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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Prayer: Metaphysically Speaking

The God to Whom We Pray

A question common to many is: "If God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent, why should I pray?" I pray because not because God needs to hear from me, needs my acknowledgment and adoration. I pray because I need to recognize and acknowledge the presence and power of God active in me when I remember who I am:

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Advent: Metaphysically Speaking

Joy to the World!

Like the Wisemen, we seek the Star in the East. During Advent we journey from that place in consciousness we now inhabit to the birth place of wisdom and love, deep within our soul. Our journey can last a mere heart beat or a life time.

Jesus, the teacher, was born 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem. The Christ is born anew in Man with every prayer, with every awakening soul. No matter who we are, where we are or what we have done along the way, the Christ affirms: "and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age." (Mt.28:20)

The Children of Israel were notoriously bad about going astray on their journey of awakening. During the time of Isaiah, God finally resorted to what we would call tough love because the people failed to heed His Word and ignored punishment. But even as He condemned them to paying the consequences of their actions, He reaffirmed His love for them with the promise of a redemption. Isaiah prophesied the return of the people to the House of the Lord:

Many people shall come and say,
"Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths."
He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.
Is. 2:3-4

If we are to live with hope, in peace, and celebrate the birth of our own indwelling Lord, then we must set aside all warring thoughts and feelings. And if we would feel the joy of Advent, then let us join together to Behold the Christ in all who would war against us. Not to fix them, but to hold them in the Circle of God’s Love.

Rev. Claudia Naylor

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A NEW EARTH: AWAKENING TO YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE

Role Playing

Most of us actually play multiple roles: parent, child, brother, sister or spouse. Added to our familial roles are those of employment and those in community. The roles we play set the parameters by which we define our relationships--friendly, adversarial, loving, defensive, etc. Each role carries its own personal baggage. Eckhart Tolle wrote that

Authentic human interactions
become impossible when you lose
yourself in a role.

One of the most common ways group sessions/meetings begin is with a 'warm-up'--tell us your name and what you do. As we listen, we use the information provided by each individual to 'fit' them into our world. We understand them in the context of their perceived role and how it relates to our role(s). The way in which I present myself to the group reflects my own sense of self.

What really matters is not what
function you fulfill in this world, but whether
you identify with your function to such an extent that
it takes over and becomes a role
that you play.

If I want to experience life without being locked into a role set in concrete, then I must be willing to step back from the known and allow myself to Be fully in the Now moment. Not by resisting or denying, but by recognizing the extent to which I let people and events dictate my experience through emotional and/or self-image triggers.

Then there is Being.
It is found in the still, alert presence of
Consciousness itself, the Consciousness that you are.
Human and Being are not separate
but interwoven.

Try an experiment while walking alone: Feel yourself inside your body, walking. Be aware of looking outward through your eyes. What you see is less important right now than that you are totally aware of yourself present in yourself in the moment

Rev. Claudia Naylor.

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