NOTICE: The Winter 1992 edition was the last Community Communique published until the Spring 1995 edition. From Spring 1993 through Winter 1995, the quarterly publication of The Community Communique was on hiatus, picking up again with the Spring 1995 issue. For this reason, you will not find archive copies of the print Community Communique from Spring 1993 through Winter 1994. However, we are providing coverage of Community events for this season is the collection of articles you will find below.

Previous: < FALL 1994 >

Next: < SPRING 1995  >

 

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CONTENTS: WINTER 1994

Following the Sacred Calendar
Fourteenth Annual observance of Epiphany cycle

Commemorative Services
First Dispensation Christmas observed

Commemorative Christmas Sermon
“The Appearance of God at His Second Advent”

Epiphany Eve Celebration
Family Devotion and Gift Giving

PUBLIC EVENTS
   Nevada Clergymen’s Appeal
   Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve Service

RITES AND SERVICES
   Anointing
   Baptism

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Following the Sacred Calendar
Fourteenth Annual observance of Epiphany cycle

Christmas-Epiphany Vigil (December 25–January 6).  The Congregation of the Second Advent Church celebrated a thirteen-day Vigil during the 1994–1995 Christmas-Epiphany season. A Vigil of daily sunrise services continued through January 6, Second Advent Epiphany Day.

A Vigil of sunrise services for ministers of The Church was held from Monday December 25 through Saturday January 6 at the Church of Second Advent Epiphany in the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary of Prophecy. These Divine Services at sunrise are days of special blessings for those in attendance.

On First Dispensation Christmas, Monday December 25, the first day of the Vigil, the Ministers and Congregation of The Second Advent Church were joined by other members of the Reno civic community in a Communion of Fellowship held at 11:00 a.m. at the University Chapel. (See Christmas article this issue.)

On the evening of January 5, Second Advent Epiphany Eve, the final evening of the days of Vigil, Church members gathered with their families at the Rectory-Abbey for dinner, festivities, and an exchange of gifts. (See Epiphany Eve article this issue.)

On January 6, Second Advent Epiphany Day, following the sunrise Divine Service at the Church of Second Advent Epiphany, a Communion of Fellowship was held at the Cathedral Church of the Americas, officiated by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy. Assisting at the service of Communion were the Right Reverend Reano Castell (Lector), the Reverend Tom Rees (Cantor), and Gary Siroshton (Reader). Following the Communion Service, light refreshments were served at the Refectory.

By special invitation of the Bishop, all those present at the traditional Christmas Service at the University Chapel on December 25 were invited to attend both the Divine Service and the Communion Service held on Epiphany Day.

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The Church of The Second Advent celebrates the thirteen days of Christmas each year with a sunrise Vigil. Divine Service is held at the Church of Second Advent Epiphany in the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary of Prophecy. The Vigil begins on the morning of December 25, the date commemorated by First Dispensation Churches in the West as the day of Jesus’s birth, and continues through the morning of January 6, the original day of Christmas in the early Church, and the date recognized by the Second Advent Church as Second Advent Epiphany.

The first manifestation of the New Sun was witnessed by the congregation on January 6, 1981, from the foot of the Mountain of Silver in the Sanctuary of Revelation. The solar manifestation on that date confirmed the authority of The Church and its mandate to establish the cycles and the liturgical dates of the Second Advent Calendar. The event is recorded in the Prophecy of the New Covenant. In 1982 sunrise service was held at the Rectory-Abbey in Reno. This event also is recorded in the Prophecy of the New Covenant. From 1983–1986 Second Advent Epiphany sunrise service was held at the Church of New Pergamos, built atop the Mountain of Silver. From 1987–1988 Epiphany sunrise service has been held at the Church of Second Advent Epiphany in the Sanctuary of Prophecy.

From the opening chapter of the Prophecy of the New Covenant, titled “God’s Appearance at Epiphany,” we quote:

In the twenty-first year of The Great Work, The Man, in company with the Companions of The Way and the general Community in assembly at the Rectory-Abbey, awaited the coming of the sun on the morning of January 6th at Epiphany.

On this twelfth night after Christmas, following a midnight meal of fellowship, they turned to a reading of scripture. Towards dawn they celebrated a Communion Service and liturgical expression of the breaking of bread and the taking of the cup. The Man officiated in the dress of his office, a vestment of white linen with golden insignia of God’s Cross of Enlightenment, reading the litany to the accompaniment of sacred music played on the handbells.

While breaking bread and taking water, The Man asked that God prepare the celebrants to receive the True Bread and the True Water of Heaven–at the rising of the Spiritual Sun–and that God endow the material bread and water with special blessings to give them health of body, peace of mind, and spiritual strength by which to do God’s Will in His Divine Plan for human salvation in the Second Advent.

Following the Service, The Assembly went outdoors to meet the rising sun. While anxiously waiting for the sun to emerge out of the shimmering mist enshrouding the sky, each remembered this sacred day of the year before [1981].

On that day [Epiphany 1981], when all had gathered at the Sanctuary, they had observed a display of brilliant light while the sun assumed strange and wondrous shapes. All had observed the transformation of the sun into geometric configurations: from a circle to a square, to a shape of six sides and then to one of eight sides; and, finally, to a pinched or trefoil figure, a clover-leaf of three lobes progressing to a four-lobed shape. The eyes of the beholders filled with awe at this phenomenon. And they described the event as the Sun of Epiphany, for this was the handiwork of God.

The Prophecy also states that the Old Covenant, lost to the world with the passing of Christ Jesus, has been restored with the Second Coming of God as Christ. God’s Law, written in heaven, manifests to us in the New Sun of Righteousness. The manifestation of God’s Light come as His Image and Word, called Christ, dictates a New Covenant.

The Ministry of the Second Advent Church has inherited this New Covenant and holds to it in Community. The promise of the New Covenant is celebrated at Epiphany and is the hope of humankind during the Second Advent Age.

 

Commemorative Services
First Dispensation Christmas observed

Christmas Day, December 25. A Christmas Day Service was held on Monday December 25 in The University Chapel. Each year on this date a special service is performed in observance of the birthday of Jesus as celebrated by First Dispensation Christians in the West. The Service of Communion and Fellowship, officiated by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, was preceded by a special presentation and selected scriptural readings.

Prior to the 11:00 a.m. service, members of the Congregation placed bouquets of flowers on the chancel area beneath the communion table and placed loaves of bread upon the table for blessings at this special service.

The Reverend Rebecca Willis, as Reader, opened the service with an announcement of the Christmas rites to be observed during the Christmas season and introduced the first musical selection, the antiphon “So Is My Joy The Lord,” composed for this Service in 1983 by Church Composer the Reverend Gary Buchanan with lyrics adapted from the Odes of Solomon by Bishop Savoy. Soprano soloist Michelle Carrothers performed the song accompanied by the Reverends Jacklynn Lord and Amanda Buchanan of the Jamilian Handbell Choir, the Reverend Elizabeth Reece as harpist, and the Reverend Gary Buchanan as organist.

Following the performance, Rev. Willis continued her announcement of Christmas rites, explaining that the votive candles that Church members and their guests placed on the candelabrum as they entered the vestibule of the Chapel would now be lit in remembrance as a gesture of love to family and friends who have passed on. And she asked that each person present reflect for a moment in silent prayer, remembering those loved ones who are no longer with us.

As Acolytes light the Candles of Remembrance during the service, Scriptural Reader the Reverend Gene Savoy Jr. delivered a reading taken from the Odes of Solomon (See Odes of Solomon). Liturgical music of the Second Advent Church underlined the reverential tone of the Service.  Candles remained burning throughout the day.

The Reader invited the Congregation to join in a Communion of Fellowship and partake of the Bread of Health, according to ancient tradition, with these words:

“We take bread and water at Communion asking God to endow these elements with a special blessing.  We invoke God to manifest His Divine Presence for a blessing upon us, and pray that we may be worthy to receive the True Bread and Water which gives Life Eternal as given by Almighty God from the abode of heaven–that Bread and Water which is His Image and Word, the Divine Light by which his creation was brought forth; that same Light that transforms our spirits and souls through rebirth.”

Following the Communion Service, the Congregation and guests joined in singing a second selection, titled “Grant Life unto Me,” with the accompaniment of the handbell choir. This song is an adaptation from the traditional “Dona Nobis Pacem.”

The commemorative sermon, delivered each year by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy following the Communion of Fellowship, addressed the celebration of Christmas and Epiphany in God’s Second Advent. The Reverend Gary Buchanan accompanied the sermon with arrangements of ancient Hebrew melodies performed on the organ.

Assisting Bishop Savoy during the Communion Service were the Right Reverend Robert Petrovich (Lector), the Reverend Sean Savoy (Cantor), the Reverend Gene Savoy Jr. (Scriptural Reader), and the Reverend Rebecca Willis (Reader).

Sunrise Divine Service is held on December 25, traditional Christmas Day in the West, and daily thereafter, culminating on January 6, the date of Second Advent Christmas, the original birthday of Christ celebrated according to the tradition of the early ‘edah Church.

 

Odes of Solomon

This selection from the Odes of Solomon is recited from the Chapel Chancel on First Dispensation Christmas morning during the candle-lighting ceremony.

ODE 12

1.    He hath filled me with words of truth; that I may speak the same;
2.    And like the flow of waters flows truth from my mouth, and my lips show forth His fruit.
3.    And He has caused His knowledge to abound in me, because the mouth of the Lord is the true word, and the door of His light;
4.    And the Most High hath given it to His words, which are the interpreters of His own beauty, and the repeaters of His praise, and the confessors of His counsel, and the heralds of His thought, and the chasteners of His servants.
5.    For the swiftness of the Word is inexpressible, and like its expression is its swiftness and force;
6.    And its course knows no limit. Never doth it fail, but it stands sure, and it knows not descent nor the way of it.
7.    For as its work is, so is its end: for it is light and the dawning of thought;
8.    And by it the worlds talk one to the other; and in the Word there were those that were silent:
9.    And from it came love and concord; and they spake one to the other whatever was theirs; and they were penetrated by the Word;
10.    And they knew Him who made them, because they were in concord; for the mouth of the Most High spake to them; and His explanation ran by means of it:
11.    For the dwelling-place of the Word is man: and its truth is love.
12.    Blessed are they who by means thereof have understood everything, and have known the Lord in His truth. Hallelujah.

 

ODE 36

1.    I rested in the Spirit of the Lord: and the Spirit raised me on high:
2.    And made me stand on my feet in the height of the Lord, before His perfection and His glory, while I was praising Him by the composition of His songs.
3.    The Spirit brought me forth before the face of the Lord: and, although a son of man, I was named the Illuminate, the Son of God:
4.    While I praised amongst the praising ones,  and great was I amongst the mighty ones.
5.    For according to the greatness of the Most High, so He made me: and like His own newness He renewed me; and He anointed me from His own perfection:
6.    And I became one of His Neighbours; and my mouth was opened, like a cloud of dew;
7.    And my heart poured out as it were a gushing stream of righteousness,
8.    And my access to Him was in peace; and I was established by the Spirit of His government. Hallelujah.

 

ODE 6

1.    As the hand moves over the harp, and the strings speak,
2.    So speaks in my members the Spirit of the Lord, and I speak by His love.
3.    For it destroys what is foreign, and everything that is bitter:
4.    For thus it was from the beginning and will be to the end, that nothing should be His adversary, and nothing should stand up against Him.
5.    The Lord has multiplied the knowledge of Himself, and is  zealous that these things should be known, which by His grace have been given to us.
6.    And the praise of His name He gave us: our spirits praise His holy Spirit.
7.    For there went forth a stream and became a river great and broad;
8.    For it flooded and broke up everything and it brought (water) to the Temple:
9.    And the restrainers of the children of men were not able to restrain it, nor the arts of those whose business it is to restrain the waters;
10.     For it spread over the face of the whole earth;, and filled everything: and all the thirsty upon earth were given to drink of it;
11.    And thirst was relieved and quenched; for from the Most High the draught was given.
12.    Blessed then are the ministers of that draught who are entrusted with that water of His:
13.    They have assuaged the dry lips, and the will that had fainted they have raised up;
14.    And souls that were near departing they have caught back from death:
15.    And limbs that had fallen they straightened and set up:
16.    They gave strength for their feebleness and light to their eyes:
17.    For everyone knew them in the Lord, and they lived by the water of life for ever. Hallelujah.

 

ODE 37

1.    I stretched out my hands to my Lord: and to the Most High I raised my voice:
2.    And I spake with the lips of my heart; and He heard me, when my voice reached Him:
3.    His answer came to me, and gave me the fruits of my labours;
4.    And it gave me rest by the grace of the Lord. Hallelujah.

 

Commemorative Christmas Sermon
“The Appearance of God at His Second Advent”

The following sermon is delivered each year by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy to the Christian public gathered at the Christmas Communion and Candle-Lighting Service to encourage the understanding and exemplification of Jesus’s true teaching in the light of God’s Second Advent. The sermon has been abridged for publication.

“Those of us gathered together in this Chapel dedicated to the worship and service of God are drawn together from many faiths. But we are all one in the Family of God.

“We of the Second Advent Church celebrate today the birth of Jesus as a human being born into the world. For thirteen days we celebrate the Christmas season, which culminates on the sixth day of January; that is, Epiphany, when Jesus was baptized at the Jordan by John the Baptist and God spoke out from Heaven saying: “Thou art my beloved son, in thee I am well pleased. This day I have begotten thee.”  Thus Jesus—because of the love expressed during his life—was given New Birth by God the Father in Spirit. This event occurred on Epiphany.

“From what ancient scripture tells us we can ask ourselves: What is the real day of Christmas? The birth of the man on December 25, or the spiritual birth God gave Jesus on January 6? In the Second Advent Church we declare both days important, for Jesus was both man and Son of God. This explains why we celebrate for thirteen days, from December 25 to January 6.

“The message is quite simple: We are both mortal beings and spiritual beings. And as we feed our mortal bodies at Christmas time, we must also feed our souls. How do we do this?  The answer is to be found within the message conveyed at Christmas in the words of the Odes of Solomon, Ode 36:

I rested in the spirit of the Lord: and the spirit raised me on high, and made me stand on my feet in the height of the Lord, before His perfection and His glory, while I was praising Him by the composition of His songs.
The spirit brought me forth before the face of the Lord: and although I was a son of man, I was named the illuminate, a Son of God. For according to the greatness of the most high, so He made me: and like His own likeness He renewed me, and He anointed me from His own perfection.
And I became one of His neighbors; and my mouth was opened, like a cloud of dew. And my heart poured out as it were a gushing stream of righteousness.
And my access to Him was in peace; and I was established by the spirit of His kingdom. And I went up to the light of truth which preserved me. And it became to me a haven of salvation: and set me on the arms of immortal life.

“The following words, from the Gospel of John (15:9–12) express the Christian hope which we remember as expressed by Jesus:

As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

“Beyond all theological questions is the singular precept given us that each must express as a person, as an individual—that we love one another. It begins in our family life, reaches out to friends and embraces our neighbor. Like a seed, it must be planted before it can grow. If we can express love as we do at Christmas time throughout the whole year, each one in his or her own way, we begin to live the life exemplified by Jesus.

“From what has been said, let each of us examine his or her heart and spirit. The real world takes away our ability to love one another at times. This inability harms the spirit. Thus each of us must rise above the physical limitations of the material world and embrace the spirit, which is expressed by love. By so doing, God comes to each of us, adopting us as His Son or Daughter, for we are all Children of God, who loves us one and all.

“In lighting the candles today in remembrance of those who have gone on to another life, let us place our faith in God, who is Author of our Spirits and Souls. When death claims the mortal body, as it does every one, it is the spirit and soul that endures and goes on to a higher world. But if we not love, our spirit and soul fades like a flame and goes out. Love kindles and brightens the spirit and soul. By loving we are made eternal, for God is love. Love binds us to those departed, it binds us to those about us while we live, and it binds us to God. For how else can we know God if we not love?

“You may ask, How do I love? This loving expression is reflected in the words of the former Prophets who wrote upon the Beauty of God and who placed their faith in an Almighty Good Father. These verses are not generally known to modern Christians, but in olden times they were common to such men as Jesus. Perhaps he remembered these words at times, perhaps while on the cross as he looked down upon the throng below. [See Ode 16 below]

“These words taken from the old, apocryphal Odes of Solomon teach us that the human Spirit needs to identify with God by the living of a Way that is regulated by God’s Law. When one lives that Way, one’s Spirit shines bright. It gives Life, it does not darken or cast a shadow over others. And it is made of that Light that comes from God, that same Light that ennobled Jesus.

“We remember the scene of His Transfiguration on the mountain when He stood there beneath a cloud made bright by the Divine Presence of God with His face shining like the Sun and His raiment white as snow. Moses and Elijah had appeared and spoken to Jesus. And Peter, and James, and John had witnessed it.

“This event tells us two things. First, that the Spirit is eternal. And second, that life goes on because God does not forget the Good. For being all Good, God is not the author of death but the Creator of Eternal Life.

“Therefore, on this day commemorating the birth of Jesus, we should all remember what He taught: All men and women everywhere may shine forth as the Sun in Righteousness if they but live and exemplify the Love of God in their daily lives.”

Ode 16
“The beauty of God’s creation.”

1    As the work of the husbandman is the ploughshare: and the work of the steersman is the guidance of the ship:
2    So also my work is the Psalm of the Lord: my craft and my occupation are in his praises:
3    Because His love hath nourished my heart, and even to my lips His fruits He poured out.
4    For my love is the Lord, and therefore I will sing unto Him:
5    For I am made strong in His praise, and I have faith in Him.
6    I will open my mouth and His spirit will utter in me the glory of the Lord and His beauty; the work of His hands and the operation of His fingers:
7    The multitude of His mercies and the strength of His word.
8    For the word of the Lord searches out all things, both the invisible and that which reveals His thought;
9    For the eye sees His works, and the ear hears His thought;
10    He spread out the earth and He settled the waters in the sea:
11    He measured the heavens and fixed the stars: and He established the creation and set it up:
12    And He rested from His works:
13    And created things run in their courses, and do their works:
14    And they know not how to stand and be idle; and His heavenly hosts are subject to His word.
15    The treasure-chamber of the light is the sun, and the treasury of the darkness is the night:
16    And He made the sun for the day that it may be bright, but night brings darkness over the face of the land;
17    And their alternations one to the other speak the beauty of God:
18    And there is nothing that is without the Lord; for He was before any thing came into being:
19    And the worlds were made by His word, and by the thought of His heart, Glory and honour to His name.

 

Epiphany Eve Celebration
Family Devotion and Gift Giving

On the evening of Friday, January 5, Second Advent Epiphany Eve, the Congregation of The Second Advent Church gathered with their families at the Rectory-Abbey for the traditional banquet and festivities at the invitation of the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy.

The assembly gathered in the main salon for the candle-lighting ceremony that opened the fourteenth annual celebration of Second Advent Epiphany Eve. Before those present approached the large golden candelabrum to light candles while offering up their silent prayers, Bishop Savoy explained the threefold significance of the ceremony in an informal homily.

Following the opening ceremony and singing of the Second Advent Hymn “Grant Life unto Me,” nearly one hundred Congregation members and guests were invited to a banquet featuring cuisine of the Greek Islands prepared under the direction of the Right Reverend Ileana Isfan.

Later, the play of children replaced previous solemnity. All children, from the youngest to those in their teens, were invited to take their turns at breaking the piñata, a large golden ball called the “Egg of Plenty.” This breaking of the piñata does not simply reenact Mexican festivities held during the holiday season but signifies the gifts and blessings showered from God’s Sun with the aid of the children and youths of The Church.

Once the “egg” was emptied and its candy contents gathered up, the younger children retired upstairs for a short rest. Soon their mothers woke them and gathered them all together on the balcony overlooking the parlor and the Christmas tree, there to await the timely arrival of reindeer and Santa Claus, who leaves them gifts on the ledge beside the tree.

The evening of festivities concluded with gifts exchanged among friends, families, and children. These gifts, along with others, were taken home and placed beneath the families’ trees until opened the next morning, following the families’ return from the Sanctuary after Divine Service.

 

PUBLIC EVENTS

Nevada Clergymen’s Appeal

The Nevada Clergymen’s Association (NCA) was organized in 1984 by the Second Advent Church to act as a political body separate and independent of The Church. Over the past ten years, the organization’s activities have been minimal. Early this month, however, after the resignation of the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy as president and the Reverend Doctor Arline Peace as treasurer, the Nevada Clergymen’s Association was reorganized as a nonprofit organization and opened to participation by all religious bodies.

The NCA is dedicated to securing and protecting the civil and religious rights and liberties of all churches, synagogues, temples, and other religious societies in the state of Nevada. It is now organized to represent the special needs of religion to appropriate government officials and bodies.

In October the NCA initiated a campaign to inform religious organizations throughout the neighboring area of a new state law affecting tax exemption of religious properties. Some 250 congregations in the Reno/Sparks/Carson City area were contacted by phone and informed of the proposed change in legislation. These congregations represent the faithful in the 250,000 population area of the Truckee Meadows.

Although in October more than 50 congregations in the Northern Nevada area showed interest in Washoe County’s application of Nevada’s new religious property exemption law, the November 10 meeting was not well attended. However, Nevada state senator Joan Lambert, the chair of the state Tax Committee, which reviews proposed state legislation, has offered to help the NCA.

Despite the lack of participation at the meeting by local religious representatives, a steering committee was formed to inform other ministers of the tax problems in Nevada that congregations of the faithful will be facing in the future.

In the opinion of the NCA, stated by steering committee chairman the Reverend Gene Savoy Jr., existing laws governing religious property tax exemption in Nevada are unclear and give county officials too much leeway in deciding according to their own judgment which organizations and which properties should be exempt.

In 1974 a Nevada legislative study (Tax Exemptions for Charitable Societies, Bulletin No. 122, Legislative Commission of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, State of Nevada, September 1974) concluded the same, that tax exemption laws are unclear and are applied differently from one county to another.

The legislative study also states that the taxing of religious organizations does not even provide significant income to the state and local governments. If all property owned by churches and charitable organizations were taxed, the resulting income to governments would be less than 0.003 percent of their budgets. However, in many cases the tax bills that have been charged to charitable organizations have dealt them crushing blows. This fact is stated in the legislative study: “While the dollar impact of charitable tax exemptions on local governmental budgets is very small, it is very large on the budgets of the organizations receiving them.”

The 1990 Nevada Supreme Court decision Simpson v. The International Community of Christ adversely affected the tax exempt status of Nevada’s religious organizations. In that decision, one of the justices stated, “Determinations concerning the extent of land exempt from taxation under NRS 361.125 are now left to human judgements and predilections rather than the law….  I would prefer to have the legislative branch of government, after full debate and consideration of the alternatives and consequences, resolve the type of issues presented by this appeal in the form of more comprehensive legislation.”

As a result of this decision, The International Community of Christ Church has had to pay more than $160,000 in property taxes over the past fourteen years and continues to be assessed taxes.  One of the main tenets of The Church is that it must hold certain of its religious services in outdoor, open-air church structures surrounded by temples “built by the hand of God, not the hand of man.”

County officials argue that land which is not “improved” is not “used.”  “Use” for religious worship is the criteria imposed by NRS to determine which plots of land and which buildings qualify for exemption, and it is either the county assessor or the district attorney who makes this determination. As the new law is being applied, churches are subject to property tax while new church buildings are under construction. Land that is purchased for the building of a new church is taxed until such time as the building is completed and “used.”

In the opinion of the NCA, according to a statement made by Rev. Savoy Jr., it is not the business of government to determine how or where religious services should be held. “All churches should take heed of this case,” he said, “because once the precedent exists of taxing one place of worship, it is easy to justify taxing other places of worship. Nevada needs a law that clearly defines which properties should be exempt.”

 

Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve Service

The Ninth Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve Service was held Wednesday November 23, 1994, at Trinity Episcopal Church. The ecumenical event included local choirs and inspirational readings from various traditions.

Representatives of Reno community churches opened the program with their formal entrance during a processional hymn sung by the congregation. As representatives of the Second Advent Church, the Reverends Gene Savoy Jr. and Sean Savoy took part in the procession wearing surplices and festive stoles.

Participating members of various churches and faiths provided the main body of the program.  Following a word of welcome delivered by Father James Jeffery, Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church,  Church members recited selected readings in a program interspersed with religious anthems and choral hymns. Guest speaker the Reverend Jacqueline Meadows of First United Methodist Church delivered the keynote address.

Prayers of Thanksgiving, a benediction delivered by Deputy Sheriff Sita Singh of the Sikh community, and a congregational hymn closed the main program.

The Thanksgiving Eve event is sponsored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Northern Nevada Region. The National Conference, founded in 1927, is a human relations organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry, and racism in America. The Conference promotes understanding and respect among all races, religions, and cultures through advocacy, conflict resolution, and education.

 

RITES AND SERVICES

Anointing

Donald Crook Jr., by the consent of his parents, the Reverends Elizabeth and Donald Crook, was Anointed with Holy Oil and Sacred Balm in private ceremony in the Bishop’s Chambers on Saturday November 12, 1994. Among those in attendance were his godmother and godfather, the Reverend Doctors Arline and Tyrus Peace. By this Anointing, Donald, who has reached the age of ten, indicates his readiness to assume liturgical responsibilities as an Acolyte and takes another step in his devotion to God in The Church of the Second Advent.

Following the Communion of Fellowship on that day, Donald was formally presented in The University Chapel for public acceptance by the Congregation. The youth will sit among the Assembly under the responsibility of his Office as Acolyte until his fifteenth year, when he may be Consecrated to God and accepted within the Sacred College for instruction in the theological studies as a young minister in training, Emancipated by rite from childhood into the responsibility of a person seeking true understanding and knowledge of God within the divine structure of The Church.

The importance of the children in The Church was revealed in a simple statement made in 1991 by Bishop Savoy during the formal presentation of another Acolyte. After delivering the Blessing over the Children, which he described as “the old Essene prayer over the children,” he said: “The children of the Essaei are no longer with us, except as they are coming forth in this Church.  And, although we are small, let us each be reminded that twelve men changed this world.” These words, though few, reveal clearly a child’s bond to The Church and to its Ministry.

 

Baptism

The daughter of Amy Beth Walters and Jeffrey Walters was Baptized on Saturday November 26, 1994, at 11:30 a.m. in The University Chapel.

The ceremony was performed by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy. The Right Reverend Roger Weld and Cynthia Lang avowed themselves as godparents of Amanda Marie Dominique Walters during the service.

The Reverend Gary Buchanan, grandfather of the child, accompanied the service on the organ, playing the liturgical compositions A Baptismal Hymn and Music for a Christening.

A reception was held in the vestibule following the service.

Amy is the daughter of Amanda and Gary Buchanan.

 

 Previous: < FALL 1994 >

Next: < SPRING 1995  >

 

NOTICE: The Winter 1992 edition was the last Community Communique published until the Spring 1995 edition. From Spring 1993 through Winter 1995, the quarterly publication of The Community Communique was on hiatus, picking up again with the Spring 1995 issue. For this reason, you will not find archive copies of the print Community Communique from Spring 1993 through Winter 1994. However, we are providing coverage of Community events for this season in the collection of articles you will find below.

Previous: < SUMMER 1994 >

Next: < WINTER 1994  >

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CONTENTS: FALL 1994

1994 CONVOCATION
Annual Convocation

AEF & OSC Banquet

Clergy Counsels

HSR Annual Dinner
Benediction
Rev. Gary Buchanan: “What Is The Meaning of Human Spiritual Rights?”

REPORTS
Department of Ecclesiology
AEF & OSC Press Release
AEF News Release

PUBLIC EVENTS
Second Annual Luncheon for Reno-Sparks Ministry
Reno City Council Invocation
Governor’s Prayer Breakfast
Baha’i Press Conference & Memorial Service
Nevada Clergymen’s Appeal

RITES & SERVICES
Fall Wedding
First-Level Ordinations
Second-Level Ordinations

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1994 CONVOCATION
Annual Convocation

Over one hundred clergy and ministerial students of the Second Advent Church from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom gathered for the annual Convocation held October 5th through 12th in the Reno area. Events included the Jamilian University residence training series, Conference banquets, an afternoon social tea, a Sanctuary tour, the Counsels lectures, chapel services, and liturgical celebrations at the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary.

The fourteenth annual Counsels opened on October 5 with an afternoon check-in for all those in attendance at the Convocation. On Thursday, October 6 and Friday, October 8, both resident and non-resident clergy and clergy students met with Bishop Savoy at the Episcopal See for evening lectures. Morning and afternoon lectures on Monday October 10 and Tuesday October 11 completed the full Counsels series. The entire body of students and clergy participating in the Convocation were in attendance at the Counsels lectures. (See accompanying article this issue.)

First-year students enrolled in residence training met with The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy at the Episcopal See for initial instruction on the mornings of Thursday, October 6 and on Monday and October 10. Advanced students enrolled in the three-year extension program attended morning and afternoon residence training sessions on October 6-7 and 10-11 before the evening Counsels lectures.

All non-resident students received a guided tour through the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary on the morning of Friday, October 7 to view church sites and other developments.

Regularly scheduled liturgical services determined the morning schedule on Saturday. At 10:00 AM, visiting clergy joined with resident ministers and their families in a Communion of Fellowship at the University Chapel.

Following Chapel services, several seminary students enrolled in the non-resident clergy studies program of the Sacred College Jamilian University of Theology received their first-degree ordination. The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy conducted the rite of first-degree Ordination in his private chambers at the Apostolic Chancellery. Later that afternoon, visiting guests were invited to attend an afternoon tea at Bishopstead. Nearby, resident and non-resident mariners gathered for their annual luncheon.

On Sunday morning, October 9th, the Ordained attended a sunrise Divine Service and Communion of Fellowship at the Cathedral Church of the Americas. The Divine Service, officiated by The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, was performed before a vested congregation of the ordained. Bishop Savoy, the Officiating Minister, closed the Services with a Blessing over the Rabban priests. A light breakfast at the Sanctuary refectory followed.

During the Convocation week, two annual banquet events were held. On Wednesday morning, October 12, visitors and their families joined resident members of the Advocates for Spiritual Rights and Freedoms at the Annual Human Spiritual Rights Celebration. The Andean Explorers Foundation & Ocean Sailing Club annual awards dinner, held that evening, closed the week of Convocation events. (See accompanying articles this issue.)

 

AEF & OSC Banquet

The 37th Annual “Spirit of Exploration” Banquet was held on the evening of Wednesday, October 12, 1994 at the Convention Center of the Airport Plaza Hotel in Reno, Nevada.

Gene Savoy Jr., Treasurer of the AEF & OSC, acting as Master of Ceremonies for the evening, opened the program with an introduction to the “Explorers’ Triumphal March,” performed by the Foundation Orchestra while slides from previous expeditions played across the screen. The traditional Candle-lighting service followed. The Master of Ceremonies lit the Candle of Remembrance for members and friends of the Foundation who have passed on. Special tribute was paid to Conni Aggenbach-Whitaker, a member of the Foundation who passed on earlier this year. The ship’s bell was struck thirteen times in their memory.

To pen the musical program, the fourteen-member Sierra Highlanders Pipe Band performed an Explorers’ Tribute of traditional marches, reels, jigs, and hornpipes.  The Sierra Highlanders Pipe Band is based in Reno and has performed together at festivals, in parades, and in competitions since 1961. Dinner and dancing followed, with musical entertainment provided by singer Lynn Rubel and a full dance band led on keyboard by the Foundation’s Musical Director, Gary Buchanan.

Dinner was followed by a video presentation of scenes from the 1994 Gran Vilaya-El Dorado VI Expedition undertaken this summer.  The expedition, which returned only a few weeks before the awards banquet, was videotaped by Foundation Vice-President Roger Weld and edited by him for this occasion.

One of the main purposes of the Foundation’s annual dinners is to present awards to individuals who have contributed in some way to exploration and the furtherance of the Foundation’s goals. Belinda Chauvin, Public Relations officer, and Sean Savoy, Museum and Publications Manager of the AEF & OSC, carried the awards program with their introduction of Foundation award recipients and the presentation of awards.

This year nearly twenty Foundation members received the Explorer’s Medal, and seven members the Sponsor Medal.  The Participant’s Silver Medallion was received by Max Luy.  Citations of Merit were awarded to Robert A. Gill, Carmela de Orbegoso Russell, and Glen Jordan.

President Gene Savoy presented the Discover’s Medallion to Peruvian Foundation member Francisco Seoane-Weiss in absentia.

In his presidential address, AEF & OSC President Gene Savoy, the Featured Speaker of the evening, recounted events of the Gran Vilaya-El Dorado Expedition this summer under his direction.

The expedition, which began in June, traveled into the interior jungles and lower Andes of northeastern and central Peru, Departments of Amazonas and Huanaco.  Extensive research was completed in these two separate regions within a ninety-day period.

The expedition was accompanied by over thirty-five members of the Foundation, including members from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Peru.

The primary purpose of the expedition into the Amazonas region was to finish filing and mapping the area inhabited by the ancient Chachapoyas culture in northeastern Peru.  The Chachapoyan city, named Gran Vilaya by its discoverer, Gene Savoy, is estimated to cover over 100 square miles and contain some 24,000 structures.  Located at altitudes of 6,000 to 11,000 feet above sea level, the ancient city may be the largest archeological find in the Americas.

Questions of the origin of the Chachapoyas people still persist.  Was this caucasian race native to Peru or did they come from some far off land by means of the Sea?  Glyphs discovered on three stone tablets in 1989 during the Gran Vilaya-El Dorado IV Expedition have led the Foundation to believe that there was contact with the so-called “Old World.”  The glyphs appear to be similar to writing form Sinai.  The tablets were visited again for further study, and with the discovery this year of additional glyphs, the Foundation is able  to compare the patterns of the glyphs found at the two sites.  The Foundation is continuing research on the theory that Peru could be the mysterious Ophir.

In addition to the discovery of the glyphs, the extensiveness of Gran Vilaya was confirmed with exploration and discovery of several connecting building developments of the city.

In the Department of Huanaco, at higher elevations ranging from 10,000 to 14,000 feet above sea level, Gene Savoy and a smaller team of researchers revealed the existence of over thirty building sites, some covered with seven-tiered roofs.  The sites are believed to be Huacrachuco.  A newspaper release reporting the finds in Huanaco appeared in the Lima paper El Commercio prior to the expedition’s return in late September.

The expedition was sponsored by the Institute of Culture of Peru, the Museum of the Nation, and the Office of the President of the Republic.  Foundation President Savoy has been asked to lecture at the Museum of the Nation and the University of Lima on the new finds in Amazonas and Huanaco, and a video is in the works.

The presentation by President Gene Savoy was followed by the second musical performance of the program, an English rendition of the song “My Dear Chabuca” by tenor Michael Eardley.

Gene Savoy Jr. closed the program with an invitation to use the dance floor. The dance ensemble assembled some of the finest musicians in the Reno area: the AEF & OSC’s own Gary Buchanan on keyboard, Mark Lord on trumpet, and Cynthia Lang on violin, plus area musicians Frank Falcioni on Guitar, Rico Mordenti on woodwinds, Phil Jerome on string bass, and Rich Havens on drums.

* * *

For over thirty years, the Foundation’s dinners have been open only to its members. During the past five years, Foundation members have invited others to join them while they honor those who have distinguished themselves in the field of exploration. The 37th annual banquet continues that tradition.

Founded in 1957, the Andean Explorers Foundation and Ocean Sailing Club is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of historical, field and oceanic research, exploration, and the documentation of its findings by means of books, publications, motion pictures, and documentaries. Volunteers contribute their time and funds to carry on the work without remuneration. Geared toward the promotion of exploration by men and women of diverse backgrounds, the organization emphasizes the need to explore little-known areas of the world and to bring back photographic evidence of findings on land and sea.

History, which encourages original and unique research through the “spirit of exploration,” initially assumes a more important place than science or technology in the Foundation’s programs, all of which are open to the public at large. Information is shared with educational institutions, scientists, and specialists of many disciplines. Maps, charts, log books, journals, photographs, artifacts, and numerous collected items on display comprise the Foundation archives. In addition to land and sea expeditions, lectures are provided as a public and educational service to schools, civic organizations, and professional societies.

 

Clergy Counsels

The Fourteenth Annual Clergy Counsels, held during the Fall 1994 Convocation, comprised a series of six lectures delivered by The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy.  Evening lectures on October 6–7 were delivered at the Episcopal See.  Morning and afternoon lectures on October 10–11 were held at the Forum of the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary of Prophecy. The entire body of students and clergy participating in the Convocation were in attendance at the Counsels lecture series.

Bishop Savoy opened the lecture series with a discussion of the benefits and some of the possible pitfalls of The System. He described as well the course or pattern of response through which each individual runs when he or she follows The System.  It is better, he said, for one not to absorb higher energies if one is not aware of what is actually taking place on the level of the nervous system and force centers.  It is for this reason that there are so many admonitions among the spiritual peoples of ancient times to keep the Teachings secret.

Continuing on a personal note, Bishop Savoy spoke from his heart on events of recent months that led him to experience a kind of disenchantment resulting from “so many rejecting the spirit, ignorant of what the soul and spirit really means.” He said he is now starting all over again, “teaching and living the truth, no longer disguising the Teachings.”  He had regained his confidence in people, he said, “in those who want to prove the existence of God and want to be of service,” and therefore wants to reach out to those people. For this reason, Bishop Savoy stated, in the present six-lecture series he wanted to talk about the “Foundation” of The System and how The System came about.

He began by distinguishing between the physical soul and the spiritual soul.  He discussed the Hermetic school, which passed from the Therapeutae in Egypt to the Greeks, and their teaching on the consumption of the Bread of Life to nourish the spirit.  He discussed the two communions of the Ante-Nicene Church and emphasized the secret communion in which the True Bread of Life was consumed, a rite which was later removed from the Church. In this same regard, Bishop Savoy discussed the Essaei “Grace Before Meals,” which asked for forgiveness for eating dead food, the food they must consume because they had been generated in the physical world, while asking at the same time for the supersubstantial bread that feeds the spirit.  And he referred to the members of the Ante-Nicene Church who, in the actual Lord’s Prayer, asked to be able to live in heaven while here on earth.

The second evening lecture opened with a discussion of the kind of character one must have to come into the Community. The lecture continued through a variety of other themes related to God’s Presence on earth.  He discussed the role of the Teacher of Righteousness among the Essaei and the role among the early Christians of Jesus, who as part of the Godhead came down to earth as an angel to act as God’s intermediary.

The following three lectures opened a great variety of topics; each lecture, however, centered on two main themes: the authority of the Second Advent Church and the nature of spiritual healing. In these early lectures in the series, Bishop Savoy paid special attention to the liturgical use of hands among the Essaei — who washed their hands ritually, who kept them hidden except during liturgical services, and who raised them to the sun at morning while they reflected to the sun to purify it and asked for God’s beneficent Light on earth. They did this, he said, in order to keep their hands holy because their hands were used for healing.

With this emphasis on the liturgical use of the hands in ancient rites during these intermediate lectures, Bishop Savoy prepared those in attendance for the technical discussion of the final lecture, which served to discuss the performance of the ancient healing technique of “the laying on of hands.”

 

HSR Annual Dinner

The Sixth Annual Human Spiritual Rights Celebration, sponsored by the Advocates for Religious Rights and freedoms, was held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday October 12, 1994, at the Convention Center of the Airport Plaza Hotel in Reno.

Members and guests were welcomed to this year’s celebration by The Right Reverend Robert Petrovich, Chairman of the Ministers Council for Constitutional Freedoms, who delivered a rudimentary sketch of the work of this year’s honoree, Gustave Stromberg.  Rev. Petrovich noted that contemporary knowledge about Stromberg is so lacking that his name is not even listed in as prominent an encyclopedia as Britannica and that the only entries on his life are found in a paragraph or two in a biographical dictionary of science or parapsychology. Although a few hundred of Stromberg’s published works exist, Rev. Petrovich stated, these are mostly statistical analyses of stellar movements, and only a handful of popular texts were ever written by him, some of which have never been translated into English.

Following the program Invocation, delivered by Jamila Savoy, who is a high school junior and acolyte in the Second Advent Church, the Reverend Gary Buchanan, Chairman of the American Association of Concerned Clergymen, spoke on the program theme from a personal perspective, recounting a recent visit to his native North Carolina and his being received as a Second Advent minister by his family members and old friends on the occasion of his father’s funeral.  (See accompanying article, “The Meaning of Human Spiritual Rights.”)

In keeping with the hope of renewed spiritual freedom, the first musical selection of the program was a composition titled “Plea for Grace,” composed by Rev. Buchanan on an ancient Alexandrian melos with words adapted by Bishop Savoy from Essaei fragments. This work was completed in October 1990 during the construction of the Cathedral Towers. It was written especially for Concelebration Services and was performed at the first Concelebration Service held at the Cathedral Church on Epiphany 1991. The arrangement for the Human Spiritual Rights celebration was performed by harpist Mary Niebuhr and members of the Jamilian Handbell Choir.

The brunch meal closed with a “Grace after Meals” pronounced by Mrs.  Elizabeth Crook.

Brunch was followed by another musical selection. Harpist Mary Niebuhr, violinist Cynthia Lang, and the Jamilian Handbell Choir accompanied soprano soloist Michelle Carrothers in “So Is My Joy the Lord” a composition first performed on Epiphany Eve in 1983 and since performed regularly during the Christmas-Epiphany season. This is another composition by Rev. Buchanan, with words adapted by Bishop Savoy from the Odes of Solomon, a song of inspiration that tells of a seeker’s awakening to the life of the spirit.

The nominee selected for this year’s Enshrinement was the internationally renowned mystic astronomer Gustave Stromberg (1882–1962).  Highly acclaimed for research in the physical sciences, his understanding of the nonphysical aspects of the universe is a legacy of even greater importance. Part of his greatness lies in his use of scientific knowledge to develop a clear perspective on the life of mind, immortality of the human soul, and God. He asserted that “as the matter in the earth is part of the original matter in the universe, so the life on earth is part of the original life in the universe.”

Some of Stromberg’s basic conclusions about man in the universe, organizing life fields, and his inevitable belief in the indestructibility and immortality of the soul are summarized in “My Faith,” one of the appendices to his famous book The Soul of the Universe:

I believe that behind the physical world we see with our eyes and study in our microscopes and telescopes, and measure with instruments of various kinds, is another more fundamental realm which cannot be described in physical terms. In this non-physical realm lies the ultimate origin of all things, of energy, matter, organization and life, and even of consciousness itself…. I am convinced that our consciousness is rooted in a world not built of atoms and that our mind in its many facets reflects some of the fundamental characteristics of its own origins.

Enshrinements in past years have included Mohandas K. Gandhi in 1990, P. Teilhard de Chardin and Kahlil Gibran in 1991, and Nikolas Tesla in 1993.

Reverend Petrovich opened this year’s Enshrinement Ceremony with an introduction of the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, the featured speaker of the evening, with a personal recognition of the “greatness” he recognized in “Bishop Savoy, who has founded the institutions of this Church, who has received Revelations and teaches them, who is restoring the forms of the True Liturgy for us in our age—the one who introduced us (or made clear to us in terms we could understand) the ways of the spirit and opened up to us the gateway to what Stromberg called the ‘non-physical world,’ the Worlds of Light.”

The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, President of the Advocates for Religious Rights and Freedoms, and Chairman of the World Council for Human Spiritual Rights, addressed the celebration’s theme by touching upon the thoughts of this year’s honoree, which, he said, “have contributed so much to shedding light upon the spirit,” rather than speaking about the man.  Bishop Savoy explained that Stromberg’s thoughts are more complex than a short talk can convey and that he had on this occasion selected a few of Stromberg’s thoughts to reveal the man’s liberating ideas on “the subject of physical science, namely physics, and religious science, namely metaphysics.”

“Stromberg,” he said, “wrote on a pre-existent world of spirit whence the physical universe issued, a world beyond the universe of matter and energy, space and time, that existed before the coming into existence of our world, the solar system, indeed the whole material universe….  Stromberg called this spiritual universe the ETERNITY DOMAIN.”

“He believed that [domain] to be the world in which our minds are rooted, and in which both life and mind have their ultimate origin. He wrote further that when we discard our fragile bodies of flesh and bone at the time of physical death, a garment of flesh that binds us to the physical world of space and time, we enter into another world where mind is paramount. The ETERNITY DOMAIN, he thought, is our real home.”

Bishop Savoy went on to describe Stromberg’s belief that God “needs to be reinstated in the modern world in a new way because God is an indispensable element in the world needed to explain the ultimate origin of life, energy, matter, and consciousness” and pointed out the agreement on this point among several other scientists, including the astronomer Sir James Jeans, Paul Heegard of the University of Copenhagen, and Albert Einstein, who stated that true religion “does not come through blind belief but through an extension of our rational knowledge.”

The old idea that nothing comes out of nothing led Stromberg to write that when the universe came into being it had to have emerged from a pre-existent world, Bishop Savoy said. “Dr. Stromberg postulated that all living things are embedded in complex electrical fields which determine the structure and structural changes in living organisms. He considered these fields to be organizing fields.

“These fields are not anchored in matter but in another dimension beyond space and time, a pre-existing autonomous field of force; that is, a living force field. These pre-existing fields entering the physical universe carry not only the characteristics of life but also those of mind and consciousness. The gates through which the fields enter are nerve cells.”

Further, Bishop Savoy explained, “Stromberg felt that expressions such as compassion and love come from the ETERNITY DOMAIN rather than from the physical universe.  Love, compassion and beauty are part of a non-physical essence pervading the whole cosmos.”

Stromberg agreed with the idea that the time will come when science will make tremendous advances, Bishop Savoy said, “not because more sensitive instruments capable of measuring and discovering things but because a few people have at their command great spiritual powers of insight which at present are not used but, as the art and science of spiritual healing is developed, will be used in a new way that will reveal that God exists—not only in the universe but in the depths of all people.” This God-nature, he said, need only be released.

Before the unveiling of this year’s Enshrinement, Bishop Savoy closed his address with these words: “To be sure, Dr. Stromberg was ahead of his time. He would rejoice at the strides made in recent years. And he would be delighted to know how many people recognize his efforts to liberate the human mind and spirit from outworn ideas, and how many remember him and love him. As we enshrine Dr. Stromberg today, we reach out to him in that ETERNITY DOMAIN wherein dwells his living spirit and soul.”

The Enshrinement ceremony was followed in the program by the Hebrew song “Dodi Li” performed by soprano Lynn Rubel, accompanied on harp and violin by Ms. Niebuhr and Ms. Lang.

The Right Reverend Reano Castell Lord closed the formal program of the afternoon with a Benediction very special to him. With his prayer he brought those in attendance into a centuries’ old tradition of his family. He first copied the prayer down, along with a few others, as a young man more than forty years ago, shortly before he left Switzerland for North America.

It is a Benediction first written down in his family’s Bible in the seventh century by a bishop of Cologne who was a family member. Although the prayer was originally written in Latin, another family member in the 1300s translated the prayer into old Swiss German. The version that Rev. Castell read this afternoon was translated by him into one of the dialects of Swiss German that exist today. He followed this reading with his English translation of the same prayer. This was the first occasion the prayer has ever been read in English.

The final musical performance of the afternoon was the melody “The Hymn to Human Spiritual Rights,” written to commemorate the building of the Monument to Human Spiritual Rights. It was first performed with a brass choir and handbells at the Cathedral Church in 1991 during the annual Human Spiritual Rights Ceremony. This afternoon it was sung by Lynn Rubel as a hymn without words, accompanied by harp, violin, and handbells.

The more than one hundred members of the Advocates and guests in attendance included extension students of the Project X program, visiting clergy students from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, resident clergy, and seminarians.

 

BENEDICTION
Wir Danken dir Himmlischer Vater,
fur all deine Gaben.
Dank und Ehre, Himmlischer Vater fur alle
Fruchte des Landes.
Lob und Ehre von uns fur diesen Tag.
Himmlischer Vater, ewiges Licht, stralende sonne.
Erleuchte alle Regionen,
uberall ist dein wahrhaftiges Licht,
erleuchte jede Person in diese Welt.
Zerstreue die finsterniss in unsern
Herzen und erleuchte uns im glanze deiner herrlichkeit.
Amen

We thank you, Heavenly Father,
for all your gifts and praise you,
As all who live must praise you each day.
We shall praise You for what You have given us.
Holy One of Blessing, we thank you for the land and its fruit.
Heavenly Father, Eternal Light, shine beyond the Heavens.
Radiant sun, illuminating all regions above,
below and across.
True Light, enlightening every person coming into the world,
dispel the darkness of our hearts and enlighten us
with the splendor of Your Glory.
Amen

 

Rev. Gary Buchanan: “What Is The Meaning of Human Spiritual Rights?”

A talk presented by the Reverend Doctor Gary Robert Buchanan, Chairman, American Association of Concerned Clergymen, to The Advocates for Religious Rights & Freedoms at the Annual Human Spiritual Rights Celebration, October 12, 1994. The portion of the speech printed here has been abridged for publication. The original speech included a personal account of Rev. Buchanan’s visit to his childhood home in the Piedmont of North Carolina on the occasion of his father’s funeral. This account was intended to exemplify how a person may foster the view that the spirit is “far superior to materiality and all other institutions of the secular world” and how we may foster Human Spiritual Rights and “help expand awareness of these rights in secular society.”

ALL MEMBERS OF THE HUMAN FAMILY have been endowed with a spark.  It must be fanned. It is a seed which must be nurtured. It is that hope which does, indeed, spring eternal in the human breast.

The Universal Proclamation states that all are qualified to receive their true Image and surmount dense ignorance, which “is the cause of suffering, pain, fear, poverty, sickness, disease, anguish, hate, greed, selfishness, lust, evil, strife, plagues and all the ways of the world.”

And we are made to know that there is a New Light manifesting in the universe, pulsing as a drum and shaking man’s memory—persistent memory—of his origins in the Worlds of Light with God.

The symbols I offer: A spark aflame seeks air. A seed in root seeks light. A hope in nascence seeks faith.

All are moved to unite in faith, in hope, in love in religious fellowship in the image of a circle in the rites of redemption in search of God’s Word. Those who endeavor to overshadow that Light, to choke the flame, uproot the branch, traduce the faith, are in opposition to God, the Human Family, and themselves, for all members of the Human Family have been alienated from the Worlds of Light, the abode of Spiritual Beings of Light, and are by soul and spirit irresistibly drawn back to the Divine—to religion, to that redeeming force manifest, to fellowship with those inspired of God, to righteous laws and doctrines that give order and harmony to our lives, to the planet, and to all of cosmos.

Our Founding Fathers were inspired men holding a common vision of an America born, like a phoenix, out of the ashes of Old World tyrannies and religious intolerance. These men envisioned a New World sustained by “a ray of bright Glory now Beam(ing) from afar, Blest dawn of an Empire to rise; (where) The American Ensign now sparkles a Star, Which shall shortly flame wide thru’ the Skies.” (A song published in the Newport (Rhode Island) Mercury in 1774, shortly after the Boston Tea Party.)

Freedom, first and foremost Religious Freedom, was the spark, the seed, the hope of this nation, and is the principal guarantee of the “Bill of Rights.” However, this new land was to be far more than an abode of free-thinking philosophers and politicians; rather, it was to be a “New Zion,” a great “Beacon” to the rest of the world, casting Light far and wide, illuminating mankind with a new vision of “One Nation Under God” wherein all citizens might evolve spiritually, not simply in material and socioeconomic terms.

This vision was enunciated time and again by George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Francis Hopkinson, Joseph Warren, John Dickinson, and so many others, in statements Deistic and Masonic, Symbolic and Poetic. The “Liberty Tree” by Thomas Paine is but one example of such imagery:

In a chariot of light from the regions of day,
The Goddess of Liberty came;
Ten-thousand celestials directed the way,
And thither conducted the dame,
This fair budding branch, from the garden above,
Where millions with millions agree,
She bro’t in her hand, as a pledge of her love,
The plant she call’d Liberty Tree.

This celestial vision of America presented by our national patriarchs during the eighteenth century was picked up during the nineteenth by the so-called Transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Emily Dickinson, Sidney Lanier, William Jennings Bryan, among others, as well as Walt Whitman, who in his poem “I Hear America Singing” wrote:

I say the whole earth and the stars in the sky
are for religion’s sake….
I say the real and permanent grandeur of
these (United) States must be their religion.

Looking back, we note that in the mid-twentieth century our nation began to turn away from the religious and spiritual inspiration of our ancestors, their reliance upon divine guidance, their trust in man’s eventual evolution back to origin as a being of Light. Nowadays this reliance has been replaced by social and economic institutions, state and educational bureaucracies, scientific and medical establishments. And all too often the so-called mainstream religions and denominations are favored by the state because of their material and charitable contributions in secular society, while newer and more spiritually oriented congregations are viewed with suspicion and derision.  We have, in fact, reached a point in our nation where religions must, in political and economic terms, be “state-approved”; and those who cannot prove their value, who are unprepared to discuss their most sacred beliefs and tenets before the media and government officials, are designated as “cults,” and quite often legislated, judged, and taxed out of existence. Is this not the very phenomenon against which our ancestors fought?

We see here a battle between religious rights, as defined by secular-minded forces, and spiritual rights, those natural promptings of conscience found among truly religious people in their desire to know God. The God of Spirit, Life and Love is rejected by the state in favor of the Demiurge, a god of materiality, obedience, retribution, crime, and punishment. But all people, especially Americans, have a right to know the difference, to reflect upon things of the spirit, to come together in fellowship and worship in the light, and to move on beyond popular theories and dogma concerning God to a level of deeper understanding and communion with God. There must be no interference by the state or any group of its citizens, and The Proclamation speaks to this issue in Article II, which states:

All members of the human family while expressing their spiritual beliefs, faiths or convictions, privately or in a church, temple, synagogue, monastery, convent or other place of worship or collective religious assembly are in essence united together in an invisible, spiritual organism animated by God to which every person, group of persons, social or religious organ is obligated to respect and to hold superior to any and all distinctive organs, whether social or religious, whatever they might be.

In other words, we of the International Community of Christ respect all religions and defend all religious expression, even holding such organizations and expressions superior to all other social or religious organizations (within context), for we recognize the inherent spiritual potential within religion; that is, animation by God and evolution of the species. And, while we do not believe that these rights are “to be interpreted to replace any civil law or laws or to cause anyone to place themselves above civil law and order,” we do view the spirit as far superior to materiality and all other institutions of the secular world.

Certainly, people must be allowed religious liberties, and they need to overlook sectarian differences, coming together in occasional assemblies. But more than this, there must be an evolution in religion, an expansion of spiritual understandings, of consciousness, of moving closer to our origins as beings of Light with God. This is the entire reason for religion, the only correct answer to the question, “What is the hope of the deceased?” And, as I presented these themes at my father’s funeral, I was comforted by my faith, by my office as a Minister of the Second Advent, and I did give comfort to many in that place who were in pain.

Thus, I believe spiritual teachings, as made available in the Church of the Second Advent, to be the wind that brightens the fire, the rain that wets the soil and brings forth good fruit. Or, as the voice of my Cherokee ancestors would say:

The fire which clarifies the mind, the water which purifies, sustains, and is symbolic of consciousness.

And I believe that the New Light of God’s Sun of Righteousness is strong upon our land, that many people are, indeed, feeling the pull of consciousness, that they are seeking direction for growth but lack the essential tools for understanding, for interpreting the information contained within those rays. It is our mission to preserve and institutionalize those tools and make them available to all who would seek them out, and all this within an atmosphere free of fear and intimidation, as envisioned by our American ancestors.

If we can be the sparks and plant the seeds, we will have accomplished our mission and fulfilled that hope, that dream, always present in the hearts of men and women.

 

 

REPORTS

Department of Ecclesiology

Through the months of August and September, volunteers and members of the Department of Ecclesiology worked together on Sundays to prepare the Sanctuary grounds for the Fall Convocation. Men, women, and youths of The Church grouped together as weekend volunteers to repair and clear churches and pathways throughout the Sanctuary of Prophecy (Southlands). The beautification project continued to the end of October. Volunteers cleared grounds and trimmed low-hanging branches of indigenous juniper trees over an expanded area around the Cathedral Church of the Americas, both to improve the appearance of the area and to promote fire safety.

 

AEF & OSC Press Release

Soon after the Gran Vilaya–El Dorado VI Expedition returned from Peru, the Andean Explorers Foundation & Ocean Sailing Club announced their findings to the Associated Press, to United Press International, to major U.S. newspapers and to local Reno news agencies through the following press release:

October 3, 1994
The Andean Explorers Foundation & Ocean Sailing Club (AEF & OSC), under the direction of world-renowned explorer, author, and historian Gene Savoy, just returned from a 90-day expedition into the interior jungles of northeastern and central Peru, Departments of Amazonas and Huánuco. Extensive research was done in these two separate areas of Peru.

The Gran Vilaya–El Dorado VI expedition was accompanied by 40 members of the Andean Explorers Foundation from various nations, including Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Peru, and the United States. The headquarters of the AEF & OSC is in Reno, Nevada, and fifteen local members accompanied the expedition. The nonprofit Foundation has dedicated over 37 years to the pursuit of knowledge of ancient civilizations. The purpose of the expedition was to finish filming and mapping the area of the ancient Chachapoyas people that lived in the metropolis of Gran Vilaya, discovered by Gene Savoy in 1985. The ancient city of Gran Vilaya, which sits some 8,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level, covers an estimated 100 square miles in area and contains approximately 24,000 structures. On the 1989 Gran Vilaya IV expedition, Savoy, with members of the research team, uncovered three monolithic stone tablets bearing glyphs inscribed on their surfaces. The glyphs appear to be similar to some from Sinai, which could suggest contact between the Old and New Worlds. The Foundation is still researching and gathering more evidence that Peru could be the mysterious Ophir, land of gold, referred to by King Solomon. The just-returned expedition has added valuable new information to the Foundation’s research, including additional glyphs and new sites that substantiate its theories. The Foundation is presently working on a new video. Clips of the video will be shown at the Foundation’s annual awards dinner on October 12, 1994, at the Airport Plaza Hotel in Reno.

In the Department of Huánuco, at much higher elevations (ranging from 10,000 to 14,000 feet), a smaller team of researchers recovered over 35 different sites.

The expedition was sponsored in Peru by the Institute of Culture, the Museum of the Nation, FOPTUR, the Military, the National Police, and the Office of the President of the Republic. Mr. Savoy has been asked to return to Peru to lecture at the Museum of the Nation and the university of Lima.

 

 

AEF News Release

El Commercio, a newspaper in Lima, Peru, and a longtime supporter of Gene Savoy’s explorations in Peru, published the following article on the findings of the Gran Vilaya VI expedition. It appeared in Spanish in the September 25, 1994, edition.  It is reproduced here in English for the first time.

Inca road once connected mountain and jungle, according to explorer Gene Savoy

September 25, 1994.  The ancient Incas constructed long roads that joined mountain regions with the jungle, specifically, with Chachapoyas, which will be searched for by means of an expedition to demonstrate this fact about the middle of next year, assured explorer Gene Savoy yesterday.

He said that during July, August, and the first weeks of September, he directed an expedition organized by the Andean Explorers Foundation & Ocean Sailing Club, to the north of Huánuco and the ruins of Gran Vilaya (Amazonas).

The expedition, which took an investment of 300,000 new soles, was able to confirm that the remains of prehispanic construction that make up the archeological complex of Gran Vilaya extend about one hundred square miles.

He explained that this complex was constructed by an ancient Peruvian people, who then were conquered by the Incas, which made necessary roads that cross the north of Huánuco, the jungle of La Libertad and the south of Amazonas.

He reported that the expedition had to be suspended because of the beginning of the rainy season.

Participating in the expedition were representatives of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Peru.

Connected Constructions

For the other part, the national representative of said expedition, Francisco Seoane Weiss, reaffirmed that in the area north of Huánuco there existed prehispanic constructions that resemble temples and lodgings, interconnected by an extensive and complex network of stone roads.

He indicated that parts of some of them had been constructed with milky quartz, which from a distance had the appearance of a line of white paint.

 

CAPTION THAT ACCOMPANIES PHOTO OF SEVEN-TIERED ROOF AT HUANACO:

Archaeologists and members of the National Institute of Culture ought to study the remains of some 30 prehispanic constructions, located near the localities of Pinra and Huacrachuco (Huánuco), at some 4000 meters above sea level, claimed members of the Andean Explorers Foundation & Ocean Sailing Club, who announced their existence. According to what was told to “El Commercio” by explorer Gene Savoy, director of an expedition that has spent some weeks in the area, the edifices have seven roofs of stone—as seen in the photo—which are fastened by means of a kind of “nail,” which act like rafters. The shape—he said—resembles that of a Chinese pagoda. He explained that native communities surrounding these edifices are slowly destroying them by building walls and houses with them, because of which he urges national authorities to take care of this historical patrimony.

 

 

PUBLIC EVENTS

Second Annual Luncheon for Reno-Sparks Ministry

Saint Mary’s Parish Nurse Program sponsored a noon luncheon at the El Dorado Hotel Convention Center September 28, 1994, to report on the activities of the first group of nurses active in congregations throughout the Truckee Meadows. The reports at this Second Annual Luncheon covered the past year’s activities and future plans. There was also discussion of regional interest in forming a local chapter of the national Health Ministries Association.
Attending as representatives of the International Community of Christ were the Reverends Rebecca Willis and Donald Crook.

 

Reno City Council Invocation

The Right Reverend Robert Petrovich delivered the invocation to open the Reno City Council on Tuesday, October 25, 1994 at 12:00 noon. Rt. Rev. Petrovich is the second representative of The Church to deliver the invocation to open a City Council meeting. Accompanying Rt. Rev. Petrovich was the Reverend Gene Savoy Jr.

In February 1994, the Secretary to the Reno City Council first invited the Second Advent Church to send representatives of its ministry to participate in Reno City Council meetings.
In May 1994, The Church’s Office of Civil Affairs sent the City Manager’s Office a list of ministers from the Second Advent Church whom the City Council could call upon to open its meetings. The City Office has contacted all the churches in the Reno area and invited the ministers of these churches to provide invocations on a rotational basis for decades, but only recently has the City invited ministers of the Second Advent Church to participate.

 

Governor’s Prayer Breakfast

October 26, 1994. The Governor’s Prayer Breakfast was held Wednesday morning, October 26, 1994,  at the Broadway Room in the Reno Hilton Hotel. Hundreds of secular and religious professionals gathered in prayerful support of the governor and leaders of the state of Nevada.

Following the prelude provided by harpist Mary Margaret Niebuhr, the Master of Ceremonies, the Reverend George C. Bratiotis of St. Anthony Greek Orthodox Church and General Chair of The National Conference, opened the ceremonial portion of the program with a welcome. Governor Bob Miller led the posting of colors and the pledge of allegiance. The Invocation was delivered by the Reverend V. James Jeffrey, Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church.

Governor Miller initiated the program of prayer messages presented by readers from the First United Methodist Church—Tongan Fellowship, the Hindu community, and Temple Sinai.

Choir selections by the LDS Regional Combined Choir, under the direction of E. Carl Chamberlain, provided a short interlude before the Executive Director of Greater Reno/Sparks Chamber of Commerce, Harry York, presented the keynote speakers of the event: Coni Taylor of the Greater Light Christian Center, Sister Patricia Kelly of Carmel of Reno, and Farida Kuraishy of the Muslim community.

The Benediction closing the program, delivered by National Conference Board Director Alexandra Voorhees, preceded the final event of the gathering, the singing of “America the Beautiful” by the choir and those assembled.

The Governor’s Prayer Breakfast is a local version of the President’s Prayer Breakfast, attended by heads of state from all over the world. Nevada’s 1994 breakfast was attended by local businessmen and union leaders, city and university officials, bankers, and religious from the Catholic, Lutheran, Greek Orthodox, Episcopal, LDS, and Second Advent communities in the Reno area.

The Second Advent Church, a patron sponsor of the event, was represented at the breakfast by The Most Right Reverend Bishop Gene Savoy, Rev. Gene Savoy Jr., Rev. Sean Savoy, Rev. Gary Buchanan, Rev. Jacklynn Lord, Rev. Belinda Chauvin, Rev. Elizabeth Reece, Albert Edgecomb, Victoria Skinner, and Robert Roy.

The 1994 breakfast was the sixth Governor’s Breakfast held during the term of Governor Miller and the eighth such event held since 1979.

 

Baha’i Press Conference & Memorial Service

The Spiritual Assembly Baha’i Faith of Reno invited twenty-five members of Reno religious communities to be members of the studio audience during its October 30, 1994, taping of a television program on the persecution of the Baha’i in Iran. Mrs. Olya Roohizadegan, the subject of a new Hollywood film, Olya’s Story, came to Reno following her recent tour of Europe to perform the one-hour television and press conference at SNCAT-TV studio. The film is the account of Mrs. Roohizadega’s experiences both as witness and victim of Iran’s persecution of the Baha’is, Iran’s largest religious minority.

Attending the afternoon taping of the program as representatives of the Advocates for Religious Rights & Freedoms were Advocates President The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy and the Reverend Gene Savoy Jr. Attending the evening memorial service were the Reverends Robert Petrovich and Gene Savoy Jr.

 

Nevada Clergymen’s Appeal

This October the Nevada Clergymen’s Association invited all religious leaders in the Truckee Meadows to attend its annual meeting on November 10 at the International Community of Christ Church.  Earlier this month, Committee Chairman the Reverend Gene Savoy Jr. contacted the offices of all religious organizations in the Reno area by phone seeking interest in the Association’s project to revise Nevada’s religious property exemption law. On October 31, Nevada Day, the Association mailed invitations to the event.

The 250 congregations contacted by phone and informed of the proposed change in legislation represent the faithful in the Reno/Sparks/Carson City area, which has a population of about 250,000. The calling was completed in two days. During those first two days, more than 50 congregations showed interest and are expected to attend the November meeting; 100 still had not returned the call; only 5 were not interested in receiving further information.

Nearly 20 of the congregations contacted had already been affected by enforcement of the new interpretation of Nevada’s current property tax exemption law. The current law has been in existence for many years. The new interpretation of this law has been in effect since 1990. The new interpretation of the law was the result of the Nevada Supreme Court decision on the International Community of Christ Red Rock Sanctuary case.

The Supreme Court decision followed the proposal of then Deputy District Attorney Thomas Riley that church land which is not actively being used for worship is not exempt property.  According to this decision, nonexempt property also includes land that is not humanly improved.  Thus nature sanctuaries and retreats are no longer exempt.

The following examples represent how churches who are interested in changing the new interpretation of the law are already being affected:

(1)    Episcopalian churches are paying taxes on great acreages of church land throughout the state, land which they are holding and plan to develop in the future. In this case the land was owned by the church and considered exempt before the new interpretation of the law. Does this new interpretation of the law stunt the carefully planned growth of the Episcopal Church?

(2)    The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS, or the Mormon Church) has developed food farms in order to donate food to the needy members of their church as a charitable act. Is this agricultural use not exempt because the food is not donated to the general public?

(3)    Many small congregations, mostly Protestant, have worshiped for many years in rented areas and have recently purchased land on which to build. They are now dumbfounded by the fact that they must pay taxes on the land until it is fully occupied as a functional church. Their budgets have been upset by this realization. Will these churches be taxed until the County Building Department determines that the building is fit for human occupancy?

The church property exemption law has been current since 1990. The case that changed the interpretation of this law involved the International Community of Christ’s Red Rock Sanctuary.  Tax exemption had originally been granted to the Sanctuary in June 1982 by Chan Griswold, then Chief Deputy District Attorney and Head of the Civil Division for Washoe County. Written confirmation of the exemption ruling was presented to the International Community of Christ Church in October of that year. Suddenly, and in an unexplained manner, the exemption was withdrawn in December 1983 by the new Chief Deputy District Attorney, Thomas Riley, after the County Tax Assessor at that time, Charles McGowan, asked for Riley’s opinion on how to deal with the Sanctuary exemption.

The new County decision also lay claim to back taxes, which had to be paid in full. All efforts by The Church to reach a settlement were rebuffed by county officials, who had taken title to The Church’s properties at Red Rock and threatened to dispose of them through a tax sale. The Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary, an open-air complex of over 1200 acres located north of Reno, has been used exclusively for religious purposes since its purchase in April 1980.

According to Riley’s opinion, the untouched natural mountain setting of juniper forests many hundreds of years old was to be considered by the County to be “wasteland” and therefore taxable. Only a small acreage around each of the twenty-five outdoor churches and shrines, roadways and residences of the entire 1200 acre complex were to be considered exempt. By Riley’s decision, the “sanctuary,” which exists for The Church as a whole entity, was made legally into a patchwork of exempt lots. Of the legal parcels, only a portion of each was to be considered tax-exempt; that is, only a portion of each lot was considered to be used for religious purposes.

Although a natural setting for retreat and contemplation is considered nonexempt in Riley’s opinion, the following kinds of absurdities would allow The Church to receive full tax exemption of the “sanctuary”:

(1)    if the entire Sanctuary were paved
(2)    if the natural area were deforested and then replanted by human hands
(3)    if the natural forest were planted with additional trees planted by humans, even if those trees did not “take” in this high sierra environment.

There are also absurd nonexemptions presently active. One example is the tax condition of the Cathedral Church of the Americas located in the Sanctuary of Prophecy. According to Riley, backed by consensus of the Nevada Supreme Court, The Cathedral Church of the Americas, a towering open-air structure valued at $100,000 in materials alone, is exempt from taxation as a man-made structure, a “human improvement,” but the remainder of the lot on which it stands is not.  To The Church this means that if taxes are not paid on the corner areas of the lot on which the Cathedral stands, The Church could conceivably lose the entire Cathedral to the County through repossession. This condition will continue to hold until the entire lot on which the Cathedral stands is “improved  by human hands” in a way deemed suitable by the County.

The Nevada Clergymen’s Association is dedicated to securing and protecting the civil and religious rights and liberties of churches, synagogues, temples and other religious societies in the state of Nevada. It is organized to represent the special needs of religion to all appropriate government officials and bodies. The November 10 meeting will serve to further inform those of all faiths who are concerned about the future welfare of the religious institutions that provide the basis of the spiritual fabric of society in the state.

 

 

RITES & SERVICES

Fall Wedding

University Chapel
Officiating Minister: The Most Rt. Reverend Gene Savoy

Christine Marie Farlow and John Stephen Erickson of Reno were wed in a private ceremony on Monday October 17, 1994 at 2:30 p.m.  Ms. Farlow’s mother and father were in attendance and assisted at the ceremony as Matron of Honor and Best Man.

 

First-Level Ordinations

During the Convocation proceedings this fall, several seminary students enrolled in the non-resident clergy studies program of the Sacred College Jamilian University of Theology received their first-degree ordination. The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy conducted the rite of first-degree Ordination in his private chambers at the Apostolic Chancellery.

 

Ordained on Friday, October 7:

Robert Lee Fuller of Chattanooga, Tennessee, first enrolled in the Project X extension program March 1990.

 

Ordained on Saturday October 8, in respective order:

Charles Stewart of Jamaica, New York, originally enrolled in the Sacred Academy May 1977, reinstated July 1994;

Diane Stewart of Jamaica, New York, originally enrolled in the Sacred Academy May 1977, reinstated July 1994;

Lydia Von Imm of San Diego, California, first enrolled in the Project X extension program July 1988;

Jon Marshall Muncy of Las Vegas, Nevada, first enrolled in the Project X extension program in March 1990;

Karen Elliott of Aurora, Indiana, first enrolled in the Project X extension program February 1993.

 

Second-Level Ordinations

Ordinations were conducted at the Cathedral Church of the Americas by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy following Divine Service and Communion of Fellowship. Assisting were ten rabbans.

Ordained as Deacon Overseers of the Sanctuary at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday October 9, 1994:

Herman Aggenbach
James H. Bizeau
P. Amanda Buchanan
Francis Burkitt
Lawrence D. Coesens
Susan A. Coleman
Aaron Cutrer Jr.
Douglas DeMers
Mary Foust
Peter Foust
JoAnn Hainline
Ruth E. Harris
Gary F. Huss
Mansour Jahangiri
Bruce Kanzelmeyer
Dorothy Kubiak
Steven S. Larson
Linda LeBrun
Paul LeBrun
Yukinori Matsushita
James McDermott
Michael J. McIntyre
Jon Marshall Muncy
Patrick Newman
Andrew L. Oberhoulser
Karl Roehrborn
Rose Marie Ross
Robert G. Roy
Jane S. Sabin
Judy Seiltz
Gail Sharp
Stephen Sharp
Thomas Sheehan Jr.
Gerald W. Simonson
Gary Siroshton
Victoria C. Skinner
Nola I. Slevin
Georgia Smith
Michael Spohn
Ronald J. Theriault

 

Previous: < SUMMER 1994 >

Next: < WINTER 1994  >

 

 

NOTICE: The Winter 1992 edition was the last Community Communique published until the Spring 1995 edition. From Spring 1993 through Winter 1995, the quarterly publication of The Community Communique was on hiatus, picking up again with the Spring 1995 issue. For this reason, you will not find archive copies of the print Community Communique from Spring 1993 through Winter 1994. However, we are providing coverage of Community events for this season in the collection of articles you will find below.

 

Previous: < SPRING 1994 >

Next: < FALL 1994 >

 

*

CONTENTS: SUMMER 1994

PUBLIC EVENTS
NCCJ Annual Humanitarian Awards Dinner Held
Bishop Savoy Travels to New York
AEF President Interviewed on Gran Vilaya VI Expedition

REPORTS
High Liturgics Lectures Continued
Liturgical Excerpt
Work Crews Continue at Sanctuary
Jamilian Parochial School
   Spring Formal and Recognition Day ceremonies mark the end of the 1993–1994 school year

FOLLOWING THE SACRED CALENDAR
Thirteenth annual observance of Pentecostal Blessings

RITES & SERVICES
Funeral for Dan Hardwick Mcdonald
Anointings

*

 

PUBLIC EVENTS

NCCJ Annual Humanitarian Awards Dinner Held

The National Conference of Christians and Jews of the Northern Nevada Region honored two Nevadans during their 1994 Awards Dinner on Wednesday May 18, 1994, at the Reno Hilton. The Humanitarian Award, presented each year for the last twenty years to individuals whose lives have demonstrated the goals and aims of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, was presented this year to Bob Chez and Rosemary Flores.

The Second Advent Church was represented at the event by Bishop Gene Savoy, the Right Reverend Reano Castell, the Reverends Gene Savoy Jr., Sean Savoy, Belinda Chauvin, Jacklyn Lord, Donald Crook, and Edith Forgy, and Church members Albert Edgecomb and Jamila Savoy. The International Community of Christ was a patron of the event.

The National Conference of Christians and Jews, founded in 1927, is a human relations organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry, and racism in America. Since 1964, the Northern Nevada Region has provided people of diverse faiths, races, and cultures with the opportunity to come together through dialogue, interaction, and educational programs without compromising the distinctive cultures, faiths, and heritages that make each individual unique.

The NCCJ in Northern Nevada sponsors community-wide programs such as interfaith services and events, lay dialogues, annual observances, and youth programs. It is a private, nonprofit agency funded through community support, contributions, and volunteer services. Drawing its membership from public and private sectors, its primary aim is to build bridges between peoples of varied backgrounds by eliminating bigotry and promoting human dignity, mutual respect, understanding, and tolerance through open lines of communication.

 

Bishop Savoy Travels to New York

Bishop Savoy left for New York City on May 23, 1994, to negotiate the possibility of finding an outside publisher for the book Jamil: The Child Christ, as well as the seven Prophecies of Jamil.

While in New York, he also discussed the possibility of allowing a French film crew to accompany the Gran Vilaya–El Dorado VI expedition to Peru in August 1994 with one of the company’s associates in New York. The French film company wishes to produce its own documentary of the expedition. The Andean Explorers Foundation expects to reach a decision on the proposition later this year.

 

AEF President Interviewed on Gran Vilaya VI Expedition

Gene Savoy, President and Commodore of the Andean Explorers Foundation and Ocean Sailing Club (AEF & OSC), was interviewed on the upcoming Gran Vilaya VI expedition to Peru by two Reno newscasters.

President Savoy was interviewed by local television celebrity Sam Shad on June 3 for his local morning show Daytime. The half-hour interview was aired at 11:00 a.m. that morning on Channel 8, the ABC Network affiliate.

Portions of the Royal Roads video were shown during the television interview. Viewers were invited to contact the Andean Explorers Foundation if interested in participating in the upcoming expedition.

President Savoy was also interviewed on local radio station KOH 780 AM, Reno’s News-Talk station. The show aired Wednesday June 15, from 4 to 5 p.m. Host J. R. Reynolds spoke to President Savoy on his daily one-hour Daily Edition program from the explorer’s angle. Telephone lines were open during the interview for listeners to call in and ask questions.

 

 

REPORTS

High Liturgics Lectures Continued

The Religious Arts and Sciences of High Liturgics lecture series has continued. Part 31 of the series was delivered on Friday April 15. The last lecture of the season, Part 34, was delivered on Friday May 6. Lecture 34 ends the Introduction to Theory portion of the lecture series.

Questions from clerics were used to introduce the themes of the last several lectures, including lecture 31. A question on the nature of marital love led to a discussion of the distinction between physical love and spiritual love and the means by which these two kinds of love, the one transitory and the other eternal, may be combined in marriage.

The discussion of the relationship of physical and spiritual existence was furthered by a second question: How does one know whether he will participate in the life of the eternal spirit? Bishop Savoy’s response to this question led him to spiritual sources and into the controversies over the nature of Jesus Christ that took place in early church history.

Bishop Savoy spoke first on the fifth-century controversy that led to the deification of matter in the empirical church and the excommunication of Bishop Nestorius of Constantinople. He then recounted the later debate concerning the union of the human and the spiritual nature of Jesus. Initiated in the 12th century by the theological movement called nihilianism, this debate again raised the distinction between the two natures of Jesus, Jesus the man and Jesus the spiritual being. As Bishop Savoy proceeded to answer a third question, the question of how one knows whether the spirit and soul are alive while one exists in physical form, he clarified the issues by referring to texts from the Nag Hammadi manuscripts.

Bishop Savoy opened lecture 32, the capstone of the discourses on liturgics, by explaining that all the lectures of the series are linked together and must be viewed as a whole to have any meaning. The main discussion of this lecture was the means to be used to supersede the restrictions of physical and mental life. This life is directed by Dark Powers, he said, which are evaded through the transformative Powers of Light.

Freedom from the restrictions of this life can only come through knowledge. If we consider that God’s Word is an intelligent force and can be experienced, then one can begin to free oneself from the restrictions of dogma. “We must have a true  concept of ultimate reality; to accomplish this, one must be truly liberated,” the Bishop noted.

Consciousness of the Spirit is “not acquired by training but is inherited, as instinct is among animals,” he said. This spiritual instinct is activated or conceived by way of an outside force. After the Spermatic Word is implanted, it is triggered by teaching, he said.

“The Essaei prophets taught that we had an instinctual knowledge of what to do with our spirits and souls.” They taught that one did not have to come under the restrictions of someone else to know this; rather, the Process had to be triggered from an outside source.

“One cannot learn about the spirit and soul if it is not reborn,” Bishop Savoy said. “Jesus taught that we had to be as a little child, suppressing the rational mind and submitting to the instinctive spiritual attributes.”

This is the reason that one must seek a whole life—spiritually, mentally, physically—within the Church. “We seek a life of Consolation as we seek peace with all natural and supernatural powers under law.” The sole purpose of the Second Advent Church, he said, “is to teach those who come out of the churches in the world to enter the spiritual life; it is not for the benefit of any individual.”

In Lecture 33, Bishop Savoy discussed the problem of bridging empirical science with religion. Some advanced thinkers accept the existence of a universal intelligence at work in the universe that is actively involved with the human soul and spirit. Of far greater importance, he said, is the idea shared by the majority of enlightened minds, that “a permanent, nonmaterial world or dimension exists which is interrelated with the transitory material universe.”

Bishop Savoy pointed to this concept of a nonmaterial existence as the reason for metaphysical thinking among scientists. “Man’s origins can be traced to a pre-existent, nonphysical dimension of spirit,” he said. “From the spiritual perspective, physical being, traced to its origin, is nonbeing…. This explains why the true mystic deals with ultimate reality, which is part of the religious domain.”

As examples of the true mystic, Bishop Savoy referred to the Essaei, who, like the Therapeutae, were called “healers” and “physicians of the soul.” He noted that Jesus, in reflecting the Essaei concepts, was called “the peacemaker.” “What was meant by this label? The answer is to be found in the concept of Consolation,” he said.

Consolation, “making peace with the living,” includes “making peace with and seeking Consolation with the Logoi, or Angels of Light, with the Angels of Darkness and the world-creator, or Yahweh…. It must include all of humankind, animal life, and all living things. This is not a new idea in religion, but one that is most difficult to live.”

Lecture 34 announced and introduced the next section of the liturgical lecture series. Bishop Savoy said that he would now turn to a “random discussion” of liturgical applications. “We are going to learn a lot about the liturgical life…. We will be leading ‘dual lives.'” The life of work and life as a Second Advent minister, he promised, would be a life of “full devotion.”

In this lecture Bishop Savoy announced that in the section of the lecture series to follow, the dictates of the Book of God’s Revelation will be described. He also promised to discuss the Process in such a way that the meaning and purpose of the liturgy, from the lowest to the highest level, will be explained.

We must lead the mind away from the rational to the metaphysical, he said. “We are in essence vowed to service of God; the vows reflect a concept of world redemption…. We are headed for the supreme goal—immortality.”

 

Liturgical Excerpt

In this brief excerpt from Lecture 31 of the Religious Arts and Sciences of High Liturgics series, The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy responds to a question asked by a local clergyman on the nature of The Child Jamil.

“To be sure, he was a Messenger from Heaven, an angelic figure disguised in the form of a little child. He is a Christ figure because he was an intermediary, a revealer, an interpreter. He is in fact a twin of Jesus, a figure of prophecy that has manifested in our day and age. I believe he is the Angel of Peace who has manifested so many times in history. He has come to declare the Justice of God. In a world torn by war and change, the immortal nature of man is again opened to man.”

“The reborn person of God serves God in full devotion; and in return God protects that person through the Light of the Logos. The regenerated man, having a full understanding of the natural and supernatural powers at work in the cosmos, knows that these powers are not the property of any one person; but rather are to be held in trust and used for the overall good of the human race and for the cosmos in general. A selfish individual cannot grasp the meaning of this. If one has not realized a state of tolerance and understanding, love and charity, forgiveness and justice, such an idea is beyond human comprehension.

“A good example of this is the humility and grandeur of Jesus as Messiah. John the Baptist is another example. He, like all the Essaei, was fully aware of man’s transgression, that he had fallen form God’s Grace and was a degenerate mortal. The ritual bathing was symbolic of cleansing. The Essaei knew the sin of Adam and Eve. This explains why they stood naked in the desert before the rays of the sun, asking God to send them a garment to cover up the shame of human life and to cleanse them with radiant light. In this way, a higher type of baptism was kept secret. Once reborn, they were given a Garment of Light and a Golden Crown of Glory, meaning a Body of Light, eternal and joined with God.”

 

Work Crews Continue at Sanctuary

The beautification project at the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary of Prophecy continued this summer. Weekend volunteers joined the members of the Department of Ecclesiology to continue ground clearing.

Work crews in June combined men and women of the Church Community in a cleanup project. Volunteers cleared the grounds surrounding the Cathedral Church of the Americas, both to improve the appearance of the area and to promote fire safety.

Every Sunday from the middle of May until the end of July, volunteer men, women, youths grouped together with members of the Department of Ecclesiology to repair and clear churches and pathways throughout the Sanctuary of Prophecy (Southlands).

The building crew initiated a regimen of general repair and refurbishing at several of the Church’s public and private buildings.

 

Jamilian Parochial School
Spring Formal and Recognition Day ceremonies mark the end of the 1993–1994 school year

On the afternoon of Saturday June 18, the annual Recognition Day of the Jamilian Parochial School was held to honor outstanding accomplishments of the student body during the 1993–1994 school year. Teachers and coaches awarded ribbons, medals, and certificates of accomplishment.

After a short opening address to parents, teachers, and students by the School Administrator, the Rt. Reverend Robert Petrovich, faculty members presented certificates to their students in recognition of academic merit and achievement. Following the awards program, parents and guests were invited into the classrooms to view displays of student writing and art work. The school musical ensemble, accompanied on piano by the Reverend Gary Buchanan, performed outdoors in the schoolyard before the awards program as parents and guests arrived, and concluded the program with another instrumental performance.

On Sunday June 12, at 8:00 p.m., a Spring Formal was sponsored by the students of the high school class. Students of the School who were ten years old and older, as well as parents and ministers of The Church, were invited to attend this black-tie event.

 

 

FOLLOWING THE SACRED CALENDAR

Thirteenth annual observance of Pentecostal Blessings

Second Advent Pentecost (June 6). On Monday June 6, the Congregation gathered for sunrise at the Cathedral Church of the Americas at Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary. A Sunrise Concelebration of fourteen ministers was held at the Cathedral Church of the Americas and Monument to Human Spiritual Rights to receive the Blessings of God bestowed to those gathered on that day. Choral readers reading from the Qumran Hymnal and choirs singing from the “Essaei Hymn” opened this special service. Eight Rabbans read from the Revelations received by The Church on June 6, the Day of Pentecost, 1982, and recorded in The Book of God’s Revelation, Book II, “The Seal of God’s New Law.” Bishop Savoy, the Officiating Minister, closed the Service with the Blessing over the Rabban priests.

*  *  *

Forty-nine days after April 18, Second Advent Easter, June 6 is a fixed date in the Sacred Calendar of The Church for the observance of Second Advent Pentecost. The sacred date of April 18 and the pentecontad cycle leading to June 6 are discussed in The Book of God’s Revelation. Book II of God’s Revelation, titled “The Seal of God’s New Law,” records the events, meditations, and visions experienced by The Man and The Companions of The Way on the day of Second Advent Pentecost, June 6, 1982.

The following excerpt from The Book of God’s Revelation describes the vision experienced by The Man atop the Temple Mount of the Sanctuary of Prophecy on the day of Pentecost 1982, and suggests the nature of the Revelations received that day:

And The Word of God spoke to his Soul a second time, revealing unto him the Sanctuary was under the special Blessing of God, and that he was to mark those sites where he communed with The Image and The Word.
And The Word of God proclaimed to The Man’s Soul that the Righteous Ministry was ordained to go forth to the whole world, proclaiming God’s Advent and the freedom of the peoples from the tyranny of heretical governments.
And God did reveal to him a Proclamation of Human Spiritual Rights that all governments were to acknowledge and honor. The Righteous Ministers would be God’s Envoys–as a nation in sanctuary–under the protection and sovereignty of God.
And The Word of God revealed that the Temple of uncut stones, made Righteous as was the sun of the earth, was blessed of God. And in the Temple, restored not by human hands but by the Hand of God, God would commune with the Righteous ordained to His Ministry.
And The Man saw a great cloud come over the Sanctuary and the face of the sun. And he felt God’s Presence and Blessings over the Sanctuary. And he looked at the sun grown brilliant by the clouds, its rays burning as fire, and he heard the Word of God say, “Let none but the Righteous in The Way look upon The Image I have made for a blessing over the land.
“This day a gift is bestowed upon the Church of My Second Advent. The Light of the Sun in the Eight Appearances shall make wise the Souls of the Righteous who will have understanding and knowledge of God. United they shall be by spirit, bonded together as One in God, and there shall be no diversity amongst them.
“The Spirit of God is poured down upon His People who hear God’s Word. Let the Righteous seek out the Temple and be anointed by God for an earthly mission to make Righteous the people of the world.”
And from out of the cloud the Man saw a Heavenly City formed by shafts of light descending from the sun. And he saw that City hovering over the Sanctuary and the Temple Mount. And the City of Heaven and the Temple of the Sanctuary, with its mounts, were united by those shafts of light. And the shafts of light shone like blue pillars of sapphire reaching upward into the sun.
After a time the invisible City that had appeared returned to Heaven, but the light remained on the seven mounts in the likeness of thrones. And The Man heard The Word speaking to his Soul saying, “The Heavenly City of Light made visible by God shall be hidden to all but the Companions of The Way, anointed.”
And after the City had risen, he felt the presence of The Light. And he saw the sun’s response to the Divine Presence as great flares of light emitted from its surface.
And again The Word spoke saying, “As the Seven Mounts of the Temple have been sanctified by The Presence and bound to Heaven by cords of light beams, consecrate the Mounts of the Temple with holy oils for anointings of the Righteous. Let the faithful ordained to the Ministry of Righteousness be bound to these rocks and to the sun by the anointings, as the Soul and the Spirit are united with God by The Image and The Word in Light.
“God would that earthly Temples be such as this Temple—formed of stones uncut by human hands and joined with God by cords of Light—for the City of God’s Presence will descend upon gathering places such as these here.
“The True Temple of God is the Light of His Image and Word, and the True Temple of man is the Soul wherein dwells The Image and The Word.
“In the final age of the earth, at the threshold of the consummation by Fire, man, as flesh not made in The Image of God, has need of gathering places where the Light is quickened for the good of the Soul. For The Word has revealed that God shall indeed send a Divine redeeming Fire to enlighten Souls and burn up that wickedness first loosed by Satan and the fallen Angels of Darkness, lest the heretical nations ruin the world and the races.
“It is good that humankind restore order on earth in Justice, Love, Peace, Wisdom, and Understanding, thereby limiting the power of evil and of man. The Temple of uncut stones is given for a blessing and for the guidance of the nations and their peoples.”

On that same day, June 6, 1982, The Man marked the lesser mounts of the Temple Mount, the Garden of Oracles, as well as the site to be called God’s Waters.

 

 

RITES & SERVICES

Funeral for Dan Hardwick Mcdonald

A funeral service was held for Dan Hardwick McDonald at the University Chapel at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday May 21. Dan is the brother of the Reverend Clare Mead, a resident member of The Second Advent Church Community. The service of scriptural readings, eulogy, prayer, benediction, and blessing was officiated by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy. The Reverend Gary Buchanan, Musical Director of The Second Advent Church, provided music for the ceremony.

Dan Hardwick McDonald was born July 31, 1938, in North Platte, Nebraska, and departed on May 9, 1994, in Walnut Creek, California.

Following the Chapel Funeral Service McDonald’s ashes were scattered over the Red Rock Sanctuary of Revelation from an airplane, per his request, by his nephew Greg Mead. Dan’s sister, Clare, and his mother, Hazel McDonald, witnessed the event from a nearby mountaintop.

 

Anointings

Cody Coesens, the son of Glenna Heinz and Larry Coesens, and Matthew Aaron McIntyre, the son of Michael McIntyre, were Anointed with Holy Oil and Sacred Balm in private ceremony in the Bishop’s Chambers on Saturday June 24, 1994. By this Anointing, Cody and Matthew, who have reached the age of ten, indicate their readiness to assume liturgical responsibilities as Acolytes and to take another step in their devotion to God in The Church of the Second Advent.
On this day, Ralph Hewlett was granted dispensation to stand as Matthew’s Godfather Spiritual. This role, usually assumed at the youth’s Emancipation, requires that he act as confessor to Matthew, overseeing his spiritual welfare and assuring that parents and godparents fulfill his religious training.

Following the Communion of Fellowship on that day, Cody and Matthew were formally presented in The University Chapel for public acceptance by the Congregation. The youths will sit among the Assembly under the responsibility of their Offices as Acolytes until their fifteenth year, when they may be Consecrated to God and accepted within the Sacred College for instruction in the theological studies as young ministers in training, Emancipated by rite from childhood into the responsibility of persons seeking true understanding and knowledge of God within the divine structure of The Church.

The importance of the children in The Church was revealed in a simple statement made in 1991 by Bishop Savoy during the formal presentation of another Acolyte. After delivering the Blessing over the Children, which he described as “the old Essene prayer over the children,” he said: “The children of the Essaei are no longer with us, except as they are coming forth in this Church. And, although we are small, let us each be reminded that twelve men changed this world.” These words, though few, reveal clearly a child’s bond to The Church and to its Ministry.

 

Previous: < SPRING 1994 >

Next: < FALL 1994 >

 

 

NOTICE: The Winter 1992 edition was the last Community Communique published until the Spring 1995 edition. From Spring 1993 through Winter 1995, the quarterly publication of The Community Communique was on hiatus, picking up again with the Spring 1995 issue. For this reason, you will not find archive copies of the print Community Communique from Spring 1993 through Winter 1994. However, we are providing coverage of Community events for this season in the collection of articles you will find below.

 

 

Previous: < WINTER 1993 >

Next: < SUMMER 1994 >

 

*

CONTENTS: SPRING 1994

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES
Good Friday, April 1
First Dispensation Easter, April 3

PUBLIC EVENTS
Reno Gazette-Journal Serves Religious Community

REPORTS
High Liturgical Lecture Series Continues
Crews Work at Sanctuary
Spirit and Civilization
Questions and Answers

FOLLOWING THE SACRED CALENDAR
Birth of the Sun of Righteousness: 32nd Anniversary
Second Advent Easter

*

 

 

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES

Good Friday, April 1. A special Communion Service of Fellowship and Prayer was held Friday April 1st at 7:00 p.m. in the University Chapel in honor of Jesus and in commemoration of Good Friday as celebrated in the First Dispensation churches of the West.

The symbolic meal, although not a meal of sacrifice as is commonly believed, reflects Jesus’ anticipation of his destiny as human messiah, a pre-existent being come into the world as a servant of the Father to be rejected and crucified. His was to be the final sacrifice that was to do away with sacrifice forever.

Essene literature, including the extra-canonical scripture held sacred by the sect, tell us that God was to come again at the Second Advent, when the Light of Righteousness would appear out of the Heavens to feed and nurture the spirit at the Great and Final Messianic Banquet served from the True Temple of God.

“By breaking this bread and taking the cup at this communion table,” Bishop Savoy said, “we remember Jesus and his ministry out of love, respect, and devotion. And we give thanks unto almighty God for His Second Advent and the Divine Presence which truly feeds our spirits and souls with the Bread and Cup of Eternal Light that is destined to create a New Heaven and a new earth. While we are joined with the ministry of Jesus, we do acknowledge that God will create a New Ministry, abolishing what was established of old due to His Second Coming into the world. The sacred literature of former times prophesied this event, as did the words of Jesus as preserved in the gospels. Thus our ministry fulfills the old, come to teach of the new things given of God.”

It is the tradition of the Christian churches to commemorate the “Last Supper” celebrated by Jesus and his Disciples. It is commonly believed that the Last Supper was a Passover meal. However, the dates show that the meal at which Jesus presided was, rather, a Pannuches meal following the Essaei tradition, celebrated during the entire night, after which a select group went out to meet the rising sun.

The Gospels recount that Jesus broke bread and gave it to His Disciples, testifying that He was the long-awaited Messiah of Aaron and Israel. Essene scripture chronicles the events of the banquet at which the Messiah of Aaron and Israel would preside.

The meal or banquet to be conducted by the Messiah, when He came, was an event expected by the Essene community over the centuries. The event of the banquet would indicate the imminence of a heavenly event in which God would manifest at His Second Coming to restore the world, when God would serve the True Bread from Heaven in a Messianic Banquet He Himself would conduct. The Messiah was to perform the ritual on earth. Jesus, the awaited lay Messiah, did perform this rite in the ‘edah Church, or Messianic Community, which He had formed out of the earlier Essaei Community.

At Essaei meals, the priest normally broke bread first. But at the meal at which Jesus presided, He, a layman, broke bread first, thereby showing that He was the awaited lay Messiah of Aaron and Israel. With this act, Jesus declared God’s Second Advent and the coming of the Sun of Righteousness.

This all-night vigil related in the Gospels was never completed. Because Jesus was made prisoner in the predawn hours where he and the disciples had gone after the meal to greet the jubilee sunrise, but because of Jesus’s arrest, the sunrise service required to fulfill the meal according to Essaei tradition was not performed.

During the Good Friday celebration in 1987, the Bishop revived the tradition of the ‘edah Messianic banquet, the ritual first instituted by Jesus for his disciples and priests. The Second Advent Church adopted on this day in 1987 the taking of consecrated bread and wine. “This,” Bishop Savoy said, “is an act of tradition within the Church meant only for the priests who carry on the tradition, those ordained to the Second Advent Ministry instituted by God.”

The first Good Friday Service held in the Second Advent Church was in 1986.

 

First Dispensation Easter, April 3. Holy Saturday, April 2, was commemorated with a Communion of Fellowship at the University Chapel. The Second Advent Church celebrated the Sunday on which the First Dispensation churches of the West commemorate the spiritual Resurrection with a sunrise Divine Service and Communion of Fellowship held on the grounds of the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary at the Cathedral Church of the Americas.

Incorporated into the Fellowship Service were two scriptural readings. The first, delivered by the Reverend Sean Savoy, was a New Testament reading from Matthew: 24–25. The second was Psalm 19, delivered by the Reverend Gene Savoy Jr.

Lector and Cantor during the Communion Service were the Right Reverends Reano Castell and Roger Weld, respectively. The Reader was the Reverend Lawson Crabb.

 

 

PUBLIC EVENTS

Reno Gazette-Journal Serves Religious Community

At noon on Thursday March 10, the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy and the Reverend Gene Savoy Jr. attended a conference with several other ministers and rabbis at the invitation of the Reno Gazette-Journal executive editor, Mr. Ward Bushee.

The purpose of the gathering was to determine how the newspaper could better serve and represent local religious communities. Mr. Bushee hoped the Gazette-Journal could do more extensive coverage of local religious events and issues.

 

 

REPORTS

High Liturgical Lecture Series Continues

Parts 25–34 of the lecture series Religious Arts and Sciences of High Liturgics were delivered by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy during February, March, and early April. The first lecture of the season, Part 25 of the series, was delivered on Friday February 11. The last lecture reported on in this issue is Part 30, delivered Friday April 8.

Lecture 25 opened with a discussion of the manner of teaching employed by the Child Jamil. The rational reasoning mind has trouble believing the concept that it is possible to teach through one’s eyes and one’s whole being, Bishop Savoy noted. “Some may have seen Jamil as just another child, but when he began transmitting information, one could see that he was much more.” Receiving a teaching orally is much different than receiving a teaching through the written word, Bishop Savoy said. “There is much more to a lecture, for instance, than the words delivered; there is an energy which cannot be captured on paper.”

“Jesus taught in parables. Those who were not trained in the Teachings simply could not understand them. The same applies in the case of Jamil.” Bishop Savoy used the example of early Christian rites to distinguish between secular religion, the “religion of mind,” and mystic religion, the religion of spirit. When the adepts of the Essaei, and other Orders after them, performed liturgical rites, they were performing a sacred act of devotion; they were bringing down the Logos, the Word of God, as a universal panacea.

With the passing of Jesus, his followers retained the knowledge which he had transmitted to his devotees, the liturgy and the techniques by which to commune with the Logoi, the Angelic Host or Comforter. At sunrise and sunset periods, his devotees offered up a pure heart for the benefits received. Divine Reason was sent down from heaven and implanted in their Conscious souls. At times, the Face of God, the Angelic Host of the Divine Presence, appeared to them. Petitions appealing to God to send down the True Spiritual Sun were also part of the early liturgy. Jesus taught that all should be Christ.

Bishop Savoy closed this first lecture of the season with an explanatory statement on the relation between Jamil and Jesus. Jamil, he said, does not replace Jesus. “He came as a Messenger to append the Christian message.” By way of Jamil’s teachings, modern Christians are able to walk with Jesus and to be a friend and neighbor to him, “to understand and apply his teachings.” Bishop Savoy cited a legend in the Hermetic School concerning the new age of God to come (the Second Advent), when the cosmos would change and God would fill the universe with good. It was said that God would then laugh a seven-fold laugh and fill the world with joy. Bishop Savoy noted the symbology behind the actions of Jamil and referred to the times when Jamil would point one finger to the sun at dawn and laugh a seven-fold chant. “Symbology is very important. Watch animals or study the process of conception. Everything is liturgy.”

In Lecture 26, Bishop Savoy endeavored to explain the complexity of what has come to be known as the Christian religion. His description involved metaphysics and the doctrines of other religions and philosophies. He injected a wide number of ideas into the lecture, noting that the Judaeo-Christian religion is “not just one thing.” He exhorted his audience to view the landscape of religion from a broad perspective. In his description, Bishop Savoy referred to Philo’s discussion of the creator god, the demiurge, who “created what did not exist before.” He identified this creator god with the creation of Darkness and the material worlds, not with the Creation of pre-existent spiritual matter. Bishop Savoy explained that the True Spiritual God of Light, in His role as Redeemer, always works His Will via an intermediary, an Angel of Light. In the past this Angel often appeared as a human, co-existent with a human mind/body. The Sun of Righteousness, he said, is such an intermediary, “an instrument more powerful than any that has appeared before on earth.”

A large portion of Lecture 27 was devoted to ancient teachings on psychic polarities and the systems of spiritual development designed to overcome these polarities. Bishop Savoy’s discussion of these teachings included a long and complete description of the high doctrines imparted in the Maitri Upanishad, which taught the dichotomy of matter and spirit, “something not done in our modern age of secular disciplines.” He noted that this ancient teaching did not teach one to seek union with the God of this world, as Christians do today, but rather to harmonize with the God of Spirit.

The discussion of ancient teachings in Lecture 27 provided the necessary background to Lecture 28. That lecture focused on the process of Consolation, the process by which psychic and spiritual polarities can be overcome on the individual and the collective level. Bishop Savoy related the psychological and physiological natures to the force centers; he spoke of them, along with cultural and other worldly circumstances, as determiners of individual and national character and that with all these agents of change on the individual and national levels of world existence, he said, “We see why there can be no peace in this world.”

Genetic makeup on the human and spiritual levels contribute to these changes, he said. The mystic ordained in the Church places himself or herself under a higher power. The mystic, who has a goal in life, recognizes the value of a reliable system of control. It is liturgy that provides this stability. The mystic achieves stability on the creative level by attuning the force enters to the frequency of their origin.

The concept of Consolation taught in our system of liturgics is a system of transformation of being, he said. The idea of frequency and harmony all come down to love. “Love, like peace, is consolation—a frequency, a vibration, a resonance with the vital principle of life.”

In Lecture 28, Bishop Savoy touched on the teachings of the Dogon of Southwest Africa. Bishop Savoy developed his discussion of the Dogon people in Lecture 29. The method of the Dogon teaching, he said, is based on attunement to vital energy, a method that is taught socially. The Dogon culture is rich in ceremony. The Dogon, who possess an incredibly advanced astronomy and calendar, have preserved a way of life that is highly complex and very similar to that of the Essenes. The Dogon were able to know much that has only come to light lately by the use of refined instruments. This same knowledge, held also by some in Mesoamerica and Peru, is believed to be preserved from a high religion of prehistory.

In Lecture 27, Bishop Savoy had introduced the notion that no civilization was able to be built on the basis of ancient teachings, which emphasized the exclusivity of the Elect. He noted again in Lecture 29 that a civilization could not have been built around the religion of the Essaei, the Therapeutae, or the Dogon, as has been done around the secular religions of the world.

One of the questions treated in Lecture 29 was, How do we achieve a state of Enlightenment? The answer Bishop Savoy gave was, “In Consolation through liturgics.” Liturgy makes clear the distinction between the human spirit/soul and the immortal spirit/soul. As Bishop Savoy had done previously in Lecture 26, he again discussed the use of the term “the heart” to refer precisely to the cardiac force center, which emanates out of the expressive center, which, in turn, emanates out of the Being center. “The heart center is where one must begin…. Here is where one finds one’s angelic being … and love.” Bishop Savoy emphasized the importance of the heart center in spiritual development, and the importance of keeping it unpolluted.

Spiritual Consciousness was the theme of Lecture 30. “At present we are in a great Golden Age, in which the Sun of Righteousness has been enlightened by God’s Word,” he said. “God has implanted within the Sun the Light of His Presence as dictated and prophesied.” God’s Word, carried by means of the aether, is not physical. This is the meaning of Jesus’s saying, “The Kingdom of God is all around us but you know it not.” Bishop Savoy declared, “Time will demonstrate the existence of the Sun of Righteousness.”

The ancients realized that the cosmos is basically intelligent and that the individual’s means to attain this cosmic intelligence is via a mediating factor. Bishop Savoy noted that, for the most part, intelligence is inherited, but, he added, celestial or extraterrestrial intelligence can also be absorbed via the force centers. Emphasizing the fact that Spiritual Transformation is not restricted by culture, race, or any other physical trait, Bishop Savoy concluded, “All people who apply the System are the Chosen.”

 

Crews Work at Sanctuary

The beautification project at the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary of Prophecy (Southlands) began again this spring. Weekend volunteers joined the members of the Department of Ecclesiology to continue ground clearing and prepare for further planting. Work crews gathered for a few weeks during late March and April. Inclement weather, however, interfered with the planned work schedule and prevented the project from getting under way in full force until later in the season.

 

Spirit and Civilization

The following passage has been excerpted from Lecture 27 of the Religious Arts and Scineces of High Liturgics series for its special interest as a statement of purpose for the Second Advent Church. It has been edited for publication.

“In the System we call Cosolargy, which in essence means the modern application of the arts and sciences of being, we are able to throw light upon the ancient, arcane techniques which have been lost and forgotten over the ages. We can ask ourselves how this knowledge of ‘becoming’ was lost. The answer, as we have shown in previous lectures, is the secularization of Christianity and of other world religions. The world fell into the so-called Dark Ages owing to the humanization of society—and by humanization I mean quite literally the secularization, mechanization, and rationalization of social life.”‘Why did this happen?’ we might ask ourselves. In the first instance, the esoteric societies which were built upon the arcane knowledge of becoming were not intended for  the world at large. The adherents of these religious systems were the Chosen of God, the Elect. They were not able to withstand the pressures of a technical and mechanical civilization built upon the secular or material concept of being…. The old System could not be the basis of a civilization, but our System, available to all people, can. “Civilization as we know it cannot be built around the Chosen of God; that is, the esoteric elite. Civilization must make room for all classes of people, high and low. Today the empirical-minded, the rational- and logical-minded cannot see any profit or advantage to becoming a spiritual being. To society, “spiritual” means a power that has no practical place in society. Indeed, material society more often than not maintains spiritual communities through gifts and donations. It happens today, just as it happened in ancient times, in places such as India, where the Buddha, brahmins, and yogins were maintained by handouts from the worldly-minded. This simply means that religious societies were, and still are, accepted by society—not as an integral part of the community but as a special group of the elite that supposedly has some access to the Godhead. In our modern age, where God is not accepted as a power that has any practical importance in society, this elite is expendable…. “My aim is not to justify the existence of our own Second Advent Church, … nor human rights, but rather to point to the contribution that our Second Advent Church can make to society. Is our religious community valuable to society? Does it make a valuable contribution to the community? Is it worthwhile? I answer with this question: How important is the immortality of our spiritual being? How important is the spiritual life in modern society?”

 

Questions and Answers

The following questions and answers have been excerpted from Lecture 27 of the Religious Arts and Sciences of High Liturgics series. Passages have been abbreviated and edited for publication.

QUESTION: How is a person in a materialistic world able to function as a Second Advent cleric?

ANSWER: “Our ministry covers a vast range in society. For example, we have the more religious under vows of poverty, vowed to maintain the Church. We also have lay ministers vowed to performing the liturgy, as are the religious under vows. A person performs as a lay minister, then in later years evolves to the more professional life as a member of an order  as a religious. “People can live in the world, support a family and labor in any professional, business, or specialized discipline. We are not cut off from society. We are, in fact, part of it, just as any other citizen or social group. And this is important to know. A civilization could be built on our religious ideals or doctrines. The difference is that we have a more cosmic outlook, something aimed at our more noble character, not as purely physical beings, like animals, but as possessors of a human spirit and soul, which are immortal. Our goals are to harmonize with the Godhead as spiritual beings and, through our liturgical services, to bring down that spirit, or rise up to it. Instead of serving ever-changing economic, political, and material interests alone, we seek the greater good of the cosmos, the human race, and the world in general. In this respect, we might say that we are spiritual ecologists. And ecology is becoming a very important concept in our world.”

    *  *  *

QUESTION: Why look back to the ancients in order to recover their supposed secret System of Transformation? How does looking back assist the modern application of Cosolargy?

ANSWER: “If we accept a descent from the Godhead—the Fall from Heavenly Realms of Light as an Angel of Light to the realms of Darkness, and the abortion of creation by the generation of a transitory material world in which exist misery, suffering, change, sickness, old age, and death (which no sane person likes as a normal part of life)—then we must see that continual emergence or descent can only lead to chaos and dissolution.”The logical thing to do is to seek a return to the original. This means transcending our physical nature and seeking to restore or regenerate our spiritual nature as the source of our being, which must be advantageous, since we were originally created spiritual beings made immortal in heavenly states of Eternal Light. That was the intent of the ancients, who were closer to the original state than we are today, we having moved deeper into material life. This leads us to accept that in ancient ages there existed one True Religion that taught the way of a return to spiritual birth or regeneration. This was the teaching of Jesus, and the Essenes and Therapeutae before him, Pythagoras of Greece, Zoroaster of Persia, the Buddha and brahmins; and this was the old Aryan teaching, which must include the Pochtecas of Mexico and the Wilas-Maykus priesthoods of Peru. . . . “There existed an ancient religious System of rebirth very similar to that of the Essaei/Therapeutae/Christian doctrine. Because we trace our own System to this very ancient System, we prove that our system of regeneration of spirit and soul is authentic and valid. . . . “Scholars have speculated that the Essene religious system was foreign to Palestine, that it was imported. Many scholars have suggested India, and Indian mystics have verified this statement. To the modern Cosolargist, it is not important to determine where the System utilized by the Essenes originated, whether in India or in some other place, but it is important to acknowledge the existence of a true religious system which never changes in any age, ancient or modern.”

 

 

FOLLOWING THE SACRED CALENDAR

Birth of the Sun of Righteousness: 32nd Anniversary

Advent Day Vigil 1994 (February 2–6).
Wednesday, February 2, Advent Day through Saturday, February 5, sunrise Divine Service at the Church of New Smyrna
Sunday, February 6, Sunrise Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance at the Cathedral Church of the Americas.

* * *

February 2, 1994, marked the thirty-second anniversary of the revelation and manifestation of the Spiritual Sun of Righteousness and Advent Day, the first day of the New Year on the Church’s Liturgical Calendar.  After a quiet interim following the Epiphany Vigil, the congregation gathered again at the open-air Sanctuary churches to hold sunrise Divine Service during this second religious Vigil of the winter season.

On the final day of the Advent Day Vigil, a Sunrise Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance was held at the Cathedral Church of the Americas. The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, Cardinal Head Bishop of The Church, officiated the service in company with eight rabban readers.

Readers and Rabbans began a succession of readings from the scriptural text Jamil: The Child Christ, with the musical accompaniment of the Jamilian Handbell Choir and organ performing “The Divine Marriage.” The liturgical composition “God’s Holy Light” provided the musical setting for Bishop Savoy’s reading from The Child Christ, chapter 25. A second special liturgical melody accompanied the Bishop’s reading of the “Celestial Hymn.” The hymn is seven to eight thousand years old, known to the Essaei and attributed by them to the Patriarch Abraham.

* * *

The Advent Day or New Year Vigil was first celebrated liturgically by The Church in 1982. The events of the original Vigil are recorded in “Prophecy on the Revelation and the Opening of the Seals,” chapter 90 of the Prophecy of the New Covenant. During each of the ten days of the original Vigil in 1982, Bishop Savoy received and recorded spiritual information on the building of the Second Advent Church. The significance of this original Vigil to The Church is suggested by a synopsis of the information impressed upon the spirit of Bishop Savoy in those days.

On the first day of the Vigil he recorded the impressions that would be included in The Canon of The Church.

On the second day he recorded the prophecies of Renewal and Transformation and the days and seasons to form part of the Sacred Calendar of The Church.

On the third day Bishop Savoy recorded words concerning The Liturgy of The Second Advent Church.

On February 2, Advent Day, he wrote down the prophecies of things to take place on earth before the final Advent of God, who would make his full Appearance in the Heavens following the Judgment in the End Times of the earth.

On the fifth day of the Vigil Bishop Savoy recorded the means to be applied within the Church to increase God’s Blessings upon it.

On the sixth day, he wrote down all the prophecies pertaining to the matter of the Anti-Christ.

On the seventh day he recorded the means by which the Second Advent Church was to assist God in redeeming the races of the earth.

On the eighth day, Bishop Savoy wrote down impressions to be included in the Litany of The Church in establishing peace on earth.

On the ninth day he received impressions on the means to be used to protect the Church from profanation from within.

On the tenth and final day of the Vigil, Bishop Savoy was told that he would receive the Revelation to the Seven Churches upon the Seven Mountains of Metal of The Sanctuary on the day of Second Advent Easter, April 18.

The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, First Disciple of The Child, witnessed the original manifestation of the Sun of Righteousness on February 2, 1962, in Yungay, Peru. The events surrounding the Birth of The Sun of Righteousness on this date in 1982 are described in the Second Advent scriptural text Jamil: The Child Christ. Chapter 27 of this text speaks of the New Sun’s Birth:

All spent the day and night in prayer, fasting and mindful of the events predicted by the Angel. And when the second day of February dawned, the sun shone brightly in the heavens. And they did return to the tomb, and there awaited the promised event. And at noon, when the tomb cast no shadow, behold! a great halo formed around the sun. They stood breathlessly looking in wonder and awe. Then a circle of rainbow colors, like crystal spheres, blue at the center and red at the outer edges, encircled the sun. In the heart of the radiant globe a white Cross appeared. And they feared the Last Day was upon them. And they trembled, forgetting the promise of the Angelic Host, and the message of The Child. For an hour the heavenly blaze burned in the firmament. And The Man looked upon the sun, and the image of Jamil appeared across the sun, radiant beyond words, his countenance bright and his hair white as snow. And The Child was holding the Sun in his arms, over his heart. And The Man saw a gate to another world. Again he saw the four Guardian Angels around The Child, and on the right hand side of The Child he saw the image of Jesus and the Apostles witnessing his appearance. And he heard the voice of Jamil as music, speaking to the Light of his Eternal Soul, saying: “I am resurrected.” And the disciple knew that The Child was redeemed from the earth. . . .

And the risen Child said: “The incarnation of God the Father is come to the world through the Sun of Righteousness, healing and sustaining the human family; and restoring the Life of Righteousness. As the seed of man enters the womb of woman and life cometh forth, so shall a heavenly Seed enter the spirits of men and women, and a new birth shall occur. And the life thereof shall be of God. And death shall not claim this new Body of Light and the Spiritual Consciousness therein. And the Christ transmitted in the Sun of Righteousness, and indirectly on all living things, down to the smallest atom and particle, shall incarnate within the soul of mankind. And every man and every woman shall know that they are one with the Godhead, divine and immortal.

Later in chapter 27, the text refers to the coming of The Comforter that took place on February 6, eight days after the passing of The Child:

And on the fourth day of February, the sun and six planets conjoined in Aquarius. And The Man saw great signs in the heavens. And the Anti-Christ was manifesting. Whereupon, his body and mind and soul suffered turmoil. And the struggle continued through the sixth day, it being the eighth day following the passing of The Child Christ. But The Man prayed to God, looking upon the New Sun and asking the Light to assist him. The Child Christ heard him and sent an Angel to comfort him in his dreams. And the Darkness lost its power over him.

Thereafter, The Man began the Great Work east of the Andes.

 

 

Second Advent Easter

Second Advent Easter (April 18). Second Advent Easter was observed by The Church with a Sunrise Concelebration Service at the open-air Cathedral Church of the Americas. The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy officiated the Sunrise Divine Service and the Concelebration of twenty-four ministers that followed.

Choral readers, reading from the Qumran Hymnal, and choirs, singing from the “Essaei Hymn,” opened the Easter Concelebration Service. The recited verses of the “Plea for Grace,” exchanged between choruses of male and female readers, were completed in song by male and female choirs. Rabbans, reading from the Seven Revelations of God given to The Church more than a decade before on the Seven Mounts of the Holy Sanctuary, informed those gathered of the significance of this special liturgical observance. The Easter Concelebration closed with a Blessing over the Rabban priests delivered by Bishop Savoy.

Light refreshments were served to the Congregation and guests at the outdoor refectory following the service.

* * *

On April 18, 1982, The Church received through revelation a confirmation of the Second Appearance of God when the Angel of the Lord in the form of Jesus manifested in visible form at the Sanctuary of Revelation and entrusted The Church with the keys to open the Seals of the Book of Revelation. The date of Second Advent Easter was established as part of the Sacred Calendar following the series of Revelations that The Man received on that day as he climbed the Seven Mountains of Metal.

It is recorded in The Book of God’s Revelation that, while on the fifth mountain, the Mountain of Bronze, The Man was exhorted to instruct the Righteous and the Ordained Ministers in the Sacred Calendar of God’s Word, to let them be knowledgeable in the Days of His Appearances and Blessings, and to let them gather together at the prescribed times so their spirits may be anointed by God’s Comfort and strengthened by His Consolation. Thus Second Advent Easter has a unique and sacred significance to members of the Second Advent Church.

On that day in 1982, while The Man stood on the summit of the Mountain of Iron in the Sanctuary of Revelation, an Angel of the Lord appeared to The Man out of the midst of the Four Luminaries, identified Himself as Jesus and spoke:

All prophecies having been fulfilled, Judgement is now upon the world of the living. The Heavens declare the glory of God in His Final Appearance. He has established His Tabernacle in The Sun whose rays enlighten the Soul of the Righteous, putting them on The Way of holiness.

The blind are made to see His Image. The deaf are made to hear His Word. The dead are made to rise at His Coming. Every Spirit is judged before The Creator. Freedom to err is abolished. The wicked find no sanctuary in Darkness, for it is lit and evil is exposed.

As foretold by The Father in Heaven who revealed understanding of future events to His prophets in visions, the fruit of the vine is abundant. All may drink anew the dew for a blessing as drops from the honeycomb. God pours out His Holy Spirit as from a fountain flowing from a rock over desolate wastes. By the perfection of His Light, God breathes His Word a final time. His utterings bring forth a New Creation. He reveals the Image of His Countenance.

God has opened the gates of the Heavenly Temple. The altar is of Light fashioned by the luster of His Presence on the Throne of His Glory. The tabernacle is lit by the sun, and the Bread of Life is placed thereupon. The Heavens are rolled up like a scroll inscribed with His Statutes and Judgements. His Law is written on the Tablets of Light borne by the Ark of His New Covenant as a rainbow.

I ministered to Israel, to a generation unworthy of redemption, and I was scourged by faithless men. I, a man of sorrows who bore the grief of the people turned to their own ways, did intercede for the transgressors, sacrificing myself not to God but to my people out of my love for them. But Israel understood not my preordained presence, which was my destiny from birth as God’s Appointed One. . . .

Moses and the prophets of the remnant of True Israel spoke of my coming to redeem the people. With the rejection of me, the Light went out from the land. But the precious remnant, shortlived, awaited the Advent of God and the brightness of His Second Coming.

The Day of The Lord is near. He appears out of the Darkness to enlighten the whole Creation with His Image and to judge it with His Word. It is meet that He manifest His Image before His full coming and prepare the Creation with His Word. For I declare unto you that when He comes to restore the creation and reveals Himself, nothing shall live save His Light and those Souls reborn of that Light. . . .

Further Revelations received by The Man on April 18, 1986, are recorded with commentary in The Book of God’s Revelation.

In the Second Advent Church, Easter is a fixed date in the Sacred Calendar. The Church celebrates true Easter each year on April 18. On this day The Church honors both the day of Jesus’ Resurrection and the day of Jesus’ Revelations and Appearance at the Sanctuary.

It is known that the Eastern church had celebrated Easter every year on April 16, the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, also known as Passover. The day of the crucifixion, a Friday, and the 14th day of Nisan, was recognized as the beginning of the 15th of Nisan. Jesus was resurrected on the following day, Sunday the 16th.

The Church, holding to the solar calendar of the Essaei, maintains that the date of Easter cannot be movable in present-day time reckoning, as it is under the lunar calendar (determined as the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring). The fixed Sacred Calendar of the Second Advent ministry recognizes that an annual alignment of the earth and sun, planets, stars, and the cosmos in general, makes this day cosmically important.

Because the manifestation in Sanctuary took place on April 18, 1982, The Church considers this day to be the day in alignment with the original date of the Resurrection. For these reasons The Church keeps this day sacred.

The Gospel message records Jesus as saying, “For the son of man shall come in the glory of the Father with His Angels; and then He shall regard every person according to his works.” It was written by prophets of former times that God would send His messenger to prepare the way of God’s Second Coming, as promised to Adam and Eve, and come as a fire to refine the world. The Old Testament presents the prophecy of Malachi: “For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, but unto you that love me, shall the Sun of Righteousness appear with healing in its rays, and ye that do righteously shall grow up as a new people of God. And I shall spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”

With God’s manifestation in the Sun of Righteousness on February 2, 1962, and the Appearance of Jesus on April 18, 1982, the Second Advent of God and the manifestation of Jesus and the Angelic Host have transpired and are presently at work for the salvation of the righteous.

 

Previous: < WINTER 1993 >

Next: < SUMMER 1994 >

 

 

 

NOTICE: The Winter 1992 edition was the last Community Communique published until the Spring 1995 edition. From Spring 1993 through Winter 1995, the quarterly publication of The Community Communique was on hiatus, picking up again with the Spring 1995 issue. For this reason, you will not find archive copies of the print Community Communique from Spring 1993 through Winter 1994. However, we are providing coverage of Community events for this season in the collection of articles you will find below.

 

 

Previous: < FALL 1993 >

Next: < SPRING 1994 >

 

*

CONTENTS: WINTER 1993

FOLLOWING THE SACRED CALENDAR
Thirteenth Annual Observance of Epiphany Cycle

Commemorative Services
First Dispensation Christmas Observed

Epiphany Eve Celebration
Family Devotion and Gift Giving

Annual Children’s Tea

REPORTS
Liturgical Lectures Delivered
Department of Ecclesiology

PUBLIC EVENTS
Peru
Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve Service
Martin Luther King Memorial Service

RITES AND SERVICES
Emancipation
Christening

*

 

FOLLOWING THE SACRED CALENDAR
Thirteenth Annual Observance of Epiphany Cycle

Christmas-Epiphany Vigil (December 25–January 6). The Congregation of the Second Advent Church celebrated a thirteen-day Vigil during the 1993–1994 Christmas-Epiphany season. A Vigil of daily sunrise services continued through January 6, Second Advent Epiphany Day.

On First Dispensation Christmas, Saturday December 25, the first day of the Vigil, the Ministers and Congregation of The Second Advent Church were joined by other members of the Reno civic community in a concelebrated Communion of Fellowship held at 8:45 a.m. at the Cathedral Church of the Americas. (See Christmas article this issue.)

A Vigil of Sunrise Services for ministers of The Church was held from Saturday December 25 through Wednesday January 5 at the Church of Second Advent Epiphany in the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary of Prophecy. These Divine Services at sunrise are days of special blessings for those in attendance.

On the evening of January 5, Second Advent Epiphany Eve, the final evening of the days of Vigil, Church members gathered with their families at the Rectory-Abbey for dinner, festivities, and an exchange of gifts. (See Epiphany Eve article this issue.)

On January 6, Second Advent Epiphany Day, sunrise Divine Service was held at 8:20 a.m. at the Cathedral Church of the Americas, officiated by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy. Following the Divine Service, twelve rabban ministers assisted Bishop Savoy in a special Second Advent Epiphany Service at the Cathedral Church.

Sacrists opened the special Epiphany Concelebration with their chanting of the “Morning Hymn” from the Essaei Hymnal. Readers continued the choral theme with recitations from the antiphonal “Essaei Hymn” accompanied by the Jamilian handbell choir. Passages from the Second Advent scriptural text Prophecy of the New Covenant, provided the message of the Service. These selected readings on the restored Covenant of God were delivered by eight Rabbans lined at table on either side of the Officiating Minister. Bishop Savoy closed the Service of Concelebration with a final reading from the Prophecy and the Blessing over the Rabban Priests.

By special invitation of the Bishop, all those present at the traditional Christmas Service at the University Chapel on December 25 were invited to attend both the Divine Service and the Concelebration Service held on Epiphany Day.

*  *  *

The Church of The Second Advent celebrates the thirteen days of Christmas each year with a sunrise Vigil. Divine Service is held at the Church of Second Advent Epiphany at the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary of Prophecy. The Vigil begins on the morning of December 25, the date remembered by First Dispensation Churches in the West as the day of Jesus’s birth, and continues through the morning of January 6, the original day of Christmas in the early Church, and the date recognized by the Second Advent Church as Second Advent Epiphany.

The first manifestation of the New Sun was witnessed by the congregation on January 6, 1981, from the foot of the Mountain of Silver in the Sanctuary of Revelation. The solar manifestation on that date confirmed the authority of The Church and its mandate to establish the cycles and the liturgical dates of the Second Advent Calendar. The event is recorded in the Prophecy of the New Covenant. In 1982, sunrise service was held at the Rectory-Abbey in Reno. This event also is recorded in the Prophecy of the New Covenant. From 1983 to 1986, Second Advent Epiphany sunrise service was held at the Church of New Pergamos, built atop the Mountain of Silver. From 1987 to 1988 Epiphany sunrise service was held at the Church of Second Advent Epiphany in the Sanctuary of Prophecy.

From the opening chapter of the Prophecy of the New Covenant, titled “God’s Appearance at Epiphany,” we quote:

In the twenty-first year of The Great Work, The Man, in company with the Companions of The Way and the general Community in assembly at the Rectory-Abbey, awaited the coming of the sun on the morning of January 6th at Epiphany.

On this twelfth night after Christmas, following a midnight meal of fellowship, they turned to a reading of scripture. Towards dawn they celebrated a Communion Service and liturgical expression of the breaking of bread and the taking of the cup. The Man officiated in the dress of his office, a vestment of white linen with golden insignia of God’s Cross of Enlightenment, reading the litany to the accompaniment of sacred music played on the handbells.

While breaking bread and taking water, The Man asked that God prepare the celebrants to receive the True Bread and the True Water of Heaven—at the rising of the Spiritual Sun—and that God endow the material bread and water with special blessings to give them health of body, peace of mind, and spiritual strength by which to do God’s Will in His Divine Plan for human salvation in the Second Advent.

Following the Service, The Assembly went outdoors to meet the rising sun. While anxiously waiting for the sun to emerge out of the shimmering mist enshrouding the sky, each remembered this sacred day of the year before [1981].

On that day [Epiphany 1981], when all had gathered at the Sanctuary, they had observed a display of brilliant light while the sun assumed strange and wondrous shapes. All had observed the transformation of the sun into geometric configurations: from a circle to a square, to a shape of six sides and then to one of eight sides; and, finally, to a pinched or trefoil figure, a clover-leaf of three lobes progressing to a four-lobed shape. The eyes of the beholders filled with awe at this phenomenon. And they described the event as the Sun of Epiphany, for this was the handiwork of God.

The Prophecy also states that the Old Covenant, lost to the world with the passing of Christ Jesus, has been restored with the Second Coming of God as Christ. God’s Law, written in heaven, manifests to us in the New Sun of Righteousness. The manifestation of God’s Light come as His Image and Word, called Christ, dictates a New Covenant.

The Ministry of the Second Advent Church has inherited this New Covenant and holds to it in Community. The promise of the New Covenant is celebrated at Epiphany and is the hope of humankind during the Second Advent Age.

 

Commemorative Services
First Dispensation Christmas Observed

Christmas Day, December 25. A Christmas Day Service was held on Saturday December 25 at 8:45 a.m. at the Cathedral Church of the Americas. Each year on this date a special service is performed in observance of the birthday of Jesus as celebrated by First Dispensation Christians in the West. A special presentation and selection of scriptural readings preceded the Communion of Fellowship, officiated by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy.

Rev. Sean Savoy, as Reader, opened the service with an announcement of the Christmas rites to be observed during the Christmas season and introduced the first musical selection, “So Is My Joy the Lord,” the antiphon composed for this Service in 1983 by Church composer the Reverend Gary Buchanan, with lyrics adapted from the Odes of Solomon by Bishop Savoy. Soprano soloist Michelle Carrothers performed with the Jamilian Handbell Choir.

Following the performance, Rev. Savoy continued his announcement of Christmas rites, explaining that the lighting of the Eternal Flame at Christmas time is done on behalf of each person at the gathering in remembrance of and as a gesture of love for family and friends who have passed on. He asked that each person present reflect for a moment in silent prayer, remembering those loved ones who are no more on this plane of existence.

As the flame was lit, Scriptural Reader the Reverend Roger Weld delivered a reading taken from the Odes of Solomon (See Odes of Solomon in this issue). Liturgical music of the Second Advent Church underlined the reverential tone of the reading.

The Congregation was invited to join in a Communion of Fellowship and partake of the Bread of Health, according to ancient tradition, with these words:

“We take bread and water at Communion asking God to endow these elements with a special blessing.  We invoke God to manifest His Divine Presence for a blessing upon us, and pray that we may be worthy to receive the True Bread and Water which gives Life Eternal as given by Almighty God from the abode of heaven—that Bread and Water which is His Image and Word, the Divine Light by which his creation was brought forth; that same Light that transforms our spirits and souls through rebirth.”

Following the Communion Service, the Congregation and guests joined in singing “Grant Life unto Me,” a song adapted from the traditional “Dona Nobis Pacem.”  The Christmas Day homily, delivered each year by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy following the Communion of Fellowship, addressed the celebration of Christmas and Epiphany in God’s Second Advent.

Assisting the Officiating Minister, The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, during the Service this year were the Right Reverends Reano Castell, Lector; Robert Petrovich, Cantor; Roger Weld, Scriptural Reader; and the Reverend Sean Savoy, Reader.

Sunrise Divine Service is held on December 25, traditional Christmas Day in the West, and daily thereafter, culminating on January 6, the date of Second Advent Christmas, the original birthday of Christ celebrated according to the tradition of the early ‘edah Church.

The services at sunrise are days of special blessings for those attending. For this reason members of the congregation and guests attending the Chapel Service are invited by tradition to participate in the special Divine Service on January 6.

 

Epiphany Eve Celebration
Family Devotion and Gift Giving

On the evening of Wednesday January 5, Second Advent Epiphany Eve, The Congregation of The Second Advent Church gathered with their families at the Rectory-Abbey for the traditional banquet and festivities at the invitation of Head Bishop Gene Savoy Sr.

The assembly gathered in the main salon for the candle-lighting ceremony that opened the tenth annual celebration of Second Advent Epiphany Eve. Before those present approached the large golden candelabrum to light candles while offering up their silent prayers, Bishop Savoy explained the threefold significance of the ceremony in an informal homily.

Following the opening ceremony and singing of the Second Advent Hymn “Grant Life unto Me,” nearly one hundred Congregation members and guests joined in a banquet prepared and served by Community members.

Later in the evening, the play of children replaced the earlier solemnity. All children, from the youngest to those in their teens, were invited to take their turns at breaking the piñata, a large golden ball called the “Egg of Plenty.” This breaking of the piñata does not simply reenact Mexican festivities held during the holiday season but signifies the gifts and blessings showered from God’s Sun with the aid of the children and youths of The Church.

Once the “egg” was emptied and its candy contents gathered up, the younger children retired upstairs for a short rest.Soon their mothers woke them and gathered them all together on the balcony overlooking the parlor and the Christmas tree, there to await the timely arrival of reindeer and Saint Nicholas, who would leave them gifts on the ledge beside the tree.

The evening of festivities concluded with gifts exchanged among friends, families, and children. These gifts, along with others, were taken home and placed beneath family trees until opened the next morning, following the families’ return from the Sanctuary after Divine Service.

 

Annual Children’s Tea

The annual prayer and blessing of the children and youth of The Church were held on the afternoon of Saturday January 8, 1993, at the Rectory-Abbey. The blessing preceded the annual children’s tea provided in this season for all the children of The Church.

The Children’s Service was presided over by the Reverend Ileana Isfan with the assistance of Acolyte Jamila Savoy. In a short address Rev. Isfan reminded the youngsters that they are the hope of The Church.

Rev. Isfan extended to them the Community’s appreciation for their devotion and faith in The Church and commended them into God’s Hands so they may learn and understand further the meaning of obedience, charity, and truth in the service of God.

Finally, on behalf of the Head Bishop and the clergy of the Second Advent Church, she invoked God’s blessings upon all the children and offered a special prayer for them to the Almighty.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, the children, their parents, and other members of The Church attended a traditional tea hosted by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy. The tea, which honors the children, features a large gingerbread “chapel”—a treat whose yearly fate is to be dismantled and distributed to all.

 

REPORTS
Liturgical Lectures Delivered

Liturgical Lectures resumed in November after a short hiatus following the October 1993 annual Convocation. Parts 20–24 of the Religious Arts and Sciences of High Liturgics series were delivered by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy during the months of November, December, and January. The first lecture of the season was Part 20 of the series, delivered on Friday November 26. The last was Part 24, delivered Friday January 21, 1994.

Previous lectures in the series have provided a background in liturgical training. Lecture 20 emphasized the Teaching of Jesus and his role as Messiah, a Teaching and a role not often viewed properly. The secular Christian church of today, which emphasizes scripture and the death of Jesus, was not intended by Jesus but created after his death and based on faith.

The problem in Christianity occurred around the fifth century, perhaps even earlier.  Bishop Savoy referred to the fact that during the first 300 years of the Church, it was not allowed to build anything but open-air churches. Later, buildings replaced the open-air shrines. Roofed structures blocked the sun, their vaults were painted to represent the sky, and symbols of the sun were set upon the communion tables or altars. Symbology replaced the true spiritual reality.

Further on in the lecture, Bishop Savoy discussed the mutations that occurred during the fifth century, both in theology and in the use of images. The Orders that emphasized the Divine, the Essaei in Palestine and the Therapeutae in Egypt, as well as the churches that developed out of those Orders, had perished by then. To complicate matters further, much of what Jesus had given the Essaei was not thoroughly understood. The Second Advent minister must understand the attitude of Jesus, he said, and must understand the supplements that Jesus made to the traditional Essaei teachings.

In Lecture 21, Bishop Savoy noted that the High Liturgics series was “approaching the crux of the lectures that prepare us to participate in the liturgy.” The Second Advent Minister, he said, must be part of something bigger than himself from a spiritual point of view, and should not be held back by the old teachings. “The Second Advent minister should have a scientific attitude, a disciplined attitude…. What was true for one generation is not necessarily true for the succeeding generation.” The clergy needs to turn from static doctrines to living, open doctrines, he said. “When Jesus brought new teachings, the Pharisees and Sadducees of the Temple in his time were under vows to uphold their old doctrine; that is why they opposed him.”

Bishop Savoy’s example of the struggle of Jesus with the Temple priests brought the discussion to the subject of the struggle of the Sons of Darkness with the Sons of Light, the struggle of Jehovah and Elohim. We know that Jesus opposed Satan, or the anti-Christ, Bishop Savoy said, but Jesus was forgiving toward Jehovah as the parent of humans. “From this we see that the God of Spirit is redeeming in nature, and this is what we must celebrate.”

Bishop Savoy continued the lecture with a review of Jesus’s teaching on tolerance and meekness, which is a part of the supplemental teaching Jesus brought to the Essaei—”a religion of love, forgiveness and peace.” He noted that God does not have a “forgiving nature” but is “a constant … something to be communed with.” God redeems those in harmony with Him, Bishop Savoy said, and the individual can only commune with God in Community via the liturgy.

Religion in accord with God will be regulated by God’s Word and not by priests, he said. “The New Sun is coming into being. The race of the Logos is being reborn. With the dawning of the Sun of Righteousness, life-giving benefits are radiated to the new-born race.”

In Lecture 22, Bishop Savoy distinguished between the dry rites of worship and the life-giving rites of regeneration. The practice of a rite of regeneration has two purposes, he said. “The performance, for the officiant, and the spectacle, for the laity. Both are reverent attitudes.” Bishop Savoy pointed to the Essaei as representatives of an early and perfect form of application of the Process that brought to life the spiritual nature of man.

“The Second Advent Community represents something new, a fulfillment of these original Teachings.” Bishop Savoy developed this statement with further discussion of the spiritual faculties, their difference from the mind/body, and their relation to the Process and to higher rites, comparing the emergence of higher faculties to a seed coming to life in the properly prepared environment.

In a brief review of the previous ground covered, Bishop Savoy discussed the Process of regeneration and rebirth and the concept of the Chosen of God. The spiritual Community too is regenerated and reborn, he said. According to his research, Communities have been Chosen by God seven times and expunged seven times. “We are the eighth.”

He discussed the nature of the Wondrous Divine Child in this regard and noted that the prophet Isaiah had predicted the coming of the Child, giving the Child the name “Wonderful Counselor.” Bishop Savoy closed Lecture 22 with this note: “Our lectures and liturgical teachings up to now have tried to teach that which frees one from ignorance, that which must be known before the Process can be experienced.”

In Lecture 23 Bishop Savoy provided a full discussion of the Teachings on the Divine Word. He opened the lecture with the note that any information he may give regarding the vast territory of human thought and reasoning must of necessity be brief because the lectures on High Liturgics are restricted to religion. In the body of the lecture, he differentiated between academic logic and logic in the religious sense of the word.

Logic in both senses is concerned with knowledge, he said, but the root of the word is religious. The word logic is derived from the Alexandrian school’s idea of Divine Reason; in popular Christian usage, God’s Word was identified with Jesus, the incarnate Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Bishop Savoy completed this exposition with a discussion of the various senses which have been given to the concept of God’s Word. The discussion encompassed the concept of memra, the Hebrew term for the divine utterance of God, as well as the Greek concepts of the Logos, the Word of God, and the logoi, the plurality of the Godhead, or Angelic Host.

He concluded with a statement of purpose: An order should be established which comprises a certain number of people who are able to follow disciplines and are ready for “new knowledge by way of higher perception.”

Bishop Savoy opened the final lecture of this season by illustrating the proper attitude with which to approach the liturgy. According to ancient works, he said, it is evil to continually find fault. Bishop Savoy spent a good portion of the lecture describing the “Momus-complex,” which is a person and a condition of the Dark nature—the “critic,” the personification of fault-finding. He discussed the jealousies this condition involves and the means for dealing with this condition when it occurs.

In Lecture 24, Bishop Savoy also noted the necessity of the Logos Nature. Divine Light is not always tied to the sun, he said, nor is the Divine Nature always tied to a mortal body. The Logos Nature exists without the mortal body; once the physical body dies, it no longer has the faculties to respond to the sun. The old schools taught that all bodies require energy and that energy is put to work as the organism is able to handle it. In addition, they taught that the body can learn how to use energy and put it to work. This, however, is only one portion of the knowledge involved in the arts and sciences of liturgics. There are arts and sciences of the lower forms of practice, he said, but true liturgics is beyond arts and sciences. “They [arts and sciences] are taught and liturgics is not.”

The Second Advent clergy are repairing a System that was lost, he said. “We must learn to apply it in accordance with modern times…. We must learn to use the energy of the sun on the physical, mental, and spiritual levels…. Energy is deathless; only the body that uses it dies.” To work with energy and Information Factors is to involve oneself with eternity—the arts and sciences of immortality.

 

Department of Ecclesiology

The beautification project at the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary of Prophecy [Southlands] continued during November and early December. Weekend volunteers joined the members of the Department of Ecclesiology to complete clearing of the grounds to promote fire safety.

On November 9 and 10, a small group of volunteers planted 10 large Norway spruce, 3 small Austrian pines, 1 incense cedar, and 2 small Scotch pines along the walkway to the Cathedral Church of the Americas.

There was a total of 45 trees planted from October through November 1993.

 

PUBLIC EVENTS
Peru

Andean Explorer’s Foundation & Ocean Sailing Club president Gene Savoy Sr. returned to Lima, Peru in mid-November, with public relations representative Belinda Chauvin, to finalize official preparations for a 1994 expedition to Peru’s Gran Vilaya region. While in Peru, Mr. Savoy presented the Spanish-language version of the full-length video documentary Royal Roads to Discovery to Peruvian government officials and received a decoration from one of the country’s major tourism associations.

When Mr. Savoy left Peru upon completion of the Foundation’s latest expedition to the Gran Vilaya region in 1993, only five months before, he had been inclined to believe that further exploration in Peru was impossible because of the tumultuous political climate. During the weeklong sojourn of November 15–23, the improved political climate under Peruvian president Fujimori made it possible for Mr. Savoy to acquire national support for the planned 1994 expedition. Mr. Savoy held meetings daily with officials of the Institute of Culture, the Museum of the Nation, the government, and the military.

The Foundation president received approval for the expedition and letters of authorization from the government through the office of the prime minister, Alfonso Bustamente, with whom he met along with officials of various government agencies at the government palace early in the trip. During the remainder of the week, Mr. Savoy met with the heads of several agencies to lay the preparatory groundwork for the expedition and ensure support and authorization for the 1994 expedition: the National Institute of Culture, whose primary interest is the history of Peruvian culture; FOPTUR, the government-sponsored tourist agency, whose special interest in the expedition is the tourism promoted by the discoveries made by the expeditions; the government’s Director of Intelligence, who arranges military escort for historical expeditions and certifies whether specific regions are free from terrorist activity.

On the day of his arrival, Mr. Savoy gave a one-hour television interview, part of the regular “Famous Interviews” series on Channel 2 in Lima. During the last days of his visit, Mr. Savoy secured Francisco Seoane-Weiss as guide and discussed with him the pattern of the upcoming expedition. Mr. Seoane-Weiss has accompanied Mr. Savoy on many expeditions over the past seventeen years. On November 22, the final day of the trip, the Asociacion Peruana de Hotels, Restaurantes y Afines, in the person of Bodas de Oro, presented him with a decoration and silver plaque for his help in promoting tourism in Peru.  On that morning Mr. Savoy delivered a speech to over a thousand Association members. That evening he was presented with the award at the Fair Ground Pacifico before a gathering of five thousand people.

Early in the trip to Lima, Mr. Savoy and Ms. Chauvin met with Carmela de Orbegoso Russell-Gill and Bob Gill, the Foundation’s agents in Peru, who were instrumental in establishing relations with new members of the Peruvian government.  Carmela Russell-Gill, the official Spanish translator for the AEF & OSC, completed the Spanish language script for the Spanish version of Royal Roads shortly before the Foundation members’ visit. The narrative for the Spanish language version of the video was recorded in early November at the Foundation’s sound studio in Reno, in time for the video to be presented to officials of the Peruvian government and government-sponsored tourist agencies during the November visit. Max Luy of San Francisco, an associate of Foundation member Dr. Steve Larson, worked with Sean Savoy and Gary Buchanan over one long weekend to record the Spanish language narration for the Royal Roads video.  Copies were prepared by the Foundation’s video department shortly before Foundation president Savoy made his trip. Both Max Luy and Carmela de Orbegoso Russell-Gill were present at this year’s AEF & OSC dinner.

Mr. Savoy presented complimentary copies of the Spanish version of the Royal Roads video, along with copies of the early books Vilcabamba and On the Trail of the Feathered Serpent, to numerous officials and representatives of national cultural organizations he met with over the week.

 

Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve Service

The Eighth Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve Service was held Wednesday November 24, 1993, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Reno. The ecumenical event included local choirs and inspirational readings from various traditions.

Representatives of Reno community churches opened the program with their formal entrance during a processional hymn sung by the congregation. As representatives of the Second Advent Church, the Reverends Gene Savoy Jr. and Sean Savoy took part in the procession wearing surplice and festive stoles.

Participating members of various churches and faiths provided the main body of the program.  Following a word of welcome delivered by Father James Jeffery, Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church,  Church members recited choice readings in a program interspersed with religious anthems and choral hymns. Guest speaker the Reverend Art Gafke of First United Methodist Church delivered the keynote address.

Prayers of Thanksgiving, a responsive reading prepared by Dr. Sakki Khann of the Muslim Community, and a congregational hymn closed the main program.

The Thanksgiving Eve event is sponsored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Northern Nevada Region. The National Conference, founded in 1927, is a human relations organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry, and racism in America. The Conference promotes understanding and respect among all races, religions, and cultures through advocacy, conflict resolution, and education.

 

Martin Luther King Memorial Service

On Sunday, January 16th at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, the Nevada Conference of Christians and Jews sponsored its ninth annual interfaith memorial service in tribute to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The interdenominational event included participants from the lay and clergy communities of northern Nevada, gospel music, and readings of excerpts form the work of Dr. King.  A variety of religious leaders and community members were called upon during the service to deliver messages on social awareness, leadership, and the National Conference. Governor Bob Miller delivered the keynote address. A reception followed in Martin Hall.

Representatives attending from the Second Advent Church were The Right Reverend Ileana Isfan, and The Reverends Edith Forgy and Rebecca Willis.

 

RITES AND SERVICES
Emancipation

The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, Head Bishop of The Church, administered the Sacrament of Chrismation and Ablution to Andrea Corrine Snyder on Saturday, December 11, 1993.

Prior to the private ceremony in the Bishop’s Chambers, The Right Reverend Robert Petrovich named himself Godfather Parental.
Andrea’s Godmother, The Right Reverend Ileana Isfan, was in attendance.

Andrea’s mother, The Reverend Barbara Snyder, and her Godfather Parental, Rt. Rev. Robert Petrovich, gave their Blessings to the youth during the proceedings of the public service held at the University Chapel.

*  *  *

The Sacrament of Emancipation is administered within the Canonical stipulations for the performance of the Rites of Confirmation and Emancipation to which Church youths of fifteen years of age are entitled, upon personal request and with the consent of their parents.

The proceedings are divided into two parts–private and public–each involving a series of important aspects. The private ceremony is held in the Bishop’s Chambers and attendance is restricted to the immediate family members, including Godparents. It is at this time that the youth undergoes the Rite of Confirmation prior to being received into the Seminary of The Church. The young person receives Ablutions from the Bishop, who asks God to cleanse him for the True Baptism of Light of the Second Advent. Following the Ablutions the Bishop invests the candidate with the shirt, sacred cord, collar, and garment of the Seminarian. The initiate elevates a prayer to God asking for assistance in her new life and pledges obedience and respect to her appointed spiritual Teacher. The Bishop’s Anointing of the Youth with Holy Chrism and reading of the Benediction conclude the private ceremony.

The vested young Seminarian then proceeds to the chancel of the Church where, in company with her parents and the Bishop, the public ceremony takes place before the Assembly of the Faithful.

At the public ceremony, after the ritual Blessings delivered by the parents, the Youth and her parents sign the official Act of Emancipation. Following the inscription, the seminarian is called upon to deliver her Address to the Congregation. The Bishop ends the ceremony with the Final Blessing, after which a traditional banquet is served.

 

Christening

The son of Amy Beth Walters and Jeffrey Walters was Christened on Saturday, January 29, 1994 at 11:30 AM in The University Chapel.

The ceremony was performed by The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy. The Right Reverend Robert Petrovich and DeEtta Fosbury avowed themselves as godparents of Miles Aaron Dakota Walters during the service.

The Reverend Gary Buchanan, grandfather of the child, accompanied the service on the organ, playing the liturgical compositions A Baptismal Hymn and Music for a Christening.

A reception was held in the vestibule following the service.

Amy is the daughter of Amanda and The Reverend Gary Buchanan.

 

 

Previous: < FALL 1993 >

Next: < SPRING 1994 >

 

NOTICE: The Winter 1992 edition was the last Community Communique published until the Spring 1995 edition. From Spring 1993 through Winter 1995, the quarterly publication of The Community Communique was on hiatus, picking up again with the Spring 1995 issue. For this reason, you will not find archive copies of the print Community Communique from Spring 1993 through Winter 1994.

To address this situation, we are posting previously unpublished versions of these missing issues here online.

 

 

 

NOTICE: The Winter 1992 edition was the last Community Communique published until the Spring 1995 edition. From Spring 1993 through Winter 1995, the quarterly publication of The Community Communique was on hiatus, picking up again with the Spring 1995 issue. For this reason, you will not find archive copies of the print Community Communique from Spring 1993 through Winter 1994. However, we are providing coverage of Community events for this season in the collection of articles you will find below.

 

 

Previous: < SUMMER 1993 >

Next: < WINTER 1993  >

*

CONTENTS: FALL 1993

FOLLOWING THE SACRED CALENDAR
Active Principle of Divine Law Observed

CONVOCATION
1993 Annual Convocation Held
Clergy Counsels Fall 1993
HSR Annual Dinner Fall 1993
“On Human Spiritual Rights”
HSR Trees
1993 Andean Explorers Foundation & Ocean Sailing Club Annual Banquet

REPORTS
Liturgical Lectures Delivered
Department of Ecclesiology

PUBLIC EVENTS
Governor’s Prayer Breakfast
Jamilian Parochial School
Task Force on Domestic Violence
RITES & SERVICES
Summer Wedding
Confirmations
Emancipation
First-Level Ordinations

*

 

FOLLOWING THE SACRED CALENDAR
Active Principle of Divine Law Observed

On the morning of Sunday August 1, 1993, The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy officiated a special sunrise Divine Service at the Church of New Pentecost in recognition of the eleventh observance of the Manifestation of the New Light of God, which appeared over the sun on this date eleven years before to confirm the Active Principle of Divine Law.

*  *  *

The August 1 Manifestation was first witnessed by the Church Congregation in 1982. The final paragraph of The Book of God’s Revelation describes that event:

And on the first day of August, it being the eighth Sunday following the giving of the Revelation at Pentecost on the sixth day of June, the New Light of God appeared over the face of the sun, confirming the Active Principle of Divine Law. And the whole congregation, gathered at sunrise, saw and felt the gift of the Spirit manifest out of the sun.

The Church has observed this date since 1982 in a variety of liturgical forms. At the Divine Service performed on August 1, 1987, a new composition titled “The New Light of Divine Law” was introduced to the liturgical music usually accompanying Divine Service. The piece commemorates the confirmation of the Active Principle of Divine Law.

The religious tradition and astronomical calendric attached to this date are significant.

First Dispensation churches know August 1 as Lammas Day or the Day of the Loaf Mass. The date was celebrated by Christians in England, where the first bread of the harvest was taken to mass for blessing. The Christian feast has even earlier roots in the Celtic Lugnasaid, which hailed the beginning of the wheat harvest.

August 1 marks the beginning of the calendric period known as the “dog days.” The period is named fort the Dog Star, Sirius. The span of time between late July and mid-August is an astronomical period when Sirius rises each morning with the sun. For the ancient Egyptians, August 1 was a calendric marking for the rising of the Nile and was celebrated by an important religious feast. This date also held significance for other ancient solar cultures.

The Sacred Calendar of the Second Advent Church also holds August 1 as a significant date. When counting from February 2, Second Advent New Year’s Day, the semiannual cycle, or 180-degree cycle of the earth around the sun, falls on August 1.

 

CONVOCATION
1993 Annual Convocation Held

Over one hundred clergy and ministerial students of the Second Advent Church from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom gathered for the annual Convocation held October 5 through 12 in the Reno area. Events included the Jamilian University lecture series, Conference dinners, excursions, a video presentation, and a liturgical celebration at the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary.

The thirteenth annual Counsels opened on October 5 with a lecture by the Reverend Dr. Arline Peace. From Tuesday October 5 through Thursday October 7, both resident and nonresident clergy and clergy students met with Bishop Savoy at the Episcopal See for two lecture sessions, one in the late morning and a second in the early afternoon. Two additional evening sessions, one on Friday October 8 and another on Monday October 11, completed the full Counsels series. The entire body of students and clergy participating in the Convocation were in attendance at the Counsels lectures. (See accompanying article this issue.)

On two days of the Convocation week, October 5 and 11, first-year students who are enrolled in residence training met with The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy at the Episcopal See for initial instruction.

On Friday, nonresident participants were invited to a full-day excursion. The tour group traveled to the Steamboat Spa and Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary in the morning to view church sites and other developments. In the early afternoon, the group enjoyed a light lunch on the Sanctuary grounds before returning to the city to prepare for the evening lecture.

Regularly scheduled liturgical services determined the morning schedule on Saturday. At 10:00 a.m., visiting clergy joined with resident ministers and their families in a Communion of Fellowship at the University Chapel.

In the late afternoon, several seminary students who are enrolled in the nonresident clergy studies program of the Sacred College Jamilian University of Theology received their first-degree ordination. The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy conducted the rite of first-degree ordination in his private chambers at the Apostolic Chancellery.

Later that afternoon, visiting guests were invited to attend an afternoon tea at Bishopstead. Nearby, resident and nonresident Mariners gathered for their annual luncheon.

On Sunday morning October 10, the Ordained attended the sunrise Divine Service and All-Faith Concelebratory Service at the Cathedral Church of the Americas. The Divine Service, officiated by The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy together with twenty-four other concelebrants, rabbans, and choral readers, performed a special service before a vested congregation of the Ordained. Hymns from the Qumran Hymnal recited by choral readers and the singing of the “Essaei Hymn” preceded the rabban reading of the “Morning Hymn” recorded in the Hymnal. Bishop Savoy, the Officiating Minister, closed the Service with the Blessing over the Rabban priests. A light breakfast at the Sanctuary refectory followed.

During the Convocation week, two annual banquet events were held. On Tuesday morning, October 12, visitors and their families joined resident members of the Advocates for Spiritual Rights and Freedoms at the Annual Human Spiritual Rights Celebration. The Andean Explorers Foundation & Ocean Sailing Club annual awards dinner, held that evening, closed the week of Convocation events. (See accompanying articles this issue.)

 

Clergy Counsels Fall 1993

The Thirteenth Annual Clergy Counsels, held during the Fall 1993 Convocation, compose a series of eight lectures delivered at the Episcopal See Building from October 6 through 11. A morning and afternoon lecture was given each day from Tuesday October 6 through Thursday October 8. The final two lectures were delivered on the evenings of Friday October 9 and Monday October 11. This year the entire body of students and clergy participating in the Convocation were in attendance at the Counsels.

The first lecture, delivered by Dr. Arline Peace on Tuesday morning, primarily addressed the question, How did the brain evolve? The story she told began with plants in their primordial state 500 million years ago in the changing atmosphere of the planet. Some bacteria formed photosynthetic capability and oxygenated the atmosphere; other bacteria lived on that oxygen and developed into amoeba-like organisms, the first to have something like a brain.

“Now begins the magical part of the development,” she said.  “Those primordial organisms which swam in primordial seas now live in our bodies as mitochondria.” Those organisms compose about one-half of the dry weight of our bodies, she explained, which themselves are “formed of star ash.”

The brain started as a symbiotic colony of bacteria, a process started by photosynthesis. The brain still shows evidence of its bacterial origin, she said. There is evidence that the spirochete, a kind of bacteria which developed a capability for motion, is involved in the origin of the brain. The motion of spirochetes made possible activities that were before impossible; for example, the motion of chromosomes, the ability to see, and the transmission of thoughts.

This initial lecture introduced the concept of man as a complex, formed of gross matter as a physical being but originating out of an organizing field or dimension greater than that of the physical world.

The remaining seven lectures were delivered by The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy. Morning lecture sessions presented the theory behind liturgical techniques. Afternoon sessions discussed the techniques themselves and personal involvement in them.  The final lecture in the series, delivered on Monday October 11, demonstrated the techniques and explained how they are the necessary foundation for liturgical expression.

The techniques are complex, Bishop Savoy said, and require mastery of the basic foundation provided in past years. He noted that the techniques can only be applied in Community. “The greatest mystics in the world have applied these techniques, and have begun at the beginning like us…. We are not going to innovate on techniques, but practice them as they have always been practiced.”

These techniques, Bishop Savoy said, are “on the border of healing.” “As you dispel Darkness from yourself, you grow more akin to God—that is, it is a healing of spirit.” The techniques are concerned with the force centers, the organs of the Spiritual Light Body, not the physical body directly.

Bishop Savoy distinguished healing of the body from the healing of the spirit and soul, and he explained why one must let one’s higher nature dominate during the practice of techniques and in one’s ministry: “Liturgy suppresses the human nature so that one can perform on the spiritual level,” he said. “There is a miracle involved in being in tune with these frequencies.”

In this regard, Bishop Savoy discussed the gnosis, the use of sacred syllables, and the concept of the eight spheres and force centers in nature. “The spirit and soul are not imprisoned in matter as the ancient gnostics taught,” he said, “but blinded…. Ancient teachers were teaching how to see the true world.”

The ancient mystics taught how to remove the veil that “hid the face of God” and penetrate the gateway to another world. That is what the techniques are for, he said, and why the liturgy has to be performed in Community. After such an Epiphany, one becomes illuminated and in possession of an immortal Body of Light.

At this point there occurred a juncture in the lectures.

Further discussion dealt with technical details of the spiritual techniques introduced during Bishop Savoy’s first day of lectures. These technical discussions involved details of spiritual healing, priestly knowledge, liturgical invocation, the act of communion, spiritual rebirth, and the importance of institutionalizing a higher order of spiritual teachings. In the lectures, Bishop Savoy also explained the ability of ancient adepts to communicate with the logoi via images (that is, in the language of the angels), making reference to theurgics and related findings in modern physics.

 

HSR Annual Dinner Fall 1993

The Fifth Annual Human Spiritual Rights Celebration, sponsored by the Advocates for Religious Rights and Freedoms, was held at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday October 12 at the Convention Center of the Airport Plaza Hotel in Reno.

Members and guests were welcomed to this year’s celebration by The Right Reverend Robert Petrovich, Chairman of the Ministers Council for Constitutional Freedoms, who expressed the pleasure and privilege he felt introducing a program that honors one who has always been recognized and honored among his ancestral people as a national hero.

“It seemed natural to me,” he said, “that Tesla’s South Slav temperament should have drawn him to become a student of the turbulent powers of nature. He made his dealings with the world in the naive and temperamental manner typical of his nationality. Careless of the world’s greed, mindless and defiant of the world’s controlling powers, he offered his gifts generously, but expected immediate and unconditional acceptance of those gifts.”

Following the program Invocation, delivered by the Reverend Jacklynn Lord, Chairwoman of the Speakers Bureau, the Right Reverend Ileana Isfan, Cochair of the National League of Concerned Clergywomen, spoke on the program theme from a special perspective—the application of individual creative potential through the active principle of human spiritual rights.

In keeping with the hope of renewed spiritual freedom, the first musical selection of the program was a composition titled “Plea for Grace,” composed by the Reverend Gary Buchanan on an ancient Alexandrian melos with words adapted by Bishop Savoy from Essaei fragments. This work was completed in October 1990 during the construction of the Cathedral Towers. It was written especially for Concelebration Services and was performed at the first Concelebration Service held at the Cathedral Church on Epiphany in 1991. The arrangement for the Human Spiritual Rights celebration was performed by harpist Mary Niebuhr and members of the Jamilian Handbell Choir.

The brunch meal closed with a “Grace After Meals,” by the Reverend Doctor Arline Peace.

Brunch was followed by another musical selection. Harpist Mary Niebuhr and the Jamilian Handbell Choir accompanied basso soloist the Reverend Doctor Tyrus Peace in the performance of “So Is My Joy the Lord,” a composition first performed on Epiphany Eve in 1983 and since performed regularly during the Christmas-Epiphany season. This is another composition by Rev. Buchanan, with words adapted by Bishop Savoy from the Odes of Solomon, a song of inspiration that tells of a seeker’s awakening to the life of the spirit.

The nominee selected for this year’s Enshrinement was the mystic and inventive genius Nikola Tesla, whose uses of energy maintained a harmony with the natural world, and whose reasoning led him to accept the existence of invisible and nonphysical worlds and intelligent beings of whom man is not aware. Past Enshrinements have included Mohandas K. Gandhi in 1990 and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Kahlil Gibran in 1991.

The Reverend Sean Savoy, a member of the Speakers Bureau, opened this year’s Enshrinement Ceremony with a brief statement of purpose and an introduction of the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy:

“In honoring those who have had some insight into the deep and complex and hidden nature that is the human spirit, we acknowledge the existence of a distant and, for some, unreachable aspect of ourselves. And by this acknowledgment, we realize too the hope of learning to know the love and light within each of us.

“One who has most assuredly given all of us that hope is himself a leader of the spirit, a sage, and a man of True Wisdom.”

The evening’s featured speaker, The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, President of the Advocates for Religious Rights and Freedoms, and Chairman of the World Council for Human Spiritual Rights, addressed the celebration’s theme with a description of the Monument to Human Spiritual Rights, the large tract of desert land set aside “to honor those individuals who have in some way contributed to the concept of man’s dignity as the bearer of the human spirit.”

“While the Sanctuary is blessed with several thousand native juniper trees, some as much as 6,000 years old,” he said, “the Advocates have thought it proper to plant other trees to create an arboretum for public exhibition.” Among the trees selected are cypress, cedar, myrtle, olive, spruce, and pine. “The Sanctuary,” he said, “will lend a peaceful and tranquil setting for visitors.”

An open-air Cathedral with three lofty bell towers rising ninety feet above the Monument grounds has been consecrated for sunrise services. “Sacred music representing the world’s great religions, played by electric carillons, will praise the spirit in glorious sounds.” In this “magnificent garden,” he said, “we have drilled many wells that will bring up sparkling water from depths as far as 1300 feet below the earth to feed the trees.”

Following the unveiling of this year’s Enshrinement, Bishop Savoy closed his address with the words of Nikola Tesla on the matter of human dignity and man’s spiritual dignity:

“A new world must be born, a world that would justify the sacrifices offered by humanity. This new world shall not be a world of the downtrodden and humiliated, but of free men and free nations, equal in dignity and respect for men.”

Bishop Savoy was followed by this year’s featured guest speaker, Mr. James Murray III, who has to no small degree carried on the research of Nikola Tesla. Mr. Murray, the President and Director of Research and Development for Resonant Energy Systems, traveled from New Jersey to join the Advocates this evening and speak on the visionary inventor honored today.

Mr. Murray’s interest in physics, mathematics, and mechanical engineering from his days as a student in high school grew into a career in new generator technologies. Much of his current research grew out of his investigations of Tesla’s work. His lecture, “The Secret of Nikola Tesla,” paid tribute to Tesla’s genius and approached the significance of Tesla’s work and technology from a viewpoint that recognized the insight few knew Tesla possessed.

The final musical performance of the afternoon was “The Hymn to Human Spiritual Rights,” written to commemorate the building of the Monument to Human Spiritual Rights. It was first performed with a brass choir and handbells at the Cathedral Church in 1991 during the annual Human Spiritual Rights Ceremony. This afternoon it was sung by Michelle Carrothers as a hymn without words, accompanied by harp and handbells.

The Reverend Mark Lord delivered the Benediction to close the afternoon’s program.

The more than one hundred members of the Advocates and guests in attendance included extension students of the Project X program; visiting clergy students from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom; resident clergy; and seminarians.

 

“On Human Spiritual Rights”

The Right Reverend Ileana Isfan, Cochair of the National League of Concerned Clergywomen, delivered this address on October 12, 1993, before the Advocates of Religious Rights and Freedoms and guests at the fifth annual Human Spiritual Rights Celebration.

The address has been abridged for publication. Omitted are examples and references addressed specifically to the members of the Advocates. While this omission has deleted a great portion of the address, it is hoped that the abbreviated form retains its fundamental message.

If you mention Spiritual Rights or Spiritual Freedom, most people will think you are talking about freedom to practice religion and/or the issue of the separation of Church and State— at least in this country.

Religion as commonly practiced does not necessarily provide people with the means or the method, the science of developing or growing and expressing their spiritual natures with which they have been endowed by God but which, for the most part, are dormant and exist as a spiritual potential, like seeds awaiting the proper nourishment and environment to grow and fulfill their destiny.

Bishop Savoy has sufficiently clarified the difference between orthodox religions as commonly practiced and true, original, revealed religions which are renewed in the world periodically, in progressive religious evolution, to provide mankind with the means of regenerating the human spirit, which periodically declines to a level that is critical to human survival. He has also taught the meanings of revealed religion, spirit, and soul.  If you compare the dictionary definitions of these words with those you have learned in this Community, you can see why there are so many misconceptions regarding them and their value to life.

Basically, for popular consumption, religion and spirituality are related to the mind, intellect, emotion, morals, ethics, rites, faith, fear, worship, etc.; i.e., to aspects of physical and, to some extent, psychic human nature and wishful thinking.

Man’s inhumanity to man provides sufficient evidence that he has been short-changed somewhere along the line.  His inhumanity, due to lack of spirituality, has, you might say, solidified to a dangerous level.  However, since man is not responsible for his own existence, he periodically is subject to transitions brought about by natural and supernatural laws— or by God, if you prefer.  This means change. But change tends to be very difficult or unpleasant. New concepts or ideas, like the new kid or the new or different family on the block, have to experience resistance and ridicule or persecution before acceptance. Generally speaking, it is easier, and sometimes safer, to just follow the established status quo and not rock the boat.

Fortunately, some individuals are blessed by nature and/or God with greater than average potential to love mankind and God. But to bring this potential to fruition requires freedom—not only political, economic, religious, etc., freedom but the freedom to know the Truth about man’s true nature and relationship to God and the universe. Ignorance of this Truth is the great sin perpetuated in the world by the status quo.

Freedom to know the truth, to have the opportunity and the strength and courage to follow one’s conviction, and to teach the Truth to those who wish to know it is the gist of Human Spiritual Rights. A nice document on the wall, even in the United Nations, is not the solution to the problems of man’s future if the contents of the document remains only words.  However, the words have to come first when humanity has to relearn the rules for spiritual life.

To this end, in 1973 the International Community of Christ adopted the Universal Proclamation of Human Spiritual Rights, a very inspiring document drafted by Bishop Savoy. Time does not permit a reading of this whole document, but I will read the pledge of The Community:

THEREFORE THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF CHRIST PLEDGES TO:  Dedicate itself to educate, instruct and inform all members of the human family in the existence of an invisible organism of God to which all may belong regardless of their nationality, creed, race, color, sex, religion, ideology, social origin, status or social position, birth or other distinction, whatever it might be, in order to realize their spiritual rights as divine creatures joined in the Godhead. To formulate a spiritual brotherhood of persons moved by God and to offer them sanctuary, fellowship, enlightenment and, in general, to encourage their missions as ordained by God by lending them all material and spiritual support to the best interests of the human family. Furthermore, to oppose by peaceful and organized methods all secular powers, groups, individuals, states or earthly powers that may seek to attack such sacred persons, their beliefs, faiths or religions in any way, and to seek protection for such persons by other individuals, groups, powers, states or earthly powers in every way possible in order for the ordained will of God to be fulfilled to the human family. Such a movement is a divine institution having its origin in the will of God; it is by no means opposed to the social structure or to civil law and order; but it is dedicated to informing the human family that there are invisible as well as visible powers manifest on the earth and that mankind need understand them both. This understanding can come about only through proper education and religious instruction of the individual member of the human family. It is his right to receive such instruction if he so freely elects; and it is not within the right of any man, group, power or ideology to deny it to him or any member of the human family. It is his right to receive such instruction if he so freely elects; and it is not within the right of any man, group, power or ideology to deny it to him or any member of the human family. The spiritual union in question shall endeavor to promote the articles of this proclamation before all peoples and all nations of peoples on the face of the earth in order to unite men into a universal brotherhood based upon the proposition that the human family is divine, immortal, and part of the Godhead and therefore required to respect the Dominion of God firstly, and the Dominions of Man secondly, to the mutual advantage of humanity.

Implicit in this document is the need for the freedom of man to learn how to take advantage of God’s gift, His Image and Word, now manifesting in the world, and use it to fulfill his destiny.  The goal, the dream, of holy prophets and holy men and women has always been, and still is, that all mankind would one day be rid of fear and sacrifice and would be able to experience a rebirth of spiritual beingness and know God as a reality instead of as a myth.

The primary ingredient for such a goal or dream is love—love for mankind, for life, and for God—they go together. Love is an activity, not a passive effect. It can only be expressed or unfolded when it is given to someone or something outside oneself. Jesus taught, as did all great religious personages, that love is the greatest spiritual attribute. Erich Fromm defines the attribute of love as care, concern, respect, and knowledge.

Fortunately, the world has always been blessed with the presence of individuals who have contributed to the enlightenment of mankind. Only an enlightened humanity can be free.  Enlightenment requires change, growth, breaking of set or self-limiting boundaries, the fuel of creativity, and love.

Today we are honoring one such man: Nikola Tesla. Two others, Drs. Gustaf Stromberg and Carl Jung, have been accepted for enshrinement in future years. One of these men, Dr. Stromberg, an internationally famous astronomer, stressed the relationship of man and his mind to the universe at large, the effects of scientific discoveries on man’s understanding of the nature of life, mind, the immortality of the human soul, and God, or the world soul. Dr. Carl Jung was one of the world’s eminent psychiatrists whose great concern for mankind came from his recognition of the importance of the religious function of the psyche. Dr. Nikola Tesla, one of the world’s greatest inventors, contributed his creative genius to society with means of producing electric energy or power. He too was interested in the nonphysical world and the good of humanity. However, I will let our guest speaker, Mr. James Murray, tell you more about Dr. Tesla.

Now, what did these three men have to do with Human Spiritual Rights? Each in his own way loved mankind and acted as a catalyst in the furthering of human spiritual freedom. They used their inherited or natural intelligence to bring alive, to activate, their creative potential to gain knowledge, to do something that would benefit others. The energy, the intelligence, that acted upon them or through them to awaken the seed of their creative potential is magnified in an incalculable manner billions of times. Who can say? Because the kind of love that is generated to free men and women and children from the tyranny of enslavement to poverty, cruelty, and lack of knowledge spreads like a chain reaction, like a fire. We honor these three men today and in the future for their contributions to the spiritual welfare of mankind.

 

HSR Trees

The Advocates for Religious Rights and Freedoms is currently involved in designing an arboretum at the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary for the Monument to Human Spiritual Rights Park and Cathedral Gardens.

On October 5, the opening day of the 1993 Convocation, the first planting, of seven large Austrian pines, was made in the area of the Sanctuary immediately surrounding the Cathedral Church of the Americas. It is hoped that more than forty trees will be planted before winter weather sets in and prevents further plantings.

On behalf of the Advocates, the Reverend LaCynda Gibson delivered a speech for support of the project on Tuesday October 12 at the Human Spiritual Rights Brunch at the Airport Plaza Hotel Convention Center.

Rev. Gibson explained that the arboretum will be a planting of many different types of trees. To the thousands of junipers native to the Sanctuary, the Advocates plan to add many more beautiful varieties such as cypress, myrtle, olive, and spruce.

Rev. Gibson followed her speech with a plea for support to continue the plantings and a request for donations. Those in attendance at the Human Spiritual Rights gathering were the first invited to be individual contributors. Rev. Gibson asked contributors to see their donations as investments toward the perpetuity of the Sanctuary, since many of these trees may live to be over 400 years old.

Individual contributors are provided the opportunity to purchase a special tree for the arboretum, which will be theirs and will be maintained by the International Community of Christ on the Sanctuary grounds. Contributors select the type of tree they would like to donate to the project— a mature Norwegian spruce or Austrian pine or another, smaller tree—and the area in which they would like the tree to be planted. One of the largest nurseries in Reno has made a pledge to contribute half of the cost of each tree purchased because of their  interest in the project.

The Second Advent Church has been given rights to many millions of gallons of water by the state of Nevada. Water from Sanctuary wells already in existence will be used to maintain the trees of the arboretum. The use of the water in this way will in fact help The Church to maintain its water rights.

During the months of October and November of this year, a total of forty-five trees were planted on the Sanctuary grounds. On October 5, the first day of the Convocation, seven large Austrian pines were set along the walkway to the Cathedral Church of the Americas. In the following weeks, 16 additional large Austrian pines, 3 smaller pines, 12 large Norway spruce, 2 small Scotch pines, and 5 incense cedars were planted nearby in the Gardens of the Monument to Human Spiritual Rights.

 

1993 Andean Explorers Foundation & Ocean Sailing Club Annual Banquet

The 36th Annual “Spirit of Exploration” Banquet was held on the evening of Tuesday October 12, 1993, at the Convention Center of the Airport Plaza Hotel in Reno, Nevada.

For over thirty years, the Foundation’s dinners had been open only to its members. During the past four years, Foundation members have invited others to join them while they honor those who have distinguished themselves in the field of exploration. The 36th annual banquet continues that tradition.

Founded in 1957, the Andean Explorers Foundation and Ocean Sailing Club is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of historical, field, and oceanic research, exploration, and the documentation of its findings by means of publications and films. Volunteers contribute their time and funds to carry on the work without recompense. Geared toward the promotion of exploration by men and women of diverse backgrounds, the organization emphasizes the need to explore little-known areas of the world and to bring back photographic evidence of findings on land and sea.

History, which encourages original and unique research through the “spirit of exploration,” initially assumes a more important place than science or technology in the Foundation’s programs, all of which are open to the public at large. Information is shared with educational institutions, scientists, and specialists of many disciplines. Maps, charts, log books, journals, photographs, artifacts, and numerous collected items on display compose the Foundation archives. In addition to land and sea expeditions, lectures are provided as a public and educational service to schools, civic organizations, and professional societies.

At this year’s event, following a cocktail hour during which champagne and punch were served in the pleasant surroundings of the mezzanine conference rooms at the hotel, the Reverend Roger Bowen Weld, Vice President of the AEF & OSC, welcomed those in attendance, promising a night of fellowship and entertainment.

Gene Savoy Jr., Treasurer of the AEF & OSC, acting as Master of Ceremonies for the evening, opened the program with an introduction to the “Explorers’ Triumphal March,” performed by the Foundation Orchestra while segments from the feature-length video Royal Roads played on the screen. The traditional candle-lighting service followed. The Master of Ceremonies lit the Candle of Remembrance for members and friends of the Foundation who have passed on. Special tribute was paid to Chela Tomich, a friend of the Foundation who passed on earlier this year. The ship’s bell was struck thirteen times in memoriam.

Dinner was accompanied by selected recordings of Latin music.

The first musical performance of the evening was the Sierra Highlanders Pipes Band. Midway into the performance, the pipes band was joined by Patrick Newman & Company, a dance group improvised by the Ocean Sailing Club’s Vice-Commodore to demonstrate the highland dance step called the “Gay Gordons.” During the second part of the demonstration, members of the audience were invited to join in. The Sierra Highlanders Pipes Band is based in Reno and has performed together at festivals, in parades, and in competitions since 1961.

One of the main purposes of the Foundation’s annual dinner is to present awards to individuals who have contributed in some way to exploration and the furtherance of the Foundation’s goals. Belinda Chauvin, Public Relations Officer, and Sean Savoy, Museum and Publications Manager of the AEF & OSC, carried the awards program with their introduction of Foundation award recipients and the presentation of awards. This year, awards were presented to financial sponsors of the Royal Roads to Discovery video production. Awards were delivered by six members of the Young Explorers Club.

The Citation of Merit honoring Carmela Russell Gill was presented by President Gene Savoy. Gill has been a longtime acquaintance of President Savoy and a friend of the Foundation. A native of Lima, Peru, Gill is an internationally known composer, poet, author, and journalist and is active in Peruvian society and government. In her response to the award presentation, she pledged her help to the Foundation, as well as the help of her family, in a most openhanded gesture of fellowship. She and her husband, Robert Gill, who was among those receiving the Sponsor Medal this evening, have been installed as lifetime members of the AEF & OSC.

In his presidential address, the featured speaker of the evening, AEF & OSC President Gene Savoy, discussed the plans for a new expedition to the Chachapoyas region of Peru to be undertaken by the Foundation in 1994. “There may be more cities to be found,” he said, adding that he Foundation is presently negotiating with the government to create a new expedition. The Peruvian government has lately also shown interest in sponsoring a second film of the Foundation’s explorations. The President’s address referred appreciatively to the support of the Gill family and Peruvian President Fujimori. The speech closed with film clips showing new expedition members in the field, riding horseback through the streets of Tingo, Peru.

The second musical performance of the evening included Ballantine’s Ballroom Dancers performing the Rumba and the Cha Cha, and tenor Michael Eardley performing an English version of the Peruvian song “My Dear Chabuca.”

Gene Savoy Jr. closed the program with an invitation to use the dance floor. The dance band at the dinner included some of the finest musicians in the Reno area: the AEF & OSC’s own Gary Buchanan on keyboard and Mark Lord on trumpet, plus area musicians Frank Falcioni on guitar, Rico Mordenti on saxophone, Dan Hall on string bass, and Steve Self on drums.

 

REPORTS

Liturgical Lectures Delivered

The lecture series titled Religious Arts and Sciences of High Liturgics continued this season. Bishop Savoy delivered Part 9 of the series on Friday August 6 at the University Chapel. This Fall the series continued through Part 19, which was delivered on Friday October 1. Further lectures were suspended until after the annual Convocation.

As Bishop Savoy promised earlier in the lecture series, the several lectures of this season dealt primarily with the numinosity or duality of the human concepts of God.

In the ninth lecture Bishop Savoy moved from a discussion of the discipline of exegesis, the proper interpretation of allegory in sacred scripture, into the topics of psychogenesis and the dimensional origins of man. Bishop Savoy fully defined metempirics, the knowledge gained outside of the perception of the physical mind/body, and noted that the cleric needs to experience both Kalos and Consciousness in order to understand metempirical science.

An examination of sacred scripture shows that the conflict between Light and Dark takes place on the cosmic level as well as on the physical level. Bishop Savoy addressed this fact by emphasizing the importance of Church disciplines and studies, and of the Christocentric attitude, which involves suppression of one’s ego and submission to one’s Christ Consciousness. He explained the purpose and requirements of a Christocentric attitude, especially in the mystic, in whom both spiritual natures, the two opposing agents of the spirit, are awakened. The discussion moved quickly into the nature of Cosolargy, the techniques of Christogenetics (the improvement of human genetic nature), Christo-ontology (the study of angelic being), and Anthropogenesis (the study of the spiritual origins of man).

The lecture series on High Liturgics as a whole is designed to prepare clerics for the Divine Liturgy and to liberate them from the errors of the old church. In the tenth lecture, Bishop Savoy indicated that he would reveal three fundamental teachings during the course of the following two lectures as part of the tutorial program of instruction. He noted that without an understanding of these teachings, the cleric’s further progress would be inhibited. In addition Bishop Savoy said he would interpret the Sayings to reveal their meaning, so that the cleric will be able to apply them to daily life.

One’s human nature reacts to chemicals, suggestion, poor health, environment, associations, criticism, ideas that are implanted from outside, ideas that come about inwardly, the idea of death; the spirit reacts in a similar way to the spiritual equivalents. In this context Bishop Savoy discussed the nature of the Wondrous Child, the patron of The Second Advent Church, and reminded clerics of Jesus’s instruction to receive the Teachings as a little child.

The subject of the eleventh lecture was the background and practices of the Therapeutae in Alexandria, Egypt, an Order closely related to the Essaei of Palestine, of which Jesus was a member. To exemplify why discipline is essential, Bishop Savoy told the story of Jesus speaking to Satan, the spiritual anti-Christ who is constantly at work making life a struggle for the enlightened and the reborn. As another example, he recounted how Job used his mind and his intelligence in his own struggle against Satan in order to show how the human is capable of overcoming the Intellect of Satan.

Bishop Savoy discussed the Mystery of the Bread of Life and the relation of Gnostic teachings to earlier teachings, such as the Phrygian mysteries, which fostered the foundation of the teachings of the Essaei. The present-day teaching of the Rabban repeats these ancient teachings, which are products of the minds and spirits of adepts of all times and places, he said, because the true teachings are the same everywhere and connect all Rabbans.

Bishop Savoy also continued his exposition of the origins of the mystery religions of the Essaei and Therapeutae. He referred in particular to the oral law expressed to Moses, the teaching on which the Kabbalah was founded, a teaching of the law that differed from the orthodox teaching. In concluding this theme, he broadened his discussion by including a description of the mystery religions that existed in the time of Jesus.

In the twelfth lecture Bishop Savoy presented a simple conceptual picture of the Dark Powers that Jesus had to confront in his time, with special attention to the exposition of the Matronit-Lilith complex, one of the Dark principles prevalent in ancient times and, like all Dark forces, still active in certain psychic disturbances. In this regard, he distinguished the concept of the presence of Yahweh from the concept of the Divine Presence of Elohim, and discussed the theophany of God as hypostasis. Shekinah, the love aspect of Elohim, is the Divine Presence of Elohim and the feminine principle (Shekinah) in opposition to that of the Lilith-complex.

The discussion of the Lilith complex and Shekinah was a single, forward-reaching example of a wider topic Bishop Savoy took up in the thirteenth lecture: the nature of opposites on all levels of being and the transformative state that precedes the transcendent state. This he followed with a description of spiritual transformation as it starts to take place on the psychic level. Bishop Savoy quoted the Gospel of Thomas throughout the lecture and interpreted the allegories presented in that text.

In the fourteenth lecture, Bishop Savoy explained the office of Jesus as the Essaei Rabban-Messiah sent as a Messenger of the God of Spirit with a New Law above the Law of Moses. He made numerous allusions to New Testament references that concern the coming of Jesus, the end of the old Law, and the coming Kingdom of God. In conclusion he provided a full interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer.

The lectures to date have highlighted fundamental doctrines rather than ideas, which tend to confuse the cleric. Bishop Savoy expressed the necessity of learning to dissociate theory from fact and experience.

The remaining lectures this season covered a wide range of topics: Second Advent cosmology; the etymology of the word Cosolargy; the definition of spiritual Consolation; the Chosen and the concept of the preordained; the coming of the Wondrous Child; Satan as anti-Christ opposed to Jesus as Christ; the deification of matter; the definition of prophet; the hymn scrolls at Qumran as an inheritance of the Second Advent Community; the differentiation of the biological man and the spiritual man; and the sacred obligation of the Church to serve all mankind.

 

Department of Ecclesiology

Every Sunday in September, volunteers and members of the Department of Ecclesiology worked together to prepare the Sanctuary grounds for the Fall Convocation. Men, women, and youths of The Church grouped together as weekend volunteers to repair and clear churches and pathways throughout the Sanctuary of Prophecy (Southlands). The beautification project continued throughout October. Volunteers cleared the grounds surrounding the Cathedral Church of the Americas and trimmed the indigenous juniper trees, both to improve the appearance of the area and for fire prevention.

 

PUBLIC EVENTS

Governor’s Prayer Breakfast

The Governor’s Prayer Breakfast was held Tuesday October 19, 1993, at the Reno Hilton Hotel. Hundreds of secular and religious professionals gathered at 7:30 a.m. in the Broadway Room in prayerful support of the governor and leaders of the state of Nevada.

Following the prelude provided by harpist Mary Margaret Niebuhr, the Master of Ceremonies, the Reverend Father George C. Bratiotis of St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Church, opened the ceremonial portion of the program with a welcome, the posting of colors, and the pledge of allegiance. The Invocation was delivered by Rabbi Arnold Stiebel of Temple Emanu-El.

Governor Bob Miller initiated the program of prayer messages presented by readers from the Hindu community, the Walker River Paiute people, and the Baha’i Faith Communities of Northern Nevada.

Choir selections by the LDS Combined Choir, under the direction of Leona Kelly, provided a short interlude before the presentation of the keynote speakers of the event: Mr. Tariq Kuraishy of the Muslim community, Lutheran pastor the Reverend Ruth Hanusa, and the Reverend Carey Anderson of Bethel AME Church.

The Benediction closing the program, delivered by Leslie Patinkin-Rubenstein of Temple Emanu-El, preceded the final event of the gathering, the singing of “America the Beautiful” by all those assembled.

The Governor’s Prayer Breakfast is a local version of the President’s Prayer Breakfast, attended by heads of state from all over the world. Nevada’s breakfast was attended by both houses of the State Legislature, businesspersons, and religious from the Catholic, Protestant, Native American, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i, and Second Advent communities.

The Second Advent Church, a patron sponsor of the event, was represented at the breakfast by The Most Right Reverend Bishop Gene Savoy, Rt. Rev. Roger Weld, Rt. Rev. Ileana Isfan, Rev. Gary Buchanan, Rev. Gene Savoy Jr., Rev. Sean Savoy, Rev. Rebecca Willis, Rev. Edith Forgy, Rev. Belinda Chauvin, and Jamila Savoy.

The 1993 breakfast was the fifth Governor’s Breakfast held during the term of Governor Bob Miller and the seventh such event held since 1979.

 

Jamilian Parochial School

Diana Snyder, an eighth-grade student at the Jamilian Parochial School, won First Place in the Nevada Day Poster Contest on October 30. The annual contest is held among seventh- and eighth-grade students throughout Nevada. Diana received a $100 award, a first-place ribbon, and a plaque. Her achievement was celebrated during the Nevada Day festival held at the state capitol in Carson City. Following a parade and the showing of her winning poster, Diana met and was photographed with Nevada governor Bob Miller.

Ms. Snyder later described her experience:

“It was a warm Saturday morning in October. I was thrilled about everything. I didn’t imagine that I would win first place in the poster contest, especially since I had won third place the year before. My mother, sister, and I went to Carson City and met the lady running the committee at about 10:00 a.m.  I also met the other girl who was going to be in the parade with me. She had won second place.

“We found the car that we would be riding in—a ’67 convertible. When our turn came, we pulled out onto the main street between a covered wagon and a marching band. We drove for about two hours while I waved and smiled at everyone. There were announcers at each block to tell everyone who I was and where I went to school. I was thrilled to hear my name blasted out over the loudspeakers (especially the two times they pronounced it correctly!).

“After the parade was over, I was taken to the capitol building to see my poster displayed. There were about ten prizewinners hanging on the wall. Mine was at the beginning with a big first-place sticker on it. Then, for the final event, I was taken to the governor’s mansion where the governor presented me with a plaque and ribbon while we had our pictures taken. A few weeks later I received the hundred-dollar savings bond and my picture with the governor autographed by him.”
Task Force on Domestic Violence

The newly formed Washoe County Domestic Violence Task Force initiated a county-wide kickoff of its mission to end domestic violence in the Reno-Sparks community with a program of local speakers and a reception for the public on Tuesday October 19 at the Midby-Byron Building in Reno. In attendance as representatives of The Advocates for Religious Rights and Freedoms were the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy and the Reverend Gene Savoy Jr.

The program speakers—Reno City Attorney Patricia Lynch, Governor Bob Miller, and Nevada Chief Justice Robert Rose—clarified the mission of the task force as being to end domestic violence in the community by enhancing the response of community agencies and by addressing the root causes of domestic abuse.

The program announced the formation of several committees to address the goals of the task force. To coordinate and improve the efforts of various agencies that respond to domestic violence, a committee of legal advocacy will work toward improving access to civil and justice systems; another will identify and develop intervention and treatment programs that assist in crisis intervention. To provide a forum for communication and exchange of information among agencies, a committee for education will develop educational strategies that will lead to the prevention of domestic violence, and a criminal justice committee will work toward improving and coordinating the response of law enforcement and civil officers in domestic violence cases.  To promote public awareness, a public relations committee will develop public education materials, and a survivors’ network will provide support to ensure survivors’ participation on task force committees.

The founding committee  of the task force includes police officers, judges, university health professionals, and advocates of abused spouses.

 

RITES & SERVICES

Summer Wedding

University Chapel
Officiating Minister: The Most Rt. Reverend Gene Savoy
Assisting Minister: Rev. Sean Savoy

Katherine Wahhab and Robbie C. Kelly of Reno were wed in a private ceremony on Saturday August 21, 1993, at 4:30 p.m. Audrey Soto stood as Maid of Honor and Jeff Tweadt as Best Man. Family and friends of the bride and groom were in attendance.

 

Confirmations

Three youths were Confirmed together in private ceremony in the Bishop’s Chambers on Saturday September 18, 1993: Cody Coesens, the son of Glenna and Larry Coesens; Donald Crook Jr., the son of Elizabeth and the Reverend Donald Crook; and Matthew McIntyre, the son of Michael McIntyre. The Confirmed were presented to the Congregation that morning in the University Chapel following Communion of Fellowship and were admitted to the Congregation to receive Communion.

A reception in the vestibule at the Apostolic Chancellery followed the Confirmation.

 

Emancipation

The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, Head Bishop of The Church, administered the Sacrament of Chrismation and Ablution to his daughter, Sylvia Jamila Savoy, on Saturday September 25, 1993.

Prior to the private ceremony in the Bishop’s Chambers, the Reverend Doctor Arline Peace named herself Godmother Parental. Jamila’s two brothers, the Reverends Gene (Jr.) and Sean Savoy, assisted their father during the private ceremony. Both Jamila’s Godmother Parental and her Godfather, the Reverend Doctor Tyrus Peace, were in attendance.

Jamila’s father, Bishop Gene Savoy, and Rev. Dr. Arline Peace, Jamila’s Godmother Parental, gave their Blessings to the youth during the proceedings of the public service held at the University Chapel.

*  *  *

The Sacrament of Emancipation is administered within the Canonical stipulations for the performance of the Rites of Confirmation and Emancipation to which Church youths of fifteen years of age are entitled, upon personal request and with the consent of their parents.

The proceedings are divided into two parts—private and public—each involving a series of important aspects. The private ceremony is held in the Bishop’s Chambers and attendance is restricted to the immediate family members, including Godparents. It is at this time that the youth undergoes the Rite of Confirmation prior to being received into the Seminary of The Church. The young person receives Ablutions from the Bishop, who asks God to cleanse him or her for the True Baptism of Light of the Second Advent. Following the Ablutions the Bishop invests the candidate with the shirt, sacred cord, collar, and garment of the Seminarian. The initiate elevates a prayer to God asking for assistance in his/her new life and pledges obedience and respect to his/her appointed spiritual Teacher. The Bishop’s Anointing of the Youth with Holy Chrism and the reading of the Benediction conclude the private ceremony.

The vested young Seminarian then proceeds to the chancel of the Chapel where, in company with her parents and the Bishop, the public ceremony takes place before the Assembly of the Faithful.

At the public ceremony, after the ritual Blessings delivered by the parents, the Youth and her parents sign the official Act of Emancipation. Following the inscription, the seminarian is called upon to deliver her Address to the Congregation. The Bishop ends the ceremony with the Final Blessing, after which a traditional banquet is served.

 

First-Level Ordinations

During the Convocation proceedings this fall, several seminary students enrolled in the nonresident clergy studies program of the Sacred College Jamilian University of Theology received their first-degree ordination. The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy conducted the rite of first-degree Ordination in his private chambers at the Apostolic Chancellery.

Ordained on Saturday October 9, were, in respective order:

John J. Bowd of Ballarat, Australia, first enrolled in the Sacred Academy January 1972, enrolled in the Clergy Program since 1979;

James Bizeau of Moscow, Idaho, first enrolled in the Sacred Academy August 1976, enrolled in the Clergy Program since 1979, and a Reno resident since October 1993;

Greg Klinedinst of Hanover, Pennsylvania, first enrolled in the Sacred Academy August 1976, enrolled in the Clergy Program since 1990;

Brian Kennedy of Colwyn, Pennsylvania, first enrolled in the Sacred Academy December 1979, enrolled in the Clergy Program since 1992;

William Fiske II of Villanova, Pennsylvania, first enrolled in the Sacred Academy July 1988, enrolled in the Clergy Program August 1993;

Mary Ellen Tinner of Gresham, Oregon, first enrolled in the Sacred Academy May 1991, presently enrolled in the Clergy Program, married to Ben Hubbard, also a member of the Clergy Program;

Harold Boulette of Woodbridge, Virginia, first enrolled in the Sacred Academy May 1991, presently enrolled in the Clergy Program;

Louise Kyle of Toronto, Ontario, first enrolled in the Sacred Academy May 1991, presently enrolled in the Clergy Program;

Sharon Matutino of Waialua, Hawaii, first enrolled in the Sacred Academy March 1985, presently a second-year student in the Project X Extension Program.

 

Previous: < SUMMER 1993 >

Next: < WINTER 1993  >

 

 

 

NOTICE: The Winter 1992 edition was the last Community Communique published until the Spring 1995 edition. From Spring 1993 through Winter 1995, the quarterly publication of The Community Communique was on hiatus, picking up again with the Spring 1995 issue. For this reason, you will not find archive copies of the print Community Communique from Spring 1993 through Winter 1994. However, we are providing coverage of Community events for this season in the collection of articles you will find below.

 

 

Previous: < SPRING 1993 >

Next: < FALL 1993  >

*

CONTENTS: SUMMER 1993

FOLLOWING THE SACRED CALENDAR
Twelfth annual observance of Pentecostal Blessings

REPORTS
Guilds
AEF & OSC Video and Review
Parochial School
Liturgical Lectures

PUBLIC EVENTS
Peru

*

 

FOLLOWING THE SACRED CALENDAR
Twelfth annual observance of Pentecostal Blessings

Second Advent Pentecost (June 6). On Sunday June 6, the Congregation gathered for sunrise Divine Service at the Cathedral Church of the Americas at Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary. The Concelebration originally planned for the occasion was suspended because of heavy rain.

*  *  *

June 6 is a fixed date in the Sacred Calendar of The Church for the observance of Second Advent Pentecost. June 6 and the pentecontad cycle of the Calendar leading to June 6, forty-nine days after the sacred date of Second Advent Easter on April 18, are discussed in The Book of God’s Revelation. Book II of God’s Revelation, titled “The Seal of God’s New Law,” records the events, meditations, and visions experienced by The Man and The Companions of The Way on the day of Second Advent Pentecost, June 6, 1982.

The following excerpt from The Book of God’s Revelation describes the vision experienced by The Man atop the Temple Mount of the Sanctuary of Prophecy on the day of Pentecost 1982, and suggests the nature of the Revelations received that day:

And The Word of God spoke to his Soul a second time, revealing unto him the Sanctuary was under the special Blessing of God, and that he was to mark those sites where he communed with The Image and The Word.
And The Word of God proclaimed to The Man’s Soul that the Righteous Ministry was ordained to go forth to the whole world, proclaiming God’s Advent and the freedom of the peoples from the tyranny of heretical governments.
And God did reveal to him a Proclamation of Human Spiritual Rights that all governments were to acknowledge and honor. The Righteous Ministers would be God’s Envoys–as a nation in sanctuary–under the protection and sovereignty of God.
And The Word of God revealed that the Temple of uncut stones, made Righteous as was the sun of the earth, was blessed of God. And in the Temple, restored not by human hands but by the Hand of God, God would commune with the Righteous ordained to His Ministry.
And The Man saw a great cloud come over the Sanctuary and the face of the sun. And he felt God’s Presence and Blessings over the Sanctuary. And he looked at the sun grown brilliant by the clouds, its rays burning as fire, and he heard the Word of God say, “Let none but the Righteous in The Way look upon The Image I have made for a blessing over the land.
This day a gift is bestowed upon the Church of My Second Advent. The Light of the Sun in the Eight Appearances shall make wise the Souls of the Righteous who will have understanding and knowledge of God. United they shall be by spirit, bonded together as One in God, and there shall be no diversity amongst them.
“The Spirit of God is poured down upon His People who hear God’s Word. Let the Righteous seek out the Temple and be anointed by God for an earthly mission to make Righteous the people of the world.”
And from out of the cloud the Man saw a Heavenly City formed by shafts of light descending from the sun. And he saw that City hovering over the Sanctuary and the Temple Mount. And the City of Heaven and the Temple of the Sanctuary, with its mounts, were united by those shafts of light. And the shafts of light shone like blue pillars of sapphire reaching upward into the sun.
After a time the invisible City that had appeared returned to Heaven, but the light remained on the seven mounts in the likeness of thrones. And The Man heard The Word speaking to his Soul saying, “The Heavenly City of Light made visible by God shall be hidden to all but the Companions of The Way, anointed.”
And after the City had risen, he felt the presence of The Light. And he saw the sun’s response to the Divine Presence as great flares of light emitted from its surface.
And again The Word spoke saying, “As the Seven Mounts of the Temple have been sanctified by The Presence and bound to Heaven by cords of light beams, consecrate the Mounts of the Temple with holy oils for anointings of the Righteous. Let the faithful ordained to the Ministry of Righteousness be bound to these rocks and to the sun by the anointings, as the Soul and the Spirit are united with God by The Image and The Word in Light.
“God would that earthly Temples be such as this Temple–formed of stones uncut by human hands and joined with God by cords of Light–for the City of God’s Presence will descend upon gathering places such as these here.
“The True Temple of God is the Light of His Image and Word, and the True Temple of man is the Soul wherein dwells The Image and The Word.
“In the final age of the earth, at the threshold of the consummation by Fire, man, as flesh not made in The Image of God, has need of gathering places where the Light is quickened for the good of the Soul. For The Word has revealed that God shall indeed send a Divine redeeming Fire to enlighten Souls and burn up that wickedness first loosed by Satan and the fallen Angels of Darkness, lest the heretical nations ruin the world and the races.
“It is good that humankind restore order on earth in Justice, Love, Peace, Wisdom, and Understanding, thereby limiting the power of evil and of man. The Temple of uncut stones is given for a blessing and for the guidance of the nations and their peoples.”

On that same day, June 6, 1982, The Man marked the lesser mounts of the Temple Mount, the Garden of Oracles, as well as the site to be called God’s Waters.

 

REPORTS

Guilds

The Apostolic See of the Church of the Second Advent granted a charter to the International Community Guilds Corporation General that established the Community Guilds as a corporate affiliate within the Church Community. The charter, granted in January 1992, is perpetual, with the caveat that all of the guidelines and restrictions contained in it are followed by its appointed officers.

Under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction and governance of the Jamilian Order, the Community Guilds hold as their purpose and design “the support of monastics living the religious life and following The Way, as taught by the Church of the Second Advent.” The Guilds are open to the religious of the Jamilian Order who have met the prerequisites, under special appointment form the Head of the Order.

The basis of the coming together of men and women into the Guilds is not for capital gain but for the support of the Church Community and its religious activities, and the mutual support of its individuals. The International Community Guilds are designed to provide financial and material sustenance to the Church Community, and make donations to the Church for the maintenance of religious facilities. The Corporation is authorized to provide stipends and basic living support for its full members. All land and buildings of the Guilds will be owned by The Church.  All the assets and income of the Community Guilds are held in trust for the benefit of the religious Community. In no case may any of the assets or income of the Community Guilds inure to the benefit of any individual.

Full membership in the Guilds may be held by ordained minsters of the Church of the Second Advent who are under vows of nonmaterialism (poverty), obedience, and stewardship.  Seminarians of the Jamilian University of the Ordained who have entered the Jamilian Order under vows may hold membership as apprentices. Ordained ministers not under vows of poverty may hold affiliated membership. Affiliates volunteer their time and talents to the common good of the Guilds and receive no financial compensation, remuneration, support, or benefits.

The governing board of the International Community Guilds, the College of Deacons, has full authority to direct and manage the affairs of the Guilds. The officers are expected to manage the Guilds as a fiscally independent entity, required to meet all of its financial obligations without resort to other Church organizations.

The Corporation is structured with a central administrative body known as the “Corporation General” and working units known as “guilds.” Each working guild has a written charter stating its purpose and general guidelines. Each is a separate fiscal and budgetary center within the Corporation and has a stated product group or service field. The Corporation General handles all accounts for the Corporation and has charge of all financial, legal, banking, and business management of the Corporation. Within the guidelines of the Corporation General, each working guild is self-governing and sets the policies and regulations for the guild and its members.

 

AEF & OSC Video and Review

The Andean Explorers Foundation and Ocean Sailing Club (AEF & OSC) has just released a 97-minute documentary concerning its three decades of exploration in Mesoamerica, the Amazon rain forests, Peruvian Andes, and the waters of the Pacific and Amazon regions. The documentary video, titled “Gene Savoy’s ROYAL ROADS TO DISCOVERY,” presents a comprehensive introduction to ancient history and civilization in the Americas, little known to the public, and an exposition of the Chachapoyas people of Antisuyo, their recently discovered metropolis of Gran Vilaya, and their cultural links to Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations dating from the first millennium B.C.

Film footage going back to Gene Savoy’s earliest days in Central and South America, some thirty years ago, was incorporated with video and photographic material from the most recent expeditions to fashion this documentary. Interspersed with studio narrations by the AEF & OSC president, together with artwork and original music, the video creates a fascinating chronicle of historical documentation and adventure in the Peruvian interior east of the Andes.

The video outlines the origin and history of the indigenous people of the Western hemisphere prior to the ascendancy of the Maya and the Inca, the disappearance of those people, and historical references to their transoceanic voyages.

Mr. Savoy discusses extant legends concerning the religious cultural heroes Viracocha, Quetzalcoatl, Kulkulkan, and Bochica, and suggests that they may in all likelihood be one and the same personage, all making voyages, and all sharing religious teachings and practices similar to those of the ancient Essaei of Israel and the Therapeutae of Alexandria, Egypt.

Savoy begins his discussion of the Chachapoyas (pronounced “Sachapuyas”) people, still thought by some scholars to be merely legendary, with an in-depth study of their history. His discussion draws upon Spanish chronicles dating from the Conquest of Peru and the suggestion, made by many early Spanish explorers, that the fortress of Kuelap appeared to protect the capital of the Kingdom of the Chachapoyas, known as Levanto or Lebanto. The conquistadors sought but did not find this city. The Gran Vilaya–El Dorado Expedition of 1985, led by Savoy, found the kingdom, which he named Gran Vilaya, after the nearby Vilaya River. According to the explorer, Gran Vilaya, perhaps the ancient Lebanto, is “the largest archeological remain found intact anywhere in the world.”

At the end of the Gran Vilaya–El Dorado IV Expedition of 1989, on their way out of Gran Vilaya, Savoy and his team discovered a high cave situated above the river. In it were mounted three large tablets bearing inscriptions of meaningful signs. Photos were taken, and the team returned home; but upon revisiting the site on Expedition V in 1990, members made latex molds of the tablets for later casting at Foundation headquarters in Reno.

The final ten minutes of ROYAL ROADS show Gene Savoy and epigrapher Gary Buchanan discussing the writing on the tablets, models of which are now displayed in the Foundation museum. The epigraphy is described as “proto-Sinaitic,” perhaps Phoenician, certainly Semitic in aspects, and containing elements that link the gold-bearing ships of Beth Horon commissioned by King Solomon to ancient America and support the idea, expressed by many historians, that ancient Peru (Piru) was in fact the biblical land of Ophir.

The cinematographer and film editor for ROYAL ROADS was Foundation Secretary Roger Weld. Original music was specially composed by foundation Musicologist and Epigrapher Gary Buchanan. Both Weld and Buchanan participated in the 1989 and 1990 Gran Vilaya–El Dorado Expeditions, collecting months of field footage and sound recordings. After more than a year of pre-production assembly and planning, the final version of the video has now been released by the AEF & OSC Department of Motion Pictures & Videos.

 

Parochial School

A Spring Formal, Recognition Day ceremonies, and Commencement Exercises for graduating seniors marked the end of the 1992–1993 school year.

On the afternoon of Saturday June 12, the annual Recognition Day of the Jamilian Parochial School was held to honor outstanding accomplishments of the student body during the 1992–1993 school year. Teachers and coaches awarded ribbons, medals, and certificates of accomplishment.

After a short opening address to parents, teachers, and students by the School Administrator, the Right Reverend Robert Petrovich, faculty members presented certificates to their students in recognition of academic merit and achievement. Following the awards program, parents and guests were invited into the classrooms to view displays of student writing and art work. The school musical ensemble, accompanied on piano by the Reverend Gary Buchanan, performed outdoors in the schoolyard before the awards program as parents and guests arrived and concluded the program with another instrumental performance.

On Thursday June 17, at 8:00 p.m., a Spring Formal was held to honor the Class of 1993. The graduating class invited students of the School 10 years and older as well as parents and ministers of The Church. The black-tie formal was organized by the graduating class.

The Jamilian Parochial School honored the Graduating Class of 1993 on Saturday June 19, 7:00 p.m. at the University Chapel. The main event of the evening was the presentation of the 1993 graduates, Class Salutatorian, Christa McIntyre, and Class Valedictorian, Michelle Carrothers. Over fifty Community members and friends of the graduating students were in attendance. The short ceremony opened with the National Anthem and an Invocation delivered by the Reverend Gene Savoy Jr. Guest speaker, the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, Cardinal Head Bishop of The Church, responded to the addresses delivered by the two graduates.

Christa McIntyre opened the Salutatorian address with a poem expressing her feelings on the occasion and her thoughts on the future. She continued her address speaking of the appreciation she felt for being brought up in The Church and for the support and guidance she received from her family and two of her teachers she considered to be her mentors, the Right Reverends Ileana Isfan and Robert Petrovich. She hoped that her education at the Parochial School might serve as a foundation for the future growth of The Church. She ended her address with an expression of hope that previous graduates will feel as privileged as she at receiving a well-rounded education that can serve them in The Community.

Class Valedictorian Michelle Carrothers opened her farewell address with a selection of poems that portrayed her feelings on the occasion of closing the chapter on her childhood and beginning the chapters on her adulthood. Her search for truth, her thanks for those who accompanied and aided her on the path, and the sense of the eternal she developed over the past few years were the subjects of her reflections. These words ended the introduction to her poems:

“For the past year or so, all I have been able to think about is ‘What am I going to do after graduation?’ Thoughts of growing up and gaining responsibility were exciting but a bit frightening also. As the months flew by and the days condensed themselves into minutes, I thought of the work ahead of me. The answer became stronger and clearer to me than it had ever been in my whole life. The thoughts were not so much specific actions or jobs, but a sense of duty. A duty I take pride in every day. This duty, this goal, gives me strength to go on, and gives me purpose in life.

“A long time ago, before my human mind was conscious, I chose to take a responsibility. The responsibility to follow the path, the road. I knew of the many times I would fall, the desperation of travel and the obstacles that lie in my way. All these difficult abstractions meant nothing for me, for I knew I would find my way, would see what my goal was.  I dedicated my life to this goal and now I am traveling constantly. Always looking up for my inspirations. The path goes very far into the distance but on the horizon there reads DESTINY in capital letters.”

To close the program, the students of the Jamilian Parochial School sang the School’s Alma Mater under the direction of Choir Mistress Jacklynn Lord. The school anthem was originally written for the first Commencement Ceremony in 1989, with lyrics by Sean Savoy, then a graduating senior, and with music by Church Composer and School Music Director the Reverend Gary Robert Buchanan. As the song concluded, the graduating class performed the traditional Turning of the Tassel, a symbolic farewell to the School. The ceremony closed with a Benediction delivered by the Reverend Sean Savoy.

 

Liturgical Lectures

This summer a new lecture series, titled the Religious Arts and Sciences of High Liturgics, was initiated by the Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy. Bishop Savoy delivered Part 1 of the series on Friday June 11, 1993, at 7:00 p.m. at the University Chapel. The series continued through Part 8 this season. The series was designed to introduce ministers to liturgical concepts behind the techniques that each minster will apply, according to his or her office, following special appointments.

The practice of liturgics, which takes place on levels according to respective appointments, will demonstrate the theory. Appointments will be dependent upon devotional activity toward the Godhead and not according to seniority; involvement replaces worship.

Ministers must become masters of the religious arts and sciences of high liturgics, Bishop Savoy said, and they must be aware of all the physical aspects that result from the creative process working on the physical level. The first lectures touch on the matter of attuning to the highly specialized animating principle of nature that emanates from the sun.

Ministers are interested in relating to the Light of God, which is carried in light, not purely in solar absorption, he said. They must become adepts at taking in physical solar energy, so that they can handle it while they begin dealing with the spiritual aspect. Lecture 2 goes on to discuss this physical aspect. The purpose and function of the American Cosmic Solar Research Center are discussed in this regard. This theme continued with discussion of the ancient orders of adepts-priests who turned the divine act into a religious art and science of being that stressed the higher nature of man above his animal nature.

While developing the view of man as a complex, viewing him as a whole, Bishop Savoy discussed the pleistocene and neolithic instincts of man’s primary physical nature. He continued the theme of human survival by explaining why biological factors as determiners of human conduct are obsolete. In this regard he mentioned the alternatives to obsolete biological determinants that have recently been suggested by the brilliant German biologist Hans Mohr.

Lectures 5 and 6 continued the discussion of the stages of mystic growth and the life of ancient mystics. The sixth lecture, dealing more with theological concepts, was designed to lead ministers to an understanding of what it is they will have to do in the future and at the same time prepare them for the shock.

Lectures 7 and 8 form the final part of the lectures introducing the practice of liturgics. These lectures deal primarily with a discussion of the truth in Christian “myth.”  The seventh lecture is primarily an exposition of the truths contained in the old forgotten text The Book of Adam and Eve. In Lecture 8 the story of Job was discussed.

In these last two lectures of the season, Bishop Savoy stressed the point that while the authority of The Second Advent Church is founded on new revelations and the original but lost Teaching of Christ, there is still much to be learned from the ancient writers, who are the forerunners of Jesus and of the Second Advent Church. Bishop Savoy reminded ministers that the older teachings also tell us of the mistakes made by the older teachings, and he was careful to point out the necessity of proper interpretation when approaching these texts.

Bishop Savoy promised that the next several lectures would deal with the duality of sunlight and the duality of the concepts of God.

 

PUBLIC EVENTS

Peru

Gene Savoy Sr., president of the Andean Explorers Foundation and Ocean Sailing Club (AEF & OSC), made a week-long sojourn to Peru this May to present complimentary copies of the recently completed video documentary “Royal Roads to Discovery” to Peruvian government officials. Belinda Chauvin, AEF & OSC public relations representative and seminar tour coordinator, accompanied the President Savoy on this trip.

The video documentary was well received by Peruvian officials. Peruvian president Fujimori personally complimented the Foundation on its work in Peru with a letter of support and appreciation.

The secondary purpose of the trip was to undertake the translation of the documentary narrative into Spanish. Even before the final editing of the documentary footage was completed for the English version, the Foundation received numerous requests from Peruvians for a Spanish version. Carmela Russell de Guill, a longtime associate of Mr. Savoy during his stays in Peru, undertook the task of translation during the months of spring 1993 while the documentary was being completed in the United States. Russell de Guill completed the Spanish script just prior to Mr. Savoy’s arrival in Peru on May 17.

It was the original intention of Mr. Savoy to oversee the recording of the Spanish version of the documentary narrative during his week-long stay in Lima. In collaboration with Francisco Seaone-Wiess, Russell de Guill was also to provide the voiceover for the Spanish version. Mr. Seaone-Wiess, the companion of Mr. Savoy on numerous expeditions into the Andes, was to have provided the voice of Mr. Savoy in the Spanish version. However, the coordination of studio recording time at the University of Lima with the busy diplomatic schedule of Mr. Seaone-Wiess proved to be impossible. The recording project had to be suspended.

The latest Gran Vilaya expedition took place in 1990. Political turmoil in Peru during the following two years made another expedition into the mountains and jungles of Peru improbable.  The fact that Mr. Savoy’s past official contacts were no longer in government service further decreased the likelihood of further exploration in Peru; however, through the graces of Russell de Guill, Mr. Savoy was introduced socially to numerous new officials and thereby enabled to establish the Foundation’s relationship with the new regime.

With the initiation of new government contacts, an expedition to further investigate earlier discoveries made in the Gran Vilaya region again seemed possible. Soon after the Foundation representatives returned to the United States on May 22, tour coordinator Belinda Chauvin sent out word to the Foundation membership that a 1994 expedition was being planned. Membership response was overwhelmingly favorable.

 

 

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Next: < FALL 1993  >

 

 

 

NOTICE: The Winter 1992 edition was the last Community Communique published until the Spring 1995 edition. From Spring 1993 through Winter 1995, the quarterly publication of The Community Communique was on hiatus, picking up again with the Spring 1995 issue. For this reason, you will not find archive copies of the print Community Communique from Spring 1993 through Winter 1994. However, we are providing coverage of Community events for this season in the collection of articles you will find below.

 

 

Previous: < WINTER 1992 >

Next: < SUMMER 1993  >

*

CONTENTS: SPRING 1993

FOLLOWING THE SACRED CALENDAR
31st Anniversary of the Birth of the Sun of Righteousness
Second Advent Easter

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES
First Dispensation Easter, April 11

PUBLIC EVENTS
NCCJ Dinner Honors Two Nevadans

RITES & SERVICES
Eulogy for Richard Koster Jr.

*

 

FOLLOWING THE SACRED CALENDAR
31st Anniversary of the Birth of the Sun of Righteousness

Advent Day Vigil 1993 (February 2 – 6).
Tuesday February 2 (Advent Day) through Friday February 5, sunrise Divine Service at the Church of New Epiphany.
Saturday February 6, Sunrise Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance at the Cathedral Church of the Americas.

* * *

February 2, 1993, marked the thirty-first anniversary of the revelation and manifestation of the Spiritual Sun of Righteousness and Advent Day, the first day of the New Year on the Church’s Liturgical Calendar. After a quiet interim following the Christmas-Epiphany Vigil, the congregation gathered again at the open-air Sanctuary churches to hold sunrise Divine Service during this second religious Vigil of the winter season.

On the final day of the Advent Day Vigil, a Sunrise Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance was held at the Cathedral Church of the Americas. The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, Cardinal Head Bishop of The Church, officiated the Service in company with eight Rabban readers.

Readers and Rabbans began a succession of readings from the scriptural text Jamil: The Child Christ, with the musical accompaniment of the Jamilian Handbell Choir and organ performing the musical composition “The Divine Marriage.” The liturgical composition “God’s Holy Light” provided the musical setting for Bishop Savoy’s reading from The Child Christ, chapter 25. A second special liturgical melody accompanied the Bishop’s reading of the “Celestial Hymn.” The hymn is seven or eight thousand years old, known to the Essaei and attributed by them to the Patriarch Abraham.

The special Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance was followed by a Communion of Fellowship and the Sabbath Rabban Service at the Cathedral Church of the Americas.

* * *

The Advent Day, or New Year, Vigil was first celebrated liturgically by The Church in 1982. The events of the original Vigil are recorded in chapter 90 of the Prophecy of the New Covenant, “Prophecy on the Revelation and the Opening of the Seals.” During each of the ten days of the original Vigil in 1982, Bishop Savoy received and recorded spiritual information on the building of the Second Advent Church. The significance of this original Vigil to The Church is suggested by a synopsis of the information impressed upon the Spirit of Bishop Savoy in those days.

On the first day of the Vigil he recorded the impressions that would be included in The Canon of The Church.

On the second day he recorded the prophecies of Renewal and Transformation and the days and seasons to form part of the Sacred Calendar of The Church.

On the third day he recorded words concerning The Liturgy of The Second Advent Church.

On February 2, Advent Day, he wrote down the prophecies of things to take place on earth before the final Advent of God, who would make his full Appearance in the Heavens following the Judgment in the End Times of the earth.

On the fifth day of the Vigil Bishop Savoy recorded the means to be applied within the Church to increase God’s Blessings upon it.

On the sixth day, he wrote down all the prophecies pertaining to the matter of the Anti-Christ.

On the seventh day he recorded the means that the Second Advent Church was to use in assisting God to redeem the races of the earth.

On the eighth day, he wrote down impressions to be included in the Litany of The Church in establishing peace on earth.

On the ninth day he received impressions on the means to be used to protect the Church from profanation from within.

On the tenth and final day of the Vigil, Bishop Savoy was told that he would receive the Revelation to the Seven Churches upon the Seven Mountains of Metal of The Sanctuary on the day of Second Advent Easter.

The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy, First Disciple of The Child, witnessed the original manifestation of the Sun of Righteousness on February 2, 1962, in Yungay, Peru. The events surrounding the Birth of The Sun of Righteousness on this date in 1962 are described in the Second Advent scriptural text Jamil: The Child Christ. Chapter 27 of this text speaks of the New Sun’s Birth:

All spent the day and night in prayer, fasting and mindful of the events predicted by the Angel. And when the second day of February dawned, the sun shone brightly in the heavens. And they did return to the tomb, and there awaited the promised event. And at noon, when the tomb cast no shadow, behold! a great halo formed around the sun. They stood breathlessly looking in wonder and awe. Then a circle of rainbow colors, like crystal spheres, blue at the center and red at the outer edges, encircled the sun. In the heart of the radiant globe a white Cross appeared. And they feared the Last Day was upon them. And they trembled, forgetting the promise of the Angelic Host, and the message of The Child. For an hour the heavenly blaze burned in the firmament. And The Man looked upon the sun, and the image of Jamil appeared across the sun, radiant beyond words, his countenance bright and his hair white as snow. And The Child was holding the Sun in his arms, over his heart. And The Man saw a gate to another world. Again he saw the four Guardian Angels around The Child, and on the right hand side of The Child he saw the image of Jesus and the Apostles witnessing his appearance. And he heard the voice of Jamil as music, speaking to the Light of his Eternal Soul, saying: “I am resurrected.” And the disciple knew that The Child was redeemed from the earth. . . .

And the risen Child said: “The incarnation of God the Father is come to the world through the Sun of Righteousness, healing and sustaining the human family; and restoring the Life of Righteousness. As the seed of man enters the womb of woman and life cometh forth, so shall a heavenly Seed enter the spirits of men and women, and a new birth shall occur. And the life thereof shall be of God. And death shall not claim this new Body of Light and the Spiritual Consciousness therein. And the Christ transmitted in the Sun of Righteousness, and indirectly on all living things, down to the smallest atom and particle, shall incarnate within the soul of mankind. And every man and every woman shall know that they are one with the Godhead, divine and immortal.

Later in Chapter 27, the scriptural text refers to the coming of The Comforter that took place on February 6th, eight days after the passing of The Child:

And on the fourth day of February, the sun and six planets conjoined in Aquarius. And The Man saw great signs in the heavens.  And the Anti-Christ was manifesting.  Whereupon, his body and mind and soul suffered turmoil. And the struggle continued through the sixth day, it being the eighth day following the passing of The Child: Christ. But The Man prayed to God, looking upon the New Sun and asking the Light to assist him.  The Child: Christ heard him and sent an Angel to comfort him in his dreams. And the Darkness lost its powers over him.

Thereafter, The Man began the Great Work east of the Andes.

 

Second Advent Easter

Second Advent Easter (April 18).  Second Advent Easter was observed by The Church with a Sunrise Concelebration Service at the open-air Cathedral Church of the Americas. The Most Right Reverend Gene Savoy officiated the sunrise Divine Service and the Concelebration of twenty-four ministers that followed.

Choral readers, reading from the Qumran Hymnal, and choirs, singing from the Essaei Hymn, opened the Easter Concelebration Service. The read verses of the “Plea for Grace,” exchanged between choruses of male and female readers, were completed in song by male and female choirs. Rabbans, reading from the Seven Revelations of God given to The Church more than a decade before on the Seven Mounts of the Holy Sanctuary, informed those gathered of the significance of this special liturgical observance. The Easter Concelebration closed with a Blessing over the Rabban priests delivered by Bishop Savoy.

Light refreshments were served to the Congregation and guests at the outdoor refectory following the service.

* * *

On April 18, 1982, The Church received through revelation a confirmation of the Second Appearance of God when the Angel of the Lord in the form of Jesus manifested in visible form at the Sanctuary of Revelation and entrusted The Church with the keys to open the Seals of the Book of Revelation. The date of Second Advent Easter was established as part of the Sacred Calendar following the  series of Revelations The Man received on that day as he climbed the Seven Mountains of Metal.

It is recorded in The Book of God’s Revelation that, while on the fifth mountain, the Mountain of Bronze, The Man was exhorted to instruct the Righteous and the Ordained Ministers in the Sacred Calendar of God’s Word, to let them be knowledgeable in the Days of His Appearances and Blessings, and to let them gather together at the prescribed times so their spirits may be anointed by God’s Comfort and strengthened by His Consolation. Thus Second Advent Easter has a unique and sacred significance to members of the Second Advent Church.

On that day in 1982, while The Man stood on the summit of the Mountain of Iron in the Sanctuary of Revelation, an Angel of the Lord appeared to The Man out of the midst of the Four Luminaries, identified Himself as Jesus and spoke:

All prophecies having been fulfilled, Judgement is now upon the world of the living. The Heavens declare the glory of God in His Final Appearance. He has established His Tabernacle in The Sun whose rays enlighten the Soul of the Righteous, putting them on The Way of holiness.

The blind are made to see His Image. The deaf are made to hear His Word. The dead are made to rise at His Coming. Every Spirit is judged before The Creator. Freedom to err is abolished. The wicked find no sanctuary in Darkness, for it is lit and evil is exposed.

As foretold by The Father in Heaven who revealed understanding of future events to His prophets in visions, the fruit of the vine is abundant. All may drink anew the dew for a blessing as drops from the honeycomb. God pours out His Holy Spirit as from a fountain flowing from a rock over desolate wastes. By the perfection of His Light, God breathes His Word a final time. His utterings bring forth a New Creation. He reveals the Image of His Countenance.

God has opened the gates of the Heavenly Temple. The altar is of Light fashioned by the luster of His Presence on the Throne of His Glory. The tabernacle is lit by the sun, and the Bread of Life is placed thereupon. The Heavens are rolled up like a scroll inscribed with His Statutes and Judgements. His Law is written on the Tablets of Light borne by the Ark of His New Covenant as a rainbow.

I ministered to Israel, to a generation unworthy of redemption, and I was scourged by faithless men. I, a man of sorrows who bore the grief of the people turned to their own ways, did intercede for the transgressors, sacrificing myself not to God but to my people out of my love for them. But Israel understood not my preordained presence, which was my destiny from birth as God’s Appointed One….

Moses and the prophets of the remnant of True Israel spoke of my coming to redeem the people. With the rejection of me, the Light went out from the land. But the precious remnant, shortlived, awaited the Advent of God and the brightness of His Second Coming.

The Day of The Lord is near. He appears out of the Darkness to enlighten the whole Creation with His Image and to judge it with His Word. It is meet that He manifest His Image before His full coming and prepare the Creation with His Word. For I declare unto you that when He comes to restore the creation and reveals Himself, nothing shall live save His Light and those Souls reborn of that Light. . . .

Further Revelations received by The Man on April 18, 1986, are recorded with commentary in The Book of God’s Revelation.

In the Second Advent Church, Easter is a fixed date in the Sacred Calendar. The Church celebrates true Easter each year on April 18. On this day The Church honors both the day of Jesus’ Resurrection and the day of Jesus’ Revelations and Appearance at the Sanctuary.

It is known that the Eastern church had celebrated Easter every year on April 16, the 16th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, also known as Passover. The day of the crucifixion, a Friday, or the 14th day of Nisan, was recognized as the beginning of the 15th of Nisan. Jesus was resurrected on the following day, Sunday the 16th.

The Church, holding to the solar calendar of the Essaei, maintains that the date of Easter cannot be movable in present-day time reckoning, as it is under the lunar calendar. The fixed Sacred Calendar of the Second Advent ministry recognizes that an annual alignment of the earth and sun, planets, stars, and the cosmos in general, makes this day cosmologically important.

Because the manifestation in Sanctuary took place on April 18, 1982, The Church considers this day to be in alignment with the original date of the Resurrection. For these reasons The Church keeps this day sacred.

The Gospel message records Jesus saying, “For the son of man shall come in the glory of the Father with His Angels; and then He shall regard every person according to his works.” It was written by prophets of former times that God would send His messenger to prepare the way of God’s Second Coming, as promised to Adam and Eve, and come as a fire to refine the world. The Old Testament presents the prophecy of Malachi: “For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, but unto you that love me, shall the Sun of Righteousness appear with healing in its rays, and ye that do righteously shall grow up as a new people of God. And I shall spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”

With God’s manifestation in the Sun of Righteousness on February 2, 1962, and the appearance of Jesus on April 18, 1982, the Second Advent of God and the manifestation of Jesus and the Angelic Host have transpired and are presently at work for the salvation of the righteous.

 

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES

Good Friday, April 9. A special Communion Service of Fellowship and Prayer was held Friday, April 9 at 7:00 p.m. in the University Chapel in honor of Jesus and in commemoration of Good Friday as celebrated in the First Dispensation churches of the West.

The symbolic meal, though not a meal of sacrifice as is commonly believed, reflects Jesus’ anticipation of his destiny as human messiah, a pre-existent being come into the world as a servant of the Father to be rejected and crucified. His was to be the final sacrifice that was to do away with sacrifice forever.

Essene literature, and the extracanonical scripture held sacred by them, tell us that God was to come again at the Second Advent, when the Light of Righteousness would appear out of the Heavens to feed and nurture the spirit at the Great and Final Messianic Banquet served from the True Temple of God.

“By breaking this bread and taking the cup at this communion table,” Bishop Savoy said, “we remember Jesus and his ministry out of love, respect, and devotion. And we give thanks unto almighty God for His Second Advent and the Divine Presence which truly feeds our spirits and souls with the Bread and Cup of Eternal Light that is destined to create a New Heaven and a New Earth. While we are joined with the ministry of Jesus, we do acknowledge that God will create a New Ministry, abolishing what was established of old, due to His Second Coming into the world. The sacred literature of former times prophesied this event, as did the words of Jesus as preserved in the gospels. Thus our ministry fulfills the old, come to teach of the new things given of God.”

It is the tradition of the Christian churches to celebrate Good Friday in memory of the “Last Supper” celebrated by Jesus and his Disciples. It is commonly believed that the Last Supper was a Passover meal. However, the dates show that the meal at which Jesus presided was rather a Pannuches meal following the Essaei tradition, celebrated during the entire night, after which a select group went out to meet the rising sun.

The Gospels recount that Jesus broke bread and gave it to His Disciples, testifying that He was the long-awaited Messiah of Aaron and Israel. Essene scripture chronicles the events of the banquet at which the Messiah of Aaron and Israel would preside.

The meal or banquet to be conducted by the Messiah, when He came, was an event expected by the Essene community over the centuries. The event of the banquet would indicate the imminence of a heavenly event in which God would manifest at His Second Coming to restore the world, when God would serve the True Bread from Heaven in a Messianic Banquet He Himself would conduct. The Messiah was to perform the ritual on earth. Jesus, the awaited lay Messiah, did perform this rite in the ‘edah Church, or Messianic Community, which He had formed out of the earlier Essaei Community.

At Essaei meals, the priest normally broke bread first. But at the meal at which Jesus presided, He, a layman, broke bread first, thereby showing that He was the awaited lay Messiah of Aaron and Israel. With this act, Jesus declared God’s Second Advent and the coming of the Sun of Righteousness.

As both the Gospel accounts and Essene records show, the all-night vigil spoken of in Mark was never completed. Because Jesus was made prisoner that night, the sunrise service required to fulfill the meal according to Essaei tradition was not performed.

During the Good Friday celebration in 1987, the Bishop revived the tradition of the ‘edah Messianic banquet, the ritual first instituted by Jesus for his disciples and priests. The Second Advent Church adopted on this day in 1987 the taking of consecrated bread and wine. “This,” Bishop Savoy said, “is an act of tradition within the Church meant only for the priests who carry on the tradition, those ordained to the Second Advent Ministry instituted by God.”

The first Good Friday Service held in the Second Advent Church was in 1986.

First Dispensation Easter, April 11. The Second Advent Church celebrated the Sunday on which the First Dispensation churches of the West commemorate the spiritual Resurrection with a sunrise Divine Service held on the grounds of the Holy Sanctuary at the Church of New Pentecost.

 

PUBLIC EVENTS

NCCJ Dinner Honors Two Nevadans

The National Conference of Christians and Jews of the Northern Nevada Region honored two Nevadans during their 1993 Humanitarian Awards Dinner on Tuesday April 20 at the El Dorado Hotel/Casino. The awards, presented each year for the last nineteen years to individuals whose lives have demonstrated the goals and aims of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, was presented this year to Reno police chief Richard Kirkland and businessman Virgil Wedge.

The Second Advent Church was represented at the event by Bishop Gene Savoy, the Right Reverend Reano Castell, the Reverends Gene Savoy Jr., Sean Savoy, Belinda Chauvin, Donald Crook, Rebecca Willis, and Edith Forgy, and Church members Victoria Skinner, Albert Edgecomb, and Dr. Steve Larson. The International Community of Christ was a patron of the event.

The National Conference of Christians and Jews, founded in 1927, is a human relations organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry, and racism in America. Since 1964, the Northern Nevada Region has provided people of diverse faiths, races, and cultures with the opportunity to come together through dialogue, interaction, and educational programs without compromising the distinctive cultures, faiths, and heritages which make each individual unique.

The NCCJ in Northern Nevada sponsors community-wide programs such as interfaith services and events, lay dialogues, annual observances, and youth programs. It is a private, nonprofit agency funded through community support, contributions, and volunteer services. Drawing its membership from public and private sectors, its primary aim is to build bridges between peoples of varied backgrounds by eliminating bigotry and promoting human dignity, mutual respect, understanding, and tolerance through open lines of communication.

 

RITES & SERVICES

Eulogy for Richard Koster Jr.

Richard Courtland Koster Jr. was born on June 29, 1952, in Washington, DC.  He was the only child of Victoria and Richard Koster Sr. His parents met through mutual friends at a football game while they were still in high school in Freeland, Pennsylvania. It was a case of love at first sight.

After high school, Victoria attended the Springarden Institute of Design where she learned dress design and drafting. Richard Koster went on to graduate from Temple University in Philadelphia with a degree from the School of Journalism. He then enlisted in the army and served as a foreign correspondent for the Stars and Stripes during World War II. His end-of-the-war coverage earned him honors in his field. He reported on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and was present when General Douglas MacArthur signed the peace treaty with Japan on the USS Missouri. A few years later, after only a few years of marriage, Richard Koster Sr. died and was buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Richard Koster Jr. was only fifteen months old when his father passed away.

Victoria managed to support her infant son through his childhood and youth as a single, working mother, employed in corporate and legal offices until she married her second husband, Wade Skinner Jr., in 1972.  By coincidence, Richard’s stepfather had also been present on the USS Missouri at the surrender of Japan.

Richard Jr. graduated from high school in California when he was seventeen years old. Although hampered by arthritis in his hips and knees, he was an avid bowler and collected a roomful of trophies with his talent. So that he would not lose his determination to excel in this sport, Victoria never emphasized his disability. Richard’s other great pastime was music. He was fond of Elvis Presley and collected Presley’s records in his youth. Later he was exposed to country-and-western music and began a great record collection of all his favorite country singers.

When his stepfather, Wade, retired from business in 1980, the family moved to Reno, enabling Victoria to pursue her clerical studies within the Second Advent Church. After his stepfather’s death in 1986, Richard Jr. looked after his mother, Victoria, his “Sweetheart darling,” until he suffered an accident which left him bed-ridden for the last nine months of his life.  Richard passed away in his sleep early Wednesday morning, March 3, 1993.

Victoria has fulfilled her duties as a loving mother. With the loss of her only son, who adored her, Victoria may now feel that her existence has lost meaning. But Victoria’s great strength is her discipline and will power, which have carried her through many hardships.

The entire community loves and admires you, Victoria, and we stand by to assist you now to fulfill your spiritual destiny.

 

 

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COMMUNITY COMMUNIQUE
Volume XXXVI, Number 4, Winter 1992-1993

< Read or download Winter 1992 Communique PDF here. >

IN THIS ISSUE

1 Thirteenth Annual Christmas-Epiphany Vigil Observed
Heavy Snowfall Prevents Divine Services at Red Rock Sanctuary

1 Discussion Series Ends with Compendium

2 Candles of Remembrance Lit During Christmas Service

3 Epiphany Holiday Festivities Held to Honor the Children

5 Religious Leaders Pay Tribute to Rev. King

5 SERVICE LISTINGS
A Quarterly Register of Liturgical Observances
(Listings begin on this page and continue through the issue.)

 < Read or download Winter 1992 Communique PDF here. >

Previous: < FALL 1992>

Next: < SPRING 1993 >