Independence Day 2014

          We live in a great country. The United States of America is a great country. In 2008 we had a dramatic financial setback as a country. Today many people blame the original problem on the current administration. I disagree.

Today, people say the ongoing problem lies in the current administration’s policies.” I disagree.

Today, people say this is the worst financial crisis our country has ever seen and we probably won’t recover from it. It needn’t be so.

After July 4th, 1776, chaos broke out in this country. In 1787 our country was in such chaos that the thirteen colonies thought they were going to go down. The economy barely moved. Inflation was high triple digit. Jails bulged with debtors, criminals in those pre-credit card days. States waged vicious trade wars against each other. The total federal income in 1785 was less than a third of just the interest on the national debt. Printing presses flowed rivers of worthless paper money.

Many around the world believed that this was the end of the great experiment called the United States of America. A constitutional convention was formed. When these thirteen colonies came together, they were so disjointed that there was only one thing that could save them—God's Spirit.

Benjamin Franklin knew this. He was 81. He rose and spoke to the convention. He said, "I am convinced that scripture is right when it says in Psalms 127:1: 'Accept the Lord. Build the house. They labor in vain
that build it.' Gentlemen, I have lived a long time. I am convinced that God governs in the affairs of men. If the sparrow can't fall to the ground without God’s notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without God’s aid? I move, gentlemen, that prayer imploring the assistance of heaven be held every morning before we proceed with business."

Prayer is what this whole country was based on. It began with a dream—a dream to come to a country and be able to worship as you want to worship, to pray as you want to pray. It began with a dream to become whatever you wanted to become. After July 4, 1776, what happened to that dream? What is happening with it today?

Here we have a nation after July 4, 1776--disbanded, going down. America was looked at by other countries as buzzards fly over a dead animal.

Today when people throw up their arms and say, "This will never work. Our country will never succeed now," realize that God's Spirit is in the mind of every person in this great land. As hopeless as things have seemed in the past, when we allow God's Spirit to be working in our minds, the miracles come… and prayer activates our awareness of God’s Spirit working in our minds.

Author Lindsay Ferrigo says this, “We should work as though it all depends on us, and we should pray as though it all depends on God.”

God will give us the inspiration through prayer.

We will give the inspiration form through work.

Asking in prayer is important. Listening is too.

I have a relative who once said to me, “OK, you’re the minister… how come my prayers don’t work out?

“What do you do with the “information” you receive after prayer?”

“Waddaya mean?”

“After you pray, do you take time to stop and listen? After prayer are you alert to the thoughts that pass through your mind… ae you alert to listen for your answer… or to see a “sign” that gives you the answer you’re looking for?’

“No. Isn’t God just going to take care of it?”

Prayer is powerful. Listening is required.

Medical doctor, and author, Dr. Larry Dossey, conducted a 400-patient study in a coronary care unit on the power of prayer.  One group received traditional, state-of-the-art care.  The other group received the same care with one difference:  they were prayed for as well, he assigned the names to various Protestant and Catholic prayer groups throughout the country.  The study was a double-blind study.  Neither the patients, the doctors, nor the nurses knew who was being prayed for.

At the end of the study, the differences were remarkable.  The group prayed for, excelled in many ways—fewer deaths, fewer cardiac arrests, fewer requirements for mechanical respiratory support, a lesser incidence of pulmonary edema (the filling up of the lungs with fluid), and a decreased need for antibiotics.

Medical author Dr. Larry Dossey, has stated firmly that if prayer was a new pill being brought out by a drug company, it would be touted as the greatest discovery in the history of medicine.

Dossey thinks that the doctors probably should not only give out prescriptions for pills, but should also give a prescription out that instructs the patient to pray three times a day.

Doctors have pads of paper that have Rx on it. It says:  “Take three times a day.”  What IF there was room for a prayer or positive prayer affirmation, in your life, three times a day? Would things be different?

Dossey reports, that we do not have to be close to the person we pray for—praying in absence, works as well as praying in person.

Prayer does not lose its strength over great distances.  Everyone is right in the middle of God’s help.

Everyone is right in the middle of God’s help.

I would like to share a story with you. Dolphins and killer whales are natural enemies. They will avoid each other, but when they come in contact with each other, they will fight. They have a natural hate for each other. Yet, when the killer whale is giving birth, that hate is set aside. Dolphins, in an instant, realize there is a need, and they become midwives to the killer whale.

They form a circle around the killer whale during the birth process. The dolphins come together underneath the killer whale and lift her to the surface to breathe, when labor is so intense that she does not have the strength to lift herself. They keep sharks away that have been drawn to the scent of blood; and they lead the newborn whale to the surface for the first breath of life, and back to the mother for nourishment. When they see the killer whale in need, everything changes and love becomes the answer. They come together — in a gift of friendship.

In order for our country to rise out of this economic condition, the left and right must stop fighting each other and realize the need to let the spirit of God residing within their minds be what directs them; stop the close-minded fighting, let go of the idea that their ideology is the only way, ask in prayer for an answer as to their part in, “what to do next,” listen for that answer, do the work necessary to bring that inspiration into form. I believe our politicians need to come together through prayer and love of country as a gift of friendship and be the impetus to move this great country forward.

We, too, as individuals, must do this; stop the war within ourselves and let inner peace prevail. We, too, need to set aside our deeply held beliefs and listen for the guidance of the spirit of God, the guidance that is initiated in prayer and heard in meditation.

That inspiration, from prayer, will guide us on how to lead our lives.

What if an overwhelming majority of our citizenry affirmed in prayer that all is well in this great country because God is present and then allowed God’s Spirit to be active in our lives?

What if you prayed that all is well in your life because God is present and then allowed God’s Spirit to be active in your life?

Praying for others is powerful. Praying for guidance for ourselves, listening, and then following through on that inspiration is also powerful.

Peace follows prayer, acceptance, and application.

Let’s close with prayer: “I behold God’s Spirit in others, however challenging the circumstances. Everything and everyone is my teacher, and I open myself to the divine lesson I am to learn. If I am upset or disturbed, I pray: “Help me see this differently, God.” I patiently await divine guidance on what to say and do. I trust the still small voice within me to guide me in right ways to express myself honestly and lovingly, and to listen with an open heart. All is made clear and my relationships come into perfect order and alignment. Thank you, God, for the wisdom that leads to compassion and understanding.” Amen.

This is a great country, and you are a great soul living in the middle of God’s Spirit.

Prosperity Sunday 11 of 12

I’m just going to come right at you this week with what might be a tough question.  “Do you live according to the spiritual principles you say you believe to be true? (AKA, do you walk your talk?)

It is one thing to profess faith in certain principles… and yet another thing to live them. Do you walk your talk?

This is an important question for us to ask ourselves. Not just today, but from time to time as we engage in self-reflection.

“Walking” the law of giving and receiving brings to us a happier life experience.

That’s a pretty compelling reason to step back and let God lead the way.

I’ll come back to this idea of living from principle a little later.

The chapter we are reviewing this week from the book, SPIRITUAL ECONOMICS: THE PRINCIPLES AND PROCESS OF TRUE PROSPERITY by Eric Butterworth is titled, “A New Look at Tithing.”  

Here’s what he means by that. The practice of tithing—giving 10% of your income back to God—this whole practice and idea sprang forth and was instituted in the Hebrew Bible.

Let’s look at what Jesus and the writers of the Christian Bible had to say on this subject.

May we see our first slide please? (SLIDE IS BLANK)

They had nothing to say.

There is no reference to tithing (that is, the mandatory giving of 10% of income) in the New Testament or in Jesus’ teachings, and, Jesus did not condemn the practice of tithing. It seems to me that if Jesus felt that tithing was a “must” for high spiritual unfoldment, He would have stated a clear position… or at the very least said something about it. He didn’t.

Butterworth tells us, “It is important to note that Jesus was very specific in His teaching of the law of giving (tithing falls under this law):

·        ‘Give and it shall be given unto you…’” (Luke 6:38)

Do these words mean anything to you or are they empty? We can read the Bible and there is an awful lot of sin, and guilt, and fear thrown at us. We can even read just those red-lettered words, the words ascribed to Jesus and find some questionable content. I believe that when you dedicate yourself to experiencing a greater understanding of the power and presence of God, and “how life works,” you begin to have a feel for some truth in and behind some words in the Bible and a feel for the baloney in and behind some of the words and ideas, too. I hope you’ll take in this idea of the law of giving and receiving and think about it.

·        “And he said to them, “Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.” Mt 4:24

And I say giving has to be done from the right consciousness…of giving selflessly.

Butterworth notes that it’s important to remember that we are not meant to give in order to get. Let me repeat that, “We are not meant to give in order to get. That is a demonstration that we have no awareness of how “The Law of Giving and Receiving” works.

Tithing as a material act (giving in order to get) is non-productive.

On the human level of consciousness, in other words, on the material level, we may emphasize “getting and having” as prime goals for ourselves. I suggest we’d be better off seeking a level of spiritual consciousness where we see the way of “giving and being” as the utmost of goals. (I am not talking about sacrifice. Feeling sacrifice is a red flag that would, hopefully, cause you to stop and consider, “What am I afraid of, why Am I doing what I’m intending to do?”)

Maybe radiate and be is a better way to phrase this. Radiance is the ever expanding Essence of the Loving Presence within. Radiance is this Presence made manifest in the world of physical thing.

Radiance is the Essence and Spirit of God. Radiating the essence and spirit of God is not done for reward, nor does it seek results, for it knows that fruition comes as a natural result of radiation.

This is what the law of giving and receiving is saying. This underlies what Jesus is saying, “The law is and cannot be otherwise. That which is, is without seeking, trying, striving, because… it is! Let’s not be fooled otherwise.

William James once suggested that the average religious believer had a religion made for him by others, communicated to him by tradition, [defined through] fixed forms by imitation, and retained by habit.

Let’s not be fooled by tradition, imitation, and habit.

I hope you will never relate to anything I say from this platform that way. I hope you will never take my word, or the “Official Unity word” as “gospel,” but that you’ll think about what’s been said or written, contemplate it, meditate upon it, connect with your inner guidance about it.

A minister friend tells this story about a member of the congregation he served and how that member was telling a story about when he was a boy on his
grandfather’s farm. His grandfather had a flock of sheep in a certain caged area. He called the boy over and he said, “I want you to watch what is going to happen now. This is a life lesson.”

He encouraged a ewe to jump over the gate. Then the grandfather said to the boy, “Watch this.” He opened the gate so it was no longer in the way of the sheep, but every sheep followed that first ewe and jumped over the gate that was not there. His grandfather said to him, “Son, throughout your whole life, I want you to think about what you are doing and why.”

Butterworth asks, “As you look around you at your spiritual community, ask yourself, “Do I want this to be here tomorrow, next week or next year?””

If your answer is yes, I suggest it requires you to personally understand, and live, through practice and faith, the law of giving and receiving…a law that works in consciousness. Consciousness then outputs into the world. This is a spiritual law; the more freely you give (un-reluctantly), the greater flow you create. (Mt 4:26)

This month I ask you to write the affirmation you find on your bulletin 10 times each day to help that idea take root in your consciousness. “I give way to divine flow.”

And we give way to (allow) divine flow by giving without agenda, knowing that the law works because the law is… and we give with gratitude. Gratitude keeps circulation alive.

Have a great week this week. Independence Day is on Friday. Celebrate responsibly! I love you, God Bless you.

Chicken Masquerade

Life, to be life, has to be lived. It has to be alive in you every moment.

Today I am going to offer you two approaches to keep the awareness of life alive in you. One I see as a good way, the other; a better way… and these are according to my point of view and experience.

First, I begin with a story.

One day, a naturalist was passing by a farm and saw in the barnyard a flock of chickens. Among them was an eagle. The naturalist inquired of the owner why it was that an eagle, the king of all birds, could be reduced to living in the barnyard with chickens.

"Well," the farmer said, "Since I've given it chicken feed and it thinks it's a chicken, it has never learned to fly. It behaves as a chicken behaves, so it no longer thinks of itself as an eagle."

"Still," insisted the naturalist, "It has the heart of an eagle. It surely should be taught to fly." After talking it over, the two men agreed to find out whether this was possible.

Gently, the naturalist took the eagle in his arms, looked into its eyes and said, "You belong in the sky
and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly!" The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was. Seeing the chickens down there eating their food, he jumped down with them again.

Undismayed, the naturalist took the eagle on the following day up on the roof of the house and urged him again saying, "You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly!"

But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and the unknown world and jumped down once more for chicken food.

On the third day, the naturalist rose early and took the eagle out of the barnyard to a very high mountain. There he held the king of birds up high above him and encouraged him again to fly saying, "You are an eagle. You belong to the sky as well as the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly!" The eagle looked back towards the barnyard and up to the sky, and still he did not fly.

Then, the naturalist lifted him straight toward the sun, and it happened. The eagle began to tremble. Slowly he stretched forth his wings. At last, with a triumphant cry, he soared into the heavens.

It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with nostalgia. It may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard. But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken.

He was an eagle although he had been kept and tamed as a chicken.

Just like the eagle who thought himself a chicken, some people have learned to think of themselves as something less than they really are, less than God created them to be. Is this you?

You can have faith in the power and presence of God.

You can decide in favor of who you really are once again… with God's help.

Faith and Life are not spectator sports, they require participation.

There is a poem called "The Calf Path," by Sam Walter Foss, written in 1895.  In the poem he writes of a calf that meanders through a primeval wood. It leaves behind a crooked path that is then followed by a lone dog, then several flock of sheep. Now, the once unmarked ancient wood, has a clearly defined path running through it. Soon people walk the path followed by horses and carts, then it becomes a city street, is paved, becomes a crowed thoroughfare… the central street of a renowned metropolis…and people curse its wandering ways.

Now from the poem: “But they still followed ... do not laugh... hence two centuries and a half…The first migrations of that calf.”

“A moral lesson I might teach
Were I ordained and called to preach,
For people are prone to go it blind
Along the calf paths of the mind.
And work away from sun to sun
And do what others have always done.
They follow in the beaten track
And out and in, forth and back.
And still their devious course pursued
To keep the path that others do.
But how the old, wise wood-gods laugh
Who saw that first primeval calf.”

Both the story and the poem point to the fact that we often (perhaps mostly?) do what we’ve been taught to do and we do it without thinking about it.

We live our lives the way others do because that’s the way we do it.

Yes, we think of ourselves, probably overwhelmingly, as our name and personality; all the while holding open the space that there is “another me,” too, and we generally think of and speak of that “other me” as being “inside me.”

That seeming “other you” is the real you, it is your being. It is your true life, your true existence, your true actuality, animation, and presence.

As I’m sure you’re aware I start ever prayer with, “Loving Presence.” When I say that I am not speaking to a distant God out there somewhere, I am speaking directly to your being…to the real you…to the Loving presence that is you.

You are a son or daughter of the Most High. Please, do not be blinded by the path of others, the nay-saying of others, or the restrictive ideas of, “That’s the way we’ve always done it,” or, “I’m too old to change.”  In other words, you needn’t follow in the footsteps of the calf-Paths of your mind just because that’s the way you’ve always done it. You are not a robot. You are a dynamic co-creator with God.

I said I was going to tell you about a good way and a better way to maintain the awareness of life.

Here’s a good way. It, too, comes to us in a story, a true-life experience that happened to Jayne Sample.

Jayne told some of us this story earlier this week. When she was in college she was invited to take place in a Science Fair in Flint, Michigan. Her science professor, attending with her, offered to fly the two of them in his airplane. Once they were in the air her professor told Jayne that she would be the navigator. Jayne told him that she had no experience and had no idea what to do.

“Just watch for the roof-tops as we pass from town to town and city. Watch the map, too, and you’ll know where we are.”

The trip up went without a hitch. Coming home, however, they encountered a storm over Fort Wayne. There were heavy clouds, rain, thunder and lightning.

Jayne couldn’t navigate. She told her professor that she’d lost her bearings and she didn’t know what to do.

He pointed off into the distance and asked if she could see, “that tiny dot of light?”

Then he said something to her that any of us can use when we’re enveloped in an emotional storm. He said, “We are going to head directly into that point of light.”

That is good advice to remember when we find ourselves in times of trouble; head directly into the light. Head directly into the remembrance of, “you are not alone; you are a child of God; that there is no order of difficulty for you and God in any matter.”

Do you ever think of scripture when you find yourself in fear?

Psalm 118:6, “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.”

Deuteronomy 31:6, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified… for the Lord, your God, goes with you; He will never leave you or forsake you.”

1 Chronicles 28:20, “David also said to Solomon, his son, “Be strong and courageous… Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord, my God, is with you, He will not fail you or forsake you.”

Romans 8:15, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship.”

1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love… perfect love drives out fear.”

We must go beyond the borders of our fears. Courage does not mean never being afraid. It means to go on doing what you know is right, even though you are afraid.

Go to the Light. That’s where your peace and safety lay.

This is a good approach.

I also said I would suggest a better approach, and it’s this: live from the constant awareness that the Light is present always.  Live a life-style of extending that Light, reflecting that Light, radiating that Light into your thoughts.

“Roll out” the Light instead of rolling your eyes.

Hold someone in the light instead of holding them in contempt. (This includes yourself)

Radiate Light instead of recoiling in fear.

When you find yourself in fear or uncertainty, you can head directly into a point of Light. That’d be a good thing to do. Or you can live in the Light and possibly be that point for another person, that’d be a better thing to do.

Either way, you are here to work with God to make a difference. You are an Eagle and your soul was created to fly!

 

Prosperity Sunday 10 of 12

         June 1, 2014 

         This is Prosperity Sunday number 10 of 12. Today we are going to talk about “The Wonder of Giving” from the book SPIRITUAL ECONOMICS; THE PROCESS AND PRACTICE OF TRUE PROSPERITY by Eric Butterworth.

          Let’s just stop a second. I invite you to check-in with yourself. What sort of feeling or emotion did you have at the mention of the word of giving? Was it a clutch in the stomach; a hard swallow, tension in your body somewhere? Maybe you felt fear and your inner dialogue was something like this, “I hate talks about giving. I already don’t have enough and now he gonna tell me I should give it away…and that somehow that’s going to magically make me feel better. I wish I had stayed home today. I hate talks about money.”

          If you’ve been paying attention to these Prosperity Talks each month and thinking about what’s been said, then you already know that I haven’t for one moment been talking about giving money. I haven’t been talking about sacrifice; and I certainly haven’t been talking about some kind of “black magic” about how to fatten your bank account.

          People generally choose to believe the uncomfortable thoughts that arise within when the wonder of giving is talked about… and seldom does the average person want to spend any time delving into their embedded beliefs around giving, and around money, which is usually the “thing” automatically attached to the idea of giving.

          Today I am not going to beat around the bush. I’m just going to tell you flat out that I want you to give…and give generously.

          Butterworth said this, “When you discover the wonder of giving, you will wonder how you lived so long in any other way.”

          “The word giving has become so completely identified as a pious act that it is difficult to think of any conversation about money being anything other than a commercial for the church; “Give now; give generously; and let thyself be showered in Heavenly Grace. Can I get an amen?”

          Gag.

          The law of giving and receiving does not work when applied as “giving to get.”

          Life is not lived from the outside-in (acquiring), but from the inside-out (giving). Unless we understand this we miss the meaning of life.

          The purpose of life is not acquisition but unfoldment… personal development. Even in the teaching of metaphysics there has lately been a tremendous swing toward using spiritual law as the tool to acquire money and things. The movie, “The Secret” is, in my opinion, coarse evidence of this; emphasizing “how to” techniques for manifesting money and possessions and jobs and success (not to mention jewelry). There is a whole industry around metaphysical getting: get, get, get.

          Consider this: “Giving is not an action, it is an attitude.”

Here is a beautiful story about giving. Our Charlie B. was in the hospital after a serious motorcycle accident more than 1700 miles from home; we had several broken bones and an elbow that had been ground down by the pavement  as his bike laid over on him. I think it was two days after being admitted to the hospital that Charlie called and said to me, “While I’m laid up in this hospital bed I’d like to pray for the people who submitted prayers in our prayer box, and I’d like to pray for the needs of the church and I’d like to pray for any needs anyone requests.”

          Charlie wasn’t worried about getting healed, about what the doctor was going to do for him, or what the nurses were going to do for him, or what the aides or physical therapists were going to do for him. All Charlie was thinking about is giving, in prayer, to those who requested it.

          In my conversations with Charlie it was clear he was focused on what he could give.

          When your awareness and experience of giving shifts from being an action, on your part or another’s to being an attitude, I believe everything in your life will shift, too.

Perhaps I, and Unity in general, have done you a disservice by leaning too heavily on the idea of, “Thoughts held in mind produce after their kind.”

“This way of holding with intensity to a thought, be it mental argument for healing…or looking to God for material supply…recognizing that we – ourselves – have power with such firmness of thought to bring what we want into manifestation… is one way of obtaining results… but it is a hard way.”

“In the matter of God as our supply… the moment we begin to be anxious our quiet becomes the airtight valve of tension that shuts out the very thing we are trying to bring about, and so prevents its manifestation.”

“We need to rise above this state of tension, to one of living trust.”

I’m not talking about sitting back, in idleness, and letting it all happen, but sitting back in a state of trustful passivity.

Emile Cady wrote words to this effect in one of her books, “Our job is “the what” and “the why.” The how is God’s job” and I would add, none of our business! But we get so busy concerning ourselves with the how… trying to make the how happen! How is not our job.

Which version of Exodus 4:14 do you think is the one that’s in the Bible?

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still” or

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only squirm, be impatient, and try to manipulate to your liking.”

What are the conditions revealed here? The invisible Loving Presence will fight to remove from your path the big difficulties, which look to mortal vision to be almost insurmountable… only on the condition that you stand still in heart and mind.

 Luke 6:38 says, “Give and it will be given you.” There must be a certain consciousness present in which the law of giving and receiving is held, and it’s a quiet, peaceful consciousness.

What I invite you to do this week is to quietly, passively, trust. Not trust that something will work out for you as you set it forth, but just to live in a state of trust – without agenda – toward something you view as small, and observe what occurs.

What God will do for you in the smallest way, God will do for you in the largest way. There is no order of difficulty for you and God in any matter.

This is what I invite you to write ten times a day (There is no order of difficulty for God and me in any matter), every day, until we meet again to talk about Spiritual Economics.

God bless you!