Our 2023 Aim for The Center
Freely Receive, Freely Give
an inward-outward journey
This Year at The Center
to intentionally walk the inward-outward spiritual journey,
to a deepening awareness of God and self,
to companion with others on the journey of deepening trust,
to freely receiving God’s light, life and love,
and freely giving God’s light, life and love.
As you go, proclaim:
“The realm of the heavens has come near.”
Heal the sick, cleanse lepers,
raise the dead, cast out demons.
Freely you received, freely give.”
~ Matthew 10:7-8
Over the course of this year, our intention at The Center is to provide you with four primary ways to work with our aim:
Contemplative Practice
Contemplative Wisdom
Contemplative Community
Contemplative Presence
Contemplative Prayer
Contemplative Wisdom
Contemplative Community
Contemplative Presence
Through contemplative presence to God and others, we “show up” and access resources of power and communication.
We at The Center are stewards of these four dimensions of the Contemplative Journey.
Pledging & Giving to The Center
At this time of the year, the worship communities that make up Chapelwood typically have our annual stewardship emphasis. But instead of thinking of stewardship as a way to raise a budget, please consider how stewardship is a way of helping you to consciously live the inward-outward spiritual journey, freely receiving the light, life and love of God and freely giving the light, life and love of God to the world.
This will look differently for all of us as we prayerfully consider how we might increase our monetary giving to The Center. Some of us will only be able to do what we did last year. Others might need to decrease their commitment because of all that has and is happening in the world. You must do what you sense the Divine wants for you. But some of us may simply mechanically give whatever we gave the previous year. Please take this as an opportunity to truly consider intentionally taking a next step on the Giving Journey.
By January 29, please click on the button “MY AIM” that will take you to a Google Form where you can indicate the various ways you intend to engage in our 2023 Aim of “Freely Receive, Freely Give.” You will have an opportunity to indicate specific ways you intend to engage in our four dimensions of contemplative ministry: Prayer, Wisdom, Community, and Presence. After you submit your responses to the Google Form, you will receive a “thank you” response that will include a link to the “Estimate of Giving” page to indicate the step you are taking and your estimate of giving for 2023. Letting us know your estimate greatly helps us as we pay attention to our budget and expenses for 2023. After you submit your pledge, you will receive an automatic email from Chapelwood UMC indicating that your pledge was successfully made.
If you wish to go straight to the Pledge form, click on the button “MY PLEDGE.”