HUU Community Cafe

By Lisa Ellison
February 5, 2012

To live is to engage in work. The body engages in constant work – the lungs filling with air, the heart pumps. Our minds engage in problem solving, learning, and decision-making. Together the body and mind take action. Life is the only job we do not apply for and the only one where termination is guaranteed after an unspecified number of years. We are not given explicit job descriptions. We may or may not know our qualifications. We may spend the whole time wondering why we are here.

I’m asking you to consider that your life is spiritual vocation –something important, something filled with purpose, something that is wonderful just as it is, in whatever shape it’s in. A vocation is a summons or strong inclination to a particular state or course of action. It comes from the Latin “vocatio,” which means summons. Spirituality from a counseling perspective is the search for meaning. It’s the journey into the self where we discover who we are, who we want to be, how we connect to others, how we make meaning, and where we find hope. For some people spirituality is tied to religion, for others it’s not. Some people say they do not have any spirituality. That is also spirituality.

Our job as spiritual sentient beings is to make meaning from our experiences. We do this all of the time whether we want to or not. It’s how we’re wired. We cannot help but do it. Things are good, bad, pleasurable, painful, worth our time or a waste of time. The question we must ask ourselves is not whether we engage in spirituality at this level, but how we do it. Do we make meaning in ways that quiet the soul, promote compassion towards ourselves and others and instill hope and resilience, or do we make meaning in ways that promote hatred, division, mistrust, and despair for these are also spiritual practices. I believe that spirituality has to have a heart/head connection. So many times I’ve heard people say I understand it intellectually, but I don’t feel it in my heart, and so things do not change. If we do not connect to that innermost part of ourselves, we cannot move forward in our lives.

The world is a mess. It’s always been that way. Most of the time I think we spend our lives trying to avoid the mess. That’s usually my first inclination. Pain, struggle, suffering –let’s pass on that! Suffering can be seen as bird shit on your shoulder, something to complain about, get rid of, and hate. The more pain a person feels the more chances they have to feel lonely, unhappy, and unfulfilled. These are real possibilities. At certain times in my life, that’s been my experience. But suffering is also filled with blessings. If a bird shits on your shoulder, more than likely you’ll look up. You may see a beautiful sky. Suffering and struggle offer us the opportunity to ask why, and to engage thoughtfully in the meaning-making process. Most importantly, it offers us a chance to understand the human condition – to experience empathy that allows us to connect with others and have compassion. We can say that we’ve been there. We understand. When we haven’t been there we are more likely to lose our patience and feel baffled by someone’s attempt to simply do the best they can at any given moment.

As a budding counselor, I am fascinated with how we make meaning in our lives. In fact, my job is to sit with people while they engage in this process. I usually hear the painful, confusing parts, the things people wish had not happened, or want to undo – regrets, injuries, fears, grief. I hear the questions Randy talked about a couple of weeks ago: How do I feel normal again? What do I need to do to be normal? I hate the word normal because it sets up false expectations. There is no “normal.” There’s common and uncommon, centered, and uncentered. I think that’s what people want – to feel like they are understood and standing on solid ground. I am amazed by the courage that people can show in the face of insurmountable odds, and the ways they find stability and hope in the midst of utter despair. Continue reading Life – Your Spiritual Vocation

October 30, 2011
by Beryl Lawson

At this time of the year when it is said that the separation between the living and the dead is thin it might be good to consider another view on what survives after the death of the body.

Readings

Bhagavad Gita chapter 2
As the lord of this mortal frame experienceth therein infancy, youth, and old age, so in future incarnations will it meet the same. One who is confirmed in this belief is not disturbed by anything that may come to pass. As a man throweth away old garments and putteth on new, even so the dweller in the body, having quitted its old mortal frames, entereth into others which are new.

Benjamin Franklin’s Epitaph
The body of B. Franklin, Printer (Like the Cover of an Old Book Its Contents torn Out And Stript of its Lettering and Gilding) Lies Here, Food for Worms. But the Work shall not be Lost; For it will (as he Believ’d) Appear once More In a New and More Elegant Edition Revised and Corrected By the Author.

Gottfried de Purucker
“We are here because we have been here before, because here we sowed seeds of destiny, and we come back on this earth to reap those seeds which we sowed. This universe, governed by cosmic law, will not allow us to sow corn or wheat in San Diego County, and three or four months afterwards travel into Arizona or Nevada and attempt to reap the corn and wheat there. Where we sowed the seeds, there shall we reap the harvest. It is obvious. Our very being here, to the man who can think clearly and logically from step to step, or thought to thought, is a proof of reincarnation. Otherwise we must say cosmic law put us here by chance. And who believes that? If fortuity governed this world we would see the stars in their courses and all the planets running helter skelter all over the cosmic spaces without law, without reason, without order, without intelligence, without system”.

A brief look into the many religions of the world, both ancient and modern, both eastern and western allows us to see that the idea of rebirth and the preexistence of the soul is a central concept of them all. Continue reading Where Have All The Souls Gone?

October 16
by Rev. Emma Chattin

First Reading

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

For everything there is a season,
and a time for every purpose under heaven:
a time to be born,
and a time to die;
a time to plant,
and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill,
and a time to heal; a time to break down,
and a time to build up;

a time to weep,
and a time to laugh; a time to mourn,
and a time to dance; 5a time to throw away stones,
and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace,
and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek,
and a time to lose;
a time to keep,
and a time to throw away;
a time to tear,
and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence,
and a time to speak;
a time to love,
and a time to hate; a time for war,
and a time for peace.

Second Reading

From Richard Rohr in Hope Against Darkness: The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety

Our age has been called the age of anxiety, and I think it’s probably a good description for this time.  We no longer know where our foundations are.  When we’re not sure what is certain, when the world, and our world view, keep being redefined every few months, we’re going to be anxious.  And we want to get rid of that anxiety as quickly as we can!  Yet, to be a good leader of anything today – to be a good pastor, a good bishop, a good father, a good mother… (you fill in the blank) .. you have to be able to contain, to hold patiently, a certain degree of anxiety. Leaders who cannot hold anxiety will never lead you to any place new.  That’s probably why the Bible says so often, “Be not afraid.”  (I have a printout that notes the phrase appearing 365 times!)

If you cannot calmly hold a certain degree of anxiety you will always be looking for somewhere to expel it.  Expelling what you can’t embrace gives you an identity, but it’s a negative identity.  It’s not life energy, it’s death energy.  Formulating what you are against gives you a very quick sense of yourself.  Thus, most people fall for it.  People more easily define themselves by what they are against, by who they hate, by who  is wrong, by what is wrong, instead of by what they believe in and who they love.

I hope you see from this common pattern how different the alternative is.  If so, you might catch anew the radical and scary nature of faith, because faith only builds on that totally positive place within, no matter how small.  It just needs an interior “Yes” to begin….  (That is the foundation)… and that is why faith is always rare.  Religious group-identity all too often becomes its replacement.  We don’t have to find and live from a positive loving place.  We can just go to church.

Uncertain Times

We live in uncertain times.
Hurricanes.  Wildfires.  Floods.  Historic droughts.
Tornados. An earthquake…. in Virginia!
Gay Pride… in Elkton!!!
Woah…. I did NOT see that one coming!

Not all unexpected events are bad….
And while there may be some in this very Valley who will be quick to blame any destructive natural event on some sort of divine judgment for this perceived wrong…
or that perceived wrong… such divine assignment of responsibility
is nearly as old as the hills and the volcanoes that made them.

Humanity is all too quick to search for some sense of sense in the face of the senseless, some certainty in the face of uncertainty.   Truth is, most ancient religions regarded God (or the gods) to be controllable- placated, manipulated, through ritual and human sacrifice.  Around the time of Abraham, we see a shift in sacrifice from human to animal… sheep… goats… offerings to please God… to garner God’s attention and favor….good things were automatically the result of some blessing… Continue reading Uncertain Times

ASSOCIATION SUNDAY – October 2, 2011
Rev. Mike Quayle

Today Unitarian Universalists gather in churches, meeting houses, and some in rented spaces.    Some of the buildings are sprawling Gothic Cathedral-like structures.  Others are white clapboard churches.  Some are modern buildings which look more like spaceships than churches.  Others are traditional church buildings “recycled” from churches which have closed and still retain symbols like stained glass windows of the Last Supper or Jesus rising from the tomb.  Some meet in public school buildings.  Others in a college auditorium.  I recently read about one UU congregation that uses a local funeral chapel  to gather.  Then there are our friends in Lexington who meet in the courthouse.  And of, course, I know of one congregation that meets in an old schoolhouse!

Some have no more than ten people gathering.  Others have hundreds in attendance.  Still other UU’s have no congregation near them so they are part of the Church of the Larger Fellowship;  a sort of virtual church that relies on internet access and large gatherings throughout the year.

All are Unitarian Universalists gathering together to live out our commitment to each other and to the world.

We gather to be inspired.  We gather to challenge each other and our   world.  We gather to speak words of comfort to each other.  At times, we bicker with each other.  We debate and we argue.  We struggle to  find answers to life’s most challenging questions. Continue reading Better Together

Rev. Mike Quayle
Labor Day 2011

Today we pause to reflect on the meaning of Labor Day. For many of us the arrival of Labor Day marks the end of summer, schools have resumed, vacations have been taken and the church schedule returns to a predictable rhythm.

In many places, politicians emerge during Labor Day celebrations and rally their supporters with stirring speeches and great promises of what the party will accomplish in the coming year. Those seeking office use this day as a platform to rally support and gather votes.

Families gather; picnics are held; and we all hope for a final weekend of good weather.

The first Labor Day was observed in 1878 in Boston. It became a federal holiday in 1894 following the deaths of a number of worker’s at the hands of the US Military and US Marshals during the Pullman Strike. Within six days of the end of the strike and fearing more protests, congress rushed through legislation mandating a federal holiday in hopes of avoiding more violence.

For most who gather this weekend, there will be little thought about the origins of the day or reflection on the meaning of work.

I don’t know about you, but I grew up in a time and place where there was an unspoken agreement between the employer and the worker. I still recall the days when the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company dominated the lives of my father and my uncles. Generations of Quayle’s had worked in the Iron Mines. Some had died when conditions were so unsafe that cave-ins were frequent.

Our neighborhoods were named by the mine. The mine owned all of the land and to this day homeowners hold 100 year leases on the land for the sum of $1.00.

I remember going to the company store. I can also recall when pay for the miners was in the form of “credits” at the company store with cash making up only a part of the pay.

Then the unions came in. The United Mine Workers promised that if the miners organized, they would find the good life, higher pay, freedom from intolerable work conditions and a better future for their children.

Strikes were a frequent event. Whenever the contract were about to expire, the union would present a list of demands and the Iron Company would counter. Some of the strikes went for several months and meals got very simple. When a new contract was signed, there were parties and picnics.

But, underlying all of that was a basic belief that, in the end, an agreement WOULD be reached and life would go on. We believed in the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company and we thought they believed in us and would always be there to take care of us. Most young men who graduated from my high school had their future set. They would work in the mine as had their fathers and grandfathers. It was our way of life. Continue reading Broken Promises