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Gaia House Interfaith Center
Weekly Events at Gaia House:

SUNDAY:

10:00 AM Quaker Meeting

6:00 PM Sunday Simple Meal (Progressive Christian Discussion)
Will resume Jan 24

2:00 PM Ekankar, Third Sunday

MONDAY:

7:30 PM SIWADE, African Drumming

TUESDAY:

7:30 AM Sunyata Buddhist Center Meditation
Will resume Jan 19

7:00 PM Shawnee Dharma Meditation

WEDNESDAY:

5:30 PM Gaia House Student Group Meeting
Will resume Jan 20

5:45 PM T'ai Chi

6:00-8:00 PM SIUC International Socialists

7:00 PM Shamanic Drum Circle, Second Wednesday

6:30 PM Peace Coalition, Third Wednesday

THURSDAY:

7:30 AM Sunyata Buddhist Center Meditation
Will resume Jan 21

10:00 AM Collage For The Soul, First Thursday

12:00 PM Book Discussion Signs and Wonders and If Grace Is True by Philip Gulley

6:00 PM InterVeg, Vegetarian Potluck Dinner
Will resume Jan 21

7:30 PM InterVeg Forum
Will resume Jan 21

FRIDAY:

6:00-9:00 PM Rice and Spice, International Slow Food Dinner
Will resume Jan 22

SATURDAY:

Weekly Events in Carbondale

International Coffee Hour, Fridays 3-5 PM at the NW Annex Building B. Mix with SIU students from all over the world. Sponsored by the International Friends Club.

Vigil For Peace, Saturdays, Noon to 1 PM, corner of Main and Illinois, Carbondale. Sponsored by the Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois

Voices

"The celebration of Christmas is not a sentimental waiting for a baby to be born, but much more an asking for history to be born! (See Romans 8:20-23.) We do the Gospel no favor when we make Jesus, the Eternal Christ, into a perpetual baby, a baby able to ask little or no adult response from us. One even wonders what the mind is that would keep Jesus a baby. Maybe it was 'baby Christianity.'"
~Richard Rohr

"In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."
Hebrews 5:12-14

Share 		Gaia House-Interfaith Center Newsletter for Dec 22, 2009

Thanks to the good folks at the Center for Progressive Christianity for the many gifts they share with us throughout the year--and for the words of greeting that we have adapted and send to you now.

Merry Christmas, Love filled Solstice, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year! From the whole team at Gaia House-Interfaith Center.

We hope this season is a time of light, laughter and delight for you and your loved ones. Thank you for taking this journey with us as we remember the myths that came from a time long ago, in a land very different from our own, but which still fill our hearts with the message of love. We'll never truly know what "God" is, what is beyond this endless universe, or where we came from- but we can live our daily lives with the knowledge that there is something that connects us all, that causes us to strive toward love, to yearn for light, and to keep our doors open to those in need. May you always remember the God-within you and within all.

This Week at Gaia House

A CHRISTMAS DAY INVITATION Friends, neighbors, shepherds, kings, angels, and ordinary misfits, miscreants, misers, minstrels, and mirth-makers are all invited to an informal open house on Christmas Day from 6 p.m. until it's time to be quiet. All are welcome at 700 W. Elm in Carbondale for Hugh and Judy's annual Christmas celebration of hope for the world. Bring a potluck offering if you would like, a song to sing if you want, and open hands to receive a "green elephant" surprise gift from the Universe.

WES ANDERSON MOVIE MARATHON on Sunday Dec 27th at 5:30pm at Gaia House! Bring popcorn, cookies, a blanket, a snuggle buddy, a friend, someone else's friend, yourself, and/or pizza. We will be watching:
The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

MORNING MEDITATION WILL RESUME at the Sunyata Center on Jan 19.

GAIA HOUSE - INTERFAITH CENTER is looking to fill a few vacancies on our Board. If you subscribe to our Mission Statement (see at bottom of this newsletter), please email Board Chair Al Parr or Director Hugh Muldoon to submit your application.

COMING IN JANUARY:

InterVeg Forum, 7:30 pm on Thursday the 21st: Book discussion of Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin.

International Student Forum; Speaking Freely About the Planet We Share, Friday, the 29th, 5 pm; topic: Is a Global Scale Clash of Cultures Inevitable?

Non-Violent Communication Practice Sessions; dates to be announced.

Community Events

THIS WEEK'S BIG MUDDY FILM will be What Would Jesus Buy?, by Rob VanAlkemade. A perfect film for Christmas, it follows Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir as they go on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the Shopocalypse: the end of mankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt! Come to the Big Muddy Independent Media Center, 214 N. Washington, Carbondale, every Friday at 7:00 PM for this progressive film series.

A TRULY EXCITING IDEA for serving others! UCC Volunteer Ministries is seeking volunteers to participate in its Summer 2010 Young Adult Service Communities Program (June-August 2010) and its ecumenical UCC Companion Communities: Young Adult Service Communities (September 2010-July 2011). Serve in justice advocacy and direct social service. If you or someone you know is interested, contact Mary Schaller Blaufuss, Executive for Volunteer Ministries, at 216-736-3214. Read their newsletter here.

Our Global Community

HEBRON REFLECTION: The Occupation illuminates the Incarnation by: Paulette Schroeder

It strikes me as strange that in the midst of soldiers, guns, checkpoints, detentions, humiliations, in the face of the Occupation and all its flagrant dehumanization of the Palestinians, I have come to see the Occupation's spotlight as something that illuminates the beauty of Jesus' Incarnation. Call it a curious cause and effect.

The Occupation degrades, pushes the vulnerability buttons in human nature: anger, rage, intense sadness, a temptation to hopelessness, a fierce need to survive, and to protect.

The Incarnation, on the other hand, celebrates life, lifts up human nature, elevates all that is possible for human beings: service, sacrifice for the welfare of the other, thinking well of oneself, and of one's body with all its amazing function-including its eyes that take in the world.

The joyous proclamation of our Christian incarnational faith makes all that is truly human both beautiful and profoundly holy. Jesus experienced and preached about everyday aspects of life: the birds, the flowers, bread, wine, and sickness. He enjoyed his humanity and upheld the dignity of all.

I shall be here in the West Bank for Christmas this year. The contrasts I see intensify my desire to work diligently to undo Occupation through media, through friends, through writing. The reality here pushes me to celebrate passionately, to give generous thanks for Jesus, Emmanuel. This real Incarnational faith sustains, leads all Christians to live life abundantly, to work for justice and to open the doors for those denied their humanity.

Paulette Schroeder is a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

Gaia House-Interfaith Center is a welcoming community committed to a spiritual awareness that integrates peace, justice, and ecological sustainability.


Gaia House-Interfaith Center's multipurpose areas, kitchen, and library are available for your meetings and social events. Wireless Internet. Visit our free lending library and our Labyrinth Peace Garden, 913 S. Illinois Ave. (corner of Grand), Carbondale, IL 62901. Website: www.ourgaiahouse.com. Gaia House is now present on FaceBook and Twitter for daily updates and reminders.

We are supported by the Illinois South Conference of the United Church of Christ, the Synod of Lincoln Trails of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and locally by the Church of the Good Shepherd UCC, the Carbondale and Cobden First Presbyterian Churches, the Carbondale First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship, and many generous individuals and families. Thank you.

Happenings in Faith, Peace, and Justice is available for your announcements. Please let your interested friends know about it. We will be happy to include them. Contact us at 618-549-7387, or by email.

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