'Modern-day transcendentalist' memorialized in new collection

UNITY VILLAGE, Mo. - A comprehensive memorial collection of the beloved writings of the late James Dillet Freeman, one of America's most popular spiritual poets and writers, is scheduled for a July release by Unity House. The book is Angels Sing in Me.

Angels Sing in Me is a lavishly illustrated, coffee-table-style book expected to be a popular gift item. The collection was compiled and edited by two of Freeman's longtime friends and co-workers: Michael A. Maday, editor of Unity House, and Phil White, former editor of Unity Magazine .

A prolific poet, essayist and columnist, Freeman is perhaps best known for his authorship of "Prayer for Protection," a short but powerful verse that has traveled the earth, and beyond:

The light of God surrounds me;
The love of God enfolds me;
The power of God protects me;
The presence of God watches over me.
Wherever I am, God is!

"Prayer for Protection" is one of two Freeman compositions carried to the moon by Apollo astronauts. In 1969, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin took the "Prayer for Protection" along on the first manned moon landing. A microfilm copy of Freeman's poem "I Am There" was left on the moon in 1971 by Apollo XV astronaut James B. Irwin.

Freeman's poems have touched the hearts of millions of people. He has been published in The New Yorker and in books by Harper & Row, Doubleday and Unity House. His books have been translated into 13 languages. Freeman was also well known for his popular "Life Is a Wonder" column in Unity Magazine . Freeman died in April 2003, a few weeks after his 91st birthday.

The title Angels Sing in Me refers to the way Freeman described his muse, as well as a deeper conviction that the creative power of God moved through the universe, and therefore, through him. He once defined poetry as "a beautiful and intense revelation of Truth" and another time as "the lightning of God."

Freeman spent most of his life working for Unity in a wide variety of roles. He was hired as a teenager in 1929 by Myrtle Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, after she read some of his early poetry. Freeman served the Silent Unity prayer ministry for many years. In 1984, he retired as first vice president of Unity. He had also served as director of the ministerial program, and director of Silent Unity.

"Storyteller, spokesman, lecturer - most of all Jim Freeman was a writer and even then, mostly a poet," Maday writes in his introduction to Angels Sing in Me . Themes explored often in Freeman's writing include love, the passionate life, faith, listening to and speaking with God, prayers and angels, letting go, his deep love for Christmas, and the theme of starting over again. He was praised as a man who lived the cause he once described as wanting "to help people not to hurt so much."

Angels Sing in Me includes most of Freeman's best-known and most-beloved works, including "I Am There," the poem he once said "has meant the most to the most people. I wrote it in great anguish of spirit, out of a deep personal need. It has been reprinted many times, and people have written from all over the world to tell me how much it has meant to them."

Illustrations include a number of Freeman family photographs not previously published.

Maday described the selection process as an attempt to "carve out some basic themes and place poetry and prose inside those categories to give a strong taste of Freeman's literary flavors. Our fondest wish is that this book will leave you hungry for more."

The James Dillet Freeman book, Angels Sing in Me , may be ordered from Unity Customer Service for $24.95, plus $5 shipping and handling for each copy. For more information, phone toll-free (800) 669-0282 between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. (CDT), Monday - Friday, or e-mail to unitycustomerservice@unityonline.org . Orders are also accepted through Unity's online bookstore, located at www.unityonline.org.