oneness - revisited

Spiritual resource to share: a rousing call for unity

Got this note in an email and loved it. It is a quote from one of Paul's letter to the Ephesians and taken from The Message. It applies to everything!

"In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting on your hands.

"I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

"You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all.

"Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness."

Say AMEN somebody!






Public photo by Bill Adams

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Lift up your voice!

Spiritual resource to share: YOU

Have you ever felt you wanted to express yourself, but it was hard being heard? Or have you ever been asked to give a talk and felt at a loss?

I did a deep dive today considering what it means to have a voice.

Having a voice is about you being expressed and heard.
Having a voice enables you to be a part of a larger idea.
Having a voice is having a way to communicate ideas.

In short having a voice is about identity, communication and unity.

Identity

My identity, your identity is a result of being a reflection of God (as it points out in the Bible in Genesis that we are made in the image and likeness of God). God’s attributes are Soul, Mind, intelligence, Spirit, Life, Principle, Truth, Love. We are defined by Soul, animated by Spirit, sustained by Life, guided by Mind, intelligence, and maintained by God’s law or Principle. An idea without an expression is absurd. Each one of us is individual, unique, permanent and necessary. Each one of us has a voice that is individual, unique, permanent and necessary.

Communication

Break that word apart and you have common + unity.
“The inter-communication is always from God to His idea, man.”
Ideas are constantly flowing – connecting one another with a common understanding.
Lifting communication up to Spirit, we can trust that the spiritual substance of an idea is communicated properly. The spiritual substance of ears is that they are “not organs of the so-called corporeal senses, but spiritual understanding.”
God, Truth, is the impulse that brings ideas forward. Love provides the receptivity for those to hear. Intelligence weighs in the ideas and sorts, deletes, enhances and brings out what would best glorify God. And we are all governed by Truth, Life and Love.

Unity

"Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?"
We are all related to Life, and to Love and to Truth. We can all understand this relationship to God – when Life fills our days with purpose, when Love satisfies and soothes us, when Truth brings us startling new ideas and solutions. As we sometimes clamber up that mountain of high hopes, we are patient and forgiving of one another, but firm and focused on our goal: to learn more about God.





To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

the unity of the cause erases all flaws

Spiritual resource to share: unity in surprising places


I loved this ad that came across my email recently:


For whatever differences we may have, it is easy to put them aside when the "Cause" is so compelling, that we are willing to drop our differences and align our forces to work together.

There are times when I have worked with others, and our united purpose was so clear and so loved, that minor hiccups in the process of furthering our purpose were easily forgiven, corrected or adjusted.

But there have been other times when I have worked with others and the purpose was not so clear or compelling. It has been those times where the little annoyances would flare up into major problems.

These experiences have caused me to look deeper than the organization's purpose to see what our deeper purpose and mission is in life. And that, I believe, is to glorify God. For that purpose, I work even harder to dive through conflicting human opinions to the bedrock of our spirituality. We are all children of God. God is good. God is all-powerful. God loves each of us. And in this light, I find I can forgive more easily, help others more selflessly and help to sharpen the focus of our work towards more loving and productive ends. The unity of the Cause - to glorify God - helps to erase all flaws.




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The Community Table

Spiritual resource to share: nourishing home-cooked prize-winning food !

Church: whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle

In my newfound expansive expression of church, I am so happy to share an activity that my family and other area churches are involved in. It is called The Community Table. The idea behind it is a community meal to all, with a focus to invite those who need to stretch their dollars at the end of the month.

The watchword is dignity to all, and no one should know who comes from the food pantry or is homeless and who isn't. The instigator of this project is a Franciscan Catholic and I so admire her vision - a divine Principle - to bring the sense of equality and dignity to the community.

In order to do this, she has set down some ground rules:

• We use china and real cups and silverware
• Breads and desserts go directly on the tables
• It's a buffet style feast that includes 3-4 host churches' best foods: Gramma's famous potato salad, Fred's silky chiffon cake, Al's mouthwatering squash casserole and on and on.
• Host churches are assigned for set up and clean up, but everyone serves everyone.
  

I love this activity for its simplicity. It is so......pleasant! There are no agendas, no sermons, just the community taking care of the community. There are a number of ideas that are relevant to this activity that I am reading in a Bible Lesson this week, including these two:

• Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
• The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity.

There is something wholesome and real about serving others, and joining with others to do good works. The Community Table is one vehicle that makes me feel good about the higher concept of church which is to elevate the race and rouse the dormant thought to a more spiritualized understanding of who we are to God and who we are to each other.

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

strength in unity

Spiritual resource to share: standing together

The Spirituality and Practice website is one of my favorite websites to explore on a rainy day. In one section, they give regular teaching stories. This is one that highlights unity:

An old man is dying, and calls his people to his side. He gives a short, sturdy stick to each of his many offspring, wives, and relatives. "Break the stick," he instructs them. With some effort, they all snap their sticks in half.

"This is how it is when a soul is alone without anyone. They can be easily broken."

The old man next gives each of his kin another stick, and says, "This is how I would like you to live after I pass. Put your sticks together in bundles of twos and threes. Now, break these bundles in half."

No one can break the sticks when there are two or more in a bundle. The old man smiles. "We are strong when we stand with another soul. When we are with another, we cannot be broken."

— Clarissa Pinkola Estes in Women Who Run With the Wolves

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

weapons of mass distraction

Spiritual resource: our shared heritage

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds."

Yesterday I had a serendipitous meeting in my favorite bookstore with Greg - owner, and Richard, another healer from the Anishinaabe tradition.

We talked about the recent community meeting that brought out the desires of so many people to understand and support each other. For all that happened at that meeting, the momentum to heal the hatred and prejudice in our communities and so help our children got a big boost that day.

I was glad to talk with Richard face to face. It was Richard's talk at that potentially divisive community meeting that turned the meeting around. He turned it around to see where the healing was coming from. It was coming from our willingness to step outside of our own comfort zone to connect with others and to keep connecting until we could see that there is no "other," no divisiveness.

Regardless of race, we all share a common heritage of respect and doing good for one another. This heritage goes far beyond one's heritage as an Ojibway, a white, a WASP, etc. It is spiritual. I see it as being from God.

With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good, the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science.

We kept talking. What would distract us from moving forward? It is the anger, hatred, past hurts. As Richard said, if you bring these into the conversation, we don't go forward. These, Greg added, are the weapons of mass distraction. These weapons of anger, etc. try to derail progress, a natural response to loving motives and unselfish care.

In my own healing work, I rely on my growing understanding of the law of God that states good is not helpless, that God, good, is all powerful, and governs and guides us all. This law is self-enforcing, and so good is all that CAN go forward.

The belief that something else is more powerful, more threatening, more tenacious is a belief that is itself a distraction, not a reality. It is a distraction to what is true: God's law. Removing the distraction uncovers the attraction and operation of God's law.

But all this being said.....a healthy and progressive community is all about love. And love can pull down the strong holds of racism and hate and show that we all share a heritage of love. Coffee finished, connections made, heartfelt conclusions drawn, we said our goodbyes for now and went back into the cold sub-zero with a lingering warmth of soul.

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

shared prayer

Spiritual resource to share: sharing what you love

I am now involved in two ecumenical groups - both of which are involved in caring for others: one at the hospital ( I'm on the prayer team there) and one for the entire community. I am so deeply touched at the mutual respect and inspiration we share. During one meeting, people got to joking about how each of their churches are focussed on converting others to their fatih. The Evangelist was joking with the Catholic who was joking with the others. When asked what I focus on as a Christian Scientist, I had to stop and think, because as a church, we don't convert people. "We focus on healing." More laughter, I think in large part because everyone felt so open and delighted with each other!

I love these groups where everyone feels so comfortable in sharing what they feel is most sacred and everyone honors one another's efforts to do good works.

Our prayer team put up a beautifully framed statement welcoming people to use the hospital's chapel. It is a welcome to people of all faiths or no faith. It reads:

Welcome to [this chapel]. You are warmly invited to use this space for quiet reflection and prayer. It is a space especially set up to acknowledge the space that reflection and prayer have in our lives today.

This room is never empty. It is filled with purposeful activity. There is light, order and beauty emanating from this room.

As we acknowledge the attraction and healing presence of God, people are drawn to this space. Like the Star of Bethlehem over the manger, we place our star above this little chapel and recognize that God is continuing to lead all His children to peace, grace and well-being.

Has your shared prayer brought you closer to others and to your community? Would love to hear about it!


(photo by kim - gracias a mis amigos argentinos)

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right