NEWS YOU CAN USE
UPCOMING:
- Lessons In Truth Class, starts April 27th
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Mother's Day Y.O.U. Pie Sale and Flower Presentation,
May 8th
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Joy Center Workshop, May 8th, 15th, 22nd and June
5th, 12th, and 19th
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Birthday Sunday May 15th
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Circle G Sunday School Program, starts June 5th
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Father's Day, June 19th
Lessons in Truth begins April 27
6:45 - 8:45 in the Sanctuary. The first evening will
cover chapters one and two in the book, Lessons in
Truth, available in the bookstore for $14.95. CEP credit
applicable.
Mother's Day, Sunday May 8th
IN HONOR OF MOTHER'S DAY, the members of the
Y.O.U. will present flowers to all mothers - and mother-
like persons - during the Sunday Service. This is an
annual Mother's Day tradition started by the Y.O.U. to
show their appreciation for the love and
accomplishments of Tampa Unity's mothers throughout
the year.
AFTER THE SERVICE, take advantage of tasty
homemade pies at the Y.O.U. Pie Sale. Get one for
yourself or take one home to Mom! These popular
pastries are available on a love offering basis.
All proceeds help to send members of our Youth of
Unity to the Association of Unity Churches Summer
Conference, Unity Village, Missouri.
Three Y.O.U.'ers from Tampa Unity will attend this
year's conference and then report to the congregation
about their experiences during a Sunday Service next
Fall.
20 New Members Join Tampa Unity
TAMPA UNITY WELCOMED ITS NEWEST MEMBERS AT
SUNDAY SERVICES ON APRIL 17, 2005.
Denise Banach, Jason Carter, Ellen Dixon, Carol
Ferguson, Olga Florez, Gail Gibson, Sharon Hall, Bruce
Hall, Chris Hubbard, Kristen Hubbard, Brian Marinelli,
Veronica Merriman, Keith Odums, Jesse Riehl, Josefina
Rivera, Julio Rivera, Dalila Rodriguez, Maria Teresa
Rodriguez, Adriana Rovirosa, Carol Stricker have all
completed their class work and been approved by the
Board of Trustees to become voting members of Tampa
Unity.
If you are interested in becoming an official member of
Tampa Unity (or just want to know more about Unity),
Rev. Debbie's Spiritual Enrichment Education class
meets on Sunday mornings at 10 am in the Margaret
Giles Room. Please contact her for further information.
Membership will be available in the fall, just in time for
the annual meeting in October to elect new Board
Members.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
TAMPA UNITY'S NOREEN MAIER will perform selected
works of celebrated 19th Century poet Emily Dickenson
in a poetry reading with the Ally Cat Players on June
10, 11 and 13 at the Isaac Center, 408 E. North Street,
Tampa. Showtime is 8 pm on all evenings. Tickets are
$5 at the door. Call the Ally Cat Players at 231-8478
for more information.
LOIS WELLS, 102 YEARS YOUNG!
TAMPA UNITY'S MOST SENIOR MEMBER, LOIS WELLS,
turns 102 on May 7. Lois has lived in Tampa since
moving here as a young girl in 1913. She graduated
from Hillsborough High School in 1921.
Lois became active with Tampa Unity in the 1980's,
singing in the choir and helping out with numerous
community service and church activities such as taking
Easter baskets to nursing homes.
Lois has a long history of helping others. Before coming
to Unity, she traveled extensively around the state of
Florida establishing Camps for Young People with the
Baptist Missionary Union.
She was also a volunteer for Meals on Wheels until she
gave up her driver's license at the age of 99! Her
hobbies include dancing and painting.
Lois now lives at Park Place in Carrollwood. She greatly
appreciates the cards she has received from her Tampa
Unity family.
Join us after the 11 am service on Sunday, May 1 to
wish her a Happy 102nd Birthday!
"I love Tampa Unity"
Lois Wells
HOLOGRAPHIC REPATTERNING
ACHIEVE A POSITIVE CHANGE IN ANY AREA OF YOUR
LIFE with the "Resonance System of Holographic
Repatterning." Tampa Unity member Veronica Merriman
facilitates the sessions.
Currently the group is focusing on employment issues:
Finding employment, achieving happiness and
satisfaction in your employment, manifesting
abundance, etc.
The group meets on the first and third Saturday of
each month at 10 am in the Margaret Giles Room.
Sessions typically last 2 to 2½ hours. People's
experiences world wide with the Resonance System
have resulted in positive and transforming changes.
The class is ongoing and offered on a love offering
basis. Please call Veronica Merriman at 813-982-0832
for further information or visit: www.holographic.org
THANKS GARDEN CLUB!
Many Thanks to the Tampa Unity Garden Club for all
their hard work in re-landscaping the church Courtyard
and surrounding grounds. Please contact Fern Kinion if
you would like to help by adopting a flower bed or
attend the next work day on Saturday, May 7 at 9 am
in the Courtyard. Bring your gloves!
See Argentina!
COME PLAY IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA on Tampa
Unity's Fall Holiday. Departure is November 1, 2005,
returning November 9. That's 9 days and 8 nights
touring fun. Travelers will stay at the newly renovated
Claridge Hotel, enjoy history, shopping, and excursions
to the Botanical Gardens, Recoleta Cemetary,, Fiesta
Gaucha, "Dorrego Plaza," Montevideo Uruguay and
more! Book now for the special package price of
$1,799.00, double occupancy.
Stop by the display in Fellowship Hall on Sundays or
contact Sharon Seefeld at 813-884-8479 for more
information.
WHAT'S NEW IN THE
BOOKSTORE:
A GREAT, NEW SELECTION OF SPRING READING
MATERIALS is now in the bookstore, including:
Becoming Like God by Michael Berg.
This
revelation of human destiny was discovered by
Kabbalistic scholar Michael Berg while translating the
Zohar, the 23 volumes of ancient Aramaic text that
comprise Kabbalah's key text. Berg outlines the
transformative method by which people can now
escape the prison of ego nature and become, in all its
joy and audacity, "Like God."
Jesus, What He Really Said and Did by Stephen
Mitchell. This is a portrait of one of the most beautiful
men who ever lived, though He would probably not
have considered himself beautiful or even special. He
did say, we are all children of God.
A great little booklet: Time for Peace by Ruth
Fisher. A Monthly Plan, this is a daily reading for peace
in our hearts and it sells for $4.95.
Incandescence by Carmen Butcher: 365 readings
with women mystics. They offer a way to peace,
laughter, love and connection with each other. They
show us a picture of a tender, nurturing, forgiving God
who is as intimate as our own breath.
Reminders of God (Altars for personal & family
devotion) by Anne Grizzle. This book shows how a
personal altar provides an opportunity to refocus our
busy, worry-filled lives so that we may more fully
experience the life that God has for us. She gives us a
history of altars from the Old Testament to the present
time.
These are just a few of the great books we have
available. Stop by and have a look around.
Bookstore hours: Sunday, 8:30 am - 1 pm.
Monday - Thursday, 9 am - 4:30 pm.
Click Here To Veiw Upcoming Events
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LESSONS FROM A BUTTERFLY
WITH SPRING COME THE CATERPILLARS. I took it upon
myself this year to hijack a few from the wilds of the
milkweed patch and raise them in captivity so that my
five year old daughter could watch as they turned into
butterflies. This is what we saw:
The caterpillar crawls around for a bit, it eats leaves, a
lot of leaves. It makes a big mess actually, then climbs
to the top of the habitat. It hangs upside down for a
while; then shrinks; spins a cocoon and sleeps. It is
green, then little golden beads appear, encircling it at
the top and bottom.
After a week or so, the cocoon begins to darken. Wings
can be seen within the thinning case. When it emerges,
it has changed; it no longer crawls; it has wings to
spread. It is a Monarch Butterfly.
We take the butterflies to the garden to release,
attempting to coax a short perch on an outstretched
finger. Sometimes they linger for a brief time, but
mostly they are anxious to flutter off, high and away on
the breeze. Who would think that all this could come
from so tiny a pod?
Watching the cocoons, I thought that maybe these
butterflies to be were trying to tell me something like:
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Foraging is necessary and can be fun, even if it makes
a mess.
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Go for the high place.
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See the world from a different perspective, hang upside
down!
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Rest is good, and so is patience.
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It's all worth it once you get your wings!
Maybe it's time to take a walk on the wild side and look
at things from a different perspective; it could be the
secret to transformation.
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| UNITY OF THE SPIRIT | | | ON APRIL 27TH, I BEGIN TEACHING THE BASIC CLASS
ON LESSONS IN TRUTH, the book written by Dr. H.
Emilie Cady. This book is the second fundamental text
for Unity, the first being the Bible. So, I picked up my
copy of the book and began to review it just before
writing this column for the news letter.
It is amazing! I have read this book at least five times,
two or three times studying it paragraph by paragraph.
I have taken the class as a student four times. I have
taught a class on the book two or three times. What is
so amazing is that as I started to review it, I began to
feel like I had not read the book before. I admit it has been about four years since I last looked
at the book. But I have changed deeply in many ways
and the way I see and understand is different. Some
books are timeless, like the Bible. The more we read
and study them, the more we learn and the deeper the
messages seem to be. As we grow spiritually and our
total consciousness expands, we are more open to a
broader and deeper insight of how truth works in life.
Lessons in Truth is one of those books.
In the twelfth lesson, Unity of the Spirit, Dr. Cady
begins with:
If we did not know it as a living reality that behind the
multitude and variety of human endeavors...there
stands forever the master Mind, which sees the end
from the beginning,...we might sometimes become
discouraged. As I read this there is a sense of comfort that comes
over me. We can become discouraged from time to
time, especially if we begin a new endeavor; such as
creating a new vision for ourselves and setting goals or
meeting the challenges of life. Dr. Cady says in effect
that becoming discouraged is being "under bondage
to false beliefs about your circumstances or
environment." When we begin to experience those
challenging moments, if we allow it, our human mind will
very quickly assume the worst about our apparent
circumstances and conditions. We need to stand guard
at the door of our mind and allow no thoughts or
feelings of discouragement. If we will stop and remind
ourselves that "all things work together for
good," then persist in recognizing and affirming that
"There is only One Power and God is present in
all things," we can thwart the
discouragement. The master Mind, God, stands behind
all our endeavors:
In our Unity of Spirit, we are guided by infinite Wisdom
and prospered by Divine Love.
As June approaches and school is out, it is the time for
vacations and travel. I pray that your vacation will be
a time of renewal, fun, joy, and new adventures with
your loved ones. Our next news letter will be the
July/August issue and we will update you on the latest
at Tampa Unity once again.
Love and blessings,
Rev Allen Moss
Senior Minister | | |
| IT'S THE GOSPEL TRUTH! A New Series | | | MANY PEOPLE HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BIBLE,
who wrote it, when was it written, is it the inerrant
word of God? I have learned more about the Bible in
the last few years because I have studied the Bible,
read books by current Bible scholars, attended
workshops by professors of the Jesus Seminar and
taken classes. I feel more confident about my Bible
knowledge now than ever before. My thanks to my
Ministerial Mentor, Rev. Judi Purcell, who asked me right
after I was accepted into the Field Licensing Ministerial
program how did I feel about the Bible. "Honestly," I
said, "It's not the first book I turn to for inspiration."
Honestly, that hooked me into required study of the
Bible. It is Unity's first book of study, followed closely
by Emilie Cady's Lessons In Truth.
Honestly, I have enjoyed my quest to learn more about
the Bible, many of my questions and earlier concerns
have been answered. I'm guessing some of you may
have some questions about the Holy Scriptures as
well. Jesus is our teacher, elder brother and way-
shower, so in this column we will discuss the New
Testament. The New Testament consists of 27 books written by
the early Christians of the first Century. Why are there
27 books in the New Testament? Because these were
the books canonized by the Nicene Council
commissioned by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 325
AD. There were many other books about Jesus, his
sayings and his life, but these 27 were the favorites of
this council; these books mirrored the theology of the
early church. Constantine was the first Roman Emperor
to accept Christianity and it became the official religion
of Rome.
Jesus lived and these books were written during the
time of the Greco-Roman world. This term refers to the
lands around the Mediterranean from roughly the time
of Alexander the Great 300 BCE to the time of the
Roman Emperor Constantine 300 AD. Because of the spread of Greek religions and culture
most of the highly educated elite throughout the
Mediterranean spoke Greek in addition to their native
languages. As a result, the books of the New
Testament were written in Greek. Jesus and his
disciples most likely spoke Aramaic, Hebrew and
possibly Greek.
The first four books of the New Testament are the four
Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These four
books describe the life, ministry, death and resurrection
of Jesus. Before the New Testament was canonized in
325, a third century "church father," Tertullian, had
already chosen these four as his theological favorites.
One of his rationalizations for having only four Gospels
was there were four corners, four winds of the earth
and therefore four Gospels met the needs of the early
Christians. It has been a common belief that the four Gospels were
written by the Apostles that bears their names.
However, this is doubtful. The first Gospel, Mark, was
written in 65-70 AD, at least 35 years after the death
of Jesus. Matthew, Luke and the Book of Acts were
written between 80-85 AD and the Gospel of John was
written around 90-95 AD. One more important point: Gospel means the Good
News of Jesus Christ. Three of the Gospels, Matthew,
Mark and Luke are known as the synoptic (meaning
they can be seen together) Gospels. Bible scholars
agree that Mark was most likely used as a source for
the authors of both Matthew and Luke. The Gospel of
John recounts very few of the same stories as the
Synoptic Gospels and therefore stands alone. Some of
my favorite stories are found in the Gospel of John. We'll continue this discussion in the next newsletter, in
the meantime read your Bible!
Love and blessings,
Rev. Debbie
My sources are: The Great Courses: The New
Testament, Professor Bart D. Ehrman, University of
North Carolina and Beyond Belief, Elaine Pagels,
Professor of Religion at Princeton University. | | |
| THE NATURE OF GOD AND ERROR | | | WE MAY HAVE TO START FROM SCRATCH and agree on
the nature of God, and the nature of error, what God is
and what God is not, in order to appreciate and accept
the many ways and levels at which God is present. When I talk of the nature of error, I am referring to
mistaken identity. Error is a lie claiming to be truth. It
has no existence apart from that which we give it by
believing in it. Ignorance is not truth. It is the absence
of truth in the same way that cold has no other
definition other than that it is the absence of hot. Error
or ignorance has no power over us apart from which we
give to it by believing in it. Therefore, whenever I talk about the nature of error, I
am talking about something that exists only when we
confuse it with the nature of Truth or God. In order to
arrive at a concept of God that we can universally
accept, we have to agree on both the nature of the
reality of God and the nature of the non-reality of error.
Fortunately, we have a model to emulate, Jesus, The
Christ. To Him, righteous judgment was an awareness
of the nature of truth or God, and any belief in an
existence or power apart from God was his definition of
the nature of error or unrighteous judgment. By talking of God objectively as his Father one minute
and subjectively as love the next minute, and by seeing
God as greater than himself one minute and
simultaneously as his own being the next, he was
illustrating the multi-dimensional nature of God. Exploring the multi-dimensional nature of God is similar
to polishing the facets of a diamond. Yet, by
contemplating as many of the facets as we can, we
somehow encourage an experience of the diamond. God is not what we think It is. God is not a thing, a
being, a noun. It does not exist, as existence is
defined, for It takes up no space and is not bound by
time. Jewish mystics often refer to It as Ein Sol, which
means Endlessness. Ein sol should never be
conceptualized in any way. It should not be called
Creator, Almighty, Father, Mother, Infinite, The One,
Brahma, Buddha, Allah, Adoni, Elohim, El or Shaddai;
and It should never, never be called He. It is none of
these names, and It has no gender.
The only one thing that God is, The Good,
Omnipotent.
Rev. Enrique | | |
| WORKSHOP INSPIRES A NATURAL HIGH | | | YOU CAN LEARN BREAKTHROUGH RAPID FIRE
TECHNIQUES to access your brain's joy center. Tampa
Unity's Brian England will present a 3-part workshop
series on Septum Pellucidum Physiology and how to
have it work for you beginning on Sunday, May 8.
A little known part of the brain, the septum pellucidum
(pellucid meaning light filled), or, as we refer to it, the
joy center, is a small fluid filled sac that produces
endorphins, dopamines, and spinal fluid. These are the
body's natural opiates that can now be accessed easily
through the breakthrough techniques of Inner
Technology founded by mind/body author and
researcher Pete Sanders and his organization
FreeSoul.net in Sedona, AZ. Within minutes of activating this center, you will free
your soul's energy and power by breaking the hold of
the brain's repetitious worry, anxiety, and fear created
by the lymbic (mood center) system or dinosaur brain.
You can learn these self-triggering techniques to
activate the mood elevating and pain killing chemicals in
the brain from the inside just as outside stimuli has
done all our lives. If eating chocolate, drinking coffee or watching your
team win a championship elevates your mood, imagine
the power you'll have triggering the same center of the
brain without these things, tapping it within seconds,
eyes wide open, and driving down the road. You don't
need a 30 minute meditation to get there! And, it only gets better. Once you are freed from the
prison of the lymbic brain, you can explore other areas
of your soul's dimensions. Over the course of the three
classes, you'll learn cutting edge techniques such as
the comforting connection, relaxation breath pattern,
psychic antennae, soul cleansing, soul shifting, and soul
infusion. You will explore areas of the soul and tap into
what Einstein called the "Universal Unconscious!"
Brian England has been a member of Tampa Unity since
1984. He is the coordinator for Tampa Unity's Uniteen
program and a FreeSoul.net Instructor. He is presenting
three mind-blowing and soul shifting classes, 1) Access
Your Brain's Joy Center, 2) Inner Technology, and 3) Psi
2000 at the church starting May 8 and the following
two Sundays (May 15 and 22) from 1 pm to 3:30 pm.
The cost is $25 for each class and the book, Access
Your Brain's Joy Center, available for $17.00, is
optional. Brian England will be in Fellowship Hall after the 11 am
Service on Sunday, April 24 to provide information and
answer questions about the upcoming workshops. The series will be repeated twice starting Sunday, June
5th and again on Sunday, July 10th. It is recommended
that the three classes be taken in sequential order.
Sign up in Fellowship Hall. All workshops will be in the
Y.O.U. Room. | | |
| TAMPA TRANSPLANT FEELS AT HOME WITH TAMPA UNITY | | | WELCOME TAMPA UNITY'S NEWEST TRANSFER, Chris
Hubbard. Chris comes to Tampa from Santa Monica, CA where
she attended Christ Church Unity of Anaheim, CA. She
has been active in the Unity movement for over 15
years in churches from Virginia to Hawaii! Chris recently completed her Masters Degree in Spiritual
Psychology at the University of Santa Monica, CA and
now lives in Lutz with her husband and two sons. She is
the Area Patient Services Representative for
Hillsborough and Polk Counties for the American Cancer
Society. She hopes to someday establish a "Wellness Center" to
encourage spiritual and emotional healing for those
facing physical challenges. Chris has offered to be Tampa Unity's new Volunteer
Coordinator. Please look for her on Sundays and
welcome her to her new spiritual home. | | |
| SUMMER SUNDAY SCHOOL RUSTLES UP SOME FUN | | | SADDLE UP FOR THIS YEAR'S SUNDAY SCHOOL SUMMER
PROGRAM, which will take place during regular Sunday
School sessions on Sunday mornings instead of during
the week. This year's program is very exciting. The theme is
Circle "G" Ranch - "Where God is at the center and the
Love never ends." It starts on June 5 and continues every Sunday
morning through mid August. A sign-up poster for
adults to volunteer to help out at the Circle "G" Ranch
will be displayed in the Fellowship Hall. This is an exciting time for the children to develop a
deeper relationship with God while they share in
adventures on the "Ranch." There will be music, crafts,
real-life adventure stories and Bible stories to share. The program is based upon scripture from Matthew 7:7:
Ask and it will be given to you;
Seek and you will find;
Knock and the door will be opened to you.
There will be an end of program presentation in August,
so watch your bulletins and August Newsletter for
updates. Come on down to the Circle "G" Ranch where
the love never ends.
Jean Wynne
Coming Soon: CHILDREN'S BELL CHOIR! | | |
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