Alternative Calendar/Celebrations 2009

the first event that came to mind for me was an ecumenical celebration worship service to affirm EARTH day.. April 22, 2008.. this was organized by our local community KAIROS group in the small town that I live in. Kairos.. is a Canadian ecumenical Social Justice Initiative. The evening celebration service was well received, and the reception afterwards went well too.. we kept our food stuffs local, and earthy.. cheese, pummis, local homeade jams and jellies, honey and breads of different varieties. Earth Day is a special day of the year, and I think could be a positive addition to your calendar. just a bit of input from someone who is passionate about Earth Day happening every day of the year.

At St Clement’s in Hells Kitchen, New York, we celebrated Good Friday with Stations of the Cross procession through the neighborhood, from a gay bar that collected thousands of dollars for HIV/AIDS care, to the Port Authority bus terminal, the subway station, the military recruiters booth in Times Square (protest against militarism), Show World (protest against exploitation of sexuality), to an emergency room of a hospital, to a community garden, and back to our own day care for neighborhood children. All carrying a life-size cross. *** At St Stephen and the Incarnation, 16th & Newton NW, Washington, DC, Jack Woodard led us around the block on Rogation Day – stopping to memorialize spots like the one where a drug deal had gone bad & a parishioner’s son was killed. ***
Carrying the cross can be a way of reclaiming life. *** Earth Day, St Francis Day,… open to suggestions. It’s not just about birdbaths or even recycling. *** One New Year’s Eve (1968) the FWPCA regional administrator from San Francisco organized a major environmental/conservation conference at Oakland Civic Auditorium, including a spectrum from Ecology Action from Berkeley to an assistant Secretary of the Interior all in the same room.

In worship, sing along with Elvis (using his all-gospel CD) when a Sunday falls on his birth (1/8) or death (8/16)anniversary.

Well, Li Tim Oi Sunday was celebrated in some of the Chinese churches this year (around Chinese New Year time). While I do not have the best idea whether they would celebrate again next year, I think day 6 and/or day 13 of Chinese New Year next year would be their most logical choice for these churches to celebrate this again. The dates would be 2/1/09 and 2/8/09.

Is this going to be primarily a “counter calendar”, or will you also be including some traditional church year feasts/fasts, local saints, forgotten observances, etc. and ideas for celebrating them?