Click HERE to view Rev. Rogers’ guided meditation during the service.
Okay. So last week we talked about the idea that light was the first three-dimensional embodiment of God. Anybody here last week? Does that in any way sound familiar? [Congregation laughs] Okay; I just want to make sure I’m talking to the same room.
So I want to talk tonight — I want to take one more step. Because tonight we’re going to talk about the Word of God. And I want you to see: We read from 1 John last week. And 1 John: It talks about Jesus becoming the Word made flesh. And I want you to really hear how much that’s your story.
When we hear about Jesus — when we read the stories about Jesus — it’s very easy for that to feel like that’s way beyond us. But your spiritual job is to be the three-dimensional embodiment of God. You are God’s Spirit being made flesh. You are the embodiment of that. So not only is light — light is the first embodiment of God into three-dimensional form — but every one of us is the three-dimensional embodiment or expression of God. And that’s what it means to be us! We are all living embodiments of all that God is!
And we’re either doing that at a very high level or a very interesting level. [Congregation laughs] Right? And we all have people in our life and it’s like, “Well, that’s an interesting way to express God. That’s kind of a variation on a theme.” [Congregation laughs] “Like, I didn’t see that one coming! That was kind of a … That was kind of a wild one!”
And then we see people that just do it so purely, so perfectly, that you just … you feel it. Like, I remember a hundred years ago, I was a young man, went to see the movie, Gandhi. And watching the movie, Gandhi — even though it was the actor, Ben Kingsley, playing the part — I noticed that I was just crying. And in his representation of Gandhi, I literally felt like I was looking at the face of God. Like, that it was such a pure, pure, pure expression of the Divine.
And sometimes we get so busy with life that we forget why we’re here! That we’re here to be the living embodiment of God. We’re here to embody all that God is. And I want you to entertain that idea, as we move into this new year, as a way of maybe setting some priorities for your life. Because sometimes if we get everything right, but we don’t get the most important thing right, did we really win?
And so tonight, I want you to look at your willingness to embody the Word of God. To embody any of the spiritual qualities. Now, do we have the PowerPoint? Shoot the PowerPoint up there, will you?
Now this is what I want you to see. I want you to imagine that pure God — pure light — came into three-dimensional form. Okay? The Word became flesh. It came into three-dimensional form. And the moment it came into three-dimensional form, it began to express in a multitude of ways. Like, the whole prism of colors — and what do we see? Seven or eight colors in that spectrum? But we know that there are infinitely more colors than that that we just cannot discern.
So when the light comes into that and it breaks into parts, those parts — those qualities, those spiritual qualities — are all the ways that we are called to express the light.
Now in Unity, we talk about 12. We talk about 12 fundamental qualities: 12 fundamental spiritual qualities. And those spiritual qualities are wisdom, love, strength, faith, imagination, order, understanding, will, power, zeal, release and life. Right? So I want you to see that those colors — those vivid colors — are all aspects of the light of God coming into three-dimensional form. We could say the light is the Christ — the spiritual potential in all of us. And when it comes through the prism — when it’s breaking down — it becomes all the many ways that we are called to express God.
So tonight, what we’re going to do is: I’ve got a bag of words that are all spiritual qualities. Some are a little bit sillier than other ones. But all of them are spiritually focused. And what we’re going to do tonight is: You’re going to get a word and you’re either going to love it or you’re going to hate it. [Congregation laughs] Now, I’ve had people get very disgusted with me that they got the wrong word. Right? And they’re convinced that they got the wrong word; that it’s not their word. It’s somebody else’s word! “And I don’t want this stinkin’ word; I had that stinkin’ word last year. And I’m not taking that stinkin’ word again.” Right?
And I would just like you to entertain the possibility that, if you reached your hand into the bag and you pulled out the word, it was really for you! Right? That there is no … That the Universe is not out of control; that the Universe is perfectly designed; and that you’re going to get the word that is 100% for your highest and best, whether you like it or not.
How many of you have ever had an experience where you know what you’re going through is for your highest and your best, but you still don’t want it. [Congregation laughs] Right? Everybody’s had that experience, right?
And so we’re going to look at that process. So when you pick a word, I want you to play with this word at three different levels.
The first level is: I want you to just THINK ABOUT IT. I want you to experience that word — that spiritual quality — at the level of thought. Like, when you think of that word, what do you think about? “Well, I think about this or I think about that or I think about what that word has meant to me. Or maybe how people have used that spiritual quality.” I want you to just play — to start — by just thinking about it.
The next level that I want you to play with is the idea of: HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT WORD? Because you might have … If it’s an important spiritual quality, you might have some feelings about it. You could say, “Well, you know, I’ve got about a 50/50 rate going with that word.” Right? “That word is not a pure word to me; it is a word that has some baggage with it, and I’ve got some feelings about it. And I really want to just scream that this is my word.” Right?
I want you to just really acknowledge: first, what do you think about it? And then, what do you feel about it?
Now, if we just stay at those two levels — thinking and feeling — I think we’re doing, at best, a half job. Because most people, when it comes to their spiritual life, stay at that level. They think about things; they feel things; they think about their spiritual life; they feel their spiritual life. But their spiritual life never really gets any deeper than just kind of a mental process or an emotional process. And everything is filtered through those two filters. Everything is filtered with: What do I think about it? And how do I feel about it? Even their spiritual life.
And for many of us, we actually believe that that’s being spiritual. It’s not! It’s just being mental or emotional with a spiritual bent. But it’s not actually doing the fullness of what we’re called to do.
The next thing I want you to do is: I want you to LOOK AT EMBODYING IT. Right? I want you to embody that idea. I want you to really look to see if you can embody that spiritual idea. And that gets a little interesting! Because that’s not a five-minute process! That’s like a whole-year process.
So if you get love or joy or peace, it’s like: What if you actually committed, in a year’s time, to embody that in a more significant way? Can you see that that would literally move your spiritual life forward? Because — let’s go back to the prism again. Right?
Can you see that every one of those shades of color is a reflection of the whole? So if you embody love in a real way, you are embodying every aspect of the light! That there is no part of the light that doesn’t have all the light in it! That it’s the embodiment of that.
So your job is to THINK ABOUT IT, but not too long. Your job is to FEEL IT, but not too long. But then to spend the next year saying pretty much every day: “God, how do you want me to embody this now? In this moment? In this day?” And really take a moment to sit with it.
Because what I know to be true is that every spiritual idea is infinitely large. Because it’s an aspect of God. So to embody any spiritual principle, you have to be willing for your soul to expand to hold it in a greater and greater way. And this is the true spiritual work: Is for you to EMBODY ALL THAT GOD IS. For you to embody all that God is!
So we begin one year at a time. We take one idea; one principle. And we just practice with that one. The next year we get a new one, and we practice with that one. And we notice that year after year after year, we’re embodying more and more and more God until there’s a point where, when people look at us, they can’t discern where we stop and God begins.
The Apostle Paul said, “One day you will look in the mirror. Now I look in the mirror dimly, but one day I will look face to face.” And the idea is that, as you keep embodying and embodying more and more God, there’s going to be a day when you look in the mirror and you actually see the face of God looking back at you. That’s a good day! Right? It might scare you, but it’s a good day. [Congregation laughs] “Oooh! Too much! Turn it down!” Right?
So tonight, that’s what we’re going to do. This isn’t just getting a cute little words that you put in your ashtray in your car, and you just pull it out occasionally when you get the car washed. This is about really having a spiritual process. You ready?
Now, do you have to come up and get a word? No! You just don’t. Can you pick a word for your friends? As long as everybody gets once first. Right? So as long as everybody gets one first, you can pick two. Alright. Is that fair? Alright. You ready to play?
Everybody take a deep breath. And I want you to set the intention that the word you get is your word. Right? I want you to just decide, right now — not after you see it; I want to keep my options open! But I want you to decide right now that, “The word I get is my word. That I picked that word because I’m ready to embody more good. I am ready to embody more God.”
And so whenever you’re ready, I want you to come forward. I want you to stick your hand in the bag. I want you to pick out your word, and then be nice to me. [Congregation laughs] Okay? You ready?
[Congregants begin picking words]