by Roger Mock
It’s Palm Sunday this week for Christians, who will recall Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, the adoring crowds, the fate that would meet him within those walls, and the story of his triumph over darkness and death.
At Unity this Sunday we are emphasizing that entrance into the holy city and we are looking at that city not as a temporal location (whether it be Jerusalem or Mecca or the Magic Kingdom) but as an inner one – a temple that we all have access to, no matter what faith we may profess. At the morning services, Rev. Jim will be speaking about entering into our own Holy City, that place where we encounter the truth of our being and the presence of the Creator. Our musical guest, Jessica Roemischer, will continue the theme in her afternoon workshop, coming at it from a very different perspective – that of encountering your own inner realm of creativity through what she calls the “Duet Paradigm.” She will then present an evening concert (6:00 pm) in that same spirit, performing at the piano, and sharing from her soon to be published spiritual memoir, In Duet With God: the Story of a Lifelong Friendship. It’s going to be a wonderful day, and I invite you to take part in as much of it as you can.
Author Anne Strieber tells of a near death experience she had as a result of a brain aneurysm several years ago. She had collapsed and was rushed to a hospital where, while doctors operated on her body, she experienced being led to another realm by her deceased cat, Coe:
“I heard him say inside my head, ‘These STUPID humans–Don’t even know how to find the World of the Dead on their own!’ He took me to a place that looked like a subway or Greyhound bus station, an underground waiting room lit with those weird yellowish lights you see in such places. The place was busy: I had the impression of lots of people around, and that they were clutching bulging shopping bags and suitcases, maybe the memories they wanted to bring with them from life. And I somehow knew that they weren’t going to be able to go on (to catch that subway or bus) until they were willing to put their packages DOWN.
I heard a disembodied voice saying, ‘You can keep going if you want to.’ I think I was given a choice about whether to live or die (and get on the train or bus). I obviously chose life.”
Those people were not ready to encounter the sacred on the other side, because they had not allowed themselves to encounter it here. Instead they had accumulated baggage of one kind or another to which they continued to cling.
People get ready, there’s a train a-comin’
You don’t need no baggage, you just get on board.
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin’.
You don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord.
-Curtis Mayfield
* see video below!
Jesus talked about this when he cautioned, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Some have said that he made reference to a narrow, after-hours gate into Jerusalem through which a camel could not pass, especially when it was overloaded with travel supplies and merchant’s wares. True or not, it works.
It’s important here to remember that when Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God, he didn’t mean a postmortem dwelling place; he meant something that was real and accessible right here and right now. It’s the Holy City within us. It’s where we are most Whole. We can access it when we realize there is no escaping it because it is everywhere and is manifesting in everything at all times. It is the open arms of God available to us in every circumstance of our life:
If God said,
“Rumi, pay homage to everything
that has helped you
enter my
arms,”
there would not be one experience of my life,
not one thought, not one feeling,
not any act, I
would not
bow
to.
Jalaludim Rumi (1207-1273)
May you know the truth of your own holiness. It’s not something you need to strive to attain. It’s who you are now and always.
Blessings,
Roger