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| WINGS Book Study Group (Zoom): Tue, 12:00 PM
Wednesday "Faith Lift" Meditation: 7:00 PM Table Talk Thursday (Zoom): 12:00 PM
Sunday Service: 10:45 AM
Sunday Social (Zoom): 12:00 PM |
| | | | | Hi Everyone,
Yesterday was a great day! I saw live on TV the first person to receive the Covid-19 vaccine as it was happening! What hope this demonstrates at this wonderful season of hope! There was spontaneous applause in the room and I joined in my kitchen! A brave young woman, a nurse, received the shot and a woman doctor administered it. I understand that a woman was the lead doctor in the development of one of the two newest vaccines that utilize the newest technology in vaccine research! I am proud of them and that women are being recognized, but I am also proud that men and women are working together. We can do so much more when we work together! This highlight on women made me think of Mary of Nazareth and how she fits into the total picture of the Christmas story.
I hope all of you are healthy and safe as we approach Christmas. I am slowly getting my decorations up and bringing the light of Christmas into our home. I so enjoyed Leddy’s message on Sunday about the stable and the shepherds and the beauty of that mystical night so long ago. To me, visualizing that scene always brings me so much peace. However, it was not until I began to study Unity that I experienced a deeper meaning of the story of the birth of Jesus, the birth of the Christ within us all! I realized that just as much as it is an historical story of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, it is also an allegory which we can apply to our own lives.
I found the most enlightening explanation of the Christmas story in the book Your Hope of Glory by Elizabeth Sand Turner. In the chapter “A Savior is Born,” a beautiful allegorical explanation is given beginning with some information given about Mary as she represents the totally purified soul – a highly receptive consciousness in which the “idea of the indwelling Christ is conceived.” On page 22, Turner relays the biblical statements, “this is the child to be born,” not in the human but in the divine and “will be called the Son of God.”
Then, beginning on page 27, Elizabeth Sand Turner goes on to explain the allegorical meaning of Bethlehem, “house of bread,” and signifies divine substance. Mary, representing the soul that is heavily charged with divine ideas, had to be united with substance before manifestation could take place. It is also important to note that the though Mary was the channel or vehicle for the expression of the Christ, the expression had to take place in quiet and simplicity in the stable, or perhaps it may have been in a small cave or grotto. So, it is true for us that the birth of the Divine Idea, the Christ, can take place in us when we are in a quiet place of meditation or contemplation, when we have taken the steps to allow it.
The shepherds represent “faith in God” and the angels come to tell us to “fear not” this wonderful news that the Christ is no longer a hope but a reality for us! Then there is a wonderful sense of praise to God for this wonderful life that is in our midst every day!
Of course, this is just a snapshot of one portion of the story as explained in Turner’s book. I am planning to take a two-week hiatus of WING-ed Words until the New Year. I want to wish everyone a very Safe and Healthy, Merry Christmas!!
Until then, contemplate the lights, invite the peace of the season into your heart, and raise your consciousness as you prepare to receive the Christ to be born anew in you! There is much hope on our horizon!
I will be back in 2021!
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| | If you'd like to join us on Zoom, the login info is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81007092426?pwd=SlUrRzU3MWhpZEx2bW96NTNlbW1tZz09
Meeting ID: 810 0709 2426
Passcode: 865284
Peace, Love and Hope!
Cynthia
Today’s
photos are of a nativity – that peaceful manger scene and of the
beautiful mosaic of Mary that is in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. I first
saw it when I visited there several years ago. At the time it was under
construction, so the first photo is mine and the second shows you what
it looks like now. The last photo is of my nativity scene set. This
one is from a few years ago and not too clear (this year’s is not up
yet!). |
| | | | | | | | | | | Your Weekly Affirmation:
“I KEEP CHRISTMAS IN MY HEART AND IT GLOWS ‘ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE’ OF MY WORLD.”
THANK YOU, GOD! |
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