Sunday Service: Christianity, A Different View - February 8, 2015

Christianity, A Different View

Reverend Tom Capo

Preached on 2/8/2015

Before the sermon, I offer this prayer or meditation.  It is selections from the The Thunder: Perfect Mind.  In December 1945, local farmers in Nag Hamadi, Egypt found a sealed earthenware jar containing thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices, together with pages torn from another book.  It is believed that the documents found at Nag Hamadi were texts used by various sects of early Christians, but the texts had been deemed heretical once the church began to formalize the books of the Christian New Testament.  The Thunder: Perfect Mind was contained in those thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices.

I invite you to open your mind, heart, and spirit to these words:

I was sent forth from the power,

and I have come to those who reflect upon me, 

and I have been found among those who seek after me. 

Look upon me, you who reflect upon me,

and you hearers, hear me. 

You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves. 

And do not banish me from your sight.

And do not make your voice hate me, nor your hearing…

For I am the first and the last.

I am the honored one and the scorned one.

I am the whore and the holy one.

I am the wife and the virgin.

I am <the mother> and the daughter.

I am the members of my mother.

I am the barren one

and many are her sons. 

I am she whose wedding is great,

and I have not taken a husband. 

I am the midwife and she who does not bear.

I am the solace of my labor pains.

I am the bride and the bridegroom,

and it is my husband who begot me. 

I am the mother of my father

and the sister of my husband 

and he is my offspring… 

I am the silence that is incomprehensible

and the idea whose remembrance is frequent. 

I am the voice whose sound is manifold

and the word whose appearance is multiple. 

I am the utterance of my name…

For I am knowledge and ignorance.

I am shame and boldness.

I am shameless; I am ashamed.

I am strength and I am fear.

I am war and peace.

Give heed to me…

Hear me, you hearers

and learn of my words, you who know me. 

I am the hearing that is attainable to everything;

I am the speech that cannot be grasped. 

I am the name of the sound

and the sound of the name. 

I am the sign of the letter

and the designation of the division.

Blessed Be…Amen

Sermon

One of the symbols of early Christianity was not a cross; it was an ankor.  This symbol was used to encourage hope in a time of persecution, and held its meaning from the Hebrew scripture: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” 

As we begin our journey I thought I would start with this from the Gospel of Thomas, an early Christian text, “Jesus said: “Let the one who seeks continue seeking until he finds.  And when that one finds he will be disturbed, and once that one is disturbed he will become awed, and will rule as a king over the all.”  

We are all seekers here; that it the very essence of our faith, to seek truth and meaning individually and collectively, to share with one another and be enriched and disturbed by one another.  To look more closely at ourselves, each other, and the universe around us, and be awed by what we see.  We will find that life is not static, belief is not static, the universe is not static. If we believe in the divine, perhaps we will find even the divine is not static.  We are all co-creators, integral parts of the beauty and wonder that surrounds us.  

Sunday Service: Those Who Are Homeless - October 12th, 2014

Those Who Are Homeless

Reverend Tom

10/12/2014

I have had many experiences with homeless people.  As I share some of them with you, I ask you to reflect on your experiences with people who are homeless.  

I was one of the initiators of a homeless emergency shelter program in Cedar Rapids called Family Promise.  I felt this was a vital program; it provides shelter for three intact families—meaning the father and male teenagers could join the rest of the family in the shelter, which is not the case in most homeless shelters—these three families would stay within church buildings at night and a day shelter during the day, if they were not at work or in school.  However, it wasn’t until I actually spent time with one homeless family in this program that I came to understand how being homeless profoundly affects a person.  I mean I knew from what I had read and what others had said to me, but my friends that is very different from actually spending time with someone who is homeless.  I brought a meal to a mother, her preteen daughter, and 6 year old son.  As we ate she talked about how she had a job but did not make enough money to buy a vehicle or rent an apartment.  She was trying to get a better job, and had hopes of leaving the Family Promise program very soon.  Her daughter was very quiet as we ate together, and after the meal found a corner in the church building to sit and read.  Her son was a ball of energy.  He wanted to play and had no-one to play with.  So I spent an hour or so throwing a ball around a large community room with him.  He seemed to really have a great time.  But having so much energy was taxing on his mother, who at times, demonstrated an abruptness with her son that showed the pervasive exhaustion that being homeless can cause.  I understood on a visceral level how this young woman craved someone to affirm her worth and dignity.  As she first entered the room for dinner, her depression weighed so heavily on her shoulders that she walked hunched over and her eyes were downcast.  After some time in conversation, with me, though it could have been anyone who would listen to her, her eyes brightened, her body seemed to gain some strength, and she eventually relaxed enough to lean against the table as we talked as if we had known each other for years.  

About that homeless, mentally ill, and intoxicated man

**Editor's Note:  The service on Sunday October 12th was an incredibly moving sermon on the easily forgotten human element of homelessness.  The following post was written by DuPage Unitarian Universalist Church congregant, and frequent blog contributor, Ruth Elliott.**

Today the service was about homelessness. I wrote this in the Spring, and thought it was appropriate for the blog today. - Ruth Elliott

Dear Well Intentioned Friend,

I know your intentions were not unkind when we talked the other day. I'm certain you had no idea the affect your story would have on me, and I'm somewhat ashamed I didn't speak up more clearly at the time.

Okay, here's the thing. Your story? About your daughter's dance class being threatened by a lone homeless man, the one where the instructors bravely hid all the girls (who 'were practically dressed in bikinis') in the locker room to protect them? The story where the lone homeless man who may have been intoxicated, who likely was mentally ill  (spoken with your voice lowered), had come into the lounge near the studio and sat down to watch the tv, you remember? Do you remember telling me how horrified you were, what danger these girls were in. Do you remember when you first described the man that I said, poor thing, he was probably just looking somewhere safe to rest?

Here are some things I didn't tell you. I have worked with homeless people for the last ten years. Yes, many are mentally ill, many are alcoholic or addicts or both. All of them suffer greatly. All of them are human beings, who love and are loved by someone. I didn't point out that mental illness and substance abuse are medical illnesses, just like cancer, or diabetics. I also didn't mention the reason many of them are homeless is because of inadequate resources to treat these disorders,and the tremendous negative stigma that goes along with being homeless, with being an alcoholic, with being an addict.

At one point while you were describing in great detail how horrifying and dangerous this man was, I did manage to quietly say, just like my son. I don't think you caught my meaning. I don't think you understood that what I was saying was that my son is homeless, that my son is mentally ill, that my son is an addict, that my son has curled up in all sorts of places trying to get some sleep, some comfort. I don't think you realized that while you talked about saving these girls from this threat, all I could see is the countless cruelties that the homeless, mentally ill suffer, that my son suffers. The diseases themselves and the heartbreak they cause to families are bad enough, but the stigma that well intentioned people attach to them and then use as a justification to treat them badly, as something less than human, and something not worth compassion, or love or comfort, the stigma is the worst of it all.

Change mentally ill to someone with cancer, with diabetics, suddenly it seems horrifying that someone suffering from cancer, or uncontrolled diabetes would be ostracized, would be seen as a threat to children.

Eventually all I could see was someone treating my son with the horror and disdain you very eloquently described, all I could see was the pain and the humiliation he has suffered. All I could see was my little boy being threatened, and there was nothing, absolutely nothing I could do to save him. All I could feel was all the pain and the heartbreak of the last several years as I fought to keep my son sane, sober and safe. You see, my well intentioned friend, I too am a mother, a very protective one, and I do understand the overwhelming desire to protect my children. My daughters took dance when they were young, I did my time sitting in studios, going to recitals, I do understand that part, to this day I would do anything to keep them safe. I also love my son with the same intensity, and I have done, and still do everything I can to protect him. Sadly with his disease part of doing what's best for him and my daughters is to let him hit a bottom so he can hopefully one day come back to me.

I couldn't tell you any of this. All I could do was to cover my face to hide the tears and run away. When I got to my car I sat for a very long while until I stopped crying and could drive home.

The other thing I didn't tell you is what I may have in common with the homeless man, I'm an alcoholic. I was raised by one and am related to several. The disease runs rampant in my family. I've been told to say I'm a person in long term recovery, meaning I'm sober and have been so for quite some time. I don't generally tell people this, because unlike, say cancer survivors, there aren't any coloured ribbons, or fun walks for alcoholics or addicts, even the clean and sober ones. People don't look at you as someone who has fought - and remains constantly vigilant - against a chronic and deadly illness, and survived, people see a drunk, an addict, someone who has a flaw in their moral character, someone who cant' be trusted, someone you can't leave your children with (yes, I have been at the receiving end of all these attitudes) people look at you as something that is less than normal people. That's why I don't generally share that about myself. That is also why when you told me about the homeless man the first thing I felt was empathy for him, and the pain he must feel at fear and loathing that he experienced in your daughter's dance studio, and likely just about everywhere else he goes.

I didn't tell you any of this, because these things are usually too raw for me to say out loud. These things have brought judgement and negative stigma on me and my family, and some days I'm just not up to saying out loud that this is wrong. This is so very wrong. That it is not okay to view people as less than. No is less than anyone else. I think if people could get that straight in their heads the world could be a more compassionate and beautiful place.

So, maybe, next time you see a homeless person, someone who is mentally ill, intoxicated,maybe, you could let some compassion enter your viewpoint, and not let fear guide your thinking and actions, maybe you could lead with kindness and compassion, just a little at first. Or maybe you could, just for a moment, reexamine the way you view the homeless, the mentally ill, the addicted, the alcoholic. Maybe that could be a start.

Join us! 2014 Youth Religious Education Concert & Campfire!

Sunday Sermon: Ingathering Service & Water Communion - September 7th, 2014

Ingathering Service 2014

Water Communion

Reverend Tom Capo

Story--The Water Bearer's Garden  (Reverend Tom)

(From uu & me! Collected Stories, edited by Betsy Hill Williams; Boston: Skinner House, 2003). 

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on one end of a pole that he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it. At the end of the long walk from the stream on the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. For two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master's house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

"Why?" asked the bearer, "What are you ashamed of?"

"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house.

Because of my flaws, you have to do all this work, and you don't get full value from our efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt sad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on our side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.

"We all have our own unique flaws. We are all cracked pots. In the great web of life, nothing goes to waste. Don't be afraid of your flaws. Acknowledge them, and you too can be the cause of beauty. Know that in our weakness we find our strength.

Sunday Sermon: Where Are We Going - August 17th, 2014

“Where Are We Going” 

By Reverend Tom Capo

8/17/2014

Here is a future of Unitarian Universalism: Chalice Man and his Friend, the Flame, save people from fundamentalist beliefs and spread the message of Unitarian Universalism to all those in need of our free faith telling everyone that they meet about a faith home where people can responsibly search for truth and meaning without creeds or dogmas.

Actually, this probably isn’t the future of Unitarian Universalism.  But what is? 

Summertime at DUUC!

Picnics, watermelon, bike rides, swimming, flip-flops,  BBQs, and popsicles.  We all look forward to different things in the summer!

Here at DuPage Unitarian Universalist Church (DUUC) we celebrate summer with our sermons, adventures together, activities on-site, and a change in our service schedule.

Starting this Sunday, June 15th, we will have one regular service at 10:00am.  Please mark your calendars for service:  SUNDAYS AT 10:00am

We just kicked off the summer with our annual BBQ, a pancake breakfast (see Chef Michael on our Facebook page) and have lots more fun planned!  Please join us this summer and add DUUC as one of your summertime pleasures!

Dates to remember as follows:

Sunday 6/15:  Sunday Service and Youth Religious Education @ 10:00am

Saturday 6/21:  Summer Solstice Celebration @ 4:00pm

Sunday 6/22:  June 22nd, 2014:  Sunday Service and Youth Religious Education @ 10:00am

Sunday 6/29:  Chicago Gay Pride Parade
(a group from DUUC will walk together in support of the LGBT community meeting at DUUC at 9:00am to carpool)

Sunday 6/29:  Sunday Service and Youth Religious Education @ 10:00am

Sunday 7/6:  Sunday Service and Youth Religious Education @ 10:00am

For more details on our service topics, or contact information for the above mentioned events, please check our our church newsletter HERE! 

Unbroken Circle: Mental Health Awareness

DUUC Editor's Note:   May is Mental Health Month.  In addition to the national advocacy for and awareness of mental health issues our congregation has been working on creating an atmosphere of understanding and care in regards to mental health.  We recently hosted a training seminar for Mental Health First Aid  and our pastoral care group is working to strengthen our community as a place for support.  In this blog post one of our congregants, Paul Sellnow, explores the taboo behind mental health and shares with us a piece of his own journey.  For more information on mental health issues and awareness visit the National Alliance on Mental Health. 

A few days ago, one of my coworkers arrived at the office just before lunchtime and announced "I'm late because I had to drive my wife to the doctor's office. She broke her arm roller skating last night." He did not seem the least bit embarrassed by his wife's apparent lack of rinkmanship, nor did he appear to have any reservations about her character or strength of will.

Most of us are comfortable talking about physical injuries and ailments. I've broken three bones, and each of them has a story behind it. I'm not the least bit squeamish telling you that I have had my gall bladder removed. I hesitate slightly when mentioning my incident with thyroid cancer, only because the "C" word can cause needless consternation on the part of listeners. (Completely treated, more than five years ago, no cause for concern.)

Other topics in our lives may be more intimidating. Some of us may feel awkward talking about money or political views, concerned that relationships with those of different positions may be strained. Some of us may be reluctant to discuss sexual orientation or religious beliefs, worried that family or friends may not approve and may even break off relations and cut us out of their lives. These can be difficult conversations, but a healthy respect for the inherent worth and dignity of the other person will often get us through.

Mental illness, however, retains a stigma in many people's minds despite years of progress in diagnosis and treatment. I've never heard anyone arrive late to work saying "sorry I'm late, my wife had a schizophrenic episode and I had to have her committed." Yet everyone should know that mental illness is a brain disorder, not a character flaw or a lack of willpower, and definitely not a choice. We should be able to talk about it as openly as we would an appendectomy or tonsillectomy.

Life with addiction, mental illness and stigma

DUUC Editor's Note: Our fellow congregant,Ruth Elliott, has graciously shared with us her family's journey of addiction, mental illness and facing the stigma that goes with each. Ruth previously shared this story with our congregation and we appreciate her sharing it again here.

It started about 9 years ago with a handwriting tutor.  In grade three Graham’s handwriting was terrible. I found him a handwriting tutor and drove him there three times a week until we realized it wasn’t having any effect on his handwriting. Over the next year it became clear it was something more than sloppy penmanship, it was like his brain was going way too fast for his hand to keep up. I found him a psychologist, had him tested and to absolutely no one’s surprise he was diagnosed with ADHD, and so started a long and inglorious period where I became an expert on 504 education plans, communicating with teachers, school social workers, and psychologists. I learned everything I could about the –constantly changing - prescribed medications and while I was at it I tweaked his already pretty healthy diet in an effort to improve his concentration and focus. At some point he told me he was seeing colors that weren't there, I had his eyes checked – all normal, and chocked it up to an intelligent and creative kid’s imagination.

It's so Easy Being Green

Peppers, Peppers! Get your Delicious Peppers here!

To eat, and what to eat: that is question

Whether 'tis nobler in the cart to suffer

The cost and charges of outrageous prices,

Or to take savings with a bunch of imports,

And by purchasing, eat them? To buy: to save;

Non local; and by saving to say we add

Our dependence and the thousand natural shocks

Cheap food is heir to, 'tis a consumption

Devoutly to be shunned. To buy, to chew;

To eat: perchance digest: ay, there's the rub;

Ye Gods! I'm an apple.

For in that cart of foods what fruit may come

When we have shuffled out this grocery store,

Must give us pause: there’s the respect

That makes calamity of such low prices;

For who could bear the costs from wages over time,

The oppressor’s wrong, the proud one’s taunting,

The pangs of despised poultry, the pig’s dismay,

The insolence of aisles and the insults

That the coupons make of thoughtful shoppers

When he himself might his ethics face

And bear his heart with burdens hear

The grunt and sweat under a weary life,

The undiscover’d country from whose bourn

The ill paid worker labours, puzzles the mind

And makes us rather eat the cheap ills we have

Than find the organics that we know not of

Thus Conscience could still make cowards of us all

Just what am I on about now? Food! Glorious Food! No, I will not do a Dickens parody (although I am tempted). I'm here to tell A Tale of Two Greenies. Okay, a tale of one Greenie, a really excellent, organic, sustainable and educational greenie,  namely the Green Earth Institute. 

We are very fortunate in North America, our dilemma isn't obtaining food, our dilemma is choosing food. 

And, there’s the rub.

Delicious Organic Tomatoes

So how do we choose? Do we get the 99 cents/pound tomatoes that have been grown thousands of miles away, sprayed with chemicals, harvested by poorly paid workers and transported in trucks, *big breath* OR do we put in the extra dollars to get locally grown, organic tomatoes? And, yes, that is a bias you're detecting, you've been warned, read on at your own risk.

An Appealing Eggplant

If you're still reading - excellent choice! - I'm going to assume you are leaning more to the organic, and locally grown food options, so I'm going to tell you about Naperville's own Green Earth Institute. 









Located at 10S404 Knock Knolls Road in Naperville, on The Conservation Foundation's McDonald Farm, the Green Earth Institute is in its 11th year of organic vegetable farming and educational programming for children and adults. It is a non-profit educational organization established in 2002 to promote environmental sustainability and nutritional health. The centrepiece of the organization is the organic vegetable farm that also serves as an outdoor classroom.

So, what can the Green Earth Institute do for you and your family? Let me 'splain... no, is too much, let me sum up....

It can:

• Supply your family with seasonal, organic, locally grown vegetables and herbs through community-supported agriculture, or CSA. In this program, participants purchase a share of the harvest and then pick up a box of freshly harvested vegetables weekly or biweekly at the farm in Naperville, or in Batavia, Lombard, Western Springs, or Winfield.
• Educate your children through nature discovery programs at the farm each summer. Elementary age children explore the farm and learn how to garden during week long summer camp sessions of Nature Rangers. 

• Educate your whole family with fun and educational adventures on Saturday mornings and Friday overnights. 
• Host school and Scout groups from the suburbs and the inner-city, providing tours of the farm and showing kids where food comes from and how it is grown - yes carrots do come from underground! 

but wait! there's more!

Green Earth Fair 

  Sunday, May 5th

Be Green in '13!! The annual Earth Day Celebration and Education Event is on the first Sunday in May, and can draw some 2,000 people! There are Speakers, Exhibits, Children's activities, Food, Music, Tours of the Farm, Culinary demonstrations, Plant sales and MORE!! Fun for the Entire Family!

WHAT - HOW - HOW - HOW - WHERE??

WHAT are these Fresh, Locally Grown, Certified Organic Vegetables and Herbs?

Beets, Bok Choi, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Celeriac, Chinese Cabbage, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Fennel, Garlic, Garlic Scapes, Hot Peppers, Kale, Kohlrabi, Leeks, Lettuce, Onions, Parsnips, Peas, Potatoes, Radicchio, Radishes, Rutabaga, Scallions, Spinach, Sweet Peppers, Swiss Chard, Summer squash, Tomatoes, Turnips, Watermelons (wait! that's a fruit!), Winter squash, Zucchini, and herbs, Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, Sage and Thyme!

I am a Handsome Cabbage

Need Recipes?  Click here!

HOW many for dinner?

One share is generally good for 2 veggie enthusiasts, or a family of 2 adults and 2 children. You can also purchase 1/2 a share, or split  a full share with a friend.

HOW much each week?

One share is about 3/4 bushel each week, which is about the same as 1 1/2 regular paper grocery bags. Typically there are about 10 different crops each week that change with the harvest.

HOT peppers!

HOW long is the harvest season?

The Main Season runs from June 18th - November 1st, about 20 weeks

Spring Shares run for 4 weeks from May 21st-June 1st 

Late Fall Shares run for 4 weeks from November 5th-27th.

Sign me up! Click here!

WHERE can I get more information?

Artsy Garlic

Green Earth Institute
10S404 Knoch Knolls Road
Naperville, IL 60565
630-664-5681

Email: CSA@GreenEarthInstitute.org  Website: www.GreenEarthInstitute.org
Blog: Green Earth Education
Facebook: Green Earth Institute 
Twitter: Green Earth Institute

Lettuce show you how!

Want to Help??

Shareholders and others are invited to visit the farm and help with farm work, such as planting, weeding, and harvesting. Bet you never thought you could do THAT in Naperville. Get connected with nature!! Sign up on our website.