You Are Worthy

Delivered Sunday, January 25, 2015

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27 (KJV)

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal."

End each day with thoughts of peace.  Begin each day with thoughts of peace.  Continue thinking thoughts of peace throughout your precious day and happiness will be yours.

As a society we have started and ended many wars on this planet. The world has changed drastically, just in our lifetimes. If we were to try and cover all the details about the boundary lines that have been changed in our lifetime, that would probably take months to define.

Human fighting human and the ego’s need to harm one another is a disease for the whole body of humanity.

World War I was called the war to end all wars. Yet, World War II followed. We have to look into that big mirror of humanity and see if the problem doesn’t lie within us. People start war; people continue war; people decide to stop war. 

If we want the warring that goes on inside of us we have to be brave enough to go for the spiritual cure… once and for all. We have to think about what is good for all people.

Dale Carnegie said, "If half a century of living has taught me anything at all, it has taught me that nothing can bring you peace but yourself."

Let me tell you a story about a remarkable lady. Her name was Mrs. DeCosta. She lived in Argentina. Around 1900, if you were to look for a hotbed of violence, it would be along the dividing line between Argentina and Chile. People were getting killed. They two countries were constantly in dispute about their common border. They couldn’t resolve anything, so they called in a mediator who brokered a deal, and, in 1903 the dispute ended. Enter Mrs. DeCosta.

She thought, as I believe we need to think, wherever there is war, be it internal or external – and it comes to an end, "Is this really going to be the end? Is this really the last time I’ll be warring?"

Perhaps as human beings, we need reminders.

The legend goes that Mrs. DeCosta had all the cannons that were used in the dispute put into the fire, molded and made into a statue of Christ, and here it is.

If you were to go to that pass, high up in the Andes Mountains on the borderline between the two countries, you would find the statue of Christ looking right along the border between Argentina and Chili.

When she had this erected, she knelt and prayed at the base along with thousands of people from both sides. She said, “May this be a reminder. Every time we think about war or even have a warring thought, may we remember.” And I presume she means, “May we remember the Presence of Christ, the Presence of peace; not just worldly peace, but the Peace of Christ.

Perhaps what each we need to do is to kneel inside of us (so to speak) and look up to the Christ who has never had a warring thought against ANY people, and know that no matter how warring we feel in our human self, we can go to that peace of God that is at the dividing line between war and peace.

How about in your own life? Your life is where peace begins. Let’s say you’re beginning to have a fight with your spouse or your children. Maybe you need to take a moment to rest “at the statue inside of yourself” and know that there is a greater power present with you who has the power  to come through you in the moment and heal the situation in a way that you probably cannot even imagine.

Or maybe you don’t feel like you deserve personal peace. Could that be the case… that you feel you are not worthy?”

Have you ever though anything along these lines? “Oh, I’m not really worthy of personal peace because, well, I get angry. In fact, sometimes think nasty things about people. I know that Jesus said we should love one another like He loved us and I don’t do a very good job of that. So, no, I’m not particularly worthy.”

I’d like you to listen to this audio clip from last Thursday’s “Mike and Mike in the Morning” radio shown on ESPN (It’s a sports talk show). Former President Bill Clinton is their guest and he’s talking about playing golf with Jack Nicklaus… (Sorry that I wasn't able to upload the clip. Here's the jist of the story. Clinton was putting 8' for an eagle and he missed the putt. Nicklaus said to him, "You didn't feel like you deserved that eagle, did you?" "No, I guess not" said Clinton. Nicklaus' replay was, "You need to get over that.")
      If you feel you aren’t good enough for any reason about anything remember the advice of Jack Nicklaus. Remember not just, “You need to get over that.” but, “You need to get over that!”

I’ll not forget this; I hope none of us will, “You need to get over that!”

If you’re not sure that you’re worthy consider this: Gen 1:26-27  ^“Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; … So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them male and female he created them.””

We are created in the image and after the likeness of God; how much more worthy can we get? We are worthy!

Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians that we are God’s own possession, chosen for the blessing of His Love.

We are worthy!

Fillmore from his book on living a thriving life: “Your thoughts should at all times be worthy of your highest self, your fellow man, and God. The thoughts that most frequently work ill to you and your associates are thoughts of criticism and condemnation. Fill your mind with thoughts of divine love, peace, and forgiveness.”

Now I know the attainment of these high ideals can sometimes seem impossible, and I know we “backslide” from time to time. The important thing is to remember Jack Nicklaus’ advice, “You need to get over that.” And we get over destructive thinking and feelings (as I talked about my having last week) through forgiveness, prayer, meditation, denying the negative thinking about ourselves as being true, remembering that we are worthy, asking God for guidance, thanking God for loving us unconditionally and eternally… then smiling and speaking a word of kindness to ourselves and into the world around us.

You are worthy. I love you. You are blessed.

Persistence

Delivered, Sunday, January 18, 2015

Thank you, Jim, for filling in for me while Jane and Zoey and I traveled to Florida and back the past two weeks.       

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

*An egret in front of our motel door

*View from Jodie’s deck

*The beach

*Shark teeth

*Zoey napping after a long day of play

*Yoder’s Restaurant

          Six of us went to dinner: Harriet, David Cyril, Rita, Jane, and me. While we were waiting in line, after about on half hour (it was one hour before we were seated!) I said to Cyril, “I hope you’re a patient man because this looks like a long wait.”

          Cyril said, “I’m not patient but I am persistent.”

          Persistence. I began to think about persistence on and off in the days following Cyril’s remark. One of the things I learned about Cyril, though not from him, was that he was a mine worker most of his life. Years and years and years working below ground; yeah, I could see where that would take persistence.

          Persistence is a quality needed on the spiritual path, too.

          In what way are you spiritually persistent? For me it’s in the application of forgiveness. Here’s a picture of the home screen on my phone. (Home screen says: “Forgiveness is the Key to Happiness) I am persistent with forgiveness. In what way are you spiritually persistent?

          Here’s a story about a young boy and how his persistence in the world paid off spiritually. I read the story in Chicken Soup for the Soul – The Power of Positive.”

          Hollye Dexter was playing Chutes and Ladders with her four-year-old son Evan. The object of Chutes and Ladders is to move 100 squares to the top corner of the board. Along the way there are various lengths of ladders that you climb higher and chutes that will slide you back to a lower square on the board. There is one chute that slides you back a full 61 spaces!

Hollye says that Evan was in a phase where he was obsessed with winning and losing. When we would get out of the car, she wrote, he would dash to the door and say, “I win Mommy and you lose.”  Evan would gulp his milk down and say, “I win Mommy and you lose.”

          Eventually Hollye’s council about being a gracious loser made an impact on Even. Now when he won and Hollye lost at whatever Evan felt the need to compete about, he would pat her hand or pat her on the back and say, albeit sweetly, “Congratulations, loser.”

          On this particular day Hollye won the game and Evan asked, “Aren’t you going to say to me ‘Congratulations loser’?” Hollye encouraged Evan to finish the game. She said he look confused and said, “But I lost, mommy.”

          Then Hollye said this wonderful thing to her son, “Just because someone makes it to the top first doesn’t mean the rest of us lose. You keep going.” And so Evan continued to play the game. He hit that long chute down several times before he reached the 100^th square. At first he was frustrated and eventually, Hollye writes, the setbacks became amusing… but Evan persisted until he reached his goal.

          Hopefully Evan’s lesson of persistence and laughter at setbacks will translate into a spiritual lesson down the road for him knowing, as Charles Fillmore says, “What you earnestly desire and persistently affirm will be yours. Persistent meditation on the Truth contained in the Word of God opens the mind to a greater inflow of Spirit.”

          What do you earnestly desire and persistently affirm? Is it the same thing or do you desire one thing and affirm another?

          Earnestly desire and persistently affirm.

Persistence pays dividends.

I earnestly desire internal peace and persistently affirm forgiveness. This is an ongoing process for me. Sometimes my peace is disrupted and I have to “reaffirm” forgiveness.

You know that I say to you that whatever I am going to talk about on a Sunday I frequently have an opportunity to prove it out the week before, or the week following, the Sunday I talk about it. This past week was one of those weeks.

I was sharing with a trusted friend how I had been overly trusting of someone who was in constant struggle. I used to marvel at how bad luck followed this person everywhere. I helped as often as I could with rides, grocery money, gas money, etc. Then one week there were a string of hard luck stories. I’ll cut to the chase here. I was duped. I believed that in the past this person had fudged the facts to make the need look more compelling, I was aware of that. All the stories, though, were vague in terms of verifiable facts. This time the need came with hard, cold, facts and I checked them out. None of the story was true. It wasn’t untrue in the sense that some facts had been exaggerated. It was untrue in the sense that the need and the near tears with which the story was delivered, and the story itself, were a complete and utter fabrication; a bald-faced lie.

So here I was sharing this story with my friend and afterwards when I got home a whole lot of old, self-debasing feelings came rushing into my mind where they danced gleefully around singing my short comings and my “not-good-enoughness. For being so easily “had.””

“Forgiveness is the key to happiness”

This where I “went” to find my peace again. Peace is what I earnestly desire. Forgiveness is the key to internal peace and I persistently affirm it at every opportunity, large and small.

Ask yourself this the next time you have a few moments of quiet time, “What do I deeply desire? What do I persistently affirm?”

Again, the words of Mr. Fillmore, “We may talk about the wisdom of God, but the love of God must be felt in the heart.  It cannot be described, and one who has not felt it can have no concept of it from the descriptions of others.”

If you deeply desire to more fully feel the love of God, what can you do? Talk more about love, and it will grow stronger in your consciousness.  You can persist in thinking loving thoughts and speaking loving words, and when you do, another kind of persistence appears. The persistent experience of the indescribable feeling of the love of God.”

Like Evan, be a finisher, be persistent in this, and become your deepest desire.

Which Forms Are Spiritual?

December 28, 2014

         A week ago I stood up here and said, “Boy it sure doesn’t feel like Christmas.” Today, three days before the end of 2014 I stand here and say, “Boy, it sure doesn’t feel like the end of the year.” Maybe it’s just me and maybe you feel that way, too. Either way, I have a suggestion for us on how to approach 2015.

         “Make this year different by making it all the same.”

         When I first read the previous sentence in A Course in Miracles my brain screeched to a halt and I found myself suspended, motionless, in an empty space between two thoughts.

Make this year different by making it all the same.

It seems to me when we hear something that doesn’t make sense we quickly transition from the statement we just read to “Wait…that doesn’t make any sense.”

For me, I was sort of suspended between those two thoughts. Imagine, if you will monkeys swinging from vine to vine through the jungle. As they grab onto the second vine they let go of the first one, then they grab onto the third one letting go of the second one, and so on. Our thinking kind of goes the same way, grabbing onto one thought as we let go of another.

As I was “swinging from thought to thought” while I was reading A Course in Miracles that day, I reached out to grab onto the next thought and there was nothing there. The analytical function of my thinking had screeched to a halt. It was like I was suspended in air, motionless, with noting to hold onto… no “vine” in either hand.

I’m pretty sure my eloquent response in that moment was, “Huh?”

Make this year different by making it all the same.

As soon as my thinking mind started up again I read that sentence a few times saying to myself, “That doesn’t make any sense!” In this case clarification came as I read on, “And let all your relationships be made holy for you.”

Let is a key word here. Not make, but let. It seems to me that we let our relationships be made holy, become holy encounters, when we forgive.

Charles Fillmore (co-founder of the Unity movement, along with his wife Myrtle) describes forgiveness this way, “A process of giving up the false for the true…erasing error from the mind.”

What is the false that we are giving up for the true? Kenneth Wapnick says it best, “It is the idea that we are different from each other, and that our reactions should differ in terms of the differing events and situations that confront us. Making it all the same, simply stated, means to perceive every situation, event, and relationship as offering the same opportunity for forgiveness.” (The Lighthouse vol. 22 number 4)

God made us all equal in our holiness. We have made ourselves appear to be different from each other by judging appearances and creating an arbitrary hierarchy. In giving up the false for the true, as Mr. Fillmore suggests, we look beyond the distorting mist of appearances. In erasing error from our mind we no longer believe the distorting mist of appearance to be Truth. Forgiveness removes the veil of distortion from our mind and we connect: holiness to holiness.

I’ve read that Jesus’ teachings were initially referred to as “The Way.” Whether that’s accurate or not isn’t important to me. What it does though is make me remember there is a way to joy and freedom. It is my opinion, as I just said, through forgiveness – which by the way is the exact same as extending Love. When we extend Love we are extending our holiness un-blurred by ideas of good/bad, right/wrong, deserving/undeserving of Love.

Extending Love, extending forgiveness is, as I see it, the way to joy and freedom and it doesn’t matter what form it comes through.

Too often we look to the form of things to indicate how things are in Truth, in Reality, and the indicator of how things ought to be done. Of course that’s usually based on our interpretation of the correct form of things.

I have obtained for you a video that will instruct you on the form of how to be ultra spiritual. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kDso5ElFRg)

I trust you recognized that as satire.

The form through which we express our spirituality is secondary, the purpose behind what and how we do things, how we present ourselves is the primary thing. Let go of the false for the real. Be more concerned with the purpose than the form.

Years ago Jane and I participated with a group called “The Emissaries of Divine Light.” It was a group based on the teachings of New Thought. Unity has a basis in New Thought, too.

The man who started the Emissaries was named Lloyd Arthur Meeker. He both went by and wrote under the pen name Uranda. Neither Jane nor I ever met him; he died in 1954. One of the stories that was passed down about Uranda was the he could see the people in his group were more concerned about appearances (form) and less about purpose. In the context of what how I’m saying things today, their vision didn’t look beyond the blurry mist of appearance. Uranda was “preaching” the necessity of clean eating back then and at least enough of his “followers” got themselves into a mind-set that smoking was wrong (i.e. judging by appearances) that they became openly critical of smokers. Uranda apparently couldn’t get their attention by talking about not judging, about seeing beyond the form of things, about giving up the false (our interpretations) for the Real (God’s interpretation) so he started smoking to get them to face their concepts!

How often do we ask ourselves, “Why do I think what I think? Why do I do things the way I do them?”

A question we can ask ourselves is, “What is my purpose in expressing what I am expressing?” or, “Why am I doing what I’m doing (or, have done)?” or, again going to Kenneth Wapnick, “Does this (whatever this thinking or action is) impede or contribute to my goal of awakening from the… dream of separation? Is there anything else here to consider, want, and work to achieve?”

Make this year different by letting all your relationships be made holy for you.

Forgive, and joy and freedom will be yours.

My holy sibling, together in Love we are one. In the name of freedom I choose to release you from the judgment I have placed on you by looking past the blurry mist of form to your holiness, that we may be released together. Amen.

We’ll now take an offering to support our church.

The Innkeeper

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Here it is the 21^st of December and Christmas is upon us. Have you ever asked yourself, “Where does the Christmas story begin?” Some would say at the birth of Jesus. A fundamentalist Christian writer that I was reading earlier this week said the Christmas Story begins in Genesis, specifically 2:17 where we are told, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

         So what happens next? Eve goes on to eat the apple as does Adam. Here allegedly is where all the troubles of the world began. We (humanity) were given a command by God and we disobeyed. Eve says, “But the serpent told me it was OK.” And then we read that Adam ate the fruit, too. His response? “Well, she gave it to me.”

At this point the more fundamental interpreter asserts that we have earned the right to be punished. Genesis outlines that punishment in 3:16-19 and Adam and Eve are “shown the door” out of paradise.

Now, in order to save ourselves (save humanity) from the punishment that God has thrown down upon us for our disobedience we need a savior, and thus Jesus must be sent to earth. And here, according to this fundamentalist writer, is the beginning of the Christmas Story.

If we didn’t make the mistake of eating the fruit, there is no need for Jesus to appear on earth… but we ate it and he had to come.

Christmas has been set aside by the church to celebrate the birth of Jesus; however, whatever we think of as the true meaning of Christmas is often lost in the holiday shuffle of the secular celebrating. People get caught up in who can afford such-and-such gift or who can throw the best party—and we forget to give of ourselves, and we forget God’s intense love for us. I believe it would do us and the world well if we would increase some of our focus away from decorating and shopping, to the season’s true meaning by sharing the gift of Christ (Love) with others. Make it so.

When we think of the Christmas story we think of an Angel visiting Mary to tell her, as a virgin and unmarried, she will conceive and bear a son who will change the world; Mary and Joseph marry and while Mary is still expecting they travel to Bethlehem to “register” as ordered by the Emperor Augustus. Once they arrive there they find there is no room at the Inn, all the rooms are taken.

Question: How often during the Christmas season do you think about the innkeeper? Instead of saying, “Sorry. No vacancy,” he, or she, extends love to this couple. I imagine the conversation in the innkeeper’s head goes something like this: “All our room are booked. These people really need a place to stay and I am going to make it so.” So the innkeeper says to Mary and Joseph when they inquire about a room, “Look, I don’t have any rooms available for tonight, but if you’d like you could stay in the stable. There’s plenty of hay in there and while it may not be the most comfortable of spots, you’ll be out of the weather and have something to sleep on other than the ground.”

Then I imagine the innkeeper tells the stable-boy, “These nice folks are going to sleep in the stable tonight. I want them to be comfortable. Go out there and make it so.”

Next in the story, Jesus is born, the host of Angels come, the shepherds come and some time later the Wise Men arrive.

Jane asked me the other day if I ever thought about how this story would have been different if it had been wise women instead of men?

No, I haven’t, I said.

Well, Jane said, those women would have asked Directions, they would have arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, brought practical gifts, cleaned the stable, made a casserole - And There Would Be Peace On Earth! J

How are we to see the Christmas Story all these years later? As a celebration of a birth, just like we celebrate our own birthday or is there another way to see Christmas? Of course there is another way. Yes, we see the birth of the baby Jesus as an event, but we also see what that birth symbolizes; the birth of Love, the expression of Love, the coming forth of Love. Those are the things I am reminded of in the Christmas season. The Christmas Story is a reminder “to be” in Love, to live in Love, to extend Love.

A couple of Sundays ago the scripture from the Daily Word fits here: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

This is where we show we “get” Christmas; we get are to love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

For me Christmas is a reminder to extend love, so for me, the Christmas story begins in the heart.

If Christ consciousness seems too far off for you, let yourself dwell in “Inn-keeper consciousness” and extend love wherever you see it’s needed.

Remember that love is not outside yourself but shining in the heaven within you.

Before we take an offering for our church I’d like to share a short video with you. If you are a fan of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” I think you’ll especially like this.

Michele… make it so…

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeaehxEdpgo)

Tonight is our Christmas Candle-lighting service and whether or not I see you tonight, have a warm-hearted Christmas.