Helena Karchere and her son, David's grandson, Xavier Barerra,
Oren Yakovee and Keahi Ewa
Sunrise Ranch July 20, 2025 Loveland, Colorado
Marilyn Manderson — I welcome you to give thanks for the gift of Michael's creative and powerful piano offering this morning [Michael Gaeta]. You may bow your head and close your eyes if you wish.
From this place of gratitude, I invite you each one to go within, to access stillness, peace, and presence, through your openness of heart, to meet the grand and expansive reality of spirit there; that opening which leads to the presence of love, truth, and life. Allow yourself to connect fully with this beauty, this strength, and this flow of life available in and through you—through you now as we pray together. Let us honor and hold this precious and powerful reality, and move together in the deepest and broadest way possible in this time before us. I would ask now that from this place of prayer that we open even more fully, more fully, to welcome the flow and change of life available to and through us now, through heart, through mind and body to release what might seek to block this flow of our creation. May we let go of any distraction that might be present and honor the focus, the clarity, and the current of spirit available to each one of us, and all of us together, now. Let us bring specific honor to the Spirit of Love in all its glory—how it glows and grows and flows through our capacities into the world as we allow it to be so. I am, we are, here now, the vehicles through which this love can be known. Let us glorify this love in ourselves, and as a collective, in preparing the way for this hour of creation together. Aumen
Jane Anetrini — Thank you so much Marilyn. May we open as you invited us, letting the blockage and the noise pass away so that we might be in the current of this river. Thank you Michael Gaeta for the music. It’s good for us to be together on a beautiful Sunday in July—no matter what season it is it’s a beautiful morning—and we have a wonderful hour ahead of us. Welcome all of you on the line and all of you here at Sunrise Ranch. Following me, we have the privilege of doing a sing along with Helena Karchere, our … I'm trying to find the most appropriate way to welcome this diva to sing for us; but she is an incredible song leader and singer, and we're so glad to have you. Following that, we'll have a poem from Bexx Biehl entitled, “I have Worn My Grief”. And following that, we have Xavier and Helena presenting an incredible song, “I Have Loved You”—and we'll have Xavier on guitar as well as singing, and Helena will be singing. We'll have some more piano from Michael Gaeta. And then following them the speakers will be Orin and Keahi speaking about The Transforming Power of Collective Prayer, which was the theme of our Pulse of Spirit this week [emissaries.org/the-transforming-power-of-collective-prayer/]. Following them, we'll hear from David. Helena, welcome.
YouTube Video Helena Karchere
Bexx Biehl — I Have Worn My Grief
I have worn my grief
like molten silk
forged in the underworld
threaded with echoes
of countless unsaid goodbyes
I’ve knelt in the ruin of what was
palms pressed to ash
heart still pulsing with wild heat
a coal no rain could extinguish
And when I could carry it no longer
I brought it to the altar of love
offered it fully
the sorrow
the silence
the shattered hope
I surrendered it all to the flame
In that sacred burning
something ancient stirred
my grief became gold
my ache a hymn
my tears a sacred river
running back to Source
I am not afraid to be seen
not afraid to feel
not afraid to want
I have loved without armor
bled without blame
and still I rise
I stepped into the ocean
salt on my face
and in my breath
the darkness vast and holy
welcoming what is unknown
and yet already written in my bones
I offer it all
the pain
the grief
the sacred uncertainty
to the fire of love
and allow it to become
something brilliant
something meaningful
as I rise once more
from the ashes of a life
that asked everything of me
I am the one who transmutes
who alchemizes ache into illumination
I choose myself again
not from pride
but from devotion
I choose service to source
I choose service to humanity always
And still there is a silence I cradle
a space beside the fire
unspoken
unguarded
magnetic with something unnamed
that moves like shadow
breathes like tide
and answers only
to the language of light
YouTube Video Helena and Xavier
Oren Yakovee — Wow, what a powerful sacred hour so far. Thank you so much. Thank you Michael. Thank you Helena and Xavi. Thank you Bexx. Thank you Jane. Thank you Marilyn. So wonderful to sing together. So wonderful to be together in this powerful flow of collective prayer. It’s such an honor and a privilege and a joy, hearts overflowing with gratitude to be in each other's presence, to be surrounded roundabout with such master beings of Love, Truth, and Life, as we gather as the Voice of Many Waters, a powerful flow of collective prayerful vibration radiating ever outward from invisible Source. I feel that happening now, emanating powerfully through all the phases of the Shekinah Pattern of Being to all of creation. Together we are standing courageously, with both feet firmly planted in the Fire of Love, the Light that Glows, and the Cloud of Glory shining round about.
If we know “cymatics” to be the science of sound rearranging matter into ever-changing sacred geometries, what is this work that we are doing in sounding the Tone to the whole field of human consciousness? But consider us to be a collective beacon of spiritual cymatics, generating an ever-exponentially increasing magnitude of this Sacred Tone that can rearrange the substance of all consciousness in service to the spiritual regeneration of humanity. On any given Sunday, this powerful Tone cascades across the time zones in the various attunement services across this earth, as it has for nearly a century. And yet this Divine Mission looms, the spiritual regeneration of all of humanity. It's a lofty mission worthy of a Priesthood of this Sacred Tone.
How can this Mission be achieved? Can we fulfill it in our relatively small communities of dedicated practitioners? I believe we can. In cymatics, the scale of the subsequent geometric form is only limited by the magnitude of the sounding and the ability of matter to resonate, or respond-to. So what's the answer to fulfilling our Mission? Is it in the strength of our sounding? Or is it, as Bexx beautifully demonstrated in her prayer, the depth of our connection to the actual condition of human nature? I'm so moved by Bexx's poem. Would her poem be as powerful if it wasn't wearing her grief; if she wasn't bringing all of her ache to the Alchemy of the Fire of Love? The strength of the sounding starts in the willingness to be vulnerable, and the willingness to acknowledge the brokenness and to bring it into the Fire. That brokenness is our service—that vulnerability connects to all of humanity experiencing that. Was Bexx only speaking of her own grief? She was alchemizing, as a Priestess in Service, the grief of all of us and the grief of all humanity. It's a simple truth, right?
May we go forward with the prayer for the fulfillment of the spiritual regeneration of all of humanity; and may we have the courage to go forth with all of who we are. Thank you so much.
Keahi Ewa — Go forth with all of who we are, bringing it all to the Fire of Love. Thank you, Oren. Thank you all. This is a lifestyle, not a diet. I'm sure we've all attempted to try a diet, and we've questioned ourselves, our world has questioned us, in that, “Do you have to do it right now, maybe take a break, just right now, just with me.” There has to be a commitment, a devotion, prioritization of our health, of our willingness, our longing to change our life, in the midst of the internal and external voices wanting otherwise—the distractions. It's been my experience that that's how transformation happens. Jane said in our Pulse of Spirit, “We often forget how much our way of life matters, how deeply it can affect others.” I'm affected by Bexx's poem. It speaks to my truth, my experience. Is it for you? Yeah—as Oren beautifully explored, expanded upon. It's these connections, these moments, these services that have helped me through it.
Can we think of other circles that we're in, outside of this that have helped us through—perfect in their imperfection, not each one coming to services twice a week, doing the programs, how many times a year, journaling, doing spiritual practices? Not everyone does the same thing, and yet we can all be in this together—a support, a mirror. One thing at a time.
I recently had an opportunity to represent our community to an interfaith group in Santa Monica, California; and I was called upon on many levels. I didn't realize I was going to be. I was there to explore possibilities of collaboration, get to know their programs more, their community more, their verbiage, all these kinds of things. But I was literally asked, “Do you have a chant, or a song, or something to bring here that will take this higher, will strengthen the container?” I'm like, “Actually I do. Okay, here it is.” Being in that flow. And then I was also asked to help logistically. I'm a logistics nerd, so that came naturally—helping cook food, clean dishes, answer questions of the participants. And it flowed.
So afterwards, on the way back home, on the plane, I'm like, “Wow, what happened there?” I didn't realize what I had done until afterwards. I was just being present. And then, upon reflection, I realized this has become a lifestyle for me, not a diet—speaking and serving, being from my heart, not even thinking about it, just being in the flow. Yes, I'm here to serve. I'm here to offer a gift, to be open to the wisdom that is wanting to come through. It's only because I've prioritized a different way of Being. Can't you just skip this service? Don't you need a break? No, this is my break! Attending services is my refueling, is where I get recharged to go out into the world and be this beacon of light that we all are, that we can be. I feel the difference when I don't. I start closing up, and I stop being that in my world.
I've also come to deeply appreciate when we reach out to each other, and what a gift that can be to reach out. Not in a needy way, or a self-fulfilling way, but in a, “Hey, can you join me in this? I'm working through something, or I'd like to have a different change in my life. Can you walk with me?” What that invites—two in agreement, there am I—being courageous and vulnerable in making that shift, and calling to our worlds to join us in that, in whatever way is comfortable, whatever way is possible in that moment. And continuing to be that invitation, our world shifts with us, and needs us to continue, without expectation or limitation to what's possible.
So in 2019, I started a keto diet, right? And boy, it was hard. And yet now I have support. I have people say, “Oh, right, you're on keto.” I'm like, “Well, I'm in a lifestyle of healthier living. And my choice of healthier living is low carb, less sugar.” And the spiritual parallel to that, “Oh, right, Sunday you go to service, and Wednesday you have service too. That's right. How can I help you be that? I know we're traveling right now, or I know we're busy doing this or that. How can I support you in that?” It's because I did the diligence to stay steady in that, and now my world shifted with me, and supports me, as we support each other.
To me, that's what services are. We're not here to entertain each other. We're to remember why we're here, so we can be that in every one of our worlds, bringing the world with us. So thank you for being here, in person and online, wherever you are in the world. I am with you and you're with me. Yes, let's do this together.
David Karchere — I'm tempted to walk over to the television here, and read all the names and see all the faces. Welcome everyone. My name is David Karchere, and I’m happy to be with you this morning here in Mountain View Room at Sunrise Ranch, and with people online from various places around the world. Welcome, welcome. Good to be here together and share what we're sharing. Thank you Keahi and Oren, and all who've offered. Thank you, Helena and Xavi. Way to go. Beautiful, beautiful.
This Tuesday, we are having a celebration in which we will unveil a plaque, a brass plaque that will be right to the left of the door into the pavilion. The plaque celebrates the fact that Sunrise Ranch has been recognized as an historic property by the state of Colorado. So, we were an historic property before they recognized us, but it's nice to be recognized. Maybe we'll return the favor, and recognize the state of Colorado.
I'd like to read what's on the plaque. Some of you will be coming, so you'll hear more about it then, but I'd like to share it with people around the world, and people who won't be able to make it. So at the top of the plaque, it says:
“Listed in the Colorado Register of Historic Properties. Sunrise Ranch has served as a center for spiritual growth, holistic education, and thriving agriculture since 1945.” If you're counting, that's 80 years. “Founded by Lloyd Arthur Meeker and a small band of pioneers, Sunrise Ranch has been developed and sustained by generations of people devoted to bringing spiritual and cultural regeneration to the world. Designated in 2025 as a state historic landmark in recognition of its enduring spiritual, architectural, and agricultural contributions.
So, those are very literally the three categories under which we applied to be acknowledged, having to do with spirituality, agriculture and architecture. I've mentioned that the plaque references people who have contributed to the development of this place over centuries. That includes people who have lived here for shorter periods and longer periods. And this plaque and this celebration is an honoring of all those people—and it includes people who have participated with us, and who have contributed financially to the well-being of Sunrise Ranch over many years. So many of you online are included in that. Thank you, thank you; and thank you to literally thousands of others. Sunrise Ranch—a remarkable place.
Recently we've been speaking about the Mighty River Of Spirit. The Mighty River Of Spirit. And I'd like to reflect with you on how rivers work, and the whole pattern of how the water cycle works; and rivers are an essential part of that, yes. We think of the mighty Mississippi River that runs down, more or less, the center of North America. There are other smaller rivers that come into it, and all kinds of streams and rivulets that come into them. And all together it forms this Mighty Mississippi—the Mighty Mississippi. It seems to me that that's a symbol of Sunrise Ranch. We are a Mighty River.
Yes, there are many rivulets, many streams that come into this One Mighty River. But a Mighty River it is, bringing something unified and powerful into the world. So think about the water cycle and how it goes. It all starts at one place, yes. Up in the clouds, one sky. One Sky. Rain falls from that one sky over the earth, and in falling, many raindrops create many rivulets, streams, creeks. And yet, it started as one thing, and it comes together into one thing, into one river, into the sea. We give different names for different oceans around the world, but they're all connected, ultimately one vast ocean. And then it all starts again, yes. It evaporates. Kind of like us.
We all came from One Place, One Origin, One Reality out of which we are born. Unless you came from the Pleiades, or someplace else. But one invisible realm out of which we're all born; born into these individual experiences. And in some ways that individuality is never relinquished. So we have an opportunity to come together, just as the Mighty Mississippi brings together other rivers. We have that opportunity to remember we came from One Place. We're part of One Reality. We have one thing to do together.
We at Sunrise Ranch, are here to remind the world of that. To know it deeply for ourselves. No point going around and telling everybody else about it if we don't really know the reality of it ourselves, yes. Just mouthing off. That doesn't go very far. But if we come to know that deeply in ourselves, we can bring the remembrance of that to other people. You might say one person at a time.
How do we do that? It was brought vividly to my awareness recently that there's a certain amount of noise in the human experience. Could be noise in our own heads going on, right? Our own heads and hearts. A certain amount of noise; a certain amount of static. And if we're to be of service to another person, it's essential that we have the ability to cut through whatever noise is going on for them. Not to deny it's happening, not to put them down for it happening; but in some way we have to cut through that noise if we're to reach out and speak to the heart and soul of another person. In essence saying, “Yeah, I know all that's going on, but I've got something else for you to consider and receive into your heart.” You see, we have the opportunity to speak for the Mighty River; to speak for the One Place from which we all come. And it is the tone and the reality of that that can cut through the noise; can penetrate the noise, and can be heard. It is the great love of that River, the light of the heavens, as Bexx's poem referred to—that cuts through the noise.
A news flash here this morning: We live in a messy world. If you hadn't noticed. Yes, I mean, can anyone deny? We have a messy world in so many respects. Messy people, messy culture, noisy culture for sure. What do we do in the face of that mess, that noise? There can be, certainly, a recoil. Think of Bexx's poem. There can be a turning away from the grief of it all, turning away from the shock of it all. There can be some kind of recoil and retreat. There's all kinds of places people retreat to. One place people retreat to is spirituality. Yes. They go looking for a spiritual answer to the craziness that they've encountered in the world in which we live. Wouldn't put anybody down for doing that. It's a good place to look for an answer. But there is an answer to find in what we call spirituality. We could say, “Within” or “Up there”. We go searching for something, and the idea of a search is to find it, yes? Ultimately to find the Mighty River within oneself. It is not to simply escape from the world in which we live. It is to find the Mighty River, to know that and to let that into one's own experience so that there's something to bring into this world in which we live; there's something coming through us in whatever we're doing, to cut through the noise.
I've been noticing that for spiritual people there can be a tendency in, I suppose, the shock of what a person has encountered in the world, a tendency to retreat into spirituality, never to return—never to understand the wonderfulness of what a person touches in spirituality, or at least can touch, the wonderfulness of that, the majesty of it, the glory of it. It's not meant simply as a place of retreat. It is the Source of Life after all. It is the Source of the River, the source of creativity in oneself, and in everybody else. It is the answer for the world in which we live. It's not only a vacation spot.
To hold on to that experience, we have to open to it, not just touch it, not just kind of visit there. We have to go there, open to it, let the River in, and let it deep into our souls. Because you're not going to break through the noise of somebody else, or the culture around you, if you cannot break through your own noise. Yes. We have to break through our own noise, whatever that is, our own personal brand of messiness, and let a vibration of something else come through our own heart and soul, our own mind. Something else has to come through that can move through.
I don't know about you, but even though I've written now three books, I'm not satisfied with coming off to the world as saying something erudite, clever, even spiritually clever, spiritually articulate. That's not my goal! My goal is to say something to the world, to bring something to the world, that cuts through the noise, that penetrates, that is relevant, that changes and transforms. I'm not interested in a spiritual smugness. I'm interested in the Tone of Life, the River of Life that is the answer for me and is the answer for the world in which I live—we live.
Recently here, we've been speaking about the need for a Universal Priesthood. I'm not speaking of, what, robes and, I don't know, special hats; or maybe we'd have more people coming to services if we passed out special hats. No, I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about a denominational priesthood, a cultural priesthood. I'm speaking about a Universal Priesthood. This world needs that. Humanity needs that. Someone who will bring humanity back to the One Mighty River from which it came. The One Place of Origin from which you came and I came. We're here to remember. And as that song so beautifully says, when we remember, we love and serve. And our love and service is what cuts through the noise of the world in which we live.
What does it cut through with? A word for it would be authenticity. Yes. Authenticity? The genuine. Hard to define, maybe impossible to define. But we know it when we encounter it, right. A genuine person, an authentic person. Not an erudite person, certainly not a smug person, self-satisfied, smart. Someone who has done the work that Bexx's poem speaks to, of penetrating one's own soul, who truly have found the answer for oneself. The answer is simply the Mighty River. Maybe the word “authenticity” gives some hint about what this is about. I haven't looked up the word origins, but I somehow hear the word “author” in there. Right? Authenticity. The author. I think of an author of a written work. But here we're talking about the Author of the human experience; the Creator of the human experience; the Source of it. And we're talking about not just speaking about such things in erudite ways, we're talking about allowing the Author to speak through oneself. And when the True Author in oneself, that is the Author of All, when the True Author speaks, and we speak as that, knowing ourselves as that, that is authentic. It is authentic love.
It is an authentic human being. Because in the end, here's what I found. We have no other substantial reality beyond that or apart from that. There's nothing real about us except that. And it can express in all kinds of ways. And all those ways that the Author expresses through a human being—culturally, artistically, in work, in play, whatever it is—all of those expressions become authentic, when it's the Author in us, who we are as the Author of our experience, is speaking, is expressing, is being embodied in our life. When someone does that, it's like, “Ding”. Right. You've probably had the experience, as I have, when you meet somebody who's coming from that place, it just rings the bell. That's me.
I hear and I feel the Mighty River roar. I feel it and hear it in you. I feel it in myself. There is the joy of plurality, meaning that we are distinct in some way. We have unique personalities. We have a unique presence, a unique being, each one of us. And there's the joy of that. There's a joy of you and me as that, knowing ourselves as that. And then there's the hub-bub of beings who know themselves as that. The hub-bub of vibrational conversation, the hub-bub of creativity that we get up to together. The synergy, the co-creativity, and the sense that we're part of one thing, one Mighty River. There's the harmonious expression of that.
That's what we've been devoted to here at Sunrise Ranch—to be here for that, be here for people who are looking for that—to sound the Tone of that, give people a drink of water when they come here. Right. Let them know that. It's a magical process. We make a good attempt, I will say, at sharing who we are and what we're about with the world: websites, newsletters, emails, get onto Google as best we can, all those things. And yet what's really happening is happening at another level of things. The power of what's happening here, the Power of the River is flowing. And that's what matters. And for people who are tuned in, they feel that. They're looking for that in their life, just as very likely everyone in this room, and everyone online, has looked for it in their life—they're looking for it, and if you've got it, they want it. You might say, “They want it from you.” They want it from you. So, what it takes from each one of us is the courage to cut through the noise in ourselves, and then the courage to cut through the noise with somebody else.
I had a vivid experience of that this week. Those kinds of experiences help, yes? They just make it so blazoned across your mind, what's going on here is what's needed. But I was with a person, and this person needed somebody and something to cut through their noise. I'm not saying they're a noisy person, but still there's times when we need that as a soul. We're looking for it. And it was needed. And, thank God there was something in me that saw the need, and knew just what to do, which is just to be there. And whatever words come out, to essentially say, “I'm here. I'm here with you. I'm here for you. I'm here in love. You're here in love. And I believe in you. I believe in the power of the River in you. And whatever else is going on, it's smaller than that River. And I believe in who we are together.”
And I say that to Sunrise Ranch, and I say that to Emissaries of Divine Light, and I say it to my world every day: “I believe in you, and I believe in who we are together. I believe in the River that we are. I believe in the River of Life that is the reality of humanity.”
YouTube Video
Thank you for being with me, and saying that, maybe to yourself, your neighbor, to the world, being here for that, and bringing the vibration of that, the magic of that, into the world. I was saying a couple of weeks ago how, yes, we're a social body, right? We're some kind of social unit here. But more importantly, we're a Spiritual Body. And what's happening in this Spiritual Body is powerful. There is “lightning and thunder” going on here—and because of that there's a Mighty River.
So, wonderful to be a part of that here together this morning; and I agree with Keahi. This is the well for me, too. Right. So we want to share a attunement. So we're going to do chant here this morning and we invite you online to participate with us. And it doesn't work, just in terms of the technology, for everybody online to unmute and chant with us, but you can chant where you are; you can hear us chant; and you can be with us in the vibrational part of this Healing Chant by sharing the River that moves through your hands, the flow of the River with us energetically. So let's do that. We'll create a circle and take it from there.
