Jazz Concert Party!

Enjoy an evening with friends and wonderful music... there is a Jazz Concert party this Saturday, December 12, at 7 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover, 6 Locke Street.

The featured band is “Day For Night” with Patty Brayden on vocals and John Finbury on keyboard.

Snacks and desserts will be available. Drinks available for sale. Suggested donation $10.00 – proceeds to benefit UUCiA.

I have heard wonderful things about Day for Night and am personally looking forward to this very much! Hope to see you there!

Chalica: Day 4

Above: Last summer at the UU General Assembly in Salt Lake City, I took a break and caught the "Ultimate Universe" show. At first, I thought "UU Matinee" was a nice gesture to all the visiting UUs in town... then later I realized - d'oh! - it stands for "Ultimate Universe", not Unitarian Universalists!

This is Day 4 of Chalica -- the "hump day" of Chalica, if you will. (Learn more about Chalica in the posts below, particularly "Chalica: Day 1".) Today, we light the chalice and think of our fourth Unitarian Universalist principle. Namely, we affirm and promote "a free and responsible search for truth and meaning".

I once heard Unitarian Universalism described as "being open to truth and meaning wherever it may be found, and working compassionately for social justice". Many of our principles speak to "working compassionately for social justice", but our fourth principle speaks directly to "being open to truth and meaning wherever it may be found". Ours is a creedless tradition, which is an aspect I cherish. But "creedless" shouldn't mean "believing in nothing".

We UUs have a great freedom to decide what for us is truth, and what for us has meaning. But as always, with great freedom comes great responsibility. As UUs, our faith will only be as deep as we make it with our "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". On Day 4 of Chalica, may we remember the importance of this quest.

Chalica: Day 3

Above: Interesting abstract chalice found on uua.org website.

It's Day 3 of Chalica... See posts below, "Chalica: Day 2" and especially "Chalica: Day 1", for a basic explanation.

Today, we light the chalice and affirm and promote our third Unitarian Universalist principle, "acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations".

You can learn more about Chalica at the Facebook page: click this link

Interestingly, I have seen debates about Chalica among Unitarian Univeraslists on the Internet. Some UUs love the idea of having our own holiday, others think it's a little silly to invent a holiday out of the blue. Some (like me) think the whole thing is a little playful, and take it lightly -- enjoying it for what it's worth. Some think that a light attitude toward Chalica is insulting to UUism, sort of implying that we are to be taken lightly in general.

We UUs all have different ways of looking at things. And on the 3rd Day of Chalica, we can accept one another and our differences of opinion (and other differences). This sort of debate, hopefully, will encourage us toward spiritual growth! May it be so.

Chalica: Day 2

Above: YouTube video #2... a second version of the "Chalica" song, with some new lyrics... recorded just this past Sunday, in fact.

So, today is Day 2 of Chalica. (See the post below, "Chalica: Day 1", for a basic explanation). Today, we light the chalice and think about our second Unitarian Universalist principle, how to affirm and promote "justice, equity and compassion in human relations".

For those who live in Massachusetts (including the Merrimack Valley), ONE good thing to do would be to VOTE today for the candidate that you believe promotes justice, equity and compassion....