Listen here

We grow up. The earth remains a child.
Stars and flowers, in silence, watch us go…
Rainer Maria Rilke

I know a place where in glorious intervals life
is eternally new. You come to it through a young
wood where pine and oak grow tall. You’ll know
you are close when you bend under a weather
bleached cedar, and, as you straighten your back
you see the elephant skin of an ancient copper
beach tree.

From the woodland path you can see a river
of low growth whose surface is slightly over your
head. If you follow the flow down stream, birds
will delight you as your foot steps set them in
fearful flight. At the top of a knoll, just off the
path, I have, on a warm summer’s day, thrown
my body out to dry on flat ledge rocks. You can
see marsh grass from that ledge. In the early
spring the ice, like dirty gray meringue, sticks
against the muddy path. There, on shrub size
willows, the red winged black birds puff chests
and trill at arriving newness. Here on branches,
just within reach, thrushes build their nests.

If you look closely at the base of those willows you
will see twisted and torn stumps, just about the size
of the new shoots that are now balancing new life. On
a misty morning, after the rain has stopped, you can
hear black birds singing several octaves below the
sizzling hum of the high tension electric lines.

The electric lines must be protected from growing
things. So every five years an army of cutting
machines is deployed to violently sweep away the
black bird perches and thrush nests. In the spring of
the cutting year life’s water level is lowered.

In my living room I have a remnant of the last time
the great machines paraded in formations. I have
saved a twisted wood section of life that once grew in
that place where life is eternally new. It adorns a
window in my living room. I have decorated it with
red leaves of a earth creeping vine that grew over my
favorite ledge rock.

We live in intervals between cuttings. We grow old
and die, yet life always remains a child and birds and
young shoots know how to celebrate spring.

Blessings,
Stephen

Every part of this soil is sacred in the
estimation of my people. Every hillside,
every valley, every plain and grove, has
been hallowed by some sad or happy
event in days long vanished.

Chief Seattle

The following two selections are from
Rev. Dana Greeley the first President of
the Unitarian Universalist
Association:

What we believe-
Our perceptions of truth
Affects our whole lives…
I believe in these things–
People, evolution, life, freedom
and love–
And they shape my life.
I call myself a liberal in religion;
And in my traditional language
Liberalism and religion go
perfectly together.

I think of God as the energy
Or light or love
Or power or purpose
That pulsates from one end of the
meta-galaxy to the other.

The April edition of Tidings is now available to you.

Just go to http://www.ucmh.org/t/tidings-april_08-pdf.pdf

The password was distributed by email, if you need it please contact us.

Some highlights of this edition are:

Page 1 Minister’s Column
Upcoming Events
Page 2 Minister’s Column continued
Words To Move The Spirit
Among Us
Page 3 R.E. Director’s News
R.E. Food Policy
Proposal for Growth
Page 4 R.E. News continued
March 30 Free Lunch & Conversation
Page 5 Important Upcoming Events
Ecology Corner
Page 6 Commitment Campaign
Help Needed for Field of Flags Exhibit
Page 7 June 13th Guest minister
More Upcoming Events & Resources

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http://www.ucmh.org/adobe/

Enjoy!

March 2008

The password for the newsletter has been distributed via email, if you need the password please contact us.

Highlights in this issue:
Minister’s Column
Words To Move The Spirit
UU Mass Action Lobby Day
R.E. Policy
Proposal for Growth
GA is coming
Our Hungry Neighbors
Important Upcoming Events
Ecology Corner
Commitment Campaign

You will need at least version 5 of the free Adobe Reader. You can get the reader from Adobe here:

http://www.ucmh.org/adobe/

The organizations that appear on your “charity” list do compelling work, I am sure. They may include those that year in and out struggle to bring justice to the world, protect and restore our environment, shelter the homeless, protect women and children from abuse. They may include organizations that promote democracy and human rights. I assume these organizations are important to you and financially supporting them reflects your values.

Why remove your religious congregation from such a list? The reason is simple. Your congregation is an institution of a different nature. It, unlike all the causes you support, best reflects the multidimensional values of who you are and who you wish to become.

It challenges you to discover the true you and nurtures the growth of that person, it comforts you through hard times and calls you to return the favor to others. It witness publicly to your belief in the worth and dignity of every person regardless of their beliefs, the color of their skin, their ethnicity, or their sexual orientation. Giving yourself and your financial resources to your religious congregation is not, therefore, charity. It is an offering of thanksgiving for all it has given you. It is a way of saying thanks for how it challenges you, how it supports you, how it works to get things done in the world that cannot be done alone.

A little over a decade ago JoAnn and I were belowaverage givers to our congregations (there were two at the time). At the time we were giving a little over 1% of our income to our churches (the national average for church goers is about 2.5% with Catholics and UUs at the bottom giving about 1%). We began asking ourselves some hard questions about what we valued and what we want to give to our religious communities. At the time two of our children were small and the other in college. When we talked about all our religion was giving to us, all the things we were thankful for, it became clear it was not another charity to put on our list. We now have our church and a separate list of charities.

Within four or five years we moved our giving from 1% to 5%. We have fallen off the mark a few times because of financial challenges-college tuitions and financial uncertainties. Yet, we feel better for the effort. There is no boasting in this statement, for we are humbled by those of our friends and acquaintances who give 10%; some of these good folks have much less than we do.

In the coming weeks you will be asked to make your financial commitment to our congregation. I hope that you will give it the thanks it deserves.

Blessings,
Stephen

When you see someone practicing the Way of giving, aid him joyously, and you will obtain vast and great blessings.
Buddha
Sutra of Forty-two Sections 10

God loves a cheerful (hilarious) giver.
2 Corinthians 9:7

It is therefore our business to cultivate in our minds, to rear to the most perfect vigor and maturity every sort of generous and honest feeling that belongs to our nature. To bring the dispositions that are lovely in private life into the service and conduct of the commonwealth.
Edmund Burk
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discomfort