Dear Friends, Easter is a holy day when we tell a story of hope and resurrection; love is stronger than death, suffering and even torture. We will explore new images, stories and encounters with the Holy this Sunday during Easter worship service. Dr. John Cobb will respond to a The Mother Tree, A New Easter Story at 4 pm pst. Don't miss this opportunity to be with John Cobb, 99 years young, a holy man who continues to bless and inspire us. Church for Our Common Home presents our new "Holy Ghost Spirit Band" that will play with special guest local fiddle icon, Truman Price. Come sing John Denver's beautiful song, Annie's Song (You fill up my senses like a night in the forest.........) and dance to violin Celtic music, The Butterfly. Join us after worship for a potluck dinner and Earth Crisis Support Group. After our dinner we will celebrate Walt Rutherford's 47 years of AA sobriety and I will give him a Bunny Cake! Easter Worship in person in the barn or on Zoom 4-5 pm pst Zoom Link Easter worship with Dr. Cobb 4 pm pst In stories revealed from feminist biblical scholarship and newly found gnostic gospels, Mary Magdalene is a religious teacher. In The Gospel of the Beloved Companion, the Complete Gospel of Mary Magdalene, translated by Jehanne De Quillan, we encounter a tree. “42...there is a great tree within you that does not change, summer or winter, and its leaves do not fall. Whosever listens to my words and ascends to its crown will not taste death but know the truth of eternal life. Then Jesus showed me a vision in which I saw a great tree that seemed to reach unto the heavens; and as I saw these things, he said, ‘the roots of this tree are in the earth, which is your body. The trunk extends upward through the five regions of humanity …..42:13 and I felt my soul and all that I could see dissolve and vanish in a brilliant light in a likeness unto the sun. And in the light, I beheld a woman of extraordinary beauty, clothed in garments of brilliant white. The figure extended its arms, and I felt my soul drawn into its embrace, and in that moment, I was freed from the world, and I realized that the fetter of forgetfulness was temporary.” This encounter with a beautiful woman as we climb a tree and is brilliantly lit up by the sun, reminds us of the encounter Juan Diego had with Our Lady of Guadelupe, the Black Madonna of the Americas in Mexico almost five hundred years ago.
Church for Our Common Home relocated four years ago to a small farm in Oregon. Many of us "encounter" Spirit as we care for, talk, listen, sing, pray and love the animals, flowers, vegetables, trees here in the natural world. Our encounters with the sacred in the trees as we pray with the trees in the Interfaith Secret Prayer Garden and worship with the animals in the barn.Plans are underway to paint a second facing of our barn with a mural of Our Lady of Guadalupe intertwined with the story of the beautiful woman at the top of the tree in the vision Jesus offers to Mary Magdalene. Come visit and help us paint this new story of the Divine Feminine rising out of the trees. S/he is the Mother Tree, the largest loving source in the forest, the one who is interconnected with all life forms, who feeds us all, even if she is dying. Living in the Pacific Northwest many of us commune with Nature Spirits, angels, called by many names, the communion of saints and the Spirits of our ancestors told in all the ancient wisdom traditions.
Join us as we plan a Pilgrimage for Peace and walk together in the beauty of the forest as we sing and pray with and for the trees and all human and nonhuman life. We are called to make a public witness at this historic time and say NO to genocide in Gaza, endless suicidal wars of the American Empire and the destruction of our habitat. Please join our dream incubation before you go to sleep during Holy Week.What should Church for Our Common Home do for Peace and for our Survival?God loves you and there is nothing you can do about it!
From my heart to your heart in love,
Rev. Bonnie Tarwater Minister Church for Our Common Home
15435 Strong Road Dallas, Oregon 97338 Zoom ID 3025719458 (858) 248-5123, revtarwater@yahoo.com www.churchforourcommonhome.com
P. S. Earth Crisis Support Group Potluck Party after church every Sunday in Dallas Oregon, 5-7 pm. New groups forming here in Oregon and on the east coast. Co-sponsored by Our CommonHome Counseling Center www.ourcommonhomecounselingcenter.org and the Living Earth Movement, www.livingearthmovenet.eco..