"Peace and Love and crush Babylon!" became the Reverend's decree. Now their were many reverends, and Mike kept ordaining them since now he had the power. Wendy, Reverend Huggybear, Reverend Friendly, Ras Cougar, and Sister Carrie, and others. This was the height of the Church, and by the end of the summer, when crowds dwindled, and the various agendas of the new group of active reverends clashed;
the Church moved up upon a tree covered cliff overlooking Downtown, in Settler's Park and then the Reverend Mike disappeared. Aimless for a while, people still met but it was barely church. Eventually after a little soul searching,and several months, Mike appointed Reverend Evan to facilitate the Church above Wild Oats Vegetarian Market on Pearl Street. Meetings indoors with 70 people. The room filled with ma*****na smoke. Stories told, singing, drumming, fellowship and sisterhood. It was nice until Evan was taken out by some bureaucratic action that inconvenienced his family life drastically. Out of who remained several began to facilitate: a boy named "Sky Makai"; a Newcomer since the summer named "Joshua"; and a little man named "Pounds". At this time, the police sent in a young man on a plea bargain, to spy on us; sources say. The man denied it. The police still wouldn't come in to break up a service. Eventually "Joshua" became the prominent facilitator but refused to be ordained until may 1997. He led a more humble circle which met in Canyon Park and out of the way of the General Public. This was a very successful and peaceful period of the Church. At this time a non-smoking angel woman joined the group called Rebecca; and she was an inspiration to all when she would martyr herself to be the last one to speak at each service; and in her words, she would review all that was spoken by others that day and she would praise each of them for sharing and speaking such important messages for all to hear. She was seen as a Magdelena of the Church. She stayed only for springtime. There were many special people we took in as brothers and sisters. So many, and they all went their own way that it is hard to remember everyone's name. But we still have fond memories of them. We performed a 420 in 1997 here in Central Park with 300+ people, and performed Mother's Day upon the Red Rocks of Boulder, then went back to Canyon. The police never came; except near the end of summer, over some dogs. Then the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was challenged by St. Peter's Church in Austin, Texas; at the Supreme Court and upon its reading; the Court found the law itself to be unconstitutional, and repealed from the Constitution; basically throwing our religious rights out of the window. The Lawyer's advocating for the Church, gave us a call and said the Police have been waiting for this chance, now they could walk right into our service and arrest us for ma*****na use. "You better stop this now!"
The Church stopped smoking and the numbers dwindled again. For awhile, the church became this very genuine rainbow like circle, and was probably the most romantic part of the Church. Now this was another generation of participants in Canyon park alone. The Sacred Herb Church survived 10 generations of congregations. "Joshua" who Changed his name to "Jahn Kefa" turned his sights toward politics and ran for office in City Council. Eventually there was only a handful, and mostly newcomers who brought alcohol and others tried to facilitate it: Reverend Lorenzo, and the late Humanitarian Rick Williams. Further, "Joshua (Jahn Kefa)" publicly resigned from the Church when State Sherriffs Association funded a crackdown on all ma*****na traffic and activism. Finally, the "Sacred Herb Church" fell. Now survivors of this church have missioned around the country especially Ras Cougar of the One Love Zion Train; establishing herb sacrament groups ordaining the people and then moving on to the next city. And for the survivors here in Boulder we meet once a year in Boulder's Central Park on April 20th at 4:20 pm for a High Holy Day and reunion. All around the world people celebrate the 420 for supporting the great properties of Cannabis. Some do it Spiritually or some do it politically by lighting up on their Capital steps. In 1998, we had a major Festival with entertainers and Merchants, called "Sowing Seeds Festival". But in 1999 we humbly sat in a circle of 13 or 24 and were simply genuine to each other.
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April 20th is also a Day to give prayer to all the world; for the beginning of spring has often been a time for awful misery. Revolving around the 20th: the U.S. invaded Waco, Oklahoma City was bombed, the U.S. invaded Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The Holocaust is remembered now. The Serbian-Yugoslavian wars are memorialized now. The escape of the Hebrews from slavery in egypt is exalted now during passover. The Ex*****on by Crucifixion and the spiritual escape of our most beloved brother is exalted now on Easter.
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..and 13 children and one teacher are no longer going to school at Columbine.
