Newsletter for July, 2020
From Our Minister:
From our Minister: Summer Break
STUDY, REST, PLAY, AND PREPARE
Dear Ones,
I hope this finds you enjoying this beautiful summer day! I write this on my last day in the office before summer break. Like many of you, my plans for the summer have been upended by the pandemic and I’ve had to find new ways to rejuvenate and restore that are low-risk. It is my hope to drive to San Francisco to visit with old friends and also to find some much needed time in nature—I think a few days at the beach and a rafting trip may be in order, insha’allah! I also have a pile of books next to me waiting to be read—everything from a two volume set on the history of Unitarian Universalism, to classics by Howard Thurman, and multiple books of poetry ranging from our own Theresa Soto to new translations of Kabir Das. I am excited to have some time away to study, rest, play, and prepare for the new church year.
While I am away this summer, I hope we can encourage resiliency, sustainability, and regenerativity throughout the life of our congregation. Many of our leaders and staff are beyond tired after months of having to respond to the pandemic. Our leaders and staff had to give of themselves like never before so please take a moment to thank them for all they do this summer. I am sure they will consider it a blessing if you give them a break to center and restore too. May this be a summer of expressing our gratitude and creating spaciousness in our lives and for each other.
Our community is led by our outstanding Board of Directors, talented professional staff, and many networks of vital congregational leaders. I will not be able to respond to emails, calls, or messages while I am away but there are others who will be available to help. Please refer to the following directory if you have any questions, concerns, or need assistance:
Worship Life – Kikanza Nuri-Robins & Dorothy Steinicke, Worship Associate Co-Chairs
Pastoral Care – Bettye Barclay & Linda Van Ligten (pastoralcare@uusm.org), Pastoral Care Executive Team
Religious Exploration – Cleo Anderson, Director of Religious Exploration
Administration – Nurit Gordon, Church Administrator
Governance – Beth Brownlie, President of the Congregation
If you contact the church office at office@uusm.org or (310) 829-5436, staff will be able to help you and/or direct you to the appropriate parties.
Wishing you and yours a happy and rejuvenating summertime!
With love,
Jeremiah
Rev. Jeremiah Lal Shahbaz Kalendae
Rev. Jeremiah Lal Shahbaz Kalendae
Developmental Minister
Featured Articles:
It Takes a Village to Produce an Online Service
HOW OUR SUNDAY SERVICES HAPPEN
by Pam Teplitz
When COVID-19 shut down our face-to-face church services and meetings in mid-March, a diverse team began building on skills learned in previous lives to create the high-quality productions streamed live on Facebook on Sunday mornings. The Rev. Jeremiah has observed that “we are learning to be videographers, editors, lighting and sound designers, producers, tech gurus, and intellectual property law experts all at once!”
(The intellectual property law reference concerned a traumatic event on Easter Sunday when our Facebook livestream was shut down by a copyright claim. The music clip targeted in the complaint was written and performed by our music director, Saunder Choi, using copyright-free background images, and did not violate any copyrights. The complaint had been lodged by an international music rights company using automatic scanning software looking for potential content infringement and has been fully withdrawn.)
Each Sunday’s production begins weeks in advance with the Worship Associates and Rev. Jeremiah meeting to develop a concept and plan for the service (see the Join Our Worship Team article for an overview of their process). The needs for specific service elements emerge from these meetings. Current events change the process week-to-week, but typically, Saunder meets with the choir section leaders and pianist Ryan Humphrey on Sundays after the service to discuss the music to be recorded and produced for the following and future weeks.
Saunder also meets with Rev. Jeremiah every Tuesday (they met on Thursdays before the church’s closure; the video production schedule requires more production time for everyone at the end of the week). According to Rev. Jeremiah, he and Saunder collaborate on the upcoming and future services, exploring options for the music to enhance “the overall concept, message, and flow/progression of the service.”
While this video does not fully reflect Saunder’s process because he uses much more advanced audio and video editing software, it helps to explain some of the steps he takes to produce the music sections. After the meeting with music staff, he decides on specific deadlines for when each deliverable is supposed to be done, including guide tracks, click tracks, and vocal stems from each of the singers.
Using a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) to compile all the material once it’s been uploaded to Dropbox by the musicians, he begins mixing the tracks. “Once a rough mix is achieved, I send it back to the singers so they have something to sing to while they record their individual videos. The videos and audio then get compiled into the final product that you see every Sunday!”
UUSM is extremely lucky that Saunder received a BA in Communications before moving from Manila to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music, where he also had a side gig as a video production assistant. Read more about our extremely talented music director at www.SaunderChoi.com.
By Thursday evening, all other recordings from the Worship Associate for the week, Director of Religious Exploration Cleo Anderson, and Rev. Jeremiah or whomever is preaching that Sunday, and new lyric and title slides prepared by Pam Teplitz, have been uploaded to Dropbox and Google Drive accounts so that Saunder can work his magic on Friday. Saunder’s production process takes nearly 20 hours each week.
Downloading and uploading the digital video to the Facebook streaming service we use and to youtube.com, and preparing it to go live on Sunday morning is accomplished by our webmaster, Elizabeth Fuller. On Saturday, she takes Saunder’s completed video from Dropbox, and uploads and schedules it for Facebook and YouTube. This “can take anywhere from an hour to three hours or more before a video is ready to view there, depending on the speed of our internet connection and the speed of the various sites involved, on any given day,” she explains. “So it’s worth doing at least 12 hours in advance of the service time, if not more, just to make sure there’s enough time to fix things if there’s any sort of glitch or problem, like when it turned out one of Saunder’s files was corrupted and he had to re-upload it to Dropbox before I could do anything with it. Best to discover such things as far in advance as possible.”
Liz also posts the Facebook Livestream on our website and Pam adds it to the news.uusm.org newsletter site. Afterwards, the YouTube version is archived on both sites. Liz also isolates the music sections and posts them as individual music videos on our YouTube channel.
Throughout the livestream, Liz, the Worship Associates, Rev. Jeremiah, Eileen McCormack, Lois Hutchinson, Pam, and many others help others on Facebook find the livestream, answer technical questions, moderate comments, and direct people to the YouTube version if they’re having trouble with the Facebook stream. For about a half hour afterwards, the same group helps people find the coffee hour on the private UUSantaMonica Group page and answer questions and posts.
For Liz, “the whole process brings back a LOT of memories of when I worked in a TV control room, right after college. It’s very much about being in the moment and being very aware of a lot of things happening at once. And even on the best of days, something always goes wrong. But if you give yourself enough time to deal with unexpected technical issues, you can usually solve them before they become obvious to viewers.”
Rev. Jeremiah concludes, “I develop the spiritual concept of each worship service and then our various leaders and professional staff bring their gifts to help bring the concept to life. It is a very organic process and I appreciate the dynamism that is the result of the convergence of so much talent and creativity. I do not try to dictate the process but rather I try to hold the space for everyone’s creativity to unfold. This brings a certain freshness to the services and I am always delighted to experience what’s been created come Sunday morning.”
Following are personal reflections on the process by our worship leaders.
Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae:
Worship takes more time than it did before we went online. Typically, I would have to invest significant time reading, researching, contemplating, and writing, and then I would present the result from that spiritual process on Sunday mornings. Now we have had to include additional time in the week to setup the staging for the video production (i.e., rearranging furniture, adjusting the lighting, doing sound checks, ensuring no background noises, putting my kitten in the other room, etc.) and then have to record multiple times to get as few mistakes as possible in the final videos. I realized they’re not going to be perfect and accepted that at the onset and I think people appreciate it. It makes it more real even if creating worship now includes incorporating multiple processes and technologies from Hollywood. So much has been added to my weekly routine in terms of now having to “produce” worship outside of Sunday morning. Once each team produces their videos, they then go through the final editing process and are uploaded for the service.
Thankfully, I spent some time in the theater growing up and in college, so those experiences helped me think through some of the technical aspects of creating worship online like lighting and sound and the setting. We also have some collegial groups that have been sharing best practices, but most are learning on the fly and we’ve been experimenting as we go. Most of these new technologies and formats aren’t things you study in theological school or practice in the field. Ministers, however, are usually highly educated and experienced when it comes to having to adapt to new realities and integrating new information. So there’s been a lot of new research, study, and experimentation that have been brought into the production process.
Preaching to a camera is very different from offering a sermon in the context of a worship service. I always imagine the sermon arising within the atmosphere of worship. There is something sacred about community gathering together, the singing of hymns, hearing the beautiful voices of the members of our choir, listening to the inspiring words of our Worship Associates, reciting the words of our covenant, and so many other elements of our liturgy before beginning to preach. I miss all of that happening in our sanctuary, but we are recreating some of that experience with our Sunday morning services. Knowing that what we are doing is protecting the vulnerable and demonstrating love in a very real way makes it all worthwhile.
I do think about everyone who is gathering for worship and also that our worship is much more public than it was before, so it is reaching more people and diverse audiences in the world. I always pray that I be given the wisdom and the love and the words that will be most helpful to the people I serve in ministry.
I have tried to create specifically pastoral services since the beginning of the pandemic. We’ve had to balance acknowledging the grim realities of the pandemic and the stress people have been under and the anxieties they’ve been experiencing while also putting some boundaries around those realities and not allowing them to become all-consuming. Worship is also a process of religious education and exploration, so I didn’t want to lose those dimensions either as this crisis was unfolding. It did mean I shortened my messages and tried not to go too deep or get too complex with the theologies and philosophies of the messages because so many were already at or beyond their bandwidths given everything else they we dealing with in life. I felt it was important that worship provide comfort and inspiration in these very challenging times. Now that we’ve reach a new normal and we’ve learned how to be effective with our production processes, I am beginning to bring a new spiritual depth to the worship services.
Rev. Kikanza Nuri-RobinRev. Kikanza Nuri-Robins, Worship Associate Chairperson:
I call UUSM my home and I serve in a number of churches in Greater Los Angeles. In that capacity I have been able to see a number of approaches to online worship. While I am very comfortable in the pulpit and love worship planning, going online provided me with several unwanted learning experiences.
I have had to learn to make a movie, save the movie and send it. I have had to learn to communicate across several platforms — Zoom, Teams, GoToMeeting, and Facebook. The greatest challenge for me has been translating my charm and humor into something that works on these platforms. As a speaker I rely on the energy in the room — with these virtual pulpits the only energy in the room is mine. So I have had to use more of my rational brain and to rely more on Grace.
The greatest advantage for me is a large monitor that is on my desk. I am able to sit comfortably, scroll imperceptibly through my text, and create what l hope looks like eye contact. I have had to make my hand gestures smaller, and rather than pretending I am talking to a room full of people, I talk to the one person who is on the other side of the camera — you.
I think it is working. Each week I am a little more comfortable and tremendously grateful for all of the people who work backstage to make the online worship services possible. Our service is less interactive than perhaps a Zoom service, but our production values are the highest I have seen.
Moreover, one of the great advantages of these virtual services is that they are recorded and can be played over and over. People who are not in the area can participate in the service. So my friends from Palos Verdes and Long Beach can join us in worship. And our friends in Oregon and New York can join us. And the friends of our friends, people who might have considered joining us but haven’t until now, are right there on Sunday morning.
The other great advantage of our online worship is that we, who produce the services, are developing skills, and acquiring equipment, that also will enhance the production values of our services when we are once again, altogether, in the same room.
Pastoral Care in Our Congregation
Pastoral care is provided to members of the congregation by networks of pastoral support and care under the supervision of the minister. In a congregation of nearly three hundred members, the minister helps the congregation to take ownership for providing support to our members. You can email pastoralcare@uusm.org if you would like to access support available through Pastoral Care. Your confidential request goes to our Executive Team who then decides how best to respond to the request. You can also send Joys, Milestones, and Sorrows to this email address to be shared in our weekly announcements and/or from the pulpit on Sunday Mornings.
Pastoral Care Executive Team (Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae, Minister)
The Executive Team coordinates caring across the multiple pastoral care programs and groups of the congregation. It consists of the minister, chair(s) of the Pastoral Associates Program, chair(s) of the Care Ring, and leadership from any Task Forces created to meet specific needs, such as during the pandemic.
Pastoral Associates Program (Bettye Barclay, Chair)
The Pastoral Care Associates meet many of the pastoral needs of our members. They can provide a non-judgmental and loving presence to those going through major life transitions or who are in need of spiritual companionship. They usually meet from three to six times with a person to offer caring listening as the person adjusts to the changes in their life. Confidentiality is important in their contacts with people in order to provide a safe place for sharing.
Care Ring Group (Linda van Ligten, Chair)
Care Ring maintains awareness of people in our congregation by monitoring isolated, elderly, fragile, and at-risk members. This awareness allows them to offer, as needed, caring support through cards, emails, phone calls, and visits. Confidentiality is important in their contacts with people in order to provide a safe place for sharing.
Pastoral Care Task Force and Chalice Companions (Kikanza Nuri-Robins, Chair)
The Pastoral Care Task Force is weaving threads of community by staying in contact with isolated, elderly, fragile, and at-risk members of the congregation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The members of the task force coordinate phone calls to assure that someone regularly checks in with our elder and most at-risk members. This temporary committee consists of members of the two Pastoral Care committees as well as others, Chalice Companions, from our congregation. The Task Force will meet biweekly until September 2020.
Join our Worship Team
WORSHIP GIVES WORTH TO OUR SPIRIT
Sunday worship is the heart of how we come together as a faith community. Worship at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica is led by a diverse team of clergy, professionals, and volunteers. If you have imagined yourself in the pulpit as a Worship Associate, now is the time to apply.
The purpose of worship is to connect with a sense of transcendence and transformation. The root of the word “worship” is to give worth, and worship gives worth to our spirit, and offers an opportunity reflect on our purpose and the meaning of our lives. By coming together, we build community, center ourselves, and nourish our spirits.
Worship Associates work as a group and individually to help plan and present Sunday worship each week. Each Worship Associate signs on for a one- to three-year term during which we learn the elements of worship and add our voice to our congregational service each Sunday. The committee meets each month with Rev. Jeremiah and plans services well in advance using monthly liturgical themes. We emphasize the Seven Principles based on the Six Sources, incorporating a variety of traditions, cultures, and voices into our Unitarian Universalist worship experience.
New Worship Associates are mentored, trained, and supported, so no previous experience is necessary but there are qualifications and skills that are strongly desired. Worship Associates should be able to write engaging, time- and word-limited copy for presentation, and speak engagingly to a live audience and in front of a camera. It is important that you are able meet deadlines, and that you are available to be in the pulpit at least once each quarter (four times per year).
Worship Associates must speak as allies and advocates, or members, of historically oppressed and underrepresented communities. You should have a heart for social justice and be able to experience empathy with people of differing views. Unitarian Universalism as a faith is committed to challenging traditional assumptions about who has power and who has a voice. The Worship Associates ministry is part of how our congregation can center voices that are often overlooked and unheard in legacy institutions.
All Worship Associates understand that this is a ministry of service. This is not the place to push a personal agenda or a particular point of view. Worship Associates must be comfortable speaking to and for the diversity of our congregation – theists and humanists, liberals and moderates, and using sacred texts from the many faith traditions and spiritualities of the world.
We will be adding three to five new Worship Associates this summer and fall as others cycle off the team. Those who are interested should contact Worship Associate Chairperson the Rev. Dr. Kikanza Nuri-Robins for an application and to discuss any questions you may have. You may also contact the Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae at minister@uusm.org.
Small Chalice Lighter Contributions Make a Big Difference!
FALL REQUEST FOR GRANT FUNDING
Despite the delays of a COVID spring season, Santa Monica UUs made a significant financial impact through their small contributions to the Conejo Valley congregation, which is led by the Rev. Nica Eaton-Guinn. A huge thank-you for your support!
The Chalice Lighters program depends upon small contributions ($20) from many UUs in congregations throughout our Pacific Southwest District (PSWD). Added to a congregation’s own fundraising efforts, PSWD Chalice Lighters make a big difference, especially to smaller congregations trying to grow and thrive in these difficult times.
Now the call goes out again. Contributions from Chalice Lighters will help the UUs of San Luis Obispo to hire a 1/4-time Congregational Life Coordinator. They believe their volunteer power is abundant but that they need the guidance of a professional to organize most effectively. San Luis Obispo’s Rev. Rod Richards welcomes standard donations of $20 and also will receive with gratitude donations in any amount. He writes, “As a congregation of 200+ members, we are at a point where we would benefit greatly from having a staff position devoted to new member assimilation and integration, volunteer and leadership recruitment, and the organization of small groups and opportunities for deepening connections between members.”
It is our hope that Santa Monica Chalice Lighters will respond to this new call for support as we did to the first. Our small contributions before October 31 can make a big difference for our neighbors to the north.
If you have not yet signed up to be a Chalice Lighter in our congregation, but would like to participate in this broad-based effort to help our fellow UU churches, please contact Barbara Kernochan to learn just how simple it is to make a difference for our neighbors and for our denomination. Your $20 donation to one project per year will make you a Chalice Lighter and help us gain the honored title of “Chalice Lighter Congregation.”
More info:
Chalice Lighters program: http://news.uusm.org/becoming-a-chalice-lighter/
San Luis Obispo project details:
Pacific Southwest District: https://pswduua.org/
Pacific Western Region: https://www.uua.org/pacific-western
News & Announcements:
De Benneville Pines: Help Save our Camp!
CAMP IS CANCELLED THIS YEAR - PLEASE HELP US SUSTAIN IT FOR FUTURE YEARS
Dear UU Friends of de Benneville Pines,
Because of COVID-19, this year’s Santa Monica UU Family Retreat, slated to take place September 18, 19 and 20, is cancelled. Tie dye on the line2We are sad and disappointed to say that after careful consideration, we have decided that under today’s conditions, Church Camp as we know it would not work very well.
The retreat represents a gathering of people larger than what is considered safe, given social distancing. Room sharing would not be possible for singles, and the food serving protocol would also entail necessary but unwelcome changes, like no self-service salad bar.
Also, as a result of COVID-19, de Benneville Pines is in serious financial trouble, and it is not clear if it will survive. We think about all the joy that we have found at our blessed retreat in the mountains and are motivated to help. One way, if you can afford to do so, is to offer as a donation whatever you would have spent actually going up to Camp.
If you can afford it.
This is a big ask — but a reasonable one. Camp Director Janet James says that if the churches can raise the money that their members would have spent on coming to Camp, then de Benneville will survive.
Here is the fee structure from our registration form:
Find the “Make a Donation” button on the UUSM Church webpage (under What’s New on UUSM.org?) and you will see two online-donation options, UUSM Online and UUSM Mobile, where you can specify “de Benneville Pines Camp” under Program Support. You can also simply write a check and mail it to 1260 18th St. SM CA 90404.
Camp de Benneville Pines will indeed be closed for the near future, and for that we are sorry. Let’s think now for the long term and sustain the Camp that we love so much.
- The de Benneville Pines Planning Committee
Karl Lisovsky, Amy Brunell, Joyce Holmen, Linda Van Ligten, Chela Metzger, Sunni Pavlovic, Judith Martin-Straw
July Generous Congregation Supports Westside Food Bank
EMERGENCY AID NEEDED
As Los Angeles extends lockdown orders and many non-essential businesses remain closed due to coronavirus, thousands of furloughed and unemployed workers face poverty and food insecurity. Many people are turning to hunger-relief organizations to meet urgent needs, and Westside Food Bank is increasing its distribution to more than 70 local social service agencies, providing emergency food assistance.
UU Santa Monica has a long relationship with Westside Food Bank: volunteering, donating food, providing labor, and raising money. Most UUSM youth and young adults remember trekking over on a Sunday morning to sort food and learn more about hunger in our community. Right now, the most urgent need is cash. According to the website: “As the need for emergency food assistance skyrockets, we need your help to continue buying the truckloads of food required to keep our warehouse stocked.”
Generous Congregation
Our practice here at UUSM is to dedicate half of our non-pledge Sunday offerings to organizations doing work in the world that advances our Unitarian Universalist principles; the other 50% of the offering is used to support the life of our church.
UUSM’s Generous Congregation supports our church community. And together, we uplift the reach and impact of vital organizations doing work we could not do on our own. This month, half of our Sunday offerings will go to Westside Food Bank. Your support will help keep our vulnerable neighbors food secure. We can make a high volume of nutritious food available for free throughout this crisis.
Please consider supporting the mission of our church, and Westside Food Bank. To give right now, text “$10 GCC” to 844-982-0209. (One-time-only credit card registration required.)
Faith in Action News:
Faith. Love. Action. Let’s Get To Work in July!
SUMMER ORGANIZING SCHOOL AND MORE...
Copied from an email from UU the Vote…
First of all, thank you! UUA General Assembly Week was a massive and glorious undertaking.
During General Assembly, UU the Vote hosted our first national Week of Action. During the week, we trained and welcomed new folks into this campaign, supported local teams through skill shares, and got out the vote during an important Texas runoff election.
Here’s what we accomplished together:
- We made calls to over 114,000 voters in Texas!
- Nearly 1,000 folks joined us for our UU the Vote trainings and workshops:
- Organizing Your Congregation with UU the Vote. Watch the video.
- Practice for the Work Ahead. Watch the video.
3. A great trivia night full of fun, learning, music, and prizes. Check out the full list of questions and answers.
4. Over 500 new folks joined our UU the Vote community via our email list, Facebook Group and Slack workspace.
5. $48,000 raised to support our work moving forward!
What’s Next?
We did all of this in just 4 short days! I am so excited about what we will do together in the next 117 days before November 3rd! Are you ready?
Today, we are announcing our new faith-wide organizing school. Let’s build off the work and success of General Assembly. Reserve your spot in the first session of our new organizing training series “It Starts with Faith: Summer Organizing School” on Wednesday, July 15, at 7 – 9 pm ET/4 – 6 pm PT.
Reserve Your Spot!
At General Assembly, Naomi Klein reminded us that all things become possible in these moments of deep rupture. We need all hands on deck! Join leading organizers and activists to learn how to use electoral organizing strategies to carry your team to success.
We have designed a 6 week organizing school for social justice leaders with all levels of organizing experience. Join us for “It Starts with Faith: Summer Organizing School” to learn how to:
- build a solid social justice team
- identify roles and develop leaders
- focus your work around measurable goals for success in November
- maximize outreach using the latest communications tools and strategies.
Join us for the first session on Wednesday, July 15, from 7 – 9 pm ET / 4 – 6 pm PT. In this first session, we’ll outline the program and sign you up for the sessions, share tools that you can take back to your congregation, and gather information to help us customize the sessions for your needs.
At the end of the series, you will have the skills to lead your team to go All In in 2020 and beyond.
Bringing Our Values into the Public Square : Phonebank with Showing Up for Racial Justice
UU the Vote and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) are partnering to identify and build connections with anti-racist voters in Pennsylvania. We’re inviting white folks in PA to actively join in the urgent work of racial justice and learn what non-partisan racial justice issues are at play in the election this year.
At the phonebank we’ll host a training and practice session and then dig into calls. Hear about the racial justice work SURJ has been supporting across the country and get into the practice of having values-based conversations.
Let’s live out values and work towards racial justice on Saturday, July 18, 3 – 5 pm ET/ 12 – 2 pm PT.
Together our groups will be a key part of spreading anti-racist values to work towards racial justice in our time.
Let’s #VoteLove and #DefeatHate together.
In faith and solidarity,
Nicole Pressley
UU the Vote National Organizer
UU the Vote is a non-partisan project of the Unitarian Universalist Association
RE News:
Personal and Spiritual Exploration for Adults, July 2020
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES, PROGRAMS, AND WORKSHOPS FOR ADULTS
Learning and exploration are about the transformation of the individual, our community, and the larger society. Participation helps us grow in wisdom, compassion, and ethical living. See our July activities, programs, and workshops for adults.
To contact the facilitator in regard to any offering, you may email AdultRE@UUSM.org with the title of the group in the subject line. Your email will be forwarded.
Do you have a passion or an expertise? Are you a chef or a gardener, a historian or an actor? Would you like to offer some help, support, or some frivolity to our UU community via Zoom? We’re seeking programming that is fun, informative, and engaging. Please let us know if there’s something you’d like to offer and the Adult RE Committee will help you to do it. Email the Adult RE Committee (AdultRE@UUSM.org) or Teri Lucas (uusmREassist@uusm.org) and we can work with you on presenting your ideas.
Limited Offerings
Tarot Meditation Workshops - 4 Tuesdays, beginning June 30 – Online Zoom
The Tarot, it is said, is a symbolic picture of the universe in its many layers, from material to the spiritual and beyond. Currently, the Tarot has as its basis the mystical Jewish Qabalah, drawing into it various Medieval and Renaissance systems such as astrology, alchemy, numerology, sacred geometry and mathematics, world mythology, Theosophy, Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, and even Freemasonry. In modern times, it acquired Jungian psychological commentary as well. The Tarot itself is a fascinating, intricate system of interconnecting pictorial symbolism that is meant to catalyze helpful transformations within ourselves and our psyches, affecting not just behaviors, but perhaps even granting serendipitous opportunities. Jonathan “Buudha” Quant has been a practitioner of Tarot meditation for over 20 years and is eager to introduce you to Tarot meditation. Whether you are new to Tarot, or believe you know much, you will certainly gain fresh insights. It is preferable that participants meet for the entire sequence, but it is not mandatory. All are welcome. This class will meet via Zoom from 7:00 to 8:30 pm on four Tuesdays.
Community Building Through Personal Development:
Online Coffee & Teahouse Conversation Wednesdays – Online Zoom
Bring your tea or coffee cup and have a check in with Reverend Jeremiah and your fellow UUs. We shall examine our current lives, as well as focus on UUA monthly themes at our weekly Wednesday check-in. Scheduled for every Wednesday from 1:30 to 3:00 pm. Contact Reverend Jeremiah at minister@uusm.org for the Zoom link.
CommUUnity Connection Meetings - Wednesdays July 1, 15, 29 – Online Zoom
A time to connect with others and share experiences during this time of isolation. Margot Page and Wendi Gladstone will be conducting this meeting. Email CommUUnity@uusm.org to register for this 7:00 to 8:30 pm Wednesday Zoom meeting.
CommUUnity Connection Meeting Thursday July 9 – Online Zoom
A time to connect with others and share experiences during this time of isolation. Bettye Barclay and Denise Helton will be conducting the meeting. Email at CommUUnity@uusm.org to register for this 3:00 to 4:00 pm Thursday Zoom meeting.
Exploration of Ideas:
AAHS Freethinker Forum Sunday, July 26 – Online Zoom
AAHS (Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists, and Secularists) is an open group that meets for a lively and engaging discussion on topics of politics, science, religion, and philosophy. We also host occasional guest speakers, films, and outings. We are a home base for non-believers and questioners, but everyone is welcome. For many, atheism/agnosticism is a first step; Humanism is the thousand steps that come after. We’ll meet from 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm via Zoom. Contact: James Witker.
Science Non-Fiction Book Discussion Tuesday July 21 – Online Zoom
We will discuss “She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity,” by Carl Zimmer. This book won several science-writing awards, including the Keck Communication Award for 2019. The author covers the basics and then moves to some of the latest surprises in heredity. The cultural history of how some have responded to genetic findings, both positive and negative, are included. To receive the Zoom link, you will want to be on the group email list. Contact: Rebecca Crawford at sci-nonfiction@uusm.org for more information. We meet from 7:30 to 9:00 pm.
UU Men’s Group Thursdays, July 2 and 16 – Online Zoom
The Men’s Group offers a special opportunity to the men of the congregation and other like-minded men to join our welcoming group with provocative and stimulating discussion and to get to know others with UU perspectives in a more meaningful way. The topic for July 2 will be considering articles dealing with the future of America following the protests. The topic for July 16th is recalling an important conflict in your life, did you handle it successfully? If not, did you benefit from the experience in a similar situation later in life? We meet from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. For more information and Zoom link, contact Richard Mathias.
Meditations:
An Enjoyable Dive into Who and What We Are Mondays, July 6 and July 20 – Online Zoom
Bill Blake will present an enjoyable dive into the “who and what” we are. This on-going, twice a month class on the 1st and 3rd Mondays is presented to help participants master specific meditation skills. We endeavor to answer the questions Who am I? (attitudes and beliefs) and What am I? (essence or true nature). This class will include meditations that explore participants’ spiritual goals. The monthly group meetings will also focus on insights gained throughout the month. It is expected that participants will develop and enjoy a regular meditation practice. The class meets from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Contact: Bill Blake.
Open Meditation Mondays, July 13 and July 27 – Online Zoom
We gather twice a month to sit together quietly for 20 minutes, to walk with gentle awareness for seven minutes, and to explore the integration of meditation with ordinary life through reading and sharing. Anyone who senses they would benefit from 20 minutes of silent, non-guided sitting is welcome to join us. We have found that this time of quiet meditation and shared exploration can be deeply nourishing – a time of simply “being” amidst all the “doing” of our lives. We meet from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Contacts: Bev Shoenberger or Carol Ring.
Open Meditation: Wellsprings Wednesdays and Fridays – Online Zoom
These are exceptional times. Taking this time for quiet meditation and sharing in the intimacy of having sat in silence together can help sustain and ground us during these difficult days. We trust each of you will use this group in the way that fits your needs. We listen to brief readings, sit together quietly for twenty minutes, journal and share with each other what’s on our hearts. We simply sit together in our shared humanity. We call off the struggle to become other than we are. These are drop-in groups. You are welcome to join us when it feels right to you. If you come in late or need to leave early, just do so quietly. We meet every Wednesday and Friday afternoon from 12:00 to 1:00 pm online. Contact: Bev Shoenberger.
Music News:
UUSM Musicians Make a Guest Appearance at Online Fundraiser for CLUE
On Tuesday, June 30th, UUSM musicians made a special appearance at Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice’s annual Giants of Justice Awards!
CLUE is an LA-based organization whose members accompany low-wage workers, immigrants, and communities of color in the struggle for safety, dignity, and good jobs. By working in partnership through CLUE, faith communities, alliances, and unions can work more effectively to build a more equitable and humane society.
CLUE and UUSM have a long history of collaboration. CLUE’s program director, Jeremy Arnold (son of board member Abby Arnold), grew up in our congregation. Rev. Rebecca Benefiel-Bijur served as CLUE’s development director after departing our congregation in 2017. Now I am working with CLUE to help with fundraising there. Dozens of our congregants are active in CLUE’s organizing committees and as supporters of CLUE’s work.
As CLUE wrestled with retooling its largest fundraiser of the year as a live-streamed event, I wanted to take advantage of the online medium. UUSM choir director Saunder Choi has done an astounding job of music production in our new landscape. So it seemed natural to invite him to put together a piece for CLUE’s fundraiser.
He suggested a song. We acquired streaming and performance rights, and gave him some photos. Saunder then worked his magic with UUSM choir section leaders Jyvonne Haskin and Chloe Vaught, as well as guest musician William “B.A.” Washington.
The resulting music video of the John Legend/Common song “Glory” was a moving end to the program.
It felt so good to be able to support our outstanding musicians while we are in this unprecedented situation.
Hundreds of faithful people from across LA and Orange Counties attended Giants of Justice. UUs across the region were well represented. And it was a wonderful event.
You’re invited to learn more about CLUE’s work and check out the performance here. The UUSM musical performance is about 90 minutes into the stream. If you listen to the entire stream, you’ll get to hear another familiar artist. UUSM pianist Ryan Humphrey provided the prelude and postlude music for Giants of Justice.