INNER LIGHT MInistries Journal
A Time To Rejoice
Volume 25 Number 1
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by Jim Gordon, President of ILM
(from Allowing God to Fill You Up, 11/1/05)
hen my brother died, there was this moment when I became aware that I was pulling all my energy into the Loving, and everything became quiet and peaceful. I actually felt a sense of joy bubbling up from within me. Immediately, I went into reaction and said, “Hey, wait a minute. My brother just died. I can’t be joyful.” Then, that still, small voice from within, that voice of God, came through my soul and said, “Why can’t you rejoice for someone who has completed the journey and no longer needs to be in the world? Why can’t you rejoice, for I rejoice that he has left his body and is coming Home. Rejoice. Sing a song. Be happy for him, for he is happy. Why not you?” I knew that I would be involved with the funeral arrangements and the rituals around death, and so as I drove up to my brother’s house and saw the police, the medics, the neighbor who’d found his body, I decided to bring forth what Spirit had just shared with me – to be joyous. They all were trying their best to console me. I was smiling and said, “I know he’s fine.” The police officer said, “Oh, no, your brother’s not fine.” I said, “I know. I get it, but I know he’s fine. I know his soul is fine, and he’s happy.” The officer turned to me and said, “I wish I had as much belief as you do.” I said, “I don’t have belief. I know it.” I knew he was fine, and the rest of the journey with my brother and the family was very joyful in many ways. I shared with them what my brother and I had talked about regarding Spirit, his faith, his beliefs, and that helped the family to enter into joy for his passing. His body was cremated; I had thought his son and daughters would want part of his ashes to take home with them, but they felt complete and did not want them. So, I kept them. Years later, Brian and I went out and scattered his ashes in the river. I had already released my brother in joy years before, so it was just a
April, 2013
nice release of the physical, a completion of the journey. Although ritual is not important to the soul, it can be helpful to the physical and emotional consciousness. At the time of my brother’s death, I realized how important a funeral or scattering of the ashes really are for many people. These kinds of rituals help us to say good-bye, offering a way to share an expression of our loving, and a way to share with others that quality of giving and receiving. It can also help bring things to a closure inside oneself, as well as opening up doors to continue with our own journey, freeing whatever needs to be released at that time. A few weeks after my brother’s death I decided to go back to church. I hadn’t been to a church service in years. I sat close to the front and sang and prayed. I really got into that process of the outer ritual of service in the world. It was uplifting to be in that atmosphere, to share in the community in a way that focused on one thing, and that was on God. People were putting God first and they were coming together to worship Him. It was wonderful to be in that energy, in that consciousness. As I left the church, I had a sense of gratitude for all religious services that exist in the world and how they truly serve humanity in a very wonderful way, both for the individual and the community. Funerals, scattering of ashes, attending church, or even when we are in our own home lighting a candle to meditate or listening to a meditation CD – these outer rituals can be very helpful in bringing our attention centered. They can help us become more aware of that spiritual essence of our self and the Lord that resides within us. Being on the Path of Sound and Light takes us even further than the centered attention that rituals bring forth. In truth, we will never find God in a particular church, ritual, ceremony, book, mountaintop, etc. In truth, all we have to do is sit down anywhere in the world, close our eyes, go inside, look up to the seat of the soul and see the light of our own soul shining and radiating forward within us right now, blessing us, and assisting us on our own journey as we walk through each day.