Gratitude for
New Beginnings
September 10,
2000
Dr.
Susanne Freeborn
“Gratitude
is not only the greatest of virtues,
but
the parent of all the others.” Cicero
We
give thanks. At
any given time in our lives, no matter how challenging the circumstances, we can
always get our spiritual feet back on the ground, if we can remember to be
grateful for the good that is our birthright.
Today we begin a new part of the journey together, and it is fairly
traditional to express, at such a moment of beginning, some words of homage to
those who have gone before us.
In
the East honoring ones spiritual lineage is an accepted practice. In
the West, we are familiar with those who have their patron saints and favored
teachers. Each of us has at least
one someone to thank for the fact that we are here today.
Someone spoke some portion of spiritual truth and got our attention at an
important moment in time.
Jesus
promised: “You shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32 We have had this experience in our lives and for that we are
awash in gratitude. Today, we thank each of them for the ripples of change in
our lives that move out from their contribution to us.
Ernest Holmes said in the 1926 edition of The Science
of Mind:
“To
the great philosophers of all times we owe the advancement of the world; for
they have been the great way-showers and helpers of mankind. In reverence, we
humbly bow before them as Messengers of the Most High; for God has spoken
through their lips. We have heard that we are not creatures of the dust. Instead
we are Divine Beings, made in the image of Perfection as inheritors of an
endless destiny.”
Please
take a moment to turn to the person next to you and let this friend stand in for
that person you would like to thank. The person with the longer hair will begin
by asking who it is that they are being for you, and then the person with the
shorter hair will thank them. Then
please reverse roles.
Holmes
also said later: “There is One
Mind and the moving impulse of this Mind is Love.”
Thank you for demonstrating love and gratitude.
We
are a mystical religion. By that I
mean that we are consciously seeking relationship with Spirit, and we believe
that it is possible right here, right now.
We seek to transcend reality as we have known it and to know God more
closely than we have up until now.
Time
does not contradict Eternity; time allows Eternity to express itself as specific
experience within the One-- as and through us.
We are God’s agents! We
are talent scouts for God!
“There
is nothing love cannot face; there is no limit to its faith, its hope, and its
endurance. I Corinthians 13:7
Love believes the best for us, stands for us when we falter and stands within us
for one another. This is the power
of spiritual community. When you
are facing some difficulty, the love within your community stands for you.
It rises when you fall, lifting you up and remember who you truly are!
Ernest Holmes said this about Spirit:
“Spirit,
or Conscious Intelligence, is the only Self-Assertive Principle in the Universe.
"Spirit is the Power that knows Itself" and It is the only
power that does. The other two aspects of Being -- Soul and Body -- are subject
to Spirit and acted upon by Spirit through Its Word, Its Thought. The Word,
acting as Law through Substance, produces Creation.”
We
know who you are when you forget. And
when any one of us forgets who we are, you remember for us.
Love never fails!
We
Seek Transcendence.
What does that mean? We want a better life. That
doesn’t mean that we don’t already have a good life.
Just that there is this inner sense that there is something more
possible. Something wonderful.
I
don’t know about you, but sometimes life seems to fall short just a bit.
Ever have one of those days? Friday,
my car battery gave up the ghost just as I was about to drive out and have lunch
with my friend Shelly.
I
love Shelly more than most folks. We
work on our relationship. We have
big fun with one another and we are honest friends.
We can tell each other the difficult truth.
We don’t have to make nice because we are free to speak, and so, our
relationship is way beyond nice. Ours
is the kind of relationship that gives me tears when I let yourself be with just
how important and special it is to the quality of my life.
Shelly and I have been friends for about fifteen years and she lives
nearby in Palo Alto.
The
fact that she lives near here on the Peninsula was very helpful in our decision
to leave Monterey and move up here. I
had looked forward to having lunch with her all week.
So
as I sat there with my car making those weak clicking sounds that mean your
battery is dead, suddenly, ever so momentarily, I was wanting to have a better
life. I went back upstairs, gave
Shelly an apologetic call, spoke to Dan about getting a new one tomorrow, and I
got on with what I had to do. And
as I sat finishing up my writing for today, I was grateful that I didn’t take
it personally as I once would have. It
wasn’t a big disappointing incident. There
was no drama and “O Woe is me!” I
love my friend profoundly, I appreciate my trusty car and I missed lunch!
How
do we do it? How did I do it?
How do we transcend? Well,
most of the spiritual greats tell us to pray without ceasing, just as the Bible
did, just as Brother Lawrence did.
One
of my favorite spiritual stories is about Brother Lawrence, who was a really
clumsy ordinary uneducated, simple man who came to the monastery to seek God as
a monk and he was assigned to the kitchen.
Ever go for a new job, change everything about your life, get there and
find that you are assigned duties that you really, really would rather not do?
Like
anyone else in similar circumstances, Brother Lawrence wondered how he was ever
to get to do God’s real work. And
while he worried about that, he kept breaking the dishes in the kitchen.
This was long ago, and dishes were not easily come by, so each time he
broke one it seemed he moved further away from his desire to live a sacred life
in relationship with God.
A
long time went by, and the more he broke the dishes, the less hope he had of
escaping the monastery kitchen. And
so, naturally enough, the kitchen became his place to transcend himself and
transform his experience. He prayed
“God, I will keep breaking these dishes unless you change me,” and he stayed
in the kitchen, and there he found his way to God.
Brother Lawrence gave up the “someday, when I am a good monk, and I am
allowed to leave this kitchen, THEN I will be able to relate to God”
“story” and sought God where he already was: right there in the kitchen with
Brother Lawrence.
And that is what we are
doing here today, seeking God right where we are!
Ernest Holmes said that the only thing that ever changed anything is
persistent, affirmative thought, or what the traditional
Westerner would call constant prayer.
That is how I changed myself from a short-tempered and easily angered
self-righteous brat, OK we know what some people call that kind of a woman, but
this is church, after all!
Ernest Holmes had this to
say about
Constant
Prayer
“Pray without ceasing.”
This means to always be on the affirmative side of life.
To pray without ceasing is to doubt never, but to always trust the Law of
Good. This inner communion is essential to the soul and natural to
the mind. It is a constant
recognition of our relationship to the Presence in which we live and move and
have our being.
“In everything give thanks.” An
attitude of gratitude is most salutary, and bespeaks the realization that we are
now in heaven. How we
love to do for those who co-operate with, and are grateful for, our small
endeavors! Gratitude is one of the
chief graces of human existence and is crowned in heaven with a consciousness of
unity.”
Page
497, The
Science of Mind
To
live in this consciousness of unity we have to release and let go of the past.
This is part of changing our thinking so that we can change the way we
experience our lives. Yes, the disappointments of the past serve us, they create
within us a Divine Discontent that moves us forward. Divine Discontent is a
creative urge. Most of us, will
after a while at least, make a change if something makes us chronically
miserable, but often we find that we have tolerated inconveniences, lack of
fulfillment and circumstances that somehow miss the mark.
We might not at first make an effective change, but we will make an
effort when things are truly difficult. To
have great life, we have to wake up and quit tolerating the mediocre and
unfulfilling. Yes there are things
that are inconsequential. The light
of awareness and spiritual practice will distinguish the difference between
these.
To
continue moving forward we have to forgive the past, releasing any hold it has
over us, and stepping into the present moment, allow the radiance of what was
borne of that discontent to arise into the light of present awareness, to allow
this light to nurture and to grow steadily and strongly.
If we keep grousing about what disappoints us we will lose the intuitive
brilliance that fed our creativity and sadly, settle for bitterness.
There
are few living things that survive darkness that we can see with the naked eye.
We clearly know that light overcomes darkness.
There is no exception to this fact. This law naturally supports us when
we forgive, raining down everything good that we need to succeed if we but
listen and be grateful for the good that we already enjoy.
The
apostle Paul said "I have learned this one thing, that in whatever
circumstance I am in, therein to be grateful." Philippians 4:11
Paul didn't say we should be thankful for a bad situation, but rather, to be
grateful regardless of the circumstance. Through spiritual practice, we
find strength that transcends a temporary emotion or misfortune and learn to
live from a grateful heart.
In
Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy wrote that “When written in Chinese, the
word 'crisis' is composed of two characters - one represents danger and the
other represents opportunity.” What
tremendous insight! Perhaps it is
as Cicero said, the virtue that parents all other virtues is gratitude; and from
there you can see the very opportunity presented by each crisis.
Martin
Luther King, Jr said that ”The ultimate measure of a man is not where he
stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of
challenge and controversy.” I
think that I will share with you now a bit of the controversy that led to the
creation of Emerson Center. In 1997
I completed my ministerial studies and was well on my way to completing the work
for my doctoral degree in Religious Studies when something began blocking my
path. I thought I would be
satisfied to teach classes and give a talk once a month.
And it seemed that my teacher thought that was a good idea too.
But then things kept getting in the way, forgetfulness, other speakers,
somehow, that which I sought was being withheld.
Out of that seemingly blocked path came Emerson Online Studies.
In three short years I gained more experience as a teacher than is
generally possible for a new minister. I
have taught well over 300 class sessions! This
means I did all that preparation, studied and invented and tuned myself up for a
much bigger game than I would have had there been no barrier to my being the
Assistant Minister of Pacific Coast Church.
There
was nothing wrong at all! It was
all for good. Through Emerson
Online Studies I began teaching Linda Siddall, our Pastoral Care Director.
When I moved up here I heard that another local church needed a minister,
but they were not offering much in the way of salary.
The fact that they needed a minister weighed on the side of our accepting
the job that Dan was offered here. When
I went to that church to give a talk, it was clear in the eyes that gazed back
at me that it was not my church. MAN! That would have been convenient, but Spirit had other things
in mind for me. I attended a Board
meeting held right after the Sunday Celebration where I spoke and I asked them a
good many very difficult questions. Once
again, Spirit leading me, spoke through me.
What I had to say, and the questions I was moved to ask were challenging
for me to speak and for those who attended the meeting they were difficult to
hear. I felt it was the best gift I
could give them. Before I left
them. I told their minister that I would be starting today. And here we are!
I
was soon joined by Linda who called me and said “I want to hitch my star to
your wagon!” Well I was thrilled
to hear such a commitment. Her
voice was the voice of God telling me “You go on now and start that church!” I had goose flesh, God bumps all over my body.
And, of course, I was joined by my husband Dan in beginning this church.
All through the years that we have been married Dan has schlepped boxes,
run vacuums and tape recorders, photocopied, transported and otherwise made
possible the realization of my ministry. Dan is the Man!
I
know the events leading up to the formation of this church created in me an
experience of Divine Discontent. And
these events have fulfilled their sacred purpose and must now be released.
And so I declare that they are complete.
There is nothing to regret or to apologize for when all events lead us to
our sacred purpose and its fulfillment!
“When
you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your
thoughts break their bounds: Your mind transcends limitations, your
consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new,
great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties, and talents become
alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever
dreamed yourself to be.
Yoga
Sutras of Patanjali
I
have a vision that is fairly well represented by both the Statement of Purpose
we read together and by the explanation of What We Believe that is printed
beginning on the right side of the Order of Service.
Had I gone to serve in an existing church, I would be operating with a
different set of beliefs and a different Statement of Purpose.
I am grateful for these events. Now
that we have put the past in the past we move forward in realizing these
beliefs. These beliefs mean nothing
without the test of experience. This is what Martin Luther King, Jr. was saying.
We begin in this moment to meet the challenge of establishing a New Thought
church on the Peninsula -- the likes of which have not before been seen!
I invite each of you to look into your heart and see what it is that you
seek in spiritual community. This
is an opportunity to have that vision of your heart realized, for this is a
community that loves and invites your contribution.
Here
is a story about Ramakrishna, the renowned nineteenth century Indian avatar,
described his first experience of mystical awakening as a six-year-old:
“One
morning I took some parched rice in a small basket and was eating it while I
walked along the narrow ridges of the rice fields. In one part of the sky a
beautiful black cloud appeared, heavy with rain. I was watching it and eating
the rice. Very soon, the cloud covered almost the whole sky, and then a flock of
cranes came flying. They were as white as milk against that black cloud. It was
so beautiful that I became absorbed in the sight. Then I lost consciousness of
everything outward. I fell down, and the rice was scattered over the earth. Some
people saw this, and came and carried me home.”
This
is who we can be for one another. We
can be Ramakrishna and we can be the people who brought him home.
This is who we are meant to be for one another, that we can allow the
space for transcendent experience for each and every one of us and then provide
support for whatever may follow it.
In
Mark 11:24, we read: "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask
believe that you have received them and you will receive them." Today we
begin the experience of realization. Today
we let in this particular part of the realization of spiritual community
for each of us. There is a risk in
this, a vulnerability that we commit ourselves to experiencing just by being
here. "For where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Matthew 18:20
So
today, while we draw this line in the sand, marking the beginning of Emerson
Center for Spiritual Awakening, we know that God is present here.
In a sense, it is impossible to measure time for yesterday is gone,
tomorrow has not come, and today is rapidly slipping into the past. When we
attempt to pinpoint any present moment it is gone before we can point to it.
Yet, as elusive as time is, it is necessary to our comprehension of experience.
Today we comprehend this significant experience, we celebrate it’s good
and we say Thank You. Today we celebrate the risk of creation.
We celebrate spiritual community. Today
we celebrate the rich spiritual heritage each of us brings to the community and
we have clearly declared our purpose.
Playwright
Neil Simon is quoted as saying, “If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would
have painted on the Sistine floor.”
We need not paint the floor when the whole church is already ours!
Thank
you for being here with us today!
Copyright © 2000 Dr. Susanne Freeborn
Emerson
Center for
