This Week at UUP: July 4-9, 2008

The Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma
Nurture Your Spirit. Help Heal Our World.


ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING EVENTS

A message from Reverend Leland Bond-Upson

Saturday, June 21

Dear friends,

I have just returned home after 18 days on the road and wish to thank you and the Petaluma Congregation for the recent honor of ordination, and to describe what it's meant to me in the days since.

Rev. Ben and Ron Cook and other ministers told me in different ways that I would be changed by the experience, and I have been. I didn't expect that the 'conferring of ministerial or priestly authority' would be so immediate and so dramatic. I'm the same, and yet I'm changed. I've always been ready to begin conversations with people I meet, but this is different. Since a little before the event, in taxis and waiting lines and restaurants, a subtle but unmistakably new willingness and confidence to engage people at a deeper level has appeared.

I had a foreshadowing conversation two days before the ceremony. While wife Deborah was having a business meeting with a Petaluma employee, I was at Finbar Devine's at mid-day, having fish 'n chips and perusing a book of sonnets that I'd just picked up from Jean, sent as a ordination gift by one of my mentors, Bob Kimball, former president of Starr King School. I was looking for one that could be used for the service, and found it (thank-ya, T). But the young lady bartender wanted to talk, and what was new in me was an interest in taking a chance on reaching for a spiritual and pastoral connection, while all the time "talkin' normal" (thanks for that forever, Ron).

On my shared-ride trip home from the airport this morning, I struck up a conversation with the driver, Hugo of Ecuador, and a tourist couple from Michigan. Hugo had a huge white walrus moustache, and was agitated. Out of nowhere, he unspecific ally complained about his life, then blessed us and asked to be blessed, so I did, without embarrassment. And he said, "and all of us", and I said, like Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one!" That opened a floodgate.

Now Hugo wanted to talk politics. To our surprise, he was a Hillary supporter--an embittered one, grasping for reasons not to support Obama. This 50-something, plenty-macho Ecuadorian-American turned out to be part of a demographic mostly populated by baby-boomer women and their mothers (a group, by the way, that includes many dear friends and relations of mine, and which--despite my preference for Obama--has my full respect and sympathy).

Among other things, Hugo complained about Michelle Obama. I said something about it being hard for outsiders to fully grasp the descended-from-slavery African-American experience. That led to a loud, emotional Hugo-tirade about how badly blacks and Anglos treat Latinos like him. I didn't interrupt, and he talked himself into revealing to the three of us, and perhaps a little to himself, that he was lumping lots of different people from lots of separate experiences into negative categories. After he'd finished, I said something like, "it's a good idea, it's safer, to think of and treat people as individuals". There followed a long silence, and at the end Hugo said he was impressed by my calm.

Conversations like these didn't go quite like this before I began acquiring my ministerial authority.

Thanks, and god bless you, every one.

--Rev. Leland

Religious Education Garage & Bake Sale, Saturday August 23rd
Save the date and save your stuff! Help support religious education programming by donating items and baked goods for our annual sale on August 23rd, 9-2pm, 8 Nob Hill Terrace.
Drop offs welcome starting Monday, August 11th at the Greaney or Harrison-Lee households. For more information contact Leslie Harrison.

UPCOMING 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.)

This Sunday, July 6, 2008: Re-Examining Our Relationship to Animals: An Interdependence Day Service
The Rev. Ben Kocs-Meyers, Preaching
Diana Spaulding, Worship Leader
Greeters: Stacy Meinzen, Richard Stark, David Dodd, Elaine Ellsworth, Karen Rutherford, David Gardner and Hope Stewart
What place do animals have in our lives? We may not ask ourselves this question everyday, but it's one worth exploring in light of our commitment to being good stewards of the earth, and advocates for the Sacred Circle of life. Please bring pictures of your favorite animals, pets, etc, to place on the alter and share. This service is inspired by Janet Crosby, who bought the sermon topic at the UUP auction. Special Music by David Dodd and Karen Mitchell.
You are invited to stay after the service to enjoy some tasty homemade desserts.

Sunday, July 13, 2008: Better Tomorrows by Seeing Yesterdays
Guest speaker: Jeffrey Melcher
Worship leader: Joyce Tischler
How is knowledge relevant? How does our experience inform our life? Why is knowing Unitarian Universalist history important to our psycho-social-spiritual health? Are spirituality and politics connected? Some reflections on the relevance of our UU History.

REGULARLY SCHEDULED GATHERING
The UUP Worship Associates will meet Sunday, July 6th at 12:30 pm at Elizabeth Hathaway's house.
The next meeting of the UUP Men's Group is Friday, July 11th at Dick Allen's house.

www.uupetaluma.org