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Wellspring Mission Group Reflections and Communiqués

· Spring 2008 -To Heal a Broken World……
Doing Our Inner Work

· May 2008 - Greening Wellspring

· Summer 2007 - From Myra

· Fall 2007 - Gratitude as Gift

· May 2007 - Radical Love

Spring 2008 ~ To Heal a Broken World…Doing Our Inner Work

"A Weekend to Start Fixing the World" This recent headline from the Washington Post referred to a meeting of economic ministers from the world's richest countries. They will try but they will not be able to fix the world and they know it. At best, they will put a Band-Aid on it and temporarily stop the bleeding. Now that millions are starving and food riots are breaking out in many parts of the world, they are getting worried and realize that their management of the world's financial markets is breaking down.

But economic ministers and the administrations that they represent can't heal the broken world because they are breaking the Biblical economic law: "Nobody shall have too little and nobody shall have too much." God prescribed this law of manna through Moses for God's people. It is basic and universal and applies today, especially to the power brokers who run today's economy. Their system will continue to hold for a while, but when too many have too little and too many have too much, which is the case today, it will break down. God's plan of economic justice will prevail in the long run.

We're in this fix today because our leaders are projecting their shadow side on the world. They are not leading from within. God's plan of economic justice is being thwarted because of greed and lust for power. Leaders around the world are foisting their plan of economic and military control, even in the name of democracy, on a world weary of war and poverty and injustice. God's plan has gone awry.

In his book, Blessed Unrest, Paul Hawken relates that literally millions of nonprofits, NGOs and missions have sprung up around the world, started and maintained by people following their inner light, their deepest instincts, their true selves. These are people who have done deep inner work and know instinctively the laws of manna. They yearn to heal a broken world by giving of themselves, recognizing deep within that this yearning is a call to share in the building of God's Kindom here on earth, a world that works for everyone.

Most of us in first world countries are so far removed from the suffering in other lands. We are so comfortable and secure that it is difficult for us to see clearly the world's brokenness and how we can be part of the healing that is so desperately called for. More than usual inner work will be required of us. More time will have to be spent on the journey inward, more serious reflection on the deeper truths of God's basic laws, more wrenching confession of the fears, anxieties, and resistance we will encounter on that journey down and into our deepest selves. This is not an easy journey for us who have meekly and blindly bought into the stories of our leaders: stories that portray us as the good guys and those others as the evil ones. We have become steeped in the belief that we are innocent, are not complicit in the world's shortcomings. But as we look inward we realize that we have been misguided by our façade of innocence. As our shadow side becomes visible to us we despair. We are part of a church that is largely silent in the face of war and poverty and injustice. Like the disciples after the death of Jesus, we are scattered and divided and fearful. We don't speak with one voice. We suffer from a failure of courage. We realize that we are, in fact, complicit.

As we struggle with the ramifications of our shadow side, God yearns for us to break free from our despair, to come together and follow the laws of manna and justice and mercy and dreams of a people grounded in God's laws. And so it is, that when we accept the invitation of the Holy One to persist in a life of holy listening to the voice of love, to go down and in through our lives of prayer and reflection, a light begins to shine and new hope day.

Skies open
Panoramas emerge.
The universe appears
Enveloped in incandescent hope
With fresh energy
We transcend the inertia of the day
And rediscover love
Pulsating from within the cosmos' hidden heart.
John Conlon

Thus, my friends, the healing begins. - John H. Mohr

May 2008 ~ Greening Wellspring

As of 2008 Wellspring has a new source of electrical power - the WIND. Through a program of Montgomery County, we have subscribed to 100% renewable wind energy as our power source. The Wellspring Mission Group jumped on this opportunity to put our faith into action and help reduce the devastating effects of global warming. This change is part of ongoing efforts to make Wellspring more energy efficient and to do our part to reduce our carbon footprint.

The contributions of our donors continue to help Wellspring increase its energy efficiency and to reduce its carbon emissions footprint. Last year we insulated the ceiling of the main Center, realizing an energy savings in both summer and winter. Every time a light bulb burns out, we replace an old incandescent bulb with a new energy efficient compact fluorescent bulb. As we raise funds beyond our operating budget, we will implement others plans. The next effort on our list is to insulate the cabins.

To join us in a national inter-religious response to global warming, promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation contact:

The Regeneration Project / Interfaith Power and Light
220 Montgomery Street, Suite 450
San Francisco, CA 94104
Email: info@theregenerationproject.org
Telephone: (415) 561-4891 Fax: (415) 561-4892
Web: www.theregenerationproject.org

We rely on the Wind of the Spirit as our eternal source of life and power. We rely on renewable wind energy to power our facilities. - Susan Quass

Fall 2007 ~ Gratitude as Gift

"Thank you for being you!" The first time that I was the recipient of these words I was suspicious. "What does this guy want from me?" My guard was up. As I listened to what followed, I was disarmed. He really meant what he said. He wasn't trying to get anything from me. He didn't try to change me. His were some of the most healing, affirming, and empowering words that had ever filled my listening ears and heart. My friend and mentor Pete knows how to love others in a way that is life-giving. His words of affirmation were like a magnet for the light within so many whose lives he's touched, assisting us in living a life of integrity and wholeness by being more fully the person God created us to be. His is a rare trait.

"Thank you for being you!" These words reflected for me that without changing a thing about myself, I was accepted and valued not for what I did, but because I was a beloved daughter of God. That was different. Everywhere I turned, some ad was telling me how to become more acceptable through using their product. In Pete's world there was no subtext that demanded anything of me. There were no subtle messages that did violence to me through enticement to conform. Instead, I received an invitation to see myself as one who is lovable and capable - just as I am. I could relax in his words of gratitude and blessing. Pete's gratitude offered peace.

"Thank you for being you!" There is something astoundingly powerful about nonsentimental and unconditional love. It urges one to seriously consider one's identity. It makes us willing to suffer through the changes that we need to make in order to become more fully the person we were created to be. Pete's way of loving unconditionally, which he learned from associating with Jesus through prayer and people, reminded me of the old adage, "You can't give away what you don't have." Though human and broken just like everyone else, Pete also knew himself as a beloved child of God and was able to share that with others. He created a safe place in which to "become". The results were astounding. Person after person accepted her/his call to serve with confidence in God's faithfulness to lead them through the challenging waters common to living. In the midst of deception and darkness, acceptance kindled the flame we call the light of Christ. In a world of increasing violence, affirmation revealed the Prince of Peace. In a time when relationships touch upon only the superficial, "thank you for being you" made incarnate here and now the intimate, empowering love of Jesus in service to others.

At Wellspring we extend to you the same grateful words of blessing. Over the years we have spent a great deal of time supporting one another in the work of becoming the people we were created to be, and it has been an amazing journey together! Without your prayers, presence, and gifts of glorious variety, we would be the poorer.

In October we celebrated 35 years of journeying at our Generosity Banquet. It was an amazing time of remembering why we are here and to what we continue to be called. It is both privileged and challenging work and we are grateful to be called to it. Over $20,000 has been pledged/received to date! Our gratitude overflows for all of you who have been a part of this recent ingathering! If you had intended to send a gift of any kind and have not yet done so, please know that we are just beginning this time of celebration and will gratefully receive your gift when the time is right. Generosity, like God, is far reaching and is always on time! Monetary support is a very tangible way in which many of you have echoed the message of Marsha Martie, our speaker at the Generosity Banquet: "Now more than ever, it is critical that Wellspring continue to share its message with the church, the world." Because we have always run our budget on a shoestring, financial support is critical to our ability to move forward. The mission group is energetically renewing our events so that the Spirit's work among us moves freely and with great power in fresh new ways.

So it is in anticipation of the joy of listening and discovering, drinking deeply from living water with you that we invite you to our events and encourage you to invite others to join us. Some of the most life-giving ministries in the world began through that spirit of hospitality: one person inviting another to join them on a Wellspring event.

As the season of the gift of God incarnate is soon upon us, we wish you light, peace, love, and our heartfelt gratitude for all that you are ~ "Thank you for being you!" ALHM+

May 07 ~ Radical Love

"Charity made things worse for the poor." So shared David Hilfiker during our Radical Love event in early May. Acts of charity often supplant the hard work of the gospel imperative, namely, justice.

Led by David Hilfiker and Fred Taylor, we were challenged as we reflected upon the power behind our economic system which touches so many within our culture and the world. The connection between violence and profitability was once again "in our faces." Though this kind of hard work can be overwhelming, we didn't stop there, because we claim to be Easter people. And so, we examined together a vision of apocalyptic hope (which by its very nature is only a partial vision!) and where God is calling us to be agents of that hope in our world --- in concrete, practical and loving ways. Given the failure of our present system to adequately address the needs of the poor, what alternative structures might we be called to form and live with in order to be part of the dream of God's reconciling love here and now. We call that "Radical love."

This "radical love" is the power of the resurrection lived in the world. And it can be very hard to do. Person after person who tried to do it in isolation reaffirmed our belief that we are always called into interdependent ways of being, making the hard work of being part of community a necessity. And because this is not about my ego or self-interest or yours, but about God's dream for God's people, lived out by you and me and so many others, we need the daily trip to the source of all being in prayer. It was a powerful time that is continuing to reveal new questions, insights and most of all, love. We all know that love begets love. What is God's dream for you and who might be called to share the actualization of that dream with you? Intrigued by any of this? David and Fred are both authors whose work is available through the Potter's House Bookservice, and both have written powerful sermons available through Wellspring. ALHM+

Wellspring Conference Center, 11411 Neelsville Church Road, Germantown, MD 20876
phone: (301) 428-3373, fax: (301) 428-3374
email: missionwel@aol.com