2015-02-26

CUC Music: Sun Mar 1

This Sunday, we welcome oboist Ian Shafer and bassoonist Leonard Hindell to CUC in Francis Poulenc’s charming Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano. Poulenc’s music illustrates the theme of Brokenness in a surprisingly positive, life-affirming way. The music seems to piece together fragments of popular tunes, military fanfares, children’s melodies, romantic excess and classical elegance in a kaleidoscopic array of changing perspectives.
Come at 10am to hear Music Director Adam Kent in a chat with Ian and Lenny about their respective musical instruments and the unique sound and expressive possibilities they offer. Also, consider attending and inviting your friends to the Chamber Music Gems concert at CUC on Sunday March 8 at 3pm to hear more from these marvelous musicians and their colleagues.
Check out https://www.facebook.com/events/1544005835873160 for more information on the Mar 8 event, and read on for programming details for Mar 1.

Ian Shafer, oboe
Leonard Hindell, bassoon
Adam Kent, piano

Prelude: Music for All Ages:
Two Reeds Are Better Than One! Meet the Oboe and the Bassoon
"Rondo" from Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano
Francis Poulenc

Opening Music:
“Bransle de Champagne” from Suite Française
Poulenc

Interlude:
"Andante" from Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano
Poulenc

Offertory:
"Lent—Presto" from Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano
Poulenc

2015-02-20

Our Punctuated Equilibrium of Spiritual Growth (Perry's Ponderings)

I remember being introduced to the evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium that is about species moving along in stasis or very gradual evolution and then having a sudden major change due to a mutation or other event. It strikes me how this biological evolutionary theory actually applies to our individual, spiritual, emotional lives. We create our routines and our lives move along in a somewhat constant way, hopefully with gradual personal growth happening in the background, until an event hits our lives with a sudden impact. These incidents that puncture our equilibrium force us to shift our perspective and create a new reality. We are transformed by what causes a fissure in our lives and at first seems to break us.

In my own life, I have been through serious illness, divorce, the death of young and old people close to me, and supporting those around me through addiction, cancer, and mental health struggles. Each of these situations has brought its own anguish, attempt for understanding, and search for a path forward. In these moments of life, we struggle to understand the circumstances and ways to cope. I was once told, “No death stands alone.” Our lives are composed of the connective fiber of our life experiences. We experience a sudden brokenness in the context of everything else we have been through and who we are at that moment in time.

Afterward, we continue to process and mesh the experience with our previous life perspective, forming a new vision and way of being that contains the old material woven with our new passages. Sometimes it feels like our life is never the same again. Well, it isn’t; we have evolved.

Although it is an internal process, we depend on others to move ourselves forward. The people around us provide perspective, comfort our pain, push us forward, and often hold up a mirror so we may see more deeply what is happening inside of us. It is invaluable to have a community to which you can bring the questions, feelings, uncertainties, and fledgling realizations. In our Unitarian Universalist faith community we grow together emotionally and intellectually.

The CUC Adult RE Support Team is having initial conversations about how we can create more opportunities for growth and learning. We want to intentionally allow the space for discussing life transitions, topics of interest, theological exploration, faith identity, ethical questions, and shared experiences. There are many formats for doing this whether in a single class, ongoing discussion group, field trip, lecture, or spiritual practice. We welcome your thoughts and ideas as we go through the process. Let us know what has punctuated your equilibrium and what questions it has raised for you that would be better processed in beloved community. Adult Religious Education is about sharing our stories in the context of a focused topic, so that we learn from one another. In this way, we continue to transform the cracks of our brokenness into beautiful lines of our personal evolution.

2015-02-19

CUC Music: Sun Feb 22


Sunday morning’s solo piano selections feature works by Unitarian composers. Several of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s Lyric Pieces and the opening movement of the Hungarian Béla Bartók’s Suite, Op. 14 comprise the Prelude. Arthur Foote served as organist of Boston’s First Unitarian Church for over 30 years, starting in 1878. The “Romance” from his Suite in d minor, Op. 15 is performed as the Offertory. In addition, CUC’s Choir will be on hand with selections by Ruth Elaine Schram and John David. Read on for more programming details.

Prelude:
Allegretto from Suite, Op. 14                                     Béla Bartók
From Lyric Pieces, Op. 12                                                            Edvard Grieg
            Folk Melody, Norwegian Melody, Album Leaf, & National Song
Adam Kent, piano
Choral Anthem:
No Greater Gift                                    Ruth Elaine Schram
            CUC Choir directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas
Choral Anthem:
You Are the New Day                        John David, arr. by Philip Lawson

Offertory:
Romance, from Suite in d minor, Op. 15                        Arthur Foote

2015-02-18

Stitching In Spirit

STITCHING IN SPIRIT:
THE CUC MONTHLY CRAFTING CIRCLE

CUC Adult RE Program

Sun Mar 1 at 11:45 in Room 14 (Youth Room)
Facilitator: Rev. Kelly Murphy Mason, Community Minister

Fiber arts and handicrafts have figured significantly in people’s communal and spiritual lives for millennia. This has been especially true for women, historically, although these interests now hold very broad-based appeal. Today we see the resurgence gaining ground in the “maker movement” and crafting craze.

Come join affiliated minister and avid crocheter Kelly Murphy Mason in this ongoing group exploring what it might mean for those in our faith community to be “stitching in spirit.”

Please feel free to bring with you any handicrafting projects you might have underway – or else just bring an open and inquiring mind.

This CUC crafting circle will be meeting the first Sunday of the month for the duration of the church program year: Mar 1, Apr 5, May 3, and Jun 7. Anyone with any degree of interest is welcome to join at any point, and newcomers are always encouraged to attend!

2015-02-13

What's In a Name Update

What's In a Name Update

IT'S NOT TOO LATE......though there will be no more small group meetings, we still want to hear from you. There's still time to give us your input!

HOW TO GET THE MATERIAL: You can find hard copies of both the reading packet and questionnaire on the table in the main lobby. OR if you prefer, you can e-mail Karen Dreher at KaRu55@aol.com and she will e-mail you all materials.

HOW TO GET YOUR COMPLETED QUESTIONNAIRE BACK TO THE COMMITTEE: Give it to either Karen Dreher or John Cavallero on Sun Feb 22 or Sun Mar 1 OR scan your questionnaire and e-mail it to Karen at KaRu55@aol.com.

DEADLINE IS SUN MAR 1.

2015-02-11

CUC Music: Sun Feb 15

Hot, passionate music from Spain and Latin America will warm you on a chilly February morning in this Sunday’s belated Valentine’s Day celebration. Transcriptions from Manuel de Falla’s ballets El amor brujo (Love by Witchcraft) and The Three-Cornered Hat -- tales of love run amok -- will be included alongside a sensitive evocation of a “charming girl” (Danza de la moza donosa) by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera. In addition, Federico Mompou quotes a popular Catalan folk tune, which says “Whoever has love scorns it, whoever has it not craves it”, in his Canción y Danza No. 1. The Prelude opens with the brooding opening movement of Isaac Albéniz’s Iberia Suite, which can be previewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARDh-G45d_8 (below).

Adam Kent, piano

Prelude:
From Iberia, Book I: "Evocación"
Isaac Albeniz

From The Three-Cornered Hat: "The Miller’s Dance" and "The Dance of the Miller’s Wife"
Manuel de Falla

Opening Music:
Danza de la moza donosa
Alberto Ginastera

Interlude:
Canción y danza No. 1
Federico Mompou

Offertory:
From El amor brujo: "Pantomime"
Manuel de Falla

* * *
Adam Kent performing Isaac Albeniz:

2015-02-05

CUC Music: Sun Feb 8

In honor of Black History Month, Sunday morning’s solo piano selections feature works by composers of African descent. The works performed range from R. Nathaniel Dett’s post-Romantic character pieces, to Hale Smith’s jazz-inflected pedagogical gems, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s rich arrangement of “Deep River.” Read on for programming details. In addition, CUC’s Choir is on hand to perform a special Valentine’s Day selection as well as a celebratory Alleluia. Read on for programming details.

Prelude:

Deep River
Traditional African-American, arr. by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

From New Faces of Jazz: "Scrambled Eggs and Ernie" and "That's Mike"
Hale Smith

From In the Bottoms: "Prelude: Night" and "Juba Dance"
R. Nathaniel Dett

Adam Kent, piano

Choral Anthems:

Si Vis Amari (Trans: "If you want to be loved, love.")
Jerry Estes

A Festive Alleluia
Mary Lynn Lightfoot

CUC Choir directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas