Welcome to The BRIDGE Faith and Interfaith Calendar Events, News, Notes and Knowledge for the National Capital Region (Tuesday, January 20, 2009)   Announcements for faith and interfaith services, activities, projects, classes, retreats and more have been moved to the InterPlan email message section, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/interplan/. All are welcome to view these events, and to send us your own, at any time.  Visit the link to see events, and send your announcements to: events (AT) geotrees.com.  Please include the month and year of your event in the subject line.

WELCOME to The BRIDGE, an interfaith calendar list for Washington, DC, Baltimore, and the surrounding region!         The Bridge is the inspiration of Rhonda Williams, growing out of her work with the Annual 9/11 Unity Walk in response to many Walk particpants' wish to engage in interfaith discussions and service beyond the Walk and throughout the year.  We welcome notices of events from throughout the faith, interfaith, and bridgebuilding communities of the greater Washington, DC / Baltimore region.  These including services, classes, workshops, retreats, volunteer and community service projects, performances, counseling, empowerment, and indeed, those activities through which the power of enwholement, reconciliation, and transformation exerts itself in human affairs.         Rhonda's Welcome: Dear friends,         Welcome to The Bridge, an Interfaith Calendar for the Washington, DC metro area.  This website calendar was created to support the many who have expressed a desire to deepen their understanding of different faiths, cultures, and nationalities, all interconnected.  This collection is by no means comprehensive, but it is a broad range with contact information.  We will continue to update and add details to the events listed.  Feel free to send event information, or comments/stories to ifbridges@gmail.com.         Please do not be discouraged if your first attempt at interfaith does not meet your expectations.  The focus of groups varies greatly: social justice, humanitarian service, dialogue.  Try visiting a few different ones.  Also, within the same faith, there are many expressions: Sufism emerged within Islam, but in this age, people call themselves Christian Sufis, even Jewish Sufis.  Although all Christian, the worship services of Quakers, Catholics, and Pentecostals are quite dissimilar.  Patience and objectivity are good guests to bring.         The best experiences at bridgebuilding are usually one-on-one: inviting your co-worker or neighbor (or perhaps someone you meet at an interfaith gathering) to coffee or tea in order to share life experiences.  These stories help to paint a human picture where before vague generalities or prejudices occupied.         Your small efforts may seem insignificant, but they can have far-ranging effects.  Anyone who strives to build bridges is benefitting the whole of humankind; interfaith cooperation gives hope to people of all generations for the future.         So, until we meet at one of these events ~ THANK YOU and "Peace be the journey" - Rhonda M. Williams         Posting Your Events:   The Bridge carries your listings free of charge at all times.   Simply email them to Rhonda at ifbridges@gmail.com, or directly to Geotrees at events@geotrees.com.  Be sure to include the name of the event; a succinct description with time, place, and admission charge, if any; and points of contact.  Write your listing as you wish it to appear on Geotrees, as we may not have time for detailed formatting or editing.  Pay attention to spelling, capitalization, punctuation and grammar.  You may also check the FAQs section Your Messages, Our Mission on the home page of "the Tree."         The GeoLinks Resource Catalog Page:   The Bridge brings you scheduled events, while our GeoLinks resources catalog page brings you background information about and links to many of the groups and organizations behind those events.  To see these links - over five hundred of them - please visit GeoLinks at www.geotrees.com/geolinks.html.

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Dedicated with great respect and great love to all those known and unknown
who love and labor with open hearts, open minds, and willing hands in the work of Heaven
to bring knowledge, understanding, reconciliation and unity to humankind -
who help illuminate This World
with the freedom, the blessed community, and the light of the World to Come.

And dedicated in particular to the vision, the work and the legacy
of St. Joseph College / International School of Yokohama, Japan
and to the teaching, the lives, and the personal example
of its defenders and loyal faculty.

Geotrees.Com, of Washington, DC, is an independent, intercultural crossroads on line
for communication, knowledge, understanding, transformation, and peace.

"FOR THE HISTORY OF THE FUTURE"