Messages worth reading & hearing – from previous Sundays & tomorrow, “Being Yourself…” from new high school graduate

Last week we didn’t get the audio of Rev. Natalie Fenimore’s sermon, but she sent the text which you can read here. An important quote is here:

I will join the memory of ministers held in this circle. I hope that, over time, ministers and ministry can be seen as separate things. Ministers are people who may be remembered as doing well or doing ill. But ministry, I hope, is remembered as the ongoing care for each other that is done by so many in this congregation that it can never become a failing thing.

Tomorrow we will hear from one of the long-time members of our religious education program for children and youth who is now bridging to young adulthood as he graduates from high school. Christian James will talk about “Being Yourself and a UU in Today’s World”.

We also have audio from previous sermons here, which are not the typical sermons from your childhood.

We are also looking forward to our Memorial Day Fish Fry and Blues Jam as announced in the previous post.

Davies Fish Fry and Blues Jam on Memorial Day 1 PM in Camp Springs, MD

Our first fish fry is scheduled for Memorial Day Monday starting at 1:00PM.
We will have salads, other foods, and beverages.
Fish will be baked for those who rather not/ can not eat it fried.

Also there will be a Blues Jam. Please bring your instrument if you play the blues.

Invite your friends!

Earth Day Service videos available

As we celebrated Earth Day this year, we also celebrated creativity. We sang with the DC Labor Chorus, had poets reading original works, an earth chalice which was a collaboration of ideas and materials, and a photo gallery.

You can now see it in 4 videos. You can watch them one at a time or you can run them one after another in the Earth Day playlist which contains them all in chronological order.

Individual videos:
Earth Day ’13: Introduction, Where Are We Going, Imagine, So Is Life (Part 1)

Earth Day ’13: Climate changes, We’re Gonna Change the World, + more (Part 2)

Earth Day ’13: Silvery Blue, This Land, & Grandma Tried to Teach Us (Part3)

Earth Day Photo Gallery

Enjoy!

Earth Day: Moving Boldly Forward – Celebrate with us Sun. #princegeorges

A sample of photography in the gallery

The Green Sanctuary Committee, led by Caryl & Jesse, has been working on this for months. They had special art events, poetry-writing events, earth chalice creating gatherings, getting together to sing with the DC Labor Chorus, and a collection of environmental photography for a gallery display.

Come to:

• hear great singing from the DC Labor Chorus singing with our members
• sing with us
• view special photos of the environment
• listen to poems read by the poets
• see our special earth chalice display
• messages of our commitment to care for the Earth

Everyone is welcome to join us.

 

“Go to church” hard to say #uu #princegeorges

This is Adrienne York-Minor’s testimonial from our Fellowship Dinner:

Go to church

I haven’t actually said that to anyone yet, but it’s been on the tip of my tongue a lot lately.

Go to church

I want to say it to people who feel lonely and disconnected. I want to say it to people whose college friends have scattered all over the globe. I want to say it to people whose internet friends, friends who are true and precious and kind, are still too far away to give a hug when needed.

Go to church

I want to say it to my colleague who feels like maybe our job is working on the wrong side,
politically. I want to say it to the friend who thinks the schadenfreude, that joy in others’
misfortune, is a little too sweet and thick and abundant in her own office. I want to say it to
the guy who knows for a fact that he’s a cog in the company machine and it doesn’t matter
one way or another if he shows up.

Go to church

I want to say it to the man who tells me he doesn’t know any of his neighbors. I want to
say it to the woman who has a great group of local friends she drives an hour in any of four
directions to see.

Go to church

I want to say that to everybody who feels tired. I want to say that to everyone who feels
useless.  I want to say it to anyone who feels like their life has no meaning. I want to say it
to anyone who feels like nobody knows who they are, nobody knows where they are,
nobody would miss them when they were gone.

Go to church

But I know, and you know, that going to church is not a magic formula. Davies wasn’t the
first UU church I went to, but it’s the first one I’ve kept going to. And the reason is pretty
simple.

Davies is a pretty welcoming church. I needed a ride to get here, and Linda Powell gave me
a ride. When I got here, I got offered a name tag. And I got offered coffee (and then when I
made my I hate coffee face) I got offered tea. And people talked to me about Davies and
that it was a great place. Which was a good start, but it wasn’t actually enough.

All of that was a pretty decent start, really. But what really made me stick around was
helping people out. It was staffing the UU booth at DC gay pride. It was being asked to
bring dessert to my first fellowship dinner. It was being reminded that I could vote on the
next minister if I signed the book by a particular Sunday.

I stayed at Davies because you helped me to get here. You helped by having a big sign on
the road that I could see when driving by. You had a website where I could figure out some
of what I’m about. You gave me a ride to this building.

And when I got here, you told me that I could be one of you. I could join the Davies family.
And it wasn’t a no questions asked situation, because everyone had questions and wanted
to get to know me better. But it was clear that most answers a person might give would be
okay, that you would be happy for the things that were right in my life and sympathize with
the things were not so great.

And then, finally, and I think most importantly, you asked me to help. You asked me for
money, certainly. But you asked me to teach adults. And you asked me to get up on stage
and show off my terrible Irish accent. You asked me to sit on the Board and help shape
Davies’ present and our future.

So I haven’t told anyone to go to church yet, although I can feel it coming on. But I think, to
be absolutely fair to the person to whom I am giving this unsolicited advice, I’ll have to say,
“Go to church. And when they ask you to help clean up after coffee hour, say yes.”

Spring Fun in Community including Sharing, Story, Planting, & Photos

We had a wonderful family Flower Communion service today as we do every year (audio sermon), but this year we also had a special story about our many daffodils (audio story) and then we went out and planted more daffodils. Our community is always so enjoyable, but this was an especially enjoyable day.

Photos, including 3 from last week’s monthly spaghetti dinner (click them to see larger photos):

People who are in these photos can email web[at]dmuuc.org to get full-sized copies if they’d like.

Celebrate Spring, rebirth & renewal; Easter & Earth Day #princegeorges #md

Spring: a season of rebirth and renewal. New life grows from the Earth, new warmth comes to the air and a new sense of joy and purpose fills our hearts. (Have you noticed the daffodils blooming in the snow?)

Come celebrate Spring at Davies Memorial Unitarian Univeralist Church. More in our poster. Please share:

Download PDF here.