Dear Church Family,
Happy Independence Day! My memories celebrating the Fourth of July usually
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included a gathering of friends and family, picnic foods, worries about the weather and fireworks. I grew up in the Midwest where there was often a 50/50 chance of rain which would drown out any festivities planned. As a kid - you want anything but rain, it might cancel the much heralded fireworks. We had one family friend who had a reputation that any event she attended it would rain. It was coincidence, but she gained a reputation that we would joke about. It was no joke to my sister, however, who saw her coming toward our picnic one year and she burst out in tears and complained to my mom "Why did you invite her?" I should point out my sister was around 6 or 7 years old and she took the banter literally.
I have an appreciation for Independence Day and for the freedoms we have in our country. The patriotism I hold is for the ideals that we have established and the unfolding ideals that are evolving. And I mean "ideal" not idea. In this case it is the perfection of a concept. When it was written that "...all men are created equal," it was perfect in concept, but not yet in execution. At the time it only applied to white males who owned property. However, in our societal evolution we have become more inclusive with gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and class - we are still working on those areas, but they are now in the mix of freedoms and privileges we are coming into and utilizing.
The Unity Movement is one that emphasizes independence of our spiritual journey. Independence is a way to say not dependent upon something else. We identify independence as not dependent on appearances or attachment to the material realm in which we have this bodily experience. Our independence is our consciousness recognizing our Oneness with Spirit. This was a departure from many Christian dogmas that identified us as separate from God. Only our individual awareness keeps us separate from God. A simplified example would be our awareness of the sun - the sun is always there, only our awareness of it keeps us separated. More so with God acting in, through and as us. As we become aware of God's presence and power that is already there.
Now the great thing about being free of dependence on the material realm, this human existence, is that we always see rain as nourishment and know that God's Good is always in our midst. We believe that God's power and presence is at work in our world allowing for the continual spiritual evolution to emerge. We also see our independent spiritual journey as a contribution to mankind. And we pursue ideas, talents and directions that may be unique to only us. After all, as God's creation in Its likeness and being we are unique.
Holding for you a happy and safe Independence Day. Let's celebrate our Oneness with God.
Many blessings,
Pastor Robert