Sunday message by Rev. Pat Bessey

A shout out to everyone who made it to church on Sunday. It was -8 degrees as we made our way there for the 8 a.m. service. However, the warmth inside was cozy and comfortable with all the wonderful energy that everyone brought.

If you RSVP’d “yes” to the invitation to awaken in 2020 to the life of beauty and wonder that Spirit intends for you, then continue reading this. This week the focus was on staying awake while navigating the wake. For the water skiers or kneeboarders reading this, you know how important it is to stay awake when you are on the end of the rope. If you take your focus off the present moment you will end up in the water, taking on water. When you stay present and are staying in the middle of the wake, things can be calm, but within a few feet either side, you’ve got this wave of roiling water which can be very treacherous.

At times, we feel like we are living in the wake of pain, upset, challenges and strife. But true beauty, true wonder, true awe, in fact miracles, come when we stay awake even in the middle of the wakes of life!

In the message on Sunday, I quoted from one of my favorite poets, Mark Nepo, from his book, The Book of Awakening. This is a portion of that quote: “Death pushed me to the edge. Nowhere to back off. And to the shame of my fears, I danced with abandon on his face. I never danced as free. And Death backed off, the way dark backs off a sudden burst of flame. Now there’s nothing left, but to keep dancing. It is the way I would have chosen had I been born three time as brave. We are often called further into experience than we’d like to go, but it is this extra leap that lands us in the vibrant center of what it means to be alive.”

Are you being called, right now, further into an experience than you might like to go? If so, my friends, I invite you to stay awake as you navigate through it. Because when you do, the beauty, the blessings, the awe and the wonder that await you, truly are holy!

Please take the time to listen to the message from Sunday and hear about the love and courage of Etty Hillesum as well as the complete piece from Mark Nepo.

You are a blessing in my life,
Rev. Patricia Bessey

Sunday message by Rev. Pat Bessey

In our mission statement, we have three areas that determine whether we do an event or not. They are: Is it educational, is it service-oriented, and does it create community? On Friday evening the event was a potluck and open mic. This event fulfilled our criteria. And as icing on the cake, it was so much fun. A shout out to Elizabeth Peterson and all who supported her in making this happen. We ate great food, heard from many within and outside our community with singing, original poetry reading and just plain fun and laughter.

Tami-Joy Palmiter had us join her in singing a song from the 13 Grandmothers called Sing the Water Song. 

(See a video here: Sing the Water Song from Sing The Water Song on Vimeo.)

Stay tuned; we will be having a community event on the last Friday of each month with a potluck and a different fun activity.

As we continued with the theme of Awakening in 2020 — To fully awaken to a life of beauty and wonder that Spirit has designed for you —  the message on Sunday was “Awaken My Heart to Grace.”

What is God’s Grace?

Lowell Fillmore, son of Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, helps us understand the concept of Grace when he says, “Remember that the grace of God is God’s love in action. God’s grace is unlimited and so wonderful that words can scarcely describe it. We can use such words as mercy, forgiveness, compassion, goodwill, kindness, inspiration, and generosity to describe God’s grace, but they are hardly adequate to cover the fullness of its meaning.”

Here are other definitions of Grace given by Unity authors over the years:

“Grace is God’s gift of love and mercy, given freely to us whether or not we deserve it. We cannot steal, borrow, buy, or earn it. We can only accept or refuse it” (Handbook of Positive Prayer, 151).

This flies in the face of the following…

Did you hear that you didn’t deserve this grace; that it was completely unmerited. Were you ever told that as a sinful human being, you could not possibly merit or deserve the grace of God because you were so flawed and you could never even earn it because you could never be good enough?

“The grace of God extends to all people, not alone to one sect or creed. All men are equal in favor with God.” (Keep a True Lent, 169).

In Psalms 45:2, it reads: “. . . grace is poured upon your lips; therefore, God has blessed you forever.”

And the Apostle Paul wrote: “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not our own doing, it is the gift of God – not because of any works . . .”

So, we could say that grace is . . .

* God’s divine love — freely given to all,
* God’s eternal protection — freely given to all,
* God’s ever-present blessings — freely given to all,
* God’s complete givingness — freely bestowed upon all,
* God’s gift of absolute favor — freely given to all.

If this is God’s intention for us, and I believe it is, how is it that this is not how we are seeing people treated in our world today?

“The true nature of God as law is realized not through merit, but through grace — love. No one really feels he has earned love, for love from any source is felt as a free gift, as grace.” (Leddy and Randolph Schmelig, Steps in Self-Knowledge, 89).

In The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo, he writes: “Each person is born with an unencumbered spot – free of expectation and regret, free of ambition and embarrassment, free of fear and worry – an umbilical spot of grace where we were each first touched by God. It is this spot of grace that . . . theologians call it the soul, Jung calls it the Seat of the Unconscious, Hindu masters call it Atman, Buddhists call it Dharma, Rilke [considered the German language’s greatest poet of the 20th Century] calls it Inwardness, Sufis call it Qalb, and Jesus calls it the Center of our Love. To know this spot [of Grace] is to know who we are, not by surface markers of identity, not by where we work or what we wear or how we like to be addressed, but by feeling our place in relation to the Infinite and by inhabiting it.”

Next Sunday we continue with “Staying Awake While Navigating the Wake.”

You are a blessing in my life,
Rev. Patricia Bessey

Sunday Service with Rev. Pat Bessey

WOW! The concert Julie Thompson and Neil Lamb gave after service on Sunday was awesome. Some of the songs they performed were songs that many of us knew and we sang along. It was a perfect ending to a great Sunday service.

It was the White Stone service, which is a new year’s traditional service. The history of the white stone comes from the book of Revelation 2:17, which reads: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.”

When the early Christian church was being created, most of the area was controlled by Rome and when someone was released from prison, they were given a White Stone. That was all they received, and it was known by all that you had served your sentence and had been released.

So it is fitting that we do the White Stone ritual at the first of the year to signify everything from the past year or more has been released. You are free to start a new life. It is a new beginning from a purified state of consciousness and the ritual is that we are given a new name to live by, which reminds and represents our I AM Christ nature. A new name signifies a new role and a new way of being.

I am going to share my thoughts on the metaphysics of this scripture. I remind you, however, that you are the final authority on what it means for you.

“To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.”

Manna — The bread of life; the Word of God. Represents the realization that the divine substance is everywhere present, in every part of the consciousness.

Stone — Refers to the indwelling Christ, which is the keystone of each human being’s character.

Name — New name, remembering the I AM, the Christ consciousness.

To me, it is Spirit saying, “Come with me, spend time with me.” Choose this way and I will give you spiritual food you know not of. And that food is a reminder of who you are. I am going to give you a new name to live by. Keep it close to your heart.

Conquers — Let us use the word overcoming here… who of us has not had to overcome a problem or weakness in our lives… and so the promise to you is – as you overcome – you will be given some new knowledge – some new understanding of God in action in your life.

If you were unable to attend on Sunday and would like to do the ritual, there will be white stones on the information table in the foyer; pick up one and then listen to the talk and the meditation and get your new name!

Before I lose your attention, I want to let you know that registration is open for the retreat with Mirabai Starr on March 14 at Saint Joseph College. Read more about it and register.

Join me this Sunday along with Julie Thompson. The topic for the message is The Four Kingdoms of Awakening.

You are a blessing in my life,
Rev. Patricia Bessey