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Sun Mar 17 2019 Winter #13
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On the Journey: Humility (2019 Mar) - HERE
From the Minister for Sun Mar 17 -- HERE |
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Practice of the Week: Being Animal We are deeply embedded in a grand story, an epic tale beyond any we could imagine -- a small part of which tells of our own waking up to the beauty of the interconnected web of which we are NOT at the center. Surely there is spiritual sustenance here: wonder, awe, and common ground to bind us. We have only begun to appreciate the fullness this spirituality offers. READ MORE |
Religious Education
Last Sunday, the students "voted with their feet" to answer questions on our monthly theme of humility. The answers were flying as fast as the shoes running to the Yes or No side of the room! This Sunday is our Westchester UU worship. Grades K-5 are in the sanctuary, and can sit with parents or use the quiet play area. Grades 6-12 are in the youth room for breakfast and conversation...
READ MORE
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Upcoming Worship Services
"Shared Planet, Shared Faith"
Westchester UU Congregations
PLEASE NOTE START TIME
The five congregations come together for a combined multigeneration worship and reflection on environmental justice. Please bring finger food for our community coffee hour afterward.
Carpooling recommended.
"Gender and Spirituality"
Tony Arrien, Joan Prinzivalli
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It is our great joy to announce that Tracy Breneman has agreed to become our new Director of Lifespan Religious Education and Faith Development. Tracy has been a UU Religious Educator for over 10 years, serving the other four Westchester UU congregations - sometimes two at once! Tracy will join us in July. You can read her letter to our congregation
HERE (also below). Many thanks to our DRE search committee: David Bowen, John Cavallero,
Christine Haran,
Al Rocchi, and Liz Suvanto for their work these past months. Please join us in welcoming Tracy to our ministry team!
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Restorative Practices Training
Restorative Practices for Faith Communities Training,
Sat Mar 16, 10:00am - 4:00pm, First Unitarian Society of Westchester (FUSW), Hastings
This UUA training is for lay leaders, youth, and religious professionals and introduces restorative practices to improve our communities' abilities to respond to tension, conflict, hurt, and disagreement. Register HERE.
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Combined Westchester UU Worship
"Shared Planet, Shared Faith" Westchester UU Combined Congregations Worship, Sunday Mar 17, 10:30am, CUUC
- Please note start time
We will highlight environmental justice work done in and with our congregations. Families will worship together, with an area in the sanctuary for quiet play. Youth in grades 6-12 are invited to a Youth Breakfast to socialize and plan.
After service, visit the display tables in Fellowship Hall to learn what local UUs are doing to help us learn to live more sustainably. Please bring a ready-to-serve treat for our shared coffee hour table.
Carpooling recommended. Learn more
HERE.
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Combined Worship Community Coffee Hour, Sun Mar 17, Fellowship Hall
Socialize with our neighbors following our combined worship service.
Please bring a sweet or savory treat to share, on a platter that you can recycle or bring home with you. All items should be ready-to-serve finger food (no utensils required)
.
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UU World Transgender Article
Transgender and gender nonbinary leaders in the Unitarian Universalist movement, along with their allies and other UUs, have expressed alarm and shared their pain about an
article
in the Spring 2019 issue of
UU World
magazine
. To learn more, please r
ead the editor's apology
for publishing the essay HERE. Find a statement and further links from TRUUsT (
Transgender Religious Professional UUs Together)
HERE
. Read tips for cis-gender (non-trans) UUs to discuss the article
HERE or see the flyer posted in the lobby.
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"Owning Our Actions," Sun Mar 24, 11:30am, Fellowship Hall
Join us for an engaging conversation with Vegan environmental activist Ray Ippolito, who will educate, inspire, and empower us to own our actions individually and as a community to save animals, ourselves, our future generations, and our planet. See flyer
HERE. Presented by the Animal Advocacy Social Justice Team. Childcare available with advance reservation by Wed Mar 20 to
[email protected].
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Do You Have a Sermon in You?
The Summer Services Task Force Wants to Know!
If you'd like to lead a summer service, or if there is someone you'd like to suggest, we have several Sundays available. Please send an email with your interest, your proposed topic, or the name of a speaker you'd recommend, to Pam Parker at [email protected] by April 15. The Summer Services Task Force will get back to you in May.
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From Refugee Resettlement
Westchester Social Justice Forum, Sun Mar 24, SUNY Purchase, 12:00pm
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From the Racial Social Justice Team
Historical Perspective for White Fragility Book Discussion
"Where false ideas are twisted into our Minds, it is with Difficulty we get fair disentangled,"
wrote Quaker abolitionist John Woolman in the 1760s - foretelling the theme of the book to be discussed after service on April 14:
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism
by Robin DiAngelo (available for purchase after service on Sunday). For more on Woolman and the twisted ideas of white superiority that were baked into the creation of the nation, check out "On Crazy We Built a Nation," this week's episode of the podcast
Seeing White
. A link to either listen
or
to read a transcript is
HERE
.
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CUUC Spring Concert, Sun Apr 28, 12:30pm, Sanctuary
There will be something for everyone at our Spring Concert, with clarinetist Pascal Archer and pianist Adam Ken performing the music of Brahms, Poulenc, and Leo Werner, plus the CUUC Choir singing pieces by Schubert, Brahms, and Bernstein, including favorites from
West Side Story
,
On the Town
, and
Candide
. Discount tickets on sale this Sun Mar 17 during coffee hour. See flyer HERE.
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The White Plains school system has been using 5 "singing" electric school buses since the fall. Acquired through a patchwork of funding deals, including an agreement with Con Ed to use them to help power the grid in the summer, they are NY State's first electric school buses and are rare in the U.S -- the 5 are out of only a few hundred fully electric buses. They are called singing buses because they play a melody for safety, in the absence of the familiar noisy rumble of diesel buses, as they service the students of White Plains.
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CUUC has switched to compact fluorescent, linear fluorescent, and LED bulbs in all its lighting fixtures. Over the past 4 years, CUUC's electricity usage has decreased 17%.
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Social Justice Opportunities
Midnight Run, Fri Mar 22, 7:00 PM, First Unitarian Society, Hastings
Make a difference in the lives of those in need. Come help us prepare food, pack clothes, and distribute and interact with homeless people in NYC. You can also support us with donations of clothing and food. Contact: Contact Irene Jong ([email protected]).
See more local social justice opportunities HERE.
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Share the Plate for March: Lifting Up Westchester
We share half our non-pledge collection this month with Lifting Up Westchester, an organization that for almost four decades has worked to permanently change the lives of our neighbors in crisis. Our collection will support services at the Open Arms shelter, which offers temporary housing for up to 38 homeless single adult men. Open Arms provides much more than a bed, shower, and meal; their guests receive support and encouragement to engage in substance abuse and mental health recovery programs, or employment services, as each man follows his own, unique path to a better life. Learn more at
liftingupwestchester.org
.
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Caring & Sharing Circle
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This Week at CUUC
The full calendar can be found
HERE.
Room numbers subject to change; please check the board on Sunday morning. To reserve a room or Zoom online meeting, contact the CUUC office (914-946-1660 x2,
[email protected]).
Sat Mar 16 - 9:00am Rental: Exercise; 10:00am Zen; 11:00am Social Justice Teams Core Leaders Meeting; 1:00pm Rental: WCBNY
Sun Mar 17 - 8:15am Choir Rehearsal; 10:00am Nursery Care; 10:30am Combined County Worship; 11:45am Coffee Hour; 12:00pm Journey Group - Miller; 12:00pm Racial Justice Meeting; 12:00pm FUSW Nominating Comm; 5:00pm Journey Group - Leahy
Mon Mar 18 - 5:00pm Rental: Exercise; 6:30pm T'ai-ch'i; 8:00pm Finance Committee
Tue Mar 19 - 10:00am Rental: Exercise; 3:00pm Wise Aging Group; 7:00pm Rental: WCSPP; 7:30pm Choir Rehearsal
Thu Mar 21 - 9:00am Rental: Meal Prep; 7:00pm Journey Group - Van Hoomissen; 7:30pm Worship Committee
Fri Mar 22 - 9:00am Rental: Meal Prep; 9:00am Rental: Exercise; 8:00pm Rental: WCSPP
Sat Mar 23 - 9:00am Rental: Exercise; 10:00am Zen; 2:30pm Rental: WCHJ
Sun Mar 24 - 9:30am Nursery Care; 10:00am Religious Ed: Environmental Practices Sunday; 10:00am Worship; 11:15am Coffee Hour; 11:30am Animal Advocacy Presentation: "Owning Our Actions"; 11:40am Racial Justice/ITSOT
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Coordinator of Religious Education: Michele Rinaldi,
[email protected], 914-946-1660 x4
Congregational & Communications Administrator: Pamela Parker,
[email protected], 914-946-1660 x2
Board of Trustees
Social Justice Coordinators
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From the Minister
I got a call from Yency today that I wanted to tell you about. Down in Charlotte, NC, where he lives, a new sheriff was elected for the county (Mecklenberg) in 2018 Nov. The new sheriff, Gary McFadden, had campaigned on a promise to end the county's participation in 287-g - a controversial program in which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deputizes state and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law. On McFadden's first day in office he made good on his promise, and ended local law enforcement's participation on immigration law. Yency told me that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was not pleased with McFadden's decision and has been exacting retribution against Mecklenberg County by stepping up the number of raids. In vans disguised to look like a construction company vehicle, ICE has been all over town, day after day. They nab the undocumented at convenience stores or at their homes. They block off intersections and check each car they suspect of containing undocumented workers.
Miguel Maldanado was recently taken into custody - Miguel is a cousin of Yency's wife, Evelin. Miguel had no criminal record, and so was allowed to go - provided that $12,000 in bail was posted. A friend of Miguel's, apprehended at the same time, had a traffic violation. It was probably Driving Without a License, Yency said. The undocumented do a lot of driving without a license since North Carolina law doesn't allow them to get a license. Because of the violation, Miguel's friend was deported.
$12,000 for bail represented a significant hardship for Miguel - and for the extended family and friends who chipped in to raise the amount. But it would have been even worse to not have been able to get back to work.
The immigrant community in Charlotte - as in much of the country - lives under a constant threat of their families being torn apart. The shadow of fear is unrelenting, and the tragic and cruel deportations are common.
This wrong is a devastating to its direct victims and distressing to all people of conscience. The fact that it is happening to my own family doesn't make it more distressing. But it does have a way of sharpening my awareness of it.
Yours in faith,
Meredith |
Your Moment of Zen: What Is Mind? Sitting around after supper one night, Granddaughter looked up from a book she was reading and asked, "What is mind?" Grandma said, "Kitty is crying for food." Granddaughter asked, "Do you mean anything will do?" Grandma said, "No." Granddaughter waited for more, but Grandma had returned to her knitting. She sighed and got up up to feed he cat. Later, READ MORE
Zen at CUUC, Sat Mar 16 -- HERE |
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