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Unity Church of Castro Valley

Sunday Message for July 9, 2006

Meanwhile Back at the Kingdom

Shakespeare said, “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends.” It’s true.  There is a higher power in each of us – Spirit. We are entering an age of Spirit.  It’ll be very new to us in many ways – with surprising new dimensions of experience. This dramatic new era now being born will push out all the boundaries of the world as we now know it.  It will literally change the face of the Earth and usher in an entirely new life.  Yet, that which is being born is born of Spirit, and the real activity and the greatest drama will occur within each of us, brought forth and sent forth from the silent center of our own indwelling spiritual potential.

PARABLES

Jesus came to introduce us to this spiritual side of life hidden within ourselves: the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, as He called it.  But He knew that spiritual things must be spiritually discerned.  So, in presenting His teachings, He avoided the static limits of creed, doctrines, and dogmas, and used instead simple, commonplace stories.  These stories are able to convey His eternal lessons of spiritual Truth to everyone throughout the ages – as we become ready for them.  I believe that if He were physically among us now, He might use our interest in sports for illustrations of spiritual Truth.

Joe Namath, one of the best quarterbacks in football history, once told how he was transformed from a good to a great quarterback in a single moment.  As do all athletes, he practiced and trained for years, both physically and mentally, in his football skills.  Then, one day as he was calling signals for a play, he was suddenly able to “read” the defense.  And, in his words, for the first time: “the heavens opened up.”  From that time on, “Broadway Joe” had a different level of awareness than the ordinary football player.

NICODEMUS

Jesus came to open up the heavens for us – literally. This lesson is about that – the experience we now call rebirth – being born again in Spirit.  And, as Jesus said, it is for those who have “ears to hear.”  So, right now let’s switch off all the loaves and fishes (our interests and concerns) that command most of our attention and let Jesus’ teaching take us beyond the confines of our ordinary, earthbound, and mundane lives and introduce us to the larger life that awaits us: that eternal life of spiritual consciousness and spiritual living. The story is about Nicodemus. (John 3:1-8) “Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born anew." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, "You must be born anew.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Interestingly enough, the word used in the Bible is ‘pneuma’ and it can be translated as wind, spirit, breath, or the Holy Spirit. So this could be translated as “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it.” or “The Spirit breathes where it desires, and you hear the voice.”

Jesus gave two of His greatest sermons to an audience of one person each. One was to the woman at the well and the other to Nicodemus.  The woman represents the “bottom of the pile” of human life.  Nicodemus represents the “top of the heap.” Nicodemus was a Pharisee, meaning that he was a VIP in his society.  He was educated, rich, probably young – a leader in his country’s government and religion and social life.  He was probably one of the few people who didn’t originally approach Jesus for the “loaves and fishes” – he didn’t need anything that the world could give.  But, with everything he did have, including his religion, there was still something lacking in his life. Probably intuitively he recognized that Jesus had the answer.

BORN ANEW

He came to Jesus by night, embarrassed to be seen, and asked Jesus to explain the kingdom He had been teaching about.  Jesus used this opportunity to make it clear in the very beginning that all intellectual inquiries about the kingdom are to no avail.  It’s a spiritual kingdom, which can only be understood and entered into by those who are spiritually quickened or, in Jesus’ words, “born from above” or “born anew.”

Nicodemus then asked a rather weird question for a man of his intelligence: “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?”  We usually assume that the answer is obviously “no.” But Jesus didn’t indicate that it was a silly question, because the answer, I believe, is really yes. For spiritual growth we do need to enter again our mother’s womb and be born again in our imagination.

Follow this through in your thinking.  In Genesis, which means the book of beginnings, we read that God created us in His image and likeness and pronounced us good.  In other words, God created us out of His own creative Spirit, with his spiritual Nature, to be co-creators with Him.  Jesus’ message is that the spiritual seed of God is planted in us (the kingdom of heaven) and the key to eternal life (the fullness of expressing God’s indwelling Nature in us) is knowing that we are children of God and heirs to His Nature.

In the story of Nicodemus, Jesus gives us the secret of spiritual living; He takes us back to our spiritual origin.  He’s saying, in effect, “Enter again in your imagination into your mother’s womb – that time before your human physical birthday, back to that initial moment when you became flesh – one little living cell.”  Then ask yourself, “Is that the beginning of me?”  And you will see that it isn’t at all! Flesh can only beget flesh. The beginning you had in your mother was only for this life on Earth.  Spirit begets spirit.  Your original birth was when you were created in the spiritual image and likeness of God.  This knowledge is the starting point for real spiritual attainment – establishing yourself in this spiritual Truth about yourself as well as God.

Jesus is teaching a higher order of truth than Nicodemus ever knew in his religion, or is understood in most religions even today.  He is disclosing an entirely new perspective that requires a new way of thinking.  Jesus is revealing the spiritual Truth about the possibilities of an inner evolution from our so-called “natural” (human) way of life into our spiritual potential.  He is disclosing how we can awaken to and be born again and again from that selfsame creative Spirit that has brought us this far and can move us ever upward and onward into newer, higher levels beyond our present selves. “Without being born anew” we cannot see the potential of our own spiritual nature.  This great sermon on rebirth was the core-essence and the real meaning of all that Jesus taught.  But Nicodemus was too attached, too satisfied with his somewhat privileged life and his orthodox way of thinking to immediately take on new priorities and new loyalties and open the way to an altogether new life.  He “knew not what spirit he was of.”  The conversation with Nicodemus therefore became a turning point in Jesus’ ministry, for Nicodemus represents the general attitude of the people in Jerusalem.  They were bound to the old, traditional beliefs, quite satisfied with them, and too closed-minded and defensive to learn from Jesus.  As a result, Jesus decided to leave Jerusalem and go to Galilee where people were less educated and sophisticated but more open and receptive to something new.

The person who doesn’t know he is of spirit, no matter how intelligent or successful in a worldly way, can only muddle through until the time that he is born of Spirit and awakened to his spiritual possibilities.

SPIRITUAL LIVING

The real purpose of all human life is the growth and unfoldment of our spiritual potential through spiritualized living.  Nicodemus wasn’t quite ready.  But I believe by virtue of your having been drawn to Unity – a religion of Spirit and Truth – the Spirit in you, the Lord of your being, knows that now you are ready to enter the consciousness of spiritual living.  In fact, you probably already have. But, at this special time of accelerated change, I think we need to be reminded that the process of birth (both physical and spiritual), which is one of the greatest miracles and joys in all life, is also a time of pain and confusion.  It isn’t easy to let go of a familiar world, even though the new one is full of promise.  If you are going through confusion and some unusual and surprising changes, take heart!  This is the transition period.  We are in the midst of a great spiritual upliftment – a cosmic quantum leap – the birth of a new age of spiritual living.

So, what should you do?  Cooperate!  Make rebirth a daily experience in your life. Make it top priority in your life to become increasingly aware of God’s presence. Become God-oriented.  Learn to look for God’s spiritual influence in all the ways it does work in your life; that is, the spiritual meaning behind anything that is going on in your life.  And over and over learn to practice the truth of your own being related to everything you do.  Claim the consciousness of the mind that was in Christ Jesus that will put you in touch with your own spiritual nature and begin to open the heavens of your own spiritual potential. Prayer and meditation are the basic exercises of Spirit – you won’t get far without them, and you shouldn’t want to.  Taking the time each day to go apart a while in prayer and meditation ought to become as important and enjoyable to you as the meals you eat.  But also, besides these special times, we need to cultivate a continuing sense of spiritual awareness that is in operation all day.

FARMER & CRICKET

Do you know the story about the farmer and the cricket in New York City?  On the sidewalk of busy, noisy Fifth Avenue, a city dweller saw a man standing with his ear cupped – apparently listening to something.  He asked him about it, and the man said that he was listening to a cricket.  The city dweller said he had never heard a cricket in New York City.  The man said, “I’ll show you why.”  He took a coin out of his pocket and tossed it in the air and it fell on the sidewalk.  It wasn’t very loud, but suddenly for half a block on either side, everybody stopped and looked around.  He then explained that he was a farmer and that his ears were tuned to crickets.  He concluded, “We all hear what we’re tuned to.”

William Cameron talked about having a Unity friend in Wichita, a very successful and practical banker. The banker once told him that his highest goal in life was to achieve a state of consciousness in which every moment of his life he had at least a vague awareness of the presence of God.  He obviously practiced this, for it was an inspiration and a pleasure to be in his company. As with the farmer in New York and the friend in Wichita, we need to cultivate a higher sensitivity.  We need to practice being spiritually centered so that we increasingly become spiritually oriented and spirit-minded.  We need “GIHR” – God is Here Reminders.

PRACTICE THE PRESENCE

The lesson we learn from the story of Nicodemus is to actually practice being “born again.”  Do you really want to improve your life, to become whole, healthy, and successful in the right way?  Get vitally interested in life and live it to the hilt!  But train yourself also to stop often for brief retreats into the silence of the inner kingdom.  Take short spiritual pauses in which you return, in your thoughts and feelings, to your spiritual origins and are reminded of the truth of your being and renewed in its image.

You are a spiritual being.  There is so much more in you than you now know about, or have ever been told, or could even believe if someone could find the words to tell you.  But Jesus summed it all up by saying, (Luke 17:21) “the kingdom of God is among you."  He also said that the kingdom comes not with observation, but by getting busy and being about our Father’s business. He added that, “The wind blows where it chooses” – the kingdom of heaven in you will open up in its own good time.  The word “heaven” means expansion – expanding potential.  It never comes full-blown or all at once.  But each new birth brings forth more potential and each stage of growth increases the leaven.

Heaven most often comes to us in little moments, little insights in which the infinite glories of God light up our commonplace view of life, little breakthroughs of inspiration, forgiveness, peace, understanding, joy, and love, little disclosures of our own indwelling divinity.  Each discovery will add the powerful leaven of spirit to our lives, lifting us into new lives and a new world, by creating out of us surprising new persons.  This is the great intrigue in life, the great adventure, the great miracle, (Colossians 1:26-27) “the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages … Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Your hidden potential is with you always.  It eternally dwells in you.  Learn, in whatever you are involved with in the enterprise of living your life, to be aware of and take into account the spiritual resource that is ever waiting to be born into your life.  It is always your greatest asset!

So, stop for a moment right now. Close your eyes and go within. Jesus gave us the secret of spiritual living; He took us back to our spiritual origin.  So, enter again in your imagination into your mother’s womb – that time before your human physical birthday, back to that initial moment when you became flesh – one little living cell.  Now ask yourself, “Is that the beginning of me?” Know that flesh can only beget flesh. The beginning you had in your mother was only for this life on Earth.  Spirit begets spirit.  Your original birth was when you were created in the spiritual image and likeness of God.  This knowledge is the starting point for real spiritual life – establishing yourself in this spiritual Truth about yourself as well as God. Now just stay there for a few moments with God.

REFERENCES: Great Dramas of the Bible William Earle Cameron

SCRIPTURE: John 3:1-8; Luke 17:21; Colossians 1:26-27

Last updated July 9, 2006