Sept/Oct 2018
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Volume 8 Issue 5 September/October 2018 Thursday, September 13, 2018 A MESSAGE FROM OUR MINISTER “Our Healing Roots” By Rev. Angela Denton appy Birthday Charles and claimed, “I want everybody to Myrtle Fillmore, co-found- know about this beautiful, true Hers of Unity! This past Au- law, and to use it. It is not a new gust Unity Worldwide Ministries discovery, but when you use it celebrated the 173rd birthday an- and get the fruits of health and niversary of Myrtle and the 164th harmony, it will seem new to you, birthday anniversary of Charles. and you will feel that it is your Like many spiritual masters, own discovery.” Like Jesus, the Charles and Myrtle did not origi- Master Teacher, Myrtle believed, nally set out to establish a move- “Very truly, I tell you, the one who ment of churches or ministries or believes will also do the works to form a new religion. that I do and, in fact, will do As a young girl, Myrtle was very greater works than these (John sickly and became afflicted with 14:12 NRSV).” tuberculosis in early adulthood. It wasn’t long before people got At the age of 10, Charles had a skating accident wind of Myrtles ‘miraculous’ healing and began and dislocated his hip, which was the cause of an flocking to her for support in healing a multitude invalid leg. In the mid to late 1800’s, Myrtle and of aliments. In the meantime, Charles Fillmore re- Charles began studying the works of philosopher mained skeptical about the ability to heal through and theologian Ralph Waldo Emerson and the the power of mind action and decided to test it works of new thought metaphysicians, such as, out for himself. He too began participating in affir- Mary Baker Eddy, Emma Curtis Hopkins, and mative prayer and meditation and was vigilant to E.B. Weeks. One evening while attending a lec- hold and speak life affirming thoughts and words ture given by E.B. Weeks, Myrtle had an awaken- throughout the day. In time, Charles healed his ing when she heard him profess, “I am a child of handicapped leg and became enthusiastic about God, and therefore, I do not inherit sickness.” In empowering others to claim Wholeness. Shortly that moment she had the spiritual realization that thereafter, the Unity Movement was born with the the life in her was God, the animating Source of first publication of Modern Thought magazine all creation. Therefore, she could never be in- with its tagline, “Devoted to the Spiritualization separable from God, and that she was Divinely of Humanity from an Independent Standpoint.” Whole. This magazine publication in 1890 was renamed Myrtle became determined to shift her con- Thought and in 1895 morphed into Unity Maga- sciousness from a long held and deep-seated zine which still remains in publication today. belief that she was destined to be ill to claiming Soon after Myrtle’s healing, she began hosting Wholeness in body, mind and spirit. She com- a prayer circle in the Fillmore home. In the April mitted herself to a daily devotion of affirmative 1890 issue of Thought, Myrtle invited readers prayer where she would speak words of Truth, who desired healing to join in silent soul com- Love, Strength and Power to all of her organs. munion at 10 p.m. each evening affirming state- Recognizing the power of the spoken word and ments of Truth that were printed in each issue of thought, Myrtle refrained from speaking “gossipy, the magazine. Prayer requests began coming in frivolous, petulant, angry words” and remained from all over the nation, and in 1890 The Soci- vigilant every hour to affirm the activity of renew- ety of Silent Help was born. The Fillmore’s were ing life within her. Within two years, Myrtle was pioneers of their time and began a new thought healed of a life-threating disease and vowed to radio broadcast and a telephone prayer ministry. teach and empower others to direct the life within In no time, The Society of Silent Help became through the power of heart-centered belief, the Silent Unity, our current day 24 hour 7 day a spoken word and deed. With Zeal Myrtle pro- week prayer ministry, as they devoted their efforts A MESSAGE FROM OUR MINISTER to be a source of Truth and healing to others. well as modern day teachers and mystics, on In an effort to honor our healing roots this year, healing and wholeness. Let us take this journey Silent Unity’s theme for World Day of Prayer on together in claiming Wholeness and in the words September 13th is “The Courage to Heal” which of Myrtle, “When we learn to become still and Unity by the Shore will be participating in. Addi- know the I AM, we lack nothing.” tionally, in October both during the Sunday ser- Love and light, vice and in a class series I invite you to explore Rev. Angela Denton MA; PD MFT; LUT the teachings of Myrtle and Charles Fillmore, as SPIRITUAL LEADER, UNITY BY THE SHORE Healing and Wholeness Class Series 7 Sundays: Oct. 7th - Dec. 2nd from 12:30 - 2:30 p.m. Come and dig into the teachings of Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, co-founders of Unity, on healing and whole- ness, as well as, the works of past and present day spiritual teachers. During our time together, we will explore universal principles that support the understanding and expression of personal and collective healing, health and wholeness in mind, body, and spirit. Below, please find a list of some of the topics that will be explored: • The Source of Healing • Death and Healing • The Power of Thought • The Power of the Spoken Word • Affirmative prayer and Your Life as Prayer • Perceived Obstacles to Healing • Creating your Future Self Class Dates: October: 7, 14, 28 November: *4, 11, 18 December: 2 Facilitated by: Rev. Angela Denton MA; PD MFT; LUT Fee: Love Offering (a call to practice the law of circulation by being a generous giver) Materials: Will be discussed in class (many can be accessed online) *The November 4th date may need to be resched- uled and will be discussed during our first session. Note: Those seeking to become members of Unity by the Shore can count attendance and participation in 5 out of the 7 classes of this series as meeting the educational requirement for membership. OUR PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE “A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved” ~ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. By Thomas Sciro ooperation. The Oxford Eng- it as a losing financial investment lish Dictionary’s first definition and threatened to discontinue the Cof cooperation is “The action project several times. The academic or process of working together to politics of the day did their best to the same end.” I am quoting the Ox- meddle in its production and influ- ford Dictionary because I have just ence its creation. Without coopera- completed reading “The Meaning tion, this rock of the English Lan- of Everything”, by Simon Win- guage would have never seen the chester. It is the untold story of how light of day. this incredible English Dictionary At first, we might think that we was conceived and created. now live in a world where no one If you were given the task of com- seems to cooperate towards a com- piling every word in the English language, from its mon good anymore, with every person or group Anglo-Saxon ancestry to the latest technological only concerned about their own agenda. But what words, how would you even begin? Surely this about the recent world cooperation we witnessed task is so large that no single person could ever in the rescue of the boy’s soccer team from the achieve it. This 71 year project (yes... I said 71 flooded caves in Thailand? I, for one, have not years!), relied upon thousands of volunteers to given up on the human race. Our Unity Principles comb through the literature, and provide the editor tell us that we are all connected. We must remem- with a word, a date when it first appeared, a defi- ber cooperation is key to connection, just as each nition, and most importantly, a published or writ- person who contributed to the OED surely felt ten quotation using the word in context. Literally connected to the project and the people involved, millions and millions of slips of paper were submit- as well as feeling the effect their publication has ted to the “Scriptorium” where they were collated, had on the world! sorted, and verified. Eventually, the editor, sub- editors and sub-sub editors gleaned definitions “We all do better when we work together. Our for each word, their derivatives, origin, spellings, differences do matter, but our common humanity synonyms, and selected the relative quotations matters more.” - Bill Clinton using each definition of the word in context. The publishing of such an endeavor required it Speaking of cooperation, performing music is to be released in 125 parts called fascicles over also a cooperative event. And speaking of music, its 71 year development, eventually filling over our next 2 events in our concert series are just 13 volumes. By the time it was completed, it took around the corner! On September 22, Jeannie another 5 years to publish a supplement that and the Drivin’ Wheel will transform UBTS into a contained all the “new” words that appeared in Honky Tonk music venue. And on November 10, the language since the original publishing be- the return of Alan Wasserman and Friends will gan.