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Arts & LifestyleSpiritual journey on the waterBy Gillian R. Swart/ newburyport@cnc.com
About 30 passengers set sail last Saturday on a two-hour tour in the waters off Plum Island. The weather did not get rough and the tiny ship was not... [more see below]Describe all your ailments! Sandra Schriefer demonstrates Tong Ren Healing during the trip. (Gillian R. Swart photo)
*TONG REN HEALING PHONE SESSIONS AVAILABLE CALL SANDRA at: 617 335 9370 USA and PR or 339 440 5492 8am-9pm or email:ph@sandramschriefer.com and same email for SKYPE SESSIONS
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Spiritual journey on the water By Gillian R. Swart/ newburyport@cnc.comFriday, July 21, 2006 - Updated: 10:35 AM ESTAbout 30 passengers set sail last Saturday on a two-hour tour in the waters off Plum Island. The weather did not get rough and the tiny ship was not tossed - actually, it was a 48-foot catamaran. Needless to say, there was also no uncharted desert isle involved.
"Set sail with spirit" is the title of a class that is held by Unity on the River Saturday mornings for at least the next
few weeks. Calling it a "class" may be too much, though. Members of Amesbury church pray, chat, and meditate while theNinth Wave glides harmoniously over the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Or bobs around off Salisbury beach because there is no wind - whatever, the spirit is the same.
"I am the ocean, and I am the sea. I am the spirit, and the spirit is me. Everything opens when I open me." Self-proclaimed "chant goddess" Stephanie Roy led into a period of 10 minutes of (mostly) silence with this chant. It kind of stifles the spirit when a cell phone goes off, but that was only a momentary diversion.
Charles and Myrtle Fillmore founded the Unity church in 1888, in Kansas City. Shipley Allinson founded Unity on the River in 1997, in Newburyport. At the time, Allinson owned a macrobiotic restaurant in the Port called The Rising Sun.
"It was a spiritual community," she says. The community started as a study group in 1994, after Allinson spent five years working with a Unity teacher. "The first time I went to one of her classes, I knew I wanted to do that." Allinson attended Unity school in Missouri and became a Unity minister. The study group evolved from a group of four meeting in Allinson’s home into full-blown services in early 1997. The congregation’s first meeting place was in the basement of the Newburyport Five Cents Savings Bank. Its first name was Unity of Greater Newburyport. The group later moved to the Masonic Temple for about a year, then found its present home on the Powow River in Amesbury. Hence the name, Unity on the River.
Allinson says she had a dream about the church being connected to the YMCA, which was then located on State Street. "I saw us in that building," she says. The old building burned down on July 15, 1987 - coincidentally, on Allinson’s birthday.
But July 15 was the very date on which the church moved into its home on the Powow, and Allinson saw there was a YMCA in the same plaza. Last Saturday, July 15, was the church’s ninth anniversary.
Not only a restaurateur, she also painted pottery for Paula Estey Designs, worked in home health care, and made outfits for competitive figure skaters, while looking for a career with that spiritual community. Part of the purpose of the inspired setting aboard the Ninth Wave is to deepen understanding of diverse spiritual practices. Sandra Schriefer provided a spiritual practice on board -- she gave demonstrations of Tong Ren Healing.The inspiration for the setting came to Jane Thompson-Renzi when she was in church. She is the marketing director for Ninth Wave. "Part of what Jonathan [Van Campen] hired me to do was to do targeted outreach," she said. "It came to me that it would be a wonderful fit." She brought the two sides of her life together, and also gives others the opportunity to commune with our coastal home.
Van Campen says his relationship with the church is a perfect tie-in with his ideals for his charter business. "We try to be sensitive to the environment as much as possible," he says. It is also very family-oriented (both his mother and father worked on the boat while it was being built).
Family is also an important focus at Unity on the River. Robin Clark, full-time director of education and family ministries, says they incorporate the spirituality into all facets of educational programs.
"We are primarily a teaching ministry, so spiritual enrichment classes are a core feature of our ministry," she said. Clark feels she got a jump-start on life because she was born into the Unity Church, in the spring, like a robin. Her mother put her in a Moses basket and on the altar at church every day during Lenten services, the former resident of Chicago says. "That explains why she has an inordinate desire for Easter eggs and Easter bunnies!" Roy exclaimed.
Later in the day, Unity on the River celebrated its ninth year further with a concert by Brooklyn native Nicole Nelson and her band. The church, everyone who goes there will tell you, is all about celebration.
Cheryl Richardson, author of several best sellers, including her latest "The Unmistakable Touch of Grace," will speak at Unity on the River on Sunday, July 23. Richardson, a local resident, is a professional coach and speaker on practical lifestyle tools and has appeared on the Good Morning America and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
"Her philosophy of thinking is very much aligned with Unity’s thinking," Allinson says.
TheNinth Wave is the first commercial sailing vessel to be built in Newburyport in 100 years. It was constructed by Merrimac native Van Campen and two captains in a shop at the Windward Yacht Club and assembled at Merri-Mar Yacht Basin. Van Campen’s early enthusiasm for boat building carried him to an apprenticeship at Lowell’s Boat Shop, which he credits for starting his career.Ninth Wave departs from the commercial wharf in Newburyport. He views his vessel as a large classroom that is also gentle on the environment. The catamaran holds 48 or 49 passengers, depending on how many crew are on board.
"It’s an absolutely terrific trip," Thompson-Renzi says. People who want to join the church on their spiritual tours need not participate in the prayers, members say, just respect them.
The skipper and the mate also welcome everyone aboard - no need to be a professor or a millionaire. Sequined evening gowns are optional.
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