Midweek Faith Lift
March 20, 2019
Back to What? Church!!
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Here we are at Week 3 in preparation for “Everything is Better With Friends” Sunday which will be April 7. We are spending these 5 weeks continuing the process of laying the groundwork, preparing the field if you will, to plant the seeds for amazing growth in our spiritual community. We are planting seeds in consciousness….our collective church consciousness as well as that of all who might join us in friendship. Why are we doing it like this, why are we dragging it out over so many weeks? What do we hope to achieve by preparing for such a long time? Enough already, let’s just have Friendship Sunday and then get on with it! Good questions all, and they deserve a thoughtful response.
We are following a program developed by LUT Gordon Keylor, who is the Spiritual Leader at Unity of Joplin because it was effective and successful for them. They had people come on Friendship Sunday and then stay, and stay and stay and eventually take classes and join the church. We are ready for that, here at Unity of Ames. We are ready to grow both in consciousness and in numbers. If we pursue this program with the right intentions, in the right way, I believe it will grow us in both consciousness and in numbers. And I believe it is important because the collective consciousness needs a new story of a greater power than greed, competition, scarcity and fear. There is great power in story, and I believe the time is right for a new version of Christianity to take hold of the collective imagination and it is our work to do that!
How do we do that? First, we have to really consider what we talked about last week: the Tent and the Field. Unity is the Tent, the consciousness we are co-creating here together each day of each week. Our theme for the month is Creating Community: I am open to a deeper understanding of Spirit within all people; We are One. Our task of getting ready is to prepare the field, to cultivate the deeper understanding of how and the truth that Spirit is present and active in all people. The question is how and when will they wake up to it? Our task is to understand that what we do here matters in the creative process, in the healing process, in the understanding process. When one of us heals or lets go of resentments or a grudge, that one individual holds the space and contributes to the healing of all beings. We are a healing ministry, here at Unity of Ames, holding space for the spiritual awakening of all.
Jesus also offered healing to his followers and he used the powerful teaching tool of story or parable to help people gain understanding. He wanted people to “get it” to awaken to all of the Divine energy within them. He wanted them to understand the power of Consciousness to impact their lives both individually and collectively. He wanted them to know there was a Higher Perspective, a Greater Consciousness, a better way to live and that the seeds of how to follow that path were planted right in them, as close as their breath, their hearts. Two of the parables are of particular interest in our Friendship Sunday preparation:
Matthew 13:31-33
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
31 He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
The Parable of the Yeast
33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
What do these stories about very common, everyday things in the life of the first century Jews tell us able the message of Jesus? I had a Bible teacher during my CEP days at Unity Village teach us that a parable is an “earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” So in these two stories we have very earthly things….seeds and leaven that were easily seen and understood by the people. Mustard plants grow easily and everywhere in the Middle East. So what is the heavenly meaning? Whenever we encounter the word “Kingdom of Heaven” we know that metaphysically it is about our Christ Consciousness, our sense and awareness of our own inner Divinity. How is it that our inner Divine nature is like a mustard seed or leaven?
In the Revealing Word, Fillmore characterizes seed as “The Creative Idea inherent in The Word.” It is the creative idea inherent in human beings that is our True nature, not the personality, the humanity that thinks in terms of differences and separation. The “seed” is that energy of the Divine within us through which the Inner Divine nature is expressed in the outer. It is a creative, generative process that seeks to express even more of its God-ness or God-Self in the outer. And when it is planted and generates, it is prolific such that even the birds of the air, or “higher consciousness” is evident in it. We are each a mustard seed of Divine Love preparing the field for the idea of our shared Divine nature to be planted and to grow. As Jesus notes, it is the smallest of seeds, so only a small opening is needed for that Divine energy to grow and bloom and expand. We just have to get out of the way and allow for that to happen! Easier said than done.
Next we have the yeast, which is kneaded throughout the whole of the flour in order for it to form into bread. And it is three parts flour to one part yeast for this “leavening” process that is the Kingdom of God to manifest. Metaphysically, bread is “Universal Substance” or the very energy of God that is essential to nurture us in mind, body and spirit. There are four parts to this process and the number 4 represents human or natural completion. When we embrace our Godness, our Divine identity, it is essential for it to permeate the whole of us, every part until we are fully “leavened.” Only then will our actions be permeated with that Divine energy that results in the “Kingdom” or God Consciousness being manifest. We don’t know how that looks, but when we don’t take time for it, we have an uneven loaf of bread or even a flat loaf.
If you remember the video from last week about “the Field” and his long golf shot: if we take time to connect with the energy and the whole field, our invitation will land. If not, we are just hacking away at the ball and 12 strokes later we may or may not sink it. And we will have lumpy bread. Taken together, these two parables tell us to prepare and to truly plant the seeds, not just scatter them and to completely leaven the flour to get a fully risen loaf of bread. It is not scattershot and it has to take the time that it takes. We aren’t going to rush this.
For us in this Friend Inviting process, it takes prayer, mindfulness, depth of consciousness, and compassion. We have invited prayer in the prayers for the folks on the list that you made last week of possible friends to invite. We are practicing mindfulness and deepening our consciousness in this process of preparation. The next ingredient to add is compassion, giving attention to the feeling nature of our friends who will join us on April 7. And that too, is suggested in the parable of the Yeast as it is a woman, metaphysically, our feeling nature that is necessary for this process of leavening. How is that?
It is highly likely that the individuals that we invite to join us on our April 7, “Everything is Better With Friends” Sunday have been to church before and have some “feelings” about it. It is also unlikely that they will be neutral; not many people are completely neutral about church. And they will be walking through our doors, hearing us sing “We are all friends here, there are no strangers once you walk inside our doors.” And they might be thinking, “yeah, right, so who wants to meddle in my business, who thinks I need to be saved, who is going to judge me for not being a regular church goer….who is going to say something hurtful if I share my reservations about this whole church business???”
Is somebody going to ask me about how long has it been since I last went to church? Are they gonna try to oversell me on Unity or this particular church, saying that it is not like other churches? Yeah, right! This church has people in it! I know what that means! I hear what they are sayin’ in this place, but sayin’ and doin’ are not the same. What do they actually do at this church? Do they just want in my pocket so they just can get more in the offering plate? Why do they care whether I am here or not??? Yadayadahada….and so on!
Take a breath….we are practicing compassion…the ability to “feel with and be present to” whatever is there in whoever shows up. We hold the intention to meet each new friend with compassion, acceptance, gentleness, humor, respect and love. We, here at Unity Church of Ames, are a healing ministry and we offer practices that invite healing of mind, body and Spirit. And in Truth, we have NO idea how that might look or sound. To prepare, let’s watch this yeasty video together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilcsk992MQI
We don’t know how it will look or what it will sound like when this leaven moves through us!
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb