Eastrose Fellowship
Unitarian Universalist
WE ARE A WELCOMING CONGREGATION
WE ARE A WELCOMING CONGREGATION
Monthly Letters to the Congregation by Rev. David Maynard
This Year's Letters
| December 2005 The minister’s view… Love and Joy Come to You As the holidays approach I can stumble into gloom and frustration. Usually I begin by thinking of some outside situation: not enough money for social programs or medical care, people suffering from floods or earthquakes, an awful war being waged overseas in my name, the constant amount of work required simply to have a decent society. Then I move on to more personal, yet still outside issues: people around me have priorities that upset me, Eastrose projects that are pending, cash flow questions in many parts of my life, and the delicate relationships that develop among family members. Finally I move to the really personal: being overweight, worrying about health, balancing busy time and quiet time, and meeting goals such as cleaning up the mess in my offices. These issues are guaranteed to plant the seeds of gloom and frustration. Often they grow into intricate, if strangely familiar problems. I’ll mull them over and over until the obsession is quite obnoxious. I am saved by such reminders as “I only obsess about things I cannot change,” and “the way it is today is NOT the way it’s always going to be.” These thoughts, plus some sincere prayers usually get me off my pity pot. There is an alternative to such gloomy obsessions, however. I do have the option to choose love and joy. I do have the option to hang out with happier “friends” disguised as thoughts in my head. My daily meditation book provided some reflections on Joy: “Discover the joy of being and not always doing. … We might all have friends who stir up bubbles of joy within us. To feel joy is often a decision no more difficult than to feel sorrow.” It is true. Most of my gloom and frustrations center around believing I should be doing something rather than just being centered in the moment. And, I can decide to pay closer attention to bubbles of joy that waft by rather than their depressing neighbors. I can also decide to sit down and write all this out. That alone helps me feel better. Maybe it will help you, too? Love and Joy come to you and to yours and to all children of the earth. Peace and love, David |
| November 2005 The minister’s view… Compassion Fatigue
Recent events read like the plot for a mediocre movie: Thanksgiving is approaching and my gratitude and compassion are worn out. Storm surge hurricanes, flooded UU churches, Guatemalan mud slides, 30,000 dead in Pakistan and India. To say nothing of our Eastrose Fellowship annual pledge drive, the Capital Gifts Drive for the paving and landscaping and the steady need for local charity support. My reservoir of compassion and gratitude was dry (it seems.) A familiar negative litany sets in: what is demanded of me? What will I lose or not get or deny myself? What if this terrible thing should happen to me? Will there ever be an end to the needs and requests? The negative thoughts and my supposed fatigue are due the immense scale and not the frequency of events. Tragic events, both caused by humans and caused by nature, happen on a daily basis. Life ending in death is the silent story of every graveyard. However, events of a certain large scale rise to a new height of internal awareness. I find myself drawn to respond when 3,000 die in the televised collapse of the World Trade Center or when 150,000 in the on-rush of a tsunami in Southeast Asia. I am hyper-alert as a Category 5 hurricane hits land and a region floods – and then another arrives behind the first. I am deeply moved by the photos of collapsed concrete buildings or massive landslides covering a whole part of town with thousands killed. These specific events happen rather often. The scale, however, set some apart for more attention. However, in reality nothing has changed. My family eats and sleeps. Phone calls are received and made. Newspapers, television and the web bring the same headlines day after day. The resolution, I believe, is to restore the immense scale to human proportions. How much money do I need in the bank? Will donating to this particular agency help suffering individuals? Can I share my wealth moderately over months instead of in a lump sum? Are there priorities (like our Eastrose needs) for me which I can still maintain? What kind of charity reflects my overall values? As these questions are posed and answered, the fatigue ebbs and the scale appears more manageable. One act of gratitude. One meal with a friend and family. One gift delivered. One helping hand up offered. And each one followed by another. That’s a plan I can live with – it’s an antidote for fatigue. Peace and love, David P.S. Jane is VERY pleased and excited by the gift given us by the congregation on October 9 for a hot tub, wrap, massage and overnight at Carson Hot Springs. She says there are many people more deserving of it, but she’ll gratefully accept…. I totally agree. |
| October 2005 The Minister’s View… Depression and Hope
The devastation caused by Katrina began as a tropical depression. Just a swirl of clouds over warm water near the Azores became a historic monster. Even as Katrina cruised the Atlantic Ocean and crossed Florida, she was considered an expensive nuisance, but not really awful. What a difference a few days made. Every disaster scenario forecast for a Class 5 or 4 hurricane came to pass. Imagine a storm surge wall of water twenty-five feet high (as large or larger than the Indian Ocean tsunami) approaching our twenty-foot tall Eastrose Fellowship building! The flood sealed the fate of low-lying New Orleans with the levees failing at the exact points known from engineering studies to be at risk. All this damage from a simple depression. All this from a gust of wind sweeping across open warm water. We do not have any means of controlling these depressions, though there’s always the suggestion of “nuking them.” We do have means of giving warnings and preparing for the consequences of 150 mph blasts. Having grown up in Delaware, I watched and lived through hurricanes in my youth. In reality they are dreadfully the same. However, each gives the illusion of being different, which is why we give them names rather than numbers. It’s that illusory power of hurricanes that lures people into false confidence of their survival and the arrogance of building homes again on devastated shores. Where’s Hope in all of this? Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I've heard it in the chillest land And on the strangest sea, Yet never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me.” Emily Dickinson) There are the dead and the hopes that died with them. There are those who evacuated as instructed and are hopeful, if daunted. Those who decided to stare Katrina in the eye in New Orleans or Gulfport or Biloxi will have the most difficulty finding hope after the depression. Even in the face of death and destruction we are hard-wired for Hope. We also are capable of learning a few things: that there is a positive role for government; that taxes are necessary for the well-being of us all; and that human cupidity and evil behavior predictably emerge and can be planned for as well. Our congregation donated nearly $900 at the first collection and will probably donate again to help our sister churches. Passing on part of our good fortune helps everybody. That’s another big moral lesson: we get to keep goodness in our lives by passing goodness on to others. It’s a lesson we can never learn or practice too often. Peace and love, David P.S. During October our annual pledge drive will ask for your support of Eastrose during 2006. I hope you’ll be generous. Those who can make an additional capital gift to help create a new parking area will have a chance to do so. These fund drives keep us going and help us create a strong future in Gresham. Let’s all do our best. |
| September 2005 The Minister's View ... Place and Pagan It was during a UU General Assembly in Little Rock, Arkansas that I first heard a working definition of “pagan.” The reporter and UU Margot Adler led a wonderful workshop on paganism and ritual. The word “pagan,” which comes from the Latin for country person, religiously means “attached to a particular place.” That is, a pagan finds meaning and power in a specific glen, building, copse or lea rather than through a person or a ritual. That is why pagan ceremonies begin with casting the circle in the four directions and rooting oneself properly in the time and place of the gathering. I liked that. I also found it explained my seemingly simultaneous resonance and distance from the UU Pagans. I have understood the power place ever since I built fairy houses as a child and I am committed to the power of ideas and words which can change lives and society. In early July at Cannon Beach I performed a wedding. The couple arranged a circle of thirty chairs in the sand about fifty yards from the road. In the center were two pedestals with flowers. The three of us stood in the middle with family and friends gathered around. Their five children (blended family) moved in and out as they did their parts. The parents and siblings stood and sat for their parts. Everybody added a handful of sand to a glass vase the couple plans to keep in their living room. The erudite father of the bride closed the service with an Old Testament homily based on his years of Hebrew study. Then the ceremony ended and we walked off the beach to a reception two blocks away. About two hours later, before heading back to Portland, I decided to go walking on the beach and get my feet wet in the Pacific Ocean. As I waded along I looked up near the hotels and saw the circle of chairs. After getting my shoes back on, I walked up to the ring of white folding chairs, slightly in disarray from our departure, and pondered the wedding. The power of the place was gone the circle which contained so much ritual and love was now empty. The wedding party would return to stack and move the chairs, but the pagan celebration had moved on to new places and new times. However, rather than feel a bit sad, I realized this was part of the whole ritual: to celebrate and to worship where we are and then to move on. As we improve our site at Eastrose Fellowship and as we worship together Sunday after Sunday, this merger of pagan, place and tradition will be in my mind. It is good to gather together again. Peace and love, David |
| August 2005 The minister’s view… Your Turn!
At the end of June we held our annual Your Turn! service with questions and my ad lib responses. Some of these will work their way into sermons this next year, too. Here are the 2005 questions: At a recent UU workshop some ideas presented included: screen membership applicants to protect against crackpots; concentrate on care and caring; ignore intellectual development; stop publishing advance notice of Sunday Service topics -- many more like that -- So do you think there is any danger that we, or other U-U Fellowships, might follow those suggestions?
|
| July 2005 The minister’s view… The Steep Path of Humility
The retiring President of the Whidbey Island UU congregation Dave Cauffman wrote in his final newsletter column: “What have I learned? To begin with I’ve learned a little bit about exercising a ‘personal ministry’ – something formerly lacking in my life. Also, I’ve been reminded that other people are quite wise, once you understand their points of view -- exertions up the steep path of humility are rewarded by the vistas. Humility – never my strong point – is also encouraged by the simple truth that there isn’t a single accomplishment during my tenure for which I alone can take credit.” My seminary training included becoming aware of great sermon images. Thus, when I read “exertions up the steep path of humility are rewarded by the vistas,” I recognized its power. While often that steep path seems to feel likes it’s going down rather than up, in reality every situation fostering humility does offer new human vistas. There is something wonderful about becoming firmly grounded among all people and to recognize in oneself the essence of other women and men. There is something enlightening about being a part of a larger whole and finding contentment in that. The Whidbey Island President clearly found those vistas. The Gresham Outlook has been carrying photos from the local high school graduations. The images and captions regarding young women and men venturing out to adult lives were heartening and nostalgic at the same time. I hope they encounter the same vistas of the steep path of humility and can appreciate the chance to see the world more clearly. I hope our political leaders, business executive and fellow citizens can do that, too. It seems to me we could use some new perspectives on the way we live. Love, David P.S. I’m on vacation in July. Contact the office or President Floyd Roell if you need to reach me. Have some quiet times yourselves, too. |
| June 2005 The Minister's View... Roller Coaster
Ever catch your innards getting a bit queasy recently? In addition to the various bugs going around that set our stomachs rolling, just consider some of the recent events and situations in the news: Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai from Kenya addressed the Willamette University Class of 2005. Due to her efforts and those of her women followers over 20 million trees have been planted in the last 30 years to reverse decades of devastating logging. She told the graduates, “Each one of us needs 10 trees to take care of the carbon dioxide we breathe out. I urge you know where your 10 trees are.” The New York Times printed a story of a U.S. Army report that a 22 year old Afghani man was tortured to death by U.S. interrogators, though most of his captors believed that he was merely an innocent taxi driver passing by a military base at the wrong time. When contacted, Senator Gordon Smith’s staff said: “Senator Smith has traveled to Afghanistan two or three times. He knows more about what’s going on there than the New York Times.” The American economy (and Oregon’s) is steadily getting stronger in terms of job and exports despite the oil prices. Congress has already authorized nearly $100 Billion for the Iraq war this year and has heard from the Department of Defense that this will not be enough. From South Korea comes research developing patient-specific human stem cells which in theory could replace any damaged or missing tissue. In the U.S. the overwhelming cost of health care remains the primary cause of personal bankruptcy. Even the rain is bouncing us around. Following a three month drought so severe that wild fires were burning in February, we have had 57 days of rain in the past two months. And this rain is coming in buckets, not the familiar Oregon drizzle. What is a UU soul to do to handle such roller coaster news? Well, first hang on tight to what is true in your life. We each need a set of firm reference points to keep from getting totally disoriented. Second, remember that kindness, decency, sensitivity to the environment, knowledge, democracy and whatever is your sense of God or spirit are some of the traits we need as reference points. Third, remember that “the way it is today is not the way it’s always going to be.” Injustice will be rectified and deceit will be revealed. Confronting the halls of power with outrage and celebrating any rays of truth and compassion will still win the day. My guts are queasy some days, but I know that if I hold fast to UU values and keep taking action things will get better. Let’s stick together, okay? Love, David |
| May 2005 The minister’s view… Fantasies The power of mental images and vivid fantasies never ceases to amaze me. The Oregonian recently carried a story about a former Portland District Attorney who moved into private practice. After just a few months, he now faces criminal charges of bribing witnesses and a disbarment hearing for violating sexual ethics. To paraphrase PBS host Gwen Ifel, “what was he thinking?” I am certain that mental phantasms steered him into shoals apparent to any outsider. In Nigeria there is an unexpected resurgence of polio striking down adults and children. The United Nations thought a vaccination campaign would virtually eliminate the disease. Sadly, a rumor that the polio vaccination was secretly designed for contraception keeps mothers from bringing their children for shots. This fantasy about public health results in thousands of paralyzed victims yearly. In the United States the NBC network is airing a TV series entitled “Revelations” to cater to the end-of-times fantasies of the Left Behind evangelicals. The true believers who see only the immanence of the apocalypse will find themselves enraptured by sponsors of Revelations. This might only be an amusing religious side note if the Rapture was not used to justify the plundering of the environment by such believers in the Executive Branch. The reality or fiction of such mental images or fantasies is not the point. The willingness of men and women to base life decisions on fantasies is the point. These decisions might not matter if they only affected one person, but the reality is often that people actually may be killed or maimed due to such fantasies. What are we thinking? When public policy, government action, or health and safety issues are fantasy based beliefs they need to be challenged. As Unitarian Universalists we are obligated to seek and speak the truth as well as to tolerate diversity. The best thinking we can do is what’s needed now. Love, David P.S. The decision to invalidate the 3,000 plus marriage licenses issued to same sex couples is a travesty of justice and morality. As a nation we have validated discrimination many times over our two centuries. We also continue to progress. We have seen the end of slavery, the enfranchisement of women and blacks, and the improving equality of treatment across racial, gender, ethnic, disability and economic lines. One decision at a time we will get there for sexual orientation, too. The Oregon Legislature needs to act to make all marriages civil unions. |
| April 2005 The Minister’s View: Literacy and Levels
After singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at the February 27 service, I found myself humming it for the next few days. This got me thinking about Unitarian Universalist “literacy.” That is, the importance of our recognizing the tunes and vital themes of many religious and ethnic traditions. In this case, it happened to be the “Negro National Anthem.” In our hymnbook “Singing the Living Tradition” we have many songs designed to enhance our musical literacy: working people, spirituals, ethnic African, Japanese, Hindu, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, humanist, pagan, Hispanic, and world community are just some of the categories covered. I have a chart of the variety of “languages” spoken in Unitarian Universalist churches – not just linguistically distinct, but having a vocabulary peculiar to a heritage, spiritual outlook or social cause. If we practice our openness to diversity, we will have some degree of literacy in a wide range of areas. I believe this is one way we are different from other faiths. After attending the excellent workshop “Creating the UU Church of the Future” with Michael Durall in Hillsboro, I found myself reflecting on his three levels of membership. These are:
Love, David P.S.: I hope when you are at Eastrose you’ve noticed the weeping cherry, dogwood, camellia, crocus and daffodils and other flowers giving their all. What a glorious gift from those who planted these for us! |
| March 2005 The Minister’s View: Chalice Lighting and “No Regrets”
On February 18 Cody Aspinwall and I opened the Pacific Northwest District conference at the Lloyd Center with a Chalice Lighting and a Blessing. Here are my words: We are here as explorers and inhabitants of this great nation and the world. We are here to follow the light of mystery and wonder. We are here to follow the light of visionary words and heroic deeds. We are here to follow the light of wisdom and inspired teachings across the ages. We are here to follow the light of traditions and of God’s love. We are here to follow the light of science and of human reason. We are here to follow the light experienced in the earth, the sky, the water and in fire. May our lights ever burn bright. May they guide us day and night. May they sustain us in justice and in right. May these lights be in us every day of our lives. [Light the chalice] After the February 13 service on “Letting Go,” Clyde Calvin shared that the sermon reminded him of the poem “Maud Muller” by John Greenleaf Whittier, which he memorized years ago. The poem tracks the fate of a poor maid and a wealthy lawyer whose paths and emotions crossed. Here is the ending: Then she took up her burden of life again, Saying only, "It might have been." Alas for maiden, alas for Judge, For rich repiner and household drudge! God pity them both! and pity us all, Who vainly the dreams of youth recall; For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: "It might have been!" Ah, well! for us all some sweet hope lies Deeply buried from human eyes; And, in the hereafter, angels may Roll the stone from its grave away! Love, David |
| February 2005 The Minister's View: The Wow! Factor
Last month my wife was pondering the nature of things. She thought what distinguished humans from animals was “the Wow! Factor.” As many people who work with animals know, to see a pet dog or a cat or a dolphin or a monkey think, dream, invent, manipulate, talk (in a rudimentary way), fear death, be social and remember is pretty common. As human as these traits may be, we share them with other sentient beings. However, Jane surmised, we do not share with them our ability to respond, “Wow!” to the events and opportunities that come along in life. Another wise old UU friend Gean Morgan chose to call this “Awe.” The complexity of our brains and emotional system and whatever passes for the spiritual combine in one sudden jolt of amazement and perspective to give us a “wow” or that sense of awe which sends a shudder through our being. It is very human to have a sense for the balance of the likely and the unlikely and to appreciate the latter when it happens. It is very human to take a common sunset or gentle touch and to place it in the perspective of an indifferent universe and a constantly changing world. It is awe that allows us to viscerally experience our impact on the world. It is wow! that allows us to stop time momentarily and savor what is happening and why. We Unitarian Universalists are often criticized for lacking a thorough doctrine of Evil. Actually, we lack a thorough doctrine of just about everything and Evil just languishes along with the rest. What we do not lack, however, is an awareness of our obligation to be response-able in the world and to take action when justice or mercy calls for it. Our unique human capacity to say wow! and to know awe is equally up to the challenge of good and evil, just and unjust, or the temporary and the permanent. Wow and awe thus means we are paying attention in our human fullness. Wow and awe thus means we have reset our awareness and now can make future choices. Wow and awe means that what follows may be a purr of contentment or a roar of indignation. Pretty powerful stuff, I believe. This Fellowship year began with asking “And how are the children?” I’d like to add for the rest of this year, “What’s punched your Wow! button recently?” Love, David |
|
January 2005 The Minister's View: A New Course While it may be functionally true that the more things change, the more they stay the same, it is also true that every day brings new opportunities. As we enter 2005 I desire to focus on fresh possibilities more than to regret losses. I thought I’d share a few with you. Eastrose Fellowship is one year short of its Fiftieth Anniversary. We approach this milestone with impressive optimism and hope. At the December budget meeting the congregation learned our pledges increased over twenty-five percent for 2005. Wow! For the first time since I've served as your minister the budget is both balanced and is not depending on designated donations for programs and staff support. The quality of the Sunday services, the religious education program, the choir and music, and the building and grounds keeps improving. As I told the Board, at a recent service we needed three verses of “Go Now In Peace” to allow the children to parade out. We also need to monitor the calendar more closely to avoid space conflicts. These are good problems. At the bottom of my monthly Board report I reprint my paraphrase of our mission statement: “Eastrose is a spiritual and social community of religious liberals welcoming new congregants, nurturing those already here and reaching out in service, justice and inspiration to the East Multnomah County and Mt Hood communities.” In 2005 I hope we continue to explore the territory included in our mission statement. Being religiously liberal is a good thing, not a mark of shame. Being a spiritual and social community gives us purpose and a sense of direction. Taking care of recent and long-time congregants is a key part of how we live out our values. And being responsive to the needs of our communities is the other key part of living our values. These are not only our mission, they are the reasons we've been here for half a century. As we set the course for 2005 together, I want to keep these things in mind. I want to build more on the work done to date. And, I want for us to do this together – it's the right thing to do and a lot more fun! Love, David |