I attended Unity of Tacoma church on a Thursday evening and was the first to arrive to the service. I was welcome by Mrs. Raylene Ewing who has been practicing Untiys’ five basic principles for nearly a decade. Charles Sherlock Fillmore and his wife Myrtle Page Fillmore founded Unity in the midst of the New Thought movement in 1889. Both Charles and Mrytle experienced health problems and contributed their recovery to their prayer and devotion to God, this is what sparked their idea of creating Unity. Currently Unity of Tacoma has two services a week, a Sunday service where Mrs. Raylene Ewings husband Reverend David leads and a Thursday evening meditation service where Reverend David opens and closes the mediation with prayer and Godly council. Thursday nights service is followed by a reflection period and a bible study that Reverend David also leads with his wife. When choosing this religion, it was labeled as a denomination of Christianity. However, after reading through Unity of Tacoma’s’ website I found that they did not identify themselves that way, but did not explain how they identify themselves. When Speaking to Mrs. Raylene I found that they consider themselves to be very similar to Science of Mind but would not consider themselves a denomination of any major religious belief system.
Unity has five basic principles they use to define what their belief system and values are which includes their belief that there is one presence and it is God, we are all spiritual
Unity of Purpose measures the degree to which teachers work toward a common mission for the school.
Nations United is one of ten life groups that Antioch Church has, and it was created by Kenah Nyanat, an old OU international student from Malaysia, who feels the necessary to fill the gap that existed in Norman where a family of internationals can come together and enjoy community, family and a life pursuing after the abundant life Jesus gives us daily (Nyanat). According to John Swales, an English professor from Michigan University, a discourse community is a group of folks who have the same public motives, ways of interrelation among them, specific vocabularies and genres, and some level of expertise (220-2220). Nations united has common public goals, which is gathering and uniting international believers
In October 1927, the first ever North American Christian Convention was held in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was one of many conventions that was held at the time and are held still to this day. Throughout this time, the North American Christian Convention has grown and developed, but how did it all begin and how has history shaped it into becoming what it is today? Throughout this paper I will be discussing the different events and people, that shaped and molded the North American Christian Convention into what it is today.
Unitarian Universalism (UU) is a religion based on a “free and responsible for truth and meaning”. Today, Unitarian Universalism is considered one of the most liberal religions. UU consists of major branches such as atheists, agnostics, and theists, these religion branches are based on how much they believe in the idea that there are gods. In the world, UU consists of 800,000 plus followers, while only 221,000 of them officially belong to the Unitarian Universalist Association. Members of UU often come from religions such as Judaism or Christianity which give them guidance and wisdom.
Dulles states, “It picks up the biblical theme that God has fashioned for himself a people feely communicating his spirit and his gifts” (50). The Body of Christ as stated in Dulles is, “the main point of mutual union, concern and dependence of the members of the local community upon one another,” (43). The body of Christ will only function is the whole community is willing to work together to reach a personal growth in their relationship with God. Now that we have an idea of what Church as mystical communion consists of I will discuss the strengths and weakness of this model. The strength of this model is that emphasizes a shared life with the community instead of shutting them off. This is a strength because when people come together as a whole everything holds so much more meaning and people can form a stronger bond with God, now that it is much more personal and voluntary. Another strength is that this model improves people spirituality and prayer life now that they feel that personal connection that they formed. A weakness of this model is that it creates unsure relationship between the visible and invisible, since Grace allows people to get closer to God through the invisible such as communion while the visible structure like institutionalism tries to emphasize their power over the whole people. I have discussed what the models mean, their strength and weakness of each so now I will note the difference and
The first chapter of the Unitarian Universalist welcome book kicks off with the question of, “What Do Unitarian Universalists Believe?” It expresses that they believe in the freedom of religious expression. They encourage all individuals to develop their own personal theologies, and present their religious opinions without Fear of reprisal. Unitarian Universalists can be known as heretics, because they make their own choice of what they believe or not believe. They believe in intellectual freedom, and encourage their members to have an open mind and heart that is truly free and open. They also believe in the authority of reason and conscience. The ultimate arbiter in religion is not the church or document, but rather the personal choice and decision of the individual. Unitarian Universalists are also known to be very vocal by supporting civil rights and protest unjust wars. They welcome and integrate gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members, and help support their rights in society. They have Sunday sermons were they unite just like Christians do on Sunday in a church. Unitarian Universalists express themselves with seven principles and six sources that they all share. Their Services include time for meditation, singing and prayer led by a minister. They have a symbol known as, the “chalice”, which has a special meaning to them.
As I interpret the elements of congregational identity identified in Chapter 7 as it applies to my congregation, as mentioned earlier I believe it is a hybrid of many parts. Spirituality as mentioned earlier is comprised of three parts “cognitive”, “affective” and “servant,” which in turn makes it “stance” three part “University, Shepherd, and outreach which makes the “style” very emotional like a pregnant woman.
What is unification? It is the bringing into one unit. Unity refers to the state of being united or being together. It is the feeling of oneness and harmony for the common goal. It is a kind of co-operation for a common cause. It is very difficult to reach the unified action on a targeted problem, and very important to negotiate and build consensus towards a solution. Strength, practically speaking, underlies unity, and whenever people act in unison with one another, their strength increases thousand-fold. The importance of unity can never be overrated. Little drops of water make the mighty ocean and little drops of sand make this vast world. The stick that could easily be broken, when twisted in a bundle becomes sturdy and hard to break. It
One of Unitarianism’s main contributions to society comes in the form of their advocacy for racial equality both inside and outside of their congregations. During the 1965 Selma Marches in Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reached out to
The Oxford dictionary defines united as “joined together politically, for a common purpose, or by common feelings”. I believe in an America where the world is united for a common purpose. The America I believe in is an America where there is race and gender equality and interaction between people.
To expound, Reverend Kate Wilkinson demonstrates in the Iowa Sisterhood that the focus of the church should have been as much to foster creating a warm climate for the “brotherhood” of the church as it was to allow women equal access to the pulpit. Because in theory, Universalism is a community
Wright does spend a lot more time on how communal activities and experiences are far more vital to the simply Christian life than is realized, and why vital relationships, as expressed in the church, seen as a real community, are the engine for linking understanding and experience. Wright's three common expressions of the Christian life: worship, prayer and Bible
It all started with a visit to the Seabrook Park Mural for our assignment. I was enjoying all of the great artwork on the mural but continued coming back to one specific artwork. The words Umoja = Unity (Figure 1) continued to stand out to me and knowing this assignment I began thinking about what Unity actually means.
This concept helped latter in the development of Christology and Trinitarian doctrine. In the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed The Holy Spirit, God with the Father and Son are defined. The pseudo –Athanasius Creed explains unity in Trinity and Trinity in unity (p.71).
As I was reading Reverend Prinster's lecture, I discovered that Unitarianism has always been a movement for social justice. I believe if there is anything contemporary UU s can learn from the church in Transylvania is that UU has always been a voice of the time speaking for equality of all ways of worship. David Ferenc is a martyr and a social activist.