It is an honor to be with you this morning, sharing the sacred space with you. Reverend Valerie, thank you for the invitation. Because me here giving this top today is a vision and a journey that has long been in the making. And I'll tell you that it wasn't my vision. At first, it was many of your words. You saw something within me in the years that I've been active in this church and through my heart connection and the attorney that I bought with many of you outside of this church.
So thank you. Thank you, everyone is my prayer. That the energy that we are sharing right now, and any time that anyone will listen to this recording or watch the video, that the energy that they will add to this collective pot, that that will go out and in some way, make a difference in someone's life. That that will touch someone's life in ways that we may not know. It may be today, a week now, six months from now, a year from now. Know that our collective energy is powerful and that where two or more are gathered in the name of God and the name of Spirit in the name of presence that that energy never ends and never stops, never stops manifesting.
I digress a bit. I've been part of this church for 21 years. Now, that kind of means I'm getting old. I started in late 1999.
It wasn't long after that, that I met Alan Scherer. And if you know, Alan, you know he never meets a stranger. He makes it his mission to greet you. He greets newcomers, make them feel well and connect them to others and connect them to the good things that are happening in his church and the good things that are happening in the world. And if you also know Alan, you know, he is good at volunteering you for some stuff. I a lot of the things that I've done here have been because Alan volunteered me. He said, "You know, you'd be good working with kids." And there I was three or four years later, having worked with almost every group of kids in the youth group here. "You know, you'd make an excellent prayer chaplain," he said. Here I am a prayer chaplain since 2005, not all in these walls because what I've seen in my fellow prayer chaplains that that came through this church is that we took our ministries. We took our gifts. We took our knowledge and our consciousness outside of these walls. And we used it in the circles that we're in. We use it for our callings, for animals, for people that are living on the street, for the disenfranchised. So there is a seed that can get planted and then it blooms and takes root in who knows? Years later, 21 years later, what can happen?
To go off script here for just a minute, to make one point here, and that's one of the things that I've learned in my journey is that it is good to be open to the way that spirit guides us. The many ways that spirit can talk to you. The many ways that spirit can answer a prayer or the many ways that spirit worked through another person for our blessing and for our greater good, and also the ways that that spirit use us to be an answer to prayer for someone else, the way that spirit can use us to be a blessing to be at the right spot at the right time. And we may not know. We may not even know that we are an answer to someone's prayer.
I wouldn't be here this morning if it wasn't for Alan, and if it wasn't for many of you. Alan is one of my dearest friends. All that I got volunteered, cheered on, and loved into doing. I have an aunt that used to say, "God works in mysterious ways," and I believe that's true. So today I stand here on the shoulders of giants and the spiritual leaders and the spiritual teachers that have gone before us in this ministry. And in this work, the Lellies, Reverend Judy, Richard Thomas, Reverend Judy Grimes, Reverends Jack Poole, and Susan Eng-Poole, Reverend Jerry Baldwin, Reverend Valerie Mansfield, Keith Mitchum, Walter and Sharon Hutchins, Renee Morgan Brooks, Reverend Lance Livesay - who actually gave me my start at platforming during the Wednesday night service that we started back in 2005. And we were doing that - Reverend Ray, Robin Nelson, Reverend Alma, and Reverend Gwen at Unity of East Louisville and many, many others who are not on this stage and many others I'm sure in your lives, and the countless people that worked behind the scenes to make all of this work, who give and serve and volunteer their time so selflessly.
Today we continue our theme this month on practical metaphysics, we began the new year with Reverend Valerie who led us in a white stone ceremony to symbolize start the new year with a clean slate, an opportunity to set an intention for who we know we are and making room for who we want to be, what we want to experience, what we want to bring in to ourselves and to our lives. Then on the second Sunday, we had Kimberly Bencker who is a unity teacher and trainer, a multitalented profound young lady, and she did an excellent job - by the way - sharing with us a unity perspective on metaphysics. Last Sunday, Reverend Jerry Baldwin spoke to the topic of Jesus, a great metaphysician today. Our topic is God oneness, spirit, creation. When I heard that topic thought that is a tall order.
My first time giving the talk and I've talked a bunch, but it's my first time standing here and I'm going to talk about God, spirit, oneness, and creation. I thought about it, after the year I've had honey, I'll take a tall order of some spirit. I will take a tall order of the presence of the divine in my life. And I'll take a tall order, biggie size my order, of seeing peace in the people that I know and the families that I know. At a time where our country has been in such unrest, we're still living through a health pandemic that has taken lives and has taken jobs and millions of people are affected. Yeah, I'll, I'll take a tall order of spirit. Seeing that if I fine-tune my thoughts, my actions, my intentions, my heart, if I fine-tune even the things that I say to myself in private, if I fine-tune that to a higher level, that I'm allowing myself to be a vessel for spirit. I am agreeing with God for the goodness in another person's life and the changes that can happen in another person's life and in the ways that God can work in mysterious ways, like my aunt Charlotte used to say. Yes, honey, give me some spirit, give me some peace. Give me some joy. Some radiance.
When we say metaphysics, metaphysics is defined as the study of science, beyond the physical, the study of that, which transcends his body or the senses as we can see. So when I think of practical metaphysics then, or practical spirituality, I'm thinking of practical things that I can use on a daily basis to make a difference in my life today. I don't want to wait till I go to heaven. I want to see some goodness. I want to see some change. I want to be a part of that goodness. Today. I want to when I leave here not be the same person that walked through the door. And so that is sort of taking me back to my upbringing in a Southern Baptist church with getting filled with spirit and allowing spirit to move through me and to change the little part of me that I might think otherwise.
Now, when I think of the concept of God, talking about a being in the sky, that's what I grew up with. God was a being in the sky. We had to get on our knees and pray, sometimes we had to repent and we had to do all of these things that felt like I had to convince someone that I was worthy of an answer or a solution or guidance or provide. So now after the years of being in this church and after taking a bunch of workshops and being volunteered into things and joining things, I found that that was the best way to practice and to learn and to experience and also to fellowship with others. So now my concept of God is bigger. I want to share from a book called Heart Center Metaphysics, A Deeper Look at Unity Teachings by Paul Hasselbeck. And he actually quotes H Emily Katie's book Lessons in Truth. "There is but one source of being, this source is the living fountain of all good, be it life, love, wisdom, power, the giver of all good gifts. You have the power to draw on this source for all the good you are or ever will be capable of desiring. God is the name we give to that unchangeable inexorable principle of the source of all existence."
I've learned to let go of some of my baggage around the name of God, the concept of God. I might use some words, interchangeably, spirit, or divine presence. Some people like to think of mother, father, God, some people might say lord, some people in some cases might say, Jesus Christ, whatever it is that name for you, then like our meditation, our daily work, we can be at one with that. We are one with that. We live and move and have our being in that presence. And Charles Fillmore in his, in his book Prosperity, calls it the substance that's in back of all form. So there is that invisible energy that's everywhere, present that it is in all things. It can move through all things. That is the substance on which we can draw on. When we realize that we can experience the oneness with this, then we can open ourselves to greater and greater levels of creation.
When I think of oneness, I think of being one with this presence, with this spirit, the basic Unity principles say that God is all good and is active in everything everywhere. It says I am naturally good. You are naturally good because that divinity is in me and is in everyone. We create our experiences by what we choose to think, what we choose to feel in, what we choose to believe. Through the affirmative prayer and meditation, we connect with God, we connect with spirit, with the creator, and bring out the good in our lives. I can do and give my best by living the truth that I know.
The prayer chaplain program started at this church around 2003 or 2004. I forget which one, I didn't join that year. I'm pretty sure I would've tried to join that year, but I didn't feel the call in here. And it began to get louder. As spirit does sometimes it got louder and louder. I did sign up the next year, 2005 during weekend training. I discovered that I love to pray and I love to pray with others. As life would have it, I've had plenty to pray about. Back in 2005, it was before then my mother got diagnosed with cancer. I was a new chaplain during that time where I became aware of the opportunity to practice what I know. This is what I'm talking about when I'm saying practical metaphysics and God and oneness and spirit and creation, that when we become aware, or even when we are willing, we may not necessarily know how, but when we are willing to align with something greater with that presence within us, that still small voice that speaks to us, it can open doors and create something beautiful.
In the hospital, my mother had taken a turn for the worse, and it became apparent that she was dying. And honey, I was a mess. I was all surrounded by beautiful people here that were lifting me up and supporting me. And I remember Martha Creek and Reverend Susan Eng-Poole, they actually taught me that I could pray for my mother during that transition. So in the hospital, I remember sort of just kind of having an inner dialogue with spirit in my head, "Okay. Spirit, my mother's dying. I couldn't change that as much as I wanted to. My mother's dying. I'm only going to get to do this once this particular lifetime once, how would I want to do that? How would I want to show up, how would I want to experience my mother and dying?"
I decided how I wanted it to be that week in the hospital, not knowing that it was going to be her last week exactly. Not knowing when she would take her last breath, but knowing the inevitable was coming, I was able to decide how I was going to be in spirit in the experience, the real-life experience. We find ourselves in these real-life experiences, how I was going to be during that experience. And I tell you that that was one of the most pivotal experiences. And also one of the most tangible experiences of being led by spirit. I spent that week, if it's possible to feel good, but I did feel good about how I was choosing to experience my mother's dying.
I stayed with her in that hospital the whole week. I played her favorite music and I prayed to her and I talked to her and I said everything. I felt like I needed to say to my mom before she left. And I was at peace within myself. And I was grateful to spirit that spirit had the ability that I could connect to spirit that I didn't have to necessarily go through church. I had people here that were praying with me and I have people that were calling and texting and getting in touch with me. But then I could have an individual experience of spirit at that moment. And yes, it was hard. I was a mess for years after that, just lose the devastation of losing my mother.
But I have a solid knowing that as I connect, as prayer chaplains we learn to go from our head, our thinking, our thoughts, what we see out here to drop from our head to our heart. Dropping from my head to my heart, beauty was created, grace was created and spirit had stopped there. Now, years later, I have connections with women that are like mothers to me. I have an aunt that I love dearly who is like a mother to me and an uncle that's like a father to me. I have so many beautiful things that have come out of that. So it doesn't matter how dark our days might feel or how lost we might feel or whatever it is that we think we need. And we may actually really need something. Know that you can connect to that oneness, that you can experience that, giving room for spirit to create what is highest and best. So thank you.
I thank you for joining me. I thank you for being here, for holding the space, for being who you are. And I thank God for moving through me in this day. Blessings. And so it is.
