Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

25th Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration.

Wesley Hall behind First United Methodist Church of Ashland (corner of Laurel and North Main St).

Rev. Margaret Keip, Guest Preacher
Tami Marston, Music Director, Jane Manning, Piano

This service tackles the question that Einstein would ask himself to test a theory. It offers light and insight in unsettling times, and is a deep taproot into your own convictions. We are delighted to welcome Margaret back to our pulpit this morning while Rev. Colbert is attending a UU Minister's retreat.

Rev. Carolyn Colbert
The RVUUF Choir, Tami Marston, Director
And Southern Oregon UU Guests

The stream of life carries us, buoying us up, moving us smoothly and surely along. We are grateful. Until we come to the rough parts. The rapids. the dangerous places. Until we come to White Water. But there are ways to navigate through the narrow places. Ways to ride out the riffles, ways to come out further down the river, wet and exhausted, perhaps, but alive! There are rules for the journey. There are preparations and precautions.

Special Offering for the Ashland Winter Shelter Program.

Rev. Carolyn Colbert
Tami Marston, Music Director; Jane Manning, Piano

It's likely that most of us do not get up each morning knowing everything we need to know and exactly what it is we're doing. My hunch is that we come together in religious community because we are uncertain. Though we may long for certainty, for answers to all the big questions, it turns out that the cars in our parking lots should all have bumper stickers that say, "Honk if You're Not Sure."

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Rev. Carolyn Colbert & The RVUUF Choir

In the Jewish tradition these are the High Holy Days. The days of awe; Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. A time for taking stock of the state of the soul, our important relationships and turning toward forgiveness. This morning, using a familiar bible story as our text, and telling it in modern dress, we'll consider the four essential steps in the process of forgiveness.

Special (short) congregational meeting after the service

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Rev. Carolyn Colbert

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Rev. Carolyn Colbert. "Here we have gathered, gathered side by side; Circle of kinship, come and step inside!" This morning we'll explore what it means to practice the fragile art of hospitality. How wide is our circle of kindred? How hospitable? How welcoming? This is a religious question, and not a new one. It is, actually, the historical base of the Unitarian Universalist story.

Our choir will sing. We will have our special offering for the UU Service Committee.

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Rev. Carolyn Colbert, Interim Minister

Each of us is born with two hearts. One, the literal fist-sized pump that keeps us alive. The other heart, the metaphorical one, is the synonym for love, for compassion, for caring and affection. That heart, like the literal one, can be broken, can harden and ache, and sometimes stop. It can also be warmed and kept beating. That's the heart we'll explore this morning. Our Religious Education Program for children and youth begins this morning -- this year's focus will be the exploration of the holidays and holy days of the world's religions.

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An Intergenerational Service with: Rev. Carolyn Colbert, Interim Minister; Louise Paré, Director of Religious Education; Ed Fremouw, President; Tami Marston, Director of Music; and the RVUUF Choir with Jane Manning at the piano.

We gather on the shore of a new church year. A year of renewal and promise. In hundreds of other UU congregations all over the country, people are also returning home and in many, there will be a ceremony like ours. This water communion symbolically mingles our individual lives into the combined stream of the life we share together as a religious community. Bring a small amount of water from your summer activities for the sharing part of the ceremony.* We'll also covenant with our Interim Minister, Carolyn Colbert as she begins this transition year with us. Child care will be available for our youngest children.

*Your water might come from a mountain stream or an ocean way on the other side of the planet. It might have come from your own backyard where you spent some lazy, peaceful hours, or from your family's campsite beside a little creek. Not to worry if you forgot to collect water over the summer or left it in the motel in Overshoe Alaska. We'll have plenty of "faux" water so you can still be part of the ritual of return and reconnecting. The water will be saved for use in naming and dedication ceremonies as a way of welcoming new lives into the living stream of your religious community. Or, perhaps, we'll bless new projects or celebrate new accomplishments with a touch of UU holy water.

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Food collection for Ashland Emergency Food Bank

After the service we'll continue to celebrate with a picnic and plenty of time to catch up with old friends and new.

Julie Excell & members of RVUUF

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Service will be held at Camp Latgawa -- there will be no service in Ashland

"The Silence at the Heart of Things.”
Julie Excell will use poetry, meditations and other reflections to explore the power of silence in spiritual deepening and personal action.

Speakers: Clayton Gordon and Jamie Auchincloss, with music by June Holmes.
What, in fact, was the faith upon which our country was founded?

Special UUA collection for Knoxville Relief Fund; Our Doors and Our Hearts Will Remain Open: A Tragic Act of Violence in Knoxville (New York Times ad)

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Toward the end of the service, there will be a short congregational meeting to elect the Ministerial Search Committee

Leader/Speaker: Louise Paré

"The Church says: The body is a sin.
Science says: The body is a machine.
Advertising says: The body is a business.
The body says: I am a fiesta." (E. Galeano)

Acknowledging the body as a source of knowing and a repository of lived experience has been an important breakthrough in contemporary spirituality and the human search for deeper meaning. What’s involved in coming home to the body as a UU? Music by Paul Gerardi.

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Robin Noll will share her expertise and joy, with special music.

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Food Bank Offering

Leader/Speaker: Diane Werich. Heather Lynn talked of church as the "School of the Spirit". I have been enrolled in an intensive version of that school for the last two months trying to make sense out of the search and our call vote. This morning I will share what I have learned about my shadow and about our continuing reinvention of our church by confronting our shadows.

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Leader/Speaker: Judge Patricia Crain, Selma McAlaster

Our Special Collection will be for Planned Parenthood, which provides testing and counseling for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Planned Parenthood also performs breast and pap smear exams and does counseling for taking the morning-after pill.

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Leader/Speaker: Les Jensen

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Leader/Speaker: Wil Van Winkle

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Leader/Speaker: Clayton Gordon

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We say farewell to Rev. Heather Lynn. Our choir will sing. Reception will follow

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Rev. Heather Lynn Hanson “For if the trumpet you blow should give an uncertain sound, who will join your battle?” Apostle Paul, to the Corinthians

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Social Justice Collection for Results

Rev. Heather Lynn Hanson One philosophy suggests that each of us has lessons in life we must learn. If we don’t learn them at their first presentation, they will keep presenting themselves, distracting us from the next lessons. Does that seem true in the world you know? Our choir will sing. New Member recognition.

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Join us to celebrate our wonderful Religious Education Program, and the children, youth, teachers and others who make it possible. The elementary class will present a play.

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Food collection for Ashland Emergency Food Bank.

Rev. Heather Lynn Hanson. This may be the last year Olympic runners bear the torch around the world. A powerful tradition may be lost as protesters have turn the symbol of global illumination into into political statements. It is only one light of many that is in danger of being snuffed out.

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Rev. Julie Forest. Walt Whitman says that poets settle justice, reality and immortality. They assist in forming religions, politics, war, peace, and romance. What he means is that the deepest realities in our lives can best be expressed in the metaphor of poetry. Come with your hopes and dreams; witness the mystery at the threshold.

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Important Semi-annual Congregational Meeting after the service.

The Social Justice Committee has selected the Northwest Seasonal Workers Association (NSWA) to receive our May Third-Sunday Offering. NSWA provides food, clothes, medical care, dental care and legal advice for seasonal and low-paid workers in our community. It is an all-volunteer membership organization which does not accept government money. Alec Lamoreaux is our guest speaker this morning. He will also join us for coffee after our service to answer any questions you might have about NSWA.

Rev. Julie Forest. How do you and I know where we are, how shall we make our way, and where are we headed to? Shall we take the fastest route or the one that claims to be the shortest distance? Meanwhile someone in the back seat already wants to know if we are there yet.

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Rev. Hanson. What is permanent in this changing world? What are your anchors? What do you need to be able to flex in your life? We find clues in the NY Times and more ancient texts.

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Food collection for Ashland Emergency Food Bank.
Note: Special Congregational Meeting after service. New to RVUUF moved to May 7 eve.

Rev Hanson with our Social Action team. Sometimes it feels like anything we do is only a drop in the bucket. But "many drops will turn a mill". Some of us, not currently "active" have contributed gallons of drops in the past. Others are looking for the right channel for their potential power. Where are you in the journey to "making the world more just and kind?"

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“The Middle Way(s)”. Rev. Rich Lang & Rev. Heather Lynn Hanson. Another rich and provocative discussion about beliefs, myths and spirituality, with Rich Lang from Omega House. After the service, you can signup for a 4-session Fri discussion

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At the end of the service, our Ministerial Search Committee will provide an important update, which will require some thoughtful consideration by all of us. If your schedule possibly will permit, please be prepared to linger a bit for discussion. Meeting Presentation Notes 4/20/2008

Rev. Hanson. Many traditions have ritual ways of lamenting, confessing their shortcomings and regrets, and dealing with despair. We UUs don't handle it so well. When you have felt despondent, what or who helped you through it? Choir will sing.

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Rev. Hanson with our Environmental Task Force. Wishful, wise, or witty, what more might we do to make green our corner of the earth?

Social Justice Collection (changed from the third Sunday this month) for Southern Oregon Land Conservancy. This group works to protect southern Oregon land from developers.
Food collection for Ashland Emergency Food Bank.

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Rev. Heather Lynn Hanson. What difference does it make what you believe in? Life after death, for example. Spend the week challenging your assumptions and beliefs about life after death, whether "heaven" or "reincarnation" or "death is final; my atoms return to the universe" or ???? How might that different assumption alter the choices you make in your use of your life energy? This service will include opportunity to dialog.

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Rev. Hanson will speak: “Tale of Hope Within All Tales: Scriptures from Earth and Sky.” Choir will sing. There will not be regular RE Classes. All youth will participate in the worship service with their parents. Flower Communion -- bring a flower, or we will have extras for you. Order of Service

Witnessing for Peace: A Pastoral Letter from Rev. William G. Sinkford

Breakfast Potluck at 9am; Easter Hats at 9:30am; Easter Egg Hunt (after service)

Do we ever feel disconnected from our ideals of community and shared worship? How do we create meaningful heart-to-heart connections with each other in the interconnected web of life? Led by our high school youth, this intergenerational service will celebrate these connections. Come with an open heart.

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Social Justice Collection
Congregational Meeting Follows.

Imagining the ministry in our future; what do we yearn for? -- Rev. Margaret Keip. Our pulpit guest is from Grants Pass, where she and her co-minister husband, Fred, retired following 25 years in Monterey. She has since served interim ministries with six congregations, co-leads the PNWD Healthy Congregations Team, and is a PNWD Board trustee. {Rev Hanson will be speaking in Grants Pass this morning}

Note: Daylight Saving time begins today; remember to "spring forward."

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Tami Marston. When largeness of heart and sharpness of wit combine to open eyes and minds. Spotlighting the works of Molly Ivins, Malvina Reynolds, Robert Fulghum and Holly Near. Our choir will sing.

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Food collection for Ashland Emergency Food Bank.

Rev Hanson et al.

Our sources refer to both science and mystery. There are very different spiritual orientations among us. What can we learn from each other that will make our lives deeper, richer, and wiser?

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Rev. Hanson

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Special Social Justice Offering for Dunn House - shelter for battered women.

Reflections on evil, guilt and Arthur Miller’s drama. Rev. Hanson

Some UUs picked up the idea that guilt is a relic of discarded faith or 19th century psychology. But there are times we appropriately do feel guilty. When we acknowledge it, what next?

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Rev. Hanson. The Jonah story is read every year as part of Jewish new year ceremonies at Yom Kippur. It is one of the shortest books of the Hebrew Bible, but conveys a couple of wisdom lessons, still valuable today. It is also a pretty amusing tale, likely spun by the 1200 BCE equivalent of Will Rogers, Look it up; it’s a quick read; then I’ll let you in on the humor. We will also celebrate the Year of the Rat, a few days before Chinese New Year. Guest musician Brian Kerns brings our choir a new song for this year, and the children will bring in the Lion and the Dragon. It’s a fun and festive time. Choir & guest musicians will perform.

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Food collection for Ashland Emergency Food Bank.

Beyond the polarizing rhetoric of the “Culture Wars.” The Rev. Rich Lang of Omega House and Rev. Heather Lynn Hanson will dialogue about diversity of opinion and civil “unity.” Each of us is on a distinct path in our unique life journeys. But in one sense we're each traveling multiple paths simultaneously. Rev. Lang will explore how culture, philosophy, scientific discoveries, theology and the arts -- and a few other factors-- interplay in developing our understanding of ourselves and give shape to our beliefs and world views.

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A 6-part class with Rev. Lang will start Fri. Feb 1 from 10:00 – 11:15 am (details also on the Adult RE board).

Last fall about half of our UU congregations celebrated Association Sunday, celebrating the larger UU movement and association with other UU groups. Today we stoke the fires of our commitment to liberal religious UU communities. Choir will sing.

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Special Offering to help fund UU work strengthening our congregations, and seeding new ones.

At the UUA General Assembly of two years ago, the assembly voted to ask congregations to study peace in the many ways it can be initiated, protected and promoted, beginning with us UUs. Many of us are not total pacifists; there are situations in which we feel motivated to use violent means. Some have made peaceful ways their way of living. Some see world peace as a utopian dream, nice but not human. Where are you in this? Have recent events changed your attitudes?

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Questions to consider for upcoming Peacemaking workshops:

• Should we, the Unitarian Universalist Association and member congregations, adopt a specific and detailed “just-war” policy to guide our witness, advocacy, and social-justice efforts?
• Should we, the Unitarian Universalist Association and member congregations, reject violence in any form?
• How might globally cooperative institutions such as the United Nations create and maintain effective conditions for human rights, economic justice, religious tolerance, and sustainable environmental practices?
• What role do human physiology and psychology play in the perpetuation of violence
• What successful models exist for the reduction of violence in situations of conflict

“I see you.” “I am here.” The Bushmen of Africa have greeted each other with joyful acknowledgement. In a simple society with few people, one might be grateful to see others, and glad to claim one’s presence. In our culture many people are not “here,” or are not seen by others. It is fairly easy to be anonymous, or to live “virtually.” This day we celebrate being here and being seen. Our piano trio will play for us—June Holmes, Miriam Nunnally, and Julia Sommer.

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Food collection for Ashland Emergency Food Bank.