Category: Blog

Come Home to Prayer

It’s often said that prayer is the foundation of Unity, but what does that mean?  It also begs the question: What is prayer?  Our last two Sunday sermons have tried to answer those questions, along with: “Why pray?”  This Sunday, we’ll look at a very familiar prayer and try to see it with fresh eyes.  Join us as we share a different perspective on The Lord’s Prayer.

Rev. Jean DeBarbieris Owen

Prayer and the Great Mystery of Humanity

From anthropologists to religious historians, no one really knows when, where or how prayer originated. What is apparent is that prayer is an important part of all religions.  In honor of Unity’s World Day of Prayer, we will look at two aspects of prayer that seem to be common to all the world’s religions.  Those aspects are:  1) A sense of connection to something higher; and, 2) Prayer involves asking for something.  Prayer is ultimately an expression of a mystery that expresses in, through and as humanity.

Rev. Jean DeBarbieris Owen

Highway to Heaven

“Everybody know it; nobody does it.”  “It” is the Golden Rule, which weaves its way through more than a dozen spiritual paths the world over and has done so for more than 2600 years.  It’s such a simple idea, universally accepted, yet it seems we haven’t figured out how to love it.  Let’s take a deeper dive into this familiar saying and see if we can’t move it from its place on a billboard by the side of the road to the very road beneath our feet.

Rev. Jean DeBarbieris Owen

Embracing Wholeness
Letting go of who we think we are, who we pretend to be and who we’re afraid we are allows us to reclaim the lost parts of ourselves. We are ready to be “born again” as the True Self, our original nature. This is true for individuals, families and nations. Along the way, we find that the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Rev. Jean DeBarbieris Owen

“Here I Come to Save the Day!” and Other Delusions of Grandeur  

 The spiritual journey is filled with amusing day trips.  Have you ever felt like you have to make a choice between becoming enlightened and saving the world?  What is that were a false choice and just another diversion presented by, to and for “mini-me” (the egoic self)?  Many spiritual teachings tell us that there is no need to decide between those two extremes.  What if we progress on our spiritual journey, we discover that the only way to save the world is by becoming enlightened?  As we become more enlightened, even the noble goal of saving the world ceases to matter. 

Rev. Jean DeBarbieris Owen

Love “Bears” All Things

In the past six months our lives have changed drastically. Nothing seems normal anymore. However, one thing is still the same and that is the presence of God’s love. Today, we’ll learn more about this love from an unexpected source of spiritual wisdom. We’ll explore the importance of giving and receiving love and the power of love to endure all things.

Rev. George and Barbara Schmidt

The theme from Unity Worldwide Headquarters for August is Acceptance.  In keeping with this theme, Rev. Jean presents a new twist on her signature acronym:  ACCEPT.  Find out what this stands for and why it’s time to move beyond mere “translation,” by which we have a new experience, and go deeper into true “transformation,” by which lasting change happens.  We’ve been preparing for this for decades.  Are you ready to ACCEPT?

Rev. Jean DeBarbieris Owen

I’m Here for You

We’re all so self-absorbed, each thinking that others should be doing more for US. It is a hallmark of the spiritual path that ultimately, we must come to realize we’re all here for each other.

We are “enlightened” only to the degree that we have reached a place of acceptance, compassion and understanding where we realize that we have an obligation to be willing to make the effort to lift others up to the inner place where they, too, know that they are “God in expression.”