NEWSLETTER # 2. March 2008
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EVENTS
"The
Universe as Blessing"
July 31-
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ARTICLES
Creating
Creation Spirituality Communities, by Susan Coppage Evans
An invitation to join in the transformative
work, by joining a circle of clarity and consensus-building.
AWE
Community, San Jose, California, by Louise Rasmussen
A young community
created by a
Inviting
your community’s
participation the upcoming event: The Universe as Blessing
John O'Donohue, 1954-2008, by Peggy Short
The passing of a poet and Celtic
theologian, too soon. Includes a link to a broadcast.
Originally Blessed: A book being born, by Matt Henry
The emerging
Creation Spirituality book, a tribute to the 25th Anniversary of Matthew Fox's
Original Blessing.
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EVENTS
"The Universe as Blessing"
July 31-August 3, 2008
Walden Inn and
Save the date, pass on the news and make
your plans, the second annual Creation Spirituality Communities Gathering is
coming this summer!
One
of the greatest sources of energy and nourishment in this life is authentic
community. Among the most memorable times when I have experienced this
depth of connection and soul food have been the times that I have had the
opportunity to gather with my Creation Spirituality tribe.
Last year's inaugural Creation Spirituality Communities Gathering was no
exception.
And so it is with excitement and enthusiasm
that I look forward to Creation Spirituality Communities: The Universe As Blessing Gathering scheduled for July 31 -
Our special guests (besides yourself) will include
author and theologian Matthew Fox and Nancy Ellen Abrams, co
author of The View from the Center of the
Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos.
This extended weekend will include artful explorations of
our themes, "The Universe as Blessing" and "Creating
Creation Spirituality Communities" as well as all the themes and topics
you bring with you. In addition, Saturday evening offers a very special celebration
of the 25th Anniversary of Original Blessing. Expect the
unexpected!
Join us as we connect, reconnect, explore, celebrate, mourn, create and make justice
together.
Registration is available now online here.
Mark Steiner
is a founder of Cultivating Connections,
and is one of many preparing The Universe as Blessing event
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Creating Creation Spirituality
Communities: A Call to the Work of Transformation
by Susan Coppage Evans
Dear
Friends,
In the December newsletter we laid out plans for CSC to grow organically and
with your participation. We are forming circles of clarity and
consensus building. Participants of "circles" will work with one
another to discern direction for CSC participation and growth (via phone
conferencing, e-mail and annual meetings). We invited you to lead, participate
and /or create circles. If you didn't get the
newsletter or it got lost in your Christmas rush click here to read it.
Since December, three people have stepped forward to lead circles and there is
progress happening on other circles. Lynda Boozer has volunteered
to lead a
If you are interested in participating in a circle, either one of the ones
mentioned above, or a new one, please e-mail me and I will help you get
connected. In addition to Social Justice, Ordination and Music, we are
looking for people passionate about the following topics:
- Formal Education Degree and Continuing
Education
- Retreats, conferences and workshops
- Development of Liturgy and ritual
- Support for Developing Communities
(Tool Boxes and Teams)
- On-line resources
- Networking
- Intentional Community
Chairpersons of the circles will also serve
in a CSC Organizational Health and Leadership Circle with Board members
so that we can all benefit from the dynamic creativity of each circle.
I hope you are as inspired as I am to bring Creation Spirituality to a wider
audience - to our local communities. If you have a desire to help make
this a reality and are willing to offer at least 5 hours per month of your time
to serve in a circle - please e-mail me!
Trusting in the Creative Spirit,
Susan Coppage Evans, D.Min. President, CSC, Inc.
sevans@mindspring.com
Susan Coppage Evans
is a Board President of
Creation
Spirituality Communities.
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AWE
Community,
Interview with Lousie
Rasmussen
Tell us
the background of your community.
Our spiritual
community began in 2003 as a women’s spirituality group. We gathered in search of more meaningful
ritual, which would be based on a wide range of spiritual traditions and with a
strong expression of the Divine Feminine.
So I would say our group started initially for the sole purpose of
spiritual nurturance for women.
Has your group changed during the five years?
Indeed.
We are constantly evolving. The
most significant change occurred after several of our members participated in
the CSC conference at
What is
the format for your meetings?
Our meetings are the second Tuesday of
each month (excluding August)
You
mentioned a discussion topic. Do you
follow a theme either monthly or annually?
Ah, planning! We have been everything from free-flowing to
overly-structured. We’re seeking a
balance. When we first started in 2003, we planned from one month to the
next. We focused on the Divine Feminine
and moved into study of the Gnostic Gospels. Our year culminated with a ritual
honoring Mary Magdalene on her feast day in July.
We have
played with planning in three to four months at a time around one topic such as
“Art and the Spiritual Journey” or “Rituals of Hindu, Islam, and Buddhism”.
Currently, we have a plan for the year, September through July. We are ritualizing and discussing the male
and female archetypes and plan a celebratory marriage of the Divine Feminine
and the Divine Masculine in July. (Our
community wants to ceremoniously move from its beginnings as a women’s group to
a group which embraces all.) So we have guidelines for planning but are
learning to allow lots and lots of room for what may come up along the
way.
What do
you think makes your community uniquely a Creation Spirituality Community?
Our group has been infused with Creation
Spirituality since its beginning. We
consciously chose to become a Creation Spirituality Community last
September. And we continue a definite
expression of Creation Spirituality in our gatherings. We have begun to design our rituals so that
we move through the four paths during each gathering. We draw from all traditions
in our planning and meditations. And now, as a group we are moving into the Via
Transformativa with active discussion and growing involvement in global
issues: Afghans for Afghans project,
environmental issues, Green Man awareness, and working for political candidates
are examples.
What
advice do you have for others who are forming CS Communities?
Sarah’s Circle from the Hebrew Scriptures
is our model for sharing gifts, including leadership, in our community. All are invited to help plan. We have members who have special talents, for
example, in music, dance, art, research skills, leading meditation, and
developing ritual. I would say the gifts
of our members impact the content of our meetings and strengthen and deepen our
community.
Ann
Dean, who shared her experience with spiritual communities at the Mills CSC
conference, encouraged us to “think small”.
Currently our average attendance is ten to twelve. We can rejoice in the quality of our
community experience and the intimacy of connection.
Louise Rasmussen
is a creator of the AWE Community in
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Inviting Your Participation
in the Upcoming Universe as Blessing Event.
One of
the most effective aspects of our event is the networking and sharing that
occurs. When
individuals share their successes – even the smallest success in an
encouragement to others. In
Louise Rasmussen’s article she shares how Ann Dean’s encouragement about
starting small was an inspiration for her own community.
Will you
share your experience with others? At
the 2nd annual CSC event in Indiana, “Universe as Blessing” we are
going to have a Poster Presentation Reception
where CS communities whether part of a larger church/denomination, a
small book study, a retreat setting or a specific worship community can
visually share their origin story and dialogue with event participants about
how their CS community works. Please volunteer to share your story and
represent your community at the event by e-mailing Susan Coppage Evans at sevans@mindspring.com by
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John
O'Donohue, 1954 - 2008
by Peggy Short
The west coast of
For a radio interview (listen online) click here to visit the Speaking of Faith website
On the death of the Beloved
Though we need to weep your loss,
You dwell in that safe place in our hearts,
Where no storm or night or pain can reach you.
Your love was like the dawn
Brightening over our lives
Awakening beneath the dark
A further adventure of colour.
The sound of your voice
Found for us
A new music
That brightened everything.
Whatever you enfolded in your gaze
Quickened in the joy of its being;
You placed smiles like flowers
On the altar of the heart.
Your mind always sparkled
With wonder at things.
Though your days here were brief,
Your spirit was live, awake, complete.
We look towards each other no longer
From the old distance of our names;
Now you dwell inside the rhythm of breath,
As close to us as we are to ourselves.
Though we cannot see you with outward eyes,
We know our soul's gaze is upon your face,
Smiling back at us from within everything
To which we bring our best refinement.
Let us not look for you only in memory,
Where we would grow lonely without you.
You would want us to find you in presence,
Beside us when beauty brightens,
When kindness glows
And music echoes eternal tones.
When orchids brighten the earth,
Darkest winter has turned to spring;
May this dark grief flower with hope
In every heart that loves you.
May you continue to inspire us:
To enter each day with a generous heart.
To serve the call of courage and love
Until we see your beautiful face again
In that land where there is no more separation,
Where all tears will be wiped from our mind,
And where we will never lose you again.
-- John O'Donohue
Peggy
Short, Ph.D., D.Min.
lives in
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Originally Blessed: A Book being born
by Matt Henry
Each of the twenty-six
themes in Original Blessing "is an unfinished meditation…
I trust the reader to make connections and applications and to carry on the
theological revisioning that must follow from this new (but ancient)
vision."
- Matthew Fox, Original Blessing, 1983
Some months ago, Creation Spirituality
Communities board president, Susan Coppage Evans mentioned that 2008 marks the
25th Anniversary of Matthew Fox's Original Blessing. The board
shared Susan's sense that we ought to do something to mark this occasion, and
then went on to other things, as board meetings often do.
Some weeks later, out of that nowhere/everywhere place from whence come
interesting (and sometimes ridiculous) ideas, there arrived the thought that a
book could be birthed in celebration of this anniversary.
My sense was immediately that this was a project for multiple
contributors. The reasoning behind this had nothing to do with ease of
creation (and some days, I confess, a one-person endeavor
sounds easier!), but to reflect a core aspect of Matt's approach in his writing
and teaching over the years. He has always gathered many voices to join
his in articulating the Creation Spirituality tradition. I was encouraged
by Matt's explicitly-stated invitation (above) in the introduction of Original
Blessing. And so I decided that these 26 themes would be the template
for 26 "responses," essentially conversing with/responding
to/emerging from... the ideas Matt put forth.
The major shift in the book's emergence came when I tried to balance the
incoming essays and poetry, along with a handful of interviews that were being collected.
I also thought of so many gifted visual artists and musicians, and how their
work was not really being gathered. Not really being happy with that, I
trebled the size of the book, to include 26 x 3 contributions: essays /
writings-other-than-essays / visual art.
So there's going to be a lot of fantastic stuff in this book. Amazing
poetry, incisive essays, some music, a couple of meditations, several
interviews, mosaics, icons, paintings, sculptures, and (should I mention it???)
even a recipe!
We will self-publish this book in time for CSC's The Universe as Blessing gathering July 31-Aug 3. We'll
'launch' the book there as we celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Original
Blessing. We'll certainly let you know how to reserve/obtain copies
as time unfolds. Now that the book is taking shape, commercial publishers
have been recently contacted. Hopefully there'll be some news on that
front soon...
For more information, such as the contributors to the new book, please visit www.originallyblessed.org , where you can sign up for a weekly reflection based on the
26 themes.
Matt Henry
is a CSC Board Member, and editor/coordinator of the upcoming book Originally Blessed
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Contributors…
If you have an essay, poetry, art, that
you'd like us to consider for future editions of this newsletter, please email
us: contact[at]creationspirituality.info
