The following guest sermon was submitted by ULC Minister Cheryl Salerno. All ULC Ministers are invited to contribute their own sermons for consideration/publication. To submit a sermon, please email it to sermons@ulc.org.
When a man called out from the crowd, “Lord, teach us to pray,” Jesus spoke the words of what we know today as The Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father. Almost 2,000 years later we were given an astounding insight into the hidden power of this prayer, found in the Edgar Cayce mystical readings:
Q-22. Does the … Lord’s Prayer … have any bearing on the opening of the centers?
A-22. Here is indicated … the purpose for which it was given ...an understanding of the relationships to the Creative Forces. (Edgar Cayce reading #281-29)
Let’s let that settle in for a moment. Saying the Lord’s Prayer opens the spiritual centers, the chakras, so that we might better understand our relationship to the Creative Forces!
How does this work? According to the readings, as we speak aloud each phrase, each spiritual center or chakra opens or comes alive more fully.
The chakras are one of our vital interfaces between body and soul. As they are awakened, enlivened, so are we made more radiant in our inner light, healthier in our bodies, clearer in our minds and purposes, and so may we experience an enhanced relationship with the Source of Life, a closer walk with God.
OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN
Invoking the Creator in the heaven of our consciousness uplifts our minds to higher planes of awareness.
HALLOWED BE THY NAME
These first two phrases open or stimulate the crown chakra.
THY KINGDOM COME
The kingdom in God’s vision of creation was offered in the Garden. The third eye is aroused.
THY WILL BE DONE
Here we align our individual wills with the One Will in the throat chakra.
AS IN HEAVEN, SO ON EARTH
Now we will see how it all works ‘down here’ in materiality. The next center to open is the root or first chakra:
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD
Here Jesus seems to be making reference to day-to-day sustenance. Beyond this, there is also another thought to consider in John 6:35 when Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” Might we be awakening to the presence of the Christ in us? “Our daily bread... the bread of life.” Can we feel this blessing blossom to life within us?
With the Christ Light within us, could we have need of more? Yet the next statements seem to indicate that we may still need help here on Earth, as they directly address our human condition.
The next spiritual center to open is the third chakra, the solar plexus.
AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS
The solar plexus is that element of earthly life known as fire. The Sun is known to “shine upon the just and the unjust alike.” This is the love of God - proof that life extends equally across the board.
Unless we ourselves have blocked it.
“Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” (John 20:23) Holding onto offences – both real and imagined - locks them within us. By not forgiving, we negate the flow of life to us and through us.
Letting an offender off the hook is not the issue. Freeing ourselves from limiting the life force available to us is.
Our next stop according to the readings is the second center.
AND DO NOT LET US FALL INTO TEMPTATION
Even when I was younger, I could not for the life of me figure out why God would “Lead us not into temptation” and I’d changed it to “Leave us not in temptation” in my own praying.
Thankfully, this phrase was recently adjusted by the general assembly of the Episcopal Conference of Italy by request of Pope Francis.
We already have been given sustenance in the earth along with the presence of the Christ Spirit. And we’re given as much vital life force as we allow. So, what else could we need or desire?
That may be the issue right there – that we think we need or desire something else, something other than what the Creative Forces already are providing.
Asking for stronger guidance here strengthens us against the tidal force of group and mass consciousness that pulls and pushes us to think there is more to life than what we already possess, more than the individual fractal of God we already are.
Free will being what it is, our choices do not always flow in the best direction, so we call out into the fourth or heart center:
DELIVER US FROM EVIL
"Evil" is such a heavily loaded word, conjuring devils and demons and frightening possibilities. Of course, if we ever ended up in such a situation, we would pray to be delivered.
But when I found the Lamsa version of the Bible, a whole new meaning was revealed: "...deliver us from error." The footnote explains ‘error’ as, "Anything contrary to the truth." This command now applies to a much more day-to-day application -- deliver us from our every thought, word, and deed that misses the mark, God’s truth.
By this statement, the last of the seven chakras or centers open. They are all now stimulated.
"For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever" returns us to the higher centers, in Matthew 6:13, if that is the version we have learned.
Saying this prayer – aloud and with joy – at the beginning of meditation, at the beginning of each new day, can deepen our relationship with the Creative Forces of the Universe, with God.
Amen.
27 comments
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Dr Rohn
It’s a pleasure to hear varying cognition to any given. Prayer in and of itself, is the direction spoken, inwardly or openly aloud, towards a desire or outcome. Chakras do exist, whether the Lord’s Prayer is a key to open them is based on the orchestrator’s (of the prayer) personal beliefs. If one believes this, so shall it be. Just like prayer itself, if you believe your prayers are heard and act as if they have already found fruition so shall it be. But the thing that caught my attention most? The idea that after 2000 years, some man in a pope robe can come along and say, “well let’s say/do it this way or that.” It is either the Word of Truth or it’s not. I’ve no issue at all with speaking positive outcome desires (praying) however is useful for the one doing so. I certainly don’t need nor give credibility to someone else changing my prayer by popular demand. To follow is to continue to be subjugated to the drunken hypnotism of what is sold as social norm.
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Sherrell K Zitting
Well put.
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Daniel Gray
so Chakras exist according to you. Ok PROVE IT. I would like to see documented evidence.
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TheSound.com
Margaret Moda conducted a review of the research on the anatomical and physiological evidence of the chakras. Her study was published in the April 2022 issue of the International Journal of Healing and Caring. After reviewing the literature on the evidence of the chakras, Moda concluded that there is some evidence that chakras emit electromagnetic radiation and have possible anatomical correlates. There is, indeed, some scientific evidence for the chakras!
Study results find evidence for the chakras Moda grouped her results in two categories: anatomical studies and physiological studies.
Anatomical Studies Two studies found that the chakras align with known nerve plexuses:
Rokade (2017) found a plexus of nerves near the location of the purported heart chakra.
Sweta and colleagues (2018) found a plexus of nerves near the location of the purported base or root charka.
Physiological Studies Several studies found electromagnetic emissions from the chakras:
One study by Motoyama (1981) used a magnetometer, copper wire and photoelectric cells. When the subjects activated a chakra, the photoelectric cells emitted a faint light and the copper electrode detected high-frequency oscillations.
Hunt used an electromyograph (EMG) (1977, 1986). She detected wave forms and frequency bands from 100 Hz to 1 KHz, corresponding to various colors, in the area of the chakras. Further, she found that, as the subjects activated or "opened" a chakra, the frequency increased. In 1997, Wirth and colleagues attempted to replicate the findings and did, but others have questioned their research.
Rewold and Husen (2020) used electrodes to measure frequencies above 200Hz in a group of biofield practitioners and university students. In both groups, the frequency bands matched what Hunt had found. Additionally, the frequency band power was higher among the biofield practitioners than the students.
Jalil et al (2015) used radiofrequency meters with dipole whip antennas to detect electromagnetic radiation from the chakra locations in young healthy subjects. They found that each chakra emits a particular band of frequencies. Interestingly, their findings (chakras emit frequencies of 29 MHz – 86 MHz) matches the overall frequency of the human electromagnetic field of about 53 MHz.
In each case, there were measurable electromagnetic emissions from the chakras.
Sources: https://www.energypsych.org/blog/is-there-scientific-evidence-for-the-chakras https://transformative-therapy.com/is-there-scientific-evidence-for-the-chakras/
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Theresa C. Marquess
Nicely put.
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Timothy C Stone
Agreed, every new interpretation of any scripture is more distortion. I do like the fact that Lamsa's Bible, the Peshitta is referenced.
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Rev Mark D
Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day
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Colleen McAllister
Sorry but to me that "sermon" was mishmash of new age nonsense.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
This is a perfect example of Christians not knowing about their own religion. The Didache or “The Lord's Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations” Chapter 8.2 has the The “Lords Prayer”. Christians are told to say this prayer 3 per day.
The Didache also tells us about homosexuality.
Just another Christian pastor changing scripture. Perfect example of Christian Evolution in action.
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Lionheart
Thank you for your insight, Sir Douglas. 🤗
🦁❤️
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Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
My chakras all have little signs hanging outside stating ‘No salesmen’. Doesn’t matter if it is a Bronze Age goat herder or a clairvoyant born in the Daniel Boone National Forest, my chakras have a GTFOOH policy for such nonsense. Mixing goat st with bear st doesn’t make it stink any less.
However here are the results if you run the lord’s prayer through an industrial grade BS filter: “With every breath, we share this world. May we always feel our connection to those suffering, and to all in our world. May they find resilience in memories of the suffering they've faced before and in the power offered by their connection to others. We trust in the love and support of those near us.”
And the inclusion of anything religious creates division, not unity. As was mentioned in a recent post ‘Religion Poisons Everything’. It may bring those with the same delusions closer but it excludes others. Many chapters of AA use the lord’s prayer. I’m not the only one that experiences the heebie-jeebies from being around this. This may play a role in AA’s dismal ~10% success rate. An alternative group to AA formed by the secular community explains why the lord’s prayer is divisive.
https://secularrecoverygroup.org/lordsprayer/
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Rev Mark D
GTFOOH I like it, I think I'm going to steal this one.
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Sherrell K Zitting
The Lord Himself commanded saints to expound upon the Word. Cheryl has done so quite beautifully and accurately. Little do babies know the mysteries of the Kingdom, and are prone to mock them.
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Nicholas J Page
Chakras working don't make me laugh they don't and leave the Lord's Prayer alone why change it after 2.000 years makes sense as a brick parachute
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Catherine
I think the Lord's Prayer is timeless and likely has multiple manisfestations, like common human experiences written about by puppet masters from various eras. Same as the golden rule, or 10 Commandments most of which might be agreed to by majorities of people anywhere.
Then I wondered how the original Lord's Prayer might have read. After searching for an original, unrevised version of the Lord's Prayer, unsurprisingly this turned up:
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-original-Lord-s-prayer-Our-Father-that-s-not-the-one-in-King-James-New-Testament
Bruce Knoll Student of Philosophy, Theology, History and LiteratureAuthor has 3.3K answers and 2.4M answer views4y
"The original Lord’s Prayer, as it was spoken by Jesus, is lost. We don’t even know if he actually spoke these words or not. They were not written down in any form until at least 40 years after Christ’s death. That would have been in the Gospel of Matthew, so it is doubtful that the exact words could have been recalled. The words would have been then copied into various manuscripts, and despite tremendous efforts to keep those words an exact copy of the original, errors will creep into texts no matter how much effort is made to prevent them. As these texts were copied, they were eventually translated into vernacular languages so they could be understood by people who were not scholars of the original languages. Again, errors in translations would creep into the texts, as well as changes made simply to render the original, untranslatable words. By the time they reached the King James version, the texts being translated were pretty far removed from the original. The original cannot be recovered."
Amen.
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Yvette Frances Moreel
I agree the texts were changed. I've learnt that too. I do say the Lord's Prayer however I use other prayers of my own too. The intention is all that matters when we want to connect on a higher level with God(Source) I've often thought about what is the true prayer and words written in the bible. I agree there has been an exchange of hands regarding the truth of words. We will not know until we return home after this lifetime. As long as we have love in our hearts and good intentions that is all that matters. I believe in giving ourselves prayer that is best suited for ourselves and through good intentions.
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Jon David Wegner
The Lord's Prayer is what it is. It has stood the test of time. Even if I believe Jesus spoke the words, I wonder who wrote them down? How many translations has it gone through on its way to us. How accurately did the scribes and translators convey the true meaning of Jesus' words?
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Sherrell K Zitting
The Lord's prayer is a culmination of ascent, as the Lord Himself is.
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pjm
I used to live in Virginia Beach, which is the headquarters for the Edgar Cayce's A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment). I hated driving past there and avoided it when I could, because I always got a creepy feeling when I was near the building. That sensation that the hairs were standing up on my neck and arms. I don't know why I reacted like that exactly, but I'm pretty sure it was some sort of spiritual discernment telling me that something wasn't right.
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Yvette Frances Moreel
I love these comments. I'm spiritual yet was raised with a bible on the table and saying the Lord's Prayer daily. I still say the prayer among other prayers I like to use. I write and meditate daily. I have never liked the word evil, especially in prayer. I love the other alternative of saying error I instead. Thank you for your insight.
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Daveion Hill
Quarter
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Cheryl
Thank you all for taking the time to share your various truths. This is my first contribution to The Monastery's publication since becoming ordained in 2005. Going forward, may we each commit our ministry to our groups to the most helpful and hopeful guidance and inspirations, as we ascend ever higher in the evolution of our spirituality and realization of our Oneness with our Creator.
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Timothy C Stone
Cheryl, thank you for this post. I also use the Lamsa version of the Bible. The Peshitta.
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Timothy C Stone
This is an excellent post. I have read many books about Cayce and forgotten about this interpretation of the Prayer. I love it. Well written and very meaningful. When I hear people say you must open your heart and let Christ in I think 'No, you must open your Heart and let the Christ Light shine from you.' If you actually use the Prayer as a meditation and visualize the chakras opening as this guide says I believe it works. 'The Kingdom is within you.'
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TheSound.com
Margaret Moda conducted a review of the research on the anatomical and physiological evidence of the chakras. Her study was published in the April 2022 issue of the International Journal of Healing and Caring. After reviewing the literature on the evidence of the chakras, Moda concluded that there is some evidence that chakras emit electromagnetic radiation and have possible anatomical correlates. There is, indeed, some scientific evidence for the chakras!
Study results find evidence for the chakras Moda grouped her results in two categories: anatomical studies and physiological studies.
Anatomical Studies Two studies found that the chakras align with known nerve plexuses:
Rokade (2017) found a plexus of nerves near the location of the purported heart chakra.
Sweta and colleagues (2018) found a plexus of nerves near the location of the purported base or root charka.
Physiological Studies Several studies found electromagnetic emissions from the chakras:
One study by Motoyama (1981) used a magnetometer, copper wire and photoelectric cells. When the subjects activated a chakra, the photoelectric cells emitted a faint light and the copper electrode detected high-frequency oscillations.
Hunt used an electromyograph (EMG) (1977, 1986). She detected wave forms and frequency bands from 100 Hz to 1 KHz, corresponding to various colors, in the area of the chakras. Further, she found that, as the subjects activated or "opened" a chakra, the frequency increased. In 1997, Wirth and colleagues attempted to replicate the findings and did, but others have questioned their research.
Rewold and Husen (2020) used electrodes to measure frequencies above 200Hz in a group of biofield practitioners and university students. In both groups, the frequency bands matched what Hunt had found. Additionally, the frequency band power was higher among the biofield practitioners than the students.
Jalil et al (2015) used radiofrequency meters with dipole whip antennas to detect electromagnetic radiation from the chakra locations in young healthy subjects. They found that each chakra emits a particular band of frequencies. Interestingly, their findings (chakras emit frequencies of 29 MHz – 86 MHz) matches the overall frequency of the human electromagnetic field of about 53 MHz.
In each case, there were measurable electromagnetic emissions from the chakras.
Sources: https://www.energypsych.org/blog/is-there-scientific-evidence-for-the-chakras https://transformative-therapy.com/is-there-scientific-evidence-for-the-chakras/
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Thomas Christopher Medina
Deliver us from EGO.
Despite the well-intentioned sentiment, The Lord's prayer is best left as it is... It stands alone as it is and I don't think can be improved upon.
Contortions like this one seem more like trying to be solemn, perhaps such as giving a eulogy, while inhaling nitrous.