Unitarian Church of Lincoln Parson to Person Blog

A Heart Full of Gratitude and Love - offered by Student Minister Laura Shennum

Thu, 03 May 2012 19:53:09 GMT

As we move into May and the last full month of my time as Student Minister, I am struck with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and love for the community that has taken me in and given me opportunities to grow. I remember walking in the doors that first Sunday back in August of 2010 and immediately being greeted by a warm smile from our Membership Associate, Karen Dienstbier. Each person I encountered that day and the days to come continued that warm welcome.

I am grateful for the enthusiasm and support this congregation has granted me in the many ideas I was tempted to try. Some were successful and others not so much. But we now have an Adult Growth and Learning Committee that is thriving and looking for

opportunities to provide more programming. In addition, we have a monthly grief and loss group that is led by two members of our congregation.

Beyond the ideas, you and Fritz, trusted me to provide ministry to the church during his sabbatical. It has been a joyous and bumpy ride through these months and all of it has reinforced my call to ministry. I will treasure the experience I was granted during this time.

Most of all, I am filled with the love that has grown for the members and friends of this church community. I am humbled that you invited me into your moments of joy, grief, celebrations, and struggles. It has been my honored privilege to share them with you. This community will hold a special place in my heart and from a distance I will continue to cheer you on in your plans for ambitious growth! I have faith you will get

there!

Peace and Love, Laura

Parson to Person: . mén, entrance - offered by Settled Minister Fritz Hudson

Thu, 03 May 2012 19:51:12 GMT

The Chinese character ___ . It is pronounced "mén". It can be translated as gate, door, entrance. And obviously, it's a picture of its meaning. Most famously (and infamously), we know it in Tianan'men Square. (Heavenly Peace Gate Square). But many, many place names end in . China, as I've found her, is a land rife with entrances, gates - both physical and spiritual. Here I show you two:

My friend and I stand here before the outermost entrance gate to China's oldest and largest Confucian temple. We're in Qufu, Shandong Province. Confucius ( , Kōng zi, Master Kong) was born here in 551 BC. He held various government posts and taught private classes in and around the area until his death in 479 BC. The temple first took form about 2300 years ago as an expansion of his family home. Emperors, as they successively expanded the temple, each added a gate. See them within?

And then here I'm before the entrance to the "Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies" at Beijing University, founded 2008. It is now the center of operations for Professor Tu Weiming, the institute's Dean, following his 14 year tenure as Director of Harvard University's Yenching Institute. Amidst worldwide recognition and electric nationwide receptivity, Dr. Tu here champions a "New Confucianism", described in such works as his Confucian thought: Selfhood as creative transformation. My moments within these doors, with Professor Tu and his associates, have opened new paths for my soul.

Just a few weeks from now I'll return again through our own church's entrance to the work and lives we've long shared. From there though, once again together, these and many other doors, old and new, will beckon us far beyond the selves we've known.

See you Soon! Fritz

CLICK HERE to see the May 2012 Newsletter which includes the pictures referenced.

A Joyful Report: offered by Laura Shennum, Student Minister

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:04:01 GMT

In my last article, I mentioned my appointment in March with the Ministerial Fellowship Committee. I am happy to report I had a successful interview with the best possible results. I received a “1” and will gain preliminary ministerial fellowship upon completion of my internship and graduation. I have also been cleared to go into search for a congregation. This means my time is coming to a close at the Unitarian Church of Lincoln in a few months.

However, I still have plenty to do in those few months time. In April, new open circle groups will start. If you have not signed up for one and you wish to do so, then please let me know. A new spirituality book club will be facilitated by Charles Coley and me. I will be attending the Prairie Star District Conference over the weekend of April 13-15. Karen Dienstbier, our membership associate, and I will be facilitating a “You’re in LUC” class for new members. I am also excited to participate in the Living Better Conference. It is great to see so many activities going on at the church. We are a bustling community with lots of energy. Soon, we will be getting the results from the Financial Feasibility Interviews and later this spring a proposed revision of the architectural plans will be revealed.

I have seen so much growth in this congregation since I ﬁrst walked through the doors. Thank you for letting me be a part of it! It helped form me into the minister I am.

Peace & Grace, Laura

Peripatetic Parson's Postcard: offered by Fritz Hudson, Settled Minister

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:02:33 GMT

Since my last word, I've read/heard/talked much ABOUT Chinese culture & religion @ Harvard. Now, I'm of to immerse myself IN it, @ Beijing and Shandong Province.

See you again soon!

Credentialing Beyond Academics - Laura Shennum, Student Minister

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 02:45:35 GMT

For most graduate level careers there are two paths people need to take simultaneously to be able to work in the field they have studies. The first path we all probably know fairly well and that is the academic path. A certain number of required classed need to be taken in order to earn a graduate level degree. For ministers, the degree is usually a Master’s of Divinity.

The other path consists of credentialing by a nationally or state level organization. For Unitarian Universalists, we operate at the national level of credentialing ministers for ministerial fellowship. This process starts the minute you apply to seminary. You have several letters of reference, a interview with a UU minister, and a essays to write. Once you are accepted into seminary and have all of those materials in, then you become an aspirant ministerial candidate. The next step is to receive candidate status. The requirements consist of a two-three day career assessment or psychological exam; financial forms; completed one year of seminary; and for some have had a unit of hospital chaplaincy. Then, you are interviewed by the Regional Sub-Committee on Candidacy and their goal is to see if there is a potential ministerial presence. I had this interview in the Fall I started at Unitarian Church of Lincoln.

The next step is an interview with the Ministerial Fellowship Committee in Boston. On March 22, I will preach a ten minute homily and be interviewed by the committee for one hour on 17 competencies. These competencies range from church administration to scripture to UU polity to Religious Education and beyond. After the interview, I will wait while the committee deliberates whether to give me a 5 – do not come back and you are not a minister; 4-you have a lot of work to do and you can ask to come back; 3-there is potentially a minister present, but we want you to do some additional work and come back to see us in a year; 2-we see a minister and once you get your final evaluations in then you are a 1; 1- we see a minister, you may have minor work to do, but you are cleared for preliminary ministerial fellowship and can go into search/settlement as well as be ordained.

Wish me luck!

Peace & Grace,

Laura

In Honor of Black History Month - Laura Shennum, Student Minister

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 02:42:42 GMT

As I write this article, I am also preparing to head to Chicago for my last class at Meadville Lombard Theological School. The class is “African Americans in Unitarianism, Universalism, and Unitarian Universalism” taught by Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed. Since February is nationally recognized as Black History Month, I thought it would be appropriate to share with you some of the themes I learned from the readings. In “A Call to Selma,” I was encouraged by our association’s part in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s march from Selma to Montgomery, with some clergy witnessing and participating in the 17 days of protest to just be able to march. In “Black Pioneers in a White Denomination,” I learned of the passionate work of Rev. Egbert Ethelred Brown, who founded the first Unitarian Church in Harlem and the lack of support he received from our association. Unfortunately, there were more stories of missed opportunities like Brown’s.

Today, as an association we are moving forward in our understanding of Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression, and Multiculturalism. We have developed curriculum for congregations to work through these tough topics. There is an office at the UUA specifically for Multicultural Growth and Witness. Ministers are required to be competent in the subject before being granted ministerial fellowship. We have workshops for congregations who are in search to understand their own biases in calling a minister of color.

We have come a long way in our history concerning these issues. My hope is we will continue to work on how we can be welcoming and inclusive to all who come through our doors. What do your UU values, as you understand them, call you to do in this work?

Peace & Grace,

Laura

Heading South by Driving North?

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:48:18 GMT

In an ancient Chinese teaching story, a king of Wei wants to attack the smaller and weaker kingdom of Zhao. Ji Liang, an advisor, comes to the king and says:

"On my way here today, I met someone on the road. He was going north and told me, 'I want to go to the kingdom of Chu.' said to him, 'The kingdom of Chu is to the
south of Wei. How can you get there by going north? '

"He replied, 'My horses are good.'

"I was confused. I said, 'Even if your horses are good, this is not the road to Chu,'

"He replied, 'I have a lot of money to pay for my trip,'

"I said to him, 'Though you may have more than enough money, this is not the road to Chu!'

"He told me, 'Yes, but my driver is very skilled.'

"And with all his advantages, he kept going north, farther and farther from Chu.

"Now," said Ji Liang to the king, "Your majesty wants to control the whole world and to gain the world's trust by your every action. Your majesty has vast lands and a very good army. Attacking Zhao, a poor and small country, however, is similar to the man who wants to go south by driving north. The more wrong action you take, the farther away you will be from your purpose."

We enter now into the season of celebrations: Thanksgiving, Solstice, Christmas, New Year (western) – and we do so fully. This story, though, helps me peer to our celebrations' far side – to the New Year time celebrated in the eastern world (January 23 in 2012). That week, January 16, I will begin a period of sabbatical study leave from our usual ministry, extending through May 31, 2012.

Ji Liang helps me introduce how I'll spend that time in two ways.

1. His story dates from the Warring States Period of Chinese history, which begins in 475BCE, just four years following the death of Master Kung (Confucius). Part of my study time will be devoted to plumbing the humanist tradition in Chinese spiritual life. Master Kung is the wellspring of that tradition. I will be following its growth through reading at Harvard University's Yenching Library and traveling in China's Shandong
province, Master Kung's home. I expect this study to cast some helpful light on the challenges I see facing our western religious humanism today.

Also
2. His story teaches us that the most important resource required for success in any long-term project is a clear image and understanding of our goal - where we want to arrive. Last June we voted to pursue a Strategic Plan of "ambitious growth." In the Unitarian Universalist Association, there are "Breakthrough Congregations" who have achieved such growth in recent years from starting points very similar to our own. Des Moines IA & Bloomington IN are two. Part of my study time will be devoted to deepening my acquaintance with their path, through in-depth interviews and on-site visits. And how will you be growing as I spend this time in these ways? I'll peek at those possibilities in our January newsletter. But first, let's enjoy our celebrations!

See you in Church.

Occupy?

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:32:17 GMT

On an October morning, as a 1968 college sophomore, I awoke to learn that our campus administration building was being "occupied." 30+ students -some my friends - had entered the building overnight, barred the doors from within, and were preventing "business as usual." They presented demands that the college provide better support to its black students and better programs to improve inter-racial relations. Their cry was of pain. We, outside the occupation, took in their pain. As our understanding of it grew, we amplified its cry. And slowly, stumblingly – imperfectly, but still helpfully - the institution changed.

Now this October, I'm awaking to a new "occupation": Occupy Wall Street
•initiated in New York's Zuccotti Park five weeks ago,
•in place on our own Capitol Mall (as in hundreds of sites worldwide) these two weeks past.
I'm not in the tents, or on the streets, yet. I'm outside, again. But, again, I'm taking things in.

I'm taking in that this occupation decries the growing wealth gap in our country:
•that 1% of our citizens have come to own 40% of our assets (the greatest percent since the gilded age)
•that the top 1%, in the past 25 years, has seen real income rise 280%, while real income for almost all the rest has risen 5% or less.

I'm taking in that U.S. based corporations, chiefly banks, are the occupation's named targets: The September 29 "Declaration of the Occupy Wall Street General Assembly" cries,
"They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process."
"They have taken bailouts from taxpayers and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses."
"They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right." . . .
and then continues with 20 more "They haves . . ."

I'm taking in that UU clergy colleagues have raised their voices in support, harking to historical UU calls for "economic justice." I'm listening, as our National UU Service Committee President, Rev. Bill Schulz, writes "What OWS and its potential allies need is a demand – 'Tax the 1%' perhaps" . . . Vague stirrings of discontent, even rage, can be
dismissed. Demands can be rejected but they cannot be ignored." (Huffington Post, 10/15/2011)

But I'm also taking in that OccupyWallStreet.org has responded to such calls: "We are our demands. This OWS movement is about empowering communities to form their own general assemblies, to fight back against the tyranny of the 1%. Our collective struggles cannot be co-opted."

Most affectingly, I'm taking in the pictures - faces with short statements - posted on the website wearethe99percent.tumblr.com. They're people I don't know, but feel I could – like the short-haired young man, in white shirt and tie, with his statement: "I got 2 college degrees. I am now over $60 thousand dollars in debt and can barely afford
to eat each week, let alone pay off these college loans. I get more calls from creditors than friends. I am the 99%."

I'm warming up my amplifier. I'm stumbling, again in faith, toward some change. Where are you?

Set

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:17:37 GMT

As cooks, we let our food set, to gather its form and flavor.

As sprinters, we raise our legs to set, to cock ourselves for the leap forward at the gun.

As pitchers, we bring our arms to set above our belt, to rear ourselves back for the throw.

As liberos, we crouch - hands up, fingers in - to set the ball for the strike.

We may reach set, in tennis, to bring a match to its close.

We might set a spell, in the south, with no thought for the moments to follow.

We might even, in prosperity, pronounce ourselves well set, with no more efforts to make.

But these are not our meanings, not here in our church this year.

We're a community of memory and hope. We are constantly looking back and looking forward.

- We got "Ready", last year, articulating our mission, adopting our strategic plan.

- We're eager to "Go", next year, to execute our long-sought facility renovation, to fund it, build it.

But now, we must get ourselves "Set" – to settle the relationships that will keep us moving forward together on all fronts, to secure the programming that will sustain us through our transformation, that will keep are heart pumping even while we shed our skin.

As hunters, we set a trap.

As fishers, we set a hook.

As hosts, we set a table.

As a rocket crew, we'd secure ourselves a sturdy launching pad; we'd gather our tools, place them precisely for best use; we'd coil our energy; we'd upload our fuel.

As a church, we'll make pledges – pledges of time, pledges of talent, pledges of financial support – pledges to one another, each to all. This month. Let's get set.

See you in church.

Season's Sense

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:13:30 GMT

Season's Sense

I can feel it – sense it. So can you. The changes . . . the coming fall:

- Our eyes are hemmed in by dark staying longer and coming sooner, yet they're captured at midday by brilliant wings on butterflies.

- Our ears strain for bird songs at daybreak, from out the growing insect din and (if a school's nearby) those drums and horns set marching.

- Our nose catches the fading pungency of herbs gone to seed – cilantro, dill – even as it gives enticing notice of what . . .

- Our tongue ecstatically confirms: the rich, succulent favor of Colorado peaches and cantaloupe in full orange glory.

- And our skin is never satisfied – this day sweating, the next day chilling. The air's unsettled.

Life's on the move.

Under, over – (or is it intertwined with?) – all these physical "feltnesses" we discern ourselves possessed of another faculty – a sixth sense, we say. It feels more interior. It has more depth. Call it intuition, discernment, it is where sense crosses over into spirituality, and where our soulwork gets done.

From fall's rising, out of summer's steam these days, to its death on winter's breast some 90 days hence, we'll invest several Sunday morning hours connecting sense and sensation to soul. In preparation, I simply invite you (in our hymn song's words): "Wake now your senses."

See you in Church

Space Shuttle Summer

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:06:22 GMT

Summer vacation, in my childhood, always included random moments lying in our yard - staring at the sky, watching the clouds take, lose and retake wondrous shapes. I was reviving that time for a moment last week when a stark reality bit through my reverie. Somewhere up there, just beyond those cloud shapes, the Space Shuttle Atlantis was making its way back home – ending for now our nation's "manned" space adventure.

Which is the cause for greater marvel at this "end of an era?"

- Is it that we're set now to rely on our erstwhile enemies – Russia and China – to provide the ferries that will keep humanity's orbiting space laboratory in service. I know – we're relying on "private enterprise" as well; and our star wars missile shield largely obviates space as a national security threat. Still I do dare sense the threads of world community shown stronger by this step.

- Or is it even more marvelous that we're facing now more earnestly the truth that our salvation is an earthbound project? Manned space exploration, as a national undertaking, may well be revived on some longer term arc – to Mars or beyond, as our President says, however indistinctly. But I sense that our 1960's man-to-the-moon faith – in outward leaps as a Great Escape from this veil of tears – that hollow faith is finally fully deflated by this step. May it distract us not another day.

Clouds are not my only study in my time apart this summer, however.

- China, where I'll spend some of next spring's sabbatical leave, has grabbed part of my attention. I'm attracted to Confucian insistence on the unity and mutuality of humanity and Heaven – that transcendence is an "anthropocosmic" reality. And

- Ambition, as a communal undertaking, is occupying my even nearer-term thoughts. Is Atlantis' homeward glide path a metaphor for our now-voted "ambitious" plan as a congregation – seeking inspiration now, not in greater heights, but in greater breadth and greater depth?

As summer slides away, I look forward to our own renewed explorations on such paths. But, first, I do have just a few more clouds to study.

See you in Church

Getting Out More

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 09:28:00 GMT

- A Jewish rabbi, a Muslim bio-chemist, a secular humanist, a zen Buddhist met in a bookstore – with me. Sounds like the beginning of a joke. It wasn't. Good humored, though, it definitely was – and enlightening. And stimulating. Last week Thursday evening, we were all presenters in Indigo Bridge Books' public dialogue on interfaith relations. It involved perhaps 30 Lincolnites, none of whom are on our church mailing list. I'm looking for more such opportunities.

- An evangelical Presbyterian minister, an independent Christian pastor, a liberal Methodist elder met for lunch – with me. Last week. And we'll meet again. The Clergy Peacemakers group catalyzed into being five years ago is now reaching out to the Lincoln Evangelical Clergy. We're seeking to bring self-proclaimed "liberals" and "conservatives" into constructive public dialogue on divisive community issues: immigration? abortion? I learned that evangelicals have coined a special name for making common cause with strange bedfellows. They call it "practicing co-belligerence." That's not all I learned. "God willing" (as some say), we'll feel able to engage wider circles in our learning.

It's good to get out – to try to speak in others' terms, to understand and be understood across divides. It's Unitarian-Universalism in our time – working to bind All (humanity) into One (divinity).

P.S. The Second UU Church of Omaha will install the Reverend Scott McNeill as its minister, Sunday, May 1. The service will begin at 5:00pm. To accommodate the expected attendance, it will be held at Second Church's down-the-block neighbor: Prairie Lane Christian Church, 3111 S. 119th Street. A drumming procession to the service will depart from Second Church (3012 S. 119th St) at 4:30pm. Would you like to be part of our church's delegation? Tell me and I'll help arrange car pools.

Here, and There

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:47:05 GMT

"Be here now." On the low table amidst my office's chairs, a stone tablet carries these words. It's Ram Dass' meditation mantra, given us in his 1971 book, passed on from his Indian teacher. The tablet was given me by one of you. The mantra is often a helpful focus for the talk and thoughts and feelings that pass between us, over that table, throughout the year.

But at this particular now, being here, and being only here, seems disturbingly easy to me. Here now, the light lengthens, the air warms, the breeze plays, the grass greens. One could quite pleasurably wallow, revel in our lives in this here in this now. But there are other "heres," now, in our presence, and I sense we dare not wall ourselves from them in spirit for more than several moments.

For many years my shirt pocket, left side, was home to my pocket calendar, the pencil-and-paper kind. It was the record and map for my personal, largely separate, path through heres and nows. In more recent years, the calendar in that pocket was supplanted by my cell phone. It added to my heres and nows those of others who knew my name and could call my number, as I did theirs. But the consciousness it circumscribed was still very personal and really quite small.

For six months, though, a new lodger has occupied that pocket, a "smart" phone" so-called. It's united my calendar with my cell phone, of course, along with my computer's email and contacts, all to my pleasure and according to my plan. But, being "smart," it's also had its own plans, and brought its own consciousness into mine, as well.

In my shirt pocket now, at the touch of the screen, lives the here of fellow-humans on the northeast seacoast of Japan, where the grass cannot green beneath the flooded rubble, and the breeze may carry radiation's death. (I visited Japan once. I was VERY well treated there, I remember.)

And too, on that screen, lives the here of fellow-humans on the north seacoast of Africa, here the light may lengthen in a rocket bomb's flash even as the air warms with liberated debate. ( I lived in North Africa once. There too I was OFTEN well-treated, I remember)

I don't know yet how to enter these nows newly here to me- how to BE in those nows with these newly known fellow humans. But I carry them now, in that pocket, over my heart. They're as close to me as that tablet on my table. Be here now, all of us, together.

Good News (spread the word!)

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:41:00 GMT

We said it twice, loud, and clear.
•Our pledgers, in fall 2009, gathered in small groups, were asked "What would advance our church?"
•In fall 2010, with our newly voted Mission posted on the wall before us, we were asked, "In fulfilling our Mission, what must we do better?" Both years, to both questions, the most strongly voiced answer was "Raise Community Visibility." As advised by our Trustees' Community Visibility Task Force, here's our first major response:
Yvette Davis has now become our "Community Visibility Specialist."

Yvette's initial focus will have three dimensions:
1. She'll arrange for Lincoln media to cover events or publish stories which acquaint the community with our church's identity and actions.
2. She'll arrange for church people to speak or perform in public events to exemplify our
approach to religious life.
3. She'll publish profiles and notices of principle practicing LUCers on our Facebook page and website, and foster their dissemination to wider audiences.

Yvette's skills come from 15 years’ work as a technical and social service writer/publicist. With her family (husband Allan, children Crystal, Nicole, AJ, Justin, Jennifer, Bryanna), she has been active in our church for a bit more than one year. Yvette writes: "I'd like to profile church members who are living UU principles outside of church in order to make a positive impact on their communities, Lincoln, Nebraska, and the world in general. If you, or someone you know, fits this description, please write me at communcation@org. I'll contact you for further details and to possibly arrange an interview."

Did you see the GREAT Daily Nebraskan front page coverage of our Marriage Equity
Rally, "Standing on the Side of Love," 2/15/2011?"

We're doing better already!

Not Only Do We Stand

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 14:36:55 GMT

It's a busy time for my bright yellow T-shirt these days:

Standing on the Side of Love with immigrant families at the state capital's west entrance January 27;
Standing on the Side of Love with same-sex marriage aspirants at the Federal Building February 14.

Such energetic public witness springs from our living tradition of "prophetic women & men who confront powers and structures of evil" as we divine it in our day and time. As the Boston Unitarian Theodore Parker preached in his time of slavery "The Christian Church should be the means of reforming the world. ... If there be a public sin in the land, if a lie invade the state, it is for the church to give the alarm; ... Here let no false idea or false action of the public go without exposure or rebuke."

And yet it is crucial that we keep high before (and within) us our peculiar "weapons" in such noble belligerence. Our prophets confront evil "with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love." As Parker's mentor (and ours) William Ellery Channing taught, "No one should take on the office of a reformer whose zeal in a particular cause is not tempered by extensive sympathies and universal love."

In every campaign of public advocacy, as readily as we contest our adversaries, our faith would call us to listen to and empathize with them. Used well, our bright T-shirts will not only loudly proclaim where we stand. They will also warmly invite those who oppose us to sit – with us, in thoughtful reflection on the separate paths by which we've met and the common road we might yet take.

Holy struggle demands a great deal of us. Yet its standard is clear. 2500 years ago our mantra was voiced in India's epic the Mahabharata: (Bhishma Parva 21.) "They that are desirous of victory do not conquer by might and energy so much as by truth, compassion, righteousness, and spiritual discipline. Fight without arrogance."

See you in the Streets.

An Uneasy Restraint

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 17:21:15 GMT

They were tempting, almost taunting, when I spied them - the flags flapping from their sticks above the holes, the "greens" (though more "browns") open below. My windows were rolled up driving by, of course. But the sun - while low, obscured - still hinted at warmth. Monday was my day off. My clubs, in my mind's eye, were right back in the garage I'd just left. The devil whispered, "Give in; turn around; dig them out. Shoot just one delicious hole or two, right into winter's teeth."

But I held up. Oh, I did stop the car. I did walk to the tee. I did peer out to where the ball might land if I launched it - as I so clearly could, so clearly had, and so clearly would again. But that would be in summer , early spring, February's thaw, even. Not at solstice's eve. That would not be – I don't know – right, fair, somehow.

Let winter have her day, however weakened this year, however enervated. No need to spite her when she's down. She's up in Europe, this year, I read. Just a twelve-month past, she was surely up in Nebraska, I do remember. No need to change habits, yet.

There is surely something to be said for honoring established rhythms even when the establishment's foundations grow less secure. Isn't there? Well, then, there. I've said it. But there's probably more to say.

See you in Church.

Season's Shift

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 16:42:55 GMT

"Over the river and through the woods" - The route is right, and the scenery is right, but somehow who's traveling seems wrong. Ginny and I in our family are the ones old enough to be "grands." The pumpkin pie, this year though, will bake in son Eric's kitchen, not ours. How did things turn upside down so quickly, I wonder? The answer's simple in fact: Eric's newly commenced career, as university athletics administrator, demands even more of holiday time then mine. AND his football tickets to a BIG GAME (Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State) allures his sister's travel thoughts this year more than any old church service. And Mom and Dad (Ginny and I)? – we're just lucky this rising generation said our company wouldn't spoil their fun. So, over the rivers (Missouri /Mississippi) and through the woods (Ozarks), we're only too glad to go. (Thank you Worship Associates, for keeping the home fires burning!)

This quick role-shift in our family, though, likely is mirrored in yours as well, I reflect. The Hallmark card images of holidays suggest timeless rituals, never changing. In fact though, always, people are changing – growing up or old – and family dynamics are ever in motion. Holidays, in fact, may find their meaning most in the changes they make clear to our eyes. Perhaps the real role of the cherished continuities is as backdrop from the changes stand out.

So look for them both, this season, I'll suggest. In your special times together in these weeks ahead, be sensitive to shifts and stabilities. And, whether quietly or aloud, find in each your celebration.

See you in Church.

Standing With Love

(Past member) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 11:30:21 GMT

I was not alone. At 6:55pm, when Ginny and I arrived at the Ross Theatre Tuesday evening, perhaps 20 folks in front of us had learned already that the showing of When We Stop Counting could seat no more. Behind us, 20 or so more arrived to receive the same news. These Lincolnites, clearly interested in the immigrant experience in our community, are our potential partners. And I was also not alone in that crowd in wearing a bright "Standing on the Side of Love" T-Shirt. I had many more partners, I'm sure, in the occupied seats within. This is part of what it means to increase our community visibility.

Standing on the Side of Love (SSL) is a UU public witness campaign. Its current focus is to support and advocate for
- full civil rights (including marriage equality) for persons of all sexual orientations and gender expressions, and,
- full human rights and just immigration opportunities for families seeking legal residency in our country.

Its roots, however, arise from the founding inspiration of our faith. And the scope of issues illuminated by its light is sure to grow yet broader. For a deeper understanding of SSL, I would refer you to my sermon "Which Side Are We On?" (September 19) available at the church or on our website.

In Lincoln

The UN-L Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, Queer & Allies (LGBTQA) History Dinner (October 21) was our first public witness. I counted over 25 bright SSL T-Shirts in the crowd of 200+.
The When We Stop Counting Ross screening (October 26) was our second public witness.
The Conversation on Immigration & Faith, Sunday November 7 at 1st Methodist Church will be our third. (See below for more information.)

Order a T-shirt. (96 of us already have one, at last count). Plan to stand with us at future events. You, too, will not be alone.

See you in Church?

Fritz