August 18, 2024
Old County Courthouse benches in Woodstock, NBThis photograph was taken at the Old County Courthouse during our recent Woodstock Day Trip. The courthouse was built in 1832 in Upper Woodstock and served as the Carleton County Courthouse until 1910. The benches in the courthouse don’t look any more comfortable than our pews in the historic Unitarian sanctuary. At least we have a few moveable cushions available for those who arrive early at our services.
We have a last minute change in this week’s service schedule. Bill White was originally scheduled to lead the Sunday Service, but we will reschedule to a date in the near future. Adjusting to circumstances, we will have another open pulpit service (I think this is our third one this summer). We invite you to bring a reading, poem, a show and tell object or a personal observation to share with the group. Again, there is no specific theme or topic for the service, we’ll consider it “summer reflections.” YouTube Channel content for this week is a summer reflection by the minister titled “Daybreak” inspired by two new books recently donated to our Unitarian Society library; Whitman’s Illuminated Song of Myself illustrated by Allen Crawford and Tappen Adney & the Heritage of the St. John River Valley by Keith Helmuth. There is also a short slide show of last week’s Woodstock Day Trip when members of our group visited the historic Connell House and the Old County Courthouse. Past and present are held together in our communities and in our soul. We hope you can join us for one of the services online or in-person.
Old County Courthouse
Enjoy summer everyone!
In Ministry,
Dave
Come to The Cup Cafe on the “teenth” Saturday of each month for a LGBTQ+ potluck meal open to all generations and allies!
If you would like to bring a dish, you’re more than welcome to but there is no cost to attend. Houlton’s next meal will take place on Saturday, August 17 from 12:00 – 2:00 at 61 Military Street
CONCERT @HOULTON COFFEEHOUSE
August 17, Saturday Evening 7-9 PMThe Cup Cafe, 61 Military Street
Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards(no admission fee / donations are encouraged)
Houlton Potato Feast Days are here and Houlton Coffeehouse is offering a special concert as part of the festivities. Folk music duo Mark Mandeville and Raianne Richards from Webster, Massachusetts will appear on the coffeehouse stage at 7PM Saturday night*. Mark and Raianne have performed at Houlton Coffeehouse several times before and it’s good to have them back! Read the bio below for more about their unique brand of music and storytelling. We’ll also include a few of their videos on The Cup Cafe Facebook Page. Jodi has beef stew on the menu and a vegan stew option. Drink specials are also available at the espresso bar and fizz bar. See the menu below.
* since this is a full length concert there will be no open-mic this month
Bio Information:
Little by little, you will get to know Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards through their unmistakable vocal harmonies, poetic lyrics and down-to-earth personae. They are a married musical couple based out of Webster, Massachusetts. These prolific and hard working Massachusetts-based artists have contributed over seventeen albums within their first decade and toured consistently throughout the US and Canada.
Their songs poetically reflect personal experiences as factory workers, teachers, community organizers, and natives of post-industrial mill towns in central Massachusetts. The memories of days gone by and toils of history can be better remembered through songs such as “That Old Machine” or “Winds of Change.” Listeners feel refreshed lyrics with references to elements in nature.
Accompanying themselves on guitar, harmonica, ukulele, penny whistle, electric bass, and most uniquely clarinet, their live performances are both musically captivating and spiritually uplifting as audiences are carefully balanced between serious songs and humorous commentary – concert goers will leave feeling a bit more human, as if they have experienced something genuine. “Making Promises” (2024) is the fourth eponymous studio release by contemporary folk songwriters Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards. This album replete with poetic lyrics, sophisticated musical arrangements, and mellifluous vocal harmonies will be a welcome addition to your collection from their twenty-year partnership. Much of the material inspired by their recent marriage in 2021 reflects on themes of love, desires, perseverance and promises, with much of the music sparsely arranged as duets with upright bass accompaniment by longtime friend Zack Ciras.
Mark & Raianne are famous among regional fans for their annual Massachusetts Walking Tour which defines them as true troubadours journeying with their instruments and humble voices, from stage to stage, town to town throughout the state on foot each June. Each summer since 2010, Mandeville & Richards have organized the Massachusetts Walking Tour where they hike the roads and trails of the Commonwealth, more than 100 miles in less than two weeks, in support of the arts in local communities along the way. Each evening they stop over in yet another Massachusetts town, putting on a free concert there, along with local performers and fellow artists who accompany them on their journey. These annual two-week treks raise awareness of the trails and greenways in Massachusetts, including daily public hikes through recreational properties. The Massachusetts Walking Tour has partnered with The National Parks Service, Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), Freedom’s Way, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the Trustees, with primary funding through grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council Program.
Check out more info and photos on their website….
Come early for supper and hang out before the show. Cafe doors open at 5:30PM.
See you at the Cup!
Feel the buzz…
Menu
Beef Stew Vegan Stew OptionElectric Blue Raspberry SpritzerSalted Caramel Latte
THIS WEEK’S YOUTUBE SERVICE:
HERE IS THE SERVICE LINK FOR THIS WEEK’S YOUTUBE SERVICE
(Please note it won’t be active until 10AM on Sunday morning)
HERE IS THE ZOOM LINK FOR SUNDAY COFFEE HOUR:
Topic: UUHoulton zoom coffee hour & check-in
Time: Aug 18, 2024 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/83077271581?pwd=NAvo65oG1iInvnNdmwbMTrrOsdih6n.1
Meeting ID: 830 7727 1581Passcode: 689058
Calendar of Events @UUHoulton
Aug 17 LGBTQ+ luncheon 12 Noon
Aug 17 Summer Concert at Cafe 7-9PM
Mark Mandeville and Raianne Richards
Aug 18 Sunday Service: Open-Pulpit Service
Aug 20 Meditation Group 4PM (online)
Aug 25 Sunday Service: David Hutchinson
Sept 1 Sunday Service: Joshua Atkinson
Sept 8 Sunday Service: Ingathering Service Rev. David Hutchinson
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. You can also send your donation electronically with our new payment system on the church website. Simply go to uuhoulton.org and click “Donate” on the menu and it will explain how the system works. You can set up a regular monthly payment plan or donate in single transactions. Thank you for your generous support!
UU Church of Houlton
61 Military Street
Words of Rachel Carson written along the Maine coast;
Rachel Carson (1951)
Hearing the rising tide, I think how it is pressing also against other shores I know — rising on a southern beach where there is no fog, but a moon edging all the waves with silver and touching the wet sands with lambent sheen, and on a still more distant shore sending its streaming currents against the moonlit pinnacles and the dark caves of the coral rock.
Then in my thoughts these shores, so different in their nature and in the inhabitants they support, are made one by the unifying touch of the sea. For the differences I sense in this particular instant of time that is mine are but the differences of a moment, determined by our place in the stream of time and in the long rhythms of the sea. Once this rocky coast beneath me was a plain of sand; then the sea rose and found a new shore line. And again in some shadowy future the surf will have ground these rocks to sand and will have returned the coast to its earlier state. And so in my mind’s eye these coastal forms merge and blend in a shifting, kaleidoscopic pattern in which there is no finality, no ultimate and fixed reality — earth becoming fluid as the sea itself.
On all these shores there are echoes of past and future: of the flow of time, obliterating yet containing all that has gone before; of the sea’s eternal rhythms — the tides, the beat of surf, the pressing rivers of the currents — shaping, changing, dominating; of the stream of life, flowing as inexorably as any ocean current, from past to unknown future.
[…]
Contemplating the teeming life of the shore, we have an uneasy sense of the communication of some universal truth that lies just beyond our grasp. What is the message signaled by the hordes of diatoms, flashing their microscopic lights in the night sea? What truth is expressed by the legions of the barnacles, whitening the rocks with their habitations, each small creature within finding the necessities of its existence in the sweep of the surf? And what is the meaning of so tiny a being as the transparent wisp of protoplasm that is a sea lace, existing for some reason inscrutable to us — a reason that demands its presence by the trillion amid the rocks and weeds of the shore? The meaning haunts and ever eludes us, and in its very pursuit we approach the ultimate mystery of Life itself.
When we go down to the lowest of the low tide lines and look down into the shallow waters, there’s all the excitement of discovering a new world. Once you have entered such a world, its fascination grows and somehow you find your mind has gained a new dimension, a new perspective — and always thereafter you find yourself remember[ing] the beauty and strangeness and wonder of that world — a world that is as real, as much a part of the universe, as our own.
Deb holding a bouquet of fresh celery (compliments of Mac’s garden)
We found happy homes and destinations for all of Roger’s remaining art!We moved over 75 pieces of art in the last two weeks. Here is a photo ofone local artist’s car loaded with Roger art. We still have a selection ofRoger’s art in The Cup Gallery in the basement of the church.
Prayer List
For those working for social justice and societal changePray for peaceful action and democratic process in our nationThe war in Ukraine continuesPrayers for those in Palestine and Israel as the war continues Prayers for the worsening humanitarian crisis in GazaPrayers for those affected by the ongoing heat waves (India, Pakistan, Middle East, Europe and North America) Prayers for those affected by Hurricane Beryl and Debby Prayers for those affected by the forrest fires in western United States and Canada
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 delusion.
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