New Year's Resolutions and the Purification Ceremony

Hopefully you've heard that we're switching back to our standard Sunday Service schedule beginning this weekend. This means we'll have the Fire Ceremony and Purification Ceremony at 9:00, and service at 10:00, complete with affirmation and the full Festival of Light. This happens to be a particularly appropriate time for the Purification Ceremony to be making its return.

It's the beginning of the year, people everywhere are making New Year's resolutions, and there's a great deal of energy for change in the air. New habits will be made and old ones broken, with various degrees of success, but by February many of these resolutions will be forgotten. After that, it becomes all too easy to slip into another rut for the next 11 months.

The Purification Ceremony, however, gives us a beautiful tool for tackling our resolutions. Its greatest power comes from how it leads us to greater attunement with our guru, who tells us (speaking through a Lightbearer) "open your heart to me, and I will enter and take charge of your life." Our goals and obstacles may seem overwhelming at our level of consciousness, but we know that God and guru can do anything through us if we let them. This can be a great comfort the next day, when we find ourselves faced once more with whatever issue we may be trying to let go of. We can simply turn inward for a moment and say "Master? This is the project we're working on this week, so let's just take care of it together, okay?"

If we make a habit of going to purification every week, then we'll find ourselves keeping some of this new-year, changing, progressive energy going throughout the year. If a larger change isn't something we can accomplish in a single week, we can simply look forward to chipping away at it again the next week. Or we can focus on something else for a bit, and come around to the big issues again later. The point is that it keeps us moving forward, but in "bite-sized," achievable steps from wherever we are right now.

So please, join us Sunday morning, bring your "new week's resolution," and we'll all grow joyfully together in increased attunement to Master. Happy New Year!