Gathering for Freedom

In celebration of Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day and Emancipation Day, we'll be inspired with some great old spirituals and also explore the concepts of freedom: emancipation, bondage, oppression; we'll converse about that which keeps us in bondage, what it is to be free, and emancipation as a justice issue. Our offering is designated for Wesley Soup Kitchen. In addition, it's Father's Day, so bring a dad, or a father-figure, or dress like one. Our potluck theme will be foods our fathers and/or father-figures like(d).

Sunday, 19 June 2011
5:30 pm, 618 Locust

Mindfully Gathering

Neil Snipes will lead us in a mindfulness experience Sunday night. Our offering will be designated for the Kids Eat summer program. The Tom Green County Kids Eat-FREE effort is affiliated with the Texas Hunger Initiative. The goal of the Texas Hunger Initiative is to end hunger in Texas by 2015 through local and statewide collaboration - policy, education, grassroots organizing and community development. During the summer of 2010, over 50 churches (one of which was The Gathering), ministries, organizations, businesses and many, many individuals and volunteers partnered to provide meals at 11 locations in San Angelo and at one site in Carlsbad. Approximately 25,588 meals were served. This summer, there's a need for even more.



As for our own community meal, please remember, we will NOT share a Gathering potluck this Sunday night. At our Gathering for Sacred Business time Sunday, May 29, we decided to experiment with our community-wide meals, and this, the second Sunday of June is our first Sunday of experimentation. We decided we'd try community meals the first and third Sundays, and drinks (and maybe snacks) the second and fourth Sundays. So come ready to be nourished in soul and mind, come ready to share tea and coffee and conversation, but plan to nourish your body elsewhere. Perhaps we could gather for a DQ Blizzard following our service.

Now that's nourishment!

Sacred Lanscapes

Tell me the landscape in which you live and I will tell you who you are ~ Ortega y Gassett

"The experiences of place and space profoundly structure our experience of self and others in relationship to God, that is, our spirituality. And, conversely, our spirituality structures our 'landscape,' that is, our vision of the 'where' of our experience," says Sandra Schneiders in Landscapes of the Sacred. Ellen King will lead The Gathering in exploring our sacred landscapes, our spiritual geographies, Sunday night during our time of worship. She notes we'll be more deeply exploring those places in which we find God, the places in which we meet God, and the places where we are found by God. She invites and encourages us to bring photos, magazine pictures, drawings, postcards, travel brochures, etc, of places where we've experienced the Sacred - even if it's somewhere we've never been except in our prayers.

Many thanks to Ellen for her willingness to lead worship while Ann Light and I are returning from attending the South Central Conference UCC Annual Conference meeting in Clearlake. Sunday's offering will be designated for the Conference mission effort - Church World Service Kits. Church World Service Kits (hygiene and school kits) are small packages of supplies assembled by volunteers and shipped to people in need around the world; our offering will be added to the combined effort of the rest of the churches in Conference and go for supplies and shipping. In addition, we'll receive a special offering of non-perishable food items for a family of 4 - two parents, a 2 year old boy, and a 4 month old boy. The family is related to The Gathering (some of you may remember Grayson - Irene and Larry's grandson) and in need of special care right now. Our pot-luck will be general. Join us!

Sunday, June 5
5:30 pm
618 Locust Street

Embrace Your Friends

Embrace your friends

with warmth and caring

affection unembarrassed

Let them come and go, freely

Embrace your friends

with honesty always

be yourself only

Let them come and go, freely

Embrace your friends

with compassion ready

acceptance given

Let them come and go, freely

Embrace your friends

with arms open

clinging suffocates

Let them come

or go

freely

--Teresa Rylander

Gathering Passion and Fun Groups

During this Memorial Day weekend, we will gather to remember our past, celebrate our present, and plan for the future. We've got a lot going on in The Gathering and much to share with each other, so this evening will be full of engaging with the Spirit and discussing and deciding things that shape who we are. Some of the topics up for discussion: local community ministries, evolving worship components, creating world peace, a day for community spiritual retreat, solving the global economic crisis, healing the earth, bringing joy to humanity. And if we run out of things to do (after all, how long can it take to heal the earth and solve the economic crisis?), we might even dance a jig or yodel. Or maybe dance a jig while yodeling. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? You are encouraged to participate!

The Gathering is a collaborative community where each person and perspective is unique and important in making up the whole. If you cannot be there Sunday night, you are still invited to participate in our Workgroups. If you have a passion for worship and for what happens when we Gather, you are invited to join the Worship Planning Workgroup. If you have a passion for financial accountability, you are invited to join the Budget and Finance Workgroup. If you have a passion for justice, you are invited to join the Community Connecting Workgroup. If you have a passion for letting others know the good news about The Gathering, you are invited to join the Community Connecting Workgroup. Let me know (thegatheringsanangelo@yahoo.com, 374-1566) you'd like to participate in a workgroup.

Recognizing the time issue, we will not have a regular pot-luck Sunday night; feel free, however, to bring snacks. Light snacks will be provided.

Sunday, May 29
5:30 pm
618 Locust Street

Playing Music for Change

"God respects me when I work;

but God loves me when I sing."

~Rabindranath Tagore

From being a form of prayer to inspiring political uprisings, from facilitating worship to causing church splits, music is and has been integral to humanity's existence and spiritual questing. This Sunday night, we will engage with the power of music via the DVD - Playing for Change


According to the website, Playing for Change, begun in 2005, is "a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race." In addition to experiencing the DVD, which Bill Moyers said is a remarkable example of "the simple yet transformative power of music... to touch something in each of us," we'll have good conversation and lots of singing.

Our offering will be designated for the Playing for Change Foundation, and our potluck theme will be food that makes your taste-buds and tummy sing! The evening will be fun and inspiring - and full of music Join Us!

Sunday, May 22
5:30 pm
618 Locust Street

Third Perfectly Pleasurable Picnic and Pet Parade

Sunday's Gathering, May 8 at 5:30 pm, is all about fun, frolic, and furry friends. We'll picnic at PonderosaPark (in Mertzon's Ponderosa Estates) - eating, playing, fishing and blessing our animals. So, of course, family members who happen to be animals are welcome! If, for whatever reason, you're beloved critters are not able to be with us Sunday, blessings will also be offered "in abstencia."

Ann and Crockett Light will be our hosts. In addition to people picnic food and drinks, they suggest you bring lawn chairs, insect repellent, fishing gear, water bowls for your pets, and toys - either your own or your pets'. This is a great opportunity to gather people friends and bring them along, too!

So bring your pets for a blessing or just yourself and a friend (and/or your friends' pets) for an outdoor fun time under the trees on Spring Creek.

Directions to the Ponderosa Park:

Take Highway 67 toward Mertzon

Exactly 11 miles past the Super WalMart, there is a turning lane in the middle of the road and a sign in the right of way (on the right) which says "Ponderosa Ln."

Turn left, cross railroad, follow Ponderosa Lane until you see Ponderosa Park sign on left (Rio Villa road)

Go down road 'til it dead ends at Spring Creek and you are there. If you get lost, call the Lights' cell - 325-234-1586.