This Is My Home
by Rev. Suzi Schadle
This is my spiritual home.
It is composed of
People like me;
We make it what it is,
And it will be, what we are.
It will be friendly, if I am.
Its seats will be filled, if I help fill them.
It will do a great work, if I do my work.
It will invite other people home,
If I invite them.
This will be a center of faith in limitless possibility--
Of unity and love, if I am.
This will be a center where we experience and express Spirit
As love, service and community
That supports individual and global transformation--
If I embrace and embody these qualities of Spirit.
I want this to be a center of light
That illuminates the path of
People's purpose, leading them
To the promise of
Love, truth and joy.
With the support of Father, Mother, God,
And my spiritual family,
I dedicate myself to the call of being--
All of the qualities that I want my spiritual home to be;
And it will be, if I am.
When we gather together in spiritual community,
Reach out to welcome everyone home.
Someone is coming home today;
It could be a friend, it could be a stranger;
It doesn't matter--welcome home.
Rev. Suzi Schadle,
Center for Spiritual Living Eastside,
October 26, 2001
Coming Home To:
Connection, Co-creation, Commitment, Community and Celebration
Spiritual community is a unified, dynamic whole that
evolves as a group of people participate in common spiritual practices; serve
and rely upon one another; make decisions and create together; identify
themselves as part of a larger common unity; and commit themselves for the long
term to their own, one another's and the group's spiritual deepening and
well-being".
Paraphrased from Carolyn Schaffer and Kristin Anundsen
Spiritual Practice Creates Community
Our vision for Center for Spiritual Living Eastside is that, "We experience and express Spirit as Love, Service and Community that Supports Individual and Global Transformation." Transformation begins within the consciousness of the individual, and then moves outward, showing up in the actions of that individual. When a group of people work together in consciousness and in action; the effect is like the ever-widening circles created by throwing a pebble into a pond. The impact is far-reaching and magnificent; the sense of belonging and community is exhilarating. The work in consciousness is accomplished through Spiritual Practice.
The Path and Disciplines of Spiritual Practice:
¤ The Journey Inward—mastering self as a Way of Being
[ Meditation—connecting with our Good and listening to God
[ Prayer—affirming our Good and speaking to God
¤ The Place of Center—relationship with God, Self and others as a Way of Knowing
[ Worship—knowing God in Self and others as Love
[ Study—training our mind; aligning with Wisdom
¤ The Journey Outward—the action that comes out of being as a Way of Doing
[ Service—acting out of our awareness of Unity, Oneness and Love
[ Witnessing—being with each other in community
[ Tithing—financially supporting our Spiritual Source
[ Celebration—expressing God in us as Joy and Gratitude
Spiritual community is a unified, dynamic whole that evolves as a group of people: participate in common spiritual practices; serve and rely upon one another; make decisions and create together; identify themselves as part of a larger common unity; and commit themselves for the long term to their own, one another's and the group's spiritual deepening and well-being. Community comes from “communion”—one heart and one mind; and is symbolized by the interconnecting strands of a web of life. Herman Melville wrote, "We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects."
When we combine the energies, talents and ideas of many and diverse people the successful outcomes are far greater than anything any one person could do alone. To borrow from Rev. Noel McInnis, "alone" is only one "L" away from "All One". I want us to create the space for people in this community to recognize the spiritual gifts they have, and to find ways to express them. Truly, when we serve another person, we serve ourselves; and we experience the joy of knowing that giving of ourselves is the highest form of receiving. Greater still are the relationships that are built through this conscious communion with each other through service. People begin to see themselves as belonging to something bigger than themselves; they care and are cared for; they feel a sense of meaning, purpose and connection—that is Love, Service and Community.
Each and every moment one of us is coming home to the true spirit of oneness. In this moment, collectively, let us bless, let us praise, let us stand up, let us come forward. Let us infuse every action, every encounter, every word, with the healing homeward-bound power of love.
Ours is a shared journey of hearts and minds on a voyage of discovery— to look at life with fresh eyes, to live more fully, and to honor our vision and dreams. It is a process of awakening to the truth of who we are—to our wholeness and abundance—to the divinity within and all around us.
T.S. Eliot—“the end of all our exploring is to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.”
God is eternally giving Itself away to all. That is the act of creation—we are called to that same act of creation—co-creation with Spirit.
When we open our eyes and have a clear vision of who we truly are, we cannot help but recognize our connectedness and oneness with God and all of life. We intuitively seek community—the expression of unity in which we feel strong, safe and whole. Each connection with another person is a starting point—an opportunity to deepen in love, grow in wisdom and practice the truth of our being.
Rejoice in our connectedness, in the recognition that we are the Oneness of God. This communion of souls is the very purpose of our churches, mosques, temples and halls. It is the “body of Christ of Christianity”, the “minyan of Judaism”, the “sangha of Buddhism”, the “satsang of Hinduism”, and the “hajj of Islam”. This coming together in spiritual community, deepening in spiritual practices is to embrace that we are part of something larger, infinite—God, Spirit, the Universe, One Mind, the Ultimate Ground of Being. This communal coming together is one in which every individual can come together as one body—individual identity fades and we feel ourselves to be one with our brothers and sister—“all fades into God.”
Our journey home is about awakening and remaining awake. Each of us is an individual expression of all that God is. To gain the highest wisdom and insight we must embrace and embody the divine within ourselves and each other. We must learn to listen inwardly and trust—let God be God in you, through you, as you. Prayer is the act of remembering that truth—prayer connects us to it.
God is eternally giving Itself away to all. That is the act of creation—we are called to that same act of creation—co-creation with Spirit.