About The Church of Truth – Community of Conscious Living
Our Community
One of the things that makes the Church of Truth – Community of Conscious Living unique is that Sunday Services are community led and moderated by various members of our community. Everyone is welcome to share. At times, there may be a guest speaker(s), a panel discussion or community sharing.
Topics for Sunday services are based on the Theme of the Month, determined by members of the Spiritual Directions Committee who meet once a month and are responsible for organizing the program for the month.
Our community is comprised of individual and collective energies that are ever changing and evolving.
We accept diverse expressions of belief, recognize the interconnectedness of all things and the power of love, plus have an appreciation and reverence for all life.
We welcome those who wish to share their journey with us through their insights, reflections, experience and creative self-expression.
Our community is open to inspiration and recognizes that our openness to others’ ideas may enhance our own awareness and expansion.
Through a variety of events and activities, we meet our basic human need to socialize, bond, cooperate, celebrate and have fun, in a warm-hearted way.
We acknowledge our opportunity to be agents of change in the world and we encourage and support service to others through individual and group activity.
We share our sacred space with the larger community.
With gratitude, we live thoughtfully on the Earth with kindness and compassion for all.
History and Evolution
The church began as an enthusiastic group formed around the spiritual leadership of Richard Di Castri, ordained as a minister in Pasadena California’s Church of the Truth. The combined energy of this group manifested the funds and drive to create this body as a non-profit society, and to design and construct our building.
In 1989, Richard ordained Joan Hopper who was the only minister member of our church to hold this distinction. During its early evolution, the church maintained an association with California’s Church of the Truth* and with the International New Thought Alliance; our last membership with this Alliance was in 1994.
Since then the church has evolved on its own auspices and is an independent entity. In the early 1990s, Richard resigned as minister to follow other interests. With his resignation, and the subsequent hiring and departure of another minister after one year, challenges to the church’s survival manifested with a greatly reduced number of members and no revenue. The Board was considering dissolution of the society.
The Board was then approached by church members Maria Escude and D. Joan Thomas; Maria with a deep sense of guidance, proposed that the church did not need a minister. She and Joan volunteered to coordinate Sunday speakers and recommended that the community look at the prospect of renting the church space for much needed revenue. The Board agreed and committed members brainstormed for methods to make the church viable. This began the one step at a time of rebuilding the church.
Our community is deeply grateful to the dedication of Maria, D. Joan, Marie Logan, Laura Lane, Brian Martin, Lorna Rennie and Madge Tolmie who were among those instrumental in keeping our church alive and thriving.
*The Church of the Truth was founded in 1913 in Spokane, Washington by Dr. Albert Grier; his vision was to share a broad, universal religion of inclusiveness with no perception assumed as exclusively true or superior. The Churches of Truth ultimately became part of the already established New Thought Movement of which Dr. Grier became a prominent leader.
Architectural Design Philosophy
Notes from John Cawood, Church of Truth co-founder and designer of the church:
The sanctuary is designed in the transcendent image of the mandala which is a diagrammatic metaphor by which we can understand the deeper mysteries. The mandala is expressed in the form of a cross, representing the temporal body; the cross is within a circle representing the eternal spirit. All directions are drawn to the centre as illustrated by the break lines (converging on a small circle) set into the floor matching the rooflines overhead.
From this centre, the spirit of our congregation flows out to the world beyond. Windows set high raise our vision to the light by day and carry the light of the church out into the world by night. The triangular skylight symbolizes God’s blessing on our church and brings light to the memory of Marion Bruce Ewart whose gift of land and money was instrumental in making the building a reality.
The exterior roof’s triangular form of a tent symbolizes faith in the protective presence of God which we carry with us on our journey. The triangle is also a metaphoric image of consciousness. Its horizontal base is our dualistic consciousness; the vertical thrust is our transcendent consciousness.
