Reclaiming Time to Think, with Edward and Kevin Viljoen

This week's message is inspired by Margaret Wheatley's book, Turning to One Another, Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future. Did you know that you can order our recommended books of the month through our Stepping Stones Books and Gifts?  You can.  We'll mail the book to you, or you can arrange for a curbside pickup.  Of course, you could order from one of the giant online stores, or you can support our local Center bookstore!  We'd love that.  It's in keeping with the idea of turning to one another, I think. 

The chapter assigned for this week is about reclaiming time to think.  Thinking is one of the powerful, creative powers we humans have, and in an increasingly fast-paced society, time to think is something we have to mindfully, and consciously choose.  No one, Margaret Wheatley suggests, is going to carve the time out for us.  We get to do that for ourselves, and when we do, from our thinking comes creative solutions, new ideas, and the inspiration we need to live a thriving life.  

Don't be surprised though, if you encounter resistance to taking time to think. The resistance shows up in ourselves in the same way we sometimes resist starting a new diet or exercise plan, and, it shows up in those around us who prefer to keep things exactly the way they have always been, because thinking creates, changes, and inspires.

To see this week's message on YouTube, click here

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What Do I Believe About Others?

Today's message is brought to us by Dr. Edward Viljoen, from 2019, in a message addressing how we shall communicate with people who have conclusions about how life works that are radically different from yours.

To see this week's video on YouTube, click this link.

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What Does My Faith Compel Me to Do?

What happens when we remove what we believe from important conversations about society? When we withdraw, what is left behind is the faith and conviction of other people who are not afraid to speak from their belief system. And so our voice of inclusion, oneness, compassion, and unity is not heard.

We are standing at the gateway of a new possibility for us to bring what we believe and practice proudly to the conversation and proclaim to the world what our faith compels us to do, say, and think, and to do so without apologizing to those who believe differently, and without pleading to be accepted at the table of spiritual thought. Instead, because this is who we are.

To see this week's video on YouTube, click here.

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Forgiveness, Another Super Power, by Rev. Russ Legear

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. 

Rumi 

It’s been a challenging year. We’re hurting. We’re getting sick. We’re worrying about whether we will get others sick. We may be wondering whether the color of our skin will be a factor the next time we’re pulled over by the police. We’re figuring out how to live our lives in what feels like a more disconnected world. Anger is a natural reaction to all of these things. 

I want to call that out because, if 2020 has taught me anything, it’s that there is no value in us bottling up our emotions. What we’re feeling during these difficult times is absolutely valid. Shelter in place this year has given me opportunities to take a good look at all the ways that I am feeling angry. I had to ask myself: why am I so angry? I immediately went to the things I see in the news, the complications with living a semi-quarantined life. 

But when I took a moment to go deeper, I found that my anger really has nothing to do with any of the stuff I see in the world. It may have been the trigger, but there was always something deeper. In short, I was angry at God. God wasn’t creating the world that I knew was possible, a world that can work for everyone. I realized that by being angry at racists, by being angry at politicians, by being angry at a virus, I was really just venting my anger toward God. I was creating separation between myself and the Divine. After all, if God is truly all that there is, then any anger I direct at myself or others is directed right back toward God. 

The salve for all of this anger isn’t judgment, though. It’s compassion. It’s the conscious opening of our hearts to the pain we are feeling, as well as the possibility of authentic connection with not just those we love, but with those with whom we disagree. Because every person--every person--is a physical manifestation of God’s Love. Even when they’re acting like a complete fool. Compassion is the choice that no matter how far someone walks from the Divine, from Love, that we will always hold that door open through which they may walk back toward Love. This choice is not easy. In fact, it’s probably the hardest thing we'll ever do. But it is so, so necessary. 

Rev. Russ LegGear

To see this week's video on YouTube, click here. Rev. Russ Legear received his Masters in Consciousness Studies from the Holmes Institute in 2020, and is a Centers for Spiritual Living Minister, Practitioner, and lifetime student of consciousness and metaphysics. He currently serves as a staff minister at Cityside Spiritual Community in Chicago, IL. His ministry is centered around taking people deeper, helping them to find ways to move past the trappings of the human ego and all the funky stuff it creates in their lives. He is passionate about pastoral care and finding ways for people to connect in deeper relationship; not just with others, but with themselves, and with God. Russ also works for Chicago Public Schools solving some rather large information technology problems. He uses New Thought principles there every day to break through barriers that prevent students and teachers from connecting through technology.

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What Does It Mean to Ask, Metaphysically Speaking?

One of our spiritual practice is to pay attention to the flow of circulation, the moving parts: giving, receiving, asking, forgiving, celebrating, and thanking, to make sure they don’t get stalled.  In the same way that we maintain cars or equipment with moving parts, we make sure all the parts are moving along beautifully.

It’s difficult to be in the divine flow if your gratitude is not flowing

It’s Difficult to be in the flow if your giving and receiving is stalled or stuck

It’s Difficult to be in the flow if you are not forgiving

It can be a challenge to be in the divine flow of circulation if you don’t let it be known what you want.

Right here it is important to pause to acknowledge that we sometimes mix up our social relationships (how we interact with people) with our divine relationship (how we interact with Spirit).

There may very well be social conventions about asking about politeness and culture, about what it means to ask, and good ways to ask.  

None of that relates to how we interact with Spirit.

Today's message explores what it means to ask, metaphysically speaking.

To see this week's video on YouTube, click here.

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Your Super-Power of Receiving and how to activate it

Some of us are better at giving than we are at receiving

Some of us practice being good givers to hide that we are uncomfortable receiving

Some of us can receive but there is something off about it - our receiving looks and feels more like taking.

Taking is not a super power – receiving is

Taking is one sided, receiving is mutually beneficial.

My grandmother was a good receiver.  Receiving was one of her super-powers for sure.  She was gracious, appreciative, and kind when she received. If you gave her something she didn’t like, or want or need, you would never know it because she didn’t focus on the gift, she focused on you and your giving. That meant the world to her.  

No matter what form it came

No matter if it was the wrong color, or if it was late, or the wrong size, or if it was a conversation all about yourself, or about something she shared no interest in.  She could see through the outer to the inner.  To her the gift was just a vehicle for your love

So today’s question is how do you and I activate gracious receiving? 

First, we have to unpack a few things.

We have to answer a few more questions.

To watch this week's video on YouTube click here.

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Your Superpower of Charity and How It Can Guide You Through Election Time

Charity is a superpower. Although we did not create our capacity to be kind, generous, and loving, we can activate. And when we do, we set in motion a Power greater than we are that helps evolve our world so that it works a little better for all.  Charity to me means to be generous with my thought, possessions, and time, to make generous assumptions about others, to help, contribute, give, and share. 

It may seem counter-intuitive to talk about generosity right now. Times are difficult, and there is so much stress, and being a human is getting more and more complicated.  The inclination may be to withdraw, to self-protect.

Here's why it's important to use our superpower of charity: because generosity, giving, sharing, caring, loving are well known to:

• rebalance our mind, body, and soul,
• relieve the pressures of fear, isolation, and confusion.
• make a positive difference to others
• have emotional, physical, and even material benefits
• bring meaning, connection, fulfilment
• benefit to the ones giving it and the ones receiving it.

That's why.

To see this week's video about the virtue of charity, and how it relates to the upcoming election cycle, click this link.

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Don't Panic, Believe, Trust, and Know, Then Act.

We are going through a great dying away.

And at the heart of our teaching is the reminder of the immortal, eternal nature of that creative field we call Mind. In other words, a reminder that there is life after death… and that the resurrected body is not the same as its former self.

A falling away must happen.

Racism must fall away.

Gender inequities must fall away.

Corruption must fall away.

Food insecurity must fall away.

Planetary trauma denial must fall away.

So much must fall away.

I want to say, wake me up when it’s all over.

But I think of this: future generations will assess us by what we say, do, and think now.

Yes, It’s disturbing. You and I are being disturbed because the vision of a healthy, loving world that lives in us, and because what is happening in society is alarming and cannot stand.

I want to say, wake me up when it’s all over, but I can’t because now I know that it is through being awake that we get to move through to the other side.

We've been waiting for this
What if this is the answer to our prayer
How is this an evolutionary step forward, and how can I add my voice to it.

Do I know what I know?
And do I have faith in what I know?
Do I believe in what I know?
So much so that I can see it

I can see it.

To see this week's video on YouTube, click here.

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