Diversity finds rich expression in music. Sunday morning’s
selections include works from Spanish, Norweigian, Rumanian, and African-American
traditions, all part of the U.S.’s richly varied ethnic fabric. Read on for
programming details.
Prelude: Adam Kent, piano Evocación and El puerto from Iberia, Book I
Isaac
Albéniz
Opening Music:
Norwegian Melody, Op. 12, No. 6 Edvard Grieg
Offertory:
Rumanian Dances
Dance with Sticks; Waistband Dance;
On the Spot; Hornpipe; Rumanian Polka; Quick Dance
Last week’s Spiritual Practice Sunday was a beautiful exercise in fostering respect and admiration for our environment, respect for ourselves, and nurturing of spirit. Our deepest gratitude and appreciation goes to Bice Wilson, Martin Alberti, and Lyra Harada for presenting a wonderful morning for the children. There were at least 26 students in attendance, including two children who hadn’t been here before. They began by sitting on the floor with Bice, who fully commanded and fascinated them with his storytelling. He has gift of drawing the children in and enveloping them in the moment. He then led the group outdoors to experience “hidden” places like our hiking trails and the pond, which he beautifully embellished with factual stories and songs. Back inside, the children were given a presentation on Buddha and the path to Nirvana by Lyra Harada. The last exercise was conducted by Martin who gathered the students in a tight circle for meditation. He showed them how to assume the lotus position and then instructed them to look at the lit candle, take a deep breath, then close their eyes and remember the image of the candle for a minute or two. The students were so focused and quiet that, as the saying goes, you could hear a pin drop. The activities really seemed to touch a chord with the children. It was remarkable how attentive and respectful they were throughout, yet also engaged and enthusiastic. Thanks also go out to Christine Haran and Laura Goodspeed, our RE Council co-chairs, for facilitating the day and attending as well. We look forward to classes resuming on Oct 14 and having Perry with us to present the Wonder Box story during services. Michele Rinaldi, RE Coordinator
RE This Sunday, Oct 14
Grades K-7 start in the sanctuary for a Wonder Box story. Grades 8-12 start in classes.
2018-19 Curriculum: Pre-K - Chalice Children; K-1st - A Discovery Year; 2nd-3rd - Affirmation Year; 4th-5th - Toolbox of Faith; 6th-7th - Riddle & Mystery; 8th-9th - Our Whole Lives; 10th-12th - Youth Group
To view a spreadsheet version of the RE Calendar, CLICK HERE.
--- Faith Development Friday, Fri Oct 12, CUUC
We meet in room 41 for this month's evening of learning, spiritual growth, and community. RSVP to CUUCEvents@gmail.com. 6:15pm Pizza & Salad Community Dinner, 7:00pm Programs, including:
"Faith Like a River" Adult RE - Session facilitated by Rev. Meredith. The class explores the people, ideas, and movements that have shaped our faith heritage. If you can't attend in person, you can join online via Zoom videoconferencing at https://zoom.us/j/2898507899. Family Journey Groups - Parents discuss the theme of faith, facilitated by Barbara Montrose, while children have their own group, facilitated by Perry Montrose, Director of Faith Development. Adults without children are welcome to participate in the parent group. Youth Group Social Night - High school youth gather for a night of fun. Bring a friend!
Adults may also just share dinner and then stay to chat and be together, without specific programming. We welcome all to stay for coffee and conversation after the programs.
Category: Might Be Your Thing. The practices here are not for everyone -- but one of them may be just the thing for you! Any of these might also be, for you, in the "Occasional" category, but are listed here because they are good candidates for regular, central practices.
I have struggled to recognize joy my whole adult life. I have always veered toward the pessimistic and skeptical. Then one day, when I was working for Rev. Ginger Luke, she encouraged me to leave my computer and come out with her to the front lawn. I was feeling overwhelmed with work and didn't want to stop typing, but grumbling to myself, I followed her.
There, alongside the walkway leading to the church was a small, lonely purple flower. I thought it sort of sad and underwhelming and was considering something polite to say when I looked up at Ginger. She brightened looking at it; her mouth became a dimple-punctuated smile. "Look! Look!” she exclaimed. Her joy was contagious. Walking back indoors, I didn't have a dowdy office; I had a shared space with my excellent friend Beth. I had good music on and was making progress with my projects. I felt joyful.
I began to conscientiously collect moments of joy that I could relive and treasure as a way to awaken joy in myself. Collecting moments of joy has become a spiritual practice for me.
1. The day-end review. Your joy collection begins by reinforcing the collection in your memory. Lying in bed at night, most of us think about events in our day. Instead of stewing about mistakes committed or rudenesses endured, make an intentional practice of reviewing moments of joy experienced that day.
2. Artifact collection. Start deliberately collecting movies, videos, books, music, art, photos, or writings that express joy. I now have a file on my computer marked "Joy" for email artifacts to review on days when I'm feeling blue and a collection of video artifacts on YouTube at home for the same purpose.
I have certain guidelines for selecting items for my joy collection:
I don't include mere happiness, peace, or serenity. It’s not always easy to tell the difference, but look for things that inspire unbridled, unbounded joy -- things that engross you with positive feeling, that you can focus on only a moment and everything else is shut out – things that leave you with a warm feeling and a smile, even when the experience is over. Look for enthusiasm, unmitigated élan: the wide-eyed, panting, bop, bang, boom of Animal the Muppet playing the drums. (There is an interview with Animal viewable online, and he says that the two things he loves the most in this world are drums and bunny rabbits. He's a fictional character, but I believe him! His drum playing gives the viewer a vicarious thrill. I’m no drummer, but watching Animal do what he loves gives me a new sense of what joy can be.)
Joy is infectious, so look for it in others. It’s infectious even if the other person is joyful about something that wouldn’t make you joyful. For example, the Edwin Hawkins Singers exude joy in their great gospel song, "Oh Happy Day." I'm not a born-again Christian, and I don't share the religious fervor that inspired Edwin Hawkins to write this song. It doesn't matter. I can hear their joy, and that lets me take it on for myself.
Byrd Baylor's beautiful picture book, I'm in Charge of Celebrations explains how she creates her own holidays based on the moments in her life she most wants to remember. I added this artifact to my joy collection the very first time I read it. I have also adopted the book’s approach. To be be in charge of my own celebrations, I don’t include in my collection memories or mementos of events where joy may have been a heavy expectation. I don’t include weddings or births, for example. The holiday season can feel like a tyranny of prescribed joy. I often do experience joy at weddings, births, and holiday celebrations, but I leave this joy out of my joy collection, which is reserved for items not freighted with expectation.
Another sort of joy I exclude from my collection are victories that came with someone else’s defeat. I have worked hard on political campaigns, for instance, and my candidates sometimes win. That kind of joy is worth remembering and savoring, but I don't include those moments in my spiritual practice collection because someone else was miserable.
3. Sharing. With technology we can have a further communal practice of sharing these artifacts. We are privileged to be able to hear live music -- every Sunday morning, even if at no other time. The joy is, in part, from experiencing it together. With the internet we can hear at any time Anna Maffo's version of Songs of the Auvergne, or Katrina and the Waves' “Walking on Sunshine.” But can we have it as a shared joy? Sure! We can share artifacts of joyful experiences with others.
The spiritual practice of collecting moments of joy has grown for me as I share them with the people I love. They may not feel the same sense of joy I do when listening, looking, and sharing, but they do get to know a little more about me, and I have the wonderful feeling of enjoying those moments again with those I care about.
Share links of your favorite music to friends you haven't seen in a while, share photos of your joyful moments in nature with homebound congregants, or read a poem over Skype to a friend. To keep the moments that bring you true joy to yourself is a lost opportunity. Here, I'll share one with you right now: if you haven't heard John Mayall's harmonica solo in “Room to Move," you must!
For Journaling
In your journal, reflect on these questions:
How do you define joy in your life? How do you know it when you experience it?
Do you tend to really take note of the moments of joy in your life, or are they overshadowed by more difficult things and times?
What is the difference between "joy” and “happiness"?
How might you integrate a practice like this into your own life?
In January 2007, LoraKim and I were living in Gainesville, Florida, so of course we watched the NCAA football championship game that month, and of course we rooted for the home team Florida Gators against the Ohio State Buckeyes. When Florida, slight underdogs going into the game, won 41-14, I was glad. All around me the town was celebrating. Post-game shows seem to like to include fan reaction segments -- don't ask me why. They cut to a scene in Columbus, Ohio and showed a woman bedecked in OSU red and white. She was dejected, of course. In fact, she was crying. The broadcast cut back to a Gainesville bar, and two young men who had just seen on the bar TV the shot of the Ohio woman crying. The young men gleefully jeered and mocked her.
That was the moment I lost interest in college football. I'd been a football fan all my life, and I understood that jeering and mocking the opposition before the game -- and a certain amount of gloating afterward from partisans of the victor -- were to be expected. Yet I was unprepared for the delight I saw being taken in another's pain: the evident pleasure in cruelty for its own sake. The brief shot of those celebrating Gator fans haunted me. As I processed my horror, a more extreme example of the same phenomenon rose to mind: the photos I'd seen from the 1920s of smiling, celebratory white faces at the lynching of a black person.
All of this came back to me this week as I read Adam Serwer's article, "The Cruelty is the Point," and Lili Loofbourow's "Brett Kavanaugh and the Cruelty of Male Bonding." Cruelty, directed toward women, apparently functions as a bonding mechanism for some men, a means "for intimacy through contempt." Oh, dear God.
Political theorist Judith Shklar is credited with saying "liberals are the people who think cruelty is the worst thing we do." I am quick to distinguish a religious liberal and a political liberal, recognizing that many people are religiously liberal and politically conservative. I don't know if viewing cruelty as "the worst thing we do" is actually any less prominent among political conservatives than political liberals, but Shklar's point resonates with me as a characterization of religious liberals. Moreover, I have always appreciated that Shklar's way of putting it avoids claiming that liberals actually are less cruel -- just that, when we are, or discover that we have been, we think of it as "being at our worst."
My life as a Unitarian Universalist has kept me in the company of people with an intuitive revulsion to cruelty -- people who see cruelty as, indeed, worse than, say, betrayal, dishonor, subversion, or desecration -- which, of course, are also unfortunate. I'm so grateful to all of you who keep this place going, who give your lives to sustaining a liberal religious community, who see cruelty as the worst thing we do and therefore see care and kindness as the best and who keep lit the flame of care and kindness as the supreme value. During these times when cruelty -- and, perhaps more distressing, the celebration of cruelty -- seems to be ascendant, the only hope I see is . . . you -- the people who side with love. Thank you. You're lifesavers!
Index of past sermons: HERE. Index of other reflections: HERE. Videos of sermons are on the Liberal Pulpit Youtube Channel: HERE
Practice of the Week: Rethinking Genesis / At Genesis 3:17 God curses the Earth. The soil is literally cursed, and Adam must then struggle to extract a living from it. Instead of experiencing Earth as holy, which was (and is) the norm for indigenous cultures around the world, the cultural heirs of Genesis viewed the Earth as a vehicle for punishment, an enemy, a cursed thing, filthy and corrupt. The Earth-as-enemy idea became less overt but the underlying paradigm remained. Total mastery of the Earth became a driving vision of the Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution....READ MORE.
"If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are — if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time."
To discern your bliss requires sacred space,
"a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen."
Your true "employers" -- the true bosses of your life, in whose service lies your authentic vocation -- is that which is alive in you, simultaneously universal and unique.
Think of something you do -- something that is both as ordinary and as magnificently special as a robin singing in an oak tree. That's it. That's your bliss. It might not have seemed like much, but that's it. Follow it.
Case
Grandma was chatting with Turkey at Vinecot, when Granddaughter made a surprise visit. That evening after supper, when they had caught up with each other's news, Granddaughter said, "Now that I've finished school, I don't know what I will do next."
Grandma said, "Follow your bliss."
Granddaughter said, "That sounds selfish."
Grandma said, "Your employers don't all have desks and files."
Next evening, Turkey asked Raven about Grandma's advice.
Raven said, "It's like Brown Bear said: 'The Robin sings in the oak tree; the finch sings in the madrone.'" [See Raven 5]
Turkey did not respond.
Woodpecker asked, "Aren't they distractions?"
Raven asked, "From what?"
Turkey seemed to come to herself, and gobbled.
Raven said, "Like that."
Verse
What makes a distraction?
The brain doing something,
Then thinking it shouldn't have?
I'm not saying your inner moralizer
Might not have a point,
just that maybe there's
Another angle.
What the brain did,
It did pursuing
its need and bliss.
Distraction isn't following
the wrong thing
But following
At a distance.
Case by Robert Aitken, adapted; introduction and verse by Meredith Garmon
Last Sunday, Sep 30, was a living testament to the vigor, dedication, and spiritual commitment of parents, staff, and teachers. The Parent-Teacher Meeting was the first event of the day, facilitated by Perry Montrose, our Director of Faith Development, and me. Perry led a thought-provoking exercise: remember a time or event when you were a child or youth that was a joyful and transcending moment. The group shared a diverse collection of memories and personal experiences, a “journey discussion,” that helped the adults understand and relate to the children’s feelings and connections. The K-5 grade children started their instruction with Lyra Harada, our Children’s Music Director, learning the song “Circle of Life” in preparation for our Thanksgiving service. Perry concluded the children’s worship with a chalice lighting activity on the theme of “letting go” where each child had an opportunity to share a thing they wanted to let go of. Later, the parent orientation for the Our Whole Lives (OWL) class gave me the opportunity to better understand and truly appreciate the depth and complexity of this important curriculum. The facilitators asked probing, relevant questions, and the parents offered an engaged integration of opinions and feedback. The culmination of the Sunday activities left me once again impressed with the integrity and excellence of CUUC’s RE program.
Michele Rinaldi
Religious Education Coordinator
--- Religious Education this Sunday, Oct 7
All ages meet in Fellowship Hall for Spirituality Sunday, which will include music, a nature walk, and meditation.
2018-19 Curriculum: Pre-K - Chalice Children; K-1st - A Discovery Year; 2nd-3rd - Affirmation Year; 4th-5th - Toolbox of Faith; 6th-7th - Riddle & Mystery; 8th-9th - Our Whole Lives; 10th-12th - Youth Group
To view a spreadsheet version of the RE Calendar, CLICK HERE.
--- Faith Development Friday, Fri Oct 12, CUUC
An evening of learning, spiritual growth, and community. RSVP to admin@cucwp.org. 6:15pm Pizza & Salad Community Dinner, 7:00pm Programs, including:
"Faith Like a River" Adult RE - Session facilitated by Rev. Meredith. The class explores the people, ideas, and movements that have shaped our faith heritage. If you can't attend in person, you can join online via Zoom videoconferencing at https://zoom.us/j/2898507899. Family Journey Groups - Parents discuss the theme of faith, facilitated by Barbara Montrose, while children have their own group, facilitated by Perry Montrose, Director of Faith Development. Adults without children are welcome to participate in the parent group. Youth Group Social Night - High school youth gather for a night of fun. Bring a friend!
Adults may also just share dinner and then stay to chat and be together in Fellowship Hall, without specific programming. We welcome all to stay for coffee and conversation after the programs.
Sunday
morning’s music features the talents of the CUUC Choir and their Director Lisa
N. Meyer, Choir Pianist Georgianna Pappas, and our own Kim Force. Read on for
programming details.
Category: Ecospiritual. These practices are oriented toward developing our spirituality through our connection with our planet home and our responsibility to care for it.
The Genesis story of creation and fall gave rise to cultural attitudes about the natural world that remain with us today. The fall narrative of Genesis 3 is viewed by some as an allegory for the transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural one, by others as a culturally symbolic tale of the demotion of some deities and the ascendance of others, and by still others as showing the favor of a deity for the lifestyle of nomadic pastoralists over a lifestyle of sedentary farming. Perhaps Genesis 3 is all of these.
The story originated in the Fertile Crescent, the birthplace of Western civilization, a written language, agriculture, and the beginnings of the rule of law. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all trace their roots to this area.
At Genesis 3:17 God curses the Earth. The soil is literally cursed, and Adam must then struggle to extract a living from it. Instead of experiencing Earth as holy, which was (and is) the norm for indigenous cultures around the world, the cultural heirs of Genesis viewed the Earth as a vehicle for punishment, an enemy, a cursed thing, filthy and corrupt. (The association of women with all things earthly certainly did nothing to enhance their status.) The Earth-as-enemy idea grew and morphed over time. By the late Middle Ages, the dominant worldview declared that to reject all earthly things—including bodily functions and desires—was the path to godliness. Gradually, as the medieval mindset gave way to earliest modernity, the overt story of Genesis faded somewhat, but the underlying paradigm remained. Total mastery of the Earth became a driving vision of the Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution. Suddenly we were in charge. We built cities and factories. We moved away from the farms, from the muck and mud of a life lived close to Nature. We invented technologies. We cured diseases. And today, we live our lives in shrink-wrapped sterility, disconnected from the natural world and its processes.
The Western cultural drive to control and dominate the natural world stems from the deep taproot of the Genesis narrative. Our path of un-learning requires knowing social milieu around us and letting go of the cultural paradigm in which the Earth is cursed, corrupt, and in need of domination.
Practices
1. Journaling: Reflect on Genesis 1-3. Slowly read chapters one through three of Genesis. In your journal write about your reaction. Has your attitude toward Genesis changed? If so, how?
2. A Blessing Meditation. Find a quiet place outdoors. Consider all that is needed for life--air, water, food, shelter, energy, and so on. Consider all that makes life more than simply existence, such as beauty, inspiration, connection, and love. Now, either aloud or silently, recite a litany of how you are blessed by the Earth. For example:
I am blessed. The Earth provides oxygen for me to breathe.
I am blessed. As I gaze at the sunset, I am in awe of the beauty around me.
Make your litany both personal and universal. See yourself as a part of the Earth, and contemplate what it means to be blessed.
Group Activities
Giving Voice to Genesis. Stage an impromptu improvisation of the story of Genesis 3. Assign various group members to play the parts of Adam, Eve, God, and the Serpent. Then assign someone to play the part of the Tree of Knowledge, the Tree of Life, the Earth itself, the rivers of Eden, and the other animals and plants. Consider playing it out as written, and then trying it again, this time letting the story flow freely, without a predetermined outcome. See how the story unfolds when more characters speak than the traditional few. Afterward, reflect on the experience, and allow characters to add any insights that were not spoken during the improvisation.
Questions for Group Conversation:
For all its problems, might there still be some wisdom to be found in the story of the fall? What is it? Is it relevant to only individuals, or to the entire culture?
Historically speaking, how has the idea of the Earth as an enemy or an object for domination played itself out?
Can we as a culture let go of the image of Earth as our adversary and a thing to be conquered? What would that mean for our society?
Genesis 3 gives one picture of God's relationship to the Earth, but other passages in the Bible give a different picture. How do the characterizations of God in the following passages differ from the one who cursed the Earth? What do you make of the difference?
“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” (Matthew 6:26-29)
“In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” (Psalm 95:4-7)
“You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills, Giving drink to every wild animal; the wild asses quench their thirst. By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches. From the lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.” (Psalm 104:10-13)
