6:45 PM today, Friday, 3/20 Spring
Equinox! Let's dance around the
fire to celebrate the return of Spring!
This Sunday the bonfire in the center of our circle will return and each person will be invited to light an additional candle to bring more light into our circle and world.

This Sunday also begins our seasonal emphasis on transformation: justice, shalom, return, sustainability, healing, interfere, peacemaking, relieve suffering, compassion.

This season invites us to begin to take our inner work of growth, health, wholeness and change into the larger world around us. This is where each of us is invited to take the justice making, transforming love, and awe and wonder of life, and make it real in society and in the world. This Path is an invitation to join in the Great Work. We are invited to reDirect our efforts outside of ourselves, to take the next step of not being solely focused on our own survival and well-being.

What if the goal of spiritual community -- whether grounded in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Paganism, Buddhism, or Atheism -- was the betterment of the world in which we live? Isn't that which unites us as humans a far more important quest than the philosophical and theological systems which tend to divide?

We begin a focus on taking our inner work to the outer work. Be a part of the conversation and the journey at Evolve. Join us at 6 PM this Sunday evening at the United Church of Christ of Annapolis,
6 Carvel Circle, Edgewater! We'll welcome you!

Peace,
Wayne

From Erine

My awe and wonder...
My name misspelled-

not a concern.

Open Arms on March 24

   We look forward on the 4th Tuesday of every
   month to our gathering for Open Arms. This month
   it will be on March 24 at 6:30 P.M. We meet in one

   or another's home. Come join us for a relaxed and
   friendly dinner, then viewing and discussion of the
   first segment of Cosmos: A Spaceship Journey.

   For further information call Rick at (443) 867-4997
   or contact Rev. Wayne at SchwandtW@aol.com.
   Everyone is welcome!

Weekly Food/Goods Collection at EVOLVE

Our brothers' and sisters' needs are urgent. Please
bring a donation when you can and put by our
Community Table. Suzie will deliver it to the Food
Bank.

Thank you, PNC (our church's bank)
and the many people who worked hard for this!

Into

Church Spring Cleaning Day!

SATURDAY, MARCH 21 - 9 AM - 12 PM

Give UCCA a hand in cleaning, painting, and cheerleading! Evolve invites all the worker bees participating in the UCCA work day to join us in sharing food and fellowship on Saturday, March 21. While reservations are not required, please email Suzie Robertson at nancyshdysd@aol.com if you will be joining us for a free lunch after your labor of

love.

We Must Cling to Love

by Omid Safi

from the On Being Newsletter

Fear is about what I think you are going to do to me. Fear is about what you are going to take from me.

Love says it's not about me, it's not about you. It is about all of us. Love says there is room for all at the rendezvous of victory.

The path of love is not the absence of fear. Real love is made possible through vulnerability. Vulnerability is the possibility of having one's heart open enough to let love in, and also let pain in. There is in this love the possibility of being genuinely hurt. The path of love is not the avoiding of suffering, but the welcoming of joy and suffering alike, the way a gracious host would.

So no, the path of love is not being impervious to fear. It is simply the stubborn refusal to let fear have the last word.

We cling to love, in a world that all too often celebrates fear.

May we bring love into the public space, illuminating the dark corners of injustice. May we let love shine, so that all that is based in fear vanishes. May we embrace a love that begins with the self and spills over to the neighbor, the friend, the family, the community, the stranger, until it encompasses the whole of humanity.

May we be awash in a love that begins in God, and encompasses all. May we walk the path of love.

Kids Chalk Art by Nicole Porcaro

Chant Circle Sunday, March 29
in Caton Hall from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m.

All are welcome to join our circle of chant, body prayer, drumming, and quiet reflection on what this may bring to you. A wholesome practice, non-threatening, simple and nourishing. No experience necessary. Try it and see!

March Covenant Dates

Birthdays, Anniversaries, Covenant Dates

March 1 Tom Good Birthday

March 5 Jean M. Dove Birthday (d. 2012)

March 6 Gail Curry Birthday

March 12 Delores M. Van Steenburg Birthday (d. 2001)

March 22 Jordan Michelle Riley Birthday (2003)

March 24 Kim Hinken Birthday

March 27 Joshua Braelon Lekberg Baptism (2011)

The journey is not an outward one... but an inward one. God is not up there; God is in here. The only way into this reality of God is to live in the meaning of the Christ life, to discover the freedom to give yourself away. That, alone, is the pathway to the Father... I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Look at me... God works in me; God speaks through me. That is your destiny also. Indeed, you will do even greater deeds than the ones I have done. You have to love, not for gain, but for love's sake. When I am gone, the spirit of truth will come to you. This will be God dwelling in you and you dwelling in God.

- John Shelby Spong in The Fourth Gospel

New York: HarperOne, 2013, p. 186

Creation Spirituality Communities

is a network of communities ranging from intentional groups to alternative churches, which are grounded in the tenants of Creation Spirituality and revere the sacredness of all creation. Through study, ritual, celebration and action, these communities support justice, compassion, transformation 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. Our online community, Chesapeake Creation Spirituality Community, is waiting for you to join: http://originalblessing.ning.com.

MARCH 28, 2015

Are you going to switch off your lights for

Earth Hour at 8:30 pm on the last Saturday

of March? It's a global climate change cam-

paign held every year. Join hundreds of millions of people around the world who will

do this as a reminder of how much energy

we use. Read more about this at www.WorldWildlife.org/EarthHour.

FREE COUPON HERE

Welcome, Newcomers to our Sacred Gatherings; this coupon is for you! It entitles you to a fresh loaf of home-baked bread, usually with raisins and honey, made by our Minister, Rev. Dr. Wayne Schwandt. Just clip this coupon, place it in the offering basket on Sunday, and at the close of our Sacred Gathering you will receive along our welcome, this delicious bread.

Book Groups reading The New Jim Crow

Two groups are meeting weekly in the church office to discuss The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. One group meets on Sundays at 1:00 PM, and the other on Tuesdays at 6:30 PM. This book is an expertly written in-depth study of the historical, documented causes of racism in our society, leading to it's tragic consequences of the mass incarceration of African Americans. A chapter a week is read in preparation for the

The future of race in America: Michelle Alexander at TEDxColumbus

meeting. Our final discussion will be together with Asbury United Methodist Church. The video at the right is a TED talk in which Michelle Alexander summarizes her book. If you'd like to join one of the groups, email Lisa at office@uccannapolis.org or phone 410-266-8596. It's not too late to join!

Happy First (and Every) Day of Spring!

Many thanks for reading Originally Blessed!! Remember to send your articles, poems, news, photos, announcements, petitions, pictures, cartoons, and whatever else you might like to see in our newsletter to EvolveSylvia@gmail.com by Thursday night.

Daffodils in D.C., photo by Chuck Riley

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Visit our website: www.EvolveChesapeake.com

Evolve has closed the post office box, so please update your records
to show our address as: 8 Carvel Circle, Edgewater, MD 21037