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OUR SUNDAY
"INNER PEACE = WORLD PEACE SERVICES" AT SERAPHIM CENTER
Three quotes, when taken together, describe our Sunday Morning Services. One
quote comes from the mystical Sufi tradition and goes something like this,
"THERE ARE AS MANY PATHS TO GOD AS THERE ARE PEOPLE."
The second quote comes from a well known church peace hymn that says, "LET
THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH, AND LET IT BEGIN WITH ME."
And the third, "WHEN TWO OR MORE ARE GATHERED TOGETHER IN THE NAME OF LOVE,
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THERE ALSO." (paraphrased) We feel this presence at
these services.
Our Sunday Services are
a mixture of inspiration, fellowship, meditation, prayer, music, fun, bonding,
human kindness love, and creation of spiritual community. We are open to all
Truth knowing "There is no spot where God is not," we
acknowledge all Teachers of God, and we bless the indwelling Divinity that is in
each person. We are inter-faith and inter-denominational and accept that each
person must find his or her own Truth, and only then will the Truth set us free.
We have experienced when we come together in Love, we are greater than the sum
of our parts. This has resulted in amazing transformations and healing of body,
mind and spirit.
Our Service is a
showcase to allow visiting speakers and musicians to inspire us as they
demonstrate their talents, messages and truth. It is a practice field for our up
and coming ministerial candidates and newly ordained spiritual ministers to
practice and share their stories and their wisdom, in an environment of
unconditional love and support. Dale Carnegie once said, "The best public
speaker is someone who has something to say." Our speakers are all folks
that have a fire in their belly, a love in their heart, and some unique ideas
about our relationship to ourselves, our brothers and sisters, our world, and
the Universe that can be beneficial to each of us. Each service is unique and
different. Each is a "Path to God". Each hopes to assist us in finding
inner peace, and add our significant contribution to the movement to world
peace. The time for this is now!
The following blessing
we start out every Sunday service. It was adapted from "A Blessing of a
Church" by James Dillet Freeman:
SERAPHIM CENTER
BLESSING
This is God's house.
May we who come here not only find out about God, but find God.
May there be beauty in this place,
but especially may is be a place, where men and women, become aware of,
the beauty within themselves.
May this be a place of worship.
May this be a place of instruction.
May this be a place of singing and celebration.
May this be a place of prayer and meditation. And,
May this be a place of loving service.
But for us who worship
and take instruction
and sing and celebrate and pray and meditate,
and joyfully offer our loving service,
May this be a place of inner stillness,
where we may listen and hear when God speaks.
May everyone here feel
the Joy of Oneness.
May whoever ministers here minister in Love.
May whoever teaches here teach Truth.
And, May whoever serves here serve pleasantly.
May everyone come into
this house in expectation
and go with thanksgiving,
And may anyone who comes needing help, go feeling blest.
May this be such a house that if any of God's Great Teachers,
Even the Rabbi Jesus, or Buddha, or
or Mohammed, or Mother Teresa, or Mother Mary,
or Chief Crazy Horse, or the Earth Goddess,
or any teacher that has helped us on our quest,
or any of our Ministers,
or any friend that has shared our path and given support for a while,
or any stranger,
Would feel that he or she was with friends.
In the Greatest Degree of love, Amen!
We have been inspired
by a piece written about the Dali Lama. Our Services are about "Deep caring
for one another", in the Greatest Degree of Love.
WHAT ARE THE
SERAPHIM ANGELS?
We
were spiritually guided to name ourselves after the Seraphim
Angels who are described in the book of ISAIAH, Chapter 6:
.
. . I saw the Lord sitting on a throne that towered high above me, the skirts of
his robes filling the temple. Above it rose the figure of the Seraphim, each of them six-winged; with two wings they veiled their
face, with two his feet, and the other two kept them poised in flight. And the
same cry passed between them, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts; all
the earth is full of his glory. . .' Alas, said I, I must keep silence; my lips,
and all my neighbors’ lips, are polluted with sin (error); and yet these eyes
are looking upon their King, the Lord of hosts. Whereupon one of the Seraphim
flew up to me, bearing a coal with he had taken with a pair of tongs from the
altar; he touched my mouth with it, and said, "Now that this has touched
thy lips, thy guilt and thine iniquity is swept away, thy sin pardoned."
And I heard the voice of the Lord say, "Who
shall be my messenger: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And
I said, "Here am I; send me!"
There
are many references to the "Messengers", "Angels", the
"Comforter", the "Holy Spirit", and the "voice
within", in all the great Scriptures of the World. We honor all Truth and
all the Spiritual Teachers, Guides and Angels that help us remember that our
true identity is Holy, Holy, Holy. We bless this planet of experience and all
those who guide us, seen and unseen,
when we seek help, assistance, support and Love.
WHAT
WE ARE ABOUT
In the book A COURSE IN MIRACLES, it
is shared that the body is the
We strive to live, teach, practice, and demonstrate spiritual light in
the same way, by bringing the "Greatest Degree of Love" into every
situation and decision. Join us in this endeavor. Our own inner peace is the
means to world peace.
THE DALAI LAMA AND
CARING FOR ONE ANOTHER……
The
Dalai Lama has asked that the following practice be shared with as many people
as possible) A group recently spent days visiting with the Dalai Lama focusing
upon what they believe the five most important questions to be considered moving
into the new millennium.
The five questions
were:
1. How do we address the widening gap between rich and poor?
2. How do we protect the earth?
3. How do we educate our children?
4. How do we help
5. How do we bring spirituality (deep caring for one another) through all
disciplines of life?
The Dalai Lama said all
five questions fall under the last one. If we have true compassion in our
hearts, our children will be educated wisely, we will care for the earth, those
who "have not" will be cared for.
The group asked the
Dalai Lama, "Do you think loving on the planet is increasing or staying the
same?" His response: "My experience leads me to believe that
LOVE IS INCREASING." He shared a simple practice that will increase
loving and compassion in the world. He asked everyone in the group to share it
with as many people as they can.
The Practice:
1. Spend 5 minutes at the beginning of each day remembering we all want the same
things (to be happy and be loved) and we are all connected to one another.
2. Spend 5 minutes -- breathing in - cherishing yourself; and, breathing out -
cherishing others. If you think about people you have difficulty cherishing,
extend your cherishing to them anyway.
3. During the day extend that attitude to everyone you meet. Practice cherishing
the "simplest" person (clerks, attendants, etc.), as well as the
"important" people in your life; cherish the people you love and the
people you dislike.
4. Continue this practice no matter what happens or what anyone does to you.
These thoughts are very simple, inspiring and helpful. The practice of
cherishing can be taken very deep if done wordlessly, allowing yourself to feel
the love and appreciation that already exists in your heart.
MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON
EARTH. Love on this planet is increasing. Once we have experienced moments of
inner peace, oneness, and reawakening, and we learn to reach out with loving
hands to our brothers and sisters, assisting and cherishing each other as we
sojourn this life, we naturally recognize our commitment and responsibility to
our planet, our Mother Earth.
This gives you some
idea about our Inner Peace - World Peace services. Come and join us every Sunday
morning at
OUR COMMITMENT TO LOVING SERVICE
Loving Service is
really giving to oneself, through service to others. It is a new standard.
Rather than looking at someone less fortunate and saying under our breath,
"There but for the Grace of God, go I." We are experienced a new
awareness of the Family of Humankind, the Oneness we have with all our brothers
and sisters, regardless of tradition, experience and station in life. This
"Unity with All" now leads us to say, "There for the Grace of
God, go I" or more simply, "There go I."
We work to assist in
loving and gentle ways, always with the over-riding concern to demonstrate the
loving esteem we hold for the individual. The following principle from the New
York Times best selling book "Conversations With God" says it nicely:
"Every Day Is a New Opportunity To Re-Create Anew The Grandest Version of
the Greatest Vision You Ever Had About Yourself".
Re-Creation is
Spiritual Empowerment, and that is what
May God's Peace abide with you
May God's Presence illuminate your Heart
Now and Forever More.
---from the Dances of Universal Peace
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