“My question and wonderings: What does the Spirit have in mind and are we ready for the next step?”
– Audrey Cosway, Huntsville, Ontario
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Topics:
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS church) | cottage meetings | reunions | youth camps | Awakening Spirituality |
Congregation:
Awakening Spirituality ON |
Until the age of nineteen I had no church affiliation. Mom and Dad didn’t agree on religion. Mom was Anglican and I had no idea Dad even belonged to a church. At the time I was living with a family who belonged to the United Church, going to church with them, and thinking of joining it. Then a surprise visit to my home changed my life!
One cold, snowy March day in 1958, Cal Carpenter, an RLDS church appointee from Ottawa, and Elder Harvey Wagg from North Bay, knocked on our farmhouse door. Brother Carpenter had been given the task of locating some lost church members and somehow they had located my dad Walter Brandt. Mom wasn’t letting them in the house and sent them to the barn where Dad was doing chores.
As the story unfolded, I learned that my grandparents, Christian and Louise Brandt, had attended missionary meetings in Burk’s Falls with traveling elders and had joined the RLDS church in 1922 and that my dad had joined the church in 1933. In 1941 with the death of Elder Cameron the visits to the Burk’s Falls group ended and my family and others who had joined the church were forgotten.
The outcome of this visit resulted in Harvey Wagg from North Bay holding cottage meetings twice a month at my parents’ home. These meetings were well attended resulting in several baptisms including both me and my mother.
Why did I decide to join the RLDS church instead of the United? Yes, family played a part, but it was more than that. What I learned at those cottage meetings touched me deeply. The message shared had a depth of feeling and rightness about it that spoke to me. On August 12, 1958, I joined the RLDS church and thus began my commitment and love story with the church. Over the years I attended reunions and youth camps becoming involved in leadership roles and ultimately was one of the first women ordained to the priesthood in Ontario.
The church was Spirit-founded and has continued to be Spirit-guided, showing many changes of growth over the years. Changing the name to Community of Christ was a big one for me. It allowed me to be a member of a community with greater freedom to be and to serve Christ rather than being boxed into a church.
Currently, I am part of a new church affiliation group called “Awakening Spirituality.” This has possibilities for expanded spiritual growth for people who are moving away from religious boxes. It is said that we are spiritual beings on a physical journey eventually ending back in the spiritual realm. Our origin is spirit-based, our faith and beliefs are spirit-based. Perhaps it is time for the church to consider more fully personal spiritual development. There is a pattern in place and now might be the time to see where we are being led.
The Old Testament was telling us what this physical journey would entail — with its ups and downs, its war and peace times — about faith and faithlessness. The New Testament was and is a guide on how to live our personal lives on this earthly journey. It raised humanity to a new level of consciousness: one of love and compassion. After 2000+ years we get it even if we haven’t mastered it.
So, what is the next step or level of this journey? Could it be to release the Christ-Spirit within us to take us to the next realm of consciousness? Science is quickly taking us out of the realm of matter (quantum physics). Spiritually, are we being left in the dust, clinging to old ways? My question and wonderings: What does the Spirit have in mind and are we ready for the next step?
One cold, snowy March day in 1958, Cal Carpenter, an RLDS church appointee from Ottawa, and Elder Harvey Wagg from North Bay, knocked on our farmhouse door. Brother Carpenter had been given the task of locating some lost church members and somehow they had located my dad Walter Brandt. Mom wasn’t letting them in the house and sent them to the barn where Dad was doing chores.
As the story unfolded, I learned that my grandparents, Christian and Louise Brandt, had attended missionary meetings in Burk’s Falls with traveling elders and had joined the RLDS church in 1922 and that my dad had joined the church in 1933. In 1941 with the death of Elder Cameron the visits to the Burk’s Falls group ended and my family and others who had joined the church were forgotten.
The outcome of this visit resulted in Harvey Wagg from North Bay holding cottage meetings twice a month at my parents’ home. These meetings were well attended resulting in several baptisms including both me and my mother.
Why did I decide to join the RLDS church instead of the United? Yes, family played a part, but it was more than that. What I learned at those cottage meetings touched me deeply. The message shared had a depth of feeling and rightness about it that spoke to me. On August 12, 1958, I joined the RLDS church and thus began my commitment and love story with the church. Over the years I attended reunions and youth camps becoming involved in leadership roles and ultimately was one of the first women ordained to the priesthood in Ontario.
The church was Spirit-founded and has continued to be Spirit-guided, showing many changes of growth over the years. Changing the name to Community of Christ was a big one for me. It allowed me to be a member of a community with greater freedom to be and to serve Christ rather than being boxed into a church.
Currently, I am part of a new church affiliation group called “Awakening Spirituality.” This has possibilities for expanded spiritual growth for people who are moving away from religious boxes. It is said that we are spiritual beings on a physical journey eventually ending back in the spiritual realm. Our origin is spirit-based, our faith and beliefs are spirit-based. Perhaps it is time for the church to consider more fully personal spiritual development. There is a pattern in place and now might be the time to see where we are being led.
The Old Testament was telling us what this physical journey would entail — with its ups and downs, its war and peace times — about faith and faithlessness. The New Testament was and is a guide on how to live our personal lives on this earthly journey. It raised humanity to a new level of consciousness: one of love and compassion. After 2000+ years we get it even if we haven’t mastered it.
So, what is the next step or level of this journey? Could it be to release the Christ-Spirit within us to take us to the next realm of consciousness? Science is quickly taking us out of the realm of matter (quantum physics). Spiritually, are we being left in the dust, clinging to old ways? My question and wonderings: What does the Spirit have in mind and are we ready for the next step?
