12/18/11 Rev. David McArthur

This time of year is a time of light. The 25th of December is when the days begin to get longer. We celebrate the coming of light.  “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” John 1:9.

The Christmas experience lifts you each year. It is the experience of enlightenment, the experience of light. There are 2 ways to experience the spiritual energy of enlightenment. First is either one of those “aha!” moments in life or one of those moments of despair.

The other way to experience the spiritual energy of enlightenment is through love. It is the experience of transformation into a new state. From illness to health, from conflict to harmony, from turmoil to peace. How does light relate to love? “Light is the hem of the garment of love.” Light flows when we give an expression of love. There is actual spiritual energy flowing. Some actually see it. We experience this illumination at Christmas. We begin to see things differently.

Before Jesus’ coming, humankind was asleep to its nature. But with Jesus a beautiful understanding came. He said, “The Father and I are one. The Kingdom of God is within.” That’s enlightenment! There had to be great love for that to come forth. The experience we get is to love and let the light flow. Say, “When I love, light flows.”

It is love from which light flows. The wonderful thing about Christmas time is we all bring that love – to family, to friends, all around. When you let that light show through, it blesses us all. It is time to do that!

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!

10/2311 Rev. Eileen Goor

There are many ways people make decisions– rock/paper/scissors (which, by the way, goes back to 200 B.C. in China), flipping a coin, or casting lots (which was mentioned many many times in the Bible), drawing straws, even listing pros and cons on a sheet of paper. In the end, you probably decide by what you really feel anyway.

True spiritual discernment is that knowing within your very being what is right for you. It is wisdom which you discover deep in the core of your being. When we complete a process and we feel led to do something, it often feels like a great risk. Indiana Jones was led by a guidebook to a huge abyss. It said for him to step out in faith. The question is “How?” The answer is “Follow your heart.” Then we ask, “How do we do that?” Then the answer is “None of your business!” The deep wisdom within you knows. Allow yourself to be guided, because there is just one mind.

Ask, “What is mine to do?” It is a process of peeling off the old layers of stuff. The bridge does appear across the chasm when you do that which you have truly chosen to discern deep in your heart. It’s an individualized expression of God. If you don’t, the world is missing that piece.

So we become responsible– able to respond. Guided from your heart and the depth of your being, you have access to total wisdom. And you will have the support on the path to be the expression of who you are here to be. Take the step in faith. You will be supported!

10/16/11 Rev. Suzanne Leonard

Be impeccable with your words. (From Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements.) Greet everything in your life with kindness and caring and move on.

Don’t take anything personally. That mean look you got might have been caused by a toothache, and have nothing to do with you. The driver that cut you off on the freeway might have been on her way to an emergency. Even when there are a lot of people “on their ways to emergencies”, don’t take it personally.

Don’t make assumptions. Ask questions. If you need a keyboard, for example, and someone has a keyboard, ask if the keyboard plays. We were raised not to ask any questions. We grew up with “braces on our brains”.

Always do your best. We are practical, positive, progressive at Unity. We are culturally Christian but spiritually unlimited. Everything we learn, we learn through repetition until we can live it. We need to move forward – take a class, move into a setting where we embrace greater good and expression.

The essential impulse in all of life is to connect. (Lynne McTaggart, The Bond.) We came to connect on all levels.

4 Ways (Signatures) to connect –

1. We need to belong – we are tribal
2. We need to agree – we dance in cadence with each other; we feel agreement
3. We need to give – time, talent, and treasure
4. We need to take turns – we can’t give a gift if we don’t have a turn

Do your best with passion in your life, with passion in your work, with passion for your friends, and with passion in your garden, and God will be with you and bless your life!

10/9/11 Rev. David McArthur

How can we use spiritual power when we are reaching for that greater goodness but run into blocks? Then the busier we get the easier it is to forget that power, but we need it twice as much. We find the power in that still spot in which we experience the connection, just being at One. It is nothing and it is nowhere – the quiet, still point in the middle of our always-turning world.

How do we make the connection? Jesus said, “Peace. Be still.” “Be still and know that I am God,” comes from the psalms. The journey to the stillness has a path – meditation. But recognize that when we try to meditate, the mind wants to focus on random thoughts, forgetting to be still. Many use a mantra, mandalas, and so on, but still fall between the words. It is in the deep thought, the deep feelings where we experience the divine silence itself. In that stillness, that quiet, focus on the deep feeling of love until it goes into what is just “presence”, where you are resting deeper than thought or feeling. You are resting with the one that is God.

Then when you finish you go from deep peacefulness into the energy of the world which hasn’t been in the peacefulness, and the beautiful peace is lost to irritation and frustration with the world and negativity. Instead, come out through the heart. You went in through the heart. Come out sending the peace out to the world, the things you face in the world. Say, “Divine Love goes before me making easy, joyous and successful my way.” This way you are connected with Spirit as It is working through the activity before you– even if It seems well hidden. You know God is good all the time– in the stillness and also in all the busyness before you. And everything before you is the pure divine love of God!

10/2/11 Rev. David McArthur

In the process of spiritual growth, there are two spiritual practices that make a practical difference: blessing and giving. It’s part of a greater depth and growth of your spiritual consciousness. A “problem” is of your own consciousness. Bring it into wholeness by blessing it. God only knows wholeness, not “part” of anything. If we are not experiencing wholeness then there is work to be done. Blessing reaches into the wholeness. Blessing brings the wholeness through you, and not just in the solution to the problem, but in other areas of your life as well. Open to a greater flow of spiritual energy, directing it with intention.

Jesus combined blessing with giving. Twice, He fed crowds of thousands with about half a dozen loaves of bread and a few fish. (Matthew 14) He blessed what He had and then gave it to the disciples to give to the people. Another time the disciples had only 5 loaves of bread for themselves, and feared it was not enough. He again fed all of them, admonishing them that “they didn’t get it” – that it was divine substance that He brought into manifestation. It was the blessing of what they had and the giving of it that brought forth from the divine substance the solution to their problem. It was a demonstration for us how we use spiritual energy consciously with intention.

In the perception of a “problem”, you aren’t perceiving the goodness there. Call it forth. It responds to your need when you bless it and give from what you have. You are empowered to bring forth what you need. And we do this together – we call forth the demonstration, the manifestation – as with our renewed building and grounds we returned to just a year ago. And when it is time to go to the next step we gather to bless what we have, what we have done.

To experience the flow of abundance, give. You have something to give. Find it. Give freely with joy. Set the table as an experience of blessing. Make a list of what you need, affirming the good that is coming. The “change” is within one’s self. And then the world changes. Change comes from the center out to the circumference. The goodness is out there just waiting for you to get your act together. God is good all the time! Give. Bless. Do this for yourself and hold this truth for others.

9/25/11 Rev. David McArthur

“The inexhaustible resource of Spirit is equal to every demand. There is no reality in lack. Abundance is here and now manifest.” –Charles Fillmore. God is good all the time, even when what we worked to manifest doesn’t show up, God is still good all the time. The question isn’t about God, but, “Are you willing to commit?” 

From Matthew, chapter 17, verses 24 through 27, “Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”  “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”  “From others,” Peter answered.  “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”
The medium of exchange is not the true picture. Divine love is the source. The abundance of divine presence is the goal for you. You are one with God. In truth, you never owe or are owed as a spiritual being. Ask of Spiritual Presence for direction. Go to the realm of energy, of Spirit represented by the lake. It is deep, but look in and “fish” out an idea. Act on the first “fish” (idea). Use it to pay the “tax”, and meet your needs in the 3D world.

We create our experiences. Let’s have joyful experiences. Open to the flow. Call the flow of God into your life. Awaken to the abundance. Act upon it. You can call it forth; you have the power. “The inexhaustible resource of Spirit is equal to every demand. There is no reality in lack.” Pull out the instruction from within and act on it. “Abundance is here and now manifest.” Nothing has any power over you but that which is true love and supports you without limitation, for you are the beloved child of God!

9/18/11 Rev. David McArthur

“Love the Worrier” We love to celebrate and party, and sing “Don’t worry; be happy!” Jesus said, in Matthew 6; 26, 27, that the Father feeds the birds of the air even though they do not store food, and we are even more important. He said that worry will not add one year to your life. So what are you worrying about? We learn from HeartMath that worry actually shortens your life. And you can always find someone to worry with you. You know not to do it, but you do it anyway, thinking, “If I didn’t worry about you I wouldn’t be loving you.” That is not true. Worry comes from the head. We think it comes from caring. But care gives you energy and lifts you up. Worry takes you down. The joy begins to drain away. You think, “What if this or that happens… Oh, no, I’d be powerless.” That’s not part of love– it’s from fear and anxiety.

As a spiritual being you have the power to not go there. How do we do it? Besides Freeze Frame, you have power to connect to that pure being where all love and intelligence flows, where you heal the fears behind the worry. Step into a greater wholeness. We are no longer at a level where we let fear and insecurity run our lives. They come up to be healed. So ask, “What needs to be loved?” Answer, “my worrier!” The first thing to be healed is me. And because my life is the mirror [expression] of me, then the expression of me [my life] will change. Know the only thing out there is the goodness of God. Bring that love, that compassion, to the part of yourself that didn’t know that. The beautiful power of compassion sends the power to heal the worrier. Love the worrier part of you; it responds. Hold it in your love. The feeling begins to change. The energy drain stops. It lifts you up. Thank God we get to heal our self and look at the world through Truth. God is our source. “God is my instant, constant, abundant supply.”

When our consciousness is ready, love will show up. It is always there. The only limit on God’s abundance is what we let in. You have to know the truth. Infinite wisdom, infinite power, infinite intelligence can take care of it and will if you let it. God is our source, our power. When you come to worry, treat it with compassion. Say, “I’d rather not worry and be happy!”

9/11/11 Rev. David McArthur

When a broad survey asked, “What is it that you are looking for (in your church)?”, a large proportion answered that it was the personal experience of the presence of God. On a trip to the ancient section of the city of Jerusalem, I saw a group of obviously devout women. One smiled directly at me, and I felt waves of love. It was a gift. It awakened my feelings of love, and that it was “feeling” that was the way I was touching the presence of divine love. Through our feeling nature we are able to expand our awareness– to realize what is giving the feeling is the movement of divine spirit through us.
Remember someone you really appreciate. What is it that you appreciate about this person? Next, feel the appreciation, not just think of it. Move from thought to feeling. Feel how the energy comes up in you, a movement, a flow of Spirit through you. Appreciation is part of love. There is a delight in appreciating another, and the energy that comes up in you. Your ability to feel love is the movement of the presence of God through you. Anytime you touch that love you feel the goodness, the awareness, the experience of the presence of God in you.
Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father…I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” You are one with the divine. It is seamless from there to the presence of the divine when you see the light that you are– that energy– flow. How do we sense it? Through feelings.
Remember, God is good all the time! So what about the sad or negative feelings that drain us? They are the grief that we are not seeing the goodness, when we don’t feel the presence. But we know we are spiritual beings living in a spiritual world governed by spiritual law. And we know through feelings we touch the presence, and through appreciation we touch our feelings, and that it is easy to get to appreciation.
Feel the presence. You can’t get away from it. Everything is God. It is the wisdom, the light, the power that flows through you. Sad feelings are you ignoring that. So once a day this week, stop and go to appreciation. Feel the presence– that goodness. You are that love. Because we’ve seen you, we seen the Father! Bless you!

9/4/11 Rev. Sheila Gautreaux

Everyone has challenges. When you are thinking, “Why me?”, why not you? Recall the story of Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4, 1-11). Metaphysically, the wilderness is the subconscious with all the erroneous beliefs– the things we think we’ve learned or have been told about ourselves. Jesus’ fasting shows we are to deny these erroneous human beliefs. And even for Him, when He needed to be cleansed of them, they came on harder than ever. So we must “fast” from them whenever they come up. The forty days signifies completion, which was then followed by hunger. That’s when those ideas tiptoe back. But we hunger for truth – to have it so badly– we will give those ideas up. We must listen to them to know them, but have a “comeback”– your truth that you have the power within you to overcome whatever challenges you. The word “Lord” in the Bible means the universal “law”. You cannot tempt the law, nor manipulate the universal law. If you align with it, everything works out. “Get behind me.” means “I no longer listen to you.”

Come into your self. Find where you are out of alignment with the law. Ask, “What am I not seeing?” OMG! A challenge can shift quickly when you find where you are out of alignment with the law. Everything is preparing you. What has happened to you really happens for you. You are being forged. Take your eye off the challenge. You are about to be called upon for something much grander than before. You are being prepared. Be grateful.

Five things to do when there is a challenge.

1. Tell your story. Pour your story out.
2. Feel it. Behind the feeling is the healing.
3. Look up. Above the condition. See the perfection in it as it plays out.
4. Reach up for your higher truth. Pray. Meditate. Read. Join a group.
5. Get up. Stand. Know God is there and will not leave you comfortless and is always with you.

And smile. Pray, “For this I have come. Let me do and say all you have put me here for. Thank you God. I am grateful. Even for the challenges which make me to be who I came here to be. Amen and Awomen!”

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!

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!

8/14/11 Rev. David McArthur

As Unity people we spend a lot of time bringing the application of spiritual principles into our experience. We believe the energy, the pure love, brings us into transformation of healing or financial challenges. Yet a noted adherent of the Unity teachings revealed he would have major surgery. He said the doctors had found that he had healed himself before from within, but he said this time his guidance directed him to utilize the skills and expertise of the medical profession to bring him healing from outside of himself. It’s all God.
King David brought Israel into a state of national strength. He provided great security for survival of the tribe, and great abundance to taste life’s goodness beyond just survival. Security, sensation, power are the 3 lower chakras. King David is the symbol of love, and from that state he established security, control, authority, and power to make his intention manifest, through love. Use love to draw from the world around to create security, life opportunity, and to have power to create from the outer to take care of yourself.
Jesus also is a symbol of love. His experience was very different. When people turned to Jesus (Who represents the Christ Self, the Atman, the Buddha Mind, the divine self) they were made whole. Jesus looked inward for power and authority. Jesus did not seek control in the outer, but from the center outward. Jesus symbolizes the power of the higher chakras. Dr. Emily Cady said we can call on the abundance to flow through us, without calling in the outer. “God is the all-sufficiency in all things.” Create by calling forth through your own power and authority. Co-dependency is ok with the God “out there”, but it is the divine in us that has the power. Declare from inside out, and then know “It is done.”
Both result in healing. They are two different ways to meet the challenges. One is through the power of love– getting guidance to bring from the outer world that which is needed as an expression of oneness and love. The other is turning within, where the love and harmony is experienced within and is manifested in the outer, from the inner.
It’s all God! It brings the greatest wholeness. It’s all the divine. Call it into being. As it comes forth, celebrate it! Every experience is another miracle!

8/7/11 Karen Taylor-Good

Have you felt that as time went on your prayers were unanswered? Sometimes the answer is no. You might ask, “What went wrong?” or even say, “Thanks a lot, God!” I even prayed just to be “a little more right.” But prayers must be specific. I knew I had to “get a bigger pan!” I had to ask myself, “Do I really want to be those things I thought I wanted to be?” It’s ok to hurt. It’s ok to cry. Then I realized I did have my words, my music. And I listened to that voice inside as it got louder – I went to church and took a pledge to say “yes” to life. So I had to say “yes” when asked for a “small” favor. Great things happened quickly. The world came into focus. Although I had no idea what it looks like, I knew Someone does. So I wrote
“I don’t always get what I want – I get what I need…  I prayed for strength. I got pain that made me strong.  I prayed for courage. I got fear to overcome.  I prayed for faith. My empty heart brought me to my knees…”
You are being pushed and pulled for a reason. Doors are closing for a reason. Life can leave you confused, stressed, and angry. But it’s perfect. And these Unity principals work all the time. Let go of things you can’t use. With the weight off your wings, you’re going to fly! Pat yourself on the back for still being here. You couldn’t have done it without you!
Say “yes” to life. We sometimes say “no” unconsciously. Say “yes!” Make this the week – say yes to life as often as you can. For seven little days, say YES!

During brain surgery, Jasmina experienced a connection with healing spirit that stayed with her throughout her recovery period. “The light stayed with me. It was with me. I could feel it through my heart. When I’d feel good, it was with me. I…used that heart energy and the light… My job was to help myself, [to] bring in that energy, that laser light.”
Seek the miracle experience beyond your understanding. Deal with fears using the heart power, that “aha!” energy. At the Casa de Dom Inacio in Abadiana, Brazil, where Jasmina experienced healing from entities channeled by John of God, there are rooms of people “sitting in the current”, holding the spiritual power in meditation.
You do your own healing. Ask for energy to increase your intuition to know what is needed. Accept that there is a period of recovery. Use your power to attract your blessings, your bliss and healing. Bring in the appreciation – surrender, faith, trust. List every blessing desired. Release negative, unhealthy emotional ties to heal the physical need. Go through emotional healing, grieving, and release trauma to be able to accept the manifestation of wholeness. When doubt comes in, go back. Meditate. Write down the details of what you want. There is constant guidance just from asking and moving in the direction of the fulfillment of your desire. Stay focused on heart, spirit, and prayer. Stay with it.
Heal the past to have the energy and purpose to be about your purpose now. Everything needed to be on purpose and be about the work that is yours to do is given.
Affirm for yourself the potential of healing!

“God forgives you and so do I. I send you peace.” As we forgive we heal and open to that great flow of peace and abundance, to the goodness of God. When we look at Jesus turning the water into wine, we realize that divine intention and energy show up in the material realm as well. It is the experience of opening to the universal process, of attuning to a different level of consciousness, like the wine is so different from the water. Mary stands for the intuitive sensing of the need for transformation. We sense it when it relates to oneself. We often respond, as Jesus said, “My time is not yet come.” But be patient with yourself, you are ready to accept the maturation needed.
The stone water jars represent the structured set way of thinking, like we always tell ourselves everything that is wrong with what we intuitively are drawn to do. The pouring of the water, the pure energy, into these limitations, is the change, the spiritual intelligence, the possibilities. As the “water” is drawn, the master identifies that the good wine is now. It is a demonstration of Divine Intelligence.
When something doesn’t work, we often take it as a sign. But it is a point in the process at which we are to press harder for the transformation. Jesus was the master at transformation. We have to work harder. It is not a personal lack in our lives. The truth is there is spiritual purpose that this is flowing through us.
Even when there is no support or resources for transformation, with desire, (the point where we sense the need of transformation, as did Mary), draw out of that jar. What is in there is what is needed. There is expansion. The real limitations we knew fade. Respect and support are drawn to the person – the “good wine” is there. Within it is the intelligence to bring forth that which transforms. What do we do with the capacities we have, the challenges? The answer is in the spiritual power we have to focus our thoughts and intentions on the possibility, to open the door and let it flow with ease and grace. Being about it is what brings the flow, the joy. Everything we need is there. Call it forth. Call for the good wine.

7/17/11 Rev. David McArthur

What do we do about those things which show up when we are about to go to sleep, or at 3 a.m. when we can’t sleep? Unity has the commitment we call practical spirituality. Part of the power of being a spiritual being is choosing how we feel when stuff shows up. Daily, the emotional structure of our mind jumps to protect ourselves when that person or that situation shows up. We perceive those things are not of God, but we know God is good all the time. This is a duality, but we can choose to move from that duality to oneness.
There is a simple way to work with those people and things that stimulate our perception of duality. We have the power to let it go. Jesus taught, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the alter and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23,24; New International Version.) The altar is where we become one with God, where we give our gift. Simply bring the being or situation into consciousness and pray: “God forgives you and so do I.” Repeat it 3 times, bringing it into your spirit, mind, and body. “…then come and offer your gift.” Your gift is your intention – peace. That is what you had given away, and the only way to get it back is to give it. So pray, “God forgives you and so do I. I send you peace.” (See yourself give or send peace and love in a figure 8. That’s giving with non-attachment. Send it around the people or situation and then see it cross over and go around yourself.) You can also pray for the other “person” in you, that part of yourself you criticize the most.
At the end of your day, ask, “where in this day was I not at peace?” As you do this over time you create a list. And you create a consciousness of forgiveness. Can you do this for a week? – a month? – a year? Catherine Ponder reports a woman told her it profoundly changed her life. As she practiced this formula of forgiving, she experienced great peace and release of past judgments and unhappiness. Some things took a year for this. And then this person was even healed of an “incurable” illness. Such healing happens because it opens a person to the divine nature of wholeness. There is no limit in our lives except that which we put there. God doesn’t have any limits for you, when you raise the consciousness within you!
Pray, “God forgives you and so do I.” “I send you peace.”

7/10/11  Rev. David McArthur

NDEs (near death experiences) and re-incarnation are beautiful understandings of the unfolding of the soul. But what are we to believe of afterlife experiences, of what takes place at the time of death or right after? Listen to the place in your own heart where you experience what is valid and what is not, and always remember God is good all the time!
Death is perfectly safe. What happens when the soul releases the body? Much of what we believe is shaped by the thought forms we have built up, our traditions and our experience, that draws us to that which embraces the transition. Regardless of which tradition we come from, we all expect some common experiences, such as support of loved ones there to help us make this major transition.
Life review at the time of death is very different. When we were in the body we were more judgmental, but this review is in the state of divine love, to bring understanding. We can choose where we go from here. We draw into the experience that which supports the soul. There is a huge variety of choices – an infinite variety. Some are still closely tied the the Earth experience, and will have “body consciousness” and focus on family or academics, as before death.
We still have choices for soul development. In John, 14, 1-3, Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” In the accomplishment of Christ Consciousness, where the soul has fullness of spiritual awareness, “there are many rooms” or areas for the soul’s development. Some are close to the path the soul had on Earth. Edgar Cayce said the soul can also go to other “planets” or frequencies (vibrations) of experience for development of the soul’s consciousness. They are really weird, and don’t relate to our 3rd dimensional understanding. Yet the sense of self (a different sense of self) is there. The soul touches realms of energy and consciousness different from what we know here, to bring growth and different dynamics. It is beyond what we can figure out, but infinite in choice, infinite in potential.
It is natural to sense contact with one who has just passed. They are telling that they are all right, and affirming that their presence goes on. It can happen even after long periods of time. Very often there is contact through dreams. An emotional connection. One of the beautiful things is to understand that even though the being goes on to some other plane, our love touches and blesses them, and theirs us. But our work is here and now. We are to focus on the choices we have. The important thing is that we are enfolded in so much love that as we grow through the many changes in this life and in death, we are taken care of every step on the way!

Reincarnation.  As we step beyond this life experience – as in life after death – what is important?  What has meaning for me?  For Charles Fillmore it is importance only so far as it touches our work here and now.  Traditionally, Christianity taught we only live one life and then go on to our next level.  Both reincarnation and “one life” are valid.  God works with infinite paths and capacities to come forth.  Perhaps some of us are slow learners and need to come into this world again.  Not remembering our past experiences on Earth is a gift.  It is so we might start anew to address what is here.  That is why it is so difficult to remember.
“The soul never takes birth and never dies at any time nor does it come into being again when the body is created. The soul is birthless, eternal, imperishable and timeless and is never destroyed when the body is destroyed. Just as a man giving up old worn out garments accepts other new apparel, in the same way the embodied soul giving up old and worn out bodies verily accepts new bodies.” ~ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Krishna to Arjuna
We create our life choices, “mathematically” taking ourselves to our next experience.  We create our own worlds.  The people in our worlds are there because we have made a commitment to each other to bring forth in each other what is meaningful and purposeful, so that beauty and magnificence that is Spirit might be fulfilled in each of us.  Mahatma Gandhi was a “great soul” (mahatma) who brought out the magnificence of what a soul can be, to show others to create a life that is meaningful, that is commitment fulfilled.
Coming back in reincarnation is not punishment, but shows a great love which allows us to learn of our creation that we might choose the learning.  Always there is the great love which lets us learn through experience.   John 9:1-3, “As [Jesus] passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
It is not about karma (retribution or punishment), but bringing out the love.

6/26/11 Garrett Riegg, J.D.

Objective, statistical evidence sheds light on ancient beliefs and current theosophical tenets regarding
life after death. Much evidence is derived from Near Dearth Experiences, or NDEs. Although NDEs
are clothed in different images from different religious backgrounds, they almost always convey the
same message. They are mystical, spiritual experiences. They all share a sense of certainty, gutfeeling,
or inner knowledge – a “gnosis”. A majority of NDEs include the panoramic life review which
occurs in a matter of seconds. It is a re-living of every life experience, not as a judgment, but as an
exercise for learning how one’s life has affected every person that subject’s life has touched. It is
instantaneous and life-changing.

We use “story” to connect with others heart-to-heart. HeartMath has demonstrated that the heart is
powerful, that people in “coherence” can change DNA, either twisting or untwisting the DNA chain, (a
standard scientific measure). Hard science is showing that this other higher level or plane of thought is
real. Those reporting stories of NDEs describe the plane as a place of total understanding and love, out
of the body, with heightened senses, a state of bliss. They very often report passing through a tunnel,
with the presence of a being of light, in complete love and trust. They report altered space and time in
a heavenly realm. They experience the awareness of special knowledge and spiritual insight, of deep
learning of love and the universal message.

A young women relates the remarkable story that in her NDE she was enveloped in love and perfect
peace. She says she was being cared for, out among the stars. “I felt I understood EVERYTHING –
the law, the order, and the math of the universe.” She went on to say, “ One’s religion is written in your
own heart. You are just who you are. You are here to love divinely and master who you are to raise to
it’s highest level you own true self!”

6/19/11 Reverend David McArthur

Spirit is at every gathering and it always has an agenda. It wants to give to us and to give through us. Step into the giving and receiving. The experience of the heart is at the core of Unity teaching, as in Myrtle Fillmore’s experience of healing her final stage of tuberculosis. Heartmath experiments show that our intentions affect even our DNA. With the coherent, ordered pattern of the heart – the state of love – the DNA responds to the intentions. We have the ability to change the cells of the body!
How do we, like Myrtle Fillmore, deal with those experiences in which we are aware there is something better? While in the deep state of love, speak words of focused intention into the transformation you seek. It is not the thought alone. Go into the state of feeling deep love for the cells of the body over and over again. It takes the deep feeling of love. The power of Spirit moves through our very nature to wholeness, which is our nature. When there is a part of us which still carries pain it comes up to be healed or else we act it out. The importance is that we address it and bring it healing. Out job is to call it into wholeness. To do it, move into the state of love.
Bring it into the experience of groups and communities of which you are a part, where there are people in pain, when there is hurt that expresses and needs attention. When there is a past that needs healing. Our minds are very good at explaining right and wrong. “I’m right and they’re wrong.” That doesn’t heal. Move into the love. It takes away the separation, the “explanations”, and we move to where there is connection. Instead of standing in expression of pain and resentment, move to harmony. Within your family and community see the disharmony not as wrong but in need of healing. Bring the intention and the love. Spirit gives the invitation and provides the way: Love and Intention. Bring love and intention into your family and community. What a joy to be that instrument! – to live the pattern of wholeness in our lives and in our communities. Step into wholeness, love, and joy together!

6/5/11 Reverend David McArthur

The awakening of our spiritual self (which is having this earthly experience) comes in pieces as we become more and more conscious of the divine love within us. An important piece is that of asking. We ask, not to awaken a sleeping God, no, but to awaken ourselves to receive what is already given, what is already prepared for us.
 
Sometimes we ask because of a real frustration (which is because we know there is something better). Sometimes because of a deep desire within us. Sometimes our asking unfolds over a period of time and looking back becomes clear. Some needs are beyond our ability – there are some things in the way. Love and care are not there within to deal with the need. Go to prayer and ask. Then the difficulty that’s in the way loses it’s impact and the spiritual presence and power responds. Love is the response given. Accept it. Choose again and again not to go to the anger and hurt, but go to the love and care.
It is often hard to accept the goodness without going back to the need. It’s like we are in a hologram. Our attention is on what’s in the way. Free yourself from the difficulty. Choose to love. See the glow, the delight within of divine love. It is powerful; it is complete. It is the love which reaches through the dimensions of our beings.
Accepting opens the next door of the journey. Being open to accepting opens the way to the deeper desire. The deeper we ask, the deeper the response. The deep, unconscious desire asks. What we reach for within us is the experience of the divine love response. The expansion of our spiritual awareness is what is accepted when we say yes. It unfolds – it continues to answer. The questions we ask are about who and what we are, not just what we need in the moment – the reaching for that spiritual love and power that we are.
The world can’t explain and will dismiss the truth of our valid spiritual experiences. Asking draws in the energy and activates the soul’s potential. Will you stay in the higher “hologram”? Do it by accepting the truth and validity of your experiences – your understanding of your truth. Step into your greater potential. Ask. Whatever is going on for you, step into that higher, greater response by accepting you are one with the higher power. You don’t know it, but you do know it. Accept it. “Is it too good to be true?” The truth is if it’s not good it’s not true!

5/29/11   Reverend David McArthur

Here our experience of spiritual community is a feeling that we’ve come home. It feels like home because it is in harmony with something inside, that everyone is a spiritual being completely and fully loved by that infinite power, love, and light. Being with people that know that is like being home. Here we have acknowledgment and support that in every spiritual path we are all a part of that spiritual feeling. It is strong here because we keep creating that energy here that everyone is loved and welcome.

We have a commitment to transform feelings of separation because we are one. It’s the truth. One source moving, creating through us all. We reach for it again and again. Be grateful to know that is what you are reaching for, to experience the truth whatever Spirit invites you to step into – a greater experience of family or home – that’s how Spirit touches the Earth. We translate that feeling of love and connection of home into our feelings. But the feeling of home isn’t “home”. There is a place of home in us all. We step into home in the silence. Whatever we are experiencing in life, we step into a deeper level in the silence. And there is nothing there and yet it is so full. Don’t think about it. When we rest there it wells up that which we can’t explain and it lifts us up. First our mind is busy figuring it all out. Then we focus on the feelings which take us there – the feelings of divine connection – take us to where we sit on the edge of that silence, and then we let go. And we rest in silence.

In that silence, not feeling oneness – we are simply one – being one with that one – from there. Something that is so hard to describe. We see – we feel – life differently. Our thoughts are different. What we see changes. How much easier it is to see the “being” of another! How much easier it is to see the beauty of the Earth!
Somewhere between the words is a moment where it is just still. Just being. Somewhere the silence reaches out and takes you in and says, “Just be.” And you see that wherever you are, you are whole!

Lau Tzu taught non-action – “Don’t just do something, stand there!”  Practice not doing and everything will fall into place.  As Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you.”  They were teaching, “Move from mental control to the spiritual power within.”

Our beliefs express in the world around us.  When we see something not right out there – something out there that is limited – then there is something inside that is limited.  Go within.  HeartMath has shown scientifically that the heart can change the entire body.  Spiritual power flows from the core or your being.  Let it flow and it changes what’s out there.

It isn’t easy.  If I’m going to change, I will need to let go of something in here and open to a greater download, a greater expression of the divine presence and power within.  Affirm, “I release that which no longer serves me.  I open to my highest good.”

Attune to that spiritual self.  Tune it in with the power of prayer.  Much prayer uses the  mind, but focusing on the feeling of ease skips right to a core vibration of the soul.  It is there we know of the connection – a tremendous feeling of divine order and flow.  In The Prospering Power of Love, by Catherine Ponder, we learn to use the power of prayer to move to that inner change. Instead of moving something “out there”, move inside.  Do the inner work.  Focus and express the spiritual energy of that greater good, that greater healing.  Then the energy changes around a remembered experience, a  hardness in the heart.

Open to guidance; move to enlightenment.  Attune to the perfection of the divine consciousness – to that place within ourselves of powerful transformation.  It’s yours, and you deserve to have it!

I release that which no longer serves me.  I open to my highest good.

Happy Mother’s Day!  Seeing a mother’s love enfolding a child is seeing a sacred experience. “Mothers have magic; they make you feel better without medicine.” Mothers let that divine love express through them, stepping into that Divine Mother expressing. Our mothers very often were the ones to express most deeply that expression of God’s love – many in spite of their own limitations and pain. We can send that love out, acknowledging that tremendous love flows through them and us. We are in it together.

Through our mothers we experience the presence of God, answering that we are loved completely – we are not a sinful mess. You are loved completely just the way you are! How much more does God love you! Your Father Who is in heaven “has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.” Just being held in your mother’s arms – it’s through our mother’s love that we learn to receive love, to let that love enfold us, to open and receive that love. Yes, you are your mother’s child. You are also a child of Spirit, loved completely and unconditionally just the way you are.

Affirm, “I am loved completely and unconditionally just the way I am.”

You can feel that shift to the “mother” energy – that connection and care that is “mother”. Our mothers are not physically present in our lives for many of us. Yet this love knows no bounds and continues to be that love. Our job is to open and let it in. Let it lift you and touch you! You are the child of God so you deserve it!

“The Passionate Pursuit of Perfection”
Today we celebrate Ascension Sunday as the completion of the journey of Jesus that began on Good Friday. The crucifixion on the cross represents metaphysically the crossing out of error states of consciousness that bind us in our humanity. We then cross over to the kingdom of the heavens, our divine life. The tomb represents our going to deeper places to allow that which no longer serves us to die. The resurrection is birth into new consciousness where we resurrect who we were before the world even was – absolute perfection! Ascension, then, is rising into the realm of divine truth where we see truly – the entire process, the complete journey and choices the soul makes.
We are not victims but volunteers! The Passion (suffering) of Jesus showed us we first need to experience who we are not, so we can become aware of who we are. In suffering we are strengthening our Christ-muscles. Rise above conditions of pain and suffering. Take your eyes off of the condition. Put your eyes on the divine. Rise above – ascend – that you can see your way clear.
Jesus had to ascend, to go. He didn’t belong here. You don’t either. Your destination is perfection – perfecting who you truly are. He didn’t stay because when you are so focused on the Man, you can’t fathom the magnitude of the message. Just as the disciples did, we would look to Him for everything, instead of looking within ourselves.
He also had to leave for the Holy Spirit to come after Him, a comforter to guide us. The Holy Spirit is the divine feminine, the nurturing energy. The day of Pentecost is for us the day we open to the Holy Spirit and let the Holy Spirit do the singing. “You don’t do the singing. I do. All you have to do is show up and look cute.”
How do we do it? We can call on the Holy Spirit anytime we are in a crucifixion experience. She is reaching Her hand out, saying, “I am here for you.”
We do this by being willing
to remove judgments from our hearts
to see the face of God in every face
to see the perfection in every situation in our lives
to let go of resistance and let ourselves flow in every situation, accepting it “as is”
to choose the power of peace – give up retaliating or condemning
to forgive
to live in the now without judging or comparing to the past or the future
to let go of attachments to people, things, anything which holds us back

Affirm, “I am the Christ.” See each person around you and affirm, “You are the Christ.”
Amen and “awomen”!

4/17/11 Reverend Larry Wynn

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 
For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7, 7-8). Say, “That’s for me. It’s mine. I’m going to own it.” Our present reality can change. Q: How? A: Consciousness.
Our 20202 Vision will manifest by all holding collectively the consciousness that it is already done. Often the only limitation we have is in our own mind. Celebrate what is within and draw it forth to energize a heightened awareness.
First ask, opening the universe to possibility.
Next seek. We went looking for a new vision. “What is Spirit calling us to be?”
Then knock (many stop at dreaming). See how others do it. How can it be done?
Now the door is open. Will we step through into our vision?
Eric Butterworth, in Spiritual Economics, says there is no such thing as God’s will, or God’s timing. God doesn’t dish out favor(s). All favor is present now. Depth of consciousness is what we need. We sometimes see a gap from where we are to where we want to be. Depth of consciousness is how we bridge that gap. Spirit Itself does the work. It’s working all the time. You only choose positive or negative results. Henry Ford said “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.” Have courage to act. One step. Another step. We are divine beings living in this physical life. It is wonderful to “know why I showed up now; and why I am showing up.”
We have been given a new lush garden, bigger. We have been given more. Are we stuck in our old limitations? Be willing to step into that space of our 2020 Vision.
What stories will be heard from Unity of Walnut Creek!!!

4/10/11 Reverend David McArthur

We often spend time in self talk using words like “dumb” or “stupid”, “lazy”,”weak”. But is there anything that is not a part of the spiritual process? When something happens again and again where we clearly see what we are not doing, it’s part of something unfolding. Jesus represents that pattern within us all where we get to see where we are not yet living. It’s a greater truth, a pattern that takes us to the awakened being, the Christ consciousness.
The experience when Jesus went through his awakening is when John baptized him. Jesus came up from the water and saw Spirit come to him as a dove, and he heard, “This is my Son in Whom I am well pleased.” That was when Jesus really knew he was a child of God. He knew then He was of love and grace. Then He went out into the desert for purification, and was “ tempted by the devil”– that part of Himself that was still caught in the 3D sleep. He confronts that part of himself when His attention is drawn to His hunger, in the third dimension. But then He turns His attention back to the divine, the Spirit in Him, by rebuking “the devil”. Then He did His ego thing, looking at the wealth of the “city” that He could have, but again He refused. From the mountain top he sees His power (ego), but once again He turns to the spiritual. Then angels came and ministered to Him.
It’s a pattern. We get to see where we are not yet living– a greater truth. We get to see deeper within– parts not yet enlightened. It’s a journey, and being judgmental on yourself doesn’t work. Be gentle with yourself on the journey. Open to the gentle loving care of the divine. See where you aren’t yet. The fear– the unenlightened part. Turn to ask the help of the divine. Let in the gentleness. Let the angels minister to you. The angels bring that which takes us to the completion, to the place where once we were not.
We get asked to grow in consciousness. It is not always gentle. When the vision comes we can be judgmental on ourselves. Be gentle. The gentleness lets in the growth in consciousness. The head can explain in detail why not. It’s the gentleness in your heart which will lift you up. Are you willing to be gentle with yourself? Say, “I am willing to be gentle with myself.” “I am willing to be gentle with myself.”
And that which happens in you is a part of the consciousness that is awakening throughout the world. Let the angels minister to you. Open to the gentle loving care of the divine. That which happens in us can lift us all to the Awakened Being, the Christ consciousness.

4/3/11 Reverend David McArthur

We share our stories to connect and find out what’s going on. They change when we awaken to who we are – spiritual beings of power and purpose. You are not simply a victim of the 3D world. You have the power to call forth in life those things that are important to your heart. The way that Spirit tells you what is important is a call to your heart. The heart tells us what is important in our lives. Telling our stories is how we bring forth the power and potential into our lives. Create an affirmation to tell the story that is consistent with your heart. Say yes.
But it also takes expression – action. When you step into something new it asks you to stretch. Choosing to embrace the story on your heart asks you to change. You are free to create what you want – to turn it down or to go on. What’s the story on your heart where you affirm that you do not have the power, that the world controls you? How many times have you manifested that you’re almost, but not quite. If you grab hold of Infinite Power be ready to change and open to the power. Choose to tell a different story – the one in your heart – not the one of limitations.
God’s very nature is wholeness. You cannot have the manifestation of the part without the rest being in it. Yet you affirm limitation. What if the heart knows the wholeness of others, the wisdom and blessing in and of them? We create the world around us. Do we see problems, or do we see that we are in the midst of the greatest experience that mankind has ever had? That you’ve waited lifetimes to be here and birth this new consciousness of love and harmony? That you are one with Infinite Wisdom and choose to bring forth a world of love, harmony and wisdom? What do you want to call forth? What is on your heart? What we’re creating is so wonderful it’s worth all of us showing up! What’s your story?!!!

3/27/11 Reverend David McArthur

On this journey of spiritual awakening, there are some special things we share. Like the gift of being aware of who you are, a beautiful child of God. And then to see the unfolding of a soul – it’s not just something for a minister. And then to appreciate the ordinary. It is ordinary that we are tremendously loved as children of God– loved without limitation or judgment. A simple but important idea – awareness of God moving in and through your life. It’s there. Not like a raisin in a bun, but like the ocean in a wave.
Affirm, “I am a beloved child of God.” If there is something that would make your connection with Spirit deeper, ask for it. Call it forth. It’s ok to have abundance. Affirm the divine love and presence in your life. Build the feeling of having your good. The feeling is important. Talk about what you have gained in the process even if it didn’t look like it manifested. The journey is of tremendous importance. It’s not about the stuff, it’s about the relationship, growing in the divine soul, no matter how we categorize it. It’s the experience of knowing the divine. As we believe and experience the goodness of God it’s ok to have abundance and let your talent and creativity show because you love yourself. It’s ok to love yourself enough to have something that’s special to you. It’s ok because you know that you are loved. And because you grow, you see that light grow in the people you know. It’s ok to empower what’s important in your life, and to recognize that in all the people of the Earth, and to see it in their lives. It is the most beautiful thing. Give thanks that you have gotten that most beautiful gift!

3/20/11 Reverend David McArthur

The past two weeks have brought unbelievable natural disasters in Japan and new political unrest in northern Africa. How are we to respond? What is this all about? Yes, we know we are in a time of accelerating change, so we are not really surprised. Edgar Cayce said these things would happen. If he knew it, then you knew it when you chose to enter into this life. You understood the times you were entering into –times of great change to the earth and governments and our financial systems. You didn’t come to be affected by the changes but to affect those changes by knowing and remembering who you are –spiritual beings living in a spiritual world governed by spiritual laws.
There is a second tsunami of emotion that spreads out from the disaster, one of fear, pain, helplessness, powerlessness. In the movie “What the Bleep” Dr. Masaru Emoto showed us how our thoughts affect the structure of water; that they do affect the physical world. Our job, then, is to respond with a tsunami ourselves– to effect healing of the Earth itself. Send prayer, love, and care. Your thought affects the physical world.
Q: How is it our consciousness affects the world? A: Directly. Go into loving support. We aren’t helping anybody when we “get down in pity” with them. We have the power to transform stress in others. You came to send a tsunami of love that sweeps through mankind, that touches the earth, the animals, all the people. Do you choose to? The “worst case scenario” is not a reality, but the fear of it is real. When it sweeps over others it is time for us to send a tsunami of love. Love casts out fear.
All this is about a new birth of consciousness for all mankind. When we relate to each other, there Unifying Intelligence flows through us. We know GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME. That goodness is right there. We send out the truth of the wholeness that this is all about. Whenever you see people inflicting pain and cruelty on others you know it’s time to go to your heart, whether you understand them or not. We are just us learning and growing. It’s time to be immersed in this tsunami of love. We came to help all to move into a state of awareness, the more the “I” of us awakens and the love moves through all of us. Our work is to send out that tsunami of love.

3/13/11 Reverend Susan Galvan, Community Life Minister, Unity of Walnut Creek

We can think of ourselves as a plain, ordinary wooden cup, not trusting oneself to have the wisdom or the knowledge to form our own judgments. Then we come to realize there is more to life than just “sticking it out” until death. We begin a journey of self exploration, building a new sense of self– bigger, more durable, shinier. Feeling empowered, we develop a highly polished self, like a shiny silver cup. Then we sense there may be more, a deeper level beyond self. We ask, “How can we be of service? What is our purpose?” But are we waiting for a telegram from God with our job description? If we listen, the still small voice inside asks, “Why not find the joy this time?” But service is hard work and it takes a lot out of you. How can joy and service go together? Discover that it isn’t so much what you do but a shift in your awareness. With a sense of gratitude, service is joyful. The joy becomes exuberance, like a bubbling fountain. Life has transparency. It is not obstructed by “stuff”. It rings, it has resonance, like a crystal goblet. But a crystal goblet is more vulnerable than a wooden or silver cup. Your vulnerability is your willingness to be open to the service of the divine.
Unity of Walnut Creek has changed. We now see the world beyond us, the divine beyond us. There is a flow back and forth from the outside to the inside and out again. Each of us as individuals can find a path of service to see through the transparency and see the divine in everything we do. The life we share here deserves the best we have to give joyfully. Find the joy this time. Pray–

Beloved Presence, to Thee I raise my whole being,
A vessel emptied of self. Accept, Lord,
This my emptiness, and so fill me with
Thyself – Thy Light, Thy Love, Thy
Life – that these Thy precious gifts
may radiate through me and over-
flow the chalice of my heart into
the hearts of all with whom I
come in contact this day,
revealing unto them
the beauty of
Thy joy
and
Wholeness
and
the
serenity
of Thy Peace
Which nothing can destroy.

3/6/11   Reverend David McArthur

How do we let go of what no longer serves us? –of judgments and of judging ourselves? What do we really let go of?
There are 2 processes. 1) affirmation– which we are pretty good at, and 2) denial, which is taking power away from what no longer serves. It is “letting go” of hurt and pain. And also it is letting go of the wonderful things when it is time to move on!
When we try to let go with the head we suppress the feelings, which show up again because there has been no completion. In Unity we have a different way. It is through the power of the heart. We complete what is there. Sometimes it is easy; sometimes we have a lot of drama and pain. Doing it with the heart completes it and it no longer has power over us. When you walk away with peace, you really get to walk away. How?
1.    Be honest with yourself. Admit the anger, hurt, or loss that you feel. Look honestly and connect with yourself in a deeper way.
2.    Have compassion for yourself when you feel hurt, pain, and loss, and even when you have a wonderful experience that comes to completion. Compassion heals. Understand the pain, but feel the love, the compassion, that sense of care. Feel that touch of the divine which heals. Hold the feelings in your compassion, where the healing takes place. Compassion is love– God’s healing love in you.
3.    Feel appreciation. Feel gratitude for what you have gained– the compassion, the wisdom which you can now use in this journey. You are a wise, spiritual being. Say, “Look what I did!– at what I have gained! Look at what I gave myself!”
4.    Be neutral. Hold the situation, the feelings in your heart. They are not good, not bad. They don’t have to end, they don’t have to continue. Stay in your heart. Know, “Spirit is taking care of things beyond my understanding.” Let it be. Let it be and be ready for the next step.
5.    Ask. The Infinite Intelligence will let it go or change it, but follow the direction you get! When you do your letting go in honesty, in compassion– it completes. The letting go is not about what you let go. It’s about what you are stepping into in Spirit. Let Spirit do Its amazing work in you!
Honesty. Compassion. Appreciation. Neutral. Ask.
Let Spirit do Its amazing work in you, and enjoy!

Reverend David McArthur

How do I know my purpose?– recognize my heart’s desire? As a spiritual being, you are an infinite soul choosing to enter into a human experience with things dear to you coded on your heart. When you are in tune with this the universe conspires to unfold the purpose you are about. The more in tune you are to that the more there is harmony and flow. You move beyond your troubles to focus on your purpose. The divine flows more effectively in you and through you. So
1. Stand up. Stand filled with the presence of the divine, in a place where you are aware of possibilities and of the blocks you have. In that space there is the past and the now and the potential of the future.
2. Now walk forward through the blocks, the limits, into the time beyond working them out.
3. Step into that future place when your beautiful purpose is in a state of fulfillment. Feel it done. It is there within you.
One of the signs of your purpose is that which has called you again and again. You have been saying “yes” to one thing after another. It is a set-up! Make that step through your limits to the Presence within you, the fulfillment of your being, your purpose, your deep passion, responding to what is meaningful to your heart without any idea of the result. Spirit will open the next door. You don’t have to know the end. Appreciate that you don’t know where it’s going. If you did, it might be harder to say yes. The purpose is already given, and in the Mind of God it is already fulfilled. Spirit is omnipresent in time and space. It’s a complete conspiracy. Divine Intelligence has the purpose of fulfilling your purpose. It has given everything that you need.
Maybe you say, “ no– I’m done with that.” When you take a side turn, your guidance system says “recalculating”. But each time you say “yes” the purpose of Spirit flows more. Have the love and respect of what is put in your heart. Spirit takes us through changes because it is growing us, and when you’re about what your heart really desires you feel wonderful. You can keep going regardless of what it takes. You are touched by commitment, no matter what the obstacle. The more you align with it the more you experience fulfillment. You are full of energy no matter how hard it was. Say yes, and then yes, and then yes! It may cause growth– but that’s what makes it fun!

Rev. David McArthur (Questions from the 11:30 Service)

Questions? And Answers! In order to ask a question, you already have the answer. The knowledge is within, and the question is the call by Spirit to embrace the answer.
Q: How do we love our enemies? A: As long as we think we have enemies we have work to do. The perception of “enemy” is a perception of separateness. Learning we are one is a sacred process. The “how” is in everything we do – prayer, meditation, seeking guidance, and seeing (with the love of the divine) something coming up so we can heal it. It is love.
Q: Regarding abundance, what is greed and the feeling of entitlement? A: As a spiritual being, know you are in the love of God and entitled to love in abundance. Greed is a consciousness of lack – but it is an inner lack. It invites the experience God as our source. When you open to guidance you open to the flow of abundance because we are to be of service. Align to the flow. We are entitled to abundance.
Q: How do we see someone who is suffering as healed and whole? A: See in that person the spiritual being of infinite power who takes on the challenge of suffering with courage. It is given to that person to meet the challenge with grace and it is for us to see that within them. Our wonderful Heart Ministers are committed to seeing that in us when we forget. We are not alone.
Q: How can we be open when there is resistance? A: Resistance shuts down the flow, as if saying “I’m not ok.” We’ve got infinity. It’s ok if we blow it a couple of times. Be gentle. Have compassion. You’d do it for a friend, wouldn’t you? Be willing to do it for yourself.
Q: Where do we go when we die? A: You don’t. Who you are is eternal. You give up the body – you wear it out. But you don’t wear out. Your consciousness journeys forth. Heaven and hell are not places. Hell is only a motivation to get you to church where you can be saved from it. When you are rid of the body you go to the next level, with love and peace enfolding your being. The place is here and the time is now, always!
Q: What is the metaphysical aspect of grace? A: It’s all grace. That we are here is a gift of love, like God saying,”Come, I want you to have the gift of humanity. I want you to learn of your powers and to manifest your desires.” Grace becomes the experience of who you are – the light, the power, the intelligence, the wisdom to understand the power of love that transforms from within to all the way out to the farthest part of the universe. When Jesus knew his oneness it was then understood: grace comes through and is a state of consciousness.
And the more you know that, the more fun it is!

Reverend David McArthur

Valentine’s Day is when we touch the spiritual support that is within us all. We celebrate the one thing that is in all our holidays and within us all – love.
God is not a being that loves; God is love. When you are loving you are Godding. It is in the feeling where transformation happens. What is the feeling of Love?
It is in romantic love. When you see in your partner the spiritual being– when you see the beauty, the power, your heart goes into delight. That feeling is like when light hits a prism and shows all the colors, all the vibrations it is. Feeling the presence of God in the vision, it brings forth all the feelings – like appreciation, like harmony – the feeling taking us into the Presence.
It is in care for those you love. It is brought forth in action, the expression of feeling. As was taught: Then the King will say… ‘Come…take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink… Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?…The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:34-40) Love becomes care, and translates into expressions of care.
It is in compassion, as in the story of the “Good Samaritan”. Jesus asked, “Which…do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy (compassion) on him… (Luke 10: 36, 37) Even in world news, we are invited to go into compassion, as if Spirit is saying, “Love one another. My love I give to you.”
And in happiness, where there’s also a feeling of peace. A feeling of peace that is a part of love. Like exquisitely sitting together quietly in peace. That is experiencing the Presence and at that point you are love.
Amazingly, you enter into that Consciousness of love. You are that love. In that the divine is as you. You are the radiant love of God. Affirm, “I am the radiant love of God.”

Reverend David McArthur

How beautiful it is to grow in a world governed by spiritual laws!
However, GOO so often comes before GOOD. Not good as opposed to bad, but the good that is the very nature of God, the very nature of the universe, the very nature of being. Not the good of an omnipresent being, but of omnipresence, the nature of all life. Not that of an omnipotent being, but of omnipotence – the all-power that moves through you and all life. Of omniscience – not a being which is omnipotent, but the all-knowing that is you. That is the goodness and there is nothing outside of it. Remember that when you are in your “goo”. You get the choice of how much you let in when you are in your “goo”. We got to let in a little more God. Even a child knows that more love eases the way.
And we are so impatient. We want to to change our “goo” now. A middle school boy in Miami did. When he was facing another boy to fight, he remembered that he was taught that he could change things. He felt that in his heart. He spoke to that and there was no fight. He and the other boy worked it out and became friends.
Lao Tsu, in the Tao te Ching said, “She who is centered in the Tao can go where she wishes without danger.  She perceives the universal harmony even amid great pain because she has found peace in her heart.”  Only good is real. Only God is real. Only love is real. Touch that – there is nothing else. The middle school boy was centered in his heart. He “touched the Tao” and change was immediate. He transformed the physical body, and the emotional stuff was transformed from conflict to harmony – a higher state of intelligence. He transformed his state of being and changed the result.
He knew what to do, but perhaps not how it’s done or why. It is love. We paint people as “wrong”. Love transforms the perceptions we have. Love transforms reality. The way is the feeling of love. He touched that love – the Divine Presence – and got out of the “goo”.
The heart is the place where the Power and the Presence moves through and transforms your being. Some ideas we have of love aren’t really love. Learn how to love when you don’t want to. Spiritual transformation is stepping to where you are connected to the Divine Intelligence.
Then life really gets fun!

Reverend David McArthur

The archetypal patterns of our spiritual journey are found in our ancient tales, like “Rapunzel”. In the beginning the woman who will become Rapunzel’s mother wants a beautiful garden flower very badly, thinking, “if I get that, I’ll be just fine.” But there is a cost for relying on the outer world for fulfillment. It will not fulfill who you are. It does not have that power.
Losing control of Rapunzel, the witch puts her in the tower. Her hair represents the long-focused thought or out-pouring of the brain. But our brains focus on fear. When we’re in fear we don’t connect with the whole of life. Rapunzel herself represents the feminine in all of us, the feelings of beauty and harmony (for which the men in our society get no support). Our growing spirituality – feelings of the Presence – are isolated in lots of us, as is Rapunzel so isolated in the tower. So she sang, her beautiful voice symbolizing attunement gained through meditation in silence. Her beautiful singing attracts the prince, who symbolizes thought, mind, knowledge. He lives with the King (God) and so the prince knows he a child of God. I’m a child of God. Rapunzel learns from the prince that she’s a child of God. I’m a spiritual being, living in a spiritual world, governed by spiritual laws. We come to awareness through focusing on spiritual things. We awaken to the power of choice.
The witch cut Rapunzel’s hair and sent her to the desert. The desert is depression. So Rapunzel no longer had choice or the support of her knowing. There is no stimulus in the desert.
The prince again climbed up the braid of hair only to find the witch, not Rapunzel. He does not choose to be with fear and so he leaps out the window. He falls in the thorny bushes below. He feels pain. He goes blind. When we run into pain we go blind – not seeing the divine, not seeing the truth. We say, “Why did God do this?” “How come I have to go through this?” It is painful. Giving up fear means you have to give up the drama. That is painful for many of us.
We must move from knowing to being. Rapunzel returns to singing, to being in harmony, to attunement. So the beauty she is comes back into her life. The prince hears her. When she sees the pain and blindness of the prince she responds with tears of compassion. Compassion heals pain. You find healing. Vision is restored. We’re able to know and understand. The power comes from within, not from anything without. Choose a greater state of being. Experience a new state of consciousness and live happily ever after.

Reverend David McArthur

We live the dream we hold. If it isn’t big enough, we don’t live as fully as we are capable. Dream a higher dream. Say yes to the dream in your heart. We won’t live in a world of harmony until we decide to live in harmony with those around us in our lives. We won’t have justice or forgiveness until we live with justice and forgiveness in our own lives. The time has come to make a commitment to the dream. Say, “This is the quality of life I want.” This year, like never before.
This year is a time we’re being asked to step into our dream, a time when the power to do so will rise to levels previously hard to even hope for. Rumi: “There is a candle in your heart waiting to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you?”
Say “no” to what no longer serves. Say no to what is no longer a part of your higher dream. No is a commitment to have only that in your life which supports the life you are committed to. “To be uncommitted is to be full of hesitancy, ready to go back, ineffectiveness.” Saying no to what doesn’t work is committing to what does. That is the point where your commitments become most real. Let go of that which doesn’t work and no longer serves.
There is no holding back on the part of the Divine. From Lao Tzu: “The Tao gives birth to all beings …creating without possessing, acting without expecting, guiding without interfering. That is why love of the the Tao is in the very nature of things.” Everything you need is provided by that Infinite Intelligence which guides you when you say “yes” to the big dream. “The moment one commits oneself, Providence moves.” All sorts of things begin to occur in support of the dream. Open up to assistance you couldn’t have imagined before. Once you commit to a dream that’s big enough to fill what your soul is about, you are letting that amazing spiritual being you are live who you are. You know it because you can feel it. Feel the candle be kindled. Feel the void be filled. It’s the dream. The time has come. When you commit, when you say yes, the fun begins! Kindle that candle in your heart!

Let your big bright beam of light inside of you shine!  When you are shining your light your energy is up and it helps everybody else around you.  When you “get” your divinity you come alive.  You can see it in other people– in their eyes.  “I am the light of the world” refers to the divine light within us.  Stand up and let it shine.  Say, “When you see me you will see Spirit.”

Shining is a choice. Say, “I am not giving my power away!”  Connect to that power.  Change yourself, but only go as fast as the slowest part of you will go.  (That’s the other side of this.  Hold yourself as if you were holding a baby.)  But you will know when it is time to shine.  So practice everyday– practice kindness.  Be aware of the people around you.  Notice people.  Shine.  Twinkle.  Sing, “You are the face of God.  I hold you in my heart.  You are a part of me.  You are the face of God.”

Clutter dims down your life.  Clutter is the things that don’t represent who you are anymore– the clothes that don’t fit, the old books you read decades ago.  Everything has energy.  Are there things in your  life that no longer serve you – a job?  – a friend?  – that dim you down, even slightly.  Clutter will make you feel overwhelmed and stop you from expressing Spirit.  It is who you used to be.  You send a message to the universe that you want to stay with what you used to be.

Then what brings you joy?  Who brings you joy?  How much am I allowing life to come in?  Make a point to ask, “What is it in my life that will light me up today?” To amp yourself up and clear the clutter out, go to gratitude every morning.  Sing, “Gratitude above me.  Gratitude below me.  Gratitude before me.  Gratitude behind.  Gratitude to the left of me.  Gratitude to the right of me.  Gratitude above me.  Gratitude below me.  Gratitude within me.  Gratitude all around me.  I’m so grateful!  I’m so grateful!  I’m so grateful!  I’m so grateful!  I’m so grateful!

Affirm, I am a big bright radiant being of radiant life!  I shine that light to everyone everywhere!

This is a beautiful new year when Spirit is focused on supporting you in being what you came here to be – your purpose, your growth, that desire in your heart, your “heart’s desire”. What is in your heart? You might say, “Give me a hint!” Jesus said it’s not your duty or station – “What is that to you? Follow me.” He said “me” as the Christ self rather than as “Jesus”. As humankind has awakened to the divine within, we are called by the higher self, the Divine Presence, the Buddha Nature. We experience it in ourselves as our purpose at this point in life. We experience it as our heart’s desire.
Look at your heart’s desire. Take a hold of what you want to put your energy into. As it unfolds it empowers you. Meet the needs in life without struggle. When you touch your heart’s desire you touch Oneness. One mind, one heart – which beats in all of us! When you’re at a point of choice and you find it’s time to take a step, touch your heart’s desire. At this point, maybe it’s just to heal. Whatever it is, every experience of your heart’s desire calls you into something greater. Thank goodness we don’t know the full extent of our choices. Say yes. It will show you oneness. It will remove the illusion of separation.
Take the time and go to your heart. “What has meaning to me?” “What has value?” “What is important to me? What do I really want to say “yes” to?” Ask your heart. It will take you far beyond your mind. When you say “yes”, you don’t know ­where it will eventually lead. Say “yes” anyway! This is a beautiful new year when our “yes” is part of many yesses. That is what we all will step into this year.

This is the season of hope. The season of energy, hope, and possibility is at its height. Even in the face of violence and fear there is hope– you cannot destroy the human spirit. It will rise up and more than survive, it will thrive.
Hope is not a weak energy. Hope is to “expect”, to know that something is coming. You have a “confident desire”. You are certain and you will persevere until it happens. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” Hope is the match that lights the fuse of faith. They go hand in hand.
Hope is having our power engaged, knowing our good is already given, manifested. You can’t help yourself from moving toward it. Hang on to possibilities enthusiastically. There’s hope!!!
Hope is having your past erased. It doesn’t matter what you did. Who you are is a child of God. Congress and unemployment are not your source.
Hope is holding your possibilities, your power, engaged enthusiastically. Hope might be a teeny tiny small flicker. Hold on. It expands, gets larger, until the faith is engaged and nothing can stop you. Here are the steps to do this–
Step 1) H Heal past core negative beliefs, forgive those whose negativity you learned.
Step 2) O Open the channel for the flow of good by loving/giving/serving – not martyrdom. Giving and receiving are the same energy– and it comes back multiplied. Know it is not about them– it’s about you.
Step 3) P Perceive perfection in everything. Be willing to. Be willing to be willing to. Holy Spirit will do the rest. See it;believe it. It will rise up and show itself to you. When something goes badly, know it didn’t happen to you, but it happened for you.
Step 4) E Energize. Move forward eagerly. Everything awaits you. Expect. Express. Engage. It will happen if your expectation is based on the expectation of perfection and you have healed your past.
“It doesn’t cost a thing to smile. You don’t have to pay to laugh.”
HOPE – Heal – Open – Perceive – Energize. No matter what is going on with you now, there’s hope. Light the flame! The God we serve can bring anything back 100%!

Music calls us to a place where we see differently.  A soul awakens when it is touched by that which is seen differently.
Emmett Fox said, “Mary is really the soul itself.”  Mary, trusting in Spirit, accepted the role of birthing the One, the Consciousness that would change the world. When we, as Mary did, open our souls in faith to Spirit, we each give birth to something so new, so beautiful, it lifts us to a whole new consciousness that will change the world. We see the people in our life differently when we see and touch the Presence and Power that lifts us to a place we have not been before. An amazing awakening happens within us.
Christmas is a call to awaken. The music of Christmas is a call to awaken.  Allow yourself the full experience of Christmas and see what the heart feels when it awakens!

Every religious group has a myth about the birth of the divine in human form. The Incarnation; the truth of the divine presence expressing in and thru us. They have added onto the story, but use what works and let go of what doesn’t.  Edgar Cayce told how the prophet Elijah, knowing a higher consciousness, taught his awareness to a group that eventually became the Essenes. As a collective instrument, they brought in the greater consciousness. The Essenes were aware they were coming to a time when a Soul would enter That would raise the consciousness of all. There was this intention to prepare for the Soul and the consciousness of change. They began to train girls in their group so one could become the mother of that Soul. What love of that Soul to give up the greater consciousness and enter into the sleep of this earthly life, to awaken in the density of the human experience! In Unity, we speak of Jesus as the Elder Brother who broke through first, who broke the way for us.

We are in the birth of a new consciousness– a new paradigm. What we do allows a greater consciousness to unfold. The story of the selection of Mary to be the mother shows that, even when we are “prepared”, we reach a point where we have to face something and we don’t have it all figured out. Know there are levels of support far beyond our ability to understand. Shakespeare’s Hamlet proclaims, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
We always have support to live in the new consciousness. We are always about things which bring forth a new consciousness. That’s why we’re here. However, open any great scripture, you will find many wonderful beings inviting us to follow into the pure radiant love that God is. What Christmas is about is that consciousness of love which more than circles back, it spirals. Each year we have greater knowledge, greater understanding. We have touched more beauty, goodness, wholeness of the people around us– the presence of that love. The greatest part of the story is that we are never alone. Whether we see angels, or Jesus, or the greater consciousness. We can only see a few, but there are many with us and among us! We are so loved! We are so supported! At Christmas we get to open up and receive the light like never before!

The commercialization of Christmas is one of the most sacred parts! Thank goodness Spirit doesn’t confine itself to just the religious community. Perhaps you do not like God at all. Yet, Santa gets to you. Metaphysically, Santa shows up Christmas Eve when we celebrate the birth of a new baby, which represents the birth of a new consciousness. Santa comes from the sky– from that greater consciousness. And it doesn’t seem possible that Santa can come to every house in just one night, but, metaphysically, the higher consciousness is omnipresent, and Santa (the God figure) responds to every one of us. Within the house (your state of consciousness) Santa enters through the place of light and warmth. That is the greater consciousness coming through the heart– that child place of fulfilling dreams and desires. And you don’t get to see Santa, you just get to see the gifts he leaves.
How God – Santa – shows up in an even greater way is the experience of the amazing consciousness of Christmas. It is one of the deepest and most important parts of Christmas. It happens through us. We are the love that happens, that touches, uplifts, and blesses. We are Santa. We understand that Jesus came to give us the awareness of the love that flows through us. Now we get an opportunity to bless. You can be Santa. You are invited to give to a Santa fund in the sanctuary or in the book center. The second way you can experience the amazing consciousness of Christmas is to open and accept that which blesses you. Express your need or the need of someone you know. Make out your Christmas list. Email Unity Walnut Creek or call the office with you request. Who has the greater joy– the giver or the receiver? Give and receive. Allow the flow. Budgets are not as important. Let the love be your only guide. Because of you, “Santa Claus is coming to town!”

Many of us no longer use the name we were called in childhood. We have experienced a shift in our consciousness, and so have changed the name we use. A name is an acknowledgment of a state of consciousness. As the soul evolves, our focus shifts from the physical 3D world to that of the mental, the intellect. It was good to live in the 3D world and supply the needs of the body. But the intuitive self recognizes when it is time to shift the authority to the mind, the intellect. When we focus and develop mind we gain ability to direct the 3D world. In the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel, Jacob, representing the mental aspects, has developed his intellectual abilities and prospered. However, when he wants to return to the land of his brother Esau, who represents the aspects of the 3D world, Jacob must first wrestle with the natural self, with his deep commitment to the physical world. He wrestles all night long, and learns that the mind is not greater than the body. They are spiritually equal parts of the whole. In the morning he is at a point of integrating the mental and physical, a point at which what is gained in mind needs to become firm. He has had a change in consciousness. He demands a blessing before he leaves. His name is changed from Jacob to Israel.

In our wrestling, how do we get the blessing? Open to this growth, this blessing. Spirit brought it to you because there is some part in you that your soul wants to grow. There is always something to appreciate. Gift giving is an expression of appreciation. Give yourself the gift of stepping into a greater consciousness. Think about just one thing you appreciate about your struggles. Now feel it! There is a huge difference between thinking appreciation and feeling it. Feeling is power. Feeling takes appreciation into reality. That’s where the power is. In your wrestling, affirm, “God is blessing me now!” That’s when the light you are blesses the world, that’s what you came here to do.
“God is blessing me now!”

Stories of magic catch us deeply because we are magical beings. They invited us into “I can do that.” Symbolically, the magic wand is to focus your attention on your intention. And you have to have the words of your incantation. Not all words are equal. Prayer isn’t to convince a power outside of yourself to change something for you. We at Unity focus our attention on the power we have within. Charles Fillmore said, “The Spiritual substance from which comes all wealth is never depleted. It is right with you all the time and responds to your faith in it and your demands upon it… Pour your faith upon it and you will be prospered though all the banks in the world close their doors.” It’s got to be a combined energy. Focus your attention and use words of prayer to bring forth greater manifestation to serve your life better.
Speaking thought into words gives it vibration, brings it into the material realm. The most powerful words are those which are aligned to that which is true. How do we pick up and align to those words? Our God is divine pure love with nothing but desire to bring the best to each of us. Our God isn’t limited. You are loved and you can’t do anything about that. When we pick up that love we pick up power.

Priests and ministers don’t know your words. How do you find them? Emily Cady told us how to move intention into manifestation. In her silence she heard the words: “Stretch forth your hand…and I will establish it.” She heard that our hands are God’s hands. We are co-creators. It’s our power. Own your power, it’s your spiritual nature. The words are in your heart. That infinite intelligence which is there for you knows them for you.
When desiring to speak the word, “wait thou in silence only.” Then the right word will be given and power with it. When something needs to change the real answer comes from the silence within you. Call forth that which is to be called forth. Give what is to be given. Affirm, “Divine love goes before me making easy, joyous, and successful my way.” We can have life easy, joyous, and successful because God would have it no other way!

From Edwene Gaines, “I am a person of power.” When you are 100% committed to your intention, the universe steps up. The God energy is always there. Plug yourself in. All it takes is a conscious intention to live your life fully in every way. Prosperity is having a vitally alive healthy body for the God-being that we are to express through; relationships that are joyous, satisfying, intimate, honest, and nurturing, and that work all the time; work that we love so much it’s not work but play; and all the money that we can spend.
So for the next 21 days, NO COMPLAINING. For every challenge that arises, say,”God, that’s great!”
Now, align with these 4 simple spiritual laws –
1.    “God is my source.” Return one tenth of all you receive to where you get your spiritual food. Scripture says about tithing, “prove me now”, so start where you are– attitude doesn’t matter.
2.    “Forgive yourself and others all the time.” At night before you go to sleep, pray, “Father|Mother God, have I put anyone out of my heart today?” Forgive them –and yourself – like you forgive a child. The only people that we have to forgive are the people who don’t do things our way. Pray, “Let me love them the way You love them.”
3.    “Set clear cut, tangible goals.” Jesus didn’t say “…make Me guess.” Be very specific and write down your desires. “Desire is the onward impulse of the ever-evolving soul.” – Charles Fillmore. Do not worry about how they will come. God has ways you might not have ever thought of. Would you be willing to consider God knows exactly how to do it?
4.    “Get on purpose with your life.” If you don’t know what that is, ask yourself, “What would be the most fun thing I could do with my life?” What would you do with your life if money was no object, if you didn’t have to work, if you didn’t have responsibilities, if you could do anything, be anything, have anything? Go there in fantasies and write about it. Visualize it. And start taking action-steps towards those things. In that transition period, spend a lot of time in prayer asking for guidance. ”Show me the way to do this.” Ask for those ideas. It does take courage. Yogi Berra said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

Mario Andretti said, “If everything seems under control, you’re not going nearly fast enough!” And
Edwene Gaines says, “I am a person of power!”

When you made the commitment to come into this life, everything was put in place for you to accomplish your purpose. When you are on purpose, the universe shows up. But we get the amazing experience of “interruption”. There is value in that experience– our interruptions are divine invitation to a greater purpose.
For example, when you complain, you draw complainers to you and you are surrounded by complaining people. When that is interrupted, you have a choice. We know every thing is God, even when it seems something is not of God. If divine order really is in that interruption, then there is a greater purpose calling to us. We are free to choose it or turn it down.
Jesus, as we need to do, met life in the consciousness in which he lived, and then stepped to the next level, and then the next. In the story of the Canaanite woman, she asked that her daughter be healed. Jesus responded that he was to heal the children of Israel, not to throw their bread to the dogs. She responded with non-resistance, no ego. She knew that her daughter could be healed. Her love for her daughter and her faith that she could be healed awakened Jesus, and He recognized the beauty of the spiritual self of anyone. This interruption awakened Him to a greater purpose.
With every interruption we can journey from our head to our heart. If it’s all God, it’s all love. Look at the interruption as being a call to a higher purpose. The universe loves us so much we have many, many interruptions. At those times, say,

“Divine Love, I am Your instrument. Live Your purpose through me.”

Like Winnie the Pooh, we can be stuck in “not enough”, projecting the past into the future. Like Piglet, we see what we expect to see. And we keep repeating the pattern. Is there something that we would like to change? We forget how. Life is the reflection of our consciousness. Our thoughts/feelings create it, and we ourselves keep it the way it is. But whether we want to change things with co-workers or relatives or financial situations, know that these things are all really spiritual problems needing spiritual solutions.
We need to go to a higher power, like the woman who touched Jesus’ garment. The “twelve years” of her suffering signify she had completed her spiritual work and was open to healing. Her new perception was that she would be whole by touching a greater power, the presence of God. Today, when our energy is drained, our life force drawn from us, we have to touch the higher consciousness– that which is conscious of the Presence. We have to touch God, the higher awareness. It is there. It needs to be there. (That goodness, wholeness.) Transform your consciousness. Touch the wholeness which is God.
The Bhagavad Gita asks, “Do you have the patience to wait till the mud settles and the water is clear,” until you are able to be filled with a higher consciousness? Then “the right action will arise. Not seeking fulfillment, …open to all things.” See the Presence; open to It. It brings that which is highest. Welcome all things. The Divine teaches, “I Am the Self abiding in the heart of all beings.” The Divine Presence is what is there that guides us to wholeness.
When we smash through to the higher vision, then we are free to see something different– we go from lack to plenty– in the consciousness of the Presence saying, “How I do love you!” and answer, as Pooh does, “me too!”

Our work is to know the spiritual truth. Within each person there is a perfect pattern, a pure thought of him in Divine Mind within him. It is within the very energy, the DNA, of every molecule of that person’s being. It is in that person’s mind, and that person has full access to it. That person is One with the Presence and All Power. There is nothing or no-one in the world that has more power. That is the truth.
Who do you know who is in need? Physical, emotional, financial, etc.? Look through their “bandages” with so much love that the truth that you know is shared with that other person. You have the spiritual capacity to know the truth. The illumination flows from the truth within, and it is when you love.
We can only have that which we can give away. It is our job to share enlightenment rather than to seek it. Call them into their power– to know the truth when they begin to forget. Don’t settle for less than the truth of who they are. You are unable to settle for something less for that person– even for yourself. Hold to the total truth of your being– a radiant, powerful child of God–powerful, intelligent– who can call into manifestation the truth of their being. It is our job to know that. It is our job to be very much in touch with the truth of everyone’s being. For each there is hope. The total truth of their being is fully there within them. Carry that awareness for everyone.

Rev. E. J. Niles tells us that among many things, the Bible is a history of a people’s evolving identity and their evolving relationship to God. For the first time in history, we see not only where we have been, but where we are going. We also see the need for a higher level of consciousness. As Albert Einstein said, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”
There are those who say we are in the worst of times, but we know better. We know we have latent within our DNA everything we need to deal with the conditions of our world.  Margaret Meade said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Society is moving out of it’s “teen years” in which it wanted all the benefits without the responsibility. Now we are willing to accept the responsibility that we create our world. We can now envision every person on the planet having their needs met. We can see an end to poverty, an end to war.
You have within your very DNA that which you need to meet every challenge and move beyond it. We know only 4% of who we are. The other 96% of our being is one with the Universe. You are part of a living Universe. You cannot get out of it. “We are part of a challenge where one day we will know that we all are One!”

Do your prayers “work”? Jesus advised that before you pray, you first “reconcile with your brother.” You must release the “prisoners” you drag around with you. You must release the anger you harbor toward those you have imprisoned deep within your consciousness that you feel have wronged you. Simply open those dungeon doors and tell them to go. And yes, you must release the anger so deeply held against yourself, too. Open that door. Release. Let go. Only then are you free to affirm the good you seek.

Receive that good without worry as to the why or how of it. Be open with your affirmations. Don’t try to fit the Infinite into your consciousness with detailed requirements, but rather expand your consciousness to the Infinite. And know that you are worthy to receive. You are made of the substance of your Creator. You are a “godlet”.

We have so much to be thankful for. Thank You, God! Thank You, God! Thank You, God!

God is life. The nature of God is pure love and goodness. We worry whether something is true or false instead of whether it is useful. We know the phrase “life is suffering” is not a truth. However, it is an effective denial that our whining will change anything. Denial is to withdraw your energy from something. So withdraw your power from that which limits you and apply it to that which is seeking to lift you. Apply it to that which infinite power and abundance and intelligence wants to bring forth because it is your own.

That deep desire in your heart is not there by accident. Desire on the heart is God inviting you to what is yours, not what is possible. Withdraw your power from the idea that someone else has control. Withdraw your power invested in reasons that say it can’t be so.

Say, “life is suffering” and then “get on with it.” Apply your power to these steps because they work:

Don’t ask what is possible. What is your hope? What are you about now? Write it down. Prepare. (You have been preparing all this time.)

It can happen for you. Not because it’s possible, but because it’s given. Everything you need is already given.

Jesus said, “…My yoke is easy. My burden is light.” When we are connected with the Christ consciousness, there is a feeling of ease in the heart where struggle doesn’t happen. There is an intuitive response without the need of control in which things flow.

We are so ready to ease others through any difficulty. Imagine what Divine Love will do for us, Its spiritual children! Life is the experience of Divine Love guiding and unfolding who we are with such grace and care and compassion that every moment It is there for you. Every moment It is in you. Every moment It would enfold and lift you in those things that are difficulties and obstacles. It is infinite intelligence and it knows how to move you through them successfully. That’s what life really is. That’s the truth. When we choose to see obstacles and complain, when we choose control, we are out of the heart, and it is uncomfortable. Ease is touching the feeling of that care flowing through you. There is a flow of such goodness and kindness, of such compassion and love here guiding you, responding to you, One with you.

When you are open to the Tao, open to that ease and amazing presence of life and energy and intelligence and power that we call Spirit that we are one with and that is moving in and through our lives, you are open to insight. You can use it. It is “hidden in the heart”, everywhere and in everything. You no longer feel separation and the need to control. You are guided. So flow. You are one with It, and everything will fall into place.

Breath ease and enjoy the flow!

When we connect with the Spiritual Presence that is in us, we move beyond our 3 dimensional world into the 4^th dimension. By immersing ourselves in the appreciation of the good things that fill our lives and by being at peace, we shift our perception. Everything around us shifts as well. We learn to live from the inside out. We become aware of That flow in our life, like we’re aware of a river’s flow when we’re rafting on it.

In the 5^th dimension, we perceive that we are the Presence, we are one with God. It’s as if we were river-rafting but have been flipped into the water. We have a change of perception from being “on the river” to being “one with the river”. We go from being aware of God flowing in our lives to perceiving our oneness with the very nature of the Divine Itself. When we change perception we live life differently. For example, if we are faced with catastrophic illness, we know we are connected with that very nature of God which is wholeness. We experience wholeness as the very essence of our own being. We know that even if our body were to be taken, that whatever the purpose, the wholeness is still fulfilled.

Knowing these things, we sometimes have the misconception that we build our lives from the ground up. But we are also pulled from above. That wisdom that flows through life guides you to be where you need to be to experience that place– the 5^th dimension. We are all one. It’s all God.

It’s fun to make the journey. Head down the river your life tells you to go on. It’s safe. It’s all love. It’s only God.



We express our beliefs, manifesting our lives, like light projects a holographic image. When our awareness (the light) changes, the manifestation changes. When we think God hasn’t gotten things right, our problem isn’t with God. Our problem is with our connection to God. Going outside ourselves to find someone as the source of our prosperity is not the answer.

Separation is an illusion. There’s this goodness of God that flows in us and through us and we get to be a part of that consciousness; we aren’t separate. Connect with that deep state of consciousness, with that flow of Love in the 4^th dimension, with the Source– God. God is wholeness. When we connect with That we change in our consciousness and go into the experience of wholeness. When we connect with Source, we are connected with the whole of the situation, not just the part we see as the answer. In that moment of connection, there is really nothing else. It’s whole, it’s complete, and it’s beautiful. Feel the deep, deep peace. Feel it fill every level of your being. When you’re that loved, you know things are taken care of. Consciousness has changed.

When our consciousness changes, our world changes. Although it’s necessary, tending to detail after detail in our 3 dimensional world doesn’t bring the change. Change comes when we choose to connect with that which takes us from an incomplete manifestation into a whole manifestation, because wholeness is the nature of God. It’s all one; it’s all God’s anyhow. We know it’s taken care of. There is only one power. You are not separate from that Source, you are one with It, and It’s very nature is wholeness. Ground it into the 3^rd dimension and do something. It’s not just a wonderful feeling. Move forward, because “It’s taken care of.”

Whatever the need, there is an answer. What do you do to take care of healing? The answer is God– connect there. What do you do when you need finances? –harmony in your relationships? The answer is God.

Affirm, “God is the Source. God is the answer.”

We perceive our three-dimensional life through the mind. The mind sees us as separate from everything out there and it defends us. We each have known pain. At such times we see a limit to or a loss of the goodness of God. Anger and hatred naturally protect us when the mind sees us as victims. This is not wrong or bad, but it is not the only perspective.

Our higher consciousness is a higher perspective from which we see things differently. We cannot love when we are in anger and hatred. That is a state which diminishes love and our loving. As spiritual beings, we respond from our truth that is always within us, that we are one with the beautiful Divine Presence. We pray,

“Beloved Presence, reveal that which needs to be revealed. Heal that which needs to be healed.”

And it is revealed that we have a choice. Just wanting to make a choice brings healing. Healing takes away the need for anger and hate. At this point of choosing we are free– deeply, powerfully free.

There is so much love surrounding, enfolding and supporting us! When we ask it and allow it to take us, it lifts us. We see freedom, forgiveness, and wholeness. It has no other purpose. It is time to look at what you have not yet allowed to heal, what has not yet been transformed. You’re not lost. It’s not over. It’s not the way it looks. The world has simply brought you to the question, “What is now, in this moment, the choice to make?” And it is that choice that transforms what you have journeyed into. This love flows through you, and in your choosing it over and over, it is blessing and lifting us all. We are in this together.

As we awaken, we go from experiencing life from the outside in, to experiencing life from the inside out. However, the more we experience the connectedness, the more painful our judgments. We are burdened with our “garbage”. This is “hell”. But we can leave whenever we want.

It is easy to get out of hell (the garbage). There is a way out. Since no one can be in two places at the same time, leave the garbage behind. It’s a choice. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. It is within. We discover that which has real value– that which fills us with pure radiant love. That is God. It is that place of divine connection, infinite love and goodness. We experience a goodness without limit– “heaven”.

Our perceptions change. We begin to see amazing things drawn into our lives. “I’m getting healthy”; “I’m leaving this addiction”; “I feel uplifted and good”. We begin to see heaven in those amazing beings drawn into our lives. They take on parts of consciousness to transform it– that’s who is in heaven. It’s here and now. Look around you. It’s easy to get out of the garbage. Love one another. It’s a choice. Pick someone and love. Welcome to heaven!

Our purpose on Earth is to learn how to heal and grow through our challenges. However, take a look at that experience that you haven’t forgiven; that you can’t forget. And we not only carry our own wounds, but also the wounds of the collective unconscious, the race memory. So there is a lot of healing to be done. And we will still face challenges, illness, even death.

In the face of challenges in our lives, we are programmed to use responses like “I’m not good enough.” “I don’t know enough.” “I’m ugly.” This is “parrot talk” that we “parrot” to ourselves constantly. Do not respond to challenges “in kind”. Take progresssive, constructive action. Use affirmations. Remember, forgiveness is your answer. We are children of God with those attributes. Ask, “What is mine to do?” Then pray, “Reveal that which needs to be revealed. Heal that which needs to be healed.” This creates a powerful force for healing.

Ask, “What is mine to do?”

Pray, “Reveal that which needs to be revealed. Heal that which needs to be healed.”

Jesus showed us authority and creative power flowed from Father|God through Him as a spiritual being. The more He attuned to that greater creative power, the more that power moved in and thru His being. He showed us the Oneness which we can experience and touch within our own spiritual self. The authority that we have to direct and choose what comes forth in our world is a picture of that father-son flow. The creative power moves through us when we say, “yes, I choose this creation,” and then that creation comes through into our life. The feminine nature of the Divine is intuition, that capacity that we have to receive higher understanding and direct it into the purpose of our lives. Recognizing when there is something that aligns with our purpose, we are then the instruments thru which the creative power comes into existence.

The creative masculine in us each asks, “What is my purpose?“ The first step to manifesting the divine power that is within you is the alignment to your purpose. It’s that first point when you accept the divine creative power moving through you. The purpose of your being is to receive that creative power and give it expression as far as you let it go.

2^nd is“doing your one”. It is doing that which is yours to do. Once you say yes and accept that the purpose of your being is to receive and express the divine creative power, ask what do you need to do to own it, to align with that creative energy that is flowing through you?

3^rd. The next step is one of the great steps in creation. The step that uplevels the quality of what is going to take place is letting go. Non attachment. We limit this process sometimes because we put a ceiling on what can be accomplished. That’s when we just keep pushing and hammering at it with our will because we “know what the result should be”. But we must let it go to be what it can be. It uplevels. It goes to the higher fulfillment of our purpose when we let it go, when we are unattached to the result. Spirit is moving through you for your purpose – the expression of who you are and what you are about. It’s what we’ve been talking about in terms of the higher male energy of the heart. Where we go into that deep coherence with Divine Intelligence and creative flow by the nonattachment.

4^th. Respond in integrity with who you are. Spirit is not there to empower another’s purpose through you; Spirit is there to empower your purpose through you. When you align with that integrity – regardless of how it might look – Spirit moves through you for that purpose which you are about. It expands and carries it forward in the way that is highest for you. It is Spirit which determines the result. Who of us knows what the result will be?

The very highest is brought forth by that power, that love, that consciousness that flows through us. It is wonderful creative energy from the very highest, opening, taking us forward. For each one of us it is now present in your life, lifting you, blessing you. When you align with it, when you go to that place of integrity in your being. there is only one possible result: that it will be good!

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!

Watch the Video

Extract from Ray’s post:

This video provides a look at who I am, the credentials I bring, and the show I want to host called SEARCHING FOR HIGHER GROUND. It’s a wildcard show that looks at ANY issue and aims to discover how we can learn and grow from it. In essence, SEARCHING AND FINDING HIGHER GROUND. I bring a unique viewpoint as a Ph.D. in psychology, a high level martial artist honoring the heart of the Samurai, and as an ordained interfaith minister (honoring world religions). I hope the idea of this resonates with you and you consider voting for me. Thanks and blessings to you!

Is fear or faith guiding your life? Fear is a sure sign your are trusting in your own power. However, you do not have to stay in energy that does not feel good. When you have accepted circumstances that make you feel uncomfortable, you have been called to see more clearly what you are not living so you can go to what is your calling. It is what you signed up for! Say yes to your Divine appointment. If you knew who walked beside you, fear would be impossible!

Everything is planned for your good. You arrived with your spiritual DNA already coded with all you need to have. All you need is within you. There is peace already within – prosperity already, love already within you.

Peter knew his truth. And just for a moment he trusted, and he walked on water! But then he saw the wind and the storm in the world around him, and he had doubts. When the wind in your life blows, go within to your truth. Know that there is a Presence and a Power inside of you. Know God is your Source. Walk by faith.

When you get that pull on your heart, that impossible thing that needs to be done anyhow, that’s God talk. Yes, there can be other lovely things that pull on your heart, so check in with Spirit. This is something different which is really what you are. Guidance is a picture of a state of consciousness that is already complete. Spirit is saying this is yours and now is the time. Go forward, take some steps to manifestation– buy that ticket! “The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.”

Blocks are not wrong or bad, but they are not guidance. Really listen to your heart. Seek clarity. We are guided by Infinite Intelligence because we are one with It, and It will manifest whatever is in intention because it is already in Spiritual Mind. And Infinite Love will give it. You are an instrument of Divine Love, uplifment to all in your world. That is why it was on your heart in the first place.

Affirm, “I am guided by Infinite Wisdom, and prospered by divine Love.”

Reverend Rita Marie Johnson

Coherence starts with feeling appreciation in our hearts. Turn away from the problem to this feeling through prayer – move into the heart of God. The most coherent state is love and appreciation. It brings healing, balance, and wholeness. “How efficient prayer can be!” Go into prayer for immediate guidance, without waiting for years for an answer. Then act on it. Do not put any more time and attention into it. Be at ease.

Actualize potential. Shine your light. Shine it all the way out! Act on it.

In prayer, from your connection to God, ask, “What is mine to do?” Fill your heart with appreciation and get life guidance. Bring it in with clarity and great, great joy!

Shine your light. Shine it all the way out!

In taking on this life we took on limitations we agreed to transform. They drain us, and they keep coming up. Know there is still wholeness, it is part of a greater good. Address the limitation, bring about healing. Transform it by moving from hurt to peace.

Allow yourself to really feel the power of your connection to God flow into you and through you. It is love. It is compassion, the experience that you feel in response to feeling hurt. It flows in response to the hurt of another, as well, because we are one.

Open to feel God’s love and compassion flowing to the part which is hurting, and move to compassion and peace. Live that law; become the law. As you live the compassion the pattern forms in the world around you. Move to a place of compassion in your heart, no matter the situation. We came to heal and transform all that we touch in the Earth. Move from hurt to peace through the power of compassion. “The unadulterated love of one person can nullify the hate of millions.” – Mahatma Gandi

Affirm,

“In the presence of hurt, I choose compassion.”

“In the presence of hurt, I choose compassion.”

“In the presence of hurt, I choose compassion.”

Emilie Cady wrote, “It is time for us to awake to right thoughts, and know that we are not servants, but children, and if children then heirs. …Heirs of all wisdom, …to all love, …of all strength, all life, all power, all good.”

The heir is the spiritual self, the spiritual being that you are. It is not this marvelous ego that has been developed for us to dance through the world. The ego guides this temporary persona that we have jumped into. It doesn’t know how to be the heir. When you journeyed into life, it wasn’t that you weren’t to meet the experiences that were there, those of abundance and lack, of fear and joy, of peace and harmony and of conflict, because those are ideas within this realm that we journey. The ego is to be cared for by the spiritual self, which guides it into being an instrument to touch the world and know its goodness.

When Jesus said “the kingdom is at hand”, he meant that we can touch life and experience the presence of God. We can experience the goodness of the realm, its beauty, its wholeness, its abundance. We can know the Presence in every experience, and that is the kingdom of heaven, and it is here and now. Just as people from the court go ahead of their prince announcing his coming and making easy his way, know and affirm,

“Divine Love goes before me, making easy, joyous, and successful my way.”

Motherhood connects us with a powerful aspect of the Divine Presence, that of the nurturing Divine Mother. We get to touch an aspect of what God is (knowing there is no place where God ends and we start). A mother awakens to a spiritual vision, seeing her child as a spiritual being, seeing the potential of that soul in the life experience. She is always calling forth that potential. The mother sees a wonderful, beautiful, radiant being.

The expression of that Divine Mother principle is in you whether you are male or female; it is a part of your connection with the Divine. This spiritual Divine Vision sees the Christ in your being, that level where you are one with the presence and power of God, saying it’s time to step up into your being– it’s time to get on with what you are about, who you are.

Accept the vision that is held of you by God. You are a radiant, powerful, intelligent, purposeful, spiritual being. You are here about what your soul has committed to do. You have the full power and intelligence and capability to accomplishing everything that is on your heart, and you are a blessing to everyone in your life! That is the vision in God’s mind of who you are. Accept it with these words, “I am a child of God! A blessing to all I meet!” It is the truth. It is who you are. It is what you are here for. What you are is so magnificent, and God sees it!

“I am a child of God! A blessing to all I meet!”

“Know ye not that ye are gods?”

“Know the white (that which is illumined) but keep to the black (that which is yet to be illumined, as your issues, or the potential of all): be a pattern for the world. If you are a pattern for the world, the Tao will be strong inside you and there will be nothing you can’t do.” – Lao-tzu

In the Transfiguration, Jesus showed us the pattern of who we really are. We can see this when we raise our awareness through our faith, our openness to a higher order, and love. Through the grace of pure love which is always present, we see both the impersonal principle of Divine Law as well as the personal guidance of the Divine expressing in our lives. Receive this into your being. We are the beloved “in whom I Am well pleased”.

Repeat, “I am God’s beloved child.”

See in yourself the pattern of divine power and radiant light. Say yes to the power, the radiant light, the wholeness. Be the pattern. For the world.

“I am God’s beloved child.”

Watch the Video

Summary

We pray “Mother | Father God” and bring our attention to the female as well as the male aspect of the divine.

Know the male, yet keep to the female.

Know the white, which is that which is illumined. Yet keep to the black– which is what is not illumined, issues you hide or potential not yet brought to light. “If you receive the world, the Tao will never leave you.”

“The Tao is the great Mother… always present within you.” From the divine feminine we learn a pattern of attunement to the divine presence. Within you is the perfect idea of who you are. Receive the female world into your arms, as the mother enfolds the child. Be receptive. Practice constant humility– let go of the mind’s need and open to the divine feminine. Be a pattern for the world, and there is nothing you can’t do, and “the Tao will be strong inside you…”

Pray:

“The Tao is strong in me; there is nothing I can’t do.

The Tao is strong in me; there is nothing I can’t do.

The Tao is strong in me; there is nothing I can’t do.”

“God is strong in me; there is nothing I can’t do.

God is strong in me; there is nothing I can’t do.

God is strong in me; there is nothing I can’t do.”

“Love is strong in me; there is nothing I can’t do.

Love is strong in me; there is nothing I can’t do.

Love is strong in me; there is nothing I can’t do.”

Joyous hope is all there is because through your heart all is transformed.

Your Prayer Team

References

Tao Te Ching, selected versus translated by Stephen Mitchell

Music

Music provided by Meghan T Diamond, Lisa Snortum-Phelps, Pamela Whitman, Carol Kuhn, Vicki McCaslin, Nathaniel and Isaiah Douglass and Arnie Cowger, the Youth Education Department and Friends

“Come, Come, Whoever You Are” – Words adapted from Rumi 1207-1273, Music by Lynn Adai Ungar

“Mother Spirit” – © 2010 Lisa Snortum-Phelps

“Thank You For This Day” – © Karen Drucker

“Return Again” – © Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Watch the Video

Summary

“There is only one presence and one power in the universe and in my life, the all loving goodness of God.” Sometimes it doesn’t look that way. It looks like our way is strewn with thorns to keep us from our good. The fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty is really the story of how we mature spiritually, how the soul unfolds to know that it is true that there really is only one power.

Often the pain and loss we experience in life shuts down our feeling nature, we fall asleep. We engage in a transient perception that our experience has polarity, that there are other powers over us.

We see fire-breathing dragons flying overhead. As the Prince, we overcome false perceptions with the Shield of Virtue (we remain true to our self) and the Sword of Truth (God is good all the time). At this higher level, then, the Prince (that part which knows the truth) kisses Sleeping Beauty (that part of our self which feels the truth).

In this “mystical union” we are awakened to know and feel at every level who we are– spiritual beings in a spiritual world governed by spiritual laws. We understand with great compassion the pain and loss in our polarized experience, yet we also understand that we are much more than we can ever perceive.

We are power and love– that bring forth life itself– a purpose so sacred on our heart that the universe is aligned to bring it forth.

We stay in the awareness of the presence of the Divine. This is the kingdom of God. This is the “happily ever after”.

Your Prayer Team

Music

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Watch the Video

Summary

Elle Collier Re is a realized mystic. After many years of self-inquiry including meditation, contemplation, and inner dialogue with the God Levels. Elle entered Unity Consciousness and began receiving ongoing divine revelation. She is now the spiritual teacher at HeartGate Sanctuary, a non-denominational study and retreat center in Hood River, Oregon. Elle has been leading groups and supporting individuals with teachings and direct experience in Soul alignment since 1988. She mentors each to align with their true Nature, and walk in Love.

References

INEI-RE, Gate of Return,

Music

Musical Guest Dennis Warner

“Gonna Rise Up Singin’” – © 2006, David Brooks, Meghan Diamond, Lauren deLacey

“Oneness” – © Carmen Moshier

“I Feel the Spirit” – © Rickie Byars-Beckwith

“Be Still and Know That I Am God” – © Clara Scott

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Summary

The Easter story is a demonstration of the power that we are. We have the power to overcome any limitation. Jesus saw that there really is only wholeness. There really is only love. There really is only life.

He was willing to be an instrument of the love. He knew God Is Good All The Time.

Like the deepest shadows of Jesus’ tomb that couldn’t be seen, there are depths within ourselves we cannot fathom. So even if we do not feel the love for ourselves, we can still be an instrument of that love and wholeness.

Repeat:

“I am willing to be the instrument of God’s Love.”

“I am willing to be the instrument of God’s Love.”

Within this world, within our lives and the lives around us, a new world – a new life is coming into full, complete and beautiful manifestation.

“I am willing to be the instrument of God’s Love.”

Your Prayer Team

Music

Joyful Noise Choir, Rick Stober Director

Unity Musicians – Steve Bangs, Mirabai Bangs, Nathanial Bangs, David Brooks, Yvonne Hung, John Shinn, and Scott Towne

“Hallelujah! Celebration” – Choir

“Dancing in the Light” – Unity Musicians

“The Stone Rolls Away” – Choir & Unity Musicians

“You Raise Me Up” – Choir & Unity Musicians with John Shinn, soloist

“Love is the Answer” – Choir & Unity Musicians

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Watch the Video

Summary

Jesus taught that the greatest commandment is You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and that the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself. The experience of love for self is experiencing God because God is love. Appreciating the frequencies, the energies, the textures of life is part of the experience of heaven. The sweetness of life is God; the wonderful flavor and richness of life is God.

God’s love is the only way that the richness of life is open to you. Your body is love with a physicality to it, so that you may play in the things you love. Every moment there is divine energy moving through you – you don’t even have to be right! It’s absolute love. God is everywhere and in everything. God is abundant. Let the love of God in.

The people in your life are God expressing, asking you to step up to be who you can really be. You are loved. There’s not people and God, there is only God. The child falls, and gets up, it does something wonderful, it makes a mess. Regardless, the parent delights in the child. And God delights in us, messes and all. We are so blessed.

So let in that which fills your heart. You are loving yourself; you are feeling God. You don’t have the power not to have it, only not to feel it. Let it in, fill you up, overflow in and through you, as you. You are the love.

Repeat,

“I am the beloved child of God.”

“I am the beloved child of God.”

“I am the beloved child of God.”

Your Prayer Team

Music

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Watch the Video

Summary

How do we meet the challenge of people who irritate us? Jesus said that before you remove the speck from your brother’s eye, you should “take the plank from your own eye”. In other words, the problem is more so in you; work on yourself. It’s an inside job. Trying to manipulate the outer world doesn’t work.

As co-creator, you brought everything into your life, but since there is only the love of God, what is in your life is there to bring that which is higher, a way for you to be free. In dealing with those who irritate you, forgiveness frees you from your resentment.

A simple and powerful way to be free to be who you are is Love– love for those you need to forgive but also for you, too. So meet those who irritate you with

“Divine Love flows between us, blessing all.”

“Divine Love flows between us, blessing all.”

It lifts you to the heights! What freedom! What joy! You deserve it!

Your Prayer Team

Music

Music provided by:

Here II Here – learn more at http://hereiihere.com

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Watch the Video

Summary

When we react to events, we project our past experience into the future. But there is a different potential that can be brought forth, another dimension in which we live, in which we access an amazing goodness and love. The doorway is through the heart. Go into the Silence. It is a place with the most amazing power to it, a place where we step through dimensions of consciousness.

Be present in the “now moment” and add in appreciation. And for the power, add to the moment your awareness of the presence of God. Right now that amazing everywhere-present life force is flowing into you, filling you with life and illuminating your mind every single moment.

It is there loving you.

It has been in this eternal moment of now since you stepped forth into being.

It folds you in infinite love.

Even as you breathe, It breathes you.

It is so unlimited that we literally cross dimensions of consciousness and activate higher levels of our soul purpose and bring forth higher creation. It is how we create with unlimited possibilities.

In the now you higher purpose has nothing to stop its full expression as you bring it forth, and it has the power to transform whatever it is that’s before you because it is not limited in the mind because it is the unlimited presence of divine love moving in and through you. You are one with that. And when you open to that, when you say yes to this moment and this Presence in it, you are blessed … There is no limit.

“I am so blessed. I am so blessed. I am so blessed.” It’s true, because you are that Love.

Your Prayer Team

References

“Love Without End” by Glenda Green

“The Immortal Now” by Patricia Grabow

Lao Tzu

Music

Music by Heartdream

“Enter This House” – © 2008, David Brooks

“I Am So Blessed” – Karen Drucker

“Oh Sing My Heart Sing” – Eastern Chant, Lyrics adapted by Steve & Mirabai Bangs

“Soham Shantih” – © 2009, Steve & Mirabai Bangs

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Watch the Video

Summary

Salaam Alaikum, Friends in Unity,

The way of peace through submission to the will of God has really been around since Creation. This is the 95% of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism that is identical. A Muslim (literally one who submits to the will of God) feels our purpose here in this Earthly existence is two-fold. First is to live in harmony– even to differentiate among the peoples of the Earth is to fail in that. Second is to study to know God, Who is evidenced by everything around us.

Is it a coincidence that Unity began as study groups, and that our classes are a mainstay for us still? And do we not strive for harmony with each other, our community, our world around us? We say every Sunday, “In striving to know You, God, we are one.” How affirming to know our Unity with those of “other” faiths!

So peace to you; salaam alaikum!

Your Prayer Team

Music

Syahamba (We Are Marching) – South African Hymn, Andries vanTonder/Anders Nyberg

Somebody Prayed For Me – Traditional

We Let It Be – Rickie Byers

What a Wonderful World – Sam Cooke

Shima Shima – Hopi Chant

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Watch the Video

Summary

I see You.

The movie “Avatar” is a cinematic marvel that dazzles the eye and metaphysical sense of the viewer. It recounts how we dwell in two different worlds – our human experience of this three-D world, and another of a single life which is omnipresent. The latter is the kingdom of God that Jesus spoke of, where “kingdom” refers to the state of consciousness in which we are fully aware of the presence of God. Thus, learning that we have a spiritual nature is the first step toward spiritual maturity. Leaving behind that perception that we are separate beings that need to take from each other, we become aware of our connectedness to each other and our one-ness with God.

On the next level of spiritual growth, balancing our human and spiritual natures, then, becomes key. We come to know that only by mastering our fear(s) can we be free to fly, to progress to spiritual maturity. However, moving from the state in which the individual says “I have a spiritual nature” to that of “I am a spiritual being” sets up conflict between harmony and abundance, and our human fears. That is when our human foibles attack our spiritual core. Are you living as a spiritual being or are you serving the sleeping consciousness of a human?

Though we do not have the power to overcome our human-ness, we can master the instrument that transports us above the shadows of ignorance. That is why we say “it is not I, but the power within, a power greater than myself, God as I understand Him|Her.” The “still, small voice within”. The gentle spirit. The intuitive sense there is something greater here. After all, there is only one power.

So no matter how much we know about having a spiritual nature, it does not free us from living and dying locked within our 3-D consciousness. But the knowledge that “I am a spiritual being living in a spiritual world governed by spiritual law” frees us to soar above fear and ignorance in harmony and abundance in the light above the shadows.

Now when we greet one another, we can acknowledge what we know to be true of every one of us. We can greet each other by saying “I see You.”

Your Prayer Team

Music

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Watch the Video

Summary

“If you pour your words of faith into the omni-present substance, you will be prospered though all the banks in the world be closed.”

–Charles Fillmore.

Our journey to prosperity thus far has 6 steps. Today they are united in the 7th.

The 6 are:

1. Be clear of your purpose, which is defined by your passion – those things that are important to you. The Universe is as committed to your success as you are, providing all that you need to manifest it.
2. Through healing and forgiveness clear away that which blocks your success from coming to you.
3. Jump into the flow of God’s giving nature by your giving – your tithing.
4. Attune to God’s goodness through the power of prayer.
5. Since that which we affirm with our focus is manifested, strive to live complaint free. Use your powers for good.
6. Our caring actions bring into manifestation the love of God in this 3D world.

The 7th step is to express your gratitude for God’s goodness, even in the face of challenges.

Do not “Thank God” as a victim as that will attract more of the same. Know that there is no thought of lack in God’s mind. As spiritual, creative beings we know there is something good, something wonderful and whole coming. Often we can’t see it, but we know it’s got to be there.

“Thank You, God, for the goodness that is there that must come forth.”

If you are willing to let God’s goodness flow in and through your life, even when facing challenges, say, “Thank You, God!”

Your Prayer Team

Music

Music by Joyful Noise, Rick Stober Choir Director

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Watch the Video

Summary

When we love, the One we are really loving is God. When love is present, the limits we normally see do not bind us. The state of love can change us from moment to moment. Commit to love and care.

Care is applied love. How powerfully we care expresses our love. Our first assignment is to be the love we are and care for ourselves and others.

The gift of love opens us to see others as they truly are. However, they do not need to choose to bring forth the truth we see. We often combine our vision with our expectations, but love need not return through the ones we love.

The gift of love frees us. Through the feeling and practice of care, we are being the instrument of love. The gift can come any way. Sometime it gives us time to be alone. The assignment is the same, to love and care for someone, even if it is yourself.

When we love, the One we are really loving is God.

Music

Music by Heartdream

“Good Morning, This is God” – © 2005, David Brooks

“The Shelter of God’s Love” – © 2008, Steve and Mirabai Bangs

“Give Me Love” – Words and Music by George Harrison

“Love I Am” – © 2006, David Brooks

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Watch the Video

Summary

Do you want to affirm your limitations? Do you want more of what you are complaining about? Then keep complaining! When we speak our words, we put our power of creation out into the world. We put our thoughts into three dimensional being. We must become conscious of our creative power.

By putting our thoughts into the three dimensional world we draw to us that which we speak.

The nature of God is wholeness which is always present. Let us affirm the wholeness of the goodness of God. Acknowledging even the darkness as part of the whole, let us speak the world we want to exist. Break through to the next level.

Join others in creating a Complaint Free World. Join in the “ripple effect which will become a cascade of positivity around the world bringing about greater harmony, understanding, prosperity and peace.” (from the vision statement, A Complaint Free World)

Music

Music

Music Performance by Joyful Noise Choir

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Summary

You have the power. Be in awe of yourself. You are a child of the Grand Operational Design – G.O.D. Thus you are royal. You do not want or need anything, as that implies lack. Whatever you require you already have. Command it to manifest.

When your prayers are unanswered it is because your affirmations are butting up against a core belief which counters your desires. Ask, “What is grabbing my emotions? What grabs my thoughts?” That is what you are praying. That is what your attention is directing the endless possibilities into manifesting. Bruce Lipton explains that even our DNA responds to our emotions. But DNA really stands for Do Not Accept anything as stopping you. You have the power.

Pray, “God, I want to know You more.” The more you know God, the more you know your truth.

Say to yourself, “I am whole now. I am healthy now. I am wealthy now.” Call forth your good with belief and feel it throughout your body in every one of your trillion cells. Feel the wave of truth move from the soles of your feet up through your body and out through the crown of your head. Let go, you couldn’t be safer letting God. “Holy Spirit does the singing. All you need to do is show up and look cute.”

Your Prayer Team

Links and References

Praying Through a Storm by Sheila Gautreaux

Music

Music by Mary Stark, David Brooks, and Meghan Diamond

“Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Roun’” – Arr Jackie Hairston

“You Can’t Beat God Giving” – Doris Akers (adapted)

“We Are One” – Traditional

“Peace of God” – © Lou Eldredge

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Click to Play

Summary

Here are the steps for bringing abundance into your life this year.

Step 1. Go into the Silence. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." Affirm "God is my instant, constant, abundant supply."

Step 2. Attune to your purpose. Make your choices in your heart; follow your passion.

Step 3. Open to receive. Remove those blocks to your abundance by freeing yourself through forgiveness. Unburden yourself. "Divine Love lifts me, frees me, and prospers me."

This week's lesson:

Step 4. Expand the flow of good in your life through giving. "As you give it is given to you." Everything is God's after all. But it is not ours to give all. Our abundance is to be used with wisdom. Seek guidance to find what is yours to say "yes" to. The greatest tool for expanding your flow is tithing. It is the acknowledgment that God is your source. It is acknowledging the beautiful goodness that is flowing in you, through you, creating and expanding your physical world. It is knowing that God is your partner. Even loss is God coming through. Yet loss is minimized and gain maximized. Bring your highest perceptions through into the physical. Become an instrument for transformation in the world. And tithing is saying, "Thank You God!"

Thank You God! Thank You God! Thank You God!

You Prayer Team

Click to Play

Summary

To prosper, we have to transform that which blocks out our good. We need to remove or transform the barriers of anger, resentment, hate, and fear we have built which block our propserity from flowing. We need to unburden ourselves, to free ourselves. Forgiveness is not about the other person, it is about letting go of our pain again and again until it is gone. To do this, we need to bring the awareness of the goodness of God into the feelings of hate, etc. You must really want to be free of the burden. Ask for the pain to be healed. Bring the love and compassion, that Divine Presence into the pain to be healed. Find it in that deep peace. That Divine Love has the power to free us, to lift us.

"Divine Love lifts me, frees me, and prospers me."

"Divine Love lifts me, frees me, and prospers me."

"Divine Love lifts me, frees me, and prospers me."

Click to Play

Summary

Sometimes we are sure of our purpose in this life, but the universe does not seem to be saying "yes", we are not meeting with much success at all. So we go within and check our guidance, and the purpose we were sure of is affirmed! Why, then, is the universe not responding with abundant success? This is when we need to re-align ourselves with our purpose. We need to re-align our mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects. We need to ask ourselves, "What are we showing up with?" Even addiction and childhood trauma can be transformed if we walk through them aligned on purpose.

So to re-align yourself in every aspect, change your consciousness. Bring the power of your heart into it. Our individual purpose is in our hearts, not our heads. It is passion that points us in the direction of our purpose. You have the capability of creating abundance – it is the work you are about. You are to give form to the Universal Energy. Make a choice in your heart. Show up and transform. The universe will say, "Yes!" and abundant success will flow in and through your life.

Marianne Williamson said, “Your playing small serves no one.” Well, living on purpose, manifesting your purpose, is playing “big”. You are not just creating what you are about. Your abundance, your purpose flows into the world transforming it as well. You are creating a different world!

Click to Play

Summary

"We are one with Creative Energy. It is never depleted. It always responds to us. It must give; that is its nature." – Charles Fillmore, Prosperity

How many forests are in a single apple?

Thoughts of lack limit your wholeness.

There is no thought of lack in Divine Mind. Abundance is in every level. It is your birthright to prosper. You are a spiritual being. Call prosperity into manifestation here and now. Prove it.

Set a time for this every day.

Go into the silence. Seek first the kingdom of God.

Look to God as the Source.

Everything is God.

Pour your living faith into the substance of Spirit.

Affirm God is my instant, constant, abundant supply.

Affirm that in gratitude.

Affirm it in your power.

Affirm it in joy.

God is my instant, constant, abundant supply.

Click to Play

Summary

We look forward to Christmas with such childlike anticipation. The sense of community seems world-wide, universal, as we eagerly open to the rebirth of the awareness of the Christ Child among us, in us. That pure love in which we realize we are the instruments of the flow of God’s love to all, freely sending good wishes and giving gifts big and small. We are especially moved to give to those in the community with obvious need. We donate to food banks and charity drives anonymously, blindly.

All too soon, though, our ebullient spirits fade as we reach overwhelm, believing we cannot possibly have the means to serve all those in need among us. We wistfully put away our sense of universal community for another year, asking, “Why can’t the spirit of Christmas last all year long?”

However, this expanded consciousness does not need to end! You do have the means; your resources are infinite. You have the power within to maintain this expanded consciousness. You know how love transforms. Send it forth. Send forth the expanded Christmas awareness. Stay in the beauty and effectiveness; create by your intention. Send the beauty and light to those in need. You are the instrument of that transformation. You are a co-creator! Send the spirit of Christmas.

As Rev. David says, “Sing Christmas carols all year long.”

Music

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller

Part 1 of 4

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Part 2 of 4

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Part 3 of 4

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Part 4 of 4

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Summary

‘The baby Jesus shows us that love is something you do. You show love by what you do, not just by what you feel.

Over and over again, in the Bible, God commands us to love each other. And you can’t command an emotion.…If love were just an emotion, then God couldn’t command it. But love is something you do. It can produce emotion, but love is an action.

The Bible says, “Let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions” (1 John 3:18 NLT). We can talk a good act: “I love people.” But do we really love them? Do you really love them? Our love is revealed in how we act toward them.’

–Daily Hope, Posted by Rick Warren, December 10 2009

Let us take these wise words to heart, and take action this Christmas. Yes, we’re sending off a small mountain of shoes. We can join the carolers at Kensington Retirement Home Monday at 7. How many Red Cross kettles have you passed this year without dropping you change in? Just take a moment and think of the many opportunities you have to go only a little out of your way and thereby make this a wonderful Christmas season for you and yours and someone you don’t even know. Love is a verb of action.

Merry Christmas everyone!

– Your Prayer Team