Silent Unity

THE LIGHT THAT SHINES FOR YOU

If some night you come to Unity Village, the lights would be like blazing pools. There are lights at the entrance, in the Tower, in the Administration building, on the bridge across the mirror pool, and around the patio outside Unity Inn. All these you could not help but see. But there is one light that you might easily overlook.

This is a light that shines from a window in the Silent Unity building. In terms of candlepower this light is very small; it casts a faint golden glow on the tiles of the cloister roof on which it falls.

It is only in terms of spiritual power that this light has significance, for this is the light in the room where Silent Unity keeps the vigil of prayer.

Probably the gaslight shed but feeble illumination on the upstairs room of the house in Kansas City where Charles and Myrtle Fillmore and a few friends met over ninety years ago "in silent soul communion ... all those who are in trouble, sickness, or poverty, and who sincerely desire the help of the Good Father."

But a light was lighted far brighter than eyes have power to see, a light for minds to follow and for hearts to be warmed by. This is the light of Silent Unity's prayer. This light has never gone out.

For over ninety years someone in Silent Unity has been in prayer. In the early morning, throughout the day, through the dark hours of the night, week in, week out, month following month, through years of war and peace, through depression and prosperity, for over ninety years -- prayer!

Today, in the room at Unity Village where the light is kept burning, this vigil of prayer goes on.

From the moment a message is received, it is enfolded in an atmosphere of prayer. Members of Silent Unity join in prayer at 8 a.m. every working day, using the Daily Word lesson for the day. At 11 a.m. workers meet in the prayer room for what is known as the "healing service," where the needs of individuals are taken up in prayer. Members of Silent Unity join again in consecrated prayer at noon or shortly thereafter.

Yet these meetings are but a small part of the sum of prayer in Silent Unity. As letters, telegrams, and telephone calls flow across the desks, every worker -- the person who came to work yesterday and the one who has been in Silent Unity for many years -- blesses each request as it is handled. The one who first receives a message from a correspondent, the one who checks the address, the one who writes the letter and chooses the prayer and pamphlet to send, the one who puts the answer in the mail -- each person does the work with love, with faith, with the joy of serving. Then every half hour throughout the day the workers, one after another, go into the prayer room to pray alone. At night the spiritual vigil goes on in the room where the light is kept shining.

Yet even this does not complete the sum of prayers of which Silent Unity is the radiating center. All over the earth, there are hearts constantly attuned to ours in Silent Unity, voices joined with ours in declaring the Unity affirmations of faith, hundreds of thousands speaking words of blessing, breathing prayers of love, adding to the spiritual force, the prayer force that is Silent Unity.

This is why the light that shines from the window, though to the eye it seems only a little light, lights the farthest corners of the earth. This is why, "down under" in Australia, deep in Africa, beyond the Arctic circle, this light is shining. In these and other faraway places, hearts are warmed by it and minds are illumined by it.

This is a spiritual light. It is the spiritual light generated by years and years of constant prayer, generated by the prayers that are continually going forth in Silent Unity today, going forth at the very moment you read these words, generated by prayers going forth all over the world.

"Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20). This is the ministry of Jesus Christ, who said: "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). It is the light of His Spirit that radiates from our window, radiates through our prayers, the Christ light lit by many years of faith in Him, by many thoughts of love for Him, by many hearts and minds consecrated to serving Him.

The light of His Truth, like the light in the window, may seem only a little light; but if you are lost, you may find your way by it.

Are you in need of help? Sit down and begin to write, "Dear Silent Unity..." Even as you write the words, you will feel the silent unity of love, the silent unity of those who pray together, the silent unity of God and His children, the silent unity of Spirit that is Silent Unity. Even as you write the words, in your heart and mind the light will begin to glow.

Go to a telephone, wherever you may be, at any moment of the day or night, and call (816) 251-2100, Unity Village, Missouri. From the room where the light shines a voice will ring out for your heart to hear, "Silent Unity!" and the light that shines in this window will begin to shine for you.

If you cannot write a letter, if you cannot reach a telephone, heart speaks to heart across the silence of prayer. Let your heart call out in faith and hope and love; turn in your mind to Silent Unity and utter a silent prayer for help. Even as you turn, you step within the circle of the light.

Silent Unity is as a pool of light, an ever-widening pool of trust in God, forever being fed by continual affirmations of faith. Every word of prayer is as a loving hand stretched forth to help into the pool someone in need.

Though the world may fall asleep to spiritual truth, the faith of Silent Unity never sleeps. Here always there are hearts outreached in prayer. Here we constantly keep the vigil of faith, the watch of prayer. This is a spiritual trust we keep, a spiritual tryst -- a trust we keep in God, a tryst we keep with anyone who may be in need.

All those who are in need we embrace with our prayers and draw them close to God, draw them into closer awareness of the good that is theirs in Him. We embrace them with our hearts and draw them into the light of Truth.

Are you in need of help?

There is a light that shines for you. Wherever you are, whatever your need, you can step into this light.

Do you need peace for your mind? The light floods your mind, the light of the Christ Mind. It penetrates into cobwebby corners; it unravels knotty tangles; it shows the way to go; it brings order and wisdom.

Do you need health for your body? The light shines in your body, the warm light of life, the vitalizing light of Spirit. It suffuses the cells, it bathes the tissues. In its life-giving glow your body is revealed as a temple of light, a temple of the living God.

Do you need prosperity for your affairs? The light illumines your affairs. It reveals new opportunities, invisible avenues of supply. It discloses rich ideas that you can use; it gives you a sense of security in which you have the courage to step forward; it lights the steps for you to take.

Do you need harmony in your life? The light radiates through every area of your life. It shines on misunderstandings, and they are dissolved. It shines on complications, and they are settled. It shines on seeming emptiness, which is filled with beauty and joy. This is the light of understanding, the light of "silent soul communion," the light of Christ compassion.

Do you have dear ones who need help? Your love lifts them into the light. Your prayers lift them into the light. In the light of the omnipresence of God, needs are met.

Are you in need of help?

There is a light that shines for you.

You need never be alone -- not even on the darkest night. Silent Unity is no farther from you than a prayer's length.

In a room of a building in Unity Village where a light is shining from a window, someone is praying, someone with a spirit kindred to your own, someone whose thoughts reach out to you in faith, someone whose heart reaches out to you in love. The light in this window shines for you. The light in this heart shines for you.

Silent Unity is as the Christ light, lit in the window of the world. If you are a traveler on the road of prayer, this light shines for you.