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50 Bloomfield Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105
Tel: (860) 233-9897 / FAX 233-1333
Email: firstunitarian@ushartford.com
Reverend Barbara Jamestone, PhD
USH-Enews July 23, 2009
Jump to: Calendar; What's happening; A matter of opinion; External events; Further down the road; Social justice journeys; Did you know?
Color Coordination is Everything!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. And, to read the monthly Meetinghouse Messenger (newsletter) on the web or to find past issues of the weekly USH-Enews click here.
Office hours: Rev. Jamestone: Phone: 860 233-9897; Email: RevBJ@USHartford.com - Rev. BJ office hours by appointment.
Worshipping Together Since 1830
Summer Schedule One Service 10 AM(Notice to contributors - Double Issue USH-Enews next week - none to be issued 8/6/09)
Sunday - 26 July Lessons from Victor - Will Huntington - Wil's recent world travels have given him a new way to look at the world and how to understand his place in it. The vision of a child has become his model for approaching and understanding the world and it seems to be an implicit way we come to live. Through anthropology, psychology and images, Wil will document his adventures and how he came to gain a child-like life.
Service will be in the Chapel
Bio: The son of Susan and Charles Huntington, which consequently makes me the older brother of Maya Huntington, I have grown up in the Meeting House and have only recently ventured out into the world on my own. I currently study at NYU concentrating on the anthropology and psychology of performing arts rituals. I have recently been to Uganda and Argentina as well as many other countries studying how art and art making are viewed from culture to culture and the psychological similarities between each ritual. I plan to spend Fall semester in Prague, Czech Republic, and Spring semester in Florence, Italy, before I return to NYC to graduate a year early.
Music – This summer our wonderful Music Associate, John Jesensky, will spend his final Sundays with us presenting music that is thoughtful, enchanting, deeply moving, fanciful -- in short, varied in many ways that enhance the services and move the heart. On occasion other musicians may join him, but most often it will just be John at the piano working his artistry.
These past few years we have grown accustomed to hearing music that deepens and transforms services in ways that only music can achieve. Join us this summer and let yourself be enriched.REflections on Children's Programming
Harry Potter Summer Program
Harry Potter Summer Program
This Sunday, July 26th, we will be exploring the contents of the Chamber of Secrets! Serpents are a powerful symbol in the mythology of many traditions, we will be discussing some of them. Come experience the magic!
What Else is Happening & Announcements
NEWS and NEEDS - The first Sunday of every month, beginning in October, join Rev BJ and staff musicians for a half hour post service “Chapel Sing,” which will begin 15 minutes after the worship service ends. You’ll have the chance to call out your favorites, and to get better acquainted with our “Teal UU Hymnal Supplement” as well. - BL
Editor's note. This new section will carry items from the USH President
Here area few examples of how we are “tending our circle of care” at USH this summer:
- We ended fiscal year 2008-09 with an approximate $8,700 surplus which we will roll over to our current year budget. This is extremely good news! At our Finance Sub-Council meeting on August 11 (see below), we will discuss how this surplus, plus actual 2009-10 Stewardship and July results, impact our current budget and proposed reductions. Stay tuned!
- Pledges for 2008-9 came in about $9,000 below plan but we hope to collect another $6,000 in pledges over the summer which will further impact this year’s budget. Final results of the 2009-10 Stewardship campaign are being tabulated and should be available mid-August. Our year end results will be on the web so please check them out.
- Please consider joining our Finance Sub-Council if you have an interest in how we create and manage our expenses at USH. All you have to do is show up at our next meeting on Tuesday, August 11 at 5:30 PM at the Meeting House. We meet the second Tuesday of every month and would love to have your perspective. And don’t hesitate to contact Martha Page (Treasurer) or me if you have any questions.
- I attended Ruth Raye’s memorial service on July 19 (see related article) and was very moved by Rev. Jamestone‘s words, John Stowe’s eulogy, and Ann Stowe’s violin. What a legacy they have left us. For every season…
- At the request of Rev. Jamestone and the Board’s unanimous agreement, we have postponed our discussions regarding her compensation package until she returns from study leave and vacation in September. (We had all previously agreed to work out the details by August 1.)
- I know a number of our members and friends are talking about the most convenient time for our worship service, either 10 AM or 10:30 AM. The Board selected 10 AM but has learned that time does not work easily for many of our congregation. If you have not already signed the petition advocating for 10:30 AM and want to, please let any of us on the Board or BJ or Gail know. And, if you feel strongly about keeping the service at 10 AM, please let us know that, too. I can’t promise a specific outcome but I can promise you will be given an opportunity to be heard.
Enjoy the rest of the summer…In faith, Carolyn Cartland, President
Remembering the Rayes - The Unitarian Society of Hartford’s “circle of care” is a little smaller today than it was four months ago. On March 5, we lost John Raye, and, on July 12, Ruth Raye, married to John for 66 years, died.The Rayes were an integral part of USH in the early 19960’s as the congregation moved from downtown Hartford to our current site, both of them playing large roles in the decision-making process to build this architectural wonder. Over the years, John held a number of leadership positions in the Society, including being on our then Board of Trustees; Ruth taught Sunday school and was active in many areas of our community.
They were truly pillars of our Society and represented all that is best about USH …commitment, community, and caring. At Ruth’s memorial service, on Sunday, July 19, Rev. Jamestone spoke eloquently about Ruth’s life and John Stowe lovingly recalled the significant role the Rayes, especially Ruth, played in his life as an adolescent and close friend of their son, John, still a loyal USH member. Ann Stowe and her violin brought many of us to tears as we celebrated Ruth’s life and mourned our loss.
While we have lost a part of our history with the deaths of John and Ruth Raye, we are also reminded that their legacy continues, not solely through their son John, daughter-in-law Frances Trzcinski, and grandson Jonathan, but though our recognition of their contributions, our sense of continuity and history, and our understanding that our Society is larger than our current list of members and friends.
As is Unitarian-Universalism, we are rooted in history and the Rayes will always be part of ours. - Carolyn Cartland, President
Memorial Gardens - Weeders Sought - We are looking for help weeding the two memorial gardens Mid-August, Mid-September and Early and Late October. Email dcnewton@snet.net to sign up for a slot. Three or more hours weeding gets rewarded with a chocolate mousse! See above
Adult Programs - Seeking Proposals - To obtain a Program Proposal Form, you may go to http://www.ushartford.com./ From the Spiritual Life pull down menu (on the left side of the home page), click on Adult Programs. In the first paragraph, click on download the form in Microsoft Word. The form is also available at the USH office. Please attach to the completed Proposal Form a detailed paragraph in Microsoft Word (if possible) about the program that can be used for promotion. Please email the completed Proposal to Nancy Reed or Janice Newton by Monday, August 10 so that your proposed program can be reviewed and included with the other 2009 Fall Programs for Adults and Families.
Caring Network - ...curious creatures that we are, in every sense of the word, not only are we the sole animal in all of nature capable of believing in Santa Clause, we are also the only one that can come to grips with the unpleasant truth that he doesn't exist. Jon Franklin - 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. 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.
A Matter of Opinion:
From the Editor:Notice to contributors - Double Issue USH-Enews next week - none to be issued 8/6/09 Suggestions for Contributors.
This Week’s Feature Articles
Air Dry Your Clothes!
USH Needs You
Ordering our Days
Musical Opportunity for Me - At Last
Remembering the RayesOrdering Our Days - Poetry Sunday 9/6 -
Mark your calendar for Poetry Sunday, September 6, the theme of which is “Ordering Our Days.”
Patrice Fitzgerald will orchestrate behind the scenes, and Rev BJ will be the worship associate, as one of our newest members Joan Sereda leads the service. Read the following reflection from Rev BJ, and if you are inspired to do so, find or write a poem that captures that theme for you somehow, and bring it with you to Poetry Sunday.“Helping people to handle their finances helps them handle their lives,” the ad said.
It reminded me of a line from a comparative religions text I read long ago and to which my mind returns more regularly than I’d have ever thought it would. The first time I read it I highlighted a page in yellow. “Economic sustenance is always closely related to the religious sensibilities of a group - whether it be family unit, tribe, or entire culture.”
The idea was this: (more or less quoted) You can tell what a people hold to be sacred by looking at how they save and on what they spend their money, or buffalo skins, or whatever. And the opposite is true as well. You can tell where a people invest their money or "barter objects" by looking at the symbols, stories, times and places they consider to be sacred.Both arenas of our lives deal with core life questions such as: What do I really want? What do I need? And how much? What sustains me?” Whether we consider ourselves to be persons who worship the sacred, or who serve the secular, on occasion we ask ourselves those questions against the backdrop of big “L” Life.
And every day we ask and act out of those questions against the backdrop of our bank account. Curiously, it is the accumulation of our "daily" responses that truly answer the big “L” life questions.
What orders your days? Your “day runner" calendar keeper? Your check book? It may be that as you flip through these texts, you’ll find a pattern that surprises you.
Every day is a complex "fish diagram" of choices, many of which may seem random or unconnected. What if some unconscious "programming" conditions the prioritization of your to do list and manages the hundreds of habitual rituals of your day?
Is it possible that our day runners and bank statements are the real sacred texts that answer the questions, “What do we need? What sustains us? Who or what do we serve?”
I hope to see you on September 6, as we prepare for our official “Fall Ingathering Service” on Sept 12. - In faith, Rev. BJ
Great Circle Opportunity - At Last - This summer I’ve given myself some musical presents. For the past quarter century I’ve been so involved in providing music for a purpose (school teaching, school programs, Sunday services) that I had little time or wakefulness to attend many concerts.
This week I heard string quartets at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival; I enjoyed Jordi Savall and the Concert des Nations playing Baroque music on period instruments; and I listened in on an open rehearsal of James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra playing Mahler’s 6th Symphony in the Shed at Tanglewood. It was at that rehearsal that I found myself overflowing with ideas for this year at the Meeting House, scribbling notes to myself in the margins of a Tanglewood program booklet.
James Levine (“Jimmy” to his friends) is a teddy bear of a man with huge bushy hair, thick glasses, and a plain conducting style that belies his deeply emotional need to communicate musically with the audience. The orchestra is his means of communication. (Although he’s a brilliant pianist he has a modest voice and would never sing along.) In BSO rehearsals, mostly he plays through the pieces, only occasionally stopping to get more accuracy in a passage or adjust the balance or dynamics. At rare moments he’ll talk for a while about the inner feeling or purpose of the music, illuminating the reasons for playing a certain way.
In the final performance, everyone is channeling. The orchestral musicians are a channel for their conductor’s directions, both what he told them in rehearsal and what he shows them with his hands and face. The conductor is the channel for the composer’s musical “sermon,” expressed in notes on the page, but it is only when played that you truly get what the composer is saying. The composer is channeling his message from whatever inspired him/her. (Mahler is invariably telling the entire story of Life.) And the audience is a critical part of the communication as well. Orchestras don’t play for themselves. This transmitted message resonates with the listeners, and a great circle of communion is created, including listeners – players – conductor – composer – and whatever inspired the composer – which might be the same thing the listeners bring with them.
Now why am I reminded of the great circle of Sunday morning communion at the Meeting House?
(Incidentally, even Nature can become part of this great circle. The open Shed at Tanglewood is famous for cheeping sparrows flying in and out, same as on open-door summer Sundays at the Meeting House.) - Mattie Banzhaf
On the Calendar
Thursday, July 23
5:00 pm NVC, David
Saturday, July 25
10:30 am Rental, Chapel
Sunday, July 26
10:00 am WORSHIP, SANCTUARY
11:00 am Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
3:00 pm Rental, Chapel
Tuesday, July 28
8:00 pm AA, Fellowship Hall
Wednesday, July 29
5:45 pm Meditation and Dharma Gathering, Emerson
Sunday, August 2
10:00 am WORSHIP, SANCTUARY
11:00 am Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
3:00 pm Rental, Chapel
Tuesday, August 4
8:00 pm AA, Fellowship Hall
Wednesday, August 5
5:45 pm Meditation and Dharma Gathering, Emerson
italicized entries are non-USH events.
Please notify Brian Mullen of all additions or changes to the calendar. Follow this link to all our scheduled events!
Music for You to Give and Receive at the Meeting House—This Fall! More
Social Justice Journeys (From the UUA) And from USH
Top 10 Reasons to Air Dry Your Clothes - Dryers use 10 to 15% of domestic energy in the United States!
(Learn more...)
10) Save money (more than $25/month off electric bill for many households). FN1
9) Clothes last longer. Where do you think lint comes from?FN2
8) Clothes and linens smell better without adding possibly toxic chemicals to your body and the environment. FN3
7) Conserve energy and the environment, while reducing climate change. FN4
6) It is moderate physical activity which you can do in or outside. FN5
5) Sunlight bleaches and disinfects. FN6
4) Indoor racks can humidify in dry winter weather. FN7
3) Clothes dryer fires account for about 17,700 structure fires, 15 deaths, and 360 injuries annually. The yearly national fire loss for clothes dryer fires in structures is estimated at $194 million. FN8
2) Can be an outdoor experience that is meditative and community-building. FN9
1) Demonstrates that small steps can make a difference. Don't have to wait for the government to take action! FN10The green table will be open for business the first Sunday of the month during the summer months. Support our earth with healthy products for cleaning and living. .
Got an item to share with others? Post it on the bulletin board at the bottom of the stairs and help someone financially and environmentally.
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.
Generally, USH-Enews will be posted on Thursday. Send email related to the USH-Enews to dcnewton at ushartford.com If you have announcements or articles you wish to be published, send them along with the subject line USH-Enews by 4:30 PM Wednesday evening. Comments are always welcome. If you wish to have your name removed from the distribution list or have learned of the electronic publication and wish to have your email address added, just ask. © Unitarian Society of HartfordLet us know of any comments, errors and corrections - thanks (revised 07/23/09 12:22 PM)
Did
You Know? - Green
Sanctuary Sub-Council -