Are you interested in learning more about Unity? We invite your curiosity! Here are 7 of my reasons for you, for Unity. Reason One: A place to belong. As Sapiens, we thrive when we are part of a healthy community, for we are social creatures. Nature teaches us the principle of symbiosis, the mutually beneficial relationship when two organisms live in close association to the advantage of both. Do the trees not provide the oxygen we need to live, as we exhale the carbon dioxide they need to thrive? The barriers to entry that exist (whether written or unwritten) in most churches do not exist here. Your social status, your race, your religious background, your sexual orientation…none of these are exclusionary. We are truly an open-minded and welcoming church. We practice complete love, and love is inclusive. Reason Two: A place to think. At Unity Church, we embrace a range of thought. When I came to Unity in the summer of 2016, I was searching for a place that would allow me to be intellectually honest. We have Five Basic Unity Principles, and we teach The Twelve Powers of Humanity. However, we allow you the freedom to flesh that out as you understand. We are not a “Here’s the creed, sign on the dotted line” organization. We won’t force or coerce you to rigidly believe some dogma. In fact, I will encourage you to think. You will not be spoon fed here. Quite honestly, I am more interested in your living the Beatitudes than quoting the Ten Commandments. We embrace the good in other world religions. I am excited when people share with me what books they are reading. We learn from each other. That’s rare for a church. You have insights; you have spiritual revelations. There are moments when the pieces of the puzzle come together for you, and that experience you have can help someone else interpret the events in their own lives. The river of truth is always flowing, and it flows through you. Ask questions. Engage your brain. In the words of Einstein, “Never lose a holy curiosity.” Reason Three: A Place to Experience God. I have always fought against the feelings that there is anything about me that experiences God in a different way than everyone else. But now I am thinking “Why fight it? Allow it!” God has acted in history through revealing himself and speaking through ordinary people. It does not mean those individuals were intrinsically of any greater worth than those who did not receive the same experience. It certainly doesn’t mean that anyone who experienced God in this way desired to be worshipped or to be well thought of. It was simply a reality to the prophets. Did that necessarily stop? I once thought it did. Now I think I was mistaken to believe that an extraordinary experience of God was relegated to the time in which the Bible was written. Where does someone like this come to worship? Come to Unity! I refuse to create boxes, with their inherent limitations and control. I invite you to connect with your inner self, your God-self. What that looks like on an individual basis will differ and that’s okay. It can be a powerful raw energy, bursts of creativity, pure love, or pure peace. For some, God may radiate as a healing force. Here we desire to empower you with the tools to express the God within you. Reason Four: A Place to Develop. We care about you as a person, for you are intrinsically as valuable as anyone else. The same Divine Essence is in all of us. Every attribute that comprises God is within you. You are unique, filled with unlimited potential. Here we want to give you a place to have that developed, cultivated, and grown as a seed matures to fruit. I look at you with wonder, and I imagine what you can become. I look at myself as growing. If I have already arrived, this is terribly anti-climactic! Unity is a place to push, to grow, to stretch, in divine partnership with each other and with God. Reason Five: A Place to Heal. Your wounds are not a sign of your defeat; they are a sign of your survival and triumph. They are a means to help and bless others. Acknowledge your wounds! Each of us has a story and most of them involve some hurt. For some of us that hurt came from church. Unity is a place of wellness, wholeness, fullness, and completeness. One of our own, Minnie Burton, shared her testimony of cancer healing and the place that prayer and Unity teachings held in that. You can read that here on our website. Reason Six: A Place to Launch a Better World. Remember the lyrics to the song from Disney’s Aladdin? Yes, we will acknowledge the challenges, personally, as a congregation, and in our world. But we will also affirm our solutions. We don’t just moan and groan, we help each other! With faith the size of a mustard seed, we can create a better world.
Reason Seven: A place to take a fresh look at Jesus. I am not going to treat you like a “sinner”. We’re not discussing talking snakes or a fallen race or separation from God here. Jesus was a peasant carpenter with a profound understanding of God. He himself said, “I and the Father are one.” He had a spiritual energy so intense he manifested physical healing. He wandered the villages and communities around Jerusalem teaching messages of hope. He showed compassion and honored the outcasts. He upset the apple cart and for that he was crucified. Sadly, much of Christianity has created a fixation on his death, rather than an appreciation of his message! I remain open-minded, if you need Jesus to be Savior, that’s okay. Just understand that here at Unity God is not angry and satisfied only with the blood of his son. You are not “lost”. Here we look at Jesus with wonder and appreciation as a mystic whose teachings we explore and study from a different angle. This is a place to allow the teachings of Jesus to richly bless your life. Our time is now. Yes to Unity. Yes to now. Unity is “A Positive Path to Spiritual Living” and this is your invitation to join us on that path! Comments are closed.
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Rev. Chris Dempsey
To learn more about Rev. Chris, please visit our Meet the Minister page. Archives
November 2017
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