I could say that this message to you is given with my other hat on – but in this case we could say my other collar!
Spiritualism arrived in this village with me and my partner Cathy in 1998…
What we call a suitcase church was set up in the Village Hall and it soon filled every Thursday with good vibes and many people who were either already Spiritualists, or were interested in finding out what we were all about.
Every Thursday service offered a spot of prayer, praise and worship; the criteria for any claiming a religious gathering. Plus a visiting medium would be invited to take the platform.
That medium being an essential part of any ordinary Spiritualist service, as they are called upon to demonstrate the truth that we propound, that there is life after this life and that communication is possible between the two worlds of Heaven and Earth.
Not for us the idea that there is only one day – or night – of the year on which the divide between the two is thin enough to allow spirit ingress and input!
Not for us either the Halloween kinds of images of frightening ghoulies and ghosties. Although the things that go bump in the night may do so albeit in a nonmalevolent way!
In fact it was just those noises in the night that led to the founding of Modern Spiritualism in 1848 in the USA.
Disturbed by loud bangs in the night, a young family decided to see whether they were caused by someone they couldn’t see…. It was just after Morse Code was invented and by establishing an alphabetic code the Fox sisters and their ma held the first recorded communication with a man in spirit who gave them information about himself that was verified afterwards, and as neighbours crowded in to the small house to witness the phenomenon, so news spread and more and more people organised into groups in order to have such contact and communication themselves. It spread quickly and arrived in the UK in 1853.
Spiritualism has always challenged the established religions, because it states that all who are born inherit eternal life as a birthright. That we are all from spirit, are spirit here and now in the physical, and go back as spirit to spirit when we go from here. And regardless of religion, creed, culture, heritage, gender, sexual orientation or owt else!
We are a sector of Spiritualism who follow the teachings and example of Jesus who we accept as our Lord and Saviour and Light of the World, Christian Spiritualists. However we accept all religious backgrounds whether they share that belief or not.
At this time of year when nights are darkest and perhaps loss of loved ones is keenest felt, and health worries for our own wellbeing and that of others occupies much of our thought, it is good to hold on to some other truths, proved since this world began, that the night is darkest before dawn, that after the rain comes the sun and the rainbow that appears then – like the one Noah saw from the Ark – showing us that all is well, all will be well, and that God keeps his promises, that humankind will never be destroyed again. May you have as good a winter as possible with a blessed, peaceful Christmas and New year.