Click here to view the photo slideshow from Day 1 of the Conference Workshop, 2007.
MSIA’s Conference Workshop 2007 is on the theme “Fulfilling the Spiritual Promise”, and when I entered the packed ballroom at the Universal Sheraton Hotel on Friday morning, I was eager to find out what sort of workshop it would be. For me, there’s something special about the Conference Workshop — such a concentration of loving, enthusiastic people, such a burst of energy as Ministers, Initiates and newcomers congregate from across the States and around the globe.
We began, as always, by calling in the Light, and then our facilitators, John Morton and Pauli Sanderson introduced the idea of awakening to the Spiritual Promise and the concept that a part of us already knows what that is. They then played the entire recording of John-Roger reading “The Spiritual Promise”.
Whenever I hear that recording, my impression is that it speaks directly to my Soul, and that my Soul responds with delight. It was a wonderful way to begin a workshop, and I felt that we had all moved to a higher and a deeper place by the time we had finished listening to it. My impression was that we were being called forward and upward from the very beginning.
After some further audio excerpts by John-Roger and John Morton, we began to reflect on what the spiritual promise means to us, and I found some wonderful answers that way. Pauli asked us how many of us had answers which involved being kinder and more loving to ourselves, and it seemed that this was a common experience. Appropriately enough, we then watched part of an extremely dynamic video seminar of John-Roger, entitled “Be God to Yourself.”
After a short meditation and a bajan (devotional song) led by Penelope Bright with John Morgan on guitar, it was time for lunch.
In the afternoon, we watched a marvelous short video about USM’s work in a State Prison for Women. Very inspiring. And then, came the moment we had all been waiting for — sharing with John-Roger and John Morton. As I turned to watch them begin their walk from the back of the room, I was so filled with gratitude for our Travelers, and in particular for J-R’s continued willingness to come forward to be with us in person and assist us on our journey home to God.
Throughout the day, I was aware of a tremendous atmosphere of peace, reverence, grace and generosity. The logistics involved with working with such a large group were easy (thank you, assistants!), the audio and video were fabulous (thank you, NOW Productions), the sun shone and the birds sang (thank you God)! I can hardly wait until tomorrow!
Read more articles from MSIA’s Conference of Fulfilling Your Spiritual Promise 2007
