“The Truth will make you free.” (John 8:32)
When I was at Unity Village attending ministerial school, there was a car that belonged to one of the residents that lived on the grounds of Unity Village that had a decorative license plate on the front of it that read OPPGGO. Later I saw it on sale in the bookstore with a further explanation. OPPGGO was shorthand for: One Presence, Power, God, the Good, Omnipotent. I really liked that license plate for it was placed on the front of your car and was a reminder of the One and only thing we need to remember.
In Deuteronomy 6:4 we read: “Hear O Israel the Lord is our God the Lord alone. You shall love the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Teach them to your children and talk about them when you are at home, when you are away. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Tefillin or phylacteries, is a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah. Tefillin is worn by observant adult Jews during weekday morning prayers. In Orthodox communities, it is worn only by men, while in non-Orthodox communities, it may be worn by men and women.
Let us take this into us and see how it serves. The people bound a Tefillin to their arm or forehead so as to remind them how God was with them as they escaped Egypt. Metaphysically, men represent our thinking nature. If we recite OPPGGO we are placing it in our mind and it becomes like a Tefillin used to remember the Truth that we are not slaves to any challenge. We keep our minds on God OPPGGO to keep us steady while we walk through any fearful illusion.
So write this on your hearts my friends, OPPGGO, make it a magnet, a post-it note, a mantra to live free from any bondage.
This week we look at how our thinking can imprison us or set us free.
Blessings
Rev Janice
