16 November... I arrived at the Rutherglen Church with 30-seconds to spare as I misjudged my time going via Kilmarnock. I should have gone on to the new part of the M74 after leaving the M8 but foolishly went through the city centre. The church was extremely busy considering the terrible weather.
17th...My voluntary work in the morning and I attended a Spiritual discussion group in the evening.
18th I was at the Angel Light Spiritualist Church, Daisy Street, Govanhill, Glasgow. This is another church that could do with some support.
19th... Our first venture at taking a table at a car-boot-sale. Isobel with her cards and other arts and craft items of hers. I took along a selection of my framed prints. This is not something we are going to do on a regular basis but we have another table booked for next month. All profits will go to charity
20th... A drive along the M8 to the Bathgate Christian Spiritualist Church. This is West Lothian’s oldest Spiritualist Church, founded in 1946 and has done a lot for the local community over the years. Their services are held in the Scout Hall, Majiorybank Street at 6.30 on Sundays.
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I asked a friend if she would like to make a contribution to this blog and Kirsty’s impute is not only seasonable especionally ponient for this particular festive season…
A TIME FOR CELEBRATION, REFLECTION OR DOING?
Well, it’s coming up to the festive season again. Usually we would be running around trying to get the kids their heart’s desires, even if you have to get into debt for it. Due to the recession and threatened bad weather, this year it will be a very different Christmas for us all. A lot of us will find that we will struggle with the concept of festive cheer. Everybody is having to cut down on how much to spend, coupled with extortionate heating bills, unemployment and cuts to benefits. People we know will find that they have no money to spend on Christmas this year.
So maybe your usual routine of a traditional Christmas meal, from an expensive shop like marks and sparks, and big pressies is going to have to be scrapped but really what is the festive season all about? As a Spiritualist you’ve probably given up the Christian reason for celebrating, however, we could all take on board the spreading of love, peace and goodwill to all mankind. We should be doing this all year anyway but at this time we could make a special effort. We could choose the gifts we want to give our family and friends with special care; we could craft them ourselves or buy them from charity shops. As long as it’s a lovely gift people will be grateful. Maybe a bunch of pretty flowers from a supermarket or street seller, or even your own greenhouse, would be enough to bring a smile to someone’s face. And remember to give them with love. It’s a way of saying thanks and for letting them know you’ve appreciated them being around for the past year (or years).
What about making an extra effort to write that letter, or email that’s been waiting for ages, the one that will cheer someone up when they receive it.
Are there members in your church that need a helping hand? Could you organise a welfare type team, who could find ways of helping your members, with food parcels, clothing, D.I.Y. financial gifts? How can you call yourselves Spiritualists if you ignore the second principle “The Brotherhood of Man” and don’t support your members in need. And of course, once your team are up and running why stop at the church’s own membership? Maybe you could extend it to others.
Charities have taken a hammering this year, many have closed, many more will close next year, many have shed jobs and all this means that their services have been cut. Charities serve our country’s most vulnerable people, where are they going to get help from now? Could you help? How about writing a letter/email of protest to your local politicians or join the campaigning group of the charity you are most concerned about. Can you give them a few hours of your time a week, can you put posters up in the community for them, can you pass on to them used stamps, printer ink cartridges, mobile phones etc that they can turn into cash, can you do sponsored events, or bag packs? Can you work in a soup kitchen over Christmas? The possibilities are endless. Even if you only want to be involved over Christmas, what a wonderful example you would be giving your family and I’m sure you will feel so good afterwards, and all it will have cost is your time.
Please don’t feel bad because you have had to reduce your Festive spending. You are not alone. Be creative but realistic, alternatives are out there. Please don’t get into debt to keep up appearances. Kids might moan because they didn’t get the latest thing, but a few specially chosen inexpensive gifts and lots of love should win them round in the end.
Kirsty…
Kirsty will be back in the last blog of the year.
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A lady was telling me the other day that for many years she and three of her friends meet up for a coffee once a week. It suddenly dawned on them after all these years that they mostly sit and moan about the negative things that has happened around them in the past week. So they decided that at each meeting from now on they will mention something positive that they have been aware of since they last met. At first they found it hard and all admitted that on the day before they would meet up they were scrambling to find something positive that was going on around them. Now it has becomes second nature to them to look for the positive as well as the negative that goes on around them. Maybe something we could all try…
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A Curious Story About Mrs. Lincoln Reiterated.
From the Boston Herald, Feb. 23, 1872
Reprinted in New York Times, Feb. 24, 1872
A few days ago a paragraph in the Herald, based upon what was known to be good authority, announced that Mrs. Abraham Lincoln had recently visited Boston, and incognito and closely veiled attended a public séance of a well known lady medium on Washington street, on which occasion the spirit of her lamented husband appeared and, by unmistakable manifestations, revealed to all present the identity of Mrs. Lincoln, which she had attempted to keep secret. We have now the best authority for saying that the report was in all respects accurate; that Mrs. Lincoln did visit Boston on the 4h inst.; that she took lodgings at the Parks House, registering her name as Mrs. Linder; that she remained there ten days, during which time she made frequent visits to the medium above mentioned, and that while at the hotel, her identity was discovered by a person who had often seen her in Washington. She desired to have her visit to Boston unknown, but the injunction of secrecy ceased to be binding after the revelation at the public séance. It is further stated by those in a position to know, that the interviews with the medium were of the most satisfactory and conclusive nature, as affording tests of the real presence of the spirit of her husband.
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Several of you have asked “What do Spiritualists believe happens to us after we die?”
When we make our transition into the realm of Spirit, we leave our physical body behind but our personality survives, and we continue to exist in the Spirit World. We are still who we were in physical life, but without physical bodies. Our placement on those inner planes follows the Universal Law of Attraction, our thoughts, words and deeds from our physical plane existence determines where we will be. Our course of development on the inner planes is determined by our desires.
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