When you think of your experience of Unity of Austin what comes to mind? I hope that first of all it includes feeling loved and accepted.While that is foundational and what all humans need and deserve, I hope that something else also surfaces–feeling challenged to grow spiritually. I hope that through your involvement in Unity you are coming to understand yourself as a powerful participant in your own life. And I hope that you realize you are not alone–that with you and within you is the creative power of this amazing universe. That power expresses as both unfailing principle–you can count on it always operating in constructive ways–and as loving comforter–you can feel very personally that you are known, seen, and loved.
Feeling accepted for exactly who you are while at the same time feeling challenged to grow are the spiritual legacies given to us by the Unity co-founders Myrtle and Charles Fillmore and the many Truth students who learned and worked alongside them. The affirmative prayer consciousness that is the heart of Unity was established through Myrtle’s realization in the late 1880’s, “I am a child of God therefore I do not inherit sickness.” Her awareness led to her spiritual growth and her physical healing. This knowing that God is everywhere present and active in all lives continues today in each of us as we pray as individuals, as participants in our churches, and through the worldwide 24/7 Silent Unity Prayer Ministry. Silent Unity serves people of all faiths from all parts of the world, responding to over two million prayer requests annually via telephone, postal mail, online, and the uPray mobile app. Learn more at http://www.unity.org/prayer/about-silent-unity
I had a profoundly soul-filling enriching experience last week as I attended and presented a talk at the Fillmore Festival held at Unity Village, Missouri. My understanding of the powerful shoulders on which I and all of us in Unity stand was deepened. I got a fuller glimpse of the Christ in me and in others, and a renewed amazement at the depth and courage of all who have walked this path before me. I am grateful to be a participant in this Unity inclusive Christianity which is the spiritual path of Jesus Christ, not the religion about Jesus Christ. It has meant everything to me. And it still does.
As our dear Myrtle wrote so beautifully, “To live by the Christ pattern does not mean that we seek to conform our individual lives to the ways and teachings of another, but that we respond to the divine impulse within.”
Shine on Divine one! In the Love and Light of the Christ,
Rev. Anna
