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"From the Minister," Thu Oct 11 HERE
On the Journey, 2018 Oct: "The American Experiment" HERE |
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Practice of the Week: Start a Joy Collection / 1. The day-end review. Your joy collection begins by reinforcing the collection in your memory. 2. Artifact collection. Start deliberately collecting movies, videos, books, music, art, photos, or writings that express joy. 3. Sharing. With technology we can have a further communal practice of sharing these artifacts. READ MORE. |
Religious Education Last week's Spiritual Practice Sunday was a beautiful exercise in fostering respect and admiration for our environment, respect for ourselves, and nurturing of spirit. Our deepest gratitude and appreciation goes to Bice Wilson, Martin Alberti, and Lyra Harada for presenting a wonderful morning for the children. The students were so focused and quiet that, as the saying goes, you could hear a pin drop... READ MORE
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From the Music Director
Diversity finds rich expression in music. Sunday morning's selections include works from Spanish, Norweigian, Rumanian, and African-American traditions, all part of the U.S.'s richly varied ethnic fabric... READ MORE
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Upcoming Worship Services
Sun Oct 14, 10:00 AM
"How to Love Diversity"
Rev. Meredith Garmon
It's not always easy because diverse people are, well, different.
"Holy Anger"
Rev. Meredith Garmon
Yes, anger can be a problem. It can also be a gift, providing the energy to stand up for oneself or others.
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CUUC Congregation Workshop
"Becoming Interculturally Competent," Sat Oct 20, 9:00am - 12:30pm, Fellowship Hall
The congregation is encouraged to attend this special workshop, lead by Rev. Erica Baron of UUCC Kingston, which introduces the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS). The DMIS approaches diversity and inclusion work through the lens of intercultural competence, the skills that lead to effective and appropriate communication with people of other cultures. We will talk about the stages of development for both individuals and groups, and discuss steps to improve our intercultural competence. Presented by the Board of Trustees. Learn more
HERE. RSVP: Joe Majsak (
jmajsak@verizon.net)
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Oct 12 Registration Deadline for Nov 6 Elections
This Fri Oct 12 is the last day for in-person voter registration, the last day for online voter registration, and the postmark deadline for mailed registrations. To download a printable NYS Voter Registration form in English, click HERE. For Spanish, click HERE. To vote online using your DMV ID, click HERE. To make sure you are registered and your registration is up to date, click HERE.
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Faith Development Friday, Fri Oct 12, CUUC
This month we meet in room 41 for our evening of learning, spiritual growth, and community. 6:15pm Pizza & Salad Community Dinner; 7:00pm Programs; 8:30pm Coffee. Programs include Adult RE, Family Journey Group, and Youth Group Gathering. Adults may also just come for a slice and unstructured social time together. All are welcome to stay after the programs to share coffee and a chat. RSVP by Thu Oct 11 cuucevents@gmail.com.
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District Lay Leadership Day
Workshops include "Where Did All the Children Go?," "Congregational Safety," and "Graphic Design for Amateurs." Learn more HERE. Presented by the UUA Central East Region/Metro District. Sliding scale registration. Register HERE.
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Harvest Community Meal, Sun Oct 14, 11:30a, Fellowship Hall
Come feast on harvest treats! Suggested donation: adults $5, kids and seniors $3, maximum per family $15. Contact: John Schwam (
jgschwam@gmail.com).
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Collection of New Toys for Hour Children's Center at the Bedford Correctional Facility, Sun Oct 14 & Sun Oct 21
Please bring new, unwrapped gifts only (each item is checked by security). Click HERE for a list of items in highest demand. You may donate a present not listed, but note items that are not permitted. hourchildren.org. Contact: Ray Messing (raymessing@gmail.com).
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Gun Safety Meeting, Sun Oct 14, 9:00am, Room 43
Join us to be active in our current activities or learn about initiatives. We'll be discussing procedures for congregational safety specific to disruptive persons.
Consider attending the UUA Leadership Day workshop on Congregational Safety offered at CUUC on Sat Oct 13. Details HERE.
Look up Gun Sense Candidates for the midterm elections HERE. Contact: Emily Economou (emily.economou@gmail.com).
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Zoom Meeting, Sun Oct 14, 7:30pm
We will be meeting remotely this month, using Zoom teleconferencing. Contact chair Tony Arrien (arrien@optonline.net) if you would like to be on the call.
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Classical pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi composed "Elegy for the Arctic" and Greenpeace recorded him playing it on a floating stage in the frigid water in Svalbard, Norway. You can listen to the delicate chords echo from towering glacier walls HERE. From 1979-2016, more than 600,000 square miles of [Arctic] winter sea ice disappeared - an area more than twice as big as Texas, according to Kristina Pistone of the NASA Ames Research Center, who coined the term, the "albedo effect. Learn more HERE.
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From Refugee Resettlement Team
National Refugee Shabbat, Fri Oct 19, 7:30 PM, Temple Israel, 1000 Pinebrook Blvd, New Rochelle
HIAS
invites all to a National Refugee Shabbat with guest speaker Rabbi Leora Kaye, who recently returned from work with and for refugees at the Mexican border. See flyer HERE. You may RSVP for a 6:15 PM Shabbat Dinner with Rabbi Kaye
HERE
.
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United Nations Day 2018 "Human Rights Close to Home," Sun Oct 21, 3:00pm, CUUC Sanctuary
The United Nations Association-USA, Westchester Chapter will celebrate UN Day by kicking off the "UDHR Now" program to engage students and teachers to focus on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on its 70th anniversary. UDHR Now combines creative fun, academic expression, and civic engagement, using the Rock Your World curriculum. Learn more and register HERE.
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Under the Sea Donations Needed!
CUUC Annual Auction, Sat Nov 3, Doors Open
5:30pm, T
ickets $45
YOUR DONATIONS are the key to our success! Please help by telling us what you will donate. Simply fill out the donation forms (click HERE or find them in the lobby) and drop them off at the auction table on Sundays. Physical items do not need to be brought in until the week of Sun Oct 28. Here are just a few ideas:
* Do you have reward points accumulated on your credit card? Trade them in for gift cards you can donate!
* Do you have an interesting hobby you can share with us? Volunteer to teach your hobby, lead a hike, take us on your boat, or host a cooking class!
* Do you have a relationship with an interesting organization? Perhaps you can arrange a behind the scenes tour or VIP tickets.
* Do you have a skill others might have a need for? Maybe you can paint a room, plant a garden, cook a meal or share your organizational skills.
* Do you have a local merchant you visit frequently? A coffee shop, restaurant, salon or bakery? Ask them to donate a gift certificate to support us.
* Can you host a Bid & Bump event? New hosts are very much welcome! Pick the theme, date, and the number of guests; we'll fill the seats.
Click HERE for our donation flyer.
Click HERE for a donation form
.
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Minister's Discretionary Fund
Please consider making a donation to replenish the minister's fund, which has been needed more than usual lately. This is the last week to have your gift matched up to $750. Make checks out to CUUC with the memo "Discretionary Fund." We look forward to again allowing Rev. Meredith to help those in need.
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Fine Arts & Crafts Fair, Sat Oct 13, 10:00am - 4:00pm, 4th UU Congregation, 1698 Strawberry Rd, Mohegan Lake
Our 5th annual Fine Arts and Crafts Fair will feature an array of local artists and artisans presenting their work. Pottery, Jewelry, Quilted Items, Natural Cleaning Products, Knit and Crocheted items, Nature Photography, and MORE! Support local artists! Start your holiday shopping early, or find a special gift for yourself.
The NAACP's Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) is an achievement program designed to recruit, stimulate, and encourage high academic and cultural achievement among African-American high school students. CUUC has long hosted their annual fundraiser. This year's event includes a buffet dinner with soft drinks; entertainment by ACT-SO accomplished medalists; and raffle and silent auction. Tickets $60/Students age 13-18 $20.00.
Deadline Sat Oct 20
. Mail checks to Westchester Region, ACT-SO Coalition Inc, PO Box 321, Tarrytown, NY 10591 or call Cecilia Davis, 917-386-3643.
Westchester Region ACT-SO Coalition, Inc is a non profit organization with a 501c (3) status and your donation is tax deductible
.
Find more local social justice events
HERE.
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Share the Plate for October: WCC Student Aid Programs
Continuing a commitment CUUC began last May, we will donate half our non-pledge collection this month to programs that support low-income students at Westchester Community College (WCC). To help these students overcome emergency hardships that could compromise their enrollment, WCC has established an Emergency Transportation Fund to provide free metro or bus passes when needed, and an Emergency Food Pantry to support students facing food insecurity. In 2017-18, these funds distributed $4,500 worth of transportation passes, and supplied over 1,000 students and their families with healthy foods.
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Caring & Sharing Ci
rcle
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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, admin@cucwp.org).
Fri Oct 12 - 9:30am Professional Day UUMA/LREDA; 11:00am Journey Group - Rev. Garmon; Faith Development Friday - 6:15 Pizza, 7:00 Programs, 8:30 Coffee; 8:00pm Rental: WCSPP Scientific Meeting
Sat Oct 13 - 8:30am CER/Metro District Leadership Day; 9:00am Building Comm; 10:00am Food Prep for Community Meal; 10:00am Zen
Sun Oct 14 - 8:15am RE Council; 9:00am Gun Safety; 9:30am Nursery Care; 10:00am Worship; 11:30am Community Meal; 11:45am Environmental Practices; 7:30pm Zoom Mtng: LGBTQIA Team
Mon Oct 15 - 6:30pm T'ai-ch'i; 8:00pm Finance Committee
Tue Oct 16 - 7:00pm Rental: WCSPP; 7:30pm Choir Rehearsal
Wed Oct 17 - 7:30pm Board of Trustees
Thu Oct 18 - 7:00pm Journey Group - Van Hoomissen; 7:30pm Worship Committee
Sat Oct 20 - 9:00am Intercultural Sensitivity Workshop; 10:00am Zen; 12:00pm BOT Retreat
Sun Oct 21 - 9:00am Refugee Resettlement; 9:30am Nursery Care; 10:00am Worship; 11:15am Coffee Hour; 11:40am Sunday Journey Groups; 11:40am Auction Committee; 11:40am Economic Social Justice; 12:00pm Meal Preparation for HOPE; 1:00pm Rental: UNA-USA United Nations Day Celebration/UDHR NOW!; 5:00pm Journey Group - Leahy
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Director of Faith Development: Perry Montrose,
RE@cucwp.org, 914-946-1660 x4
Coordinator of Religious Education: Michele Rinaldi,
RE@cucwp.org, 914-946-1660 x4
Congregational & Communications Administrator: Pamela Parker,
admin@cucwp.org, 914-946-1660 x2
Board of Trustees
Social Justice Coordinators
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From the Minister / Sociologist Milton Bennett has developed a framework of different ways that people react to cultural differences. In which of these stages would you say you are? (Here's a kicker, though: most people imagine themselves at one stage higher than they actually are.)
Stage 1. Denial of difference. One experiences one's own culture as the only "real" one. Other cultures are either not noticed at all or are understood in an undifferentiated, simplistic manner. One is uninterested in cultural difference, but when confronted with difference, seemingly benign acceptance may change to aggressive attempts to avoid or eliminate it. Most of the time, this is a result of physical or social isolation, where one's views are never challenged and are at the center of their reality.
Stage 2. Polarization provides defense against difference. One has dualistic us/them thinking, frequently accompanied by overt negative stereotyping. In Version A, one's own culture is experienced as the most "evolved" or best way to live. One will openly belittle the differences between their culture and another, denigrating race, gender or any other indicator of difference. One is openly threatened by cultural difference and likely to act aggressively against it. In Version B, this is reversed. One's own culture is devalued and another culture is romanticized as superior.
Stage 3. Minimization of difference. The experience of similarity outweighs the experience of difference. One recognizes superficial cultural differences in food, customs, etc, but emphasizes human similarity in physical structure, psychological needs, and/or assumed adherence to universal values. One overestimates one's tolerance while underestimating the effect (e.g. "privilege") of one's own culture. One approaches intercultural situations with the assurance that a simple awareness of the fundamental patterns of human interaction will assure success of communication.
Stage 4. Acceptance of difference. One's own culture is experienced as one of a number of equally complex worldviews. One accepts the existence of culturally different ways of organizing human existence, although one does not necessarily like or agree with every way. One can identify how culture affects a wide range of human experience, and one has a framework for organizing observations of cultural difference. One will eagerly question others, reflecting a real desire to be informed, and not to confirm prejudices. The key words of this stage are "getting to know" or "learning."
Stage 5. Adaptation to difference. One's worldviews expand to accurately understand other cultures and behave in a variety of culturally appropriate ways. One effectively uses empathy and frame-of-reference shifting to understand and be understood across cultural boundaries. One has the skills to act properly outside of one's own culture and is able to "walk the talk." As facility at smoothly shifting among cultural worldviews increases (sometimes called "Stage 6, Integration"), one's sense of identity expands and one sees oneself as "marginal" (not central) to any particular culture.
Yours in faith,
Meredith |
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The Liberal Pulpit / New this week:
Index of past sermons: HERE. Index of other reflections: HERE. Videos of sermons are on the Liberal Pulpit Youtube Channel: HERE |
Your Moment of Zen: She Doesn't Know / Raven took her perch one evening and told the story that a visitor had once come to Brown Bear and asked, "What is the meaning of 'form is no other than emptiness'?" Brown Bear had replied, "I don't know. It's a line in an old sutra." When Raven had said this, Owl asked,...READ MORE
Zen at CUUC: Oct 12-18 |
The
e
-Communitarian
newsletter is e-mailed each Thursday.
Please send submissions to admin@cucwp.org by noon on Tuesday.
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