January RE News & Notes

December was amazing at for Religious Education at Piedmont UU Church.  Our students and teachers put together a wonderful pageant celebrating the birth of Jesus that was performed for both the University Gathering and Salisbury Gathering.  In addition to performing in our pageant our students also helped to create our set pieces, costumes and star decorations for the sanctuary.  I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who took part in the pageant as an actor or actress or working behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly.  Heidi Hagi, Connie Byrne, Susie Benner, Stephanie Nelson and Jason Gray put in an outstanding effort to make our pageant a success by leading our children in craft making, doing a little craft making of their own and transporting a mountain of stuff all over North Carolina.  Thanks for making this all possible!

In the month of January we have two major events coming up for our Religious Education classes.  Our classes start back on January 5th after our Holiday break with all of our classes meeting as normal in the month of January except for January 19th when there will be a children’s chapel for the students during the service.  Rev. Justin will lead the children’s chapel, and all classes are invited!

On Sunday, January 12th after the first and second service there will be a Religious Education Feedback session in the classrooms adjacent to the sanctuary.  Everyone in the community - teachers, students, family members, people who just want to talk about kid stuff - is welcome to come to come discuss what they have enjoyed and what they think can be improved about our Religious Education Program at Piedmont UU Church.  Come make your voice heard!  I’ll throw in some snacks if that will seal the deal.

See you on Sunday!

Rev. Justin

Have You Ever?

Have you ever read an article that spoke to you but now you have forgotten where you read it?  That has happened to me.  The article probably was in an issue of our UUA magazine, something I saw on the internet or in a book that we have read in one of our small group ministries.

Regardless of where it appeared, the essence of the article asked whether we need fear of the devil and hell in order to retain good morals and behavior.  The author postulated that our need to form alliances and groups to survive during our long evolution and our learning from family and teachers are what really moderate our behavior and keep us civilized.  I agree.  It is for that reason that I am resolving in this new year to increase my support of Piedmont UU Church which provides resources for our RE program and our minister Robin Tanner.  The adult RE class called “Age-ing to Sage-ing” has just started.

Your Board is also active in keeping Piedmont UU Church strong by its recent decisions.  We have reached out to a wider community by accepting the Piedmont Progressive Preschool as a sponsored group under our bylaws.  They teach children the same principles and morals that are the foundation of Unitarian Universalism.  The Board is in the process of reviewing the policies under which your church operates.  We have created a Healthy Congregation Team to help us remain united as we grow and make important decisions for our future.  We have welcomed Justin Martin who is our new Director of Religious Education and Pastoral Care Minister.  Have you noticed how many more youth are seen in the halls and on the grounds since he came to us?  

Another thing that will make 2014 a great year is the creativity and responsibility that all of the councils and committees have undertaken as we grow in numbers and budget.  As we get bigger, it will be impossible for the Board to make the many day to day decisions that are required to keep Piedmont UU Church running smoothly.  The Board will retain final responsibility by way of the budget and the policies that guide the work of councils and committees.  As currently organized, the Business and Operations Council and the Program Council are the paths through which the Board fulfills its responsibility for oversight.

In summary, I know that 2014 will bring challenges and opportunities but with your help, we are ready to turn them into progress. 

Happy New Year to you-all and may you and Piedmont UU Church have a fruitful and healthy 2014.

Serving you as your Board president,   

Karl Hesse

Spiritually Speaking: What Dreams Have You Had?

“A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it, and passers-by only see a wisp of smoke”

― Vincent van Gogh

 

​Most artists are easily defined as passionate. We know the hallmarks signs, the fury of creation, the almost madness accompanying dreams, the mania and eccentricities…  Or we think we do, but can we really predict what passionate people act like?  Or better yet, do we know if the closest people to us have great passions?

​Van Gogh points this out in his quick assessment that folks only see a wisp of smoke, not the actual fire.  And coming from a widely known passionate man, this vision of a hidden fire tells us something profound.  Perhaps a good deal more of us have a fire within than we would expect.  

​ One of the things that drew me into Unitarian Universalism was that my very first congregation was pro-passion.  In our sometimes risk-adverse culture, it felt decidedly counter-cultural to be given permission to share our deepest passions.  What did we truly love in this world?

​Getting in touch with our deepest love put us right in touch with our spiritual journeys.  It was a salve to defensive and competitive living, not to mention a balm to monotony and malaise.  

​Knowing your fire within forms the essence of your spiritual journey.

​This month, and frankly all year, we want to help you discover your passion and put it into action.  In the words of Frederick Beuchner, your calling in this world can be found where your deep passion meets the world’s hunger.

​Afraid you don’t have any passion?  Not the creative type?

​Work on imagining Bill Gates instead van Gogh then.  Remember passion comes in many forms.  Join us on Sundays in January to discover yours.

 

In faith and passion!

 

Rev. Robin  

January plate collection recipient: Cabarrus Literacy Council

The Social Justice Council has designated the Cabarrus Literacy Council as the January 2014 recipient of the undesignated plate collection. This is the money donated in the collection that is not intended for member's pledges.

The Cabarrus Literacy Council currently has approximately 125 tutor/mentors working with approximately 200 adults in Cabarrus County. Two of our members, Karen Dutton and Anne Laukaitis, are tutors with the Cabarrus Literacy Council. Director Susan Suarez Webster will visit Piedmont on Sunday, January 12, and speak briefly about this work during the 11 a.m. service.

The Social Justice Council researches and identifies one recipient each month for the plate collection, choosing a non-profit whose mission is compatible with our own. Education and the alleviation of poverty through education are important values for UU's.  Contact Karen or Anne if you would like to know more about the Cabarrus Literacy Council.

The donation of the monthly plate collection  began about six years ago and to date, thousands of dollars have been donated to local non-profits. Donations come from all of our members. For more information about the monthly plate collection or to nominate a worthy non-profit, contact Darla Davis, Social Justice Council co-chair. 

Why do we teach adults to read and write and speak English?

The Cabarrus Literacy Council engages adults in Literacy activities because:
Adult men and women in the United States who have fewer than twelve years of education have life expectancies not much better than those of all adults in the 1950s and 1960s, while their highly educated counterparts have experienced a dramatic increase in life expectancy.

8.1 million adults dropped out of school before 8th grade, making GED attainment more difficult.

Since 1983, more than 10 million Americans reached the 12th grade without having learned to read at a basic level. In the same period, more than 6 million Americans dropped out of high school altogether.

Children who have not developed some basic literacy skills by the time they enter school are 3 - 4 times more likely to drop out in later years.

High school dropouts from the class of 2006-07 will cost the United States $329 billion in lost wages, taxes, and productivity over their lifetimes.

Children of parents who had not completed high school scored lower in vocabulary assessments
than children of parents with a high school degree or equivalent.

Spiritually Speaking: The Agnostic Christmas

From carols to cookies placed beside the tree with milk for Santa, ‘tis the season for all sorts of faith. When I was growing up, if someone asked if you had faith it clearly meant one thing: belief. There was no faith apart from belief. And those among us who may not truly “believe” are the poor forgotten in fairy tales and the outsiders peering through frosted glass in Christmas stories. Those without belief are the object of change in the classic stories. Consider Miracle on 34^th Street, even Scrooge-like ridicule of the season, or prize in The Polar Express. But does faith need to be about belief?

Is there a space beyond belief in this season for merriment?

Although I no longer believe in a host of things I once did, I still put up a Christmas tree as well make Christmas cookies. I enjoy the occasional eggnog and even indulge in cinnamon scented pinecones for Christmas décor. I do not feel obligated to gift or go over board, but nor am I on any campaign to keep the Christ in Christmas. I am not offended when strangers wish me Happy Holidays and I gladly honor the wisdom of Hanukkah and Winter Solstice alongside Christmas.

At the same time, I do not believe that a messiah was born 2,000 years ago in December nor do I hold that if I kindle the Yule log it will literally bring back the sun. I am content to endorse metaphor when it comes to the oil in the Temple as well as many other traditional stories of this season.

Does this mean we have no faith in the season, that indeed we’ve lost the reason for the season?

Quite to the contrary, like many of you, I have faith that these small traditions have an important purpose. I have faith, or trust, that putting up the tree each year with family is a moment when we rarely gather together in the quiet of our home and remember the memory of each ornament. It’s an important bittersweet inventory that reminds me of how precious time truly is in our lives. I have faith that kindling the lights of the menorah on our annual Hanukkah service will remind me of what it is to keep the lights alive, and seeing the faces of those in our community share food and connection will do the heart good. I have faith that holding a seed in hand and welcoming the light back will give me hope as the season of night turns to day. I have trust that my New Year’s resolutions may not come true, but they are worthwhile for writing. I will belt out “Gloria” on Christmas Eve, knowing I have heard the sound of angels here on earth, in each tender human voice that offers love and compassion in this season.

This is faith in its origin, from fides, means to have trust in or confidence.

I am not without confidence in my agnostic Christmas. Nor are a great many of us in this community. We can still belt the carols with confidence that the singing does the belly, if not the heart, good. We can put up a tree, or not, and celebrate the light where we discover it. We can kindle fires with the trust that the warmth we knew just a few months earlier will return again. We can take up these traditions knowing they link us not to belief but to people and places that have a magic all their own.

It is confidence in the people, if not the reasons. Trust in the rituals that hold us through winter, and assurance through the little things now done for new purpose.

So Happy Holidays, friends, and Merry Christmas, and Happy Hanukah, and Happy Winter Solstice! May the celebrations of this season nurture your spirit into Spring.

In faith,

Rev. Robin