December 2011 Blog Posts (36)

Come join the Youth Leadership Program!  We meet the first Sunday of every month.  Our next meeting is: Sunday, January 1st from 12:45-3:00pm. 

We are looking for youth who want to have an awesome and fun time learning about peace and how to make peace.  You do not have to be a leader to be part of the program – you just have to be the change you want to see in the world!  During previous meetings, the youth have discussed homelessness, care for the environment, and what to…

January’s Share The Plate recipient is UUCA's Peace Camp. In its fifteenth year, this summer program teaches children (age 5 to 11) nonviolent conflict resolution and other peacemaking skills in an enjoyable camp setting. Peace Camp strives to promote UU themes and provide a framework for their everyday practice. From the seed planted 14 years ago, Peace Camp continues to grow and expand its outreach. This growth would not be possible without the support of…

This Sunday at our single service (at 11:15) we'll celebrate Christmas Day as a community.  Since ancient times communities have found a need to be together -- to tell stories, to make noise, to bring generations together -- to take a break from the ordinary. It's in this spirit that we'll gather this Christmas morning. All ages welcome!  

After the service, we'll share coffee, hot chocolate and snacks.

Please join us Sunday!  

Each December, a colleague of mine gathers readings and resources for the holiday season from other area UU ministers to be shared among us. I was familiar with the poem below, but have never used it in worship. That changes this Saturday night, as we reflect together on the deep peace available to us in this season, and in every season of our lives. I'm grateful for the legacy of Maya Angelou, whom I've only seen once in person -- in Cramton Auditorium at my alma…

Dear UUCA Social Justice community, 



Deadline for Social Justice program fund applications is Jan 8, 2012.



The Budget Request Information & Work Sheet Form are available:



1)  Under the Social Justice drop down menu on the church website "12-13 Social Justice Budget Request"



2) On the main Social Justice page on the church website (look for the blue title under Rev. C's video in the right hand column).



3) We have also created a sub-page to the…

Here's a holiday message from Rev. Peter Morales, the president of the Unitarian Universalist Association.  You can watch a Spanish language version if you go to www.uua.org.  By the way, Rev. Morales will be our guest speaker on Sunday, February 12.  Holiday Message

What a glorious celebration on Sunday morning as the voices of our children and youth choirs and our Clerestory Choir, as well as the seasonal music of the bell choir, violins, piano, organ, and keyboard, filled our sanctuary.  My gratitude to all who gave us the gift of your music.  And I'm looking forward to more music on Christmas Eve.  I'm reminded of the words of George Eliot: "I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse…

Who says religion is irrelevant?  Did you see all the articles on religion in today's Post?  On the front page is an article, "First came Jesus. Then the Atheists, Next? The Flying Spaghetti Monster," about the many different religious -- and irreligious -- holiday displays in front of the Loudoun County Courthouse. All this furor because the county refuses to ban all religious symbols in respect to the separation of church and state.

Then, in the Religion section is an…

Wherefore Occupy? 

Are you sick of living in a corpacracy? The disproportionate distribution of wealth?

Is Occupy a visionary re-imagining of American democracy?

Is Occupy pragmatic? 

And what are you willing to do to educate and promote change and participation?

Prayer in the Strip Mall, Bangor, Maine

by Stuart Kestenbaum

The week after Thanksgiving and the stores are decked out

for holiday shopping, including a T.J. Maxx, where what was

once too expensive loses its value and attracts us, there is a

store with a big yellow banner proclaiming GIANT BOOK SALE,

a seasonal operation carrying remaindered books, which doesn't mean

that the books aren't good,…

And "it flows through the valleys and the mountains of our lives."

Sung by Roberta Flack, that song touches my soul.

When I am truly weary, discouraged or angry or fearful, those words make all the difference to me.  They tell me that there is a power greater than myself, an energy in which my soul can rest.

Then I remember Maya Angelou's poem "On the Pulse of the Morning," with the river singing:

"I call you to my riverside if you will study war no more.... Plant…

I am honored to have been asked by Arlington County Board Member and long-time UUCA friend Walter Tejada to take part in his swearing in ceremony tonight at 5:00 p.m. in the County Board Meting Room, #307 at 2100 Clarendon Avenue.

I am also honored to offer a prayer as part of this evening's program with 47th District State Delegate Patrick Hope at 7:00 p.m. at UUCA. He will discuss "Advocacy for Immigration Reform in a Difficult Political Climate" in preparation for UUCA members'…

There are still Secret Santa tags on the trees in the upper and lower lobbies. You can stop by the church and grab and tag, to add to your holiday shopping. You can also simply buy a gift card. All gifts are due at the church this Wednesday, Dec. 14. If you need assistance, please call the church office between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Dec. 15: Among the patches of protesters of all sizes, ages and shapes of Oakland-area citizens, I met a quilter, Anne Marie, who has been experiencing OWST from a few different perspectives. She's felt torn between the moral side to OWST and unintended consequences. A social worker by profession, she works with low-income and poor families who are directly connected to the docks. She's listened to closed-door concerns about lost income. I referred to some of those concerns in my original…

As mentioned in my sermon this morning ... Here is the video of an extraordinary person who has found a way to express her love for herself, her family and her life with her particular set of challenges. Watch and be inspired.

This article appears in the December edition of the UUCA newsletter, The Arlingtarian. It's part of a series from the Immigration Working Group in which members and friends of the congregation share their experiences of coming to the U.S. and life in this adopted homeland. Dr. Emma will be part of our services tomorrow, and here is a brief version of her journey.…

Last night we celebrated the life of long-time UUCA member Tom Richards, who lived an extraordinary life, and I thought you might want to read a little about him.

Thomas Witwer Richards, environmentalist, politician, and entrepreneur, died November 9, 2011 at the age of eighty-five.   He was born and raised in Cumberland, Maryland.   Upon completing high school he served in the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.   After his discharge he earned his A.B. at Dickinson College…