Minister's Highlights
Unity of Monroe
One Humanity, Many Stories: Living Love
February 3, 2019
In February we recognize many different events like yesterday with Groundhog Day and todays the Super Bowl. But there’s also Black History Month, Chinese New Year, President’s Day and of course, Valentine’s Day - a day which some choose to recognize while others, usually us guys call it a Hallmark holiday. Last Sunday I introduced our new yearly theme One Humanity, Many Stories and in February the emphasis is on how we are Living Love. Do we Live Love with our family and friends and do we Live Love when it comes to appreciating who we are and the path we’ve carved out for ourselves? Living Love is our most important call of Spirit and we experience it as we live it fully, freely and wastefully, as Bishop John Shelby Spong might say.
To Live Love wastefully is to express it in all we think, say and do as we move past our fears about being that expression of Love. It is to be a beacon of Love and Light beginning with how we deal with ourselves. So why wait for some arbitrary day this month to remember to be a vessel of Love why not NOW because NOW is the moment to re-dedicate ourselves to make Love a way of living. Ask yourself, How am I now Living Love? How am I living my life from a consciousness of Love? Mostly I believe we are Living Love when we let Love lead the way instead of our fears and doubts. In the 12 Powers system of thought created by Charles Fillmore, where every disciples represents one of our spiritual faculties, the disciple John symbolizes Love. As it say in the book of I John, "Perfect Love casts out fear." More importantly if we look at the full verse it was written, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” - 1 John 4:18 So like I shared last Sunday, the holding onto of a God of fear and punishment and judging is torn asunder by what is written here, a God-image of fear, “For fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” A God who punishes and judges then by this metric is a God that has not been perfected in love. Makes no sense but then a lot of what we’ve been told has not sat well with us. That’s part of our focus this year to change the dynamic of how and what we’ve thought into a system of healthy living.
When you think about it, God's Love is trying to get our attention all the time. It shows up in the guise of a person, an opportunity or something that someone says or doesn’t say yet we sometimes miss the signal because maybe we’re blinded by either what we have been told about God or by our human experiences with love that wasn't really love, and we sure don't want to experience an Infinite version of that! But God's Infinite Love is always trying to get our attention ready to express through us! I love this little story about a nurse on the pediatric ward who before listening to the children’s vital signs would plug the stethoscope into their ears and let them listen to their own hearts. Their eyes would always light up with awe. But she never got a response to equal four year old David's. She placed the disk over his heart and said, "Listen. What do you suppose that is?" He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled line and looked up - as if lost in the mystery of the strange tap-tap-tapping deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a wondrous grin as he asked, "Is that GOD knocking?"
The Love of God is always knocking; is always available and inviting us in to live as love. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that God Is Love and Love is God and that "Love is a synonym for God" and this rings true within each of us. In our Unity tradition we even go further and declare that the Indwelling Presence of God within us is Love as well. We might even say, "Love is what I Am and all that I Am is Love." Do you recall the first four words of the Bible from Genesis 1? "In the beginning, God..." This is not some actual reference to a beginning time in antiquity but rather a focus on the word beginning which means, “the process of coming, or being brought into being.” We are in the process of coming or being brought forth, being made in Love. God created you and me - humankind in that one image and likeness and thus love creates out of itself each of us. The Truth is that we are all made out of this divine energy, created in and of love. It is our nature. As we understand the revelation of St. Augustine, "God loves each of us as if there were only one of us," then we understand that EVERYONE is WORTHY and that the love of God flows in them and through them no matter what - NO EXCEPTIONS! God loves each of us and leaves no one out! It is an idea whose time has come and that time is NOW. As the great song writing duo of Hal David and Burt Bacaharch wrote: “What the world needs now is love sweet love. No, not just for some but for everyone.”
I bring this up because my mom grew up in a very small town with the stigma of being called illegitimate because she was the child of unwed parents - even having that word stamped on her birth certificate. And if she is labeled thus does it mean I too am illegitimate? When someone or anyone is labeled in such a way they often carry that stigma with them - a sense of being unworthy and thus being unloved. My mom sure did - all her life she fought to accept that she was worthy and loved and it unfortunately framed most of her life in negative ways. I recall having many conversations with her about how none of us saw her in such a light and that we saw her as a very successful, providing, loving mom, raising her family and turning the corner on poverty. Yet she carried that negativity of unworthiness with her for so long. I can’t imagine that the words or actions of our Wayshower Jesus was ever anything less than being focused on the ways of love and the acceptance of God, that all are worthy and loved.
So then to be an expression of Living Love we are always being called up to a higher state of consciousness. Whenever we are faced with something that makes us fearful, a decision, an encounter with someone or adjusting to the news of the day, try to remember that the foundation of our spiritual practice is not to run away or deny the fullness of the human expression and experience. Running away we don’t get very far because it always comes back for an opportunity for us to find our lesson. Rather, our function is to move through the PROCESS - that is to feel it come up and pass through us as we ask what blessing or opportunity awaits. Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s hard when faced with something that seems life-altering. To illustrate what I mean, let’s take a brief look at language. I believe I’ve mentioned this before that one of the many Latin words for fear is the word metus, which means “among, with, or around fear.” The root of that word, met, is used in composing words, such as meti-culous (when one if meticulous he might be fearful of making a mistake). But if we add the letter “A” to that root to turn “met” into “meta,” we instantly shift from being “around, on the same level as, or with” fear to being “above” or “transcendent” of whatever we’re facing, as in the word meta-physics (above or beyond the physical). The lesson is this: As soon as we feel the grip of fear, try adding one small iota of spiritual truth to our awareness, and it will create an opening for us to step out of that state.
So if we are facing a challenge and feel like we’re being pulled down into the realm of our own inner fears, what spiritual truth about who you are can you add to the mix. This is where we use the power of our creative mind to craft the affirmative process of prayer as we think with new energy. You and I have one purpose, one thing that once fulfilled and explored answers each and every other question - and it is to practice Living Love. Our one purpose is to be an expression of Living Love. Lama Surya Das in the book Awakening to the Sacred writes: "Learning how to love is the goal and the purpose of spiritual life - not learning how to develop psychic powers, not learning how to bow, chant, do yoga, or even meditate, but learning to love. Love is the truth. Love is the light." To learn Love then is Living Love in all means. The spiritual meaning of love is measured by what it can do. Love is meant to heal. Love is meant to renew. Love is meant to bring us closer to and each other. That happens best as we embrace this potion of love that is the mix of the spiritual and the human.
So may you continue to live as Love this day and each day of this month because you are Love. May your heart and mind be aware of the signals of love that are always showing themselves in numerous ways because you are Love . Next month, I will continue this once-a-month series on One Humanity, Many Stories and we will look at Creating Community. How would you like to share your story on Creating Community next month? If so please see me.
Unity of Monroe • 272 Britton Lane • P.O. Box 138 • Monroe, Ohio • 45050
513-539-5103
E-Mail • unitymonroeohio@earthlink.net
WebSite • unityofmonroe.org
One Humanity, Many Stories: Living Love
February 3, 2019
In February we recognize many different events like yesterday with Groundhog Day and todays the Super Bowl. But there’s also Black History Month, Chinese New Year, President’s Day and of course, Valentine’s Day - a day which some choose to recognize while others, usually us guys call it a Hallmark holiday. Last Sunday I introduced our new yearly theme One Humanity, Many Stories and in February the emphasis is on how we are Living Love. Do we Live Love with our family and friends and do we Live Love when it comes to appreciating who we are and the path we’ve carved out for ourselves? Living Love is our most important call of Spirit and we experience it as we live it fully, freely and wastefully, as Bishop John Shelby Spong might say.
To Live Love wastefully is to express it in all we think, say and do as we move past our fears about being that expression of Love. It is to be a beacon of Love and Light beginning with how we deal with ourselves. So why wait for some arbitrary day this month to remember to be a vessel of Love why not NOW because NOW is the moment to re-dedicate ourselves to make Love a way of living. Ask yourself, How am I now Living Love? How am I living my life from a consciousness of Love? Mostly I believe we are Living Love when we let Love lead the way instead of our fears and doubts. In the 12 Powers system of thought created by Charles Fillmore, where every disciples represents one of our spiritual faculties, the disciple John symbolizes Love. As it say in the book of I John, "Perfect Love casts out fear." More importantly if we look at the full verse it was written, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” - 1 John 4:18 So like I shared last Sunday, the holding onto of a God of fear and punishment and judging is torn asunder by what is written here, a God-image of fear, “For fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” A God who punishes and judges then by this metric is a God that has not been perfected in love. Makes no sense but then a lot of what we’ve been told has not sat well with us. That’s part of our focus this year to change the dynamic of how and what we’ve thought into a system of healthy living.
When you think about it, God's Love is trying to get our attention all the time. It shows up in the guise of a person, an opportunity or something that someone says or doesn’t say yet we sometimes miss the signal because maybe we’re blinded by either what we have been told about God or by our human experiences with love that wasn't really love, and we sure don't want to experience an Infinite version of that! But God's Infinite Love is always trying to get our attention ready to express through us! I love this little story about a nurse on the pediatric ward who before listening to the children’s vital signs would plug the stethoscope into their ears and let them listen to their own hearts. Their eyes would always light up with awe. But she never got a response to equal four year old David's. She placed the disk over his heart and said, "Listen. What do you suppose that is?" He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled line and looked up - as if lost in the mystery of the strange tap-tap-tapping deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a wondrous grin as he asked, "Is that GOD knocking?"
The Love of God is always knocking; is always available and inviting us in to live as love. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that God Is Love and Love is God and that "Love is a synonym for God" and this rings true within each of us. In our Unity tradition we even go further and declare that the Indwelling Presence of God within us is Love as well. We might even say, "Love is what I Am and all that I Am is Love." Do you recall the first four words of the Bible from Genesis 1? "In the beginning, God..." This is not some actual reference to a beginning time in antiquity but rather a focus on the word beginning which means, “the process of coming, or being brought into being.” We are in the process of coming or being brought forth, being made in Love. God created you and me - humankind in that one image and likeness and thus love creates out of itself each of us. The Truth is that we are all made out of this divine energy, created in and of love. It is our nature. As we understand the revelation of St. Augustine, "God loves each of us as if there were only one of us," then we understand that EVERYONE is WORTHY and that the love of God flows in them and through them no matter what - NO EXCEPTIONS! God loves each of us and leaves no one out! It is an idea whose time has come and that time is NOW. As the great song writing duo of Hal David and Burt Bacaharch wrote: “What the world needs now is love sweet love. No, not just for some but for everyone.”
I bring this up because my mom grew up in a very small town with the stigma of being called illegitimate because she was the child of unwed parents - even having that word stamped on her birth certificate. And if she is labeled thus does it mean I too am illegitimate? When someone or anyone is labeled in such a way they often carry that stigma with them - a sense of being unworthy and thus being unloved. My mom sure did - all her life she fought to accept that she was worthy and loved and it unfortunately framed most of her life in negative ways. I recall having many conversations with her about how none of us saw her in such a light and that we saw her as a very successful, providing, loving mom, raising her family and turning the corner on poverty. Yet she carried that negativity of unworthiness with her for so long. I can’t imagine that the words or actions of our Wayshower Jesus was ever anything less than being focused on the ways of love and the acceptance of God, that all are worthy and loved.
So then to be an expression of Living Love we are always being called up to a higher state of consciousness. Whenever we are faced with something that makes us fearful, a decision, an encounter with someone or adjusting to the news of the day, try to remember that the foundation of our spiritual practice is not to run away or deny the fullness of the human expression and experience. Running away we don’t get very far because it always comes back for an opportunity for us to find our lesson. Rather, our function is to move through the PROCESS - that is to feel it come up and pass through us as we ask what blessing or opportunity awaits. Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s hard when faced with something that seems life-altering. To illustrate what I mean, let’s take a brief look at language. I believe I’ve mentioned this before that one of the many Latin words for fear is the word metus, which means “among, with, or around fear.” The root of that word, met, is used in composing words, such as meti-culous (when one if meticulous he might be fearful of making a mistake). But if we add the letter “A” to that root to turn “met” into “meta,” we instantly shift from being “around, on the same level as, or with” fear to being “above” or “transcendent” of whatever we’re facing, as in the word meta-physics (above or beyond the physical). The lesson is this: As soon as we feel the grip of fear, try adding one small iota of spiritual truth to our awareness, and it will create an opening for us to step out of that state.
So if we are facing a challenge and feel like we’re being pulled down into the realm of our own inner fears, what spiritual truth about who you are can you add to the mix. This is where we use the power of our creative mind to craft the affirmative process of prayer as we think with new energy. You and I have one purpose, one thing that once fulfilled and explored answers each and every other question - and it is to practice Living Love. Our one purpose is to be an expression of Living Love. Lama Surya Das in the book Awakening to the Sacred writes: "Learning how to love is the goal and the purpose of spiritual life - not learning how to develop psychic powers, not learning how to bow, chant, do yoga, or even meditate, but learning to love. Love is the truth. Love is the light." To learn Love then is Living Love in all means. The spiritual meaning of love is measured by what it can do. Love is meant to heal. Love is meant to renew. Love is meant to bring us closer to and each other. That happens best as we embrace this potion of love that is the mix of the spiritual and the human.
So may you continue to live as Love this day and each day of this month because you are Love. May your heart and mind be aware of the signals of love that are always showing themselves in numerous ways because you are Love . Next month, I will continue this once-a-month series on One Humanity, Many Stories and we will look at Creating Community. How would you like to share your story on Creating Community next month? If so please see me.
Unity of Monroe • 272 Britton Lane • P.O. Box 138 • Monroe, Ohio • 45050
513-539-5103
E-Mail • unitymonroeohio@earthlink.net
WebSite • unityofmonroe.org