Silent Unity Celebrates 120 Years

This year marks the 120th anniversary of Silent Unity. Literally millions of people have contacted Silent Unity for affirmative prayer, and there are countless extraordinary stories of people's faith being uplifted, health renewed, relationships restored and prosperity realized.

Visit Silent Unity's webpage to learn more.

Watch the celebration video:

Unity World Day of Prayer 2010

This year's annual Unity World Day of Prayer will be on Thursday, September 9, 2010. With the theme "Living in the Flow," the event will also mark the completion of the Unity Village central fountain restoration, which has been an ongoing project for a couple years now.

The opening ceremony will be live-streamed on the Web from Unity Village on Wednesday evening, September 8, with keynote speaker Rev. Paul Tenaglia from Unity of New York. Spiritus, a vocal ensemble from New York, along with Broadway singer Rosena M. Hill, will perform at the opening. Events on Thursday will include a fountain dedication ceremony, a seminar based on Rev. Eric Butterworth's book In the Flow of Life, and a closing celebration and ceremony.

Visit the World Day of Prayer website for details and information on other events that will be live-streamed.

Sarah Palin and the National Day of Prayer

Rev. Welton Gaddy, host of the nationally syndicated radio program State of Belief and president of the Interfaith Alliance, has written a very inspiring and instructive essay about Sarah Palin and the National Day of Prayer that he read on last weekend's show and which appears in Religion Dispatches e-magazine.

Rev. Gaddy essentially denounces Palin's empassioned comments concerning a federal judge's ruling on the National Day of Prayer and that the U.S. is a Christian nation that "needs to get back to its Christian roots." He critiques her recent statements as uninformed and a-historical, since the fact that America is not nor has it ever been an officially Christian nation is quite well documented through sources such as statements or treatises formed by presidents Washington and J. Adams, not to mention the 1st Amendment's no establishment clause. Palin's statements were flippant, ignorant of the history of American culture and law, and simply pandering to a significant conservative (and largely evangelical-fundamentalist Christian) audience.

Here's a brief excerpt from Rev. Gaddy's commentary:

"Palin has thrown what we used to call in West Tennessee “a conniption fit” over the federal judge’s decision that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. While many of us applauded a judge who seems to understand the First Amendment’s religion clauses, some political pontificators and bandwagon religionists rushed to microphones to decry the further moral ruination of the nation. . .

"Palin did get one thing right in her Louisville speech. She said the Founding Fathers were believers. That is a true statement. Many of them were deists, but few of them were Christians by Palin’s narrow evangelical definition. However, the larger truth is that these were people, regardless of their religious identity, who had witnessed the abuse and violence that emerge when institutions of religion and government became entangled. . .

"The American people do not need the President of the United States to tell them when to pray or what to pray for. By definition prayer is personal and volitional. But neither do the American people need Sarah Palin stirring a revolt to get rid of the very principles that have assured efforts to guarantee civil rights to everybody and made our nation great." (Religion Dispatches, 4/22/10)

Read Rev. Gaddy's entire essay here.

Listen to State of Belief where Rev. Gaddy read this on air.

Prayers and Meditations of World Religions Course

I just started teaching/facilitating a class at Unity Church of Peoria, IL called "Prayers and Meditations of the World's Religons." The aim of the course is to introduce church-goers to some of the more prominent and representative contemplative expressions of faith in order to facilitate deeper interreligious understanding and perhaps transform ourseves and our own prayer practices.

Last night the first class met and, while we didn't actually read or pray any prayers yet, it was a wonderful and lively discussion of what prayer and meditation is, the diversity of prayer and contemplation in the various world religions, what mysticism is and its central role in the forming and development of religious traditions, the strengths and weaknesses of language and conceptions, etc.

Anyway, though I've facilitated the class before at other Unity churches, I'm very excited about how this particular incarnation has begun and look forward to the promising fruitful conversation that will come about.

If you happen to be in the central Illinois area come and join us for some stimulating and intriguing discussion and reading of the prayers and meditations of the world's religions. We meet on Wednesday evenings from 7-8:30pm at the Unity Church of Peoria.

Peace.

Christian and Buddhist faithful focus prayers on value of resolving conflict

Buddhists and Christians gathered in the Pittsburgh area for a 40-hour prayer and meditation vigil for the purpose of resolving the tension and conflict in the world and in the midst of the G-20 summit.

It was talked about as an event where people aren't talking about peace or discussing resolutions, but are able to simply sit together, connect with each other through prayer and song, and "be peace."

Ann Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has the entire story at Faith in Public Life.

Odyssey Networks Launches "A Million Prayers for Peace" Online Campaign

"Partners with United Nations to Support International Day of Peace -- Odyssey Networks, the nation's largest coalition of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith groups dedicated to building bridges of understanding through media, has launched a multimedia campaign to secure one million pledges to pray for peace on September 21-- the United Nations International Day of Peace."

Read more at Odyssey Networks website.

Remember World Day of Prayer

Remember that the World Day of Prayer sponsored by Unity and Association of Unity Churches will be held September 10, 2009. People all over the world will be spending time in prayer, contemplation, and social engagement in their local communities.

This year's event will include:

1) Spiritual social action opportunities to help create a more peaceful and harmonious existence.
2) Opportunities to share prayer thoughts and requests online.
3) An online board for people to share ideas, prayers, experiences, and stories of social action with each other to inspire one another to make a difference.

Visit the World Day of Prayer website for more info and opportunities to engage in prayer and social engagement.

World Day of Prayer – September 10, 2009

Join Unity in September for World Day of Prayer. This annual celebration affirms peace, abundance and love for individuals and the world. This year’s theme "Reach in. Reach out. We Can Change the World" reflects the importance of going within for guidance and reaching out to help others and benefit for the good of society. The 24-hour prayer vigil will include a new interactive online prayer feature this year. Sign up to pray for people around the world, and submit your list of loved ones to receive prayer support.

Visit the World Day of Prayer website for more info about the event and what you can do locally.

PRAMECO "Love in Action" Theme Today

Today is another PRAMECO (prayer, meditation, contemplation) day, the final in the series of "Love in Action" theme. Today, take a few minutes each hour to pray, meditate, or contemplate about acting through love and willing lovingkindness to permeate our daily lives.

This month, the network of people affiliated with PRAMECO will also start having intentions for particular places of current conflict or civil unrest. We will be keeping the well-being of the people of Iran in our thoughts, prayers, and meditations -- with the neutral intention of peaceful co-existence and resolution to violent conflict and suffering.

Visit the PRAMECO website to learn more about the organization and the monthly contemplative cooperative activities.

Interfaith Vigil for Postville, IA

Yesterday, May 11, there was an interfaith vigil commemorating the Postville, IA immigration raids at a local kosher meatpacking plant a year ago on May 12, 2008. Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and Jewish leaders and congregant came together to remember this event that so affected their community -- an excellent piece of evidence of different faiths coming together to actively engage in community affairs toward social change.

Amie Steffen of the Waterloo Courier has the story at Faith in Public Life.

Gratefulness.org -- Br. David Steindl-Rast

For those of you who are interested in contemplative Christian prayer, Br. David Steindl-Rast has a wonderful website -- gratefulness.org. And for those who don't know who Br. David is, he's an Austrian-born Benedictine monk who is a theologian active in contemplative prayer and interfaith activities.

The website includes a bio of Br. David, articles about various spiritual subjects, instructions for prayer practices, events, and a wonderful virtual candle lighting application/service. Definitely check it out and learn about more ways of centering life in prayer and contemplation.

(Photo from gratefulness.org)

Obama Plans Proclamation Not Event For National Day of Prayer

President Obama appears unlikely to hold a large event to mark the National Day of Prayer on Thursday, returning to the standard proclamations that were the common practice of presidents before George W. Bush took office in 2001.

Adelle Banks of the RNS has a write-up.

New Book Enciting Prayers During Economic Crisis

Barbara Bartocci's new book Grace on the Go: Powerful Prayers to Ease Money Worries speaks of how important and effective simple, affirmative prayer can be in motivating people to responsible and efficient decisions in their lives conducive to financial betterment.

The Religion News Service has a brief review of the book.

More Inclusive National Day of Prayer

The 58th annual National Day of Prayer in the U.S. will be held May 7, 2009. The task force (headed by Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family's James Dobson) that has fostered this event states that it is from an explicitly "Judeo-Christian" perspective. Though this task force does state that it invites "people of all faiths" to pray for the nation, it nonetheless centers its energies only on the Christian heritage especially.

There is a movement, spearheaded by Interfaith Alliance and Jews on First, to change this. This movement argues that the day of prayer event, inaugurated under Truman, has been taken over by exclusivist groups, leaving Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Bahai's and others out of the activities, and advocates that President Obama proclaim a much more inclusive national day of prayer.

An advocate of the Interfaith Alliance, I'm definitely in favor of a national day of prayer inclusive of all faiths here in America. It only makes sense that a national day of prayer would seek to include all religious perspectives that exist in the nation. Since we're now the most religiously diverse nation in the world our national day of prayer should be aptly representative of the religious constitution of the entire country.

As the Unity movement is firmly grounded in the practice of prayer and, in its Joint Declaration of Peace, states an attitude of openness and inclusivity toward other religious traditions, this move toward a day of prayer embracing and affirming of all religions in America is something that Unity can and should support. So, in the spirit of unity and peace in our nation and on Earth, I ask fellow Unity leaders and students to support and endorse interfaith movements advocating a national day of prayer inclusive of the diverse faith traditions in our country.

Faith in Public Life has a write-up on this issue.

Northern Ireland Children Pray More than Others in UK

Children in Northern Ireland are more than twice as likely to pray every day than others across the UK, according to a new survey. An interesting survey from the BBC.

PRAMECO Website Up and Running

I'm part of a community called PRAMECO, which is a network of individuals who take time to collectively and simultaneously use contemplative techniques with the intention of bettering the world. This project is still in its early stages but was conceived and has been implemented largely by a fellow University of the West classmate of mine, Nathan Michon.

Every year we engage in four projects, each with three days (1 per month) when we join together to focus our attention toward a particular theme, idea, or issue with the understanding that our intentions have reverberating effects beyond ourselves, throughout the world, and can help bring about the contentment and peacefulness that we wish to see.

The statement of purpose of PRAMECO:
"PRAyer MEditation and COntemplation of non-violence, peace and harmony for all citizens of the world. PRAMECO is the combined effort of people around the globe to pray, meditate, and contemplate conflicts and issues in the world that could use our attention. PRAMECO initiatives are times to train ourselves – our own minds and hearts - and to unite with others at the same time to focus on the betterment of those in need." Check out PRAMECO.org , learn more, and get involved!

First Post -> Interfaith Service

I created this blogsite about 3 months ago with very good and expectant intentions. I planned to blog frequently and fervently on issues concerning Unity Christianity (www.unity.org, www.unitychurches.org), the denomination of which I'm a part and in which I'm pursuing ordination. However, somehow I managed to put it off over and over again and haven't actually posted anything until now. Interestingly (and perhaps providentially), this postponement of procrastination or sheer laziness turned out to be favorable since I've come to realize that I shouldn't simply limit this blog's purview only to Unity-related issues. I need to realize that the blog-o-sphere is a wide open place and I should take advantage of this forum for expression and communicative exchange. I've a lot to say and in so many different subject matters! Though I'm certainly concerned about Unity, its upsides and downsides, its place and identity in today's modern/post-modern world, and where it can go in the future, I plan to move forward with open arms, an open mind, and write about whatever comes my way or to my mind. Though, likely this will be geared toward issues of theology, interreligious dialogue, social justice and peacework, chaplaincy/pastoral care, and general spirituality, since these are the things that peak my interest and in which I'm very involved.

Speaking of involvement - onto the first topic. About a week ago I facilitated and led an interfaith prayer ceremony at my local church, Unity Church of Pasadena, CA (www.unitychurchofpasadena.org). Our community has hosted such an event before. Last year in September, during the 11 Days of Global Unity celebration sponsored by Unity and the Association of Global New (www.agnt.org), I was asked to create and organize some kind of "interfaith" gathering, since Unity of Pasadena had never done this kind of thing before. Having been involved in various types of interreligious ceremonies, services, peacework, and dialogues I know how tedious and time-consuming putting on such an event can be. Nonetheless, it was important to our community to be involved in interfaith work and I tend to know quite a number of people in my area from various religious traditions, so I decided to give it a whirl.

I invited 5-6 people from the Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim traditions to come and talk 5-8 minutes about what peace means in their religion. All in all, our first run at an interfaith service wasn't bad. We had a good 30-40 people show up to support and participate, the presenters were courteous and insightful, and it was quite a low-key contemplative evening. We had refreshments and some conversation afterwards, but most people didn't stay too long to chat. For my first time spearheading such an event I was rather pleased and many people said they were as well.

This time around we held the service last Wednesday night (March 25, 2009). I must say that this exceeded the last one by a notable amount. First of all, I was able to get a more diverse group of presenters, who not only talked about their religious path, but shared with everyone a piece of their practice by reciting a special prayer, meditation, or chant. We were blessed to have Muslim, Jewish, Roman Catholic, Unity Christian, Hindu Brahmin, and Vedantist practitioners join us and share their faith and practice with everyone present. This time I suggested the theme of personal transformation, which, combined with the warm and friendly personalities of everyone present, made the service feel much more intimate and comfortable than last time. I'm sure the fact that some of the people who came before returned to participate, and the fact that we had a little more experience putting this all together, had quite a bit to do with the more relaxed atmosphere. Nonetheless, people ranted and raved to me about how wonderful, special, and enlightening the whole thing was and suggested that Unity of Pasadena continue this kind of forum. (A special thank you to everyone at Unity of Pasadena who took the time to help out at the service, bring food for refreshments, and help clean up afterwards - you made it all go so smoothly!)

Creating forums like interfaith prayer services, labor coalitions, outreach organizations, and community dialogues where we can learn from each other and understand one another better in an open and free environment is very much needed today. Interreligious dialouge, engagement, and exchange is so very much needed in today's context of globalization and religious plurality, especially here in the U.S., which is now the most religiously (and likely culturally) diverse nation in the entire world, at least according to Diana Eck of the Pluralism Project at Harvard (www.pluralism.org). It might have used to be India, but now we've taken the cake when it comes to religious plurality. Buddhists and Jews are working side by side, Hindus and Bahai's are meeting each other in supermarkets and malls, and Christians and Muslims are sitting with each other at parent-teacher conferences at their children's schools. The U.S is now a magnificent tapestry of different languages, ideas, religions and cultures.

And the most responsible and sustainable response to this diversity is to actively engage with one another in mutual regard, seeking to better understand each other and cultivate a common culture of togetherness and peacefulness. And that's what interfaith gathering like the one at Unity of Pasadena are all about - being receptive to each other and gratefully learning from one another, gradually breaking down the barriers of intolerance, ignorance, and hatred. Respecting and better understanding another's spiritual path is truly integral to our lives, our personal and communal development.

This is the gist of my thoughts and passion for interreligious relations. I'm devoted to promoting and practicing religious openness and dialogue in every avenue I can perceive, whether it be my doctoral dissertation, service in the local Unity church, or in the public sphere as a Christian minister and chaplain. In today's world, it is not only possible, it is necessary that Christians psychologically, emotionally, intellectually, theologically, and pastorally incorporate inclusivity and receptivity toward non-Christian people and religions in their lives. As Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong states, "Christianity must change, or die." A dead Christianity is not one that can uphold and proclaim the God of life. Christianity must stay alive so as to forward the good message of forgiveness, unity, and love experienced in Jesus Christ. And a living, thriving Christianity must take compassionate notice of our non-Christian brothers and sisters, reaching out to them with the steadfast love of Christ and engaging in dialogue and encounter so as to further a greater semblance of peace - the Kingdom of God present among us.

Peace.