WOO HOO! The Board met last night and unanimously agreed to reopen for in person services on March 6. Masks will still be required, and coffee and tea will be available after the service. We are cautiously optimistic that our opening will be permanent; however, we are ready to pivot if need be and go back to just online. Online will be available as it has been, and we will continue to be hybrid going forward.
March 6 will be the first Sunday in Lent and because we were unable to do our regular White Stone Service there will be an element in the service where you will be able to hear Spirit’s voice with a word you are to carry into the Lenten season and through the rest of the year.
Frank Whitney
“Remember dear friend, you CAN begin again.” This is a sentence that our Unity author Frank Whitney had the workers at Silent Unity end their calls with. Whitty, as he was known, had a very interesting history with Unity. He was married to May Rowland, who ran Silent Unity for over 50 years. He authored four books; however, he is best known for having the divine idea to start Daily Word. Although Frank had many other assignments at Unity headquarters, this will be what he will be most remembered for.
Frank also authored the words to the song “I Behold the Christ In You.” The following is from a Unity Tract written by Frank called “The Challenge of the Dawn”:
Each dawning of a new day is in a sense an entirely new experience to you. At this morning’s dawn a strange thing happened in your life. The curtains of night that had seemingly hid you in a vestibule of darkness were opened wide and you looked upon a new world. Some of the things of your past life — unpleasant things perhaps — were forgotten and your soul was purified of all that was sordid and unholy. The dark experiences of yesterday you found in the darkness and stillness of the night to be as nothing. For a while possibly all your past became as nought while in the darkness of night your soul breathed a prayer heavenward and your Spirit touched your heart with a sense of love and desire for the things of God, the things of reality. Such may be the experience of night and of sleep if we infold ourselves in prayer and know that “underneath are the everlasting arms.
“This vestibule between yesterday and today, the past and the present, then and now — is it not a vestibule between two worlds? In it do we not cast off the unholy tatters of an old existence only to be clad in the raiment of holiness, newness, and youthful expectancy? On the unseen side of life, the side unseen by eyes too heavy to behold things of dazzling brightness, are we not prepared for a new day, for a glorious dawning, for the fulfillment of new hopes and of our prayerful desire?
“Are not dawn and sleep but some sort of purgatorial cleansing to free us from earthly and heavy and darkened thoughts of yesterday only to instill in our mind and heart something of heavenly beauty, ecstasy, joy, and shining glory — the dawning of a new day? What a joy for the soul to take up that which is seemingly a burden and know that it is light! What an opportunity to be the new man that you hope to be in a new world! What a chance to say au revoir to habits of bondage and good morning to a new life free from all sense of bondage and limitation!”
You can read the complete tract here.
Frank was a very interesting and important figure in the Unity movement. If you missed the service on Sunday, you could watch it here.
Next Sunday I will conclude Getting to Know Unity Authors with the iconic Eric Butterworth. Then begins Lent with the series from Charles Fillmore’s book Keep a True Lent. During the 40 days of Lent, I will be posting Fillmore’s daily meditation for Lent on our Facebook page.
You are a blessing in my life,
Rev. Patricia Bessey
Labyrinths are ancient geometric figures. One leaves one’s worries and stress at the entrance and walks meditatively to the middle. As one walks to the center she/he becomes centered within her/himself, calmer, and more grounded. 
