Flutterings

assigned theme: "Moral Authority – Religious vs. Secular: Are moral issues more or less justified if based on religious authority?"

( the homily )

I'd rather be reading, but the spreadsheets and slides are due first. So, spreadsheets and slides it will be. But first, lunch: a serving of yogurt, a can of chickpeas, a handful of wheat crackers, some shredded squid, a wodge of cranberry Wensleydale, and three red-bean mochi.

This would be because I circled around the store thinking, "What do I want for lunch..." and then cashed out without realizing I hadn't actually decided. *facepalm*

At this morning's service, Rev. Laurel Cassidy spoke about her work as a "community minister" associated with our congregation - she worked in the medical-mental health field before her ordination in 1997, has since worked as a chaplain at the VA hospital and a local hospice, and is now enrolled in a doctoral program for which she's studying the intersections of public health and religion.

The key thrust of her sermon was on how to relate to other people who are suffering, using depression as her example. To paraphrase: the main thing is to show up, be present, and listen. The thing NOT to do is to inform/remind the person how much they have to be grateful for or that things are not as bad as they think: they are already aware of that. Depression is a disease because the sense of hopelessness is beyond the reach of logic. The main thing for lay people to do is let others know that they are not alone, and if one doesn't have the gift of saying the right thing, simply admitting "I don't know what to say/do, but you matter to me" still counts. And the same holds true for other situations, such as someone grieving over a loved one.

Much to digest.

Other good things:
* it becoming cool enough outside that I needed a shawl this morning.
* my replacement hard drive (yes, again) has iPhoto on it.
* much hugging during coffee hour. Even though it was Labor Day weekend, many of the people I'm closest to were at services anyway, and I got to chat with several new members while working the grocery table.
* colored hanging folders. Yes, this is trivial, but such a nice change from institutional green!
* Hymn #93 ("To Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love") uses the same tune as "Dear Weaver of our Lives' Design"), which is a particular favorite of mine. Lyrics -- meh. But I was still at the church when it rolled around again for second service, so I got to sing it twice.
* Coffee. Mmmmm.

This litany was written by my minister, the Reverend Gail Seavey. It was read at our water communion services this morning in place of our usual "Joys and Concerns" ritual, with the minister and the Religious Education director alternating lines, and adding several more specific to our community ("In this sanctuary sits a man who sees the flowers in memory of his father...").

One of the lay ministers lit a candle for each line, and the pianist played throughout. The refrain was a Taize tune sung by the congregation ("De Noche," #1034 in Singing the Journey). This is posted here with her permission.

( In this sanctuary... )

The congregation murmured dozens of names as the lay minister lit the final candle, and then sang the refrain once more. The minister concluded with the following "pastoral prayer and affirmation":

Let us tenderly care for each person we meet as though they carry the inarticulate cries of the greatest joy and most profound sorrow in their heart, for indeed, they do. Blessed be and amen.

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, in Queens: Portraits of Black Women and Their Fabulous Hair (which I'd happened upon at my library's New Book Shelf):

In doing these dance pieces, I've learned that every man, woman, and child has a hair story regardless of race. Hair is a big part of how we define ourselves and other people make assumptions about us based on our hair.

At our "Hair Parties," an outgrowth of the research process for "Hair Stories," I talked to men and women, but mostly women, about their hair issues. And what I learned was that when we brought people together to talk about hair, we always ended up talking about issues of race, class, and gender. But if I had brought a group of people together and said we're going to talk about race, class, and gender we would get, "Oh, God! Not that again." No one would want to come. But doing it within the framework of hair, it leads to identity.

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Three excerpts from the 25-page report by a UUA Special Review Commission (March 2006) about problematic incidents at General Assembly 2005:

( What we have learned... )
Elizabeth Bear:

...of course I'm not colorblind. I can't pretend to be. I don't wish to be. What I wish is that we could find a way to be equal, to share out cultural heritages while still encompassing them. Which is why I get tangled in the whole cultural appropriation issue; because there's so much richness out there, and I don't think it's wrong for me to want to touch and understand the culture of Ethiopia or Hawaii any more than it is to want to touch that of Ukraine. There is a difference between a melting pot (that old, suspect image) and a chorus.

The Tennessean printed part of my minister's sermon on marriage equality (which she delivered on Mother's Day) this past Sunday. Rah!

I'm thinking of doing a Harry Potter-inspired sermon for a back-to-school service in August, in part because I think some of the points raised in a recent Lupin-Snape discussion would be of interest to non-fans (if I can devise a way to share them without being too spoiler-rific), and because analyzing perceptions of belief vs. skepticism and science vs. religion is a exercise that bears revisiting.

In the meantime, I was browsing through my home church's newsletter earlier tonight and came across the youth group's summer schedule: they're hosting an HP book group on Sunday afternoons (including a session on "Imagining Book 7") and sponsoring Wednesday movie nights, culminating in the Hogwarts Halloween Ball on October 28. Hee!

As always, there are worries and fears and aggravations. But there are also pleasures and joys:

One of my favorite older men turned 84 today.

Overheard, from the row behind me:

"Even if we had twelve sopranos, it wouldn't be enough."
"Dayenu!"

My church's Green Team was in charge of our food table today, and someone had supplied extra-garlicky hummus. Oh, bliss.

Catching up with friends Friday night at Siam Cuisine and Saturday night at Margot Cafe. At the Thai place, we shared steam dumplings, spicy eggplant, chicken curry, and chicken pad thai; at Margot's, the BYM tried their sazerac and declared it the best he had had away from The Court of Two Sisters, ordering a second for dessert. The appetizers included fried green tomatoes, chips with aioli, and scallops with mushrooms. Two of the guys ordered chicken breast with dandelion greens (plus other sides), and S. and I both opted for the cotechino sausages (one of the chefs home-cures meat as a hobby) with roasted fennel, white beans and cipolline onions: in essence, it was like a very rich stew, and I only finished half of it (am noshing on the rest right now as part of a late lunch). For dessert, two of the guys split a "Baked Hawaii" (like Baked Alaska, only with a pineapple-sorbet filling instead of ice cream) and I had walnut gelato.

My friend Scott sold eight paintings last week. Woot!

The proposal for updating my church's board + council + committee structure looks really good. (I've chaired the Administration Committee the past three years, and the restructuring is definitely needed.)

From the closing words of today's service: "Liberal theology is not for the faint of heart. It refuses to make our commitments for us, but holds us accountable to the commitments we make." - Paul Rasor

Collected checks from two clients this weekend, and just received the corrected address list I needed from a third. Heigh ho, heigh ho, to ink and nib I go...

Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr. - perhaps best known as the chaplain of Yale during the Vietnam War; inspired Doonesbury's Rev. Scot Sloan.

Rev. Elizabeth Selle Jones (photo at Rev. Sean's blog). At the close of their services, many Unitarian Universalist churches accompany the dousing of the chalice with her words: "We extinguish this flame but not the light of truth, the warmth of community, or the fire of commitment. These we carry in our hearts until we are together again."

Dennis Overbye's follow-up to Far Out, Man, But Is It Quantum Physics? instantly reminded me of several of you, my friends...

I think believing in free will despite [his belief that it is a myth] is one of the tragic necessities of life. After all we all know that we and our children and the whole human race is going to die. Why bother getting out of bed in the morning, let alone composing screeds like this that will only invite even more and longer and more abstruse email in return?

The first part is easy. I get up about 6:30 most mornings because that is when a certain spoiled and rather fat cat begins to yowl to be fed. If I don't get up she won't stop and she will wake up the rest of the family, who will then yell at me.

This month, Overbye also profiled an English mathematician who recently received a major prize for religious thought:

Noting that Charles Darwin is buried in Westminster Abbey, Dr. Barrow said that in contrast with the so-called culture wars in America, science and religion had long coexisted peaceably in England. "The concept of a lawful universe with order that can be understood and relied upon emerged largely out of religious beliefs about the nature of God," he said.

From a UU World feature on pro-evolution evangelists Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow: When they realized their calling, "they gave away all their possessions, bought a van, and decorated it with symbols of a Jesus fish kissing a Darwin fish."

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On a tangential note, I am intrigued to see that Students Flock to Seminaries, but Fewer See Pulpit in Future is currently on top of the NYT's "most emailed" list. Given the composition of my various circles...

"On Shakespeare's Sonnets, and Why Gay Marriage Is Good For Business."

April 23 is often celebrated as Shakespeare's birthday; this year, it will also mark the 390th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. There has been considerable controversy over the centuries regarding Shakespeare's sexual orientation; in this service, we'll look at why it matters, what will be at stake this November, and what Unitarian Universalists are doing to promote marriage equality.

I'll be a building a dossier from the usual raft of books and online resources, of course, but I also know that some of you are already exceptionally well-versed on these topics: if there are particularly references or links you're itching to recommend, please feel free to comment or to send me a holler. I'm particularly keen on addressing domestic partnership benefits from the employer/taxpayer angle -- e.g., data to convince corporate officers (and politicians they influence) that doing the right thing will help their bottom line...