Faith From a New Perspective | Rev. John Riley

Faith From a New Perspective

Oh, well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Deborah. Thank you, Russell. Thank you, Ronnie. That was beautiful. Magnificent. Welcome. Good morning. Good morning. First, can we just say thank you to our Unity elves who put together this incredible display? Let’s see. I don’t know. I don’t. So Francis Man Creek was here. Christine Oliver was here. Sherry Robinson was here. Sammy Francis granddaughter was here. Is that correct? And Alice was the one who kind of coordinated it. Also. Give them a big round of applause. The sanctuary looks so beautiful.

It’s amazing. Thank you so much for your work and your efforts to make this just so comforting, so comfortable, and feels like home to me. Well, we are entering into that season of Advent and in Unity. We, at least here at Unity Palo Alto, we celebrate Advent from that spiritual perspective. Because Advent is a time of preparation. It’s a time of getting ready for, of building up to the birth of Christ, or the birth, or the unfolding of that Christ consciousness to a greater realization within you. The unfolding of a greater realization of that Christ potential within you. Now, if the word Christ doesn’t jive with you, that’s okay. You know, substitute the word, maybe it’s Divine, that spark of Divinity, or just my higher Self. But that’s what Advent is all about. It’s getting ready to birth a new, higher level of our own consciousness.

What is Faith? 

And we begin with the idea of Hope and Faith. Now, in unity, hope is described as the expectation of good in our future. That’s what Charles Fillmore liked to talk about, hope in the revealing word. He said, hope is the expectation of good in our future, that something good is going to occur or happen, or within us or outside of us, but there’s hope for something in the future. Now, faith is a little bit different than hope. Faith is the stuff that moves us towards our good. Shall I break that down a little bit for you? Faith is that inner knowing. Now, some people talk about it as belief, but you know, we have a bunch of beliefs that we know are a bunch of BS , our belief system, right? So it’s more than just a belief. Faith is a deep inner knowing. Faith goes beyond the intellect, but brings in the wisdom of the heart as well.

It’s the certain knowledge, the inner wisdom, that our good is ours right now. It’s already ours. So those, those ideas, those things that you’re looking for or seeking, those things that you’re hoping for are already yours right now. Hope, faith is the spiritual understanding that is always available through that Christ self within you. That’s always available through that higher Self. Faith is the substance, our ability to shape – substance to create in our world. And faith is a form of Spirit. It is Spirit and action. And so it goes beyond time, and it goes beyond space. It’s a state of consciousness, a state of spiritual consciousness that we move into and that we begin with. And it’s through faith that we create our life experience. So let’s, let’s ask the question. Let’s put it to the test. What are you looking forward to in your future?

What Are Your Dreams?

What things are – you know, we’re on the cusp of 2023. Everyone take a nice deep breath. It’s not even December yet, we’re already talking about New Year’s. Just take a deep breath. But what are you, what are you hoping for, if not 2023? What are you hoping for? What’s your vision for this next month, for December? Because it’s a time when a lot of things happen in the world, right? That it gets crowded out there in the stores. It gets crowded on the roads, people are traveling or going to see friends and relatives. So things are happening. So what are your hopes and what are your dreams? What are you, what are you looking for? Now, let me ask you this. So bring some of those to mind. And let me ask you this. Are your hopes and expectation for good, or are your hopes a simple, hoping it’s not gonna be like it was last month?

Did you see the difference? So sometimes we’re hoping for our good, sometimes we’re hoping for, you know, wonderful experiences with our relatives during the Christmas season. Sometimes we’re hoping for, you know, a wonderful gift or, or better health, or, you know, we’re hoping for something that’s good. And sometimes it’s, oh gosh, I just hope they don’t do dot, dot, dot. So since if you can see if you can sense the difference in that, you know, one is very looking at the positive side of life. One is looking at coming from the standpoint of what? Lack. Lack. Thank you. I can’t hear the rest of you guys. Gotta speak up, lack fear, whatever that is. But it’s coming from that perspective. So is that really hope? Is that really a positive expectation for good? Or is it a being immersed in the sense of lack and fear and limitation? So when you’re thinking about what is gonna come next, really look at how you’re thinking.

How to Handle Your Problems

Really take a look at your thoughts and see, what am I really expressing here? What am I really holding here? Dr. Emmett Fox once said, “don’t think about the problem. Think about God.” Don’t think about the problem. Think about God. Now, I wanna break this down because I want to maybe talk about this a little bit. Maybe shift the languaging a little bit, because I think if you hear that there might be some people that say, “don’t think about the problem.”

Oh, they’re just ignoring the problem. And that’s not, I don’t think that’s what Dr. Fox meant. What Dr. Fox was talking about was, “don’t think about that experience of lack and limitation. Don’t think about all of the suffering and pain that’s happening in the problem, because we all have problems that we need to solve every once in a while.” Right? I mean, we have things that we need to do in life. We have things that we need to create, things that we need to solve. But if we’re looking at it from the perspective of, there’s a problem, and I can you believe how hard this is, and oh, this is so painful, and, and gosh, the, the Christmas trees, you know, up in the hills, they haven’t got enough water and they don’t look quite as good as they did last year. If you’re looking at the problem, then what are you focusing on?

The lack and limitation and not the hope. So what Dr. Fox is saying here is “don’t think, don’t put yourself in that.” Immerse yourself in that sense that something’s missing, but rather move forward. Yes, the data may be there, that there’s something to solve, and that the data may be there, that there’s something within me that I need to, you know heal or I need to work on. Or there’s something, you know, there’s a problem at work and I need to solve it. That’s the data. The problem of it comes in when we look at it and we start, what, what was it? Pre suffering, that was the word pre suffering. We start pre suffering. Here’s the problem. And maybe if something from the past, and yet we’re still suffering from it. So, what Dr. Fox is saying is “the data is saying, here’s something that we need to do.” So don’t sink into the depths of the problem. Don’t sink and stay in the valley of the shadow and don’t make camp there. Don’t hang a sign. Just keep moving through it and focus instead on the positive expectations of what you’re going to create. Because it’s that energy that, that, that energy that you put into it that goes beyond the thinking. But that hard energy, all of that, that energy that you’re putting into it, that is your creative experience, and that’s faith in action.

Perspective

And so when we put our faith in action towards whatever it is that we want to solve in life, or whatever it is that we want to experience with hope in it, that we’re moving towards a new experience of life and any problem that comes along, any situation that comes along, we can now look at from a new perspective, we can now be be in it and not be of it, be in the world, but not of the world. We can be in the situation and be centered and be calm and with our faith, know that there’s a path before us, even if we don’t know what that path is, it’s the unfolding of Spirit within you. It’s the release of the control that the daily word talked about allowing the the way to show up. You know, it’s like lifting your foot and stepping without even knowing there’s a step there, knowing that you are moving in the right direction. It is Spirit unfolding in you. And if there’s uncertainty, faith is the energy within you. Faith is the skill within you to help you figure it out and to help you move forward. I like what Eric Butterworth said about faith. This is in practical metaphysics, and there’s a whole chapter on faith. I’m just gonna read a very short snippet. Faith is not a magical means of working miracles. Dang it. It’s not magic. Faith is not a magical mean of of working miracles. Get that out of your consciousness. You are the great miracle. You are the great miracle. Isn’t that amazing? And the dynamics of faith is the key to the kingdom of your own potentiality. The dynamics of faith is your key to your potential to living in, to, to, to realizing a greater degree, a higher level of consciousness, as Jesus said, seek first the kingdom and its righteousness in all things shall be added unto you from Matthew 6:33. Not all things, but all the things that come easily out of your own divine flow, out of your own divine potential. Things that come to you easily because they are part of your own pattern and part of your own unfoldment. The need is to listen to your own transcendence, to know yourself. And this will lead you to the desire to un that, to desire to unfold that which you innately are and thus fulfill your uniqueness.

So it’s not about stuff. It’s not about things. Although I will say my friend Pravin texted me an image of a a yellow Lotus, and I’m gonna change my, you know, I’m moving away from my burnt orange McLaren. And that yellow Lotus was pretty cool. I’m just saying. But faith isn’t about getting that yellow, yellow lotus. Faith isn’t about getting stuff. It’s changing our perspective and our consciousness so that we can move through it and move towards our good. And maybe my good isn’t that yellow lotus because of it costs a lot of money. It’s hard to maintain. Maybe my good is just a mode of transportation. And so when I have an openness there and allow that guidance and let go of the sense of lack and just move forward in faith, any challenge that we have, we can move through it.

Because faith changes our perspective, raises our consciousness, and allows spirit to guide us one step at a time. Even if we don’t see where the road leads. Even if we don’t really know, you know, what the destination is, we have an idea, we’re moving in that direction. And the more I’m open to, to God, as Dr. Fox said, the more possibility there is out there for me. So don’t seek the problem. You know, seek spirit in your life. Faith is the emerging energy, the empowering energy within you to create what you put your focus on.

Don’t Focus on the Problem

So where’s your focus? Is your focus on the problem? Or is your focus on Spirit? On the, the idea? So here’s an example. I a few days ago there was a lot going on in my house and I was moving a lot of things and I strained my back. So now my faith, my focus is not on healing, but on health, my faith is on health. Why is there a difference? What does healing imply? Anybody? There’s something wrong. My back hurts. I need healing. So where’s my focus on my suffering? Instead, I’m affirming health. It doesn’t mean I ignore the problem. It doesn’t mean I don’t do the things that I need to do. It doesn’t mean that I, you know, don’t take the the pain relief that I need to take or do the massage or do the, the rubs or whatever that I need to do to move forward. I do all of those things that are right for me to do. I’m just not focusing on the suffering. The problem I’m focused on. The hope is health and spiritual wholeness through the situation.

The Apostle Paul said, “faith is the substance of things. Hope for the evidence of things not seen. Faith is the substance that’s all around us, that spiritual substance that we use to create.” And so where is your faith? Where are your, where is your focus? It’s what guides your foot when you cannot see the step, and it’s readily available to you right here and right now. And that’s the idea that we spoke about last week, the idea of grace, right? That that energy of spirit is always available to us. And yet, sometimes we think we’re not worthy. Sometimes we think, you know, because look at our society, it’s a, it’s a big, it tells us, and we grew up with these ideas that you’re not good enough, you’re not worthy.

You need to do this before you can gain that good. But there’s nothing that you need to do. God’s doesn’t have a tally mark up there. God’s everywhere present. God has the energy within you. God has that life force, the allness of life. There’s nothing that you need to do except let it to let it be. I love how Butterworth’s talked about this. He says there’s nothing we need to do. We just need to allow it to flow, to step in it and to flow. So instead of looking at, here’s something I need to do so that I can, so I can be the right person, therefore I can have my, you know, good things in my life. We look at it the other way around. Here’s who I am. I am that divine potential. I am that Christ being. And we all live into it to our own degrees.

It’s Time to Change Your View

And we all have times when, you know, frustrations come and suffering comes. And, and, but the quicker we can change our view of it and get back to the idea of faith, get back to these ideas, the quicker we’re able to, the easier we’re able to minimize our suffering and move through it with ease and grace. And so we are that unique expression, ready to be. And when we come from that, then we have enough within us. And when we have enough within us, enough belief, enough faith, enough in knowing, then we do from that, and we go into the world and we express goodness. Now, what does that look like? It may, we may be in an argument with somebody. It doesn’t mean that we’re gonna roll over and say, it’s all good, brother. Bro, I’m from Southern California, you know, no worries, man. You know, I lost my southern California-ness. Have you noticed that? I don’t know. Is anybody here from Southern California? No. Okay, you don’t know what I’m talking about, but, oh, it’s coming back. I feel it. I feel it. So bra.

I don’t even remember what I was saying, doing, being, I got lost. So sometimes we’re in a discussion, right? And when somebody doesn’t agree with us, I kind of a, a reaction that comes into play is, is defensiveness because we take it personally, even if it’s directed at us personally. You know, John, I don’t like your shirt. I don’t like your socks. Would you shave for goodness sake, you’re the minister. I did shave this morning. I just, you know, just to be clear. And we take that personally as opposed to, “no, I didn’t shave. I totally agree. I should shave. It’s kind of prickly. It’s itching my lips.” Yeah. Completely different scenario. Or yeah,” I’m not gonna thanks”, but I’m not taking it personally. Now that may be a little flippant. That may be a little silly description, silly example. But we all have those, right?

We all have those little things that happen in our lives when somebody says something to you and it’s like, oh, here it comes, you know, and we get so defensive, we pre suffer or we start to build up our suffering file cabinet. So faith allows us to just, you know, be in the moment, allows us to step into the flow with spirit, allows us to be who we are. And yeah, there are things to fix. I agree, and we’re gonna move forward together or not. But I’m moving forward and I’m moving in faith, and I’m stepping in it without feeling that sense of something’s wrong, without focusing on what’s wrong. Just focusing on, here’s where we need to go. Here’s the direction that we’re headed. So what would you like to do in the next month after this? What would you like to experience this month? Bring to mind, you know, that experience that you want to create, that idea that that goodness that you want to bring forward in the world. And yes, there will be challenges along the way. Can you imagine yourself meeting those challenges without suffering? Just saying, okay, here it is. Here’s the data. I’m gonna go back to that, that ever present experience of spirit, that energy that’s always flowing. I’m gonna go back to that and just know that whatever my next step is, I’m moving forward with spirit and allow spirit to guide my step. It may seem zigzaggy to you, but you never know. It’s probably exactly the right way to go. Whatever you’re dodging and weaving, you don’t even have to worry about God’s got you. Let’s move.