by Beryl Lawson

July 3, 2011

The celebration  of Independence Day brings forth many nostalgic ideas about our founding, the people who made it possible and questions as to how we are doing today. How well are we keeping to the ideals of those who started it all, what might we change of those ideals, do they need changing, and how can these ideals carry us through the difficult times ahead.

The current attack on our country from the “Religious right” comes in the form of a statement that they want this country to “return to the Christian principles on which it was founded.”  However, a little research into American history will show that that statement is not true.”

The men responsible for the building the foundation of the United States had little use for Christianity . They were men of the Enlightenment. They were Deists who did not believe that the bible was true.

Most of the founders were deists, which is to say they thought the universe had a creator, but that he, she or it does not concern itself with the daily lives of humans and does not directly communicate with humans, either by revelation or sacred books

They spoke often of God (Nature’s god or the God of Nature as mentioned in the Declaration. But this was not the god of the bible. They often praised the benevolent teachings of a man called Jesus but flatly denied his divinity.

The Constitution has only two mentions of religion and both times in negative terms. First amendment, congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion  …  and no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

Jefferson-letter in 1802: “ I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the g=free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between church and State.” [Read more…]

INTRODUCTION TO FLOWER COMMUNION:

In the city of Prague, in the land of Czechoslovakia, in the year nineteen hundred and twenty three, there was a church. But the building did not look much like a church. It had no bells, no spires, no stained glass windows. It had no organ to make beautiful music. It didn’t even have a piano. It had no carvings of wood or statues of stone. It had no candles or chalices. It had no flowers.

The church did have some things. It had four walls and a ceiling and a floor. It had a door and a few windows. It had some wooden chairs. But that was all, plain and simple.

Except… the church also had people who came to it every Sunday. It had a minister, and his name was Norbert Capek (pronounced CHAH-peck). He had been the minister at the plain and simple church for two years. Every Sunday, Minister Capek went to church, and he spoke to the people while they listened, sitting quietly and still in those hard wooden chairs. When he was done speaking, the people talked a little bit among themselves, and then they went home. And that was all—no music, no candles, no food. Not even coffee or doughnuts.

Springtime came to the city of Prague and Norbert Capek went out for a stroll. The rains had come, the birds were singing, and flowers were blooming all over the land. The world was beautiful.

Then an idea came to him, simple and clear, plain as day. The next Sunday, he asked all the people in the church to bring a flower or a budding branch, or even a twig. Each person was to bring one.

“What kind?” they asked. “What color? What size?”

“You choose,” he said. “Each of you choose what you like.”

And so, on the next Sunday, which was the first day of summer, the people came with flowers of all different colors and sizes and kinds. There were yellow daisies and red roses. There were white lilies and blue asters, dark-eyed pansies and light green leaves. Pink and purple, orange and gold—there were all those colors and more. Flowers filled all the vases, and the church wasn’t so plain and simple anymore.

Minister Capek spoke to the people while they listened, sitting quiet and still in those hard wooden chairs. “These flowers are like ourselves,” he said. “Different colors and different shapes, and different sizes, each needing different kinds of care—but each beautiful, each important and special, in its own way.”

When he was done speaking, the people talked a little bit among themselves, and then they each chose a different flower from the vases before they went home. And that was all—and it was beautiful, plain and simple as the day.

And so Dr. Capek turned to the native beauty of their countryside for elements of a communion which would be genuine to them. This simple service was the result. It was such a success that it was repeated every year.

Dr. Capek was arrested by the Nazis and killed in Dachau concentration on October 1942. He was charged with listening to radio broadcasts and “high treason.” As is the case so many times in human affairs his treason was reaching out to his fellow citizens and helping them be their highest selves as the world was closing in on them.

The following paragraph was written by Sy Safransky, editor of The Sun magazine. It appeared in this year’s March issue.

“I don’t know what’s harder to fathom: the atrocities committed by the Nazis, or a prayer found written on a piece of wrapping paper in Ravensbruck, the largest concentration camp for women in Nazi Germany. The prayer asks God to remember ‘not only the men and women of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted on us. Remember the fruits borne of this suffering: the loyalty, the humility, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of this. And when they come to judgment, let all the fruits which we have been borne be their forgiveness.'”

Like most Unitarians Dr. Capek’s spiritual journey took him through various religious traditions. As WWI ignited and his religious views became increasingly liberal, the threat of arrest by the authorities made it necessary for him to move to the United States.

Before Dr. Capek and his new wife Maja returned to Czechoslovakia in 1921, they were introduced to Unitarianism by two of his children. Upon their return to a now independent Czechoslovakia, Capek established The Prague Congregation of Religious Fellowship. Nine years later this congregation would get a new name: The Unitarian Church of Czechoslovakia and official recognition by the Czech government.

From the pulpit Dr. Capek encouraged his fellow citizens to have courage in the face of the growing Nazi madness: “We are today” he said in 1938, “the only nation in the whole of Europe that is ready to resist oppression…. Confronting our descendants, we will never have to feel ashamed of the fact that as a small nation in the middle of Europe we were ready to defend human dignity, freedom and justice from violence, lies and lawlessness.” And as certain as death, his speaking out against blind and murderous power cost him his life.

On March 28, 1941 Norbert Capek, the Minister of the Unitarian Church of Czechoslovakia and his youngest daughter Zora were arrested by the Nazi Gestapo. They were charged and convicted of listening to foreign radio broadcasts. This was not a made up charge, it was a crime in his country at that time to try to find out the truth.

Capek was sentenced to a year in prison, and eleven months that he had already been confined while waiting for trail were to be counted in the sentence. Unfortunately, at that time the German official in charge of the occupied Czechoslovakia was killed, and Dr. Capek became a victim of German retaliation for his murder.

Capek spent a year is Dresden Prison before being sent to Dachau where he met his death.

Flower Processional:

By exchanging flowers in this service, we will follow the example of Norbert Capek.  He believed that each of us is different and unique and when we gather together to worship or learn, we create a bouquet of beautiful people.

Today, we have placed our flowers in a common vase, remembering we are all individuals but we are also people of a common faith.

The communion we are about to celebrate has taken place all over the world in Unitarian Universalist churches since 1923. Norbert Capek started this ritual to celebrate the beauty of our faith and the people in it. In each flower, Capek saw hope for humanity, even though he would later die because of his beliefs. Let us remember him and his principles and dreams.

Let’s share in flower communion. Each of you will come up in silence and choose a flower brought by another. Hold it with care. It is a gift someone else has brought for you with love.

(Have participants silently line up to go up to the altar to find a flower.)

(pause for reflection)

READING

The following are three verses from “For the Flowers Have the Gift of Language,” which I obtained from a service by Reginald Zottoli.

For the Flowers Have the Gift of Language

The flowers have the gift of language.

In the dark depths of a death camp

They speak the light of life.

In the face of cruelty

They speak of courage.

In the experience of ugliness

They bespeak the persistence of beauty….

For the flowers have the gift of language:

They transport the human voice on winds of beauty;

They lift the melody of song to our ears;

They paint through the eye and hand of the artist;

Their fragrance binds us to sweet-smelling earth.

May the blessing of the flowers be upon you.

May their beauty beckon to you each morning.

And their loveliness lure you each day,

And their tenderness caress you each night.

May their delicate petals make you gentle,

And their eyes make you aware.

May their stems make you sturdy,

And their reaching make you care.

READING

composed in Dresden Prison in 1941, shortly before he was transferred to Dachau concentration camp, where he died in October, 1942

It is worthwhile to live and fight courageously for sacred ideals.

O blow ye evil winds into my body’s fire my soul you’ll never unravel.

Even though disappointed a thousand times or fallen in the fight and everything would worthless seem,

I have lived amidst eternity — Be grateful, my soul — My life was worth living.

He who was pressed from all sides but remained victorious in spirit is welcomed into the choir of heroes.

He who overcame the fetters giving wings to his mind is entering into the golden age of the victorious.

by Rev Mike Quayle
June 5, 2011

Some of us may seen today’s sermon title felt a little pain or apprehension.  We may carry baggage from our days in other churches or from a bad experience with someone trying to shove their religion down our throats.

One of the struggles being identified by many leaders in the UUA is this: UU’s are very good at saying what they do not believe….   We have a knee-jerk reaction when we hear something that for us, is not truth.  We can spend a great deal of time talking about what is wrong with other theologies and churches,  but perhaps, too little time talking about what makes UU’s different, distinctive, and needed in our world today.

I am going to ask you this morning to set aside the baggage, bad experiences, and the stereotypes.  I am asking for open minds and hearts to hear what I believe is a vital message for UU’s today.

Let’s start with the word EVANGELISM.  The word comes from Greek.  The root of the word is EVANGEL– One who tells good news. Evangelism is the act of telling good news. Nothing more, nothing less.  Let’s not confuse the meaning of the word with the abuses we have seen.

That leads to the next question;  Do we as UU’s in 2011 have any GOOD NEWS to tell ? If we do, what is that Good News ?

Our theologies are as varied as the number of people in this room.  We draw truth from many sources;  We speak of the 6 sources of UUism, but there are in reality, many more than 6.  Let’s sum it all up by saying we approach this thing called life in many different ways. That’s a good thing !

We may not be able to agree on what we consider to be Good News.  But, you are here, in this room, gathered with others on a journey of discovery.  So is it safe to assume that none of us came here to make ourselves miserable.

Maybe it is the open minds, lack of creeds, freedom to find our own way, being part of a community of people, mutual support, the strength of uniting with others to promote issues we consider important….  We all have a reason for being here and I doubt that it is to punish ourselves by enduring these weekly sessions where we see nothing good ! [Read more…]

Sermon for HUU’s 20^th Anniversary
Rev. Wade Wheelock and Rev. Anne Marsh

May 15, 2011

Wade: We are honored to have been asked to participate in this very special service of the Harrisonburg Unitarian Universalists.  We’re so glad Kirk, Emma, and Mike are here this morning, along with many of the lay leaders who have been instrumental in bringing HUU to this day of celebration.  We offer our congratulations for what you have accomplished already and our best wishes for the future you will build together.

On this day of looking back at our history, I am reminded that some religions have the practice of actually preserving the bodies of important figures from their past, especially their founders.  In our readings and travels, we’ve seen examples among Catholics in the American Southwest and in Quebec, and also in Buddhist and Daoist groups in China and Japan.  These embalmed saints or heroes are usually kept in a gilded case on a side altar, but on special occasions are brought forward for a more public display.

Today seems a little like such an occasion.  Anne and I don’t need chemical preservation — yet — but we are ghosts of a sort, specters from the earliest days of the HUU community.  In a way, we represent your pre-history, for we were already in seminary in Chicago when you had your official Charter Sunday, whose 20^th anniversary we mark today.  But we were here at the very first gathering of this group and throughout the first year and a half of its evolution.

Anne; In my mind’s eye, I can still see the 20 or so folks who sat on folding chairs in Deb and Randy Mitchells’ back yard in the summer of 1989.  Some were strangers to each other; none knew whether they could form a congregation and if so, what shape it might take.  I was an outlier from Charlottesville, preparing to go to theological school in a year, but asked in the meantime to join District Executive Roger Comstock in assisting the formation of the Harrisonburg Unitarian Universalists.  Those gathered in the circle on that sunny afternoon brought different life stories, different hopes, different ideas — but all were drawn by a desire for religious community.

That in itself is somewhat unusual, for after all, not everyone feels a need to be part of a religious community.  How many times have you heard: “If I went to any church, it would be UU, but I’m just not into organized religion”?  Of course, it’s often said that Unitarian Universalism is a disorganized religion, but still — despite the fact that each of us can think about life’s Big Questions on our own, people came to that first meeting.  Many of them stayed to help grow this church.  And this morning you are here, instead of home reading the paper or out hiking or running errands.  Why?

UU minister Mark Belletini says, “A free thinker alone out in the woods is not a Unitarian Universalist.  He or she is a free thinker alone out in the woods.”  Spirituality involves a sense of belonging to something larger than self, an awareness of deep connections to other people, to nature, to the sacred.  Out in the woods — or in solitary meditation — we may indeed catch glimpses of our connection with the cosmos.  But only in community do we learn how to celebrate and practice this interconnectedness.

And that is what we gather to do — to celebrate and practice our inter-connectedness, and thereby to grow our souls.  Alone, none of us has the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  Spiritual growth occurs most creatively in a community whose members share their ideas and experiences, and respect and support each other.  Our free faith is not just faith in ourselves as individuals, but also faith in our ability as a community to find meaning and value. [Read more…]

May 1, 2011

Four members of our congregations shared from their hearts “Why it Matters to Me That Harrisonburg UU Becomes A Welcoming Congregation.”

Singing for Our Lives – David Lane

I want to tell a story this morning, a story that took place in Salt Lake City in the summer of 1999 at my first Unitarian-Universalist General Assembly.

The first night we were there, I entered the convention center (amusingly named the Salt Palace for its towering entrance shaped like a salt shaker) – I entered for what was called the Opening Celebration (part business meeting, part worship service, part trooping of the colors as it turned out).  But never having attended a GA, I had no real idea what to expect. [Read more…]

EASTER APRIL 24, 2011
Rev. Kirk Ballin

Readings

RESPONSIVE READING #530  “Out of the Stars”

“Out of the stars in their flight, out of the dust of eternity, here have we come, stardust and sunlight, mingling through time and through space. Out of the stars have we come, up from time; Out of the stars have we come. Time out of time before time in the vastness of space, earth spun to orbit the sun, Earth with the thunder of mountains newborn, the boiling of seas. Earth warmed by the sun, lit by sunlight: This is our home; Out of the stars have we come. Mystery hidden in mystery, back through all time; Mystery rising from rocks in the storm and the sea. Out of the stars, rising from rocks and the sea, kindled by sunlight on Earth, arose life. Ponder this thing in your heart; ponder with awe: Out of the sea to the land, out of the shallows came ferns. Out of the sea to the land, up from darkness to light, rising to walk and to fly, out of the sea trembled life. Ponder this thing in your heart, life up from the sea: Eyes to behold, throats to sing, mates to love. Life from the sea, warmed by sun, washed by rain, life from within, giving birth, rose to love. This is the wonder of time; this is the marvel of space; out of the stars swung the Earth; life upon Earth rose to love. This is the marvel of life, rising to see and to know; Out of your heart, cry wonder: sing that we live!”  – Robert Weston

“ Now,after the Sabbath, toward dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulcher. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead…So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and graet joy, and ran to tell his disciples.” – New Testament, Matthew 28: 1-8

“The essence of Life is fleeting. Life might be over in the next instant! Remembering impermanence can teach you a lot about how to cheer up. It’s OK to let it scare you. Seeing your fear can heighten the sense of gratitude for the preciousness of human birth and the opportunity to [live and] to practice. – Pema Chodren, Comfortable With Uncertainty

Meet this transient world
with neither grasping nor fear,
trust the unfolding of life,
and you will attain true serenity. ~Bhagavad Gita

Thoughts which came to me during a particularly challenging time, a couple of weeks ago:
“I regret the things I cannot change in my past; I accept the limitations of my present; I am emboldened, empowered by the impermanence of my future.” [Read more…]

Put your dictionaries away folks, it’s not that kind of service.

Come Closer

Come closer she mimes; if I am to be yours

And you are to be mine

Come closer she says if all you see is differences

Come closer to see the goddess in me

If he is too queer to draw him near

Come closer dear friend where all can mend

There is always a boy inside of a man

All you need to do is come closer if you can.

At 15 I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – The Mormons

I was welcomed and loved and valued. Well, until I decided I would like to pursue a romantic relationship with a woman.  The acceptance I once felt did not extend that far.  I had crossed the boundaries. I was granted excommunication.

Tikkun Olam

I loved that religion, there was a comfort there. I searched for a spiritual replacement. I even went to a “Gay” church. I wanted to belong somewhere. So since I ran full speed and did a cannon ball into the lesbian pool, I thought “how about that gay church.”  I went but did not feel comfortable. I thought they were playing church, the way children play house. It seemed as though they were pretending and they were fake. Fake church members, and fake families. After all, real families

Are a mom a dad a kid and a dog.

Not a mom, mom, kid and a bird.

Or dad, dad, kid and cat.

Tikkun Olam

So I searched….

Finally, my boots ended up at the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg.

Prior to becoming a member of the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg, I was a big mean cop in the capital city. Now…after the gentle caresses of the Unitarian church, I’m not as mean. [Read more…]