However you and your dear ones may be celebrating Thanksgiving this week, Rev. Mike and I are celebrating YOU and are very grateful that you are a part of our Beloved Community. It is not only at this time of year that we express our gratitude for you, for our Center, and for this teaching, but throughout the year. Our blessings continue to expand, as we live and practice the Science of Mind. Even after Thursday, we shall all continue feeling thankful for so much good in our lives and continue counting our blessings.

Remember that, “Gratitude is Causative” and generates an ever-increasing abundance of every nature to begin to flow steadily in our lives. Let’s keep our dear families and friends on top of that list, and watch our relationships deepen and sweeten. Let’s bless even the smallest good we have and see it expand into greater and greater good. Let’s give thanks for everything that makes our lives more wonderful and fulfilling. Let’s also remember to bless all people everywhere, knowing Divine Love and Infinite Wisdom are present and awakening them to their divine reality.

Our very special Thanksgiving Sunday Celebration with Django, Emily, and Jeff was very beautiful, and our next grand and glorious offering will take place on Saturday, December 16th, as we present our Annual Winter Solstice at the United Church of Christ, 45 Walker Road, Wayne, PA 19087. Inspiring inter-faith presenters and outstanding music will lift and delight our hearts, so be sure to put this on your calendar.

This coming Sunday, November 26^th will be live-streamed from the Inspiration Café, with Rev. Mike speaking on, “Keep Counting Those Blessings.” To join our Celebration, just click on the orange Watch Live button on our website, www.cslphilly.org  at 10:30 A.M. While you are waiting, you will find interesting information on the other pages, so scroll through and find upcoming events, as well as archived presentations and Love Notes.

We offer spiritual tools for human conditions, and whenever you wish to reach out to one of our Practitioners, any of them will be happy to work with you. You’ll find them listed on their page on our website, with contact information, and you may get in touch with any of them for spiritual support.

With great love and respect,

Dr. Maxine

Whether we utter a simple prayer or offer passionate praises, our hearts are surely filled with gratitude as we enter into these divine activities. Approaching the Thanksgiving holiday, we often begin counting our blessings, mindful of the many reasons we have to give thanks. This gratitude tends to expand, touching others, and opening their hearts to such feelings of appreciation, as well. It is wise to dwell in this sweet, thoughtful place, rather than to become too caught up in the business of so many holiday preparations and activities.

What a marvelous Celebration we have planned for you this coming Sunday at the Sheraton Great Valley Hotel in Frazer in the Oxford Room!! Our Thanksgiving Celebration begins at 10:30 A.M. and we will be blessed with music from Django Klumpp, classical guitarist, as well as Emily Szal and Jeff Masino, offering songs and leading our community singing. Enjoy our Bountiful Bouquet ceremony, as well as a new ritual: The Gratitude Tree. The music will surely lift your hearts and align you with the sweet, serene opportunity to enter more deeply into this special season. My talk, “If the Only Prayer You Ever Prayed . . .” will be brief, and the service will conclude at 11:45 A.M, in order to continue with a marvelous musical event in the same location. Although the morning will not be livestreamed, you may watch it later in the day by clicking the orange Watch Live button on our website, www.cslphilly.org Additional information can be found as you scroll through the site and notice upcoming classes and events.

An exiting addition to this Sunday is, “An Afternoon of Classical Guitar with Django,” a one-hour concert beginning promptly at Noon with our beloved Django Klumpp, a virtuosic musician returning home to Malvern for the holiday from Rochester, New York, where he is an esteemed performer, teacher and adjunct professor. We are so blessed to have his inspirational, uplifting, heart-opening music, so be sure to plan to be with us and bring family and friends.

Our Practitioners may be found on their page on our website where you may contact any of them for spiritual support.  There are times we may become too close to a problem and require the assistance of a Professional Practitioner to bring us to a new perspective.

With great love and respect,

Dr. Maxine

We understand that, when Jesus prayed, he gave “thanks in advance” and we have come to realize that this action is far beyond niceness or propriety; rather, it is a powerful practice that ensures a positive outcome. Not only does it feel wonderful to move through our day in an “attitude of gratitude,” it actually opens the doors and windows of our Good, inviting it to flow into our experience.

Even in the midst of personal challenges or upsetting world conditions, our willingness to find things for which to be grateful may quickly shift our emotions from despair to hope, as we deepen our awareness of our unity with the Divine. It is from this place that real faith begins to develop, and we can feel lighter and more receptive to Life’s gifts. There is never a time for us not to open our hearts to thankfulness.

Please join us next Sunday, November 12th, for our 10:30 Morning Celebration at Inteprod in Eagleville. As we continue this month’s focus on “Gratitude,” we will address, “The Causative Nature of Gratitude.” If you are not able to join us in person, please click on the orange Watch Live button on our website, www.cslphilly.org to catch our Lovestream. Take a few minutes to scroll through our site, and you will find a great deal of information on classes and events, some of which require registration. We continue to plan interesting and inspirational events and ways to gather together until we are once again in a regular location.

One such marvelous event occurs the following Sunday, November 19^th, as we celebrate our Annual Thanksgiving Service, which will be held at the Oxford Room of the Great Valley Sheraton Hotel in Frazer/Malvern. Do your best to arrive by or before 10:30 A.M. to delight in beautiful music offered by Django Klumpp, classical guitar, and Emily and Jeff Masino, keyboard and vocals. Plan to stay for Django’s one-hour concert from Noon to 1:00 P.M. and bring your friends!

We provide spiritual tools for human challenges, and we offer Practitioner services to assist when folks may need to reach out a hand to a caring professional, all of whom are listed on the Practitioner Page of our website with contact information. You may wish to request an appointment with one, either on the telephone or in person.

With great love and respect,

Dr. Maxine

Isn’t it interesting how what was once a Christian holy day (All Hallows’ Eve), the night before All Saints’ Day, or All Hallows’ Day, became an occasion for fright and fun?  Earlier, the Celtic Church celebrated the festival of Samhain, acknowledging the end of the old year and beginning of the new. This was a time of invoking demons, which led to the spooky holiday of Halloween.  Today, we don’t think about much besides enjoying children’s costumes and giving out their favorite candy! Let’s just have fun tonight.

Moving into November, we focus on Gratitude, opening our hearts and minds to all the blessings for which we give thanks.  Understanding that Gratitude is Causative, we happily employ this power to bring us deeper faith and greater fulfillment.  The person who refuses to feel appreciative toward life simply becomes closed off from a sense of wellbeing and joy, so we are wise to let go of resentments and replace them with thanksgiving.  We will focus on this aspect more deeply week after next.

Next Sunday is “Practitioners Sunday,” and our wonderful God Squad will be presenting the entire Morning Celebration, with an able assist from Lady Jo Lurquin, as Moderator.  They will be in person at Inteprod in Eagleville at 10:30 A.M. and will be kicking off the new theme for November, “Gratitude.” Each of them will be presenting their individual “Perspectives on Gratitude.” If you are not able to join us in person, please click on the orange Watch Live button on our website, www.cslphilly.org to catch our Lovestream. Looking through our site, you will find an entire Practitioner Page, where all are listed with contact information, as well as news of upcoming activities.

With great love and respect,

Dr. Maxine          

We wear so many “hats” in our human disguises and are wise to become aware of their importance in our lives, while understanding that none of them really defines us. Neither our place in the family nor the workplace explain Who we truly are, any more than our gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religious affiliation, or political persuasions can begin to explain our Authentic Self. There is much pretense about being “only human” until we finally uncover our spiritual origins and begin living from a greater truth.

Once we identify with our True Source and become aware of the Divine Life we all share and the Power for Good that is available to everyone, we find our humanness a delightful way to let Spirit shine through us, uplifting our own lives, and illuminating humanity itself. As each of us awakens to our greater potential, we rouse others to become aware of our unity with the Divine and our sweet and powerful connections with one another.

We can enjoy our many roles much more thoroughly when we remember our divine identity, our oneness with all sentient beings, and our ability to invite the brilliant, Divine Light to shine through every aspect of our being. Let’s celebrate our humanity and our divinity.

Join in our livestream fr0m the Inspiration Café as we complete our October focus on “Truth.” I’ll be speaking on, “The Human Charade,” and you may watch by going to  www.cslphilly.org and pressing the “Watch Live” button. As you scroll through the website, you will find information on many, wonderful, upcoming events. We continue to create fun, inspirational, and uplifting activities in which we gather as a Community.

Our Practitioners have a page of their own on our website, so do visit them there, and select any one of them, if you wish clarification, illumination, or specific spiritual work on a challenge you may be facing.

With great love and respect,

Dr. Maxine