Happy New Year...as we all breathe a sigh of relief. And so it begins, a new consciousness and experience of a new year, 2021. As we know, the best part of turning the calendar over is we all receive a fresh start, to begin again. It's almost like erasing our past and moving forward in a more desirable direction of positivity. It's all good and all God. 2020 called our attention to more changes and shifts than most years, And what that requires of us is to know God is at the center of all of it. Life as we know it will continue to evolve, grow, and will call us to our higher consciousness and our highest good. In keeping with the January, -"theme" of And So It Begins..., I will be speaking about the first four chapters of our Science of Mind Text Book. This week it will be "The Thing Itself". This an opportunity for all of us to bring a friend or family member that has been curious about our faith and philosophy. Each week I will explain not just our understanding of God, but I will add our institutional history about our Founder, Ernest Holmes, and a little dash of my experience growing up in the church that was our first building, Founder's Church of Religious Science in Los Angeles. I look forward to sharing our teaching with all of you.
As for the rest of the year...I will be calling us to a higher consciousness of understanding and intuitively knowing the divine presence within us. It is an intimate relationship for each of us. By understanding how It works through us, as us, I will call upon our understanding of the global faiths. Each month, I will be talking about human culture, different religious cultures, and how the Science of Mind and the Metaphysical sciences (beyond the beyond) come together to create unification in our human existence. By understanding human culture within religious dogma we will have a better comprehension of how we can be one people, as one divine Mind. Many religions teach many saints or Gods, they are aspects of God, the nature of God, just expanded. In Hinduism, Ganesha is an aspect of God. The belief is he removes obstacles from our lives to know God is working for us. Similar to St. Anthony, he is the patron saint of lost articles, etc. As there are many others not just one, but many.
I often think about how we here in America often do not understand the nomadic culture of Saudia Arabia, Turkey, Israel, etc. A long time ago, a man's value was his herd of sheep or cattle, to keep them well-fed, they would move them from oasis to oasis and this process took about a year. Eventually, they would return to the spot where they started. However, at times someone else with their herd would be occupying the oasis, "their" oasis. A battle would usually ensue, and the winner took all, women, and children, and the men were killed off of the losing tribe. Women and children were absorbed into the victor's tribe usually as slaves. What appears as brutal to us, is a way of life, the culture of the people that live in these desert areas. What I invite us to open to is learning about our cultural differences and practices, we will understand why the Jew celebrates Yom Kippur, Mulism Ramadan, Christians Christmas, Buddhist, Hindu, and others. We are one global human culture. Human science pronounced us separate, but in God's idea, we are a soul, under the umbrella of human experience. One human culture created in the idea of pure love and expressing living our lives in peace.
So dear friends, I look forward to our building bridges and the consciousness of living together as one...Imagine.
In love and gratitude - Rev Rhonda
As for the rest of the year...I will be calling us to a higher consciousness of understanding and intuitively knowing the divine presence within us. It is an intimate relationship for each of us. By understanding how It works through us, as us, I will call upon our understanding of the global faiths. Each month, I will be talking about human culture, different religious cultures, and how the Science of Mind and the Metaphysical sciences (beyond the beyond) come together to create unification in our human existence. By understanding human culture within religious dogma we will have a better comprehension of how we can be one people, as one divine Mind. Many religions teach many saints or Gods, they are aspects of God, the nature of God, just expanded. In Hinduism, Ganesha is an aspect of God. The belief is he removes obstacles from our lives to know God is working for us. Similar to St. Anthony, he is the patron saint of lost articles, etc. As there are many others not just one, but many.
I often think about how we here in America often do not understand the nomadic culture of Saudia Arabia, Turkey, Israel, etc. A long time ago, a man's value was his herd of sheep or cattle, to keep them well-fed, they would move them from oasis to oasis and this process took about a year. Eventually, they would return to the spot where they started. However, at times someone else with their herd would be occupying the oasis, "their" oasis. A battle would usually ensue, and the winner took all, women, and children, and the men were killed off of the losing tribe. Women and children were absorbed into the victor's tribe usually as slaves. What appears as brutal to us, is a way of life, the culture of the people that live in these desert areas. What I invite us to open to is learning about our cultural differences and practices, we will understand why the Jew celebrates Yom Kippur, Mulism Ramadan, Christians Christmas, Buddhist, Hindu, and others. We are one global human culture. Human science pronounced us separate, but in God's idea, we are a soul, under the umbrella of human experience. One human culture created in the idea of pure love and expressing living our lives in peace.
So dear friends, I look forward to our building bridges and the consciousness of living together as one...Imagine.
In love and gratitude - Rev Rhonda