The Good News

Dear Friends, life is always on the move, and as much as we try to make plans, things will always come up that one must pay attention to, perhaps calling for an alteration, or new direction. As Rev. Polter told the delegates' meeting a few years ago, "I have bad news, good news, and bad news." The past couple of blogs discussed more or less the difficulties we can face, as individuals and as a Movement. That's the bad news. The good news is, there are forces at work, waiting and wanting to help. I am speaking of course, of the spiritual world. This time of year, from now until Epiphany we instinctively feel the spiritual world drawing ever closer. Time has a way of making us feel like we are in a vortex, swirling down and down, faster and faster, until we come out the other side, or "the eye of the needle". We need something to hang onto, a lifeline. Otherwise, we can easily get caught up in the madness that materialism and commercialism bring this time of year. Remember that the spiritual world is always ready to help, all we have to do is ask. From our guardian angels, spirit and healing guides, the angelic being of our individual communities, all the way up through the hierarchies, to the Seraphim, or Spirits of Love, they are waiting and wanting to help. This is not possible, however, without our active participation. Outside the Vancouver Art Gallery right now is a sign that reads, "Warning, Perception requires Involvement." You must be willing to be involved, physically, mentally and spiritually, in order to be able to perceive, one could say, something in the supersensible. A very wonderful exercise during our workshop in Sacramento with Rev. Baan, was working a little bit with the Greek text, from which the Bible was translated into English. It's very interesting how many of the words we use today, are derived from the Greek. Take the word, koinoia. I love this word, partly because it sounds like "coin", which again takes me back to the Living Gold Conference. This is a very wonderful word: The essential meaning of the koinonia embraces concepts conveyed in the English terms community, communion, joint participation. These are all things directly related to our church, or community. I like the word community much better than congregation, which sounds more passive. Those who have studied the word find there is always an implication of action included in its meaning. One could also consider the words communication and commitment. Koinonia embraced a strong commitment to "kalos k'agathos" meaning "good and good", an inner goodness toward virtue, and an outer goodness toward social relationships. In the context of outer goodness, translated into English, the meaning of koinonia holds the idea of joint participation in something with someone, such as in a community, or team or an alliance or joint venture. The term can also relate to a spiritual relationship. In this sense, meaning something that is held and shared jointly with others for God, speaking to man's "relationship with God". Epictetus talks of religion as ‘aiming to have koinonia with Zeus". The word Zeus was later understood to mean Deus. The early Christian community saw this as a relationship with the Holy Spirit. The idea of community denotes a "common unity" of purpose and interests. By engaging in this united relationship a new level of consciousness and conscience emerges that spurs the group to higher order thinking and action, thus empowering and encouraging its members to exist in a mutually beneficial relationship. There are, of course, various levels of community, from just 2 people, anywhere and up to including humanity as a whole. This is where we are eventually heading: from 2 people in the beginning, to feeling connected and working together as a whole, across the whole world. Now there is one more meaning to the word koinoia, which we will be celebrating on December 21st, a very special wedding between 2 long time friends, Constance Lucky and Ralph Danyluk: Two people may enter into marriage in order to have "koinonia of life", that is to say, to live together a life in which everything is shared. Koinonia was used to refer to the marriage bond, and it suggested a powerful common interest that could hold two or more persons together. Next time, I hope to discuss another basic derivative, "es". Sparky