WOW: Flower Arrangement Thank You!

Monica Berlin donated these flowers. A big Thank You to Monica!!

WOW A Sign of Survival!!

I found this statue along the side of the road. I take it as a good sign. A horse statue with four feet on the ground signifies survival.

I choose to see it as an optimistic sign. the horse standing in the bed of a truck signifies evolution; if you look closely you can clearly see that the rider and the driver of the truck are both Sugarloaf Congregation.

Wow fun with HTML -- iframe who knew?!! or Fundraising Web Geekery...

I wanted to add the Amazon link that allows SCUU to get a 4% donation and discovered iframe... A webpage within a webpage...



This is the Amazon link found on the new improved version of www.scuu.org -- the seriously new and improved SCUU web site!!!

Click on the Amazon link above to order from Amazon and donate 4% or more of your total purchase to SCUU, at no additional cost to you!

Please note you have to click on the SCUU Amazon link for the purchase to be identified as a SCUU 4% of total purchase donation.



What kind of geekery is this? It's fundraising web geekery.

Everybody sing "If you knew SUUSI like I knew SUUSI..."

JP gave a sermon on SUUSI last Sunday.

SUUSI is on wikipedia and...

SUUSI is on facebook too and...

SUUSI is on flickr and...

SUUSI is on YouTube and ...

SUUSI is ca-ray-z good...

Planned Parenthood Founder Was Not a Unitarian Universalist But She Had a lot of Unitarian Universalist Friends

"When I started this sermon, I assumed Margaret Sanger had been a Unitarian because we have claimed her as one of us. Yet, there is no record of her ever having become a member of one of our congregations and we seem to be stretching facts when we claim her. Never the less, she spoke in many of our Churches, had many close Unitarian Universalist friends, and a large number of Unitarian Universalist congregations and members supported her cause then as we do now."

from a sermon by Rev Charles J. Stephens of UUCWC that discusses Margaret Sanger founder of Planned Parenthood.

"The reproductive rights movement, as I see it, is about preaching the radical message that people, and women in particular, are trustworthy moral agents. It is about saying, "Yes." Women do know what they're doing. They do know how to best lead their lives, and they should be trusted with those important decisions."

from a sermon "Sharing a Journey" from Lisa Sargent published by the Starr King School for the Ministry -- the Unitarian Universalist School of the Graduate Theological Union.

"... she began publishing 'The Rebel Woman', with the motto 'No Gods, No Masters'..."

from yet another sermon by Rev. James R. Bridges of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Poconos on Margaret Sanger. But alas the link at UU Poconos is broken [http://www.uupoconos.org/files/Margaret_Sanger.pdf] ...

Found a primary source excerpt which shows intent "... Powerful as the master class is depicted to be, owing to the apparent acquiescence and ignorance of its victims, it is inherently in a weak and dangerous position. For its very life it now depends upon the divisions and delusions which from time to time sway the working class. And these divisions and delusions are fostered and maintained by paid writers, scientists and politicians, aided by a venal press."

Timeless no? ...

So a replacement for now of the sermon is the primary source -- Margaret Sanger, "No Masters," Aug 1914. Published article. Source: The Woman Rebel, Vol. 1, No. 6, August 1914, 47 , Margaret Sanger Microfilm C16:561 at NYU of course

The primary source noted above is from a project at NYU this linke jumps to the biographical sketch and there is lots of other information on the site...

"Dr. Vosburgh departed from the widely held belief by physician in those days that women's purpose in life was to have babies. One physician suggested that women be defined as "a uterus surrounded by a supporting organism and a directing personality... Their refusal to be pregnant was clearly pathological."

from one more sermon: "Our Fight for Mother's Reproductive Rights" Rev. Samuel Trumbore.

Sometimes collecting links to sermons on the great interdependent web feels like collecting sea shells...

I have a dream speech version 2.0: Gettysburg Address

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

-- Abraham Lincoln

We are the Church of the Golden Rule!!

It's as simple as that...

Wow: The Correct Answer is All of the Above!!

Unitarian Universalist are listed on The Golden Rule poster. Our "Great Web of Life" principle appears on the poster as our Golden Rule. Being a UU I of course was inclined to argue that the "Inherit Worth and Dignity of All" principle should be our Golden Rule listed on the poster. The realist in me says we're lucky and blessed that we're even on the poster.

This poster appears up in the Loft of the Sugarloaf House where I alternately teach the "WOW Club!"...

And then it struck me -- especially since as luck would have it we appear near the bottom of the poster -- the correct answer is "ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!"

The Golden Rule that should appear on the poster for Unitarian Universalist is "ALL THE ABOVE!!".

Alternatively, "ALL THE ABOVE" can appear as an asterisk footnote to our entry on the poster.

Conflict Resolution At SCUU

I saw this video on YouTube and immediately the words "conflict resoltion" popped into my head.

Although the cats look like they're playing patty cake there is conflict lurking underneath -- the claws, biting, and hissing eventually come out.

When herding cats at SCUU we have a few guidelines. They are on www.helpguide.org...

Unhealthy responses to conflict are characterized by:

An inability to recognize and respond to matters of great importance to the other person
Explosive, angry, hurtful, and resentful reactions
The withdrawal of love, resulting in rejection, isolation, shaming, and fear of abandonment
The expectation of bad outcomes
The fear and avoidance of conflict

Healthy responses to conflict are characterized by:

The capacity to recognize and respond to important matters
A readiness to forgive and forget
The ability to seek compromise and avoid punishing
A belief that resolution can support the interests and needs of both parties

There are 4 steps we agree upon...

1. to accept that the SCUU covenant provides principles and practices(guidance) of how we wish to treat one another.
2. to take part in conflict resolution training...
3. to act when conflict arises between the member and others by speaking directly with each individual who feels the need to resolve a conflict.. Having a 3rd cat around helps.
4. to recognize that conflict resolution is hard and very important to do....

Linda gives a workshop called "Have A Nice Conflict" which is excellent; we call it HANC.

Remember:

If you don't get everything you want, think of the things you don't get that you don't want. ~Oscar Wilde

Humor Update

For the members of any religion…

To have a few doubts is normal.

To have many doubts is a crisis of faith.

To have constant doubts is a conversion to Unitarian Universalism

This joke came from Rhetta's Blog

A result of my spring link weeding...

when you fall down

when you fall down
your arms reach out for the dirt
your face looks to the side to avoid a mouthful of soil
your brain screams at
your foot
what happened
your heart beats cadence
your mouth shuts but not before
your tongue tastes some small flecks of soil as
your legs arc up over
your back
your feet would kick
your butt if you let them
your pelvis comes to rest and
for a brief instance it looks like the earth might be hugging you
your brain yells
get up
your toes move to where your torso once was digging in
your hands move down to push you forward
you're going to run with your elbows and your knees until
your legs save you from Mr. gravity
you're up all in the blink of
your sweat filled eye
most importantly
keep moving forward
as best you can

-- a poem for those who experience the 1st (or 2nd or 3rd... infinity) taste of reality bites existentialism...

Affirmation 42.1

What We'd Like to Say About SCUU

We would like to say about ourselves that we are a small community, optimistic about growing, and we focus on retention of members.

We would like to say about ourselves that we recognize the damage that conflict can do to our community and that we are actively educating ourselves on better ways to handle the conflict -- and these efforts have been well received.

We would like to say about ourselves that we have a historically strong Religious Education Program (RE). RE is a priority of SCUU.

We would like to say about ourselves that SCUU is rich with musical talent and that we use it creatively and productively to sustain and enhance us.

We would like to say about ourselves that SCUU is a multifaceted spiritual community that supports people in their spiritual quest.

We would like to say about ourselves that SCUU is located on a beautiful site and we are planning ahead to improve and expand for the benefit of the community that we live in.

From the SCUU ministerial start-up workshop 10/31/09

The lesson of the moth -- don marquis

the lesson of the moth

i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires

why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense

plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instant and then cease to
exist than to exist forever
and never be a part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves

and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity

but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself

don marquis
all things archy & mehitabel

WOW Moment Religion Selector or What Religion am I? or Belief-O-Matic

A while back I posted this as part of Comparing Religions. During my spring link cleaning I noticed the Link broke. So I refreshed it.

Religion Selector or What Religion am I? or Belief-O-Matic

It's on www.beliefnet.com

My results are:

1. Liberal Quakers (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (99%)
3. Theravada Buddhism (90%)
4. Secular Humanism (88%)
5. Mahayana Buddhism (84%)
6. Neo-Pagan (82%)
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (81%)
8. Taoism (80%)
9. New Age (75%)
10. Jainism (71%)

Which seems not to have changed much since my last post.

Wow...

John's Dad is a Quaker. When he came to one of our services he said "Wow this is just like a Quaker service only you're guaranteed someone is going to talk".

I thought that was funny.

Great Moments in UU History: The Invention of the Ice Cream Sundae

"On April 3, 1892, the Rev. John M. Scott visited the Platt & Colt Pharmacy – and its owner Chester Platt – in Ithaca after services at the Unitarian Church. Platt served up two bowls of vanilla ice cream, but decided to jazz it up with cherry syrup and candied cherry, according to What's Cooking America. The duo were so pleased with the creation that Scott suggested it be named after the day it was created, and the "Cherry Sunday" was upon us."

How cool is that...

Google Doodle Celebrates 119th Anniversary of First Ice Cream Sundae