Spiritual Leader: Jill Loving, Licensed Unity Teacher Ofce: 209-723-3427 Cell: 209-489-7533 Email: unitymerced@hushmail.com Website: unity.

ty.org Facebook: unitymerced We are part of: Unity World Wide Ministries & Silent Unity

Loving Letter
for July & August 2013 Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Well the process of searching for a new spiritual leader is proving to be quite an adventure for us all. This is where we are at. We have put together the packet of information which describes who we are and what we want. Just getting all that ready involved updating our By Laws, our Action Plans and being clear about what we could offer. Here are some edited extracts! Unity of Merced looks forward to engaging a leader who can continue to empower our staff and volunteers; encourage and implement Spiritual Education. Our new leadership will continue to cultivate sacred community in exciting new ways. We have maintained a continuous presence in Merced for the past 56 years. In 2005 we became a successful self managing community lead by a Licensed Unity Teacher who completed her training in 2007. We serve a diverse group of individuals and our demographic

has changed signicantly over this time. Our intention is to expand our multigenerational sacred community membership. Almost all of our membership (about 70) is involved in facilitating our spiritual community to make sacred life a reality. We are a ministry of ministries!

Book Group 4:30 p.m. Barnes & Noble Youth Education Ministry

In the last ten years this spiritual community has truly taken ownership of Unity of Merced. It is on a sound nancial footing and debt free. We were in the second cohort for the Branding Project. It is a self managing community ready for growth and development and it is in this area that leadership is required. So we identied: Visionary / Planner / Organizer, Communication, Human Relations and Leadership as the skills most required by our new spiritual leader. Our list of Small group ministries is astonishing!! Prayer Ministry Prayer Angels do some random act of kindness for their prayer angel each month. Prayer card Ministry Sends appropriate cards to our congregants. Prayer group Meets every Tuesday at 12 noon in the ofce. Education A Course in Miracles Tuesdays 7:00 p.m. with Randy and Mattie Lane.
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Sunday Service Ministries Platform Ministry, Usher Ministry, Welcome Newcomers, Flower Ministry, Sound & Recording Ministry, Hospitality Ministry as well as the team of speakers and musicians. Nehemiah Projects 9 11 a.m. Saturdays! Lead Mike Fragulia Grounds and Maintenance ministry Ofce Ministry Lead Janine Adcock Monday 9 -11 Finance with Mike Tuesday 11 - 4 Administration with Jill Wednesday 10 -1 Thursday 11-4 Sunday preparation with Janet Friday 10-1 Newsletter Editor Janet Hay Overbey, Distribution Charlotte Mak & Betty Parker Sunshine Bookstore Lead Mattie Lane Bird Ministry Whitney with the nursery children

This is what we decided we would offer Financial Remuneration will be a minimum of $850 a month in rst instance. We tithe from the monthly income to our Spiritual Leader and will guarantee a minimum of $500 a month. Our present Leader works
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about 40 hours a month and took a months leave without pay over and above holiday entitlement. Our total income 2012 was $77,351 so had our Spiritual Leader had worked all year she would have received $7,735 and a further $2,100 for speaking each month making $819 a month. We pay our speakers $175 each Sunday and we suggest the new leader speaks twice a week during the rst year to establish a sound relationship with the congregation. So a further Sunday a week $175 would have brought her monthly payment up to $894 OR We would pay for a leader to complete S.E.E. and Leadership training up to $6,000 a year for up to three years. This would cover transport, tuition, board and lodging and most of cost of books. Once Leader was qualied we would pay as above. Then there is opportunity for further income, there is great potential for growth of congregation and with it income, Teach Intensive w/e S.E.E. Classes open to other congregations in the region and develop Unity of Merced as a small wedding location. The full packet is available to you if you go to www.unity.org; - world wide ministries: - contact; - online publications and subscribe to The Path. Our church packet will be advertised again in the next edition. Peace love and blessings, Jill Loving, L.U.T. & Spiritual Leader

is an opportunity to afrm Spirit in a sacred entertainment that only Joy can express. Joy, when its true, ranges from the sober to the ecstatic with every color in between. In the full spectrum of authenticity and the dignity of Joy is a new age in the Freedom of Our Spirits. We can only really be groovy together. This is an opportunity to afrm the Wholly Sacred in the world and celebrate the diversity in Unity and the Unity in Diversity. Beauty unfolding as us. I am looking forward to looking through the lens of simplicity and community. I will have my ear to the sacred tracks for the direction of the joy-Full movements. I will look forward to the process and the new seasons ahead for Us as Unity, thankfully, as the world turns. Thanks to all who are in service to the process and progress of love, peace, and unity. Blessing every body! Blessing the Way With Love & Light &Joy

Blessed summer to my beloved Come-Unity. 2013

What a wonder-us time it is to be in a shifting world. I am so thankful to have the Love of Spirit evolving as me and we. The summer is a time to ripen for a harvest. Gods nature does Its thing like butter, (including some churning) thanks to the Blessed Beeings, and the Spirit behind all the natural elements. Its a wonder-us time in the evolution of Joy, that is my life. It has taken roughly 47 years for me to come this far. Up until now it seem that it has been, for the most part, a soulful process of elimination (with a couple blessed additions)Eliminating that which is contrary to joy. Joy being a life lived tapped into the heart of ones evolving nature. There is a movement within me that is Joy-Full of the ancient future sciences that can transform the world from the inside out, It is my calling to add an element to my expression of joy. It is my desire to host a groovy sacred atmosphere in the service to joy in the world. It is my intention to begin in July, on Saturday nights, and to be a Joy in the World- Happening, A Joy Happening is a Joy Evolution. An evolution is a revolution without the rrrr. Joy Happening
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TEACHING
Book Club is on hiatus A Course in Miracles Tuesdays 7-9:00 p.m. with Randy and Mattie Lane - this is a long established class so please call 6286383 before joining Way to Love Study group meets Wednesdays 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. in the Youth bldg.

Newsletter Deadline for the

September / October 2013 issue is Sunday, August 25th, 2013 Themes: Sense of Place / Service Lead: Janet Hay Overbey Email: jhoverbey@clearwire.net

Afrmation for new leader

We give thanks for the new leader of Unity Merced. This leader is committed to leading Unity Merced through Christ light and love and Unity principles to be all that it can be.

Board Chaplains Corner By: Dr. Judith Hartman If you want more balance in your life, you must understand what balance means. Balance is not static. It is a specic act. It is where different parts of life are in appropriate proportion and harmony. Balance is not something to be achieved and then forgotten. It changes at different stages of life. There are many challenges to living a balanced life. For some it's working too much, accumulating beyond what is needed, not exercising enough, unhealthy eating, not spending enough time with the people who are important, and the list goes on. You say: I want more balance, but do you make the changes that are necessary. This question might make you think about what you want in the moment or in the long run. You may not be aware that you are out-of-balance until you have a problem that is big enough to get your attention. Deadlines are a reality but if we continue to operate in that mode, what follows is a deadline driven life that pushes family dinners, exercise, meditation, a healthy diet, or fun to the side. We all need to wake up to the fact that working six days a week, having meetings on weekends, and working late hours, takes its toll. Recognizing signs of imbalance may help to nd greater balance. At those times shift attention to breathing, and releasing the struggle with what is happening in the moment. Slow down, focus, and relax into the moment. Think about what will bring you more balance.

The following is not a quick x, like taking two aspirins. But, when you are out of balance, remember the serenity prayer, and have the serenity to accept the things you cannot change and the courage to change the things you can. Choose an area of your life that is out of balance and make a change. The two areas that will produce the greatest results are making a change in your thinking and your body. This is easy, but it's not easy in the sense that there's no work or commitment involved. It is within your control and you can do it! Breath. Slow down, Relax. Then reect on the following three practices to help you make a change and nd balance. #1 Desire is a thought impulse. Do not stop to think why you want what you want. Instead, direct your thought to where you want it to go then act. The old admonition of think before you speak is a simple example. It shapes what you want and lets your words and actions carry your intention. This is as true with your personal practices as it is with your outer interactions. If you nd that you are consistently out of balance in one area, take some time to think about how to move into balance in your thinking so that impulses do not supersede your intentions. #2 Put your body where it needs to be to bring more balance. This could be de-cluttering your ofce, making phone calls to sell your product, doing yoga, hitting the gym, having a conversation you've been putting off, making a healthy lunch to take to work, getting up early to nish a project, or making time for physical exercise. Notice what you eat and how that inuences your energy and sense of balance. Notice the difference between busy work and intentional
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effort. In other words, if you are doing yoga, you need to have your body on the mat. If you are making a healthy lunch, your body needs to be in the kitchen. If you are making phone calls, your body needs to be on the phone. You cannot be in two places at once. Direct your body to match your intention. #3 Mindfulness is the practice of connection and presence. A mindfulness practice gives you space to be with what is occurring when it is occurring. If you nd that you're never where you are, such as, thinking about something else when others are speaking, or in a constant hurry to get on to what's next, or aggravated by having to wait in line or in trafc, use this practice to bring balance to the moment. Smile, breathe in and out slowly, and expand your awareness to include your physical environment, and notice your thoughts without holding on to them. You will nd you can bring balance to an agitated mind. When we are alert to these practices, the result is a delicious simplicity. We sleep better, eat healthier, exercise daily, love in all ways, and nd pleasure in work and play. My love goes with you as you go forward in a balanced and happy life.

SERVICE
Hospitality Ministry meets 12 noon 1st Sunday of the month. Lead: Susan Benes Call: 209-777-7771 Email: smbpaints@aol.com. Sunday Service Support Ministry We are looking for ushers and someone who would like to participate in the Flower Ministry by being responsible for bringing flowers when ever there is a 5th Sunday of the month. If you are interested contact the Office.

Getting Unstuck
On a certain level, resistance to the future and the change it will likely bring is a reason most of us stubbornly reenergize our past and continue down the same mental roads we blazed so many years before. Those youthful roads, once completely open, remain alive within the memories of our ageless minds (eternal consciousness). These youthful roads and ways of being have the eternal power to link us with an HD vision and the mindset necessary to accomplish being young at heart, again and again and again. So, the deeply spiritual problem of resistance to change, or better yet the ego-stubbornness of remaining right (or righteous) always; or the problem of closed mindedness; however you want to translate itis all just a matter of the old dog learning and relearning new tricks. The old trick might barely still work, but real spiritual awakening and evolution upwards towards divinity and all that comes with it (joy/real love/heart chakra owering/spiritual maturity) is only found through constant improvement or spiritual evolution. The new trick is how to access youthful energy, or a very powerful creative energy, while still experiencing life in your old Buick (versus that new Corvette of your youth). Surviving well in this logical, matter of fact, and seemingly nonspiritual world must be done by accessing efcient and powerful, even youthful, energy. For most this energy can be found at the time in ones life when you were most winning and the world was acknowledging and celebrating your accomplishments. For the high

school football player, the State Championship game might be the best highlight in the highlight reel footage of his mind and thus his stuck point. What is the victory you keep imagining and reliving over and over again? What age(s) were you? This will give you a clue as to your stuck points from the past and the reason you may be experiencing difculties in certain areas where openness and change is preferred and almost necessary. One of those areas are long term relationships such as within once close-knit families where grudges are still kept from ancient times so that silence takes the place of healthy, happy, sibling-sibling or parent-child relationships. Why must it always be the same, always? The stubbornness of remaining rigid within ones mind is the resistance one should consider eliminating in order to break (once and for all) the illusion of separation; the illusion of changelessness; keeping one from the reality of eternal creation; that constantly beginning again is ultimate reality. Its OK to start over! This is the secret mindset of those able to change! Be forewarned: once spiritual evolution occurs, one will nd great difculty in going backwards to a place in ones past because it has now been superseded by a higher power accessible in the present moment. Now the past is kept in the photo albums and favorite songs from that era, but it stays outside of dominating ones mind and ways of being. This persons aura, nature, and ways of treating others has now improved for the better because of ones new ability to change. It is as if ones computer was cleaned of a major virus from the past and updates were successfully installed. Now processing time is faster and the
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whole system is overall more efcient. This is the power of spiritual evolution and it is only available to those who can access spiritual power in the present moment. All else remain in the past. My prayer is we may all remain unstuck from the past and ride the energy of the powerful wave of the ever advancing (evolving and changing) present moment. Jereme.

PRAYER
Our Prayer ministry continues to thrive on Tuesdays at noon. Betty Parker sends out our new prayer cards every Tuesday morning.

email Prayer Requests to: unitymerced@hushmail.com

Every TUESDAY at 12 Noon Prayer Service in the Ofce Meditation Room. Please hold your Prayer Angels intention daily. An occasional note, card, or small gift is also appreciated. Use the Angel Drop Off Point (book shelves under the bulletin boards at the back of the sanctuary) or our church address as your return address to preserve your anonymity! Sharing Our Premises Currently AA and RCA meetings plus the Unitarians share our building. Please see our Weekly Calendar for scheduled meetings and office hours. Board News Remember we have established a Scholarship Fund to pay tuition costs for members who further their Unity Education through attending Regional weekend courses (check Notice board in church) or SEE at the Village or online. It now stands at $3,000. Apply to the Board in writing for a scholarship.

July 2013 Sunday Service Line-up 10:30 AM July 7th Speaker-John Butler (tbc) Music-Kate & Roddy Jackson Platform-Ida Fragulia Sound-Mike/Jereme Flowers-Dee Dee Lead Usher-Lamech Howard BookstoreUniTots-Whitney UniKids-Sarah Anderson Uniteens/Y.O.U.-Karen Damme Hospitality-Janine July 14th Speaker-Margaret Simmonds Music-Allan Spencer Special Music-Cheryl Locket Platform-Dan Aleman Sound-Mike/Jereme Flowers-Charlotte Mak Lead Usher-Lamech

BookstoreUniTots-Whitney UniKids-Sarah Anderson Uniteens/Y.O.U.-Karen Damme Hospitality-Betty P. July 21st Speaker-Jill Loving Accompanist-John Albano Special Music-Lorraine Walsh Platform-Rich Gipson Sound-Mike/Jereme Flowers-Twila Stout Lead Usher-Lamech BookstoreUniTots-Whitney

UniKids-Sarah Anderson Uniteens/Y.O.U.-Karen Damme Hospitality-Frank & Janie July 28th Speaker-Karen Damme Music-Ed Benes&Allan Spencer Platform-Jill Loving Sound-Mike/Jereme Flowers-Rosemary&Betty Jo Lead Usher-Lamech BookstoreUniTots-Whitney UniKids-Sarah Anderson Uniteens/Y.O.U.-Karen Damme Hospitality-Rosemary F.

August 2013 Sunday Service Line-up 10:30 AM August 4th Speaker-Allan Spencer Music-Kate&Roddy Jackson Platform-Ida Fragulia Sound-Mike/Jereme Flowers-Dee Dee Lead Usher-Lamech Howard Bookstore UniTots-Whitney UniKids-Jereme Anderson Uniteens/Y.O.U.-Karen Damme Hospitality-Janine August 11th Speaker-Ed Benes Accompanist-Allan Spencer Special Music-Cheryl Lochett Platform-Dan Aleman Sound-Mike/Jereme Flowers-Charlotte Mak Lead Usher-Lamech Howard

Bookstore UniTots-Whitney UniKids-Jereme Anderson Uniteens/Y.O.U.-Karen Damme Hospitality-Betty P. August 18th Speaker-Jill Loving Accompanist-John Albano Special Music-Lorraine Walsh Platform-Rich Gipson Sound-Mike/Jereme Flowers-Twila Stout Lead Usher-Lamech Howard Bookstore UniTots-Whitney
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UniKids-Sarah Anderson Uniteens/Y.O.U.-Karen Damme Hospitality-Frank & Janie August 25th Speaker-Rev. Nancy McNatt Music-Ed Benes&Allan Spencer Platform-Jill Loving Sound-Mike/Jereme Flowers-Rosemary&Betty Jo Lead Usher-Lamech Howard Bookstore UniTots-Whitney UniKids-Sarah Anderson Uniteens/Y.O.U.-Karen Damme Hospitality-Rosemary F.

305 W. 26th Street Merced, CA 95340

July / August
Sunday 10:30 a.m. Worship Service ---------------4:00 p.m. U.U. every 2nd & 4th Sunday Monday 7-8:00 a.m. AA Meeting ---------------9:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. Ofce Open ---------------6:30-8 p.m. RCA Meeting

2013
Tuesday

Weekly Calendar & Scheduled Meetings

Wednesday 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Ofce Open ---------------Bellydance Fitness w/Janet 6-7:00 p.m. ---------------also 6-7:30 p.m. AA Meeting (Children Welcome) Thursday 7-8:00 a.m. AA Meeting ---------------11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Ofce Open Friday 7-8:00 a.m. AA Meeting ---------------10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Ofce Open Saturday 8-9:00 a.m. AA Meeting

7-8:00 a.m. AA Meeting ---------------11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Ofce Open ---------------12:00 Noon Prayer Service ---------------7-9:00 p.m. A Course in Miracles w/ Mattie and Randy Lane