8/28/11 Rev. David McArthur

We have spoken of near death experiences, life after death, reincarnation; of healing and healers like John of God and the healers that are here every first Wednesday. And there are other gifts. But 1 Corinthians 13 says, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

As with any gift, people fall into a bell curve. There are a few as gifted as Edgar Cayce or John of God. The other end is people who think they are more gifted than they really are. Most of us have some gift that with some development can be used rightly. But without love it is not of value. This is tremendously important and a challenge. As you work with your gift, what comes is the truth within yourself. Do not give away your power that is within you. The answers aren’t out there. They are within you – your connection with spirit within your own heart.
Every time you can’t break through, the teacher does come, but the power and responsibility are within you. At times when you feel you are under attack, it is very difficult to respond with love. Respond first with feelings of compassion for yourself as if for a good friend. From that experience, respond with compassion for that one attacking you. Choose to respond with understanding, with what is fair, with care for that person. Respond with love.
“As a child…” When we go through the maturing of our spirituality, we shift from the brain as the instrument of interpreting, to the heart being the main way of interpreting life. “The three remain– faith, hope, and love. The greatest is love.” What is there to respond with? Choose love! There is that which guides, supports, heals. The greatest is love. Choose love. Create that which you seek!

Sermon, August 28, 2011 - Spiritual Gifts and Love Through Compassion [ 30:45 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

8/21/11 Rev. David McArthur

We recognize in symbols the unfoldment of our spiritual truth. When Harry Potter first discovers he is magical, that’s us taking our first look at our power within. The wand of intention and “speaking the word” are powerful symbols. We, as spiritual beings, enter into the physical life. We accept our body as our identity, the feelings of that body as if they were true. Voldemort symbolizes our experience of fear. “Horcruxes” are each parts of the soul of Voldemort that he has stashed at various locations so that he can live forever. It is a picture of how we have stored our fears in different places, avoiding death. With Dumbledore’s death, Harry (and we) realize that authority and the divine power are not outside of ourselves, but within. So we search for the fears that we have hidden from ourselves.  What gives us the power to overcome our fear? According to St. Paul, “Perfect love drives out fear.”
The first of two fears we will deal with here is lack. We seek gold – stuff – and we want more and more. We are afraid that people and situations will take it, that they have power over us. Harry and his friends fight goblins in the underground (as we fight our fears in our sub-conscience). The dragon is the symbol of power and guards the gold. Harry and Hermione direct the attention of the power (dragon) away from the gold (what we think we have to have) to freedom (where we really want to go).
The next fear is fear of death. Harry realizes he has a horcrux of Voldemort inside himself. He must face the fear of the loss of a part of himself – losing his body in death, or losing his relationships, or his power. (Or we could lose our job, or our grandfatherly “God thought”.) But Harry faces it. He finds you have to let go so you can accept the higher thought. The death of the body is Harry’s symbol, but he is guided by the “perfect love”. Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Harry lays down his life for his friends, and finds death is perfectly safe, and that you can’t lose life. Harry finds he still lives. He can ask (and so can you), “what do you really want to do?” when you are not afraid of death or lack. Fear can only exist in the belief that there is another power. There isn’t. Refusing to accept fear, it self destructs. It is no more.
“In the end…love wins. It does win. We know it wins. When a person dies, it doesn’t turn off.” – J. K. Rowling on Oprah.
There is only one presence, one power, the all-loving goodness of God. When you no longer tolerate the fear within you, you step into the next level, “God as me.” One with the presence. One with the power. There’s nothing to fear. There is only one presence, one power, the all-loving goodness of God!

Sermon, August 21, 2011 - Harry Potter–Love Always Wins [ 21:25 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download