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November 4, 2012 – What is Love?

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11/04/12 Rev. David McArthur

What Is Love?

Charles Fillmore, that great American mystic, said that the faculty of love is the greatest power of man, the greatest of all our capacities. “The pure essence of Being that binds together the whole human family… that joins and binds in divine harmony the universe and everything in it; the great harmonizing principle known to man. Divine love is impersonal; it loves for the sake of loving. … Like the sun, its joy is in the shining forth of its nature. … Love is the great harmonizer and healer.”

A woman, Nettie, remembered that when she was 12 she joined other kids in meanly ridiculing her twin sister, who was severely disabled and seen as a freak in their small town. So her mother put her alone in a room with only a photo album. It was filled with pictures of the twins since they were small. Nettie saw the pain that her sister had endured over the years. One picture was inscribed, “The doctors give me pain. Nettie makes me laugh.” Nettie was filled with compassion for her sister. She realized what she had been doing and the hurt she had caused her sister. At that moment she changed.

Love is always there. It flows like a spigot that’s always dripping. We can choose how much to turn it on. That flow takes you to intelligence. It is intelligence, a capacity to understand that helps us resolve the differences, that illuminates and harmonizes. What unifies us rather than separates us is love. You don’t have to know how.

A four year old liked to go to the house next door. One day his mother watched as he crawled up beside the neighbor on the front porch swing. The man had recently lost his wife of many years. As she watched her son coming back home, she asked what he did there. He answered, “I helped him cry.” If a four year old knows what to do, so do you. Remove that which separates us. You are love. It takes us from that place of separation to that place of wholeness and harmony. It goes far beyond the walls and heals and harmonizes. Feel the spigot open as you say, “I am a radiating center of divine love.” YES YOU ARE!

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.

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!

Ray Faulkenberry Oprah’s Audition Tape – Searching For Higher Ground

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As mentioned by Reverend David at the Service on June 20, 2010

Watch the Video

Extract from Ray’s post:

This video provides a look at who I am, the credentials I bring, and the show I want to host called SEARCHING FOR HIGHER GROUND. It’s a wildcard show that looks at ANY issue and aims to discover how we can learn and grow from it. In essence, SEARCHING AND FINDING HIGHER GROUND. I bring a unique viewpoint as a Ph.D. in psychology, a high level martial artist honoring the heart of the Samurai, and as an ordained interfaith minister (honoring world religions). I hope the idea of this resonates with you and you consider voting for me. Thanks and blessings to you!