September, 2016

Express Something

Treatment by Jenn Fay, RScP

Greetings,

I’ve been reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s book

Big Magic. It’s about creativity & all the lore

around this seemingly elusive experience.

If you feel a creative nudge or have a curiosity,

follow it, go for it! She & I agree that’s a Divine

Nudge towards something. I call it following the

thread. It has lead me to such Wonder.

Following her advice that rings true to me,

I’m putting my words out there in a nontraditional

prayer-poem. Not everyone likes poetry, but I’m

not hear to please everyone, thank you, God for

that! 🙂

Express Something

Beloved knows All that Is

All that I am

Together, we craft Life, make changes, plod along

Then, sprint towards the Rapture, the Wonder

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My feet land on firm ground

Then, confusion….

Sacred stepping stones strategically placed

in every direction

Eeny-meeny-miny-moe

Sustain or create a new status quo

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Momentarily, the “same old” creeps in…

Heart broken, open with disappointment

Heaven shouts, EXPRESS SOMETHING!

For God’s sake!

No… for God’s Delight!

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Finally, my Compassion for Being human

Even when I miss the mark,

the Urge celebrates the perfection within

my missing, my falling, my failing, my crying…

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For God’s Delight… ah, there, I see it, I feel it

I am cradled in the hammock

The Sacred Bolts of fabric

wrapping me in hues that soothe, sparkle, and comfort

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It’s just a poem

Just a creation allowed to move through Life

Let loose of it! It’s the Divine’s!

Let the next, the next, and the next Inspired Idea come

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One Life – Together Expressing

Sacred Mystery moves to…

Another Idea, another poem, another piece of art,

piece of God, another something

Infinite Joyful Creations, always being released

And so it is!

Treatment for September 7, 2016

Florence Foster Jenkins – The Power of a Dream

There is an old joke: “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” “Practice, man, practice.” Apparently, not if you’re Florence Foster Jenkins.

Oscar Hammerstein wrote,
You’ve got to have a dream.
If you don’t have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?

Florence Foster Jenkins, based on a true story, is the story of a woman with a dream, one that would seem ridiculous to most other people. She dreams of being a singer, even though she has a terrible voice. What she does have is determination.

Jenkins (played by Meryl Streep) was a piano prodigy from Pennsylvania who married, contracted syphilis, inherited the family fortune, and became a patron of the arts. She was a major patron of the classical music scene in New York for many years. But she wanted to be a performer, and she simply did not have a good sense of either pitch or rhythm. (Her insistence on adding operatic coloratura to her performance only adds to the effect.)

Nonetheless, her second husband, St. Clair Bayfield, a failed actor, would try to book concerts for her. She performed an annual recital at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, in the Grand Ballroom. In the movie, she is also seen performing occasionally at the Verdi Club, an arts club she helped found. But her dream is to perform at Carnegie Hall.

The movie takes place in 1944. With America at war, Florence is still in pursuit of that Carnegie Hall concert. Eventually, she and St. Clair book the place, partially by giving a thousand tickets away to members of the armed forces. Unfortunately, unlike her engagements at the Verdi Club or the Ritz-Carlton, tickets to her Carnegie Hall performance are available to the public. One ticket buyer is the New York Post critic Earl Wilson, who gives a devastating review in his column, “It Happened Last Night”. But Florence has had her performance at Carnegie Hall.

Although it’s played somewhat as comedy, Florence Foster Jenkins is the story of getting where you want to go by guts and a dream, even when nobody else believes in your dream and everyone says it can’t be done (and perhaps shouldn’t).

What dream are you deferring because people said you can’t do it or perhaps shouldn’t do it? What have you stepped back from trying because you “don’t have it”? Remember Florence and her concert at Carnegie Hall. If Florence Foster Jenkins can sing at Carnegie Hall, then what can you do that you’ve been dreaming about doing?

I think you’ll enjoy this movie, and watch for the power of determination and a dream.

Prayer for Those Experiencing Hard Times

Treatment by Rich Kurasiewicz, RScP

Wow—we’re already into the dog days of summer, the heat is relentless, vacations are ending, and Labor Day and the start of school are coming soon. There is so much change and so much to be grateful for. What we are grateful for tends to increase because it is what we are focused on. Focus on the good to experience more good and do your daily spiritual practices to know the Truth that sets you free. As we do this, we have more to be grateful for. At the same time, remember to pray for people in Louisiana, Italy, California, etc. who are experiencing hard times—prayer works! And so we pray….

God is all there is–the One Power and One Presence, all Good. Life fills all space and Spirit animates everything. God is eternal and immortal—omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. God is Pure Love and perfect, whole and complete. And, I am that I am! I am one of the Father and the entire Universe. I am created in the spiritual image and likeness of God and I am one of the the Power and the Presence.

And just as I am perfect, whole and complete, each and everyone is perfect, whole, complete, eternal and immortal–a divine, spiritual and individualized expression of the divine. I know that each and everyone expresses the immense gratitude they feel for Life and the Power and the Presence of the divine in everything and everyone around them. I know that good manifests more abundantly in each and everyone’s life as we focus on the Good in Life and the Truth that sets us free. I know that each and everyone is a blessing to themselves and to everyone they come in contact with—each and everyone is the Light of the world and a divine expression. I declare that peace, love, joy and abundance are multiplied in our lives and that we live a life in constant gratitude.

I am so very grateful for the Truth that sets us free. I am grateful for all the blessings of Life and Spirit present everywhere and in our consciousness. I am exceedingly grateful for each and everyone who goes within to commune with Spirit and the entire Universe—for it is all One. And I release my word unto the Law where it is already known in the mind of God. I know that my word will not return unto me void. I do give thanks that this is so and so it is!

Treatment for August 27, 2016

Remember the Stillness

Treatment by Tim Phares, RScP

The day almost got by without my prayer.

Life has been eventful lately. Suzanne and I are beginning the journey of ministerial training and some audio projects I’ve been working on for a while have finally been posted on the Internet. Everything is in forward motion.

Yet in the midst of all the motion, we remember stillness. On retreat this past weekend, we found time for stillness. As T.S. Eliot reminds us,

Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance,
and there is only the dance.

And so we simply let the stillness fill us and let it move us as we pray.

There is only One Life. it is the Life of God. It is perfect, whole, complete. At its core it is unchanging and still. That Life is the life of each of us right now.

We listen to it as we let it move us forward into the new, the deeper, the greater, the more open.

Accepting its wisdom, accepting the experience that it is as and through us, remaining open, we move forward. We find new roads, new ways of being in service. We welcome new opportunities. We make everything new, expressing the fullness of who and what we have come here to be.

I am thankful for this deeper and greater, for this open expression, for the stillness and the motion.

And so, I simply let go and know that all is well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.

And SO it IS!

Treatment for August 10, 2016

River of Life

Treatment by Ed Preston, RScP

From Flow, by Rev. Noel McInnis

When dropping down life’s rapids,

Froth and bubble into fragments if you must,

Knowing that the one of you now many

Will just as many times be one again.

And when you’ve gone as far as you can go,

Quietly await your next beginning.

http://www.noelfrederickmcinnis.com/content/flow

I read this first about 25 years ago and I have read it again almost monthly, ever since then.

I have always recognized God in these words. I see God as the writer, the reader, and the words themselves. We are each individually Divine as we froth and bubble into the fragments of this life.

And over and over again, as we go through life’s rapids, one after another, for so many years, we learn that all the rapids are followed by softly flowing waters where we unify with God and with one another, in the soft flow of life itself.

As we rise above and look down on the River of Life, we see its beginning in the springs and creeks of life, and we see its ending in the Ocean of Being. We come to realize we are molecules of Divinity as we rise from the ocean and rain down again to reappear through the springs of life, and flow again.

I am so grateful for the power of these words from Flow as I release them into the Law of my life and all our lives. And, at my age, I gratefully await my next beginning.

And so, we release and let it flow. And so it is.

Amen.

Treatment for August 9, 2016

Rather the Truth Will Set us Free

Treatment by Rich Kurasiewicz, RScP

Recently we have experienced incredible heat waves across the nation and election campaigns in full swing, as well as anger, hate, unrest and violence here and abroad. If we choose to focus on the effects of the physical world, it can be deleterious—what we focus on tends to increase. Rather the Truth will set us free as we change our thinking through the pursuit of DAILY spiritual practices. While we may even perceive that we cannot do anything, such daily practices will bring us greater peace, harmony, right thinking and right action, which in turn will help the national and international community for we are all one in the Mind, Body and Spirit of God. This is the ultimate Faith in the Truth! And so we pray….

God is all there is–the One Power and One Presence, the Living Spirit Almighty, in, around, through and throughout everything and everyone! God is All-Good and pure Love, and in accordance with the Law of Mind. God is the Creator and the Creation, All Life and everything there is. God is Pure and does not know or create evil. And, I am that I am! I am a spiritual being having a human experience in a spiritual universe. I am created in the spiritual image and likeness of God. I live, move and have my being in Spirit—in God. I am divine!

And just as I am perfect, whole and complete, each and everyone is perfect, whole, complete, eternal and immortal–a divine, spiritual and individualized expression of the divine. I declare that as we focus on the Kingdom of God within in the silence, on the inherent peace, harmony, love and abundance of Good within, each and everyone manifests peace and harmony and love and abundance, as much as can be accepted. I know that we realize our unity and oneness with the Divine and with each and everyone. I declare that we know that each and everyone is truly perfect, whole and complete for there is only One Life. That Life is God’s Life! That Life is our Life right here and now! And I know that as each and everyone manifests the ever-present peace, harmony and love and forgives all who are victims of the lack and limitation in their thinking, we all benefit from the change in our thinking and attitudes. And I declare that each and everyone is now divinely guided, directed, led and protected to their highest good and greatest yet to be as the activity of God as Love and Joy. We are the Light of the World!

I am so very grateful for the Truth that sets us free and the Spirit that is ever present in the Kingdom within. I am exceedingly grateful for each and everyone who goes within to commune with Spirit and transcend the world of effects and the Peace, Harmony, Love and Abundance that are manifest as the gift of Spirit which are our birthright and divine inheritance. And I release my word unto the Law where it is already known in the mind of God. I know that my word will not return unto me void. I do give thanks that this is so and so it is!

Treatment for July 27, 2016

Striving for Perfection

Treatment by Suzanne Delahaie, RScP

We just saw a rerun of the delightful Opera Cosi fan Tutti. We really enjoyed it. Danielle de Niese as the servant Despina stole the show. Isabel Leonard and Susanna Philips as the two sisters were great. The quality of acting has improved greatly in Operas, since we were younger. I am in this prayer recognizing the striving for perfection as humanity grows towards greater and greater union with God. It is seen in all areas of human endeavor: acting, sports, and technology (just to name a few)

I know that there is only one, one mind, one spirit. I know that this spirit moves and has its being in and through us. Our being is God. Our life is God’s life. I know that this being as God impels us to higher and greater manifestation of its life. It seen in all aspects of life. This compulsion to be better, as in the words of Rickie Byers Beckwith, is to make us “… an opening for God. To make me Stronger” This opening for God is that which makes us strive. I know that this striving for higher and better makes all of us better. I know that this truth is seen in all areas of life. I do give thanks for this divine compulsion to be better, to come closer and closer to what we can become. I know that this is so. And So it IS.

Treatment for July 20, 2016

We Affirm and Know and Live Love, Peace, Harmony, and Joy.

Treatment by Tim Phares, RScP

Evening is setting in. I had the pleasure of paneling a new practitioner yesterday. Today at our center we had an ice cream social. (As Daniel Nahmod said, everybody likes ice cream.) And yet we see disturbing events in the world.

We try not to rush to judgment, but we feel the need to do something and say something. Whether the events are in Minneapolis, Baton Rouge, or Dallas, there is no making rational sense of them. Yet in the minds of those involved, they make total sense.

Some will run to check all the politically correct boxes. But that doesn’t help the situation. Some will react against that reaction. That doesn’t solve the problem either.

And I remember that when you approach a problem at the level of a problem, it continues to be a problem.

So what can we do? Well, we can go on enjoying ice cream socials and the flow of life, and we can apply practitioner consciousness.

So we pray. Because that can help.

There is only One Life. That is the Life of God. It expresses as, through, in, and around all. It is all. It is the life of every man, woman, and child, every living being, everything that is. It is Love, Peace, Harmony, Joy.

That Life is each of our lives. it is us. We are It.

So we affirm and know and live love, peace, harmony, and joy. Always. In every circumstance. We know that life is ongoing, that nothing ever really dies, that we merely move to a new level of consciousness, to a new expression. And yet, the perception of death, of killing, of tragedy colors our world. We know the reality of that grief, even as we know the Truth behind it. We know that joy shows up wherever there is sorrow, even if it only shows up for the moment as ice cream. We know that peace shows up where there is strife. We know that harmony shows up where there is discord. We know that love shows up in the face of hate. And we know that this Truth is universal. We open eyes and minds to see this, to touch and transform it.

I am grateful for Love, Peace, Harmony, and Joy. I am grateful for the outpicturing of these things in the world.

And so, knowing that in the words of Julian or Norwich, “All is well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well”, I simply release this Word, knowing that the Truth is always operating and Divine Order is always working. So I know that it is done, done well, and done now and always.

And SO it IS

Treatment for July 10, 2016