Community UU Matters

2018-05-10

From the Minister, May 11

I’m glad to see that men who have abused or sexually harassed women are at last beginning to face punishment. Misogynist attitudes permeate our culture at all levels, though, and toppling a few at the top, while a necessary step to set a new tone of unacceptability of harassment and abuse, will need to be accompanied by broad-based attention to how our boys and girls are raised.

Yes, testosterone does make a difference. Raising or lowering anybody’s testosterone level, male or female, has affects on mood and on what gets attention and doesn't. We still have a lot to learn about its effects, but indications at this point seem to show that testosterone increases concern with one’s status. Studies, however, “refute the preconception that testosterone causes aggressive, egocentric, and risky behavior.” Testosterone “can encourage fair behaviors if this serves to ensure one's own status.” (Science Daily, 2009 Dec 9)

The toxic masculinity that has for too long been actively promoted by some and tacitly permitted by others, is not the fault of testosterone. It's the fault of an ideology of masculinity that encourages boys to be dominate. I am convinced that, indeed, dominance is the one evil at the root of all social ills. The rise of agriculture 12,000 years ago gave rise to a dominant class and put us all in service to whatever was hierarchically above us. (I write of this in more detail in two posts HERE and HERE.)

The task of replacing domination with compassion and empathy will not be easy. Domination, vicious as it is, has persisted because in some sense it has "worked": it has allowed individuals, particularly males, to get ahead. We are up against entrenched toxic masculinity: deep patterns that train boys to be dominant. Misogyny, homophobia, sexual assault, domestic violence, and sexual harassment are all about establishing and expressing dominance.

Toxic, dominant masculinity stifles emotional expression as incompatible with domination. Thus, boys taught to dominate become emotionally stunted men: damaged people inflicting damage on others.

Male concern with status has historically manifested as an interest in "honor." Honor may be too old-fashioned to be revived as a significant influence on culture today, but its opposite, shame, is as powerful as ever. Rape culture will end when men -- much closer to universally than at present -- understand sexual aggression as shameful.

Whether the influence of boys' testosterone is channeled into aggression and dominance or into, say, fighting for social justice, is up to us. I believe that a society that expects and rewards its boys to be strong in pro-social ways – a society that won’t tolerate sexual aggression -- can get what it expects.

Western culture has been lousy at teaching boys what to do with the energies and interests that testosterone nudges upward. The #MeToo movement is helping dismantle the structures that for so long have rewarded aggressive dominance. That’s a very positive development for the prospects of happier, healthier, more complete men.

In Case You Missed It . . .

Click the pic for the May 6 Prayer and Homily from our Flower Celebration service.

For video of a number of past sermons on our Youtube channel, CLICK HERE.

The Liberal Pulpit: New this week:

Index of past sermons: HERE
Index of other reflections: HERE.

Practice of the Week. Industrial Civilization and Everyone Else. While we cannot be blamed for the circumstances that led us to where we are today, we do have a responsibility to live with as much integrity and mindfulness as possible. We need to say “enough” to our leaders and to the unrealistic notion that our standard of living should constantly rise. We need to say “enough” in our individual lifestyle choices. READ MORE

Your Moment of Zen. One evening Owl said, "I've heard that the mind is the mountains, the rivers, and the great Blue Planet." Raven said, "Right." Owl continued, "And that the mind is neither tall nor short." Raven said, "That, too." Owl asked, "Then what is the mind?" Raven said, "Beans." READ MORE

Zen at CUUC: Sat May 12.

Minister's Tuesday Coffee Chat. I'm at a coffee shop (almost) every Tuesday from 3-5pm. I invite you to drop by and chat.
May: Sunshine Coffee Roasters, 1932 Palmer Ave, Larchmont. (Adjacent to the Red Mango.)

The two Common Reads for 2017-18: HERE.
Of particular note, regarding Centering: See recommended reading HERE
On the Journey, May: Truth. HERE.

RE News: Sun May 13

Lifespan Religious Education
There are ways in which the Variety Show is a unique, amazing event. It is a convivial gathering outside of Sunday morning that is truly intergenerational. Performers and audience members are of all ages. It is rare in life today that we hold events that bring together the generations. We have a great time and raise money for an important cause. This is the most fun you can have while raising money for those in need. Your own enjoyment is benefiting others. The show gives everyone the opportunity to perform. Children and adults who might not otherwise take the stage do so on this evening and those are moments to behold. Join us this Saturday to raise money for the New American Children’s Cultural Enrichment Fund, as we enrich our sense of beloved community.

Please see the following five (5) announcements:

1)This Sun May 13
K-5th grade start in Fellowship Hall for Children's Worship.
6th-12th grade start in classrooms.

Classes
Pre-K-1 - Creating Home
2nd-3rd - Henry Bergh (spiritual practice of kindness to all beings)
4th-5th - Bibleodeon: Women in the Bible
6th-7th – Neighboring Faiths: Kiva Microfinance (https://www.kiva.org/lender/cuucwp)
8th-9th – Coming of Age: Final Faith Statements & Service Prep
10th-12th – Youth Group

To view the Religious Education Google calendar, CLICK HERE.
To view a spreadsheet version of the RE Calendar, CLICK HERE.

2) Variety Show This Sat May 12, 5pm
This is the event of the year!

Performances! Raffle! Auction! Bake Sale!

Rehearsal - Fri, May 11, 4:30-7pm
(snacks provided)
Show - Sat, May 12, 5pm
(pizza for performers at 4:30pm)

Proceeds from this year's show will go to:
The New American Children’s Cultural Enrichment Fund.
This fund gives the children of refugees in Westchester County the opportunities they have not had to play sports, attend performances, or explore the arts.

Join us on Saturday to support this great cause.

3) College Scholarship Awards

Each year CUUC offers two scholarships in the amount of $250 for our graduating seniors. One scholarship is given in honor of Sylvia Schnall-Pierorazio and the other Rev. Betty Baker, both former CUUC Directors of Religious Education.

Please send a short essay on your contributions and leadership at CUUC, with a brief explanation of how the scholarship will be used and the names of two CUUC references to dlre@cucwp.org by May 31.

4) Unirondack Family & Friends Weekend May 25-28
Join other CUUC families at this Unitarian camp on Memorial Day weekend for family fun and connection.
A few of our families attended last year and had a great time.

For information and to register, CLICK HERE.
Contact Rebecca Rugg at rebeccaruggbiz@gmail.com to find out more from an attendee.

5) UU Summer Camps & Retreat Centers for Children, Youth, and Families
Unitarian Universalist retreat centers offer the opportunity to connect with UUs from around the country in fun and fellowship. Whether you are looking for a place to go as a family or somewhere for your kids to experience a fun camp, there are many amazing Unitarian Universalist summer destinations:

Ferry Beach is oceanfront in ME.

ferrybeach.org
The Mountain is atop the Blue Ridge Mountains in NC.
mountaincenters.org
The Rowe Center is in the Berkshire Mountains in MA.
rowecenter.org
Sophia Fahs RE Camp is one week in August on Shelter Island.
www.liacuu.org/Fahs
Star Island is a 46-acre island off the NH coast.
starisland.org
Unirondack is in the NY Adirondacks.
unirondack.org
Murray Grove is a Universalist retreat center nearby in NJ.
http://www.murraygrove.org/#!camping-in-the-grove/c15no
UUMAC Retreat is one week in July at DeSales University in PA.
uumac.org
The Central East Region offers a Summer Institute focused on climate change.
http://omdsi.org/
SUUSI is a weeklong multignerational event in North Carolina.
https://www.suusi.org/

Sincerely,
Perry
Director of Lifespan Religious Education and Faith Development

The Founding Mothers of Mother’s Day

Cindy Davidson, Ministerial Intern

Mother’s Day is one of the most highly commercialized holidays in the United States …. greeting cards, flowers, gifts, special meals out, and long-distance phone calls make for brisk marketing and business. Are these expressions of love and appreciation obscuring the original meaning of the Day? Founding Mothers Ann and Anna Jarvis, Methodists, and Julia Ward Howe, Unitarian, would say so!

Unitarian Universalists point to Julia Ward Howe’s “Appeal to Womanhood Throughout the World” from September 1870, (“Mother’s Day Proclamation”) as the true beginning of Mother’s Day. Meanwhile, the United Methodist Church and the United Methodist Women point to the works of Ann and Anna Jarvis, a mother/daughter duo, as the true beginning. Perhaps the truth lies in the both/and.

Ann Reeves Jarvis (1832-1905) lived in coal mining Grafton, West Virginia and was the mother to between eleven and thirteen children, only four of whom survived to adulthood due to the prevalence of childhood diseases and epidemics. In response to the needs she knew and saw of suffering mothers and children, she organized Mother’s Day Work Clubs in multiple locations in the 1860s. An effective community organizer and public health advocate, she educated mothers about hydration for fevered babies, sanitation and nutrition, and also provided practical assistance in the form of medicines and health aides to those in need.

During the Civil War, a field hospital was sited outside Grafton; Ann Reeves Jarvis recruited nurses and cared herself for the wounded on both sides of the conflict. Following the war, she tried to promote reconciliation and peace between Union and Confederate Moms by forming a Mother's Friendship Day, successfully staged in 1868.

To the North, Juliet Ward Howe (1819-1910), born and educated in New York City, lived the life of an accomplished (often anonymous) writer, poet and socialite with her not-very-supportive husband in Boston and Newport, RI. The mother of five children, she had become a Unitarian and was active in the abolitionist and suffragist movements. As the Civil War broke out in 1861, Juliet and her husband worked briefly with the Sanitary Commission to support sick and wounded soldiers. (After witnessing a skirmish in Washington, she was asked by Unitarian minister James Freeman Clarke to write new and better lyrics to the patriotic song “John Brown’s Body” -- we know her poem today as the lyrics of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”)

It was not until the 1870’s, though, during the Franco-Prussian war, that Juliet Ward Howe was moved to write the “Appeal to Womanhood” and begin her peace crusade. The proclamation called for the establishment of an international Women’s Peace Congress, which Howe travelled to London to promote, unsuccessfully. She did, however, initiate a Mother’s Peace Day observance on the second Sunday in June in Boston which lasted some years.

It was not until after the 1905 death of Ann Jarvis, that efforts to establish a Mother’s Day holiday would prove far-reaching and long-lasting. Her daughter Anna Jarvis, not a mother herself, deserves the credit for organizing the “first” Mother's Day events on May 10, 1908. They took place at the church where Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School in Grafton, WV, and at the Wanamaker’s department store auditorium in Philadelphia. The holiday spread with Anna’s public relations skills, the financial backing of well-heeled backer, and the help of the World’s Sunday School Association. Congress approved establishing a national holiday in 1914 under President Woodrow Wilson.

As the holiday soared to popularity, Jarvis became disillusioned and bitter about the crass commercialization associated with the holiday. Beginning around 1920, she urged people to stop buying flowers and other gifts for their mothers, preferring they write a simple letter instead. Later she began a door-to-door campaign in Philadelphia to collect signatures to rescind Mother’s Day.

Both Ann Jarvis and Juliet Ward Howe were convinced that women, but especially mothers, had to work for peace because they could see the ravages of war in their husbands, in their sons and in their communities. I have no doubt we need not be mothers nor men’s wives to embrace the spirit of this holiday. When we tap into our nurturing and care-taking instincts, no matter our gender, our collective work to ensure health and wellbeing for all in a peaceful world that knows war no more may be the thing to celebrate.

Extracted and Adapted from these SOURCES:

The Founding Mothers of Mother’s Day, http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/transcript-the-founding-mothers-of-mothers-day

Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biographies: Article by Joan Goodwin, posted May 28, 2002.
http://uudb.org/articles/juliawardhowe.html

The Founder of Mother’s Day Later Fought to Have it Abolished, Jonathan Mulinix, May 1, 2018. http://mentalfloss.com/article/30659/founder-mothers-day-later-fought-have-it-abolished

Anna Jarvis was Sorry she even Invented Mother’s Day, Joel Oliphant, May 8, 2015. https://www.buzzfeed.com/joeloliphint/anna-jarvis-was-sorry-she-ever-invented-mothers-day?utm_term=.qpw74b9NR#.eew0KqDl6

2018-05-08

Music: Sun May 13

Maternity in its myriad forms finds voice in Sunday morning’s musical selections. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky immortalized a child’s plea in “Mamma” from his Album for the Young, Op. 39, a set of pieces for student pianists. Claude Debussy turned his heart to the animal kingdom, when he included a touching lullaby for Jumbo the Elephant (rendered “Jimbo” in his French approximation) in his Children’s Corner suite. Clara Wieck Schumann and Teresa Carreño were in fact moms, who had to reconcile domestic demands with creative careers. Married to the pianist/composer Eugene d’Albert, the Venezuela-born Carreño parented some eight children and also managed to teach the American composer Edward MacDowell.

The CUUC Choir contributes two anthems, both expressions of thankfulness on a holiday associated with feelings of gratitude and appreciation. Read on for programming details, and—for a real-life tribute to Teresa Carreño, consider attending mezzo-soprano Anna Tonna’s concert of her music at the American Academy of Arts and Letters on Thursday, May 10: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10160154970155618&set=a.10153825616355618.1073741830.840555617&type=3&theater

Centering Music: Adam Kent, piano
Mamma, Op. 39, No. 3

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Le sommeil de l’enfant, Op.35

Teresa Carreño

Nocturne, Op. 6, No. 2

Clara Wieck Schumann

Anthem: CUUC Choir directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas

No Greater Gift

Ruth Elaine Schram

Offertory:
Jimbo’s Lullaby from Children’s Corner

Claude Debussy

Anthem:

Think on Me

Alicia Ann Scott, arr. by Greg Gilpin

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2018-05-04

From the Minister, May 6

The English word truth originated in a tree metaphor. Truth derives from the Proto-Indo-European word, deru-, meaning firm, solid, steadfast – as a tree. The Online Etymology Dictionary gives this entry for deru-:

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit dru "tree, wood," daru "wood, log, timber;" Greek drys "oak," drymos "copse, thicket," doru "beam, shaft of a spear;" Old Church Slavonic drievo "tree, wood," Serbian drvo "tree," drva "wood," Russian drevo "tree, wood," Czech drva, Polish drwa "wood;" Lithuanian drūtas "firm," derva "pine, wood;" Welsh drud, Old Irish dron "strong," Welsh derw "true," Old Irish derb "sure," Old Irish daur, Welsh derwen "oak;" Albanian drusk "oak;" Old English treo, treow "tree," triewe "faithful, trustworthy, honest."

So, when we are talking about truth, we are really talking about trees: steadfast, enduring, and utterly incapable of dissembling.

Imagine Winston Churchill had quipped, “A lie gets halfway around the world before a tree has a chance to get its pants on.” Well, sure. Trees don’t wear pants: they stand naked and undisguised. If John Keats had said, “Beauty is trees, trees beauty – that is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know,” I’d have had fewer qualms about believing him. If Gandhi had said, “The tree stands, even if there is no public support; it is self-sustained,” he’d have expressed the obvious.

Imagine that, in the film “A Few Good Men” (1992), Tom Cruise had shouted, “I want the tree!” And Jack Nicholson had shouted back, “You can’t handle the tree!” What would not being able to handle trees look like? Reckless deforestation, perhaps?

In 2004, Ralph Keyes came out with a book, The Post-Truth Era: Dishonesty and Deception in Contemporary Life. Can it be coincidence that we may also be approaching a post-tree era? A 2015 study found that, since the start of human civilization 12,000 years ago, the total number of trees on Earth has fallen an estimated 46 percent – almost half. About 3 trillion trees remain, and the number is declining by 15 billion a year. Should that rate continue, trees would be all gone in 200 more years.

Imagine Mark Twain had said, “If you tell the tree [i.e., speak in a tree-like manner], you don’t have to remember anything.” It sounds reassuring – yet to speak with the simplicity, forthrightness and elegance of a tree is no easy matter for apes like us. Our ancestors came down out of the trees, and we’ve been a rather shifty-eyed, evasive bunch ever since.

I learned as a child that truth was an elephant that I couldn’t see. The best I could hope for was to feel my way around a small bit of it. But imagine instead, as the origins of our language indicate, truth is a tree -- and, as the origins of our species indicate, our progenitors lived in trees, lived in truth. We used to dwell in the branches of living truth, and now we cut trees down to build our houses, where we dwell in structures of dead truth – sturdy, but no longer growing. Still, my relationship to truth elephantine is one of partiality, limitation, and incompleteness. My relationship to truth arborous invites my wholeness: I stroll among trees, accept their shade, their shelter, and their lessons, repose at their feet to while an hour reading, or just sitting. And, at almost-age-60, yes, I still occasionally climb one. In the branches of a beech, it’s easy to imagine that what Jesus meant, at John 8:32, was: “You will know the trees, and the trees will make you free.”

In Case You Missed It . . .

Click the pic for the Apr 29 sermon, on the May theme: Truth.

For video of a number of past sermons on our Youtube channel, CLICK HERE.

The Liberal Pulpit is both a blog site and a Youtube channel.
To listen/watch: HERE
To read, see index of past sermons: HERE and index of other reflections: HERE.

Practice of the Week. Honor Your Temperament. When the fit between your temperament and an environment is not good, it's hard to function at your best—whether it was in school as a kid, or in an intimate relationship or at work today. Additionally, it's natural to feel at some level that there must be something wrong/weak/dumb/missing about you—which gets reinforced by any messages from the environment that, yep, the problem is with you, not it.

Your Moment of Zen. Porcupine came to Raven for a special interview and said, "Last night when I was putting little Porky to bed, I suddenly realized that everything is completely open and clear to the very bottom. Raven asked, "What about you?" Porcupine was silent.

Zen at CUUC: Sat May 5.

Minister's Tuesday Coffee Chat. I'm at a coffee shop (almost) every Tuesday from 3-5pm. I invite you to drop by and chat.
May: Red Mango, 1924 Palmer Ave, Larchmont. (Try a smoothie! Or grab coffee from the shop immediately next door.)

The two Common Reads for 2017-18: HERE.
Of particular note, regarding Centering: See recommended reading HERE
On the Journey, May: Truth. HERE.

Music: Sun May 6

Musical guest mezzo-soprano Anna Tonna joins us on Sunday morning with selections from Latin-American and Spanish sources. Pastoral imagery—in keeping with the theme of Flower Communion Sunday—abounds in the Renaissance-era poetry by the Portuguese Gil Vicente as well as in the Impressionistic music of Colombian composer Antonio Maria Valencia featured in the Offertory.

Catalan composer Xavier Montsalvatge offers powerful evocations of colonial Cuba, using texts which point to the dehumanizing impact of stereotyping, even as the music seduces and entices. Montsalvatge’s Cinco canciones negras, written in 1945, open with Cuba dentro de un piano, which wryly derides popular Caribbean clichés (the fruit-hatted lady, the ubiquitous cigar smoke, the singing parrot) and squarely points the finger at American colonialist attitudes: “Money was to blame…later, ah later…they changed SI into YES!” The Punto de Habanera features the pervasive rhythm of a Cuban guajira dance and poetry rich in floral references. In this song, a young Creole woman, clad in white, is held up to the ogling eyes of sailors by the speaker in the poem in yet another reference to the objectifying tendencies of colonial culture. Elsewhere in the cycle—performed complete at this afternoon’s concert—scenes of domestic life—encompassing both maternal tenderness and anguished violence—give way in the final number to a celebration of the durability of Afro-Cuban rhythms.

The CUUC Choir is also on hand with the life-affirming message of “What a Wonderful World” and a Navaho text which speaks to harmony within the natural world. Read on for programming details and text translations, and please stay after brunch to hear more of Anna Tonna and the CUUC Choir!

Centering Music: Anna Tonna, mezzo-soprano; Adam Kent, piano

Tres poemas de Gil Vicente

Joaquin Nin-Culmell

Cuba dentro de un piano

Punto de Habanera

Xavier Montsalvatge

Anthem: CUUC Choir directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas

What A Wonderful World

George David Weiss and Bob Thiele, arr. by Mark Brymer

Offertory:
La luna sobre el agua de los lagos...

Antonio Maria Valencia

Anthem:
Now I Walk In Beauty

Navaho prayer, music by Gregg Smith

Song Translations

Tres poemas de Gil Vicente

Where will I traverse these mountains

Gentle brown haired girl?

Where will I go thru?

Not with you. I alone will go.

Tell me country girl

By your faith

If you were born in these parts.

Where will I traverse these mountains,

Gentle brown haired girl?

You will stay here...

Do you love me?

Because of this, country girl

I cannot...

Because another love, makes war within me

Where will I traverse these mountains,

Gentle brown haired girl?

Ro, ro, ro, our Lord and redeemer

Don't cry, for you give sorrow to the

Virgin that gave you life!

Ro, ro, ro

Child, son of God the Father

Father of all things

May your tears cease

Your mother will not cry,

As she gave birth to you without pain

Ro, ro ro,

Don't you give her grief,

Pray child, ro, ro, ro...

III

Which is the girl that gathers flowers

If she has no lover?

The girl gathered

the flowers in bloom,

The young farmer noticed her charms

and asked if she had a lover

Cuba dentro de un piano - Cuba inside a piano

Text by Rafael Alberti

When my mother wore strawberry ice for a hat

and the smoke from the boats was still Havana cigar smoke.

Mulata fallen low...

Cádiz was falling asleep among fandango and habanera rhythms

and a little parrot at the piano tried to be like a tenor.

Tell me, where is the flower that man reveres so much.

My uncle Anthony would come home with his air of insurrection.

La Cabaña and El Príncipe rang along the port courtyards.

(The blue pearl of the Caribbean shines no more.

It has blown out, it has died.)

I ran into beautiful Trinidad...

Cuba was lost, this time it was true.

It was true, it was not a lie.

A gunner on the run arrived, singing about it in Guajira rhythm.

Havana was lost.

Money was to blame...

The gunner went silent, fell.

But later, ah, later…

they changed Sí into YES!

Punto de Habanera - 18^th Century Habanera Strain

Text by Néstor Luján

The creole girl goes by in her white crinoline. How white!

Hello, the gauze of your foam. Sailors, get a look at her!

She walks, moist from the moon-like droplets on her dusky skin.

Little girl do not fret, just this evening

I’d like to order the water

not to escape suddenly from the prison of your skirt.

Your body encloses, this evening, the murmur of a dahlia opening.

Little girl, don’t fret.

Your fruit-like body is asleep in the embroidered brocade.

Your fine waist snaps with the nobility of a whip.

All your skin smells joyfully of lemon and orange trees.

The sailors are watching you, and they keep watching.

The creole girl goes by in her white crinoline. How white!

La luna sobre el agua de los lagos...

The moonlight shines over the waters of the lake...

Text by Otto de Greiff

Sweetly, the moon shines upon the waters of the lake

Transcending all romantic thoughts within me,

Within you and in nature, as well as the ballads of the north,

Imitating your vibrant eyes.

The light illuminating your hair shines sweetly,

Making the bothersome sorrows that weight upon men

Disappear while escaping into the sparkling silent night.

The moon - that lamp of God - bathes us with serene

glow, while glorifying your divine gifts,

Blessed Nature!

RE News: Sun May 6

Lifespan Religious Education
Norbert Capek, a UU minister who founded the Unitarian Church in Czechoslovakia, was looking for a way to unite his congregants through a spiritual experience together. In 1923, he created the flower ceremony that we hold each year. His wife Maja, also a UU minister, introduced U.S. congregations to the ritual when she visited. Tragically, Norbert perished in a concentration camp during WWII, but the beautiful ritual he created lives on in UU congregational life. Just as we bring different flowers to the service, we each bring our unique self to this congregation and in our exchanges we bask in each other’s beauty. When you take a different flower home this Sunday, you take with you a symbol of the connections made and all that blossoms from gathering in this faith community.

Please see the following six (6) announcements:

1) This Sun May 6
Children arrive at 9am to rehearse the Variety Show dance finale. For video of the song, CLICK HERE.

Children should be in the sanctuary at 9:25 to rehearse "Sakura," which they have been singing with Lyra each Sunday.
The children will sing the Japanese verse of "Sakura." For text and translation, CLICK HERE. For video of song, CLICK HERE.

All ages in the sanctuary for the Flower Service, except 8th-9th COA who meet in their classroom.

Bring a flower to this meaningful multigen service that includes the ritual of exchanging flowers.

To view the Religious Education Google calendar, CLICK HERE.
To view a spreadsheet version of the RE Calendar, CLICK HERE.

2) Pancake Brunch This Sun May 6

There will be flowers in the sanctuary and flour in the kitchen.

Join us after the Flower Celebration Service for a variety of pancakes.

Special Friends will finally meet at the brunch. Come to the specially decorated tables.

Hosted by Youth Group to support The New American Children’s Cultural Enrichment Fund.
$5/adult, $3/child, $15/family

3) Variety Show Next Sat May 12, 5pm
Raffle tickets for sale at the brunch this Sun.

Rehearsal - Fri, May 11, 4:30-7pm
(snacks provided)
Show - Sat, May 12, 5pm
(pizza for performers at 4:30pm)

Proceeds from this year's show will go to:
The New American Children’s Cultural Enrichment Fund.
This fund gives the children of refugees in Westchester County the opportunities they have not had to play sports, attend performances, or explore the arts.

JOIN IN NOW...

Perform - contact Liz at elizabethsuvanto@hotmail.com
Bake - contact Erin at fosterblatt@gmail.com
Submit Recipes – contact Irene at irene.cox@gmail.com
Donate Raffle Prizes - contact Liz at elizabethsuvanto@hotmail.com

FOUND HERE

The Variety Show is not just for children to partake in - this is for EVERYONE AND ANYONE AT CUUC, and other local UU congregations, and your friends outside of CUUC!

4) College Scholarship Awards

Each year CUUC offers two scholarships in the amount of $250 for our graduating seniors. One scholarship is given in honor of Sylvia Schnall-Pierorazio and the other Rev. Betty Baker, both former CUUC Directors of Religious Education.

Please send a short essay on your contributions and leadership at CUUC, with a brief explanation of how the scholarship will be used and the names of two CUUC references to dlre@cucwp.org by May 31.

5) Unirondack Family & Friends Weekend May 25-28
Join other CUUC families at this Unitarian camp on Memorial Day weekend for family fun and connection.
A few of our families attended last year and had a great time.

For information and to register, CLICK HERE.
Contact Rebecca Rugg at rebeccaruggbiz@gmail.com to find out more from an attendee.

6) UU Summer Camps & Retreat Centers for Children, Youth, and Families
Unitarian Universalist retreat centers offer the opportunity to connect with UUs from around the country in fun and fellowship. Whether you are looking for a place to go as a family or somewhere for your kids to experience a fun camp, there are many amazing Unitarian Universalist summer destinations:

Ferry Beach is oceanfront in ME.