interim musings - gloucester unitarian universalist church · 12/12/2013 · we remember the hindu...
TRANSCRIPT
Darkness and Light
It is December and the dark draws down early on these cold
wintry afternoons. Perhaps, as I do, you light a candle on the
kitchen counter or the window sill, you set the fire to blazing in
the hearth, and you make yourself a cup of tea.
In religious traditions all over the world, light is honored even
as the richness of darkness is acknowledged and claimed.
December is a month when we draw wisdom from many of the
world’s religions. We remember the Hindu festival of Diwali
which occurred earlier in the fall, a festival of lights. We tell
the Hanukkah story of the oil that lasted, not one night, but
many, as we draw wisdom from Judaism. In the Christian
tradition, we light the candles on the Advent wreath, marking
the four weeks of waiting, wondering, preparing -- our selves
and our souls -- for the birth at Christmas time. And in the
earth-centered tradition of the Solstice, we celebrate the
longest night of the year on December 21.
We humans need both, the darkness and the light, in our own
lives. There is no having one without the other. In these
spiritual traditions which have grown, over the centuries and
around the world, honoring the darkness for its gifts as well as
celebrating the light when it comes — these are common
threads that run through. In the richly diverse Unitarian
Universalist community of Gloucester, may we look for the
common threads we share even as we lift up and celebrate the
different ways .
In all these spiritual traditions, honoring the darkness for its
gifts as well as looking toward the light and what it will bring
us, these are common threads, running through. In the richly
diverse Gloucester UU church, may we look for the common
threads we share, even as we celebrate the differences which
make this a complex, rich, and always-deepening community
of faith. Together, in the weeks to come, may we honor the
darkness and look for the light that is to come.
Jenny
Interim Musings
December, 2013 Volume 4: Issue 12
Newsletter of the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church The First Universalist Church in America
Organized in 1779 as The Independent Christian Church
THE REVEREND JENNY RANKIN, INTERIM MINISTER Worship Service: 10:00 am
10 Church Street [corner Middle & Church Streets] Gloucester MA 01930 (978) 283-3410 [email protected]
www.facebook.com/
pages/Gloucester-
Unitarian-Universalist-
Church/205512609487543 www.gloucesteruu.org
Accessible Entrance at Corner of
Pine/Proctor & Church Streets
Christmas Eve Family Service of
Lessons, Carols and Candle lighting
December 24, 2013 -- 5:00 pm
Public Invited
Performers
Video Link
Ticket Information
Page 3
Sunday, the 17th: Given by Hamer and Charlotte
Lacey to commemorate their meeting, eleven years
ago, at this church, and in anticipation of their next
20 years or so together.
Sunday, the 24th: Given by Carolyn Edwards in loving
memory of her husband, Roger C. Edwards and her
brother, Harold J. Bradley.
De-stress from all the activity of the holidays;
plan to relax for 90 minutes beginning at 7:30
pm on Sunday, December 29th.
The meditation leader for this, our seventh Music &
Meditation, is Brian King. Classical guitarist, Robert Squires
will provide the music.
December 1 Rev. Jeremy Melvin
December 8 Rev. Jenny Rankin
December 15 Rev. Jenny Rankin
December 22 Rev. Jenny Rankin
Christmas Eve Rev. Jenny Rankin and Jim Schoel (5:00 pm)
December 29 Gordon Baird
Please check the official calendar on our website for updates. As soon as we have titles for the
homilies, they will be posted on the calendar.
Guest on January 12th — Lisa Perry-Wood is a second-year Masters of Divinity student at
Andover Newton Theological School. She also holds a Masters in Counseling Psychology and spent
14 years working with youth, families, and adults in the mental health system, in Lynn, MA. Lisa
then founded and led a charter school (also in Lynn), 1996-2001. Following that, she started her
own business, Clarity Consulting Partners, consulting to schools and nonprofits and specializing in
grant writing and fundraising. Lisa is also a certified yoga teacher, an Ayurvedic consultant, and a
practitioner of Vipasana meditation. She lives in Lexington, Mass., with her wife of 10 years, Zoe,
and their 14-year-old niece; she is also the parent of three adult children.
Page 2
Music & Meditation in the Meetinghouse
Filling Our Pulpit During December
Please call Carolyn Edwards (978) 283-9129 if
you would like to purchase flowers for
Christmas. The cost this year is $13 per plant.
Checks should be made payable to Gloucester
UU Church — with the word “flowers” in the
memo line and indicate the color (red or white).
Drop your check in the collection plate, or mail it to: 7 Perkins Road,
Gloucester MA 01930
Carolyn will need your order and payment by
Sunday, December 16th !
Regain Your Inner Peace After Christmas
Our church has been invited to take part in a “Visioning Conference” to plan for the 250th anniversary of John Murray’s first sermon in America.
One of the goals of this “time
between settled ministers” is
to reach out and connect
with the wider Unitarian
Universalist movement.
The Gloucester UU church
made good progress this fall
on this goal, sending lay
leaders to two day-long
programs sponsored by the
Mass Bay District, one on
theology, the other on
pastoral care.
In addition, there is a small
team already signed up to
attend General Assembly,
the annual national
conferences of UUs. This
year it will be held in
Providence in June 2014.
Space is still available!
Official registration for GA
opens online on March 1,
2014. Please email me if you
are interested in joining the
Gloucester UU church
delegation
The Gloucester UU church
has been invited to take part
in a “visioning conference”
held at the UU Murray Grove
Conference & Retreat
Center, February 27 —
March 1, 2014. The event
will pull together individuals
from Universalist churches
all over the U.S. to begin
brainstorming and planning
for the 250th anniversary of
John Murray’s landmark first
sermon in America, preached
in a little chapel at Good
Luck, NJ. He preached this
sermon on September 30,
1770 and big plans are
underway to celebrate this
event in 2020. Among the
possibilities being discussed
is a pilgrimage trip from
Murray Grove to Gloucester,
MA. If you are interested in
attending the visioning
conference this coming
spring, please email or call
me to let me know.
Jenny Rankin
Interim Minister
Concert for a Cause
Interim Goals
Page 3
Our Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse is an historic icon and long the
leading anchor of our famous Middle Street historic architecture. We
need to maintain and restore it in a historically accurate manner. We will
be restoring our building, while lowering our overall carbon footprint to
zero, and helping to serve as a catalyst for a larger Green Gloucester
vision.
The elements of this green restoration in the next three years are:
Replacing our oil furnace with a gas furnace (in process)
Repairing some of our stained glass windows, which are becoming
unstable
Finishing the last stage of our accessibility program with enough
bathrooms to accommodate a full house
Doing a complete energy audit and addressing the recommendations
for insulation and related measures to stop energy leakage
Finishing the installation of a complete gutter system
Painting and restoring our iconic steeple
Restoring the balcony to allow the full seating capacity that existed in
1806
HTTP://
GOODMORNINGGLOUCES-
TER.WORDPRESS.COM/2013/11/28/
VIDEO-PARTIAL-LINEUP-FOR-CAPE-
ANN-SOLSTICE-ANNOUNCED/
Ticket link
http://gimmelive.tv/capeannsolstice.cfm
Page 4
Equal Exchange Store Makes Shopping Easy
The church’s “Equal Exchange Store” (cheerfully staffed by Lucille LePage) is back, with fairly traded,
organically and sustainably grown coffee, tea, chocolate and snack items, every Sunday morning at
coffee hour until Christmas.
The delicious and reasonably priced goodies come from cooperatives of small farms that practice
sustainable agricultural methods. Through the Equal Exchange program, farmers receive a fair price
and reliable market for their products, enabling them to stay on their land, support their families and
communities, and care for the environment.
Put your U.U. principles to work while stocking up on delicious holiday gifts, hostess gifts, and treats for yourself and your guests.
All profits from your purchases go to our church and to the UUSC Coffee Project.
Our Whole Lives for 7-9 Grades Begins Soon
INFORMATIONAL MEETING
FOR PARENTS OF O.W.L. STUDENTS
Sunday, January 5, 2014
from 6:30 -- 8:00 pm
This will be an informational meeting for
parents of students taking the Our Whole
Lives (O.W.L.) class. Our Whole Lives
leaders, three ministers, several DRE's,
youth group and other RE leaders will
speak to the parents. It is anticipated that
the class will begin on January 12th.
The meeting will be held in the Historical
Room of the Gloucester U.U. Church. The
church is located at the corner of Church
& Middle Streets in Gloucester.
Interested families should contact
Terri Desmarais (978) 546-6511,
Director of Religious Education of
the Rockport UU Church.
6 Ruth Maassen
14 Suzanna Runnels
17 Carol Ackerman
17 Matilda Melvin
24 Lucy Myers
Minister’s Hours
Wednesday and Thursday, by appointment. Please
call the church office (978) 283-3410 .
Canvass Conversations
Occurring
We want to know what you think! If you
haven’t had a canvass conversation with
a church leader in the past month
expect one soon. If you don’t hear from
us please let us know.
We want to know your hopes, dreams
and concerns about the church. We
want to ask you to contribute in
whatever way you are able and thank
you for being part of the community.
We need each other and the church
needs each one of us. Remember, “If
not us who? If not now when?”
(Paraphrase of an ancient teaching by
Rabbi Hillel the Elder)
Nominations for Board
Positions
This coming January, two board
positions will be vacant because those
board members will have completed
their terms.
Nominations are open for Social Justice
Committee Chair and Board Vice Chair.
Also, Deborah Way, Chair of the
Membership and Communications
Committee has requested a Co-Chair.
For business reasons, Deborah is not
able to give the committee as much
time as it deserves. Nominations for
Membership and Communications Co-
Chair are also open.
You may express your own willingness
to serve or nominate someone from the
congregation. Please submit
nominations to Karen Rembert who will
pass them on the Nominating
Committee.
Our Annual Meeting is scheduled for
Sunday, January 26, 2014. We will have
an expanded coffee hour beginning at
11:00 a.m., followed by the meeting.
Child care and an activity will be
provided during the meeting.
More details about the meeting
and process on page 6.
Page 5 Canvass, Board Positions and Annual Meeting
FREE Adul t Learning Ini t iat ive
Start Again!
Since 1981, Wellspring House has been
empowering individuals and families to live more secure lives
through continuing education and job training. Wellspring House
offers free adult education classes in English, Math, Computer
Skills and Career Development in addition to preparation for the
2014 GED. REGISTER for January NOW! Call Program
Coordinator Mary Scofield for more information at (978) 281-
3558, EXT:304 or email [email protected].
Wellspring House is located at 302 Essex Ave., Gloucester. We
are with you!
We urge all members to attend.
It is six months now since Jenny Rankin
arrived as our interim minister in
August, and we have begun to plan in
earnest for the work of the interim
ministry. Here are some of the
important groups to be formed and the
timeline for them to start their work.
Transition Committee In our Board meeting on December 12,
our Board of Managers will be voting on
a team to advise and support Jenny
during the interim period. The
Transition Team will be charged with
helping the congregation achieve the 5
Interim Goals. This team is still being
formed as this newsletter goes to print,
but the names will be in the next
newsletter and emailed to all of you for
whom we have email addresses, by the
middle of this month.
This Committee and Jenny will lead
Listening Circles, beginning in February.
This will be an opportunity for us to
express what we hold most dear, what
we believe, what we question: in other
words, we will share our spirituality
with one another in a safe and non-
judgmental atmosphere. We trust that
in this respectful listening we can begin
to articulate an identity and a mission
that we will name to the ministers who
will be applying for the settled ministry.
Jenny and the Transition Committee
will also be working with the Board to
make sure that the governance of the
church is more transparent, inclusive
and that all voices in the congregation
have a chance to be heard. Also, this
group will be focusing on developing
new lay leadership, and thinking of
ways to encourage new voices and new
volunteers. The interim period is a
chance to re-energize, to focus on what
we do well and do more of it!
Search for a Settled Minister
We have a goal to have a settled
minister for our church by August 2015.
A search committee will need to be
selected by June of 2014 to be able to
give the search process the time to
conduct a search in a manner
recommended by the UUA. At this
time, Jenny Rankin has decided to focus
on the work of the Interim Ministry,
and that she will not be a candidate to
be our settled minister.
The Board will be coming up with a
slate for the search committee, working
with Jenny and the Transition
Committee on a fair and inclusive
nomination process. The congregation
will vote to approve the candidates for
the search committee at a special
meeting of the congregation in later
May or early June.
Dick Prouty, Chair
Page 6 Transition Process and Search for a Settled Minister
Our 2014 annual meeting will
be on January 26 after church
in the vestry. There will be
report by Jenny on the Interim
Process, an update on our
strategic plan an partnerships,
and an important vote on the
budget for 2014. We urge all
members to attend if at all
possible. The Board will be
having meetings on December
12th, and January 9th and
working hard on our plans and
the budget process. Ken
Belanger and the Finance
Committee are faced with
some choices about what to
invest in and how
much. There will be some
important votes at the annual
meeting as we will need to
decide how much investment
from the endowment we will
be withdrawing in 2014. One
of our important decisions will
be whether to stay with a 2/3
time settled ministry or to go to
¾ time. We also have
important decisions to make
around the Religious Education
program.
The Vice Chair
Position Holly has been the Vice Chair
this year as an assistant to me,
and her term on the Board is
now up. The Vice Chair has
been a position for someone to
learn and support the Chair,
before becoming Chair in the
following year. 2014 is my last
year as Chair. Because of all
the transitions going on in
various ways in the church
now, and because we are
reorganizing our nomination
process to be more
transparent, we have decided
to postpone filling the Vice
Chair position now. We will be
discussing this position at the
special meeting of the
congregation in early June,
when the position may be
filled.
Dick Prouty, Chair
Annual Meeting and Budget Process
Page 7 Marvelous, ‘Mazing Middle Street Walk
The Wider World of Unitarian Universalism
In 1892, Dr. Edward Everett Hale,
writer, humanitarian and Unitarian
minister, founded LAH (Lend a
Hand) based on the values of
character and service deeply rooted
in the Unitarian ethic he embraced
at home and school. Its purpose
was to provide support for needy
individuals under his call to action: Lend A Hand!
Grants in the Greater Boston:
assist families moving from shelter to permanent
housing
keep families and seniors in their apartments
pay heat or electric bills during the winter
purchase much-needed eyeglasses or medical
equipment
Use the Amazon Link on the Lend A Hand Website
lendahandsociety.org . Every time you go into the Amazon
Link from the Lend-A-Hand webpage to purchase
something from Amazon, LAH received a percentage of the
sale — at no extra cost to you! Please consider using this
link for all your holiday and regular shopping.
It really will be great this year! On
Saturday December 14, docents from
the Cape Ann Museum will lead historic
walking tours from the library to the
Joan of Arc Statue. Carol Singers will
serenade trolley riders. Bell ringers will
perform outside Trinity Church, weather
permitting, and there will be other
activities from Brown’s Mall and City
Hall to our church and St John’s
between 10 and 4. See the Middle
Street Walk Facebook page for further
details.
We want to be front and center,
drawing people in, so our church will
have several big events:
Tree sales by the Boy Scouts on our
front lawn (Sunday as well as
Saturday)
Popcorn and lunch tickets for sale
at City hall from 10 to at least 1
Make your own s’mores, coffee and
cocoa for sale on the front lawn
from 11:00 to 4:00
Lunch in the vestry from 11:30 to
1:30
Tours of the church at 11:30, 12:30,
and 1:30
School band and choral groups in
concert at 2:00
You can work one of these activities for
two hours and still have time to see the
rest of the walk. You can also help with
preparations before the day.
We can’t make all of this happen
without your help. Contact Holly
Tanguay at [email protected] or
Alison Rowell at [email protected] to
volunteer.
Cape Ann
Magazine’s winter
issue (on sale now)
features a six-page
spread on The
Middle Street Walk,
with emphasis on
the history of Middle Street in
general, and our church in particular.
It was written by Joann Mackenzie.
Included among the many pictures is
a lovely photo of the church’s front
door —decorated for the season.
Page 8
Circles Suppers: What a Blast!
What: Giving Tree is a
program to provide clothing
for children who attend
Pathways for Children
programs. There is a
Christmas tree on which there
will be the "ornaments" -- cut-
outs in the shape of mittens,
jackets etc. People take an
ornament, and make a
donation.
How: Donations can come
in two ways: (1) Donor makes
the purchase and brings it to
church -- unwrapped, but
wrapping paper would be
helpful; (2) Donors give a
financial donation (put it into a
donation box next to the tree)
and our enthusiastic shoppers,
the Gray girls, will go to the
mall and do the shopping. for
you!
When: Collection of Giving
Tree donations begins on
November 24th; the last
Sunday you can’t contribute is
December 15th. All clothing
will be delivered the next day.
We need the gifts EARLY
because Pathways will be
placing our gifts (as well as
gifts from others) in a “store”
where parents can purchase
gifts for their children for a
heavily discounted price.
Where: Giving Tree will be
in the Sanctuary for three
Sundays in December: the 1st,
the 8th, and the 15th.
Help a Local Child for Christmas: The Giving Tree
CIRCLE SUPPERS were a great
opportunity for members and friends to
get to know each other better. Hosted
by 6 members with room at their
tables, the pot-luck dinners, held on
November 2nd and 3rd, proved again
that the heart of any church starts with
interpersonal and small group
connections.
Seventeen folks ended up at our house
on Sunday. I have seen them enjoying
their new friendships at coffee
hour. Perhaps we'll make this an
annual fall event? Newt Fink
At one dinner, Charlotte Lacey shared
some information about herself that
appeared in the August 28th Lifestyle
section in the Boston Globe.
[Read that article on page 10].
With help from its friends in our church,
the ballot campaign initiative to get an
increase in minimum wage and earned
sick time for all fulltime workers
recruited more than the required
number of signatures needed to put this
question up to voters next
November. Janet Young led other
members of the Gloucester Unitarian
Universalist Social Justice Committee,
including Shep Abbott, Georgina “G”
Hiatt, Heidi Forrester and Bill Jackson, in
collecting more than 200 signatures to
add to the total.
[see related photo on page 9]
Our corner of the campaign was
coordinated by the Essex County
Community Organization (ECCO), in
which the Gloucester UU Church is a
member. The North Shore ECCO group
altogether got over 16,000 signatures,
according to Art McDonald, the minister
at the Essex UU Church.
Statewide, a total of 136,000 signatures
was needed to put both questions on
the ballot. The campaign succeeded in
more than doubling that, collecting a
total of 280,000.
The initiatives call for both questions to
be put to voters on the November 2014
ballot. But as the groundswell of
support became evident, the state
Senate immediately took notice and
passed its own bill to raise the minimum
wage to $11, by a vote of 35-7. At the
end of November the bill was scheduled
for consideration in the House and, if it
passes there, on to the Governor.
“We'll watch this closely,” Art said. “If
the bills aren't to our liking, we'll
proceed with the ballot question next
November. It's an amazing moment for
truly grass roots organizing. Thanks to
all who were able to help.”
136,000 needed …. 280,000 collected!
Rev. Sarah Clark tells us ….
My memoir — A Rockport Childhood:
Idyll and Reality — has just been
published. The Sandy Bay Historical
Society is hosting a book launch and
power point of photos to illustrate the
book on Wednesday, December 11, at
the Rockport Public Library at 7:30 p.m.
The book is a remembrance of growing
up in Rockport in the 1940s and 50s and
a look further back at my mother and
father's Rockport romance in the 1930s.
It answers a challenge given me by an
interviewer who told me my description
of my childhood was "too idyllic" to be
true.
Because my father was a "Gloucester
boy" and editor/reporter on the
Gloucester Times, there is much of
interest to Gloucester folk as well as
Rockport.
To buy a copy before the December
11th event just email me or call me at
978-325-3970. The book is $12. Copies
are only available from me until the
event. A portion of the profits go to the
Sandy Bay Historical Society.
Each time someone who lives out of
town or out of state donates flowers for
a Sunday service, they are sent a photo
of the floral arrangement and the Order
of Service for that particular Sunday.
Below is a note we received recently .
From Philip
Jensen of
Orinda CA.
Thank you so
much for
forwarding
the photos of
the October 27th flowers, and the
program for the service. I am assuming
that you continue to purchase flowers
from Eric Russell since they are
beautiful.
I was startled when reading the
program to note that the "Opening
Words" were by Robert French
Leavens. He was my first wife's
grandfather, and officiated at our
wedding (and my oldest son is named
Robert Leavens Jensen). He was
probably about 80 at that time, and had
had several strokes. He walked with
great difficulty using two canes, and
needed to be supported to complete
the ceremony as he was determined to
do. He had a wonderful sense of humor
(he called himself "NB", short for
"nobody", since his vivacious sparkling
wife was always the center of
attention). I am still close to two of his
grandsons. If it is possible for you to do
so without undue effort, I will greatly
appreciate receiving a copy of the
Opening Words used in your service so I
can send to them.
[A copy was sent and this response
came back. “We all read the Opening
Words with pleasure. He could
certainly ‘turn a phrase.’”]
Page 9
News-Makers
Local artist and favorite of many, Jeff Weaver, has a new show
which runs through December 21. The painting which announces
the show is a scene of winter rooftops …. but also prominently
features our church! What a nice form of “publicity” for us.
The cover is a painting by Sarah’s aunt.
Janet Ruth Young and Bill Jackson bundled up
against the cold, while collecting signatures on a
petition to raise the state minimum wage.
The IRS says that in order to get credit
for your donations in 2013, they must
be deposited in the bank by the end of
business on December 31, 2013.
PLEASE DON’T WAIT until the 31st to
mail your pledge payment or gift, as it may not be able to
be processed before the official date!
If you choose to donate stock, please make sure the
transfer takes place before the 31st. Thank you.
Karen Rembert
This article first
appeared in the
Lifestyle section
of The Boston
Globe on
8/28/13. It was
titled, “Mom
and four kids
marched 50
years ago.” It
was written by
Bella English of
the Globe staff.
Reminders
“You really felt you
were part of a big
movement.” The March on Washington
included a diverse crowd, with
up to a quarter of the
participants whites from various
sectors: students, faith
communities, the labor and
peace movements. Bob Dylan,
Joan Baez, and Peter, Paul and
Mary sang to the crowds on the
Mall.
In West Concord, 30-year-old
Charlotte Fish loaded her four
children into a station wagon
and headed south with her
mother, Ruth Sawyer. “My
mother persuaded me to go,
but my father and my husband
tried to talk us out of it.” says
Fish, now 80 and living in
Gloucester.
To no avail. With her older
daughters, 8 and 10, walking
with the two women, Fish
pushed her 3-year-old daughter
in a stroller and carried her 2-
year-old son on her back.
At the time, Fish explained to
the Boston Globe why she was
going. “It is for all our
freedoms, not just the Negroes.
I feel it is the only thing I can
do. By joining a larger force of
people, we can make the rest of
the country aware of the cute
problems of segregation.”
Fish was then a member of
Concord Fair Housing, president
of the Concord branch of the
Women’s International League
for Peace and Freedom, and a
social worker with the City
Missionary Society of the
Congregational Church.
“We didn’t even get our toes
stepped on, and the march was
amazing,” says Fish.
“Everybody was feeling so
uplifted … You really felt you
were part of a big movement.”
The family got to the Reflecting
Pol at the opposite end of the
Mall from the speakers, spread
out a blanket, and put their feet
in the water. “It was so
wonderful, and we could hear
all the speakers,” says Fish.
But then baby Karl had to go to
the bathroom, and the lines to
the portable toilets were
endless. “I took him to the
bushes and he relieved
himself,” his mother says. “And
I looked up and there was Harry
Belafonte doing the same thing.
We all just laughed.”
Today, Fish, a retired teacher,
has eight grandchildren, four of
them biracial. He first husband,
Joseph Fish, died in 1992. Ten
years ago, she married Dr.
Hamer Lacey, a pediatrician.
A longtime peace activist, Fish
and her first husband protested
the Vietnam War, and she
continued protesting the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan with
Lacey. Nearly every Saturday
for the past 10 years, they and
others have maintained a peace
vigil in the Route 128 traffic
circle in Gloucester.
The couple won’t be at the 50th
anniversary march, except in
their hearts. “Some things are
better now, and some are not,”
she says. “We still have a long
way to go in this country.”
Page 10 Spotlight on: Charlotte
Hello and Happy Holidays to all of our Religious Education
Families. After a few weeks spent with family in the Midwest I
am glad to be back in New England and at the start of the Advent
Season. This past Sunday Kerry Mullen assisted us in making
tissue paper stained glass windows for the Darlington Room.
Thank you for helping Kerry.
I will send out information on our upcoming no rehearsal
Christmas Pageant by email as we finalize details. It would be
great to have all the children participate.
Merry Christmas Lucy Melvin