Newsletter for April, 2016
From Our Minister:
For Such a Time as This: A Sermon on Congregational Conflict
Sunday Sermon delivered on March 20, 2016
BENEDICTION
Traveler, there is no road. We make the road by walking.
— Antonio Machado
A difficult thing happened in the life of our congregation on March 14. That was the day many in our church first read a report prepared by our UUA regional staff. It was a report that described how people in this community feel connected to the church, what they think are the church’s greatest strengths and challenges, and what the church could do in the coming year to move forward.
The difficulty was not receiving a report from your church in your email inbox — and I understand some did not, and still have not, and we will do what we can to make sure you get this information. The difficulty was what the report had to say about our congregation, which was a surprise and a shock to some.
Our UUA staff heard that you are worried about the minister’s role, performance, and match; you are concerned that our congregational system is broken; and you are concerned about the damage and division that this conflict has done within the congregation. Based on what they heard, our UUA staff recommended that the congregation undertake significant and difficult work to acknowledge and repair the damage that has been done, and they recommended I work with the Board of Directors to conclude my ministry here in service of that goal.
Right away I started getting emails and phone calls. No, there is not a UHaul parked outside my driveway. Yes, it’s hurtful to know that our congregation is so divided and polarized, and that I as your minister serve as a lightning rod for so many strong emotions, both positive and negative.
And as I met with you and spoke with you this week I made a promise to myself and to you to work on my own learning and growth in this conflict — on my side of the street as one of you put it — and to the best of my ability to work on it not here, in this pulpit and in worship, but instead to do so in appropriate relationships with my colleagues and other counselors. I also made a promise to myself to recommit to the spiritual practices that ground and center me, that nourish and serve me in difficult times, and to seek out support from my family and friends. I remembered the words of the sage who told us, "When I am not busy I meditate for one hour. And when I am very busy, then I meditate for two hours."
These are difficult times, my spiritual companions. In the wider world every day there are stories of division and factionalization, heartbreaking new outbreaks of the same old racism, xenophobia, violence, and frustration expressed in a new form by the political candidacy of Donald Drumpf. This week I finally looked up what the word “demagogue” means — from its original meaning as speaker for the people, it has become a term only used for speakers who appeal to our worst instincts and most challenging human behaviors.
The demagogue is a leader who destroys the people he says he will serve. I learned this week that Drumpf’s disapproval ratings are “astronomical” with millenials, minorities, and college-educated white women, women like me. I don’t need a report to show up in my inbox to tell me that I am concerned about our country, about the performance, role, and match of our leaders; I am worried that our political system is broken, and I am concerned about the damage and division that has already been done in the name of all that separates us.
I am worried because any leader who asks us, Who’s to blame? is leading in a direction we must not follow. The questions before us as a congregation — and as a country — are not questions of blame or shame, of ourselves or others. They are questions both urgent and timeless, questions like:
Are you hurting? What can we do to stop the hurting?
What will healing require of us? What will it feel like and look like? Who will step forward to do it?
Questions like who is responsible — yes — and what can we learn — yes. Those are helpful questions. Those are skillful questions.
It is time for helpful and skillful and compassionate questions because there is so much at stake for our country. There is so much at stake for our spiritual home, where this morning in this room, in this congregation, we have people age 9 months to 95 years. We have parents and grandparents and great-grandparents and children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We have people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and heterosexual. We have people of color, white people, people in mixed marriages and partnerships, people in interfaith relationships.
We have people who were raised Methodist, Catholic, evangelical Christian, Mormon, Jewish Conservative, Jewish Reform, Presbyterian, UU, secular, atheist and who identify as UU, Hindu, Christian, atheist, agnostic, secular, humanist. We have veterans of the Vietnam War and World War II, we have peace activists, we have veteran peace activists.
We have people who immigrated to this country and people who were born here. We have people who live with disabilities and we have people who are temporarily able-bodied. We have people who speak only English, and we have people who speak many languages.
We have Democrats and Republicans. And I want to say that whenever I say that we have Republicans, I am worried that I will get the knowing look and the snicker. Do you know how unwelcoming that is to bridge-builders, to people who refuse to stay and live divided lives? Please do not laugh. Because they are not “out” does not mean they are not here.
We have people who have spent time in prison, people who are or have spent time being homeless, people who struggle with every aspect of life that is thrown at us, with all that we didn’t choose: betrayal, affairs, addiction, mental illness, cancer, diabetes, chronic pain, job loss, divorce, debt, death and dying. We have the joy of new twins, new life, a new way opening where there was no way. We have that joy, too.
Do you know of another place in your life that could possibly bring all these people together, all these people and all they think and feel and know and learn and grow and dance each week? I do not. And I celebrate it. And I cherish it. And I know the odds are not in our favor for making this experiment in big-tent spiritual pluralism work. The odds are not in our favor for building bridges and not walls. The deck has always been stacked against this kind of diversity.
There is only one reason you join a UU church, writes John Wolf. And that is to support it. Because it will not survive long otherwise. Not long at all.
This week we stand on the edge of one of the most sacred times in the Christian calendar, that of Holy Week. Our Christian cousins are gathering in sanctuaries this morning for the joyful morning of Palm Sunday, although by the end of the week their joy will turn to pain with the betrayal of Jesus by his closest followers and his death on the cross, until that pain turns once more to joy on Easter morning, with the promise of new life told in the story of his resurrection.
In times of adversity and struggle, it is hard to believe that could be where the story is going. To do so might be described as a work of faith, even, a trust in a larger story that is not over yet, a path that is not yet traveled, what the poet [Antonio Machado] called a road we make by walking. A story in which we are transformed and transforming Our Jewish cousins also gather at this time of year to celebrate a festival, Purim, based on a Persian legend that ended up in the Hebrew Bible, which is told in the book of Esther. The book of Esther is one of only two books named for women included in all the books of the Bible, and it is the only book in which the Hebrew God is never named or mentioned. The book of Esther tells the story of a brave queen who saved her people from destruction by speaking the right words at the right time. When the cruel leader Haman sought to destroy her people, Esther’s uncle Mordecai got word to her in the palace. He told her, Esther, for such a time as this you were made queen. For such a time as this you must break your silence and speak a word to the king that will make all the difference.
No pressure, Esther.
And she did. And her people were saved. But you do not have to spend much time in the Hebrew Bible to read about how much destruction accompanied even this salvation, how much was destroyed even as Esther’s people were spared.
Perhaps for such a time as this we gather to speak the words that will make all the difference. For such a time as this we speak the words that break the silence. We speak to acknowledge the pain, and we speak to stop the hurting.
This is the work of a religious community, I think, to call one another back into the promise of living, back into covenant in service of something larger than ourselves and our concerns, the common cause which ommands our loyalty and is worthy of our gifts.
And so I will say again, this conflict is about more than my ministry and whether or not I stay or I go. It is about more than the passion and the energy of the lightning bolts the pulpit will always attract. It is about the kind of church you want to be, the kind of church that is grounded in its mission and common purpose, the kind of church that is worthy of your sacrifice and gifts.
There is only one reason you join a UU church, and that is to support a transformative movement for love and justice, one that asks of us not sainthood or martyrdom, but only — and this is so difficult — a willingness to practice what it means to be human. For such a time as this we ask one another to break silence and speak the words that will make a difference, to put the needs of the Beloved Community above our own needs and wants, and to walk together in compassion, wisdom, and courage, even in in these difficult days.
-- Rev. Rebecca
The audio version of Rev. Rebecca’s sermon is available at http://archive.uusm.org/for-such-a-time-as-this
From Our President:
Create a Container That Honors the Values of the Community
I want to share the process that led us from the Congregational Conversations to the 3/20/16 Town Hall and the steps in between.
The UUA Region’s report on the Congregational Conversations that took place over the weekend of 2/19 leading into Monday 2/22 was received by the Board on March 9. A meeting with Ken Brown, the Board, Committee on Ministry, and executive staff took place on the following Thursday, March 10. Out of that meeting came the decision to share the report in its entirety with the membership. That intent was announced to the congregation on Sunday and a Monday e-blast was planned with direct mailings to members not on email. The report raised serious and substantial issues and carried recommendations that are profound.
The Board had a special meeting on 3/14 to discuss the report, and the consensus was that board members wanted to hear from the congregation first before committing to any steps ahead. That’s why the Board as whole did not make a statement at the Town Hall. Individuals were welcome to take off their Board hat and speak as they wished. Some did.
As many expressed, we need to move slowly and deliberately. I have no doubt that the Board is willing and capable to lead us through the hard new work, slowly and deliberately, and with outside help.
One interpretation and observation in the report suggested that we did ourselves “harm in the way this conflict was not addressed in a more timely fashion when far fewer people needed to be involved.” Of course I ask myself what we could have done to stem this tide. Honestly we tried through communication workshops (Mary Mackenzie’s Non-Violent Communication), an informational workshop on governance, reaching out individually by members and our minister, and working with the Committee on Ministry. Twenty-twenty hindsight might tell us that we could have turned to the UUA Region earlier.
It was moving to hear people’s comments not only on Sunday but in the myriad of emails exchanged before and after the meeting. Where do we go from here? Forward and with healing, I hope, and with help from outside and within. We have a lot of talent and expertise. In my February newsletter article I asked you to help us create a container in which we might find hopefulness by asking how you might contribute to the health and sustainability of our church and take that vision out into the world. That container honors the values of the community over the needs of the individuals. We share a oneness but not a sameness, let us meet around that container.
— Patricia Wright
Featured Articles:
IMPORTANT NOTICE!
You may have received by now the UUA’s Report on our Congregational Conversations held in February. After it was published on March 14, we held a Town Hall with UUA representative Ken Brown at UU Santa Monica on March 20. Response to the report has been overwhelming. Our Board and minister are committed to working with the congregation to determine whether and how to implement the recommendations. You can request a copy of the report from the church office. You can also request a copy of “Responding to the UUA Report,” an open letter to leadership with support and comments from 40+ congregants put together for the Town Hall. To keep abreast of developments, email pathforward@uusm.org
There is a brokenness
out of which comes the unbroken,
a shatteredness
out of which blooms the
unshatterable.
There is a sorrow
beyond all grief which leads to joy
and a fragility
out of whose depths emerges
strength.
— Rashani Réa
“Each of you is perfect the way you are ... and you can use a little improvement.” — Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Help us to be the always hopeful
gardeners of the spirit
Who know that without darkness
nothing comes to birth
As without light
nothing flowers.
— May Sarton
Leadership and our Path Forward
How our Board of Directors figures in implementing UUA Staff recommendations (or not) and how the UUA might be helpful
I sense from the Town Hall meeting on March 20 that an overwhelming majority of people want our congregation to use the concept of right relations to understand hurt and to use our UU principles as the basis to move toward healing.
Our board of directors will lead that process. If we are going to pull together as a congregation, we need leaders on the board who are either already skilled or willing to develop some new skills.
The UUA can help, and we have an election coming up.
UUA.org/leadership states: Leadership development in our congregations should be an extension of faith development. But our congregational leaders need more than technical training; they need a combination of skills, sensibilities, and internal qualities to enable them to be both effective and faithful. This nuanced difference in the meanings of the words “training” or even “development” could be better described as “leadership formation.”
We need to explore the UUA’s 12-Part Foundation of Faithful Leadership Formation program, and our next board needs to adopt that program, which I believe will help us move forward.
It explores SKILL development that can help us:
• to grow leaders with a generosity of spirit and collegiality in identifying, mentoring, training and supporting others;
• to understand dynamics of change, adaptive challenges, and strategies to creatively address conflict;
• to communicate better, understanding different styles of giving and receiving information and how we can communicate across those styles;
• to manage our congregation smoothly, effectively, and with fiscal responsibilities.
It explores SENSIBILITY development that can help us in understanding:
• how changes in society are impacting our church;
• how race and privilege operate in our lives and congregation, and how we can actively dismantle racism;
• how life-stage differences and generational shifts affect our community.
And it encourages each leader to develop INTERNAL QUALITIES that cultivate and improve our full authentic selves, especially in ways that make us better leaders:
• developing and embodying faithfulness to core UU values, theology, history, and traditions;
• sensing clearly the mission of the congregation and keeping the congregation focused on that mission;
• developing personal practice founded in our liberal religious tradition;
• and knowing and taking responsibility for our own functioning in the system and what are own triggers are.
At our annual meeting on Sunday, May 22, we will elect all four officers (President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer) and two at-large board members (six out of nine total members of the board). We have the opportunity to elect board members who are fully willing to commit to leadership formation that will benefit all of us.
The Nominating Committee will present its slate of candidates for election to the Board on Tuesday, April 12. A candidate for the Board must have been a voting member of the congregation for at least twelve months, and must have made a financial contribution of record in that period.
The Board will share this slate with the congregation after April 12. I encourage us to share widely each nominee’s position on their commitment to leadership formation, and their thoughts on how we should move forward with the UUA’s recommendations.
Given our commitment to the democratic process, we have the opportunity to put forth alternative candidates by petition. As voting members of the congregation, we then need to decide whether we want to elect the proposed six members, or whether we want to put forth alternative candidates by petition. The process of petition is that a candidate needs to be supported by ten voting members whose signatures are approved by the Secretary (Leonard Cachola). Petitions need to be submitted to the church office by Monday, May 2.
I believe that our congregation needs people on the Board who will move us forward. This will require not just hard work, but a commitment to personal growth, and a re-committment to the Seven Principles.
Now is the time, if you are willing, to roll up your sleeves and engage in our intentional democratic process. Here are the members of the nominating committee: Gretchen Goetz, chair, Bob Dietz, Wendi Gladstone, Beth Rendeiro, Rick Rhoads, and James Witker.
Let us find the way forward together.
— Beth Brownlie
REPRINTED FROM UUA.ORG/SAFE/CONFLICT
Managing Conflict
I frequently get calls from congregations struggling with conflict. Conflicts can be scary when they threaten to rupture or divide our precious community connections and relationships with one another, and we often seek help to resolve these issues.
Yet I’ve learned that conflicts actually present great opportunities for building community by examining together what we value the most, and clarifying our purpose and mission as a community.
Conflicts arise naturally simply because of the basic fact that we are different from one another! As Unitarian Universalists, we honor and celebrate difference, but often struggle with how to negotiate these differences when it comes to making decisions or taking positions.
Congregational growth, perspectives on ministry, staffing decisions, budgetary issues—all provoke sometimes wildly varying viewpoints among us. It would be strange if we didn’t have conflicts about these very important concerns. In my work with conflict I have found a number of things to be helpful:
• Manage your own anxiety. As scary as conflicts may be to us, if our fears or anxiety overtake us, we will not be effective in helping a congregation manage conflict. It’s not that you shouldn’t allow yourself to feel your emotions, but it is important to find a way to manage them so that there is maximum ability for everyone to feel some openness in expressing their concerns without overwrought feelings shutting things down. Breathe.
• Try to find the learning opportunity in a conflict. What is it that all of us need to learn about what is important to us as a community? Asking the broad and deep questions in an open and deliberate way can get you “unstuck” from haggling over a particular issue.
• Understand that a particular issue is always a part of a larger emotional system operating in a community. Rarely is a conflict only about a particular issue or person, as much as it may seem like that at the time. Find some help in uncovering the deeper concerns at play without scapegoating a particular person or engaging in the fantasy that you can “solve the problem.”
• Build safety into your communal interactions. Create congregational or group covenants in which you can name behaviors that might get in the way of healthy exchanges and deep dialogue. Using techniques such as “listening circles,” appreciative inquiry, and story-telling exercises can actually build community in the midst of conflict.
• Above all, ask for help! Call your District Services office and utilize outside facilitators whenever possible so that you can gain the largest possible perspective on what’s happening. We are happy to help. Find out more about the UUA’s resources on managing conflict in congregations at uua.org/safe/conflict.
— The Rev. Dr. Terasa Cooley, Program and Strategy Officer for the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA)
Quotes about Transformation
Bettye Barclay has provided this list of quotes about our ministerial theme for April. Daily quotes also appear in the weekly electronic announcements.
Week 1. When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness. — Joseph Campbell
Week 2. What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. — Maya Angelou
Week 3. Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place. — Rumi
Week 4. Scared and sacred are spelled with the same letters. Awful proceeds from the same root word as awesome. Terrify and terrific. Every negative experience holds the seed of transformation. — Alan Cohen
Week 5. For the ethical, political activism was seductive because it seemed to offer the possibility that one could improve society, make things better, without going through the personal ordeal of rearranging one’s perceptions and transforming one’s self. — Tom Robbins
News & Announcements:
Dining for Dollars Thanks
D4$ was a great success this year, raising over $30,000 for the church, and we could not have done it without our hosts. Thank you all!
Abby Arnold, Alan Brunell, Alison Kendall, Amy Lacombe, Amy Thiel, Barbara Kernochan, Barbara Powers, Beth Brownlie, Beth Rendeiro, Bettye Barclay, Beverly Alison, Bill Anderson, Bill Blake, Bob Dietz, Bonnie Brae, Bryan Oakes, Carol Ring, Cathie Gentile, Charley Duckman, Christine Suarez, Crystal Alexander, Cynthia Cottam, Daniel Kegel, David Goetz, David Olson, Denny Kernochan, Dereau Farrar & UU Santa Monica Choir, Dorothy Steinicke, Eala Linnemeier, Edward Wright, Ellen Levy, Emily Linnemeier, Farrokh Allen, Faz Elahi, Francois Bar, Garland Allen, Gretchen Goetz, Haygo Salibian, Heather Thomas Brittenham, Helen Brown, Jacki Weber, James Witker, Janet Goodwin, Jeff Pressman, Jennifer Chen, JoAn Peters, John Zinner, Jonathan Bijur, Julie Nyquist, Karen Canady, Karen Patch, Karl Lisovsky, Katie Malich, Kay Ward, Kelly Hatfield, Kenneth Alexander, Kikanza Nuri-Robins, Kim Miller, Kit Shaw, Kitsy Olson, Leon Henderson- Maclennan, Linda Van Lighten, Liz Fuller, Lorenzo Pelayo, Lucy Elahi, Lucy Hahn, Margot Page, Marjorie Anderson, Mark Warkentin, Mike Monte, Natalie Kahn, Nicole Henderson- MacLennan, Nora Hamilton, Patricia Wright, Patrick Meighan, Peggy Kharraz, Peggy Rhoads, Rebecca Crawford, Resa Foreman, Rick Rhoads, Rob Michelson, Roberta Frye, Sheila Cummins, Steven DePaul, Sylvia Young, The Men’s Group, Tom Early, Tom Peters, Vicky Foxworth, Wendi Gladstone
Come to a Green Second Sunday Supper on April 10
Green Living/Green Sanctuary Committee hosts Second Sunday Supper April 10, 2016. Bring healthy side dishes and desserts to share starting at 5:30 pm. Vegetarian and vegan main dishes featuring “beyond organic” produce grown here in LA will be provided by Community Services Unlimited, a South LA non-profit providing youth and community empowerment through urban farm gardening, catering and nutrition education programs. CSU will be present with information on their efforts to renovate their new facility at the Paul Robeson Center at Vermont and Gage and convert the “Veggie Bus” to provide educational workshops and host a seed library. Please bring food to share and learn about the links between Healthy Eating and Economic Justice here in Los Angeles.
— Alison Kendall, Green Committee
Celebration of Spring and Remembrance Poetry Circle
Sunday, April 17, 10 am in the Garden of Eternity
April is National Poetry Month. Join us to greet the arrival of spring in verse, and to honor the life of Jessica Fant-Chapin, who was a UUSM church member and poet. Remembrances of other friends and family members are welcome as well. We will meet in the Garden of Eternity, located outside the church office. Please bring a poem to share. Rima Snyder.
Book and Crafts Sale
...to raise funds for Faith in Action Commission programs first weekend in June. If you have items please contact Diana Spears.
Church Artist’s Wall in June
If you have work please contact Diana Spears.
Conversations About Death Group to Honor Cassandra on April 11
Cassandra Christenson created a group a year ago at church that has given opportunities to learn from compassionate experts about end-of-life issues as well as to explore our feelings. Meeting twice a month, a steady core group, plus lots of drop-ins, has been a special place to ask questions to help cope with death and to prepare for the process of dying. On Monday, April 11, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm in Forbes Hall, you’re invited for a celebration of Cassandra’s inspiring leadership and insights. Then on Monday, April 25, also 7:00 to 8:30, learn more about being an advocate for someone you love: Amy Lacombe will share her family’s experiences during her mother’s hospice care. Joyce Holmen will be facilitating the group that evening and on May 9 and 23. For more information contact Cassandra or Joyce.
Faith in Action News:
UUs Participate in Anti-Klan Demonstration
On Saturday, February 27, four UU Santa Monica congregants, one congregant from First UU Church of LA, and friends drove to Pearson Park in Anaheim to protest a planned rally by the Ku Klux Klan. Earlier in the year the Klan had left flyers in yards and driveways in the area advocating deporting immigrants and establishing white “Christian” rule.
When we arrived at the park at 10am, the KKK was nowhere to be seen, but many anti-Klan community members of all ages, “races,” and ethnicities were gathering. We brought a bullhorn, gave some speeches, led chants, and invited others to speak.
Several people spoke about the need for multi-racial unity against racism. One noted that the ideology of racism was developed and codified in the southern colonies of what is the now the United States to justify the enslavement of Black Africans, and that it continues to be used by capitalists in the USA and in every other country in the world to divide workers and make extra profits off workers of color.
The protestors discussed free speech and violence. Some felt that no matter how odious the Klan’s ideas, they had the right to express them. Others questioned that. One asked, “Does history start when the KKK members arrive at the park? Or by putting on their uniforms, do they embrace a heritage of lynching, burning, and terrorizing people of color, immigrants, and anyone they consider un-Christian?” (This particular group, the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, devotes a portion of its website to attacking another KKK group on the grounds that its leader is secretly a Jew.)
After a couple hours, the KKK still had not arrived. Our group decided to go to a barbeque for a Latino family whose son was killed by police. As we were leaving, we heard sirens and helicopters. One car doubled back to find out what had happened. In those few minutes, the Klan had arrived. Confronted by angry protestors, the KKK members stabbed them with a flagpole and knives. This is the scene that we came back to: protestors bleeding on the ground, other protestors in handcuffs, and the Klan members standing around smoking and chatting with the cops. As one of the Klan members started to walk away from the scene, protestors yelled to not let him get away and we tried to stop him. This resulted in three members of our group being arrested, along with four other anti-Klan protestors. The three were Hugo Contreras of UU Santa Monica, whose shoulder was broken by the police; Mark Liddell of First Church, and Nikki Schop, an LA high school Spanish teacher who is a friend of both. Four Klan members were also arrested; police quickly released them, claiming they had acted in self-defense.
Thanks to all those at UU Santa Monica who contributed funds toward the legal expenses of Hugo, Mark, and Nikki. There has been an outpouring of support from around the country as well. As of this moment, everyone is out of jail. Nikki remains accused of the felony of “elder abuse” and has a hearing scheduled for April 13. After three days in jail, Mark and Hugo were released with no charges filed, but could be re-arrested and charged at any time.
The fascist rhetoric of Donald Drumpf, amplified by the media, has emboldened the Klan and other racists to become more visible. The next day, in fact, a group of racists attacked three Latino teenagers in Stephen Sorenson Park in Lake Los Angeles while yelling, “Heil Hitler!” We cannot let these racists terrorize us. We must speak out and confront racism wherever it rears its ugly head.
— Hugo Contreras and Sarah Harper
Workers Loud and Clear at Shore Hotel
Patrick Tapé (tie), Linda Van Ligten (sunglasses), and Cathie Gentile (visor) were among the UU Santa Monica congregants who joined workers from nearby unionized hotels to picket the Shore Hotel on Ocean Avenue March 10. Several months ago, two UNITE-HERE organizers were arrested at this spot for “talking too loud” on a bullhorn. Charges were subsequently dropped. While the picketers chanted, members of the clergy read aloud — over the bullhorn — a California Supreme Court decision supporting the right of loud “disruptive” speech when important issues are involved, such as justice for workers. — Photo by Rick Rhoads
UUs Join in Solidarity March with the Muslim Community
Hundreds of people marched down Wilshire Boulevard Sunday afternoon March 6 in solidarity with LA’s Muslim community, serving as an antidote to the anti-Islam poison spewing onto digital screens and newspaper pages from the mouths of several presidential candidates. A 25 person contingent from UU Santa Monica participated in the march, which started at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the oldest Jewish congregation in LA, near Western Avenue. The Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur, who had earlier obligations, joined us for the concluding ceremony at the Islamic Center of Southern California, on Vermont Avenue. Congregants from First UU Church of LA, including their minister, The Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels, also participated in the 1.1 mile march.
There were speeches at stops along the march—at St. Basil Roman Catholic Church and Immanuel Presbyterian Church—as well as at the beginning and end. Among the most notable speeches were the following: Rabbi Susan Goldberg, of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, gave the invocation; Kristin Stangas, Communications Director of the Islamic Center, the march MC, led a very clean march and kept everyone entertained and focused.
Salam al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, reminded everyone that conflict hurts the children and no one should promote the killing of children; Maneck Bhujwala spoke for the Zoroastrian community, stressing the flow of ideas between religions and their interconnectedness; and Islamic Center President Omar Ricci gave a final benediction. Mr. al-Marayati also noted that there was no media presence at this solidarity event.
The initiator and primary sponsor of the march, entitled “In the Path of the Prophet Abraham,” was the Institute for Religious Tolerance, Peace and Justice, which called for a show of “solidarity with our Muslim neighbors and colleagues” through “a march to commemorate the travels of our Father Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch credited for the first covenant with God, and the common ancestor of all people of the three great religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.…The twofold theme of this walk will be (1) that we reject all violence in the name of religion; and (2) that we stand with our Muslim brothers and sisters in support of their right to worship freely here in the United States and to live peaceful lives among their neighbors.”
— Sylvia, Steve, and Michael Young
An Immigration Victory for Ghanaian Asylum Seeker!
On March 10, our friend Rashid (see picture) successfully had his asylum case transferred to an immigration court in Colorado. After he was released on bond in California, he moved to Colorado where his sponsor lives. Now he will not have to return to California to attend court hearings.
Ellen DeYoung and I, both members of the Friends of Orange County Detainees, visited Rashid while he was in a detention facility in Orange County. He impressed us with his youthful optimism and pleasant manner—difficult qualities to maintain while in detention for months.
In addition to visiting and writing, Ellen was instrumental in getting Rashid to his sponsor in Colorado, facilitating contact with his attorney there and bringing him to court March 10. We wish him the best outcome and will continue our work to end the isolation of immigrant men, women, and families confined to public and private facilities across the U.S. Join us at the Faith in Action table on Sunday mornings to find out more about this essential justice work.
— Peggy Rhoads
Green Living Committee:
Seeds of Change
Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up
where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed.
Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am
prepared to expect wonders.
— Henry David Thoreau
Join Rev. Rebecca, Green Living Committee leaders, and special guests for Seeds of Change, a five-week
exploration of personal and social transformation through the lens of climate justice. The journey began on March 20, when we marked World Water Day with a beach clean up with Heal the Bay, and concludes with Earth Sunday on April 24.
Come join the UU Santa Monica Green Living Committee and FIA Commission for a special screening of this film April 24, 5:30 pm Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica 1260 18th Street, Santa Monica 90404, in the Sanctuary Discussion immediately following, with special guests.
Green Living Practice Groups:
Wednesdays, March 23 & 30, and April 6 & 13, 8:30 am-9:15 am (Location TBD). We will join in a spiritual practice of learning and sharing our ways to align our daily life more closely with the needs of Mother Earth and all living things, including our future generations. Focus to include Water, Energy, Air, and Resources. This is a series of four meetings. For more information or to RSVP, contact: green@uusm.org or Beth Brownlie,.
Splinters from the Board:
UU Santa Monica Will Align Church Year With School Year
President Patricia Wright called the March meeting to order and shared the announcement that our Music Director, DeReau Farrar, has accepted the position of Acting Director of Music at the First Unitarian Church of Portland, Oregon. He is replacing a Director of Music who has been serving for 33 years. His position will begin with the new church year.
The Board passed the Consent Agenda, because board members had received and read all routine reports before the meeting. Vice President Dan Nannini reported that new accounts are being set up, as required by newly adopted resolutions by the Committee on Money. Treasurer Kim Miller reported that the Finance Committee is using a collaborative process to develop the budget for the coming year. This process will include a Town Hall for congregational input. The Board affirmed the appointment of the following people to the Investment Committee: James Duckman, Joe Engleman, Steven DePaul, Jeffrey Ellis. The Board affirmed the appointment of Clayton Fossett to the Finance Committee, effective June 1, 2016.
The Board agreed to continue to discuss plans for a Leadership Development process at future meetings.
The Board passed a policy for Church Office use. The church office, phones, computer, and copier are for church staff and members for church-related work only. Members who wish to use the office space and equipment for personal work may do so for one hour at a time Monday through Wednesday, but church-related work always takes precedence. A sign-up sheet will be available in the church office. Members may not use church facilities or equipment for personal gain.
The Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur and RE Director Catherine Farmer Loya reported that they have worked out a plan to realign the church calendar to create a smoother start to the year in September. The year will be aligned with the SMMUSD school calendar year. We will move to two services at the end of August. The first Sunday in
June will close the church year.
The Board will be meeting in executive session to discuss the report on the Congregational Conversations.
— Cynthia Cottam
RE News:
FROM OUR DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Change Brings Opportunity for Growth and Rebirth
Our congregational ministry theme for April is Transformation, and it seems particularly apt at this moment in the life of our beloved community. Whatever happens in the coming months, we know that change is coming. And we know, too, that change is never easy, even when we choose it and especially when it comes seemingly without warning. This is true whether the change is a good one or is, as happens more often, a more complex mix of positive and painful, hopeful and bruising. Sometimes, I know, the ground feels shaky. Sometimes moments come in each of our lives when we fear we’re not up to the challenges that face us.
But it also requires no great leap, I’m sure, for us to recognize that with change also comes great opportunity for growth and rebirth. It feels entirely appropriate to me that we find ourselves at this crossroads in our journey as a community in the springtime, just as we are observing Easter, Passover, and the greening of the earth. In March, on Easter Sunday, children and youth in our Religious Exploration program celebrated the spring holidays in the cottage, mindful that this place where we have gathered is a place that others once called home, its very walls built upon the bones of its former life. So too our sanctuary has sheltered many generations of seekers, and will be here for many generations to come.
But our church is not just a building; it is a place made sacred by the gifts of love and service that its many members bring to it. Whatever comes, may we choose to face the future with a renewed commitment to creating sacred community within and beyond our walls, and the conviction that the way we choose to treat one another is a reflection of the values we hold most dear. Let us walk together with faith in our ability to choose love, especially when the way is not easy or clear. The future is open, friends, and transformation comes only when we are willing to make ourselves vulnerable to change and growth. Love will guide us.
— Catherine Farmer Loya
FROM THE ADULT RE SUBCOMMITTEE
Spring 2016 Groups Groups Continuing in April
Book Study Group: Naomi Klein’s “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate”
Along with being the hottest year on record, 2015 brought us further evidence of sea-level rise, ocean acidification, drought and extreme weather, as well as more dire predictions from the world’s scientists about the threat to human civilization from runaway global warming. Nevertheless, the year ended with a relative bright spot -- at the COP21 talks in Paris, world leaders committed to meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But can these emissions targets truly be met under the current global economic system?
In her momentous and contentious 2014 book, Naomi Klein, author of “No Logo” and “The Shock Doctrine,” takes on what she calls “the fiction of perpetual growth on a finite planet.” She writes: “There is still time to avoid catastrophic warming, but not within the rules of capitalism as they are currently constructed... Any attempt to rise to the climate challenge will be fruitless unless it is understood as part of a much broader battle of worldviews. Our economic system and our planetary system are now at war.”
As we begin Climate Justice Month (designated by the UUA’s Commit2Respond.org as the period from World Water Day on March 22 to Earth Day on April 22nd), join Adult RE and Faith in Action for an in-depth discussion of the issues Klein raises in her wideranging and engaging work. Is the drive for profit incompatible with sustainability? Can capitalism function without the ready availability of cheap, carbon-based fuels? Or can neoliberalism — the doctrine of hyper-gowth and free-market fundamentalism — be curbed in favor of a regulated capitalism that accounts for social and environmental costs? What would a world truly shaped by our shared Unitarian Universalist values look like, in which human rights, environmental stewardship, and freedom of conscience are all upheld? And what can we as individuals and as a congregation do to fight climate change before it’s too late?
We will meet for four sessions starting Thursday, March 31 and continue on Thursdays 7-9 pm, room TBD. Signup and purchase copies of the book at the RE table in Forbes Hall. Facilitators are Rick Rhoads and James Witker, both at fia2@uusm.org. For more information about this group, contact James Witker.
Thursday Night Centering Meditation
Participants can choose:
• First and third Thursday: February 4, 18, March 3, 17, April 7, 21, 7:00 to 8:30pm, in Cottage SE, or
• Second and fourth Thursday: February 11, 25, March 10, 24, 31, April 14, 28, 7:00 to 8:30pm, in Cottage SE
We will do Centering Meditation where you choose a word to say silently to yourself as you enter the silence. You can choose a word such as peace, love, joy, etc. There will be a brief time of comments, sharing and questions. We will end the evening with a guided Mindfulness meditation. Facilitator: Bettye Barclay.
Groups Starting in May
Literary Heads up for Common Read Discussion Group:
Bryan Stevenson’s “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption” (2014, Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of Random House) is this year’s UUA Common Read. Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, has dedicated his legal career to defending those who are trapped by an often capricious, political, and willfully unjust criminal justice system — poor people, people of color, children, and others over whom the system has run roughshod. It speaks to justice, mercy, and compassion, themes of concern to us as Unitarian Universalists and as human beings.
You can purchase your book online at www.uuabookstore.org We will also have copies available at the LRE Adult Table. A free online study guide is also available at the above website.
Times and dates TBD.
GREEN EGGS AND HARRY? Join us for a Magical Summer in UU Santa Monica RE
This month we’ll be wrapping up our 2015-16 RE program year in all of our classes and preparing for a fabulous summer program launching in June. We are excited to announce what we’ll be offering this year: the preschool class will be reprising the very popular Summer of Seuss program last offered in 2014. And for elementary and up, we’re transforming our campus into the Hogwarts Academy for Young UUs, replete with wands, potions, professors, owls and four Houses that celebrate Peace, Love, Hope and Justice.
We will be recruiting church members to sign up to lead or assist for one Sunday during the summer, so start thinking about your schedule now — perhaps you can offer a “Transfiguration” workshop with origami, or a “Defense Against the Dark Arts” session on lovingkindness meditation. The possibilities are endless — join us for a magical summer in UU Santa Monica RE!