Midweek Faith Lift
June 17, 2024
UCOA- Now & Then!
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Spiritual Passages
July 8, 2024
Frank and Cynthia were working on a building site. Frank says, "I need a day off, I'm going to pretend I've gone mad!" He then climbs up to the rafters, hangs upside down from them and shouts, "I'm a light bulb! I'm a light bulb!" while Cynthia looks on in amazement. The foreman arrives at the scene and shouts, "Frank, go home, you've gone mad!" As Frank packs his kit, the foreman sees Cynthia packing her tool kit as well. The foreman says, "Cynthia, where do you think you're going?" And she answers, "Well, I'm not working in the dark!"
"Like snowflakes, we all come in different shapes, with a unique mission on Earth. No matter what your calling is, this world is depending on you. Existence is a puzzle; without you in it, it would be incomplete. Now is the time for you to step into all that you know you can be, but have been afraid to become." - A. Helwa, Secrets of Divine Love
Affirmative Prayer for today: Infinite Spirit, as we celebrate our 31st birthday today at Unity Church of Ames, we hold space to witness all that we have been and we contemplate all that is possible for us to become. We hold space for the energy of not knowing even as we celebrate who we really are. Amen.
We have been cultivating over the past several years our capacity to grow spiritually by being present to what is actually here right now. Whatever is here right now holds the potential for what is yet to be. We are both the present soil and the compost for the future of Unity Church of Ames. You know, there is a reason the rearview mirror is so much smaller than the windshield on your car. It is good not to lose track of what is behind you and beside you, but it is even more important to have a broad perspective of what lies ahead of you. The decisions we make while looking in the rearview, at the past and the way we steer and drive the car into the future are invitations to open to all possibilities.
When I started here as your minister in August 2012, the world was a lot different than it is now. And while at the very beginning of my journey as a minister, I actually felt a bit like Frank and Cynthia, that was an internal process and experience. The outside world didn’t feel as crazy. Initially, when you are the new minister, everyone has expectations that the church will grow and expand. You had that kind of energy here when I first arrived. I had that expectation when I first arrived!
And with it came a lot of worry and hand wringing that huge growth was not happening. And then the Board went to a workshop in Cedar Rapids facilitated by Martha Creek who said the meaning, value and importance of a church community is not determined by size and “butts in pews!” She said, if you are a bonsai tree, BE a bonsai tree, but decide to be the best bonsai tree that you can be! We ALL took a collective sigh of relief at that one! It was permission to be “who we really are.” She was right about us, we are “small but mighty” and it matters that we are here.
When I first started in ministry here, Unity Church of Overland Park was one of the largest in Unity with two services and 500 plus members and lots of programs and two ministers. It was a “flagship” church and considered a model for Unity church growth. I had a first hand look at “big church” because I did one of my internships there. But we should pause and note that since 2012 when I started here, UCOP went through a huge upheaval and just about closed completely and faded away. They had to sell the building and then a small remaining group began meeting in a storefront until they could finally attract a healthy, spiritually mature minister who could hold the rudder steady as they began to rebuild. All that is just to say that size is NOT a measure of the maturity, value and health of a spiritual community.
We are small but mighty and our prayer consciousness makes a difference in the lives of our Unity community and the larger Ames community. The AARLA ministers really like meeting here and they can feel the positive energy that is in this sanctuary. When I first arrived, I shared that my intention in ministry here at UCOA was and is to grow the consciousness of the community in breadth and depth. How that happened, what manifested as a result was up to all of you and to Spirit! I was not in charge of that; I was just to listen. I have shared with many of my fellow ministers that our mission statement is really wonderful because it is so open ended. And you all arrived at that before I ever got here.
One of my first initiatives was to train prayer chaplains because prayer is the foundation of any spiritual community. The prayer chaplains continue to hold that prayer consciousness as they pray for me and for our spiritual community on a daily basis. One of the gifts of the pandemic was the initiation of the MWF prayer circle phone call, which began in April 2020 and continues to this very day. Over that time we have prayed for lots and lots of people for healing, for guidance, for ease and peace. AND we have had many prayers of gratitude for answered prayer for sure. One of the incredible gifts of this prayer circle is to sustain and maintain a spiritual focus as the outer world gets more crazy and more challenging. That prayer call continues even in my absences, so it has a life of its own that is sustained by Spirit and Love.
Last spring, we had several meetings about what we really value at UCOA. That was us taking a look at what is really here, right now. We value the fun and fellowship that we share. We value the music and what we learn on Sundays and in classes and book studies from each other. We value the fun we have had with all the different projects over the years. One of the things that I see and truly value is that we show up and we ALL take ownership of our spiritual community. My deliberate statement about UCOA was to always call it “our spiritual community” not MY church. I may be the minister, but it is NOT my church, it is our spiritual community. And you are all invested!
When we redid the floor in the Community Room, one on the things Roland Leveque was so impressed with is the fact that so many of us showed up to help! And I was not one of the helpers. While I know you love and value me, you also love and value Unity of Ames, or you wouldn’t show up the way that you do. The same thing happened when we had all the fundraisers to re-do the front entrance, replace the roof and repair the steeple. And then there is the really BIG one: we paid off the mortgage, which happened just last year. You all showed up for the Joy Munn tea, RAGBRAI and more. We have a LOT in the rearview to celebrate and feel proud of for sure.
We also have a wide and clear windshield to help us navigate into the future for
Unity Church of Ames. What will we encounter in the future and how will we respond to it? I have no crystal ball, so I cannot say. Who could have predicted Covid, online services, and all the changes that have happened as a result? What I do know is that there is an incredibly solid, spiritual foundation here to build upon. When I share with other ministers that we paid off our mortgage and that our Board meetings usually last no longer than 60 minutes, they are truly astounded. We have cultivated spiritual and emotional maturity at Unity of Ames and as a result we are blessed. What I do know is that we will meet those challenges with love, equanimity and prayer because that is our practice and will continue to be our practice whether I am here or not. You will travel a path of faith as you always have. It is what Jesus, our Way Shower has instructed us to do.
Matthew 6:26-33
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (NRSV-UE)
It is a blessed journey of faith into the future for Unity Church of Ames.
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb