Originally Blessed!

an  
original blessing 
community


  August 22, 2014    
  eNewsletter from
  EVOLVEChesapeake

 

Chesapeake Creation Spirituality Community

  

Christianity Beyond Convention
IN THIS ISSUE
August 24 Sacred Gathering
"Awe and Wonder"
Pantry Shelves Empty!
Chant Circle this Sunday
"A Prayer among Friends"
From Erine
A Passage from "Rabbi Jesus"
News about Cove Point
August Covenant Dates
Creation Spirituality Communities
Support our Ministries
People's Climate March in NYC
Find Us on Facebook
Our Website
Our Business Sponsors
Chuck Riley
Chuck Riley
Chuck makes a
donation  to Evolve
Chesapeake from every commission received through our community!
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 House, 351 Dubois Road, Annapolis, MD 21401. Click here for directions. 
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August 24, 2014
  
Tenth Sunday on the  
 Path of AWE! and WONDER!
 
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: Tom Good and Rick Dove 
Greeter/Usher: Chuck Riley 
Reader: Dave Miller 
Offering Invitation: Scott Bowling 
Community Hour Host: Suzie Robertson 
 
to see and hear (and almost smell!)
a nature video slide show by Rick Dove
THE PANTRY SHELVES ARE EMPTY! 
  PLEASE BRING A FOOD STAPLE TO ANY FOOD BANK YOU CAN BECAUSE THE NEEDS ARE GREAT AT THIS TIME.    
You can also bring along a food staple or personal care product when you come to Sacred Gathering, and they will be collected for our usual food bank.
Chant Circle meets Sunday, August 24 at 4 PM

If you would like a prayerful and fun experience of body prayer, chant and drumming, join us this Sunday.  We meet from 4-5:30 PM, ending a little before our Sacred Gathering at 6 PM.

"The gift of body prayer for me is that we sit with each one long enough to enter into the Presence together.  Calming our-
selves is one of the goals so that we can experience that thin place of Divine-Me connection or, in less binary thought, I can become aware of the Divine Presence which flows from within me and encircles me."         - Pastor Wayne 

A Prayer among Friends
by John Daniel, from Of Earth @ Lost Horse Press, 2012

Among other wonders of our lives,
we are alive with one another, 
we walk here in the light of this 
unlikely world that isn't ours for long. 
May we spend generously the time we are given. 
May we enact our responsibilities 
as thoroughly as we enjoy 
our pleasures. May we see with clarity, 
may we seek a vision 
that serves all beings, may we honor 
the mystery surpassing our sight, 
and may we hold in our hands 
the gift of good work 
and bear it forth whole, as we 
were borne forth by a power we praise 
to this one Earth, this homeland of all we love.  
From Erine
I love this as this is why I journal. Plus I love Annapolis at night...  

 
Book Study Group Meets September 14
From the Epilogue of Rabbi Jesus, An
 Intimate Biography by Bruce Chilton:

"The joining of our lives to God was what awakened in me ...  I intuited that our suffering, pain, and disappointment, as well as our joy, pleasure, friendships, and the love we feel for one another can enable us to realize who we are in God's presence.  Jesus' force resides in his vulnerability not only on the cross but throughout his life.  He entices each of us to meet him in that dangerous place where an awareness of our own weakness and fragility shatters the self and blossoms into an image of God within us.  That is the gift that his biography and death have left us, and it is what makes Rabbi Jesus the treasure of the Church and the unique possession of no institution, no person on earth."
Cove Point Zoning Exemption Overturned 
- from Chesapeake Climate Action Network - 

"Here's the good news that broke on Cove Point this [past] week: For the past year, the Chesapeake CliStudy raises safety concerns about Cove Point gas facilitymate Action Network and our allies have been warning that mega-corporation Dominion Resources, Maryland elected officials, and federal regulators were cutting dangerous corners in the permitting process for the proposed fracked gas export facility. [Monday of last week], our voices were affirmed --in the courtroom.  In response to a lawsuit brought by the AMP [Accokeek, Mattawoman and Piscataway] Creeks Council, a Maryland Circuit Court judge ruled that the Board of Commissioners in Calvert County, where the facility would be built, had illegally exempted Dominion from a host of local zoning ordinances designed to protect public health and safety.  Big thanks go to the AMP Creeks Council for leading the charge to hold local officials accountable to the law.
    August Covenant Dates
     Birthdays, Anniversaries, Covenant Dates     
August   1  Louise Birch Abell Birthday (d. 2001)
August   4  Brian Patrick Riley Birthday
August   7  Christina Borgoyn Birthday
August   7  George H. Kresslein, Sr. Death (1997)
August 10  Robert T. Abell & Michael P. Dyson Holy Union (2002)
August 11  Janet Bullitt Smith Death (2002)
August 14  Ralph Ferrante Birthday (d. 2003) 
August 19  Velma Blitch Death (1999)
August 27  Louise Birch Abell Death(2001) 
August 27  Janet Bullitt Smith Birthday (d. 2002)
August 29  John A. Petrosillo Birthday
August 30  David A. Miller Birthday

  CSC logo small
Creation Spirituality Communities is a network of communities ranging from intentional groups to alternative churches, which are grounded in the tenents of Creation Spirituality and revere the sacredness of all creation. Through study, ritual, celebration and action, these communities support justice, compassion, transforma- tion and sustainability for the Universe and for all living beings.  It is both tradition and movement, celebrated by mystics and agents of social change from every age and culture. Join our online community, Chesapeake Creation Spirituality Community, and read more about Creation Spirituality, discover inspiring opportunities, learn about CS communities in your area, or network with others to create a CS community. Click on:  
Help Support Evolve Chesapeake's Ministries

Shop or Search Online with the iGive Button. Join iGive and be a part of the first and largest online network of shoppers, online stores, and worthy causes dedicated to turning online shipping into much-needed
donations. iGive is totally free.  You can also raise a penny per search at iGive every time you search the web.  Try iGive's search engine and you'll see that fundraising for Evolve Chesapeake can be easy and free.

As of August 21 we have earned $1,646.98 through iGive for Evolve Chesapeake.

Check out the books and photo cards.
On our Welcome Table in the lobby there are books for sale by Bruce Chilton, Matthew Fox, John Shelby Spong, Marcus Borg and others.  You'll also find Rick Dove's large selection of nature photography.  The photo at the bottom of the newsletter is a sample of Rick's 
beautiful work. And enjoy his video clip of "The Awe and Wonder in Our World" below.  (Rick's 5 x 7 photo cards are @ $3 and his matted photographs are @ $10.)            
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.   

PEOPLE'S CLIMATE MARCH NEW YORK CITY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2014
Join a coalition of over 700 organizations in NYC before the
United Nations Climate Summit
 
In September world leaders are coming to New York City for a historic United Nations summit on climate change. With our future on the line and the whole world watching, we'll take a stand to bend the course of history. Together we'll take to the streets to demand a world with an economy that works for people and the planet.  A world with jobs, clean air and healthy communities for all.  A world safe from the ravages of climate change.   Join over 250,000 people and 700 organizations marching together to reignite the environmental movement.  See the website: peoplesclimatemarch.org
 
The Climate Stewards of Greater Annapolis are arranging for a bus.  Cost will be $40.  For more details or to sign up, contact Dave Ingalls at benfieldbrass@juno.com or Beth Vernon at saramara@live.com. The bus will leave from Annapolis Friends Meeting House, 351 Dubois Road in Annapolis, Maryland at 6:00 AM and return that evening.  You can also call Liz Vanden Heuvel at 410-267-9009 for more information.

Thanks to all who are reading our newsletter and all who send contributions that liven it up!  Send your poems, articles, photographs, news, announcements, etc. by Thursday to: EvolveSylvia@gmail.com.  Your ideas on how we can improve Originally Blessed!! are also always very welcome. 


Dahlia photographed by Rick Dove

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And join us in Sacred Gathering this Sunday.