Favorite TruthUnity Easter Resources
Hi Friends – Here are a few favorite TruthUnity Easter messages from a variety of writers. Each presents their understanding of Easter in a unique way, as do each of us. I hope one or more of them resonate with your understanding of Easter and that they bless you richly.
There Was Once a Man of Love by James Dillet Freeman. This has been the most popular Easter post on TruthUnity. I never understood Christianity until I found Unity. And I never understood Easter until I heard James Dillet Freeman's There Was Once a Man of Love. This piece reframed the historic Christian message for me and, in ten minutes, conveyed what the Fillmores spent an entire lifetime attempting to say — that God is both benevolent and active in the world today.
Fillmore Study Bible Annotations for Easter from Charles Fillmore and his students. Here are the Bible passages we will hear in many Christian churches this Sunday with annotations compiled by The Fillmore Bible Society. Would you like a new insight into a particular passage or verse in the New Testament? Go here, to the home page of the Fillmore Study Bible and click on the book and chapter.
The Son of Man (1914 Easter Message) by Charles Fillmore. Here is the text of Charles Fillmore's 1914 Easter message, compliments of Rev. Bob Brach and Unity Classic Radio. Given Easter Sunday, April 12, 1914 at the Unity Auditorium, 913 Tracy Avenue, Charles speaks of Easter from two diametrically opposite standpoints, that of orthodox view and the unorthodox view.
The Easter Perspective by Eric Butterworth. Audio and transcript of Eric Butterworth's 1979 Easter Sunday talk at Unity of New York. It just may be his best talk on what Easter is all about. As you will see, for Eric Butterworth Easter is not about something that happened 2,000 years ago. Rather it’s about something that is happening now. The talk certainly has many intimations of Discover the Power Within You and, like this famous book, it’s not about Jesus so much as is it about you and me.
Words of Jesus by Ed Rabel. This 1986 production Words of Jesus by Unity School of Religious Studies has six 30-minute devotional videos. The interest is psychology, not history. The focus is the teachings of Jesus, not the works of Jesus. The intent is spiritual transformation, not intellectual understanding. In short, the content of these six 30-minute videos is devotional, not theoretical. It is pure Practical Christianity.
The Mystical Teachings of Christianity by Jim Lewis. Here is the full text and PDF download of Jim Lewis' understanding of the theology and symbols of mystical Christianity, interpreted for a modern day understanding. The purpose of this book is to help make our transition in thought from a literal to a spiritual interpretation of the great Christian ideas.
Jesus Christ, An Ever Present Reality by May Rowland. A fifteen minute audio essay by May Rowland, it is a theological kaleidoscope — thirteen clips, each a little more than one minute long — each giving a unique perspective on Unity's teaching about the presence and power of Jesus Christ.
Resurrecting Easter by John Dominic Crossan and Sarah Sexton Crossan. This book is important to me and to any of us who are Metaphysical Christians because we are coming to understand, as a human race, that God plays no favorites. The atonement is universal. As the graphic says, “Instead of arising alone, Christ raises all of Humanity with him.” Here are my reflections.
Isaiah 42—A Heart at Peace in a Broken World is my Easter message given in 2023. I share a simple teaching I have followed for several years which has enriched my relationships in ways that I did not think was possible for a man approaching his 70th birthday. My marriage of 45+ years has grown, my relationships with others in Unity is more constructive and my general outlook on life is more peaceful. The change may not rise to what we would call resurrection, but it is clearly a new birth for me.
Happy Easter!
Mark Hicks
Palm Sunday, March 24, 2024
