Saints and Sinners: Could praying become big business?
If your prayers aren’t being answered, maybe you should turn the job over to someone else. Perhaps an organization like Silent Unity.
Will their prayers work better than yours? They might. They have been in the business of praying for others since 1891.
The founders of the Unity School of Christianity were Charles Fillmore and his wife, Myrtle. Charles was a successful real estate operator in Kansas City. His wife’s life was threatened when she was became afflicted with tuberculosis. She attended a lecture on spiritual healing and this started her on the way to her recovery.
It was not an instantaneous healing (the complete cure took two years) but it changed her life. She developed a following — a group of people in Kansas City who met each night at 10 p.m.
Sometimes they sang a hymn or two, followed by a prayer, remembering those who were in special need and who had asked the group to pray for them. This type of prayer became known as “absent treatment,” which meant that one’s physical presence was not required for a healing to take place. It is still the basis for healing in the Unity School of Christianity, a Missouri-based, loosely knit denomination devoted mostly to healing.
Silent Unity — as the healing arm of the movement is known — gets 3 million prayer requests a year. Silent Unity staff workers answering telephone calls for healing 24 hours a day. Even in the middle of the night, someone is there to take your call and say a prayer with you.
What is Silent Unity’s secret? According to James Dillet Freeman, long-time director of Silent Unity, it helps people discover the truth about themselves — that “at the core and center of their being is the infinite power and intelligence of God, ready to flow into their lives.”
Once they realize this, the circumstances in their lives change, says Freeman.
A woman who phoned Silent Unity when her husband had a heart attack was told, “All is well. God is there and His healing power is at work in your husband. Mighty currents of God’s healing love are flowing through your husband’s heart and he is healed.”
She was told to copy down that “affirmation” and pray it herself. Meanwhile, for the next 30 days, her prayer request — like all others — was taken into the Silent Unity prayer room by the worker who received the call. Throughout the day, workers take prayer breaks throughout their busy routine of opening and answering letters and receiving phone calls.
Did the woman’s husband recover? He did, but how did his wife’s prayers reach him?
Freeman tells the story of one man who phoned Silent Unity. When the worker answered, the man paused a moment and said, “I don’t know what to say to you. I called to ask your help in healing a vicious headache I’ve had for days. But right after I dialed your number, the headache vanished.”
Some people say they have experienced a healing while writing a letter to Silent Unity or after dropping the letter into the mailbox.
Unity is probably best known for its devotional publication, Daily Word. Its 3 million subscribers include members of all faiths. Each day’s lesson includes an affirmation, meditation and Bible verse.
A typical meditation: “God has given me a body that is spontaneously able to heal itself. I cooperate with my body’s natural healing ability when I pray and when I open myself to the prayer of support of others.”
If your prayers aren’t being answered, you can contact Silent Unity by calling (816) 969-2000, or visiting their Web site, www.unityworldhq.org.
(George Plagenz is a syndicated columnist.)