So when Julie did my introduction, she mentioned that I studied in metaphysics. And some of you may be scratching your head and saying, "I don't really know what metaphysics is." So I'd like to share with you a little bit about that. Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy, and it deals with a lot of the questions and mysteries that we have in our lives.Things that have no easy answers things like, why did this happen? What is my purpose? Why is this person in my life?
The big questions and a lot of things that we can't prove. It deals with studies of being or existence, identity, change, consciousness, space, time, reincarnation, extrasensory perception, you name it.
And I love those kinds of things to delve into. My focus and my dissertation were on what happens to us after we die. Anybody ever wonder what happens to us after we die? Of course! Now, this is kind of woowoo stuff. Okay? So I'm going to tell you some things that might stretch your mind a little bit. Or maybe not. But I'm going to ask you to come along with me on a ride, whether what I tell you confirms your own beliefs, or not. And if it doesn't just consider it a metaphor, or a fable. Okay? My studies have proven to me, to my own satisfaction, that we have many lifetimes, all involved in our souls' desire to grow in our understanding of God, and our connection to the divine, our spiritual evolution. I have a secret for you. Life isn't always easy. Did you know that? Now, what does this have to do with obstacles? Well, what if I told you that you planned your greatest obstacles and challenges in this lifetime? Before you were born? (Pete said, Why would I do that?) It's for purposes of spiritual growth. And of course, we don't know this. We don't remember this. So if I were to talk to you about reincarnation, it would take a few hours, and it's one of my favorite topics, but I'm going to skip over some of that to the critical part when it comes to what we're going to be talking about today. Many things happen to us when we cross over. Stay with me here, folks. By the way, it's a wonderful, wonderful place. It's a place without time and a time, without place. There's peace, there's comfort, and a feeling of being surrounded by love, and no pain. So one of the things we do, is we go through a past life review of the life we most recently had. Now you've heard of having your life flash before your eyes, it's kind of like that, but it's much more complete. We have an opportunity to review our past life and access our successes and our mistakes. And we have help in doing this from other souls who are more advanced than we are. And there's no judgment. Okay? There's no judgment in this. It's just a matter of an assessment. But when we're watching this, kind of like we might be watching a TV show or something, we're asking ourselves all the way through... What did I do wrong? Or why didn't I take that risk? Or, in that situation, why couldn't I have been more compassionate, or more honest, or more loving. We also view the things in our past life that that were really positive things that will go with us into the next lifetime. Because as we advance as we grow in our consciousness -- the review helps us decide what circumstances in the next lifetime will give the best opportunity for us to meet the challenges that will help us to learn the lessons we need to learn. Underlying all of this is the soul's greatest desire, which is to experience higher and higher aspects of itself in its union with God. That's what we really, really long for. at the soul level. We don't plan challenges in our life in order to suffer, but to learn and grow. And if we refuse the lesson, guess what, we'll be given plenty of opportunities to have it again. And it's got to be hard. If it's too easy, we don't grow. If your whole life is easy, you don't learn. After the life review, we go through an intensive planning process. And again, we have a lot of help from spirit guides, angels, celestial beings, who are directly connected with God. And our progression is achieved over a number of lifetimes by releasing resentments, and fear by developing a deep understanding of our oneness with God, with our service to others, which is absolutely critical. And from creating an inner life that includes meditation, contemplation, and harmony with all creation. That sounds like a perfect thing for Lent, doesn't it? When we're going inside, and we're assessing. Right? "The obstacle is the path," is a Zen proverb. The school of thought that insists that obstacles actually present opportunities for improvement. Overcoming the challenging situations can make us stronger, more robust, more confident. And sometimes, we find that the challenge, whatever it might be, puts us on a new course, a better one. And I'd like to give you three examples of this. The first was from our Old Testament lesson this morning. Noah. Do any of you remember the Bill Cosby comedian, the recording he made about Noah years and years ago? God says, Noah, I want you to build an ark. And Noah says, "Riiiight." All right. Imagine what that must have meant to him. He must have been overwhelmed and not knowing, of course, whether to trust that voice or not.But like, most of us, he trusted what he heard. And he heard this in his mind. And he took the steps he needed to take. "Hhe followed all of the instruction,s and you know the rest of the story. That was Noah. The second example I'd like to give you is Sandy Feldman. Sandy and Larry Feldman are very good friends of ours. And they spoke here once a few years ago about the choir they had created with kids from Benton Harbor and St. Joe to try to bring the races together for greater understanding. Anyway, Sandy is this remarkable woman. She's a therapist, masters in social work. And she is incredibly bubbly, and optimistic. When she walks into the room, the whole room lights up. Sandy is this lovely, optimistic, wonderful, intelligent woman. And about three years ago, she discovered she was having problems with her vision. And so in the last three years, she's been to U of M, dozens of times for infusions for tests for this, that and the other because they discovered she had cancer in her eyes. And while they were doing the workup for her, they also discovered that she has tuberculosis in the eyes. So at this point, and we talked to Sandy just a few days ago, she has no vision in one eye, and just a little window in the other. And that's it. We talked about obstacles, challenges in our path. So I'd like to share with you how this lovely woman responds to the situation. This is a Facebook posting. At one time she wasn't so sure she wanted to post about her journey on Facebook, but I said oh Sandy please do, because it will be inspiring. It will be uplifting for other people. And so she has done this and I hope someday this will be a book, Sandy writes... "I'm so grateful for this beautiful day and these two wonderful fellas (there was a picture of her son and her husband). Since my vision loss. Most of our hikes have been on boardwalks, paved trails, the dune stairs, and the oval road that passes in front of our house. I have been missing being in the woods. But between the roots of majestical trees on the walking paths and branches that extend across the trail, they do present some hazards for someone with very little peripheral vision and remaining sight But today, we hiked in the woods. Son Ben led the way making sure the path was clear and warning of coming challenges. I was safely ensconced in the middle with Larry periodically placing a guiding hand on my back, and poised to catch me if I were to stumble, or fall. We had an adventure. The trees were luminescent in the sunlight, and the smells of spring and summer filled the air. A floating rubber bridge took us across a body of water filled with blooming lily pads, and the sounds of croaking frogs. We paused while I made a feeble attempt to communicate by echoing their voices. No response from the water but some amusement from my family. In a strange way, I felt triumphant as we finished the trail, a bit like an explorer stretching past her comfort zone. I knew my loving companions had made this expedition possible. And I appreciated their sensitivity to my desire to do as much as possible on my own. I hope you were able to enjoy this beautiful day, I hope you were able to share special moments with people you love. And I hope you're able to accept the help of family, friends, and even strangers.If your path presents obstacles, which are difficult to manage alone, I hope you turn to these people. We are, you know, in so many ways, stronger together." I just loved what she wrote. And every time she writes, it's something like that. She'll write about her own experience, how she dealt with it, and then she'll ask how you're doing and she'll wish you the best. That's how Sandy deals with her obstacles. The third example for 'The Obstacle is the Path' is the Douglas Congregational United Church of Christ. We have an obstacle. Perhaps it's better to say a challenge. We have no minister. But I have been so proud and so encouraged, by the people in this church who have stepped forward from the very beginning, saying, 'Okay, let's see what we need to do.' I'm sure there were tears, I'm sure there was all sorts of upset about Sal's leaving. None of us wanted to see him go. But all of us wanted his life to be magnificent. And now other people are enjoying the privilege of his wisdom. And here we are, with our challenge. And people are stepping up. They're asking everyone in the congregation for their input. And I am I'm just so proud of the way that this has happened. It's a challenge. But it's a challenge we're meeting head on. And we can be proud of that. When you embrace challenges, you might just get a deeper meaning. I'm thinking of the people who have spoken so far, people from this church that I've spoken to, and the difference in perspective and the new things we learned. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. When you consider that you have indeed planned the situation, feelings of anger, guilt, blame and victimization, are healed and replaced by acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, and peace. We all know that difficulties in life are inevitable. It's the human condition. Acknowledging that situation is challenging, it means acknowledging that you have room to grow. And we have room to grow as a congregation. We can realize that our obstacles are not external. They're all internal, inside of us. We can meet a huge challenge. And if we need help, we can ask for help. We can pray for help. Some say that the angels can't help us at all unless we ask them to. So we can do that. We can meditate. We can contemplate, and ask for God's guidance. And you may say, well I never get any guidance. Listen, this is a wonderful time during Lent to take that time to deeply listen and see what comes. So each time the challenges arise in your life you might want to use 'the obstacle is the path' as an antidote to anger, antidote to anger and frustration, and fear. Instead of saying, "Why is this happening to me?" You might better say, "Why is this happening for me?' What is the gift in this that will help me grow and expand? Life isn't supposed to be easy, Trying, failing, and learning from our mistakes is just a part of the journey. By the way, I ran across something in my preparation for this I wanted to share with you. Some say that many highly developed souls -- souls that do not need to incarnate anymore -- Many of these souls have decided to incarnate at this particular pivotal time in history, to help usher in a new age of higher consciousness throughout the Earth. Maybe I came here at this time, maybe you came here at this time, on purpose, to help the earth usher in a new level of consciousness. I was telling somebody the other day that if you had a glass of water, and you put a drop of food coloring in it, not much happens. You put another drop in, and maybe you'll see color. A third drop, more, and pretty soon, the whole glass of water is that deep color. We're like that. When one of us emerges, grows in our own spirituality. It rises raises the level for everybody on the planet. Isn't that wonderful? We're part of this. It's easy to get down. It's easy to get depressed. But it's a blessing instead to turn to God, and to view any obstacles, any challenges we face as opportunities to learn. When we grow, learn, and evolve spiritually, the entire planet grows and evolves spiritually. And I leave that with you with love and blessings. Namaste Rev. Pamela Chappell Words of Integration and Guidance Sister Joan Chittister Lent is not about giving up our adult candy or immersing ourselves in pain. Lent is about being honest with ourselves, changing what needs to change in our lives, making our world a better place and growing into the Light. It is not about making up strange and useless penances, important as these may be to training us in self-control. It is about doing what needs to be done with a generous heart and an open soul. When asked the way to eternal life, Jesus told the disciples to "go by the narrow and the hard way." When Abba Ammonas, a fifth-century desert monastic, was asked, "What is the narrow and hard way?" he answered, "The narrow and hard way is to control your thoughts and strip yourself of your own way for the sake of God." Note, the old monk's response is not about self-flagellation or fancy penances. Not about severe fasting. "The hard way," Ammonas teaches, is self-control, thought-control, and acceptance of the natural irritations of life. Like pandemics, maybe. Like personal and political struggles, maybe. Like our fear of the future in a world in transition. If these things teach us anything, it is surely the real meaning of what it takes to come to terms with the self and all the self-centeredness that has, like barnacles, invaded our marriages, our work time, our family time, our reading time, and even the kind of personal time that freshens and inspirits our souls. From where I stand, Lent calls us to take the space and time we need to make the changes of life we need. It's about plotting our own renewal into a more placid, a more regular, a less hectic self. It's about sinking into the kind of personal reflection that brings us to confront the self for which we seek. Lent is not a spiritual competition, a kind of "no pain, no gain" exercise of the soul. Lent is the time to renew the best in us. |
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