true self

January 18, 2015 – The Beloved Community

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01/18/15 Rev. James Trapp
The Beloved Communty

Today’s headlines are the world’s prayer requests—what we need to pray for. They are evolutionary spiritual triggers to move us from where we are to where we want to be. “Invading armies can be resisted,” according to Victor Hugo, “but not an idea whose time has come.” Then, one person can have an idea that changes the world.

Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat and was arrested. So Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. led a 381 day peaceful boycott of the bus company. It sparked a movement that spread around the world. We each have a compelling mission. We all pray for relief from our nagging problems. And then, we say, will we be able to live a better life of giving and love. But we have it backwards. Our mission is to expand our world, our vision, and then our problems will fade to the nothingness from which they came.

Dr. King’s vision was of all people living and working together. Activist Reverend James Lawson called this the Beloved Community. All the great spiritual teachers have taught that this Beloved Community is in the eye of Spirit and we must live it in our hearts. Astronauts tell us they have an epiphany when they see the earth from above: without any map lines, separations among us are false.

It’s easy to love all of humanity, but it’s not so easy loving that particular one that’s on your last nerve. Jesus said we are to love the one “in front of us”. We need to see with new eyes. We must use our imagination to put ourselves in the shoes of another and put our loving into practice, not just intend to. Toleration is a start, but move to appreciation and embracing. Move beyond your barriers. “Turn the other cheek”, which means that when someone gives us one form of energy, we are to return a different form of energy, like forgiveness, love, and compassion. That takes strength. Returning the same energy does not take strength.

A lady, returning to her airplane seat, found the man beside her eating her cookies. She was angry and helped herself to “her own cookies”. Then she realized she was in the wrong seat! She apologized for her behavior, but the man said that he has learned that “when in doubt, share!” Our true theology is what we do, what we put into practice. To forgive “someday” is just a delaying tactic of the mind. Go within; pray. Bring in a higher energy. It affects all people. We are all connected. Stop seeing differences; see the beauty in others. See the many variations of infinite Spirit, which needs variety to express Its infinitude. See the wholeness and unity. Bring in the brotherhood, the Blessed Community. The time is now; the place is where you are. Peace. God bless you!

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January 18, 2015 – The Beloved Community

by


01/18/15 Rev. James Trapp
The Beloved Communty

Today’s headlines are the world’s prayer requests—what we need to pray for. They are evolutionary spiritual triggers to move us from where we are to where we want to be. “Invading armies can be resisted,” according to Victor Hugo, “but not an idea whose time has come.” Then, one person can have an idea that changes the world.

Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat and was arrested. So Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. led a 381 day peaceful boycott of the bus company. It sparked a movement that spread around the world. We each have a compelling mission. We all pray for relief from our nagging problems. And then, we say, will we be able to live a better life of giving and love. But we have it backwards. Our mission is to expand our world, our vision, and then our problems will fade to the nothingness from which they came.

Dr. King’s vision was of all people living and working together. Activist Reverend James Lawson called this the Beloved Community. All the great spiritual teachers have taught that this Beloved Community is in the eye of Spirit and we must live it in our hearts. Astronauts tell us they have an epiphany when they see the earth from above: without any map lines, separations among us are false.

It’s easy to love all of humanity, but it’s not so easy loving that particular one that’s on your last nerve. Jesus said we are to love the one “in front of us”. We need to see with new eyes. We must use our imagination to put ourselves in the shoes of another and put our loving into practice, not just intend to. Toleration is a start, but move to appreciation and embracing. Move beyond your barriers. “Turn the other cheek”, which means that when someone gives us one form of energy, we are to return a different form of energy, like forgiveness, love, and compassion. That takes strength. Returning the same energy does not take strength.

A lady, returning to her airplane seat, found the man beside her eating her cookies. She was angry and helped herself to “her own cookies”. Then she realized she was in the wrong seat! She apologized for her behavior, but the man said that he has learned that “when in doubt, share!” Our true theology is what we do, what we put into practice. To forgive “someday” is just a delaying tactic of the mind. Go within; pray. Bring in a higher energy. It affects all people. We are all connected. Stop seeing differences; see the beauty in others. See the many variations of infinite Spirit, which needs variety to express Its infinitude. See the wholeness and unity. Bring in the brotherhood, the Blessed Community. The time is now; the place is where you are. Peace. God bless you!

December 7, 2014 – The ADVENTure Begins

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12/07/14 Sheila Gautreaux, L.U.T.
The ADVENTure Begins

Advent is the expectation, the excitement around an arrival. This Advent season, energy around the world is focused on the coming, the rebirth, of the Christ. Why not put into this energy the seeds of that which you want to arrive in your life? Use all this energy as support. Holy Spirit guides us by universal laws like the Law of Mind Action (thoughts in mind produce after their kind) or the Law of Compensation (whatever you give out will come back to you). The universal laws are absolute, no shakey, not some-timey. They can’t be coerced. They simply act. When we are aligned with them, they support us, we have the force working for us. When we go against them we get “the full force of the law”.

I was coaching a lady who wanted to get away from her boss and start a new job when I got from Spirit that she was not supposed to have a job. As we worked with the universal laws, her situation at work began to shift. The company opened a position for a consultant to travel to their sites around the country (away from her boss). She got it. Not much later she was offered part ownership in a thriving company in Sacramento. Now she no longer has a “job”, she has a business.

In “expectation” of what you wish to “arrive” in your life, begin by asking yourself how you could have played at a higher level with the things that showed up this year. Then focus on living in alignment with what you want to bring into your life, like perfect health. Then list what things you can do to support that; list what goals will lead to those things. Now put a by-when date on your calendar or tell Siri. Putting a by-when date on a goal spurs you to action. Then be sure to visualize what your life will look like when you have these things. Really feel it. It is a scientific fact that what we are most excited about we draw to us. What you are giving out there must come back!

Now don’t “hope” or “wish”—expect. You are an off-shoot of the Creator. Just like you inherited characteristics from you parents, you inherited the ability to create from your Creator. Only when you doubt this do you lose your excitement, your expectation. Affirm, I expect the very best in my life and I am excited! I expect the very best in my life and I am excited! I expect the very best in my life and I am excited! And I am excited for you!

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December 7, 2014 – The ADVENTure Begins

by


12/07/14 Sheila Gautreaux, L.U.T.
The ADVENTure Begins

Advent is the expectation, the excitement around an arrival. This Advent season, energy around the world is focused on the coming, the rebirth, of the Christ. Why not put into this energy the seeds of that which you want to arrive in your life? Use all this energy as support. Holy Spirit guides us by universal laws like the Law of Mind Action (thoughts in mind produce after their kind) or the Law of Compensation (whatever you give out will come back to you). The universal laws are absolute, no shakey, not some-timey. They can’t be coerced. They simply act. When we are aligned with them, they support us, we have the force working for us. When we go against them we get “the full force of the law”.

I was coaching a lady who wanted to get away from her boss and start a new job when I got from Spirit that she was not supposed to have a job. As we worked with the universal laws, her situation at work began to shift. The company opened a position for a consultant to travel to their sites around the country (away from her boss). She got it. Not much later she was offered part ownership in a thriving company in Sacramento. Now she no longer has a “job”, she has a business.

In “expectation” of what you wish to “arrive” in your life, begin by asking yourself how you could have played at a higher level with the things that showed up this year. Then focus on living in alignment with what you want to bring into your life, like perfect health. Then list what things you can do to support that; list what goals will lead to those things. Now put a by-when date on your calendar or tell Siri. Putting a by-when date on a goal spurs you to action. Then be sure to visualize what your life will look like when you have these things. Really feel it. It is a scientific fact that what we are most excited about we draw to us. What you are giving out there must come back!

Now don’t “hope” or “wish”—expect. You are an off-shoot of the Creator. Just like you inherited characteristics from you parents, you inherited the ability to create from your Creator. Only when you doubt this do you lose your excitement, your expectation. Affirm, I expect the very best in my life and I am excited! I expect the very best in my life and I am excited! I expect the very best in my life and I am excited! And I am excited for you!



November 9, 2014 – Teddy Bear Feeling – A Positive Path

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11/9/14 Rev. David McArthur
Teddy Bear Feeling – A Positive Path

The Divine Presence is absolute good. In Unity, we’re obsessive about this “positive”. We never get to the heaven/hell/sin stuff. There’s pure love, and it is not found in the intellect. One good way to find it is hugging a teddy bear! It opens our feelings to experience the pure love which God is and let it touch us. Hugging a teddy bear is a God experience, because it always feels good. If love is there God is there; if God is there love is there. As we open to this, we connect deeper and deeper with who we really are.

Medics were called into a village in Viet Nam after an attack. A little girl badly needed blood. With difficulty they explained they needed blood donors. A little boy raised his hand to volunteer. He was a match, and as they began drawing blood he began to cry. He sobbed deeply. A translator told the medics that the little boy thought he was giving all his blood, that he would die. They asked why then did he volunteer, and he replied that she was his friend.

That’s who we really are. We do love. That’s why we’re here. The more we connect the easier it is to see. We get distracted and caught up with things but that’s not who we are. Pain, loss, ill health, or lack means that of the greater potential there, only a part of what is greater has been manifest. This love, this presence constantly guides us back to who we really are.

It is pure love without opposite. That’s the reality. It’s a beautiful thing to realize. In the Upanishads, Hinduism says, “The Lord is one without a second.” In the beautiful Jewish teachings, “The Lord is one.” The Koran says, “There is only one God.” Not two, just one. Jesus said, “If … thine eye [lamp] be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” There is just one. It is pure. It is real. It is God, life; it is everywhere. A great way to touch it is the teddy bear.

In 19th century London a young street urchin survived by putting on labels in a workhouse. In his ten years he had gotten 4 years of reading and writing. He secretly wrote stories, and after many attempts, he finally got a publisher, but wasn’t paid anything. But he learned how to get published! It was Charles Dickens. His written stories and his own story show us the amazing potential in all of us. God is there—the potential, the intelligence, the love. If God is there, love is there. Right at this moment an amazing potential is here. Love is here. Love is here. Love is here. In every situation in everyone of us. When you know that, it is hard to be anything less than positive. And what I know is that because you are here, love is here!

November 9, 2014 – Teddy Bear Feeling – A Positive Path

by

11/9/14 Rev. David McArthur
Teddy Bear Feeling – A Positive Path

The Divine Presence is absolute good. In Unity, we’re obsessive about this “positive”. We never get to the heaven/hell/sin stuff. There’s pure love, and it is not found in the intellect. One good way to find it is hugging a teddy bear! It opens our feelings to experience the pure love which God is and let it touch us. Hugging a teddy bear is a God experience, because it always feels good. If love is there God is there; if God is there love is there. As we open to this, we connect deeper and deeper with who we really are.

Medics were called into a village in Viet Nam after an attack. A little girl badly needed blood. With difficulty they explained they needed blood donors. A little boy raised his hand to volunteer. He was a match, and as they began drawing blood he began to cry. He sobbed deeply. A translator told the medics that the little boy thought he was giving all his blood, that he would die. They asked why then did he volunteer, and he replied that she was his friend.

That’s who we really are. We do love. That’s why we’re here. The more we connect the easier it is to see. We get distracted and caught up with things but that’s not who we are. Pain, loss, ill health, or lack means that of the greater potential there, only a part of what is greater has been manifest. This love, this presence constantly guides us back to who we really are.

It is pure love without opposite. That’s the reality. It’s a beautiful thing to realize. In the Upanishads, Hinduism says, “The Lord is one without a second.” In the beautiful Jewish teachings, “The Lord is one.” The Koran says, “There is only one God.” Not two, just one. Jesus said, “If … thine eye [lamp] be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” There is just one. It is pure. It is real. It is God, life; it is everywhere. A great way to touch it is the teddy bear.

In 19th century London a young street urchin survived by putting on labels in a workhouse. In his ten years he had gotten 4 years of reading and writing. He secretly wrote stories, and after many attempts, he finally got a publisher, but wasn’t paid anything. But he learned how to get published! It was Charles Dickens. His written stories and his own story show us the amazing potential in all of us. God is there—the potential, the intelligence, the love. If God is there, love is there. Right at this moment an amazing potential is here. Love is here. Love is here. Love is here. In every situation in everyone of us. When you know that, it is hard to be anything less than positive. And what I know is that because you are here, love is here!

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October 19, 2014 – Wherever I Am, God Is

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10/19/14 Rev. David McArthur
Where God Is, I Am

Years ago I was in a city on the West Bank. It was in a very very old part with stone walls and a bazaar. I heard shots and bullets hitting above me, and stone chips fell on me. Looking back at this I realize now that I had no fear in those moments, but a sense of connectedness and clarity. I knew what to do and how to do it. I got out safely. I see now that I didn’t even have to try to get to my heart and ask how. I had a divine connection that was real and there was no room for fear. I didn’t have to know how. It took care of me. When I needed it, it was there. It had been growing in my everyday activities for years. But how do you do that?

Prayer and meditation work, but I use another type of meditation more. Jesus said the greatest law is, “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” I was a teenager when I first thought about this: “Love the Lord thy God…” I didn’t even like Him—an arbitrary God who loved one club but not the other club that didn’t have “it”; a God really into punishment, who had a sense of emotional maturity that has now even been surpassed by my three year old granddaughter! Loving that God was too hard for me.

Jesus went on to say “…with all thy heart…” But loving can be hard even in a NORMAL family where there are many challenges to learning love. However, there is an easier way. Just enter into the feeling of love. Just remember loving. It’s a wonderful feeling. I often recall the magnificent mountains I’ve seen—the rivers, the animals. Or those glorious sunsets over a still ocean, or even the beauty of just a single flower, and the wondrous Creator of all of it. Or the beauty you see in friends, children, spouses. My heart can include that.

But Jesus also said “…and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind…” That’s a part of us that has no limit, far beyond this human body thing. Wow! Love with that! Bring the feeling up from the heart to the mind which then becomes clear, and the experience expands.

Then He said “Love thy neighbor as thy self.” Jesus’ focus was on those in need of compassion, as in the Good Samaritan. But feel you are connected with humanity as yourself; bring that love in and appreciate who you are. Let that in. Loving our neighbors and loving ourselves is a state of being. It is who we are, our true nature. And you know what? There is no fear in that. Breathe that feeling. It’s a simple place. My experience is the more I touch there, the more it touches me. So daily I use a line from the Prayer of Protection: “Where ever I am, God is.” “Where ever I am, God is.” “Where ever I am, God is.”

It creates that state of consciousness in us. Rumi said it this way: “The Lord is in me, and the Lord is in you… look for Him within you. When I sit in the heart of His world A million suns blaze with light, A burning blue sea spreads across the sky, Life’s turmoil falls quiet, All the stains of suffering wash away… This is the music of soul and soul meeting… This is the music that transcends all coming and going.”

And it’s there! Where I am, God is. Feel that Presence! Where you are, God is—because you are! Bless you!

October 19, 2014 – Where God Is, I Am

by

10/19/14 Rev. David McArthur
Where God Is, I Am

Years ago I was in a city on the West Bank. It was in a very very old part with stone walls and a bazaar. I heard shots and bullets hitting above me, and stone chips fell on me. Looking back at this I realize now that I had no fear in those moments, but a sense of connectedness and clarity. I knew what to do and how to do it. I got out safely. I see now that I didn’t even have to try to get to my heart and ask how. I had a divine connection that was real and there was no room for fear. I didn’t have to know how. It took care of me. When I needed it, it was there. It had been growing in my everyday activities for years. But how do you do that?

Prayer and meditation work, but I use another type of meditation more. Jesus said the greatest law is, “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” I was a teenager when I first thought about this: “Love the Lord thy God…” I didn’t even like Him—an arbitrary God who loved one club but not the other club that didn’t have “it”; a God really into punishment, who had a sense of emotional maturity that has now even been surpassed by my three year old granddaughter! Loving that God was too hard for me.

Jesus went on to say “…with all thy heart…” But loving can be hard even in a NORMAL family where there are many challenges to learning love. However, there is an easier way. Just enter into the feeling of love. Just remember loving. It’s a wonderful feeling. I often recall the magnificent mountains I’ve seen—the rivers, the animals. Or those glorious sunsets over a still ocean, or even the beauty of just a single flower, and the wondrous Creator of all of it. Or the beauty you see in friends, children, spouses. My heart can include that.

But Jesus also said “…and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind…” That’s a part of us that has no limit, far beyond this human body thing. Wow! Love with that! Bring the feeling up from the heart to the mind which then becomes clear, and the experience expands.

Then He said “Love thy neighbor as thy self.” Jesus’ focus was on those in need of compassion, as in the Good Samaritan. But feel you are connected with humanity as yourself; bring that love in and appreciate who you are. Let that in. Loving our neighbors and loving ourselves is a state of being. It is who we are, our true nature. And you know what? There is no fear in that. Breathe that feeling. It’s a simple place. My experience is the more I touch there, the more it touches me. So daily I use a line from the Prayer of Protection: “Where ever I am, God is.” “Where ever I am, God is.” “Where ever I am, God is.”

It creates that state of consciousness in us. Rumi said it this way: “The Lord is in me, and the Lord is in you… look for Him within you. When I sit in the heart of His world A million suns blaze with light, A burning blue sea spreads across the sky, Life’s turmoil falls quiet, All the stains of suffering wash away… This is the music Of soul and soul meeting… This is the music That transcends all coming and going.”

And it’s there! Where I am, God is. Feel that Presence! Where you are, God is—because you are! Bless you!

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October 20, 2013 – The Evolutionary Impulse

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10/20/13 Rev. Robert Brumet
Let Go of the Past, and Stand Up to Who You Really Are

Your own heart beat is the same impulse which created the universe 14 billion years ago. Until about 100,000 years ago it was simply a biological impulse, evolving the animal forms. Then consciousness was born as the cutting edge of evolution. Now we are at another time of transition, but we have over developed knowledge and under developed wisdom; over developed power and under developed love. Some would say the greatest threat to human existence is human existence.

We have not created balance. We have taken over the course of our evolution but have done so blindly. The human mind which has created our survival has become our master. We rely on our human intelligence for our (mis)understanding of reality. We have evolved from instinct to intellect. We need to move to intuition. We have become addicted to our way and it’s all we know. We are afraid to move on.

From Nikos Kazantzakis, author of Zorba the Greek: “Blowing through the heaven and earth, and in our hearts and the heart of every living thing, is a gigantic breath–a great Cry–which we call God. Plant life wished to continue its motionless sleep next to stagnant waters, but …the Cry, without pity, kept shaking its roots and shouting, “Away, let go of the earth, Walk!”…Animals appeared–worms–making themselves at home in water and mud. “We’re just fine here,” they said… But the terrible Cry hammered itself pitilessly into their loins. “Leave the mud, stand up, give birth to your betters!”… And lo! after thousands of eons, man emerged, trembling on his still unsolid legs… He has been fighting, again for thousands of eons, to draw himself, like a sword, out of his animalistic scabbard. He is also fighting–this is his new struggle–to draw himself out of his human scabbard. Man calls in despair, “Where can I go? I have reached the pinnacle, beyond is the abyss.” And the Cry answers, “I am beyond. Stand up!”

It is important to let go of the past and stand up into who we really are. We can’t make it happen but we can be willing. And so it is! God bless you!

October 20, 2013 – The Evolutionary Impulse

by

10/20/13 Rev. Robert Brumet
Let Go of the Past, and Stand Up to Who You Really Are

Your own heart beat is the same impulse which created the universe 14 billion years ago. Until about 100,000 years ago it was simply a biological impulse, evolving the animal forms. Then consciousness was born as the cutting edge of evolution. Now we are at another time of transition, but we have over developed knowledge and under developed wisdom; over developed power and under developed love. Some would say the greatest threat to human existence is human existence.

We have not created balance. We have taken over the course of our evolution but have done so blindly. The human mind which has created our survival has become our master. We rely on our human intelligence for our (mis)understanding of reality. We have evolved from instinct to intellect. We need to move to intuition. We have become addicted to our way and it’s all we know. We are afraid to move on.

From Nikos Kazantzakis, author of Zorba the Greek: “Blowing through the heaven and earth, and in our hearts and the heart of every living thing, is a gigantic breath–a great Cry–which we call God. Plant life wished to continue its motionless sleep next to stagnant waters, but …the Cry, without pity, kept shaking its roots and shouting, “Away, let go of the earth, Walk!”…Animals appeared–worms–making themselves at home in water and mud. “We’re just fine here,” they said… But the terrible Cry hammered itself pitilessly into their loins. “Leave the mud, stand up, give birth to your betters!”… And lo! after thousands of eons, man emerged, trembling on his still unsolid legs… He has been fighting, again for thousands of eons, to draw himself, like a sword, out of his animalistic scabbard. He is also fighting–this is his new struggle–to draw himself out of his human scabbard. Man calls in despair, “Where can I go? I have reached the pinnacle, beyond is the abyss.” And the Cry answers, “I am beyond. Stand up!”

It is important to let go of the past and stand up into who we really are. We can’t make it happen but we can be willing. And so it is! God bless you!

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