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Working with the Spirit of the United States of America: A Conference for Young Adults
January 2-5, 2013, Spring Valley, New York
In today’s political climate, some are inflamed with political fervor, and others have completely turned away. Is it possible to move beyond political debate to have a conversation that encompasses both the roots and the destiny of the United States?
This January we will engage these questions by exploring the spirit that is at the heart of the founding principles of our nation — liberty, justice, and peace. Before “Lady Liberty” there was “Columbia,” the inspiring Spirit that bound the Founders together and gave their individual struggles and ordeals a common purpose. Is she working still?
Come and join us in taking on this mission! Young adults (18-35), priests Richard Dancey, Nora Minassian, and Jonah Evans, and invited guest Rick Spaulding (American historian and prolific scholar), will gather to work with these themes through presentations, discussion groups and artistic activities.
The Conference will be held in the Spring Valley Congregation at 15 Margetts Rd., Spring Valley, NY.
Click here to register online. Fee: $100.
Information: Contact Rev. Jonah Evans at 845-573-9080.
Winter Youth Conference and Martin Luther King Jr. Service Weekend
January 18 – 21, 2013, Washington, D.C.
Teenagers from Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, New York and Chicago are coming to the D.C. area for our annual Winter Youth Conference over the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend. In addition to getting to know each other and taking up our theme in conversation and presentations there will be games, music and singing, service work, improvisational city actions and participation in this year’s presidential inauguration.
Priests Patrick Kennedy, Carol Kelly, Liza Marcato and Ann Burfeind will lead the weekend’s activities.
For more information contact Rev. Patrick Kennedy at cckennedy2006@gmail.com.
Click here to register online. Registration deadline is January 11th.
The tender quiet of Advent and childlike bliss of Christmas are gifts of grace which are granted our age ever more rarely. Life has become too noisy and hectic, fate too harsh and dramatic. Yet, the secret of Advent’s quiet can be compared with the sensibility of a woman about to become a mother. The hope embodied in this sensation does not relate to a neutral event that will ultimately occur. Indeed, the woman who carries a child does not merely look forward to an event that will take place in due time. Early on, she is constantly enveloped and surrounded by the soul of the being for whom she is allowed to offer a body.
In our age, the same change comes to pass which the pregnant mother has to undergo when the calm months of anticipation are replaced by the labor of childbirth. She suffers all the pains and fearful tribulations because she knows they serve her own hope. Today, destinies overcome us that are nothing less than the birth pangs passing through humanity. We must give birth to something new that serves the purpose of our salvation. A new Christmas event is imminent in our age for which we have to prepare. Read more
Advent is a blessed and magical time of year and children experience this deeply. Building a family ritual around Advent helps to slow down our busy lives, bring a special moment into the day, and prepare our hearts for the coming of the Christ Child at Christmas.
Each night of Advent, families can gather around an Advent wreath to sing a song, light the candles on the wreath, and recite a verse in a simple, meaningful celebration. Reading an Advent story (such as those in The Christmas Story Book published by Floris books) is another element one can add to the evening tradition. Each week of Advent an additional candle is lighted on the wreath until at the 4th Sunday, all four candles stand glowing.
Verse for Lighting the Advent Wreath
The first light of Advent
Is the light of stones.
The light that shines in seashells,
Crystals and in bones.