Spiritual Solutions

It has become something of a tradition for us to share together in a special way during the Lenten season. In alternate years I use resources provided in the book, Keep a True Lent, by Charles Fillmore, co-founder of the Unity movement, or by some writings of Dr. Sue Sikking, former Unity minister and author of God Always Says Yes. This year, we will again focus on the guidelines in Keep a True Lent. I hope you’ll join us in consciousness as we journey forward in spiritual advancement.

Observing Lent The Unity Way

Unity believes that we can keep Lent best by denying ourselves not “things” but negative thoughts and feelings. And, through prayer and study, we can contemplate the victorious Christ and attempt to be more like Him.

Keep a True Lent contains material especially written by Charles Fillmore, co-founder of the Unity movement, to help you observe Lent in this way. You are invited to participate in these special lessons during the upcoming Lenten season, starting this week on Ash Wednesday and every day thereafter through Easter.

The word LENT comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for spring, which is derived from a verb meaning to lengthen. Lent comes in the spring when the days become noticeably longer.

This annual season of fasting, prayer, and penitence has been observed by the Western Church since the first century after Christ, although it has not always been forty days long. In more recent times it has been kept forty days, after the example of Moses and Elijah, and to commemorate the forty days of fasting and prayer that Jesus spent in the wilderness.

The first day of Lent is called Ash Wednesday from the custom that prevailed in the early Church of sprinkling ashes on the heads of penitents on the first day of Lent, in token of repentance for sin.

Ash Wednesday comes forty-six days before Easter. There are six Sundays in Lent, and they are not considered part of Lent, because in the Western Church Sunday is always a feast day. The forty weekdays beginning with Ash Wednesday constitute Lent.

The fifth Sunday in Lent is known as Passion Sunday, because it marks the beginning of Passion-tide, the last two weeks of Lent. These two weeks specifically commemorate the Passion of Jesus, or His experiences following the Last Supper.

The last week of Lent is called Holy Week. It includes Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday.

Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, commemorates Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem when the people strewed palms in His way.

Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, is a corruption of the Latin word mandati meaning “of the commandment,” and refers to the command “This do in remembrance of me” spoken by Jesus in regard to His breaking of the bread and drinking of the wine at the Last Supper. Maundy Thursday commemorates the event of the Last Supper.

Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, probably known originally as God’s Friday, commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus.

Easter Day, of course, commemorates the Resurrection. The word Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Eastre, the name of the Goddess of spring, in whose honor a festival was celebrated each April. Easter Day always comes on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after March 21. If the full moon falls on a Sunday, Easter is the next Sunday. Easter can never fall earlier than March 22 nor later than April 25.

Lent is a season of spiritual growth, a time for progressive unfoldment. When we can blend and merge our mind with God-Mind, the way is open for the Lord to glorify us and to lift us into a higher, purer, more spiritual state.

“Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,” said Jesus. Truth students everywhere are invited to participate in our Lenten program. Christ is in our midst. Place all burdens on your indwelling Lord and enter the Lenten season expecting definite results.

Fasting means abstaining from; it is abstinence. The place of overcoming is in the consciousness of man. The forty-day fast is an all-round denial of sense demands. In fasting, we as metaphysicians abstain from error thinking and meditate on spiritual Truth until we incorporate it into the consciousness of oneness with the Father.

The desire to excel is in all men and women. It is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which ever urges us on through earth toward heaven. It should be encouraged and cultivated in the right direction.

As day after day we steadily adhere to our firm resolve to follow the steps outlined for the Lenten season, we discover that we are building on a firm foundation, and are mounting into a higher consciousness. We come to know that Christ is indeed with us and is resurrecting in us His realizations of light, life, and substance

How to Study

1. Before beginning your day-by-day study, we suggest you set aside a definite time for prayer and study when you are least likely to be interrupted.

2. Read each day’s assignment, beginning with Ash Wednesday.

3. Read the Bible reference given at the beginning of each day’s lesson.

4. Answer the questions concerning what you have read.

5. Use the meditation given in the Study Guide.

6. Put the principles of these lessons to work in your life.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

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 Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over forty years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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“The whole world is filled with divinity,” says Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz.  “The divine is really the living power, the existence of everything. The existence of everything is what we call the divine rule.”

In other words, God is everywhere present, and that presence and power is everywhere present in divine order. If it often seems otherwise, it may be because “. . . my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

In the book, Mysteries of Genesis, Charles Fillmore asserts that “Order is the first law of the universe.” And he goes on to say, “Indeed there could be no universe unless its various parts were kept in perfect harmony. In the sense mind there is disorder, manifest in confusion of thought and action, while in Divine Mind everything is in perfect order.”

There has always been divine order in the universe and there always will be. When things do not seem in divine order, remind yourself that the lack of order is not in the universe, but in your own attitudes and emotions. If you can get your own thoughts and feelings in order, then the people, situations and even the universe about you will respond in a more orderly way.

Fillmore said “This order is established in our body and affairs when we live up to the higher convictions of our being under the guidance of spiritual understanding. . . . Only when man becomes conscious of who and what he is can he exercise his God-given dominion and bring his life into line with the principle of divine order, which is mind, idea, and manifestation.”

In an article titled A Reverence for the Divine, author Peter Kingsley refers to Empedocles, the ancient Greek prophet and teacher, as saying right at the start of his teaching about the cosmos and about the elements of existence, about biology, about astronomy, about everything, that people will never understand anything about any of these subjects, or ever be able to approach them rightly, unless they first learn to breathe in the right way; unless they learn to respect the life all around them; unless they cultivate a reverence for the divine in everything.

“How can you order your life by the divine plan?” asks Fillmore in Jesus Christ Heals. “Ask for wisdom; then affirm divine order. Put yourself in unity with Spirit. Then you will come into the consciousness of a new world of thought and act and find yourself doing many things differently because the orderly Mind that directs the universe is working through you. A harmonious relationship will be established in all your ways.

“Get your ideas in divine order, and a mighty mind force will begin to work for you right away. This divine order is necessary to the upbuilding of both mind and body. This divine order is the ‘kingdom of heaven’ so often referred to by Jesus. To attain this unity and harmony of mind it is necessary to have perfect statements of Truth and to adhere to them in thought and word.

“Jesus laid great stress upon the power of the word. . . . He said, ‘The word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me’ and ‘The words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life’.”

And in Isaiah 55:10-11, we read: “For as the rain and snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

As Fillmore says, “The better we realize our spiritual relationship to creative Mind and conform our thoughts and words to its laws the greater is the power of our words.”

I’d like to suggest, then, two particular ways whereby you can get in touch and stay in touch with the divine.

The first way is to create a covenant, or agreement, with the spirit of God within you. It is an agreement that, yes, you live and move and have your being in God; and the very spirit of God animates you, moves through you, lives through you, expresses as you. That very spirit of God is accessible to you now and always.

Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, co-founders of the Unity movement, created such a covenant in the early days of Unity and on December 7, 1892, together signed a “Dedication and Covenant,” which read:

“We, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, husband and wife, hereby dedicate ourselves, our time, our money, all we have and all we expect to have, to the Spirit of Truth, and through it, to the Society of Silent Unity. It being understood and agreed that the said Spirit of Truth shall render unto us an equivalent for this dedication in peace of mind, health of body, wisdom, understanding, love, life and abundant supply of all things necessary to meet every want without any of these things the object of our existence. In the Presence of the Conscious Mind of Christ Jesus this 7th day of December, 1892.”

They did not share this covenant with others, and it only came to light after their deaths. It is important for you, also, that you prayerfully consider the wording of your covenant; and do not share your covenant with others except anyone who may also be a partner of that agreement. Your covenant is only between you and God and is to be a guiding principle for your life expression in whatever circumstance or situation.

The second way you stay in touch with the divine is through your words.

Be conscious of the words you are speaking. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) This Word is the “Logos,” the creative power of Mind in everyone. Every word you speak creates your life. With your word you are using the creative energy of the God source.

The word is power, and when you use the words consciously you create what you want in your world.

In the book, The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz, he says emphatically, “The first agreement is the most important one and also the most difficult one to honor. . . . It is to be impeccable with your word. It sounds very simple, but it is very, very powerful. . . . Being impeccable with your word is the correct use of your energy; it means to use your energy in the direction of truth and love for yourself.”

Author Catherine Ponder, in her book, The Healing Secrets of the Ages, suggests using the power of your word to invoke the healing power of order in this way:

“Divine Order is now established in me by the power of the indwelling Christ. Divine Order is now established in my mind, body and affairs by the power of the indwelling Christ. I am in Divine Order! My mind is in Divine Order. My body is in Divine Order. My affairs are in Divine Order. My relationships are in Divine Order. Every phase of my world is in Divine Order. Divine Order heals, prospers, and guides me now.’”

She says, “If you will decree divine order, somehow it will work in every phase of your world. More and more you will see harmony and order begin to work quietly, harmoniously, thoroughly. You will realize the wisdom of Paul’s advice to the Corinthians: ‘Let all things be done decently and in order.’ (I Cor. 14:40)

“One of the highest forms of prayer is to give thanks for divine order in your mind, body, and affairs, whether it seems to be there or not. . . . Look for, expect, and give thanks for divine order often. By doing so, you release one of your most important mind powers to work for you and through you to bless yourself and all mankind.”

As you get in and stay in touch with the divine and the underlying reality of divine order, it will be reflected in every area of your life.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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