Unitarian Universalist Congregation East

29 Jan News and Notes

СВЕТИ ГЕОРГИToday Kathy presented a panel of speakers to explain the eco-spiritual paradigm (paradigm: A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them.)  She said that in Europe, Christianity developed into a paradigm of duality (championed especially by Rene Descartes in the 17th Century.)  In this paradigm of duality, one side is deemed the “good” and the other side is deemed the, well, “evil”… or at least “bad”, or “wrong.”  One of these dualities is the spiritual vs. natural paradigm.  For 17th century Christians, once you build that paradigm, spiritual has to be the good side and that means… wait… nature is the bad side.  That lead to some really unfortunate conclusions on the part of Christians… that nature was anti-spiritual.

This was particularly unfortunate because many (most?) of the non-Christian religions were (are?) closely associated with nature and the natural world.  In the duality paradigm, Christians (emphasis in the spiritual world) = “good” and NonChristians (emphasis in the natural world)  = “evil.”  When Christians own the best weaponry, this is not going to turn out well for the religions who glorify the natural world.  Twas ever thus… at least since the 17th century.

Shawn told us about the modern Druidism movement.  It is way more interesting than you ever thought.  Their worship days are all tied to the seasons and the cycle of the year is the cycle of life.

Becca told us about the modern Eco-spiritual movement.  Much of which is a movement to save our precious little planet from the destruction of it by those who do not appreciate the spiritual world.  (one bit of hope, however, springs from the evangelical movement which is beginning to take note of the problem presented by God… who encouraged humanity to assert dominion over the created world, which probably did not include destroying it.

Thurmon talked to us about native American spirituality.  Native Americans have the distinction of practicing the only set of religions that the United States Government has ever declared to be outlawed.  It turns out that Americans are very bad at reading the Constitution.  George W. Bush tried to get the armed forces to declare Wicca as a non-religion, but the courts intervened.  The courts declared that Christians do not get to define other people’s religion as an evil non-religion.  I guess someone does know how to read the Constitution after all.

Imbolc is being celebrated by the Three Cranes Grove this afternoon.  See http://www.threecranes.org/ for details.

Peace,

Rick

15 Jan News and Notes

БогородицаMadeline, Elizabeth, and Betty spoke to us about Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Evangeline Booth, Clara Barton, and John Lennon.  Madeline presented a comparison of Lincoln’s life with Barack Obama’s life.  Both served a single term in Congress from Illinois and both came to national attention from a single speech.  Lincoln at Cooper Union, and Obama at the Democratic National Convention.  Oddly enough, both jeopardized their political career by opposing wars:  Lincoln opposed Polk’s venture into Mexico and Obama opposed Bush’s venture into Iraq.

Elizabeth told us about Evangeline Booth and the founding of the Salvation Army.  Booth arranged for the Salvationists to accompany the U.S. Troops into France in WWI.  They provided the army with much needed care, comfort, food and even entertainment… which the War Department had not seen fit to provide.  Clara Barton founded the Red Cross.  She started by caring for the wounded in the American Civil War.  Interestingly, she never took a side in any debate on politics or morality.  She saw suffering, and she tried to relieve suffering, whether brought on by war or by human error or deficiency.

Betty told us about John Lennon and his struggle to bring the idea of peace to the world.  She read several rememberances  about John Lennon from some very famous people.

The Three Cranes Grove is celebrating Imbolc on Jan 29 at Blacklick Park.  Come at 5:30 with Ceremony at 6:30.  They are at the heated shelter so don’t worry about the weather.

Next Saturday is the third Saturday (Jan 21) and that means our oun pot luck will be happening at the church.  It is National Hug Day, so that is the theme.

Shawn’s birthday is Saturday.  Jan’s birthday is the 17th.

Lars is walking now… hold on to your hats.

Jan 8 News and Notes

Sue spoke to us today about health and happiness.  Her remarks were mostly drawn from the teachings of DR. A Weil and DR G Aukerman.  Here are a few highlights:  Insufficient contact with nature predisposes us to depression.  Expose yourself to art and beauty.  Lend a helping hand – volunteering or doing service for others will make you happier over time.  Learn to be compassionate and empathetic.  Practice forgiveness.

Dr Aukerman has some pretty strong feelings about food and nutrition.  He believes that food should be picked ripe instead of picked green.  This can manifest itself through the argument that canned green beans can be fresher and more nutritious than the the food in the produce isle.

 A lively discussion followed.

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

Oct 15 News and Notes

Today we had a memorial service for or friend Shirley (1936-2011).  She is still with us in our memories and thoughts.  It is especially suitable to us as the autumn draws us in because we all remember so vividly the Thanksgiving service she gave to us last year.  As Becca said: “I felt like she was snatched away from us.”  Shirley made a banner for our main gathering room and we hung it up today.

http://www.edwardsfuneralservice.com/sitemaker/sites/Edward2/obit.cgi?user=329982denBroeder

Shirley had been planning a presentation on the life of Lydia Francis Child (1802-1880) so we did that today in her honor.   She was an abolutionist, women’s rights activist, author, and a Unitarian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Child

In other news;  Please register to vote.  Last night’s pot luck was great, and special thanks to Elizabeth and Deepa for helping out.  Jim Crowley came over to rescue Thurmon’s virus infected computer, so Thurmon made a special donation to the church in his honor.  We are all Thankful for Jim’s assistance and we don’t stop to tell him often enough.  We lit a candle for Barbara, and one for Charlotte who has lost her job to a RIFF.  We also lit a candle for Gordon who is attending his nephew’s funeral this weekend.

If there is anything you would like to learn more about and you think it would make a nice topic for us all, you can take that idea to David Soliday and he will consider taking it on as a sunday sermon.

For a children’s story today, we played a video of  the “Over the River and Through the Woods” song.  The original poem was written by:  Lydia Francis Child.

Rick