Wings. FIRST UNITY CHURCH Serving the spiritual needs of the St. Louis community for over ninety years.

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1 Wings FIRST UNITY CHURCH Serving the spiritual needs of the St. Louis community for over ninety years. The Newsletter of First Unity Church Of Saint Louis December 2013 Inspiration Information Illumination Inside this issue: News and events Truth Thoughts Quotable Quotes Calendar Humor The Wonder of Christmas By James Dillet Freeman Seeds of Love By Philip White The fall mornings are cold now in Missouri. The growing season is over, and in those places where plants flourished and flowered, only stubble and bare dirt remain. That is, unless you stop and look closely. Barely visible in the remnants of the summer's abundant growth are the offspring-seeds scattered here and there. One year in the fall, we cleaned up a flower bed where lush marigolds had drawn the attention of passersby all summer. In the spring we were stunned to discover the bed covered with tiny self-seeded marigold plants that were not at all discouraged by what else we had planted there. Seeds, I think, have to be a divine invention. They are not only the gift of life to the next generation, but also, I would submit, part of a game plan for changing the world. It sounds farfetched, I know. But consider that as small as it is, a seed has stored within it the essence of the plant from which it came. The plant's full beauty, exuberant color, texture, and power to flourish are cloistered in those tiny time capsules. Then they are scattered to the winds to find new places for all that beauty to burst forth again. Seeds bring new life into expression. They spread varieties of wildflowers along our byways, reforest Yellowstone National Park, transform the devastation caused by the eruption of Mount St. Helens, and cover my yard with dandelions. So remarkable is this process that I wonder if seeding is not God's way of helping us heal our lives and our world. Is that what the birth of Jesus is about? We celebrate His birth because He, seeing in us what we find difficult to see in ourselves, opened His life of love to us and showed us the full beauty, exuberant color, and texture of God's flourishing in Him. Did He not scatter "seeds" among us -- His words of love and life? He said "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life" Jn. 6:63). And what are those words? He said: "Love one another" (Jn. 13:34), "Love your enemies" (Mt, 5:44), "Everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn. 13:35). Are these not the words of one who believes we can love? -- Continued on page Five

2 Rev. Randy Schmelig Minister LICENSED UNITY TEACHERS Deb Fry Sharon Lindsey Jan Mourning Jo Warren BOARD OF TRUSTEES Tom Bullock, President Carol Ellerman, Vice President Roy Vaisvil, Secretary Chuck Seger, Treasurer Denise Halbert-Raggio Paul Henley Marilyn Milonas Heather Rhodes Wilson Cathy Zehner PRAYER CHAPLAINS Tom Bullock Duane Cox Deb Fry Anne Hartupee Judie Henley Paul Henley Sharon Lindsey Vern Milonas Jan Mourning BOOKSTORE MANAGER Jane Vondruska OFFICE MANAGER Mary McKenzie MUSIC Anne Hartupee, Piano/Organ Dean Wiegert, Soloist YOUTH MINISTRY TEAM Denise Halbert Reggio, Director Glenda Gebhardt Cindy Gibbs WINGS NEWSLETTER Faye Schmelig, Editor OFFICE HOURS Mon. Wed., 9am 3pm Church phone: Minister s home: Fax: g/ randyschmelig@att.net Silent Unity: Wings December, 2013 Page 2 We give thanks for the wonderful music that blesses our services here at First Unity, and we look forward with anticipation to the special joy our choirs and musicians always bring during the holiday season. Poinsettias In keeping with our First Unity tradition, poinsettias will be available for purchase and dedication again this Christmas. The plants are $8.00. Please get your orders in by Sunday, December 15th. Join us for our annual Candle Lighting Service on Sunday, Dec. 22nd at 10:30 a.m. Come celebrate the Christ s birth with your First Unity friends and family and stay for a pot-luck lunch and a visit from Santa. Dec. 10: Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult Jan. Dancing for Degas by Kathryn Wagner Feb. Shanghai Girls Place: Bread Company, across from St. Anthony's Hospital from 2:00 to 4:00. Contact: Carol or (cell) for questions. On Monday evening, December 16th, Mary Tumminello will host a Christmas Party at her home, 5111 Kennerly Pine Ct. Bring a side dish to share and a white elephant gift to exchange. For more information call Mary: Home: Cell: Feed My People In this Christmas season your donations to Feed My People are especially appreciated. You can be Santa to make Christmas a little happier for individuals and families this year. See bulletin board for details of programs Route 66 Jazz Orchestra Holiday Concert December 11, 7:00 pm This very talented group of professional musicians will be performing along with vocalists Valerie Tichacek, Ron Wilkenson, and our very own Dean Christopher. Tickets at the door: $10 adults $5 Children. You won t want to miss it! Our New Prayer Chaplains: On Monday, December 9th at 7:00 p.m., there will be a special dedication service for our new chaplains. They will be formally introduced to the congregation on Sunday, Dec. 15th. Prepare for the New Year right at our annual Unity Burning Bowl Service on Sunday, January 5th. We have a new address. We are now with Charter and will have Wi Fi and other advantages that we didn t have before. firstunity@firstunitychurchstlouis.org Bookstore We are happy that, for your convenience, you can now use all major credit cards in our bookstore and even for donations. December Affirmations Inner Peace: The Christ within is my source of peace Guidance: Spirit guides and nurtures my soul. Healing: The light of God surrounds me, and I am whole. Prosperity: I give and receive in a spirit of joy. World Peace: As we become peaceful, peace fills the world.

3 Happy Birthday, Jesus! Each Christmas, a family celebrated by holding a birthday party for Jesus. To remind themselves of Jesus presence, they placed a chair of honor for him at their dinner table. The highlight of the party was singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and then blowing out the candles on a special cake. One Christmas, a visitor asked the family s 5-year-old daughter, Did you get everything you wanted for Christmas? The girl paused and then answered, No! It s not my birthday! Keeping Christmas Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem [two thousand] years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas. And if you can keep it for a day, why not always? But you can never keep it alone. Henry Van Dyke This shrub, native to Mexico, is at the heart of legend about a poor girl who wanted to bring Baby Jesus a gift one Christmas Eve. As she walked to church, she gathered a bouquet of weeds which Jesus miraculously transformed into lovely red flowers. Thus the poinsettia (named for Joel Poinsett, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico who first brought the plant to America) is known in Mexico as la flor de la Nochebuena (flower of the Holy Night). The poinsettia is also an ideal Christmas symbol because its leaves turn red when deprived of sunlight and its flowers (the red inner buds) bloom in December. Christ in You Angelus Silesius (aka Johann Scheffler), born in Germany in the 17th century, was a physician, priest, hymn writer and poet. He knew Christ as far more than a historical figure. Silesius allowed Christ to dwell in his heart and to guide his life as completely as possible. He wrote this poem about allowing Christ to be born and live in each of us. Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born, If he s not born in thee, thy soul is still forlorn. The cross on Golgotha will never save thy soul; The cross in thine own heart alone can make thee whole. The Secret Santa As a young man, Larry Stewart lived hand to mouth. He occasionally had to ask for a free meal or a few dollars until he found a job. To him, that was humiliating. Stewart didn t give up. He kept working and saving, and he eventually owned cable television and longdistance telephone services in Kansas City, Missouri. He made millions. Knowing what it was like to have nothing, Stewart started anonymously giving money to the needy every December. He started in 1979 by giving away $5 and $10 bills. Then, as his own fortune increased, Stewart handed out $100 bills. The secret Santa tried to remain anonymous. Finally, as he was dying of cancer, Stewart was willing to be identified. He gave to the poor, he said, as a Christmas gift to himself. Giving to the needy gave Stewart the greatest joy possible. Quotable Quotes Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. Calvin Coolidge Life is like a camera: Focus on what s important, capture the good times, develop from the negatives, and if things don t work out, take another shot. Source unknown Peace on earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas every day. Helen Steiner Rice You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights. Maya Angelou One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving. Amy Carmichael You are what you eat applies not only to the physical world but also to the spiritual. There is no way to take in junk without becoming junky. Anonymous He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. Roy L. Smith It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself. Charles Dickens How many observe Christ s birthday! How few, his precepts! O! tis easier to keep holidays than commandments. Benjamin Franklin

4 The Wonder of Christmas Every year about this time people begin to find fault with Christmas. They say, "It's too commercial -- and it is. They say: "I'm not going to send Christmas cards. It s expensive nonsense" -- and it is. They say, "People only give gifts when they think they're going to get some back" -- and often that is the case. They say, "Children are taught to believe in illusion when they're told there's a Santa Claus"-and so they are. They say, "Good heavens, the stores are putting up Christmas decorations, and it's barely Halloween"-and that's so too. They say, "Christmas is supposed to celebrate the birth of Jesus!"- and it's true that many celebrate Christmas in ways which have little to do with religion. All these charges are justified, at least in part. Christmas is commercial, it's worldly, and it's wasteful but what if there were no Christmas? I have read how the Puritans used to rail against May Day, which was once the favorite holiday of all Europe -- boys and girls went out with their May baskets into the fields and woods and gathered posies, then danced around the maypole in the town square. I am sure it was a loose and pagan occasion, as the Puritans claimed. And they succeeded so well that for many years May Day was mainly a parade of giant tanks and nuclear missiles in Moscow while fighter planes roared overhead. But do you think the world is better for that? If those who do not like Christmas succeeded in reducing it to the solemn day of churches and chants and prayers and sermons they want it to be, would we be better? Would Christmas? Winter is a dreary time for most of us -- cold, wet, and hard to get around in. Days are short; the nights are long; clouds darken the sky; and snow encumbers streets and highways. What if we just slid into winter and the dark and chill seeped down around our hearts; what if when we walked down the streets, there were no decorations or lights or Santa Clauses ringing bells at Salvation Army kettles; what if when we turned on the radio, there was no one singing the carols that have rung not only in our ears but in our souls since we were born; what if there was no one saying "Merry Christmas!" to anyone; what if there were no impatient lines of wide-eyed children waiting in countless toy lands to mount on Santa's knee; what if there were no stories about Scrooge and Tiny Tim or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer; and what if there were no tale of a star and angels and Wise Men and a virgin birth in a stable what if there were none of these? What if there were no Christmas! Thanksgiving is a staid holidayoh, we usually overeat, but the day has the stiff and sober character of the Pilgrims with whom it started and whom it still commemorates. And it would be a long, workweary time from Thanksgiving Day to Easter if the only holidays we had were holidays like Washington's or Lincoln's birthday -- oh, there's New Year's Day, but isn't New Year's part of Christmas? Really, Christmas is not a day, but a season. It starts on Thanksgiving -- or before for those who are in a hurry -- and it runs till New Year's -- or Twelfth Night for those who hate to see it end. There are high points and low points along the way, but they are all part of Christmas. Christmas, like spring, comes on gradually. Its first signs appear in store windows and newspaper ads as soon as Halloween is over. Sometime in November street decorations start to go up. The lights come on in shopping centers by Thanksgiving, and the wise shopper is buying presents by then. By the first of December people are out buying Christmas trees, and a sprinkling of carols begins to sound on the radio. Then like a tidal wave Christmas engulfs our senses and our souls, and we are inundated by temptations, expectations, excesses -- by the many things to look at, listen to, and take part in that are Christmas. The wave crests with Christmas Day, but it rolls back slowly through the long school vacation and the succession of celebrations that are capped by New Year's and Twelfth Night. Christmas celebrates the birth of the Christ, and those who complain about its lack of religious content have a right to do so, for to most people it is not a time of churchly observances. Hardly anyone goes to the trouble to separate what is religious from what is not. Carols, Christmas trees, candlelight, decorated houses, Santa Claus, the virgin birth -- they are all mixed together in one delightful froth of wonder and exhilaration. It all seems somehow religious, no matter how unreligious it may be -- Jingle Bells" lifts our spirits as much as any hymn, and Rudolph is as beloved as, say, the donkey that bore Mary to that holy night. But is this wrong? Would we not all be better for it if our religion

5 were so intermeshed with our day-to-day living and our day-today living so laced with religion that we did not think of them as separate and hardly knew when we were about which? I do not think we would be the holier for giving up Christmas trees and Santa Claus and gift giving or even Christmas cards. Christmas is a flowering. Ancient truths, too important, warm, and deep for words -- truths about ourselves, about our world, about our lives -- have found expression in these lovely forms that are our ways of celebrating Christmas. They were planted in our minds long, long ago, some beyond all known events or recorded memories, and they have grown through many centuries. They have grown because they satisfy in natural and joyous ways our happy fancies and our deep-down needs. We have a wish and a necessity to express our wonder and love and joy and delight in beauty and in one another -- yes, and our faith that if the spinning globe we inhabit wobbles toward winter, it will wobble back again to spring. Take Santa. "Illusion!" you may say, and I suppose he is. But if we are going to give our children an illusion -- and oh, how many we do give them! -- could we give them a lovelier one? What would we have them grow up believing - - that the world is a bare and grim affair, a thing of atomic and economic laws, or that there is also in the world a selfless and happy spirit? And is this belief that there is such a spirit an illusion? I know there are many who would teach us that reality is dark and painful. But is it? I believe that most of us find there are more sunny than rainy days in our lives. Reality turns out to be, on the whole, pleasant, if not always as exciting as we think we might wish; it is our dank anxieties which make up most of our illusions, our worries rather than our hopes which hardly ever come true. And take Christmas trees. If they come down to us from pagan times when natural objects were considered holy, are we the worse for that? In a world where we usually reduce everything wonderful and worshipful to natural terms, is it not a happy event when we elevate a natural object like a tree to a thing of wonder? And as to the commercialism, if once a year we are induced to stretch our giving muscles beyond their daily lack of use, are we the worse for that? Christmas even turns our thoughts around about the weather. At any other time, let clouds threaten or the merest powder of a snow sprinkle the streets, and we shiver and complain; but at Christmas we peer out, not in fear, but in anticipation of snow, and we ask one another eagerly. "Do you think it will be white?" Christmas is a way we human beings have of saying that we need not submit to the tyranny of the seasons and the inevitability of circumstances. Christmas is a season, but it is a season not so much accounted for by the inclination of the earth's axis toward the sun as by the inclination of the human spirit toward joy and light and warmth. Christmas is affirmation that though the cold winds may chill our bodies and the short days darken our world, they will not chill our spirits nor darken our lives. If our world grows winter gray, we will paint it Christmas bright. We will create -- if only for a little while and only out of tinsel and papier-rnache, fir boughs and candlelight and bits of colored glass -- our own imagined world, if not the way the world is, then more the way we feel it ought to be. If there were no Christmas, it would be as if a light went out along a dark street we have to walk along by night. There will always be a Christmas. Why? Because as long as the Earth shall wander around the Sun and as long as human beings shall inhabit it, there will be the love of light when the lights dim and the love of color when the colors fade and the urge to rekindle the fire when the warmth begins to slip away. There will be wonderful tales and delight in telling them. There will be the generous desire to share our good with others. There will be the urge to set a candle -- in our window and in our mind -- and watch it cast its little light across the fleeing darkness. There will be children -- some young, some not so young -- falling asleep at night with visions of waking in the morning to a world of dreams come true. There will be singing of old familiar songs. There will be worship at which we gather to bow down before the august and gentle Mystery we sense at the secret core of being. So there will always be a Christmas, even if in some far-off time all our present names and symbols fade from memory, for it celebrates the deepest and dearest impulses of the human spirit -- all that is warm and bright and

6 generous -- the delight in wonder, the need to worship, and above all the power to rise above the tyranny of time and things. This year let us celebrate it joyously, even with a little abandon -- the right kind of abandon, that is, the abandonment of selfishness -- by giving ourselves, by giving ourselves generously, to those we love and to those less fortunate than ourselves. JAMES DILLET FREEMAN was part of the Unity movement for over fifty years. He served as Unity School of Christianity's director of Silent Unity and as first vice president of the Board of Trustees. He was also the School's beloved poet laureate. Jim was the author of thirteen books including the most recent, The Hilltop Heart: Reflections of a Practical Mystic Lessons from the Angels To frightened shepherds on the first Christmas Eve, a host of angels sang, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14, KJV). Nineteenth-century minister Charles Kingsley explained how these key words tell the meaning of Jesus birth and give meaning to our lives. Glory. That little babe, lying in the manger among the cattle, was showing the very highest glory of the great God who had made heaven and earth. To stoop, to condescend, to have mercy, to forgive that is the highest glory of God. Peace. God is not selfish. He sacrificed himself for us. Sacrifice yourselves then for each other! Give up your own pride, your own selfishness, your own interest for each other, and you will be all at peace. Good will. God loves you, and he wills to raise you out of this selfish, quarrelsome life of sin, into a loving, brotherly, peaceful life of righteousness. That babe in the manger at Bethlehem is a sign to you and me that God will freely give us that spirit of love if we ask for it. Gifts for a King Bring him thy precious things And lay them at his feet; The gold of love, the hope that springs The unknown ways to meet. Bring him thy lovely things; The joy that conquers care, The faith that trusts and sings, The frankincense of prayer. Bring him thy bitter things; The myrrh of grief and fears, The aching heart that stings With pain of unshed tears. These for thy gifts to him; And for his gifts to thee, The comfort of his steadfast love, His tender sympathy. Annie Johnson Flint From Page One The truth is that this seed is distributed along the path of our spiritual life. It is dispersed in our prayers, our meditations, our learning, and our everyday livingand yes, it is easy to overlook in the undergrowth of our material pursuits. These are words of truthseeds that store meaning and faith and love and divinity-of which Jesus speaks in the parable of the sower. And they are meant for the "good soil," which He describes as "the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance" (Lk, 8:15). So in the birth of Jesus we see the real presence of the seed of love in every person. No matter how much fear or resentment or anxiety or unhappiness we have accumulated, the power to love is stored in us-a seed waiting for the spring of our soul. When it finds lodging and germination in our own souls, like seeds everywhere it will release the "imprisoned splendor" within it. Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, once said, "No environment or external condition can keep back love, when once you have firmly decided in mind to give it expression." So say it deep and say it strong, "Love is working in me now." Feel love spreading through your mind and body as you speak. As you speak the word, let it have the power of Jesus' own confidence and faith that the seed of love is in you. In this "good soil," such seeds will change you and the world.

7 December Sunday Service Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat AA Men s Group 10:00 AM CA-7:00 PM 5 Ukulele Practice 7:00-9:00 PM 6 7 Choir Rehearsal 9 AM Bell Choir 10:30 8 Sunday Service 9 New Prayer Chaplains Dedication Service 7PM 10 The Book Club Change of Heart By Jodi Picoult Bread Co. (acroos from St. Anthony s Hospital) 2-4pm 11 AA Men s Group 10:00 AM Holiday Concert 7PM CA-7:00 PM Choir Rehearsal 9 AM Bell Choir 10:30 15 Sunday Service 16 Ladies Night Out Mary Tumminello s House AA Men s Group 10:00 AM CA-7:00 PM 19 Ukulele Practice 7:00-9:00 PM Choir Rehearsal 9 AM Bell Choir 10:30 22 Candlelight Service Pot-luck Lunch AA Men s Group 10:00 AM No Choir Rehearsal 29 Sunday Service 10:30AM 30 31

8 Wings THE DECEMBER, 2013 NEWSLETTER OF FIRST UNITY CHURCH OF ST. LOUIS First Unity Church 4753 Butler Hill Road St. Louis, MO Phone: (314) Fax: (314) Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID St. Louis MO Permit 909 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, check this box and mark return to sender, or call the church office. The light side - A little holy humor Family Photo An 8-year-old girl was showing her 4-year-old sister some pictures from her Bible. The younger sister was fascinated by a picture of Mary and baby Jesus. After examining it intently, she asked, But where s Joseph? The older sister thought for a moment and replied, He s taking the picture. Christmas Grump Uncle Bill had the reputation of being a curmudgeon. He always seemed to have something to grumble about. Bill s friends and family were used to his demeanor and usually took it with a grain of salt. One year, while Bill s relatives were decorating for Christmas, his young nephew wondered aloud, Do you think Uncle Bill will put up a negativity scene again this year Mom s Misunderstood Word A mother told her young daughter that they had to hurry to church to worship God. But the way she spoke the word worship confused the child. It sounded more like waaship rather than wereship. As the little girl approached the door to leave, the mother noticed the girl held a bar of soap and a washcloth. What s that for? asked the mother. I want to wash up Jesus in the manger, replied the girl. Someone Took Jesus A couple of days after Christmas, the Nativity scene was still up in the chancel of a San Francisco church. Walking by it, the pastor noticed that the baby Jesus was missing from the manger. Shortly afterward, as the pastor walked outside the church, he saw a small boy pulling a new wagon. In the wagon bed was a doll that looked very much like the missing baby Jesus. The pastor greeted the boy and asked him about the doll. I got it in the church, the boy replied. Why did you take it from the church? Well, the boy answered. I prayed for a new wagon and told the Lord Jesus that if I got one, I would give him a ride. I got the wagon, took him for a ride and now I m bringing him back to the church.