Can you tell it’s the week before Christmas? It’s the time of year when EVERYTHING!!! needs to be done by Tuesday! Here at work, the deadline is Monday, which makes the rush even rushier. Since we are closed between Christmas and New Year’s, there is just a little more pressure to get EVERYTHING done. Like how about 4 orders of service this week? (I always feel sorry for Tish in this runup to the holidays since she’s the producer of those orders of service.) Or making sure that all the things you appreciate about our Christmas Eve services will be ready when you arrive? Or paying all the bills that fall next week this week? Or making plans for the beginning of January? It’s all craziness. Who has time to breathe?
Home life is no better, and I don’t even have any kids. But the rushing around, deciding what can be put off (my famous Christmas letter–I actually have fans but no one cares if it comes before Christmas) and what can’t (mail those presents to the out-of-towners NOW!!!!!), and still fitting in meals(!) and sleep(!!) seems impossible. Breathe, you say?
OK. Here. I can’t do this very well, but maybe YOU can.
A great, simple breathing exercise for calming both the nervous system and the overworked mind is a timed breath where the exhale is longer than the inhale. When your exhale is even a few counts longer than your inhale, the vagus nerve (running from the neck down through the diaphragm) sends a signal to your brain to turn up your parasympathetic nervous system and turn down your sympathetic nervous system. So, count to 2 in, hold for one, count to 4 out. Simple enough. And the count doesn’t matter at all, just longer exhales than inhales. I can do THAT. But this only works if you do it for 5 minutes! Yikes! Well, as I said, maybe this will help YOU.
But whether you can manage to fit in a slow breath or not, celebrate well, celebrate happily, or just hunker down and endure. Do what works for you.
Sunday, December 16, 2018 Rev. Mark Ward, Lead Minister
Rather than being a problem separating science and religion, mystery may be the key that joins them.
Fibre Friends gather at 1 p.m. the first Saturday of the month at 23 Edwin Place. There are about a dozen “regulars,” but there are a total of 24 of us on the email list. We are mostly knitters, but we do welcome all fiber arts, including several crocheters.
Sometimes we work on personal projects, but our focus is on community donations. Working with our own yarns and those kindly donated (often anonymously), we produced the following in 2018:
For Room At the Inn: eight hat-and-scarf sets.
For Meals On Wheels: 43 washcloths, wrapped around bars of soap.
For Trinity Place Runaway & Homeless Youth Shelter: six hat-and-scarf sets, three separate hats, 20 scarfs, two boas, one reversible cowl, one cowl/scarf, and one shawlette.
Martha Shepherd delivered the Room At the Inn items, and my husband Bob and I handled most of the rest. I wish everyone could see how delighted the recipients were.
Speaking for my fellow Fibre Friends, we are proud of our accomplishments this year and welcome all who would like to join us in 2019.
Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion characterized by a “free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” Unitarian Universalists assert no creed but instead are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth. As such, their congregations include many atheists, agnostics, and theists within their membership. The roots of Unitarian Universalism lie in liberal Christianity. –Wikipedia
I was raised in a small United Methodist community church west of Asheville. As a young man in my early teens, I started having some questions regarding the Bible and other of the religious teaching. The Sunday school teachers and ministers could not fully answer my questions to my satisfaction. It was in 1979 that I was first introduced to the UU religion.
Here I learned that questioning was an accepted way and I got a variety of answers. Differing beliefs were accepted. In discovering this new religion, I really started looking at the beliefs of my upbringing. I started looking at new answers to my questions. This also brought new questions for me to research for answers.
There is no creed or dogma for us to follow. Instead, we have an inclusive and diverse set of beliefs. We have a shared covenant of the seven principles which are used as a guideline in our religious quest. We also incorporate diverse teachings from Eastern and Western philosophies and religions.
We question and reflect together on subjects of life and death, higher power existence, prayer, spiritual practices, various sacred texts, and other topics of interest. In our search for answers we are sharing our experiences with each other and we are able to learn from each other, thus increasing our understanding and knowledge. We have open and exciting worship services touching on many varied topics; rites of passage ceremonies; sharing expressions of our love; and an RE program that teaches our youth about life and the many differences to be expected and a way of dealing with life’s issues.
We are a religion of various backgrounds and beliefs that we bring together. Our religious backgrounds differ: no religious background; people who believe or not in God; UU’s pagans; agnostics; atheists; humanist; and many other choices.
We promote gay rights. ( UU’s have been active in this area for over 40 years). We welcome people of all ethnicities no matter where they come from and whoever they love.
We come from many backgrounds with many varying beliefs. We are compassionate, deep thinkers, and doers. We work for social justice and community and more love and understanding in our lives. We stand on the side of peace, justice, and love.
We come together under the banner of Unitarian Universalism and together we will continue to grow with help and understanding from each other. These are some of the reasons why I was drawn to this path.
Can you tell it’s the week before Christmas? It’s the time of year when EVERYTHING!!! needs to be done by Tuesday! Here at work, the deadline is Monday, which makes the rush even rushier. Since we are closed between Christmas and New Year’s, there is just a little more pressure to get EVERYTHING done. Like how about 4 orders of service this week? (I always feel sorry for Tish in this runup to the holidays since she’s the producer of those orders of service.) Or making sure that all the things you appreciate about our Christmas Eve services will be ready when you arrive? Or paying all the bills that fall next week this week? Or making plans for the beginning of January? It’s all craziness. Who has time to breathe?
Fibre Friends gather at 1 p.m. the first Saturday of the month at 23 Edwin Place. There are about a dozen “regulars,” but there are a total of 24 of us on the email list. We are mostly knitters, but we do welcome all fiber arts, including several crocheters.