Good morning dear friend,
You may have noticed something, so I want to say, yes, it is true.
From within the churchy realm (I’m a pastor. A parson. A parson person? I’ve always thought it would be fun to launch a line of stuff and call it Parson Products.) I am naming (most) churches as problematic.
Right, so I am the pastor of a church. It’s a very civilized affair. We actually have a lot of fun, which I know is jarring, to hear church described as fun, but I don’t think I’m lying here. There is a lot of joy, tears, laughter, clapping. For ten years now I’ve been trying to move the needle of church slowly in the direction of Love, as opposed to the church experience I had as a kid, which was all about Fear.
I believe we are succeeding, though the work is never done. We will be stretching, trying, discarding, advancing and retreating for the duration of my time there. If you’re ever in our little corner of southern Vermont (Peru) do stop in on a Sunday morning around 10. Dogs are welcome, grab a coffee, we’re not fancy.
You see, we’re living at a time when people don’t have much faith in anything. Makers of products and runners for office have honed their act to such perfection that we have become riddled with fear while simultaneously being a bottomless well of desire for more. Cue to the pharmaceutical companies who, with lightening speed, are able to produce whatever pill-form antidote we think we need to stop the side effects of this mass poisoning.
Let’s face it, we’re a mess. There’s a lot of malaise out there, isn’t there? Have you noticed it like I have? People are sad, lonely, anxious, tired.
And even though I’m a pastor and would really like to recommend going to church as the remedy, I think most churches are too sluggish and mired in old ways to truly serve humanity as it is in today’s world.
To me the way forward is not in talking over and over and over about the spiritual superheroes who lived thousands of years ago. I mean, I love them, I love the stories, I cry when I read the passage in the Bible that says Jesus wept. Stories matter a lot, but what we need today is action. Actually we needed it yesterday, but we’ll settle for today if we have to.
No one is teaching spiritual empowerment in schools and they’re really not teaching it in churches either, because that would mean they’d put themselves out of business, if they taught people how to access their own Core of Greatness. So who then? And where? How?
I think that to be a true spiritual leader we have to acknowledge this truth. That churches ain’t cuttin’ it. Yes, they’re nice places to see your friends and neighbors, but if they spend more money on Christmas decorations than on feeding the hungry in their community, if they refuse to ordain anyone other than straight white men, if they tell the same stories and sing the same songs year after year after year as the world melts into war and genocide and environmental disaster then, heck, maybe it is time they closed up shop.
It has always felt to me that most churches, spending an arm and a leg each year on infrastructure maintenance, haven’t paid all that much attention to what Jesus had in mind when he launched the early church workers and told them to travel light.
I’ve tried, but I can’t find a single passage in the New Testament that has Jesus saying anything along the lines of I want you to amass a dazzling real estate empire that, by the year 2024, is worth hundreds of billions of dollars! Mwa ha ha!!
Which, of course, no one can know the value of the Catholic Church’s holdings because they are famously secretive about it. But go ahead, church leaders and keep declaring bankruptcy every time your hands are held to the fires of accountability when the humans you mercilessly abused come seeking reparations.
Oof. I did not mean to get sidetracked by the Catholics today. I’m just so gosh dang worn out by all the scandal and corruption and hypocrisy in the world of organized religion.
The best spiritual leaders of our time will be the ones who bring it back home to you. Yes, you.
There are ways you can live your life that promote spiritual wellness and they’re not all that complicated. They do require dedication and tenacity, but I have seen all you people and your unwavering devotion to your iPhones and iPads, I know you have it in you. Maybe let’s consider rerouting some of that time and energy into making yourself a spiritually healthy human being …?
Spend less time on the pad, the pod, the mac, the phone and more time on the I.
I planted the seeds of new growth this past weekend when I held my first gathering in … quelle surprise! my home. I love how that happens, how we go through these phases when the institutions in our world crumble then the phoenix rises in the simplest, most basic new suit.
There were nine of us curious seekers, sitting together in a circle, snacking, looking out the window at the pretty snowfall, asking good questions and sharing stories. I shared my insights into my life as a spiritual medium, talked about what I have learned about death and dying, but it’s not really about that.
When you do the work to raise the spiritual vibration of your life—your energy profile—then you naturally become more intuitive and you naturally become more psychic and you can choose to do anything you want with that. The goal, however, is not to launch a stable of mediums, it’s to inspire more and more and more people to take control of their spiritual wellness which will, in turn, generate the conditions for a better, more peaceful life, which will, ultimately, improve the conditions of the world around us.
My next class is in Saratoga Springs, in March. Then I’ll have another one back here in my home in April. Please let me know if you’re interested in joining. There is a suggested donation of $50, with the emphasis on suggested. Please just show up and participate. This is how we bless ourselves, bless one another and bless the world in which we live.
amen, love and everything, xomo
Your path is a beacon for so many. I would like to participate in April .
Good morning, Melissa🌞. I will attend in April. Please kindly share the date. TY/Paul