​Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Michigan
Minister’s Column
 
I have been enjoying beautiful views of the full moon this week, which I have just learned is called the Beaver Moon because beavers retreat to their winter dens at this time of year. As one holiday weekend—Thanksgiving--was ending, I was reflecting that another holiday—Christmas—is four weeks away. The next full moon will be on December 26.
 
The time of the full moon invites us to think of what is coming to fruition and fullness in our lives. This may be especially relevant to the holiday of Thanksgiving with tables full of food and also full of loved ones for many of us. What is in fullness in your life right now?
 
The monthly cycle of the moon takes place within the yearly cycle of the sun: by the time the moon is full again on December 26, the shortest day of the year will have just passed. As the sun wanes and the moon wanes for the next two weeks, we may reflect on what is receding in our lives as well. What is passing on, disappearing, or slipping away?
 
The holiday season is upon us with Christmas lights appearing. With Thanksgiving behind and the month of December just ahead, what intentions do you have between now and the next full moon?
 
As I reflect on these three questions for myself, first I celebrate that my life is full of love: seeing my siblings and my grandchildren this week remind me of that. Second, in this dark time of the year, I acknowledge that time is passing, that the elders I love are aging—time and years are slipping away, never to return. Finally, my intention for this month by the moon is to regularly take quiet time to read and meditate, to stretch my body and relax my mind.
 
May the light of the moon bless you, wherever it finds you. May your fullness and your waning and your intentions be blessed.
 
PRAYER
Divine Goddess, beautiful Moon, you come and go; you change every day. May we remember that we are changing too. May your light shine upon us and bless us with joy and inspiration.
 
May we find you when we seek you; may we be surprised by you and delighted by your presence in all of your phases.
 
May the light of the moon bless all people on this earth. Blessed be.
 
Rev. Drew Frantz
November 28, 2023

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Michigan
Minister’s Column
 
Last night we commemorated the Transgender Day of Remembrance in our sanctuary, with a small group from our congregation and some guests from other liberal religious groups in town. The event is somber because it is built around naming and honoring victims of violence who are transgender—a group that suffers death by murder and by suicide at a much higher rate than the general population. In addition to lament and grief, we strove last night for the solidarity of community and for the naming of hope.
 
Today while perusing social media I saw something that caught my attention, a post attributed to Danielle LaPorte. Here is an abridged version of it:
 
Right now there are Tibetan Buddhist monks in a temple in the Himalayas endlessly reciting mantras for the cessation of your suffering and for the flourishing of your happiness.
Nuns in the Alps are in endless vigil, praying for the Holy Spirit to alight the hearts of all of God's children.
Thousands of people are in yoga classes right now intentionally sending light out from their heart chakras and wrapping it around the earth.
Millions of children are assuming that everything is amazing and will always be that way.
Some civil servant is making sure that you get your mail, and your garbage is picked up, that the trains are running on time, and that you are generally safe.
Someone is dedicating their days to protecting your civil liberties and clean drinking water.
Someone is regaining their sanity.
Someone is genuinely forgiving the seemingly unforgivable.
 
This incredibly hopeful and concrete social media post feels like a needed counterpoint to the Transgender Day of Remembrance. One is a somber recognition of the harmful and hateful reality of anti-trans violence—the worst of human nature. The other is a naming of some of the best of human nature: Prayer. Innocent and happy children. Public service. Dedication to peace.
 
The mystery of this life, of being human, is that we contain good and evil within us. We contain good and evil in our families, in our communities of every size. The violence and hatred are so easy to see. The harm done is so stark. Sometimes the goodness done by humans is harder to see. I love Danielle LaPorte’s words because her examples are so vivid. Let us remember that there is good in the world—right now, as we live and breathe. Let us seek to connect to that goodness and to be part of it.
 
PRAYER
Spirit of Life and Love, may we join with the Buddhist monks, with the Catholic nuns, with the yogis and the children and the civil servants. May we put forth the intentions of our spirits toward love and peace; may we extend the efforts of our minds and bodies toward building and mending and healing. May life prosper and thrive on this earth, in our lifetimes.
May it be so.
 
Rev. Drew Frantz
November 21, 2023

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Michigan
Minister’s Column
 
This time of year evokes many feelings and memories for me. As I write, it is 5:30 pm and the sunset is lighting up the sky with pink clouds. The air is cold…and it makes me think about football.
 
When I was in high school, I played on the football team and we had a special relationship with this time of year: the first weeks of November, after the changing of the clocks. Where I am from, eastern Massachusetts, there is no tradition of Homecoming. It is not a thing. But we had a comparable tradition at Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, at 10 or 11 in the morning, high school football teams in eastern Massachusetts play their biggest game of the year, against their arch-rival high school. Because it’s Thanksgiving, many people from the town attend the game, including those who have moved away and are home for the holiday. Thus it is a homecoming.
 
In my town of Wayland, Thanksgiving meant playing Weston. It was not only the biggest game of the year, it was also the last. The Thanksgiving Day game was two or three weeks after the other games had all been completed. The other fall sports were done with their seasons by early November. This meant that in early November, the football practice field got lonely: the soccer, cross country, and field hockey teams who practiced on adjacent fields throughout the fall were now gone. The weather steadily got colder. Then one day the clocks changed and the regular football practice, going until 5:30, now ended in darkness.
 
Today is like that day in my memory: the empty field. The geese. The cold air. The sunset. My football memories include a sense of great purpose – nothing was more important to me at age 17 than beating Weston on Thanksgiving Day – and a sense of quiet spaciousness. I’m far away from that football practice field, both in miles and in decades of life experience. Yet the feeling today is familiar and connects me to that moment. As I did then, I pause now to take in the beauty of the early sunset. I feel my place in the world.
 
PRAYER
May the beauty of November be with us.
May we embrace the early morning sunlight and the 5:30 sunsets.
May each of us find peace in the stillness of these days and connect with our sense of belonging and of purpose.
 
Rev. Drew Frantz
November 15, 2023

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Michigan
Minister’s Column

Yesterday was election day: a very quiet one in Mount Pleasant Michigan with just one local race on the ballot; and an important one in neighboring Ohio where a state-wide abortion rights amendment passed with strong support. I am reflecting on the trends in politics and society in this country through a spiritual lens.

In terms of Unitarian Universalist values, bodily autonomy for women has been a clear value for a long time. Statements of support for abortion care have been issued by our national convention, and therefore stand as official policy statements for this denomination.  Taking value-based positions on political issues is recognized as being appropriate for religious congregations and clergy, whereas supporting individual candidates is not. Celebrating the victory of this ballot initiative in Ohio, therefore, is a UU stance. It’s also personal for me, because I lived in that state for 17 years, raised my kids there, and have many loved ones there who will directly and indirectly benefit from this vote.

I follow politics nearly every day on the news and on social media. This habit leads me to a mind-set of winning and losing; to anxiety about the give and take of political parties and the values they represent; and to a desire for politicians who have broken the law to be held accountable by the courts. All of these things are related: political parties; the court cases involving Donald Trump; and the elections last night including the victory to abortion rights. Last night’s results are good news and a win, to be sure. The spiritual task for me is to keep these things in perspective and to remember that deeper things in life are not defined by winning and losing: love and relationships; building community; connecting to the divine within me and beyond me. These things truly transcend politics. Therefore two things are true: I must remain engaged with politics for the rights and dignity and safety of my fellow human beings (especially pregnant women in this case); and I must put all these concerns into perspective with the highest purpose of my life to love and be loved, to serve humanity and all of creation by making the world a better place to the best of my ability.
 
PRAYER:
May all women and all people enjoy the right to make decisions about their own bodies. 
May all those who fight for political freedom and for human rights be blessed. 
May all of us be appropriately engaged in politics and public policy, while maintaining a healthy perspective about love and family and our spiritual well-being.
Blessed be.

Rev. Drew Frantz
November 8, 2023

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Michigan
Minister’s Column
 
Today is All Souls Day, also known as Samhain. Last Sunday we celebrated and honored those who have died--especially the members of our Fellowship who died over the past year, but other loved ones as well—with a ritual of both letting go and of welcoming in. I’m still reflecting about the importance of this.
 
I am thinking that our mainstream American culture does not welcome and honor dead ancestors and loved ones. Some of us may have a practice of visiting the grave of a loved one regularly, or some other ritual of connection with the dead, but I think that most of us do not. Therefore when I learn about the cultural practice of Dia de Los Muertos—a picnic at the gravesite featuring the dead relative’s favorite foods; an altar with photographs of the deceased—I conclude that this is a more healthy approach. In other words, while mainstream American culture minimizes and avoids any connection with death or with the dead, to welcome and acknowledge the dead seems more healthy.
 
In the American practice of Halloween I see a shallow version of acknowledging the dead. We see skeletons and gravestones in people’s yards. We see people dressed up as undead monsters (mummies, zombies, grim reapers)—alongside costumes from video games or this year’s most popular costume: Barbie. I’m saying that there is a mention of death in our American Halloween—but there is no invitation to engage in a healthy way with our ancestors.
 
Perhaps the Christian practice of All Souls Day has got it right (at least partially). Christians on this day pray for the souls of the departed, in order to help them get from purgatory to heaven. The living, in other words, help the dead get to their rightful place. The rightful place of the dead in our lives—the memories of the departed ones whom we miss and love—is as ancestors, as the wise voice that we can listen to. We need to help the dead get to that place. We have to let them go in order to connect with them in the right way: not as scary ghosts and monsters, but as members of the human family. May this day with its cultural reminders of death offer us a way toward making that connection.
 
PRAYER:
At this season of changing weather, of dropping leaves, of shorter days, may we welcome the truth: that the cycle of life and death flows with the cycle of the seasons. May we be in harmony with that flow.
May we welcome the dead into our lives on this day: the unknown ancestors and the dearly missed loved ones. May we make a proper place for them in our homes, on our altars, in our lives. May the wisdom and love of the dead bless us as we bless them.
Amen.
 
Rev. Drew Frantz
November 1, 2023