Weekly Update

8/20/10 Weekly Update
I've been reading Forrest Church's book Love and Death: my journey through the valley of the shadow just this week. He was a UU minister at our church in NYC until quite recently, when he died of cancer. This passage captured me:

"It takes courage to laugh, especially when the things we are struggling with are no laughing matter. The most healing aspect about the courage to laugh is that it keeps us from attaching additional strings to our troubles, no matter how serious they are. . . . Whether leavened by humor, lifted by contemplation, or lightened and expanded by neighborly concern, the moment we stop defining (and restricting) it on our own narrow terms, life opens up. Once we understand the secret to it all--that "it's not about me"--we no longer cast fear's shadow. How liberating this is. Rising out of our self-pity, we shake off the temptation to whine, "Woe is me!" and "Why do these things always happen to me?" Rather than wondering why we don't have what she has and can't do what he does and can't be who they are, we take the opposite tack. We do what we can, want what we have, and embrace who we are."

Here's a link I love to watch that speaks to this same theme:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4HGQHgeFE>

What do you have? What can you do?
As we prepare to pack for our journey, our Pilgrimage . . . ponder these things.
See you in church!
~Eva

Sunday 8/29/10
8:30 am Music Rehearsal
9:30 am Festival Sunday: Water Communion by The Festival Team.  Worship Associate: Staci Chananie-Hill  
Bring a small vial of water to share from some place that has brought you joy and comfort in the past year.  Sometimes people bring water from a vacation spot, or an old family farm.  Sometimes people bring it from a new home or their backyard garden spigot where they spent happy hours watering their garden.  We bring all this water to share, representing the oneness at the center of who we are, even as our life's journeys are different.
10:30 am Fellowship Time
11:15 am Sunday School for Children & Youth

Calendar for this Coming Week
Monday
8:30 am to 12:30pm Janet in Office

6:00 pm Cedar Prairie Vegetarian Potluck

Wednesday
1:00 pm to 5:00pm Janet in Office

~~WOW--Workshops on Wednesdays~~

5:00 pm Children's Choir

5:30 pm Dinner

6:15 pm Adult Choir

6:30 pm Cedar Valley Meditation Group (high school room)

7:30 pm Theoretical String Band

Thursday
8:30 am to 12:30pm Janet in Office

7:30 pm Buddhist Path (balcony)

Other items
Don't forget HearthFest is TOMORROW! Organized by our own Sheri Huber-Otting after listening to a sermon by former minister Rev. Mark Alstrom about doing what you can  . . . she has been doing this. Show up and enjoy. Show up and tell her thanks for living love out loud! Its at Gateway Park--there's a big spread in the paper about the schedule.


Pastoral Update
Keep little Garrett King in your thoughts, prayers and light. He had to have finger surgery this past week after shutting his finger in the car door!

Rev Eva Cameron
minister
Unitarian Universalist Society of Black Hawk Co.
Cedar Falls, IA 50613
319-610-6605
www.uusbhc.org
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Weekly Update

8/20/10 Weekly Update

Change is a natural part of life. Some things change so slowly, so naturally we barely know they are happening--like getting new skin. It happens, and yet unlike a snake that has an old skin left behind, we have little to notice as this constant change in who we are is taking place. Other changes are more dramatic and visible. These sometimes take our breath away in their suddenness. The Buddha teaches that one of key reasons we feel such pain and hurt in the world is that our minds like us to pretend that the world is steady, and unchanging. When we cling to this mindset, then we get hurt when change (which is natural) occurs.

Currently we are experiencing change in our church family, as we will no longer have Kathy as our DRE. And Kathy and Leigh have decided not to attend church anymore. Their big hearts and infectious enthusiasm will be surely missed. I hope you'll write them notes with messages of love and stories of things they contributed that you enjoyed about them. Even when change happens, that doesn't mean that we cannot pause and be thankful for the time that we did get to spend with another human soul on this life-journey. Each person we meet gives us gifts, and it is wise to remember that. In the saying 'good-bye', in the saying 'hello.'

I would also encourage you to trust the actions of many loving souls in the church leadership who deliberated hard and long. We can never know all sides to a story, and so as you listen to one side, or another, remind yourself--it is this, and much more.

As we experience this sudden change, we hope that you will offer some extra help to enliven our Religious Education program. Our leaders, Michaela Rich (who is the Council Chair) and Diana Harwood (the Children's Sunday School team captain) are working very hard to create a great experience for people this year. So even if you've never helped, or even if you feel like you've already put in your time, please step forward and offer to do one small thing to make a difference. Together heavy loads are light.

To anyone who is in pain, or confusion, or anger . . . I am sending my loving thoughts your way, that your path will become easier. I am glad that tomorrow night we will get a chance to be together, and relax and enjoy the potluck supper. Sharing food and stories of the summer will be a comfort and a joy. So please come!

~Eva



All Church Retreat
Saturday

4:00-5:30 pm REAP--Teacher Training (sanctuary)

5:00 pm Games and Gathering

6:00 pm Potluck meal on the lawn

6:00-9:00 pm OWL --Parent Introduction (balcony)

7:30 pm S'mores with campfire sing-along

Campout for those who would like to stay overnight
Sunday

8:00 am Pancake breakfast

9:30 am Chapel service on the lawn
10:15 am Visioning session with Eva ending at noon



Calendar Updates for this Coming Week
Wednesday

5:00 pm Children's Choir

5:30 pm Dinner --Pizza

6:15 pm Adult Choir

6:30 pm Cedar Valley Meditation Group (high school room)

7:30 pm Theoretical String Band

Thursday

7:30 pm Buddhist Path (balcony)

Pastoral Updates
Dick Shane has moved within Friendship Village to Lakeview Lodge. He is no longer driving, and so will be looking for rides to church. With all the recent moving around, Brian Forster has agreed to assemble a list of where to find all our resident UU's.

Please let us know if you need help or would like to be remembered in people's meditations and prayers.

Rev Eva Cameron
minister
Unitarian Universalist Society of Black Hawk Co.
Cedar Falls, IA 50613
319-610-6605
www.uusbhc.org
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Weekly Update

Weekly Update 8/14/10
Hello! I hope you are having fun on this hot summer afternoon. The day has turned out to be a gorgeous one after some threat of more rain.  I was away last week, and it was sad to come back to so many stories of rain damage and flooding. It seems we in Iowa have a major environmental challenge to face in the coming years--as we begin to explore the relationship to field drainage, massive parking lots and other filled land, and all our floods. Is this a religious issue? What do you think? For me, respect for mother Earth, and for all our interdependent relationships is a very important aspect of being religious. I hope you will begin to explore these topics and begin to discuss them with your friends and neighbors. Change happens slowly, and only as more and more people begin to understand something. We each have a chance to become an agent of change.

I hope you'll join me tomorrow as I preach, in a lighthearted fashion, about Hell and other hot topics!

See you in church!
Eva

Sunday (tomorrow)
8:30 am Music Rehearsal
9:30 am Service "Hell and Other Hot Topics" Rev. Eva Cameron
Worship Associate: John Miller

As we endure the mid-summer heat, join us as we explore some of the "hot button"
issues of religion – things that get people all fired up – like the idea of hell. I promise you'll laugh--I'll be telling lots of jokes about Hell.

There will be RE for All Children: "Our Blue Boat Home" during the service.

10:30 am Fellowship Time
2:30 pm Sunday Afternoon Small Group



Calendar Updates for this Coming Week
Tuesday
7:00 pm Board Meeting

Wednesday CALENDAR DEADLINE
5:30 pm Dinner (Please RSVP)
6:30 pm Cedar Valley Meditation Group (high school room)
6:30 pm Theoretical String Band

Thursday
7:30 pm Buddhist Path (balcony)

Friday
NEWSLETTER DEADLINE

Saturday
4:00-5:30 pm REAP (sanctuary)
6:00-9:00 pm OWL (balcony)

Saturday: All Church Retreat
5:00 pm Games and Gathering
6:00 pm Potluck meal on the lawn
7:30 pm S'mores with campfire sing-along
Campout for those who would like to stay overnight

Next Sunday: All Church Retreat
8:00 am Pancake breakfast
9:30 am Chapel service
10:15 am Visioning session with Eva ending at noon

Other Items
UU's in the News Around the Country:
The Unitarian Universalist presence in Phoenix on July 29th continues to
draw media attention. The following are recently published items on that
issue.

1. Religion Dispatches, "A Primer on Activism from Unitarian
Universalists," by Kim Bobo, founder and executive director of
Interfaith Worker Justice.

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/3102/a_primer_on_acti
vism_from_unitarian_universalists


2. Huffington Post, Rev. Peter Morales' reflections on his arrest in
Phoenix protesting SB1070.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-peter-morales/handcuffs-hangman-and-je
s_b_673432.html


3. Boston Globe, "Mass. ministers on mission to stand up for
immigrants."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/08/11/massa
chusetts_ministers_on_a_mission_to_stand_up_for_immigrants/

Additionally, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and the UUA
sent a joint letter to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in support
of the city's decision to allow construction of a mosque and Islamic
cultural center in lower Manhattan close to Ground Zero. The letter was
signed by Peter Morales, William Schulz, and the ministers of NYC's UU
congregations. A copy of the letter can be found at

http://www.uusc.org/content/uusc_uua_declare_support_lower_manhattan_mos
que

Rev Eva Cameron
minister
Unitarian Universalist Society of Black Hawk Co.
Cedar Falls, IA 50613
319-610-6605
www.uusbhc.org
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Weekly Update

8/6/10 Weekly Update

First an announcement: I will not be at Cup of Joe tonight, or on Friday nights at all this month. It just doesn't work with my current schedule. If you would be interested in gathering on Thursday nights, let me know. I'm also wondering if meeting at Indulgence might be better for getting a seat, and hearing each other. Thoughts?

Second: I am easing back in to church life again. I have had a busy couple of weeks already with the death of a beloved member, and with all the many meetings and planning you all have been up to. Its wonderful to come back and find the place so alive and vibrant!

Our church retreat this year will be shorter, in part because so many of our groups have already begun meeting and planning for the year. (See schedule below).  We hope you like the new format, and are planning on being there for fun and fellowship.

I read this passage this week, and it spoke to me. See if you can follow it, translate "the kingdom" as "our vision of peace and justice, and the earth made one." See if it speaks to you as well.
"I urge you to still every motion that is not rooted in the kingdom. Become quiet, hushed, motionless until you are finally centered. Strip away all excess baggage and nonessential trappings until you have come into the stark reality of the kingdom of God. Let go of all distractions until you are driven into the Core." by Richard Foster, from his book Freedom of Simplicity.

See you in church!  ~Eva
PS. don't forget your poem this Sunday!


Sunday 8/8/10
8:30 am Music Rehearsal
9:30 am Service "Poetry Sunday" led by Rev. Eva Cameron.   Worship Associate is Bill Chene.  Bring a favorite poem or two to share with others (one of your own creation or one by another author).  We will take turns sharing poems, and enjoying the richness that only poetry can speak to the soul.  Three of our youth will be performing music as a string trio. I'm excited to hear their gifts, and your poetry!
There will be RE for All Children: "Our Blue Boat Home" during the service
10:30 am Fellowship Time

Calendar Updates for this Coming Week
Tuesday

7:15 pm Religious Services Council--cancelled (met last week)

Wednesday

5:30 pm Dinner (Please RSVP)

6:30 pm Cedar Valley Meditation Group (high school room)

6:30 pm Theoretical String Band

Thursday

7:30 pm Buddhist Path (balcony)

Friday

4:30 pm Cup of Joe--cancelled

Other items
Retreat Schedule Aug 21-22
Saturday
5:00 games and gathering
6:00 Potluck meal on the lawn
7:30 S'mores with campfire sing-along
Campout for those who would like to stay overnight

Sunday
8:00 Pancake breakfast
9:30 Chapel service
10:15  Visioning session with Eva ending no later than noon
Ending at Noon

More details will be coming from John Miller in the coming week. Please stay tuned!

Standing on the Side of Love in Iowa:
Join One Iowa for: Summer for Marriage Equality!
for more information: http://www.oneiowa.org/news-events/summer-marriage-equality

Pastoral Update
Long time member, and participant in the Quaker group, Clarence Alling, passed away yesterday. We are not in contact with any family, so please watch the paper for more information. 

Church visitor, Jolene Switzer, is going through some trying times, so if you know her, you might reach out to her at this time. Yes, she is on Facebook.

Marilyn Desmond is slowly getting caught up with all the things you have to do when someone dies. She still welcomes calls, notes, and invitations. I hope you'll reach out to her in the coming weeks and months, losing a loved one of many years is a big life transition. Hopefully we will see her in church soon!

 

Rev Eva Cameron
minister
Unitarian Universalist Society of Black Hawk Co.
Cedar Falls, IA 50613
319-610-6605
www.uusbhc.org
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