Virtual Release and Renew Ceremony

Forty Days of Releasing and Renewing

February 17, 2021 7:00 pm

Zoom link will be emailed to those on our Virtual Services list.

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February 17, 2020, Ash Wednesday, marks the beginning of the Lenten season, which is observed by many Christian Faith communities worldwide.  During the season of Lent, the forty days leading up to Easter Sunday, many individuals focus on simple living, prayer, and fasting in order to awaken and be transformed.

New Thought Communities like Unity invite individuals of all faith traditions into the devotional practice of Forty Days of Releasing and Renewing.   Releasing is the practice of relinquishing your energy from thoughts, beliefs, words, and behaviors that stand in the way of living more peacefully, authentically, and with meaning and purpose.  Renewing, on the other hand, is the daily practice of energizing thoughts and ways of being that foster peace, gratitude, appreciation, compassion, personal growth and transformation, and being of service to others.

By consciously engaging your Spiritual Powers of Elimination, Life, and Dominion you have an opportunity on a daily basis during Lent and throughout the year to let go of limiting ways of being and to animate thoughts, words, and actions that enhance our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Please join me in a reflective prayer ceremony where you will have an opportunity to cleanse your consciousness, affirm Truth, and select a Spiritual Power to consciously embody for the next 40 days.  I invite you to bring a dab of oil with you to this service, for it will be used to anoint your forehead, third eye. 

Dear Friends,

Many have shared that they are happy to see 2020 come to a close. This past year has been challenging for us all.  We have navigated our way not only through a pandemic, societal unrest and racial injustice, but also through a polarized election season that has seemed to have gone on forever. Yes, collectively and individually we have been overwhelmed as “our world” as we know it has been cracked open.   

The season of winter is upon us. Metaphysically, winter represents a time of hunkering down, a time of inner stillness and reflection, and a time of release in preparation for new life in the spring.  The seasons of our lives do not always follow the calendar cycle and most would agree that we, as a collective, began our inner experience of winter in the early spring and are longing for it to be over. 
I understand!  

What I wholeheartedly place my faith in is that humanity, on a deep soul level, has said YES to a profound, collective awakening.  I place my assurance in knowing that each one of us is imbued with a resilient spirit, that when summoned upon, will endow us with the patience, strength, and courage we need to endure and transcend our season of winter, regardless of its duration.   

December not only ushers in the official start to winter, but also welcomes the celebrations of Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa.  Although traditions vary in how these holidays are observed, the one thing they have in common is the symbolism of LIGHT.  As the candles of the Menorah, the Advent Wreath, and the Kinara are lit, many take time to pause, reflect and remember that we do not enter the harshness of our dark and barren times without our INNER LIGHT.  I believe that the light of resiliency, hope, and the promise of new and glorious life is the flame that burns brightly at the Divine core of us all!  

My dear friends, as you participate in your holiday candle lighting this year, I invite you to designate a special candle to light each evening at 8 pm during the next month to symbolize your inner resilience and faith in the promise of new life.  Before lighting your candle affirm, “I am the Light of Divine Resilience, Faith, and New Life.”

Let us also remain connected throughout the holiday season by participating in the virtual special services that are listed below. I hope you will find comfort from the words penned by John O’Donahue in his poem, “The Spaces Between Us” also below. Together we stand in Truth, Love, and Life to bring Light to the darkness. 

Love,
Rev Angela

The Spaces Between Us

This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.
Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.
If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.
~John Donahue

Holiday Schedule