Readings and Resources
From January 6, 2008 Service titled Earth is Our Homeland presented by the Rev. Dr. Carol Hepokoski:
Poem from Regina Cary Lapoint. It comes from an Advent Meditation manual entitled The Waters of Life, published by the Universalist Church of America, Dept. of Publications in Boston, in 1953. She prefaces the poem with these words:
Today I should like to share with you a poem I once wrote to my children.
What I Would Tell You
Rest on the curve of Life, my dear ones,
my darlings,
Know its great telling.
Soft is the down of the wild goose feather,
Deep is the hue of the rolling mid-ocean,
Sweet is the odor of pine on the mountain-
side,
Tender the eyes of the children of God.
Joy without measure is yours, little travelers:
Taste it and see it and smell it and hear it.
Music there is which speaks the life rhythm,
Painting there is which tells the mind’s
secret,
Writing there is which gives friendship and
knowing,
Love there is which is balm to all sorrow.
It is all yours, my dears, take it and use it.
Make your lives precious and rich with its beauty.
Our Universalist Church
by William Wallace Rose
UNIVERSALISM preaches optimism to man, seeks to make religion as believable as science, as vital as the day’s work, as intimate as home, and as inspiring as love, because—
UNIVERSALISM believes in the goodness of God, not his anger and hate; believes in man’s possible growth in Godlikeness, and offers as the goal of all his strivings the restoration of the whole human family to happiness and holiness at last. Because of this faith—
UNIVERSALISM puts reason above authority; makes the test of religion a living experience, not a dead theology, and offers no magic or “gimmick” for salvation, because—
UNIVERSALISM refuses to concede that man’s inability to save himself is such that only God’s grace operating through the rites and sacraments of a church can save him. This stand we take because—
UNIVERSALISM holds that each must work out his own salvation and atone for his sins, by bringing his whole life into harmony with God’s eternal and righteous purposes. And that this road man must walk for himself. Because these truths seem self-evident—
UNIVERSALSIM asks its followers to live right and do good, because it is right to live right and good to do good, and not through fear of future punishment or hope of future reward!
The Reading Our Universalist Church was adapted from William Wallace Rose. It first appeared in February 1956 in The Universalist Messenger, the official publication of the Illinois Universalist Convention and the Mid-West Universalist Conference.
From the January 13 service titled UU African American Religious Thought by The Rev. Dr. Carol Hepokoski:
DEFINITION of RELIGION from Professor Gordon Kaufman
Cited by Anthony Pinn in On Becoming Humanist: A Personal Journey http://huumanists.org/rh/pinn2.html
That which “helps humans find orientation (or direction) for life in the world, together with motivation for living and acting in accordance with this orientation.”
Basic Humanist Principles
From Anthony Pinn in The African American Religious Experience in America
1. Critique of claims of the transcendent and the supernatural.
2. Reliance on human creativity and ingenuity.
3. Recognition of human responsibility.
4. Measured realism.
5. Suspicion concerning the existence of God.
1. Critique of claims of the transcendent and the supernatural.
2. Reliance on human creativity and ingenuity.
3. Recognition of human responsibility.
4. Measured realism.
5. Suspicion concerning the existence of God.
Resources on Ethical/Spiritual Wills from Feb. 24 service
Ethical Wills: Putting your Values on Paper. Barry K. Baines, M.D. Perseus Publishing. 2002.
Women's Lives, Women's Legacies: Passing Your Beliefs and Blessings to Future Generations. Rachael Freed. Fairview Press. 2003.
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