The Mystic Cave

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We did the deed, performing an "irregular" wedding. We received the censure we were expecting. Everyone went back to their jobs. But for me, it was over. I would devote my time to my people at St. Stephen's and to our many engaging ministries, but also to my plans to leave. Something deep inside was telling me it was time. When I left, I'd be done.

Credits:
Interlude: Feels Like Home to Me by Randy Newman, performed by Bonnie Raitt (from the soundtrack for the motion picture Michael) / License: SOCAN2021
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: [email protected]

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2026

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

The people of God, according to the Prophet Micah, already know what God requires of them: "to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." But what if those are the very people who are unjust, unkind, and proud? What if someone has to step outside the bounds of their faith community in order to be God's people? Is that not a kind of heresy, or pride, in the guise of righteousness? Or is that the way the New Jerusalem is born on the earth?

Credits:
Interlude: One More Day, from Les Miserables (the motion picture soundtrack) / License: SOCAN2021
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: [email protected]

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2026

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

What a difference a day makes. With the election of a new bishop for the Diocese of Calgary, the church was about take a turn to the past, leaving progressive parishes like mine feeling more like islands than parts of the mystical Body of Christ. And things would only get worse.

Credits:
Interlude: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Ton Koopman / License: SOCAN2021
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: [email protected]

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2026

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

We opened our doors and the world came in. Isn't that what's supposed to happen? We were changed as a result. Isn't that also what's supposed to happen? The lines between ourselves, as Christians, and others, each in their own religious guise, were blurring. The walls that kept our faith in and the world out were coming down. We were moving freely through the border country and discovering that God was, in fact, everywhere. A God without borders. So why did this cause a problem with our diocesan overlords? Or, did they like their God contained?

Credits:
1st Interlude: Over the Rainbow, by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, performed by Keith Jarrett / License: SOCAN2021
2nd Interlude: Come On, Baby, Dance with Me, by John MacLaughlin and Shakti / License : SOCAN2021
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: [email protected]

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2026

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

As I was entering the "days of my greatest creativity," my church of St. Stephen's was, as well. We were learning to climb down Jacob's ladder, leading us back down to earth rather than up to heaven. Whatever delights awaited us in the next life, they could wait. We were finding fulfilment in the challenges and in the mysteries of this one. We were growing up. 

Credits:
2nd Interlude: What a Wonderful World, by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss; performed by Louis Armstrong / License: SOCAN2021
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: [email protected]

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2026

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

Inner work manifests outwardly. Just as my soul work had opened new doors for my pastoral ministry, the parish's inner work was about to manifest in a massive building renovation to support its re-energized calling, as servants of God and of the world. The new space would not only serve the wider community, it would inspire us in our worship. We were changing, and it was all for the better.

Credits:
1st Interlude: Carpenter's Workshop and Stripwood Noises by Robiinhood76 / License: Attribution Noncommercial
2nd Interlude: Springtime in Scotland by inchadney / Licence: Attribution Noncommercial
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: [email protected]

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2026

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

It seems that we are our own weakest link. We can't help others if we can't help ourselves. We can't love others if we don't first love ourselves. So when, finally, I did the work necessary for the healing of my own soul, I was ready to assist in the healing of others. That meant becoming a mentor to midlife men, a ministry that came to me; I didn't go looking for it. But what's better than one-on-one work with men? Group work. Men just respond better to being with their peers. So individual counselling turned into group facilitation. And there was also a group ...  for me.

Credits:
1st Interlude: Crowd of extras in a waiting room by nebulousflynn / License: Attribution
3rd Interlude: Indian Construction Crew  by RTB45 / License: Attribution
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: [email protected]

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2026

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

If there's a turnaround in my story, it begins here. But it's a slow turning. I would be entering the years of "my greatest creativity," just as Bishop Bothwell had predicted, back in Niagara. But it wouldn't be with the church's approval, or with its blessing, as I might have imagined. Fuelled by a new vitality bursting from within, it would be with the blessing of my own soul.

Credits:
1st Interlude: Gonna Fly Now  ("Theme from Rocky") by Ayn Robbins & Bill Conti / License: SOCAN2021
2nd Interlude: Day of Defeat by kickhat / License: Attribution
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: [email protected]

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2026

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

Sometimes, you can't rise up until you get down. All the way down. And a marriage breakup will do that for you. I don't care what the pious judges say. No one walks out the door easily. It tears you apart, and scars you for life. But somewhere in the violent darkness, life itself is calling out to you. At least, it was to me. And I was willing to risk everything to reach out and take it.

Credits:
1st Interlude: Stabat Mater (Juan Guttierrez de Padill), performed by Capella Ducis, recorded by klankbeeld / License: Attribution Noncommercial
2nd Interlude: Waves of Hawaii by floriannreichelt (https://www.instagram.com/floriannreichelt/)
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: [email protected]

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2026

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

My new ministry, and our family's new life in Calgary, brought both joys and challenges. The diocese proved a lonely dysfunctional place. The parish needed a clean sweep. Only my home life seemed as it should be ... though in truth, that too was headed for trouble. I was writing again, and finding friends not only in the pages of my new novel but also in the real people life was bringing my way. I would need them all for the storms to come.

Credits:
1st Interlude: Calm Synthesizer, B by InspectorJ / license: Attribution
2nd Interlude: modern strong (hop) loop by Zagi2 / license: Attribution Noncommercial
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: [email protected]

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2026