Gratitude

I am writing this the day before the summer solstice. Everything is so lush and full and green. This time of year fills me with thoughts of gratitude. I feel so happy and grateful to be your minister, and to share this ministry with such wonderfully kind and generous people in our congregation. There are so many thanks I could give that I would soon run out of space. But at this moment I want to express my thanks to a particular group, and a particular person in that group. I am speaking of the Pastoral Care Team and its long-time chair Ruby.

The Pastoral Care Team is the group that listens when you are going through a hard time, are celebrating a joy, or facing an illness. We envisioned such a team during the first year that I came to Allen Avenue, and then it slowly took shape bit by bit. It started with volunteers who were willing to answer a phone call during the summer months when I was away. We helped it along with the Leadership and Ministry Program workshop called LAMP 101. It grew stronger when I went on sabbatical in the fall of 2009. When I returned that January, we began to talk about how the team might be a part of the ministry year round, while I was here as much as when I am away.

Team members began to make note of what was said during joys and concerns, and respond with a conversation or a phone call. They did follow-up calls to those who were ill, or had lost someone they loved. Members of the team visited folks in the hospital or in their homes. Now it feels like they significantly enhance the quality of the love we share at A2U2.

I want to say a special thanks to Ruby who has had a key role in creating and guiding the team since the beginning. It just wouldn't have blossomed without her gentle presence, her behind the scenes organizing, and her availability for other team members to call upon with their questions. Ruby is stepping down as chair, but is continuing as a member of the team. She is now working as a chaplain at Gosnell Memorial Hospice House, which makes it difficult to attend church on Sundays. Connie Cross and I prepared a certificate to give to Ruby, and since we couldn't do it at a Sunday service, I wanted to let you know what it says.

In Appreciation, Ruby P.

You have been instrumental in creating and leading our Pastoral Care Team and helping it to develop and grow. You have brought compassionate listing to so many of our members and also helped to teach others how to listen with love and care. You have inspired us by your willingness to seek a new path to follow the calling of your heart into a ministry with elders. We want to offer our special thanks for all that you have given our beloved community and many blessings on your continuing journey of ministry.

I am happy to report that Merrill is stepping up as chair, and we will likely add a co-chair in the fall. During the summer, if you need a listening ear, you can call the church 797-7240, dial extension 13, and leave a message for up to a minute. Someone from the team will call you back. Or you can email care @ a2u2.org, and someone will be in touch. That is also a way you can access the help of the Caring Connection, for meals, rides, or other help during an illness or other emergency. That is another group of wonderful people!

The members of the Pastoral Care Team this year have been Ruby, Merrill, Jim, Sara, Kathy, Judith, Mike, Dick, and Lisa. Joyce and Minty joined the team this spring. We'll be doing a LAMP 101 training in October, and welcome new members anytime during the church year.

Have a joyful summer!

Rev. Myke     

Like a River

June days are upon us. Peas are coming up in our garden, and I have three lovely tomato plants too, thanks to a church gardener who shall remain anonymous. I am writing this prior to our church annual meeting, but once again, it looks as though our hardworking stewardship committee, finance committee and board have pulled together a way for our congregation to get through these challenging financial times with grace and strength.

A lovely tiny poem came into my email box today, entitled, “Fluent” by John O'Donohue. It goes like this: 

I would love to live

Like a river flows,

Carried by the surprise

Of its own unfolding.

It reminds me of how I want to live as well. It is so easy to become worried and fearful—maybe this is my own temperament, but it seems to be wider that that, more like a cultural phenomenon. Michael Moore spoke about how our media are based in fear, and keep calling the alarm for the next bad thing around the corner. I often find myself falling into that trap too.

But instead, I can sometimes catch myself, can notice when I am sliding into alarmist projections, and shift the course. Margy and I are thinking that we might need to get ourselves a newer car, and sometimes I jump to the thought “it will be so hard to find one that we can afford.” But when I notice I am projecting a random negative outcome, I can interrupt it, shift into curiosity and expectation: that we will find interesting choices, that we will be helped, and just the right car will come along with a little bit of searching.

Of course, that is only one part of shifting the process—why should I have to project an outcome in any case? Or perhaps I could think like the Zen Buddhist, who says, “the glass is already broken.” In other words, don't feel attached to things as if they must always remain the same. All things come to an end, even us. Let go, and enjoy the present moment. What a life it would be to enter each day open to the surprise of its unfolding. Like the river. 

Each moment when I am able to do that is full of a secret sort of joy, even magic. I wish that kind of magic for you during this lovely month of June.

Rev. Myke

New Things Growing!

So many wonderful things happen at Allen Avenue. Even I can't keep track. But I want to let you know about a few things that are just beginning to grow. Lenora Trussell brought a proposal to the Caring Connection Committee to begin a ministry of Parish Nursing. “Parish nurses” serve in other congregations in a variety of ways—so Lenora is working with Caring Connection and me to sort out how it might work at A2U2. One way is that Lenora can meet with individuals or families experiencing significant health issues to listen and sometimes offer suggestions as they sort out their options. Sometimes a wise and caring listening ear is so helpful when facing a challenge or change in one's life. The Caring Connection has already arranged for Lenora to meet with a few of our members. Lenora is also planning to offer workshops on a variety of health related issues.

One of the things I love about our church is that we encourage our members to share their gifts, to find their passion, to bring their own ministry to our church, or beyond our church. If you are sparked by what Lenora is doing, there is room for more than just one Parish Nurse. Or if you have your own thing you'd like to offer, come chat with me!

Another new thing—the board just agreed for our church to sponsor a Chaplaincy Intern. Mark Gallup is a student of the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine (ChIME), and brought a proposal to be our intern from June 2012 to May of 2013. Mark has been the Environmental Director for Southern Maine Community College for several years, and is planning to retire next year. He hopes to create a ministry of helping people to experience the divine in nature and foster the need to care for the earth. An internship gives Mark a chance to practice this new ministry, and learn what he needs to know to be able to fulfill his vision. Our church members will be his teachers and will also benefit from the ministry he brings to us. It will be a chance to us to practice being a teaching congregation.

We are imagining this internship might include such things as creative outdoor worship, religious education programs, and working with our Green Earth and Building & Grounds committees on sustainability issues. Mark will also be practicing pastoral skills such as compassionate listening, as a part of our pastoral care team. The internship involves 6-8 hours per week, and we hope to sort out more details in June, when Mark can meet with different groups and individuals to make a plan for next year. Stay tuned!

One more new thing. Many of you had a chance to meet Rev. Fulgence Ndagijimana at the Ferry Beach retreat. Rev. Fulgence is a UU minister in Burundi, founder and pastor of the only UU congregation in Burundi. The church is doing much good in Burundi, and there are ways that our church might be able to help, if a few people are interested in being coordinators. The church has a micro-loan program to help women establish small businesses to support their families. They can do this with as little as a $100 loan. They are also looking for sponsors to help students complete a high school education, for $500 per year. If this calls to your heart, let me know. You don't have to have money to help coordinate this work. It would be a wonderful partnership to create. Again, it is all about encouraging our members to share their gifts and their passions.

Thank you for all the ways you make this community thrive!

Spring Swimming

On March 22^nd, the afternoon where the temperature reached the 80's, Margy and I went to the beach at Winslow Park, and actually took a dip in the ocean waters of that tidal bay. What a treat. 

But still, it created a foreboding after-effect in my heart. It is easy to feel delighted by the early blossoms, and the summer like temperatures. But on the other hand, we know it doesn't reflect good news for our future on our planet. Garrison Keillor talked about it on a Prairie Home Companion. He said people in Lake Wobegon felt ill at ease in the too warm spring—it was like entering a forbidden room in the house while your parents are away. Something isn't right about it.

We know that global warming is shifting the earth and the seasons, and that means changing our assumptions about everything. Even the garden companies have changed the zones for planting, as the lowest winter temperatures inch upwards. Now climate change is no longer an “if” but a process already started.

April is the month that we traditionally celebrate Earth Day. This year, since our Ferry Beach retreat will be the weekend of April 20-22, we will officially have our celebration on April 29^th. But we also think of the entire month as a month for renewing our connection and commitment to this planet we call mother and home.

This year has another anniversary that is on my mind. May 6^th will be the 150^th anniversary of the death of Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau is counted among our Unitarian ancestors and has been an inspiration for many in deepening our relationship to the earth and fueling our activism for justice. I decided to let him be an inspiration for our worship themes for April 29, May 6 & May 13. I am re-reading Walden, and some other of his works, and I invite you to join me in that reading if you wish. We will look at simple living, civil disobedience, and our connection to mother earth on those three Sundays.

I also want to congratulate the Green Earth Committee for our winning Eco-Maine's 2012 Eco-Excellence GRAND AWARD for outstanding contributions to Environmental Preservation. Our congregation is doing wonderful things to raise awareness of environmental issues. May we find our way to go further and further down that path!

Replenishing the Flow

This month is our annual stewardship month. Some of you are very familiar with what stewardship is all about, but perhaps others are new to the idea. You may be interested to know that our church is supported solely by its members. We don't receive money from any other entity, except for small amounts from rentals of our building. In fact, we actually send a contribution to our regional and national association, to help in the overall work of the mission of Unitarian Universalism.

Once a year, everyone is invited to consider, or re-consider, their commitment to this spiritual community, and to make a pledge about how they want to support it during the next year. Part of this support is financial, and part of this support is through volunteering our time and talents.

My partner Margy and I are also members of the church, and we make a pledge each year to support it. When I first became a minister, I thought it seemed a little strange that I would receive a salary from a church, and then give some of it back. But over time I realized that this giving comes from the same motivation that any member has—I love this spiritual community and want to see it thrive. I cannot imagine what life would be like without these amazing people gathered in this wonderful way. I want our values to grow and give life to our wider world. And so I support this church with my pledge.

People are invited to give what they can afford to give—we know that some folks are earning more than others, so of course what we each can contribute will be different. Some of us work with this difference by giving a particular percentage of our income to the church. That's what Margy and I do. If our income changes, we change our pledge in accord with that. We hope that every member will pledge something, even if during hard times it can only be a tiny amount. Because: making a pledge, even if it is just $1 per month, is a way of expressing your love and commitment to our church.

There is something very sacred about our financial arrangements. We have a gift economy here. Years ago, when I was a psychotherapist, I had to charge a fee for the counseling I did with people. But here at church, people give what they can to our common life, and no individual is charged for the particular services we offer. I don't have to worry about whether any individual who wants to talk to me can afford to pay. That is a beautiful situation that speaks volumes about our values in this world.

I want to say thanks to our creative stewardship committee! They are volunteering their time to plan ways for us to get to know each other better, to have fun together, and to be in touch with each other about our commitment to this community.

Rev. Myke

Being Human

I have been dealing with illness for the last few months, first with hypothyroid disease which sapped my energy during September and October, and then with a diagnosis of shingles, which has meant resting at home for the past two weeks. It is a reminder of how much we human beings are dependent upon these bodies we can easily take for granted. It is also a reminder about how much we human beings are dependent on other people to help us out, in all kinds of ways, but especially when something like illness takes away our illusion of independence.

Even the minister is a vulnerable human being. What a funny statement to make, since it is so obviously true. But sometimes the role of minister sets up a dynamic where the minister expects herself to be always available to help others, and not to need help for herself. It is very humbling. Not because I have needed some help during this time of illness, but because I find it so challenging to sort out how to be human at the same time as being a minister.

There is something in the role of minister that creates powerful expectations: it asks me to bring hope, compassion, and kindness to the people and work of our A2U2 community. It asks me to welcome people just as they are, and to affirm their humanity in the midst of troubles or tribulations. And I feel great joy to be able to do that. But the role of minister also creates an expectation of separateness: that somehow the minister is not to bring her whole self to the community, but merely the helper self. The minister is supposed to shut off other parts of the self, to keep separate any weakness, sadness, illness, loneliness, or frustration that I might experience. As ministry has become more professionalized, this dynamic has increased.

While resting at home, I have been reading Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen, who talks about a similar phenomenon among medical doctors. As a doctor who also dealt with her own chronic illness, she discovered a power in bringing her whole self to her work with her patients. She believes that healing can happen when we recognize that we all are wounded, and we all are healers. I agree with her, I truly believe this in my heart, but I don't yet know how to make it function within the role of minister. It taps into the deep place in me that learned early to find my identity as a helper.

As we approach the busy month of December, I don't yet know how much I will have recovered from this illness. I hope to be back among you, but will likely have to pace myself, and not work as many hours as I usually do. My first priority is to be back in the pulpit and worshipping with you, even if I can't yet do everything else. Even there, I plan to draw from previous years reflections on the winter holidays, to help with the process of preparation.

The spiritual teachers say that everything can be a lesson for us, a way to grow, to become whole. I hope that this experience will be that for me, and I hope for you too to find growth and wholeness in the challenges that you face in your lives. May we all help each other on the journey.

And I also want to say a very warm thank you to those who have sent good wishes, and who have been helping out in various ways!

Occupy

The seasons are turning once again, the leaves falling. As it gets colder I think about the hardy young people who are Occupying in so many cities of our nation and around the world. (And some older people as well.) Occupy Wall Street started in mid-September with a march of about a thousand people, 200 of whom camped out in Zuccotti Park in New York City's financial district. It has grown into an international movement. Calling themselves the “Ninety-nine Percent,” protesters are challenging the greed of Wall Street, the policies that enable the upper one percent to be making enormous profits while thousands of people are losing their homes, are unemployed, or just getting by.

I visited the Occupy Maine encampment in Portland last week, to drop off some sleeping bags for the campers there. People are camping in Lincoln Park at Congress and Franklin, and sticking it out in all kinds of weather, along with enduring some acts of harassment such as a homemade bomb that was thrown into their kitchen tent early in the morning of October 23. (No one was hurt, thank goodness.)

It was quiet when I stopped by—a Wednesday afternoon. They don't do a big demonstration at Monument Square on the days when the Farmer's Market is there, but there were only a few people at Lincoln Park right at that time. When I asked whom I might speak to, a man who appeared to be homeless pointed me toward three young adults. They were delighted to chat with me, and seemed very articulate and dedicated as they talked about why they were there. When I mentioned that I was the minister at Allen Avenue, one of them said—That is my alma mater! It turned out he had grown up at our church. His name is Evan McVeigh.
He was also quoted in some local media about the occupation: Portland Press Herald Oct 11 and MPBN.

It made me proud of what we do for young people at our church. Young people here are encouraged to think for themselves, and to believe that they can make a difference in the world. They are encouraged to act on their values, and speak up about them. We help them become articulate and dedicated citizens. We teach our kids to look at the big picture, and care about how we treat each other as a society. No wonder they can spot the injustice of 1% of the people growing richer every year, while 99% of the people are falling back. Hurray!

I encourage you to stop over, have a conversation, bring along some food or blankets or tent stakes to help them out.  Like and follow them on Facebook to hear the latest news. https://www.facebook.com/OccupyMaine

There are things happening these days—who knows where it all may lead us?

Blessings, Rev. Myke