Dear Ones:

Once again we approach the end of a congregational year. Once again I wish to thank you, the mem­bers and friends of UUS:E, for allowing me to serve as your minister. It is a blessing to work in your midst, to hear the details of your lives, to bear witness to your joys and sorrows, to know your frustrations and aspira­tions, to join with you in struggles for social justice, to explore the contours of your spiritual lives, to preach, teach and, most importantly, to be present. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

From June 21^st to June 28^th I will be at the Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly in Charlotte, NC. I am looking forward to seeing many old friends and colleagues. I am also pleased to be co­leading a number of workshops, including an antiracism training for new members of the UUA Board of Trus­tees.

When I return from Charlotte, I will begin my summer vacation and study leave. While I will be preaching a few times at UUS:E during the summer months, I will be effectively on leave from UUS:E during July and August. I am looking forward to a relaxing summer. I hope to complete a few long-put-off tasks around the house, as well as take a few excursions with my family. I wish you a wonderful summer and hope you find time for renewal and relaxation.

***

I have recently begun work on my professional goals for next year. While they are not yet fully elabo­rated, I would like to share my preliminary thoughts with you here. Please note that each of these goals is con­sistent with UUS:E’s emerging strategic plan which will be presented to the congregation at is fall meeting:

I will work with UUS:E staff and key committee chairs to begin developing UUS:E’s capacity for antirac­ist, multicultural ministry.

I will work with UUS:E leaders to begin laying the groundwork for future program staff hires, including the long-term goal of calling a second, full-time minister.

I will develop my skills in the use of electronic media to more fully support and expand UUS:E’s web-based presence and possibly future ministries.

I will work to expand opportunities for spiritual learning and growth in partnership with UUS:E’s Adult Religious Education Committee.

If you have questions about these goals, please do not hesitate to contact me. For now, have a great sum­mer!

Dear Ones:

I hope and trust you are enjoying this spring after such a long, snowy winter. In the midst of writing sermons, preparing for Easter, working on various social justice initiatives, conducting pastoral visits and at­tending many, many UUS:E meetings, I am doing something new this spring. I am coaching Mason’s Little League baseball team! Part of me is asking, what was I thinking when I said yes to this? Glastonbury Little League teams have three practices per week (including Sundays!). Really, what was I thinking? I don’t have time for this. 

But another part of me knows what I was thinking. When I was in third grade, my father signed me and my twin brother up to play Little League. We didn’t want to, but he made us. His father had done the same thing to him in Baltimore in the early 1950s. My father had loved it then, and once we started playing in the mid-1970s, we loved it too. Well, my nine-year-old, Mason, didn’t want to play either. But now that practices have begun he seems to be loving it too. And so am I. I haven’t been around baseball for thirty years, but the game is coming back to me. I’ve been pitching batting practice twice a week for an hour at a time. My arm is chronically sore, but it’s a sweet soreness. And there’s more sweetness: the feel of the baseball in my hand, the smell of the infield dirt, the sound of the bat connecting solidly with the ball. 

What I love about Little League (and I suppose this is true with most kids’ sports) is that kids learn both physical and mental skills. And they develop individual skills and coordination as well as collective, team skills. There are parallels with our spiritual lives. As I’ve said many times, the well-lived spiritual life is a full life, a whole life. It requires attention to the body as well as the mind. And it requires individual searching and practice as well as collective engagement (in worship, social justice activism, service work, committee in­volvement, etc.).  I’m not suggesting just that baseball (or any sport) is a good metaphor for the spiritual life. More than that, I’m recognizing an inherent spirituality in baseball itself.   

And perhaps what I enjoy most is that Mason and I have an activity we are invested in together. We each have a role on the team. We each have a responsibility to the team. It’s a nice way to connect, father and son. It’s a nice way to grow together. I confess I worry from time to time that with a minister’s odd schedule I will not have the opportunity to do things with my children that most parents get to do. Well, this spring I am testing that, and so far it is working. For now I’m glad. Check with me in June to see how well I’ve survived this new spring activity!

With love, 

Rev. Josh

Dear Ones:

When describing what Unitarian Universalist congregations do, Patrick Murphin (a UU from Wood-stock, IL and long-time peace and justice activist) says, “We build temples in the heart.” In a poem of that same name he writes: Yes here we build temples in our hearts. Side by side we come, scavenging the ages for wisdom, cobbling together as best we may the stones of a thousand altars, leveling with doubt, framing with skepticism, measuring by logic, sinking firm foundations in the earth, as we reach for the heavens. Here we build temples in our hearts—a temple for each heart, a village of temples, none shading another, connected by well-worn paths, built alike on sacred ground.

As we rapidly approach our 2011 annual appeal, I offer you this image for why we give as generously as we can to our congregation and to Unitarian Universalism: We build temples in the heart. Yes, we give generously because we want a congregation that provides excellent religious education programs for our¬selves and our children. Yes, we give generously because we want a congregation that can move the wider community towards peace and justice. Yes, we give generously because we want excellent music—both op¬portunities to hear it and perform it! Yes, we give generously because we want worship that moves us— moves our minds, our hearts, our spirits. But at the center of it all, what are we doing? Building temples in our hearts. That is, building our capacity to recognize and celebrate the sacredness of life; building our ca¬pacitity for connecting with that sacredness and orienting our lives to it; building our capacity to make wise, ethical decisions and engage in wise, ethical living; building that capacity together in loving spiritual com¬munity. In Murphin’s words, we are building a village of temples, none shading another, connected by well-worn parths, built alike on sacred ground.

Our congregation is in good financial shape. We are currently operating at a smaller loss than antici¬pated. We have decent reserves due to the excellent financial management of our building project and our receiving of a grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund. Still, we are setting ambitious goals for the next few years. We want to make sure we are fully funding our mortgage payments. We want to radically expand our adult religious education programming. And, perhaps most importantly, we want to expand our staff in order to meet the needs of this vibrant, thriving liberal religious haven on Elm Hill in Manchester, east of the Connecticut River. For these reasons, please consider making as generous a pledge as possible. Let us continue building temples in our hearts.

Thank you.

With love,

Rev. Josh

Dear Ones:

Now this is winter! There have been big snow falls—and frequent snow falls—in New England over the years. But not since the blizzard of ’78 do I remember anything like the more than two feet that fell on Wednesday, January 12^th. My boys were in heaven with two days off from school. After the storm on the 12th we had six more inches of frozen, wet mess on the 18^th and another day off from school. And now, as I write, we’re looking at more snow the weekend of the 22^nd. To all you snowbirds in Florida and Arizona who re­ceive this newsletter: we miss you! Come back soon . . . . We could use the help shoveling.

Snow is, among other things, a natural reminder to slow down. I had trouble heeding this winter advice. The universe was speaking to me saying—“slow down!”—and I ignored it. That was a mistake. I was determined to get to some meeting on time in the aftermath of one of those January storms. Tired and sore from shoveling out the top of the driveway, dis­tracted by my malfunctioning garage door opener, I pulled out of my garage without re­membering to shut my car door. The loud crack brought me back to my senses. If the snow hadn’t been able to get me to take a break, a broken car door did.

My mechanic had a good laugh. He reminded me that the same thing happened at this time last year. He was right. I had to laugh too. I want to re-introduce the idea of “prayers of orientation” this month. Prayer is our theologi­cal theme for February. I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means for Unitarian Univer­salists to pray. Prayer is, after all, one of those haunting words (see my Oct. 17^th sermon for a reminder)

I am a theist, but I don’t believe in a god who answers prayers. I can’t imagine how such a god could exist. So I don’t engage in petitionary prayers (asking god for something). I prefer prayers of orienta­tion. That is, simple words that orient me to my day; words that remind me how I want to be today, how I want to treat others, how I want to feel. The one who most needs to hear them is me.

     May I remember to move at winter’s pace and go slowly on this day when ice and  snow make travel treacherous.

     May I remember to breathe deeply when things (like car doors) break.

     May I move through my day with an open mind, an open heart, an open spirit.

     May I find peace this day.

With love, Rev. Josh

Dear Ones:

Happy New Year! I wish for you much joy and happiness in 2011. I wish for you the support of caring family and friends in those times when you face difficulty and challenge. I wish for you inward time for reflection, self-care and growth. And I wish for you outward time for creativity, exploration and passion. May it be a great year!

I want to mention three social justice initiatives that I am currently involved in and that I will be speaking about from time to time—especially when there are opportunities for you to get involved. First, a coalition called “Connecticut Equality” is once again bringing a transgender anti-discrimination bill to the state legislature. This bill seeks to add “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the state’s nondiscrimination statutes. I have been involved in organizing workshops for clergy to learn more about transgender concerns and how they and their congregations can support this legislation. Our January 9th worship service is called “Transgender Lives.” We will have guests from Connecticut Equality joining us that day.

Second, as a member of the Interfaith Fellowship for Universal Healthcare, I will be working hard on another bill to implement Sustinet, Connecticut’s public healthcare option. Sustinet was became law in 2009. This year it needs to be formally implemented. Those of us involved in this effort believe Sustinet will save Connecticut hundreds of millions of dollars in healthcare costs, as well as bring hundreds of millions of federal healthcare dollars to the state. More importantly, Sustinet will bring us very close to the goal of accessible, affordable, quality healthcare for every Connecticut resident.

Finally, I am very hopeful that a partnership between Manchester Community College, the Manchester and East Hartford faith communities, and a variety of elected officials can organize a series of community conversations on the race-based educational achievement gap. Connecticut’s achievement gap is among the most atrocious in the nation. I am convinced that while schools and school officials have the primary responsibility to erase the gap, they cannot do it alone. We need the entire community to be engaged, and that’s what these community conversations are all about.

There’s more. There’s always more. But these are three areas to which I will be dedicating a significant amount of my public ministry over the next six months. I hope you’ll be inspired to get involved in some way as opportunities arise. Please contact me if you have further questions.

With love,

Rev. Josh

Dear Ones:

Seasons Greetings! Former UUS:E member, the Rev. Mary Wellemeyer, has written a wonderful meditation entitled “Christmas Eve Night.” I want to share it here, in a slightly adapted form, to help you reflect on the meaning of the holiday season in your life.

Like those shepherds who were on the hillsides with their flocks, like those wise ones in their observatories with their telescopes and astronomical charts, we find our daily work interrupted by these holidays. Like them, we can’t keep on working, we have to listen to singing angels, we have to deal with the call of that special star. The little town of Bethlehem is thronged with people who have come to be taxed, crowding streets and shops, and we have to find our way to an unknown place where a wonderful new beginning awaits.

What precious new beginning are you seeking this season? For what do you push through crowds?

What have the angels told you? What is the call of the star in your life?

Our theme for December is hope. Perhaps it seems an obvious choice. The story of Christmas is a hopeful story. The story of Hanukah is a hopeful story. Any story that focuses on light in a time of darkness is a hopeful story. Even so, hope is not always easy to find. And given the many dilemmas and challenges in our country and our world—most notably the ongoing economic recession—hope often seems in short supply.

This is why I like Mary Wellemeyer’s reading. Her questions remind me about one very significant source of hope in our lives. At their core these questions ask us to reflect on things about which we are truly passionate. I’ve noticed that I am most hopeful when my living is aligned with my passions. I’ve noticed that I feel most whole, most fulfilled and most alive when my living is aligned with my passions.

I am passionate about living with integrity and authenticity. I am passionate about family and community.

I am passionate about seeking justice for the oppressed. I am passionate about playing with and reading to my children. I am passionate about fairness, equality and inclusion. I am passionate about Unitarian Universalism and being a person of faith. Each time I come back to these things I feel hopeful. I feel like I’m experiencing a new beginning, like I’m pushing through crowds, like the angels are speaking, like the star is calling.

May you find your passion in this holiday season. My you find your source of hope.

With love,

Rev. Josh

Hallelujah

Dear Ones:

Up until our building rededication service on September 19th, I confess I was so focused on the details—and there were a lot of details—that it was difficult for me to slow down and look at how beautiful our new space is. I knew that the Architect, Construction and Engineering Committee was working with building professionals who understood that our building needed to express a certain elegance and grace. And I knew that, starting last year, the Project Aesthetics Team was spending countless hours (not to mention hearing countless opinions) figuring out where the furniture ought to go, what we ought to hang on our walls, how the hanging ought to be done, etc.

At the building rededication ceremony Mary Anne Handley brought greetings to UUS:E from the Connecticut General Assembly and presented us with a legislative citation. The citation congratulates UUS:E on the success of our project, on our efforts to build in environmentally sustainable ways, on our efforts to make our building accessible to all, and on our efforts to create a beautiful sanctuary. I’m so glad those final words were included in the citation.

In my rare free moments at 153 West Vernon St., I’ve recently taken to wandering through the meetinghouse. Just wandering. Just looking. Just breathing. It is a beautiful space. It invokes in me a sense of peace and comfort. On late afternoons the autumn sun beams through the south-facing sanctuary windows; little islands of light rest on the oak floor. The whole room is warm, quiet, soft; the interplay of shadow and light touches something in me that is beyond words. That’s what beauty does.

Throughout the project there was talk of reducing the carbon footprint, installing geo-thermal, being accessible, creating enough parking spaces, expanding the square footage, adhering to the fire codes. I don’t remember much discussion of beauty. There must have been, because it didn’t get that way by accident! I offer my heartfelt thanks to those who paid attention to beauty. And I offer my heartfelt thanks to Lesley Schurmann and the Project Aesthetics Team who’ve done so much to make “each casual corner bloom into a shrine,” as the hymn says. What a remarkable effort.

Our theological theme for the month of November is faith. As I wander through the meeting house in these mid-autumn days, as the sun rests softly on the oak floor, I am learning to put my faith in beauty.

With love,

Josh

Dear Ones:

Welcome to October. Welcome to the beating heart of autumn in New England. Welcome to the season of harvest festivals. Welcome to the season of changing leaves, falling leaves, first frosts and first snows. There’s a poem in our hymnal from the late Rev. Robert Terry Weston that says, “Autumn, we know, is life en route to death. The asters are but harbingers of frost. The trees, flaunting their colors at the sky, in other times will follow where the leaves have fallen, and so shall we.”

So shall we.

All seasons offer up their metaphors. Autumn offers us, among others, “life en route to death.” This is why I want us to explore the theme of salvation during the month of October. Salvation has something to do with “life en route to death.” Of course, there are many definitions of this word. (Some are mentioned elsewhere in this newsletter.) We are typically most familiar with current Christian uses of the term which equate salvation with eternal life and which contend that one must have faith in Jesus Christ in order to achieve it. But most Unitarian Universalists don’t profess that kind of faith. Ours is a far more earth-bound faith, rather than a “bound-for-heaven” faith. Our faith is far more concerned with what happens in this life, rather than with what happens after we die. But, Still we die. Or, as the Rev. poet says, “So shall we.” And given that we shall die, the question that constantly confronts me is, “how shall we live?”

When I ask, “What saves us?” I’m really asking us to reflect on the things that give our lives meaning and purpose. Because as Unitarian Universalist, our salvation tends to come through the things that give our lives meaning and purpose. As Howard Thurman has said—and as I have quoted in this column and in other sermons—“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

On Sunday October 10^th we will have a lay-service addressing salvation from this perspective. I will offer my reflections on salvation on October 17^th. Then, on October 31^st, we will hold our annual Day of the Dead celebration. It is my hope and prayer that our reflections on “this life” salvation will make us all come alive in new ways.

With Love,

Rev. Josh