Church news – September

By Gina Gaudet

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away … and the one who sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’” Revelation 21:1, 5.

What is this world coming to? Do you ask yourself this after watching, listening to or reading the news? What is your emotional response to gang violence, children in detention centers, images of burning forests or melting ice? Our feelings are a barometer of the strength of our connection to our personal power.

Fear, anger and frustration express powerlessness, a feeling that there is nothing you can do about it. Such feelings deplete our energy. They disempower us. Part of that is the sense of longing for things to be as they once were.

We long for the stability of “sameness” in a rapidly changing world. However, sameness lures us into passivity.  When sameness is disrupted, the world is letting us know that our current version of sameness is not sustainable. Things must change. We must change.

When world events stir strong emotions, it is a call to our spirits to find joy, courage and inner resources for the healing and transformation of our planet and all sentient beings living upon it. It calls us to leave the seeming safety of sameness behind and move into the unknown. The unknown is a place of pure potential, from which we create all possibilities. The shape of our creations is determined by two things: fear or love.

Science has now proven that everything is energy. The energies that have brought us to the apparent brink of destruction are energies of survival, greed and domination. The prevailing emotional energy here is fear. The prevailing emotional energy that inspires us toward peace, cooperation and renewal of the earth is love. So what do we do? We take up this energy of love, ask it what it requires of us and wait patiently for the answer.

Love stirs us into action, inspiring hope, dedication, courage and peace. So how do you find hope in circumstances that seem hopeless? It requires some work. First you look into your heart, the source of love, and find the image or vision that stirs you. You focus your energy on your vision and choose the action that will bring it to fruition. When you do this, you allow love to enter the earth and heal that part of it, bringing transformation to the piece that is yours to create. That creation may take years to manifest, but keep faith! Someone had to begin it. Might as well be you!

Let love convert you. Let love empower you. Let love inspire you to your own greatness, expressed in your hopeful, faithful, loving response to a world on fire.