Second week of advent - Saturday

At this time of year as we become more conscious of the divine within and among us, we are looking for unconditional love. Unconditional love is love without ego and judgement.

Do you know anyone who loves unconditionally? Have you ever loved unconditionally? When you encounter unconditional love there is an unmistakable fragrance and vibration experienced. It is what we call peace, joy, comfort, bliss, flow. We remember that this is our natural inheritance.

Jesus said that God is love. Unconditional love is what Jesus was talking about. He didn't bring it to us. It already was with us. We just didn't recognize and acknowledge it before. The God of the old testament was judgmental and full of wrath and condemnation. Jesus raised our consciousnesses. Jesus called His God, "Abba," which, I am told, is best translated as "Daddy."

Christmas, the birth of Jesus, is the time of year when He recall that Jesus came to remind us that there is Unconditional Love in the world. We just need to tune in.

In case you were wondering.....................

Question of the day

When you look in the mirror what do you see?

In case you were wondering...........

Sinners or innocent? Punishment or correction? Imagine...........

We have been taught in the Christian world that we all are sinners and as sinners we deserve punishment and damnation. Were it not for the death of Jesus that punishment and damnation would be for all eternity.

It is of note that sin calls for punishment nor correction. It is in our fears of one another that we hate each other and conjure up a god who will do our bidding to punish others so that we can pretend we are innocent. We are justified in our hate and punishment because of what we have judged the other to have done.

This thinking is, of course, insane. The creator of the universe has extended the creator's power and glory through us of which we are a blessed manifestation. We have a choice: would we see ourselves as inherently flawed, deficient, and inadequate or inherently innocent, lovely, and blessed? The spiritually mature have chosen the later. It is in this choice that peace and bliss is revealed.

Unitarian Universalists, as an institution, has also chosen the latter embodied in its first of seven principles. We covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This is a most significant and awesome principle especially if we take it deeply to heart. As John Lennon sang, just "Imagine."

 

Second week of Advent - Friday

Those of us in the Christian world have been taught that we all have been born with the mark of original sin. Because of this we are condemned by God. Because of this we have been taught that God is our enemy who intends to punish us in hell for all eternity. Because we believe that God hates us and condemns us, we do as God does and hate and condemn each other.

The loop hole in this insane thinking is the belief that God sent Jesus into the world to be killed to atone for our sins and it is through the killing of Jesus that we have been redeemed. This thinking is the basis for a false Christmas joy that our savior has been born to be killed to save us from the wrath of God who would otherwise condemn us.

What kind of God is this that we have constructed in our religious myths? Could this possibly be the true picture of the divine at work in the universe? Could this ever be the genuine and authentic awareness of the divine in our existence?

Matthew Fox, the theologian who has pioneered creation spirituality, describes a new myth of the "original blessing" not the original sin. Fox points out that the Christian church adopted the story of original sin from Augustine in the 4th century not from Genesis which tells as that God created the world and proclaimed it good.

Genesis 1: 26-31

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”29Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. 31God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

It is from the belief in sin that illusions follow. With the coming of our remembrance of our blessings in the form of a blessed babe, we are restored again to our natural state of love, peace, and bliss. The birth of another child of God on Christmas day is the sign that God not only has hope for His creatures, but loves them and takes delight in what God has created. It is with the same delight that we should enjoy being with one another.

Question of the day

What's next?