Excerpted from the Class of 2017 Graduate’s Sermons
Dialogue Between Spirit and an Aspiring Everyday Mystic:
Be one Be good Do good
by Rev. Anita L. Archer, Ph.D.
Mission Statement: “It is my intent to live as an aspiring everyday mystic for the rest of my life, connected to Spirit and in service to other human beings.
This will require answering three questions and following Spirit’s guidance on all three:
1) How can I BE ONE with God and all Beings?
2) How can I BE GOOD and thus benefit others?
3) How should I DO GOOD in the world?”
Undefined: Finding My God
by Rev. Melissa Rose Harris
Mission Statement: “To live in service and by example.
What I’ve come to understand is that it matters far less WHAT I believe than HOW I believe. What I believe is the thinking. How I believe is the living.
What I believe will change and grow and transform as I live and learn. It is not set in stone, and should not be. It is not given to me or commanded upon me, it is integrated into me by all that I receive and endure.
How I practice what I believe will also change and grow, as I transform. New evidence of God will appear as old thoughts and habits fall away.
How I live my life is how I understand God. How I approach my days is how I approach God. How I speak my words is how I communicate with God. How I move and breathe is how I swim in the Divine and inhale in the Spirit.
I believe with my body through energy, grace, and breath. I believe with my mind both when I quiet my thoughts and when I use my knowledge as an avenue to get me there. I believe with my heart to be an alchemist, transforming everything to Love. I believe in the places that I cannot describe, those moments when I am in touch with the Divine.”
Mission Statement: “I aspire to love all… to serve all.
My Great Expectations
by Rev. Terry Haury
Mission Statement: “To live in service and by example.
“The last couple of years in the AFSI comparative Religions course have been the culmination to the incredibly rich experiences of my life-long spiritual journey. This paper has given me the opportunity to examine what, as a minister, I have to offer …I alone have set expectations about who I am, and what I’m capable of. These expectations have prevented me from creating all that is my purpose. every opportunity to be of service is a space for me to let go of what to expect and be at peace with what is.”
The following are quotes from people on the subject of Expectation:
Expectation is the root of all heartache – William Shakespeare
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. – Steve Jobs
Every single thing that a person sees or hears, is an instruction to him in his conduct in the service of God. – Baal Shem Tov
Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be. – Alan Watts