After a ten-minute meditation (interrupted half-way through by a forgotten alarm clock), I studied Matthew 5-7. The Beatitudes, of course, and quite a few directives on the Kingdom of Heaven; most interesting to me, however, was the Lord’s Prayer from the Aramaic:

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven so on Earth.
Give us bread for our needs from day to day.
And forgive us our offenses, as we forgive our offenders.
And do not let us enter into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever.
Amen.

The main pastor of the local Unity Church was back today; Rev. Rosado. No matter how interested I become in Unity, I don’t like her sermons (or “lessons,” they are called in Unity). I also realized some things about the Unity Christian Church:
–They apparently are Nestorian, and may have adopted this belief from Dr. Lamsa. That is to say, they believe that the man “Jesus” and the redemptive spirit, “Christ,” were two separate beings. This actually goes along with certain Gnostic teachings, although the Unity folks apparently ascribe this condition to everyone.
–They don’t have crosses anywhere that I could see. I’ll have to discuss this before I join.
–They now have a fly up advocating a “U.S. Department of Peace.” This, folks, is an abomination. It is not the business of the U. S. Government to enforce specific conflict-resolution methods on private citizens. Further, the U. S. of A. was founded on the ideal that FREEDOM IS WORTH FIGHTING AND DYING FOR. I may post more on this later.

I have been invited to both an upcoming church picnic and a float trip; it is refreshing to once again be part of a group which puts such things on. I hope that I don’t have to leave for doctrinal reasons–of course, I won’t be the first person in history who didn’t see completely eye-to-eye with their pastor, if I do stay.

1930: 10 minute Relaxation Response
Matthew 5-8