The
Messenger
February - March 2010, Vol. 26, Issue 2
Below are articles from this issue.
To view/print
the entire issue, click on the thumbnails in far left column.
PASTOR'S MESSAGE: THREE SPECIAL VALENTINES | SPOTLIGHT ON SERVICE | PRESIDENT'S CORNER
Three Special Valentines
by Rev Jim Fuller
It’s February and soon it will be Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day is important to me for two reasons, first it’s my mother’s birthday and without her where would I be? Second, it’s a day dedicated to remembering and celebrating love and friendship. In a world where so many people feel disconnected and isolated this is greatly needed. Taking time to tell someone “I care about you,” “I value you,” or “I love you” blesses both them and you. I encourage you to send Valentine’s Day cards or make Valentine’s Day phone calls to people you care about. Tell them that you appreciate and care about them. If this feels a little awkward, perhaps it’s just because you don’t get enough practice saying this during the rest of the year. Why not start practicing now?
Jesus is remembered to have said, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” What if we took this teaching personally and began expressing our love for one another? Sending a card or making a call to say “I love you” or “I care about you” is a great way to start.
I also want to encourage you to send Three Special Valentines this year:
The first Special Valentine will be a card sent to a friend or family member that you have been out of touch with for a while. Perhaps you regularly spent time with this person in the past, but due to changes in your life or theirs you no longer see one another. Send this person a Valentine’s Day card (or a Friendship card) and tell them how much their friendship meant to you. Express appreciation for the part they played in your life. A simple “thank you for having been an important part of my life” will do. The point here is not to rekindle the relationship, but to express love and appreciation.
The second Special Valentine will not be a card or a call; it will be a prayer. Think of someone that you wouldn’t want to send a Valentine’s Day card to, someone you don’t hold loving or caring feelings for. Say a Valentine’s Day prayer for this person. When Jesus was teaching about how to achieve heaven and happiness he said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” This may feel like a tall order, but the results can be truly powerful. A sincere prayer for another can heal deep wounds in you both! Jesus went on to explain, “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? Even the misdirected love those who love them.” He concluded, “Be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.” Offering a simple prayer of caring and compassion for a soul that is lost and suffering blesses you both. A simple but powerful prayer you might use is this:
May you be held in compassion.
May your pain and sorrow be eased.
May you be at peace. Amen
Offer this prayer as a Special Valentine to one of the difficult people from your life.
The third Special Valentine will be for a Friendship Valentine activity at church on February 14th. Please purchase or make a Valentine’s Day card to share with someone in our congregation. This should be a Friendship Valentine, not a romantic one. Inside the card please write a personal message of appreciation and caring. I suggest that you think about how you have felt loved, appreciated, or supported by people of our church. Now write a note to an imaginary “friend” expressing appreciation for what you have felt. Thank them for their love, caring, support, acceptance or whatever positive feelings you have experienced. Sign the card “your friend.” Don’t write your name in the card and don’t put any name on the envelope. Put the card into the blank envelope and bring it to the church on or before February 14th. On the Valentine’s Day we will randomly pass these cards out to everyone present. Each person will receive a message of love and appreciation that reflects the genuine feelings of the people in our congregation. I invite you to accept whatever message you receive as a special message of love specifically intended for you.
May we all feel and express love for one another each day.
May every day be a Valentine’s Day for each of us. Amen
spotlight on service
Sam House
By John Daubney
It has been a delightful journey into the land of Unity for Sam House. You can see the evidence in his great smile, upbeat energy, and eagerness to extend himself for the benefit of others Raised in the Midwest as a doctor-going Christian Scientist, he has swum in and out of the waters of new thought consciousness for longer than he can remember. Walking life’s path with an appreciation for oneness with the Divine and a celebration of the inherent wholeness of all beings is something that Sam has been engaged with for his entire life. And yet, the realizations that come with this path continue to arise with a new freshness that leaves him energized and hungry to engage with this path more deeply.
I moved away from all formal church activity for many years, from my middle teenage years until my 30’s. During that time, however, I pursued my own personal spiritual path with varying degrees of intensity. Born into a family with a very strong appreciation for the powerful way that life unfolds in its own perfect way—as a reflection of God’s creative energies at play—I relished how the intersection of the divine and the worldly come together. As a Religious Studies major in college, I narrowed my focus to the religious traditions of Asia, diving deeply into the traditions of Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism. Steeped in these traditions, I sought for ways to bring much of the richness of an Eastern approach to what I had considered earlier to be the “limitations” of the Christian tradition. Along with my wife Heather, I finally found that richness through our exposure to Unity. Coming to Unity was a breath of fresh air for both of us and we have relished the Unity experience ever since.
Soon after graduating from college, it was clear to me that a significant part of my spiritual path involved being of service to something beyond myself. With that in mind, I worked in some of the spiciest neighborhoods in Brooklyn as a social worker during the height of the crack era, at a time when New York City was experiencing some of the highest levels of violence, high school drop out rates, and teen pregnancy it had ever seen. Making home visits in the war zones of the inner city revealed to me, over and over again, that the bright shining light of humanity is as strong in East New York as it is on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. In places and families where there was no reason to have hope or a sense of possibility arising from the conditions of those settings, I was surprised over and over again by the resilient, loving, and resourceful nature of remarkable people whom I was blessed to both serve and learn from. The personal value gained by serving something or someone beyond the self was cemented into my being in those early years.
Inspired by my parents’ modeling of contributing to others, I have carried this notion of service to others forward in my own life, becoming a psychotherapist, in both outpatient and inpatient settings, in New York City and in the Capital District. Later, I took this personal commitment to service into the field of Executive and Personal Coaching and Leadership Development. Even though, as a coach, I honor my commitment to hold only the client’s agenda and not my own, I acknowledge that, when appropriate, I subtly steer a clients’ stated desires to have a fulfilling life toward a pathway that includes serving others, even if in only a very small way. I do this, knowing that when a person turns their focus toward serving another, their personal life challenges no longer seem so bad.
Coming to Unity Church, after unsuccessful ventures into other local Christian churches, has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my present life. Shortly after the arrival of Jim Fuller to Unity, I threw myself more fully into the Unity spiritual experience. Owing to this rich experience, I’ve also been re-discovering the valuable personal gain that springs from providing service to others in simple ways here at Unity. To that end, I’m still looking around for how I can do more to make a contribution to the Unity community. As a newly minted Powerpoint-sound-and-light guy, I’m currently engaged in supporting the Sunday services (with as few mistakes as possible!) from the back of the sanctuary, as I attempt to put the right slide up for the congregation at the right time while making sure that the lights and sound work well. In addition, I love to serve as an usher during the services. While these are simple tasks, they have also been a joyful way to connect to others and to contribute to the Sunday services. I invite anyone interested in ushering to give voice to such desire and share the chance to give back to Unity in this simple but meaningful way.
“In serving others I am serving the deep desire for wholeness within me. Love given is love received.” ‑ Anonymous
THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER
By John Frederick
THIS IS THE TIME OF YEAR that used to be my least favorite: mid-January. Winter is a long stretch ahead, with Spring nowhere in sight; Christmas is over with all of its glitter, music and joyous atmosphere (although I have not yet taken down my tree and decorations). It is getting lighter by the day.....but you can’t really notice it. Snow, cold, work and dark seem like they are the only game in town.
However, Unity teaches me that I don’t see the world the way it is....I see the world as I am. My peace of mind is not dependent on what outer appearances seem to be. It is a function of what my inner dialogue, my inner thinking, tells me it is. I am grateful for my time at Unity Church in Albany because, little by slowly, this “Unity Truth” has taken root and grown in my mind and in my heart. I have been given (however rudimentary) “eyes to see.”
Gratitude comes over me in waves: for health (no longer taken for granted), a good job, a warm home with a roof, a dog, friends, good food, warm clothes, time to work, play and rest. Snow and dark become friends that allow me to huddle inside and enjoy being still. Work is a blessing, not a drudge. The long stretch of winter is a gift that gives me peace and freedom. Cold, walking home, lets me know that I am truly alive.
Thank you, God for your gift of new eyes to see “old” things in new ways. To see — to choose to see — past appearances and find the joy and peace in nearly every situation.
The
mission of Unity Church in Albany is to
Driving down Central Avenue one day I noticed a woman walking down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road. She was neither beautiful nor stylishly dressed yet my attention was drawn toward her. As I passed by she turned in the direction of my car and smiled a most lovely smile. I felt as if an angel had just smiled at me. I have had this experience before, seeing something beautiful and spiritual in ordinary human beings and feeling a sense of God-connection with them. I have also had similar experiences with trees, the sky and even rocks. While trees or rocks may not actually smile, the aliveness in them is palpable and “friendly.” 
Spirituality is a big part of my life … and Unity Church in Albany is a big part of that spirituality. Service is also a big part of my life … and service is a big part of that spirituality.
Our Wednesday evening class has been studying the classic Unity book What Are You? The title poses one of the most important questions each of us will ever answer. Your answer to this question determines not only how you will experience this life, but also how you will experience your transition away from this life and into the next. Since you are reading this article you are already at least interested in spiritual ideas. Perhaps you tell yourself, “I am a spiritual being having a human experience.” That’s true and it’s a great place to begin. The challenge is to move from this beginning place to a point where you begin experiencing yourself as something spiritual. Like learning to play a musical instrument, speak a new language or run a marathon this takes dedication and practice. 
Most of us are still caught up in a self image that is dominated by body and personality. We experiment with the idea that we are spiritual beings; that we might be able to live more freely and fully here or hereafter. But like a spring bud on a twig this idea has not yet come into full bloom. Perhaps we wonder how Jesus moved from the initial awareness of himself as a son of God to his ongoing experience of his oneness with God and his true Christ nature. What might happen if we prayerfully asked him or God about this? Could we get an answer? Might it show up in pieces, like stepping stones for us to follow? Might it show up as people and events that come into our lives and guide us to a place where we, like Jesus, finally realize what we are? Asking Jesus, God or the Intelligence behind all of creation is a great way to set your inner intention to learn and to move toward the awareness you seek.