Unity in the Pines     

A  Christian Community Church
That Love Is Growing

     Newsletters

Editors -- Joyce Bailey and Kristine Baker 

The Key to Prosperity   

                               By Reverend Liz Petipren 

What is the key to experiencing “prosperity” in our lives? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus hands us the sacred key that unlocks the secret to an abundant life. He says “But strive first for the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33) 

What a wonderful promise! Jesus assures us; put God first, and all of your material needs will be met. So why do we struggle with issues about financial security? Where do our fears originate? We possess the Divine assurance that God already knows what we need. What causes us to worry, fret, and try to control the source of our material good? 

Could it be that trusting our financial well-being to God simply seems too uncomfortable for us? Yes, we hear God’s words. But hearing and then believing those words can be a challenge. In the Psalms, we read “I trust” are the foundation of co-creating anything with God. Letting go and letting God co-create our material world requires an unwavering belief in God’s promises. 

When we have faith in God’s abundance for us, we can approach financial issues from and attitude of calmness and confidence. By putting God first, we can be assured that our human needs will be met in a way that brings only the highest good for everyone involved. Let’s face it, setting aside our human concerns will never be easy. Opening ourselves to receiving God’s gifts takes an acceptance of our Divine Heritage. We must believe in our worthiness to receive from God, the true Source of all good. God will never fail to give when we become ready to receive. 

Dear friend, God is blessing you right now with life, peace, love and prosperity. All of God’s gifts are yours. God loves you unconditionally and will not fail you. Believe and trust, trust and believe. Your prosperity is unlimited, have a Happy and Prosperous New Year.  

Rev. Liz 

Basic & Fundamental Philosophy 

For Teacher and Learners – Ages 21/2 to 100 

By Bernie Gardner 

Do not lie, cheat, or steal. 

Do not repeat anything said about anyone unless it is something good. 

Learn patience as it increases in value with age. 

Accept and develop YOUR OWN belief in a SUPREME BEING. 

Give “an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.” 

Do not participate in FRAUD or DECEPTION and avoid those who do. 

Acquire and save but don’t be greedy. 

Be generous and share with those less fortunate than you. 

Develop OPTIMISM, ENTHUSIASM, and COMPASSION as automatic impulses 

HATE corrodes the mind, body, and soul. 

Forgiveness purges bad memories from the forgiver and the forgiven. 

Addiction to alcohol, tobacco, or drugs often ruins user and others lives. 

MORALITY & INTEGRITY measure a person for life and beyond. 

ETHICS can build self-esteem and respect from others. 

JEALOUSY & ENVY, unchecked, can lead to madness. 

Disappointment should be rationalized as a temporary feeling. 

POWER & CONTROL without WISDOM produce TYRANNY. 

TOLERANCE & GRACE can lead to UNDERSTANDING. 

Don’t confuse SEX as LOVE. LOVE is much more than that. 

Real LOVE also means complete FIDELITY.            B.G. ’03. 

Women of Unity

Tuesday, January 05, 2010 at Noon, bring a lunch, 

 beverage and desert will be provided. 

   The guest speaker for this month’s meeting will be  

Betty Ferrell. Don’t miss out on the fun as Betty  

will entertain you with talking and singing the lyrics  

of the early 1900’s “Folk Songs” Music will be played by Betty on her “Melodica” 

Tithing 

By Hilton F Stone Jr. 

The New Testament does not push tithing but it does push giving.  

In Luke 6: 38 it says “Give and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. 

Tithing is mostly stressed in the Old Testament. In Mal. 3: 10 the following is said, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of host, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 

Both promises seem to be about the same. We have been tithing for more than 20 years, but I wasn’t thinking of any rewards. My primary purpose was to obey the instructions found in Mark 16: 15 where he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Lillian and I hope our tithe will be used to help preach the gospel to all creation. 

Both the New Testament and the Old Testament promises came through for us. We are happy, healthy, and prosperous. Happy of course, because after 61 years of marriage we are still in love; healthy because we eat the right food, exercise every day and our doctors tell us on our regular checkups that we are healthy; prosperous because we have a pension, social security, and an investment which survived the present small depression we are in. 

I have often wondered why other people don’t tithe and enjoy the same wonderful life we have. I have read the Bible quite often and I have never noticed anywhere that the promises about giving and tithing were limited to just a few people. 

Enthusiasm

Join Lauren Bressler on Thursday, January 21^st 

At 7:00 PM for fun and connections. This month’s 

 guest speaker will be Rev. Nancy Kennedy who will be speaking on “Enthusiasm” and how to heal yesterday’s pain. 

Installing Love on the Human Computer: 

Tech Support:  Yes, how can I help you? 

Customer:  Well, after much consideration, I’ve decided to install Love. Can you guide me through the process? 

Tech Support:  Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed? 

Customer:  Well, I’m not very technical, but I think I’m ready. What do I do first? 

Tech Support:  The first step is to open your Heat. Have you located your Heart? 

Customer:  Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running? 

Tech Support:  What programs are running? 

Customer:  Let’s see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge and Resentment running right now. 

Tech Support:  No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. 

Love will eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off? 

Customer:  I don’t how to turn them off. Can you tell me how? 

Tech support:  With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment  have been completely erased. 

Customer:  Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal? 

Tech Support:  Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades. 

Customer:  Oops! I have an error message already. It says, “Error – Program not running on external components.” What should I do? Tech Support: Don’t worry. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart.  

 Cont. on page 5 

In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself  before you Love others.                                   Customer: So, what should I do? 

Tech Support:  Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your Limitations. 

Customer:  Okay, done. 

Tech Support:  Now, copy them to the “My Heart” directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. 

Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back. 

Customer:  Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal? 

Tech Support:  Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running 

One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you. 

Customer:  Thank you, God. 

God/Tech Support:  You’re Welcome, Anytime. 

We Remember two of our Cherished Friends 

Ruth Ballum            Doc Hill  

Sunday School at Unity in the Pines 

As we begin the new year, we may be wondering what the future holds for our precious church. We’ve added some new members and improved the appearance of the building and the grounds. But who will carry us forward? The answer, in part, is in the Sunday School room every week. With dedicated teachers, Chris and Pat Callahan, with help from Suzanne Waltzer, our children are learing Unity Principals.                

        Chris & Pat Callahan                 Suzanne Waltzer & Jadn

   Erin’s “God Book”                 Ben                          Llaila 

The children are learning through the use of  Bible lessons, meditation, songs, stories and discussion. They have creative activities. For example, Erin has made a “God Book” containing the lessons of the Advent Season. Jadn was making her “Happy Place” with colored paper triangles.  

You don’t see the same faces in Sunday School every week. There are some “regulars” and others drop in. All are welcome, enjoyed and appreciated for the beauty that they all bring to our church.   

Jadn                      Manjaro                            Kajari 

If you would like to help out in Sunday School, call the church office Monday through Thursday and speak to Rev. Liz. If there is a child in your life, bring him/her to visit. We’d love to meet them. 

Welcome New Members  

Jamie Bryant, Orvilla Sheller, Fred & Diana Leipertz, Suzanne Walzer, Kay Thomas, Estelle Friedman, Antoinette Coniglio, David Fields, Nino DeSilva, Patrick and Christina Callahan and Effie Tofh. 

Services for January, 2010 

Sunday – January 03                                           

Rev. Taylor Stevens 

“A Truly New Year” 

Music, Perry Stokes 

Sunday – January 10–  

Annual Congregational Meeting, Pot Luck 

Rev. Liz Petipren 

“Dare To Be Remarkable” 

Music, Betty Ferrell / Carole Belcher 

Sunday – January 17 

Adra Farriss 

“New Horizons” 

Music, Suzanne Walzer 

Sunday – January 24 

Art Ferdig 

“Walking With Angles” 

Music, Suzanne Walzer 

Workshop – Manifesting Your Heart’s Desires” 

Sunday – January 31 

Art Ferdig 

“Discovering Your Destiny” 

Music, Nino DeSilva & Kalimba 

Workshop -  What Lies Ahead for Man & Earth 

January Birthday’s 

14 – Hyacinth Smith 

15 – Rev. Gloria Alexander 

We “Unitics” plan a lot of activities around food. 

We also like to honor those we love.