FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                September 9, 2010

United Centers for Spiritual Living Supports All Sacred Texts

Golden, CO…United Centers for Spiritual Living recognizes and supports the full expression of religious freedom, respecting all paths to God that promote love, peace and respect for all religious traditions, practices, and texts.  Consequently, United Centers for Spiritual Living honors the dignity of sacred literature found in the Avesta, Pahlavi, Bible, Torah, Qur’an, I Ching, Sutras, Vedas and more.  We believe that these texts all contain spiritual truth, and therefore deserve to be treated equally, with the utmost respect.

The founder of United Centers for Spiritual Living, Ernest Holmes, once said, “Find me one person who is for something and against nothing, who is redeemed enough not to condemn others out of the burden of his soul, and I will find another savior, another Jesus, and an exalted human being.”  In that same spirit, United Centers for Spiritual Living stands for the One divine source that moves through all humanity, and respects the dignity of every being’s right to the full expression of religious freedom, rites, practices and ritual.

We support the sacred unity inherent in the law of the land, the U.S. Constitution, and the law of a Higher Power known by many names.

We therefore stand for an atmosphere of peace, tolerance, and understanding, even in the face of seeming differences, for we believe in the unity of all faiths, nationalities, and belief systems.

pure from the beginning

and with no root to hold to

something other than itself–

has nothing to do with

an agent or something

to be done, one’s mind

may well be happy.

Since intrinsic awareness

with no objective reference whatsoever,

has no intentions to this or that,

one may well be full of love toward all.

Since vision and attention to the vision

are not disrupted nor falling into contraries,

having nothing to do with

acceptance or fear, high or low

one may well be joyous.

Since enactment and goal,

having nothing to do with

acceptance and rejection, expectation

and anxiety, are not seen as something

to be obtained or missed,

one may well feel an inner warmth.

Since everything is but an apparition,

perfect in being what it is,

having nothing to do with good or bad,

acceptance or rejection,

one may well burst out in laughter.”

~ Long-chen-pa

Now I’m not talking about your bank reconciliation.  I mean a reconciliation of the heart.  Reconcile means to compose or settle (a quarrel, dispute, etc.) and to bring into agreement or harmony.

There is a wonderful holiday tradition in Iceland.   Every thing must be spotless.  Every nook and cranny of the house must be immaculate.  Anything that needs repair, no matter how inconsequent, must be put in order.

All this cleaning isn’t for hygiene….it is symbolic.  The real meaning behind it is a reconciliation of the heart.

Do you have any estranged relationships that need to be healed?  Do you have some incompletions that make you uncomfortable each time you think of them?   If you have any thing that needs to be said or completed in order to feel at peace…now is the perfect time to do it!

During this time of the year, people are more open…open to kindness, compassion and forgiveness.  This is a perfect time to take the opportunity to connect, reconnect, forgive or ask for forgiveness.

When you are living in integrity, with a peaceful heart, you are freeing up a tremendous amount of emotional and mental energy…you are free to be creative in your ideas.  You are free to expand and grow more and more into the human treasure that you are.

And it is from your ideas that your life is built…free up your heart and make 2010 a wonderful, healthy and prosperous year!

Blessings,

Rev Ann

Wishing you all the very best of all good things this holiday season and in 2010.

I know that we are part of something much greater than ourselves…we are created from the divine substance we call God or Spirit or whatever you like.  And because we are made of the substance of this infinite, abundant flow, we are whole, perfect and complete…just as we are…despite any appearances to the contrary.

Now in my spiritual practice of  meditation, I sit quietly, following my breath, and get glimpses of the eternal…a knowing that I am in the flow always and that there is no need to struggle against it.

And sometimes, I’ve felt like I just want to live a “goaless” life.  Just waking up and doing what feels right…and sometimes I do that.

BUT…I also recognize that I have the gift of this life to express my unique self fully in service to others.  And no matter, what…my day is going to be filled up with SOME kind of activity…and if we don’t give it some careful thought…often those activities are going against the flow of who we really are…we might as well choose how we spend our time wisely.

By setting goals, you give yourself concentrated direction…hopefully towards becoming more of who you are and serving and loving others as deeply as you can.

I’ve read and participated in many time management and goal setting books and workshops.  And from all of them, I’ve gleamed what works best for me and created my own system.

Please join me on January 6, 2010, if you’d like to set your goals for 2010 with some guidance and support.  My gift to you.  A teleclass on Breakthrough to the Best You in 2010: Create Your Powerful Yet Simple Goal Setting and Time Management System That Works!

Get the details and dial in info here: http://budurl.com/goals2010

Igniting your spirit,

Rev Ann

Gratitude helps maintain close connections with others. In research, gratitude is linked to more helping behaviors, high positive emotions, life satisfaction, increased hope and lower feelings of anxiety and envy. Who doesn’t want that!

In a research study on happiness, people in one group was asked to write a

letter of gratitude to someone, a 2^nd group was asked to write down five things they were grateful for each day for one week, and a 3^rd group were asked to write down five things they were grateful for on a single day.

There appeared to be more benefit to listing your blessings 1 day a week rather than everyday (I wonder if it was because it was easier to remember to do it once!). All the interventions worked, providing people with increased happiness and hope. And even more impressive –the benefits lasted up to 6 months.

Of all the happiness interventions – gratitude gives the strongest effects.

The affirmative prayer method that I practice daily (often more than once) has 5 components:

recognizing that there is one God and feeling that presence; unifying with that presence by realizing you are OF that same substance..that you are a unique expression of that one God; t

hen claiming what you desire whether it’s to feel the presence of God more often through the day or improved health, peace of mind…

the fourth step is to be grateful for what is right now and feeling what it’s like to already have what you have asked for…grateful for this condition NOW and finally… a release, a knowing, a conviction that is done and that your word is good.

When I practice affirmative prayer and get to the gratitude part, my heart always fills up so full…not matter what circumstances are appearing in my outside world…it is a wonderful feeling and always transforms me to a higher place.

Enjoy this season of gratitude, and post a comment here about your experiences with gratitude…I’d love to hear them!

]]> http://revann.com/RevAnnBlog/?feed=rss2&p=74 http://revann.com/RevAnnBlog/?p=70 http://revann.com/RevAnnBlog/?p=70#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:24:38 +0000 Rev Dr Ann Ronan http://revann.com/RevAnnBlog/?p=70 Do you think you don’t have time for a daily spiritual practice?   Here’s the number 1 place you can find the time -don’t read your email first thing in the morning.

Most people I know do this -I encourage you to give up that one habit -read you email during you lower energy part of the day.

Now instead, use your “power time” to do a spiritual practice -it may be meditation or reading something inspirational that expands and lifts your thinking.  It may be a walk where you engage all your senses -observing the changes of the seasons.

The time you give to your spiritual practice will give you MORE time in your day -you’ll be more focused, aware and able to concentrate.

So give it a try for a week.  No email first thing in the morning.  Spiritual practice first followed by your most important projects/work.

Let me know how it works for you!

And I’m standing firm.  And in the midst of family “crisis” I am learning, growing and going deeper into my relationship with the One.

Thanks to one of our community who sells Mary Kay cosmetics as a hobby in addition to her very full time work -she says Mary Kay lived by this statement:

God first
Family second
Work third

Knowing for you a prosperous and grounded in spirit kind of week!

Peace to you.

Rev Ann

A Manifesto! The Time Has Come!
I have made a decision. I will no longer debate the issue of homosexuality in the church with anyone. I will no longer engage the biblical ignorance that emanates from so many right-wing Christians about how the Bible condemns homosexuality, as if that point of view still has any credibility. I will no longer discuss with them or listen to them tell me how homosexuality is “an abomination to God,” about how homosexuality is a “chosen lifestyle,” or about how through prayer and “spiritual counseling” homosexual persons can be “cured.” Those arguments are no longer worthy of my time or energy. I will no longer dignify by listening to the thoughts of those who advocate “reparative therapy,” as if homosexual persons are somehow broken and need to be repaired. I will no longer talk to those who believe that the unity of the church can or should be achieved by rejecting the presence of, or at least at the expense of, gay and lesbian people. I will no longer take the time to refute the unlearned and undocumentable claims of certain world religious leaders who call homosexuality “deviant.” I will no longer listen to that pious sentimentality that certain Christian leaders continue to employ, which suggests some version of that strange and overtly dishonest phrase that “we love the sinner but hate the sin.” That statement is, I have concluded, nothing more than a self-serving lie designed to cover the fact that these people hate homosexual persons and fear homosexuality itself, but somehow know that hatred is incompatible with the Christ they claim to profess, so they adopt this face-saving and absolutely false statement. I will no longer temper my understanding of truth in order to pretend that I have even a tiny smidgen of respect for the appalling negativity that continues to emanate from religious circles where the church has for centuries conveniently perfumed its ongoing prejudices against blacks, Jews, women and homosexual persons with what it assumes is “high-sounding, pious rhetoric.” The day for that mentality has quite simply come to an end for me. I will personally neither tolerate it nor listen to it any longer. The world has moved on, leaving these elements of the Christian Church that cannot adjust to new knowledge or a new consciousness lost in a sea of their own irrelevance. They no longer talk to anyone but themselves. I will no longer seek to slow down the witness to inclusiveness by pretending that there is some middle ground between prejudice and oppression. There isn’t. Justice postponed is justice denied. That can be a resting place no longer for anyone. An old civil rights song proclaimed that the only choice awaiting those who cannot adjust to a new understanding was to “Roll on over or we’ll roll on over you!” Time waits for no one.

I will particularly ignore those members of my own Episcopal Church who seek to break away from this body to form a “new church,” claiming that this new and bigoted instrument alone now represents the Anglican Communion. Such a new ecclesiastical body is designed to allow these pathetic human beings, who are so deeply locked into a world that no longer exists, to form a community in which they can continue to hate gay people, distort gay people with their hopeless rhetoric and to be part of a religious fellowship in which they can continue to feel justified in their homophobic prejudices for the rest of their tortured lives. Church unity can never be a virtue that is preserved by allowing injustice, oppression and psychological tyranny to go unchallenged.

In my personal life, I will no longer listen to televised debates conducted by “fair-minded” channels that seek to give “both sides” of this issue “equal time.” I am aware that these stations no longer give equal time to the advocates of treating women as if they are the property of men or to the advocates of reinstating either segregation or slavery, despite the fact that when these evil institutions were coming to an end the Bible was still being quoted frequently on each of these subjects. It is time for the media to announce that there are no longer two sides to the issue of full humanity for gay and lesbian people. There is no way that justice for homosexual people can be compromised any longer.

I will no longer act as if the Papal office is to be respected if the present occupant of that office is either not willing or not able to inform and educate himself on public issues on which he dares to speak with embarrassing ineptitude. I will no longer be respectful of the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who seems to believe that rude behavior, intolerance and even killing prejudice is somehow acceptable, so long as it comes from third-world religious leaders, who more than anything else reveal in themselves the price that colonial oppression has required of the minds and hearts of so many of our world’s population. I see no way that ignorance and truth can be placed side by side, nor do I believe that evil is somehow less evil if the Bible is quoted to justify it. I will dismiss as unworthy of any more of my attention the wild, false and uninformed opinions of such would-be religious leaders as Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Albert Mohler, and Robert Duncan. My country and my church have both already spent too much time, energy and money trying to accommodate these backward points of view when they are no longer even tolerable.

I make these statements because it is time to move on. The battle is over. The victory has been won. There is no reasonable doubt as to what the final outcome of this struggle will be. Homosexual people will be accepted as equal, full human beings, who have a legitimate claim on every right that both church and society have to offer any of us. Homosexual marriages will become legal, recognized by the state and pronounced holy by the church. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” will be dismantled as the policy of our armed forces. We will and we must learn that equality of citizenship is not something that should ever be submitted to a referendum. Equality under and before the law is a solemn promise conveyed to all our citizens in the Constitution itself. Can any of us imagine having a public referendum on whether slavery should continue, whether segregation should be dismantled, whether voting privileges should be offered to women? The time has come for politicians to stop hiding behind unjust laws that they themselves helped to enact, and to abandon that convenient shield of demanding a vote on the rights of full citizenship because they do not understand the difference between a constitutional democracy, which this nation has, and a “mobocracy,” which this nation rejected when it adopted its constitution. We do not put the civil rights of a minority to the vote of a plebiscite.

I will also no longer act as if I need a majority vote of some ecclesiastical body in order to bless, ordain, recognize and celebrate the lives and gifts of gay and lesbian people in the life of the church. No one should ever again be forced to submit the privilege of citizenship in this nation or membership in the Christian Church to the will of a majority vote.

The battle in both our culture and our church to rid our souls of this dying prejudice is finished. A new consciousness has arisen. A decision has quite clearly been made. Inequality for gay and lesbian people is no longer a debatable issue in either church or state. Therefore, I will from this moment on refuse to dignify the continued public expression of ignorant prejudice by engaging it. I do not tolerate racism or sexism any longer. From this moment on, I will no longer tolerate our culture’s various forms of homophobia. I do not care who it is who articulates these attitudes or who tries to make them sound holy with religious jargon.

I have been part of this debate for years, but things do get settled and this issue is now settled for me. I do not debate any longer with members of the “Flat Earth Society” either. I do not debate with people who think we should treat epilepsy by casting demons out of the epileptic person; I do not waste time engaging those medical opinions that suggest that bleeding the patient might release the infection. I do not converse with people who think that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans as punishment for the sin of being the birthplace of Ellen DeGeneres or that the terrorists hit the United Sates on 9/11 because we tolerated homosexual people, abortions, feminism or the American Civil Liberties Union. I am tired of being embarrassed by so much of my church’s participation in causes that are quite unworthy of the Christ I serve or the God whose mystery and wonder I appreciate more each day. Indeed I feel the Christian Church should not only apologize, but do public penance for the way we have treated people of color, women, adherents of other religions and those we designated heretics, as well as gay and lesbian people.

Life moves on. As the poet James Russell Lowell once put it more than a century ago: “New occasions teach new duties, Time makes ancient good uncouth.” I am ready now to claim the victory. I will from now on assume it and live into it. I am unwilling to argue about it or to discuss it as if there are two equally valid, competing positions any longer. The day for that mentality has simply gone forever.

This is my manifesto and my creed. I proclaim it today. I invite others to join me in this public declaration. I believe that such a public outpouring will help cleanse both the church and this nation of its own distorting past. It will restore integrity and honor to both church and state. It will signal that a new day has dawned and we are ready not just to embrace it, but also to rejoice in it and to celebrate it.

This was sent to me today by one of our members Amy Frost (www.amyfrost.com).

She is on the Visioning Core and said that this blessing gave her a sense of what the VCSL could do for all of us as community.

A Friendship Blessing
May you be blessed with good friends.

May you learn to be a good friend to yourself.

May you be able to journey to that place in your soul where there is great love, warmth, feeling and forgiveness.

May this change you.

May it transfigure that which is negative, distant, or cold in you.

May you be brought in to the real passion, kinship, and affinity of belonging.

May you treasure your friends.

May you be good to them and may you be there for them; may they bring you all the blessings, challenges, truth and light that you need for your journey.

May you never be isolated.

May you always be in the gentle nest of belonging with your anam cara (soul friend).
From John O’Donohue Anam Cara – A Book of Celtic Wisdom

P.S. I’d love to hear what you would like from this community -leave a comment and let me know!

Mega blessings,

Rev Ann

Imagine this.  You started out as a single cell that was 1/1,000 of an inch (tiny!).

That cell contained all the instructions that make up you within its DNA.  All the information contained in that tiny cell would fill 1,000 books with 600 pages in each book.

You breathe without thinking.  You digest food without thinking.  You’re blood circulates without your help.  You are a miracle.

The intelligence that created you is beyond our imagination.  It is the same intelligence that animates and sustains all of creation from the tiniest cell to the farthest galaxy.  It is all God (as humans we feel we have to name everything) and it is good.  Ernest Holmes often called this intelligence “it.”

Just know that God is.  God is.  If you feel yourself getting stressed, feeling overwhelmed, not knowing what to do in a situation.  Stop. And remember God is.  That intelligence that is so much more than our little mind knows what to do.

And you are of this great intelligence.  You are one part of it expressing itself through you this day.  Know peace.  Know all is well.  Know that their is a power in the universe greater than anything you can imagine.  And it works for you, through you.

Be still and know.  Feel peace.  Enjoy the moment.  You are tapping into your spiritual intelligence.

Spiritual Practice

Create an image for yourself of this infinite, unlimited spiritual intelligence that is always there for you.  Maybe a picture of a deep well, or the vast ocean, or a bubbling fountain that never runs dry.  During the day, when you feel discomfort, stress, anger, judgment…bring that image to your mind and be still and know that you can draw upon your spiritual intelligence anytime.

Be still and know.