Celebration of Light 2015

It is that time of the year again.

The weather is getting colder.

The nights are getting longer.

The holiday season is almost upon us.

That can mean only one thing...

That's right - It's almost time for our annual Celebration of Light.

Barb and Neal have been hard at work putting together a spectacular program for us.

Remember to bring your friends, bring your good cheer, and come ready to celebrate the season.

Barb and Neal might even let our very own Dr. Kenn share his inspiring message again this year.

Celebration of Light

Kelowna Community Theatre 

December 21st at 7pm

Check out our Facebook Event page

Please Join Us!!

Happy Monday! We have a week full of activities in our spiritual community

It is a beautiful new week. The summer is winding down. The evenings are getting a little cooler and fall will be upon us shortly. In this time of transition we have a week full of activities at the Centre.

Here is a reminder of what is happening during the week of August 24th - August 30th.


Tuesday 2 pm - Our regular Tuesdays at 2 group will be meeting to share eclectic conversation. Join us at the Pandosy Peace Centre.

Tuesday 3 pm - There will be a Celebration of Life for our beloved practitioner and long time member Merv Flahr. Join us at the Pandosy Peace Centre.

Wednesday 7 pm - We are delighted to have Rev. Dr. Patrick Cameron join us for our mid-week Healing Service. He will be sharing his experience spending time with John of God in Brazil. Dr. Cameron will then lead the powerful healing meditation. Join us at the Pandosy Peace Centre.

Friday 5 pm - Rev. Corina Scherer will be hosting her Women's Circle this Friday. This is a powerful group for women who could use some support in their personal growth. Join us at the Pandosy Peace Centre.

Sunday 10 am - Join us at the Kelowna Community Theatre for our Sunday Celebration. This week is our Education Sunday.

A Summer of Inspiration

Things are starting to really heat up at the Centre for Spiritual Living Kelowna. There's lots happening this month as we gear up for another year of inspiration, community, and growth. The sun is still shining and it is a great time to put our spiritual principles into practice.

Here is the rundown of everything we have got going on this month:

August 15th - We will have a booth at Pride in the Park. Come and visit us there!

August 16th - Right after service there will be a Discovery Class. This is a great session for anyone who is relatively new to the Centre. Meet the Ministers and learn a little bit more about us.

August 19th - Our Mid-Week Healing Service will be starting. This will be a regular weekly evening of meditation and healing.

August 22nd - We will be holding our Quick Start Program. This is a one day class on the basics of our teaching.

August 30th - This is our Education Sunday. Students from last year's classes will have a brief graduation ceremony and we will celebrate our deeply held value of lifelong learning.

Christy Snow is coming back to CSL Kelowna.

Christy Snow will be coming back to share her wisdom, her beautiful music, and her beautiful presence with us. She will be holding a couple of workshops at the Peace Centre. See below for more information. 

Workshop – June 7 & 14, 2015

Living From Your YES Workshop (part 1 & 2)!

This two part workshop will take place Sundays June 7^th and June 14^th following service from 1:00-3:30pm. The workshop is offered individually or together. This means that you are welcome even if you can only attend one Sunday; however the material will build and therefore you will receive the maximum benefit from this material by attending both. The cost for this spiritual investment is $45 per workshop or $80 for both when paid on or before June 7^th.

Part 1 (June 7^th) is focused on identifying and solidifying your Passion, Purpose and Individual Expression.

Part 2 (June 14^th) will concentrate on making significant shifts in your life regarding Money and Relationships.

Living From Your YES – Part 1

Part 1 is focused on identifying and solidifying your Passion, Purpose and Individual Expression.

What is your “WHY?”

You make decisions every day, are they conscious, are they driven by a connection to who you are, what is important to you and what is yours to bring to the world?

Create your own personal statement with which to assist in navigating the decisions in your life.

Understand and learn to engage the spiritual laws ever available to you to create a life fully lived. Live your unique expression in the world.

Living From Your YES – Part 2

Focused on releasing old patterns of thought and behavior that limit the flow of good in your life. Part 2 of Living From Your YES will concentrate on making significant shifts in your life regarding Money and Relationships.

Do your finances have room for improvement? Could your relationships be more fulfilling and harmonious? Ever thought about the connection between your love life and your bank account? Both of these areas are huge indicators of the level of good you have allowed yourself to accept up until now. Learn to increase your capacity for good by utilizing the spiritual laws of the universe. “There is a power for good in the Universe and you can use it.” Dr. Ernest Holmes

It’s your time to “use it” and create a life where you thrive, not just survive. You deserve it!

Lisa Nichols in Kelowna!!!

There are a couple of very exciting opportunities to see Lisa Nichols in Kelowna. Lisa Nichols will be sharing her story and her wisdom. You are sure to be inspired.

There are two different events that might interest you. She is doing a full day event complete with High Tea at Summerhill winery for women on Sunday and then she is speaking at the Kelowna Community Theatre on Monday evening.

What a treat to have such a well-known speaker here in the Okanagan Valley.

See the website for more details http://www.lisainkelowna.com

Looking to try something new and fun... Check out this workshop

Christina Marlett is back by popular demand. 

She hosted a workshop for us several months ago and I must say it was fantastic. It is hard to describe exactly what it is like. You really have to just sign up and take the plunge. 

Here is what I can say about it:

1. It is fun! Lots of fun.
2. It is enlightening.
3. It is a whole new way of communicating with ourselves.
4. It is a safe and comfortable environment to express ourselves.
4. Did I mention that it is fun?

Here is the official information about the workshop:

What do you get when you ask a question and then move your body to help reveal the answer? A D’Answer!

Join us Sunday, April 12 at the Pandosy Peace Centre from 1:00-4:00pm for the unusual movement workshop, Finding D’Answers with Christina Marlett. Cost $30

Whether you love to dance or are “dance-phobic", you can expect to move with freedom, while honouring your body’s current state and abilities. The magic of this workshop is that no matter what you're going through in your life, the material will become exactly what you need to move through with curiosity, enjoyment and light-heartedness.


Zero dance ability required. Coordination is optional. An open mind and an open heart are essential.

Here is what one of the participants had to say about it:

Thank you for offering this workshop!  I really enjoyed it and found much 'material' to ponder on... and even a few 'doorways' to answers. In my spiritual practice, I had been searching for answers over the last few months.  I felt I wanted and needed a shift in perspective.  The dance-part of your workshop appealed to me, so I thought it might be a good avenue of discovery for me.  It was!

I got several insights on my relationship with myself and with others; on my self-imposed limitations and beliefs about who I am and what I can do; etc.  I was surprised how easy it was to find the answers once I let go into the dance movements and really felt the mind-body connection.

Your workshop has been a really worthwhile experience for me. Suzanne

Notes from the 2015 AGM

I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude for those who came out to our Annual General meeting last Sunday.

It’s always so interesting for me to see who’s interested in the fine balance of marrying our vision with the practicalities of the business side of “doing church.”

It’s a great representation of our own inner life/outer life, the objective/subjective, and spirit/form, and in the final analysis, to realize that it’s all really one thing… albeit with very different appearances.  It’s all God/Good.

For those of you who weren't able to make it here is a little recap of the things we talked about.

There are some fantastic things going on here at our centre. Our classes are vibrant, our music uplifting, our children’s program, the VIBE, is growing our young minds and hearts (to the point where we’re putting out the call for more volunteers…)

This past year also included the addition of 6 newly licensed practitioners, the licensing of 6 new staff ministers and the ordination of 3 of our current staff ministers. To me, this supports the growing consciousness of the Science of Mind both in our centre and in the world.

Our theme for the current year is “Being Seen in 2015” and we saw two major thrusts last year that paved the way to make this possible. One is having our “marketing maven” Amanda Pope support us in utilizing Social Media in impactful ways- reaching out way beyond the bricks and mortar of either the Community Theatre or the Pandosy Peace Centre; and the other is Rev. Lesley McNamara’s powerful outreach into our greater community of the city of Kelowna. I am so grateful to both of them and all the volunteers who support these initiatives.

Rev Lesley and her outreach committee are particularly active right now with events profiling the Season of Peace and Non-Violence.

I believe our growth as a centre lies in community - both on the inner level, within our centre, and on the outer levels, in our city and even out into the greater world.

There’s no doubt “church” itself is vastly different than it was 10-20 years ago. Much of our philosophy and what we teach is now available in a wide variety of formats - often without cost or commitment required. And while I know community can happen this way, through virtual means, I hold there’s nothing that can replace being together face to face or heart to heart.

This idea of being together in person leads back to the business matters that affect our centre. Being able to support and supply our spiritual community with Sunday celebrations, classes, programs, events, and places to meet all require support - spiritual, financial, volunteer, and organizational.

One particularly potent way to provide this is through your participation in our Conscious Giving Program which allows our board to make sound financial decisions and to be the very best stewards of our resources.

Our goal is continue to offer moving, relevant and engaging experiences in all these areas and it’s your support that allows us, and will continue to allow us, to do all of this in ever greater ways. 

Thank you for your part in blessing our centre… Dr. Deborah

Peace Sing Along

Part of the Season of Peace and Non-Violence included a peace sing along this week. Here are some photos from this fun event.

Thank you to Rev. Lesley and the Outreach Committee for all your hard work on this event.

Thank you to Joanne for the photos.

March 15th - 'Peace in Us' and 'Compassionate Communication' Workshop

 “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mindfulness, Graciousness, Kindness, Dialogue, Unity, Openness, and Accountability … are the concepts for Week 6 of the Season of Nonviolence. All wonderful qualities for a life well lived, we can all agree on that. 

64 days of trying on ideas and concepts that can enhance my life… here we are over half way through the “Season” …… I have experienced joy, happiness, connection, and some not so happy feelings of upset, sadness and self-pity. A well rounded human after all! 

Mostly, I have been super aware of the ways violence shows up in my world. I used the word explode in a poem the other day and wondered about the violence of that word in a love poem. Did it fit? Do I mean that? What is explode, what does it mean to me… where has explode shown up before? 

My contemplations have led me to remember times in my past, what I watch on TV, and what I can no longer watch on TV. I recently attended a movie and found the violence towards a woman in the show intolerable so I walked out, but I eagerly await each week the next episode of my favourite murder mystery show. What a paradox. Why was that one scene so overpowering and yet I seem to be absolutely immune to a dead body with blood spewed all over it in another show. 

I invite you to explore where violence shows up in your life, contemplate what your ideas and thoughts are, and perhaps there are some insights in increasing peace and releasing violence that result… Let’s shine our light on Peace! - Rev. Lesley

Join us on Sunday morning (March 15th) for an inspiring message about "Peace in Us" by Dr. Deborah Gordon and Reverend Lesley McNamara. Then carry the spirit of peace into the afternoon with a workshop on compassionate communication from 1:00 - 4:00 at the Pandosy Peace Centre (seems like an appropriate location, doesn't it?).

Season of Peace and Non-Violence.... Movie Night and a Great talk.

Just a reminder that the peace-themed movie night is coming up this Friday February 20th at 7pm at UBC-O. This is the second event in the Season of Non-Violence outreach initiative. Come on out and enjoy a movie and support this season.

In the meantime you can watch this talk again on YouTube. This was Reverend Corinne Crockett's talk on the subject of peace entitled - Yes it begins with me. There are some great slides in the video that accompany the talk. Pour yourself a cup of tea and curl up with your (cat/dog/goldfish/partner/friend/favourite blanket) and be inspired to be the peace you want to see in the world.

It's the Month of Love

With Valentine's Day coming up, we really can't help but think about love. The love we have currently in our lives, the love we have lost, the love we would like to have. It all comes up around Valentines Day, doesn't it?

My all-time favourite book about love and relationships is Gary Chapman's The 5 Languages of Love. I learned some very valuable lessons from this book. The great thing is that the tools in this book don't just enhance our
primary love relationship, they are also very useful in our relationships with our friends and family as well. These tools are so universal that I have also used them in my role as a manager.

For instance, did you know that we tend to show love to others in the ways that we want to be loved? That makes sense, doesn't it? Did you also know that people have very different ways of feeling loved? As Chapman says, we each have a language of love that we speak and that speaks to us. Now, what are the chances that all the other people in our lives speak the same love language? If they don't (which many of them, in fact, don't) we could be spending a lot of energy trying to express our love to people in our lives but they are not feeling it. We are not speaking the right language.

Now imagine if you knew the love language of the people in your life. Imagine the harmony you would have in your relationships if the love you expressed could easily be felt by others.

Reverend Gwen Smith is starting a book study on The 5 Love Languages on Valentine's Day. I highly recommend this book and I can't think of a more open and loving person to facilitate some great discussions about the ideas Gary Chapman presents.  

If you are interested in learning more about relationships and love languages, contact Rev. Gwen Smith about this book study.

A Season of Peace and Non-Violence

I am so passionate about people. I love ‘em and embrace ‘em! As the facilitator of the Community Outreach Portfolio at CSL Kelowna, I knew I wanted to build a great sense of connectedness for our members, while being “seen” in the greater Kelowna area. I know we have tools and a way of thinking that transforms lives. What could be more relevant than promoting PEACE in our city? The Season of Non-Violence has been around for 18 years now and it’s time it came to Kelowna. Peace begins within and we know how to create a beautiful space for people to experience the Peace that passes all understanding.

Our group of Peace Champs is so excited to offer five events that every one of us can participate in and we can invite our family, friends, and co-workers.  

JANUARY 30^TH – Peace Meditation – 6:30 pm Pandosy Peace Centre

FEBRUARY 20^TH – Peace Movie Night – 7:00 pm UBCO

MARCH 15^TH – Peace Workshop – 1 – 4 pm Pandosy Peace Centre

MARCH 26^TH – Coffee House Sing along – 7 pm Bean Scene Coffee on Bernard Avenue

APRIL 4^TH – Peace Rocks Walk – location to be determined

How Fun and Easy is that? 

“Be the Change you wish to See” Gandhi

Community * Light * Relevance * Transformation * Fun * Easy

Rev. Lesley McNamara