First Unitarian Church

Sunday, July 29, 2007

 

By

Jon Royal

 

What if You Accepted that YOU are God?

 

 

Call to Gathering

 

May the Love which overcomes all differences,

 

Which heals all wounds,

 

Which puts to flight all fears,

 

Which reconciles all who are separated

 

Be in us and among us as we assemble this day to share, reflect and grow in this sacred gathering.

 

 

Please join with me in responsive reading as we light our Chalice

 

Leader: Life is a gift for which we are grateful

 

People: We gather in community to celebrate the glories and

                 mysteries of this great gift.

 

Leader: So let us kindle now the flame of our liberal religious

                 heritage

 

People: In it’s glow, may our reason and our passion lead us to

                 be true to ourselves, true to each other, and true to what

                 we can together become

 

 

 

Intro for Offering

 

 

"Now is the time when we have a chance to share our abundance with the church and the larger community.

 

One-half of today’s collection is distributed to the general operating funds of the church. 

 

The other half of the collection is distributed to the various outreach programs of the church, as well as to two charities selected by the congregation; the Children and Families of Iowa Family Violence Center and Hawthorn Hill. 

 

Let us be grateful for all that we have to give this day.  Let us be grateful for all that we have to share." And in the words of the hymn I encourage you to  “Give from deep within”  --  your pocket of course 

 

 

Introduce Special Music

 

          Stephen Lauer on Trombone and

Diane Alex on Piano

 

Performing Handel’s Sanota # 3, the 1^st and 2^nd movements

 

 

Reading – Sydney Royal

 

This morning’s reading is taken from the writings of Barbara Rose, Ph.D available on her website if you would like to read the complete article.

 

 

She writes:

 

You are here to express and experience your Divine self. To align your will with Divine will.

 

How will you know what that is?

 

It is the feeling of love that you have in your heart when you know you have done something motivated by pure love for yourself, or another.

 

This does NOT mean to love another at the expense of your self esteem or your survival.

 

This means to live purely from your heart so you can see the results of being a living expression of Divine will in your life, and how this touches and ripples into the hearts of others.

 

Alas, it changes life on earth

 

When using a partial version of this material, please state that it is an abridged version and refer the reader to the original, complete version at http://www.borntoinspire.com

 

Barbara Rose, Ph.D.and The Rose Group

 

 

Meditation to be read before “It’s in Everyone of Us”

 

 

Today’s meditation thoughts are taken from

The Art of Spiritual Peacemaking --  By James F. Twyman

 

 

Let go of every thought you have ever had about what it means to be enlightened.

 

You are not enlightened, and, you are fully enlightened this very moment.

 

It may seem that these two concepts contradict each other.

 

They do not.

 

I am simply trying to get you to consider that you are not separate from anyone you perceive, any of your brothers and sisters who seem to be outside your experience.

 

If you perceive any of them as “unenlightened” then you are held to that decision yourself.

 

If you KNOW that only the Love of God is real for everyone in all situations, then you will enjoy that yourself.

 

This is the only lesson I have come to teach you, and it is the only lesson you will teach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meditation to be read following “It’s in Everyone of us”

 

It is our quiet time.

 

We do not speak, because the voices are within

 

It is our quiet time

 

We do not walk, because the earth is all within us

 

It is our quiet time.

 

We do not dance, because the music has lifted us to a place where the spirit is.

 

It is our quiet time to be the all

 

Taken from Meditation 481 by Nancy Wood in the hymnal “Singing the Living Tradition”

 

 

 

SERMON OUTLINE

 

       I.     Introduction

A.    Acknowledge Sydney and the congregation

B.    Appreciation of this church

1.     A tradition of open exploration

2.     I have had the answer so many times

3.     When the student is ready the teacher will appear – thank all you teachers for showing up today, I can use all the help I can get

 

     II.     My journey:

A.    Raised in Methodist church

1.     Did all the activities

2.     Learned all the beliefs

B.    Didn’t feel connected to God and judged others

Began to question and dropped out

C.    Operated as at least agnostic if not atheist

D.    Had children and decided to look for a community to raise them in.

E.     Found the Unitarian Church

F.      

1.     Atheist joke

 

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods.

"What majestic trees!

"What powerful rivers!

"What beautiful animals!" he said to himself.

As he continued walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes. Turning to look, he saw a 7 foot grizzly charging towards him. He ran as fast as he could up the path.

Looking over his shoulder he saw that the bear was closing in on him. His heart was pumping frantically and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell on the ground.

He rolled over to pick himself up but saw the bear raising his paw to take a swipe at him.

At that instant the atheist cried out: "Oh my God!..."

Time stopped.

The bear froze.

The forest was silent.

It was then that bright light shone upon the man and a voice came out of
the sky saying: "You deny my existence for all of these years, teach others
I don't exist and even credit creation to a cosmic accident.

Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"

The atheist looked directly into the light, "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps, could you make the BEAR a Christian?"

Very well," said the voice.

The light went out.

And the sounds of the forest resumed.

And then the bear lowered his paw, bowed his head and spoke,
”Lord, bless this food which I am about to receive and for which I am truly thankful."

 

G.    Had a moment of grace

H.    Began my spiritual journey with trainings and travel

I.       Became a holistic practitioner – experienced miracles

J.      Been studying “The art of Spiritual Peacemaking”

 

   III.     Today’s Topic and My Current status

A.    What if you accepted that You are God?

B.    It the write up for today’s service I wrote that I am encountering my most challenging and sublime experience

C.    Since I started accepting the fact that I am God let me share with you some of my experiences of the past year.

1.     Penny, my partner, lover, and sweatheart for the past 15+ years are currently not co habitating and are actively reviewing all aspects of our relationship

2.     I have invested/potentially lost $50,000 in the ending of my previous employment and starting my new business, and

3.     My new business partner currently isn’t speaking to me.

4.     Now if that isn’t a ringing endorsement of why you should do this work then I don’t know what to say. Except

5.     I have never felt more in charge of my life and never felt more at peace

 

D.    Let me share with you today’s lesson in my reading

 

What you think you can lose is not what you really want, and therefore is not real.

 

God’s will for you is perfect happiness, and that can only be fulfilled if the Gifts of God are eternal.

 

The only Gift you are seeking is love, and love has no beginning and no end. It does not rise as your emotions rise, and fall as disappointment enters.

 

Love is fulfilled every moment equally and completely, and is fully revealed to and for you. The instant you realize that love cannot be lost is the instant you remember who you are.

 

Then you will give this love to others just as it was given to you. The fear of loss is nothing at all, then, for the love you are seeking is already yours.

 

  IV.     Explore options. Either

A.     You are the victim, or

B.     You are the source

C.    What is your internal dialogue when I say “ I am God”

1.     Lock this guy up

2.     Get the rubber room ready

3.     What an arrogant ass

4.     What’s new? Another old white dude who thinks he’s God

5.     That’s heresy

6.     The poor guy is delusional

7.     Barb might say “He tried that crap around me and I booted his butt out.

D.       What is your internal dialogue when I say “You are God”

1.         Do you go? Yea! I’m the one, I’m the one

2.         More likely you go

a.         What God?

b.         Not me

c.      If I was God the world would look a whole lot different, We wouldn’t have war, hate poverty

d.     Or maybe you would say “show me the Money!”

 

    V.     How does this work?

A.    Based on my experience “God is Love” period!

B.    The story of Adam and Eve being thrown out of the Garden of Eden is about us separating from our divinity and thinking that because we had the ability to think and reason we were separate from God. The apple of knowledge created amnesia and made us think that we are mortal and limited to our physical experience.

C.    Play analogy – mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual

1.     Mental is play write

2.     Emotional is Director

3.     Physical is Actor

4.     Spiritual is Audience – God

 

  VI.     Energy Ball

VII.     How does this work in life

A.    Old Adage – As the light increases the shadows stand out

B.    James Tywman

 

Bringing peace through the world’s perspective is very difficult.

 

It requires planning and a great deal of hard work, hoping that in the end others will follow a certain design that you have established as the “way.”

 

Bringing peace from a spiritual perspective is easy.

 

The only thing that is required is your willingness to surrender everything you think you know, in favor of what is already true.

 

You do not need to “do” anything but, rather, “be” the peace you seek. Then, through the gift of the miracle, it is revealed naturally and easily.

 

It is the miracle you are seeking, nothing else. And yet, the closer you come to it, the more you realize that there is no such thing as a miracle, only the Will of God complete every moment.

 

C.    Tuning forks – sympathetic resonance

 

 

VIII.     Closing

A.    Hope I have stimulated you to consider a new perspective

B.    Share reading from Twyman

 

A Spiritual Peacemaker looks past what is not real to what is.

 

Since only Love is real, you are asked to see everything as either an act of love or a call for love.

 

Give only love, no matter what the conditions might seem to be, and it will be the only thing you perceive. The world will adjust according to your Vision....

 

Love is the most compelling force in the universe. Direct it like

a lazar beam into the night to illumine all the dark places where people hide, and then you will know who you are....

 

Thank you for sharing this time with me.

 

Now please join me in singing Hymn # 144

“Now is the Time Approaching”

 

 

Closing Words

"Love is not a thing to understand.

Love is not a thing to feel.

Love is not a thing to give and receive.

Love is a thing only to become

And eternally be. "

by Sri Chinmoy

Extinguishing the Flame

Leader: I extinguish the symbolic flame of 

      this gathering. 

      May we carry its   light 

      and our love into the world.

People: Let me go from this place open to

             My divinity and being the love

             That I am.

Please join me in sing the “Hymn of Valor” found in the back cover of your hymnal.

The Services has ended.  Go in peace.  

Go making peace.