It’s always great to have these once-per-month newsletters, as they allow me to catch all of you up on things at Unity of Sedona, as well as sharing any updates on events or changes in our direction. 

Something I recently shared in a Sunday service was that over the past few years, I have had people approach me or email to tell me that they haven’t been to Unity of Sedona for a while due to the difficulty they have absorbing the depth of the teachings. They’ve said things like, “When I attend a Sunday service, it usually feels like the equivalent of doing several therapy sessions, reading a couple of deep books, and experiencing a few of the most remarkable meditations all rolled into one.” Then they ask me if it’s possible to lighten it up and water it down a bit. So I shared this idea/question with the attendees (and with the folks watching online) and the response/vote was clear…although my heart goes out to those who prefer a more shallow experience, we will NOT be watering anything down anytime soon. 

We’ve even had some folks come to us and ask why we don’t use more hype to draw in even larger crowds and charge higher rates to become more prosperous–as is the case for some teachers who live in, or travel through, Sedona. But that is simply not our thing. Almost every single teacher who attracts people through hype uses a sort of “celebrity” approach to spirituality. And that can indeed be quite exciting to many, at Unity of Sedona, we emphasize the role of God in our lives. In other words, students on the path have to learn to discern between focusing on God versus focusing on the teachers/authors who think they are God. Many of today’s teachers and healers emphasize themselves and their supposed words and skills, but if you listen closely enough, you will hear that God is missing from their work. That’s why Jesus warned us to not run around looking for another fad. Instead, we should live in whatever community and experience we can most learn humility and the humbleness to serve God–rather than self.

This does not mean we are ignoring the feedback from others to keep things simple enough for less advanced students. We have now cut the services down by 10-15 minutes. And soon we will cut them to being just over an hour and fifteen minutes–which is the national average for services in New Thought churches. The bottom line is that although some folks have told us that they’ve chosen centers where the service is under an hour (due sometimes to their physical limitations), or have gone to more traditional centers/churches (due sometimes to the need for more basic teachings), or needed to find a center with less depth, we are finding that our particular attendees are apparently committed to finding and supporting the deepest teachings possible–and I can’t imagine sharing anything less than that. It’s all about making God the Center of it all, having the highest integrity possible, and sharing the deepest teachings possible–which includes the teaching of all of our speakers, as well as having the finest guest musicians and featured artists. Thank you all so much for your continued support of all of this, as your support is what makes it all possible.