Stepping Up To The Plate

He stepped up to the plate, cocked the bat over his left shoulder and waited, and waited, and waited…

As the batter stood there waiting for the first pitch, the crowd roared and yelled with expectation, he saw the ball traversing the space between him and the pitcher. He was ready. But as he waited for the ball to arrive for him to hit, it just disappeared. The ball just disappeared. The batter looked out to the mound expecting to see the pitcher there. He was shocked to find that there was no pitcher on the mound. As he lowered the bat, the crowed became quiet – everyone looked to the umpire – but he was gone too. The batter looked around the basemen and to his surprise, the plates were empty. All of the basemen were gone. There was no one in the out field; there was no longer a pitcher on the mound, no fielders and no umpires. Then the batter remembered that just a few moments before he had heard the crowd yelling. He looked around, because everything seemed to be so quiet. To his surprise, the bleachers were empty.

What happened? Where did everyone go? Why was he alone on a baseball field that just moments ago was filled with people? The bases had all of their basemen, the fielders were in place and all was at the ready for the first pitch that signaled the start of the game.

As you may have guessed it was only a dream and yet a dream that so many of us have had. A dream of being the star of the game.

Life can be like that, we expect that something is going to happen were we become a star player, and even believe that everything has been done to bring about the expected end. But nothing happens, or if it does, we are disappointed with the results. Something just got in the way.

I have written a number of articles in the past year that were meant to provide the reader with something to think about. Out all those articles, it seems that some people who read them are only capable of responding with negativity. Why? I don’t know. Maybe they think that I have an “axe to grind” and that I’m attempting to take out on them my problems, instead of them looking at themselves and thinking about their actions in light of the article’s subject. The pitch was sent to the plate, but how many of us are ready to receive the pitch? Did you make the ball disappear on the way? It was not the ball that was pitched that was the mistake, maybe it was just the subject. It hit too close to home.

My pitch is, for the spiritually-oriented person to know how to receive a pitched ball. It is by knowing the truth that the ball represents and its ultimate meaning, that a home run can be hit without being caught at the last second and the home run spoiled – hence misunderstanding.

Can it be that they “just don’t get it”? They just don’t get the message? Is it possible that the problem is someone else’s and really has nothing to do with them? Hummmm

As a minister, it is my duty to try and remind people that it is their time at bat and that its time for them to think beyond what seems to be, and think more about what is really happening in their lives. To think about their place on the batter mound and to think about their life in relationship to the teachings of the ball known as the Bible, the Koran, or another scriptural book they believe in. It is also my duty as a Spiritualist minister to remind people who say that they are on a spiritual path, that they are expected to act in a certain way. Not my way, but in the way that the Principles of Spiritualism express.

Each time a person attends a Spiritualist church’s devotional service, they repeat the seven, sometime more, Principles of Spiritualism that the church believes in. Principles, that if followed are as valuable as the teachings of the Bible’s “Ten Commandments” and the message that Jesus tried to get over to his disciples. But how many people really believe in the Ten Commandments or even accept the teachings of Jesus? How many people truly believe in the Principles of Spiritualism? As a Spiritualist minister, I can say that I believe in both the Ten Commandments, the teachings of Jesus and the Principles of Spiritualism. If I didn’t, I would not be an ordained minister.

It doesn’t really matter how good a person believes they are. It doesn’t matter if they even believe that they are always right and everyone else is wrong. It doesn’t matter if they believe that they are on a spiritual path or that they are a good Christian or Spiritualist. What matters is what they truly believe and how they show it in their actions.

The Law of Cause and Effect is always in operation and it holds within it the judgment of ones true self. The Law is aware of all of our secrets and the life that we display to others. The Law knows if we are truly good or only kidding ourselves. It makes sure that you and I will never get away with anything in this life – actions and thoughts whether verbalized or not. If we do not take the appropriate actions here and now to right our wrong thoughts and actions, the law will take the appropriate action for us. The Law will take the appropriate action here or here after – this is a fact. Why wait?

Let me tell you about my older brother. My bother believed that he was a good person and a good Christian and would automatically go to heaven when he died. Well, when he got to the place he believed was heaven, he found out that he was not able to claim his rightful place there because he had wronged so many people here in this physical world. He came to me through a medium friend who said that “my brother was asking me to forgive him for all the wrongs that he did to me while he lived in the physical so that he could advance in spirit world. He needed my forgiveness because it was holding him back”. As a Spiritualist and Christian I gladly gave him my forgiveness. I believed that he would then be able to advance spiritually. To me, this was proof; not only of the continuity of life, but that someone I grew up was able to learn what I had already learned as a Spiritualist. The Law is truly in effect and that a person must do what is right here before they will ever be able to advance in the spirit world of light, when they leave this world.

I know what is in my heart. I know what I have to do here in order to minimize the effects of the Law. I know how to practice what I preach and what I believe in and whom I believe in. I am an ordained minister and it is my duty to remind you of what the mediums of yesterday have told us about what they learned and about what happened to them when they died – what they had to do in order to advance to the spirit world of light and beyond. I don’t really expect you to step up to the plate and hit a home run, but I do expect you to stop being a person who has forgotten how to be spiritual and/or Christian and think about how the Law of Cause and Effect is effecting you. Are you going to hit the ball that has been pitched to you? Or is it that your ballpark is just an allusion – just a dream?

New Ministers and Their Duties

The Church of Spiritual Illumination Ministry Course is an interesting course on the duties and expectations of a minister, not only at church services, but the life of a minister in general. However, it is difficult for a home study course to go into the depths that a number of courses offered by a university can give.

The course will wet your appetite to learn and study more of the true role of the church’s pastor, minister, administrator, or counselor for the spiritual well being of the church and its congregation.

I know that very few ministers, myself included, will become a counselor, or even administer a church as its pastor, but the course does give a few of the necessary tools that a minister will need in order to perform his/her job.
When a person becomes an ordained minister their whole outlook on life will change. The new minister must take on the mantle of being one of God's ministers, taking on the responsibility of helping those around them to find their spiritual path and to help them grow to their spiritual best in light of spiritual truth.

The Ministry course will show the new minister that the important things in life don’t stem from what they already know, but what they need to learn. Becoming a minister will force a person to step up to the challenge of helping others and take on the mantle of true leadership by accepting who they truly are. The new minister will often find that they have personal problems that can interfere with their new role as a minister. These things must be dealt with and put into their proper place (often not an easy thing to do).

Ministers cannot play favorites with people in the church or even with people they call their personal friends. They must learn that they have a responsibility to treat all people equally with love and respect. With that being said, a minister is only human and they do have their own way of looking at things and people and how they deal with them.

If a minister’s friend has a problem with another person, it might be advantageous for the minister to have a talk with their friend and try to help him/her work out their differences. It is not the job of the minister to take sides and interject his/her own prejudice into the situation, this can only make things worst.
The new ministers have to keep in mind that they are not only representing the Church, but God as well. This will challenge the new ministers to become their personal best, and then they can help others achieve their best by leading by example.

The Ministry Course talks about counseling a young couple who has asked the minister to conduct their marriage ceremony. As a minister it is often the duty of the minister to counsel the couple on what to expect of marriage, (marriage is a serious decision to make). The minister may even talk about the possibility of divorce and especially what can happen in the marriage after the children start to appear. And the minister may be able to give advice to the young couple on how to handle their inevitable disagreements, etc.

The minister may even be asked to conduct a funeral, how to counsel the surviving family member(s) and how to prepare to conduct the funeral.

As new ministers walks their path they must remember that they have a mission in life, and be prepared to administer that mission. The new ministers will never stop earning their title “Reverend” – for the day they stop acting as a minister is the day they should “turn in their collar”.

This is only a part of what the Ministry Course is all about.