January-March, 2004
A Course in Miracles first came to my attention in 1998. I began studying the Text in 1999. I journeyed to Roscoe, New York for an academy class with Ken and Gloria Wapnick in April 1999 and again in August of 1999.
I began a small group study of the Text of the Course in September 1999 at Covenant Community Church, where I serve as an Associate Pastor. In 2001 I completed all the Workbook lessons of the Course for the first time. In September 2002 I journeyed to Ferdinand, Indiana for a week-long silent retreat sponsored by the Roman Catholic “Sisters of St. Benedict.” My goal for the week retreat was to immerse myself in the Text of ACIM. I also conscientiously practiced a few of the Workbook lessons to see if this would be my chosen spiritual path.
Several events occurred during that week which convinced me that my mind is a cause and what I perceive is an effect of my thoughts. This is a major shift from how my previous perceptions convinced me to think. I decided to go with Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the use of ACIM as my spiritual path.
Ken and Gloria’s retreat site in upstate New York offered a quiet, secluded spot with other Course students where I could devote myself single-mindedly to understanding “what” Jesus was teaching his students through ACIM. When the Wapnicks moved to Temecula, California I was disappointed that a retreat site would not be a part of their continued work.
In January 2002 I used a search engine and keyed in “A Course in Miracles Retreat site.” Pathways of Light web site was one of the top to appear. I called immediately and talked with Robert Stoelting, who helped me arrange to attend a weekend Course at the Pathways of Light Campus in Kiel, Wisconsin scheduled for March 2003. I did attend the March class. The course was 901: Introduction to Miracles Practice. It helped me advance in learning to “let go” of my perceptions and have them replaced with God’s loving outlook. However, later in January, before the March campus class date arrived, I became convinced that I wanted to take all of the Spiritual College courses with a facilitator, and be able to facilitate Pathways Courses here in Indianapolis.
I began the facilitated correspondence courses in February, 2003 taking a one-year sabbatical from my work responsibilities as a Christian Minister in order to complete each required course in time to attend the on campus training and ordination in October 2003.
The ordination itself was not my goal because I had been ordained in 1990 by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and currently hold ordination status with the International Council of Community Churches enabling me to practice ministry. What was vital to me was “joining” with others on a spiritual path so different from the ordinary that I believed I needed the presence of others who would understand my difficulties and my happiness. That joining was more than met during the on campus training.
At the ordination service each of the eight new ministers were asked to give a brief summary of why they wanted to be a Pathways of Light Ordained Ministerial Counselor and what it meant to them. When I considered why, one of Dolly Parton’s songs, “I believe in Santa Clause” came to my mind. Dolly sings this line, “I believe I am and therefore I should do all that I can to be a better piece in the puzzle of God’s plan.” I am bursting with joy that I have found a way to actually be a better piece and that is through following the teachings found in A Course in Miracles study and supported by Pathways of Light Spiritual College courses.
When I think of what it has meant to me to take the on-campus training, two pictures come to my mind. The first is of a little girl around seven years of age. The second picture is a scene from the movie, “Bridges of Madison County,” starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood.
In the first picture in my mind, the little girl is around seven, halfway through the 20th century. She doesn’t know anything about computers, cell phones, color television, or remote controls. She does understand the value of an incandescent light bulb. She lives four miles East of Marion, Ohio with her family.
Every Sunday her dad would drive her into town to attend Trinity Baptist Church Sunday school. While she attended Sunday school from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., her dad would drive on to his watch and clock repair shop located in town. The girl’s dad said the watches he had repaired would suffer if not wound. I came to believe the little girl was me.
So each Sunday, after leaving the church, I would walk heading North across Center Street and on to my dad’s shop. When I got to the big brick building housing my father’s shop, I needed to turn west and go up a steep flight of 16 steps of wooden stairs, appearing very dark behind the Sunday sun to a landing. It was a scary journey up until I quickly turned to my right and opened the door into my dad’s sunlit reception area. There was an incandescent light bulb hanging from the ceiling above the landing. Once I let my father know that it was frightening to climb the steps in the dark, he would turn the light on for me because he knew I was arriving. I once thought I was the little girl. Pathways of Light classes have reminded me and encouraged me to remember that I am the Light.
The second picture that comes to my mind when I think about what the on campus training has meant to me is a scene from “The Bridges of Madison County,” where Meryl Streep is questioning Clint Eastwood in the kitchen of her Iowa farm home.
Meryl’s husband, Richard, has taken their two teenage children to the Iowa State Fair for a week and Meryl is left to tend the family farm.
Clint is a famous National Geographic photographer and world traveler who is shooting pictures of the bridges in Madison County, Iowa. They meet. Meryl is from Italy and has found the farm life to be tedious.
She is taken by his knowledge of her own home town in Italy, his attention to her every desire and, before he parts, she is fearful that these days which are life transforming for her are merely another “nothing” among his conquests. So she is angry and he says, “Now you just stop that. If I have done anything to lead you to believe that what we have together is an ordinary experience, I am deeply sorry. For it seems to me, when I think about these past few days and everything I have ever done in my life, the places I have been, and things I have seen and done, it seems to me that all of it was simply to make my way to be here with you.”
I feel somewhat like the character Eastwood played in regard to the spiritual experiences I shared with the seven other newly ordained ministers and our two co-facilitators.
I thank Robert and Mary for their vision in founding Pathways of Light and all those who participated in any way during our eight day stay in October. I love you all.
Rev. Linda Ricker is a Pathways of Light minister living in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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