divine love

March 2, 2014 – The Heart’s Path to Freedom: 1. Embrace

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3/2/14 Rev. David McArthur

The Heart’s Path to Freedom: 1. Embrace

Going further on our journey into the heart means admitting there are things within us we have to heal. To exist without feelings of limitation brings freedom. It’s “being in the world but not of it.” Feelings come up to protect us from pain, but there is this divine presence that will heal us. “He will heal the breasts of folk who are believers. And He will remove the anger of their hearts.” —the Qur’an 9:14-15. “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him… There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…” —John, 4:16,18.

Scripture tells us what to do, but seldom how to do it. In “alternative wisdom writings” like “Winnie the Pooh”, Pooh is the part of us that wants to journey out and see what is there. Piglet is the part of us that gets frightened as we journey further into the soul, and wants to run back home. Christopher Robin is the Christ Self that, with knowledge and love, makes our Hundred Acre Woods safe. One day Pooh and Piglet are following a growing number of tracks in the snow and become afraid that there are fearsome beasts gathering. Piglet wants to run home, but then Christopher Robin calls from up above. Pooh looks up into the branches of an old oak tree. From up there Christopher Robin had seen they were following their own tracks! He admonishes Pooh for trying then to apologize for his silliness, telling Pooh he “is the best bear in all the world!”

Both scripture and Pooh are telling us that there is a presence and power within us; we can explore the tracks before us without fear. We can overcome the pain of loss, great hurt, abuse, and rejection.

I have experienced violent, sudden loss, and many of you have told me you have too. In those times nothing can distract you from your pain. Some sleepless nights I wanted to scream, but was afraid if I gave in, I might not return to sanity. At some point I asked for help and I found an understanding. I then knew the pain was great because the love was great. The pain was part of the loving, and was sacred because it brought the gift of understanding. That understanding did not feel painful, but let me see. That greater wisdom in you helps you see. I invite you to embrace your feelings. You might not give up the deepest feelings, but they will pass when the time is right. Embrace every feeling. If you suffered a great or small physical wound, you would use the tools available to you to heal. So there is an obligation to embrace all feelings. Embrace them with God’s tender love.

I embrace my feelings with God’s tender love! I embrace my feelings with God’s tender love! I embrace my feelings with God’s tender love!

That power in your heart is love. Look up into that great oak tree of God’s tender love!

December 15, 2013 – God as Santa

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12/15/13 Rev. David McArthur
God As Santa

Christmas is a celebration of giving, when intention is set into motion. We create a time of giving and love in the Earth. Giving gifts is an experience of the Divine—because giving is the nature of God.

As opposed to religious teaching, spiritual teaching goes to all the children to let them know they are just as special as Jesus was. We use a grandfather figure with a flowing beard (God) who gives gifts and is dressed in red (for life and vitality). We don’t get to see him Christmas night (when we experience the Divine, most don’t recognize it), but he leaves the gifts (symbols of Divine love) in the home. The hearth (the heart of the home) spreads light and warmth throughout. The chimney is the vertical access to the higher consciousness. The North Pole (for Heaven) is real and the reindeer and sleigh that fly are the magic (the love) which makes it all work. There’s another part too, the asking—the list for Santa—to teach the children to open to receive.

The goodness of God is available to you no matter how naughty you have been because you are a child of God. The truth is, Divine love gives because you are.

When children grow they begin to understand they can give, and begin to know the truth and power of Santa: we are expressing the Divine. Generosity and abundance are as we express them and it is Divine.

It’s not about religion. As a Jewish boy, Jay Frankston yearned for a joyous Christmas celebration in his home, and promised himself that when he had a family, they’d have a Christmas tree with all the trimmings. He liked playing Santa for his children so much that he also played Santa in New York City for 12 years. He would go to the post office and read the children’ letters addressed to the North Pole. So moved by the children expressing real need, he’d visit them as Santa on Christmas Day giving toys from their list. At one home there was a girl that stood off to the side. He went to her and in a whisper asked why she wasn’t joining in. She answered she wasn’t from the family, she was Jewish. He whispered back, “So am I!”

Thanks Spirit, for involving the commercial world in it, too. However, it’s not a commercial experience, but a spiritual one. Isn’t it wonderful—a joyous expression of Divine love! There are no conditions—you are loved and are the expression of Divine love! Let it flow—forget budgets! Affirm, “Santa lives in me!” I’m so grateful Santa lives through you!

December 15, 2013 – God as Santa

by

12/15/13 Rev. David McArthur
God As Santa

Christmas is a celebration of giving, when intention is set into motion. We create a time of giving and love in the Earth. Giving gifts is an experience of the Divine—because giving is the nature of God.

As opposed to religious teaching, spiritual teaching goes to all the children to let them know they are just as special as Jesus was. We use a grandfather figure with a flowing beard (God) who gives gifts and is dressed in red (for life and vitality). We don’t get to see him Christmas night (when we experience the Divine, most don’t recognize it), but he leaves the gifts (symbols of Divine love) in the home. The hearth (the heart of the home) spreads light and warmth throughout. The chimney is the vertical access to the higher consciousness. The North Pole (for Heaven) is real and the reindeer and sleigh that fly are the magic (the love) which makes it all work. There’s another part too, the asking—the list for Santa—to teach the children to open to receive.

The goodness of God is available to you no matter how naughty you have been because you are a child of God. The truth is, Divine love gives because you are.

When children grow they begin to understand they can give, and begin to know the truth and power of Santa: we are expressing the Divine. Generosity and abundance are as we express them and it is Divine.

It’s not about religion. As a Jewish boy, Jay Frankston yearned for a joyous Christmas celebration in his home, and promised himself that when he had a family, they’d have a Christmas tree with all the trimmings. He liked playing Santa for his children so much that he also played Santa in New York City for 12 years. He would go to the post office and read the children’ letters addressed to the North Pole. So moved by the children expressing real need, he’d visit them as Santa on Christmas Day giving toys from their list. At one home there was a girl that stood off to the side. He went to her and in a whisper asked why she wasn’t joining in. She answered she wasn’t from the family, she was Jewish. He whispered back, “So am I!”

Thanks Spirit, for involving the commercial world in it, too. However, it’s not a commercial experience, but a spiritual one. Isn’t it wonderful—a joyous expression of Divine love! There are no conditions—you are loved and are the expression of Divine love! Let it flow—forget budgets! Affirm, “Santa lives in me!” I’m so grateful Santa lives through you!

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December 8, 2013 – Light from the Darkness

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12/8/13 Rev. David McArthur
Light from the Darkness

What a wonderful thing the Christmastime experience is! There’s a glow about it. But there is another spiritual truth expressed. Out of the Roman times was to come enlightenment. “…mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding. The Master observes the world but trusts his inner vision… His heart is open as the sky.” the Tao te Ching, (trans. Stephen Mitchell).

We do our own darkness about our health, finances, relationships, etc. But we know God Is Good All The Time, even in the darkness. There is a presence of the Divine in every thing we see. This past week we have watched the world celebrate the wonderful Nelson Mandela. Out of 27 years of imprisonment darkness came his freedom and his leading a truly new nation to overcome justifiable hate and that enlightened more than just South Africa, but the world.

Darkness has the potential to fill with light. Mandela’s imprisonment is a picture of our darkness, our un-illumined state. Within it is our potential to receive enlightenment. It is our choice to awaken to it. “Can you cleanse your inner vision until you see nothing but the light?” Step back from your own mind where we make judgments. Move to understanding, a spiritual experience of the heart. The result is it cleanses our inner seeing. I trust my inner vision. My heart is open as the sky.

Bill Clinton once commented to Nelson Mandela, “I appreciated your having your jailer at your installation as president. How did you get to that point?” Mandela answered, “It was a particular moment in prison. I realized that they had taken everything from me…everything except my mind and my heart. Those I will not give away…” It is an amazing story of the power he had as a spiritual being to choose. He could have given it away in anger and hate, the natural response. But then he’d be as they. He chose love instead. Light in the darkness. It’s always there. It’s who you are! I trust my inner vision. My heart is open as the sky.

Yes, we journey through darkness in which we lose our hope and knowledge of who we are. In that darkness is the potential of light. You have the ability to see your inner vision. For your marvelous open hearts, I give thanks!

December 8, 2013 – Light from the Darkness

by

12/8/13 Rev. David McArthur
Light from the Darkness

What a wonderful thing the Christmastime experience is! There’s a glow about it. But there is another spiritual truth expressed. Out of the Roman times was to come enlightenment. “…mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding. The Master observes the world but trusts his inner vision… His heart is open as the sky.” the Tao te Ching, (trans. Stephen Mitchell).

We do our own darkness about our health, finances, relationships, etc. But we know God Is Good All The Time, even in the darkness. There is a presence of the Divine in every thing we see. This past week we have watched the world celebrate the wonderful Nelson Mandela. Out of 27 years of imprisonment darkness came his freedom and his leading a truly new nation to overcome justifiable hate and that enlightened more than just South Africa, but the world.

Darkness has the potential to fill with light. Mandela’s imprisonment is a picture of our darkness, our un-illumined state. Within it is our potential to receive enlightenment. It is our choice to awaken to it. “Can you cleanse your inner vision until you see nothing but the light?” Step back from your own mind where we make judgments. Move to understanding, a spiritual experience of the heart. The result is it cleanses our inner seeing. I trust my inner vision. My heart is open as the sky.

Bill Clinton once commented to Nelson Mandela, “I appreciated your having your jailer at your installation as president. How did you get to that point?” Mandela answered, “It was a particular moment in prison. I realized that they had taken everything from me…everything except my mind and my heart. Those I will not give away…” It is an amazing story of the power he had as a spiritual being to choose. He could have given it away in anger and hate, the natural response. But then he’d be as they. He chose love instead. Light in the darkness. It’s always there. It’s who you are! I trust my inner vision. My heart is open as the sky.

Yes, we journey through darkness in which we lose our hope and knowledge of who we are. In that darkness is the potential of light. You have the ability to see your inner vision. For your marvelous open hearts, I give thanks!

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November 10, 2013 – A Step Towards Wholeness

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11/10/13 Rev. David McArthur
A Step Toward Wholeness

When a question comes up one, two, three times, it’s Spirit saying, “Okay, I’ve got something for you to look at.” Here’s one: there’s something going on in your life, but “God is good all the time”—except this time? When facing a serious challenge, you have a choice: where do you place your attention?

A four year old girl is diagnosed with polio. “She’ll never walk again.” Her mother says, “YES SHE WILL!” This was not easy—rural Tennessee, deep poverty, big family, many children. With her mother’s support, the family kept focused and took what steps they could. At six the girl got metal braces; she stood and took her first step. 10 years later, at 16, she ran to a bronze medal in the Olympics! 4 years after that she won 3 gold medals. Fastest woman in the world! Her name is Wilma Rudolph.

The nature of God’s presence is wholeness. But when it isn’t there, it doesn’t mean God isn’t there. Divine goodness is there—as the potential within the experience. Take a step towards the wholeness. Every time the divine IS there. This is the force that we are one with, that is within us. It is what we create with. When it looks the worst is the time to remember “God is good all the time.” Because it is there—it is always there.

Gandhi, so insecure he could not talk to people, ran into a system of brutal subjugation. People wanted to deal with it using violence, but to him that wasn’t wholeness. Knowing he would likely be beaten, imprisoned, or killed, he took his step. He had no idea that it would eventually lead an entire nation of millions to freedom without violence. He just knew that was his next step. And it came from the step before. And that came from the step before. Those things in our world where we don’t express wholeness (relationships, health challenge, “not enough”—money, support, acceptance, whatever)—one step towards wholeness is all it takes.

God IS good all the time. At any time it is potential. What makes the difference between potential and manifestation? We’re what makes the difference. Commit: I am going to do that which I can do—a step toward wholeness. I will take a step toward wholeness. I will take a step toward wholeness. I will take a step toward wholeness.

When you do you will discover that God Is Good All The Time!

November 10, 2013 – A Step Towards Wholeness

by

11/10/13 Rev. David McArthur
A Step Toward Wholeness

When a question comes up one, two, three times, it’s Spirit saying, “Okay, I’ve got something for you to look at.” Here’s one: there’s something going on in your life, but “God is good all the time”—except this time? When facing a serious challenge, you have a choice: where do you place your attention?

A four year old girl is diagnosed with polio. “She’ll never walk again.” Her mother says, “YES SHE WILL!” This was not easy—rural Tennessee, deep poverty, big family, many children. With her mother’s support, the family kept focused and took what steps they could. At six the girl got metal braces; she stood and took her first step. 10 years later, at 16, she ran to a bronze medal in the Olympics! 4 years after that she won 3 gold medals. Fastest woman in the world! Her name is Wilma Rudolph.

The nature of God’s presence is wholeness. But when it isn’t there, it doesn’t mean God isn’t there. Divine goodness is there—as the potential within the experience. Take a step towards the wholeness. Every time the divine IS there. This is the force that we are one with, that is within us. It is what we create with. When it looks the worst is the time to remember “God is good all the time.” Because it is there—it is always there.

Gandhi, so insecure he could not talk to people, ran into a system of brutal subjugation. People wanted to deal with it using violence, but to him that wasn’t wholeness. Knowing he would likely be beaten, imprisoned, or killed, he took his step. He had no idea that it would eventually lead an entire nation of millions to freedom without violence. He just knew that was his next step. And it came from the step before. And that came from the step before. Those things in our world where we don’t express wholeness (relationships, health challenge, “not enough”—money, support, acceptance, whatever)—one step towards wholeness is all it takes.

God IS good all the time. At any time it is potential. What makes the difference between potential and manifestation? We’re what makes the difference. Commit: I am going to do that which I can do—a step toward wholeness. I will take a step toward wholeness. I will take a step toward wholeness. I will take a step toward wholeness.

When you do you will discover that God Is Good All The Time!

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October 27, 2013 – God Touches

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10/27/13 Rev. David McArthur
God Touches

I remember hearing something that at once I knew was true, yet I did not understand. It was from Emily Cady. “God is the name we give to that unchangeable, inexorable principle… the creative underlying cause of all things… In each individual, He becomes…a personal, loving, all-forgiving Mother-Father…[but] God is not a being having qualities, it is the very good itself…All love in the universe is God. [When you love, that’s God.] All the wisdom and intelligence…is God.” From Charles Fillmore, “I am now in the presence of pure Being and immersed in the Holy Spirit of life, love, and wisdom.” Like experiencing the night sky full of an infinite number of stars, we sense we are part of something greater that moves through us all, as a wave is but a part of the whole ocean. We don’t get to live there, but we touch it and we know it is real.

Having fled a raging forest fire which swept down upon her home, Sandra McFall asked her friend Paul to go back with her that first time. Her greatest fears were realized as she saw the total ruin of her home. She was a professional artist, and had not only lost her home, but her workplace and much of her work as well. Paul did find in the ashes a picture of Sandra’s father that had survived relatively intact. She remembered how she and her parents, as missionaries in Africa, had lost that home too to fire when soldiers swept through destroying everything. She remembered how her father had told her then that everything she needed was inside her. Back at the diner, Paul produced a book he had retrieved from the ruins. It was her mother’s Bible. It was still full of the many notes her mother had made whenever she had seen the touch of God in their recovery from that earlier loss. Sandra resolved that from then on she would count her “God touches” every day.

So everyday I count 5 “God touches”. #1 is that I open my eyes each morning. My thoughts go right to #2—coffee! How it’s so carefully grown and processed and delivered to me. What about that first smile of the day? All that love—that is God. And then stepping out into the fall breeze and sunshine! And when I turn the key and the car starts right up, that’s God—all those parts put together and delivered to me at my fingertips. Emilie Cady said, “It’s not that God has power; God IS power.”

Are you willing to do five a day? It can be the smile you see, the food you eat. The more you are aware of, the deeper is your experience. “Divine love touches me right now!” “Divine love touches me right now!”

October 27, 2013 – God Touches

by

10/27/13 Rev. David McArthur
God Touches

I remember hearing something that at once I knew was true, yet I did not understand. It was from Emily Cady. “God is the name we give to that unchangeable, inexorable principle… the creative underlying cause of all things… In each individual, He becomes…a personal, loving, all-forgiving Mother-Father…[but] God is not a being having qualities, it is the very good itself…All love in the universe is God. [When you love, that’s God.] All the wisdom and intelligence…is God.” From Charles Fillmore, “I am now in the presence of pure Being and immersed in the Holy Spirit of life, love, and wisdom.” Like experiencing the night sky full of an infinite number of stars, we sense we are part of something greater that moves through us all, as a wave is but a part of the whole ocean. We don’t get to live there, but we touch it and we know it is real.

Having fled a raging forest fire which swept down upon her home, Sandra McFall asked her friend Paul to go back with her that first time. Her greatest fears were realized as she saw the total ruin of her home. She was a professional artist, and had not only lost her home, but her workplace and much of her work as well. Paul did find in the ashes a picture of Sandra’s father that had survived relatively intact. She remembered how she and her parents, as missionaries in Africa, had lost that home too to fire when soldiers swept through destroying everything. She remembered how her father had told her then that everything she needed was inside her. Back at the diner, Paul produced a book he had retrieved from the ruins. It was her mother’s Bible. It was still full of the many notes her mother had made whenever she had seen the touch of God in their recovery from that earlier loss. Sandra resolved that from then on she would count her “God touches” every day.

So everyday I count 5 “God touches”. #1 is that I open my eyes each morning. My thoughts go right to #2—coffee! How it’s so carefully grown and processed and delivered to me. What about that first smile of the day? All that love—that is God. And then stepping out into the fall breeze and sunshine! And when I turn the key and the car starts right up, that’s God—all those parts put together and delivered to me at my fingertips. Emilie Cady said, “It’s not that God has power; God IS power.”

Are you willing to do five a day? It can be the smile you see, the food you eat. The more you are aware of, the deeper is your experience. “Divine love touches me right now!” “Divine love touches me right now!”

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