UU Casper & Laramie Zoom Service April 5, 2020 – Kicking-off a Celebration of the Earth! Page 1

Leslie Welcome Good morning! Welcome to the Unitarian Universalist communities of Casper and Laramie Wyoming’s shared worship service. I am Reverend Leslie Kee, minister of the Casper and Laramie UU congregations…… CONTINUED (text to come) Leslie to Introduce chalice lighting and calling the four directions Chalice Lighting & Calling the Four Directions Athne: Invoke East, Air: Element of air, primordial breath shared by all sentient beings, thou art invited into this sacred circle with boundless love & compassion.

Elizabeth: Invoke South, Fire

Robin: invoke West, Watera: Spirit of the West, Element of Water, blanket of snow on the mountains that melts and joins with the rivers that nourish the Earth, Sustainer of Life for all in the interdependent Web on this planet, we invite you into this Sacred Circle and give thanks for your cleansing presence. Blessed Be.

Bren: invoke North, Earth Leslie: invoke center, Spirit Opening Song and Video We Are - Liturgical Dance (music by Sweet Honey in the Rock)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po6Lxqu_GSQ&list=PLqNC6NaJ_LCGnTAkVmdGbYJxwG5eqF _Zr&index=5

Leslie credit dancer and singers

Leslie: Unison Covenant The words of our unison covenant appear in your chat box and I invite you to recite them with me. We are going to unmute everyone for this part so unison won’t exactly be what happens, instead we’ll have cacophony of echoes and delays and it will be a joyous and beautiful noise! Love is the spirit of this church and service is its cause. This is our great covenant, to dwell together in peace, to seek truth in love, and to help one another Leslie Introduce special music: When I Die & Ysaye Barnwell, Sweet Honey in the Rock For almost 50 years Sweet Honey in the Rock has been combining contemporary rhythms and narratives with a musical style rooted in the gospel music, , and of the African-American Church. The ensemble composes much of their own music and, through the years, have addressed a wide range of topics including motherhood, spirituality, freedom, civil rights, domestic violence, women’s issues, immigration issues, racism, and environmental imbalance. The name of the group was derived from a song based on Psalm 81 which tells of a land so rich that when rocks were cracked open, honey flowed from them.

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Sweet Honey in the Rock was founded in 1973 by , who said their first song, in which four women blended their voices, was so powerful there was no question what the name of the group should be. I first encountered Sweet Honey in the Rock in 1979 when I was working backstage security at a gigantic No Nukes Rally on the Mall in Washington DC, and I’ve been in love with their music, their voices, and their passion for justice ever since. One of Sweet Honey in the Rock’s founding members is Ysaye Barnwell. In addition to writing many of the group's songs, Barnwell has been commissioned to create music for dance, choral, film, and stage productions; she also conducts music workshops around the , the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Barnwell earned bachelor and master’s degrees in speech pathology; and then went on to a PhD in speech pathology. In 1981, she also earned a Master of Science in Public health, from Howard University. In addition to being an accomplished academic, she is a UU, and in 1977, Barnwell founded the Jubilee Singers at All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, DC. When I graduated from the UU seminary, Meadville Lombard, in 2009, Ysaye Barnwell had been selected to receive an Honorary Doctorate from the school. During the commencement ceremony, I was in the front row listening to her speech and when she began singing We Are the Ones I sang along while crying my eyes out -- and she kept singing and smiling at me. Afterwards, while I got to sit down and drink punch and eat cake with her, my husband snapped a picture of us – and at that instant when she put her arm around my shoulder and smiled, another one of those amazing circles in life fell into its eternal resting place in my heart. This morning, I’d like to share a recording of Ysaye Barnwell singing her song When I Die because as we take the upcoming few weeks to honor the earth, and in light of the terrible pandemic which is claiming so many lives, I think it’s important to remind ourselves that life and death are part of the same circle – and it is also important for us to remember our life belongs to each of us and our death belongs to each of us also. Since this is a live recording, you’ll get to be part of the audience whose talking and movements you’ll hear as the recording begins, but when Barnwell moves into her song, the background noise will decrease. Again, the picture may be a bit blurry, but you should be able to hear this amazing voice singing this pretty cool song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k58LBsYT-xs

For The Magic of the Earth April 5, 2020 Rev. Leslie Kee Some of you may be wondering why I chose to share Ysaye Barnwell’s song about dying, especially today when the number of deaths from the Covid 19 Pandemic is more than alarming and almost incomprehensible to fathom. Many of us are only able to take in the news a piece at a time because it is so overwhelming – and this, actually, is something we need to do, limit our time with the daily news so we can focus on what each of us needs to concentrate on: doing our respective parts to help flatten the curves of the graphs which are the in-your-face tracking of the rates of infection, hospitalizations, and deaths. I know each of us who has gathered this morning seeking the comfort of seeing each other’s faces, reading messages in our chat boxes, of witnessing hearts crying out for comfort and hope – I know deep in my being that each of us is doing the best we can in these difficult, frightening, and unprecedented circumstances.

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And because I have such deep faith in all of us, and in all our fellow human beings who are responding responsibly, intelligently, and with hearts and minds wide open -- I do have real hope that, as we’ve seen in past crises, our better angels – our best selves, will prevail; and when we eventually get the ‘all clear’ our world- wide human community will learn from the shortcomings, the mistakes, and the blind spots this terrible pandemic has illuminated. And because I believe in evolution in a very broad sense, I know in the long run, humanity will have, yet again, shed much of that which does not cause life to flourish – it’s not a bad thing, it’s just the way it has been from the moment life began on this earth. Because April is synonymous with spring, it’s a tradition in many Unitarian Universalist communities to highlight our 7th principle: celebration and honoring the interdependent web of creation of which we are all apart. For me, honoring the web of creation is a holistic endeavor because my imagery begins with the memory of a beaver dam. Ideally, healthy beaver dams have been constructed in a way that achieves a perfect balance: the holding back of the flow of water so a pond-home for the beaver family is created; while at the same time, the dam structure itself allows just the right amount of water to flow through the woven branches so the pond does not stagnate and die. But make no mistake, even though a healthy beaver dam serves life in that it is a home for the safe procreation and raising of baby beavers, the creation of a dam includes at the same time, death. Trees are killed in order to construct the dam; the nooks and crannies lining the flowing stream lose their flow of aliveness and so the various fresh water inhabitants, like some fish, must relocate or die; and some vegetation which gets permanently submerged does not thrive without the flow of water bringing oxygen and nutrients – you get the picture – in nature, death is part of life. This symbiotic relationship was beautifully captured in the theme song from the Lion King movie, The Circle of Life. For me the circle of life is not like a hoop which just spins around and around, destined to be an endless, purposeless, spinning object stuck in one place. For me, the image varies, so one time it may be the rings within a tree trunk which form each year and mark the growth of the tree. Sometimes I like to envision a spiral, like a stretched out slinky, or a spiral shaped galaxy – poets and artists are so much better than I am at describing this circular nature of life, and since I’m neither, I’ll leave it up to you and your imagination! Many of us who like think about these kinds of things, also have leveled criticism at the corruption of the circle of life, in particular, the intrusion of capitalism and its exploitation of death. Before death and dying became a source of significant profit-making, the end of your life was just that – your own, a very personal ending to, hopefully, a life well-lived. As a minister, I can tell you one of the comforts I get when helping a family prepare for a memorial service when a loved one has died, is to be able to talk about how their loved one was ready to cross over because they had lived a life filled with successes, failures, happiness, sadness, opportunities to create beauty in all its inspiring forms, and most of all they had a life where love flowed freely and abundantly. For me, there is such a thing as a good death, it’s what I want mine to be and I’m trying to do what Ysaye Barnwell sang about – put those plans in place so when the time comes, my loved ones will know where to scatter my ashes or plant my bones! Because we are living in a moment in time when this horrendous pandemic is causing so much unplanned death, I believe the earth can be an ultimate source of comfort. The earth is home to the bones and spirits of all our ancestors, and so all of the earth is sacred. For those who believe in God, it is where God can be found. For those who believe in no-God, it is where the source of ultimate meaning and inspiration can be found. We began our time together this morning calling the eternal energies and forces inherent within nature which have been acknowledged, interacted with, and respected by humans since the beginning.

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Today, especially, it is important to remember that, even in times of great suffering and death, the earth is our home – it is the place for our birth, it is the place for our living, it is the place for our death. The earth and all its inhabitants are made of star dust; and through some still unknown occurrence within that primordial mix of earth, air, fire and water – there was a spark of life which began moving and transforming itself into an endless spiral -- circles of life luminating endless arrays of sparkles and glowing streams of magical light. In human kinships, life’s spirals are infused with elements like curiosity, imagination, ingenuity, and courageous love – all the while we are instinctually responding to that eternal song of transformation which beckons and invites us to dance while we speak the ancient words once again: Spirits of the East: we celebrate and honor the power of air, and the turning of another circle as cold winter air yields to the warm air of spring. Spirits of the West: we celebrate and honor the power of fire as we have gathered once again to travel together for a short while as we journey toward enlightenment. Spirits of the West: we celebrate and honor the power of water as we seek the forgiveness which comes through the cleansing and regenerative power of water. Spirits of the North: we celebrate and honor the power of earth as we have gathered together to strengthen our resolve to sow, plant, and nurture the seeds which will become the food which sustains the flourishing of all life. Spirits of the Center, the power of all creation and life: we give thanks for the beloved community we recreate each time we gather together to affirm those shared values which guide and fortify us – from the day of our birth until the day of our death – on this beautiful earth we call home. So May It Be, Amyn Joys and Concerns Elizabeth: (can introduce in own words?) This community is one of love, compassion, and support for each other and for all people. This morning, all of us are carrying within our hearts both joys and concerns. Sharing with others can amplify our joys and soothe our concerns and sorrows, even in our virtual setting. If you feel moved to share with our beloved community, you are invited to type your joys or concerns into the chat box. ---- I will light one last candle for the unspoken joys and concerns we hold in our hearts. Elizabeth continues: Let us join apart and together to sing Spirit of Life. Spirit of Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcFZ32EHexY

Sharing the Fruits of our Labor and Good Fortune Leslie: We have yet to figure out how to virtually pass the offering basket during our online service, so instead we want to say thank you to everyone for your generous financial support of your UU congregation and encourage you to continue that support. As with many other organizations, your UU congregations will feel the negative financial impact of social distancing. Please notice the

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addresses for both congregations in you chat box – and thank you again for your continued generosity and support of our beloved communities and our important ministries. To donate to UU Casper: Mail your check to UU Casper, 1040 West 15th St. Casper WY 82604, or donate online by clicking on Donate at uucasper.org. To donate to UU Laramie: Mail your check to UUFL, 1402 Gibbon St., Laramie, WY 82072. UU Laramie is working on setting up several online payment options, so please watch your email for instructions to come. Leslie: Prayer (Sent to me by Inge Kutchins) Benediction by, BERNADETTE MILLER May you taste the colors of sunset, may you touch the chorus of dawn, may your eyes turn toward the beauty even when it’s gone.

May you weave a path of blessing through ecstasy and grief. May you tend the flame within you may you feed it with belief.

May you find yourself in strangers and meet them within you. May you trust that we are windows the world is peering through.

May you linger in each moment, receiving with your heart the gift of possibilities that presence can impart.

May you become a portal to the love behind your toil, may you become a silence within the world’s turmoil.

May the prayers that grow within you bloom in many lands. We are woven of connections and peace is in our hands. Amyn

Music/Song Give Love - SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK® https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEaL4jbVeVw

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UUCasper/UUFL Brief Announcements Closing Song – Leslie to introduce “Be Safe, Be Well,” written and performed by Dan Berggren, a member of the Assoc of UU Music Ministers. https://www.facebook.com/1168714277/videos/10221483192367066/ Closing Blessing & Extinguish Chalice

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