USH-Enews April 28, 2010 Print Only Edition

USH-Enews is a weekly email newsletter produced for members and friends of the Unitarian Society of Hartford. The USH web address is: http://www.ushartford.com/ Check at the end of this USH-Enews for information on submissions, subscriptions and escape from the mailing list or to find past issues of the weekly USH-Enews click here.

Sunday - 30 May - Speaking of Faith: Religious Understandings Beyond the Limits of Politics - part two - What understandings are hidden inside of ancient religions around the world, and why should they matter to us today?

We will explore this question through the eyes of Christa Tippett, as she explores the "limits of politics" in addressing current global dramas through interviews with scientists, scholars, musicians, and activists whose religious persuasions range from Pentecostal to Catholic to Hindu to atheist to "other."

FIELD DAY!

As is our tradition on Memorial Day weekend, we will spend our Religious Education time celebrating the wonder of the outdoors! Please join us for a joyful experience of bubbles, chalk, parachutes and other summer fun activities on the Meeting House lawn. Adults and youth are needed to help with the festivities! If you can throw a ball, blow a bubble or play hopscotch, please contact Gail at: dre@ushartford.com. - Gail Syring, DRE

Editor's Note: The USH-Enews on May 5th carried an article about services extending an additional 15 minutes. The title failed to make clear the story was received from the Worship Arts Sub-Council and published at their request. Here is the corrected version.

The Don't Go To Arizona Issue - The Information and Advocacy Sub-Council needs your input on the Arizona Immigration law and its implications for UUs. The UUA made a commitment to hold the GA in Phoenix and is reconsidering that plan in light of the forthcoming implementation of the restrictive immigration policing. What do you think?

COST to UUA - Apparently NONE prior to June 15; negotiable thereafter. Vague data, but the deadline of 6/15 suggests that cancellation is feasible. But threat that CONGREGATIONS might have to pony up penalties UP TO $615,000 if decisive action is not taken soon.

PRO-PHOENIX in 2012
Solidarity with oppressed in Arizona. Harm entertainment industry which employs oppressed. Important to honor long-term commitments. GA is a place to determine Association-wide courses of action.

ANTI-PHOENIX in 2012
Take a position to influence economic powers in Arizona. Solidarity with groups such as Center for Community Change, League of United Latin American Citizens, LaRaza, As. ian-American Justice Center, and SEIU (Service Workers International Union. As in Ft Lauderdale, attendance likely will diminish if GA is held at controversial site. Avoid targeting UUs who choose to attend the 2012 GA.

YOUR OPINION COUNTS! We want to give our delegates a sense of our individual (NOT official Congregational) position. Please respond to this survey by clicking the link here.

Further Thoughts About Membership - Last week we presented some thoughts about membership. Here is a reference to the now complete three page document.

5th Sunday Wild Card Trumps Order of Service! Read all about it!” - Month of Sundays News

May 30 is a 5th Sunday, which means it’s what Mattie, our Music Director sometimes, calls “wild card day.” If all goes well, we will be able to hear Mark and Martha Childs’ daughter Melissa perform several piano pieces for us. We will enjoy viewing red, white, and blue chancel art reminding us of Memorial Day and the sacrificial love which some of us have for the land where we were born, and smell the beautiful flowers donated by Earl and Kayla Constenoble, in memory of their own parents, reminding us of those we’ve loved who have gone before.

I’ll be exploring a big “So What?” that might come to mind when recalling that we’ve spent a church year making a nine point list of core human needs!

Here’s thought experiment for you. When you arrive at the Meeting House this Sunday and find that you do not have an order of service, how do you feel? Curious? Confused? Cranky? Captivated? What need constellation does an order of service address and satisfy? (As you recall from our shared worship this year, Max-Neef classifies the fundamental human needs as:

Many Faiths, One Truth - Several readers have recommended this article by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama recently appearing in the NY Times. You may read it while this link remains good. The link.

The Star Thrower - Have you noticed that the story told to the children on the chancel steps each Sunday often pops up—usually in a somewhat different form—during Reverend BJ’s reflections, readings or sermons? And do you remember the story of the starfish? Reverend BJ, RE Director Gail Syring and Worship Associate Jennifer Hunt acted it out for the USH kids during the Sunday, May 23 service.

In this story for children, a young man was throwing beached starfish back into the ocean. An observer reminded him there are miles of beach and starfish all along it, so “you can’t possibly make a difference.” The young man answered, “It makes a difference for that one.” After a lot of troubled thought, the observer joined the young man in throwing starfish back into the ocean. As the story goes, “he realized that what the young man was doing was choosing not to be an observer in the universe and watch it pass by, but was choosing to be an actor in the universe and make a difference.”

The story comes from a 16-page essay, The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley, one of Reverend BJ’s favorite authors. He was a kind of renaissance man who was an anthropologist, teacher, philosopher, poet and natural science writer.

In Mr. Eiseley’s essay, he is skeptical about the wisdom of throwing starfish back into the ocean, and his initial conclusion is pessimistic. “I do not collect…neither the living nor the dead…Death is the only successful collector.” Later, after much thinking, he returns to the beach as “another thrower…We had lost our way, I thought, but we had kept, some of us, the memory of the perfect circle of compassion from life to death and back to life again…the completion of the rainbow of existence.”

Reverend BJ introduced us to another favorite of hers, Krista Tippett, host and producer of Speaking of Faith, a weekly National Public Radio conversation about religion, spirituality, ethics and ideas. Her guests have discussed quantum physics, the novelist as God, forensic pathology, parenting, the meaning of intelligence.

Reverend BJ suggested that if Ms. Tippett had been able to have a conversation with Mr. Eiseley (he died in 1977), some of the topics they would have touched upon would include: meditation on matters of ultimate concern, how to find wisdom, contemplation as a kind of human activity which transfers knowledge into education and wisdom, religion providing a quiet place for contemplation, and the fact that political and religious systems both exist to organize life. Reverend BJ suggested that some of the questions scientists have regarding the meaning of things may be better addressed through religion, poetry and metaphor. - Kayla Costenoble

What Else is Happening

Art News - Our guest artist for the final spring exhibit is Diana Lemcoff offering a sample of her fine innovative work on display following the May 23rd service. Diane will be available in Fellowship Hall after the service on June 6th to meet us and answer questions about her creative process. - Sara Sturges

Hartford Tree Walk - West End Tree Walk - one of the events for Connecticut Trails Day, Saturday June 5th. More

Women's Alliance 2010 Education Grant Applications - The amount is small (about $500) but can help in costs of books, transportation, child care. Affiliation with USH is noted but not required.

Applications are available on the Alliance standing bulletin board in the downstairs hall at USH and also on-line through the USH home page. They may be sent by regular mail or email. Call 860-693-4269 for further information. More

If there is no Programs Table this Sunday, May 30, you may register for the last Friday Dinner and Movie for the 2009 - 2010 season, Guided Mediations - Six Essential Practices, and the Summer Small Group Ministry by emailing Janice Newton dcnewton(at symbol)snet.net and note registration in the subject line, or calling 860.677.1121 and leave a message (if we are not home) rather than calling the office.

Ember Days, Friday and Saturday, May 28, 29, 6:00 - 8:00 PM. Led by Rev. Jamestone, these contemplative gatherings to celebrate the wondrous cycles of nature include spiritual exercises and time for personal introspection in silence. Come to any or all of the sessions. No registration needed.

Friday Dinner and Movie, June 11. The featured movie will be Raging Bull. More

Guided Mediations - Six Essential Practices to Cultivate Love, Awareness, Wisdom. Saturday, June 19th, 12 Noon to 3:30 PM More

Summer Small Group Ministry, Four Tuesday evenings starting July 6. There are only two places left. More

Raging Bull - Friday June 11 - "Though Raging Bull has only three principal characters, it is a big film, its territory being the landscape of the soul."*
". . . a screen biography of Jake La Motta, a searing

look at the sport of boxing and a riveting drama revolving around grand passions"*

The Friday, June 11 Dinner and a Movie film is "Raging Bull," from 1980, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, considered "one of American cinema's masterworks."*

As usual, we will gather on Friday the 11th at 5:30 for libations and popcorn, dinner at 6, movie at 7 sharp (it's over 2 hours long). You may reserve by calling Janice (leave message if machine is on) at 860 - 677 - 1121 (then pay at the door) or reserve at the Programs Table during Sunday coffee hours (cash, check or credit card). Please make your reservations by Monday, June 7; be sure to tell us then if you want a vegetarian meal.

This is the final movie of this year's series, so we are soliciting nominations for next season. If you are a movie fan who hasn't yet attended but plan to do so next year, you may nominate five titles and participate in the July voting, email or snail mail. Just include your contact info with your nominations; send to pickmovies@ushartford.com by June 30. You may also include suggestions, comments, or questions about the existing program and its format.

*from the movie website, Rotten Tomatoes, where you can read many reviews of this film (and other films, too) - Nita

GHICEJ Fundraiser - The Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition For Equity & Justice Announces its Third Annual Education Fundraiser - The Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity & Justice (GHICEJ) cordially invites you to celebrate Hartford Children by attending an Open House Fundraiser for the students and families at Noah Webster and Rawson Schools and the GHICEJ Education Partnership Project on Sunday, June 6th from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Featuring an art sale, gift baskets and a chance to bid on a week in Spain!! Fine wines and appetizers will be served. Ticket prices: $25 in advance or at the door.

For more information, please contact: Shai Cassell, Community Organizer - The Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity & Justice - Call: (860) 930-4278 or email scassell54(at sign)comcast.net

Caring Network - We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us. - Marcel Proust - If you know of any member experiencing some difficulty, please contact Diana Heymann, Chair of the Caring Network heydiana(at symbol) comcast.net 860.461.0908 or call the office so we can provide some assistance.- before 10:30 on Sunday. A wide range of community services is also available to those in need by calling InfoLine at 211. Please contact Diana if you are able to volunteer your services.

Dishwasher Training - The next dishwasher training is scheduled for June 6 (not May 10 as mistakenly advertised last week). Please meet in the kitchen after the service for a 10 minute training on how to use the dishwasher so we can all help keep disposable dishes from polluting our earth. Many hands make light work.

Looking for volunteers for Habitat for Humanity - One day in July to work on a house. Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Please contact Peter Magistri, Ed Savage or Joan Kemble if interested. We can look for a date after finding a group. Thanks, IASC

Nuts and Bolts: The member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association covenant to affirm and promote: the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity, and compassion in human relations; acceptance of one another and encouragement of spiritual growth in our congregations; a free and responsible search for truth and meaning; the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process, within our congregations and in society at large; the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all; respect for the interdependent web of all existence, of which we are a part.

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