иконографияКартиниDavid Soliday talked to us about Krishna Janmashtami (birthday of Krishna) Dramatic enactments of the life of Krishna, are customary. Young men form human pyramids to reach a high-hanging pot of butter to represent Krishma’s love of butter. Krishna was naughty but everyone loved him except the evil king who would stop at nothing to kill the young prince. Even Krishna’ s punishments were administered with love and compassion.
Barbara is out of the hospital and is feeling better. She is recovering at her home. We lit candles for peace in the UK, people killed and injured in Indianapolis last night. We lit one for the people in Somalia and for Elizabeth’s niece. The three cranes group performed a Lughnasa at the Dublin Irish Music festival and drew 350 people….
There will be a pot luck after the service on Sep 28. September 24 is a day in Columbus to move beyond fossil fuels. There is an 8 mile bike ride leaving from Columbus, Franklin Park Conservatory at noon. September 24 is also the day that David Soliday will be hosting Earth Dance at the Ohio Wesleyan college in Delaware (to start at 4PM).
The board authorized some picnic tables for the back yard.
Peace, Rick
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago at 11:56 pm. Add a comment
Today was Angel’s Spiritual Journey: Far From Over.
Angel was raised in both the Church of God and the Disciples of Christ. The conflicting views of Christianity caused a serious split within. The love of history brought her to the old testament. The Disciples of Christ taught her to question. But not too much. For instance, if thou shalt have no gods before me, then why do we pray to Jesus? Reading the Bible can get one into trouble in some circles. Next up: Gnosticism.
This week Lars celebrated his first birthday. We sang Happy Birthday to him in church and he didn’t even cry. This week Elizabeth started fixing the screen on the back porch. New musical group is starting up. Practice probably on Saturday. Stan is going to have a pacemaker put in this week – this is now done as out patient surgery. Barbara’s birthday was last week. She is living at Wesley Ridge assisted living facility.
Peace,
Rick
Posted 6 months ago at 11:39 pm. Add a comment
Today Shawn taught us about blessings and we all participated in a water blessing. We don’t really give blessings much thought. Blessings can take a lot of forms, but they must be freely given with a loving heart, a compassionate mind and a willing spirit. Otherwise, it is just going through the motions. Blessings can involve touch… laying on of hands or an embrace. Blessings often involve hands making some obvious action but that is not necessary. The essence of a blessing is the wholeness of the spirit unobstructed. The spirit does not require hand movements to make a go of it.
David Spangler writes that the art of the blessing has an improvisational element. We must
1. be mindful of the occasion,
2. Idenify yourself as the blessor.
3. Be open to alligning yourself with the blessee.
4. Inhabit the space.
5. perform the act of blessing.
In our water blessing, everyone took turns blessing the water and, if you care to, add a comment about our relationship with water. Peace, rememberance of childhood, connectedness, bringer of wealth, trouble, and calm, precious giver of life, nourisher of trees, nourisher of the land a cure for the ills of the spirit, and silence.
There is a pot luck next Saturday night, July 16 with a red white and blue theme. Betty said Cathy is providing a movie but Cathy wasn’t there today to defend herself from the charge. The 350 day schedule is firming up for the fall. Also, the Three Cranes Druids have been asked to perform a religious service at the Dublin Irish Festival on Sunday morning. That will be Sunday Aug 7 at 10:00 am.
After the service on Sunday August 28 we are having a picnic. Warren Wolfe is the speaker that day.
Remember to re-register your kroger card. The number is 80237.
Yours, Rick
Posted 6 months, 4 weeks ago at 10:41 pm. Add a comment
Today we had an all star cast on hand to explain to us about the seven deadly sins. Being Unitarian, we were a little unsure about these things so they had to list them for us. Anger, Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, and Sloth.
Megan lead off with an explanation of Anger. Megan is an art therapist by way of occupation and she helps people through their anger using art. She pointed out that anger can be controlled or uncontrolled. The uncontrolled sort is often characterized as wrath as it turns violent. However deadly it may be, there is an intrinsic value to anger and it is often suppressed in very unhealthy ways. But anger can be appropriately channeled and it is considered a functional necessity for survival. If you or a loved one are attacked, anger can help channel a very appropriate response. Nevertheless, the Catholic church defines anger as the power of vengeance which is sinful, the Buddhists consider it one of the 5 hindrances and the Judaic tradition holds that
He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city (Proverbs 16:32)
Thurman said Envy is characterized by an insatiable desire for things not material. When you perceive something lacking in yourself and you wish to deprive someone else of it, then envy is destructive… except when you are trying to evoke those thoughts in others when you are trying to show off your new girlfriend or boyfriend.
Madeline said Gluttony depends on your perspective. Poor people eating a lot are gluttonous. Rich people eating a lot are living well.
Matt said Greed is having unmet needs that you are trying to satisfy. How much is enough? What is greed in the service of others. That is to say what if you are trying to feed a family or a community?
Gordon said Lust is pleasure, eager appetite, desire or excessive desire. It seems to have negative connotations when the church is talking about it but who has not felt that way sometimes? If pursuit of it injures yourself or others, then perhaps it is bad, but most of the time society claims that it is injurious to the community the real reason is that society just doesn’t approve of it.
John talked about Pride. He said that pride is the worst because in encompasses all the other deadly sins.
Jim and Jan together demonstrated Sloth. The church likes to define it as the failure to use ones talents and gifts. It is a sin of omission against the community. The community has a funny way of extracting vengeance against its members who do not work had and donate a good part of their labor to the well being of the church.
IN other news. The Potluck is NEXT Saturday folks. Don’t miss it. On June 13 Teresa Mills, director of the Buckeye Environmental Networkwill be speaking about Fracking in the land below Ohio. July 1 will be Pyropaloosaat Sean’s house… all are invited. The spelling checker does not like pyropaloosa so we shall have to refer to it as amateur pyrotechnics on steroids.
Rick
Posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago at 12:20 am. Add a comment
