Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma

The purpose of this congregation is to provide a haven where members can share in a spiritually, culturally, and socially diverse local religious community. We envision a congregation that will be welcoming to all, that values the contributions of each member in shared ministry, and that actively promotes and models individual development of an ethical way of living. We are intentionally intergenerational, and covenant to provide religious education and spiritual growth for children and adults.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Dia de los Muertos




Our altar from today's Dia de Los Muertos service.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Religious Education Update: October 29, 2006

Interconnections Across Time-

I often think of my paternal grandparents, people I never met. I have visited their gravesites and marveled at the beauty of what was their backyard, Bryce Canyon in Utah.

My grandparents gave birth to my father, the thirteenth child in the family, in 1906. There were three parents in the family at the time, my grandparents and my grandmother’s younger sister, who was also married to my grandfather. The three of them happily practiced polygamy for twenty-five years, at a time in which Utah had prohibited the institution. They were active in the Mormon Church, and together raised thirteen of their fifteen children to adulthood.

They came from hearty Welsh stock, and raised their children to be strong and ethical people. Their circumstances were much more challenging than my own. In 1906, when my father was an infant, their houses didn’t have indoor plumbing or central heating. They grew much of their own food and sewed their own clothing. However, they saved their pennies and were able to send just one child on a Mormon mission- my father. My father went on the mission, preached on street corners in Appalachia, lost his faith, left the church, and refused any involvement in organized religion for the rest of his life.

I am fortunate to have copies of my grandparents’ journals, so that I can read about their lives in their own writing. I am also fortunate to have their strong Welsh DNA in each of my cells, which will, hopefully, allow me to live into my eighties or nineties, as they did.

Many of my beliefs come from my grandfather, through my father. Grandfather believed in the inherent worth and dignity of every person. He befriended the Native Americans who lived in Southern Utah, unlike most of the other white people of his time. Grandfather served on the county school board, working to improve children’s lives. As a farmer and sheepherder, he had a deep respect for the earth which provided his livelihood. He made up his own mind about religion, rejecting some Mormon dogma.

My lifetime doesn’t overlap with theirs, but I still feel their legacy, both biologically and philosophically. I see my legacy in my children. My reddish hair reappears in my older son’s beard. My children are religiously and politically liberal. I truly hope that I will meet my grandchildren someday, and know that I may even see a legacy in them. Each of us has an inherited legacy from our ancestors, and we all impact the lives that will come after us, in many ways, large and small. Will we do what we can to protect the earth that future generations will inherit from us? Will we build a society that values every individual? In today’s celebration of El Dia de los Muertos, let us remember the gifts of past generations and be mindful of our responsibilities towards generations yet to be born.

Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education

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Thursday, October 26, 2006

This Week at UUP: October 25-November 1


The Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma
An Oasis for Heart and Mind Every Sunday in Downtown Petaluma


For complete up-to-date info on the Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma, see our website: http://www.uupetaluma.org
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SUNDAY SERVICES

(Social time with refreshments begins at 10:00 am, at the Petaluma Woman's Club, 518 B Street. Worship service begins at 10:30 am. )

Sunday, October 29: "Dia de Los Muertos"
Worship Associate, Meredith Guest
Death is one of those topics about which we'd rather not think. It brings up life's hardest emotions: grief, fear and even anger. No wonder we avoid it. Yet death is part of life and on Dia de los Muertos we embrace--with both tears and laughter--its reality. For this intergenerational service, we invite you to bring a photo or some object to place on the special altar in memory of a loved one (human or otherwise) who has passed into The Mystery.

Sunday, November 5: "Liberally Religious and Proud of It":
Guest Speaker: Jan Ogren
How did liberal religion become so shy? Increasingly, when there are public debates concerning religion, the religion referred to is conservative, as though the liberal religious option does not exist. Let's journey back to see when this was not the case, and explore if pride can be more healthful than sinful. Jan Ogren is a licensed psychotherapist, writer and public speaker. She is a life-long UU and has spoken at many UU congregations, including UUP.

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Three-Week Orientation for Prospective Members of UUP Continues This Sunday

If you've been considering joining as a member of UUP, we will welcome new members on November 12 during our regular Sunday service. If you have questions about Unitarian Universalism or about our congregation, we are offering two more opportunities, following the services on October 29 (this Sunday!) and November 5, to join with others in brief (half-hour or so) conversations. The next two Sundays' sessions will be informal meetings with long-time UUP members who will talk about the history of UUP, our governance or budget, or answer any questions you may have. We will also spend some time sharing our individual faith journeys that led us to UUP.

If you have questions, please ask David Dodd or anyone on the Membership Committee!

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Green Sanctuary Initiative
See this UUP Blog post for information on the Green Sanctuary, and a spot to make comments and have a conversation among ourselves:

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Halloween Party, October 29
Come to a monstrous gathering on Sunday, October 29! Join fellow UUPers for a ghastly pot-luck at the home of KC, Matt, Bailey and Harley. BYOP (pumpkin) to carve, and a dish to share. Come in costume, or we will really think you are scary! Let's party from 4:30-7:00. Need directions or more information? Call KC. RAIN CANCELS.
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Regularly Scheduled Gatherings
The UUP choir Larking About will meet Sunday, October 29 at 9:30 am at the Woman's Club. No practice on Halloween!

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If you have changed your email address or would like to be added to or removed from the UUP list, please email us at uupetaluma at gmail dot com.

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Monday, October 23, 2006

A Chosen Faith

The latest manifestation of the book study on "A Chosen Faith" has begun with a nice group of lively seekers meeting after Sunday service. The first meeting was held on October 15 during which we introduced ourselves and shared our spiritual backgrounds. Those who would still like to join can do so by attending our next session on November 12 when we will discuss Part One of the book: "Awakening and Experience." We have copies of this fine book for sale at $10, as well as one available for borrowing.


All this is to say that it isn't too late to join! There will be only one session in November, the 12th, and two in December, the 3rd and 17th. We will decide on January meetings later on.

Along with studying "A Chosen Faith" we are going to work at building our own theological lexicon, starting with key words from the title: Choice, and Faith. Do we chose or is all determined for us? Is faith believing something without evidence, or a hopeful life stance? The UU approach is that all such religious terms are defined by ourselves based on sharing with others, including the wisdom of the past.

Happy reading.

Earl


Saturday, October 21, 2006

Mother's Club Coordinates "Project Night Night"

UUP member Adee Swanson forwarded this item for us to consider helping with:

From October 24 – November 7, The Petaluma Mother's Club will conduct a product drive to collect the following “like new” and new items on behalf of Project Night Night, a Northern California-based nonprofit organization:

Children's books
blankets
stuffed animals
combs
brushes
lip balm
girls hair bands or clips
toothbrushes
small toothpaste
small flashlights
writing journals with pen or pencil
slipper socks

Project Night Night is dedicated to improving the lives of homeless children, one sweet dream at a time. To that end, Project Night Night donates individual tote bags, each filled with an age-appropriate book, a baby blanket, a stuffed animal, and other items in an effort to help homeless children sleep better while in the shelter system.

You can drop off items at the following locations:

Fruit in Motion - 3 4th St
Petaluma Market – 210 Western Avenue
24 Hour Fitness - 6 Petaluma Blvd N
Petaluma Police Dept. - 969 Petaluma Blvd N

At the conclusion of the product drive, The Petaluma Mother's Club will assemble the items into Night Night Packages for distribution to homeless children in Petaluma area shelters.

Project Night Night believes that every child deserves to have his or her nighttime needs met. By providing objects of reliable comfort, Project Night Night seeks to advance the emotional and cognitive well-being of each child it helps. Their Night Night Packages contain the fundamental items of childhood. Every child who receives a Night Night Packages leaves the shelter with a book which encourages reading and family bonding, a security blanket which can be cuddled, and a stuffed animal which can become a cherished friend.

To learn more about the Petaluma Mother's Club, please visit our website at www.petalumamothersclub.org

To learn more about Project Night Night, please visit their website at www.ProjectNightNight.org.

Project Night Night is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation.
Federal Tax Identification number: 20-2877016

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Religious Education Update: October 22


Dia de los Muertos

Today the children will learn about Dia de lost Muertos, the Day of the Dead. The original celebration can be traced back to the Aztecs, who had a Lady of the Dead ritual dedicated to children and the dead during what is now July and August. In Mexico’s postconquest era, the holiday was moved by Spanish priests to coincide with the Christian holiday of All Hallow’s Eve.

Modern Mexican families create an altar in their homes for the holiday, and decorate it with items that they feel are beautiful and attractive to their departed ones. Such items include flowers and food, photographs of the departed or articles of clothing that their loved ones wore. This is done to entice the dead and make sure that their spirits actually return to take part in the remembrance.

Many Unitarian Universalist churches celebrate the holiday at this time. For UU’s, the observance is a time to remember and celebrate the lives of loved ones, including relatives, friends and pets.

Peter Morales of the UU Church of Davis wrote the following description of a UU service at his church:

“The rich sound of congregant Sue Saum's flute filled the sanctuary with a soft, pensive tune as members of the Unitarian Church of Davis, California, came up quietly to a simple but colorful altar, placing on it photographs and mementos of loved ones. As part of a regular Sunday service, I had delivered a homily about death and remembrance, then invited the congregation to take part in a special ritual. I began by placing on the altar a photograph of my mother, Oralia, who had died a few months before. Virtually every member of the congregation followed suit. Those without a memento brought a flower and put it on the altar. I looked out and saw that there was hardly a dry eye among the 175 worshipers. Something deep, sacred, and joyous was occurring.

I was overwhelmed by the depth of feeling I had unwittingly touched. It was only the third service I had led, and the ritual of remembrance, which I'd adapted from the Mexican Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) tradition, was something of an experiment. I was so worried it might not work at this highly intellectual congregation in a university town that I had made sure there were some shills in the pews. With a few helpers guaranteed to participate, I thought, "At least this won't turn into an utter disaster."

Part of the genius of the Día de los Muertos is the way it mixes celebration and mourning. Like a good UU memorial service, it both affirms life and gives us a chance to share our grief.

After the ritual, dozens of people came up to thank me. A retired man in his 70s stands out in my memory. He opened his wallet and showed me a slip of paper with the name of a dear friend killed in World War II. Having carried that name in wallet after wallet for more than 50 years, the man told me this was the first time he had been able to remember that friend in an open, public way in his faith community. Days after the ceremony, I received a note from a leader of the congregation thanking me for giving her permission to grieve.

We sophisticated UUs are apt to see the Día de los Muertos as primitive or quaint. Surely, few of us share the cosmology of rural Mexicans who lay out favorite foods in memory of a dead relative. If I do this with my mother's favorite foods (maybe one of my aunt Amelia's wonderful Christmas tamales or her calabacita stew), I don't believe her spirit will return and be pleased at being remembered. Nor do I believe my mother will hear her favorite old Mexican tunes if I play a recording of them.

Yet if we dismiss the Day of the Dead as pure superstition, we can easily miss the profound spiritual and psychological insight that makes this tradition powerful. A Mexican boy spending the night at his uncle's grave has a connection across time with his forebearers that our children do not. While we dwellers in a technological age are connected to the World Wide Web, cellular phones, and cable tv, have message machines, voice mail, pagers, and call waiting, we have cut ourselves off from the web of time. Traditional cultures, with their mediums and ghosts and reincarnations, have understood intuitively something we've repressed: the dead don't die; they live on.

I'm not speaking metaphysically or theologically. I'm talking about the very real stuff of memory, history, and molecular biology. Look in the mirror. The DNA of your ancestors is alive in you. Look at your children and grandchildren and see yourself and your ancestors. Think of the decisions made by your parents and grandparents. Their choices shaped your life. And the choices we make every day shape the lives of those to come. The interconnections stretch across time.

This is what the Día de los Muertos reminds us of, and this is its power. A simple ceremony of remembrance puts us in touch with our place in time and our mortality, and it reminds us that to live is to create a legacy that endures for generations.”

Next Sunday, we will have a Day of the Dead service at UUP to remember and celebrate our interconnections that stretch across time. Please bring photographs or mementos of those beings who remain precious to you, though no longer alive. These photographs could be of relatives, friends, or beloved pets. It will be a time of sharing happy and sad feelings, while honoring our place in the continuum of time.

Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education

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Sunday, October 15, 2006

Starr King Statue in Capitol Statuary Hall: Action Needed

The following is quoted from the Pacific Central District's weekly email, written by the District Executive, Cilla Raughley. Hurray for Cilla, and for Senator Debra Bowen.

The plaque on the sarcophagus of Thomas Starr King reads, “Apostle of liberty, humanitarian, Unitarian, minister, who in the Civil War bound California to the Union and led her to excel all other states in support of the United States Sanitary Commission, predecessor to the American Red Cross. His statue, together with that of Father Junipero Serra, represents California in the national capitol. His name is borne by a Yosemite peak. ‘A man to match our mountains.’”

Our September 4, 2006 issue of PCD Currents reported on the California Legislature’s vote to replace the statue of Thomas Starr King with one of Ronald Regan in the US Capitol Hall of Statues. We now have a welcomed update. California State Senator Debra Bowen, who is also a member of the UU Church of Santa Monica and currently running for Secretary of State, is working to revisit this vote (which was not unanimous as reported in the press–she voted in opposition).

Bowen notes, “...it was not possible to replace statues in the National Statuary Hall until recently, (and so) California has no process for making that determination. The Senate Joint Resolution that was used to authorize this change is more commonly used for internal legislative business, or for non-binding resolutions. Because of the manner in which Senate Joint Resolution 3 was taken up, there was no advance notice that the measure would come up for a vote on August 31. There was no opportunity for anyone to discuss the proposal to replace one of California’s two representatives in National Statuary Hall–statues that have stood for 75 years.”

Bowen is claiming this issue is one that should be discussed publicly, and that the statue may not be removed until (1) the governor signs a letter to the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress requesting the changes, and (2) that the Joint Committee approves it. She has made a formal request to Governor Schwarzenegger that he not sign such a letter without first establishing a public process for discussion.

Bowen is asking something of all of us as well. She is asking that we each contact the Governor, the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress, and our two California representatives to that committee. Let’s do it. Today. (Letters from our subscribers who live in other states are welcomed as well! Let them know the whole country is watching.) Special thanks to the UU Legislative Ministry of CA for keeping us all informed! I will spell out all links below for ease of use for our newsletter editors.

The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger
Governor, State of California
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone (916) 445- 2841
Fax (916) 445-4633
Email on website www.govmail.ca.g ov

Joint Committee on the Library of Congress
1309 LHOB
Washington, D.C. 20515- 6157
Phone (202) 225-8281
Email on website www.clerk.house.gov/committee/index.html

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren
102 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone (202) 225-3072
Fax (2020)225- 3336
email on website www.house.gov/lofgren/emailform.shtml

Congresswoman Juanita Millender- McDonald
2445 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone (202) 225-7924
Fax (202) 225- 7926

Additional information about Thomas Starr King
--www.sksm.edu/about/thomas_starr_king.php
--www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/thoma sstarrking.html
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Starr_King

Additional information about the sculptor, Haig Patigian
www.askart.com/askart/p/haig_patigia n/haig_patigian.aspx

Additional information about the National Statuary Hall
www.aoc.gov/ cc/art/nsh

Contact Debra Bowen
(916) 651- 4028
email senator.bowen@sen.ca.gov

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Friday, October 13, 2006

This Week at UUP: October 11-18


The Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma
An Oasis for Heart and Mind Every Sunday in Downtown Petaluma


For complete up-to-date info on the Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma, see our website: www.uupetaluma.org
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SUNDAY SERVICES

(Social time with refreshments begins at 10:00 am, at the Petaluma Woman's Club, 518 B Street. Worship service begins at 10:30 am. )

Sunday, October 15: "Restoring the Web"
Worship Associate, Stacey Meinzen
"Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part" is a cornerstone of the UU faith. Unitarian Universalists tend to be nature-lovers and environmentalists, but what do we do as a collective body to live out this principle? Come hear about what we are doing to live out the 7th principle as a congregation and our plans for the "Green Sanctuary" project.

Sunday, October 22: "We, the People."
Regular Guest Minister: Leland Bond-Upson
". . . in order to form a more perfect union . . ." As an important election nears, we do well to refresh our sense of civics and civility, of demonstrations of democracy, and the crucial duties required of us when we, the people--not kings or dictators--are sovereign.

Sunday, October 29: "Dia de Los Muertos"
Worship Associate, Meredith Guest
An intergenerational celebration of the Day of the Dead.
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Book Club this Sunday!

A group led by Earl Cruser will begin its regular book club meeting this Sunday to discuss A Chosen Faith, An introduction to Unitarian Universalism. Join the group on Sunday at noon at the Woman's Club if you are interested.
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UUP Shares the Plate this Sunday with Petaluma Wetlands Alliance

As part of UUP's ongoing commitment to be involved in and supportive of our community, we will split the proceeds of our non-pledge offering this Sunday with the Petaluma Wetlands Alliance. The Alliance characterizes their work as follows on their website at www.petalumawetlandspark.org: "The Petaluma Wetlands Alliance (PWA), a committee of Madrone Audubon, is dedicated to the creation, restoration and stewardship of publicly accessible wetlands and wildlife habitats. We support Shollenberger Park, Alman Marsh, the new wastewater treatment property, and future wetland sites in the watershed. PWA works with local governments, environmental organizations and other groups to educate the public about the ecology and value of wetlands."

Last month's Share-the-Plate offering resulted in UUP making a $108 donation to Petaluma People Services. Each of the six groups selected this year will receive the proceeds of two Share-the-Plate offerings between September 2006 and August 2007.
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Three-Week Orientation for Prospective Members of UUP

If you've been considering joining as a member of UUP, we will welcome new members on November 12 during our regular Sunday service. If you have questions about Unitarian Universalism or about our congregation, we are offering three opportunities (come to one, two or three!) following the services on October 22, 29 and November 5, to join with others in brief (half-hour or so) conversations. The first will be led by our regular guest minister Leland Bond-Upson on October 22 and will focus on a broad view of Unitarian Universalism. Leland is well-qualified to answer questions on this topic. The following Sundays' sessions will be informal meetings with long-time UUP members who will talk about the history of UUP, our governance or budget, or answer any questions you may have. We will also spend some time sharing our individual faith journeys that led us to UUP.

If you have questions, please ask David Dodd or anyone on the Membership Committee!
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Regularly Scheduled Gatherings

-The UUP Women's Group will meet Monday, Oct. 16 at 7:30 pm at KC's house.
-The UUP choir Larking About will meet Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 8 pm at David and Diana's house.
-The Stewardship Committee will meet Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 8 pm at David Dodd's house.
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If you have changed your email address or would like to be added to or removed from the UUP list, please email us at uupetaluma at gmail dot com.

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UUP Green Sanctuary

Join our Green Sanctuary:
Share Ideas about how to tread lightly on the earth

Let's support each other in this effort!

At our service on October 15 entitled "Restoring the Web" we shared
ideas about how to live out the Seventh Principle - Respecting the
interdependent web of life - in our every day lives. Included below we have catalogued all of our answers to give you ideas. We've also developed a worksheet that you can use to track your "eco-savings." Email uupetaluma at gmail dot com for a copy of the spreadsheet. Help us figure out how much water, energy, and other
resources we are saving as a congregation. This is a great
opportunity to create a story that we can share with the community
and to gain visibility while inspiring others to 'restore the web'
too. Stay tuned for more resources to come on the UUP website.

UUP Ideas for the Green Sanctuary

1. Ride your bike or walk whenever you can
2. Carpool and drive the smallest/most fuel efficient car that you can
3. Replace light bulbs with compact fluorescents. They last up to 7 years and use a fraction of the energy of an incandescent light bulb. You’ll save money in the long-run.
4. Line-dry clothing in the summer to save energy.
5. Buy recycled goods and shop at thrift stores to reduce consumption, and thus, energy used.
6. Reduce and reuse first. It saves more energy and natural resources and recycling levels are much lower than you might think (1-2% for plastic bags, slightly higher for other plastics.) Recycle when these first two options are exhausted. (Thus the order of, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”)
7. Use canvas bags at the grocery store (or any store), which saves energy, trees, and the production of plastic, which is toxic to the environment and kills over one million sea mammals annually through ingestion of plastic ocean pollution.
8. Use the same bottle over and over for water to save energy and prevent the production of plastic, which is toxic to the environment.
9. Keep a pitcher at the kitchen sink to catch water before the water gets hot
10. Keep a bucket by the shower to catch water before the water gets hot
11. Turn the shower water off when shaving your legs, shampooing, and lathering up with soap
12. Choose habitat-friendly landscaping (that attracts birds, bees, and butterflies) and avoid pesticides and herbicides where you can.
13. Compost food scraps (other than dairy and meat) to reduce the amount of waste that garbage trucks carry and the amount that goes into landfills
14. Use less of toxic cleaning supplies like Clorox and Pledge and choose non-toxic cleaning supplies where you can (Borax and Vinegar, like Grandma used to use). All of these go down our drain and eventually, end up in the ocean.
15. Buy produce (organic, if possible) at the farmer’s market or at a local organic farm to support local growers, use less fuel for transport, and less packaging as well.
16. Eat less meat and fish. Raising cattle is extremely water and resource intensive compared with growing vegetables, fruits, and nuts. The world’s oceans are on the brink of collapse. They need time to regenerate from drastic over-fishing which has left only 10% of the fish population intact.

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UUP Religious Education Update: October 15, 2006

The Hindu Connection


Some of the most influential Unitarian thinkers and writers in the history of our faith were fascinated by Hinduism. The sacred writings of Hinduism were “discovered” by those of European descent in the early 1800’s, and were translated and made widely available to scholars. The Boston Unitarians, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Bronson Alcott, enthusiastically read, discussed and wrote about what they learned in these sacred texts.

Thoreau referred to his Hindu readings when he wrote, "One sentence of the Gita, is worth the State of Massachusetts many times over". Thoreau sometimes lived simply, in the style of a Hindu holy man, and said, "It was fit that I should live on rice mainly, who loved so well the philosophy of India."

Some concepts from Hinduism which were attractive to the early Unitarians were the great reverence for all life, the Hindu concept of God as being beyond human perception, but present everywhere in nature, and the allowance for individual freedom in choosing how to live religiously

The writings of Emerson, Thoreau and their circle of friends, with all their references to Hinduism and other Eastern religions, still are very influential in shaping contemporary Unitarian Universalist thought.

It seems altogether fitting to me that the children will learn about Hinduism today while celebrating Divali, the Hindu New Year or Festival of Lights. They will learn about Hinduism and the holiday through story, art, and traditional foods.

Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education

PS- A huge thank you to Florence and David Strange for sharing part of their garden harvest with us. The beautiful leaves, fruits, and vegetables added so much to the children’s creation of a Jewish sukkah last Sunday.

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006

UUP Religious Education: Sukkah Building, Oct. 8


UUP kids built a Sukkah in their Religious Education class on Sunday. Photo: Hope Stewart.

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Monday, October 09, 2006

Hymn of the Month for October 2006

Two hymns in our hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition, are set to the beautiful tune by Jean Sibelius, "Finlandia." We are singing both of them as our "Hymn of the Month" for October, sort of a two-for-the-price-of-one situation.

The first is #318, "We Would Be One," with words by Samuel Anthony Wright. Rev. Wright is minister emeritus of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin--their downstairs big room is called the Wright Room. According to Between the Lines:

This text was written to accompany the tune "Sibelius" for Unitarian and Universalist youth at their Continental Convention of 1953-1954. At this conference they merged to form the Liberal Religious Youth of the United States and Canada, setting a model for the Unitarian Universalist denominational consolidation in 1961.

UUP member Jennine Lanouette has pointed out that our hymnal has changed the words that Wright originally wrote in the line:

"We would be one as now we join in singing our hymn of love..."

Wright's original line was sung as

"We would be one as now we join in singing our hymn of youth..."

...which makes perfect sense if you think of the occasion of Wright's penning these words being the uniting of two denominations' youth groups!

Hymn #159 is "This Is My Song," with words by Lloyd Stone, dating to 1934. It is a powerful statement for peace, and manages to express the strong emotions that lead to patriotic feelings and at the same time expand those feelings to include, via empathy, the entire planet. Immediately following the US invasion of Iraq in March 2004, UUP sang this song each week for weeks on end, as our prayer for peace, and our way of expressing the sorrow we felt.

About the tune by Sibelius, Between the Lines has this to say:

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) was a dominant figure in the development of Finnish music. Born in Hameenlinna, Sibelius was greatly influenced by the Finnish national epic Kalevala, Norse mythology, and nature poetry. He began composing and playing the violin at an early age, and his music for orchestra achieved great popularity in Finland and abroad. This tune, composed as the chorale for his famous symphonic poem, Finlandia (1900), became strongly associated with the patriotic movement to free Finland from Russia.

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Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Religious Education Update: October 8, 2006


Celebrating Sukkot (the Jewish Harvest Festival)


The children will be building a sukkah today, and celebrating the bounty of the harvest. They will learn that Jewish families have built sukkot (plural for sukkah) for over three thousand years, in remembrance of the times that their ancestors wandered for 40 years in the desert after escaping slavery in Egypt. Sukkot is also called Festival of the Ingathering to emphasize the importance of hospitality during the holiday. You are invited to come visit their creation after the service.

Reflections on Ramadan-
Last Sunday, the children heard a story about a young Muslim girl celebrating Ramadan in the United States. The girl was the only Muslim in her class, and her classmates didn’t understand why she was fasting, and why she couldn’t eat the birthday treats that another child had brought to school.

I asked the kids, “How do you think it felt to Azeeza to be the only Muslim in her class?’” Our children immediately empathized with Azeeza, and then shared how it feels to be the only Unitarian in a group. Some added that their Christian friends sometimes try to convert them to their own faith.

I learned from our discussion that our children can empathize with others, and readily try to understand the experience of other faith traditions. They know that they are Unitarian Universalists, and are proud to be part of our faith, but are also respectful of of other traditions. On previous Sundays, our children have talked about how they feel it is important for each person to make their own decisions about religious questions.. They usually articulate our faith very well.

I’m very proud of this new generation of Unitarian Universalists.

Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education

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This Week at UUP: October 4-11

The Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma
An Oasis for Heart and Mind Every Sunday in Downtown Petaluma

For complete up-to-date info on the Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma, visit our website: www.uupetaluma.org

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SUNDAY SERVICES
(Social time with refreshments begins at 10:00 am, at the Petaluma Woman's Club, 518 B Street. Worship service begins at 10:30 am. )

Sunday, October 8: "Varieties of Unitarian Universalist Experiences"

Guest Speaker and UUP Member, Earl Cruser, a former Presbyterian Minister, made a left turn in life and joined the Unitarian ranks, for which we are much the richer. By combining his own spiritual views, along with the renowned wisdom of Unitarian Richard Gilbert, Earl will present his perspective on how Unitarian Universalism embraces diversity of perspective on an array of subjects important to us all.

Sunday, October 15: "Restoring the Web"

"Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part" is a cornerstone of the UU faith. Unitarian Universalists tend to be nature-lovers and environmentalists, but what do we do as a collective body to live out this principle? Come hear about what we are doing to live out the 7th principle as a congregation and our plans for the "Green Sanctuary" project.

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Adult Religious Exploration Classes Forming

To join one of four small group classes and workshops offered in the coming months, look for the sign up sheet on the back table on Sunday and add your name and phone number.

The possibilities are:

1) Evensong, an experience of shared worship and an exploration of beliefs and spiritual journeys;

2) A book discussion group of A Chosen Faith, an introduction to Unitarian Universalism;

3) The Wider UU World, a discussion of topical articles from the national UU World magazine; and,

4) The Caring Congregation, a follow-up workshop to our August 27th service on living with mental disorders.

If interested but unable to sign up in person on Sunday, email Diana at weaverly at earthlink dot net.

The group meeting to discuss the book "A Chosen Faith" (an introduction to Unitarian Universalism) intends to begin twice monthly meetings on Oct. 15, on Sundays from noon-1 PM at the Woman's Club. Please sign up if you're interested.

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UU Men's Retreat

The 10th Annual UU Men's Retreat will be held on the weekend of October 20th through 22nd at the Westminster Retreat Center in Alamo, CA. For information, visit http://www.pcd-uua.org, click Men's Pages.

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Regularly Scheduled Gatherings

-The UUP Board of Trustees will meet Monday, October 9 th at 8:15 pm at Diana Spaulding's house.

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If you have changed your email address or would like to be added to or removed from the UUP list please email us at uupetaluma at gmail dot com

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