Sunday Services in March

The winds of March whether they come roaring in like a lion or gamboling in like a bleating lamb bring change.  They carry a fresh promise of fertility for the land and imbue all flora and fauna upon this earth with a lust for life.  The birds sing out challenges and invitations to nest with them while ducks squabble over the right to a mate. On the human side, the March winds bring a kind of madness – the poets feverishly write sonnets to the moon, to the trees, to the vernal equinox. It’s a time to bend, to smell. to hear with a listening heart, to dance and sing  and to be thankful for all that is being given.

submitted by  D. Joan Thomas

March 1 SPRING OUTREACH: DIALOGUE AND REFLECTION
Moderator: Lorna Rennie
Meditation: Chris Bullock
Presenter/discussion facilitator: Chris Bullock
Greeter: Peggy Muncaster
Coordinator: Chris Bullock

This session will offer participants a chance to reflect on the spiritual implications of outreach in
general and the current requests to government Greater Victoria Acting Together is wishing to
present to member organizations for consideration. The meditation will invite reflection on the
“big picture” in outreach; the brief presentation will set the stage for discussion of GVAT’s new
draft asks. Those who attended a similar service in January will remember the lively discussion
that took place there, with many divergent points of view expressed. The discussion this time
round is likely to be equally lively!
CHRIS BULLOCK is Vice President of the COT Board, one of the coordinators of the Church’s
Wednesday Inspirational Explorations series, and a co-lead in GVAT’s Action Research Team on
Mental Health and Addiction.

March 8 Heal the Heart, Heal the Earth
Moderator: Peggy Muncaster
Meditation leader and presenter: Kim Sibbitt
Coordinator: Peggy Muncaster

Kim Sibbitt works with a circle anagram of Heal the Heart, Heal the Earth. She pulls many lessons from this, and shares with us her journey into this medicine wheel of life cycles and aspects.

Kim is a multi media artist who is living her dream on her boat/studio on the ocean at Fisherman’s Wharf in Victoria. She was born with crayons in her pockets and feels that creativity is the thread that connected the dots throughout her life. Kim believes that art, in any form, heals and it is critical to our and the planet’s well being. Because we are one, what we do for one we do for the whole.

March 15 Creativity
Moderator:   Catherine Kinsella
Meditation:   Norm Smookler
Speaker:       Dr. Monique Andrews
Greeter:         tba
Coordinator:  D. J. Thomas

Dr. Monique Andrews is a chiropractor, neuroscientist, and educator  extraordinaire. she speaks internationally on topics such as the Neurophysiology of Subluxation, Neurodevelopment of the Pediatric Patient, Evolutionary Impact of Chiropractic on the Brain and most recently exploring the connection between Chiropractic and Consciousness.

March 22
Spring has come and time to reflect on what we as spiritual being  want to see planted so we may grow and learn. To come to a place of  appreciation and love moving forward amidst our growth from the life  we’ve lived and love and shared in this world. Let there be light Harmony and love ?
Moderator :  Pat Miller
Mediation and Speaker: Sanjara Omonlyi
Greeter : TBA
Coordinator:  Marilyn Smando

March 29 Exploring supportive relationships, spiritual and otherwise, to promote forgiveness and healing.
Moderator: April Hambly
Meditation: Laura Lane
Community Service: Small Group discussions
Greeter: TBA

Sunday Services in February

Tuning Into the Deep Ocean of Spirit.

Here in Victoria, February holds the first tentative offerings of warmer times to come. Early buds on trees, blooming heather, tulip and daffodil leaves making a determined entry – the harbingers of Spring!

February holds Valentine’s Day, feting the blossoming of love and social relationship. How shall we form healthy relationships?

Feb 2: Compassionate Relationships – Being Open to Listening
Moderator: D. Joan
Meditation: Catherine Kinsella
Speaker: Brian Martin
Co-ordinator: D. Joan
Greeter: tba

Feb 9: Looking within to find your true path
Moderator: April Hambly
Meditation: Peggy Muncaster
Speaker: Jayka Duncan
Co-ordinator: April Hambly
Greeter: TBA

Jayka Duncan

Being a professionally trained physical education teacher, a practitioner of healing modalities and an avid student of self-help opportunities, I was provided with the foundation that allowed me to trust my intuition and heal my body when faced with a recurring breast cancer diagnosis in 2016 that had spread to my cervix and uterus. Wanting to avoid surgery and chemotherapy, I did extensive inner work through my surrendering practice which eventually rewarded me with a cancer-free body and so much more.

The ‘so much more’ aspect was an extraordinary transformation from the inside out that affected all areas of my life; relationships and finances to name a couple, but the most significant transformation that happened for me was that I was finally able to love myself, and my body! This shift has brought me incredible peace, love and joy.

Feb 16: How to have Healthy Relationships; personally, collectively and in the Oneness of everyday life
Moderator: Pat Miller
Meditation: Cedona
Speaker: Julia Day
Coordinator: Marilyn Smando
Greeter: Marie

Julia Day Bio: Since 1996, Jewel has been a spiritual healer and teacher of embodiment through cultivating pure non-dual awareness. Her professional practice combines advanced CranioSacral therapy with esoteric healing and other body-mind modalities. She is an ordained minister and Course in Miracles mentor who facilitates a few residential healing retreats each year, as well as weekly meditations and healing circles. Originally a journalist, Jewel is currently writing a book called: The Alchemy of Oneness. www.juliaday.ca

How to have Healthy Relationships; personally, collectively and in the Oneness of everyday life.

We awaken together, you and I, through learning to discern a metaphysical fact: that the crazy world we see outside of us is a symbolic representation of the unhealed thoughts we collectively carry within our own unconscious mind.

Oneness is the absolute Truth of our Being, blissfully Present within and all throughout the people and things we judge, regardless of their form. Oneness/Love feels like a vast, infinite, formless field of kindness, purity and light ~ the world we see literally dissolves in it ~ but to know it, we must first deepen our relationship with the Higher Truth we Are within.

If we want to be effective, loving communicators in our personal relationships and with the world, we must learn to surrender to this natural state of Innocence and the unconditional Love it teaches.. From here, we practice extending this Blessing to others; eventually, to all beings throughout all happenings and time.

Jewel will touch on specific ways to connect with this pure Essence and the Voice for Love that guides us within, as well as specific strategies for experiencing the same in others. She will also, depending on the flow of time, share specific guidelines for communication and setting of intentions in personal relationships, as we learn to ever more deeply Love One another and our Selves.

“Every moment, in every second, gives us another chance to Love.”

2020. Julia Day 2020. www.juliaday.ca

Feb23: Hindu Mythology and Sacred Chanting
Moderator: Peggy Muncaster
Meditation Leader and Speaker: Vinod Bhardwaj
Coordinator: Peggy Muncaster

Vinod Bhardwaj will present and lead a combination of sacred chants and stories. Vinod is a multifaceted personality, an engineer and planner by profession, but an ardent musician by nature. Before moving to Victoria ten years ago, he lived in Edmonton, where he was inducted into the Arts and Culture Hall of Fame. Vinod is a story teller as well, and loves to regale his audience with little stories from Hindu mythology, which have timeless messages.

Sunday Services in January

AWAKENING TO THE DEPTH OF LIFE

January is often regarded as the month of making (and often failing to keep) New Year Resolutions. But how will we know what resolutions to make if we are out of touch with the deepest parts of ourselves and our world? In the flurry of activity that most often accompanies the Christmas season, the connection with our core that the slower-paced winter season offers us is often lost. But January is still winter, and offers us the chance to connect with the deepest places in us—perhaps through dreamwork and contemplation, or through spiritual practices like chanting and meditation, or through the exploration of our creativity. Awakened by this connection, we can bring forth a genuine newness into the New Year.

Chris Bullock

January 5

Speaker: Matti Anttila, Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher
Moderator: April Hambly
Meditation: Catherine Kinsella
Greeter: Brian Martin

January 12 Contemplation of Self in Social Context

Speaker/Meditation – Dr. Chris Bullock
Coordinator: D Joan

January19 Reality Changing Insights

Small group sharing on the topic:  How does one relate with the occurrence of reality changing insights?  Also being in and around this is the topic of integrating intuition as a living sense.

Moderator: Laurence Beal
Meditation: sound track
Coordinator: Laurence Beal

January 26 – Inhabiting the communal spirit  Community Service

Coordinator – Marilyn Smando
Moderator – Peggy Muncaster
Meditation leader – Laura Lane
Greeter – Louisa Fiander
Quote from Thich Nhat Hanh:

“It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community – a community practicing understanding and loving kindness, a community practicing mindful living. This may be the most important thing we can do for the survival of the earth. ”

Perhaps we are seeing the beginning of this community, worldwide. Whatever path we follow – Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu indigenous, ancient or modern spiritual iterations –   what is the common thread that connects us? What will cause ripples for all of us to stop and pay attention?  How can we manifest love, compassion, kindness towards our fellow human beings through community?