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Spiritual Chapel of Inner Light
Welcome to our third issue of the serenity news. Please note that
we are changing the format from Bi-monthly to quarterly. This serves
two purposes, it allows us more time between issues for our secular lives,
and it allows for a little more content. Unfortunately due
to the crash of our PC and the crush of our work, we are late getting this
to print and thus this will be our third quarter issue.
Diane and I have been through some exciting changes. But
if your interested you can read more about that inside. You will
also find more from Diane and Serione' and more about the church.
So welcome one and all to spring and summer, and rebirth and new life.
Love and light to you all, and my hopes that you will enjoy this issue.
Spiritual
Counselor’s Welcome
Steve and Cheryl Emerick, our dear
friends, came to visit us in March from Washington State. Steve brought
the gift of his beautiful voice to share and he also spoke about Faith
at our church - "Spiritual Chapel Of Inner Light". We have been grateful
and in awe at how spirit truly works in our lives. When we moved
here, we never dreamed of starting a church. Sherry and Carl Sellars
were instrumental in this adventure and the 4 of us decided to create a
space of acceptance, love, peace and fellowship for all who feel drawn
to come. We are pleased with the interest since it's conception and
look forward to the months to come. Gifts come in many forms and
all are welcomed. I also want to thank all of you for the referrals
you have sent to me. Word of mouth is the greatest advertising.
Remember to look under Specials/Incentives and Changes for the latest information.
I am excited to announce that Casi Timberlake will be performing Spiritual
Counseling at Herbal Harvest - Look for her discount in the following pages.
I wish you a beautiful summer with all the ease and grace on any adventures
you choose to embark on.
As summer brings to the forefront
all of its glory and attributes for you to ponder, may you enjoy them with
all of your being and grace. As life gives much abundance - many
do not notice. We would ask that you allow yourself that moment to
exemplify all of creation and realize that you are a part of its magnificence.
As you release the daily and past ails, you will bring yourself into a
feeling of peace and connectedness. As you begin to give thanks for
your smaller successes you will create greater successes. As you
give thanks for your misfortunes and know that everything works perfectly
for your greatest growth, you will learn the lesson. If you wish
to create harmony, release that which no longer serves you. If you
wish to become whole within yourself, ask and you shall receive.
When living your life according to what you have been taught, your path
may be chaotic. When living your life according to your heart filled
desires, not those of anyone else, your path will become fine turned and
filled with grace. As you take one step toward that desire we will
take two. As the way is presented, step again and have faith that
all well be well. Some struggle to attain their desires - as the
seed is sown and begins to sprout, we will accommodate, as you are ready.
Perseverance and patience is called for in times of stillness. Stillness
is temporary and will pass with great allegiance. So we ask you,
"What are your greatest desires?" Express from your heart and watch
for the path to be presented.
WE wish you love, light, peace,
joy, prosperity, abundance, health and energy
The new church goes on. We
have elected a board, started a bank account and obtained our EIN from
the IRS. We will be seeking tax exempt status after we incorporate
as a not for profit corporation under North Carolina law. Before
that, we will be writing the bylaws, principles and documents needed for
incorporation.
Did you notice the name. I
made it the title to display it well. We changed it from the "Spiritualist…"
to the "Spiritual Chapel of Inner Light". The difference is partly
that we have chosen to remain a separate church, and not affiliate with
the NSAC as was discussed in earlier newsletters. Please don't think
less of Modern Spiritualism, we (the board) simply decided that it was
in the best interest of this diverse and loving assembly that we maintain
the freedom to define ourselves. After all we are all on the path
of Spiritual growth and the "Chapel" must grow with us, if it is to support
that growth.
In fact one of the reasons for the
departure from Modern Spiritualism is that for the most part we believe
that life after death is a given and that our focus, and thus our guiding
principles, must focus more upon matters of spiritual growth in this physical
based world. We certainly believe in and practice communication with
Spirit in our service and worship, but we do not focus so much on proving
the continuity of life.
One thing we do keep, from the Modern
Spiritualist perspective, is the knowledge and recognition of the need
for the careful development of our connections with the Divine. In
simple terms we practice discernment. We, after all, do recognize
that not all spirit entities who would wish to communicate with incarnate
humans are in service of the highest and best, and also that not every
person who claims to be giving information from spirit is doing so purely,
accurately, or necessarily lovingly. So we will continue to set our
standards accordingly, asking for and discerning for those connections
which serve the highest and best.
We are ready as a Church to welcome
you to join as a member. Membership will mean basically a vote on
matters put before the Church body, such as board elections. More
about the privilages of membership will of course be available as we finish
our bylaws, but for now, we do offer discounts for some church sponsored
events.
For example, we are no longer having
an open unfoldment group meeting after the first Sunday services (We still
only meet first and third Sundays of each month). Now we are offering
a Spiritual Unfoldment Class, after each First Sunday service, after of
course we enjoy refreshments and light hearted fellowship for about 30
to 60 minutes. The Class will cost members $5 and non-members $10.
Membership will cost $25 (for one year), and can be made in installments,
see any Church Board member for details. Oh and please do stick around
after service for the refreshments, even if you don't intend to make the
classes. This food and fellowship time is one of the best times for
personal sharing of experience and gifts of spirit.
We hope you will want to join us
for a service and see what we have to offer. We still intend to serve
and perhaps our mission statement says it well enough. "The Spiritual
Chapel Of Inner Light, sharing the light of guidance through the spirituality
of a higher power, create a sacred place of acceptance, peace, love, and
fellowship. We empower the individual's spiritual growth by recognizing
and honoring the existence of this divinity in everyone." "Amen!"
Many lessons were learned on the path that brought me to this moment,
and not all of them were easy. However all were valuable and I would
like to share with you some of those more recent, and pertinent to my calling
and the church.
Many big lessons started when Diane and I left Washington State.
When I look back I can still feel that surrealistic fog, born of shock,
hyper-vigilance and excitement. We were leaving everything familiar
behind and starting on a grand adventure. But as I was leaping in
faith, and resigned myself to that, the “doing” became fairly easy.
The ease came in part from the simple focus, "I must get Diane and I to
North Carolina." Spiritually we knew that we were to stay as alert
as possible to Spirit and synchronisity, AKA in the moment as much as possible.
So with that simple focus the only thing we had to do was drive kinda in
the right direction, and see what spirit would bring. Lesson: Be
more spontaneous, aware, and to have faith in myself and my path.
But, upon arriving in the triangle the panic started. "Now what
am I to do, we’re here?" I turned my attention to finding a place
to roost, and assisting Diane with getting her business going. With
the active help of spirit all fell into place quickly and soon Diane's
practice was up and running. Lesson: Have faith in your path, take
the first step and Spirit will take the next.
Now again the focus was on me, and I had always avoided directing my
attention upon myself. Up until that moment, this whole move was
about Diane's service/business, now I would have to try and find myself.
Not an easy task as the real Jeffrey was wandering that mid-life wilderness,
a bit lost.
I won't bore you with the details, but I tried many things only to
fall into my own traps of self-doubt and insecurity. This crab (I
am a Cancer) was withdrawing into his shell, to the point of just surviving.
I was losing my faith and my drive, and feeling like a failure. Yes,
I still believed in Spirit, but not myself. Then the Universe brought
Diane and I two new friends, and soon the pieces started to fall into place,
so that I could find my path again.
My life had been like a jigsaw puzzle, with no picture. I knew
that I wanted to serve, service truly gives me joy. I also wanted
to learn, but mostly about “spiritual science” not physics or math.
I loved wisdom, and consider myself something of a philosopher. Well,
through the joint commitment and support of my friends, the Sellars's,
to start the Spiritual Chapel of Inner light, I was lead to assume the
role of acting minister. Suddenly, I find I had fallen into a role
where all of those pieces fit. Pictures started appearing on the
puzzle pieces and I started to see the Divine pattern resolving.
The months I had spent in limbo, out of work, and running out of hope,
in survival mode, were just about over. Lesson: Do what you love,
examine your interests, not just your skills, or what others say you are
good at.
But I wasn’t completely out of the woods yet. Real world problems,
finances and the strain of poverty, were still bearing down hard, until
I realized that I could go out and get a job. Now, that may not sound
like a revelation to most, especially not for a guy who hadworked since
he was 13 years old, but you have to remember, I had started this great
new adventure to follow a spiritual path. In my perfectionist mind
that meant I should be only doing the work of Spirit, and not be worried
about money. And the Lord did provide, we always ate, we had a roof
and warmth, but we never quite "manifested" the kind of living conditions
we wanted. Lesson: Don't let your expectations stand in the way of
Universal gifts.
Soon, after I finally removed my own blocks, the job presented itself.
Which brings me to my latest lessons. In this new job, I found that
I loved being happy, and bringing light into the workplace. My job
is to inspect for quality of the product prior to shipping, and thus to
make better the end product. I found that I had a unique opportunity
to serve, my employer and fellow employees in other ways. I helped
to create new lines of communication for the plant workers, and management.
I work to help each to understand the other a little bit better.
Rather than just joining in with the bitch sessions, I joke a little, then
offer another view. Perhaps I am even creating a new sense of hope
that things could start to get better. So I learned that there is
great joy in being out among people covertly loving them and bringing light
into daily mundane tasks. I had practiced this before, or so I thought,
but now after the long drought, I was utterly refreshed by the experience.
It is really fun treating people nice and watching them try to figure out
what I want from them. Eventually they may realize that all I want
from them is a smile.
So my current lessons are about balancing my time and budgeting my
energy to tend to my secular job, the Church, this newsletter and my web
site. I'm still learning just how to do all that, but enjoying the
process.
The bottom line of the article is a lesson about lessons. I am
sure that there are even more lessons waiting in the wings, in this balancing
act, of work and spiritual life, but one lesson I learned well; my spiritual
life must take precedence over the mundane. So if this job becomes
too much of a strain it will go, but more likely, I will simply not accept
any promotion that pushes me beyond my ability to focus on my spiritual
life. If my career destiny peaks early, so what, moving up the corporate
ladder is not my intent, to support my family and empower our own growth
is. And so sweet Spirit, let the lessons continue, I like what I
have become because of them.