We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience

Teilhard de Chardin

Opening Prayer

I and my Father are one,

All that I am is found within my Father and my Father is within me,

I and my Mother are one,

All that I am is found within my Mother and my Mother is within me,

Father God, Holy Spirit Mother

Help each one of us today to remember who we are.

Amen

Opening Hymn

 You Can Relax Now

Message

During the last two sabbath messages, I have been telling the story of a wild, little nomad who was temporarily residing on a little island. The island can be paradise or a wintery, cold hard existence. The key to how the nomad experienced this existence was within her own heart. Through the story, of the nomad I  was attempting to rekindle within each of us the memory of our true selves. There is a spiritual child who resides in each of our hearts.

We are all children of the Father and Mother. We were created in the image of the One Creative Source. Just like in the story, we have a Mother Wind. She is the Spirit that speaks to each of us, nurturing and guiding us through our maturation process. Just like the story, we have a Father Sun. He is our creator and the Source of all power. Created in that image, our spirits are as free as our Mother, the wind and our creative potential is as powerful as our Father the sun.

We still have some growing to do, though. To whom much is given, much is required. If we have vast spiritual potential, then we must learn to harness that potential and use it correctly. With that in mind, the Great Creative Source provided a proper training ground for the children of the Divine. Our wild, free nomadic  spirits were confined to a little green island in the vast indigo sea of the universe. Our Father and Mother have placed us in this reality, this small physical realm, to learn lessons for eternity.

Unfortunately, in the transit from spiritual to physical beings it is difficult to hold on to the full Knowledge of the Divine within us. We are spirit children in a human world. There are so many dimensions that are a part of us, are all around us but are difficult to manifest in this realm. Like watching a subtitled movie, there is subtle information that is lost in translation. 

At birth, our spiritual eyes are open to all realities. As little children, many of us have eyes that still see. I still have dim memories of talking to angels and visiting the star children. But slowly the memory dims. We begin to accept the limitations of this physical realm as our own. We take on the burdens of this existence. In the process, we lost paradise. This is the story of Adam and Eve. The story is the story of all humankind. Spirits....immortals...who accepted chains of mortality by looking for answers in what was around them instead of what was within them.

Once we place the burden, the limitations of the physical world on our shoulders, it is difficult to remove. We are like birds with clipped wings and we have clipped them ourselves. Instead of soaring to the Sun on the currents of the Wind, we are grounded in this existence. All we see are the clouds.

One of the great lessons of this journey is to learn how to fly again in a world governed by gravity. We are to discover how to live in the limitless potential of God within the limited, confines of this reality. It is easy to fly in paradise where all is free and light and beautiful. It is much harder to fly in this heavy dense atmosphere. But we must learn. It is the essential lesson of our time here in this training ground.

Luckily, our Father and Mother have given us the tools we need to once again ascend past the clouds. There are three tools - Faith, hope and Love. The greatest of these is Love because God is Love. First we must have faith to believe we ARE the children of God. We must look beyond the physical. Look past the clouds and get a glimspe of Father Sun. We must remind ourselves that we were meant to soar in the heavens...not plod along the ground.

Next, once we are strengthend by faith, we can hope again. We can test our wings and strengthen them daily. Hope is keeping our eyes on the sky not looking at the ground. Hope is opening up the wings of our spirit and waiting for Mother Wind to take us up in a current of the Spirit up into the sky.

Lastly, once we have remembered who we are and strengthend our wings again, we must live as children of the Spirit. We live in Love. We become one with Love. We are Love. We fly!

Our Mother, the Wind of the Holy Spirit, is our tutor. She came to teach us the lessons. She whispers quietly to our spirit like a warm, gentle wind soothing our souls. She tells us to let go of our worries. Do not accept the burdens of this world. Instead, have faith in who you are - a child of the Great One.  Hold on to the hope of what you can be - your infinite potential. Lastly, allow God's Divine Love to flow through you and soar above the clouds. Soar into the Sun on the currents of the Wind.

Listen, now to the song our Mother is singing to each one of us, Her Children.

It is a song of Faith, Hope and Love

Scripture

 ¹⁴Yeshua said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." ¹⁵When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there....²³Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." ²⁵When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?" ²⁶Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Matthew 19: 14-26

 ²³" (Yeshua said,) "Everything is possible for him who believes."

Mark 9:23

Final Thought

It is a challenge to find the inner spirit child through the clouds of reality. Sometimes the clouds get so thick that it is a dense fog all around us. Have faith.

Cultivate within You Seeds of Hope

" The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind"

E. B. White

Opening Blessing

Essentially this lesson is about choices so let us begin by choosing to bless ourselves and each other with love.

 Message

Once in another world in another time, there lived a little stranger who wandered lost in a strange land. She had once been a wild nomad who roamed freely on an island paradise. That carefree existence ended, however, when she was exiled to the cold, dark land of the giants. In this dismal new existance, she carried many heavy burdens on her back. The burdens slowed her down but she was not overcome by them because though she was small, she was very sturdy. Yes, she occasionally had to pause to shift the weight on her shoulders, but she would lift her head high, pull her dark curls out of her eyes, take a deep breath and trudge on.

Onward she plodded...ever onward. She refused to stop her journey because she carried a hope in her heart. She hoped to somehow return to the land of her childhood and find her paradise again. She thought that if she could find her way back, the burdens would evaporate. Then she would be free, full of joy and light-hearted again. Not too light, of course....not so light that she could fly. The little stranger had once believed she could fly. She knew better now. That had just been a little girl's dream. It had seemed very real at the time but, of course. it was not.  Noone can fly. A strange thing happened, though, once she understood that she could not fly, she stopped dreaming about flying.

Closing Prayer

Mother and Father call to us today. Show us the light within. Keep our vision pure and guide us through the door that you have already opened....the one that leads to the kingdom of heaven.

When you come to the edge of all the light you have known, and are about to step out into darkness, Faith is knowing one of two things will happen;
There will be something to stand on, or you will be taught to fly.

I Believe I Can Fly

There are rare moments in life when a light from beyond the veil reveals itself to our consciousness.

This flash of light imparts a new wisdom or insight that a was previously beyond our comprehension.

Some call these experiences  "intuition"...or gut instinct...or a synthesis of the sub-conscious. 

The scripture also has a name for this type of  knowledge. It is called wisdom. It is an understanding that comes without the aid of reason. It is imparted directly to our spirit from the Spirit. Today's message is about nurturing these flashes of light.

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. - Albert Einstein

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. - Mark Twain

Opening Prayer

Scripture Reading 

Message

There is a place most human beings rarely visit. It is the place in which Wisdom resides. It is the throne of God...the seat of the presence of the Divine.  A fountain of living water flows out from the throne bringing healiing and life. Father God...the Source of All...is the one on the Throne. Our Holy Spirit Mother is the fountain flowing from the Father making the Source...the Wisdom of God... available to all. Yeshua said that those who drink from this fountain will thirst no more. One does not have to travel far to find this place. It is in close proximity to every person all the time. The throne of God is within everyone of us. WE are the temple of the living God. Our spirit is one with the Spirit. 

Each one of us was created in the image of God and a spark of the Divine was instilled in our spirit. God is there, readily available within each of us all the time. Yet, man rarely avails himself of this Wisdom. Humanity has contented itself with occasional glimpses of the Divine. In fact, momentary flashes of perception are often treated with suspicion rather than accepted as Wisdom from the throne. We are suspicious because we have been told a lie for thousands of years. Power hungry people have place themselves in positions of authority by making others believe that God is not readily available.

By pretending to provide exclusive access to God, religious leaders throughout history have been able to hold firm control over their congregations. As children of the Divine, it is our nature to want to commune with our Father and Mother. Fear of permanent separation from God, motivated the masses to provide offerings, favors and unending service to the religious elite. So the people were told that God only lived in temples or on specific religious sites. The priest were the only conduit...the only access to God's presence.

This was not the Divine plan. In fact it was not even truth. The original Essenes separated themselves from the religious authority of their day precisely because they refused to believe the lies. They did not accept the Priesthood or temple worship. They continued instead to individually seek a personal knowledge of the Divine known as the Way.

Once an elite upper class has established power, however, is difficult to fight them. The lies that are perpetrated to keep them in control, become irrefutable and accepted as fact. Yeshua's mission was to bring humanity back to a personal relationship with their Mother and Father. Through his life, he gave an example for all of us to follow. He called himself Son of Man because he taught that what he did was available to every human being. He said, " I and my Father are one".

So, too, we all are one with the Father. The Light, the Knowledge, the Wisdom is within us all. But too often, we wall off the temple of God within us and do not access ourselves to the treasures provided there. We have only ourselves to blame. As Yeshua described in the story of the prodigal son, we separate ourselves from our Father and do not listen to our Mother. It is our own choice to go after the things of this world... the rational physical realm...rather than feast at the table of God.

Most people today want to validate their "hunches" with rational data. They are not comfortable drinking freely from the fountain and eating at the table of Divine knowledge. We have separated ourselve because we have been told a lie...we have been told that we must find our own way. Our Father and Mother are still waiting for us, though. They are ready to take us back. Yeshua's mission was to help all the lost souls wandering along the various paths and guide them to the Way. Yeshua reminded us the search is over. The Father is here. The Way is within us. No wandering needed. At the death of Yeshua, they say that the veil in the temple that separated the holy of holies was torn from top to bottom.  The symbolism was that now every man had access to God's presence.

The truth was that the veil was an illusion created by man. Man always had access. The separation was his own. Instead of being content with flashes of light peeking out from the veil, we can live in the light. We do not have to wander down any paths. Just be still. The temple is within. Listen and KNOW

.

Closing Prayer

In the story of Noah, the first rainbow appeared in the sky after the great flood.  The rainbow was a sign of God's covenant with mankind to never again destroy the world by water. This beautiful bridge in the heavens was created after a period of destruction and despair to provide mankind with a symbol of hope and promise. 

It is implicitly understood that rainbows cannot appear without rain. First comes the storm, then in the calm moments when the sun reappears, the rainbow is seen. Into each life some rain must fall ....and then the rainbow! This message is about enduring storms and then looking for...and helping to create...rainbows.

Call to Celebration

Scripture Reading

  Message

Time is relevant and calendars are man-made utilities. However, according to the Gregorian calendar, the internationally accepted calender of our civilization, a new year has officially begun. Some purists claim that the new decade will not begin until the end of this year. However, popular culture has declared that the new decade began January 1, 2010.  It is a time of new beginnings, New Year's resolutions and fresh starts.

The New Year is a time to start over and we are ready! The world is anxiously searching for better days. We want to put the last decade behind behind us and move on. The first 10 years of this century were not kind. It was a very turbulent time. There were storms of all kinds. The beginning of this century brought huge natural disasters -tsunamis, hurricanes, tornados, volcanos, floods and other severe weather. There were man-made disasters as well - the world trade center bombing, the many terrorist actions, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the real estate crisis and the financial banking collapse to name just a few.

History reminds us, though, that turbulent times are part of the natural cycle. To everything there is a season. Our Father and Mother God have created consistent natural laws. Just like the cycle of human life, civilizations go through cycles of birth, growth, destruction and death. Nature, too, goes through its seasons. Each season has its own storms. After each storm, however, there are also periods of calm and sunshine. Here in Northern Arizona, we recently had an ice storm. It stormed all night long. The ice pelted down on the mesa and the wind blew in angry gusts. Power lines were torn down by the weight of the ice. Bushes blew across the roads. The next morning, however, the sky was clear and all was quiet. The sun rose over the mountains in a blaze of orange and pink. It shone so brightly on the icy snow that it dazzled the eye.

That sunrise was my winter rainbow. My heart was filled with calm joy and the peaceful awareness that all was well. At that moment I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be in life. Rainbows are the promise that better times are coming. Rainbows are the knowledge that there is a reason...that "all things work together for good."  And rainbows are everywhere. Rainbows can be made at will. Just shine some light through water and from the right vantage point, a rainbow will appear. In the storms in your life, whatever they are, shine God's light...Divine awareness...through the rain. Then if you have the right viewpoint, you will be able to discern the rainbow. Once you master the ability to see that rainbow, you can weather any storm. Serious illness.  Disease. Accidents. Catastrophes. Unemployment. Lost retirement savings. Death. Loneliness. Hardships. Personal problems.

Point of view is very important in seeing rainbows. You  have to have the right vantage point...to look at the situation from the right angle. Move a little in the wrong direction and the rainbow disappears. Yeshua says one must be standing on  a rock... a strong foundation... to weather a storm. Without the foundation, you will waver too much and the rainbow will keep disappearing from view.

 A couple of weeks ago, I was made aware of the importance of viewpoint and foundation when I started reading the book, Night. Night is a work by Elie Wiesel. It is an autobiographical account of his experience, as a young Orthodox Jew of being sent  with his family to the German Concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. This book had come highly recommended to me and I was looking forward to reading it. However, it was so dark and depressing that I had to stop. I could not finish it. The recurring themes were Mr Wiesel's increasing disgust with mankind and his loss of faith in God.

Now, I suppose with all the horrifying situations Mr Wiesel had to endure, he was certainly justified in his feelings. However, his feelings were not inevitable. He did not HAVE to feel the way he did. His feelings were a choice of viewpoint. I have read other works by survivors of the Holocaust who choice a very different vantage point. Corrie Ten Boom wrote of her experiences in the book, The Hiding Place. She was a Christian who was sent with her family to a German concentration camp for hiding Jews from the German Army. She found a purpose for her life and a renewed faith in God during her time in captivity.

Dr Viktor Frankl was a successful Jewish psychiatrist from Austria. Like Mr Wiesel, he and his family were sent to Auschwitz. He wrote of his experiences in "Man's Search for Meaning." It is an incredibly uplifting book. His entire family perished in the concentration camp. When it seemed that everything had been taken from him, Dr Frankl found the rainbow in the midst of the storm. He realized that he had the singular power to choose his own attitude and no one could take that away from him. He chose not to hate and he chose to hope. He chose to survive.

Storms rarely announce their coming. Storms of life come with swiftness and can be devastating. They are unpredictable, capricious and create all sorts of debris. Survival depends on the right foundation and the right attitude. Only then will you have the vantage point to see the rainbow....the promise hidden in the midst of the storm.

Song of  Celebration

Closing Prayer

Finally, Happy New Year - 2010

May you have a very Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year...and Find the Rainbows

Christmas lights, advent candles, yule logs, candlelight Christmas eve services - light in different forms is traditionally associated with Christmas and for good reason. Light is the symbol of hope, spiritual illumination, warmth, and guidance. Light is the fundamental message of Christmas - light that triumphs over darkness.

Preparing for the Light

The Christmas celebration reminds us that in the coldest, darkest time of the year, God's light still shines. In fact it shines brightest in the darkness.

Before we begin the our Sabbath message, this song will prepare our hearts for the Christmas story of Light

Bending Toward the Light

Call to Worship

Doxology

Opening Prayer

Father and Mother, through out eternity You have been our light

In Your Divine Mercy, You have gifted each of us with a spark of Your light within our spirits

And have given us a Way to nurture the light

So that each of us has the capacity to become a bright torch guiding the Way for others

Holy Spirit Mother,

Rekindle Your light today.

Amen

Scripture Reading

 ¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning.

 ³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

 ⁶There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. ⁸He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. ⁹The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

John 1:1-8

² The people walking in darkness
       have seen a great light;
       on those living in the land of the shadow of death 
       a light has dawned

Isaiah 9:2

 ⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another...

1 John 1:5-7

¹⁴"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16

 Opening Hymn

People Let Your Light Shine

Message

Yesterday, the Christian world celebrated Christmas, the birthday of the Christ Child. Interestingly enough, most scholars do not believe that Yeshua Ha'Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah) was born on December 25th. The actual birth date of Yeshua was lost to antiquity. The early followers of the Way did not celebrate Yeshua's birth. Early Christians believed the celebration of anyone's birth was a pagan custom. Since the date of Yeshua's birth was not significant to them, it was forgotten for all time.

The first Christmas celebrations began several centuries after Yeshua's death. Many beleive the December 25th date was chosen as a deliberate substitution for an existing celebration of the birth of the sun god, Saturn. Others believe it was a substitution for pagan winter solstice celebrations. Because of these pagan connotations, the Puritans refused to celebrate Christmas. Many strict fundamentalist Christian groups still refuse to celebrate Christmas.  This attitude is unfortunate because it detracts from the greater message.

The dead of winter is an excellent time to celebrate a great Light revitalizing the world. As one reads the scriptures above, one can not help but realize that the message of Yeshua was fundamentally a message of light and hope. If the actual date of his birth is unknown, why not choose the darkest coldest time of the year? Winter is a time that celebrations of light flourish in other cultures why not use it to celebrate the coming of great light for Mankind? Light shines brightest in the darkness.

Man has a primal attraction to light. It is set deeply within our circadian rhythm to awaken with the sun and retreat from the darkness. One of our greatest discoveries was how to make fire. When mankind mastered fire, he had the ability to warm the cold and light the physical darkness of this world. Mankind has also searched for the same type of "fire" in the spiritual plane. Since the beginning of creation and our life on this earth, we have awaited the light of the seasons by searching for the spiritual light. In the dark of winter, we have chosen hope over despair...hope that a better season is coming...through celebrations of light. Throughout history we have celebrated new light in the winter solstice. The many winter festivals of light range from the Druids, to the Roman Saturnalia, to the miracle of light at Hannukah. So why not also celebrate the Holy Child of Light's birth in the midst of winter darkness?

By celebrating Yeshua's  birth, we are recognizing that light is more than the Sun. True light cannot be measured in kilowatts and amps. Light is a metaphor and it is a metaphor that our soul truly seeks.  Light is knowledge. Light is life. Light is light....light is God within us. Light is the real gift of Christmas. Light is our true identity. That is what Father and Mother God gave mankind with Yeshua's birth. We were given the chance to know our true selves.

A different and illuminating gift for each of us this Christmas would be the ability to understand this true identity...the light of God within. We are spirits encased in physical bodies. As spirits in matter, we were placed in this physical creation to learn and grow. As citizens of creation,  we have experienced and uncovered the secrets of form and matter, learning to create at a very fundamental level. Like children in a sandbox who form replicas of castles, we have been learning through the tools our Parents have provided in this playground. But we have been removed for so long from our spiritual origins that many of us have forgotten our true identity. Luckily, our Mother and Father graciously provide us with reminders. These reminders may only be a moment, a teacher, a word, a phrase, a picture or a sudden spiritual insight that allows us a fleeting glimpse into our true identity. In those moments, we remember we have the light within.

Yeshua was sent as the greatest reminder of all. He was the Light from above sent to reveal light is available to each man and woman. He reminded us are made in the image of the Mother and Father. We are light...like the great encompassing Light. Our mission is to be beams of light carrying information into the world, influencing and affecting all that we contact. This year, as Christmas comes and goes again, let us not forget the real message behind all the Christmas lights. Let us think differently. Let us recognize and identify that we are in fact a rainbow of light, and that within our light are specific tasks, purposes, behaviors, abilities and gifts we unconsciously radiate upon each other and all we contact.

During this season of giving let us realize we are the gifts of Holy Light. Let us shine for each other during our temporary lifetime on this earth. Let us understand our light and what our lights radiate that makes us so holy to one another. Let us shine without fear in this world. Yeshua said that we are not to hide our lights. Don't be afraid to shine.

Many say that they are afraid of failure. I think most people are actually afraid of success. Success means you have to continue to shine..that the world will count on you to shine and that requires a lot of work. It is a lot easier just to go on pretending to be meaningless. Here is a quote that I love from Marianne Williamson that says it all..."We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." 

So go ahead!! Celebrate the real Christmas spirit and SHINE!

 Closing Hymn

Go Light Your World

Final Thoughts

From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon things, and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

Light gives of itself freely, filling all available space.  It does not seek anything in return; it asks not whether you are friend or foe.  It gives of itself and is not thereby diminished.  ~Michael Strassfeld

"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us."
-- Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) German theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician

Light a Candle in the Darkness

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative (and creation). There is one elemental truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans...that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves all. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of incidents and meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would come his or her way. Whatever you can do or dream, you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
~Goethe  

What lies behind us and what lies before us are of little importance compared to what lies within us.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Last week in our Sabbath message, we discussed the illusion of power versus real the real Power. We concluded that there is a true Source of Power. The true Power is the One who created us, and is within us. But that is not the end of the line. Like the power lines pictured above, We were not created and planted in this world just to receive power but to also transmit. Today's message discusses how we can recognize, harness and utilize the Power within.

Opening Hymn

In our natural state, we are glorious beings. In the world of illusion, we are lost and imprisoned, slaves to our appetites and our will to false power.

Marianne Williamson

On this Sabbath, as the world is celebrating the first day of Hanukkah, a festival of light and hope, We will open the message with a Hanukkah  blessing

Opening Blessing

Closing Hymn

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
-- Melody Beattie

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues.
-- Cicero

Thankful Thoughts

The fourth Thursday of November,  like most of the U.S., we celebrated Thanksgiving in our home. If you have been following the weekly Sabbath messages,  you know that I tried this year to make  Thanksgiving a more significant event than usual. Towards this goal, we had fasted for the week  prior to Thanksgiving and saved the food we would have eated to contribute to a food pantry. So we actually started our Thanksgiving on the day before by contributing food (and a little money) to the local Salvation Army kitchen.

As we left the Salvation Army office, I thought about years in the past when I had struggled to feed my own family.  I remembered one year that the hospital where I was employed surprised the staff with food baskets on Thanksgiving. I had tears in my eyes when I received my basket because until that moment, I wasn't sure how I was going to make a special meal for my kids. Another year, I had just moved to Germany. I moved for a government job and was told the government was going to pay all the expenses. I did not know that I had to front the costs and would be paid back later. It took every penny I had to pay the hotel bill. It was Thanksgiving day the next day.  The finance office would not be open until the following Monday. Luckily, I was able to take my travel orders and get my family into  the soldier's mess hall for Thanksgiving dinner.  I remember how relieved I was to not only have a way to celebrate Thanksgiving but just to have some food to feed my children. As I thought about those past years, I felt very grateful that this year I had  the resources to have a nice Thanksgiving meal and also had extra to share with others. 

Thankgiving morning, when I woke up, I walked the dogs, as usual. I am not a morning person so usually during these early morning walks with the doggies, I am barely functioning. I do it basically because I know walking is good for my health and if I don't walk in the morning, I often don't get a walk in at all. Also, we have very active pups and they are MUCH better doggies if they get their morning romp. This particular morning, however, I tried to make it a different type of experience. I kept my eyes open to my surroundings. I listened to the quietness around me in the desert mesa. I was appreciative of the pure joy of life expressed by the dogs as the ran and jumped and played. I watched the sunrise over the mountains in all its glory.  And, I thought to myself, "Is it always this beautiful?" At that moment, a jack rabbit peaked out from behind a scrubby bush with curious eyes as if to say, "Of course, you silly human, did you just realize that you have been missing out?"

When we returned from the walk, I had my morning coffee and muffin. That muffin was extremely satisfying after a week long fast. I thanked God the first time of many times that day for the joy of good food. After I ate, I sent out Thanksgiving day ecards to all the important people in my life. As I wrote the cards, I tried to be very mindful of the gratitude I felt for that person. I reminded myself of some particular aspect of that person that gave me joy or some moment in my life that the person made an impact.

Next, my husband and I had our dinner. We spent a few moment sharing the items in our lives that we were thankful for. Then we said grace and ate. Somewhere between the stuffing and the pumpkin pie, my mind began to wander. I thought about the contentment of sitting at the table in my warm house with peaceful music playing in the background. I thought about the joy and peace that had been growing in my heart that day. I thought about how good it is to take time to consider the good in our lives. I was reminded of quote I heard long ago. "Thanksgiving is not meant to be a day on the calender. Thanksgiving is meant to be a way of life. "

The happiness alive in my heart at that moment was the culmination of a day spent cultivating gratitude in my heart. Actually, it was the culmination of not just one day but a week of preparation. The week of fasting...doing without...helped me truly enjoy the feast. Deprivation provides the perspective that allows us to enjoy blessings. In the same manner, the difficult times in my past  that I recalled now, help make this present so sweet. But only if we can view those difficult times with an attitude of gratitude. That is the key.

I then recognized the Divine wisdom of the Essene Way. Essenes take great care to cultivate a correct spirit within. They begin their day communing with the Mother and ended the day communing with the Father. They believe in creating within their life a seven-fold peace: peace with body, mind, family, humanity, culture, Mother and Father. Being at peace begins with accepting and enjoying life as it is....being grateful for what is, what was and what will be.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God."

Let us start now to cultivate that attitude of gratitude....the spirit of thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Invocation

Thank You, Lord

Scripture Reading

 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord,
and to sing praises unto thy name, O most high:
To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning,
and thy faithfulness every night
— Psalms 92:1-2

Thanksgiving Prayer

Our Father and Mother

who are in heaven, 

and around us,

and within us

 Holy is Your Name.

Your Kingdom is upon us,

as is Your will.

Your are here on earth,

and in the heavens.

We are never in need

because You provide.

By forgiving our mistakes, 

You have taught us

to forgive others.

You lead your children

in the path of light,

and guide us away 

from the darkness

because Your kingdom

and power, and glory

are within us.

Amen

 In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

Albert Camus

My Dear Companions in The Way,

Last weekend, I was called away suddenly and unexpectedly and was unable to post the Thanksgiving Sabbath message. I received several concerned emails and I want to thank you all for worrying. All is well. Father and Mother simply had different plans for my Sabbath Worship.

I will post the message that I HAD intended for Thanksgiving Sabbath on the next week. In place of the November 27 message, I would like to share with you what happened last week. It all began in the Emergency Department on Friday afternoon (the day after Thanksgiving). An ambulance arrived with an 88 year old frail little lady in severe pain. She was in shock and needed to be flown out immediately for emergency surgery. Later, her 92 year old Hopi husband arrived. He had driven his old pick-up truck. When he was told that his wife was very ill and had been flown out to Flagstaff, he was distraught. He did not normally drive as far as he did that night. A trip to Flagstaff 140 miles away on a major highway was way beyond his ability.

He wanted to be with her but had no way to accomplish the necessary trip. He had out-lived his immediate family. His wife and he had never had children. They were alone in the world and had no one to call on for  help. So on a cold bleak winter night, with a storm coming in, my husband and I set off on an unexpected journey. A 92 year old Hopi gentleman whom we had never met before was our travel companion. We arrived at Flagstaff Medical Center just before the first real winter storm of this season.

My husband set off to find hotel rooms for the night. I accompanied our new Hopi friend. We walked to the information desk. The desk was set up on a pedestal and was almost as tall as this 5 foot Hopi elder. He looked so small and fragile standing there that it hurt my heart. His wife was in the Intensive Care Unit. We followed the directions to the unit. I had to gauge my steps to my Hopi friend's slow aged steps. We finally arrived to the door of the unit.

I picked up the phone outside the unit and announced our arrival. The automatic doors opened. I looked around and took in all the sights and sounds...the monitors, and ventilators and IV pumps....the brisk efficient staff carefully managing and surpressing any potential chaos. I smiled in recognition of it all.  As a former ICU nurse, this was familiar ground to me. The staff...any critical care staff... are my kindred spirits. The surroundings are home. 

Then I remembered my travel companion. I saw the fear in his eyes. His apprehension increased with every step. At that moment, I realized I was not there in that place at that time by happenstance. There was a beautiful Divine logic to this journey. I was there to guide my Hopi friend through the Critical Care world that was so familiar to me but so foreigh and alien to him. The verses from Isaiah that I had quoted during my ordination came back to my mind: 

^"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
       because the LORD has anointed me
       to preach good news to the poor.
       He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
       to proclaim freedom for the captives
       and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
       and the day of vengeance of our God,
       to comfort all who mourn,

 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
       to bestow on them a crown of beauty
       instead of ashes,
       the oil of gladness
       instead of mourning,
       and a garment of praise
       instead of a spirit of despair. "
      

I went to the nurse's desk and asked for his wife's room. She had just returned from surgery. Her small figure in the hospital bed was dwarfed by all the equipment surrounding her. She had a tube coming out of her mouth to help her breathe and tubes from her nose and stomach draining foul black liquid. The multiple IV lines emerged from her bed like plastic spaghetti.

Her little husband barely recognized her with all the equipment attached. He called her name and then asked me, "Is that her?" When I affirmed that it was her name on the door, he still looked lost. This was not new to me either. I have seen this reaction many times in the past. Family members often find themselves unable to relate to the lifeless, motionless body of their loved one. The body is so unlike it's former self that it almost seems like an imposter. I pulled up a chair and had him sit beside her. Then I pulled back the covers to reveal a small hand. It was a little bloated and puffy from all the fluid that had been poured into her to keep her alive but it was warm and when I placed his hand on top of hers I could feel him soften.

The next few hours he talked to me and to her. He recalled the beautiful life they shared. He was alternately angry, and sad and afraid...of being alone, of losing her, of her suffering. He also spoke tenderly of a life of love shared together....the travels while he was in the military, the hard times when they were first married, the accomplishments of their life. She never woke up but I told him I believe her spirit heard and felt him there. He agreed.  When the time came for her to leave this world, emotion overwhelmed him. He said, " I don't want to see this but I don' t want her to be alone. I told him, "It is OK, I will stay with her" "You go" So he said "Good-bye, Edith" with tears in his eyes. I took her hand from him and he shuffled off as fast as his 92 year old frame could carry him.

Then I looked at Edith and said, "It's OK. You can go now. He is ready" and within 5 minutes her heart stopped. Her husband came back about 10 minutes later. I said, " It's over. She is gone." He asked what time it happened. I told him the time of death.  He said" I knew it. Something told me to look at my watch right at that time"  Then He asked me,"So, you used to do this all the time?" I said, "Yes." He said, "How could you stand it?...all the suffering?" I said," When I share the suffering, I also share the beauty." Tonight I shared the beauty of a 62 year marriage.

He smiled and nodded quietly. "Yes, I see there is good...even in pain"

I called my husband and he picked us up. It was snowing steadily when we left the hospital. The flakes were big and soft  floating down from the sky. The ground was covered with white.  I thought about how good our Mother and Father God are to their children. In every storm in our life, God creates a shelter and shows us the beauty...if we look for it.

'You have been a refuge for the poor,
       a refuge for the needy in his distress,
       a shelter from the storm
       and a shade from the heat. "

Isaiah 25:4

-Arthur Guiterman, The First Thanksgiving

"Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude."

-E.P. Powell

This is the last Sabbath before the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving is founded on the Jewish harvest festivals. It is time to celebrate Divine provision. Unfortunately, our modern culture seems to have lost the original concept somewhere between the turkey and the football games. 

Let's take a few minutes today to remind ourselves of what it means to be truly thankful. 

Opening Hymn

                           Let's begin our worship time today with a  traditional Thanksgiving tune. 

I heard someone the other day describe Thanksgiving as America's annual "festival of overeating". It sad to think that the day supposedly set aside for gratitude has instead become a day of gluttony. That is the opposite of the original intent.  As I prepared the message last night, I became acutely aware of how this holiday has been transformed by our culture. I typed the word, "Thanksgiving" into  Youtube looking for appropriate music for this message. I got videos of food, stop-motion cartoons of turkeys, the Macy's parade and lots of irreverent goofy stuff but very few videos about thankfulness. That is a far cry from the spirit of the first Thanksgiving celebration.

The original Thanksgiving in this country was a feast of gratitude for God's provision. The Pilgrims were truly thankful for a harvest that was adequate to survive the winter. They came together on that first Thanksgiving feast and shared the joy of God's bounty. They sang psalms of joy like the thanksgiving psalms in the scripture reading. In those psalms, you see the true spirit of thanksgiving. The writers exhort us to "shout for joy", sing praise continually and worship as an appropriate reaction to recognizing God's faithfulness and Divine provision.

It is difficult to find the essence of the first Thanksgiving in the modern US culture. Maybe that is because we are so far removed from the struggle for survival that those first Pilgrims endured. Here on the Hopi reservation, the elders tell a story about the beginning of this world that illustrates this point. The Hopis believe we are living in the fourth world. Each previous world was destroyed when man forgot the good ways. The first world was destroy by fire and a breaking up of the earth. The second world was destroyed by ice. The third world was destroyed by a flood. Each time a few survived to start the new world. According to the Hopi, we now live in the fourth world.

Hopi mythology tells of a time after the end of the third world when most people had died. However, some people, including some Hopi, had been spared. They had been kept safe until the Earth's surface was again habitable. When the Earth was ready, these humans emerged on land and were met by a being named Masaw, who was tilling the soil. Masaw offered the groups of people different kinds of corn by which they might make their livelihood in this new fourth world. While others grabbed for the biggest ears of corn, the Hopi deliberately chose the smallest ear of blue corn.

The wise old Hopi ancestors' selection of the little ear of blue corn symbolizes their intent to live a life that would be difficult. Their harvest would be small for their efforts. However, they believed that this is a life that  endures. These ancient Hopi, fresh from the destruction of the third world, had observed that there are dangers inherent in an easy lifestyle. People become complacent, take their abundance for granted, and then lose their spiritual connection with the Source of their abundance.

The end result is that, over time, such people do not endure. Their greed leads them to hoard goods, ruin their environments and go to war with each other. Choosing a difficult life way...a way that requires much hard work for relatively small harvest, guards against greed by keeping people humble and grateful for what they have. To survive, such people must stay spiritually in tune with the Earth and keenly aware of the plants and animals around them; consequently, they endure beyond the lifetimes of the people who live easier lives.

Like the Hopi, the pilgrims lived in a harsh environment in which it required effort to survive. They were truly thankful for God's bounty. Out of that joy came a desire to come together. They had little but they wanted to share because they knew what it was like to do without. That is a great contrast to where we are in the United States today. We live in an age of selfishness because we have too much. The United States is a country of excesses. Even our landfills are overflowing. It is hard to appreciate what we have when there is even more all around us. TV ads and internet pop-ups keep reminding us  of all the things we don't have and yet most of us already have more things than we need or can properly appreciate.

We were not created to be self-absorbed. We were created to be one with the One. We were all given life by the same Breath and placed in this creation to follow the same path ...The Way.  There is no separateness in the Way. We are interconnected with all creation. When we lose the Way and start following our own path, it creates a disconnect with the Source. The Source is still there, but we have separated ourselves. We are not meant to be separate so we feel lonely and we do not know why. We try to fill the gap with things. It distracts us but does not fill the void so we look for more things.

What we really need is to return to the Source. Perhaps that is one of the lessons God has been teaching in the recent economic crisis. By removing some of our financial under-pinning,  God brought us back to reality. It provided us all as a nation a chance to reassess what is truly important. This thanksgiving is the perfect time to reassess and recreate the true spirit of thanksgiving within us. My husband and I recently read that there are now 50 million people in this country who skip meals unwillingly.  That number is the highest on record. More troubling is the fact that nearly one in four children in our country are not getting an adequate diet. Reading that caused us to rethink our blessings.

The psalms and scriptures above provide a good description of how to cultivate a heart of thanksgiving. The first step is realizing the Source of provision. As James said "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change" The one Divine Father and Mother is the Source. God is love and all good. He is the Sun and She is the Rain...faithful and everlasting. Finding  the Source is the beginning of thankfulness. Out of that knowledge, pure Joy begins to germinate in the heart. Next, we must cultivate that joy by tending it every day. Spend quiet time connecting to the Source. Use this time to remember the good. Looking at the good allows joy and gratitude to spring up and grow strong in our heart.   Lastly, as you daily tend the garden of thankfulness your heart,  joy and gratitude will bear fruit in your life in both words and actions. This is the harvest of thanksgiving.

Like the Pilgrims shared their bounty with the natives, thankfulness always bears fruit. Living in a spirit of thankfulness brings great peace. You are happy for what you have instead of grabbing endlessly for what you don't have. "Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness." Those who realize they are blessed naturally want to extend blessings to others. I challenge you this Thanksgiving to cultivate the true spirit of thankfulness then look around you for what you can sow in the lives of others.

Put some thought and time into how you can celebrate Thanksgiving this year by sharing instead of just taking. If you want a starting point, I will share with you the plan that my husband and I came up with.  As I said above, we were really touched when we read the article about hunger in the US. We have an abundance of food in our house and we had really forgotten what a blessing that is. So to remind us, we have been fasting for the past week and will continue to fast up to Thanksgiving day. Each day, we thank Mother and Father that we are CHOOSING to be hungry instead of having no choice. Then, we set aside all the food we would have eaten that day. We will give that food to a food bank in Flagstaff right before Thanksgiving. And on Thanksgiving day...I think we are really really going to be thankful for that meal.

Thanksgiving Thoughts 

So now take a moment to  review the good gifts you have been given, and think about the good gifts you can give.  Remember, Thanksgiving is an action word.

 By Robert Frost

Opening Hymn

Before the message, take some time now to become one with the One, our Father and Mother

4 For it is She that teaches the knowledge of God, and is the chooser of His works.

There is a perfect path pre-designed for each human born into this creation. We were sent here for a purpose. Each of us has our own lessons and miracles to experience in this life. When the lesson is missed because we are too busy or too preoccupied, that lesson must be repeated. We also each have our own gifts, a piece of the Infinite within us. That innate Gift is our calling...what we are meant to share with the world.  Since the Infinite is made up of much more than physical. We can only truly understand our Gift...who we are... with a Wisdom that goes beyond physical experience. 

So how do we access Infinite understanding while we are encumbered with physical minds. The answer is we do not use our minds. Scripture says, those that are to know God must worship in "spirit and in truth" The Holy Spirit is Wisdom beyond the finite. She is the one that knows the path for us and can be our guide. She is Sophia. She speaks to us from a place that is beyond our mind's understanding. She is spirit and as such speaks to the spirit in us.

But to hear her, we must quiet the physical. The scripture also says to "Be still and know that I am God." That means we must  tune out the noise of this world. We must slow down enough to "hear" and "see" with the Spirit. Wisdom is there. She is ready and waiting to share. She wants to guide you to the hidden beauty of each day.... past the bend in the road. But you have to be willing to walk with Her.

Closing Hymn

Final Thoughts

Spiritual insight flows over humanity in the same manner.

If enough of mankind can be gathered up in the same movement, a great wave of change can be created.

The force of such waves can alter the landscape of civilization.

"We know the battle ahead will be long,
but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way,
nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change."

Barack Obama after losing New Hampshire primary January 2008 

Opening Hymn

As we prepare for the message, let us come to God in this song and open our hearts to allow the Spirit to flow

Closing Prayer

Father and Mother,

Gather us up in Your healing, cleansing stream.

Make us one with You

So that Your will may be done

On earth as it is in heaven

Amen

Closing Hymn

Let us find our place again with God before we leave our worship today. Listen to His name and feel Her spirit flow in you. 

Final Thought

Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, a Socialist or a Libertarian, there were some good ideals that our nation rallied around in the last election. I urge to put aside all partisanship at this time and watch this video with new eyes.

 Recognize that this is the current of change that is flowing through our nation right now. We are in such a mess right now. We NEED the change. 

 Don't see the man. Listen to the thoughts expressed and search your spirit to find what you can do to help further the good ideals. Help us truly be one nation under God.