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Wayside pulpit

Current Newsletter
Volume 43..Number 7.. 2009

UPCOMING SERVICES

May 3
May Day Multigenerational Service
Carolyn Humphries, Louise Malloch, Nora Malloch, Susan White

Celebrate the creative force of life-warming soil, budding trees, singing birds with music and movement and colour.

May 10
My Two Mothers
Rev. Julie Denny-Hughes; Service Assistant: Colleen Ashworth

This is the story of the two remarkable women who formed me. We will honour the happy and difficult aspects of this holiday – the triumphs and the grief. Bring a photo (with a label, please) of your mother or grandmother and/or a photo of yourself as a mother. We’ll display these photos on a table in the ballroom.

May 17
The Story Telling Animal (Homo Narran)
Robert Martel; Service leader: Barbara Harsanyi

Our personal identity, and in particular our moral identity, is often tied to the sorts of stories and anecdotes we tell ourselves and others. Religious, spiritual and cultural identity is formed not only by our direct experiences but also by the process of relating or narrating the story of who we are.

May 24
In Celebration of the CUC
Rev. Julie Denny-Hughes; Service Assistant: Gwen Armshaw

Just as we individuals are constantly changing at the cellular level, so do the organizations we join. (Hey, they’re not called organ-izations for nothing!) The AGM will follow the meeting.

May 31
Why All the Sunflowers?
Rev. Julie Denny-Hughes; Service Assistant: Nick Cardone

This is the annual Flower Communion service. We honour the life of Norman Capek and sing all the flower songs in the hymnal! Bring buds, blossoms, and bunches of baskets filled with warm weather.

COMMITTEES

Religious Education

This year we are learning about world religions. Since September, we have learned about Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, First Nations religious traditions, paganism and other earth-centred spiritual movements.

In April we have learned about Taoism, Sikhism, and Humanism. We learned some Tai Chi and talked about how we can use our minds to think of ways to make the world a better place. We also celebrated Easter with games, face-painting and an egg hunt. In May we will learn about Unitarian Universalism, and how we draw upon the wisdom of the other religions and belief systems we have learned about this year.

Please join me in welcoming our new babysitter, Carman Stewart, who started in mid-April. Our former babysitter, Ellie Richardson, has resigned to concentrate on studying for her International Baccalaureate exams. We wish her well.

Our focus in religious education is to provide a relaxed and interesting experience for the children. Weekly attendance is not required, although we are always happy to see you! We also welcome visitors from the congregation; please drop by upstairs if you are interested—no connection with current students required.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me by phone at 422-7003 or email lmalloch@gmail.com, or catch me after a service.

Louise Malloch
RE Chair

Caring Committee

Congratulations to Lucy Riley who celebrated her 97th birthday on March 16th.

John Guiney Yallop is home after successful surgery on April 14th for cancer of the prostrate. His recuperation period is expected to be six weeks. Gary and daughter Brittany are taking good care of him.

Parents, godparents, family were on hand for the child dedication service on Easter Sunday. Ten children were welcomed into our larger faith community!

Anika Stephen had successful brain surgery April 16th. At this writing she is still in ICU but expected to make full recovery. Susan and Michael are with her and appreciative of the thoughts and prayers and support of so many friends and the church community.

Co-chairs
Mary Ellen Onno 823-1177, meo@hfx.eastlink.ca
Marilyn Shinyei 827-4707, marilyn.shinyeu@eastlink.ca

Dear Everyone,

I am home again after four weeks in hospital. It’s a good feeling to be back here. Hospital results quite good. Biggest disappointment is my sudden hearing loss, a condition that won’t improve—so I understand. I would like to thank all church members for their visits, beautiful cards and notes—so many, and so much appreciated. The UUs mean a great deal to me as I think you know, and have formed a large part of my life for which I am thankful. I really miss you and as soon as I can navigate easily you’ll be seeing me, front row center.

Love to all,
Charlotte

Music Notes

The Chalice Singers will rehearse on the following Thursday evenings in May: May 7th, May 21st, & May 28th, 7:00-9:00 PM. Please note that there is no rehearsal on Thursday, May 14th.

The Sunday Choir will rehearse on the following Sunday mornings: May 3rd, May 24th, & May 31st, 9:30-10:00AM.

All who like to sing are joyfully welcome to join us at any time!

From Committee On Ministry

The Committee on Ministry has had a busy couple of months. At the March Vestry meeting the CoM was given the responsibility of finding out from the congregation how we feel about Julie’s ministry. The information that we collected from you is part of our contribution to Julie’s annual review which is contractually required as part of her contract with Vestry. In the last two weeks of March we conducted a brief online survey (the results of which are discussed below) and held a Town Hall meeting on April 5th.

The online survey was our most participatory yet. Eighty-nine people completed the survey (77 online and 12 by phone and email). The results suggest overwhelming support for Julie’s continued ministry here. Eighty-four percent support extending her contract without changes to her service priorities, 16% support extending it with changes while no one supported the idea of cancelling her contract. Changes that were suggested included decreasing the service priorities, making her goals more specific, making her goals less specific, increasing her time in the pulpit and moving from a consulting ministry to called, or settled, ministry. In terms of how she is doing at achieving her current set of goals, 95% felt that she has assisted in creating a healthy congregation (i.e. responded “Great” or “Pretty Good”), 94% though that she had assisted in social action, 75% thought that she had provided leadership support and training (with 27% responding “No Idea”), 70% thought she had helped to develop the RE program and an amazing 99% were happy with the spiritual guidance and leadership she had provided in Sunday worship services. The written responses to the first question asking people how they felt her time here has gone were carefully read by the CoM, by Julie herself and passed on to Vestry. In short, those written responses overwhelmingly convey respect and affection for Julie and appreciation for her efforts over the short period of time she has been here.

The Town Hall meeting was held following the service on April 5th. The results of the survey were discussed, and Julie spoke with the group. Again there was an expression of overwhelming support for Julie’s ministry. The issue of an early call was again raised and in a vote to gauge the “feel of the room” there was unanimous support for the idea of an early call for Julie to become the settled minister at UUCH.

Our intention is to present a report to Vestry before the Annual General Meeting in May furthering this discussion and considering what goals should be achieved before considering the possibility of calling Julie to be our settled minister. This report with be tabled at the AGM.

Communications Committee

Elsewhere in this newsletter you'll see that the new web site is now up and running. Scott Donovan, the initiator and creator of the new site sent us the following information:
"The Communications Committee can begin to promote the new website by name-dropping at every opportunity. If you frequently refer to UUCH.ca people will eventually navigate to it. As more people use it, Google will pick it up as a favoured hit. It is important to be directing people to it and accessing it through Google. That is how it moves to the top of the Google list.

So, people, even though we can use the new address in the address line of your browser it is important to put it in your Google line. I tried googling UUCH, Halifax and the new site came in the fourth place, but when I googled UUCH.ca it came in the first and second place. The old web site is still a close runner-up, which is OK for now since there are still technical difficulties with transferring things from the old to the new site.

So, remember to google UUCH.ca

In the non-virtual world we have good news. New friend of the church George Richard will be keeping track of things that are outdated on the Community Bulletin Board, making the board look attractive and exciting. We hope that the Church Events board will take care of itself, meaning that responsible people (i.e. everyone) will feel that it is their responsibility to make it look
good if it doesn't.

Wietske Gradstein

Web Notes

The new UUCH web site (www.uuch.ca) is up! If you have not looked at our church’s web site in a while, then we invite you to visit now. The web committee is lucky to have ace techie, Nancy Hartling on board. With her experienced guidance as well as with assistance and input from the rest of our dedicated team, the burden of the new web site has been eased. There are still some ‘bugs’ to work out with the new web site and content to enter, but overall, we are joyous that we can finally invite you in. Please make use of this site to keep informed of church information, events and to link to other UU-related sites. Our old home (www.uuchurch.chebucto.org) served us well under the web mastery of Henry Lackner. Remember, if you can’t find it on the new site yet, look to the old one. Please help the web team to improve the new site and to keep it current, by submitting your material in a regular and timely fashion. Please do not force us to nag! The Web material ‘triage’ team is; Helen McFadyen and Nancy Hartling. Their contact information is found in the directory.

Helen McFadyen

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sass Minard will be offering a new series of Kripalu Yoga classes beginning Tuesday, May 11 from 7:00–8:30pm. There is a 50% discount for church members. For more information call Sass at 423-7098. Drop-ins are welcome.

UU Hike to Cape Split,
Victoria Day, May 18th

The May UU hike will be to Cape Split. This trail is a little longer than our usual hike so this will be a full day outing. Meet at the church at 9:00 am or at the end of the road in Scots Bay at 10:45. If you want to be picked up at Home Depot at Bayers Lake or in Bedford / Sackville contact Allyn at 420-0632.

This is one of the destination trails of Nova Scotia. The hike is a pleasant 1.5 to 2 hour walk along a forest road through mostly hardwood forest. The end of the peninsula is an elevated grassy meadow overlooking several sea stacks through which the full tide of Minas Channel boils and roars. Beautiful view across the channel to Partridge Island and Parrsboro.

Bring a lunch and water. We expect to return to the city by 5:00 pm.

As usual, I can be reached at 483-4731 around the meeting times if you are running late or are lost.

Allyn Clarke

Our UU listservs

To facilitate communication among us UUs we now feature four lists. Two are for all of us UUs and two others for those concerned with vestry affairs.

The uupeople list open to all UUs has served us well allowing any UU to send the whole UU community messages of interests. Almost all UUs are members of this list. If you are not, and you would like to be, email me at aa925@chebucto.ca.

The uuinfo list is new. This list will be used to send important information about our church to as many of our congregants as possible. All members of the uupeople list are now also members of the uuinfo. If you have avoided the uupeople list because of inbox clutter, why not join the uuinfo list.
The uuvestry list allows Vestry as well as others in leadership positions to communicate with Vestry. If you are a committee chair and would like to join, contact me.

The uuboard list is intended for confidential vestry communication. The church administrator and all Vestry are members. All members can send and receive messages.

When you receive a message from any of these lists, please remember not to push the reply button if you just want to reply to the sender. Pushing the reply button sends the message to the entire list, and has caused some embarrassment in the past.

If you are sending a message please include your email address for the recipient to click. Thank you

Henry Lackner
Listserv Custodian

Green RevUUe Review
By Helen McFadyen and Deborah Wiggins

We are probably not the most impartial duo to be reviewing the Green RevUUe, held at UUCH on April 4th. After all, both of us lost our objectivity and all sense of time and space long before the lights came up. How did this unique and possibly most exciting show ever held at UUCH come to be? (just our opinion—we haven't been here that long.)

At a Planet Circle meeting last September, Helen and Norm sprouted the germ of an idea to hold a ‘green opera'. We hoped to raise the UU Green consciousness prior to the AGM and the proposed Green Sanctuary Program. When Deborah agreed to come on board, we aimed to 'keep it simple'. When did that idea disappear?!

In the months to follow, calls for ‘green’ acts were sent out to UUs and the community. Initially, the response was slow, so we worked to fill up the show, while they trickled in. At the deadline, we were actually overflowing, and needed to turn some away to keep the show to a manageable length. Helen offered to write a script which would tie the acts together with a baseline plot. (Nellie, a disgruntled barkeeper [played by Helen] accepts a bribe from a Parks Commissioner and agrees to host “a flaky environmental benefit”. Nellie’s life is turned upside down as the community hears about the auditions taking place and a host of green talent storms her bar. Twinkles, the bar’s beleaguered piano player, [played by Deborah] is a perfect foil for Nellie’s commentary. Gaia [played by Rev. Julie], is the Greek-chorus-like figure who sings or speaks little interjections of wisdom throughout. Snooky is Nellie’s mistreated dog [played by Opal, of course]. Nellie changes her attitude about what it means to be ‘green’ and the bar is transformed to a Café by the second half.) The script and show content went through quite a few adjustments, from its conception right up to the day of the event!

We had no idea if we could pull this off, especially in the latter weeks when there were so many details to consider (lighting, props, volunteers for the technical aspects of the show, sound equipment, staging, publicity, donations to the raffle, support volunteers, program design….). After hundreds of e-mails, phone conversations, and little hops around town in Deborah’s car, it began to seem within reach. As we stood in the kitchen (off stage area) with stage managers Pam Berman and Carolyn Humphreys, and listened to the Raging Grannies being cued to enter from the back of the filled-to-capacity theatre (Worship Room), we felt quite a sense of joy and relief that it had come together. The audience responded enthusiastically to all of the well-presented, wonderful and varied acts. The Green RevUUe program is posted on the church bulletin board. Varied is the key word. Acts included: a lively and well-costumed reworking of “It Ain’t Easy Being Green” by Amy, Neela and Reilly Spurway, great songs from The Afterchoir, Gaia Singers, Dream for Real's Melanie Donelly and Joanna Butler, the family of Susan White, Louise & Nora Malloch and Kira Tomsons, and The Planet Players (Deborah and Cameron Jones), well-read poetry from Anne Knight-Gorman, Barbara Harsanyi and Marie Davis, and dramatic readings from Ben Mathews and Marilyn Shinyei. There was palpable appreciation from the packed audience for the hard work that had gone into the Green RevUUe and the terrific collaborative efforts of the performers. By the time the finale piece, ‘This Pretty Planet’ was sung as an ensemble, not only had we warmed bodies with the lighting, but we had also warmed hearts, stirred emotion, given food for thought and proved irrefutably that 'green' can be fun and rewarding!

We were astounded and pleased to learn that the event netted (after expenses) $678.13 earmarked for UUCH Green Initiatives. We had achieved our goal of bringing attention to all things ‘green’, both within our church and beyond. For instance, the CBC give-away tickets brought out a whole family from the larger community who were beaming from enjoyment after the show, and were also delighted to go home with Valerie's beautiful flower arrangement from the raffle. In addition to local business, media and the public’s support with goods, services, participation, publicity and attendance, we are so grateful for the terrific participation and attendance of so many UUCH folks. Thank you all so much.

FROM OUR CONGREGANTS

Meet your UU: Michael Smith
By Helen McFadyen

Michael was born in Vancouver in 1955 where she lived until age three. Her father worked in ‘property acquisitions’ and moved the family to Nova Scotia, first briefly to Truro, and eventually to Halifax. While Michael was in Junior High, her grandparents became ill. The family moved back to Truro, but “we went down one at a time”, with Michael’s mom going first, then her younger sister, followed by her brother and finally, a year later, Michael herself. Her dad traveled for work, and for the most part, Michael was on her own to complete grade nine in Halifax and to care for herself. In Truro, she attended grade ten at the new Cobequid Educational Center. She described herself as “an incredibly shy kid then” and further described her family as “a dysfunctional middle-class family where talking was not encouraged”. Michael’s childhood was one filled with responsibilities too. Her mother experienced mental health problems, which left Michael and her sister in charge of their younger sister, cleaning the home, cooking and dealing with an abusive and demanding father. “It was hell. I still don’t know what a ‘normal family’ is, and when you don’t know, you continue to live with that. It impacts the rest of your life”. She agreed with me when I suggested that it is a miracle she survived.

It was not all grim. Michael found enjoyment and escapism in books. “For the most part, we had no kids’ books. I read whatever I could get my hands on”. Michael loved school and learning. She could read by age three, and was born with a photographic memory. This would serve her well in her academic life. Despite missing months of high school because of ‘mono’, she sailed through and attended Mount Allison University in 1973 where she entered the Canadian Studies program, completing her degree in three years.

Michael met and married a man whom she had met on a summer job site during university. He would eventually turn out to be an abusive and controlling individual. She had difficulty getting free of him without resources. When the family home burned down, Michael, who was pregnant with her second child, took her son, Rian and left. They stayed in a tent, which had been sitting on a piece of property she owned. I ask about her ambitions back then. “I had no ambition, really, I had always wanted to write and I liked history, but I just wanted to survive”. She attended St. Mary’s University and entered the Master’s Program in Atlantic Canadian Studies. Her thesis was titled “Architects of a New Womanhood: Female Reformers of Nova Scotia”. Michael lived in residence with her two children. They had no furniture to speak of and no lights. She took on two full-time jobs and one part-time job to support her family and to pay for her education. “My kids and I walked everywhere because we could not afford busses”. She said this matter-of-factly and added that they shared many happy times together, enjoying sports, games and activities with no associated cost. “My kids didn’t know what fast food was in those years”, she said. I remarked that they probably had not missed out on much.

After graduating from St. Mary’s with Honours, Michael moved to Newfoundland (Memorial University) and started work on her Ph.D. The family loved Newfoundland. Michael’s resiliency and adaptable nature, helped to make this period of financial struggle seem like an adventure.

I asked about her faith background. Michael’s mother was born Catholic but converted to the Protestant church when she married. Michael said, “I became an atheist when I was quite young, but when I was sixteen, mom made me join the United Church.” She would, however, always remember a visit to her Junior High by Lotta Hitschmanova. That memory, combined with research on Unitarians for her Ph.D. and a special UU service in Edmonton, would eventually lead her to our Halifax UU church.

Her doctoral dissertation was on Alternative Medicine in the North Eastern USA and Atlantic Canada. In 1990 Michael went to New Brunswick and taught at Mount Allison. She was the first woman to teach history at Mount A outside of wartime. “I loved it”, she said. Children, Rian and Robin were in grades five and four.

A cataclysmic accident on Christmas Day of 1990 changed their life. “We were walking in a crosswalk when a car hit us. The kids were not hurt, but I had a back injury and lots of soft tissue damage. My leg was twisted all around”. Years of physiotherapy followed. Health problems would only intensify for Michael, with diagnosis of fibromyalgia and arthritis being made.

Michael did a post doctoral fellowship with the University of Waterloo, Ontario. She then got a tenured position teaching at the University of Alberta. “I think at that point I was really sick, but I was so busy being ‘super mom’, that I didn’t know it”. It was a difficult period. Her son developed behavioral problems after the accident and their active, fun relationship was changed. His high intelligence led to boredom and run-ins with the law. Her daughter, Robyn “became the serious one”. Michael and her family attended a “Blue Christmas” service at the UU church in Edmonton. This sincere and comforting service moved her greatly.

She lost her voice and developed a chronic cough while teaching. On a trip to Nova Scotia in 1997, Michael was hospitalized briefly and diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a relatively rare autoimmune disease. Her vocal cords were paralyzed; a rare problem associated with sarcoidosis, and over time, necessitated four surgeries and inserting a throat prosthesis.

Upon returning to Alberta, mis-prescribed steroid doses caused near-fatal emboli. Robyn, then 14 years old heroically drove her mom to the hospital and the correct treatment was started. When Michael finally got out of hospital, she dispersed their belongings and packed the car which 15 year-old Robyn drove to Nova Scotia (she had just received a drivers’ license). They settled in Halifax so that Michael could access proper health care. Her voice was barely a whisper for two years. “Robyn had to interpret for me in many places”.

Michael’s tenuous relationship with her dad improved greatly. She got to know him while visiting daily at the hospital where he was being treated for diabetic complications, necessitating amputation. “When he lost his leg, he also lost his temper around me”, Michael said. Unable and unwilling to cope, her mom left her dad around this time. Michael spoke fondly of ‘Helen’, her father’s (then) new friend. Michael’s father died last year. She continues to deal with his muddled estate.

Michael is a survivor of many difficult things, including breast cancer. She fought to convince doctors that a small lump (which would come and go), had to be screened properly. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006 and went through a lumpectomy and later, a bi-lateral mastectomy. Other emergency surgeries were required to deal with infection. Recent reconstructive breast surgery was difficult and will be re-attempted in the future.

Michael told me that Robyn, who had studied chemistry and biology, now works as a supervisor in an environmental laboratory and has been happily married for three years to Scott, a writer and musician. Rian has sorted out his life too, and they now have a good relationship.

Michael volunteers with community groups when her health permits. She may appear shy, but Dr. Michael Smith is a smart, funny woman (oh, so incredibly quick-witted!). She is kind, generous and compassionate; a tremendous asset to our church and to the community.

Layers and Layers of Art

What does an artist see? Depends on the artist obviously. In 1884, the painter Georges Seurat saw something—a vision about the act of seeing—that came to obsess him over the next few years as he produced his masterpiece, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, an iconic work measuring roughly 7' high by 10' wide, currently in the Art Institute of Chicago.

The artist's vision—a commonplace in the age of computers but a huge departure in Seurat's time—was that the shapes we see: people, trees, dogs, sailboats are made up of tiny, discontinuous dots of colour.

Well, a century later, in the early 1980s, Theatre Director/Playwright James Lapine approached Broadway Composer/Lyricist Stephen Sondheim with the idea of rendering Seurat's vision of art in a musical play. Sunday in the Park With George was the result. It opened at the Booth Theatre on May 2, 1984, with a cast that featured Mandy Patinkin as both Georges and Bernadette Peters as Dot/Marie. This production ran for 604 performances and went on to win Sondheim and Lapine the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Here is a summary of the plot by an unnamed blogger: "Sunday in the Park With George opens with George sketching his mistress, Dot, on an island somewhere in the Seine. Dot is not the most cooperative subject, fidgeting and complaining. There are other people out and about on the tiny island as well, a group of boys, for example, shouting insults from the other side of the water and another painter, Jules, who disdains George's artwork. But as George knows, reality can always be improved upon, and with his brush, he transforms the mocking boys into a band of youthful angels. Likewise, each of the other characters in the painting is wiped clean of their ugliness, rearranged and improved upon until George has created a work of art incorporating 'order, design, symmetry, balance and harmony'. Unfortunately, burying oneself in one's work can cause one problems: George soon learns that Dot has decided to leave him. She is running away to America with a baker to make pastries. What George doesn't know is that Dot is carrying his child.

In Act Two, we jump to 1984 where another George, Seurat's great-grandson, has been commissioned to create a piece of performance art using lasers to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his great-grandfather's painting. This present-day George, however, is at a creative impasse. After completing his seventh "chromolume", he has begun to question whether he is finished as an artist—that is, until he receives an unexpected visit from the ghost of his great-grandmother who has a special message for him."

The movie version of Sunday in the Park With George—with the original Broadway cast! will be shown on Saturday, May 23 at 7:30. Bring a friend (optional) and collaborate in an act of Audience Art, which is the art of truly being there.

Norm Sabowitz
for Film Fellowship