The First Sunday of Advent, 12/3/23
Dear Spiritual Family,
Throughout this beautiful month we focus on the birth of our Wayshower, Jesus, and our willingness to accept our Christhood. If the year-end finds us knee-deep in outer gifts but with only a metaphoric toe dipped in the power and majesty of his birth and our “re-birth,” then we will be remiss on our spiritual journey.
So, let’s dive into the Gifts of Advent with renewed enthusiasm and purpose:
This First Week of Advent is about Faith and Hope. Charles Fillmore in The Revealing Word says this, “Hope is the expectation of good in the future. It is a quality of sense mind because it is subject to time. Faith is the certain knowledge that our good is ours right now. It is of God; it goes beyond time and space.”
Have you had the experience recently of feeling your hope (for your state or the Nation or humanity in general) waning? Obviously, hope for a brighter present and future is desirable. A state of hopelessness is not a fun place to be. So how can we bolster the quality of hope? Through faith!
And to be more specific through “understanding faith.” Charles Fillmore defines it as “Faith that functions from Principle. It is based on knowledge of Truth. It understands the law of mind action; therefore, it has great strength. To know that certain causes produce certain results gives a bedrock foundation for faith.”
So what Principles, what Truths do we go to, to more deeply establish this “rock-ribbed” faith in our consciousness? In virtually all of the great mystical teachings through the ages, we find the Golden Key – “I am as God Created me and my sisters and my brothers are as God created them.” God IS, We ARE.
As we focus our thoughts, our prayers and our meditations in this Holy Season on this Great Principle, then we will grow in the kind of faith that Jesus came to model and to teach. We will lay this holy Faith foundation, along with that of Peace and Love and Joy and it will not only bless our Season of Christmas but leave us rich in the Gifts of Spirit, better prepared to enter the New Year with greater hope for all. And he, Jesus, is here with each of us, to help at every turn.
We Love You,
Rev. Steve and Mary