January 2017 Melrose Unitarian Universalist Church 70 West Emerson Street, Melrose, MA 02176-3128 781-665-7504 [email protected]www.melroseuu.org The Lightbearer Reflections from Rev. Anita Listening is a rare happening among human beings. You cannot listen to the word another is speaking if you are preoccupied with your own appearance, or with impressing the other, or are trying to decide what you are going to say when the other stops speaking, or are debating about whether what is being said is true or relevant or agreeable. Such matters have their place, but only after listening to the word as the word is being uttered. Listening is a primitive act of love in which a person gives themselves to another’s word, making themself accessible and vulnerable to that word. William Stringfellow Welcome to the new year, the new opportunities, the chance to try once again where we have fallen short, in life, in love, in work, in friendship. For surely all of us have had those days when we wished we had been more present, more loving, more curious. To all of us, (yes, yes, me too!) what a joy it is to welcome in the new year. The Transition Team and I have crafted a process for us to engage in the very listening and learning experience so many of us love and often crave in these days when the culture of the world promotes polarization and acrimony. We who are committed to our faith and our covenant know the importance of another way of being together. Of listening, of hearing, of caring, even when we experience things differently. So, as a major step in this important period of transition, we are developing a congregational experience of house meetings through which we will listen carefully and by which we will set our course, not only for this transition time, but for the future and your future settled minister. In seven years MUUC will be fifty years old (as a merged congregation). What are your dreams for your church? How might MUUC be the same or different in 2024? These are some of the questions we will be exploring in the congregation-wide house meetings that will be scheduled between January 28 th and February 12. We need everyone’s input! It is going to be a fun 2 ½ weeks with all of us engaged and talking about our experiences. So please be sure to keep alert, watch for notices and then your invitation. We want 100% participation. And if you are new, or for some other reasons did not get an invitation, let us know. We will find you a place. There will be a place for everyone. ☺ Blessings, Rev. Anita
Transcript
January 2017
Melrose Unitarian Universalist Church 70 West Emerson Street, Melrose, MA 02176-3128
Listening is a rare happening among human beings. You cannot listen to the word another is speaking if you are preoccupied with your own appearance, or with impressing the other, or are trying to decide what you are going to say when the other stops speaking, or are debating about whether what is being said is true or relevant or agreeable. Such matters have their place, but only after listening to the word as the word is being uttered. Listening is a primitive act of love in which a person gives themselves to another’s word, making themself accessible and vulnerable to that word. William Stringfellow
Welcome to the new year, the new opportunities, the chance to try once again where we have fallen short, in life, in love, in work, in friendship. For surely all of us have had those days when we wished we had been more present, more loving, more curious. To all of us, (yes, yes, me too!) what a joy it is to welcome in the new year. The Transition Team and I have crafted a process for us to engage in the very listening and learning experience so many of us love and often crave in these days when the culture of the world promotes polarization and acrimony. We who are committed to our faith and our covenant know the importance of another way of being together. Of listening, of hearing, of caring, even when we experience things differently. So, as a major step in this important period of transition, we are developing a congregational experience of house meetings through which we will listen carefully and by which we will set our course, not only for this transition time, but for the future and your future settled minister. In seven years MUUC will be fifty years old (as a merged congregation). What are your dreams for your church? How might MUUC be the same or different in 2024? These are some of the questions we will be exploring in the congregation-wide house meetings that will be scheduled between January 28
th and February 12. We need everyone’s input!
It is going to be a fun 2 ½ weeks with all of us engaged and talking about our experiences. So please be sure to keep alert, watch for notices and then your invitation. We want 100% participation. And if you are new, or for some other reasons did not get an invitation, let us know. We will find you a place. There will be a place for everyone. ☺ Blessings, Rev. Anita
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Music Notes Tara Tresner-Kirsch, Music Director
Wishing you warm and joyful hol-idays! And a blessed New Year! I look forward to making music with you in 2017.
Peace,
Tara
About the Music: Divinum Mysterium by Wilbur Held (Christmas Eve Prelude) Although Wilbur Held is a 20th century compos-er, Divinum Mysterium is the name of the Medi-eval plainchant on which he based this ethereal organ piece. Plainchants consist of a single melodic line that is rhythmically free; there are a large body of them that were originally sung in Medieval churches. This chant is translated with the title “Of the Father’s love begotten,” but the Latin in fact begins with reference to a non-gendered parent. It has become one of the oldest melo-dies present in many hymnals today and the in-spiration for pieces like this one. Masters in this Hall by William Morris (Christmas Eve Choral Anthem) William Hall wrote the words for this old Christ-mas song around 1860. The melody, however, pre-dates the lyrics by over 150 years. The tune of Masters in this Hall was originally unrelated to Christmas and was, in fact, an old French dance tune. Indeed, even when sung by human voices, the tune still dances! Masters in this Hall was chosen this year be-cause not only is it fun to sing, the chorus spe-cifically speaks about raising up people who are not the powerful in society and are poor. The chorus ends: “Nowell! Nowell! Nowell! Nowell, sing we loud! God to-day hath poor folk raised And cast a-down the proud.”
Big Thanks to All Our MUUC Musicians! Thanks to everyone who participated in music in December to make the holidays extra spe-cial. Brass Players: Austin Frakt, Dominic Thomas, John Pustell, Tom Kurz Christmas Eve Instrumentalists: Dan Kurz, Ma-rie Svoboda, Richard Svoboda Everyone who sings in the choir! Everyone who sings in the congregation or came to sing carols in coffee hour!
Children’s Choir will resume sometime after the New Year — stay tuned!
Morning Song: January 8th
Singing meditation resumes Sunday, January 8
th, 9:30-10:00 in the Sanctuary. We will sink
into a few short songs and chants as well as periods of silence for meditation and reflection.
MUUC Music Calendar Every Week: Sunday 9:00 a.m. - Adult Choir (unless other-wise noted) All events are in the Sanctuary. Sunday, January 8
th:
9:30 a.m. - Morning Song 10:00 a.m. - Multigenerational Pick-Up Choir Sunday, January 29
th
Tara away - Choir led by members Alastair Moock accompanies February 5
th:
Tara away - No Morning Song or Choir Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life, bringing peace, abolishing strife. -Kahlil Gibran
We will be singing an upbeat Hallelujah song and will practice in the Sanctuary noon-12:20ish weekly from October 23rd until their appearance in the service.
Dear Congregation, The low light of the December holidays has kept us huddled closer together, as is tradition for this complex time of year. But life is always complex, isn’t it? By December 31
st, may each of us re-
ceive some clarity and resolve to save space in our daily lives for chunks of simplicity and calm in the new year. Being part of a faith community can be an antidote to the inevitable pull towards busy days and overstimulation that is too often defining our post-modern times. Let’s think back to when we were children and there was some time off from school. Maybe it snowed; maybe the sun was shining. How did you spend your time? What did you do for play? Were you a reader? Did you build things? Did you have space and freedom to explore out-doors? What was your favorite subject in school? When there was upset in the scene around you, what were the ways you soothed yourself? These are questions that have really never left my mind and inform me in my various ministries, either in congregational life or my local community setting. These questions are part of conversa-tions that I love to have. Those I have with children, teens, and adults in my community ministry are particularly meaningful to me. I learn that no matter what circumstances folks have endured – namely, people who we call migrants and refugees or experiencing homelessness – we all have the abilitly to lift up treasured moments of, perhaps, using our imaginations for magical possibili-ties. Of course I am most attentive to the stories that the children tell or are told about them. During an interim time, we renew our curiosity to such questions (and many more) to get ready for continuing the shared story of beloved community. We take time to ensure that the well being of our children is interconnected with the well being of all children, especially within our reach. Shall I say, now more than ever? Like the best of story books, let’s get ready to capture the nature of experiences and quality of relationships of us, the characters, for the next chapter. On January 8
th, religious education classes resume. It is always an exciting day of returning to the
very special weekly routine of going to church and being sung out to our class groups. I invite you to be excited as well! Come January, Rev. Anita and the Transition Team will set in motion some exciting conversations. Every single person, of every age, will be invited and urged to participate. Just imagine each one of us listening to each other sharing our ideas about what’s fun, what’s special, what’s possible in the life of being a faith community together in the next chapter. This will come true and we can embrace the inevitability of some frigid January days knowing we will be gathering in circles of warmth. En paz, Anne
Walking in the Woods on a Snowy Day
with my Friend’s Dog, Alice.
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Religious Education (RE) News
Anne Principe Interim Director of Religious Education 781-665-7504 [email protected]
From the Sanctuary
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Giving Beyond Our Wal l s Melrose Emergency Fund is the recipient of December’s Collections
Nine years ago the MUUC Board proposed an initiative titled "Giving Beyond Our Walls." By donating half of our non-pledge plate offerings, we have supported the work of many worthy causes in our greater community.
Housing Families is the recipient of January’s Collections Providing safe, temporary shelter and quality affordable housing to homeless and at-risk families. Offering individualized supportive services to enrich children’s lives, nurture the potential of each family member, and help families maintain permanent housing. For more information or if you would like to donate to them direct-ly: http://housingfamilies.org/
The recipients of the 2016-2017 Giving Beyond Our Walls Program are:
September– UUSC/UUA Refugee Crisis Fund February– Community Legal Services and October- Melrose Alliance Against Violence (MAAV) Counseling November- Bread of Life March– Change is Simple December– Melrose Emergency Fund April– Homes For Our Troops Christmas Eve– Minister’s Discretionary Fund May– Immigrant Learning Center January- Housing Families June- UU Ministry Bethany House
Solstice Tree Members and friends of the Melrose Unitarian Univer-salist Church marked the turning of the seasons and celebrated the winter solstice by creating a Solstice Prayer Tree. Made of barren winter limbs, the tree re-ceived the gifts of prayer and hope the congregation hung upon its branches. These were natural objects, pine sprigs, feathers, twigs, and pine cones that each person selected to represent their hearts’ deepest loves and longings. In these days of lengthened dark-ness and increasing cold, the tree stands as a remind-er of how life is resilient and hope springs eternal.
Pictured: Rev. Dr. Anita & Anne Principe
Financial Health of Our Church
Moving to the WOW
A challenge facing MUUC (and your Finance Committee) is while we all prepare for wowing Minis-terial candidates next year with our vibrant, robust church community, we also want to wow them with a robust church financially. Making the financial “wowing” interesting (ok – tougher) is our need to draw much less from our en-dowment and parsonage funds than we have in the past. Our prior practices resulted in declining balances in the funds in recent years as we pulled out more money than they earned. You may re-call we are trying not to draw from them at all this year (using some cash reserves we built up be-cause of open positions) and we want to move to a draw closer to $15,000, rather than the $70,000 it used to be. (A 1% draw instead of a 5% draw.) There is no magic bullet here – we raise the funds we use to run the church ourselves – there is no outside “mother Church” helping us out – in fact we send dues for each member to the UUA! The funds will have to be raised through increasing our individual pledges and attracting more pledging members (and other fund raising efforts) or our costs will have to be looked at closely to balance our budget. (We will probably do some of both – but personally I like all the programs we do and appreciate the work of the staff we have now, so I am hoping for more income.) As Chair of the Finance Committee, I am grateful that we are in a position to have a full year to brainstorm and contemplate these challenges and I am 100% confident in this community and our ability to address and resolve our future funding and to Wow those candidates – and ourselves! Meanwhile - I am excited to see what’s next for us this year communally as Reverend Anita Farber-Robertson, and our dedicated transition team, help us through this time of learning as we explore who we are, what we are doing, and how we are doing it! You can help us move to the WOW. The Finance Committee welcomes new members. The Fi-nance Committee meets the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 in the Library of the Church and we invite interested parties to attend. In Fellowship, Wendy Mastronardi Finance Chair [email protected] 781-665-1764
I have been writing my “monthly column” since the fall of 2012 and as I sat down to prepare my January submission I was struck with the fact that this past year and especially this fall we have welcomed a large number of new friends to our church. As they scan the Lighbearer or see my name tag with “Denominational Affairs” does the phrase have any meaning? It is certainly not self-explanatory. Briefly, the primary responsibility of denominational affairs is to serve as a liaison be-tween a congregation and the Unitarian Universalist Association and its affiliates and to share in-formation and resources. The Unitarian Universalist Association of Churches (UUA) was formed in 1961 through the consoli-dation of the Universalist Church of America and the American Unitarian Association. Today the UUA is a faith community of more than 1000 congregations that support each other and bring to the world a vision of religious freedom, tolerance and social justice. At our Melrose church we have a strong history of commitment to social justice as evidenced by our designation as both a Welcoming and Green Sanctuary Congregation, our long term involve-ment with Bread of Life, our Partner Church in Ikland, Romania, hosting the Alternative Fair, MAAV and many other causes. Garin Boyd is the chair of the Social Justice Committee which works closely with both local and UU affiliated organizations on social justice initiatives. In addition to this column, you will see emails from me sharing various newsletters or announce-ments from the UUA and our New England Region. I share information in this “corner” that I hope will broaden our exposure to the world of Unitarian Universalism, reinforce its importance to us and our congregation and give us a sense of being connected to a larger movement. For more information you may visit these links: http://uua.org/ UUA http://www.uua.org/new-england NE Region In June I will be stepping down as Chair and would love to chat with folks who might find this an interesting challenge. In fellowship, Nancy Nichols Denominational Affairs [email protected]
The Transition Team has been thrilled to hear all the positive feedback regarding our interim minister, Rev. Anita. We share your enthusiasm! The interim period is a very special time in the life of the congregation. Transition can be a difficult time, but is also a time to reflect, self-discover, and ultimately grow in ways that maintain our core mission, while discovering new paths in an ever-changing environment. To this end, the Transition Team and Rev. Anita are using a tested framework from which we can discover what it truly means to be a member of the Melrose Unitarian Universalist Church congregation, and where we collectively want to be in the future. In particular, we are “setting our course” to 2024, the 50th anniversary of the 1974 union of the Universalist and Unitarian congregations into what we know of today as MUUC. The Transition Team has recruited a number of volunteers, who have been gracious enough to host and facilitate meetings at their homes, or other location of their choice. The meetings will be scheduled for some time between January 28 and February 12. Each member and friend of the congregation will be receiving an invitation to these meetings, which will be small groups of roughly ten people each. In these meetings, each person will have an opportunity to share
what MUUC means to them, and how they envision MUUC in 2024. With a clear picture of our collective identity and hopes for the future, the Search Committee can begin their important work of finding the right settled minister that will share in our mission, and help us to realize our ambitions. Change is always a challenge, but with a lot of, as Rev. Anita says, love and fresh courage, we will emerge from our interim period an even stronger and more vibrant community. We look forward to working with the congregation through this process, and hope you will help us to meet our 100% participation goal.
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Fellowship News
*IRON CHEF SAVE the DATE ** SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2017 Mark your calendars and bring your appetites! The MUUC Iron Chef contest will take place on Saturday, January 21st, 2017 - 6:00PM to 8:30PM in the MUUC Supper Room. WHAT IS IT? A cooking battle among MUUC top chefs and chef wannabe's! To participate, you only need to make a dish that contains ONE of the (not so) secret ingredients listed below. Unlike on the TV show, we will not be preparing dishes live. Make your dish at home and bring it to the church. Put it on the appropriate labeled table along with the other entrees also containing the same secret ingredient. Make a decent amount of your dish (hint - the more people who get to taste your dish, the more votes you'll get!) and be sure to label it with your name as well as the name of your dish (eg. "Linda's Legal Lip Remover Chili" by Linda Smith or "Mike's Man Chow" by Mike Jones). Everyone who attends is automatically a judge. Ballots will be handed out and you will get to vote for your favorite dishes. Prizes and bragging rights will go to the winners. If you consider yourself a hazard in the kitchen and opening a box of cereal is a challenge, you are still welcome to come, eat, and be a judge. Bring some bread or a beverage to share, or perhaps something for the kids table if you don't wish to officially submit a dish for the competition. There will be cheese pizza provided for kids and other non-adventurous eaters. And now for the ingredient list......... BLACK BEANS CREAM CHEESE GARLIC HONEY ROSEMARY Remember, you do not need to use ALL the ingredients in one dish. Whatever dish you make should contain one of the ingredients listed along with whatever else you want to add to it. You are welcome to submit entries in more than one category (eg. a black bean dish and a honey) and it can be any type of recipe (dessert, salad, main dish, anything!). It also does not need to be an original recipe. Any recipe that you think best showcases the ingredient and will win the palates and votes of the judges is eligible. Entries will be judged for their taste, presentation, creativity and use of the secret ingredient. Everyone is invited to attend and participate in both the cooking and the judging. Kids are wel-come, too. No need to sign up, just show up! The more who come, the better.
Let the Games Begin! This event is brought to you by the Fellowship Committee. Feel free to contact Amy Williams ([email protected]) with any questions. Did you miss our First Annual MUUC Decorating Party and Cookie Swap? We had a blast - make a plan to join us next year! A big THANK YOU goes out all who helped decorate the sanctuary and parish hall for the holiday season.
MUUC will cook and serve dinner for Bread of Life on Thursday, December 29. Email Kathy Foulser ([email protected]) if you can help: Food shopping 9 am - 11 am Cooking at MUUC 1 pm - 4 pm Serving at American Legion Post 69 in Malden, 5:00 - 6:45
The Church Office will be closed Friday, December 23, 2016 and will re-open Tuesday, January 3, 2017.
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Bread of Life
Reminder: Wintertime “Walk in the Woods” Service
On Sunday, January 1, 2017, the Green Sanc-tuary Committee welcomes everyone to gather at 10:30am to celebrate the New Year and the gift of our natural world by sharing in a “Wintertime Walk in the Woods”. We will first gather at MUUC for a reading or two and then carpool to the Jerry Jingle parking area next to Grimsby’s where we will begin our wintertime walk in the Middlesex Fells along the Crystal Springs Trail. MUUC has adopted the Crystal Springs Trail and will help the Friends of the Fells be good stewards of the trail. After our time in the woods we will meet back at MUUC to share a simple meal of soup and bread. Those who might not be able or interest-ed in joining the outdoor portion of the service are invited to join in conversation and fellowship at the church and then come together with the hikers for a warm meal. If you are interested in helping to organize or prepare food for the meal, please contact me or other member of the Green Sanctuary Commit-tee. Please note that the Nursery will not be staffed. This is a child/family friendly event and we invite children to accompany their parents on the walk (bundle up)!
Doug Dick Chair, Green Sanctuary Committee
Green Sanctuary News
Melrose Unitarian Universalist Church 70 West Emerson Street Melrose, Massachusetts 02176-3128 Address Service Requested Please note: If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, please let us know.
