maynewslettertoposttoweb.pdf[Editor’s note: This version of the Chalice Unitarian Universalist Congregation Newsletter has had e-mail addresses removed before putting on a public website. If you would like contact information in order to participate in the congregation, please contact the Office Administrator, Paula Gonzales at chaliceofficepg@aol.com]
[Editor’s note: the following article is from the December 2011 Chalice Unitarian Universalist Congregation PrevUUs Newsletter]
Rev. Thomas Anastasi
“I Can’t Believe It!” I can’t believe it’s the Christmas season already. I am quite certain it was only the day before yesterday that I was rummaging through the Christmas trees at the annual Boy Scout market on Bothell Way in Seattle, looking for the perfect specimen—in December of 1997. And now, unbelievably, it’s nearly time to do it again. Whew! Times flies, not only when you’re having fun, but when you’re growing older—let me tell you—it really does get faster.
It’s so fast that I have an overwhelming desire to hold on to this moment, which seems to be escaping right before my very eyes. Have you heard of the great complaint that each day when I awake, I ask myself, “On this day will I save the world or will I savor it?” The answer, of course, makes for difficulty in planning the day’s activities.
I have wondered about what I really want for a holiday gift, either to receive or to give. I will tell you right now that one thing I really want is this moment, which I cannot seem to hold onto. I spend much of my life designing ways to save the world, but right now, I want to savor it. I want to savor the holidays, the enchanting times I will spend with you this year and with my family, including a planned trip up to Sacramento to see my son and his family. I want to hold onto all these moments and not let them slip through my fingers like little minnows, indifferent to my wishes.
Thich Nan Hanh, the venerable Buddhist monk of whom you have heard me speak many times, addresses the notion of the present moment. He calls it “the art of mindfulness”, of being aware of the now. I think that somewhere he may have said that the now is eternal, that everything that ever was or is or will be is located right here, now. If that’s true, I want to know about it and I really do want to savor it.
His prayer begins by paying attention to our breathing. It asks for relaxation. It asks for us to be at peace with our bodies and our minds, to return to ourselves and become wholly (holy) ourselves. The monk prays that we maintain a “half-smile” on our faces, like the Buddha: “Let us be aware of the source of being common to us all and to all living things, evoking the presence of the Great Compassion, filling our hearts with our own compassion, toward ourselves and toward all living beings. Let us plead with ourselves to live in a way which will not deprive others beings of air, water, food, shelter, or the chance to live. With humility, with awareness of the existence of life, and of the sufferings that are going on around us, we pray for the establishment of peace in our hearts and on earth. Amen.”
Now that’s the genuine holiday present I want to receive and give away, wherever I go and wherever I am…. YES! Faithful Regards, Thomas
[Editor’s note: the following article is from the December 2011 Chalice Unitarian Universalist Congregation PrevUUs Newsletter]
Lloyd Kelly, Congregation President
I have been reading, with much disgust, the news reports of the Penn State and Joe
Paterno scandal. And as much as I am appalled at the lack of action taken by those involved, I find the reaction of the Penn State students to Paterno’s firing, very distressing. I suppose that one could argue whether or not he should have been let go, but to riot because of it makes me wonder just what moral education they are receiving. Some news reports compared Penn State’s handling of the situation to the Catholics covering up sex abuse by its clergy. Perhaps sports and religion are really not all that different. According to philosophers Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Kelly, “Sports may be the place in contemporary life where Americans find sacred community most easily. There is no essential difference, really, in how it feels to rise as one in joy to sing the praises of the Lord, or to rise as one in joy to sing the praises of the Hail Mary pass, the Immaculate Reception….” For Dreyfus and Kelly, an essential ingredient in the relationship between religion and sport is the “…importance of community in each. The sense that one is joined with one’s fellow human beings in the celebration of something great reinforces the sense that what one is celebrating really is great.” And, I suppose, if it is great then, when there is a perceived injustice to one of our sports or religious hero’s, we respond with anger and that community in which we lose ourselves turns violent.
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I want to thank Frank Newmark for sharing with us, at the service on Nov. 13th, the painful experience of his wife’s death. As he said, it was important for him to do so, and, I think, it was also important for us to hear. There is a wealth of personal history and experience in this congregation that would enrich us all if we could hear it. And to hear it is, for me, an important part. The oral tradition has been dying a slow death for a long time. The advent of email, text messages, twitter, online chat and online classes, etc., have combined to significantly reduce face-to-face interaction to such an extent that many of us shy away from direct oral communication, and perhaps feel that we are not very good at it. I hope that others, and especially those of Frank’s generation, if asked will be willing to share some of their personal history with us as he has. It would benefit us all.
YouTube.com at “unitedweareonesd” will bring up the video for the song by Jackie Austin-Singer, with Kathleen Swift & Judy Winn.
[Editor’s note: the following article was written by Congregation President, Lloyd Kelly for the November 2011 Chalice Unitarian Universalist Congregation Newsletter.]
For the past several years, the Board has been discussing changing the way Chalice is governed. Up to now, we have what might be called “Board Centered Governance” which means that the Board sits on top of the organizational structure of the church. With this governance structure, the tendency is for Boards to take on controversial, costly and/or complicated issues that its members may be able to handle efficiently. Some problems with this style of governance are:
An alternative approach is what has been called “Policy Governance”, which states that a governing board’s primary function is not to make decisions, but rather to define policies that guide decisions throughout the organization.
A policy-oriented board delegates as much decision-making as possible and focuses on the vision and the identity of the institution. It also captures, in policy, lessons learned both through the organization’s experience and the experience of other institutions like it.
Your Board of Trustees is unanimously recommending changes to our bylaws that will move us to a policy-oriented style of governance. The Board is also suggesting changes in the bylaws that clarify the Minister’s role and who she/he reports to and is evaluated by. These changes will increase our chances of attracting the most qualified ministerial candidates. A summary of the recommended changes is in this newsletter.
On November 6th we will have a congregational forum to discuss these proposed changes to our bylaws, and on November 13th we will have a congregational meeting to vote on them. These changes are vitally important to the future of Chalice and I strongly urge you attend.
Lloyd Kelly
[Editor’s note: the following article is from the October 2011 Chalice Unitarian Universalist Congregation Newsletter.]
From the Reverend Thomas Anastasi ~
“Chalice is…” Here we are well into the second year of interim ministry at Chalice. There’s so much buzz going on around here and it’s all exciting and good. On Sunday the 18th the Ministerial Search Committee reported on the great work they’re doing as they prepare to welcome a new minister here. Then, after the service we heard from the Renovations Team and their plans for improving (and increasing) our current facilities to accommodate the expected growth in the congregation when that new minister arrives. We also heard news about the upcoming Chalice reader’s theater production of “The Laramie Project”, the remarkable play recounting the town’s responses surrounding Matthew Shepherd’s murder.The sermon on that day noted that we liberal religious folks are in the business of building a new world, a new way of being, even a new civilization.So much happening at this happening place. I thought of this poem from Denise Levertov, “Beginners”:But we have only begun to love the earth. We have only begun to imagine the fullness of life.How could we tire of hope? —so much is in bud.How can desire fail? — we have only begun to imagine justice and mercy.Only begun to envision how it might be to live as siblings with beast and flower, (and) not as oppressors…
We have only begun to know the power that is in us
if we would join our solitudes in the communion of struggle.So much is unfolding that must complete its gesture, so much is in bud.This is the situation I perceive here among us at Chalice. True, we face great challenges. And still we move forward in our pursuit of the larger vision of engaging Chalice as a beacon and a sanctuary of liberal religion in our part of the world. As we proceed in these next days and weeks and months, let us consider again the wisdom of
Levertov’s poem. We have only begun to know the power that is in us if we would join our solitudes in the communion of struggle. So much is unfolding that must complete its gesture, so much is in bud. Faithful Regards, Thomas (206) 913-3239