Belonging in Sacred Community

Transcript

Jim: 0:00

Hello, and welcome to this episode of Decide on Joy, a podcast coming to you from Harmony Spiritual Center in Fort Worth, Texas. My name is Jim Koval.

Pjae: 0:11

And I'm Reverend Dr. PJ Stanley. Thank you so much for being here with us today.

Jim: 0:15

Today, yeah. We're talking about belonging in sacred community. Yeah. What is a sacred community anyway, as opposed to just a community. Exactly. Ieo

Pjae: 0:25

community. Exactly. And I, and I, so for the purposes of this conversation, sacred to me just means it's, it's something where we we're coming and we're going to tell each other the truth from a spiritual perspective, what the truth is. Like. The truth is, is that. That our lives aren't based on the conditions. Our lives aren't based on how much money is in the bank or whether we've gone to school or whatever. Our lives are based on what we believe to be true about ourselves. What we, that we can count on. Spirit, God, whatever you call that, which is greater than yourself to guide you to do what is correct for you. And so sacred community are a group of people who believe in the same way, whatever that way may be. But we all agree that we believe this, that we have this. This relationship with something greater than ourselves. And we count on that. And so we count on each other to keep reminding us of what is true about, about the universe and about us spiritually speaking, that we can do great things. That we are here for a purpose. And so we're just there to support each other in that sacred knowledge. Right? And to me, that's what it means.

Jim: 1:32

And. They may be like minds about that. Yes. But not necessarily about everything. No. We've

Pjae: 1:39

experienced that. Yeah. No, only that particular thing are we like minds. Yes. Everything else we're kind of cats, so. Yeah.

Jim: 1:49

Yeah. And. The, I don't know where I was headed with that. Yeah. Yeah. I lost my train of thought. That's okay. Entirely. But,

Pjae: 1:58

I can move on with just a little bit though, because what belonging means is that you can count on. When you need to be reminded, because a lot of times we are in the world. We are, you know, looking at, I, I actually have a, a, a friend of mine who is, is in the sacred community with me. And I actually call the sacred community. That's that pbs, which is partners in Believing because you believe a big dream. But just the, the day to day living starts to, starts to knock that believing down. And you need to be able to talk with someone who knows and believes for you that good things are happening, that it may not be a straight line towards the good things that you're, that you're asking for, that you're desiring of spirit to do for you. And so. You want someone who sees what you're talking about, who believes with you, and who can remind you. And that's what this community does as well. So the belonging is that you, if you're going to belong to that community, you agree that you're going to be that partner, that you believe yourself, and that you're gonna support their belief. And so that's what belonging means in this context.

Jim: 2:57

Right. And how, how do you. How do you know you belong? Yeah. In such a community.

Pjae: 3:08

I, I think we can look at who comes through our doors and, and stays mm-hmm. And who comes through our doors. Oh yeah. And don't because we're, because you can, as soon as we start talking about who God is. To us individually and individually, because this group, as soon as someone shows up, they really want to rally around them. And so they're very quick to say what we believe, what they believe, and if it's something that you believe, it resonates in your heart and you know you're with your tribe, but if they're saying something and it doesn't quite resonate, then you kind of get that deer in the headlight look and can't get out of here fast enough. Or maybe it takes a a few times. For you to come and, and see what we're completely about because we say the same thing every Sunday morning about what, why we're here, how we're here to support each other, and that kind of thing. But after a while, you get to know just like, just like when you, when you find a friend are they actually living the way they say they're living? Are they actually the person they presented themselves to be when we met? And is that something I wanna be around? So you'll, you'll know fairly quickly whether these are, this is a group that, that you resonate with in terms of what you believe.

Jim: 4:15

Yeah. That, that might create the impression if, if you're not part of this community, that, that, that, that it's a, a sort of single set of beliefs. That's not necessarily true. There's some range there. Oh, it's

Pjae: 4:30

a, it's a, it's a wide range. It is a wide range, but there are some things that are absolute. Yeah. Like we, you know, they're just, and we, and we talk about that what is God is, and it's what we say every Sunday morning source substance. And supply. So that's all you have to look to for the things that you want. If that's not something you can resonate with, that isn't something we're going to change. That's who we are. Yeah. That's what we believe. So there are some things that are stuck and then there are some things someone asked me the other day because we are as a group, notoriously late to things, but that's not necessarily the group. There are many people in the group that have jobs that have been on time that that is, that is what they want to do. They wanna be on time. So that's a particular character, personal characteristic. It's not a characteristic of the group, so, right. You know, trying to figure those things out. Take some time.

Jim: 5:18

So you're not required to be late, you're not required

Pjae: 5:21

to not care about time. That's not a requirement. No. It's a, it's a what do you call it? It's a quirk, I think, or a characteristic of that individual.

Jim: 5:29

Yes. Certainly there, there's. Often an issue about starting on time on, oh, that's a Sundays. It's not, not because people not being there, but just they're busy talking and we're

Pjae: 5:38

all here, we're just chit chatting. Yes, the music is playing, but not for us. We, we have to finish this conversation.

Jim: 5:45

Yes, yes. Which is yeah. Part of the community. It

Pjae: 5:51

is part of the community in that we, that, that's what's important to us. It's not so much starting on time because we're not gonna be too far from the time. If it's 10 30, be 10 35, as it is the relationship to finishing the conversation with someone. So they'll, they, they know that they matter to you. They're not gonna just stop because the time has come. And so that, that is a part of the community that we do that. Yeah.

Jim: 6:12

Right? Mm-hmm. And. I, I see a note here that we mirror the presence and essence of God for one another. We

Pjae: 6:21

actually, I love that. That is a great way to put that. That is what we believe, that we are individualized expressions of God, the one love spirit. And so yes, we wanna be mirrors for each other, and that means that we're held accountable. For showing up in that way and not accountable in that, oh, you didn't do the right thing today. Not that, but just in, in accountable for the fact that we are individualized expressions, but we are also individuals. And so we have the, the, the flexibility and the, the love to say, okay, well that's just the, the humanness shows up. There's the God self and there's the human self, and we're gonna always be both of those things.

Jim: 7:00

Right. And certainly. Possible to, to survive without such a community. I mean, you can, you could be a hermit. I mean, and certainly many

Pjae: 7:10

yes.

Jim: 7:11

Serious religious people have, have, have been hermits or monks, absolutely. Monks or whatever. Absolutely. That's part of what they do. But the, the community is doing a different thing for you. I, I think it is. And making it easier to remember those things. At least for some of us. Just off on your own, you may. I lose track of that.

Pjae: 7:31

Oh my goodness. Yes. And snow telling, you know, where you kind of go off and you don't know that you've gone off until you get back into the community and hear what the community is saying. It's like, oh, I missed that part. Yeah. But no, I, I am a community person and I searched for this particular community for years and I went to several different places and stayed for a while, waiting for it to resonate. And it was good. It was, there's no question about it. It was good. And they were talking great things and I believe that they were doing those things, they were talking about. It just didn't resonate in my heart as my truth. And not everybody has to do that. Not everyone wants to do that. I'm just talking about if that's how you wanna be in community that's how I know. That I'm in my community, that I have found my tribe is that it resonates and not, it's not about them saying exactly everything that I would say. It is just where their hearts are. It's, it's what they're trying to do as a human being. Re recognizing our humanity and still reaching for the highest and best, which is always to love to, to be the first to love. That's what we're all, that's, that's our, it's not a commandment, but it's. It's what we want to do, it's who we wanna be, and this community helps us remember that. It helps make it easy for us, at least on Sunday morning and whenever we are around each other to remember what that looks like. So as we're going out in the world, we know we have a, an example of it. We, we have history with it. And so. You know, we can show up that way or attempt to show up that way. Not everybody is receptive. So let's, let's get that out. Everybody's not receptive. That's okay.

Jim: 9:05

And sometimes the showing up doesn't materialize quite in the way you would like, not quite, but whatever your intent may be. But yes, we could and there, and let it be your, your mission for the week to be the first to love. Okay. And we will see you next time. Okay. Thanks for being here.