Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Bridgeport

Being together.....

The holiday season is about being together and about giving. All too often we get caught up in the getting and the having and forget completely about the simpler joys that can occur when we set ourselves aside from the chaos. We forget to treasure those we have, and we forget to seek out those who may not have others with whom they can share this holiday season.

Many years ago my husband and I agreed we would not buy gifts for people in a panic before a holiday or an occasion, instead we have committed ourselves to buying things for people we love when we see them throughout the year. This pattern has meant that our holiday season is a lot calmer and we can always feel good about the gifts that we are giving knowing they were really bought with that person in mind.

I think our lives need to be more people centered and less thing centered. And now after a life time of accumulating things, I have slowly begun to realize that while the things may remind me of the people I love and the times that we have shared together, it is far more important to make time for the creation of new memories
instead of trying to keep my old memories preserved with an accumulation of things.

I hope this Holiday season will be filled with new memories and new friends for each of us and for our church. Join us to celebrate, eat, socialize and decorate on December 14th and again for celebration, socializing and eating on Christmas Eve. Create some new customs of spending time with those you love, and those you may love if you spend some time getting to
See you in church during this season of celebration and renewing our commitments to peace and joy!
Rev. Julie-Ann

Thanksgiving comes this month with the celebration of a meal with lots of food for many. But, this holiday can and does have deeper meaning. We need not look only to the traditional American image of the Pilgrims and the Indians at the supposed first Thanksgiving to find meaning for our Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a theological concept that has deep spiritual meaning. Historically giving thanks to God was the real meaning of Thanksgiving celebrations, but like so many other things, the depth of that meaning has been replaced by less weighty notions.

I would like to invite you all back to a meaning-filled Thanksgiving season, not just a day. I say season because Thanksgiving has always been about the bounty of the earth, and the abundance with which the earth provides for our very human needs. As a child growing up in New Jersey, I remember learning about the Pine Barrens, an area of South Jersey which covered a massive underground aquifer. Certainly the water of the Pine Barrens is an example of the abundance of the earth, an abundance that we rarely pause to appreciate.

On a recent trip to Ohio, I found myself cresting a hill at sunset and being utterly awed by the wide open expanse of sky. Glazed pink and purple, with coral and blue undertones...wow...it was absolutely glorious. The sky looked like it had risen up out of a Tiffany window. In that moment I understood why people from farming cultures believed this was indeed the promised land!

Wide open expanses of land, all that was needed was to clear it, no rock ledges or outcroppings to work around....just flat land and sky as far as the eye could see. I was so grateful for that moment, that reminder of the perfection one can find when we open our eyes and hearts to see it.

Grateful for my family of origin, my family of choice, and my family of faith, I know I have much to be thankful for this year and every year, I hope you too have much to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving, I'll see you in church!

Rev. Julie-Ann Silberman-Bunn

Reverend Julie-Ann Silberman-Bunn
October is a wonderful month—the leaves turn beautiful colors and the days and air get a crisp coolness to them. October is also a wonderful month because in many cultures it is believed to be bringing us to the time when the veil is thinnest between this world and the world in which those who have died to us, continue on.

I tend not to be a big believer in the mystical, or what some would refer to as new age and others ancient beliefs. I do however have a special affinity for this time of year, whether it is my love of the cerulean blue only found in Autumn skies, or the juicy crunch of a perfect fall apple, the sweet smell of mulled cider, or the rustle and snap of leaves and twigs underfoot. I love the Fall. I love the Fall because costumes help us to step away from our everyday and often rigid images of self and allow ourselves to consider who else we might be when there are no limits.

I love that my family spends time together in the hunt for perfect pumpkins. Then as we carve and light our Jack O' Lanterns, I love that we stand outside in the rich velvety darkness watching those same pumpkins now carved and glowing attract the attention of our neighbors. I love the little children in costumes and the opportunity to meet the neighbors.

I hope that October brings all of us more opportunities to appreciate the simple things in our lives. Spend time enjoying, foods, family time, nature and neighbors this month. Dress up and join us for Halloween as we too welcome our neighbors.

I'll see you at church, Rev. Julie-Ann Silberman-Bunn

Deepen your relationship with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Bridgeport and other participants in the life of UUCGB. Join a group of ten others for an hour and a half per month. This is a time to share and reflect on a topic that is of interest to the group. Groups are formed based on areas of interest, such as "New to Unitarian Universalisim" and "Raised a Catholic." Group assignments and schedules are based on interests. If interested please sign up at our Church. For additional information contact Rev. Julie-Ann Silberman-Bunn.

The church congregational year begins on Sun., Sept. 7, with our Homecoming Service and earth/water
ceremony. About 15 minutes before the end of the service, children, youth and teachers will take the earth & water gathered from summer travels or home backyards, and add it to that of years past, keeping the line of our history ongoing. They will then go to their classrooms to meet and greet their teachers.

Regular religious education classes begin on Sun., Sept. 14. (There will be no RE classes on Sun., Sept. 28, the day of Harvest Festival.)

This year we have three class groupings plus Nursery and Senior Youth Group: Pre-K – Grade 2 will be working with “Creating Home”, a brand new curriculum from the Unitarian Universalist Association’s “Tapestry of Faith” program.

Grades 3 -6 will be splitting the year between “Spirit of Adventure” and “Bibleodeon”. The latter, produced by the Shelter Rock UU congregation, is an innovative, interactive approach to teaching about the Bible using a format similar to the popular TV show, “Nickleodeon”. Grades 7-8 will use an updated curriculum from Richard Kimball called The New “You the Creator”.

In addition to regular classes, we will, for the first time, be offering the UUA’s sexuality course, Our Whole Lives, to youth from Grades 8 – 11. This is possible because we now have two trained, certified OWL instructors, Ruth Fontilla and Kyle Silver. Watch for the dates of informa-tive orientation sessions in September. We hope to begin the course in October, to meet at times agreed upon by the teachers and participants.

Another exciting upcoming event is a trip to the United Nations and the Unitarian Universalist United Nation Office on October 13, coordinated by Ann Pandya and Jeanie Schoenleber.