Midweek Faith Lift
March 13, 2019
The Empty Seat
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
We are going to begin with a video today, to help set up the energy and ideas that are behind this friendship program, the energy that undergirds and supports it. Instead of just jumping in and inviting someone to Unity of Ames, we are going to approach this as a spiritual process, working from the inside out. We are intentionally creating community here at Unity of Ames. We are open to a deeper understanding of Spirit within all people. We are One! Let’s say that together: We are open to a deeper understanding of Spirit within all people. We are One!
Last week, in the video “Invite Me In,” we saw a guy who said he is actually waiting for the invitation. For whatever reason, he is truly ready for something in his life to shift; he is ready to be invited. Now, how do we find this guy? How do we recognize him when we see him? Who it is that really wants to be invited, even if they are not yet fully aware of it? This is not a random process; it takes prayer, mindfulness and a depth of consciousness for the invitation to truly land. Let me say that again, it takes prayer, a depth of consciousness and mindfulness for the invitation to truly land. As I said last week, we are kind of like Nebraska, we’re not for everybody! And we want the invitation to truly land!
Let’s start with the Empty Seat video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI_VV_wVeKQ
Who sits in the empty seat that would be someone who might be waiting for you to ask? Who is it that wants you to ask if they would like to come to Unity of Ames? When I watched this video the first time, two things struck me: the idea of the field and the tent, which is mentioned in the credits. What are these about and why do they matter to us in this “Everything is Better with Friends program? How do we go about creating community with friends?
Let’s start with the idea of “tent” as it is connected with the Apostle Paul who was a tentmaker. He never knew Jesus personally; instead he had a mystical encounter with the energy of the Christ, which had a transformational impact on him. As a result of that experience, Saul, as a good Jew had been persecuting this new group of Jews who were following “The Way” of Jesus became Paul; he became one of them. And then he made it his personal mission to spread the news of how to live according to “The Way” of Jesus. He went from Saul, meaning personal will, to Paul, meaning “God’s” will. He learned to listen and follow the inner voice of Spirit. It is said that if Paul had not worked to spread Christianity, it would probably have just died out. How did he do it?
Well, the story is in the Book of Acts in the Christian Scripture and this passage has two important threads of the story.
Acts 18:1-3
Paul in Corinth
1After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers. 4 Every Sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks.
Paul found friends who would take him in; friends with whom he could work at his living of tentmaker. And then that last sentence is quite telling for us, because it describes what did not work for Paul. It rarely works to argue about religion! As the story of Paul unfolds, he quickly recognized that arguing in the synagogue was not the path, so he changed his practice to tent making in all the towns and villages he visited. In so doing, he established his presence as a regular guy who had a trade and a message. He did not harangue or proselytize about Jesus, he quietly told the story until he gathered enough followers to establish a spiritual community in each town where he stayed.
Paul gave us a great blueprint as well as a wonderful metaphor for Unity, for we, too, are a large tent that accommodates all who are willing. It is interesting to note that Myrtle began as a Methodist and Charles had no religion at all. When they discovered spirituality and healing together, they had the naive belief that it could just be added to traditional Christian religions. Ha! What were they thinking!? What has happened instead is that people from traditional Christian and other religions have been added to Unity. It was a great choice of names because it describes the big tent that we are!
To me, it also describes the Truth that Unity is a practice of “The Way” of Jesus as originally designed by his earliest followers and by Paul. It is about a way to live, not what to believe. So as I craft my tent, my “Consciousness” in a way that is in alignment with Spiritual Truth, I can share what that means to me like Paul did and invite others to join me in this big tent we call Unity. No one has to give up anything to be a part of Unity; just willing to explore a new way of being in the world. I can imagine myself crafting that invitation, just like Paul!
Now, what about the field, what does that mean? The first video showed us a chair in a field, asking us who is in our field? That is a good starting point, but it goes deeper than that. So often, when I approach a task, a meeting, preparing a talk, anything, I don’t take enough time to see what is already there. I have to pause and pray and take time to be mindful, to see through the eyes of the Christ, to experience what is there with all of my being, with my heart. When I do that, when I take the time to be truly mindful and present, then it all works out much better. What seems like an obstacle actually becomes a part of the way opening. I follow the will of Spirit, of Love, not my will. Let’s watch this in action in the game of golf.
This is from the movie Legend of Baggar Vance, a clip called “The Field” with Will Smith and Leonardo DeCaprio.
As we contemplate who it is in our field that is waiting to be asked to join us at Unity of Ames, we too, take time to see the whole; all that is there. Just like in the movie Baggar Vance, we want the shot to really land; we want the invitation to really land in the heart of the invited one. I loved that the red flag was #1. As we prepare to mindfully invite a friend to join us to help create community here at Unity of Ames, we take time to become one with the field so that we can feel with our whole being how to take that shot. And then when we do, it is not our shot, it comes from a Power greater than we are, and it lands!
So as we get ready, as we mindfully prepare, let us see the whole field and then see with our inner eyes of love, of the Christ, who will truly resonate with our invitation to Unity of Ames.
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb