Good morning! Breathe! Validate your space!
As I began writing this, I heard a robin singing it’s song outside. It’ song said, “Cheer up, cheer up, cheer up!” How did it know the topic of what I was beginning to write?
The bird’s songs announce spring, new beginnings, hopefulness and joy after a long winter. The natural elements retreat for the winter and hibernate in stillness, until the sun’s warmth and longer days alert them that it’s time to emerge again. The crocus, snowdrops and daffodils and baby leaf buds sprout out of the earth and from branches, even though there is the risk of being frozen or snowed on. That doesn’t stop their instinctual journey of opening. When it’s time it’s time!
Spring invites us to follow our own inner rhythm of renewal and re-birth, as Jesus showed through the resurrection. He anchored the vibration of love and compassion onto the planet and topped that message off with the awareness of oneness with God and resurrection. His seeming death on the cross was never meant to be about suffering. It was his final step to having his ability to create his light body and move on in his evolution as a soul.
His words on the cross were “I and the Father are one.” As he embodied that truth, he released the last bit of separation that stood in the way of himself and knowing he is God. That is the pain that we are all healing, bit by bit. We were once within a crystal prism, one with Source, until we got the idea of separating. When you see the light shine through a prism, and all the reflective lights dancing on the walls, we are the dancing lights. We are of Divine Oneness, yet seemingly separate. And we know that through forgiveness and love we heal that separation and know Oneness again.
When we realize, truly, that we are all One with the Father, all changes. We become responsible for one thing only, extending love to all and reflecting the divinity of that which we know we are an extension. We release the need for judgment, control or the need to change others. We release all fear. There is no fear because as One with Source, there is only love, and that is all that needs to be taught. As we learn this, life is simpler because we need only be a vehicle for Source to work through us. The effort of trying to change anyone or make something happen is released. We are instruments of Peace. Less is more. When we know that God works through us, so we let go of the illusion and just get out of the way.
After his Resurrection, Jesus continued his teachings, and I imagine that after embodying and fully realizing that he was God, and that he didn’t have to make everyone change, that an enormous weight was lifted from his shoulders. You may know this feeling when you have let go of control or repsonsibility of a person or a situation and lightened up! Or how great it feels when we don’t have to be right and defend ourselves. It’s okay for others to be different from us. But imagine letting go of having to be the Messiah! Ahhhhh! So relaxing!
You don’t read much in the Bible about Jesus joking around, telling knock-knock jokes and such. But he had an enormous job to do and he was sent to Earth during a time when humanity was experiencing unbearable pain and suffering-the result of the misuse of our freewill. When people believe they are sinners and worthless, the world they create reflects that. Jesus came to anchor the truth into the Earthly vibration so we could return to love as the pathway back to God. Jesus volunteered for this mission, at the same time knowing it would be thousands of years before the truth would be embodied. He knew that his teaching would affect mankind forever, in many ways. He knew his teachings would be interpreted as dogma and used as a means to justify war and victimization of many even though he did not come to create a religion. He came to remind us of the divinity within each of us. He taught, “These things I do you shall do, and even greater things than these shall you do.”
These cycles of killing and subjugation based on religion continue. but as God, we need to remember to focus on content versus form and remember that this world is made up of many variations of the pain of separation and the resulting fear-based reality it creates- and these many worlds are constantly crashing into one another. To heal them we need to change ourselves, be our truth and remember that ‘I and the Father are One.’
Jesus reminded us to be as little children. So even though this jokes didn’t make it into the Gospel, he saw the power of play and innocence as helpful in our realization that we are divine souls. We extend our model of reality we experience from our mind, like a hologram. How much of our hologram of reality is of the pure light of the prism from which we came? Not as pure as a child’s! Their picture and vision of life is not so tainted with fears of not being enough, jealousy, anger, lack, powerlessness and all the shoulds and doubts that we have become programmed with. Children are innocent and spontaneous. Their vision of the world and what is possible is rife with mystery, creativity, full of possibility, playfulness and joy. They travel through wide ranges of emotion in moments, returning to the present moment with new eyes.
So, as I looked at what to write about for this April service- the topics of spring, re-birth, Easter and the resurrection are big, but I was really being drawn to April Fool’s Day and the energy of tricks and laughter and foolishness. Because once you know that you and God are one, and that you need to choose to forgive yourself and others, and do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and it’s time to release judgment, guilt and responsibility and that it’s okay to be happy, creative and spontaneously be you more and more, what’s left to do?
It’s time to be that! Play! Have fun! Be merry! Yes, you will still pay taxes, change out the the toilet paper role, consider your career or mourn the loss of a loved one. But because of Jesus anchoring in the vibration of love and enthusiasm on Earth, our actions and perceptions need not continue to come from a foundation of separation and fear. What’s it like to create from a foundation which is an extension of Creator, of Source? Free of effort and judgment? Teaming with joy and compassion?
It’s amazing, it’s unexplainable. There are no words for it, the best we can do is work on having it and demonstrating it. And so I love April Fool’s day for giving people the permission to laugh at themselves and each other, step out of the box and have some fun. As Katherine Mansfield said, “It is of immense importance that we learn to laugh at ourselves.”
There is no way Jesus got off of that cross and built his light body without some amusement and enthusiasm. After all, he had to forgive all those mean people and himself. Could that really be such a serious occasion? He knew a lot more that I do and even I know that we are reborn into the vibration in which we died in. And it’s a whole other ball game to be reborn into a light body! To accomplish that task there must be permission to not only know that we are nothing but love, but permission to express it joyfully.
When we are allowed to laugh at ourselves, we stop taking everything so seriously. We let go of the perfect pictures and the need to do everything right, and the need to be right. Amusement is a high vibration. Set your space in amusement even if you are sad or having a bad day, and the issues that are bothering you will pass through you all the sooner. Laughter heals, as has been documented. Play and creativity increase productivity and new ideas in all areas of life- the workforce, as parents, with our friends, and it assists in our healing. Smiles do brighten our day!
Many of the teachers that followed Jesus tapped into this joy and effortlessness. Two of my favorites are the poets Rumi and Hafiz. Their work reflects the reverence and mystery of it all, but they also bring it to Earth into the body with everyday references to love, sex, games and humor. They may describe a person stuck in negativity as being stuck behind a farting camel!
There just isn’t that much humor found in most religions and spiritual practices, yet it is one of the greatest healers and highest vibrations to sit in. Spirit is beyond enthusiasm in its vibration, and all we are is Spirit. Enthusiasm is the highest vibration of Source that we are able to experience in the body with any consistency. Do you have permission to have it? Are you allowed to be in that vibration? Have you ever been punished this lifetime for being too happy? Too light? I hope that you have!
Hafiz wrote in this verse in his poem, “Several Times in the Last Week”:
“Ever since Happiness heard your name,
It has been running through the streets
Trying to find you.
And several times in the last week,
God himself has come to my door-
So sweetly asking for your address,
Wanting the beautiful warmth of your heart’s fire.”
Breathe, and have the visit from Happiness. Have this visit from God, who longs to bask in your heart’s fire. This is vastly different from a God who is judging you and punishing you and justifying why it’s okay to hurt others!
One of my favorite happiness stories is from a friend. They were driving home from a family reunion and her young son asked her, “Mommy, does Aunt Jane have happiness?” and My friend told him, “Why yes, she is very happy.” And he asked, “Mommy, does Uncle Bob have happiness?” Yes, he does! “And Mommy, how about Beth? Does she have happiness?” “Yes, she is happy also” She then said to her husband, “Isn’t that great how Luke want’s to know about his family and their happiness?” And her husband said to her, “Marg, he is asking whether or nor they have a penis!”
The word happiness hasn’t been the same for me since!
We get a special treat today! I am inviting Karena Lindell to lead us in some laughter yoga for a different kind of self healing! (Karena does her thing….)
Breathe and say hello to your body. How does it feel? It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves! Eventually, you will be able to laugh at all the events in your life. Even now I bet you can think of things that weren’t funny in the moment but you can find some humor in them now! The sooner we can laugh at our mistakes, the sooner we arrive at the door of learning and bring the situation back to joy, and in alignment with our truth.
Visualize a bubble our in front of you that represents your space of joy and fun. Put a nice grounding cord on it. Let the grounding cord drain energies out of your joy bubble that want to limit it or stifle it. Who in your life has been threatened or uncomfortable with happiness? Were you ever around someone who couldn’t have your joy as a child? Who are you afraid of hurting by being happier? Sometimes we are happy and we let another drag us down, because we feel like we shouldn’t be happy around them because it will hurt their feelings. What it will actually do is offer them another vibration to match so they can heal their space faster. Have you ever found humor in something but were punished for it? Let all of that energy and those concepts release down the grounding cord on that bubble.
Now fill the bubble in and give yourself permission to have your amusement and spontaneity. When your foundation is strong in love and amusement, your expression of joy is just another way to share your love. It is not unspiritual to be happy. You need not be guilty for finding amusement and joy in the world. Choose colors and words that support your joy. Smile, breathe and set this bubble. Now see it up in your gold sun and fill yourself in with it. Laugh a little. When you are laughing you are not thinking. It brings you right into present time. You are being.
There is a poem by Rumi that I will share parts of, called “The Sheikh Who Played with Children.” I have skipped a verse, but brought the original with me if you want to read it after church.
A certain young man was asking around,
“I need to find a wise person. I have a problem.”
A bystander said, “There’s no one with intelligence
in our town except that man over there
playing with the children, the one riding the stick-horse.
He has keen, fiery insight and vast dignity
like the night sky, but he conceals it
in the madness of child’s play.”
The young seeker approached the children, “Dear father,
you who have become as a child, tell me a secret.”
“Go away. This is not a day for secrets.”
“But please! Ride your house this way, just for a minute.”
The sheikh play-galloped over.
“Speak quickly. I can’t hold this one still for long.
Whoops. Don’t let him kick you. This is a wild one!”
The young man felt he couldn’t ask his serious question
in the crazy atmosphere, so he joked,
I need to get married. Is there someone suitable on the street?”
(The sheikh answers, then rides away. The young man says,)
“One more question, Master!”
The sheikh circled, “What is it? Quickly! That rider over there needs me. I think I’m in love.”
“What is this playing that you do? Why do you hide your intelligence so?”
“The people here want to put me in charge. They want me to be judge, magistrate, and interpreter of all the texts. The knowing I have doesn’t want that. It wants to enjoy itself.
I am a plantation of sugarcane, and at the same time
I’m eating the sweetness.”
Knowledge that is acquired
is not like this. Those who have it worry if
audiences like it or not. It’s a bait for popularity.
Disputational knowing wants customers.
Robust and energetic before a responsive crowd, it slumps when no one is there.
The only real customer is God.
Chew quietly
your sweet sugarcane God-Love, and stay
playfully childish.
Your face will turn rosy with illumination
like the redbud flowers.
Take a deep breath. Don’t let life and other’s trap you into a role that stifles your true wisdom. Wisdom of divinity and love needs no audience, no outside approval. It it within you. It is who and what you are.
Validate your joy and sweetness and your ability to be playfully childish. If life tries to get you serious, it may be time to get off of your high horse and onto your stick horse! Laugh and smile a little bit more often. Remember that this journey is really only between you and God anyway.
Namaste.
Rt. Rev. Hope Hewetson originally wrote this Message for the Church of Inner Light in April 2010.
