By Donna Johnson Being part of WUUC’s first online worship service on Sunday, March 8 was an amazing experience. On Wednesday afternoon, March 4, the health department recommended avoiding large in-person gatherings as a way of minimizing exposure to coronavirus. By Thursday, WUUC staff, worship team members, musicians, tech savvy people, and others were swinging into action:
? The previously planned service with its interactive and experiential components just wasn’t going to work in an on-line format, so we developed a new service that included Soul Matters resources for the themes of Wisdom, Courage, Persistence and Resilience and familiar hymns for singing along at home.
? Staff and volunteers came to church on Saturday to develop and test a plan for setting up the pulpit area and the technology.
? The special music musicians, our new choir director, the chair of the minister search committee, stewardship leaders, and a stewardship testifier all agreed to show up in person on Sunday.
? All these people came to church early on Sunday (on the day we switched to daylight savings time no less), and because of all the planning and practice, the service came together beautifully.
? At 10 a.m. all of us at church were pleased-as-punch to see that members of the congregation were joining us from home.
? At the end of the service, the church crew applauded and virtually high-fived each other, and many of the people who joined from home stayed online to enjoy each other’s company in a virtual coffee hour.
Thank you to Bridget Laflin, Karen Hyams, Rachel Eddy, Mark Apland, Phil Archibald, Rebecca Guthrie, Kambria Tabor, Rob Katz, Lanny Commeree, Ava Priest, Kermit Sprang, Matt Smith, Terry Levitt, Lori Varosh, Rev. Diana Smith, and others who helped to make this service happen.
From the WUUC Worship Team The March 2020 theme for worship, RE, and small groups at WUUC is: What Does It Mean to be a People of WISDOM? Our monthly themes and resource materials come from Soul Matters Sharing Circle, a network of Unitarian Universalist congregations. Following is a small sample of thoughts about wisdom:
Dictionaries give us definitions of wisdom saying that it involves knowing about veracity or truth. These are usually linked with action, especially achieving justice. When we read about wisdom, we see words such as enlightenment, understanding, sagacity, discernment, or insight – often as based on experience. Experience brings in the concept of self-transcendence and the matter of being reflected in, and reflective of, everything around us (recall the UU Seventh Principle of the interconnected web of all existence).
Wisdom does not mean being simply smart. According to author Louise Penny, wisdom involves being fully comfortable embracing and making statements such as: I’m sorry. I was wrong. I don’t know. I need help.
Some pertinent quotes:
— “Things are more integrated than they seem, they are better than they seem, and they are more mysterious than they seem; this is the vision that the wisdom traditions bequeath us.” – Huston Smith
— “[everything] is a microcosm representing in itself the entire all-inclusive universe.” – Alfred N. Whitehead
— “We speak of coming into the world. We didn’t. We came out of it…” – Alan Watts
— “So many people say that they have ‘fallen off the path.’ I say to them, ‘No, you didn’t fall off the path. This is all the path, and once you have begun to awaken, you can’t fall off the path. There’s no way. Where are you going to fall to? Are you going to make believe it never happened? You can forget for a moment, but what you think you have forgotten will keep coming back to you. So, do not be upset. Just go ahead and be worldly for a while.’” – Ram Dass
— “All the suffering, stress and addiction comes from not realizing you already are what you are looking for.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
— “…. every being in the universe is universe-referent for its origin and destiny and its proper role in the great community of existence.” – Thomas Berry
Some worthwhile links related to wisdom (poetry, etc.):
By Alaine Owsley Davis One of the ways we care for each other in this church community is by sharing food together. Food is an essential, visceral way that we demonstrate our love for one another. Going out for lunch, cooking together, having friends over for dinner: These are all ways that we deepen our bonds.
WUUC is a pick-up site for Full Circle Farms,
a local organic farm that participates in Community Supported Agriculture
(CSA). Anyone can purchase a weekly (or bimonthly) CSA subscription and get
their fresh, organic produce delivered to a local site like our church. In
exchange for being a pick-up site, WUUC is granted one free CSA box per week,
and we pass this box on in a rotation, with members selected to receive a box,
for example, the first Thursday of each month and someone else the second
Thursday of each month.
One such individual had been receiving the box
for a while and decided it was time to let someone else enjoy it. This person
wrote me a letter that reminded me of why this church exists, why I choose to
be a part of it, and how some of the small things we do can make a big
difference for others in our community.
Dear Alaine,
I think it is time. I
am now working every day and feeling like life is going to work out eventually.
It is time for me to thank you for the farm boxes and let someone else
receive that bounty.
I would like you to
know how much more than just the veg this has been for me. I was
profoundly shattered and definitely not buying fresh items because of
their cost – and the sadness of the change to cooking for one in a tiny
apartment kitchen.
These boxes brought me
into my happy cooking place, creating healthy bakes and soups and such to eat
and fill my freezer. But much more than that, they were a manifestation of the
care I felt from the WUUC community at a time I was bereft. It was basic human
sharing. So special, so meaningful. Each box was both a hymn and a hug.
Thank you so much for
being a part of the path out of darkness, a path paved with carrots, fennel and
leeks!
