April 16, 2006
 

A sacred celebration to Honor the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ in the world, and in everyone.

As a metaphysical, spiritual, inclusive community we honor all faiths and paths to God and support everyone in accepting and honoring the divinity within.

 Jesus was a master teacher and a Christed being whose presence and teachings brought high vibrations and holy energies of truth to the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Christian Holy Week started with palms...

 

As Rev. Jo Anne stated on Palm Sunday, the path of Jesus to Jerusalem and his experiences through Holy Week represents the journey of every soul. 

Last week we made a symbolic journey following the steps of Jesus from Bethany, meaning a place of distress, depression, affliction and sorrow.

 To cross the river Jordan which represents our turbulent stream of ego thoughts that block the flow of divine energy and truth.

 We then came to the town of Bethpage, meaning a place or a state of consciousness where grace is realized.

 And we proceeded to the Mount of Olives. This name has the metaphysical meaning of a place of enlightenment and illumination.

 We ended last Sunday's journey in Jerusalem, which means the city or the place of peace. Spiritual growth is a progressive unfolding of truth that can shake conventional beliefs and long held patterns of perception and behavior.

 The metaphysical understanding of the life and purpose of Jesus was to show us a way to find the Christ in us, that part of ourselves that shines with enlightenment and divine love and to find our own personal and mystical relationship with our divine source and creative power.

 Jesus is said to deliver from sin those who follow his teachings. Metaphysically sin is understood to be a blockage of light, an error in thought or belief which causes a barrier to divine energy, love and higher consciousness and perfection. 

 Through his words and example, he taught how to live without blocking divine love.  He taught that each is a holy child of God just as he was, that all could do the miracles that he did and that God is within each person for "the kingdom of heaven is within."

Holy Week is a time for the release of binding beliefs and limiting perceptions which are the barriers that keep us in darkness and fear and in a state of separation from God.

Many of the names and events of Holy Week have deeply significant metaphysical meanings.

The Passover meal or the last supper is a celebration of the freeing of spiritual man from slavery and Bondage to the physical world.

Judas represents deception, corruption, selfishness, desire and greed.

Pilate symbolizes a false but dominant, secular authority over spiritual troth.

Barabas, the murderer and thief that was freed by the crowd instead of Jesus at his trial, represents the lower consciousness to which society gives free reign when it does not recognize the truth and denies the Christ consciousness.

The Cross portrays two conflicting currents of thought:

      The horizontal bar represents the mind and will of the ego and the belief in fear, separation, limitation and all the powers and motives of the physical world that include a material, dualistic, linear perception of our existence.

       Positioned diametrically opposed is the vertical element of the cross. This symbolizes the inner current of divine energy and truth.

The Crucifixion represents the pain and suffering that is caused and endured on this plane of existence.

 Death symbolizes the giving up the personal will and dying to the old.

 As Jesus was enduring deep physical suffering he questioned God and said, according to Mark and Mathew, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

 How many of us have also questioned God during times of duress and pain, during our dark nights of the soul?

 But before his death Jesus came to a consciousness of compassion and forgiveness for his fearful, unenlightened persecutors in saying, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do...”

 According to Luke 23 :46, the last words of Jesus demonstrated his total surrender to God by saying, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit".. :

Death means making clear the way for new beginnings. It represents a process of surrender and release, of regeneration into higher awareness and a lifting of fear and separation.

The tomb or cave is symbolic of the latent, unexplored, mystical aspects of the self which holds the hidden treasures of higher consciousness that are waiting to be discovered and expressed.

The rock or boulder that seals the opening of the cave represents the barriers and the impediments in our minds that block the light so the treasures of our Christ consciousness remain in the darkness, unrevealed and forgotten. As each impediment is removed, the light allows us to see more of our spiritual self. This is a time to awaken to an aspect of our divine nature, when a spiritual truth within us is resurrected and a spiritual foundation stone becomes remembered and restored.

 Resurrection is the raising up of our awareness of the divine truth and love inherent in us. The resurrection is a transformation that can take place many times in the lives of those who have begun to align themselves with the Christ consciousness. This renewal affects all aspects of our being and life experiences.

 Therefore, Holy Week is a time to release binding to God any beliefs or limiting perceptions and behaviors that keep us in darkness and separation from our Source.  A time now to begin to remember, to accept and to live who we .are meant to be, who we really are.

 This day, Easter, is the celebration of the acceptance of truth. Let us not spend time brooding on the crucifixion, but happily celebrate the release.  Easter is the sign of love and peace, not pain.

 Jesus was demeaned, tortured and murdered because of the fear consciousness held by others.  But he continued to forgive and love and surrender to God

 Our personal crucifixions can take many forms; physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. These are patterns of fear and negativity, the darkness that we experience and express in life.

 These intense experiences can deal us a horrendous blow. But placed in the hands of God they can become a spiritual gift. The resurrection is God's answer to the crucifixion.

 Tomb time is that period during which our wounds and brokenness begin to heal. A time when gather new understanding, insight, wisdom and a new sense of growth and purpose. A more enlightened self is emerging. Some darkness within has been given over. We transcend our suffering and emerge stronger, wiser and more compassionate, bringing more light into the world.

 We surrendered or died to an old aspect of what we were and are willing to give birth to what we choose to become. We can be resurrected into a greater radiance of divine light and love.

This week began with palms and ends with lilies, the white and holy sign of innocence.  This day we celebrate life, not death. We are better able to see the perfect purity and innocence of our brothers and sisters and of ourselves.  This is the way to heaven and to the peace of Easter in which we join in glad awareness that the children of God can rise from the past and awaken to greater spiritual truth.

 As we move beyond some personal barrier today, we will be able to look upon self and others with different eyes, with a new vision. And we understand that our resurrection is not just a moment but rather the expression of a new pattern in our life.

 A Course in Miracles states: Our task is not to seek for love but merely to seek, find and remove all of the barriers within ourselves that we have built against the presence of love, the presence of our own Christ light, our inherent divinity.

 By now you are probably aware of the rock and the hand out titled, A Call to Higher Consciousness that has been placed under your chair.  Please retrieve and hold these items.

 A Call to Higher Consciousness

I roll away the rocks that hold me entombed in lower consciousness.
I transform them into foundation stones that support my Higher Consciousness
as it rises up, Reborn and in harmony with the Spiritual Laws of Life.

 The left column, titled Rocks of Limiting Beliefs and Separation, contains some of the common mental barriers and limiting behaviors that keep us in the lower vibrations and the heavy emotions of fear .These are the boulders that keep us in darkness, unable to move fully into the joy and love and peace of the divine light. These old thoughts and ways of the past can be surrendered to the Holy Spirit and we can ask to be lifted and resurrected to a new perception and experience of our selves and of our lives.

 The right column, titled Foundation Stones of Wholeness and Unity, lists the opposite, Christ qualities that we all desire to have and express. These are already held within the true nature of our being just waiting for us to acknowledge, embrace and extend into our lives. As you accept your rightful inheritance, invite your Holy Spirit to be with you in your consciousness as you walk this higher path that you have chosen.

With an awareness of some personal barrier or rock in our consciousness and with a sincere intention and willingness to release it, a shift or a lifting can occur from a heavy, lower vibration to a higher resonance and elevated quality of greater light and wholeness.

 And so now silently, privately, choose one or more limiting qualities that burdened you, seemed heavy and detrimental to your well- being and happiness, has not brought you joy or peace.

(pause)     Now appreciate its opposite in the right hand list. (pause).

 Let us now move into the meditation. Hold your rock in both hands.

Close your eyes.  Get in touch with your desire to surrender, to release and let go of that limiting aspect or energy.  Now begin to send it into the rock through your hands.  Imagine the rock absorbing those old limiting or negative or dysfunctional beliefs, behaviors or feelings, those energies that do not support your spiritual nature and your highest purpose

(pause)

 You are now ready to restore and resurrect a true, divine aspect of yourself to replace the heavy, burdensome energy that you released into the rock. Feel yourself totally free of that limited self -concept or behavior and its energy .You have opened a space that is now being filled with the higher vibration and energy of that divine quality you desire. Sense the energy of that higher vibration. Feel yourself being restored and rejuvenated, enlivened.  (Pause)  Now, vividly visualize yourself expressing and living that quality and energy, that higher aspect of you.. See yourself living in greater light and love.   

(pause)

 Music begins to complete the meditation:  Celebrating the Light

 Gently bring yourself and your new, elevated consciousness back into this room. We will now proceed with the placing or releasing of your rock of limiting beliefs and separation at the altar. Here you will also be offered a ribbon and a stone. As you receive and place this ribbon around your neck, privately dedicate yourself to fully accepting the mantle of elevated consciousness. And as you receive the stone, devote yourself to expressing the quality of that foundation Stone of wholeness and unity in your life.

 (Music continues to play)

Final Affirmation:

Prayer of the Chalice

Father, to thee I raise my whole being
-a vessel emptied of self.  Accept, Lord,
this is my emptiness, and so fill me with
Thyself -  Thy Light, Thy Love, Thy
Life - that there Thy precious gift
may radiate through me and over-
flow the chalice of my heart into
the hearts of all with whom I
come into contact this day
revealing unto them
the beauty of
Thy Joy
and
the
Serenity
of thy Peace
Which nothing can destroy.