Well, it seems here in Kelowna, we’ve finally manifested some summer weather! It’s taken a while, and I know the cool weather and rain we’ve had up until now is super good for the forest fire situation. This is really our first taste of summer and it’s pretty late in the season for us here in the Okanagan to be finally getting some sunshine, which has got me reflecting on time and my perspective around it.
And so, time related – last week, June 24th, Kenn and I celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary. That just feels impossible to think that really all that time has gone by! Have you seen the meme on Facebook that says do you realize the same amount of time has gone by between 1972 and 2022 as between 1900 and 1950? For some reason, in my mind, it doesn’t seem like 1972 was that long ago… was it?
I’m actually writing this Happy Monday on Sunday afternoon around 5pm. I’m just home from our monthly Board of Trustees meeting, which followed a beautiful Soul Food Sunday service featuring the music and wisdom of Rev. Barb Samuel, along with her partner, Neal Klassen. I love these musical mornings with a message. The music fills my soul and the talk is always fresh and offers us tools for living a life of more conscious awareness.
These both followed a busy Friday and Saturday where I was teaching a Spiritual Leadership class to our Ministerial students on Zoom. What a beautiful thing! As part of the class, I had invited some ministerial colleagues to share their experience of Spiritual Leadership with our students. Friday night we featured Dr. Sue Rubin, who’s still active in ministry at 94 years old (!); Dr. Jim Lockard, a dear friend and colleague who joined us from Lyon, France to talk about the Beloved Community; and Rev. Jill Brocklehurst, one of our former students who has had a Centre for Spiritual Living on Vancouver Island for the last almost 20 years. It was a wonderful class and what an incredible experience to have one of our former students teaching our current students! I feel almost like a great-grandmother!
This all brings me back to thinking about time. I think most of you know we’re now beginning in earnest to plan for my retirement and we’ve now established an actual date – my retirement will be on December 31, 2022. (Oh my goodness, even typing that seems so very surreal.) There will be more to come about that. In the meantime, I want you to know that the Board, along with Rev. Corinne, are planning a party for November which will be a retirement party for both Kenn and myself (although Kenn’s been retired for several years, the pandemic got in the way of honouring his retirement) and a celebration of 30 years of our beloved community, the Centre for Spiritual Living Kelowna. Please save the date – November 25 – and stay tuned for more on that.
Rev. Corinne and I got together last week for some calendar planning, and so please save the dates for a Centre picnic on July 9th; a Town Hall meeting August 14th; and a Gratitude Dinner for those on our Conscious Giving (regular financial support) program August 26th. We’ll also be announcing some upcoming classes very soon.
We’ll be moving back into the auditorium at Studio 9 next Sunday, July 3rd. If you haven’t seen our new location (at 1180 Houghton Road), Rev. Corinne will be giving the Sunday message, which would be a great opportunity to come and be blessed by her always wonderful talks and to see our new space.
Blessings galore!
Dr. Deborah
If you missed yesterday’s talk by Rev. Barb Samuel and Neal Klassen titled Katy Perry said it best: “Baby, you’re a firework”, you can watch it and other past services on the CSLK YouTube channel.
MIND-FULL MOMENT
“To me, life is a gift, and it’s a blessing to just be alive. And each person should learn what a gift it is to be alive no matter how tough things get.”
— Tony Bennett
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