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2021-01-29
Religious Education: January 29, 2021
2021-01-28
Minister's Post, Fri Jan 29
Josh Leach is the Public Policy and Communications Strategist for the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC). This week, I'd like share with you Josh's Open Letter to the 117th Congress. Josh writes:
As profound as the pain and heartbreak of the past year has been, you also take office at a time of renewed hope. A change of leadership in the White House and the Senate closes an era of divided government and offers a chance to move beyond the mistakes of the past. We urge you to seize this opportunity to make positive change. Below are some of the steps you can take to advance human rights during your time in office.Josh then calls for the Congress to:
- Enact Real COVID-19 Relief
- Tackle Police Brutality and Structural Racism
- Create a Pathway to Citizenship
- Respond to the Climate Crisis
- Align Foreign Policy with Human Rights
Covid Watch
U.S. and World: The 7-day average of new cases per day has been steadily declining for 2.5 weeks now -- ever since Jan 11. In the U.S. the new cases per day have fallen by 34% in 17 days. Worldwide, new cases per day have fallen by 24% in those 17 days.
But we aren't yet seeing a decline in deaths. Worldwide: deaths first exceeded 14,000 a day (7-day average) on Jan 23, and have stayed over 14,000 in the days since then. In the U.S.: deaths have been over 3,000 a day (7-day average) since Jan 8, and are creeping closer to 3,500 a day.
Yours in the faith we share,
Meredith
Practice of the Week
Slogans work, as advertisers know – so let's put them to a positive use. Using slogans to guide and remind you of how you want to be brings more peace and more joy into your life. Maybe you could use a little more peace and joy.
This winter’s series has included, “Stay Close to your Resentment,” “Get Excited” and “Find Strength.” This week’s slogan is “Smile.”
It’s obnoxious when someone else tells you to smile, so only tell yourself. And make it authentic – a fake smile doesn’t do as much good, and if you’re in the middle of real depression, grief, fear, or anger, smiling isn’t appropriate.
But when you’re feeling more-or-less OK, an authentic smile can kick it up a notch. To make it authentic, think of things that make you smile – people you love, silly moments, that funny video you saw. Make a list of things that make you smile. Several times a day, look for moments to bring that list to mind...and a soft smile to your face.
Then notice: how this makes you feel, how you act toward others, how they respond to you. Savor these results, taking them in.
For more about benefits of smiling authentically, see "Smile."
2021-01-26
Music: Sun Jan 31
The polar drives to assimilate and to differentiate find expression in this morning’s musical selections. From the communal folk dances echoed in Mompou’s intimate Canciones y danzas in this morning’s Gathering Music, to the diverse polyphonic threads of a Bach fugue, and the symphonic richness of Mozart’s keyboard writing, some of the solo piano music evokes communal integration. On the other hand, the figure of the lone shepherd leading a flock sets the dichotomy into sharp relief in Debussy’s wistful “The Little Shepherd” and Ernesto Halffter’s saucy “Danza de la pastora.” Finally, the band is the ultimate musical representation of community, and no one wanted to be in the band as much as….Lucy from the 1950’s TV classic. Stay tuned for more details and read on for full program listings.
Gathering Music: Adam Kent, piano
Canciones y danzas Nos. 4, 5 and 9
Federico Mompou
Centering Music:
Fugue in A Minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II
J. S. bach
Opening Music:
Danza de la pastora
Ernesto Halffter
Musical Meditation:
“The Little Shepherd” from Children’s Corner
Claude Debussy
Interlude:
Piano Sonata in C Minor, K. 457
I. Allegro
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Parting Music:
2021-01-25
Smile
Smile
Category: SLOGANS THAT HELP: Advertisers know that slogans work! So let's put them to a positive use. Adopting these slogans as your personal guides and reminders will help bring more peace and more joy into your life. Journaling about how you're trying to implement a given slogan will help integrate it into your life.
NOTE: Women, in particular, are often subjected to unwanted advice to "smile" -- which reinforces sexist societal expectations that women must serve and please men by, among other things, always appearing cheerful. While both men and women may benefit from smiling more, telling another individual to smile is not appropriate.
"A warm smile is the universal language of kindness." (William Arthur Ward)
- Thinking of things that make you smile -- like people you love, silly moments, stupid pet tricks, funny movies -- helps you feel better right on the spot. Plus it calms down the stress response and releases wholesome neurochemicals like dopamine and natural opioids (e.g., endorphins).
- Researchers have found that the facial movements of smiling -- independent of what a person actually feels inside -- prompt the person to evaluate the world more positively (Niedenthal 2007).
- Smiling and the good feelings it encourages promote approach behaviors, a fancy term for paying more attention to the opportunities around you, going after your dreams with more confidence, and reaching out to others.
- Through what's called emotional contagion, when you smile and thus feel and act better, that influences others to feel and act better, too. Then nice positive cycles start rolling through a group -- perhaps a family, a team at work, or simply a bunch of friends -- in which your smile gets others to smile and be more positive, which snowballs into an even bigger grin for you.
- When you smile -- authentically, to be sure, not in a false or Dr. Evil sort of way -- that tells people you are not a threat, which calms the ancient, evolutionary tendency to be wary of others, and thus inclines them to be more open to you.
This is definitely not about putting a happy shiny face on depression, grief, fear, or anger. Smiling then would be phony, and would probably feel awful. But when you feel neutral or experience mild well-being, shifting into a small smile while thinking of good facts that make it real can naturally lift your mood and help you act more effectively.
So, in your mind or on paper, make a list of things that make you smile. Several times a day, look for moments to bring that list to mind...and a soft smile to your face.
Then notice the results, in how you feel inside, and in how you act toward others and how they respond to you Savor these good feelings and successes, taking them in.
Smiling a few more times each day may not seem like much, but it will send wonderful ripples through your brain, body, mind, and relationships.
Now, isn't that something to smile about?
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2021-01-22
Religious Education: January 22, 2021
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