Services for September
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
A Pause Between Seasons
Worship Committee
September 1
Zoom
We will gather for a time of peaceful reflection as we are guided by Beth Wood-Roig along the path of our indoor labyrinth, bath in the healing sounds of Bess Hutt’s crystal singing bowls, flute and handpan drum or mindfully walk about our beautiful grounds.
The Source of Life
Rev. Jaye Brooks
September 8
Zoom
Water is the source of life. In this ingathering service, as we invite one another into renewed community after a summer of varied activities, the water ceremony reminds us of our connection to the Earth, all life, and one another. Bring water from a special place (home counts) or plan to pour water from the Fellowship’s tap. School-age children (and adults, too) are invited to bring backpacks for a blessing to start the new academic year. This is a service for all ages.
An ingathering picnic follows the service.
Please bring your lunch and/or a dish to pass.
The Kaizen Way
Rev. Amanda Aikman
September 15
Zoom
The 20th Century system of wisdom shows how the tiniest of steps can propel us into a transformed existence. This system seems absurd at first glance, but with a little patience, it can outwit our built-in resistance to change.
The Invitation
Rev. Jaye Brooks
September 22
Zoom
When we consider all the invitations that occur in daily life, from coffee with friends to a walk in the woods, what is it that makes us accept one and decline another. What invitations do we notice—and what invitations slip by quietly without notice? This service explores the nature of life’s invitations and the ways we humans respond.
The Project Fair
follows the service. Check it out!
Activism and Service As Spiritual Practices: Love Is a Verb
Worship Committee
September 29
Zoom
How do our UU Values and Principles influence our approach to community outreach and social justice work? Can this work be approached as a spiritual practice?