Parkside Neighborhood Give-Away Day

Volunteer opportunity: Parkside Neighborhood Give-Away Day
Saturday, March 6 - 9 am - 1 pm
at Sacred Heart/ St. Dominic Parish (corner of Sherman and Mellen Streets)

There will be a Give-Away day in the Parkside Neighborhood on March 6. This is basically a free yard sale for anyone in the neighborhood with needs. The past events have been so big and successful that the Neighborhood Center is too small to accommodate all the people and items to be given away!

Volunteers are needed on:
Thursday, March 4 -- 8:45-11:15am and 3:45-6:15pm
Friday, March 5 -- 8:45-11:15am and 3:45-6:15pm
Saturday, March 6 8:45-11am and 11am-1:15pm

Also, clean out your closets, your attic, or your cupboards... Donations of clothing, kitchen and household goods, baby items, children's books and toys, and diapers would be greatly appreciated. If you have questions or are willing to sign up to volunteer, please be in touch with Erica at erica@newlightportland.org

Contemplative Practices

Tonight we spent some time reflecting on our own Contemplative Practices. We used this tree from The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society to imagine where the practices we currently engage in fit in the larger scheme. We also enjoyed seeing all the options there are for what contemplative practices look like. Thanks to Wanda for sharing this image with us.

What practices do you enjoy? What on this tree surprises you?

Words to live by

"The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us. All our words will be useless unless they come from within. Words which do not give the Light of Christ increase the darkness."

~ Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Source: Mark Yaconelli: Contemplative Youth Ministry:
Practicing the Presnce of Jesus (Youth Specialties, 2006)

Quarters from Heaven

Allen shares some thoughts about Saturday's Random Acts of Kindness service day, here. Check it out.

Wayside Soup Kitchen

New Light LIFE Groups will be serving dinner at the Wayside Soup Kitchen this month. Mark your calendars now for August 7th (Thursday group) and August 11th (Monday group). Meet at Wayside at 5pm to help with dinner preparations and stay to serve between 6 and 7pm. Directly following we will share dinner together, and have some time to reflect on our experiences.

This is a great time to invite your friends to come along, to meet other New Light people, and share time with us as we live out our commitment to serve those in need.

Wayside Soup Kitchen

This Monday night instead of our usual gathering we are going as a group to serve at the Wayside Soup Kitchen here in Portland. Some of us have been there on our own, but I am looking forward to the experience of all going together and then reflecting on the experience over our own pot of soup. (Our supper will actually be soup unlike what we will most likely be preparing and serving).

After previous times there I have longed for a greater mutuality between the patrons and the servers, but at the same time I am grateful that this daily ministry feeds hungry people 365 days a year in a respectful and welcoming way.

We'll see you there.

Help us feed hungry neighbors

On Super Bowl Sunday, we’ll also participate in a national effort, called “Souper Bowl of Caring,” to help feed hungry people. The idea is simple: all around the country, churches, schools, and community organizations are collecting non-perishable food and monetary donations to support soup kitchens, food pantries, and hunger relief organizations in their local areas. All of the money collected is donated to a charity selected by the participating organizations — none of the money is sent to Souper Bowl headquarters.

The non-perishable food we collect will be given to Project FEED (Food Emergency Exchange Depot), an emergency food depot located in the basement of Woodfords Congregational Church. Project FEED was founded in 1975 by a group of clergy and lay-people concerned with the growing number of Portland residents who were without a reliable source of food in emergencies. Project FEED is supported by 23 churches and 2 synagogues in the Greater Portland area and is staffed completely by volunteers.

Financial gifts received in the soup kettle will be given to Wayside Soup Kitchen, Maine’s largest soup kitchen, which has been providing nutritious meals to the homeless and poor of Greater Portland since 1986.

In 2007, over 14,500 groups participated in the Souper Bowl of Caring, generating over $8 million. Since the Souper Bowl of Caring began in 1990 as the idea of one local church youth group, more than $41 million has gone to help people in need.