Originally Blessed!

an original blessing community



  January 2, 2014    
  eNewsletter from
  EVOLVEChesapeake

 

 

Chesapeake Creation Spirituality Community

 

Our Core Values: 

      We embrace all seekers of Creator.   

             All are born in Original Blessing, not original sin.        

 
IN THIS ISSUE
January 5th Sacred Gathering
Our Potluck Menu
From the Pastor's Keyboard
Pledge Cards
"Zealot" Book Group
Cove Point Action
January Covenant Dates
The Peace of Wild Things
From Erine
Mindful Communication Program
Support for our Ministry
Food Bank
"Painting the Stars"
Photo by Rick Dove
Find Us on Facebook
Our Business Sponsors
Chuck Riley
For your real estate needs in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, or across the country contact:

   

   

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Check out Evolve Chesapeake's online bookstore at:

CCCS Sphere  
Join our Sacred Gathering 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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 January 5, 2014

Celebrating the
 First Sunday on the Path of Creativity  

Sacred Gathering at 6 PM
at Annapolis Friends Meeting House 
351 Dubois Road, Annapolis, MD 
 
Reflection by  
the Rev. Dr. Wayne Schwandt
         
Gathering Leaders: 
Set-up/Put-away: Rick Dove and Tom Good
     Greeter/Usher: Suzie Robertson        
Reader/Communion Assistant: Sylvia Oliva   
Offering Invitation: Rick Stewart   
Community Hour: "Menued" Potluck (see below)
Everyone Welcome!

            
    Co-creating a Progressive Spiritual Journey
    
Our Coordinated, "Menued" Potluck for Sunday, January 5th: 
Roast Pork with Sauerkraut 
Green Beans 
Black-Eyed Peas 
Lettuce-and-More Salad 
Mashed Potatoes 
Chunky Applesauce 
"Something Good" Dessert
Chocolate-Chip Walnut Cookies  
    
NOTE: THESE DISHES WILL BE PREPARED BY COMPANIONS WHO SIGNED UP FOR THEM.  FEEL FREE IF YOU'D LIKE TO BRING ANOTHER SIDE DISH OR DESSERT.  ALL WELCOME, WITH OR WITHOUT DISH!

From the Pastor's Keyboard
The Rev. Dr. Wayne Schwandt
WES FB WAD 

 

Happy New Year!  Welcome to 2014!

With the coming of the new year comes that tricky tradition of making new year's resolutions.  The talking heads of the TV world are saying that one of the ways to keep yourself on track with your resolutions -- so that you don't drop them within a few days -- is to share them with people you care about.  That way you will receive support for success and gentle prodding when you fall short of your goals.  So here goes.  I will share two of my 2014 Resolutions.

1.  I will discipline myself to write a weekly column in Originally Blessed!  One of the reasons I was happy to welcome Sylvia as the editor of the newsletter was to free me up to take on other tasks.  It is time to refocus some of my energy and time on writing for the newsletter, and so I will.

2.  A healthier Wayne -- commitment to going to the gym every week and eating on a healthier schedule, and doing what I can to generally improve my health. 

So much for my resolutions!  What are yours and how will you share them with people who will support you in keeping them?

I am very happy to announce that this Sunday, January 5, we will see the two new Covenant Windows for the very first time.  We will rededicate them and welcome contributions to defray the cost of having them made.  $100 towards the cost just over $500 has been received and other gifts are welcome and encouraged.  We thank the artist, Donna Darcy, of the Glass Key in Elkridge, Maryland, for her beautiful work.

Hope to see you at our Sacred Gathering this Sunday at 6 PM. 

May the joy of new possibilities be with you,

Wayne

HAVE YOU RECEIVED YOUR PLEDGE CARD?

If not, contact Sylvia Oliva (saoliva44@comcast.net) and   she will send you one. Please consider what commitment you can make to support our community in 2014 and return your pledge card THIS SUNDAY!  We have received pledges of time, talent and treasure from 11 of our 21 members which will fund 80% of our 2014 budget.  Can the other 10 members push us beyond 100%?
Zealot
Sunday, January 12, 2014 will be the next meeting of the Book Group (weather permitting) at Annapolis Friends Meeting House.  We will discuss Part III of "Zealot."
Everyone welcome!


Every year you make a resolution to change yourself.  
This year make a resolution to be yourself!
                                                                                        
                                                                                                           ~ Abhishek Ankit Tiwari

WHY? Because each and every one of us is needed by our community, our country, our world. May the Holy One's touch light our torch and run the whole way with us in 2014 and always!                                                                                               ~ the editor

 


JOIN IN ACTION FOR COVE POINT ON JANUARY 8  
WITH CHESAPEAKE CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK (CCAN)      
   There has been a good turnout of people for CCAN's 9-city tour across Maryland in efforts to stop the proposed building of a Cove Point facility for exporting fracked gas to Asia.
   CCAN is asking for people to rally with them on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 on the steps of the Annapolis Courthouse, in support of the Sierra Club, who will present oral arguments in their legal case to protect the environment at Cove Point.
   This action will be followed by CCAN's lobbying of our State Delegates in the MD State House to pass a legislative moratorium on fracking before Governor O'Malley's executive order against fracking expires.
   To register for the event go to www.chesapeakeclimate.org. Click on Take Action then Maryland Actions and go to the bottom right part of the page and click on Events for Marylanders.                                                                                                    

January Covenant Dates
Birthdays, Anniversaries, Covenant Days 
      
January  1   Cindy Kuzma Birthday 
January  6   Marvin Roger Woods Birthday (d.2001) 
January  8   Zybia (Cy) Hosley death (2013) 
January  8   Delores M. Van Steenburg death (2001) 
January  9   Lee R. Warren Birthday (d.2006) 
January 12   Lee R. Warren death (2006) 
January 13   Esther J. Hosley death (2006) 
January 14   Cynthia Greene Birthday 
January 17   Linda J. Kahl Birthday (d.1998) 
January 18   Jacob Taylor Abell Birthday 
January 26   Suzie Robertson Birthday 
January 28   Rick Dove Birthday 
January 28   Richard Cashen Birthday   


The Peace of Wild Things

 

When despair for the world grows in me 

and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. 

                                                      
                                                           - Wendell Berry



 From Erine
                           
                    So it seems we are like plants
                         And we change 
Erine
     Twisting in ways
     Directed by the sun
     Or light source
     We can't say
     How we bend...
     But we know  
     It is an adventure
     And we are the plants...
     Love is our sunlight...
                    Let us wrap ourselves
                              Let us wrap ourselves...

  Plant is from my grandfather's service from May 2009.   

               My Aunt asked who could keep it alive and it's story isn't done.    

 


Mindful Communication Program Jan.5-25, 2014
The following article was in The Sunday Capital on December 22, 2013.

   The Mindfulness Practice Group of Annapolis is offering a series of programs on Sundays Jan. 5 through Jan 25. Each program is held from 11 a.m. to noon at the Fahs House on the grounds of Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis, 333 Dubois Road. The programs are based on Thich Nhat Hanh's book, "The Art of Communicating," and each session can be understood independently.
   The programs are free and reservations are not required. For more information, visit www.mpgannapolis.org.


Ways to Support our Ministry  

NOTE: WE HAVE EARNED $1,622.12 THROUGH iGIVE AS OF JANUARY 2 
                      
This is the iGive Button, a very good way to raise funds when you shop on-line. 
 Get the button and name Evolve Chesapeake as your charity.  It's always absolutely free, no strings attached! I you need a little technical help in getting iGive, contact Pastor Wayne at SchwandtW@aol.com.
   

At our Welcome Table in the Lobby there are books for sale by Matthew Fox, John Shelby Spong, Marcus Borg, and others.  You'll also find Rick Dove's large selection of beautiful nature photography:  5x7 photocards @$3 and matted photographs @$10.  Buying these will help support Evolve Chesapeake's ministry. 
 
And remember, your used cell phones and empty ink jet and toner cartridges can also help fund our ministry.  These items fit nicely in the offering basket along with remembrance of time and talent you have offered to our ministries and your financial gifts.  Bring them to Gathering with you.


woman-grocery-shopping.jpg
Food banks throughout the country have been hard hit for the last few years and the need has not bypassed Anne Arundel County. Please help those in need by donating pantry staples (tinned meat and fish, boxed pasta products, infant formula, etc.) as well as personal care products such as laundry detergent, toilet paper, disposable razors, bath/shower soap, deodorant, toothpaste, and feminine hygiene products. (You can't purchase non-edibles with food stamps.)

 REMINDERS  
4th Sunday of the month
 at 4:30 pm, Painting the Stars is shown at Annapolis Friends Meeting House.
 
4th Tuesday of the month
at 6:30 pm, Painting the Starsis shown at Open Arms when we meet at one or another Companion's home for dinner.

Access the Reader from the left sidebar of newsletter under                                    "QUICK LINKS: Related Topics".

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle."

                                                                                                  Philo of Alexandria
A new day, a new year is dawning!
  PhotosByRickDove at etsy.com and at Evolve Chesapeake  

A Big Thank You to all who read this newsletter and to all who send contributions that liven it up!  Please send your poems, articles, news, photographs, announcements, etc. to EvolveSylvia@gmail.com.  And let me hear from you how
we can improve our newsletter.    
   

"What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance. In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun. On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp - praise song for walking forward in that light." 

                                                                        Elizabeth Alexander, from Praise Song for the Day


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and other great websites under Quick Links in the sidebar at the top left.

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If you have a profile on Facebook, become a fan of CCSC by clicking here. 
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And visit us at Evolve Chesapeake's Sacred Gatherings Sunday 6 PM.

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