November 2015

THEME: Transcendence 

"The Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh

“Imagine...” - John Lennon

“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." - Mark 1:14-15

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It might seem strange to pair a quote from the John Lennon song that invites the listener to image there’s “no religion too.” with a Bible verse calling people to “repent and believe in the good news.”  Yet, if we take a closer look at each, we find their message is more in harmony than is commonly thought.

Lennon’s song asks us to image a world different from the one in which we live today.  It is a song about vision and transformation.  It is about removing the various and divisive lenses through which we normally see and relate to the world and one another that we might recognize our common humanity.  

Most of us have been taught that “repent” means to apologize and seek forgiveness.  But in the context of the verse from Mark’s gospel it means something quite different.  In the Jewish Bible (what Christians call the Old Testament) repentance meant “to return.” In the Christian New Testament, repentance carries an additional meaning, for the roots of the Greek word for repentance means “to go beyond the mind you have.” Thus when Jesus calls would be followers to repent, he is calling people to return to God (or that which is life giving and sustaining), to envision (or imagine) a life that is different from the one in which we live and believe that such a life is here ready to be embodied through us in the way we relate to one another and live our lives.   

John Lennon’s imagine is in many ways then, can be heard as a 20th C. affirmation of Jesus’ call to repentance, inviting us to transcend the self-inflicted limitations of the mind and embody through our lives, another way of being, the kingdom, some might say, of God.

Reflection and Exercise

Write your own version of “Imagine.”  

What kind of world do you envision and seek to embody through your life?  

October 2015

Theme: Impermanence

In her poem, The Ponds, Mary Oliver contemplates the reality of life’s impermanence.  Awareness of life’s impermanence presents us with a spiritual challenge. We can succumb to the lure of denial or the the fatigue of resignation and live our lives pretending we’ll live forever or that nothing we say or do really matters.  Or we can seek and find acceptance and live in ways that express and make the most of life’s finitude.   

Questions for Reflection

Read Mary Oliver’s The Ponds (click title)

What are ways that you succumb to the lure of denial or fatigue of resignation concerning life’s impermanence?

How do you or how might you move toward acceptance of life’s impermanence?

October 2015
Theme: Impermanence

 Impermanence and Acceptance

 Do you miss something that is lost or changed?

What would you like to accomplish by your next birthday?

 What is something that is hard for you now?

 When is it hard to be a friend?

Who is someone you’d like to be friends with?

Heart Talk-A Great Adventure

I ask a lot of questions both in my role as religious educator and as a parent. Thoughtful questions are a great way to inspire thinking and conversation, investigating and sharing and learning about each other.

Heart Talk is a spiritual practice though which we can share our hearts and feelings. It can help connect and enhance communication and relationships amongst our family members. You will find, right here on LOVE UU each month, several themed questions that can get you started. You might print them out and keep them in the car, or at the dinner table or in your living room. You might add more questions and put them in a box or a jar for random drawing. You might place a heart sticker under someone’s glass at dinner and let them draw a question. Or tape a question to the salt shaker for the first person who uses it. Or decorate your table with a question written on paper toweling. Or write one or two words of a question on each persons’ napkin.

Let’s be sure to take every opportunity to open up the hearts of ourselves and our children!

Big Blessings,

Laurel

September 2015
Theme: Conviction

Belief and Doubt

~Game: Two Truths and a Lie

Instruct each player to think of three statements about themselves. Two must be true statements, and one must be false. For each person, he or she shares the three statements (in any order) to the group. The goal of the game is to determine which statement is false. The group votes on which one they feel is a lie, and at the end of each round, the person reveals which one was the lie.

~Book Suggestions: Find Belief and Doubt in;

            Imani’s Moon by Janay Brown-Wood

            Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Quote from Peter Pan, by JM Barrie

“The moment where you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever being able to do it.”

What does this mean?  What does doubt mean? How does doubt impact what you do?

Conviction

.A quote from The Lorax by T.D. Geisel

“… all that the Lorax left here in this mess was a small pile of rocks, with one word...

UNLESS.

But now, says the Once-ler…, UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot,

nothing is going to get better. It's not.    

What does that mean?

Can one person make a difference in the world?

Do you believe that you can make a difference in the world?

Does believing help you in making a difference?

UU Connection: UU Principle #4 We Search for what is true and #5 All people have a voice

September Theme: Conviction

“A person has no religion who has not slowly and painfully gathered one together, adding to it, shaping it, and one's religion is never complete and final, it seems, but must always be undergoing modification.” 

- D. H. Lawrence

Questions for Reflection

1. Do you agree or disagree with Lawrence’s statement?

a. Why or why not?

2. What shapes or has shaped your religious views?

3. When it comes to religious conviction, are belief and doubt mutually exclusive?  Explain.

You’re invited to post your reflections below.

June 2015

From the Rev. Danny R. Reed, Minister, The Unitarian Church in Charleston...

Friends

I write on behalf of the Charleston congregation to thank you for the many messages of concern and support we have received, and to provide a brief perspective on the soul and state of our beloved city.
Of course, we’re reeling and will be for some time, yet poignant examples of healing and unity abound in our midst. Last night, members of our church gathered with thousands of our neighbors to grieve, pray, and sing together in a downtown arena. An interfaith core of clergy revisited ancient, holy words as source of comfort and perspective, and also as clarion call toward renewed equity, justice, and moral solidarity. Our civic leaders, particularly our popular, forty-year mayor, Joseph P. Riley, Jr., called for a revival of community cooperation and reminded us that once united, we will recover and move forward. He also addressed our national fixation with handguns and said it is surely time for more reasoned conversation and swift reform.
Afterward, we walked the few blocks from the arena to nearby Emanuel AME church, longstanding symbol of African American identity and progress, and sadly now and evermore, a murder site where 3 men and 6 women were slain. Flowers, layers deep, brought by friends, mourners, and supporters, lined the sidewalk outside the church. A piper, in full regalia, moved to the center of the street and played “Amazing Grace.” Hundreds in the street, of different age, faith, and race joined in song. Soon after, those same voices shared an impromptu chorus of “This Little Light of Mine.” Then, a dozen or so Jewish Charlestonians formed a circle in the street and sang their songs of evening prayer and Kaddish. Though we walked, left our memorial flowers, and sang through tears, and despite the recent bloodshed that called us together, it was after all, still the Sabbath.
Forty percent of enslaved people delivered to America entered through the port of Charleston. The Civil War was ignited here and the Confederate flag continues to fly on our Statehouse grounds. These and other difficult truths point to the significant baggage of racism and injustice that continues to influence life in Charleston. Yet, please know that we are more united than one might think. Thus far, our streets are filled more with abiding faith than blind rage. Property has not been vandalized and vigils have been marked by diversity and peace. Earlier Friday, as the disturbed and poisoned young man who wrought such violence stood at his bond hearing, the family members of those he murdered—those most entitled to rage and vengeance, instead spoke to him words of compassion and even forgiveness.
As you gather in worship yourselves, thank you again for remembering the deceased and their families: Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Rev. Daniel Simmons, and Myra Thompson. Remember too those survivors wounded in the attack and recovering.
We will never be the same. Charleston will bear the scars of the assault on Mother Emanuel church, yet we will not be defeated. The work of justice is never-ending and commitment to the beloved community is ever needed. Even in the haunted American south, love will prevail.

Thank you.

Source: http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/ourstories/love-will-prevail