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Chesapeake Covenant Congregations
faith communities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed
An invitation to commitment for your faith community
We hope that you and your congregation may become
part of the CCC network by covenanting with God to care for and cherish the water and the whole of creation.
Chesapeake Covenant Congregations covenant to express
their loving concern for the earth, and for the Chesapeake Bay in particular, in a variety of ways:
- by cherishing the earth
- by informing themselves
about how we can better care for the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and tributaries
- by reflecting this love
and concern for the earth and the bay in their worship
- by embodying these ideas
in their child and adult education programs
- by embodying care for the
earth into their community life in practical ways
- by encouraging their members
to embody care for the earth into their personal lives
- by managing their property
in environmentally sustainable ways
- by making public witness
to the moral imperative for modern people to respect the creation
We have our Fall Welcome Gathering on Saturday, October
20th at Tracy's Landing and invite all interested folks to attend! For more information, see our website: http://www.chesapeakecovenant.org/ and/or call Sheree at 301-805-5853
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Sheree's Environmental News
Reiki News
October 20th 7-9pm
Reiki Energy Night
Join Jan, Sheree & Linda for healing. Reiki practitioners
welcome.
Come see what Reiki is all about. There will be a team of Reiki Healers giving Reiki
to all who desire it. Feel free to drop by and watch and/or receive Reiki. Love offering accepted.
Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by "laying
on hands" and is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us and is what causes us to be alive.
If one's "life force energy" is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable
of being happy and healthy.
The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words - Rei which means "God's Wisdom or the Higher Power" and Ki which is "life
force energy". So Reiki is actually "spiritually guided life force energy."
A treatment feels like a wonderful glowing radiance that flows through and around you. Reiki treats the whole person including
body, emotions, mind and spirit creating many beneficial effects that include relaxation and feelings of peace, security and
wellbeing. Many have reported miraculous results
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Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten
years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme
weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.
If that sounds like a recipe for serious gloom and doom -- think again. From director Davis Guggenheim comes the Sundance
Film Festival hit, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, which offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man's
fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround
it. That man is former Vice President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election, re-set the course of his life
to focus on a last-ditch, all-out effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change. In this eye-opening and poignant
portrait of Gore and his "traveling global warming show," Gore also proves himself to be one of the most misunderstood characters
in modern American public life. Here he is seen as never before in the media - funny, engaging, open and downright on fire
about getting the surprisingly stirring truth about what he calls our "planetary emergency" out to ordinary citizens before
it's too late.
With 2005, the worst storm season ever experienced in America just behind us, it seems we may be reaching
a tipping point - and Gore pulls no punches in explaining the dire situation. Interspersed with the bracing facts and future
predictions is the story of Gore's personal journey: from an idealistic college student who first saw a massive environmental
crisis looming; to a young Senator facing a harrowing family tragedy that altered his perspective, to the man who almost became
President but instead returned to the most important cause of his life - convinced that there is still time to make a difference.
With wit, smarts and hope, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH ultimately brings home Gore's persuasive argument
that we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue - rather, it is the biggest moral challenges facing
our global civilization.
Paramount Classics and Participant Productions present a film directed by Davis Guggenheim,
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. Featuring Al Gore, the film is produced by Laurie David, Lawrence Bender
and Scott Z. Burns. Jeff Skoll and Davis Guggenheim are the executive producers and the co-producer is Leslie Chilcott.
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A review of the showing of "Inconvenient Truth" from our pastor:
The Pastor's Corner
Yesterday afternoon the The Spirit and Discovery Group hosted a viewing of the documentary "An Inconvenient
Truth." The movie was followed by a hearty soul luncheon and a question and answer period hosted by Dr. Paul Chan, a climate
researcher and former associate director of the global Change Data Center. Dr. Chan is one of those very smart guys who makes
the science understandable. It was a wonderful program and highlighted the real crisis the world is confronting with climatic
change.
At my table we spent considerable time discussing why Americans we so slow to react to scientific evidence.
For example, the Center for Disease Control had convincing evidence nearly 30 years ago that second hand smoke was a real
killer. Yet, the tobacco industry was able to keep that information silent. I remember doing a funeral for a non-smoker who
died 3 years ago from second hand smoke (all 5 of her adult kids were chain smokers). This was the first I had heard of how
serious a hazard second hand smoke presented.
We like to brag about our freedoms in America. What we do not like to acknowledge is how powerful and
well financed corporate interests (and their political supporters in Congress and the White House) influence scientific research
and how it is reported. The stunning statistic from the movie is telling. There has not been a single scientific study that
denies the danger of global warming that has been accepted by a respected "juried" professional journal. Zero. The reality
is that if even the most far reaching plans to combat climatic change were adopted, the concentration of greenhouse gases
will continue to rise. Global warming is already baked into the Earth's future. Yet, 53% of the news articles on the topic
"raise doubts" about the danger. These dubious articles quote "scientific evidence" (always underwritten by large oil companies
like Exxon, which earned $40 Billion last year alone) to support their claims. With this well funded and carefully orchestrated
misinformation campaign it is not surprising that the public expresses doubts about something the scientific community is
in unanimous agreement.
Last Tuesday I visited a close pastor friend in Philadelphia. We attended a movie and a religious lecture
on the faith of George Washington. We took in the Philadelphia Auto Show during the mid- day break. On the entire main floor
of the convention center, there were only 2 cars that had EPA rated highway mileage of over 37 MPG. There were monster trunks,
huge Sport Utility Vehicles, and mid-sized cars with 260 horsepower engines-all getting about 18 MPG. My friend asked the
Auto Show staff "where are the Mini's and the smaller cars?" The answer was,"they are in the basement. It is pretty hard to
find them here." "Why?," my friend asked. The staff member replied, "the automakers insisted it be that way."
It is
scandalous that we are not weaning ourselves off fossil fuels. But to be fair, we are not getting a lot of help from well
funded corporate interests. I remember the line from the movie "Wall Street" where Michael Douglas', playing greedy corporate
raider, Gordon Gecko, is being arrested for illegal activities. Gecko is asked why he never tells anyone the truth? He yells
back, "because you couldn't handle the truth!"
Without the "truth" people cannot be expected to change behaviors.
The "Truth" might be Inconvenient, but it is also life saving.
James Brassard
Please get in touch to offer comments and join our mailing list.
 
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