A way to Experience The Wonder of life!
- A Love Offering –
A Love Offering is a term you will frequently hear at our Spiritual Life Center. The vast majority of events and activities that are held here at our Spiritual Life Center are presented on a “Love-Offering Basis.” Considering the size of our spiritual community we truly have some awe-inspiring events. When someone compares- the activities we sponsor and the quality of speakers, musicians, workshops and classes we have to similar activities, and the fees charged at other locations, they are very puzzled.
Why, oh why do we offer our fantastic programs that can be so soul moving and possibly life transforming on a love-offering basis? Well there are a few reasons, and first and fore most it is not simply about sharing the change in your pocket, but about sharing a foundation that will change the planet. We believe that our teachings and the spiritual philosophy we share have the possibility of transforming life and we want to be able to reach as many people as possible, who may, or may not, be able to afford a fixed price at the door, and maybe “turned off” or turned away because they can not.
The idea of Love-Offerings has deep roots in Unity. Charles and Myrtle Fillmore pretty much insisted on it as the way to do their work. They believed that giving a Love Offering to what spiritually fed them was an acknowledgement of God’s Love and Abundance, which was part of their experience. The sharing of “a love offering” was part of their overall prosperity program, which is based in the concept of Tithing of Time, Talents and Treasures, as shared in ancient spiritual traditions. Giving of a Love Offering acknowledges the Divine Flow moving through someone’s life as health, love, and financial abundance. By sharing a portion of one’s income to the spiritual practices and programs that inspired their minds and moved their souls.
In Unity, we believe that God’s Sacred Life is ever-present, that we are immersed in an Invisible Matrix of Life and Substance. It surrounds and enfolds us each moment of each day, just as fish are immersed in the ocean. The way we realize and experience this Divine Matrix is to open our selves to Its flow, by sharing out of the abundance we are experiencing. To realize that God’s Sacred Energy moves through us with each breath we take, we must exhale. If we try to hold on to that sacred breath and possess it, we will suffocate. We must exhale to receive our next breath; it is a simple (yet unconscious) acknowledgement of Life itself.
Likewise, to experience God’s Love and Abundant Life in any and every area of our life we must exhale: we must give out of the Divine flow that we are experiencing - spiritually, mentally and physically. It is simply a law of life. In this physical reality, if we are to continue the flow of electricity in our homes, or a flow of food into our cabinets, we must give out of the abundance we have, so that we can live in harmony with the world around us.
Spiritually, it is the same: in order to experience God’s Sacred Life and realize the spiritual nourishment we seek, we must open ourselves up, and share of the Goodness flowing through our life by sharing with what spiritually feeds and nurtures us. It is simply an acknowledgement of the Divine Flow moving throughout our being, so we can draw another breath and have more goodness flow into our life. If we try to hold on tightly to blessings moving through our life and possess every ounce, we will suffocate and restrict the flow of good. To experience God’s Sacred Life we must exhale to receive ) the next breath; it is a simple (yet very conscious) acknowledgement of Life itself.
So, when we pass “the love-offering baskets” at an event we ask you to consider how the message stirs in your heart and moves your soul and to ask your self, “What value does this event have for me? If I could use the ideas I heard, or even just one idea, in my life, what type of difference in my life would it make?” It in all probability would make a huge difference. We would ask you to consider sharing in accordance with the value you see and believe you have received and allow the sense of gratitude to stir in every cell of your being; letting the joy and gratitude over flow, and then give from that place of joy and thanksgiving. We all know and have heard about the Spiritual Law that as we give to what spiritually feeds us, it creates a ripple that goes out into the universe blessing the world around and forming a vacuum that draws more goodness and abundance into your life. Giving to God’s work, nurtures us in an endless cycle of growing circle of goodness. As we give out of the goodness of our heart and soul, so shall we receive that goodness pressed down, shaken to together and over flowing.
Even with this concept laid out, some people ask, 
“Well I don’t know how much I should give?” If you were to attend the same two or three-hour workshop at another church it would cost you $40 – $60 up front at the door, before they ever let you in. If you were to attend a class at another Unity or New Thought Church, they charge $25 or $35 right up front for each of the classes. What price would you put on it, if you would be able to put just one idea, one discipline, to use in your life to overcome one challenge? $100? $500? $1000? Perhaps the inspiration is priceless. The information shared at our services, workshop and classes, has the potential to transform the way you see and experience the world. Well we ask that you give from a place that you are spiritually blessed and that you can afford, knowing that as you give you create a ripple, even a wave, that will come back overflowing in every area of your life.
As a result of this understanding and trying to live the principles we teach, Rev. Patrick asks the presenters who offer workshops here to do so on the potential and the possibilities of what their gifts might bring to you. Normally 60 % to 70 % of the income will be given to the presenter to help pay their travel expenses to OKC and back and to help them earn a living sharing their gift. So as we ask you to share from the place of joy, thanksgiving and the awareness of infinite possibilities of good that is about to unfold for you, as you hold that love offering in your heart, in your mind we invite you to see it being pressed down, filled with love to overflowing,
Just as the Fillmore’s made it a practice to give to what spiritually feeds and nourishes them, we invite others to experience the wonder of sharing a love offering to what spiritually feeds them. By acknowledging God’s Love and Abundance in this way, it opens the portals of the heart and mind to experience a greater good. So next time we pause to take a Love – Offering, consider the value of what you have received and how the service, workshop, or class inspires your mind and moves your soul, then share from the abundance in your life. Consider what it costs to go to the movie, or out to dinner, or other wonders you experience in the physical, and ask yourselves if the benefits you received from the activities exceed those physical pleasures. Then go to that place of remembering Spirit moving in you and must be released to be truly realized. “Divine love, flowing through me, blesses and multiples all that I have, all that I give, and all that I receive, and I am richly blessed, creating a greater and greater flow.”