Possibility Junction

For those who were at service on Sunday, March 10th, 2013, a few bullet points to jog your memory. To read the complete text of "Possibility Junction"  click here. 

 Every moment is an opportunity to choose. Richard and Mary-Alice Jafolla, in their book THE QUEST, describe this as "Possibility Junction," the moment in which we decide what we want to express (invest) in our life. Do we want to invest and experience more good by aligning ourselves with the creative power of God's Love, or continue to do the same old things that bind our happiness?

In John 3:3 Jesus tells us that, "...no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above."  In the context of the idea in the previous paragraph we might say that no one can see the Kingdom of God without aligning themselves with the creative power of God's Love.

Philosophically that is a great idea, but as one one of the foundational principles principles upon which Unity is built tells us, "Knowing principles isn't enough, we must live them." OK, so what can you do to help yourself be in alignment with the creative power of God's Love when you find yourself at "Possibility Junction?"  Here is a suggestion:

1. Remind yourself that you are worthwhile because God created you and that you are a part of God, not apart from God no matter how you feel in that moment.
2. Choose to feel oneness with God.  If you cannot remember that feeling, ask God to help you to remember how that feels.
3. Ask God, "What would you have me do in this situation?"  Be careful not to develop a couple of decisions and then ask God what would you have me do... this or that?  That's not deciding with God, that's asking God to decide with you.
4. Stay alert. Stop, look, listen, and feel.  Your answer can come from anywhere, at any time, in any way.  You may see, hear, or feel something that gives you one of those, "Light-bulb Moments," at which you say, "Thank you, God. That's it!"

JOY

Thak you, Sheryl Myers, for filling in for me last Sunday.

Here is a recap of Sheryl's message:

Galatians 5:22-23  NIV

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love,JOY, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control.

Sometimes Joy can seem elusive or fleeting, and yet we are all equipped by our Creator to experience the JOY of living abundantly, at any time, in any place.  In fact, JOY can be as close as our very next thought.

As co-creators with God, we can set the stage for the experience of JOY.  We can create situations that are conducive for JOY to be a constant presence in our lives, as the Holy Spirit is a constant presence in our lives.  Let's look at JOY as if it were the headline story in tomorrow's paper.

* WHO can experience joy?  In all likelihood, joy is not an emotion reserved exclusively for humans.  All vertebrates share a brain very similar in structure and function.  Research on the behavior of chimpanzees, hippos, dogs, dolphins, and even rodents show that they can respond to each other with affection and empathy.  The actual experience of joy has to do with our body's production of chemicals called endorphins.

* WHAT is joy?  Oprah Winfrey's definition of JOY is as good as any.  She says, "I define joy as a sustained sense of well-being and internal peace - a connection to what matters."  The key word here is connection.  It is the feeling, the knowing, that we are part of the oneness.

*WHEN do we experience joy?  Because God is everywhere present, joy is also.  Marianne Williams says, "Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are."  Our cups runneth over.

*WHERE is joy experienced?  Joy is an inside job; it originates in the core of our being.  It happens because we are alive, aware, and connected to the things that give our life meaning. 

*HOW can we experience more joy?  A short list includes:
   -subscribe to a daily meditation on one of many excellent websites
     - stay in the present moment
     - practice meditation, prayer, or contemplation daily
     - CHOOSE happiness.
     - be outside with nature
     - do something for someone else
     - practice thankfulness'
     - practice forgiveness
     - sing, dance, and laugh
     - take care of you.

Bless everything.

Relationship

For those who were at service on Sunday, February 24th, 2013, a few bullet points to jog your memory.
To read the complete text of "Relationship"  click here.

• If you are inspired by the words attributed to Jesus and you discovered He never said those words, would it make a difference to you?
• It doesn't matter what you call it (or who said it, or who did it), it's how you relate to it that's important
• We give everything the meaning it has for us
• A woman friend told me that she once was troubled so deeply by the use of male personal pronouns in the Bible that she stopped singing those words when she sang hymns in church... but now she had gotten over that
• I asked her what the difference was between then and now. She said she realized her opposition to the male personal pronoun was getting in the way of her deepest experience of the Divine.
• The words hadn't changed; the way she related to them changed.
• It doesn't matter what you call it (or who said it, or who did it), it's how you relate to it that's important
• Tony Robbins is quoted as saying,"... the only way a relationship will last is if you see your relationship as a place to go to give, and not a place to take."
• How do you relate to your interpersonal relationships? Are they places you go to get, or go to give?
• On a larger scale, what is you relationship with life?
• Have you ever asked someone, or been asked this misplaced question, "What do you want to get out of life?"
•  God is, in a manner of speaking, "An endless Love-giving machine."  We are made in the image and after the likeness of God.  
• Giving is our natural state.
• In everything you do, in every situation or circumstance you approach, with every person to whom you relate, give (express) Spiritual Love in union with whatever you do in a worldly sense.

1-4-3

For those who were at service on Sunday, February 10, 2013, a few bullet points to jog your memory.
To read the complete text of "1-4-3"  click here.

• Minots Ledge Light (Scituate, MA) is special
• Rather than have a steady rotating beam it has been blinking out a repeating series of pulses; 1, then 4, then 3 since 1894
• 143 represents the number of letters in each of the words of a three word phrase: I Love You
• In 1947 when the US Coast Guard wanted to automate the light and return it to a steady rotating beam there was such an uproar from the the people of New England and sailors worldwide that the Coast Guard left it to blink out its unique message: 143 I Love You
• Love is powerful
• Unloving expressions are like sand in the machinery of your life. Add it in continuously and soon enough and your life won't work anymore
• Love is like oil in the machinery of your life; it keeps things running smoothly
• “For this is the message from the beginning, that we should love one another... let us love not in word or speech, but in truth and action” (1 John 3:11,18-19)
• Love is powerful, but it is abstract until it is expressed in and by you
• If you would like to transform your relationship with a person, circumstance, or situation, enfold them in love. Let this be an experiment in secret. Do this quietly in your heart every day. Bless them/it every time you think of them/it.
• A woman opened a restaurant where two others had failed. She succeeded. Her “secret?” “I just blessed all my customers. I loved them as Jesus taught us to do. I loved the complaining man as well as the satisfied customers. When customers leave my place I not only invite them to come back, I silently send them a blessing of love and pray for their prosperity and happiness.”
• Love is powerful
• There is nothing you or I have ever done, ever said, or ever thought that can diminish or destroy the love God has for us
• When you think of our church would you silently send a blessing of love and happiness?
• Thank you, 143.

To read the complete text of "1-4-3" from Sunday, February 10, 2013,  click here.

Your Ego is a Bully

For those who were at service on Sunday, February 3, 2013, a few bullet points to jog your memory: 

Bullying is an epidemic these days.

16 year old “Joseph” (Oak Ridge, TN) was bullied after coming out to his schoolmates

He was told he was stupid, worthless, unwanted, wrong, God didn't love him, etc.

Have you ever thought, “This is exactly how my ego treats me?”

The ego is a bully.

Do you let ego bully you around?

Do you let it bully you into fear.

Do you let it bully you into shame?

Do you let it bully you into guilt?

Do you let it bully you into believing you're worthless... stupid?

Do you believe the lies it tells you about yourself?

Do you let it bully you into squelching your natural you? Have you been bullied so deeply that you've lost the awareness of your real you and you think the bullied you (angry, etc.) is the real you?

Don't believe your inner bully.

Your family deserves better.

Your friends deserve better.

Those who look to you as a role model deserve better.

Those who observe you in life deserve better.

You deserve better. 

Psalm 1:1-3 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked (doesn't listen to his ego), nor stands in the way of sinners (acts out negative behavior), nor sits in the seat of scoffers (passes judgment on others); but his delight is in the law of the Lord (extending Love), and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” 

Lexi James was teased and taunted in High School for stuttering, her bright red hair, and a desire to be a country singer... and she wrote this song, which she could well have been singing about how the ego treats us and how we can respond.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it7L2qp8OwQ  

What are some ways in which we Make this our time... and shine? Here are some suggestions:
Stand guard at the door of your mind
Feed it something good every day (30 minutes)
Keep your body strong
Find a mission bigger than yourself
Find a role model
Help somebody seemingly “worse of” than you. 
 
“The secret to living is giving.” 

Give Love.

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  To read the complete text of "Gratitude" from Sunday, February 3, 2013,  click here.

Gratitude

 For those who were at service on Sunday, January 13, 2013 a few bullet points to jog your memory:

·        An attitude of gratitude brings altitude

·        When we are “at altitude” we can see a larger picture

·        Spiritually speaking gratitude allows our hearts to open and see “a larger picture” of our attitudes and our circumstances.

·        Spiritually speaking gratitude allows our hearts to open and see “a larger picture” of other people in our world; a world beyond the words our ears hear and the “pictures” our eyes see.

·        The more we extend gratitude, the greater our hearts are open. The greater our hearts are open the more Love naturally flows from us.  The more Love that naturally flows from us the more we experience love.  What we give is returned to us a thousand fold or even a hundred thousand fold.

·        The more love we give in our lives, the more love we know in our lives and love is the emotion we feel when we are joined with God.

·        Just like a fireplace needs fuel to burn (wood, coal, peat, gas, etc) in order to generate heat. Gratitude is one of the kinds of fuel that our heart burns in order to generate love.

·        Romans (1:21) “for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

·        Now let’s restate that from the positive, “for they knew God, they did honor Him as God and give thanks to Him, thus they became useful in their thinking, and their wise hearts were luminous.”

·        Gratitude is the fuel of an illumed heart.

 

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To read the complete text of "Gratitude" from Sunday, January 13, 2013,  click here.

Living a Full Life, part 1

For those who were at service on Sunday, January 6, 2013, a few bullet points to jog your memory:

Christmas is over and what are you doing with our gifts?  Are you using them or have you put them away so nothing can happen to them?

In the parable of the three talents, the two servants who used what they were given to be in charge of experienced increase.  The one, who, for fear of loss, buried what he was in charge of, experienced no increase.

And so it is with our God given gifts, one of which is the awareness of the Presence of God. Use that awareness and our life “increases.” Hold it back and our life experience is stagnant.

Another gift of God is compassion.  Our world, both inner and outer, is crying out for compassion.

People, who exercise their gifts (the awareness of the Presence of God, compassion, etc.) day after day, little by little expand their experience of those gifts (we experience what we express).  People who do not exercise their gifts find that they wither away and life becomes more and more distressing.

Matthew 7:16, “By their fruit ye shall know them.”

Matthew 7:26, “And everyone who hears these sayings of mine and who does not do them shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.”

James 1:22, “But be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”

Clearly the scripture above and the Parable of the Three Talents indicate the necessity of action in applying spiritual “ideas,” or “principles.”

Aristotle, “In order to learn the things we need to know, we learn by doing.”

Exercise your gifts and live a full life