An Indonesian extravaganza: Yellow rice on a bed of spinach, covered with vegetables, tofu, and hardboiled eggs. A gingery peanut sauce gets drizzled over the top, and crunchy, flavorful “final toppings” add a delightful finishing touch…HAVE FUN WITH THIS!
-Gado Gado recipe by Mollie Katzen
 
On Monday this week I made Gado Gado, an Indonesian dish that I discovered years ago through the Moosewood Cookbook. The dish is immensely satisfying: a bed of fresh spinach, then a bed of brown rice, topped with vegetables, spicy peanut sauce, and sliced fruit. Garnishes include coconut, ginger, garlic, wedges of lime, and diced onion. It’s a feast for the eyes and the body. It’s a great centerpiece for dinner parties. In this case, it was the culmination of my Sabbath day and a way to treat myself well. This recipe will feed me and my partner for two days, but the satisfaction is spiritual as well as culinary.
 
I have moved away from two healthy habits that I had at earlier times in my life: home-cooked meals and vegetarian eating. Convenience foods take less time and planning than hand-prepared recipes; and I have always liked eating meat. Slowing down to spend an hour preparing a multifaceted meal, however, brings a sense of calm and purpose that a quick meal does not; and vegetarian cooking is good for me and for the planet.
 
My message in last Sunday’s worship service revolved around the advice of the Unitarian Universalist office at the United Nations: their policy focus this year is about food equity and sustainability, and how our food systems affect the environment. One of the clear take-away messages is that eating less meat is good for the planet. Rich countries consume a lot of meat and much of it is produced in poor countries. Meat production has harmful side effects on the climate. I have only a limited ability to change government policy toward subsidizing sustainable agriculture–but I have great control over my own diet.
 
PRAYER:
God of all the nations, God of farmers and plants and livestock, God of kitchens and dining rooms, hear my prayer.
May we all find community in preparing and eating healthy food with our loved ones. May we see that our food choices—who grew it, how far it traveled to our table, what chemicals went into its production—connect us for better and for worse with the network of farms, farmers, producers and distributers.
May we be mindful in our eating, celebrating this connection to life and to one another.
May it be so.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
October 27, 2021

Healthy am I.
Happy am I.
Holy am I.
I am, I am.
-Guru Singh
 
Today is day 28 of a 40-day Sadhana that I’m doing at the Redbloom yoga studio in Mount Pleasant. Every day at 8:15 we gather with our teacher Kris Batzner and do a kundalini yoga practice of movement and meditation for about 15 minutes. I’m usually there in person with a few others; about ten more are doing the practice in their homes connected by video; and another ten do the practice on their own. Kris records the session every day for those who miss the live version.
 
So far I have kept my commitment to myself to do this practice every morning. When I can’t be in the studio at 8:15, I do it another way. The past two Sundays I have done the practice in the sanctuary of UUFCM before the rehearsal for Sunday worship begins. The affirmation above--Healthy am I, Happy am I, Holy am I; I am, I am—is sung at the end of the practice. Singing it aloud in the sanctuary before Sunday worship seems very appropriate. It fills the space with sacred intention.
 
I have made other commitments throughout my life, some of them for physical or spiritual health. Some I have kept and some I have not. This daily discipline is working well for me, and doing it with the guidance of a teacher and with the companionship of other student yogis is helpful.
 
As I undertake this spiritual practice in the spiritual community of the Redbloom Center for Community Wellness, I think about the spiritual practices that sustain the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Michigan. Sunday worship is the obvious one, but I wonder what else fits within our congregation. We already have a weekly Buddhist sangha that meets on Tuesdays and a Pagan ritual every seven weeks on the pagan holidays. Some Unitarian Universalist congregations have prayer circles or meditation groups. What activity does your spirit yearn for, and how could we offer that at UUFCM?
 
A group of UUFCM leaders is going to be meeting on October 30 to brainstorm about what activities the UUFCM community might benefit from. As the COVID pandemic drags on in Michigan, what can we do to connect safely? This might include fun things, intellectual things, interest-based things—and spiritual things.
 
We could all use a little bit of the good energy I get from the daily practice of yoga and the affirmation that I often end up singing all day long after my 8:15 class: Healthy am I, Happy am I, Holy am I; I am, I am. May each of us find practices that nourish and sustain us.
 
PRAYER:
Divine Unity that connects us all, may every house of worship and every yoga studio, every prayer mat, every living room prayer circle be blessed. May every human being find connection with their spiritual self in the way that works for them.
 
May humanity be blessed by healthy connection to spirit.
 
Blessed be.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
October 21, 2021

This summer I took a driving trip across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and one of my favorite places was Bond Falls in Haight Township. The current of the river divides as the water flows over the rocks, making many channels that are accessible explore up close. The natural beauty was stunning, the air alive and fresh; the water was clear and cold. It was a magical place.
 
At Bond Falls, I noticed a small pine tree growing in the current. There was enough rock and soil for the tree to have sprouted and grown to its current height. Clearly, however, the little patch of rock and soil, surrounded by the current of the waterfall, would not support a large pine tree. Even at its present size, a flood could topple this tree and sweep it away.
 
The thought struck me: this tree is not going to live a long life. But it’s alive now. And this is a metaphor for human life as well. Like the tree, we don’t decide where we are born – where our seed will take root. This tree is incredibly lucky, in one way, to have been born in place of such natural beauty—living Its whole life in this clear water and fresh air! Some people are born into lives and places rich with beauty and freshness also. In another way, this tree is unlucky: circumstances doom it to a much shorter life than many of the trees around it. This may be true for humans also, although less obvious than the tree—genetics may mean that one person’s life span is destined to be far less than another’s. For a human or for a tree, however, I am reminded that the length of life is not necessarily the most important thing. The quality of life is important too. A tree growing in a sheltered and safe place may grow taller and live longer—but the tree living its life in the middle of the stream may have a more exhilarating life.
 
My take away from Bond Falls was simple: enjoy life and the beauty it has to offer. Surviving to old age is a reasonable goal, but enjoying whatever life I am given is something I can strive for every day.
 
PRAYER:
Divine energy of creation that gives us waterfalls and clear air; divine force of wind and nature that set the pine tree seed on a rock in the river current; mysterious gift of life that gave birth to me and you--be here now.
 
May each of us grow where we are planted. May we breathe in the air and drink in the water—and may they be sweet and fresh.  May we enjoy every day, not knowing if it be our last. May we accept the wisdom that the longest life is not always the best life, and that the life well-lived is worth living.
 
Blessed be.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
October 14, 2021

In cultures where the family, the community, and the future generations are valued, women are valued.
Women’s liberation may mean not being as active as the male culture has been in destroying the world. Equality for women may well mean having our particular, peculiar perspective honored and inviting that perspective to influence what we do in this world.
I know that as a woman, my woman’s reality is very close to Native reality. Neither of us is crazy. Our reality needs to be heard and respected.
Anne Wilson Schaef, Native Wisdom for White Minds
 
I come to this passage from Anne Wilson Schaef, about women’s reality and Native reality, as a white man. I affirm the wisdom here: that women more than men, and Native culture more than white culture, tends to value community and family more. I agree that patriarchy (male culture) has been a destructive force in the world. It’s not that we don’t need the gifts of masculinity in the world, it’s that the worst part of masculinity have become dominant and out of balance with the feminine in our world. War and greed and environmental destruction are linked to this toxic masculinity.
 
I encounter this passage in the week when women’s marches have been held in cities across the state and the country. The Texas abortion law and the supreme court’s tacit approval of the law signals a new threat to women’s bodily autonomy and to their health. In spite of popular opposition to the law, our system of minority rule make its passage and enactment possible. This is the political and social context of Anne Wilson Schaef’s words.
 
The personal and spiritual context of these words for me is that women’s wisdom should be valued and nurtured within all of us—male, female, transgender, non-binary, any gender. I believe we all have male and female within us and that we need to keep them in balance: individuality and community; freedom and grounding. Individuality and freedom are over-emphasized in many places: let’s honor the community and celebrate the grounding. Let’s value women and women’s reality in ourselves (whatever our gender identity), in our families, in our workplaces, our congregations, our governments.
 
PRAYER:
Mother Father God, be with me now. Help me to see that the Divine has no gender, is all genders at once, and transcends the human notion of gender. Divine Spirit, bring the gifts of family, community and caring for future generations forth. Bring them forth in me; bring them forth in all people.
 
May it be so.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
October 7, 2021