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Our Business Sponsors
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For your real estate needs in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, or across the country contact
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Join us for worship on Sundays normally at 6 PM at the Annapolis Friends Meeting at 351 Dubois Road, Annapolis, Maryland 21401.
Click here for directions.
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September 23, 2012
First Sunday
of
Via Negativa
letting go...pain...emptying...nothingness
darkness...sinking...silence...loss...depth
Sacred Gathering at 6 PM
at Annapolis Friends Meeting 351 Dubois Road, Annapolis Reflection by the Rev. Wayne Schwandt
Gathering Leaders:Setup/Put Away: Sylvia Oliva
Greeter/Usher: Chuck Riley
Reader/Communion Assistant: Kim Hinken
Offering Invitation: Adri Eathorne
Community Hour Hosts: Scott Bowling & Dave Miller
We continue our progressive journey into our 15th year!
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"Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
God's gonna trouble the water"
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Eighth Principle of Creation Spirituality:
Every one of us is a prophet.
Our prophetic work is to interfere with all forms of injustice and that which interrupts authentic life (Via Transformativa).
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Food/Goods Collection at Evolve Chesapeake
Please bring, if you are able, some pantry staples (e.g. tinned meat and fish, boxed pasta products, infant formula) or personal care products (e.g. laundry detergent, toilet paper, disposal razors, bath/shower soap, dish soap, deodorant, toothpaste, feminine hygiene products) for the Anne Arundel County Food Bank. Collection is ongoing every Sunday evening at Evolve Chesapeake.
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September Covenant Dates
birthdays, anniversaries, covenant dates
Sept 4 Karl D. Walker death (2008)
Sept 11 Marvin Roger Woods death (2001)
Sept 11 In Memory of September 11, 2001
Sept 13 Janice Creamer & Cherly Lanore Civil Union in CT
Sept 17 Rick Stewart Birthday
Sept 19 Dennis L. Myers death (2011)
Sept 20 Justin Michael Abell Birthday (2001)
Sept 23 William E. Riley Birthday (d. 1999)
Sept 28 Glen O. Van Steenburg death (1999)
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Open Arms
will welcome you: Tuesday, September 25
Come and experience a friendly, interesting small group get-together. We begin with dinner at 6:30, followed by a short educational video and lively discussion. All are welcome!
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 "According to the Talmud, every blade of grass has its own angel bending over it, whispering, 'Grow, grow.'"
-Barbara Brown Taylor from An Altar in the World
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Spong Reading Group on
October 6, 2012
The group reading Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World will meet at PANERA, FESTIVAL AT RIVA at 11 AM on Saturday, October 6. We are reading Chapter 37 ( Romans, The Gospel of Paul) through Chapter 41 ( Post-Pauline Epistles: II Thessalonians, Colossians and Ephesians.) There is still time to join the group. If you need a copy of the book, contact Pastor Wayne at SchwandtW@aol.com. |
United Nations International Day of Peace
Friday, September 21, 2012
An Evening with Annapolis Peacemakers
This is an opportunity to hear from people who work for peace, and to share with them our own endeavors and hopes for peace in the world, in our communities, in our hearts, and in our homes.
Join the Quakers at Annapolis Friends Meeting, 351 DuBois Road, on Friday, September 21 at 7:30 pm to honor the 10th Annual International Day of Peace by learning about peace efforts and supporting one another. Light refreshments served at 7:30. Program ends at 10 pm. For more information, call Lee Lougee at 410 647 7012.
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September 29, 2012
Interfaith Day of Service in Maryland
Governor Martin O'Malley declared September 29th an interfaith day of service, calling on all Marylanders to engage in community service projects focused on ending hunger and protecting the environment.
Businesses, nonprofits, and faith communities will partner in many different ways in efforts to restore health to the Chesapeake Bay and to help eradicate childhood hunger. Volunteers are needed to plant small tubed trees at the Clagett Farm in Upper Marlboro, to harvest crops on the farm to donate to area food banks, to help with other native plantings or stream clean-ups, etc.
The website to locate a service project nearby and to sign up to participate is: ww.daytoserve.org
More information can also be found at:
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Communities in Concert
A Benefit for Annapolis Service Organizations
sponsored by
the Greater Annapolis Interfaith Network (GAIN)
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Sunday, October 14, 3:00-5:30 pm
Unitarian Universalist Church; 333 DuBois Road, Annapolis, MD 21401
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Featured Entertainment:
The Rob Levit Jazz Trio: Rob Levit--guitar, Amy Shook--bass, Frank Russo--drums
Moshe P. Weisblum, tenor and Shouvik Mondle, baritone: selections from "Man of La Mancha" and "Les Miserables"
Max Ochs and Anita Burkam
Annapolis Drum and Bugle Corps
Enjoy an afternoon of entertainment while supporting the following community service organizations (all proceeds go to the sponsored organizations):
Food Link: distributing vital resources to Anne Arundel families in crisis through local service agencies;
The Center of Help (Centro de Ayuda): promoting self-sufficiency and integration of immigrant families through case-working and classroom training; Creating Communities: harnessing the power of the arts for the community through innovative partner-ships;
Annapolis Drum and Bugle Corps: challenging youth to high levels of performance and personal achievement.
Advance tickets available at www.annapolistickets.com for $15 ($1.60 service fee) or contact Steve Weiner at spweiner1@aol.com. $20 at the door.
NB: See Pastor Wayne first.
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Money in Trust and a Failed First Harvest - Lammas 2012
An article by Sea Raven, published in ProgressiveChristianity.org
 One of the prophets of our time is the Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox. Fox is the founder of a theology called Creation Spirituality, which has at its core the revolutionary conviction that the Universe and everything in it is an original blessing, not an original sin. At a recent conference sponsored by Evolve Chesapeake (a Creation Spirituality community), Fox discussed the necessity for "awakening imagination for transformation" - a mouthful of words that boils down to putting human creativity to work to solve the problem. After all, as Professor Muller says, human creativity got us into this ecological mess and human creativity can get us out of it.
Continue reading the complete article by clicking here. |
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"Jesus' Wife"
the controversial religious issue of the week presented by Karen King, professor at Harvard University.
 | | "Jesus said to them, my wife." |
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Books for Sale at our Welcome Table
Titles by Matthew Fox, John Shelby Spong,
Marcus Borg, and more.
Beautiful Note Cards also for Sale
Photography by Rick Dove
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The 14th Anniversary of Evolve Chesapeake, which we celebrated last Sunday,
is the subject of the following two articles. Here they are again, in case you missed them last week:
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FOURTEEN YEARS
a reflective article
What a journey it has been! When I, with lots of help from Chuck, started this community we were looking to provide a church alternative to GLBTS people who were disenfranchised from mainstream Christianity but who wanted a spiritual home where they could grow, celebrate, love, and learn.
Over the past 14 years, we have gone through many moltings. We have left behind much of the pomp and ceremony which I carried from my Episcopal period, we have become less a pastor-centered church and more of a spiritual community in which leadership is shared among many. We have embarked upon creating a Creation Spirituality community, leaving our initial denomination and becoming an independent, progressive spiritual community.
While giving up some of Christianity, we have also pushed the limits of what one might usually expect from "church." We have maintained our commitment to community service and justice making. We have upheld our belief in giving individuals the tools to express their spiritual journey experience. We have sought to understand the Bible by reading and talking about it. We have embraced the teachings of Matthew Fox and Creation Spirituality. We listen to writings from many faith traditions, breaking away from Bible-only readings at our Sacred Gatherings. We celebrate the Divine in all things and that all things are in the Divine.
We are at the beginning of a great conversation focused on what we shall become. The work of the people in our community is clearly resting on the shoulders of too few. I and many members are worn out by our time of transition. Many of us need a break. So that is what I am encouraging us to do. Let's go deeper into our spiritual journeys. Let's go to the stream which flows beneath all of Creation. Let's help one another find and develop the well which helps us touch the Source. We are birthing a new form of spiritual community together. It is part of the Great Work which is unfolding.
I hope each of our Companions will keep their voice heard, their love shared, their spiritual journey grounded in this community as we continue our molting and growth in love! Blessed be!
Pastor Wayne Schwandt
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One evening fourteen years ago,
in a small church in southern Anne Arundel County, "We Are God's People" was the first hymn sung in celebration of not only the inaugural service of Metropolitan Community Church of the Chesapeake but of the fruition, also, of the hopes and dreams of a safe spiritual haven for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community of Southern Maryland. One can only imagine the mix of anxiety and excitement that was being experienced that evening by the founding pastor, the Reverend Wayne Schwandt, as well as the attendees. Would folks really travel one and a half hours from St. Mary's County to attend? Would Annapolitans leave city limits and drive a half hour south? Would the denizens of the surrounding semi-rural communities calmly accept this new reality, a "gay" church, in their midst? Would this new church really succeed?
The simple answer to the above questions is YES. Yes, folks drove many miles each week to worship together, and to get together to laugh and socialize and find comfort in their own being. Yes, the citizens of South County not only took this new church in stride but some even passed the word to friends and neighbors they thought might be interested. And, yes, MCC of the Chesapeake not only survived but became a spiritual community open to all.
The more complex question is would the folks who attended the first service fourteen years ago recognize
the Community that exists today? Probably not.
The years subsequent to that first service can be compared to the Chesapeake Bay. It has experienced the normal high and low tides and the flooding and ebbing that occurs with each phase. It has had the higher than normal spring tides and the lower than normal neap tides. Much like a school of fish, the Community and its members have migrated, physically and spiritually, from the place of their beginning. Some have opted to stay in place, not willing to leave their comfort zone of the nursery grounds, while the school of young fry traveled on in search for sustenance and richer environment and, in the process, gladly greeting others swimming towards those goals. Much like a blue crab, it has repeatedly molted, shedding its shell in growth. And like the Canada geese that grace the Bay, too, its leader has deftly guided it through many days and nights, calms and tempests, to the fertile, nutrient rich stew that the Chesapeake represents.
The most noticeable change occurred a year and a half ago. It was that of a name change. The name adopted, Evolve Chesapeake/Chesapeake Creation Spirituality Community, has embedded within it many meanings. It was a strike for freedom from the perceived bureaucracy of a denomination. It announced an ongoing commitment to Creation Spirituality and the wonders and rhythms of the cosmos. It acknowledged the intention that the members of the Community, as well as the Community itself, were committed to steady, sometimes imperceptible, growth and change as Christians and inhabitants of Earth.
Under the continued guidance of the Reverend Doctor Wayne Schwandt, Evolve Chesapeake welcomes and embraces all who seek a relationship with the Divine, as it has always done and will continue to do.
Suzie Robertson |
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Do you use iGive.com
to shop online?
Do you use iSearch.com
for your search engine?
If you answered "no" to one or both of those questions, you are missing out on donations to help fund our ministry. Talk with Pastor Wayne if you need technical assistance to understand how to do these passive donation options for your community. See the article below: "FUNDRAISING FOR MINISTRY."
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FUNDRAISING FOR MINISTRY
USE iSEARCH AND HELP CCSC!
one cent per search!
Do you search the web? If so, you could be raising a penny for Chesapeake Creation Spirituality Community every time you search! iSearchiGive.com is a search engine powered by Yahoo! Search and iGive.com, the internet's first online shopping mall where a portion of each purchase is donated to your favorite cause. Try it today - it's free! To try iSearch, click here. After you click on the previous link, in the upper right corner will be CLICK HERE TO ADD ISEARCHIGIVE TO YOUR BROWSER. Make it your default search engine and earn a penny for every search. Every penny counts!
YOUR USED CELL PHONES AND EMPTY INK JET AND TONER CARTRIDGES CAN HELP FUND OUR MINISTRY. BRING THEM TO WORSHIP WITH YOU! These items fit nicely in the offering basket along with remembrance of time and talent you have offered through our ministries AND your financial gifts.
When shopping online always go through www.iGive.com! Register Chesapeake Creation Spirituality Community as your charity and shop away! As of 9-20-2012 we have earned $1,423.42. Thank you for shopping through iGive.com and using iSearch.com for online searches!
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Become an individual member of Creation Spirituality Communities by clicking here, or sign up as a participant in the online community for FREE! Join our community, Chesapeake Creation Spirituality Community, and participate in the discussion. Go to www.CreationSpirituality.info for more information and to sign up! Join the online group, Chesapeake Creation Spirituality.
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MARYLANDERS FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY
FROM THEIR WEBSITE, IN THEIR OWN WORDS:
"Marylanders for Marriage Equality is the campaign working to defend marriage equality at the ballot box this November. We work closely with a diverse, broad-based coalition of faith leaders, community partners, local businesses, labor, elected officials and tens of thousands of grassroots supporters all fighting for fairness. Gay and lesbian couples share the same values of love, commitment and strong families - they should have the same opportunity to get a marriage license. We pledge to run a civil and respectful campaign - one that elevates the basic values of equality, fairness, love, and strong families. We also expect our supporters to treat everyone as they would want to be treated. Our coalition partners include NAACP Baltimore, 1199 SEIU, ACLU Of Maryland, Equality Maryland and the Human Rights Campaign." |
Note from Editor
Originally Blessed!! is sent out every Thursday. News, notices of events, articles, poetry, etc. are welcome and needed from You! Please send them to EvolveSylvia@gmail.com by the previous Wednesday night for publication in the upcoming newsletter, or at any time if the material is not time-sensitive. Thank you!
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