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GA Banner Snippets
A short photo blog of some of my favorite snippets taken from the myriad of UU banners hung along the Blue Mile at General Assembly (GA), Kentucky International Convention Center, Louisville, Kentucky.
The First State
With a weekend at the First Unitarian Church, Wilmington, Delaware, a tour of the beautiful and history filled campus, and camping at Lums Pond State Park just southwest of the city, Austin and I had a well-rounded and peaceful week spent in this beautiful state.
Followed by the outside, the inside of this sanctuary has a strong architecture with overhanging balcony, pipe organ and strong lines. Yet even these were topped this Easter Sunday with the smell of lilies dedicated to the “love and remembrance from … members and friends” and accompanied by the exquisite sounds of the Wilmington String Ensemble.
On this day, Senior Minister the Rev. Dr. Joshua Snyder led the congregation in a deeper understanding of John 20:19-29 and presented his sermon titled, “Feeling for Nails.” A lesson for one and all with the wisdom of realizing that in this world, if one needs to search for proof then one is not truly acting in faith, but is acting in doubt. Doubt as a longstanding metaphor found in the commonly used nickname, “Doubting Thomas,” referring to the disciple Thomas and his gospels, and rejected by the assemblers of the King James Version of the Bible.
Examining reason vs. faith, Rev. Snyder spoke of those finding their certainty in the validity of science, stating that even found in the journals of Mother Teresa were writings of doubt of the absence of God. However, through her faith and her beliefs, she as many others have, found peace within herself by being action-oriented.
Must you feel the wounds to be Christian? Must you understand creation to have faith in the four points or the wind, the fire, the water or earth? Must you know lives past to find the freedom associated with nirvana? Must you know every man to find the humanism in the world? Instead, with this teaching, find the positive message to all, the message to not doubt, but to believe, have faith and to find your reason for your personal path and actions through God, science and reason, always finding faith even through doubt and uncertainty.
For more information on the First Unitarian Church, Wilmington: http://www.firstuuwilm.org/
To see a performance of the Wilmington String Ensemble: http://wilmingtonstringensemble.com/
Park, camping and fishing at Delaware’s largest State Park, Lums Pond: http://www.destateparks.com/park/lums-pond/
Traveling on
Just a quick note to say thank you to everyone for supporting our journey!
We’ve had to make some changes to our schedule and slow down a bit, but we are continuing with the spirit we began. This week I’ll be catching up on the blog with the two visits made since Maryland and we’ll be working on our planning for May, June and July.
Washington D.C. – Austin’s favorites
The Free State
It was a mixed weekend of sunshine, rain and snow at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick. The youth were running the show while winter was outside fighting its best to hold off the promise of spring.
Although I would have truly loved to have heard the sitting minister, Rev. Dr. Carl Gregg, speak, he had turned over the helm to the teenagers to prove their place within the congregation. With the promise of an intriguing title, “Golf Balls to Water,” the youth easily delivered a presentation worthy of their teachers and mentors.
With a mixture of topics on prayer, meditations, and personal musings, the youth took turns talking about faith and about their personal paths to discovering their own truths and experiences with devotion, and with finding faith in life and in self. Without a doubt, the truly enlightening stories and experiences spoken by these young adults reflected the powerful community and faith of the UUC of Frederick. We can only hope, that as represented in these youth, the words of their entire generation are full of the hope, truth, and love so important within our faith.
UUC of Frederick is home to a beautifully designed campus full of light and vision, and is certified as a Green Sanctuary Congregation. It was truly a beautiful weekend home in the country for us on our travels.
* Just in case you can’t see the captions for the two pictures above (run mouse over them or click for slide show), this little bird is nesting in the middle of the UUCF parking lot!
For information on attending the UUC of Frederick: http://frederickuu.org/home/index.php
Example of the Golf Ball Philosophy: http://www.pickchur.com/2011/03/golf-balls-in-the-jar-the-philosophy-professor/
To learn more about the Green Sanctuary Program: http://www.uua.org/environment/sanctuary/index.shtml
Snowy morning
Woke up to a beautiful snowy morning in Maryland while parked at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick. As I walked around the campus I couldn’t help but feel the spirits around me–children playing on the slide, couples sitting on the benches, and faeries enjoying the labyrinth. It was spring on the calendar and spring in my mind, bringing me warm, fuzzy feelings as though I were truly not alone.
Maryland museums in photos
Maryland has been a blur of museums and battlefields so I thought I’d post a photo gallery here from some of the locations. We also got to spend a few nights in the campground at Joint Base Andrews (Andrews Air Force Base), home to Air Force One.
If you click on the individual pictures you can see the captions. You can also view any of the galleries on my blog as a slide-show.
Photos taken at the following locations:
Monocacy National Battlefield, Frederick, Maryland
National Electronics Museum, Linthicum, Maryland
National Wildlife Visitor Center, Laurel, Maryland
Patuxent Research Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Laurel, Maryland
The District
Driving into Washington, D.C., is a daunting task at best, but when one is on a schedule it’s even more so for those not accustomed to the city. Luckily for us last Sunday, providence was on our side as we drove up to the historical All Souls Church, Unitarian, and easily slid into on-street parking directly across from the church’s side entrance–easily arriving on time and on point to our latest location.
Settled in the pews of the sanctuary, we all rose as the choir and Senior Minister, Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, entered the current sanctuary with song–a sanctuary built in 1924, and the third location for this congregation founded over 190 years ago on November 11, 1821.
With an amazing history, and one that is dotted with famous patriots like President William Howard Taft, and founding members President (then Secretary of State) John Quincy Adams, and Vice President (then Secretary of War) John C. Calhoun, the three locations of All Souls Unitarian have been used for a multitude of community and social progress events from serving as a Civil War hospital, to the current Green Souls, and as part of the Washington Interfaith Network.
On this Sunday, Rev. Hardies’ sermon focused on resilience itself and our personal ability to find faith in those things that we may draw on in times of need. It is the act of finding beauty, beauty as the Reverend would jokingly describe for himself as “shiny objects,” but more seriously in what brought him to our faith, the ability of UU’ism in finding “human beauty at [the] intersection of our vulnerability and our strength.” A compassionate humanism and a faith that leads us to be able to continue to grow and exist, even after death and pain have altered our lives’ paths and thrown us into the turmoil of the unknown and self-dependence. It is the ability to draw on the flame within ourselves that keeps us moving forward, progressing and helping those in our community to also find and walk this path of resilience and beauty.
For more information on attending All Souls, visit: http://all-souls.org/
All Souls Archives and History: http://all-souls.org/archives
To learn more about the Washington Interfaith Network’s (WIN): http://www.windc-iaf.org/
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The Old Dominion State
Our second Sunday found us in the middle of America’s Historical Triangle and the birthplace of American Democracy, amongst Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown, Virginia. Deeply rooted in charm and nature, we spent our weekend at the home of the Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists.
Arriving on Saturday, we stumbled into a spring work day at the church. With our parking lot electrical outlet blocked by winter overgrowth, Austin took a lesson and a hand at the pruning shears, helping a church member to cut our way through the briars to the pole and thus securing our comfort for the stay.
Although I would have loved to meet the sitting minister, Rev. Jennifer Ryu, she was off sharing with another congregation while the Williamsburg UU hosted its own guest minister, the Rev. Barbara Gadon, a far distance from her home congregation at the First Unitarian Church of Chicago.
John 5:8 “Jesus said unto him, Rise, take up your bed, and walk.”
With this simple and short passage, Rev. Gadon spoke of how, when in need, it is then that we search out and find the church, find God, and find the community that we need in order to lift ourselves up and become healed of our ailments. In the passage above, the man lay waiting by the water for many years, waiting for it to be “troubled,” yet he never rose to its edge, always fearing that he would not be the first to reach the water and therefore would never be healed. But Jesus told the man to “rise,” to take that step beyond his doubts and do what was necessary to be healed. With this simple direction, the man found his strength and did what he felt had been previously impossible to him.
Rev. Gadon shared this message with the introduction that by coming together, as a community, with each of us individually seeking what cannot be accomplished by one, we are aiding in our own personal healing and in the healing others within our group–and within society as we reach out to aid and support the struggles of others.
Stressing “Coming together and finding joy,” Rev. Gadon talked about how groups in society use this practice to bring about healing, such as with meetings by Alcoholics Anonymous where members meet, share, and find social cure through joint endeavor. A joy also found in those that are born again, using the event as a personal step to finding their own personal journey to both physical and spiritual healing within.
To learn more about the Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists: www.wuu.org, WUU is a Welcoming Congregation with active outreach programs within the community
For information on Alcoholics Anonymous: www.aa.org
Jamestown Settlement in photos
Monday we visited the Colonial National Historic Park, Jamestown, Virginia. The site is home to the first permanent English settlement in North America and was established on May 13, 1607.
To visit this National Park: http://www.nps.gov/jame/index.htm
traveling tUUsome 