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October 7, 2012 – Cut It Loose

by

10/07/12 Rev. Sheila Gautreaux

Cut It Loose

Have you ever held onto a dead end job, or a marriage which had run its course? A fig tree that did not bear any figs was cursed by Jesus. It withered and died right in front of Him and the disciples. He told them they could do what He did if they were aligned with their power. They could tell a mountain to move and it would be moved.

Metaphorically, the fig tree represents the human essence, the mind energy, which manifests our lives. The mountain, the seemingly insurmountable things in our lives which consume our resources without producing. How can we let these things go, fearing we’ll have nothing after that? Realize when something is not producing it is standing in the way of your own good. It’s an opportunity to say, “Hey God, where are You? I want to see You. I want to know You.” Awaken to who you are, to the power you are.

When do we cut a job loose? When we are more and more miserable. When we can’t remember the last time we felt any joy in it. When we resent going to it. A marriage? When you have done all you can. When you have done all the therapy and praying to come together. Cut it loose. The flight attendants are told when the smoke is too thick, when the water is too deep, when the fire is too near—get out and save yourself.

There is fear of letting go. “I don’t know. I can’t do it. I’m not worthy”. There is fear of being left alone. But you can’t be alone! We are together in our Mother|Father God. Know it’s going to be wonderful. You are a child of the universe and it conspires for you to get what you need and desire. What created you is standing ready to give you all you need to be what you were created to be!
First, open your mind to see what prevents you from cutting it loose—fear—doubt—a core belief? Then open your hand to receive, a finger at a time if you need to. A closed hand gives the universe no opportunity. It is conspiring to fill the void. Then bless this “mountain”; send it on its way to reach its highest good. And forgive it. It served you, it served your soul.

That job—cut it loose. That dead end relationship—cut it loose. That house you are holding onto which does not bring joy—cut it loose! That fig tree that no longer serves—cut it loose!

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September 30, 2012 – Love in Action: Commitment to Love

by

9/30/12 Rev. David McArthur

Love in Action: Commitment to Love

In a monastery in a beautiful valley, the monks were growing older. The abbot was concerned about the monastery surviving. His friend the rabbi couldn’t think of any way to help, but told the abbot, “I dreamt one of your monks was the messiah.” The abbot shared this with the monks. Silently, each wondered which brother it might be, or even if it might not be himself. So each one resolved to do better. As if a special wind had blown through the monastery, activity increased. The monks’ efforts to serve others and the surrounding community increased. Once again men from the community became interested in joining the order.

What a difference it makes when we see the beautiful divine presence in each other and within ourselves!

Another community saw how their old buildings no longer served them. After seeking guidance they decided to renew their place. There had just been enough money to meet existing needs, but different members pledged to do more. Then in their country a great recession hit, and fear gripped everyone. Some in the community lost their jobs, some lost their houses. They again prayed. “Should we go forward?” A curious answer came back that yes, they should go forward. They knew the real source of their abundance. In the face of the fear, they each committed to give from their resources. They built a beautiful center for themselves and all who hear of it. And the times got better for all. It had to start somewhere.

The change came from how they began to see each other—how they saw the divine in each other—and, what’s even harder, seeing the divine within themselves. It is easy to see who that was, as today we are celebrating our second year in our new buildings. The commitment we made was to honor the divine love that we are. Say to each other, “I commit to honor the love you are.” “I commit to being Divine Love in action.”
You cannot choose to be divine love—it is what you are! You cannot get away from it. But you can commit to putting divine love into action. That is what is the power! The wholeness! The wisdom! The abundance! You are!

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September 23, 2012 – Ho’o Pono Pono: The Four Steps

by

9/23/12 Rev. David McArthur

Ho’o Pono Pono: The Four Steps

Dr. Hew Len, in Hawaii, healed so many patients that the ward was closed in just three years. He did this without therapy. He did it by working on himself, using Ho’o pono pono.

We believe what is out there is a reflection of what we have within. If it is in your world it is a part of you. If you don’t like what you see, you can clean it out. You have the power to change it.

The divine always expresses to us in wholeness and harmony. You cannot hold back the divine wholeness within you, the perfection which is you. So when something shows up, use these four steps. However, while thinking them might make a difference, it will not transform you. To transform, instead of saying “I love you”, feel it. Thinking is nice, but doing the loving is transformative.

1st is “I love you.” FEEL it, if you want transformation. Your love goes to that part of yourself that is out-picturing the disharmony. The part of you which is divine love goes to it, too, and has all the power. It is waiting for you to ask.

2nd is “I’m sorry.” FEEL free to let go. If you remain in your head, your head will give you all the reasons “they” were wrong. Reasons don’t matter here. Have the willingness to let go. “I didn’t mean to create disharmony.” This is repentance.

3rd is “Please forgive me.” FEEL the deep desire for freedom. The disharmony has no place in your life anymore. Ask the divine presence to remove it, to free you fully.

4th is “Thank you” and it is easy. We FEEL fully the appreciation for, and complete acceptance of, what is given.
God will heal anything in your heart. She will remove any limits, if you want to feel better.

A NASA rocket was hopelessly off course. It had no self guidance system, and one of the scientists knew they had no control. She went to prayer. She had done some Ho’o pono pono work before, so she called Dr. Len in Hawaii who does the “unseen” work. With his guidance, she told the rocket, “I love you”. They worked the four steps of Ho’o pono pono, and the rocket self-corrected!

What are you one with? Ask yourself. —That amazing power!

“Thank you!”

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September 16, 2012 – Ho’o Pono Pono – I Love You

by

9/16/12 Rev. David McArthur

Ho’o Pono Pono / “I Love You”

I want to touch something new. When we pray we connect with the divine presence and hold in mind someone we care about. Then we want the universe to bring healing to them. But there is a teaching that what is out there is a reflection of what is within us, and we can get rid of it. So we have some control. We can do something.

Dr. Hew Len was counselor for the criminally insane at a Hawaiian hospital . The patients had committed the most violent, heinous crimes. But Dr. Len didn’t meet with the patients. He didn’t interview anybody. He practiced ho’o pono pono. It says all is within, so he worked on himself!  Several weeks passed and the customary daily violence in the ward lessened. Inmates began cooperating and forming into active, productive groups. With the exception of only two inmates, the entire ward of thirty patients was healed in three years and the ward was closed. “I had to take completely within myself the responsibility for what I was experiencing. I had to clear myself of toxic thoughts and replace them with love.”

Gandhi’s approach was slightly different. Observing the violence as India struggled for national freedom, he fasted to remove from within himself whatever might have contributed to the violence that he saw outside himself. He practiced a complete focus and dependence on the love of God. The violence stopped.

Is it all here, inside? You don’t need to understand. Spirit will bring meaning to you. Just hold the idea in your heart in neutral. When you see that which you want healed, the response is these words: “I love you.” Whether it is a reflection from the collective unconscious within, or a remembered pattern, the response is “I love you.” If you want to free someone in your world, say, “I love you.” To that within yourself, say “I love you.” To that Divine Presence, say, “I love you.”

What an amazing way to learn our oneness! —That you have the power within to transform the world around you. You have that power and I share it with you simply because “I love you!”

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September 9, 2012 – Spirit in Healing

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9/9/12 Rev. David McArthur & Dr. Len Saputo

Spirit in Healing

We have the most effective bio-feedback instrument ever created. It tells us when it’s time to do some spiritual work. It’s called the body. Spiritual Life comes into the world, and into our experience, as the body.

Dr. Len Saputo supports us via the medical profession. “My work and your work, [David], is the same work.” Body attune-ment can be medical or spiritual. The body is not just different parts, but one thing—integrated mind, body, and spirit. We are spiritual beings on a physical path.

Two years ago Dr. Saputo had a hip replacement but developed a life-threatening case of cobalt poisoning. “I made peace with God because I was totally convinced I would die.” Dr. Saputo’s colleagues were convinced he had an infection, as the cobalt poisoning in this kind of situation was relatively unknown. But Dr. Saputo’s insight and guidance from within said it was something different. “God and I had a chat. I became humble; I knew dying was not my decision. But I had family and friends; I had knowledge to share. So I let go and told God, ‘Whatever it is You want, it’s ok.’” Where ever you go there are always advisers, but the decider is always within. “It was frightening to go against my colleagues. But my heart was telling me something different.” After the second hip replacement surgery, Dr.Saputo was told there was no infection. It had been the cobalt poisoning.

We need to evolve to a higher level of consciousness and ask, “How can I be of service; what can I give or share?” It’s a matter of Trust. Let go and let God do the work. He knows what he’s doing. All the worry in the world won’t solve anything. And when we accept our inner guidance there comes a feeling of peace. It’s part of knowing we are really connected—the overwhelming feeling of peace.

Another part of an experience like this, in which you are asked to let go and let God, is coming forward into the next level of service and purpose of life. It is saying, “yes”. You can revolve around all that’s going wrong in our world, or you can stop and evolve. Just do the first foot of your “1000 mile journey”. Without you doing it, it won’t happen. That will change the world, little by little. You might evolve a few friends, or a city! Do it together and we will have a better world!

That spiritual flow is you—you are the wisdom and power that is here to uplift the world. Say yes!

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September 2, 2012 – Myrtle Fillmore on Healing

by

9/2/12 Rev. David McArthur

Myrtle Fillmore on Healing

As a spiritual being journeying through a human experience, we go through the experience of healing. The dream of a young school girl shows us the symbols of healing– “Stepping out of the forest she sees a beautiful stream with a sandy bottom, but no water is flowing. Along the sides there are bowls of water, so water is present but not flowing. Upstream there is a large rock outcropping, appearing to block the flow. Down stream there are more large stones. She asks, “Where is the water?” Water itself seems to answer her, welling up over the rocks upstream and filling the stream before her.”

The young girl was Myrtle Fillmore. When a grown woman she developed tuberculosis and was given less than 2 years to live. Interpreting her childhood dream, she explained that the flow of water was the flow of life inside her, and that the lack of flow was her experience of the TB. She then healed herself by taking the time everyday to go and be alone. She had a second empty chair there with her. She said it represented the presence of Jesus Christ, which she referred to as that consciousness of Jesus committed to the full awareness of the Christ, master over the physical world. Thus she was thereby taking complete responsibility for her physical well being.

Hear the love she brings to her body in this process as she directed these words to various parts of her body: (speak them aloud to bring in a powerful healing vibration)

My liver is full of vigor and energy.
My stomach is not weak or inefficient, but energetic and strong.
My abdomen is all a-thrill with the sweet, pure, wholesome energy of God.
My eyes express the sight of Spirit, drawing upon an unlimited source. They are young, clear, bright eyes shining the light of God right through them.
In my heart the pure love of Christ flows in and out by its beating.
The life centers in my body are free unlimited Spirit, centers of life and energy omnipresent.
I do not let any worried or anxious thoughts into my mind.
Jesus Christ is with me and helps me to think and speak only kind, loving, true words.

Remember you are free unlimited Spirit. What fun it is to tell your body to get well and get going!

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August 26, 2012 – Love is the Most Powerful Prayer

by

8/26/12 Rev. David McArthur

Love is the Most Powerful Prayer

Whatever is within our awareness is part of our consciousness. This is not always comfortable now that we know we are one with the power that makes us. Remember the good old days when we could blame our problems on someone else? Now it’s, “What is this that shows up in my world?”
Byron and Marsha Smith were shocked when Byron’s MRI came back showing inoperable cancer. He was given a month or two to live. The following day was spent sharing their special memories of their love together. Then friends and relatives remembered them in prayer, including Marsha’s father who told them when he prayed he clearly got the feeling everything would be all right. By going from fear to love Byron and Marsha opened another possibility, a whole other level of power and energy which healed Byron—he was subsequently found to be cancer-free! With darkness gone, full potential was embraced.
Eastern philosophy says this world is transient illusion. The Bhagavad Gita says that for those who love Krishna, he will dwell in their hearts and destroy darkness born of ignorance with the shining lamp of knowledge. But isn’t there something missing, something more?
Jesus went further, saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind… And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” He also said, “…as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” When you see someone else with a problem, it is part of your consciousness. So ask, “What is mine to do?” If Krishna is in the heart, who have you loved when you love your neighbor? It is the ultimate experience of understanding and love.
Whatever is going on now in your world where there is a limit—physical pain, poor relationships, financial difficulty—if you choose to love, the barriers will be removed. No matter who or what it is, just send your love. That is the greatest teaching. Then what is there is filled with light. You are divine light. That’s what you are. Call it Krishna, Jesus, or God, it is love. Affirm, “I am divine love. I am transforming my world.” We have work ahead, and it’s going to be fun!

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August 19, 2012 – Pooh & Eeyore on Prayer

by

8/19/12 Rev. David McArthur

Pooh & Eeyore on Prayer

On their way to see Eeyore, Pooh and Piglet stop at a warm place in the wood. “We’ll call this Pooh Corner.”  And using sticks piled up nearby, they build Eeyore a house, as they think he has none. At about the same time Eeyore knocks on Christopher Robin’s door. Even though he lived in the coldest, gloomiest part of the wood, he wanted to go home—but his house was gone! (Christopher Robin represents the Christ Spirit; the Hundred Acre Wood is His and He takes care of everything in it.) They meet Pooh and Piglet who want to show them the house they built for Eeyore. However, it soon becomes apparent to them that they had used the pile of sticks Eeyore had up until then called home. But look! See how nice this new home is! And Eeyore agrees that it is as warm and nice as they say. Is Eeyore in any of us? Do we build in an uncomfortable place just because we’re convinced it “had to be that way”? It might be the health thing, the relationship thing, or that chewing-on-yourself-inside thing.

The doctor told Mandy Hastings that even if her two year old son lives, he’ll be severely handicapped. “No,” she said, “he will be fine.” A gravestone had fallen over onto her boy’s head, and while she and her husband were waiting for lifeflight, she prayed. She says a peace swept over her and she heard, “Everything’s going to be fine. Matthew is in My hands.” Yes, she most likely began praying from fear, but she moved her attention off of the data pouring in (that her brain was using to figure out how bad things were). She moved from fear to that place of love and connection with divine presence and power. Look for that level that brings forth health and vitality. You don’t need to ask anymore for anything. It is there within you. You are that power, that force. The boy was home in two weeks, and is a happy, healthy teen today.

Take a glance at what you’re building. If it’s “not quite enough” or “just enough to get by” or “that’s just the way I am”—it is the Eeyore within you. Activate the greater potential within you through the experience of the love, the pure light of energy of the divine which you are. Build your house, and live, at “Pooh Corner”!

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August 12, 2012 – Rev. David’s Forgiveness Experience

by

8/12/12 Rev. David McArthur

Rev. David’s Forgiveness Experience

It is important that we let go of what keeps us bound. We experience pain, hurt, and loss as part of life. What is important is what we do with them. After the murder of my first wife, in those night times, I felt anger and hate. They are natural and there is nothing wrong in feeling them. But when I was in anger and hate I was not in the place of love. Love and hate are not two sides of the same coin.

Our baby girl lost everything. Less than a year old, to her, her mother was everything. I could not bring to her all the love and care she needed if I were still attached to the hate. So I prayed to be done with the hurt and anger. After that it was a little easier to pull myself away from them. But it did not take them away.

One afternoon I was playing with blocks on the floor with our daughter. When I sat back on the couch I saw that she was still playing with someone. She was playing like she was in the presence of her mother. I was overwhelmed with the experience of love. I lost all awareness of the couch and of the room. As Patricia Grabow has said, “It was love to the millionth power.” I have no idea how long it lasted. It remains the most beautiful experience of my life.

From that point forward my life was different. I had no anger. I had no hate. I was free. Free to put my attention on that beautiful child without being pulled away by the pain. I was healed of the great pain I had needed the hate and anger for. It did not take away the loss. It was just different.

Later that year I went to the mental institution for a meeting with the man who had taken my wife’s life. His mind still buried what he had done. I did not feel hate; I did not feel love. I felt deep compassion. His was the other life that had been destroyed.

What I learned was in two parts. The first, the experience of forgiveness, I have talked about before. The other part is to see goodness even in this experience, and in every experience —to see the goodness of God —that God is good all the time. I saw in this experience a presence and power that healed me and freed me to be about what is important and meaningful in my life.

I understand how we do it (hate and indignation). I also understand that in each of us we desire to be free and to know what we are about. I never asked for forgiveness—only to be free. Even as I have listened to others telling of great personal violation that I felt was unforgivable, I have seen them open to love and find forgiveness and freedom.

There is a love inside of you that is so powerful and forgiving that you can heal your pain, and you can walk free! Your heart can ask to be healed and fulfilled so that you can go about what you are here to be.

However right it is to feel the hurt and anger, there is healing. And if there is ever a time for you to be free, that time is now!

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August 5, 2012 – Unprecedented Favor

by

8/5/12 Rev. Linda Lowery

Unprecedented Favor

In a restaurant, a four year old is asked by the waitress, “What can I get for you?” He answers, “A puppy!” He thinks everybody is getting whatever they want. We in Unity really believe that whatever we want we can have. Some times we feel, though, that we have to earn it to have the entitlement, to have the authority. But Jesus said, “does not scripture say that we are gods?”

Marianne Williamson says in A Return to Love, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us… You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.”

Olympic athletes from around the world keep their hearts and minds on what they pursue. So too must we become fortified, grounded in truth, and reach a higher plateau for our lives. We must be rooted like a tree which withstands the storms when they come. And as each athlete is a part of a very dynamic team, so are we. Affirm, “We are all on the same team.” Like the five rings in the Olympics symbol are intertwined and represent the five geographical “hearts” of the world, our hearts, too, are intertwined—on the cellular level and intergalactically! It is decreed by God.

We can transform our lives. Prayer changes things. (God is so good!) When we are in our storm and wavering in fear it is not time to think of yourself, but to give of yourself. Be in prayer with others in their need and members on your team will also “hold the space” for you. They are champions; we are champions.

When you know Who You are, not who you think you are, you know you are the author with a pen to re-write your destiny, and you have the authority. “I am a child or manifestation of God and every moment in this life love, wisdom, and power flow through me. I am One with God.”

You are the only one like you on Earth and in any universe. You can no longer afford to be diminished. Like a child, let your heart-light shine!

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