituality of Dog-Walking” puts it this way:

In other words, we are the fish, and God is the water. And just as fish have no idea what it would be like to live without water, we also have no experience of what it would be like to live without God.

We are often oblivious to the presence of God. Blindness like this is not the result of unfamiliarity, but of over-familiarity.

When we wake up to the reality of God’s presence all around us – when we notice the water – we become able to pray. Prayer does not magically bring God to us, but centers our attention on the fact that God is eternally present. Prayer puts us in relationship with the one in whom “we live and move and have our being.”

This means that God knows us in every life aspect. God knows us as the air we breathe for God is that. God knows us as the grass we walk on, the tree we touch, for God is also that aspect of us walking on the grass, touching the tree. Think on it – a poet once said, “I envied the water’s ability to touch her totally.” God touches us totally.

Now THIS is what I learned about prayer in my childhood. If I said five our fathers & five hail Mary’s, I could clear the account. (I wish the IRS felt the same way!)

In my child-mind, the “Our Father” said something about bread & trespassing (which was what Mrs. Canon hollered at me when I cut thru her yard.) And “Hail Mary?” Even I knew that telling my mom she looked like a million bucks only resulted in a narrow stare, the rise of an index finger & a strong suggestion that I go outside to play.

Prayer, then, for me, was walking a theological balance beam. And, frankly, Scarlett, I flunked balance beam.

If someone had tried to tell me the life of God is all around me, above & below me, inside & outside me, totally & integral to my being, I would have shaken my head and headed outside to play.

But pray is only one letter off of play. So I was doing the right thing. The organic thing for a child is to play, right? Without knowing, I was leading a life of prayer.

When I asked about becoming a Prayer Chaplain for URB, I didn’t really know many details on what that involved. When I attended First Church Unity in Nashville, I thought it ultra-cool that I could have someone pray with me when my life felt out of control. After all, as a Unitic, I wasn’t supposed to have anything but positive thoughts, right? It seemed a betrayal of sorts to feel awful about something.

But there were times when my life was hanging about me in shreds & I could barely speak. There were also times I was so delirious with joy I was unable to speak. Our prayer chaplains provided a beautiful extension of love & uplift & sharing. Nothing weighed the same in my heart after our Amen.

You’ve heard before that Unity started as a prayer-based ministry. Myrtle Fillmore, tells how she feels about prayer:

“The light of God revealed to us – the Thought came to me first – that life was of God, that we were inseparably one with the Source, and that we inherited from the divine & perfect Father. What that revelation did to me at first was not apparent to the senses. But it held my mind above negation, & I began to claim my birthright & to act as though I believed myself the child of God, filled with His life.”

What a rush to climb out from under what weighs on us. How fantastic to see the light streaming into our heart again, where there is just enough space to fit it! How soothing to step away from this intensity into relief. And all because someone chose to pray with me.

When I first attended Unity, I really couldn’t stand hearing I was a good person. Expected to be good, yes. I understood that! But after a couple of sessions in the sanctuary face to face with our minister, then invited to do hugs and handshakes with smiling strangers who were genuinely glad to see me… I retreated to the kitchen, where I could be appreciated for making a good cup of coffee. Then I helped out in the school where the kids kept me happy. I migrated to the bookstore where I never got the register to balance but I could read all I wanted about the life I was supposed to have.

I was way more comfortable doing something than being told something. I had no frame of reference for being intrinsically good. Nothing in my life prepared me for being told I was a perfect child of God, let alone beloved. Telling me I could pray my heart into alignment with the God within to achieve my fullest life? Yeah, riiight!

After five years of hearing the message every Sunday, I was still stubbornly clinging to my old ideas. Take a guess at what I did after five years of faithful attendance. Anybody?

I left. Sundays passed & I missed every one. I was a pretty grim customer! Would you like to know why I left? Because I couldn’t reconcile my inner self with what I was being told. But prayer was still working on me. My life was like living in a rock tumbler, but prayer was still at work smoothing out my edges.

So much so that when it came time to make a life-change, I was able to summon up my praying self to sit in meditation every morning. I pushed myself to walk outside & do qigong to re-learn how to breathe. And while I didn’t go back to church, I dreamed of tie-dyed angels carrying suitcases & I knew my path led out of where I was living, away from what I had done for almost forty years. I put my prayer life on the line in one huge gamble & I’m here to tell you I won a bigger score than ever before. I got happy.

I know my prayers to be a powerful reality. I know that now I am comfortable with the God-self within which I live & move & have my being.

Prayer can lift you above denial for to pray is to invite in. And you need to specific as to what you invite in. Here’s a story for you about how my prayer life can go sometimes: I’ve started a new business & clients seem few & far between. So I prayed for people to come to my studio door b/c I’m down a little corridor next to the storage closet. I even had to put up a sign that said I was not in the closet. Of course in my mind, I was praying for people to come by to book a treatment. But that’s not what I prayed. I simply asked for people to come to my door. I looked up one day to see a really tall man standing there, hesitating about coming in. I effusively invited him, only mildly surprised when he asked, “What do you do here?” I replied, “Have you ever had a massage?” He said, “No,”, then he leaned forward, looked deeply into my eyes & said, “Young lady, you’re only forty years old!” I looked back, wondering if I could keep this man around, when he leaned in again to say, “Young lady, you look twenty years old!” at which point I figured it might take some rope, but I definitely was keeping him around…

One of the gym trainers came in to ask if Ryan was bothering me, but I was busy massaging Ryan’s hands just so I could hang onto this wonderfully uncomplicated spirit. Gary, the trainer, waited by patiently, saying “Ryan goes to my church where his job is to light the candles.” After all was said & done, I realized I’d been sent a prayer re-vision notice. Not just to come to my door, but to want a massage. Never let it be said Spirit has no sense of humor.

I love the story about how our co-founder, Myrtle Fillmore, renovated the cubbyhole under her stairs into a prayer space. She took literally that Matthew 6:6 quoted Jesus advising “go into your closet to pray.”

With three boisterous boys, probably shouting, and running around slamming doors… with Charles clomping up & down the steps or through the house, that little space must have been a sanctuary where her jangled nerves could smooth out, where her aching body could rest in the comfort of dim light. A place where turning pages of her own Bible was the loudest sound and where she could hear heaven whispering back to her. Answers to all her questions, ideas for all her worries. She was determined to succeed in this do-over of her life as she knew it. Her success is out-pictured here each time we meet.

I think Jesus talked about “going into the closet” because in the Aramaic, “closet” could translate as “shed.” So He actually said, “Get out of the house & go the shed.” Why there? Well, let’s go on an imaginary trip to Nazareth, tho the woodshop. How good it all smells when we walk in. All the tools to make a life are in here…implements hanging from the pegs, lined up on the tables; unfinished projects just waiting for our hands.

Outside there would have been sheep baaa-ing, horses & tack making noise, cows mooing, dogs barking, children playing, women calling to one another, men greeting friends… going into the shed would have been entering a quiet out of the ordinary, one where you could gather your thoughts in the heat, put your hands on the works-in-progress & take a measurement of where you are in that singular moment.

Do you ever forget to pray? Do you forget that prayer is the go-to, not when all else fails, but in the very beginning? Don’t shake your heads out there, of course you do. Ever had someone call to tell you, “I have had this headache for three days!” and you say, “How many aspirin are you taking?” and they say, “Aspirin? Oh yeah, I can take aspirin.”

My favorite story about forgetting is the one about the husband who, upon discovering his wife had changed the computer logon called out, “Hey honey, what’d you change the password to?” She sweetly replied, “I used our anniversary date, dear.”

Prayer Chaplains can provide the words to remind you who you really are, how to lift yourself into that space where what you want to happen potentiates. In the moments when our impulse is to say: “Oh, I can’t”, you need to double up with another, someone who believes in you in a way you can’t quite muster up in the moment. You put yourself into that place where two or more are gathered in Jesus’ name. It’s really a lot more comfortable there than standing out of the crowd alone wondering how to get back to the “I can.”

So it is with prayer. You quiet and focus your thoughts. You think of just what it is you want to accomplish in the holy space of communicating with One Who can change your life in a blink. Whether you are upset & seeking comfort, or elated & wanting to hoot out your joy…this is a listening place where you hear & are heard always. We Prayer Chaplains are here to hear you.

I want you to remember that even Jesus didn’t always perform a miracle on the first go! Sometimes we need to adjust to healing, appreciate each aspect of it, change into what we will become.

The butterfly doesn’t pop out of the chrysalis. Rather it slowly disentangles itself from that holy place where it was safe to grow wings. And once free, it tests those wings, feels the sunlight opening them to fullest measure & only when the wings are infused with Light does it fly. Are we any less of a miracle brought about by God? For indeed, the universe prayed out each & every one of us, pushed & pulled on Prime Creator until the thought of who we are took shape in human form, stepping down from the divine into flesh. Now we build the bridge to divinity with our words & feelings.

Sometimes we just need some wind beneath our wings, no?

Unity is a medium of prayer. Unity sets intention into the field of all possibility; you remember who you want to be, who you already & really are: a beloved child of God.

Let’s explore this child of God bit as it relates to prayer. Max Lucado, author of “Before the Amen,” says he did a study. He goes on for some time about our relationship with our Maker being that of loving parent & child. He relates that he drove to a local playground to do a field check. He mentions that when the kids saw their dads, not one of them said, “Oh Father! Thou hast blessed me by thy presence here upon the ballfield. Grant that I make the winning homerun for the team, for thine is all glory & power.” Max says the kids reacted to Dad pulling up in the car with, “Hey! Can we get ice cream on the way home?” or “You shoulda seen me when I was up to bat!” Or even just a heartfelt, “Oh, Daddy!”

I believe when we pray we need to relate to the divine Parental Units in this way. In the familiar, with our real thoughts, stating our true wishes. Like any parent knows what their child really needs, Mother/Father God knows. We pray as an asking, but as Marianne Williamson says, “We have to get over the idea that God is an errand boy.” So I know I’m understood when I change my prayer from someone coming to the door to someone coming to receive what I have to offer in exchange for living wage.

Unity Prayer explores that separate peace, the one where a resolution (re-solution) becomes possible. Unity prayer discerns YOU are not the problem, & in that separation there is room to review (re-view) it in the Light. Unity Prayer escorts you from the valley of negation into the reality of possibility. For if all things are possible, what profit is it to think you can’t get there from here?

Myrtle Fillmore started it all rolling when she believed that in being a child of God, she didn’t have to suffer. Let’s believe that too. Let’s light the match to that candle instead when the world seems to demand we suffer in darkness. I think Myrtle was the first prayer chaplain – she received letters every day in which people, having heard about her healing, asked her to pray for them. Her response was to teach them they each had the power to pray for themselves after her example by praying with them. And she made it understood she was standing by to lend her strength of belief if they faltered.

The Prayer Chaplain Program Sandy & the Board of Directors are introducing today is the beautiful way Unity of Rehoboth Beach is standing up with you.

Today we honor our new Prayer Chaplain Team who step forward in loving service of prayer.

When you’re ready to step into your Superpower, we’ll help you tie on the cape & stand beside you in the wind. Thank you!

Good Morning Beloved!

Since we are concluding the discussion of the Beatitudes, I thought I’d share some suggested, more modern ones followed by affirmations for each to aid our quest for healing. Maybe some will ring a bell for you:

Blessed are the absent-minded, for they are truly distracted by Spirit.

Affirmation: My mind is present but otherwise engaged. It will be with you shortly.

 

Blessed are the confused, for they shall eventually find clarity.

Affirmation: If I can’t remember where I put it, I probably didn’t really need it anyway.

 

Blessed are those averse to Facebook, Twitter and such social media, for they are free to be left alone.

Affirmation: I am blessed with all the time that others spend on Social Media.

 

Blessed are the opinionated, for they will occasionally be right.

We affirm that God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it’s me.

And remember – not all who are wandering are lost.

Beatitudes Pt.3

Well, we finally get back to the Beatitudes. If you will recall, we started out back in July with the first installment of our study of these Blessings found in Matthew and some are also found in Luke.

We were delayed by wonderful events as we had visitors speaking and singing at our Services that threw the schedule off but what Blessings they were!

So, back to conclude the discussion.

If you recall, these eight Blessings were shared during the Sermon on the Mount, and are proverb-like proclamations, precise, and full of meaning. At this time in history and in the Near East, people learned and believed wealth, happiness, and success were all signs of God’s favor. People who were poor, sick, or failing in any way were clearly being punished by God.

Then along comes Jesus, offering his spiritual congratulations to the very people who were being judged and condemned by the religious authorities of the time. He is telling those who have been most thoroughly excluded from religious acceptance that they are, in fact, God’s beloved. What an energy of hope and new possibility His words must have carried to the sick and needy who thronged to hear Him!

Jesus is explaining that certain groups of people are especially connected with their spiritual potential.

This is one of many times in the course of His ministry when we learn that Jesus leaves the crowds behind and goes up a mountain. He strengthens and centers Himself by ascending to His higher consciousness from which He can later descend to teach, heal and minister to the crowd.

Matthew’s setting of Jesus “Up into the mountains” reminds us to lift our thoughts to higher more spiritual realms. Metaphysically, we go to higher perspectives or thoughts when we see mountain mentioned in the Bible text, just as we do when we see mention of Jesus looking up toward heaven in blessing and prayer, He’s connecting to His Higher Self.

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 of Tradition. They echo the highest ideals of the teachings of Jesus on mercy, spirituality, and compassion. These were and ARE the basic teachings of Jesus.

We see similar verses in the traditional writings of Buddhism, in the Qur’an, the teachings of the Baha’i, for example, and even in the Book of Mormon, proving once again that we are all one in Spirit; that ALL teachings from the Masters are of love.

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.

The Beatitudes initiate one of the main themes of Matthew’s Gospel; that the Kingdom so long awaited in the Old Testament is 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.

 

Of the eight Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:3–12, we have discussed these six:

 

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. (5:3)

Blessed are those who mourn: for they will be comforted. (5:4)

Blessed are the meek: for they will inherit the earth. (5:5)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they will be filled. (5:6)

Blessed are the merciful: for they will be shown mercy. (5:7)

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they will see God. (5:8)

 

Do you remember what they mean? What they are about? If not, go to the website and check out the messages. They are in the archives.

Today we look at the last two:

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they will be called children of God. (5:9)

And –

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And this continues with Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you. (5:10-11)

So let’s look at these last two…

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they will be called children of God.

We are all children of God—creative beings made in the image and likeness of our divine Source. This is the truth of who we are, and it remains true whether or not we recognize, remember, or express it in our lives.

 

Our “likeness” to God does not mean a physical being like we are, with arms and legs and internal organs. “God,” as Jesus states clearly to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:24, “is Spirit.” It must follow, therefore, that we are also Spirit. Our true spiritual identity, the creative energy of God moving in and through us, is what the writers of Hebrew scripture called “the Lord of our Being” and what Jesus called “the Christ.”

 

Our personal challenge as spiritual beings who have assumed human form is to remove all obstacles so our true Divine nature can express fully and completely through us in these human lifetimes.

 

What are the obstacles? They are our collective error thoughts—ideas of lack, limitation, and separation from the Divine that we have chosen to believe. Our belief in these negative ideas allows them to become the dominant reality in the manifest world. We create the kingdom of heaven by literally “changing our minds,” that’s what repent means -—we decide to “cancel our subscription” to negative thoughts, to “delete the files” of limiting ideas we have accumulated in consciousness, and to allow the indwelling Divine Presence to fill our hearts and minds with ideas of love, abundance, wholeness, and infinite possibility.

And how do we do this cleansing of negativity? Prayer. Becoming peaceful, serene.

It is from the serenity of our being that we are able to get past the negativity of our lives and our surroundings. “Peace I leave you, my peace I give you.”

As you connect with that peace within, you become a peacemaker. Just your ‘being’ helps…remember, “Peace begins with me.”

It is through THAT peace that we are peacemakers, praying for conflict resolution.

This Beatitude, then, does not tell us we must become peacemakers in order to be children of God. We already are children of God. And as we know that and feel its power in the heart of our being; people and conditions around us will become more peaceful, more energized in love, simply because of our presence. And in that new energy, people will see us—and themselves—as the children of God we are.

You ARE peacemakers. You are Blessed.

The last Beatitude:

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.

 

This Beatitude has been wrongly seen as promising a reward after death for pain and persecution suffered in life. It has even been used through the centuries as a kind of spiritual mind control through which people have been encouraged to accept, without question, conditions of poverty and oppression in this lifetime by quoting this promise of eternal happiness in heaven. That is not what Jesus is saying. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. It is within us. He clearly meant us to experience the kingdom of heaven in these bodies, in these lifetimes.

 

Jesus is trying to explain that those who resist error thinking, who hold fast to truth in a nonresistant, nonjudgmental way, are already experiencing the kingdom. From our limited human perspective, they must be suffering and in pain. In fact, they have reached and are experiencing a level of unconditional love that can in no way be threatened by the things and ideas of this world.

But let’s look at what is causing “suffering”…isn’t it our thoughts about the situation? So what this Beatitudes is telling us is to look at our thoughts. Look at what we are holding onto that is blocking our growth, our connection. This is the cause of our suffering…WE are the cause of our suffering. We are persecuting ourselves!

Our thoughts create our world.

When we are truly connected to the Presence of God within us, nothing can cause us to suffer. It may seem that the world is trying to persecute us for our righteousness—our spiritual beliefs and connections—but the world does not have that power. If we choose to not be part of the judgments of the world, then those judgments have no power over us.

 

In the story ‘The City of Joy, a French priest is drawn to Calcutta to minister to the poorest of the poor—people without homes or possessions who, in his well-intentioned judgment, he felt could truly be said to be persecuted. What he found was that theirs was, indeed, the kingdom of heaven; they were abler to extend love and compassion to him than he was to them. Conditions in the material world could not shake the peace and joy they felt in knowing their spiritual worth.

Who was the persecuted ones there?

 

The Beatitudes are often looked at as the Commandments of the Christian Bible. Just as the Hebrew Bible’s Ten Commandments gave the Israelites laws to guide them on how to get along as they traveled the length of time needed to grow spiritually, 40 years in the desert, these Beatitudes are guides to know and understand the Kingdom of Heaven.

They are essentially Jesus’ teachings in a nut shell. new set of ideals that focus on love and humility rather than force and extortion. They echo the highest ideals of Jesus’ teachings on spirituality and compassion.

 

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

Blessed are those who mourn: for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek: for they will inherit the earth.

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

Blessed are the merciful: for they will be shown mercy.

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

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

By sandwiching six promises in between two assurances, that such people have the kingdom of heaven, is it possible that Jesus means to tell us that these six promises are blessings of the kingdom. In other words, these six things are what you can count on when you are a part of Divine’s kingdom. This is what the kingdom brings: comfort, earth ownership, satisfaction, righteousness, mercy, a vision of God, and the awesome title, child of God. You don’t have to pick and choose among these promises. They all belong to the kingdom. Six promises sandwiched in between.” Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The spiritual path to which we are called is not an easy one, nor are we likely to win many popularity contests as a result of the work that is ours to do.

 

The kingdom to which Jesus and many Masters calls us is “not of this ‘material’ world’ and it will make no sense to those who are not able to fully understand its spiritual power. What we experience as spiritual growth and awareness will seem like sheer foolishness to others. We can’t expect to always be understood, even by people to whom we feel closest, and we certainly can’t base our spiritual choices on the prevailing opinions of friends or family. Again and again as His ministry unfolds, Jesus warns his disciples that following a path of spiritual awareness and enlightenment may mean turning away from friends, family, and “public opinion.”

 

In other words, we will find the rewards of our spiritual choices in ourselves, not in the support or approval of others.

 

Thankfully, we have that support here at Unity of Rehoboth Beach. Let’s take that smile of acceptance into meditation…..