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| Wednesday "Faith Lift" Meditation: 7:00 PM Lessons in Truth Class (Zoom): 7:00 PM
Table Talk Thursday (Zoom): 12:00 PM
Sunday Service: 10:45 AM
Sunday Social (Zoom): 12:00 PM |
| | | | Our
WINGS group met in the UCC Cafe on Tuesdays for many years. Now that
we're sheltering in place, the group really misses sharing their
inspiring weekly studies.
Since our WINGS group leader, UCC Certified
Truth Teacher, Cynthia Mackey, began to send out weekly emails to the
group, we asked if we might share her messages with our entire email list so that more people could enjoy
them.
You're very welcome to send questions or positive comments to
Cynthia at: info@unityofclearwater.org. |
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Hi, Everyone!
Well, as most of you know, today is the first day of Fall – I mean the real official Autumnal Equinox! And the Florida weather actually cooperated and produced an unseasonably cool morning! I must admit I am right in the spirit! I have my house completely decorated with leaves and pumpkins and even little orange lights. My family is so understanding and puts up with all my seasonal decorating now that I don’t have a classroom to decorate our home gets it! My kitty, Princess, is also so excited – she spent an hour or more out on her porch today for the first time in months. (I think when I told her she didn’t have to wear a mask on her own porch that cinched the deal, Lol!)
Anyway, a few weeks ago, I think, I wrote about change coming and I still feel that it is so. It seems there are many forces at work in our society and sometimes it is difficult to remember that there is only one Presence and one Power – God, the good Omnipotent and God is Love. There is much sadness and loss of life to Covid-19, to gun violence and other forms of violence and the loss of revered and beloved trailblazers of our country – John Lewis and Ruth Bader Ginsberg in this year 2020. This has made it seem difficult not to give power to the negative.
So, this took me to a less known work by Emmet Fox called Diagrams for Living. It is a collection of his lectures on the “diagrams for living” outlined in the Bible. He states that the Bible contains much authentic history and biography, but it also contains “a great mass of parables and allegories.” He emphasizes that the reason many folks struggle to understand the Bible is that they don’t realize that some of the things they might have heard taught as fact are really allegory and contain “diagrams for our personal destiny.” (Leddy and Rabbi Baseman are teaching a whole eight-session class on these ideas, from 3-4 pm on Thursdays, starting October 1 – don’t miss it!)
Today, I want to focus on Chapter 5, “Turning the Tide of Trouble.” This chapter focuses on the story of Noah and the Ark – a well-known story, but one that you may not realize is a diagram for approaching the larger difficulties that come along in life. It is filled with psychological and metaphysical truths we can all use. The story begins with God’s apparent displeasure with the “evilness” of humanity. However, Fox reminds it is not possible for God to be displeased with humanity; He created us and He loves us, but the “Lord” referred to in the allegory is our Divine self. It is our Divine self that knows there is no power in evil, but when fear enters into human consciousness, that gives rise to all manner of negative behavior. Because the Divine spark is within us, we rebel against fear (evil) and limitation. Fox says, “Thank God for that. Rebellion against evil is a splendid thing.” He quotes “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” We could say that the coming rain in the story is really a deluge of fear, limited thinking and negative behavior that fear and limited thinking bring about. Now, we are flooded with trouble. It kind of feels like that today – but there is always a solution.
As soon as a problem is presented in the Bible, a solution is always also presented. This story contains many steps to the solution. However, one that I want to point out is that when Noah builds the Ark, he is instructed to place only one small window way up high near the roof. Why there? It is there so that Noah and his companions would have to look up to see the sky. This is the reminder that if we want to see beyond appearances, we must lift our eyes and our thoughts above the outer appearances – in this case, above the fear producing flood waters. Emmet Fox refers to this as the “Golden Key.” The Golden Key tells us to think of God instead of the problem! Humans seem to have such a tendency to pray one minute, affirming only one Presence and one Power, and the next minute may be fretting as the water is now “six inches higher” and it’s still raining. We must not keep looking only at “the troubles that surround us.” We must look away, rise up in consciousness, be at peace with God, and turn away from the flood.
Of course, I have only brushed the surface of the allegory contained in this Bible story. So, I recommend that you read the entire chapter in the book. I know, dear friends, that it can feel difficult not to look at the flood waters, hurricanes, fires, death and disease, but if it were easy to lift our consciousness away from these negative forces then we would all do it and the entire world would rise above it. No, this seems a challenging process, but I know we are up to the challenge, if we support each other, encourage each other, and learn together these new ways to think, act, and pray!
I miss all of you and look forward to times when we can be together. I love to hear from you, so please drop me a line to let me know how you are doing!
Peace, Love and a Higher Consciousness
Cynthia
Today’s photos come from our trip to Williamsburg, Virginia last Thanksgiving. It was rather chilly and late in the season for Fall leaves but I did get a few. Enjoy! |
| | | | | | | | | Your Weekly Affirmation:
“GOD NEVER GIVES UP ON ME, SO I NEVER GIVE UP ON MY GOOD.”
THANK YOU, GOD! |
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