Good morning, everyone and welcome to our first service of 2017. I don’t know about all of you but I have been having severe withdrawals from not seeing my Church Family for close to a month!! Can you believe it? There is a college in the UK called the Human Givens Institute. The 2 founders Dr. Joe Griffin and Dr. Ivan Tyrell, have developed a model for depression that they suggest progresses because our emotional needs – that they call the Human Givens – are not met. The Human Givens include:
Emotional needs:
- Security — safe territory and an environment which allows us to develop fully
- Attention (to give and receive it) — a form of nutrition
- Sense of autonomy and control — having volition to make responsible choices
- Emotional intimacy — to know that at least one other person accepts us totally for who we are, “warts ‘n’ all”
- Feeling part of a wider community
- Privacy — opportunity to reflect and consolidate experience
- Sense of status within social groupings
- Sense of competence and achievement
- Meaning and purpose — which come from being stretched in what we do and think.
So you see there is a scientific explanation as to why we start feeling depressed when we don’t get together. Fortunately, we do have each other, the holiday season is over, and we can get back to normal.
So how many of you made New Year’s resolutions? Those of you who went to Karen’s New Year party were able to participate in our Bowl Burning Ceremony which gives us an opportunity to leave behind all of those things which no longer serve us, and then to invite into our lives what we do want to manifest this year, by giving thanks for what we know will be given. We were then truly blessed to have Danny perform a Native American Peace Pipe Ceremony for us which made the evening very special indeed.
As we begin this New Year I thought it might be good starting point to revisit the notion of abundance and the faith necessary to manifest it. And yes, faith is the key to bring what you have asked for, as Abraham would tell you, out of the Vortex and into your reality. If you doubt that this has anything to do with spirituality, I would suggest that you read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew Chapters 5, 6, and 7), especially Matthew Chapter 6., and Chapter 7 verse 7, “Ask and it is Given,” which is where the title of the Abraham book that first made me aware of Esther and Jerry Hicks, came from.
First of all, however, we need to recognize that abundance is not necessarily money: blessings come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and yet we frequently fail to recognize them because we become so attached to a specific outcome. How many of you know the story of the man and the flood?
A very religious man was once caught in rising floodwaters. He climbed onto the roof of his house and trusted God to rescue him. A neighbour came by in a canoe and said, “The waters will soon be above your house. Hop in and we’ll paddle to safety.”
“No thanks” replied the religious man. “I’ve prayed to God and I’m sure he will save me”
A short time later the police came by in a boat. “The waters will soon be above your house. Hop in and we’ll take you to safety.”
“No thanks” replied the religious man. “I’ve prayed to God and I’m sure he will save me”
A little time later a rescue services helicopter hovered overhead, let down a rope ladder and said. “The waters will soon be above your house. Climb the ladder and we’ll fly you to safety.”
“No thanks” replied the religious man. “I’ve prayed to God and I’m sure he will save me”
All this time the floodwaters continued to rise, until soon they reached above the roof and the religious man drowned. When he arrived at heaven he demanded an audience with God. Ushered into God’s throne room he said, “Lord, why am I here in heaven? I prayed for you to save me, I trusted you to save me from that flood.”
“Yes you did my child” God replied, “And I sent you a canoe, a boat and a helicopter. But you never got in.”
Too often we are so attached to specific outcomes that canoes, boats and helicopters come and go in our lives without us even noticing them.
But that silly story demonstrates two things about the Law of Abundance: you ask but you have to be ready to see the canoe or the boat or the helicopter even if it doesn’t look like the Rolls Royce you asked for. And Faith is the fuel that allows you to take that chance and step in. When I was a little girl I saw a skit where a young girl was torn between eating or leaving a piece of pie temptingly left on a table. While she was contemplating her options, she looked up and saw a plaque on the wall which read, “God helps those who help themselves” – and so she ate the pie. For the longest time, that really troubled me as I only saw the one meaning of “help themselves” and, being a good Catholic child, stealing was stealing was stealing so why would God be complicit?
By the way, all these years I thought that the phrase, “God helps those who help themselves” was biblical but it is not. The phrase originated in ancient Greece. It is illustrated by two of Aesop’s Fables and a similar sentiment is found in ancient Greek drama. Although it has been commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, the modern English wording appears earlier in the work of Algernon Sidney, a 17th century British politician who was eventually hung for treason.
Anyway, as I told you on Hogmanay at the Bowl Burning, fear is what stops you from taking the step into to the canoe, boat or helicopter. Most of our suffering comes from fear of lack: fear of not having enough; fear of not getting our needs met; fear of not doing enough; and, of course, fear of not being enough.
Now, fear is another of those interesting constructs that make our lives miserable but we can’t live without them: the other being the one and only awful, relentless ego. But both are necessary components of our physical journey and it is an excess of both that causes all the problems. Fear was designed to keep us safe in our hostile, primitive environment, and it still acts as our protector alerting us to situations that may endanger us. The problem arises when fear gets out of controls and inhibits us from moving in any direction. Shall we say, the Devil you know is better than the Devil you don’t know – and this was a principle well understood and used by the fundamental churches.
What is ironic is that all the stuff of the Law of Abundance was all there in all four gospels, but because of the religious interpretation and the fearful sub-messages of greed and guilt and LACK, we were raised to be fearful not only of not having enough but of not being able to ask for what we wanted. It has taken leaving the church and becoming aware of a group of channeled entities for me to understand the scriptures and appreciate what they were actually telling us, to find the underlying assurance of unconditional love.
My grandmother was 4’ 11”, totally deaf, she lost the love of her life in WWI, she married my grandad and then lost 2 of her 3 children, a daughter that was 2, and a son that 26, she worked hard all her life, had Parkinson’s Disease and yet every time you saw her, she had a cheery disposition and, if you complained about something, she would remind you to count your blessings, name them one by one.
So as we move forward on our spiritual journeys this New Year, I invite you to be aware of the grace in your life, to count your blessings, name them one by one, and to keep your eyes and ears open for the canoes, boats, and helicopters that are constantly coming your way. If all else fails, start with appreciating that we have each other, and a forum where we can discuss and share, without fear of being judged or criticized. We have a place where all opinions are valid, and valued, and each piece contributes to the whole. And I am going to finish this morning with a quote by that wonderful spiritual teacher, Oprah Winfrey, who said:
Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.
