Hello Friends -
Here is a fifteen minute essay by May Rowland. It is a theological kaleidoscope — thirteen clips, each a little more than one minute long — each giving a unique perspective on Unity's teaching about the presence and power of Jesus Christ.
There will be millions of sermons given this Easter day about Jesus and what he means to us. For many of us, the message will be a theological mind-bender, a most difficult idea to understand. But it doesn't have to be so.
Bring the kaleidoscope of this essay up to your eye of faith. Take a moment to look at one of the clips, savor her words, listen to May's voice, and allow her message to convey its message to your faith center. Then twist the kaleidoscope and move on to another clip.
If you do this, if you allow Unity's Easter message to make its impression upon your faith center in a mystical way, you will find that Jesus Christ is not a story of long ago, but rather that Jesus Christ is an ever present reality.
Happy Easter.
Audio
Download audio of May Rowland — Jesus Christ, An Ever Present Reality
Transcript
01 The more you learn about Christ in you the closer you feel to Jesus Christ
The more you learn about Christ in you, the closer you feel to Jesus Christ. Remember Paul said, “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?” This knowledge increases your spiritual power.
Jesus Christ is not just the name of a man, but represents the working principal of truth in our consciousness. Jesus represents the activity or the action of the Christ. He brought the Christ into expression. Prove to yourself what it means to ask in the name of Jesus Christ, and you will see how quickly this name representing the working principal of truth works for you.
When you feel the need of a power to help you handle the problems of life that seem beyond your human ability, call upon the name of Jesus Christ to show you the way. Thus you will open yourself to the light of your own spiritual nature and you will be shown what to do.
The same Christ is in you that was in Jesus Christ, and you are closely related. You may not be able to handle your difficulties through your own efforts, but you can handle them when you call upon a power greater than your own personal self. It is not by mentally struggling that you meet your problems, but by letting go and letting the Christ in you take over.
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” (Zech. 4:6)
The very spirit of the Lord is within you as the Christ.
02 God sent Jesus into the world to show us the way of the Christ in us
God sent his beloved son Jesus Christ into the world to be a personal helper to us. Charles Fillmore says in his writings that Jesus was prepared eons of time before the world began to do the works that he came to do.
Can you imagine the love of God and his great appreciation for his children that he should send us a personal helper, one who could reveal to us the Christ in us and give us right answers? Jesus Christ knew his unity with God and proclaimed, “I and my Father are one.” This is a great truth we all should proclaim in following Jesus Christ.
Man had been plodding along ever since Jehovah God formed him out of the dust of the ground, put the spirit in him, and pronounced him a living soul. Who knows how long the evolutionary process had been going on? Jesus Christ came into being as a savior for our race and put us on the path of spiritual growth and development.
Charles Fillmore says that Jesus made a rent in the race consciousness and came to show us a way back to the Father’s house. In other words, to let us know of our own spiritual nature and the Christ in us.
03 Christ, Jesus and Jesus Christ
Sometimes we are asked why in Daily Word and other Unity literature that we sometimes refer to Jesus Christ, sometimes to Christ, or sometimes we just mention Jesus.
We think of Christ as the mind of God or principal of truth in every man. Paul spoke of, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). He said that this was a mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now made manifest. Charles Fillmore referred to the statement of Paul’s as the greatest teaching and gift to understanding ourselves ever given to man; Christ in you.
Jesus came to show us the way of the Christ in him and in us. He was fully aware of his Christ self and became the first expression of God to our race. Thus he was known as Jesus the Christ. He knew his relationship to God before the world began, and came to show us our relationship to the Father and how God works through us. Jesus was ahead of the rest of mankind because he was aware of the Christ in himself. He became Jesus Christ by unifying himself with the Christ principle, or Christ mind, within him. He became the Christ made manifest in its perfection.
When we speak of Jesus Christ, we are speaking of the perfection of God in manifestation. If we speak of the Christ, we’re speaking of Jesus Christ. If we speak of the Christ in us, we are speaking of our own higher spiritual nature. Everyone in his relationship with others may be known by one of several names. For instance, a man may be a son, a brother, a Father. All names identifying a same individual in a little different relationship.
04 We are to put on the Christ consciousness just as Jesus did
When you call upon Jesus Christ, you’re calling upon the activity of God in expression. Jesus was the man who put on the Christ, therefore he’s called a savior or the messiah to all mankind.
It is in his steps that we are to follow. We are not to follow Jesus just as an ideal, but to put on the Christ consciousness as he did. Paul says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5). There is no virtue in saying that we are following Jesus Christ if we do not follow his teachings.
Sometimes in our Christian philosophy we have felt that Jesus paid it all and that we are saved just by believing this. We are saved only as we follow the teachings he gave us. We do this step by step, and we find the teachings of Jesus Christ, the perfect guide, eventually leading us to the overcoming of death itself.
05 Jesus Christ came to show us the way of life and how to let God work through us
Long before the time of Jesus, Ezekiel saw with a flash of inspiration that God intended man to live. Jehovah God spoke through him and said, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11). God’s will for man is life in his full, free, and perfect expression. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
Man has a great teaching before him in the sacred teachings of the Bible, but until Jesus Christ came these teachings had not taken a strong enough hold in man’s consciousness. Jesus Christ came to show us the way of life and how to let God work through us. Jesus was sent to show us what was in him and what is in us.
06 In following Jesus Christ, we learn to follow our own indwelling Christ
Jesus, in putting on the Christ, paved the way for all of us to obtain our Christ nature. In following Jesus Christ, we learn to follow our own indwelling Christ and to make a constant union with his great spiritual power within us. “In him was life and the life was a light of man.” This spiritual light is in you and in me, universal spirit of Jesus Christ will help us.
Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am you may be also.” This place is undoubtedly in a higher realms of spiritual consciousness. Mr. Fillmore said that we touched these higher realms of consciousness by praying,
“Jesus Christ is raising me to his consciousness of oneness with the Father.”
07 Any time we call upon Jesus Christ as a perfect expression of God, we will feel his presence
Any time we call upon Jesus Christ as a perfect expression of God, we will feel his presence. Many years ago I learned a prayer that has been a blessing to me:
“Jesus Christ, make thyself to me an ever present reality.”
This presence has always represented itself to me as light. Remember Jesus said, “I am the light of the world”, and also, “You are the light of the world.”
When you call upon this presence, you will commence to feel an uplift, a blessing that will reveal itself to you as the answer to your needs. You're calling upon this presence when you make the affirmation, “I am the light of the world.”
08 Repeating the words of Jesus arouses our own spiritual nature
Remember, this is a way to keep the sayings of Jesus, to take them into your own consciousness and repeat them as true of you. This arouses your own spiritual nature.
We put on the Christ through using the words Jesus spoke. He recognized those words as coming from the Father, God. “For I have not spoken on my own authority, the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak” (John 12:49). Jesus identified himself with God as, “I am”, saying, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:48).
You identify yourself with the Christ when you use his words. We have heard much the past few years about developing our human potential. When we arouse the spiritual nature in us, which is our governing power, we will develop our human potential much faster.
When man’s mind and his brain cells are quickened through the awareness of a spiritual nature, there is unlimited growth and development in store for him. His evolutionary processes can be accelerated and he will become the superman he is intended to be. The human potential is sparked by the understanding of what is in back of the human, the divine identity, Christ in you.
One of our modern thinkers and scientists says, “Now that we have learned to conquer outer space, let us develop our inner space, our great spiritual potential.”
09 We believe that Jesus Christ exists today in a body of light and spiritual energy
When we call upon the name of Jesus Christ, we are calling on the power of God because Jesus Christ is God incarnate. If we want to give our prayers spiritual authority, there’s no greater authority in the spiritual realm than Jesus Christ.
We believe that Jesus Christ exists today in a body of light and spiritual energy. We believe that when you said, “Lo, I am with you always”, this is a literal truth. This does not mean that he does not work for us, but rather that he works through us to accomplish what needs to be done.
“If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will and it shall be done for you. These things I’ve spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full” (John 15:7).
10 We too are filled and are radiating the light of Christ
Doctor Hatch Andrews, who was for many years associated with Johns Hopkins University, states,
“Actually at this moment, you are filled with a kind of symbolic light. Not only are you filled with it, you are radiating it. This can be proven in the laboratory.”
You see that when you say, “I am the light of the world”, you are stating something which can be scientifically proven. Haven’t you seen people literally glow when they were expressing spiritual ideas? The light of the Christ shines through them.
Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). The words of Jesus Christ are living words that teach eternal truths. Take them into your mind and heart, and your spiritual unfoldment will be quickened. These words will stay with you forever.
The Holy Spirit whom Jesus asked the Father to send in his name reveals these living words to us when we most need them.
11 When we call upon the name of Jesus Christ, miracacle working power flows instantly
When we call upon the name of Jesus Christ, we feel close to the light of his healing presence and his miracle working power flows through us to heal us instantly.
One time when I had a healing need and was becoming frustrated and trying to handle it, I put my hand out and said, “Jesus Christ, I’m turning this over to you.” Instantly, a great light enfolded me. I felt that I had literally put myself in the light of his presence and I was healed.
Another time when I was trying to push too hard in accomplishing things and making no head way, Jesus’ words given him by the Father came to me. “Come to me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Instantly I was freed from tension and strain.
It may be in the still of the night that such words will come to bless you. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Or this assurance may come to you; “Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me.” These are words for you to use as your own. The Holy Spirit reveals them to you in answer to your need.
12 As you apply these truths in helping yourself, you become a center of faith for the healing of others
Jesus, knowing his oneness with God, spoke the words given him by the Father. They are living words meant for all God’s children to use. As you apply these truths in helping yourself, you become a center of faith for the healing of others.
You can affirm for those needing healing, Jesus Christ has made you whole. The glory of the Lord has risen upon you and you are healed. Out of your consciousness of the Christ at the center of your being, your life will flame with faith and healing power.
13 The same transcendent spirit that moved through Jesus Christ moves in and through each one of us
The same transcendent spirit that moved through Jesus Christ moves in and through each one of us. The living Christ spirit inspires and blesses each one of us. Jesus, who lived historically, out-pictured the spirit of Christ that lives in us. Jesus represented the full and complete expression of the Christ. If we acknowledge that Christ lives in us, we open the way for a full and complete expression of God to manifest himself through us.
In the healing ministry of Silent Unity, we have through the years built up a strong positive consciousness of the presence and power of Jesus Christ working in and through us as a mighty healing power. The consciousness that Jesus Christ prepared for us is right here in our midst for us to lay hold of.
He practiced the presence and power of God until his atmosphere was entirely charged with vital, living, eternal ideas. Let this transcendent, victorious spirit, which was in Christ Jesus, rise up in you now and be with you forever.
