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November 8, 2015 – Climbing The Beanstalk to God Within

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11/08/15  Rev. David McArthur
Climbing the Beanstalk to God Within

Jack and the Beanstalk is a story of our spiritual journey. Jack is the son of a woman so poor she sends Jack to town to sell the family cow, which he does for a handful of “magic” beans. His mother gets so upset she throws the beans out the window. The mother is our “poor” state of consciousness. For some it’s body poor, relationship poor, whatever your favorite “poor” is.

The beans grow to the clouds. Of course, Jack has to climb the beanstalk. At the top it is beautiful, with lush fields and a beautiful castle. The giant had killed the Knight and everyone else in it but the Lady, who escaped. She was a Fairy (an angel which brings higher consciousness to us here).

The giantess tells Jack that he (us) is heir to the castle, the kingdom, but he has to kill the giant to get it. Emily Cady has written, “…to be ‘heirs of God…means every man is the inlet, and may become the outlet, of all there is in God… that all that God is and has is in reality for us, His only heirs, if we only know how to claim our inheritance.”
The giant is the god-thought that controls all, is far away and doesn’t love us. We believe that when we do our “poor” thing. Jack is enslaved by the giant. The giantess, the feminine feeling of fear, protects Jack because she wants him to serve her. It’s fear that enslaves us (fear of God). So Jack is hidden in the closet. When the giant falls asleep Jack steals the hen that lays golden eggs, goes down the beanstalk, and gives it to his mother. It is a symbol of divine ideas which bring fertility, abundance, and success for the labors of the farm-based life of the early nineteenth century.

The next night the giant counts his gold coins. They represent the abundance of God in this moment, the experience of divine capacity we are related to. Jack takes them to his mother too. The next night the giant commands his harp to play its beautiful music. (It’s a symbol of love, the harmonizing power.) Jack steals the harp, too, but it calls out to the sleeping giant, “Master…” Jack tells the harp, “I am your master now.” When he gives it to his mother (the symbol of the feminine) she gives him the axe to cut down the beanstalk, to undercut the God we fear. Letting love be felt removes the fearful God from our consciousness.

Jack still lives in the cottage and the Fairy tells him he has to remove the giantess (fear) to live in the castle. She takes him to town and shows the people that he is the rightful heir to have the gifts in the castle. We have to integrate it. We aren’t separate. We are one with all that love, goodness, abundance—our powers. We have to climb the beanstalk. Jesus put it this way, “The Father and I are one.”

For me it is helpful to say I am one with the goodness of God! Feel that goodness. There is no money lack, no need to do relationship lack. I am one with the goodness of God! There is nothing that’s against you because you are a radiant child of God. I am one with the goodness of God! Knowing that, may all your giants come tumbling down!

 

November 1, 2015 – Focus On The Source, It Brings Understanding

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11/01/15  Rev. David McArthur
Focus On The Source, It Brings Understanding

13.5 billion years ago the Singularity, the point of infinite density, expanded. (The Big Bang.) In that expansion is the evolution of the universe. On that little speck called Earth, evolution developed to where we began to gain knowledge and find out the laws that brought all this amazing stuff into being. I believe now there’s another level of evolution happening: our ability to know the source of all that. A description is found in the Gospel when Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain and appeared in light to them with Moses and Elijah, the Transfiguration. Moses=the law, i.e. gravity, chemistry, etc. Elijah, the flow of energy into creation and us; and Jesus, the incarnation of God expressive within each being. These are the symbols of the source, the divine presence. The symbols of our capacity to perceive the divine, are the three apostles. Peter=faith. James, the capacity for wisdom, to see the nature of this reality. And John, love, that beautiful harmonizing power within.

Karen’s son CJ, sixteen years old, lost his life. In extreme pain, she prayed, “Why? Why?” But then her prayers came from a different part of her being. “My soul cried out, ‘I need to know that he is all right!’” When she met her ex’s new wife in the driveway, his new wife said that she had to tell Karen something. That very morning, her five year old, CJ’s half brother, told her that CJ had come to him in a dream and told him to “please tell my mother I’m ok”!

I too did a lot of “why?” praying after I lost my first wife. I had to have a baby sitter for my one year old. The sitter’s little boy told her he saw a woman in their house, but he wasn’t afraid. His mother didn’t know what to think. One day they brought my daughter home and came into our house and the boy pointed to a picture of my dead wife and shouted, “That’s the woman!” This was not an answer of information, but of understanding, the response to my prayer which took me to my source.

Who we are is not limited to the forms we touch. I understood then that when we shift our awareness from the stuff in our universe to the source of it, there is an understanding, a beautiful flow to our need, our being, of understanding. After that we see life differently. Life is sacred. Not just forms, but joy, laughter, tears, discovery, confusion, loss—all is sacred—all is within what we call God.

God is my source. I experience the sacredness of life! What a beautiful thing to experience! God is my source. I experience the sacredness of life! The beautiful, the scary, the magnificent. God is my source. I experience the sacredness of life! What we find is that ALL of life is incredibly beautiful!

October 25, 2015 – Interfaith Journey Into Oneness

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10/25/15  Rev. David McArthur
Interfaith Journey Into Oneness

Last week at the Parliament of World Religions in Salt Lake City, 9500 people of 60 different religions came together for several days—without a problem! Rev. Sheila and I were there and my perspective has been changed for life. I now say, “A rabbi, an imam and a minister walk into a bar…”

The main theme of the Parliament was, “What is at the core of your religion? What is at the core of the practice of your people?” I was surprised to hear a rabbi say it is the experience of oneness. When I was the leader of Unity World Wide Ministries, we all agreed our Unity practice was that of oneness. I didn’t know we were Jewish!

Buddhists said their basis is compassion. And an imam at the event said the core teaching of Islam is also compassion. The Quran speaks of God the Compassionate. We know a local imam who is an expert on the Quran who says “God the Compassionate” is a mistranslation, that it should be God IS compassion as we in Unity don’t say God loves, but rather God IS love. And here we’ve designated next year as The Year of Compassion. Oh my God, we’re Muslim!

When we look at the teachings of Jesus, we find there too at the very core of Christianity the practice of compassion, of unconditional love. We move from a world of conflict to one of peace by unconditional love, allowing forgiveness to lift us. Through unconditional love and compassion we experience our oneness with humanity. That’s a truth. During the events of the Parliament, the Sikh and Muslim communities related many instances of how forgiveness healed them after the many hate crimes they’ve suffered since 9/11.

I may be Jewish, Muslim, Christian. But we are all here to awaken to the power of divine love. What a gift it is there are so many paths to get there—to get into the wholeness and potential of humankind! Through this we experience the oneness with all humanity. Through my unconditional love and compassion, I experience my oneness with all humanity. Through my unconditional love and compassion, I experience my oneness with all humanity. Through my unconditional love and compassion, I experience my oneness with all humanity.

We came in for this. That’s why we’re here. What an experience for humanity your beautiful hearts are providing for all of us! Thank you!

October 18, 2015 – Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys

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10/18/15  Cindy Farris, L.U.T.
Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys

This one friend always says, “It’s not your circus! They’re not your monkeys!” Do you know what that means? Have you ever taken on more than you had to? Have you ever felt like you were the only one who could fix it? —the only one who was doing it right? Are you a control freak? Are you “capable”? Do you get hooked into things you wouldn’t normally do?

I do. I am partners in a yarn shop. 11 women in a co-op. Now there’s a circus! A few weeks ago we moved the shop. It had been decided it would be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday for the move. Unbeknownst to me, a couple of the “sergeants” decided to start moving on Sunday. I usually work there on Mondays, so on Monday when I texted “When should I come in?” the reply was “Don’t come in. Stay home.” My ego was a little miffed, but I got a lot of work done at home. Over the next few days I did go in for a few hours. There were plenty of Ringmasters and I was not needed. It was a circus, but it wasn’t mine. I got to see what it looks like when I’m in controlling mode. The sergeants mirrored it back to me.

Do you see lots of things that aren’t being done well? “If they just did them my way I’m sure things would go better”. There are clues which can tell you if it’s your circus or not. Ask, “Does this situation really involve me?” Most of us have gotten involved when it was not our business. And at what cost? —our time and money, energy and health? Can I really bring something to a table I wasn’t asked to sit at? This is the butt-out part.

When we butt in, we could be taking someone off their path. We have to be mindful, “Do I have some responsibility here?” If the answer is no, butt out. Am I doing my actual work or taking over someone else’s job? Am I butting in because of my ego or lack of self worth? Am I doing something so I feel more fulfilled, to show I am capable? I could be in places where I am truly filled with joy on my path. It is ultimately God’s will to be done. At times I have to be the monkey with my hands over my mouth, or my eyes, or over my ears.

Tuesday through Thursday I teach science at a charter school. I am a master teacher, and I am Ringmaster in my classroom. That’s what I was hired for and I am good at it. I like it. It is my circus. Most of my students are boys and often the coach will come by and call all the guys to the baseball field. This school was founded and is paid for by a major league baseball player. When my students leave, I am no longer responsible for them. They are not my monkeys. I am free. I know when it’s my circus when I have empowered my monkeys to soar!

October 11, 2015 – Tithing Partnership

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10/11/15  Rev. David McArthur

Tithing Partnership

We often focus on the amazing capacity within, which is love. If you are working with spirituality you are working with love. Another way to work with this is with the spiritual practice of tithing. I watched people who followed it. I realized there’s a quality, a difference, as to how they met their challenges with a presence of peace. They weren’t always peaceful but they could get to it. There was a fear not present in their world.

Two things are generally shared in teaching this, expansion and protection. From the book of Malachi, 3:10, “Bring the whole tithe…and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven…” and “I will prevent pests from devouring your crops…” 3:11. But there is a third not often spoken of: 3:12, “…yours will be a delightful land…” This isn’t talking of quantity but QUALITY, the real blessing of opening to a deeper relationship to the divine presence.

The Quaker church tested tithing. A cubic inch of grain was tithed and the remaining 90% was planted. Each crop for six years was tithed and proved to be protected from the pests of the surrounding fields. The miller engaged for this test said normal practice would have yielded over 52 hundred bushels of wheat. At the end of the six years, however, the tithed crops yielded over 72 THOUSAND bushels—you can’t get there by coincidence! We have at-oneness with divine presence in the material world. It is a major challenge in our lives to see expansion as the expression of oneness.

Tithing brings the experience of the divine down into our world. A greater experience of goodness and flow is there, and we direct that connection. Tithing doesn’t make a difference in how God loves you—the love is never lessened. But it makes a difference in us and how we open to the flow.

There’s also a greater sense of protection. When my life was threatened several weeks ago I found a real potential for fear, but I also found a real sense of protection coming into the physical world which let me come to love and understanding more easily with the other party. That divine presence in the midst of the difficulties of life is part of my appreciation of the practice of tithing.

Be very conscious as you tithe. Reawaken to experiencing fully what’s there. If you are not tithing go to your heart and ask if this is a practice that would have meaning in your spiritual life, to know that God is my source. God is my instant, constant, abundant supply. God is my source. God is my instant, constant, abundant supply. God is my source. God is my instant, constant, abundant supply. Every time something is needed. It has to be so because God is good all the time!

October 4, 2015 – Can’t Touch This

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10/4/15  Rev. Sheila Gautreaux, L.U.T.

Can’t Touch This!

We have chaos and conflict around the world, religion against religion, violence, anger. It is said, however, that chaos precedes order; it is something calling to be birthed. Look at the shootings in Umpqua. Some say we need more guns, some say less. But the solution is in our hearts.

In Unity we use affirmations and denials. Many say that’s denying what’s really happening, but that’s not so. What we deny is that what’s happening has any power over us. That it has any power to take us out of the truth of our being, which is we are centered in the Christ Consciousness—we can get through anything! It is the “Christ in you; the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27.

It is not the Christ in Jesus which is your hope of glory, it is the Christ in you. Hope is not wishy-washy, mealy mouthed. It is the expectation of our future good that inspires the certainty that our good is ours right now. And glory is the merging of our mind with God mind. This is our “bookmark”. It holds the space for us as we wander off into our anger, fear, and doubt when we are lost. The Christ presence is our place holder. It’s always there. You can’t get rid of it even if you try. And it never interferes, but always leaves us our choice.

There are three steps to get there. 1) “There is nothing greater than God.” 2) “I AM one with God.” Finally, 3), “Therefore, there is nothing greater than me.” That last one might be difficult for you but it’s the truth. Can you believe it? Say, “yes!” It’s logic. You “Can’t touch this!”

When there’s less bank account and more bills, say, “I am poised and centered in the Christ Consciousness. Nothing can disturb the calm peace of my soul.” “Can’t touch this!” When you’re in the doctor’s office and the diagnosis almost stops your heart, it’s not that the condition is not real, it’s “I am poised and centered in the Christ Consciousness. Nothing can disturb the calm peace of my soul.” “Can’t touch this!” When a relationship sours, stand in the face of the impossibility of it and embrace the possibility that “I am poised and centered in the Christ Consciousness. Nothing can disturb the calm peace of my soul.” “Can’t touch this!” Take this home with you. Stuff will come up this week. Be prepared and say, “I am poised and centered in the Christ Consciousness. Nothing can disturb the calm peace of my soul.” “Can’t touch this!”

August 30, 2015 – Finding Our Laffin’ Place

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08/30/15 Rev. David McArthur
Finding Our Laffin’ Place

I have made the connection to my heart; I have made it into my heart. I saw that the blame thing was gone (as much fun as it can be) and I made the connection to the compassion in my heart for the other person. But there was still something uncomfortable in my heart. I knew it was time for the graduate course.

Symbols are often more effective than just words alone. Today Br’er Rabbit is snoozin’ in the woods. Awaking slowly he realizes he’s not in the woods any more, but a deep dark cave and there’s a fire cracklin’! There’s Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear and he’s tied up and they’re talkin’ ’bout eatin’ him for dinner! Now Br’er Rabbit symbolizes the part of ourselves that can shift our awareness. The cave symbolizes our subconscious. Something captures us in there. We’re fearful and it controls us. Br’er Rabbit shifts his attention to a place where he is free. He opens his mouth and laughs out loud.

Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear are stunned. “We tole you we gonna roast you on this here fire! You otta be skeered!” Rabbit laughs even louder. “Why you laffin’!?” “Oh, I been to my secret place.” Now what happens when you say you’ve got a secret? Yup, Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear just have to see this secret place. They mostly untie Br’er Rabbit, but leave a long rope to keep hold of. He leads them out of the cave into the woods all the way to an old tree with a big hole in it. Laughing loudly he cries, “There it is! My laffin’ place!” Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear say they don’t feel like laffin’. Rabbit has them stick their heads way deep inside. “Do you hear?” They heard the buzzing of thousands of bumbly bees! With the bees swarming after them they bolt from the tree and drop the rope. The bumble bees are small but cause the release, symbolically, of what controls us. They go to places of beauty between the upper and lower. The rope is dropped and we are free.

It’s a part of life to have fear and discomfort in our subconscious. But we can be free, no longer caught by that stuff, by focusing our attention on the divine. From the Bhagavad-Gita, “Therefore, having been born in this transient and forlorn world, give all your love to me. Fill your mind with me; love me… always…”

It is a connection with the divine. Jesus said, “Our father that is in heaven” (“heaven” symbolizes the exulted state of consciousness greater than we know on Earth) “hallowed be thy name.” (Name” is the nature of something; “hallowed” is the divine, the pure love.) “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.” We experience that connection all the way down to where we are and what we’re doing.

What helps me make that journey going down the road tied to the rope is gratitude. I am grateful for all the loving goodness of God always waiting for me. I am grateful for the all-loving goodness of God! I am grateful for the all-loving goodness of God! I am grateful for the all-loving goodness of God!

It puts us in touch with who we truly are—that oneness. Lao Tzu said that when you realize where you come from, you become tolerant…kind as a grandmother, and you can deal with whatever life brings you. Tolerant. Free.

Have fun at your “laffin’ place”!
 

 

August 23, 2015 – Touching the Hem of the Garment

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08/23/15 Rev. Blaine Tinsley
Touching The Hem Of The Garment

Here is a wonderful story about the healing process from Mark 5, 25-29.

Now there was a woman who had suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years. Metaphysically, the number 12 means “as long as it takes”, how long it takes for us to decide we’ve had enough. Hemorrhage means a loss of vital energy, we are in need of healing.

She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. It’s ok to see a doctor, but this woman was looking for healing outside of herself, not giving energy to the things that would heal her. We need to stop blaming people and conditions outside of ourselves and take responsibility for how we deal with our experiences.

She had heard about Jesus, the Christ part within us that we all have access to, which knows the truth, that God is love everywhere present. When you know that you stand in your power. That’s the truth of who you are!

And came up behind him in the crowd. She had to put forth effort to move forward through the people (thoughts and distractions like “You’re not good enough or smart enough. You don’t have the ability.”) The truth is you are a beautiful child of God. You are whole. You are loved.

And touched His garment, for she said, “If I but touch His clothes, I will be made well. She reached out to the power! It’s symbolic of our reaching inward and touching the power within.

Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. To touch just a bit of that light and love is when the healing begins.

Jesus said to her, “Daughter your faith has made you well.” He didn’t say, “I did this.” He was saying, “It ain’t me babe! Your faith connection to the presence and power within has made you whole.”

The Centers for Spiritual Living and Science of Mind both teach, “Change your thinking—change you life.” We can’t always change our disease, like when we make our transition, but we can always change our relationship to what causes us pain. Changing that perception changes our lives. Ram Dass said, “Healing doesn’t mean going back to how things were before, but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God.”

Affirm As I touch the divine love within I am healed at depth. As I touch the divine love within I am healed at depth. As I touch the divine love within I am healed at depth.

I behold the love of God in you! I behold the light of God in you!

 
 

August 16, 2015 – Giving is Abundance

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08/16/15 Rev. David McArthur
Giving Is Abundance
 
We get to play with creative spirit by giving—choosing where divine abundance goes. In a story Jesus told, wealthy men passed by the treasury and dropped in large donations from their abundance. A poor woman’s small gift “was all she had to live on.” She gave everything. As a woman, she represents our feminine, our feeling side, which was experiencing poverty, lack. Jesus, the Christ, the Atman, our one-ness with the divine, sees her act as a transition from a place of poverty to “It’s all God”, our consciousness expanding into this awareness.

One of the Five Pillars of Islam is giving as growth in spiritual awareness. It’s our true nature. Often young people haven’t gotten into adult patterns yet. A six year old walking to school with his mother passed a homeless lady with a sign “I’m hungry. Please help.” Without hesitation he took out his lunch and gave her half of his sandwich. It was a natural thing for him to do. The child says, “Of course. We’re all one. I can rectify this; I have and you don’t.”

A nurse helping with a food line somewhere in Africa saw a young girl get only a single slice of bread. The nurse knew it was all the food the girl would have that day. But she had to hide her tears when she saw the girl tear it in two and hand the larger half to her little brother. That’s who we are. Of course!

It feels good to give because we are experiencing the divine within us which we truly are. It’s the nature of the divine to give. No giving “when you get your act together”. We experience that divine presence in a very beautiful form moving through us.

And it comes back multiplied, blessing us. We don’t know how it will happen. On his way to work, a young man stopped to buy his lunch. The woman behind him was obviously very nervous and worried. So he paid the cashier and grabbed a single rose at the checkout. Giving it to the woman behind him he told her to have a good day. Later he was called to a meeting to meet a new corporate executive and it was the same woman! She was very thankful for his gift; this was her first day. You never know how you will experience the flow!

Sometimes you think you cannot give. A homeless man on the street was trying to care for some kittens but couldn’t find enough food for them. A man with a dog gave him some money and the homeless man explained he needed to find a better home for the kittens. So the donor took them to his vet. She was so touched she found the homeless man and gave him a part time job and a place to sleep.

God’s blessings flow generously through me. God’s blessings flow generously through me. God’s blessings flow generously through me. As we experience that it’s part of what we call fun!
 

 

August 9, 2015 – No More Guilt

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08/09/15 Rev. David McArthur
No More Guilt
 
It’s time for guilt to end! When we were kids learning good/bad, right/wrong, guilt was helpful. Then as we grow spiritually and awaken to who we really are, we learn of God the Compassionate, of God the Merciful (the Q’ran). What if we were compassionate and merciful to ourselves?! Rumi: “But listen to me for one moment. Quit being sad. Hear blessings dropping their blossoms around you.”

From the Book of John: “The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman… ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.’ Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger…and said to them, ‘Let anyone one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Those who heard began to go away one at a time…until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus …asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one accused you?’ ‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I…”

In our awakening, our journey, the woman symbolizes our feeling nature, the part of us feeling guilty; the Pharisees, head thinking (polarized, dualistic perception) rather than oneness. Jesus is the Christ Self, the Atman, Buddhist Mind, the I Am, our capacity within us which puts us in touch with the One Mind. “Stooping to write” shows the highest touches the ground when we have our life challenges. Jesus then sends us into self honesty, (“those without sin”), into our capacity to perceive and understand ourselves, the compassion of understanding. We gain wisdom, what life’s about. It is not pass/fail.

Sometimes we gain the most when we really blow it badly. For years we can be “weighed down with the knowledge that it was my fault.” Wisdom is the result of compassion because love always contains intelligence because love is God. That brings wisdom, and that brings peace.

Peace. Guilt. There’s always someone who will invite you into guilt, or something past will come up. In that moment we can choose compassion. Sometimes it’s easier to start with compassion for someone out there. Then we can bring it to ourselves. Compassion to understanding to peace. I choose compassion. I choose compassion. I choose compassion.

“But listen to me for one moment. Quit being sad. Hear blessings dropping their blossoms around you.” And you will!