A Chapel with Foreign Flavor

The artwork of Missouri artist Joel Chrisman reaches as many corners of the world as Silent Unity does.

“I behold the Christ in you.”

That simple but powerful message appears on an intricately painted archway that greets visitors in the atrium foyer just outside the entrance to the Silent Unity Chapel.

High up around the rest of the atrium are unusual and colorful designs from many world cultures, along with the names of the Unity 12 powers—all painted in 1989 by Missouri artist Joel Chrisman.

Chrisman also included several of the border designs found in the Fillmore Chapel, which was the original Silent Unity Chapel and is located in what is now the Education Building. Other border designs he painted came from ancient Egypt, Pennsylvania Dutch country, African cultures, ancient Greece, eighth-century Panama, and even a 14th-century pattern from the Royal Palace in Fes, Morocco.

A series of unique mandalas draw even more attention. Among their designs are a pair of doves from the Inuit culture, an East Asian sacred lotus blossom, and a pattern from a ceremonial elephant mask used by the Bamileke people in Cameroon.

Local Artist, International Art

Chrisman mindfully chose each design to represent something from Unity teachings. For example, several mandalas echo tools used in healing ceremonies, including a Navajo sandpainting design and a pattern carved on a bone whistle used by a Native American medicine man from the Pomo tribe in Northern California.

Still other mandalas here were inspired by historic works of art, including a design from a limestone sundial from first-century Jerusalem, a ceramic tile pattern from the baths in Herod’s palace in Masada, Israel, and a carving from a 1920 wooden backgammon chest from Baghdad in Iraq.

As you then step inside the chapel itself, you will find plum-colored carpeting and matching plush seats that can accommodate up to 300 people. Italian marble wall accents and Corinthian columns on either side of the raised stage lend a formal feel. The chapel even houses a Steinway piano and a pipe organ.

High on the walls is a series of 14 round windows that let in plenty of natural light. From the front of the chapel, if you look from just the right angle, you can see the Silent Unity cupola framed by one of the windows. ...

Reflecting a Worldwide Prayer Ministry

The chapel—located on the ground floor of the three-story Silent Unity Building, which is home to the worldwide prayer ministry—was dedicated in 1989, coinciding with the Unity centennial. At that time, the brand-new 79,000-square-foot building completed the Unity Village quadrangle.

As Unity Village celebrates its own centennial and the Unity movement continues to expand in its second century, I can’t help but feel that the Silent Unity Chapel offers a space to both remember what has come before and imagine what the future might bring.

The chapel is open to visitors and is available to rent for ceremonies and events. Visit www.unityvillage.org for more information.

This article appeared in Unity Magazine®.