Wednesday, November 20, 2013

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

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

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