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April 10, 2020
Issue #539
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Upcoming Worship Services
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April 10
Online Service:
A Shelter of Memory (10:30 am)
Ten plagues, forty years in the desert, one wild woman with a tambourine. Three crosses and a cave, one stone rolled away. We tell ancient stories and remember old rituals in a time of tremendous change and uncertainty this year. How can the traditions of Passover and Easter help us to locate ourselves and our moment in the great story of our world and our species?
Use the following link for
Traditional Service at 10:30 am:
https://uuma.zoom.us/j/444532079
Or call in by phone: 1-669-900-6833, then enter Meeting ID: 444 532 079
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Sunday Circle - 9:00 am
Since Social Distancing means we can't gather in our Fireside Room, we have evolved a Zooming Circle. See connection information below
As we all adapt to current events we have departed from our previous schedule of topics and leaders and re-purposed our group to simply be a place where, each week, we can
Connect in Community
Share Humor and Hope
Support Creativity and Curiosity
A volunteer leader welcomes participants, lights a chalice, and offers a reading and topic for the day, often one that has evolved from the previous week's conversation. We will have a few minutes of silence for contemplation, and then take turns responding with thoughts or asking related questions. We also make time for shared joys and concerns.
TOPIC for April 12: Passover/Easter Zoom Potluck: How Timely-Avoiding a Plague AND Resurrection
Use the following link for Sunday Circle at 9:00 am:
Or call in by phone:
1-669-900-6833, then enter Meeting ID: 738 308 019
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Dear Ones,
I look forward to gathering with you on Sunday morning and finding new meaning together in a holiday most of us have celebrated all our lives. What is Easter without a big egg hunt and a sanctuary full of flowers and people in fancy clothes? What is Passover without finding every last chair and maybe borrowing a couple to seat everyone around the table? Can we still find solace and hope in these traditions without the familiar rituals?
We are adapting to this moment being less a short crisis to manage and get through, and more a season of finding new ways of being. And we are doing it. Through Zoom calls and cards, emails, phone calls and text messages, we are continuing to weave this tapestry of love we call community. Though there remains a great deal of uncertainty, it is now clear that we will be gathering for worship and community online for months, not weeks. I expect that our building will remain closed into June, and perhaps longer.
As we rest into a sustainable pace in our new circumstances, we are all doing our best to continue offering one another kindness, care and respect. Our staff team is learning how to function in our new roles from home, and I've encouraged all of them to set the boundaries they need to be able to sustain work alongside the rest of life. It can be difficult to step away from work in a congregation at the best of times, but even more challenging when there are no physical boundaries between home and work. Thank you for respecting the boundaries our staff set as we navigate how to best function in this time.
Next week I will begin shifting my priorities from emergency pastoral responses to ensuring I maintain a sustainable rhythm with time for reflection, study and writing. Starting next week, I am going to shift from daily check-ins to a mid-week "vespers" style service. Everyone is invited to join me at 4 pm on Wednesdays for a short and simple service with a song and meditation, followed by an opportunity for sharing joys, sorrows and reflections with whoever gathers. Use the same link as our Sunday morning worship service:
https://uuma.zoom.us/j/444532079
Finally, please reach out! If you need help of any kind, if you have an idea or something you want to offer, if you just need to connect, reach out. It will sometimes take time for me to get back to you. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
With you on the journey,
Rev. Marcus Hartlief
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Many meetings and events have been cancelled or postponed.
P
lease contact the coordinator of your group for additional information.
Have something to share with the UU Marin church community? Send it to newsletter@uumarin.org, by
Tuesdays at 7 am for same week publications.
Order of Service announcements are due by Wednesday at 5 pm,
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This Week in Religious Education
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This week has been filled with holidays and special events that I hope you have had the chance to participate. Tuesday a super moon appeared in the sky to start Pesach, the Passover event in the Jewish calendar. The Native Algonquin people call this fourth full moon in the year the pink moon as it relates to the little pink flowers that bloomed for them in this time of year. I was raised to call it the Frog moon, which comes from the Cree people. I have been blessed to hear our local pacific chorus frogs singing as I go for walks with my family. Wednesday was Vesak, a celebration of the birth of Buddha, that is also celebrated at the full moon this time of year. However you celebrate this full moon, I hope it was memorable for you. Other special days this week included William Ellery Channing's birthday, and Star Trek Day.
This Sunday is Easter in the Catholic and Protestant Christian traditions, and we invite you to join us for our regular worships and religious exploration programs.
For Children and Youth
Zoom meetings to find connections with each other, please email me at
revlynne@gmail.com
for links and information. For online privacy issues, the Zoom meeting IDs have been changed.
Last week I invited you to find a space in your home to have an altar, if you don't already have one, and place a chalice, a sounding instrument (bell, bowl, drum, a spoon in a glass), and pictures and objects that mean something special to you, or represent what you value most. Perhaps you also found something that represents spring or an upcoming holiday.
For this week, you may want to add a gratitude or grace jar. This item on your altar is like the "Joys and Sorrows" we practice in the service, or the "Rose and Thorns" the kids share in their religious exploration programs.
Fill a bowl or glass partway with water, and have members of your household take turns dropping rocks, buttons or other heavy objects into the bowl or glass of water. By using the elements of rock and water, your sacred space echoes the solidity and fluidity of our gratitudes and grace that we experience.
The first rock is the gratitude rock. As each one takes turns dropping one or two rocks in the water, they are invited to share something they are thankful for from the past week. It might be a rainbow or a special word of comfort. It might be a warm bed, or a moment of understanding they received from someone. The second rock is added for something that is worrisome or for someone who is struggling. It's a way to name the things and people we are holding in our thoughts, hearts and prayers. It might be oneself, or someone who is sick or sad. It might be someone the family knows or a group of people struggling far away.
With youth in the household, I suggest you invite them to go find small rocks or small solid objects and pick out a bowl or glass of water to drop them into. The "Gratitudes and Grace" bowl may not end up the way you would have imagined it, yet what is important is the building of it and sharing the gratitudes and graces together.
If you and your family would like more ideas for what to do for family sacred space, please let me know. We can send you links to special music to play and family activities to enjoy together that change weekly. For example, you could place the HaHa game, or make home cairns this week. There are also materials for words to accompany the sounding instrument, lighting and extinguishing the chalice, meditation, setting an intention, and providing a blessing that we can provide each week.
So until next week, be safe, stay healthy and sleep well.
For joy and justice in an imperfect world,
Rev. Lynne Scarpa
Director of Family Ministries
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The UUCM book club will meet via Zoom on Monday, April 20 at 3:00 pm to discuss "Olive, again" by Elizabeth Strout.
Please contact Kim Holscher at
kimholscher51@gmail.com if you are interested in joining us.
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The April Dinners for Eight will take place on Saturday, April 11, via Zoom. Anyone can be a host now, and enjoy conversation with others!
Please contact
kimholscher51@gmail.com if you would like to participate.
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If you are not already receiving emails from the social justice committee and wish to receive them along with information about social justice actions/rallies in and around Marin, please send your email address to:
socialjustice@uumarin.org
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Do you want to make a difference in our county and the world? We focus on local issues which are relevant to all of us. Bring your ideas and concerns to the UUCM Social Justice Committee. We meet the third Sunday of each month at noon.
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Continue your commitment to environmental and economic justice by shopping at
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Staff Links
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Office Hours:
Tuesday-Thursday: mid-morning to late afternoon or into the evening.
Call, text or email to make an appointment.
415-578-9632 (direct), 510-213-0404 (cell)
Administrator:
Director of Family Ministries:
Rev. Lynne Scarpa
Choir Director:
Amanda Nelson
Early Childhood Teacher: Glynda Christian
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Feedback about this weekly newsletter is appreciated. Please note change in email address:
eWeekly Deadline for Friday issue:
Tuesday by 7 am - activities and announcements, staff columns, committee reports
Weekly articles can contain:
- Notices of UUCM sponsored events, meetings, or other activities which involve the entire congregation.
- Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) or Pacific Western Region announcements of interest to the entire congregation.
(Staff article length 250 words)
Proofreader: Victoria T. Holdridge
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin
415-479-4131
240 Channing Way
San Rafael, CA 94903
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