May 19, 2013 Morning Worship 11:00 am
Freedom Sunday
“Fighting Back? Take Me Out to the Ball Game”
Rev. Bruce Southworth
“Finally, a film worthy of a legend,” writes Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post in her review of “42: The Jackie Robinson Story.” Since the mid-1950s, we have celebrated Freedom Sunday in recognition of the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. This morning, I return to one of the inspiring stories in the continuing struggle… and today’s challenges.
See you at Community!
12:15 pm Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
Budget Hearing – Assembly Hall 1:00 pm
All voting members are especially encouraged to attend in preparation for our June 2 Congregational Meeting.
Sunday, May 26, 2013 Morning Worship 11:00 am
Memorial Day & Wesak Sunday
“We Need One Another”
Rev. Bruce Southworth
Because we live and love, our lives include days and seasons of loss, mourning and grieving. On this Memorial Day Sunday, my focus is the Life of the Heart amidst heartaches. The themes are living and dying, loss and memory, and grief and gratitude, as well as honoring the tragic losses that come at time of war.
I shall also be turning to insights from Buddhism as we celebrate Wesak, which commemorates the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death.
As is our custom, we shall have a roll call of names of those members and special friends of our congregation who have died in the past year. We hold these in our hearts and memories:
Evan Frances Agnew • James Apicella • Leona Feyer • Jeane Hafgren • Bertram Jeffrey
Jiwon Kim • Helene Lightbourne • Beth Royer • Jack Weissman
And, there are many others from other years and other circles whom we carry with us.
See you at Community!
Sunday School
Our children begin in the Chapel at 11 a.m.
Fellowship Hour – Assembly Hall – 12:15 p.m.
Please join us after worship.
Social Tea
Tue., May 21, 2:00 pm
Buddhism As a Spiritual Practice
with Rev. Orlanda Brugnola
Tue., May 21, 6:30 pm
UU Christian Fellowship
Tue., May 21, 7:30 pm
Reiki & Meditation
Thrs., May 23, 7:00 pm
Gallery35 Open House
Sat., May 25, 5:00 pm
Resistance Cinema
Film: Granito: How To Nail a Dictator
Sun., May 26, 1:15 pm
Sipping & Searching
Wed., May 29, 6:30 pm
Green Sanctuary
Future Vision Film Series
Fri., May 31, 6:30 pm
First Saturday Feeding Program
Sat., June 1, 10:45 am
Gallery35 Open House
Sat., June 1, 5:00 pm
LIFESPAN RELIGIOUS
EDUCATION
The RE/FM Chapel Services sometimes spark lively discussions. I am reminded of churches that allow for a "talk back", that are usually at the end of the service, when the congregation responds to the worship leader, but in our Chapel, the comments occur in “real time”.
When I asked what was special about that particular Sunday, and one child mentioned it was Mother’s Day. In a strong voice another child said, “I don’t like one day as mother’s day, because everyday is mother’s day.” This lead to a stream of comments such as, “yeah!” and “that’s right”. I reminded them that the original founder, Julia Ward Howe, was a Unitarian who had imagined it as an anti-war rallying cry. They were pleased to also know that many UU churches are now celebrating Mama’s Day
as a way of honoring the many different ways that mothering occurs. Needless to say it was a very interactive and powerful moment.
Paz, Esther
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
SUNDAY–MAY 19
9:30 am Choir Rehearsal
11:00 am Worship Service
11:00 am Sunday School
12:15 pm Fellowship Hour and Volunteer and Appreciation Day
1:00 pm Congregational Budget Hearing
MONDAY–MAY 20
5:30 pm Committee on Ministry
WEDNESDAY–MAY?22
6:00 pm Board of Trustees
SUNDAY–MAY 26
9:30 am Choir Rehearsal
11:00 am Worship Service
11:00 am Sunday School
12:15 pm Fellowship Hour
MONDAY–MAY 27
Memorial Day
Church Office Closed
6:30 pm NYC?UU?Ministers
SUNDAY–JUNE 2
1:00 pm Quarterly Congregational Meeting
Minister’s Corner – Living into Life’s Answers – Question Box Sermon”
First of all… have patience. I beg you to be patient to all the unsolved problems of your heart and to care for the questions themselves. Do not search for answers to be given; if given, they would be of no use, for you could not live them (another’s answers). For the present, live in the questions, and little by little and almost unconsciously you will enter the answers and live them too. – Rainer Maria Rilke
On June 2, we shall have our annual Question Box service, and I always enjoy the challenge and opportunity to weave together and respond to the questions I receive from so many of you.
These spiritual, ethical, existential, historical and theological queries are part of the essential dialogue of the shared journey of our spirited community.
Please fill out and hand in the form below or email me at the church (bsouthworth@ccny.org) by May 29.
With thanks, Bruce
“Where do you find spirit?”
Okay, where do you find it? You find it right here. Anywhere. Where you work. Where you play. Where you rest. Anywhere.
You find it in you… and you… and you… and even you. Who me? Yes, you – eating, drinking... ugly, selfish, sensual, dominating, driving, controlling, frightened, anxious, worried, insecure, unsure, bewildered you. Yes, you.
Because you see, you are the child of God. You’re beautiful.
Let me talk to you, and you talk to me,… and we’ll find the spirit in each other. You know why? Because we need to.
And Jesus said that if you need to, you can. If you want to, you will. If you seek for it, you will find it. And so we’re going to find because we need it. And you paint for me, and I’ll sing for you; and we’ll dance together, and we’ll write. I’ll write to you and you write to me. We'll talk about these things, these whispers, these calls, these gentle revelations; and we’ll teach them to our children so they’ll know there’s something more than survival, something more than gross animal being. No matter how much they may tend to get swallowed up in the awful cauldron of the mess of it, they will know there’s something more, something transfiguring and transforming.
So we’ll walk together, you and I. We’ll plant flowers on the way. We care. We care for the trees and for the streams, and for the lakes and the rivers. And we care for the grass and for the air. We care for fire. We care for the sun. And we will share with each other. And we’ll hold hands some day and look out into that vast, immense universe and thank God. Thank whatever Gods there may be for the gift of the spirit.
Where in the world is the spirit? [Where do we meet God?] It’s wherever anyone sees and hears and feels and cares.
Rev. Dr. Duncan Littlefair (1912-2004)
Fountain Street Church, Grand Rapids, MI
“QUESTION BOX” SERVICE .................... JUNE 2nd
Rev. Bruce Southworth will use questions submitted by members of the congregation to shape the sermon and service on June 2nd. Questions might be theological, ethical, spiritual/existetial....
Please write your question below and hand it in at the end of the service, send it to the Church, or email by May 29: Email: bsouthworth@ccny.org / Subject: “Question Box” Thank you!
________________________
Name (Optional)
“A GOOD LIFE?”
Sermon Brief – April 21, 2013
… As a laundress for nearly 80 years in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Oseola McCarty helped others. At age 87, she gave the bulk of her savings of $150,000 to Southern Mississippi University for scholarships, inspiring many others to do so also.
Oseola McCarty lived with Spirit – with caring, awareness, thankfulness, and generosity. She created a Good Life…
My colleague Jane Rzepka has a useful suggestion for the meaning making we embrace and the nature of a Good Life. She suggests, “People need a little something in the religion department. Religion made manifest. We want to be reminded of the glory of the universe, and doing the right thing, and feeling grateful. We want to help out, and be a part of things, large and small. We want to be among those who move toward justice. Toward celebration. Toward love. Things like that.”
As Caretakers of Wonder, we embrace a Good Life.
In the religion department, like many Unitarian Universalists, I often feel the more religions and the more spiritual wisdom of the ages the better.
From the prophet Micah: “What is required of thee, O mortal, but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly, before your God”… before the cosmos.
From the 2700 year-old Delphic oracle: “Know thyself.”
From the prophet Jesus: “You shall love the Spirit of Life, God, Creation, with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
From the prophet Mohammad: “Our true wealth is the good that we do in the world. None of us has faith unless we desire for our neighbors what we desire for ourselves.”
From The Way of Life by Lao Tzu: “These possessions of a simpleton being the three I choose and cherish: to care, to be fair, to be humble.”
Rev. Bruce Southworth
To read entire sermon - Click A Good Life?
