Midweek Faith Lift
September 6, 2023
“Is Unity Christian?”
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Spiritual Reflection
August 25, 2023
Brian Dooley, a football player at Eastern Michigan University gave up his scholarship to help another player, Zack Conti, who needed it more. Zack has worked multiple jobs and even sold his blood to make ends meet. Brian said that seeing Zack be able to stay in school and play for their team means everything. "Zack earned this scholarship."
“We are never more like God than when we selflessly give to others. Because God created us to live in this way, we seldom feel more alive and joyful than when we are serving, blessing, and helping someone else. This is grace.” – Adam Hamilton, Revival
Affirmative prayer: I give deep thanks for the touch of grace that we bestow on one another. I’m grateful for the joy that acts of generosity and gratitude bring to others. Today, I give of myself, and I allow this touch to be the occasion of connection and love revealed. Thank you, God, forever. Amen.
Today we are exploring the question, “Is Unity Christian?” and this story is a really great place to begin because it touches on so much of what we grapple with in our quest to understand our true spiritual nature and actually live it. The story is one of true generosity, selflessness, caring and faith that Jesus is continually calling us to live. The bottom line question for all of us is what does it really mean to be Christian? When we struggle with that question in our daily lives, then we can begin to grasp what it might actually mean.
Historically, in Christianity, what it has meant is to agree with certain beliefs and dogmas that are part of the “faith” and to engage in practices, which are prescribed by the given version of Christianity. Learning what is required and how to follow the precepts is what constitutes “religious education.” Learning the orthodoxy, or teachings, and the orthopraxis, the practices, is religious education. It is about what to do and how and when to do it to “practice your faith.”
Attendance at church, learning the “rules” and rituals and prayers, being baptized, accepting Jesus as your personal savior are some of the features. Saying certain prayers, following dietary requirements, Bible study and adhering to what the “authority” of the hierarchy says is “truth” is part of the picture, depending on the brand of Christianity. It is certainly possible to go through the motions, follow all the rules and completely miss the point. It is possible to do that in Unity, too, but more on that later!
Is Unity Christian? Charles Fillmore would answer with an emphatic yes! He stated:
Unity is a link in the great educational movement inaugurated by Jesus Christ; our objective is to discern the truth in Christianity and to prove it. The truth that we teach is not new, neither do we claim special revelations or discovery of new religious principles. Our purpose is to help and teach mankind to use and prove the eternal Truth taught by the Master.
Charles and Myrtle rather naïvely believed that what they had discovered could easily be assimilated into already existing Protestant faiths. Myrtle grew up Methodist and Charles did not grow up in a religious tradition, so his understanding of “church” vs. Christianity was unsullied by lived experience within a church!
If you adhere strictly to the basic story of humans as essentially bad and the fall/redemption theology with Jesus as the only son of God and salvation dependent on taking Jesus as Lord and Savior, then the question of whether Unity is Christian becomes problematic. There are many in that camp that view Unity as a cult and are sure we are all destined for hell and perdition! Whew! That doesn’t quite feel Christian to me, but the purpose is to say who belongs and who doesn’t which makes the essential energy divisive, not inclusive.
That was NOT the message of Jesus. He was actually a practicing Jew whose message was about helping his fellow Jews become more caring, loving and compassionate people. He frequently said that his message was not about following the “letter” of the law, but the fulfillment of the Jewish law. Too often, Christianity neglects that part of the story! Jesus was not actually a Christian! What makes Unity Christian for me is that as a practice, the intention is to truly understand and follow the way that Jesus taught, a way that is quite subtle and requires more of us than just agreeing with dogma.
Jesus’ teachings are truly esoteric with a more hidden meaning that acknowledges the mystery of the hidden spiritual “Truth” or essential goodness within each of us. There is this “golden thread” of metaphysical and mystical teaching throughout Christianity and that is where Unity falls. The Fillmores created a religious movement that, as Rev. Paul Roach says, “combined practical metaphysics within a core of unitive mysticism” that emphasizes the inner light within each of us. There is this same thread throughout the history of mystical Christianity and it is present in the teachings and writings of Richard Rohr, among others.
In his August 29, 2023 blog, “Be Awake,” Richard Rohr says that the message of Jesus, like the Buddha is to be awake and the chief responsibility of any religion is to keep us awake. He writes:
In Mark 13:33–35, Jesus tells his disciples, “Be awake. Be alert.… You do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cock crow, or in the morning.”
Most of us probably hear such a passage as if it were threatening or punitive, as if Jesus is saying, “You’d better do it right, or I’m going to get you.” But Jesus is not talking about a judgment. He’s not threatening us or talking about death. He’s talking about the forever coming of Christ, the eternal coming of Christ … now … and now … and now....
Christ is always coming; God is always present. It’s we who are not! Jesus tells us to always be ready, to be awake, to be fully conscious and expectant. It’s the key to all spirituality, because we usually are not.
This message is entirely consistent with the teachings of Unity and the Fillmore’s. The essential story of Unity is one of how Myrtle woke up to her true Christ nature and allowed that to become the place from which she engaged with reality, with her body, mind and spirit. Unity is a version of Christianity, the one that asks us to wake up and stay awake!
One of the primary features of more traditional Christianity is the intense focus on humans as sinful and essentially bad or fallen and hence the need for Jesus as savior. In Protestant denominations, one is saved and in Catholic circles, one follows all the practices to go to heaven and avoid hell. Both strands focus on what happens to us in the afterlife, while the focus of Unity and other mystical versions is to focus on the here and now. We desire to experience the power, presence and love that is God here and now. We are at time criticized in Unity for being “too positive” and having a “Pollyanna” approach to the world. That can be a valid criticism as there are versions of Unity, which seem to deny that there is suffering in the world. That is not true and most of all, not helpful!
What is true is that like Jesus on the cross, we do suffer, but that is not the final story, the total truth of who we are. Jesus’ suffering was real, but temporary, because there is much more to us than our human experiences. Leaning into that greater reality allows us to experience love, joy, wisdom, peace and the true gifts of the spirit that is the full spectrum of our spiritual journey, our life journey. We do mess up, we do cause suffering and we are not punished for our sins, but instead, as Rev. Skye St. John used to say, we are punished by our sins. We do have a choice about how much energy we want to give to all that causes suffering. That is part of our waking up!
While we focus in Unity on prayer and meditation, what is also very true in our 5th Unity principle is that we are asked to live our spiritual principles. What that requires of us is to be much more active in how we engage with each other and the world. Unity can be perceived as a somewhat passive spiritual practice, focused on looking within in meditation and personal spiritual growth. There are other versions of Christianity, which focus on social action and impacting all the “injustices” in the world. I recall sharing in a group that I had just returned from a 4-day silent retreat, and someone spoke disparagingly of that as nothing but “extended navel gazing.”
While that comment was offensive, it was also not true. What is true is that in that time of silence, one can quiet the self, the ego, and truly listen for that still small, voice that is the whisper of Spirit. When that informs your actions, then the “whole spirit” of God is present in whatever you choose to do, the actions that you take. It is important to take action, as that is how we learn and grow. Dr. Price Pritchett’s chapter, “Trust in the Power of Pursuit” addresses exactly that issue. He talks at length about how it is that we actively learn by taking active steps in the direction of our dreams. He writes, on p. 22:
You don’t have to know everything you’ll need to do all along the way in achieving your quantum leap. In fact, you probably can’t know at the outset. But you can figure out something to do. Just get in motion. Movement educates you. The action keeps you learning. Pursuit teaches you what works and what doesn’t.
And that is the true practice of faith that Unity asks of us! Much like Brian Dooley in the opening story, we take what to us is the right action, stepping out in true faith that when we do that, everything we need is already there! And it is!
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb