Why is he holding an egg?

"Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness." - Carlyle

"What magnificent fun to be engaged in work which can do so much for so many and where our personal contribution counts for so much.  Give your will, mind, and heart to each great cause in which you are involved.  Though we in this profession represent a diverse group, we are joined together in a calling of tremendous consequence.

"Very few in a lifetime are given the opportunity to make such a substantial difference to society. We are bestowed that role and accept the challenge.

"The immense good we do diminishes the agony of the long hours and disappointments.  There are peaks and valleys, but we remember most the peaks.  We glorify the high leaps.  We celebrate the barrier-breaking new horizons we make possible.  We love our work, and we are sustained and cheered in knowing how immense our contribution is.  We are truly the blessed, fortunate enough to be in this business.  We are the veritable soldiers of change."  
                                                Jerry Panas

To everyone who attended the "Invitation to Freedom" fundraiser on Saturday - please accept my gratitude for a wonderful evening.

Is Easter better than Christmas?

Growing up in an agnostic household, I considered Easter to be a minor holiday.  It sufficed as an excuse to eat candy and go to grandma's for dinner, but it was otherwise unremarkable.  The Easter bunny was a Santa wannabe - perhaps an apprentice to Santa, who was the head holiday honcho.

Make no mistake, I still thought Easter was great.  Any holiday in which the lead role was played by a bigger-than-life altruistic rabbit that delivered baskets of goodies while my sister and I weren't looking trumped the several holidays without such characters.  Easter may have been a shadow Christmas, but it was an improvement over St. Patrick's day, Valentine's day or even Halloween.

Now that I'm a bit older and I have come to a better understanding of the significance of the holidays, I wonder if Easter may not be better in some ways than Christmas as a celebration that can be enjoyed by people of all faiths.

Spring has long been recognized as a time of renewal and rebirth.  It is the time that Persephone returns from her stint as Queen of the Underworld, assuaging her mother's grief and allowing crops to grow once again.  In Egyptian mythology, it is the time that Osiris is reborn.  Many of the symbols that attend the Easter celebration are symbols of fertility and birth.

In my view, however, the Christian celebration of Easter is far more poignant than these other tales.  It is a celebration of the immortality of the spirit - and a demonstration that the spirit lives on, regardless of persecution, abandonment by friends and bodily death.

Holidays are an opportunity for all of us to reflect on the "higher truths."  They give us a chance to lift our heads above the mundane and give some thought to the themes we are creating in our own lives.  What with the intense advertising and expectation that accompanies Christmas, the holiday hardly allows time for reflection.  For this reason, I can't think of a better holiday to give serious thought to such themes as spiritual immortality and the chance at our own "rebirth" from our current condition into a better state than Easter.

Please join me April 7th at 6:30 at our new auditorium.  We will start the evening with snacks, followed by a gospel choir and a further exploration of the concepts I've started to discuss here; and we will end with a round of fundraising to benefit the renovations of our new building.  I promise you will have a great time listening to incredible music, seeing the new auditorium, being with your friends and hopefully learning a thing or two along the way.

Where we belong

This is a wonderful story about the history of Lafayette Square - the future home of our new church.  I love the fact that the people who built up this community and saved it from literal wreckage did so in the face of "reasons" that it wouldn't work.  There is a lesson here that constructive activities are not always recognized as valuable by "the powers that be" or by a middle-class-hold-onto-everything-very-carefully mindset. This history is part of the reason why it is such an honor to have the opportunity to be part of this special community.  Enjoy!

The best Friday story ever

The Huffington Post today posted a story about what may be the greatest statement of appreciation of all time.  

Know that this is how I feel about you... and that's pretty sweet.

Time, Place, Form and... Event!

The Place:
The Missouri History Museum

The People:

The Event:

Mr. Barney Bradshaw, a speaker at the History museum, told several tales of heroism and sacrifice that are an integral part of St. Louis history, Ms. Kathy Jordan received an award from the "Stop the Killing" initiative for her help in bringing The Way to Happiness to the community, and everyone was given an opportunity to give a gift for the future of St. Louis - our new church building.

The Result:

The evening was a rave success.  Thank you to all who attended and gave gifts, and to all who worked to make the event happen as smoothly as it did.  What a marvelous way to kick off the new year!

"Goodness is the only investment that never fails."

- Henry David Thoreau

Oh, the piles of files

My apologies to Dr. Seuss

Oh, the funny things you see
     the many handwriting styles
the promo from 1973
     when handling the piles of files.

Madison can offer a keen eye
      and advice that's loaded with guile -
it's needed as the hours go by
     as you're handling the piles of files

     Here's Chuck, a member of Mensa
             who handles his work by the aisle
     I won't rhyme "Chuck;" it might offends ya,
             but he also works the piles of files.

           Winsome worked all day long
                    Headphones blaring different musical styles
           As she joyously sang along
                    And handled her piles of files.

         

 The "C's" are now in a good state
          and we ended the day in smiles;
 March 25th is the next date    
           To handle more piles of files.






A big "thank you" to the intrepid volunteers who attended the CF party last weekend.  You guys are awesome!  


If anyone would like to volunteer on the project, they should contact Madison Baird.

Man on fire

"Now, it's a funny darn thing.  What do you live for?  You live to help others."

                                                                                - L. Ron Hubbard

I'd like to acknowledge Barry Coziahr, who has been engaged in community outreach for the St. Louis Church of Scientology for nearly 20 years.  The church is now on the cusp of creating some very large positive change in St. Louis, and this is in no small part due to his initiative and activities.

Barry has been working intensively to get The Way to Happiness into the hands of the population of St. Louis.  He has helped get 50,000 of this very powerful booklet donated, printed and distribution begun.  This will be the largest distribution of this booklet ever in the state of Missouri.  The booklet has been so well received that the church was recently given this plaque from the Stop the Killing Initiative, which is distributing the booklets to help calm the raging sea of urban violence in St. Louis.  

As the copies are distributed, other like-minded groups have jumped on board to distribute even more copies.  Again, we've learned that there are many, many people who want to help - so far, mentoring groups, a juvenile detention center and a school have found out about this booklet via its distribution and have, in turn, requested their own booklets be made so that they may distribute them.  By the end of March, all 50,000 will be distributed and we'll be ready to do another 50,000.  

What will be the results of 20% of the population of St. Louis receiving this booklet and reading it?  What will happen when a number of community groups all work together under the banner of The Way to Happiness to promote a common message of peace and mutual understanding?  We are about to find out.

Thank you, Barry, for jumping on this project and bringing help and freedom to untold people.  This is precisely why we are making our Ideal org and you are leading the way.