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March 20, 2011 – Tsunami of Love

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3/20/11 Reverend David McArthur

The past two weeks have brought unbelievable natural disasters in Japan and new political unrest in northern Africa. How are we to respond? What is this all about? Yes, we know we are in a time of accelerating change, so we are not really surprised. Edgar Cayce said these things would happen. If he knew it, then you knew it when you chose to enter into this life. You understood the times you were entering into –times of great change to the earth and governments and our financial systems. You didn’t come to be affected by the changes but to affect those changes by knowing and remembering who you are –spiritual beings living in a spiritual world governed by spiritual laws.

There is a second tsunami of emotion that spreads out from the disaster, one of fear, pain, helplessness, powerlessness. In the movie “What the Bleep” Dr. Masaru Emoto showed us how our thoughts affect the structure of water; that they do affect the physical world. Our job, then, is to respond with a tsunami ourselves– to effect healing of the Earth itself. Send prayer, love, and care. Your thought affects the physical world.

Q: How is it our consciousness affects the world? A: Directly. Go into loving support. We aren’t helping anybody when we “get down in pity” with them. We have the power to transform stress in others. You came to send a tsunami of love that sweeps through mankind, that touches the earth, the animals, all the people. Do you choose to? The “worst case scenario” is not a reality, but the fear of it is real. When it sweeps over others it is time for us to send a tsunami of love. Love casts out fear.

All this is about a new birth of consciousness for all mankind. When we relate to each other, there Unifying Intelligence flows through us. We know GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME. That goodness is right there. We send out the truth of the wholeness that this is all about. Whenever you see people inflicting pain and cruelty on others you know it’s time to go to your heart, whether you understand them or not. We are just us learning and growing. It’s time to be immersed in this tsunami of love. We came to help all to move into a state of awareness, the more the “I” of us awakens and the love moves through all of us. Our work is to send out that tsunami of love.

March 13, 2011 – Finding The Joy

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3/13/11 Reverend Susan Galvan, Community Life Minister, Unity of Walnut Creek

We can think of ourselves as a plain, ordinary wooden cup, not trusting oneself to have the wisdom or the knowledge to form our own judgments. Then we come to realize there is more to life than just “sticking it out” until death. We begin a journey of self exploration, building a new sense of self– bigger, more durable, shinier. Feeling empowered, we develop a highly polished self, like a shiny silver cup. Then we sense there may be more, a deeper level beyond self. We ask, “How can we be of service? What is our purpose?” But are we waiting for a telegram from God with our job description? If we listen, the still small voice inside asks, “Why not find the joy this time?” But service is hard work and it takes a lot out of you. How can joy and service go together? Discover that it isn’t so much what you do but a shift in your awareness. With a sense of gratitude, service is joyful. The joy becomes exuberance, like a bubbling fountain. Life has transparency. It is not obstructed by “stuff”. It rings, it has resonance, like a crystal goblet. But a crystal goblet is more vulnerable than a wooden or silver cup. Your vulnerability is your willingness to be open to the service of the divine.

Unity of Walnut Creek has changed. We now see the world beyond us, the divine beyond us. There is a flow back and forth from the outside to the inside and out again. Each of us as individuals can find a path of service to see through the transparency and see the divine in everything we do. The life we share here deserves the best we have to give joyfully. Find the joy this time. Pray–

Beloved Presence,
To Thee I raise my whole being, a vessel emptied of self.
Accept, Lord, This my emptiness, and so fill me with
Thyself – Thy Light, Thy Love, Thy Life –
That these Thy precious gifts may radiate through me
And overflow the chalice of my heart
Into the hearts of all with whom I come in contact this day,
Revealing unto them the beauty of Thy joy and Wholeness
And the serenity of Thy Peace
Which nothing can destroy.

March 6, 2011 – The Path of Letting Go

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3/6/11   Reverend David McArthur

How do we let go of what no longer serves us? –of judgments and of judging ourselves? What do we really let go of?

There are 2 processes. 1) affirmation– which we are pretty good at, and 2) denial, which is taking power away from what no longer serves. It is “letting go” of hurt and pain. And also it is letting go of the wonderful things when it is time to move on!

When we try to let go with the head we suppress the feelings, which show up again because there has been no completion. In Unity we have a different way. It is through the power of the heart. We complete what is there. Sometimes it is easy; sometimes we have a lot of drama and pain. Doing it with the heart completes it and it no longer has power over us. When you walk away with peace, you really get to walk away. How?

1. Be honest with yourself. Admit the anger, hurt, or loss that you feel. Look honestly and connect with yourself in a deeper way.

2. Have compassion for yourself when you feel hurt, pain, and loss, and even when you have a wonderful experience that comes to completion. Compassion heals. Understand the pain, but feel the love, the compassion, that sense of care. Feel that touch of the divine which heals. Hold the feelings in your compassion, where the healing takes place. Compassion is love– God’s healing love in you.

3. Feel appreciation. Feel gratitude for what you have gained– the compassion, the wisdom which you can now use in this journey. You are a wise, spiritual being. Say, “Look what I did!– at what I have gained! Look at what I gave myself!”

4. Be neutral. Hold the situation, the feelings in your heart. They are not good, not bad. They don’t have to end, they don’t have to continue. Stay in your heart. Know, “Spirit is taking care of things beyond my understanding.” Let it be. Let it be and be ready for the next step.

5. Ask. The Infinite Intelligence will let it go or change it, but follow the direction you get! When you do your letting go in honesty, in compassion– it completes. The letting go is not about what you let go. It’s about what you are stepping into in Spirit. Let Spirit do Its amazing work in you!
Honesty. Compassion. Appreciation. Neutral. Ask.

Let Spirit do Its amazing work in you, and enjoy!

February 27, 2011 – Finding Our Purpose

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Reverend David McArthur

How do I know my purpose?– recognize my heart’s desire? As a spiritual being, you are an infinite soul choosing to enter into a human experience with things dear to you coded on your heart. When you are in tune with this the universe conspires to unfold the purpose you are about. The more in tune you are to that the more there is harmony and flow. You move beyond your troubles to focus on your purpose. The divine flows more effectively in you and through you. So
1. Stand up. Stand filled with the presence of the divine, in a place where you are aware of possibilities and of the blocks you have. In that space there is the past and the now and the potential of the future.
2. Now walk forward through the blocks, the limits, into the time beyond working them out.
3. Step into that future place when your beautiful purpose is in a state of fulfillment. Feel it done. It is there within you.
One of the signs of your purpose is that which has called you again and again. You have been saying “yes” to one thing after another. It is a set-up! Make that step through your limits to the Presence within you, the fulfillment of your being, your purpose, your deep passion, responding to what is meaningful to your heart without any idea of the result. Spirit will open the next door. You don’t have to know the end. Appreciate that you don’t know where it’s going. If you did, it might be harder to say yes. The purpose is already given, and in the Mind of God it is already fulfilled. Spirit is omnipresent in time and space. It’s a complete conspiracy. Divine Intelligence has the purpose of fulfilling your purpose. It has given everything that you need.
Maybe you say, “ no– I’m done with that.” When you take a side turn, your guidance system says “recalculating”. But each time you say “yes” the purpose of Spirit flows more. Have the love and respect of what is put in your heart. Spirit takes us through changes because it is growing us, and when you’re about what your heart really desires you feel wonderful. You can keep going regardless of what it takes. You are touched by commitment, no matter what the obstacle. The more you align with it the more you experience fulfillment. You are full of energy no matter how hard it was. Say yes, and then yes, and then yes! It may cause growth– but that’s what makes it fun!

February 20, 2011 – The Answer is Love

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Rev. David McArthur (Questions from the 11:30 Service)

Questions? And Answers! In order to ask a question, you already have the answer. The knowledge is within, and the question is the call by Spirit to embrace the answer.
Q: How do we love our enemies? A: As long as we think we have enemies we have work to do. The perception of “enemy” is a perception of separateness. Learning we are one is a sacred process. The “how” is in everything we do – prayer, meditation, seeking guidance, and seeing (with the love of the divine) something coming up so we can heal it. It is love.
Q: Regarding abundance, what is greed and the feeling of entitlement? A: As a spiritual being, know you are in the love of God and entitled to love in abundance. Greed is a consciousness of lack – but it is an inner lack. It invites the experience God as our source. When you open to guidance you open to the flow of abundance because we are to be of service. Align to the flow. We are entitled to abundance.
Q: How do we see someone who is suffering as healed and whole? A: See in that person the spiritual being of infinite power who takes on the challenge of suffering with courage. It is given to that person to meet the challenge with grace and it is for us to see that within them. Our wonderful Heart Ministers are committed to seeing that in us when we forget. We are not alone.
Q: How can we be open when there is resistance? A: Resistance shuts down the flow, as if saying “I’m not ok.” We’ve got infinity. It’s ok if we blow it a couple of times. Be gentle. Have compassion. You’d do it for a friend, wouldn’t you? Be willing to do it for yourself.
Q: Where do we go when we die? A: You don’t. Who you are is eternal. You give up the body – you wear it out. But you don’t wear out. Your consciousness journeys forth. Heaven and hell are not places. Hell is only a motivation to get you to church where you can be saved from it. When you are rid of the body you go to the next level, with love and peace enfolding your being. The place is here and the time is now, always!
Q: What is the metaphysical aspect of grace? A: It’s all grace. That we are here is a gift of love, like God saying,”Come, I want you to have the gift of humanity. I want you to learn of your powers and to manifest your desires.” Grace becomes the experience of who you are – the light, the power, the intelligence, the wisdom to understand the power of love that transforms from within to all the way out to the farthest part of the universe. When Jesus knew his oneness it was then understood: grace comes through and is a state of consciousness.
And the more you know that, the more fun it is!

February 13, 2011 – The Feelings of Love

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Reverend David McArthur

Valentine’s Day is when we touch the spiritual support that is within us all. We celebrate the one thing that is in all our holidays and within us all – love.
God is not a being that loves; God is love. When you are loving you are Godding. It is in the feeling where transformation happens. What is the feeling of Love?
It is in romantic love. When you see in your partner the spiritual being– when you see the beauty, the power, your heart goes into delight. That feeling is like when light hits a prism and shows all the colors, all the vibrations it is. Feeling the presence of God in the vision, it brings forth all the feelings – like appreciation, like harmony – the feeling taking us into the Presence.
It is in care for those you love. It is brought forth in action, the expression of feeling. As was taught: Then the King will say… ‘Come…take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink… Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?…The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:34-40) Love becomes care, and translates into expressions of care.
It is in compassion, as in the story of the “Good Samaritan”. Jesus asked, “Which…do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy (compassion) on him… (Luke 10: 36, 37) Even in world news, we are invited to go into compassion, as if Spirit is saying, “Love one another. My love I give to you.”
And in happiness, where there’s also a feeling of peace. A feeling of peace that is a part of love. Like exquisitely sitting together quietly in peace. That is experiencing the Presence and at that point you are love.
Amazingly, you enter into that Consciousness of love. You are that love. In that the divine is as you. You are the radiant love of God. Affirm, “I am the radiant love of God.”

February 6, 2011 – From Goo to Good with God

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Reverend David McArthur

How beautiful it is to grow in a world governed by spiritual laws!
However, GOO so often comes before GOOD. Not good as opposed to bad, but the good that is the very nature of God, the very nature of the universe, the very nature of being. Not the good of an omnipresent being, but of omnipresence, the nature of all life. Not that of an omnipotent being, but of omnipotence – the all-power that moves through you and all life. Of omniscience – not a being which is omnipotent, but the all-knowing that is you. That is the goodness and there is nothing outside of it. Remember that when you are in your “goo”. You get the choice of how much you let in when you are in your “goo”. We got to let in a little more God. Even a child knows that more love eases the way.
And we are so impatient. We want to to change our “goo” now. A middle school boy in Miami did. When he was facing another boy to fight, he remembered that he was taught that he could change things. He felt that in his heart. He spoke to that and there was no fight. He and the other boy worked it out and became friends.
Lao Tsu, in the Tao te Ching said, “She who is centered in the Tao can go where she wishes without danger.  She perceives the universal harmony even amid great pain because she has found peace in her heart.”  Only good is real. Only God is real. Only love is real. Touch that – there is nothing else. The middle school boy was centered in his heart. He “touched the Tao” and change was immediate. He transformed the physical body, and the emotional stuff was transformed from conflict to harmony – a higher state of intelligence. He transformed his state of being and changed the result.
He knew what to do, but perhaps not how it’s done or why. It is love. We paint people as “wrong”. Love transforms the perceptions we have. Love transforms reality. The way is the feeling of love. He touched that love – the Divine Presence – and got out of the “goo”.
The heart is the place where the Power and the Presence moves through and transforms your being. Some ideas we have of love aren’t really love. Learn how to love when you don’t want to. Spiritual transformation is stepping to where you are connected to the Divine Intelligence.
Then life really gets fun!

January 23, 2011 – Rapunzel: Journey to Wholeness

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Reverend David McArthur

The archetypal patterns of our spiritual journey are found in our ancient tales, like “Rapunzel”. In the beginning the woman who will become Rapunzel’s mother wants a beautiful garden flower very badly, thinking, “if I get that, I’ll be just fine.” But there is a cost for relying on the outer world for fulfillment. It will not fulfill who you are. It does not have that power.

Losing control of Rapunzel, the witch puts her in the tower. Her hair represents the long-focused thought or out-pouring of the brain. But our brains focus on fear. When we’re in fear we don’t connect with the whole of life. Rapunzel herself represents the feminine in all of us, the feelings of beauty and harmony (for which the men in our society get no support). Our growing spirituality – feelings of the Presence – are isolated in lots of us, as is Rapunzel so isolated in the tower. So she sang, her beautiful voice symbolizing attunement gained through meditation in silence. Her beautiful singing attracts the prince, who symbolizes thought, mind, knowledge. He lives with the King (God) and so the prince knows he a child of God. I’m a child of God. Rapunzel learns from the prince that she’s a child of God. I’m a spiritual being, living in a spiritual world, governed by spiritual laws. We come to awareness through focusing on spiritual things. We awaken to the power of choice.

The witch cut Rapunzel’s hair and sent her to the desert. The desert is depression. So Rapunzel no longer had choice or the support of her knowing. There is no stimulus in the desert.

The prince again climbed up the braid of hair only to find the witch, not Rapunzel. He does not choose to be with fear and so he leaps out the window. He falls in the thorny bushes below. He feels pain. He goes blind. When we run into pain we go blind – not seeing the divine, not seeing the truth. We say, “Why did God do this?” “How come I have to go through this?” It is painful. Giving up fear means you have to give up the drama. That is painful for many of us.

We must move from knowing to being. Rapunzel returns to singing, to being in harmony, to attunement. So the beauty she is comes back into her life. The prince hears her. When she sees the pain and blindness of the prince she responds with tears of compassion. Compassion heals pain. You find healing. Vision is restored. We’re able to know and understand. The power comes from within, not from anything without. Choose a greater state of being. Experience a new state of consciousness and live happily ever after.

January 16, 2011 – Commit to the Dream

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Reverend David McArthur

We live the dream we hold. If it isn’t big enough, we don’t live as fully as we are capable. Dream a higher dream. Say yes to the dream in your heart. We won’t live in a world of harmony until we decide to live in harmony with those around us in our lives. We won’t have justice or forgiveness until we live with justice and forgiveness in our own lives. The time has come to make a commitment to the dream. Say, “This is the quality of life I want.” This year, like never before.

This year is a time we’re being asked to step into our dream, a time when the power to do so will rise to levels previously hard to even hope for. Rumi: “There is a candle in your heart waiting to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you?”

Say “no” to what no longer serves. Say no to what is no longer a part of your higher dream. No is a commitment to have only that in your life which supports the life you are committed to. “To be uncommitted is to be full of hesitancy, ready to go back, ineffectiveness.” Saying no to what doesn’t work is committing to what does. That is the point where your commitments become most real. Let go of that which doesn’t work and no longer serves.

There is no holding back on the part of the Divine. From Lao Tzu: “The Tao gives birth to all beings …creating without possessing, acting without expecting, guiding without interfering. That is why love of the the Tao is in the very nature of things.” Everything you need is provided by that Infinite Intelligence which guides you when you say “yes” to the big dream. “The moment one commits oneself, Providence moves.” All sorts of things begin to occur in support of the dream. Open up to assistance you couldn’t have imagined before. Once you commit to a dream that’s big enough to fill what your soul is about, you are letting that amazing spiritual being you are live who you are. You know it because you can feel it. Feel the candle be kindled. Feel the void be filled. It’s the dream. The time has come. When you commit, when you say yes, the fun begins! Kindle that candle in your heart!

January 9, 2011 – Let Your Big, Bright, Brilliant Beam of Radiant Light Shine

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Guest Speaker: Karen Drucker

Let your big bright beam of light inside of you shine!  When you are shining your light your energy is up and it helps everybody else around you.  When you “get” your divinity you come alive.  You can see it in other people– in their eyes.  “I am the light of the world” refers to the divine light within us.  Stand up and let it shine.  Say, “When you see me you will see Spirit.”

Shining is a choice. Say, “I am not giving my power away!”  Connect to that power.  Change yourself, but only go as fast as the slowest part of you will go.  (That’s the other side of this.  Hold yourself as if you were holding a baby.)  But you will know when it is time to shine.  So practice everyday– practice kindness.  Be aware of the people around you.  Notice people.  Shine.  Twinkle.  Sing, “You are the face of God.  I hold you in my heart.  You are a part of me.  You are the face of God.”

Clutter dims down your life.  Clutter is the things that don’t represent who you are anymore– the clothes that don’t fit, the old books you read decades ago.  Everything has energy.  Are there things in your  life that no longer serve you – a job?  – a friend?  – that dim you down, even slightly.  Clutter will make you feel overwhelmed and stop you from expressing Spirit.  It is who you used to be.  You send a message to the universe that you want to stay with what you used to be.

Then what brings you joy?  Who brings you joy?  How much am I allowing life to come in?  Make a point to ask, “What is it in my life that will light me up today?” To amp yourself up and clear the clutter out, go to gratitude every morning.  Sing, “Gratitude above me.  Gratitude below me.  Gratitude before me.  Gratitude behind.  Gratitude to the left of me.  Gratitude to the right of me.  Gratitude above me.  Gratitude below me.  Gratitude within me.  Gratitude all around me.  I’m so grateful!  I’m so grateful!  I’m so grateful!  I’m so grateful!  I’m so grateful!

Affirm, I am a big bright radiant being of radiant life!  I shine that light to everyone everywhere!