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.

New spiritual information is coming through for those with Crohn’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, ALS, high cholesterol, vitiligo, chronic fatigue, glaucoma, HIV/AIDs, common cold, epilepsy, body’s electrical system, and irritable bowel syndrome.  Recently, each of these conditions has been described by Divine Knowing to me as the result of imbalances in energy which have attracted a virus to the physical body. The viruses are doing the damage at the physical level manifesting as these various conditions or diseases.  Despite the fact that medically several of these conditions have not been linked to viruses, this is the pathway for healing that has been given spiritually.

Virus by twenty_questions

Imagine my total amazement when over time, more and more imbalances such as those listed above have been addressed by Divine Knowing as caused by viruses.  Through spiritual explanation, we contract a virus to our bodies because of some blocked energy, emotional, mental, thermal (self-protective) or spiritual (fear and doubt) which has compromised our immune system.   I am seeing healing for clients when bodies have been cleared of this blocked energy manifesting as a “Crohn’s causing virus” or as  a “glaucoma causing virus”, for example. This is the exact wording coming from Divine Knowing.

It may be years before we have medical confirmation of this spiritual information regarding virual sources for these imbalances.  However, if you or a loved one is suffering with the above mentioned imbalances, you can use the following prayers for support and healing.

Prayer in my applied definition is working with Divine Presence or Universal Energy to bring forth the needed healing vibrations for shifting imbalances.  All prayers are helpful though I have found that the more specifically directed this call for healing is, the more powerful it is.  We are going to jump to graduate level prayer for maximum impact. Some background might be helpful before we put the prayers to use.

1. The major types of blocked energy so far revealed are emotional, mental, thermal (protective) and spiritual  (fear and doubt).
2. The sacred flame is a form of Divine Presence within each of us.  This energy is eternal, all knowing and all powerful.  This concept comes  from the Saint Germain teachings.
3. Open a sacred healing space for all prayers with a call to Divine Presence. I open my prayers by saying, “I call forth my beloved I AM Energy, the Ascended Masters, the Angelic Host, the highest Cosmic Light Beings of the Universe, the Nature Intelligences, the Divine Ancestors and Divine Physicians”.
   

   Would You Die For The Glory Of Russell's Teapot by Dude Crush

Thurman was diagnosed with glaucoma and it was affecting both eyes.  He asked me to pray for his healing.  I opened the Sacred Space with my I AM Energy and that of the Divine Realm and said:

I call forth the sacred flame from within Thurman.  Consume the blocked emotional, mental, thermal and spiritual blocked energies from this lifetime and any previous lifetime manifesting as a “glaucoma producing virus”. Virus,  return to complete balance with all other tissues in the body.  Let there be balance in Thurman’s eyes. And So It Is.  Thanks to All That Is.

Say the prayer knowing it will be heard.  All we ask, think, say is heard.  Every hair on our head is counted!  Stand in partnership with Divine Presence and know the call will be heard. It is your spiritual birthright to call the Energy of Divine Presence into this dimension for healing.  Hold the intention for balance and wholeness and when it can manifest, it will do so.

This is a prayer you could say for yourself  if you have high cholesterol or any of the other conditions listed in the first paragraph. Open the sacred healing space to begin.

I call forth the sacred flame from within me.  Sacred Flame consume the blocked emotional, mental, thermal and spiritual energies I am carrying from this lifetime or any previous lifetime manifesting as a “high cholesterol causing virus” at the physical level.  Virus come into perfect balance with all the tissues of my body.  Let there be balance with this virus and my cholesterol levels.   And So It Is. My gratitude and thanks.

You may have a friend or family member who is not open to prayer.  Therefore, it makes no sense to try to get their permission at  a human level,  for healing prayer.  Their minds are not open to this.  In sacred space though we are ALL ONE, created from Universal Love Energy.  Your love for this person will be strongly channeled for their highest good through your prayer of healing love for them.   You can do no harm by sending Love energy in their direction by calling it into their field. They will feel the love even if the healing cannot be received.  Eventually love heals all.

Here is a prayer for a person whom you might not have spoken to about prayer.  Open the sacred healing space first.

I hold Kalli in this Sacred Healing Space for her highest benevolent outcome. I call forth her I AM Energy.  Sacred flame, come forth from within Kalli. Consume all blocked emotional, mental, thermal or spiritual energies from this lifetime or any other lifetime which are currently manifesting as a “cancer producing virus” at the physical level.  I command this virus to come into right relationship with the rest of Kalli’s body at all levels. All cells in this body balance in the name of the Most High.  And So it is. Blessings of the Light.  My loving thanks.

Spirit of Meditation by h. koppdelaney

This prayer energy works powerfully because we have chosen to partner with Divine Presence.  We have come knowing that we will be heard.  We are commanding Divine healing energy into this earthly dimension through our own commitment to love and service, to self or others.  We are commanding the return of balance for ourselves or for another.  Use these prayers when you or others are facing these imbalances.  I give deep thanks together with all of you, that this approach to healing is being shared with us at this time in our evolution.

See Update to this information at this link http://www.robbinshopkins.com/2010/12/update-to-prayers-for-the-seemingly-incurable/.

*Part one of this blog can be read at http://www.robbinshopkins.com/2010/08/the-dark-or-the-absence-of-light/

We can choose to be afraid or trusting.   We can choose to be selfish or generous.  We can choose to be welcoming or restrained.  Each and every choice we make for the goodness of the greater whole produces more balance.  Each and every choice we make which is not for the goodness of the greater whole produces more imbalance.

Free Child Walking on White Round Spheres by D. Sharon Pruitt

The greater the imbalance we feel within ourselves, the greater these imbalances manifest in our lives.  There is however no dark entity of dark power to be reckoned with sometimes known as the dark side.  We can know we are connected in one part of our lives to the Light and we can feel disconnected in other parts of our lives from the Light.  In my case, I was very surprised that I felt attacked by something I envisioned as dark energy.  I had not felt that fearful energy for years and years and yet there it was showing its ugly head right after our car accident. (spoken about in part 1)

Regardless of where we are in our journey, what we  feel,  see,  sense, and experience is a reflection of the choice to be connected to the Light or the choice to be separated from the Light.  This leads us back to the accident.

Why did that accident really happen to us?  I kept asking this in my mind and had a hard time not getting an immediate answer.  I wondered if I had attracted that accident to us through some means, if I needed to pay a karmic debt that I was not aware of, or if I was being attacked by the dark. I gave a lot of power to this last thought.

There are multiple true answers to this question.  Each of us involved, my husband, the truck driver, and me experienced this same accident for different reasons.  I now feel that I had this accident to give me a chance to directly face my deeply hidden fear about some force I thought of as the dark.  This was not something I might take a Sunday afternoon to contemplate! As with most of us, I would probably always choose to engage in something else, anything else, actually.  I needed a deeply shocking experience to go into my own darkness and wrestle my way through all of that old stuck energy.

Next Dimension by By h.koppdelaney- Hartwig HKD

Even though I slogged through the darkness after the accident, I sensed the minute we were hit, at some unconscious level, that we were not hurt.  Immediately after the impact, I was led to pray for the complete and total healing of  our fear from our energy fields.  I felt an insulating energy drop in around us as the accident occurred and as the  investigation was taking place.  I also had the dawning thought with increasing certainty that the impact of the truck’s energy on our van was buffered by Divine Presence.  We were surrounded immediately by that Divine Energy of Light. We were protected from harm’s way.

This experience of the Divine Presence with us at the accident continued to be present while I wrestled with my own created fear of the darkness. That powerful knowing just stayed within my energy field through all my stages of anger, frustration, uncertainly and questioning I felt I needed to feel. During one phase of my deeply questioning and anger tinged state about this accident,   I asked about all the times I had been killed from this dimension.  I was told the number.  Then immediately following this exchange I heard, “but you agreed to that”.  I started to laugh knowing deeply that this was true.  Further, if this is true for me, then it is true for every one of us.  Even the “innocent bystander” leaves when it is his or her time to leave.  At the same time, an innocent bystander does not leave before it is his or her time either.

Yet the question remains, why do some come here and physically suffer and others come and mentally or emotionally  suffer? Our entire journey is about coming into balance within our own energy.  When we begin to experience this inside, it begins to manifest all around us in all our affairs.  Many of the challenges, problems, conflicts, situations we get into are a result of imbalances we have chosen in our lives.  If we need to “atone” or re-balance, from some past transgression we have caused, we have infinite ways that we can do that in a lifetime.

Balanced Rocks by By squarewithin- Matthew Trentacost

Parts of our lives can appear like suffering until we get that we are One with the Light and that we are being given our specific life circumstances so that deep imbalances in our human selves can be re-balanced with the Love of the Universe.  We may also have a life in which we are given the option of being here in illness or disability as a way to re-balance some huge transgression of our past or as a way to develop compassion for ourselves and others, or as an example of living with joy and grace with our disability for others to learn from.

We are given whatever we need to come into a more loving and whole space with All That Is.  We cannot judge by appearances for ourselves or for others. There is a Divine and Holy Order within this Earth dimension even though we may not be able to discern it. The process of re-balancing for the Goodness of the Whole is taking place, all the time for all people everywhere.

If you think you have brought imbalances, fears and transgressions of the past with you,  you can work them out before you are required to do so, in some totally WAKE UP fashion.  I recommend all the preemptive work we can do to clear the darkness, fear and imbalance we feel inside ourselves.

• You can pray and ask forgiveness for all the people you have hurt throughout all space and time.
• You can ask for all the debts of imbalance you have brought about in your times of  separation from the Light to be made whole in all ways by Divine Grace.
• You can literally call in the healing energy of the Light for all those you have specifically hurt.
• You can call for the fear of anything you know you are facing to be consumed by the Light of God/All That Is.

Of course, one has to have the feeling that restoring balance is important.  We are loved beyond all measure but knowing that at the soul level requires our acting in this energy. We need to embrace the fact that we can clear our old stagnant energies and past misdeeds by calling for this to happen.

We have to embrace a new intention for being here, one that embraces that all living is for the purpose of healing and thereby for coming into the Energy of the One, the Whole, the Eternal Community of Life. Then all is possible.