As this Sunday dawns, I am moved by the idea of safety and peace. There has been so much turmoil and so many challenges for everyone over the last decade in the way of fear of violence and loss that we sometimes wonder if we are really safe and if peace is really possible.

I, too, can wonder this at times, but I know something greater than that and it is the knowing and Truth that I stick to. It is the knowing that I am always safe no matter the storm in my outer world. There is a place within me and within all of us to which we can always turn. It is the essence of Peace and Love, and it is ours at all times.

Tonight, we are going to a vigil for the victims of the tragedy in the Tree of Life Temple in Pittsburgh. What of them? Are they safe? Are any of us ever safe? We have to be or we would be dealing with a cruel vengeful God. I do not believe in that God.

I believe in a God that is love. Whatever we experience on this earth plane, I know that love will and does prevail. Ernest Holmes, the Founder of Religious Science once wrote that God cannot be death because God is Life and doesn’t know death. Well, where Ernest was coming from was an inner God,  not some Being on a cloud.  That inner God that dwells within each of us is Life. I trust and know this. No one is ever lost.

I do not claim to understand all the mysteries of life, but I do know that the more I can trust and have faith in goodness and love, and the more I can open myself to the answers, the more the answers come. I believe the veil between this world and all worlds is thin right now. We have the opportunity and ability to find our answers, the answers we are each seeking (and they are all different). All we have to do is open up and be willing to listen deeply.  We must let go of our preconceived answers.

God has not let us down, but we can let ourselves down when we lose our trust and faith in Love and Divine right action. There is no God out to get us or punish us or bring hell to any of us. We are the ones holding the deck of cards. Let’s start dealing hearts right now. Stand up with Love and I know we will prevail.

If we say, well, look at the past; well, yes, look at the past. We’ve never stuck at it long enough to see results. We let Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others do it for us and then when they were gone, we gave up. It’s our turn now. Let us step into the thick of it with Love.

If you think Love is not enough then you are confused. Love is not hearts on a Valentine’s Card. It is our DNA. It is the Creative Force within us. It is God within us. Let us let it out in our own unique way now. Let us move through our own issues. Let us forgive and get into the playing field with who we really are: Powerful Beings of Light and Love ready to reveal themselves.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita