Message From the Minister September
A Season of Change

In the wake of yet another climate disaster, this time in Houston, I am forced to go deeper into what I truly believe. I have four friends on the ministerial ordination path that live in the Houston area. So for me, I have had to look at this disaster from a personal, yet global perspective simultaneously. No longer can we live in our little bubbles and pretend we are not connected to everyone, everywhere. If someone is trapped in a flood in Houston, that’s me. If someone is experiencing a famine in Yemen, that’s me. If someone is going to help and heal, hey that’s me!

Yes, people have helped each other in miraculous ways to escape and recover from the floods recently. The physical recovery will take many years to come, and for some, the death and destruction will have overcome their life here on earth. If we can respond so wholeheartedly, and with so much love and care in these times of crisis, why do we not choose this loving attitude always? If we can respond in times of great need, can we not act out of love at all times as well? If there is the capacity for such focused cooperation for survival, can we not see that the entire human race is at a crossroads of its very existence? What is stopping us from taking similar action to save our planet for our future generations? What stops us from ending the scourge of racism, sexism or any other prejudice in our world once and for all?

I truly believe it is because we, as a species, still operate from a fundamental error in our thinking. If thinking leads to our beliefs, and beliefs lead to our actions, and our actions give us the world we experience; then the thought system based on the idea of our differences must be overcome by reason. It is not reasonable that we allow our climate to change and people to suffer needlessly. It is not reasonable to me that the illusion of our separation be the foundation of our thought system, when in fact we are all equal and we are all one. What do those two things have in common? What does separation have to do with climate change? These are two dots that can be easily connected if we care to look at them from the perspective of spiritual principle.

The thought system of separation and fear is at the core of our laws, our societies, our governments, our educational systems, businesses, and religions as well. In order to protect our separate selves and separate lives and separate interests we have to compete.
Finally it is a competition no one can ever win. All we do is build up the ego and try to replace God with the this false idol we have made to take God’s place. Fear rules the ego’s world and drives the machine of separation. Fear of each other keeps us in the mad rush for success at the expense of all our natural resources. The quest for human/ego power has placed profits above human the value of human lives, and this is not something people of faith can afford to tolerate any longer.

I am going to suggest that September be the month of change, the change of our minds about our purpose for being here, the change of our hearts about joining together in the truth, the change of our thinking as to who and what we really are, and most importantly, the change in our attitudes toward each other and the planet on which we live. If something must die in the autumn season, then let it be my apathy toward the great need before us. Let that unconsciousness be swept away by the winter winds, and let us be witness to a powerful rebirth of positive and practical solutions for Humankind, solutions that come from the One Power and One Presence active in the universe and in me.

Always yours in Christ Consciousness,
Rev. Tony