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After Orlando, We Must Spread Religious LGBTQ Affirmation
By Clayton Gibson
  The #Pulse of Love is Stronger than Hate
Everyone shares in the heartbreak about the Pulse massacre in Orlando.
 
You have organized vigils, read the names, led your congregations in prayer, put out your rainbow flags, spoken to the press, and wept. 
 
THANK YOU.
 
You do the real, deep work of bringing more love to this broken world. 
 
The Orlando shooter believed his religion condemned LGBTQ people - and apparently himself, for his own same-sex attraction. 
 
You and your church are the presence of the alternative.
 
When you affirm LGBTQ people, you speak with spiritual authority.
 
There are still millions of transgender, bisexual, queer, questioning, lesbian, and gay teens and adults who have NEVER HEARD AFFIRMATION FROM THE PULPIT. 
 
The most important thing is for you and everyone involved in our church to donate a post on your social media at www.WeLoveLGBTYouth.com so more LGBTQ people can hear for the first time that there are thousands of faith communities that affirm who they are and whom they love.
 
So far nearly 400,000 people will receive our message, thanks to supporters like the Unitarian Universalist Association and Reconciling Ministries Network. 
 
 
It can be scary to lead, to stand up publicly for LGBTQ dignity and equality, just like it can be scary to hold your same-sex partner's hand in public, especially after this jarring reminder that hate is real and dangerous. To love is to risk everything.  
 
But perfect Love casts out Fear.
 
Thank you again for your powerful witness, now and always.
 
Clayton from MyOutSpirit.com  
Sunday Service
Outreach to LGBT Teens & Their Families
June 26th
Fancy Ruff-Wagner
You Are Perfect Just As You Are
Music:  Robyn Mackenzie

Board Training
June 26th, after the Service
 
Sunday Service
July 3rd
Robert Spiegel
Who's Speaking Through You?


 
Music Ministry - Second Saturday Community CoffeeHouse
SSCCH
Saturday, July 9th, 6:00 - 9:30
Headliner:  Daniel Boling
Opening:   David Peters
MC:  Anne-Marie Lax
Sponsor:  
     

Join us for this great night of music and fun!


Come on down for coffee or tea, treats, and a wholesome family night in a listening room environment where new and seasoned performers can offer up their songs and stories to an attentive, all-ages audience. The House opens at 6 pm, music begins at 6:30.


FREE! Love Offerings will be accepted.


Be sure to check out our other CoffeeHouse Pages!
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Inspiration from Unity
Unity Pride
By Annie School

Rev. Pat Williamson knew when he slid into a seat at Unity Temple of New Orleans in 1985 that he would be welcomed there.
 
"There was a pamphlet in the pew titled Unity Leaves No One Out. That was huge to me, as a gay man, to not be left out," he recalls.
 
Williamson, chair of the Unity World Headquarters Board of Directors, knew by the welcome he received that Sunday that those were not empty words. The late Rev. Ruth Murphy, his first teacher in Unity, also "went all out to welcome everyone," he says.
 
A sign at Unity Minneapolis, Minnesota, the spiritual community where Rev. Pat serves as senior minister, assures visitors "wherever they are on their spiritual journey they are welcome here."
 
One way Unity Minneapolis demonstrates its commitment to inclusivity is by getting involved in the Twin Cities Pride Festival. This year marks the congregation's seventh year of participation.
 
"The momentum has grown each year," Rev. Pat says. "Our congregation truly believes in, and honors, inclusivity. Because it's important here, people are willing to step in and make efforts to continue to welcome all people and to reach out to the LGBT community. We have as many straight people involved as we do LGBT. I'm thrilled about that. It says to me we walk our talk."
 
During this year's Pride festivities, Unity Minneapolis expects to hand out a thousand copies of the Unity devotional Daily Word®-twice what it gave out a year ago.
 
Some of Unity Minneapolis' active congregants discovered the center through its involvement at Pride.
 
"It's refreshing" when that happens, Rev. Pat says.
Susan Liddell, a Licensed Unity Teacher at Unity Center of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, also wanted to raise the center's visibility in the LGBT community. Getting involved in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Pride this year is one way to do so.
 
"We are a community that welcomes all," she says. "'We accept you wherever you are on your journey. We don't care from where you have come. This is the message I wanted to take to Pride Fest about Unity. We won't judge. We don't think you are sinful. We will welcome you."
 
Susan and others at UCR invited congregants to show up and be the face of Unity at Pride Fest. "People were definitely receptive and interested and very supportive of us doing this," she says.
 
As a lesbian, Susan says she's never had to hide who she was at UCR-or in Unity as a whole. She met her wife, Jan, at UCR, where the two were married. She wants others in the LGBT community to see that they, too, will be welcomed at the center.
 
"Pride is that opportunity to share that acceptance and love I have experienced," she says. "I find it very important that UCR offers that welcoming message to all of our communities, be that communities of color, LGBT, AA groups, and so on."
Rev. Pat says Unity validated for him, "There's a place for me where I'm truly welcome and included.
 
"I had been hurt, some would call it 'abused,' by the very traditional church I came from," he says. "I had stepped away from the church and thought I wanted nothing else to do with it or organized religion. When I found Unity, I thought, 'Wow, this is something where I could be accepted in and belong to.'"
 
It was through Unity that he began to "redefine the God of my understanding and redefine a Higher Power and know that I was loved."
 
Through events like Pride, he hopes to get the Unity message of love out-"that they're welcome here, whoever they are, whatever they've done.
 
"It's not about selling them on any kind of theology," he says, "but to give them this place to explore who and what they are, so they can walk away with hope."
Resources for the LGBT community are available at www.unity.org/lgbt. 

Community
ESSENTRICS
Essentrics is a unique program that rapidly changes the shape of your body through simultaneous stretching and strengthening exercises.  This workout develops strong and flexible muscles with immediate changes to your posture.  ESSENTRICS is even smarter than that - it goes beyond changing just the look of your body; it also cares about how you feel in your body.  With a combination of dynamic and fluid movements, ESSENTRICS improves circulation, promotes rehabilitation, and unlocks tight muscles.  If you want to feel energized, positive, and healthy, then ESSENTRICS is for you.  Meets at the church M/W from 5:30 - 6:30.  Contact Kimberly Woodring for more information (or call 575-749-0025). 

Massage Services for Members:
Licensed massage therapist Kara Skeberdis is offering massage sessions at her studio in Cedar Crest.  Hour and half hour sessions are $40/$25 for church members and friends, and $50/$30 for the general public. Please call Kara to schedule your session at 443-745-0406, or email her at shiatsu.Kara@gmail.com.  Kara has over 25 years of experience and specializes in relaxation, deep tissue and acupressure techniques.
Interfaith Social Action Opportunity @ Woods End Church
3rd Friday of each month 3:00 pm - 6:00ish
Help distribute food to the hungry in our community.  For more info, contact Eugene  (or call 286-4981).

FREE Positive Music
Empower Logo

Seeing Peace in Our World!
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

All the seeming darkness in the world cannot put out the Light, for the darkness has no substance, life, or intelligence of its own. As individuals and as a collective consciousness of harmony, we rise up in hope and vision for a future where Love rules.

As a community dedicated to peace, our emPower family prayerfully affirms understanding and release, healing and comfort, guidance and peace, for all.

We behold a brighter future, and a stronger and more peaceful world for all people. This is our way, the emPower way!

During this time of healing emPower M&A is offering the following songs for free download:

Richard Mekdeci, Only Love Can Do That

Sue Riley, We Share the Dream of Peace

Anne-Marie announces the launch of the website  Spiritdancermusic.com! Here you can listen and purchase music, watch videos, see pictures from the CD production and release party and leave reviews in the guestbook! Check it out today! 

When you complete the email sign up you'll get a FREE DOWNLOAD of the award winning  single "CHOOSE LOVE"!  Please let your friends know and share this email and the Spiritdancermusic.com link on social media so they can get the FREE DOWNLOAD too!
Prayer
Upray
Silent Unity
Please add the following people to your prayer/meditation practice:
(updated weekly)
  • USCEM   
  • Wayne Walker (healing)
  • Fort Hood, TX
  • Lydia Jule Boyer (healing)
  • Anne-Marie (perfect employment)
  • Orlando, FL
  • Amanda (highest good)
  • Robyn (healing and courage)
  • Those affected by the Dog Head and other wildfires
  • Jeannette P. (healing)
  • Tyler (guidance)

    •  
     
      
      
      
uPray
uPray, a free prayer app from Silent Unity, is now available.  uPray is available for Apple iOS 7.0 or later and Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) or later.  With the app you can submit a prayer request to Silent Unity, listen to the month's meditation and the Prayer for Protection, and read affirmations across a
broad list of topics.
 Learn More Button
"Silent Unity. How may we pray with you?"
Do you have a prayer request? There are several ways to contact Silent Unity, the 24/7-prayer ministry:
Call: 
1-800-NOW-PRAY (669-7729)
International:  
01-816-969-2000
Write: 
Silent Unity, 1901 NW Blue Parkway, Unity Village, MO 64065-0001
 Or use our online prayer request form.



Support Your Spiritual Center

Community Rewards
Impact Shopping
Money Tree
Smith's Community Rewards
Smith's Community Rewards makes fundraising for USCEM easy...simply by using your Smith's Rewards Card at any Smith's!  There is no cost to enroll, and enrollment will not affect your fuel points or coupon discounts.

You must have a registered Smith's Rewards Card to participate.  If you do not, you can apply for one at Customer Service.  If you don't know your number because you use your phone number at the register, you can call 800-576-4377 and select option 4.

You must link your card to USCEM online.  If you have an online account already, go to the website below, sign in, and click on your name to go to your account.  Scroll down and edit the Community Rewards section.  Enter our NPO number or our name and select us from list and click on "Enroll".

If you don't have an online account, you must click "Register" in the upper right corner on the website.  Sign up for a Smith's Rewards Account by entering your email address, creating a password.  Enter your zip code in the "Your location", then by selecting your favorite store, and agreeing to the terms and conditions.  A message to check your email inbox will appear, Check your email account, you must click on the link within the body of the email.  Click on "Sign in" located in the upper right corner and use your email address and password to proceed to the next step.  Click on your name to go to your Account.  In Account Summary click on "Edit" Rewards Card and input your Smith's rewards card number. Confirm your information. Scroll down and edit the Community Rewards section.  Enter our NPO number or our name and select us from list and click on "Enroll".


 Our NPO number:
24564
Let Your Online Shopping Support Us
Whether you shop at Amazon, Walmart.com, Itunes, or many other online retailers, your purchases can help support USCEM.

Always start on the USCEM Shopping Site.  From there you go to your favorite retailer and a percentage of your purchases will be sent to us later - at no extra cost to you.  The average amount paid to us is a little more than 5% of your purchases.

Bookmark this URL and always start here.  Then go shopping.


So far we've earned $98.09 in 2016!

We didn't earn anything in 2015 - although we earned $94 in 2014.  It's  probably because people weren't starting at the shopping page.  Please do this - it costs you nothing extra and is an easy habit to adopt.



Logo
The Law of Giving and Receiving
By Ernest Holmes  
 
Everything in Nature moves in circles. What goes out must come back. Unless the seed is sown it cannot bear fruit. There must be a planting time for every harvest. Who gives all receives all. Who refuses to give, limits the possibility of the greater good returning to him.
 
Love and you will be loved. Extend joy and you will become more joyful. The ancient Talmud says, "God will doubly guide the already guided" and Jesus, the greatest of the great, said, "Give, and it shall be given unto 
you; good measure,
pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."  (Luke 6:38)
 
We do not give because God needs the gift but because the giving increases, broadens and deepens the life of the giver. Nor shall we give from the standpoint of duty. The universe refuses to bargain with us. It already has given us everything it has. But it
also has provided that the gift of life can be received in its fullness only as it flows through us to the fullness of others.
 
How wonderful is this exact balance which God and nature keep; how perfect is the law of God and how glorious the opportunity to join with the infinite Giver in the givingness of the self to the joy of life!





Thanks for Reading!
Have a great week!

In love and gratitude,

Fancy Ruff-Wagner
Your Newsletter Editor
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Unity - A Positive Path for Spiritual Living
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