Unitarian Universalist Congregation East

What UUCE is up to in Reynoldsburg, Ohio

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1 Jan News and Notes

ikoniHappy New Year and greetings all around. 

For those who have noticed my dwindling dedication to prompt correspondence, I apologize for my absence from posting News and Notes for each Sunday service.  I shall rededicate myself to timely publication of the chronicle.

This Sunday, we spent with personal rededication to the principles of the Unitarian Universalist.  Jim played a video that featured several prominent UU’s of the past and present.  There were a couple of early presidents of the United States who professed to be either Unitarian or Universalist (it is unlikely for anyone to be nominated for President today without much soul searching over religious convictions.)  Jim had a presentation wherein many people expressed dedication to UU principles.  After that, many of us in the congregation spoke of our own decisions to join in with this particular congregation.

Announcements:  The Sierra club sent us a thank-you for participation in their Bike to the Future event last fall.  They would also like our help in future events such as their campaign to tell ODOT  that Ohio needs more Transportation options. 

Betty announced that she is still seeking volunteers for bringing refreshments to share after each Sunday Service.

Please remember to sign up for the Kroger Community Rewards Program.www.krogercommunityrewards.com Our organization number is 80237

By the way, I recently read that over half of all UU congregations consist of fewer than 100 citizens.  So, although we are small, we are not so much the anomaly that those in the Meadeville district would have us believe.   Also, according to the latest treasurer’s report, (what? You haven’t been reading the treasurer’s report?) we are pretty much right on our budget target for the year.  We never seem to be so far ahead as to get comfortable, nor so far behind as to become panicky. 

Welcome to Winter in Central Ohio.

Rick

Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago at 4:38 pm.

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Obituary for Shirley den Broeder

икони цени

Shirley Jean den Broeder

January 11, 1936 – March 3, 2011

Shirley Jean den Broeder, 75, of Reynoldsburg passed away on Thursday March 3, 2011

She was born January 11, 1936 in Newark, Ohio to the late Murrell and Ruth (Robison) Orr.

She is survived by her son, Jody den Broeder, her brother Paul Orr, her sisters Nancy Channell, Caroline King, Elizabeth Williams, and Marjorie Bergstrom and many loving nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her parents, her brothers David Bline, John Orr and Lee Orr, and her sister Kathleen Orr.

Shirl will be remembered for her love for her son and family and her love for the outdoors. She could often be found tramping through nearby parks searching for mushrooms. She became an expert in identifying mushrooms (a mycologist).As a volunteer with the Metro Parks, she led hikes to teach others how to identify mushrooms and shared her love of the subject. A walk in the woods with Shirl made you open your eyes to the beauty around you.

She also loved history and could usually be found with a book in her hand (or more recently with a netbook in hand). She spent years researching family genealogy and always had a family story to share. Recently she developed a passion for raw foods and could often be found growing micro-greens and dehydrating whatever she could think of to dehydrate. She loved creating her own recipes and sharing the result with others.

More recently she found a spiritual home at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Reynoldsburg where she found others who shared her love of the environment. She led meditation groups and delivered the Thanksgiving service where she shared another passion – early American history and the life of native Americans. While her time there was brief, she spoke often of her delight in finding this new home and the friendships she made there.

A memorial service to celebrate her life will be announced here later.

Donations are requested to Columbus Metro Parks, 1069 West Main Street, Westerville, OH 43081 in her memory.

Posted 7 months ago at 12:00 am.

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Church without God – The Columbus Dispatch

FAITH & VALUES

Church, without God

Some local atheists attend worship services for support, social reasons

Friday, February 4, 2011  02:52 AM

By Meredith Heagney

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Stan Bradley of Lithopolis is the president of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation East in Reynoldsburg. The atheist said, "Community is important. You get with people, share your concerns and joys."

Kyle Robertson | DISPATCH
Stan Bradley of Lithopolis is the president of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation East in Reynoldsburg. The atheist said, “Community is important. You get with people, share your concerns and joys.”
Faith & Values podcast

Dispatch religion reporter Meredith Heagney talks to a religious atheist.

Stan Bradley likes Bible stories, admires Martin Luther and uses expressions such as ‘heavens, no.’

The Lithopolis man is president of a local congregation and rarely misses a Sunday service. Occasionally, he goes to his wife’s church instead.

For these and other reasons, Bradley considers himself religious.

He is also an atheist.

His house of worship is Unitarian Universalist Congregation East in Reynoldsburg. Unitarian Universalism is a liberal denomination whose members claim different identities – Christian, atheist, others – but come together for shared prayer and songs.

Like Bradley, some atheists participate in organized religion for its social and psychological benefits.

“Community is important,” Bradley said, explaining why he is part of a congregation that meets weekly. “You get with people, share your concerns and joys.”

Another local congregation open to atheism is the Humanist Jewish Chavurah of Columbus. Only 25 people strong, the group meets once a month in the same building as Bradley’s congregation at 1789 Lancaster Ave. in Reynoldsburg.

Chavurah is a Hebrew word for a small group of people within a congregation who get together for discussion, board president Ellen Rapkin said.

She and other humanistic Jews believe it’s important to maintain their cultural Judaism, even if they don’t believe in God.

They meet on Sundays, rather than the Jewish Sabbath of Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. They celebrate Jewish holidays in a secular way.

On Passover, they focus more on the Jewish exodus from Eastern Europe after World War II than God’s role in the biblical Exodus from Egypt, Rapkin said.

“‘Where was God during the Holocaust?” is a big question for humanistic Jews, she said.

Yom Kippur is still a time to think about how they’ve behaved and how they’ve treated others, just as in mainstream Judaism.

“I don’t see it as being religious – I see it as more of a cultural thing,” Rapkin said. “Somehow (Jews) survived. You don’t want to chuck that out.”

The social supports found in churches and other houses of worship are difficult to replicate elsewhere, said Lindsay Jones, director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Ohio State University.

Churches are great places to find friends, support and youth education, so nonbelievers and believers alike join congregations to fill those needs, he said.

He has spoken to elderly and sick people who can no longer go to church and they say they most miss the feeling of community.

Recent research from Harvard University and the University of Wisconsin backs him up. It found that religious people tend to be happier than nonreligious people, not because of belief but because of the friendships found at church.

And being part of a group of like-minded people provides a sense of worth, Jones said. A congregation, with or without a belief system, offers a “strategy to mitigate the sense of helplessness” that can accompany life’s ups and downs.

Bradley, 61, grew up Presbyterian and once believed in God. He was drawn to humanism by the late evangelist Jerry Falwell.

“I heard him complaining so much about humanists, I thought I’d look up and see what these people were about,” he said.

Through reading and after a lot of thought, he decided in his 50s that God and Jesus did not exist. But, he said, he has no “burr in my saddle” with religion. His wife, Beth, believes in God and is an elder in the Bloom Presbyterian Church in Lithopolis.

People have asked him where his morality comes from if he doesn’t believe in God. He tells them his values come from his parents and his country – and from reason.

“As social animals, it makes sense you don’t club each other over the head, you don’t steal from each other,” he said.

“Helping others – it just makes sense.”

mheagney@dispatch.com

Posted 1 year, 3 months ago at 1:03 am.

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The Peace of Wild Things

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry

Posted 1 year, 11 months ago at 9:52 pm.

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May 23 News and Notes

Teri Cornell spoke to us about the fear factor.

Some people seek out the adrenaline rush that comes from confronting our fears.  They go skydiving and who knows what else.  On the television program called “Fear Factor ” people confronted their fears because they got paid for doing it.  For some people, this happens all the time.  There is no need to seek it.  Just leaving the house produces anxious feelings.

The worst part of suffering from an anxiety disorder is the belief that the problem is unique to them.  They don’t know that other people have the same fears.

Anxiety disorder is a learned reaction to stress.  But the qualities that make us debilitated also make us good employees.  Sensitive, hard working, holding yourself accountable to high standard.  Fear doesn’t have to be debilitating to the point where it interferes with your life.  Sometimes that means being at the mercy of any too many “what-if” conjectures that for “normal” people would not be so limiting.  For some people, spirituality is debilitating because many of us weren’t allowed to question what was taught.

Feel the fear, do it anyway.  You will be OK.  When you do face it, you will be given the gift of knowing what comes out at the other side of your fears.

See Rachel Naomi Remen at www.rachelremen.com/.  She has two books: 

Dr. Remen’s tells stories about real people with fears such as: that we don’t belong, that we are powerless, that there is no place of safety or refuge for us. The healing they find heals us all.

Candles were lit for Donnie Williams, brother of Barb Wade, the master gardener who has been consulting with us on the grounds;  Beth who is in Mt Carmel; Thurman’s 76th birthday (Thurman has returned safely from his travels and is quoting Dylan Thomas on the topic of birthdays);  Teri Cornell’s granddaughter; Charlotte’s friend; the people and wildlife of Louisiana; and members Kimberly and Barb H. who are not able to be with us because of their current difficult life circumstances.

Joys:  We have new cushions for those among us who have difficulty sitting for such a long time on hard chairs.

The Yard sale is coming on June 11.  Get your stuff ready.

Matt and Emily brought refreshments today.

The children’s story was of the Blind man and the hunter.

Jan is trying to solve the problem of the Kroger fund-raising program.  We must certify with the Federal IRS that we are a tax exempt organization.  She is recruiting help to solve the IRS form for that certification.

Posted 1 year, 12 months ago at 11:41 pm.

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