This coming December 7, 2017 will mark 125 years since Charles and Myrtle Fillmore dedicated their life and made a covenant with the Spirit of Truth for all their time, their money, all they had and all they expected to have in service to the Society of Silent Unity. You can read more about this at www.truthunity.net/dedication-and-covenant.
Charles and Myrtle Fillmore knew that the true measure of a healthy ministry is not money nor attendance—rather it is the degree to which people commit to the ministry. Few people will give their time, money and life to an endless array of interesting speakers and ideas. Spiritual seeking is not religious commitment. What people want is a teaching that is authentic, powerful, clear and supported by a consistent message. People will commit—all they have—when they perceive the commitment and single focus that Charles and Myrtle Fillmore demonstrated 125 years ago.
We often mark the start of Unity as April 1889, when Unity published its first magazine. But I believe a better date would be December 1892 when Charles and Myrtle made their commitment to what would become the Unity movement in the form of this Dedication and Covenant. Here are three things to help us celebrate the dedication and covenant of Charles and Myrtle Fillmore.
David Adams has written a wonderful piece for the Unity Urban Ministerial School about how each of us can write our own Covenant of Faith. Click here to read David's piece and click here to get more of these Sunday reflections coming out of the Urban School.
The Dedication and Covenant will be on display in the Unity Archives this coming August 16-19, 2018 when we gather for the first annual Fillmore Festival at Unity Village. What is the Fillmore Festival? Begun in 1967 in Santa Monica and held for 25+ years in Virginia Beach, the Fillmore Festival has finally come home to Unity Village. The Fillmore Festival is to the Unity Archives what the World Day of Prayer is to Silent Unity—a gala affair and celebration for those who care deeply about Unity's sacred traditions and treasures. It just may be that Dedication and Covenant will be this year's theme. Mark your calendars.
This year I began sending postcards to Unity Churches and TruthUnity donors. Here is a gallery of my postcards. Next month's postcard recognizes and honors this Dedication and Covenant by Charles and Myrtle. Click on the image for a closer look. I will place my order with the printer next week and I need to know how many to print. Email me (with your mailing address) if you would like one. If you are a spiritual leader and would like to to have some for your congregants, let me know how many you would like.
I hope that Unity ministers and spiritual leaders will celebrate this anniversary sometime in early December. Most important, I hope that each of us will follow David's lesson and craft our own dedication and covenant.
I hope this is a blessing to you.
October 22, 2017
