Your Spiritual Journey to Cleansing and Healing | Rev. John Riley

And here we are, six weeks into being open again.  We opened six weeks ago, six Sundays ago, the beginning of — what month? — March.  It’s all a blur, it’s all a blur.  But we started this journey called Lent.  We started this spiritual journey called Lent.  And in Unity the way we look at it is, it’s an opportunity for us to release that which is not serving us and renewing our mind, renewing our consciousness and the consciousness of the allness of life, love and wisdom, renewing our mind and the spirit of God and we began on Ash Wednesday.  

So, Lent goes forty days through all the way up until Easter — I almost said Christmas.  I don’t know.  It’s been one of those years.  It’s been a covid year — all the way to Easter and that experience of releasing and renewing as we prepare for that rising up as Margo talked about, prepare for that upliftment.  

Willingness

And we began with just a willingness. The first Sunday was really about being willing, being willing to spiritually grow, to lift up and to release all of those thoughts, all of the negativity, the things that aren’t serving us and stepping into a process of releasing and renewing.  

Stepping In

Then our second Sunday was talking about stepping in.  And every practice we begin by stepping in, stepping inward into our inner sanctuary so that we can connect with that allness of life again, so that we can re-establish that sense of knowingness, knowing our oneness with God, knowing our oneness with each other — for as Jho said, that God is everywhere present.  So, God is in you like the ocean is in the wave – and just really sinking into that feeling from that consciousness, then stepping out, stepping out with unwavering faith, stepping out from our why, our purpose, stepping out and going towards our goals, and moving forward, moving our feet towards that activity, whatever it is that we are we are doing in life, stepping out in unwavering faith knowing that that presence and power, knowing that that divine substance is within you and expressing through you and as you.  

Now, along the way we may, we may incur, we may run up against some obstacles.  We may bump up against some disappointments, some discouragements, some things that we didn’t expect or weren’t anticipating or didn’t want.  And so, that gave us the ability to go back to our why. When we’re focused too much on the doing, go back to the being, go back to the beingness. And then as you do, put a better foot forward.  Maybe it’s in a different direction.  Maybe it’s in a different path, but still moving from that sense of purpose, and having that be your guiding light. 

Resting in Spirit

Now, through that, after that, we talked about the idea of resting in Spirit because along the way, you always need to take a break.  You need to take care of yourself.  And so, we talked about the idea of the Sabbath and realizing, recognizing that the Sabbath — man was not created for the Sabbath; that isn’t necessarily a specific day — the Sabbath was created for humankind so that when we recognize that we need a break, we can take a break.  

A friend of mine just talked about this.  It’s a perfect example. She was so caught up in the doing and doing and doing and doing and she wasn’t taking your break.  And so, she said, “You know, I am just going to take a day off, take a sick day.”  She got in her car and drove to the beach and everything opened up. She got out.  She walked along the beach.  All of a sudden, the inspiration was coming.  By the time she got home she was ready to create new and exciting things.  She was re-energized because she took a moment to rest in the allness of life, love and wisdom.  She took a moment to disconnect from all the doing.  

That’s a great thing about driving.  Anybody like road trips, just getting in your car?  Your brain becomes occupied so it can’t think about all of the things you have to do all the time. Then if you go somewhere beautiful like the ocean, there’s the world around you so you get to bask in the glory of all of it. It’s just a wonderful way to reinvigorate yourself, to rest in the allness of life, to rest in Spirit.  

The Sixth Week of the Journey

And so today, we are in our sixth week of this journey and of course next week is Easter Sunday and that’s the 7th week.  Very, very poetic for a minister to put Easter on the 7th week of his series because metaphysically, mystically seven has a meaning.  Seven means there’s a completion, there is that idea. 

In fact, I will read what Charles Fillmore, one of the co-founders of Unity, talked about.  “In the Bible seven always refers to the divine law of perfection in you.”  When you get there, you are living that divine law in you. You are expressing that.  You are allowing that to flow through you and that’s what seven means, and that’s what the Easter celebration is about.  It’s about rising to that and really being in that divine perfection.  

So, here we are in day six.  This is when it gets tough — everyone, take a deep breath – because when you’re going through a spiritual process like this forty-day process – oh, there’s another number for you.  Forty days is, metaphysically or mystically, forty days is just a symbol for the end of the journey, the spiritual journey where we go into the wilderness and then we are growing spiritually and we come out of the wilderness.  So, that forty days of Lent, that’s why they made it forty days to line up with that idea.  

Palm Sunday

Here in the 6th week, we get to this idea of Palm Sunday.  Palm Sunday is all about when we start to reach that idea of that divine perfection within us.  We start to get glimpses of it.  We start to feel and experience it and you may experience it as, you know, a sudden wave of bliss as you’re driving to the ocean or walking along the beach.  You may experience it as a deep serenity as you’re basking in your own solace, as you’re basking in your own oneness.  

And so, we get these glimpses of this spiritual upliftment that we were talking about, this divine perfection.  And we look at it and we say, “Aw, that was so fabulous.  But now I’ve got to get back to work.”  So often we are hitting there, and it lifts us up but then we go back to our old patterns, our old ways.  And we never continue to move forward into Jerusalem as Jesus did. 

As the story goes, Jerusalem is the metaphysical state of consciousness. So, metaphysically, Jerusalem is the consciousness of a habitat of peace, a constitution of harmony, and an abode of prosperity.  That sounds pretty good.  Anybody not like that?  You’re a little quiet today so I will ask that other opposite end.  That way, no-one’s raising their hand.  But that’s where we start to struggle a little bit because we get to that part where we’re almost there, and then it’s like, “Okay, I’m going to take a break now.”  This comes through in many different ways. 

Anybody, do you know anybody — because surely there is no one in this room — but you know anybody who gets to a place where they’re are 80% done, 90% done and then just kind of stops?  You can all raise your hand because you are looking at one.  Taxes, I’ve got it 80-90% done.  All I just have to do is send it.  I got another week, right?  Yeah.  80/90%.  That’s pretty good.  That’s a B+.  Mr. Procrastinator here.  But, you see, we get into that part where we get stuck and we also look ahead because the next step, the seventh week, as you know from the story, can often be very difficult, if we look at it from a difficult standpoint.  

Spiritual Awakening

In the story Jesus reaches and metaphysically represents this place of awakening to that potential when he enters.  He and his disciples enter Bethphage, which is a little town on the Mount of Olives. Literally, it means unripened fruit.  What a great metaphor for what we’re talking about here because you get glimpses.  You start to feel and get those “aha” moments in life.  You start to connect with it but it’s still kind of raw.  It’s still kind of unripe.  Then it’s like it was there and gone in a flash because we don’t stick with it.  We don’t take that next step.   

That unripe fruit is our spiritual awakening and with it we feel that pull within us to keep going but what drags us back are the “yeah-buts”.  Remember the “yeah-buts”?  They’re cousins of the should-a-bites.  Ancient Egyptian, yeah, metaphor.  The “yeah-buts”. “Yeah, but I’ve got a job.  This was a great spiritual experience. Now I’ve got to go back to my job.”  We just get back into the routine, the automatic patterns.  “Yeah, but you know I want to move over there but what I see ahead of me is a need for healing.”  

Cleansing the Inner Temple

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, what did he do?  He cleansed the temple, our inner temple. He went around healing, healing our inner wounds.  He practiced and he taught, and he got to work.  Metaphysically that’s what we are here to do. That’s that 7th step.  

Healing

Now, when we look at those wounds, too often we’re not willing. It comes back to the willingness.  We are not willing to heal.  We are not willing to let go of all of the judgments, all of the resentments, all of the grudges.  We’re not willing to let go of all of our woundedness because that’s a badge.  “That’s who I am”.  That’s become our, our sense of who we are.  “I am, I’m John and this is who I am. I’ve got this wound.  Better not touch it. I’ll blame you for my wound.”  We are just not willing to move forward.  

And all it takes is a willingness, just a willingness to say, “Yes, I’m going to take one step forward.  I am going to keep going into that Jerusalem consciousness so that I can create a habitation of peace, so that I can heal and move forward and let go of all of the baggage that I am carrying onto, that I’m holding onto” because you can’t get there if you’re holding on to the baggage.  It brings you right back to step one.  

Let’s go back within and have the willingness.  But if you’re just willing to move forward and say, “Yes, I’m going to move forward into this Jerusalem consciousness to create a sense of harmony within me, to create and move into my own sense of abundance, knowing my prosperity in this present moment, looking around and seeing all the good that I have in my life” and saying, “Yes, I’m going to move into this consciousness”.  

And when we do, that’s when we can rejoice.  All of the bliss that you kind of dipped into becomes more frequent, becomes more a part of who you are.  You then begin to shine. You then begin to experience life a little bit differently when you come from that perspective, when you’re willing to let go and to allow that presence to come in.  

Rest in Spirit

I see that a lot in people who are new to Unity because they start to learn. They start to grow. And all of a sudden, they see it working in their lives, but then they’re back in their lives with their old friends.  In fact, I had a friend ask me you know, “I’m really kind of working on this and this is really working for me but then I go back to all my friends and they are like, ‘What are you talking about?’  They’re all back in the victim/victor consciousness.  They’re all back in the gossip realm and I feel, what do I do about my friends?  Do I get rid of my friends?  How do I do this?” 

This is why Unity doesn’t proselytize because we don’t want to make the other person wrong. They’re just on their spiritual path, in whatever phase of consciousness they are in.  It’s not wrong.  It’s just where they are at.  Can you look at your friends and just know that they’re just where they’re at?  It doesn’t make them right or wrong.  It doesn’t make you better or worse.  You are just becoming open to your own sense of innate goodness, your own sense of power. 

So, then the choice is, of course, how do you respond to it?  My answer is always, well, just turn within.  Go back and rest in Spirit and listen for that voice.  Listen for that direction.  Maybe the direction is, it’s time for new friends.  Maybe the direction is, “You know what? I’m just going to be here and enjoy my friends but I’m not going to be the one to gossip anymore so I’ll just be in my own goodness with them.”  Maybe it’s, maybe it is a time and when they say, “Hey John, why are you so happy all the time? Is it that happy, happy church?”  No, it’s all of the spiritual work that I have been doing of letting go, of healing.  That’s lifting me up. 

Rejoice 

So, rejoice inward.  Rejoice within here.  When you feel that, that moment of bliss, rejoice.  When you feel that guidance, “Okay, this is my next step”, rejoice.  When you move, are ready to move into that state of Jerusalem, the Jerusalem consciousness, you will experience a greater sense of abundance and prosperity, a greater sense of inner harmony, a greater sense of inner peace.  

There may still be, you know, the knuckleheads running around you — oh, that’s very judgmental isn’t it?  Spiritual knuckleheads.  Yeah.  Thanks again.  That made it a whole lot better.  Just add “spiritual” in front of it. – There may be those people who are, you know, who you are allowing to push your buttons.  How about that? Ooh yeah, take a deep breath because it is my button, isn’t it?  And when it gets pushed — not everybody — some people come and push it and it’s not a big deal because I don’t have an investment there.  But then others come and push it and all of a sudden, I am, I’m hurt.  

So, there’s my healing, right?  My button.  I own it.  With that awareness, that Jerusalem awareness, it’s like okay, I can heal it now.  I’m not running away from it.  I’m not hiding it.  I’m just being in it as we move forward.  So, we rejoice, and we continue.  

That’s what Palm Sunday is really about.  When you have that inkling of that divinity, of that spark within you, that “aha” moment, rejoice and keep moving.  Don’t back up.  Don’t make that inkling, you know, the allness of what you want.  “I had this great bliss during that meditation. I can’t get it back.”  It’s okay.  Just keep moving forward.  The more you struggle against it the harder it’s going to be.  Rejoice and keep going.  Rejoice and cleanse your inner temple, cleanse that inner part of you that’s still holding onto something.  That’s the process.  That’s the Palm Sunday message. Let go and cleanse your inner temple.  Heal those inner wounds.  

Embodying Spiritual Principles

This is a good one because Jesus did a lot of arguing with the chief priests and the elders.  So, who is the chief priest in your head?  Who’s the know-it-all in your head?  So often, it’s our self-righteousness, our ego righteousness, our ego who thinks it knows everything. That’s where they should-a-bites and that’s where the yeah-buts come from is that ego consciousness.  So, take a moment to argue with your own ego, with your own sense of what’s right or wrong, of what someone did or not.  A great — you might want to do it, you know, in private.  

I love to have a little verbal argument with my ego and just say, “Well, that’s interesting but what’s another way I can look at it?  How can I be curious about what’s happening?  What’s another way I can interpret what someone’s doing because most of the time what you experience from those spiritual masters out there — that’s a better term than knucklehead – those spiritual masters who are teaching you the lesson, it’s like we’re a reflection for them.  It’s about them and their wounds.  When you think of it that way you can have a little bit more compassion.  

So, argue with your own ego self-righteousness and embody the spiritual principles and the ideas.  Just keep practicing them, as Jho said, that fifth principle.  Keep putting them to work for you one step at a time and when you feel that, “Okay this is it”, you have that moment, rejoice and keep going because that’s how you build a new habit.  That’s how you ingrain this consciousness within you.  When the yeah-buts come up, when the should-a-bites come along, just look at them with curiosity.  What’s a different way in which I can see this?  What’s a different way in which I can respond to this?  How can I look at this a little bit differently?