I attended a service at a Spiritualist church today

[MorningGlow]

It was quite interesting! Are there any Spiritualists here? I never thought to ask before--this is all new to me.

If it's all new to you too, the details are here: http://www.nsac.org/spiritualism.htm .

Basically, it's a mix of a traditional church service with some of the stuff we enjoy practicing here at ASAH.

The service began with a hymn and a welcome from the pastor (a very funny, cheerful woman), then the recitation of the tenets of the belief system. Then five reiki practitioners came to the front and stood by five small benches. Anyone in the congregation who needed healing could come up and receive reiki. This went on for quite some time, as the reiki practitioners took as much time as they needed with each person; while this was going on, the rest of the congregation meditated to some lovely music.

Then a keynote speaker gave the equivalent of a sermon. The woman who invited me gave the sermon; she often quoted from the Bible, so this type of belief system is not in contention with Christianity at all. (One of the tenets of Spiritualism is that the "highest morality" is contained in the Golden Rule.) After news and updates and another hymn, the mediums at the front (there were four including the keynote speaker today--I don't know if there are more or fewer on other Sundays) took turns stepping up to the podium and giving psychic messages to individual members of the congregation--whatever they were urged to point out by their guides.

I sat next to a lovely young woman with a breathtakingly adorable baby named Oliver. He really reminded me of MG Jr. at that age--huge blue eyes taking in absolutely everyone and everything--watching, watching, absorbing, absorbing. He was so alert and peaceful; when the woman carried him with her to receive reiki, he stared up at the practitioner (goggling at the energy, I'm sure), then rested his head against his mommy's shoulder and FELL ASLEEP. OMG it was amazingly cute.

During the psychic messages part of the service, the pastor closed with a message to the young mother--that her baby was an old soul and she's likely seen a wise look in his eyes before (she had), that he chose her as much as she chose him, and he was there to teach her as much as learn. The exact same thing was said about my son when he was born; it made me so happy to hear that so many babies are coming into the world with the same mission lately.

ANYway, it was an enjoyable hour and a half; the energy was very positive and everyone seemed very pleasant. I might go back sometime. :hi: