UNIVERSAL LIFE CHURCH
ULC Sermon Site
FORGIVENESS
Welcome to today. May you take the breath of a new dawn and make it yours. Today I will be speaking about forgiveness. What does this word mean? How does it benefit us to practice this in our lives? Each of us have had times where we have to say "I'm sorry" or move past certain wrongs someone in our lives have done to us. We say the words and make up, but do we mean it? Sit back and think as I give my heartfelt opinion on this subject.
Dear Lord and Lady, I ask that you bless each person whose eyes behold this page, with love, light and understanding. Give them the open mind and open heart to take what they need and store the rest to the library in their minds for use if need be. I light a candle to be ever mindful of the love and light that you bring. It burns to remind me that your love and energy surround me and penetrate me. May I be changed and uplifted this day and always. So mote it be!
As we sit and are preparing to take within our minds the message this writing brings, I ask that you feel yourself as you are. Be within yourself. Know that your third eye is opening. You gaze softens and you feel the 1st chakra lighten and begin to expand. You grow a tail (a grounding cord) from the base of your spine and let it sink to the earth below. You know that it wraps itself around the earth's core. Anchoring you and connecting you to our Tara Mater. The energy begins to flow from her. Up into you and you feel the universal energy from above flow into your 1st chakra. You have brilliant colored universal energy; deep sparkly purple at its center and going outward a bright golden and farther widened still, is white. You feel it penetrating you and flowing around each center of your body. The earth energy seems to mix and travel upwards, it is brilliant red, then green and a clay-like brilliant brownish red. It circles and centers around your heart. In the center of your chest you feel a wonderful seed opening and changing into a rose. It expands and fills your chest. You feel love and peace. Sit and close your eyes now and let this energy be a part of you. Run it around your body, letting your rose become brighter and more beautiful still. You feel the outside of your body changing and begin to glow with the white light. Sit and feel this and when you are ready continue on.
To forgive is to pardon, to remit. Sounds easy does it not? But to pardon, is to let it go, and remit is to give. Going into that very definition, you must realize, you must truly let it go. You are not just letting go of the circumstance or wrong, you are releasing it all. You cannot call it back. You remit to it, it does not remit to you. You are giving it away. You are no longer allowed to think about it because it is not there. It is not a weapon because it has never been forged. It never happened once it is forgiven. It is a memory of an occurance that lingers, but it is like a movie. Done to someone else, not you, you cannot feel the hurt or ask for retribution. Forgiveness is a gift you give to that person, you are letting them take the action back to them. By doing so, you are making them responsible for not returning it to you. They are the ones who should be ever careful to place side notes and know that this was unacceptable. It is their worry now. Why do I say it is a gift? Because you are letting them take it, you are letting them release any fear of retribution. They can live on without hiding around a corner in fear. Fear causes many actions, anger and violence as well as illness and depression. You are releasing yourself from the Karma of causing another human any violence or depression. If you do not forgive (release) them, then you will be responsible for continuing negativity. You may continue to argue with that person over stupid things or even escalating to violence. The person feels now like they can truly change, because you have let go of the idea that they are bad. You release them from negative self worth. You let them know there is a clean slate and they alone have the choice to change or not.
Anger formed from lies, or a wrong, forms a jagged double-edged sword. It cuts the person bringing the negative into your life and it cuts you. You hold within yourself the fire that molds it. The energy that perpetuates the formation of steel. You alone make it solid enough to use as a weapon. You bring out that sword to cut that person each time they are around you. You have a personalized weapon that cuts them because it was made by the both of you. Through that anger and resentment, it is stronger each time you use it. It helps to form their sword to battle you with. And thus a war is born. How does it cut you if it is your weapon? Well simple. You must keep the fire stoked. It takes a great amount of energy to fuel such a rage; to be able to draw the sword from its sheath and wield it. To hold within yourself the burning fires. That fire takes room. So there is less space for love and peace. You cannot be peaceful and burn as well. The two are fire and water. Peace is cooling. Healing. Fire is energy. Resentment is negative energy. See where this goes? How it causes your own illness and inability to be whole?
So, then, does forgiveness mean that you have to forget? To be duped into bad situations? NO. You can file the information as if it were a lesson. Because that is what it should be. You know should certain things be told or done, you have a warning flag. It never happened to you - emotionally, and you still must give them the opportunity to do it again. However, you can also protect yourself and be sure it is not something that will hurt you or destroy anything you have worked for. It does not penetrate you to the point of pain, it only says, ok this could happen and if it does, then this person is not worthy of trust and should not be such a part of my life. They do not have respect for me and I cannot put myself in that situation to be mislead again. That person can be forgiven, even again; but you can also ask them to move on in their own life if the wrong is bad enough. You can also ask yourself if you have contributed in any way in making certain things happen or causing the person to think wrongly? There is always cause and effect… there could be something to why they keep repeating mistakes. You may take a look and see if you cannot help them change. So you do not have to forget. Just let go of the emotion attached so you do not form that weapon of destruction.
Then there is the matter of exactly how to let go of hurt, of disappointment, of anger, and pain. That is a whole different subject we can go into. Just know that if we do not practice forgiveness it can destroy us from the inside out. It can destroy those we love who are innocent bystanders.
Think of this, it is a story of a woman who marries the man of her dreams. They live for a decade together and during that time they have children. Their lives are happy until a darkness takes hold of their relationship and he becomes callous and does things to hurt her. After trying desperately to put up with it for their children and the family her heart desires, she comes to realize that it is hurting everyone to stay. She goes it alone, but still ever mindful of the anger she feels for loosing her one true dream of a whole family. The one thing she desires above all else; the peace and love of her mate and offspring. The disappointment and anger wells up in her to where she is not a patient mother. She finder herself crying often, and worse, screaming at her children. Blaming them without realizing it, for loving still the father when he no longer showed love for her and ruined the life she envisioned for them and herself. Hating herself for not being better. Anger at others who seem to be able to love and be loved. Every relationship she tries thereafter, seems to fail. She becomes more and more bitter. This effect worsens until she realizes that she cannot obtain love for herself and her children without forgiving her ex-mate for being hurtful and selfish. Everything she blames him for, she must forgive him for. If it is something real, which he is, or even what she perceives was the problem. It all has to be forgiven. She cannot hate him for moving on. She cannot hate the other woman for gaining his love. She cannot be angry with her children for retaining love they so richly deserve. She HAS to let go. The only thing that will save her life, is forgiveness. The only way to find love again is forgiveness. Then and only then will she be able to see a new love, a new life and dream a new dream. Only when hatred and pain vacate from her mind and heart will she have room for something else. When the fire is extinguished, she will have the calming of the waters bringing her peace. There is an old saying, "If mama ain't happy, ain't NOBODY happy".
I would like to close by saying, life is that wonderful roller coaster. Full of ups and downs with excitement and fear. We cannot blame those who journeyed along with us, even if they pushed us in that direction. We have to find the lesson in where we are at the time, and be thankful they lead us. Good or bad, we had an experience. If it was bad, be thankful you made it through. Be thankful by forgiving them and yourself.
Just for today dear Lord and Lady, release me from my anger. Help me to know true forgiveness as I live in the light that you surround me with each day. May each breath I take renew my spirit and my body be cleansed for my own sake and for those that I love. SO MOTE IT BE!
By Rev. Lisa Hollingsworth
More sermons, like these, can be found at Christian Sermons.
Absolution of Sins
From our services section, you can also access our Online Confession and Absolution of Sins page, if this is within your belief system. You can give thought to your actions and release yourself from the burden of guilt. Many people spend their lives reliving and regretting past actions. By confessing them in writing and genuinely seeking to improve your behavior, you can release your guilt and move on. Please take a moment to look at it and see if there's anything you'd like to let go of.
In that section, you are given the opportunity to receive forgiveness for your sins, if this concept is in your belief system.
You can be certain that we are sincere in this offer and that you are worthy to receive it.
RELATED LINKS
If you do believe this concept, you can receive forgiveness for your sins immediately. Doing this here online is a way of relieving yourself of your burden in a private, yet significant way. You can tell everything that is troubling your mind, get it out of your system and ask God for help.
Through this action, you are inviting God into your heart to lift your burden from you and give you peace. You are putting your request out into the universe where you can receive the love and guidance you are seeking.
This act of confession is not required by the Universal Life Church, or its Seminary, but we are offering it here for those to whom it can bring some peace of mind. You can confess your sins in writing below or you can do it in your own mind and just press the button.
Please know that we don't read those emails. They are destroyed as soon as they arrive because we feel that your confession is between yourself and your God. By destroying them, we set them free to travel the universe and find their destination.
A Discourse in Difference
One of the most interesting trends that I have seen in the Hellenic Pagan/Reconstructionist community is a push away from mythology. Though it is an all together new phenomenon. Early Greek Philosophers known as the Skeptics and Stoics, often came to the conclusion to pull away from mythology, as it made their Gods seem petty and far too human. The most famed amongst these writers against mythology was Xenophanes.
“The clear and certain truth no man has seen nor will there be anyone who knows about the Gods and what I say about all things. For even if, in the best case, one happened to speak aptly of what has been brought to pass, still he himself would not know it. But opinion [dokos] is allotted to everybody, (Porter pg. 423).” Xenophanes, one of the first of many skeptics. Often he was known to state, “What Gods are these but mirror reflections of ourselves? For how can a God have the same follies as man, (Porter pg. 135).” The rise of the skeptics and some of the stoics in Greek Religion may have very well been the demise of the Greek Religion. Cross comparatively, one does not see the Christian, for example, stating, “How foolish of my god, that he would turn himself into a jackass in the old testament,” or furthermore, “There is no way that Jonah was eaten by a whale.” Instead, other religions tend to accept wonderment, and allegory as pertinent and absolutely necessary to the viability and livelihood of their religion. In a conversation with a fellow online Hellenic Reconstructionist, I had a most interesting experience. Our conversation went something like this:
They told me, “As I respect you, I completely disagree with your interpretation of myth and your practice of the religion.” In response, I simply stated, your comment is as old as time, and is quite a unique feature amongst the Greek Religion… the allotment for a diverse set of beliefs and ideologies, as long as they adhere and stay within the parameters of those set fundamental attributes of the Greek Religion. There, my comrade and I agreed. However, it was their comment about myth that astounded me. They stated, “You know, I simply do not see how you tie your belief in myth in logical and reasonable accordance with Greek Religion. I simply don’t see myth as a fundamental part of Greek Religion. My belief is based out of philosophy and history.” My response was at first, “From where do you derive your ideas and thoughts of the Gods, from history and philosophy?” However, I decided upon a much more subtle approach and decided upon a simple questioning of my comrades beliefs, that if the answers were sound, then I too would take stock of their point of view. Basically, I wanted them to convince me of their point of view… show me where mythology and Greek Religion have no connect, and how mythology, history and philosophy, as well as science could not be put together. So, the first thing my fellow Hellene does is start with the origins of man. They explained all of the scientific evidences of how most humans are made of the same cosmogonic substances that the universe is made out of, that humans even have material from the stars with in them… that we are formed from matter and not Gods. They explained that science would show me that Gods were just an allegory to explain this miraculous phenomenon of creation. The Gods themselves, are an unseen force that can act, therefore one can not negate prayer and worship. Myth would just be the stories that people told to explain to others in layman’s terms the scientific and educated theories of matter and energy. Finally, my comrade stated, the first humans were probably not well developed, thus needed some extra explaining. Most entertained I was by this interesting explanation given for why one should exclude myth from Greek Religion and Practice. I asked, “Was it Aristotle that said, it was probable that the first men, earth-born (born from matter) were on a level of ignorance and darkness?” Yes, my friend answers. I ask another question, since we got the philosophical parts squared away… I ask, does Orphic myth on the soul not say that man is of the same substance as the cosmos? “My comrade answers, to such affect, well yes, but in a ridiculous manner stating that there were eggs from which Gods were being born. It is not supposed to be taken in a literal sense.” Again, I had to defer back to Aristotle, “Did Aristotle not say that a wind-egg was one that was produced by a hen alone, without impregnation, and that a wind-child is a God born from solely a Goddess?” My comrade seemed to be getting frustrated. “Well yes, but what point is it your trying to make?” I answered simply, “I am learning from you, and not making any point just yet. I am asking questions. For example, it says that Eros was born from an egg and that he is the creator of the world and the Gods in Orphic myth… being as though I am not an Orphic and you are, I ask, is this correct?” “Well yes, this is correct, but it is simply allegory. It is a way for you to learn and understand the fundamental and basic beliefs of the Orphic Religion. One need not believe that there was a literal egg in space that hatched.” At this point in our conversation, I got to thinking… I don’t recall any ancient Greek writer of myth stating that Eros hatched from an egg, more than he was born from one, and that in of itself denotes an entirely different connotation, egg being origin and born being birth. This gives room for the interpretation, birth from an ethereal origin. Still, those points aside, I had to ask my final question, “Well, if myth is just allegorical stories, or etymological, or historical, etc., to explain the basic premise of one’s religion, how then can you negate the story from your belief?” My comrade then took a strange tone with me stating, “Well, I saw a workshop you ran, where you had myth as a foundation for your religion, and how to incorporate myth in your belief. I am glad that we all do not have to adhere to the same way of thinking, because I just don’t see how myth can be the foundation of the religion.” To which my only response could be, “Without myth, you would not know the majesty of Zeus, nor would you see the Glory of Hera, you would not know the trickery of Hermes, or be marveled at the beautiful youth of Apollon, nor could you see the beauty and wrath from Aphrodite, nor feel the safe and secure comforts to the home from Hestia, you would neither know the wisdom of the bright-eyed Athena, nor the skillful war-craft of the Beloved Ares. Would you be so inclined to say that it was philosophy that taught you of the talented smithy Hephaestus, or history that proved that Prometheus was the friend of man? Could you say it was science that taught you that Demeter’s love for her daughter changed the course of the seasons? Perhaps you simply learned by being the most intellectual that you could that Persephone softened the heart of the hospitable Hades, or that Dionysos could be tempted to grant prayers with offerings of dance and wine. Maybe it was geology and geography that taught you that Poseidon was the Great Earth-shaker. Wasn’t it in history 101 where we learned of Artemis, her nymphs and Amazons? Or maybe it is that which is obvious, that in our religion, our concepts and ideologies spring forth from myth. We should use it; however we view it… whether it is allegorical, historical, etymological, etc. as the core of our beliefs. It doesn’t make you more or less intelligent to find beauty and wonderment in your Gods.” My comrade’s response, “We have to agree to disagree.” My reply, “from Xenophon to Xenophanes, that’s the way it’s always been. Yet, it’s always good to have you as a fellow worshipper of the Gods.”
Our discussion ended rather friendly I would think. Whenever I see him, he is always up for a friendly chat. One does not have to be an discourteous to show intellect… another trend that is all to common in Hellenic Pagan/Reconstructionist communities. There are many theories and ideologies of the Greek Religion; our diversity is not our downfall, but our strength. We must remember our common bond is our love for the Gods and the love of our Religion. We need not ever let our differences destroy us… as in our history; we allowed differences to make us weak before a charismatic enemy. As a consequence, we have lost our temples. Yet the Gods have given us an opportunity to move forward, and once again sing first and last of them. Rather than see the differences between our faiths, we need to embrace the common bonds that unite our denominations. Whether you are from the Temple of Zeus, the Temple of Artemis, the Temple of Hera, or the Temple of the Gods of Olympos, remember, our common bond is our faith in the Immortal Gods, and all that our religion and history stands for.