WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL?

Religion refers to a system of faith and worship. One definition of Spirit is the soul or heart as the seat of feelings or sympathies. Spiritual is defined as pertaining to, or consisting of, spirit.

Spirituality & Health magazine tackled this subject in their February 2005 issue. The article included six true- or-false statements from the Religious Fundamentalism Scale developed by psychologists Bruce Hunsberger and Bob Altemeyer in 1992. This measure has been tested with Christian, Jewish, Islamic, and Hindu populations. Here are the statements:

1. It is more important to believe in God and the right religion than to be a good person.
2. Of all the people on this earth, one group has a special relationship with God because it believes the most in his revealed truths and tries the hardest to follow his laws.
3. The long-established traditions in religion show the best way to honor and serve God and should never be compromised.
4. There is a religion on earth that teaches God's truth without error.
5. One must belong to the one, true religion to lead the best, most meaningful life.
6. Whenever science and sacred scripture conflict, science must be wrong.

Based on Unity's five basic principles, would you say Unity is Spiritual or Religious?

1. God is absolute good, everywhere present.
2. Human beings have a spark of divinity within them, the Christ spirit within. Their very essence is of God, and therefore, they are also inherently good.
3. Human beings create their experiences by the activity of their thinking. Everything in the manifest realm has its beginning in thought.
4. Prayer is creative thinking that heightens the connection with God-Mind and therefore brings forth wisdom, healing, prosperity, and everything good.
5. Knowing and understanding the laws of life, also called Truth, are not enough. A person must also live the truth that he or she knows.

The numerous Christian doctrines led Charles to state, "In this Babel, I will go to headquarters. If I am spirit and this God they talk so much about is Spirit, we can somehow communicate, or the whole thing is a fraud." Eventually, he began having "exceedingly realistic dreams" that convinced him that Spirit was giving him guidance.

He said, "The most important phase of my experience was the opening of my spiritual nature." How does Spirit get through to you? For me it's in my intuition: if I listen, it guides me; if I ignore it, it goes silent.

According to Pew Research, 28% of American adults have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion - or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, roughly 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether. *

This shift in religious affiliations suggests that many have grown tired of rigid, unchanging dogma, and they favor connecting with God spiritually rather than with dogma or ritual. I think Unity is a Spiritual philosophy for anyone who has grown weary of churches proclaiming "we have the only way." Take the test and answer these questions for yourself and decide "Am I spiritual or religious?" Let me know the results, and if you have questions, let's talk.

Rev Debbie

* Pew Research "The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey Reveals a Fluid and Diverse Pattern of Faith" - February 25, 2008.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WONDERING HOW TO GET MORE INVOLVED AT TAMPA UNITY, FEBRUARY MIGHT BE THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY!

What Are Visioning Meetings?

These meetings are facilitated and organized events where ideas are conceptualized, evaluated, adopted or rejected, and mapped for implementation. We meet as one large group first to discuss issues relevant to all teams; then individual groups meet to adopt/plan missions and tasks; and finally meet again as one large group to eat lunch and review all group efforts.

A large majority of Tampa Unity's programs, activities, marketing/business ideas, and building and ground improvements emerge from these meetings. Providing a quality, spiritual experience for congregants and their families is at the core of all actions related to Visioning efforts, and volunteers from the congregation drive the decisions and process.

The volunteers who attend these meetings are a wide range of congregants that includes: Ministers, Board Members, employees of the church, members and non-members. Anyone willing to share their ideas and help is welcomed!

We also have a wide variety of topic areas which allows volunteers to serve in the areas they are most interested in. Existing groups include: Children & Family Programs, Church Growth, Facilities, Grounds, Marketing, Music Ministry, Pastoral Care, and Volunteer Programs.

Accomplishments of these groups are too many to list, but include just about everything you see, experience, and participate in at Tampa Unity!

How Long Have Visioning Meetings Existed?

The concept was started with a meeting called Future Search 2000, and has evolved from there. The current format has been underway since August 2006 and we will begin planning for our official fourth season in August 2009.

How Often Do Visioning Meetings Occur?

Believe it or not, past years have only included two large gatherings per year. For the 2008-2009 season the collective group will meet three times. The schedule for each season is as follows:

Meeting 1 is held in August to plan for the September - June season;

Meeting 2 is held in February to discuss/monitor progress;

Meeting 3 is held in June to report on completed efforts.

Individual groups meet and communicate as needed in between these official meetings to accomplish the mission and tasks they willingly adopt. Sometimes these meetings are held on Sunday before or after church, and there are some groups who meet via phone occasionally as well.

How Can You Participate?

Our next meeting will be held Saturday, February 28th from 9:00 - 1:00 in Fellowship Hall and beverages, snacks and lunch will be provided. Just show up and select the group of your interest. That's all there is to it!

Please RSVP your interest in participating to nmercurio@leadershiptrainingsys.com or see me on Sundays and let me know!

Nancy Mercurio

Happy new year, everybody. It's a new year with lots of new opportunities.

For those of you who missed the David Roth concert at Tampa Unity earlier this month, you get another chance to see him when Clearwater Unity Church presents a Posi-Palooza concert on the 6th of February, a Friday night. You can check out David and his music at www.davidroth music.com.

John McEwen

ONE OF THE THINGS I LOVE AND CONTINUE TO BE AWED BY IS THAT EACH OF US AT TAMPA UNITY IS ON OUR OWN SPIRITUAL JOURNEY.

Many times, I would prefer to be helping others on their journey instead of facing the monsters that are mine; however, our monsters remain in place until we can see them, feel them, get to know them, and release their power over us.

I have found this absolutely true as I have began my journey into Tithing. Our church has had two national speakers this past year on just this topic: David Friedman and Edwine Gaines. While I found their workshops inspiring and loved what they shared, my immediate thoughts were that they both must be rich, they don't question their job security, and they don't have any of the financial concerns that the rest of us have. Ten percent of an abundance of cash is always so much easier than ten percent of an already challenged checkbook.

It took me a while to realize the relationship between their thoughts and their reality.

I have had the honor of spending a lot of time with David Friedman this past year. I have been blessed to sit with him for hours questioning the validity of this whole tithing principle.

He just smiles at my questions and continues to explain that money is not what this is all about. Money is just a measurable channel of our abundance and, of course, our abundance is a reflection of our current thought process.

If you find this as confusing as I did, hold on - it gets worse (or better). It seems that the more financially we are challenged, the more we should be giving. OK, that goes against all I have ever learned. If you are having financial challenges, isn't it because you are spending too much?

Each of us holds a thought about how prosperous we are. In reality, abundance, as taught in Unity, is available to each of us right here, right now. So how do we access that abundance? Through our thoughts and beliefs.

Vinnie and I started tithing after Edwine's talk. It was a leap of faith for both of us. It has been amazing to see that as our thoughts change, so do our lives. I won't say I am rolling around in millions, but it has become commonplace at our household to see dollars fall out of the dryer every time we do laundry.

Abundance always comes from unexpected sources, but it always comes. I am beginning to understand and appreciate the concept of "Change your thoughts and change your world."

by Dr. Scott Barry

TAMPA UNITY WELCOMES CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, D. FRANKLIN SCHULTZ, PHD, ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, FROM 6:30 TO 10 PM. Dr. Schultz is the author of A Language of the Heart:

Therapy Stories That Heal, a book that explores the language we use to describe our lives and offers tools to make sense of life and relationships. It provides a healthy approach to managing the daily stressors that so often lead to depression or anxiety.

His one-hour presentation on managing fear and anxiety will be followed by a talk that is essentially the first half of A Language of the Heart. Participants will receive program booklets with information and exercises to take home. Dr. Schultz's A Language of the Heart: Therapy Stories That Heal and other recommended reading materials will be available for purchase.

Dr. Schultz is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Lakeland, Florida, and is licensed in both Texas and Florida. He has been providing therapy in both in- and outpatient settings since 1984. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and has been licensed as a clinical psychologist since 1994. Dr. Schultz works with individuals, couples, and families, and he presents communication workshops for corporations, individuals, and premarital and married couples. He also presents stress management workshops for individuals, government agencies, and corporations. He is currently adjunct faculty at Webster University, teaching graduate classes in personality and psychotherapy. The evening is presented on a love-offering basis.

BEGINNING IN FEBRUARY, YOU'LL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE A PERMANENT PART OF TAMPA UNITY by purchasing beautifully engraved bricks to "celebrate life" in so many ways, including (but certainly not limited to): commemorating a birth, a marriage, an anniversary, or any other event you never want to forget,

This will be an on-going fundraiser for Tampa Unity, but if you order your brick(s) by March 31, you'll enjoy these "first order" special discounts:

• 4" x 8" brick: $75, engraved with up to 3 lines (14 characters or spaces per line)
• 8" x 8" brick: $125, engraved with up to 5 lines (14 characters or spaces per line)

Order forms are available in Fellowship Hall and on our web site (www.unitytampa.org) and sample bricks are on display to inspire you to come up with your own ideas. Need more information before you order? Email Carol at UnityVolunteers@aol.com with your questions.

IT IS A MYSTERY WHAT LIES BENEATH THE WATER OF THE RIVER, or the sea or lake. I used to dreamed of streams and rivulets, clear, running water, golden coins tumbling in the pebbles, twinkling in the glassy waters. I dreamed of tides receded, their wondrous secrets revealed: uncovered seascapes of ruins and ... treasure!

The Hillsborough River runs behind my house. The facets of its fluid surface reflect sunlight like diamonds, its depths concealed in darkness. But, sometimes in the winter, the water recedes. The river is tidal. It has a secret to reveal.

Mired in the river's bottom is what remains of the Kate Dale, a small, but speedy sailing vessel, a Confederate blockade runner scuttled by Union troops in the fall of 1863. As it listed to the bottom that long ago October, who knew it would stand sentinel for so long on this river's edge, a thing of local legend, a fishing spot for snook, a treasure in my backyard.

There is not much left now but timbers protruding from the mud, barnacle encrusted stumps, eroded by wind, water and time, visible only at the lowest of tides.

The day after Christmas, the water drained far into the middle of the river, exposing more of the wreck than we had ever seen before. My 8-year-old daughter, Allyson, ever the explorer, slipped into her pink rubber boots and ventured along the seawall. The newly created shore was mucky - but firm - as she made her way to the wreck. She balanced across a barely submerged timber and perched upon the stump that had surfaced furthest, the first to make contact with these relics in who knows how many years.

No golden coins on the bottom of this river, no treasure other than a child's excited laughter, a squeal of joy as she splashed the river water, seeking her own adventures and dreams on the river's shore, at the extreme low tide of a winter's day.

by Janet Stanley