VOTE – Be Counted! Take a ‘walk’ to enhance active awareness while discovering the significance of the sacred ritual of voting. Voting as a sacred ritual invites active participation in life and the recognition that renewal and a new reality is not only possible but part of our human experience. Mindfully walk the sacred path of the VOTE – Be Counted. Be sure to VOTE and encourage others to do the same! Voting is a sacred ritual that is more than a mere behavior that a politician can purchase with ad space or rallies. It is active participant in a ritual process that brings forth a new reality by your action, your vote.
 
Come and join together on the journey by “walking” the VOTE – Be Counted Labyrinth. Make voting part of the art quilt called life. Experience this digital art quilt labyrinth walk video to discover the art quilt of life. Contemplate scripture. Walk a labyrinth. Invoke the Spirit inviting action. This VOTE – Be Counted digital art quilt labyrinth walk experience was created by Bill Ressl at the Center to Awaken Kindness – for information on other items in our VOTE – Be Counted mindful practice line and on all our items that encourage discovery of the art quilt of life please visit our homepage.
 
Also, please be sure to vote – some resources below…
 
MAKE A PLAN TO VOTE
 
Check Your Voter Registration: Each state has different rules for voter registration. Visit the Our Faith Our Vote Action Center to make sure you’re registered: https://p2a.co/zv3KyiE
 
DETERMINE HOW YOU WILL VOTE
 
Mail-In Ballots: If you can, request a mail-in ballot. Each state has different deadlines different times for early voting, check it now at: https://www.usa.gov/election-office
 
In Person Voting: If you are going to vote in person find your polling place by using the link below. Make a safety plan with a mask, gloves, sanitizer and other protection. Check on the location of your polling place. Decide when and for whom you are going to vote for. Polling place information at: https://www.vote.org/polling-place-locator/
 
PROTECT YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE
 
Save the Election Protection Hotline in your phone or write it down so if you encounter problems with voting you are ready: 866-OUR-VOTE ((866) 687-8683) or for State by State Election Protection Contacts: https://866ourvote.org/state/
 
GET OTHERS INVOLVED and SHARE THAT YOU VOTED … Join the United Church of Christ (UCC) in celebrating the VOTE… A Just World for All >> Our Faith our Vote Templates | FREE Digital Download:
 
Our faith is one of the reasons we vote. Sharing our values and priorities through voting and advocacy is part of our charge to “make disciples of all nations.” Show your support for Our Faith Our Vote by sharing your reason for voting and posting it on social media
https://www.uccresources.com/products/our-faith-our-vote-template-digital-downloads?variant=32918476062783
 
Other resources at: https://www.ucc.org/ourfaithourvote

Practice active awareness with the VOTE - Be Counted design on these items... wall art, clothing, and home accessories (all available through TeePublic)

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Happy #SweetestDay! Yes, today is Sweetest Day, a day to share acts of #kindness with others and to see the kindness of the Spirit all around - and as we did when we saw this fawn and it’s mother in the yard of our urban hermitage. Sweetest Day is a celebration that falls during the third week in October. History tells us that this holiday dates to late 1916 when it was known as Candy Day. Although other reports claim it started in the early 1920’s. The official unofficial first #Sweetest Day began in Cleveland, Ohio on October 10, 1921. It was planned by confectioners and candy makers with a goal to serve orphans, the poor, and older folks.
 
Regardless of its history, the main point of Sweetest Day is to share acts of love and #kindness with others. Let’s enjoy this Sweetest Day by being #generous in a small or big way with others. How? #Pray for someone. #Give a small gift. Write a poem for someone special. Give the gift of kindness to yourself by posting some sweet memories in a journal. Give someone a #smile by saying: “Happy Sweetest Day!” in person or online. Share the gift of #joy and #love by letting others know: “I Love You!” For more ideas on sharing kindness and celebrating Sweetest Day visit our Sharing Kindness Page.
 
And remember, Sweetest Day, like every day, is a day to #celebrate kindness. Please accept this post as a wish of love for a Happy Sweetest Day celebration from us! We also invite you to #share your Sweetest Day story of kindness with us at our Share a Story Page

Today, Sunday, #October 4, 2020 is #WorldCommunion Sunday – a time to celebrate the unity and cooperation that is the #soul of Christianity. Coming to the table to receive and celebrate the gifts of God is central in the Christian tradition. Communion is most often ritualized through symbols of bread and wine (or grape juice) in many churches. However, communion can be much more. At the core of the ritual of communion is a deep participation with God and with others past, present, and future. Communion as participation with the Spirit deep within becomes most fully alive through all of our daily actions. This form of communion invites the Spirit deep within to reach out through us and use us as a vehicle to share #kindness and #love with the world. This form of communion invites us to use all of our gifts and talents to create a Holy Communion that extends the symbols of bread and wine deep into our everyday lived reality.
 
While we have shared the gift of the Table this morning with our local congregation, we are now happy to share the link to Bill Ressl’s newest book chapter. The chapter, written for scholars of theology and practitioners in the helping professions, truly offers all of us a constructive framework for addressing how we can move through brokenness and into a new reconciled reality of life. A major key is to bring ‘listening love’ alive in our life and our world. The capacity to listen sensitively to one another and react spontaneously in #love and support of one another. Given the variety of brokenness visible throughout our daily life, and around the world, each of us is invited to begin renewing our part of the world – one step at a time. Together, by awakening small sparks of #kindness and #love, each of us and the wider world can begin to be renewed – not to the old forms that once existed but into a new reality where #justice, #love, and #hope prevail in powerful new ways. Ressl’s essay offers a theological reflection for individual and collective brokenness through a constructive framework encouraging re-newal.