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Springs Mountain Sangha, September 2026
September Offerings
Thursday, September 3; 6:30 PM, on Zoom, Summer Book Group – Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (see below)
Monday, September 7; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel, Meditation, Sutra Service and Conversation
Tuesday, September 8; 6:30 PM, on Zoom, Steering Committee Meeting – all are welcome
Monday, September 14; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel, Meditation, Dharma Talk by Tenney Nathanson, Roshi, Discussion
Tuesday, September 15; 6:30-7 PM, on Zoom
Welcome to New Comers Evening with Brandy Lancaster
Thursday, September 17; 6:30 PM, on Zoom, Summer Book Group – Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Monday, September 21; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel, Community Night, Meditation, Precepts Recitation and Conversation
Monday, September 28; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel, Meditation, we will listen to a pre-recorded Dharma Talk from Joan Sutherland, Roshi followed by some time for discussion
Candlelight Meditation
Every Sunday from 8 to 8:30 PM, you are invited to join candlelight meditation online. Simple and lovely.
More information on the offerings listed above:
Springs Mountain Sangha
Online Summer Book Group!
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Annie Dillard's meditation on the interweaving of life and death, experienced with deep presence, through four seasons in nature,
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1975.
Thursdays 6:30-7:30 pm MT
September 3 and 17
The group is a place for us to explore together the ways in which the themes of the book reflect, illuminate, extend, or contradict our own ongoing relationship to aliveness, suffering, and death.
This is a peer-led group. Susan Wiser coordinates, and we take turns leading.
Suggested donation: $10 per group to SMS at the following link:
https://www.smszen.org/supportsms/ and click the yellow donate button on the left side of the page
For more info or to register, please contact Susan Wiser at cayugadogrescue@gmail.com
Welcome to New Comers Evening
with Brandy Lancaster
Tuesday, September 15th, from 6:30-7PM MT
on SMS Zoom
New to the practice or Sangha? Have questions to ask? Pop on the Zoom at 6:30 on the 3rd Tuesday of the month to meet with a Sangha member and learn more about our practices.
We look forward to connecting with you!
Save the Dates for Upcoming November Koan Series
Sundays, November 1, 8, 22 and 29 from 3-4:30 PM
In person at Creek Bend and online
2026 Upcoming Retreats
Mark your calendar and save the date for these retreats coming up in 2026 – more information will be available as the dates get closer
October 17-23 Open Source retreat in Tucson
Save the date: October 17-23 Open Source/Cloud Gate retreat in Tucson
In early Autumn, our Cloud Gate community offers a retreat at the Redemptorist Renewal Center in Tucson (a.k.a. Picture Rocks). Saturday evening to Friday afternoon—one day longer than our recent retreats. Sarah Bender, Tenney Nathanson and Megan Rundel will teach. Accommodations at the center are comfortable and the setting, in the Sonoran Desert, is magical. Come and let the retreat, the community, the place and the teachers hold you while you take a good stretch of time to release your heart-mind into a sustained experience of meditation and koan practice.
So, SAVE THE DATE! We'll let you know when registration opens.
December 6, 2026 Bodhi Day retreat;
hybrid at Creek Bend Zendo and online
Bodhi Day is for stepping away from winter busy-ness and taking time to celebrate Buddha's enlightenment and ours.
If you are interested in helping to coordinate a retreat, please let Kelly McFarland know via email at s.kelly.HLS@gmail.com Coordinating a retreat is a great way to support the sangha. All who have an interest are welcome regardless of how long you have been practicing with SMS. One of the challenges that comes with offering this many retreats is that we can't hold a retreat without a coordinator so we really appreciate people offering to step up and help coordinate.
Ongoing Meditation Schedule, All available via Zoom; Monday Eves available in person as well
Weekly Meditations (all times MDT) on Zoom:
- Weekdays from 6:30 to 7:30 AM. We sit for two periods and people come and go as they need to, and leave camera off. (Often a poem or koan will drop in at some point.)
- Saturday we sit from 6:30 to 8:00 AM, then someone speaks for a bit about their practice to kick off a deep and lively discussion (til roughly 8:30) These Zen Threads talks are now alternating every other week with “mini-threads” group discussions of practice with multiple paths emerging and joining seamlessly. You can join the meditation at 6:30, 7:00, 7:30 or 8:00.
- Sunday 8:00-8:30 PM Candlelight Meditation
Many Arms of Guanyin
Please share with us ways we can support our wider community in practice and service, to be included here.
Our friends from Faith Table have asked us to share this:
Faith in the 2026 Election
September 28, 2026, 6pm
First United Methodist Church
420 N. Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs
In America, We the People pick our leaders, but the current administration wants to keep people from voting so they can control our elections and seize more power. Leaders are implementing an agenda to keep people from voting so it’s critical we start organizing and preparing direct actions now to create media attention around our role in protecting democratic elections.
As part of these efforts, Faith Table has reached out to the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder, Steve Schleiker, to discuss our County’s response. We are inviting you and your congregation to a public action called “Faith in the 2026 Election” on September 28, 2026, 6pm at First United Methodist Church to meet the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder and other members of his team.
• The purpose of this action is multifold:
• Come together across faiths, races, places and parties to support free and democratic elections.
• Develop a network of trusted community leaders and messengers who can share accurate, nonpartisan election information.
• Strengthen relationships of support and accountability between community leaders and local election officials.
• Invite more people into the work of ensuring voters pick our leaders, not our leaders pick which votes get counted.
Imagine gathering 400 people in one room – clergy, lay leaders, congregants, community partners, and neighbors – to celebrate our shared responsibility for protecting the Vote. Together, we will lift up stories about why voting matters, hear our County Clerk describe how democratic elections are administered in Colorado and how Colorado voting officials are planning to protect our democratic vote. What happens next is up to us. Our country is strongest when all of us show up and speak out. Join us to demand “Hands Off Our Vote”.
Advertising materials to help you spread the word will follow.
Rev. Paula M. Stecker and Rev. Dr. Joanne Sanders
Co-chairs of Colorado Springs Faith Table
Faith Table is a non-partisan, multi-faith, multi-racial caucus of Together Colorado, advancing human dignity in Colorado Springs and across Colorado through faith-based community organizing.
Volunteer with SMS
Are you interested in volunteering to help with a specific project within the sangha? Do you have a particular skill or enthusiasm for something that might be helpful? Would you like to help out, but not sure how? SMS truly values and depends on the many efforts given freely by the sangha to the sangha. This is dana and is so much appreciated. If you have questions or want to help, please contact Kelly McFarland S.Kelly.HLS@gmail.com
SMS Meditation and Class Zoom Meeting Link:
Computer: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83419146660?pwd=UGJ6SkhYMjlIZHBQdytLT2x4Nk4zZz09
Mobile Phone App: Meeting ID: 834 1914 6660
Password: 387139
Telephone: (669) 900-9128 Then enter the Meeting ID: 834 1914 6660
Password: 387139
One tap mobile
+12532158782,,83419146660#,,,,,,0#,,387139# US (Tacoma)
+13462487799,,83419146660#,,,,,,0#,,387139# US (Houston)
This is a toll (you pay) call. You can see if there is a local number with this link:
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdZ4Z85FCX
For those on the phone, you can mute or un-mute yourself by pressing *6
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Support for Springs Mountain Sangha
You can donate to Springs Mountain Sangha in person at Shove Chapel using the dana bowl at the entrance to the dharma hall. You can also donate through our PayPal account. You can get to the SMS PayPal link on the SMS web site at:
http://www.smszen.org/supportsms/
or by selecting the donate icon:
Or you can mail a check to:
Springs Mountain Sangha
P.O. Box 2613
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
*We depend on the generosity of our members to support the work of our sangha*
If you want to make a donation to Sarah Bender specifically, for example, dana for classes, group meetings or work on the phone (suggested donations for these are $10 per class, or $20 for a 20 min. individual meeting) you can do this by sending a check directly to her.
Sarah Bender
7528 Jenkin Place
Colorado Springs, CO 80919
or by Paypal to sembender@gmail.com
Support for Cloud Dragon
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