This week I begin working as an intern chaplain at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. My work hours are 8 am- 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday. I have 24 hours of on call duty once every week or two. In addition, I will have study and reflection assignments to complete. I am looking forward to this adventure and challenge. It will be an extremely busy time for me.

And, it will hit close to home. I spent the latter part of last week in Dallas. Texas. My sister’s 46 year old husband has just undergone very major surgery for cancer that has returned. He has spent four days in intensive care and is being moved to a regular hospital room tomorrow where he is expected to stay for another week or so. All this, and the doctor says, "We would be naive to think we got it all."

In one week’s time I will have been both the anxious family and the non-anxious presence for the anxious family. This is how life works. We give. We receive. We begin the day, or the week, or the moment, not really knowing who we will be needed to be—Giver? Receiver? Likely, both, on a daily basis. And likely some of what seems to be receiving, upon reflection, looks more like giving…and vice versa. This is the dance we humans do, and I have always loved to dance!

This dancing I will be doing at UT Hospital (Do you think I should show up tomorrow saying I am ready to dance?) is only possible because of this congregation’s great generosity. I am definitely the Receiver as many people are stepping in to assist during these next eleven weeks.

The Religious Education Committee—Donna Bass, Christina Elliott, Becky Spain Kaiser, Susan Rosenbaum, Valerie Herd, Betsy Bauer, Karen Brynestad, Roxana McNair, and brand new member Heather Ferragut (Welcome, Heather!) will be doing double-duty as Greeters on Sunday mornings, when I am away.

Jil Smith is coordinating the schedule of Summer Sunday Leaders. Please contact Jil to claim your day to be with our young people this summer! You can reach her through the church office at 483-6761 or oruuc@bellsouth.net. Our goal in the summer is to have fun and keep our routines going while our regular Religious Education Leaders take a break. Thanks to our first Summer Sundays team. Jinx Watson, Amanda Weatherspoon, Anne and Josh Scott, and Susan Dorsey will be with our children on June 6. Jil still needs Leaders for June 13 and beyond…until the end of August. Give her a call!

Rainbow Camp, June 14-18, is in Susan Rosenbaum’s capable hands. She will be assisted by many members of the Religious Education Committee, as well as many others. We have a great week planned, including a ride on a Riverboat, straw weaving as taught by weaver Carl Bretz, cooking, drumming, dancing, field games and, most important, building friendships with people of diverse backgrounds. I am just hoping I will allowed back into the fun next summer!

I may post less often during my internship. I need to see how my energy is.
Until next post, I remain, in fgrateful, faithful and fruitful partnership,

Tandy

This time every year, we begin the process of closing out the regular religious education year. The groups that have gathered since September will not be the same when we begin again next September. The Senior High group will welcome rising freshmen, havingn said "goodbye"to this year’s seniors. The Middle School group will glimpse its oldest members across the hall in the senior high room and will make room for rising fifth graders as they get comfortable in their new digs. Some years the Religious Education Committee reconfigures the age ranges in the various groups so that no groups are too large or too small. (For the coming year, we have a bumper crop of five year olds, and we are wondering whether they will all fit in the Spirit Play group.)

This time every year, we thank our Religious Education Leaders, those who have met week after week with our young people throughout the school year. They will take a much-deserved rest from June through August. Some of them will choose to serve as leaders again next year. Some will not, so their teams will likely not be the same next September either. The Religious Education Committee Liaisons for each group are making plans for end-of-year meetings with each RE Leader Team. We will reflect on what we have done in order to deepen our work. What are the favorite memories from this year? What balls got dropped? How might we all communicate better?

On May 23, we will recognize these exceptional ORUUC Leaders in worship. I invite everyone in the congregation to join the Religious Education Committee in affirming the good work our RE Leaders have done this year and to thank them.

May 30 will be our last day of regular Religious Education classes. It will be a day to reflect together on the year, just as Leaders have done with the Religious Education Committee and me. What do we need to do more of?...less of?....instead of? What memories did we make this year? What are we looking forward to next year? I urge each family to have discussions of this sort at home as well. How has each person experienced this church year. What stands out? What do we wish we had done differently as a family? What do we hope for next year? I welcome your sharing your thoughts with me or any member of the Religious Education Committee. Our church life is what we make it. Sharing how you and your children experience ORUUC can help us figure out together how to make our ORUUCian experiences more meaningful.

June 6 marks the beginning of Summer Sundays. We will have Nursery, Preschool, and Elementary Groups each Sunday, and Middle and High School youth will attend worship instead of meeting with their groups. The three younger RE groups will be lead by friends and members of ORUUC who are not regular Religious Education Leaders. Jil Smith is our Summer Sundays Schedule Coordinator. Many of you have already received an email from me asking you to spend one or preferably two Sundays with one of our RE groups. You may contact Jil to get on the schedule. You will receive class plans in advance; your part is showing up and being present for that hour to hour and a half for which you are scheduled. Summer Sundays are a time when you can test the waters to see if serving as an RE Leader would be a way to share your talents at ORUUC. Summer Sundays are a time when you can help in RE without making a huge commitment of time and energy. Thanks to everyone who contacts Jil and who takes a turn or two this summer.

Earlier in the year, I shared my intentions to seek ordination as a Unitarian Universalist minister. One of the requirements for ministry is a unit (~400 hours) of clinical pastoral education. I will be serving as an intern chaplain at UT-Hospital, beginning May 24. My internship concludes August 6. I will be working 8am-4:30 pm M-F--visiting with patients and families, offering prayers and presence, and reflecting on my experiences in order to learn as much as I can about ministering to and with people during times of sadness and crisis. I have been advised to be tentative at this point as to how much I will work at the church this summer--to wait and see how the chaplaincy experience is for me. I plan to be at church May 30 and June 6 (unless I am on call at the hospital one of those weekends.) The Religious Education Committee members are planning to have two greeters present on those Sundays when I am not at church. And, Rainbow Camp, set for June 14-18, is in great shape. Susan Rosenbaum is taking my place as Co-Leader with Bob Grimac, and many people are planning to lend a hand that week. I predict it will be the best Rainbow Camp, ever!

ORUUC Religious Education has a healthy, vibrant life of its own, independent of my leadership and presence. All is well and all will be well. I am blessed and honored to serve as your Director of Religious Education, and I deeply appreciate your support as I work to become a minister. I promise to bring back to my work among you all of who I am when I return from my time at UT-Hospital.

In faithful and fruitful partnership,
Tandy

Religious Educators, Who are They?

Religious educators? Who are they? Are they those of us who have chosen to make a profession of promoting growth and learning in congregations, like myself? Are they the Religious Education Leaders, those dedicated, nurturing adults who spend time with our young people Sunday after Sunday? Are they the hard-working, visionary members of the Religious Education Committee and Adult Religious Education Committee? Are they the mentors in the Coming of Age program? Are they the greeters at the Hearth Room door and the ushers at the entrance to the sanctuary? Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. But the most important group of all is missing in those mentioned above--the people who wear the “PRIMARY RELIGIOUS EDUCATOR” hats, the people whom all of those mentioned above complement and underscore, the people who teach our young people the most about values, beliefs, ethics, fairness, and faith.

Parents are and always will be the primary religious educators of their children. The rest of us are here to support the process, but we are secondary, always secondary.

That’s why I am so heartened by Michelle Richards’s new book, Tending the Flame: The Art of Unitarian Universalist Parenting. Teachable moments in a young person’s religious and spiritual development are unpredictable. The best preparation is to know ourselves deeply and to continuously tend to our own religious and spiritual growth and health. This is like putting the oxygen mask on ourselves first, and then assisting others in an emergency. And the analogy goes even further; for it is in the midst of tough and tender times, the “emergencies” if you will, that we learn our most lasting spiritual lessons, and we build our faith.

I don’t mean faith in a supernatural event or entity. I mean faith as the foundation of one’s life---the place a person stands, the way a person lives, the choices a person makes because that is who they are, in the very center of their being.

So, how to “know ourselves deeply and tend to our own religious and spiritual growth and health?” First, I urge you to find a group in our church community that feels like a fit for you, a group where you want to get to know the other people and they want to get to know you on a deeper level, a group that feels like “home.” It might be the Monday night “Spirit of Life” group or the Friday Families group or the Religious Education Committee or Gina Grubb’s new Hospitality Team. If you would like some help finding your niche, speak with Membership Coordinator Gina Grubb or me.

In addition, to directly address your role as primary religious educator, you can order Michelle’s new book through the UUA Bookstore or borrow my marked-up, dog-eared copy. You can also connect with Michelle and absorb wisdom for the UU parenting journey through her parenting blog on the UUA website—uua.org. And, if you want more, we can explore forming a group that meets regularly to discuss UU Parenting, using curriculum written for that purpose.

Parents, you may be your children’s primary religious educators, but you need not be solo operators. Connections to your faith community can strengthen you, your children, and your family. May it be so.

Connecting to the Wisdom of the Ages for All Ages

The stories below and the group gathering guide that follows them are part of a booklet I have just put together for use at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church. Copie of “Stories to Live By”are available at the church, in the entrance to the sanctuary and by the office entrance. Please feel free to take a booklet for home and/or share with others.

Our adult Sunday morning group, “Pensive Preview,” uses these stories to launch their lively and reflective weekly discussions from 10:00 -10:45 am. Our “Spirit Play” group (children, ages 5-10) uses these stories as the basis of “Circle Time” each week. Sometimes our high school group or one of our covenant groups will draw from the story of the week for their gatherings.

It is my hope that these stories and gathering plans will be useful in a wide variety of settings—in family groups, with a gathered group of friends, as part of someone’s weekly spiritual practice, even as part of a committee meeting or church retreat. We at this church have just begun to tap the potential that is inherent in taking the time to reflect upon wisdom tales, all together, on a weekly basis. When all of us, with our unique perspectives, come together to reflect on the same story (or in this case stories), we connect with each other and with wider truths that have stood the test of time.

Why stories? Why not lectures or research results? Why have people across time and culture loved stories?

Stories are the basic way we humans make meaning in our lives. How many of you lean in when the preacher gets to the part of the sermon that is a story? Stories are memorable; they come from life and engage our heads and our hearts simultaneously. Stories are also a means of connecting across ages and stages because they can be understood at different levels and in different ways. There is something for everyone in a good story.

Why repeat the stories? Why not cast a wide net? What about novelty? Who wants to hear a story when they already know how it is going to turn out?

How many of us choose to hear the story of Jesus’s birth every Christmas? What about the Passover Seder held each year in Jewish congregations? Or the story of Buddha’s Awakening? By telling and retelling core wisdom tales, the Unitarian Universalist Association Adult Programs Director for Faith Development, Gail Forsyth Vail, says we are building “hand holds” to use for the “climb” that is our lives. When we are familiar enough with a story, when we know it in our bones, we can take from it what we need when we need it.

Each week, I will post the story that will be told in next Sunday’s service. I hope you enjoy them. Please use the group gathering guides in ways that work for you. May these stories connect you to others, to the deeper parts of your own knowing, and to the wisdom of the ages. May connections abound!

In faithful partnership,

Tandy






The Easter Story (first of two stories for April 4, 2010)


Context
The Christian story of Easter is found in all four Gospels of the Bible: Matthew 28:1-9, Mark 16:1-13, Luke 24:1-49, and John 20:1-23. This is the version from John:

Story
Jesus developed many followers during his ministry, traveling the land, healing the sick, and telling stories of compassion and love. The government leaders didn’t like the fact that Jesus had such a powerful following, so they conspired to have him put to death. Eventually the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate ordered that Jesus should be nailed to a cross of wood and die there on top of a hill called “Calvary,” or “The Skull Place.”
The sky was dark on the Friday when Jesus died. His last words were “It is finished. Father (or Daddy), into your hands I give my spirit.”
Jesus’ followers were devastated over the loss of their beloved teacher. They took his body and wrapped it in a cloth, placing it in a tomb. Then they rolled a large stone in front of it, so no one would bother the body.
On the Sunday morning two days after Jesus’ death, Mary Magdala went to the tomb to mourn the death of her friend, but she was upset to find the stone in front of the tomb had been rolled away. Thinking someone had stolen the body, she ran off to find help. She found two of Jesus’ disciples, Peter and John, and told them someone had stolen Jesus’ body. The two men ran quickly to the tomb and found it empty. All they saw were the cloths that had been wrapped around Jesus’ body rolled up in a corner. Instantly, they knew that Jesus had risen from the dead, and ran to tell others about the miracle.
Finally Mary got back to the tomb as well. Still thinking someone had taken Jesus’ body, she cried bitterly over the fate of her friend. When she looked into the tomb, she saw two men, dressed all in white and with shining faces, sitting at the place where Jesus’ body had been.
“Why do you weep?” one asked her.
“Because they have taken my Lord away and I don’t know where he is,” she cried. Then something made her turn around. She saw a man standing behind her. Thinking it was the gardener, she asked him, “Have you taken the body of my Lord? If so, please, won’t you tell me where he is?”
Then Jesus said her name – “Mary” – and she looked into his eyes and recognized him. She saw that he was alive.
“My Master!” she cried out and flung herself at his feet, reaching for him.
“Don’t take hold of me, Mary,” he said. “I’m not yet going to God. But go and tell the others I will be going to God.”
So Mary ran to tell the others what had happened, and she was filled with joy.
Jesus appeared to several other people in the days that followed his resurrection. Some refused to believe that he had returned from the dead until he showed them the wounds in his hands and feet where he had been nailed to the cross. Then they believed and helped spread the word of Jesus’ miracle over death.


Persephone (second of two stories for April 4, 2010)

Context
The tale of Persephone is a classical Greek myth, explaining why the seasons are as they are.

Story
Demeter, the goddess of the earth and the harvest, had a daughter whose name was Persephone. Demeter made sure the plants and crops grew, and Persephone helped her.
Pluto, who was the god of the Underworld, wanted to marry Persephone. He asked Zeus if he could. But Zeus didn’t answer. He knew Demeter would say no.
The day came when, as Persephone was out alone, Pluto saw her. He kidnapped her, and took her down to the Underworld. As they entered, they passed Cerebus, the three-headed dog guarding the gates of the Underworld, who makes sure the dead don’t leave.
When Demeter learned that her daughter was gone, she was bereft. She wailed in grief. She stopped taking care of the crops, and began to look for her daughter. As she did, the crops withered and died. At last, Demeter learned that Pluto was keeping Persephone prisoner in the Underworld. Demeter went to Zeus, and begged him to make Pluto release her daughter. Because the humans would starve without crops, other gods chimed in, too, asking Zeus to make Pluto release Persephone. Finally, Zeus agreed to step in. He commanded Pluto to release Persephone, on the condition that Persephone had not eaten anything while she was in the Underworld. But Pluto was crafty. Before letting Persephone go, he tempted her to eat a few pomegranate seeds from his garden. Because Persephone had eaten from Pluto’s underworld garden, she was required to stay part of the year now with him, and could only spend part of the year on earth with her mother.
Now, every year when Persephone is with Pluto in the Underworld, Demeter becomes sad and lets the crops die. When Persephone returns to her, Demeter becomes happy, and you can see it all over in the blooming of flowers and the flourishing of the crops.



Group Gathering

Chalice Lighting

Opening Words:
The human spirit has its winter but it also has its spring.
This is the truth that must be retold each time the earth renews itself and
restores our souls.
We know that impetuous green shoots and fragile blossoms do not alter the fact
of sorrow and loss
And yet we are uplifted again by the vitality and hope in the beauty of the
awakening earth
Only as we recognize the winter-like bonds which bind us and separate us from
life
Only as we open ourselves to the light and warmth and growth can we set
ourselves free
Our intellect tells us we are mortal and that we shall die later or sooner
But our spirits tell us that we are one with the infinite, that some part of us will
never cease to be.
~ Janet H. Bowering

Check in: How are you? What season describes your current state of mind and heart?

Sharing: First, the general “Godly Play” questions from Jerome Berryman:
1. What was your favorite part of the stories?
2. What do you think was the most important part of the stories?
3. Where are YOU in these stories?
4. Is there any part of the stories we could leave out and still have all the story we need?
Now, questions that connect the story to Unitarian Universalism.
5. Which of our Unitarian Universalist principles does this story bring to mind for you and why?
6. How does this story inform your life as a Unitarian Universalist?
Now, the specific questions pertaining to these stories:
7. What is your understanding of Jesus's appearing to his followers in the days following his crucifixion?
8. In what ways do you identify with the Easter story? In what ways do you struggle with it?
9. What is your understanding of death and rebirth?
10. What restores you?

Likes and wishes: What did you like about this gathering?
What do you wish had been different?

Closing:
From Dick Gilbert

… There is no escaping the seasons of life—we simply learn to live with them.
Bundle ourselves against the cold or find cool refreshment from oppressive
heat.
We learn to live with them, for, like the seasons, they pass on and away.
But, how joyous to know that now, for a fleeting moment,
We are precariously perched on the precipice of spring.

Multigenerational Worship this Sunday, April 4

I attended a “Worship for All Ages” workshop ten years ago. At the time my mother had been dead fifteen years, my grandmother ten years, and my father three years. The leader led us in a guided meditation. She took us back to our childhoods and asked us to visit a place that was spiritual for us. I went straight to the third pew from the front on the right in the Watts Street Baptist Church, Durham, North Carolina.

I could feel my legs, too short to reach the floor, swinging back and forth. I could see the play of light from the stained glass windows and the dark rich wood of the pews, so cool and smooth to the touch. The room felt simultaneously spacious and cozy.

Then, I saw what had been my view for hundreds of childhood Sundays—the view along the length of that third pew. There we all were….my little brother, my two younger sisters, my mother (always so beautiful to me on Sundays), my father (only time of the week in a coat and tie), and my grandmother (fur stole, both alarming and fascinating, with those little animals still intact. I didn’t want to see their beady eyes and tiny claws, but I couldn’t help looking.)

There we all were. I could see my father’s rough, cracked hands--no wedding ring, my mother’s freckled, generous hands with diamonds that sparkled, my brother’s and sisters’ hands holding pencils, doodling on their orders of service, my grandmother’s very soft, pale hands. When I sat by my grandmother, she played a little hand game with me. Two squeezes started the exchange—“Love me?” Two squeezes back replied, “Uh-huh.” Two again, from the initiator—“How much?”. The answer gauged by the strength of the squeeze…the harder squeeze the more the love.

There we all were. I could see us, feel us, touch the love that held our family as we sat, week after week, year after year, third pew on the right. I believe it was love that guided us to sit together in that pew, but I also believe that that love actually grew and deepened as we sat together in that pew, forging an anchor for my life.

This Sunday, April 4, Easter Sunday, we will worship as a multi-generational community. We will have nursery and preschool care, but children, kindergarten and older, will remain in the service, as we do several times a year. I wish we did it more, much more, every week, even.

I do know that these “multi-gen Sundays” are much dreaded by some, and rightly so. I get it that trying to meet your own spiritual needs while also monitoring your children--are they being quiet enough?...are they still enough?—is a rough row to hoe. It is hard work, plain and simple. I know that this is asking a lot of parents, and I admit that it may be too much. After all, it may be the one time during the week that you have some peace and quiet.

I also know this. I know that we only learn to read by reading. We only learn to pray by praying. We only learn to worship with children by worshipping with children. And our children only learn to worship by worshipping.

At whatever age we learned to read, we all began with stops and starts, unknown words, frustration, even tears. Imagine if, when we were learning this lifelong habit, we read just a few times a year. We would never know the joy and satisfaction of a good book.

Here is what I wonder. I wonder, if we could tough it out in the early phase of learning to worship with children, might we end up finding deep joy and satisfaction as families, sitting side by side, in worship? I believe that the hard work could be worth it. What if part of our mission at this church were to help family members forge the love that binds them into anchors for their lives?

Parents, you are not alone in this hard work, should you choose to take it on. You are part of a vibrant and loving faith community. May those of us without children, be patient with families as they are learning. May those of us who feel so moved, make it our mission to sit with children and families and serve as gentle guides in worship.

I hope to see you this Sunday, April 4 for our multi-generational Easter worship.

Two Kinds of Connections

I'm thinking about two kinds of connections--huddling and mixing--familiar terms. We huddle on the football field. We mix cake batter ingredients. But, huddling and mixing as kinds of connections?…hmmmmm….Might we huddle at church rather than on the football field, and might we mix people rather than ingredients?

Mixing and huddling…Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Adult Programs Director, Gail Forsyth-Vail, uses these terms to describe the ways we need to connect members of our congregations. David Savoie, Chair-Elect of our Adult Religious Education Committee, and I participated in a weekend workshop on Adult Faith Development, led by Gail.

We huddle. We circle up with our cohorts to share our life stories and the meaning we make of them. We circle up with our cohorts to find sustenance and the nudge we need to grow into our fullness and to be faithful to our ideals. We circle up to know others and to be known, to gather strength for our days…and our nights.

We mix. We come together to live into our multi-cultural, multi-generational vision of an inclusive and just world. We come together to celebrate this multilingual liberal religious faith that is Unitarian Universalism. We come together because we learn the most from those who are different from us. From them, we glimpse the world through new lenses and gain perspectives we had not yet considered...or had forgotten.

Huddling--building and strengthening connections with our ORUUC “peeps”, those with whom we find ourselves most at home, those who have chosen to come together for a common cause or common experience in church life.

Mixing-- connecting with the wider ORUUC congregation--Gen Xers and Silent Generation folks, pagans and humanists, morning people and night owls, those with time on their hands and those who need more hours in each day, those whose service to the church is to sing anthems in the choir and those who serve by singing lullabies in the Nursery.

So, how does “huddling and mixing” inform my work as your religious educator?

I work, in partnership with you, the congregation, to build and nurture strong “Home Groups,” circles of people who know each other well over time, where each member of the group has a strong sense of belonging. “Home groups”--circles of people who take care of each other, learn and grow, and serve the church and others together. Some of our existing groups already function as ‘Home Groups”—the Welcoming Congregation Team, the Religious Education Committee, and our Youth Group, to name a few. Other groups in our church might grow into home groups simply by being more intentional about service to the church or by taking time to reflect on the good work they have done together. I work, also, with Membership Coordinator, Gina Grubb, to make certain that every ORUUCian who wishes to belong to a “Home Group” is invited to do so.

I work, in partnership with you, to build and nurture opportunities that bring us together across boundaries…events such as “Everybody’s Birthday Party.” But, also quieter opportunities…This past weekend, Abbie Moore shared her passion for card-making, using stamps. She guided our Spirit Play children in creating greeting cards, using resources she donated to the group. The Spirit Play children are now the church’s official “Caring Committee Card Creators.” In a few weeks, Judy Van Winkle will join Spirit Play to share her stories of how the cards the Caring Committee sends are part of living out the church’s mission…"We care.”

Mixing and Huddling…Caring, Serving, Learning...May connections abound!


In faithful partnership,

Tandy

Growing a Minister Takes Time...and a Leap of Faith

One day in the fall of 1972, my junior year in college, I set off alone on a bike ride. I had just decided that psychology, too, was not the right major for me. I rode away from campus and into the inner city of Greensboro asking myself what I was meant to do. I knew I wanted to work with people in a helping profession, but I had changed my mind every semester or two as to the particular nature of my work. Riding my bike, I felt my first call to ministry. It was strong and surprising to me. The church of my childhood had been pivotal in my life, and I had great affection and respect for both the youth and senior ministers there. Could I, should I become a minister?

In the following weeks, I piddled around with my thoughts about ministry and eventually set them aside. I did not personally know any female ministers. The college I was attending on full honorary scholarship did not even offer a major in religious studies. The idea of pursuing the ministry would have demanded that I push boundaries and go into unknown territory. I was not ready.

So, I became a teacher and poured myself into my work. I taught in public schools for fourteen years. I also became involved in religious education at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. I taught religious education and served on and chaired the Religious Education Committee. I also served on the Board and lead the Caring Team of the church. Meanwhile, Peter and I became parents, and I stayed home during Ben’s and Sam’s early years. During those years, I served on Search Committees for Directors of Religious Education. I began to sense that this was work I would love when the time was right for our family.

In 1997, this church, the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, was searching for a half-time religious educator. I applied and was hired on the spot—virtually during my job interview! (I found this very puzzling until years later I learned that I was the only person who had applied!) From the first day on the job until today, I have loved my work and thrived as a religious educator. I believe it is work I was meant to do. I also believe it is work I was meant to do in this place and with these people. I have found the work to be rewarding and meaningful not just because of its nature but because of the people that I have known and served and worked beside and come to love.

In the fall of 2007, I was credentialed as a Master Level Religious Educator. I took several on-line seminary courses in order to meet the credentialing requirements, and I completed an extensive list of required reading. I thoroughly enjoyed all that I learned. My love for my work deepened as a result of understanding the work more deeply.

In December 2008, when Jake began his five-month sabbatical, he made arrangements for me to lead most of the Celebration Services. We were just beginning these services, and they did not fit the format that a visiting minister would expect. Unexpectedly, these services became a highlight of my week. While I knew that I could speak effectively and was capable of leading meaningful worship, I had not yet met the Preacher in me. The homilies I shared in Celebration services tended come from a deep place inside me, and they seemed to meet people where they were and invite them into a deeper place as well.

After Jake’s return, I thought about whether to pursue ministry and discussed this with him. I knew the pull was there for me, but I also felt conflicted. I am a religious educator in the very core of my being, and I needed to discern whether becoming a minister would be deserting my religious educator center or honoring it. I was reassured by colleagues that Unitarian Universalism needs ministers with strong backgrounds in religious education. Eventually, I came to realize that my choice was to either lean into ministry or hold myself back.

In November, 2009, I made the choice to lean in. I believe in my soul that this path toward ministry is right for me at this time. I plan to continue my work as the religious educator at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church while fulfilling the requirements to become a fellowshipped Unitarian Universalist minister. The process will take me several years.

I want to be very clear that I have no desire to become a minister in order to move on to a new setting and a new bigger better career. I have grown into ministry right here, and I see this as a joint journey for the congregation and me. Jake says that ministers grow out of healthy and strong churches, and that has been my experience here. I deeply appreciate all of the opportunities that this church has afforded me, and I look forward to the journey ahead, step by step, in faithful partnership. My understanding is that the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church has never ordained a minister. Just think, we have history to make!

Below, I have included below a poem that was part of my spiritual reading a few weeks ago.


In faithful partnership,
Tandy




from THE HEART OF LEARNING: SPIRITUALITY IN EDUCATION
edited by Steven Glazer

He asks me a question I’ve never considered before.
When is it that you know you have to go someplace else?
At first I think I don’t know, don’t go, never have, just try to please,
do what’s expected, bloom where I’m planted.
But then the answer germinates in the soil of my mind.
I see a potted plant, roots protruding from the drainage hole
in the bottom, ready to go, bursting to grow.
After weeks or months or years of putting its root system down,
of consolidating its power, husbanding its resources, it has reached
a crisis point, lost its equilibrium, has to go, has to grow.
I run down to the cellar and root around for a larger pot,
A little larger only, so my vulnerable plant won’t wilt in the
Unstructured vastness of a new world without apparent walls.
I have to smash the old pot to rescue my restless plant,
Impacted root system now naked in my hand. A small sacrifice,
but a radical operation to deliver the plant from death.
Without the space to grow, it will shrivel and die.
When is it that I know I have to go someplace else?
When I have to grow or die.

By Diana Chapman Walsh
written at a retreat with Parker Palmer who is the “he” in the poem.

Everybody's Birthday Blow-Out--Connections across Generations

Last Saturday, our congre-

gation celebrated the birthdays of every one of us who had ever been born. Yes, we are indeed, a very inclusive bunch. We Unitarian Universalists like to draw circles that bring people in rather than the kind that keep people out.

So, some eighty or so of us, from age 1 to age 86 gathered in the church Social Hall last Saturday night. After a potluck supper, we gathered at twelve tables, seated with those with whom we shared a birth month. (If your birthday is in August or June, we needed you--we had only two people each for those months. Otherwise, we had good-sized groups.) Each table had a cake and cake decorations as well as some instructions on how to proceed. The oldest person at the table put on a birthday hat and became the Wise One. The youngest put on sunglasses, as in... "My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades." Folks arranged themselves in order by the day of the month on which they were born. We sang four different happy birthday songs, decorated our respective cakes, made wishes for our congregation, and then swapped stories about our births and birthday celebrations as we ate LOTS of cake. After talking and eating, we took action. Each table had a puzzle to complete. The March-Borns were clearly gifted puzzle workers. The May-Ites and Septemberians, however, can claim "Most Perseverant." After puzzles, some folks stayed to play games. The "Sequence"competitors got right down to business, no messing around. The "Apples to Apples" bunch showed no signs of quitting at the bewitching hour, so they closed the place down. (How is it that a 7 year-old who does not know the meaning of "Wall Street" tosses that red card in when the green word is "Corruption."?! The serendipity of Apples to Apples!!

Ahhh, Connections--connections with those who share our birth months, with those who were born long before or long after us, with those who gave us life, with those who have found a church family at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church. May Connections abound!

In faithful partnership,
Tandy

"Connections" Commences

For over thirteen years, I have written an article for the church newsletter entitled "REgarding Religious Education." Today I claim a new name--"Connections"-- and a new mode--Blogging. Why the changes?



While those who want to do so can still read my writing in a church newsletter, those who might never have heard of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church just might find us as well.
We might connect with them through my blog. Also, those in the church who would prefer electronic messages can read my blog and choose to click or not to click on various portions of the message. And, let's hope some trees are saved as we find our way. So, there you go as to why the blog.



But why not keep "REgarding Religious Education?" Why the name change after all these excellent years of learning and growing together?

In part this is because of changes in the larger movement of Unitarian Universalism. Our Association changed "Religious Education" to "Faith Development" some six years or so ago. The intention was to broaden and deepen our understanding of the nature of the growth and learning that happens in congregational life and to move away from a schooling model. I support these changes wholeheartedly.

But why "Connections?' Why not "Faith Developments?" Good question. My short answer is that I hope "Connections" carries less baggage for those who have history with a very
narrow and exclusive meaning of the word "faith." But I'm not just avoiding tough terms.
My broadest view of my work is that I am making connections and helping others make connections. Learning, in its essence, IS the act of making connections--between subject and learner, between what was known and what is now known, among co-learners. But even more that that, my deepest spiritual experiences have brought a sense of Connection...with Truth, with Others, with the Earth. Finally, I believe we humans need community in order to grow religiously and spiritually---we need to know others and be known, to encourage and, yes, challenge each other to live into and up to our highest values and deepest spiritual truths and keep on keeping on together. Congregational life is life in Community--and, even better, life in Multigenerational Community. Our houses of faith are the Keepers of Generational Connections for our times. Where else in our culture do we find people of all ages under one roof for any extended period of time on a regular basis? (How we might better tend the connections between the generations is a topic for another day.)

So, I hope you approve of the new name for my postings. Stay tuned. May connections abound!


In faithful partnership,
Tandy