DAYSPRING EARTH MINISTRY
AWAKENING TO THE DREAM OF THE EARTH
2026 Events Calendar
(Scroll down for details -- as they become available)
January 18 and February 15 - Wild Earth Spiritual Community at Dayspring
February 8 Book Launch for Cheryl's Children's Book: Sing Up The Earth
March 20 Spring Equinox Ceremony and Celebration
May 3 Spring Wildflower Walk
June 20 Summer Solstice Ceremony: Prayer for the Earth in this Season of Summer Sun
September 20 Autumn Equinox Ceremony and Celebration
October 9-11 Portals and Possibilities: A Soul Nature Retreat at Rolling Ridge
November 15 Wild Earth Spiritual Community at Dayspring
December Wild Earth Spiritual Community at Dayspring
December 4-6 An Advent Journey: Creativity and Courage in Turbulent Times - A Silent Retreat at Dayspring
December 20 Winter Solstice Ceremony and Celebration
January 18 and February 15
Wild Earth Spiritual Community at Dayspring 2pm (Jan), 3pm (February)
About Wild Earth Spiritual Community (Formerly Church of the wild DC-MD-VA)
We seek to live in deeper relationship with Earth, Divine Presence and each other. We gather twice monthly in sacred, natural woodlands in the Metro DC area. We are a diverse, inclusive and inter-spiritual community. Our gatherings combine contemplative spiritual practices with songs and chants, drumming, silent wandering and fellowship. Our practices enhance and grow our commitment to Earth and Her Beings, informing the work we do individually and collectively in the outer world.
We are a member of the Wild Church Network.
Please register for this free gathering so that we can keep you up-to-date on event information, including what to bring, directions, parking information, and weather-related changes! Register at https://www.wildearthspiritual.org/
February 8 Book Launch for Cheryl's Children's Book
Wellspring Conference Center, 2-4PM)
BOOK Coming February 2026
Sing Up the Earth!
by Cheryl Hellner, illustrated by Mercè Tous
A long time in the making, I am delighted to announce this new picture book, Sing Up the Earth! Each step on the journey of this book’s creation has been filled with longing for its beauty, care in the intricate and necessary refining of text, image, design, and a prayer that with patience and deep trust one day this story would be a book that could be shared.
A young girl, Meadow, dreams of making musical instruments out of clay—the very body of the Earth—just as her grandpa does. Clay ocarinas, flutes, horns, and drums make all kinds of music. Wild animals respond by singing back their calls and songs. In an old stone barn, Meadow learns the ancient art Grandpa has loved since he was a boy. On a winter night of thundersnow and lightning fire, the old stone barn burns down. Grandpa’s favorite instrument, a very old hawk-shaped ocarina disappears. Though Grandpa tries to re-make the instrument, he cannot. Until the day Meadow discovers one jagged clay piece sparkling at the bottom of the creek. A beautifully crafted, lyrical story of creativity, heartbreak, and hope.
Tender, gorgeous artwork illuminates this rich tale of the One Great Love that holds all things.
“Sing Up the Earth! is the kind of book I would have loved to read to my grandkids when they were young. Charming, lively, and honest, with colorful illustrations that nicely fit the text, and vice versa.”
—Luci Shaw, award-winning poet and author
Sing Up the Earth!
by Cheryl Hellner, illustrated by Mercè Tous
A long time in the making, I am delighted to announce this new picture book, Sing Up the Earth! Each step on the journey of this book’s creation has been filled with longing for its beauty, care in the intricate and necessary refining of text, image, design, and a prayer that with patience and deep trust one day this story would be a book that could be shared.
A young girl, Meadow, dreams of making musical instruments out of clay—the very body of the Earth—just as her grandpa does. Clay ocarinas, flutes, horns, and drums make all kinds of music. Wild animals respond by singing back their calls and songs. In an old stone barn, Meadow learns the ancient art Grandpa has loved since he was a boy. On a winter night of thundersnow and lightning fire, the old stone barn burns down. Grandpa’s favorite instrument, a very old hawk-shaped ocarina disappears. Though Grandpa tries to re-make the instrument, he cannot. Until the day Meadow discovers one jagged clay piece sparkling at the bottom of the creek. A beautifully crafted, lyrical story of creativity, heartbreak, and hope.
Tender, gorgeous artwork illuminates this rich tale of the One Great Love that holds all things.
“Sing Up the Earth! is the kind of book I would have loved to read to my grandkids when they were young. Charming, lively, and honest, with colorful illustrations that nicely fit the text, and vice versa.”
—Luci Shaw, award-winning poet and author
March 20 at 5:00 PM
Spring Equinox Ceremony and Celebration
Take my hand. We will walk. We will only walk... Walk peacefully. Our walk is a peace walk. Our walk is a happiness walk. -- Thich Nhat Hanh
At twilight on the day of the Spring Equinox we come together for walking meditation inspired by the Buddhist monks who walked to Washington, DC -- a walk for peace. We will walk, step by step, over the stone bridge, through the woods, by the labyrinth, and by the pond. Aware of the deep faithfulness of the living world, we will practice peaceful presence in the face of the turmoil and upheaval all around us. Balance light and dark, grief and gratitude, suffering and peace. In heartbreaking times like these, it so important that we do this.
Here's a general flow. Come for all or part.
5:00 pm We will gather outside the Overlook Retreat House and walk on the land for this ceremony of poetry, silent wander, and shared prayer, inspired by the "Thanksgiving Address" of the Native People known as the Iroquois.
6:00 pm Gather indoors at Overlook for a simple supper.
7:00 pm We will circle for creative sharing time around the seasonal theme. Please bring a poem or a story … share a favorite work of art or image … bring your musical instrument and play a song … guide us in singing or sacred dance …
For planning for the outdoor ceremony and for seating and food at Overlook PLEASE RSVP
to Jim at jimhallmd@yahoo.com and Trish at stefanik.trish@gmail.com
Dayspring * 11301 Neelsville Church Road * Germantown, MD 20876
May 3 Spring Wildflower Walk
at Dayspring Creek
Sunday, May 3 from 12:30 to 2:00 PM
Join Dayspring Earth Ministry for a Spring Wildflower walk at Dayspring Creek after worship on Sunday May 4. We will leave at 12:30 from the Farmhouse and return by 2:00 PM. Bring a snack to eat ahead of time if you wish. Among the flowers we expect to see are wild columbine and rue anemone. Wood Thrush and Scarlet Tanager may have returned as well.
We will be walking to a section of the creek upstream from Dayspring -- an area of County Parkland that has been designated as one of ten high biodiversity areas in the County. The walk is a little over a mile round-trip. The trail is steep in some places, rough and rocky in other places. We recommend wearing sturdy footwear and bringing a walking stick or trekking pole(s).
Please register!! Space along the creek is limited, so we can only accommodate about 15 people. Contact Jim Hall at jimhallmd@yahoo.com to register.
June 20-- 5 PM at Dayspring
Summer Solstice Ceremony
An Invitation to a Gathering of Prayer for the Earth in this Season of Summer Sun and Delight
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight.
Not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our
gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world.
-- Jack Gilbert, A Brief for the Defense
The sun since the Spring Equinox has been reaching higher and higher in the sky until on the Summer Solstice we experience the longest day of its radiance. It is as if the sun now says, stop, be still, and receive the miracle and gift of Earth’s preciousness and possibility emerging, and your own being and becoming. Summer invites us to be children again with wholehearted presence and all our senses engaged, to open to the wonders around us and within, and to be nourished and emboldened by delight.
It is especially important that we do this in these days when the suffering of Earth and its peoples weighs so heavily upon us. When fear grows and compassion is scarce.
5 pm -- We will gather outside the Dayspring Farmhouse at 5:00 pm and walk to the amphitheater for this ceremony of poetry, silent wander, and shared prayer on the land, inspired by the “Thanksgiving Address” from the Native People known as the Iroquois.
6 pm -- We will gather indoors at Overlook Retreat House for a simple supper.
7 pm -- We will circle for creative sharing time around the seasonal themes. Please bring a poem or story ...share a favorite work of art or image ...bring your own musical instrument and play a song ...guide us in singing or sacred dance.
For planning for the outdoor ceremony and for seating and food at Overlook,
and to inquire about the possibility of staying overnight in the Overlook retreat space,
PLEASE RSVP
to Jim at jimhallmd@yahoo.com and Trish at stefanik.trish@gmail.com
Dayspring * 11301 Neelsville Church Road * Germantown, MD 20876
Autumn Equinox Ceremony and Celebration
Sunday, September 20 at Dayspring
What in all of your life’s experiences, even the most traumatic, have been in preparation for the harvest of this moment?
- one of the “beautiful questions” framed by the poet, David Whyte
...clear, in the ancient faith: what we need is here. - Wendell Berry, The Wild Geese
5 pm -- We will gather outside the Dayspring Farmhouse at 5:00 pm and walk to the amphitheater for this ceremony of poetry, silent wander, and shared prayer on the land, inspired by the “Thanksgiving Address” from the Native People known as the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois).
6 pm -- We will gather indoors at Overlook Retreat House for a simple supper.
7 pm -- We will circle for creative sharing time around the seasonal theme. Please bring a poem or story ...share a favorite work of art or image ...bring your own musical instrument and play a song ...guide us in singing or sacred dance.
For planning for the outdoor ceremony and for seating and food at Overlook, and to inquire about the possibility of staying overnight in the Overlook retreat space,
PLEASE RSVP
to Jim at jimhallmd@yahoo.com and Trish at stefanik.trish@gmail.com
Dayspring * 11301 Neelsville Church Road * Germantown, MD 20876
October 9-11 Portals and Possibilities in a time of Collapse :A Soul Nature Retreat at Rolling Ridge
“How will we act on the day the industrial supply chains inevitably fail to deliver on their fantastical promise of an unlimited life? Will we build taller fences and gather our munitions? Or set the table with everything we’ve got left and invite the whole neighborhood over for supper?
On that day we are likely to do whatever we practice now.” --Dougald Hine
For many on our planet, the moment of calamity and collapse, the grief of an ecosystem or a world ending, has already occurred repeatedly for centuries, decades, years, months. For some, ruin remains in the realm of creeping inevitability, a certain but not fully yet. For all, we are beyond the hope that even a deepened understanding, renewed spirituality, or new vision will mitigate or fix the trouble we’re in.
With this comes a strange freedom. Liberated from the pedestal of our own efficacy we are free to wonder what may be worth doing and who we may be called to become amid what’s left of the worlds we once knew. What portals are beckoning?
What possibilities are gestating? This is nothing less than a summons of the soul; something deep within us knows the way forward, the faint path we make to the portal.
What would it be like to take our place beside all the creatures of this planet, to take the hands of our ancestors and the hands of our great great grandchildren and with fierce love make a path by walking it?
We are inviting a small group of wanderers to join us in a deep conversation around these fires. We will do this in our customary way:
Wander the wild land of Rolling Ridge, return to intimate relationship with the Sacred Others in rock and stream, tree and bush, with the winged ones and the four, six, eight-legged ones.
Participate in ceremony and council, share in circles of safety and grace, listen to poets and storytellers, dance in sacred circles, sing heart songs with and to the Earth.
Rolling Ridge is 1,800 acres of wild mountain forest on a foothill of the Blue Ridge, lying between the Shenandoah River on the west and the Appalachian Trail on the east. The retreat is two hours’ drive from Washington, DC, one and a half hours from Baltimore, and two hours from Harrisburg, PA. It is six miles southeast of Charles Town, WV and ten miles southwest of Harpers Ferry. Access is by vehicle only. The last mile of the trip is over a gravel mountain road.
The accommodations are simple: a seven-bedroom Retreat House with two shared full bathrooms, and two half baths. We hope that some will prefer to camp in the woods just beyond the House. This would be a choice for more solitude and proximity to the wild, with access to all facilities in the House. Campers must be able to bring and set up their own tent.
Meals are provided by a wonderful cook and are prepared in the Retreat House kitchen with fresh ingredients.
$395 each – shared room (full or bunk) – We cannot match people. Please tell us the
name of your roommate when you register.
$350 camp – bring your own tent
October 9-11 Friday 3 pm - Sunday 2 pm
Register at https://friendsofsilence.net/portals-and-possibilities
Porous Passageway collage by Doug Van Houten
used by permission
November 15, Sunday at 3PM
Wild Earth Spiritual Community at Dayspring
THEME: Deep Quiet and the Fire of Possibility. We gather contemplatively around the fire at Dayspring for deep immersion into Presence. Deep Quiet takes us into the fire of possibility and transformation. All are Welcome!
December 4-6 An Advent Journey: Creativity and Courage in Turbulent Times - A Silent Retreat at Dayspring
The weeks of Advent fill us with gifts if we release ourselves into the flow of possibilities of this sacred season: Time for slowing down and resting by the fire.
Time for listening to our dreams.
Time for silence and sacred space in community
Time for stories, poems, art Wanders in the late Autumn woods and wild fields of Dayspring opening to the wisdom of the Earth.
This is an invitation to renew your creativity and strengthen your courage for the challenges we must face.
Come join us.
Leaders: Jim Hall is a longtime teacher and retreat leader who lives on the wild and earthy edge of the Christian Faith and is passionate about restoring our kinship relationship with the living Earth.
Cheryl Hellner is a teacher, retreat leader, storyteller, and author of the new children’s picture book Sing Up the Earth! Together they live and work in Earth Ministry at Dayspring.
Wild Earth Spiritual Community at Dayspring
A December Sunday at 3PM
Theme and Day: To Be announced
December 20 at 5 PM at Dayspring
Winter Solstice Ceremony
Blessed are you Who bear the light In unbearable times...
Blessed are you In whom The light lives...
-- Jan Richardson
On the day of the Winter Solstice we come together for a ceremony both ancient and new to honor the return of the light and to give thanks. We are thankful for the ways that darkness invites us to inner stillness and grounding, may nurture our resilience, and can fill us with holy longing.
At Solstice, sunlight begins to return. Just a little, day by day. Perhaps the light begins to return in us, too. Maybe even to arise from us and to live in us.
5 pm -- We will gather outside the Dayspring Farmhouse and walk to the Pavilion for a ceremony inspired by the “Thanksgiving Address” of the Native Peoples known as the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) -- a ceremony of giving thanks, of giving our holy longings to feed the fire, and of receiving a blessing of light to carry out into the surrounding darkness. 6 pm -- We will gather indoors at Overlook Retreat House for a simple supper. 7 pm -- We will circle for creative sharing time around the seasonal theme. Please bring a poem or story ...share a favorite work of art or image ...bring your own musical instrument and play a song ...guide us in singing or sacred dance.
For planning for the outdoor ceremony and for seating and food at Overlook, and to inquire about the possibility of staying overnight in the Overlook retreat space,
PLEASE RSVP
to Jim at jimhallmd@yahoo.com and Trish at stefanik.trish@gmail.com
Dayspring * 11301 Neelsville Church Road * Germantown, MD 20876
[note: image courtesy of stockcake.com]
