Silent Unity Chapel
at Unity Village
“Today disciples of Jesus who are obedient and receptive and believe in the presence and the power of the Master and the Holy Spirit, are everywhere receiving visions and dreams. They are being drawn together and are helping one another to recover from the discords and inharmonies of life. Never before in the history of the race has there been so great a need for spiritual instruction as there is now, and this need is being met by Jesus and His aids in a renaissance of early Christianity and of its methods of instruction.” Charles Fillmore in Twelve Powers of Man
Going far beyond the established Christian theology of their day, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, co-founders of our Unity movement, lived and taught the transformative power of the Jesus Christ path. Steadfast in their conviction that Jesus Christ embodied the fullness of God, they committed to “discern the truth in Christianity and prove it.” The Fillmores’ gift to the 21st century is a sorely needed vigorous, empowering metaphysical Christianity. They understood what spiritual principle is and how to employ it in order to live the Christ life. Charles and Myrtle Fillmore stood firm in their bright vision of a bountiful, loving world that can be brought about only through the spiritual development of humanity.
Over the millennia, the spirituality of Jesus Christ became to some degree the religion about Jesus Christ. Sadly, the rigidity, distortions, and outright abuses in some religious organizations have turned many people away from the opportunity to engage with this powerful path. My conversation with author Alastair McIntosh during a pilgrimage to the Scottish island of Iona a few years ago cemented an idea that had long been tickling my mind. We discussed a unique feature of Christianity—its capacity to squarely face suffering. Christianity doesn’t run from suffering. It doesn’t seek a back door out of it. It doesn’t pretend it doesn’t exist. It doesn’t disparage it. Rather Christianity transforms the self in the face of menace. When pushed to the edge of our ability to survive, we discover we have the power to thrive. This is the Jesus Christ path. It is what he did over and over again. Jesus’ understanding that the deep identity of human beings is spiritual propelled him to forgive—to let go of threatening appearances—and so move forward into an expanded life. That same spiritual ability lives within each of us, and it is eager to be more fully discovered and expressed. We are not alone in this endeavor, for our Elder Brother shows us the way. We are invited to fully live the spirituality within us.
In the Love and Light of the Christ,
Rev. Anna
