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Unity Spiritual Life Center
September 25, 2013 ~ Weekly Update
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Sunday, September 29, 2013, 10:30 am
Lesson for Today:
Be Impeccable With Your Word
This is the first agreement from the book The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. Your word is your power to create. Are you using your word to create the life of your dreams?
Special Music: Sandy Hemenway
Childcare provided for the service
MEET & GREET follows the service ~
spend time munching and mingling,
as you greet old friends and meet new ones!
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PAULA'S PERSPECTIVE
EDGES
"So, there are two ways to live: you can devote your life to staying in your comfort zone, or you can work on your freedom." Michael A. Singer, The Untethered Soul
There is nothing wrong with being comfortable. I enjoy the comfort of an easy chair, ottoman and a good book...dinner with friends and family...a warm, cozy fire with the one I love. The comfort zone Michael is talking about doesn't have anything to do with these kinds of comforts. Our comfort zone is not about being comfortable in the physical sense...it refers to the zone in which we live our life where we feel totally safe.
Nothing wrong with feeling safe. But the kind of safe I'm referring to, again, has nothing to do with safety in the physical sense. The kind of safe that keeps us in our comfort zone is the one we have created in our mind. This idea of staying safe...no matter what...keeps us trapped. The edge of our comfort zone is the boundary beyond which we prefer not to tread. Because we are not willing to go beyond our edges...this is how we lose our freedom.
Michael says that when you approach these edges you have feelings of insecurity, jealousy, fear, self-consciousness. The edges are the place of self-doubt, the fear of being hurt, rejected, judged, ridiculed, ignored. Staying in our comfort zone, we are less likely to fail, come in last or worry about what someone else says about us. It just seems easier to stay inside these boundaries we have drawn for ourselves.
The other choice we have is to work on our freedom...to work on pushing through and beyond the artificial edges that we have created. Is freedom what you want in your life...the freedom to live with passion, enthusiasm, confidence and courage?
Living spiritually is about living without artificial boundaries. It is about trusting that standing up to fears and insecurities will allow us to lean into life and gently escape to the next edge...and a greater sense of the possibilities for our life.
Whatever edge you encounter today...lean into it, be with it, know that there is freedom in the choice to go beyond it. You will be amazed at the power
you feel when you live at the edge!
Peace Always
Paula
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BUILDING COMMUNITY; TRANSFORMING LIVES
Don't Miss Out!
REGULAR EVENTS
* The Healing and Prayer Ministry continues to answer emailed or phoned prayer requests and is willing to make calls or meet for prayer at the Center. Prayer requests put in the Prayer Box are answered and sent on for Silent Unity at Unity Village. Ministerial calls are made to those who are hospitalized or otherwise "shut-in". Please contact our church office for information on contacting our Healing/Prayer team.
* First Friday of every month: 7 PM ~ Fun First Friday
SPECIAL EVENTS
MARK YOUR CALENDAR!
September 29 - Home Book Study Groups, using the book The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, will begin the week of the 29th. These will follow the Sunday talk series about these agreements on September 29 and October 6, 13, and 20.
The Study Groups are: Wednesday, October 2nd at 7pm at USLC; Two groups on Thursday, October 3rd, one at USLC at 7pm and one at Jeanie Rodgers' home, 605 Quartz Drive, Durham, at 7pm. Anyone is welcome. No book necessary. Please sign up at the back of the Sanctuary.
September 29 - After the service, there will be a meeting of all who are interested in serving in our Youth Education Ministry.
September 29 - USLC Treasure Map Unveiled! Robin Johnson, Directr of the Creativity and Play Ministry and creator of this artistic treasure map representing the congregations vision of the now and future USLC, will unveil the collage during this Sunday's service.
October 6 - After the service there will be a meeting for all who are interested in re-starting or starting new ministry teams. Are you currently serving on a ministry team? Are you considering stepping up to serve but not sure where you might fit? Come and talk about your vision and new possibilities.
SPIRITUAL ECONOMICS: On Tuesday's from 7-8:30pm, October 8-November 19, a 7 week class based on the book Spiritual Economics by Eric Butterworth will meet in the USLC sanctuary. Instructor: Paula Zabkar. Paula is a Licensed Unity Teacher and the class will be available for SEE credit. Love offering. Please sign the Sign-up Sheet in the back of the sanctuary or email Carla at cagnc@msn.com
October 12 - 9am-5pm. USLC Work Day. Please reserve this date! We will be cleaning and painting our facility to create the most inviting space possible. Bring willing hands and your own water bucket and paint brush or roller and roller pan. Lunch will be provided. Let's make this a community event...invite friends and family to join us. Many hands make light work! Please sign-up. |
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LOVING-KINDNESS MEDITATION
May I be filled with loving-kindness
May I be well
May I be peaceful and at ease
May I be happy
May you be filled with loving-kindness
May you be well
May you be peaceful and at ease
May you be happy
May we be filled with loving-kindness
May we be well
May we be peaceful and at ease
May we be happy
May all beings be filled with loving-kindness
May all be well
May all be peaceful and at ease
May all be happy
Ancient Tibetan Buddhist Meditation
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MINISTRY NEWS
The CHILDREN AND YOUTH MINISTRY is in need of teachersfor the youth program. We now have several age groups attending on Sundays. We have a regular assistant on Sundays for the nursery. The immediate need is for four volunteers, each to assist with the children one day a month. We also need a Teacher/Assistant for our children in the Unikids group. All lesson plans will be provided for you. Please contact the office if you would like to volunteer for this very important Ministry. For information please contact Elise VanBuskirk at elise1128@gmail.com or 908-892-7341 or Annie Whitney at annie.g.whitney@gmail.com or 919-416-1863.
Please remember to sign up in the back of the sanctuary to bring goodies one Sunday. Cash donations are also welcome anytime!
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Resolve to Serve!
Put your talents to work. Review the following opportunities and see which ones will be a good fit for you in 2013.
- Platformers needed~ Want to help keep our services going? Consider becoming a platformer. Scripts and training are available. Contact Renee Piere to sign up
- Greeters needed~ Sign up in the back of the sanctuary to become a Greeter- welcoming members & guests to our Sunday service, providing name tags, bulletins, and general information about USLC.
- Loving childcare and youth teachers needed~ See our Ministry Director, Jill Lewis, if you are interested in working with any age group.
- Prayer Partners needed~ If you feel that inner urge to deepen your prayer life, become a member of our Prayer Partner Team. Training is available.
- Hospitality~ Remember to sign up to provide goodies for our Sunday Hospitality table.
- Daily Word - sign up to read the Daily Word during our Sunday services.
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| Sundays:
9:30 Silent Meditation
Fillmore Chapel
10:30
Celebration Service & YOU/Uniteen classes
(Childcare available) | | |
Directions: Exit 175 off of I-85. Turn NORTH on Guess Road; Turn right onto Carver Street. Go approximately half a block; USLC is located in the small business park on your left. |
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COMMUNITY ZONE
MANY THANKS! Robin thanks everyone who donated time and effort to the overflowing abundance of ideas provided for the USLC Treasue Map. You have all created a beautiful piece of art envisioning what is and will be USLC.
Coming soon...
We are getting ready to release the 'stuff' in our closets that we no longer use. We are making room for what we desire. Keep an eye out for the time and date when we will be having a yard sale, give-away or other event to put our stuff back into circulation.
If you love THE 12 POWERS, check out this 7-day Retreat! Held at Unity Village, sponsord by Awaken Whole Life Center, the new holistic healing center located in the renovated Unity Tower at Unity Village. Revs. Drs. Bil & Cher Holton will be facilitating this incredible, experiential retreat.
Check out everything it includes: workshops, group activities, meditations, labyrinth walk, tour of the new 12 Powers Sculpture Garden, material grounded in Positive Psychology and neuroscience, together with Unity principles, opportunities for self-care treatments at Awaken Whole Life Center...and food, fun, and inspiration. Located at Unity Village with an all-inclusive price, staying at the Unity Inn Hotel & Conference Center!
Greetings My Unity Family, I am writing to share some exciting news. I have been accepted into a 10 month program to receive my certification as a Spiritual Life Coach. It is through the Institute for Spiritual Development founded by Iyanla Vanzant. Unfortunately, financial aid is not available and I am in need of support in order to meet this financial obligation. I have created an account on Go Fund Me to campaign for scholarship funds. Take a look at the link below and support my cause if you can. www.gofundme.com/LifeCoachScholarship
Love, Light, and Liberation: Sandra Dubose-Gibson
KEEPING UP: What's happening in your neighborhood? Are you traveling, hosting visiting friends or relatives, having a yard sale, announcements, other activites? Send your information to rodgers.jean@gmail.com by Tuesday of each week.
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FEATURE ARTICLE
One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore.
Andre Gide
CHOOSE A DIRECTION
Until we choose a direction, Spirit can't fill our sails. When our intuition tells us which way to go, we need to follow that call and set out. The Truth is there is no wrong path. A journey is not just about getting from one place to another, but about being open to the nudges from Spirit and the mystery of synchronicity along the way.
Most of the famous explorers we studied in school thought they were heading somewhere other than where they wound up. As modern travelers, we've been lulled into thinking that all our journeys should be safe and predictable. However, we often find our right place somewhere totally different from where we thought we were going.
Ernest Hollmes said, "Intuition is Spirit knowing itself." When we follow our inner guidance system, we are headed in the right direction regardless of appearances. If we set our goal and our destination to be one of self-realization, a closer relationship with the truth of who we are, we will arrive more confident and wise no matter where we land.
We are spiritual pilgrims, and we know that there is a journey to be taken. Let's choose a direction and know that Spirit will light our path to a perfect destination.
Rev. Barry Ebert |
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USLC Kroger Cards!
Please consider a USLC Kroger gift card for yourself or for gift giving! They are a great way to say "thank you" to a teacher, neighbor, or family member, to give to a needy family you may know, or to donate to a local shelter.
To get USLC Kroger gift cards, contact Carla Garcia to order them and they will be available within a few short days. As always, you can purchase them for an initial startup amount of $5.00 and load any additional amount you would like at your local Kroger store.
It's easy gift giving and a great way to support USLC for no additional cost to you!
Please remember to recharge your Kroger card each month so we can reach our $5,000.00 goal in order to be eligible for our 5% bonus.
Questions? Want to get a card? See Carla Garcia!
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