Visioning Prayer

Unity Church of Sheboygan is a spiritual home to those who seek spiritual insight  and inspiration.  This home has a minister that teaches and lives Unity principles. It's a place of cooperation, mutual admiration and helpfulness.  It's a home of prosperity and peace.  It's a home of joy, healing and faith, and we thank you Father Mother God that this is so.       

The Prayer of Faith

God is my help in every need;
God does my every hunger feed;
God walks beside me, guides my way
Through every moment of the day.

I now am wise, I now am true,
Patient, kind, and loving too.
All things I am, can do, and be
Through Christ, the Truth that is in me.

God is my health, I can't be sick;
God is my strength, unfailing quick;
God is my all, I know no fear,
Since God and love and Truth are here.

Irradiance

Oh, fill me with Thy presence, Lord,
That love may shine through me
To quicken that same presence, Lord,
In all whose eyes can see.

Oh, fill me with Thy presence, Lord,
That wisdom may be mine
To share Thy light with all who need
To let their own light shine. 

Oh, fill me with Thy presence, Lord,
To guide what power I wield,
That it may ever strengthen good,
And be from ill a shield.

"Oh, fill me with Thy presence, Lord - "
But need I longer wait?
Thy presence hath been given me,
To live and radiate!

DIVERSITY IN UNITY

    What is diversity, and why should we pay any attention to it? The term diversity is fairly new on the scene and seems to be showing up all over our culture. It offers a way to understand and talk about who and what human beings are, but does it have any meaning for us personally? I believe it does. I believe it is important not only to understand what the word means for our world today, but also to embrace the idea and values that underlie it.
    Human beings by their very nature are diverse; that is, they have different appearances, talents, and capacities. Some people are good at math; some are good at language; some are good at athletics; some are good at music; some are good at parenting -- the list of what people are "good at" goes on and on.
    Physically, some people are strong, some are fast, and some have endurance. Some people are small and some are large. Some people are older and some younger. Some people are straight and some are gay. Some have differences that limit their movement or activities. Humans come in many different colors, from the palest of pales to the darkest of darks. The delightful and wonderful truth is that each person is a different and unique combination of human possibilities, so that no two people anywhere on our planet are exactly alike.
    And yet, in spite of our incredible differences, human beings are also very much alike. Under our unique flesh beat similar hearts. Within our different minds live some of the same thoughts and desires. Within our diverse cultures reside the same values of family, love, and home. My favorite way of describing this is to say that we are all alike and we are all different.
    In a very real sense, honoring the diversity of all human beings is important because God's world is incomplete without all of us. If God had meant for the world to be populated with people who look the same, speak the same language, and think exactly the same thoughts, it could have been arranged that way! But this is not the world we have. And because we are all here, it means that we are all important.
    The truth is, we need each other. No one person or group of people can know everything that needs to be known about how our world works. It is only by adding the gifts of everyone that the whole picture can be seen. It is a well-known fact that if one small organism is removed from an ecosystem, the system can fail. If this is true in nature, it surely must be true in our human experience as well.
    But this is not the world we live in now. It becomes ever more apparent that no one of us acts alone, that we are all part of a complex human system. Technology has ensured that we do not live separate, divergent lives -- we could not even if we wanted to. Our world today is one world, with no clear divisions among countries, continents, or groups of people. If we believe we live in an isolated town in a distinct state in a separate country, we are mistaken.
    So why is diversity important? It’s important because everything we do every day touches people of every walk of life. We are one world of many colors, many languages, many ages, many experiences. In order to live in this world, we have to understand it and communicate with it. And we can only do so by opening ourselves to experiencing other people, no matter how differently they express themselves or how uncomfortable we feel doing it.
    If there's one puzzling human characteristic in this new world, it is that sometimes when we are faced with someone who is unfamiliar in some way -- whether by skin color, sexual orientation, language, or what ever seems unusual to us -- something in us may have a negative and judgmental reaction. This could be due to something we have learned, or maybe it's left over from a protective response of our ancestors. Whatever the reason, it is not at all unusual for us to feel uncomfortable in the presence of someone we perceive to be very different from ourselves.
    But the truth is that as the world gets smaller and smaller and as people of different backgrounds mix more and more, our differences are diminishing and our similarities are growing. As we rub shoulders with more people with apparent differences, we come to see that they truly are a lot like us (only better at some things than we are!). As our world becomes smaller, people grow to know and love one another and the categories we use to define and separate people become cloudy and outdated.
    This is the time for us to move beyond our comfort zones and embrace life and people wherever and however we find them, for as "diverse" as others may appear to us, it is good to remember that we appear to be just as "diverse" to them. "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face' (I Cor. 13:12 RSV). When I take the mirror away to gaze clearly into the face of the one I meet, I still see myself.
    Some people accept people different from themselves because they have to; it is legislated by the government and dictated by organizations. The goal I set for all Unity students is a higher one: that we honor all people because we want to, because we truly believe we are all children of God and are excited about what we can accomplish in our world by working together. I believe that we are stronger not when we just look beyond our differences, but when we celebrate them.
    Who would want to eat the same food every day or wear the same clothes for weeks at a time? Why then would we prefer to hear the same ideas over and over again, see the same color faces, hear stories of activities that were exactly like our own? Human experience is much broader and more wonderful than we could ever experience all by ourselves. By sharing with others who are different from us in some way, we can sense more fully the joy of what it means to be human.
    Striving to know and understand people of diversity is the right thing to do, but more than that, it is the exciting and rewarding thing to do. I invite you to open your mind, give up any preconceived ideas about how people might be, and share your life with some of the most wonderful people you can ever hope to know: the people you meet on the path of life every day.
    Just as Unity would be incomplete without you, so humanity would be incomplete without every single person alive today. Let's dedicate ourselves to the true spirit of Unity and enjoy our differences while we rejoice in knowing that we are truly one.

This Message was presented as a Sunday Morning lesson by Rev. LuVerna Bauer.  It is undated, but was probably written in the early 1950s. 

 ONE PRESENCE AND ONE POWER

(EPH. 4, 1-6, 13, 14)

We are in the beginning of our second year together and during this time, we have both grown along with many of you in our understanding and truth.....As I have received and understood it, I have shared it with you to the best of my ability, and, I feel in a sense, it has been a preparation of myself and you for this important lesson of "TheOnePresence and One Power".

 It may seem to be a deep lesson for you, but you are ready for it or you would not be here today.  You would be up some river or maybe out in the lake, but I strongly feel that as you grasp this lesson, your whole life will change for the better.  That if you are especially attentive, you will have a great experience in your consciousness.  If you really understand it, your method of treating yourself and another person will change....your method of making a demonstration will change.  Instead of working and struggling with only mental power, you will rest in the realization of one presence and one power in your life.

 One  presence and one power  is a hard lesson for a person to accept because it is so obvious to him that the world is full of discord, lack and limitation.  It is so easy for him to see the world is filled with evil persons who are trying to limit him and deprive him of his rightful good.

 So for years while he studies truth he repeats an affirmation that are mere words to him, but one day it dawns on him and he sees the Light of the statement.  "One Presence and One Power".  Then he says, "Now I know what it Means."  Once you understand it, you will be enthusiastic about life like you never have before.  You will be excited about living.  Your whole life becomes a new experience.

But for those who do not understand and accept this Truth, they will stay under the influence of the outer forces of the world of negative thought, beliefs and actions of mankind.

 This past winter has seemed a critical time for many persons.  It seems we have gone through a period of low vibration that has seemed to pull people down.  They become depressed, give in to negative thoughts and feelings, become discouraged and critical, and are under the influence of becoming ill in mind and body.  For those of us who know the Truth, we must be even more firm in it and not give in to their thoughts or actions but be an uplifting influence for them, helping them to realize there is a Power in them at work in and in their lives that can lift them up into a more constructive way of living.

 One of Unity's most famous affirmations that many groups use is "There is only one Presence and one Power in my life, God the Good, Omnipotent."  This may confuse some, they say, "You don't believe in evil, do you?"  No, we don't believe in evil as a power equal to God.  We don't believe there is an evil power that has control over us to cause us harm or one that can keep our good from us.  We do believe the actions of man can be evil.  We know that thoughts can be evil, but this does not mean that evil is a power.  It has no life of it's own.  No place in eternality.  The only power evil can have is the power of belief that a person will give it.

 The only real power in the universe is the Power of God.  And that Power is operative through the individual, but he can use it in a negative way due to his own ignorance.

 If God did not create it, it is not real.  When we say real, we mean everlasting and eternal.  One of the first things we must understand is that the nature of God is good, absolute good; that whatever God creates must also be good.

The Bible tells us in the beginning, God.  In the beginning that is all there was.  God then created everything out of himself.  How did God create?  By appearing as the creation.  There is not God and creation.  Only God appearing as creation.

 In the Trinity we have the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit.  The Father is the source.  The Father creates the Son by appearing individually as the Son.  The Holy Spirit is the activity of the Father-Son.

 God did not create the you and me we now see appearing.  God created the Son which is your true inner self, which is invisible.  For ages you did not have a physical body, a coat of skin.  This came later as you began to exercise your free will and the power of thought to think as you please.  God said to your true inner self:  "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness".

Now up to this time, there is only God appearing as creation.  So where did all the evil, hatred, sin, disorder that is now in the world come from, if there is only God?  We can be sure that God did not make it.  How could he?  If he did, God would have to be evil.  But the nature of God is good, the word God means Good.

Now comes the Truth that sometimes hurts and is hard to accept.  This was all created by man.  Man is the creator of the disorder, the sin, the unharmony in the world.  God has nothing to do with it, therefore, God does not have to change it.

How did man do this creating?  By the power of his thought.  Man did not follow the commandment, "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness."  Man creates by the power of his thoughts, and thinking thoughts other than godlike thoughts, he has formed his physical body in the world not in the image and after the likeness of the planned pattern within himself and that God gave him.

You may say:  "Oh, now I know you are talking about mortal mind as the cause of negation."  "No, I am not.  There is only one presence and one power.  There is only one mind, the mind of God operating in and through man."  It is our wrong use that man makes of this one mind that appears as mortal mind.  No matter how far advanced a truth student may be, if he still holds on to the belief of a divine mind and and mortal mind, he is in trouble.

 Every concept you have is under the dominion of your own mind.  God, good, evil is only a concept you hold in your own mind.  You do not have two minds, but you may use the one mind in two different ways, causing good and evil in yourself and in your world.

Negative thinking is the cause of all the troubles in the world.  Let us look at it this way for illustration:  Suppose, instead of using a trash basket in your home or office, you just dropped everything on the floor, and did not sweep it up.  After a few days, your place is filled with rubbish.  Where did it come from?  Did God put it there?  No, you did.

Now think with me on this.  Every thought you have radiates out from you, whether good or evil, and they accumulate with all the other thoughts that people have.  This we call Race Consciousness.  This accumulation gradually falls back on you, influencing you in your thinking:  You pick them up, think some more on them, give them more power, and they go out again, influencing others, gradually they change and gather more and more power. 

Finally they appear as a common and an accepted belief of mankind.  This does not make them true, but they are commonly accepted as true.

This is how we have built up in our minds a belief in separation from God, when actually no separation exists.  Now, we are trying to get back to God when we are already one with him.  We are trying to bring about an attonement or as we say in Unity, At-One-Ment that already exists.  What we must now do is accept the fact that we are one with God and all that God is.

Our conscious awareness of oneness with God constitutes our oneness with all that God is.  That is all it takes, conscious awareness, each individual must do this for himself.  If each personal did this, there could not be wars, no sin, no disease, no lack, no disorder.  We could actually live in the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

Whatever you entertain in your mind is your world, because your world exists in your mind and so whatever you have in your mind is true for you.  Otherwise you could not be aware of it.  Change your mind and your world changes, it must follow suite.  It can do no other.

Bear in mind always that the God power which is accessible to you is not a person.  It is not a person, but a power, a power within you.  You can draw freely on this power and when you use it rightly, you will find it dissolves any adverse condition that may be hindering your progress.  Think about this, will you?

Your world is not outside you, but within you, in your mind.  Because your world is a result of a concept in your mind, nobody else can see your world as you do.  Each one sees his world from his own point of view.  Everything that goes to make up your mind is within your own consciousness.  Your family, your fiends, your business, your children are all within your own consciousness.  Nobody ever sees your child just as you see him.  You think this is because you know the child better.  But a truer reason is that you never see your child except through the lens of your own consciousness, through the lens of your hopes, your fears, and through the lens of your own ambitions.  In fact, your neighbor may come nearer to seeing the real child than you do, because he looks through the lens of a consciousness that is freer from personal feeling than yours.  That, by the way, is often the reason why children go to outsiders for counsel instead of going to their parents.

The average parent thinks, "My child is just like me", and proceeds to treat the child as if he were just like him, when, of course, it is not like the parent at all.  The world your child lives in is within his own consciousness, and is entirely different from your world.

That is why he acts differently from you.  The only way in which you can help your child is by giving him the principles of truth, beauty and love upon which to feed his consciousness.  Then, whether he acts as you would, or not, he will act truly.

Once we come to realize that your world is all within our own consciousness, we shall be able to meet and conquer adversity.  That which you do not entertain in your mind does not exist for you because you are not aware of it, even if it is all around you.

So it is with God. God is the source, the one source, which has created us out of itself, and is expressing through us all that God is.  God is not a person, place, or thing.  God is consciousness, conscious of itself, the consciousness of all-good.

There is not God and man, there is only God appearing as man.  We must entertain this realization and hold to it until this is all we know.  We do not have to fight or deny the other, it will fade away from the memory as we entertain God and God only in our minds.

By acknowledging himself as the Son of God, Jesus naturally partook of that nature.  We must do likewise.  There is nothing but God, and our own concepts.  These concepts have created the illusion that there is no other than God appearing.

When we perceive the true nature of God, we lose all sense of evil and we unfold from the basic prinicple, as Jesus did.  When we arrive at this state of consciousness, we lay aside all personalities and follow Christ, Truth.  Even the personality of Jesus will fade away in the contemplation of the Christ which he demonstrated.

Leaders and organizations will fade away in this contemplation because they are but stepping stones and will retard our spiritual progress, if held onto.

Stop searching for God.  Be still and know " I AM".  Stop struggling to become that which you are, an individual expression of God.  Harmonize your own thinking with that which is true about yourself.