Text Box: Interfaith Celebration Gathering Sunday, October 15, 2000 Interfaith Celebration Gathering Service Service agenda: Opening Prayer Readings Message OPENING PRAYER: Dear Mother, Father, Great Spirit, God, please hear my prayer. Please help me learn to trust you completely so that I can turn over the outcome of events to You rather than maintaining the illusions that I control them. I ask this knowing that all I need do is ask and it is granted. AMEN READINGS: From Tao Te Ching (Translation by Stephen Mitchell) From Chapter 16: Empty you mind of all thoughts. Let your heart be at peace. Watch the turmoil of beings, but contemplate their return. Each separate being in the universe returns to the common source. Returning to the source is serenity. If you don’t realize the source, you stumble in confusion and sorrow. From Chapter 27: A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. A good artist lets his intuition lead him wherever it wants. A good scientist has freed himself of concepts and keeps his mind open to what is. From Chapter 64: Rushing into action, you fail. Tying to grasp things, you lose them. Forcing a project to completion, you ruin what was almost ripe. Therefore, the Master takes action by letting things take their course. He (she) remains as calm at the end as at the beginning. He (she) has nothing, thus has nothing to lose. MESSAGE: Fear or Faith? Fear is not faith, and faith is not fear. Living in fear means being afraid to test our limits, because we do not know what will happen. Fear is really a control issue. Control issues arise in childhood in dysfunctional families (all families are dysfunctional to some extent). They come into being when things around us are chaotic and out of control. Lots of things can feel chaotic to us when we are little. In order to bring some semblance of sanity to our young lives, we begin to control things around us as best we can. This gives us a safe space to be when all else feels unsafe. It is in this learning to control that we also learn to live in fear. We live in fear of the next time things will be chaotic and feel unsafe. This fear follows us into our adult lives, and manifests itself in the need to control our schedules, our activities, and our relationships. After all, when we have them in nice, neat little slots, we can always depend on their staying in the same place. Unfortunately for folks with this strong need to control things around them, life is chaotic, random, varied, and sometimes even vague. The way we can best control life (or at least feel that we control it) is by harboring fears. We tell ourselves that these are a necessary part of life. But, taking adequate precautions and leaving the outcome to be whatever it may be is vastly different from taking adequate precautions and worrying about the outcome. The ‘leaving the outcome to be whatever it may be’ is the faith part. We move forward in life unafraid when we have faith that God will sustain us no matter what happens. Faith is knowing that no matter how bad things get, God will be at our side to help us through them. Faith is stepping beyond our limits and knowing that if we fail, everything will still be okay. Faith is doing the footwork and turning over the outcome in every situation to God. Fear is “Let my will be done.” Faith is “May God’s will be done.” We operate on faith when we refrain from worrying about the future. We live in fear when we continue to worry about what will happen. Which way do you choose to live your life—in fear or in faith? Maybe the following mantra will help you move into faith if you are living in fear. Repeat it up to twenty times daily for at least seven days, and then several times each day thereafter. God is always there for me. God responds whenever I ask for help. God comforts and sustains me in times of trouble and rejoices with me in times of joy. God is my strength. I have no worries or troubles. God and I together can handle any situation that arises. I prefer faith to fear. Fear has no place in my life. I replace fear with faith in God. May God add a blessing to these humble words. AMEN © 2000 Rev. S. Suzanne Fisher