unitarian universalist meeting of south berkshire spirit ... … · unitarian universalist meeting...
TRANSCRIPT
Unitarian Universalist Meeting of South Berkshire
Spirit of Life
September 2017 Sunday Worship 10:30am
Mission: We come together from diverse traditions as a welcoming, religious community with shared values, seeking spiritual growth, lifelong religious education, and fellowship. We strive to promote justice, acceptance, and compassion in the world.
Music: Trustee/Greeter:
Greeter: Hospitality:
Hospitality/Chalice:
Music: Trustee/Greeter:
Greeter: Hospitality:
Hospitality/Chalice:
Music:
Trustee/Greeter: Greeter:
Hospitality: Hospitality/Chalice:
Music: Trustee/Greeter:
Greeter: Hospitality:
Hospitality/Chalice:
09-03-17 “Outlandish Love”: Rev. Kathy Duhon The sermon series continues, and it’s outlandish this time. “Love … storms the soul with all its power,” wrote Mechtild of Magdeburg. Don’t romanticize love; let it shock us. What’s more outlandish than loving your enemies? Like Muhammad Ali, love claims to be “the greatest”, even if it both floats and stings. “Outlandish Love” is Kathy’s penultimate sermon. (Warning: Despite Annie Dillard’s suggestion, life preservers, crash helmets and signal flares are not provided by the ushers.)
09-10-17
“Unitarian Universalism and Spiritual Practice” Michaela Romano-Meade
Michaela is studying to be a UU minister at Andover Newton Theological School and she is a proud member of UUMSB. Before her life turned toward ministry, Michaela received a BFA in Musical Theater, worked at the SF SOCA veterinary hospital, and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, West Africa.
09-17-17
“What is the True Self?”: Rev. Rich Hayes Rev. Rich Hayes is a chaplain with Hospice in the Berkshires and a frequent speaker at our service.
Share the Plate with Housatonic River Association
09-24-17
“Water Communion”: Ray Garnett Ray Garnett is Co-Chair of our UUMSB Membership Committee. .
Marian Rose Laurie Shaw Jan Hutchinson Phlox Laucher Karen Clark Hilda Banks Shapiro Laurie Shaw Jan Hutchinson John Corcoran Sue Corcoran Hilda Banks Shapiro; UUMSB Choir Laurie Shaw Jan Hutchinson Marion Jansen Dianna Downing Marian Rose Laurie Shaw Jan Hutchinson Neal Chamberlain Paula Duhon
Reverend:
Carol Allman-Morton
Mailing address: PO Box 783, Housatonic, MA 01236 Tel: 413-358-3877
Residence: 1089 Main Street, Housatonic, MA 01236 Click here for map and directions
Justice, love, and compassion in spiritual community
Web: uumsb.org Email: [email protected] Spirit of Life September 2017 Page 1 of 7
Carol will be on sabbatical from July through October.
For any pastoral concerns while she is away from the congregation, please be in touch with our founding minister, Rev. Kathy Duhon. She can be contacted at [email protected] or 518-794-0021.
For congregation related questions you can be in touch with Martha Page, our new Board chair and she can help connect you to answers. If you have questions about membership, contact Ray Garnett and Al Blake.
************************************************* Kathy’s Corner
“Rush Hour Reimagined”
Rush hour isn’t just for the cities and the highways anymore, or even for motor vehicles.
Although, I’ll always remember reading a Buddhist teaching on meditative letting go at stoplights and in traffic, and often that consciousness does lighten my drive.
“Rush hour" is the term used by Nest, where my son Will works, to talk about the energy grid at high demand times. Sometimes everyone is using it at once (a summer afternoon or a winter night) and that doesn’t work well. More power is fired up, sometimes more power plants being brought on line, to meet the demand, and it’s inefficient and costly. The Nest thermostats help to ease the “rush hour traffic” by pre-cooling or pre-heating homes, then lowering (winter) or raising (summer) the temperature a few degrees for the height of the energy draw on the grid. Recently, Will helped lead a special effort at Nest to meet the demands of the solar eclipse on our country’s energy supply, since we have so much solar power. An estimated 9000 MW would be lost on that August day, and so peak rush hour conditions for the grid would follow the eclipse across the country. All it took for individuals was a little planning, a tiny effort, and not really much inconvenience, to save the planet a great deal. (For Will it was months of work that he hopes will help change everyone’s behavior around rush hour energy times for the future.)
I wonder where else we have “rush hours” in our lives and can make minor adjustments that save us and the planet time, energy, frustration, and pain. Where can we plan, make a little effort, change our path, and upend the rush hours we face? Maybe we wake up earlier, shop at a different time, organize alternative family gatherings not on traditional holidays, take the scenic route, walk more, or seek out the unusual instead of the over-popular.
I can tell you one place that is not a rush hour almost anywhere I have been in this country, and that’s the traditional time of religious services at congregations. No, you will not find traffic in Housatonic on Sunday mornings, nor be elbowed and squeezed at UUMSB. You don’t have to wait in a queue for a seat or find yourself glaring at the family that is having a leisurely brunch at the table where you desperately want to be. Why not give up rush hour and find a quiet hour instead, a place of renewal and beloved community, anywhere, anytime, but especially here, at UUMSB. What a great way to renew the face of the earth.
Web: uumsb.org Email: [email protected] Spirit of Life September 2017 Page 2 of 7
Message from our President
“They Wanted To Shut Her Up.
They Just Magnified Her.” - Susan Bro
Many years ago, as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, I lived in and learned to love my university town of Charlottesville. The demonstration and tragedy on August 12 hurt my heart in many ways, and was made even more sorrowful for me because it once was my home. How do you even begin to explain the thought process of an avowed white supremacist? Or how can you explain the decision of one human being to intentionally drive a car into a peaceful crowd of other human beings? What are we supposed to learn from such a hard lesson? As horrifying as this all was and is, I find myself drawing courage and comfort from the words and actions of Heather Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, who with dignity and resolve helped us to know a little about the woman her daughter was. The thing that has been most striking to me is the idea of showing up...showing up to speak truth, showing up to be in community with others, showing up to try to right a wrong, showing up to demonstrate what is possible. In Charlottesville, in Boston, in Ferguson, and here in Housatonic, there are many ways to show up. May we all have the courage to show up to make this world a better place.
- Martha Page
Web: uumsb.org Email: [email protected] Spirit of Life September 2017 Page 3 of 7
What’s Happening in September on the UUMSB's Social Justice Front?
As this UUMSB newsletter is finalized there is so much need in sharing our justice work. The UUMSB Justice Team (Social Justice Committee) would love to have your energy join us in this work. We all work at different levels and have different amounts of time to give to our wider community but we ask that you just consider joining us in a small or large way in the months ahead! As we UUs continue our efforts toward better understanding our nation’s history of white privilege/supremacy we UUMSB UUs continue this community understanding with lay services, workshops and ministerial words of wisdom. Members of our justice team are joining members of our wider Berkshire community in Real Talk on Race groups/workshops, Stand-Outs on Berkshire town squares, and continue the exploration of helping to partner a county-wide effort called Not In Our Town/County (being organized by Multicultural BRIDGE with many community partners). These efforts are to name a few of what ‘your Justice Team is up to’ as we move into Fall 2017. Ken and Laura Wagner (of UUA and UU MASS Action) joins us for the last Sunday in August to ‘speak from the pulpit’ about The Culture of White Supremacy in America. They make a powerful UU team and the workshop following this service is one more step on our journey to take ownership to this culture of ours and move forward to make a difference in our own community. It is our hope that the UUMSB congregation, a community that cares deeply about justice work, will help us plan future programs, action plans and be a part of the work that needs to be done to make our Berkshires a better place to live for all! A safe, welcoming place for children to grow and have equal opportunities and a place to nurture young adults who want a good job and housing to raise a family and thrive in community. Your team wants to lead in this effort, come join us! Our Share the Plate Sunday for September will take place on September 17 and Team member Al Blake will be introducing the highlighted Berkshire organization – Housatonic Valley Association (HVA). Richard Sears, HVA’s Development Director, will be sharing the current work of HVA which was founded in 1941 and has grown from a handful of people interest in river conservation to become the only organization dedicated solely to protecting the entire Housatonic River and its 2,000 square-mile watershed. As an aside, HVA has used our UU Meeting House to hold community discussions about their work. These meetings have been full-house events – letting our beautiful building be a force in the area. HVA’s mission is creating partnerships with agencies and organizations, conducting research, education, advocacy, and providing technical assistance to communities and neighborhood groups. Come learn more about their work and give as generously as you can! Finally, join us on Sunday, September 24, following the service for our Justice Bookgroup. We are reading Lies My Teacher Told Me written by James W. Loewen. Hope to see you there! Never hesitate to give us reviews on the justice work we are choosing to be a part of. . . and now on to Fall 2017!
In the journey, Tommie Hutto-Blake for the Justice Team ~ Ricky Bernstein, Al Blake, Valerie
Bluhm, Karen Clark, Stu Dalheim, Sheryl Davies, Ray Garnett, Gwendolyn Hampton VanSant,
Sandy Noyes, Martha Page, Sue Protheroe, Gary Shaw.
Web: uumsb.org Email: [email protected] Spirit of Life September 2017 Page 4 of 7
Membership Directory! If you are part of our community, but have not yet officially joined the congregation, we would love to add you to our member directory as a friend, so that folks can be in touch with you and we can call you in case of cancellations. Just send an email to our administrator Sheena with your contact info at [email protected]!
The Caring Committee, a part of the
Membership and Growth Committee, coordinates
and delivers caring services to members
experiencing difficulties. We are available for
anyone needing assistance in life or family
situations that seem to come to everyone from time
to time. Our committee finds volunteers from the
congregation to help provide visits, food,
transportation, and other services, depending on
the situation.
Whether you or someone you know may need
information, encouragement, a hand or a ride,
please call:
Valerie Bluhm (413) 394-4309
Zoe Dalheim (413) 243-3617
Phlox Laucher (413) 281-8351
Sharon Meyer (413) 528-0956
Sue Montague (518) 321-5102
07 Eileen Brennan
08 Grace Moyer
10 Will Greene
11 Dennis Downing
17 Laurie Shaw
17 Maya Hampton
21 Gina James
21 Colin Thorp
25 Dona Burdick
26 Michaela Romano-Meade
27 Al Thorp
30 Jan Hutchinson
Would you like to join? Come and sing with us!
We rehearse at 9:25 a.m. before worship on the Sundays we will be
singing. Contact Marian Rose for information.
We come together September 17
Facebook/uumsb
and share our events and announcements.
Thank you!
UUMSB Community News: If you have any personal joys or concerns that you would like to share, send them to Sheena at [email protected]. Thanks!
Please keep in your thoughts and prayers: Stu and Zoe Dalheim were in an accident as well. Stu is fine, Zoe has very sore ribs. Sheena Evans-Morris also on the mend from a car accident. Rhonda Pastori, a former member, lost her dad to cancer a few weeks ago. Dotty Prunhuber is now on Hospice. She loves cards and calls, but should be checked with before a visit. Dona Burdick's daughter Jenny is quite ill and hospitalized in Colorado.
Web: uumsb.org Email: [email protected] Spirit of Life September 2017 Page 5 of 7
UUMSB Social Media ‘Go To’ Page
Online UUMSB Google Calendar! You do not have to be signed in to anything to see it. The calendar will reflect our programs, meetings, and worship information for each Sunday.
Click on this link: UUMSB calendar
Let Sheena know! Email her at [email protected]
Jan Hutchinson’s Raggedy Prayers and Crooked Ladders.
WHERE DO I FIND INFORMATION ON EVENTS HAPPENING IN OUR COMMUNITY?
The most comprehensive listings are: In the newsletter (print, email and web); On our website (uumsb.org) On our Google calendar: (https:/www.google.com/calendar/[email protected]&ctz=America/New_York) Updates and changes are sent out over email and posted on Facebook In the weekly insert at worship; On the bulletin board in the social hall If you have any announcements to go out by email or to be printed in the Sunday insert, send them to [email protected] by Tuesday each week. If you have something to be posted to Facebook, you can send that to [email protected] anytime, or post from your account on the UUMSB page.
CLICK ON THE LINK:
BHRSS Berkshire Human Rights Speaker Series
Clara Barton District
Construct Inc
Unitarian Universalist Association
UU Mass Action
UUMSB
UUSC
HospiceCare
RSYP Railroad Street Youth Project
Hands in Outreach HIO
Multicultural BRIDGE
350.org
Twitter/uumsb
Facebook/uumsb
Tumblr/uumsb
Standing on the Side of Love Commit2Respond
PFLAG
Are you a Facebook user? Check out UUMSB on Facebook, including a calendar of all our events!
“Like US” and help spread our messages to your friends.
Four Freedoms website. www.4freedomscoalition.org
Web: uumsb.org Email: [email protected] Spirit of Life September 2017 Page 6 of 7
Our congregation’s first meeting was in 1995 with 6 people in attendance. We are a chartered congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association. We currently have 67 members and maintain strong ties to our community. We are a growing congregation in the liberal tradition that respects ideas, values diversity, and encourages the exploration of spirituality and life’s meaning.
UUMSB Church, Housatonic Click here for map and directions-
UUMSB Board
President: Martha Page (860) 597-2612 Vice President: Mike Thiemann (413) 344-6969 Secretary/Clerk: Dennis Downing (413) 528-3381 Treasurer: Bill Young (860) 597-2627 Trustees at Large: Ray Garnett (413) 232-0248
Chuck Pierce (413) 528-7910Laurie Shaw (413) 528-0343
Worship Committee meeting 12Noon: Sunday September 3
South County Race Task Force 7:00pm: Thursday September 7
Trans Group meeting 7:00pm: Thursday September 7
Facility Use Committee meeting 9:00am: Sunday September 10
Membership and Growth Committee meeting 9:15am: Sunday September 10
Choir Rehearsal 9:25am: Sunday September 17
Board meeting 12Noon: Sunday September 17
Trans Group meeting 7:00pm: Thursday September 21
Social Justice Book Group 12Noon: Sunday September 24
All gatherings held at UUMSB in Housatonic unless specified otherwise Click on this link to go to UUMSB calendar
Web: uumsb.org Email: [email protected] Spirit of Life September 2017 Page 7 of 7