Unity of Farmers Branch (Formerly The Church Of One Love)

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

When we want to take right action in the world, we must first become truly aware of what is going on—to understand what the problem or challenge really is.  When we become aware of discomfort, we tend to jump to take whatever action we think will most quickly relieve our immediate suffering.  Too often that action leads us to ever more suffering down the road.  Effective action is always only possible following a period of acceptance and understanding of the nature of the challenge.  Only when we have accepted reality as it is--life on life’s terms—can we then take effective action. (we call this the 3 A’s: Awareness, Acceptance, Action)

Cultivating A Culture Of Peace

On this,  International Day of Peace—we celebrate the founding ideals of the United Nations: to promote peace, end conflict, and foster global cooperation to build a peaceful and sustainable world.  These are global ideas, but work on the personal level as well.  In fact, peace will only ever happen globally when it first happens person to person as we communicate with others in non-accusatory, non-violent , kind and loving ways.  When we find the natural peace deep within us, we become living examples of peacefulness in the world.  

Be Still And Know

Stillness is a secret superpower that—when practiced-- brings us closer to who we really are.  In stillness we commune with God, instinctively feel our oneness with nature and with all beings, and come to know ourselves more deeply.   So why is it so hard to get and stay still?  It is so easy to become overwhelmed by distractions, anxieties, activities, to-do lists, that we seldom experience the gifts of true stillness.  This week, let’s explore why and how to cultivate stillness in our lives.

Special Guest Speaker Veronica Valles

Rev. Rick Horsey: Truth - Is It All An Illusion?

Throughout history humankind has believed in Truth, only to find out that it was, after all, not really True.  Is it possible that we really do not know anything for a fact?  What and where is our guiding star, or is there such a thing?

We seem to have been on an evolutionary journey to discover what God is, only to see it slide away from us more often than not.

Let us take a look at where we have been, where we are, and imagine what might be.

Can we be open to an uncertain and unclear future, or is it all an illusion?

What Are You Wearing?

Is that a suit of armor? Can you take it off?  As humans we hurt and then we try to protect ourselves from it ever happening again.  Unfortunately, we cannot build walls (or wear suits) that close our hearts only to what is painful.  A closed heart is a closed heart.  So how do we navigate a world where to keep an open heart feels too painful, but to close it and live in the mind would make us cold and unfeeling?  How can we find balance—safe ways to wear only our own skin?  

The Joy of Praise

What is with this “praise and worship” that traditional churches do? Does the thought of "praising" offend?  What even is “praise?” or  “worship?”  Does praising something make us somehow lower than the object of our praise?  Does God “need” it?  Or do humans have a need to express praise? What in your life today might be calling for awe, wonder, gratitude, NOTICE?

Messages From The Angels

Are you paying attention to your messages?  Checking your Earth-mail? Checking in with yourself?  Being open to the many messages and all the different guises messengers take puts us in communication with the angels—literally!  

What Our Souls Know

Do we make “soul contracts” with each other?  Is there truly a reason we meet the “random” people we do, have the particular experiences of life, make the synchronous connections we make?  Do they (or can they)  all lead to our soul’s growth?  Are they part of a larger plan?  Are we in on it?   Let’s explore these questions and take look at life as if it were a school whose curriculum we might help design.

Learning From The Past

Just as the future can only be met from the place of the present moment, the past too, can be met right here right now in the present--has value in helping us to understand how it shaped and may still affect us in our present.  Let’s learn to look, learn, then forgive and let go. A wise person once said, “There’s nothing wrong with looking at the past—as long as you don’t stare!”