Our mission is to offer a welcoming and safe community that reaches out to and receives spiritual seekers. We provide a voice for religious diversity and encourage personal transformation as we strive toward a better world.

    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.

    On this father’s day we’ll take a look at how to reconcile ideals with reality, and are those pictures of the perfect father worth keeping?

    We’ll also welcome our new members into the church.

    "Answer me in one word", says Shakespeare’s Rosalind in As You Like It. But we need more than words, let alone one word, to explain our religious commitments and value conflicts on subjects from Darwin and creationism to apocalyptic thinking and the ethics of Jesus and Hillel.

    Relaxing and playing are not something I do easily. The Protestant work ethic is firmly ingrained in my make up. This means I don’t easily sit down and relax until I finally feel I’ve earned my down time, and even then I like to have a hint of productivity or value to my relaxing.

    Yes, I know play time is important, I preach about it all the time. I preach about it because I need it. It’s my best reminder to myself to remind others. Relaxing and play time are in part, what makes the work valuable.

    As I grieve the death of my mother I find I’m coping by staying busy. So busy that I’m often running in frantic circles until I reach the end of the day exhausted and worn out, but no closer to actually grieving her loss. If I choose to continue this I’m in good shape because there is a lot to be done with cleaning out her house, putting it on the market etc.

    But, there is another presence in my life reminding me that not only does life persist in the presence of death, but that mandatory play time is on the horizon. Mark and I are trudging through our adoption paperwork process. There is much to be done, which on one level gives me something else to keep busy with, and yet reminds me that when our child arrives, so will life and play time.

    I remember playing with our granddaughter, who was around 3 years old, one afternoon. We went for a walk down the block and made it half way in about 30 minutes. We were so totally focused on what there was see along the way, that the goal of walking and exercise were completely forgotten. The details of our walk and the bugs, grass, twigs, and leaves, were relaxing and fun for both of us. We walked back to the house in another 30 minutes, and that was it. That’s all I needed to be relaxed and have fun. The value was invaluable and the productivity was limitless.

    May our summer remind us to relax and have fun. Let the work ethic go, and just be. Whether it’s to grieve or celebrate, let the sunshine, swimming, bike rides, camping and lounging begin.

    And now I present to you the other side of the at-home mom.

    In the last Oracle article I talked about my decision to stay home with my children. Now, after day seven of summer vacation, I am ready to burst out of the house, arms waving in the air, head back and screaming! At-home moms have their own share of concerns. The biggest challenge for me has been my loss of personal space (physically, mentally, and spiritually). I remember reading an article in the UU World several years ago about a mother who had set up an altar in her bed room. She had carefully chosen and arranged objects such as seashells, rocks, candles, statues, and other symbolic items on a small table next to her bed. However, she soon discovered items disappearing one by one. Later, she found them. A rock in a lump of play dough, a seashell in the doll house, a statue wearing Barbie clothes. At first, she was indignant and promptly returned the items to its sacred place. However, the items would again disappear. She finally sat down and thought about her struggle to maintain sacred space within the chaos of family life, and she realized that she couldn’t hide away her sacredness. Her sacredness had to be shared, and she found a peace and a beauty in the sharing. However, sharing is not always easy, and, admit it, sometimes we just don’t want to share. So I have created "me" time. I get up early to take a walk and read. I find a babysitter sometime during the week so I can run errands and work, the kids have "dad time" during the evenings so I can take a deep breath, and my dad (bless him) takes the kids every Friday night.

    We all need time to ourselves. To reconnect with our inner spirit and renew our energy. So many of us are in constant motion going here, going there, giving, giving, giving. Take time this week to stop and receive. I know that if I do this, stop and receive, then I can give and allow the rocks to mix in the play dough, the seashells to act as furniture in the doll house, and the Buddha statue to play dress up with Barbie.

    I am very excited to be accompanying Kate Walker to St. Louis for this year’s General Assembly scheduled for June 19-25. On Wednesday I will be attending the LREDA (Liberal Religious Educators Association) professional days. The day consists of workshops focusing on various aspects of religious education. I will also have an opportunity to talk with other colleagues from around the country. During the rest of the week I get to plan my own schedule. I have already been busy picking out workshops in the GA program guide. Some workshops will focus on religious education, UU ministry and UU social action (such as Spirit Play and Coming of Age programs) while others will be geared toward my own spiritual journey (such as a woman spirit, sister spirit workshop).

    In addition to these workshops, there will also be community worship and entertainment including an Opera on Friday evening.

    The week provides a time for me to recharge, reenergize, and reaffirm my faith. I want to extend a thank you to this congregation for increasing my professional expense budget this year and allowing me to attend this very special event!

This year our children’s summer program is scheduled for July 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30. The program this year is entitled UU ART. Each Sunday children will participate in a mini children’s worship leading into an art project focusing on various aspects of Unitarian Universalism identity. We will create a new UU Chalice banner plus create murals on our empty RE walls upstairs. There will be a sign up sheet at the front desk of the parish house. Parents are asked to register their children and check off which Sundays their children will be able to attend. This will help me plan for materials and supplies. Thanks!

A tomato and an onion were shivering in the refrigerator when someone opened the door. The onion turned to the tomato with relief when a blast of warm air filtered in. "That’s so much better," she said. "It’s getting chili in here!"

{Watch for further episodes brought to you by the Fellowship Committee}

    Two years ago, I gave away my lawn mower and replaced it with an electric weed trimmer. My lawn has always been a mass of small tuffets, sink holes where the sewer had been, and a collection of tire tracks acquired every year in mud season. It was impossible and frustrating to mow. At that time I started a series of ground covers in the hopes that they would eventually replace the lawn. The sweet woodruff has done its job well, but others have been less than satisfactory. The result is that I now have a lawn that looks like a cross between a crazy quilt and a teenaged boy with a bad haircut.

    The beauty of the weed trimmer is that it makes it possible to cut in and around the things I want to save, and even trim the weeds in the woodruff down to an unobtrusive level. Tonight I will take it into what will become the "fairy garden" hidden behind the lilac bush, a flourishing bed of hosta, and a rose that Val planted a few years before she died. Here have already gathered a number of small gnomes ready to move into the birdhouse painted in Tudor style, complete with a thatched roof. A few fairies have also been spotted swinging from the fence of the dogs’ play yard. The flowers here are all small and shade hardy.

    The herb garden is ready to plant as soon as I get a bag of manure to underline the topsoil. I have a larger than usual number of varieties. The mosquito plant originally slated for this garden will end up next to the chair where I sit to read to the dogs in the evening.

    When it came to the thistles, it broke my heart to cut them down, so, even though they sit right out in the open, next to a tire track and an oil spot, I will turn them into a Scottish garden, and hopefully find a couple of pots of heather to cover the oil spot. Maybe some purple pansies planted in cement block will complete the effect and make a nice border.

    A climbing rose bush, a few other vines and a couple of hanging planters will screen the fence, and inside the fence, in what Gumball now considers her jungle to explore, will be a spiral path (a labyrinth is too complicated), with the path defined by thyme and other low growing herbs. Vines – probably string beans – will also climb up the trunks of stag horn sumac. I have cut all the branches off, but can’t seem to abolish the trunks from the yard, and the beans will make use of them.

    As I said, a crazy quilt, with several patches missing, but I’ve run out of inspiration – a way to tie all these islands into a whole. Or maybe not – is my own life so different? I have my islands of time, my flower beds of pleasure, and the weeds of surprise and beauty. Now, if I could just learn to control the wayward clumps of grass between them.

    Saturday, July 15^th at Cross Creek Resort, Rt 8 South of Titusville. Tee times begin at 1:00 P.M., foursome scramble format, so you don’t have to be a ‘pro’ to have fun. You can sign up as a single, a couple or a foursome. The cost will be $31 each player, this includes green fees and cart. Then we’ll have dinner in the dining room after playing 18 holes. The cost of dinner is up to you, depends on your appetite. There will be a sign-up sheet in the church office, or contact Gus Rylander or Jerry Almes. Come and enjoy an afternoon of fun – nothing serious!!!

    The Fellowship Committee is loving the beautiful weather and we have picnic fever. The annual UU picnic has been scheduled for July 9 after the regular Sunday service. We will meet at Roche Park, pavilion #2. Bring your table setting (plate and utensils), a dish to share, the whole family, friends and a desire to have fun! The Fellowship Committee will provide the main course (fried chicken anyone?), lemonade and coffee. Mark your calendars – come picnic and play. Contact Carlin or Jennifer with questions or comments. Thanks!

    The following items are in the lost and found basket in the Parish House:

• A man’s wool cap

• A decorative scarf

• A pair of magnetic mitts

• A book: Sudoku; 100 Fun Number Puzzles

• A child’s interactive book about bugs

• A travel coffee mug

• A handmade sea shell necklace

• A child’s red windbreaker, size 5/6

• A pair of reading glasses

• A "Bratz" activity bag

    If these items are not claimed by July 22 they will be donated to the church rummage sale.

    The DaVinci Code apparently has sparked some comment nationwide, as did the book, of course. Betty Richmond submitted some readers’ comments from a Chicago newspaper (names omitted to protect identities).

    "Bible defenders complaining that The Da Vinci Code isn’t factual is akin to Brothers Grimm fans criticizing the accuracy of Mother Goose."

    "If your faith is so shaken by a fictitious movie, maybe you should examine just how strong your faith really is."

    Next deadline for submitting items for the newsletter is Friday, June 23, 2006, at 4:30 p.m. Thank you.

    We are looking for someone who would like to care for Wynette Kommer’s two lovely cats while she is in the hospital and then perhaps during her rehabilitation. Are any one or more persons able to have or share temporary care of them? Please call her son Hilary Hoffman if you are able to take one or both at any of these times. Thank you very much!