Warm, lovely winds were blowing from heaven on Easter Sunday morning at the beach in Santa Monica as folks gathered for MSIA’s Easter celebration. The walkway was adorned with a large welcoming sign, inviting passersby (on foot, on bike, on blades) to come and join us for our Easter breakfast and seminar with John Morton.
Tables were generously laden with juice, coffee, fruit, muffins, bagels, and yes, pancakes! Children frolicked everywhere with parents running to catch up, and everyone laid out their towels, beach chairs, and blankets to prepare for the morning seminar.
Jeff McCombs was our handsome MC for the morning, calling in the Light with sweetness and happily noting that we were joined by dolphins in the ocean just yards away — a nice symbol of the Spirit’s presence with us. We had uplifting musical entertainment by Clea Rose and Bob Tackney, and an uproariously uplifting demonstration of how to forget the words yet get every heart singing by Barb Wieland. After two attempts to remember the words to her song for the day, Barb declared her time complete and sponsored by “1-800-I-FORGET.”
Jeff then introduced John Morton, the Spiritual Director of MSIA, and invited the Traveler to share with us. John shared his joy with us, noting how much he enjoyed the sounds of children playing (a game of touch football made for a lively backdrop to John as he spoke) and the beautiful ocean a few hundred yards away. John also noted how much he enjoys the open events sponsored by MSIA, as they are one of his favorite ways of expressing the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness.
On that note, John shared with us a number of ways that MSIA particularizes itself in the world. We heard John share that in MSIA we know that everything in this world is from God — all is One and from God, and we’re a “check it out” group (even when we hear an aircraft flying overhead, we turn to look — it may not be a plane; it could be a helicopter — as was the case on the beach Sunday morning). John also shared how we like to call forward blessings, and associate in ways that are loving, peaceful, uplifting, joyful, healing, and where we recognize the presence of Spirit in our lives. We don’t expect people to manifest perfection — instead, we focus on “the highest good of all concerned,” and we practice forgiving and forgetting.
John shared poetically about what it means to experience the highest good — that it is experienced in a joy that cannot be contained. It is an experience where joy is present in everything — in nature, in people, everywhere we look. Spirit’s progression is upliftment. So regardless of what any of us have done, we are still good, still perfect, and God still loves & adores us — exactly the way we are. John also noted that there is nothing in this world that is permanent, so our personalities will go back to the nothingness from which they came, while our Spirit will go back to God. It is our choice to how much we are aware of the Spirit that adores us.
John brought the seminar portion of the morning to a close noting that the great message of Easter is that there is something wonderful beyond death. Death is not a reality — not for Jesus or for any one of us. We are all Divine beings. John encouraged us to stay open to who we are, and to accept ourselves as God’s children and that our home is not on this earth. Suffering and death must pass, and while we are in this world, we have the opportunity to demonstrate that God comes here in the flesh. We are all loved, and all forgiven.
On that uplifting note, John shared a blessing with us, to touch our hearts and stir the loving and peace within. A beautiful peace filled the beach as we received the blessing. And then, the Easter Bunny arrived — fresh, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and a grand Easter egg hunt commenced. Children of all ages flocked to the beach to receive bags of Easter treats and hunt for eggs in the sand, and families and friends joined around the buffet tables to share in the good food available to us.
Folks stayed a good long time, playing in the sand together, sitting on blankets chatting, and sharing love, Light, and blessings together. Joining in our hearts this way made for a beautiful, blessed Easter — indeed, the blessings already are.
