Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha's Vineyard

We hope you can join us in person or online today for "Putting Labor Back in Labor Day" as written by Rev. David Breeden and read by a member of our congregation. Do labor unions make a difference in one's quality of life? Rev. Breeden reflects on his childhood and how he benefitted from labor unions and the continued importance of unions today. He shares that "[w]e have a message for this nation and this world: the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity, and compassion in human relations." Piano accompaniment provided by Jeremy Berlin.

We hope you can join us this Sunday, August 25 at 10 am for “The Lizard in the Mikveh (Ritual Bath)” with Rabbi Lori Shaller and Batya Diamond
Half-hearted apologies. Restitution paid for wrong-doing only to repeat the harm. What would it take for individuals, communities, and nations to admit their guilt and really repent and repair?
Rabbi Lori Shaller is a Spiritual Care Counselor at Hospice and Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard. She is a Spiritual Director and in her capacity as Rabbi teaches, leads weddings, baby namings, funerals, and b’nai mitzvah as well as occasional religious services. Rabbi Lori loves “coming home” to the UUSMV.
Batya Diamond is a singer/songwriter and Hebrew priestess (kohenet), whose original music weaves ancient wisdom, resonant melodies, and lyrics in English and Hebrew to help folks discover and deepen their connection with divine mystery.

Please join us in person or online this Sunday, August 18 at 10 am for Tune In, Tune Up: The hymn writer asks us to let “that Fount of Every Blessing tune our hearts…” with Rev. Janet Newton
It’s an active, if subtle, invitation for us to stay engaged, stay present, listen with care and responsiveness to the voices and hearts around us. For many of us in recent years, tuning out has become the more common protective spiritual practice.
This Sunday we ask what might be possible if we chose to work - with intention - toward tuning in again. Tuning in to our world and to one another, to ourselves and our needs. Tuning in with care, compassion, and joy.

We hope you can join us today (August 11th at 10 am) either in person or online for “How Music Creates Community” with Nis Kildegaard
Nis Kildegaard brings a lifetime of interest in the question, “How Does Music Create Community?” to our UUSMV pulpit on Sunday, August 11. He currently serves as board president for Island Community Chorus. His father was dean of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Grand View College in Iowa. He fondly remembers growing up as part of a Lutheran branch known as the Happy Danes and will bring two hymns to us from that tradition.

At Yale Nis studied psychology, philosophy and literature and served as editor of his class yearbook. He worked at the Washington Bureau of the New York Times for a year as personal assistant to Scott Reston, who happened also to own the Vineyard Gazette where Nis served as news editor from 1981 to 2004.

Please join us today at 10 am for "I choose Joy" with Dr. Kathy Bullock
Please join us on Sunday August 4th for a singing centric service with Dr. Kathy Bullock "I Choose Joy". We will raise our voices in songs of faith, empowerment, and hope from the African American sacred music tradition. Dr. Bullock is a Professor Emerita of Music from Berea College in Berea, KY, a choral conductor, and a professional gospel music workshop clinician.

Please join us online or in person at Stevens Chapel today, Sunday, July 28 at 10 am for "How We Play the Game" with Rev. Roberta Finkelstein
It seems like our lives are overly filled with partisan win/lose propositions. Now that we Unitarian Universalists have agreed to put love at the center of our affirmation of faith, how can we move from a win/lose mentality to an embrace of the context and the process? This service is inspired by the well known quote by Grantland Rice, slightly modified to be more inclusive. “When the one great scorer comes to mark against our names, they’ll write not that we won or lost but how we played the game.”
UU ministry is a second career for Rev. Roberta Finkelstein. She also has two degrees in nursing, a field where her special concentration was midwifery. She worked with high-risk pregnancies among adolescents in Washington, D.C. As a minister she has served several congregations as their settled minister and also seven congregations in transition. She is an accredited interim minister and has written extensively on transitional ministry. She and her husband, Barry, now doting grandparents, have been pledging Friends of UUSMV for many years.

We hope you can join us at 10 am this Sunday morning for “It’s Not the Weight, But How You Carry It” with Rev. Rob Hardies
We all carry burdens in our lives. The burden of care. Of responsibility. Of grief. How can we learn to carry life’s burdens in such a way that we feel less weighed-down by them?
Our services are in person at Stevens Chapel in Vineyard Haven or join online at www.uusmv.org

UUA Announcement
Unitarian Universalist Association - July 2024
Unitarian Universalism believes in the right of free speech and the democratic process. Attacks like those at Saturday’s political rally weaken democracy, and the Unitarian Universalist Association condemns this attack. At a time when democracy is already at risk, these events will only make our political environment more precarious.
As we prepare to meet this moment, we must return to our spiritual grounding and faithful practice. Take a breath, reflect together, wait for emerging truth over quick speculation. Anchor yourself in communities and relationships that foster resilience, liberation, and strategy. Cultivate nuance and seek out deep wisdom, political analysis, and spiritual grounding, as misinformation will be rampant.
Our Unitarian Universalist tradition is rooted in the values of human dignity, justice, compassion and democratic principles. We will remain vigilant in our commitment to protecting our democracy and the integrity of its principles and the rights of all its people. Let us keep love at the center. We are in this together.

Please join us on Sunday, July 14 at 10 am for “To the End of the World…and Back Again” with Rev. Rob Hardies
Our former minister Rev. Rob Hardies joins us for two Sundays in July. Recently returned from a pilgrimage to a place that some ancient peoples believed to be the end of the world, Rob will reflect on what it means for each of us to face the many endings (and new beginnings) of our own lives, and to confront the unsettling possibility end of the world as we know it.

We hope you are able to join us on Sunday, June 23 at 10 am for Traditional Sunday Morning Worship from this Year’s General Assembly: “Weaving Our Lives.”
This Sunday we will gather in our chapel and online to worship with Unitarian Universalists around the world. The service will be the traditional Sunday morning worship from this year’s General Assembly: “Weaving Our Lives.”
We are all tangled up together in a great web of life that is woven with beauty and hardship, love and loss, thriving and struggle. How do we tend well to the weaving so that all of us are held in care?
Rev. Molly Housh Gordon will be joined by Violet Vonder Haar, Jamila Bachelder, Rev. Leon Dunkely, Rev. Eric Kaminetsky, Rev. Joan Javier-Duvall, Rev. Jordinn Nelson Long, Rev. Aaron Wisman, Rev. Sadie Lansdale, and Rev. Sarah Oglesby-Dunegan.

Featuring musicians: Natasha Steinmacher, GA Music Coordinator; Lea Morris; Francisco Ruiz; beheld; Violet Vonder Haar; Paul Wi******er; and choirs from All Souls Unitarian Church, Indianapolis, IN; First Parish in Concord, MA; First Parish UU in Lexington, MA; First UU Congregation of Ann Arbor, MI; UU Fellowship in Athens, GA; UU Fellowship of Poughkeepsie, NY; UU Church in Cherry Hill, NJ; UU Church in Reston, VA; and UU of Minnetonka, MN.

Welcome to the UUSMV online auction 2024!
Here is how to register for our auction so you can view and bid on items:
Beginning Friday morning June 7 at 8 am, you can register to participate in the UUSMV auction at www.biddingforgood.com/UUSMV
Register: fill out your name and other identifying information and put in the credit card information you wish to use.
There are many other auctions for not-for-profit or tax free organizations you will see active on the Bidding For Good auction home page. You can bid on anything they have, and they can bid on our items. Winning bidders pay shipping costs.
When you place a bid on an item, remember to “confirm bid”.
The auction will end Sunday June 16 at 8 pm. NEW: Sunday July 16 we will have a potluck lunch and silent auction at the chapel after church.
Please share this with your family and friends!
It’s fun! Join in!!

We hope you can be present either online or in person to "Join us to celebrate UUSMV’s Welcoming Congregation 20th Anniversary!" with Rita Brown
June is PRIDE month and LGBTQ people and allies celebrate being out and being proud of our unique place in this world!
Join us to celebrate 20 years of being a Welcoming Congregation! Let us center “welcoming” for those who are marginalized. Can we create a culture that invites all of our stories into our circle of love and friendship? Will you look and see your reflection in my eyes?

We hope you can join us tomorrow at 10 am in Stevens Chapel or online for “The Stories We Hear -The Stories We Tell” with Rev. Vicky Hanjian
Human beings are storytellers by nature, but we are not always mindful of what we are saying when we are telling a story; not always mindful that there are details we do not know that affect the truth and, quite possibly, the outcome of our stories. This Sunday’s sermon will explore how we might be responsible storytellers as we attempt to build beloved community.

We hope to see you on Tuesday night!

We hope you can join us today either in person or online, Sunday, May 5 at 10 am for "Managing Chaos in a Pluralistic World" with Rev. Janet Newton
Much has been made recently about the ease with which some people seek to gain or hold power through sowing chaos and division. How might we use our appreciation of diversity and pluralism to respond to that chaos? What pragmatic practices do we have access to as we seek to manage the fear, anxiety or confusion that might grow out of the seeds of chaos when they are widely sown?

We hope you can join us in person at Stevens Chapel in VH or online (www.uusmv.org) for "A Person is a Person by Other People" with Prof. Emeritus Dunbar Moodie
A person is a person by other people. This statement is a traditional proverb widely used by Bantu-speaking African people. Sociology Prof. Emeritus Dunbar Moodie will speak from the pulpit about his own experience to illuminate the truth and wisdom of this saying as we apply it to our own lives in this complex modern world.
T. Dunbar Moodie is Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Anthropology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He grew up in South Africa, received a M.Div from Oxford and a PhD in Religion and Society from Harvard. He is author of The Rise of Afrikanerdom: Power, Apartheid and the Afrikaner Civil Religion and Going for Gold: Men, Mines and Migration and numerous articles. He lives in West Tisbury for several months each year as well as Durban and Swellendam in South Africa.

On Sunday, April 7, from 2 to 5:30 pm, at the West Tisbury Library, the Interfaith Climate Action Team of Martha’s Vineyard will host a retreat intended to build strength and courage in the face of climate change.

We will explore a framework for “holding” our concern for the Earth, its creatures, elements, and people. The program will include presentations, guided meditation, conversation, and singing. Participants will leave with deeper connections to their faith/spirituality traditions for Earth care and the courage and hope to take specific steps for action. Free and open to the public.

Registration is encouraged, but not required. Call Heather at 508-693-0332 and leave your name, number of attendees, email address, and telephone number.

Retreat leader Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas has been a lead organizer of many Christian and interfaith events about care for Earth and leads retreats on spiritual resilience and resistance in a climate emergency. Her latest book, "Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis" (2019), co-edited with Leah Schade, is a collection of essays by religious environmental activists. She has been arrested in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere when protesting expanded use of fossil fuels. She serves as Missioner for Creation Care for the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts and for the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ. She also serves as Creation Care Advisor for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. Her website, RevivingCreation.org, includes blog posts, sermons, videos, and articles.

The Interfaith Climate Action Team of Martha’s Vineyard is comprised of representatives from multiple faith traditions, including Grace Episcopal Church, the Federated Church of Martha's Vineyard, First Congregational Church of West Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard Friends Meeting, the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, and the Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha’s Vineyard. The mission of the group is to connect our faiths with concern for the Earth and the challenges it faces by sharing action items and best practices within our congregations. All faith organizations are welcome.

Action is happening at UUSMV about addressing climate change! For over two years, Barbara Caseau and Rebecca Gilbert have been the UU reps to the Interfaith Climate Action Team (ICAT). Last year, Peter Meleney was asked by Rita to take over for Barbara. In meetings over the past few months, the members of ICAT decided to encourage member churches to join a national campaign, One Home One Future and invite the Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jones, a prime mover in this campaign, to come to MV to kick off our local action. UUA is part of the coalition promoting the campaign.

We hope you can join us in person or online on Sunday, March 24 at 10 am for "Why Wait?" with Rev. Jill De La hunt
Would we choose to live our lives any differently if we recognized that we are already whole?
Rev. Jill De La Hunt has been a Buddhist practitioner for 35 plus years. Her teacher is Roshi Joan Halifax. Rev. Jill received precepts from the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh in 1992 and from Roshi Joan in 2015. She is a graduate of the Upaya Zen Center chaplaincy training program. In 2019, Rev. Jill received lay ordination from Roshi Joan. She received Hoshi entrustment from Roshi Joan in 2022.
Through her vows, Rev. Jill is humbly committed to facing systemic injustices and working to dismantle white supremacy and other forms of oppression. She lives on the Island and serves as Dharma Guide for Island Insight Meditation Community.

We hope you can join us in person or online for "Thoughts on Transformation" with Rev. Vicky Hanjian
The intense years of Covid precipitated profound changes and transitions that have resulted in the impulse toward transformation. Some of these changes have been subtle. Others have been life jarring. Some of them happened quickly. Others have been slower in the manifestation of their effects. … but whatever the case, the changes of the last 3 years have set in motion a process of transformation.
The Cambridge Dictionary offers this definition: Transformation - a complete change in the appearance or character of something or someone, especially so that that thing or person is improved.
For faith communities, transformation is a spiritual journey that has an intentional beginning but no end; we are always on the journey, never finished. Transformation becomes a reality when we pay attention to the changes and transitions life offers and then reshape our lives accordingly.
It is about attending to the Impulse of the Holy, deepening our relationship with it, and then placing ourselves in the flow of that Impulse.
Without our even consciously recognizing it, something may be shifting, morphing, and evolving in our lives - - individually and communally. Eventually, transformation demands our “YES” - as challenging and uncomfortable as that may be at times - if we are to become the fullest expression of LIFE that we are called to be.

Vicky Hanjian is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and a member of the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury where she currently serves as Deacon for Spiritual Nourishment. She and Armen are celebrating 30 years of year round life on the Island this summer. She has also served as chaplain for Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard, as interim minister for the Chilmark Community Church and as minister for pastoral care for the UUSMV during their ministerial search year. She and Armen have three sons, two daughters-in-love, and two grandchildren, all of whom live on the island. She has had a long time relationship with UUSMV and takes great joy in being able to reconnect with the congregation.

Welcome daylight savings!
Please join us this morning Sunday, March 10 at 10 am for "Fixing What’s Ours to Fix: Accountability in Transformation" with Reverend Janet Newton
The history of humankind is full of examples of one culture or nation aiming to transform…other cultures or nations. Why would we bother engaging in the kind of self-examination that could produce radical transformation from within when it’s easier (and significantly more lucrative) to force change upon others? Upon the cultures who were colonized, upon the lands that were viewed by those colonizers as theirs to mine for wealth and resources, upon the people themselves whose very existence — whose breaths and bodies and lives — were not deemed to be worthy of autonomy?
The geopolitical landscape we now view from our windows or consume through our preferred media is the inheritance of this mindset. Now what? How do we live into meaningful accountability for these grievous wrongs?

Please join us on Sunday, March 3 at 10 am for "Making Peace with the Bible" with Rev. Lara K-J Campbell
The Bible has been a source of information and transformation for some, a source of consternation and/or indifference for others. Come explore the role that this scripture has had and can have on our understanding of ourselves and each other.
Rev. Lara K-J Campbell (she/her/hers) is a fifth generation Unitarian, raised as a Unitarian Universalist in northern Minnesota. She was the called Minister at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Kennebunk, Maine for 9 years. Lara serves our larger association by being a responder for the UU Trauma Response Ministry and by leading Secondary and Elementary level Our Whole Lives trainings. Prior to becoming a minister, she served as a Director of Religious Education and a Youth Advisor. Lara lives in Kennebunk, Maine with her spouse, Jay, German exchange student, Hedda, and rescue dog, Maddy J. Beagle.
You can view the Order of Service here: https://www.uusmv.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/UUSMV-OOS-for-March-3-2024.pdf

We hope you can join us in person or online this Sunday at 10 am for "How Then Shall We Live?" with Rev. Michael Crumpler and Pianist Lisa Weiss
We will contemplate living in a world that is often unjust. How do we build bridges across our divisions? Via pre-recorded video, the Rev. Michael Crumpler will present "How Then Shall We Live". Readings from the works of James Baldwin will be shared. Live music provided by the accomplished pianist, Lisa Weiss.

"Rev. Michael J. Crumpler joined the UUA in early 2017. Shortly thereafter, he was ordained to Reverend in the United Church of Christ. Michael lives in Harlem and is very active in social justice ministry at the historic Judson Memorial Church of New York City and the surrounding q***r community. He is most passionate about intersectional ministry centered in blackness, q***rness, HIV/AIDS, economic justice, and emotional well-being." from https://www.uua.org/people/michael-j-crumpler

Ms. Weiss is a frequent visitor to MV and has been making music here in various capacities for over 3 decades. She is a Professor Emeritus of Music at Goucher College. A native of Quincy, MA, she began soloing with the Boston Pops at the Esplanade at age seven. She holds a Doctorate (Peabody Conservatory) and Masters (Yale University) in piano performance. On Saturday February 24th, she'll perform a 4-hand piano recital with Molly Sturges at the Edgartown Public Library at 6:30PM.

Please join us on Sunday, February 18, in person at Stevens Chapel or online for "Letting Ourselves Get Lost" with Rev. Janet Newton
The quieter pace dictated by winter weather and shortened daylight is the perfect opportunity to slow down ourselves and invite deeper reflection on the tools and ideas we habitually turn to for meaning making. This Sunday we’ll explore what might emerge for us if we let ourselves step off well-trodden paths and lean into new or different ways of seeking understanding and direction. What profound and meaningful growth awaits us if we let ourselves get a little lost?
View our Order of Service here: https://www.uusmv.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/UUSMV-OOS-for-February-18-2024.pdf

Will you join our free 2024 mom-to-mom postcard program? MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of moms, over the last several years, have received a handwritten postcard from a MomsRising mom, urging them to vote. Our powerful mom-to-mom postcard program has been running (and growing!) for 8 years now, and it is one of our most beloved programs.

We hope you are planning to join us in person or online on Sunday, February 11 at 10 am for "Both Sides Now" with Rev. Janet Newton
When the list of things that seek to undermine our faith in humanity starts to grow longer and longer, what can we do to reclaim our place in the flow of life?

We hope you can join us today in person or online (www.uusmv.org) for "When We Belong to One Another: Healing, Wholeness, Holiness, and Love" with Rev. Janet Newton
According to Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That may hold true in the realm of physics, but in human relationships the law seems inverted: our interactions with others often generate responses that are mirrored, not “equal and opposite”. We are surrounded by examples of hate generating hate, of hurt people hurting people. Within that context, what might we do to shift our collective energies toward healing, wholeness and love? More challenging still, what obligations do we have to one another to move toward that shift?

We hope you can join us this Sunday, January 21 at 10 am in person or online for "In Defense of Errant Ideas: How libraries protect pathways in '...The search for truth and meaning.'"
with Allyson Malik
While thinking about what to say as our speaker on January 21, our speaker, Allyson Malik, looked over our Seven UU Principles. One, in particular, caught her eye -- "A free and responsible search for truth and meaning."
Allyson Evans Malik, director of the Oak Bluffs Library since 2016, has worked in libraries for sixteen years after a brief career as a lawyer on Long Island. Her respect for different perspectives on truth and meaning have been shaped by both careers as well as her childhood upbringing in the Middle East. After a lifetime of moving around from Virginia, Iowa, New York and back to Maryland, she finally moved to the Vineyard with her husband, Rizwan, nine years ago. Home at last in Oak Bluffs, they're raising their seven-year-old, Owen, who despite having two librarian parents, dreams of being a mathematician.

Please join us on Sunday, January 7 at 10 am in-person or online for "Seeds for the New Year" a message by UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt hosted by Rev. Janet Newton
They ask: What seeds are you planting for the new year? How are you weaving your magic into relationships with others? How can we center beauty and goodness and love in all that’s ahead?

After the service members are invited to the Budget Town Hall.
The finance committee will present the 2024 budget to the members this Sunday after the service. We look forward to your feedback!