Exploding Whale!

Sunday, February 22, 2015

“An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.” - Winston Churchill (our way of thinking is what tells us what we see)

 “The greatest danger for most of us is NOT that we aim too high and we miss it, but we aim too low and reach it.” – Michelangelo (aiming high and missing is not failure)

How many of us love the experience of rush hour traffic?

Rush hour is an interesting phenomenon if you let yourself be present to what is going on. You can sit in your car and watche the faces of the people in the cars next to you. Most of their faces will exhibit an empty look like, “I am doing this because I have to do, but my heart is not in it.”

These people who are down and disheartened in daily life are our brothers and sisters. These are God’s children. What about the promise of fulfillment, the promise of great glory, the promise of God’s joy? What is happening to those promises, in regular, everyday ordinary life?

A lot of people do not feel joy in daily life... It can change.

It seems to me that the brother of the Prodigal Son did not feel joy in daily life. The story ends this way (Luke 15:25-32) ^“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.”

What I want to ask you is: Was that older brother, the older son, aware that he was always with his father, and that all his father had was his? Or did he carry his relationship with his father as a burden?

It sounds to me as if there was a lot of resentment there, a lot of the older brother comparing his life with his brother’s life, and feeling he was coming up on the short end.

We can feel this way in life, too. We compare ourselves with others and assign success to them but no success, or less success, to us. Then we’re not happy enough because we’re living an “ordinary” life, and we might try to satisfy ourselves with achievements, accomplishments, and things, and it does not work.

Maybe we become like Ziggy in the cartoon where Ziggy is coming around a corner. Heading toward that corner is a man carrying a sign that says, “Happiness is just around the corner.” Ziggy says, “Gee, I must have missed it.”

Is life like that for us??

My answer to that is, “Probably from time to time.” Spirituality is what you make of life, day by day, becoming FULLY awake to, and aware of, the Presence of God. Spirituality loves the regular ordinary days as much as the extraordinary.

Part of the problem is a learned behavior that we humans have that induces us to be overly critical. Some people call it human nature. They say it’s human nature to make mistakes. We look at the mistakes we have made and we say, “This is terrible! I call myself an evolving spiritual being, and yet I do things like this. I certainly hope nobody ever finds out about it!”

I wonder what life would be like if we could read each other’s minds, what things we would see. I tend to think we would see a commonality in the things we are ashamed of that would make us smile. We all make mistakes. And because we all make mistakes, and because we criticize ourselves for mistakes, I want to share with you a story about a mistake that seemed like a good idea at the time.

Let’s look at a video clip of a television broadcast from KATU TV Portland, Oregon. The year is 1970. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVVW8BferzQ)

God is present in the little mistakes and in the epic mistakes. God is present in the little successes and the epic successes. God is present in the exciting and in the mundane. God is Present. Period.

In the story of Jacob’s ladder, Jacob is travelling from Beersheba to Harran and he stops along the road for the evening. He lays his head on a stone, sleeps, and dreams of a ladder between earth and heaven with God at the top and angels ascending and descending. When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place – and I did not know it.”

Where was Jacob? He was along the road (could we say, “on the path”?), sleeping with his head on a rock. In other words his surrounding was mundane.

The next verse is probably even more telling. “And he said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’”

I am going to give you a challenge. I invite you to take a thought and use it in some of the places you do not consider so particularly sacred.

I do not know what you are going to be doing today—whether it is something wonderful or something very ordinary and mundane—but I do know that whatever you are going to do, wherever and however you do it, God is there.

Walt Whitman said, “To me every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle.” This is real life!

When we are out of this awareness we are experiencing only a part of life because we have left God out. I would like you to take the thought with you: How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

God is an experience. Spirituality is experienced in the midst of doing ordinary things.

William Shakespeare said, “All glory comes from daring to begin.”

Get personally involved with God.

I give you the invitation today, and the challenge, to remember this thought in those times when it seems like nothing much is going on, like nothing of any great value is happening, or like you are not particularly worthy of being called the child of God that you are.

How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

Spirituality is all about our awareness. The gift has been given. God has said, “Child, you are always with Me, and all I have is yours.” It is up to us to respond, to see opportunity everywhere – in the exhilarating and the seeming calamity to be aware of the Presence of God.

Aim High!

How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. Think about it! I wish you a regular ordinary day filled with the presence of God.

God bless you!

C'mon in, The Water's Great!

Sunday, February 15, 2015

"Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.." (Isaiah 41:10)

I want to tell you about two fellows who went outside for a duel – Pete and Repete. (Not Pete and Repeat like the kids joke, “Pete and repeat are on a boat. Pete falls overboard, who is left?” “Repeat.” “Pete and repeat are on a boat….”) In a little bit I’ll tell you why I’m using Pete and “RePete.”

Pete said to Repete: “You have your choice of weapons.”

Repete said, “All right. Our weapons will be ideas wrapped up in nice boxes.”

So, Pete took the first shot and delivered a package to Repete.   Repete opened it and inside was the idea of sickness. Repete got very, very sick, but, in time, he overcame that sickness. He got well.

Then it was time for Repete to deliver a box to Pete. Pete unwrapped his box and received the idea of poverty. Pete spent many years believing in the ideas of lack, believing he couldn’t have what everybody else had, but, he overcame and soon he was back on top again.

Soon he delivered another box to Repete. This time when Repete opened the box, he received the idea of lack of education. Right away he began to shrivel. He accepted for himself the thought he could not do what others could do because he did not have formal education. In time, he began to realize that our human brain is not alone, that we work with God’s mind, and God’s wisdom can come through.

He overcame the lower ideas and thoughts of society.

Repete then delivered another box to Pete.   Inside this box was the idea of death. Pete accepted that idea and died; but a funny thing happened. He came to realize that death is not a period but a comma in life, and that life in this physical body is not all there is. He realized, we go on.

Finally the time came for the last box to be delivered. Repete opened it up and inside it he found discouragement. Immediately, no matter what came into his life, whether it was sickness or poverty or lack of education, or even the idea of death, he was not able to overcome any of these ideas because he was too discouraged.

Pete and rePete are symbols for the telling and retelling of the thoughts we tell and retell ourselves.

It’s easy to get discouraged on our path to spiritual remembrance when we operate from the idea that we are human… from the forgetting of our divinity. It is hard, operating from human identity, to lift ourselves out of that discouragement.

Today, I pray that through this talk and God's help, that your discouragement will dissolve and transform it into encouragement. I know it can, because I know God is here and God is working inside of my life, thus in yours, too.

When our 10 year old niece was visiting last summer we went to the pool in Pendleton. She was reluctant to jump in the water because she tested it with her toe and it seemed cold. Being the manly uncle that I am, I jumped in the water and said to her, “C’mon, jump in. The water’s great once you jump in.”

The spiritual life is that way, too. Once you jump in, its ok… the water’s great, so to speak.

I know life can be discouraging because I’ve dealt with enormous amounts of negative self-talk. I’ve dipped my toe into the spiritual life and pulled back, afraid of the work involved and the change that might come. Eventually I realized “the water’s great” because I finally jumped into the spiritual life.

When we come to the point when we say we can’t go forward; when we get discouraged and lose hope, it is vital to remember You are NOT alone—God is with you.

Lifting ourselves up strictly from the human perspective is hard, hard, work. It can be done, to a certain level, but it’s the long way home. Remember, always, that God is with you. God can lift you up and keep you up and show you a shorter path.

Get involved with whatever you call the creative power of life.

I’ve suffered at the hands of negative belief about prosperity until I decided to experiment with believing something I used to hear Jane say, “There isn’t a finite amount of money in the world.” I began to experiment with not clutching onto the idea that whatever money goes out from me is loss. I began to experiment with the idea that there is a flow to all things in the world and that my thinking, my trust, my faith affected the inflow coming to me. Once I saw that God did for me in the smallest way I was able to open up and trust that God would do the same for me in the biggest way.

The water’s great. C’mon in!

Another big challenge that turned around in my life was the drag on my life that was present because I was holding to the idea that “lack of education” meant I was “less than.”

In order to enter seminary I was required to hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. I didn’t have one because I never attended college. Unity, thankfully, also offered an option for people without a degree. They call it their “bachelor equivalency path.” I took that road. It required the completion of a two-year program, under their supervision, as well as documenting life experience and showing how that experience related to ministry. All this had to be completed, submitted, and accepted before I could even apply to seminary. Now a person might think that completing a two-year program, submitting a 51 page application, its acceptance, being invited to interviews and testing, and subsequent invitation to seminary would be proof enough of educational competence.

But not for me. I continued to look at what I thought I didn’t have instead of what was present for me.

Why? Because that was all human effort.

I had a classmate named Grace Nicodemus. Grace was in the same boat as I was with respect to a college degree and I would share with her my doubts and misgivings about being qualified. She would say to me, just as in the story I told recently about how Jack Nicklaus said to President Clinton’s admission that he didn’t feel worth of making a putt for an “eagle,” “You’ve got to get over that.”

I did, eventually, once I let go and let God into my heart and mind to direct me about what to do next.

C’mon in, the water’s great!

These two examples show that I have been discouraged along the way.

Yes, there are potholes on this road of life. But we must never stay in the pothole. We must go beyond. Albert Einstein said something extremely powerful. You’ve probably heard this before about being faced with seemingly insurmountable difficulties and discouragement, “The significant problems we have today cannot be solved at the same level of mind that we created them.”

Yes, you may have a problem. You may be in a mess, and you can’t solve it at the same level of mind you entered that problem with.

You can’t solve the problems negative thinking and belief bring by changing outer circumstances; your inner landscape (belief) has to change first.

Un-clutch those ideas of limitation you think you see in yourself and others!

This calls us to expand our thinking as human beings. Expand to what? These negative ideas aren’t actually gone, they just aren’t in the forefront anymore. We push them to the side and we then allow in, or, become aware of the thoughts of God in the forefront of our mind.

One thing that I’ve found to be necessary on my journey to the remembrance of the Presence of God is, to consent in my human mind to the mind of God inspiring through me. There comes that powerful point in our lives when we say, “Dear God, I can’t do it alone anymore. I have to have Your help.” The instant you say that, and really mean it, the Divine ideas flood in. The application of those ideas is what can change your life.

Ephesians 6:13. says, “Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand [the challenges in your life.]”

It is one of the greatest techniques for overcoming. It teaches that when you have done all you can do and are at the point where you are just about ready to get discouraged and give up, you take on the whole armor of God. You take up the belief that God is with you. You are not alone. Your ever-present source of guidance is with you.

Having done all you can do humanly, you just breathe and stand and wait. You become quiet and allow those ideas to flood your mind. Then, and only then, when you are recharged, refreshed and revitalized, you take the actions you need to take.

But why wait until you’ve exhausted every human possibility? Why not take on the full armor of God now? Ask, be quiet and listen for the divine ideas of God to surface in your mind and act according to that guidance?

I invite you one last time today, “C’mon in. The water’s great!”

Where's Waldo?

Sunday, February 8, 2015

When Jane and I were in Florida last month we were sitting around the dinner table with another couple, the wine was flowing, and the talked turned to retirement. I was asked, What would you do if you could retire?”

My answer was I’d lay in a hammock suspended between two coconut trees along the beach and I would alternate between two things: napping and reading Shakespeare.

These days, I don’t really make time to read for pleasure, but when I find something compelling, well, I just can’t put it down. Here’s the latest book to catch my attention:

Where’s Waldo? Well, Waldo is amongst the people. He is resident amongst the everyday and the author of the book assures us that Waldo is present on every page of the book.

Jane has a natural ability to spot four-leaf clovers. I think the correct description of that skill is, pattern recognition.

Finding Waldo can require patience and persistence… unless you have “pattern recognition” and then it’s easier… you expect see Waldo (or, what appears to be hidden) clearly and quickly.

How do we “see” the world and personal events? We see them through our consciousness, through what we expect to see.

In the Colorado, where the Broncos play football, two people can watch the same game and see proof that supports their perspective whether they are amongst the detractors who see them as, “The Donkeys” or the avid supporters who are sure they will win every game this year including the Super Bowl.  We see what we expect to see and we will see the same things over and over, according to our expectations until we change what we choose to be conscious of. Once we change our consciousness, our way of thinking, then where we expected to see one thing, we now expect another.

Last week I suggested that when we don’t know who we are we try to create an image, and we work diligently to perfect the image that we project into the world as “me.” And I also suggested that this illusory self-image will be drawn from something the world holds as dear: money, intelligence, our sense of humor, the way we look, our skill at getting what we want from other people, how religious we are, how athletic we are, how good we are with money, how well we’re doing in school, or for instance, the amount of power we yield.

One seeming attribute of human nature is that we seem to “stick to our level,” economically, socially, and perhaps even according to the level of worldly power we have.

Let’s briefly look at the Hebrew Bible story about Naaman. Naaman was the leader of the Syrian Army, successful, powerful, and in great favor with his King. In 2 Kings 5:1-15 we read, “Now on one of their raids they had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel and she served Naaman’s wife.” So here we have this young woman, a captive from a successful raid on neighboring Israel serving as a slave in the household of Naaman and his wife.

Well, Naaman has all this power and wealth and the poor, old guy discovers he has leprosy. This is not a good thing for a man of position and authority.

The slave girl says to her mistress, the wife of Naaman, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” This prophet in Samaria is Elisha (Elisha is regarded by Bible commentators as a forerunner of Jesus. His character and works, his gentleness and simplicity run parallel to Jesus. Jesus is regarded, though, as more fully manifesting the Spirit of God. Elisha, though, is a Master of Life in his own time.)

Through a series of events, Elisha invites Naaman to come to him for healing. 2 Kings tells us, “Naaman came with his horses and his chariots.” In other words, his entourage, and because he was a man of great power I imagine he projected a formidable presence.

Once he gets to Elisha’s, Elisha’s servant comes out to address Naaman. I’m imagining it occurring this way. The servant pokes his head out the door and says, “Are you Naaman? Yes? Ok, “Go was in the Jordan seven times and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.”” And he shuts the door in Naaman’s face. (Slam!)

“But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord, his God and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy.” Then he goes on to complain that rivers in Syria are much nicer than all the waters of Israel and he stomps off defiantly.

So what is occurring here? The high and mighty expects to Elisha to make a spectacle over him and heal him. But Elisha sends out a servant… a lowly, common servant carries the message of healing.

To wrap this story up Naaman’s own servants says to him, in effect, “If the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, you’d have done that. He gave you something easy to do, so why not do it?” Naaman goes down to the Jordan, bathes seven times and is cured.

So what do you think? Is God present in the mass of the everyday, like Waldo, or in the showy moments of power and prestige?

Clearly God is present in both. In this Bible story we see that the healing message is carried by, is present with, the everyday persons. My interpretation is that God is present in the everyday-ness of life. Naaman, with his power and superior attitude eventually listens and hears the healing word present in the everyday. He had a hard time spotting it, but it was there.

God, just like Waldo, is present among the mass of humanity… even when you have a difficult time spotting “Him.”

I have to ask you, “What are you expecting. Where do you expect to find God?

Maybe we’re like Namaan and expect something loud and flashy and showy; dramatic. Or worse, maybe we’ve lost heart and don’t expect anything anymore. Either way, I want you to know that God is present and in our midst.

Now, I’m willing to admit, uncovering the blocks to the awareness of God’s Presence can be really hard work. It requires patience. It requires intentionality. It requires, I believe, a regular spiritual practice…and a decision to have faith in God’s promise that “He” is present on every page of the book of your life. God is here. God is present and in your midst.

Seek to become aware of the Presence of God and you will. Expect to see this presence… and you will, for no one can fail who seeks the Presence of God.

(Thank you again to Father John Newton for his idea and words, used without permission (because I couldn’t find him)).