Services for October

Invitation. Life offers so many invitations. Sometimes they’re obvious, like an invitation to a birthday party. Sometimes they’re a direct ask (less invitation and more request), like “Please take out the trash.” Sometimes they emerge from deep within, responding to the question Who am I? or Who do I long to be?

And sometimes an invitation comes to us from the Earth, or the universe—an invitation to notice a moment of beauty with such attention that it remains in the heart forever, and in the mind’s eye. I still remember my first experience of hail when I was eight years old and saw golf-ball-sized ice bouncing on the road all around me. I still remember leafy green branches against the blue sky when I was 12 and walking home from school.

Consciously, intentionally, I responded to an invitation to notice. So now I remember.

Years later there was a grown-up moment, the breeze caressing my face as I rocked gently in my blue camping hammock on Toe Island in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness. On the same trip there were juvenile loons that chattered and squawked at one another on the sunny granite ledge near my camp—teenagers talking and laughing after school. They paid no attention to me; I was irrelevant to their lives. But their presence made a tectonic shift in my place in the world. My human-centric self slid to a location both parallel to and interdependent with those gawky, squawky young birds. I paused to attend to their rather ridiculous performance, just to be alive, and it meant something.

It meant everything.

~ Rev. Jaye

Call of the Shofar

Rev. Jaye Brooks
October 6

On this Sunday that introduces our October theme of Deep Listening, we find ourselves in the Days of Awe between the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah (October 2 through 4) and Yom Kippur (October 11-12). The Days of Awe are a time for deep listening and reflection on past mistakes and the changes we choose to make as we move forward. The call of the shofar traditionally marks the Jewish new year and the start of the ten days of deep listening that culminate in Yom Kippur. This service honors the Jewish high holy days and reminds all of us to consider how we live our values and put love at the center. Rabbi Meeka Simerly from Temple Adas Shalom in Havre de Grace joins us as guest worship leader and Ami Silberman blows the shofar.

Love with a Capital L

Worship Committee
October 13

Join us for a poignant playful service for all ages in which we’ll try to imagine our lives as the Universe’s repeated attempts to understand itself and learn to Love with a capital L. This deeply affirming service centers and celebrates Pride, so wear your most colorful attire, bring your joyful spirit, and expect to be blessed with stardust. (Don’t worry—there’s no loose glitter!)

A Volunteer Training for the Program for Children and Youth begins about noon after the potluck.

Mosaic

Rev. Jaye Brooks
October 20

The world today is a mosaic of culture, traditions, and beliefs. There is so much othering, the emphasis on division that may be the greatest plague of our time. How do we embrace this diversity to foster belonging in the Fellowship and in all the various communities in which we move?

The Path of the Veiled

Jasmine Stock and Laura Paligo
October 27

Many cultures believe that the veil between the worlds is thinned at this time of year and that leads to better communications with the spirits and ancestors. Join worship associates Jasmine Stock and Laura Paligo in a time of ritual, reflection, and celebration.