March 13, 2016 – The Force of Compassion

Rev. David McArthur
The Force Of Compassion

In Unity I found the beautiful universal truths of Charles and Myrtle Fillmore. “The scriptures of all the nations of the world testify to the existence of an invisible FORCE moving men and nature in their various activities. Not all agree as to the character of this omnipresent FORCE, universal Spirit, but it serves the purpose of being their god under whatever name it may appear.” (Chas. Fillmore, “Atom-Smashing Power Of Mind”) Many of us call it “love”.

Stacy Smith, an American woman, found it difficult to comprehend Mother Theresa’s level of experience. Inspired, and to confront her own fears, she went to India. There she entered a concrete room filled with rows of cots with ill and dying women. Stacy noticed a woman struggling to breath and in great pain. She felt deep compassion. She had such a different experience from hers. She didn’t even know the woman’s language. All she could think to do was sing to her. She noticed the woman’s breathing was better. The woman opened her eyes and “looked with clarity into my eyes.” Two women, bound together in need, sharing their deep soul. “The moment slipped away. I continued to sing. In a short while the woman took her final breath.” That force of compassion can reach beyond.

In Hindu scripture, Krishna instructs Arjuna to be compassionate to friend and enemy alike, to “see yourself in others” to know this beautiful force. Jesus instructed, “love your enemies… Feed the hungry, clothe the naked…for whatever you do for one… of mine, you do for me.” In the scripture of Islam, it is expressed as “God is compassion.” And from the Jewish scripture, “Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless…for  ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’

Many years ago I was in a Palestinian refugee camp in a room with a mother and her four children. The window had a hole where the father had been shot. We were totally different. I was a “rich” white man; she was a poor woman in a culture dominated by white men, a single mother confined by that culture. I told her, “I lost a spouse and I’m sorry you have, too.” Her response as it was translated to me, was “You don’t understand. Was your spouse killed by a gun?” I said, “Yes.” I saw her face change. She looked me in the eye. This is a culture in which a woman does not look in the eyes of any man but her husband’s; she had changed to do this. I looked in her eyes and saw her soul. I saw tremendous pain, loneliness, fear for her children, and a yearning for a husband to care for her. She saw into my soul; she saw my journey. The force of compassion took down impossible barriers and we were just two people, soul-to-soul, understanding. In our culture there is a commitment to separation and the belief in our differences. It is my belief the force of compassion cuts it down.

This week hold your friends in the compassion of your heart when they feel separate. I hold you in the compassion of my heart. I hold you in the compassion of my heart. I hold you in the compassion of my heart. I promise every time you reach for it, the FORCE will be with you!

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March 13, 2016 – The Force of Compassion

Rev. David McArthur
The Force Of Compassion

In Unity I found the beautiful universal truths of Charles and Myrtle Fillmore. “The scriptures of all the nations of the world testify to the existence of an invisible FORCE moving men and nature in their various activities. Not all agree as to the character of this omnipresent FORCE, universal Spirit, but it serves the purpose of being their god under whatever name it may appear.” (Chas. Fillmore, “Atom-Smashing Power Of Mind”) Many of us call it “love”.

Stacy Smith, an American woman, found it difficult to comprehend Mother Theresa’s level of experience. Inspired, and to confront her own fears, she went to India. There she entered a concrete room filled with rows of cots with ill and dying women. Stacy noticed a woman struggling to breath and in great pain. She felt deep compassion. She had such a different experience from hers. She didn’t even know the woman’s language. All she could think to do was sing to her. She noticed the woman’s breathing was better. The woman opened her eyes and “looked with clarity into my eyes.” Two women, bound together in need, sharing their deep soul. “The moment slipped away. I continued to sing. In a short while the woman took her final breath.” That force of compassion can reach beyond.

In Hindu scripture, Krishna instructs Arjuna to be compassionate to friend and enemy alike, to “see yourself in others” to know this beautiful force. Jesus instructed, “love your enemies… Feed the hungry, clothe the naked…for whatever you do for one… of mine, you do for me.” In the scripture of Islam, it is expressed as “God is compassion.” And from the Jewish scripture, “Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless…for  ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’

Many years ago I was in a Palestinian refugee camp in a room with a mother and her four children. The window had a hole where the father had been shot. We were totally different. I was a “rich” white man; she was a poor woman in a culture dominated by white men, a single mother confined by that culture. I told her, “I lost a spouse and I’m sorry you have, too.” Her response as it was translated to me, was “You don’t understand. Was your spouse killed by a gun?” I said, “Yes.” I saw her face change. She looked me in the eye. This is a culture in which a woman does not look in the eyes of any man but her husband’s; she had changed to do this. I looked in her eyes and saw her soul. I saw tremendous pain, loneliness, fear for her children, and a yearning for a husband to care for her. She saw into my soul; she saw my journey. The force of compassion took down impossible barriers and we were just two people, soul-to-soul, understanding. In our culture there is a commitment to separation and the belief in our differences. It is my belief the force of compassion cuts it down.

This week hold your friends in the compassion of your heart when they feel separate. I hold you in the compassion of my heart. I hold you in the compassion of my heart. I hold you in the compassion of my heart. I promise every time you reach for it, the FORCE will be with you!

March 6, 2016 – Be Here Now


Freddie Weber
Be Here Now

I wanted to be still so God can love me, to be still and relax and let God take over. But I can’t sit still! It’s hard to honor the still small voice in my mind! 60,000 thoughts or more a day on a loop: Where do I have to go today? What do I have to wear today? What about my hair today? Me, me, me, me, me! –and what’s for dinner?

Be here now? What is “be”? What is “here”? –with so many thoughts! What is “past”? What is “future”? –and what’s for dinner? What is God? Who am I? Who are you? So many voices, so many choices in my brain!

God loves us whether we’re still or not. I give it all to you God. I surrender. I will notice silence. No more thought. No more fear. For just a moment I was here. I understand now how to pray, nothing in my head, no thought today. I knew nothing of the silence or still small voice inside. Nothing will make you happy until you know that still small voice. I had no distance from my thoughts. I WAS my thoughts and lived my life according to my head.

So I learned to meditate. I meditated to get a Broadway show! But God didn’t care why. And something lifted. My day felt better. I got to watch stuff going on in my mind. I looked at the icky “I’m no good” stuff, at so many negative depressing things. After a while it became funny. I saw that I thought things like “people who wear glasses are smart, so I should stay away or they’d find out I was stupid.” I wanted to be enlightened, so I didn’t want any thoughts at all.

I studied with Eckhart Tolle. He loved the human of us. He said, “You’re going to have thoughts. Allow them. You don’t have to believe them or buy it. Allow.” So I began to notice without judging. Eckhart Tolle had said to just be aware. Don’t judge. Just allow—it is just a thought!

One day I was surprised to notice I did love! I cared! Something had opened up, like my heart. I felt such real compassion. I hadn’t even known it was possible. It was no longer about me, me. It was about the world! When you’re doing “your work” what comes up is the real you! When I asked God what was “my work” I heard “I don’t know.” It’s really a moment to moment thing. A smile, what you wear. Look into their eyes for just two seconds without judgment. Eckhart Tolle said God can come through and bless them. They don’t know and you don’t know what you did. God comes through. A real smile. Something so small done with your heart—that’s why you’re here today! My mom used to say, “Don’t just sit there, do something.” Now I say, “Don’t just do something, sit there!”

March 6, 2016 – Be Here Now

Freddie Weber
Be Here Now

I wanted to be still so God can love me, to be still and relax and let God take over. But I can’t sit still! It’s hard to honor the still small voice in my mind! 60,000 thoughts or more a day on a loop: Where do I have to go today? What do I have to wear today? What about my hair today? Me, me, me, me, me! –and what’s for dinner?

Be here now? What is “be”? What is “here”? –with so many thoughts! What is “past”? What is “future”? –and what’s for dinner? What is God? Who am I? Who are you? So many voices, so many choices in my brain!

God loves us whether we’re still or not. I give it all to you God. I surrender. I will notice silence. No more thought. No more fear. For just a moment I was here. I understand now how to pray, nothing in my head, no thought today. I knew nothing of the silence or still small voice inside. Nothing will make you happy until you know that still small voice. I had no distance from my thoughts. I WAS my thoughts and lived my life according to my head.

So I learned to meditate. I meditated to get a Broadway show! But God didn’t care why. And something lifted. My day felt better. I got to watch stuff going on in my mind. I looked at the icky “I’m no good” stuff, at so many negative depressing things. After a while it became funny. I saw that I thought things like “people who wear glasses are smart, so I should stay away or they’d find out I was stupid.” I wanted to be enlightened, so I didn’t want any thoughts at all.

I studied with Eckhart Tolle. He loved the human of us. He said, “You’re going to have thoughts. Allow them. You don’t have to believe them or buy it. Allow.” So I began to notice without judging. Eckhart Tolle had said to just be aware. Don’t judge. Just allow—it is just a thought!

One day I was surprised to notice I did love! I cared! Something had opened up, like my heart. I felt such real compassion. I hadn’t even known it was possible. It was no longer about me, me. It was about the world! When you’re doing “your work” what comes up is the real you! When I asked God what was “my work” I heard “I don’t know.” It’s really a moment to moment thing. A smile, what you wear. Look into their eyes for just two seconds without judgment. Eckhart Tolle said God can come through and bless them. They don’t know and you don’t know what you did. God comes through. A real smile. Something so small done with your heart—that’s why you’re here today! My mom used to say, “Don’t just sit there, do something.” Now I say, “Don’t just do something, sit there!”

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January 17, 2016 – Exploring Compassion

Rev. David McArthur
Exploring Compassion

We are on an amazing journey: learning the power of compassion. A group of Muslim communities raised $100,000 for the sufferers of that gunman in the church in Charleston, and the fires at black churches that followed. After the shootings in San Bernardino, Muslim communities raised $180,000 for those suffering there. The spokesman for the Muslims said, “Just simply say we love them from the bottom of our hearts  and they should know that they are not alone in this calamity. We share their sorrow.”

The Koran most often speaks of “God the compassionate”, more properly translated as “God is compassion.” This beautiful religion shares this with us. Charles Fillmore said compassion was the unifying, harmonizing power. There are billions of people all over the world striving for love and compassion.

Perhaps Jesus’ greatest lesson on compassion was his story of the Good Samaritan. A priest and a Levite passed by the man who was beaten, robbed, and left for dead. It was a Samaritan who took pity, tended to his wounds and at his own expense put the man up at an inn. Jesus then asked which was the good neighbor to the man who was robbed. The lawyer who had challenged him replied it was the one which had mercy on him. Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”

Study Martin Luther King to understand that compassion is transformational. From Gandhi, he learned that power is of two kinds: power can be based on fear of punishment or on love. Power based on love is a thousand times more powerful and effective. How long it has taken for mankind to awaken and learn how to use this power! Dr. King taught that non-violence means not only to refrain from external violence, but also from internal violence of the spirit. “You not only refuse to shoot a man; you refuse to hate him.”

Dr. King stood with people who desired change, resisting with non-violence those with guns and authority; with non-action showing they wished their oppressors no harm. It touched us all, this amazing power over violence and hate. Imagine that you are standing there beside him among those with completely justifiable anger. Now hear the words of Lao Tzu: “The gentlest thing in the world (love) overcomes the hardest thing in the world (hatred, anger, guns and bullets)… That which has no substance (love) enters where there is no space (the closed, hardened heart).”  This is the masters’ way, the way of Martin Luther King, Jesus, Muhammad, the Buddhist teachers.

Respond with compassion this week, when you come upon someone angry or feeling victimized, or the oppressor acting on his pain, This morning we prayed for those in ISIS who are acting out of their pain and fear. They are also children of God. I hold you in the compassion of my heart. For those around us at home or at work, I hold you in the compassion of my heart. And when you find you are the oppressor, or do “OMG! I am a victim!”, I hold me in the compassion of my heart.

What a beautiful way to hold the people of the world! Most importantly, what a beautiful way to hold yourself!

January 17, 2016 – Exploring Compassion

Rev. David McArthur
Exploring Compassion

We are on an amazing journey: learning the power of compassion. A group of Muslim communities raised $100,000 for the sufferers of that gunman in the church in Charleston, and the fires at black churches that followed. After the shootings in San Bernardino, Muslim communities raised $180,000 for those suffering there. The spokesman for the Muslims said, “Just simply say we love them from the bottom of our hearts  and they should know that they are not alone in this calamity. We share their sorrow.”

The Koran most often speaks of “God the compassionate”, more properly translated as “God is compassion.” This beautiful religion shares this with us. Charles Fillmore said compassion was the unifying, harmonizing power. There are billions of people all over the world striving for love and compassion.

Perhaps Jesus’ greatest lesson on compassion was his story of the Good Samaritan. A priest and a Levite passed by the man who was beaten, robbed, and left for dead. It was a Samaritan who took pity, tended to his wounds and at his own expense put the man up at an inn. Jesus then asked which was the good neighbor to the man who was robbed. The lawyer who had challenged him replied it was the one which had mercy on him. Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”

Study Martin Luther King to understand that compassion is transformational. From Gandhi, he learned that power is of two kinds: power can be based on fear of punishment or on love. Power based on love is a thousand times more powerful and effective. How long it has taken for mankind to awaken and learn how to use this power! Dr. King taught that non-violence means not only to refrain from external violence, but also from internal violence of the spirit. “You not only refuse to shoot a man; you refuse to hate him.”

Dr. King stood with people who desired change, resisting with non-violence those with guns and authority; with non-action showing they wished their oppressors no harm. It touched us all, this amazing power over violence and hate. Imagine that you are standing there beside him among those with completely justifiable anger. Now hear the words of Lao Tzu: “The gentlest thing in the world (love) overcomes the hardest thing in the world (hatred, anger, guns and bullets)… That which has no substance (love) enters where there is no space (the closed, hardened heart).”  This is the masters’ way, the way of Martin Luther King, Jesus, Muhammad, the Buddhist teachers.

Respond with compassion this week, when you come upon someone angry or feeling victimized, or the oppressor acting on his pain, This morning we prayed for those in ISIS who are acting out of their pain and fear. They are also children of God. I hold you in the compassion of my heart. For those around us at home or at work, I hold you in the compassion of my heart. And when you find you are the oppressor, or do “OMG! I am a victim!”, I hold me in the compassion of my heart.

What a beautiful way to hold the people of the world! Most importantly, what a beautiful way to hold yourself!

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December 6, 2015 – How Adored You Are

12/06/15  Stowe Dailey & Karen Taylor Good
How Adored You Are

 
From the original Aramaic, “Our father from whom the breath of life comes, who is not separate from us, may we feel you in our hearts. Thanks for your forgiveness. May we forgive ourselves and others, too. May we walk in love, not fear. The kingdom of heaven is here.”

Peace is all I know. What if prayer is not a tearful plea of desperation, but breathing in and out God? What if your life is a prayer that God is praying? What if your thoughts are words that God is saying? What if you knew without a doubt that God is within and without?

Stowe Dailey: A few years ago, near death with cancer, I was advised to move into hospice! With my body, my spirit also needed healing. I visited a friend, a spiritual healer. She asked, “Do you love yourself Stowe? Your mother died when you were 9. You were abused emotionally and sexually. You must have felt abandoned and unloved, maybe that you didn’t deserve to be loved? Picture your beautiful daughter; imagine that she experienced the abuse you experienced.” I was horrified. My friend continued, “Now picture the beautiful child you are. Love her like you love your daughter.”

With my healing, I got a second chance to live, a second chance to laugh, to love, to sing, to dance. A sweet and precious gift. I had allowed my fear to sabotage my dreams, but I learned fear doesn’t stop you from dying, it stops you from living.

Everything happens for a reason; there is perfection in everything! Karen Taylor Good: My mother always had the answer. She was a Leo and a member of Mensa. But the last 8 years of her life she faded away with dementia. The woman that never forgot a grandchild’s birthday couldn’t remember my name. I went to some very dark places, very angry places. “If there is perfection in this, God, then show me! Why would you play such a cold-hearted trick? I thought your job was to love! It’s not fair!” But I got an answer, “she’s going to fly. She’ll have to let go of the things she can’t use. Memories and faces, people and places are just too heavy to carry on angel’s wings. When her time here is through, she’s going to fly.” It’s not easy, but it’s perfect.

Know you are a gift, God’s precious child, perfect, whole, and enough. “I am a gift!” Take a breath. Hear the voice of God, “Child of mine, do you know how adored you are? You’ve never been alone. In my heart you’re always home. I’m you’re greatest fan. You are enough. Do you know how adored you are?! Because you are! You are loved; all is well. So be it.

December 6, 2015 – How Adored You Are

12/06/15  Stowe Dailey & Karen Taylor Good
How Adored You Are

From the original Aramaic, “Our father from whom the breath of life comes, who is not separate from us, may we feel you in our hearts. Thanks for your forgiveness. May we forgive ourselves and others, too. May we walk in love, not fear. The kingdom of heaven is here.”

Peace is all I know. What if prayer is not a tearful plea of desperation, but breathing in and out God? What if your life is a prayer that God is praying? What if your thoughts are words that God is saying? What if you knew without a doubt that God is within and without?

Stowe Dailey: A few years ago, near death with cancer, I was advised to move into hospice! With my body, my spirit also needed healing. I visited a friend, a spiritual healer. She asked, “Do you love yourself Stowe? Your mother died when you were 9. You were abused emotionally and sexually. You must have felt abandoned and unloved, maybe that you didn’t deserve to be loved? Picture your beautiful daughter; imagine that she experienced the abuse you experienced.” I was horrified. My friend continued, “Now picture the beautiful child you are. Love her like you love your daughter.”

With my healing, I got a second chance to live, a second chance to laugh, to love, to sing, to dance. A sweet and precious gift. I had allowed my fear to sabotage my dreams, but I learned fear doesn’t stop you from dying, it stops you from living.

Everything happens for a reason; there is perfection in everything! Karen Taylor Good: My mother always had the answer. She was a Leo and a member of Mensa. But the last 8 years of her life she faded away with dementia. The woman that never forgot a grandchild’s birthday couldn’t remember my name. I went to some very dark places, very angry places. “If there is perfection in this, God, then show me! Why would you play such a cold-hearted trick? I thought your job was to love! It’s not fair!” But I got an answer, “she’s going to fly. She’ll have to let go of the things she can’t use. Memories and faces, people and places are just too heavy to carry on angel’s wings. When her time here is through, she’s going to fly.” It’s not easy, but it’s perfect.

Know you are a gift, God’s precious child, perfect, whole, and enough. “I am a gift!” Take a breath. Hear the voice of God, “Child of mine, do you know how adored you are? You’ve never been alone. In my heart you’re always home. I’m you’re greatest fan. You are enough. Do you know how adored you are?! Because you are! You are loved; all is well. So be it.

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November 8, 2015 – Climbing The Beanstalk to God Within

11/08/15  Rev. David McArthur
Climbing the Beanstalk to God Within

Jack and the Beanstalk is a story of our spiritual journey. Jack is the son of a woman so poor she sends Jack to town to sell the family cow, which he does for a handful of “magic” beans. His mother gets so upset she throws the beans out the window. The mother is our “poor” state of consciousness. For some it’s body poor, relationship poor, whatever your favorite “poor” is.

The beans grow to the clouds. Of course, Jack has to climb the beanstalk. At the top it is beautiful, with lush fields and a beautiful castle. The giant had killed the Knight and everyone else in it but the Lady, who escaped. She was a Fairy (an angel which brings higher consciousness to us here).

The giantess tells Jack that he (us) is heir to the castle, the kingdom, but he has to kill the giant to get it. Emily Cady has written, “…to be ‘heirs of God…means every man is the inlet, and may become the outlet, of all there is in God… that all that God is and has is in reality for us, His only heirs, if we only know how to claim our inheritance.”
The giant is the god-thought that controls all, is far away and doesn’t love us. We believe that when we do our “poor” thing. Jack is enslaved by the giant. The giantess, the feminine feeling of fear, protects Jack because she wants him to serve her. It’s fear that enslaves us (fear of God). So Jack is hidden in the closet. When the giant falls asleep Jack steals the hen that lays golden eggs, goes down the beanstalk, and gives it to his mother. It is a symbol of divine ideas which bring fertility, abundance, and success for the labors of the farm-based life of the early nineteenth century.

The next night the giant counts his gold coins. They represent the abundance of God in this moment, the experience of divine capacity we are related to. Jack takes them to his mother too. The next night the giant commands his harp to play its beautiful music. (It’s a symbol of love, the harmonizing power.) Jack steals the harp, too, but it calls out to the sleeping giant, “Master…” Jack tells the harp, “I am your master now.” When he gives it to his mother (the symbol of the feminine) she gives him the axe to cut down the beanstalk, to undercut the God we fear. Letting love be felt removes the fearful God from our consciousness.

Jack still lives in the cottage and the Fairy tells him he has to remove the giantess (fear) to live in the castle. She takes him to town and shows the people that he is the rightful heir to have the gifts in the castle. We have to integrate it. We aren’t separate. We are one with all that love, goodness, abundance—our powers. We have to climb the beanstalk. Jesus put it this way, “The Father and I are one.”

For me it is helpful to say I am one with the goodness of God! Feel that goodness. There is no money lack, no need to do relationship lack. I am one with the goodness of God! There is nothing that’s against you because you are a radiant child of God. I am one with the goodness of God! Knowing that, may all your giants come tumbling down!

 

November 1, 2015 – Focus On The Source, It Brings Understanding

11/01/15  Rev. David McArthur
Focus On The Source, It Brings Understanding

13.5 billion years ago the Singularity, the point of infinite density, expanded. (The Big Bang.) In that expansion is the evolution of the universe. On that little speck called Earth, evolution developed to where we began to gain knowledge and find out the laws that brought all this amazing stuff into being. I believe now there’s another level of evolution happening: our ability to know the source of all that. A description is found in the Gospel when Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain and appeared in light to them with Moses and Elijah, the Transfiguration. Moses=the law, i.e. gravity, chemistry, etc. Elijah, the flow of energy into creation and us; and Jesus, the incarnation of God expressive within each being. These are the symbols of the source, the divine presence. The symbols of our capacity to perceive the divine, are the three apostles. Peter=faith. James, the capacity for wisdom, to see the nature of this reality. And John, love, that beautiful harmonizing power within.

Karen’s son CJ, sixteen years old, lost his life. In extreme pain, she prayed, “Why? Why?” But then her prayers came from a different part of her being. “My soul cried out, ‘I need to know that he is all right!’” When she met her ex’s new wife in the driveway, his new wife said that she had to tell Karen something. That very morning, her five year old, CJ’s half brother, told her that CJ had come to him in a dream and told him to “please tell my mother I’m ok”!

I too did a lot of “why?” praying after I lost my first wife. I had to have a baby sitter for my one year old. The sitter’s little boy told her he saw a woman in their house, but he wasn’t afraid. His mother didn’t know what to think. One day they brought my daughter home and came into our house and the boy pointed to a picture of my dead wife and shouted, “That’s the woman!” This was not an answer of information, but of understanding, the response to my prayer which took me to my source.

Who we are is not limited to the forms we touch. I understood then that when we shift our awareness from the stuff in our universe to the source of it, there is an understanding, a beautiful flow to our need, our being, of understanding. After that we see life differently. Life is sacred. Not just forms, but joy, laughter, tears, discovery, confusion, loss—all is sacred—all is within what we call God.

God is my source. I experience the sacredness of life! What a beautiful thing to experience! God is my source. I experience the sacredness of life! The beautiful, the scary, the magnificent. God is my source. I experience the sacredness of life! What we find is that ALL of life is incredibly beautiful!

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