Worship Is the Way Our Concepts Become Real

With the inauguration of the new Worship Associates program, the Rev. Greg Ward is creating an infrastructure for Sunday worship services based on an understanding of worship as transformative, comforting, and inspirational. A 10-member Worship Associates team is responsible for working with Rev. Greg to design and present Sunday worship each week, working with the minister and Director of Music Dr. Zanaida Robles to offer a sacred and transformative experience.

“The Worship Associates program is a leadership development program,” says Rev. Greg, who has established similar programs in other Unitarian Universalist churches. “The goal of the program is that participants gain grounding and clarity about who they are in relation to other people, how to create a sacred opportunity and invite others to share it, and how to transform the world around us.”

The initial group of worship associates is divided into three classes. Cassie Winters, Catie Grasso, and Dorothy Steinicke will serve for three years. Leon Henderson-MacLennan, James Witker, and Rima Snyder hold two-year terms. Margot Page, Jacki Weber, and Abby Arnold will serve for one year; and, together with ongoing team member the Rev. Kikanza Nuri-Robins, comprise the executive committee.

Three new worship associates will be added to the group each year, as three people in the previous group cycle off the team. The current team was selected from those who expressed interest by filling out an application in November. At an all-day retreat in December, the team learned about the goals and structure of worship, and began to map out Sunday worship services for 2018.

The new worship associates were introduced at the January 7 service, where the program was described, and their covenant was read and affirmed by the congregation. “More than a committee, Worship Associates is a leadership development program where we are learning how to facilitate transformation with worship as the tool,” explained Jacki Weber. “We’re learning hard skills: how worship can be used as a tool for transformation, what makes for effective worship, how to use technology, what it looks like to work with music and the board and the minister and different church programs and committees, etc.

“But we are also developing soft skills, like how to work together in service of a higher purpose in a way that is healing: for ourselves, within our congregation, and beyond our walls. With better communication, facilitation, organizational and technical skills, we become more capable in helping to develop leaders throughout our UUSM community so that UUSM is more vital and can be more effective in its work for love and justice in the world.”

Abby Arnold described the intentional diversity of UUSM’s worship program this way: “People come to church to find comfort and belonging with each other, along with their own highest truth. Our Sunday worship connects people to our faith as it reflects their life experience, their beliefs, and their questions. The conscious diversity we practice reinforces our UU principles of the inherent worth and dignity of each person, acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth, and a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. We want each of you to find yourself reflected in the faces, words, stories, and spirit of our Worship Associates, while opening your heart and your mind to perspectives that are different or expanded from your own. At its best, worship helps us to honor and accept one another in the full flower of our differences, and in our common humanity.”

– Abby Arnold

Covenant of the UUSM Worship Associates

As a worship associate, I promise to —

• Love each person present and the congregation as a whole;
• Put away any axes I may have to grind – worship is not a place to bring my personal agendas;
• Always endeavor to operate from Love, and to move beyond my own ego;
• Approach my role with humility, as a curious learner;
• Acknowledge any mistakes I may make, learn, forgive and move on;
• Listen to understand and accept the diverse array of perspectives and preferences;
• Speak only what is true, only when it is needed, and only in a way it can be understood;
• Endeavor to look through an anti-racial, anti-oppression, multicultural lens; and
• Accept that my role is to encourage the congregation’s understanding and wisdom, and that their role is to encourage mine. 

Appreciation to the Cast and Crew who brought you FIVE Christmas Eve Services

• Wendi Gladstone, the rock star, who came at 10 am and didn’t leave until after 10 pm. Wendy helped by setting up the tables, serving drinks, refilling cookie plates, serving wine, and cleaning up.

• Kit Shaw, who brought cookies, ushered at the 4 pm service, and then helped with the reception.

• Jimmie Hogue, our thanks to you for serving after the 4 pm service, and providing childcare during the 6 and 8 pm services.

• Alice Hall, for serving after the 6 pm service.

• Barbara Gibbs, for serving after the 8 pm service, and cleaning up until after 10 pm.

• Carol Ring, for taking pictures, helping at the reception, and cleaning up until after 10 pm.

• Our gratitude for the abundance of cookies from Lois Hutchinson, Peggy Kharraz, Kim and Barbara Andres (even though they couldn’t attend due to illness), Barbara Gibbs, Linda Marten, Fabiola Quintero-Rivera, and others.

• Thanks to Kim Miller for sending sandwiches (delivered by husband Mike Reivitis) for the choir, staff and volunteers, who had a full church day.

• We also appreciate the extraordinary efforts of our staff, the Rev. Greg Ward, Kathleen Hogue, Dr. Zanaida Robles (and the choir), and Tom Ahern (the last one to leave the building!).

– Linda van Ligten

Knowing and Practicing our Covenant of Right Relations

Now that the UUSM Board has approved, and recommended that the congregation adopt, the Covenant of Right Relations, your Right Relations Task Force is excited to report that church members will have the opportunity to put ideas into action. Over the course of the next few months, we will offer educational sessions for you to familiarize yourselves with, and practice using, the Covenant with each other.

At a future congregational meeting, church members will vote to adopt the Covenant of Right Relations. The Right Relations Task Force hopes you will enthusiastically adopt this Covenant. In the meantime, the Task Force and Team will facilitate Dialogue Circles during which members will work through the Covenant and understand what it means in practice. Participants will listen to each other and respond by sharing thoughts about which commitments are most useful to the congregation and which may be the hardest to live into.

We will also provide a skills workshop on the second and third sections of the Covenant: “We commit to practice direct and honest communication,” and, “We commit to address the harmful impact of our words or deeds.” We will consider the following questions: What do active listening skills look and sound like in practice? How do we share our concerns in ways that others can hear and understand them? How do we employ empathy and refrain from defensive reaction to disagreement? We hope these experiences will allow us to develop a shared understanding of the Covenant of Right Relations and how it will benefit our congregation.

The Covenant of Right Relations is a tool for the congregation to build strong, lasting relationships with one another. It can be used as an example for covenants in other church groups. Has your committee developed a covenant for how you want to interact through the work you do together? The Right Relations Task Force uses an internal covenant to guide us and keep us accountable to each other with promises such as: “We will take risks, make mistakes, and learn from our experience. We will raise issues early and directly and communicate compassionately with one another. We will ask for and extend forgiveness when necessary.” These commitments help us to be effective in our work by supporting our building healthy and deep relationships with one another. We use them as the basis for process ob servations to help us work in an authentic and loving manner toward the group’s ideals for engaging in relationship with each other. If any committee would like to have Right Relations Task Force members help in the development of a Covenant, please let us know in person or by email: rightrelations@uusm.org.

We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events. Please check the weekly Announcements and Orders of Service to find out more information about these opportunities and when they will be taking place. And stop by the Right Relations table in Forbes Hall after Sunday Services and on Showcase Sunday to find out more about the Covenant of Right Relations and other Right Relations Task Force work.

Right Relations Task Force: Vilma Ortiz and Sue Stoyanoff (co-chairs), Emily Linnemeier, Audrey Lyness, Linda Marten, Beth Rendeiro, Cassandra Winters, and James Witker

Right Relations Team: Liza Cranis, Vicky Foxworth, Cindy Kelly, Margot Page, Kim Kalmanson, Nalani Santiago-Kalmanson, Rima Snyder, Joe Straw, Linda van Ligten, Patricia Wright, Steve Young, and Sylvia Young

– Emily Linnemeier 

Read what your fellow members are saying about which part of the church covenant that we recite together every Sunday is most meaningful to them. If you would like to share your thoughts, please contact Audrey Lyness. In this issue, we discuss:

Love is the doctrine of this church

“This statement is definitive of, and synthesizes, everything that we are!” – Leslie Beauvais

“I like our first covenant because I think what we do for each other, and how we treat each other, is much more important than any intellectual belief that we may have.” – Tom Ahern

“‘Love is the doctrine’ is so important, but I am not sure we are living it. I don’t always feel accepted for my beliefs.” – Anonymous

“I used to recite the covenant without thinking, but once we started talking about covenanting with each other, I paid closer attention to it. ‘Love is the doctrine’ means everything to me, because I don’t really believe in anything other than love.” – Anonymous

“I like the first three lines of the covenant because they are concrete – I use them all the time to explain to others that we are a serious faith that means something. They are a good substitute for a creed and say what our church stands for.” – Abby Arnold

“‘Love is the doctrine’ sums it up because if you deal with love as unconditional, accepting and giving, with trust and honesty, this covers ‘truth’ and ‘service’ and all the other elements.” – Ed Brand

“I like ‘love is the doctrine’ because, really, love is all you need! We have very high expectations and it is good to be aspirational.” – Anonymous

– Audrey Lyness

2018 Dining for Dollars Events and Bidding Info

It's Dining for Dollars bidding time! 

The fine print: This is a preliminary list only. Please check final dates and descriptions for events as printed on the bid sheets in Forbes Hall February 18 and 25 after both services. Bidding will close at 1:00 P.M. on Sunday February 25. Children pay at adult rates except where noted. Child’s name is to be placed on separate line on bid sheet. Money donated (paid) for winning bids is non-refundable. No email or mailed-in bids will be accepted. Questions may be directed to D4$ Chair, Farrokh Allen.

SPECIAL GOODS AND SERVICES
Helen Brown - One pair of hand knit socks
Kikanza Nuri-Robins - Personal Counseling -- Value $500
Chris Jones - $50 gift certificate: Back on the Beach restaurant
Karen Patch - Knitted item of your choice.
Greg Ward - Sermon topic of your choice