AUGUST 2008

Office hours: M & F 8-11:30am, T-Th 8am-3pm

Phone: (315) 386-2498

E-mail: uucanton@verizon.net

Web site: www.uucantonny.org

Co-Ministers: Wade Wheelock and Anne Marsh Director of Religious Education: Jan Hutslar

Deadline for next newsletter: Wednesday, Aug. 20

  A MONTH OF SUNDAYS

Worship services and children’s religious education begin at 10:30 a.m.

  August 3: “The Gospel According to Kate” - Anne Marsh and Wade Wheelock

This service could be subtitled “Lies My Mother Told Me,” or, on the other hand, “Wisdom from Our Elders.”  Sometimes the trite is true -- or at least thought-provoking.  With Scottish tunes by Wade. You’re invited to bring a contribution of non-perishables for our monthly food pantry collection.

Greeters:      Mark Berninghausen; Pat Gengo

Social Hour:      Volunteers needed

August 10:  “Over the Threshold” - Wade Wheelock and Anne Marsh

Officiating at three weddings for family and friends this summer has got us thinking about the interweaving of joy and fear, loss and hope during the many times of personal change in all our lives.  With special music by the Summer Singers.

Greeters:      Max Coots; Charlotte Ramsay         

Social Hour:      Pat Gengo; Pat Glover

August 17: “Wind” - Anne Marsh and Wade Wheelock

One of summer’s greatest treats is to find a shady spot to rest while just listening to the wind in the trees.  Here is a deeply satisfying way to feel connected to the living universe.  Wind has often held religious connotations in many cultures.  How might these enhance our experience of feeling the earth’s breathing in a gentle breeze?

Greeters:      Kathy Curro; Debbie St. Germain        

Social Hour:      Valerie Ingram; Another Volunteer needed

August 24:  "(Guilty) Reflections of an Erstwhile Activist" Paul Siskind, pulpit guest

Now in my mid-forties, I often feel guilty about being less overtly politically active than I was in my twenties and thirties.  But is that really the case?  Do the behind-the-scenes, interpersonal connections we make in our daily lives count as "activism"?

Greeters:      Lonie Bogett; Another volunteer needed          

Social Hour:      Volunteers needed

August 31: “The Celestial Railroad” - Wade Wheelock and Anne Marsh

Our summer reading included the 17^th-century classic Pilgrim’s Progress about the difficult road to salvation and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s mid-19^th-century satire on the overly easy and efficient route available to his contemporaries. Can we UUs find a middle ground between these two extremes in finding the way to a meaningful life?

Greeters:      Volunteers needed

Social Hour:      Volunteers needed

IN PARTNERSHIP

As this newsletter goes to press, we’re on vacation, so here’s a poem entitled “In Heaven” from UU minister Mark Belletini’s new meditation manual, Sonata for Voice and Silence

Ah, it’s true.

When our ancestors spoke of heaven,

they were speaking of this moment.

When they went on about nirvana

they imagined a time like this.

When they sang of paradise,

it was this morning they imagined.

A time when all the mysteries of life and death

are blended in a community of praise,

when the bones of ancient lovers

are given flesh again in our own bodies,

teachers of long ago speaking of love and truth

once more in lives so ordinary they are

extraordinary.

Blest is our breath, in and out, quiet,

blest is our sitting, our fidgeting, our movement,

blest is our heartbeat echoing

the pounding alleluias of the distant stars,

blest is the silence that is presence,

not absence.

 

Thanks, Mark.  May this summer bring all of us moments of awareness that, indeed heaven is in this moment, and paradise in every sunrise.

- Anne and Wade

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS

"I celebrate myself, and what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.  I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease ... observing a spear of summer grass." -  Walt Whitman

It’s almost August and the urge to loaf and observe summer grasses is strong. I do give in to that sort of thing even as I am looking ahead to next month.  September is just around the corner and we are preparing for the return of Religious Education and our first year teaching the new All Our Relations curriculum.

On your tramps through the woods and along the waters this summer, please keep an eye out for natural objects, which we are collecting for the children to use this year as part of their study of the Interdependent Web. We are looking for stones, shells, dried grasses, bird nests, feathers, animal skulls, pressed leaves and flowers, etc.

 If you signed up to help in RE, you will receive an invitation this month to attend the Teacher Orientation on Sept 7, from 12-2pm.  I hope you will put it on your calendar now, as this is usually the only time all of the teaching staff gets together all year.

Enjoy some more loafing, see you soon,

--Jan, Rebecca and Natalie

JOYS AND SORROWS

·          Loving condolences to Donna Smith-Raymond and family on the death of Donna’s mother, Nora Smith.

·          Congratulations to Bill Kirchgasser on the unveiling of the W. T. Kirchgasser Fossil Collection at SUNY Potsdam.

·          Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Ruth Barbour, who recently underwent surgery.

·          Bill Hesse is settling into his new home in Arhaus, Denmark, where he is working for Google.  You can email him at whessedk@gmail.com.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!

·          Thanks to Judy Gibson and to Pete and Kathy Wyckoff for their generosity in including the church in their estate planning through UUA charitable gift annuities.  If you would like to learn more about these annuities, talk with Tom Pynchon.

·          To the members of the RE Committee who volunteered as Acting DRE, and have kept things running smoothly on Sunday mornings.

·          To all the volunteers who worked as an assistant  this summer with RE.

GENEROUS VIEW

One part of the Stewardship Committee’s role in our church is organizing and presenting the annual pledge campaign. Financial pledges, and subsequent payments, account for over 80% of the money used to balance the church’s operating budget each year.

Why are we talking about this now?  Isn’t the canvass sometime in the fall?

Plans for the fall pledge drive have been a priority topic at Stewardship meetings for several months now. We want everyone to know how, when and why this is happening. After a few years of one-on one and Small Group Meeting canvass styles, we’ve decided to use a third style of pledging: Celebration Sunday.

Celebration Sunday? What’s that?

Celebration Sunday (also known in some churches as Covenant Sunday, Renewal Sunday, or Commitment Sunday) is a one-day event revolving around the Sunday service and following luncheon. The activities conclude with everyone filling out a pledge card to commit their support for the next fiscal year. Before this special Sunday, congregation members and friends will have received a brochure and informational letter explaining the process in detail.

What are we celebrating?

This Sunday will be a day to talk about us, and how we’re doing on a number of fronts. We have been very successful in recent years in our efforts to be more generous in both our local community and the wider world. Our expanded Religious Education Program, Social Action Sunday Offerings, U-Share gardens, and Fair Share membership are a few examples of our progress in sharing our time, energy, and money.

Can I help?

We will be asking a few church members to help by writing brief articles for the newsletter (See following article by Liz Wyckoff) or by making short Journey to Commitment presentations during the service for a few weeks in advance of Celebration Sunday. Everyone can help make this a fun and successful canvass by simply showing up and participating. The more people who attend and make their financial commitment, the less follow-up will be required by Stewardship and other volunteers afterwards.

Wait a minute. You haven’t told us what day yet!

Celebration Sunday will be on October 19!

CONFESSIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS

In order to explain my experience as a born-and-bred Unitarian Universalist, I’d like to begin with this confession: I have not always identified as a religious person. Now, I should explain that my hesitancy to use the word “religious” has more to do with the stigma of the word than anything else. In my life, admitting to participation a religion has often felt like a disclosure that could easily categorize me as old-fashioned, conservative, or closed-minded, in certain company. Whether I use the word or not has very little to do with my actual beliefs, I’ve gathered, because many of my peers do entertain religious thoughts. Still, when I’m talking to friends who have grown up without attending a church at all, my use of the word “religious” weirds them out.

At first, I wondered if this fear of religion had something to do with my generation. After all, we are the spawn of Baby Boomers: a generation of active, anti-establishment crusaders. I’m aware of people who critique my age group for being overly praised in our youth; perhaps we believe that we’re special enough to answer life’s most challenging questions on our own, thank you very much. Or maybe we don’t value the community a church can provide because we’re young and we’ve become accustomed to the isolation of our MySpace- and Facebook-dominated culture. Maybe my generation is critical of the world’s established religions because we’ve already devoted ourselves (sold our souls, our parents might say) to that omniscient god, The Internet. Even though I have always identified as Unitarian Universalist, I was once fairly happy to avoid being categorized as religious along with the rest of my friends. Yet, one memorable moment in my sophomore year of college gave me a new perspective on this decision.

In addition to moving away from my parents and adopting a new bedtime on Saturday nights, embracing the life of a college student also meant that I was no longer attending church on a regular basis. In fact, by my second year at school, I hadn’t given much thought to my religious beliefs in quite a long time. So, while hanging out in my friend John’s dorm room one afternoon, it took me by surprise when I noticed a chalice necklace dangling from his roommate Megan’s neck. “Are you UU?” I asked immediately. “Yeah,” she answered. “Me too!” I said enthusiastically. John then turned to me with a raised eyebrow. “I didn’t know you were religious,” he said cryptically, stereotypes, no doubt, flashing through his mind. But, in that moment, I knew that “religious” was the right word to use. Megan, my fellow UU, and I continued talking, although not about our respective churches or our interpretations of the Seven Principles. We talked about other topics – classes, probably, or what the dining hall was serving for dinner. Megan and I already shared a bond, even as strangers, because we were both UU and we knew what that meant.  

These days, I realize that, sometimes, being openly religious can result in personal connections, just like the one I experienced with Megan. In my life right now, I still don’t attend church every Sunday, but I do consider myself a religious person and I continue to consider myself thoroughly Unitarian Universalist.

--Liz Wyckoff

WATER, STONES, SHELLS

For some, summer is a time to travel.  For some, it’s a time to relax in the back yard.  And for some, the work schedule continues without a break.  However and wherever you spend your summer, you’re invited to collect a sample of water, a stone, or a shell.  Kids, too!  Then at our Homecoming Service on September 7, we can all place our stones, shells, or water on the altar.  This ceremony is NOT a contest to see who’s traveled to the most exotic place -- water from your kitchen sink can be just as meaningful as snow melt from Mt. Kilimanjaro.  It’s instead a way to symbolize our coming together as a diverse and loving community to begin a new church year.

EXPLORING CHRISTIANITY

In July, nine folks gathered to discuss our ideas of “paradise” and the theology of atonement.  The next meeting will be after church on August 3, when we’ll have a potluck lunch and view the film “Jesus Camp.”  This 90-minute documentary visits an evangelical Pentecostal kids’ camp and its charismatic leader, and raises many questions.  What kind of Christianity is being espoused here?  Does it fit with our ideas of the message of Jesus?  And while we may think the evangelical children are being “brain-washed,” what about our own efforts to inculcate liberal values in our UU kids?

Exploring Christianity meets monthly and is a group for those who find inspiration in Christianity and who want to explore the life and work of Jesus from a UU perspective.  All are welcome.