Unity Church Of Clearwater

Our Christmastime is filled with Light as we remember to give thanks for Baby Jesus, sent here with love. In our celebrations of this holy time, we laugh, we pray, we love, we dance, we sing out loud, and we forgive differences. We think of the moment when the angelic revelation came to the shepherds keeping the night watch with their flocks, and in this moment, all is well in the world, without a doubt. That’s what this season of love is about. “If we’ll just keep our hearts as open as a Bethlehem sky, then we can take this feeling with us the rest of our lives.”

How many more shopping days until Christmas? How many more days are left on earth? Let’s count our days aright, dismissing worries about the Mayan Calendar and about all the days of our lives. Let’s pray this prayer, every day! Every day, the Spirit of the Lord leads us from darkness to light. Every day is a gift – a time to be merry and give thanks to God. Every day, let our hearts be filled with love as we sing for joy, for we count each day a blessing. Every day, let Love be born in every heart, so that each day is holy with true thoughts, bright with wonder, and blessed with peace.

The Heart Sutra is possibly the best known text of Mahayana Buddhism, and is said to be the pure distillation of wisdom. This relatively short selection of ancient wisdom is part of the much larger collection of about 40 sutras composed between 100 BCE and 500 CE. As with most Buddhist scriptures, simply believing in the teaching of the Heart Sutra is not the point, for it speaks of a Truth that cannot be grasped only by intellect. The idea is to keep the words of this simple prayer in our hearts so that true understanding unfolds by grace through sincere practice of peacefulness, fearlessness, and love. We find that these essential teachings are echoed in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures as well. The “Bodhisattvas” mentioned in the Heart Sutra are idealized pure minded souls who express perfect love and experience “Nirvana” – the bliss of perfect freedom and peace. “The Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom, and so with no delusions, they feel no fear, and have Nirvana here and now. All the Buddha

These lyrics from Daniel Nahmod's song "Years to My Life" say it all. “I didn’t mean to forgive you for all the harm you’ve done. I didn’t plan to understand you, but against my will, I’ve begun. In searching my soul, I found that place. Now there’s no mistaking this calmer space. I never counted my blessings. I only saw where you failed, blinding myself to the lessons you taught in tender detail. Well, time has a way of clearing sight, like slowly someone turned on a light. I didn’t know you’d consumed me. I couldn’t see what I’d become. I thought I was some kind of grownup, but I was still so young. And the more I denied it, the worse it grew, ‘Til all I was left with was blaming you. I’m adding years to my life, years to my life, by saying goodbye to my anger. I’ve frozen years of my life, holding so much cold inside. Now, finally, I find I have cried the ice away.” I’m adding years to my life by forgiving!

Let us pray in the consciousness of this prayer of gratitude, even when we feel that we are lacking, even when we feel lost, even when we worry that there is not enough, even when we forget that each new day brings blessings, if we will only open our hearts to receive them: A Prayer of Thanksgiving: Thank You, God, for Your never-failing generosity to me. Thank You for revealing a safe and direct path for me. Thank you for revealing my spiritual inheritance of abundant good, well being and strength, peace of mind, freedom from worry, and new blessings in every new day.

Permanent prosperity comes through divine wisdom. Many wonders await in my mind’s eye. If I can conceive it, I can receive it. Knowing that God’s divine plan for me is good and only good, with great clarity, I claim my destiny. I pray the Prayer of Jabez from First Chronicles in scripture: “Bless me and extend my boundaries!” Beyond perceived boundaries lie infinite possibilities of good. Jesus taught: “Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive" (Matthew 21:22). As I believe, I do receive!

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the message is repeated over and over again: Live the Truth that you know and reap what you sow. As we hold to our highest ideals, in thought, word, and action, we tend to draw outcomes to ourselves according to our faith and willingness to receive. By the law of attraction, we are literally magnetized to our vision of what we faithfully express and what we feel willing and worthy to manifest. Realizing that our thoughts are creative, we truly are on a mission to hold the vision of what we want in our lives. Right now, right where we are, we are in the right place at the right time, and we are magnets for fulfillment and prosperity.

God sees us “without the masks” of seeming personality flaws, physical defects, past mistakesand present limitations. God see us as beautiful, worthy, and beloved. God sees us as inherentlywise, whole, wealthy, and wonderful. In the midst of all the moods of life and all the “disguises”we may wear, we can see others with eyes of love just as God sees us as we truly are: miracles inthe making. No matter how good our “get ups” might be, God sees through the appearance to thereal self of each of us, endowed with infinite possibilities. Through all the outer changes, that neverchanges!

I am an idea in the Mind of God. I let God’s idea express in me and as me. I am what I think. I am daily changed into a likeness truer to God’s image of me. God’s world is the real world. In God’s world I am loved as I really am. In God, I live, and move, and have my being. In me, God lives, moves, and has expression as my real Self.

God is with you now and has always been with you. Alone in the wilderness, the patriarch, Jacob, declared this realization: “Truly, the LORD is in this spot, although I did not know it!” (Genesis 28:16). God is nearer than the breath you are breathing. Rahab, woman of Jericho, also realized the omnipresence of God, declaring the God of the Children of Israel to be “in heaven above and on earth below” (Joshua 2:11). Later, in Psalm 139, King David sang: “Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee? If I ascend to the heavens, you are there . . . . If I fly with the wings of dawn and alight beyond the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand hold me fast,” and rejoiced, “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb . . . . My very self you knew . . . . when I was being made in secret” (Psalm 139:13-15). Wherever you are, God is, softly whispering in your soul: “I am here with you, I will never leave you. I have always been with you, all along.”

Jesus taught that it is natural for a good shepherd to leave the ninety-nine sheep in his fold in order to rescue one little lost lamb. Well versed in the Torah, surely Jesus knew the story of the brave little donkey who wisely turned from the angel in her path, though it was invisible to the prophet Balaam. By grace, we learn intuitive wisdom through animals. We all know the story of Daniel in the lions’ den. By grace, we learn gentleness through animals. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, He fulfilled the prophecy by riding on the unbroken colt of a donkey. By grace, we learn receptivity through animals. Even the prophet Jonah, who thought he could hide from God’s mission for him, prayed from the belly of the “big fish” and was delivered safely to the shore. By grace, we learn that God works through animals. This Sunday, we will spiritually “swim with the dolphins!”

“I open my eyes, greet this new day, take a deep breath, and as I pray, I give thanks. I know that I am blessed. So, I expect the best. Right where I am, just as I am, all that I want, all I desire is now waiting here for me. The universe conspires to insure my happiness. So, I expect the best. I expect the best from every passing moment, every single day, I’m loving my life, living my dreams, losing my fears, spreading my wings, feeling alive, anticipating what the future holds for me. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next. I expect the best!”

I trust in Spirit as my “GPS” – God’s Positioning System – and my journey is safe and sure. Traveling through a seeming “desert” in life, I am led to “oases” in God’s presence. I take the high road on my journey, for it is the way of joy and healing. Even when I cannot see the path before me, I know that God is with me, every step of the road ahead.

Let me be pure of heart, and see only God – only good – when I look upon others. I remember that what I am seeing is what I am being. So, instead of taking offense, I bless. If others point out my faults or disappoint me humanly, I learn not to take it personally. We are all growing. Seen through the eyes of divine love, we look divine!

I am a spiritual newcomer. I no longer stand in the shadows of former expectations of me. I make room for new Self-understanding. I release everyone else’s vision of who I should be, and I find my way home. I know that I can take my own road and feel a freedom I have never known. I am unlearning what was never true and unbecoming what I never was. I am coming home!

“Only say the word” (Matthew 8:8), said the Centurion to Jesus, knowing that his servant would be healed instantly through Jesus’ spoken word of faith. The great tradition of positive affirmations in Unity follows this same line of thought. Take a deep breath and speak these affirmations, inspired by Florence Scovel Shinn, author of the New Thought classic: Your Word Is Your Wand: “Divine Love, through me, now dissolves all seeming obstacles and makes clear, easy and successful my way.” “I stand steadfast, immovable, giving thanks for my seeming impossible good to come to pass.” “I now stand aside and watch God work.” “Nothing is too good to be true. Nothing is too wonderful to happen. Nothing is too good to last.” We now affirm with you: Your word of faith is your magic wand, for your word is God in action!

The Sanskrit word “yoga” has the literal meaning of "yoke," from a root word meaning “to join,” “to unite,” or “to attach.” In a way, “Unity” has the same sort of meaning. We might even think of Jesus as the great “Yoga Master,” for He taught: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light" (Matthew 11:28-30). I affirm that I rest in the center of my being, I release tension with each breath and inhale joy and enthusiasm effortlessly. St. Paul wrote of spiritual discipline like “training” the body. I affirm that with energy, courage, and determination, I steadfastly practice the discipline of physical and mental poise. Like Jesus, Paul referred to the body as a temple. I now claim that I am deeply connected to heaven and earth, for my body is a temple of the living God. I radiate health and happiness from the core of my body te

I am a Child of God and God is Love. God cannot fail, so I cannot fail. Suffering and pain are not God’s will. God’s will is good and only good, for God is Love. God is my Healer, God is my Savior, God is Love – mighty in the midst of me. Getting “even” is not the way to win. The way to win is by loving more, for God is Love.

Throughout the Bible, we read of the subtle power of small things. In I Kings, the prophet Elijah sent his servant to look for a rain cloud seven times. At last, the servant said he saw a little cloud as small as a man’s hand coming up from the sea. Elijah told him to hurry, because the rain was coming. Sure enough in only a moment, “the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain fell.” Proverbs speaks of the wisdom of tiny ants, the cunning of tiny hyraxes making their homes in rocky crags, the organization of migrating locusts, and the agility of lizards, making their way into kings’ palaces. Jesus taught that the tiny mustard seed could grow into the largest of plants. Though only a youth, David the shepherd boy was able to conquer the mighty Goliath. Therefore, let these words of Lisa Firestone’s be our prayer today: “Though I be small, God, give me the grace to be love’s beacon while I’m in this place. Help me be all I can for the human race. Use me, Spirit, though I be so very, very small.”

Jesus, our Wayshower, taught us how to pray with and for one another. He said: “This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). Therefore, whatever we affirm for others, we also claim for ourselves. Whatever we claim for others, we also affirm for ourselves, for we are all children of the same Father – the same Sustainer-Creator, Source. We are one in Spirit. Jesus said, concerning His beloved followers: “I pray for them . . . . And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth . . . that they may be one” (John 17:9,19-21 ). St. Paul, inspired by the Christ, wrote: “We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you . . . . We do not cease praying for you” (Colossians 1:3-12). Jesus, our Master, lovingly revealed that we would come to know that true prayer requires no intermediary: “On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you” (John 16:26-7).