We Begin with a Covenant (Perry's Ponderings)

When my wife, Barbara, and I spoke our vows two Sundays ago, with Reverend Meredith’s prompting, we made promises to each other. The words matter, but their real meaning comes from the feeling behind them and the intent to fulfill them. The care, love, and connection between us gives life to the words “love and cherish.” The same is true with the covenants created in our faith community.

Our wedding ceremony was a combination of Jewish and Unitarian Universalist traditions. Interestingly, both religions are covenantal faiths. Judaism refers to the covenant with God, which is interpreted in different ways depending upon how the person perceives God, from the more literal supreme being to, alternatively, a sense of connection with oneself and the world. In Unitarian Universalism, when we say we are a covenantal faith, we mean that our sense of meaning is dependent upon our agreements with one another. It is our covenanting that holds us in community around our values and way of being together, in the midst of our diversity of beliefs.

The year in Religious Education begins with our first classes this Sunday. The children, youth, and teachers will start in the sanctuary where we will have an RE Covenanting during the service. We will all say out loud the commitment we are making to one another to be in this Religious Education Ministry together. The congregation will promise to surround children, youth, and teachers with a loving supportive community in which to thrive. Volunteer teachers will promise to be present, available, and engaged. This is the essence of what we can ask of each other.

When the classes create their own covenants, we explain to the children and youth that these are not rules; they are agreements we make with each other about how we are going to be together. Each person is committing to this agreement and is a part of the process. Our ideas on how we should go about being together may shift somewhat over time, but our ultimate commitment is that we are going to present to one another in a supportive way. We are going to work through our differences in a way that will enable us to thrive, even when that is difficult. Much like a good marriage, our sense of community is based on that intent and the continual renewal of finding ways to come together.

Music: Sun Sep 14

This Sunday Adam Kent performs music by Unitarian composers Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) and Béla Bartók (1881-1945) to complement our service devoted to Unitarian Faith. Both composers were gifted pianists who created a substantial body of work for the instrument. In addition, the Norwegian Grieg and the Hungarian Bartók frequently sought inspiration in the folk music of their respective regions of Europe, casting an orally transmitted tradition in the harmonic and stylistic language of their eras.

Music for Sun Sep 14:

Homeward, Op. 62, No. 6 -- Edvard Grieg
Wedding Day at Troldhaugen, Op. 65, No. 6 -- Grieg
15 Hungarian Melodies: 2. Andante -- Béla Bartók
Notturno, Op. 54, No. 4 -- Grieg
Rumanian Folk Dances (Dances with Sticks; Waistband Dance; On the Spot; Hornpipe; Rumanian Polka; Quick Dance) -- Bartók

Adam Kent, piano

Who's In What Journey Group?

Journey Group A
2nd Sundays, after service, CUC, room 12
Facilitator: Karen Perkins Dandridge
Ann Norum
Norm Handelman
Alan Marrasco
Debbie Mawhinney
Joan Eskenazi
Giny Strand
Melody Cooper
Karen Dreher
Ted Dreher
Adine Usher
Donna Vought
Elizabeth Tashiro
Precious Sellars

Journey Group B
2nd Fridays, 11:00am
Home of Maxi Feldman & Bryan Masback
Harrison, NY 10528
Facilitator: Maxi Feldman
Anne Majsak
Paula Meigan
Carla Fisher
Mary L Cobb
Sophie Mitra

Journey Group C
3rd Mondays, 7:30pm
Home of Al & Robin Rocchi
Harrison, NY 10528
Facilitator: Al Rocchi
Robin Rocchi
Bryan Masback
Sara Caldwell
Robert Marrone
Ted Kuczinski
Claire Kuczinski
Fletcher Crossman
Anne Marie Damashek
Scott Damashek
Yvonne Lynn
Miram Innes

Journey Group D
4th Tuesdays, 10:30am
Home of Lauren Taylor
Scarsdale, NY 10583
Facilitator: Lauren Taylor
Joan Traber
Barbara Youngman
Janet Giewat
Mary Donch
Anne Addler
Cynthia Roberts
Phyllis Wilson

Journey Group E
3rd Tuesdays, 7:30pm
Home of Nicky Klemens
Rye, NY 10580
Facilitator: Nicky Klemens
Karen Schmitt
Carol Selinske
Creighton Cray
Julie Gans
Kate Breault
Chris Breault
Margaret Gold
Niamh Thurman
Joni Ehrlich

Journey Group F
3rd Thursdays, 7:30pm,
Home of Barry and Trish Litcofsky
Irvington, NY 10533
Co-Facilitators: Trish Litcofsky & Perry Montrose
Dean Silverberg
Janice Silverberg
Jim Cobb
Lenore Lupie
Karen Schatzel
Tori Weisel
Barry Litcofsky
Charlie McNally

Journey Group G
3rd Thursdays, 7:30pm
Home of Becky Kurth and Randy Marshall
New Rochelle, NY 10804
Facilitator: Becky Kurth
Danielle O'Malley
Diana Echevarria
Janet Press
Bob Indra
Randy Marshall
Pearl Prince
Julie Bondor
Laura Sehdeva
Hope Tera
Laura Goodspeed
Russ Newberry

Journey Group H
3rd Sundays, after service, CUC room 12
Facilitator: Cynthia Heller
Catherine Kortland
Chris Kortland
Carole Mehta
Johanna Bauer
Mary Cavallero
Edith Kates
Barbara Mair
Daniel Tillman
Cynthia Tillman
Janet Wafer
Ann Byers
John Steele
Ellen Freiberger

Journey Group I
3rd Sundays, 5:00pm
Home of Jane Dixon
White Plains, NY 10605
Facilitator: Jane Dixon
Ingrid Hartmann
Jacy Good
Pinar Tanrikorur
Gail McCleod
Bevin Maguire
Craig Hunt
Bobbi Collins
Michael Stelling
Lisa Stelling
Valerie Kirschenbaum

Journey Group M
4th Sundays, after service, CUC room 12
Facilitator: Jeff Tomlinson
Linda Janczewski
Allan Janczewski
Ben Unger
Kelly Murphy Mason
Pam Cucinell
Steve Bear
Janet Bear
Barbara Dodd
Judy Gershon
Roxanne Seitz
Emily Barry-Murphy

Journey Group N
2nd Sundays, after service, CUC room TBA
Facilitator: Deb Morra
Joann Prinzivalli
Trudy Katz
Elizabeth Tashiro
Polly Midgley
Liz Laite
John Schwam
Tara James
Betty Landauer
Rae Messing
Katie Alexander
Barbra Kelly
Irene Cox

RE September Sundays in the Sanctuary

Children and youth will begin each of the four Sundays in September in the sanctuary. Children’s Worship in Fellowship Hall will begin on the second Sunday in October. Here are the happenings:

9/7 Water Service for All Ages - Our ingathering includes the ritual of sharing water from our summer journeys and the feelings they created. Children and youth will stay in the sanctuary for the entire service and there is opportunity for participation.

9/14 Before the first day of classes begins, the congregation will covenant with the teachers and give a blessing of support. The children and youth will continue the tradition of carrying their class chalices out of the sanctuary as they go to their classrooms.
 
9/21 Perry will be leading the service that day and there will be a Story for All Ages. Be sure to arrive for the beginning of the service at 10am when the children and youth are invited to gather around the piano for Music for All Ages with Adam. As children experience the fun and wonder of worship in the sanctuary, they build a connection to our community.

9/28 Rev. Meredith and Perry will be conducting a Child Dedication. The children and youth will be present to covenant to care for each child being dedicated. If you would like your child to be dedicated, pleases contact Perry.

Starting in October, children and youth will begin in the sanctuary on the first Sunday of each month and process to their classes after the Story for All Ages. Music for All Ages with Adam will begin promptly at 10am on those Sundays. Unless there is a multigenerational service, children begin in Fellowship Hall for Children’s Worship on all other Sundays of the month.

Music: Sun Sep 7

Sunday morning’s music features powerful expressions of Faith from CUC’s Choir, directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas. These choral selections include a moving setting of words found inscribed on a cellar wall in Cologne, Germany, where Jews hid from the Nazis during the Second World War, and an appealing arrangement of the African-American Spiritual “Every Time I Feel the Spirit”.

To complement our annual Water Communion ceremony, Music Director Adam Kent rounds out Sunday morning’s musical fare with aqueous solo piano works. Claude Debussy’s Sunken Cathedral, Ondine, and Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest, Ernst Bloch’s At Sea, Edward MacDowell’s From the Depths, Franz Liszt’s Au lac de Wallenstadt, and an arrangement of the African-American Spiritual “Deep River” provide a musical overview of the myriad experiences evoked by the life-giving liquid.

Prelude
La cathédrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral) -- Claude Debussy
"At Sea" from Poems of the Sea -- Ernst Bloch
Adam Kent, piano

Choral Anthem I
Inscription of Hope Music by Z. Randall
CUC Choir directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas

Origin of text for "Inscription of Hope": The Holocaust is a stunning reminder of the tragic results of prejudice and hate toward other people. But it is also a reminder of hope held firm will eventually reign victorious over the greatest of odds. The following words were inscribed on the wall in a celler in Cologne, Germany where Jews were hiding from the Nazis during World War II. Hope was all they had to hold on to: hope was their only bridge to a brighter tomorrow. Text:

I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining,
And I believe in love, even when there's no one there.
And I believe in God, even when he is silent.
I believe through any trial there is always a way.
But sometimes in this suffering and hopeless despair,
My heart cries out for shelter to know someone's there.
But a voice rises within me saying hold on my child,
I'll give you strength, I'll give you hope,
Just stay a little while.
May there someday by sunshine, may there someday be happiness,
May there someday be love, may there someday be peace.

Choral Anthem II
Every Time I Feel The Spirit American Spiritual, arr. by Earlene

Water Communion
Still Waters:
Au lac de Wallenstandt -- Franz Liszt
Shining Waters:
Ondine -- Claude Debussy
Storm Waters:
From the Depths Edward -- MacDowell
Rushing Waters:
Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest (What the West Wind Saw) -- Debussy

The text of Debussy's Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Garden of Paradise”:

“I looked into the deep river, and saw it rushing down from the rocks. The water drops mounted to the clouds and glittered in the rainbow. I saw the wild buffalo swimming in the river, but the strong current carried him away amidst a flock of wild ducks, which flew into the air as the waters dashed onwards, leaving the buffalo to be hurled over the waterfall.”

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

Welcome to a New Year in Religious Education!

I hope you all had a wonderful summer, full of fun adventures, meaningful moments, and time for relaxation. After meeting some of you when I visited in the spring and others during the summer months when I started at CUC, I am truly looking forward to connecting with those of you I have not met yet and get to know you all more deeply. I am especially excited to begin this new congregational year with you. Please see the following six (6) announcements:

1) This Sunday is the Water Service for all ages. Children and youth will stay in the sanctuary for the entire service and will have the opportunity to participate in the water sharing, as well hear a Wonder Box Story. If needed, child care is available for the little ones in the nursery.

2) Children and Youth Religious Education classes begin next Sunday, Sept. 14 at 10am. All children and youth will begin in the sanctuary for the first part of the service when there will be a special covenant with teachers and carrying out the class chalices.

3) Children and youth will begin in the sanctuary for all the Sundays in September and the first Sunday in October. To see the special sanctuary Sundays: CLICK HERE.

4) Please register your child(ren) for Religious Education online: CLICK HERE. It is important that we have up-to-date information for your child's well-being and RE planning.

5) We will also be starting up Adult Religious Education later this fall. There will be a catalog of offerings for learning, spiritual growth, and support. Please let me know if you have a special interest you would like to share with the congregation or an area you would like to explore in your own faith development.

6) If you are looking for a way to connect and contribute without feeling overwhelmed consider joining one of our RE Support Teams (REST). Each REST provides an opportunity for engagement in your particular area of interest, while helping to support our evolving vibrant programming. Being part of a team with a very specific focus allows the endeavor to be bite-sized and fit to your schedule. Learn more: CLICK HERE.

It will be great to see you on Sunday.

Sincerely,
Perry

A New Model of Engagement (Perry's Ponderings)

A bouquet of pipe cleaner heart flowers is displayed on my desk. It is one of the sacred objects that reminds me of the meaning of being a religious educator. The pipe cleaner bouquet was handed to me by a little girl during an RE Sunday worship service. Those heart-shaped “flowers” speak to the connections we make in congregational life that are truly the heart of the matter. I begin my first year at Community Unitarian Church with the wonderful anticipation of getting to know a community of special people and walking together on a journey of exploration, wonder, and discovery.

Those multi-colored heart flowers on my desk represent the diverse group of people that make up our community, each with their own backgrounds, ideas, perspectives, passions, and talents. When we bring our diversity together with similar values, we create amazingly vibrant opportunities. I look forward to supportively empowering what each of you brings to CUC, so you are able to share your essential self and be nurtured in return

The Religious Education Council held a retreat over the summer to vision new ways of creating dynamic programs for children, youth, and adults. As we laid out all that happens in RE, it was apparent why this small group has felt their plates overflowing at times. The process of looking at what we do in RE was described as dumping the puzzle pieces out on the table. Once we saw it all with fresh eyes, we endeavored to put the puzzle together.

I presented the Council with a structure that I developed in my previous congregations to create greater capacity. We decided to move forward with this model that provides many bite-size roles for involvement. We are creating six RE Support Teams (REST) that focus on a particular area of the Religious Education Ministry:

• Adult REST - developing spiritual practice offerings and learning opportunities for adults
• Connections REST - connecting RE families and creating intergenerational links
• Justice REST - fostering social justice activities in RE and for families to o together
• Teaching REST - supporting teachers and choosing curricula
• Worship REST - augmenting Children’s Worship and multigenerational services
• Youth REST - enhancing Coming of Age, further developing the opportunities for high school youth, and building a stronger bridge from one to the other.

Each RE Support Teams offers clear manageable roles for engagement in RE for all ages. These teams allow for a more efficient structure to support RE and open up paths for faith development. Your participation actually becomes part of your personal spiritual journey in CUC community. By joining an RE Support Team in your area of interest, you enhance your experience of growth and discovery. Please contact me to add your “heart flower” to our bouquet.