Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

In this inaugural episode of the Mystic Cave I greet my new listeners, spiritual seekers who, like me, find themselves on the other side of conventional religion. It may feel like a daunting journey into the unknown. But we're not alone ... and it's such a rich and verdant terrain. This podcast is all about exploring that terrain.

I launch the series with a personal reflection about putting the church behind me. It's a piece I wrote for the Alexandra Writers' Centre's 40th Anniversary Anthology (2021). We can't possibly find new life until we go back and bury our dead.

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

This is the start of my memoir about life in the church, titled, "Lost Rites: Leaving Church Land." I wrote the memoir to try to understand why, after a lifetime in the church, almost forty of those years as a parish priest, when I left, I was done. The story starts here, with an unsettling epiphany smack in the middle of a worship service.

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

I begin my story with my memorable ordination as a deacon. It was a strange experience, being "raised up" to become a lowly servant. Even then, the contradictions abounded. Not like my early experience of church, where it was all about safety and security and, above all, belonging. My childhood in North Vancouver was idyllic, and my family provided a place to learn to manage the tension of being both a willful Leo and a lamblike middle child. The stage was being set for my formation ... as a future minister.

Credits:
1st Interlude: bicycle tires on dirt road or gravel by Garuda1982 / License: Attribution
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

My childhood, looking back, seems idyllic. Stable home, healthy church, friends and family all mixed together in one big happy tribe. But, as happens, the seeds were already being sown for the person I was to become, specifically, for the minister who was even then taking shape. Life lessons were preparing me for the road ahead, and not all of them would be easy.

Credits:
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

Our family's move to Montreal was as eye-opening as it was alarming. We found ourselves in the middle of a religious battle zone, where it mattered which school you attended and which church you belonged to. But I had other things to think about than my religious identity. I was entering my teens and the world was waiting for this budding performer to arrive on a new stage. Church could wait.

Credits:
1st Interlude: GL Hallway 2.wav by PitStop100 / License: Attribution
2nd Interlude: homeback.wav by X3nus / License: Attribution
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

The tensions only increased as I approached my sixteenth birthday. My good and bad angels fought with each other. My brother made home life intolerable. My parents both suffered challenging health issues. I sought solace with my friends. Until we rolled it all up into another move ... and started again. But what was there to fear? In our new church I was to meet Jesus. Personally.

Credits:
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

Our family's move from Montreal to Toronto introduced me to a whole new group of friends. It also introduced me to Jesus. Personally. So I was brought to a classic crossroads. What did I really want to do with my weekends? Party, or pray? I was a teenager, but the answer wasn't obvious.

Credits:
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).

I trade in my weekend parties for weekend worship, and for a mission to evangelize the world. Heady times, full of drama, as is just about everything in the teen years. The narrow beliefs wouldn't last. But the faith would. And the importance of a "relationship" with the divine. God was becoming more real to me, but not according to any formula I'd known before.

Credits:
1st Interlude: Prayer.mp3 by genesis Attenborough / License: Attribution Noncommercial
Music Credit: "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2021
Photo Credit: Chad Dudley

Links:
Web Site: https://www.brianepearson.ca
Face Book Group: "The Mystic Cave"
Email: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com

Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022