15th to 19th April we where
based in Folkestone but travelled throughout Kent and we had a day trip over to
Calais. Usually during such trips I try to meet up with fellow spiritualists or
researchers, this time it was the latter...
16th April - I took the service at
the Inverness Spiritualist Church (SNU) at the Smithton
Hall. This church is always well
supported and has a very active committee which has done a lot over the
years to promote spiritualism in the North of Scotland. It is now two years since Rupert and Niki Baxter-Smith
stepped down from the committee. Niki as
president for almost a decade Rupert, treasurer for the same length of time. But is good to see that although their health
is failing a little both still manage to get along to the church, in fact
Rupert was chairing for me on my recent visit.
25th It was a pleasure to be part of the
development circle whose sitters as I have mentioned before are so enthusiastic
and have a great thirst for learning.
28th I was at the Milngavie and Bearsden
Spiritualist Sanctuary. This sanctuary has only been open for eight months and
already has made great inroads to improving the spiritualist movement. More
about this in a moment.
Recently there have been calls for the change in the format of our
Spiritual Services. Some interesting new proposals put forward that are worthy
of debate but others it looks like change just for the sake of change. Do
we need changes to our format? Like everything else we cannot stand still
and should always try to move forward, go with the flow, about big changes to
bring in the younger members to our churches. Personally I don’t think
here in Scotland we have a problem in getting the young to attend our
churches. But we cannot make radical changes to suit one group who are
not yet members of our movement at the expense of those who have attended our
churches for years. We cannot let the tail wag the dog.
Here in Scotland, Glasgow in fact, we have seen change to our service, a
small tweak here and there which has added, not detracted, from our
communication with God and Spirit. In August last year Glasgow medium
Elizabeth Halliday was guided to open a spiritual place of worship and into
being came the Milngavie and Bearsden Spiritual Sanctuary - not
Church. Now I know a lot of our Spiritualist places of worship have
dropped the name “Church” for ‘Centre’ but that title can be confused with
Psychic Centres by the general public. I feel the “Sanctuary” was a good
move.
Then the time of the Divine Service - a Sunday afternoon. I know of only one other church in the area which
holds a Sunday afternoon service. This gives the people
of Glasgow an alternative from the one morning and many Sunday evening services
we have at the moment.
The changes did not end there as Elizabeth decided to omit the opening
prayer.
In its place there is
five minutes of contemplation which gives us our own personal space to link
with God, our loved ones in Spirit, or just to reflect on our week. Not
something I would have considered but I must say that I was impressed as with
each minute for reflection passed’ I could feel the atmosphere getting stronger
and spirit drawing closer There is still the closing prayer.
The “healing Service takes place during the Divine Service. Three
minutes session of Healing for each patient and each session is finished by the
gentle clash from mini-cymbals. All this adding to the atmosphere within
the church and we all get the benefit of the healing energies.
Small changes that have made a big impact to the Divine Spiritual Service
in a positive way. No shouting about change – no dramatic changes – just
a small tweak here and there. I would recommend committee members of
Spiritualist Churches in the area go along to the Fraser Centre, Douglas St,
Milngavie, Glasgow, G62 6PA and experience this change in format. It may
be for your church or it may not but go along and see.
Keeping with Elizabeth’s Sanctuary... Laying a wreath at the
Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday in Whitehall has for a long time been an issue
between the SNU and the British government, considering that other UK religious
denominations are represented at the national service of remembrance and
Spiritualism is not.. But individual spiritualist churches throughout the
country do take part in local remembrance services, the Stirling church (SNU)
being one. Recently I asked Stirling churches President Linda Buchan how this
came about and she replied “We were asked to take part in the service”.
Well, it was the same with the Milngavie spiritualist sanctuary they were asked
to take part in the local remembrance ceremony even though they had only opened
its doors a few weeks ago. I hear constantly from spiritualists “We never
get to the remembrance day services”. Well, if your church is not
asked to take part it is up to you to ask to be included.
Continuing with your comments on my “2013 A Crucial Year for Spiritualism”.
Vera emails; -“Maybe
the way some of your churches advertise the mediums to their platform is a big
part of the problem. My spiritual
church will put in our advert in the local paper something like ‘The medium for
Sunday evening is John Smith from wherever’.
But some churches go over the top with their comments of the medium especially
on facebook, so what have the general public to think?
Yes this is a good point this has been creeping in
for some years now and something that can be easily rectified if the committee
is willing to put the church and spirit before or on an equal footing with the
medium.
Dawn is on roughly the same track with “Not so much on their websites but certainly
on facebook mediums seem to advertise themselves as being at a particular church
and the way they put it is is as if they want their fan-club to come along and
see them. Surely a regular church goer
would turn up at a church what every medium was on?”
Yes – again the emphasis being on the medium not the
religion or Spirit.
Ralph – “Lack
of education as to what spiritualism is about.
A couple of workshops and many feel they know it all, whether it is on
the platform or opening a church. There
is little deep-rooted knowledge of what spiritualism is really about these days”
Again the fast-tracking that we experience in our
everyday lives and has certainly entered our movement.
Strong words from Anne and in the end if things go
the way they are going, it might come that we have to take drastic
measures. But surely before we reach
that a little common sense all around can sort things out? But are we too far down the entertainment and
financial paths for common sense to sort it out? I believe in the end a compromise can be
found by the mediums/churches making a decision as to what path they are on. Either the path of religion or entertainment
or making a good living from their abilities.
Make that clear and we can all live in harmony.
The boy you punched in the hall today. Committed suicide a few
minutes ago.
That girl you called a slut in class today. She’s a virgin.
That girl you pushed down the other day. She’s already being
abused at home.
The old man you made fun of cause of the ugly scars. He fought
for our country.
The boy you made fun of for crying. His mother is dying. You
think you know them.
There are so many forms of bullying and it can have a devastating effect
on those at the sharp end. Some don’t realise that they are causing so
much suffering with their little jokes at the expense of others. What they think is a sense of humour is
actually a form of bullying. Then there are those who get morbid satisfaction
with outright bullying. The more they
see the victim getting distressed the stronger and more constant the bullying
becomes.
Recently I was talking to victim of bullying who just could not take any
more. They said they had been bullied for years and in the past only managed to
cope because they knew that when they got home and slammed the door closed they
were was safe. Safe till the next time
they went to school, their workplace or shopping
But now-a- days with modern technology they could not even get a little
respite in their own home. They were bullied by text and email. This forced them to give up their mobile
phone and Internet connection. But they
still worry about what is being said about them on the social networks. They
were getting to a stage where they did not want to go out at all; their quality
of life was zero. They felt that death
was a better option than a life of being continually bullied.
Thankfully in this case help came over the horizon in the form of a new
work colleague. Within days of starting
in the job he set in motion the work’s procedure to stop bulling in the
workplace. The victim now getting the
help they should have got a long time ago. The scars of the bullying run deep in their
mind and we can only hope and pray at the age of thirty-five they can finally
lead a life free of fear and persecution.
Not all victims of bullying are so lucky. On a regular basis we see in the media that
someone has taken their own life because of bullying. Many a time it is someone of school-age whose
life has barely began, yet in their short time on the earth plane was like
being in hell.
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