On Sunday—our first available via Livestream!—Rev. Lola Wright kicked off our November series, “Service As Sacred Medicine,” with her message, “Who We Be: Sacred Citizenship.”
Photo credit: Annmarie Chereso via Facebook
Listen
Message Notes
Opening
Imagine a society that exists with collaboration, innovation and creativity at the center of all things. Imagine a society that exists to support and celebrate the human spirit and the human family. Imagine a society where business and real estate transactions lift up all human beings. Imagine a society that loves and cherishes its land and natural resources. Imagine a society that is deeply committed to solutions and a win for all involved. Would you be willing to consider that such a society may exist? Would you be willing to consider that all the ingredients for such a society are already right here? Would you be willing to consider that the only thing that stands between present day circumstances and a realization of such a society is a thought followed by a willingness to realize that society?
This, I believe, is a society impelled by Sacred Service.
EXAMPLE:
Thomas Reuters – 12.2 billion dollars in revenue; 50,000 employees, in over 100 countries
45.8 million in some form of modern slavery – sex slavery, forced or bonded labor – combined pop. of New York, London and Bangkok. Modern slavery is a 150 billion-dollar industry.
TRANSPARENCY in supply chain
89% of companies don’t have a fully vetted supply chain. TRI is a world leader in supply chain intelligence – stamp out forced labor.
Diversity Commission/Dear Lola, – all my judgements, irritability, assessments, resentments
– If you were to give more than you take how would you show up in this place?
– If you were to leave every space greater than you found it how would you show up in this place?
– If you were to lay down being right and be available for transformation how would you show up in this place?
Objectives:
GIVE MORE THAN YOU TAKE
What are we serving and who are we serving????
SLIDE: The way we treat the earth is inseparable from how our society treats women. – Tracy Rector
Choctaw/Seminole curator and filmmaker
Keywords/Stories/Points:
Who We Be as Sacred Citizens (Election Day/Standing Rock)
SLIDE: Sacred is a term that recognizes the dignity, divinity, and wholeness in literally everyone and everything. It binds us together in the mystery of life and links us into a single human family. In a truly sacred world, no one is ultimately our enemy. “Sacred America Sacred World” by Stephen Dinan
So who have you deemed as your enemy? One you must conquer – kids, spouse, government, the pres. nominee, crazy aunt or cousin?
Divine Human – East Meets West – Andrew Harvey
SLIDE: A divine human lives in radiant alignment with the highest level of consciousness but is fully and passionately engaged in the world. It is different from Eastern models of enlightenment in the past, which often focused on transcending worldly life; instead, a divine human lives as a unique expression of his or her essence within the world. It is a model of spiritual realization that fundamentally embraces service and expresses a new kind of unity. It is enlightenment in action. – “Sacred America Sacred World” by Stephen Dinan
We have forgotten the great gift of living is in giving!!!
SLIDE: When we have a dream that is unworthy of us, we forget who we are. A truly sacred America needs a new dream for our citizens, a dream that calls upon our full, creative potential to make a contribution to the world. Instead of “having it all,” our dream might evolve to living a life that is a “blessing for all” or “in service to all.” – “Sacred America Sacred World” by Stephen Dinan
Contribution or Consumption – Standing Rock – #NoDAPL
SLIDE: The essence of the problem is about consumption, recognizing that a society that consumes one-third of the world’s resources is unsustainable. This level of consumption requires constant intervention into other people’s lands. – Winona LaDuke
You are needed to serve:
SLIDE: Many are confused and frightened to see anger and frustration sweeping like wildfire across societies that enjoy historic safety and prosperity. But their refusal to be content with physical and material security actually reveals something beautiful: a universal human hunger to be needed. – “Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded” by The Dalai Lama & Arthur C. Brooks
GIVE MORE THAN YOU TAKE
Summary:
Our ability to thrive in a human experience rests on our ability to honor the Presence in another – the collective – to see a thing beyond ourselves.
SLIDE: The smallest indivisible human unit is two people, not one; one is a fiction. – Tony Kushner, Playwright
Shifting from Me to We – Natural flow of generosity
I am because you are. – South African Ubuntu Tribe (kindness, togetherness, community)
Closing:
Prayer of Visualization for the land upon which we stand, for the those in sacred service to the sacred sites of our country, for the election process – for the hearts and minds of all human beings, for the one that knows in each of us that we are intrinsically bound.
