Month: October 2011

October 30, 2011 – A Journey Through Our God Thought

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10/30/11 Rev. David McArthur

Our God-thought, what we as humankind have perceived as the Divine, has unfolded over time. Worship of nature – the sun, a volcano, a river, or animals – touched the human capacity to ask the divine to respond to us. Then when humankind had become more confident in itself, the gods were beautiful human figures greater than life – magnificent beings out there controlling our lives. Once Constantine spread the new God thought – there is only one God – Jesus had become the sacrifice to get to God. The Roman and Orthodox Churches took over with the fall of the empire, and taught with pictures. For a thousand years it was taught that God was up there in Heaven and it was dark and dirty down here. With the Renaissance, the God pictures took on images of people down here where we live. The Divine began to touch us as people.

All through this time, in every time and in every culture, there were mystics which taught that it is all one, all God. The view of mystics like Charles and Mildred Fillmore no longer was that the Church was an institution which helped people reach the Divine, but that it’s all God – everything to the center of the universe is all God. There is a tale which says God was asked how to make this information available, and He decided, “I’ll hide it in the heart, where everyone can find it if they are sincere and look deep enough.”

All the way back, even the ones who worshiped God as animals were just asking to know the presence of God in their lives, to find connection and comfort. What did it matter as long as their intention and purpose would expand in their lives. The form does not matter – whether a statue of Apollo, Jesus, or Krishna, rites of a priest or words of Moses – what matters is what’s in the heart. What makes the difference is God is love in your heart. That’s where the love and sincerity are. There is nothing out there to give it to you. The connection is in your heart. Let your understanding unfold from your heart. It is beautiful. Feel the love – not the building, painting, or statues – but the love poured into the form – the form doesn’t matter. The bottom line is the love. It is what matters; it is what’s growing. What we are building now is a spirituality that does not know division, but unity. It starts in your heart. Ciao!

October 23, 2011 – Decision Making or Discernment?

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10/2311 Rev. Eileen Goor

There are many ways people make decisions– rock/paper/scissors (which, by the way, goes back to 200 B.C. in China), flipping a coin, or casting lots (which was mentioned many many times in the Bible), drawing straws, even listing pros and cons on a sheet of paper. In the end, you probably decide by what you really feel anyway.

True spiritual discernment is that knowing within your very being what is right for you. It is wisdom which you discover deep in the core of your being. When we complete a process and we feel led to do something, it often feels like a great risk. Indiana Jones was led by a guidebook to a huge abyss. It said for him to step out in faith. The question is “How?” The answer is “Follow your heart.” Then we ask, “How do we do that?” Then the answer is “None of your business!” The deep wisdom within you knows. Allow yourself to be guided, because there is just one mind.

Ask, “What is mine to do?” It is a process of peeling off the old layers of stuff. The bridge does appear across the chasm when you do that which you have truly chosen to discern deep in your heart. It’s an individualized expression of God. If you don’t, the world is missing that piece.

So we become responsible– able to respond. Guided from your heart and the depth of your being, you have access to total wisdom. And you will have the support on the path to be the expression of who you are here to be. Take the step in faith. You will be supported!

October 9, 2011 – Still Points in a Turning World

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10/9/11 Rev. David McArthur

How can we use spiritual power when we are reaching for that greater goodness but run into blocks? Then the busier we get the easier it is to forget that power, but we need it twice as much. We find the power in that still spot in which we experience the connection, just being at One. It is nothing and it is nowhere – the quiet, still point in the middle of our always-turning world.

How do we make the connection? Jesus said, “Peace. Be still.” “Be still and know that I am God,” comes from the psalms. The journey to the stillness has a path – meditation. But recognize that when we try to meditate, the mind wants to focus on random thoughts, forgetting to be still. Many use a mantra, mandalas, and so on, but still fall between the words. It is in the deep thought, the deep feelings where we experience the divine silence itself. In that stillness, that quiet, focus on the deep feeling of love until it goes into what is just “presence”, where you are resting deeper than thought or feeling. You are resting with the one that is God.

Then when you finish you go from deep peacefulness into the energy of the world which hasn’t been in the peacefulness, and the beautiful peace is lost to irritation and frustration with the world and negativity. Instead, come out through the heart. You went in through the heart. Come out sending the peace out to the world, the things you face in the world. Say, “Divine Love goes before me making easy, joyous and successful my way.” This way you are connected with Spirit as It is working through the activity before you– even if It seems well hidden. You know God is good all the time– in the stillness and also in all the busyness before you. And everything before you is the pure divine love of God!

October 2, 2011 – Blessing, Giving & Faith

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10/2/11 Rev. David McArthur

In the process of spiritual growth, there are two spiritual practices that make a practical difference: blessing and giving. It’s part of a greater depth and growth of your spiritual consciousness. A “problem” is of your own consciousness. Bring it into wholeness by blessing it. God only knows wholeness, not “part” of anything. If we are not experiencing wholeness then there is work to be done. Blessing reaches into the wholeness. Blessing brings the wholeness through you, and not just in the solution to the problem, but in other areas of your life as well. Open to a greater flow of spiritual energy, directing it with intention.

Jesus combined blessing with giving. Twice, He fed crowds of thousands with about half a dozen loaves of bread and a few fish. (Matthew 14) He blessed what He had and then gave it to the disciples to give to the people. Another time the disciples had only 5 loaves of bread for themselves, and feared it was not enough. He again fed all of them, admonishing them that “they didn’t get it” – that it was divine substance that He brought into manifestation. It was the blessing of what they had and the giving of it that brought forth from the divine substance the solution to their problem. It was a demonstration for us how we use spiritual energy consciously with intention.

In the perception of a “problem”, you aren’t perceiving the goodness there. Call it forth. It responds to your need when you bless it and give from what you have. You are empowered to bring forth what you need. And we do this together – we call forth the demonstration, the manifestation – as with our renewed building and grounds we returned to just a year ago. And when it is time to go to the next step we gather to bless what we have, what we have done.

To experience the flow of abundance, give. You have something to give. Find it. Give freely with joy. Set the table as an experience of blessing. Make a list of what you need, affirming the good that is coming. The “change” is within one’s self. And then the world changes. Change comes from the center out to the circumference. The goodness is out there just waiting for you to get your act together. God is good all the time! Give. Bless. Do this for yourself and hold this truth for others.