Wellness & Health
Rev. R. Ken
“A Non-traditional Spiritual Message beyond the Wall of Tradition”
Unity of Chicago South a Spiritual Community Without Walls
A Good Friday Message
First, I want to extend a special thanks to all who joined me for the Unity of Chicago South Palm Sunday talk. The prior week presented special technical difficulties and there are so many streaming options, that I am really grateful for those of you who came back. We will have an Easter Sunday talk beginning @ 11:00 this Sunday, April 12 and I invite you to join the stream. You can catch us on Youtube, our website and now on Facebook with even more to come.
Good Friday Begins a Numerology Journey
The conclusion of Holy Week for many Christians has included the preparation of an Easter feast as part of the remembrance of the Resurrection. It is an activity that is common within both the Orthodox and New Thought communities. While the food served may vary from country to country, the event normally includes family and friends coming together to partake in the meal. Safety dictates that this year, the remembrance will be celebrated differently. The family and friends should be only the ones self-quarantined with us, and the menu composed of food in our cabinets, delivered or as a last resort, by curb side pickup. For the time being, the Easter gatherings, like so many other events, will have to adjust to the current challenges of the time. Many of us desire a resurrection gathering with family and friends. Some of us are experiencing a sort of personal resurrection of self-connection. What a wonderful opportunity to expand that connection and even strengthen the union! Maybe, we can look to the numerology found in a historic religious event for some guidance.
There are three significant and familiar numbers we can use to guide us through further development of our Christ consciousness. Jesus’ Last Words, the Resurrection and the Ascension.
The number seven (7) is the number for completion and perfection. It is the number of the Holy Spirit. Spiritually, it means that the task has been accomplished. Jesus had concluded his teaching to the masses that living a certain “Way” or developing a certain consciousness of “expecting the good,” could lead them to experience the pleasure of the Father opening the doors of the kingdom to them (Lk 12:32) in the here and now.
What is known as his seven last words, express some of the same concerns one might face at a difficult juncture in his/her effort to reach a goal. The consciousness that he had developed and his faith that his Resurrection would follow, did not preclude him from the pain or need to crucify his current experience before he could rest totally in the Father’s divine love and trust the completion of his own perfect work. ‘After three (3) days I will rise again.’ (Mt 27:67 Mk 9:31). After releasing ourselves from our current experience, a sort of personal metaphoric crucifixion, it is important to know that we will rise. As challenging as it is to keep our focus on the expected fruition of our goal, focus we must. Like Jesus, we must know the coming “raising up” into a new consciousness or awareness is real and will be experienced in the present and not “worry about our life” (Mt 6:25), but instead allow our spiritual practice to bring us into unity with our higher self. This process gives the Father more room to express itself in and through us as life. The number three is a reminder to pay attention to divine wholeness unfolding in our lives in this moment. This unfoldment opens the door to a continual period of expanding spiritual consciousness.
The forty (40) days that the resurrected Christ spent before
the Ascension, represents “an indefinite but complete period of time”. There are times that many religious people believe that they have arrived at some spiritual summit of their own ascension. The need to reinforce the Christ presence, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? (Jn14:9) can act as an indicator for us that our daily spiritual practice takes us to various plateaus with the spiritual summit ever moving higher. We can constantly move to higher levels in consciousness and expression as we remind ourselves of our own infinite summit of the indwelling Christ presence.
Completion, resurrection and ascension is a spiritual process unfolding in real time throughout the world on both personal and universal levels. Let each of us look to the deeper meaning of how we got here and where we desire to go from here; keeping in mind that we are all currently on a figurative cross on “Golgotha or place of the skull” and how we rise, depends on our focus of faith and the effort we are willing to make to continue strengthening our Christ consciousness connection. It’s a Divine process.
“Enjoy life wherever you are at whatever you are doing to the fullness of your Divinity”