AS I OFTEN DO, I pull together an article for
our newsletter from a recent Sunday Question and Answer
service. I usually do this about twice a year for a couple of
reasons. First, it gives Mary Ellen and me the pulse of the
present moment of you, the congregation. Secondly, the
dates are usually well chosen for the times when I know
upcoming circumstances will not afford me the usual time
I want to spend in developing a Sunday lesson.
Generally a Q & A Lesson is well received,
in fact some say they actually prefer
it—well, so much for the 20 plus hours of
normal lesson preparation time. There are a
few who are adamant in their disapproval,
yet the Sunday lessons are at least just a
click away on www.unitytucson.com, and a
Q & A Lesson title isn’t camoufl aged. For this article a few
questions deserve further attention.
Is it unusual for a new or visiting patron to feel more
comfortable with a traditional service format (preaching,
weekly choir singing, traditional music, candle lighting,
etc.)? Probably not, but we are not traditional Christianity…
we are Unity/New Thought whose take on Christianity is
from the metaphysical point of understanding which begins
with an acknowledgment that Jesus’ wonderful role was/is
to serve as example and not exception. We do something
that many traditional approaches to Christianity do not do…
that in the absence of incense, candles, icons, choirs singing
of the spilled blood and worse and other numbing accouterments,
we encourage people to think, reason and to more
fully understand that they/we are the creators of our own
reality. And to further recognize the process by which we
are always the creators of our own reality and to begin to
be conscious of our input into this process. Then, we do not
preach, we seek to present lessons in empowered living.
How best to deal with adult children as they go through
fi nancial and martial crisis…and there are grandchildren
involved? As my mother so often said, “Mothers already
have two strikes on them.” It is a challenging question as
well as a challenging moment to be in for any parent. Of
course, there isn’t a blanket answer, just possible questions
to ask. Is this possible involvement chronic in nature, or
is there light at the end of the tunnel as concerns fi nancial
assistance? If chronic, then fi nancial involvement becomes
enabling involvement, and the fuse has already been lit. If
this is so, to prolong the inevitable is not kind. As to marital
challenges, they probably stem, at least in part from the
fi nancial arena, and one can’t fi x that. As to grandchildren,
out of the most challenging of circumstances that have even
involved divorce, world leaders have evolved. Oftentimes the opposite of divorce is more emotionally harmful.
I have experienced so much growth through being
here at Unity. Whenever I recognize that something “new”
is before me, I feel uncertain. What can I do to not feel
uncertain or afraid? Abraham said it so beautifully I will
quote their words, “You are always molding yourselves
into a better feeling place. And you will never get it done. It
will never be completely fi nished. It will never be absolutely
right. You will always have some dominant thoughts that are
not a vibrational match to the newfound desire. But that is
always what your work is. And it’s time for you to just begin
relaxing about it, and not make it a personal issue of your
own valor, or your own value, or your own integrity.” In
other words, “You can never get it done because you never
get it wrong…you are eternal.” Chill!
What is Unity’s belief on the death and the resurrection
of Christ? First, Christ can never be born nor die, it is a principle
much like a spiritual PhD that is evidenced when one
truly knows who and what he/she is in God, and Who and
What God is in them. Then, I wasn’t there so I don’t know.
I do know that much, if not all, of the resurrection story was
written from hearsay and that in the bringing together of
canon (a set of religious writings regarded as authentic and
defi nitive and forming a religion’s body of scripture) there
was a concerted effort to insure that the legacy of Jesus was
presented as extraordinary and unique, yet it closely parallels
other more ancient scriptures that speak to similar
moments with the lives of others. So, don’t get caught up
in insisting that something either happened or didn’t. The
worth of Christianity is its Principles fi nding applicability
within one’s life now.
Where does the concept of “God is good” come from?
Isn’t it more correct to say that “God is?” Perhaps, yet the
“good” part probably grew out of the thinking that God was
vengeful and was a simple statement of the nature of things
that was not vindictive, but supportive and empowering.
If the succinct declaration “God IS” is serving you, then
wonderful!
What is Unity’s stand on mediums and people who see
and speak with dead people? The word “dead” muddies the
waters of understanding as the only thing ever possible are
forays from the non-physical into the physical and then the
re-emergence into non-physical. As everything is expressing
within vibrational frequency, the only thing separating
us from those who have re-emerged back into non-physical
is sensitivity to their present vibrational frequency, and some
are very sensitive to this. This is very normal to me, as my
dad was such a person.
Is it true you do not believe in sin…do you believe in
the Ten Commandments? Boy! Talk about entrapment! If
“sin” is defi ned by you within its traditional meaning or,
something that offends a moral, religious or ethical principle
that somehow reaches the level of an unfavorable response
from God upon someone, then no. If a word that simply and
non-judgmentally defi nes moments when one hasn’t risen to
their highest expectations, then that is a good start. Then
the commandments…if “belief” means an allegiance to
the literal jot and tittle of the Ten (and three thousand plus
years is a long time for Scripture accuracy), and when the
Beatitudes of Jesus (same argument as to scripture accuracy
applies) reference not “Thou shalt not’s,” but “Blessed are
you if’s” the most important values in my life come in a very
current time line from within me.
Is God an external separate being? Religion and specifi
cally religiosity has portrayed God as this and understandably
so, for such was the best that ancient man was
capable; yet the unfortunate thing is that this same level of
thinking permeates many of today’s beliefs as well. I am
growing to think that what we have called God is an eternal
Energy Source that uniquely is extended into all levels of life
in a wonderful co-creative experience within the expanding
universe, and such is who and what we are and the role we
are playing.
Please explain how our fate/destiny is affected by our
creative free will…so much of it seems out of our control.
Yes, it can appear to be so, yet if we are in full charge of
constructing our fate/destiny, then our fate is to always
rendezvous with our dreams and desires that we have
caused to be placed in what can be called our spiritual
escrow account…remember…“Ask and it shall be given,
seek and you shall fi nd, knock and it shall be opened”?
So, our only destiny is to discover our fate which is of our
own making. There is nothing outside of us creating our fate
or destiny. We are the creators of our own reality.
It is the nature of the mind to be conditioned. We, as
consciousness, are the conditioners. How do we move in
the right direction? A beautiful and insightful question. We
learn to be aware of and then listen to our emotions or feelings.
They are our built-in feedback mechanism as we were
not set adrift, so to speak, without this ongoing guidance that
tells us whether or not we are in alignment with the greater
good we seek to do, be and have. Good feels good and tells
us we are mostly in alignment with our Higher Self. “Bad”
feels bad and tells us we are not in alignment with our
Higher Self and need to re-examine where we are focusing
our energies.
Is there a way to bring a loved one home to spirit, to
their God Self? They can never not be eternally okay in their
process, by whatever name we call this. Each is in our own
process of remembering to let the variety of contrasts simply
point us to the direction of what we want to do, be and have.
If we concentrate on the contrast whose only true purpose
is to point our energies toward our true desires and goals, it
can appear as if we are seeking for love (or whatever) in all
the wrong places, but our eternal self is forever secure and
safe. This leads us to us and our vision of our loved ones. See
them as you know them to be and then give them permission
to be who they have chosen to be for any one given
moment in their eternality. Then, re-read the 2nd question/
answer in this article.