"This Little Light of Mine...."

I think I've written before that the only formal religious affiliation I've ever pursued was with the Unity Church. Though I haven't attended one in years, when I did, I always felt spiritually fed, not clobbered.

After breaking free from Jehovah's Witness doctrine in my teens, I did some pretty thorough religious exploration. LOVED African American sermons and music, but couldn't stomach the calls to salvation and unvarnished threats of eternal hellfire at the end of service. Unitarianism was intellectually appealing, but I just couldn't get past the service led by a Wiccan. (I believe in religious freedom, but just don't want to be standing too close to a witch if it turns out God really doesn't play THAT -ish). Catholicism is just too danged solemn and ritualized, which is ultimately the LEAST of its problems.....

Y'all feel me on this, right??? So when somebody handed me a copy of the "Daily Word" years ago, and I was mostly uplifted after reading it, I decided to dig a bit deeper. Now, I know I'm wildly simplifying Unity's tenets, but here's what I came away with after a few sermons: With Unity, you believe in a Higher Power called God, but you also believe that the same energy dwelling in that Higher Power exists in YOU. And you don't go around threatening people with damnation to get that point across.

I liked that. A lot. I especially liked the song they sang at the end of the service.

"The Light of God surrounds us. The Love of God enfolds us. The Power of God protects us. The Presence of God watches over us. Wherever we are, God Is, and all is well. And THAT'S the Truth!"

So it might have been preordained that a woman named Ellen just provided me with the correct interpretation of my sister Julie's Celestial 60th birthday message to me. Ellen used to be one of my editors in the Clearwater bureau of the St. Petersburg Times, back in the mid 80's. But now she's the pastor of a Unity Church in Texas. She read my Tuesday posting and sent this message...

"Rachel! Julie wasn't giving you a man, she was giving you backbone! Her gift was that you didn't take crap from anyone that day. A pretty good gift, if you ask me."

August 18, 2010 7:43 PM

Ellen, for the first time in my life, I would seriously consider moving to Texas, just to be a member of your church! In one brilliant flash of enlightenment, you've reminded me that the Archangel Julie's spirit is always all around me, and I don't need a rainbow to prove it.