We usually think about Easter as the celebration of an event—Jesus rising from the dead. The reality is that there is no clear agreement on what happened—only that something transformational happened. It changed lives and possibilities for all time and has the power to create a portal for us into a higher vibration consciousness. We’ll explore more on Sunday!

Dr. Shariff Abdullah Guest Visit to Unity

Around the world, humanity is currently experiencing an unprecedented transformation of human societies… “The Wave”. Most of us are ignoring it, running from it in fear, or desperately trying to hold on to the status quo. And a few of us are reaching out to embrace it! We few will be the leaders of our new, transformed societies. The Wave is dangerous… unless, of course, you learn how to surf it! In this positive and spiritually uplifting talk, Dr. Shariff Abdullah charts our path ahead over the next few months, and explores how YOU can prepare for unprecedented change!

Join the visionary and engaging Dr. Shariff Abdullah for a series of events at Unity Community of Central Oregon.

· A talk on “Welcoming the Wave” with open Q and A on Friday, April 22, 2022 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

· A Workshop Deep Dive into the 12 Steps of Inclusivity, Saturday April 23, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

· A talk on Practicing Inclusivity in a World of Divisions, Sunday April 24, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM.

Come help us GET OUR ACT TOGETHER

It’s time to reconvene our ACT (Action Compassion and Transformation) and EarthCare teams.  We were planning to have a reconvening meeting right after service this Sunday but heard from many of you that, being Easter, wasn’t a good day.  So we are going to try to do a really quick gathering on Sunday just as brunch gets going to pick a better date.  Hope you can pop in just for a couple minutes and help us pick a good date.

Sacred Eco-Nomics: Create a Beautiful Economy that Works for all Beings

As part of our Season of the Earth, Cylvia Hayes will be offering a Sacred Economics workshop on April 28th, 6 – 8pm.  Online via Zoom.

National and global economic systems, based on materialism, consumption and limitless growth, are wreaking havoc on Nature and keeping millions trapped in poverty or unsatisfying, dead-end jobs. There is a better way!  The New Economy movement is robust and gaining momentum as more and more people, entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations say “enough is enough” and get busy creating healthier ways of making a living and doing business.  Explore some of the current norms in status quo economic systems that need a change-up. Let’s dive into some of the exciting alternatives and learn how we can help make the shift from an economics of separation to an economics of reunion, respect and love.

See the Unity CO website classes and workshops page for more information.

Season of Earth

This is Earth Month and part of our Unity Community of Central Oregon Season of the Earth.  Unity Worldwide Ministries is one of many faiths that are participating in an international interfaith Sacred Season of Climate Justice organized by GreenFaith.  As part of this effort, they compiled a collection of Earth-stewardship related statements from various faith traditions.  Here are a few:

Baha’i:

Briefly, it is not only their fellow human beings that the beloved of God must treat with mercy and compassion, rather must they show forth the utmost loving-kindness to every living creature…. The feelings are one and the same, whether ye inflict pain on man or on beast.

Train your children from their earliest days to be infinitely tender and loving to animals. If an animal be sick, let the children try to heal it, if it be hungry, let them feed it, if thirsty, let them quench its thirst, if weary, let them see that it rests. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 158-159)

Buddhist:

Invoking the Mother Lineage (by meditation master Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

We pay homage to the Mother Lineage. Your robe is soaked in water, Your hair is elegant and airy, Your perfume is exquisite. From a grain of barley dropped on the ground by seeming accident, Great prosperity has sprung. Your milk feeds the nation. We like the crescent moon on your hair. We emulate your openness and bounty.

You speak softly but your command carries weight. Please do not stop loving us! We bathe within a grove of bamboo. Please help us to become gentle and tough!

Youth Programs Resuming!

For Easter Sunday, we will have a special youth program for our kids, 10 and under, during the service. The following 2 Sundays there will be no kids’ program to give us time to organize curriculum and train volunteers. on May 8 we will restart our weekly Sunday kids program.

For our middle schoolers and teens, the youth program will be held on Wednesdays from 3:30-5:00 beginning Wednesday, April 20. We will meet in the sanctuary. The first meeting will be oriented toward getting acquainted and generating ideas for going forward. Your kids are welcome to invite friends whose families don’t go to Unity. When it comes to spiritual growth, more is wonderful!

Would you love to volunteer with the kids of any age? If you enjoy kids and are passionate about supporting a new generation in growing up knowing the power within them, please contact Rev. Jane.

BottleDrop

Unity CO has a BottleDrop non-profit account and all the proceeds support our youth programs.  This month BottleDrop will add a 20% match to all the bottle drops you contribute.  Just grab some blue bags and our Unity Community of Central Oregon barcode tags, put your glass, plastic and aluminum beverage containers in and drop it off at a BottleDrop center.  Our youth program gets a boost and the planet gets a little help from recycling the bottles and keeping them out of our landfill.

“Hour of Power” Sacred Song Sound and Healing

Starting May 1, the first Sunday of each month.

This is a hybrid event (online and physical) at Unity of Central Oregon

Cost: Suggested donation $10-25.  No one turned away for lack of funds

Come live or join the live stream for our first “Hour of Power”.

On the First Sunday of the month we will offer 60-90 mins of powerful sacred song, sound bath, and immersion. Come join us and receive the gift of Healing Frequencies that will transport us to peace and beauty…

Nehemiah Service Week

Rev Jane is looking for 13 other individuals from our community to join her and Jeff at Unity Village April 16-21, 2023 for a Nehemiah Retreat. We will be volunteering to help with maintenance and repairs–painting, planting flowers, and more. In return, we are given free room and board and a firsthand experience of the amazing place where founders Charles and Myrtle Fillmore and so many other Unity leaders have lived. The Village is truly an amazing experience. You can get more information at https://www.unityvillage.org/events/nehemiah. Please let Rev. Jane know you are interested.

Being Neighborly!

Do you love Unity and think others would too? Do you agree that Unity is a too well kept secret? Do you need to get more steps in for your exercise program? If the answer to any of these is yes, we have an opportunity for you!

Pretty soon we are going to have a big stack of cool door hangers that introduce Unity and invite folks to come check us out.  We will need lots of volunteers to walk neighborhoods and help get these out there.  Don’t worry there is no door knocking or evangelizing involved—just ninja activity to pop the hangers on the doors! Your kids can help!

We’d like to give a shout-out to Gayle Zeigler who came up with this innovative idea and who is taking the lead coordinating volunteers to help get them distributed.  Please contact Gayle if you’re willing to help and get that exercise while you’re at it!

SPRINGTIME LION

By Donna Benjamin

The wind is a-howling

And I am a-growling

Like a lion who welcomes the springtime changes

As God rearranges the trees, the waters, the skies

To reflect a new day

A new season

It’s time

And a reminder that it is not up to us when the seasons start

It is up to us whether we welcome them or not

It is up to us to observe

To watch

To prepare

To plant

So that we might dance in the garden at harvest time

And all along the way

True confession

I talk to the seeds and starts

And say “grow babies grow”

I swear it works

Or at least I like to think so

What garden are you planting this season

One of despair

Cruelty

Futility

Or one of hope

Joy

Compassion

It is up to us

No matter what storms are raging outside

Your inside barometer is what matters

Your gauge on things to come

Can radiate so much positivity

That it causes a blackout of doubt and fear in your world

How cool would that be

So find a mountaintop

Do your best lion roar

And welcome springtime

Let it echo through the land

The flowers will thank you

Member Shout Out!

We want to give a big thank you to our wonderful twenty-somethings who are helping out on our AV booth each week. It is no simple thing to run our videos, manage the cameras on our speakers and musicians, and coordinate the Zoom livestream service each week. Big thanks to Nikko Kubota for taking the lead these past several weeks and to Katie Schmidt and Jacob Reddy for lending your talents making all of this incredible, creative technology work. We so appreciate you!