April 19, 2015 – Take A God Break

04/19/15 Rev. David McArthur
Take A God Break

There is tremendous spiritual energy flowing into the Earth in this time. Things keep speeding up and that brings up our “stuff”—things that don’t reflect the spiritual beings that we are. It’s now time to heal our relationships and insecurities and the unenlightened parts of us. We have the tools and know what to do, but things comes faster and faster. The spiritual truth about handling this is to slow down and let this transformative energy in.

Jesus met each of his challenges by a change of his consciousness and went through baptism to receive greater spiritual energy. Then rather than party and celebrate, he went alone into the desert for forty days to be in this consciousness. The story of his inner struggle there is told as an argument he had with the devil. Each of the 3 times in the story that the devil challenged his greater consciousness, Christ shifts to the consciousness of the divine. He took a God break and took hold of his new consciousness. So take a God break when you are challenged, when someone at work or in the family brings up your “stuff”.

Ejaz Naqvi, in his book A Look Inside the Koran and the Bible, says that by far, the most repeated passages are those that are the most compassionate, the most merciful, and that it’s not just that God is compassionate, but the God is compassion. When we are in the expression of mercy we are in the divine consciousness.

Taoism says to go from duality to the divine consciousness. “The Tao doesn’t take sides, it gives birth to both good and evil. The Master doesn’t take sides, she welcomes both saints and sinners.” [and] “The Tao is like a bellows…the more you use it, the more it produces; the more you talk of it, the less you understand. Hold on to the center.” Center in your heart; connect with the infinite.

So if you are talking of it (thinking), you are not there. This is how: empty your mind for 30 seconds. Did you still have thoughts? Well, that’s the way we are. But focus on the experience of what God is, on the presence of God—the feelings of compassion, love, and kindness. To really feel it, hug yourself! Breathe quiet compassion. When your stuff comes up, hug yourself. Feel the difference between the thinking and the feeling? It is more powerful to feel compassion than to think it. To be powerful and effective is to feel the power and presence of God. Take a God break. Hug yourself. Feel the compassion.

Breathe quiet compassion. 30 seconds will do it. That’s what we mean by slow down. Don’t be fixing things or figuring anything out then, but go slower. Everything you need is right there when your stuff comes up. Take a God break. Breathe quiet compassion. It’s a doorway to peace!

Play

April 19, 2015 – Take A God Break


04/19/15 Rev. David McArthur
Take A God Break

There is tremendous spiritual energy flowing into the Earth in this time. Things keep speeding up and that brings up our “stuff”—things that don’t reflect the spiritual beings that we are. It’s now time to heal our relationships and insecurities and the unenlightened parts of us. We have the tools and know what to do, but things comes faster and faster. The spiritual truth about handling this is to slow down and let this transformative energy in.

Jesus met each of his challenges by a change of his consciousness and went through baptism to receive greater spiritual energy. Then rather than party and celebrate, he went alone into the desert for forty days to be in this consciousness. The story of his inner struggle there is told as an argument he had with the devil. Each of the 3 times in the story that the devil challenged his greater consciousness, Christ shifts to the consciousness of the divine. He took a God break and took hold of his new consciousness. So take a God break when you are challenged, when someone at work or in the family brings up your “stuff”.

Ejaz Naqvi, in his book A Look Inside the Koran and the Bible, says that by far, the most repeated passages are those that are the most compassionate, the most merciful, and that it’s not just that God is compassionate, but the God is compassion. When we are in the expression of mercy we are in the divine consciousness.

Taoism says to go from duality to the divine consciousness. “The Tao doesn’t take sides, it gives birth to both good and evil. The Master doesn’t take sides, she welcomes both saints and sinners.” [and] “The Tao is like a bellows…the more you use it, the more it produces; the more you talk of it, the less you understand. Hold on to the center.” Center in your heart; connect with the infinite.

So if you are talking of it (thinking), you are not there. This is how: empty your mind for 30 seconds. Did you still have thoughts? Well, that’s the way we are. But focus on the experience of what God is, on the presence of God—the feelings of compassion, love, and kindness. To really feel it, hug yourself! Breathe quiet compassion. When your stuff comes up, hug yourself. Feel the difference between the thinking and the feeling? It is more powerful to feel compassion than to think it. To be powerful and effective is to feel the power and presence of God. Take a God break. Hug yourself. Feel the compassion.

Breathe quiet compassion. 30 seconds will do it. That’s what we mean by slow down. Don’t be fixing things or figuring anything out then, but go slower. Everything you need is right there when your stuff comes up. Take a God break. Breathe quiet compassion. It’s a doorway to peace!
 

April 12, 2015 – Initiation In Love


04/12/15 Rev. David McArthur
Initiation In Love

Florence Scovel Schinn wrote that whatever your problem, it is a test through love. If you meet it with love, your problem is solved. If not, the problem continues. Your problem is your initiation in love.

The first sign we have a problem is criticism. We define someone or something as “not ok” and put energy into confirming that. Catherine Ponder says that when you run down others’ problems or affairs you open your consciousness to become run down. It’s fear that constricts us, and then less good in health and finances flows into our lives.

But even where we feel powerless, we do have power. In this community we know we have the power to hold the consciousness to transform. Then we all are strengthened.

A man was seriously depressed and wasn’t working. At the same time, the 19 year old son was on the verge of losing his college career, and the emotionally disturbed 13 year old’s anger was becoming increasingly violent. Their 12 year old sister’s teachers reported she was withdrawing from the world. Additionally, the mother had only one kidney, and it was diseased. Then the lady heard “Love has the power to overcome any problem.” Desperate, she committed to find out if it were true. She had no options. Every time she found herself being critical of someone, she would write in a notebook, “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” Every time. Thought after thought, day after day. Within six weeks her husband got out of bed, bathed and cut his hair and started work! He opened to a flow. The 19 year old got a job that covered his tuition! And in the last three weeks the 13 year old had not had a single violent episode. The girl’s teacher called to say she was now making friends. The woman’s kidney healed and she got a job!

With our fear we feed the negative energy. But we do have a choice. Charles Fillmore said, “The more we talk about love the more it comes into our experience… You may trust love to get you out of your difficulty.” It’s a universal truth and an application of Jesus’ teaching about loving your enemies. The Tao teaches to love the world as yourself. Then you can care for all things. It’s the basis of the Ho’o pono pono practice that “when I change, the world around me changes.”

I’m betting there’s someone in your life you feel is in need of your criticism. (And the most difficult one is yourself.) “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” It’s a sacred spiritual assignment because we have chosen to step into the initiation of love.
 

April 12, 2015 – Initiation In Love

04/12/15 Rev. David McArthur
Initiation In Love

Florence Scovel Schinn wrote that whatever your problem, it is a test through love. If you meet it with love, your problem is solved. If not, the problem continues. Your problem is your initiation in love.

The first sign we have a problem is criticism. We define someone or something as “not ok” and put energy into confirming that. Catherine Ponder says that when you run down others’ problems or affairs you open your consciousness to become run down. It’s fear that constricts us, and then less good in health and finances flows into our lives.
But even where we feel powerless, we do have power. In this community we know we have the power to hold the consciousness to transform. Then we all are strengthened.

A man was seriously depressed and wasn’t working. At the same time, the 19 year old son was on the verge of losing his college career, and the emotionally disturbed 13 year old’s anger was becoming increasingly violent. Their 12 year old sister’s teachers reported she was withdrawing from the world. Additionally, the mother had only one kidney, and it was diseased. Then the lady heard “Love has the power to overcome any problem.” Desperate, she committed to find out if it were true. She had no options. Every time she found herself being critical of someone, she would write in a notebook, “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” Every time. Thought after thought, day after day. Within six weeks her husband got out of bed, bathed and cut his hair and started work! He opened to a flow. The 19 year old got a job that covered his tuition! And in the last three weeks the 13 year old had not had a single violent episode. The girl’s teacher called to say she was now making friends. The woman’s kidney healed and she got a job!

With our fear we feed the negative energy. But we do have a choice. Charles Fillmore said, “The more we talk about love the more it comes into our experience… You may trust love to get you out of your difficulty.” It’s a universal truth and an application of Jesus’ teaching about loving your enemies. The Tao teaches to love the world as yourself. Then you can care for all things. It’s the basis of the Ho’o pono pono practice that “when I change, the world around me changes.”

I’m betting there’s someone in your life you feel is in need of your criticism. (And the most difficult one is yourself.) “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” It’s a sacred spiritual assignment because we have chosen to step into the initiation of love.

Play

April 5, 2015 – Resurrection: The Vision Keeper & Forgiveness

04/05/15 Rev. David McArthur
Easter Sunday Message
Resurrection: The Vision Keeper & Forgiveness

Every Easter story begins with the experience of dawn, the coming of light where there was darkness. Mary, Jesus’ mother, had been the one person at the cross who was different from everyone else. For her son, she was a vision-keeper, someone who holds for others the awareness of their potential within as powerful spiritual beings for complete healing.

I remember the experience of another mother who was a spiritual seeker, too. How she got a call that her daughter had been in an accident and was in a coma, and that if her daughter ever woke up, she’d not be able to speak or take care of herself, that she would never walk again. This mother responded with, “I don’t believe that. The God I know is greater than the limitation that you tell me.” This vision-keeper reached out to over 3000 people to be in attunement with her daughter, and when she got to speak to her, her daughter awakened. The young woman began to recover. She learned to focus the brain that had been so damaged. Today she is an active, vibrant member of our community. She took a hold of that power and presence within her and used it to build a life of wholeness. Her vision-keeper, her mother, wrote a poem of what Mary must have felt.

I must let Him go. My arms would hold him close, though; my heart would hold Him dear, as that place in the stable long ago, for He is not mine to keep. He belongs to the One that gave Him to me. So I must let Him go, though my heart cries as He suffers so, and I want to keep Him for me. His path has been laid since before the world was to show us the kingdom within. So I know that I must let Him go.

How many people do we have in our lives that are in pain, in struggle, addiction, loss, lack. We are their vision-keepers. And we have the incredible spiritual honor of knowing with them who they are, no matter what. The potential of resurrection in their lives is always there. Hold that for family and friends, and (the hardest one of all) for yourself. It is the only reason we are on that journey. Step into that dawn, that consciousness. Break apart that which is less; bring forth what is more. Say “Yes!” to this consciousness of wholeness.

There’s one more piece that brings about this demonstration of resurrection, this new awareness, something we accomplish with the spiritual power within us. Jesus had to do that. For Jesus at the cross there is one moment that makes the entire difference. Had this moment not happened I do not believe we’d be celebrating this event today. It’s the moment of forgiveness. This wonderful intelligence and power that flows within us gets blocked by our resentments, by our judgments. His response was, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” One of the greatest moments in the change of consciousness in the history of humankind.

That prayer to “Father”, the presence and power within, for forgiveness released that block within Himself so there was no resentment, no judgment. The way I usually get to forgiveness is called “desperate” prayer, at the point nothing else is working. At the most painful spot in my life that’s what I did, and it released me from the resentment and pain. Not the physical pain—the other pain: we are separate, right and wrong, who does what. In that beautiful experience of forgiveness we take the “wrong”, the lesser, and we turn our vision to this all-loving goodness of God. That is freeing; that is wholeness. It is always there. So what ever is going on, here is the truth: “There is only one presence, one power in your life—the all-loving goodness of God.” Step into that new day, that beautiful wholeness and fullness. As spiritual beings it is the desire of that presence to bring it forth in our lives. What a joy it is to step into that love without any limitations! There is absolutely nothing whatsoever that anyone of us can do to lessen that love. It’s just not possible. From His experience on that first Easter, Jesus has become the symbol of the all-loving. And because you are, I am grateful!

Play

April 5, 2015 – Resurrection: The Vision Keeper & Forgiveness


04/05/15 Rev. David McArthur
Resurrection: The Vision Keeper & Forgiveness

Every Easter story begins with the experience of dawn, the coming of light where there was darkness. Mary, Jesus’ mother, had been the one person at the cross who was different from everyone else. For her son, she was a vision-keeper, someone who holds for others the awareness of their potential within as powerful spiritual beings for complete healing.

I remember the experience of another mother who was a spiritual seeker, too. How she got a call that her daughter had been in an accident and was in a coma, and that if her daughter ever woke up, she’d not be able to speak or take care of herself, that she would never walk again. This mother responded with, “I don’t believe that. The God I know is greater than the limitation that you tell me.” This vision-keeper reached out to over 3000 people to be in attunement with her daughter, and when she got to speak to her, her daughter awakened. The young woman began to recover. She learned to focus the brain that had been so damaged. Today she is an active, vibrant member of our community. She took a hold of that power and presence within her and used it to build a life of wholeness. Her vision-keeper, her mother, wrote a poem of what Mary must have felt.

I must let Him go. My arms would hold him close, though; my heart would hold Him dear, as that place in the stable long ago, for He is not mine to keep. He belongs to the One that gave Him to me. So I must let Him go, though my heart cries as He suffers so, and I want to keep Him for me. His path has been laid since before the world was to show us the kingdom within. So I know that I must let Him go.

How many people do we have in our lives that are in pain, in struggle, addiction, loss, lack. We are their vision-keepers. And we have the incredible spiritual honor of knowing with them who they are, no matter what. The potential of resurrection in their lives is always there. Hold that for family and friends, and (the hardest one of all) for yourself. It is the only reason we are on that journey. Step into that dawn, that consciousness. Break apart that which is less; bring forth what is more. Say “Yes!” to this consciousness of wholeness.

There’s one more piece that brings about this demonstration of resurrection, this new awareness, something we accomplish with the spiritual power within us. Jesus had to do that. For Jesus at the cross there is one moment that makes the entire difference. Had this moment not happened I do not believe we’d be celebrating this event today. It’s the moment of forgiveness. This wonderful intelligence and power that flows within us gets blocked by our resentments, by our judgments. His response was, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” One of the greatest moments in the change of consciousness in the history of humankind.

That prayer to “Father”, the presence and power within, for forgiveness released that block within Himself so there was no resentment, no judgment. The way I usually get to forgiveness is called “desperate” prayer, at the point nothing else is working. At the most painful spot in my life that’s what I did, and it released me from the resentment and pain. Not the physical pain—the other pain: we are separate, right and wrong, who does what. In that beautiful experience of forgiveness we take the “wrong”, the lesser, and we turn our vision to this all-loving goodness of God. That is freeing; that is wholeness. It is always there. So what ever is going on, here is the truth: “There is only one presence, one power in your life—the all-loving goodness of God.” Step into that new day, that beautiful wholeness and fullness. As spiritual beings it is the desire of that presence to bring it forth in our lives. What a joy it is to step into that love without any limitations! There is absolutely nothing whatsoever that anyone of us can do to lessen that love. It’s just not possible. From His experience on that first Easter, Jesus has become the symbol of the all-loving. And because you are, I am grateful!
 

March 29, 2015 – Being Completely Connected

03/29/15 Rita Marie Johnson
Being Completely Connected

I was exhausted from overwork and desperate for peace. One night I remembered “coherence” and that it was how to move into peace. I fell asleep and dreamt that the phone rang. I picked it up, “Hello”? “This is God.” “Okayyy…” “You’ve been trying to do too much. Just work on you Rasur Foundation and everything will be all right.” So I resigned from the University and other work. I see now it lead straight to the success of the Foundation and all the way to my new book that I am releasing here today!

I usually didn’t pray until I got desperate about something. I wasn’t connected. My inner phone was off the hook. I led a life of connect—disconnect. Connect—disconnect. You see, my feelings had been taking me away from being connected. But I learned to open, to go under my feelings and find my needs which produced the feelings, and it was coherence that would get me to insight and answers.

And then I got a shock—lymphoma! It was now really time for me to learn to pray. I turned to Myrtle Fillmore’s story. She would take a picture of Jesus as her point of focus. She would talk out loud. She probably told Him she was stuck, that she was discouraged and confused. “I don’t know what I’m doing to block divine healing.” So I did what I imagine Myrtle had done, and I also used the three steps of non-violent communication as prayer. First you name your feelings. There is scientific evidence that this reduces the amygdala’s reactions. Then name your needs. This activates our empathy and we become more compassionate. Thirdly, move into coherence in your heart. The positive aspects, or “good mood” of coherence then enable insight to come to you. My insight was “Look among your virtues.” That didn’t make sense. A virtue blocking me? Oh, I realized, I always thought it was a virtue to keep my feelings to myself. So I won’t swallow them anymore. That’s what is making me sick.

Myrtle had applied it every day and she was healed. So I’d do it every day, not just when I needed it the most. For the first time I had a rich rewarding prayer life. For example, with my lymphoma, I couldn’t fund raise for Rasur. So I named my feelings and needs. That takes the “charge” off. (I have them; they don’t have me.) This time I got “Stand in the glory of the gift you have to give.” What? Oh..if I embody what I teach (to pray every day) then my finances and needs will be met. And they were!

I’d been focused on all that stuff “out there”. We must have a rich prayer life to have any changes in the world. This is the first time I have shared my prayer life. We are divinely designed to become completely connected. Say, I am completely connected through prayer. I am completely connected through prayer. I am completely connected through prayer.

Play

March 29, 2015 – Being Completely Connected


03/29/15 Rita Marie Johnson
Being Completely Connected

I was exhausted from overwork and desperate for peace. One night I remembered “coherence” and that it was how to move into peace. I fell asleep and dreamt that the phone rang. I picked it up, “Hello”? “This is God.” “Okayyy…” “You’ve been trying to do too much. Just work on you Rasur Foundation and everything will be all right.” So I resigned from the University and other work. I see now it lead straight to the success of the Foundation and all the way to my new book that I am releasing here today!

I usually didn’t pray until I got desperate about something. I wasn’t connected. My inner phone was off the hook. I led a life of connect—disconnect. Connect—disconnect. You see, my feelings had been taking me away from being connected. But I learned to open, to go under my feelings and find my needs which produced the feelings, and it was coherence that would get me to insight and answers.

And then I got a shock—lymphoma! It was now really time for me to learn to pray. I turned to Myrtle Fillmore’s story. She would take a picture of Jesus as her point of focus. She would talk out loud. She probably told Him she was stuck, that she was discouraged and confused. “I don’t know what I’m doing to block divine healing.” So I did what I imagine Myrtle had done, and I also used the three steps of non-violent communication as prayer. First you name your feelings. There is scientific evidence that this reduces the amygdala’s reactions. Then name your needs. This activates our empathy and we become more compassionate. Thirdly, move into coherence in your heart. The positive aspects, or “good mood” of coherence then enable insight to come to you. My insight was “Look among your virtues.” That didn’t make sense. A virtue blocking me? Oh, I realized, I always thought it was a virtue to keep my feelings to myself. So I won’t swallow them anymore. That’s what is making me sick.

Myrtle had applied it every day and she was healed. So I’d do it every day, not just when I needed it the most. For the first time I had a rich rewarding prayer life. For example, with my lymphoma, I couldn’t fund raise for Rasur. So I named my feelings and needs. That takes the “charge” off. (I have them; they don’t have me.) This time I got “Stand in the glory of the gift you have to give.” What? Oh..if I embody what I teach (to pray every day) then my finances and needs will be met. And they were!

I’d been focused on all that stuff “out there”. We must have a rich prayer life to have any changes in the world. This is the first time I have shared my prayer life. We are divinely designed to become completely connected. Say, I am completely connected through prayer. I am completely connected through prayer. I am completely connected through prayer.

March 22, 2015 – Beauty & the Beast, Part 2: Embracing the Pain


03/22/15 Rev. David McArthur
Beauty & the Beast, Part 2: Healing the Pain

Our assignment last week was to heal our pain from past relationships. A change of perception will move us to the wholeness that we are. “Beauty & the Beast” talks of this spiritual awakening. It pictures the Kingdom of Heaven where divine love is caring for and supporting us in every moment. We can see the gifts (but not the giver). We can enter into our heart, into the feeling of goodness, the divine presence, by breathing the feeling of ease. But to grasp spiritual awareness is to forfeit life as we have known it.

Beauty (our feeling side) consciously enters the presence of the ugly fearsome Beast. How do we move into the conscious presence of “ugly” (the pain we carry from past experiences)? We must accept and be aware of it consciously. Breathe ease and hold the feelings in the heart. If we are in our head we go into the blame circle. But in the heart the spiritual energy holds it without judgment. It just is.

Beauty’s perception of the Beast begins to change. She still sees ugly, but also sees nobility, caring, and wisdom. Simply holding the ugly in our heart we begin to see more. Our perception changes. Beauty asks for some time to return to her family and what she misses. The Beast won’t refuse her anything, but warns “if you don’t return I will die.” If we don’t return to healing, the opportunity to heal changes. So Beauty returns to her family and soon forgets her promise to go back to the castle. She dreams one night she is in the castle and the Beast has died. So the next day she hurries back to the castle with intention, searching out of care for what had previously been frightening and ugly to her. She has grown.

Drafted to serve in Viet Nam, Arthur’s love for his wife Marina carried him through the ugliness he found there. Unfortunately, she found another and broke his heart. He used meaningless relationships, drugs and alcohol to cope, until he realized he had to change. He found a new relationship and happily remarried. Then Marina arrived to make amends. His terrible heartache returned. He had moved on but had not healed. The purpose of forgiveness is not to develop excellent coping mechanisms, but to heal the pain and find freedom from it. He went to his heart, where he had compassion for his pain that was real. He healed, and now says, “whenever I recall those days, I can do it with a smile…I can experience that goodness because it is here.”

Beauty finds the Beast near death. Compassion washes over her. You too can embrace the ugly within and feel the compassion in your heart. The tears of compassion break the ugliness and there is only healing, beauty, love, wholeness, freedom. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. That beautiful power and light that flows through us is no longer blocked and flows to those around us and creates that state of consciousness known as “happily ever after”!
 

March 22, 2015 – Beauty & the Beast, Part 2: Embracing the Pain

03/22/15 Rev. David McArthur
Beauty & the Beast, Part 2: Healing the Pain

Our assignment last week was to heal our pain from past relationships. A change of perception will move us to the wholeness that we are. “Beauty & the Beast” talks of this spiritual awakening. It pictures the Kingdom of Heaven where divine love is caring for and supporting us in every moment. We can see the gifts (but not the giver). We can enter into our heart, into the feeling of goodness, the divine presence, by breathing the feeling of ease. But to grasp spiritual awareness is to forfeit life as we have known it.

Beauty (our feeling side) consciously enters the presence of the ugly fearsome Beast. How do we move into the conscious presence of “ugly” (the pain we carry from past experiences)? We must accept and be aware of it consciously. Breathe ease and hold the feelings in the heart. If we are in our head we go into the blame circle. But in the heart the spiritual energy holds it without judgment. It just is.

Beauty’s perception of the Beast begins to change. She still sees ugly, but also sees nobility, caring, and wisdom. Simply holding the ugly in our heart we begin to see more. Our perception changes. Beauty asks for some time to return to her family and what she misses. The Beast won’t refuse her anything, but warns “if you don’t return I will die.” If we don’t return to healing, the opportunity to heal changes. So Beauty returns to her family and soon forgets her promise to go back to the castle. She dreams one night she is in the castle and the Beast has died. So the next day she hurries back to the castle with intention, searching out of care for what had previously been frightening and ugly to her. She has grown.

Drafted to serve in Viet Nam, Arthur’s love for his wife Marina carried him through the ugliness he found there. Unfortunately, she found another and broke his heart. He used meaningless relationships, drugs and alcohol to cope, until he realized he had to change. He found a new relationship and happily remarried. Then Marina arrived to make amends. His terrible heartache returned. He had moved on but had not healed. The purpose of forgiveness is not to develop excellent coping mechanisms, but to heal the pain and find freedom from it. He went to his heart, where he had compassion for his pain that was real. He healed, and now says, “whenever I recall those days, I can do it with a smile…I can experience that goodness because it is here.”

Beauty finds the Beast near death. Compassion washes over her. You too can embrace the ugly within and feel the compassion in your heart. The tears of compassion break the ugliness and there is only healing, beauty, love, wholeness, freedom. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. That beautiful power and light that flows through us is no longer blocked and flows to those around us and creates that state of consciousness known as “happily ever after”!

Play