Small Seeds, Mighty Trees

09/20/09

Members of our congregation participated in Unity's World Day of Prayer on September 10.

Today is another AWESOME day of prayer!
Thousands to Gather in Times Square for Prayer
http://www.guideposts.com/story/prayer-times-square
Prayer in the Square will take place on Sunday, September 20 and will also be streamed on the Internet
By Sarah Beldo

Prayer in the Square takes place on September 20.
As many as 20,000 people are expected to show up to New York City's Times Square for an organized prayer event on Sunday, September 20 at 3 p.m. EST.
The hour-long 2009 Prayer in the Square gathering will bring together 264 churches from the tri-state area, representing multiple denominations.
Additionally, 87 churches from across the world, including some in the UK, Singapore and Israel, will take part via a live webcast.
Ten individuals have been chosen to pray for three minutes apiece, and these prayers will be interspersed with songs from a 180-member gospel choir.
Earlier this year, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a proclamation saying the event "is sure to be once again a powerful symbol of unity."
"People from across the country of different denominations and backgrounds come together in their shared vision of a better world and their belief in the power of prayer to make a positive impact on us all," the proclamation stated.
The first Prayer in the Square event took place in September 2007, with the aim of promoting spiritual growth.
From what I could find, thousands gathered in Time Square for that first event.
In 2008, an estimated 15,000 people attended.

  Live Webcast at nycprayer.org at 3pm ET, 2 CT

In scripture we find:
Matt 13: 31 He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."

The parable of the mustard seed is most often used as a parable about faith, and it is!

It is also about growth – the plant has a most vigorous growth habit. It is a cool-weather loving annual (must be planted every year). So it grows to maturity and develops seeds which are either harvested or dispersed by the plant itself – all in a single season.

“Prayer in the Square” sounds to me like a mustard-seed-like event. In three years it has grown to 20,000 people plus webcast and 264 churches world-wide.
Unity's World Day of Prayer may have been even larger – there are over 900 Unity churches and study groups through out the world. We just don't know how many participated.

Unity was founded on prayer, and it continues today with a 24 hour prayer ministry that has been praying 24 hours a day for at least 110 years and counting. Here at Unity Christ Church, in addition to our Sunday worship and prayer, we have two additional times of prayer and meditation through the week along with the option for prayer on an individual basis with the ministers, with our chaplain, and our other prayer partners.

When we have a small seed of faith that moves us to pray, it is like that mustard seed. We plant it in a receptive heart, as the seed is planted in cool garden soil. The receptive heart is the environment in which the seed of prayer can grow. The cool garden soil is the proper environment for the seed. When the seed has plenty of water, good drainage, and sunlight, it grows quickly into a large shruby plant. That prayer activity combined with a receptive and willing heart soon grows a strong flourishing faith.

So how do we grow spiritually like the mustard plant grows in the proper soil, water, and climate?

Soil might be compared to the emotional field. Remember often in the Bible when the people were facing a challenge, an angel would appear and tell them “Be not afraid!” When we are facing the unknown, don't we have those moments of hesitation, sometimes fear, and sometimes even terror!

Imagine living in slavery for a few hundred years, and along comes Moses to lead you to the Promised Land. This is a land that is supposed to be rich and life in that land is supposed to be good. But you have to cross a desert on foot to get there. While slavery is abhorrent, what would it be like to leave a place where you have food and water and a roof over your head? Then you realize you are going into the desert where there is no evidence of food and water; never mind a roof! Do you suppose there would be some fear there? I'm sure I would be scared out of my mind.

Fast forward about 1200 years to the time of the birth of Jesus and imagine the shepherds in the fields when they see a great light shining around them. We've seen enough UFO movies to know what comes next, right?? They didn't have movies or television, but they knew that light was some kind of phenomenon. Then an angel spoke to them and said, “Do not be afraid.”

The writers of the Bible knew that fear was the constant companion of the people. Fear of famine, fear of drought, fear of disease, fear of each other! It was a hard life by today's standards, and fear was always there. So dozens of times the people were told, “Do not be afraid.”

That seed of fear is strong, but what is stronger is the tiniest seed of faith. We use our affirmations, our denials, and our self talk to help us through the fear. AND we pray. When no other prayer comes to mind, use the Prayer for Protection. We allow that God-Spirit to well up from within and wash over us to assure ourselves that all is well.

Listen

As we pray, the other half of that prayer is listening. We speak our affirmations and denials, and claim the good that we know is ours. Then it's time to listen. What is that inner wisdom, that God-spirit calling you to do or to be. As a son or daughter of a living God, we are being invited to participate in our own spiritual growth and the spirituality of the global community.

As you listen, what is beconing you? What is YOUR passion? Is that passion something in which Unity Christ Church can participate? Unity Christ Church stands poised for growth and transformation. The growth of a church is all about the consciousness of the spiritual community it embraces. Growth is fueled by passion. When that passion meets a need and enhances the lives of others, it transforms society.
Helen Keller said,
"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit." Helen Keller
When it comes to uncharted lands, some in the medical community are walking them.
In an article in the Jersey Journal, incidents at Meadowlands Hospital in Secaucus and the Jersey City Medical Center contrast two approaches to a mistake.
At Meadowlands, a patient who says a kidney tumor was misdiagnosed told the paper he wouldn't have sued if the doctor had apologized.
At Jersey City Medical Center, a case is cited in which a nurse failed to administer medication to a pregnant woman who had a blood type incompatible with her fetus. The woman had already left the hospital, so the hospital sent a nurse to her home to give her the injection, said Brenda Hall, a senior vice president and chief safety officer, the paper said.
"They were grateful and understood," said Ms Hall.
There is nothing in the current medical context that would have suggested an apology should be considered. Admitting liability is anathema to the insurance companies and attorneys. Yet this medical center apologized with good results. AND according to a report by the Herald News, a new trend toward encouraging doctors and hospitals to own up to and apologize for their mistakes is cutting down on malpractice lawsuits. (The Jersey Journal Saturday March 21, 2009.)
Listen to your inner wisdom – how are you being called to step into your own destiny? How can Unity Christ Church participate in that destiny?
Look for a Sign
As we have prayed and listened, our next step is to look for a sign.
But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jer. 31:33-34).

This does not just mean the nation of Israel, metaphysically Israel symbolizes spiritual consciousness. So God-Spirit has made a covenant with all humankind that when we access spiritual consciousness, God's guidance, God's law, is already written on our hearts – it is within us; we know it inately.
AND We know that God-Spirit is reliable and true to the promises. Our job is to understand those promises. So when we think we have received guidance, put it to the test.

If our guidance is of God it is:
pure – free of selfish motives
peaceable – promotes harmony
gently – considerate and courteous
full of mercy – compassionate
offers good fruits – ultimately serves the best interests of everyone.
Without uncertainty and insincerity – that is, it is impartial, straightforward, free of doubt, and honest.
If any course of action fulfills all those requirements we can follow it confidently, for it will be in accordance with God's will (Hasbrouck, Handbook of Positive Prayer, 126)
If what we perceive as guidance does not meet the test of purity, peaceable, gentle, mereciful, straightforward, and serving the best interests of everyone, then the so-called guidance is NOT of God. That same mustard seed of faith can work for us.

One of the oldest uses of Mustard Seed has been as an emetic, a medicine that provokes vomiting.
When something is not of God, the mustard seed of faith can act as an emetic to spew out the old, useless beliefs that no longer serve us and make room for the true guidance of God-Spirit.

Then we ask in prayer to be given two signals – one that always means yes, and one that always means no.
What kind of sign might that be?
Sometimes a very ordinary sensation that we associate with being correct (feeling of relief, perhaps the color green for go, perhaps the word yes seeming to sound in our minds.
Sometimes it is something startling. If that happens, then it probably means that kind of signal is necessary to get our attention.

Signals for both yes and no are important. Even if we haven't asked for guidance, our signal for no often occurs when we start to do something that is not in our best interests.

We began with the mustard seed, and its similarity to our path of spiritual growth. To grow that seed of faith into a mighty tree of spiritual maturity,
First we pray – we enter the depths of our being to commune with God.
Next we listen – for that urging, for that guidance that pulls us forward, testing that guidance as we go.
Then we look for a sign – we put that guidance to the test

Through prayer and meditation, and using our standard of guidance we have the opportunity to turn it around. Whatever it is in our lives, we can not only GO through it, but GROW through it. As the mustard seed grows into a mighty tree-like shrub, so with that seed of faith, we can grow through life's challenges as a person and as a spiritual community into a mighty tree, a spiritual beacon of light!

As Helen Keller said, "No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."