Transformation Into a Greater You | Rev. John Riley

Would you affirm that with me? How great thou art in my life? How great thou art in my life? Would you affirm that with me? How great thou art in my life? And that’s the real awareness of Easter, is really understanding that idea. Over this last month, we have been studying the book, um, discover the Power Within You, and we talking about this idea of Jesus the Christ, and how he made the great discovery, that great discovery. And here’s what Eric Butterworth, the unity minister and author, had to say about that great discovery. He knew that the kingdom of God, the wealth of the universe, was within the depth potential within him. He was committed. He was a committed and polished teacher with the amazing message that the kingdom of God is within you. Within you. The kingdom of God is within me. Would you affirm that with me together, the kingdom of God is within me. I know you’re not quite sure about that yet. Are you? You wanna try that one again?

Yes. Okay. I got one answer That’s perfect. The kingdom of God is within me together. The kingdom of God is within me. And so it is, it’s that idea that the poet Alfred Tennyson once said, “it is closer than your breath. It is nearer than your hands and your feet. It is the allness that is within you.” 

Eric Butterworth used to say, “it is like the ocean within the wave.” There’s no distinction, right? The kingdom of God is within you ever expressing, ever seeking to fulfill itself in through and as you. That’s the great Easter awareness. Now, Jesus, the Christ was a master teacher. He was a master teacher. And he taught through his words, he taught through metaphor. He taught to, at the le at the level which whoever he was speaking to could understand. He also was a great teacher of daily practice.

Practicing Daily Divinity

Have you heard of that one before? Practicing daily, putting things into work in your life. And then he taught also through demonstration, through putting that divine energy to work out in the world in whatever way was appropriate. And he did this daily. The practice was daily aligning our human consciousness with that divine consciousness that we just spoke about. That’s already within you. There’s nothing you need to do to get there except for allowing it. Ooh, how do you allow it? Well, we’ll get to that part. Part of Jesus’ practice was the daily app, the daily practice of prayer and meditation and moving into that secret space within, to get that highest point of view, to approach life from that highest point of view that is in alignment with that divine, uh, power within us. As he said in, in Matthew chapter six, verse six, “it’s your father’s good pleasure.”

Oh, that’s not it. Seek first the kingdom of God. Nope, that’s not it either. <laugh>, just have too many quotes for you today. When thou praise enter into thine inner chamber and having shut the door, pray to the Father who is in secret, and the Father who see it in secret shall recompense the it is moving within that we connect, it’s getting in tune in an in alignment with that divine presence, with that Christ consciousness that is within, innately, within every person. So that we can bring that out into our, into manifestation with more ease and grace. So we can express that into the world where Matthew, where he said, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And then all these things shall be given unto you. When we expressed that consciousness, and that was the lesson that Jesus was trying to get across. Now Jesus was, uh, also a master teacher who walked the talk. Do you know teachers who walk the talk? You know, some of us just get up here and preach <laugh> and others of you actually do the walking.

Because he was a man on a quest, on a quest to not only transform his life, but to transform the world. To show people this is the experience, this is the light that’s within you. And you can bring that forward into your life every day. It was an everyday practice. He was always working to understand his innate wholeness and to demonstrate his divine potential, how to bring that out into the world. And the great quest, his why was to shine that Christ light so that others may see it and discover that they have that same light within them, and that to make a positive difference in the world. That was his quest. That was his why. Because as he said, all of these things that I have done, you can do, and even greater things when you have this Christ consciousness and when you’re attuned to it.

Making a Positive Difference in the World

And when you’re bringing that out into the world, you can make a positive difference in the world. Now this idea and what we came down to was then the great demonstration. Now, Jesus was always demonstrating, putting things into practice in your life. And this day is the greatest demonstration that he performed. That’s, that’s the resurrection, that’s moving beyond the seeming death and and coming into alignment with his Christ. Awareness fully coming into unity with Christ. So if you, I don’t know if anybody read the Bible. So in the Bible he was called Jesus of Nazareth when they were talking about the man, then Jesus the Christ, when he was the teacher, and then Christ Jesus after he resurrected. And it’s important that that distinction because after the resurrection, it was the Christ consciousness that was fully present.

And Jesus was the image through which it’s shown. So the word resurrection comes from the word resurgence, a resurgence of life, a resurgence of energy, a resurgence of power. And that’s when we, in unity, what we look at is the idea that every day we can have this Easter consciousness, this Easter awareness, when we realize that we can overcome whatever’s in front of us and have that resurgence within us, have that power come back out. And that was the real teaching that he was bringing forward. The Easter awareness is that you have everything you need right now to rise again.

You have everything you need right now to rise again and again and again. I have everything I need to rise again together. I have everything I need to rise again. That’s this is was, this was Jesus’s quest. He was a man on a quest to transform his life, working his innate wholeness, spiritual wholeness, bringing it into manifestation to demonstrate his divine potential. And to tell the world, this is what you can do. This is why we’re here to live first from that kingdom of God, to seek first that consciousness of awareness. Then all of the things will be added onto you. The quest was to shine that Christ light so that others can see it and to make a positive difference in the world.

Lent – 40 Days and 40 Nights

And so today we get to the point where we are looking at the idea of this resurrection. And over the last 40 days and 40 nights, cuz I’m sure we’ve all been practicing it for 40 days and 40 nights we’ve been practicing Lent. And in unity, it’s not about giving up something. We talked about it at the very beginning and someone said chocolate, and I almost fainted, I ain’t giving up my chocolate. But Blen is really not about giving up something. Had a great ex, uh, a great connection with our senior minister emeritus, Reverend Karen Bradley. And that’s what Senior Min, good senior ministers do, right when they retire, they become ministers to ministers. And so we were texting back and forth about this idea of Easter and this idea of, of it’s not about letting go of something, right? When you think about the word letting go, what happens? Sadness it. Yeah, there’s a loss. I it’s gone. Instead, it’s a giving over.

It’s a giving over to God. And it’s a giving over of things like resentment. It’s giving over our unforgiveness, it’s giving over our sense of shame and self pity. It’s giving over our sense of being right or wanting things my way. Now I’m going a little bit too far here. <laugh> giving over those earthly ideas so that we can, again, get back to that grounding, that sense of spirit in my life. So here’s how it shows up, at least for me. When I give over my need to control, when I get over my need to predict, when I get give over that need to have things go the way I want it to go, I sit back and allow spirit to guide me. And then I’m in the flow. I’m just moving. It’s a beautiful thing. So Lent is really about letting go of that adverse ego that has resentment, that has unforgiveness, that has, you know, self-loathing in shame or judgments about other people, or the need to have things go right, the need to fix everything, everything to go a certain way, giving over that egoic idea so that our spiritual nature can come into control, can start to be the driver of our semi right?

Committment & Self-Discipline 

Become the driver of that bus so that that Christ consciousness can emerge in the things that we say and the things that we do. Now, the biggest difference I think, between Jesus and you is simply commitment and his self-discipline. People think to his why he was so committed to it. And people think, well, Jesus could do no wrong. He was perfect. But if you read the Bible, you see that Jesus was, was always coming up against his humanity, was always coming up against that adverse ego. The apostle Paul wrote, if I can find it in my seven pages of notes, <laugh>, because you know, Easter’s really important. Nope, can’t find it. But the apostle Paul said that, that he was always coming against, coming up against temptation. He was always coming up against it, coming up against error thinking, coming up against those things that drag us off our course.

But he was without sin. He was always coming up against it. But he had the fortitude to say, no, this is my why. This is my purpose. I’m on this quest and this I am here to express that divinity. And so with that as his guidepost, even though he was frustrated, even though he wept because of Jerusalem, even though he experienced, he was distraught about his disciples abandoning him, even though he was frustrated by the things that were going on around him, even through all of those human experiences, anybody experience some of those things frustrated about, you know, the the person next. I mean, the people out there.

What’s got us in trouble there. Even his last words on the cross showed his journey through consciousness, through every phase of consciousness. He started out as a victim consciousness. In his words, he went to the victor consciousness. You know, that victim victor, duality that that dualistic consciousness. I’m either the victim or I’m the victor. And then he realized, he went into a vessel consciousness, which is like, okay, it’s, it’s up to you. It’s your will. I’m the vessel, and even that’s a dualistic consciousness. It’s me and the vessel. It’s the vessel and the spirit. And then he finally got to verity consciousness. It got to that place where he knew his oneness with spirit. He got to that place where he knew his unity with God.

He knew that he was there and it was done and he was rising. He knew it. And so throughout that, we can all experience that idea of knowing going from that victim victor consciousness and the things that are going on in our life. Anybody have things going on in your life? You know the ones I’m talking about? Yeah. That even through all of those, the Easter awareness is we have the ability in everything that we need within us to rise again, regardless of what the situation is, to rise again, to allow that, that wellspring of peace within us, to move us forward, to keep going. Someone’s Googling, you know what I’m saying here? I think they’re snap What’s it called? Google. They’re chat bot. Yeah, I should use that for my talks. Oh, okay. I’ll, I’ll stick with Spirit. It’s cool. 

Don’t Resist Life – Live It! 

I like it. Churning within to that inner source, the great teachings of Jesus. Show that he was teaching us to meet life with non-resistance. Life’s gonna show up. It’s just what is. So don’t judge it, don’t make stories about it. Just look at it and see here’s what is. And then he taught us to take the highest viewpoint that in any situation, take a moment to turn within to reconnect with Jesus, G. P. T. with God, G. P. T., with that Christ consciousness within you, and allow that in infinite wisdom to guide you. And he taught us that we can transform our consciousness and have that resurgence of spirit, that resurrection of spirit within us and have that be, oh, that’s a juicy life, isn’t it? That is a juicy life being the radiant expression of light in the world. Now the challenge is of course, when stuff happens, the question is, why is this happening to me? Why does this keep happening to me? That’s the wrong why, right? Let’s go back to your why. What’s your purpose? Why are you here? What is it that you are here to express? How are you gonna bring that unique, beautiful expression of that Christ consciousness into the world that only you can do? Why would you prevent the world from seeing that beauty in you? It’s yours to give to the world and your unique abilities.

So the question is, are you motivated by that infinite intelligence? Are you motivated by that? Uh, you know, that sense of love, that sense of joy and bliss, that infinite flow of wisdom that can come through you, that are you motivated by the kingdom of God? Or are you motivated by the kingdom of stuff? Seek first the kingdom of God and then all else will be added unto you. It’ll be added unto you according to your highest good. Seek first that kingdom of God and allow that divine consciousness to rise again within you and allow it to flow.

You Are Divine

Jesus was the man always seeking to be Jesus the Christ, to express that divine consciousness, to rise above all of the crosses that were in his life. All of the stuff that were coming along. And there was stuff. Anybody realize that there was stuff? Yes. Thank you Catherine. And he was always seeking to demonstrate the rich kingdom of heaven, which is that state of consciousness when you know your oneness, when you embody that Unity of God, of Spirit. And Eric Butterworth said, this is the keynote of the great demonstration of Easter …“You are divine.” Ooh, I am divine. Are you, are you brave enough to affirm that with me? Yes. Yes. I am divine together. I am divine. Divine. No matter what you have taught yourself, no matter what you have done in your life or with it, no matter what you have, no matter what or no matter how limited your experience has seemed to be, you are divine.

That is your nature. And we’re here to bring that out. The divinity of you is that which is eternal, ageless, deathless whole and complete it is that of you. That is perfect. Even when it seems to be imperfect. It is that of you that knows even when you are facing indecisiveness and fear, it is that of you that can never be alone. It is that of you that can never really be sick. It is that of you that can never be frustrated, as I like to say. That’s your authentic you, everything else, right? Is that illusion is our adverse ego saying, yeah, but so instead of saying, yeah, but let’s put that into practice. Let’s bring our whole self to the game.

If this is your first time here at Unity Palo Alto, we have a tradition. You, you should have received a flower when you came into the sanctuary. And if you don’t have a flower or two or three, you know, please raise your hand. And, uh, we’ll, we’ll, there’ll be a couple back here, one over there, and we’ll bring you some flowers. And so I would like to invite you to take your flower in your hand for a moment and look at the flower or the flowers. Take a look at it. Can you see the beauty in the flower?

Yeah. Raise your hand if you can see the beauty in the flower. Yeah. And you know, it may have a scent, it may not, but just take in the beauty of the flower for a moment. Now I want you to take another very close look at the flower. Can you see the imperfections? Not every petal is exactly perfect. Maybe there’s a little brown in it. Maybe it’s a little wonky. It’s small, it’s too big. Anybody see some imperfections in there? Maybe there’s a little pollen or something that’s bothering you. Welcome to life.

Finding Beauty Within Imperfections

Now think for yourself about your own imperfections. Just take a moment to think about your own imperfections. And then look at the flower again. And can you see the beauty with the imperfections? Can you get a sense of the sense of beauty in this flower, even though it’s not perfect, even though some of the petals are wilting, even though it’s a little brown around the edges, it may not be the right color for you. Too much pink. Too little pink. Not enough purple. That’s the representation of who you are. You are beautiful and imperfect. And instead of focusing on those imperfect imperfections, we’re gonna focus on the beauty, the whole of you. That’s really what this resurrection idea is all about. The resurgence of the divine consciousness within you. That’s the whole of you, all of you, the wholeness, even the things that you don’t like. My hair is too long. My hair’s too short, my hair’s thin right around here, <laugh>. I don’t understand it.

So take a moment. We’re gonna go into a, a time of meditation here in a moment. And, um, what I want you to do is, is, and then what we’ll do is, uh, I’ll invite you to come forward and to place your flower. We have three areas where you can place your flower in one of these little woo in one of these little containers and place your flowers in there and we’ll do it in kind of a meditative experience. The representation of the flower is that idea of your divine essence. It’s beautiful. It’s nature is beautiful. It’s nature is to, is to create life, to to attract life to, to give life. And it’s not what we might judge as perfect, but it’s divine Nature is perfect. Your spiritual nature is perfect. Your spiritual nature is Christ. Your authentic nature is that divine self, that higher consciousness.