If you will be having your mail held or forwarded by the Post Office please contact Venessa in the church office. The post office will not hold or forward bulk mail (The Oracle). They will send it back to the church, first class postage due. Please make sure that Venessa knows that your Oracle needs to be held until you return or what address it needs to be sent to and for how long at that address. Thank you.

    Our covenant is to be a loving, joyful community that nurtures spiritual growth and promotes compassion, social responsibility, and service in an atmosphere of mutual respect.

    We’re meeting in the Parish House this morning for a reflective service on beginnings and endings in life. Everyone will be invited to walk a labyrinth set up in the dining room as part of their personal reflection.

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Come hear some of our own beloved community members share a reflection in response to a poem by Mary Oliver. The pulpit assistant is Rebecca Hecking.

    I bought the software for learning to speak Spanish with full intent of using it. I learned Spanish many years ago. Although my memory cells are losing much of their content, I think it must be like riding a bicycle, it won’t take long to relearn the language. The software sits on my book shelf, not even in-stalled on my computer. It’s taking the time to do it, that’s the problem. I’ll do it next week, it’s a new year.

    Then there’s the knitting project that sits in my knitting bag, un-touched for months. I have full intent to knit Mark a warm, wool throw for cold winter nights on the couch. It’s cold out now, but the knitting project lies there ... untouched. I’ll get to it next week after the new year.

    Mark bought me a bread baking machine for Christmas a couple of years ago. I had asked for one in passing one day, and he being the kind of guy that keeps a list in his wallet for such moments of insight, wrote my request down. I was delighted when I opened the present, delighted to have smells of home baked bread, okay, mostly "home" baked bread. I haven’t touched it since I stuck it in a corner of the kitchen. Definitely next week I’ll bake some bread in the new year.

    Piles of books to be read, poems I want to write, magazines to be devoured, walks I want to take, moments I want to experience. And then I wake up one day, spurned on by an ache in my back or knee, and realize time is passing, I’m middle aged! Wait, wait, I have a language to relearn, a throw to knit, breads to bake, books to read, and poems to write.

    And then I see the snowflake, gently floating down, and another and another. Flake after flake softly landing on the cold ground. I watch the robin, bright red and exuberant as it pecks at the bird feeder, eyeing the squirrel just up the tree. And another moment has been experienced. I think I'll go skiing, today.

    Happy New New!

    Sidenote; I lent a video on Unitarian Universalist history to someone, and need it back. Can whoever borrowed it, please return it.

    As I wrapped the last of my gifts, the Today show droned on in the background. Suddenly, a report caught my attention, and I set down my tape and scissors. It showed a Jewish father, Christian mother, and two beautiful girls gathered around a Menorah and Advent wreath. The parents narrated the piece and talked about how they each celebrate their own religious traditions with their children. At the end the mother simply stated that although the religions are different, the most important part was that they were together as a family. Wow, what a nice piece of reporting, I thought. And then the show cut back to the studio where a Jewish and Christian leader sat and discussed the footage. The one leader said that although the blended family was trying to incorporate two religions it just cannot be done. He said that eventually the children must have a religious label whether it be Christian or Jewish. It just simply cannot be both. I clicked off the television and sighed.

    As I continued my holiday preparations I kept thinking about that report and the idea of religious labels. How sad, I thought, that even a leader cannot see the beauty of the universal. Both Jewish and Christian stories revolve around the idea of miracles, light, and love. The women’s circle I belong to celebrated Yule last weekend. We lit candles, sang songs, told stories, exchanged gifts, ate, and enjoyed fellowship. How different is that from any other Christmas holiday?! Religious labels¼ bah, humbug! But then, on the other hand, if they want a religious label then I do have a wonderful one for them: Unitarian Universalist. Enjoy your holidays, Unitarian Universalists, and celebrate the universal gifts of love, friendship, joy, laughter, and, of course, food! I am honored to be in your company this Christmas and New Year.

    My RE teachers are taking a well deserved break during the month of January! Thank you, teachers! However, never fear, for our children can participate in a new program next month during the service.

    Join us on a musical journey for peacemakers. Guest and in house musicians Lisbet Searle-White, Mark Cosdon, Ron Mumme, and John Hyatt will share their talents with our children. Each Sunday (January 8, 15, 22, and 29) our young people will gather in the Arthur Room, listen to a variety of music, learn about the lyrics and songwriters, and then participate in hands on activities promoting friendship, caring, courage, justice and peace.

    Musical selections come from the curriculum I Will Be Your Friend from the Southern Poverty Law Center for Teaching Tolerance. The musical collection encompasses rap, folk, jazz, gospel, show tunes, spoken word and traditional song. The goal of the curriculum is to "¼ encourage students, teachers and parents to sing together, laugh together and write music together in order to help build a more joyous and peaceful community."

    There will be no sign up sheet for this program. Simply come to enjoy music and laughter during the cold month of January.

    On Friday, January 27, 2006, the Social Action Committee will host a 6:59er and the movie Wal-Mart: the high cost of low cost. Please sign-up in the Parish House.

    We had 6 helpers from our church – all worked hard. Since the college people had left for Christmas Break, and our helper Gary who is there many days was in the hospital, our helpers were:

• Cheryl Burkey

• Carolyn Chase

• John Fox

• Gus Rylander

• Ray Stewart

• Margaret Stewart

    We meet the second Friday of the month at 10:00am at Stone UM Church – the next date will be January 13, 2006.

    We send warm Greetings to all who have been a part of the Soup Kitchen Gang! Thanks a million!!

    There are many people in this church who work hard behind the scenes to make this the dynamic place it is. We know about the committees who bring us worship, fellowship, a functioning property, religious education and more. They put in long hours and the fruits of their ideas. They help us get to know each other, and to share both good times and spiritual refreshment.

But there are also those who work quietly (or with loud laughter) behind the scenes. They keep the kitchen clean and organized and the interpersonal mechanics oiled and running. I have some Christmas/Hannukah/Solstice presents for these unsung heroes.

    For the teachers: a garden full of sage for their wisdom and thyme for the hours they put in. Also hugs from all the children.

    For those who come in every other week to fold Oracles (5 or 6 on good days, 1 or 2 on snow days) for 2 hours when it is percolated, and up to 5 hours when it is not: I wish them much laughter and more topics for their wonderful discussions of politics, religion and life in general.

    For the sequence of women who have helped the library grow and stay organized: many wonderful books to read and long hours in which to enjoy them.

    For those who show up at the first fall of a snowflake and keep our walks clear and safe: a week on the beach in Bermuda, even if only in dreams. Also a good back massage.

    For the decorators at the mid-winter holidays: the smell of evergreens to relax them, trees that don’t drop their needles, the glow of the church by candlelight to bless them.

    For the gardeners: the affirmations of neighbors whose lives have been cheered by the results of their work.

    For those I have missed: boundless blessings and joy in the coming year.

    Mr. E. Mike at Tower 23 invites you to take a "Field Trip into Imagination." Join church member, Michael Cain at 6:30 PM to 9:00 p.m. at the second floor of the Market House as the Meadville Council on the Arts presents a show of his art work. Acrylic, water color and mixed media works will be exhibited. Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from the sale of his latest series of paintings "Plane and Simple" will be donated to the Creating Landscapes Children’s program scholarship fund.

    John Hyatt and friends will provide musical entertainment. A limited edition button will be given to all that attend.

    Michael Cain’s works are a mixture of Pop Art, Surrealism and Jungian archetypes. Michael uses vivid colors, hidden words, and solid black line to bring his imagination to life. The works create a variety of fantastic worlds and settings. Using his experience as mathematics teacher, Michael connects math and art. His latest series "Plane and Simple" is based on his work in the class room.

    It is his hope that the show will present art that is accessible by both the young and old. The show being sponsored by Allegheny College.

    Michael has been a math teacher for Crawford Central SD for 20 years.

    We’re not talking bending spoons here – the kitchen will be pleased to know. We’re talking the ways in which the body responds to the conscious and unconscious workings of the human mind. From Harvard Medical School faculty to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, there is broad interest in exploring and better understanding the connection between mind and body. Alternative therapies used in healing include visualization, touch, massage, "karma management", meditation, and prayer. This will be an opportunity to experiment, learn, and share our experiences of how the mind affects the body, and vice versa. Bring your mind. Your body will follow.

    This retreat will be held at the Sandscrest Retreat Center near Wheeling, WV, March 10-12, 2006, and is the Ohio-Meadville District’s 16^th annual Men’s Retreat.

If interested, please inquire at the church office for additional details and registration information.

    Next deadline for submitting items for the newsletter is Friday, January 6, 2006, at 4:30 p.m. You may email your articles to: <mthaeler@zoominternet.net>; or leave items in the folder on Venessa’s desk in the parish house. When you email material, please write "oracle" in the subject line (helps distinguish from spam and non-Oracle items).