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Sunday, March 4, 2012

Submitted by admin on September 12, 2012 - 7:18am
Date: 
Sunday, March 4, 2012

 

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Calendar of upcoming events: 

Saturday, 3/3
     COA/YRUU Event Night – Laser Tag at Ultrazone!
Sunday, 3/4
     5th-6th O.W.L. meets
Sunday, 3/11
     Daylight Savings Time begins!
     UUniverse Story class field trip to Natural History Museum 
     Neighboring Faiths field trip to Guru Ram Das Gurdwara
     YRUU Trip to Phoenix Info Meeting, 10-11
     5th-6th O.W.L. meets
Sunday, 3/18
     RE/Pulpit Switch Sunday – Rebecca visits RE classes, Catherine leads adult service
     COA parent meeting, 10-11
     5th-6th O.W.L. meets – final class
Sunday, 3/25
     YRUU Sunday Service – “Balancing Acts”
 
This Week in RE:
 
PRESCHOOL (Ages 3-5 at 9:00 & 11:00): “Our Good Wishes Can Come True” This week our preschool classes will have stories and crafts that help develop the power of the imagination, and to begin to connect wishing with doing.  Meets in the NW room of the cottage.
 
SPIRIT PLAY:  (K-1st at 9:00) “Sacred Spaces” This Sunday we’ll be sharing a story about the many different kinds of sacred spaces there are in our world, where people gather in communities to celebrate the spirit of love and justice and the mystery of life.  (K-2nd at 11:00) “The Tailor” This week we’ll continue our focus on science and nature with a story about a man who shares a great example of how to find new uses for things rather than throwing them away when they begin to wear out.  Meets in the SE room of the cottage.
 
THEME WORKSHOPS (2nd-3rd at 9:00 only):  “Brokenness Workshop” This week we’ll begin our exploration of March’s theme of BROKENNESS with special activities to engage participants in thinking about brokenness, healing, and finding new meaning or usefulness despite brokenness.  Meets in the NE room of the cottage (formerly known as “the couch room”).
 
UUNIVERSE STORY (4th-5th at 9:00/3rd-5th at 11:00):  “Dem Bones, Dem Bones #2—The Fossil Record” This week in the UUniverse Story program, we’ll continue to learn about bones and fossils and how we know how old they are.  Don’t miss it – this week continues our lead-up to a special field trip to the dinosaur exhibit at the LA Natural History museum on March 11! Meets in the mural room at the end of the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.
 
NEIGHBORING FAITHS (6th-7th at 9:00 & 11:00): “Sikhism Visitor” This week our Neighboring Faiths classes will continue their exploration of Sikhism by welcoming a special guest, Niranjan Singh Khalsa, who is visiting us from the Guru Ram Das Ashram.  Meets in Room 3, the third room down the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.
 
COMING OF AGE (8th at 9:00 only):  This Sunday in COA we'll be taking a walking field trip to the park at nearby McKinley Elementary.  It's a short (maybe 10 mins.) walk, but if everyone's on time that'd be a big help.  We won't leave right at 9am, we'll allow a small window for late-comers, but if you arrive after we've left please plan to join your family in the regular service as there's no alternate COA activity planned. We'll be discussing Ultimate Worth, what's sacred?, what's holy?, and what those ideas mean to each of us as individuals. Meets in Room 2, the second room down the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.
 
YRUU (9th-12th alternates 9:00/11:00):  Meets during the 11:00 service only this week. 
This Sunday we’ll be working hard to craft the 3/25 YRUU Sunday service – please make sure to come! Meets in Room 1, the first room at the top of the stairs above Forbes Hall.
 
 
Announcements:
 
·         NEW Membership Invitation: "UUSM is my spiritual home, but I just haven't gotten around to signing the membership book..." We have good news for you: our next service of welcome and recognition for new members is Sunday, March 11, at 11am. Please contact Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur at minister@uusm.org or 310-829-5436 x104 for details.
 
·         NEW Help Provide Hospitality for DRE’s at UUCCSM from 3/22-24: A dozen DRE’s from UU churches near and far will be converging on our campus for a training on developing UU Identity in RE programs later this month.  Please help us welcome them by volunteering as you can. We’re in need of a few more people to provide home hospitality, which helps make coming to the training affordable (attendees are coming from as far away as Missouri to attend) – do you have a guest bedroom that you’d be willing to open to a friendly UU for two nights (Thursday 3/22 & Friday 3/23)?  We also are looking for a couple of folks who would be willing to do airport pickups on Thursday afternoon, and/or drop-offs on Saturday afternoon.  And while we have coordinators for all of the meals, we’d like to have at least one more volunteer to help prepare and serve each meal (Thursday dinner, lunch or dinner on Friday, or Saturday lunch).  Let’s show our visitors how warm and welcoming we are here at UUCCSM; please contact catherinedre@yahoo.com or call me at 310-829-5436 x105 if you’d like to help out.
 
·         Easter Volunteers Needed: Easter’s on April 8th this year, and I’m looking for some volunteers to help with this year’s festivities.  We’re especially in need of coordinators for our special after-service egg hunts for the kids, as well as volunteers to hide eggs and supervise the hunts.  If you’d like to help out, contact Catherinedre@yahoo.com or call me at 310-829-5436 x105. 
 
·         RE Wish List:  I am currently developing a “master wish list” for the RE program, which includes general and lesson-specific RE supply needs for this year’s classes.  While the RE operating budget does have some money for supplies, this year’s budget is very tight and donations are happily accepted.  The list so far includes:
    • RE Furniture
      • Roll-up-able rug, medium-sized
    • General Supplies:
      • Drawing paper
      • Candle lighters
      • Chart markers
      • Flip chart paper (post-it or standard)
      • Pipe cleaners
      • Backup snack supply
        • Cheddar Bunnies (like goldfish crackers but with fewer preservatives, additives)
        • Graham crackers, goldfish crackers okay as alternative
        • Granola bars, rice cakes, other non-sugary dry good snacks
        • Dried fruit (apricots, raisins, apple rings, banana chips, etc.)
    • RE Books Wish List on Amazon:  Another arm of the “master wish list” for the RE program, is an Amazon Wishlist of books that will be used in RE lessons for this year’s program or that will be valuable resources for teachers & families in our church.  We do have some money budgeted for book purchases, but we are running on a tight RE budget since the congregation’s budget cutback a couple of years ago, and donations are happily accepted.  If you’d like to help out by donating a book or two to the program, check out the Amazon list at http://tinyurl.com/rewishlist.  (Used books in “good” condition are just fine!)  THANK YOU to the members who have already sent books our way – they are so appreciated!
 
 
UU Everyday (resources and ideas for practicing your UU values at home):
 
Chalice Lighting Words of the Week (March’s Theme – BROKENNESS):
 
March 4:
For every time we make a mistake
and we decide to start again,
   we light this chalice.
For every time we are lonely
and we let someone be our friend,
   we light this chalice.
For every time we are disappointed 
and we choose to hope,
   we light this, our chalice.
                -- M. Maureen Killoran
 
For the 2011-12 church year we’re trying out a new way of living as one lifespan religious community: congregation-wide ministry themes.  Each month we’ll explore a new theme.  The chalice lighting shared here will be used on Sunday in all of our RE classes, and I hope that your family will also share it at home during the following week.  I’m tickled by the idea of all of our UUCCSM families sharing a reflection in common each week as we go about our daily lives. 
 
 
At-Home Ideas to Explore our Congregational Theme for March - BROKENNESS
 
  • Sit down with your family or a friend. Each of you takes a piece of paper and folds it in half. On one side of your paper list how you see yourself. What are your gifts? What do you do well? Now fold under the piece you have written on. Exchange papers and on the other side write down how you see the other person. When you are done, give the paper back to the original person. Take a look at the paper you began with. Compare how you see yourself, and how the other person sees you. Have they seen a virtue, skill or value that you had not been able to see?
  • Explore the values and history of organizations such as Goodwill Industries (http://www.goodwill.org/page/guest/about/whatwedo) to explore how these organizations can help people who are often not seen as useful members of a community to become so.
  • This is an opportunity to examine things in your home that may seem useless or broken. Can they be reused in some other way and put to another use? Could someone else use it? Can it be repaired for your use, or the use of another? Can it be recycled into some other form for reuse? Sometimes it just needs being looked at in a different way.
  • Many artists have used their artistic vision to turn broken pottery and ceramics into new works of art. A Google search can turn up numerous artists today who make art from such broken items. Two examples can be found at http://www.chinamosaics.com/gallery.html, andhttp://www.e-creativeunion.com. Try your hand at turning a broken item at your home into a piece of art.
 
Resources:
 
Books for Children:
The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams Bianco, Harper Collins, 1999
 
The Velveteen Rabbit (Board Book), Margery Williams Bianco, HarperFestival, 2004
 
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Virginia Lee Burton, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 1939
 
Further Reading for Adults:
 
The Velveteen Principles: A Guide to Becoming Real, Hidden Wisdom from a Children’s Classic, Toni Raiten-D’Antonio, HCI, 2006
 
In the Simple Morning Light: A Meditation Manual, Barbara Rohde, Skinner House Books, 1994
 
“The Theology School of Hard Knocks” in Roller-skating as a Spiritual Discipline, Christopher Buice, Skinner House Books, 2002
 
“Prayer for Healing” in Glory, Hallelujah! Now Please Pick Up Your Socks, Jane Ellen Mauldin, Skinner House Books, 1998
 
The chapter entitled “The Place of Self Discovery” in the book Women Pray: Voices through the Ages, from Many Faiths, Cultures, and Traditions, edited by Monica Furlong, Skylight Paths Publishing, 2001
 
The Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Scriptures
 
“Help and the Human Condition: What can we do to help?” by Victoria Safford, uuworld.org, Fall 2005,http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/1809.shtml.  
 
The film Babette's Feast, Distributor: Festival Films, Story by Isak Dinnesen, film directed by Gabriel Axel
The New Grove Gospel, Blues and Jazz by Paul Oliver, Max Harrison and William Bolcom, W. W. Norton, 1980, 1986
 
 
 
This Week in UU History: (From This Day in Unitarian Universalist History, by Frank Schulman)
 
March 3, 1568:  The second religious debate between Unitarian Francis David and Calvinist bishop Peter Melius opened at Gyulafehervar, Transylvania.  It lasted 10 days.  Tradition has it that after returning home from that debate, Francis David preached standing on the “round rock” at the corner of Torda street in Kolozsvar and converted all who heard him to Unitarianism.  The stone is now in the narthex of the First Unitarian Church in Kolozsvar.  The series of debates began at the Diet of Torda and ultimately resulted in the conversion of Prince John Sigismund of Transylvania to Unitarianism.
 
March 4, 1864:  Thomas Starr King, a Universalist and Unitarian minister and missionary on the West Coast, died at age 39 of diphtheria.  When he died, President Lincoln ordered guns to be fired from U.S. forts in recognition of his service to the country. 
 
March 5, 1761:  John Taylor died at age 67.  A minister in Norwich, England, his religious studies emphasized Hebrew languages and Jewish scriptures.  To accommodate those wishing to enjoy his simple form of Christian worship, the Nonconformist congregation of Norwich built the Octagon Chapel and became Unitarian.  Taylor was the author of several theological works and principal and tutor in theology at Warrington Academy, England.
 
March 6, 1582:  The debate between Simon Budny and the Catholics began at the Synod of Iwie in Poland.  A native of Lithuania and a Calvinist priest, Budny had met disciples of Faustus Socinus, George Blandrata, and other Unitarians and joined their ranks.  He founded the sect called Budneans in Poland.  His view was that Jesus was born naturally and was not an appropriate object of worship; he also rejected infant baptism.  A biblical scholar, Budny translated the entire Bible from Hebrew, Greek and Latin into Polish (1572).  He gained a large following in Lithuania and Poland, where he was denounced at the Synod of Luclavice, Poland, and excommunicated.  He was told the excommunication would be lifted if he would renounce his “obnoxious opinions,” but he refused.
 
March 6, 1888: The beloved American writer Louisa May Alcott died at age 55 in Boston.  Louisa’s father was Bronson Alcott, a founder of the Transcendentalist Club who ran a school in Concord, Massachusetts, and educated Louisa and her sisters at home.  She worked as a teacher and a domestic worker and eventually began to write poems and short stories for children. Alcott was an ardent abolitionist and served as a nurse during the Civil War.  This experience provided material for Hospital Sketches (1863), which established her literary reputation.  She also wrote various stories for children, of which Little Women(1868) is the best known.  It was largely autobiographical and a great financial success.  Alcott wrote numerous other stories, including Gothic tales published under the pseudonym A. M. Barnard.  She devoted her later life to reforms, including temperance and women’s rights.  Alcott did not like formal church connections, but her beliefs were Unitarian and she moved among such prominent Unitarians as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Samuel Gridley Howe, and Julia Ward Howe.
 
March 7, 1601: A Socinian conference opened at Rakow, Poland, to discuss the nature of Christ, his relation to God, and whether he should be worshipped.    
 
March 7, 1844:  The Dissenters’ Chapels Act was introduced in English Parlaiment, aimed at giving Unitarians legal rights to their church property.  It was an important step in religious freedom in England.  It passed by a vote of 202 to 41 and Queen Victoria gave it the royal seal on July 15, 1844.
 
March 7, 1920:  Seven people met with Egbert Ethelred Brown, and African-American Unitarian minister, in Harlem to form the Harlem Community Church of New York City, the first African-American Unitarian congregation in the United States. Maurice Dawkins, an African-American, became the minister of education there in 1948.
 
March 7, 1965:  Six hundred civil rights marchers who set out from Selma, Alabama, on their way to Montgomery to urge passage of the Voting Rights Act, were attacked by local law enforcement officials at the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  Known as “Bloody Sunday,” this event led Martin Luther King to call on clergy of all faiths to join him in Selma.  More than 125 Unitarian Universalist ministers answered the call, including UUCCSM minister Rev. Ernie Pipes.  On March 21, 1965, more than 3,000 marchers left Selma for Montgomery and by March 25, 1965, 25,000 marchers entered Montgomery.  On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.  Three people were killed during the Selma marches – James Reeb, a Unitarian Universalist minister; Jimmy Lee Jackson, an African-American laborer and church deacon; and Viola Liuzzo, a Unitarian Universalist layperson from Detroit.