The Messenger

Universalist Unitarian Church of Brockton
325 West Elm Street , Brockton MA 02301
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Minister:  Rev. Robert A. Thayer
Minister Emeritus:  The Rev. Dr. Raymond C. Hopkins
President:  Susan Davis
Organist:  Marlene Howell
Secretary:  Dominic Paradiso
Office Phone: (508) 583-7775   e-mail: uubrockton@aol.com   web site: www/uubrockton.com

 

 

Body and Soul/Our 30^th Year!

Body and Soul begins on Sunday, June 28^th with a return of Richard Clark who will present "Ernest Hemingway".  This will be a Dinner Theater affair beginning with dinner at 6 p.m. , followed by the presentation at 7:30 p.m.   Flyers will be available to give to your friends so they may be inspired to come see this remarkable man.

Further programs are in the planning stage.  So far Rev Bob, David Bassett, Steve Brooks and Michelle Murphy have signed on.  There are 5 other summer Sundays from June 28 to August 30 to be filled.  Don't hesitate to contact me with your ideas for speakers, or perhaps your volunteering yourself:  Pauline Perkins: perkins59@comcast.net or 508-584-8581.  Topics can range from community activities, special skills, personal experiences or most anything you would like to share or hear about.

Summer will be fun and 'formative as always.

 

Summer Meditation

Now blows the wind with soft, relaxing warmth.  The schools are out.  Children swarm in the playgrounds and the streets, and eager city-folk, vacation-bound, crowd the broad highways.  The lakes and seashores lose their solitude, and all the world seems turned to carnival.

What of ourselves?  There could be, deep peace, a time for soul-searching.  We might turn to examine our own lives, to sort and probe our tendencies of thought, to sift the true from false in the things of doubt, the beautiful from ugliness unmarked.

The sun beats down; it is a time for pause.  Even the trees seem resting for a time as if to meditate and gather strength for the more strenuous times that lie ahead.

                              Rev. Robert Terry Weston

 

 

 

On The Bright Side

 

“Let’s All Go Through This Together”

My 12-year old granddaughter in New Mexico called and asked me to tell her stories for her history class about the Depression.  I replied that the Depression touched us all, even the wealthy, who learned that rising from labor to the upper class had no guarantees.  The saying went: “shirt-sleeves to shirt-sleeves in three generations.”

I related how people rode the bus for 25 cents. Children walked to school, up to 1.5 miles one way.  Trains were packed and fares were cheap.  Our family of four rode the train (pulled by a steam engine) from Philly to Montana for about $100 roundtrip. 

In 1935 a white, male laborer wanted to make $12.00 a week. ($240 in today’s dollars).  A black man made half of that.  Single women white and black taught in “grade school” for $800 a year ($16,000); some worked in factories and stores (“Five and Dime”) and made a dollar a day ($20).  Many of us grew vegetables in gardens or in the field down the street.  And we made money last.  Mother had a saying: “How tight can you squeeze a nickel?”

The business of staying together is what we learned in the 1930s.  We didn’t agonize all that much.  We could see folks who were worse off.  We knew families who had little, so we never avoided a neighbor who came asking.  Mother gave sandwiches to homeless men and fruit to children at our back door. The rate of unemployment was as high as 25%, so a few men took to the railways and were dubbed hobos.  If a family lost their income, or job, they moved in with a relative.

Doctors and nurses and hospitals did their best to treat everyone who showed up. Inoculations and vaccinations enabled people to live through it all.  Doctors were known as “the last to get paid,” and nobody sued a doctor. 

Religion played a role in the way people adjusted.   Nobody said it was “God’s will,” but instead said, “God helps those who help themselves.”  The Lord’s Prayer was vital for Christians: “Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts (or trespasses) as we forgive our debtors.”  When a family attended a local church of their choice, a major consideration was to fill one’s offering envelop with money.  Most prayers were thanks to God for help believed to have come from the hand of the divine. 

We relied on humor, though far too much of it was racist, such as putdowns of blacks.  In our house we joked about silly costumes we wore at birthday parties and Halloween, and humor in games we played, like tag, cards, checkers, and on the radio, a series like “Amos and Andy,” and in the movies stunts by Groucho Marx.

Women spent time mending socks, knitting, and tailoring entire wardrobes.  “Wear it out; use it up; make it do.”   Men carved wooden handles for knives, tools, and repaired theirs and their family’s cars. We could make ice cream in a bucket by churning the ingredients; or make cider by grinding the apples.

If we find ourselves deeper in this recession than we ever imagined – given our lifestyle, we may learn how to go through it together.  As Ric Masten’s song goes:

       “Let it be a dance we do.      May I have this dance with you? 

        Through the good times and the bad times, too.    Let it be a dance.” 

 

By Rev. Bob Thayer

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Program & Worship

 

Rev. Bob will lead our season's last two formal worship services in June on the 7^th and the 14th.  Steve Brooks will lead our service on June 21, and then we begin our traditional summer "Body and Soul" programs.  On June 28 there will be the special dinner/theatre program starting at 6 p.m. and featuring the noted impressionist Richard Clark presenting, Ernest Hemingway.  Starting on Sunday July 5 we begin our summer gatherings in Fellowship Hall, starting at 9:30 a.m. , led by a variety of personalities with interesting messages.

Steve Brooks, Worship Commissioner

June 2009 Worship Services

June 7^th - “Our Transforming Spiritual Vision Is Foremost”

[Children’s Sunday and UUA contribution Sunday]

      Groups of members in UU churches occasionally want to transform their congregations into service and action centers to meet the world’s needs.  Whenever they do this the community withers away.  Our congregations are ethical and spiritual sanctuaries, education centers, and venues of interpersonal growth.   Meeting the world’s needs is accomplished jointly with scores of like organizations. 

      EXPLANATION:  Our church’s Fair Share fund-raiser begins this Sunday, to appeal to everyone to contribute to the Annual Program Fund of the UUA, and also to meet our Ballou Channing District contribution for 09.  The Fair Share per member is $56, and for the BCD is $19 per member.  Although both totals are in our 09 budget, we devote this Sunday to ask everyone’s participation to assure we reach the goals for 09.  Following this service at 12:00 PM will be a Board of Managers Meeting.

 

June 14^th – “Knock and the Door Shall Be Open”

Rev. Bob’s final Sunday of the year will be given over to questions raised by the members and friends who attend the morning worship.  The process works best when persons write out their thoughts beforehand.  He will respond to each person – as from one minister’s point of view - concerning our Unitarian Universalist faith and practice. 

 

June 21^st - will be led by Steve Brooks

 

June 28^{th  –} Our "Informal Summer Sundays" opens with a gala, a dinner theatre affair beginning at 6 p.m. with dinner followed at 7:30 p.m. with Richard Clark as "Ernest Hemingway.

 

 

 

From our President

On Sunday June 7, we will have flower communion Sunday.  For new members who are unfamiliar with this, let me explain:  You need to bring in a flower either from your garden, your neighbors garden or (you could buy one if you had to) from the side of the road.  Lee Holmes will put together a beautiful bouquet with all of them.  Later you will take home another flower of your choice. .Susan M. Davis

President

 

 

 

 

        Mile of Pennies

 “God blesses still the generous thought, and still the fitting word he speeds, and truth at his requiring taught he quickens into deeds       
                                       --John Greenleaf Whittier

       

He who receives a benefit with gratitude repays the first installment of his debt"

                                    Seneca.

Thanks to the generosity of Mary Housely our fifth mile of pennies has been leapt ahead to 3,913.  If the rest of us continue to pitch in we should complete this mile in 2010.)

 

 

Caring & Sharing

We are glad to know that our Reverent Bob Thayer's cataract surgery went well.  May you enjoy your new vision, Bob! 

Bob Smith's lung surgery also went well.  May your recovery be comfortable and swift. 

It is with sadness that we learned recently of the death of Mary Housley on May 13.  She was 91 years old.  Mary and her late .husband Richard were members of our congregation in the 1950's, and she had continued to express her interest through her generous contributions to the Mile of Pennies.

The condolences of the parish are offered to her son Richard.

 

 

Nominating Committee Needs

This work of this year's Nominating Committee is especially daunting.  We are actively looking for nominees to the following positions:

Treasurer

Moderator

and, Commissioner of Religious Education

If interested please call Bruce Dunham at
508-587-0679.

 

 

Religion & Science Group

The next meeting of the Religion & Science Discussion Group is going to be on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 from 7-9pm at the church.

 

.An Evening of Poetry

Fay George

reading from

her newest collection

Marchenhaft

(and other work)

Thursday June 11^th

Form 7:00-8:30 pm

Thayer Public Library

798 Washington st.

Braintree , MA , 02184

781-848-0405

Free admission & refreshments

 

It's Time

Its time for your secretary to retire...  I've had this great job for 14 years.  I was a senior citizen when I started so what does that make me now?  Someone who should walk away before their age starts to show.   I just want to say to everyone that I have enjoyed each and every one of those 14 years.  My fellow UUs have been the best bosses, coworkers, and colleagues I have ever worked and associated with.

I love you all -

Bob Smith

 

 

Happy June Birthdays

Our best birthday wishes go to our many members and friends born in the merry month of June

 

7. Sam Protentis                 8.Jeanne Mercurio

12. John Hughes                 14.Anthony Spence

16. Jay Rasher                    17.Marion O'Donnell

19.Elizabeth Flores             19.Grace Perry

22.Scott Rohnstrom            27.Sophia Rasher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Closing the Gap on the Annual Program Fund

The Stewardship drive to support our Annual Program Fund contributions for our Universalist Unitarian Association and Ballou Channing district starts Sunday June 7.

We are a "Fair Share" congregation, meaning that we have met our goal each of the past six years.  The BCD amount is $19.00 per member for 2009-2010.  And our UUA amount is $56.00

Throughout June we will be urging folks to contribute and to personally affirm our participation.  Although we have already met half of the payment toward our goal, we need to try to make up the difference of $1,875.00 for the two funds.

               Rev.  Bob Thayer and the Board of Managers.

 

 

Others are taking notice of BIC's efforts
 By Michele Morgan Bolton, Globe Correspondent |  May 28, 2009

"Drums banged. Noisemakers clanked. And hundreds clapped and celebrated as one, promising to stand together to transform this "city of fear" into one of hope.

The gathering at Trinity Baptist Church last Thursday was a sort of mini-revival organized by the Brockton Interfaith Community, culminating a months-long grass-roots initiative to let residents' voices be heard.

Members from 13 congregations and representatives of the Cape Verdean Association of Brockton and Stonehill College heard story after story of home foreclosures and deteriorating neighborhoods. Of youth violence and a lack of staff diversity in the public schools. And of how young people are routinely denied jobs because of criminal records that leave them little option but to reoffend.

Not good, all agreed.

"The purpose of this action is to provide a public declaration that the community stands united in addressing the deep concerns of our city," said BIC president Elizabeth Saville, a member of St. Patrick's Church. "When one family loses their home because of foreclosure, the entire neighborhood is affected. When a diverse community such as Brockton does not see similar diversity in its teachers and administrators, the entire neighborhood is affected."

And without making changes to criminal-offender laws, those who have past offenses, no matter how minor, can't get equal opportunities for things as basic as jobs and homes, she said.

Many employers or potential landlords use applications that require people to divulge their criminal history, which often prevents consideration of resumes or references, or even the relevance of the offense. Included are those with juvenile records, people who were arrested but not convicted, and others who were cleared of all charges.

Take Dawn Wilbur, 32, of Brockton 's east side, who became addicted to drugs at age 14 and found herself in prison after a series of bad decisions. For a long time, hope was elusive, she said at the meeting. "But when I had conversations with God, I felt free. A change had taken place in me."

But while Wilbur has found personal redemption, she will still be harshly judged for her youthful indiscretions, she said. She said as she supports changing the state's Criminal Offender Records Information law so that it reduces the length of time the offense is considered. She said that, as an experiment for a grass-roots pro-CORI reform group, she applied for 96 rental apartments and was denied even a walk-through every time a background check was performed and her criminal record came up. Someone with a clean past was shown 60 percent of those apartments, she said.

"It's difficult enough to change your life," Wilbur said. "CORI labels you with prejudice."

Heather Stanley, a BIC leader in training at Christ Congregational Church, shared her story of falling victim to predatory lending. She is the owner of one of 2,400 Brockton homes in various stages of foreclosure.

She told the meeting how she and her husband bought a small duplex five years ago after being evicted by a landlord who was losing his building. Life was good until her husband was laid off - five times, she said.

"We were first one month behind on our mortgage that was $1,700 originally. Then it was $1,900. Then $2,200," she said, struggling to hold back tears. "I made sacrifices and did my best. . . . But no one would help us. The bank wouldn't talk to us. The rate went up. And now we owe more than $25,000 and there is no way we can pay it."

Stanley and other BIC members are pushing the Legislature, as well as the Brockton City Council, to approve a "community stabilization package" that would ease foreclosures by allowing for a six-month moratorium on predatory loans; allow for judicial loan modifications; and institute just-cause evictions to allow tenants to live out their leases if landlords default.

Bryon Jackson of Messiah Baptist Church confronted City Councilors Linda Balzotti, Paul Studenski, Michelle DuBois, and Todd Petti, the only members of the 11-member panel to attend. "Will you commit to cosponsoring a Community Stabilization Package?" asked Jackson .

Yes, they agreed. Balzotti pledged to file it, "to protect those most vulnerable to losing their homes to foreclosure."

The four councilors also agreed to vote for a local measure within 45 days declaring support for CORI reform legislation.

Donna Daley, chief of staff for Mayor James Harrington, said he has committed to signing the measure if the City Council passes it.

Meanwhile, Frances Gibbs, of Messiah Baptist Church , asserted that a lack of diversity on the Brockton public schools teaching staff is responsible for 177 teens dropping out last year. The Rev. Beatrice Michaels Brown of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church agreed.

As a white parent of two African-American children and one of Hispanic descent, Brown said, she knows that the color of a person's skin is part of who they are. "To try to be color-blind is to cut off a part of my child," she said.

There are 7,583 students classified as black in Brockton schools, she said. But there are 89 black teachers of 1,400 total.

"That's not enough," she said, to a chorus of "Amen" and "That's right."

Whitman resident Laura Andrade, who works and shops in Brockton , attended last week's meeting out of concern, she said, for those whose traffic accidents and minor problems end up on a CORI report. She said in an interview that she was leaving with faith that change will come.

"I feel with God all things are possible," Andrade said. "This is a good community. It's so diverse. It just needs a little help."

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at mmbolton1@verizon.net.  

 

 

 

 

 

 Our UU Religion:

 “Unitarian Universalism is different.  We respect the answers offered by Christianity,

Judaism, Buddhism and the world’s other great faith traditions – we even draw our inspiration and some of our forms of worship from those traditions – but we respect the mystery more.  We believe, in other words, that no single religion has a monopoly on wisdom; that the answers to the great religious questions change from generation to generation; and that the ultimate truth about god and creation, death, meaning, and the human spirit cannot be captured in a narrow statement of faith.  The mystery itself is always greater than its name.” William F. Schultz, past president UUA

A Candle/A Life

A candle’s but a simple thing.
It starts with just a bit of string.

But dipped and dipped with patient hand,
It gathers wax upon the strand.

Until complete and snowy white
It gives at last a lovely light.

Life seems so like that bit of string.
Each deed we do a simple thing.

Yet day by day if on life’s strand
We work with patient heart and hand

It gathers joy, makes dark days bright
And gives at last a lovely light.