1Beacon On The Hill December 2008

BEACON ON THE HILL

NEWSLETTER OF THE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF BERKELEY

UnitarianUniversalistChurch ofBerkeleyVision Statement

We are awelcomingand vibrantcongregation.We joyouslysupport

spiritualdevelopment

guided byindividualfaith, reasonandconscience.We are

committed toserving

oneanother, ourchurch, andthe local andglobalcommunities.We foster a

spirit of generosity and trust

thatencouragescare for ourchurch home,and

affirmsdiversity

andrelationshipsconsistentwith UnitarianUniversalistprinciples.UUCB is amember ofthe UnitarianUniversalistAssociationand theInternationalAssociationfor ReligiousFreedom.

Volume 67Issue 12December 2008

The work of the church is to create loving community, inspire spiritual growth, and encourage lives of integrity, joy, and service.

December

1 During this holiday season, what would it be like to practice gratitude?To list 5 items a day for which you are grateful? To bow ten times aday? Bow to whatever you are feeling, whatever you notice.2 Eat less, spend less, enjoy anyway.3 Eat your greens. Eat ethically. Eat moderately. Eat as if your health depended on it. Eatas if the health of the planet depended on it. Check out this website: http://www.uua.org/documents/washingtonoffice/ethicaleating/studyguide.pdf 4 Ask kindly for what you want: tea for two, help with the dishes, a walk, a gift of writtenmemories, a quiet evening, relaxed conversation, time to play a game…5 Hold in your heart the best possible outcome. All shall be well. All manner of things will be well.6 Gather mittens, scarves, hats, jackets, gifts of warm to bring tomorrow to decorate our Mitten Tree.7 Sing we joyous all together tonight for the Messiah Sing! Hallelujah!8 How about surprising someone with a phone call, email, card, or visit?9 As you go through your day, look for the inherent worth and dignity in people. Silently bless all whom youmeet.10 When you become hard on yourself, stop, notice, breathe. Count to 10. Begin to offer yourself compassion.11 When someone else starts to bother you, stop, notice, breathe. Remember every one of us has ourstruggles and suffering.12 Go out under the night sky, under the beauty of the full moon.13 Sit quietly. Breathe deeply. Relax as you can your neck and shoulders. With each breath, say to yourself,“let go, let go.”14 Come to the 9:00 or 11:00 Christma-Hannu-Solsti-mas Pageant and celebrate in community with all ages.15 Look around, see someone you don’t know well. Notice something about them or something they aredoing you appreciate. Tell them.16 Ask for what you need—a hug, an invitation, a listening ear, a moment of someone’s presence.17 Give the gift of your written memories and appreciation of loved ones, a book you’ve treasured you canpass along, a seashell you found.18 Notice gifts of the natural world.19 Notice care and generosity in the people around you.20 Whenever the thought of giving comes to you, give. Give time, words of appreciation, help, a possession.21 Ritualize sending the two of us off on sabbatical, enjoy

Amahl and the Night Visitors

, and celebrate thesolstice. Walk a labyrinth, enjoy sounds and silence, light and dark.22 Enjoy time at home. Light the first candle of Hanukkah.23 Read Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” or Ron Carlson’s “The H Street Sledding Record.”

24 Enjoy the beauty of music, story, song, and the radiant light of 500 candles at the 5:00 or 10:00 Christmas

(Continued on page 2)

FROM OUR CO-MINISTERS

2 Beacon On The Hill December 2008

“One of the aspects of real love is just this: ittries to create the conditions in which otherpeople may grow to the maximum of theirpotential within the opportunities at hand.”

~ Morton Kelsey

(Continued from page 1)

Eve Service.25 Receive graciously what the day offers.26 Box up something you are ready to let go of and pass it onto someone for whom it might bring joy.

Practice letting go of an old grudge or judgment. Comeup with a simple phrase to remind you of the health youwant, like “Life is precious.”28 What do you feel you want to burn away or let go of so asto live more fully?29 Look back on 2008. What were your significantmoments?30 What would you like next? How can you plant the seeds?31 Resolve to practice loving.

  

We are grateful to you for our up-coming sabbatical leave. Weplan to spend our months in India. We will sendyou “postcards” via email to appear in TheBeacon and on the church web site uucb.org.Great Sunday Services are lined up. Pleasepick up a Sabbatical Handbook on theinformation table in the atrium to learn moreabout ministerial services during the sabbatical.We wish you a new year full of shared leadership and lovingcommunity!Holiday and New Year Blessings!

Barbara and Bill

Revs. Barbara and Bill Hamilton-Holway,Co-Ministers

FROM OUR CO-MINISTERS

(cont’d)

Holidaze

For many of us, especially those of us observing one or two of themany holidays coming our way this month, this can be a tryingtime. We can so easily get swept up in the haste and crazyconsumptive pace of this time of year. Just the other day I wasrunning errands, picking up some supplies for the

Holiday CraftParty

which will be after the

Christma-Hannu-Solsti-masPageant

on December 14

. And I found myself slipping into theseductive sense that I needed to buy gifts for people I love,especially for Benjamin. Now our little man is still in the agewhen the wrapping is often just as entertaining as the present.To be sure he is now just starting to really interact with some of the gifts he is given, and even have loads of fun with them, but asI made my way to the register, I asked myself whether or not heneeded them, whether or not the

joy he would get from themwould be worth the accumulating of more stuff, and thespending of more money.In these difficult economic times, we are also scaling backChristmas across the board. Some years my mother has askedearly that we not go overboard on gifts for the family, butsomehow we usually slip back into our classic patterns of giftingone another probably more than we need to. So this year for ourfamily, we are really trying to go light on the purchases, and toinstead of pouring time into shopping and searching forformulaic gifts for specific folks, instead to put that same timeinto some creative gifts. Finally getting to editing that DVD of the video snippets of Ben’s first year for the Grandparents,making that grief survival pack for my friend who lost her mom,filling a basket with small cards with inspiring quotes or funnystories so that she can grab one when she is feeling particularlydown. And if I’m not feeling crafty or creative, to try to narrowoptions down to one bull’s-eye gift rather than vaguelyappreciated scattershot consumption.

A Hard Time

Also, for many of us, the holidays can be a difficult time. Some of us feel the lack of a loved one who has recently died. Others of uscan feel our struggles with addiction heightened and intensified.Challenges with our families can be more powerful and morepresent. Loneliness can gnaw at our insides. Depression canmake it seem like it is all not worth it. Especially if the holidayseason is difficult for you, know that we are here. That theministers, the members and friends of UUCB are here, and thatthere is a powerful love in this church which will not let you goor let you down. So please reach out. Especially if this time is ahard time for you, come up to church on Sunday, contact one of us, remember that you are not alone.So much love to you all,

Chris

Christopher Holton JablonskiMinister of Religious Education

FROM OUR MINISTER OFRELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Dec. 14

Christma-Hannu-Solsti-mas Pageant

Dec. 24

Christmas Eve Family Service at 5:00 pm

Dec. 31

New Years Eve Family Party

THIS MONTH IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

3Beacon On The Hill December 2008

“How but in custom and ceremony are innocenceand beauty born?”~ William Butler Yeats

Continued Connections

It has been such a pleasure to begin to get to know some of youin the last couple of months… there are really amazing people inthis congregation! Thanks to the various committees andgroups that have allowed me to sit in on your meetings andgatherings…by the end of my internship I hope to haveexperienced all of the different activities and programs at leastonce. (This is a rather large goal… so much happens here!)It has also been a gift to feel the trust that is offered me.Whether it has been in scheduled appointments, weddingplanning, casual conversation, or in much-needed honestfeedback about my work, I have been blessed with opennessand acceptance. Thank you. I look forward to moreconnections with you over the coming months, and will holdyour trust with care.This morning, a line from a translation of a poem by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi has been going through my mind."There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground." Ihave been wanting to lead a worship service on prayer… on thevarious ways that we choose to kneel and kiss the ground. Iwould love to include as many voices, ideas, traditions, andperspectives as possible, (including those who do not pray…)and so this is an invitation to get in touch with me if you'd liketo be involved in the February 1st worship. What are yourthoughts, feelings, and experiences of prayer? Poetry, music,movement, reflections, and altar ideas are all welcome andencouraged.As we enter into December, I am reminded of an image from aclass that I took at Oregon State on the Historical Jesus. (Assomeone who doesn't identify as Christian, and who hadpushed away my early religious teachings, this class was reallyhealing for me.) The professor had traveled quite a bit in Israel,and said that though nativity scenes are often portrayed with awooden manger, there is very little wood in Israel, and thatmangers are made out of stone… carved out to hold the food forthe animals. The myth and story of the birth of Jesus is abouthope. Some of us are feeling hope for the first time in a while.What are you hoping might be different in your life? Whatreally matters to you? How might you carve out time and spacefor this to occur?I look forward to continuing into our year together… learning,risking, hoping, and worshipping. On January 24th, there willbe a workshop offered by author, activist, and educator, PaulKivel, entitled

Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Social Justice

. It should be an engaging, powerful day. Andbeginning on Thursday, Jan. 29th, I'll be offering a class onUnitarian Universalist History. It is good to understand wherewe have come from, so that we can better understand who weare. "There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."Let us share them with one another. ~

FROM OUR INTERN MINISTER

In faith,

Lynn

Lynn Gardner, UUCB Intern Minister

Ministerial Review

With the advent of our work in policy-based governance andchanges in the Committee on Ministry over the last few years,we have lost a mechanism for ministerial review. Barbara andBill will be going on sabbatical in January, and have asked theBoard for a review. When they return from sabbatical, we willhave a follow-up process on how things went in their absenceand how we see the future of ministry at UUCB. We will beholding a review for Chris during the sabbatical.To conduct this review, the Board requested a task force of twomembers each from the Board of Trustees, the Council, and theCommittee on Ministry. These members are, respectively, KayFairwell, Joyce Curry, Lynnette Delgado, John Tucker, LynneCahoon, and Donna Davis.Hopefully you will have seen and heard of this process in theweekly announcements. Forms will have been available on theinformation table. If this is the first time you are reading aboutthis, please feel free to call me (510-525-7341), email me(kayfairwell@att.net) or leave a note in my mailbox byDecember 5. You may also contact any of the other members of the taskforce. Only attributable submissions will be accepted; i.e., no anonymous submissions.Our process is one of Appreciative Inquiry, used by other BayArea churches that are also engaged in policy-based governance.The following are questions to consider. (Please note that weare reviewing Barbara and Bill as co-ministers, although youmay submit responses on their individual ministries.)1. Describe a time when you experienced Barbara and/or Bill’sministry with our congregation to be spiritually engaging andmeaningful. What made this experience possible? (Considerthe many areas of ministry, which include: worship, pastoralcare, rites of passage, prophetic witness including communityand denominational service, operations and administration.)2. What do you most value about Barbara and Bill’s ministrywith our congregation?3. What three concrete wishes for the future of Barbara andBill’s ministry with us do you have?4. Is there anything else you would like Barbara and Bill toknow about your experience of their ministry at UUCB?Thank you for being part of this very important process. Oncethis first review is complete, copies will be available for yourinformation.