On November 14th at 7:15 PM, the RE Council is offering a spiritual enrichment opportunity for our volunteers, and we have some space left for volunteers from other Fellowship teams! If you regularly give your time for the good of the Fellowship and could use some deep relaxation in the form of a 90-minute private sound bath offered by the talented Mark Clem of Sonic Journey, please REGISTER HERE and join us.
Because space is limited, you MUST PREREGISTER, and once the event is full, the registration form will be disabled. Additional instructions for what to bring and what to expect will be emailed to all registered participants on 11/10.
Developing a satisfying spiritual life requires that we regularly set aside time to grow our spiritual muscles with intention rather than always sliding through life on autopilot. Observing a sabbath is one way that we can craft a spirituality that nourishes and sustains us when times get tough. What elements go into a meaningful sabbath practice? What even is a sabbath? Let’s explore together!
Wayne Muller wrote, “We meet dozens of people, have so many conversations. We do not feel how much energy we spend on each activity, because we imagine that we will always have more energy at our disposal. This one little conversation. This one little, extra phone call. This one quick meeting….what can it cost? But it does cost. It drains yet another little drop of your life. Then, at the end of days, weeks, months, years, we collapse, we burn out. We cannot see where it happened. It happened in a thousand unconscious events, tasks and responsibilities that seemed harmless on the surface, but that each one after the other used a small portion of our precious life. And so, we are given a commandment, which is actually a gift- ‘Remember the Sabbath'”
An updated, family-focused version of his list of life-sucking small things might involve carpools, Instagram scrolling, and cleaning up dog barf before setting the table, but the reality is the same now as it was when he wrote those words. We need a Sabbath. We need it for so many reasons. Parents and children, alike.
A Sabbath is a reset and a return to the things that matter most. It does not involve productivity or tangible results, but rather centering connection with ourselves and our values rather than rushing through every minute to get the most things done. Yes, traditionally the Sabbath or Shabbat has taken place on Sundays for our Christian neighbors and Friday evening through Saturday for our Jewish friends. And maybe one of those days works best for you and your family. The spirit of a sabbath, however, can be enacted any day of the week which makes it a sustainable practice for you and your household. Ever since the Spiritual Practices workshop in Adult RE last year, I’ve been engaged in a Sabbath practice on Wednesdays, because I work every Sunday. Choose a regular day of the week, or hour of the week if it’s all you can manage, and make a sabbath plan that serves you and your family.
What should go into a sabbath plan? I’m so glad you asked!
The purpose of a sabbath plan is to assist you and your family in spending time in a different mode, intentionally engaged in practices that help you refocus on that which matters most. That’s going to look different for everyone, but here are some common elements to get you started:
~Many find it helpful to reconnect with their community during their Sabbath, so attending a service with your religious community is a common element of Sabbath.
~Appraoching the routine with a heightened level of awareness and awe is another mode of approaching Sabbath. Members of the Jewish community drop everything, light a candle, and share a family dinner on Shabbat. Sure, we eat dinner every night, but changing the lighting, speaking sacred words of prayer, and preparing a ritual food that is reserved for this special occasion all help us slow down and renew our intention as a family made up of spiritual beings.
~Reconnecting with nature is something that showed up in the vast majority of Sabbath plans that were written in our workshop last year. As Unitarian Universalists, we speak to the importance of living in harmony with our natural world, and spending time fully immersed in our beautiful Pacific Northwest forests and streams can help anchor our hearts in commitment and gratitude for the earth’s bounty.
~Schedule time for a slow spiritual practice like contemplative reading, meditation, or a slow cup of tea by the window to watch the rain and nothing else.
The possibilities are endless because it’s the quality of attention and energy given to the actions that make them worthy of your sabbath.
HOMEWORK FOR CAREGIVERS
Giving your children a rich spiritual vocabulary that includes words like the Sabbath is an easy place to begin if you’re new to this concept. You’re already coming to the Fellowship on Sundays, so ask your children what activities make them feel calm and at peace, what foods do they love that take time to prepare, what do they feel in their bodies when they get the chance to slow down, and see if you can add one thing from their answers to your existing Sunday plans each week. Or, if you’re not reliably together on Sundays, choose a different day to imbue with sacred attention. ask yourself the same questions and make sure that you design, little by little, a Sabbath plan that serves your whole family’s wellbeing.
It might be tempting to commit a longer amount of time on a less regular basis to this practice, and retreats do have their place in the Faith Formation Toolbox, but the Sabbath works on us specifically because it’s regular. You wouldn’t go to the gym for twenty hours straight once a month and expect to develop healthy muscles. You’d expect to get a serious injury! The Sabbath is much the same. Smaller and more frequent commitments to devoting your attention to that which is most important is essential. If you’re not regularly engaging in a sabbath practice, you very well might go on a retreat and experience an unbearable amount of discomfort!
Get out a piece of paper, make a plan, and display it proudly in your home. Make sure everyone in your house participates in the plan, and then everyone can help you remember that, “Hey, Dad! It’s our sabbath day, remember?”
I’m always excited to chat with you about your family’s spiritual practices and rituals. If you need any support in owning your role as the primary religious leader of your household, I’m always just a call or text away!
The children in RE will be making winter care kits for unhoused neighbors on November 17th.
We need gloves, hats, and HotHands for our kits before November 10th. Please consider donating new or gently used physical items or cash to help us purchase these items for our kits. Donations can be placed in the marked box outside of the RE office in Room 1.
Our goal is for every one of our 40 registered children and youth in RE to have a kit in their car ready to be handed to someone in need. Your generous donations will help us learn about and engage in community care.
Thank you in advance for supporting our RE programs!
Don’t forget to wear your costumes to church on Sunday, October 27th for our 4th annual Teams and Councils Trick or Treat event! All ages are invited to gather treats while they learn about all the cool things happening in our teams and councils.
This year’s event will take place outside on the patio, and so will be weather dependent. Even if we get rained out, you are WELCOME to come in your Halloween finery! We want to see those costumes!
Monthly Vegan Potluck – 4th Sunday, 5:30 in UUFC Social Hall. Everyone Welcome! Bring a dish to share with others who are learning to eat in a healthy, climate-friendly way.
Come wrestle with age-old questions like: ~ Is there a god? ~Am I worthy of love? and ~Why the heck am I even here? through popular music from artists like AJR, Billie Eilish, Myles Smith, and more.
We won’t give you answers to any of these questions, but we’ll deepen our connection with the sacred and with one another by wrestling with them together through the lens of pop culture. And who knows? Maybe we’ll even walk away with some new favorite songs!
Please note that this gathering is rated M for explicit language and mature themes.
Corvallis will host yUUth from across Oregon and Washington for some fun and community-building on October 26th!
We will have pizza, candle-lit worship, and the haunted corn maze at the Melon shack before sleeping over in room 7!
We recognize that not everyone enjoys haunted events, and we remind you that there is a hay slide and tents with lights for hanging out with your new youth group besties, so come anyway and enjoy the parts that speak to you!
Connect with other families while enjoying a chat and a warm breakfast together. Bring your friends and a breakfast item to share if you like! Or just come as you are and recharge.
A big thank you to the Pollinder Family for pulling this event together!
WHERE: Social Hall
WHEN: 2nd Sunday of the month (no breakfast September, December, or June) 8:45-9:45 AM
WHO: Anyone with children or youth who wants to connect with other families!
Registration is appreciated to help with planning how much food to make, but drop-ins are welcome.
Sunday morning Religious Exploration for children and youth is off to a great start this year. Have a look at what they’ve been up to so you’ll have an easier time striking up an intergenerational conversation in the social hall. Every adult in the building has a part to play in the religious education of our children, making them feel seen and valued, so take the time to meet them and let them know you!
This past Sunday, the Chalice Children toured the building and got to look behind every locked door and dig around in every closet. Ginny Gibson showed them all the cool things in the kitchen, Scott Bruslind showed them Jill’s stole collection and then walked them through the service to see if she was really wearing one (she was!) and then they got to pick out a book to read together from the library. If you see a preschool-aged kiddo in the social hall, ask them what their favorite space in the Fellowship is and tell them yours.
The Spirit Play kiddos learned a hand jive to help them remember that Love is at the center of all of our values, and made jetpacks out of silver-painted cereal boxes to start trying to remember the JETPIG values acronym. With the power of rhymes and perhaps a bit of chocolate bribery, we hope that all of the Spirit Play kids will be able to list the 6 values by heart by the end of the year. Can you list them yet? Consider inviting one of the kids into a contest to see which of you can list the most Article 2 values from memory, or share with them why you think Love is at the center.
The YRUU youth hosted Mate, all the way from our partner congregation in Transilvania! They discussed what justice really means, why it made the cut for our new set of highest shared values, and laid the groundwork for starting the Harvard Justice course next Sunday. When I popped in to snap a picture with our guest, they were discussing the challenges of having a death penalty in the context of our very fallible legal system. Next week they’ll be encountering the trolley dilemma and the moral theory of utilitarianism. Do you think the rightness of every action is determined by its consequences? Share your views with the middle and high schoolers on the deck after the service, and ask to hear theirs!
Adult Religious Exploration is back! We’re kicking off a new year of Adult RE with a deep dive into some of the juiciest controversies, failures, and missed opportunities in UU history. We’re talking about those turning points that left our faith tradition forever changed. What can you learn about how we got to where we are and use it to help us get to where we want to be? Come find out!
