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Healing Our Spiritual Community

Healing Our Spiritual Community

 

Here also is the script of "Healing Our Spiritual Community," delivered by Rev. Allen Liles, on Jan. 20, 2008:

We are talking about "healing" during the month of January. Last week we visited about "Healing Ourselves." Today's topic is "Healing Our Spiritual Community." Next week, we'll expand things even more and discuss "Healing Our World."

For this week, I'll be sharing in some specifics about healing our spiritual community here at Unity South Church. But, if you are a visitor or someone who comes only occasionally, I think there will be some benefit in the message for you too. All of us are part of "communities" that might benefit from the healing process. It could be your "family" community, your "workplace" community, your "club" or "lodge" community, or any group, organization or environment that depends upon "community" to survive and prosper. There is almost always healing to be done somewhere.

We will not only be doing the talk today on "Healing Our Spiritual Community." This coming Thursday at 7 p.m. downstairs we will be having a special healing workshop on: "Making Peace With Our Past," which is part of Unity's Peacemaking Program. Then, we'll repeat it next Sunday at 11:30 a.m. after church, I hope you can make at least one of those meetings. We'll do a Circle of Honor to everyone's presence and history here at Unity South. We'll also have a Healing Circle at the end of the evening. And, if we need another meeting in February or March, we'll do that too.

As we begin our topic this morning, I start out (as I did last week) by presenting the "headline" that I hope you take away with you this morning. Remember last week when we looked at how to heal our individual body, mind and spirit? The headline then was "To heal ourselves, we must remember that we already have within us everything we need in order to accomplish our healing." The headline today is this: "To heal our spiritual community, we must begin fulfilling the spiritual destiny that God envisions for our church."

Every institution, including churches (maybe especially churches) possesses what we used to refer to in the corporate world as a "culture." The culture of any company, church or whatever is really a "history" of the people and events that have been drawn together to experience a past and a present. Almost anything that happens today in our church or any community will have some of its roots in the culture and history that have gone before. In God's universe, there are no accidents. Everything that happens is a gift from God. All we have to do is unwrap and understand the "gift" to see what we are receiving in the "present." To do that, I believe you need to consider and try to understand the metaphysical lesson that accompanied the gift. Well, Unity South Church has been receiving quite a few presents lately. What I hope to do today is to offer, for your thoughtful consideration, my own metaphysical interpretation of the gifts of learning that God has sent our way.

Have you ever seen the "stress chart" that assigns points to life events that people experience in a given year? These life events are assigned "points" according to their severity and potential to cause stress for the individual. The highest stress points are for loss of spouse or significant loved one, a change In our health situation, a drastic shift in our financial situation, a physical move to a new location, a retirement and/or loss of a job. You can also get high points for good things too, like a promotion and more responsibility at work or a sudden influx of money through some sort of windfall. You can look at the interesting stories of a few recent lottery winners to see how big money can also cause big time stress. The more stressful events and the higher number of points we accumulate in a given year, the greater chance we have that stress will have a negative effect on our health.

In my own case, the most stressful year that I experienced recently was 2001. In that year, my wife was diagnosed with cancer, I retired from Unity Village, I moved to Minnesota and took a fairly stressful job as a chaplain at Southdale Hospital. Jan and I also went from a 2,700 sq. ft. house to a 900 sq. ft. apartment with one bathroom. Because of retirement from a good job at the Village, our income also was dramatically affected. Now that's stress, especially the one bathroom.

If Unity South Church were a person, think about your history. Some of the people still here today literally created this church out of dust 26 years ago. Then you were blessed with a wonderful and popular minister who helped build this facility. The Phil LaPorte era was a great time for Unity South. It ended in 1996 with his tragic and untimely death. Then, after an excellent interim minister in Barbara Jung, you had the charismatic presence of Ken Williamson, a classmate of mine (one year behind me in school) for nearly eight years. God also presented Unity South with another stressful learning experience with Ken as well. In my opinion, from a metaphysical standpoint, I think the past events were only the precursors of things to come. Over the 26 years, one thing that I believe remained constant for this spiritual community was this fact: spiritual seekers of high individual consciousness were drawn here.

Now, let's think back to the stress chart concept. When you consider the recent events at Unity South just in the past two years, many things have combined to cause a high score for the church in terms of stress. One note: I'm presenting these facts objectively, totally without judgment. Challenging situations always happen to good churches, just like good people. I want to begin by saying that, in my opinion. Unity South has been, still is, and will be an outstanding church and a real light for the entire Unity movement for many years to come. I believe that. But, here are the stressors that have occurred in the past two years at our church:

I'm reviewing the past for a good reason, in any community conflict and with the stressors that affect a person, these stress "points" add up over time. They are cumulative, I am sure that some people could still be grieving the death of Phil Laporte. I'm sure Ken Williamson (and Barbara Winter-Martin too) are still missed by many. in the most recent events, the church probably would have adjusted fairiy well had the transition to a new minister gone smoothly. If the separation from the immediate past minister also had not been so abrupt and was more amicable — then I am guessing many folks would have stayed and not felt the need to leave the church. But events unfolded as they did. People acted and did what they felt they needed to do at the time. They made decisions they felt were best for them at the time. I honor that. Again, however, nothing happens by accident. But look at the realities. You have experienced five ministers in the past two years. If you likened a minister departing to a divorce, you've had four divorces and another remarriage in 24 months. If that represented someone's personal life, he or she would be an emotional mess.

But here is the good news, today, Jan. 20, 2008. Unity South has survived the trauma. Despite the stress, you stepped up as a congregation. Leaders came forth, in particular one that I will mention In a moment. When the office staff, bookkeeper and bookstore manager all resigned, people came forward to assume those responsibilities. By the way, I'm happy to say that Mike Lord, our church bookkeeper, has agreed to stay on for awhile. Also, one of the long time office managers (Donna Evers) came back temporarily to help get the church through a rough patch. Our most recent office manager (Debbie Green) also has been available to help train Nancy Lee, our current office manager who is doing a great job. Then you went out and found an ordained Unity minister who only lives 15 minutes from the church, me, to speak here every Sunday between Thanksgiving, Christmas and the new year. Then, your board asked and I agreed to serve another 90 days until the church decides what needs to be done next. Just like a person who doesn't throw in the towel because the stress points have reached the breaking point, you rallied as a church. You all deserve a lot of credit. You made a decision that the life of Unity South Church was worth saving. You took pride in your past and you commenced the CPR and the life saving actions that were necessary to bring the community back to health. You made this statement loud and clear: "Unity South is important to me. I am willing to stay and be a part of the solution." To that end, special recognition goes to one of your leaders who stepped forward and displayed courage, wisdom, strength, will and commitment during this past 60 days. She came forward at one of the most critical times in your church history. I hope, as they record the life and times of Unity South someday in the future, special mention will be made about your current board president, Yvette Trotman. Without her leadership, the church's survival would have definitely been more problematical. But there were many others too, and you know who you are. We know them too. Most of them are here today. I just say thank you to all of the people who made the determination that Unity South was too important to lose. In the past few weeks, I also have had the privilege of welcoming back several people who opted to leave for a time during the conflict. To those folks, I say thank you for coming back. We've missed you. We need your energy and your presence. To the others who haven't chosen to venture back so far, I would like to address them directly. We honor the reasons that you left, but anytime you want to return to Unity South Church, whoever you are, I promise one thing — I will be waiting down by the front door to welcome you back with open arms. I mean that. We miss you. It was OK to leave and it's also OK to come back. Your church wants you back. If you need to walk another path right now, we respect that. But someday I hope that path brings you back through these doors. I'm also telling everyone that I speak with—in the Unity community here in the Twin Cities, at Unity Village or anyone in the Unity movement:

"Unity South is a great church with unlimited potential." I mean that. I believe this church has an important spiritual destiny that God long ago set in motion.

Again, addressing those folks here today who may not be directly involved in the events of the past six months, there are always some important lessons brought forth for healing in any organizational crisis, if something is taking place in your community right now, the most crucial aspect concerns locating and understanding the metaphysical meaning that underlies the situation.

I've done considerable work in prayer and meditation this past week to see if I might discern the underlying elements of what has happened at Unity South. I am going to share what I got back from my time in the silence. I want to offer a disclaimer up front that I have absolutely no idea of where this insight comes from or how valid it may be. I am just going to share what I received from my own inner guidance. Perhaps you've prayed about things and received something different. But, here is what I got back.

Basically, I asked Spirit five questions:

Before I reveal to you what I heard, I want to share a personal belief that I've had for years. I think each one of us brings into this "Parenthesis In Eternity" offering a particular opportunity for greater spiritual growth. We learn lots of life lessons here on earth, but I believe we arrive carrying one specific lesson assignment. It might be forgiveness, compassion, humility, responsibility, strength, courage, wisdom or any number of other important life lessons. During our time here on earth, we are afforded many situations and opportunities for growth that involve this particular life lesson. I think the same thing is true for a "community" of people or any institution, such as a church.

In my meditation, what I heard was that the life lesson for Unity South church involves "faith." We have been given situation after situation, from the challenges that have confronted the church most recently to tests of faith that have occurred since our founding in 1982. If starting a new church, as the Carlsons and others did back then was not a leap of faith, I don't know what is. Surviving the untimely death of one of the best and most popular Unity ministers ever—Phil LaPorte—was definitely a test of faith. Some of the events that took place during Rev. Ken's ministry provided another test of the spirit. Then, there were the most recent events that seemed to raise the severity of the tests to even a higher level. So, if testing our "faith" is the "why," then what is the deeper meaning of these challenges?

In my meditations, one particular Bible character that kept surfacing again and again was Abraham. Charles Fiilmore, the co-founder of Unity, wrote a great book entitled THE METAPHYSICAL BIBLE DICTIONARY. In this tremendous book, Mr. Fillmore offered a definition for both "Abram" the original man and "Abraham" who the man became after God choose him to go forth to a "new country" and perform great tasks for God that included the founding of three great reiigions. First, here is how Mr. Fillmore defines Abram:

"Abram is the name that the author of Genesis gave to the quality through which man has faith in the forces invisible. Faith in the unseen God and in divine guidance becomes part of the consciousness when anyone becomes obedient to spirit. Abram acted in faith, some would say "blind faith," when God told him to go forth to a new country."

Many metaphysicians believe that when God calls an individual—and the same might be true for an institution— a new spiritual name accompanies the call. So, here is Charles Fillmore's definition of who Abram became—"Abraham": "The name "Abram" meant father of a tribe." "Abraham" means "father of multitudes." He calls Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation and the forerunner to Judaism, Islam and Christianity, an example of what unquestioning faith is—the ability of the mind to make substance out of ideas. This means that one is to express faith by bringing the faith of God into a multitude of manifested thoughts and acts. Mr, Fillmore says the first step in spiritual development Is the awakening of faith.

And did God test Abraham's faith? Absolutely! He told him to leave his home and go into a far country. He instructed Abraham to sacrifice Issac, his beloved son. Abraham was even willing to do that, before God let him off the hook. The story of Abram becoming Abraham represents the activity of faith in us and the tests and challenges along the way.

That brings me to the third question that I took into meditation:

"What is this situation preparing us for as a spiritual community?"

I believe that God hones the people and institutions that are given the most critical spiritual assignments. In my prayer work, what I heard was that Unity South has being tempered into steel for a high and important spiritual assignment. These tests of faith are preparing Unity South Church for some great spiritual work. But, as part of these tests, one aspect of the previous culture must undergo transformation. Again, I am just reporting what I heard in meditation. Today I am the messenger only. Here is the needed change for the next step in the spiritual journey of this community: We must go from being a church consisting of INDIVIDUALS of very high consciousness to something even higher. We must unify ourselves as one body to form one collective consciousness that God can use as a spiritual change agent in the area of faith. The world desperately needs faith right now. In particular, we hear messages of doom and gloom in many areas—the government, the economy, the environment, and even the future of organized religion have all been questioned about their viability. People want to believe in something. They want to have faith. I believe this is the moment when God is calling out: "Place Your Faith in Spirit." I think this church has been called to serve as part of that mission to restore spiritual faith rather than a faith in the material. But to accomplish this task, it may be the time to put aside our individual spiritual seeking for the good of all, bonding together as one body, one mind and one spirit.

So, on to the final two questions: What do we do now and how do we do it? Besides coming together as one body, we need to "Making Peace With Our Past." To help with that, again we will be offering two special workshops—next Thursday from 7 p.m to 8:30 p.m. and next Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (after church). In those workshops, we will try to bring the church community together to tell and reflect on the Unity South story. We'll begin to see how we have created identity, continuity, meaning and purpose as the context from which to orient ourselves to present circumstances and future possibilities. We need to understand the life story of the church as a framework helps us discover the answer to two great questions: "What has the church come here to be?" and "Who have I come here to be?" In doing so, we'll be starting the Peacemaking process. Peacemaking is creating a pathway to God. In answering those two questions, we will be creating a pathway to God for ourselves and our church. Making peace with the past is finding the activity of God at the heart of our stories. Hopefully, we can find how all of the past events—both good and bad—are preparing us all for the next steps and answering again those questions for the church and ourselves—"Why do we exist?" and "Who have we come here to be?" I believe when we accept God's assignment for the church, the healing of our spiritual community will begin in earnest.

You also are aware that "faith" is one of what Charles Fillmore called "The 12 Powers." In his book on the 12 Powers, Mr. Fillmore talks about how God tests our faith. He said before we can really experience God, we must be willing up give up that which is most dear to us. What I heard in meditation is that what many of us will need to forego is the individual pursuit of spiritual knowledge and replace it with a willingness to bind together as a spiritual community for a higher good. You can still work toward progress, enrichment and transformation for yourself, but then it should be used constructively to bless the whole body. Of course, each of us must make that decision for ourselves.

In the political process now unfolding in this election year, we are hearing a lot about "change." My meditations tell me that Unity South Church can be one of the catalysts for change in the area of restoring spiritual faith. I have a vision of what this church is now and what It can become in the future. I will say this: "Greatness for Unity South Church is attainable the moment we accept our destiny." We have the free will choice as individuals and a spiritual community what path we will take. But all that has happened is preparing us to make that choice.

One other thing I took into meditation was what role Eva Gabrielle, your most recent minister, played in this faith journey. My grandmother's name was Eva (she was a good and longtime Catholic) and we've all heard of the angel Gabriel in the Bible, although it wasn't spelled the same way. Mr. Fillmore's Metaphysical Bible Dictionary says that Gabriel was in essence a messenger and "interpreter" that not only announced great changes but helped bring about a unification of inner faculties and an elevation of consciousness. In other words, Gabriel was a catalyst of changing spiritual circumstances. I believe Rev. Eva was indeed called here for a higher spiritual purpose—to bring about a test of faith and also to cause the Church to "Make Peace With Our Past" so that we may move forward to decide whether or not to accept this spiritual destiny that God has worked out for us.

I personally think as part of the Peacemaking Process, we need to make our Peace with what has taken place in the past few months as far as Eva herself is concerned. This morning, after this talk, we will take our regular church offering. Then, we have also a basket downstairs where anyone that wants to make a love offering for Eva. I've got two checks with me this morning-a tithe to the church and then I'm also giving a tithe to Eva as well. In the events of the past few months, I am releasing any judgment about anything. I am releasing everyone involved to their highest good—and that includes Eva. In God's universe, everything happens for a reason. In the healing process, we let go of the need for anyone to be right. No one is right, no one is wrong. We're all just unwrapping the "presents" that God has prepared for us. Right now, I believe we need only to be present to God's will for us. I heard from Joann Landreth this week that Rev. Eva will be traveling down to Unity Village soon for a visit. I hope that when she is on the Village grounds that she can find peace and renewal for herself. Eva, and everyone involved in the events of the past few months, are all children of God. To that end, I would like for you to join with me as a church, to extend this blessing to Eva, "Eva, we love you, we biess you and we behold the Christ in you."

Quickly now, as we look forward to this period of transformation In our church's history, I think that here are the things we need to do now:

One last thing about my meditations on healing our spiritual community: Just as God did with Abram, I see our ministry of faith extending far beyond the walls of this church. Now that's a vision worth holding. That's a spiritual healing worth achieving. I do see this as a church of destiny and I see each one of you here is a part of that destiny. God told Abraham: "Go forth and multiply." I think God is calling this church to that same task by saying: "Unify as one body and one consciousness. Multiply the faith of those needing reassurance and comfort." That's a big job, but I think we are up to it.

Thank you. God bless you, and amen.