Embrace Wonder

Practice of the Week
Embrace Wonder

For the practice of the week this week, select one of these four practices for embracing wonder. Three of the four (A, B, and D) and journaling exercises. One of them (C) involves action.

Option A: Journaling Your Ordinary Wonder

What seemingly simple thing sustains your sense of reverence right now? What ordinary object or relationship reminds you of life’s preciousness? What is currently helping you not take things for granted? Or even, what keeps you curious and engaged? Perhaps this is an easy question for you. If not, reflect on why and take some time to reconnect with the source of ordinary wonder that is surely right under your nose. Either way your task is straight-forward: select an object or story that testifies to ordinary, everyday life as a source of wonder. Write about it in your journal, describing the ordinariness and the wonderfulness -- and explaining why this wonderful thing sitting in the center of your ordinary life makes everything not feel so ordinary.

Option B: Who’s Been Wonderful Lately?

We say it with a huge smile: “I love it when people surprise me!” The jerk at the office who, out of nowhere, is the one most kind. The nervous and cautious child of yours who unexpectedly turns brave. The self-sacrificing friend who finally stands up for herself. All of them leave us in wonder at what people are capable of -- at what we are capable of. This assignment challenges you to find at least 2 “wonder folk” -- two people who surprise you, two people who remind you why it’s important to never write people off. Then write in your journal the story of your two wonderful folk -- and also why you needed this wonderful reminder.

Option C: I Wonder What Would Happen If I . . . .

All of us regularly find ourselves asking, “I wonder what would happen if I…” If you are sick of asking and finally want to move from wondering to action, then consider this just the prod you need to go for it. First, identify: what is it you’ve been wondering about for far too long? Second, take a step. Decide on one thing you are going to do to live into that curiosity rather than just make guesses about it -- then do it.

Option D: Do You Prefer Child-Like Wonder or Adult-Like Wonder?

Of course there’s no need to pick. Truth is we prefer one type or the other depending on what we need most right now. With that awareness front and center, reflect on these questions in your journal: What type of wonder are you most in need of right now? Identify one small way to meet that need. Prepare for your reflection by reading Gretchen Rubin's blog about child-like wonder and adult-like wonder. (CLICK HERE.)

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Previous Practice of the Week: "Take More Breaks"
For list of all weekly practices: "Practices of the Week"

CUUC Music: Sun Oct 4

Sunday morning’s musical selections feature lutenist Harris Becker playing gems from the English Renaissance and in collaboration with soprano and CUUC Choir Director Lisa N. Meyer. The CUUC Choir is also on hand with works by Thomas Morley and Roger Emerson. Read on for programming details and Mr.Becker’s biography.

Prelude: Harris Becker, lute

Captain Digorie Piper's Galliard                         

A Fancy                                                           

The Melancholy Galliard

A Fancy

                                                John Dowland (1563-1623)

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

Sing We And Chant It (ca. 1580) 

Thomas Morley    

Offertory: Lisa Meyer, soprano
Fair, Sweet, Cruel (ca. 1600)                          

Thomas Ford  

Anthem:
Mountain Dance                                                  

Roger Emerson    

Harris Becker has had a rich and varied career as a guitarist and lutenist. As a young musician studying the classical guitar he had a fascination with improvisation, which led him to explore jazz. He also had a strong interest in contemporary music, which offered him the opportunity to work closely with composers and premiere many solo and ensemble pieces throughout his career. Among the composers who have dedicated works to him are Carlo Domeniconi, Hayley Savage, Raoul Pleskow, Howard Rovics, microtonal composer Johnny Reinhard, Alan Hirsh, Michael Frassetti, Joseph Russo and Richard Iacona.

Becker has performed extensively both as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, South America, Mexico and Canada. In recent years he has given concerts and master classes in New York, Alabama, Canada, Connecticut, Florida and Bermuda. In the fall of 2014 Mr. Becker gave concerts and master classes in Thailand and throughout Vietnam including at the U.S  Consulate in Saigon. In the spring of 2015 “The Amaryllis Project” (world-renowned pipa virtuoso Liu Fang and Harris Becker) gave a concert of world premieres for pipa & guitar at the Long Island Guitar Festival, which included a new work by Carlo Domeniconi.

In 1993 Mr. Becker founded the Long Island Guitar Festival, of which the New York Times wrote: “The “Long Island” in the festival title clearly refers to its location and origins, rather than to its scope”. Mr. Becker has been a faculty member at Nassau Community College, The Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College and Director of Music for Mixed Ensembles at the International Institute for Chamber Music at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich. The Florida State Division of Cultural Affairs selected Mr. Becker to participate in Florida's Artist Residency Program, giving lecture/performances on the lute and baroque guitar. Harris Becker is Director of Guitar Studies at LIU Post. He recently received an award for outstanding service from the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Long Island University.  Mr. Becker is also a member of the Artesian Guitar Quartet.

Harris Becker is co-founder and artistic director of the summer music festival in rural Quebec “Songe d’été en Musique”. The festival just celebrated its tenth anniversary at which the Youth Orchestra of the Americas took part led by artisitic director Placido Domingo. This concert was called “historic” by the press in Quebec.  His recordings include “Catgut Flambo” with guitarist Pasquale Bianculli and a solo CD “Passing Through.” His editions and publications are published by T.D. Ellis Music Publishing and Calavar Music.

Mr. Becker’s presentation of these pieces was a study in fluidity and grace…”   Greater Port Jefferson-Northern Brookhaven Arts Council

Take Many Breaks

Practice of the Week
Take Many Breaks

Adapted from Rick Hanson, Just One Thing.

As we evolved in hunter-gatherer bands over millions of years, life moved at the pace of a walk, in rhythm with the seasons and with the rising and setting of the sun each day. In many of the hunter-gatherer cultures still existing today, it takes only a few hours a day to find food and shelter. Its a good guess that our ancient ancestors lived similarly, and spent the rest of their time relaxing hanging out with friends, and looking at the stars.

Sure, life was tough in other ways, like dodging saber-tooth tigers, yet the point remains that the human body and mind evolved to be in a state of rest or leisure -- in other words, on a break -- much of the time.

But now, in the twenty-first century, people routinely work ten, twelve, or more hours a day -- when you count commuting, working from home, and business travel -- to put bread on the table and a roof over their heads. Much the same is true if a person is a stay-at-home parent, since "the village it takes to raise a child" usually looks more like a ghost town these days. Many of us are on the job and on the go from soon after we wake up in the morning and check emails or feed children (or both!) to the last time we pull phone messages at night.

It makes you wonder who is "advanced" and who is "primitive"!

The modern, pedal-to-the-metal lifestyle produces chronic stress and tension, and related physical and mental health issues. It also crowds out creative pursuits, friendships, recreation, spiritual life, and time for children and mates. Therapists these days often see families where one or both parents are dealing with work sixty-plus hours a week (both because there are so many such families, and because the stress of it drives them to therapy). The job is an elephant in the living room, pushing everything else to the margins.

Imagine for a moment that you are sitting comfortably somewhere in your old age and looking back on your life and reflecting. Do you think you are going to wish you had spent more time on the job or doing housework?

Or wish you had spent more time relaxing, hanging out with friends, and looking at the stars?

How

So promise yourself that you'll take more breaks. Most of them will be brief, even a minute or less. But their accumulating effects will be really good for you.

Here are some methods for getting more breaks; pick one(s) you like best:

• Give yourself permission. Tell yourself that you have worked hard and deserve a little rest; that it's important for your health; that your productivity will actually increase with more breaks; that even cavemen/women got more breaks than you!
• Renounce everything else. When it's time for a break, drop everything else for that time. Truly "clock out."
• Take lots of microbreaks. Many times a day, step out of the stream of doingness for at least a few seconds: close your eyes for a moment; take a couple of deep breaths; shift your visual focus to the farthest point you can see; repeat a saying or prayer; stand up and move about.
• Shift gears. Maybe you have to keep grinding through your To Do list, but at least take a break from task A by doing a different kind of task B.
• Get out. Look out the window; go outside and stare up at the sky; find a reason to walk out of a meeting.
• Unplug. If only for a few minutes, stop answering your phone(s); shut down e-mails; turn off the TV or radio; take off the earphones.
• Make your body happy. Wash your face; eat a cookie; smell something good; stretch; lie down; rub your eyes or ears.
• Go on a mental holiday. Remember or imagine a setting (mountain lake? tropical beach? grandma's kitchen?) that makes you feel relaxed and happy. When you can, go there and enjoy yourself. "They" may have your body, but they don't get your mind.
• Keep your stress needle out of the red zone. If you find yourself getting increasingly frustrated or tense in some situation, disengage and take a break before your head explodes. Staying out of "red zone" stress is a serious priority for your long-term health and well-being.

To get at the underlying causes of your busy life and lack of breaks, consider all the things you think you have to do. Can you drop or delegate some of these? And can you take on fewer commitments and tasks in the future?

Personally, I've been slowly learning how to say no. No to low priority activities, no to great things I just don't have time for, no to my appetite for filling up my calendar.

Saying no will help you say yes to your own well-being, to friends, to activities that really feed you, to an uncluttered mind. To the stars twinkling high above your head.

For Journaling

Reflect on each of the bullet points above: Would it work for you? Why or why not? Will you implement it? Which one is your favorite?

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PRACTICES INDEX

All Westchester UU Vespers Service: Fridays

The All Westchester UU Vespers Service invites all UUs of Westchester to gather in community and Worship every other Friday evening.

The All Westchester UU Vespers Services began last September, and for some months alternated between First Unitarian Society of Westchester in Hastings and Community UU Congregation in White Plains. The services are now all hosted at:

First Unitarian Society of Westchester
25 Old Jackson Ave,
Hastings-On-Hudson, NY 10706

The services begin at 7:00pm and are led by a rotation of ministers and a ministerial intern that includes Rev. Peggy Clarke, Rev. Meredith Garmon, and Emily DeTar.

The All Westchester UU Vespers services offer a chance to “decompress” and renew at the end of the work week. They also serve to bring the congregations together and build connections among Westchester UUs. Members of all UU congregations in Westchester are encouraged to attend when they can.

For 2016, the Friday Vespers services are fortnightly (every other Friday):

Fri Jan 8. Rev. Meredith Garmon
Fri Jan 22. Rev. Peggy Clarke
Fri Feb 5. Emily DeTar
Fri Feb 19. Rev. Meredith Garmon
Fri Mar 4. Emily DeTar
Fri Mar 18. Rev. Peggy Clarke
Fri Apr 1. Rev. Meredith Garmon
Fri Apr 15. Rev. Peggy Clarke
Fri Apr 29. Emily DeTar
Fri May 13. Rev. Meredith Garmon

Order of Service

Call to Worship
Chalice Lighting
Centering Silence (5 mins)
Reading
Singing Meditation
Candles of Joy and Sorrow
Prayer
Deepening Into Silence (8 mins)
Singing Meditation
Chalice Extinguishing

The 45-min. service is typically oriented toward the theme of the month, reflected in the selection of the short reading. Themes for the first half of 2016 are:
Jan: Resistance
Feb: Desire
Mar: Liberation
Apr: Creation
May: Blessing
Jun: Simplicity

Child Dedication

From UUA.org:

Baptism/Child Dedication in Unitarian Universalism

Rather than holding Christian-style baptisms or christenings, most Unitarian Universalist congregations have child dedication ceremonies for infants and children.

Child dedication ceremonies are usually crafted by the parents, the congregation's minister, and religious educator working closely together. Many will include the following elements:

• A blessing for the new life of the child
• An expression of the parent or parents’ hopes for the child
• A promise by the congregation to support and nurture the child

If you are interested in having your child dedicated by a Unitarian Universalist minister or educator, either in your home or in the congregation, speak with the professional religious leaders at a congregation near you.

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At Community UU

Twice a year Rev. Meredith and our Director of Religious Education lead the congregation in child dedications during a Sunday service. It takes 5 - 7 minutes, depending on how many children or youth are being dedicated. It goes something like this:

MEREDITH: The world’s faith traditions bring children into religious community in various ways: baptism, christening, bris, namakarana, various forms of child naming, blessing, initiating, and dedicating. Whatever the form, parents have brought their young children into the places of worship from time immemorial: to express their joy and their awe at the gift of new life, and their deep sense of responsibility.

DRE: For us, the dedication is always double. The child is dedicated to all that is good and true – to the ground of being itself, and the ultimate context of meaning. And the congregation hereby becomes dedicated to the child. We delight in what our children are now, while we look forward to what they -- and we -- will become, knowing that their spiritual growth depends in no small part on us, and that ours depends on them. Parents, family, friends along with every member of this congregation share responsibility for the nurturing of every child here. It is our task to teach them the way of beauty and love, peace and justice --  and to learn from them zest and wonder of life.

Meredith then calls the names of the parents/guardians who are bringing children to be dedicated and invites them to come up on the chancel. He then asks the parents to announce to the congregation the name(s) of their child(ren) being dedicated. Our DRE then addresses the child(ren) by name and tells them: you are a part of this community that loves you.

For each child, Meredith dips a rose into the water from the congregation's water communion.

MEREDITH: With this water from our annual water communion, representing this diverse community flowing together, and symbolizing the oneness from which all life springs, and this rose, the symbol of life’s blooming possibilities for you, I touch you now on your brow, on your lips, and on your hands, to dedicate your thought and your speech, and your action to all in life that is good and true and beautiful. Hands the rose to the child or parent. Repeat for each child.

DRE: If you are a relative, or godparent of a child being dedicated, or a visiting family friend, will you please rise. If you are proud to know these young ones, if you look forward to introducing them to the world and helping them become who they will be, please say, “We will.”

If applicable [names of siblings]: you have sisters and brothers being dedicated today. If you promise to help them have a good time here, please say, “We will.”

Will all the children and youth of the congregation rise? If you are happy to get to know these friends, and if you will be kind to them, please say, “We will.”

Every member undertakes the sacred and joyful obligation to know, to nurture, to teach, and to help these children. Will all members now rise and pledge with me the words of the Congregational Dedication printed in your Order of Service:

May you grow to a life of joy.
May you grow to love other people.
May you grow to be courageous to challenge evil.
May you speak the truth you know,
And never cease from seeking to know more.
In everyone you meet,
May you recognize kinship and accept difference.
May you endow those who know you with faith and hope.
May you grow to be strong and gentle.
May you lessen a bit our human sorrows.
And to help to realize our hopes for you,
To guide you and comfort you,
To teach you and learn from you,
We, your religious community, dedicate ourselves.

MEREDITH: We pray that we shall be worthy guardians of these young lives, that the community we build will be one in which they may grow – and grow old – surrounded by beauty, embraced by love, and cradled in the arms of peace.

CUUC Music: Sun Sep 27

The intimate miniatures for solo piano of Catalan composer Federico Mompou are featured this Sunday morning at CUUC. In addition, CUUC’s Choir is on hand to perform the American classic “Ching-a-ring-Chaw” as well as the hymn-like “Closer to the Flame”. Read on for programming details,  and visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOqY788C1qI to preview Music Director Adam Kent’s performances of Mompou’s music.

Prelude: Adam Kent, piano
Cris dans la rue and Jeunes filles au jardin from Scènes d’enfants           

Cuna and Gitano from Impresiones íntimas                       

Federico Mompou

Anthem: CUUC Choir directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Geogianna Pappas
Ching-a-ring Chaw                                     

Traditional American, arr. by Linda Spevacek

Offertory:
El Carrer El Guitarrista I El Vell Cavall from Suburbis

                                    Mompou

Anthem:

Closer to the Flame                           

Susan Boersa and David Lantz, III     

Mindfulness Meditation Intensive, Sep 25-26

Mindfulness Meditation Intensive led by Rev. Sam Trumbore, Fri-Sat Sep 25-26. Please register with the office (call 946-1660 or email admin@cucwp.org).

Fri Sep 25, 6 - 9pm and Sat Sep 26, 8am - 3pm, at CUUC, Fellowship Hall: This Intensive practice and training session led by Rev. Sam Trumbore gives participants an opportunity to learn Buddhist mindfulness meditation techniques or refresh and deepen their meditation practice. All are welcome from first timers to experts. There will be a potluck vegan lunch on Saturday and all are encouraged to bring something to share. Insight oriented, mindfulness meditation is one of the best for Unitarian Universalists. It helps people train their minds to strengthen concentration and intensify moment-to-moment awareness. Regular practice of this technique quiets and sharpens the mind, opens the heart and can improve one's physical health. Rev. Trumbore is the minister serving the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, New York. He has practiced Buddhist insight meditation for 30 years and is Past President of the Unitarian Universalist Buddhist Fellowship.