From the President ... Our Vision. Our Mission. A world powerfully transformed through the growing movement of a shared spiritual awakening.

Transcription

1 ... From the President As I sit down to write this, I find my heart filled with Gratitude. Pausing and Breathing in all that there is to be grateful for within our community here at Unity Spiritual Life Center: Our out-going Board Members for keeping our center running and holding us together: Marilyn Holloway, Susan Martin, and Lori Fisk. Our new slate of officers on our Board of Directors: President: Sharon Hamson Vice President: Kylle Fish Secretary: Lori Warnick Treasurer: Joann Jaramillo Member-at-Large: Marilyn Freed Member-at-Large: Patrick Graham Search Team for dedicating yourselves to helping us find the right and perfect minister. Speaker Team for finding a nice variety of guest speakers for our Sunday services. Prayer Ministry for their uplifting and prayerful service and for preparing our special Candle Light Service this month. ALL OF YOU for showing up, pitching in and coming together to celebrate each other. Looking around during Sunday services and special events I can t help feeling grateful for each and every being who is present. This spirit of gratitude includes all members of USLC YOU make up our community. YOUR energy, YOUR thoughts and prayers reach out to each other and extends outward into our world. Let s remember to take the time during this busy season to breathe in Gratitude. Look around and find the beauty and those precious little moments that cause us to say ahhhh, thank you Spirit! As we step into the Christmas Holiday Season we look forward (sometimes with child -like glee!) to our traditional celebrations: Advent, Bears in Chairs, Candle Lighting Ceremony, sponsoring family(s) in need for Christmas. Sharing and caring with/about one another brings such a sparkle to our lives. Our Vision A world powerfully transformed through the growing movement of a shared spiritual awakening. Our Mission We empower individuals to collectively transform the world. Let us remember that WE ARE Unity. Blessings, Sharon Hamson

2 Transforming lives through spiritual growth Unity Spiritual Life Center 401 S. 8th Avenue -Yakima WA Dial-A-Blessing: A Course in Miracles - Book Study Every Tuesday, 11:00am - 12:30pm Website: UnityYakima.org Minister@UnityYakimaMail.org Office: Chris@UnityYakimaMail.org Sunday Celebration - 10:30am Office hours - 10:00 am - 2:00 pm Minister.Coming Soon! Music Director..Sylvia Holtman Adm. Assistant.Chris Roybal Newsletter...Chris Roybal This class meets every Wednesday from 10:45-noon. Beforehand, from 10:15-10:40am, there is quiet meditation with music in the sanctuary. Starting in December: The Power of Now ~by Eckhart Tolle Board of Directors Kylle Fish Patrick Graham Joan Jaramillo Marilyn Freed Sharon Hamson Lori Warnick Youth Education Teachers: Chaundra Ambrose Teens Dawn Fulton Children the Imagineers We want to hear your ideas! The 2nd Tuesday of each month, from 4:30 5:30pm, we will gather to listen, discuss, and brainstorm ideas people have for our spiritual community. Do you have ideas for a fundraiser, decorations that might really add to our décor, ideas about the website or newsletter, a different way of distributing information, or something else entirely? We want to hear it! Any and all ideas are welcome! You don t have to join the group, but you may want to come often to hear the ideas being brought up. The next meeting will be Tuesday, Dec. 11th at 4:30pm. Support Groups that meet at Unity Alcoholics Anonymous: "The Early Birds Everyday - 6:30am & Sisters in Sobriety closed women's group - Thursdays - 6:00pm Al-Anon: Steps to Recovery Every Wednesday 5:30pm

3 Sunday Celebration Services 10:30am December 2 Silence and Sound Guest Speaker: David Lynx In meditation we are challenged with thoughts, which we think of as a challenge. Silence in meditation may only be a fleeting moment - what we refer to as slipping into the gap, that silence where our true self can be found. In this program we will look at thoughts, the use of mantras-both spoken and sung, and how between mantras and thoughts we can connect to ourselves. We will invite audience participation with guest musician Mantrasara. December 9 Connecting with the Christ Consciousness this Christmas Guest Speaker: Dawn Fulton Eckhart Tolle gave a talk where he shared a mystical interpretation of the teachings of Jesus that aligns with what we believe in Unity. Come learn about these teachings and how they can help you to find peace during the hectic, and often emotionally charged, Holiday Season. December 16 JOY is an Inside Job, Guest Speaker: Juanita Beetchenow Let s explore what the foundation is of that which makes you experience Joy. December 20, Thursday, 7:00 pm 12 Powers Christmas Candle Light Service December 23 Music Sunday! Come join us and celebrate the warmth of the season with traditional Christmas carols and other songs that capture the Spirit of Christmas and enjoy this day of music celebration just before Christmas. December 30 We re All In It Together Guest Speaker: Julian Pinkham Spiritual growth that is experienced through full grieving and participation of other groups for assistance.

4 Winter Solstice YULE LOG CANDLE CLASS Saturday, Dec. 8th at 1:00pm In Celebration of the Winter Solstice and Yule Celebration also known as the 12 days of Christmas, we would like to invite you to come and pick out a Yule Log Candle Holder and decorate it with the Symbolic greens which are meant to bring you good fortune and abundance in the New Year. The word Yule is Old English for the Winter Solstice Festival celebrated by many civilizations in Northern Europe. The Yule Log symbolizes an offering as a bid for good health, abundance and the return of the light going into the New Year. On the Winter Solstice, the Celts would go out and get their Yule Log and decorate it with symbolic or magical plants/ evergreens to be burnt throughout the days of the Winter Solstice Celebrations. The Yule Log was to counter the darkness and bring good fortune and abundance in the New Year. As hearths in homes became too small to burn a whole log, the tradition became to have a small log that they would drill holes in for candles and then they would decorate with symbolic evergreens just as they did with the Yule Logs of past times. The ancient Celt Traditions say that the Yule Log must never be paid for but gathered or gifted. We invite you to come and join us for some Pre-Winter Solstice fun. Please come, pick your Yule log and decorate it with our magical greens to honor the return of the Sun or Light. We will provide the logs, ribbon or twine, greens and light refreshments as well as some more fun info on symbolisms of the Solstice Yule Log, the Magical Greens and the three colors of the candles. We are also looking for donations of : Small or med sized pine cones Holly or Oregon Grape boughs/ branches Pine or Fir boughs/branches Mistletoe - a little goes a long ways Ivy Call the office or talk to Lisa Kane if have any of these items to donate. The Sign Up Sheets for the 12 Powers Christmas Candle Light Service is out! We need readers, greeters and candle lighters.

5 Financial Report November Operational Income: $5498 Planned Monthly Income: $9830 Expenses: $5720 Planned Monthly Expenses: $9830 We gratefully share what we receive! Unity believes in the spiritual practice of tithing. As we share our income with others, we also generously receive. In November we tithed 10% of our total income to: Unity Worldwide Ministries, Unity NW Region, Silent Unity and Unity of Lewis County The search team has made some wonderful progress in our search for a new Minister by opening up our job posting to Center for Spiritual Living (CSL) ministers. Unity Worldwide Ministries has this statement on their website: As spiritual movements which both originated with New Thought, Unity and CSL have similar theologies, practices and a shared desire to awaken and transform human consciousness. In view of this, we are committed to finding ways to collaborate with one another, including a new reciprocal employment policy which allows CSL ministers to serve in Unity ministries, and Unity ministers to serve in CSL ministries. Unity Worldwide Ministries has assured us they do vet the CSL ministers and they must apply through them. After prayerful consideration, the Search Team has decided not to move forward with two applicants who have applied to our Minister position. We can't rush this process and need to remain calm and at peace in the knowledge that our perfect Minister is already on their path to us. In closing we would like to thank all the wonderful congregants who came forward to share their thoughts and ideas with us on good questions to ask during the interview process. Everyone's ideas have been so helpful! If you have questions and haven't been able to share it's not too late! The question box is on the sign up table in the back. Sincerely, Chaundra Ambrose The Search Team Tracy Arostegui Lisa Kane Jackson Mayes

6 Christmas Families Every year we sponsor one or two families for Christmas. Our little tree in the foyer will be filled with tags to make buying gifts for them easy, thanks to Leslie Smyer, who does this for us every year! Each tag will have one item on it, such as 14yo Girl - pants, size 12 or men s socks. You choose the tag, buy that gift, wrap it, put a tag with family #1 or family #2, girl or boy and age, then put it under the big tree at our center! **You can also split a purchase with another congregant Thank you for giving them a blessed Christmas! We are getting ready to start our sixth and FINAL year of payments for our Building Improvement Loan! This loan made it possible to do so many improvements that our center really needed. When we voted to take out this loan it was decided that if we took turns paying a little extra a month to cover the loan payment so it wouldn t add to our expenses. It only takes 10 people to commit to paying $25 a month over and above your regular tithe each month, for 6 months. So many of you have made this commitment over the past years - Thank you!!!! Because of your generosity, we will have it paid off in September 2019! Now we are looking at the next 6 month period, January - June. You can fill out this form, or one at the church or contact Chris. Loan Payment Commitment I m ready to give per month, starting January 1, 2019 (over and above my usual tithe) with the option of renewing in July I m willing to give per month, starting July 1st (over and above my usual tithe) And it will be PAID IN FULL in September!! Anything received over the payment amount will be paid towards the principle balance. Signed Printed Name Date

7 Mystery Team Update Did you miss Mystery Sunday??? On November 25th Mystery Sunday, the Prayer Team brought out the candles and had everyone come up with a gratitude, light their candle off of the Christ Candle, and stand it with the others in the sand box. A nice way to stay focused and grounded through the holidays! Don t miss the next one! Who knows what they come up with this month! Movie Night! Same Kind of Different as Me! Join us in January for a movie night! We ll have popcorn and hot cider. Stayed tuned for the date. Young Adult Extreme Winter Weather Shelter The shelter has been up and running for two weeks. It has served 16 different young adults ages The shelter is in need of your help through donations, and especially your gift of time to serve as an overnight monitor on a Sunday or Monday night. With a big enough team you could split the night shift which begins at 8:45pm and end at 7:30 AM. Would your faith community be willing to take one night in December, January, and February? To learn more about the Young Adult Extreme Winter Weather Shelter visit our web site at Homeless Network There you can learn many ways to donate. Guest Speaker for January 1/6: Marilyn Holloway Burning Bowl Service 1/13: Prayer Ministry White Stone Ceremony 1/20: Dawn Fulton & 1/27: Dawn Fulton

8 401 S. 8th Avenue - Yakima WA RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED If you do not want to receive this newsletter, please mark the box and return to your letter carrier We re on the Web: Sent with love and blessings to: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20st at 7:00 pm All are welcome to this beautiful and spiritually empowering Unity service.