LOCATION: At the Bowen's

Merium, Anatolia, Cicoli

TOPIC:

The Sparrow

The Color Purple

T/R's: Gerdean (for Merium & Anatolia) Matthew (for Cicoli)

MUSIC: "The Eye is on the Sparrow" Carl: Solo, A Cappella

DATE: March 30, 2003

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PRAYER:

Matthew: Let us place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ.

Master Teacher,

We come to you today with uplifted and happy hearts, expecting that our placement of trust and faith before you in our Father is of the utmost importance and is what is right, and just, and the way things are. We correct ourselves and our minds to put ourselves in that focus, to be in that place, to be one with you and our Heavenly Father and all divinity, and to include everything and everyone as a result of that inclusion.

We pray that our deepest and strongest needs and desires, that are true to the plan of our Heavenly Father, be met with dispatch and with purity and love as it is intended, within out hearts, minds and wills.

We ask for a quick resolution to this war which is taking place, and for the resettlement of sanity and unity of all humankind as the lesson and the message to be learned through this travail.

For all other needs that you know within our hearts and our minds, we ask that they be addressed and healed, and for the Teacher's message today, that it brings us ever closer to relationship with you and with our Heavenly father, now and always. Amen.

MERIUM: Round and round and round she goes. Where she stop, God only knows. This is Merium, your Sister in the Spirit, and Sister also of the Teacher Corps who ministers to you and accompanies you on your journey forth.

 How good it feels to be in your presence, to rejoice in the opening of the spring season. This is my joy: to open the windows and let in the fresh air, to uplift the somber tones of winter with the harmonies of springtime. These days invite the infestation of Mother Nature's gifts in the birds and the bees and the foals and the children, which all fall under the watchful eye of the Eternal Parents.

 Embraceable ones, I have tucked you into your cradle in the tree of life and rocked you into serenity. Let me now allow your Teachers to discourse with you regarding the nature of the Melchizedek University curriculum assigned for this moment in time. [Blowing kisses.]

ANATOLIA: Greetings, beautiful friends. Once again we conjoin together in this Family embrace. Your joy resonates into the spheres, inviting the Hosts of Heaven to smile upon you in your Celebration of Sonship. The Sparrow, evidently, is the theme for the day, for the painting Gerdean is working on features the sparrow in converse with the Mother Spirit. The song from the service this morning and the golden throat of Men-o-pah has brought to your consciousness the sparrow again, and the scripture that remembers the value lesson of your importance in the family of God.

 The element of creativity is something you all know something about. Each of you have created something. Some of you, many of you, perhaps most of you, have created children, and there is no finer product of one's life than new sons and daughters that will enter into the Kingdom of God, into the life lived in these physical planes en route to the morontia worlds and beyond, an ever advancing, ever replenishing army of workers and chorus of singers advancing into perfection.

 Each one of you is like the sparrow, unique and original. Each like a fingerprint, unique unto your self, and each registered On High as a personality reality, just as in the pattern of perfection each bird and bug, each tree and rock, is inscribed with the hand print of creation. The greatness of God is not limited to Paradise. The greatness of God is that He spreads Himself throughout the universe, that all of creation might reflect Him.

 The sparrow is a skittish little bird. It flies away at the slightest movement. A wind can arouse its survival instincts and as it lifts up and away, the flock follows. The flock, united, ascends to safety, and in this flock they have companionship and camaraderie. They converse among themselves as only their species can do, and their song is a unique note on the air that may reach into your heart and reflect therein the purity of the voice of God as it touches you in your innermost being, in your moments of worship, in your ability to perceive our Creator in the most humble aspect of creation. God is fully aware of all of his little birds-those who are frightening and those who are being frightened; those who are vigilant and those who are in song. There is no real lesson here but for symbolism-the symbolism of each of you as an entity, unique in the far-flung creation, and known personally by God. [An ice cream truck passes, whose tune is "Rock-a-bye Baby".] A lullaby they send us, to accentuate the cradle of love in which you rest on the branches of the tree, rocked by the winds of time.

 Sing your song of joy. Warble your very heart song. This is an opportunity to indicate that in the symbolism of life, there are movements which are part of the composition of your existence but which have little value, as compared to the value in relationship, just as in your ministry you find brothers and sisters with whom you cannot sing, who sing a different song, as if they were another species of bird entirely. This affords you an opportunity to dedicate yourself to that which you know and that which is true for you. Give yourself fully to your reality as you perceive it.

 We are aware of what goes on, on your world, of the frightened birds and the joyous birds, but remember that God is mindful of each of them, even as they flutter and fight over the use of the birdbath or the birdseed. Perhaps I am suggesting that you not take life so seriously. You are so conscientious and so mindful of the human condition. You have such deep compassion for those who suffer and [you have] such an ambition to serve. But remember the story of the sparrow, who finds his beauty in singing what he knows. If you sing, they will know you are not afraid. If you stop singing, they will feel there is something to fear.

I have been smitten by the message of Merium, to allow the radiance of the new season to overpower the dark and the cold of winter. While half of your planet faces autumn and its inherent qualities, you are facing springtime. Apply your symbols to your season as the children of God opposite the world also sing the song symbolic of their season. I tell you about joy, and yet I feel your heavy nature. Either you are suppressing your concerns or you are ignoring me. What is it? Where are your fears or concerns that make you feel so heavy-laden?

 Matthew: I may be a guilty party. I have immersed myself in this war business, only to try and understand it, and I'm trying to not carry it around like a house chained to my ankle, but maybe it is. I'm just trying to understand "insanity" and that's dangerous business. So maybe you're picking up on me, I don't know.

Esmarelda: Well, I think probably all of us, to some degree, -- I think we're all concerned about the war situation, and people being killed - both of our country and the country in which the war is being fought. But I think it's also equally good that we are joyous as well, and that we can enjoy each other and feel lighthearted and laugh and still enjoy life, but it is difficult not to be concerned about the world situation right now.

Men-o-pah: I was reminded yesterday that the country is at war. Most of you know that I do some volunteer work at the airport here. I went in to do my shift yesterday. The traffic into the airport was backed up all the way down to the interstate, and the people, where I park my car, they were standing up and they were all over the place. They had a bomb threat inside the airport. It turned out not to be anything, really, but they evacuated the whole airport. Some camper had . .. I don't know how this happened, really. He had a little bottle of propane. It was empty and he wanted to get rid of it, so he put it in a trash barrel in the airport, of all things, and somebody saw him do it and, man, they rained on that guy! And at the same time, you know, they chased everybody out. There were people that had just come in on various and sundry flights and they didn't have time to get their luggage. They run them out. So it reminded very, very much that the country is at war.

Miriam: How did that make you feel?

Men-o-pah: I wonder how many wars we're going to be engaged in before we learn to do better. You know, it seems that we just don't learn. It isn't that we don't know better. I think we do.

Miriam: Did you feel fearful in that situation? Was your heart beating? Were you feeling scrambled? Or were you feeling calm?

Men-o-pah: I'm calm most of the time, and it didn't really bother me much. I knew that there was something happening, and I didn't really find out until I got into the place and . .. well, there was . .. I'm sure these GI's were part of the Reserve, the National Guard, and I haven't seen any GI's there since the 9/11. They were there quite forcibly during that, and they were there yesterday, too.

Esmarelda: They were there a week ago.

 Miriam: Really?

 Esmarelda: I went to pick up Deborah and I heard it on the news that they had been called in. Ever since the war began in Iraq. So they had been there. Miriam: I was thinking about what Anatolia said about the one sparrow, when he picks up to fly, the whole flock comes with him, and if one voice is singing with joy or his love for Our Father, and you know, the joy is easy to resonate when joy is being resonated. Like, when I hear the choir sing, as Mother did today, I cry from joy, it's so wonderful! But then when all the voices are lifted up in, "Oh, no! What are we going to do?" and it's "Run for it!" and its Fear Fear Fear, that is a hard time to sing. "What? Are you just going to sing peace and joy?" But I can imagine, if all the birds were starting to fly, with fear, if there were a couple of birds singing with joy, a couple of birds that were getting ready to take off and fly, would hear that thought. "Hey, maybe that's the deal." The images today were wonderful! The cradle, the sparrow, the whole thing. I guess it's a matter of choice.

 Elena: The one thing that's bothering me, this morning going to church-I love the green around the river and it was just a little patch of blossoms on the fruit trees, but then, all of a sudden I just got really sad because I thought, "Yeah, but I'm here and I'm having this wonderful spring experience, but there are other people who are in a dust storm, thinking that they may have to kill somebody the very next second, and it just . .. Whoom!

Esmarelda: Or be killed.

Elena: Well, yeah! And the choice being that. And, oh boy, that just really got me this morning, so maybe I'm responsible for a little bit of that. I've been singing, too, but I kind of waffling. There's a couple of warbles and then a couple of squawks.

 Esmarelda: Well, we all know Myra has been singing.

Myra: Well, of course, I'm feeling good, and of course I'm feeling joy, but I'm not stupid, and I do think that there is a burden that people carry around with them because of what is going on in Iraq. It's not only going on in Iraq, it's going on amongst all of our friends and families, because you don't bring up the topic, willy-nilly, unless you know how people feel about it. How many times have we been called on in the last couple of weeks, when people in strong, strong support, "Rah, rah, go kill," when is our responsibility to say, "Whoa, wait a minute," and be that voice in the wilderness, which is not really my favorite thing to do, but I also, often in the last couple of weeks, "If not you, who? And if not now, when?" And so that is a burden, and you don't want to start another crisis. You just want to open other people's minds to be able to see-the whole middle east is not filled with Saddam. There are people who treasure their homeland and have a right to protect it, and they are pictured to us as being demons, and yet when I think, if somebody were coming into my home and they were four times bigger than me, I would be a little deceptive in my motives in protecting my house, so yeah, I think it is very important for us to be joyous, and yet sometimes we are the only alternative voice of just quietly saying, "yeah, but there is another side of the story." And it's heavy.

Paula: And you know, totally aside from the war and all the problems, it's amazing how many different kinds of people there are in this world, and when we were in Southern Illinois, I found the warmest, the most wonderful group of people I think I ever met. I met all kinds of different people. There was a little restaurant in the nearby village of Vienna, called Dolly's, and everybody goes to Dolly's. They have good food and its inexpensive and everybody gathers around. Instead of sitting at a table for four people, you sit at a big table, which we did for lunch, when Bob and Pat, the people we stayed with, took me for lunch. And all of a sudden all of the farmers from around there . .. well, it's really funny. They were the original hillbillies, and they murdered the King's English, but they had hearts of gold, every one of them. Weren't they, honey?

Men-O-Pah: They're my kinsmen! Of course I think they're wonderful. (laughter)

Paula: But you go from people like that to plain ordinary folks like the rest of us, all the way up to some of his friends with their Ph.D's and still and all they were still the same. This one gal, she and her husband were Barbara and Harold's best friends. She was the Assistant Dean of the University where he went. She has a Ph.D. There was none of this murdering the King's English there but, as I say, I went from all these different types of people but every one of them was just the warmest, friendliest, kind people. And they took me right in as if I'd been right there among them forever.

Elena: Don't you think it would be like that if we went to Iraq? They would be, you know, just normal friendly people there, beyond the table.

 Paula: Probably.

Elena: It's kind of difficult to go towards the things that we have in common. To sit down at a round table would be a really good thing. That's a neat story, Paula.

Mirium: I had a great experience on Saturday. I was thinking, while you were sharing, it's easy to think people are great when everyone is friendly and being kind to you, but when they are shooting at your or shouting mean things to you or pushing or shoving you, it's a little more difficult to keep that attitude as well. And I was sitting in the car, talking to my sister, and there were two Native American guys sitting in the car next to me, in a beat up old car, and they had cans of stuff in their hands and they looked scary. They really did. They looked like some pretty scary dudes, and I was thinking, "Mmmm." I really did. I started to get nervous. Then they turned on this music and it was Wonderful! Drums! They were singing! Well, you know what they do, Men-O-Pah, and I found my body, without my mind's permission, "groovin" you know? Bouncing to the rhythm and my head was moving, so anyway, the guy came back and he was putting balloons in the car and I looked over at him and this guy was so cool. He looked straight at me and said, "Did you like the music?" And I was close enough to him so say in this voice, "Yes, I did! I love the drums." And he smiled at me real big. And the point is, I had this fear thing going on. I had this feeling like maybe I should lock the doors, and this is the fear thing I was doing with my mind, and he also said, "It mellows you out to listen to drums." (laughter)

 Who knows? Maybe they had soda in those cans. But my reality started to make that a scary deal and his reality kind of flowed over to my reality and knocked over my barriers. At first I was thinking, I don't like this. I don't trust this. I'm going to lock my doors. So that's what I was thinking. When it's like kind, we can embrace it. When we're in environments where people are so friendly, but . ... I don't know. Anyway. I'm finished. Group: A great story!

Men-O-Pah: Have you ever been to any of those huge pow wows they have here?

Elena: It's coming up. The end of May. And Willie and I want to go.

Men-O-Pah: I encourage you to go. I think, you know, that sometimes they lose sight of the spirituality that's associated with most Native Americans. Most Indians don't do much of anything until they talk to the Big Spirit. I know it's even so in our culture that when a man went out to hunt, for instance, that he asked for permission to take the life of some animal that he was going to do so that they would have something to eat. And I've heard some of my brothers criticize my pow wow, "It's a place for show horses," but the beating of the drums down there. You know, they're all around that gym, and there must be a dozen sets of drummers, and they get tired you know, and when one group gets tired, the next group picks it up, and so . .. but it does make your molecules bounce. Yeah.

 ANATOLIA: What you have done, in taking advantage of the moment provided, is shared not only with yourselves but with your brothers and sisters around the world who receive these transmissions, expressed your valid concerns for humanity, your human joy in living, your experience at discovering the differences between you are not enough to separate you one from another when the spirit within you each makes that connection which allows you to all rejoice together that you have this commonality, and at the same time, to weep together for those who have it not, for those who are subjected to the warlike attitudes of those whose differences conflict.

 We cannot stop our prayer and rejoicing, for now more than ever the song of songs is necessary. To sing the song of joy is not to forget the underlying song of sorrow. This is the message of the cross. This is the path Jesus walked when he was here. He sought to set the spiritual captives free so that they, too, would sing and praise that glory which is the Unifier of Humanity.

 Rejoice in the light. To rejoice in the light does not mean you ignore the darkness. The darkness is where you serve. Service work is not singing to the choir. It is serving those who have not learned how to be joyous, who have not found their Source of Joy, who have, rather, found themselves in a situation where they are surrounded by the conflicts of growth, whether theirs or their associates, which even so, are en route ultimately to the same path on which you travel.

 All of the universes of time and space are destined to find their way, finally and individually, into the Almighty Supreme, and radiate the Harmony of Perfection throughout the known universe. Therefore, throw open the windows; let in the sun shine; let the fresh air circulate through the hidden corners of your being. Fill your lungs and your spirits with the breath of life and the fragrance of love, which is in every fiber of life as you see it. Sing now.

 This piece of equipment is quite overextended. Matthew, are there presences pressing upon you for expression? Matthew: Let's see. [ pause] I have a teacher of mine, Cicoli, who apparently wants to say something.

CICOLI: This is the day the Lord has made. Let us give thanks and praise and rejoice. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us give thanks and praise. This is the day the Lord has made, therefore let us not question it but enjoy it. This is an attitude that is incumbent upon us to take advantage of, since this is today's lesson.

 I am a friend, neighbor, relative, cohort, teacher, advisor, and otherwise all-around spiritual guy who is that as previously stated, with your speaker at the moment, for our experiences and spirit are far and wide and varied as are all of yours here in the now as well as the future and the eternal. This I hope to lend some credence to our discussion, or lesson for the day, as well as to add a new, different, or expanded concept to the message of "Don't Worry! Be Happpy!"

 The concept of eternity certainly has beginnings, as well as endings, in your time-space continuum, so I wish for you to simply entertain the idea that in your humble beginnings here in this world, you were preceded by thought concept, or existence in the realm of spirit that precedes you- whether in the concept of pre-existence of the heart, the mind, or the soul, at least in the concept of the spirit presence of our Heavenly Father made known alive and co-existing with you in your experience here in the flesh.

 At least let it be known that THIS experience of the God/Father fragment part and parcel of your being, has known through all time and all space and beyond, the existence of nothing but sublime bliss. This you can take to heart-and in the manner of speaking in your world, "take it to the bank" if that needs to be the expression. Regardless, be assured that this part of your being knows the eternal now as purity of light at heart and that all are one in this presence.

 Imagine for a moment, if you were able to enter the energy field of violet. If, for example, you were able to enter an African violet or natural violets in the field, and you were able somehow to enter that aura of color, of vivid vibrating energy, that is the color of violet.

Imagine that presence and the feeling that you obtain from that energy field of violet. This is certainly not filled with terror, with strife, with anguish, but on the contrary, all that is pure, holy and at one and certainly peace.

 This I wish for you to enter whenever you are feeling threatened or in anguish or, worst of all, terror over what your conditions may be. Visualize a violet. Enter those petals and bathe yourself. As water aerobic experts, pirouette throughout the color. Drench yourselves in the feeling, the presence, of that which represents the color of our Heavenly Father and his environs. Be of pure heart and mind, for your presence in the Eternal is now. It is not when you earn your way that you may find eternal bliss, for bliss is now as it always will be. I leave you in this state of mind and being, with the knowledge that you are love, and as the verb of that expresses itself as "love", know that you simply ARE, as in eternity, our Father has always been one with us. Be of clear mind and know your presence in that love, and all else becomes secondary. Be mindful of who you are as you go from this day forward, and when necessary, enter the field of violet to be in that presence. I leave you with good hearts and minds, renewed and refreshed, as you know yourself to be the beautiful children that you are, and we all are in our Father's heart and mind and presence. Peace be with you.

GROUP: Thank you, Cicoli.

ANATOLIA: When you remember the harmony of life and the balance sought and enjoyed in your dual nature, rejoice that the effort of learning, the exertion of serving, is naturally balanced by the power of prayer and the sanctity of worship, the joy of praise and the art of living. This richness that you know is enhanced by the love you share with each other. Recognize your siblings as purple swallows in a flock lifted off, lifted up. Let it be so. Let's enjoy the wonders of the day, the approach of springtime, advent of a new beginning, and let the new beginning be eternal, and everyone's. Thank you so much for your exquisite graciousness in convening with us in the celestial spheres. We work with you while you go about your daily doings, and so appreciate that you return to the bosom of your being in these gatherings of glory and light and we'll look forward to the efforts of this week in anticipation of gathering again around the campfire with the Master next week.

Elena: But, Tomas, are you okay, though?

ANATOLIA: Tomas is well, and would no doubt convey his best and his love if here were to have put a message on the device, but he did not, so be assured all is well.

 TOMAS(?): Hello. And Good-bye.

GROUP: (Laughter!) That was brief!

(More laughter.)