Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray Announces the General Assembly 2019 Ware Lecturer: Richard Blanco

What is prayer?

Osho says, "What is prayer? Love and surrender. Where there is no love, there is no prayer."

My friend asked me, "Do Unitarian Univeralists pray?"

I said, "Good question. Depends on which UU you ask?

My friend said, "Well, if they say 'yes,' then, to whom or what do they pray?"

I said, "Good question, and again, it depends on which UU you ask."

My friend said, "Well, are you a Unitarian Univeralist?"

I said, "Yes I am among other things."

My friend asked, "Well, if you are a UU do you pray and to whom?"

I said, "Great questions. I wondered if you would ask."

My friend said, "I am. What do you say?"

I said, "Osho taught that prayer is love. There are two types of love, conditional and unconditional. Lately, I have become aware that I want my love to be unconditional. I am finding that my choice of unconditional love towards my brothers and sisters, and the things of the earth and the universe is my prayer. To whom this prayer is directed is nobody because I am increasingly attuned to the interdependet web of existence which is nondualistic Oneness which cannot be described or defined as a separted person or entity."

My friend said, "Thank you for your answer. I am having a hard time understanding what you are saying but I think I get it a little bit."

I said, "You will know that your prayer is authentic when it arises with a sense of peace."

Today's lesson - I want to see things differently.

Lesson 28 in A Course In Miracles states, "Above all else I want to see things differently." What the lesson seems to want to teach us is to see things nonjudgmentally.

We come with our biases, our preconceptions, our histories, and based  on these we project what we think we are going to see.

The old saying about "assume" is that it makes an ass out of you and me.

So, it seems that this lesson is asking us to deliberately approach our perceptions in a nonjudgmental way with a touch of curiousity and a big helping of "not knowing" humility.

Before we can turn our certainty over to our Higher Power we have to admit our lack of knowledge and recognize our biases and preconceptions.

UUs covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and at a deeper level of application this requires us to humbly and nonjudgmentally approach the things in our lives with curiosity and a desire to see things not as we have been conditioned to see them on the path of the ego, but as the Divine sees them with unconditional love.

Ask Alexa - Why am I so anxious all the time?

Alexa: Why am I so anxious all the time?

Your are afraid to look within because of the defectiveness, inadequacy, and guilt which your ego tells you resides there.

Movie - On The Basis Of Sex

On The Basis of Sex is a movie about Ruth Bader Ginsberg's early life and career establishing her expertise in  advocating for women's rights in the U.S. in the later half of the twentieth century.

It is a five out of five on the UU A Way Of Life ministries movie scale and is highly recommended.




Editor's note:
This is not only a biographical story about RBG but a good example of how social change is made in an intentional and deliberate way.

The norms, attitudes, beliefs, practices of a society are highly influenced in a democracy by the "rule of law." The impact of the changes in women's rights in a patriarchal society made by Ruth Bader Ginsberg's and others efforts are enormous. What is taken for granted today and "just the way things are" has not always been the case, and the recipients in todays society of the changes made by those who came before us deserve recognition, acknowledgement, and support.

This movie is informative on multiple levels and inspirational. It filled me with gratitude for the work that has been done to improve the lives of people in our society by what are called in Unitarian Universalism, "Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love."

The Helpers - Jan Rader and people of Huntington, West Virginia

Jan Rader is the Fire Chief as well as a first responder and a nurse in Huntington, West Virginia. She describes the work she, her department, and the community are doing to respond to the Opioid crisis.

 

Where is the Divine Spark to be found?

Peace Pilgrim said something like, "I look for the Divine Spark in every person I meet and when I find it, I focus on that."

We all have a Spark of the Divine within us which makes us a part of the whole of God's Mind.

Unitarian Univeralists know this because they covenant together to affirm and promote a respect for the interdependent web of existence which, of course, we are a part.

Osho says, "On a pitch-dark night, even a single ray of light is a blessing because if you follow it, you will reach the source of light."

Leonard Cohen sang in his song Anthem, "There is crack in everything; that's how the light gets in."