by WUUC | Apr 8, 2016 | Minister Blog
My friend Jill and I had sworn to one another that no matter where we were in ministry in the summer of 2000, we would take youth on a trip somewhere. So when I got a call from her in the fall of 1999 asking me if I wanted to take youth to Transylvania come summer, I said, “Sure!” And then got off the phone and looked up where Transylvania was on the map. I was still in the United Church of Christ at the time and was not aware of the importance of Transylvania to Unitarianism. By the end of that trip, I was well aware of the importance and on my way to becoming a UU and leaving the UCC.
I learned many things about Unitarianism and Transylvania that summer. The whole Dracula thing is just so annoying and frankly, offensive- though we did visit the supposed castle. Unitarians in Transylvania celebrate communion and use the Lord’s Prayer. They also affirm a God and on many pulpits, you will see these words: “Isten egy” which means, “God is one.”
Interior of the wooden church of Cizer, Cluj*
The ministers wear heavy black capes to preach in. There is a societal pecking order in Romanian society: Romanians at the top, then the ethnically Hungarians (which the Transylvanians are) and then the Gypsy or Roma people. When the 40 or so of us all went camping, there was no fancy gear. The main tent was an old Russian Army tent. The “cook stove” was a huge cast iron kettle where many of our meals were made. There were several cultural differences between the American youth and the Transylvanian youth. The one I was most aware of was that when U.S. youth were asked anything in a discussion, they automatically jumped in and answered. The Transylvanian youth were slower to speak, spoke with their heads down, and spoke softly. Under the dictatorship of Ceausescu, neighbors spied on neighbors. People hid their beliefs and their feelings. A concept totally foreign to the youth from the U.S.
Two years later, the UCC church I served and the local UU church as well as Jill’s church in Michigan worked together to bring 16 Transylvanian youth and 4 adults to the states. Many of you may be aware of the Partner Church Program that was started after Romania began to open up again after Ceausescu was deposed. UU Churches in the U.S. were matched to Transylvanian churches. The program consisted of many Americans visiting their partner churches in Transylvania and sponsoring Transylvanian ministers to visit the U.S. But no one had raised money to bring Transylvanian youth to the states. The UCC and UU churches raised $30,000 to make this happen. Given the difficult economic situation in Romania at that time (2002), this sort of trip would forever been out of reach for the Transylvania youth.
Merry Cemetary of Sapântsa by Spiridon Ion Cepleanu
One of the things we did was set up an entire day of volunteering at the animal shelter and at the Food Bank. This concept of service or volunteerism was entirely new to the Transylvanians. The youth had also requested to see a hospital and a farm. We took them to both. As it was June, strawberries were in ripe so we all had a blast picking them at an organic farm. We then contrasted that experience by visiting a factory farm. One of the young women on the trip said that tasting the strawberries was familiar but new- a way to connect an experience of home to an experience in the U.S.
This summer, Paige Marler, Kensi and Kylie Hartman, and Ashley Lacy will join a national youth trip to Transylvania. While there they will do many of the things I got to do in 2000 such as visiting the historical Unitarian sites. They will also have the chance to do a service project. In support of this project and to raise awareness of our Transylvanian roots, the youth will be holding a Hungarian dinner on Saturday, April 16 at WUUC. Rosemary Lowden will be showing her photos from her trip there this fall.
I would encourage as many of you as possible to attend this event; more information can be found here. And then, to come to church on Sunday, August 21 to hear these youth report back to us about the trip and their experiences.
Rev. Lo
* Photo Credit Original uploader was Albabos at ro.wikipedia – Transferred from ro.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Kurpfalzbilder.de usingCommonsHelper.
by WUUC | Mar 11, 2016 | Minister Blog
Last Saturday, the Rev. Jon Luopa took those of us gathered at the District Assembly on a romp through contemporary UU history. It was brilliant. Below are some of my notes.
1920’s – 1930’s
- Unitarians were embroiled in the “humanist vs. theist” controversy.
- Was God necessary?
- The focus of Unitarianism at that time was on the ethical.
1940’s – 1950’s
- This was the period of our largest growth
- Unitarian unity was based on social issues
- Sermon content shifted from the theological to the political
- Congregations became homogeneous: Democrats and Independents
1948
- Fellowship movement starts with little Unitarian congregations without ministers
- These were entirely lay led and took hold in academic communities
- Tension Arose that Reflected Our 300 Year History
- The commitment to individualism vs. the commitment to community and keeping communities together
- We have been a “church” that has not wanted to be a church
1961
- Consolidation of Unitarians and Universalists into UU Association of Congregations
- This consolidation had been in the works for 100 years
- It looked toward the future
- Did not want to lose the past but had no way to consolidate the past
- Unitarian Universalism had no theological resonance
- The question asked was, “To what extent do we want to belong to a religious tradition?”
1963
- There was enormous theological diversity in UUism
- The philosopher John Dewey said that humanism is not a religion
- Yet humanists act religiously in that they hold certain principles as their truths and gather in community
1967
A UU study of members showed that the majority of members were not “birthright” UU’s but “come outers” of other denominations
1970’s
- Great issues of our time dominated our pulpits
- The social issues of the time undermined faith in the institutions of the day; institutions like the church
- UU’s were trying to be an institution when no one trusted the institution
- When the political and some social issues were resolved, people left UU churches
- UU’s were asking, “What is the purpose of the church?” “What is the theological nature of UUism?”
Today
- UUism looks nothing like UUism 50 years ago
- It is a totally new religion
- Jon defines UUism as spiritual humanism
- Instead of “come outers” filling our churches, now we have folks who have never been involved in organized religion filling our churches
- How do we integrate these folks?
- We have a multi-hued language rather than a common language
- Question: why aren’t there more folks who want to be UU?!!!
Going Forward
- People are coming to church to connect with something deeper in their lives
- They are looking for meaningful relationships
- They are looking for a way back into the covenant of Life
- Purpose of the church: to build Beloved Community
- What is “Saving” About Our UU Faith?
- We are called to bless the world with our gifts. It is not enough to do that alone. We must bless the world together, in community
What to explore any of this further? Let me know!
Peace, Shalom, Salaam,
Rev.Lo
by WUUC | Feb 11, 2016 | Minister Blog
I read an article over the weekend that had caught my attention because the title asked, “Why Give Up Chocolate for Lent When You Can Give Up Plastic?” Why indeed I thought to myself. As UU’s, we don’t tend to have a Lenten practice. And those who do might chose not what to give up necessarily but what to do.
Last year someone turned me on to a Facebook page in Duvall called “A Month Without Plastic.” I learned a lot from the page about ways to switch over from plastic to other materials. I find it a full-time job to give up plastic. So I made the decision not to throw away all the plastic I already have but to whenever possible, avoid buying new plastic. That means that even though I happen to love arugula, at this time of year, it only comes in the clamshell plastic containers. Containers that are not recyclable. I will not die if I wait to eat arugula when it is in season here and available at farmer’s markets.
The truth is, it is cheaper for the industry to produce new plastic products than to recycle plastic. So recycling when it comes to plastic is not always the most ecological choice. Not using it at all is almost impossible given that it seems to be in everything. And call me paranoid but I am not convinced that the recycling of plastic doesn’t release fluorocarbons into our air.
So this year, I am not going to give up chocolate for Lent. I will however, continue to reduce the buying of plastic anything. How about you? You game for a season of chocolate and less plastic? Maybe we should start a Facebook group…
Peace,
Rev.Lo
by WUUC | Feb 5, 2016 | Minister Blog
The beauty of the morning was all around me. I was looking as usual for the raptors that hang out in the bare trees by the flooded fields and river this time of year. As many as 12 at a time. The fog was once again thick, lingering, soft tendrils wisping away as warmth and light settled in. So it was a rude awakening to see a flying object head my way from the large truck in front of me and the trailer it was pulling. At first I thought it had been thrown. Then I realized it must have worked its way out of the front loader that was on the trailer. The object was a plastic water bottle. I sighed. Yet another one thrown to the earth to hold interminably.
When we had our high winds and heavy rains earlier, I had seen the aftermath as I drove this route: long pieces of black plastic used to generate additional heat for plants were strewn along fences. It seemed as if the new vista would be plastic. It reminded me of a kids’ book Lori has that illustrates with photographs where all of our stuff ends up. The picture I remembered was a landfill full of plastic.
This morning NPR has a story about a French swimmer who having swum across the Atlantic will now try to be the first person to swim across the Pacific. Among the obstacles he might face in addition to 20’ waves and sharks was the floating garbage patch mostly consisting of the world’s plastic.
Naomi Klein, most recently author of This Changes Everything :Capitalism vs. the Climate gave a speech to a graduating college class this past spring. One of the things she said was, don’t focus on individual changes one can make such as recycling and trying to stay away from plastic in any form. Fight, demonstrate against, challenge, take on the corporations whose actions- remember the Supreme Court granted them personhood- are really destroying our climate, our environment, our earth, our lives. So getting all upset as I had about the one plastic bottle flying out of the front loader and the plastic lined fence was really just an exercise in futility if I care about change.
This past week I had the first of my 9-month once a month online class about UU Theology and Social Change. In preparation for the first class we were asked to answer this question: “What time is it on the world clock?” Now, I knew about the atomic clock. I was unaware of the world clock. It is a creation of the late activist, Grace Lee Boggs and her husband. They visualized the last 3000 years of human history where every minute represented 50 years. Their point in developing this clock and question was to say that revolutions and massive social change constitute only 4 or 5 minutes out of our entire history. They argued that, activists should turn our backs on protest organizing because it “leads you more and more to defensive operations” and “Do visionary organizing” because it “gives you the opportunity to encourage the creative capacity in people and it’s very fulfilling.”
Which brings me to the realization that if we are to increase the minutes of social change and justice, we will need to do so with the tools not of my petty irritation but by creativity and imagination. And use those two skills to do in essence what Naomi Klein told the students to do: speak truth to power. This is not to say that any of us should give up our individual efforts to live more consciously of our daily impact on the world climate. Doing so allows many of us to live authentically and in allegiance with our values. But we cannot stop there. We have to do something to increase the movements for justice and change so that on the world clock, they occupy more and more of human time. The time? It is now.
Rev.Lo
by WUUC | Oct 9, 2014 | Minister Blog
Family Word Cloud
I remember reading a one-page article that appeared in the back of Ms. Magazine sometime in the 1970’s or early 1980’s. I think the title was something like “My Family Is Not Broken.” It was written by someone who was tired of hearing that her family was broken because it was a family of divorce and only consisted of she and her mother. She never felt the brokenness, she never felt the lack of a father. She and her mother were a solid, whole unit. Imagine walking around as a child hearing your family referred to as “broken” or yourself as “a product of a broken home.”
Today there are probably other family configurations that people would refer to as broken: grandparents raising children, families with an incarcerated parent, families where a woman is inseminated and has raised her child alone, foster families, families in which a parent has transitioned genders, etc. Yet they are not broken either, just different. Why do we insist on labeling and judging families against an outdated model of what a family is? Being a family is hard enough without adding a layer of societal marginalization.
And even when we love our families (however we define them), we can ride a roller coaster of emotions in regard to them. Families just come with “stuff” attached. Each family has its own set of patterns and dynamics. And God help the family member who wants to try and change them: everyone rebels consciously or unconsciously to maintain the status quo. We often joke that when a child is born we should start two funds: a college fund and a therapy fund for all the ways in which we will screw them up. But whatever the dynamic, freedom comes when any of us decides that whatever went wrong in our childhood will not ruin the rest of our lives. That we will not be “broken” by our families, that we are able and capable to make our way forward in the world.
At its best, family is a safe, nurturing place. A place where we are loved and where we learn to love. Where we get to practice relationships. Where we learn what it means to be alive. What breaks a family is not is configuration but an interruption in love. May all of our families be bound by love…
Rev. Lo
