Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Lorina Pyle finds God in guilty verdict at the Telluride courthouse

“This is your sense of justice, and we’re with you, and the angels are watching over you.”

Lorina Pyle
Lorina Pyle
  • First Spiritualist Church of San Diego
  • Contact: 3777 Forty Second St., San Diego 619-284-4646 www.1st-spiritualistchurch.org
  • Membership: 87
  • Pastor: Lorina Pyle 
  • Age: 52
  • Born: Price, UT
  • Formation: “After an intense search of self-healing and self-understanding…I turned my focus inward on meditation.”
  • Years Ordained: 9

San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your sermon?

Sponsored
Sponsored

Pastor Lorina Pyle: I start every Sunday off with a thought for contemplation, something powerful, wonderful, a self-enhancing tool to think about throughout the week. I used to spend a week or two working on a sermon, but now I find that if I meditate and open myself up, I can connect with the universe, God, and the angels, and bring through any information that needs to come through that day. I found my sermons are much more powerful and heartfelt when I trust in God instead of formulating something I put down on paper myself.

SDR: What is the mission of your church?

PP: The mission of First Spiritualist is to provide teachings. I call this church a schoolroom. We’ve had some amazing ministers ordained and out in the world from here. Our mission is to help, heal, empower and love.

SDR: Where is the strangest place you found God?

PP: [The author of Damaged: A Survivor’s Story of the Damage Done by Sexual and Physical Abuse,] Pastor Pyle testified at the 2014 trial of Donald J. Davis in Telluride, CO. Davis was suspected of multiple cases of rape, including that of Pastor Pyle when she was 14 years old, and charged with five of those cases (not including Pyle’s). After entering an Alford Plea – asserting innocence but acknowledging that the evidence would likely lead to conviction – Davis pled guilty to two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of assault of a child, and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Fifty-three years old at the time, he received a sentence of 35 years without parole, which given his age, likely amounts to a life sentence.] The Telluride courthouse was a big building, double-story, with big windows at the top. The windows that day were open slightly, and when the judge walked in [to deliver her verdict] and said, “Donald Davis, you are guilty of all counts, and you’re going to be in prison for the rest of your life,” I swear to you, God filled that room. It was a calm day, and the wind must have blown 35 miles per hour. Every window in that courthouse blew open that day as the wind blew through, as if God was saying, “This is your sense of justice, and we’re with you, and the angels are watching over you.” It was so powerful. Everyone in the courthouse noticed that this was not normal. When the gavel came down, and this wind came through – that was the strangest but most powerful time in my whole life to see God.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PP: I believe in re-incarnation, even if all spiritualists do not, and I believe it’s an opportunity for our souls to evolve, that is, expand. This world is a classroom that teaches us through experience and contrasts, and in that way we learn what we want and what brings us joy. Through that, I feel we learn and grow, and our souls evolve. Through that evolution, we don’t always go back to where we started from when we leave heaven, but we may go to a more elevated state of knowingness with other like-minded souls.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Live Five: Patch Croome, Sara Petite, Buck-O-Nine, Justin Froese, Nardwuar’s Video Vault

Americana, ska, punk, and solo singer-songwriters in Del Mar, Kensington, Mission Valley, Oceanside, Little Italy
Next Article

Imperial Beach renters scramble

Hawaiian Gardens and Sussex Gardens inhabitants fear remodel evictions
Lorina Pyle
Lorina Pyle
  • First Spiritualist Church of San Diego
  • Contact: 3777 Forty Second St., San Diego 619-284-4646 www.1st-spiritualistchurch.org
  • Membership: 87
  • Pastor: Lorina Pyle 
  • Age: 52
  • Born: Price, UT
  • Formation: “After an intense search of self-healing and self-understanding…I turned my focus inward on meditation.”
  • Years Ordained: 9

San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your sermon?

Sponsored
Sponsored

Pastor Lorina Pyle: I start every Sunday off with a thought for contemplation, something powerful, wonderful, a self-enhancing tool to think about throughout the week. I used to spend a week or two working on a sermon, but now I find that if I meditate and open myself up, I can connect with the universe, God, and the angels, and bring through any information that needs to come through that day. I found my sermons are much more powerful and heartfelt when I trust in God instead of formulating something I put down on paper myself.

SDR: What is the mission of your church?

PP: The mission of First Spiritualist is to provide teachings. I call this church a schoolroom. We’ve had some amazing ministers ordained and out in the world from here. Our mission is to help, heal, empower and love.

SDR: Where is the strangest place you found God?

PP: [The author of Damaged: A Survivor’s Story of the Damage Done by Sexual and Physical Abuse,] Pastor Pyle testified at the 2014 trial of Donald J. Davis in Telluride, CO. Davis was suspected of multiple cases of rape, including that of Pastor Pyle when she was 14 years old, and charged with five of those cases (not including Pyle’s). After entering an Alford Plea – asserting innocence but acknowledging that the evidence would likely lead to conviction – Davis pled guilty to two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of assault of a child, and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Fifty-three years old at the time, he received a sentence of 35 years without parole, which given his age, likely amounts to a life sentence.] The Telluride courthouse was a big building, double-story, with big windows at the top. The windows that day were open slightly, and when the judge walked in [to deliver her verdict] and said, “Donald Davis, you are guilty of all counts, and you’re going to be in prison for the rest of your life,” I swear to you, God filled that room. It was a calm day, and the wind must have blown 35 miles per hour. Every window in that courthouse blew open that day as the wind blew through, as if God was saying, “This is your sense of justice, and we’re with you, and the angels are watching over you.” It was so powerful. Everyone in the courthouse noticed that this was not normal. When the gavel came down, and this wind came through – that was the strangest but most powerful time in my whole life to see God.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PP: I believe in re-incarnation, even if all spiritualists do not, and I believe it’s an opportunity for our souls to evolve, that is, expand. This world is a classroom that teaches us through experience and contrasts, and in that way we learn what we want and what brings us joy. Through that, I feel we learn and grow, and our souls evolve. Through that evolution, we don’t always go back to where we started from when we leave heaven, but we may go to a more elevated state of knowingness with other like-minded souls.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Classical Classical at The San Diego Symphony Orchestra

A concert I didn't know I needed
Next Article

Tigers In Cairo owes its existence to Craigslist

But it owes its name to a Cure tune and a tattoo
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader