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March 16, 2014 – The Most Powerful Partnership

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3/16/14 Rev. Rita Marie Johnson
The Most Powerful Partnership

Have you ever gotten stuck on your spiritual path? Did some old stuff come up, or maybe you just got bored? Me too. I wanted inspiration and growth! So I started searching. I found a partnership within, a two-step process.

The first part is Empathy. It is respectful understanding of what others are feeling. When we name our feelings and needs, we empathize with ourselves. When we guess what others are feeling, we are empathizing with them.

The second part of the equation is Insight, which comes from being in Coherence. A few years ago I could not breathe through the left side of my nose. It was quite uncomfortable. The doctors only gave me slight, temporary relief. Then I remembered my two steps. I named my feelings and needs in this regard, and I went into coherence in my heart and asked. I got a surprising insight—that I should stand on my head! But I acted on my insight, and went to the corner of the room and stood on my head for as long as I could. I actually could breathe a bit better. I did it again, and then again, and I got total relief! It is answered prayer. It is Spirit speaking through your heart.

Insight needs empathy to keep it humble. Otherwise, we could get really arrogant. And empathy needs insight to lift us out of misery, or we would be overloaded with the feelings of others. When the two are put together, the synergy propels our spiritual growth forward. It’s growth with joy.

Myrtle Fillmore got stuck at one point in healing herself. She used this process in her way, and got an insight: “Look among your virtues.” She had felt it was a virtue keeping her feelings to herself. With this insight, however, she determined to deal with a feeling “before I swallowed it and it made me ill.” She used this method that has now been proven by science, and her healing was complete.

That’s how life gets better. Jesus also taught this two step process. In Mark 20, verse 30, Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…” Feel the deep connection in your heart with God. Coherence leads to insight. In verse 31, He said, “The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is guessing the feelings and needs of your neighbor, empathy. “There is no commandment greater than these.” There is no greater way to live than this. It accelerates our spiritual growth joyfully because we have our two partners within us all the time.

Before directing the lightening in the sky we must first harness the storms in our own hearts. We can bring ourselves out of unnecessary suffering. We can make it so! Amen.

March 9, 2014 – The Heart’s Path to Freedom: 2. Breathe Love

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3/9/14 Rev. David McArthur
The Heart’s Path to Freedom: 2. Breathing Love

We are walking a journey to the true freedom found in the soul. We took our first step last week, 1. Embrace Our Feelings, to move into wholeness, healing. To step into who we are. And we know at any moment, Divine Presence is good, which let’s us touch that part of ourselves,the feelings, with tenderness and love. This week we 2. Turn on the Power! There is a simple way which is so powerful it will bring some of the greatest experiences in life. It is to Breathe Love. But the mind will try to take over, and say, “What is love?” It will try to put love in a box. Love can’t be put in a box, but you know what it is because you’ve been there again and again. From John, 4:16-18, “God is love.[not a being “out there” loving us, but what moves through us] Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. There is no fear in love… love drives out fear.”

We say we “breathe through our hearts” to bring our attention to the area around the heart. Then to activate the feeling of love, you can use the power of intention. Breathe in and out intending to feel love. Be aware of how you are feeling. In entering into a feeling it is often more helpful to focus on something specific, which is clearer, such as appreciation. You can think of someone you really appreciate. Now let it grow into love. Breathe love. Or you can remember one of those beautiful moments when your heart was full of love. The memory is “past”, the feeling is “right now”. Remember that feeling of love. Breathe love. What a marvelous way to spend some time!

Intention. Appreciation. Memory. Which way was strongest for you this time? At different times and in different situations you can use different ways. At any time, affirm, “I breathe love. Love is what I am.” “I breathe love. Love is what I am.” “I breathe love. Love is what I am.”

This week, in one of “those” business meetings, breathe love. Or in any situation that comes up this week, breathe love. What a magnificent way to be in the world! In the words of Mother Teresa, “I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.

“I breathe love. Love is what I am.” You are right; you are love!

March 2, 2014 – The Heart’s Path to Freedom: 1. Embrace

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3/2/14 Rev. David McArthur

The Heart’s Path to Freedom: 1. Embrace

Going further on our journey into the heart means admitting there are things within us we have to heal. To exist without feelings of limitation brings freedom. It’s “being in the world but not of it.” Feelings come up to protect us from pain, but there is this divine presence that will heal us. “He will heal the breasts of folk who are believers. And He will remove the anger of their hearts.” —the Qur’an 9:14-15. “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him… There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…” —John, 4:16,18.

Scripture tells us what to do, but seldom how to do it. In “alternative wisdom writings” like “Winnie the Pooh”, Pooh is the part of us that wants to journey out and see what is there. Piglet is the part of us that gets frightened as we journey further into the soul, and wants to run back home. Christopher Robin is the Christ Self that, with knowledge and love, makes our Hundred Acre Woods safe. One day Pooh and Piglet are following a growing number of tracks in the snow and become afraid that there are fearsome beasts gathering. Piglet wants to run home, but then Christopher Robin calls from up above. Pooh looks up into the branches of an old oak tree. From up there Christopher Robin had seen they were following their own tracks! He admonishes Pooh for trying then to apologize for his silliness, telling Pooh he “is the best bear in all the world!”

Both scripture and Pooh are telling us that there is a presence and power within us; we can explore the tracks before us without fear. We can overcome the pain of loss, great hurt, abuse, and rejection.

I have experienced violent, sudden loss, and many of you have told me you have too. In those times nothing can distract you from your pain. Some sleepless nights I wanted to scream, but was afraid if I gave in, I might not return to sanity. At some point I asked for help and I found an understanding. I then knew the pain was great because the love was great. The pain was part of the loving, and was sacred because it brought the gift of understanding. That understanding did not feel painful, but let me see. That greater wisdom in you helps you see. I invite you to embrace your feelings. You might not give up the deepest feelings, but they will pass when the time is right. Embrace every feeling. If you suffered a great or small physical wound, you would use the tools available to you to heal. So there is an obligation to embrace all feelings. Embrace them with God’s tender love.

I embrace my feelings with God’s tender love! I embrace my feelings with God’s tender love! I embrace my feelings with God’s tender love!

That power in your heart is love. Look up into that great oak tree of God’s tender love!

February 23, 2014 – Reawakening the Heart of Christianity

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2/23/14 Rev. David McArthur
Reawakening the Heart of Christianity

From the African-American church came a new experience. When they came as slaves, Black Americans were “given” Christianity, and were told Jesus died for their sins in great suffering, which made their suffering acceptable. Over the generations, they found the man Jesus. Not The Christ, not GOD, but the Jesus who held them in love just as they were. They found the personal experience of Jesus. From Emilie Cady, Lessons In Truth, “God is the name we give to that …source of all existence. To the individual …He becomes… a personal, loving, all-forgiving Father-Mother.” Out of the experiences of slavery and the personal presence of Jesus came a passion, a consciousness that touches us all. You cannot be bored in an African-American church.

From a culture of constant abuse they chose to love, to live the teachings and create a consciousness so strong that the world could no longer tolerate slavery, or deny civil rights, not because it was taught, but because it was lived. Martin Luther King, jr., said “Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power… that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react… with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.” Rev. King told all the people, “We must meet violence with non-violence… We must love our white brothers no matter what they have done. We must meet hate with love.”

This is really the only message in the Bible! Choose love! I choose love. I choose love. I choose love. Choose love in the office with that one who always gets to you; in the home, with that one in the family you have been working so hard to get along with; on yourself, when you do that thing again!

It overcame separation, segregation, government resistance, tremendous hurt on both sides. It is the choice that won out! Bless you!

February 16, 2014 – The Long Journey Home

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2/16/14 Sheila Gautreaux, L.U.T.
The Long Journey Home

The fourteen inches from the head to the heart can be a long journey indeed. We have learned the 5 steps to the heart, and to receive unlimited good. Now let’s look at the parable of “The Lost Son”, also known by other titles. Among so many things, it illustrates our long journey of spiritual development. Metaphysically, the characters in the Bible represent aspects of us, and their stories illustrate our spiritual development. Many of us, during a “dark night of the soul”, can identify with stories about hitting bottom, when there is only up. That’s when we need to ask, “What is it I need to bring me up from this desperation?”

Well, we always know what we need to overcome. These challenges help us use our God muscle. Otherwise, how do you know you have faith if you never used it? And we always have what we need for overcoming our challenges. There is nothing we can’t do because magnificence is with in us to overcome anything before us! When we know we are one with the Creator, when we know we are Creator, we know everything has been created for us by us.

The steps on this journey line up with the steps to the heart. First, wake up! Remember who you are and whose you are. 2nd, look up! Raise your vision above the current situation. Then 3, get up! Step out of the mess and into the message. 4Th, turn around! Go back to what you know. Go back to the heart. 5, ask for directions! Go to the Heart, call upon the Holy Spirit for guidance. From A Course In Miracles, if you don’t know what to ask, say What would you have me do? Where would you have me go? What would you have me say? And to whom? 6Th, Take One Step at a Time! Make your way steadily along the Heart’s Direction. 7. Don’t Give Up! Keep the Faith and Rest in Knowing.

You were not put here to fail. You cannot fail. We are continually developing in consciousness. Charles Fillmore called it the upward spiral of the spirit. We can avoid letting our challenges destroy us! Emma Curtis Hopkins tells us, when facing a challenge, know that “This too is good. This too is God. This too is for me and I demand to see the blessing in it for me.” Welcome home! Forgive yourself and others; revel in the journey and settle in at Home. Home is where the heart is.

I am at home in the haven of my Heart! I am at home in the haven of my Heart! I am at home in the haven of my Heart!

February 9, 2014 – Receptivity to Abundance

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2/9/14 Rev. David McArthur
Receptivity to Abundance

Once we’ve entered into the receptivity of the heart, things happen to us because we are connected to the flow of the infinite through the heart. We can check that by asking, “Is there a flow of love and abundance in my life or are there limitations?”

Jesus’ feeding of the 4000 identifies the level of the spiritual consciousness present there, and is a picture of the spiritual potential within us now. Begin with compassion. The head can think compassion but it cannot feel it. It is an experience within the heart. We have this powerful spiritual potential. It is the Christ Self, the Atman, the Buddha Mind, the I Am. It is there within when we respond to compassion. Jesus had the crowd sit down (and shut up). So quiet the mind. In your heart move from compassion to appreciation (it is so powerful); Jesus gave thanks. They ate and were satisfied. This shows it is a spiritual experience, since the head is never satisfied. Satisfaction is an experience of spiritual fullness—in the flow of compassion and appreciation is the satisfaction of the spiritual self. In receptivity something changes and the experience then is “more than enough”.

Catherine Ponder, the prosperity teacher, says, “The experience of love draws our good to us.” A single mother, needing a car badly, brought the kids together and prayed, “divine love now brings the money to buy the perfect car for us and pay for it without strain.” Things began to move, a step at a time. A cousin was selling a car, but made arrangements with her instead. Then she got a bonus at work and then a pay raise. She got the car “without strain”. Within the experience of “not enough” is “I’m not worthy. I’m not good enough.” When you see “not enough” it is the presence of a block within you. What was within that blocked the mother’s good was healed by the love itself. It brings what is not in wholeness into wholeness. The blocks can be healed.

Catherine Ponder herself was trying to collect some money long owed her when she read, from Emma Curtis Hopkins, that everything is really full of love for you. Your good will come flying to you when you know that what you love is love. All is love. There is nothing in the universe but love. (Your brain will never agree, so tell it to “sit down”.) There is nothing—nothing–but love! Catherine Ponder says, “I felt something hard move in the area of my heart and I breathed more easily.” The money appeared shortly with apologies.

In our receptivity, our experience is always that the block we have held dissolves when a new state of consciousness is reached. The change in the outer—the abundance—is the affect; the real change is in the heart.

There is nothing in the universe but love. There is nothing in the universe but love. There is nothing in the universe but love.
There is nothing in my life but love. There is nothing in my life but love. There is nothing in my life but love.
There is nothing in that relationship but love. There is nothing in that relationship but love. There is nothing in that relationship but love.

You are in the universe; you are love!

February 2, 2014 – The Fifth Step to the Heart: Receptivity

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2/2/14 Rev. David McArthur
The Fifth Step to the Heart: Receptivity

What an amazing journey we’re on—this amazing journey to the depth of the heart, which is infinite! I’m so joyful to be doing it with you. Step one, the awareness of how we’re feeling right now, is the beginning of the movement from the mechanism of the mind to that of the heart, to step two: connecting with the heart. Step three is entry into a beautiful spiritual connection, heart feelings. They are all love, and are experienced as joy, compassion, and so on. God is love—not that God loves, but God is love. When I love, I am one with that divine spiritual presence. When I love so does everyone in the world because they each have a heart no matter which religious club they are in. You find peace—peace within you—because it is connection to the divine presence.

Fourth is Heart Asking. We can now enter into creating with this spiritual power the world in which we live. It is the movement from saying God is good all the time to the feeling that God is good all the time, the movement into creating that experience in the world around us.
Fifth. The step today is something created by this journey: receptivity. Receptivity comes from this journey. Each time we take this journey we have an opportunity for an even deeper experience. It’s the request made of Divine Intelligence to respond to us. Divine Intelligence will not take away your ability to choose, nor impose Itself upon you, but respect you. When you ask for Its wisdom and power you get it. It’s always there. Although we see impossibility and loss, it is always there with wholeness and wisdom.
A beautiful gift! An amazing giver! These simple steps take us to a state of being where we are receptive. I am receptive. I am receptive. I am receptivity. It is the nature of who you are when you step into that spiritual self. There is something that lets us go step by step. See the reality of the love that is always there even though we can reject it. All the conditions that say otherwise are not true. You are loved with no conditions. I am loved. I am loved. I am loved. I am loved. I am loved. I am loved. I am loved. I am loved. I am loved. And I love you too!

January 26, 2014 – The Fourth Step to the Heart: Heart Asking

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1/26/14 Rev. David McArthur
The Fourth Step to the Heart: Heart Asking

Step 1. is Self Awareness—that point of spiritual awakening which takes us to the capacity to choose. 2. Heart Focus—takes us to the heart, to the capacity to enter into the direct connection with the spiritual self. 3. Heart Feeling—is being at the door of the heart and diving in, feeling love, appreciation, etc. Today, it’s 4. Heart Asking. You don’t have to do this, by step 3 you are already in the place of peace. But Jesus’ teaching, “My peace I give unto you” was to find love in the midst of what’s going on, to effectively transform what’s around you. (If it’s around you it’s yours!) So you’ve gotta take care of what’s there. How? With Heart Asking—accessing the powerful divine intelligence that moves in us and through us.

You’ve heard “Ask, and it will be given to you…For everyone who asks receives.…” I explored this asking for many years. When we ask sincerely within ourselves for guidance it will be given. That’s a law and it works! Sincerity in asking takes you to the peace within and the divine guidance.

Emily Cady taught that God is not omnipotent, but omnipotence; not omnipresent, but omnipresence. All that is not a being having qualities. It is the very good itself—all power—all knowledge. We call on knowledge and power. All it is, is wholeness. We call on taking something not whole and go to wholeness.

God is the very intelligence itself. We come to the fullness of intelligence Itself. When we perceive the divine, the wholeness that is there, we are enlightened, illumined. We ask that it be brought into our experience. Self Awareness. Heart Focus. Heart Feeling. Now, Heart Asking, “How do I respond wisely?” The trick is it requires sincerity. Not asking that the heart agree with what the head has already decided, but sincerely ask with open heart, “How do I respond wisely?” When things aren’t working—we have rejection, anger, hurt—find the road to the greater through Heart Asking. The intelligence is there. It has to be. It is pure love and intelligence.

“How do I respond wisely?” “How do I respond wisely?” “How do I respond wisely?” This is a kick! It takes care of us. We are always invited into a world of wholeness and wisdom. Divine wisdom flows through my heart. Divine wisdom flows through my heart. Divine wisdom flows through my heart. It does. What a gift! Your wisdom is here, now! Bless You!

January 19, 2014 – The Third Step to the Heart: Heart Feeling

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1/19/14 Rev. David McArthur
The Third Step to the Heart: Heart Feeling

Today we get to the good stuff, our third step—heart feeling. Our brain is so good at figuring things out we use it by default, but it can only get you to the heart. Entry into the heart, the connection to the infinite, is through heart feeling. The way there is love. But it is not the natural response when we are upset. In difficulty, or just uncomfortable moments, we give our comfort over to someone else. But there is so much love in the heart that we only need to touch a small part of it to get into it. An easy way is appreciation.

Feeling appreciation is what takes us into the power, peace, harmony, and abundance. I was downtown shopping recently and took too long to cross the street. The cars moved closer impatiently till I got to the sidewalk. A motorcycle officer pulled up and addressed me with anger that was far beyond anything that I had caused. Easily embarrassed and trained as a lawyer to point out the other person’s weaknesses, I so wanted to engage him. However, aware of my feelings, I put my hand on my heart and went to appreciation to get into my heart. Now, every grandparent knows that no matter what’s going on, they always feel love when they appreciate their grandchildren. So I refrained from adding to his anger. When he was through getting in my face he left and didn’t even give me a ticket.

Your heart does not give you power over others, but it does give you power over you, and that’s who you are responsible for. You do not need to appreciate the pain the other is in, nor participate in it and make his pain any greater. What you can do is find your freedom. Make that choice to enter into a spiritual connection.

You have the ability to walk this world in peace. You are an infinite being of magnificent power which is always there. When you begin to feel the other way, you have a tool. Enter into the feeling—appreciate God is good all the time! That goodness is in your heart and you have access to it all the time. It’s there! Even weeks after a difficult experience, it’s there!

Step one: self-awareness. Step two: heart focus. Now step three: Heart feeling. You have power. On this, Krishnamurti said, “You will discover that for you, the world transforms.” And an amazing thing happens: the more you find your peace, the easier it is for all others. For your heart being that way, I thank you!

January 12, 2014 – The Second Step to the Heart: Heart Focus

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1/12/14 Rev. David McArthur
The Second Step to the Heart: Heart Focus

This is the Year of the Heart, both individually and also for a community of consciousness that touches the world. How do we get there? The first step is self awareness: stop, check, what do I feel—happiness? stress? unlimited anger? peace? Self awareness puts us at a moment of choice. Self awareness is in the brain, but this is the year of the heart. To experience San Francisco, you have to leave Walnut Creek. You can’t experience the heart in the head, you have to leave the head.

The next step is to shift from the head to the heart. Focus your attention on the area around your heart. Sense this part of your being—the energy there, the movement, the warmth. It is easier if you place your hand over your heart. One of the most powerful ways to focus attention on the area around your heart is to pretend to breathe through your heart.

So we got there. Our attention is now on our hearts. Why do we want this? The Koran says that whosoever believes, God guides from the heart. From the Hindu scripture, “I, the supreme Lord, the super-soul in every embodied being…you should meditate upon me within the heart and maketh me the God of life.” In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu says, “The great Tao flows everywhere…since it is merged with all things and hidden in their hearts.”

To find it we have to go find it in the heart. It’s the way we are designed. The brain interprets life. That’s wonderful, but it separates. The capacity to understand our oneness is in the heart. We have to choose to focus on the heart.

A nun who managed multiple half-way houses told David that this alone had changed everything. She asked everyone who came in suffering to place their hand over their heart and breath through the heart.

The first step is self awareness. The second step is heart focus. Keep checking in: self awareness—what am I feeling? Whatever, take a deep breath “through” your heart. It’s a beautiful feeling—breathe through your heart—our freeway. Breathe through the heart. “Whatever I am feeling, I take a deep breath through my heart.” Anchor there and bring the energy through the heart. In stress, pain, difficulty, or worry, put your hand on your heart. Take a deep breath through your heart. Watch the shift to the place where you connect with the divine, with greater balance, intelligence, peace. It is profound—it takes us to the heart, the place of connection. It’s gift is peace. Whatever I am feeling, I take a deep breath through my heart. Welcome to peace!