As we continued this February’s exploration of #RadicalRelationships, on Sunday, Jim Dethmer and Debbie Burditt joined us with their message, “The Keys To Lasting Love!”
To celebrate Black History Month, we’re quoting African-American leaders for our #WednesdayWisdom posts, in combination with selected street portraits from Chicago-based photographer @cpplunkett. Today’s quote comes from Assata Shakur on the “fire of love and the sweat of truth.”
On Sunday, Rev. Lola Wright kicked off our new February theme, Radical Relationships, with her message, “Radical Love, Beyond Conditions.”
To celebrate Black History Month, we’ll be quoting African-American leaders for our #WednesdayWisdom posts, in combination with selected street portraits from Chicago-based photographer @cpplunkett. We’re kicking things off with famed author Toni Morrison on what love is, a quote from her book Beloved.
On Sunday, Rev. Lola Wright continued our series “Reveal Love, Honor All Paths & Celebrate Love” in celebration of our 12th anniversary with her message “Where Is Love? Reveal It.”
Message Notes
Opening
- Song: “Where Is Love?” By Typhanie Monique
- Video: “THE LAB: DECOY – A portrait session with a twist” by Canon Australia (embedded below)
- Millionaire/Life Saver/Ex Inmate/Psychic/Recovering Alcoholic/Fisherman
- Who are you really? And what are you seeing?
Objectives
- Develop intimacy with the practice of revelation
- Deepen in our understanding of Love
- Identify with our unique purpose as a community
Keywords / Points / Takeaways
REVEAL
Everything we need is already present. All solutions, all desires, all resources – we must become aware of hidden things.
- Revelation – Becoming consciously aware of hidden things. (SOM Glossary p. 630)
- Reveal – to make known
- If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. – William Blake
- What the healer does is to mentally uncover and reveal the Truth of Being, which is that God is in and through every man, and that this Indwelling Presence is already Perfect. (SOM p. 418)
LOVE
Love is. AND, we do not remember that so we must practice. Our spiritual practices give us access to Love.
- Love is our highest word and the synonym for God. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- The one who has learned to love all people will find plenty of people who will return that love. This is not mere sentiment, and it is more than a religious attitude of mind. It is a deep, scientific fact, and one to which we should pay attention. The reason is this: As all is Mind, and as we attract to us what we first become, until we learn to love we are not sending out love vibrations and not until we send out those vibrations can we receive love in return. (SOM p. 297)
PURPOSE
We were founding as a teaching institution. We are a community of teachers and learners. What might we do as revealers of love everywhere that we go?
- If you can’t see God in all, you can’t see God at all. – Yogi Bhajan
- The premise of Unity is based on the notion that God is all there is. That there is one thing happening – Love. – Yogi Bhajan
- I have come to create teachers, not to gather disciples. – Yogi Bhajan
COMMUNITY MEMBERSHIP
9 months of focus groups, historical reflection, field analysis. How might we Reveal Love in this process? Is it a gift or a have to? What if I engage with it as a gift of love?
- Be in the Practice of Oneness
- Be Related
- Be in Belonging
- Be in Sacred Service
- Be in Committed Giving
Synopsis
- How We Gather – Community Organizers
- Crisis of Isolation
- Most important, fundamental and inexpensive remedy to all of life’s
- Justice is the public face of love. – Cornel West
- Justice = the principle of right action
- Righteousness = acting in accord with divine law
Closing
Homework: Go through the Community Membership Process seeing it as a gift … something you GET to do, not HAVE to do.
Concluding this month’s “Get to Give” series, Rev. Cynthia James visited with her message, “You Are Loved.”
This week’s #WednesdayWisdom comes from Cornel West on our calling to love.
This week’s #WednesdayWisdom comes from Rumi on Love as the “Supreme Musician” of our souls.
This week’s #WednesdayWisdom comes from Ernest Holmes in a quote referenced in our newly created Sacred Covenant and Covenant Prayer.