A prayer without desire in it, a prayer without sincerity in it, a prayer without soul in it, a prayer without Spirit in it is a fruitless prayer. - Charles and Cora Fillmore, Teach Us to Pray I was raised with prayer. Prayer before meals, prayers in church, and prayers to give thanks. Prayers were [...]
American futurist Alvin Toffler said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” And so it is with these unprecedented times... being prepared and ready, while also remaining full of hope and expectancy for whatever church will be in the [...]
Houses of Worship all over the world are discerning how and when to open. It doesn't take more than 30 seconds of thinking about it and the mind gets dizzy! It can certainly feel a bit overwhelming - to say the least. We have been living in a paradigm few if any of us have [...]
Did you know that lamenting is a spiritual practice? It is incredibly relevant for Easter, especially Holy Week, and the world we re currently living in - when our time of the crucifixion and resurrection is coming to a close, and in other ways just beginning. This Easter season I want to talk about lamentations. [...]
Yielding self means giving up the old concepts of the past; forgetting ourselves and our human desire to come forth, and just rejoicing that all God’s creation constantly springs forth in newness of life and light and joy and service. -Myrtle Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, 1918 I am a “drama” addict - there I said [...]
Advent and Christmas is a time for telling the truth—the truth of our weariness and our anxiety, yes, but also the truth of relentless generosity. The entire season of Advent is about something on the horizon coming, something we’ve never seen before. It is a season of asking “what is possible?” An invitation to begin [...]
Meister Eckhart was a medieval philosopher, theologian and one of the great Christian mystics. His writings and teachings created quite a stir, and eventually he was accused of heresy by the church. Yet, like all good boat rockers, he has lived on - and with greater influence today than when he lived 700 years ago. [...]
I had always thought of myself as tough, like one of the people who could survive almost anything. I have a time or two wondered if I could be as tough and strong as someone like Elie Wiesel was, while in a Nazi concentration camp. But more often than not, I’m not so sure. [...]
It is Charles Fillmore’s birthday today, he would have been 165 years old. So I offer this essay about “the Silence.” His meditation practice was referred to as Practicing the Silence, and then there is the Silence itself, a state of consciousness. It was a gift given to us from the co-founder of Unity 120 [...]
In honor of the 174th birthday of Myrtle Fillmore (co-founder of Unity), I thought I'd share a few of my favorite OPENING lines from letters, as well as a couple poetic verses and lessons. Myrtle Fillmore is responsible for the beginnings of Silent Unity, the 24-hour telephone prayer ministry that is more than 125 years [...]
This July 4th feels very different to me. For several reasons, not the least of which is Trump’s spectacle for today. For me and my memories, it is too reminiscent of the imagery of Tiananmen Square, or Communist China military parades. Echoes of an animal that puffs itself up, sporting for a fight. I think [...]
We seem to be deluged with never-ending newspaper and TV coverage about the Syrian/Iraqi refugee crisis and the threat of extremist violence. Each time it shows up in my newsfeed on Facebook, cuts into a TV show I am enjoying, or I hear people in a coffee shop talking about it frantically, I am bombarded [...]
I sat with the idea of freedom this morning as Independence Day approaches, and I wondered once again, what I will do with my day, how will I celebrate and of course the child in me wants to know where's the best place to see fireworks - the most important thing! So I did what [...]
As I look out my window and listen to the soft sounds of rain against the glass I am reminded of the rain’s fresh, cleansing power. I know with rain will come the new life of spring. I watch my world coming to life – seeing the daffodils and crocus peak their sleepy faces from [...]
“I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills...” This is the opening sentence of the book Out of Africa, and it’s probably one of my most cherished lines from any book. It doesn’t provide much information really, yet it speaks volumes about life, adventure, and storytelling. From one sentence my [...]
