This Sunday What I learned from the sisters
The Rev. Sue Redfern-Campbell
In 2006, when I was nearly 60, I left UU ministry for a time, and went to live with the Community of the Holy Spirit, a women's monastic community. The learnings from this contrarian adventure were many, and the experience helped me clarify my own commitments.
This morning I'll share something about what prompted this journey, what brought me back to Unitarian Universalism, and what I learned along the way.
Sundays at 10:30 EST
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Next Sunday October 3rd What Can I Do?
Rev. Karen McFarland
In Greece they have a common saying - "ti kanawa" - which roughly translates to "what can I do?"
It's usually a fatalistic denial of responsibility when something happens like a traffic jam, bad news, or worse, often accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders and a lifting of the hands. We've all seen the emoji!
In cultures all over the world, people want to deny the prophet from Biblical times to Cassandra to climate scientists. People resist being the prophet: "Not me God, I'm not a good speaker, I'm not well liked, I'm an outcast." "Let someone else do it." So, when we hear the bad news from personal to political, what can we do?
Was T.S. Eliot right when he wrote "Hope not, for you'll hope for the wrong thing?" Is Joanna Macy right when she says, with joy in her face and voice, "I'm glad to be alive at this crucial time in history!"
Can they both be right? What CAN we do? I hope (there it is again!) to offer some good suggestions.
You're Invited to CUUB's
"Quarterly" Town Hall
Come one, come all- come hear what's going on at the Board meetings and give us your feedback!
We are your elected representatives between Congregational Meetings, so we'd like to both offer up some info on big topics we've been working on for you as well as get your feedback either on those topics or frankly, anything else.
After services this Sunday (Sept. 26th), please stick around for a 20-30 minute discussion including topics such as:
1) New Minister!!
2) Building Reopening
3) Next steps in Professional Ministry
Hope to see you then!
Sincerely,
your Board
(Nate, Jeanette, Jim, Hank, Alice, & Karen)
Minister's Corner
Dear CUUB friends,
Greetings from Albuquerque! After an unusually hot New Mexico summer, autumn arrived right on schedule with the Fall Equinox. Tuesday was the first day that temperatures hadn’t risen to the 90s by mid-afternoon, and last night was the first in three months that I slept without the air conditioner.
I grew up in New Jersey, went to college in Ann Arbor, and spent 24 years of my adult life in Boston. Since these are all part of the Northeastern Woodlands, I grew up with bright fall foliage, and have missed it in other places. Autumn is beautiful here in New Mexico, but it’s different. Instead of maple and oak trees in yellow, orange, and red, we look forward to the cottonwoods, turned bright yellow, lining the rivers. The Río Grande runs north to south through the state; in the fall, you can spot its bright yellow ribbon from miles away.
Although I’m not of Jewish origin, themes of the High Holy Days, just past, have acquired special meaning for me over the years. I especially love the idea of Heshbon HaNafesh, making an “accounting of soul” at the New Year. This goes far deeper than the December 31 practice of New Year’s Resolutions, and the timing is more conducive to introspection, at least for me. I find that summer’s end calls me to turn inward, while the late December festivities invite outward revelry.
I’m sure the coming year will give us opportunities for both celebration and introspection! It’s been a pleasure to be your guest preacher at several Sunday services over the past month, and I’m looking forward to joining you officially next week, on October 1.
Blessings,
Rev. Sue
F.A.C.E.S. Team:
Garage Sale Update
The FACES team hopes to hold our annual garage sale next spring /summer! Our storage space is FULL so please do not drop off any donations at CUUB right now. Can an hold onto these items for next year? THANK YOU. Or if you have a large and/or valuable donation you would like to donate email the FACES team and we will work with you.
On the other hand, if you see an item in the basement that you would like to purchase please also contact the FACES team and we will work with you on purchasing it. We just don’t like donations appearing and disappearing without our knowledge and the basement is now fairly organized and we would like to keep it that way.
Thank you all for your assistance! Email: faces@cuub.org
Church Directory Update
Are you reachable? It’s time to check out your contact information in the CUUB Directory! We need to have updated email and phone numbers to communicate with each of our members.
Please log in to https://members.instantchurchdirectory.com/ and check out your information. You may also want to add a photo or change the existing one.
Having trouble logging in? Contact Membership Team (membership@cuub.org) for assistance or send an email with your up-to-date information.
Social Justice News
For the last several years CUUB has been supporting the homeless in Livingston County by supporting the Severe Weather Network's efforts. They are in need of some volunteers
Click this link to volunteer:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050B4BAFA629A0FA7-fundraiser
or click here to get to the SJ website
Membership team needs your help
We are beginning the process of reaching out to our members for one on one conversations. It is important to have an understanding on how we are all doing during these trying times. Would you be willing to call 3 or 4 members each month for a friendly discussion?
If not would you like to be a greeter (virtual now or at CUUB when in person services resume)? It is easy either way and we will train you before you start.
Or how about representing CUUB at community events or groups? We need to be visible & impactful in our community on the important subject. You would be our eyes & ears for what we should be doing & outreach for like minded folks who might become allies or members.
So let us know (membership@cuub.org) if you are interested in helping serve our existing members or help in growing our size & influence in our community.
From Debra Rowe:
As a CUUB member and someone that worked on our green sanctuary work, and as professor of renewable energies and sustainable development for 41 years, I want to share with you that scientists know getting the climate policies we need is crucial.
Please take action and make some phone calls because the set of climate policies we need are in the budget reconciliation bill that will be voted on soon. Please call Representative Elissa Slotkin and call Senator Stabenow's offices. Ask them to vote for the budget reconciliation bill. Even if it increases the deficit, NOT passing it will produce a destabilized climate and the damage costs will create a much larger deficit.
We need to pass the climate policies in the budget reconciliation bill if we want to be a leader at the international climate conference next month. To connect to the Congresspeoples' offices, use this to get their emails and phone numbers -
https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials. (You can even leave a message after hours or talk to whoever picks up).
See what my colleagues and I (higher education associations and climate scientists from around the country) are telling people they can do from our website -
https://uspartnership.org/pages/climate-fixes-2.
You can also access a great phone script that you can use and personalize by clicking on this site -
https://www.changethechamber.org/climate-heroes . (There is a more complete list of congresspeople to call there. Please call them all. It only takes a few minutes of your time but it is very important!)
Spiritual Exploration (SE)
What's happening in SE?
https://www.cuub.org/post/spiritual-exploration-se-summer-news
If you have an questions or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact Trish Ibrahim at secoordinator@cuub.org
Communication Team News
Want to have an article in CUUB News? Send in (
news@cuub.org) what you want included and when (see publishing schedule below) and our great editors will make sure it is included. Deadline is Thursday 4 pm the day before publication (we do make exceptions for a good reason).
Need updates or additions to www.cuub.org just sent the information to
webmaster@cuub.org
Future CUUB News Publication Schedule*
October 8th & 22nd
November 5th & 19th
December 3rd, 17th & 31st
* subject to change but we will let you know.
