Unity sees God as Universal Spirit, the loving source of all that is. God is the one and only power in the universe and is involved in and engaged with every aspect of life.
WOO HOO! Once again, we asked, and you responded. Our Giving Tuesday goal was $15,000 and as of this writing on Wednesday morning we have exceeded the goal by $620. We will continue to receive donations through Sunday, as it is nice to have a cushion for the unexpected expenses. We have secured a contractor and he and his crew will begin on Monday, weather permitting. My heart is full and I am so grateful for everyone who supported this endeavor. If you haven’t donated there is still time to do so. We have once more had a miracle on 54 River Road!!!
The season of Advent has begun. This past Sunday was hope/faith. I began a new series called Reel to Real, each week using a traditional Christmas movie and highlighting the spiritual message it contains. The first in the series was Miracle on 34th Street. The film is so relevant, even though it was in 1947 when it was first filmed.
The spiritual message that ran through this movie is faith. Faith being the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things unseen.
There are four main characters: Doris Walker, her daughter Susan, Fred Gailey (a neighbor to Doris and Susan) and Kris Kringle. Doris is a pragmatist and raising her young daughter to be just like her. Now Fred, on the other hand, is an optimist and, although a lawyer, sees the world through the eyes of faith and good. Now Kris Kringle… he is a modern-day Jesus. He promotes love and putting the children before greed. He saw the potential and good in people and worked to draw it out. Like Jesus, he was not recognized for who he was and was falsely accused, as was Jesus.
I strongly suggest if you haven’t seen this movie in a while that you give yourself a treat and watch it. Amazon Prime has it for free, and it is in black and white, which in itself was a treat to watch.
Next week’s movie will be It’s a Wonderful Life… another classic with a great spiritual message.
You are a blessing in my life,
Rev. Patricia Bessey
November 21 Sunday service with Rev. Barbara Kowalska
Feeling a lot of gratitude as I am sitting next to Rev. LeRoy in CICU as the medical team at Maine Medical Center give him excellent care.
The gratitude extends to Rev. Barbara Kowalska for stepping in at a moment’s notice when I paid attention to many of you telling me to take care of the caregiver. I asked for help!
As you may be reading this on Thanksgiving eve, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, staff and me we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.
If you are available tomorrow at 10 a.m., join me for a time to share your thoughts and gratitude on a Zoom call.
Next Sunday begins Advent, and I am excited to do a series called Christmas Reel to Real. I will be sharing the metaphysics of popular Christmas movies, starting with the Miracle on 34th St.
You are a blessing in my life,
Rev. Patricia Bessey
Leadership Series for Navigating Struggle, Uncertainty and Crisis, Part 8: Transcendence
with Rev. Pat Bessey
A shout out to Yvette Nadeau, who volunteered on November 11 with the Sebago Lakes Region Fuller Center for Housing (SLRFC) event. There were three work parties happening at different locations on this day. Jim McBride, board member and treasurer for SPRFC, had this to say about Yvette: “Yvette was on my team and she was truly a delight to work with. She jumped right in and worked hard throughout the day. She hit it off with Claire and worked with her on brush removal and gutters. They worked for five hours with a short break for lunch! She also connected very well with the homeowner and was eager to hear the full story of her husband’s journey with advanced ALS.”
Unity Center for Spiritual Growth is a founding partner of the SLRFC. It was founded in 2019 just prior to COVID-19. Our service area is in the Sebago Lakes region, including the towns of Windham, Raymond and Standish, Maine. We will focus on home repairs for people in need with the hope that people can stay in their homes safely. The scope of these repairs may include minor kitchen and bathroom, window replacements, building of ramps and other repairs. To learn more, go to https://fullercenter.org/sebagolakes/.
This past Sunday brought to a conclusion the series from Paul K. Chappell titled A New Peace Paradigm: Our Human Needs and The Tangles of Trauma. I had good feedback from many of you that you enjoyed learning about the nine non-physical needs.
Transcendence was the ninth and last non-physical need.
Paul says: Human beings have a need for transcendence, which means to transcend our sense of time, to feel a sense of timelessness, to touch and taste the eternal. Transcendence can occur when we lose our sense of time, when we are lost in the moment.
There are healthy and unhealthy ways to transcend our sense of time, and transcendence can be experienced at varying depths. When we live according to our highest human ideals, this can help us transcend time in deep and healthy ways.
Eckhart Tolle writes: “Transcending the world does not mean to withdraw from the world, to no longer take action, or to stop interacting with people. Transcendence of the world is to act and to interact without any self-seeking.”
Astronaut Edgar Mitchell quote: “Transcendence gets you beyond ego. If you go beyond ego, you see all of this in a more decent perspective and you can start to put all the pieces together. We haven’t done that yet. Not as a civilization.”
You are a blessing in my life,
Rev. Patricia Bessey
Navigating Struggle, Uncertainty and Crisis, Part 8: Challenge
with Rev. Pat Bessey
November is gratitude month, and both Rev. LeRoy and I are so grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers for a speedy recovery and that he will be able to return home soon. It is Monday as I write this, and he is still in Bridgton Hospital.
Speaking of gratitude month, how are you doing with your gratitude journal and hopefully you are enjoying the daily gratitude message on our Facebook page.
The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it!
In a few words this sums up the message from Sunday. The eighth non-physical need was “challenge.”
We cannot become stronger physically or psychologically unless we are challenged. Challenge allows us to climb toward our highest human potential.
Paul K. Chappell gives us examples of when we might choose the taking the easy path rather than the challenging path…
It can be easier to avoid confrontation and tolerate injustice than to improve our society.
It can be easier to not take responsibility for our actions and scapegoat others than to hold ourselves accountable.
It can be easier to remain stuck in old ways of doing things than to grow and adapt in ways that improve our well-being, along with the well-being of those around us.
It can be easier to stay imprisoned in an attitude of greed and selfishness than to develop the muscles of our humanity – muscles that give us not just the strength to break free from the psychological prison of greed and selfishness, but also give us the psychological mobility needed to connect deeply with others.
It can be easier to remain ignorant than to cultivate knowledge and wisdom.
It can be easier to have an apathetic attitude toward the suffering of others than to have empathy for them and join in solidarity with them.
Most of the harm that humans inflict on each other is caused by something that can seem harmless at first glance; however, at a closer look, it is humanity’s tendency to take the easy path. Taking the easy path often takes the form of choosing the easier wrong over the harder right.
The trauma of challenge is “powerless.” Alice Walker says: The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.
The definition of Power from Unity’s metaphysical dictionary is: Man’s (human’s) innate control over his (its) thoughts and feelings. A quickening from on high must precede his (its) realization of dominion.
“Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you.” (Acts 1:8). God is All-Power, thus all things are possible with Him.
The mind and the body of man (humankind) have power to transform energy from one plane of consciousness to another. This is the power and dominion implanted in man (humankind) from the beginning.
If you missed Sunday here, you can watch the service above.
Leadership Series for Navigating Struggle, Uncertainty and Crisis, Part 7: Self Worth
with Rev. Pat Bessey
Giving Tuesday is November 30 this year. It follows Black Friday and Cyber Monday and, because Thanksgiving is early, so is Giving Tuesday. This is the third year we will be participating in Giving Tuesday and once again we know that
“The Inexhaustible Resource of Spirit is equal to every demand. There is no reality in lack. Abundance is here and now manifest.”
Last year we raised $15,000, and we have benefited from your generosity every week when we are in the building and use the beautiful, refurbished restrooms. This year once again we are asking for your financial support of $15,000 to redo the front roof of the building. We are in the process of acquiring quotes and, although we have received quotes higher than $15,000, we know that we will get a quote to match the money we raise.
Once we redo the roof there will no longer be any major renovations needed for several years. We have been excellent stewards of our property.
The service on Sunday got a lot of comments on how much folks needed to hear what I had to say. We were on the seventh non-physical need, “self-worth” I began the talk with a poem called My Body by John Roedel, who is a brilliant poet. Check out some of his other poems at www.johnroedel.com. I concluded with another great poet, John O’Donovan, and his poem For Solitude.
I don’t usually encourage you to review the talk if you have either been in person or online on Sunday; however, this is a strong suggestion that you can watch it above.
Here is the exercise from Paul for this week as you explore self-worth.
1. What are some ways to develop secure and reliable self-worth within ourselves? In what ways can people feed their need for self-worth in ways that are less secure and less reliable?
2. What specific practices can we use to help reinforce the ground of self-worth in others? How can these practices be used by leaders, parents, and friends?
3. Our non-physical needs are interconnected, similar to how our organs in our body are interconnected. Our non-physical needs can be thought of as metaphorical organs that need proper nutrition and can affect each other. How can our other non-physical needs, such as purpose and meaning, nurturing relationships, explanations, expression, inspiration, and belonging, affect our non-physical need for self-worth?
I also offered a teaching from Unity on the three phases of mind. Here are definitions that may help you have a greater understanding.
“In Truth there is but one Mind; in it all things exist. Accurately speaking, man does not have three minds, nor does he have even one mind; but he expresses the one Mind in a multitude of ways.” (Charles Fillmore, Christian Healing, p. 97)
“When we seek the superconsciousness and make conscious connection with it we harmonize all the forces of mind and body; we lift up the subconscious until a complete, conscious unification of the three phases of mind is affected and we become established in ‘singleness of heart.'” (Keep a True Lent, p. 92)
“Conscious mind — The mind that makes one know of one’s mental operations and states of consciousness; that phase of mind in which one is actively aware of one’s thoughts. The mind through which man establishes his identity.” (The Revealing Word, Conscious, p. 41)
“The subconscious mind is the vast, silent realm that lies back of the conscious mind and between it and the superconscious. To one who does not understand its nature and its office, it is the ‘great gulf fixed’ between his present state and the attainment of his highest desire, his good.” (Keep a True Lent, p. 87)
“Superconsciousness is the goal toward which humanity is working. Regardless of appearances there is an upward trend continually active throughout all creation. The superconsciousness is the realm of divine ideas. Its character is impersonal. It therefore has no personal ambitions; knows no condemnation; but is always pure, innocent, loving, and obedient to the call of God.” (Atom-Smashing Power of Mind. p. 36)
Next week the non-physical need will be “challenge.”
November is gratitude month, so you will find a gratitude quote on our Facebook page every day leading up to Thanksgiving. I suggest you create a gratitude journal to record in daily.
You are a blessing in my life,
Rev. Patricia Bessey
Paul K. Chappell gives us examples of when we might choose the taking the easy path rather than the challenging path…