Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Michigan
Minister’s Column
 
I get regular emails from colleagues whose job is to minister to fellow ministers. At the UU Ministers Association, for example, the executive team takes turns sending out reflections to the membership. A recent message from Rev. Melissa Carvill Ziemer gave me a sense of hope and support, and here I pass that along to you.
 
Rev. Melissa noted the sense of overwhelm that can be present when confronted with the news of the world and the nation, and she offers the words that she speaks to herself to combat the hopelessness:
 
After reading the news of more hateful, dangerous legislation, or the terrors of violence in so many places: “remember, everywhere there are people resisting, so join them and do what you can. Make a phone call, send an email, click on the link to donate.”
 
This is relevant for me, and maybe it is for you as well. This week I have felt that sense of overwhelming helplessness when hearing the news of more undemocratic gerrymandering of voting districts; and the news of more bombing and loss of life in Ukraine. Remember, everywhere there are people resisting, so join them and do what you can. Join them and do what you can. Remember that you are not alone—that many people of good will are paying attention to injustice and responding as they are able.
 
I will quote one more passage from Rev. Melissa’s reflection:
 
When I’m consumed in noticing all that is wrong: “remember, always there is something right. Take a break and notice what is good. Love is abundant and reliable, freedom fighters are everywhere, beauty is an inexhaustible gift of the universe.”
 
She follows this with examples of beauty in her world, in her yard, in her neighborhood. We can all find beauty in our surroundings. I love this affirmation that beauty is an inexhaustible gift of the universe.  And I love the tone of Rev. Melissa’s writing--especially the tone of the voice in quotation marks that is surely the voice of the writer speaking to herself, reassuring herself, comforting herself, urging herself to go on. May we all find that voice within ourselves.
 
I am blessed to be part of a UU ministers’ network that is intentional about supporting one another. I am blessed to receive the words and counsel of Melissa Carvill Zeimer, giving me tools and energy to continue working for peace and justice in a dangerous world. She reminds me that it is a beautiful, hopeful world also—and I remind you of the same. I extend this circle of love and care to all who read this message: you are loved. Love is abundant and reliable. In the face of life’s challenges, may you remember to pause and find your strength through a calming breath; through noticing trees, birds, sky outside your window; through connecting to the ones who are with you on this journey. You are not alone.
 
PRAYER:
May you find the voice within you that counsels hope, that advises you to care for yourself, that reminds you that love is present. Some call this voice the Loving God Within; others call it the Inner Teacher or the Ideal Parent. May each of us find that voice, and be blessed by the wisdom and love that we hear when we listen to it.

May it be so.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
April 28, 2022

The national Teacher of the Year award was announced this week: Kurt Russell, History Teacher at Oberlin High School in Ohio. I was thrilled to hear the news because I know this teacher. I was his colleague for two years when I served as full-time substitute teacher at that school; my kids both had Mr. Russell as a teacher; and I worked with his wife Donna for seven years at Oberlin College. My son tells me that “Welcome to Oberlin, home of national Teacher of the Year Kurt Russell” yard signs are going up around town. Here is a link to Mr. Russell being interviewed on the CBS morning show:
 
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/kurt-russell-announced-as-the-2022-national-teacher-of-the-year/
 
He really is a great teacher. I’ve been in his classroom and seen first-hand his engaging style with his History students. Another time I observed Mr. Russell leading basketball practice after school. There I saw students that I knew to be uncomfortable in the classroom, yet here on the basketball court with Coach Russell mentoring them, they were engaged and in their element. He is inspiring and worthy of this award.
 
For me, this brings back my memories of teaching. I taught in five schools in three states during a 14-year career, prior to being called to ministry. During that time, I adopted a personal mission statement: My mission as a teacher is to share the life-changing wonder, joy and power of ideas with all students. I often reflected that it was impossible to know if my teaching made a difference when students left my classroom. A very few former students contacted me later to say that they appreciated my influence on their lives. For the rest, I considered it an act of faith: teachers do the best they can, pouring heart and soul into their jobs, trusting that their efforts will have a positive effect on their students. I know so many teachers who are doing this every day, and each of them deserves to be honored.
 
PRAYER:
Spirit of Life and Love, you gave us the wisdom to have schools for our children; you instilled in some of us the passion to teach.
 
May God bless Mr. Kurt Russell. May God bless his family and his loved ones, his colleagues and his students past, present and future.
 
May the benevolent spirit of humanity bless our parents, our communities, our school boards and our elected leaders to support students and to support the heroic teachers who serve them every day.
 
May love, wisdom, kindness and curiosity bless every student and every teacher. Amen.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
April 21, 2022

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Michigan
Minister’s Column
 
There was a profound change in the weather this week, which felt like a new season: the sun finally came out after weeks of clouds and rain; the temperature rose above the 40’s into the 60’s; the first flowers are poking out of the ground. Officially, the first day of spring was March 21, the spring equinox, a day the Pagans call Ostara. It has felt more like winter, however, for the first month of spring—or like a spring version of winter. Coming soon is the Pagan holiday of Beltane on May 1st (May Day). This change in the weather feels more like a promise of May, and so I think of the season as shifting – from “early spring” (the Ostara season) to “spring” (the Beltane season).
 
In fact, I extend this concept to all 8 of the Pagan holidays: each one represents a season (or sub-season, if you like). In my understanding of these sub-seasons, each of the 8 Pagan holidays is in the center, not the beginning. Here’s my new concept of 8 seasons, as I name them and as I experience them in the place and climate where I live:
 
-Yule, the Winter Holiday season, from December 1st to mid-January; the Yule holiday is December 21.
-Imbolc, the Deep Winter season, from mid-January to the end of February; the Imbolc holiday is February 1.
-Ostara, the Early Spring season, from March 1st to mid-April; the Ostara holiday is March 21.
-Beltane, the Spring season, from mid-April to the end of May; the Beltane holiday is May 1.
-Litha, the Summer season, from June 1st to mid-July; the Litha holiday is June 21.
-Lammas, the Late Summer season, from mid-July to the end of August; the Lammas holiday is August 1.
-Mabon, the Autumn season, from September 1st to mid-October; the Mabon holiday is September 21.
-Samhain, the Harvest season, from mid-Ocotober to the end of November; the Samhain holiday is November 1.

To me it’s fun and interesting to think about the cycle of the year this way, and to re-name the seasons. And there’s a deeper level: I am more attuned to nature and to seasons, to light and dark, to warm and cold, to the life around me than I have been before. I will be 54 next week (speaking of yearly cycles of the Earth around the Sun) and this awareness has been growing in me just in the last few years.
 
Happy season of Beltane to you. Happy spring. Happy warming weather. Happy flowers poking out of the ground. May you embrace the changing season and be attuned to it in the way that feels right for you, however you may name it.
 
PRAYER:
Unknowable force that spins the Earth and flings the planets around the Sun, energy of the Sun warming the Earth, hear my prayer. May I be in tune with the flow of energy and light that define this life, this planet; the energy of time by which all that we know is measured.
 
Cosmic life force, may I be aware of the flow of energy and life this day and every day.
Blessed be.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
April 14, 2022

As part of my agreement with the congregation, I usually get one Sunday per month off from leading worship. Often I use this time for personal renewal and connection with loved ones. Sometimes I feel called to participate in a worship service where I can receive the benefit of a communal spiritual experience without being responsible for providing it. This yearning led me last Sunday to the First Church of Christ in Mount Pleasant, where I was greeted warmly by the congregants as well as by the lead pastor. I was especially uplifted by the music in the service. There was a lot of singing, and one of the lines we sang that moved me was, “my sins they are many; His mercy is more.”
 
I don’t use the language of “sin” generally in my religion, nor do I refer to the divine as “Him.” In the context of a Christian worship service, of course, this language and this theology were not surprising. I translate that Christian message into my own belief system: I am broken and wounded and aware of my flaws (my sins they are many); yet I know that I am also whole and worthy of love and that the Divine lives within me and through me (His mercy is more). I thanked the lead pastor after the service and gave him my business card. Since then, we have met for coffee and found great common ground in our calling and our pastoral work—commonality far outweighing the theological differences we may have.
 
Separately this week I, participated in a panel discussion alongside three local Christian clergy members. The panel was hosted by the Central Michigan University LGBTQ office, and the topic was faith and sexuality. The Christian clergy, of course, were primarily discussing questions of sexuality from a Biblical perspective; and as liberal Christians they emphasized the love of Jesus and said that the problematic passages from the Bible that seem to damn homosexuals should not be interpreted that way. As a non-Christian Unitarian Universalist, what the Bible says or doesn’t say about sexuality is not of primary importance to me. My religious conviction that LGBTQ people are divine comes from my Unitarian Universalist faith as expressed in our principles and not from the Bible.
 
And, during the whole panel discussion and afterwards, I felt a great sense of common purpose with the three Christian clergy sitting beside me. They are expressing love and acceptance through the lens of their religion; I express it through mine.
 
Sometimes being a Unitarian Universalist in a religious landscape dominated by Christians is difficult. In conversation with Christians (and others), I frequently have to explain my religion to people who have never heard of it. This comes with being a Unitarian Universalist…along with the practice of translating other people’s religious language into concepts that fit with my beliefs. In spite of these challenges, it’s nice to realize that I have a lot in common with Christians: spreading love, finding meaning, welcoming others, and creating community.
 
PRAYER:
May blessing come to the First Church of Christ. May St. John’s Episcopal Church and the Wesley Center and Immanuel Lutheran be blessed, their congregations and their leaders. May this blessing come from Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit—from whomever and whatever these churches understand to be their Holy, their Divine. And may this blessing come from me and from other humans: the simple human wish that other humans may prosper and be happy.
 
May love, in human form and in divine form, bless every congregation where people gather for community and meaning. May love bless that whole world with no exceptions.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
April 7, 2022