Snow Day – Campus Closed Sunday January 25, 2026
In prayerful consideration, the leadership of Unity Renaissance made the call to cancel service this Sunday and to postpone the Annual Meeting to next Sunday, February 1st. The care and safety of our beloved community was our primary motivation.
Additionally, between you and me, the prospect of a “Snow Day!” tickled my being. It conjures memories of an historic blizzard that came through my hometown of Toledo, Ohio in 1978. While some memories are fuzzy, the feeling tone is not. There was a sense of warmth within our home. Because there were no other options, the implicit permission was to do nothing and to do that together. In those days, there were no cell phones, computers or 24/7 news to distract us. My family enjoyed times outside in the snow, sledding and walking in the woods. We surrendered into quiet and silence as the snow continued. And, at one point we somehow believed the neighborhood bowling alley might be open and we ventured there to find it was! There we played and bowled with our neighbors who made it out and about too.
The spirit of my soul wondered what it would be like to have a community snow day. What would it be like to just “call it” and let everyone have a rest, an unexpected respite from it all, including “church.” How might it actually carry us deeper to a true sense of Sabath?
Invitation
As we explore “The Way of the Heart,” my heart is compelled to invite you to a collective “snow day” and let it be an invitation to your very own Sabbath of the Heart. I invite you to dedicate a period for “church” in the sanctuary of your soul, in your home, solitary, with family, with friends. Treat this time as sacred, a spaciousness away from the world of doing and an invitation into simply being.
Pretend as if the world is closed for the day. Some may remember a time when that was true every Sunday. Everyone got a collective day off. It was a time of rest and renewal, to visit neighbors and family, to break bread together. While we do this every Sunday at Unity Renaissance, let this be an opportunity to explore a Sabbath in your own home. Let some time pass without the distraction of computers, cell phones, 24/7 news media. Spend some time with you, with the God of your own being, with nature, with family, friends. Connect with the heart of love.
Making the Call
Trying to predict the unpredictable, like the weather, can be maddening. At the end of the day, someone just needs to make the call. Once you do, trust the call. Don’t second guess it. Explore it fully. Let it teach you its wisdom, whether it snows or not!
Can you think of a time when you just had to make the call, a decision, and the freedom you felt once you did?
I had to make such a call nearly two years ago with the information at hand and the heart leading the way. I am grateful we made the call that brought me to Virginia Beach and Unity Renaissance.
Here, as I continue my walking camino along the coastal region, the inland waterways and woods, and in spiritual community with you.
Each step, I recommit to a closer walk with the Spirit of my being. Here, the unique landscape of Life teaches me and fills my soul with all I need to know. It calms my human edges. I continuously pause, receive breath, and then release, letting spirit once and for all, lead. My camino is a constant “falling in love” with “here,” wherever and with whomever that may be.
Making that call felt unpredictable, a journey into the unknown. I placed my allegiance and trust in the guidance of the spirit of my being. This builds courage as I called forth more heart amid fear and trepidation. A rising of “René” was underway, and the call of the heart became the predominant energy urging me to trust Life again.
At some point we all just need to make the call. It looks something like a decision or commitment to follow the still small voice within that we may hear in quiet moments of a sweet sabbath. It has something to do with deciding to teach only love. This begins within, by daring to believe in the voice for God within you more than the chatter of the world. It begins by trusting your heart to lead you in safety and grace.
What is the call you are ready to make in your life? When it drops in, commit to it, trust it. From that moment, let any moment of “second guessing” reveal your own thoughts, fears, inadequacies that are simply calls for your loving self-care and attention.
Shabbat Shalom: May peace rest upon you as you rest in God.
As I have allowed spirit to continue to soften the edges of my humanness, I grow more and more at ease with the allowance of all things. I live more and more in in the “pause” and in allowance. Then, I stop and realize I don’t need to make anything happen at all. There is so much peace in this this pathway of resting in the Mind of God. (Inspired by the Reading, link below).
In the Jewish tradition rooted in Hebrew language and scripture, Shabbat is a sacred weekly pause for rest and remembrance. “Shabbat Shalom” is a blessing of peace—an invitation to lay down striving and return to the awareness of wholeness. Across spiritual traditions, Sabbath teaches what Unity affirms—that rest is not a reward for work, but a spiritual practice that restores us to truth, peace, and love.
“The true Sabbath is not the observance of an outer day; the outer is but the symbol. The true Sabbath is that state of mind in which we rest from outer thought and doings and give ourselves up to meditation or to the study of things spiritual; it is when we enter into the stillness of our inner consciousness, think about God and Its law, and commune with God.” From the Fillmore Metaphysical Bible Dictionary
Today’s Lesson from The Way of Mastery: The First Step in Awakening
Nothing that you experience is caused by anything outside of you. You experience only the effects of your own choice.
This is the pathway “which cultivates within you the decision to turn your attention upon your own mind, upon your own behavior, upon what is true for you moment to moment. To study it, to consider it, to feel it, to breathe the light of Spirit through it, and to constantly retrain the mind so that it assumes complete responsibility for each moment.”
The Way of the Heart, Lesson 1, page 5
Reading & Song: I Am A Light
"As you as the soul – the individual divine spark – begin to choose to withdraw the attention and the value you have placed upon all things, as you learn to simplify the nature of your own consciousness, as you realize that you can surrender into something that seems beyond you and that you can entertain the insane thought of trusting the invisible, you come more and more to be less and less.
As you become less and less of what you thought you were, conversely, you become more and more of what your Father created you to be – the thought of perfect Love in form, a channel, a simple vehicle through with the Love of Spirit can shine forth. Your only tasks become the cleaning of your windows, the polishing of your floors and the weeding of your garden so that that Light can pour forth unimpeded."
The Way of the Heart, page 3
Listen to: I Am A Light
Open Your Heart Meditation: Listen to this music and then sit in silence for a committed period (5-10-15-20 minutes; you pick). In the stillness intend to open your heart and ask, “Can I Feel It?”
Listen to the Meditation Music: Can I Feel It?
Additional Resources:
Listen to: The Way of the Heart, Lesson 1
Read the: Metaphysical meaning of Sabbath (mbd) -Fillmore Faith)
A Spiritual Invitation to Give
In lieu of live Sunday Service, please accept this as your spiritual invitation to contribute. Though we are not gathering in person this Sunday, our ministry continues to thrive through your loving support. Your contribution is a meaningful way to stay connected, affirm our shared purpose, and sustain the work we are doing together.