Leave Your Nets

A New Dimension

We have now come full circle in our series on spiritual wholeness, reviewing and re- newing our sense of connectedness to our own indwelling Lord and all of creation.  We are not alone in the universe.  We are the universe.  And by grace we fulfill our destiny as the sons and daughters of God. 

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Leave Your Nets

Thy Grace is Sufficient Unto Me

This week a local pundit connected the dots between  BP's Gulf Disaster and Pogo, who once observed:  We have met the enemy and he is us. BP's management is driven by its stockholders' focus on the bottom line and the need to be number one in the industry, with disastrous results, and this isn't the first time, either.  But we, as stakeholders in the health and viability of our land and our planet, are also responsible.  It is common wisdom that the drug wars along the border with Mexico would dry up if there were no market for drugs in this country.  The same logic applies to the drilling in the Gulf of Mexico or fighting wars to secure a pipeline--supply and demand. 

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Spiritually Empowered Wholeness

Help Wanted: Apply Within                                                                                                                                                             

I love having online access to so many beautiful images!  One of my favorite is the radiant lotus blossom to the right.  This image has become my visual mantra, symbolizing for me not just the Christ in me,  but the awareness and experience of that presence in me.   I focus upon it as I begin to pray or meditate and I feel an actual warmth spreading out from my heart center.  And in moments of stress or too much busyness, just a moment's focus allows me to re-center on that image.

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Creative Intentionality                                            
                                                                                                                        

Charles Fillmore often used the phrase "seed thoughts" and wrote in  Jesus Christ Heals that  All things are in God as potentialities. I believe creative intentionality can be defined by weighing the difference between creative passion and technical perfection in musical performances.  When Michael Turner, one of our musicians, plays his sax, his whole body sings with the music.  By contrast, a pianist I once knew could perform beautifully on the baby grand piano at Unity Village.  His performance was technically perfect, but there was no corresponding passion uniting him with the music and none of us would have dreamed of approaching him.

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Spiritually Empowered Wholeness

A Talent for Growing    
A Talent for Growing                                                                                    

Spiritual growth is the movement from an ego-centric view of the world and "what's in it for me" to an open and loving acceptance of one's self and others as children of God;   created by a loving Father to learn and grow in understanding and compassion and to become good stewards of the natural world.   When we develop healthy, creative interdependent relationships and begin consciously living in the now, we discover a deep and abiding joy welling up from within us. 

Happiness has been defined as an emotional response to a positive event,  such as getting a raise or receiving an unexpected gift--a temporary event dependent upon external events. Joy is often defined as the product of  happiness, but true joy comes from deep within one's own being and is not bound or limited by people,  places or events.   And therein lies its power.

I can still experience true joy, even when the world around me appears to be spinning out of control.  Instead of trying to fix everything and everyone,  I turn my attention to the inward journey of spiritual growth.  My personal growth has a ripple effect in my world.

When my inner life is lively and well nurtured my relationships improve dramatically. 

We need to learn how to value and care for ourselves, to enrich our "centers" in order to make them safe, strong, renewing places to be.  We need to relate to other people and to the world out of this center, out of inner wholeness.

Jesus used parables, earthly stories with a heavenly meaning, to teach the multitudes and His disciples.  The Parable of the Talents appears with slightly different details in both Matthew and Luke.   It is set in conjunction with other stories teaching that we know not when He (the Master) shall return and must be ever ready.  In Matthew, the Master gives His servants 1, 2 or 5 talents, each according to his ability, to be invested during the Master's absence.  Both the servants with 2 talents and 5 talents invested wisely and doubled the Master's return. But the servant with 1 talent hid his for safekeeping rather than risking loss.

Those who invested (used) their talents and multiplied their good were blessed and rewarded by the Master, but the one who hid his talent lost that which he had as punishment for not using it.  And then, Jesus states what appears to be an inexplicably hard teaching:

For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

If we develop the spiritual gifts (talents) which God has given us, then our lives will be blessed with the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven.  But if we deny our spiritual gifts and hide away for fear of loosing that which we have been given, then even that which we have received will be lost in our fears and doubts.  Job stated it best, I think: That which I have feared has come upon me. 

I believe that the greatest reward of spiritually empowered wholeness in my life is the feeling of a deep and abiding sense of peace and joy.  Oprah offered this definition:

I define joy as a sustained sense of well-being and internal peace - a connection to what matters.

Rev. Claudia Naylor

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Spiritually Empowered Wholeness

Life Is More Than Occupying Space                                                                                 

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a clear demonstration that death is not final, nor is it the ultimate failure.  The refusal to live to our fullest potential is the only real failure.   Death signifies the transformation from the purely physical to the purely spiritual.  Though our eyes no longer behold the human being we have treasured, our loved one has not ceased to exist but has translated into pure being, pure energy.

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Where We Live

Ask someone where they live and you'll receive answers ranging from the name of their hometown to their street address to a description of their neighbor and their home.  Take a step back from the personal point of view and we claim planet Earth as our home, a home shared with all living beings, irrespective of creed, culture or degree of sentience.

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A Light Shining in the Dark           
                                                                            

One of our primary goals during Lent is the release of mental, emotional and spiritual baggage.  An inexplicable sense of exhaustion or lack of meaning and purpose in life may be the warning signs of     an over burdened spirit.  Unexpected and irrational anger is also a warning signal we should never  ignore.  In Matthew 11:30, Jesus said: 

"Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  For my yoke is        easy and my burden is light."

It's easy to go through a whole cleansing process and feel a tremendous sense of relief and lightness of spirit.  And then, one day, you realize you've begun imitating a mini volcano, spewing angry fire works at random intervals.  And when you begin to pay attention to the running dialog just beneath the surface of awareness,  you discover an 'old tape' bubbling up and disrupting your peace of mind.

The first response is No way, I already dealt with that!  It's finished!  Not. Obviously, the first step must be to release and let it go, again, and feel the vacancy with a wonderful new energy immediately.  Then,  schedule regular maintenance.  Think of it as Spring Cleaning, also known as Lent. Think about the windows on your house--if they're smudged or cloudy, your view of the world becomes distorted.  And just because you gave them a really good cleaning back in 1998 doesn't mean that something else must be at fault this time.

Rev. Claudia Naylor

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Lent Season

Take Up Your Bed & Walk

Lent is a time of seeking personal transformation.  Easter is a celebration of that transformation.  The story told in John 5:1-15 about the man healed at the Pool of Bethesda represents far more than a simple physical healing.  This story demonstrates a transformation in consciousness which then manifests as a physical healing.

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Jesus Prays

Give God the Glory: John 17

Last Sunday I briefly mentioned the method of prayer which Jesus used in John 17 and the way in which I have applied that method to this ministry. Now, I want to expand that discussion and the ways in which each of us can make use of His method.

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Advent: Metaphysically Speaking

Love Came Down at Christmas

Christ is born anew in hearts and minds around the world at Christmas time. And for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, His love fills the earth with glory, the theme for the fourth Sunday of Advent. We come to the Nativity with minds and hearts open and receptive to the Word of God.

The infant Jesus was born to Mary in Bethlehem. Charles Fillmore responded to questions about the Virgin Birth in this way:

Unity accepts the virgin birth of Jesus,
and finds in it a deep metaphysical significance.
Tradition tells us that Mary was not only
virgin by reason of her unmarried state, but she was
also virgin in mind and heart.
Just as Jesus was born to one whose mind and heart were
pure and uncorrupted,
so too is the Spirit of Christ born into individual consciousness
as the mind and heart are made pure and clean.

Awakening consciousness surrounds itself with star light and candle light symbolizing spiritual enlightenment. The angels are messengers of God pointing the way to the Christ. The shepherds keeping watch over their sheep will come to symbolize Jesus as the Good Shepherd—one who protects and guides. The Wise Men from the East represent the inner resources of Spirit giving birth to the One who would be called Teacher. His birth in a stable with a manger for His bed signifies the humble beginnings of all people everywhere.

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When we follow His star and let love shine through every thought, word and action, we too shall grow beyond the humble to the glorious.

Rev. Claudia Naylor

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Advent: Metaphysically Speaking

His Peace Be Upon You!

Advent is a spiritual journey into the birth of Christ consciousness. If we set aside time from the holiday rush to meditate upon the true meaning and purpose of Christmas, then we feel the rush of joy and anticipation which come from seeking and finding God in the very inmost parts of our being.

Jesus was not born to die for us, but to teach us how to live! To know the love of God and to seek a deeper understanding of His law. Advent and the birth of Jesus symbolize the coming of light into the world at the darkest time of the year. The teachings of Jesus are a shining light amidst the confusions and temptations of the world.

Let us pray for peace of mind and heart for all people, everywhere--and mean it! We pray not just for those we know and approve of, but for those who's actions and beliefs are contrary to all we hold dear. When we behold the Christ in everyone, our light shines brightly unto all the world and we are made new again, free again, in Christ.

Rev. Claudia Naylor

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Jesus Christ Heals

Indispensable Assurance

The teachings of Unity emphasize the power of faith in choosing the life we want to live and our willingness to act upon the inner call to come up higher. Charles Fillmore wrote in Jesus Christ Heals that:

A man without ambition is like a ship afloat on the waves without
sails or power. Such a man simply drifts; if he reaches port
safely it is by chance.
But a ship under full sail or power needs one other important thing
and that is a rudder (which) needs a man to handle that
rudder, and that man needs faith.

Anyone can read about truth and talk about truth, but living the truth requires a deep and abiding faith in God as our own indwelling Lord. It is through the activity of faith that we find the courage to speak the truth and to live that truth with confidence.

Most of us get to the sound of an alarm clock, turn on the lights and put on the coffee/tea without a second thought--more by rote than anything else. Yet how many of us 'turn on/tune into' Spirit just as promptly as we turn on the 'real' electricity? No man-made current can hold a candle to the illumination of Spirit!

That spark of inner illumination that is God within, reveals a world of infinite possibilities and promise! We can literally see more clearly the ideas and choices stretching out before us. Faith will open a way to reveal and express more good in our lives than we could ever hope to imagine or realize without first acknowledging that:

God is our instant, constant and abundant source of all good!

No power or principality on earth can deny us or keep us from our good, for truly, we are the sons and daughters of the Most High, heirs and joint heirs with Jesus Christ! That is the Truth and the key is Faith.

Rev. Claudia Naylor

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Jesus Christ Heals

God Said, and It Was So

The power of the spoken word of Truth transforms darkness into light, defeat into hope and lifts up the weary spirit. Feeling and knowing the power and the presence of God within opens out a way for our true potential to express freely.

Charles Fillmore wrote in Jesus Christ Heals:

When Jesus said:
The words that I have spoken unto you
are spirit, and are life.

He was speaking in terms of that inner Word
which creates all things.
The word... grows in the minds of all who give them
place, just as a beautiful flower or a great tree
grows from the seed germ planted in the
ground.

Jesus wrote no books; neither did He build monuments to Himself, yet His words live on in the minds and hearts of people around the world. His teachings were clear and simple with the power to change lives. Easy to study and to talk about, but powerless to transform until and unless they are put into practice in daily living.

The words that I speak have the power to heal or to harm. If I am to be that place where God shines through, then my life must be lived from within out--a celebration of the Truth in the here and now.

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11

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Jesus Christ Heals

"Be Thou Made Whole"

Modern medicine 'creates' miracle upon miracle, yet all too often it feels as if our lives are overrun by disease, dis-ease and discomfort. The disease of the moment seems to be 'swine flu' because of the current media frenzy. Is it just me, or do you find yourself wondering why we find ourselves suffering from, if not dying from, diseases our grandparents never even heard of or never worried about if they had?

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