“Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
I must admit that there are times when considering the state of the world I long for a cosmology that includes karma. Not exactly that I want rewards or retributions, but a sense that there is an order in the midst of chaos. Watching an unfair verdict come in from a trial, innocent citizens caught in a war; you may have wondered about theodicy. Theodicy is the concept of divine justice. It’s an ordering to the world. Our Universalist ancestors were often criticized for their belief that a loving God wouldn’t punish anyone eternally in hell. Some wondered how that was fair? Others criticized the Universalists for ignoring evil. God loves everyone, but really? Everyone?
There are other religious answers to the question of divine justice.
Hinduism is an expansive religion, truly a collection of diverse religious practices with a shared cosmology. Hinduism received its name from the British who had difficulty in accurately pronouncing the name of the river Sindhuo. Thus those who lived in the region of the Sindhuo became known as Hindus and their religion (which seemed monolithic to the British) became known as Hinduism.
To make any statement about karma and rebirth would be a serious simplification of the practices, worldviews, and cultural diversity within Hinduism. There is a wide range of understanding of karma, coming from the word denoting religious action/sacrifice. Generally, however, karma is understood to be in three forms: karma experienced in this life, one’s store of karma in this life, and karma sown for the next life. While it’s a popular American idiom to accuse someone of accruing “bad karma” of course the theological understanding in Hinduism is much more complicated.
Karma is just one answer to the question of what order there might in the universe. When the Universalists were criticized for their loving God, what was missing is that they did believe in little states of heaven and hell on earth. Here on earth there was much of hell or heaven to be experienced. It’s difficult for me to embrace a cosmological order where beings are reincarnated into life situations that compel them to confront past mistakes. I find it to be pure luck (or lack there of) to be born where and when we are born. Of course, I’ve seen the power of generational poverty or wealth. I’ve known the karma of one person’s decision in a family and the ripple effect it had upon that family. Jesus even offers the parable of the sower and the seed to illustrate the power of what we sow and where we sow it. This kind of here and now karma I can understand. Even in my life so far I’ve known little deaths and rebirths. None of us remains the same person forever.
In Hinduism, karma is referred to as being sown, like a seed. As the new year unfolds already marked with violence in Paris, I invite you to consider what you are sowing? Have you accrued some good karma or bad karma? And are your intentions sown in soil that can receive it?
In faith,
Rev. Robin
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
PUUC ARTS COMMITTEE HISTORY – PART 1
The Arts Committee was born in 2011 with the coming together of five artists, Stanley Burford, Merna Hesse, Michelle Murphy, Claudia Perkinson, and Carol Slavick, who recognized the need for a sanctuary facelift. Prior to the formation of this group, M.J. and Larry Lieberman provided window drapery and items from the outdoors, sometimes branches blooming with dogwood blossoms and at others the plain sculptural beauty of winter trees.
At the first planning meeting of the newly formed Arts Committee, it was decided to present a few ideas to the Religious Services Committee for a plan to create a series of window hangings that would represent each of the four seasons. Approval was granted and the committee went to work designing the first behind the pulpit see-through drape that would depict leaves. The group drove to Gastonia to select and purchase a white semi-sheer polyester fabric. The main criteria for the fabric choice was that it be sheer enough to allow an unobstructed view and yet to prevent sun from coming into the sanctuary. Carol Slavick suggested a creative technique using the insulating building material, Tyvek. A work day was scheduled and the five artists spent the day cutting leaf shapes from the Tyvek, and distorting them with hot irons. This provided a lacy effect indicating newly budded spring leaves. A few of the leaves were painted a light yellow green to add variety to the otherwise all white appearance. Another work day was scheduled where each leaf was carefully placed on the fabric in a free-flowing dance motion. Once everyone was satisfied, the leaves were glued in place and given time to dry prior to installation behind the pulpit. This drapery was in place in time for Rev. Robin Tanner’s installation as our minister on Sunday, April 10th, 2011.
The window hanging brought the group together to begin the design process for a Summer window hanging. The ultimate design depicting blues and aqua of flowing water was chosen. The artists once again drove to Gastonia for the perfect fabric that would be semi-sheer and hold acrylic paint. This drapery creation was a lengthy process with many applications of acrylic paints to create texture and depth of color, primarily done by Stanley Burford. The end result was in place behind the pulpit for the Ordination of Rev. Hugh Hammond in June, 2011.
The Fall and Winter hangings were created afterwards. The Fall hanging depicted falling Gingko leaves. A light gold fabric was chosen for this; the leaves were cut from two different fabrics, including a gold metallic net-type fabric.
The Winter hanging consists of a center panel made from silk that was dyed using the sun printing process, and two silver side panels. Real holly leaves were hand picked and flattened as much as possible for the leaf images. Marbles were used to suggest berries. After painting the silk with blue and magenta Setacolor dye, the leaves and marbles were placed randomly on it. The sun did the rest. It was hot work, but fun work since the process requires a high noon summer sun.
All of the fabrics were purchased from Mary Jo’s Fabrics in Gastonia. Carol Slavick did the hemming for all the window hangings. In addition, she designed and sewed new coverings for the, Chalice, Candles, and Emma tables using linen she donated. Table cloths for the Membership and Adult Religious Education tables in the hall were made by Carol and Michelle Murphy using a drapery weight fabric. A table runner was also made to enhance the Membership table.
ART EXHIBITS
Once the four seasonal window hangings were finished, it seemed logical to continue the creative process by inviting people to exhibit their own artistic creations in exhibit form on the back wall of the sanctuary. A call was issued to PUUC artists, and Debbie Lehman and Babo Janssen were recruited to lend their gallery experience to help create a professional look. Exhibit themes have been Landscapes, Black and White, Texture and Patterns, Pets and Animals, Fire, Still Life, New shows in 2015 are themed Color, Wings, Mystery, Artist’s Choice, Seasons, Water, Found Objects as Art, and Portraits. A children and youth exhibit will be installed in May. Pierre Fraser, Stanley Burford, and Michelle Murphy are the chairs of the Exhibits Committee.
Contributing artists have been Linda Blum, Regina Burchette, Stanley Burford, Connie Byrne, Maura Cooper, Trisha Cunningham, Judy Dancing, Darla Davis, Karen Dutton, Lisa Dickinson, Margaret Edwards, Pierre Fraser, Gail Haley, Merna Hesse, Anne Laukaitis, M.J. Lieberman, Deb Lung, Ilene McFarland, Mary Ann McGannon, Meredith Merritt, Cheryl Midkiff, Michelle Murphy, Krissa Palmer, Stephanie Nelson, Barasha Ratz, Carol Slavick, Angela Stephens-Owens, Bill Sutton, Deedi Sutton, Resa Treadaway, Holly Whisman,
TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY
The Arts Committee created a twenty-five year time line that stretched across the back wall. All of the photographs and dates were supplied by Anne Laukaitis, while the calligraphy banner was designed and created by Maura Cooper. The exhibit remained up for three months so that everyone could explore the history of PUUC.
Part I of this PUUC Art History has dealt with the early years of the Arts Committee.
Part II will illustrate the process of designing and creating the banner for General Assembly, and the Hands with Chalice project.
Michelle Murphy
Carol Slavick
January, 2015
At the first planning meeting of the newly formed Arts Committee, it was decided to present a few ideas to the Religious Services Committee for a plan to create a series of window hangings that would represent each of the four seasons. Approval was granted and the committee went to work designing the first behind the pulpit see-through drape that would depict leaves. The group drove to Gastonia to select and purchase a white semi-sheer polyester fabric. The main criteria for the fabric choice was that it be sheer enough to allow an unobstructed view and yet to prevent sun from coming into the sanctuary. Carol Slavick suggested a creative technique using the insulating building material, Tyvek. A work day was scheduled and the five artists spent the day cutting leaf shapes from the Tyvek, and distorting them with hot irons. This provided a lacy effect indicating newly budded spring leaves. A few of the leaves were painted a light yellow green to add variety to the otherwise all white appearance. Another work day was scheduled where each leaf was carefully placed on the fabric in a free-flowing dance motion. Once everyone was satisfied, the leaves were glued in place and given time to dry prior to installation behind the pulpit. This drapery was in place in time for Rev. Robin Tanner’s installation as our minister on Sunday, April 10th, 2011.
The window hanging brought the group together to begin the design process for a Summer window hanging. The ultimate design depicting blues and aqua of flowing water was chosen. The artists once again drove to Gastonia for the perfect fabric that would be semi-sheer and hold acrylic paint. This drapery creation was a lengthy process with many applications of acrylic paints to create texture and depth of color, primarily done by Stanley Burford. The end result was in place behind the pulpit for the Ordination of Rev. Hugh Hammond in June, 2011.
The Fall and Winter hangings were created afterwards. The Fall hanging depicted falling Gingko leaves. A light gold fabric was chosen for this; the leaves were cut from two different fabrics, including a gold metallic net-type fabric.
The Winter hanging consists of a center panel made from silk that was dyed using the sun printing process, and two silver side panels. Real holly leaves were hand picked and flattened as much as possible for the leaf images. Marbles were used to suggest berries. After painting the silk with blue and magenta Setacolor dye, the leaves and marbles were placed randomly on it. The sun did the rest. It was hot work, but fun work since the process requires a high noon summer sun.
All of the fabrics were purchased from Mary Jo’s Fabrics in Gastonia. Carol Slavick did the hemming for all the window hangings. In addition, she designed and sewed new coverings for the, Chalice, Candles, and Emma tables using linen she donated. Table cloths for the Membership and Adult Religious Education tables in the hall were made by Carol and Michelle Murphy using a drapery weight fabric. A table runner was also made to enhance the Membership table.
ART EXHIBITS
Once the four seasonal window hangings were finished, it seemed logical to continue the creative process by inviting people to exhibit their own artistic creations in exhibit form on the back wall of the sanctuary. A call was issued to PUUC artists, and Debbie Lehman and Babo Janssen were recruited to lend their gallery experience to help create a professional look. Exhibit themes have been Landscapes, Black and White, Texture and Patterns, Pets and Animals, Fire, Still Life, New shows in 2015 are themed Color, Wings, Mystery, Artist’s Choice, Seasons, Water, Found Objects as Art, and Portraits. A children and youth exhibit will be installed in May. Pierre Fraser, Stanley Burford, and Michelle Murphy are the chairs of the Exhibits Committee.
Contributing artists have been Linda Blum, Regina Burchette, Stanley Burford, Connie Byrne, Maura Cooper, Trisha Cunningham, Judy Dancing, Darla Davis, Karen Dutton, Lisa Dickinson, Margaret Edwards, Pierre Fraser, Gail Haley, Merna Hesse, Anne Laukaitis, M.J. Lieberman, Deb Lung, Ilene McFarland, Mary Ann McGannon, Meredith Merritt, Cheryl Midkiff, Michelle Murphy, Krissa Palmer, Stephanie Nelson, Barasha Ratz, Carol Slavick, Angela Stephens-Owens, Bill Sutton, Deedi Sutton, Resa Treadaway, Holly Whisman,
TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY
The Arts Committee created a twenty-five year time line that stretched across the back wall. All of the photographs and dates were supplied by Anne Laukaitis, while the calligraphy banner was designed and created by Maura Cooper. The exhibit remained up for three months so that everyone could explore the history of PUUC.
Part I of this PUUC Art History has dealt with the early years of the Arts Committee.
Part II will illustrate the process of designing and creating the banner for General Assembly, and the Hands with Chalice project.
Michelle Murphy
Carol Slavick
January, 2015
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Spiritually Speaking: When Humanity Does Not Progress
It’s a common armchair philosophy question. Perhaps you’ve heard it at some party or gathering. “Is the world getting better?” someone will ask. There are countless variations of this question. What about women’s rights? Are women really better off? Do you think racial equality is better than twenty years ago?
Countless statistics may be offered (many of which will be fabricated) and then often the conversation, if you are in my family, will end with a shoulder shrug.
Our Unitarian ancestors were made famous and infamous for their insistence on the progress of the world. In the 19th Century, urged on by the industrial age, rapid progress in scientific advancement and popular debate on evolution, Unitarians even enshrined progress into one of their central documents. An early precursor to the Principles and Purposes found in Unitarian Universalism today, the Unitarians developed a document entitled the “Five Points of Unitarian Belief.” Authored largely by James Freeman Clarke the 5th point was “the continuity of human development in all worlds or the progress of mankind onward and upward forever.”
In seminary, my colleagues and I would often jokingly say “onward and upward” in response to some seemingly stupid behavior or decision. We had, as the children of the 20th century, realized that human development was anything but continuous. The chorus of “onward and upward” was viewed as a silly relic of our Unitarian past.
You can imagine the crushing blow that the events of the 20th century had to the Unitarian sense of hope. Believing progress had a direct relationship with time, they welcomed the inventions of the late 19th century and the new discoveries of science. Yet soon after the onward and upward motto became pervasive belief in Unitarianism, the United States had been drawn into two world wars. Scientific advancement had been used to create the atomic bomb. The holocaust became the most devastating and incomprehensible evil in the history of the world. And from the relative tranquility and prosperity of the 1940s and 1950s, came the culture-changing, world transforming 1960s.
To say the least, onward and upward became a joke. Behind the raucous humor was a deep theological void. The emphasis on rationalism and empiricism added to a sort of depressed Unitarian body in the late 20th century- one that had no theological understanding of hope. I once preached to a historically Unitarian congregation in 2003 about hope in the new century. After I was done delivering a hopeful and somewhat overly optimistic sermon, a lifelong Unitarian approached me and simply said, “Hope is not rational. Unitarianism does not rely on hope. I can hope all day long, but it won’t change anything.”
Reticence to rely upon a sort of immobilizing hope is understandable- say one that says suffering in this life is to be endured and embraced for the hope of a reward in heaven. An inability to hold to the “onward and upward” style of hope in the 21st century is rational and reasonable. And yet, if we do not have some trust in the world, in other words some reason or cause to believe that things will yet be better, what would ever motivate us to progress when we do?
Put plainly, religion- particularly a religion with a strong social conscience must have hope within its theology.
2014 was a year chock full of evidence that things are not getting better. And it was full of beauty and promise.
As we take our first few breaths in the air of 2015, the decision to hope may be more important than any resolution we could make. Not a hope for a next life, not a hope that is head-in-the-sand, but a gritty, real hope that takes the to streets. This is a hope that of the long arc. It is a hope kindled in community by the people who push us beyond ourselves and pull us out of isolation and despair.
Come walk with us into this new year with the absurdity, the wonder and the beauty of the hope that can be. Yes onward and upward, well most definitely onward!
In faith,
Rev. Robin
Countless statistics may be offered (many of which will be fabricated) and then often the conversation, if you are in my family, will end with a shoulder shrug.
Our Unitarian ancestors were made famous and infamous for their insistence on the progress of the world. In the 19th Century, urged on by the industrial age, rapid progress in scientific advancement and popular debate on evolution, Unitarians even enshrined progress into one of their central documents. An early precursor to the Principles and Purposes found in Unitarian Universalism today, the Unitarians developed a document entitled the “Five Points of Unitarian Belief.” Authored largely by James Freeman Clarke the 5th point was “the continuity of human development in all worlds or the progress of mankind onward and upward forever.”
In seminary, my colleagues and I would often jokingly say “onward and upward” in response to some seemingly stupid behavior or decision. We had, as the children of the 20th century, realized that human development was anything but continuous. The chorus of “onward and upward” was viewed as a silly relic of our Unitarian past.
You can imagine the crushing blow that the events of the 20th century had to the Unitarian sense of hope. Believing progress had a direct relationship with time, they welcomed the inventions of the late 19th century and the new discoveries of science. Yet soon after the onward and upward motto became pervasive belief in Unitarianism, the United States had been drawn into two world wars. Scientific advancement had been used to create the atomic bomb. The holocaust became the most devastating and incomprehensible evil in the history of the world. And from the relative tranquility and prosperity of the 1940s and 1950s, came the culture-changing, world transforming 1960s.
To say the least, onward and upward became a joke. Behind the raucous humor was a deep theological void. The emphasis on rationalism and empiricism added to a sort of depressed Unitarian body in the late 20th century- one that had no theological understanding of hope. I once preached to a historically Unitarian congregation in 2003 about hope in the new century. After I was done delivering a hopeful and somewhat overly optimistic sermon, a lifelong Unitarian approached me and simply said, “Hope is not rational. Unitarianism does not rely on hope. I can hope all day long, but it won’t change anything.”
Reticence to rely upon a sort of immobilizing hope is understandable- say one that says suffering in this life is to be endured and embraced for the hope of a reward in heaven. An inability to hold to the “onward and upward” style of hope in the 21st century is rational and reasonable. And yet, if we do not have some trust in the world, in other words some reason or cause to believe that things will yet be better, what would ever motivate us to progress when we do?
Put plainly, religion- particularly a religion with a strong social conscience must have hope within its theology.
2014 was a year chock full of evidence that things are not getting better. And it was full of beauty and promise.
As we take our first few breaths in the air of 2015, the decision to hope may be more important than any resolution we could make. Not a hope for a next life, not a hope that is head-in-the-sand, but a gritty, real hope that takes the to streets. This is a hope that of the long arc. It is a hope kindled in community by the people who push us beyond ourselves and pull us out of isolation and despair.
Come walk with us into this new year with the absurdity, the wonder and the beauty of the hope that can be. Yes onward and upward, well most definitely onward!
In faith,
Rev. Robin
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