Sunday lesson – Keep Calm and Listen to Your Inner Wisdom

Everyone has dreams; dreams for themselves, their loved ones, their business, dreams of all kinds and sizes. However, on the way to our dreams, we may become discouraged and lose heart. Even the Beatles were told in 1962 by Decca Recording Company, “We don’t like the sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”

Happy Father’s Day to all our fathers!
Recent research shows that today’s dads are deeply connected to their families and have three things in common: Availability to their children, Interaction with their children, and Responsibility for their children.

Many of us have heard the saying, “What you focus on expands” and many of us know – from personal experience – that this is true. The more we put on attention on something, the more it grows in our experience. However, if we “take in the Good” – focus our attention on God and the qualities of the Divine, the thing dissipates.

In this lesson, Rev. Nancy gives the spiritual, the psychological, and the scientific reasons behind this principle.

Rumi said, “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
Loving ourselves is natural, but for most of us there are barriers within ourselves that have clouded it. In this lesson, Rev. Nancy discusses how we create conditions, debts, and substitutions as mental states preventing us from loving ourselves. As we become aware of these, we will F.L.Y. Flow Love to Yourself! Fully Love Yourself!
Here’s a wonderful poem written many years ago we hope you’ll like as much as we do~

Easter Sunday is a celebration of the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. But it is also meant to be a way to our own resurrection; the lifting up of our own awareness through the power of Love in our own lives.

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week that ends with Easter, next Sunday, the culmination of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ.
But Holy Week is more than the commemoration of the life and example and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. It is also meant as a way to our own resurrection: the resurrection of our indwelling Christ, instead of a selfhood that is based in our ego and its limitations.

All of us are balancing lives that include family, church, friends, job, our spiritual practice and more. And adding to that, if we are experiencing a challenge in any area of our lives, it can be even more difficult to find our balance. How can we find our balance?

In I Corinthians 3:16, we read, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” When we are ill, it can be difficult to remember this truth!

In this lesson, Rev. Nancy suggests three things that we can do to cooperate with the healing power of God in our bodies and minds. These three things can be easily remembered as the “3 C’s” – Center – Consciousness (Awareness) and Circle. We invite you to listen to the full explanation of these.

What does it mean to fully rely on God?
It means to fully and completely – and this is a learning process and practice – rely only on the Christ mind within us.

We all want to thrive; to lead lives of fulfillment and meaning. But to really thrive, we need to transform our negative mental states by replacing them with positive feeling states. In this lesson, Rev. Nancy describes these three feeling states and gives suggestions for achieving them in our daily lives.

How can we create a happy family?
In this lesson, Rev. Nancy explains the three key components of happy families: They are a “We” with a “Why”(having a purpose and clear core values) where each person in the family has learned to ask every day, “What’s in it FROM me?” and is willing to take responsibility for the energy of their own thoughts and feelings.

Most of us have heard the saying, “It’s my story and I’m sticking to it!”
However, for most of us, our stories are stuck to us and we don’t know it. Our “stories” are all the things we hold to be true about ourselves, others, the world, even God. These are the stories that become our lives.

In this lesson Rev. Nancy tells a story that invites us to ask ourselves three questions:
Would we – by our actions – be mistaken for Jesus?
Are we listening to the call of Spirit within us?
If so, would we answer that call by taking action?

There is a great need for prayer today, but not the kind of prayer that only consists of words. Our prayer must go deeper within ourselves so that we will transcend the chatter of the conditioned brain (ego). We do this in silence and in stillness. In this way, we come to the great knowing that we are awareness, the Presence of God within us. Psalm 46:10 tells us to “Be still and know that I am God.” In this lesson, Rev. Nancy gives 4 steps to entering into the Silence within us and finding God there.

God created us in God’s image and likeness, or in different words written by author Eckhart Tolle, “You are the Universe expressing itself as a human for a little while.” As we reflect on this truth, we begin to realize that in our human experience, we are empowered to express all that God is – God’s love, peace, prosperity, and healing power. In this lesson, Rev. Nancy gives 3 ways to “flip the switch” in our minds and hearts so that we may manifest God’s power with ease and grace.

“Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “What do I want out of life?”

Asking ourselves these three questions – and answering them with our minds and hearts – will define the quality of our lives. Through three poignant stories and the examples of Jesus, Dr. Martin Luther King, and two teenagers, Keshia Thomas and Sam Berns, Rev. Nancy illustrates how each of us can come to our own answers in our own lives and change the world for the better.

St. Augustine once said that “God loves each of us as if there was only one of us.” Yes, God is loving because God IS Love. God’s love is consistent and constant and is for all, no matter what and no matter who.

To illustrate this concept, Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew 5:45: “For He makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.”

In this first lesson of 2014, Rev. Nancy talks about the importance of viewing ourselves through God’s eyes – through the lens of celebrating our “enoughness” – and not the viewpoint of self-improvement. Beginning with self-affirmation, we can more easily release ourselves from our past. Then as we look within ourselves for new God ideas emerging, we will find this new year of 2014 to be a year of discovery of new blessings in our lives

122213 – Sunday Lesson: God’s Miracle of Love

All of us are probably familiar with the beautiful words of the angel in Luke 2: 10-11: “And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, › › › read more

For us to have peace in our lives and in the world, we are called to BE peace. In this lesson for the Second Sunday of Advent, Rev. Nancy explores the idea of peace and gives three peace promoting practices that will bring more peace into our lives.

One of our favorite Christmas movies is “Miracle on 34th St.” One of its most profound and memorable quotes is: “Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.” In this first Sunday of Advent lesson, Rev. Nancy talks about our “un-common sense” the spiritual faculty of faith. Jesus said in Matthew › › › read more

It is good to be thankful for the things that we have, and it is even better to establish our minds and hearts in gratitude as the state of our being. Professor Robert A. Emmons at UC Davis agrees: “It’s important to know that gratitude can be a chosen attitude,” Emmons added. “It’s independent of › › › read more

We all want to be appreciated. We want to know that we are valued by others, that we matter. In fact, even Fortune 500 businesses are recognizing the value of appreciation.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to feel happy when we are afraid. The Bible tells us in II Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” In this lesson, Rev. Nancy gives suggestions for creating for ourselves a world › › › read more

In our quest for happiness, each of eventually discovers that happiness is a work of heart. As we learn to live from our hearts, we will not only experience more happiness, we will be creating more happiness for others. Celebrated filmmaker Tom Shadyac, after getting into a bike accident that left him with Post Concussion › › › read more

We all want to be happy. Yet, in today’s world, despite our increased consumerism, advanced technology and the ability to connect on-line through social media, the current statistics prove that we are no happier and no more connected.

Animals play an important part in our lives. They are our beloved pets, our companions, and our teachers of unconditional love. Through our intention to be kind to all animals and other forms of life we can create a culture of reverence for life that will build a “Kingdom of Kindness” in our lives and › › › read more

What if we live in a timeless Universe? Einstein proved time was relative. Hawking says in addition to linear time that there is also “imaginary time.” What if all the possibilities that could ever exist – or ever did exist – are present now? What if this realm of infinite possibility is what Jesus called › › › read more

Our personality, appearance, experience, education, and past experiences are not the measure of who we are. When we are ready, we can expand the boundaries of our mind. When we do this, we will also expand the boundaries of our hearts and of our understanding of God, of ourselves, and of our ability to allow › › › read more

When we think we are only egos, separated from Spirit and alone, we limit what we can achieve and receive. Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew 7:7: “Ask and it will be given to you.” Most of us were taught to pray and to ask from the attitude that we are separate from God. › › › read more