Unity in the Pines

A  Christian Community Church
That Love Is Growing

Newsletters

Editor -- Kristine Baker  

A New Year – Our Choice    

- Reverend Liz Petipren  

A Tibetan Buddhist monk was incarcerated for 18 years as a political prisoner of the Chinese. After he was released, an interviewer asked him if he had ever been in serious danger. “Yes, about three times,” the monk explained. 

“How so?” the interviewer asked him. “Were you tortured?” “No,” the monk replied. “Those were the times I grew angry.”  

What happens to your spirit is far more significant than what happens to your body. We all know people who have great material wealth but are miserable spiritually. We also know people who have little in the world, but are soaring spiritually. You can, of course, be wealthy materially as well as spiritually. It is all a matter of attitude. 

We all live life simultaneously on two dimensions:  

1.     On the horizontal dimension, you move through your story line in the world. You were born in a certain family, you went to school, perhaps you got married and have your own family, you go to a particular job each day, and so on. This is the story that most people would relate to if they were asked, “Tell me about your life.” 

2.     At the same time, you also live on a vertical or spiritual dimension. You have ups, downs, joys, sorrows, a sense of connection or disconnection, and a whole realm of experiences invisible to the eyes of most observers. 

While the horizontal dimension is important, because you are a spiritual being at your core, your vertical dimension is even more significant. So, no matter what occurs in your worldly story, your real quest is to maximize your sense of well-being, which is independent of any particular form on the horizontal dimension. 

When the monk noted that he was in danger when he became angry, he was affirming that his primary commitment was to inner peace, and he evaluated his success in life by how much he stayed connected to that peace. His body could be incarcerated, but not his soul. 

If inner peace is the real measure of success, how much danger are you in, or have you been in?  Our peace and compassion towards our self and others is based on the awareness of God’s love that we hold within. The life of spirit is real life. In this brand New Year, commit to the success of your spirit by the degree of inner peace you practice.  

THE HAPPENINGS FOR 

January, 201 2 

SERVICES FOR JANUARY, 2012

  Sunday –Burning Bowl Ceremony 

January - 01 …… Rev. Liz Petipren 

“Let Go & Let God”  

Music: Shirley Wray & Jane Seaman 

Sunday –  

January – 08 …… Rev. Liz Petipren 

“Embracing Your Lives Experiences” 

Music: Wayne Hosford  

Sunday – Annual Congregational Meeting with Pot Luck  

January – 15 …… Rev. Liz Petipren 

“The Truth in Fellowship”  

Music: Betty Ferrell & Carole Belcher 

Sunday –“Lunch Bunch” 

January – 22 …….. Adra Farriss 

“To Be Announced” 

Music: Wayne Hosford 

Sunday –  

January – 29 …….Rev. Louise Morley 

“Today We Begin Anew” 

Music: Perry Stokes 

Weekly Wednesday afternoon Meditation Hour with Bill Snapp  

2 – 3 PM in the Sanctuary 

January Birthday’s 

                                      01/13 – Geneva White 

                                      01/15 – Gloria Alexander 

                                      01/18 – Ruth Deese 

                                      01/29 – Jacob White  

WORDS FROM YOUR PRESIDENT 

Patrick Callahan 

Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings to everyone at Unity in the Pines. As the year comes to a close, I would like to thank the congregation for allowing me to serve as the President on the Board of Directors. I enjoy working with Rev. Liz and the other Board Members. We really do come together and work as a team. I am looking forward to the coming New Year and the exciting changes and growth that our little church will experience.  

Please plan to attend the annual congregational meeting on Sunday, January 15^th 2012. If you haven’t already done so, you will have the opportunity to meet and greet our newest members. 

Best wishes to all and may you all have a blessed and prosperous New Year. 

Jane Seaman 

Jane Seaman, the daughter of Mrs. Heidi Seaman and the late Fred C. Seaman, is no stranger to Unity in the Pines since her parents became members in the early 1990’s 

 Jane has sung solos, and gave a Benefit Concert at our church, whenever she visited from her home and career in New York City. Ms. Seaman’s career has spanned from Broadway to opera, and some film and TV. On Broadway, Jane was in “The Secret Garden” and “Anything Goes” with Patti LuPone and “Big River”. In National Tours, she starred as the Baroness opposite Marie Osmond in “The Sound of Music, and toured with Richard Kiley in “Man of LaMancha”. On TV and film, she was seen in “The Young and the Restless, “Another World”, “Murphy Brown”, “America’s Most Wanted”, and “The Devil’s Advocate” with Keanu Reeves. Currently she resides in Montclair, NJ, with her daughter Samantha Xiaoliang, is an Adjunct Professor at Marymount Manhattan College. She maintains her private Voice Studio in NYC and Montclair.     

Jane Seaman will be doing the Special Music at the Burning Bowl Ceremony on Sunday January 01, 2012 

ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL 

MEETING 

Sunday, January 15, 2012

This meeting will take place in Fellowship Hall at 1:30 PM after the Pot Luck fellowship hour.  

Voting Issues & Announcements Topics

·        Board Members 

·        Monthly Newsletter 

·        Greeting  one another in the Sunday service 

·        Financial Status of Unity in the Pines 

·        Community Outreach & Local Charities 

Come One – Come All – Your Vote, Opinion and Suggestions Count!

NEW MEMBER RECOGNITION 

Help welcome our newest members to Unity in the Pines on Sunday, January 15, 2012 as part of the Annual Congregational Meeting. Welcome To: Kay C. Adams, William R Snapp, Amy Dehaney and Pauline LaPierre.

WOMEN OF UNITY MONTHLY MEETING 

The Women of Unity will be having their monthly meeting on the first Tuesday of January -01/02/2012.  

There will be a representative from a local florist, “Flowers to Go” presenting information and speaking on floral arrangements and other helpful tips for flower gardens.  

“LUNCH BUNCH” SUNDAY

Let’s start the New Year off with something NEW by trying a NEW place to eat and meet for the once a month “Lunch Bunch.” This month we will be meeting at the “New Chinese Buffet” located at 5841 Lake Worth Road in Greenacres ½ mile east of Jog Road in the Woodlake Plaza, 5 doors west of the Good Will outlet.  

Unity In The Pines V.I.P 

Cynthia MacGregor 

Dedicated Unity in the Pines member Cynthia MacGregor is the Coordinator of Volunteers, a member of the Music and Worship Committee, and recently edited “A Taste of Unity in the Pines,” the cookbook the church is currently selling as a fund-raiser.  She was asked not long ago to assume the presidency of the Women of Unity, a responsibility she will take on starting with the January meeting. 

Cynthia enjoys giving her time and energy to her church in whatever capacity she can help. 

That she would find herself editing the church cookbook comes as no surprise. Editing comes naturally to her – she’s a full-time freelance writer/editor by profession, and she has 54-conventionally published books and over 50 published e-books to her credit, not including ghostwritten books that she wrote for clients. Several of Cynthia’s published and soon-to-be-published books are cookbooks. 

In addition to writing books and the occasional article, Cynthia also writes ads, press releases, catalog copy, web copy, and all the plays produced by the Palm Springs Players community theater group, 

Her chief hobbies are writing for fun and – not surprisingly – cooking. She is a regular contributor of goodies to the Pot Luck Sunday lunches here at UIP. Cynthia is a very happy woman and says, “There’s no one in the world I’d want to trade lives with!” 

WEEKLY MEDITATION HOUR                               

 BEGINNING 1^ST WEEK IN JANUARY 2012 

MEDITATION with Super Duper facilitator Mr. Bill, J.Y.A.G.N.* 

We ask you to join us in a Wednesday, 1:30 pm, group relaxation. You can then take your “relaxed comfort” into the remainder of the week. 

ALLELUIA attn: Seniors – All donations are donated to local children charities. 

*Just Your Average Good Neighbor

INVOCATION 

I am now in the presence of 

Pure Being and immersed in the 

Holy Spirit of life, love and wisdom. 

I acknowledge thy presence and thy power. 

Oh, Blessed Spirit, in the Divine wisdom 

Now erase my mortal limitations and from 

Thy pure substance of love bring into 

Manifestation my world 

According to thy perfect law. 

Charles Fillmore 

Unity in the Pines                                               

6073 Summit Blvd.                          

West Palm Beach, FL 33405                                                            

Office hours – 10 to 3 Monday –Thursday 

Closed on Fridays & Saturdays 

Phone: 561-478-5454 

Email: unityinthepines@att.net   

www.unityinthepines.com