This morning’s musical selections
reflect a meditative outlook on Christmas iconography and on the holiday
season. Expressions of thankfulness come to us from the nineteenth-century Unitarian
composer Edvard Grieg as well as the contemporary American songwriter John
Bucchino. Franz Liszt’s The Christmas Tree, a collection of pieces
written for his granddaughter, provide a surprisingly delicate setting of traditional
tunes, and a wistful waltz from the Russian composer Vladimir Rebikoff’s ballet
The Christmas Tree is featured in the Offertory. “Que li darem?” is a
Catalan Christmas carol, which glosses the spirit of the Three Magi, as they
reflect on the gifts they will bring the baby Jesus. Read on for programming
details.
8th-12th Grade Youth Group, 6:30-8:30pm making holiday paper chains and other decorations for the sanctuary. RSVP with Cyndi & Daniel Tillman in the GroupMe chat or by email at cccdtil@aol.com and dtillman13@gmail.com.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8th
Childcare is available at 9:30am. We begin every Sunday in the sanctuary at 10:00am. Music Director Adam Kent invites children and youth to find a nook under the piano where they can enjoy the centering music he plays before worship, 10:00-10:10am. Following the Time for All Ages, children and youth leave for RE classes and youth group, which meet until 11;30am. Children 3rd grade and younger must be picked up in their classroom at 11:30am; children 4th grade and older will be allowed to leave for coffee hour.
CHRISTMAS EVE OPPORTUNITY
Rev. Kimberley is planning a beautiful Christmas Eve service that will include many voices. We invite children, youth, young adults, adults and families to participate by reading short passages during the service. Contact Tracy to volunteer.
RE ASSISTANTS NEEDED
All adults have the opportunity to serve as assistants in Religious Education classes. No preparation required! Just spend an hour with our amazing children and youth while you fulfill our Safe Congregation practice of having two adults with our young people at all times.The 8th-9th Grade Coming of Age class needs an assistant this Sunday. Click HERE to view all available dates - then volunteer!
RE NEWSLETTERS
On Sundays when classes meet, each class receives their own weekly newsletter. Click on the class below to read this week's newsletter. If you would like to receive one or more RE newsletters in your e-mail, sign up here.
*Fri Dec 13 (not Dec 20), 6:30-8:30pm – Faith Friday: Rev. Kimberley's class, Habits of the Heart; Journey Groups for adults and children; 8th-12th Youth Group. Click here for the December packet.
Sat Dec 14, 3:00-5:00pm - Gingerbread House Decorating at the Rockland UU Congregation in Pomona, NY (click here for the flyer). RSVP by December 11th.
Sat Dec 14, 3:00-5:00pm – CUUC is participating in a new Youth Interfaith and Justice Leadership Lab. South Presbyterian Church invites 6th-12th grade youth to gather and hear from Dale Williams, Executive Director of Midnight Run, about finding common ground with the homeless. Youth will then wrap holiday gifts for distribution on the Christmas Eve Midnight Run. More information and a RSVP contact below.
Sun Dec 15 – All begin in worship at 10:00am then leave for classes. The Youth Group is attending worship. Community meal and winter concert following worship.
Sun Dec 22 – Whole Congregation Worship Sunday: Holiday Pageant. There are roles for everyone! Or come dressed in Star Wars costumes, continuing the tradition. And there will be a special surprise, not to be missed! No RE classes or Youth Group.
Tues Dec 24, 5:30pm – Christmas Eve worship service. Rev. Kimberley is planning a beautiful Christmas Eve service that will include many voices. We invite children, youth, young adults, adults and families to participate by reading short passages during the service. Contact Tracy to volunteer.
YOUTH INTERFAITH AND JUSTICE LEADERSHIP LAB CUUC is participating in a new Youth Interfaith and Justice Leadership Lab with the Westchester Muslim Center, South Presbyterian Church and Woodlands Temple. Saturday, December 14th, 3:00-5:00pm, 6th-12th grade youth are invited to attend a presentation with Dale Williams, Executive Director of Midnight Run, where he will talk about finding common ground with the homeless. Dale was homeless in NYC as a young man. He will share his story, what the Midnight Run means to those who are homeless and ways of engaging with those we serve on the run. After Dale’s talk, we will wrap holiday gifts for distribution on the Christmas Eve Midnight Run. Saturday, December 14th, 3:00-5:00pm in Fellowship Hall, South Church, 343 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry. Parking on the street or off Washington behind the Church. All are welcome. Snacks will be served. RSVP to learninglab@southpres.org or call Marie-Louise, Interim Director, 917-647-7881.
LGBTPQIA+ SUPPORT DURING THE HOLIDAYS While many are celebrating the holidays, many are also struggling with families who make it difficult to share their full selves or celebrate their loves, or families who have rejected them for doing so. To our LGBTPQIA+ family of all ages and stages: You are whole and holy, and you are loved. PFLAG offers these suggestions for taking care of yourself and navigating gatherings. Know you are not alone.Click herefor links to hotlines and other support. If you need a message of unconditional love and affirmation, read this fierce message of support from S. Bear Bergman and know you can call or text Rev. Kimberley (518-423-1964) and Tracy (914-434-7539). Allies and Upstanders, your support is needed! PFLAGoffers suggestionsfor friends and family. The Ossining LGBTQ Alliance shares this guide for being a LGBTQ Ally during the holiday season.
In the Christian tradition, December 1-24 is the season of Advent – understood as a time for considering the coming – and the second coming – of the Christ; it ends on Christmas Day, with the words from the Book of Revelation, “joy to the world, the Lord is come.” But in the meantime – the month is filled with waiting: waiting for joy, waiting for hope, waiting for peace, waiting for love, waiting for the child, waiting for grace.
It is in this time of Advent that we take time – and fortunately, we have music libraries filled with holiday songs to make the waiting less difficult (sometimes filling us with nostalgia, sometimes bringing us cheer, and sometimes annoying us – I’m looking at you, “Little Drummer Boy”). Over the next four weeks, I’ll be exploring the themes of Advent through the lens of some of my most beloved and cherished holiday songs.
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
This is a beautiful song, written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane for the movie musical Meet Me in St. Louis, and most famously sung by Judy Garland. We hear the song a lot, often with lyrics rewritten to be more cheerful; singer Frank Sinatra purportedly asked the songwriters “The name of my album is ‘A Jolly Christmas’; do think you could jolly up that line for me?”
Here are the lyrics we are most familiar with:
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
From now on our troubles will be miles away
Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more
Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now
In the original lyrics, the song is a bit grittier, and with good reason. The family in our story have just learned from their father that they’ll be moving from St. Louis to New York just after Christmas. The youngest child (played by Margaret O’Brien) is forlorn, and Esther (played by Garland) sings her a song of comfort. In the original lyrics, we look forward with hopefulness:
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
NEXT YEAR ALL our troubles will be out of sight
And we accept the reality of the present moment:
Through the years we all will be together
if the fates allow
UNTIL THEN WE’LL HAVE TO MUDDLE THROUGH SOMEHOW
With those two original lyrics, we get to the heart of Advent’s message of hope. We know that things won’t always be the way they are, and we know that the meantime can be a mean time. But we also know that even if things will never be the same, there will be reasons to celebrate. Hope thrives when we accept what is true and look forward, when we open ourselves to the grace of the present moment and know that this struggle is not all there is.
For me, this song is a helpful reality check in the midst of the extraordinarily cheerful songs that seem so treacly or cloying. As we grow older – growing up to be adults, watching our children grow up, watching our lives change with the passing of each year – we can still find a way to hope for the light of family, friends, love, and comfort to return.
Advent points us toward hope – hope for relief, hope for positive changes, hope for the light to return, hope for our futures and the futures of those we love. And whether we have to muddle through or can celebrate, or some mixture of both, hope helps us see the grace all around us.
Watch the original scene from the film, with Garland and O’Brien, and have yourself a merry little Christmas:
Music for Advent Sunday begins with a glance back to the Lutheran
tradition embodied in J. S. Bach’s Cantata Nun
Komm, der Heiden Heiland (Now
Comes the Heathens’ Savior), written to mark the start of the liturgical year
in Weimar in 1714. Another transcription from one of Bach’s cantatas is
featured in the Offertory. Unitarian composer Béla Bartók’s charming settings of ten Rumanian Christmas carols follows, a
typical example of the composer’s ethnomusicological research. A poignant
Catalan Christmas carol, El cant
dels ocells (The Song of the
Birds) is the morning’s Opening Music. The tune may be familiar to parishioners
as the cellist Pablo Casals’ signature encore. Elsewhere, our own Mary Cobb
offers up William Bolcom’s touchingly tender “Waitin,’” and the CUUC Choir is
on hand as well. Read on for programming details.
Centering Music: Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland
J.
S. Bach arr. by Ferruccio Busoni
Rumanian Christmas Carols, Series I
Béla Bartók
Opening Music: El cant dels ocells
Traditional Catalan, arr. by Joaquin
Nin-Culmell
Offertory:
Sheep May Safely Graze
J.
S. Bach arr. by Egon Petri
Music for “An
Advent Suite”
CUUC Choir directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas
LIFTING UP INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Unitarian Universalism is a living faith, calling us to live into our values and Principles, calling us to shape the world in an image of love and justice, calling us to undo systems and a culture of racial oppression and violence, calling us into right relations and accountability. This week especially, we deepen our faith and our commitment to fully living into that faith by listening to and centering the voices of Indigenous Peoples.
In a 2018 presentation to UU Religious Educators, Julica Hermann de la Fuente reminded us that we each need to start where we are and take the next step that is ours to take. She drew a circle, then delineated a small area that looked like cutting a single slice of cake. That small area represented what we know we know. The remainder of the circle outside that slice represented what we don't know we don't know. This week, I invite you to take a step across into the area of what you don't know you don't know. Seek out indigenous perspectives and sit with what they need us to know about the holiday we call Thanksgiving. Learn about your local indigenous history and whose land we occupy. Allow this to expand what you now know. Then, around the meal table with family and friends, remember that we need to make room for each person to take their next step. As Julica taught, if we push them to the far side of their circle of understanding, we shut down communication and learning. Educate yourself. Encourage others to step across their line of understanding. Offer resources so yours is not the only voice. Advance the work of justice while remembering we are all on a journey. Below are some resources shared by the Center for Racial Justice in Education.
Native American Perspectives, Contributions and Celebrations
DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS
As the holidays approach, some will find themselves at dinner tables and family gatherings where discussions can be challenging, reflecting a range of positions and understanding about history and its legacy. Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) offers this Holiday Placemat for Indigenous Justice with suggestions for navigating the season.
LGBTPQIA+ SUPPORT DURING THE HOLIDAYS
While many of us are celebrating the holidays, many others are struggling with families who make it difficult to share their full selves or celebrate their loves, or who have rejected them for doing so.
To our LGBTPQIA+ family of all ages and stages: You are whole and holy, and you are loved. PFLAG offers these suggestions for taking care of yourself and navigating gatherings. Know you are not alone. Click here for links to hotlines and other support. If you need a message of unconditional love and affirmation, read this fierce message of support from S. Bear Bergman and know you can call or text Rev. Kimberley (518-423-1964) and Tracy (914-434-7539).
PFLAG also offers suggestions for friends and family. The Ossining LGBTQ Alliance shares this guide for being a LGBTQ Ally during the holiday season.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1st
We begin every Sunday in the sanctuary at 10:00am. Music Director, Adam Kent, invites children and youth to find a nook under the piano where they can enjoy the centering music he plays before worship, 10:00-10:10am.
Following the Time for All Ages, children and youth leave for RE classes and activities:
K-1st Grade Our Whole Lives - David Bowen is leading a lesson about our wonderful bodies, building on children's prior knowledge about bodies. Joni Erlich is the assistant. Pick-up is 11:30am in room 33.
8th-9th Grade Coming of Age - Kate Colson is leading class about spirituality and Transcendentalism. Erin Foster is the assistant. Class meets in room 11.
PreK, 2nd-3rd, 4th-5th, 6th-7th, 10th-12th Grades - Deck the Halls craft making in the Fellowship Hall with Janice Silverman, Monica Bentley, Laura Goodspeed and Tracy Breneman.
RE NEWSLETTER
This week, there is one Religious Education newsletter. Click here to read it. If you would like to receive one or more RE newsletters, sign up here.
IN THE COMING WEEKS
Fri Dec 6 - Youth Group
Sun Dec 8 - 8:15am RE Council meeting. Begin in worship then leave for RE Classes and Youth Group. Craft Fair.
Fri Dec 13 - Faith Friday Journey Groups, Youth Group, Adult RE class.
Sat Dec 15 - Gingerbread House Decorating at the Rockland UU congregation in Pomona, NY (click here for the flyer)
I look forward to seeing you!
in fellowship, Tracy
Thanksgiving mornings in my house always began the same way:
a slice of Mom’s coffee cake, warm from the oven, a big glass of orange juice,
the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on the television, and newspaper spread out
on the dining room table so we could polish the silver. The scents of cinnamon
and tarnish remover blended into an oddly comforting mélange of warm tininess,
made more complex by the sautéing onions that would go into the stuffing, which
would go into the bird. Even now, just thinking about it, I can smell that odd
combination of scents and I am transported to a different time and place.
My memories of childhood Thanksgivings are positive – and I
am grateful for them, because they remind me of my family and of experiences
that shape who I am today. Yet not all of us are grateful for our memories of
this time of year. We are entering a complex season, where messages of family
and connection and tradition may bristle against memories of anger or scarcity
or frustration. Some of us may struggle with loneliness or depression because
of loss or simply distance. Others may overload their Thanksgiving tables to
make up for all the years when there wasn’t enough. Others still may have to
work and may have always had to work, and so the day isn’t a holiday at all.
But no matter how we view the day – with all its
complexities – I want to remind us to find the space to be grateful.
Gratitude isn’t an easy thing some days, I know. In our
darkest times there seems to be nothing to be grateful for. But I want to
challenge you to look around you right now and express gratitude for what is
nearby. Perhaps it is the computer or mobile device you’re reading this on; you can be grateful
for the technology, for eyes that work well enough to see it, for the electricity
to power it. Perhaps it’s the table and chair where you’re sitting; you can be
grateful for the hands that crafted them and their sturdiness. See? Things to
be grateful for already! There’s no limit to what you can be grateful for. It
doesn’t have to be big things; it can be the little things – the smile from
someone across the pew on Sunday, the smell of the crisp fall day, the cup of
coffee that fuels your morning tasks.
The key is not to stay stuck at the chair or the coffee – it
is to then to be grateful for bigger things: the breaths we take, the thoughts
we have, the tenderness and generosity we feel, the ability we have to help and
serve others, the inspiration we get from truth and beauty, the comfort we draw
from others, and the memories of places, people, and moments that make us who
we are. The CUUC community, who holds us in covenant, and who always makes room
for one more.
Let us be grateful for the abundance of gratitude,
remembering what Meister Eckhart taught us: if the only prayer we say is “thank
you” it is enough.
I went to the hillside, I went to pray; I know the angels
done changed my name.
So begins the traditional African-American Spiritual “The
Angels Changed My Name,” heard this morning in an arrangement for solo piano by
the British-born composer of African descent Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Franz
Liszt’s imaginative setting of the Catholic legend of St. Francis of Assisi preaching
to the birds follows. According to tradition, St. Francis was walking with his
companions, when he strayed off to preach a sermon to a flock of birds overhead.
So impressed with the power of prayer were the birds, that they listened in
rapt silence, and then flew off in all four directions, in the form of a
cross. The morning’s Offertory is a beautiful setting of two Cantigas de Santa
MarÍa by the twentieth-century
composer Federico Mompou. The Cantigas originated in the court of Alfonso
the Wise of Castile in the thirteenth century, and consist of over 400 hymns to
the Virgin as well as accounts of miracles attributed to Her. Elsewhere, the
CUUC Choir is on hand, with another Spiritual as well as the opening movement
of Benjamin Britten’s touching A Ceremony of Carols. Read on for programming
details.
Centering Music: Adam Kent, piano
“The Angels Changed My Name”
African-American
Spiritual, arr. by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
“The Sermon to the Birds of St. Francis”
Franz
Liszt
Opening Music: CUUC Choir directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied
by Georgianna Pappas
“Every Time I Feel the Spirit”
Traditional
African-American
Offertory: Canción y danza No. 10
Federico
Mompou
Musical Interlude: Procession from A Ceremony of Carols
