On Sunday, June 5, the Council of  Christian Churches within the Unitarian Universalist Association will hold its annual convocation at First Parish in Weston, Weston, Massachusetts.
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Our keynote speaker is the Rev. Carl Scovel and the title of the event and his talk is “Amazing Grace: The Love of God in the Lives We Live.”

The Reverend Carl R. Scovel grew up in China, the son of medical missionaries. He attended the American School in Shanghai, Oberlin College, and Harvard Divinity School. Carl has been ordained as a minister for 54 years, including First Parish in Sudbury and, for 32 years, King’s Chapel in Boston. Carl Scovel has been active in affairs of the UUA, and served as editor of The Unitarian Christian for seven years. He received the UUA’s Distinguished Service Award in 2000.
He is active in pastoral work, teaching, and leading retreats. Carl has been married to Faith Greeley Scovel for 53 years, with three children and  seven grandchildren. Carl and Faith live in Jamaica Plain.

The day begins at 1 p.m. with lunch and speakers to follow.

Convocation 2011 Schedule

• 1:00 pm Conversation, coffee, and sandwiches.
• 2:00 pm Reverend Carl R. Scovel, Keynote Speaker, Minister Emeritus of King’s Chapel, Boston, “Amazing Grace: The Love of God in the Lives We Live”
• 2:45 pm Workshop: Grace in the Church: Rev. Dr. Adam Tierney-Eliott, Pastor, Eliot Church, Natick; Rev. Mark Caggiano, Minister, First Church in Chestnut Hill.
• 3:45 pm Business Meeting
• 4:00 pm Holy Communion Service; Rev. Terry Burke, First Church in Jamaica Plain.

See the CCCUUA Convention XXIX (2011) Brochure (PDF) for registration details.

The Rev. Dr. Adam Tierney-Eliot, pastor of the Eliot Church, South Natick, Mass. and trustee of the CCCUUA has written about the Council at his blog, Burbania Posts on May 16.

See “On the Council of Christian Churches.”

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Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly 2013 has just ended — I watched parts of it from home — and reflected that my first General Assembly was 20 years ago, in Charlotte. One of the big accomplishments then was releasing the brand new gray hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition.

Twenty years later, we have seen supplements, but no new full hymnal since.

More interesting to me is that the old red hymnal, Hymns of the Spirit, chugs along, serving a predominately Christian base, the gray and the intervening, perhaps even less-used blue (Hymns for the Celebration of Life) hymnal being an inadequate diet for Christian worship.

But the books are wearing out; the last press run was in 1981. And it has problems.

This site is a history and reference site, and a personal project. It is a love letter to a constant friend in faith — both its hymns and the service book that begins it — and some ideas for what might come next.

Some writings will be gleaned from my blog, Boy in the Bands but others will be new and I hope to engage the help of those who, like me, have shared in benefitting from it.

This site is brand new; watch for more to come.

Sincerely yours,
(The Rev.) Scott Wells

So why did I set up the Hymns of the Spirit site?

Without a good reason could easily become a hobby site or an antiquarian folly. I have five reasons, roughly in order of importance:

• to promote a landmark Unitarian and Universalist worship resource
• to republish worship material for reuse and adaptation
• to focus attention on the next generation of hymnals and worship materials
• to provide a training tool for worship leaders
• to identify the work and theology of the era

Look forward to a formal launch in July 2013.

Hymns of the Spirit was, for the longest time, available from the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship for the princely sum of $5. But they’re all gone.

For a price, an online bookseller is probably your best bet (but not this one), unless you live near a church that doesn’t use them (or use many) and can spare one. That’s what this post is for. If you are looking for a copy or have some to spare, please leave a comment below.

“See, I am Doing a New Thing” Next Steps for Christians within the UUA

THE COUNCIL OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN THE UUA
When: 2:30 p.m., Sunday, November 17, 2013

Where:
First Church in Chestnut Hill
26 Suffolk Road
Chestnut Hill, MA (Chestnut Hill T Station)

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As “spiritual but not religious” becomes a mantra of American society, there are also fresh, green shoots growing from within Christianity. Are those new ideas coming from within the Unitarian Universalist movement? Are UUs being left behind in this dawning of ideas, new and old? Please come and join a conversation about what is emerging from without and within the UUA.

There will be a talk and communion service led by Rev. Mark J. T. Caggiano, Minister of the First Church in Chestnut Hill and current Chair of the Board of Trustees. Coffee, tea and other refreshments will be provided.

There is no charge for attending, though please RVSP to Rev. Caggiano at 617-566-6237 or the contact form.

On Friday, June 27, 2014, at 8:30 a.m. there will be a meeting of the CCCUUA at the First Universalist Church in Providence, 250 Washington St., Providence, Rhode Island. We will discuss general matters of the Council as well as the current effort of gathering significant questions of Christian faith for Unitarians, Universalists and Unitarian Universalists. Light refreshments will be served.

Prior to the meeting, there will be a prayer service at 8:00 a.m. led by Rev. Scott Axford. First Universalist will hold a similar service each morning from Monday through Saturday during Ministry Days and the UUA General Assembly.

Members from the CCCUUA are meeting with the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship at a dinner during General Assembly in Portland, Oregon.

The dinner will take place at McMenamins, at 5pm on Wednesday, June 24.

See the details at the UUCF Facebook page.

On Thursday, March 10, 2016, there will be a gathering of the Council at the First Church in Chestnut Hill. We will be meeting to discuss collaborating with the UU Christian Fellowship on its effort to foster new UU Christian communities around the country, including the possibility of helping to establish new churches. Rev. Jake Morrill, the new UUCF Executive Director, will join us to discuss these possibilities.

When: Thursday, March 10, gathering at 9:00 a.m., worship at 9:30, with the meeting to follow. Coffee, refreshments, and lunch will be served.

Where: The First Church in Chestnut Hill, 26 Suffolk Road, Chestnut Hill, Mass.

On street parking is available and the church is a short walk from the Chestnut Hill MBTA stop.

Please RSVP, particularly for lunch, to Rev. Mark Caggiano at 617-566-6237 or markcaggiano@earthlink.net

After about two years, I have added a new liturgical element: the shorter communion service, meant to be used “immediately after the Order of Morning Worship” and with the unusual option for “no distribution of the elements.”

This last option was once more usual for Unitarians than you might suspect. The service was conceived in spiritual terms, and in a creative alternative to individual glasses in the generation after fears — precipitated by typhoid — of infection.

The practice — a non-distributed or “spiritual” communion — deserves consideration.

1. “Embodied theology” — so much the darling of liberal theologians of the last generation — is showing its age, or at least its station, and this is the force that would resist a spiritalized view of the sacrament. Most of the people I know are well aware of their corporality, but the spirit is elusive. “Embodiment” and “messy theology”  is a misplaced complaint.
2.  Add allergies and the rejection of beverage alcohol to infection (and compromised immune systems) by many and you get a communion service where the elements themselves become a problem. This solves that.
3. I’ve met real, live Unitarian Universalists who blanch at the “cannibalism” of Communion. A spiritual service lowers a barrier.

The services before the Hymns of the Spirit include prayers and litanies from various sources, including the 1903 Devotional Services for Public Worship, by John Hunter. He was the minister of King’s Weigh House Church, then a Congregational church, in Mayfair, London.

You can read it at Archives.org.

I’ll see if there’s any commonalities, and if so I’ll note them below.

Crossposted at RevScottWells.com.

A single prayer in the services before Hymns of the Spirit beginning “Almighty God grant that the words” comes from a book identified in the index as the Theistic Prayer Book. What is this and where did it come from?

It comes from the Theistic Church in London, that lasts from 1870 or 1871 until shortly after the 1912 death of its founder and minister, Charles Vorsey, who was driven out of the Church of England. (He’s the father of the famous architech of the same name, if your mind goes to the Arts and Crafts.)  At the church, the book was known as The Revised Prayer Book, and ran through three (1871, 1875, 1892) editions.

In both Hymns of the Spirit (p. 146) and The Revised Prayer Book, the prayer appears in a section for additional prayers (in the third edition); it appears, slightly re-arranged as prayer for the “close of worship” in Hymns of the Spirit.

Cross-posted at RevScottWells.com.

I ran across the resolution of the 1937 Universalist General Convention, in Chicago, commending work and use of the Hymns of the Spirit.

VI. New Hymnal

Whereas, we note with interest and pleasure the appearance of the new joint Unitarian-Universalist Commission hymnal, “Hymns of the Spirit,” therefore, be it

Resolved, that this Convention expresses the gratitude of our people to the members of the joint commission for so faithfully performing the arduous task of compiling and editing this splendid and much-needed book, and be it further

Resolved, that we commend the use of this hymnal to all Universalist churches in need of new hymnals.

Universalist General Convention. Universalist biennial reports and directory. Boston, Mass. : Universalist General Convention. (1938), p. 22.

In the PBS show Call the Midwife, it’s usually clear when to call the midwife. Nature is pretty good that way. “You’ll know when to call,” the professionals tell expectant mothers, and they do!

Getting in touch with a minister is very much the same process, when you want us, just call! You’ll know when.

There are so many reasons to call: You or a loved one find themselves suddenly in the hospital, wanting a visit. There is something in your life that has thrown you off balance, and you’d like a listening ear or spiritual support. You’ve experienced a significant loss, or are having an experience you don’t feel you can tell anyone. Maybe you’d like to let the community know what is happening in your life and don’t know how to get it into “Joys and Sorrows.”

Sometimes people don’t call because they think the minister knows, or should know, what is happening, or they hesitate calling because they don’t want to be a bother. First, it’s never a bother. Second, when a community grows to a size like ours, it’s impossible for any one person to track all the individual needs of our church. We are making changes to do better, and in the fall we will have a more robust, and of course secure, database system to tracks calls.

My heart breaks when I learn that someone wanted a call or visit and I didn’t know until it’s too late. Unless you call the church and speak with a staff member, don’t assume that information has been passed along, or that I know how often you’d like to talk or visit. I, or someone on our lay or professional pastoral support team, do try and call when we suspect there is an issue. But it’s true: In a church, ministers are the “first or last to know anything.”

Sometimes there are good reasons members don’t want calls or visits, so I never assume anything. They may be private people, or there may be an overwhelming amount of covenant group support (I hear this a lot, and it’s a good thing), or they prefer quiet to conversation. I never take it personally when people don’t want to see me.

Sometimes things fall through the cracks. I might miss a Facebook post, or a Caring Bridge post winds up in my spam folder. Both of these have happened this year, and connections were missed as a result. Please, if you want a minister or pastoral care team member to call or visit, do let us know.

How? For a response within 24 hours, you can call the church office or my Google voicemail, 773-800-9550, which sends me your message. If you want to call my cell phone for immediate contact, the front office can provide that information to members of the church. A note: I usually have my cell phone in sleep mode after 9pm (which automatically drops calls to voicemail), but if you call twice in three minutes, you get around that feature and can reach me 24 hours a day. I trust you’ll use that feature mindfully. I have had to block one or two folks over the years who’ve repeatedly used that feature to call me about church business at 11pm. Nope. It’s there for when you need it.

Once we’ve made contact, we can arrange for a hospital visit or pastoral counseling in my office. I’m often asked, how does pastoral counseling work? Pastoral counseling is different than therapy or clinical counseling in that ministers don’t diagnose mental health concerns. A minister is trained to listen and be a spiritual guide. Sometimes that means we may be more direct than a therapist when you ask for advice. Sometimes our role is less direct than a therapist when you tell me you just want a listening ear—someone with whom you can share a story. Pastoral counseling is also not on-going. The expectation is that after three or four sessions, a member is ready to move on or be referred to a clinical therapist. During grief work following a trauma or significant loss, care might extend for a longer period—but always with the expectation that the member will be getting “therapy,” if needed, by a mental health professional.

The bottom line is this: If you want a minister to call or visit, just let us know. So … coming this fall to PBS … It’s “Call the Minister!” (Not really…)

For reasons too long to go into now, I was tracking down threads in the Classic Reform tradition of Reform Jewish liturgics a couple of weeks ago. Suffice it to say that it was in parallel with some of the liturgical developments in Unitarian churches in the late nineteenth century. There were some friendships crossing the divide, or at least cooperative parterships. It’s hard to tell how far or wide without a deep dive.

So, I was reading the Adoration ending sequence from the Sabbath evening service in the Union Prayer Book, in wide use in Reform temples through the early 1970s. This is the Aleinu, for those familiar with the traditional Hebrew name. I thought, “this looks familiar.”

As well it should. Capitalization aside, the first part of the Aleinu was dropped in almost verbatim as the Exhortation — that is, a beginning sequence — of the First Service of the Services of Religion, the services prepended to the 1937 joint Unitarian-Universalist Hymns of the Spirit.

So, it reads:

Let us adore the ever-living God, and render praise unto him who spread out the heavens and established the earth; whose glory is revealed in the heavens above and whose majesty is manifested throughout the earth. He is our God and there is none else; wherefore in awe and wonder we bow the head and magnify the Eternal, the Holy One, the Ever Blest.

That’s the same hymnal that has the Jewish text translated by a Unitarian minister, “Praise to the Living God” as its first hymn.

And if you’ve read this far and are at the UUA General Assembly in New Orleans, you may be interested in Shabbat Worship, presented by Unitarian Universalists for Jewish Awareness on Friday, June 23, 5:00 pm in the Hilton Riverside Windsor Room.

Cross-posted to RevScottWells.com

So, this site was hacked a couple of weeks ago, and security software installed since shows that outside forces try to log-in to the administration a few times a day.

Since it’s not meant to be particularly interactive, I’ll be re-launching this as a Jekyll site (harder-to-hack, plain ol’ HTML; like my Universalist Christian Initiative site) and perhaps improve the formatting.

What does this mean to you? Little, though the appearance will change. It may load faster for you. I doubt I’ll have a place for comments.

People know ministers as busy people, but what our weeks look like is shrouded in some mystery. With so many pulls on our time, attention, and hearts, carefully compartmentalizing tasks is essential to serving you well. Here is what a typical week in ministry looks like.

Monday

My work week begins on Tuesday morning since I take my “Sabbath” on Mondays. I’m careful not to schedule anything on the Sabbath because I’m fitting most of a regular two-day weekend into one day. Sometimes I have to spend Monday reading in preparation for the Sunday service if I know the week is going to be a demanding one, but I keep things on a quiet level.

Tuesday

On Tuesday morning, I usually spend between two and four hours catching up on your e-mail from the weekend, as well as making phone calls. By Tuesday afternoon I’m focused on worship service planning. This includes picking hymns and readings, coordination music or special tech elements, and making sure the time for all ages is squared away. The staff often needs my attention on Tuesday to debrief things that came up on Sunday morning or to ask for assistance with their various goals for the week. I have five “reports,” and I love working with staff to make sure they are supported. Once a month the Chicago-area minister’s Tuesday meeting is scheduled, so on those weeks I usually prepare the order of service on Monday.

A typical week might start like this, plus Sunday.

Wednesday

Wednesday usually sees me meeting with congregants and congregational/community leaders. Pastoral calls come up throughout the week, but if I can, I try to do them Wednesday morning. I often have community meetings as well. I focus on office and administrative work in the afternoons, which includes filing, report writing (generally two or three a month), financial matters, and wrapping up my email backlog.

In a recent study by LifeWay research, ministry-related meetings and electronic correspondence can drive the number of hours a pastor works beyond the median of 55 hours, with 42 percent of pastorals now working 60 or more. 70-80 hour weeks are not uncommon. E-mail and other electronic correspondence eat up between two and six hours a week for half of these pastors surveyed, while 14 percent indicate they spend at least 10 hours a week in electronic correspondence. I would definitely be in the latter group; this is a very communicative congregation, and I’m involved with various activities at the local, regional, and national levels.

Thursday

Thursday is “staff day.” It begins with an Executive Team meeting at 9am followed by a general staff meeting. In the afternoon, I meet with individual staff and our intern to provide weekly supervision as her “teaching pastor.” Thursday afternoon I’m blessed to be able to play trombone for an hour with our three other church trombonists, and then I try and tie up my week so I can focus on the sermon on Friday.

Friday

Friday is my writing day if I’m lucky. According to church consultant Thom Rainer, most pastors spend 10-18 hours a week preparing the Sunday message. The UUA recommends that churches allow ministers to devote 30 percent of their time to the Sunday service, or 15-20 hours. My average, I would say, is 16 hours to research, organize, coordinate, write, and rehearse—so my writing “day” always stretches into Saturday. Friday is also when I write newsletter articles and finish board reports that may be due that evening.

Saturday

Saturday is time to catch-up on email from Friday, more writing, and time for workshops, weddings, memorial services, local events, and congregational social activities. I almost also conduct a service run-through or rehearsal on Saturday afternoon to make sure everything reads the way it should and to check the tech.

You’ll notice I have left out a few things: evening meetings, emergency visits to the hospital, church crises that need immediate attention, social justice events and outreach, and some of the many things we share in our church life. Welcome to a week in the life of your ministers.

And then it’s Sunday once again!

Many years ago I enjoyed keeping a fish tank which I would stare into mindlessly whenever a bad case of writer’s block would hit. My last one was like a little Zen water garden with exotic, slow moving goldfish and delicate plants that invited me into a mesmerizing little 10-gallon world. After an unfortunate tank accident, the goldfish and I parted ways.

I kept the filter and gravel for a long time, and during a slow writing time in seminary I decided to jump back into keeping fish.  at a garage sale I found a tank, so it was off to the fish store where I purchased two fancy goldfish, $2.50 each. Before leaving the store I noticed some tiny frogs which were playfully darting up to the top of a tank for air. The store attendant said the frogs wouldn’t grow much larger than an inch and could live with goldfish, eating whatever food floated to the bottom of the tank. I wanted them.  I had to have them.

At $3,50 each, they were mine!

For the first several weeks the two frogs lived in a tiny conch shell at the bottom of the tank. They always seemed to be hungry, and I called them my hungry ghosts after the Buddhist beings with throats so small they can never be satisfied. By the time the frogs had doubled in size, they started lunging after the goldfish, which I discovered on the Web is a favorite food.

I also discovered  that my new pets were African Clawed Frogs, and like the store attendant said, they live their entire lives, up to 15 years, completely submerged. That’s where truth-in-salesmanship ended. Small? Full grown they would reach the size of a fist. Scavengers? No, completely carnivorous, preferring to gulp down small goldfishes whole. To dissuade them from eating my other pets, I fed them minnows, which they considered appetizers. My goldfish were in a constant state of panic, my peaceful underwater Zen garden now a zone of carnage.

I had a decision to make: goldfish or frogs. I thought about all the personality my frogs had:  Their favorite pose was to float on top of the water, arms outstretched, as if in meditation. They often snuggled next to each other in the little hallowed out log on the bottom of the tank. Other times they swam playfully in long arcs from one end of the tank to the other. When I cleaned the tank they grabbed my fingers and harmlessly nibbled on me. They were actually trying to eat me but I’m bigger than them and they have no teeth. I finally gave the slow swimming fancy fish to a neighbor’s kids, bought some faster swimmers, and settled into the idea that I would own my Clawed African Frogs for a very long time.

A shorter version of this story is to be my “story for all ages” on Sunday, for I’ve always thought of this story as a good illustration for the phrase “you might not get what you want, but you get what you need.” Over the years (many), my frogs did give me much to think about. They opened up spiritual work for me around animal totems. They reminded me on a daily basis of the spiritual trap of unfulfilled hunger and consumption — and the myth of the hungry ghosts. The illustration isn’t perfect, but it does make me think about the difference between what I think I want and the different outcome I often get. My life has many times been blessed in that tension.

I want to tell you about Evanston’s Sanctuary Resolution that we will vote on next Sunday at 10:00 a.m.

Last year, after the presidential election, interfaith clergy in Evanston gathered for our monthly luncheon. For years we have talked about how to work together for the common good. The election hit us, as a group, hard. We knew there was hard work ahead.

We asked, “What can we do?” So the Evanston interfaith community “gathered on the side of love” at Fountain Square to commit ourselves to action—to side with, as the Hebrew Scriptures teach, the “orphan, widow, and stranger.” In the Bible, the idea of stranger specifically includes the immigrant, the stranger to your land who brings both discomfort and gifts.

We said that very cold November day we would consider the ideas of sanctuary and solidarity, and at the next clergy lunch up went sign-up sheets for what would become three “Evanston4All” teams: a Faith Resource Team; a Solidarity Response Team; a Uniting Voices Team.

Rev. Eileen has been working with the Evanston4All Solidarity Response Team, which would respond to events like immigration raids or hate-based acts in non-violent ways. I have been co-leading the Faith Resources Team to provide theological grounding, speakers, and liturgy for Evanston faith-based public rallies and solidarity gatherings. Finally, there is our Uniting Voices Team to educate and rebuild through non-violent communication, cooperation, courageous dialogue, and shared action.

Dozens of congregations and community organizations have been participating, learning, and training—and now it is our turn to respond as a leader institution in Evanston. From Evanston4All’s work, the interfaith coalition has written a Community Sanctuary Resolution for us to adopt. A team of lawyers with specializations in immigration law has vetted the language, and the document’s brilliance is that is does not dictate how UCE, or any individual congregation, will be a “sanctuary.” Instead, it offers many choices on ways we can live into our aspirations to comfort and aid the most vulnerable among us in these times. There are far more choices in the document than any one congregation can implement, but that is the point. We must work together.

We held a rally on November 12 to introduce the resolution to the community. You can read about who showed up here.

On December 17th UCE will have a special Sunday of Solidarity. We will begin with a short service at 9:15 where we will sing, reflect on the Christmas message as it relates to our times, and celebrate as always our commitment to justice. At 10:00 we will gather to vote on Evanston’s Sanctuary Community Resolution, which, again, says not what actions we will take (that comes next!) but that we will work with other communities of faith in Evanston to do all we can, in our own ways, as a community of solidarity, strength, and hope. Evanston’s mayor and police chief have both spoken in support of this resolution. I hope that you, too, will vote “yes” on this resolution for which Evanston’s entire interfaith community has worked for a year. It is a gift to our congregation and all our neighbors.

It was a few years ago at General Assembly that gender-neutral bathrooms started appearing. The year they were officially introduced was my first as an official G.A. chaplain—one of four ministers asked to offer spiritual support at our annual assembly of congregations. As I settled into my office at the beginning of the week, I wondered what concerns, feelings, thoughts, or issues people would bring.

Mostly, it was the bathrooms. There was fear and questions. What would they encounter in a gender neutral bathroom? Would people of different genders be “side by side”? Would urinals be “blocked off”? What was the etiquette? What about the discomfort? What if…? I didn’t have all the answers, but I found the questions revealed much about gender privilege.

It turns out many of us have never had to think about the social discomforts of walking into a bathroom, much less fear of violence based on our identity. However, that week at G.A., I heard from transgender persons the incredible relief of being “in the same boat” with the rest of their beloved community. Finally, we were all a little uncomfortable with the bathrooms—and working together to find a new “normal,” a new way of finding our way toward comfort. The discomfort that transgender people may experience every day in public restrooms, cis-gender persons (those of us whose external gender expression matches our internal understanding of gender or our gender assigned at birth) were feeling too, because our hearts were opening to sharing space in new ways. We all got to figure out what it feels like to live in a world with more equal access for all.

Starting this year, you’ll notice educational material popping up in bathroom stalls and new signage inviting you into the conversation. It’s not the solution, but it’s a start.

What is the big deal about bathrooms these days?  Bathrooms have long been contested social spaces. Over the centuries they have been segregated by race, class, and gender. They have been places where people have experienced violence and systemic oppression. Even at UCE, there have been challenges and confrontations, but as we learn to trust each person to know what bathroom is right for them, we will make UCE an even more inclusive and safe space. Our church has gender-neutral bathrooms for all as well as gender-specific bathrooms, where each individual can choose where they should be. My prayer is that you find a bathroom that works for you, and use it freely in peace!

As I shared on Sunday, I will be with you, the Unitarian Church of Evanston, another few months before accepting an offer from the Air Force to join their active-duty Chaplain Corps. Before I say more about this, I want to say that it hasn’t just been an honor to serve this congregation, but an overall joy. The work we have done together for justice has been an inspiration, the work we have done spiritually has been grounding, and the work we have done institutionally preparation for your future. I am proud of our many shared accomplishments, a true testament to shared ministry. I expected to be here for a good decade, which historically has been the average length of your ministerial tenures, before moving to a next call. This offer from the Air Force, however, was a one-time deal, due to my age, so the past few months have been agonizing–there is no other way to say it. The decision has been to continue serving the only congregation I feel I really want to serve, or jump into a call that has been in my mind’s eye since I entered seminary.

Two questions guided the final decision: What did Cindy want to do? What decision would we be able to live with ten years down the road? On the first question, mine and Cindy’s 30 years together have been characterized as one adventure after another. She is looking forward to the next, unconventional, unknown thing we will do together. On the second, I don’t know if I could live with a decision not to do the ministry I hear God calling me to do in the world. It’s the reason I came to UCE: I heard a call to this place, at that time, to do the work we have done.

I’ve been asked about the kind of work I’ll be doing, and where we’ll be next year. On the latter, I have no idea but should soon. All I know it is could be anywhere. On the first question, the life of an Air Force chaplain has at least three primary elements. First, I’ll be assigned to a base chapel and a team of chaplains. Bases are small cities, often with 10,000-30,000 people living on them, including families. Base chapels serve a wide variety of faith traditions, so walking into the chapel on the weekend you’ll find many types of services being offered.

Second, I’ll be assigned to a unit to provide pastoral counseling and classes to support family life. Third, I will work with commanders to provide ethical guidance, when invited. A chaplain’s primary responsibility may be to uphold the free exercise of religion within the structured culture of military life–to make sure that everyone is able to worship, pray, and follow a spiritual path guided by their life and experience.

Parker Palmer in Let Your Life Speak encourages all of us to listen to our lives in a way that from the whole of them (our dreams unfiltered by ego or doubt, the tugs and pulls external and internal, and still small whispers of intuition the origins of which we cannot fathom) emerges the path forward. In the Tao, it might be called “way.” Some modern psychologists have called it “flow.” Whatever you call it, listen to your life. It is calling to you. It wants you to know its possibilities. Your life wants you to live!

I am forever grateful for the time we have had together.

I have been intentional about noticing the “lasts” these past several weeks—inviting a pause at moments I would formerly rush through. A pause to savor each thing for its beauty and what it has given. A last child dedication in this community I’ve served. A last snowfall out a window I love to look through. A last time sitting on the floor of an RE classroom. A last ride on the Metra train to a downtown concert. Naming it such, for me, puts such experience, momentarily outside of time and space and roots it in beloved memory.

This Sunday’s musical guest, EE

I’ve also been rounding up those pesky “should have’s.” Should have gone to more CSO concerts. Check. Should have told friends how much they mean to me. Check. Should have invited crazy marching band back for a service. Check. (This coming Sunday!)

Another “should have” I’ve been meaning to do for a long time is bring north—to share with you—a dear Texas friend, mentor, and fellow pastor, Rudi Harst.

Rudi Harst joins us next week for worship and a special after church “thank you” concert.

I met Rudi the first Sunday after Cindy and I moved to San Antonio. I had been encouraged to check out the spiritual community that he and his wife, Zet, were leading in a rented theater space called “Celebration Circle.” With services filled with original music and poetry, Rudi inspired and connected people together in a way I’d never seen before. It was like a folk concert, poetry reading, and sacred celebration all pulled together in a blessed mash-up. (You all know, by now, how I love those!)

Rudi will lead worship with me next Sunday, April 15th, with a service called Hurry Slowly. and as a special thank you to this community, we are hosting an after-church concert. Rudi will share “Songs and Stories of Life, Love, and Laughter … a heartwarming, toe-tapping, finger-snapping good time that’s guaranteed to make your heart smile and your spirit soar!”

In addition to being a spiritual director, inspirational speaker, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Rudi has published eight CD’s of original music, as well as Hurry Slowly, a book of creative non-fiction. It will be a joy to have him with us next weekend for both a first, and a last.

Not time, in general; but the sanctuary clock, in particular. Did I pack it up with my office? Am I stealing the church clock (installed when I first got here) that’s informed us all when worship begins and when it’s supposed to end? No, actually, in the middle of the night on April 26, two days before my birthday, the digital clock in the sanctuary seemed to have lept off my office windowwall, hit the seven-foot bookcase below it, shattering glass across the floor, bounced to the three-foot bookcase below it, spewing glass onto the shelves above, and exploded on the floor in a pile of electronics and shards. It must have been quite dramatic, although nobody was here to see it happen.

I’m trying not to find it ominous, but maybe it is fitting. T. S. Eliot loved the concept of time:

“Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.”

We have made many decisions together over the past several years, and there may be the feeling like there could be more to do. A hundred things more, at least. The truth is we have done what we could do together, and I believe it has been good work. We have created new ministries, like our sanctuary resolution shared with congregations throughout Evanston. We have been a beacon of hope with our Black Lives Matter sign and the underlying spiritual work of living into its mandate. We have strengthened this church by refusing to allow individual differences distract our hearts from being ever more the radically welcoming place to which we aspire. There is always more to do, and it will be done. I have that faith.

Eliot ends his poem The Four Quartets saying:

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”

So here we are, arriving back at the place we started. It was exactly five years ago this week that you called me as your senior minister. We are arriving back at the place we started, a time of transition, a moment to pause and reflect, a time to dream. You are sending me forth as an extension of the love you want to share with the world. I will never forget from where I have come, the people who have influenced my life and ministry, and the love with which I have been sent forth to share the good news of Unitarian Universalism.

I am currently transitioning from parish ministry to Air Force chaplaincy. Stay tuned for more on this incredible and unexpected journey.

Blessings,

Bret

Sometimes all it takes to keep going is the tiniest bit of support—even a love note less than two inches square to say that you are not alone.

How might you offer just a bit of love and support today, and who might you offer it to?

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“Five people with passion can do better than fifty people with mere desire or interest.”
―Israelmore Ayivor

What are you passionate about?

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We expect our pathways in life to be kind of windy and unpredictable, but it is rare that life throws us a complete U-turn, sending us in a completely different direction. It doesn’t happen often, but it happens. It matters how you steer through the curve.

When have you found your life headed in a radically new direction?

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“If ever we find the truth to be offensive, then we must be prepared to change what is true.”
―Duane Hewitt

What one truth would you change if you could?

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OK, usually signs of change don’t show up in something as literal as a neon sign. In fact, most signs of change are subtle as twigs changing color when it is not yet spring.

What tiny signs of change do you notice in your life?

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“When she transformed into a butterfly, the caterpillars spoke not of her beauty, but of her weirdness. They wanted her to change back into what she always had been. But she had wings.”
―Dean Jackson

When have you had to defy expectations in order to embrace your own change?

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It’s been a long time since I’ve posted. I’m now at Travis Air Force Base following officer training in May and June and chaplain college in August and September. I’m looking forward to my first real weekend off since May, with Cindy, soon. In my first four months of Air Force life I’ve been away three.

At Travis I’ve been assigned to the 60th Air Mobility Wing’s Maintenance Group, partly because I’m a former maintainer myself (aircraft inspection). There were two assumptions made in this assignment. First, that my old (very very old) maintenance badge gives me street cred with my five squadrons. This is totally true. This badge has a 75 percent success rate in opening up conversations. Second, that I’m good at fixing stuff. Because my training 20 years ago inspecting aircraft bits and pieces makes me a mechanic. Well, not so much, but we’ll roll with it. This second assumption led to my spending the weekend fixing the “Chap Rap” cart used for unit engagement along the two-mile flight line. We have C5s and C17s, so the ramp is HUGE.

I wish I could take a picture of the view from the garage. Lined up into the distant are the largest and most agile superheavy transports in the world.

The Chap Rap has been sitting in a bay for five years unused. How do I know this? Because the Little Debbie snack cakes in the back are dated “fresh until December 2013.” I’m here to say that Little Debbies are still yummy after five years on the shelf. Anyhow… I digress.

So here I am with this cart loaded with eight batteries completely melted together into one battery-acid fused mess. No, motor pool cannot help here. This is an “unassigned” asset or some such thing that means “fix it yourself chaps.”

Apparently, no chaplain in the last five years has been able to do so. Theological superpowers do not seem to be effective on exploded batteries.

14 hours later, new batteries installed, battery acid cleaned out, and the Chap Rap is ready for the new wiring harness that I’m ordering next week. Stay tuned for photos from the Chap Rap.

I should also share what I’m going to DO with the Chap Rap. Basically, drive around the flight line looking for maintenance personnel (since I am the MX chaplain). If I were the hospital/support/ops chaplain I’d, like, not do any of this and be boring. Anyhow, I drive up, offer some Little Debbies, Gatorade, Otterpops (really appreciated this time of year), coffee, whatever’s been donated, get a brief on what they’re doing (“so, tell me what you’re doing to that widget there”). See… here’s the deal. The chaplain drives up, it’s a free break. The commander wants me to do this stuff so when the $%!# hits the fan his/her folks know where to turn. Personnel want me to do this stuff because they get free breaks and goodies. (One never knows what’s going to be in the trunk of a Chap Rap, so it damn well better be good stuff.) Chaps love this stuff because we get to talk about airplanes and get to know the Airmen.

Sometimes it’s necessary to move a plant to a new pot in order to give it room to grow. It’s healthy in the long run, but quite the shock to the root system.

How has being transplanted into a new environment allowed you to grow?

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“Practice is the hardest part of learning, and training is the essence of transformation.”
―Ann Voskamp

What do you diligently practice?

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For a train, going “off the rails” in a totally new direction is a Very Bad Thing. Trains need to stay on their predetermined course. But they also need to switch tracks in an orderly fashion to get any variety in their destination at all. Careful, detailed planning might be just what we need to get and keep us on track.

How are you planning and organizing for change?

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“When you become the image of your own imagination, it’s the most powerful thing you could ever do.”
―RuPaul

What do you look like in the image of your imagination?

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Creating and navigating change is hard, even exhausting. When we are building new ways we may need to turn to new sources of energy, of strength, of courage in order to make it through.

What that is new to you offers you energy to keep moving forward?

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“O snail
Climb Mount Fuji
But slowly, slowly!”
― Kobayashi Issa

What have you accomplished over a long period of time?

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Some problems are overwhelming, and very possibly insurmountable. It’s a good thing that we generally don’t have to take on those problems by ourselves.

Who encourages you to persist?

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“We are made to persist.
that’s how we find out who we are.”
― Tobias Wolff

What has a challenging situation taught you about yourself?

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Persistence is not the same thing as grace under pressure or a good attitude or heroism. Persistence is hanging on, often because there simply is no other viable choice. You don’t have to be heroic to be strong.

In what aspect of your life are you hanging on?

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“The best way out is always through.”
― Robert Frost

What scary or intimidating path have you followed to the end?

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The world is a pretty overwhelming place these days, and it’s easy to feel like we’re drowning in a sea of bad news. The bad news is real. So are the bright sparks cast by all who are committed to living out love and justice.

What spark of love, justice, hope or joy is helping you to keep going right now?

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“Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.”
― James A. Michener

What aspects of your personality come out when things aren’t going well?

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We might say that someone’s outfit or hairstyle is “on point,” but those style achievements pale in comparison with the strength and tenacity involved in a ballerina dancing on pointe. Perhaps “on pointe” could go in the urban dictionary as “working hard enough at something difficult to make it look easy.”

Where do you see yourself or others being “on pointe”?

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The odds of getting to your destination are not determined by the speed of your transport—if you don’t know where you want to go or have a plan for getting there, a sports car will do you no good. If you do have a clear destination and a plan, the rate at which you travel is not so important.

What destination do you have a plan for, even if getting there will take time?

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“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”
― Maya Angelou

What helps you to find your courage?

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Which is more beautiful: the flower that dares to reach above the others and bloom, or those that remain tightly in bud? The answer, of course, is neither. They are all doing exactly what is right for themselves at this particular moment, and the ones in bud now will be flowering when the petals on the first one are wilting and falling away. Flowers don’t compete.

In what aspect of your life do you need reminding that you are right on time?

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“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
― Winston S. Churchill

What are you enthusiastic about in spite of obstacles or failure?

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The classic philosophy question asks what happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force? The evidence of rock and water suggests that the irresistible force will win, but not on any time scale that you can comprehend. Sheer determination may lose in the end, but it should hold you for a couple of million years.

What are you determined to stick out, even if you will lose in the end?

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“Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? Proving nature’s laws wrong, it learned to walk without having feet. Funny, it seems to by keeping it’s dreams; it learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else even cared.”
― Tupac Shakur

What example of persistence inspires you?

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There are times when stubborn determination is not such a great idea. Driving a train faster toward broken tracks is simply a recipe for disaster. Persistence is not staying on the track toward broken rails. Persistence is finding another way across the river.

When have you stayed the course by changing course?

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“The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.”
― Thomas A. Edison

What achievement are you proud of?

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Sometimes small acts can cast a surprisingly long shadow: kind words that are remembered, a little encouragement that builds confidence, a hand of support just when it is most needed.

What do you keep doing without seeing results, hoping that it will cast a long shadow?

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“You never know what’s around the corner. It could be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you’ve climbed a mountain.”
― Tom Hiddleston

What have you looked back at and been surprised that you accomplished?

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When you reach your ambitious goals, it matters that you take the time to admire the view and appreciate all you have accomplished. Of course, the path to your ambitious goals will be a lot nicer if you take time all the way along to appreciate the view from exactly where you are.

What does the view look like from this moment of your life?

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“First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won’t. Habit is persistence in practice.”
― Octavia E. Butler

What is a constructive habit that you have?

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Sure, you can accomplish amazing things out of your own determination and talent, not needing help from anyone to achieve your goals. But it’s sure a lot nicer when others are there to honor and appreciate what you have done.

What is one way you support another person to achieve their goal?

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“Art consists of the persistence of memory.”
― Stephen King

What piece of art holds an important memory for you?

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So, what am I supposed to do now? Whatever it takes. It’s a supremely unhelpful piece of advice. It’s also unarguably true. Unfortunately, we rarely know at the beginning of any major undertaking exactly what will be required of us. Only that we’ll have to keep figuring it out as we go along.

What have you done because the occasion demanded it that you didn’t know you could do?

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“When I face the desolate impossibility of writing five hundred pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. Then gradually, I write one page and then another. One day’s work is all I can permit myself to contemplate.”
― John Steinbeck

What one thing will you accomplish today?

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Sometimes the only way you know something is possible is through the evidence left behind by people who have done it before.

What have you been inspired to proceed with because of someone else’s example?

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“Do not sit still; start moving now. In the beginning, you may not go in the direction you want, but as long as you are moving, you are creating alternatives and possibilities.”
― Rodolfo Costa

What helps to get you unstuck?

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“The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is, that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t.”
― Henry Ward Beecher

How do you recognize when you are just being stubborn?

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Do not believe this for a moment. “Go up and never stop” is terrible advice. When you need to, stop and rest. If the path takes you down the hill, don’t assume you aren’t still headed toward the peak. We could use more signs that say “Resting is Part of the Process” and “There is no Final Destination.”

What bit of advice for the journey would you put on a sign?

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“Everything passes, but nothing entirely goes away.”
― Jenny Diski

Who continues to influence your life, although they are no longer living?

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“We’re all immortal, as long as our stories are told.”
―Elizabeth Hunter

What story do you hope will be told about you after you have died?

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Some friendships or groups of friends endure across generations, providing a kind of family that sustains and enlivens us across the years.

What friendships have sustained you across generations?

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“The songs of our ancestors are also the songs of our children”
―Philip Carr-Gomm

What song or family tradition have you passed on to another generation?

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Families, communities, even nations, have “skeletons in the closet,” uncomfortable truths about their history that they work hard to avoid addressing for fear of the pain and shame that will be revealed. The harder we try to forget these skeletons, the more they haunt us.

When have you told the truth about a skeleton in the closet?

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“No one can be free who has a thousand ancestors.”
―L.M. Montgomery

How are you constrained by your ancestry?

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Memory is a magic box, from which we can pull out thousands of images, feelings and experiences. Some of those memories actually happened to us. Some we know only through stories, but are still vivid to us in the magic box of memories.

What can you recall vividly, although it never happened to you?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

“Our ancestors have invented, we can at least innovate.”
―Amit Kalantri

What new have you brought to the world?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

“We’re all ghosts. We all carry, inside us, people who came before us.”
―Liam Callanan

Who are you aware of carrying inside you?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

“I write to keep in contact with our ancestors and to spread truth to people.”
―Sonia Sanchez

What do you write and why?

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“We cannot shake off three hundred years of fear in three hours.”
―Richard Wright

What fear do you carry from your ancestors?

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“Forge your path. Crack your ancestors wide open. By any means necessary, unearth your roots.”
―Gabby Rivera

How have you defied your ancestors?

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They say that elephants never forget, but the time may come within this generation that elephants are only a memory.

What would you particularly like to preserve in memory for those who have yet to be born?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

In the course of lives and generations some things are lost, some things are gained, some are deliberately let go and some things just kind of fall by the wayside, abandoned without a great deal of thought as to what might be missed.

What tradition, knowledge or possession from your family history to you wish you still had access to?

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“No self is of itself alone. It has a long chain of intellectual ancestors. The “I” is chained to ancestry by many factors…. This is not mere allegory, but an eternal memory.”
―Erwin Schrödinger

Who are intellectual ancestors who have shaped you with their ideas?

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Thousands of years ago our distant ancestors created vivid, beautiful paintings of the world they lived in—pictures which still carry an incredible vibrancy to this day. We humans are art-making creatures.

What artwork feels like it connects your soul to a time gone by?

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Everything can shift in a moment—not just the moment of the catastrophic earthquake, but also the moment of insight or inspiration, the moment the pieces fall into place, the moment you decide, the moment friendship turns into love. From the outside, most of those moments look like nothing in particular.

When was a moment that your life shifted, although no one could tell but you?

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“We share a common ancestor with chimps that is not shared by mandrills, we share a common ancestor with mandrills that is not shared by bushbabies, and on and on and on, to the ancestor we share with nematode worms that is not shared with oak trees.”
―Simon Barnes

How do you experience connection to non-human ancestors?

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We are on the move. That’s all you need to know. Maybe we’re hunting, maybe we’re not. All you need to know is that we’re moving. And you should probably stand back.

Whose presence makes you feel more powerful?

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In the children’s book Charlotte’s Web, the spider, Charlotte, weaves the words “some pig” into her web, describing her friend Wilbur. Another of the words she painstakingly weaves is “humble.” Being humble and impressive are not mutually exclusive.

Who do you admire for their ability to be both humble and impressive?

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The Chanukah candles are traditionally displayed in a window, letting their light shine out for all to see. Their beauty and their testament to courage and the possibility of miracles are meant to be shared.

How do you let your light shine?

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“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow[s]; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”
― Ernest Hemingway

In what ways do you feel you are better than who you used to be?

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Most of our lives, it seems, are spent in the in-between places—not accomplishing amazing things, but waiting for the train, or for the email to be returned or for the kids to be done with piano lessons. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. After all, even atoms are mostly made up of the space between their component parts.

How do you like to pass the time?

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We tend to talk of someone’s “meteoric rise” as a vault from obscurity to great heights. But the phrase implies an equally rapid fall. Far better to rise like an airplane or a rocket, with a plan for how you will get down again.

When things are going great, how do you prepare for when times will not be so good?

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“Humility is nothing but truth, and pride is nothing but lying.”
― St. Vincent de Paul

When has arrogance led you to lie to yourself?

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“Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.”
― Ann Landers

How does a relationship with a pet affect your self-esteem?

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Ramshackle and precarious, or prime waterfront property? The answer, of course, is both. The humble and the grand don’t live at opposite poles, but rather as facets that can be side by side on the same diamond, however rough.

Where do you see the humble and the grand side by side, or layered one over the other?

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“The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.”
― Winston S. Churchill

When has someone surprised you by being right?

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“Humility is throwing oneself away in complete concentration on something or someone else.”
― Madeleine L’Engle

What captivates your entire attention?

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“To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin

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One of the most straight-forward ways to make sense of a chaotic world is to make lists. It may not give you control, but at least it gives you a way to keep track of what it is you don’t have control over.

What sort of lists do you find helpful?

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“I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader.”
― Lao Tzu

What three values are precious to you?

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“The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet it is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: Small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien

What example of “small hands” moving the wheels of the world inspires you?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!