Sermon for October 16, 2011

Comm-Unity On the Hill Congregation, Washington, D.C.*

Rev. Robbins S. Hopkins, Ed.D.

Thank you for asking me to speak.  It is delightful to be here this morning. The question I am exploring today is, “What is authentic prayer”?  Just plain and simple, authentic prayer is prayer that works.  It is prayer that brings results. It is prayer that produces energy shifts.  Authentic Prayer is powerful business.  Well then, how do we accomplish this?

The Bible has a few things to say to us about prayer.

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds ….” (Philippians 4:6-7).

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. (Ephesians 6:18).

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Romans 8:26).

The week before Hurricane Irene, exactly 7 days before it hit this area, we decided last minute to book a house in North Carolina for the week for my husband and myself.  We have been going to the beach in August for 41 years and we realized we were not going to go because none of our family were free to join us.  We discussed this at length and decided to make a reservation and take a weeks’ vacation just for us. That felt very wonderful, celebratory in fact! One day later, we realized that there was a Tropical Storm in the Atlantic. We thought, we had better arrange for trip insurance in case something more serious became of this storm. We called for the insurance and were told that we could not get insurance now because there was a named storm in the Atlantic, specifically now called IRENE.  So, my energy was very focused on this storm not only because of this reservation but also because I had been going to the North and South Carolina coasts literally all my life except for 4 years when were lived overseas.

So the prayers began in earnest.  Every time I went into prayer, I got the feeling I was simply nipping at the heels of Hurricane IRENE. I did all the things I usually do in working at the global level but I could not feel any shifts in energy which is how I know the prayers have been effective.  One day about the 4^thday into the prayer effort, I finally asked in sacred space, “How do we do this?” I was feeling overwhelmed and completely under effective.  Someone had shared with me that the Hurricane itself covered an area as large as Arizona.  This left me totally amazed.  I could feel the power and strength of Irene when in prayer and something I called powerful fury but I did not know how to address it in prayer.

To continue reading this sermon, follow this link to the full  text.  http://www.robbinshopkins.com/sermons/authentic-prayer-and-global-healing/

*Comm-Unity on the Hill, through November 2011,  meets in Hearst Hall on the grounds of National Cathedral at the corner of Woodley Ave. and Wisconsin Ave, NW in Washington, D.C. Services are weekly on Sundays at 10 A.M.  

As of December 4 we will be moving to 10 and G Street, N.W. to join First Congregational Church of Washington D.C. in jointly shared space.  Services here begin at 1 PM on Sundays.  Comm-Unity can be reached at cothdc@verizon.net or  703-379-4450 . All are welcome.

** This sermon was preceded by a guided meditation for the congregation.

When we are on a conscious spiritual journey, sooner or later we spend time in Silence. But this is just the beginning of our potential journey.

In search of peace by Bindaas Madhavi

After Silence, we may need to spend time on imbalances in our field.  This can happen when our “quiet time” results in tough, yucky stuff appearing on the scene.   Thoughts and feelings which are out of balance, unpleasant, heavy or unprocessed do frequently show up.  Unsettling issues are a part of our dialogue with the Greater Whole.

This is the Divine Presence talking with us about what we need to focus on  to remain in balance. Unsettling feelings are not the result of being in Silence. They are the result of our seeking inner peace! When we go into Silence we are seeking peace, balance, wholeness and centeredness.  If we have unresolved issues with a co-worker, a spouse or a friend, we are likely to have them pop up after a period of sitting in Silence.  In fact, many people never go into the Silence for this very reason.  They are afraid that issues they do not want to look at will show up.

Guess what?  Unpleasant issues, thoughts and feelings are ALREADY in our energy field, draining us of our Light and life force energy!  They are already causing imbalance.  Just because we are not thinking about them, does not mean they go away.  In fact, because we are trying to “resist” them, they are even more demanding of our attention. The quickest way to resolve any unpleasant issue is to work in sacred space with our unresolved thoughts and feelings which are causing us stress or anger. 

Anyone want to join me at the beach for a good conversation? by Stuck in Customs

It is easy to say well “she should do this” or “he would be a whole lot happier if …”. However this will never bring resolution to an imbalance affecting us.  These responses are actually a  form of gossip and can perpetuate and expand the imbalance.  As long as we focus on what others could or should be doing, we miss the lesson for ourselves.  We are the ones who  have to take the steps to re-establish inner peace for ourselves. Then others sense a shift in us and they are also affected by our coming into greater balance.

Coming into balance and inner peace is our part of the partnership with All That Is.  No one else can do this work for us. The more we engage in this self-work,  the more expansive our inner peace becomes. It begins to permeate our entire being and all our affairs for the positive.  If this is hopeful or of interest to you,  keep seeking and you will find exactly what you are meant to discover.  There are infinite ways to undertake a work out process from Silence to release.   Here is one you might try and adapt for you own purposes.

Step by Step by Alice Popkorn

WORKING OUT with DIVINE PRESENCE–  When we notice charged feelings and thoughts, causing imbalances, one option is to work them out within a sacred space, through writing to Divine Presence and then letting the imbalances go.  Here are some steps towards that goal.

1.  Open a sacred space in which to work.  This gives us access to Divine wisdom, energy, love and support even when we are writing by ourselves. ( See Note A, for ideas of how to do this.)

2.  The letter

• Get a journal solely for these writings and date each letter. Sign your name as you would in any letter.
• Address the letter to Dear God/ Beloved Oneness/ Perfect Love/ Great I AM/  Mohamed/Mary/Jesus/Buddha/Saint Germain/Ascended Masters, etc.
• Keep this journal in a safe place where you are sure no one will find it or read it.

3.  Explore the specific situation around which you have strong feelings which is causing you imbalance.

• Begin by writing about your feelings.
• Write as clearly as possible and with total honesty.
• Include thoughts as well as feelings about the situation.
• Write as much as you can until you feel really done.
• Sign your letter each time you finish for the day

4.  Ask in the Silence what fears and blocked energy you are carrying which are manifesting as imbalanced energy specifically related to you journal topic.

• Specify the fears and other blocked energy in the journal as notes after your letter.

5.  Go into a space of stillness and call for the sacred flame (within all of us) to consume all blocked energies you have identified which are causing turbulence and imbalance in your energy field from their originating source in this lifetime or from any previous life form you have taken.

• If forgiveness comes to mind forgive self and others completely.

6.  Give thanks for the healing support and vibration clearing of your energy field.

7. Continue to write about this imbalance as long as it remains in your consciousness following this process each day you write about it.

• Every time you enter into stillness for clearing, healing energy will consume the low vibrating thoughts and feelings separating you from Peace.
• You are only responsible for your own feelings. If you change, others involved in your situation will be profoundly affected as well.
• Take as much time on the issues as you need, knowing that your desire and intention for Inner Peace will be completely supported.

NOTE A:  Here is one way to open sacred space.  ” I call forth my Highest “I AM” Self , the Angelic Host, the Ascended Masters (Jesus/Krishna/Mary/Mohammed/ Moses/St. Ignatius/Buddha ,etc.), the Nature Intelligences, Cosmic Light Beings of the Universe, Divine Ancestors and Divine Physicians  to help me hold this sacred healing space.  I may then say, “Spirit of the Living God/Great Oneness /Divine Wholeness/Holy Spirit, come forth into this space dedicated to wholeness and balance.  My thanks.”

Peace, joy and health can only be obtained by entering into one’s Silent self.   However, while trying to get to a state of Silence, we often we have to face issues that are unresolved, problems we are struggling with and feelings we do not want to feel.

Enlightenment by h.koppdelaney

This stops many a person from meditating, being in Silence or lying in shavasana ( corpse pose)  on a yoga mat.  The key here is to stay with the Silence while releasing all connection you have with the issues entering and swirling around your mind. One way to think of this is to allow the ideas,  thoughts and issues that show up to pass across your “mind screen” and out of your focus.  A mantra, a point of vision like a candle or attention to breath can help to bring our focus back to Silence.  A mantra might be,” I am One with All That Is”, or “I am God’s  Beloved Child”. With enough detachment from our mind’s issues, thoughts, problems, and people, one can move past the monkey mind to a place of no thought while in stillness.  This however does not come quickly to some.

When I first began to try to meditate sitting up,  I would sit with my back next to an old black walnut tree.

At the Feet of an Ancient Master by Premasagar

One day when I was wrapped in a sarape, covered with a hat and gloves and determined to “have my own time”, I thought, is this really what I am doing?  By then, the snow was coming down rather steadily but that tree and I had bonded so I sat until I was completely snow covered.  I felt a certain peace in doing that because, I so desperately needed time for Silence, even if it was snowing.  When I could get to that tree, I felt welcomed because of having put all else aside to go into Silence.  I did not really know what I was doing but I knew I had to show up and be still and let the Silence guide me into greater Peace.  Bit by bit, step by step I was led into the Silence until that state increasingly stayed with me through the day, through my work, through my creating and through my pain.

Here is what I have learned along the way.  We can’t be in stillness and Silence if we don’t show up.  The first step in meditating is to show up with the intention for Silence and stillness. Another step is to select a place dedicated to enter into Silence.  It may be in a corner of a room or it may be a favorite chair or a special tree or garden.  The place has to be a haven for the time you intend to meditate.  The major challenge though is to continue to come to Silence,  even when your last experience was of the mind churning with thoughts.

One can think of this process as training the mind, like one would train a dog to obey.  For most non-meditators, the mind runs willy-nilly all over the place, most of the time. As you begin to sit in the quiet, with the intention to connect to the Greater Whole, the Oneness, you have to let the thoughts pass through without picking any of them up and without giving any of them attention. In the beginning this may be all you do for months.  Then one day, you will come out of mediation and realize that you have “lost time” when you were not conscious of sitting in the Silence.  This is the golden feeling of peace and balance.  As we begin to have a glimpse of this, there is nothing in the entire universe that can touch us this way.  We have created the time and space for peace in our lives.

Collective meditation by Premasagar

Meditating in a group is easier for most people than meditating alone.  This is because as we gather in a group,  there is more energy focused on meditation making it easier to enter into that energy flow.  However, you can simulate this by setting the intention to meditate with those of the Highest Light around the globe who are meditating at the same time you are.  You will be connected energetically with those meditators and it is often easier to get into the flow than trying to meditate alone.

In our lives we get very attached to what is going on with our friends, family, job and affairs. We have opinions, ideas, concerns, conflicts, solutions running around in our heads constantly.  Meditation is a time to check out of the dailyness of our lives and seek Peace for a few moments while remaining conscious of being awake.  It is like taking an energy nap to renew yourself.  However, unlike sleep, meditation trains the mind to be still in the midst of chaos,  and this expands into the very fabric of our lives. Over time, as we begin to be able to detach from our mind’s daily drama while in meditation, we increasingly do detach from the drama  in our daily lives as well. When our mind gets used through Silence and stillness to our letting thoughts and feelings pass us by, we learn to increasingly remain non-attached to all outcomes in our lives as well.  This enables us to increasingly hold the space for the Highest Benevolent Outcome for everything we are involved in all areas of our lives.

In Ray’s efforts to learn to meditate he kept coming up against his feelings about work which were not positive. This would throw him out of a peaceful state, again and again. He became very frustrated with his efforts to meditate. When this happens, we are being led to attend to the negative feelings that are coming up.  It is not that we are “failing”  in our efforts to meditate, it is that we need to attend to these negative feelings.   Here are some ways to do this:

• 1. Out loud, say “I release all these negative thoughts and feelings I am carrying about work, totally and completely”.
• 2. In a journal, write out all the negative thoughts and feelings you have about work and the costs and benefits to you of holding onto these.  Decide which thoughts and feelings you are going to keep, which ones you are going to let go of and what further actions you are going to take.
• 3. While you are coming out of your state of Silence and stillness, call forth you sacred inner flame and command it out loud to consume all your blocked emotional, mental, thermal( self-protective) and spiritual energy from their originating sources which are manifesting as these thoughts and feeling about work in the present.  All that can leave you energy field today will go.

Buddha is a Bridge by h. koppdelaney

There is nothing in the world like Silence for healing and for guiding us to balance.  Our thoughts and feelings create the imbalances and the balances in our lives. The more we are in Silence and stillness, and attend to the imbalances surfacing there, the more balance we will manifest in our lives.  Silence trumps everything we think we are for a glimpse of the peace and stillness within, which is who we truly are.

All suffering and sorrow feelings are due to un-forgiveness energy.  Where there is sorrow, there is  un-forgiveness energy.   The two exist together.  What can we do about sorrow and suffering energy?

Head in Hands by Alex E. Proimos

Craig and Dana have been married 18 years.  They love each other, are happily employed, have two children and are healthy.  However their sex life by their own report has always been difficult.  They have a long history of missed opportunities, guilt feelings, sadness energy, failure and frustration energy with each other sexually.  Yet there is love on both sides for the other.  They have “tried everything” including therapy, changing techniques, weekend get-aways with support groups, videos, talking with trusted friends. They have yelled, accused, defended and attacked each other repeatedly through the years.  They have also tried calmly taking with each other about what is missing, wrong and not working.

After years of deep sorrow and frustration,  we talked about forgiveness.  Their work began with forgiveness of self for all their perceived failures, the years of unsuccessful attempts at loving intimacy and for their own judgments they held about their partners.

This is what it looked like.  Dana would sit in silence and ask to be shown places of un-forgiveness she carried about herself regarding her sexual relationship with Craig. She would sometimes get a snippet of a past conversation, a fragment of an argument or a memory of a specific weekend where she had sobbed in great anguish. She would focus on one of these images from the past and say, “I forgive myself totally and completely.” She might say this 20 or 30 times or more if the pain was especially raw.  Sometimes she cried so hard, she reported having to write out the forgiveness statements because she could not speak them aloud.  Sometimes the same situation or memory would surface again weeks later and she would have to forgive herself all over again.

Craig was following his own process as well.  He tended to remember specific times where he felt he had failed and worked through those scenarios at first.  As these receded in intensity, other memories presented themselves where he had been deeply sad, then others where he had been frustrated and eventually times of feeling guilty surfaced.  Both Dana and Craig were led in Silence to different processes for their individual work.

holding hands by annstheclaf

When they got to a place where no more need for self -forgiveness was coming up, they switched to forgiveness of each other.  Slowly, slowly compassion for self and for each other began to surface.  They were able to spend intimate time together in tiny steps with no expectations. The beginning steps made without the mantel of the  past led to more trust, more success, more expressed loving wholeness over time. They began to find their way together by retuning to forgiveness of self and each other when they hit more road blocks. They both reported success in their efforts to spend intimate time together.  They also reported that throughout their entire lives, they were seeing new evidence of this forgiveness energy working and smoothing out other challenges they faced.

Forgiveness work, whatever the topic is, has to begin with ourselves.  We have to forgive ourselves for what we see as our anger, sadness, mistakes, ignorance, etc.  This is the only way we can totally and completely forgive another person from the heart.  Both parts of this process, forgiveness of self and of another have to be taken together.  Forgiveness of self allows the forgiveness of another to fully manifest. If we do not see our own brokenness and sorrow and move to release it from our energy field, we will never be able to forgive another wholly and completely. Suffering and sorrow then remain with us in our energy field.

Karl was divorced by his wife after 22 years of marriage.  They were in counseling for a year before the divorce was final but his wife felt the situation was irreconcilable.  When I began working with Karl,  he was still very angry, deeply hurt, with feelings of abandonment, mistreatment and rage.  He could not feel any energy for a new relationship even 4 years after his divorce.  He felt betrayed through no fault of his own.

Anguish Ian (or:The Scream) by sparktography

When we began talking about self-forgiveness, he was totally closed to this.  He was divorced by his wife after all.  Karl told me his wife was the one at fault and he had nothing to forgive himself about.   We continued to talk about his feelings around this divorce and eventually we tried a session in sacred space, where he simply said, “I forgive myself totally and completely”,  over and over until it felt complete for that day.  There was no image of what that forgiveness might be about specifically.  He worked with this for several weeks and eventually the dam broke and he was able to grieve the loss and forgive himself for all the things he was blaming himself for, which he could not see nor name at the time.

Divine Grace was present in these sessions working with his unseen energy, unseen by me and by him as well.  Nonetheless, the forgiveness progressed and in time he also did the needed work in forgiving his wife.   He eventually began to date other people and reported he was a different person completely from who he had been in his earlier marriage.  He tells me he still uses that process especially around things he does not understand  but knows are out of balance.

Steps to take when suffering and sorrow are present.

1. Create a sacred space by saying, I open a sacred space with my I AM Energy/Eternal Self/Spiritual Self and Divine Presence in the highest forms ( angels, ascended teachers, divine ancestors, nature intellegences, etc.)  to help me forgive myself.

2.  Sit quietly to settle into the sacred space.  Set the intention of your work by stating in your mind that the forgiveness work is around your marriage, your relationship with your mother, the loss of your child or spouse, the relationship with your boss, specific abuse or trauma you have experienced,  etc.

3. Begin silently to yourself saying,   “I forgive myself totally and completely“.  Repeat this until you feel this in your heart.  You might put your hands on your heart as you are saying this.

4.  If  you try this for 15 minutes and feel little or nothing, try this.  ”Sacred Flame from within me, consume any blocked emotional, mental, self-protective ( thermal) energy, spiritual energy or curse energy I am manifesting which is keeping me from being able to forgive myself.  I command this stuck energy out of my field, now. Thanks be to God/All That is. ”  Wait 5 minutes in this energy.

5. Return to #3 again.  If  this is still not working, write this out in a journal, again and again.  However, remember to open a sacred space within which to work.  This is most important!

6. When you feel no more un-forgiveness of self is present, which could take days or months,  use this same process for others in your situations.  ”I forgive ___________ totally and completely.” Even when you are working with the death of another, do this part of the work.  Often we are angry, sad and out of balance with a loved one for having left us here without them.

Sunset and balancing rock stack by James Jordan

This process works because when we open Sacred Space we engage our Eternal, Spiritual Selves and all the Loving Presence of All That Is to help us heal.  When we surrender to loving forgiveness, we return to our natural state of balance which has left us due to experiences in the past.  We come into the present and thereby heal from the past.

I had a neighbor once who when asked how things were going would sometimes reply, we have the neggies.  I loved that because it was so expressive.  The neggies can overtake a whole group when complaining, arguing and bickering breaks out.  For me, the neggies often show up when my body hurts, when I am feeling overwhelmed, unproductive or when I have no time to take care of myself.  This looks like washing my hair at 12:45 AM or trying to dry clothes at 6 AM for the coming day!

Grumpy Rainbow by Jenn and Tony Bot

Frequently when these thoughts and feelings begin to invade my space, all the above feelings come at the same time.  It is as if, when I open that doorway to one little neggie, all the other little neggies lurking in the background gang up on me and have to get their kicks in as well. Recently for example, I was “over” solid booked for weeks with clients.  I contracted a sinus infection, then a major virus over Christmas (ugh) and t0 top it all off, I fell while cross-country skiing and badly sprained my knee.  I think sometimes these things come all together to get me to pay attention and ask what in the world is going on here with me?  The neggies are invading!

Seriously though, when this happens I am not a happy camper.  I frequently am anxious and prickly and don’t sleep well and can’t even be dressed up to be taken out anywhere. That’s the biggest clue that I have succumbed, when I can’t  even be roused to put on a good face to go out.  Alas, time for serious self-searching.

Though I can write about this state of affairs with levity, I assure you when I am in that state, I am really not centered and in serious need of clearing and balance.  I have also noticed people taking wide berths around me and the wearing of velvet gloves.

365:60 ARGH by seq

So having been recently in an expanded state of the neggies, here is what Divine Guidance came up with for me.  Be quiet, have a day of doing little or nothing, get frustrated, get angry, get sad, be quiet again, and then finally ask  WHAT AM I DOING TO ATTRACT THESE EXPERIENCES TO ME ??

Looking at attracting the neggies and manifesting imbalance comes from the spiritual view that we create our own experiences of our lives.  We can be as angry, sad, depressed, fearful, joyful, grateful or as accommodating as we can imagine.  It is our choice. When my body hurts, I have a choice to obsess about the pain or to get some help from preparations, pills or from people.  I also have a choice about how I react to hurting.  I can attend to it and then do something that focuses my mind differently or I can feel sorry for myself and eat.  I can complain to whomever will listen or I can be still and call forth new balance in my body.  I usually do a mixture of haranguing and harumphing before I realize that this does not help me at all.  Then I try to move directly to the deep well within, which is very patient with me I have noticed, until I remember to call forth my I AM Energy for the re-balancing of whatever is setting me off.

Here is what that looks like for me.  There is only One Power, One Presence, One Energy Source.  That Energy and Presence is pure, unadulterated Love which is waiting for me to call it forth.  I say something like this.

I call forth my I AM Energy (Highest Self) to infuse my mind, my heart, my body, my affairs and my home with Love, Light and Balance.  I release all the blocked energy I am carrying which is manifesting as my hurting body and my complaining self.  I command out my blocked emotional, mental, thermal ( self-protective) and spiritual energy which is producing this imbalance in my body and my mind.  I ask forgiveness of my body for creating this imbalance and this hurt I am experiencing.  Come forth.  Let there be balance in my body.  And So It Is.  My thanks.

Why does this work?

It works because we are all, everyone one of us,  Divine Energy regardless of the circumstances of our lives here.  We can command this I AM Energy, our Highest Self, because we are eternally connected to this energy even though we may not be conscious of this.

This works because I am calling out the blocked negative energy which I have created my very own self in my human life.  If my intention is for that stuck energy to go, it will go.  I command it out and that stuck energy goes because I am the total creator of that energy in the first place.

This approach works because I am taking full responsibility for the neggies, I am feeling.  In doing that, I re-engage with my own power and redirect it to the source of the negative feelings and the source of the imbalance or pain.

This way of working with imbalance recognizes the Divine Presence within which is eternal and on call, 24-7.

Try a different approach to the imbalances in your life. Try something you may not have tried before or may have tried not believing it could work for you.  The first time I worked with deep pain in my back in this way,  the pain instantly subsided.  In complete astonishment, I burst into tears.  I could hardly take it in.  The pain was completely gone for 1 entire day.  I was so overcome though by self-” neggie” talk that I began doubting that the shift had taken place at all. I could not trust the shift in energy.   So, the next day the pain was back.  That was a HUGE learning for me.

Enthusiasm by h. Koppdelaney

Stand fully in the knowing that you have all the power, right, authority, intention and all the chutzpah necessary to command your I AM Energy to manifest balance in your life. When I was learning to do this for myself ,  I tried to embrace infinite possibility with a measure of humility, two nods of passion, a thimble of mystery and a shot of gratitude.  See what works for you and let us hear from you.