The Gospel of Thomas #76, "The Pearl"

For those who were at service on Sunday, September 9, 2012, a few bullet points to jog your memory:

•   Just as a drink of water bring vitality to the body, drinking in God brings the awareness of vitality that is already in our being 

•   There is purported to be buried treasure on Oak Island, off the coast of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Men have been seeking to find this treasure for over 200 years.

•   Real treasure is the awareness of God that is "found within" (actually, remembered rather than found)

•  Saying #76 from the Gospel of Thomas: Jesus said, "God's Divine Rule is like a merchant who had a supply of merchandise and then found a pearl.  That merchant was prudent; he sold the merchandise and bought the single pearl for himself. So also with you, seek the treasure that is unfailing, that is enduring, where no moth comes to eat and no worm destroys.”

•   Generally when we want to change our awareness is focused on what we "lack."

•   We will never obtain something if our main focus is on the lack of it.

•   The sure way to do something for your future is to do something with your present.

•   Saying #76 suggests we must "sell" (divest ourselves of) our "Merchandise" in order to obtain (possess, have the experience of) the one great pearl , which I define - as one of a number of ways to define it - as inner peace.

•   Inner peace is our most valuable possession.

•   Like "The Traveler" in the story I read, let no one discourage you from continuing on your path.  Take no ones word for anything about the experience of traveling the path to inner peace. Find out for yourself!

•    Give all your troubles, thoughts, cares, and concerns to God for God to heal.  Do this as often as they appear for you (Also known as, "Keep selling your merchandise"),

•   and keep drinking in God, this will lead you to the one great pearl!

|||||||||||||||||

To read the complete text of "The Gospel of Thomas #76, "The Pearl"" from Sunday, September 9, 2012,  click here.

Perspective

For those who were at service on Sunday, a few bullet points to jog your memory (actually these are nearly all my notes, with an added surprise at the end):

•    Everything I see has all the meaning I give to it.
•    Mrs. Goldberg and Mrs. Weinstein are visiting with each other
•    “How’s Marvin?” Mrs. Weinstein asks?
o    "His wife is a leech." says Mrs. Goldberg.
o    "She Just sits around all day,
o    Has a maid to do cooking and cleaning,
o   he's going broke buying her expensive gifts
o    Sleeps late every morning
o    Brings her breakfast in bed."
•    “That’s terrible… a blessing she isn’t!” they agree
•    “Enough about Marvin, already, how’s your dear, sweet, Abigail?”
o    "Abby's a lucky girl. says Mrs Goldberg.
o    "She married a man who treats her like a princess,
o    Buys her anything she wants
o    Hires people to take care of the house
o    She doesn’t have to dirty a finger.
o    Every morning she brings him breakfast in bed."
•    Both women concurred, “Isn’t that wonderful?”
•    Everything you see has all the meaning you give to it

•    Let’s have a lithe fun with perception
•    Do you see an old woman or a young woman (or both)?

•    Do you see a frog or a horse (or both)?

•    Our perception is suspect
•    We see with our minds, not with our eyes
•    Sight = thinking

•    Grandpa Smith lives in Wisconsin
o    He invites his grandchildren to spend the summer with him
o    Every morning they would slip into his bedroom and watch him sleep
o    One morning they decided to put Limburger cheese on his mustache
o    He woke up in a few minutes, “Something smells bad.”
o    Put on robe, walked around bedroom, “It's bedroom smells bad”
o    Out the door, down the hallway, “It's the hallway smells bad”
o    Down the stairs and through the house, “It's the living room that smells bad... it's the dining room that smells bad... it's the kitchen that smells bad”
o    Outside, he says “The whole world smells!”
•    Isn’t that the way it is?  We think IT is not in us; It is out there in the world

The "it" that I think is out there causing my experience is actually me!

•    Sight = thinking
•    (Mark 9:47) “And if your eye offends you, remove it..."
o    If your perception offends your sensibilities, change your thinking.
•    Remove the old way of thinking and begin thinking with
•    The Mind that created us


•    Poem from James Allen's book. "As I Thinketh"
Mind is the Master power that molds and makes,
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:--
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass.

•    As long as we have the ability to choose how we experience events, why not choose to see through the eyes of Love... to see as God see?"






Here's a song you might enjoy (this was not part of the service): I Choose Love

To Change, Move From Concept to Experience

For those who were at service on Sunday, a few bullet points to jog your memory:

1.     What kinds of negative things do you say to yourself about yourself – take a moment and identify one or two. :0)

2.     What would your reaction be if you were sitting at one of the tables in Fellowship Hall and someone said to you, “You know what your problem is? You’re _________________.” Why is it OK for us to emotionally abuse ourselves?

3.     Why do we continue to go to negativity?

4.     Two possible reasons: (1) Its familiar, and

5.     (2) “Because [we] know basic truth as a quote but not as a personal experience.” (Vernon Howard, Secrets for Higher Success, page 149)

6.     Is what you purport to know based upon your genuine experience or is it a concept that you have held so closely, quoted over and over again, that it now passes as experience?

7.     Map and territory perspective. A map (quote) gives us a representation of something.  Walking the territory (application of the concept) gives us an intimate experience of what the map points to.

8.     Understand life through realizing that dropping the ways you’ve done things before will bring you a different experience. If you want to have a different experience, you’re going to have to want to be different. Avoidance is maintenance.  The work must be personal to us.

9.     Jim talked a few weeks ago about changing and he suggested that if you want to have a new experience you will have to change your friends from the ones who want to “keep you where you are” to those who will invite you to a higher place in awareness and self- realization.  You’re also going to have to stop hanging around the same thoughts of negativity.

10.   “With God, all things are possible.” (MT 19:26)

11.     You are an obstacle dissolver!

Bless everything,
Rev. Brad

Shake It Off and Step Up

For those who were at service on Sunday, a few bullet points to jog your memory:

•  People generally have the habit of engaging in negative self-talk when they realize we’ve been unconscious 
• Saying, "Thank you, God" when you awaken from unconsciousness is a simple way to break the negative habit. Getting negative is a way of keeping old memories alive.
• Future Memory - what do we want our memories to be in the future? The way we deal with our experience of life now will be our memory in the future.
• "The farther we are from an act the more we are likely to be dishonest." (Dan Ariely in The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty)
• The farther we get from consciously connecting with God the more likely we are to be dishonest about our true nature.
• When life throws dirt on your back, shake it off and step up (like the mule does in the ancient proverb)

• Instruction from my Inner Guidance which I define as the Holy Spirit:   “Trust is the main requirement in finding a happier, more peaceful life.  Trust in Me. Trust in the power and Presence of Me.  Why do you doubt what you have not yet fully tried? What difference would it make if you were wrong? Would it be anything more than a temporary departure from what already isn’t working or is working minimally?  “Try Me, you’ll like Me.”  Now go and have fun in life.  Bring good cheer with you in whatever you do.  I love you.”

|||||||||||||||||

To read the complete text of "Shake It Off and Step Up" from Sunday, August 19, 2012,  click here.

Look Above The Bar

Norman Vincent Peale tells a story about a pole vaulter who only had to make a vault he’d made before in order to be awarded a college scholarship. The young man lost his confidence and told his coach, “It’s too high. I can’t do it.”

The coach responded, “I want you to throw your heart above the bar. In you imagination and in your eyesight, see only things above the bar.”

So often we look at the “bars” we have to vault over in life and we say to ourselves, “It’s too high. I can’t do it”

We are not alone. God is with us always.  We can remind ourselves if this by using one of these affirmations when we face struggle in our life:

·         God is the strength on which I depend (Lesson 47, A Course in Miracles)

·         I can do all things, through God who strengthens me (Phil 4:13)

If we wish to keep up comfortable place in mind, and have a peaceful soul, we must distance ourselves, at least somewhat, from negative distractions around us.

But distancing our self isn't always easy, especially when so many negatives are struggling to get our attention, and our participation.

Each week we close our service by reciting The Prayer for Protection and we affirm, “Wherever I am, God is, and all is well.”

What this prayer is affirming is that we are not alone.

We are not alone – God is with us always (all ways)

We all have this habit – when we realize we’ve been unconscious we get upset with/at ourselves… isn’t that accepting the call to participate in negativity?

When you have a spiritual realization, what do you do, get upset or be grateful? 

Realizing that you’ve been unconscious is reason for rejoicing because now you’re conscious again!

Would you be willing to focus your attention “above the bar?”  Would you be willing, for the next 24 hours, to deliberately speak in positive terms about everything in your life? Would you be willing to speak, positively, about your job, your health, your relationships, your marriage, and your future?

Would you be willing to GO OUT OF YOUR WAY to speak, optimistically, about everything? The pessimistic way doesn’t work—it NEVER did. Look for the positive in everything… talk positively.

Enjoy this video: http://www.values.com/inspirational-stories-tv-spots/99-The-Greatest

|||||||||||||||||

To read the complete text of "Look Above The Bar" from Sunday, August 12,  click here.

Catching Up After Vacation, Part 2

I've been on vacation for two weeks and I'd like to thank C.Dee Coy, RScP for filling in for me on August 5, 2012

     (Dee Coy, a native Hoosier, is a Religious Science Practitioner and senior ministerial student at Denver campus of Holmes Institute of Consciousness Studies. Dee is currently serving as ministerial intern at the Center for Spiritual Living of Greater Cincinnati.)

Synopsis of Dee's message:

Heaven is used to describe the sky above us, the celestial realm of stars and constellations above that, and the realm of pure spirit where living beings reside after death. The master teacher gave us another description which he repeated many times in many ways throughout his teachings.  The kingdom of heaven is within and at-hand and we are to seek it first.  In doing so, all other things are added unto us.   

We all have a concept of heavenly reality and we all would like to see that reality reflected here on earth.  We do so by applying the law of cause and effect, concentrating our attention on realizing the heaven within that awaits us and allowing that realization to shift all other thoughts and actions in accordance with it.  We must give up nothing but the notion that “we” do the work.

The full text of Dee's message can be read here.

Catching Up After Vacation, Part 1

I've been on vacation for two weeks and I'd like to thank Jim Tallman for filling in for me on July 29, 2012

Synopsis of Jim's message:

Living a more spiritual life is aided by surrounding yourself with positive people.  He who walks with the wise grows wise. (Proverbs 13:4)

Limit negative self talk.  Negative self talk can be transformed through the use of denials and affirmations.

Be around people that:

* Support you 

* Celebrate your success 

* Encourage you when things "appear" to be going bad.  

As you grow in spiritual strength become that kind of friend to others, asking yourself "would I want me for a friend."

Bad company corrupts good people. (I Corinthians: 15:33)