November 22, 2015 – Flowers Protect Us

11/22/15  Rev. David McArthur
Flowers Protect Us

For several days recently I was out of touch with the world, didn’t even have wi-fi! When I got back I learned about the Paris bombings. The news kept focusing on command and control; the focus was on fear. I felt that I was alone. When I feel that way I pray, “Please help me see what is going on here.”

As an answer, I saw that video clip where Parisians laid flowers and lit candles, and a little boy talked about the terrorists. “Those people are really bad. They’re so mean. Daddy, we have to move.” Beside him, his father said, “No. France is our home. There are bad people everywhere.” The boy: “They are so mean and they have guns!” “But,” his father replied, “we have flowers”—a beautiful response of compassion and love by so many. The flowers and candles were brought to heal. “Will the flowers protect us?” the boy asked his father. “Yes!” his father said. Millions and millions of people have gone to that video. They understand that’s what heals us. That’s the ONLY answer—not bigger guns. What heals us is when we reach out to that greater consciousness of connection.

I had waited in the Albuquerque airport for my flight home. I saw a young woman dressed like a Muslim. She walked with such confidence and centeredness in a time when the world was being judgmental and critical and all such people are feeling blamed. My heart was opened by this young woman. Peace was the way of her. It triggered lots of feelings of how women are treated in the Muslim world. Then I remembered one smart man at the Conference of World Religions last month saying it has nothing to do with “Muslim”, that everywhere there is a militaristic patriarchal society they must suppress the feeling, feminine part. It came to me, then, what will end all this need to command and control others—GIRLS READING BOOKS!

And I recalled Mahatma Gandhi, who said, “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.” They ALWAYs fall. Flowers are ALWAYS more powerful than guns.

At holiday time families come together. We return to relationships where we have judgments we have practiced for many years. But it is our chance to heal, to feel the gratitude that they cared enough to show up and give us the chance to bring a flower. We are at a time when the question is no longer “Will we make it?” We will—there are so many millions and millions of people who go to their hearts, go to compassion. The news won’t tell us about it much, but it is there. At this time join with me. The people of Paris, when they gave flowers, gave them to all of us throughout the world. They care. Send them that beautiful thought. Thank you for caring! What a beautiful thought to send the world! Thank you for caring! Give that Thanksgiving to the world, to all those beautiful beings! Thank you for caring! Truth and love ALWAYS, ALWAYS wins!

November 15, 2015 – Saving the Bride and Groom

11/15/15  Rev. Larry Schneider
Saving the Bride and Groom

In good literature there is always a story within a story within a story, and the last one to be told is always about you. The greatest story ever told is one about us. I have two stories for you today. The first is about two beautiful sisters living just beyond town. As siblings often do, they argued one day. Which one was most beautiful? They decided that each would walk through town, and the sister who attracted the most people would be the most beautiful. The first sister, Truth, walked through town naked. People retreated inside their homes, shutting their doors and windows. They were afraid of the Truth, especially the naked Truth. But when her sister “Story” joined her, people came out of their homes to join them both. You always have to accompany truth with story.

My next story is called the Bride and Groom. It is from the Jewish tradition. It refers to the 36 righteous people placed on the Earth by God. A very famous rabbi known for his compassion and “gift of sight” (he could see into a person’s soul) was called to a dying man’s bedside. As he entered he got weak and turned white. Quickly recovering, he went to the man’s side. The old man said he was afraid of dying; he was afraid the scales of judgment would be too light on the side of good deeds. The rabbi asked him to remember a good deed from his past. The man did recall when he was walking into town one day, there was a team of horses running wildly with a bride and groom in the wagon. He slowed the horses and shouted “Jump!” to the bride and groom. They did but the team was out of control and the wagon crashed; the horses perished. But the bride and groom were saved. Then the old man recalled other good deeds he had done in his life. Then the rabbi asked that after he got to heaven, would the old man come back and tell him about it.

A few days after the man passed, the rabbi was again seen to blanch then regain his color. He explained that the first time he had seen into the old man’s soul and saw that he was one of the 36 righteous, so pure that even the old man himself did not know he was one of the 36. This time the old man returned to tell the rabbi that when he got to the gates of heaven, they were closed. Angels brought the scale of justice, but then he heard a team of horses with a wagon coming. As they passed he jumped up on one and rode it right through the gates into heaven!

There are moments when we get a glimpse of heaven, like when we are honest on our tax returns or with the spouse. So when you do the right and loving thing this week, in that moment you will have just saved the bride and groom!

November 8, 2015 – Climbing The Beanstalk to God Within

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

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

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

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

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

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!”

December 21, 2014 – The Christmas Awakening


12/14/14 Rev. David McArthur
The Christmas Awakening

This year my granddaughter explained our nativity scene to me. It was made in Montana with figures based on ranchers, native Americans and oilmen. I learned that they wore heavy clothing because the baby Jesus was born at the North Pole! Christmas is a little different each year as our awareness grows. As a child it’s the first time there is something beyond our parents we could ask directly and it would respond to us. What a wonderful beginning of the God thought for a child!

11 year old Susie’s letter to Santa spoke of her younger siblings and that her father had died that year and how her mother was sick. But all she asked was could Santa bring a blanket for her mother who was very cold at night. It was not what you’d expect. A member here told how she had moved to a new town and didn’t know anyone. She had 2 daughters but no money for Christmas or even for food. No one to go to. Nobody even knew her plight. Yet there was a knock on the door. A big box had come. There was food. There were toys, and clothes. Whenever you think no one knows, there is always an awareness. A change of awareness is all it’s about. An awakening of consciousness.

The Christmas story in the gospel of John speaks of the light of each one of us, the very life in us, which brings forth the consciousness in each one of us. In our 3-D state we have to grow in awareness. John speaks of belief, but it is not “I think so” or “I’m convinced” belief. It is the embodiment of what you are, the reality you live. And “name” here isn’t what you are called, it is the nature of your being. So “to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”. It is the awakening to the awareness that we are children of God. It is not a religious thing, it is our nature.

As a Jewish boy, Jay Frankston, didn’t get to do Christmas. But when he had kids of his own, he did it big! One day he watched a mother help her little girl mail a letter to Santa. He wondered where those letters went. At the central post office he was given many, most of which were just lists of toys wanted. But he found Susie’s! And 7 others like hers from children who were afraid, or lonely, or felt forgotten. On Christmas Day he dressed as Santa and took Susie’s mom a blanket, and toys for Susie and her brothers and sister. He went to each of the 8 homes with presents for all. How the Santa experience changes when you become a parent! The next year he went to 20 homes, the year after that it was 120 homes. He did this for 12 years, the embodiment of love. It wasn’t religious.

It’s what it’s all about and it is not difficult. It is who we are. It is our nature. We’re the embodiment of love. I invite you to love the season and to give love this season. The gifts are just an excuse to give love. Give love without gifts. To people you don’t know give love. This special week the whole world is in the consciousness of love. I give love this Christmas. Say it again, I give love this Christmas. I give love this Christmas. And stop and be aware of all the love given you. Bless you!

April 22, 2012 – Giving and Receiving Love


4/22/12 Barry and Joyce Vissell
Giving & Receiving Love

“Surely Your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life.” (23rd Psalm)  God loves us so much! It is something that is with us throughout our lives. Death is our final adventure. In it, God has planned for us the very best. But we live in DOD– denial of death. Death, however, is an experience in holiness.

Many years ago Joyce’s mother came to her and said, “When it’s my turn to die, I want you to be excited for me. I know you will find a way.” She said it would be the greatest gift her Creator would give her. Recently, it happened. Over the weeks, the Vissells learned death is nothing to be afraid of. It is a beautiful time of life. It is not the enemy, but to be embraced as an adventure. Louise, Joyce’s mother, told them, “I love my dying process so much!” Amidst all the pain, she focused on receiving God’s love. “I didn’t know I could love so much!” She was overjoyed to see and talk with Joyce’s father, who had passed years before.

It’s about love; living in love; giving and receiving love. Even a lifelong outspoken atheist is known to have declared with her dying breath, “Love is the answer!” Whoever has loved you in your lifetime– they still love you! –without the body, even more. They are there. People we’ve known are all helping us. Take time to talk to them. Ask them for help.

We live in denial of death. Rather than dread death, live knowing your loved one could pass suddenly. Live each day with this “knowing” and love and appreciate them when you are together. Expect the unexpected all the time. Don’t be surprised.

When the moment of Louise’s passing finally arrived, Barry said he felt it. He let go of his “office consciousness” and sank into the heart. He said entering her room was like “entering a cathedral, a most holy place.” He entered with reverence and thought she was already dead. Suddenly she shouted “Merry Christmas!” (it was the middle of summer), “Look at all the lights!” Louise had received her greatest gift. The Vissell family had found a way to be excited for her. Dying is as holy as birth.