Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

"I have learned the secret of being
content in any and every situation,
whether well fed or hungry,
whether living in plenty or in want."
Philippians 4:12

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Dave Ramsey on Podcast Episode 2


We've uploaded another podcast episode. you can listen to it here Unity Teacher Podcast
Dave Ramsey appears and gives us some thoughts on the current economic condition.
Dave is the author of Financial Peace & Total Money Makeover.
click here to listen.
I trust that this will give you some food for thought & conversation in your classes.
Blessings John

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Video on Money From Saturday Night Live

This video from Saturday Night Live might be a good conversation starter at your next prosperity class.

Enjoy!

Click here to go to our blog and see the video


Wednesday, September 24, 2008

TVPA Reauthorization Needs Your Voice Today!

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) became law in 2000. It is the first major comprehensive U.S. legislative effort to combat modern-day slavery.
Not For Sale has been working in coalition with many other anti-slavery groups for the past year to advocate for important tweaks to the TVPA. These modifications include initiatives to increase victim identification, to provide survivors with much needed services, and to prosecute traffickers. We are happy to report that the bill passed in the House of Representatives last December in an overwhelming 405-2 vote.

However, with less than a week left before Congress adjourns for the year, the bill is still awaiting Senate action. It's important for your Senators to know that human trafficking is an issue you care about, and that you support the proposed changes within the TVPA.

Please make your voice heard by calling your Senators and urging them to cosponsor the reauthorization of the TVPA in the Senate, with important amendments:

1. Find your Senator's contact information.
2. Download talking points for your call.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Possibility-Emily Dickinson

What are the Possibilities for a Licensed Teacher?


I dwell in Possibility-

A fairer House than Prose-

More numerous of Windows-

Superior-for Doors-


Of Chambers as the Cedars -

Impregnable of Eye-

And for an Everlasting Roof-

The Gambrels of the Sky-


Of Visitor-the fairest-

For Occupation-This-

the spreading wide my narrow Hands-

To gather Paradise-


-Emily Dickins

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Friday, June 27, 2008

I Choose Love

Here is a music video Richard Mekdeci turned me on to.
I hope you enjoy it.
John



If the video isn't in your email you can download it or go to the blog http://www.unityteacher.com/ to see it.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

New Board Chair For Association

New Board Chair Named for the Association of Unity Churches International

Published Tuesday, June 17, 2008by Lisa Wittman
Reverend Marilyn Muehlbach has been elected chair of the board of trustees of the Association of Unity Churches International. The Association, headquartered in the greater Kansas City Missouri metropolitan area, provides services to some 1000 Unity ministries worldwide.
Reverend Muehlbach was ordained in 1985 and moved to Coeur d'Alene, ID, as minister of Unity Church of North Idaho. She currently travels as a consultant and workshop presenter internationally.

Active in the work of the Association since ordination, she has served on the board since 1995, longer consecutively than any other individual—including as a regional representative, and member of the former executive team. She served on the team that designed the reorganization of the board to a 12-member body. She also served as a member of the executive transition team for selection of a new CEO. Muehlbach has served on organizational teams in the areas of development, licensing and ordination, church growth and development, appeals, and peacemaking.

Muehlbach earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Denison University. Active in the Coeur d'Alene community, she has served as a hospice chaplain, on a task force for human rights, and the local interfaith group.

"The Association of Unity Churches International, in holding a high vision, training leaders, supporting churches and being the voice of Unity in the world, is uniquely positioned to impact the direction the world will take. I envision our ministries and the people who make up those ministries, shining like a beacon of light, illumining the hearts and minds of the people of this Earth, teaching spiritual principles and their practical application that will allow us all to thrive in the 21st Century," she says.

Others elected were: Julie Montague, 1st Vice Chair; David McArthur, 2nd Vice Chair; David and Jim Lee were elected to a second term; Lauren Bundy, lay leader at Unity in Atlanta, was elected to the Board; Diana McDaniel left the Board. Dan Holloway continues on the Board for one more year. Other members: Linda Lowery, Bonny Ashe, Miguel Corales, Eileen Goor, Donna Johnson, Julie Armour; Lei Lanni Burt, Keeper of the Flame.

Association Video on You Tube

The Unity Association video Thriving in Unity is now on You Tube. Check it out here.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Something to think about

Hi Friends

I saw this quote and thought it was something worth thinking about.

The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem. –T. Rubin

Have a great day!!!!

No Problem Man!!

John

Friday, April 18, 2008

When is Passover?

Aramaic ThoughtsWeek of April 13 - 19, 2008
A Break for Passover


To borrow a joke, one Jewish man asks another, “When is Passover this year?” The second man answers, “14th of Nissan, same as every year.” The joke is intended to emphasize the point that the dates of the Jewish holidays are always the same in the Jewish calendar. However, the Jewish calendar does not match up precisely with our modern Gregorian calendar, so with regard to the modern calendar, the Jewish festivals occur on different dates every year.
The Gregorian calendar that is used by most of the world today is essentially a solar-year calendar. Thus, in general every four years an extra day is added in recognition of the fact that the solar year is actually about 365.25 days long.

The traditional Jewish calendar, on the other hand, takes three astronomical considerations into account. The first is, of course, that the solar year is 365.25 days long. The second consideration is that the lunar month is about 29.5 days long. The third consideration is that the solar year is approximately 12.4 lunar months long. The Jewish monthly calendar is a lunar calendar, so that all months in the Jewish calendar are either 29 or 30 days long, to match the lunar month. However, the Jewish years are sometimes 12 months long, and other times 13 months long. This latter fact is to take care of the “creep” that would otherwise occur in the Jewish year. In other words, if the Jewish lunar calendar were a consistent 12 months long, over time Passover, which is a spring festival, would gradually creep backward through the seasons, so that at some time it would occur in the winter, at some time it would occur in the fall, and at some time it would occur in the summer. In order to forestall this creep an additional month is added to the Jewish calendar about every fourth year. Another way of thinking about it is that for two or three years, Passover moves back (earlier) about eleven days each year. Then, in the year when the extra month is added, it jumps forward 29 or 30 days, and the backward creep then begins all over again. This explains why it is that Passover and Easter so rarely coincide. The two holidays are being located in time on the basis of different calendars.

In the Jewish ritual calendar Nissan (also spelled Nisan) is the first month of the year (think of it as January), and Passover occurs on the 14th of Nissan. The last month of the year, that is, the month preceding Nissan (think of it as December) is Adar. When a thirteenth month is added to the calendar, it is added before Adar, and is referred to as Adar I, Adar Rishon (beginning), or Adar Aleph (the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet). The “regular” month of Adar is referred to as Adar II, Adar Sheini (second Adar), or Adar Beit (second letter of the Hebrew alphabet). The Gregorian years 2007-2008 (the Jewish year overlaps the successive Gregorian years) parallel the Jewish year 5768, which is one of the years with a thirteenth month. Thus, Adar I began on February 7, Adar II began on March 8, and Nissan begins on April 6, thus putting Passover on April 19, 2008.

Those interested in more about the Jewish calendar can consult the web site: http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Aramaic Literature - The Mishnah - Part 2

The Mishnah (Part 2)

The first of the six orders of the Mishnah is called Zera’im (Seeds). It is divided in eleven treatises. The first of these treatises is called Berakot (Blessings). It is concerned mostly with the rules for daily prayer, and begins with a discussion of when the Shema’ is to be said in the evening. For those who don’t know, the Shema’ is Deut 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” It is named from the first word of the verse in Hebrew. The following discussion is taken from the Wikisource Mishnah (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Mishnah/Seder_Zeraim/Tractate_Berakhot/Chapter_1).

“From when may one recite the Shema in the evening?From the time when the Kohanim go in to eat their terumah.Until the end of the first watch – so says Rabbi Eliezer.And the Sages say: Until midnight.Rabban Gamliel says: Until the column of dawn rises.It once happened that [Rabban Gamliel’s] sons came from a house of feasting.They said to [their father]: "We have not recited the Shema."He said to them: "If the column of dawn has not risen, you are obligated to recite it."“[This is true] not only in this case; rather, in all cases where the Sages said that [some precept can be performed only] until midnight — the precept is [still in force] until the break of dawn.“[For example:] Burning the fats and organs [of the sacrifices, on the Temple altar] — this precept [can be performed] until the break of dawn.“[Another example:] All [sacrifices] which may be eaten for one day — the precept [of eating them can be performed] until the break of dawn.If that is so, why did the Sages say, "until midnight"?To distance a person from sin.”
This is an excellent example of the style of the Mishnah. The original question is posed, and answers are provided. As answers are given, additional questions arise, and these also are dealt with. Some of the connections between topics seem tenuous, but the connections reflect connections developed over the course of the rise of rabbinic Judaism.

The second treatise of the first order is called Pe’ah (Corner) because it deals with the passages concerning the corners of the field, such as Lev 19:9-10. “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge [corner] neither shall you gather the gleanings after the harvest.” (ESV). Since these passages also deal with the cause of the poor (that is, the corners are not to be reaped so that they are left for the poor), the treatise also goes on to deal with the causes and rights of the poor. This treatise begins as follows: These are the things that have no measure:

The Peah of the field, the first-fruits, the appearance [at the Temple in Jerusalem on Pilgrimage Festivals],acts of kindness, and the study of the Torah.These are things the fruits of which a man enjoys in this world,while the principle remains for him in the World to Come:Honoring father and mother,acts of kindness,and bringing peace between a man and his fellow.But the study of Torah is equal to them all.

Note in this how the study of the Torah is exalted relative to the importance of other works.

Author Bio:Dr. Shaw was born and raised in New Mexico. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of New Mexico in 1977, the M. Div. from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1980, and the Th.M. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1981, with an emphasis in biblical languages (Greek, Hebrew, Old Testament and Targumic Aramaic, as well as Ugaritic). He did two year of doctoral-level course work in Semitic languages (Akkadian, Arabic, Ethiopic, Middle Egyptian, and Syriac) at Duke University. He received the Ph.D. in Old Testament Interpretation at Bob Jones University in 2005. Since 1991, he has taught Hebrew and Old Testament at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, a school which serves primarily the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, where he holds the rank of Associate Professor.

Friday, April 04, 2008

Quote of the Day

"Immortal men and women are models of spiritual sense,
drawn by perfect Mind, and
reflecting those higher conceptions of loveliness which
transcend all material sense."

-From Science and Health
by Mary Baker Eddy
247:15

Have a great day & weekend.
You are that immortal man or woman!!
John

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Happy Easter!!

Today's Daily Word - Sunday, March 23, 2008

Resurrection

Life, love, and abundance are resurrected in me today.Just as the rising sun overcomes the dark of night, the Christ light reveals my way, allowing me to overcome any belief in limitation or lack. I act on the new possibilities that may have previously seemed hidden from view.With a Christ-inspired perspective, I view my world with spiritual vision, giving thanks for all creation.

In prayer and meditation, I allow divine ideas to rise in my consciousness and give them expression in my life and in my world.Life, love, and abundance are divine expressions of the Christ of my being that can never be denied me. As I experience the Christ Presence within, these God-given spiritual gifts are resurrected in me today.

"The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.'"-Luke 24:5

Friday, March 21, 2008

New SEE Class credit guidelines

FROM UNITY SCHOOL


Interested in teaching an Elective or Required course at your Unity Church? If so, we have made this process easier for you with our new SEE Extension Program guidelines and forms.


To request a copy of the new guide lines and forms please email the SEE Extension Recorder at xsee@unityonline.org or call 816.251.3535.

Friday, February 15, 2008

See You in Phoenix!


Our Peoples Convention is scheduled for June 9-14, 2008.
There will be two dedicated sessions for Teachers. The Teachers Forum will be on the first day and include a session by Rev. Billings discussing the history of Teachers in the Unity movement.
On Friday the 13th we will have a second session looking towards the future and how Teachers continue to grow the Unity movement.
The session will include time for you to develop strategies to get the word out on your classes & activities. Part of the program New Media for New Thought, will explore how Teachers are and can use podcasts, blogs, and other social network technology.
I look forward to seeing you there. More to come.
John

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Teacher Ministry Team

This is our team who attended the Mid Year meetings.
We had a great time reconnecting and discussing how the Strategic plan and new creative teams being started need input and participation from the Licensed Teacher Community.
This is your opportunity to be involved in supporting the Unity Movement and your fellow teachers.
Please pray about how you can be involved.
More to follow...
In Unity
John

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Ash Wednesday


We begin our Journey through Lent. I have a blog for this journey check it out here.


What are you doing to deepen your journey in spirit?


John

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Mid Year Team Meetings

Good Morning.

I am at Unity Village for the mid year meetings.

Today we we hear a presentation from James Trapp as he unveils the Strategic Plan for the Association.

Last night some members of the Licensed Unity Teacher Ministry Team got together for dinner.
we had a great time catching up. We begin our meetings this afternoon.

I'll Keep you posted.

In Unity

John