View from the Pew
A look inside Hawaii's houses of worshipBy Mary Adamski
University of Hawaii religion professor George Tanabe described this millennium as a time when people will fashion their faith from a smorgasbord of belief systems. It is certainly a trend observable in some "new" Christian churches that think they have invented "nondenominational" and taken worship to the edge by adopting meditative disciplines from Eastern religions or reconstituted rituals that were rejected in the Protestant Reformation. Even the conservative Christians have done this - no one does entertainment as worship like the new evangelicals - not to mention the "new" prosperity theology of God wants you to be rich and happy on this earth. Church has a positive
take on livingWell, I may have grazed at "The Original Smorgasbord" Sunday when I revisited Unity Church of Hawaii on Diamond Head Circle. I say original because this isn't a new church. Founders Charles and Myrtle Fillmore of Missouri started the Unity movement in 1889, inspired by their own healing from maladies to develop a philosophy of positive thinking. Their prolific writing led to the spread of ideas that were pretty revolutionary in a time when denominational lines were firmly drawn and diversity was not considered a good thing.
The church has been established in Hawaii since the 1930s, and it thrived in the liberal climate of show-biz Waikiki. To this day, Unity has a reputation of appealing to and being supported by entertainers. Sunday's speaker was entrepreneur Wally Amos, a longtime Unity Church attendee, who used a tale of business disagreement to make a point that "love covers all wrong, but only if you apply it."
Prayer leader Sonda Dockham-Leong quoted from St. Paul, but also from the Upanishads of ancient Hindu scriptures. There was some participatory music during the service, but for the most part, the congregation was audience for guest soloist Keoki Kerr, who belted out "A Hundred Million Miracles" from "Flower Drum Song" and Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Love Changes Everything." Music director Alathea Train played New Age rippling stream effects on the keyboard during silent mediation in which we were led to take deep breaths and release clenched muscles and empty our thoughts a la Zen.
To add to the thoroughly sensual experience, tradewinds cooled the open-sided church, bringing the fragrance of flowering trees and sizzling meat for the $3 breakfast to be served shortly in the courtyard where major socializing and commerce - from Amos' autographed books to high school fund-raiser candy bars - takes place.
Beforehand, in a pass through the church bookstore, a CD of "Hare Krishna" chanting was playing, and an eclectic choice of books on Sufism and Buddhism and all manner of motivational and pop psychology authors were available alongside Christian books and the Fillmores' many books. I carried away a fistful of tracts including one on seeking employment - "God has a place for you" - and "A Prosperity Lesson," in which founder Charles Fillmore exhorted, "Do not let a single empty thought exist in your mind, but fill all thoughts with words of plenty! plenty!"
Among the multiple handouts at the door was a description of Unity as a "worldwide Christian organization with an extremely positive approach to life." Also, it said, "Unity has no creedal requirements or dogma. Unity chooses to believe that there is good in every religion."
There are no Christian symbols to be seen. The congregation faces a stained-glass window that depicts the cycle of a seed sprouting, flowering, withering and returning to ground as seed. Dockham-Leong said she saw it as a depiction of reincarnation. There is no specific teaching about the afterlife, she said, but "most Unity Christians believe in some form of reincarnation or transmigration of souls."
Perhaps a key to the don't-worry-be-happy mentality that attracted about 100 people to each of three Sunday services is that "Satan does not exist, there is no power of evil," said Dockham-Leong, who is a licensed Unity teacher. "There is no talk about sin and no underlying theme of guilt, shame or blame. The kingdom of God is within," she said, quoting from a book by Unity minister Paul A. Laughlin.
The service began with the congregation reciting the fundamental affirmation of Unity that "there is only one presence and one power in the universe, God the good." They reached their peak of participation in singing the hymn "Let There Be Peace on Earth."
The church sponsors or is the venue for numerous lectures and projects. Senior minister the Rev. Mari Gabrielson was one of the local leaders of "A Season for Peace and Nonviolence," a 64-day campaign for nonviolence and justice that ended April 4.
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Mary Adamski covers religion for the Star-Bulletin.
Email her at madamski@starbulletin.com.
