Weavers

Happy Holidays & a Happy New Year!

Ending this year, 2010, I am mindful of how blessed I feel to be the minister at Allen Avenue UU Church.   I want to say a big thank you to all of the folks who bring our community together. What does it take to grow a community? First of all, it takes the energy of many individuals who share their creativity, kindness, and passion. Thank you! But even more than that, it takes the dedicated work of those I call the “weavers.” The weavers are those who weave a collection of bright individual threads into a beautiful garment.

Our committee chairpersons are weavers, who enable the talents of individuals to come together in the common purpose of each committee. Our Spiritual Enrichment Group facilitators are weavers, who hold the circles in which deeper bonds between our members and friends are nurtured. Our board members are weavers, who try to imagine the whole pattern of our church, and shape its direction. Our program staff are weavers―thank you Dale, Anne, and Kim, for enabling the participation of so many people in music and religious education, and for helping newcomers to find a way to join the tapestry. A special big thank you to our Church Fair coordinators, Angie, Julie, and Jennifer, for weaving a fantastic community event out of the efforts of dozens of volunteers.

I also want to say a big thank you to all of those who give their time and dedication to the more hidden side of any weaving―a sturdy foundation―a “loom” on which to build. Thank you to our support staff, Mary in the office, Pam for finances, and Steve for the building. Thank you to all the folks who work on the building and grounds, on church finances and stewardship, on communication and IT, on all areas of church administration. As our community has grown larger, your work has become more challenging and complex. Thank you!

May our A2U2 community grow strong in 2011, and may the weavers be plentiful and joyful!

May joy and many blessings come to each of you in the new year.

Rev. Myke

P. S. Margy and I are saying hello to two sister kittens, whom we are adopting from the HART Shelter in Cumberland. By the time you read this, we hope they will be here in our home, bringing their own kitteny joy to our world.  Here are Billie & Sassy (named after Jazz greats Billie Holiday and Sarah "Sassy" Vaughan.)

Winter Holidays

The Winter Holidays are almost upon us. It is a time of darkness and light, joy and sorrow. It is a time for families to gather together and enjoy each other's company; but it is also a time when loneliness can pierce the heart, and the losses we have suffered can return in gaping emptiness. Family struggles can be magnified, tensions can increase, all in contrast to the images of cheer around us.

Let us remember to be kind to each other. Remember to call the friend who has lost a spouse or partner, a parent or child or other loved one. Make room for the bereaved to talk about those who are no longer with them. Think about inviting the person who lives alone to join in your festivities. Think about visiting a nursing home, or helping in the soup kitchen. Remember to say thank you. Remember to be patient with your family. Remember to forgive.

In this time of long nights and short days, as the cold and snow approach us, let us remember again the values we hold most close to our hearts—love, kindness, patience, gratitude, compassion. I was inspired by a short affirmation written by Thich Nhat Hahn:

I vow to offer joy to one person in the morning

and to help relieve the grief of one person in the afternoon.

I vow to live simply and sanely, 

content with just a few possessions,

and to keep my body healthy.

I vow to let go of all worries and anxiety 

in order to be light and free.

Perhaps we can take the advice of this wise Buddhist teacher, to help us live this December in warmth and peace. May your holidays be blessed!

Rev. Myke

Autumn Equinox

I am writing this on the last day of summer, on the verge of the autumn equinox. Today was a hot day, but the nights have been crisp and getting colder and colder. The lengths of the daylight and darkness are in balance today, and the moon is full tonight, but so far, hiding behind the clouds. When the church program year starts up, things get busy very quickly, and it can be easy for me to forget to go outside.

Going outside is a kind of spiritual discipline for me. I mentioned in a sermon on September 12th that the earth is like our UU Bible, the universe is our sacred text. At least, that is true for me. Now, technically, everything single thing around us is a part of the earth—and so are we. The separation we make between “nature” and “artificial stuff” is artificial itself. So, even inside our houses and surrounded by human-made technologies, we might recognize that all of this is also the earth. But, it seems easier to remember the wonder and beauty of this world when we are surrounded by living and growing things.

Among our human-made technologies we can harbor the illusion that we are in control. When we go outside, we see that life has its own energy and direction, and its constant transformations. One day, a flower is there where none was before. Another day I see the first flash of red leaves on a tree. Every so often, a small animal makes its way through the fields or woods, at the edge of my line of sight. This is my favorite time to be outside in our neighborhood. The flies of summer—which certainly offer their own sermons on how humans are not in control—finally stop their pestering; there is an ease of movement in the cooler weather. The colors are full of angled light.

I was looking up at the stars the other night, and wondering—isn't it amazing that we can see the stars? Just a small shift in the chemical makeup of the atmosphere and we might never have been able to perceive them at all. Yet they have been a source of myth and story, question and exploration for eons. These astronomical bodies are so far away we had to invent a new word for the distances—light years. Yet we can see them with our tiny human eyes. So there I was being amazed about it all, and I wondered, why can we see the stars? And the little thought came to me, we can see the stars so that we'll know we are not alone.

Maybe a different thought will come into your heart, when you are looking at the stars. But I hope you will find wonder and beauty this season. Remember to go outside.

Rev. Myke

P.S. And remember to bring your starry dreams to our 2020 Visioning Day, October 23rd.

20/21 Vision

Did you know that our church will celebrate its 200th anniversary in the year 2021? That is only ten and a half years away from now! Imagine that you are writing up the big news story announcing the anniversary: What would you like to be able to include? In your wildest dreams for our church, what might be a key accomplishment of A2U2 by 2021?

This fall, our church will engage in a process of reflecting on our mission and our ministry. Ministry is everything that we do to live our mission. Every member of A2U2 participates in the ministry of our congregation--that is, we all contribute to whether and how our mission comes alive. Our mission is stated in this way:

We are growing a community 

that transforms lives through the power of love.

We celebrate diversity, encourage spiritual growth, 

and promote social responsibility,

as we walk with care on this earth.

We empower our members to share their gifts

to build a world of compassion, equality, and freedom.

This fall we will be taking stock of how we are doing on our mission, and envisioning what we hope for the future of our church. What might we imagine for the next 5, 10, even 25 years? We can only see clearly when everyone shares their perspectives, their hopes, their fears, their dreams. There will be many ways to participate, from personal journaling and questions to think about in private, to small group discussions, to a large group event on Saturday October 23rd. Stay tuned for more information!

As part of this process of reflection, on six Sundays in September and October, I will devote our worship themes to the different elements of our mission. The titles and descriptions of all these Sundays will be posted on our webpage, so you can see them as a whole.  

Here is the link:  A2U2 worship-topics

I invite you to bring this process into whatever parts of church life have most meaning for you. Perhaps the Spiritual Enrichment groups would like to create discussion sessions on our mission statement? Perhaps RE leaders might have conversations in your teams about how this mission comes alive with our children? Perhaps committees can reflect on how their particular mission fits into this larger mission of the congregation? Our planning team would be happy to help make that happen. And everyone can submit their best ideas for the future--for the 2021 anniversary news story!

Thanks for being the vibrant, loving, wonderful people that you are! I hope your summers have been refreshing, and I look forward to seeing you all again in September. 

Remember to bring water from your travels to our ingathering service on September 12th.

Love, 

Rev. Myke

A wing and a prayer

I think of the wing of a bird

the wing I found

--by the side of the road--

of a bird now dead

the wing so intricate and beautiful

          now in decay

I imagine this--the millions of birds

           beautiful

coming into being, fading away

the artist painting a billion paintings

the stories wondrous, tragic

the story of that bird—alive

       growing feathers, flying, eating

alive and then dead,

       and then the materials un-forming

so brief a story

so brief a life

I imagine The Life

creating itself into a billion forms

and then re-creating another billion forms

with almost infinite variation

         a kaleidoscope

of beauty and diversity

   and different ways of being conscious of the work

   and different ways of participating in creating

       making choices

Can you feel the inner creative energy in each one?

So now I am creating and seeing as Myke

    and how beautiful I am

eyes looking out at this world

heart capable of love

making changes, healing, choosing

and I will dissolve and disintegrate too

and I will reform into a new being

the larger I Am 

--it sounds so static, in a way--

yet it is not static

   it is creating

     evolving

       engaging,

         weaving

             curious

    dare I say hopeful?

(Is there a goal to which it strives?)

(Or is it playing to see what happens next?)

(Am I?)

The stories

billions of stories

Can the stories appreciate the magic

be full of wonder and gratitude

enjoy the show?

I am that

I am the bird who grew feathers and died

and was seen by the Myke

and was photographed by the Margy

I want to wake up.

Holy One,

open my body and emotions and intellect

to be united in awareness with my Larger Self

with the Creator

with the Limitless One

Help me to remember who I Am

as the I

as the Myke

Each being is beautiful

We are all one Being

Each story is beautiful

We are all one Story

Summertime

Once again the seasons are changing and summer is here.  I know that many of you find your truest spiritual connection out in nature, and summer is especially rich with vibrancy.  So some of you will be off communing in the woods or on the water during the next several weeks.  Meanwhile, others will continue to gather each Sunday, and I say thank you to all who will be leading worship, sharing your thoughts, spiritual practices, and insights for the benefit of all.

I will be at the UU General Assembly June 22 - 28, and then doing some clean up in my office, before heading out to commune with nature myself.  I will be away from church in July and August, for vacation and study leave.  Margy and I plan to do some camping here in Maine, and also visit my parents in West Virginia.  I will return August 25th to begin full-time preparation for the autumn season.  

Our double services and religious education will start up again on September 12th with our Water Communion Sunday.  I am thinking a lot about water these days, carrying the sadness of the oil spill in the Gulf.  Oil has been called the blood of the mother earth, and this spill does seem like a grievous wound in our ecosystem.  The Sioux elder Chief Arvol Looking Horse has called for the peoples of the world to join them in prayer that this wound be healed. [Prayer-request letter]  May it be so.  When you visit places of water during the summer, remember that all water is life, all water is sacred.  Gather some in a bottle to bring back for our water communion.

June is a time of transitions.  I say a warm thank you to Barbara Freeman, who has been on the Board since before I arrived five years ago, and has been such a wonderful president.  I work more closely with the president of our congregation than with any other person, and it has been a joy to have Barbara as my colleague and buddy these past two years.  She agreed to join the Committee on Ministry next year, so I am glad I will still have the benefit of her wisdom.  I am looking forward to welcoming Connie Cross as our new President--she brings a wealth of experience from other settings, and a long commitment to A2U2.  Here’s to the next adventure!

What we do today is always built upon the work that others did in the past.  Earlier this spring we held a lunch for former presidents of A2U2.  It was fascinating to hear about the issues that the church was tackling during their tenure, and how many of our strengths today came out of the struggles of earlier years.  We are carrying our link in a long chain of dedicated people.  

This June, the Board recognized another part of that chain, by honoring six of our elder members with the status of “Emeritus Member.”  This is an honorary, lifelong membership given to active members who are no longer able to regularly attend church or participate in most activities.  They are entitled to the full benefits of the ministry of the church, while being relieved of the ordinary responsibilities of membership.  We are grateful for their many contributions of time, talent, and treasure during the tenure of their active membership.  We wouldn’t be where we are without their gifts.  In fact, one of our Emeritus Members was a leader in the fundraising and construction for our actual church building here on Allen Avenue.  

Our new Emeritus Members are:  Ruth Bishop, Beth Kraushaar, Meredith Monte, Ralph Smith, Don Spring, and Ginny Stevens.   Thank you.  We count you among the people we always hold in our hearts.

Joy and peace to all,

Rev. Myke

Standing on the Side of Love

Standing on the Side of Love is a public advocacy campaign sponsored by the UUA that seeks to harness love’s power to stop oppression.  It was launched at General Assembly in 2009, and has been a vehicle for UUs and others to participate in public debates over LGBT rights, immigration, and any situation where people are dehumanized through acts of exclusion, oppression or violence because of their identities.

I am appalled by the increased prevalence of speech and acts that are full of fear and hate.  The “Tea Party” rhetoric is one striking example, in which people are scapegoating the powerless and demonizing anyone who is different in some way.   The Standing on the Side of Love campaign seeks to lift up compassionate religious voices to influence public attitudes and public policy.  Because I was on sabbatical when it got started, I haven’t yet been able to bring this excellent campaign to our congregation’s full attention, but I am hoping that in the coming year we might explore it more fully, and see if it might enhance our own mission of social responsibility and involvement in community issues.

High on the list right now is the recent law passed in Arizona which criminalizes people who are in the country without documentation, and also casts a pall of fear and intimidation over anyone who by virtue of skin color and language is perceived as a potential “illegal.”  For example, what happens if a brown-skin person is pulled over for a traffic violation?  Will all brown skin people now be required to have a passport on hand at all times, to be able to prove that they are not an undocumented immigrant?  There is another part of the law which also criminalizes anyone giving aid or assistance to undocumented persons.  SB 1070 might be interpreted to make it illegal to feed the hungry at a soup kitchen, or give a homeless person a ride to the hospital, or welcome someone into a congregation.  There is a national protest in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday, May 29, in which many of my UU colleagues are participating.

But this issue is not just one for Arizona.  This week I attended a vigil for a young man who is being detained right here in Portland.  Selvin Arevalo came to the United States from Guatemala ten years ago, when he was 14 years old.  Just before he was set to earn his high school diploma, he was detained after getting into a minor car accident, when he fled due to panic over his immigration status.  He has been a hard-working student, and is only one of many young people who are caught in similarly difficult situations.

To help us begin to more fully understand the human face of this political issue, I have invited my friend Rev. Virginia Marie Rincon to join us in worship on June 6th.  Rev. Virginia Marie has been ministering to the Latino community in Portland for many years, and I hope she will share stories from her work that will open up a window for us.  In the meantime, if you are curious about the Standing on the Side of Love campaign, you can get find out more online, and get involved directly, at www.standingonthesideoflove.org.

Rev. Myke