Midweek Faith Lift
October 27, 2021
The Condition of Alignment
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
From the Daily Reflection
October 19, 2021
Grammy Award winner Tony Bennett set a Guinness World Record for being the oldest person to release an album of new material. He just turned 95. "Love for Sale," is a collaboration with Lady Gaga, who said she finds inspiration performing with Tony. "I see a young boy every time I sing with him, and I also take in the wisdom of his years."
“We chose to come to this Earth so that we might discover our inherent greatness of wisdom and heart, learn spiritual principles, comprehend existing forces, and allow ourselves to be instruments of love, peace, and creative unfoldment.”
– Roger Teel, This Life is Joy
Affirmative prayer: I dance with the Infinite Invisible, the origin and substance of my life. Wisdom, inspiration, and strength are coded into my very being, and I move through my life today with a clarity and courage that transforms the ordinary into a sense of wonder. Thank you, God, forever. Amen.
This past weekend I feel like I had the opportunity to dance with the Infinite Invisible as I attended the Cosmic Mass with Matthew Fox and the Parliament of the World’s Religions. If ever there was a time for like-minded souls to gather to hear and share messages of sacred Unity, that time is now, and share we did. Even though it was virtual, it was still inspiring and humbling to be present to all that incredible energy. The theme this year was “Opening Our Hearts to the Future of the World: Compassion in Action” and there were many stories to illustrate how that looks as well as calls for action where we are missing the mark, especially in compassion for the suffering of Mother Earth.
There were many, many calls to action regarding how urgently we need to take action regarding Climate change and restoring and healing the planet, for we are truly a global community and earth is our common home. I was inspired to see Unity as one of the sponsors of the 2021 Parliament. Several Unity ministers were among the faith representatives who prayed during the opening and closing ceremonies, including Revs. Paulette Pipe, Linda Martella-Whitsett, Mark Fuss and Jim Blake. The Parliament is a gathering of ministers, faith leaders, activists, artists, musicians, scholars and other luminaries including Jane Goodall, Andrew Harvey, Karen Armstrong, Terry Tempest Williams and the Dalai Lama. What an inspiring gathering of lights, all affirming the collective light, none of them just pushing their own light! How refreshing!
And that is really the point. This experience of the 2021 Parliament aligns perfectly with the message of the “Alignment” chapter of The 12 Conditions of a Miracle. Our next phrase from the Alpha Passage, Matthew 14:14 reads like this: “And going out Jesus saw a great crowd and was filled with pity toward them and He healed the infirm of them.” The first condition for a miracle, that of Stillness brought us to a place of quiet, of knowing the Great Power of the Universe, of Spirit. It is a condition of awareness, of letting go of all that is in the way and cultivating a consciousness of that which is greater than we are.
The second condition necessary for a miracle is learning to align with that greater Energy, that Divine energy, much like a sailor learns to trim the sails and adjust the rudder so that the wind and the water of that Divine energy takes him where he wants to go. Regardless of the turbulence, the storms and the confusion, the process of alignment with the Divine energy is what carries us in the direction of the unfoldment of creation, of more of God in the world.
The wording of this second phrase of the Alpha Passage describes how Jesus turned his attention from the inner to the outer, focusing on the people surrounding him and feeling their suffering. The Greek word to describe this is esplanchyisthi which is usually translated “moved with pity” but is more accurately translated as “moved with compassion.” Jesus doesn’t just feel compassion; he is moved with compassion. That suggests that Jesus is aware of an energy of the Universe and moves with it, it is the energy of love, of healing.
Dr. Todd Michael quotes Henry Ward Beecher on page 51, who said,
“Love is the river of life in this world.” And what is compassion but love in action, love in motion? Spirit is love, and Spirit is everything—and all things are constantly moving and changing. Everything is flowing….We are being told that the great current is actually a river of love, and that the way a miracle worker sails its powerful waters is by shifting to a state of compassion…a state of consciousness where others’ needs and concerns take precedence over all else, even concerns for one’s own well being. As such, compassion is the highest manifestation of love.
When Jesus turned his attention to the outer he was not aggravated or irritated. Instead he felt moved to heal those in need of healing. We don’t hear of him feeling disgust for them or judging them for being in need. He didn’t take inventory of their shortcomings to determine who was deserving of his healing and love; he just healed them. If Jesus were alive today, he would be working with homeless people, gang members, criminals and the unloved. He would be demonstrating what Howard Thurman described as the “religion of Jesus” rather than what we have so much of in modern, Eurocentric Christianity, the “religion about Jesus.”
Rev. Howard Thurman was described as the “Pastor of the Civil Rights Movement” and was a mentor to Rev. Dr. King and his cohorts. Thurman believed compassion was our main religious duty and he preached the religion of Jesus. I was aware of Howard Thurman, but after attending a 2-hour session at the Parliament, I stand in humble gratitude for this scholarly and deeply spiritual man. In the face of the power of white Christianity and the white power structure in the United States, Thurman wrote a powerful book: Jesus and the Disinherited which describes how to live into the religion of Jesus when your back is against the wall. He describes how he learned from his grandmother, who had been a slave, that he too, is a beloved child of God in whom God is so well pleased.
That belief sustained him throughout his life and informed his understanding of what it means to truly follow Jesus and the religion of Jesus. He spent several years in India and gave 150 talks while there and spent time with Gandhi, who said, “I love your Jesus, but I don’t much care for Christianity.” Thurman saw the caste system in India and likened it to slavery and the aftermath in America. He learned of non-violence, non-violent resistance and the power of love and compassion as a liberating energy and force. He is the one who urged Martin Luther King Jr. to also visit India and learn of the path of non-violence.
Thurman also spent a year with Rufus Jones, a Quaker, and from Jones he gained an experienced understanding of the inner light of Spirit within each created being. There is an “uncreated element” in each human being, which is this inner light, this seed of God that is within us. He loved Psalm 139, which speaks of the energy of God within us. From Rufus Jones and the Quakers, he learned the gifts of silence and sitting together in the silence. Thurman incorporated a practice of silence into his services and had a meditation practice as part of his spiritual discipline. As a child, he spent a lot of time in nature not unlike Myrtle Fillmore and had a deep connection with God in nature.
Thurman’s emphasis was on integrity or wholeness. He understood the essential importance of doing your inner work first, your own deep moral work, which then is the root of the process of change. He understood that changes cannot be imposed on people without creating resistance and further harm and a deeper sense of separation. That is what we are living with today, and no one really likes it. Integrity and wholeness are an intrinsic part of this process of change, and begin within each individual before the group can truly effect change.
I think that is a message we in Unity can take to heart. I was struck in listening to the story of Howard Thurman how significantly it paralleled the story of healing of our own Myrtle Fillmore. She had a mantra of her worthiness as a child of God, which resulted in her physical healing. She understood that it was a process of finding and living in spiritual integrity and that is the message that she brought to those who sought her healing energy and guidance. It took her two years of personal self-reflection and spiritual practice to be truly grounded in God and aligned with her divine nature. It was only then that she shared what she had experienced with others.
So often in Unity, we want to just adopt the practices without understanding the inner work and deep transformation that these practices require. We want to use affirmations to realize “our dreams” rather than seeing the teaching of Jesus in the Alpha Passage, that it is not about us, it is about love and the greater good. We forget that when we are in the flow of that greater good is when our highest and best good is truly manifested. We forget the “emptying” part and want to just harness the power of Spirit to manifest our own good. That is rather like the marchers who grab a sign and march without understanding the difficult and painful experiences that go with that process. When the going gets rough, they disappear and cannot sustain the effort.
If this line of the Alpha Passage teaches us anything, it teaches us that we align with the Divine Energy not for our good, but for the greater good. In doing that, we are able to show up even when there is conflict, even when it is difficult and there may be danger and personal affront when power is questioned. You engage the current of Love that is Compassion in action, you don’t fight it or try to control it. That is when miracles happen. Howard Thurman said it this way:
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
This is not about pursuing your own psychological well-being and growth. It is about service to others and what in that energy, what you do is life-giving and sustainable. John Lewis, another member of the Civil Rights movement mentored by Thurman said it best on p. 47 of his book, Carry On,
Whatever good work you do, whatever profound work—do it because it’s right or because it’s necessary. Do it to make change for the better. Do it because you know you must. Don’t do it for credit.
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb