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Sunday Message for September 9, 2012
One Song
There is a Garth Brooks song, "We Shall be Free" that says: "We shall be free. We shall be free. Stand straight, walk proud, 'cause we shall be free."a Beautiful lyrics. Beautiful song. And a powerful affirmation for our intention and reminder that, in our human, global expression, we are not there yet.
We gather today to stand straighter and walk prouder toward that freedom by continuing our conversations of last week and digging even deeper to see and to feel the presence of God's One Song, the Uni-Verse, harmoniously expressing in all things - even when we are sitting in traffic, frustrated with a co-worker or reliving the events of a national tragedy on the 6:00 o'clock news. The truth is, God is everywhere, and everything and everyone is holy.
ONE SONG
I don't know about you, but I find myself sometimes feeling God's presence a whole lot more in one place or another. For example, it is easy to feel God's holy presence in a place like this. Right? Take a moment to breathe it in and feel it.
It's pretty easy to see God in nature. For me - the forest and the mountains are easy places to see God. Camping out up in the Northwest just renews me. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of camping out, swimming in the rivers we fished, hearing the birds, and looking up through the trees at the moon. Or on the face of a precious child - particularly when they are asleep. Just seeing the faces of my Great Grandtwins is like seeing God in the flesh. They are so full of life and full of God.
But, it's not quite so easy to feel this same way while we are reading the newspaper or while we sit in the doctor's office waiting for a diagnosis. And, of course, this week marks the 11th anniversary of a dark day in the history of the United States. Not so easy to see what's holy about that, is it?
Or let's not even take it to those extremes. It's not so easy to see God in the mundane. As you pay your bills, or day after day after day you go to a routine job that really doesn't ring your chimes, or as you drive to work -- although that's a great time to listen to inspirational CDs!
But, the truth - capital "T" truth -- is that whether we see it, sense it or feel it, God is everywhere, and, therefore, everything is holy. A fundamental tenet of Unity and of all the great religious teachings is contained in the first statement of "What We Believe" by Ernest Holmes, which begins like this: "We believe in God, the Living Spirit Almighty; one, indestructible, absolute and self-existent Cause. This One manifests itself in and through all creation but is not absorbed by its creation."b
A great Bible story, which appears in Exodus 3, is the episode in which a young Moses, while shepherding his sheep, comes upon a bush that is burning but is not being consumed. As he steps closer to examine it, the voice of God says: "Do not come near; take the shoes off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground."
Spiritually we know this! But an old Hasidic tale lets us in on a not-so-little secret . . .
It is told that one day the Rabbi asked several of his disciples, "So, tell me. Where does God exist?"
"Everywhere," the disciples replied, surprised at the question.
'No' said the wise Rabbi. "God exists only where we let Him in."
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are . . . sacred, . . . . all days are holy, all people are divine." Poet - philosopher - saint -- words Emerson used to describe "those who let God in." We are each here to let God in; to know God; to connect with our Essence at a deeper level every single day; to feel that truly everything is HOLY; truly everything is SACRED; truly everything is part of the One Song, the Uni-Verse.
Want a really, really bad joke, but one that fits nicely right here? OK, just remember you were warned!
A man was passing a small courtyard and heard voices murmuring.
He went in and saw an altar with a large zero in the middle and a banner that said 'NIL.'
White-robed people were kneeling before the altar chanting hymns to The Great Nullity; to The Blessed Emptiness.
The man turned to a white-robed observer beside him and asked, "What now? Is Nothing sacred?" (OUCH!!)
Yes, nothing is SACRED and HOLY; so is everything! So today, especially today as we remember the events of 11 years ago, I am calling for each one of us to see EVERYTHING and EVERYONE as holy.
I am reminded of words written by Neale Donald Walsh just days after September 11, 2001. He wrote: "The hour has come for us to demonstrate at the highest level our most extraordinary thought about Who We Really Are."c
I love those words: "To demonstrate at the highest level our most extraordinary thought about Who We Really Are." To demonstrate --- not to just talk about -- our most extraordinary thought - not just our normal thoughts -- about Who We Really Are.
What is your most extraordinary thought about who you really are? About who your neighbor really is? About who your adversary really is? About who the person across the world really is? About who those in the twin towers as well as those who hijacked the airplanes really are?
Until we all begin to have and then demonstrate those extraordinary thoughts about Who We Really Are, we will continue to have hatred and war, terrorism and destruction, bickering and infighting in our families, our work or community; gossip and betrayal in our relationships.
It is only when we begin to have and then demonstrate extraordinary thoughts about Who We Really Are that we begin to experience the spiritual Truth that we live in the One Song. The way to demonstrate this is simple, yet not always easy: Love, love in this and in every moment; love in this and in every experience.
Mahatma Gandhi once said: "When I despair, I remember that, throughout history, the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of this ... Think of this . . . always."d
In the days following 9/11 Kim Davis wrote this poem. It is as perfect for us today as it was then. It is called "What I Know":
What I know is that God's presence is everywhere.
What I know is that you and I and our loved ones are always wrapped in the arms of Divine Love.
What I know is that faith is more enormous and massive than the horrifying tragedy of this week.
What I know is that there is already great healing and forgiveness and peace in my heart.
What I know is that I can depend on love.
What I know is that prayer is my power and my connection to all of life.
What I know is that I am loving you today and every day.e
And that, my friends, is the simple, yet deeply profound and not always easy, answer. "I am loving you today and every day."
If we choose to see everything as holy, if we choose to demonstrate --- not to just talk about -- our most extraordinary thoughts about Who We Really Are, if we choose to live fully in the Uni-Verse, then we must take a closer walk with love (God!!) no matter what.
Moses had a holy encounter with God at the burning bush and realized his life purpose -- to lead the Israelites out of bondage into freedom. He gave them the gift of freedom, but then they spent 40 years, 40 years, wandering in the wilderness.
They were handed the gift of freedom, but spent 40 years in the wilderness. 40 is simply symbolic of "all the time that is required." What is important wasn't just that Moses made contact with God, but that each child of Israel make contact as well. Each for themselves.
It was in the wilderness that they encountered God. It is in your wilderness, my wilderness, that we are given the opportunity to see it all as holy and to have our own encounter with what's really inside - the God of Love!
In Psalm 139, it says: "If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me."f
With these words, we can feel the foundation of the Infinite in moments of hell as well as in high flights of consciousness. They give us a way to realize that there is nothing we can do and nowhere we can go that is outside the HOLY Presence of God, that is beyond the One Song.
I want to end this morning by sharing a poem entitled "One," by Dr. Cheryl Sawyer, also written shortly after 9/11, which I have modified just a bit for this morning:
As the soot and dirt and ash rained down, we became one color.
As the firefighters and police officers fought their way into the inferno, we became one gender.
As we carried each other down the stairs of the burning buildings, we became one class.
As we whispered or shouted words of comfort and encouragement, we spoke one language.
As we shared our talents and resources to find the lost, care for the wounded, and comfort the grief-stricken, we became one generation.
As we lit candles of waiting and hope, we became one family.
As we fell to our knees in prayer for strength, we became one faith.
As we gave our blood in lines a mile long, we became one body.
As we watched the images and stories unfold on television,
we became one consciousness.
As we mourned and cried together, we became one soul.
As we proudly told and retold the stories of the sacrifice and courage of heroes, we became one people.
We are one color,
One gender,
One class,
One language,
One generation,
One family,
One faith,
One body,
One consciousness,
One soul,
One people.g
We are united.
We are America.
We are the world.
We are The One Song.
a"We Shall be Free" by Garth Brooks
bWhat We Believe Ernest Holmes
cNeale Donald Walsh
dMahatma Gandhi
eWhat I Know Kim Davis
fPsalm 139:8-10
gOne Dr. Cheryl Sawyer
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