December 2003 Words for the Wise

In this season of celebration and light, I'd like to share three sets of "wise words" that have influenced me recently. I encourage you to listen for wisdom in your various daily interactions with people.  My experience is that whatever we can know about God or the Holy will come to us through the very fallible human beings we meet every day.

This is from a plaque pictured in the Marshall Field's Catalog, 2003:   

The following thoughts are from those who attended our October Sunday service on the Spirit of Tomorrow.  Each statement replies to the following: "My Hope for the Spirit of Tomorrow is that." (a complete set of the replies is posted in the hallway)

As I turn toward becoming 80 years old I find myself more concerned with the future. What I am working toward now I find deals with national - international problems, hunger, liberties --- finding our way to peace, better understanding and hope.

Although we all have our personal convictions about things, that we learn to "cut each other a little slack" and listen to each other's ideas with respect.

Our country will find leaders with the courage to seek peace in the world and be a force for justice and equality.  That they will end our policy of selfish pursuit of our own interests and work for the best interests of all the world.

Human beings gently let go of their attachments to self, identity, culture, etc. - all those things that separate us from one another.

People can remember the optimism they have once had.

We use our technology for reaching the stars, and for healing our wounds (the earths' and the people's), and for creating beauty - rather than for allowing us to decay into using our technology for our sole entertainment, convenience, reality, relationships, and worst of all, destruction.

We can grow into more loving and giving humans with deep understanding of our connection to each other.

Finally, from Mother Theresa: The fruit of Silence is Prayer. The fruit of Prayer is Faith. The fruit of Faith is Love. The fruit of Love is Service. The fruit of Service is Peace.

Love, David

November 2003  Getting Out the Vote

I was cruising Unitarian Universalist Association web site and encountered the latest Boston UU fad:  Get Out the Vote!  Our Association President Bill Sinkford writes:  “I believe that the greatest service our faith community can perform right now is to help Americans reclaim our democracy. We should never again have a president or a legislature elected by only half of the eligible voters as happened in 2000. …we have not, as a movement, committed ourselves to increase either voter registration or voter turn out. It is time we did.” Sinkford confesses to not having voted in the fall 2002 election and promises to mend his ways.

Our own Warren James, Sunny Fromm, Betty Gerold and Diane Lopatin and other Eastrose Fellowship members are active in the League of Women Voters East Multnomah County Chapter.  With our vote-by-mail elections, there’s no excuse other than laziness to not vote in Oregon. I’d like to think that we’re ahead of a national trend, although our state-wide voting rate is not especially impressive. I’ll add my encouragement to Bill Sinkford’s plea: it is time we focus on voting.

Speaking of which, there are two current ballot items directly affecting Eastrose Fellowship. First, there is the proposal to form a Public Utility District to manage our electric distribution system. Member Nancy Newell is a prime organizer and PUD Board candidate with her photo in the handbook. I’m voting “Yes” on these items for two reasons: first, I strongly object to the threatening PR campaign waged by the corporations and unions and second, I believe we’ve proven deregulation of electric power was a mistake.

Our Fellowship is inside the proposed Rockwood-West Gresham Urban Renewal Plan district.  Our part of the city suffers from increased crime, deteriorating employment and services, and some poor neighborhood conditions. If this item is on your ballot, I encourage your “Yes” vote on that, too.

Two recent actions by our federal government only augment my conviction that we need to exercise our democratic privilege to vote.  In Miami recently federal prosecutors indicted the organization Greenpeace for authorizing two members to board and unfurl a banner on a freighter bringing mahogany from Brazil. “Never before has our government criminally prosecuted an entire organization for the free speech activities of its supporters,” says Greenpeace.  Also, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) with 380,000 members in 150 nations has banned participation by thousands of citizens of Iran, Cuba, Iraq, Libya and Sudan because our US government MIGHT declare the “evil empire” trade embargo rules to apply to reading, publishing and editing articles. The IEEE administration is not willing to risk facing fines and criminal prosecution.

These are major incursions on the sharing of knowledge and freedom of association and speech. The appropriate check is our right to vote. Let’s use it.

Love, David                             

Why are you a Unitarian Universalist?  In general we are individuals who wish to assert their own understanding of what it means to be religious.  We also in general have a desire for a community of faith and of friends with a similar outlook.  I believe this is because we discover that collectively we know more about successful living than we do separately.  We find fellow Unitarian Universalists’ to be a source of centering, challenge, renewal and belonging.  We experience this through our worship, our social justice work, our spiritual sharing and our ceremonies.  Though we maintain our individualism, we desire to express it with others rather than alone.

Then there are our children.  Parents and adults in general want the best for children.  So, we give them vitamins, vaccinations, clothes, schooling, music and sports, and healthy food.  These are just a few of the nourishing things we do.

Yet, somehow many of us lose resolve when it comes to going to Sunday services and religious education.  This concerns me, because I believe the need for spiritual and ethical nourishment is inherent.  This need will either in some way be met or be allowed to wither and be unmet.  Just as the impact of missing school might not be felt for years, so a “hole in the soul” left by unmet religious needs may only emerge in adulthood.  Part of being a responsible parent, I think, is to use the best resources we can.  Some things I tell parents about getting kids to church are: 

1. It’s okay for you to be the parent and to make decisions for them.
2. Resistance is natural – and not caving in yields healthier kids.  How many kids beg to stay home from school, skip piano lessons, or don’t want to eat vegetables?
3. A major component of maturity is developing a willingness to do what is actually needed rather than what is just desired.  Worship means “worth-ship” at its root – and it’s something we need in my experience.  The Fellowship is a good place for that to happen.

Love, David

Postscript:  At the beginning of this column are some thoughts on being a Unitarian Universalist.  I would add that we alone are responsible for making this faith happen.  That means Sunday services, programs, outreach, community service and the any other aspects of the Eastrose Fellowship that matter to you.  Supporting our Fellowship is probably the largest charitable gift most of us make.  This next Fellowship year Jane and I will increase our pledge by 12% to make it just over four percent of my income or $96 per month.  Would you do the same?  DMM                

Just a bit of rain arrived after eight weeks of dry, sunny heat. The jet stream dipped south and the ocean coolness found its way inland.  The rain came once, then twice. Though we're back to watering the gardens, we know fall is on the way.

The summer temperatures flirted with one hundred degrees, dallied in the nineties, and now hovers in the seventies and lower.  While my science mind tells me that's only thirty-nine to eighteen Celsius, my body is long adjusted to Fahrenheit and reacts accordingly.  Like the temperatures, the daylight lasted for a few weeks until around nine forty-five, but now when our Tuesday men's group closes at nine-thirty we emerge into steady darkness.  Coolness replaces heat in every form.

The rhythm of the seasons ties us to a scale and persistence way beyond our individual or even collective powers. While we have clever ways of keeping ourselves in what feels like a comfortable or safe range, they are but futile waves against the changing days and the cycles of the Earth.  The hastening fall, to be replaced by winter, spring and summer in turn, reminds me of loveliness and sadness,  of pleasure and discomfort, of contentment and frustration.  The secret is to pay attention to it all - and to live most fully in the day at hand.

Love, David

Lee Gerold passed on a news story about our national “spiritual index.”  This Gallup Poll developed with the Center for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society found that 72% of the 1,500 respondents believe their lives have meaning and purpose because of faith. The poll found that “inner commitment” to one’s sense of the holy (80%) ran ahead of one’s “outer commitment” to practice one’s faith with others (70%). Three-fifths of those questioned believed “faith is involved with every aspect of life.”

There is a broad sense of engaging in a spiritual life beyond the simple duty of religious commitment.  My personal conviction is that Unitarian Universalists take their spiritual and/or ethical commitments very seriously.  It’s a measure of the depth of our commitment that we will leave the faith of our childhood and adhere to a marginal, mostly unknown tradition of religious liberals.  Living a life that makes sense to our values and experience is important enough to keep us coming to Eastrose Fellowship.

Important, but not sufficient. A recent article in The Christian Century talks about another missing ingredient:

“In the Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg argues that a healthy society needs three elements: family, work and a ‘third place’ that is an open and inclusive social setting. The essential elements of a ‘third place’ are that it is a neutral territory where rank is forgotten; it is frequented by a core of regular attendees who foster interpersonal exchange, and conversation is a central activity.  In England the pub has functioned as the third place, in France it is the bistro and sidewalk café, in Italy the coffee bar and in Germany the biergarten. …the church has often functioned as a third place – it’s a place not only for religious functions, but for social gatherings as well.”

So, I guess it’s a compliment to consider our Fellowship as a “third place.”   We are a place where persons from diverse backgrounds and beliefs find a common ground for intellectual, emotional and spiritual acceptance.  The challenge for each of us is to help keep our third place a welcome and healthy place for regulars and newcomers alike.  Fortunately, we get to do this together – which is our good news!