Our Shared Ministry

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Our Shared Ministry First Unitarian Church of Oakland Volume 72, Issue 7 September 2009 THE SOWER Sunday Worship Schedule Sunday, September 6 (10:15 AM) The Child Left Behind What happened to those long summer daydreams? The favorite games or dolls or hiding places? Does our childhood sometimes feel too long ago and faraway to seem relevant anymore? This worship service will explore spiritual lessons Reminder! We’ll be returning to our regular two service our childhood selves may have to teach us, drawing from worship schedule beginning Sept. 13. Join us at 9:30 AM or teachers such as Rumi, Jesus and Lao Tsu. Worship leaders: 11:30 AM. Laura Prickett and Emily Stoper Sunday, September 13 (9:30 and 11:30) Merging of the Waters We gather for our annual water communion worship Water and Worship celebration to begin our new program year. We will also welcome our new intern minister, Catherine Ishida and Lynn On Sunday, Sept. 13 we gather for our annual “Merging of Gardner, our new Worship Arts and Education Coordinator the Waters” worship celebration and to begin our new for Children and Youth, that morning. Families, friends and program year. We will also welcome our new intern minister, newcomers of all ages are invited to worship together at 9:30 Catherine Ishida, that morning. Families and people of all and 11:30. Remember to bring a small sample of water from ages are invited to worship together at 9:30 and 11:30. your travels or from a place nearby that holds special Remember to bring a small sample of water from your travels significance from your summer experiences. or from a place nearby that holds special significance from your summer experiences. Sunday, September 20 (9:30 and 11:30) Wake Now Our Vision Rev. Kathy Huff, preaching; Kristen Montan, worship associate. I NSIDE T HIS I SSUE Sunday, September 27 (9:30and 11:30)* Does Oakland Need a Unitarian Church? 1 Worship Notes and Schedule On this day in 1886 Charles W. Wendte called for the creation of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland. We will 1 Exploring Membership remember Wendte’s vision and call, and celebrate where we have come from and where we are going. Rev. Kathy Huff 2 September Theme: Vision will preach the auction sermon won by Judith Hunt. *Children are invited to worship with their families for the 3 Musings from the Minister first 20 minutes before going to their Sunday programs. 4, 5 Our Ministry for Children and Youth Exploring Membership rd Considering membership? Wonder what it really means to be a 6 Our Shared Ministry; 3 Floor Office UU? This three-hour session is for those who are interested in learning more about Unitarian Universalism, this congregation and 7 Board of Trustees; Hamilton Hall Update the expectations of membership in our faith community. We’ll explore the history of this community and our own faith stories that 8 Executive Team; Leadership Development Team bring us to this time of seeking a spiritual home. Come and learn about our shared ministry and how your gifts and questions weave 9,10 Community Life into the fabric of our beloved community. Led by Rev. Susan Conrad, Rev. Kathy Huff and other church leaders. Sunday, Sept. 11 Denominational Connections 27, 11-2 PM. Call the church office, 510-893-6129 to reserve a space and/or to let us know of any special needs. Please note that 12 Publications Information; Church Contact the Community Life Council will be holding a potluck on this date so you may want to get lunch here. Otherwise, brown bag lunch is Information recommended. 1 Worship and Learning Focus 2009 – 10 Building Community Together “Building Community Together” is our worship and learning program year focus for 2009-10. This year we will reflect, consider and act upon religious themes that connect us in community and help us live lives of spirit and integrity. Each month a particular theme related to our overall focus guides us as we worship, learn and grow together as people of faith. September Theme: Vision This new millennium requires extending our present limited horizons of mind, heart and imagination, as well as expanding our social and religious boundaries. To live with new horizons means constantly stretching our hopes and hearts as far as possible — and then gradually and progressively taking them even beyond those limits. — Edward Hays, The Great Escape Manual Vision is the song in the heart, a motivating metaphor for guiding a particular purpose in life. A vision describes a picture of a preferred reality. It shapes identity and gives meaning. It considers questions such as: Who am I? Who are we? What am I here for? Why bother? What values and beliefs shape me? What does the future hold? What does life require of us? What do I want to see made real in my world, in my family, in my church, in my neighborhood, business or workplace? A vision has inner urgency, it inspires greatness and brings about transformation. It provides focus and energy. It raises our expectations and makes demands. It almost always contains both good and bad news. It makes judgments and competes against other visions. It draws people in and drives them away. It makes fools of us but is never foolish. It asks us to risk what is for what might be possible. Conflict is inevitable. Courage is required. With vision, hope arrives. When we as individuals or institutions articulate a vision, one that is grounded in reality and holds the potential for achievement, the vision becomes the “boss” of us. It determines our course of action and drives our decision making. With vision, we may hold ourselves to a higher standard and serve a god of our own making. Reflections: Values and visions go hand in hand, which is why most visions contain an ethical action component. What is a vision you hold for yourself or others? What are the values and assumptions that underlie that preferred reality? How do they shape your ultimate decisions? What are you willing to risk to serve that vision? Can you identify an area that you might need to seek more understanding for or reframe in a different way? Spiritual Practices: Create a vision statement or a vision “map” for yourself. Be realistic and specific. Refer to your map frequently. Devote significant time to following the path you have devised. Ask others to give you feedback, ideas and suggest resources. Test and stretch your vision by examining what you have done, or will do, to make the vision real. Offer this prayer by David Abram as a daily devotion: May a good vision catch me. May a benevolent vision take hold of me, and move me. May a deep and full vision come over me,and burst open around me. May a luminous vision inform me, enfold me. Movies: Barbershop (PG-13); Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (Documentary:NR) Books for Adults (A), Children (C), Youth (Y): For the Time Being by Annie Dillard(A); Awakening Your Potential to Create a Better World by Peter L. Benson (A); Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow by Elizabeth Lesser (A); The Spiritual Emerson, Essential Writings by David M. Robinson (A); King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green (Y); The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan (Y); Martin Luther King by Rosemary L. Bray (C); Nelson Mandela by Lenny Hort (C). 2 Musings from the Minister Why church? What do we so long Church is not just about how we contribute to its making. If last for that makes us get out of bed on a arrive but how we are changed and year was a year of review and Sunday morning when we could just what we put into motion as we go reconciliation, let this be a year of as well stay home, sleep in, play out into the world. renewed commitment to that soccer, read the newspaper or vision. Let this be a year of whatever else might be called for in Church is also the place where movement out and beyond, and of that hour? putting back the “beloved” into we test our core values and beliefs in the context of a vision that our communal life. Some of us say it is because we defines what we intend to want a sense of community, a place of collectively make real in our I look forward to our coming belonging. We want our personal religious community. At the year together, the mutual identities to be affirmed and accepted. Oakland church, our vision is to discovery and growth, the We want to experience a place where create a radically inclusive spiritual deepening and the ways we know that we are welcomed as we community. Our shared ministry is that we will offer leadership and walk through the door, warts, wonders the work of manifesting an care in service of the whole. As and all. intentional multiracial, always and as the year unfolds, I multicultural, multigenerational will be eager to be in conversation Well, it is about being a community. This worthy work is with you about how we are doing welcoming place, to be sure, but it is what calls us together to serve and about how I might best also much more than this. Church is something greater than ourselves. It contribute to our vision and about a journey of the spirit. It is is part of the holy work that shared ministry. intended to be a place of self sustains challenges and changes us See you in church! discovery, of deep inquiry into the along the way.
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