Tonight at UUCE:

From the Three Cranes Grove, ADF web site:

Three Cranes Grove, ADF, would like to invite you to celebrate the Feast of Yule with us on December 16, 2007, at the UUCE. (Directions follow below.)

There will be a social hour at 4 PM, followed by a ritual at 5 PM.

The event is free and open to the public. The rite will be held at the UUCE on the east side of Columbus. It will be indoors.

As we approach the gift-giving holidays, too, we would like to request that attendees bring a toy for donation. We will collect these toys through Yule this year and donate them locally.

We hope to see you there for this public ritual! Please contact us if you have questions.

Three Cranes Grove, ADF has a good web site that you can visit to learn more about what the Grove is about.

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Speaking today: Sue Crowley

Prelude: “Los Peces en el Rio“, Christmas Live, Mannheim Steamroller.

Bell Tone / Chalice Lighting

Opening Words p. 615 / Welcome

Song, “Christmas Canon” Christmas Attic, By Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Announcements

Joys, Concerns, Birthdays

Offeratory, “Adoramus, Te Christ,” From Celebrate the Seasons.

Singing, I Heard the Bells, p. 240

Responsive Reading: #616

Topic: An Important Message From Thich Nhat Hanh

Speaker: Sue Crowley

Comments / Discussion

Reading of the Covenant

Postlude: “Carol of the Bells” Celebrate the Seasons

*** Marco Valdez assisted Today

Social Time, following the service.

Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the best known and most respected Zen master in the world today. He is a poet, peace and human rights activist.

In 1966 Thay (meaning teacher as he prefers to be called) made the case for peace to federal and Pentagon officials. He persuaded Martin Luther King, Jr. to oppose the Vietnam War publicly and so helped to galvanize the peace movement.

In 1982 he founded Plum Village, a Buddhist community in exile in France where he continues to alleviate suffering of refugees, boat people, political prisoners and the hungry. He has written Cultivating the Mind of Love, Peace in Every Step, Being Peace, Living Buddha Living Christ, The Miracle of Mindfulness and many others.

Thich Nhat Hanh’s key teaching is that through mindfulness, we can learn to live in the present moment instead of the past and in the future.

Dwelling in the present moment is, according to Nhat Hanh, the only way to truly develop peace, both in one’ss self and in the world.

We affirm and promote: the goal of the world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.

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Chime: Call to Stillness

Prelude: The Valley, by Jane Siberry, sung by K.D. Lang.

Lighting the Chalice in Silence
Our Covenant, from one voice
Welcoming Message, from one voice
Our Mission Statement, from one voice

Reading: Winter’s Harvest by Jane Elsdon

Today’s Service, Still - All that is Worthy of Celebration presented by Jennifer Bosveld, poet and founder of the UU Poets Cooperative, president of Pudding House Publications.

including:

Look at All You Can Trust, by Phyllis Stowel
To Choose, by Jennifer Bosveld
Your Participation, on Stillness
Testimony, by Rebecca Baggett

Closing Music Holy Now, by Peter Mayer, UU minister

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This web site is considered a “work-in-progress”. Code is being updated and the development process will most likely be improved to reduce the problems site visitors experience.

Features still on the list:

• A contact form where web visitors can send messages to the church using the web site.
• Individual user accounts for church members.
• A hard-copy printout of instructions (with screenshots) provided to the board and members who would like to post content to the church blog.
• Photo album.

Marco

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Speaker: Roger Markum.

There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations afform and promote:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations and in society at large;

The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;

Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

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Speaker today is Dr. Gordon Bixel. “The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg”

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Our potluck movies nights are welcome to all. If you are a visitor and wishing to attend a movie potluck night then please call Betty A. at 231-4840.

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On Tuesday evening November 13^th Paul Matherny, co-chair, of Citizens Intent on Reform of Corporate Accountability, led a discussion at UUCE about the pervasive influence of corporations on our government. Along with UUCE members there were some people who attended having seen the flyer.

Paul told us about his history as an activist. He has done peer to peer campaigning against the 2004 Issue 1 defining marriage only between a man and a woman. Paul successfully fought for a local issue to control noise and pollution from railroad trains in his neighborhood. And recently Paul experienced the protester “cage” and arrest as a peace protester.

Questions and comments were elicited and there was a vigorous exchange. Jim Crowley shared a great metaphor that the government was operating like a bribed referee between business interests and the citizens interests. The failure of corporate media to report diverse news and to operate more like one homogeneous echo chamber was agreed upon as a fundamental problem. The growing disparity of income between the few wealthy and the many struggling was pointed out by Sue Crowley as the origin of most current conflicts. Stan Bradley shared his local activism in calling attention to negligent voter disenfranchisement in the Nov. 6^th election in Fairfield Co.

Paul suggested that the benefit of becoming informed about national and international situations was to understand the context of local issues. And with this knowledge design citizen actions to shape a just and sustainable community. Paul has offered to share his library of documentary DVDs with the UUCE fellowship. He suggested that we consider having a follow-up group perhaps on a monthly basis where we “think globally and act locally.”

Submitted by Becca Calhoun, UUCE President

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THE FIVE REPORTS
from the growth conference.

Betty Aiken
Stan Bradley
Becka Calhoun
Sue Crowley
James Crowley

Board Meeting

“The commitment we make to one another, the promises we make to one another as a congregation, as an association, are what creates church community.” The Reverend Rebecca Parker

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