SUNDAYS IN JANUARY This month’s worship theme is Intentionomnipresent Anaconda Co., owner of the...

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Page 1 January 2018 The Monthly Newsletter of the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara www.ussb.org Living with Integrity, Nurturing Wonder, Inspiring Action SUNDAY, JANUARY 7 "No One Shall Compel Them" Rev. Julia Hamilton We don’t think much about “edicts” these days, but in 1568, the Unitarian king John Sigismund issued the “Edict of Torda,” proclaiming a new idea for the war-torn European continent: religious tolerance. Four hundred and fifty years later, Unitarian Universalists still hold the intention of creating a peaceful, pluralistic religious world. Come and celebrate the anniversary of this groundbreaking vision. SUNDAYS IN JANUARY This month’s worship theme is "Intention" SUNDAY, JANUARY 21 "The Whole Congregation" Rev. Julia Hamilton Are you a “Boomer,” a “Gen-Xer,” or a “Millennial”? Part of the “Lost Generation”? Generational theory is all the rage these days, offering opinions about what divides us based on our age group. But don’t despair—our shared human ex- perience can unite us across the decades! Why is creating an intentionally multigenerational community so important in an increasingly age-segregated culture? SUNDAY, JANUARY 14 Rev. Julia Hamilton "The MeToo Revelation" At the close of 2017, women came forward in waves to speak up about the realities of sexual harassment and abuse in our society. Where do we intend to go with this information? Is there a revolution within these revelations? With the second Women’s March coming up on January 20, it’s time to think about where these revelations will lead us. *On Monday, January 15, you are invited to join USSB in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Unity March, starting at 9:00 AM in De La Guerra Plaza, marching up State Street to the 11:00 AM program at the Arlington Theater. Music TBA Women's Chorale will sing. Chancel Choir will sing. SUNDAY, JANUARY 28 Charla Bregante, Worship Leader Chancel Choir will sing. Services are at 9:15 and 11:15 AM “It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. e question is: What are you busy about?” Henry David oreau “Sharing Power” Gregory J. Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, said “Kinship—not serving the other, but being one with the other . . . There is a world of difference in that.” This is the spirit of Mujeres Apoyando Mujeres (Women Helping Women), a grassroots community group started by the recipients of the first Women’s Empowerment Fund grant.

Transcript of SUNDAYS IN JANUARY This month’s worship theme is Intentionomnipresent Anaconda Co., owner of the...

Page 1: SUNDAYS IN JANUARY This month’s worship theme is Intentionomnipresent Anaconda Co., owner of the richest ore mines. He does so with vigor, as his editorials are so incendiary that

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January 2018 The Monthly Newsletter of the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara www.ussb.org

Living with Integrity, Nurturing Wonder, Inspiring Action

SUNDAY, JANUARY 7

"No One Shall Compel Them"Rev. Julia Hamilton

We don’t think much about “edicts” these days, but in 1568, the Unitarian king John Sigismund issued the “Edict of Torda,” proclaiming a new idea for the war-torn European continent: religious tolerance. Four hundred and fifty years later, Unitarian Universalists still hold the intention of creating a peaceful, pluralistic religious world. Come and celebrate the anniversary of this groundbreaking vision.

SUNDAYS IN JANUARYThis month’s worship theme is "Intention"

SUNDAY, JANUARY 21

"The Whole Congregation"Rev. Julia Hamilton

Are you a “Boomer,” a “Gen-Xer,” or a “Millennial”? Part of the “Lost Generation”? Generational theory is all the rage these days, offering opinions about what divides us based on our age group. But don’t despair—our shared human ex-perience can unite us across the decades! Why is creating an intentionally multigenerational community so important in an increasingly age-segregated culture?

SUNDAY, JANUARY 14Rev. Julia Hamilton

"The MeToo Revelation"At the close of 2017, women came forward in waves to speak up about the realities of sexual harassment and abuse in our society. Where do we intend to go with this information? Is there a revolution within these revelations? With the second Women’s March coming up on January 20, it’s time to think about where these revelations will lead us.

*On Monday, January 15, you are invited to join USSB in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Unity March, starting at 9:00 am in De La Guerra Plaza, marching up State Street to the 11:00 am program at the Arlington Theater.

Music TBA

Women's Chorale will sing.

Chancel Choir will sing.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 28Charla Bregante, Worship Leader

Chancel Choir will sing.

Services are at 9:15 and 11:15 am

“It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are you busy about?” —Henry David Thoreau

“Sharing Power”Gregory J. Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, said “Kinship—not serving the other, but being one with the other . . . There is a world of difference in that.” This is the spirit of Mujeres Apoyando Mujeres (Women Helping Women), a grassroots community group started by the recipients of the first Women’s Empowerment Fund grant.

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During the fire we have opened our Warming Center several times. Each activation came with short notice

as the fire and smoke conditions changed. Our members have turned out to provide a meal and shelter. Some of our members have been evacuated, but they still found the means to bring in some food or take time to help the team serve. Jon Diaz, our fine sexton, has shown his typical mix of energy and compassion. He cares deeply for our guests.

On Monday, December 18, we took a few pictures of turkey carvers and our table of a variety of food.

These opportunities to help our community are special.

"Let us be grateful when we are able to give, for many do not have that privilege."

Serving on a Cold & Smoky Night

During the last week in March, a small group from our congregation will travel to the Hopi reservation

in Arizona to visit with elders and provide much needed support. The money raised in this month’s outreach offer-ing will go toward the supplies and fresh food that we will bring with us.

These trips, which we have been taking about every oth-er year since 2011, have become an important touchstone in our congregation’s life. Although the work we do on the reservation is simple—fixing some of the elders’ houses, de-livering baskets of fresh food and supplies, learning more about the cultures and customs of our hosts—the deeper

work is about tending the interdependent web. Because of what we have learned in Arizona, we have grown in our understanding of the history of indigenous peoples in the United States, including here in Santa Barbara. We go not on a mission to convert, but as people willing to put our hands and hearts into service, and with the knowledge that we will walk away with more than we brought.

Please contact Rev. Julia at [email protected] if you have any questions or are interested in participating in this trip, which will be from March 24-31. Space is limited! Youth accompanied by an adult family member are welcome to participate.

January Outreach Offering: Hopi Service Trip

Coming Soon! In early 2018, Rev. Caitlin will be leading a six-part book

discussion group based on A House for Hope: The Prom-ise of Progressive Religion for the Twenty-first Century. In this book, authors John Buehrens and Rebecca Ann Parker en-gage readers in liberal religion’s rich theological legacy. Us-ing the metaphor of a house to encompass the six great topics of theology, Buehrens and Parker explore what grounds us, what expands us, what shelters us, and what gives us hope.

We’ll be using a study guide developed by Rev. Sarah Gibb Millspaugh. Together, our group will develop a mean-ingful understanding of liberal theology and engage in Unitarian Universalism’s “free and responsible search for truth and meaning” by locating our own, and others’, theo-logical understandings within A House for Hope.

Stay tuned for more information about dates and times! If you are interested, please email Rev. Caitlin at [email protected] and let her know whether you can do evening and/or afternoon meetings.

Hope rises. It rises from the heart of life, here and now, beating with joy and sorrow. Hope longs. It longs for good to be affirmed, for justice and love to prevail, for suffering to be alleviated, and for life to flourish in peace. . . . To thrive, hope requires a home, a sustaining structure of community, meaning, and ritual. Only with such a habitation can hope manifest the spiritual stami-na it needs to confront evil, endure through trouble, and “hold fast to that which is good.”

—John Buehrens and Rebecca Ann Parker, from the introduction to A House for Hope

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The Book:Sweet ThunderBy Ivan Doig

This story takes place in the 1920s in Butte, Montana, a place that the protagonist, Morgan Morris, calls “a tortured, boastful, inventive, grudge-ridden, wisecracking city built not upon bedrock but copper ore.” Butte, with its gamblers and plungers, its union strife with corporate greed, is very much a character, in a book filled with an abundance of color-ful characters.

Among them is Morris Morgan, a witty and urbane bibliophile and crusader with a streak of larceny. Morgan has just returned from a year-long honeymoon with his new wife, Grace. He needs to find a job, and is employed at Thunder, an upstart union-backed newspaper, as an ed-itorial writer. His job is to take on the town behemoth, the omnipresent Anaconda Co., owner of the richest ore mines. He does so with vigor, as his editorials are so incendiary that they raise the hackles of the Anaconda-owned Post, which controls the mines and the public. The Post recruits its own editorial powerhouse, a man known as Cut-throat Cartright. The two writers spar over union wages, proper-ty taxes, and eventually a company lockout that leaves the miner families without food or income.

What’s next… is a romp of words and actions that in-clude endearing characters, including Grace, who discov-ers that her husband is not what she had thought. At the same time, there is the threat of a grudge against Morris for cheating a group of Chicago gamblers years before. Morris carries a pair of brass knuckles in his pocket just in case they find him.

The story goes on with endearing characters for the reader to enjoy as they fill out the story to a satisfactory end. The reader will meet Sandison, Cartright, Jared, Rab, and an irrepressible newsie, Russian Famine. A good read.

Reviewed by Suzanne Fairly

We hope that all of you experienced joyful holidays and we look forward with you to a year of great

reading and movie watching. Our thanks to all of you who donated good works to our collection.

Here are our reviews:

The Movie:Siddhartha

This is the story of a young Brahmin in India who leaves his wealthy parents to be-come a sadhu, a wandering ascet-ic, with his best friend, Govinda.

Siddhartha (Shashi Kapoor) is searching for the meaning of life, and is awed when he meets the Buddha. Govinda joins the Bud-dha’s order, but Siddhartha feels that he must seek his own abso-lutely unique personal meaning that cannot be presented to him by a teacher. He travels alone and has no money to cross a river by ferry. The ferryman takes him across and tells him that later in life he will return to the river to compensate him in some way.

Siddhartha’s spiritual search leads him to Kamala, a courtesan, the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. He achieves wealth and sexual pleasure, and then finds them empty, just a game. He returns to the river where a num-ber of interesting events unfold. Eventually he discovers enlightenment as a poor ferryman, learning tranquility from the river itself.

This movie is based on the prize-winning novel by Hermann Hesse. When filmmaker Conrad Rooks decided to film Siddhartha, he traveled to India with cinematogra-pher Sven Nykvist. There they transformed the novel into widescreen poetry.

Reviewed by Ellie Tuazon

Library Corner

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How does a child’s understanding about religion change as they grow? How does a three-year-old understand

religion? What about a 13-year-old? Rev. Dr. Tracy Hurd is a Unitarian Universalist minis-

ter at the UUA. Her work guides religious educators as we plan children’s religious education programs.

Through her work, we understand that for young chil-dren, under age seven, ritual plays an important role. And so we create meaningful, repetitive rituals in worship, in Sunday classes, and at home. Singing “Go Now in Peace,” lighting the chalice, sharing joys and concerns: these are all important rituals that teach young children how to be religious.

Faith Development in Children

Sara Sautter, Interim Director of Religious Education

[email protected]

When my three children were young, we always ate din-ner together seated at the table and always lit candles. It might be at 7:30 wearing soccer cleats, and maybe just a fried egg-and-cheese sandwich, but we ate together with burning candles as often as we could.

When my youngest daughter was four, I lit the candle on the table to which she exclaimed, “Oh, family time!”

For her, the lighting of a candle was the small ritual that set apart a small portion of the day for our family to gather together.

I encourage you to create rituals at your home. In this small way, you are teaching religion.

Age Group Wonderings… Faith DevelopmentPreschool Aged (ages two to five)

“Who made the trees?” • The preschool child is the center of their own thinking. • They learn about religion and faith through everyday

life experiences and rituals. • Receptive to spirituality, they are not afraid of "big

questions" and are full of wonder. • Early childhood faith is a sense of being held in care

and love. • He or she may ask “who made the trees?” and is re-

ceptive to both concrete (“they came from trees”) and less tangible answers (“God made them”.)

Early School Age (ages five to seven)

“What happens when we die?”

• They are still at home in both the worlds of fantasy and reality.

• Routines and rituals are the building blocks of faith. “We light a candle and say kind words about a sick relative or friend.”

• A child of this age wants to belong to his or her family, community, and world.

• They “do” religion to know religion.

School Age(ages seven to twelve)

“Julie’s mom says we go to heaven when we die. Do WE?”

• The school aged child is very literal in her understand-ing.

• She or he is able to understand that there are different answers to big questions such as what happens when we die.

• Belonging to a faith community anchors this stage of faith development.

• Searching beyond one set of answers creates a foundation for a lifelong spiritual search.

Early Adolescence (ages twelve to fifteen)

“I’m not sure if I believe in god or not. But Julie does.”

• Now able to understand multiple perspectives, they find new meaning in religious community.

• “Belonging” is a critical element of their life. • He or she now has the cognitive ability to understand

the moral underpinnings of a faith community. • They express interest in religion that embodies their

own values. Middle Adolescence (ages fifteen to eighteen)

“I was thinking about what Nina said about what Juan did and what Mustafa thought about it, and I’m really not sure now what to think...”

• The youth is able to conceptualize religion as an out-side authority that can be questioned.

• She or he questions faith, leading to deeper ownership or disenfranchisement.

• The Unitarian Universalist tradition capitalizes on the youth’s interest in and commitment to a broader un-derstanding of moral and social ideals.

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AllianceFriday, January 5 at 2:00 pm, join us for a presentation by Dr. Ken Kosik about his research into Alzheimer's disease. For more information, see The Alliance Presents on page 6.

Vegan PotluckOur next USSB vegan potluck will be Saturday, January 6 at 4:15 pm in Blake Lounge. Please bring a plant-based, vegan dish that serves 10-12 people, and bring utensils, dishes, cups, and napkins. Email Cathy Albanese to RSVP, and for more information visit www.ussb.org/community-life/monthly-vegan- potluck.

USSB Women's GroupOur January meetings will be on Monday, January 8 and Janu-ary 22 at 1:30 pm in La Paz Lounge. Judy Farris will give a brief tale of her experiences at the Santa Barbara Writers' Conference last June, and then will play a CD guided meditation by Marilee Zdenek, a presenter at one of the workshops. It is titled The Gift of Peace. Time will be available for participants to write down whatev-er it brings up, and afterwards, those who choose to do so can share their thoughts with the group, written or not. Bring a writing pad and pen or pencil. Healthy snacks will be provided. Newcomers welcomed! Contact Karolyn Renard for more information.

Ongoing Events at USSBQuantum Field Theory & Consciousness Affinity GroupOur next meeting will be Monday, January 15 at 7:15 pm in Blake Lounge. Gatherings will open with an understandable video describing quantum mechanics and consciousness by leading physicists and metaphysicists, followed by intellectual discussion. We normally meet the third Monday of each month.

Book Discussion GroupMeets the third Tuesday of every month at 7:00 pm in La Paz Lounge. The next meeting will be January 16, and the book being discussed is Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, by Jeanette Winterson. Contact Al Melkonian for more information.

Science Night Join us Tuesday, January 16 at 7:30 pm in Blake Lounge. Come for the interesting presentations and the thoughtful discussion that follows. You don’t need to be any kind of expert on science to enjoy this. We continue to enjoy the History Channel series The Universe: The Mega Collection.

Potluck Game NightWhat could be more UU than board games and a potluck din-ner? Bring a dish to share and your own tableware. Our next Potluck Game Night is on Friday, January 26 in Parish Hall from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. All are welcome!

spite the dominant view, death is more than a medical event. To quote Frank Ostaseski, “What if we regarded dying as a final stage of growth that held an unprecedented oppor-tunity for transformation?” How do we ensure compassion, love and our fullest potential?

This workshop will invite us to explore taking custody of our dying. What do we need, want to experience and who do we wish to accompany us on our journey? Most import-ant, we will explore the opportunities to ensure living to our fullest with a focus on “how I define my quality of life vs the length of my life.” “Knowing I will die; how shall I choose to live?”

THIS IS A CHANGE: please note this class will begin on Friday January 12 in Jefferson from 1:00-2:30 pm. We are limiting registration and there are only a few spots left open. Please contact Eileen Bunning at: [email protected] by Saturday, January 6, if you wish to register.

January Class: Taking Custody of Our Dying

We are mortal beings; we are all going to die and de- "Religions and Other Worldviews" Begins Sunday, January 21If you are interested in examining different religious and

humanist worldviews as a source of ethical and spiritual inspiration as a Unitarian, then the new program on Reli-gions and Other Worldviews is for you. This novel USSB program will be led by our own Ann Taves, a UCSB Pro-fessor of Religious Studies. Each session will build on a chapter from the book God Is Not One by New York Times best-selling author Stephen Prothero. Ann will bring UCSB graduate students to help present overviews of teachings and practices before we break into small, guided discussion groups. Religions and Other Worldviews will meet weekly from 2:00 to 4:00 pm starting Sunday, January 21 and end-ing Sunday, March 11. If interested please contact Ben Sen-auer, or speak to Ben when he’s available at Middle Hour in the courtyard.

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The Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara1535 Santa Barbara StreetSanta Barbara, CA 93101Office: (805) 965-4583Fax: (805) 965-6273

e-mail: [email protected]

Rev. Julia Hamilton, Lead Minister, [email protected]. Caitlin Cotter Coillberg, Assistant Minister, [email protected] Wilson, Director of Administration, [email protected] Ryals, Choral Director, [email protected] Sautter, Interim Director of Religious Education, [email protected] Moyer, Membership Coordinator, [email protected] Otero, Facilities Use Coordinator, [email protected] Kennedy, Office Manager, [email protected] Brown, Building Manager, [email protected] Diaz, Sexton, [email protected] Levin, AccompanistMahlon Balderston, Organist EmeritusRev. Kenneth Collier, Minister Emeritus

Sunday Worship Services at 9:15 and 11:15 am Nursery & Children’s Care: Sunday 9:00 am to 12:30 pm in Starr KingOffice is open Sunday mornings and Monday to Thursday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Deadline for the February issue: Monday, January 15Email: [email protected]

Friday, January 5, 2018 at 2:00 pm in Parish HallAs seen on 60 Minutes, Dr. Ken Kosik will present “Envisioning a Cure

For Alzheimer’s Disease.” Dr. Kosik is a physician-scientist and an M.D. He is a full professor and co-director of the Neuroscience Institute of UCSB. His work with early-onset familial Alzheimer’s disease in Columbia was the basis for a novel prevention trial to treat this disease. His many awards and biography will be available at January's Alliance general meeting. Bring your friends and family to this special presentation.

Join us the first Friday of each month from October to June for a stimu-lating presentation and the informal talk and delicious afternoon treat that follows. All are welcome: USSB congregants, friends, neighbors, and men and women of all ages. Contributions of some goodies to share is appreci-ated. We look forward to welcoming you.

The Alliance Presents