From our Director of Religious Education:

This month’s ministry theme, “Brokenness,” is one that resonates with me pretty deeply these days, as I continue to recover following the Christmas Eve fall that left me with a broken ankle. Isn’t it amazing that our bones will just heal themselves, given time and rest? I take comfort in knowing that, as living beings, our broken bones will not stay that way forever. We aren’t like toys or teacups — our broken places, sometimes, are really the places where we have the greatest opportunity to grow and develop strengths that we didn’t know were lying dormant within us. My body was ready to mend itself all along, and was just waiting for the need to arise. Astounding. I also have been thinking about the imagery of being “broken open.” Rather than thinking of brokenness only in terms of being damaged, what parallels do you see in your own life if instead you envision being broken open like a seed that has given way to let something new and full of life emerge?

I am mindful though, that there are also times in our lives when we feel just plain broken, when no easy or inevitable fix is on the horizon for us. And in those times, our UUCCSM community can serve as a safe place to bring those broken parts of ourselves to be held in love and compassion. As Unitarian Universalists, part of our covenant with one another is that we will “walk together” as we carry out our individual lives. Certainly I have been buoyed by the care and help that many of you have shown me in the last couple of months as I’ve been on the mend. I am lucky; this time, my brokenness is temporary. But the gifts I have received because of it will stay. If given the choice, I certainly would not have chosen to injure myself in this way, but I am grateful for the good that I can pull out of the experience, even so. What a blessing it is to be in community with one another.

—Catherine Farmer Loya

March in the Classrooms

This month in the children’s RE program, preschoolers will celebrate the beginning of spring, and will explore many different kinds of families. Early elementary participants will explore the fourth Source of Unitarian Universalism with stories from the Jewish and Christian traditions, and will engage this month’s theme of “Brokenness.” A highlight of the month for upper elementary children in the UUniverse Story program will be a field trip to the Natural History Museum on March 11. Middle schoolers in Neighboring Faiths will learn about Sikhism, and will visit the Guru Ram Das ashram on the 11th. And on March 25th, while older children and youth are attending the YRUU service in the sanctuary, younger children will make doggy treats for shelter puppies for this month’s RE Faith in Action project. Children’s Programs subcommittee members welcome your comments and questions

— Nicole Henderson-MacLennan, Susan Hendricks Richman, Sabina Mayo-Smith, and Kim Santiago-Kalmanson.

Youth Score a Home Run with Laser Tag and Ball Park Outings

Grab your lasers and get, set, go to Ultrazone in Sherman Oaks, the ultimate laser adventure, on Saturday, March 3. A futuristic version of Capture the Flag, this game is an adrenaline rush like never before. Watch your in box for details and don’t miss this fun-filled night out organized by parents Erika and Steven Valore with Alicia and Steven Van Ooyen.

Go Dodger Blue! Saturday, April 14, youth head out to Chavez Ravine to cheer on the home team as they take on the San Diego Padres. Advance ticket purchase is required. Please RSVP to parent volunteers, Laura and Larry Weiner, with the number of tickets you need by March 31. Admission is approximately $12 each for seats located in the top deck behind home plate.

Thanks to parent volunteers Liza Cranis, Erika and Steven Valore, a spirited group of kids enjoyed pizza, games, movies and some midnight madness of baking cookies and making sundaes, while deepening friendships during the legendary overnight lock in at the church in February.

To find out the scoop on all upcoming activities, contact Lifespan RE Youth Sub-Committee Head Teri Bond. Fun is our mission! 

Upcoming Adult Programs

Faith Like a River — Themes from Unitarian Universalist History. 

Faith Like a River explores the dynamic course of Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist (UU) history — the people, ideas, and movements that have shaped our faith heritage. It invites participants to place themselves into our history and consider its legacies. What lessons do the stories of our history teach that can help us live more faithfully in the present? What lessons do they offer to be lived into the future? Join facilitator Catherine Farmer Loya in the mural room (of course!) for four consecutive Wednesday evenings, March 14 to April 4, for an introductory exploration of our UU religious tradition’s roots. To sign up, contact Catherine@uusm.org or visit the Lifespan RE table during coffee hour on Sundays.

Unitarian Universalist Association Common Read

The Common Read is coming — have you started reading yet? All UUCCSM members and friends are invited to join UUs from congregations all over the country this spring in reading “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation,” by Dr. Eboo Patel. Why take the time to read a book that someone else has chosen, though? This is one more aspect of our congregation’s new experiment with Lifespan Religious Exploration. Just as all members of our community have opportunities to engage in some way in our monthly ministry themes this year, this is another way in which members of UUCCSM can come together to “go deeper” in our faith as Unitarian Universalists and in our connections to one another.

Why, then, this book in particular? Dr. Eboo Patel’s memoir, “Acts of Faith,” has been selected as the 2011-2012 Unitarian Universalist Association Common Read. Patel is founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, an international, nonprofit, youth service leadership organization. “‘Acts of Faith,” a beautifully written story of discovery and hope, chronicles Dr. Eboo Patel’s struggle to forge his identity as a Muslim, an Indian, and an American. In the process, he developed a deep reverence for what all faiths have in common, and founded an interfaith movement to help young people to embrace their common humanity through their faith. This young social entrepreneur offers us a powerful way to deal with one of the most important issues of our time.” —President Bill Clinton

We hope that all of you will consider taking part in this special project. Check the book out from the library, buy it for your e-reader, or purchase it from the book cart or the Lifespan RE table right here at UUCCSM during coffee hours this month. Then, once we’ve all had some time to read, we’ll offer a number of opportunities in April to take part in a one-session book discussion. Sign up for one of the two sessions offered at the church, on Sunday April 15 from 4 to 6 p.m. (potluck dinner to follow), or Wednesday, April 25, from 7 to 9 p.m. Or join one of the neighborhood gatherings being hosted by UUCCSM members in their homes — details of those gatherings will be announced soon, though there will certainly be meetings in Culver City, West LA and Santa Monica, and possibly additional neighborhoods. Don’t miss out on it!

Multi-Generational Section

Record Breaking Attendance

The February Second Sunday Supper sponsored by Lifespan RE was a blockbuster! Lots of serious young (and not so young) artists created gorgeous valentines and ate oodles of fabulous food. Fifty people between the ages of about 2 and 90 found plenty to talk about and even sing about, too. Don’t miss the fun on March 11 — no valentines, but still plenty of food and fun.

Share UUr Story

Plans continue to move forward for UUSM’s oral history project. Stop by the Lifespan Table any Sunday to share your thoughts and catch up on what’s new. In addition to interviewing our members, we would like to capture some video chats on the history of committees in the church. If you were one of the founding (or early) members of any of our committees, we would like to hear from you. On a more technological note, we are looking for a microphone that can be connected to a video camera and someone who can show us how to do it. We anticipate that many of our interviews will take place outside the church.

 Patio Chat — Sunday, March 11

Monthly UUCCSM Theme Discussion

BROKENNESS

with Leon Henderson-MacLennan

at 10:10 a.m. on the Patio

Home Hospitality Needed For Visiting RE Professionals

On March 22, 23, and 24 UUSM will host religious education professionals and volunteers for a workshop on UU Identity. A few of these folks will need a place to stay in the area. If you are able to offer hospitality to one or two attendees for two nights (Thursday and Friday), please contact Emmy Cresciman for more information. You will not be responsible for meals.

• RE Furniture
  • Kid-size bean bag chair (we’d like to install a reading corner in the Spirit Play classroom)
  • Roll-up-able rug, medium-sized
• General Supplies:
• Drawing paper
• Large foam board
• Candle lighters
• Chart markers
• Flip chart paper (post-it or standard)
• Pipe cleaners
• Colored poster board pieces
• Sheet protectors for use in binders
• 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!

March, 2012

Youth Score a Home Run with Laser Tag and Ball Park Outings

Grab your lasers and get, set, go to Ultrazone in Sherman Oaks, the ultimate laser adventure, on Saturday, March 3. A futuristic version of Capture the Flag, this game is an adrenaline rush like never before. Watch your in box for details and don’t miss this fun-filled night out organized by parents Erika and Steven Valore with Alicia and Steven Van Ooyen.

Go Dodger Blue! Saturday, April 14, youth head out to Chavez Ravine to cheer on the home team as they take on the San Diego Padres. Advance ticket purchase is required. Please RSVP to parent volunteers, Laura and Larry Weiner, with the number of tickets you need by March 31. Admission is approximately $12 each for seats located in the top deck behind home plate.

Thanks to parent volunteers Liza Cranis, Erika and Steven Valore, a spirited group of kids enjoyed pizza, games, movies and some midnight madness of baking cookies and making sundaes, while deepening friendships during the legendary overnight lock in at the church in February.

To find out the scoop on all upcoming activities, contact Lifespan RE Youth Sub-Committee Head Teri Bond. Fun is our mission! 

Faith Like a River — Themes from Unitarian Universalist History

Faith Like a River explores the dynamic course of Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist (UU) history — the people, ideas, and movements that have shaped our faith heritage. It invites participants to place themselves into our history and consider its legacies. What lessons do the stories of our history teach that can help us live more faithfully in the present? What lessons do they offer to be lived into the future? Join facilitator Catherine Farmer Loya in the mural room (of course!) for four consecutive Wednesday evenings, March 14 to April 4, for an introductory exploration of our UU religious tradition’s roots. To sign up, contact Catherine@uusm.org or visit the Lifespan RE table during coffee hour on Sundays.

Unitarian Universalist Association Common Read

The Common Read is coming — have you started reading yet? All UUCCSM members and friends are invited to join UUs from congregations all over the country this spring in reading “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation,” by Dr. Eboo Patel. Why take the time to read a book that someone else has chosen, though? This is one more aspect of our congregation’s new experiment with Lifespan Religious Exploration. Just as all members of our community have opportunities to engage in some way in our monthly ministry themes this year, this is another way in which members of UUCCSM can come together to “go deeper” in our faith as Unitarian Universalists and in our connections to one another.

Why, then, this book in particular? Dr. Eboo Patel’s memoir, “Acts of Faith,” has been selected as the 2011-2012 Unitarian Universalist Association Common Read. Patel is founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, an international, nonprofit, youth service leadership organization. “‘Acts of Faith,” a beautifully written story of discovery and hope, chronicles Dr. Eboo Patel’s struggle to forge his identity as a Muslim, an Indian, and an American. In the process, he developed a deep reverence for what all faiths have in common, and founded an interfaith movement to help young people to embrace their common humanity through their faith. This young social entrepreneur offers us a powerful way to deal with one of the most important issues of our time.” —President Bill Clinton

We hope that all of you will consider taking part in this special project. Check the book out from the library, buy it for your e-reader, or purchase it from the book cart or the Lifespan RE table right here at UUCCSM during coffee hours this month. Then, once we’ve all had some time to read, we’ll offer a number of opportunities in April to take part in a one-session book discussion. Sign up for one of the two sessions offered at the church, on Sunday April 15 from 4 to 6 p.m. (potluck dinner to follow), or Wednesday, April 25, from 7 to 9 p.m. Or join one of the neighborhood gatherings being hosted by UUCCSM members in their homes — details of those gatherings will be announced soon, though there will certainly be meetings in Culver City, West LA and Santa Monica, and possibly additional neighborhoods. Don’t miss out on it!

Patio Chat — Sunday, March 11

Monthly UUCCSM Theme Discussion

BROKENNESS

with Leon Henderson-MacLennan

at 10:10 a.m. on the Patio

February, 2012

Wild and Crazy Times for Youth

Go-cart races, Dodger game, picnic/hike, overnight and a pool party are all featured events being planned for COA/YRUU this spring. Fun is our mission! We look forward to bringing our teens together to share good times, to have adventures, and to make some memories. On the line-up for February 4 is an overnight at the Church with pizza and movies and games. In March we’ll be Go-cart racing. April takes us out to the ball park for a Dodger match-up. May brings us back to nature for a hike and picnic. We wrap up the year with a splash at a pool party in June. Dates are subject to change. Please watch your email inboxes for more information. Thanks to parent volunteers Lara Davis del Piccolo (Clelia’s mom) and Karl Lisovsky (Angela’s dad), several youth went for a whirl on the Winter Wonderland ICE skating rink to kick off the new year on January 7. Between laps under the stars, skaters enjoyed hot cocoa and homemade brownies. To find out the latest details on all upcoming excursions, contact Lifespan RE Youth Sub-Committee Head Teri Bond. Don’t miss out.

Patio Chat -- Sunday, February 26

Monthly UUCCSM Theme Discussion

PEACE

with Leon Henderson-MacLennan

10:00 a.m. on the Patio

New Workshop Starts February 12

"BYOT 3: Ethics" will be facilitated by Bernie Silvers and Ed Field.  Bernie is an ordained Zen monk who lived at the Zen Center of L.A. for thirteen years and was president for eight years.  He has also been a UU for more than thirty years and has studied ethics extensively.  Ed has a Ph.D. in physics and has been a UU for about fifteen years.  The class invites participants to apply their believs, values, and convictions to particular ethical situations with scenarios culled from history, literature, current events, and the participants' own lives.  A text book is required and is available at our church bookstore in Forbes Hall.  Sign up at the Lifespan table on Sunday mornings.  The class will meet upstairs in Forbes Hall at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoons.

January, 2012

Patio Chat with Leon Henderson-MacLennan

Monthly UUCCSM Religious Exploration Theme Discussion 
January 22, 2012 at 10:10 a.m. — WISDOM

October, 2011

Second Sunday Supper and Games, October 9.
Games start at 4pm. Bring your own to share and teach or play one of ours, such as Oh! Hell!, Scrabble, Dominoes, Bananagrams, Pictionary. Players of all ages are welcome. DINNER starts at 6 p.m. – Bring a side dish, salad, or dessert to share. Main dish is provided. The food is always tasty and the company is beyond compare.

Movie of the Month (October 15 from 7 to 9:30 p.m.):
“After Life” (1999) from Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda. At a way station somewhere between heaven and earth, the newly dead are greeted by guides. Over the next three days, they help the dead sift through their memories to find the one defining moment of their lives. The chosen moment will be re-created on film and taken with the dead when they pass on to heaven. This grave, beautifully crafted film reveals the surprising and ambiguous consequences of human recollection. What glows from the placid surface of this extraordinary film is the wonder and mystery of everyday things, the tenuous but rich beauty of merely living. “After Life” — the Japanese title is “Wonderful Life” — is only  ostensibly about death; no film of recent years has been more life affirming.

While adults watch “After Life,” films for children will be shown in the Cottage. We’ll supply the popcorn if you bring drinks to share.

Patio Chat (October 23 from 10:10 to 10:50 a.m. under the shade structure)
is a facilitated discussion on the October ministry theme, loss. All teens and adults are welcome.

Have ideas for all-church activities? Contact members of the Multi-generational Programs subcommittee – Judy Federick, Leon Henderson-MacLennan, Carol-Jean Teuffel, Larry Weiner.

— Emmy Cresciman

Please click on a year below to read the monthly columns from our Director of Religious Education, and other monthly news :

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

September, 2012

From Our DRE

As the summer heads toward its close, we come together once again to launch our 2012-13 program year with our Ingathering Sunday on September 9th. In the Jewish tradition, the New Year is celebrated on Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sundown on September 16th this year. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur mark a time of self-reflection and making amends to any you have wronged in the last year. Our congregational ministry theme for this month is Forgiveness, something that many of us may struggle with. We live in a culture that does not encourage either self-forgiveness or the forgiving of others. It’s easy to fall into castigating ourselves for small failures and mistakes, to go meekly along with our consumer culture’s prevailing assumption that being wrong or at fault equates with being weak or lesser than we ought to be. Maybe that’s why it’s so very hard, at times, to accept or to offer forgiveness.

It may seem like a funny match, this focus on forgiveness as our theme for the month of our Ingathering celebration. But cultivating a culture of forgiveness fits right in with my understanding of what it means to be part of a spiritual community. And while certainly we as a congregation don’t always get everything right, every fall we join hands and hearts yet again and in the words of UU minister Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs, “We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.”

I am so excited about what this year will bring to our educational programs for all ages here at UUCCSM. Take a look at the Lifespan RE page in this newsletter for an overview of what’s in store. I’ve decided that the overarching theme of my year here at UUCCSM is “deepening.” That is the core purpose of our educational ministry to all ages: to provide opportunities for our members to deepen their spiritual lives, to deepen their understanding of our UU history and values, to deepen their ability to live with compassion, integrity and joy. I think we’re going to have a fabulous year together, and I look forward to getting it started.

— Catherine Farmer Loya

LIFESPAN RELIGIOUS EXPLORATION

Children

On Ingathering Sunday, September 9th, we’ll celebrate the beginning of a new church year together as one community of all ages – all will attend the service in the sanctuary. RE Classes will begin on Sunday, September 16th. No matter the age of your child, we have something exciting in store this year. We’re offering some wonderful new programs for our elementary and middle school youth, including the brand new Theme Play program, a hybrid model which integrates the very best components of last year’s Spirit Play and Theme Workshops classes, for 1st-2nd graders. 3rd-5th graders will take part in the second year of our science-based UUniverse Story class, developed by UUCCSM members Ian Dodd and Margot Page; year one of the class received rave reviews from kids and parents alike. In our 6th-7th grade class we’re taking a year off of Neighboring Faiths in order to review and revise that curriculum, and will instead be offering Compass Points, a program designed as a lead-in to Coming of Age which will help young people explore their selves, their beliefs, their UU faith and their relationships with others and the world. Be on the lookout for program materials and registration forms coming your way soon!

Youth

Coming of Age (8th grade) and YRUU (9th-12th grades) will kick off with a special teen movie night and & concurrent parent orientation on Sunday, September 9th at 6pm in Forbes Hall. Bring a pizza or a few dollars to contribute for dinner; we’ll provide the movie and popcorn. Don’t miss it! In the orientation, we’ll discuss the calendar for the year, and how parents can take part in making this year’s youth programs the strongest they’ve ever been. We’ll also introduce our COA and YRUU advisors, as well as the members of the Lifespan RE Committee’s Youth Programs subcommittee.

Adults

There’s a lot to look forward to from the Adult Programs committee during the 2012-2013 church year. Monthly Patio Chats with Leon Henderson-MacLennan will continue in September along with new workshops including a workshop for writers (current or aspiring) with Bettye Barclay and an evening with Patrick Meighan when he will talk about “Stumbling Into Activism.” We can also look forward to another series of discussions with Ernie Pipes, more on UU history and theology with Catherine Farmer Loya, “Lesson of Loss” and a new ethics workshop with Leon Henderson-MacLennan. Back by popular demand, Rick and Peggy Rhoads will reprise “The New Jim Crow.” And that’s just the beginning! You will also be hearing more about vision boards, drum circles and labyrinths, the new UUA Common Read, “Living the Welcoming Congregation” and other ways to make the world a better place.

Be sure to visit the Lifespan Table in Forbes Hall on Sunday mornings for the latest information on what’s happening in Lifespan and to register for the programs that interest you. It’s a good time to tell us about programs you would like to see in the future, too.

-- Emmy Cresciman

Patio Chat

Monthly UUCCSM Theme Discussions 

with Leon Henderson-MacLennan

@ 10:10a.m. on the Patio

September 30 -- Forgiveness

Ministry Theme Quotes for September:  Forgiveness

Our ministerial theme for September is forgiveness. Bettye Barclay has provided this list of daily thoughts about forgiveness for the month of September.

September 1- Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.    Mark Twain

September 2 - Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.    Hannah Arendt

September 3 - Forgiveness means letting go of the past.    Gerald Jampolsky

Sept. 4 - "When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free."    Katherine Ponder

September 5 - "There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love."    Bryant H. McGill

September 6 - "A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers."   Robert Quillen

September 7 - "Sincere forgiveness isn't colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don't worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time-just like it does for you and me."         Sara Paddison

September 8 - "To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you."     Louis B. Smedes

September 9 - "We are all on a life long journey and the core of its meaning, the terrible demand of its centrality is forgiving and being forgiven."      Martha Kilpatrick

September 10 - "To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness."      Robert Muller

September 11 - "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."    Mahatma Gandhi

September 12 - "Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting."       William Arthur Ward

September 13 - "Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."    Paul Boese

September 14 - "It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend."     William Blake

September 15. - "If you can't forgive and forget, pick one."      Robert Brault

September 16. -"He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass."      George Herbert

Sept. 17 - "Without forgiveness life is governed by — an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation."    Roberto Assagioli

September 18 - "Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future."      Louis B. Smedes

September 19 - "Life is an adventure in forgiveness."        Norman Cousins

September 20 - "Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom."        Hannah Arendt

September 21 - "Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave."          Indira Gandhi

September 22 - "Genuine forgiveness does not deny anger but faces it head-on."      Alice Duer Miller

September 23 - "As long as you don't forgive, who and whatever it is will occupy a rent-free space in your mind." -            Isabelle Holland

September 24 - "Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were."             Cherie Carter-Scott

September 25 -  "Only the brave know how to forgive. — A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature."              Laurence Sterne

September 26 - Let us forgive each other – only then will we live in peace.      Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

September 27 - “Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.       Martin Luther King Jr.

September 28 - “I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded; not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.”      Khaled Hosseini

September 29 - “The willingness to forgive is a sign of spiritual and emotional maturity. It is one of the great virtues to which we all should aspire. Imagine a world filled with individuals willing both to apologize and to accept an apology. Is there any problem that could not be solved among people who possessed the humility and largeness of spirit and soul to do either -- or both -- when needed?”     Gordon B. Hinckley

September 30 - Forgiveness is the finishing of old business that allows us to experience the present free of contamination from the past          Joan Borysenko

August, 2012

Ministerial Theme for August:  Compassion

Our ministerial theme for August is compassion. Bettye Barclay has provided this list of daily thoughts about compassion for the month of August.

AUGUST 1. For me, forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?  Bell Hooks

AUGUST 2. As great scientists have said and as all children know, it is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception, and compassion, and  hope. Ursula K. Le Guin 

AUGUST 3. My experience is that people who have been through painful, difficult times are filled with
compassion. Amy Grant

AUGUST 4. Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment we rise above ourselves. Mason Cooley

AUGUST 5. Few things are so deadly as a misguided sense of compassion. Charles Colson 

AUGUST 6. For me music is a vehicle to bring our pain to the surface, getting it back to that humble and
tender spot where, with luck, it can lose its anger and become compassion again. Paula Cole

AUGUST 7. A love for humanity came over me, and watered and fertilized the fields of my inner world which had been lying fallow, and this love of humanity vented itself in a vast compassion. Georg Brandes

AUGUST 8. Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things. Thomas Merton

AUGUST 9. Some people think only intellect counts: knowing how to solve problems, knowing how to get by, knowing how to identify an advantage and seize it. But the functions of intellect are insufficient without
courage, love, friendship, compassion and empathy. Dean Koontz

AUGUST 10. I believe that man will not merely endure; he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among the creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of kindness
and compassion. William Falconer

AUGUST 11. I can do no other than be reverent before everything that is called life. I can do no other than to
have compassion for all that is called life. That is the beginning and the foundation of all ethics. Albert
Schweitzer

AUGUST 12. I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest
treasures. Lao Tzu

AUGUST 13. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
Dalai Lama

AUGUST 14. It is not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding. Erma Bombeck

AUGUST 15. Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.
Dalai Lama

AUGUST 16. No, you're not allowed to be bossy when you're married. You have to learn compromise, and
compassion and patience. Star Jones

AUGUST 17. One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love,
friendship, indignation and compassion. Simone de Beauvoir

AUGUST 18. Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living
creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty. Albert Einstein

AUGUST 19. Some people are filled by compassion and a desire to do good, and some simply don't think
anything's going to make a difference. Meryl Streep

AUGUST 20. The dew of compassion is a tear. Lord Byron

AUGUST 21. Compassion for myself is the most powerful healer of them all. Theodore Isaac Rubin

AUGUST 22. Make no judgments where you have no compassion. Anne McCaffrey

AUGUST 23. The individual is capable of both great compassion and great indifference. He has it within
his means to nourish the former and outgrow the latter. Norman Cousins

AUGUST 24. Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find
peace. Albert Schweitzer

AUGUST 25. Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't
anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion. Dalai Lama

AUGUST 26. Compassion teaches me that my brother and I are one. Thomas Merton

AUGUST 27. Compassion is not a popular virtue. Karen Armstrong

AUGUST 28. Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of
men. Confucius

AUGUST 29. Compassion is the basis of morality. Arthur Schopenhauer

AUGUST 30. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Plato

AUGUST 31. Give children at least as many chances to be compassionate as they have to be competitive.
Erica Layman

Patio Chat

Monthly UUCCSM theme Discussion with Leon henderson-MacLennan @ 11 a.m. on the Patio
August 26 — Compassion

July, 2012

From Our DRE 

On June 3 we held our annual service celebrating the lifespan educational ministry of UUCCSM, now known as “LRE Sunday,” in recognition of the lifelong growth our congregation offers for children, youth, and adults, and the many volunteers whose gifts of time and self make our RE program what it is. The theme of our service this year was “Courage.”

All gathered at our LRE Sunday services were invited to take a moment to write down on small flower-shaped post-its a way in which their lives have blossomed because they took a courageous step, perhaps through participating in our congregation in some way, or in another aspect of their lives. What a beautiful diversity of stories we have in our midst; friends — I am so moved by the depth of your courage. I wish I had room to share them all here, but here is a representative sample of the responses:

·         Going to coffee hour the first time took courage.

·         At 14 years old, despite my shyness, volunteering at summer camp for adults with disabilities changed my life — gave me a purpose and shaped my career and heart.

·         Being a parent.

·         Smuggling Draft Resistors into Canada during the Viet Nam War.

·         Having the faith to help my family and home be a loving place.

·         Saying out loud when a joke isn’t funny; disagreeing with the “crowd.”

·         I have had the courage to face my childhood abuser and still love myself.

·         A girl in my class wanted to drown my friend’s garden and I stopped her.

·         I signed up for a painting class after not painting for 40 years, and now I love to paint.

·         I showed courage by being strong for our family during times of challenge.

·         I danced with someone with special needs for a play. I thought my friends would make fun of me but I still did it.

·         I was brave enough to leave an abusive relationship.

·         I took in a 13 year-old girl as my kid.

·         Coming out to friends and family.

·         I was willing to question, search, investigate, and challenge the beliefs that were dear to me to pursue truth.

·         To continue to enjoy life after my child died.

·         I participated in the service today.

·         RE Volunteer (even though I’m nervous each week).

·         Fall 2010: started training for, and then ran, the L.A. Marathon.

·         Quitting smoking and getting sober.

·         Slept in the dark.

·         Really, just joining the church — it allowed me to feed the homeless, march in the gay pride parade, and stand up for gay rights, and tell people I do not believe in God — it all started here.

·         Marching in the Pride Parade!

·         Courage to be open and loving.

What is your own story of courage? May we all continue to blossom in love, in faith, and in service to one another.

— Catherine Farmer Loya

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

Have you ever wondered about the nature of reality?

Have you ever wanted to explore new ways to put our UU principles into practice?

Do you feel that you're still a learner yourself, and always will be?

We need you!

Please consider volunteering in RE.

We are currently recruiting volunteers for the 2012-13 RE program starting in September. We're looking for teachers to lead 1 or 2 Sundays per month, as well as volunteers for many other parts of our large and vibrant program for children and youth.

Do you love spending time with young children as they learn about the world and make friends? Then assisting in our Nursery or Preschool class is the right place for you!

Are you passionate about sharing the core stories of our faith with children as they make meaning of their lives, grow a strong UU identity, and create a spiritual community together that honors multiple learning styles and celebrates beauty in diversity? Then join our Spirit Play team, for 1st and 2nd graders.  

Do science and nature fill you with mystery and wonder? Then help our 3rd through 5th graders consider “How Do We Know What We Know?” as they explore the Big Bang and the origins of the Universe, the chemistry of life, the ideas of evolution and change over time, and the interconnectedness of all people from our shared ancestry with each other and every other life form on the planet in our UUniverse Story program.

Does your heart go pitter-patter when you think about helping young people explore their identities, their beliefs, their Unitarian Universalist faith, their relationships with others and their connections to the world? In that case, you'll love being a leader for our 6th through 7th grade Compass Points class.

Is deep exploration of your personal theology, and engaging others in articulating who they are and what their beliefs are within the context of our UU faith most exciting to you? Then join our 8th grade Coming of Age team (9 a.m. only).

Are you a creative, loving, flexible adult who gets a kick out of teens and wants to support them as they grow and develop into young adults? If that sounds like you, consider joining our 9th through 12th grade Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU) advisor team.

Visit the RE table in the courtyard during coffee hour for more information or to sign up!

Minesterial Theme for July:  Creativity

Our ministerial theme for July is creativity.  Bettye Barclay has provided this list of daily thoughts about creativity for the month of July.

JULY 1 

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.  Erich Fromm

JULY 2

The things we fear most in organizations — fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances — are the primary sources of creativity.  Margaret J. Wheatley

JULY 3 

It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science.             Carl Sagan

JULY 4

Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled; to concentrate; to accept conflict and tension; to be born every day; to feel a sense of self. Erich Fromm

JULY 5

Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force.  The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward.  When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand. Shel Silverstein

JULY 6

If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of potential, for the eye, which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never.  Soren Kierkegaard

JULY 7

Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm. Earl Nightingale

JULY 8

The new meaning of soul is creativity and mysticism.  These will become the foundation of a new psychological type and with him or her will come the new civilization.                                                                                                                                          Otto Rank

JULY 9

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something — they just saw something — they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. Steve Jobs

JULY 10

Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous. Bill Moyers

JULY 11

A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something. Frank Capra

JULY 12

Being creative means: not numbering and counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn’t force its sap, and stands confidently in the storm of spring, not afraid that afterward summer may not come. Rainer Maria Rilke

JULY 13

I firmly believe that all human beings have access to extraordinary energies and powers. Judging from accounts of mystical experience, heightened creativity, or exceptional performance by athletes and artists, we harbor a greater life than we know.   Jean Houston

JULY 14

Living creatively is really important to maintain throughout your life. And living creatively doesn’t mean only artistic creativity, although that’s part of it. It means being yourself, not just complying with the wishes of other people.  Matt Groening

JULY 15

Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That, and surprise. Julia Cameron

JULY 16

Make an empty space in any corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it. Dee Hock

JULY 17

Our senses are indeed our doors and windows on this world, in a very real sense the key to unlocking of meaning and the wellspring of creativity. Jean Houston

JULY 18

The creative mind doesn’t require logical transitions from one thought to another.  It skips, jumps, doubles back, circles and dives, from one idea to the next. Bonnie Goldberg

JULY 19

You must not for one instant give up the effort to build new lives for yourselves.  Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning doorway to life. Daisaku Ikeda

JULY 20.

The chief enemy of creativity is “good sense.” Pablo Picasso

JULY 21 

True creativity often starts where language ends. Arthur Koestler

JULY 22.

Whatever creativity is, it is in part a solution to a problem. Brian Aldiss

JULY 23

To create, you must empty yourself of every artistic thought. Gilbert

JULY 24

Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training.  Anna Freud

JULY 25

It is the creative potential itself in human beings that is the image of God. Mary Daly

JULY 26

Surprise is where creativity comes in. Ray Bradbury

JULY 27

But if you have nothing at all to create, then perhaps you create yourself. Carl Jung

JULY 28

Self creation is an art of fire.  M. C. Richards

JULY 29

 If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking.  Angels whisper to a person out for a walk. Raymond Inmon

JULY 30

To create is to touch the spirit. M. Cassou, S. Cubley

JULY 31

Our creativity does not consist in being right all the time, but in making of all our experiences, including the apparently mistaken and imperfect ones, a holy whole. Matthew Fox

Fun for All Ages

July 21 Crafty Afternoon

Another hot summer Saturday afternoon.   Boredom is setting in.  You’ve done Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm.  The beach is too crowded and the Coast Highway traffic is impossible.  Come to church!  We’re going to spend the afternoon working with clay, making dolls, knitting, sewing, making great structures from wood, creating art from junk, and more.  There will be people to teach you how to do it and you can go home with something wonderful.  Everyone from toddlers to teenagers to our eldest members is invited to join the fun from 1 to 5 p.m.

Getting Ready For DeBenneville Pines

Watch for the date in the order of service.  We’re going to spend a Sunday afternoon in August playing camp games, doing camp crafts, singing camp songs, eating camp food, and making s’mores around a fire on the patio outside Forbes Hall.  Join us!

ADULT DOINGS

Now’s the time to stop by the Lifespan Table in Forbes Hall to tell us what workshops, classes and discussion groups you would like to attend or facilitate starting in September.  We want to know what you want to know.  Help us to plan another exciting year in Adult Programs at UUSM.  Talk to us about it at the table or contact one of the committee members: Emmy Cresciman, Judy Federick, Karen Hsu Patterson, or James Witker.

Patio Chat

Monthly UUCCSM Theme Discussion

with Leon Henderson-MacLennan

@ 11:10 a.m. on the Patio

July 2 — CREATIVITY

SHARE UUR STORY

Summer Interviews Now Being Scheduled

Check in at the Lifespan table in Forbes Hall to volunteer to share your story with us or to interview a storyteller.

Share UUr Story volunteer opportunities:  1) Share your story with us; 2) Interview those who want to share their story!

Contact Judy Federick if you'd like to participate.

March, 2012

From our Director of Religious Education:

This month’s ministry theme, “Brokenness,” is one that resonates with me pretty deeply these days, as I continue to recover following the Christmas Eve fall that left me with a broken ankle. Isn’t it amazing that our bones will just heal themselves, given time and rest? I take comfort in knowing that, as living beings, our broken bones will not stay that way forever. We aren’t like toys or teacups — our broken places, sometimes, are really the places where we have the greatest opportunity to grow and develop strengths that we didn’t know were lying dormant within us. My body was ready to mend itself all along, and was just waiting for the need to arise. Astounding. I also have been thinking about the imagery of being “broken open.” Rather than thinking of brokenness only in terms of being damaged, what parallels do you see in your own life if instead you envision being broken open like a seed that has given way to let something new and full of life emerge?

I am mindful though, that there are also times in our lives when we feel just plain broken, when no easy or inevitable fix is on the horizon for us. And in those times, our UUCCSM community can serve as a safe place to bring those broken parts of ourselves to be held in love and compassion. As Unitarian Universalists, part of our covenant with one another is that we will “walk together” as we carry out our individual lives. Certainly I have been buoyed by the care and help that many of you have shown me in the last couple of months as I’ve been on the mend. I am lucky; this time, my brokenness is temporary. But the gifts I have received because of it will stay. If given the choice, I certainly would not have chosen to injure myself in this way, but I am grateful for the good that I can pull out of the experience, even so. What a blessing it is to be in community with one another.

—Catherine Farmer Loya

March in the Classrooms

This month in the children’s RE program, preschoolers will celebrate the beginning of spring, and will explore many different kinds of families. Early elementary participants will explore the fourth Source of Unitarian Universalism with stories from the Jewish and Christian traditions, and will engage this month’s theme of “Brokenness.” A highlight of the month for upper elementary children in the UUniverse Story program will be a field trip to the Natural History Museum on March 11. Middle schoolers in Neighboring Faiths will learn about Sikhism, and will visit the Guru Ram Das ashram on the 11th. And on March 25th, while older children and youth are attending the YRUU service in the sanctuary, younger children will make doggy treats for shelter puppies for this month’s RE Faith in Action project. Children’s Programs subcommittee members welcome your comments and questions

— Nicole Henderson-MacLennan, Susan Hendricks Richman, Sabina Mayo-Smith, and Kim Santiago-Kalmanson.

Youth Score a Home Run with Laser Tag and Ball Park Outings

Grab your lasers and get, set, go to Ultrazone in Sherman Oaks, the ultimate laser adventure, on Saturday, March 3. A futuristic version of Capture the Flag, this game is an adrenaline rush like never before. Watch your in box for details and don’t miss this fun-filled night out organized by parents Erika and Steven Valore with Alicia and Steven Van Ooyen.

Go Dodger Blue! Saturday, April 14, youth head out to Chavez Ravine to cheer on the home team as they take on the San Diego Padres. Advance ticket purchase is required. Please RSVP to parent volunteers, Laura and Larry Weiner, with the number of tickets you need by March 31. Admission is approximately $12 each for seats located in the top deck behind home plate.

Thanks to parent volunteers Liza Cranis, Erika and Steven Valore, a spirited group of kids enjoyed pizza, games, movies and some midnight madness of baking cookies and making sundaes, while deepening friendships during the legendary overnight lock in at the church in February.

To find out the scoop on all upcoming activities, contact Lifespan RE Youth Sub-Committee Head Teri Bond. Fun is our mission! 

Upcoming Adult Programs

Faith Like a River — Themes from Unitarian Universalist History. 

Faith Like a River explores the dynamic course of Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist (UU) history — the people, ideas, and movements that have shaped our faith heritage. It invites participants to place themselves into our history and consider its legacies. What lessons do the stories of our history teach that can help us live more faithfully in the present? What lessons do they offer to be lived into the future? Join facilitator Catherine Farmer Loya in the mural room (of course!) for four consecutive Wednesday evenings, March 14 to April 4, for an introductory exploration of our UU religious tradition’s roots. To sign up, contact Catherine@uusm.org or visit the Lifespan RE table during coffee hour on Sundays.

Unitarian Universalist Association Common Read

The Common Read is coming — have you started reading yet? All UUCCSM members and friends are invited to join UUs from congregations all over the country this spring in reading “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation,” by Dr. Eboo Patel. Why take the time to read a book that someone else has chosen, though? This is one more aspect of our congregation’s new experiment with Lifespan Religious Exploration. Just as all members of our community have opportunities to engage in some way in our monthly ministry themes this year, this is another way in which members of UUCCSM can come together to “go deeper” in our faith as Unitarian Universalists and in our connections to one another.

Why, then, this book in particular? Dr. Eboo Patel’s memoir, “Acts of Faith,” has been selected as the 2011-2012 Unitarian Universalist Association Common Read. Patel is founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, an international, nonprofit, youth service leadership organization. “‘Acts of Faith,” a beautifully written story of discovery and hope, chronicles Dr. Eboo Patel’s struggle to forge his identity as a Muslim, an Indian, and an American. In the process, he developed a deep reverence for what all faiths have in common, and founded an interfaith movement to help young people to embrace their common humanity through their faith. This young social entrepreneur offers us a powerful way to deal with one of the most important issues of our time.” —President Bill Clinton

We hope that all of you will consider taking part in this special project. Check the book out from the library, buy it for your e-reader, or purchase it from the book cart or the Lifespan RE table right here at UUCCSM during coffee hours this month. Then, once we’ve all had some time to read, we’ll offer a number of opportunities in April to take part in a one-session book discussion. Sign up for one of the two sessions offered at the church, on Sunday April 15 from 4 to 6 p.m. (potluck dinner to follow), or Wednesday, April 25, from 7 to 9 p.m. Or join one of the neighborhood gatherings being hosted by UUCCSM members in their homes — details of those gatherings will be announced soon, though there will certainly be meetings in Culver City, West LA and Santa Monica, and possibly additional neighborhoods. Don’t miss out on it!

Multi-Generational Section

Record Breaking Attendance

The February Second Sunday Supper sponsored by Lifespan RE was a blockbuster! Lots of serious young (and not so young) artists created gorgeous valentines and ate oodles of fabulous food. Fifty people between the ages of about 2 and 90 found plenty to talk about and even sing about, too. Don’t miss the fun on March 11 — no valentines, but still plenty of food and fun.

Share UUr Story

Plans continue to move forward for UUSM’s oral history project. Stop by the Lifespan Table any Sunday to share your thoughts and catch up on what’s new. In addition to interviewing our members, we would like to capture some video chats on the history of committees in the church. If you were one of the founding (or early) members of any of our committees, we would like to hear from you. On a more technological note, we are looking for a microphone that can be connected to a video camera and someone who can show us how to do it. We anticipate that many of our interviews will take place outside the church.

 Patio Chat — Sunday, March 11

Monthly UUCCSM Theme Discussion

BROKENNESS

with Leon Henderson-MacLennan

at 10:10 a.m. on the Patio

Home Hospitality Needed For Visiting RE Professionals

On March 22, 23, and 24 UUSM will host religious education professionals and volunteers for a workshop on UU Identity. A few of these folks will need a place to stay in the area. If you are able to offer hospitality to one or two attendees for two nights (Thursday and Friday), please contact Emmy Cresciman for more information. You will not be responsible for meals.

February, 2012

From Our Director of Religious Education:

This month, the ministry theme we’ll explore together is PEACE. In services and in classrooms, people of all ages will be thinking about what peace is and how we can help bring it to our communities and to the world. Peace is a really big concept, and we often spend a lot of time thinking about peace on a grand scale: world peace, the end of wars, etc. But I’m interested, too, in thinking about what peace is on a much smaller scale — how can we build peace in our own hearts, and in our individual interactions with others?

We talk a lot about “spiritual growth” here at church, particularly when we articulate our goals for the religious education of the young people in our programs on Sunday mornings. We’re all better people when we try to be our best selves, and that best self is itself growing and changing all the time as we grow and learn more about who we are and how to be in this world. Spiritual growth means growing toward that best self — the you that is happy and healthy and enjoys being part of the world and being around other people and is excited about learning and trying new things and meeting new people. The you that’s at peace and treats everyone the way you would like them to treat you.

But it’s not always easy to know how to cultivate a peaceful self, particularly when we’re busy, or stressed, or aggravated. This certainly continues to be a growing edge in my own life. Each Sunday, elementary children in our Spirit Play classes share the “Gandhi Peace Greeting” as part of their opening ritual. The words of the greeting are a lovely reminder to me for how to cultivate a peaceful attitude toward others: I offer you friendship/I offer you love/I see your beauty/I hear your needs/I feel your feelings/My wisdom comes from a higher source/I honor that source in you/Let us work together.

I invite you to join all of us here at UUCCSM in our month of peace-seeking. Drop in for the bi-weekly Wednesday night meditation class led by Bill Blake on February 1, 15, or 29 at 7:30 p.m., or join the Peacethemed Patio Chat facilitated by Leon Henderson- MacLennan between the services on February 26. Attend services and talk to others at coffee hour about what peace means to you. And most of all, practice being at peace with yourself, and in your relationships with others you encounter this month. May each of us become beacons of peace in our homes and in our communities, not just this month but throughout our lives.

— Catherine Farmer Loya

Wild and Crazy Times for Youth

Go-cart races, Dodger game, picnic/hike, overnight and a pool party are all featured events being planned for COA/YRUU this spring. Fun is our mission! We look forward to bringing our teens together to share good times, to have adventures, and to make some memories. On the line-up for February 4 is an overnight at the Church with pizza and movies and games. In March we’ll be Go-cart racing. April takes us out to the ball park for a Dodger match-up. May brings us back to nature for a hike and picnic. We wrap up the year with a splash at a pool party in June. Dates are subject to change. Please watch your email inboxes for more information. Thanks to parent volunteers Lara Davis del Piccolo (Clelia’s mom) and Karl Lisovsky (Angela’s dad), several youth went for a whirl on the Winter Wonderland ICE skating rink to kick off the new year on January 7. Between laps under the stars, skaters enjoyed hot cocoa and homemade brownies. To find out the latest details on all upcoming excursions, contact Lifespan RE Youth Sub-Committee Head Teri Bond. Don’t miss out.

February in the Classrooms

This month in the children’s RE program, preschoolers will celebrate Valentine’s Day and will explore the many different sorts of emotions we all experience, and how to express them in ways that don’t hurt other people. Early elementary participants will learn about our seventh UU principle (the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part) with stories from science and nature, and will engage this month’s theme of PEACE. Upper elementary children will continue exploring the amazing natural world around us in their UUniverse Story class. Middle schoolers in Neighboring Faiths will learn about Taoism, including a visit to the Taoist temple in Chinatown. We’ll also offer a special peace-themed Faith in Action project on February 26 for grades K to 5 in RE.

And all families are invited to join us for a very special Second Sunday Supper on February 12 from 5 to 7 p.m.; at 5 p.m. we’ll make Valentines for our friends and families as well as church members who could use some cheer and then at 6 p.m. we’ll share a potluck dinner together. We hope to see you there!

Children’s Programs subcommittee members welcome your comments and questions

— Nicole Henderson- MacLennan, Susan Hendricks Richman, Sabina Mayo-Smith, and Kim Santiago-Kalmanson.

Help Wanted

INTERVIEWEES — Share your story on video

INTERVIEWERS — Sit down with interviewee and ask questions, guide the interview — we will train

PROJECT DESIGNERS — Work with the LRE committee to continue with the conceptualization of the project

CAMERA/SOUND RECORDISTS — Operate camera and sound equipment — we will train

PRODUCTION COORDINATORS — Set up interviews, supervise shoots

TECHNICAL CONSULTANTS/TRAINERS — Share your expertise in video production, show team members how to use equipment

VIDEO/SOUND EDITORS — Must have prior experience

ASSISTANT EDITORS — Upload and log footage

ARCHIVIST – Maintain a DVD library of interviews

SET BUILDER – Help to build an “interview booth” at church We welcome your ideas and suggestions.

Stop by the Lifespan table in Forbes or contact members of the Multi-Generational subcommittee: Judy Federick, Leon Henderson-MacLennan, Carol-Jean Teuffel, and Larry Weiner.

Patio Chat -- Sunday, February 26

Monthly UUCCSM Theme Discussion

PEACE

with Leon Henderson-MacLennan

10:00 a.m. on the Patio

New Workshop Starts February 12

"BYOT 3: Ethics" will be facilitated by Bernie Silvers and Ed Field.  Bernie is an ordained Zen monk who lived at the Zen Center of L.A. for thirteen years and was president for eight years.  He has also been a UU for more than thirty years and has studied ethics extensively.  Ed has a Ph.D. in physics and has been a UU for about fifteen years.  The class invites participants to apply their believs, values, and convictions to particular ethical situations with scenarios culled from history, literature, current events, and the participants' own lives.  A text book is required and is available at our church bookstore in Forbes Hall.  Sign up at the Lifespan table on Sunday mornings.  The class will meet upstairs in Forbes Hall at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoons.

January, 2012

From our DRE:

Happy New Year! As I write this, it has not yet arrived — the holidays are staring me in the face, and our Winter Holiday pageant is fast approaching. This is always a busy time, especially in these last few pre-pageant days, but as hectic as the holidays are, what stands out in my memory once they’re over is not the anxious rushing around, but rather a clear vision of what our community is really all about. I love our big, messy pageant every year because it’s one time when our whole church community fully participates in worship together.

Once the New Year arrives, though, my thoughts turn toward the new beginnings I’m hoping for. Resolutions and goals and aspirations, oh my! It is a time of searching for a better path, of seeking to be more fully myself. The life of our congregation mirrors the individual path at this time of year, too. We are midway through the church year, and January is a time when we reassess our programs to see how they’re going. It’s also a time when many new opportunities for connecting and growing are launched. Be on the lookout for signups for many new adult as well as multigenerational programs coming soon!

This month’s ministry theme is Wisdom, a theme that reaches to the heart of our Unitarian Universalist tradition. Hosea Ballou, an influential Universalist preacher in the first half of the 19th century, wrote these words in his 1805 book, “A Treatise on Atonement”: “We feel our own imperfections; we wish for everyone to seek with all his might after wisdom; and let it be found where it may, or by whom it may, we humbly wish to have it brought to light, that all may enjoy it; but do not feel authorized to condemn an honest inquirer after truth, for what he believes different from a majority of us.”

I suspect that the search for wisdom has been a part of human life as long as there have been people. As Unitarian Universalists, though, we are a people who know that wisdom is to be found in many places, and we honor the search for truth and knowledge as one of our core principles. This month, let’s celebrate the search for wisdom together. Think about the things you know now that you didn’t know this time last year, or 10 years ago, or 30 years ago. Reflect on the best piece of advice you were ever given. Remember the elders who were part of your own life when you were a child, and think about what you learned from them. Then share some of your own wisdom with those you see at church on Sunday. And ask them to share some of their wisdom with you.

— Catherine Farmer Loya

January in the Classrooms

We have a very full month planned in the children’s RE program. In January, preschoolers will celebrate some of the wonderful ways in which people differ from one another and will also celebrate the Chinese New Year. Early elementary participants will explore our interdependent web with stories from science and nature and will engage this month’s theme of WISDOM. Upper elementary children will continue exploring the amazing natural world around us in their UUniverse Story class. Middle schoolers in Neighboring Faiths will complete their study of Buddhism with a trip to the Santa Monica Buddhist Center and the Venice Buddhist Temple. And we’ll also take part in this month’s Faith in Action project on January 22 with a visit to the Turning Point transitional housing shelter, where we’ll take a tour and will make bag lunches for the residents. A big thanks to all UUCCSM members for your generous contributions to our Common Ground Faith in Action project in November; RE participants compiled 160 hygiene kits (nearly double last year’s total) and sorted many donations of warm clothing and blankets, including 170 pairs of socks and more than 50 sweaters and jackets!

Children’s Programs subcommittee members welcome your comments and questions.

— Nicole Henderson-MacLennan, Susan Hendricks Richman, Sabina Mayo-Smith, Kim Santiago-Kalmanson.

Patio Chat with Leon Henderson-MacLennan

Monthly UUCCSM Religious Exploration Theme Discussion
January 22, 2012 at 10:10 a.m. — WISDOM

Share UUr Stories

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, under the auspices of the WPA, the Federal Writers’ Project sent writers and historians around the country to collect oral histories of the American people. There was a strong focus on former slaves as well as on immigrants, artists, and musicians. These interviews are archived at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, and in the collections of various universities throughout the country.

Today, National Public Radio has a project called Story Corps. A bus travels around the country making audio recordings of people’s stories and broadcasts them on the radio; in Southern California they can be heard on KPCC (89.3 FM). They are archived on the NPR website, www.npr.org. Each of the stories is in some way thought provoking and inspirational.

There is no more powerful tool for building community than sharing our stories. From the pictures drawn on cave walls eons ago to the era of scratchy wire recordings in the 1930s to all of today’s high-tech options, we are blessed to have the opportunity to learn from the wisdom of our ancestors, our peers, and our children.

Our intent is to carry on the tradition of sharing our stories by creating a UUCCSM video archive of the reminiscences of our members and friends. We will launch our project on January 15 during the Sunday morning service when we hope to show a clip from a video of the late John Raiford, made by Jerry and Nathan Gates.

Also on January 15 in the afternoon, Maggie and Ernie Pipes will host a screening of “Sunset Story,” a documentary on the residents of Sunset Hall. Sunset Hall was a senior housing facility for labor activists and political radicals near First Unitarian Church in downtown Los Angeles. The documentary was seen in over 300 cities in the country in 2005 on the PBS series Independent Lens as well as in theaters nationwide and at film festivals throughout the world. It follows Irja (81) and Lucille (95) as they “attend demonstrations, register their fellow residents to vote, and debate everything under the sun.”

Our project is intended to be the primary focus of the Multi-Generational Subcommittee of LRE for the remainder of this church year, and will be ongoing into the future. We’ll focus first on the elders in our congregation and on long-time members who are leaving Southern California. We hope to enlist our youth to be videographers (and interviewers if they are willing), and even the younger children can participate by asking questions of our members during coffee hour. Our video interviews may be conducted by someone from the project, by a family member, or by a friend of the interviewee. We may also video gatherings of groups of peers sharing their stories, and we might also document groups working together, for example doing a newsletter mailing or at a Second Sunday Supper. We hope that the entire congregation will get into the spirit of the project. Visit the Lifespan table in Forbes Hall to check for updates and to make suggestions and sign up to be interviewed. Subcommittee members would love to hear from you.

– Judy Federick, Leon Henderson-MacLennan, Carol-Jean Teuffel, and Larry Weiner.

Photos from the Annual Friendly Beasts Pageant