Our Ingathering Service is scheduled for Sunday, October 10th which will be online and will feature our first virtual water ceremony. The service is prerecorded and will include live music, readings and several in-person participants. You can also join the Zoom check-in and coffee hour on October 10th at 11AM and we will be sharing our stories about water. We individually pour waters into our collective basin and reflect upon our life as a spiritual community. The four elements will be represented on the altar as we explore our relatedness to each other and the world around us. Here are three ways to participate in this year’s water ceremony:

1. There will be an open space in the ceremony where you can pause and reflect on one or several of your experiences with water during this past summer, on your travels or staying close to home, and also reflect on your interconnected relationship with water (water is life) our reliance upon it and ways that we can preserve and protect this most vital resource. You may want to have your water in a container and hold it during this part of the service or pour it over or into something meaningful.

2. You can send in a post about your experience with water to our UUHoulton Support Page. These will be posted on the support page and shared during the Zoom coffee hour after the service at 11AM.

3. You can also join us for Zoom check-in and coffee hour and we’ll be sharing a few of our water reflections live during Zoom.

There is also an in-person option on October 10th at 10AM in the church parking lot. We will be having an Ingathering Tail-Gate Party. For those who would like to hang out with other UUs, we will be viewing the Ingathering Service (YouTube Channel) on a flat screen TV outdoors. Bring plenty of warm clothing, a portable chair (or tailgate) and your container of water for the ceremony. We will also have a large pot of hot chili and coffee for after the service. It wouldn’t be a tail gate party without food! We will also join our special Zoom check-in and coffee hour from the parking lot. If the weather does not cooperate, Plan B is to set up the TV in the sanctuary and open all the doors and windows, mask and socially distance. Right now the forecast looks encouraging. We are trying to provide as many options as possible for a safe and meaningful Ingathering this year. 

Practice patience and kindness.
In Ministry,

Dave

HERE IS THE SERVICE LINK FOR THIS WEEK’S SERVICE(Please note it won’t be active until 10AM on Sunday morning) 
https://youtu.be/CDOo1nO1ZTk

HERE IS THE ZOOM LINK FOR SUNDAY:
David Hutchinson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: UU check-in and coffee hour

Time: Oct 10, 2021 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)       

Every week on Sun, until Nov 7, 2021, 5 occurrence(s)        Oct 10, 2021 11:00 AM        Oct 17, 2021 11:00 AM        Oct 24, 2021 11:00 AM        Oct 31, 2021 11:00 AM        Nov 7, 2021 11:00 AM

Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.Weekly: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/tZUvceyvrTkoEtxti_N1fvH8p54IOF-g0v-7/ics?icsToken=98tyKuGprD0vHdeXshGPRpwcAI_oZ-3ztnpBj7dFiBbaLXFVdCuuJrcWG51ZXd-A

Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/81265732288?pwd=em1yVENzL2QxT1BacDBMMnd5RytlZz09

Meeting ID: 812 6573 2288

Passcode: 163401

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Virtual Offering Plate

If you would like to send in your pledge or donation simply drop an envelope in the mail. The address is listed below.  Thank you for your generous support!

UU Church of Houlton

61 Military Street

Houlton, ME  04730

Global Religious Leaders, Scientists Issue Joint Call for ‘Radical’ Climate Action

“It’s really quite unprecedented, isn’t it, for so many faith leaders to come together in this way.”

Jessica Corbett

October 4, 2021

Dozens of religious leaders and scientists came together in Vatican City on Monday to demand “urgent, radical, and responsible action” to address the climate emergency and related challenges that threaten humanity and “life on our beautiful common home.”

“We have inherited a garden: We must not leave a desert to our children.”
—Joint appeal

The interfaith climate meeting, hosted by the Catholic leader Pope Francis, included representatives from Buddhism, Christian denominations, Confucianism, Hinduism, Jainism, Judaism, Shi’a and Sunni Islam, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism.

The “Faith and Science: Towards COP 26” event came ahead of the United Nations climate summit set to begin in Glasgow, Scotland at the end of the month. The pope presented faith leaders’ joint appeal to COP 26 president-designate Alok Sharma and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Luigi Di Maio.

“Climate change is a grave threat,” the five-page document says. “In the interest of justice and fairness, we advocate for common but differentiated climate action at all levels, from individual behavioral changes to high-level political decision-making processes.”

The appeal continues:

The world is called to achieve net-zero carbon emissions as soon as possible, with wealthier countries taking the lead in reducing their own emissions and in financing emission reductions from poorer nations. It is important that all governments adopt a trajectory that will limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. To achieve these goals of the Paris agreement, the COP 26 summit should deliver ambitious short-term actions from all nations with differentiated responsibilities. There is also an urgent need to deliver action to meet its medium- and long-term commitments.

We beg those nations with the greatest responsibility and present capacity to: step up their climate action at home; fulfill existing promises to provide substantial financial support to vulnerable countries; agree on new targets to enable them to become climate resilient, as well as to adapt to and to address climate change and loss and damage, which is already a reality for many countries.

The faith leaders urge global governments to raise ambitions and international cooperation to “favor a transition to clean energy; adopt sustainable land use practices including preventing deforestation, restoring forests, and conserving biodiversity; transform food systems to become environmentally friendly and respectful of local cultures; end hunger; and to promote sustainable lifestyles and patterns of consumption and production.”

Their call for climate action, which emphasizes the importance of protecting and investing marginalized and vulnerable populations, also extends to financial institutions and civil society organizations.

“As leaders and scholars from various religious traditions, we unite in a spirit of humility, responsibility, mutual respect, and open dialogue,” the document explains. “This dialogue is not limited to merely the exchange of ideas, but is focused on the desire to walk in companionship, recognizing our call to live in harmony with one another and with nature.

“Nature is a gift, but also a life-giving force without which we cannot exist,” the appeal says. “Our faiths and spiritualities teach a duty, individual and collective, to care for the human family and for the environment in which it lives. We are not limitless masters of our planet and its resources.”

“We pray that our human family may unite to save our common home before it is too late. Future generations will never forgive us if we squander this precious opportunity. We have inherited a garden: We must not leave a desert to our children,” the document adds. “Scientists have warned us that there might be only one decade left to restore the planet.”

Pope Francis, who is reportedly expected to attend the summit in Scotland, echoed the appeal’s messages in a Monday address, saying that “openness to interdependence and sharing, the dynamism of love and a call to respect. These are, I believe, three interpretative keys that can shed light on our efforts to care for our common home.”

“COP 26 in Glasgow represents an urgent summons to provide effective responses to the unprecedented ecological crisis and the crisis of values that we are presently experiencing, and in this way to offer concrete hope to future generations,” said Francis, who has repeatedly garnered global attention for his comments on the climate emergency, including in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’.

Christine Allen, director of CAFOD, the Catholic development agency for England and Wales, told Vatican News on Monday that “it’s really quite unprecedented, isn’t it, for so many faith leaders to come together in this way. I remember when Pope Francis issued Laudato Si’ in 2015; it had a very, very significant impact on world leaders and on the subsequent COP negotiations there, and I’m hoping, as I hope Pope Francis is too, that this current appeal will have a very similar impact because it’s really desperately need[ed].”

Sharma, head of the upcoming U.N. conference, also welcomed the joint call—which comes as governments face criticism for inadequate plans to reduce planet-heating emissions.

“I am honored to receive this historic joint appeal as we press for progress towards limiting global temperature rises to 1.5°C at COP 26 in just a few weeks’ time,” Sharma said.

“We must all hear the voices of those most affected by climate change,” he added, “and I hope people of faith will continue to be a key part of this dialogue as we work together to drive forward climate action.”

While more than 40 figures from various faiths participated in the event and joint call, the Associated Press noted the Dalai Lama was “conspicuously absent,” explaining that “the Vatican has excluded the Tibetan spiritual leader from interfaith events for years to not antagonize China, and an appeal seeking to be heard by a top polluter like Beijing is no exception.”

Three Questions for Coming Back to Now

BY LESLIE DAVIS

While hiking, Buddhist practitioner Leslie Davis suddenly found her mind miles ahead of her body. She offers three questions you can ask yourself to reel your running mind back to the present moment.

On a recent personal retreat, I hiked into Horn Canyon in the east end of Ojai, California. Due to the severe drought, it had been years since water had flowed alongside the trail there, but now I was delighted to cross the creek a few times, jumping from rock to rock.

My mind was clear and focused, taking in the sounds and smells of the trail — glistening poison oak, fragrant sage, infinite wildflowers… With the warm sun on my back, I felt fully alive in the present moment. Such a wonderful gift to be alive! To be awake!

On the way back through the canyon, though, my mind jumped ahead of my body: it was busy planning out what I would do as soon as I got back. First a snack, then another writing session, or maybe both at the same time, then a hot shower. And what would I have for dinner?

The mind can go and go without us noticing how fast it’s going, or what direction it’s headed in. Then, suddenly, a thought jumps out at us, and we trip, or stumble, or burn something on the stovetop.

Many minutes would pass before I noticed this. How many footsteps did my feet take while my mind carried me away? And how many times in any given day does this occur, or even in just an afternoon? And what can bring us back to the present moment? How can we return to what’s at hand — the conversation we’re having, the child in front of us, the trail we’re walking?

The mind can go and go without us noticing how fast it’s going, or what direction it’s headed in. Then, suddenly, a thought jumps out at us, and we trip, or stumble, or burn something on the stovetop. And just like that we’re reminded to pay attention. This is where a little magic happens.

In that moment we can bring our attention back to our breath. We can reconnect with ourselves, our spirits, and our awareness of where we are — right here, right now.

Three Questions for Coming Back to Now

Thich Nhat Hanh has said that “the opposite of forgetfulness is mindfulness. Mindfulness is when you are truly there, mind and body together.” In order to wake up from my forgetfulness, I ask myself three questions that prompt me to come back to the present moment:

1. WHERE AM I?

To find the answer to this, I stop. I physically stop moving, and if I’m sitting, I stand up. I look around, locate myself. Taking a deep breath, I remember that I have a body.

2. WHAT AM I DOING?

I take a moment to observe exactly what I’m doing, with no filters, and no judgment. Taking a deep breath, I bring awareness to what I am doing in the present moment.

3. WHO AM I WITH?

I ask myself, am I with someone or am I alone? Who is talking? Am I making eye contact? If I’m alone, I touch my arm or leg, look into my own eyes in a mirror, or close them and breathe. If I’m with someone, I take a deep breath and reestablish our connection.

When I ask myself these questions, I take a few deep breaths and pause to observe what’s going on in my mind. To watch and monitor the mind, to see how the mind strays, even when the external circumstances are pristine for being present, is an opportunity for transformation. A quick U-turn back to the breath always gets me headed in the right direction.

ABOUT LESLIE DAVIS

Leslie J. Davis is a writer who practices meditation and mindfulness in the Plum Village Tradition of Thích Nhất Hạnh. She lives in Ojai, California, with her husband and two teenagers. She has work in The Washington Post, LionsRoar.com, The Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism, Mothering Magazine and The Mindfulness Bell. Leslie is the founder of DharmaMamas.com — a community for mindful mothers. She is currently writing a memoir. www.lesliejdavis.com

Joys & Concerns

When one of us is blessed we are all blessed.

When one of us experiences sorrow we all feel the pain.

Water Ceremony Posts

Though I am not a very good swimmer, I swim after my morning run, every day but Sunday from about mid-May to about the end of October. The water temperature varies over that period from low 50’s to mid-70’s F. The higher the temperature, the more strokes I take, up to 15 during high summer. This peak period is bookended by a “swim” that is basically a dive during which I simultaneously curve my body back to shore, taking 0 strokes. It is interesting to feel an ice-cream headache that starts outside and works its way in. It takes less that a minute in 50 F. water for leg sensation to go from cold to ache to numb. Water is for immersion, a daily baptism that can shock one fully awake.
posted by Michael Fasulo

Linda & I spent a week-end in Bar Harbor this summer biking on the carriage trails in Acadia National Park. While the island boasts a spectacular shoreline and an abundance of water experiences, the interior of the island also has numerous lakes, ponds and brooks. We biked to Witch Hole Pond which is in the north part of the park and found it to be a calm, restive and beautiful body of water. We brought a small container of the pond water back with us for this year’s water ceremony and I poured it into our UU Water Bowl which you will see in the service video. This is a photo we took, a small frog is just to the right (out of the shot).
posted by Linda & Dave

JOYS

I have I think around 48 double paned windows to unload. (Dave, you will remember these)  I’ve been storing them to make a glass house/greenhouse at a summer camp or whatever I get downstate when I retire, but they’ve been there a couple years and will wait a couple more on my schedule…and they are partially resting on my neighbor’s  property.  I cannot justify leaving them there for two or more years.  
Would any of you like them? They were off a church in Millinocket, and are about 1/3 around 4×4 and 2/3 around 2×4 in size.  They are wood framed and most do not open.  
If you are not interested but know anyone who might be, I’m giving them away, and I don’t care how many they take.  
Deb Frazier521-0387writtenwyrdd@live.com

CONCERNS

Refugees from Afghanistan are attempting to enter Poland and are being denied. They are encamped in the woods on the eastern border without shelter or provisions as temperatures are getting colder. 
Concern for Haitian refugees on the US southern border seeking shelter and assistance. According to an NPR story this week many of the Haitian refugees arriving at the border are also coming from Chili due to a recent change in their immigration policy and discrimination of Haitians.

Please continue to send in joys and concerns during the week to revdav@mfx.net and I will post them on the Support Page.

The joy or the sorrow of one is shared by all. May our hearts be as one on this day.  Let us carry each thought or concern expressed in our heart and may the light of our love and compassion transform suffering into non suffering and ease the difficulties of life.  We radiate love and the light that we are.  Blessed are we all.

Prayer List
For those recovering from COVID-19 in the state of Maine

Local emergency personnel and hospital staff

For our state and national leaders as they respond to the current coronavirus crisis

For those working for social justice and societal change 

Pray for peaceful action and democratic process in our nation

Prayers for the heat wave in the American West and wide spread drought conditions

Prayers for the people of Haiti

Prayers for the people of Afghanistan Pray for the refugees from Haiti arriving at the Texas border and the immigration officers coping with the influx

Prayers for a successful potato harvest in our area

The Four Limitless Ones Prayer
May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.

May we be free from suffering and the root of suffering.

May we not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering.

May we dwell in the great equanimity free from anger, aggression and exclusion.