Fearless
Healing by Rev. Carla Comiter
This past December
I was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer and had a lumpectomy.
Fortunately, the cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes,
so I will not need chemotherapy. I am scheduled for six
weeks of radiation treatment, standard procedure for this
diagnosis.
I shared this news
about my diagnosis with my congregation in early December.
We had already begun our series of Christmas talks, and
that day I was speaking about the Gifts of the Magi. It
was easy to draw a parallel between the gifts presented
to Baby Jesus and the spiritual gifts that we receive
throughout our lives. Gold, frankincense and myrrh—royal,
holy and mortal, these are the characteristics of each
of us as we express the divine incarnated as human.
Sometimes the best
gifts come in the most unexpected packages. As I moved
through the steps involved in my surgery and recovery,
I had time for rest and reflection. I discovered some
of the many gifts that this experience has brought to
me—I’m sure that more await my discovery.
The first gift was
releasing my fear of breast cancer. Since it is estimated
that one in eight women will experience this illness,
most of us live in the fear that it will be us. And it
was me. No longer could I bury this fear in the shadows
of my mind. Once I brought it into the light, it dissolved.
God is wholly good—I opened to the blessings being
shown to me by walking through my fear.
Those of us involved
in the metaphysical healing movement sometimes struggle
to balance the co-creative power of thought with the knowledge
that God is wholly good, wholly loving and everywhere
present. What is so loving about God allowing us to bring
about disease with our beliefs?
We read from the
Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, Verse 70: “Jesus said,
‘If you bring forth what is within you, what you
bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what
is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy
you.’" Sometimes when we hold an error belief
it is brought forth as disease—so that we may recognize
and heal the belief.
Knowing that breast
cancer and prostate cancer are the most common types of
cancer in women and men has caused me to consider that
this may be the expression of our dysfunctional relationships.
The high divorce rate also reflects this dysfunction.
As we experience the pain and sense of failure caused
by living stereotypical gender roles, creating false expectations
and disappointment, we create in our bodies the expression
of that pain.
One Sunday morning
when I was well enough to return to the pulpit, I led
my congregation through a healing ritual designed to acknowledge
and honor the divine feminine and the divine masculine.
I’ve included the ritual as written for the divine
masculine below. After I led that part, I asked one of
the men from our Board of Trustees to lead the same ritual,
changing only the pronouns, to honor the divine feminine.
It is my belief that
I, and we, can begin to heal the gap between the sexes
and love ourselves into divine wholeness.
Ceremony
for Honoring the Divine Masculine
Gentlemen,
please rise.
Ladies, behold these
men. They are the embodiment of the Divine Masculine.
In this moment, they are the personification of every
man since Adam first walked this Earth.
Gentlemen, in our
heart of hearts, we want you to know that we love you.
You are our fathers, our brothers, our sons. You are the
fathers of our children, our friends, our mirrors and
our partners in this journey through life.
We thank you. We thank you for all of the times that you
have stood beside us, steadfast and enduring. We thank
you for the times of laughter and joy, of passion and
tenderness. We thank you for comforting us when we grieve,
and for allowing us to comfort you in times of loss. Thank
you for providing, for protecting, for sharing your strength
and your wisdom.
On this day we commit
to releasing any errors of the past and to seeing you
in all of your masculine glory.
Ladies, repeat
after me:
“Gentlemen, we know who you are.
You are the beloved sons of a loving Creator.
We bless you, we appreciate you,
And we behold the living Christ in each one of you.”
--
Rev. Carla can be
reached at RevCarla@sunriseunity.org.
Read More:
Fearless Living - Fearless
Loving - When God Says
Go and You Say No
