November 2011 Blog Posts (43)

Here's a poem that reminds us to stay in the present: "Never Mind" by Denver Butson

A COMMON MEDITATION



The purpose: to develop a spiritual practice that helps center each person in the mystery and wonder, while making deeper connections of empathy and compassion with the wider world.



The practice: sit comfortably…

Back in the spring, I gave a sermon entitled "The Eighth Commandment Renewed: You Shall Be Generous of Heart". It was in part a reflection on the original Eighth Commandment, "Thou shalt not steal", and alternative ways of interpreting that admonition. It may be worth reading/listening to again, in this season when we are encouraged and asked to be generous as in no other time of the…

I had my second conference call today with other members of the "Justice" 2012 General Assembly Program Development Group. What a dedicated bunch of people I get to work with, as we prepare to choose the programs that will inform, inspire and enrich the individuals who attend GA, and by extension, their congregations and wider communities.

This afternoon, we addressed issues such as our accountability to the people at GA who will have Spanish as their primary language; how we will vet…

ASPAN Needs Food

Thanks to the bakers of UUCA, the clients at the Arlington A-SPAN winter shelter had bread for their dinner the night of UUCA’s Nov. 20 Bread Communion.  No bread had been available for a couple of nights and certainly nothing as good as we delivered to them on Sunday.  (UUCA Bread Communion bakers included Katie Lyn Peebles, Ron Cima, Cyanne Hanson, Sharon Williams, Denise, Max, and Rachel Kappler, and Rev. Linda).

 With tight budgets, fruits and desserts have…

I'm thankful this week to the congregation of the Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC, who voted Sunday that their pastor shouldn’t perform wedding ceremonies until state law also allows her to officiate legally binding weddings for same-sex couples as well. This vote by the hundred strong congregation is in defiance of North Carolina’s Legislature who this year required a ballot measure on enshrining the state’s ban on gay marriage in the constitution. Pastor Nancy Petty supported…

At last Wednesdays New UU course, as the newcomers to UUCA were gathering and getting to know each other, I posed a question for each of us to contemplate in anticipation of my sermon this Sunday, "Feels Like Home". I asked, "What feels like home (here at UUCA)?" Here are some of the responses I noted about our experiences of feeling at home:

- where you are known and you belong.

- where I feel welcome, comfortable ... where I can be me. Where I can grow intellectually…

To have Gini Courter, the Moderator of the Unitarian Universalist Association, giving our sermon yesterday: How special was that? I'm very grateful for her leadership, her vision, her humor, her commitment to our faith ... and perhaps most of all, her love for Unitarian Universalists and people in general.

Gini quoted Laila Ibrahim, who is the Director of Religious Education at our congregation in Oakland, California. Many years ago, when I was one of the three ministers on staff…

Here's a Thanksgiving message you might want to share with family and friends.

http://youtu.be/MKXLs3wHBNc

This week I'm thankful for many things: the love of my spouse; my life and its lucky circumstances; fools I know; my nieces; friends; privileges; challenges; virtuous UUs and righters of wrongs. This poem, in particular, strikes a chord right now.  What are you grateful for? 

Starfish by Eleanor Lerman



This is what life does. It lets you walk up to

the store to buy breakfast and the paper, on a

stiff knee. It lets you choose the way you…

Yesterday morning I was at Cedar Lane UU Church in Bethesda, attending a program with other regional Unitarian Universalists on local immigration issues and preparing for General Assembly 2012. The event was sponsored by Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ) and the Chesapeake Unitarian Universalist Growth Committee (CHUUG). There were six of us there from UUCA. My big take-away from the morning was this: There is a lot that we at UUCA could be doing to support other…

Because the response from UUCA members and friends to the two recent "kitchen actions" has been so strong, I wanted to get the word out about the latest opportunity to show support ...

This Sunday, November 20, there will be a table in Fellowship Hall where you can make a financial contribution after both services to OccupyDC's Thanksgiving dinner at New York…

I'm trying to figure out what's going on and what "the problem" is about race and diversity and multiculturalism at UUCA.  It's a muddle, in my opinion, right now.

One friend thinks white people are unconscious of how people of color have been hurt by white racist behavior, and she also thinks that UU white people feel guilty about it.

I think that UU whites more likely feel fear of judgment, blame and disapproval, that all human beings (in general) have trouble…

I'm trying to figure out what's going on and what "the problem" is about race and diversity and multiculturalism at UUCA.  It's a muddle, in my opinion, right now.

One friend thinks white people are unconscious of how people of color have been hurt by white racist behavior, and she also thinks that UU white people feel guilty about it.

I think that UU whites more likely feel fear of judgment, blame and disapproval, that all human beings (in general) have trouble…

I'm trying to figure out what's going on and what "the problem" is about race and diversity and multiculturalism at UUCA.  It's a muddle, in my opinion, right now.

One friend thinks white people are unconscious of how people of color have been hurt by white racist behavior, and she also thinks that UU white people feel guilty about it.

I think that UU whites more likely feel fear of judgment, blame and disapproval, that all human beings (in general) have trouble…

This Sunday, Nov. 20, is the day set aside to remember transgender people who have been killed because of hatred and fear. In addition to acknowledging these senseless losses of life, it is an opportunity to raise awareness of hate-crimes against transpeople.

We have transpeople in our congregation, as well as parents, friends and family of transpeople. Some ministers in our Unitarian Universalist Association identify as trans as well. We stand together in love, as we affirm the…

I love Robert Frost's poetry.  Here's a Common Meditation on "Gathering Leaves": http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2003/10/21

A COMMON MEDITATION



The purpose: to develop a spiritual practice that helps center each person in the mystery and wonder, while making deeper connections of empathy and compassion with the wider world.



The practice: sit comfortably in…

With Gini Courter at UUCA this weekend, it's a great time to consider about our participation at "Justice" General Assembly in Phoenix, June 20-24, 2012.

Gini, in fact, was a large part of my inspiration to become involved with immigration. Before the 2010 General Assembly in Minneapolis, I saw immigration policy important, but it wasn't an issue that captured my imagination. Once we…

Sharon sundial was honored for her years of service to older adults at this years' Culpepper Garden Elder Services Awards ceremony held at Signature Theater on Monday evening.  Sharon first worked with the elderly in Arlington as a social worker in the Arlington County Department of Human Services.  After retirement from there she became active with the Culpepper Garden Retirement Community as a Board member and as our UUCA…

The inspiration for the service I will lead the Sunday after Thanksgiving comes from this song written by Randy Newman. I first heard a Bonnie Raitt version of it in the John Travolta film "Michael" many years ago. You can watch it below in a clip from the Rosie O'Donnell Show of Bonnie performing it with Randy Newman himself.

While the song is a romantic one, I am more interested in the universal experience of feeling at home. Why does 'home' hold such grip on our imagination? What…

I got to the church at around 3:30 yesterday, just as the Kitchen Activists were finishing up two big, deep pots of delicious-smelling chili for the OccupyDC folks at McPherson Square. Just outside the kitchen was  a cart laden with bread and desserts other Kitchen Activists had brought in, and in inside the kitchen were three large boxes of apples to go to the October2011 camp at Freedom Plaza. Within a short while, we delivered all that food. The energy around UUCA was high -- I could feel…