No Fear

June 30, 2013 - No recap, just the full text:

          This past Tuesday DOMA, the Defense Of Marriage Act was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Happiness changed sides, and so did fear.

Those who were happy while DOMA was the law of the land are now in fear that the sanctity of marriage was dead.

          Those who were in fear before because they didn’t have equal protection under the law, now have it and are happy about that.

          Happiness changed sides, and so did fear.

          Albert Einstein said, “Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.”

          In regards to DOMA, or any other problem centered in the things of the world… readjusting the things of the world will not make the problem go away, it simply transfers/ re-categorizes/ re-shapes/ re-forms the location and description of the problem; the results being that happiness and fear change sides.

          The answer to all problems in the world is a spiritual answer because that’s a different level of thinking.

          "Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be in dread of them: for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

         

          Saturday night of last week Phillip Gulley spoke here in Anderson and afterwards he opened the floor to questions.  I thought Dave G. asked the best question of the night, “What do you think of the role of metaphor in the Bible?”

          Rev. Gulley, A Quaker minister for  25 or so years, answered – and I’m paraphrasing – that metaphor was everything… that Bible stories were to be looked at metaphorically to see the ideas, the point that the story carries.

While this particular verse (Deut 31:6) is in the context of protection against physical enemies (the “them” in the literal story), I suggest we look at it metaphorically. “Them” means nothing more than our enemies, and fear is not the greatest of our enemies but our only enemy.

          Deuteronomy 31:6 is telling us that God goes with us and will not leave us subject to dread or fear.

          80 years ago, on March 4, 1933, in the depths of the Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his first Inaugural address, said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” These words were a rallying call to courage, needed in that hour!  These words were written by his speech writer Napoleon Hill, who later authored the successful book, "Think and Grow Rich."

          We have nothing to fear but fear itself, and fear is the forgetfulness of God.

“God is my all; I know no fear” is a simple statement of faith, but it is also a rallying call to courage.

          A Catholic nun confided that in the eyes of the world she was an old, retired nun. Her rallying call to self-courage was “I am ever-renewing, ever-unfolding, an expression of Infinite life.” She said, “It made me feel young, vital, and growing.”

          It was a Sunday evening; there was a young people’s meeting. An unhappy teenager was going through the throes of a broken romance. They were singing an old hymn:

“Be not dismayed, whate’er betide, God will take care of you.”

          The words of this hymn were a rallying call to her courage. The Bible is filled with rallying calls to courage. Do you have one from the Bible, or any other source? The words, “Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” is a rallying call to courage. What is there to fear! God is with you, wherever you go, whatever you do. You are not alone, you are not without help. The forgetfulness of God is the cause of fear.

          The 23rd Psalm has been a rallying call to courage to people over the centuries. It is a rallying call of courage to us today when we need comfort and strength, when we are meeting loss or bereavement, when our way looks dark. God shows us green pastures (comfort), God leads us besides still waters (peace), and God restores our souls (we feel strong and capable). Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death (fear thinking), there is nothing to fear. God is with us to uphold and comfort us. God’s goodness and mercy shall be with us all the days of our lives and throughout eternity.

          I have never had the experience of going down to defeat in my hour of need, when I have been focused on the power and presence of God.

          A woman, (Myrtle Fillmore) who was ill and weak and lacking in strength, found the Bible verse, “Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'” It was a resounding call to courage. She began to positively affirm in prayer, “I am strong; I am strong, in God I am strong” and eventually regained her strength and health.

          “With God all things are possible.” This is a rallying call to courage when appearances are alarming, when it seems that some condition is hopeless or incurable! These words give us the strength to say, “I will not fear. I have faith. I will believe. I will hold fast to the truth of God. Nothing is beyond God’s power to heal this.”

“God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.” These words can be a rallying call to courage when we would hang back in fear, when we are upset and anxious, when we are timid and fearful of persons and situations, when we are filled with self-doubt.

          God did not give us a timid spirit BUT one of power and love and self-control. God has given us a powerful and loving spirit; God has given us the ability to control our reactions to our thoughts and feelings. God has given us the faith and the will to succeed.

          When the world seemed to be heading for chaos and seemed engulfed in darkness during World War II, the English poet, M. Louise Haskins, wrote a poem as a new year approached.  These words from it were rallying call to courage for many:

          “And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’

          “And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way.’

          “So I went forth and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And God led me toward the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.”

          All of us have times when we cannot see our way, when we have to go out into the darkness on faith. By finding the Hand of God, or, in other words, feeling God’s presence with us, we are guided safely and surely out of darkness into light.

          Our faith in God is “better than a light and safer than a known way.”

          What is your rallying call to courage?

          Fear not, for God is with you always.

Catching up on the last three weeks

I didn't realize once I went on vacation how long I would stay "on vacation." :o)

In this post I'll catch us up on the last three weeks with brief summaries; there will be no full text message with this post.

Also, since next week is Father's Day and several members of the congregation will be sharing the service with me there will be no posting for Monday, June 17th.  Posting should be back to normal after that. :)

Sunday June 9, 2013 "Living Originally, part 1" Based on the book of the same name by Robert Brumet

• Original usually is taken to mean unique, separate, individual, apart from all others.
• Original in this context means connected to the origin.
• Living originally thus means living from a conscious connection to that from which we originated.
• Most of us live unconsciously because we have become identified with a false self.
• This false self is a manufactured self; a product of our conditioning and our culture. it is unoriginal.
• This manufactured self we also call our personality. Personality is necessary for survival in the world.
• When we become exclusively identified with it, we lose awareness of our true origin and that become problematic.
• We live from the inside out which means we let our Origin dictate how we interface with the world
• Living from the outside in we attempt to use our manufactured personality and its attendant schemes and strategies to manipulate our circumstances and conditions so that we can (1) fit in, and (2) have the world bring us comfort
• The Apostle Paul lived from the outside in before meeting Jesus on the Road to Damascus. Before his transformation, Paul (Saul of Tsarsus) we a persecutor of the burgeoning "Christian movement."
• After his transformation, Paul because a passionate promoter and planter of Christian churches.
• A metaphysical interpretation of Paul's story is, regardless of your past, God can use you for good. In other words, no matter what you've done in your past or are doing in your present, you can change.
• As we move through the rest of the book and apply the practices Robert Brumet lies out for us it is important that we know the difference between "translation" and "transformation."
• Transformation occurs when we make changes at a core level. Our changes, "...point to a new reality or new identity." (page 7)
• Translation is the use of spiritual principles to, "...function better within the existing self/ reality system... seeking to improve our life rather than transform it." (page7)

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Sunday, June 2, 2013 "Don't be cool, be Chili"

• In the film, "Get Shorty," there is a character named Chili Palmer. Chili is a mobster from Miami who has travelled from Miami to L.A. to collect a debt.
• During a conversation with a Hollywood movie star, the star comments that there must be a lot of pressure in what he does. Chili thinks for a moment and says, "There's no pressure, I bring the pressure."
• Although it was not the intention of the dialogue to make a metaphysical point, it does. Pressure (or any experience other than Love) is not inherent in life. Whatever emotion we are experiencing, we bring that experience to ourselves through our way of thinking (our belief system).
• Example: You like dogs and I'm petrified of dogs. We are together and we encounter a dog.  It's likely that you will feel love, address the dog, and invite it closer for pets.  It is likely I will feel fear and either freeze in fear or want get away as quickly as possible. The only thing that's different in this scenario is how we think about dogs.  The pressure I feel about dogs is the pressure I bring... not the dog (circumstance/situation/conditions)
• In Job 22:28 we read, "Decree a thing and it shall be given you." or... when we say this is what something means, that will be our experience of it.
• We hold within ourselves the power of our own internal experience.
• We are not at the whim of what goes on around us, but we are directed by our way of thinking.

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Sunday, May 26, 2013 Guest Speaker Jim Tallman

These are the notes that I received from Jim:

• Remember and giving thanks for the soldiers who gave their lives that we might enjoy he freedoms we have.
• Hope that one day we find ways to resolve our problems without war and killing each other. The estimates for deaths worldwide from armed conflict are anywhere from 200 million to 500 million people.
• This is a sad commentary on our "evolution."
• Remember those church members who have passed on that gave so much that we might have our church home.  
• The love that was put into the church continues to bless us and sustain us in our efforts to grow spiritually.
• Remember our family members that have passed on who made our lives possible, who blessed us by being a part of our lives. And again the love that each family member and friend sustains and connects us forever, for love is eternal and we can not be separated from those we love.  It is in and through the love we share that we express our divinity and oneness.

Logjam

A few bullet points to jog the memory of those who attended service Sunday, May 19, 2013   -   To read the full text, click here.

·        Have you ever looked at a logjam and thought about how they begin?

·        Logs, or tree trunks, or other debris are easily floating down river until the meet a barrier of some sort. Perhaps the waterway narrows or the opening under a bridge isn’t wide enough to allow the floating material to continue downstream. Usually this material gets “crosswise” to the bridge or waterway.

·        The openness of the bridge or expansiveness of the river become limitations to what the flow of the river carries.

·        Once something is stuck at the bridge opening, increasingly smaller and smaller debris piles up behind it and pressure is created because the flow of the river is continuous. When enough pressure is created on the bridge, it will collapse.

·        Isn’t this just like our life and our thinking can be!

·        Big things, big challenges in our lives come along; get crosswise with our personal limitations.  If we don’t get busy doing whatever we need to do to loosen up these “big things” as they occur and get them back into the flow of God that caries all things safely along the river of life we increasingly experience pressure as more and more unattended issues pile up. When we experience too much pressure…

·        Being in resonance with the flow of the river prevents logjams.

·        Being in resonance with the flow of God prevents lifejams.

·        We want to identify with God and get all our cares, concerns, worries, confusions into the flow of God to let them be “carried away downstream.”

·        Too often we identify with the limitation rather than the flow.

·        When we say things like, I am not smart enough (or unhappy or sick, or poor, or not good enough, etc.) we are declaring to all the world that we are our limitation.

·        These limitations are what you perceive you are.

·        You are not your limitations.

·        Perceive (identify with) something different like the Power and Presence of God working in you, though you, and as you.

·        When we are pressured with something, BEGIN WITH GOD.

·        Sometimes we end up with God being our last resort. That’s the hard way of doing things.

·        Before every “miracle,” Jesus blessed what He had, or what He was about to do. He always began with God!

·        This week, if you’re willing, bless everything you have, whether you think of it as a lot, little, or a perceived void… and bless everything you do before you do it (or bless it after you do it if you forgot to bless it beforehand. Blessing is not limited by time or space).

·        And when you find yourself in times of doubt, worry, fear, or confusion, bless yourself with this reminder, “There is no place for these things in the mind of God”

 

God Direct Me

A few bullet points to jog the memory of those who attended service Sunday, May 5, 2013   -   To read the full text, click here.

 “Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and compassionate… and abounding in love…” (Joel 2:13)

·        God never angers. God is gracious, compassionate and abounding in love. That’s why it’s important for us to become aware of (return to) the awareness of the Presence of God.

·        We can begin our return by saying, “God direct me.”

·        “God’s Help” comes as a result of allowing ourselves to be directed by divine truth, as best we understand it and have practiced it, which, then, results in our lives changing for the better.

·        God’s power is present in every one of us…we must allow it to move and be ready to move and change as necessary. (i.e. do something differently)

·        Invite God into your life – in other words, live according to your highest understanding of divine truth… and be ready. Be ready to think and act differently… and you’ll have a different experience because you won’t do those same things that have kept you corralled into the same experience.

·        The idea that we cannot change is a human lie we tell ourselves.

·        Can you move beyond your limitations? The answer is, “Yes, you can!”    

·        Mt 5:14 “YOU are the light of the world,” not you are a faceless, unimportant ho-hum member of society…, but YOU are the light (the expressed truth) of the world!

·        When you are in partnership with God, when you follow the teaching of Jesus Christ (not just read about them and be able to repeat them, but really live them) you make a difference right where you are – your family – job – business – service to mankind – because you have been willing to let God direct you.

·        We need to believe in bigger possibilities, not just as individuals but s a nation and as humanity.

·        We’ve all had mountains to climb so big and so powerful we didn’t know how we’d do it.

·        The important thing is to keep climbing, but don’t climb alone.

·        God is there holding the rope. You do what is possible and God will do the impossible.

·        You are the light of the world – you are the truth in expression in the world; you are the hands, feet, and voice for God in the world.

·        If you are willing (and willingness is key), let “God Direct Me” be your mantra this week.

Thinking Becomes Experience

A few bullet points to jog the memory of those who attended service Sunday, April 28, 2013   -   To read the full text, click here.

·        Many people approach their lives as though the events of the day are going to dictate whether or not they’re going to feel good or bad about the day at any given moment.

·        Unity teaches that our way of thinking creates the experience of our life.

·        No circumstance, condition or person can “make” us feel this way or that.

·        How we feel in response to anything is up to us.

·        When we identify someone or thing as the cause of what we’re feeling, we give our power away to that someone or thing.

·        Do you want to live a powerless life?

·        Do you believe in the possibility that your way of thinking creates the experience of your life may be true?

·        Have you ever experimented with changing your thinking and observing how your experience changes?

·        All too frequently when conditions don’t seem to be falling into place – according to our expectations – we suddenly drop our whole spiritual outlook, cycle back into negative emotions and then carry those negative emotions forward into a negative experience.

·        “Attitude is a little thing that makes a BIG difference.” Winston Churchill.

·        Myrtle Fillmore, co-founder of Unity healed herself from an illness and her lifelong belief that she would always have that illness. She did this using prayer and meditation after she changed her way of thinking about her condition.

·        There is biology to our belief.  What we believe not only effects us mentally and emotionally, but the work of Dr. Bruce Lipton demonstrates it also affects us physically.

·        Really understanding, that our way of thinking creates the experience of our life is a light that will illumine, enliven, and bring clarity to:

o       Affirmative prayer

o       Forgiveness

o       Self-awareness

o       Our relationship with others, the world, our health, and

o       Our awareness of the Presence of God

·        This week, if you’re willing, trying up-leveling your thinking when you find yourself in negativity and see how your experience changes.

Love Follows Forgiveness II

A few bullet points to jog the memory of those who attended service Sunday, April 21, 2013
To read the full text, click here.

·        Last Sunday we talked about forgiveness. In lieu of events that followed during the week, considering forgiveness was prescient.

·        Did you get upset this past week? Did you get scared, angry, or frightened? Did you practice any forgiveness?

·        Last week I said, “Forgiveness is the key to Happiness.” Perhaps that could be restated, “Forgiveness is the key to inner peace.”

·        The question going forward is not "How guilty is that man," but "How do I stand in the sight of the Father as to my ideas about his guilt?

·        Romans 13:8, “Owe no one anything except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

·        Where might Paul have gotten this crazy, wild, radical idea that we should love one another?

·        Perhaps from the words of Jesus found in John 13:34-35, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. As I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

·        “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, justice, peace, and forgiveness. This will pay your debts of love, which are the only debts you really owe.” (Prosperity (Charles Fillmore)/page123)

·        How forgiveness works, and “Why should I forgive?” is a mystery to many.

·        (How) Forgiveness removes the “painful emotional charge” from the event and allows us to experience the memory of the event without the pain.

·        (Why) Holding onto negative emotions is ultimately damaging physically.

·        We all share a common purpose beyond our goals and aspirations in the world: to reclaim our rightful inheritance as Children of God, and return “Home;” return to the awareness of Heaven. We would do well to keep our eyes on that prize while we go about our business in the world. Our thoughts should at all times be worthy of our highest self, our fellow man, and God. But what about when it hurts? What about when we are so consumed with fear, anger, guilt, etc.?

o       When our thoughts bring us hurt; forgive.

o       When our thoughts bring us fear; forgive.

o       When our thoughts bring us guilt, anger, shame, etc.; forgive.

·        When you are looking for inner peace for any reason; forgive.

Love Follows Forgiveness

For those who were at service on Sunday, April 14, 2013, a few bullet points to jog your memory.

To read the complete text of "Love Follows Forgiveness" click here.

• Beyond all the goals and aspirations any one of us might have in the world, do you think our deepest interests are really separate, unique and individual?  I don’t.

•  We all share one common interest: internal peace.

•  Internal peace is found through knowing and expressing the Love of God.

•  Once we recognize we all share one common interest, how could we hate, judge, or justify our anger?

•  Distress is the inseparable partner of hate, anger, fear, guilt, etc.  When we are in distress we are maintaining barriers to the awareness (and expression) of Love’s Presence.

•  Forgiveness dissolves all these barriers allowing us to remember the experience of Love. Love follows forgiveness.

•  Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, defines forgiveness as, “A process of giving up the false for the real.”  Perhaps this definition could restated as, “Giving up the idea of finding peace in the temporary for the eternal.”

•  Mr. Fillmore also said, “It is through forgiveness that true spiritual healing is accomplished.”

•   “Forgiveness is not for other people. It is for our ourselves so we can heal and move on.”

•  Forgiveness is the key that opens that Gates of Heaven for us.