Community:Church of the Dark Star/Sermons/20160806 Order Discarding the Old"

"Discarding the Old", from the perspective of the Order Belief, presented by Kazyn Phoenixfyre

It is not usually my perogative to step ahead and speak in Amber's place as first. It is not my place, it is not my church, as always it has been her charge to lead. And for a very long time, as you all know I felt this way. A stubborn resistance to speak in her stead. But...today's topic i suppose, is timely. Because today we speak on discarding the old. and in this case, i speak of that stubbornness ;) The real reason we do the service, is all of you. The heart and soul and lifeblood of this community. Our friends... and our family.

Many have stood by us, have followed or friended, and have helped each other and us throughout the years. and last week we experienced something amazing... something immaculate in some ways, the true birth of our world. And with it... the destruction of much that came before. And now here we are... a "True" world, a "True" economy to call our own. A world where what we do matters, though we all know to many of us... weve long since broken that barrier. And... as all things in the natural order of the universe, with change comes adaptation. With the new... we sometimes must learn from ourselves.

We are all new here, in some shape or form. We may have been a part of this for a very long time but we stand on equal ground in being new in this world to expore it in a very different way than we are used to. again. And to many, it is a wonderful time But to truly be our best we must learn that sometimes there are things in us, parts of us, habits and feelings that we must be rid of.. we shed them as we grow and learn, like a snake shedding its skin

Sometimes we keep prejudices or rivalries that started for a good reason, at least in our minds, and we foster them and hold on to them so long... that eventually, we forget what even made us feel that way in the first place And like the universe around us, the cosmic aether that began as chaos and shaped what we have through very selective changes, and the universe found order through that... We must take time to study ourselves, know ourselves, find out sometimes if our habits, our rivalries, our dislike or even our love of something... is still relevant and needed to us today.

Every once in a while we must grow and be rid of those habits, those "old things' sticking around in our personalities like an old box of books we never intended to read We have to do this because.. there must be room in our hearts from time to time for new things. There must be a drive and a reason to learn, to adapt, to evolve within ourselves.

I myself thought about this just this morning. As I sat here with that old reluctance, telling myself "this is Amber's thing, we can not do this without her" and while in my heart i feel that she is truly the leader and founder of all that the church of the dark star has become... i then look over to Winfield, now speaking on Balance and to all of these faces in the croud, and new faces like moo *waves* and i realize... the events we hold, the foundations we bring... they sometimes surpass us. They are bigger than one person or two.. sometimes, they just become an idea unto itself.

We come here each week, we have topics we speak on. We share the inaliable wisdoms of Chaos, Order, and now Balance... But more importantly we learn more about who we are. What we are, and what we want to be in this world -- and sometimes, the next! as shepards of that idea, i shed that old stubbornness in my heart just as i have shed so many old rivalries, and negative feelings, things i dont need. Because it is our cause, our reason, and our "why" for what we do to bring this event to all of you.

There is strength in chaos, order and balance in our hearts... but the strongest weapon we can ever weild is in fact, an open mind.. and an open heart.

So as I do each week, I challenge you all when you leave here to find our where YOUR "old things" are. What dislikes have you been fostering... do you even remember why? Was it worth it? What has kept you from doing some things in your life...what fears or hesitations have you had? And are they worth it? Try new things, and discard old fears, learn from yourself... and those around you. It may be scary, you may not know where that road may lead. But there is one assurance - in the end, wherever it is - it will lead to a better you.

Thank you all. *Kazyn Phoenixfyre bows*