November, 2011

“Love is the doctrine of this church/the quest of truth is its sacrament/and service is its prayer,” begins the congregational covenant we say together each Sunday morning. Have you ever taken the time to think about what we’re saying when we recite these words together? Are they just nice words to say on Sundays, or do they carry a deeper message for us?

This month our congregational ministry theme is SERVICE. Our covenant says that service is our congregation’s prayer. But what does that really mean? Prayer or meditation is a way of connecting with our very deepest selves, with the sacred, and with the whole world around us. So in the words of our covenant, perhaps we are saying that these connections are found when we serve others and work to make the world a better place.

“Faith in Action” is what we call this work in our congregation, and there are many ways to join our community in acts of service to the world. In the RE program this month, we’re especially excited to be conducting our annual donation drive to benefit homeless teens served by Common Ground. On November 27, children and youth will compile “hygiene kits” from donated toiletries and will count and sort donations of clothes, blankets, and backpacks. Last year our members’ generosity resulted in 86 hygiene kits — can we make it to 100 this year?

What a gift it is to our children that they are invited to participate in putting their hands and feet on our UU principles, that we not only talk about what it means to be a UU, but also give them opportunities to live our values. As our young people are learning, giving feels good. And doing feels even better. As Unitarian Universalists, we know that what we do matters, and that each of us has the ability to make a difference in the world. How will service be your prayer this month?

— Catherine Farmer Loya

 

Lifespan RE

UU Kids: We have a very full month planned in the children’s RE program. In November, preschoolers will celebrate trees — how important they are and how we can help take care of them. Early elementary participants will explore our UU principles through story, and they will engage our November theme of SERVICE. Upper elementary children will learn about DNA as a common building block of all life — we’ll even extract strands of DNA from strawberries right in our classroom! Middle schoolers in Neighboring Faiths will complete their study of Hinduism with a trip to the Hare Krishna Temple.

And we’ll all take part in this year’s donation drive to benefit Common Ground’s homeless teen drop-in center. On Sundays in November, please bring donations of unused travel-sized hygiene products, as well as warm clothing, socks, underwear, blankets, and sleeping bags. On November 27, children and youth will compile “hygiene kits” and will count and sort all donated items. Last year we made 86 hygiene kits — can we make it to 100 this year? Children’s Programs subcommittee members welcome your comments and questions — Nicole Henderson-MacLennan, Susan Hendricks Richman, Sabina Mayo-Smith, and Kim Santiago-Kalmanson.

Youth in the Glow: An impressive crowd of enthusiastic beachgoers came out to enjoy a bonfire at Dockweiler on October 8. Thanks to the dedicated parent volunteers Karl Lisovsky, Lara Del Piccolo, and Carol Cromer who organized the festive teen event, about 25 folks had fun playing games, talking, laughing, and eating in the glow of a roaring fire. The setting sun was especially dramatic that night and the breeze mild. After roasting dogs, marshmallows got hot and gooey for delicious s’mores.

Watch your email for details about the next youth get-together on Saturday, November 12 for Bowl-ORama! Questions or ideas can be directed to any of the youth committee members: Teri Bond, Liza Cranis, Elaine Gordon, and Nalani Santiago-Kalmanson.

Adults look inward in November with the return of Building Your Own Theology (BYOT) on November 6 upstairs in Room 1 at 1 p.m. Based on the assumption that everyone is their own theologian, this classic UU adult education program invites participants to develop their personal credos: the fundamental beliefs, values and convictions that inform and direct the living of their lives. Facilitators are Judy Federick and Max Johnson. Register at the Lifespan table in Forbes Hall after the service on Sunday.

Vespers with The Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur on Thursday, November 17 at 7 p.m. in the Sanctuary offer an opportunity to enjoy a little serenity before the onslaught of the holiday season.

Mark your calendar for November 27. Between services we’ll have a patio chat on the monthly theme of Service. Then at 1 p.m. in the Sanctuary, Adult Programs will co-host with AAHS (Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists, Secularists) a lecture by renowned sociologist Dr. Phil Zuckerman. For more information about this lecture see Ian Dodd’s article elsewhere in this newsletter.

If you have a question or an idea about a workshop, stop by the Lifespan table in Forbes, or contact a member of the Adult Programs Committee: Emmy Cresciman, Joe Engleman, Tom Hamilton, Judith Martin-Straw, and Rhonda Peacock.

All-church activities in November:

November 13: Second-Sunday Games and Supper Games start at 4 p.m. Bring your own to share and teach or play one of ours (Scrabble, Dominoes, Bananagrams, Pictionary, etc.) 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 tasty and the company is beyond compare.

November 19: No movie — Come to Thanksgiving Feast, the potluck to end all potlucks!

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

— Emmy Cresciman

 

RE Faith in Action
Common Ground Donation Drive: Can You Help?

On Sunday, November 27, the RE program will be collecting and sorting donated items to give to homeless teens served by Common Ground Westside.

Please take a look at the list of items below and bring some things in for our donation drive. Undergarments, socks and personal care items should be new. Other items can be gently used or new.

Items can be dropped off at the "Common Ground Donations" table at church on November 13, 20, or 27.

The following items are needed:

For “Hygiene Kits” 
Travel- or hotel-sized toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion, toothpaste, deodorant, etc.), toothbrushes, shaving razors, feminine hygiene products, etc. (available at most drug stores or brought home from hotel stays).

Clothing Items 
Socks, underwear, bras, hoodies/sweat shirts (larger sizes — will be worn over other layers), warm hats or beanies, gloves, scarves, etc.

Other Items 
Blankets, sleeping bags, backpacks

Questions? Contact Catherine@uusm.org or (310) 829-5436 x105. Thank you for helping us support the work of Common Ground!

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April, 2011

Do you know our church covenant? Here’s a hint: we say it together in the service every Sunday.

Love is the doctrine of this church. 
The quest of truth is its sacrament 
And service is its prayer. 
To dwell together in peace; 
To seek knowledge in freedom; 
To serve humankind in fellowship; 
Thus do we covenant with each other.

Unitarian Universalist congregations are covenantal communities, directly descended from Puritans in early America, who created a form of governance in their churches known as congregational polity, which we UUs still practice today. What binds us together is not a particular profession of faith or creed, nor fealty to any higher authority than the members of our own community. Instead, what unites us is our covenant: all who agree to “walk together” in support of this covenant may become members of our church.

The Religious Exploration Committee, Adult Programs Committee, and I are deep in planning for next year’s program, and I am delighted to be able to share a little bit about what’s to come. As part of our movement toward offering a truly lifespan RE program, our 2011- 2012 church year will include a congregation-wide focus on our covenant, with monthly themes drawn from each line of it: Love, Truth, Service, Peace, Freedom, Fellowship, and Covenant. These themes will show up in different ways, including chalice lightings, readings, and sermons. We’ll offer at least one Adult RE workshop or course that relates to each month’s theme and will have special weekly opening words in all our classes for children and youth. We’re creating a brand new 2nd and 3rd grade class that will explore these themes as the central part of the program, with sessions that engage different styles of learning, including drama, service projects, artwork, presentations from special visitors, cooking, building, and other hands-on modes of exploration. And several times during the year we’ll celebrate our covenantal themes through intergenerational worship and social events.

People who come to our church, no matter what age or stage of life they are in, are looking for many of the same things: a sense of community and opportunities for learning more about Unitarian Universalism as well as other varieties of religious faith, inspiration to grow personally as well as spiritually, and ways to live our values through acts of service to the church community and to the world. A common thread runs through all that we do — when we meet in groups separated by age or interest as well as when we gather as one community. I’m so excited to strengthen those common threads over the next year, and I invite all in our congregation to walk together in deepening our connection to the covenant that binds us together as one family of faith as UUCCSM.

— Catherine Farmer Loya

 

A Useful Toolkit for Meditation

A useful toolkit for meditation This class will start on Wednesday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m. in the cottage. The last class is on Wednesday, June 8. It provides a toolkit of eight to ten meditations from several spiritual traditions. Present-time and sit-down versions will be taught and both brands of meditation (mindfulness and inquiry) will be presented. The class is experiential and learner-centered and not lecture and teacher-centered. We discuss each meditation, do it, and use it as homework. Printed descriptions of all meditations are given to participants.

This is Bill Blake’s fifth meditation class. It differs from the others in that the first five weeks will focus on “growing up” and the last three on “waking up.” Growing up relates mainly to increased conscious awareness, i.e., more mindfulness or presence with our thoughts, feelings, and environment. Growing up never ends. Waking up points toward spiritual awakening or enlightenment: knowing what we are. The two approaches are distinct yet interconnected. Each builds on the other.

These meditations are simple and user-friendly. Some individuals relate more to particular meditations than others because each of us has distinct predispositions. When a participant finishes this class, he or she will have a “toolbox” of meditations benefiting relationships, self-confidence, and career. Often a participant chooses to practice one meditation for several months and then releases it for a few months or years — and then vigorously re-practices it.

Newcomers to meditation are 100% welcome. Steady attendance and dedication to homework will amplify mindfulness and groom you for awakening.

— Bill Blake

 

Adult RE: UU Controversies -- Communism

In April the UU Controversies discussion will be about the Unitarian relationship to Communism, a subject that caused fierce division within Unitarianism. National Unitarian leaders Noel Field and Stephen Fritchman were fired from their Unitarian jobs because of their Communist activities. In the 1950s controversy over the State of California requiring churches to sign an anti-Communist loyalty oath contributed to a split in our own congregation. We will discuss the sharp Unitarian debate accompanying these events. A brief background paper is available at https://sites.google.com/site /uusmcontroversies/home. The discussion will be at Tom and Bronwen’s house.

— Tom Hamilton

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March, 2011

A s I write this column, I am preparing to load up a giant van with seven of our UUCCSM high school youth, YRUU advisors Liza Cranis and Gretchen Goetz, and many pieces of luggage and bedding to drive to San Francisco to participate in a “street retreat” with the Faithful Fools Street Ministry. Created in 1998 by a UU Minister and Franciscan nun, the Faithful Fools is a charitable and educational organization whose mission is to be present with and to address the existence of poverty in the midst of material wealth. Each month they host a “street retreat” when members of the public are invited to join them in a ministry of presence in the heart of San Francisco’s Tenderloin.

This is our first experience with the Fools, though we are joining youth from Neighborhood Church in Pasadena who have participated for several years already. I am glad to be joining a group of repeat-retreaters, though even so I head out with a great deal of excitement and a little bit of trepidation. What can I expect from the retreat on Saturday?

The instructions are intentionally vague: the truth is that there are no instructions, nothing that requires doing. Participants are asked to be present. We are told to allow ourselves to be led and have the experience we were meant to have. We are encouraged to listen and be aware of our own judgments. We are not given tasks or brochures or food to hand out. The most instruction we are given is a suggestion to stand in a food line and eat a free meal at one of the soup kitchens serving hot lunches.

Have you heard the old adage that the role of religion is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”? On Saturday morning, before heading out into the Tenderloin, we’ll encourage our youth to push themselves, to move beyond their expectations and limitations. Certainly, those of us going on the street retreat – adults as well as youth - will be stepping out of our comfort zones. It’s a little bit scary, but it is there, in the space just beyond the realm we usually inhabit, that transformation becomes possible.

Our annual YRUU Sunday service will be offered on Sunday, March 27, and our youth will be speaking about what they have learned, in San Francisco as well as elsewhere in their lives, from stepping out of their own comfort zones. Make sure to attend – perhaps you’ll find inspiration for transcending your comfort zone and entering into a “ministry of presence” in your own life as well as in the world beyond your doorstep.

— Catherine Farmer Loya

 

Adult RE Offering: UU Controversies

T his March the UU Controversies discussion will be about the Unitarian debate over the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Under the terms of the 1820 Missouri Compromise, California south of Monterey was slated to be a slave state. In 1850, Massachusetts Unitarian Daniel Webster made a deal with part of the South. Slavery would be outlawed in southern California. In return, the North would accept a strict Fugitive Slave Act. While most New England Unitarians agreed that slavery was evil, they were sharply divided about whether making deals with evil was morally acceptable. Excerpts from historical documents are available at https://sites.google.com/site/uusmcontroversies/home. If that doesn’t work, e-mail or call Tom Hamilton, or just pick up hard copies at the church office. The discussion will be at Tom and Bronwen’s house on Monday, March 14.

— Tom Hamilton

 

COA and FUUsion Join for Community Service

Several Coming of Age youth and their parents teamed up for a joint COA/fUUsion service project this past January on MLK day. FUUsion cooked a meal in Forbes, and COA made sack lunches for Turning Point. Overall the event was a fantastic success. With vegetarian chili for dinner, and very full sack lunches, everyone was happy to participate and shared some knock-knock jokes! It is a goal of RE and fUUSion to have more intergenerational events in the future.

-- Jessica Clay

 

Campaign Against Torture

At its Town Hall meeting January 30, the Faith in Action Commission (FIA) agreed to promote a resolution at our annual congregational meeting (in May) calling for our church to become a member of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) www.nrcat. org. Former FIA chair Cathie Gentile told the assembly about NRCAT’s statement of conscience, “Torture Is a Moral Issue.”

Item 1 on NRCAT’S 2011 agenda is to “Increase the number of people in the U.S. who believe that torture is always wrong — without exception.” Item 2 reads, “Urge President Obama to sign the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture. This treaty would protect all prisoners in U.S. custody from torture by setting up mechanisms to assure that U.S. laws prohibiting torture are followed in all detention facilities, including domestic prisons.” NRCAT provides resources to congregations, including a video FIA hopes to show at church, “Ending U.S.-Sponsored Torture Forever.” If you’d like to add your name to the petition to the board to put the resolution to join NRCAT on the congregational meeting agenda, please contact Cathie Gentile.

The Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur opened the meeting by emphasizing the importance UU’s place on fighting for social justice and on helping those in our society who most need help. Each of the five groups operating under the FIA umbrella — Interweave, Hunger Task Force, Green Living, Peace and Social Justice, and Multi-Racial Development — gave a brief explanation of its purpose and activities.

Rhonda Peacock explained that the Hunger Task Force currently receives no funds from the church budget and needs contributions from individuals to continue to provide a monthly meal to people recovering from mental illness at Step Up on Second.

It was a busy day for FIA: while the Town Hall meeting was underway in the Sanctuary, Forbes Hall was being set up for the exhibitors participating in Peace Sunday.

 

UUCCSM Celebrates MLK Day

Our church honored The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. at three celebrations in Santa Monica on the weekend of January 16. On Friday night we celebrated King’s legacy of resistance to social and economic inequities in an interfaith event at Beth Shir Shalom. The temple was crowded with members of the temple, guest speakers, and singers. UUCCSM people attended, along with other members of the community.

On Sunday members of Calvary Baptist and Beth Shir Shalom joined us at UUCCSM to continue our remembrance. Accompanied by Early McAllister, the choir sang “People Get Ready” by Curtis Mayfield and “Abraham, Martin and John.” At the closing of the service, The Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur, Rabbi ComessDaniels, and Cantor Ken Cohen led the congregation in a heartfelt musical commemoration. We look forward every year to this weekend and to continuing our work in the Multi-Racial Development Committee (MRDC).

On Monday, January 17, members of MRDC attended Santa Monica’s annual interfaith Martin Luther King Day celebrations held at the Soka Gakkai International-U.S.A. (SGI) Auditorium. In light of recent events in Tucson, we wanted to demonstrate the importance of Dr. King’s message of non-violence. Instead of gathering signatures for a petition, we decided to take a video camera and interview participants at the reception afterwards. We spoke to a diverse group of people, and you can see the results at http://bit.ly/ UUSM_MLKDay.

— Peggy Rhoads, Will Coley

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February, 2011

From Our DRE

This is an exciting time of year in the RE department, as the RE Committee and I launch into an assessment of our current programs and do a lot of dreaming and asking around and planning for what next year’s program will look like. September may feel far away now, but it will be here before we know it. Because of this, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what RE is. But I wonder what we might learn about RE if we also think about where it happens.

The easy response is that religious education happens on Sunday morning in our classrooms. It happens when we gather together in groups to learn about our faith and its history and about the world’s religions, and it happens when we ask our young people to think for themselves and to find meaning in the world and in their lives. It happens when we lead our kids in creating caring communities right there in their classrooms, and it happens on Social Justice Sundays when we work together to make the world a better place.

That’s not the only place where religious education happens, though. Religious education includes everything we do at church. Religious educator and author Maria Harris proposed that there are three kinds of curricula: explicit curricula (what we intentionally teach), implicit curricula (what is learned from the patterns and structures that surround the explicit curricula), and null curricula (what is learned from the things we don’t see because they are missing). Learning doesn’t stop when class is over. Our young people are learning about being UU and about our community when they come to Forbes Hall and see how the adults interact at coffee hour, and when an adult who isn’t their RE teacher greets them by name, or doesn’t. They learn something, too, by whether they feel known and loved when they are at church. Don’t we all?

But is that the end of the story? Does religious education stop when we leave the church grounds? Is one hour a week (assuming perfect attendance) enough to give our young people a grounding in what it means to be UU, to teach them to think for themselves, respect all people, and take action to make the world a better place? Of course not. Parents, you are your children’s primary religious educators. They watch what you say and what you do. How are you living your own faith? What are you doing at home to help your kids develop and live their own UU identity and values? What more could we do to support you in this role? Remember, friends, that ours is not just a Sunday religion. In the words of Unitarian religious educator Sophia Lyon Fahs, “Life becomes religious whenever we make it so.”

— Catherine Farmer Loya

 

UU Pals is coming!

Q: What is UU Pals? 
A: UU Pals is a beloved UUCCSM program that encourages communication between the generations. Many times it has been the foundation of lasting friendships. It is a great way for children, youth, and adults of our community to learn more about one another in a wonderfully fun way!

Q: How does UU Pals work? 
A: Adults, children and teens sign up for UU Pals in February. Then, on Sundays during the month of March, the UU Pals will exchange notes, small handmade items, or thoughtful tokens of friendship. Each child or youth is paired with an adult and they exchange information about themselves by writing notes to one another. Each note contains clues about who they are—their likes and dislikes, personal gifts, and talents or hobbies, or “list of favorites.” We have a special “double-blind” Pal system for matching younger and older pals. One young person and one adult will be paired with each other, and the pair will be assigned the name of a famous UU to use. For example, one young person will be known as “Ralph Waldo Emerson Jr.” and will have “Ralph Waldo Emerson Sr.” as an adult Pal. Make sense?

Q: How do I sign up? 
A: Signups will begin on February 13 after each service and last through the end of February. After signups close, each participant will receive specific information about the exchange dates, UU Pals Reveal Party, and helpful hints for giving clues to your Pal.

Q: What else do I need to know?
A: If you have to miss a Sunday or two, don’t let that stop you from signing up—you can leave items with us ahead of time and we’ll make sure they get in your pal’s bag on Sunday. And mark your calendars now for April 1, from 6 to 8 p.m., for our April Fools’ Day UU Pals costume party, when all identities will be revealed! So, whether you’re a kid, a youth or a grown-up, don’t miss out on this great opportunity to get to know more about someone new at UUCCSM. For more information, contact Catherine Farmer Loya at the church office.

 

Girl Scout Cookies are Coming Soon!

Watch the Order of Service for more information.

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January, 2011

From Our DRE

Personal and spiritual growth are among the primary reasons people of all ages join religious communities, and I am very excited about the future of our congregation’s educations ministry to people of all ages. In my seven years as Director of Religious Education here at UUCCSM, I have never seen a more passionate and visionary group of people than those who emerged during the course of the RE Covenanting process undertaken on December 4. The members of the RE Committee, along with representatives from the board, the Adult Programs Committee, and the RE teachers, as well as the Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur and me, spent a full day together discussing our hopes and dreams for Lifespan RE at UUCCSM. We began the process of crafting a covenant between me and the congregation about how we will work together to achieve our common vision for the future. Out of that process emerged a strong commitment to the goal of Lifespan RE as well as the seeds of a deep assessment of our current program’s structure with regard to developmental goals for all participants.

My own goal for Lifespan RE at UUCCSM is to provide programs for people of all ages that inspire each person to develop a firm ground of belief, rooted in our Unitarian Universalist principles, from which they can stretch and grow, question and explore. Together as one religious community of all ages, we can learn love of one another and ourselves, search for truth with an open mind, and work to make the world a better place. This, to me, is what UU faith development is really all about.

“Faith” is another of those tricky words, I know. Here’s what I mean when I use it: our faith is that in which we place our trust. Thus, “having faith” means trusting that who we are and what we choose to do matters. A person of faith is one who makes a commitment to living in a way that reflects that trust. There is no specific belief or dogma that one must hold in order to be a person of faith; rather, faith is an act of living with integrity and purpose. More narrowly, in Unitarian Universalism “faith development” is the development of a way of life informed by our UU principles and values and committed to living them out in the world.

What could we be offering to better support you in deepening your own UU faith? What would a truly Lifespan RE program look like? We’ll continue asking these questions as we begin the important work of planning for the future of religious exploration at UUCCSM. Change — another word for development — is in the air, and I can’t wait to see where we will go from here.

— Catherine Farmer Loya

 

 

Neighboring Faiths Field Trip

Teachers Tom Kafka and Laura Carlson-Weiner took the Neighboring Faiths class on a field trip to St. Anne’s Catholic Church on Colorado Avenue. The classS is studying Catholicism as part of their study of various Christian faiths. The class attended the First Sunday of Advent Mass celebration with the St. Anne’s congregation. Father Arturo and the whole congregation were very welcoming. Teri Bond, our trip coordinator, took the photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Pageant

Kris Langabeer wrangled cows, doves, dogs, donkeyss, mice, grown-ups and other friendly beasts for another joyful winter pageant.