Support Your Local Sheriff (I mean Priest/Church)

Hi there, just a brief note, continuing where I left off last week with regard to an orientation on the working of a priest. I know the title will put me in a certain age bracket, but there it is, and I still like James Garner, as well as his successful actor daughter, Jennifer. For some of us, part of the reason for attending the workshop, was in the hope of learning how better to support the work of the priest. It's a huge job, and it was extremely indicative of the working of the priest, that none of the lecturers, all priests, ever spoke of what a priest can expect in terms of a salary or stipend. They are sent into a community with the trust and faith that they and their families will be adequately supported and provided for. Having attended several delegates' meetings, I would like to emphasize the word, adequate, which could also read, "barely". They truly do seemingly take a vow of poverty, when they are ordained. The fact that we are still struggling to find ways to support our priests in retirement, speaks volumes. That to me, is the first and foremost question: what does our priest and their family need? Take a good look, this is the responsibility of all members. Are they living at least as well as the average member of the congregation? If not, why not? Secondly, there are all the myriad little details that again, board members are usually well aware of, but other members of the congregation may not, and should be. In fact, one community is in the process of sending out a questionnaire, trying to find out what skills different members have, that could be volunteered in aid of the operation of the many things that often fall to a priest to carry: practical care of vestments, candles, flowers, the incense. Putting together the program, event planning, finances, website administration, email, study groups, building maintenance, taxes, insurance, etc., etc. The more that we as individuals can offer, the stronger our sense of community will become. Take a good look at your church building. Is it something you can be proud of? Would you be proud to bring your friends and family? If not, why not? Thirdly, the more of these things other people can take care of, the more the priest can concentrate on the things they are supposed to be doing: celebrating the sacraments, soul care in the community, and teaching/bringing the Word into physical being. That is the whole point of the Act of Consecration. The building of community, or helping to bring the spiritual down into the physical. The fact is, we are not just onlookers when we attend a service - we are co-celebrants. We are working together to help create something that can work positively on the Earth, and that will help carry it into its next evolution. Of course, in doing this, we also work on transforming ourselves, moving ever closer to something sacred that is waiting to be discovered in each and every one of us. We can all strive to breathe in the Word and transform it into the physical. Any and all work can become sacred. This is, of course, all done out of the freedom of our own will. The more we choose to work with the sacraments, not just by ourselves, but with others, the wider our horizons of perception and understanding will expand. Okay, that's the hard part. Next time, the Good News! Sparky

Orientation on the Working of the Priest, Sacramento, Nov. 8-10/13, Part I

Dear Friends: This past weekend was spent down in Sacramento, California. The whole adventure, from beginning to end, was so rich and full, that I will have to take some time to organize my impressions and thoughts, but I would like to offer this as a preliminary impression. This trip began very early in the morning with a train trip from Vancouver, Canada to Portland, Oregon, from there by bus to Eugene, and from there by car to Sacramento, primarily following the western coastline. It was very exciting to feel that I was on the way to something completely open and unknown. Even though I could not see all of them, the ancient volcanoes of the Cascade Range called to me on the way down: Mount Baker, Rainier, St. Helen's, Hood, Washington and finally Shasta. These snow-capped, silent sentinels still hold an energy that can be felt within a very large radius. In fact, in some circles, Mount Shasta is known as the root chakra of the Earth. Its energy radiates out, unbound and unchannelled. It may be no coincidence that a school of eurythmy sits at its base. It is possible that even the Lemurians gazed in wonder at this breathtaking mountain. The Willamette Valley, and the mouth of the Columbia River spoke to me of the Lewis and Clark expedition, when on Nov. 15, 1805, they reached the west coast. The legend of Sacajawea was also with me. I say legend, because so much remains unknown about her, even amongst her own people, the Lemhi: "For a person who has been called one of the most famous women in American history, the absence of concrete information about Sacajawea is remarkable. She was never sketched or painted, or if so the likenesses were lost. Though her "image" has graced everything from stamps to statues, no one really knows what she looked like. A monument in Idaho´s Lemhi Valley denotes her birthplace, but no one knows whether the location of the monument is within miles of being accurate. The best reporting done on her during her lifetime is contained in the journals of Lewis and Clark, and they raise more questions than they answer." What is known is that she had a son, named Jean Baptiste, which seemed significant to me, considering some of the content of our workshop. The drive from Eugene to Sacramento along the I-5 is well worth taking. What I had not realized is that this part of the Cascades was also part of the gold rush in California in the 1800's. Many places still bear the names as testament to this period of history, as well as many streets in Sacramento. These names shone for me, having experienced the Living Gold conference last year. We heard the salmon are now running, but did not have a chance to see this. In general conversation, we learned that Sacramento actually came from the word, Sacrament, so our workshop held even more significance. It was interesting that among the first settlers were people from Hawaii, who were no strangers to the power and energy of volcanoes. The raw energy of the root chakra must be properly channelled to be of benefit. 2013 is known in some circles as a "lightning" year. How does one go about harnessing or channeling, such energy? That, my friends, is a mystery in the Sacrament of Ordination. How is it that the activity of the Christ is made to flow into priestly activity? How is it that what comes from heaven as a spiritual message can be conveyed as a living force? This is part of what it means to be-come a priest. I'm sure that any priest will tell you that when one has set one's feet upon the path, it is not so much the journey, but the people you meet along the way, that is most significant, and I was very blessed with the people I met on this journey, from the woman I met on the bus, who was expecting her 5th child in 2 weeks, whose mother travels widely to teach midwifery and knew about homeopathy, to the woman who was willing to leave her young family to travel down with me from Eugene, trusting that someone she had never met before would get her there and back safely, to the family whose home we stayed in, in Sacramento, and of course, the workshop leaders and participants. More later. Sparky

The Language of Love

Dear Friends: In my last blog, I quoted Mother Teresa, who talked about those who feel unwanted, unloved and uncared for, as evidenced in the West, which are things much harder to "fix" than poverty, hunger and homelessness. The Delegates' Conference this year was entitled, Finding our Voice, but we soon found in our workshops that it is really about finding a way to express the love each of us holds in our hearts for our church, or spiritual home. The New Testament, from cover to cover, is the highest expression of love. Through the Deed of Christ, the disciples were able to become "apostles", or conveyors or an even better word could be "channel" of this love. What we experience as individuals in the Act of Consecration, we experience as love, and when we try to explain to other people what our church is all about, it helps if we remember that we are in fact trying to express love, that is, something that dwells in our hearts. When we go back out into the world after a service, we are carrying within us something not just for ourselves, but something that wants to be expressed in the world around us. Everyone knows that this is a risky business. You could get slapped in the face, you could have your heart broken, but the fact is that from the time we are born, we need and continue to seek for love. Everyone you meet, is longing for love, for community, for a "spiritual" home. How each individual, or each community, sets about to express that love, is unique. We become Board Members because not only do we love our church, we want to find ways to care for it. We become servers because, not only do we love the Act of Consecration, we also want to help carry it. Men and women may wish to become priests out of the love they hold for their fellow human being. We become artists or writers out of a need to find ways to express divine inspiration. A valuable experience to me when I go to a delegates' meeting is to experience a Sunday Service with our hosts. Each chapel is different, every altar painting is different, every priest brings something personal and unique. In Devon, I have never seen a community so devoted to their church and their priests. The love these members hold was literally shining from their eyes, their devotion abundantly clear, and I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to witness it, but then, what else should I have expected, from the City of Brotherly Love? Petals have fallen from the rose, Revealing the seed of the Spirit. Song: For this the heavens are waiting, written by Giselher Weber, who lives on Vancouver Island, and translated by Michael Brewer. Sparky

Giving thanks and our Delegates' Conference

Dear Friends, the Canadian Thanksgiving is upon us,the Delegates' Conference soon after, American Thanksgiving, then Christmas will be here before we know it. The Nobel Peace Prize has been much in the news lately, and my thoughts always turn to Mother Teresa, who won in 1979. I would like to share some of her thoughts with you, as these words also live in one of the hospitals in Vancouver. Here are some excerpts from her lecture, including the prayer by St. Francis: St. Francis of Assisi: Lord, make a channel of Thy peace that, where there is hatred, I may bring love; that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness; that, where there is discord, I may bring harmony; that, where there is error, I may bring truth; that, where there is doubt, I may bring faith; that, where there is despair, I may bring hope; that, where there are shadows, I may bring light; that, where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Words from Mother Teresa: The poor are very wonderful people. One evening we went out and we picked up four people from the street. And one of them was in a most terrible condition - and I told the Sisters: You take care of the other three, I take of this one that looked worse. So I did for her all that my love can do. I put her in bed, and there was such a beautiful smile on her face. She took hold of my hand, as she said one word only: Thank you - and she died. As that man whom we picked up from the drain, half eaten with worms, and we brought him to the home. I have lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die like an angel, loved and cared for. And it was so wonderful to see the greatness of that man who could speak like that, who could die like that without blaming anybody, without cursing anybody, without comparing anything. Like an angel - this is the greatness of our people. And that is why we believe what Jesus had said: I was hungry - I was naked - I was homeless - I was unwanted, unloved, uncared for - and you did it to me. There is so much suffering, so much hatred, so much misery, and we with our prayer, with our sacrifice are beginning at home. Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the action that we do. It is to God Almighty - how much we do it does not matter, because He is infinite, but how much love we put in that action. How much we do to Him in the person that we are serving. And so here I am talking with you - I want you to find the poor here, right in your own home first. And begin love there. Be that good news to your own people. And find out about your next-door neighbour - do you know who they are? I had the most extraordinary experience with a Hindu family who had eight children. A gentleman came to our house and said: Mother Teresa, there is a family with eight children, they had not eaten for so long - do something. So I took some rice and I went there immediately. And I saw the children - their eyes shining with hunger - I don't know if you have ever seen hunger. But I have seen it very often. And she took the rice, she divided the rice, and she went out. When she came back I asked her - where did you go, what did you do? And she gave me a very simple answer: They are hungry also. What struck me most was that she knew - and who are they, a Muslim family - and she knew. I didn't bring more rice that evening because I wanted them to enjoy the joy of sharing. But there were those children, radiating joy, sharing the joy with their mother because she had the love to give. To be able to do this, our Sisters, our lives have to be woven with prayer. They have to be woven with Christ to be able to understand, to be able to share. Because today there is so much suffering - and I feel that the passion of Christ is being relived all over again - are we there to share that passion, to share that suffering of people. Around the world, not only in the poor countries, but I found the poverty of the West so much more difficult to remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society - that poverty is so hurtable and so much, and I find that very difficult. Our Sisters are working amongst that kind of people in the West. So you must pray for us that we may be able to be that good news, but we cannot do that without you, you have to do that here in your country. You must come to know the poor, maybe our people here have material things, everything, but I think that if we all look into our own homes, how difficult we find it sometimes to smile at each, other, and that the smile is the beginning of love. And so let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love, and once we begin to love each other naturally we want to do something. So you pray for our Sisters and for me and for our Brothers, and for our Co-Workers that are around the world. That we may remain faithful to the gift of God, to love Him and serve Him in the poor together with you. What we have done we should not have been able to do if you did not share with your prayers, with your gifts, this continual giving. But I don't want you to give me from your abundance, I want that you give me until it hurts. The other day I received 15 dollars from a man who has been on his back for twenty years, and the only part that he can move is his right hand. And the only companion that he enjoys is smoking. And he said to me: I do not smoke for one week, and I send you this money. It must have been a terrible sacrifice for him, but see how beautiful, how he shared, and with that money I bought bread and I gave to those who are hungry with a joy on both sides, he was giving and the poor were receiving. This is something that you and I - it is a gift of God to us to be able to share our love with others. And let it be as it was for Jesus. Let us love one another as he loved us. Let us love Him with undivided love. And the joy of loving Him and each other - let us give now - that Christmas is coming so close. Let us keep that joy of loving Jesus in our hearts. And share that joy with all that we come in touch with. And that radiating joy is real, for we have no reason not to be happy because we have no Christ with us. Christ in our hearts, Christ in the poor that we meet, Christ in the smile that we give and the smile that we receive. Joy and Peace Sparky

Fall into Spring

Reflections

What happens when you throw a pebble into a lake? One can observe ever-widening ripples. So too, the ripples continue from our Living Gold conference, held last year. Paul Corman in Lima, said that even 10 years after the conference held there, they were still reaping the benefits.

What is happening now in Vancouver? Something inexplicable and wonderful! How can I put this into words?

In springtime in the northern hemisphere, tender green shoots spring up from the earth, signalling the end of winter. One can imagine the quiet stillness of winter as a time when the earth receives sustenance from the outside, or one could even say, the spiritual world.

In the autumn, if one is particularly observant, in some species of deciduous trees, the leaves begin to change color from the top down, as the air starts to cool. In other words, change happens from the top down.

The reverse occurs in the southern hemisphere.

We know that we are slowly but consciously moving from an era of materialistic knowledge to one of Love in the highest sense. As we have penetrated the depths of scientific research by reducing everything to its smallest particle, our "inner" eyes are now attempting to penetrate ever more deeply into the vast lake of all-encompassing, compassionate love.

Here in Vancouver, where one can observe the movement of the earth's orbit in the top-down radiant blaze of color that nature reflects, the tender green shoots of Love are springing forth, revealing in a spiritual way, the promise of rebirth.

Dedicated to my brother Rick, October 6, 1958 - May 19, 2011

A poem by David Adams

Recently we have had a couple of visitors from Botton Village, England, namely David Adams and his wife Marie-Reine. During the few days of their stay we saw them at the Christian Community and at Cascadia Society for Social Working, our local Camphill in North Vancouver. They are on a tour of several countries to visit various Camphill locations. Last Sunday at our Christian Community we had a special event after the Michaelmas where many of us sat in a circle and shared poems both self created and quoted from existing authors, stories and music. The last song we sang is one written by Giselher Weber in 1983 called Arcangel Michael. Giselher is a gentleman who attends our Congregation here in this part of the world and although this song is not too well known here, incredibly it is very much sung over in England! You just never know where one's creation may catch on and become popular! The next day at Cascadia David Adams handed me a copy of his own poem which he had read out at Michaelmas and asked me to post it here which I will now do on his behalf. It appears to be an untitled poem.

Let us just be famous
Famous for the truth.
Open, trusting, positive
And other such virtues
Calling from the future.

As our castles crumble round us
Let us stand straight and tall
Wearing these qualities like a cloak
So we do not fall.
Let us be open and honest
Striving for the truth.
This will lead to freedom
And the new-dawning day.
                   David Adams 


 All the contributions that day were well recieved and it was a very pleasant event in general, there have been similar gatherings in our community before and God willing there will be more!

Easter Monday Walk

It was my intention to post these photos a long time ago but for some reason I could not get them to appear all on one post at the same time. So today I will just put up a few of the very best images and I will let them do most of the talking. Basically several of us went to Burnaby Lake after the Service on Easter Monday. Most people had lunch first then we walked east along the shore a ways just enjoying the scenery and the wonderful sunshine! At the eastern end of the lake Gerry, my wife Leila and I decided we would continue all the way around Burnaby Lake, some of those photos are here too. Enjoy!