Center for Spiritual Living Midtown

Easter isn't just about Jesus - Rev. Paul Gonyea

“If you think about it, when it comes to holidays (or “holy-days”), we shouldn’t be celebrating some historical event where God expressed a preference for one group of people, or one religion, over another. What these holidays should be a celebration of, is whatever universal spiritual idea these stories represent. If we can look at them in that way, then we can all share each other’s celebrations, and share in our cultural diversity, and maybe even share all the different rituals, like a Jewish Seder, or an Easter sunrise service, or a Muslim call to prayer. And we can do this, peacefully and openly and tolerantly, while realizing that we’re ALL celebrating our shared divinity AND our shared humanity, in our own unique way.”

Passion Week 33 versus Passion Week 2016 - Rev David Barrett

As we go into this “Passion Week”, I want to draw the comparisons to the week 1,983 years ago, and the one we will celebrate this week. Come hear the metaphysical interpretation of what it means to come ‘down into the city’.

Are You Lion or Lamb

Nature, just like all of life, moves in cycles. Just like storms and the seasons are logical outcomes of natural laws, all of the challenges and the changes WE face in life are logical outcomes of the way we use the Law of Mind. And the best way, the most intelligent way, to get through our challenges successfully is by making conscious, deliberate use of the same Law to create something better. In other words, even though we may or may not understand exactly how we got ourselves into the mess we're in, we are always capable of using the Divine wisdom that's working THROUGH us and AS us to get our life back in balance.

Fore! - Rev David Barrett

“Fore!”, is the exclamation golfers use when setting up tee. It comes from an old Australian war term when the soldiers would exclaim “Beware Before!” when artillery was going to be launched. So it is on the four year anniversary that we exclaim “Fore!”.  As Emerson said, “Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet”, so it is with us as we release the greater thoughts we Know about Life and ourselves.

When History Is Really A Mystery - Rev Paul Gonyea

"Too many people allow themselves to be defined by their past. Or even worse, they allow themselves to be defined by how others see their past. Dr. Raymond Charles Barker once said, 'Yesterday ended last night.' He was entirely correct. But another way of saying the same thing is, the present always has the power to overcome the past. What we call 'our history' only exists in our memory, and in the memory of others. But not all those memories are identical. In fact, some of them are mutually exclusive. That's why we need to focus on where we are now, and put our best and most spiritual energy into where we are going from here."

Creating a Sacred Relationship - Rev Paul Gonyea

“We have this strange idea that true love and friendship are supposed to make us happy; they’re supposed to make life easier. But that isn’t necessarily true. They aren’t supposed to make us happy, they’re supposed to help us GROW. BOTH of us! When we are in a really good relationship, we usually DO feel happier, and life frequently DOES get much easier, but that’s a by-product. It isn’t the most important thing in a healthy relationship.”

Can We Kiss for an Hour? - Rev David Barrett

It was Hafiz who asked if we can kiss for an hour…..It will be David to explain who is the kisser and who is the kissee! Oh, to kiss for an hour!

Having An Expanded Experience - Rev. David Barrett

 It was Raymond Charles Barker that said, “An expanded experience is ALWAYS preceded by an expanded consciousness.” So after hearing the Basic Series by Paul Gonyea the first four weeks of the year, come hear the practical application of the teaching so that you truly live the expanded experience in 2016.

Basics 4: The World on a String - Rev Paul Gonyea

We forget that this thing we call Life isn’t a finished product being handed to us; it’s raw material. It’s a work in progress. It’s a lump of clay, a block of marble, a blank canvas. We are sculptors and artists who have been given an infinite variety of shapes and colors and textures to choose from, and given all the tools we need to fashion our own life into something either beautiful and unique — or something rather average and boring.

That means as artists creating our own life, we should learn to ask ourselves, on a regular basis, honestly, quietly and without self-judgment, WHAT IS IT that I want to create?

Basics 3: There’s Always a Way - Rev Paul Gonyea

“In our life, our Mind, which is connected to the Source of all ideas, is what we use to make decisions. We do this constantly, thousands of times every day, with big decisions and little decisions. The Source of our ideas (which is God) never forces us to make the best decision. However, it does always present us with a number of excellent choices. But we still have to recognize and choose for ourselves. We can only grow by placing greater ideas into the Law. If our life is working, that’s what we’re doing. If it isn’t, we aren’t — and we need to make some changes.”