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Grateful Gathering at The Mountain

By: communication

Rethinking Thanksgiving Traditions: A Grateful Gathering
The prolonged challenges of Covid have led many individuals and organizations to examine their core values. Consideration of what is most important evokes fundamental life-style changes, moving toward living in harmony. 
 
At The Mountain, striving to live our core values, we are examining roles and responsibilities related to Thanksgiving traditions. Please join us for a Grateful Gathering, a long weekend event Wednesday, Nov. 24 through Sunday, Nov. 28. This intergenerational event will include activities like making corn husk dolls, and shared meals featuring traditional, locally farmed, and ethically-sourced-food. Learn more and register here.

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My Testimony on Exclusionary Zoning in the US and What to Do About It

By: Beacon Broadside

By Sheryll Cashin

Sheryll Cashin

On October 15, 2021, at the invitation of Congresswoman Maxine Waters (yes, the Maxine Waters!), law professor and acclaimed author Sheryll Cashin testified before the Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development, and Insurance on Friday at noon about exclusionary zoning and what to do about it. She led with her book, White Space, Black Hood, and her theory of residential caste. She submitted the following testimony that is now part of the Congressional record.

~~~

Good afternoon. As a law professor, author, and former White House staffer in the Clinton Administration, I have spent nearly three decades grappling with the issue of US residential segregation—its origins, persistence, and calamitous effects in producing racial and economic inequality. My most recent book, White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality, reflects these decades of examination and analysis. It argues that we have a system of residential caste, in which government over-invests and excludes in affluent white spaces, and disinvests, contains, and preys on people in high-poverty Black neighborhoods. These are the extremes of American residential caste. But everyone who cannot afford to buy their way into high-opportunity neighborhoods is harmed by this system. People of all colors who are trapped in concentrated poverty are harmed the most. They are systemically denied meaningful opportunity for social mobility, no matter how hard they work to escape. In the book, I show that residential caste is animated by three anti-Black processes: boundary maintenance, opportunity hoarding, and stereotype-driven surveillance.

Boundary maintenance is a polite phrase for intentional state action to create or maintain racial segregation. The dominant response to at least six million Black “Great migrants” moving north and west to escape Jim Crow in the twentieth century was to contain them in densely populated Black neighborhoods and to cut those neighborhoods off from essential public and private investment that was and is regularly rained down on majority white areas. In addition to racially-restrictive covenants, mob violence, mortgage redlining, and racial discrimination in housing sales and rentals, exclusionary zoning was a key tool for creating and insulating predominantly white neighborhoods. Exclusionary zoning was first sanctioned by the US Supreme Court in 1926 in the case of Village of Euclid v. Amber Realty. The Court explicitly endorsed the idea that certain uses of land, like duplexes, were “parasitic” on single-family homes and the people who lived there. In ensuing decades, thousands of new suburban governments would form, enabling middle- and upper-class whites to wield the zoning power to exclude certain types of housing, particularly rental apartments, and therefore exclude unwelcome populations. Fast-forward to today and where high levels of Black segregation persist, researchers have found that it was actively promoted by zoning laws that restricted density and by high levels of anti-Black prejudice, particularly in places with large numbers of Blacks with lower incomes and education levels than most whites. And, according to a stunning, geographically mapped analysis produced by the New York Times, “[i]t is illegal on 75 percent of the residential land in many American cities to build anything other than a detached single-family home” (emphasis added). That figure is even higher in many suburbs and newer Sun Belt cities.

This hearing is about exclusionary zoning, which necessarily concerns local zoning power. But it is important to recognize the singular, outsized role of the federal government in creating and continuing America’s separate and unequal residential landscape. The federal government mandated redlining, marking Black neighborhoods as “hazardous” and cutting Black residents out of its largest wealthy building subsidies (HOLC, FHA, and Veterans Administration-insured mortgage lending). The federal government, through its mortgage underwriting rules, insisted that lenders insert racially restrictive covenants in deeds. The federal government spent billions for “urban renewal” to displace Black occupied housing and paid cities to build high-rise public housing that intentionally placed Black and white tenants in separate and unequal housing projects. These policies created iconic Black “ghettos” that exacerbated white flight and resistance to having Black neighbors. The federal government paid for and acquiesced in an interstate highway program laid to create racial barriers in cities and facilitate easy exit from cities to majority white suburbs. (For a detailed overview of this federal history see Sheryll Cashin, The Failures of Integration: How Race and Class are Undermining the American Dream, Chapter Three.)

The federal government still invests in segregation. To date, George Romney, Sen. Mitt Romney’s father, is the only HUD secretary to have pressured and penalized communities for exclusionary zoning laws and for refusing to build affordable, non-segregated housing. For decades, both HUD and local governments regularly violated the Fair Housing Act of 1968 requirement that communities “affirmatively further” fair housing. For decades, HUD has distributed about $5.5 billion annually in grants for community development, parceled among more than 1,000 local jurisdictions nationwide, with no meaningful accountability for promoting inclusive, integrated housing. The federal government also continues to concentrate poverty through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, its largest subsidy for affordable housing. Each year, the LIHTC funnels about $10 billion for affordable housing construction, and only seventeen percent of those units get built in high-opportunity neighborhoods with high-performing schools, low crime, and easy access to jobs. That keeps Americans who need affordable housing concentrated in the same low-opportunity areas.

This history and present of federally-backed segregation inform the legal and moral case for congressional action to disrupt exclusionary zoning and residential caste. Intentional segregation of Black people in the twentieth century shaped development and living patterns for everyone and put in place an infrastructure for promoting and maintaining segregation that lives on. Racial steering by realtors who nudge homebuyers into segregated spaces; discrimination in mortgage lending; exclusionary zoning; a government-subsidized affordable housing industrial complex that concentrates poverty, local school boundaries that encourage segregation; plus continued resistance to integration by many but not all white Americans—all are forms of racial boundary maintenance today.

The negative effects of systemic exclusion are clear. As demonstrated by Harvard economist Raj Chetty and others, segregated communities tend to rate low on social mobility for poor children. And the gap in life expectancy between Blacks and whites in very segregated cities can rise to more than twenty years because of increased exposure to trauma, lead poisoning, allergens in poor-quality housing, fast-food “swamps,” and healthy-food deserts. Meanwhile, residents of exclusionary affluent spaces rise on the benefits of concentrated advantages, from excellent schools and infrastructure to job-rich social networks to easily accessible healthy food. Less understood is the fact that the government-created segregation facilitates poverty-free affluent white space by concentrating poverty elsewhere.

In considering policy options that Congress might pursue, it is important to acknowledge that the main reason exclusionary zoning persists is the vested interests and expectations of people who live in poverty-free havens. Government at all levels has catered to these expectations. And again, another reason for persistent exclusion, at least in some places, is high levels of anti-Black prejudice. In California, a so-called blue state where ostensibly liberal Democrats are in charge, despite a grave housing crisis and abundant problems with homelessness, the state was only able to take the baby step of opening single-family neighborhoods to duplexes. So, if Congress wants to disrupt a near century of exclusionary zoning, serious pressure and accountability are required. Congress and the executive branch also must atone for the federal legacy of promoting segregation.

It bears remembering that, in the face of Southern massive resistance to school integration, school districts did not begin to desegregate with alacrity until the Johnson Administration threatened to withhold federal education funds pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (or they were ordered to do so by a federal court). I recommend not just spending incentives to deregulate or repeal exclusionary zoning ordinances but serious pressure on localities to adopt locally designed inclusionary zoning ordinances—like the highly successful mandatory ordinance Montgomery County, Maryland, has had in place for five decades. Because Montgomery County requires that all new development above a certain size include affordable units and sets aside some of those new units for residents of public housing, this extremely diverse, wealthy suburban county has no pockets of concentrated poverty, and poor children have more access to integrated, well-resourced schools.

In conclusion, I recommend that federal housing and community development and infrastructure funds should be conditioned on localities adopting inclusionary zoning ordinances and/or actually “affirmatively furthering fair housing.”

~~~

Watch Sheryll Cashin give her testimony.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwsnvsvZirU?start=930]

 

About the Author 

Sheryll Cashin is an acclaimed author who writes about the US struggle with racism and inequality. Her books have been nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Nonfiction, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Nonfiction, and an Editors’ Choice in the New York Times Book Review. Cashin is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law, Civil Rights and Social Justice at Georgetown University and an active member of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council. A law clerk to US Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, Cashin also worked in the Clinton White House as an advisor on community development in inner-city neighborhoods. She is a contributing editor for Politico Magazine and currently resides in Washington, DC, with her husband and twin sons. Follow her at sheryllcashin.com and on Twitter (@sheryllcashin).

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Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Oct. 26th

By: Kristin Cleveland
Dear UUSS~
We are working from our office at the church for the first time in many months. The Hans Groot Kill that runs along the side of the church is running quite high with all the rain and run-off. We came in, in part, to see if we can lead worship from the Great Hall via Zoom this coming Sunday. Yesterday, Dick Westergard and Stefano Manzinello worked to hard wire internet into the circle, so that when there are more people in-person, inside, we will have enough bandwidth to support multi-platform worship. While they ran into some difficulties, they will hopefully try again later this week. We do think there is enough bandwidth for us and the tech staff who will need to be onsite, so we are moving forward with plans for Sunday.
With care, and in faith~
Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy

The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Oct. 26th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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RE This Week – Oct. 26th

By: Kristin Cleveland
If you haven’t already registered your Child or Youth for this year’s religious education program, please do so ASAP by Clicking HERE.
Upcoming RE Classes:
K-6 Experiences with the Web of Life:
These nature lovers will meet again this Sunday morning, 10/31, from 9:30-10:15. Halloween costumes are welcome! Keep an eye out for a piece of mail for all registered children in this group.
7/8 The Fifth Dimension:
Their next meeting is Sunday morning, 11/7, from 9:15-10:15. Come, join The Fifth Dimension for some Twilight Zone fun!
8/9 OWL:
This group will NOT meet this coming Sunday. Their next meeting is Sunday evening, 11/7, from 7-9.
Senior Youth (grades 9-12):
Our next meeting is this Sunday, 10/31, at noon.

The post RE This Week – Oct. 26th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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October Theme – Cultivating Compassion

By: Kristin Cleveland

The 14th Dalai Lama suggests that “True compassion is not just an emotional response but a firm commitment founded on reason.” His Holiness teaches that the heart of compassion is to genuinely want for an end to suffering for all sentient beings. Many of the world’s respected religious paths have compassion as a tenet. We’ll explore some of these teachings this month.

The post October Theme – Cultivating Compassion appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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COVID-19 Impact Update

By: Kristin Cleveland
As many of you have read in our various updates, along with local positivity and hospitalization rates, one of the barriers to large-group gatherings in our church building is the air exchange rate that is rather low (1.5hrs for 1 full exchange). Randy Jennings, has continued to do some research which the COVID Prevention and Response Team will discuss this week. We will continue to experiment as we try new things and learn. We have been using CovidActNow.org to see the ranking in Schenectady County. As of today, it is still ‘very high’ which means we are is still in phase 3. (see chart below)
As we begin to engage with the AFoM, we will continue to imagine and experiment with worship and other ministries of the congregation. Keep watching Circuits for ongoing updates. -Rev. Lynn and Rev. Wendy

The post COVID-19 Impact Update appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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New Annual Focus of Ministry

By: Kristin Cleveland
The Board of Trustees has worked hard to create a new Annual Focus of Ministry (AFoM), which they delegate to the Co-minsters. The Co-ministers work with the Staff and the Ministry Teams, in particular, to engage with it. Everyone who is connected with the congregation are also invited to engage with it. Here it is:
Our Annual Focus of Ministry invites all of us to open our hearts to the unfolding future that wants to emerge.
We will embrace change.
We will imagine and experiment with ways to weave connections through our shared ministry with love, service, and care.

The post New Annual Focus of Ministry appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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Important Resource

By: Kristin Cleveland

On July 16, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules to establish 988 as the new, nationwide, three-digit phone number for Americans in crisis to connect with suicide prevention and mental health crisis counselors. If you or someone you know is struggling right now, share this number so you and/or they can get the support you/they need.

– With care, Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn

The post Important Resource appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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Nominations for Joe & Joan Moore Award

By: communication

Rev Diane Dowgiert is accepting nominations for the Joan and Joe Moore Award.  Details on the criteria for nominations (which include work at the Regional and Denominational level) and the nomination submissions form can be found here.

We accept nominations for this prestigious award until December 1.

 

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Healing

By: clfuu

“We pray for any among us who have not yet discovered
our own power to bless the world.
We pray to find the courage and grace
to move one step closer to healing, and to the sacred potential of our lives.
We pray for strength, grateful for all that is not lost,
for the ever-renewing powers of life,
for our chance to play our part in this life
we have been given to share with one another.”
-John and Sarah Gibb Milspaugh

Find the courage and grace to move closer to healing today.

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NOAH Public Meeting Recap

By: communication

On Oct. 17, NOAH held its annual public meeting. Well over 500 people were a part of the event. Mayor Cooper was in attendance and made commitments to each of NOAH’s 4 Task Forces. Also in attendance and making commitments to the Nashville community: school board representative as well as some of Nashville’s judges. Thank you to everyone who attended.

In case you missed the meeting, you may watch a video of the meeting on YouTube here

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Essential

By: UCLA Guest Speaker

What is essential to living a good life? What non-essentials continue to receive our energy and time? In this historical moment filled with ambiguity, unknowns, and endless distractions, it’s time to ground ourselves in the essentials. Join Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink for a reflection on what really matters.

The Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink serves as Assistant Minister at Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins, Colorado. Prior to this, she served both in congregations and as a chaplain in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Charleston, South Carolina. Elaine enjoys hiking and biking in Northern Colorado with her two young children and her husband, Jason, who grew up in the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos.

SERVICE NOTES

WELCOME!

New to our church community? Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.
For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 
Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos
If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our Virtual Prayer Book.
Have questions? While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at office@uulosalamos.org.

MUSIC CREDITS

  • “Butterfly” from Lyric Pieces, Op. 43, no. 1 by Edvard Grieg.  (Tate Plohr, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.“Om Mani Padme Hum” (ancient Sanskrit mantra) with “Amazing Grace” (words: John Newton, music: Columbian Harmony, 1829) and “‘Tis a Gift to Be Simple” (words: Joseph Bracket, music: American Shaker tune). Arrangement, audio production, and video production by Christopher Watkins Lamb.  Songs Public Domain, arrangement and video used by permission of Foothills Unitarian Church, Fort Collins, CO.
  • “Meditation on Breathing” by Sarah Dan Jones. Music recorded by Rev. Christopher Watkins Lamb with piano from Dyane Rogelstad.  Filmed and edited by Rev. Christopher Watkins Lamb.  Song used by permission of the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association).  Video used by permission of Foothills Unitarian Church, Fort Collins, CO.
  • “Notturno” from Lyric Pieces, Op. 54, no. 4 by Edvard Grieg.  (Tate Plohr, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.
  • Promenade from Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky.  (JeeYeon Plohr, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission. 
  • “The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission.

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

OTHER NOTES

*“The Frog Prince,” by Chris Buice (used with permission)

Benediction by Jan Richardson from The Painted Prayerbook (janrichardson.com) (used with permission)

*permission granted through the UUA

OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for October is the Roadrunner Food Bank. 

100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.

We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering: https://giv.li/5jtcps

SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

  • Rev. Elaine Aron-Tenbrink, Guest Speaker
  • Rev. Gretchen Haley, Guest Speaker 
  • Patrick Webb and Anne Marsh, Worship Associates
  • Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
  • Tate Plohr, piano
  • JeeYeon Plohr, piano
  • UU Virtual Singers: Alissa Grissom, Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn, with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar  
  • Renae Mitchell, Mike Begnaud, and Rick Bolton, AV techs

Attached media: https://web.archive.org/web/20211111042918/https://www.uulosalamos.org/ucla/pulpit/2021/20211024-Essential.mp3

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Encourage

By: clfuu

“Grant us a measure of your…peace; fill us, each, with hope and good cheer; and grant that each one be surrounded by [love, and]… we pray that you speak a word of encouragement and grace to every human heart.”
-Tom Schade

What encouragement does your heart need to hear today? How can you find that?

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Jaie Tiefenbrunn Resigns

By: communication

Congregational Notice
Dear FUUN Congregants,

jaie 2019I am sorry to let you know that our Director of Music Ministries, Jaie Tiefenbrunn, has resigned. Jaie’s last day of work will be Dec. 24th at the Christmas Eve service. Her music has been a source of joy and healing during this time of illness and difficulty. She will be sorely missed. If you have a chance, let her know how she has touched your life during her service here.

We will be starting a search for her successor in the near future.

On a happier note, we have interviewed several highly qualified applicants for the job of Office Administrator and will be making a hiring decision before the end of the week.

Mike Bolds,
President, Board of Directors
president@thefuun.org

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October Is the New December, So Start Your Holiday Book Hunting Now

By: Beacon Broadside

Holiday gifts

You’ve heard the news. Now’s the time to jump on your holiday book buying. Supply chain delays are affecting many industries, including the book industry. Some new books you’ve been waiting for may not make it to bookstores in time for the holiday, and hot sellers may be sold out by December and not reprinted in time. On top of that, what’s thrown a wrench into the works is—wait for it—the pandemic. Who saw that plot twist coming? (We’d probably be in less of this mess if everyone got vaccinated, but hey, let’s not digress.) So, gifts you would typically start buying in December may not be available. That’s why we, along with your favorite authors and bookstores, are recommending that you get started now if you haven’t already while bookstores are stocked up with your favorite titles.

October is the new December. Trust us: This is not like seeing Christmas decorations in retail stores in before Halloween.

We’re starting you off with some selections for the season from our catalog. Take a look!

~~~

Breathe

Breathe: A Letter to My Sons
Imani Perry

Breathe is what is says it is, a letter from a mother to her sons, but it is more than that. It’s a meditation on child-rearing, world-building, fire-starting, and peace-building. Imani Perry combines rigor and heart, and the result is a magic mirror showing us who we are, how we got here, and who we may become.”
—Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage

 

Dance We Do

Dance We Do: A Poet Explores Black Dance
Ntozake Shange

“A gorgeous last offering from one of our most gifted and multifaceted artists. Her passion for dance, just like her passion for words, is among the many reasons she will be missed, though these insightful interviews, ruminations, and reflections will continue to be a balm, across generations, from her to us.”
—Edwidge Danticat, author of Everything Inside

 

How to Love a Country

How to Love a Country: Poems
Richard Blanco

“This clear-seeing and forthright volume marks Blanco as a major, deeply relevant poet.”
Booklist, Starred Review

 

Man's Search for Meaning

Man’s Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl

“This is a book I reread a lot . . . it gives me hope . . . it gives me a sense of strength.”
—Anderson Cooper, Anderson Cooper 360/CNN

 

One Drop

One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race
Yaba Blay

One Drop presents a nuanced exploration of racial identity that serves as a practical guide for thinking critically about what it means to be Black in the twenty-first century.”
—Tarana J. Burke, author, activist, and founder of the MeToo movement

 

Owls and Other Fantasies

Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays
Mary Oliver

“Oliver has gained enormous popularity in recent years for the accessible yet highly articulate and profound treatment she gives each poem . . . This title will bring much pleasure to the many readers who claim Oliver as their favorite poet, as well as to people new to her work.”
Library Journal

 

Palmares

Palmares
Gayl Jones

“This story shimmers. Shakes. Wails. Moves to rhythms long forgotten . . . in many ways: holy. [A] masterpiece.”
The New York Times Book Review

 

The Price of the Ticket

The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction: 1948-1985
James Baldwin

“With burning passion and jabbing, epigrammatic acuity, Baldwin fearlessly articulates issues of race, democracy, and American identity.”
—Toni Morrison

 

Prophet Against Slavery

Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, a Graphic Novel
David Lester with Marcus Rediker and Paul Buhle

“David Lester’s raw, expressive visual approach perfectly delivers. Prophet Against Slavery is a crucial account of abolitionism’s religious framework, its courage and moral clarity often recast as sin or insanity, and the necessity of taking outside risks in pursuit of justice and equality.”
—Nate Powell, National Book Award–winning artist of the March trilogy about US congressman John Lewis

 

The Radiant Lives of Animals

The Radiant Lives of Animals
Linda Hogan

“Linda Hogan’s work is rooted in truth and mystery.”
—Louise Erdrich

 

A Treasury of African American Christmas Stories

A Treasury of African American Christmas Stories
Compiled and edited by Bettye Collier-Thomas

“Here was a veritable who’s who of Black writers, whose powerful stories and poems ran the gamut of literary expressions—from the tragic to the comic, fables to romance. A book for all seasons, these stories are bound to amuse, educate, and inspire all kids, from one to ninety-two.”
—Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams

 

Until I Am Free

Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America
Keisha N. Blain

“[A] riveting and timely exploration of Hamer’s life. . . . Brilliantly constructed to be both forward and backward looking, Blain’s book functions simultaneously as a much needed history lesson and an indispensable guide for modern activists.”
New York Times Book Review

~~~

Here’s what you can do as we get through this season.

  1. See something you’d like a loved one to have? Buy it now!
  2. If you aren’t too blitzed by Zoom fatigue and working remotely, consider buying it as an e-book or audiobook.
  3. Are your eyes set on a title that’s not coming out for another few months? Smash that preorder button now! Your authors and indie bookstores will love you and appreciate you for this.

Which brings us to the next point. Speaking of indies, we need to really show up for them and for venues like Bookshop, Indiebound, and our personal favorite, InSpirt UU Book and Gift Shop. Publishing delays are likely to hit them harder than large chain bookstores. Holiday season keeps indies afloat during the slower seasons. The pandemic hasn’t made this any easier for them.

We’re all in this together. We thank you, your authors thank you, and your indie bookstores thank you.

Holiday gifts

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Forgive

By: clfuu

“O God, your love is unimposing
Yet firm and steadfast,
Present to all those who would know your peace.
You challenge me in my arrogance and
Move me to listen deeply when I fail—
As I always do—to see the fuller picture.”
-Alex Jensen

Listen deeply today to learn what you need to forgive and be forgiven. What is it you need to hear?

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Asking

By: clfuu

“The prayer of our souls is a petition for persistence; not for the one good deed, or single thought, but deed on deed, and thought on thought, until day calling unto day shall make a life worth living.” -W.E.B. DuBois

What is the prayer of your soul persisting in order to do? How are you called to make a life worth living?

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Sunday, October 24 ~ Cultivating Relationship with Nature ~ 10:30 a.m.

By: Christine

nature relationship

Sunday, October 24, 10:30 a.m.
Cultivating Relationship with Nature
An Online Service with Rev. Stephen Shick

 

Covid has given many of us both the need and the desire to “go out into nature.” The more you cultivate your relationship with all creatures and plants living on earth the more you begin to realize you can’t   [ … ]

The post Sunday, October 24 ~ Cultivating Relationship with Nature ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

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Mid-Week Message, 10-20-21

By: communication

Mid-week Message

from the Developmental Lead Minister 

Oct. 20, 2021

headshot 080221

“There is in every person an inward sea . . .”   -Howard Thurman

Howard Thurman, the African American minister who co-founded San Francisco’s Church of the Fellowship of All Peoples, often used the image of the inward sea when talking about the journey every person takes to discover the purpose for their existence. The inward sea is accessed through stillness and silence, setting aside the busyness and noisiness of the outer world. Within the inward sea are waves of thought and emotion that we can learn to surf like waves in the ocean. At the center of the sea, there is an island and on the island is an altar. The altar is guarded by an angel with a flaming sword. According to Thurman, “Nothing can get by that angel to be placed upon that altar unless it has the mark of your inner authority.”

These days, we’ve all been riding waves of change. It’s been a time when many have re-evaluated their priorities. The world of work is changing dramatically as a result. Across the country, workers are not returning to low-paying jobs in stressful and unsafe conditions. Others are rethinking their long and expensive commutes to and from the workplace – and other activities – everything from how we shop to how we eat to how we learn to how we meet to how we play to how we worship.

After these long months of disruption, all the pieces of our lives are on the table for reconsideration. It’s like everything we do must first get by the angel with the flaming sword, which to my way of thinking, is a good thing. It’s an invitation to mindfulness and conscious awareness of who we are and what our lives are for, consciously choosing what gets placed upon the altar of our finite existence.

My questions for you, my friends, are these: In these tumultuous times, how is it with your inward sea? What helps you to ride the waves of change? What in your life will get by the angel with the flaming sword? What will ultimately make it to your altar?

Though the inward journey is taken alone, the church exists to support the journey.

 
Yours in shared ministry,
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Transcendence

By: clfuu

Prayers can also be doorways to different states of being, such as the ecstatic union with God felt by some mystics or the overwhelming feeling of the divine everywhere described by transcendentalists.

Have you ever felt that your being was one with a larger entity, a holiness that some might call God? What gave you that feeling?

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Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Oct. 19th

By: Kristin Cleveland
Dear UUSS~
For the past few weeks we’ve talked and written about compassion… how it is part of many of the world’s religions, and we might practice compassion for ourselves, our loved ones, our neighbors, and even those who we find challenging.
Today, we have been thinking about reports of increasing harshness in interactions, and the communal cost of a lack of compassion. Customers yelling at staff in restaurants, patients becoming angry when trying to schedule a medical appointment that is months out, or parents berating teachers when they learn that their child will, again, need to quarantine.
Frustration grows. The onslaught of losses that are continuing to compile during this time are wearing people’s patience thin. This month’s theme reminds us we can choose to breathe, and respond with compassion. Compassion invites us to begin with ourselves, to notice when we are feeling impatient, worried, overwhelmed, or afraid. Rather than lashing out, a practice of compassion invites us to notice how others are likely doing their best, often in difficult circumstances. We can name our frustration, without misplacing blame. In our families, we can create agreements around how we might help remind one another to practice compassion.
We can help build and/or restore communal compassion acts by practicing kindness and care whenever possible, by inviting one another-even strangers, to breathe, and by sharing stories of compassion and care. It’s important and faithful work that we UUs can make an impact.
In faith~
Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy

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RE This Week – Oct. 19th

By: Kristin Cleveland
Registration: If you haven’t already registered your Child or Youth for RE CLICK HERE!
Upcoming RE Classes:
K-6 Experiences with the Web of Life: These nature lovers will meet again Sunday morning, 10/31, from 9:30-10:15. Halloween costumes are welcome! Keep an eye out for a piece of mail for all registered children in this group. The terrific teachers for this class are Joel Best, Ed Kautz, Sharon MacNeil, and Dyana Warnock.
7/8 The Fifth Dimension: Their next meeting is Sunday, 10/31, from 9:15-10:15 am. Come, join terrific teachers Courtney Barber and Alexandria Onderdonk-Milne for some Twilight Zone fun!
8/9 OWL: This group will meet again this coming Sunday, 10/24, from 7-9 pm. Their fabulous facilitators are Randy Jennings, Sarah Tyo, and Donald Whisenhunt.
Senior Youth (grades 9-12): Our next meeting is this Sunday, 10/24, at noon. My awesome co-advisors are Mark Hyland and Aaron Tyo. ?

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Reading the Tao – Wednesdays at 6:00 pm

By: Kristin Cleveland

Rev. Joe Cleveland, minister in Saratoga Springs, invites UUSS to join him in Reading the Tao, held every Wednesday. They meet at 6:00 pm and each session will be no longer than an hour. During these gatherings, Rev. Joe reads one verse of the Tao te Ching in several translations. Those gathered meditate on and discuss the insights found there. – Robin Ahearn, Director of Lifespan Religious Education

by phone, call 1-646-668-8656
Meeting ID: 943 0832 4290
passkey: 518624

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BIPOC Book Group Read – October 27th

By: Kristin Cleveland
Out of My Mind: A Quirky Look At Life Through Poetry, by local activist and poet Miki Conn, is the next book group choice for a read and discussion.
On Wednesday, October 27th at 6:30 pm, author Miki Conn will be joining us at 7 pm for the discussion. We are lucky UUs!
The Open Door Bookstore has a few copies and I invited them to order a few more for our book discussion. Please help us support our local black authors! If you would like the link for the October 27th online discussion, or if you have questions or book suggestions, contact Kat Wolfram kmwolfram@gmail.com or (518) 322.6628.
Read on!

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TN Interfaith Power & Light, Oct. Climate Academy, Oct. 23 on Zoom

By: communication
Climate Academy on Zoom
FUUN is a member of Tennessee Interfaith Power & Light (TIPL) – a faith partner.  Partners pledge to support the mission of TIPL, to stand with TIPL in support of effective Earth / life protection policies, and to identify a contact within the faith group to help spread the word of TIPL activities through our regular communications. In return, TIPL connects faith partners with resources to learn more about sustainable living practices and to offer opportunities to witness support for effective Earth / life protection policies.

Join us for Tennessee Interfaith Power & Light’s October Climate Academy on Saturday, Oct. 23, 9 a.m.  This Climate Academy will focus on what the new IPCC Report tells us about the urgency of the climate crisis. It will also focus on the potential worldwide response at COP 26 – the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

This climate academy will be presented by Daniel Joranko, Ph.D – Statewide Coordinator of Tennessee Interfaith Power and Light. It is free to attend this Zoom webinar. You can register by clicking on the button below. Once you register, you’ll receive a confirmation email that provides you with a zoom link. This zoom link will be emailed again to you on the morning of the presentation.
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Letting Go

By: UCLA Guest Speaker

We all know that endings and beginnings are a part of life, and yet change often leaves us with feelings of grief and loss. Join me in exploring the complexity of emotions that comes with times of transition and change.

Our prior guest speaker, Jenny McCready was married in August and returns to our pulpit today with a new last name, Jenny Amstutz. Jenny is currently serving as the minister of a small church in Littleton, Colorado, Columbine Unitarian Universalist Church, where she serves part time. Her part time schedule allows her to return to our pulpit. Jenny is the mother of five, ages 21 to 8 years and lives in Lakewood, Colorado, with her new husband Jason and a menagerie of pets. She is grateful to continue to be a visiting presence in our church and looks forward to a continued relationship with UCLA.

SERVICE NOTES

WELCOME!

New to our church community? Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.
For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 
Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos
If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our Virtual Prayer Book.
Have questions? While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at office@uulosalamos.org.

MUSIC CREDITS

  • “It Is Well with My Soul” by Philip P. Bliss, arranged by Mark Hayes. (Yelena Mealy, piano). Permission to stream the arrangement in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
  • “For All That Is Our Life,” words: Bruce Findlow, music: Patrick L. Rickey. Piano and singing by Jess Huetteman. Video used by permission of Jess Huetteman, song used by permission of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).  
  • “Find a Stillness,” words: Carol G. Seaburg, music: Transylvania hymn tune, harm. Larry Phillips.  (Nylea Butler-Moore, piano).  Used by permission of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).  
  • “Open the Window” by Elise Witt, inspired by the Georgia Sea Islands spiritual “Heist the Window, Noah.” (Tina DeYoe & Nylea Butler-Moore, vocals; Eric Schaller, cajon.) Permission to stream ASCAP song #150066363 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.
  • “Landslide” by Stevie Nicks.  (Tina De Yoe, vocals & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Permission to stream BMI song #420196809 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.
  • “My Favorite Things” (from The Sound of Music) by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein. (Tina DeYoe, vocals & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano).  Permission to stream ASCAP song #430114253 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.
  • “The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission.

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

OTHER NOTES

“The Mystery of Life” by Robert G. Ingersoll.  Use under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License.
*permission granted through the UUA

OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for October is the Roadrunner Food Bank. 
100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.
We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering: https://giv.li/5jtcps

SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

  • Jenny Amstutz, Guest Speaker 
  • Sue Watts, Worship Associate
  • Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
  • Tina DeYoe, Director of Lifespan Religious Education & Vocalist
  • Yelena Mealy, piano
  • Eric Schaller, cajon
  • UU Virtual Singers: Alissa Grissom, Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn, with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar  
  • Renae Mitchell, Mike Begnaud, and Rick Bolton,  AV techs

Attached media: https://web.archive.org/web/20211111042621/https://www.uulosalamos.org/ucla/pulpit/2021/20211017-Letting_Go.mp3

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Love

By: clfuu

“May we call forth from each other vitality and tenacity.
May love rest in us. May justice live through us.
May we have the touch to call others back
to life and love, justice and peace.
May we sing back their songs, and add the alleluias.”
-Paul Beedle

How and where does love rest in you today?

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No 17 October 2021 Adult Religious Education Class — Class Resumes 24 October 2021

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Our weekly adult religious education class is taking a break this Sunday (17 October 2021).

We will resume our Sunday morning classes next Sunday (24 October 2021) at 9:00 AM.

At that time, the group will review and reevaluate the anti-racism work we have done so far and determine how we want to move forward.

And — for those who wanted them — copies of the book Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad should be after 25 October 2021.  Watch for information on how and when you can pick one up.

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Children and Youth Religious Education Updates

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Families — we hear you and realize how done you are with Zoom.

We will continue to watch the local COVID numbers and we feel encouraged by the cooling weather and the possibility of comfortable outdoor activities.

We hope to have news about some outdoor activities for children and youth soon.

Keep the faith.

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Zoom Lunch (20 October 2021)

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Please join us next Wednesday (20 October 2021) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch.  Our host for this week’s lunch will be Susan Yellott.

Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

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Meditation with Larry Androes (16 October 2021)

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Please join us on Saturday (16 October 2021) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes.

This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching.

The group is free and open to all.

For more information, contact Larry via email or phone using (318) 272-0014.

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Accountability

By: clfuu

“Hold me accountable so I may bring honor to you,
amplify love and compassion to those around me,
and make the way easier for those yet to come.
I ask this because you are mine
and I am yours.
You live in me
and I live in you.
Amen.”
-Tandi Rogers

What values and actions do you need to be held accountable to and for?

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Spiff-Up Morning, Oct. 30

By: communication

Spiff Up Day Oct. 30, 9 a.m. -Noon

Come join us for a morning of cleaning and fellowship on our FUUN campus. We will be washing windows, dusting, and decluttering. Contact facilities@thefuun.org if you have any questions or plan to participate; however, it is not necessary to RSVP.

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Happy 25th Anniversary to “The Vulnerable Observer”!

By: Beacon Broadside

A Q&A with Ruth Behar

Ruth Behar and The Vulnerable Observer
Author photo: Gabriel Frye-Behar

Award-winning anthropologist Ruth Behar’s groundbreaking book, The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart, turns twenty-five this year! Eloquently interweaving ethnography and memoir, Behar offers a new theory and practice for humanistic anthropology—an anthropology that is lived and written in a personal voice. She did so with the hope that it would lead us toward greater depth of understanding and feeling, not only in contemporary anthropology, but in all acts of witnessing. (Spoiler alert: yes, it has!) For Hispanic-Latinx Heritage Month, Beacon Broadside editor Christian Coleman caught up with her to chat about the book’s anniversary.

Christian Coleman: The Vulnerable Observer was pioneering when it first came out in 1996 because it proposed the concept of vulnerability in social research. Why was this concept so novel at the time?

Ruth Behar: So much has changed in the last twenty-five years that sometimes we forget how different were the paradigms we worked with before. Anthropologists were taught that they had to approach their research from a distance. This meant silencing the story of your entanglement with a specific set of people, in a specific place, in a specific moment in time, and how knowledge gets produced in this messy, haunting, unrepeatable process. By concealing your presence, your feelings of vulnerability as an observer, and how the social world you observe connects with your own life, you would supposedly be “unobtrusive” and “neutral” and “more objective.” But that stance asked that you deny any self-positioning regarding gender, race, class, nationality, and other markers of identity, that you somehow be an invisible observer.

I felt extremely uncomfortable attempting to pursue research from this perspective. I questioned it from the start. In The Vulnerable Observer, I gave voice to the alienation I had felt about the detachment I was supposed to maintain when carrying out social research and writing about my experience. But that detached approach to social research was so ingrained that, when the book came out and I spoke of being vulnerable, some academic readers were taken aback. The word “vulnerable” wasn’t in wide circulation. Scholars weren’t supposed to be emotionally invested in social research, and if you were, that was not something you’d ever write about.

Over time, a paradigm shift took place, and now anthropologists, social researchers, and writers embrace their vulnerability and describe their self-positioning and speak openly of the emotional consequences of their work. The Vulnerable Observer has been part of this sea change. Since the publication of the book, the usage of the word “vulnerable” has gone through a boom in the English language. In anthropology alone, its usage has increased by 400%. The Vulnerable Observer played a role in spurring the word—and the concept—into our lexicon.

CC: Where did the idea of bringing vulnerability to anthropology come from? How did you find yourself developing this concept for your work?

RB: In the late 1980s, early 1990s, several scholars of diverse backgrounds challenged the norm of writing in third person, unwilling to accept self-erasure, and they wrote their scholarship in their unique personal voices. This was a dramatic shift. Much of the academic world rejected it, dismissing the idea of writing personally as “self-indulgent.” In anthropology, it was taboo, because the discipline prides itself on turning its gaze on the lives of those being observed, not on the observer; and we study and advocate for people in the plural, as collectives, communities, cultures. To call attention to yourself was not just distracting but shameful. Arguments arose as to whether work that incorporated the story of the anthropologist into the story of those being studied was “really” anthropology. I was so vexed about this that I ended up writing an essay for the Chronicle of Higher Education in 1994 that was called precisely, “Dare We Say ‘I’?”

The shift in the academy was a response to the late 1960s rallying cry: “The personal is political.” It was such an obvious assertion and yet so radical. Feminist scholars and African American and Latinx poets and writers began to tell stories about their lives in first-person voices that had never been told before, raising awareness about sexism and misogyny, racism, and inequality. Autobiographical writing was embraced across the disciplines, in medicine, law, and art. In anthropology in this era, there were calls to decolonize the discipline and do away with the idea of the “other” as the focus of our studies. This led to self-reflexive work that connected the personal with the ethnographic, and eventually, to the notion of autoethnography. And then the “literary turn” took place, which drew attention to the fact that anthropologists are writers constructing narratives of their journeys and so are always implicated in how they represent the people they are observing.

Allowing the personal voice into scholarship, into anthropology, was crucial for letting vulnerability come through the gates, too. Once you are writing as “I,” you can address your own vulnerability as well as the vulnerability of those who’ve let you into their lives. For me, writing as “I” made me want to know what it means to observe others and write about them. Who am “I” to have the right to do that? The concept of vulnerability grew out of my need to try to answer that fraught question.

Through experiences carrying out research in Spain, Mexico, and Cuba, I came to realize that the psychic state of the observer, the reality of what was going on in my life at the moment of observation, had consequences for what I could and couldn’t see, what I could and couldn’t understand. And this knowledge needed to be worked through in the writing, because it is in the retrospective act of writing that you process the multidimensional and sensorial experience of doing anthropological research. To do that research, you enter into relationships with people who are kind enough to let you into their lives. In the course of getting to know about their dreams and struggles, you come to care about them greatly. You form deep attachments to both the people and the places where you’ve lived, often for many years, returning over and over. In the end, as I’ve said in the book somewhere, what we’re enacting is our shared mortality. That’s the deep core of the concept of vulnerability.

CC: Have you seen the effect the book has had on readers over the course of twenty-five years? Do you have any favorite stories about people who have connected with it or use and recommend it as a reference?

RB: It’s been humbling to learn that The Vulnerable Observer is a widely-cited book, with thousands of citations. The book is described as a “classic,” as a book that sparked “an epiphany.” The Vulnerable Observer has influenced scholars not just in anthropology and sociology (where it is included in many qualitative research guides, handbooks, scholarly reflections, and ethnographies), but also across many disciplines well-beyond anthropology, ranging from psychology to education to health to rhetoric (and even to management studies). Readers say that the book poignantly put a label on something anthropologists and other scholars had been grappling with but had not coalesced around a fitting term for the practice of thinking through and laying bare one’s subjectivity and personal connection to research. Even academic readers who are critical describe the book as “the right way” to do vulnerable work, incorporating only those personal disclosures that add to the ethnographic account and analysis, rather than distract from it. I’ve been struck by how many scholars and writers borrow the book’s title for their own work, writing about “Trying to be a Vulnerable Observer,” or “Reflections of a Vulnerable Observer” or “When Collecting Data Can Break Your Heart.”

Beyond the academy, the book has engaged journalists, writers, and general readers. I was delighted to see The Vulnerable Observer included in a list of “The Best Books That Capture the Complexities of Writing About the Real World.” Travel writer Tim Hannigan, the author of that list, described my work as offering “a recognition of the way your own personal and cultural baggage colours your way of seeing, and of the way that you, the writer, are always part of the story.” A reviewer on Goodreads noted, “This book is introspective, passionate, and raw. Ruth Behar crafts a masterpiece of authenticity in this autoethnography.”

Throughout the years, I’ve received many kind letters and emails praising the book. I’ve met students and colleagues all over the world who’ve been influenced and inspired by the book. That has been so moving, and totally unexpected. I admit it’s a little scary when someone tells me they decided to go into anthropology after reading The Vulnerable Observer. That’s actually happened several times, and it’s a lot of responsibility to bear. I mean, what if they’re not happy once they’re pursuing a career in anthropology? But it’s consoling to know that people bring their own desires and needs to their reading of the book and draw the energy they’re seeking from it. Just two days ago, I received an email from a young professor who’s teaching a seminar on ethnography, and they said, “Your work and words often serve as a reminder for me to feed my soul. . . Every time I re-read or read anew your work, it reminds me of who I want to be when I ‘grow up’ someday. Thanks for what YOU gave us—both my students and me.” 

CC: And lastly, what surprised you about The Vulnerable Observer that you didn’t foresee or anticipate when it was first published?

RB: I didn’t expect that The Vulnerable Observer would end up on many course syllabi. I’ve learned that numerous students read it each semester. Or at least they’re assigned to read it. I hope they actually read it! Evidently, they are often asked to write about it. You can even purchase a student essay about the book online.

 

About Ruth Behar 

Ruth Behar, ethnographer, essayist, poet, and filmmaker, is professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellows Award and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, Behar is the author of several books, including The Vulnerable Observer. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Follow her on Twitter at @ruthbehar and visit her website.

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Intention

By: clfuu

“God of many names,
you who have searched what is hidden within us
and who knows us to our core:
Our intentions, our wounds, our aspirations and our dreams.
You who is familiar with all our ways,
even before a word is on our tongue
you know it completely.
Where can we go from your Spirit?”
-Tamara Lebak

What are the intentions you need to be made known today? How can a practice of prayer help you set those intentions for yourself?

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Mid-Week Message, 10-13-21

By: communication

Mid-week Message

from the Developmental Lead Minister 

Oct. 13, 2021

headshot 080221

“Honor the space between no longer and not yet.”  -Nancy Levin

Friends,
I recently came across an article of mine that was printed in Quest, the monthly publication put out by the Church of the Larger Fellowship. Though the article is several years old, it resonates with this month’s theme of mission and vision. It also speaks to the liminal space we are in and the freedom that can be found within that space. Anyway, here’s the article. 

I’ve attended the circus exactly three times in my life—twice as a child and once as an adult. The first two were the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey circus (under the big-top, the “Greatest Show on Earth”) and the third was Cirque de Soleil, held in an auditorium theater.

I was enchanted by that first circus, from the festively adorned horses and elephants leading the procession with circus performers riding their backs—not seated, but standing!—to the brave lion tamers who got into cages with big cats, to the jugglers and clowns and acrobats walking the tight-rope.

What most captivated me, though, was the flying trapeze. Perhaps my fascination was rooted in vivid childhood memories of the backyard swing-set—those times when I would pump the swing as high as it would go, and then, at just the right moment, propel my body off the seat, let go of the chains, and for a moment or two, fly free.

At the circus, I was captivated by the trapeze artists high above the crowd, gracefully letting go of their swinging bar, flying through the air, being caught, and then letting go again. The sense of freedom was exhilarating.

Author Henri Nouwen once had the opportunity to travel with the Flying Rodleighs, a troupe of trapeze artists. Their conversation inevitably turned to flying and how they could possibly do what they did. In the end, says Nouwen, it comes down to this: “A flyer must fly, and a catcher must catch, and the flyer must trust, with outstretched arms, that his catcher will be there for him.”

Nouwen, a Catholic priest, uses this as a metaphor for what happens to us when we die. We are the flyers and the catcher is God. For most Unitarian Universalists, however, the focus of the spiritual journey is on this life, realizing that heaven and hell can be conditions we create right here on earth. For me, the lessons from the flying trapeze pertain not to death, but to life—lessons in letting go, catching, and being caught.

I think something in us all craves the feeling of freedom. It is inherent in us. Yet, we allow ourselves to be deluded into thinking that security is synonymous with freedom. Truth is, the work of freedom comes with risk—the risk of letting go.

Letting go is religious work. Think for a minute of all the things that keep us imprisoned, all those things that get in the way of realizing the beloved community we dream of—racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia. The religious work is in finding these tendencies within ourselves and then letting them go. But letting go of deeply ingrained beliefs and fears is no small thing. Holding on to something feels better than having nothing to hold on to.

Much as we crave freedom, we also crave security. Letting go of beliefs, even those that don’t serve us, can feel like a free fall, a plunge into the unknown, unless we know that we will be caught, that there is a safety net.

We need trust if we are to let go of all that keeps us divided from one another. Building trust is religious work, learning that when we let go, someone will be there to catch us. The role of the religious community is catching people as they fall. People come to us all the time, having let go of beliefs that no longer serve them. They come to Unitarian Universalism for the first time with outstretched arms, trusting that we are going to be here to catch them.

The fine art of freedom is knowing when to hold on and when to let go, knowing what to hold on to and what to let go of. Now, more than ever, we are being called to practice values that we cherish, values of peace-seeking, justice-making, love—the value of extending compassion. We need to continue to let go of everything that gets in the way of freedom.

Now more than ever we need to be that community of catchers, to be a safe place to land for people ready to let go of culturally imposed values of unbridled greed and consumerism and the inevitable exploitation of people and the planet that come with an unquenched thirst for wealth and power.

Now, more than ever, we need to be that community. To do anything else is to put freedom at risk. The work ahead of us is religious work, trusting what our forebears taught—that there is a source of life from which we can never be ultimately severed. We belong to life and life belongs to us and the nature of this life is love.

In a world becoming increasingly intolerant, we can choose to be different. Within our community we can do the religious work of building trust. Within our community we can begin to create the world as we wish it to be. It is ours. We can create it to be what we want—a place of peace, a place of freedom.

If we are to fly free, we must learn to let go, and trust that when we do, we will be caught. And we must become the catchers.

 
Yours in shared ministry,

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Sunday, October 17 ~ When Memory Fails: Lessons of Love ~ 10:30 a.m.

By: Christine

 

Elderly hand and caregiver

 

Sunday, October 17, 10:30 a.m.
When Memory Fails: Lessons of Love
An Online Service with Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann

 

When a loved one has dementia, family members and friends navigate a changing relationship that requires new skills. Join us this Sunday, Oct. 17, for a Zoom worship service led by Rev. Alice, exploring the   [ … ]

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Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Oct. 12th

By: Kristin Cleveland
Yesterday, October 11th, was a significant day for us for three reasons. First, it was Indigenous Peoples Day. We devoted some time to learn more about the horrible and heartbreaking practice in both the United States and Canada of creating Indian Boarding Schools, which separated children from their families, and systematically aimed at destroying indigenous cultures. The American Unitarian Association was responsible for founding the Montana Industrial School, run by Rev. Henry F. Bond and his wife Pamela from 1886-96.
Today, Unitarian Universalists are striving to honour the teachings and traditions of Native people within our congregations, as well as create and/or repair relationships with local Native communities and nations, and follow their lead in justice work.
As part of that commitment, Side With Love and partners will be hosting a virtual, national “UUs 4 Climate Justice” action on October 18th at 7pm ET / 4pm PT, as a part of this global mobilization, calling for President Biden to issue pardons for the five #NoDAPL political prisoners and to Build Back Fossil Fuel Free. Please consider attending.
October 11th is also National Coming Out Day… and so we send a shout out to those who are LGBTQ+, and especially those who may have come out for the first time or come out to someone new yesterday. We know that it is a risk. We know that UUSS still has a ways to go to fully be inclusive and welcoming. And, together, we can keep learning and expanding our practices of welcome.
Lastly, October 11th is our wedding anniversary. Yesterday, we celebrated 13 years, and we are so grateful to have had an opportunity to enjoy a beautiful weekend.
When we practice this faith, we invite ourselves and one another to be fully who we are… to learn from our history and do better, to be nourished by the Earth’s beauty,, and to co-create a just, peaceful, and compassionate world.
Glad to be on this journey with you~ Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy

The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Oct. 12th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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RE This Week – Oct. 12th

By: Kristin Cleveland
Important changes in RE! Due to low registration numbers, we’ve decided to experiment with consolidating the former three primary classes into just one K-6 class!*** We’ll be using the Experiences with the Web of Life curriculum, and the teachers will be Joel Best, Ed Kautz, Sharon MacNeil, and Dyana Warnock. The first meeting of this K-6 group will be this coming Sunday, 10/17, from 9:30-10:15.
As we continue to navigate our way through these challenging times, it’s more important than ever for your Children and Youth to be part of a loving community where they can truly be themselves. As we incorporate our 7 Principles and our UU values, our primary focus right now is building community and tending to the wellbeing of each person. We hope your Children and Youth will join us. See the article in today’s Circuits to register your child!
If you have any questions, please reach out, either by calling or texting (607) 435-2803, or by email at dlre@uuschenectady.org.
Most RE classes will meet via Zoom through at least November. Updates will be provided as information becomes available.
K-6 Experiences with the Web of Life: These nature lovers will have their first class on Sunday morning, 10/17, from 9:30-10:15.
7/8 The Fifth Dimension: Their next meeting is this coming Sunday, 10/17, from 9:15-10:15 am.
8/9 OWL: The only class that’s meeting in person for now is the 8/9 OWL (Our Whole Lives sexuality education) class, which can only meet in person. This group will meet again this coming Sunday, 10/17, from 7-9 pm.
This group is fully vaccinated, masked and socially distanced. It is also a “closed” group, meaning there are no drop-ins–the group has the same participants from week to week.
Senior Youth (grades 9-12): Our next meeting is this Sunday, 10/17, at noon.

The post RE This Week – Oct. 12th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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Solar in the City: The Challenges of Bringing Clean Power to a Dorchester Neighborhood

By: Beacon Broadside

By Philip Warburg

Solar roof on Elnora Thompson's home
Solar roof on Elnora Thompson's home. Photo credit: Resonant Energy

The Better Buildings Act, now making its way through the Massachusetts legislature, is a monumental step toward curbing fossil fuel use by larger commercial and public buildings. Yet even as we focus on these major carbon polluters, we cannot lose sight of the need to bring clean energy solutions to residential communities, particularly those that have been unable to tap the solar energy that shines on their rooftops.

In recent years, more than 100,000 solar arrays have been installed on Massachusetts homes and businesses, but the Commonwealth’s lower-income communities have experienced little of that growth. In some of those communities, local activists are teaming up with enlightened entrepreneurs to close the solar power gap.

When Boston-based Resonant Energy was looking for low-income homeowners to join its Solar Access Program, it’s no surprise that Elnora Thompson stepped up. For decades, she has dedicated herself to strengthening community ties and healing the environment in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, a few blocks from Codman Square. First, she spearheaded community gardening; then she turned to solar power. 

Shortly after moving to her current home in 1990, Thompson learned about a makeshift community garden where she could plant some vegetables. “There were ten guys here at the time, and I was the only woman,” she recalls as we sit in the morning shade beneath a pergola surrounded by tight rows of beans, greens, sunflowers, and staked tomato plants. “They appointed me the coordinator, so I have been doing it ever since.”

About a decade ago, when a condo complex was proposed for the garden site, Thompson was on the front lines rallying opposition to the project. “We got Codman Square Health Center, ABCD [Action Plan for Boston Community Development], all the grocery stores, and everybody with a nutritional link to come on board with us.” After a multi-year struggle, the community gardeners won title to the property from the City of Boston for a dollar and registered the Nightingale Community Garden as a nonprofit organization. Today, the garden has 134 plots and yields 25,000 pounds of fresh produce annually.

Elnora Thompson in Nightingale Community Garden
Elnora Thompson in Nightingale Community Garden. Photo credit: Philip Warburg

Thompson recalls her first encounter with Resonant Energy a few years ago. “A young lady showed up at my house, and I was in my front yard working. She said, ‘We have this program,’ and she started explaining it to me. I said, ‘I run a community meeting over at Codman Square Library and we’re meeting tonight. Why don’t you come over and present?’”

At the meeting, Resonant Energy’s field representative described the company’s offering. In exchange for leasing out roof space to Resonant for a solar array, homeowners would receive twenty percent of the sun-generated power free of charge. The estimated savings, deducted from their monthly electricity bills, would amount to roughly $500 per year, and after ten years, the homeowners would have the option to buy the solar arrays outright at a deeply discounted price.

Nine people expressed initial interest, but progress was slow. Thompson worked hard at reining in her neighbors’ impatience with the many months it took to line up financing for their installations and a contractor to install the solar arrays. After multiple neighborhood meetings and working sessions with Resonant staff around her kitchen table, Thompson and five of her Dorchester neighbors now have solar power on their property. Her own photovoltaic (PV) array was activated on August 24.

One of the barriers to low-income solar access is the cost of buying and installing a rooftop PV array, averaging more than $15,000 in Massachusetts. Federal and state investment tax credits on renewable energy—a real boon to solar buyers with sufficient taxable income—are of little use to low-income households. A low FICO credit score can pose other obstacles: it may bar homeowners of modest means from taking out a loan for the purchase of a PV array, prevent them from leasing solar equipment, and dim their prospects of signing a power purchase agreement that would let them buy electricity from a company that has installed its own solar panels on their property. Resonant’s Solar Access Program surmounts all those hurdles, offering solar power at no upfront cost and without any ongoing financial obligations.

Resonant Energy, as a certified B Corporation, is legally bound to conduct business in a socially and environmentally responsible way. The company’s mission, as co-founder and co-CEO Ben Underwood describes it, is “to fundamentally change how the profits of the solar industry are distributed and whom they benefit.” Resonant, a worker-owned company, has installed four megawatts of solar power on individual homes, multi-family affordable housing, and houses of worship across Massachusetts, plus a few in New York State. That’s more than the electricity needed for 650 average American homes.

Financing for Elnora Thompson’s roof and several other Resonant Energy projects comes from Sunwealth, a Cambridge-based investment firm whose mission aligns with Resonant’s goal of advancing solar access and inclusion. Jess Brooks, chief development officer at Sunwealth, describes the challenge her firm addresses: “On the investor’s side, how do you connect all the people who care about addressing climate change, particularly care about building strong and more vibrant regional solar economics, want to be invested in local solar projects supporting local businesses, and care about a more equitable clean energy future?” 

In expanding the reach of solar power to households and communities that mainstream lenders steer clear of, Brooks emphasizes that Sunwealth operates within existing capital markets. “Sunwealth has intentionally chosen to develop in a way where we are delivering returns to investors. We are not requiring a grant subsidy to do the work.” In some older homes, though, antiquated wiring and aging roofs have to be replaced before solar can be safely installed. Ben Underwood says that Resonant has raised extra funds from philanthropic sources to cover those expenses.

Sunwealth’s CEO Jon Abe acknowledges that, while many of the installations it finances serve low-income households, it’s often cheaper to install solar systems in suburban and rural areas than in crowded cities with older buildings and electric distribution networks that strain under the added load of solar power. That’s part of what makes Sunwealth’s collaboration with Resonant Energy so impressive. Neither firm is charting the most effortless path to a clean energy future; both are dedicated to balancing profits and environmental gains with a commitment to leveling the solar power playing field for underserved communities.

Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, the City of Boston’s chief environmental officer, gave the keynote last month at a backyard celebration of Resonant Energy’s first half-decade. “I’m glad to be here, where a few crazy people said, ‘We’re going to try something different, we’re going to put ourselves out there,’” she said. “I hope it will make all of us walk away from here asking, ‘What is the next courageous, community-driven, creative solution that we are going to go for?’ Because time is running out and the status quo certainly isn’t working.”

 

About the Author 

Philip Warburg is a Senior Fellow at Boston University’s Institute for Sustainable Energy.

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OK’s Indigenous Filmmaker brings Authentic Stories to the Screen

By: Lei Rumley

While Harjo's series is a hit across the country and beyond, here at home in Oklahoma, Native Americans are experiencing a deep connection to the series. Many, including myself, have been watching Harjo’s career and feel pride to see his creativity and authentic, indigenous storytelling be recognized by the world.

The post OK’s Indigenous Filmmaker brings Authentic Stories to the Screen appeared first on BeyondBelief.

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Spooky Entanglement and Inseparability

By: UCLA Guest Speaker

Presented by Rev. James Galasinski; Anne Marsh, Worship Associate; Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music

The interdependent web of existence is central to who we are. We are all connected. We are entangled. These are scientific facts and theologically rich concepts worthy to be chewed on. So, quantum mechanics has a central place in our faith.

The Rev. James Galasinski is in his sixth year of settled ministry at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Canton, NY. Before that he served the First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque and fell in love with the mesas, the mountains, and the red chile of New Mexico. James enjoys listening to jazz, growing tomatoes, writing poetry, and hiking with his wife, Ulrike, and their two sons, Miles and Oskar. He is excited to be back in Los Alamos as a pulpit guest.

SERVICE NOTES

WELCOME!
New to our church community? Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.
For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 
Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos
If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our Virtual Prayer Book.
Have questions? While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at office@uulosalamos.org.

MUSIC CREDITS

  • “Poeme Erotique” from Lyric Pieces (Lyriske stykker), Op. 43, No. 5 by Edvard Grieg. (Yelena Mealy, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.
  • “For the Earth Forever Turning” (also known as “Blue Green Hills of Earth”) by Kim Oler, arr. Nick Page. (Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Permission to stream song #27231 in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
  • “O Brother Sun,” (also known as “Ye Banks and Braes o’ Bonnie Doon”), trad. Scottish tune.  (Wade Wheelock, violin). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.
  • “Turn the World Around” by Harry Belafonte, arr. Jason Shelton. (Nylea Butler-Moore, vocals & piano). Permission to stream ASCAP song #2913155 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.
  • “All Creatures of Our God and King” (also known as “All Creatures of the Earth and Sky”), from Geistliche Kirchengesange, text attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, arranged by Cindy Berry. (Yelena Mealy, piano). Permission to stream the arrangement in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
  • “Arietta” from Lyric Pieces (Lyriske stykker), Op. 12, No. 1 by Edvard Grieg. (Yelena Mealy, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.   
  • “The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission. 

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

OTHER NOTES
*Chalice Lighting by Paul Sprecher (Worship Web)
Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address (traditional – public domain)
Reading from Gut Symmetries, by Jeanette Winterson, Vintage Books, 1998  (fair use)
Benediction by James Galasinski

*permission granted through the UUA

OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for October is Roadrunner Food Bank.. 

100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.

We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering: https://giv.li/5jtcps

SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

  • Rev. James Galasinski, Guest Speaker 
  • Anne Marsh, Worship Associate
  • Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
  • Yelena Mealy, piano
  • Wade Wheelock, violin
  • UU Virtual Singers: Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar  
  • Mike Begnaud, Rick Bolton, and Renae Mitchell AV techs

Attached media: https://web.archive.org/web/20211111042252/https://www.uulosalamos.org/ucla/pulpit/2021/20211010-Spooky_Entanglement_and_Nonseparability.mp3

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Children and Youth Religious Education Updates

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Families — we hear you and realize how done you are with Zoom.

We will continue to watch the local COVID numbers and we feel encouraged by the cooling weather and the possibility of comfortable outdoor activities.

We hope to have news about some outdoor activities for children and youth soon.

Keep the faith.

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No 10 October 2021 Adult Religious Education Class — Class Resumes 24 October 2021

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Our weekly adult religious education class is taking a break this Sunday (10 October 2021) and next Sunday (17 October 2021).

We will resume our Sunday morning classes on Sunday, 24 October 2021, at 9:00 AM.

At that time, the group will review and reevaluate the anti-racism work we have done so far and determine how we want to move forward.

And — for those who wanted them — copies of the book Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad should be in some time this week.  Watch for information on how and when you can pick one up.

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Zoom Lunch (13 October 2021)

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Please join us next Wednesday (13 October 2021) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch.  Our host for this week’s lunch will be Susan Yellott.

Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

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Building and Grounds Work Day (9 October 2021)

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Please join us on Saturday (9 October 2021) from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM for our monthly building and grounds work day.

There are tasks indoors and out for all ages and abilities — come for the whole time or for whatever part of the day you can make it.

Vaccinated or not vaccinated — please wear your mask when you are working near others.  Hope to see you there.

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Practice

By: clfuu

For many people, the practice of prayer is as important as the content of prayers. Spending time intentionally connecting with a force greater than yourself is a powerful way to remind us of our spiritual beings.

Practice prayer several times today. How does pausing for prayer change 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!

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Trans Affirming Collective (TAC) Resumes

By: communication

Trans Affirming Collective (TAC) is Resuming Meetings after a covid hiatus! TAC’s mission is to encourage our UU community to celebrate people of all gender identities through education, advocacy, and collaborative solidarity. Interested in joining? Email trans@thefuun.org for the next meeting info. 

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Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Oct. 5th

By: Kristin Cleveland
Dear UUSS~
Today we share an excerpt of the poem, “In Gatherings” by Rev. Marta Valentin:
In gatherings we are stirred
like the leaves of the fall season
rustling around sacred trees,
tossed hither and yon
until we come to rest together,
quietly, softly . . .
We come to gather strength from each other.
We come to give strength to each other.
We come to ask for strength from the Spirit of All That Is and Is Not.
When our hearts sing or when they frown
it is the way of compassion telling us to give.
It is the way of peace telling us
to share our gifts,
for we are happiest
and most powerful
when Love is made apparent
in and through us.
May we do one thing this week to make Love apparent to others!
In faith,
Rev. Lynn and Rev. Wendy

The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Oct. 5th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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RE This Week…- Oct. 5th

By: Kristin Cleveland
As we continue to navigate our way through these challenging times, it’s more important than ever for your Children and Youth to be part of a loving community where they can truly be themselves. As we incorporate our 7 Principles and our UU values, our primary focus right now is building community and tending to the wellbeing of each person. We hope your Children and Youth will join us.
If your child isn’t yet registered for this year’s program, click HERE for information, and click HERE to register.
Some RE classes began this past Sunday; the rest will begin in the next two weeks. Information about your child or youth’s particular classes has been provided in a parent email. If you haven’t received yours, please let me know, either by calling or texting (607) 435-2803, or by email at dlre@uuschenectady.org.
Most RE classes will meet via Zoom through at least November. Updates will be provided as information becomes available.
K/1/2 Rainbow Children: These youngin’s will meet for the first time this coming Sunday morning, 10/10, from 9:30-10. Come, join their terrific teachers, Joel Best and Sharon MacNeil, and share some fun together! The link to their class will be shared soon in a parent email.
3/4 Experiences with the Web of Life: These nature lovers will have their first class on Sunday morning, 10/17, from 9:30-10:15. Their talented teachers are Ed Kautz and Dyana Warnock.
5/6 Amazing Grace: These amazing children will have their first meeting this coming Sunday afternoon, 10/10, from 1:15-2:15.
7/8 The Fifth Dimension: This class had its first meeting this past Sunday. Their next meeting is Sunday, 10/17, from 9:15-10:15.
8/9 OWL: The only class that’s meeting in person for now is the 8/9 OWL (Our Whole Lives sexuality education) class, which can only meet in person. They met this past Sunday for an “Extreme OWL” all-day class! Kudos to the super group of youth participating in OWL and to our fabulous facilitators who are making this class possible–Randy Jennings, Sarah Tyo, and Donald Whisenhunt!
The 8/9 OWL group’s regular meetings are Sunday evenings from 7-9.
This group is fully vaccinated, masked and socially distanced. It is also a “closed” group, meaning there are no drop-ins–the group has the same participants from week to week.
Senior Youth (grades 9-12): We had our first meeting this past Sunday. It was great to reconnect with some of our Senior Youth. A big THANK YOU to Mark Hyland and Aaron Tyo for once again acting as advisors to these amazing young people! Their next meeting is this Sunday, 10/10, at noon.
Volunteer Opportunities! If you’d like to help with RE too, please reach out and let me know. There are lots of volunteer opportunities. Working with our children and youth can be a rewarding and spiritual experience!

The post RE This Week…- Oct. 5th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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October Theme – Cultivating Compassion

By: Kristin Cleveland

The 14th Dalai Lama suggests that “True compassion is not just an emotional response but a firm commitment founded on reason.” His Holiness teaches that the heart of compassion is to genuinely want for an end to suffering for all sentient beings. Many of the world’s respected religious paths have compassion as a tenet. We’ll explore some of these teachings this month.

The post October Theme – Cultivating Compassion appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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Out of My Mind: A Quirky Look At Life Through Poetry

By: Kristin Cleveland
The BIPOC Book Group Read for October is Out of My Mind: A Quirky Look At Life Through Poetry, written by local activist and poet Miki Conn.
We invited Miki Conn to join us for the discussion and she has agreed! We are lucky UUs! Join us for the next book discussion with guest writer, Miki Conn. October date TBD.
The Open Door Bookstore has a few copies and I invited them to order a few more for our book discussion. Please help us support our local black authors! If you have questions or book suggestions, contact Kat Wolfram kmwolfram@gmail.com or (518) 322.6628. Read on!

The post Out of My Mind: A Quirky Look At Life Through Poetry appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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Beauty

By: clfuu

“Each living thing gives its life to the beauty of all life, and that gift is its prayer.”
-Douglas Wood

How do you add to the beauty of 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!

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CommUUne: Spiritual Nourishment, Purposeful Entertainment

By: Cory Lovell

CommUUne is a space for worship, for entertainment, for edification, and for connection.

The post CommUUne: Spiritual Nourishment, Purposeful Entertainment appeared first on BeyondBelief.

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Connection

By: clfuu

“Spirit of Life, God of Love, I am entwined in your delicate web of mutuality. The life energy that makes me reach for the sun also moves me to become wrapped, like the strong bittersweet vine and the delicate sweet pea, around those I meet and love. Here in the tangle of my daily life I feel your pulse and sense what it means to be alive. Here, twisted and knotted, I thrive, seeking the light that will pull from me the fragrant blossom of love. Spirit of Life, help me to experience the beauty of your interwoven and intricate web, that I might always embrace, without reserve, all those whom my life touches.”
-Stephen M. Shick

What do you feel connected to today? How can you more fully experience that connection?

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!

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Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

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That Time I Found the Meaning of Life

By: UCLA Guest Speaker

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6r1wCinnro]

Presented by Rev. Bob Janis-Dillon, Guest Speaker;  Rebecca Howard, Worship Associate;  and Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music

Where is the meaning of life to be found? Join us in a recounting of a journey of discovery, including wild strawberries, hitchhiking, a smidgen of philosophy, and one too many electric fences.

The Rev. Bob Janis-Dillon had the great privilege of studying with the Rev. John Cullinan at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago. He has served a UU congregation in New Jersey before serving for six years in Northwest England, as minister for three Unitarian congregations in Wigan, Warrington, and Chester. He currently serves in New York as minister of Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills, and as an accredited spiritual director.

SERVICE NOTES

    WELCOME!

New to our church community?  Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.

If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our  Virtual Prayer Book.

For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at  http://www.uulosalamos.org  or call at 505-662-2346.

Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos

Have questions?  While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at:  office@uulosalamos.org.

    MUSIC CREDITS

“For the Beauty of the Earth,” words: Folliott Sandford Pierpoint, music: Conrad Kocher, arr. Kenon D. Renfrow. (Yelena Mealy, piano).  Permission to stream the arrangement in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948.  All rights reserved.

“Just as Long as I Have Breath,” words: Alicia S. Carpenter, music: Johann G. Ebeling, harmony rev. John Edwin Giles (Unitarian Church of Los Alamos Choir with Yelena Mealy, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.)  Used by permission of the estate of Alicia S. Carpenter and the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association).

“Voice Still and Small” by John Corrado.  (Yelena Mealy, piano).  Used by permission of the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association).

“The Lone, Wild Bird,” words: H.R. MacFayden, tune: from William Walker’s Southern Harmony, based on harm. by Thomas Somerville, adapt, arr. & new material by Nylea L. Butler-Moore.  (UCLA Virtual choir; Wade Wheelock, violin; Nylea Butler-Moore, Director & piano; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.)  Used by permission.

“On the Road Again” by Willie Nelson.  (Susan Gisler, vocals and tambourine;  John Eklund, acoustic guitar and vocals; & John Tauxe, mandolin).  Permission to stream BMI song #889280147 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

“Autumn Light” by Alice B. Kellogg.  (Nylea Butler-Moore, piano).  Used by permission.

“The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore.  (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.)  Used by permission.

    Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948.  All rights reserved.

    Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770

    OTHER NOTES

“A Communion of Heart and Soul” by Bruce Southworth from UUA Worship Web*

Excerpt from ”Part of a Larger Life” by John Saxon from UUA Worship Web*

Excerpt from “The Ten-Principal Upanishads” put into English by Shree Purohit Swami and W. B. Yeats

    *permission granted through the UUA

    OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for October is the Roadrunner Food Bank.  100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.

We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering:  https://giv.li/5jtcps

    SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

Rev. Bob Janis-Dillon, Guest Speaker
Rebecca Howard, Worship Associate
Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
Susan Gisler, vocals and tambourine
John Eklund, acoustic guitar and vocals
John Tauxe, mandolin
Yelena Mealy, piano
Unitarian Church of Los Alamos Choir: sopranos Cathy Hayes, Mia McLeod, Janice Muir, Kelly Shea, Tamson Smith; altos Mary Billen, Susan Gisler, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, KokHeong McNaughton, tenors & basses:  Mike Begnaud, Peter Bloser, Skip Dunn, Kathy Gursky, Shannon Scott, with Yelena Mealy, piano
UU Virtual Singers: Alissa Grissom, Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn, with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar  
Rick Bolton, Mike Begnaud, and Renae Mitchell,  AV techs

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NOAH Annual Public Meeting, Oct. 17

By: communication

NOAH Public Meeting will be on Oct. 17, 2021 at 3 p.m. The event will be virtual.

Mayor Cooper is just one of the public officials invited who will be asked by each of the NOAH Task Forces to commit to making Nashville a city that everyone can thrive in. Show Nashville officials that you care and want improvements.

What does THRIVING look like in Nashville?
NOAH Annual Public Meeting
Sunday, Oct. 17 – 3 PM
Register in advance for this Zoom meeting:

Click here to register.

After registering, you will get an email with info about joining the meeting.

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Zoom Lunch (6 October 2021)

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Please join us next Wednesday (6 October 2021) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch.

Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

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Meditation with Larry Androes (2 October 2021)

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Please join us on Saturday (2 October 2021) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes.

This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching.

The group is free and open to all.

For more information, contact Larry via email or phone using (318) 272-0014.

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Halloween Movie Night, Oct. 30

By: communication

Join us at the movies the night before Halloween

Saturday, Oct. 30, costume parade at 5:30 p.m., movie at 6 p.m. Bring a blanket to the Norris House lawn and we’ll watch Coco together! Please plan to observe appropriate distancing and masking. Halloween candy and popcorn for all!

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Mid-Week Message, 9-29-21

By: communication

Mid-week Message

from the Developmental Lead Minister
 

Sept. 29, 2021

“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in service of my vision – then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”  Audre Lorde
headshot 080221

Friends,

October arrives with waning daylight and longer nights. The gradual shift, from autumn into winter’s extended nocturnal hours, gives our eyes a chance to adjust to the darkness. October is a month when we are invited to embrace the shadowy aspects of life – from the grief of letting go to the unexamined fears of what the future may hold. The darkness is fertile territory. Navigating the dark takes all of our senses; it takes dreams and imagination – and from these, new visions are cast.

Our theme for the month of October is Mission/Vision. Having a vision for who we want to be and how we want to be in the world, a vision for what is possible if we dare to dream, makes us more able to move forward with strength, courage, and clarity of purpose. A compelling vision helps to clarify our mission, or that to which we must give our lives if we are to realize the vision. A clear mission keeps us focused on our aims, goals, and larger purposes.

The Dutch theologian and prolific author, Henri J. Nouwen put it this way: “We can discover who we really are. And we can ascertain when to act, when to wait, and when to be led.”

This season invites another shift, a turning inward of the kind that yields self-knowledge. This is true for individuals and for congregations. Knowing where you’ve come from, what you’ve been through, how life events have shaped you into the persons and the people you are today – this is the fertile ground from which new visions are born.

As days grow shorter and night’s blanket of darkness lengthens over us, may we invite the inward turn, the inward look into who we are and who we might become. May we dare to dream and imagine a new vision into being.

Yours in shared ministry,
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Soothe

By: clfuu

Come now, all who are thirsty and burned
Come to the place where cool waters and aloe
Soothe your bedraggled soul
Drink your fill and salve your skin
Then fill your canteen and return once more to the struggle
Knowing the well will remain unobstructed
-Lindasusan Ulrich, from “Begin Your Journey Home”

How can you soothe your bedraggled soul today? What is the balm that your spirit needs to recover?

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!

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Sunday, October 3 ~ Lessons in Relationship from Dr. Seuss ~ 10:30 a.m.

By: Christine

Interrelated Elephants

Sunday, October 3, 10:30 a.m.

~ Lessons in Relationship from Dr. Seuss ~

Online Multigenerational Service

 

As we introduce our monthly theme of Cultivating Relationship, what can we learn from Horton, the Lorax and other favorite Dr. Seuss characters? Are there additional lessons we can learn from the Dr. Seuss Institution’s decision to remove 6   [ … ]

The post Sunday, October 3 ~ Lessons in Relationship from Dr. Seuss ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

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Trees

By: clfuu

“The pecan trees and their kin show a capacity for concerted action, for unity of purpose that transcends the individual trees. They ensure somehow that all stand together and thus survive. How they do so is still elusive.”
-Robin Wall Kimmerer

How can you show solidarity with other beings today? How can you understand a unity of purpose with others?

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!

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Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Sept. 28th

By: Kristin Cleveland
Dear UUSS~
When we were in seminary, one of our professors was the Rev. Dr. Dorsey Blake, who also serves as the presiding minister at the Church for The Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. The congregation was started intentionally as the first multiracial congregation by the Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman and Dr. Alfred Fisk in 1943.
When Dr. Blake would lead or participate in worship, he would wear the beautiful green robe that had been Dr. Thurman’s, and that he wore with gratitude, hope, and humility. The robe brought with it a presence… a tradition of powerful prophetic ministry.
Today we give thanks for items that invite us to be present in different ways and remind us of where we are from, who we are, and what we are called to do: A smooth stone from the bank of a river (or two); a beautiful vase made by Lynn’s Mom; a beloved painting by a member of Wendy’s chosen family; a collection of poems, written by a friend. What helps you remember to be present? It doesn’t have to be something outside of ourselves. It can be a birthmark, a scar, stretch marks, our own breath, our own heartbeat.
These words, this prayer by Thurman we offer you today:
“In the quietness of this place, surrounded by the all-pervading presence of the Holy, my heart whispers:
Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve, that in good time or in tempests, I may not forget that to which my life is committed.
Keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve.” – Howard Thurman
May you experience moments of precious presence today.
With care and in faith~ Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy

The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Sept. 28th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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RSVP for this Saturday’s Guided Walk at Strawberry Fields!

By: Kristin Cleveland
Fall Walk: Strawberry Fields Nature Preserve with Green Sanctuary
Saturday, October 2nd, 10 AM – noon (please arrive 10 minutes early)
Easy Terrain, about 1.5 mi
Proprietor Jeff Leon will lead a tour of this Nature Preserve to explore the woods woods, see an overlook of the Mohawk Valley, and wander through fields abounding with asters, goldenrod, and the spectacular blue fringed gentian.
The Preserve is home to Lovin’ Mama Farm, which practices regenerative agriculture and sells vegetables at the Schenectady Greenmarket on Sundays. To learn more about the Preserve go to:  https://mohawkhudson.org/our-preserves/strawberry-fields-nature-preserve/.
Be prepared to comply with UUSS outdoor COVID protocols. Sign up by September 30th by email to gs.uuss06@gmail.com.  For COVID we need to know the number in your party and contact information. Limit 25 participants.
If you have questions, contact Nancy at gs.uuss06@gmail.com or 518-588-7505.

The post RSVP for this Saturday’s Guided Walk at Strawberry Fields! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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Family Chapel & Pumpkin Carving/Decorating Event

By: Kristin Cleveland

On Saturday, Oct. 23rd, from 10:00-11:30 a.m., join us in the back garden of the church for a casual family chapel service, followed by a pumpkin carving party. All ages welcome, masks required for those over 2.

Bring a pumpkin, and the tools that your family would like to use for carving or decorating. Costumes welcome! This event will be cancelled if there is pouring rain. – Rev. Wendy & Rev. Lynn

Vaccines for all who are eligible are strongly encouraged. Masks are required. There will not be an online component to this potentially messy adventure.

The post Family Chapel & Pumpkin Carving/Decorating Event appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

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Belonging

By: clfuu

As surely as we belong to the universe
we belong together.
We join here to transcend the isolated self,
to reconnect,
to know ourselves to be at home,
here on earth, under the stars,
linked with each other.
-Margaret Keip

Where is it that you find a sense of belonging and connection to others?

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!

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Enter the Wild with Care, My Love

By: UCLA Guest Speaker

Rev. Janet Newton is the senior minister at the First Parish Church of Berlin in Berlin, Massachusetts. Janet was born and raised Unitarian Universalist in the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, NM. She comes to ministry after many years as a high school English and philosophy teacher. Janet received a Masters in Divinity in May 2018 from Meadville Lombard Theological school.  For Janet, religion is a collaborative invitation to find, feed, and honor the spark of the sacred within every human heart, that we may know ourselves and our communities more deeply, and that we may make love more visible in the world. Her experiences have helped her develop a vision for church that uses worship, conversation, contemplation, and opportunities for lifelong learning and service to help us grow our souls, build community, and heal our world. She said she’s still a little amazed that her calling means she can live “an intentionally conscious spiritual life.”

SERVICE NOTES

WELCOME!

New to our church community? Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.
If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our  Virtual Prayer Book.
For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 
Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos
Have questions? While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at office@uulosalamos.org.

MUSIC CREDITS

  • “Morning Has Come,” trad. round. (Unitarian Church of Los Alamos Choir; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.)  Song Public Domain, video used by permission.
  • “Blue Boat Home,” words: Peter Mayer; music: Roland Hugh Prichard, adapted by Peter Meyer. Created by Paul Thompson, Music Director at the UU Church of the Palouse, Moscow ID. Used by permission of the UUA.
  • “To See a World,” words: William Blake, music: Norwegian tune, arr. Edvard Grieg. (UU Virtual Singers; Anne Marsh, reciter; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.)  Song Public Domain, video used by permission.
  • “Rising Green” by Carolyn McDade, arr. Jim Scott.  (Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Used by permission of the UUA.
  • “The Lost Words Blessing” by Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart, Seckou Keita, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton, Beth Porter, Jim Molyneux and Kerry Andrew.  (Janet Newton, vocalist.)  Images by Maria Thibodeau Photography, used by permission;  song used by permission of Adam Slough of JSL Productions.  
  • “Petite Fleur” by Sidney Bechet. (Aaron Anderson, piano).  Permission to stream BMI song #1169027 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.
  •  “The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission.

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

OTHER NOTES

Permission granted from Danusha Laméris for use of “Thinking” via email, September 20, 2021
Permission granted from Katie Mack for use of “Disorientation” via email, August 14, 2021
*permission granted through the UUA

OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for September is Lutheran Family Services. 
100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.
We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering: https://giv.li/5jtcps

SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

  • Rev. Janet Newton, Guest Minister & vocalist 
  • Rebecca Howard, Worship Associate
  • Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
  • Unitarian Church of Los Alamos Choir: sopranos Cathy Hayes, Mia McLeod, Janice Muir, Kelly Shea, Tamson Smith; altos Mary Billen, Susan Gisler, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, KokHeong McNaughton, tenors & basses:  Mike Begnaud, Peter Bloser, Skip Dunn, Kathy Gursky, Shannon Scott, with Yelena Mealy, piano
  • Aaron Anderson, piano
  • UU Virtual Singers: Alissa Grissom, Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn, with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar  
  • Mike Begnaud, Rick Bolton, and Renae Mitchell AV techs

Attached media: https://web.archive.org/web/20211111041553/https://www.uulosalamos.org/ucla/pulpit/2021/20210926-Enter_the_Wild_with_Care_My_Love.mp3

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Bread

By: clfuu

Fresh bread is something of a tiny miracle. Or maybe just a marvel. Born from simple ingredients and careful technique, it emerges from the oven steaming and scented and ready to provide sustenance.

What are the marvels and tiny miracles of your day?

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!

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Hope

By: clfuu

Our hope does not live in some glimmer of an indistinct future.
Rather, we know the way to the world of which we dream,
and by covenant and the movement forward of one right action
and the next, we know that one day we will arrive at home.
-Theresa Ninán Soto, from “We Hold Hope Close”

Where does your hope live today?

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!

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Hope and Resilience: A Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month Reading List

By: Beacon Broadside
Mural celebrating Latin American culture, commissioned by Northern Ireland's Latin American Association, in partnership with Belfast City Council and others.
Image credit: Albert Bridge

This year’s theme for Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month is Esperanza: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage and Hope. It invites Hispanic and Latinx communities to reflect on how good our tomorrow can be by holding onto resilience and hope. The following books from our catalog wouldn’t be here without our authors’ sense of hope, be it the hope of a better future embodied in the text or the hope that the book will reach the reader who needs it. In each one, you will experience stories of resilience in the face of seeking justice, of crossing borders and carving out a space for one’s self in an uninviting country, adding to the complexities and contradictions of the United States’ narrative. One of these books is for you. Happy Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month!

 

An African American and Latinx History of the United States

An African American and Latinx History of the United States

I wrote this book because as a scholar I want to ensure that no Latinx or Black children ever again have to be ashamed of who they are and of where they come from. Collectively speaking, African Americans and Latinx people have nothing to apologize for. Every democratic right we enjoy is an achievement that our ancestors fought, suffered, and died for.
—Paul Ortiz

 

Boomerang

Boomerang/Bumerán

You are returning, you are going back to where it all
began, careful to engage in the necessary oblivion of the
circumstances that took you away in the first place. You will
hold your breath and pretend enough answers have been
provided to satisfy your pride, your urge to be here, on the
threshold of what might have been home if not for upheaval,
if not for the price of sugar and oil on the world market, if
not for the assurance of safety and comfort elsewhere, if not
for revolution and exile.

/

Vas de regreso, vas a volver a donde empezó todo, con
cuidado de establecer le obligade olvido de les circunstancias
que te alejaron en le primer lugar. Vas a contener le
respiración y pretender que suficientes respuestas han sido
proporcionades para satisfacer tu orgullo, tu afán de estar
aquí, en le umbral de lo que podría haber sido tu hogar, de
no haber sido por le agitación, de no haber sido por le precio
de le azúcar y de le petróleo en le mercado mundial, de no
haber sido por le garantía de seguridad y de confort en otre
lugar, de no haber sido por revolución y exilio.
—Achy Obejas

 

A Cup of Water Under My Bed

A Cup of Water Under My Bed: A Memoir

I begin resenting Spanish. At first, it happens in small ways. I realize I can’t tell my mother about the Pilgrims and Indians because I don’t know the Spanish word for Pilgrims. I can’t talk about my essay on school safety because I don’t know the Spanish word for safety. To share my life in English with my family means I have to give a short definition for each word that is not already a part of our lives. I try sometimes, but most of the time I grow weary and finally sigh and mutter, “Olvídate.” Forget it. This is how Spanish starts annoying me. I suppose it’s what happens when you’re young and frustrated, but you can’t be angry at the white teachers because that would get you nowhere, and you can’t be too upset with your parents because they want what they think is best for you.
—Daisy Hernández

 

How Does It Feel to Be Unwanted

How Does It Feel to Be Unwanted?: Stories of Resistance and Resilience from Mexicans Living in the United States

Like millions, these Mexican men and women have worked diligently over the course of three decades to create networks of resistance and solidarity and keep forging ahead. They have refused to be the victims of the broken systems of both countries and have triumphed over adversity against all expectations. Thanks to this history of struggle and perseverance, on both sides of the border, they are standing up to the politicians in the United States who convey, in words and in actions, that they are not wanted here.
—Eileen Truax

 

How to Love a Country

How to Love a Country

Como tú, I question history’s blur in my eyes
each time I face a mirror. Like a mirror, I gaze
into my palm a wrinkled map I still can’t read,
my lifeline an unnamed road I can’t find, can’t
trace back to the fork in my parents’ trek
that cradled me here. Como tú, I woke up to
this dream of a country I didn’t choose, that
didn’t choose me—trapped in the nightmare
of its hateful glares. Como tú, I’m also from
the lakes and farms, waterfalls and prairies
of another country I can’t fully claim either.
Como tú, I am either a mirage living among
these faces and streets that raised me here,
or I’m nothing, a memory forgotten by all
I was taken from and can’t return to again.
—Richard Blanco

 

An Incomplete List of Names

An Incomplete List of Names: Poems

No one calls me Miguel
except those who don’t know me
or those who do.

America what do you want me to say?
There are too many of your voices in my ear;
I don’t know what you look like anymore.
America what size are you now?
—Michael Torres

 

The Weight of Shadows

The Weight of Shadows: A Memoir of Immigration & Displacement

How strange to be welcomed now, since I’ve lived my life here from before I can remember. My cultural references are decidedly 80s and 90s United States—Urkel, Alex P. Keaton, Tom & Jerry, Biggie—and despite my best efforts I sometimes slip into a Chicago accent, cutting my A’s short. . . . I don’t feel any different after saying “I will,” but I know there are some real changes that have just taken place, not to my body—and it’s really too soon for anything to have changed in my mind—but to the relations I have to the place in which I live, its bureaucracy, and its ability to restrict my movement.
—José Orduña

 

Women-Writing-Resistance

Women Writing Resistance: Essays on Latin America and the Caribbean, ed. Jennifer Browdy

The big and the little screens have presented us with the picture of the funny Hispanic maid, mispronouncing words and cooking up a spicy storm in a shiny California kitchen. This media-engendered image of the Latina in the United States has been documented by feminist Hispanic scholars, who claim that such portrayals are partially responsible for the denial of opportunities for upward mobility among Latinas in the professions.
—Judith Ortiz Cofer, “The Myth of the Latin Woman”

Mural celebrating Latin American culture, commissioned by Northern Ireland's Latin American Association, in partnership with Belfast City Council and others.

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Ivy

By: clfuu

Ivy creeps its way up a brick wall, sending out hairy tendrils that stick to any roughness in the surface. It branches out and grows longer. Slowly, it covers the wall with its lushness.

How can you send out tendrils of spirit to move yourself forward today?

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!

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Mid-Week Message, 9-22-21

By: communication

Mid-week Message

from the Developmental Lead Ministerheadshot 080221

Sept. 22, 2021

Friends,

This message from Braver/Wiser, a weekly on-line publication of the UUA, spoke to me, especially this month as we explore the theme of radical hospitality. What parts of yourself might you welcome more fully into your awareness?

Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
​leadminister@firstuunash.org

Healing Through Story

By Erica Shadowsong

September 15, 2021

“The reward for attention is always healing.”
― Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

As a storyteller, I favor myths and folktales. I’ve never been one to tell personal stories. Then a virtual contest opportunity arose that invited me to confront this aversion: the story I told would have to be true and personal. A funny story did come to mind…but to tell it, I’d have to examine a part of my life I never talk about.

Thinking about my roots makes me feel lost; my various identities feel shallow, in flux, unformed. I was raised in a very small community that can best be described as a cult. It’s not a word I like to use, but it’s the one that will most help people understand what I’ve lost. Sometimes I think the things that might give me value are the very things that I was denied: answers not just about who I am, but also about to whom I belong. Who is my community? Who are my people?

For example, though I am of African and Latin descent, my exposure to my heritage was non-existent. Instead, we conformed to the group and its norms of whiteness. I am not who you come to when you want to understand the Black Church. I didn’t know that some Black families celebrate Kwanzaa. I never learned how to wrestle my hair into the perfect, smooth styles my grandmothers, aunts, and cousins seem to effortlessly do. By the time I reached college, I would have a long road ahead to reclaim the fact that my experience, with all its weirdness, is still Black experience.

My struggle to find a solid identity is also true for other parts of me—as an artist, a pagan, and a person—as if everything that’s led me here are only interruptions and obstacles, instead of part of what makes me the more whole person I am today.

The shift, for me, occurred by telling my story instead of trying to pretend like it never happened. By the time I was done editing the funny story, I had crafted a piece of art mined from a time in my life that I never thought I would be able—or willing—to share with others. In my weird, embarrassing upbringing, I found hope about exploring the telling of my own storied life with the love and respect it deserves.

Prayer

Dear Creative Life Force, thank you for your endless power to heal through the practice of crafting stories from our lives. The infinite healing power of creativity is the best gift you’ve given to us. Please help us to grow more compassion for ourselves every day, so that we may have compassion for others.
About the Author

Erica Shadowsong
Erica Shadowsong (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist who discovered storytelling through her graduate studies in English, folklore, and music.

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Getting to Know You

By: communication
Getting to Know You
Please consider posting your picture and information in Breeze, so people can identify and get to know you. During the time the church has been closed to in-person meetings, many of us have sorely missed seeing each other face-to-face. The brave souls who have visited our services – and even joined our church – without meeting any of us in person, have a real hurdle in trying to make connections. It is hard to meet people that we cannot see! In order to facilitate more relationships between new and old members, the Board urges everyone to add their picture to their Breeze profile, along with any other information they are willing to share. To add your picture, go into your profile, right click on the photo icon. You will see an option to upload a photo. For other information, click on the section heading (such as “Main”) and you will see a menu for changes. Additionally, It is helpful to keep your camera on during Zoom services, so that others can learn who you are. Thank you for staying in touch. FUUN Board
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Covid Policy

By: communication

Announcement from Board – Covid Policy

COVID POLICY adopted by the Board September 21, 2021

Summary

We, the congregation of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville, covenant together to keep our members, friends, and visitors safe by:

· Strongly urging that only vaccinated people enter our buildings,
· Registering as we enter the buildings, in order to facilitate tracing as needed.
· Wearing masks when inside our buildings,
· Properly distancing at six feet from each other,
· Immediately informing the staff if we become infected with Covid within one week of attending an event on church premises, so that others present may be contacted.

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville

COVID Policy

adopted by the Board Sept. 21, 2021

Resolution regarding COVID-19 vaccinations and in-person gatherings at FUUN:

WHEREAS our Unitarian Universalist tradition draws on many sources, one of which is: Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the findings of science; and

WHEREAS FUUN is a covenanted community, bound in a covenant of mutual care and support; and

WHEREAS COVID-19 has altered the patterns of congregational life in ways that could not have been predicted and will continue to do so for some time to come; and

WHEREAS factual, scientific evidence strongly indicates that COVID-19 vaccinations are safe and effective at helping protect against severe disease and reducing the risk of transmission of the disease to others

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that we strongly encourage all our members and friends who are eligible and medically able to be fully vaccinated.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is strongly encouraged that everyone who attends FUUN events that are in-person will be fully vaccinated if eligible and medically able. It is also expected that any unvaccinated person will make measured choices about attending in-person events, will be duly aware of risk to themselves and others, and will be diligent about appropriate protective measures.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is required that everyone who attends FUUN events in-person will comply with all masking, distancing, hygiene, health screening, and registration practices that have been put in place by the leadership of FUUN.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is expected that members and friends will honestly and forthrightly disclose any incidents of personal infection while in attendance at in-person FUUN events.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is expected that those who choose to attend FUUN events in-person will obtain consent before engaging in any physical contact with another person, i.e. hugs, handshakes, fist-bumps, high-fives, and will obtain consent from those around them before unmasking for any reason.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the leadership of FUUN will diligently inform any who may have been exposed to COVID-19 while in attendance at an in-person FUUN event.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all FUUN paid personnel shall be fully vaccinated and may be asked to provide evidence of their vaccination status. Those who are medically unable to be vaccinated will work with their supervisor to arrange for work accommodations as possible, including but not limited to remote work, weekly COVID testing, or working in an appropriately isolated onsite work space.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all volunteers who work directly with children and youth shall be fully vaccinated and may be asked to provide evidence of their vaccination status.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all those who lead worship or other events as speakers or singers shall be fully vaccinated and may be asked to provide evidence of their vaccination status.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all precautions for in-person activities will be at least as restrictive as current CDC guidelines and will also take into consideration the specific needs and vulnerabilities of the FUUN community.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the leadership of FUUN will be responsive to the changing circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and will make changes to guidelines for in-person events as the current situation requires, guided by data on the COVID Act Now web-site and CDC guidelines.

*leadership = Board, Lead Minister and Staff, and other Committees or Task Forces to whom decision-making authority has been delegated.

 

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Sponsors Needed for Fall Auction

By: communication
Fall 2021 Auction is Requesting Sponsors:
For years, the FUUN fall auction has been an important fundraiser for the church. In 2021, the Auction Committee persevered through the pandemic by presenting a live-streamed auction. With the 2021 Fall Auction around the corner, we are looking for sponsors again.
 
The First UU Nashville 2021 Fall Auction will be a mix of online and live (streamed for sure, but maybe in-person) auctions. The weeklong online auction takes the place of our typical silent auction and will run from Oct. 30 through Nov. 5. The live auction will be on the evening of Saturday, Nov. 6.
 
We won’t be serving food or alcohol this year, but we use special software to host the online version of the auction and have hired an auctioneer for the live auction. We expect our expenses to be approximately $700 for these services. Every dollar donated over our costs will go towards the operating budget of First UU Nashville. You can make sponsorship donations anytime at bit.ly/FUUNAuctionSponsor2021. Thank you.
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The Fascinating Story of Hildegard von Bingen

By: UCLA Guest Speaker

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgy34qYPA80]

Presented by Guest Speaker, Jenny McReady Amstutz

A 12th-century Benedictine abbess, writer, poet, and composer, Hildegard had prophetic and mystical visions and is said to have been a miracle worker.  How do mystical experiences fit into our UU faith?

Our prior guest speaker, Jenny McCready was married last month and returns to our pulpit today with a new last name, Jenny Amstutz.  Jenny is currently serving as the minister of a small church in Littleton, Colorado, Columbine Unitarian Universalist Church, where she serves part time.  Her part time schedule allows her to return to our pulpit.  Jenny is the mother of five, ages 21 to 8 years and lives in Lakewood, Colorado, with her new husband Jason and a menagerie of pets.  She is grateful to continue to be a visiting presence in our church and looks forward to a continued relationship with UCLA.

SERVICE NOTES

    WELCOME!

New to our church community?  Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.

For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 

Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos

If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our Virtual Prayer Book.

Have questions?  While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at  office@uulosalamos.org.

    MUSIC CREDITS

“Le Soir,” No. 1 from Deux Pièces by Louis Vierne. (Kathy Gursky, viola & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano.) Music Public Domain, video used by permission.

“Gaudeamus Hodie (Let Us Rejoice Today),” words: traditional, music: Natalie Sleeth.  (Nora Cullinan and Jess Cullinan, vocalists).  Permission to stream song #61290  in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.

“Be Thou My Vision,” words: Ancient Irish, music: trad. Irish melody.  (Wade Wheelock, violin). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.

“I Am that Great and Fiery Force,” words: Hildegard of Bingen; music: Josquin Deprez; adapted by Anthony Petti.  Guitar, vocals, and editing by Eli Sauls.  Percussion by Benjamini.  Video clips from Pixabay.  Permission granted through the Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed).

 “O Virtus Sapientiae” by Hildegard von Bingen.  (Choir, “Sophia’s Journey” of Jefferson Unitarian Church, Golden, CO.)  Song Public Domain.  YouTube video used by permission of Rev. Keith Arnold, Jefferson Unitarian Church Minister of Music.

“Légende,” No. 2 from Deux Pièces by Louis Vierne.  (Kathy Gursky, viola & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano.)  Music Public Domain, video used by permission.

“The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.)  Used by permission. 

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.

Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

    OTHER NOTES

Hildegard of Bingen: Scientist, Composer, Healer and Saint  by Demi (Wisdom Tales, April 7, 2019)  used with permission

*permission granted through the UUA

    OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for September is Lutheran Family Services.

100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.

We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering:  https://giv.li/5jtcps

    SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

Jenny McReady Amstutz, Guest Speaker 
Sue Watts, Worship Associate
Tina DeYoe, Director of Lifespan Religious Education
Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
Kathy Gursky, viola
Jess Cullinan & Nora Cullinan, vocalists
Wade Wheelock, violin
UU Virtual Singers: Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar  
Rick Bolton, Mike Begnaud, and Renae Mitchell AV techs

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Children and Youth Religious Education Updates — Parent Meetings on 21 and 23 September 2021

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

We are holding additional opportunities for parent meetings this coming week via Zoom.

We want to determine what kind of religious education format and schedule will work best for your family and your children.

You only need to just one session though you are welcome to attend both if you want.  It is the same meeting at two different times.

The same Zoom link will be used for both meetings on the following dates:

  • Tuesday, 21 September 2021 at 7:00 PM
  • Thursday, 23 September 2021 at 12 Noon

Email Susan Caldwell to let her know which meeting you will attend.

If none of these times work for you, text her at 318-465-3427 to set up an appointment.

Share

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Online Adult Religious Education — 19 September 2021

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Please join us on Sunday (19 September 2021) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom.

We have completed our White Fragility book study group using the book by Robin DiAngelo.

This week we continue our exploration of the 8th principle and anti-racism as we look at racial disparities in health care.

In just about every aspect of health care in the US, racial disparities are often stark.

Whether the inequities are present in access to care, in attitudes of medical personnel that impact the treatment of people of color, or in a lack of trust in the medical profession brought about how they treat people of color, the inequities are very real.

Come join us to learn more.

Share

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Zoom Lunch (22 September 2021)

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Please join us next Wednesday (22 September 2021) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch.

Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

Share

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With-ness

By: clfuu

A reading to repeat a few times throughout your day:

To the refugee family seeking a safe place
For their children’s dreams, say:
I am with you in this.

To the trans teenager longing for a world
That accepts them for who they are, say:
I am with you in this.

To the black parents wondering when
Will the lives of their children truly matter, say:
I am with you in this.

To the lonely, the frightened, the dispossessed, say:
I am with you in this.

To the bullied, the battered, the broken down, say:
I am with you in this.

To the hungry and the homeless,
To the silenced and the shamed,
To the weary and the worried, say:
I am with you in this.

To all those for whom your
Disheveled heart is aching, say:
I am with you in this.
-Philip Lund

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!

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Virtual Concert: “Classically Refreshing”

By: Nylea Butler-Moore

Even in the difficult days of the pandemic, the music has continued!  The following selections were recorded by dedicated, gifted musicians and were used in online services of the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos (NM).  Concert premiere Saturday, September 18, 2021 @ 7 pm (mountain) on our YouTube channel or on our Live! page.  All music is in the public domain; videos used by permission.  Program developed by Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music.  Production created by AV Engineer Rick Bolton, with posting help from AV Tech Mike Begnaud. 

PROGRAM

Flute Sonata No. 5 in E-minor, mov. 2 Allegro, BWV 1034 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). 
Heidi Morning, flute & Yelena Mealy, piano.

Suite No. 1 in G Major, mov. 3 Courante, BWV by 1007 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
Ursula Coe, cello.

Violin Sonata No. 4 in D Major, mov. 4 Allegro, HWV 371 by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759).
Wade Wheelock, violin & Yelena Mealy, piano.

Sonata in B-Flat Major by Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801). Tate Plohr, piano.

Concerto for Two Cellos in G minor, mov. 1 Allegro, RV 531 by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). Ursula Coe & Dana Winograd, cellos & Yelena Mealy, piano.

Seligkeit (Bliss), No. 225, poem by Ludwig Heinrich Christoph Hölty (1748-1776), music by Franz Schubert (1797-1828).  Nora Cullinan, soprano & Yelena Mealy, piano.

Romanza in C Major by Ferdinand Praeger (1815-1891).  Kathy Gursky, viola & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano.

Mazurka in B-Flat Major, Op. 7, No. 1 by Frédéric François Chopin (1810-1849).  JeeYeon Plohr, piano

Märchenbilder (Fairy Tale Pictures), mov. I Nicht Schnell by Robert Schumann (1810-1856). 
Kathy Gursky, viola & Yelena Mealy, piano.

Lieder ohne Worte (Song without Words), Op. 38, No. 2 by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847).
Yelena Mealy, piano.

Danses by Guy Ropartz (1864-1955).  Anna Batista, oboe & Yelena Mealy, piano.

Opening & Closing Music: Excerpts from “Valse Impromptu” by Rustem Yahin (1921-1993).
Yelena Mealy, piano.

Segues:  Excerpts from Cello Concerto in C Major, mov. 1, Hob. VIIb:1 by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809).  Anna Perlak, cello & Yelena Mealy, piano.

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Mid-Week Email, 9-15-21

By: communication

Mid-week Message

from the Developmental Lead Minister 

Sept. 15, 2021

Friends,

headshot 080221Knowing the right thing to do is hard, even in good times. In challenging times, knowing the right thing to do is – well – challenging. Rarely are the choices we make as easy as yes or no, right or left, black or white. Mostly we live our lives in the grey zone. The balance sheet of costs and benefits for any given choice is complex, to say the least, because our lives are – well – complex. Put people together in community and the complexity increases. Throw a global pandemic into the mix and – let’s just say that nothing is simple these days.

I follow what is happening in religious communities both locally and nationally. In response to the pandemic, Unitarian Universalist congregations are experiencing many of the same dynamics as congregations of other faith traditions. Congregational leaders are feeling pressure in every direction, to fully reopening now, to staying virtual until the pandemic is over, to holding gatherings outdoors, to doing a hybrid of both virtual and in-person. What makes this time so incredibly challenging is that there are no road signs pointing the way, only guidelines and recommendations that must be adapted to each community’s particular context and set of circumstances.

What I’m hearing from UU congregations that have resumed fully live, in-person services is that attendance has been smaller than anticipated. What this says to me is that not everyone is ready. Not everyone is eligible and/or medically able to be vaccinated. Parents with young children at home, people with compromised immune systems or high-risk conditions (and those living with them), teachers, and health care workers who may be exposed to COVID infections in the course of their work are among those who are not yet ready to be around groups of people at church.

Our UU principles call us to radical inclusion and our UU sources call us to heed the findings of science. These suggest a cautious approach, maybe more cautious than some other faith communities. Yet, the longing to be together, to touch and hug, to laugh and cry, to raise voices together in song is real.

For now, the middle way here at FUUN is to gather on Sunday morning in the social hall for some social time at 10 a.m. and to view to the recording of the Zoom worship service at 11 a.m. Fitting the sanctuary for a more hybrid type of worship service will take some time, effort, and financial resources. Other types of in-person gatherings are being considered on a case-by-case basis. I will be vetting these requests in consultation with medical experts and the Executive Committee of the Board.     

For each one of us, the calculus around the costs and benefits of semi-isolation versus being in person in community will be different. At the very least, we all have a responsibility to keep each other as safe as possible, holding each other in tender care while we navigate this complex and challenging time. It is times like these that make our shared promises and commitments as a covenantal community real.

Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
​leadminister@firstuunash.org 

Open the Door…

door open v23Trigg copyJoin other FUUN members, friends, and Silversonix for an in-person, outdoor celebration on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 19.  We’ll begin gathering on the front lawn of the Norris House at 12:30 p.m., and the music will start at 1 p.m. Bring your own picnic lunch, spread out a blanket, and enjoy being together while listening to some great music.  Masks will be encouraged while mixing and mingling, as will social distancing. Everyone will be required to register once they arrive so that contact-tracing can be implemented if needed. The event will be live streamed, so, if you are unable to attend in person, you can watch it from our FUUN Facebook page.

…Close the Gap
While we’re celebrating the slow and cautious opening of our doors, we’ll also be promoting a special fundraiser to close the gap in our budget. We need to raise another $90,000 to make up this gap, and sp fundraiserthe FUUN Trust has agreed to match all donations to this special fundraiser up to $50,000!  So that we don’t waste a penny of this generous match, we’re looking for all members and friends to make a one-time special gift to reach a total goal of $100,000.  Make a gift today by scanning the QR code, clicking here, or going to firstuunash.org, clicking on “Give” on the blue banner at the very top menu of the page or the large “Give to our Mission” button on the homepage. Be sure to select “Give to Close the Gap Fundraiser.”

If you haven’t heard Silversonix, youSilversonix 5’re in for a treat. Band leader Tom Surface is known for putting together many iterations of classic rock bands over the years. When he invited Sheri DiGiovanna to join in on vocals in 2018, the band added pop and country tunes to its repertoire. Band members are Tom Surface (guitar, band leader), Sheri DiGiovanna (vocals), Jim Surface (guitar), James Collins (bass), Victoria Harris (drums), and Joe Warner (keys). The name Silversonix was chosen to pay tribute to the decades, not only representing the span of their music but also the age span of the band members.  

-Richard Bird
Chair, Stewardship Committee

Mark Your Calendar 

Sept.
                 19  Special “Open the Door” fundraising event on campus

Oct. 
                   9  Habitat build day
                 16  Annual Recycle Day
                 30  Auction begins

Nov.
                    6  Auction Night
                  12 Palmer Lecture:  Open Table Nashville

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Peace

By: clfuu

Today, a body meditation from Kathy Underwood, to the words of Gandhi. Do what of it you are able to do and what brings you peace and joy.

I offer you peace (arms outstretched in front of you with palms facing up)
I offer you friendship (arms outstretch in front of you with hands clasped)
I offer you love (arms crossed over chest)
I see your beauty (touch eyes)
I hear your needs (touch ears)
I feel your feelings (hands touch chest)
My wisdom comes from a higher source (arms reach up, palms facing up)
I honor that source in you (arms outstretched in front of you, palms facing up)
Let us work together (arms outstretched in front of you, hands clasped)

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!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

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Meditation with Larry Androes (18 September 2021)

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Please join us on Saturday (18 September 2021) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes.

This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching.

The group is free and open to all.

For more information, contact Larry via email or phone using (318) 272-0014.

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Music

By: clfuu

“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.” -Kahlil Gibran

However your body experiences music, spend some time with it today. Feel the rhythm, move your arms, sway in time, hum or sing, or listen to the words of a song that connects you to something beyond yourself.

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!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

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Sunday, September 19 ~ Roll For It! ~ 10:30 a.m.

By: Christine

dice-3380228_1920

Gnome, half-elf, orc … Rogue, bard, sorcerer … Who will you be? 

It is commonly understood that imaginary play can be an important part of childhood. Can adults also learn something from battling dragons or casting invisibility spells? This Sunday, September 19, Rev. Alice will explore the life lessons and benefits found in role playing games   [ … ]

The post Sunday, September 19 ~ Roll For It! ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

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Palmer Lecture: “Housing is a Human Right”

By: communication

Save the Date for our Annual Palmer Lecture: Lindsey Krinks, Co-Founder and Director of  Education for Open Table Nashville, has agreed to be this year’s Palmer Lecturer. The virtual lecture “Housing is a Human Right” will be on Friday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. For more information about Open Table Nashville, visit opentablenashville.org

Rev. Palmer was named Minister Emeritus of FUUN in 1979 in recognition of his work as our first called minister. To further honor his legacy, the church began an ongoing lecture series on human rights issues with the mission to engage speakers of recognized stature and appeal to a wide audience in the Nashville area. View previous lectures at  firstuunash.org/palmer-lecture-archive/ and join us this November.

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Annual Recycle Day, Oct. 16

By: communication

Please mark your calendars for Saturday, Oct. 16, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. With the exception of 2020, since 2016 FUUN has actively participated in this interfaith Recycle Day Event. Members of participating churches are able to drop off to West End United Methodist Church parking lot items such as paper for shtredding, medicines, electronics (small fee), and more. Further information to follow. We need 3-4 volunteers to help make the day a success; contact Kathy Ganske (her information is in Breeze). 

Kathy is a member of FUUN and our inaugural co-chair for ENACT, which is FUUN’s Environmental Action Team. See our website page at firstuunash.org/enact/ for more information. Currently, our ENACT team doesn’t have a chair. If you are interested, please contact nominating@thefuun.org.

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Boiling It Down: Finding the Essence of What Guides Your Life

By: UCLA Guest Speaker

Turning sap into syrup takes attention and diligence and wouldn’t most of us agree it’s worth it? likewise, unfolding the meaning of our lives, sorting out one way of understanding for one that fits us better is a life-long undertaking worthy of our time and attention.

Rev. Linda Whittenberg is no stranger to us. She was a member here during the first years of Dale Arnink’s ministry and has visited to read from her several books of poems and to speak on numerous occasions. She has called Santa Fe home for 42 years, even during the years she served as minister in California and Washington. After her husband, Bob Wilber’s death in 2020, she moved to Colorado to be near her three children who all live in the Denver Area.

SERVICE NOTES

WELCOME!

  • New to our church community? Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.
  • For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 
  • Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos
  • If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our Virtual Prayer Book.
  • Have questions? While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at office@uulosalamos.org.

MUSIC CREDITS

  • “Beau Soir” by Claude Debussy. (Kathy Gursky, viola & Yelena Mealy, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.
  • “O Life That Maketh All Things New,” words: Samuel Longfellow, music: Thomas Williams’s Psalmodia Evangelica, 1789. (Yelena Mealy, piano). Hymn Public Domain, video used by permission.
  • “What Wondrous Love,” words: American folk hymn, music: melody from The Southern Harmony, 1835. (Wade Wheelock, violin). Hymn Public Domain, video used by permission.
  • “Find a Stillness,” words: Carl G. Seaburg, music: Transylvanian hymn tune, harm. Larry Phillips (Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Used by permission of the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association).
  • “Sicilienne,” Op. 78 by Gabriel Fauré. (Kathy Gursky, viola & Yelena Mealy, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission. 
  • “Romance” by Claude Debussy. (Kathy Gursky, viola & Yelena Mealy, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.
  • “The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission. 

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for September is Lutheran Family Services. 
100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.
We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering: https://giv.li/5jtcps

SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

  • Rev. Linda Whittenberg, Guest Speaker 
  • Felicia Orth, Worship Associate
  • Tina DeYoe, Director of Lifespan Religious Education
  • Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
  • Yelena Mealy, piano
  • Kathy Gursky, viola
  • Wade Wheelock, violin
  • UU Virtual Singers: Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn  
  • Mike Begnaud, Rick Bolton, and Renae Mitchell AV techs

Attached media: https://web.archive.org/web/20211111041002/https://www.uulosalamos.org/ucla/pulpit/2021/20210912-Boiling_It_Down.mp3

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Trauma

By: clfuu

Today is the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Many people around the world feel the trauma of this day in their bodies and hearts.

Many people, every day, carry pain from trauma with them. It is important to be gentle and kind with this pain. You did not cause it. You do not deserve it.

How can you be gentle and kind to yourself today? How can you recognize and honor the pain you are feeling?

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!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

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Children and Youth Religious Education Updates — Parent Meetings on 14, 15, and 16 September 2021

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

We are holding a series of parent meetings this coming week via Zoom.

We want to determine what kind of religious education format and schedule will work best for your family and your children.

You only need to just one session though you are welcome to attend as many as you like.  It is the same meeting at several different times.

The same Zoom link will be used for all four meetings on the following dates:

  • Tuesday, 14 September 2021, at 12 Noon
  • Tuesday, 14 September 2021, at 7:00 PM
  • Wednesday, 15 September 2021, at 8:30 PM
  • Thursday, 16 September 2021, at 12 Noon

Email Susan Caldwell to let her know which meeting you will attend.

If none of these times work for you, text her at 318-465-3427 to set up an appointment.

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Online Adult Religious Education — 12 September 2021

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Please join us on Sunday (12 September 2021) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom.

We have completed our White Fragility book study group using the book by Robin DiAngelo.

This week we continue our exploration of the 8th principle and anti-racism as we look at racial disparities in health care.

In just about every aspect of health care in the US, racial disparities are often stark.

Whether the inequities are present in access to care, in attitudes of medical personnel that impact the treatment of people of color, or in a lack of trust in the medical profession brought about how they treat people of color, the inequities are very real.

Come join us to learn more.

Share

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Zoom Lunch (15 September 2021)

By: Steve Caldwell, Web Editor

Please join us next Wednesday (15 September 2021) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch.

Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

Share

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