Sunday Services in December

Moving into Lightness of Being

The nights grow long.

Wrapped in the dark chill of winter, we turn to our inner resources to create light.

Slowly the city comes to life as the holiday displays sparkle in the velvet night, like jewels in the crown of our seasonal festivities.

We bring to mind the Advent candles – hope, peace, joy and love, in the four weeks leading up to Christmas.

What do these mean to you?

Here are some thoughts – Hope for connection with friends, family and higher self, peace in the world and within, joy to the world starting with our singular point and rippling outwards, and love copious love where ever and whenever it may land. It is a time of blessings – let us partake in it.

by Peggy Muncaster

December 1 – Inviting in the Light

Co-ordinator and Moderator: Peggy Muncaster
Meditation leader and Speaker: Jennifer Sagar

Jennifer Sagar will speak on delving into one’s shadow side to reveal more light into ourselves through the QHHT (Quantum Hypnosis Healing Technique).

December 8 – Advent theme of this week is: Peace

Theme of the week: Using personal contemplation and dreams to review and process our work of this lifetime.
Coordinator: April Hambly
Moderator: April Hambly
Meditation: Marilyn Smando
Speaker: Pearl Gregor

December 15 – Feast of the Senses

Speaker:  Rev. Joan Hopper
Meditation:  Norm Smookler
Moderator:  tba
Greeter:  LouisaCoordinator:  D.Joan Thomas

December 22 – Advent theme of this week is: Love

Theme of the week: Honoring the Heart-based energies of the Winter Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah.

Coordinators: Laurence Beal, April Hambly, Laura Lane
Moderator: April Hambly
Meditation: Sherry Morgan and April Hambly
Speakers: assorted!
Greeter- Bob Winkenhower

December 29 

Community service on Resolution and Good Routines.

Coordinator: Laurence Beal
Meditation: Soundtrack to be played
Topic to be prepared for, in sharing: as in the title.
“Stone Soup”, community snack potluck, large circle, speak or pass – short statements.

Sunday Services in November

HONORING THE DARK

If October is the month where the issue of balance comes to the forefront, the clustering of festivals and celebrations honoring the dead that occur at the end of October and the beginning of November, indicate that this month is shifting into a concern with a good relationship with ancestors, the dead, and the darkness symbolized by early evenings and a shortened day. Hallowe’en, Samhain, All Souls Day, All Saints Day, the Day of the Dead, all carry this message that celebration of the dark is still a celebration. All aboriginal peoples honor their ancestors and carry their wisdom forward, just as we honour the fallen on Remembrance Day, and try to learn how to relate to war. Plants need the dark to germinate; people need a time of reflection and going within to balance the busyness of the summer months. But November can be busy; the Day of the Dead, in particular, is a colorful and joyful festival, reflecting the fact that relating to the dark is one way in which people can build community. As a further extension, when we reach out to those beings (human and otherwise) thrown into darkness by an uncaring social order, we are carrying into the world the “light inside the dark” spoken of by the Zen teacher, John Tarrant.

–Chris Bullock

November 3—Self-management in uncomfortable environments

Coordinator Laurence Beal
Moderator: Stephen Kinsella
Speaker:  Herb III
Meditation: TBA
Greeter: TBA

November 10—ACTING TOGETHER: EXPANDING THE CIRCLE OF CARE AND COMMUNITY

Moderator: Chris Bullock
Meditation: Robert Winkenhower
Presenter: Chester Phillips
Facilitators for community discussion: Chester Phillips, Chris Bullock
Greeter: Louisa Fiander
Coordinator: Pat Miller

Chester (“Chet”) Phillips is the action organizer and administrative officer for Greater Victoria Acting Together (GVAT), a coalition of churches, other faith groups, union, environmental and activist organizations seeking to help the situation of marginalized people in the Greater Victoria area. Its main focus at present is on two issues: homelessness and mental health/addiction, seen through the lenses of indigenous reconciliation and climate change.

The Church of Truth has been invited to become a member of the GVAT coalition. The Board has approved this idea in principle, but wishes the larger Church community to be involved in this decision. The SDC has agreed that this service could serve that role.

The presentation section will start with a brief talk by Chet Phillips introducing GVAT’s vision of acting together to expand the circle of care and community, and briefly discussing the practicalities of how the coalition works and what is involved in membership. We will then move into a community circle, where each person will have the opportunity to direct questions to Chet or Chris and to give their ”take” on the decision to join or not to join.

CHESTER (“CHET”) PHILLIPS is a recent arrival in Victoria after 22 years in southern Arizona, where his work focused on organizing and empowering student organizations to create positive institutional change on the University of Arizona campus and in Tucson. Prior to that he worked with grassroots organizations in southern Arizona on collaborative conservation planning and institutional partnership building. Chet originally moved to southern Arizona to be mentored by Jim Corbett, co-founder of the American Sanctuary Movement. In all his work, as with GVAT, he is guided by Jim’s saying that “An individual can resist injustice, but it takes a community to do justice.”

November 17—Poetic reflection on the dynamics of change

Moderator: Pat Miller
Mediation: Lorna Rennie
Speaker: Junie Swadron
Greeter: Louisa
Coordinator:  Marilyn Smando

Poetic reflection on the dynamics of change./Poems about memories and how writing is instrumental in integrating the process of change

We can all read the poetry of Rumi or Hafiz, David Whyte and Mary Oliver and have our hearts lifted to the heavens by the simple weaving of their words.

But what if the harshest circumstances of your life were also considered poetry? Poetry in Motion.  Events, when funnelled through the Heart of Awareness became the alchemy of Grace leading you to transformation, leaving you triumphant, a Phoenix rising up from its ashes.  Poetry in Motion.

Perhaps by now you have come to expect The Trickster lurking around every corner. God’s secret design to mould us humans into a poem of all possibilities. Divinity showing off its finest attire. Forcing us to traverse and transcend as we forge through parched deserts and darkened forests, swamps and jungles until we emerge upon sparkling waters and coral colour beaches leading to abundant meadows of dancing wildflowers kissed by sunbeams and rainbows.

Yes, we are God’s Ever-Expanding Creations of Poetry.  Tentative. Unsuspecting. Naïve perhaps, yet all the same, Blindingly beautiful – each of us – all of us –  Perfect Poetry in Motion.

Junie Swadron

Bio:

Junie Swadron is a psychotherapist and professional writing coach.  She is the author of four books, a playwright, international speaker and workshop facilitator who has spent the last twenty-five years guiding thousands of students in writing and sharing their life stories.

Junie sees the therapeutic process and the creative process as one. “It is about accessing a special place within us where serenity, love, courage and truth reside. It is from this place that we begin to know our true spirit. It is from this place we begin to heal.”

Junie Swadron is known for helping people honour the journeys they’ve walked, the unique paths that have led them to who they are today. And even though you may have never met, she is sincere when she asks you, “What is Your Story?

Her latest book, an Amazon Number 1 Best Seller in 3 Categories, is Your Life Matters! Learn to Write Your Memoir in 8 easy steps. Although you can purchase it on Amazon, Junie is offering it to you the digital download here for free. Simply click on this link and she will send it to you. www.junieswadron.com/memoir  Don’t miss her talk at our Sunday service, on Sunday November 17th  followed by what will be an unforgettable, experiential evening -Wednesday, November 20th.

You will have an opportunity to purchase Junie’s books and the DVD of her play, Madness, Masks and Miracles. You can also find and join Junie every Sunday afternoon at her Sunday afternoon Sacred Writing Circles. They are a drop-in, in James Bay. Come novice, come pro. Everyone is welcome!  All details here:   https://junieswadron.com/workshops/sunday-afternoon-2/    Wanna know what they are like, ask our veteran CoT member,  Pat Miller. Pat has been a faithful attendant for over a decade!

November 24—From Decay and Discontent to Creation and Connection

Moderator: Laura Lane
Meditator: Norm Smookler
Presentation: Victoria jazz singer, Lorraine Nyygard and pianist, Michael Heaney along with musicians from our community will help create this service on the theme of “Creation” – What’s it all about?
Greeter: tba
Coordinators: Laura Lane and Colin Lee

Sunday Services in October

Balance

October is the month where the issue of balance comes to the forefront. It is the epitome of Fall – on the cusp of the movement from summer to winter – and contains elements of both these seasons. Most of October is governed by the astrological sign of Libra, represented by the scales. Libras tend to be fair minded and concerned with justice, but they are an air sign, and their tendency to thought and abstraction needs grounding in earth to be healthy. This is a reminder to all of us that balance isn’t a given, but a dynamic matter, requiring spiritual work and clear perception.

Chris Bullock

Oct. 6 – Individual assertion towards healing
Moderator: Lorna Rennie
Meditation: tba
Speaker: Racelle Kooy
Greeter:
Co-ordinator: D. Joan Thomas
BIOGRAPHY: RACELLE KOOY: Born and raised in British Columbia, Racelle Kooy grew up with a deep love for salmon, the Pacific Ocean and the mighty cedar forests. Her Dutch immigrant father encouraged her curiosity and critical thinking, and her Secwepemc/St’atl’imc mother helped ground her deeply in a sense of place and connection to people. Both parents demonstrated the richness of building and supporting community through service. Racelle is a member of Samahquam First Nation with strong family ties to Stswecem’c Xgat’tem. of First Nations and the Indspire Foundation.  She is also our local Green candidate.

October 13th – Potential for integration
Moderator: April Hambly
Meditation: Laura Lane
Speaker: Community Service
Greeter: tba
Coordinator April Hambley
The community service will explore the theme of recognizing and engaging social connection to promote gratitude and harmony in the face of challenge.

October 20 – Creating Balance
Greeter: Louisa Fiander
Moderator: Chris Bullock
Meditation: Sharon Ford
Presenter: Cedona Holly

Presentation Information

From Cedona:

The following guided summary of our gatherings this Wed. evening and Sun. is perhaps more important than a physical description of what we will be doing. Our format will be fluid depending on the moment. Both events will be highly experiential, as I feel speaking about Balance right now is not as important as actually achieving it. Sunday’s presentation will follow naturally after our Wed. event. If people can do both events, it may be very helpful – to deepen maximally into our natural state of inner peace, balance and harmony.

“Do not underestimate the power of your gatherings this coming week. Each moment you spend in perfect Balance, in Equilibrium, is of great Service to ALL on Planet Earth – all of Nature, Humanity and all of Creation in fact. So even though ego has a way of diminishing your spiritual Essence, these Gatherings uplift all who come to recognize and re-align with the depth and breadth of the Totality of Beingness of each One and all together. For the force-field of Love you all create in the name of Spirit, in the name of Love, in the name of a higher Peace has great influence on all of creation, as unlikely as that may seem to the smallness of the lower mind.

 So we say, do come and put your energy into creating this FIELD of perfect Balance, Harmony and Love, the Higher Consciousness contained in each person present. Be the courage of your deepest Heart in showing up to discover the perfect Balance already intact inside each one of you, just waiting to be discovered, or for some of you, remembered. Let Cedona and her Highest helpers take you by the hand and hold open the gates to enter into a most beautiful state of consciousness. You will come away feeling restored, rebalanced and perhaps even reborn. We salute you All and pray for humanity’s return to reverence. Much Love and Many Blessings – Cedona’s Higher Self.”

Oct 27 – poetic/private self processing – Interior monologue
Moderator: Laura
Meditation: Marilyn
Speaker: April
Poetic language internal love yourself is not about relationship with others but yourself. “Nothing glows brighter than the heart awakened to the light of love that lives within.”
Coordinator: Marilyn

Sunday Services in September

Transition and Transformation

The heavens give birth to September once again as the Sun blinks its celestial eye, and Earth by degrees slowly turns to greet her Autumn Equinox in the North. For one moment, day and night stand as equals beside each other, and humans celebrate the coming transition of light into darkness. In September, our energies quicken as we search for extra time needed to finish our summer tasks. We prepare for Earth’s transformation into the fall of the year and finally, far off it seems, winter. Our summer psyches seem unable to envision the cold, wet nights ahead when we still bathe our bodies in the warmth of the great body of Sun’s heat. In ancient days, the community prepared together for the coming of cold and darkness with festivals of fire, harvest games and competitions which mimicked nature’s antics. In modern times we still acknowledge the Harvest Moon, and if we are lucky enough to have a garden, then we gather what has grown and spend satisfying hours canning and drying our bounty for the cold season ahead.

September 1 – Strategies for integrity -expressing insight on social values
Co-ordinator: Peggy Muncaster
Moderator: Chris Bullock
Meditation: Chris Bullock
Greeter: Jean Gregson
This is a community service. In the Age of Trump, we need to discern and express our truth, our integrity. There are so many avenues to do so. Let us explore!
Peggy

September 8 – Collective purpose: bringing forward your vision of our world – what do you want to commit to?
Speaker:  Laura Lane
Meditation    ”        ”
Moderator:  D. Joan Thomas
Greeter:   Jennifer Hastie
The service for this Sunday will be about creating a vision board/collage based on our collective vision for ourselves, our community, our earth, our reality.

What do you desire for our future? What are you wanting to commit to?  What elements help create that vision? What feelings, colours, shapes, items represent that essence? What are you wanting to commit to?

We want to have a lot of pictures that reflect these values to choose from on that day, so can you please start cutting out pictures from magazines etc., that reflect this, and then bring them Sunday Sept. 8th please? You are welcome to bring other items too that can be glued to a poster board.  Multi-media!! It will be about 5 ft x 5 ft.

We will put all of them out as options, and co-create our reality:)

Any questions, please e-mail me at lauras.myc@shaw.ca or call me at 250-893-9656.

September 15 – Speaker led activity
Moderator- April Hambly
Meditation- tba
Speaker- Nicole Lavoie
Greeter-tba

September 22 – Resolving conflict of values and making a priority list
As well, Welcome to Autumn Equinox
Service Format: Community (small groups)
Greeter:   Marie Logan
Meditation: Laura Lane
Moderator: Pat Miller
Group Facilitator and SDC Coordinator: Sharon Ford

September 29 – Parameters in Social/Public Relations
Large circle sharing – the process is the real focus. In the invocation, a context and some orientation will be given.
Moderator: Laurence Beal

Sunday Services in August

August 2019:

August in our solar cycle brings a ripening in the bounty of life.
Some things have come to fruition already, and others are tantalizingly within reach.
The cycle of growth is maturing.
If we were to put the spiritual goal of life’s mastery into a musical metaphor, what would we hear?
Let us be still for a moment, and listen.

Within the Silence there is the symphony of life.
In the Silence there is Peace and Love.
This is true.
But beyond the Silence on another level of awareness,
is the music of the spheres,
the music of you.
For truly music is all there is.
Energy, always in motion, manifests as music.
Your entire being is music,
as each cell sings its perfect note in harmony,
in rhythm with all of the other cells in your body.
Can you hear this song so beautifully composed by your Soul?
It is the song of Love,
for music is the energy of Love in motion.
Now listen, beyond your own singular self.
What do you hear but the songs of all beings, of all life.
There is not one form found in the physical that does not sing.
Each one radiates the beauty of Love in a unique, flowing, endless song. When you are aware of the members of the chorus,
the musicians in the orchestra,
then you hear, you truly hear, the symphony of Life.

The poem is composed by Peggy Muncaster-first paragraph and Merrilee Soberg-second paragraph.

Aug. 4th Topic: Identifying with Humanitarian Values and Asserting Them Through Group Process
Greeter: Louisa Fiander
Moderator: Sharon Ford
Meditation: Kirsty Inglis
Speaker: Radhika Devi
Coordinator: Sharon Ford

Dutch- born Canadian, Radhika Devi aka Rishika, poet, painter, teacher and contemplative, holds a MA degree in Literature from SFU as well as Sanskrit accreditation from UBC and has familiarized herself with Vedic- cum-Tantric Integral Yoga Philosophy for almost fifty years.
identifying with humanitarian values nd asserting in group process

Aug. 11th- Group process centered on singing and aesthetic expressions
Greeter:
Moderator: April Hambly
Meditation:
Speaker: Carol Sarokoff
Coordinator: April Hambly

Aug. 18th- Spiritual realizations for the greater good: flourishing in hard times.
Moderator: Brian Martin
Speaker: Rev. Soshin McMurchy
Meditation: Rev. Soshin McMurchy
Greeter: Joyanne Wilkinson
Co-ordinator: Laura Lane

Bio: Rev. Soshin McMurchy, a settler of English and Scottish ancestry born on Treaty 6 territory, lives on the ancestral lands of the SEN?O?EN and Lekwungen speaking peoples, and as a priest with Zenwest Buddhist Society, zenwest.ca, serves as a Buddhist Chaplain with the University of Victoria Multifaith Services where she teaches meditation. She works part-time at the Greater Victoria Public Library and lives with her partner of 40 years.

In Rev. McMurchy’s 2018 talk on flourishing in hard times she stated, “…When practicing dissolution, I experience the world as perfect just as it is. Paradoxically, the grounded energy and wisdom that flow from this experience, when channelled into action, will help house the homeless, bring justice for First Nations, welcome refugees, end the wars causing the mass migrations, and sustain the very thin layers of earth, air, and water which support the only life we know of in the cosmos.”

Aug. 25th- What do new relationships need?
This will be a community service, breaking down into small groups and sharing. The gist of the occasion will hover on a zone for possible development. What kinds of things do we do, or need to do, in the process of developing a new relationship, someone new in our lives?

Moderator: Laurence Beal
Meditation: a CD track
Greeter: TBA
Co-ordinator: Laurence Beal

Sunday Services in July

Summer

Venni, Vidi, Vici – he came, he saw, he conquered and left us his name for our 7th month.  In the heat of July, when flowers love to be intensely red, let us take time to sit and reflect on…our names and the person or persons we were named for.  Do you know the first name of your maternal grandmother?  How about her mother? Reflection leads to remembrance.  Try recalling those stories vaguely heard or told to you.  Bring them into focus – perhaps feel their presence.  July is for sitting in the hot sun with a cold drink AND A BIG HAT!

Joan Thomas

July 7 –  Reflections on Summer
Speaker:  Rev. Gordon Thurston
Moderator:  Pat Miller
Meditation:  tba
Greeter:  Bob WinkenhowerCoordinator:  D.Joan Thomas

Long time member of COT, Gordon was often invited to speak at our services, sing in the choir, join the men’s breakfast group, host summer parties on his ample deck in Brentwood.  He and Heather participated in so many of the happenings here that they became part of the fabric of our church.  We happily welcome him back.

July 14 –  Practices on spirit path
Moderator: Lorna Rennie
Speaker: Alousa Faryar
Meditation: Sharon Ford
Greeter: Louisa Fiander
Coordinator: Sharon Ford

Bio:  Alousa Faryar is a Kundalini yoga teacher and a Shamanic healing practioner. Both Alousa and her husband, Soheil began their spiritual journey with Sufism in their teens. Their metaphysical store located in Fernwood Village is called ‘7Rays’ where they hold space for healing and offer spiritual service.

July 21 – Catharsis through Passion

Moderator :  Laurence Beal
Speaker : Rev Wayne Kealohi  Powell
Mediation : Rev Wayne Kealohi Powell
Greeter :  Jean Gregson
Coordinator :Marilyn Smando

Experience the Healing Miracle of HO’OPONOPONO with Rev Wayne Kealohi
Rev Wayne Kealohi Powell is the Founder and Senior Instructor of Shamanic Bodywork—an educational vehicle for creating optimum health and true wealth in all your relationships. Rev Kealohi is a Dr. of Divinity, Holistic Health Educator, Applied Kinesiologist, Author, Songwriter, and a Recording Artist/Producer of spiritual music for New Thought Churches.

This his plan for workshop after the service:
July 21 – Sunday Service – 11 am ~ 12 pm.
Using a Breakdown For a Breakthrough!
July 21 – Sunday Class – 1:30 ~ 3:30pm.
INTRO to Self-ID Ho’oponopono ~ $20
July 27 – Saturday – 10 am ~ 4 pm.
Ho’oponopono Sacred Circle ~ $111 All Events at: The Church of Truth…….
To book a private healing session, Text or call: +1 (808) 431-4549 or Email: spirit@trustlove.us

July 28 – compassionate and gentle manner conducive to sharing wisdom
Moderator: April Hambly
Speaker: Sarah and Esther Hack from Falun Dafa/Gong
Meditation: Laurence Beal
Greeter: TBA
Coordinator: April Hambly

Sarah and Esther are twin sisters who grew up searching for the meaning of life and they explored the world through practices such as yoga and Buddhism. One day the sisters saw Falun Dafa meditators practicing at Centennial Square. They were drawn in the peaceful energy but they were also shocked by posters describing the persecution of those who practice Falun Dafa in other countries. Sarah and Esther were impressed and encouraged by the kindness and rationality behind the answers their questions received. Now, ten years later, the twins continue their practice of Falun Dafa, sharing their love of its values with many.

 

Sunday Services in June

OUR WORLD

The June sun evokes memories of other days- the scent of warm sand, the sound of the sea rippling with delight, the cries of the seagulls, terns and the red-winged blackbird.  The melodies of the earth and sea melding with all the creatures in our world.  Such exquisite harmony.

Let us learn now to listen with love, see with delight, and promise to hold all dear, to protect and keep safe, to the best of our human ability, this wonderful place we call our world.

DJ Thomas

June 2nd:  Melodies of Earth and Sea
Moderator:  Robert Winkenhower
Meditation:  Norm Smookler
Speaker:     Laura Lane
Greeter:       TBA
Co-ordinator:   D. Joan Thomas

June 9th: Love Is Round
Moderator: April Hambly
Meditation: Brian Martin
Speaker:  Sherry Morgan
Greeter:       TBA
Co-ordinator:   April Hambly

Since a spiritual experience in 1982 Sherry has been following her guidance. She met her principal human teacher in Mexico in 1996 (an elder Huichol shaman). With the help of this shaman Sherry met her principal ‘spirit’ teacher in 1997, the elemental Fire – our heart energy. Fire transmitted a program about prayer for her to teach that helps people return to the experience of connection and relationship with heart and through heart to aspects of the world around us. Sherry also helps people to receive their own spiritual guidance, which is our birthright. In 2016 Sherry received the words “Love Is Round” in her prayer time. She will share with us the great significance this has for each of us!

June 16^th: Singing in a Joyful Spirit
There will be a very strong satisfaction from singing on this day.
Moderator: Laurence Beal
Music director: I hope we can all sing the whole of the usual talking time
Meditation: Laurence Beal
Greeter: TBA
Coordinator: Laurence Beal

June 23rd Focus: Living in the community
Moderator:  Chris Bullock
Meditation: Herb3rd
Speaker:   Ryefield Ford
Greeter:   Louisa Fiander
Coordinator: Sharon Ford
Speaker Bio.

Ryefield Ford has been a speaker before at Church of Truth when he shared with us his experience with the early days of his brain injury recovery. Today, he continues on his personal journey as he talks about coping and living in the community following brain injury. Now, in the field of Social Work, Rye works with brain injured men and women who need guidance in coping with everyday life. As well, he uses his gift as a creative writer to articulate to his audience his continuing struggle and growth within his own community.

June 30th Spiritual Reflection as Transitioning into Summer

Moderator: Peggy
Mediation: Marilyn Smando
Greeter: Jean
Coordinator: Marilyn Smando

 It a community sharing about the spiritual seeds planted during the spring and how to encourage each other to blossom in the summer

Sunday Services in May

CARE AND NURTURING AT THE BEGINNING OF LIFE

Chilling winds give way to Earth’s softer breath.

Beltane’s bonfires give chase to the last of Winter’s frigid embrace.

Naked branches cease shivering as Sun’s great furnace warms their blood sap.

Soft blossoms adorn sleepy wooden arms as flower garlands stream from Maypoles.  We now celebrate the long festival of fertility and Summer growth.

We dance and unite, safe in our quest for the season’s survival. Fire, Earth, Air, Water come together and create a new way of life once more.

Inside the living Earth, young seeds eagerly drink and laugh till they burst and push their new bodies upward, upward toward the Sungod who showers his love down upon the multitude of green and golden heads. A celebration of life!

Sharon Ford

Significant May Celebrations.
May 5 Ramadan begins
May 12 Mother’s Day
May 19 World Garden Day

May 5: Find words of healing insight to use during internal trials of valuation
Moderator:     Laurence Beal
Meditation:     D. Joan Thomas
Speaker:          Rowland Mak
Greeter: ?
Coordinator:    D. Joan Thomas

May 12: Dance, social connection and movement through Motherhood
Moderator:     Laura Lane
Meditation:     April Hambly
Speaker:          Alisa Kage
Greeter:          Louisa Fiander
Coordinator:    Marilyn Smando.

Alisa Kage. My childhood was spent in Tokyo, Japan in a bi-racial family filled with movement and music. My Paternal grandmother’s influence stays with me today from my early days in Tokyo, sitting with her in her prayer/meditation room listening to her recitation of the Heart Sutras etc, and being taken by the hand riding the subway to go to Classical Japanese dance of Fujima lineage since age 7. After immigrating with my family just before age 13, I continued to study dance, gymnastics and languages. Through my careers as a teacher of languages and next as an acupuncturist, the study of Ki or Chi (vital energy) took the forms of Japanese Taiko drumming, acupuncture/massage practice and lineage of Wild Goose Qigong spanning 30 years. I called myself a born-again Christian in my University days, and then on after visiting 7 Asian countries in a solo travel post university including Lhasa,Tibet; Da-Tong, China; and Brobodur, Indonesia;.. all three locations with the most iconic Buddhist monuments in each of those countries, my spiritual studies took a sharp turn Eastward.

Presently I am a staff member of Tao Cultivation group here in Victoria. I took a life long vow of vegetarianism called “Pure Mouth” where we not only pay attention to what we take in but also what comes out of my mouth..a discipline to clean my thoughts.

I am so very honored to be asked to speak at the Church of Truth where my daughter Kaiko  and I had been seen since her infancy till her tween years. Her mother had roped her into reciting poetry, playing a cello duet with Natasha, and a couple of dance numbers with her best friend Kama.

May 19: Cultural practices of relating under review for culling
Meditation:     Herb 3rd
Moderator:     Sharon Ford
Speaker:          Laurence Beal/Sharon Ford
Greeter:          Kirsty Inglis
Coordinator:    Sharon Ford

May 26  Community service plus Extended hour
Transmutation of appetites to higher integral expressions
Moderator:     Either TBA or L. Beal
Meditation:     Same as above
[I’ve been a bit overloaded this month with the absence of vacationers, but I am looking for people to play the two M roles-LB]
It is Community Service, small group discussions, with large group sharing
Greeter: Sharon Ford

Sunday Services in April

THE MANY FACES OF RESURRECTION

This year, Earth Day and Easter Monday are on the same day. This convergence from different traditions prompts deep reflection. What would we like to see born in the dimension of spirit, in the dimension of feeling, in the dimension of earth on this day, in this month, at this time? On the spirit level, we live in a world where religious dogma and an empty materialism prevail. On the feeling and earth levels, we live in a world where most feel disconnected from community, and from all the beings who make up the rest of the earth. Yet many too are rising up, often taking their lead from indigenous worldviews, and discovering a spirituality of connection with the inner divine, with each other and with the earth. Many are on a journey to compassion, moving beyond whatever filters have prevented them from perceiving others in their actuality, moving towards collective healing.  It doesn’t matter which face of resurrection we are inspired by first; it simply matters that we are part of the movement towards the new.

 Submitted by Chris Bullock, on behalf of SDC

April 7th Living in the normal world with the realities of non-normal awareness
Moderator:      Peggy  Muncaster
Meditation and presentation: Kirsty Inglis
Greeter:           TBA
Coordinator:    Laurence Beal

Biography: Kirsty Inglis is a shamanic practitioner based in Victoria, BC. She works with clients to help them remember who they truly are and what they want from life. Her healing practice focuses on supporting clients to reconnect with their bodies, to tap into their innate wisdom and in using their intuition to influence their life’s direction and choices. Kirsty’s practice is guided by her teachers in the Shipibo and Lasqueridas Shipibo traditions. The philosophy underpinning Kirsty’s work is the cultivation of ayni (pronounced eye-knee) or “right relationship” so that we can each walk in right relationship – with ourselves, our friends and family, the environment and our wider community – as a means of living a fulfilled life. For more information on Kirsty’s work see https://ayniwest.ca.

April 14th Re-envisioning the Death/Resurrection Journey
Moderator:      Pat Miller
Meditation and presentation: Michael Tacon and Chris Bullock
Greeter:           Louisa Fiander
Coordinator:    Chris Bullock

Biography: Michael Tacon lives in a cohousing community in Sooke and he is the president of Transition Sooke a non-profit society of active and concerned citizens working towards the adoption of a more resilient and sustainable lifestyle as the crisis of climate change and societal disruption hangs over us all. A key value in his volunteer work is working towards a more mutually enhancing and healthy relationship with the natural systems that support all life on this planet.

April 21st Easter – Resurrection:  Spiritual Revelation through Human Experience
Moderator:      Marie Logan
Meditation:     Marilyn Smando
Speaker:          Rev. Joan Hopper
Greeter:           Robert Winkenhower
Coordinator:    D.Joan Thomas

April 28th Community Service – Collective movement towards positive habits and openness.
Small Groups exploring how we’ve experienced collectively helping one another move towards positive new habits and more openness.
Moderator:      TBA
Meditation:     TBA
Greeter:           TBA
Coordinator:    April Hambly

Sunday Services in March

THE OPENING OF MANY PATHS

March, the month when Spring officially arrives. The month of varied winds. Traditionally, the month of change, and promise. Associated with the astrological sign of Pisces, it can be seen as the month where many waters begin to flow, many paths begin to open up. These may be the path of dreams, the path of following the promptings of one’s art, the path of opening up to the wisdom of young people, or of one’s environmental conscience, or consciousness of connection.  March beckons to us. How shall we respond?

March 3rd. Deep Listening With Compassion
Moderator: April Hambly
Greeter: Tba
Meditation: Tba
Speaker: Pearl Gregor
Coordinator: April Hambly

March 10th: Healing Sound
Moderator: Lorna Rennie
Meditation:  Eleanor McKinnon
Speaker: Laura Lane
Greeter: Marie Logan
Coordinator: D.J. Thomas

March 17: Listening to the Younger Generation
Moderator: Herb the Third
Presentation: Dreanna Picard, “Spiritual Bankruptcy, and Its Cure”
Meditation: Sean  (“Wool”) McLaughlin
Greeter: Marvelous Trudeau
Coordinator: Chris Bullock

BIO: Dreanna Picard works as a frontline mental health and addiction worker and has spent the last few years trying to make peace with her own idea of a spiritual connection. She will be sharing about her personal struggles with mental health and addiction as a young person and how at the root of that she believes is a lack of connection.

March 24. Theme. Art Therapy
Moderator: April Hambly
Meditation: Marilyn Smando
Community Service
Greeter: tba
Coordinators: April and Marilyn

March 31. Creativity builds social integration – Community service
May Spirit bring us into a rolling, dynamic exploration with “hands on” experience, and hopefully precipitate insights and refined directions.
Coordinator: Laurence Beal
Moderator: Laurence Beal
Meditation: silent

On Sunday, March 31st, our Community will host an ‘Art Show after the service, from 1-3pm.

Sunday Services in February

RELEASING HIDDEN POTENTIAL

February is often a dark and dreary month in our part of the world, and once the excitement of Christmas and New Year celebration is over, many of the richer among us flee to warmer climes. But February is also the month where love is celebrated, and under the cover of darkness lies much potential for growth. In this month we can explore that potential, whether it be the breaking from routine into new growth, the role of water in cleansing static emotional and planetary situations, or the deeper realization of our connections to others and to our living world.

PS Dear Mother Earth, we’re sending you our love this month.

Submitted by Chris Bullock, on behalf of SDC.

Feb. 3rd  Learning to care about Humanity
Greeter:             Louisa Fiander
Moderator:       Marvelous Trudeau
Meditation:      Laurence Beal
Speaker:            Sharon Penney-Ford
Coordinator:    Sharon Penney-Ford

Speaker Bio: Originally from Nova Scotia, Sharon is the daughter of a Newfoundland father and Irish mother. After completing a degree at the  University of Victoria in English Literature and Theatre,  Sharon Penney-Ford taught English, Theatre and Creative Writing for 25 years at a small high school in the East Kootenay region of BC.

February 10:  Cleansing Waters: Navigating Grief in a Changing World
Moderator:         Chris Bullock
Meditation:         Sharon Ford
Presentation:      “Planetary Grief”– Jan Inglis
Greeter:                Louisa Fiander
Coordinator:       Chris Bullock

JAN INGLIS has a background in somatic psychotherapy, adult development, public engagement processes including the use of popular theatre and the creative arts. She has worked in the field of climate change education for 30 years both as a grassroots organizer and academic. Her PhD focused on the social economic paradigms of individualism underlying climate change. She has worked with Joanna Macy’s concepts of despair and transformation since the 1980’s, and seeks out ways to bring our best selves forward to face a changing world.

Feb. 17th Identity release and group cultivation
Meditation:         Alva Nolla
Moderator:                 Brian Martin
Speaker:            April Hambly
Coordinator:       April Hambly

Feb 24  Brainstorming on creating and manifesting social benefit
Greeter:             Lorna and ?
Mediation:          Marilyn
Moderator:         Sanjara or Laurence
Coordinators:      Marilyn and Laurence

Social Benefit? Within our community, or in the greater community at large?

Possible Discussion keynotes, things like: creating a support group from within Church with transport, visitation, etc.;  supporting non-profits like using our garage sale as a free sale for a organization that needs clothing and household items;  A bursary for someone who would love to go to school but has no money;   Food for Cridge cupboard; and as your group conceives.
Divide into groups and discuss what social benefit means and brainstorm ideas to share

Sunday Services in January

CREATING THE NEW

For many people, the arrival of the New Year is a simple matter; it’s a time to party on New Year’s Eve and then, in the morning, to make a raft of resolutions with the uneasy sense that the raft may sink not too long after launching.  Among those who hold to older traditions, there is the understanding that bringing a really new, New Year requires both hard spiritual work and celebration.

Many indigenous North American nations believed that the lighting of fires and the chanting of many prayers were necessary to bring back the light. Households in parts of the British Isles still follow the tradition of the “First Footer,” the belief that the first person to enter the house in the New Year should be a dark-haired man carrying a lump of coal, a loaf of bread, and a bottle of whisky. This tradition seems to signify the recognition that darkness will continue in the New Year, and that newness will require fire, good food, and celebration.

So let us acknowledge that the coming year will contain darkness, like all other years, and that we can create the new by bringing to 2018 the fire of spirit, the nourishment of community built on principles of equality and respect for nature, and the wonderful gift of celebration.

Submitted by Chris Bullock, on behalf of SDC.

January 6    Healing Through Feeling
Moderator:    Marvelous Trudeau
Meditation:    Sharon Ford
Speaker:       Ryefield Ford (biography below)
Greeter:        Louisa Johanna
Coordinator:  Sharon Ford

January 13  Open Relating:  “To Thine Own Self Be True…”
Moderator:   Lorna Rennie
Meditation:  Bill Israel
Greeter:       TBA
Speaker:      Mary White
Coordinator:  D. Joan Thomas

January 20: SONG AND CELEBRATION
Moderator: John Vanden Heuvel
Meditation: Siobhan Robinsong
Presentation: “Inspired Joyful Singing”: Siobhan Robinsong
Greeter: Joyanna Wilkinson
Coordinator: Chris Bullock

January 27 Building Compassionate Practice in Community (a Community Service)
Moderator: Laurence Beal
Meditation: Music Coordinator
Community Service: Topical discussions in small groups, building the compassionate practice in community relating, how can we?
Greeter: TBA
Coordinator: Laurence Beal

We already do favour compassionate expressions. But what can we do, what do we do to cultivate the attitude of compassion in our day to day expressions?  In this we can throw the nets far, so that we may all hear and share our own ways with our friends.  Expansion on a theme, this will be an opportunity to share takes or perspectives, alternatives from other people, a building of resource.  We may build compassion into the ways of our local subculture.

[Small groups of three or four.]

 Speaker’s Bio

 Demian Ryefield Ford spent the first phase of his life on Bowen Island with his parents, David and Sharon who practiced meditation, organic gardening while raising goats and sheep. At age four, Ryefield was initiated into Transcendental Meditation, and from that time, he has continued a lifelong spiritual quest. On October 14th, 2005, Rye’s life was drastically interrupted at a crosswalk when a car hit him at Cloverdale and Douglas here in Victoria. After a comatose period, long days, months and years were spent in his struggle to recover from a devastating brain injury. Now, Ryefield works in the field of Social Work where he helps men and women with brain injury cope with their lives on a daily basis. Today, Ryefield shares with us, the transformation that he has experienced in both emotional and spiritual life.    Welcome.  Demian Ryefield Ford.

Mary, a Minister’s daughter, was born in her father’s first mission field, in Emo, a Northern Ontario town.  Her Mother was a war bride from England.  Mary will tell us a little about her parents’ life before telling us about her personal journey to become a United Church minister when she was 40.

Siobhan Robinsong is co-founder of Hollyhock, founder of the Gettin’ Higher Choir and the High Noon Choir. She has been busting the myth of the non-singer since 1994