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