April 2011 -

April 3 – Loving Service to the World

The Seven Whispers, week 7. “We are in huge trouble if we have neglected to teach our children to love the world. We are in huge trouble if we ourselves have neglected to love the world – and it certainly seems that we have. In the past few centuries of industrialization and urbanization – leading to our current technostructure – we have strayed so far from home we have almost no idea what Nature is. The closest we get to comprehension is to say we ought to realign our lives with Nature, as though this were an option. As though we were separate. As though we have dominion over the miraculous biosphere that designed us from the molecule up.” ~ Christina Baldwin, The Seven Whispers.

Service to the world is our seventh spiritual practice and our last week in the Sacred Circles. This week we practice gratitude for life and awareness of how we are part of the natural world. Remembering our seven practices, this week we use them all in our development of a commitment to serve life.

April 10 – Return to the World; Return to ourSelf

Every hero’s quest ends with coming home, and this week we come home to our lives in the natural world, and in community and in our Self. Like Odysseus returning home, we bring back to our lives the seven weeks of spiritual practice that have changed us – and we see Home from a new perspective. Our Return is key to recognizing our place in the world. In some ways our entire quest for self-knowledge and connection to the divine, is actualized in our return to the world. In our return we both discover how we are in integral part of the lives around us and the uniqueness of our contribution.

Today we celebrate the Sacred Circle participants in a presentation of their service commitments. Each participant has deepened their connection to each other, their own practice, and to the world.

April 17 – Living in Sacred Community

This week we recognize the power of spiritual community and explore some of the ways we are each empowered by being part of it. Today we will review some of the highlights of our year together (since April of 2010) and Vision for our community. We celebrate the power of developing support – how to give it and how to receive it, in community. As our lives become more disconnected from a sense of community in our towns, cities and countries, spiritual community becomes more essential. Having a place where we are seen, known and appreciated is an incubator for healing that sense of separation.

After the service there will be the Annual Meeting, where the current Core Council will share reports with the membership and members will have an opportunity to vote in new Council members.

April 24 –The Transformative Story of Easter

Most cultures have a spring equinox story of rebirth and new life. Every spring story reveals the transformative power of life, like the Goddess Eostre for whom Easter is named. This is one of the Earth’s most celebrated stories, and the story of crucifixion and resurrection captures the sublime essence of it.

As we explore these mythic themes together, we will use three key symbols to activate the resurrection, or transformative, power in our own lives. The choir will be performing an inspirational set of songs for us, and we will end the service with a celebratory Easter potluck.