11/16/08 The Art and Spirit of Welcoming

Third in “Thriving in Unity” series

November 16, 2008

“Congratulations – you are among a select group of
souls who won the lottery to be here, on this planet, at this time!”
Christine Page, M.D., 2012/275

I have spoken to you of futurists like Gregg Braden and Barbara
Marx Hubbard, who believe we are in a major transition of nature
and humanity. There are those like Jose Arguelles who believe the
ancient Mayan calendar points to a galactic shift in evolution that
will occur in 2012. Just from a pragmatic view point, observing
terrorism, global financial unrest, the threat of global warming,
the incredible power of the world wide web who would not agree that
there are major changes going on in the world that affect us physically,
emotionally and spiritually?

Gill Edwards, a clinical psychologist, spiritual teacher, and best-selling
author writes, “At the moment, many of us are straddling two
different worlds: the commonsense world of fear, struggle, blame
and victimhood that is mirrored by the news media, and the emerging
world of love, joy, healing, and spiritual awareness that is bubbling
up behind the scenes…” 2012/230

Our collective consciousness can choose fear or faith, try to hold
on to the past or open up to our potential. The choice may determine
whether we destroy the world or create the best of all possible
worlds.

The media and the people we encounter daily keep us aware of all
the problems and negative things that make us fearful. There are
also myriad signs of people waking up and taking a new approach.
And as I heard someone say recently of this positive shift in consciousness,
“This revolution will not be televised.”

What does all this have to do with the art and spirit of welcoming?
The Thriving in Unity workbook says, “Because Unity has a
tradition based in attraction versus proselytizing, many believe
we must be passive in our approach to outreach. Unity is needed
now more than ever as the challenges we face as a human family have
reached global proportions.”

Genesis 18:1-15 (A story of welcoming)

A name in the Bible represents the character of the person. A
change in name denotes a change in character. Abraham had his name
changed from Abram. Abraham means father of a multitude. When God
made this covenant with him, Abraham’s side of the covenant
was that every male in his household would be circumcised.

Now, Abraham is the Old Testament equivalent of Peter, representing
faith. It was his obedience that led to his being the father of
a great nation. When God told Abraham he would be given a child
by Sarah, Abraham fell on his face and laughed. But, in 17:23 we
read, “Then, Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves
born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the
men of Abraham’s house and he circumcised the flesh of their
foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine
years old …”

In his faith Abraham recognized the 3 guests as Jehovah. (18:1)
So he offered water to wash their feet and food. He welcomed them.
But Abraham lived in a tent – faith had not yet become an
abiding quality of consciousness.

“The feast that Abraham set before Jehovah symbolizes the
new vital forces in the bodily organism (tent) – which shares
in the spiritual unfoldment – producing a new state of consciousness
(Isaac) in spite of what seems advanced age or deterioration of
bodily vigor.” Charles Fillmore, Mysteries of Genesis/160

I have experienced that myself. I do not feel my age (or act it).
Over the past few years as I have learned and studied principle
I have come alive with new energy and passion. People have told
me I look younger than my age, and they weren’t just being
polite.

The guests reiterated the promise of a son. Sarai, meaning bitter
or contentious, was changed to Sarah meaning princess or noble lady
and represents the intuition. She was past child-bearing age and
was barren.

Then, Sarah laughed. (18:12)

The laughter, the “you’ve can’t be serious”
response of Abraham and Sarah symbolizes the doubts of the natural
man. But they believed, they welcomed the messengers and they had
a child and named it Isaac. And what does Isaac mean – laughter.
Isaac represents the pleasure and joyousness of life. This joyous
quality is the child or offspring of faith (Abraham) and intuition
(Sarah).

I’ve spoken repeatedly of a vision for this spiritual community
to grow in number and to have a significant impact on this area.
I suppose some almost laugh at that. How could it be? But I am still
holding that vision.

“According to respected social scientist Dr. Paul Ray, author
of The Cultural Creatives, there are 50 million people in the United
States alone who are interested in a new way of living and working
together. And 24 million of them are deeply interested in personal
spiritual transformation. This is not about converting or convincing
those who are happy with their path to join Unity, it is about reaching
out authentically to those millions who are ready for and open to
our message.” (TIU workbook)

I am initiating and recommending some efforts intended to “get
our name out”, make us known, draw people to us. The next
step then, is to be ready to welcome them, invite them to sit down
and eat, like Abraham did. So we are forming a Welcome Team that
will develop and employ a system of welcoming guests to our services
and classes. It will include evaluating our facility, materials
and practices. But mostly it will be intentionally welcoming and
engaging guests.

I can’t imagine that anyone who has been captured and transformed
by our teachings would not want as many people as are interested
to hear them. But besides that, what if our guests, like Abraham’s,
are Jehovah? In Matthew, Jesus says “And the king will answer
them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the
least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me,’”

(Matt. 25:40)