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FROM THE CHURCH OF THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP WORSHIP SERVICE GIVEN AT THE UU GENERAL ASSEMBLY, JUNE 24, 2005 BY JANE RZEPKA, SENIOR MINISTER, CHURCH OF THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP
Listen to this sermon to the Quest sermon podcast
The Unitarian Universalist General Assembly is coming up in June in St. Louis. We hope to see you there. For a flavor of the CLF GA worship service, we offer you the two homilies presented at our service in Fort Worth, Texas, last year. Imagine a couple of hundred CLFers and friends gathered on a Friday morning in a hotel ballroom, ready for "church." Contact the CLF librarian at 617-948-6150 to borrow an audio copy of this service.
Isn't this just like church? OK, maybe not exactly like your congregation at home, or, if you're a member of the Church of the Larger Fellowship, maybe it's not identical to your living room or what it looks like when you sit in front of your computer. OK, so the architecture where you go to church could be a little different from the space we're in. But still, isn't this exactly like church?
And OK, maybe in your church or fellowship the music doesn't sound precisely like this morning's music. But still, isn't this exactly like church?
Well, OK, maybe the people gathered here today aren't the ones you're used to, if you're used to any at all, and, OK, Sunday morning has shown up on Friday, and Pete Seeger has set up shop practically next door, but all that notwithstanding, isn't this exactly like church?
There are the parts early in the service about how good it is to be together. We've said that in song and in words, and it's really true, especially for members of the Church of the Larger Fellowship, who only gather in "church" once a year. And, as is so typical in our congregations, we lit the chalice, and we heard a meditation and choral response—that section was nature imagery today. But then, suddenly, before you know it, we moved from the stars and oak sap and tides in the choral response, to living in El Paso and Waxahachie in the reading and then before you know what's happened or how, suddenly we're singing about South Africa when you would have expected maybe Amarillo, and finally somehow you're singing about South Africa in Spanish! You tell me. Isn't this exactly like a Unitarian Universalist church?
This is what happens when we want so badly to welcome every single one of you, whether you call yourself a pagan or a Jew, whether you speak Spanish or English, whether you feel welcomed by this music or that music. We Unitarian Universalists don't do our welcoming perfectly, that's for sure, but we are trying. It's as our opening song says, we want to "Gather the Spirit, harvest the power./ These separate fires will kindle one flame."
From the very beginning of liberal religious life here in Texas, Unitarians and Universalists have been intentional about their welcome. By the 1890's, both religions had thriving Post Office Missions, which were the first incarnations of the Church of the Larger Fellowship. Daniel Limbaugh (that would be Daniel Limbaugh), who was trying to get a congregation started in this area, personally visited members of the Unitarian Post Office Mission, as that's how he himself got involved with Unitarianism. Limbaugh invited all kinds of people in. He described a real estate agent, who had come to doubt the efficacy of prayer, tromping through the storm and rain and mud to talk with him about Unitarianism. Limbaugh visited a Post Office Mission family living in "one of the humblest cottages in one of the humblest parts of the city." He recruited, as he put it, "well-to-do people, highly cultured and sincere," "millionaires and socialists, merchants and homemakers, lawyers and laborers, long-time Unitarians and newcomers, Universalists and spiritualists." He welcomed them all.
Meanwhile, the Universalists were at work in the countryside, having already established fourteen parishes. Here's what they did: show up in a little town, check into a hotel, hire a hall, put up notices, line up musicians, ushers, and all the rest, pass out a gazillion leaflets, and try to organize the nucleus of a congregation, or at least a Sunday school. The little group wound up with a pile of orders of service, a collection of hymns, and sermons to read aloud on Sundays. Everyone was welcome.
If you read through the local congregational files kept in the basement of the Unitarian Universalist Association, coupled with the Rev. Stefan Jonasson's unpublished history (and a great word of thanks does go to Stefan for this work), if you read the local histories, three themes easily emerge. The first is that during the course of the past century and right up to the present, our congregations in Texas consciously have wanted to invite everybody into Unitarian Universalism; they've wanted to grow. Second, in order to do that, even before they had their congregations well founded, they had to be ready to respond to what we now call the Christian Right. And third, they needed to sort out their relationship with Boston —the power seat of Unitarianism.
In a letter to the precursor of the UU World, an unnamed writer from Texas says, in 1899, "Even in parts of the country where we hear of much opposition to liberal thought, many people are glad to hear it preached." They are up against conservative turn-of-the-century Christianity, yet they find people who are glad to hear Unitarianism and Universalism preached! At that time the liberals here in Texas saw their enterprise as creating "a refuge and defense for minds incredulous of the Orthodoxy…which now visits Texas."
Two years later, in 1901, the liberals in Dallas, in the process now of building an elegant church, create a fancy pamphlet that says on the front page: "This circular is sent out that our friends in the East may see what we have done, what we are doing now, and what are our opportunities for disseminating the Unitarian gospel in Dallas, and that they may have an opportunity to assist us in the noble work." They want that Bostonian money.
What they want is $10,000 bucks: "Let the Association set itself to this task, and let men come forward to this work, and let the people say it shall be done, and give the money for it, and it will be done." Nothing happened.
But the Texans kept at it, and the American Unitarian Association in Boston did send both money and ministers over the years. Congregations cropped up, lived and died, merged and thrived. Their ministers were creative, sending invitations in 1941, for example, to all the local electrical engineers, the faculty and students of the schools of engineering, the management and staff of local electrical utilities, suppliers, and the telephone company, to hear a sermon called, "The Idea of God and Electricity." It worked. For many years that congregation claimed a disproportionate number of electrical engineers.
The American Unitarian Association kept in very close touch—so close, in fact, that you can find in the archives a file of forty or so pages of onion skin carbons related to the household moving bill of Dallas 's new minister, Robert Raible, in 1942.
All the while, Unitarian Universalism in Texas lived its life in, well, Texas . One CLF member wrote me last month, "I live in a small village, 120 miles from the nearest UU Fellowship (Abilene, Texas) and 140 miles from the nearest UU church (Midland, Texas).… Folks in Boston have a small, myopic view of the world and have no idea of what life is among a very conservative population. I hope you get a chance to get your eyes opened a bit while you are down here." Another tells me, "I feel isolated. Unitarian, the word, dumbfounds people. I once told my manicurist I don't believe in Jesus and she still characterizes me that way, but she keeps taking my money and doing my nails." Another: "We live in a small, semi-rural town in the Bible belt where ‘liberal' is a bad word—whether applied to religion or politics. It would be great to have a UU fellowship here in Waxahachie, even if very small."
It's true—I've never lived in Texas, and I guess you could say that my eyes have been opened a little. Opened to the commitment it takes to keep liberal religion alive and thriving in Texas . Opened to those in our history who fought for liberal religion in Texas . Opened to the wonderful on-going work and spirit of our local congregations and our isolated CLF members. Opened to Unitarian Universalists in this great big state who are "glad to hear it preached."
I have seen the "fire of commitment," that we'll sing about in our next hymm: "When we live with deep assurance of the flame that burns within,/ Then our promise finds fulfillment and our future can begin."
HOMILY GIVEN AT THE CLF WORSHIP SERVICE AT GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 2005 BY LAUREL HALLMAN, SENIOR MINISTER, FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH, DALLAS, TEXAS
I once had a member of my church say that it was easier for him to come out gay than it was to come out as a Unitarian Universalist in Texas. I know it is hard to do either—whether coming out gay or coming out UU—but today I want to talk about what it means to come out as a Unitarian Universalist here in Texas, and perhaps speak a little about what it might mean where you live.
People in my church are afraid to talk about where they go to church in their workplace. They're afraid of being labeled as fringy. As unsaved. As Democrat.
Our church is a refuge for those who feel there is no one like them anywhere else. They're alone without our church.
Often people will come (and I do mean often)—people come to our church, and cry. They cry with relief that there are people who think like they do. Who approach religion in ways they have dreamed of, but didn't know existed. They cry. Because it's hard out there.
So, you may say, "I belong to the CLF. I don't belong to your big church in the middle of the city. I don't have an organized network of people who are relentless in their pursuit of the policy issues of the day. I'm by myself. That's why I'm here."
I know. But I wanted to say all that because I think we have entered a different time. You don't have to be alone any more. It's all different now. Because of one thing. The Internet.
Let me take a moment to tell you something we just did in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex People Campaign, where we phoned 60,000 homes with a message about our faith, telling them about our Sunday service here. And inviting them to press #1 if they wanted to talk with a volunteer. We had people in their homes hooked up to a grand and wonderful system that would connect a caller to one of our members.
Here's what happened. People pressed #1, got a live volunteer—maybe you or maybe me. And the callers chewed them out. They didn't ask questions about our faith. They told our volunteers that they were going to hell. Or they were just mad they'd been called.
It stung. It hurt. It was a disappointment. We got some positive responses. But not anywhere what we had hoped. I was pretty discouraged.
Some of you could have said that's what would have happened. But we were surprised. And then I had a thought. OK. Some people hung up. Some people pressed #1 to complain. Some people tried to save our souls. One person said, "No thanks. I'm not a Christian." and hung up before our volunteer could say "But.…"
I had an aha late last week, when I got an email from a woman in my congregation. It seems her boss and a few of the other employees were standing around, and her boss said, "I got a phone call from a woman Unitarian minister inviting me to a service. But I wouldn't go because that's just a front for the Democratic Party." My friend told him that I was her minister. But, she said, "I didn't say too much more."
Aha! I thought. She had come out. Not a lot. But enough. She had come out as a Unitarian Universalist.
It was at that moment I realized that we had focused on the really quite small number of failed contacts. What about the other 50,400 calls? What about the people who heard our message and didn't push #1? Who maybe didn't think much about it, but heard our name? Or what about the—let's say for guessing—25,000 who thought "Hmmm."
And then they heard our public service announcement on our Public Broadcasting Station. Or read a positive article in the Star-Telegram here in Ft. Worth .
And not only that. What about all those Unitarian Universalists who have "come out" because it came up because of the calls?
By the end of the week, I was excited about what we did. If anything, some of us "came out." And it might be difficult. It might create some backlash. It might surprise some people—but you know what? It's time.
It's time we become entrepreneurial. It's time we become evangelical. Which I consider another word for "coming out." It's time we stopped hiding—even though I know in small towns all over the world, we're the only one or two or three UUs there.
And wouldn't you know. Off in Boston, this idea about having a church for people who didn't have a church—a way to reach people by telephone and mail who didn't have sermons or communities of support or ministers to turn to—wouldn't you know—off in Boston, someone got the idea that the CLF could be an online church. And our isolated members across the world wouldn't have to be isolated any more. They could collaborate on projects; they could support each other as, one by one, they could begin to come out in their towns. They could share their experiences, and comfort one another when it didn't go well. Our volunteers in Texas needed a lot of support. Some of them tried evangelism and got beat up—it's hard to do this work alone. And now we don't have to. It's fun to get together at General Assembly and the other regional events. It's important to see each other, at least at this annual gathering.
But the Church of the Larger Fellowship—the Virtual Church of the Larger Fellowship—now does what many of us on the ground and in our buildings have failed to do: reach out to people who may have never imagined such a faith as ours, have never even seen a faith such as ours at work—people from around the world who won't be afraid to come out as UUs because they are supported, connected, encouraged to do so by their cyber-community. And when someone "pushes #1" and tries to save them, they will have their consoling community to help them regain their balance and identity.
It's a hard world out there. In many ways, hostile. I know it. I don't underestimate it. But if enough of us can come out as UUs I just think people—even the most isolated—might have a chance of finding us. And of having their lives transformed because of it.
If you haven't come out in your town, it's time. I don't promise you a rose garden. Make sure you have support from your CLF friends all arranged. You'll need it. But you aren't alone. And together with the CLF, you can organize as sophisticated and savvy a congregation as any I have ever encountered. You can mentor one another into leadership. You can be as entrepreneurial and as powerful as you want to be. You can create the world you dream of right where you are. www.clfuu.org has a certain ring to it. The sound of hope.
CLF Worship Service with preaching by the Revs. Jane Rzepka and Rosemary Bray McNatt.
Our senior minister, Jane Rzepka, invited a number of our members who are (or have been) Texas residents to share some thoughts about being a UU in Texas. What follows is an excerpt from a reading of those thoughts that was given as part of the GA worship service.
What first struck me when visiting Houston in late 90s was how big they grow churches there, and that they actually have billboards on the interstate with their smiling ministers on them! Then, driving around Houston, listening to NPR, I felt a wave of relief when one of the local sponsors was the "seven UU congregations of Houston ." OK, I could live there. And we did.
Texas is hot and big. It's 90 degrees and will be until the last of October. It takes twelve hours to drive from El Paso to Louisiana. Mostly boring stretches of highway tying three cities together. Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin are huge and traffic is snarled. Austin is the most liberal. Fort Worth has grown big. I loved its attitude in the fifties and sixties and not since. Texans want to think ranch, but live suburban. Beliefs include right to work, no unions, support for the war in Iraq and still mad at Jane Fonda. I was struck dumb when a [non-UU] customer said she was a Democrat. I hadn't heard anyone say that out loud for months. Here, anyway.
Texas is hot and big. It's 90 degrees and will be until the last of October. It takes twelve hours to drive from El Paso to Louisiana. Mostly boring stretches of highway tying three cities together.
Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin are huge and traffic is snarled. Austin is the most liberal. Fort Worth has grown big. I loved its attitude in the fifties and sixties and not since.
Texans want to think ranch, but live suburban.
Beliefs include right to work, no unions, support for the war in Iraq and still mad at Jane Fonda.
I was struck dumb when a [non-UU] customer said she was a Democrat. I hadn't heard anyone say that out loud for months. Here, anyway.
Texas is indeed big… Houston is bigger than Rhode Island, for instance. This is why my problem with the UU brick and mortar church exists. I am poor-ish, and live in the unfashionable, unaffluent southeast end of Houston . UU members tend to be the better educated, melatoninly-challenged folks who live in Shop-in-Macy's communities. We are Wal-marters in my neighborhood. There is a need for UU mission churches in the unfashionable zip codes if the UU churches wish to attract the non-Ph.D.'s of the world. How can you hope to change people's rigid thinking about religion if there is no broad base of hoi-poloi-ers? I volunteer my zip code, 77017, as a start. Thanks for asking, and hope you have a great time in Texas!
Texas is indeed big… Houston is bigger than Rhode Island, for instance.
This is why my problem with the UU brick and mortar church exists. I am poor-ish, and live in the unfashionable, unaffluent southeast end of Houston .
UU members tend to be the better educated, melatoninly-challenged folks who live in Shop-in-Macy's communities. We are Wal-marters in my neighborhood.
There is a need for UU mission churches in the unfashionable zip codes if the UU churches wish to attract the non-Ph.D.'s of the world. How can you hope to change people's rigid thinking about religion if there is no broad base of hoi-poloi-ers? I volunteer my zip code, 77017, as a start. Thanks for asking, and hope you have a great time in Texas!
BY BETH MURRAY, LIBRARIAN, CHURCH OF THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP
Wish you had books of one-page UU readings to start off your days? Can't find your fellowship's RE curriculum? Sometimes you think you could really get serious about UU history? The CLF library is here for you!
CLF member Damian Baker of Port Jervis, NY says of our library:
My own approach to spiritual and religious matters has deepened and matured since I started using the CLF library.
The CLF Library is available to CLF members and Church on Loan contacts who live in North America. Here are some easy steps for requesting material:
It's easy. It's fun. It's informative. It's CLF.
BY KATHY REIS, FORMER PRISON MINISTRY DIRECTOR, CHURCH OF THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP
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"No one who doesn't know what it is to be locked up can ever know how it feels to have your name called during mail call (maybe our brave fighting men and women can relate). It's the closest thing to an affirmation of your humanity that a person can get in here." —CLF Prison Pen Pal
The CLF was founded as a way of using the mail to reach out to religious liberals who were isolated from those who shared their worldview. More than 60 years later, CLF members are still using the mail system to reach out to religious liberals who are isolated in ways that many of us can hardly imagine—people who are incarcerated.
Members of the Church of the Larger Fellowship from the United States and around the world are reaching out to US prisoners to provide a point of contact to the outside world. The reach of the CLF's prison ministry has grown from 60 to over 200 prisoner members in the last two years, while the number of pen pal matches during the same period has grown from 14 to 100. The steadfast care extended by our pen pal volunteers and the extensive efforts of the CLF's staff have made this explosive growth possible. More important than numbers alone, though, is the knowledge that the hopeful message of Unitarian Universalism is reaching more and more incarcerated people, bringing them encouragement and positive support. You can sign up to join our pen pal program at our web site (www.clfuu.org) under "Prison Ministry" or by calling the CLF.
A new prisoner member recently wrote:
I feel privileged to be a member. The more I read about Unitarian Universalism, the more I have the feeling that I've come home, but a home that I never knew before. Thank you for writing to me. You all are a blessing and a ray of sunshine in this dark, lonely place.
Here are some other exciting developments in this new CLF ministry:
An excellent article in the UU World about the prison ministry last spring (www.uuworld.org/2005/03/feature4.html) has proven to be enormously helpful to this ministry by attracting new volunteers and providing an excellent insert for our "inquiry packets."
We've helped get a new prison ministry class underway at Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California. Working with professor Patti Lawrence in Berkeley, a dozen seminarians have become pen pals and are learning about this specialized ministry.
As prison ministry director I helped to pass the Statement of Conscience on Criminal Justice and Prison Reform at the 2005 General Assembly in Fort Worth . In addition to our ministry to individual prisoners, it is equally important that we address the broad and systemic injustices that cause such misery. The Church of the Larger Fellowship has taken a leading role both in highlighting the plight of prisoners to Unitarian Universalists and in bringing a liberal religious perspective to this grave and widespread problem.
With your help and with the leadership of our new prison ministry director, the Rev. Patty Franz, we look forward to continued growth and new initiatives, and we welcome the help of any of you who can provide a mail call for the prisoners who need our affirming religious message. To volunteer, contact Patty at pfranz@clfuu.org.
BY NIKOLAI ZARICK, CLF MEMBER, BROOKLYN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTE, BROOKLYN, CONNECTICUT
Each of us has memories of our childhood, some splendid, some not so wonderful. As I have come to know God in all things, I look back upon my early days, when my family had several small and simple houses around a little lake. This small piece of heaven became a Mecca for the counterculture of New England, a respite from the chaos of the Big Apple, where the likes of Lawrence Ferlinghetti would sit reading poetry and Sam Shepard would come to write his plays. Both of my parents were amazing artists, and, as life imitates art, the property became a living work of art.
Dragonflies perched themselves on water lilies. Our sentry geese walked upon carefully constructed moss mosaics that led to their "Goose Rock," which had an antique mirror as their muse. Lichen hugged the huge rocks that gave the local intelligentsia a place to celebrate life. A pair of great blue heron came each year like clockwork to munch upon the freshwater mussels, their arrival like the coming of angels in dawn's light.
Night would unmask a whole new realm. In the first days of spring thousands of tiny peeping frogs would announce spring's awakening, followed by a light show of fireflies and crickets, crickets and more crickets, filling the night with a divine chorus.
Each of us could list pages of such memories. Each of these blessings from God sculpts us into who we are, just as the negative things sculpt us. Unfortunately, our society predominantly focuses on the negative. Whether we can only list a single event or we can fill volumes with golden memories, we must embrace each magical moment as a kiss from what we call sacred. May all your kisses from God soothe your pain, heal your soul, and help you atone.
BY SCHERA CHADWICK, CLF MEMBER, KNOXVILLE, TENNESEE
Many of our Unitarian Universalist congregations have been adding Covenant Groups to their programs—small groups that meet regularly to share in deep discussion of topics which are presented by a trained facilitator. The CLF decided to explore the innovative possibility of creating Covenant Groups, which could "meet" electronically and function in much the same manner as the live, in-person groups meeting in UU churches. Under the able leadership of the CLF minister for lifespan learning, Lynn Ungar, a pilot group of leaders hammered out the details of transforming an in-person format into a structure that could thrive in the world of email.
I was fortunate enough to learn about the CLF's plans for establishing electronic Covenant Groups in December of 2004, and joined the leaders' group in its final planning for the launch in January of 2005. Having had two years experience facilitating a local Covenant Group, I was familiar with the format and knew what to expect from an in-person session; none of us, however, knew how well the e-version would work.
Today, we're all proud to reflect that this creative effort of the CLF to provide additional linkages between its members has been quite successful. I asked the members of my Margaret Fuller Group to comment on what our electronic format offers them; here are some of their remarks:
"Our messages seem almost like a scrapbook. And we've never seen the people or places." "One of my needs is to be challenged. This medium is great because it is less threatening than direct conversation, and the time lag gives perspective to some questions and answers." "I came to this group out of a deep desire for a suspension of those Yankee rules about not sharing deeply or exposing vulnerable thoughts and feelings. I came out of a desire to hear and be heard. I came for intimacy, and with curiosity about the degree to which it is possible over this medium." "I've shared more deeply with this group in a short time than I do with a face-to-face group. I like our variety, our responsiveness to one another, our connections at different points on different topics. I really wish you could all come over for a summer picnic." "I rely on this group as a regular part of my spiritual practice now. Thank you all for being part of this beautiful covenant." "You [other members of the group] only have to experience me when you want to! This is good! I can speak my piece without interruption; this is good, too. And I can wear my jammies. I see my closest friend other than my spouse about twice a month. I visit with you folks almost every day. …. It helps me to wait a little while and read a group of responses together, so I get the feeling of the flow of conversation." "I like the ordered, calm, and worshipful nature of this group. We may chat between and on the side (don't all UUs?), but this is truly one of my worship experiences. This is sacred time for me.… I like knowing each person, our struggles, our commonalities, our differences, our dreams." "I feel the spirit of fellowship in the voices of this group…nice! And I do ‘hear' you—imagining the tones of your voices, the cadences in your laughter, I even imagine that I hear the pauses as you take a breath and ponder a response…feel those warm cups of tea/coffee as you read and reflect." "Even though we don't meet face-to-face, we develop a rapport with other members, acquiring with time a strong impression of each personality and their life situation. It has been a pleasure to participate in this creative CLF adventure, and to see how much satisfaction and warmth it can bring into lives scattered all over the globe."
"Our messages seem almost like a scrapbook. And we've never seen the people or places."
"One of my needs is to be challenged. This medium is great because it is less threatening than direct conversation, and the time lag gives perspective to some questions and answers."
"I came to this group out of a deep desire for a suspension of those Yankee rules about not sharing deeply or exposing vulnerable thoughts and feelings. I came out of a desire to hear and be heard. I came for intimacy, and with curiosity about the degree to which it is possible over this medium."
"I've shared more deeply with this group in a short time than I do with a face-to-face group. I like our variety, our responsiveness to one another, our connections at different points on different topics. I really wish you could all come over for a summer picnic."
"I rely on this group as a regular part of my spiritual practice now. Thank you all for being part of this beautiful covenant."
"You [other members of the group] only have to experience me when you want to! This is good! I can speak my piece without interruption; this is good, too. And I can wear my jammies. I see my closest friend other than my spouse about twice a month. I visit with you folks almost every day. …. It helps me to wait a little while and read a group of responses together, so I get the feeling of the flow of conversation."
"I like the ordered, calm, and worshipful nature of this group. We may chat between and on the side (don't all UUs?), but this is truly one of my worship experiences. This is sacred time for me.… I like knowing each person, our struggles, our commonalities, our differences, our dreams."
"I feel the spirit of fellowship in the voices of this group…nice! And I do ‘hear' you—imagining the tones of your voices, the cadences in your laughter, I even imagine that I hear the pauses as you take a breath and ponder a response…feel those warm cups of tea/coffee as you read and reflect."
"Even though we don't meet face-to-face, we develop a rapport with other members, acquiring with time a strong impression of each personality and their life situation. It has been a pleasure to participate in this creative CLF adventure, and to see how much satisfaction and warmth it can bring into lives scattered all over the globe."
As you can see, the CLF's innovation in establishing electronic Covenant Groups has been a smashing success. In fact, our biggest problem is that we need more facilitators to accommodate others who would like to be involved in groups of their own. If you have experience with local covenant groups or with leading other small groups and you'd be willing to consider volunteering to facilitate a group, or if you'd like to be put on the waiting list to join a group, contact Lynn Ungar at lungar@clfuu.org. For more information, go to our web site at www.clfuu.org and find "Covenant Groups" under "Community."
The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee organizes JustWorks Camps to enable volunteers to examine and understand the causes and damaging effects of injustice. The CLF would like to urge our members to consider signing up for the JustWorks camp on the Lakota Reservation in South Dakota Aug. 7-12 to work directly with a social justice struggle while meeting other CLFers and UUs. For more information, check the UUSC JustWorks site at www.uusc.org/info/workcamps.html or contact Paul Sprecher, your ministerial intern, at the CLF Office or psprecher@clfuu.org.
BY LYNN UNGAR, MINISTER FOR LIFESPAN LEARNING, CHURCH OF THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP
Listen to this article to the "REsources for Living" podcast
Why not do something special to celebrate spring? Here is a ritual or celebration for the spring equinox, the first day of spring, when the day and the night are the same length. But if you don't do it on March 20th, that's OK—spring is an ongoing process that is always worth celebrating. And, of course, what follows are just suggestions. There's no right or wrong way—and I'd love to hear about how your family or group celebrated spring, so email me at RE@clfuu.org.
Before you start your spring ritual, you may want to go on what I call "Sprout Patrol." Sprout Patrol is when you wander your neighborhood looking for signs of spring. Don't forget to use all your senses—you might hear spring in the sound of birds, or smell it on the air. You may want to make pictures of what you saw to put on your altar for the ritual. Other things which might be good to put on your spring altar would be symbols of the four elements—earth, air, water and fire—as well as symbols of spring like flowers, eggs and rabbits. (No real rabbits please, unless you have room for a cage!) For this ritual you will also need a bowl full of sprouts, such as alfalfa or mung bean sprouts—you may want to grow your own in preparation for this celebration. Find instructions on how to do it.
Opening Music: play "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles
Opening Words:
The earth turns, the seasons shift, and our hearts shift with the changing light. May we be ready for spring and new life. May we be ready for spring and new light. May our hearts, like the flowers, open wide in celebration of the day.
Song:
"Spring" sung to the tune of the Welsh folk song, "The Ash Grove." (Available online) words by the Rev. David E. Bumbaugh The seasons are shifting, The winter shades lifting, The springtime is filling Earth's children with mirth. The daffodil yellow, The south wind so mellow, The gentle rain falling, Upon the green earth. The song sparrow singing, New life quickly springing, All nature is telling A tale of rebirth: The deep wells of being, Beyond each day's seeing, O'er flowing with new Life, Restoring the earth.
"Spring" sung to the tune of the Welsh folk song, "The Ash Grove." (Available online) words by the Rev. David E. Bumbaugh
The seasons are shifting, The winter shades lifting, The springtime is filling Earth's children with mirth. The daffodil yellow, The south wind so mellow, The gentle rain falling, Upon the green earth. The song sparrow singing, New life quickly springing, All nature is telling A tale of rebirth: The deep wells of being, Beyond each day's seeing, O'er flowing with new Life, Restoring the earth.
Calling the Directions:
When you do the reading, everyone should turn toward the direction that is described. We come this day to honor our mother, the Earth. First let us establish the four corners: Turning to the East, whence dawns the day and year, We honor mother earth as the source of spring and rebirth, Turning to the South, We honor mother earth as the source of fire and energy, of spirit and youthful activity. Turning to the West, where drowns the sun when day is done and life ebbs annually with the fall, We honor mother earth as source of water and reflection, of endings that support beginnings. Turning to the North, midnight of light and winter-pause of life, We honor mother earth as source of dark, enriching soil, of winter-enforced rest and the wisdom borne of potential. And turning last to the center, symbol of the interdependent web of all existence, We honor mother earth who encompasses us always in a circle that is complete.
When you do the reading, everyone should turn toward the direction that is described.
We come this day to honor our mother, the Earth. First let us establish the four corners: Turning to the East, whence dawns the day and year, We honor mother earth as the source of spring and rebirth, Turning to the South, We honor mother earth as the source of fire and energy, of spirit and youthful activity. Turning to the West, where drowns the sun when day is done and life ebbs annually with the fall, We honor mother earth as source of water and reflection, of endings that support beginnings. Turning to the North, midnight of light and winter-pause of life, We honor mother earth as source of dark, enriching soil, of winter-enforced rest and the wisdom borne of potential. And turning last to the center, symbol of the interdependent web of all existence, We honor mother earth who encompasses us always in a circle that is complete.
Story:
You can find a fun, participatory, spring story at www.uua.org/re/reach/families/spring_story.html or choose one from your local library. I like "Eeny, Meeny, Miney Mole" by Jane Yolen.
Ritual:
Each person steps up to the bowl of sprouts and eats a mouthful before sharing (or thinking quietly to themselves) what it is that they hope will grow in their lives in the coming months—skills, ideas, personal qualities, adventures—anything they hope to see more of in the weeks and months ahead.
Activity:
There is a myth that the day of the equinox is the only time when it is possible to balance an egg on its end. It's not true, but it's still fun to try. It may be easier with hard-boiled eggs than with raw ones.
"Morning Has Broken" (In our UU Hymnbook, Singing the Living Tradition, #38)
Closing Words:
by CLF senior minister Jane Rzepka In this, the season of steady rebirth, we awaken to the power so abundant, so holy, that returns each year through earth and sky. We will find our hearts again, and our good spirits. We will love, and believe, and give and wonder, and feel again the eternal powers. The flow of life moves ever onward through one faithful spring, and another, and now another.
by CLF senior minister Jane Rzepka
In this, the season of steady rebirth, we awaken to the power so abundant, so holy, that returns each year through earth and sky. We will find our hearts again, and our good spirits. We will love, and believe, and give and wonder, and feel again the eternal powers. The flow of life moves ever onward through one faithful spring, and another, and now another.
Note: Some elements of this ritual are taken from the Vernal Festival designed by Beverly Bumbaugh which is available in the FaithWorks section of the UUA web site.
Listen to this articleto the inspiration from Quest podcast
The trees, along their bare limbs, contemplate green. A flicker, rising, flashes rust and white before vanishing into stillness, and raked leaves crumble imperceptibly to dirt. On all sides life opens and closes around you like a mouth. Will you pretend you are not caught between its teeth? The kestrel in its swift dive and the mouse below, the first green shoots that will not wait for spring are a language constantly forming. Quiet your pride and listen. There—beneath the rainfall and the ravens calling you can hear it— the great tongue constantly enunciating something that rings through the world as grace.
The trees, along their bare limbs, contemplate green. A flicker, rising, flashes rust and white before vanishing into stillness, and raked leaves crumble imperceptibly to dirt.
On all sides life opens and closes around you like a mouth. Will you pretend you are not caught between its teeth?
The kestrel in its swift dive and the mouse below, the first green shoots that will not wait for spring are a language constantly forming.
Quiet your pride and listen. There—beneath the rainfall and the ravens calling you can hear it— the great tongue constantly enunciating something that rings through the world as grace.
by Lynn Ungar, minister for lifespan learning and Quest editor, Church of the Larger Fellowship.
From the 1996 UUA meditation manual Blessing the Bread, available in the collection What We Share, published by Skinner House and available through the CLF library (www.clfuu.org/library or 617-948-6150) or the UUA Bookstore (www.uua.org/bookstore or 800-215-9076).
Last updated March 11, 2006
Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF), 25 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108-2823 Phone: (617) 948-6166 · Fax: (617) 523-4123 · E-mail: clf@clfuu.org
