Rev. Kristin Powell
Mother’s Day
May 8, 2016 11:30 – Mother’s Day
Unity of Walnut Creek
Rev. David McArthur
Happy Mother’s Day! Some of the greatest spiritual learning is given to mothers. Some of
May 8, 2016 – Mothers as God
Rev. David McArthur
“Mothers as God”
Happy Mother’s Day! Some of the greatest spiritual learning is given to mothers. Some of our greatest spiritual learning comes from our mothers. To those who are new mothers this year, we celebrate you. To those who have lost a child, we mourn with you. To those who are in the trenches with little ones everyday, we celebrate you. To those who have miscarried or had abortions, or run-aways, we mourn your loss with you. For those who suffered abuse by their mothers, we grieve with you. For step mothers who walk that complex path, we walk with you. And for those who lost a mother this year, we grieve with you. Mothers, grandmothers, foster mothers, spiritual mothers, we need you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart.
When my younger brother was just 4 years old, our back yard backed right up to the school grounds. He was out there one day with our mother when she saw a look in his eye which told her to grab him before he took off, but she wasn’t fast enough. With my mother chasing behind, he ran around the schoolhouse, pausing long enough at each corner for her to appear around the previous corner. Then he’d disappear around the next one. The school’s windows filled with happy faces. As she rounded the last corner he was standing at the edge of our yard waiting with his hand up, so when our mother reached him and took his hand in hers, they walked calmly into the house. Mothers can read those looks and they don’t rest until they know we’re safe.
I’m often like my younger brother that day—running around, tiring myself out, then giving up and holding out my hand for that mother’s love to take me home. And I know I am loved by that feeling, loving God.
I see my daughter Anna with my 5 year old granddaughter Kira, and I get to see that love. Even in the midst of a temper tantrum, Kira is always able to run and be enfolded in those arms of love. You are the child of this infinite love. Accept this love. I am loved right now. It’s all around us.
Some of you know my older daughter Lisa was only 11 months old when we lost her mother. At this age, Mother was her world! And then she was gone. 14 years later we were looking at pictures at Grandma’s house. One of them showed Lisa in her mother’s arms just a month before she lost her mother. Lisa looked at it and said it was the last time she was happy. Now we had had many happy times since. Kathryn deeply loved her. But I understood that the loss, the hole in her, was still there. When Lisa gave birth to her first child, she had some cloths that she would just float down on him, which he loved. We stood around watching this in awe. I looked at Lisa and there was complete happiness. The hole had been filled.
There is a part of our wholeness that only takes hold when mothers get to do that part of love. It flows through us all. It is important that we let it in. I am loved right now. Feel it! I am loved right now. Let it in right now. I am loved right now.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
May 8, 2016 – Mothers as God
Rev. David McArthur
“Mothers as God”
Happy Mother’s Day! Some of the greatest spiritual learning is given to mothers. Some of our greatest spiritual learning comes from our mothers. To those who are new mothers this year, we celebrate you. To those who have lost a child, we mourn with you. To those who are in the trenches with little ones everyday, we celebrate you. To those who have miscarried or had abortions, or run-aways, we mourn your loss with you. For those who suffered abuse by their mothers, we grieve with you. For step mothers who walk that complex path, we walk with you. And for those who lost a mother this year, we grieve with you. Mothers, grandmothers, foster mothers, spiritual mothers, we need you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart.
When my younger brother was just 4 years old, our back yard backed right up to the school grounds. He was out there one day with our mother when she saw a look in his eye which told her to grab him before he took off, but she wasn’t fast enough. With my mother chasing behind, he ran around the schoolhouse, pausing long enough at each corner for her to appear around the previous corner. Then he’d disappear around the next one. The school’s windows filled with happy faces. As she rounded the last corner he was standing at the edge of our yard waiting with his hand up, so when our mother reached him and took his hand in hers, they walked calmly into the house. Mothers can read those looks and they don’t rest until they know we’re safe.
I’m often like my younger brother that day—running around, tiring myself out, then giving up and holding out my hand for that mother’s love to take me home. And I know I am loved by that feeling, loving God.
I see my daughter Anna with my 5 year old granddaughter Kira, and I get to see that love. Even in the midst of a temper tantrum, Kira is always able to run and be enfolded in those arms of love. You are the child of this infinite love. Accept this love. I am loved right now. It’s all around us.
Some of you know my older daughter Lisa was only 11 months old when we lost her mother. At this age, Mother was her world! And then she was gone. 14 years later we were looking at pictures at Grandma’s house. One of them showed Lisa in her mother’s arms just a month before she lost her mother. Lisa looked at it and said it was the last time she was happy. Now we had had many happy times since. Kathryn deeply loved her. But I understood that the loss, the hole in her, was still there. When Lisa gave birth to her first child, she had some cloths that she would just float down on him, which he loved. We stood around watching this in awe. I looked at Lisa and there was complete happiness. The hole had been filled.
There is a part of our wholeness that only takes hold when mothers get to do that part of love. It flows through us all. It is important that we let it in. I am loved right now. Feel it! I am loved right now. Let it in right now. I am loved right now.
May 8, 2016 09:30 – Mother’s Day
Unity of Walnut Creek
Rev. David McArthur
Happy Mother’s Day! Some of the greatest spiritual learning is given to mothers. Some of
May 11, 2014 – Mother as Spiritual Teacher
5/11/14 Rev. David McArthur
Mother As Spiritual Teacher
From all the things we might feel about mothers—some gave up a child or a pregnancy, and some faced great pain in their lives because of addiction, and the child in their journey felt much of that pain—let’s go to a place in our hearts that is compassion and surround them with it. Know there is a love that holds them dear.
There is so little in the Bible about Mary as mother. The American psychic Edgar Cayse suggests that Mary was an Essene, who were committed to bringing into the world a being of greater consciousness, and so trained their girls in attunement for that birth. So Mary was carefully prepared to support this child physically and spiritually and to teach Him to listen to the highest guidance. I do not know if this is true, but I have lived long enough to say it could be. Now see your own mother as your first spiritual teacher, who showed you how to care, and how to interact with family and friends.
When Edith was 9 years old she lived at the end of the power grid in Arkansas. A great thunder storm was moving through. Father was far away for work; it was just little Edie and her mother. Needing comfort, she talked with her mother, asking about her mother’s need soon for a warm winter coat. Mom replied that she wasn’t worried, that God would provide. Before going to bed, she asked her mom to lock the front door, but her mom said that in their area they needed to leave the front door unlocked, in case someone might need shelter. Sure enough they heard someone come in and they peeked into the room and saw Mr. Hill sitting in the arm chair. He was drunk and Edie asked what others were going to think when they heard about this. Her mom said they wouldn’t tell anyone. He was their guest and they would protect him, that when Spirit brings someone into your care it is a blessing. Soon he left and a couple days after, Edie and her mom came home to find a big bag on the porch. Inside was a beautiful new winter coat for Mom. Edie learned from her mother about giving and receiving, about non-judgment and the beauty of opening to care for others and so much more.
The core to the awakening of ourselves is when we were embraced and held by mother’s arms after skinning a knee or another childhood mishap. We were taught about Divine Love. That is when we began to learn the truth. Remember feeling that? It might have been someone else, but mostly it was Mother who taught us, “I Am Loved with an Infinite Love.” “I Am Loved with an Infinite Love.” “I Am Loved with an Infinite Love.” How mother brought us the experience of that and awakened us to know infinite love! We are loved, and what a joy it is!
And to Mom for awakening us to that love, Thank You!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
May 11, 2014 – Mother as Spiritual Teacher
5/11/14 Rev. David McArthur
Mother As Spiritual Teacher
From all the things we might feel about mothers—some gave up a child or a pregnancy, and some faced great pain in their lives because of addiction, and the child in their journey felt much of that pain—let’s go to a place in our hearts that is compassion and surround them with it. Know there is a love that holds them dear.
There is so little in the Bible about Mary as mother. The American psychic Edgar Cayse suggests that Mary was an Essene, who were committed to bringing into the world a being of greater consciousness, and so trained their girls in attunement for that birth. So Mary was carefully prepared to support this child physically and spiritually and to teach Him to listen to the highest guidance. I do not know if this is true, but I have lived long enough to say it could be. Now see your own mother as your first spiritual teacher, who showed you how to care, and how to interact with family and friends.
When Edith was 9 years old she lived at the end of the power grid in Arkansas. A great thunder storm was moving through. Father was far away for work; it was just little Edie and her mother. Needing comfort, she talked with her mother, asking about her mother’s need soon for a warm winter coat. Mom replied that she wasn’t worried, that God would provide. Before going to bed, she asked her mom to lock the front door, but her mom said that in their area they needed to leave the front door unlocked, in case someone might need shelter. Sure enough they heard someone come in and they peeked into the room and saw Mr. Hill sitting in the arm chair. He was drunk and Edie asked what others were going to think when they heard about this. Her mom said they wouldn’t tell anyone. He was their guest and they would protect him, that when Spirit brings someone into your care it is a blessing. Soon he left and a couple days after, Edie and her mom came home to find a big bag on the porch. Inside was a beautiful new winter coat for Mom. Edie learned from her mother about giving and receiving, about non-judgment and the beauty of opening to care for others and so much more.
The core to the awakening of ourselves is when we were embraced and held by mother’s arms after skinning a knee or another childhood mishap. We were taught about Divine Love. That is when we began to learn the truth. Remember feeling that? It might have been someone else, but mostly it was Mother who taught us, “I Am Loved with an Infinite Love.” “I Am Loved with an Infinite Love.” “I Am Loved with an Infinite Love.” How mother brought us the experience of that and awakened us to know infinite love! We are loved, and what a joy it is!
And to Mom for awakening us to that love, Thank You!
May 12, 2013 – Mom As Divine Mother
5/12/13 Rev. David McArthur
Mom As Divine Mother
One way we touch the love of God is the role of the mother. When there is a need for healing, for a healing presence, we connect with the figure of the Madonna and Child, of Mother Mary. At that point of pain, of overwhelm, when we feel we are asked to deliver far beyond our perception of our capacity, but we are asked anyway to show up for another, the divine presence shows up in the symbol of motherhood itself. Let that divine connection heal and nurture in that way mothers have of knowing we can step up to what is asked of us. Open that divine connection. It is not some God of power and authority, but of tenderness and caring. We know God is not male or female, yet we open to those divine feminine qualities that mothers embody for us.
All the greatest teachers the world has ever known have brought us awareness of awesome divine love. And every bit of that love and consciousness is seen in the mothers we know. Awaken to that. We know this divine is in us, works as us and through us, and that mothers embody this. In the times they didn’t, when their pain got in their way, when they were limited by their trauma, addiction, or struggle to awaken from their own sleep, remember that forgiveness is significant work, because it is in this relationship that we get to know, to glimpse that divine love.
Severely wounded, a young soldier in Viet Nam called to his momma. Back home, she heard him. “Super Mom” is that absolute divine intervention. We reach for that presence and know it as “momma”!
As her boy reached the difficult years of his early teens, a mother began leaving letters under his pillow “to be read when ever you are alone”. In the first she confided, “I know life is hard now. You are frustrated and nothing is right. I love you more than I can say. I am here if you want to talk. No matter where you go or want ever you do I will always be proud of you and love you.” Their connection deepened. What are you connected with? What are you going home to? Mother is that connection to “I am here for you and will always love you; that will never change” (which is God’s love). Mothers, you are the expression of divine connection. Thank you God, for loving me as “Mom”. And thank you, all moms, for loving us! Thank you!
May 12, 2013 – Mom As Divine Mother
5/12/13 Rev. David McArthur
Mom As Divine Mother
One way we touch the love of God is the role of the mother. When there is a need for healing, for a healing presence, we connect with the figure of the Madonna and Child, of Mother Mary. At that point of pain, of overwhelm, when we feel we are asked to deliver far beyond our perception of our capacity, but we are asked anyway to show up for another, the divine presence shows up in the symbol of motherhood itself. Let that divine connection heal and nurture in that way mothers have of knowing we can step up to what is asked of us. Open that divine connection. It is not some God of power and authority, but of tenderness and caring. We know God is not male or female, yet we open to those divine feminine qualities that mothers embody for us.
All the greatest teachers the world has ever known have brought us awareness of awesome divine love. And every bit of that love and consciousness is seen in the mothers we know. Awaken to that. We know this divine is in us, works as us and through us, and that mothers embody this. In the times they didn’t, when their pain got in their way, when they were limited by their trauma, addiction, or struggle to awaken from their own sleep, remember that forgiveness is significant work, because it is in this relationship that we get to know, to glimpse that divine love.
Severely wounded, a young soldier in Viet Nam called to his momma. Back home, she heard him. “Super Mom” is that absolute divine intervention. We reach for that presence and know it as “momma”!
As her boy reached the difficult years of his early teens, a mother began leaving letters under his pillow “to be read when ever you are alone”. In the first she confided, “I know life is hard now. You are frustrated and nothing is right. I love you more than I can say. I am here if you want to talk. No matter where you go or want ever you do I will always be proud of you and love you.” Their connection deepened. What are you connected with? What are you going home to? Mother is that connection to “I am here for you and will always love you; that will never change” (which is God’s love). Mothers, you are the expression of divine connection. Thank you God, for loving me as “Mom”. And thank you, all moms, for loving us! Thank you!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS