My Diary…
October…
16th – Perth Spiritualist Church (SNU)
23rd – Largs Spiritualists Church. Every night of the week there is a Spiritual
Service somewhere in Scotland, but this is the only one of our churches that I
know that has a service on a Sunday afternoon.
24th – Pollockshaws and District Spiritualist Church.
27th Arbroath Spiritualist Church (SNU)
30th – 1st November – Glasgow Central
Spiritualist Church 64 Berkeley St, Glasgow G3
7DS
7th – Saltcoats Spiritualist Church. A church that has been running for many years
and going against the trend at the moment with close to a full house at every
service.
13th – Ayr Spiritualist Church (SNU). Probably my favourite hymn in the
Spiritualist hymn book is sung at this church ever week and only at this
church. In almost quarter a century in
Spiritualism this is the only church where I hear the;-
Absent Healing Hymn.
Enter in the Silence
Pause
a while to Pray
Take
the best that's in you
Give
it all away
In
our Healing Minute
Everyday
we Blend
Loving
thoughts We sent to
All our Absent Friends.
People tired and weary
Hurt by grief and pain
Sick in mind and body
All the World's the same
Father we would help them
Loving Thoughts, We send
Helping all Thy Children
With Thy Love to Blend
Father We are learning
How to live each day
Helping all Our Brothers
As We sit and Pray
There is much within us
We can always find
Willingly we give it
helping all Mankind.
Music: In the Bleak Mid-Winter
Words Ron Bowers.
The Baton of Spiritualism
If only those in Spiritualism thought of their religion as
President Obama though of his Presidency.
He considered himself as part of a team running in a relay race. Being passed on a baton from the outgoing president,
running a good race to make his team proud and then passing the baton of to the
incoming president. I urge
spiritualists, mediums, healers, committee members and committed members of our
churches to think in the same mode as President Obama. For us to look on our time in our religion as
being handed a baton from our pioneers and passing it on to future
generations. Not only passing our
religion on, but passing it on stronger than it was when we are being handed the
baton. The
thing about spiritualism today is that too many in the movement put themselves
before our religion. Celebrity status and financial gain is their main
aim. Spiritualism must get back on
track before it too late. We owe it to
the pioneers of Spiritualism.
*****
Changes to Our Religion.
I’ve had several emails concerning the drop in numbers of those
attending our services and asking what I think the solution is. I have contacted several Spiritualists for
their views and they vary greatly. To do
nothing and ride out the storm - to massive changes to our religion. Spiritualism is not about numbers – it is
about being loyal to God and Spirit and the pioneers of our religion. Yes, there can be changes, but for the good
of the religion and not just to increase number. I will give my views in my next blog and they
might not go down well with many in our religion.
The Day the Nation comes Together
Remembrance Sunday, a day that the nation comes
together to remember and honour those who have sacrificed themselves to secure
and protect our freedom. It is the only
day of the year that the nation truly unites.
Then, the following day we are all back to normal in fighting our own
corner and forgetting about the sacrifices made so we can live as we do.
The effect of each war / armed conflict ripple
outwards through several decades and for those that have been affected. Those
who have been injured the pain and disability can stay with them for the rest
of their life, whether it be physical or mental. Families have to carry on without a close loved-one. There are those families who will mourn a
loved one that gave up their life for their country, yet their names will never
appear on a cenotaph. They are the men
and women who have not worn a uniform, but worked undercover behind enemy lines
during war and in foreign lands during peace time giving their life for their
country. We must not forget them.
****
Names that
do not appear on the Cenotaph
Then we have
a group that seldom gets a mention, but gave up their lives for the war
effort. In 1943 this country faced a
crisis in coal production as there was only three weeks of coal stock
available. This put the country’s ability to win the Second World War in
jeopardy. The then Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, charged Ernest Bevin,
Minister of Labour and National Service to increase coal production. So, Mr Bevin decided that from all 18 to
24-year-old men conscripts drafted to serve in the armed forces one in ten were
to be directed – on pain of imprisonment and irrespective of background or
ability - to work underground in British coal mines. Approximately 48,000 Bevin Boys (as they came to be known) undertook unskilled manual
jobs to release more experienced miners to move on to coal production at the
coal face. There were many deaths and injuries in
the mines, but there was little or no acknowledgement from the media (or
officially) for their contribution to the war effort. Often, they received
verbal abuse or were spat at in the street and asked, ‘Why are you not in uniform? Coming
from a mining family I always remember these men also on Remembrance Day.
From Auschwitz-Birkenau to the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium.
Still on the subject of war… If
I had to mention the two places that I have visited that overwhelmed me, it
would be Auschwitz-Birkenau Death Camp in Krakow in Poland and attending
the Last Post ceremony at
the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium. Although
not planned I was pleased that I visited Kracow before Ypres. The
former showed how barbaric and dark the human race can be - and the latter how
we can overcome all the evil and return to the light.
I will not go into detail about Auschwitz-Birkenau
as the displays were heart rendering and the atmosphere is eerie and silent. It is often said that no birds sing or fly
over Auschwitz. I paid special attention
to this and not a bird did I hear or see.
Isabel – my wife – said that as she turned away from the gas chambers as
we were about to leave the camp she heard for a second a bird sing and into her
head came the words “There is always
hope.
Then the following year what an upliftment when we visited Ypres in
Belgium and to the Menin Gate for the Last Post Ceremony that has become part of the daily
life in the town. The Menin Gate Memorial to
the Missing is
a war memorial is dedicated to the
British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the area during WWI. Every night since the end of WWII roads are
closed as the people of Ypres take part in a moving ceremony. The local people are proud of this simple
but moving tribute to the courage and self-sacrifice of those who fell in
defence of their town.
Flowers
of Hope.
While
talking to people of different nationalities after the service one old
gentlemen said that on Remembrance Day he always plants bulbs and when they
bloom in the spring to him is a sign of hope. The spring flowers show that even
after the most severe winter or horrific war - brightness will always shine
through in the end. Since that day, I
have always planted bulbs on Remembrance Day.
