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"Love
is the spirit of this church and service its law"
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July 2007 Service Schedule:
July 1 Home Minister: Consulting Interim Minister Myron Andes’ regular office hours are Tuesday and Wednesday from 1:30-4:30. If you cannot reach him in the office please leave a message at 474-1704 and he will return your phone call in a timely manner. IN
THE INTERIM Easy Religion…Hard Religion…Harder Religion In any of the multitude of religions in the world there can be found those who seek easy religion and those who practice hard religion. Easy religion doesn’t demand much. Perhaps it gives simple answers to difficult questions. Sometimes it spells out exactly what practitioners need to do. Easy religion can be mainly attending social gatherings with “people like me.” It might include small contributions of money and volunteer time in support of the religion. It certainly doesn’t interfere much with a person’s life. Easy religion is a pleasant distraction that gives comforting reassurance that life is not meaningless, and that we are not alone. Then there is hard religion. Some pursue religion as though it were the labors of Hercules. Hard religion often requires “spiritual disciplines.” It can involve sacrifice, even physical pain. Hard religion takes precedence over everything else in life. It can seek escape from the turmoil of life by extensive and difficult work that seeks results in a different realm, or in an afterlife. Both of these approaches to religion are escape mechanisms. Whether their requirements are simple or difficult, they evade the real problems of life. Unitarian Universalism, at its best, is an even harder religion. It demands that we decide for ourselves, in open-minded discussion with others, what we believe. But even harder yet, it bids us focus not so much on what we believe, but on being faithful to our covenant to affirm and promote certain values in real life, to struggle with what those commitments require of us in our real-world actions, and to actually take those actions. Rumi writes, “Come, come, whoever you are…though you’ve broken your vows a thousand times, come, yet again come.” Practicing “even harder religion” will lead us to realize thousands of times over a lifetime that we have been unfaithful to our covenant. For if we are alive and ever questioning, we will always find more dimensions of meaning in our covenant, and will feel the need to adjust our actions accordingly, time and again. There will be times we want to find an escape mechanism, to avert our eyes and pretend everything is OK. Or to be able to make things OK through difficult work. We are faithful to this even harder religion when we keep looking directly at the world and ourselves, and don’t deny or back away from living a committed, purposeful, meaningful life. That is the meaning of faithfulness. That is faith. Myron SUNDAY SERVICES
July 1- Home “Home” is a word that summons up some of our deepest feelings of contentment and security...or not, depending on our experience. What does home really mean? How do we make one? What does it mean to “feel at home,” and how do we create that feeling?
July 8- Atheism Today Many of us in this church are self-avowed atheists. Yet we are part of a religious community. This puzzles many outside our faith, and sometimes it puzzles us. We will explore these mysteries and get a taste of some of the current bumper crop of books in the popular press on the subject of atheism.
July 15 - The Great UU Get-Together Once each year thousands of UUs gather to do the business of the Unitarian Universalist Association, share in fabulous worship experiences, engage in social action, gain knowledge in all kinds of seminars, talk with leaders in our movement and share problems and solutions with folks from other congregations. Myron will report on this year’s “General Assembly” (GA) and the state of our continental movement.
July 22 - Who Is My Neighbor? Immigration Policy in the United
States Immigration policy has become the subject of hot debate in this country. The National Guard patrols the border. Fences are being built. Some towns have passed strict regulations aimed at getting rid of illegal immigrants. Others issue them ID cards or driver’s licenses and consider giving them the right to vote in local school board elections. The issue promises to figure in the coming national election. A new “sanctuary movement” has begun in churches in many locales. What are the religious values we ought to be taking into account on this issue, and what, if any, actions should we as a religious community be taking?
July 29 - New Age Spirituality Fresh from Sedona, Arizona, the epicenter of what has become known as “New Age Spirituality,” Jan will report on her observations and impressions, and the relevance of this movement to our open-minded and openhearted Unitarian Universalist faith.
BOARD OF DIRECTOR’S MEETING
POTLUCK
HOUSE & GROUNDS
GREETERS NEEDED
COFFEE
MARK THE DATES
FIRST FRIDAY DRUMMING CIRCLE
IT’S A CELEBRATION! PSG
MEETINGS A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR The Compass is everyone’s newsletter and everyone’s responsibility. I cannot do it without YOU! As editor, I am responsible for assembling the information I have been given into the newsletter format. I depend on YOU- the members, friends, and board of UUCE- to submit information to me by the deadline. When I do not receive information about upcoming events, reports from committees, meeting date changes, etc I cannot produce a newsletter that serves us to its fullest abilities. Also, every effort is made to assure the information in The Compass is correct. However, when my requests for updated information elicit no response I cannot be held responsible for the inaccuracies. Thank you for understanding in these matters- Beth
Newsletter Editor: Beth Heil |
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