September 21, 2024
New UUA Shared Values Graphic
Today is the first official day of Fall. You may have noticed the turning colors of leaves hinting at the changing of seasons for several weeks, but now it’s here. Common Ground Country Fair sponsored by MOFGA is also happening this week-end, another sign of Fall. It’s a great time of year to live in northern New England. Enjoy the things you love to do this time of year.
Our theme for the new church year is “The Science of Religion and our UU Shared Values.” We will look at the components of religion and how they relate to leading a meaningful life in the twenty first century. Also, the UUA recently voted to adopt a new shared values model, all centered on love. At this summer’s General Assembly, the UUA reviewed Article II of the organizational bylaws which includes our “Principles and Purposes” and delegates from member congregations voted to adopt changes.
Unitarian Universalist Association bylaws mandate that Article II be reviewed every fifteen years (and it has been revised numerous times over the history of the UUA). The last wholesale revision before this year happened in 1987. The “Principles and Purposes” will still remain as part of our living tradition, but the new shared-values model provides a fresh take on who we are as UUs and what the movement is about.
The six shared values are equity, generosity, interdependence, justice, pluralism and transformation, all centered around love. Our year long theme will provide a framework to focus on each of these shared values and introduce the new UUA approach to the congregation. New materials and resources from the UUA will assist us in our study. In the same way that science constantly leads to new ways of understanding our world, so too, the evolution of thought and human action leads to new models of expression. One of the new “Love in the Center” images is included above.
This week’s service is the Introduction of the Theme. There will also be a “Time for the Child in Us All” as the minister shares one of the most curious items from his office. YouTube Channel content for this week is an Open-Pulpit Service on the theme of “Harvest.” There is congregational singing with the organ and the minister also brings in a most curious object to go along with the topic. We hope you can join us for one of the services online or in-person.
In Ministry,
Dave
Let Love Lead
by DL Helfer
Spirit of all that moves among us and through us:
As elections near,
help us to let love lead.
Help us recognize that polarization
can also be understood as passion:
Passion to build something better
that holds all of us at the center.
Help us to imagine and to foster
a world in which we listen more than we talk,
where our priority is to learn as much as teach;
A world in which we find ways to connect
across the chasms of difference,
making space for revelation to emerge.
Spirit of love,
help us turn toward love
with the world, with each other, with ourselves—
all the same thing, at its core.
Let us extend grace
within our movements and between our movements:
Less sure, more curious,
wondering, together, what is possible.
Spirit of all that is open and hopeful,
guide us in building a larger tent:
Not solely Republican or Democrat,
Independent or Uncommitted.
Let us learn, too, from our ancestors:
From generational pain
and generational survival,
the movement of generations
building across difference
something better, larger, more encompassing
that can hold us all.
Let us be not just flags,
potent though they are in declaring our beliefs,
and yet impeding our ability to recognize humanity
across differences.
Spirit of hope,
Spirit of all that is yet possible,
lead us away from the false separation
that the only truth is ours; that anything less is incomplete.
Lead us instead into the discomfort of learning
from youth,
young adults,
activists,
elders,
those we cherish,
those we find wanting.
Lead us to the love that holds us all and is with us always;
The love that can help us through
the messy and necessary life-altering work
of building movements across beliefs, across difference,
for change that can endure.
May it be so.
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)
THE LINK WILL GO OUT LATER IN THE DAY
HERE IS THE ZOOM LINK FOR SUNDAY COFFEE HOUR:
Topic: UUHoulton Zoom coffee hourTime: Sep 22, 2024 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/87336332721?pwd=PZwnNux5R5wVRzdMSQDWoaWtLHPHtS.1
Meeting ID: 873 3633 2721 Passcode: 313710
Calendar of Events @UUHoulton
Sept 22 Sunday Service: David Hutchinson Introduction to the Theme: The Science of Religion and UU Shared Values
Sept 22 Open House at Vibrations Studio 1-4PM John Pasquarelli; 175 Benn Hill Rd, Hodgdon
Sept 24 Meditation Group 4PM (online)
Sept 25 Isaac St. John Lecture; Church of Good Shepherd 6:30PM
Sept 29 Sunday Service: Randi Bradbury & Ira Dyer
Oct 2 Aroostook Climate Group 6PM in the cafe Oct 6 Sunday Service: David Hutchinson
Oct 12 Aroostook Apple Day 10AM-2PM UUHoulton Church & The Cup Cafe sponsored by Southern Aroostook Soil & Water Conservation District
Oct 13 Sunday Service: TBA
Oct 20 Sunday Service: David Hutchinson
Grand Manan Women’s Trip Announcement
UUHoulton women are talking about going to Grand Manan in September or October for maybe two nights. We’ve narrowed down dates to September 21, 28; October 12, 19. We invite any woman who wants to spend a weekend on Grand Manan to talk to us about the details. Nancy Williams is the contact person (please refer to the group directory or speak to Nancy in person).
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 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, Houlton, Maine 04730
Open House Vibrations Studio
September 22 Sunday Afternoon
1-4PM
John Pasquarelli’s Grand Opening of his Studio
175 Benn Hill Road, Hodgdon
Pioneer Times Front Page article in this week’s paper:
by Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli
HODGDON, Maine — Tucked in the Aroostook County woods, about 500 feet off Benn Hill Road, John Pasquarelli has been designing, constructing, soldering and insulating the professional sound studio of his dreams. Sixteen years in the making, Vibrations Recordings is just about ready with Pasquarelli completing some final sound tweaks before a Sept. 22 grand opening celebration at the Hodgdon studio.
“This is a work of love,” said composer and musician Randall Schumacher who was rehearsing at the studio on Tuesday. Pasquarelli said he’s been blowing up amps in his Dad’s garage since he was a kid, and that was really the beginning of his dreams to build his own studio. As a kid he started playing accordion but switched to guitar to attract girls, adding that he was always the band sound guy. “From elementary school on up, my folks allowed our bands to practice and rehearse in the basement, garage and backyard,” he said. “My dad trucked us around to gigs and things.” Vibrations Recordings is unique in its old school approach, he said. It’s the kind of studio seen in Martin Scorsese’s “Last Waltz” with Robbie Robertson and The Band. And it sits in stark contrast to popular at-home bedroom recording studios. Pasquarelli said there are smaller project studios in The County, but there is nothing like this north of Bangor or east until you hit Fredericton, New Brunswick.
The studio’s thrust is really a give-back to the community, he said, explaining that he wants to give kids in the area a chance to do what he did. “I worked as a clinical therapist for 30 years and worked with a lot of kids. There is such incredible talent around here,” he said. “Then I’d read in the paper they’d end up in jail or end up drugged up or in an institution. It made me sick. And I swore that’s my main mission, for kids.” Pasquarelli is also a member of the band The Circle of Fifths, and their drummer is the music director at the local high school. They are working together on programs that will let the kids come into the studio every school quarter for free. “It’s an opportunity for them to learn audio or play and record,” he said. Vibrations Recordings rates are far below most professional studios at $40 an hour with one free demo song. Kids 19 and under get a half-rate discount.
Schumacher said that he has easily paid $1,000 to record one song. With Pasquarelli, it would be more like $120. “I’m not in it to make money other than to pay the bills,” Pasquarelli said. Since the project was spread out over 16 years, Pasquarelli said it’s hard to say exactly what it cost to build, but he would guess close to half a million dollars out of pocket. About $250,000 in equipment and the rest in construction costs. “That does not include my average of 10 hours a week for 16 years or the generous help by family and friends,” he said.
Rod Gervais, owner of Sound Solutions, which builds studios around the world, designed the sound intricacies of Vibrations Recordings’ two-foot thick walls, 300-pound doors and construction that must be precisely within one-sixteenth of an inch. “I laid out a grid pattern and he designed it,” Pasquarelli said, adding that Gervais also designed all the HVAC that took nearly three years to build because the microphones are so sensitive any sound would get picked up. And all the various wiring is isolated from everything else to avoid hum or unwanted interference, he said. Once open, Pasquarelli has the capacity to record 40 channels simultaneously and offers tracking, mixing, editing, producing and mastering. “We can provide multi-format transfers, archiving, assistance to song protection and referral services,” he said.
Schumacher said it’s a top class, five-star studio on 25 acres, and that will attract artists from other locations. Pasquarelli said that Vibrations Recordings is a location studio and artists will come because they can bring their families. There are walking trails, cross-country skiing and a comfortable chill space for musicians between takes or for families to hang out in. A large tracking room is available for bands, and a separate isolation booth is used for recording final vocals as well as audio books. Every space has its own sound, even the bathroom, where Pasquarelli said a retro reverb effect can be created. “Back in the day when they did reverb, they would take the mics into the bathroom,” he said. “So the bathroom is wired. We can throw an amp in here, say we have something recorded, bring it out through the amp, we have the microphone and you’re recording the ambiance of this room.” The control room, where all the mixing magic happens, has differently designed layers of sound insulation that goes back six feet. Before opening, Pasquarelli, along with a consultant from Massachusetts, is tuning the control room sound, he said. “We are testing the room right now to know whether we might have to move the speakers back, or closer together,” he said. “We are at the final stages.”
Pasquarelli is quick to say that there is a long list of people and businesses who have helped him complete Vibrations Recordings. “I told them, we’re going to have a party when this thing is finished,” he said. The grand opening, 1 to 4 p.m. Sept. 22, at 175 Benn Hill Road in Hodgdon, is open to the public with guided tours, free food and door prizes totaling $1,000 of music.
SOUTHERN AROOSTOOK SWCD UPCOMING EVENTS
October 12 – AROOSTOOK APPLE DAY at Unitarian Church and Cup Cafe on Military St in Houlton. Aroostook Apple Day celebrates northern fruit orchards with classes on fruit growing and orchard care, lots and lots of apples to taste, apple and pear displays, and cider pressing. You can view class descriptions, speakers, and times under the Education tab. Aroostook Apple Day is FREE and open to the public. The Unitarian’s Cup Cafe will be offering up harvest pastries and lunch for purchase, as well as drinks from their coffee bar. Event partners include MOFGA, Fedco Trees, and Maine Farmland Trust, who will be on hand to chat about keeping agricultural lands working lands.Poetry Corner
Last week we had an open-pulpit service where group members shared readings, poetry, music and personal insights. Brigitte was unable to attend the service but she sent this Mary Oliver poem which I am posting in this week’s Support Page. Thanks Brigitte!
When I Am Among the Trees
Mary Oliver
When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily. I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often. Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, “Stay awhile.” The light flows from their branches. And they call again, “It's simple,” they say, “and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.”
UUHoulton Fellowship Hall decorated for the recent wedding I had Deb pose for a photo in front of the altar before the service last Sunday morning because I thought her dress blended withthe beautiful flowers like a bouquet.
posted by Rev. DavePrayer 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 the forrest fires in western United States and CanadaPrayers for those affected by the tragic school shooting in Georgia.Prayers for those recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Francine in New Orleans
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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