The Power of Unity in Your Life | Rev. John Riley

Recognizing God’s Presence in Our Lives and Beyond

There is only one presence and one power active in my life. God, the good omnipotence. There is only one presence and one power in my life. God, the good omnipotence. Would you have affirmed that with me together? There’s only one presence and one power active in my life and in the universe. God, the good omnipotence. I don’t know, did I add in the universe this, that last time? Yeah. Sorry about that. You just gotta go with it. Sometimes we forget just how blessed we are. Yes, we are that love expressing into the world. Yes. Yes. You know, we are so blessed to be here today. We are plugged in, we have electricity, you know, sometimes we take things for granted. And if you were lucky to be here last week, you were able to experience an amazing talk by our good Ron Beck, who’s escaping into the back room there. Okay. And it was really interesting.

Unity and Collective Resilience

So I was taking the day off and I got a call around nine o’clock saying, the power’s out. Is there a circuit breaker? I said, okay, don’t touch anything. So I come in and then as I’m coming in I realize that the power’s out in the whole area because the whole area of Palo Alto down here was out. And what was amazing is when I got here, everyone’s like, okay, we’ll figure it out. And people pulled together. Ron gave an amazing talk, an inspired talk. Lisa Whitfield gave her first in public meditation. It was fantastic. Now, we were sitting here in the dark and Felix realized that our new speaker, Margot, brought in a new speaker because she loves it and it happens to have a battery. So we actually had a speaker that through which Margo can sing, and through which Ronnie could speak through. And it was wonderful. And the great thing was, it was so dark in the back that everyone sat up close.

Igniting Community Spirit

That never happens in church. Wow. I was excited. So I was here thinking, well, you know, maybe I’ll just go home and take the rest of the day off. But there was an energy in our community and I’m just like, you know what? I’m staying, I’m gonna experience this. And oh my gosh, I, you know, I saw Francis was out on the courtyard with her little cell phone and people gathered around her for our, our sent nine o’clock meditation and, and affirmative prayer. And Paul and Paula rushed off to get coffee because we couldn’t make coffee here. And the local coffee shop was gone. So, so they went all the way to Mountain View to get coffee for us. Did you know that?

Illuminating Unity: A Story of Togetherness

People bought and brought in flashlights and put them in the restrooms so you can all do things in the light. It was amazing. It was, the energy was fabulous and it was just, it was a beautiful example of coming together to create something beautiful. And that’s really what Unity is all about. Now, during that talk after the talk, just before the, her meditation, you know, Lisa made the comment, you know, if we’re gonna be unity, be unity. And that was really my inspiration for today. It, it’s like, what, what does that really mean? How can we be Unity? And I go back to Ronnie’s five points, if you missed it, by the way, oh, I forgot to mention Felix, who was our live stream operator, whipped out his phone and recorded the whole service.
So it’s on the website and you can go watch it Now. Is it the best quality? No. Could you hear everything? Yeah, pretty much. It wasn’t the best quality. It. Now this is for all of my students in quantum living, or the art and practice of living with nothing and no one against you if the quality gets you a little irritated. Do you have your next worksheet? You’re welcome. Thank you. Making it easy on you. So Ronnie’s point was, you know, in, in terms of unity and race and being one with each other and being able to be with each other, was, we have five key things that we need to bring up within us. And one is grace. And in Unity we talk about grace isn’t something that you have to earn. Grace is there. Grace is the energy of Spirit.

The Power of Saying “Yes” to Divine Love

Grace is the love of God. Grace is already present within you. All we have to do is say “yes, yes, yes.” That’s it. And when we turn our eyes to that, we are filled, our heart is filled with love, and we are able to express that out into the world. And it’s that simple. And yet that is so hard for us because we have all these things that tick us off in the world. Have you noticed or is it just me I got my next worksheet. So yeah, we just get distracted. We get distracted by what’s going on in our life. We get focused on the external. We get focused on the things in life and what we want to accomplish and what we need to get. And, and, and of course all of the nonsense that those other people are doing, you know what I’m talking about.

Grace, Self-Awareness, and the Art of Patience

So grace, just open up to that divine love that’s within us—and then understanding. And you know, one of the key ideas here is to know thyself. Have you heard that before? I dunno, what’s that guy’s name? Socrates, whatever. Know thyself. Self-Awareness. Become aware of when we are being closed off. Start to look for those un those unseen biases. Start to look for those areas where we are pushing back against somebody or judging someone just to become aware of it. Not to blame, excuse me. Not to blame shame or guilt ourselves, but just to become aware of it. To have that understanding so that we can have a better understanding of each other. And patience. How many times have you set a goal or had a dream and you’re like, okay, God, where’s, where is it? I want it right now. I want my thing right now. I want them to be fixed right now. Patience. Patience. And the other side of patience is when we get distracted and we turn our attention away from that essence that’s within us, and we get distracted by all the little things that are going wrong or all the things that we need to do, or getting distracted by the video games. I’m not talking about myself here, maybe I am.

Unveiling the Power of What’s Next

It’s all okay. But just have a little patience with yourself and with others. And then discovery. This is where this is one of the most powerful insights that I’ve come across. Curiosity. It’s being willing to ask. And for yourself, it’s being willing to ask what’s next. That is an extremely powerful question. It’s not, the question isn’t, okay, God, where’s my God? Okay. I don’t have my new job yet. You know, I need to get this. And where is it? Because where are we coming from when we’re designed like that? Lack, lack. We’re coming from that sense of I don’t have it. We’re coming from a sense of this is what I want. It’s like a little kid. I’m lucky my kids are older now, so they don’t very often do this. I’m just kidding. One of them is in the booth over there. Right? I want it now. Our little two-year-old self within us still comes out. But instead, we ask, what’s next? What’s next for us? What’s my next step? And the universe always answers, always.

A Journey of Openness, Receptivity, and Celebration

I was talking about this with my wife Tiffany yesterday, and her mom, through her life, would always ask, what’s next? And she’s had, you know, multiple careers. She’s been self-employed, and she’s had her own business m many times. And that was the question that she asked, just what’s next? And always there was something next because you’re just open and receptive. What’s next? My, what’s next for me to do? What’s next for me to be? Who have I come here to be? And allowing that essence within us and the universe to simply follow this path. And you’ll know what’s the right path. When in your heart you feel open and receptive, you feel love and gratitude. And the four, the fifth point that Ronnie made was gratitude, I’m sorry, was a celebration, right? To celebrate each other, to celebrate our differences, to celebrate our similarities, to celebrate our different cultures, to celebrate our joy. And the most effective way to do that for ourselves is to become grateful, to be grateful for the electricity sitting in that little speaker, to be grateful for the flashlights in the restroom, for the coffee on the table, to be grateful for the community rallying together and coming together to be one with each other. If you’re going to be Unity, be Unity.

A Practical, Metaphysical, and Mystical Journey of Conscious Living

Now, what is Unity? Well, in Unity, we’ve talked about this. You know, Unity is practical. Spirituality. We teach you things every Sunday that you can apply immediately to help you live a more joyful and abundant life. Unity is metaphysics. And metaphysics is simply the study of consciousness. Now the world is taking that term and making it into some “woo-woo” stuff. But what we’re doing is studying consciousness. We’re studying in how we show up, we’re studying how this thing operates so that we can live more fully, more freely, and more effectively in the present moment. So we can allow that ever-present love to flow through us, to be us, to be the expression of divine love. And unity is also mystical. Spirituality. It’s being in question. It’s being willing to be in silence and be open to an experience, an experience of oneness, feeling the divine presence within and all around us, and living that. And as you live that mystical experience, we can bring that out into the world and bring that into the light.

Embracing Universal Wisdom and Spirituality for a Connected Existence

Now, Unity’s Foundation is based on the teachings attributed to Jesus. And we use that as the foundation, and we draw upon the wisdom of the ages from all walks of life, from the Buddha mind, from the la from the Dodi Ching, from Socrates, from all areas where there is a truth that we can draw into, where we can express and experience. We can move and understand greater our unity with Spirit. There’s a wonderful book, one of my favorite books in Unity. It’s called Lessons in Truth, written by Emily Katy. And there was a series of 12, I think, newsletter articles that they put together as a book a hundred years ago. And I’ve read it probably 50 times. I’ve taught the class, and I get something new out of it every time I do. And I was looking at this one chapter called Unity of Spirit. And what she tells us is the teachings of the Spirit are intrinsically the same because Spirit is one. And what connects us all, whether we are Unity or some other religion, or atheist or whatever you want to call yourself, whatever bucket you want to put yourself into, is that there is within all of us this energy, this force, this, this power that is Spirit. And all of us will experience it a little bit differently. And so when we recognize that, then we can recognize our Unity in someone who we might not agree upon the details with.

Unity in the Essence of Allness and Love

But when we get beyond the details, and we get to the net of it, that we are one with the infinite love with life, love, and wisdom, with the essence of allness, that’s our true nature, then we can express more Unity. It’s interesting because this book talks about this idea in new thought, how new thoughts, no, it’s gotta be this way or it’s gotta be that way, or you have to talk about God this way or Jesus about that way. It’s like we’re living the same thing today. Nothing’s different a hundred years from now because our ego is in the way. because We think our little flavor of lemonade is the right one. Oh no, it’s gotta be hard, it’s gotta be an Arnold Palmer. But it’s all one. And we’re all quenching our thirst. If we allow ourselves to recognize who we are, that is intrinsic within us. She goes on to say if you have become conscious of this radiant energy within yourself if you become aware of it, if you have that self-awareness, that there is this energy within you, the energy of Spirit, keep your thought centered there and the Spirit of the living God will radiate from you in all directions with mighty power, doing without noise or words. A great work in you lifting up others.

Embodying Unity Through the Center of Being

If you become aware that that one presence and power is within you, that God is the center of your being, focus on that. All else will be added unto you and not just you on others. This is, this is the embodiment of that, that great teaching that you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. You cannot be hid. Hidden, hidden, hidden. Thank you, thank you, grammarians. You cannot be hidden if you allow just center on that light. And then that is what shines into the world. And it goes beyond words. That’s the mystical experience.

Practical Pathways Self-Awareness

If you come to Church, I’m going to give you the practical experience, and then it’s your choice. But we are all in this together. We are all one, we’re all coming together as one in our own way to express that wonderful divine essence. And so our practical experience, know your oneness, know your grace. Sometimes we may not feel it, but we can intellectually know it. You know, I may not be sensing that I’m in that spot right now, but I know that there’s only one presence in power. And I am one with all of the universe. Develop your sense, your sense, your self-awareness. Be aware of when you are getting off track. Be aware of when you’re starting to, you know, get triggered. Your shadow thoughts are coming up, right? You, you got your amygdala is in charge or emotionally hijacked so that you can come back to your center and practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice. Anybody, practice, practice, practice, practice. Don’t get distracted, don’t get discouraged.

Navigating Distractions and Discouragement

Those are all choices that we make. And gosh, it was hard for me. I was practicing this last week not to get distracted, but there were so many wonderful things to distract me. Our garden just got trimmed. And so I wanted to go sit out in the garden and not do my work. The cats were playing. I wanted to get the little laser pointer and say, look, cat, I was distracting myself. And that self-awareness kicked in and said, John, you’re distracting yourself. I know it’s great, I love it. Okay, just as long. Okay, I got it. So don’t get discouraged, don’t get distracted. Those are all choices. And, the challenges, the challenges that we get so anchored in our discouragement because it, it allows us to be stuck. And being stuck is sometimes easier or at least more comfortable because we’re used to being there. We’re used to being stuck because that’s what society says we’re supposed to be. That’s what the older traditions have taught us. That we are stuck. But you’re not, because that light of God is within you. And all you have to do is say what’s next?

Gratitude for Unity and Growth

To discover the power within you to be curious and then to be grateful in all things. To be grateful. Because there is a gift in every situation. Yes, yes, there is a gift. Whatever that trigger is, it’s a shining light within me. Something that I can heal, something that I can be more present to. Something that I can shower myself with love. Maybe it’s my little, little Johnny from, you know, with the hair out to here. I used to have bright red hair. People don’t believe me, bright red hair. I’d get sunburned and put a ball cap on. I’d look like, do you remember Bozo the Clown? I looked exactly like that. My hair’s all cut-down. My nose was bright red. You can look it up. That was a real clown on tv. I looked just like him. Anyway, I digress. So here’s the point is, is for us to really be present in the moment and, and be and be willing to get to work. I saw a great documentary, I think it was, it’s called Underrated. Maybe you’ve seen it. It’s the story of Stephan Curry. Does anybody know who Stephan Curry is here in the Bay Area? If you don’t follow basketball, you may not know that he is one of the star players of the Golden State Warriors and an amazing individual. I would think. So, this story, this is the story of this little kid who was underrated. No one wanted him, no one thought that he would do anything in basketball. And you know, he was this little kid.

Triumph Through Adversity: The Steph Curry Story of Resilience and Success

Now, the one thing he could do was, you know, make these shots from anywhere on the court. Underhand, it’s like boom. And it would be anywhere on the court. But he went to, you know, he tried to get into Virginia Tech because they was a, that’s a big ba basketball school and he wanted to get in there and they’re like, yeah, no, I don’t think so. And he got passed up and he got passed up by a lot of colleges except for one, Davidson College. Now I think one of his parents happened to go to Davidson. So they knew about Steph and Davidson. The story goes, started to recruit Steph when he was in 10th grade. So they saw something in him. And the interesting thing about Davidson, it’s a small university, but, and every sports athlete graduates, and that’s not true. When you’re a star are, right, everyone graduates. And Steph heard the words, you’re too small. Steph heard the words, you’re too weak. And so what did he do? He practiced, he trained, he focused. He wasn’t distracted by the naysayers. And in the sophomore year, for the first time, Davidson made it to the elite eight for the first time ever. And they only lost to, I think it was Kansas, by two points, by one shot and Kansas went on to win the whole thing.

From Underestimated to Unstoppable

Then the next year, you know, several seniors graduated and so they didn’t do quite as well the next year. And Steph decided, you know, I’m a junior I’m gonna go out for the M B A ’cause it’s not gonna get any better in his, in his college career. And so he went out and the drafting report, he was too small, he was too weak. Yeah, he can make good shots, but he’ll never, he’ll fizzle out. Don’t ever run your team with him. You know, he’s, he’s not that great. Well, the Warriors drafted him. At seventh in the overall draft in 2009. Now six years later, Golden State Warriors made their first appearance in the finals since 1975. And they won the championship. And Curry was the M V P, the next four years Golden State made it to the championships and they won two more, made it to the finals, and they won two more championships. And then, you know, that last championship in 2019, they were, they were old and they were tired and he was injured and everyone was saying, okay, that’s it, they’re done. We’re never going to see Golden State Warriors again. And so he started to make this documentary, he was still playing, but he wanted to make this documentary about how he was going to go back and finish his degree to go back and finish his degree. And I believe he was.

Dedication to Equality and Education

He was studying equal rights or, or parity in gender sports. In sports with gender. I don’t know, I said that wrong, but and he wanted to show that that was important to him. And he graduated, he had his graduation ceremony, they retired his number at Davidson College and two months later, the coach that was coaching him retired. So I think that was a gift for him because until then, every student had graduated except him. So this was him going and completing what he set out to do and completing what he wanted to accomplish and to give that gift to that man who as he said, without him, none of it would happen. because He was the one that saw the potential. Now Steph Curry did the work.

The Unmatched Work Ethic Behind Steph Curry’s Basketball Brilliance

I was listening to a podcast, a Draymond Green podcast, because I’m a nerd. And this was with Matt Barnes, who probably no one knows, but he came into the Warriors in 2018 year in that era. He was an older player. And you know, he made the comment, you know, when other teams, when the practice is done, the gym is empty so I can go get my workout ’cause I’m an older guy, I have to keep in shape at the Warriors. The practice was done. I couldn’t get in anywhere. There were eight baskets, and all of them were filled with the star players who were practicing, practicing. And he said, now I understand why Steph Curry was so good. because He practiced harder than anyone else. No one practices harder at basketball than Steph Curry. No one works harder, and the results speak for themselves.

Embracing the Power of Practice, Persistence, and Teamwork

The wonderful thing that I liked about that documentary at the end was what he said at the end. He said, you don’t do anything in life by yourself. The confidence in the group is your superpower. Now, he did his work because he was smaller as a point guard. He did his work because he was weaker as a point guard. And you watch some of those scenes when he is bullying people around. It is unbelievable. He’s amazing. And he did his work because he had this ethic, this belief that he was not going to get distracted by all of the naysayers. He was not gonna get distracted by all of the missed shots, the hurt knees. He was just gonna go back and keep practicing and keep working at it. I can’t wait to see what he does next. Now this talk isn’t about all of you becoming Steph Curry. You can try. That’s a pretty high bar. He practiced every day. He had trainers come with, come, come with him, you know, to practice with him. So how grateful can we be in life for those people who are helping us? You know, there’s one guy holding a giant rubber band, pulling him back while he’s sprinting down the, down the court.

Embracing Challenges and Growth

How grateful are you for those people who seem to be holding you back? Oh yeah. Dang. Because the, the resistance is only in here. If you use that to keep moving forward, you’ll get stronger. If you use it to continue towards your goals, you will get where you need to be. This is about driving to get coffee. This is about gathering around a cell phone in the courtyard to pray. This is about drawing on your inner resources to serve, to give, to come together, to create something special. That’s what being Unity is all about.