The North Unitarian Universalist Congregation Newsletter January 2008

The holidays are over! In fact, I am writing this column later than usual because earlier in December, I couldn’t see past Christmas. It was the apocalypse: the time that ends all time, the time beyond which it is senseless to imagine, the time during which ordinary life ceases. Traditionally, this is also the time during which the saved and the unsaved gather together in families in order to battle over holiday traditions, ancient gossip, which movies to attend (I was almost forced to see “National Treasure 2”!), and who has control over the remote control.

But lo and behold even with this attitude, the numbers on the calendar change, and we are delivered into a New Year. New Year’s Day is the oldest holiday known to humanity. About 4,000 years old, like prehistoric burial sites, it survives as evidence of the spiritual life of earliest humanity. And the meaning of a New Year has changed little. It is time to sweep the house clean, spiritually and literally, and light a new fire. Ordinary time and ordinary life return to us, after the chaos, revealing themselves as the blessings they always were before we forgot all about gratitude for the everyday.

Best wishes for the New Year. May we have all that we want (health, love, peace, and perhaps also habeas corpus). May we not forget to want what we already have.

To Life!
Susan

Jan. 6 Polyanna, Never: On Choosing Hope. Hope is not optimism: it is a chosen act of courage that can be made in the face of any circumstance.

Jan. 13 God Wars. How many books have been published in the last year trying to prove—or deny—the existence of God? We look at what understanding Unitarian Universalism might offer to an unhealthy religious culture.

Jan. 20 Altars in the Streets. Martin Luther King Day helps pose the question of whether or not we can still imagine a spiritual solution to urban problems. Some inspiring examples of community activism suggest we should at least try.

Jan. 27 Nothing New Under the Sun. Our continuing efforts to live Axial Age insights. A lay service offered by David Petras 

Feb. 3 Another Possibility. Why living fully asks us to embrace that which is literally unthinkable.

Children's Worship

Jan. 6 Explorers: Adam and Eve…are there new beginnings?

Jan. 13 Explorers: How different traditions use the Bible.

Jan. 20 Explorers: Working on a short definition of what is Unitarian Universalism?  (Last day first semester)

Jan. 27 Explorers: How do we know what is true? (First day new semester)

Feb. 3 Children’s Chapel

Also in this issue
Page 2  Events & Activities.  Find out what's happening this Month!
Page 3 From the Committees and Board. 
Page 4  A Call to Action!  See how you can support your congregation and your world!