All You Need Is Love.
Last weekend, I had the great honour of being invited to lead a workshop and Sunday service at Norwich Spiritualist Church on the occasion of their 80th Anniversary.
Having served the Church many times throughout the years, it was lovely to be among friends at a time when they were celebrating 80 years of opening their doors to those who have been seeking evidence of Spirit survival beyond physical life, healing, and inspiration.
I thought of all of the people who I had met at this beautiful and inspiring place seeking solitude from their grief and physical pain and finding joy in the company of loved ones who had stopped by to send their love from the Spirit side of life.
There were many stories to tell of past members now in Spirit, great mediums who watch from the heavens as visiting mediums continue to bring clarity of evidence of life continuing and the philosophical words from Spirit
There was however one special historical event at the Church that moved me deeply.
The Norwich Synagogue
During the second world war the Synagogue in Norwich was bombed and badly damaged and so the Spiritualist Church made the heart centred and generous decision to offer the use of their building to the Jewish community so that they could still worship.
A problem lay in that a cross was embedded in a stain glass window above the front door and the Jewish friends were not permitted to pass under it on their way to worship in the Spiritualist church.
Understanding this difficulty it was decided by the Church committee at that time that a separate door should be created in the healing sanctuary to enable the Jewish guests to enter.
During the week of the 80th anniversary celebrations the Rabbi from the Synagogue was invited to join the celebrations and was fascinated by the concept that the mediums address was inspired rather than read. Because of this, when the Rabbi was invited to speak he gave his words from inspiration and not from the written word, in keeping with the Spiritualists traditions.
Spiritualists Church members were then invited to the Synagogue where the Jewish members will hold a service for the Spiritualist friends.
These acts of empathy, love , selfless generosity and understanding are an inspiration. The installation of a door into the side of the building purely out of respect for the faith and belief of another is an inspiration.
An Open Mind, Open Heart
The sharing of space of two different expressions of love of the Great Spirit and the willingness to understand and embrace new ways of being is an inspiration.
We each as unique individuals have our own thoughts, ideas, beliefs and understanding of life through experience and to have empathy with that in others opens our heart to a new understanding that can bring richness into our lives that we may otherwise have missed.
I am so proud to have led the closing service for a very special week and even more so because of the love and understanding of the President and Committee not just in present day but for 80 wonderful years. Long may it continue.
I think your work is reaching a far wider audience now which is just what we need for world peace. Keep up the good work and hope to see you again very soon. x
Thank you for your lovely comment Lorraine and all any of us can hope to do is to make a difference. I hope you continue to enjoy reading,
Donna x
A lovely story – but I do wonder what a Spiritualist church is doing with a cross
Hi Bev,
Thank you for reading my blog, and the Church President Linda Smith has kindly offered this explanation which we hope you will enjoy.
‘Our church was founded by Christian Spiritualist who later voted to become affiliated to the SNU. Our stained glass windows which adorn the front of our church incorporate five of the mainstream religions, which symbolise the Spiritualist philosophy, which embraces all religions through a fundamental Law of Spirit.
The five windows designs are – The Star of David which is the emblem of the Hebrews and the Jewish religion, another is the Lotus Flower which embodies many of the Eastern religions, Buddhism, Brahminism, Confucianism, and the Monasteries of Tibet. The central window has the Christian Cross and its an empty cross which symbolises the arisen Lord. Next to it is The Cresent Star which represents Islam or the Islamic religion and those who follow are Muslim, the last window depicts the Sun which is associated with the Ancient Druids and the Pharisees.
All of these things represent the endearing history of our Church, hence the Cross being in our stained glass window above the front door.’
Thank you Bev..x
A fantastic blog, I will copy this and send it to all my friends, as always meeting and working with Donna that weekend was a special time, with a special Lady, God bless her and her team, thank you Donna, Love & Light, xxx.
Thank you Paul for your beautiful thoughts and I hope the blog helps to inspire others too. It was a very special weekend and bless you and thank you for sharing it with us.
Donna ..Xx