December musings

We're coming into winter soon now... cold mornings, early dark evenings, but the unreal politics goes on and on. I will be preaching on hope this month. And bringing back one of my old favorites for the holiday of Hanukkah. And in case you're wondering, on Christmas Eve we'll have three services—one Sunday morning service at 10, and two evening services at 6:30 and 8:30.

I seemed to be devouring books this past month as I wrestled personally with the potentially devastating consequences of climate change—you can see which books if you look at the sermon transcripts for the month on our website at a2u2.org. (And by the way, say thanks to Diane Oberbeck for our beautiful new website design! I understand that updating it is much easier—and Diane is looking for volunteers who would like to be a part of the website team—let her know if you can help.)

But back to books, after plunging into the depths of the climate change crisis, I found myself coming back to an earlier favorite book, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible, by Charles Eisenstein. I like it so much, in fact, that I would love to have a book discussion to talk about it. If you are interested let me know at revmyke@a2u2.org. If we have a critical mass, we can find a date after all the holidays. And by the way, you can get a digital copy for free online at https://charleseisenstein.net/books/the-more-beautiful-world-our-hearts-know-is-possible/. He reminds us that the paradigm shift we need—from a world of separation to a world of interbeing—means that the ways we have thought about social change might no longer apply. Maybe we need new methods to get to a new paradigm.

And speaking of books, if you are thinking about gifts for family and friends, consider whether they might like the book I published last year, Finding Our Way Home: A Spiritual Journey into Earth Community. You can order it at your local bookstore, find it on Amazon.com, buy it through my site at http://www.lulu.com/shop/myke-johnson/finding-our-way-home/paperback/product-22972214.html, or talk to me at church—I have copies in my office for $15. (If you like the book, please consider reviewing it on one of those sites too—it is only by word of mouth that people will hear about it.) I appreciate your sharing it with friends who care about the earth. I also want to say that I had such a wonderful time with the group who shared conversations and rituals based on the book in the course I led this fall, called “A Spiritual Journey into Earth Community.” Thank you to all of you for sharing your magical moments and deep feeling for our planet.

I look forward to seeing folks at the holiday fair on December 2nd, and bring a friend to church & RE on December 3rd. May we enter into the season of darkness and light with hearts turned toward celebration—community, family, friends, values, life.

Affectionately,

Rev. Myke

Welcome back from summer adventures!

I have been glad to have time this summer to settle into our new home in Portland, unpack many boxes, and get situated in our new place. Margy and I also spent some days at the beach swimming and enjoying the sunny weather. I hope you had a chance to be outside as well. During my August study time, I have been working on preparing for the coming church year.

I want to give a big welcome to our new Director of Religious Education, Carolyn Barschow, and our new Intern Minister, Israel Buffardi. I am looking forward to working with them this coming year, and I hope you all will help them to feel at home at A2U2. 

During my study time, I created a new course, “A Spiritual Journey Into Earth Community,” which I will teach over seven sessions from the end of September into December (mostly on a bi-weekly schedule). Earth Community is a vision of human beings living in mutually beneficial relationship with all of life on earth. Through readings, conversation, and experiential practices, we will explore how to deepen our connection to the earth, to each other, and to the Mystery at the heart of life. (For those of you who may have taken my previous “Spirituality” class, I've borrowed some activities from that class, but enough will be new that I hope you'd find this one engaging.) There is more information about the course later in the newsletter.

I am also trying a new experiment this coming year, called “theme-based ministry.” Over 190 congregations across the US are now participating in a common theme-based ministry through a program called Soul Matters Sharing Circle. It originated at the First Unitarian Church in Rochester, NY, as a way for congregations to go deeper into important questions for our personal and congregational growth. The themes for 2016-17 are framed with a preamble “What does it mean to be a community of...” and include “Covenant, Healing, Story, Presence, Prophecy, Identity, Risk, Transformation, Embodiment, and Zest.” We are starting in September with the question, “What does it mean to be a community of covenant?”

 How it works is that about six weeks before the month of a certain theme, a packet of resources is made available that can be used for worship, music, small group ministry, and religious education. (We have been using something similar in our theme-based workshop model religious education—but designed around themes chosen by the RE Committee. Interestingly enough, our RE themes for this year are somewhat analogous to the Soul Matters themes.) Each month, the worship services will explore various aspects of the theme, and spiritual enrichment groups can also use the theme for their small group sharing topic. If desired, there could also be further conversations based on the theme. (Men's group? After worship discussion group?) If you are curious, be in touch with me, and I can forward you the theme packets to explore for your group. You can find out more about the program at http://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com.