Filed under: Becoming and Being Part of a UU Congregation, Travels, UU Denomination and Pacific Central District News and Views, UUA General Assemblies, UUA General Assembly 2009 in Salt Lake City | Tags: ethnic nationalism, General Assembly, murder-suicide, pastoral letter, prayers, Unitarian Church of Transylvania
Some of you may not know that Unitarian Churches have existed in Eastern Europe since the late 1500s, early in the Protestant Reformation. Many UU churches have partner church relationships with village and city churches in Transylvania, which is a Hungarian-speaking province in Romania. I visited in 1998 and hosted several Unitarian colleagues to preach when I served in Silicon Valley.
Unitarians in Transylvania (50,000 of them) are ethnic and religious minorities in a country where Romanian and Eastern Orthodox nationalism are rampant and frightful. They are Unitarian Christians who use the Bible for their worship services and sermons.
They look and sound rather traditional in contrast to most North American UU congregations, but they are religious liberals and often the only social liberals speaking out on issues of concern, such as fairness for LGBT people and Roma people (Gypsies). Every year a minister from Transylvania comes to Berkeley to be a special student at Starr King School for the Ministry.
After Sunday worship at General Assembly I learned terrible news. A village minister in his mid-30s, named Denes (=Dennis) Cseh, killed himself after murdering his two young sons. His wife has had serious cancer for a number of years and was out of town, staying with her parents. Hence, she is left without a husband or children, and still facing cancer. Horrifying and sickening news, to be sure.
In the early afternoon there was a support circle in the Minneapolis Convention Center for ministers from Transylvania as well as those who are friends of Transylvanian churches to grieve and offer support. Please extend your condolences to any people you may know from Transyvlania as well as those North Americans involved in the UU Partner Church Council.
Two days after the deaths came this pastoral letter from the Bishop of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania, to be read at the Sunday morning services of all the churches on July 4. (At 4:00 PM all the ministers of Transylvania were to gather in the village of Medgyes.) The letter has been translated from Hungarian into English by Lujza Nehrebeczky, a member of our UU church in Lexington, KY. It appeared first on the
website of the Transylvanian denomination.
Pastoral letter to all congregations
June 29, 2010
Kolozsvar [Cluj-Napoca in Romanian]
To our Unitarian believers and brethren of other denominations:
This past Sunday, as we were preparing to go to church with gratitude to
God, we were shocked to receive the horrifying news. It caused us both pain
and bewilderment to find out about the terrible crime committed by the
pastor of our congregation in Medgyes. As a Unitarian minister and as a
church member, my soul was tried by hearing the news. This widely publicized
event evokes many questions in us both as individuals and as a community.
I write these words with the belief that God is near us even in such trying
times, only we don’t know how to look for him. Our forebears had succeeded
in finding their way out of severe circumstances. In case our faith in God
has been weakened or we have lost the path shown us by the exemplary lives
of our ancestors, let us hear the prophet’s message: “Seek the Lord while he
may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their
way, and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them return to the Lord, that
he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon”
(Isaiah 55:6-7).
One individual’s actions are not the actions of the community. However, this
event casts its shadow on all of us. Of course, we do not disown a minister
of our church who has served three different congregations over ten years.
And we certainly do not disown a family man who has shown exceptional
devotion in raising his children and seeking a cure for his terminally ill
wife. We regret enormously that this heavy burden that required superhuman
strength to bear caused a nervous breakdown in him. This man, who had
received psychiatric care for his illness, did not take those lives in his
position as a minister. His deeds reach far beyond the life of our church
and are considered explicitly criminal acts. While we stood by him, aided
him financially and followed his tribulations as his fellow servants, we
cannot bear the responsibility for the horrible murders he committed. One
individual’s actions are not the actions of the community, but this event
casts its shadow on all of us.
Many press sources have been objective in reporting on the immeasurable
tragedy that befell this family, and we hereby express our gratitude to
them. However, the scandal-craving tabloid media and the public opinion it
manipulates have attempted to judge our entire community based on this
event. Being Unitarian will become difficult in the coming days and weeks,
and it may remain so for a long while. Some people may ridicule or slander
us. Others may attempt to associate our faith with ideas we have never
espoused.
We need the strength and sobriety of our religious community now more than
ever before. This community consists of us, of each individual person. Let
us stand by one another and our faith. Together, let us expect the blessing
of our providing God, which we can experience even in the darker days of our
lives. Let us remember that our forebears made difficult but sustaining
sacrifices for this precious faith, in order that they may pass it on to us.
Let us remember the pure and simple faith of our cherished Unitarian
religion that has always compelled us to love God and serve people. Over
four and a half centuries, our church has enriched humanity with
immeasurable values. Let us ensure that this legacy lives on.
Together, let us pray for the tried but strong congregation in Medgyes; for
our shaken believers; for the minister’s wife mourning her children and
husband. Let us implore our eternal, one true God to dwell amongst us with
his providence and power, compelling us to do what is right. May God protect
our physical and mental health, send us help in our illnesses, and defend us
from family and community tragedies. May God give us spiritual strength so
we can stand firm beside those in need. With our godly lives, let us prove
that we are brothers and sisters, children of God.
May the love of God remain among us.
Bishop Ferenc Balint
Filed under: Becoming and Being Part of a UU Congregation, Politics, Elections, and Government, UU Denomination and Pacific Central District News and Views, UUA Presidential Campaigns | Tags: change, church culture, Condoleeza Rice, denomination, failure, institutional, new challenges, organizational, scholarship
I thought of our UU congregational culture and the plateau of growth so familiar to our denomination (and not only ours) when I saw this in the Life’s Work feature in the Jan/Feb Harvard Business Review: Condoleeza Rice was asked “What piece of knowledge from your research was most useful at the State Department?”
She said: “The fact that I’d been concerned all my academic career with how institutions develop was very helpful when I found myself leading a Dept of State that was having to adapt to a post 9/11 world. My research affirmed that most organizations change only when they’re failing. They take cues too late from the environment. The question is, how do you get a relatively successful institution to respond to really new changes?”
Filed under: Becoming and Being Part of a UU Congregation, Children and Youth, Church Finances and Stewardship, Uncategorized, UU Denomination and Pacific Central District News and Views, UUA General Assembly 2009 in Salt Lake City | Tags: church life, internal communications, minister
Dear Guests, Friends and Members of UUSS,
Greetings and Happy New Year!
Happy New Fiscal Year, that is. Our new UUSS budget year began July 1. Thanks to all our members and friends who keep UUSS going strong, year after year!
I’m happy to be back and look forward to seeing you soon. Let me know if you’d like an appointment, or just give me a call. I also feel sadness at the passing of our member Frank O. after a long illness, and I extend my condolences to Polly and family.
I’ve been in and out of state: in Boston with David Libby, Tina Chiginsky and five Coming of Age youth for the Heritage Tour; in the Bay Area to preach on H. D. Thoreau at the UU Church of Berkeley and to visit; in Seattle for a few days of vacation. Along with Rev. Doug, I attended Ministry Days and the UUA General Assembly, held this year in Salt Lake City. My weblog [this one!] includes a few posts from GA and my daily journal of the Heritage Tour in Boston.
There was too much at GA for me to cover everything, but I’ll mention that congregations re-elected UUA Board Moderator Gini Courter and gave a grateful and loving farewell to the Rev. Bill Sinkford as he ended his 8 years of service as UUA President. Congregations elected his successor, the Rev. Peter Morales. Read, watch and listen to more coverage at http://www.uua.org .
I took along with me our UUSS Green Sanctuary photo album (about our conservation and environmental education and stewardship projects) to display at the UUA Congregational Stewardship booth in the exhibit hall, and UUSS was honored as a newly designated Green Sanctuary church; our new certificate is on its way to us in the mail. We were also honored for being a Fair Share contributor of financial support to the UUA for the past fiscal year.
First the headlines, then the articles below:
This All-Ages Sunday Morning at UUSS
UUSS Member invites us to Special Art Show Opening this Friday and Saturday.
Family Friendly Restaurant Dinner Next Wednesday, July 15
Attention, Carpenters!
Entryway Improvement Project Now Underway
Community Partner: July Offerings will Support Local Organization
Poetry Feature
Conclusion and My Contact Info
Now the articles:
This Sunday Morning at UUSS
I will be leading a Service for All Ages this Sunday, at 10:00 AM
The topic (and your role in the service) this week is Tee-Shirt Theology. Please wear a shirt that states or depicts an aspect of your personal theology, philosophy, ethics, faith, ultimate concern, religious questions, or organizational commitments. I will preach briefly and we will invite all ages to show their messages in a quick procession by the microphone. Here are some examples of such short-sleeve spirituality I have seen in previous services: the list of UUA Principles, the Golden Rule, “Do No Harm” and the question “What If The Hokey-Pokey Really Is What It’s All About?” I remember a former parishioner’s shirt that was only a nature picture and another’s that said: “If the only tool you have is a hammer then every problem will seem like a nail.” There’s the well-known citation of “John 3:16” which is a theologically non-unitarian Bible verse, and my blue Buddhist shirt, “Breathe In. Breathe Out. Repeat.”
Something Else New This Sunday:
The Religious Education Welcome Table will move to the main patio, near the wall between the two sets of doors. While we will have brochures and welcoming volunteers at the table, there will be no need to register children this week, as this is an all-ages service. For infants and toddlers, as always, there will be nursery care in Classroom 11 but the service is designed to include children and youth as well as adults. The Child/Youth Religious Education Committee holds its monthly meeting after the service at 11:30, with new chair Jeannine Newcum. If you’d like to know how you can help us get ready for our September liftoff, contact RE Assistant Janet Lopes janet@uuss.org or me.
UUSS Member announces Art Show this weekend.
Patty Taylor invites us to attend an exhibit of the Woodlake Artist Group titled “Back on the Boulevard.” Aka Taylor Guttermute, Patty is a member of the Woodlake Artist group which recently displayed their works at UUSS sponsored by the UUSS Artist Exhibits. Patty also demonstrated the use of nature-friendly art materials to our 4th/5th grade children in an RE class last Spring. Location: 1616 Del Paso Blvd. – Sacramento, 95815 (Home of the Supper Club, Actors Theatre, and Fran’s Cafe). Patty will be showing some of her 2D and 3D work along with five other artists from the group at the Special Opening – Friday July 10th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm and the Second Saturday Opening – Saturday July 11th from 6:00 to 10:00 pm. Here is a link to Patty’s website – http://www.taylorforart.com/
Family Friendly Restaurant Dinner Next Wednesday, July 15
I hear there were over 40 folks at last month’s dinner. Sorry I was out of town! This month we will be back at UUSS’s nearby neighborhood Fresh Choice, at 535 Howe Ave., just south of Sierra Blvd. Show up when you can, grab a tray and help yourself to wholesome salads, soups, breads, pizza, fruit and desserts of the wholesome and high-calorie kinds. Fresh Choice donates 15% of our purchases back to UUSS, but the real purpose of this event is to help folks get to know one another better and promote connections across the generations. (Note that the restaurant’s contribution does not apply to your total bill if you apply any discounts or coupons to your purchase, but don’t let that keep you from coming.) Find a flyer at http://uuss.org/Home/Special_Events or at the Welcome Table at church this Sunday. I may have a few extras in my pocket if you forget yours. I’ll be there from 5:30 to 7:30. This will be a nice time to connect before I go back home again to Indiana for a week’s visit.
Attention, Carpenters!
There are many ways that you can help us launch the Child and Youth Religious Education program, especially in launching the new Spirit Play method for elementary-age children. We need to build or buy a nice four-easel contraption so four children can paint or draw simultaneously. We also will need some story boards or sets (small props for classic stories) as well as storage cabinets to keep them from week to week. Contact janet@uuss.org if you have questions.
Entryway Improvement Project Now Underway!
Last Sunday after church many folks attended the ground-breaking ceremony and blessing of the church’s Entryway Project, between the parking lot and our sanctuary entrance near the patio. This design will improve the lines of sight, visual appeal and spirit of welcome. Many thanks to the growing number of donors to this speedy capital campaign. We are well on our way to the goal of $20,000 for this project. Many thanks to the facilitators, designers, diggers, planters and others!
Money
If you’d like to add your gift to this capital campaign, contact lay leader Colene S or our Book Keeper Michele , or see our Pay Pal donation button at the bottom of our UUSS web site. If you drop off a check, make sure it says “Entryway Project” in the memo line.
Dirt
Bob O. invites you to bring a shovel or a strong back this Saturday to help out: “We plan to begin removing the dirt from the triangular bed July 11, if you would like to help, join us at 9AM. Let us know if you are coming because we will be providing lunch and refreshments. Coffee and donuts at 8:30 lunch about 1PM.” Let him know if you are coming!
Ceremony
If you’d like to see pictures of the July 5 ground-breaking ceremony and blessing, go to our website, http://uuss.org/Home/Special_Events. Additional photos may be found at this link: http://groups.google.com/group/uumpf/web/groundbreaking-july-5th-2009?hl=en
or copy either link and paste it in your web browser.
Community Partner: July Offerings will Support Local Organization
All non-pledge contributions placed in the offering baskets every Sunday this month will be shared equally with The Birthing Project in Sacramento. Find out more at http://www.birthingproject.com.
Poetry Feature
a poem by Scott Cairns, American, born 1954
(Word Note: a coracle is a small, round boat made of wickerwork
covered with a watertight material, propelled with a paddle).
Prospect of the Interior
A little daunting, these periodic
incursions into what is, after all,
merely suspected territory.
One can determine nothing from the low
and, I’m afraid, compromised perspective
of the ship, save that the greenery is thick,
and that the shoreline is, in the insufficient
light of morning and evening, frequently
obscured by an unsettling layer of mist.
If there are inhabitants, they’ve chosen
not to show themselves. Either they fear us,
or they prefer ambush to open threat.
We’d not approach the interior at all
except for recurrent, nagging doubts
about the seaworthiness of our craft.
So, as a matter of course, necessity
mothers us into taking stock of our
provisions, setting out in trembling parties
of one, trusting the current, the leaky
coracle, the allocated oar.
——
Conclusion and My Contact Info
For other important UUSS events, see the Blue Sheet announcement insert, July Unigram newsletter, or the white board near the sidewalk leading from the parking lot to the Main Hall.
Wishing you all a good week
and hoping to see you soon,
Filed under: Children and Youth, Church Finances and Stewardship, Ordeals and Observations of Pastor Cranky not elsewhere classified, UUA General Assembly 2009 in Salt Lake City
At the 2009 UUMA Ministry Days I attended an excellent workshop by the Rev. Nate Walker, of 1st Unitarian Philadelphia, about our relationship with technology, especially emerging communication, presentation and social networking tools on the web. I made a last-minute decision to attend this one instead of my pre-registered choice, hoping that it would not make me feel bad about my slow adoption of new technologies and overwhelmed by all the new stuff coming out. His workshop met my hopes with grace and inspiration.
In the “introductions” segment, we all spoke about our relationship with tech as if it were a person. It helped to see the range of comfort levels and that as many of us are late adopters as are early adopters. He noted: we are all in this together.
He said we should not forget our spiritual natures, roles as spiritual leaders and commitment to spiritual practice. Given all the other things ministers must manage and navigate, we do have it in our power to have an intentional and not harmful relationship with new technologies.
Some people have a rule of not looking at email sooner than 12 hours since the last time they read or wrote emails. Before we knew what had happened, Nate swore all us ministers to give up email for Lent next year. We will need to alert and remind parishioners and colleagues well in advance of Ash Wednesday. This doesn’t mean we can’t phone people and ask them to phone us or to meet with us in person. (And, I might add, handwritten notes are still gratifying.) I’m writing it here so I can remember my commitment.
He gave examples of how he and his church have used YouTube for pastoral messages (as when he was out of state last July when news came of the shootings in the Knoxville UU church), as well as for worship and religious education presentations. They replaced their membership photo directory with an online directory (with Flicker, I think); this can be password protected as well as more easily updated.
The most exciting project: they provided video cameras and mikes to church children and youth, who conducted a series of interviews with church elders and other adults, asking questions like “What religion did you grow up in?” All the clips were brief, which kept every one interesting. This was a great tool for connecting children to adults in the congregation.
He showed us the opening scene from the movie “Crash,” which was used for a dialogue on race and ethnicity. Notable line: “We miss the touch so much tha twe crash into each other just to feel it.”
Of course, many churches now post and podcast sermons and other parts of worship services.
The Mail Chimp program shows who comes to the church web site and why. Google can track which pages of a web site are visited most frequently. First Unitarian gets visitors from all states as well as 77 other countries.
His own Netiquette guidelines:
Real life does apply online. Practice deep listening and loving speech, just as we try to do in person. No expectations for a timely response on email. Put out “flames” and do not participate in conflict by email. Recognize conflicts but don’t try to resolve them online unless there is no other way to reach someone or have a conversation with them. Respect people’s privacy. Avoid sarcasm.
We need to use the technology to help us enhance our ministries and not become slaves to technology for its own sake. Hence, he asked us to identify and articulate our own sense of purpose. When we are clear on that we can avoid being buffeted by all the new options and tools.
Filed under: UU Denomination and Pacific Central District News and Views, UUA General Assembly 2009 in Salt Lake City, UUA Presidential Campaigns
This is a press release that the UUA’s communications director just released. I was surprised at the margin and sad at my candidate’s loss, as were all the others at the thank-you party Satuday night after the Ware Lecture. Peter Morales is a dynamic and experienced leader, and both candidates have raised important issues in this energetic but respectful campaign between two accomplished ministers.
Note how significant is the number of absentee votes as a fraction of all votes cast. In some past UUA elections the winner has “won” even before showing up at GA because his campaign has locked up so many absentee votes in advance. Note also the “transition” period–less than 24 hours from election results to installation! All other nominees were running in uncontested elections
Press release:(June 27, 2009 – Salt Lake City, Utah) – Rev. Peter Morales, senior
minister of Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colorado, today was
elected to be the eighth president of the Unitarian Universalist
Association of Congregations (UUA) at the Association’s General Assembly
in Salt Lake City.
Morales received a total of 2061 votes, 1020 of which were cast as
absentee ballots. His opponent, Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman, formerly senior
minister of the First Unitarian Church of Dallas, Texas, received a
total of 1481 votes, 827 of which were absentee ballots. Morales’
margin of victory was 580 votes.
Speaking of his aspirations for Unitarian Universalism, Rev. Morales
said, “I want to grow our faith, to reach all those people who are
looking for non-dogmatic, liberal religious community. I look forward to
working with partners in many other progressive and justice-seeking
religious groups. There are tremendous issues that we’ll be facing in
the coming years and we’re going to need one another.”
Rev. Morales, the first Latino leader of the UUA, will be installed in a
ceremony which concludes the General Assembly, at 6:30 PM (MDT) on
Sunday, June 28. Rev. Morales will succeed Rev. William G. Sinkford who
has served two four-year terms as President of the UUA.
See http://www.uua.org/news/newssubmissions/144235.shtml for the
complete story on Morales’ election. For uuworld.org’s coverage of the
Morales election, see http://uuworld.org/news/ga
Filed under: Uncategorized, UU Denomination and Pacific Central District News and Views, UUA General Assembly 2009 in Salt Lake City
The first day of our UU Ministers Association meeting (Ministry Days) has been devoted to continuing education for about 25 years. That will change after this year, when UUMA ceases trying to pack so much into one day. The plan is to establish a series of residential retreats for several days each for in-depth work on a variety of ministerial themes; for example, a week at Asilomar near Monterey. This will involve a near doubling of UUMA dues, but the rate will be more progressive, based on one’s salary.
Our speaker for the morning was Sonia Sanchez, the African American poet, teacher, activist, now from Philadelphia. It was a rather stream-of-consciousness talk interspersed with poetry. Many colleagues resonated with her words, and I copied down a few choice sentences, but I left at the mid-morning coffee break.
In the afternoon I attended an excellent workshop called “iMinistry,” in which the Rev. Nate Walker, the new young minister from First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia (oldest Unitarian church established as such in America). We first spoke about our relationship with technology with regard to our ministries, and learned we were not alone–whether early adopters or those who need lots of hand holding, like me. He gave several great examples of the use of internet tools for pastoral care, all-ages community building, social witness, administration, and worship. But the point was that our ministry should use technology; we should not let the technology use us. As with any relationship, boundaries are important. As with all other aspects of a demanding occupation, spiritual practices are important to keep up.
More soon.
Filed under: Ordeals and Observations of Pastor Cranky not elsewhere classified, UUA General Assembly 2009 in Salt Lake City, UUA Presidential Campaigns
I am staying in a big old lovely house 2 miles from the downtown hotels and convention center. My former intern has always been resourceful, and she and her husband found this house to rent online and recruited several other ministers to stay here and share the cost. An added temptation is that she is a chef and maybe some day she will want to cook while we are here. There are two straight clergy couples and four other people. One couple is a mixed marriage: he went to Starr King School for the Ministry and she went to Meadville Lombard Theological School; he supports Peter Morales for UUA president and she supports Laurel Hallman.
Yesterday I went for a ride around Salt Lake City with collegial friends Barb and Bill, who served the South Valley UU Church till 2006. They showed me Salt Lake City’s century-old, New England-style First Unitarian Church (closer to where we are) as well as the neighborhood they used to live in. The church is in a capital campaign to raise a few million for an expansion. Sort of makes the small goal of $17,000 for the Entry Way Project back home seem very small, and quite doable.
Today, Tuesday, is the day for the continuing education programs of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association. Gotta catch the bus!
Barb was invited once by a female state senator from SLC to give the opening blessing at the Utah legislature, thus being the first woman clergy person to do so. On top of that, the senator told her afterwards that it was the first time the words “gay and lesbian” had been spoken publicly in that chamber! Now there are at least two openly glbt legislators.
Filed under: Becoming and Being Part of a UU Congregation, Children and Youth, Ordeals and Observations of Pastor Cranky not elsewhere classified, UU Denomination and Pacific Central District News and Views, UUA Presidential Campaigns
Lights out at 1 AM–no exceptions! That was last night, after an all-day flight. Even though it was only 10 PM in our bodies, all 5 of us guys slept quite well in 2 sets of bunk beds plus one twin bed in a 12 x 12 room. I assume it was roomier for the ladies, since there were only 3 of them. Everybody got up by 7:30, cleaned up and headed down to the youth hostel’s kitchen to make ourselves bagels and fruit loops. None of the kids drank any coffee, which makes it more amazing that they followed me all over and listened to me drone on about the history of the place. We strolled Boston Common (the oldest public park in the US, originally where Puritans grazed their cattle and hanged Quakers and other heretics), the Public Garden (adjacent to the Common but established 2 centuries later with gorgeous landscaping: trees, blooming flowers, a lagoon with swan paddle boat rides and real swans too, and monuments to famous Unitarians like Edward Everett Hale and other notable Americans, to the protestors who died in the 1770 Boston Massacre (all five of them), to those with family or other Massachusetts connections who perished on Sept. 11, 2001, on one of the planes that took off from here or from their crashes in NYC and DC).
On Beacon Hill we visited the main building of UUA Headquarters at 25 Beacon Street, right next to the gold-domed State House (where I pointed out bronzes of Daniel Webster, President Kennedy, Unitarian Horace Mann). In the UUA we saw the William Ellery Channing landing and his portrait, among those of other 19th century notables) and the Dana McLean Greely library, commemorating the 1st president of the newly merged UUA (1961 to 1968, spanning the most violent and triumphant years of the Civil Rights Movement), and the Eliot Chapel, where a bronze relief commemorated Jimmy Lee Jackson, a young black civil rights worker killed by police in Selma during a march while trying to protect his grandmother; Viola Liuzzo, a white Unitarian from Detroit who transported black men in her car between Selma and Montgomery and was murdered by the KKK, and the Rev. James Reeb, a young Boston minister who went down to Selma for the Voting Rights March to Montgomery with other UU clergy–the night before the march they were attacked by whites after dining in a black restaurant, and Reeb died from the blows.
We met some young staffers–one from the UUA Office of Bisexual, Lesbian, Gay and Transgender Concerns, who spoke to us about the Welcoming Congregation program, which our congregation had entered several years ago, and two college-age interns from the UUA Youth Programs Office. The highlight of the day (at least for the 3 adults) was to attend the UUA staff chapel, which happens every Tuesday at 11:30 AM. Today’s preacher with the Rev. William Sinkford, giving his farewell homily to the staff as he looks forward to leaving office next week when we elect a new president at General Assembly. Bill completes two 4-year terms. It was an emotional time for him and many colleagues in the room and those field staff who were watching and participating by phone and internet through Persony (they even sent Joys and Sorrows for the Boston colleagues to hear and light a candle).
We had lunch at a deli and wandered by the old City Hall which originally was the site of the Boston Latin School (which Ben Franklin dropped out of at age 11). Now it holds several eateries, stores and offices. After lunch I took them down to the plaza which faces the Old South Meeting House, where Sam Adams and 5,000 other colonists began protesting the British Crown’s tax on tea imports to America and effectively began the Revolution in 1773. But the striking thing was a memorial to the victims of The Great Hunger, which is what Irish called the potato famine of 1845-50. Of 8.5 million in Ireland, 1 million starved to death and 2 million fled across the sea to America, but many of them died at sea in crowded and unworthy ships. Why the famine? A fungal infestation of crops, English colonial control and absentee landlords in England, who demanded and received rental payment in grain while the peasants died of hunger. In Boston the early immigrants lived in damp, dirty, crowded conditions near the waterfront and where many infant and other lives were lost. Help Wanted signs in store windows said Irish Need Not Apply. The memorial bronze sculptures depict three haggard and agonizing peasants on one side and a group of proud, upstanding Irish Americans, having finally attained inclusion and power. President Kennedy was descended from refugees from the Great Hunger.
After a gift-shop and Starbucks stop, we went back to the Garden and rested till our 90 minute tour at Arlington Street Church, across from which stands a bronze statue of its founding minister, William Ellery Channing, the “father of American Unitarianism.” The church is based on an Anglican church design and features family pew boxes with doors throughout the sanctuary main floor (paid pew boxes were originally passed down the generations of a family but eventually democratized by church leaders (not without controversy), becoming first-come, first-served pew boxes). Louis Comfort Tiffany’s factory made about 13 gorgeous, green-blue-and-white stained glass windows (featuring New Testament scenes but none of the miracles of Christ. This was in the late 1800s but the glassmakers went out of business before finishing the job, according to our guide. (But he also said that Channing’s famous Baltimore Sermon was 2 decades later than it was, so I’m not sure.) This politically conservative but spiritually radical church did also become a politically radical one in the 1900s: Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, Reproductive Rights, El Salvadoran political-refugee sanctuary programs, GLBT Rights. Notable was the Vietnam-era ceremony inviting young men to burn their draft cards together in protest, after which the church gave them extended sanctuary so they could avoid arrest, our guide told us. Openly lesbian minister KIm Crawford Harvie, known for her charismatic preaching, has been serving ASC 20 years.
This is all build-up to the highlights of the day, and I don’t mean dinner at the bar made famous by the Cheers TV series in the 1980s-90s, which the youth liked even though they had never heard of it and didn’t know the names of any of the stars.
No…our ASC guide took us to the organ and choir loft, where Nate tried his hand at the powerful pipe organ’s keyboard, improvising nicely, after which Jessica played Fur Elise. They were only briefly perplexed by the many pedals beneath their feet, since organ pedals play notes, unlike the two piano pedals (or so I think). The youth also got to stand in the enormous high pulpit of Dr. Channing (moved from the original church building when the congregation moved to this one).
Surely the highlight was the trip up the creaky steps (ladders nailed down, really) up into the steeple, stopping in the bell tower. About 14 ropes came through pulleys and were fastened to a board with numbers. Each rope, when pulled hard, would ring a bell with a particular note, in a room up higher in the tower. He took us up to see the bells themselves but a bout of vertigo caused me to stop half way and descend tremblingly back to the room with the ropes. The others came down after enjoying the priceless views and the youth randomly rang different bell ropes, causing a cacophony that must have had the upscale neighbors scratching or shaking their heads. Then each of us was told to grab a numbered rope. The guide called out a series of numbers and we pulled as we heard ours. The tune was Morning Has Broken, but the numbers came too slowly for it to sound familiar. Then Tina took over and read us our numbers fast enough so that Cat Stevens or any self-respecting Welsh person walking down Boylston Street would have recognized it.
After the Cheers pub food, this crowd of pilgrims with weary limbs and aching feet made its way back to this bunk-bed United Nations of youth. It’s 12:30 AM and I am the oldest of all the reading, typing, surfing and chattering lodgers in this kitchen (except for Larry King on the TV set), and I am going to turn in.
Filed under: UUA Presidential Campaigns
Sometimes during previous UUA presidential election campaigns I voted for a candidate who had the support of accomplished and revered colleagues who knew the person well and could articulate the candidate’s gifts and accomplishments to me. Sometimes I put my support behind a candidate whom I had known up close over a stretch of time. This time, I will be voting for the candidate who fits both of those descriptions, Laurel Hallman.
I think the UUA will be well served by either of the current candidates. I think we have been well served by the dialogue that Peter and Laurel have conducted with each other. Moreover, they have sparked important conversations among volunteer and professional leaders about our congregations and the future of our movement. I am glad that Peter entered the race, but I am voting for Laurel.
Many months ago I heard that Laurel was being urged to run for UUA president and was considering it seriously. I found this hard to believe, but was thrilled to hear it, so I emailed Laurel to tell her how I felt and give my own encouragement. Since then, close colleagues and friends of mine–experienced, wise and brave ministers who have taught me so much about ministry–lined up to endorse her and join her campaign team.
Twenty-seven years ago (surely not that long ago!) in Bloomington, Indiana, a group of undergraduate friends and I walked into a church that we had just learned about. This is how Laurel Hallman became not only the first Unitarian Universalist minister I’d ever heard but also the first female minister I’d ever heard. We were gleeful and nearly incredulous at her choice of relevant, real-life sermon topics, and touched by her accessible, intelligent and powerful preaching. I recall with gratitude her friendliness and approachability.
We kept going to church there for the rest of my senior year of college. My attraction to this faith and my discernment of a call to ministry began in those encounters with Laurel Hallman. Of course, you can read stories from countless people inspired by Laurel in significant ways. My story is not exceptional, but it matters to me because I found this faith at a crucial and scary time in my life. Finding it has transformed my life.
During that same year, a close friend was having intellectual and spiritual difficulties with his Roman Catholic faith. The rest of us raved about Laurel’s wisdom and intelligence, and we urged him to ask her for pastoral counseling. She generously gave him some of her precious time and listening presence. She didn’t convert him or otherwise help him leave his admittedly flawed church, because that did not turn out to be what he was seeking. She helped him discern his longing, clarify his thinking, and reclaim his faith in ways that would sustain him and help him keep his integrity. Last year I saw him for the first time in 23 years. He’s a college professor with a longtime male partner and a 10 year old child. He remains a committed Catholic and he won’t let any right-wing archbishop take his faith away from him. He recalled for me how helpful Laurel had been to him as a young adult, and how smart and wise she was. Laurel’s ministry to my Catholic friend exemplifies the generosity of our faith.
In 1991 as a lay person I attended a convocation of UUs for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns (now Interweave) at Laurel’s large church in Dallas. By that year AIDS was killing off thousands of gay men among many other people on the margins of society. We learned of Laurel’s leadership in the community and her guidance of the church’s pastoral and practical ministries to those suffering from the symptoms of AIDS and its stigma.
Laurel led the welcoming worship for us on Friday night and preached a sermon on Sunday in honor of our gathering. She spoke of the need to live with one foot in each of two worlds: the real world and the possible one, the world that we were yet to achieve. Many of us were in tears. I recall few of the sermon titles or messages I’ve heard over the years, but I remember that one. I recall also that she began the service by introducing by name each one of her ministerial colleagues who was present for the conference. Laurel’s gestures of welcome and her church’s leadership in its community exemplify the generosity of our faith.
All this took place long before I knew that Laurel had been a DRE at a large church in Minnesota, where she forged a new, spiritually rich children’s RE curriculum called Images for Our Lives. This was long before I saw her “Living by Heart” video, which introduced spiritual disciplines that could appeal to people for whom old religious terms or traditional practices were impediments. It was before I learned that so many congregations are made ineffectual or even hurtful by a lack of transparency, an absence of mission, or a failure to practice covenantal relationships. Laurel’s current and former parishioners (including key lay leaders where I serve) testify to the remarkable health, growth and effectiveness of the Dallas congregation during Laurel’s decades of collaborative and accountable stewardship there.
Laurel has long experience in policy-based governance, which the UUA Board is adopting as it strives to clarify leadership roles and empower the administration to pursue clear goals and achieve measurable outcomes.
She has raised daunting amounts of money for expansions of her church’s physical plant and for expansions of its ministries within and beyond the congregation. The burden and relentlessness of fundraising is a large but little acknowledged part of the UUA president’s job. Laurel’s past challenges and successes have prepared her for this job.
Laurel has mentored seminary interns into skillful and confident ministers. She has been a leader in her city and interfaith community, especially in working for local economic justice. She has led countless church members into discerning their own ministries as laypersons and living them out in the world.
I am happy to be voting for Laurel Hallman. Her leadership continues to encourage my faith in the possibilities for our congregations and the future of our movement.
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