IN MARCH

Walking the Beauty Way

Living in balance and harmony with Mother Earth, ourselves and each other.

March

Artful Worship, Joyful Service

Sunday Celebration:

Weekly at 10:30 am

“You shall be like a well watered garden,

like a spring of water whose waters never fail.” Isaiah 58: 11

As you may know, in the Dine tradition (also known as ‘Navaho’) the word hozho describes a state of well- being, living in harmony with the land, ourselves and our wider community. “Hozo is an intentional practice that becomes a daily ceremony inviting us back into balance whenever we’ve drifted into stress, conflict or disconnection.” (Jaquie Fernandez Spiritualty & Health)

How might we walk in beauty in our day to day lives?

How do we maintain balance and harmony with ourselves, mother earth and the community of beings with whom we share this planet?

What are the ways that beauty flows like a river of grace, blessing others and then returning naturally to bless our souls?

We will contemplate these questions as we enter the season of Lent together.

Lent is a forty day period of transformation that begins on Ash Wednesday and culminates on Easter (April 5th). In those six weeks we have the opportunity for deep spiritual reflection that can be part of our transformation and growth.

Hopefully, like a butterfly awakening from a chrysalis, we can emerge stronger, more resilient and ready to spread our wings and share even more light, goodness and grace with the world. We will ponder the ways we can do this both individually and as a community.

We will also resume the receiving of our One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) special offering this year. OGHS funds are collected each Lenten season by UCC congregations (and other denominations) across the globe, to support disaster relief, refugee assistance, and sustainable global development. It funds health care, education, clean water, and agricultural projects, with 95% of donations going directly to charitable projects. We will receive the OGHS offering on March 15 and March 29.

See below for details of the upcoming Sundays.

Let us walk the beauty way together.

Pastor Kimberly

March 1 Walking the Beauty Way: Holding on to Wholeness We will reflect on the Dine (Navaho) concept of ‘hozo’, the “beauty way” of harmony and well-being. How do we maintain that amidst the pressures and conflicts of the world? How do we maintain wholeness and refrain from ‘splitting’ and falling into camps of ‘us’ and ‘them’? Rather than fasting or abstaining during Lent, how might we choose balance as our active Lenten practice?

These are some of the concepts we will explore while we also reflect on the deeper meanings of Lent and the ways that Yeshua and Mary Magdalene walked in Beauty.

March 8 The Beauty Way part II: Flowing with the River of Grace. Continuing our theme of abiding in balance and harmony, we will engage in a guided meditation together inspired by a Dine (Navaho) contemplative practice.

It will include an invitation to trust the flow of the Divine River of Grace.

*Please note: March 8 Daylight Savings Time begins - so remember to ‘spring forward’ and set your clocks ahead one hour.

March 15: The Beauty Way Part III: Sacred Service & the Cycle of Blessings For our third Sunday in our series we will reflect on the ways that flowing with the beauty way naturally overflows to share blessings with the wider community. This ‘cycle of blessings’ naturally blesses us as well. Our reflection will include the teachings of Rev. Eric Law who describes all resources as a kind of currency that flows, as well as inspirational texts from Isaiah 58, which reminds us that nurturing others actually strengthens our own bones and builds a strong community.

We will also receive the One Great Hour of Sharing offering this Sunday.

March 22: Contemplative Arts Sunday with Lectio Divina And Sand Art Mandals Create your own sand art mandala, inspired by the ancient Dine art of sand painting, as we contemplate Dine poetry.

March 29 Palm Sunday The Way of Peace - reflecting on the ways Yeshua maintained peace and balance in his being rather than choosing the ways of war.

We will again receive the One Great Hour of Sharing offering.