A Contemplation

It has been a good few months since I offered up a blog, mostly because I find the esoteric and exoteric do not mix so well, but I would be remiss in not mentioning our beautiful new altar painting, by Wilfred Ogilvie. Hopefully Felix will have a chance to post a picture of this painting, as words fail to describe the depth of feeling that this picture evokes. One can only describe it as awe-inspiring and reverential. How were we so lucky to be gifted with such a painting? One can only say, it is a miracle - a gift from God. Was it my imagination that the Act of Consecration was spoken a little more softly this Sunday? With a little more reverence? Perhaps. This is truly a painting that we can work with in manifesting the Holy Spirit. Still in this mood, as I was driving to work this morning, a rendition of the following song by Whitney Houston was playing on the radio. I want to offer the words here, and in doing so, ask those of us who are familiar with Goethe's Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily to consider these words, and ask what can contemplation of these words bring: Do You Hear What I Hear? Said the night wind to the little lamb, do you see what I see Way up in the sky, little lamb, do you see what I see A star, a star, dancing in the night With a tail as big as a kite With a tail as big as a kite Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy, do you hear what I hear Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy, do you hear what I hear A song, a song, high above the trees With a voice as big as the sea With a voice as big as the sea Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king, do you know what I know In your palace warm, mighty king, do you know what I know A Child, a Child shivers in the cold Let us bring Him silver and gold Let us bring Him silver and gold Said the king to the people everywhere, listen to what I say Pray for peace, people everywhere! listen to what I say The Child, the Child, sleeping in the night He will bring us goodness and light He will bring us goodness and light We all experience at this time of year the hastening of time, faster and faster, like a vortex, until midnight of Christmas Eve. If you have a chance to attend the midnight service, one can feel the oh so deep hesitation in the movement of time - the feeling that something cosmically important is happening - before time resumes. As we in The Christian Community know, this is the beginning of the 12 Holy Nights. In times past, it was much easier to hold this time in thought. In modern times, it is much harder to hold this time in our consciousness. People are so tired of Christmas by the time it arrives thanks to all the marketing, that the tree comes down straight away on Boxing Day. How sad!! This is in fact only the beginning of Christmas! Wishing everyone a Blessed Christmas. Sparky

Second poem for Michaelmas

Here now is the other poem which Monica Gold wrote for Michaelmas last year and asked me to post for her.


Michaelic Consciousness

At every moment of our life

When consciously we conquer
Darkness, illusion and dismay
When faith and hope become
Companions of the day
Then do we rise beyond ourselves
To unimagined spirits heights
Where the creator takes our hand
Preparing us for greater flights.

For Michaelmas

This is how the Manse community garden looked right at the end of summer, a project which was the idea of Fiona. The large boulders in the foreground were labouriously heaved out of the ground in spring, slope terracing was put in place and the garden took off from there. Various people volunteered through the season and produce was offered for a donation at the church. In the back are seen the colourful beehive boxes which were already part of the garden for at least the last couple of years.

Today I will post a poem for Monica Gold which she wrote for the time of Michaelmas. Later on in the weeks after September 29th there will be another Michaelmas poem by the same author.


Michael

Today a broken chain
It's links of gold
Protected Man from heaven
Down to earthly cold.

Now he must find anew
Within himself ways manifold
New living threads to ties of old.

The boat is slim,
The current swift
The lighting dim
And easily
It floats adrift.
Until the Michaelic sign
Shines bright.

It is a sword of iron
Forged at night
Which will provide forever 
Healing light
That guides and enlightens all
Of us who as yet cannot see.

That seriousness alone 
Remains the key that sets us free.

Up coming posts

A few things to mention here. I have decided to make the title screen smaller so new posts can be seen right off without scrolling down, only I could not get a smaller version to load so I went with a very basic title for now. Also I have been very busy the last few months doing extra work away from home and on my family's house which did not seem to allow any time to post new ideas. I do have one concept but it definitely needs refining. So thank-you to Sparky for her last post with the beautiful image and the sleek wording which to me can being interpreted dynamically a couple of ways. Tell me, has anyone heard the song 'Elemental' sung by Kirsty Hawkshaw on guru mother by Opus III? The main lyrics are: "earth my body, water my blood, air my breath, fire my spirit". The reference must be to Mother Earth. What Sparky wrote totally made me think of this song right away! Michaelmas is coming closer as well and I have two poems which someone handed to me to post for them which I will do separately over the weeks covering the Michaelmas time. Bye for now and keep well from Felix.

Mist rising

Incense burning

Fires raging

Earth, Air, Water, Fire

W O R D

Giving it up to God

Dear Friends, Last week marked the beginning of Lent in the orthodox calendar, and for our church, if you take a quick glance at our program, Passiontide begins March 23rd, just after the vernal equinox. During this time before Easter, we are encouraged to find ways to bring ourselves closer to the Christ, to try to prepare ourselves to experience, in just a small way, what Easter is all about. Most people consider Lent a time of giving up some little habit or luxury. Traditionally it was about fasting. Today, I want to consider a different perspective - the act of forgiveness. These were almost the last words that Jesus gave on the cross - Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and is also fundamental in the Lord's Prayer. How many of us walk around in our daily lives carrying a grudge against someone? How many of us feel we are walking around with a dark cloud over our heads? Or perhaps it is something/someone you are worried about and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it? According to an article in MacLean's magazine, worrying has reached epidemic proportions, which translates into poor productivity, absenteeism, and of course, poor health. What if there was a way to help get rid of this heaviness? One way that I have mentioned before is the Hawaiian tradition of ho'oponopono. Please feel free to have a look at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac5SGwRPv0o Trust the Hawaiians to make forgiveness an art form! Dr. Emoto took it even further, in his work on revitalizing polluted lakes. In other words, it works just as well on bodies of water as it does on the human being. If you are ready to give up that dark cloud, or ball and chain you've been carrying around, give it a try. The second suggestion is not new, but I recently decided to give it a try. For some people, a real prayer chest works best, for others, one can try it figuratively. If you have a problem that is dragging you down and there is nothing you can do about it, it's time to give it up to God. Write it on a piece of paper and put in your prayer chest, or do it in prayer, it works either way. What would you like to give up to God? In the art, or act, of forgiveness, one is transforming darkness into light, and I intend to live my life in Light. Sparky

In Praise of God's Creation

Hello friends and blog followers! Here I am posting another bit of writing I put together after considering how amazing all of Creation is! This one is in the vein of nature as experienced in this part of the world.

Yesterday at work I took a very appreciative look at the lovely little creek which flows behind the center at my workplace at Cascadia Society, a Camphill Community in North Vancouver. I wrote a few lines of prose about this body of water here on this blog on June 16th, 2011 if you remember or would like to compare to what I wrote today. Anyways, on my way home last night an image of this creek was stuck in my mind and before I got out of my vehicle to get a few groceries I had to write a few things down before I forgot them. This morning I got to work quite early so I wrote it out again in a semi-good copy and here it is this evening for you to read. It is not entirely based on any one location but is a compilation of a few places

here in western British Columbia. I imagine there could be many places up the coastline that could quite easily be described by these lines though.

                                         The Promise

Vast blue skies promised adventures without end when I was very young...

Thick woods promised hidden treasures when I was a child...

Hills and mountains promised new vistas when I was a teenager...

Long roads on camping trips promised lasting memories when I had a family of my own...

A walk in the dark forest.

It is daytime but everything is in shadows.

Far ahead the glint of sunlight on an undulating brook.

As I get closer the magnificence grows.

Just the faintest glimmer of sun on water promises bright daylight but I would stand here and stare at it forever if I could.

The water and sun together look like liquid gold melting a path between the thick moss carpet, standing fern fronds and the tall coniferous trees.

A raven's cawing-clucking and the wet smell of things turning back into soil remind me this is West Coast.

Later the muffled sound of the sea crashing on sand and rock can be heard beyond pillars of hemlock and cedar.

Much later I can see the wild surf out past a thicket of salmonberries growing on the edge of a bank high above the ocean...

Felix Scharnberg, February 2014