Sunday services begin at 11:00 a.m. in the Kiwanis Room at the Lochiel Kiwanis Centre at 180 College Ave. N., Sarnia

(enter at the Forsythe St. main door).

Mar 6: “Learning to Love Nuclear Power” - John Ward If the world is serious about fulfilling the Paris commitments on greenhouse gas emissions we need to embrace energy use from nuclear power. Several exciting developments are possible that will make nuclear energy more readily available and safer to use and recycle. With the controversy of nuclear waste disposal foremost in our minds, we need to understand what is at stake for us and the environment.

For another view, Allan McKeown has a DVD that he will lend out to interested parties. “Reactor” follows Michael Stone, a Yogi, Buddhist teacher and Activist, on his pilgrimage to Japan in April 2012, 13 months after the tsunami and Fukushima meltdown. The film is 34 minutes long.

Mar13: “White Lions and Leadership” – Elizabeth Soltis Elizabeth will share some highlights of her transformative experience with wild white lions in South Africa. Last year, she spent a month at the Leadership Academy of the Global White Lion Protection Trust. This conservancy is situated in the natural endemic habitat of white lions, regarded as sacred by the region’s indigenous people. Elizabeth will explore what it means to step into lionhearted leadership and what she discovered about her own spiritual journey while surrounded by the power and beauty of nature.

Mar 20: “Spring Equinox Service” – Wendy Starr Today we celebrate the arrival of Spring! What will you do with the fiery energy of Aries that is reborn at the Equinox? What new seeds will you plant? What changes will you make? We move out of the deep introspection of winter into the burst of renewed energy in this pagan/earth based celebratory circle.

Mar 27: “Finding Rhythm on the Camino de Santiago” Brad Gray

Last September Brad walked over 900 km of the famous “Road to Compo stela” which meanders through the beautiful countrysides of France and Spain – a pilgrimage made by a million people annually. Brad will share his experiences with us – his motivation, the people he met and the memories that will last a lifetime.

… a refreshing alternative for religious explorers

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

1 March Services

2 Executive Team Report

3 President’s Reflection

4 Membership Canvass

CUC Visioning

5 Upcoming Events

6 The Flaming Chalice

7 Other Info & Invitations

“Anybody can create

community with people

who believe just like they

do. The true test of

community rests in the

ability to create it with

people who disagree

with us.”

- Lee Barker, Unitarian

Universalist Minister

March 2016

Unitarian Fellowship of Sarnia & Port Huron 180 College Ave. N. Sarnia, Ontario

www.uusarnia.com

The Flaming

Chalice

March Services

The stained glass chalice in the header hangs in the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem, OR.

Page 2 The Flaming Chalice

Executive Team Highlights from the February, 2016 Meeting

Social Justice - Refugee Sponsorship: See President’s Reflection on Page 3

Membership: New Member Orientations are being organized. Membership policies and procedures have been developed. There have been no official membership changes during the past month. It has, however, been encouraging to see some new faces and children attending recently. Program: The Program Team has arranged for wonderful services in March. If you have any suggestions for topics and/or speakers, please contact Wendy Star. Attendance at Sunday Services have been higher than last year. The Lochiel Kiwanis Centre has reimbursed some $190 to the Fellowship for the piano moving cost. This means that the net cost of the new piano for us was only $88.83. Religious Exploration: The new Abuse Prevention Policy as it relates to RE has been implemented. A RE brochure has been developed and printed. Christy Plommer continues to act as the lead RE Teacher with Laura Brown available as a back-up. The children are meeting in the bright and very well equipped St. Clair Child & Youth Drop-In Room (even has its own washroom).

Finance: As of the end of January, we are continuing to show a net budget surplus. Post-dated cheques (March 31 & September 30) have been sent to the CUC for our 2016 Annual Program Contribution. OPSEU Local 145, representing the paramedical staff at Bluewater Health, St. Clair Child & Youth Services and Huron House boy’s Home, has contributed $1,000 towards our Refugee Sponsorship initiative.

Executive Team Meetings are open to the members of the Fellowship. They happen at 6:30 pm on the 2nd Thursday of the month from September to June at the LKC. The next meeting will be on Thursday, March 10, 2016.

.

“The Freedom of the mind is

the beginning of all other

freedoms”

Clinton Lee Scott

Executive Team Report By Ann Steadman

60th Anniversary Celebrations!

2016 marks our Fellowship’s 60th year as a voice for liberal religion in the Sarnia and Port Huron area. The Executive is hoping to hold a celebration in June. To that end, we are

bringing together an Anniversary Celebration Team to plan and implement the celebration. If you would like to join this Team or if you have any suggestions to share please contact

Ann Steadman or Dwayne O’Neill.

The Flaming Chalice

Page 3

F

President’s February Reflection

“I am only one, but I am

one. I cannot do

everything but I can do

something. And because

I cannot do everything, I

will not refuse to do the

something that I can do.

What I can do, I should

do.”

Edward Everett Hale

Perseverance, Persistence and Patience … Continued

In last month’s newsletter, I reflected on how the progress of our

refugee sponsorship initiative had been “like pushing a boulder up a

hill”. In particular we were “stuck in place” in two areas: insurance

and townhouse readiness.

We are now unstuck!

A Certificate of Insurance inclusive of Abuse Liability coverage has been obtained. This and other required documentation have been uploaded to the Mennonite Central Committee. We are now 25th on their waiting list to receive a refugee family. Currently, however, the Government is concentrating their efforts on bringing in Government sponsored refugees to meet their promises while the Blended Visa Office Referred (BVOR) program has been paused. The BVOR program is expected to resume early this month.

Thanks to Dwayne O’Neill and a band of volunteers, the townhouse has been upgraded, repainted and cleaned. It is now ready to be furnished.

I’d say that the boulder is now at the top of the hill or at least of the first hill. The next slope to climb will be the actual welcoming and settlement of a Syrian refugee family.

As this next challenge is anticipated (with some excitement I might add), it seems to me that the following quote contains much wisdom to ponder:

Concentrate on performance goals rather than outcome goals. Performance goals are goals you can control, like doing 200 curl ups or practicing relaxation skills for ten minutes daily. Outcome goals are goals you can’t control, like winning a tournament, making a particular ranking, or scoring a certain number of points. Outcome goals can backfire. Invest your energy in things you can control and the rest will happen automatically. Dream big in the long run; think realistically in the short run. It all begins with a dream for the future, and it all happens with what you do today.

James E. Loehr from The New Toughness Training for Sports

Moving forward together, step by step, in the refugee settlement

process, we will have no guarantees that the family we welcome

will successfully integrate into Canadian society. However, the

chances of that positive outcome will be greatly enhanced if each of

us who are volunteering does our small parts to the best of our

abilities.

For an interesting article (with other links), RCMP creates how-to

document for understanding new Syrian refugees click here.

In Fellowship, Ann Steadman

Page 4 The Flaming Chalice

Annual Members & Friends Canvass

“Make your membership meaningful by sharing your special talents, time and treasure, knowing that often what we receive rests in how

much of ourselves we have invested.”

(UU New Member Ceremony – author unknown)

Our annual Fellowship Canvass process gives everyone the opportunity to provide feedback

about the activities of the Fellowship through an Evaluation/Needs Survey and to make a financial pledge for the upcoming program year. Unitarian Universalists throughout Canada and the U.S. have traditionally followed this process to enable congregations to plan effectively.

Your Executive Team is very pleased to announce that Bill Franks has agreed to be our Canvass Chair again this year. He is in the process of lining up Canvassers.

The Evaluation/Needs Survey (via Survey Monkey) will end on March 7th. The collated results of this survey, including comments, will be made available to Members and Friends. During the last 3 weeks of March, canvassers will visit Members and Friends to discuss the survey results and to explore other thoughts and suggestions about the Fellowship. Financial pledges for the Fellowship’s 2016 -17 Program Year will also be requested.

You are invited to reflect upon what you hope to contribute for 2016-17. What percent of your income do you currently give to the Fellowship? Can this be increased? However, as Mother Theresa has said, “It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”

What do you think?... On March 27th, after Soup Sunday, members are invited to discuss this new CUC Vision downstairs. Please check the link in the CUC Newsletter to read about it and come prepared to share:

Visioning

What might the future of Canadian Unitarian Universalism look like, transformed by our care and commitment?

The CUC Vision Task Force was formed in 2013 to shape a vision statement for Canadian Unitarian Universalism. After 2 ½

years of thinking, planning, consultation, re-working, and taking deep breaths, the Vision Task Force is ready to present a

recommendation to the 2016 Annual General Meeting. The CUC Board of Trustees will be asking congregations and delegates

to affirm the proposed Vision Statement and 5 Aspirations. The Board would like you to read about this in its full context,

so please access the report here. The Board also encourages you and your congregation or community to spend some time

reflecting together on the following questions:

1. Can you see your congregation or community’s vision and mission within this larger vision statement?

2. If this is affirmed as the vision for Canadian Unitarian Universalism, what are some ways you see your congregation or

community living it?

Then head over to Survey Monkey to share your thoughts. Click here to provide your feedback by April 1st, 2016, either

individually or as a group through this survey.

The Flaming Chalice

Page 5

Regular Events Book Club: Continues to meet on the 3rd Sunday of every month at 9:15 am at ‘Parkside Perk’ on Front St. In March, we

will be reviewing the book All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner – a work of fiction which addresses the very serious problem of addiction to painkillers. Everyone is welcome to come out and join the discussion, whether you’ve read the book or not. Future selections are discussed at the meeting. For April, the book to be discussed is “Live from the Underground” by Corinne Wasilewski who currently lives in Sarnia.

Men’s Group: The Men’s Group plans will be announced as they become available. Please speak with Allan McKeown or Dwayne O’Neill for further information.

Women’s Circle: Plans will be announced as they are finalized. Small Group Ministry: Members meet every other Thursday afternoon at chosen locations. All are welcome. Contact Betty Learn for info at: 519-337-4039.

Thanks to the efforts of over 20 volunteers and the incredible organizing skills of Dwayne O’Neill, the townhouse for our refugee family has been transformed. It is estimated that some 208 person hours has been put into this endeavour. UU hearts that love and hands that serve in action!

Page 6 The Flaming Chalice

Reprinted From UU World:

Wartime origins of the flaming chalice

The flaming chalice, ubiquitous among Unitarian Universalist churches, was first used by the Unitarian Service Committee

DAN HOTCHKISS | 5/1/2001 | MAY/JUNE 2001

A visitor, watching the reverent lighting of the flaming chalice in a UU congregation,

might be forgiven for imagining that this symbol had originated in antiquity. Flame is among

the oldest of religious symbols, and the chalice has been associated with communion since the

early centuries of Christianity.

But the unique combination of these items—fire and a drinking vessel—is the

invention of the artist Hans Deutsch in 1941. Commissioned during World War II as the

symbol of the Unitarian Service Committee (USC), the flaming chalice first appeared as a

symbol for the UUA 35 years later on the title page of the 1976-77 UUA Directory. The ritual

lighting of the chalice in a worship service became widespread only in the last 20 years. Like so

much about our faith, the flaming chalice combines ancient elements in relatively new ways.

The Rev. Dr. Charles Rhind Joy, commissioner for Europe of the newly founded Unitarian

Service Committee, was instrumental in the flaming chalice's creation. Known in the medical

and relief communities for his translations of the works of Dr. Albert Schweitzer, in the

Christian community as author of Harper's Topical Concordance, and among Unitarians as a

former administrative vice president of the American Unitarian Association, Joy was a natural

choice in 1940 to direct the Lisbon, Portugal, office of the USC. Lisbon, the only open port in

Europe in the early 1940s, was the preferred destination for millions of refugees. The USC took

special interest in helping artists, intellectuals, and dissidents escape the Nazis. And so while

Joy worked with people from all walks of life, his clientele included many famous authors,

scientists, and politicians.

Many of the refugees fled without the identification papers they needed to cross

borders, so the Lisbon office concentrated especially on helping them obtain replacement

papers. Joy introduced an innovation: travel documents issued by the USC itself. "It may amuse

you a bit," he wrote to the Boston office of the USC, "to know that we are now issuing

navicerts to pass emigrants to the new world through the British blockade. We are certifying

that they are politically safe and sound."

Joy believed these documents needed a seal. He asked Hans Deutsch, an Austrian

refugee artist working in Lisbon, to create one. The result was essentially the flaming chalice as

we know it now.

What did the flaming chalice mean to its creator? We have only Joy's report to Boston,

January 31, 1941:

“It represents, as you see, a chalice with a flame, the kind of chalice

Which the Greeks and Romans put on their altars. The holy oil burning

in it is a symbol of helpfulness and sacrifice. In ancient and medieval

art this chalice is frequently found, and the design itself, modernized

and stylized, though it is, reminds one of the signs seen on the old

monastic manuscripts. This was in the mind of the artist. The fact,

however, that it remotely suggests a cross was not in his mind, but to

me this also has its merit. We do not limit our work to Christians.

Indeed, at the present moment, our work is nine-tenths for the Jews,

yet we do stem from the Christian tradition, and the cross does

symbolize Christianity and its central theme of sacrificial love."

The Flaming Chalice

Page 7

Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) e-newsletter: To receive this

electronic newsletter from the CUC once per month, go the website at www.cuc.ca and click on the sign up link on the Home page. Also, copies of the “Canadian Unitarian” can be found on Sundays on the information table and are free to take home. Check out the “Sermon of the Month” on the CUC website.

“UU World” on line! The American quarterly magazine “UU World” is also

available as a weekly electronic newsletter. Highly recommended for UU’s! Go to www.uuworld.org and click on “get weekly email updates from UU World”.

Did You Know There Is UU Fellowship Without Walls? The Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) is the largest Unitarian Universalist

congregation in the world. For UUs and others, it offers an online spiritual home

beyond walls or geography. Unitarian Universalists find supportive UU fellowship and

words to inspire and comfort.

The CLF website states that, “No matter where you’re located, you can join our online

spiritual community. We serve anyone longing for a faith rooted in love that cultivates

wonder, encourages imagination and champions justice.” To check out the CLF go to

http://www.clfuu.org/ .

AN INVITATION

FROM: Allan & Dorothy McKeown FOR: Annual St. Patrick’s Day Circle Dinner WHEN: Friday, March 18th at 6:30 p.m. WHERE: At their home – 1446 Sylvan Crescent ******************************************************************************************

Climate Change: A Call to Transformation.

Workshop invitation from Chris Danner

Taking inspiration from the transformation of caterpillar into butterfly, Green Steps members will

facilitate a reflection on approaches to living in awe of, and respectfully within Earth community

during this period of climate crisis.

When: Thursday March 10 6-8 p.m.

Where: Full Circle Eco House of Prayer

2518 South Boulevard

Port Huron, MI 48060

Cost: Free will donation

Please register ASAP by email to: fullcircle@advnet.net or by calling 810-364-3326.

Other Info & Events .

Page 8 The Flaming Chalice

Please consider sharing this newsletter with a friend and invite them to a service. Every Sunday

is “Bring a Guest” Sunday!

Each issue of the “Flaming Chalice” newsletter is printed by the Organization for Literacy Lambton (OLL): helping every person acquire the gift of literacy.

Newsletter Editor: Wendy Cornelis

To unsubscribe to this newsletter at any time, please send your request by email to:

wendycornelis55@outlook.com

“Because of the role that religion has historically

played in denying gay, lesbian, bisexual and

transgender people their full humanity, I believe

that we now have a special calling to reach out

to our GLBT sisters and brothers. We need to

offer an explicit welcome, because the world can

still be a very unwelcoming place. We need to

offer radical acceptance, because neither family

nor society can always be counted on to be

accepting. We need to offer unconditional love,

because Love is at the heart of religious

community.”

— Allison Barrett, Canadian UU Minister