Events at Unity Village will include a candlelight walk, “pancakes-and-prayer” breakfast, campus-wide prayer fair and Eric Butterworth exhibit.

Unity Village, MO. -- A pancakes-and-prayer breakfast and diverse prayer fair will highlight the 19th annual Unity World Day of Prayer, September 12-13 at Unity Village. The central activity for the event—a 24-hour prayer vigil—will begin Wednesday, September 12, and continue through Thursday, September 13. This year’s theme is The Universe Is Calling, drawn from a book by the late Unity minister Eric Butterworth. The affirmation is: As we listen to the Universe, we are lifted to new heights of awareness and understanding.

“World Day of Prayer is an opportunity to make a positive difference in the world by fostering healing and wholeness through prayer. Eric Butterworth reminds us that when we connect with the creative flow of God within us, we tap into infinite wisdom and unlimited good, and even the seemingly impossible becomes possible,” said Charlotte Shelton, president and CEO of Unity World Headquarters at Unity Village.

The opening ceremony will begin at 7 p.m. September 12 in the Activities Center at Unity Village. The keynote presenter will be Rev. Mary Omwake from Unity Church in Lynnwood, WA. The opening will be followed by a candlelight walk to Silent Unity, the home of Unity’s 24/7 prayer ministry and site of the 24-hour prayer vigil.

The celebration resumes at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, September 13, with a community breakfast on the central courtyard. “We’re calling it ‘pancakes and prayer,’ and it is a new event for us. We are bringing people together for an energizing start to the day, with help from our dynamic prayer team and local pancake legend Chris Cakes,” said Silent Unity Vice President Rev. Lynne Brown. She said that in the spirit of outreach, the Lee’s Summit Ministerial Alliance, Lee’s Summit Rotary and other community leaders have been invited to the breakfast.

Thursday will also feature another first-time event: a campus-wide prayer fair. “In all faith traditions, prayer is an expression of mind and heart but also hands and feet. The fair is an opportunity to practice a variety of ways to pray in some magnificent settings on our grounds,” said Brown. Activities will include an earth-prayer nature walk on the Unity trails, outdoor labyrinth walk, drum circle in the Activities Center, prayer art on the central courtyard and sacred singing in historic Fillmore Chapel. The fair runs from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday.

Also Thursday, the Unity Institute Library and Archives will offer a special exhibit of works from the new Eric Butterworth Collection. “In addition to providing this year’s World Day of Prayer theme, Butterworth’s birthday was September 12. The exhibit is an opportunity to view published and unpublished materials spanning Butterworth’s 55-year career,” said librarian Linda Bray. The collection, which is still being catalogued, was a 2010 gift from the Eric Butterworth Foundation. Hours for the exhibit are 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The celebration will conclude at 7 p.m. September 13 with a service in the Activities Center led by Rev. Kelly Isola. An author, speaker and consultant, Isola is an adjunct faculty member at Unity Institute and Seminary and the host of the Unity Online Radio program “Spiraling Consciousness."

All events are open to the public.

Details about Unity World Day of Prayer events at Unity Village and in other
communities are available online at www.worlddayofprayer.org. Many Unity Village events will be live-streamed from this web site, as well. Information is available in Spanish at www.diadeoracionmundial.org. World Day of Prayer is also on Facebook. (Search Unity World Day of Prayer.)

About Unity
Unity was founded in 1889 and helps people of all faiths apply positive spiritual principles in their daily lives. Unity World Headquarters at Unity Village publishes Daily Word, a magazine of inspirational messages distributed to nearly1 million people in more than 100 countries. Unity’s prayer ministry, Silent Unity, offers prayer support 24/7. Silent Unity receives about 2 million letters, telephone calls and online requests for prayer annually. Anyone in need of prayer support at any time may call (800) NOW-PRAY (669-7729) or visit www.silentunity.org. Unity World Headquarters is located at M-350 Highway and Colbern Road (1901 NW Blue Parkway), near Lee’s Summit, MO.

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Contact

Mary Earls
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