unity of walnut creek

12/11/11 Rev. David McArthur

The Nativity – why does it touch our consciousness again and again, year after year? Because it has an exquisite power to connect us to that spiritual power which flows through our hearts.

The animals are always peaceful and quiet, showing a warm supportive presence. It’s a symbol that the animal nature in us is brought into harmony through the heart. It is not excluded, but is a part of it. Mary is our female nature, the feelings of love we touch in our heart that are so awakened in the Christmas season. Joseph: wisdom. When we are in touch with our selves; the wisdom which flows through the world. The baby Jesus is the symbol of love and wisdom that is brought forth into being, the expression of the fullness of the heart.

In another Christmas story, a young immigrant girl, Ursula, takes a position with a wealthy American family in New York City. She feels she can’t measure up to the level of the expensive gifts she sees her new family receiving. But when she examined the love she felt for her own family and the family for whom she now worked, she felt peace. She followed her heart as she sought to express her love in a Christmas gift for her new family. She bought beautiful baby clothes and found a poor family, with a newborn, that otherwise had nothing for Christmas. Her gift to them was an expression of the higher understanding. She gave kindness to others as her gift to her new family. One special member of that family, Norman Vincent Peale, carried that gift throughout his life.

When we give from the heart it creates a difference. In the heart it becomes quiet and we have the ability to touch the love, the feeling (Mary), and give birth to that wisdom (Joseph), and we begin to perceive differently. The power, the love moves into a whole new level of expression (the baby Jesus) which touches and uplifts as it gives expression of that love and wisdom. How wonderful we get to touch it again and again! And it transforms those old things that always come up when we get together for the holidays. But we get to touch people differently. We have the invitation to go into the heart and bring into quiet those feelings and touch them to bring forth the higher wisdom and bring forth the Christ, the higher consciousness. For those that want to transform something, go to the Nativity and touch that love this season!

11/20/11 Rev. David McArthur

What’s going to happen in 2012? The only thing all the seers agree upon is that 2012 is a time of significant change. Erik Gonzales, Mayan spiritual guide, says to “Stay close to the sacred fire and do not let it go out.” The sacred fire is in our hearts–it is love.

Our projections give us a picture of what we believe, not necessarily what will happen. As co-creators, the beliefs we choose to hold greatly affect what we do create in our lives. The Hopi say one possibility is that mankind enters into the 5th world of eternal peace. And, it is said, in the past few years we have done so! The Edgar Cayce readings say that a new world is being born. Spiritual consciousness will reach such a height of development that each individual will be able to communicate directly with the divine.

Yet to move to the next level of consciousness, to bring forth the consciousness where we can look at a time of peace, a consciousness of love and compassion, we have to address the things we haven’t yet resolved, those things that come up which express our fear.

But you know something that most people don’t yet know, that God is good all the time! That there is only one power– there is no struggle between two. We have the power to make a huge difference! Like our teddy bears today, on Teddy Bear Sunday, which we pass back and forth to get hugs as we put our love in them. Because of our compassion we can send our love this way to young folks going through their big changes in the hospitals.

So as you see people struggle, give your love and compassion. You have the power to invite the change to the greater goodness. Love and compassion for them and for us transforms that which is not yet in love and harmony and brings it in. We will see the awakening of hearts all over the world supporting each other in love. 2012 is the year of awakening hearts. It will be a bear-y good year!

11/13/11 Rev. David McArthur

In our great fairy tales the story characters are us. Sleeping Beauty (reflects the female, feeling part of the soul) is raised without knowing her parents. So too are we asleep to the knowledge that we are children of God, heir to all the goodness and authority of the kingdom. We are asleep to our power.

We are also the Prince, the male aspect which knows we are heir to the divine and that part of us which is to do the work. And we are also the evil fairy– the fear with all the power wrapped up in it. It captures the prince and imprisons him. We are in prison, controlled.

“You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” But the first thing we do is figure out how the other person is so wrong. We blame anyone else. But the only thing in our way is us. Nobody has power over you but that you are willing to play the game. It isn’t given away unless you give it to someone.

The ring of thorns around the castle are the negative thoughts you hold–how you think someone else has the power. The prince cuts through with the sword of truth. Use your wisdom and guidance and cut through. You have the power and wisdom to accomplish anything in your life. When faced with fear, transform the situation with heart vulnerability. Look within with complete honesty. Where you have power and respect for yourself, that’s heart vulnerability. See clearly: “There is only one presence, and one power in the universe and in my life, the all loving goodness of God.” That’s the truth.

“God is good all the time!” slays the dragon of fear. There is only good, only God. You can take hold of it anywhere, any time. Touch it at depth through your feeling nature, that feeling of love. Wake up to who you are. The power/beauty/knowledge is within you. When you get to the point, “what do I do?”, when you are stuck in your fear, stop and take hold of your truth. Use the beauty and power of your being to step through. Enter into that beautiful place within yourself known as “happily ever after”.

11/6/11 Rev. David McArthur

Vibrations. We constantly connect with the Presence through vibrations, which can be words of care and love, or our thoughts that we constantly send out to others, or colors of vitality and warmth. Maybe a place with the consciousness of people coming to touch healing in their lives, like a beautiful church with a vibration or energy which is exquisite – that you relate to. Some places support a vibration within you. (Not cause it.) It’s within you; it’s not out there. We find the inner places through outer places.

We might experience the need of healing a vibration that is not where we want it to be. Recognize how important it is that we heal vibrations from loss, hurts, even changes which seem to violate who we are. It’s important that we bring that hurt into healing. Remember, God is good all the time – even if we don’t feel it. But just knowing that doesn’t take away the hurt. Healing is resolution.

So think of that place where you feel really good – a place where you were full of vitality and life. That place is God. It’s the place you are while watching children at play or when you get lost in an ocean view or the view of a mountain top. Remember that feeling. Let it be alive. Enjoy it. Touch it. Feel it.

Now bring the worry/anxiety/feeling which is not comfortable – a hurt or loss – bring that into the feeling of wholeness – the place where you have let the goodness be alive in you. Bring the uncomfortable feeling in and let it rest in that alive place. Tell your mind to shut up! It’s not about thinking. Perhaps that hurt made you grumpy, and you have found yourself pulling away from that place of healing. Sometimes we’re too tender. But you will forget to be grumpy. You might even feel alive, alert, awake, joyous, enthusiastic about life. Because of that love you find all about you. Bring the feeling of the hurt to that place of beauty and wholeness. Touch it in its fullness. Feel the goodness. Hold the hurt in that good place. Let it rest there. Don’t try to think it through. Let Spirit do its beautiful work of healing.

Yes, sometimes you have to come back to it again. But remember, all the time, you are a beautiful child of God!

10/30/11 Rev. David McArthur

Our God-thought, what we as humankind have perceived as the Divine, has unfolded over time. Worship of nature – the sun, a volcano, a river, or animals – touched the human capacity to ask the divine to respond to us. Then when humankind had become more confident in itself, the gods were beautiful human figures greater than life – magnificent beings out there controlling our lives. Once Constantine spread the new God thought – there is only one God – Jesus had become the sacrifice to get to God. The Roman and Orthodox Churches took over with the fall of the empire, and taught with pictures. For a thousand years it was taught that God was up there in Heaven and it was dark and dirty down here. With the Renaissance, the God pictures took on images of people down here where we live. The Divine began to touch us as people.

All through this time, in every time and in every culture, there were mystics which taught that it is all one, all God. The view of mystics like Charles and Mildred Fillmore no longer was that the Church was an institution which helped people reach the Divine, but that it’s all God – everything to the center of the universe is all God. There is a tale which says God was asked how to make this information available, and He decided, “I’ll hide it in the heart, where everyone can find it if they are sincere and look deep enough.”

All the way back, even the ones who worshiped God as animals were just asking to know the presence of God in their lives, to find connection and comfort. What did it matter as long as their intention and purpose would expand in their lives. The form does not matter – whether a statue of Apollo, Jesus, or Krishna, rites of a priest or words of Moses – what matters is what’s in the heart. What makes the difference is God is love in your heart. That’s where the love and sincerity are. There is nothing out there to give it to you. The connection is in your heart. Let your understanding unfold from your heart. It is beautiful. Feel the love – not the building, painting, or statues – but the love poured into the form – the form doesn’t matter. The bottom line is the love. It is what matters; it is what’s growing. What we are building now is a spirituality that does not know division, but unity. It starts in your heart. Ciao!