Seattle Unity

"So often, Unity gets equated with sameness... and it's not. Unity is not about sameness."Associate Minister Diane Robertson leads a vibrant Pride service, a fitting first Sunday for our series on The Alchemy of Compassion. Using stories from history, testimony from congregants, and revelations about her own personal journey, she addresses one of the central challenges in New Though...

"My spiritual journey at 80 is being aware of what I want to feel and choose...shifting my perspective to that of joy. My granddaughter, Quinn teaches me every day what spontaneous joy is, and the many, many ways to express it."Rev. Karen invites congregant and chaplain Donna Hutchinson to share some thoughts about her path into spiritual study. Donna's originally from the east coas...

"We can think about reflection as being like a mirror, right? When you look in the mirror you can check to see if you have spinach in your teeth, see if your hair is okay. So we see ourselves reflected back to us, so we can make changes. Reflection of the mind is a similar process. Rather than observing the physical, we are observing what is going on within."Senior Minister Rev. Karen Li...

"Jnana yoga is the philosophical approach to the yoga of knowledge. It uses intellectual inquiry for spiritual evolution.'"Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig ventures into this new series on the Alchemy of Understanding. One of the 12 powers of man identified by Unity co-founder Charles Fillmore, Understanding here refers to intellectual pursuits. But it may also include curiosity,...

"During our prayer service on Wednesday nights, we always have a reading of the Daily Word... and this Wednesday, the affirmation is 'I grow stronger with every experience of life. I am bolstered by my Inner Strength.'"Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig wraps up the series on Strength with a rich and deep service, including strong community representation, too.  Carl Woestwin p...

"I realized, in every single area of our lives we tend to hold on, and our whole culture says 'hold on to as much as you can, the one with the most stuff wins.'  What we've learned is that in spirituality, it's exactly the opposite. "Guest speaker Rev. Cynthia Alice Anderson joins us, continuing our series on the Alchemy of Strength. Cynthia Alice uses the moment to a...

"Is the universe a friendly place or not? I think how you answer that question is going to impact if not determine how your life unfolds. How are you going to interpret and respond to the things that happen to you, including events like the pandemic or the political, cultural, racial turmoil of the last year or so."Guest speaker Gregg Levoy invites us to use the quarantine asour personal...

"... when is a time in your life that you were so touched, by the beauty that you saw? Whether it be out at sea or in a mountain, maybe it's in the woods or your yard. It can be something as simple as watching how the light shines through the window... we have those moments when we're just awestruck..."Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig celebrates Earth Day beginning with the c...

"So imagine if you will that this past year has been about fermentation, right? That there has been a remembering that has been happening."Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig ushers in a new Easter. With the pandemic abating, many of us are emerging from the tombs in perhaps a more profound way than ever before. How have we changed in this past year?  And what will we do with our resurrec...

"So the Alchemy of Leadership, then, is not about doing it all yourself, because you can't turn lead into gold alone."Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig continues our series on leadership using examples from scripture, personal experience, expert authors, and ... geese!  Nature has great lessons to offer us about vision, collaboration, and communication. Burnout is not a requirement...

"So rather than looking to someone else to be the leader, to solve whatever it is that needs to be solved, may we be wise enough to take the leadership of Moses and Jesus to the next level, and cross the threshold into a new way of being."Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig returns to look further into our current series The Alchemy of Leadership. On this Palm Sunday, during Passover, rel...

"She started working these practices, and when I say working it, she was *working* it. She was actually living this fifth principle."Associate Minister Diane Robertson takes a first step into our new series Alchemy of Leadership. Pulling from her current ministerial training materials, she introduces us to Francis W. Foulks, who wrote Effectual Prayer, and also edited many early Unity ma...

"Since this is Pisces season, we're looking at intuition, emotion, spiritual connection that goes beyond rational thought, water flowing ---  dreams.  As we develop our intuition, it can help prepare us for what lies next in our lives."Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig pulls some golden bits from her ongoing Dream Interpretation class. How do our intuitive faculties manifest?  What...

"Maybe you have felt extremely connected to God during this time, and maybe you have felt abandoned and alone. Perhaps it's been a little bit of both. But the truth is that no matter where you have been, God has always been present."Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig concludes the series on the Alchemy of the Mystic by looking at direct experiences of God.  Sometimes we feel it more...

"When we look at alchemy through our spiritual eyes rather our mercenary eyes, we’re looking at Elements. From my tradition, the earth-based tradition, we follow earth, air, fire, water, and ether, or spirit -- the spirit that animates all things."Guest speaker Rev. Judith Laxer speaks to our annual theme of Alchemy of the Soul, and this months' mystical perspective.  Judith is the...

"Any time you step out and break through that limitation, you break it for others as well."In honor of today's annual congregational meeting, Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig takes  a quick look back at Unity basics and Unity founding history. What makes Unity unique and different from other traditions?  She describes Unity as a tradition of breaking through the shell of previous...

"Imagine a wheel with all the different aspects of love. While Eros may get the fire going, it's Pragma, enduring love, *standing* in love, that actually keeps it going."Celebrating a very snowy Valentine's Day, Rev. Karen leads an all-remote service. She examines many different kinds of love, from love-for-all to romantic love to sustaining love. She pulls examples from myth,...

"Ruth explained again and again that the Unity system for licensing teachers and ordaining ministers was stacked against Black people with tests that were biased in favor of whites, and that its discriminatory practices were counter to Unity teachings. In other words, Unity was not practicing what it preached."In honor of Black History month, Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig looks at U...

"The truth is that we are all sons and daughters of the most high... and we're only using a small percentage of our capacity. So, my question to you is: what do you want in your life?"Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig looks at manifestation, and our human power to create from our imagination. How do we best use our co-creative capacities with God, so that our individual and collect...

"I invite you to embrace your inner misfit, your inner rebel, the one that knows there is a better way, the one that knows there is a way we can create a world that works for all."Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig explores what it means to be a change agent in the world. Using diverse examples from myth and history, she looks at the concept of "stealing fire"  - that is, coura...

"We can use our words to create havoc, or we can use our words to increase love and understanding."Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig returns to discuss the power of the Creative Word.  This concept appears in the works of Unity co-founder Charles Fillmore, and resonates especially deeply this week, in the aftermath of an insurrection attempt on the Capitol. In a preview of this year&apo...

"If it's true, then we come to this earth school - I call it soul-making - to have myriad experiences in order to perfect or to complete this thing called the field of soul."Guest speaker Michael Bogar returns to discuss the concept of reincarnation, especially the recent work of Ian  Stevenson, Andrea Leininger and others. As he points out, New Thought students may well ask "s...

"It is when we change ourselves that we then can influence and change the world around us."This year's Burning Bowl ritual of releasing is different from other years, in that we're not doing this together, but independently at our homes, but Rev. Karen speaks the word about this rich practice.  2020 perhaps more than other years, offers us plenty to throw into our spiritual fir...

"That word white ... comes originally from the word leukos, and leukos can also mean bright or brilliant. To me this is the essence of the White Stone ritual. It's calling out that brilliance in you, that divine quality, that is most needed in this moment, in your life and in the world."Associate Minister Diane Robertson leads our annual White Stone ceremony,  using personal stories...

"The truth is, that since we're not so busy, running to parties and doing all the things that we normally do socially, this actually gives us an opportunity to focus on the true meaning of this holiday."Senior Minister Rev. Karen Lindvig leads a very different version of our Christmas Eve Candlelighting service, but this time we're integrating the Zoom and livestream technologi...