We are Family!

Petals have fallen
from the rose,
Revealing the seed
of the Spirit.

Well, my friends, here is where my tale starts to get interesting. This is why for now I am using a pseudonym. I am not looking for pity or sympathy, as this is now all in the past.
We left off with us as bright young teenagers, yearning to make a difference. We got married, got jobs, I got my bachelor's degree, and we started raising our family. Our church attendance fell away, with all the demands of daily life.
An interesting thing happened, though, when we started looking for a house for our growing family. We looked all over the Lower Mainland, and offers on two houses fell through. The house we finally bought was close to a nice elementary school. So our daughter entered grade 3 there, and wonder of wonders, the music teacher was an old friend from church! Coincidence? Some say there is no such thing. So I kept this small miracle in my heart. Someone still had plans for me.
All was not well in paradise, however. Something was happening to my spouse and to our marriage. The worst part was, I could not see just how bad it was getting.
Then my father died. It was a great blow, because he had never been able to overcome his alcoholism, and his life had seemed so empty.
Two days after he died, I found out I was pregnant with my 3rd child. There was a ray of hope for the future. But my husband did not want this baby - he wanted me to have an abortion. I refused, and he left us for a few months, returning when the baby was born. He still wasn't happy, and I fell into post-partum depression. It finally got so bad I knew I had to do something and get help. I had lost all sense of self-worth and self respect. I had lost my "joy" even in living, or in my children.
Fortunately, I was able to get some great counselling. I started doing some volunteer work, which really helped me start to put myself back together. However, I knew that I also had to get back to church.
We had a new priest, so I decided to check him out. Our second child was turning 7, which was the perfect time to come back. I started serving again, and found that a regular server was needed for the weekday service. This, I could do. I had found a purpose. I was needed and appreciated. My joy started to return. Rev. Kientzler knew that I was getting itchy feet just being a housewife, and when the post of secretary came up on the Board, he asked if I would be interested.
I had been on the Board for about a year when we suddenly found ourselves without an active priest. The Delegates' Conference was coming up, and it was suggested I go. Me?? I had never even visited another congregation up to this point. And my husband said I could only go if I took the boys and the dog with me...(now that I've actually done that, he's upset, but we'll save that for next time).
I, however, was on a mission. I knew there had to be an answer to our prayers for another priest. Perhaps going to the conference would help.
Well, there I was. All alone and far from home, I did actually get homesick, but that was okay.
After awhile, though, I started to get the hang of things, and everyone was very friendly. Then it hit me: this wasn't just a conference, it was like a big family reunion! That was when I knew for sure I had found my spiritual home. I came back home all fired up, bursting with everything that I had heard, and felt and thought. I felt like I was tingling all the way home on the airplane.
There was hope and purpose and vision. There was something to work towards, and someone to work with. Most of all there was great joy.
Anyone familiar with eastern philosophy knows, however, that where there is joy there is also sorrow, yin and yang, good and bad, darkness and light. And it was all going to hit like a bomb blast...

A dedication to Gaia / Mother Earth

       Mighty River
You start in mountains,
high, small, clear and fresh;
of heavens born,
collected by leaves and grass,
trickle down in streamlets,
sunburst in the morn.


Miles you go, vast places
of trees unknown, mountains,
hills hardly climbed.
Wildlife greets you, livestock too;
fields and orchards on your banks,
fruits there grow, grapes envined.


Weeks later many waters mixed,
darkening as you go,
heavy, slowly, toiled
at city shores, banks
confined, stories told,
not far to go, dusty, soiled.


But at the Sea
you breathe anew!
Fresh winds, cold waters flow,
sweet and salt do blend.
To the open Oceans, a World
to meet, vast skies, no end!!


Blue and Sun,
night and stars,
fog and cloud do greet you.
Slowly rising, air and wind,
roiling, salt to sweet,
steamy vapours flew.


Rising high, vast banks
and thunder castles
move now over desert sand.
Days go by, hills and
mountains you may meet
in mist and rain you may land.


To start again
a morning bright as dew;
a deer eye's twinkle;
quiet marshland cattails, warmed by Sun they grew.
Placid streams trickle slow;
a long hot day.
Eons travelled, far to go!


       Felix Scharnberg

Searching for a Spiritual Home

I was lucky enough to find The Christian Community in its early days as a teenager. We began in Vancouver in a small house, where Werner and Alsten Hegg lived. Because it was also their home, we always felt welcome. In those days, there was actually a group of young people who had been drawn to it. You have to remember, it was the early 70's. Young people were actively seeking new ideas and answers. They weren't happy with the world they were inheriting, nor with the narrow religious beliefs they had grown up with. They knew things weren't working, and there were tremendous wrongs that needed to be addressed.

Our church was SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! It was in a small, cozy room. There was the deep purple background, which seemed to draw you into something mysterious. There were clouds of incense - heavenly! The priest seemed very intent, and the things he talked about were DEEP! This was great!

The lure of the deep and mysterious is something we overlook as adults, but for young people, this is something they are instinctively seeking. Perhaps they are dimly aware that their spiritual guardians are drawing away, and it is now up to them to find their way back.

I was privileged to attend a parenting class last Fall, in the process of being developed by the Psychology Department at Simon Fraser University. It is based on all the theoretical work that has evolved over almost the past 100 years: Freud, Maslow, Jung, etc., only now it is focussed on developing practical applications. The whole exercise is based on attachment theory: independence and connection. Teenagers are at one and the same time striving for independence, but still want to feel connected. This is the same path humanity is following, too. We want to make our own decisions in freedom, but still need to find ways to stay connected with our spiritual home.

These days, there are so many electronic distractions for young people, it is hard to compete. We need to find ways of opening our doors and letting them know of the possibilities that exist within. We need to find ways of including them, in participating, exploring. If you take a few minutes to tune in to a popular teen music radio station, it will help you to begin to understand today's youth. Like the music in our generation, it may be loud, rebellious, rude, lewd. But there are some very good songs, too, of love, hope, friendship, sacrifice. Artists always have the pulse of the current generation: poets, songwriters, graffiti artists, playwrights.

It is up to us to LISTEN and LEARN. That is partly what parenting a teenager is all about, too. As toddlers, children are always asking, why? why? until sometimes we become so exasperated the answer is "because"! As teenagers, the question is: why not? Why can't we solve world hunger? Why can't there be world peace? We say, it is not that simple. But the answer becomes the question, Why Not?

Sparky

This Sunday we will be hearing the gospel reading from the 14th chapter of the Revelation to John. It opens with a vision of Mount Zion, the holy mountain that makes up part of the Temple foundation for Solomon's temple. Mount Moriah is the other part, and the tops of both mountains were cut off and placed in the crevice between the two so that a wider, flat plane was created for the building site. Mount Zion is also where Melchisadek cared for a holy place dedicated to the mysteries of the Son, and from his higher knowledge he knew to meet Abraham and bring the offerings of bread and wine. Truly a prophetic atmosphere around Mt. Zion, for this is also where much later Christ would celebrate the Last Supper, and instituted the uniting his soul with these same substances.

Each week a palette of inner pictures, together with certain phrases from the gospel reading, work on me to bring forth a particular aim for my address or sermon. At this point in the week (Wednesday), it is still pretty vague, but alive for me. I thought I would share some of these experiences in the form of questions.
In the Revelation to John there are seven letters to seven distinct communities. This coming Sunday we will hear the letter to the congregation in Sardes, the fifth letter. I'm caught by the first statement: "it is said you live and you are dead." This juxtaposition of living and dying is so startling, although it is also everywhere in nature right now... the tree is living but the leaves are dying, etc.
Or is it so startling because it is the appearance of being alive, but the reality is a state of being dead, like a fundamental hypocrisy.
Or is it another level of light shining in the darkness, and the darkness is totally incapable of taking up the light?
I'll have to see where this takes me...

Who are we?

My understanding of blogging, is to relate one's activities, similar to a diary. In other words, to witness or testify to something that has or is happening in your life that you want to share with others. This is why we have started this blog.

We feel we have something worth sharing. Not just sharing, but metaphorically putting up a huge signpost saying, we're here and we're worth shouting about!

When something gives you inspiration, causes your heart to sing with joy, you want to share it with everyone. Just like in a parade, or a wedding procession, you want to make a noise and invite everyone to join in. That is the feeling I have about this church.

It is small, and not easy to find, but worth looking for. The advantage of being a small church is that you really get to know people, and they get to know you. You have the feeling that someone is looking inside, at the real you. They see you for who you really are, and you are valued as that person. You KNOW that you are loved. You know someone is there who will support you, and encourage you to develop your full potential through asking the question, "What can YOU do?"

The best way to tell you about our church, I think, is to tell you about my own experience, interaction and ongoing relationship. So that is what I hope to do over the next little while.

Til next time.
Sparky