“So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go, first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23)
We have heard from many spiritual teachings to surrender, to let go, to let God. In our hearts we know we must forgive others and ourselves for what we have been holding them responsible for in our lives.
In Truth, we are talking about what are we holding in our Consciousness. We are the ones holding any blame, any hurt feelings any fear or resentment.
Today we mark the anniversary of 50 years since Robert Kennedy was assassinated. Earlier in April of 1968, he gave a most compelling speech to a crowd of poor blacks and working whites about his vision to unite our country. In 1968 he went to downtown Indianapolis to share the news of the death of Martin Luther King. He told the crowd that he understood what it was like to lose someone you love. He told the crowd how he had transcended his own anger and pain about the loss of his brother to a white man and he appealed to the crowds better angels of idealism by invoking the words of a Greek poet who lived during the world’s first democracy. Aeschylus wrote:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.
What does this have to do with Surrender – Allow – Be Amazed?
When we can notice that our mind, when it is invested in blame, is blind. If we can shift just a bit and see each other with our hearts we would notice our commonalities. Tribalism, elitism, far right and liberal left blind us to appreciating that our country ’tis of thee.
What is the Answer?
One answer would be to Pray. Pray for ourselves; Pray for our country; Pray that we wake up from the trance of concepts flung about deliberately to demoralize and incite.
What would it be like if just for today we could surrender our belief that we are separate from each other?
What if we understood the scripture above to mean reconcile within yourself your erroneous concepts about others and realize that you are projecting your own learned fears onto them.
What if just for today we could surrender our certainty of “other” and allow ourselves to be filled with the realization that all flesh and blood are imbued with the same Spirit.
What if just for today we could hold each other in an awareness of spiritual oneness? – I do believe we would Be amazed and then against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God.
In Service to God,
Rev. Janice
