The Simplest of Sacraments

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“The Simplest of Sacraments”

The Rev. Kelly J. Crocker, co-senior minister (video message)  First Unitarian Society of Madison, WI

Each of us has experienced moments of deep communion with those we love and trust. What of those simple moments, perhaps completely unexpected with a friend or family member, or even a stranger? Can we be surprised by communion in very simple ways? I think we can, if we can find ways to keep ourselves open and ready with an answering yes.

About our guest preacher:

The Rev. Kelly J. Crocker has served as a minister at First Unitarian Society since July 2001. She was raised in Scranton, PA and after receiving her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Women’s Studies at East Stroudsburg University, she attended seminary at Louisville Theological Seminary in Kentucky. It was during her time in Louisville that Kelly was introduced to Unitarian Universalism, and subsequently, her call to serve our faith.

Upon graduating from seminary, Kelly completed a two-year internship as Minister of Religious Education at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia. During this time she realized her passion in ministry to be one of connecting people from across the generations into fellowship, spiritual growth, and active service in our community.

Kelly was thrilled with the possibility of a ministry with First Unitarian Society. She saw in this congregation a kindred commitment to education as a lifelong process for us all and was excited to become a part of its vibrant religious education program. Over the years she has seen this commitment grow and thrive as our programs for children, youth and adults flourish. At FUS, Kelly’s responsibilities include overseeing our lifespan religious education program, working with the Ethical Eating program, advising the Partner Church Council, leading worship, officiating at rites of passage and offering pastoral care.

Kelly is married to Dan Raysbrook and together they have two amazing sons, Sam and Owen. Her passions include knitting, gardening, reading good mysteries and spending time with her favorite little guys playing with dirt, trucks, mud piles and worms.

 

Forty-First Annual Water Communion Sunday

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Forty-First Annual Water Communion Sunday

The Worship Team, leading

download: The Morning Program

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Water Communion is a uniquely Unitarian Universalist tradition, begun at a women’s UU convocation in 1980 by Carolyn McDade and Lucille Schuck Longview, to honor women’s work locally and to connect that work to a larger whole. In the intervening 41 years, it has become a treasured annual ritual in our congregations with a rich variety of interpretations and meanings. For example, in an era of rapid climate change, we note that the human body and our own planet are both approximately 70% water, a coincidence that many of us do not find especially coincidental. Come join us for this yearly celebration, bringing with you a small sample of precious H2O from your home, and a short statement of what that water represents to you. Together we will create our own meaningful font of “holy water” for our congregation.

A Historical Marker for the Sherman Riot of 1930

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The Morning Program

Melissa Thiel and Kurt Cichowski, speaking

On May 9, 1930, George Hughes was lynched, the Grayson County Courthouse was burned to the ground, and the black business district on Mulberry Street was destroyed. There is no Texas Historical Marker for this tragic event.  Black citizens of Sherman were absolutely terrorized following the lynching of George Hughes. Ignoring history does not make it go away. As a community, we must face our past to prevent repeating history and to heal the harm caused by it.

Melissa Thiel  grew up in Grayson County and graduated high school in Tom Bean. She received an associate degree at Grayson County Jr

College (now Grayson College) and went on to study at Texas Woman’s University to complete her bachelor’s in history. She received her master’s in history with emphasis in Public History in 2019. It was during her studies that she learned about the lynching of George Hughes at the Grayson County Courthouse. Melissa leads the local effort to document the event with a Texas Historical Marker.

Poet Ron Wallace Returns for this year’s Poetry Sunday

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Cowboy Poet Ron Wallace returns for his fourth (or maybe fifth) visit to share his wit and wisdom earned after many years of writing poetry.  If you don’t know Ron, this intro may help:

Ron Wallace is a Native son of Oklahoma and a national poetry award winner. He is the author of four volumes of poetry published by TJMF Publishing of Clarksville, Indiana. All four have received critical acclaim and met with success in the poetry world. His first book, Native Son, was a finalist in the 2007 Oklahoma Book Awards. I Come from Cowboys … and Indians won the 2009 Oklahoma Writer’s Federation “Best Book of Poetry Award” and Oklahoma Cantos was again a finalist in the 2011 Oklahoma Book Awards, a finalist in the Western Heritage Book Awards and won the 2011 Oklahoma Writer’s Federation “Best Book of Poetry Award”.
Wallace’s Choctaw, Cherokee, Osage heritage is intertwined with his Scots-Irish roots and often reflected in his writing. He lists James Dickey, Robinson Jeffers, Yusef Komunyakaa and his former Southeastern Oklahoma State University professor and poet, Howard Starks as his major influences.
A former public school teacher and coach he has been a featured poet at The Abydos Learning Project in Texas three times, a featured poet at the Woody Guthrie Festival in Okemah, Oklahoma for the last four years. He has been a reader at the Tennessee Humanities Festival, a member of the Emerging Poets Southern Tour. His work has won several individual state and national awards and has been published in many journals and anthologies.
Critiques, reviews of his work and more personal biography can be found at www.RonWallacePoetry.com

No Place for Apathy

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Of his upcoming discourse, Dr. Mark writes …

Let’s face it. The times are difficult. The suffering is real. Global challenges are not getting any easier. With so many trials and tribulations, it is no wonder we may feel like giving up, but there is just too much at stake to give in to apathy. How can we support one another in the fight to keep hope alive together in these challenging times?

 

“Ethics and Science”

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Dr. Mark Davies returns to speak about ethics and science.

Download The Morning Program https://test.redriveruu.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/TMP-08-01.pdf

Of his remarks, he writes:

Science helps ethics know the content of the social and ecological challenges we are facing and provides a method to access knowledge we need to address these challenges. Ethics provides the methods of reflection on choices, values, obligations, and principles that we need to make sure that science is used and applied in moral ways.  Ethics and science need one another if we are to be successful in> creating and maintaining flourishing human and ecological communities.

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“A Post-Pride Lesson On Gender”

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Download: The morning program

 

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VIRTUAL VISITORS AND FRIENDS:  You can now join us @ 11:15 am on ZOOM as we live stream the morning assembly.  MEETING ID: 989 0789 7878

Our guest speaker this morning Adrian Hinman, an active member of our community.  They joined the congregation two years ago and are currently a member of the Welcoming Congregation Committee and sits in on Worship Team meetings (when we met in person) offering suggestions and ideas.  Adrian and their son, Marko, live in Denison.

Of their remarks Adrian writes:

Did you know that by simply respecting a transgender person’s pronouns, you can literally cut their odds of attempting suicide?  [Details here:  https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2020/]   I want that statistic in your mind when you come in, and be ready to listen, even (or especially) if you’re going to be uncomfortable. I’ll be speaking on the singular use of “they”, what to do when you accidentally misgender someone, and why some trans folks get angry when you make mistakes regarding their identity.

I’ll also be happy to answer questions regarding my own gender, so if there’s ever been things you’ve wanted to ask a nonbinary person, here’s your chance. 

 

“Not Me. Not Mine. Not My Self”

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Download the morning program

VIRTUAL VISITORS AND FRIENDS:  You can now join us @ 11:15 am on ZOOM as we live stream the morning assembly.  MEETING ID: 989 0789 7878

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“Not me. Not mine. Not my self.”

The Morning Program:  available here Saturday afternoon/evening

We welcome again to the free pulpit the venerable Tashi Nyima.  Of his upcoming remarks he writes,

      Are we this body and mind? Is this false identity the source of our suffering? 

     These are not mere philosophical questions; rather, they are central considerations for everyday living. 

     Let’s explore how we can become free of fixed identities and begin to experience real peace and clarity.

 

About this week’s Guest Monk:

The Venerable Tashi Nyima has studied under eminent Lamas of the Jonang, Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Geluk lineages of Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism, and leads the Universal Compassion Buddhist Congregation, with Sanghas in North and South America.

For more than three decades, Lama Tashi has shared non-sectarian Dharma teachings in person and through extensive use of social media and virtual platforms, and leads several meditation retreats for animal rights activists throughout the year. He publishes two daily Dharma blogs: GreatMiddleWay.wordpress.org, and GranViaCentral.wordpress.org (Spanish), and manages several Buddhist internet groups.

Known for his directness, clarity of expression, and sense of humor, Lama Tashi is the author of The Buddha’s Bowl, a collection of Buddhist instructions on radical compassion for animals, and The Dharma Handbook, an extensive commentary on a seminal text by Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. He has also published El cuenco del Buda and Meditación sin mitos in the Spanish language.

When the Universalists & the Unitarians Voted to Consolidate, My Mother Voted NO!

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THE MORNING PROGRAM: https://test.redriveruu.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/TMP-07-11-v.1.pdf

VIRTUAL VISITORS AND FRIENDS:  You can now join us @ 11:15 am on ZOOM as we live stream the morning assembly.  MEETING ID: 989 0789 7878

A month ago, the Unitarian Universalist Association turns 60. A good time  to take stock and wonder, “Would liberal religion have died if the Universalists and Unitarians hadn’t joined forces?”  “Why consolidate and not merge?”  “What fueled the desire to change?”  “Why didn’t they find a shorter name?”  And if you thought the children of Israel took a long time (40 years!) to go next door and find the Promised Land, it took 100 years for these two groups – whose offices were walking distance from one another – to do ….what?  Find the promised land?  Hardly! They nearly went bankrupt before reaching 20! It’s an intriguing thing, history and an important thing, too.

About Sunday’s Guest Minister:

Doug family history is full of Universalist and Unitarian connections tracing back over 100 years, from his great grandmother to a distant great cousin who was a Unitarian minister.  As a teen he was active in LRY and in his 40’s was a local, district and continental LRY advisor.  Doug ponder ministry in college and after a decade career as a national officer of the American Red Cross – servingin the states and overseas (Viet Nam, Korea and Spain)  he left Red Cross, received his M Div degree from Starr King School for the Ministry (a UU seminary) and for the next 40 years ministered to UU congregations (ME, VA, MA, CA, AZ, WI, and TX) both as a settled minister and an Accredited Interim Minister.  He was elected 4 times and spent 16 years on the General Assembly Planning Committee, 4 as the chair.  After the death of his husband in 2011, Doug moved to Texoma and is a lay-member of Red River Unitarian Universalists, the congregation he co-founded in 24 years ago.  He lives in Denison, dabbles in graphic design, and walks with his bloodhound Emerson, and after making a new year’s resolution 12/31/2019 to walk every blood day, he – and Emerson – haven’t missed one day since.

“To Know the Place for the First Time.”

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THE MORNING PROGRAM:  https://test.redriveruu.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/TMP-07-04-v.2.pdf

To Know the Place for the First Time. Our First Sunday back in the Chapel at Church!

The poet T.S. Eliot once famously wrote: “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

After 15 months of virtual assemblies and online exploration, we joyfully, finally arrive where we started, at our beautiful home in Denison!

THE MORNING DISCOURSE:  The Rev. Dr. Mark Davies will deliver a discourse on “All Persons are Created Equal,” appropriate to the national holiday we celebrate on July 4, and one which also brings to mind the First Principle of Unitarian Universalism—the inherent worth and dignity of each person.  Of his remarks Mark writes:

What would the human community be like if we took to heart the idea that “all persons are created equal” as it was written in the Declaration of Independence? What progress have we made and what still must be done to realize this vision in our contemporary society? 

We will also celebrate the day with special music by singers Ellie Dyer and Jan Fletcher and a sampler of Red River UU’s “greatest hits.” It will be like knowing the place for the first time!

For our virtual guests and visitors – Despair Not!  We will live-stream the morning assembly on Zoom so you can not only watch but during Coffee and Conversations you can join the conversations.  Then the video of this week’s special celebration will be uploaded to our YouTube and Facebook pages by Monday evening.

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