News You Can Use
Chaplain Programs Begins Anew In January!
ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL WAYS to take the next
step in spiritual growth and understanding is through
service.
If you are ready for this step on your spiritual path,
please consider becoming a Tampa Unity Chaplain. The
Chaplain program is a dynamic program with excellent
training and support. It is a powerful way to serve
your fellow church members through prayer. Every
prayer offered on another's behalf is also offered for
yourself. In other words, you keep a carbon copy of
every prayer sent out for another. You are blessed by
your service to another.
Feeling timid about praying with another or praying the
right way? That's the purpose of the training program!
You will be taught how to go to your heart space and
pray from your heart. Chaplains also meet monthly for
2 hours to pray and support each other so the training
is on going and so are the blessings.
Becoming a Chaplain is a commitment not only to your
spiritual community, but to your own spiritual growth as
well. The training program begins January 9, 2005 with
an orientation in the sanctuary from 2:00-3:00 pm.
Interested or need more information? See Debbie Moss
for the full training schedule or more information.
CHRISTMAS EVE CANDLELIGHT SERVICE
JOIN US for a joy-filled Christmas Eve celebration at 7
pm on Christmas Eve.
FALL FOOD DRIVE:
Now through Dec. 19
Once again, we are collecting for Metropolitan Ministries
Food Drive. The theme this year is "Load a wagon,
Share the Load." So look for the barrels in the
Fellowship Hall and the Narthex of the church, as well
as the red wagon in the Youth Education Area. Let's fill
these with food to help needy people and families.
Officials at Metropolitan Ministries say they are in need
of typical holiday food items, such as cranberry sauce,
gravy, instant potatoes, stuffing, frozen turkeys, etc.,
as well as other canned and boxed foods that can be
used as a complement to other meals. Thank you for
your support of this worthwhile project.
CEP CLASS OFFERED
DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITY MOVEMENT CEP class
begins on 1/9 @ 10:00am in the Margaret Giles room.
Due to the numerous requests for more CEP classes,
they will resume! Come learn about Unity's history and
beliefs and earn Continuing Education Credits in the
process. The new class will be facilitated by Rev.
Debbie Moss on a love offering basis.
QUANTUM TOUCH UPDATE
THE QUANTUM TOUCH GROUP now meets the 1st
Wednesday of every month at 6 pm in the Sanctuary.
The meeting is available to Quantum Touch
practitioners seeking to hone their skills and open to
anyone wishing a unique healing experience. The
meeting is followed by Rev. Allen's Healing Meditation
Service at 7 pm. Quantum Touch Practitioners are also
available upon request. Call the Unity office at 813-870-
0731.
Y.O.U. CHRISTMAS GIVING
THE YOUTH OF UNITY WOULD LIKE TO THANK
everyone for the wonderful donations for the Christmas
stocking project. Your donations of love will bring smiles
to many young people this Christmas.
NEXT UP ON THE Y.O.U.'S CHRISTMAS LIST is R.I.C.H.
House, a safe haven project in Sulphur Springs. They
will be the recipients of the year's Teddy Bear drive.
The bears will serve as rewards for the children at
R.I.C.H. house. Teddy bears are being collected from
now until December 19.
As the church fills with bears, please hold them and
bless them each Sunday. Your love and blessings will
travel with the bears as they find a new home with a
child during the holiday season and throughout next
year. Please see the poster in the Narthex for more
information on R.I.C.H. House and the wonderful work
they are doing. If you have questions, please call Lynda
Taylor, Y.O.U. sponsor.
Click Here To Veiw Upcoming Events
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DRAWING BY CHANCE IS YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!
TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE for Tampa Unity's 1st
Annual Chance of a Lifetime Drawing by Chance. One
winner will receive a $10,000.00 cash prize!
Only 300 hundred tickets are available. Each donation
of $100.00 receives one ticket.
What are your chances of winning the Lotto jackpot?
One in 22,957,480! What are your chances of taking
home $10,000.00 in the Tampa Unity Drawing by
Chance? One in 300!
The drawing will take place at a "Sweet Treats"
banquet in late January. The winner need not be
present to win, but the event will be a festive affair
with desserts and door prizes.
All donations are tax deductible. Tickets, while they
last, are available in the Tampa Unity Bookstore. You
may also take out tickets on consignment if you have
friends or associates who would like to take part in the
drawing.
And remember: no matter who wins, Tampa Unity is the
big winner. All proceeds benefit Tampa Unity!
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| FORTY DAYS OF PEACE! | | | IT ALL STARTS ON THANKSGIVING and continues right
through New Years day. We all get busy and our
schedules become very hectic as we do our best to
create the perfect, "Hallmark card" holiday season. I
think we would all agree that Christmas is out of control
with commercialization. If we are not careful, our time
can be filled with obligations and unreasonable
expectations. Doing our inner work everyday is
imperative to enjoy the Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy
(Advent themes for this year) that we so desperately
want and need at Christmas. I recently found a writing buried in my files from an
unknown source, that was titled "A Letter from Fra
Giovanni to the Contessina." This letter expresses
some thoughts that are a good reminder during the
holidays and I share just a few lines with you: There is nothing I can give you, which you have
not got;
But there is much, very much that,
While I cannot give it, you can take.
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in
it today.
Take heaven!
No peace lies in our future which is not hidden
In this present little instant.
Take peace!
And so, at this Christmastime, I greet you;
Not quite as the world sends greetings,
But with profound esteem, and with the prayer that, for
you,
Now and forever,
The day breaks and the shadows flee away. I invite you to join with me beginning December 1st, to
observe 40 days of PEACE. According to our co-
founder Charles Fillmore, forty
represents "Completeness - foursquare."
Metaphysically it represents the fullness of time. The
Bible is replete with the number 40 representing enough
time passing for completion.
So for the Forty days beginning December 1st, let's
commit to praying the following affirmation at least four
times every day: In this moment I choose PEACE!
I am an instrument of PEACE!
What a wonderful way to honor the birth of the Prince
of Peace, by focusing on peace within ourselves.
May your holidays be filled with PEACE! Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your
hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid .John
14:27
Rich and Abundant Blessings,
Rev Allen Moss | | |
| Unity Principles | | | 4. "Prayer is creative thinking that heightens the
connection with God-Mind and therefore brings forth
wisdom, healing, prosperity, and everything good."
Prayer is simply communication with God, with prayer at
the speaking end of the continuum and meditation at
the listening end. True prayer is an activity of the mind
and heart working together. It is thought energized
feeling. In prayer, thoughts are much more important
than words. Prayer doesn't make things happen. Prayer
does not change God; it changes the person who is
praying.
Unity teaches that we are responsible for taking action
on divine ideas that are the result or our prayers. Effective prayer doesn't require a great deal of
expertise. We need only begin where we are. We open
ourselves to a greater awareness of God as inseparable
from ourselves, as the Truth of who we are. Prayer
opens our minds and hearts to possibilities that already
existed but were unseen.
Prayer changes our awareness, our consciousness.
With this heightened awareness, we see things
differently. We never need to worry about needing to
pray because God wants or requires it. Prayer is purely
for our benefit and for the benefit of others for whom
we pray.
When we ask for things in prayer, what we're really
doing is helping ourselves become aware of the good
that already exists in our lives. Prayer is not
about "setting things right." Rather, prayer is
about "seeing things rightly."
The simplest definition of meditation is "focused
thought." While any focused thought can be called
meditation, what we know in Unity as deep meditation
or centering prayer, happens in a place where words
and even thoughts are no longer needed. Both prayer
and meditation should close with a time of gratitude to
acknowledge the Truth we have realized. Unity's most cherished prayer is the "Prayer for
Protection" written by James Dillet Freeman. This
affirmative prayer has been spoken and held silently in
mind by countless thousands of people. This prayer was
taken to the moon by Apollo 11 Astronaut Edwin E.
Aldrin, Jr., in July of 1969.
Prayer does not consist of just hoping for desired
results. Much more than hoping for a positive answer,
affirmative prayer is the work of persistently holding in
mind the truth of what we are praying about. We
demonstrate the fourth spiritual principle when we
communicate with God through prayer and receive
answers through meditation.
5. "Knowing and understanding the laws of life, also
called Truth, are not enough. A person must also live
the Truth that she or he knows."
Every day we are offered the choice of either seeing
God at work in our lives or succumbing to the erroneous
belief that another power or entity is at work against
us. It is a person's very belief in a power of evil, in a
negative power, that makes the negativity seem real to
us. The remedy is to focus on the quality of God-life, love,
wisdom, power, abundance, and so on - that applies to
the situation we're in.
We must practice and be these Truths everyday. We
must remember that God is good in all our dealings. We
must be the Christ in every situation. To keep our
awareness on God, it is important that we pray and
meditate every day, even if it is just for a few minutes.
We are human, yes, but we are more than that. Each
of us is truly divine by nature. The more we focus on
our divine nature, the Christ, and on the divine nature
of all people, the more we actually see and experience
the Christ in others and ourselves. We demonstrate
the fifth spiritual principle by putting all four of the
spiritual principles into practice in our lives as follows:
I know there is only One Power One Presence, God the
Good.
I know that I am created in the image and likeness of
God. I am the Christ.
I become aware of the Truth of who I am through
prayer and meditation. Through self-observation, I can
look at my life, my thoughts, and my feelings and
change those that do not affirm and support my Christ
nature.
Through the power of my thoughts, I can change my
perception of the world around me and so change my
experience of the world. We are not islands. We are one people. Land appears
as separate continents, but under the sea, the land is
joined. We may believe we are totally separate from
one another and therefore turn our backs on one
another, but if we walk long enough, we meet again.
Perhaps this is why our creator made our home a
sphere. It is one of the hints that quietly whispers to all
creation, "You are one."
Rev Enrique Amoros | | |
| THE NATURE OF GOD, PART 2 | | | WE CONTINUE OUR DISCUSSION ON THE NATURE OF
GOD AS EXPRESSED BY UNITY AND UNITY WRITERS,
ALONG WITH MY OWN THOUGHTS AND COMMENTARY.
God as Divine Mind:
"There is only one Mind in all the universe and that is
God-Mind. As Mind, God is the originator of all divine
ideas. This name for God encompasses the truth that
God is the source from which all intelligence is derived.
Since God as Mind is all-knowing, we refer to God as
Omniscience." Metaphysics I (out of print). The concept of only one Mind in the universe makes so
much sense to me. How often does more than one
person have the same idea at the same time, even if
they are in different locations? It is very reasonable
that our connection to our Creator is through God-
Mind. What's really important about this concept is if
we spend more time in the silence, in meditation we are
open to receiving more divine ideas directly from God-
Mind and less likely to respond to ideas coming from our
ego. More time in meditation helps us connect with
who we really are and we are less likely to believe the
negative messages we receive from outside sources. Conclusion: Daily meditation is good for us!
God is Spirit:
"God as the moving force in the universe; Principle as
the breath of life in all creation. The Latin word spiritus
from which we get our word "spirit" comes from a root
that means "to breathe, to blow, to live." The word
spirit implies unformed, unspecialized, unrestricted, and
limitless. As spirit, God is the infinite invisible essence
of all life. Since God as Spirit is everywhere equally
present in the universe, we refer to God as
Omnipresence." Metaphysics I Unity takes its authority on this concept from Jesus,
who told the Samaritan woman at the well that "God is
spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit
and truth." John 3:24. When this conversation
occurred, the Hebrew people believed that God only
resided in their temple in Jerusalem, the Samaritan
people believed that God resided only on their
mountain. It seems that people have long debated the
nature of God and there have been many opinions
through the centuries. God is Spirit and Divine Mind and I believe these two
concepts work hand and glove. God is omnipresence
and is therefore everywhere present; this could only be
accomplished as Spirit. God as Spirit explains how we are made in God's image
and that we are indeed spiritual beings having a human
experience. All the more reason to spend time daily in
meditation to feed our spiritual needs, to remember
that we are spiritual beings. Daily meditation allows us
to let go of negative emotions, thoughts, concerns
gathered by our egos and personalities.
Conclusion: Daily meditation is good for us!
Rev Debbie Moss | | |
| SURGERY INSPIRES REBIRTH AND GRATITUDE | | | In June, Carl Osier, Association Of Unity Churches Vice
President, learned of his urgent need to have a kidney
transplant. We received this e-mail from him in
September. DEAR FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES,
This is Carl Osier, now a born again, again, Unity
minister. As of June, I have four birthdays, a first one
(for this lifetime) in October, a spiritual birthday going
back to sometime in 1986, the day of my kidney
transplant (June 23, 2004), and a shared one with Jim
in July.
Your prayers, and those of your congregations and
prayer teams have made a world of difference.
First of all, more than eight people stepped forward to
offer to be tested to donate. This says volumes about
the generosity and courage of who we are. Obviously I
will never know, but I have the feeling that if I were
still practicing medicine, my colleagues, on hearing that
I needed a kidney, would encourage me and wish me
luck but that would be about it. Talk about practical
Christianity! Our colleagues lived out Jesus' teaching
from John 15:13, "No one has greater love than this, to
lay down one's life for one's friends." Then, there is the matter of what happened after
surgery. My new kidney began to work as soon as it
was "stitched in" (as the surgeon likes to say). A
transplanted kidney often doesn't work for two to
seven days. It's also very interesting to me that I also
require only one-quarter the usual dose of
immunosuppressant medications to keep my body from
rejecting Jim's kidney. I say that's because of your
prayers, Jim's prayer before surgery (I love Carl. My
kidney loves Carl) and my prayer (I create a sacred
space to receive and nurture Jim's kidney). I have learned a lot during this journey. In the months
before transplant I didn't spend much time asking, "Why
me." I also didn't feel much fear. I attribute that to
Unity which helped me stay in the moment, helped me
stay aware of the gifts that were coming to me through
this experience that I had not consciously asked for,
and helped me remember that God had not left the
room. I also learned about prayer. Stated in the fewest
words possible, I had understood the phrase "to be
lifted up by prayer" to be a figure of speech. Now I
know that to be lifted up by prayer is a physical
experience. So I thank you and the people of your churches, Jim
and Nancy Rosemergy, my partner Steve, and the great
folks I work with at the Association office, for praying
with me and loving me through this life giving and life
changing experience.
As Jim and I said to each other one day in
August, "Everything looks just a little different now."
Blessings,
Carl | | |
| A SHOPPING FREE CHRISTMAS | | | FEELING THE CRUSH OF CRASS COMMERCIALISM
squeezing the "Merry" out of your Christmas? Try
having a "Buy Nothing Christmas."
In response to the mind-boggling pressure from
corporate retailers, advertisers and markateers to buy,
buy, buy till it hurts, progressive consumer and religious
groups across the United States, Canada and the world
have initiated the "Buy Nothing Christmas." It's time to
revive the true meaning of Christmas Giving. Enough is
enough, we don't need no more stuff! Suggestions for more meaningful giving include: writing
personal cards and letters telling your loved ones and
friends how much they mean to you; making donations
to worthy organizations; homemade gifts (baked goods
or calendars and cards created from photographs); and
recycling useful things from your own home. Check out
more suggestions from the following web sites:
buynothingchristmas.org and adbusters.org You don't have to be a Scrooge to join the movement.
You can shop responsibly and support your local
economy by:
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Giving tickets to local performing arts productions and
concerts.
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Buying gifts from local artists, craftsmen and
establishments instead of corporate chain-stores.
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Giving gift certificates for personal services like a
massage or a house cleaning.
Janet Stanley | | |
| BOOKWORMS | | | It's been a great year for books at the Tampa Unity
Book Club. In the past year, we have read a myriad of
wonderful selections including: The Red Tent, A Radical
Incarnation, The Song My Soul Remembers, Angels &
Demons, The Secret Life of Bees, Five People You Meet
in Heaven, Many Lives, Many Masters, The Alchemist,
and The Dance of 17 Lives. As you can see we read a
variety of titles and subjects; as a bonus the books are
offered in the Bookstore at 20% off the retail price We are not meeting in December because of everyone's
busy holiday schedule. In January, we will explore the
historical novel, Mary Called Magdalene by Margaret
George. This well researched and highly readable book
explores the life of Mary Magdalene, from girlhood to
her controversial relationship with Jesus Christ Please join us on the second Tuesday of each month in
the Youth Ed Area. We are friendly and open, reading
the book is not even required! The more who attend,
the more ideas we have to discuss. I am always
pleasantly surprised by the new and diverse things
found by different readers in every book. The next Book
Club meeting is on Tuesday, January 11 at 6:30 pm. Clara McLaughlin Anne Wagner is a member of Tampa Unity.
To submit an article, prayer, poem, announcement, etc.
for publication in the Tampa Unity Vision, e-mail Janet
at staff@unitytampa.org. All submissions subject to
approval and editing! | | |
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