The Ripple Effect

 

Dear Friends,

These days it may feel as though we, as individuals, have lost control of what is happening around us. Here in Vancouver, we will soon have municipal elections, and a snap provincial election. Elections are happening with our neighbor to the south as well. I have learned to view them with a touch of cynicism, as I am sure a lot of people have.

While it is true that some things are beyond our control, it is important to focus on what you can control. You cannot change someone else – you can only change your Self. This is, in fact, a basic premise of all major religions.

Now this is not an easy task. It can take a lifetime, or even many lifetimes. Like a diamond that is first found in a very rough condition and is slowly and carefully refined, we can do the same thing with ourselves. We can strive to become a better person every day, or not – it is our choice. We have the freedom to choose how we interact with other people, and to choose our impact on the world in general.

Ripple effect: One kind word or small deed starts a chain reaction of goodwill in your community.

If our choices could make a positive difference, just how far reaching could they be? Imagine if our actions, small as they may be, were transformed into energy, into something unseen, but felt on a higher level? What if this energy was infinite, with no limits as to time or space? It sounds like science fiction, but material science is getting closer and closer to revealing spiritual realities. It sounds fantastical, but then, we have seen so many things come to reality in the past few decades, that were considered to be fiction not so long ago.

Now let us expand on this idea for a moment, and consider the universe of fixed stars and planets. What if this energy could actually expand in waves, right to the ends of space as we know it? If you throw a stone into a lake, the ripples become larger and larger. On the other extreme, an undersea earthquake can send a tsunami across the ocean, travelling hundreds of miles. We are familiar with the terms shock waves, sound waves, etc. Have you ever walked into a room and immediately sensed something was wrong, even if you could not see anything amiss? Modern technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging, seismic instruments, radar, etc., are all measuring something we cannot see with the naked eye.

The question is, what kind of legacy do we want to leave? I am not referring to material wealth – no – that is a trap, and will take you into a downward spiral. Mark 8:36: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall GAIN the whole world, and LOSE his own soul? If there is anything I have learned, it is that friends and family are worth more than all the treasure in the world. What ultimately holds friends and family together? It is understanding, love and forgiveness. It is spending time together, supporting each other through the hard times. These are all messages that Jesus pronounced time and again. We are here to help lift each other up. Christ was lifted up on the cross so that we could see with our own eyes what we are all tasked to do with our inner Self. The revelation of Christ is this: HE lives in each of us. HE can work through each of us, in our thinking and our doing.

The truly great leaders knew to whom they owed their prosperity, and were generous in giving back to their communities. We should measure the prosperity of a nation not by the number of millionaires, but by the absence of poverty, the prevalence of health, the efficiency of the public schools… -W. E. B. Du Bois, 1953

SO IT CAN BE, IF WE HAVE THE VISION AND THE GOODWILL.

Sparky

TIME TO HIT REFRESH

 Dear Friends,

We are witnessing global occurrences of wildfires, earthquakes, volcanic activity and powerful storms. It is the Earth doing what she needs to do, in order to facilitate renewal.

Our bodies replace billions of cells every day. We require sleep in order to refresh our physical strength.

When you use a computer, you may find sometimes that a page needs to be refreshed, so to speak, in order to be able to continue.

Having travelled with my daughter through the valley of the shadow of death, I am slowly, but surely, being lifted up again through participating in communion during the sacrament of the consecration of the human being.

During this time of the year, we see the fruits ripening in the garden, the wheat in the fields, and the salmon beginning to return to spawn (after which they die). Soon some animals will begin to prepare for hibernation. The bears will gorge themselves on fatty fish, nuts and berries – which, incidentally, are also good for helping our bodies to create new cells.

Parents and students are preparing for a new school year.

In the night skies, we are witnessing showers of meteors, like a kind of cosmic rain.

Everything in nature points to the seasonal, or cyclical, need for renewal.

What about human beings? There are times when we also feel the need for a refresher, or renewal, or revival. Some people like to participate in a period of fasting during different times of the year. This allows our bodies to be purged of built-up toxins, and then slowly be refreshed with proper hydration and nutrition, sleep and exercise.

How, though can we restore our souls? We may be able to do this on our own for a brief time, but in the long term, we need something more. Our souls are not physical in nature, and therefore the (healing) medicine required, is also not something physical, but spiritual.

Some passages from my dear brother’s favorite verse, Psalm 23, hold clues:

HE restores my soul (through the spiritual transformation of the communion bread and juice).

YOU prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies (my demons). YOU anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. (that is to say, I can be so filled with the Love of the Holy Spirit that it flows from me to others as well).

In our church, the Movement for Religious Renewal, it is not just a quiet space to come together for contemplation and devotion. It is an opportunity for each individual soul to feel seen, heard and loved unconditionally. It can be a time of renewal, or even of reformation, if you will.

Sparky

In loving memory of my dear cousin, Ralph, who believed in treating others as he would himself wish to be treated. Whose decades long travels taught him not to judge, but to meet each person in the state they were in and see the light within. Namaste. (I am seeing you.)

 

 

STARGAZING

 

How wonderful it is in the summer months when the night skies are clear, to be able to gaze up at the stars in the Pacific Northwest.

They seem to shimmer like ephemeral diamonds, and many songs have been written to this effect. They seem to be so close that we feel we could reach out and touch them. There is an overall feeling that our very souls are being drawn out of our bodies, being invited to join in the wonderful dance of the cosmos.

In addition, during the festival of St. John, we are presented with the mystery of 8 yellow diamonds, or rhombi, on the back of the vestment of the priest, as a meditation.

In the physical world, we know that diamonds are created after many millennia, from coal under tremendous pressure, which in turn is the residue left over from plant life.

If you are familiar with homeopathy, you know that these healing remedies are created through a process of dilution, or refinement, until there is very little left of the original ingredient, that is to say, a marked decrease in the material; in turn, the energy of the ingredient is greatly increased. This energy has been proven to still be effective even after 100 years!

The diamond-like shimmery starlight that we see today, we know from physical science, has travelled thousands of years to reach us.

Some say that our own bodies may have been made from stardust, and that when we die, our souls return to the cosmos. Imagine if this process were to continue for millennia – our souls slowly and painstakingly being refined, until we also can shine bright like a diamond.

Imagine…..

Sparky

LOOK UP, WAAAY UP

 As the rain seems to fall seemingly endlessly, with only brief glimpses of the Sun, one can sometimes feel a little melancholy.

If you have recently lost a loved one, you may take comfort in the thought that they still linger nearby. When you think of them, it means that they are with you. I have begun reading to my daughter and mother for a few minutes each day. Think of something that you liked to do together, and continue this practise, keeping your loved one in mind. They wish to remain as connected with you, as you do with them.

I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to lose a loved one and not believe in a spiritual world,

In Luke 4, verse 43 we read: "but he said to them, 'I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose'". The Christ did not come just to save us from our sins, but to remind us that there is, in fact, a heavenly realm of angels and spiritual beings. Our preoccupation with materialism has caused us to forget where we came from, and where we will one day return. We need only to look around in nature or up at the stars to help us remember.

Many therapists recommend that people reconnect with nature, even if only for 15 minutes a day, so that we may hopefully begin again to feel a sense of wonder and mystery. Forest bathing is promoted in countries like South Korea, Japan, the US and Canada.

Gazing at the stars can also foster a sense of wonder, or perhaps tickle a long-buried memory of where we came from.

The spectacular planetary alignments in 2025 and 2026 are a call from the cosmos itself, for harmony and cooperation between people and countries. They are also a call for re-connection between human beings and the heavens.

The wonderful thing about our church community is that we know we all carry heavy burdens, due to the pressures of everyday life – economic, physical, emotional and spiritual. I know that I will find support and understanding, and beyond that, the space to flutter my wings as I continue to practise how to fly. As well, there is the Sacrament of Consultation – not a confession per se – but a laying down of a burden and giving it to God, or seeking a way forward.

When we strive to see the Christ in the person standing in front of us, we can strive for mutual understanding. In other words, meet each other in the middle. To put aside our subjectiveness for a moment and ask ourselves, what is it that the person across from me is carrying? This striving for mutual understanding must begin in the community where we live, for with mutual understanding there can be compassion, which can lead to cooperation. Thinking, feeling and willing.

Sparky

Angels we have heard on high

 Dear friends,

As we approach the season of Advent, we may feel that we are being asked to listen to our hearts, to listen to our angels.

Mary and Joseph were given angelic pronouncements prior to the birth of their Holy Child, to put their faith and trust in the Lord.

At Christmas, the shepherds heard the announcement of an angelic choir and the three wise men followed the star to Bethlehem.

When I began my spiritual journey almost 20 years ago, I had two cheerleaders – my mom and my daughter. They always were ready to lend me support and encouragement.

Now, they are doing the same from the heavenly realm. My mom on my left shoulder, giving me counsel, and my daughter on my right, giving me strength and courage.

It takes courage to speak Truth. It takes courage to do the right thing.

The disciples were given an almost impossible task: to give up all their possessions (to make room for something new), and to follow the Christ. Then, infused with the Holy Spirit, to travel far and wide, spreading the Good Word.

Like many church congregations, our community is at a crossroads. In order to be able to move forward, we are faced with the possibility of giving up everything we have worked for over the last 50 years so that something new can come in. We face an uncertain future. Like the early founders of our church communities in Noth America, we are putting our faith and trust in the Lord.

What we know to be the task of the angelic realms, is now being prepared to be born into the physical, and yes, there could be, to put it mildly, some birthing pangs. Nevertheless, underlying our endeavors, there is, and always will be, LOVE.

So, I also will strive to listen to my angels and face the future with gratitude, hope, love and faith.

In Excelsis Deo,

Sparky

Starry Messengers

 

Dear Friends,

August is my favorite time of year to stargaze in Vancouver, partly due to the annual meteor showers, and partly because there is a good chance of clear skies in the evening, when, even in the city, one can see the major constellations and perhaps even a planet or two.

We know from mainstream science that the starlight we see has in fact begun its journey thousands, if not millions of years ago. What we are seeing therefore, are messages from the past, reaching us in the present.

Ancient astronomers from many different cultures studied the stars and their movements in a desire to make future predictions. A similar argument could be made for the study of archaeology, geology, etc. What is the past, being revealed in the present, trying to tell us about the future? That is to say, what lessons are there for us to learn? What are the stars trying to tell us?

We can try to live only for the present, that is, to remain in stasis, or we can choose to participate in the future advancement, or evolution, of the Human Being, AND the Earth, in a positive way. We can try to stand still and do nothing, to look the other way, to gaze down, as the saying goes, at our navels. The fact is, change is always happening, whether we wish it or not. We are as much a part of nature as the plants and animals. Even the topography of the earth changes over time.  We can choose to look up and around us and make a decision to work towards the future. We can choose to work with nature, to ensure a sustainable future for new generations.

We do not even have to look that far back in history, only 100 years, to see that what happened then is being repeated now in many areas – economic, financial, geopolitical, and in nature. For example, in the 1930s, the Prairies became a giant dustbowl where nothing could grow. There was no food and there were no jobs. In desperation, countries turned upon each other, resulting in the deaths of millions of people around the world through violence and epidemics.

The signs are all around us that history is repeating itself; in other words, we are moving in circles. Dear Lord, help us to boldly chart a new course, to break out of old patterns. Guide our footsteps, that together, we can co-create a future of inherent humanity, compassion, kindness, understanding and cooperation. Let us be mindful of the lessons from the past. Let us consider the consequences of our actions for future generations It is our task, and our destiny, to prepare ourselves for the Second Coming of the Christ, and the creation of the New Jerusalem.

Sparky

BREATHING IN, BREATHING OUT, PART II

 

In the northern hemisphere in winter, as nature rests, the seeds in the ground receive nourishment from the cosmos (as do we).

In springtime, as the sun warms the ground, the seeds begin to sprout upward, seeking the Light. In addition, deciduous trees and shrubs burst into leaf and flower. From my windows, a sheltering green canopy greets me every day, providing a barrier from noise and pollution.

Not far from my home, is a salmon bearing river, a tributary to the mighty Fraser River. Along the river one can find a portion of the Trans Canada Trail. In the summer heat, it is a refuge, shaded by trees and cooled by the freshness of the fast-flowing water, fed by melting mountain snow.

One can imagine the Consecration of the Human Being as a process of breathing in and breathing out. During the sacrament, we are privileged to partake in the conscious breathing in of the Holy Spirit. Then it is up to us to breathe out into the world on a daily basis, this spirit of unconditional love. The more often you are able to make this sacrament a regular part of your life, the more you can come to realize and appreciate this process.

Make the giving of unconditional love a regular practice in your life, like breathing in and breathing out, for we need it now, more than ever.

If you live in a plant zone that allows for rhododendrons to grow, I wonder if you have noticed the red flowering ones in particular this year. When the sun shines, they are positively glowing. To me, it is a confirmation that, the greater the adversity we face, the ever brighter the Light of the Spirit shines…

 

𝅘𝅥𝅮 Shine Sun Spirit with Thy Radiant Light 𝅘𝅥𝅮

Sparky