Monthly Theme

A Month of Commitment

CZ

“The acorn becomes an oak by means of automatic growth; no commitment is necessary. The kitten similarly becomes a cat on the basis of instinct. Nature and being are identical in creatures like them. But a man or woman becomes fully human only by his or her choices and his or her commitment to them. People attain worth and dignity by the multitude of decisions they make from day by day. These decisions require courage.” – Rollo May, The Courage to Create

This month we will be focusing on commitment in our services and our posts. We will have meditations about commitment posted on Wednesdays and articles/information about the spiritual practice of commitment on Saturdays. We hope you will join us on our commitment journey.

Here are some spirtual practices to think about as we journey together to be a people of commitment.

 The practice of being loyal to something larger than yourself.  

The practice of loving even when it is hard.  

The practice of making, breaking and re-making our promises.

A Month of Beloved Community

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“Our ultimate end must be reconciliation; the end must be redemption; the end must be the creation of the beloved community. We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization. The type of love that I stress here is not eros, a sort of esthetic or romantic love; not philia, a sort of reciprocal love between personal friends; but it is agape which is understanding goodwill for all men. It is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. It does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people…It begins by loving others for their sakes and makes no distinction between a friend and enemy; it is directed toward both. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. It is love seeking to preserve and create community.  It is the love of God working in the lives of men. This is the love that may well be the salvation of our civilization.” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – From “The Role of the Church in Facing the Nation’s Chief Moral Dilemma,” 1957

This month we will be focusing on Beloved Community in our services and our posts. We will have meditations about beloved community posted on Wednesdays and articles/information about the spiritual practice of beloved community on Saturdays. We hope you will join us on our journey towards building a Beloved Community.

Here are some spiritual practices to consider –

The practice of bending the arc of the universe toward justice.
                                                             The practice of recognizing inherent worth.
                                                             The practice of dismantling the structures that divide us.
                                                             The practice of transforming opponents into friends.

A Month of Imagination

johnnyawwsome

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.  Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.  Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.” – Theodore Geisel (better known as Dr. Seuss)

This month we will be focusing on imagination in our services and our posts. We will have meditations about imagination posted on Wednesdays and articles/information about the spiritual practice of imagination on Saturdays. We hope you will join us on our imagination journey.

Here are some spiritual practices to consider –

The practice of waking up to possibility.

The healing practice of putting ourselves in other people’s shoes

                  The practice of completing the world by conjuring up its missing parts.

                 The practice of allowing hope to widen our view.

Just Breathe

johnnyawwsome

Breath Meditation by Rev. Samuel A Trumbore

Let us turn inward now

Feel the rhythm of the breath.

In and out, In and out,

Find the peace of just being with the flow of the breath.

Letting go of yesterday and tomorrow.

Feel the restorative power of the peace of this moment.

A peace, large enough to open

to the concerns and sorrows that trouble us.

A stillness, quiet enough to respond

to the joys and celebrations that enliven us.

There is safety here in the rhythm of the breath.

The ebb and flow of life is enacted with each one.

Taking in oxygen sustenance,

Letting go of carbon dioxide waste.

Taking in the fullness of experience

Letting go of the residue that wants to cling to us.

Cultivate inner peace and inner safety

in this sanctuary

dedicated to cultivating the Spirit of Life

dedicated to being a beacon of love for all beings.

Glitter Mindfulness Jars

johnnyawwsome

“When we hear the word “stillness” we immediately think of it as the opposite of movement – but stillness is something quite different altogether. Stillness is an energetic quality of being… Stillness is a choice. It can be felt by living in a state of presence where we remain connected to ourselves and are completely present in our body… In this quality of presence there is something that ‘stands still’, but it is not absent of physical movement. Rather, it is our beingness that remains unaffected by any movement, action or doing even though it moves, acts and does. It is the depth of the ocean unaffected by its waves. It is the ability to surrender to our inner-heart and live from here in all that we do. Therefore, Stillness is not something we have to go in search of nor is it a journey into escapism or numbness. It is where we come from and what we are innately made of and thus it is our natural state of being.” – Serge Benhayon

A fun activity – Make Glitter Mindfulness Jars

A Month of Stillness

johnnyawwsome

“Here are three of my own reasons for practicing the discipline of stillness:

  • I want to maintain perspective. If I don’t make time to be still, then I find myself in reactive mode—influenced by hundreds of little voices with big demands.
  • I want to stay connected to my true self. I don’t want to get confused, thinking that I am the image I present to the world. They are related, of course, but I want to live from the inside out.
  • I want more internal margin in my life. While I have been pursing external margin in my calendar and finances, I also want internal margin—more room to notice what matters most and be thankful for it.” – Michael Hyatt

This month we will be focusing on Stillness in our services and our posts. We will have meditations about stillness posted on Wednesdays and articles/information about the spiritual practice of stillness on Saturdays. We hope you will join us on our stillness journey.

Month of Resilience

CZ

Our theme for the month of February is Resilience. We will be posting about it and incorporating it into our services.

“[Resilience] is to watch a gathering darkness until all light is swallowed up completely without the power to interfere or bring a halt. Then in that darkness, to continue one’s journey with one’s footsteps guided by the illumination of remembered radiance.” – Howard Thurman

Here is a song to get us started: