Notes from the President’s Desk – August, 2017

by Kitty Merrill | Jul 29, 2017 | Justice Actions

I hope you watched General Assembly 2017 at UUA.org. Rev. Dana sent everyone an email July 5 with links to the events of this 5-day historic and powerful gathering of UUs. The following are Benedictions (a short invocation for divine help blessing and guidance given at the end of a worship service) from this year’s General Assembly. Why highlight these Benedictions? Because they inspire us towards the spiritual growth that comes from being a justice seeking people.
Thursday Worship – Benediction – Rev. Barbara Jarrell:
“Nelson Mandela once said, “Fools multiply when the wise are silent,” not unlike Dr. King, who said, “A time comes when silence is a betrayal.” Today circumstances call upon us to raise our voices, to give the world a wakeup call, to let our light shine. This morning, we will not extinguish the light of our chalice, but shall let it burn and shine as we go forward on this day, throughout this week, and whenever we must lift our voices to resist and rejoice.”
Friday Worship – Benediction – Rev. Kimberly Quinn Johnson:
“We leave you with words attributed to the 14th century Persian poet Hafiz: “Out of a great need we are all holding hands and climbing. Not loving is a letting go. Listen, the terrain around here is far too dangerous for that. We are called to a revolutionary love that demands that we not let go. A love that demands that we draw our circle wider, and wider, and wider still. A love that asks nothing in return. Even After All this time the Sun never says to the Earth, “You owe me.” Look What happens with a love like that, It lights the whole sky.” A love like this—a love like ours—A Revolutionary Love can light up the whole sky. It can heal the world. May your love light up the whole world. May your love heal the world.”
Saturday Worship – Benediction – Sara Green:
“It is a blessing to be carried through this struggle with the wisdom of those before us, the wisdom existing in our bodies and the wisdom present in the water. It is critical that we hold these gems close to our hearts. May we trust our bodies, experience joy as resistance and allow ourselves to be held by the water. Ashe and Amen.”
Sunday Worship – Benediction “Gloria” #534, Singing the Living Tradition (responsive reading)
Gloria: The tenacity of Earth and its creatures. Kyrie eleison: These children who will go on to save what we cannot. Baruch ata Adonai: The ordinary tenacity of plants and of people. Om: The center of the universe which is everywhere, not the least place in the human heart. Alleluia: Love that survives anger, and winter, and despair, and sorrow, and even death. Shalom: Love that persists. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo: Calm that is the seed in the dark. Amen: For endings that are beginnings, for beginnings that are endings. Alleluia: For the circle, the spiral, the web, the egg, the orbit, the center, the seed, the flower, the fruit, the opening, the death, the release, the seed. Amen: We are going on. Amen: It is going on. Amen: Blessed be.
Please take the time to visit the UUA.org website and experience the spirit of GA 2017.
Living in Paradise, Bryan Buck, President

Minister’s Column – August, 2017

by Kitty Merrill | Jul 29, 2017 | Justice Actions

I write to you just before I hunker down at home for some days of Study Leave this summer. It used to be our churches operated on the old academic calendar based on an old agrarian calendar of school being out for the growing and harvesting seasons. By now this rhythm is practically written into our collective DNA. It’s even stronger for me given I have spent 50 of my nearly 60 years as a student, a teacher or a minister. It used to be ministers took off the whole summer. Some churches even closed down for the summer.

All that is changing as the world changes and as UUCV is becoming a year-round church. This summer we welcome two new staff members – Office Administrator, Jennifer Seale began on July 1 and Director of Religious Education, Emily Carroll, begins August 1. So, I am working the first two weeks of July and August, and taking 4-5 weeks of mostly study leave at the end of both months. We’ll see how far I get through the stack of books I want to read. I also plan – at last – to get my will done. As your minister, I will always encourage you to get end-of-life documents in order long before they are needed. I’ve seen the burden on grieving people sorting through their loved-one’s unsettled affairs.

This year I have another impetus to follow my own (sage) advice. The UUA has just launched a program called Wake Now Our Vision. Thanks to a grant from the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock, new bequests (i.e. naming UUCV as a beneficiary in your will, trust, IRA, etc.) are eligible for a 10% matching cash gift, up to $10,000 per donor. It’s like those matching grants on public radio pledge drives that bring in extra money when you donate. The program means to encourage UUs to name their church – or another UU institution – in their will to help ensure the long-term future of our faith.

I am naming both UUCV and Starr King School for the Ministry. Both institutions will receive a 10% match now, and a bequest (hopefully) decades later. I want both of these fine UU institutions to continue being strong voices of love and justice for a long, long time.

The Stewardship Team is calling this the “Legacy Challenge.” New bequests made between January 1, 2017 and June 30, 2020 will qualify for this match program, yet the matching money is first come-first served, and may run out sooner. So I encourage you to get this done now, this very summer. For more information and to download a form, visit http://wakenowourvision.org. Questions? Call Maura Raffensperger, Stewardship Chair at 805/616-2466. May your summer be filled with sun, refreshment of the physical and spiritual varieties, and time to take care of a few of those tasks you have been meaning to get to….

With Love, Rev. Dana