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an original blessing 
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  September 26, 2014    
  eNewsletter from
  EVOLVEChesapeake

 

Chesapeake Creation Spirituality Community

  

Christianity Beyond Convention
IN THIS ISSUE
September 28th Sacred Gathering
The Pastor's Keyboard
Chant Circle Sept. 28
Weekly Food & Goods Collection
Open Arms Sept. 30
From Erine
Fall Community Meeting Oct. 19
September Covenant Dates
Support our Ministries
Event Notices from GAIN
Creation Spirituality Communities
The Pale Blue Dot of our Home
Find Us on Facebook
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. 
Quick Links
Join Our Mailing List

September 28, 2014
 
Second  Sunday  
on the Path of Emptying

"Uncertainty"
Reflection by Pastor Wayne Schwandt

Annapolis Friends Meeting House
351 Dubois Road, Annapolis

Gathering Leaders:
Set-up/Put away: Tom Good and Rick Dove
Greeter/Usher: Rick Dove and Tom Good
Reader/Communion Assistant: Chuck Riley
Offering Invitation: Sylvia Oliva
Community Hour Hosts: Wayne Schwandt and Chuck Riley

We continue our progressive spiritual journey!
The Pastor's Keyboard
The Rev. Dr. Wayne Schwandt

I noticed when working on the Gathering for this Sunday that in the description of the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality that run in the left column of the bulletin every week, one of the words listed under the Path of Emptying is "uncertainty."

Uncertainty certainly includes ambiguity, both of which I have seen as a characteristic of people who have been associated with Creation Spirituality in general and our community in particular.

Fundamentalism wants to provide simple answers to extremely complex questions -- if they are answerable at all. Creation Spirituality is nothing if not an antidote to fundamentalism. We acknowledge the immensity, intimacy and complexity of the cosmos in which we live.  What we are able to grasp as human beings is far from complete.  

These characteristics -- certainty and uncertainty -- may well be two sides of one of the great categories into which we could separate all humans.  Can you live with ambiguity and uncertainty?  Or must you pretend to have the answers to everything?   Are "I don't know" or "This is what I understand about that . . ." sufficient answers or not?  For me they are sufficient.  I have given up the illusion that everything can be explained and therefore understood. Opinions abound as do belly buttons among humans -- every one has one!

We are a community which celebrates the unknowable, the mystery, of many things.  We are a both/and community of seekers after truth.  It is okay here to celebrate "I do not know."

Hope to see you at Sacred Gathering!

Peace, Wayne
Chant Circle Sunday, September 28 
4:00 to 5:30 pm, just before our Sacred Gathering  
at Annapolis Friends Meeting House  
Join us for an experience of body prayer, chant and drumming. 
  No previous experience necessary! 
WEEKLY FOOD/GOODS COLLECTION
AT EVOLVE CHESAPEAKE 
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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, dish soap, deodorant, toothpaste, and feminine hygiene products.    
Open Arms to Return on September 30 
After our summer break, we look forward to meeting for Open Arms on Tuesday, September 30 at 6:30 P.M.  Come for dinner and discussion about our invitation to become a ministry of the United Church of Christ of Annapolis.  We can continue our discussion of the book, "What matters to you? matters to us."  For further information contact Pastor Wayne at SchwandtW@aol.com.  Everyone welcome! 
From Erine  
"My Awe and Wonder"
autumn-winding-road.jpg
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 3:30 to 5:30 PM 
in Annapolis Friends Meeting House, Worship Room
EVOLVE CHESAPEAKE'S FALL COMMUNITY MEETING 
Please mark your calendars and come.  Among the agenda items will be votes concerning affiliation with the United Church of Christ of Annapolis and our proposed 2015 budget.  All Companions are encouraged to attend this important meeting and participate in the discussion, but only members may vote.  You may download the meeting packet, which includes the Agenda, Secretary's Minutes of our Spring Community Meeting, Treasurer's Reports as of August 31, 2014, and a Proposed FY2015 Budget, by clicking here. 
September Covenant Dates         
Birthdays, Anniversaries, Covenant Dates       
Sept    4    Karl D. Walker Death (2008)
Sept  11    Marvin Roger Woods Death (2001)
Sept  13    Janice Creamer & Cherly Lanore Civil Union in CT (2007)
Sept  15    Laura Cooper Birthday
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
Sept  28    Glen O. Van Steenburg Death (1999)

The People's Climate March - Photo from RollingStone.com
There were 400,000 people at the People's Climate March in New York City on September 21, 2014.  Were you there, or have you seen any videos of it?  Click here to see one by Environmental Action.  Let us commit to doing everything we can to restore and protect our Earth!

Whatever you do may seem insignificant,
but it is most important that you do it.
                                                          
                                                                                                             Gandhi 
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.  Click here for more information about iGive.

As of September 26th Evolve Chesapeake has earned $1,647.29 through iGive!   
Check out the books and photo cards. 
Northern Leopard Frog
Photo by Rick Dove
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.  See
one of his photos at the right.  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 Sacred Gathering with you.   
3 Event Notices from GAIN

Interfaith Dialogue on Domestic Violence

Wednesday, October 1, 2014 from 10 am--3 pm

Judicial Institute of Maryland 2001C Commerce Park Drive, Annapolis, MD 21401

 

The Interfaith Domestic Violence Coalition brings together faith leaders, domestic violence advocates, legal experts, governmental and community partners to share words of encouragement and conciliation with those suffering from the pain of domestic violence.  With your partnership, we can provide information and resources that we believe will spark life-changing conversations that can transform families and strengthen communities across Maryland.  To learn more about this initiative, contact

Mark Byrd, Faith-Based Coordinator, at 410-767-1822 or mark.byrd@maryland.gov. 

 

* * *  

 

St. Luke's Blue & Green Festival for the Restoration of Back Creek
Saturday, October 4, 2014 from 11 am--3 pm Rain or Shine!
St. Luke's Episcopal Church,1101 Bay Ridge Avenue, Annapolis, MD 21403
 Free Admission and Fun for All
 
Hot Dogs, Big Bake Sale and Raffle Ticket Purchases Benefit
St. Luke's Restoration of Nature Stormwater Mitigation Project

Weems Creek Jammers & Contra Dancing  

Live Jazz and R&B Music  

Interactive Environmental Exhibits with AA County Watershed Stewards Academy and Interfaith Partners of the Chesapeake

Blessing of the Animals at 11:30  

SPCA Mobile Pet Adoption  

Children's Games, Scouting Exhibit, & Labyrinth Walks  

Agriberry Farm, Rain Barrel Sales, and more  
Bilderback Memorial Conservation Landscape Dedication  
 
Join the Blue & Green event on Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1468216050121935/ 

410-268-5419 
 www.stlukeseastport.org 

* * *

Candidate's Forum 

Thursday, October 9, 7-9 pm
Calvary United Methodist Church,301 Rowe Blvd., Annapolis, MD
 

All candidates for the following offices have been invited:

  • Anne Arundel County Executive
  • State Delegates and Senators for Districts 30
  • Anne Arundel County Council members for Districts 1, & 6
This event is sponsored by BRIDGE, CASA de Maryland, St. Mark United Methodist Church, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, Metropolitan United Methodist Church, John Wesley United Methodist Church, Anne Arundel County Branch NAACP, Chesapeake Interfaith Environmental Group, Anne Arundel Affordable Housing Coalition and Arundel House of HOPE. All organizations are non-profit and non-partisan.  For more information or to confirm your participation, contact bridgemaryland@aol.com.
   
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.  To join our online community, Chesapeake Creation Spirituality Community, click on:  http://originalblessing.ning.com 
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 night to: EvolveSylvia@gmail.com.  Your ideas on how we can improve Originally Blessed!! are also always very welcome. 
The Pale Blue Dot of our Home, the Earth
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.....  The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena."

                                      From Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan 

 

Visit our website:  www.EvolveChesapeake.com

JOIN  US  IN  SACRED  GATHERING  THIS  SUNDAY