USH-Enews for December 18, 2008 Print Only Edition

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The 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.

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Sunday - 21 December - A Child Shall Lead Them - Infant dedications (at both services!) will set us contemplating the power of innocence as seen in the story of the birth of Jesus.

24 December 4 PM - A Family Christmas

10 PM Traditional Late Service - Please join us on Christmas Eve at 10 PM for a candle-light service in the Chapel coordinated and led by Rebecca Bryan, Larry Lunden, Mattie Banzhaf and Gail Syring. This service with traditional music has become a favorite time for many to come together for peaceful contemplation during the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. We are especially looking forward to having Caroline Kriesen as a soloist this year. In the spirit of gratitude, please bring a canned good for the Horace Bushnell Food Pantry.

28 December Fuzzy Slippers, Hot Cocoa, and the NY Times - The New Year is a time for letting go and for renewing oneself for the year ahead. On Star Island during the youth conference's bonfire we would bring words and letters that we would like to let go, names we had been called, names we called ourselves, items from jobs we did not like, hurts we needed to let go. We threw these into the fire.

Our Worship Arts Sub-Council has begun a study of the worship spectrum of "contemporary" to "traditional" worship. You can likely imagine most of the components of a traditional service, but if you wonder what a worship experience would be like which is at the very most extreme spot on the “contemporary” end of the spectrum, come this Sunday! An alumna of our USH youth program, and formerly a member of All Souls Unitarian in Washington DC, Jenn Cook brings her experience of many years to bear on creating as contemporary a service as you can imagine. Come join the jaw-dropping wonder of it! --Rev BJ

Since the Hartford Fire Marshal frowns upon bonfires inside wooden buildings, we shall use a modern bonfire, the shredder. For both services we shall have a short ceremony in the Sanctuary with a shredder. Then we will retire to the couches in Fellowship Hall and toast our new selves with hot cocoa, coffee, tea, and enough Sunday NY Times for all. Getting out of one's jammies and into "grown up clothes" is optional for this service, comfy lounge wear is encouraged.

Music - Dec. 21st – for our December holiday service we’ll have more variety of music. The Choir sings “Carol for All Children” by the Unitarian composer Adolphus Hailstork. Our Children’s Choir will sing at the early service.

Dec. 28th – come sing seasonal carols, revel in the warmth of the service with friends and make music together.

REflections on Children's Programming -

Religious Education Classes

Spirit Play: Festival of the Light
Second & Third Grade: St. Lucia's Day
Fourth & Fifth Grade: Jonah and the Big Fish
Sixth, Seventh & Eighth Grade: Creating Mandalas
Youth Group Activities: Soup Making

Multigenerational Services/Guest At Your Table Boxes - Our four o'clock Christmas Eve service on 12/24 will be a multigenerational service. Guest At Your Table boxes will be returned during the service. The 12/28 service will also be multigenerational, as we cast off what is no longer useful and enter the new year! - Gail M. Syring, DRE

From the Editor: This is a two week edition of the USH-Enews. There may or may not be an email around 31 December. However, the next full edition will be on January 8th. Best holiday wishes to all from the USH-Enews staff, one and all.

4 January - Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues - We welcome Charlie Clements, the President of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, to our pulpit. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations. Among other things, Dr. Clements is the author of, Witness to War: An American Doctor in El Salvador. - More

11 January - Epiphany: What made the Wise Men Set Out? John Jesensky will convey the story of the Magi in the whimsical lyrics of James Taylor’s "Home by Another Way’"and we’ll reflect on those intuitions, instincts, and surprising ideas that spring to our minds on occasion.

18 January - Some Roots of Racism - Our annual celebration of the birth of MLK is a good time to explore some of the roots of racism in our systems and ourselves.

25 January - Balancing Individualism With Collective Action, in Spiritual Practice, families, and Institutions - Greg Berg - Greg has been a member of of USH for 15 years. He has served on the Stewardship and Finance Committees and on the Ministerial Search Committee. He is a facilitator for Small Group Ministry. Greg is currently climbing down the corporate ladder as an executive at a local insurance company.

An ancient Japanese legend promises that folding 1,000, cranes will make your wish come true. On July 27, 2008, a tragedy occurred in the sanctuary of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville. (see July 31, 2008, e-news for details.) Four days later, many Meeting House hands began folding origami cranes as a symbol of our wish for their peace. Four months later, the project is complete.

This Sunday, a stunning mobile of all 1,000, cranes will be hanging for all to see before it is shipped to Knoxville. May our wish for their peace come true. - Leona Mae Page

Send in Your Miracles! - Has anything happened in 2008 that almost qualifies as a miracle? Please send Rev BJ an email with Miracle" in the subject line, and tell her about it.

She will refer to your experiences in the Christmas Eve service (so do say if you’d prefer not to have your name used). We are primarily interested in things in your own life, but something in circles beyond that are OK too! - BJ

Music for January 2009

Jan. 4 - Since there are no rehearsals on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, the Choir has a long and well-deserved break this year, and will be off the first Sunday of the new year.

Instead, at this service featuring speaker Charlie Clements, one of our favorite folk singers and his son will sing songs of social justice. Ted Phillips and Simon Phillips offer Pete Seeger’s “Tomorrow Is a Highway” and the Peruvian activist song “Si Somos Americanos” (“If we are Americans”) at both services.

Jan. 11 - Our own John Jesensky reprises his captivating styling of James Taylor’s song “Home By Another Way.” Later this year John will be singing such songs in concert with his rock band, to benefit USH. Be sure to put February 28th on your calendar!

Jan. 18 - For Martin Luther King Sunday, the Choir sings the great anthem “Sound Over All Waters” composed by Paul Halley for Coretta Scott King. Our alto section-leader Lindsey Grebeldinger takes a break from her vocal and operatic studies to be the soloist at both services.

Jan. 25 - TBA

Music Offerings Discussed - USH is buzzing lately with widespread discussions of music. What should our worship music be like? Is there enough diversity? Is there too much? The “traditionalists” seem to be pitted against the “contemporaries.” Who’s right?

I’m going to propose a radical concept. It was best said by the great jazz artist Duke Ellington – “When it sounds good, it is good.” (The Duke continued, “There are two kinds of music: good music, and the other kind.”)

I think it’s a mistake to put “traditional” and “contemporary” in opposition – or even to try to pin down exactly what “traditional” means, or just what “contemporary” includes. Even Rev. BJ is having trouble doing that, and she is certainly a master of words.

“Contemporary” should mean the music of today. But there’s a lot of music out there today. Emo? Ska? R&B? Aleatoric? 12-Tone? Hip-hop? Rap? The theme music from Law & Order? Are these what’s missing from the musical diversity of our worship services?

“Traditional” should mean the music that’s been used in worship services for decades, even centuries. But whose worship services? Where does that leave the traditional music of the rest of the world? UU services a century ago would never have included South African freedom songs, South Indian ragas, or Southwestern Navajo flute music. Must these be excluded because they’re not in “our” tradition? On the other hand, must they all be included?

Google “music style” and you get various lists --
* classical, folk/ethnic/world, jazz, musicals/operas/theater, and pop/rock/country.
* blues, a capella, dance/techno, and Southern gospel
* pop, blues, experimental, performance art, beautiful and fierce
* 20th-Century music, ancient music, band music, tango, flamenco, ragtime, Latin, rock, modern rock, heavy metal and choral music

One site gives a list of 53 distinct styles of music, of which several encompass huge numbers of styles (Jazz, Classical, Early Music, Native American). So the list of musical styles is truly enormous. In our search for diversity, should we try to include all of these?

The word “diversity” sometimes is used to mean “what I like.” As Bill Cosby said, “Nothing separates the generations more than music. By the time a child is eight or nine, he has developed a passion for his own music that is even stronger than his passions for procrastination and weird clothes.”

There is a danger for us in trying to do everything. If we had limitless resources we could pay for a string quartet, a jazz ensemble, a saxophone trio, even a small orchestra if we could figure out how to put twenty musicians on the chancel. But we would lose some of our identity in trying to do it all. Instead of spending loads of money (which we don’t have), we need to focus on the music we can do with the resources we do have.

Our Choir comprises 22 faithful singers, experienced in many styles of choral music and willing to devote the time to practice anthems of many types. We are fortunate enough to have four soloist/section-leaders who ensure that all the choral parts will be covered every week, and who can sing solos. On occasion our singers branch out into gospel style, folk music and other genres.

There are additional musicians among the congregation who are able and willing to give their musical gifts at services. We have enjoyed the varied artistry of Bill Willett, Ann Stowe, Walter Gwardyak, Sid Garvais, Russ Barrnett, talented youth singers, and others in recent years. (Are there more out there? Is it your turn to enrich our services? Please contact Mattie!)

But it’s important to realize that no musician can do everything (even though John Jesensky seems to be able to!)

BJ asks for tolerance and a good-hearted willingness to embrace other people and other preferences, as each of us hopes others will embrace our own. The willingness to be open-minded does not need to extend to every single musical style, or every single new idea that someone thinks of bringing to the chancel. As we craft the music for our worship each week, we are mindful of the dignity of the worship experience, the solemnity and deep joy that fills us and expands us and moves us beyond the mundane and trivial in daily life. USH services proudly encompass a broad range of themes, readings . . . and music. We don’t – we can’t – try to include everything, but we do encourage you to be open to the myriad ways that music – both “traditional” and “contemporary” – can help create genuine worship. Mattie Banzhaf

Deliver 2008 Births Information - On Christmas Eve, December 24, at the 4:00 PM Family Service, we will honor the fact that as Sophia Fahs wrote, “Every night a child is born is a Holy Night…” We will then read the names of children born to this congregation in the year 2008. To do so, we need the names and dates of birth of your children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren who came to us this year. Please email or call Director of Religious Education, Gail M. Syring at dre@ushartford.com or 233-9897 with the name, birthday, and relation to you of that special child.

From the Green Sanctuary Sub-Council: Thank you all for buying green products for holiday gifts this year. I hope your friends and family will continue using these types of products after trying them thanks to you.

Check it out: We have an expanded bulletin board which will be devoted to providing you news and resources as we discover them. We will place new items each month, so check it out. If you have green info to pass on please email Bev Prager at bev_prager@hotmail.com.

If you're interested in being on a listserve to get emails about local green happenings and info, please let David Newton know that you would like to be on the Green Listserv or sign up at the green table.

Finally, we have exciting news! We can now recycle cookie wrappers and juice pouches (well we get excited about this stuff). Terracycle will take cleaned out cookie wrappers (large and small) and juice pouches (not boxes) and make products out of them AND give us $ for them (ok not much but still). It's a win/win situation as this way they won't be carted to the landfill or burned. So bring your cleaned out cookie wrappers and juice pouches to the green table each week. If you don't believe us, check out their website www.terracycle.net or out bulletin board downstairs. Coming soon - recycle energy bars and yogurt containers (WOW).

Social Justice Project - My name is Jasmyne Pinkney and I’m from the Big Picture High School in Bloomfield, CT. As a senior project at my high school I will be holding a pampering session for teen moms once a month starting in January. The pampering session will include hair treatments, facial, manicure, and a short work shop on bettering their education.

I would like to give a gift to each teen mom to show them how much the community cares about them. The gift would include baby care products that they would be able to use at home. As a result of this, I will be at both Coffee Hours on January 4, 2009 looking for donations of baby care products such as baby lotion, diapers, baby wipes, etc. It would be greatly appreciated if you could bring something to support my project and a great cause. I know each teen mom would be thankful!

Ladies, Need a Little R&R? - Come to the Library Lounge on Wednesday, January 7 at noon to share a light lunch with other women. No cooking necessary, volunteers do the cooking. All women in the Society are invited to this event arranged by the Unitarian Alliance Ministry to Women (UAMW). It’s a great way to enjoy a bit of Sisterhood while filling the body and the soul. A small donation to cover costs will be accepted, but not required. Our Cabinet will hold a planning session at 10 that morning and you are more than welcome to take part in that conversation. - Thanks, Louise

Friday Night Dinner/Movie - On Friday, January 9, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song.We will show this joyous film. And some of us will probably sing along, too ~ who can resist joining Pete in, "If I Had a Hammer"? Here's a link to a video Our meal will be Chinese food; if you prefer a veg meal, please say so when you reserve. You can reserve during coffee hours on January 4 or by calling the USH office at 233-9897 by Monday, January 5. "As the loving documentary, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song, makes clear, Pete Seeger is still busy, still angry, still hopeful, still singing." A. O. Scott, New York Times

". . . a terrific, multilayered portrait of a singer whose legacy extends beyond music and into every major social action movement since the 1940s." Jay Weissberg, Variety

If you have time to help set-up, arrive early. We begin with drinks and popcorn at 5:30, dinner at 6, film at 7, with optional discussion afterwards.

See ya at the movies! - Nita

Let’s all remember to “CARE and SHARE” Every Week - with our neighbors, whose hunger and challenges continue to grow. Large bins in our front lobby hold our ongoing collections for the HORACE BUSHNELL CHILDREN’S FOOD PANTRY and SOUTH PARK INN. For the Food Pantry, our goal is for each person to bring one nutritious non-perishable food item each week to help alleviate the growing disparity in Connecticut between the wealthy and the poor.

It feels great to give. Giving is receiving.

On the Calendar

Thursday, December 18
7:00 pm BTWWDA Facilitators, Library
7:00 pm NVC Gathering, Servetus

Sunday, December 21
9:00 am Music rehearsal, Sanctuary
9:45 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
10:45 am Coffee, Fellowship Hall
10:45 am Music rehearsal, Chapel
11:15 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
12:15 pm Coffee, Fellowship Hall
3:00 pm Rental, Chapel

Tuesday, December 23
7:00 pm Religious Education, Sementilli Home
8:00 pm AA, Fellowship Hall

Wednesday, December 24
4:00 pm CHRISTMAS EVE FAMILY WORSHIP SERVICE, Sanctuary
10:00 pm CHRISTMAS EVE CONTEMPLATIVE WORSHIP SERVICE, Chapel

Thursday, December 25, Christmas
through Thursday, January 1, New Years Day
OFFICE CLOSED

Saturday, December 27
10:30 am Rental, Chapel

Sunday, December 28
9:00 am Music rehearsal, Sanctuary
9:45 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
10:45 am Music rehearsal, Sanctuary
10:45 am Coffee, Fellowship Hall
11:15 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
12:15 pm Coffee, Fellowship Hall
3:00 pm Rental, Chapel

Tuesday, December 30
8:00 pm AA, Fellowship Hall

Sunday, January 4
9:00 am Music rehearsal, Sanctuary
9:45 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
10:45 am Music rehearsal, Sanctuary
10:45 am Coffee & Social Justice Fair, Fellowship Hall
11:15 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
12:15 pm Coffee & Social Justice Fair, Fellowship Hall
3:00 pm Rental, Chapel

Charlie Clements to Speak at The Unitarian Society of Hartford on January 4th - More

Adult Programs

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Please mark your calendars for the following two events in January. Also, stay tuned for more information about the Winter/Spring Programs Fair coming in January.

Friday Night Dinner and Movie, January 9. The featured movie will be Pete Seeger - The Power of Song. (see first column).

Sunday afternoon program, January 18, in Fellowship Hall at 1:00 PM. The film Teaching Peace in the Time of War, sponsored by the Information and Advocacy Sub-council, will be shown. Soup will be available to purchase before the film.

Caring Network -"You can not recover the occasion after the loss." 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.

External Events and Educational Notes

Hartford Seminary is offering a January intersession class that may be of interest -
Traditions of Change: American Literature of Reform (HI-676)
Monday, Jan. 12 through Friday, Jan. 16 - 9 AM. to 4 PM (Make-up day: Jan. 17) More

Further Down The Road (About 30 Days)

Let's go green! Linked is a flyer for a green company that USH has signed on with to receive 25% of every on-line purchase individuals make. Print your copy of the brochure and order now!

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 Hartford