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ENLARGE
People gather this morning for a nondenominational World Peace Meditation at the Center for Spiritual Living in Roseburg.
Lyn Pepler had no expectations as she walked into the Center for Spiritual Living early this morning, long before the sky broke with light.
She and 20 or so other people filed into the candlelit Roseburg church to participate in an hour-long peace meditation, escaping the steady drizzle of rain outside.
Guided by the soft glow of golden bulbs strung on a Christmas tree, men and women filled the seats toward the front of the room. Some sat with their eyes closed or with palms lifted to the ceiling until the Rev. Bonnie Anderson gently interrupted the silence.
“We are providing an opening for peace to come through,” she said.
The purpose of the ceremony — called the World Peace Meditation or World Healing Day — is to link minds worldwide in spiritual consciousness and welcome a new year of peace and love.
Anderson’s husband, the Rev. Andy Anderson, played background music on the piano as his wife read a peace prayer written by John Randolph Price, the man who started World Healing Day on Dec. 31, 1986. That first year, a reported 500 million people participated in the peaceful ceremony.
“There are more of us who think positively than we think there are,” she said.
Across the state of Oregon, from Ashland to Portland, and stretching to the East Coast and overseas, churches are the host sites of similar New Year’s Eve ceremonies today.
“By us being here, holding the space for peace and meditating on peace,” said Bonnie Andereson, “it does make a change in the world.”
The Andersons are co-pastors for the Center for Spiritual Living. They moved to Douglas County a little more than a year ago from Fremont, Calif.
Bonnie said the ceremony was a longtime tradition at their church in California. She described a cold church, with people wrapped in blankets.
“It was really wonderful because the energy was so peaceful and reverent and quiet,” she said. “People went away feeling connected to a worldwide movement.”
Last year, she and her husband hosted their first Roseburg meditation with about 10 people in attendance.
Throughout this year’s service, Bonnie Anderson asked the audience to vibrate with peace, repeat the word peace and to think about the people all over the world who are affirming peace on this day.
Several members of the congregation read peace prayers from different religions while arrangements of John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major” played through the speakers.
At the end of the ceremony, the congregation formed a circle around the church, linking hands as Anderson delivered a closing prayer. Each person lit a white candle and swayed back and forth as they sang “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”
Pepler said she hadn’t heard of the ceremony before today, nor had she ever visited the Center for Spiritual Living, but she left feeling relaxed, peaceful and happy.
“I came here with the intent of meditating on peace,” she said. “And that’s what I did.”
• You can reach reporter Cara Pallone at 957-4208 or by e-mail at cpallone@nrtoday.com.
She and 20 or so other people filed into the candlelit Roseburg church to participate in an hour-long peace meditation, escaping the steady drizzle of rain outside.
Guided by the soft glow of golden bulbs strung on a Christmas tree, men and women filled the seats toward the front of the room. Some sat with their eyes closed or with palms lifted to the ceiling until the Rev. Bonnie Anderson gently interrupted the silence.
“We are providing an opening for peace to come through,” she said.
The purpose of the ceremony — called the World Peace Meditation or World Healing Day — is to link minds worldwide in spiritual consciousness and welcome a new year of peace and love.
Anderson’s husband, the Rev. Andy Anderson, played background music on the piano as his wife read a peace prayer written by John Randolph Price, the man who started World Healing Day on Dec. 31, 1986. That first year, a reported 500 million people participated in the peaceful ceremony.
“There are more of us who think positively than we think there are,” she said.
Across the state of Oregon, from Ashland to Portland, and stretching to the East Coast and overseas, churches are the host sites of similar New Year’s Eve ceremonies today.
“By us being here, holding the space for peace and meditating on peace,” said Bonnie Andereson, “it does make a change in the world.”
The Andersons are co-pastors for the Center for Spiritual Living. They moved to Douglas County a little more than a year ago from Fremont, Calif.
Bonnie said the ceremony was a longtime tradition at their church in California. She described a cold church, with people wrapped in blankets.
“It was really wonderful because the energy was so peaceful and reverent and quiet,” she said. “People went away feeling connected to a worldwide movement.”
Last year, she and her husband hosted their first Roseburg meditation with about 10 people in attendance.
Throughout this year’s service, Bonnie Anderson asked the audience to vibrate with peace, repeat the word peace and to think about the people all over the world who are affirming peace on this day.
Several members of the congregation read peace prayers from different religions while arrangements of John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major” played through the speakers.
At the end of the ceremony, the congregation formed a circle around the church, linking hands as Anderson delivered a closing prayer. Each person lit a white candle and swayed back and forth as they sang “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”
Pepler said she hadn’t heard of the ceremony before today, nor had she ever visited the Center for Spiritual Living, but she left feeling relaxed, peaceful and happy.
“I came here with the intent of meditating on peace,” she said. “And that’s what I did.”
• You can reach reporter Cara Pallone at 957-4208 or by e-mail at cpallone@nrtoday.com.
