Volume 1
Issue 6
Inward
Springs
Deep within us there is an inward spring - a source of meaning and hope.
Courage
Some years ago one of my favorite blogs
was the work of Gordon Atkinson at Real
Live Preacher. On that site, on March 23rd
2007, he issued an admonition to preachers
that I’ve never forgotten. He said:
“Are you dragging store-bought values
behind you on a little string, smiling like
a rube and looking for applause from the
masses? Or do you listen to the
mysterious voice that lives in the low
places beneath your heart? Will you
proclaim those words in public, or don’t you have the courage?”
Will you speak some truth - even one word of risky, honest, heartfelt truth in front of
people or are you too afraid? That challenge follows me around every Sunday and, in
some ways, throughout my life. Through that reminder, I’ve come to see that it takes
courage to be real. And that doesn’t primarily apply just to the things that we say. It
takes courage to live a life of integrity.
When we are not hiding behind masks or clichés or expectations, we are called to
courageously step into the depths of our own experiences and risk sharing them with one
another and the world. When we live lives of integrity, we risk having not just our
facades, but our deepest selves, challenged.
This kind of integrity requires individual courage on the part of each person, but it
also requires of us a measure of faith in one another – faith enough to believe that if we
share our whole lives honestly, our whole lives will be met with love.
May you find the courage this month to proclaim the words that arise from the low
places beneath your heart. May you be brave enough to live a life of integrity.
Peace,
Nancy Ladd
Senior Minister
From OctoberOctober-May, many of
our congregational programs
are organized around monthly
spiritual themes. These themes
provide focus for greater
depth in our congregational
and spiritual lives. They are
metaphors held in common, a
way to approach big
questions together.
Inside this issue:
• What Courage, Rev. Luke 2
• Courage, Rev. Montgomery
• Listen to Your Heart
• REflections
• Masks
3
• Religious Education (RE)
5
4
•
Questions to Reflect Upon
Ways to Explore Courage
with Your Children
•
•
•
•
Spirit & Silence Service
Chalice Circle
Spring Equinox Service
Films That Make You Think
6
• Chalice Tuesday Offerings
• Spiritual Practice
7
• Courage, Anne Sexton
8
River Road
Unitarian
Universalist
Congregation
6301 River Road
Bethesda, MD 20817
301-229-0400
Office@rruuc.org
www.rruuc.org
Find us on Facebook
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Page 2
Inward Springs
What Courage
I watch my grandson who has cerebral palsy climb into his walker and I think, “what courage.” I watch him hang on the rail and
climb up stairs using many times more energy than most people, I watch climbing stairs and I think, “what courage.” I watch him
slide down water slides and hear of him surfing and skiing and I think, “what courage.” But it doesn’t seem to me that he thinks of
it as courage and probably won’t until many years later when he reflects back on it all. For him, it is everyday life that he lives with
great zest even when he is tired.
Some of the most courageous acts I know of are the everyday acts which are rarely thought of as courageous by those doing
them. It takes courage to get out of bed sometimes. It takes courage to bring children into this world. It takes courage to go to the
first day of kindergarten or to change jobs or to get married or to face an illness.
Some of the most courageous acts I know of are everyday acts which only seem courageous by the observer.
Blessings,
Ginger Luke
Minister, Religious Education & Congregational Life
Courage
Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at
the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.
~Mary Anne Radmacher
At two o’clock in the morning, my cell phone rings jarring me awake.
Even though these calls come every once in a while my heart still leaps
into my throat. I fumble to answer, “Chaplain Montgomery here”. I am in
Herat, Afghanistan on a small post with a couple dozen Soldiers and
contractors. A groggy voice on the other end responds, “Ma’am, we need
you in the HQ, now.” “Okay, 5 minutes”, I tell them, grabbing my boots
and jacket.
Even though it’s early fall, there is snow on the mountains and a chill in
the air. The stones crunch under my boots as I hustle to the TOC (Tactical
Operations Center) and review what issues I know of on post and who
could be in need. The Specialist found with steroids? The Major who is
struggling with missing her children? The contractor whose wife just
served him with divorce papers?
I open the door to the TOC and there is sitting a young Soldier, his
commander’s arm wrapped around his shoulders. She is whispering words of comfort. I see a piece of paper and it’s a Red Cross
Message. Even out here and despite email access and cell phones, sometimes Soldiers get news of a loved one’s passing through
the service of the Red Cross.
I look at the Soldier and his words spill out between deep sobs. It was his beloved grandfather. He died just a few hours ago.
With the weather and conditions that they are, we know he isn’t going to be able to get a flight out for a couple of days, if not a
whole week.
I’ve thought about this young man over the years, not in his grief alone but in his inability to do anything with his grief for those
days that it took to get home. Away from loved ones and family, those who provide comfort best, he sat with his grief, facing it
alone until surrounded again by their warm embrace. His face appears when I think of courage. Broken and hurting, he woke up
again each day with just enough energy to carry him home.
For many, courage is facing tremendous adversity and steeling one’s jaw to overcome. For him, courage was that little voice
nudging him to try again tomorrow. Take just one step, one breath, and the universe continues to unfold and encourage us forward.
Rebekah
Rev. Rebekah Montgomery
Army National Guard Chaplain and RRUUC Affiliate Minister
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Volume 1 Issue 6
Page 3
"The outside world pressures you into a mold,
but if you don't accept that - you gamble with life.
Call it gambling.
You know when I decided to become ‘”prefessional” that means to expose yourself naked to the world
with the other creative minds I said, "I'm going into areas I don't know.
I might just fall right down to hell and kill myself."
And I said, "Well, who cares?
I'd rather do it and see what it's all about."
I don't want the safe way.
The safe way limits you."
~ Louise Nevelson, artist
Listen to Your Heart
On March 24, 1980, while performing Mass in a hospital chapel, Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated by right wing
death squads backed by the El Salvadoran military junta. He was targeted because of his outspoken support for the poor and
oppressed people of El Salvador and for his call to stop the state-sponsored violence against farmers, union workers, journalists,
human rights activists and church officials. The day before he was murdered, he delivered a sermon in which he appealed to the
nation’s soldiers to listen to their religious consciences and to stop carrying out the government’s repression against their fellow
citizens. Archbishop Romero’s assassination, and the subsequent killings of people attending his funeral, became sparks that
unfortunately led to a 12-year civil war in which the United States provided military and financial support to the repressive
government.
I was in college at the time of Romero’s death and participated in a discussion in my Latin American Politics class on the
deteriorating situation in El Salvador. I felt so moved that I wrote a letter to the editor of my hometown newspaper condemning
America’s involvement. It was the first time that I took a public stand against oppression and I’m glad I did it. But I can only
imagine the courage that it must have taken for Archbishop Romero to use his pulpit to speak truth to power knowing full well that
it might cost him his life. He knew, that as the leader of the powerful Catholic Church in El Salvador, his voice carried tremendous
weight so he chose to use it for the good of his people. The situation was so bad that he was willing to take the risk. He was
certainly the most famous hero, yet he was one of thousands of people who put their lives on the line to protect human rights and
oppose oppression and violence during those bloody days in El Salvador.
No matter if one has the power of the pulpit or is a voice in the village, real courage comes from listening to our hearts and
taking action. Courage requires our whole person: heart, mind, spirit, and guts. When it comes to standing up for a principle or
saving someone who is in danger, we must be willing to move outside of our comfort zone and take a risk. Courage doesn’t have to
be life threatening, but it is life affirming. Heroes emerge when the system breaks down, but in everyday life we are called to be
true to our best selves whenever we encounter injustice. Being true to ourselves is the ultimate act of courage.
Blessings,
Doug
Doug McCusker
Ministerial Intern
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Page 4
Inward Springs
REflections
REflections
“Courage,” Maya Angelou writes, “is the most central virtue
because without it you can not consistently live out the other
virtues.” Can we teach courage then? Writers, philosophers
and theologians alike suggest that courage is borne from
engaging the world, not being protected from it.
However in becoming parents we are, in those early years,
almost exclusively consumed with learning how to protect.
We begin to see the world as a dangerous place or at least, we
can develop this cataract. Later, after taking a breath, we
remember that protecting needs calibration with engagement
and independence. We come to this knowing earlier when we
are surrounded by a community — institutions and people —
we trust. We are trying to be that place at River Road.
As an educator and a parent, I teach children that doing the
harder thing is almost always the better thing — to venture
away, to trust others and to stand up, particularly when it costs
us something. As a parent these have been my most difficult
moments and they come without notice – no modeling here point was for my daughter not to see how scared I was. I have
failed far more than I wish. But I begin anew almost every
day, still. This place, and its purpose, sustains me.
How are you managing this traverse? What do you need
from us? Where can we be courageous? To what location can
we venture? With whom shall we befriend? For what will we
sacrifice? We answer these questions in little and large ways,
small acts and large actions, with proclamation and with
silence, sometimes alone but often together.
In what way do you want your child to be courageous?
Gabrielle
Gabrielle Farrell
Director of Children’s Ministry
I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.
It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.
~ Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird
Masks
As part of the Coming of Age class, youth make
plaster masks of their faces. We discuss the various
masks we use in our lives and think about our true
selves behind the mask. At the end of this year’s
session, I thought about how rare, and what a gift it
is, to let people get a glimpse of what is really
under that mask. It’s not easy and certainly takes
courage.
Social researcher, Brené Brown in her Ted Talk,
The Power of Vulnerability, says, “the original
definition [of courage] was to tell the story of who
you are with your whole heart.” She found that
people who have the strongest sense of connection,
love, and belonging had “the courage to be
imperfect” and a willingness to become vulnerable.
She goes on to say that being vulnerable lets in not
only fear and pain, but also joy and love.
Many youth in our congregation find that the
youth group is the only place in their lives where they can
even begin to let others behind their masks. One of the goals in
my work is to create a safe space for them to do that. How can
we make this congregation a place where everyone can have
the courage to lift their masks?
Beth
Beth Irikura
Director of Youth Ministry
4
Page 5
Volume 1 Issue 6
Religious Education & Questions to Reflect Upon
Courage
Spirit Play (9:15 & 11:15 am)
The First Supporter -- Muhammad's Wife
Follow the Drinking Gourd -- Escaping Slavery
Henry Bergh -- Standing Up for Animals
Sacred Spaces for KK-5th Graders (9:15am only)
Movement -- to be determined
Drama -- Standing Up For Yourself and Others
Discovery -- The Fear of Finding Direction (Orienteering)
Art - The Courage and Beauty of Islam
Neighboring Faiths, Values, and OWL
Classes begin with questions related to courage. These
questions, suggested by Beth Irikura, Director of Youth
Ministry, make excellent discussion starters for all ages.
Bring together what you heard in the sermon with what your
child talked about in Religious Education.
1. When is courage positive and when is it negative?
2. Whom do you know who is courageous? Do you admire
them? Why or why not?
3. What are some risks you’ve taken? Did you feel
courageous at the time? Did you feel courageous later?
4. What would you like to have the courage to do?
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
~Lao Tzu
Ways to Explore Courage with Your Children and Teens
Here are some ideas to help you explore courage with your
family:
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• The Ken Burns Civil War series with older teens --
Read fairy tales -- yes they are scary but talking them
through and rereading them over and over, allows
children to master their fear.
particularly the recitation of letters home
Things to do to foster courage (and you don't have to
have children!)
• Visit familiar and unfamiliar neighborhoods on foot in
and around DC and Baltimore. Neighborhood markets
and eateries that you discover together are often more
memorable than destination places you choose.
Discovery always has an element of courage in it.
• Travel by bus or metro to locales you might usually
drive. Let your child lead the way.
• Canoe, swim in a lake, rock climb, hike (particularly if
your family doesn't usually do these things).
• Tent camping may be the best and most consistent
ways to help children grow up feeling confident and
capable and brave.
Share picture books with children on the subject of
courage: http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/booksabout-courage.html
Watch movies:
• The Incredibles
• Star Wars
• Harry Potter
• How to Train Your Dragon
• The Iron Giant (there is a "sacrifice" at the end of the
movie but children get the context)
• Little House on the Prairie
• Remember the Titans
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Page 6
Volume 1 Issue 6
Spirit & Silence
Meditation, Music and Silent Reflection
Sunday, March 10, 7pm, Sanctuary
In the busy rush or our lives, sometimes it is important to rest long
enough that the spirit might move in us. Join Rev. Nancy, Joy Rains
and River Road Musicians for this alternative worship service.
Chalice Circle
Monday, March 11, 7pm, Fireside Room
Explore the spiritual journey prompted by the Inward Springs theme
for the month. Stories and poetry about courage will guide us through
much of this experience led by Rev. Ginger Luke. Newcomers and
people whose schedules do not permit perfect monthly attendance are
always welcome. Join us when you can. Our upcoming themes are:
April - Memory
May - Gratitude
Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever
course you decide upon, there is always someone to
tell you that you are wrong. There are always
difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your
critics are right. To map out a course of action and
follow it to an end requires some of the same
courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories,
but it takes brave men and women to win them.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Spring Equinox Service
Sunday, March 17, 10:30am
Our inner spiritual lives go through seasons much like nature.
There are periods when we withdraw into ourselves to conserve
our energy and tend to our roots. It is tempting to stay there
under the surface. Yet, somehow we find the courage to reemerge as a renewed spiritual being to grace the garden of life
with our beauty and wisdom. To start again with the lessons of
our dark days is one of the most courageous things that we are
called to do.
Join us in celebrating the courage of renewal and the
possibilities of new beginnings by ushering in the Spring
Equinox between Worship Services in the Meditation Circle.
All ages are welcome.
Films That Make You Think
The House I Live In
Friday, March 22, 7:30pm, Room 32
Eugene Jarecki’s The House I Live In won the 2012 Sundance Documentary prize. Through interviews with prisoners, family
members, judges, and narcotics officers, he documents the catastrophic effect of the massive incarceration of African-American
men and women in this country. It is a moving portrayal of Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, our congregational
read.
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Inward Springs
Chalice Tuesday, March 12
Join us for a nutritious and delicious supper at 6pm. $7/
adults, $3/children. Afterward, participate in all ages
learning experiences including children and youth choirs,
quiet rooms for reflection and study, and these
opportunities:
Financing the American Dream; Assessing Housing Finance
in the US, led by Mark Hanson, 7-9pm
There is a strong spiritual factor in the houses we live in and how these
houses become homes by our living. Mark Hanson shares some perspectives
on the evolutionary path of housing finance in the US, and how that
intersects the spiritual factors around homes, lives, and the American Dream.
RRUUC member Mark Hanson is a Senior Vice President of Freddie Mac.
He will bring to us his experience and perspectives concerning how we got to
the housing crisis and where reform is leading. "Courage" can vary based on
your emotional and financial interests.
UU102, 7-9pm
Geared to new members, or those wanting more information, this session explores more deeply who we are and what Unitarian
Universalism offers by engaging the personal meaning of membership, exploring more deeply the idea of side-by-side theologies
and visioning the future, both yours and the congregation’s. Register at www.rruuc.org/ae or contact Sheri Blanchette, 301-2290400, ext. 102 or sblanchette@rruuc.org. Reserve childcare by Tuesday, March 5 with Sheri. Minimum of 5 people.
I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare.
~ Maya Angelou
Spiritual Practice: Reading a Meditative Quote Each Day
A daily spiritual practice of reading a meditative quote each
day helps “spark our moral imagination and sets our moral
compass as individuals (Emerson called it “provocative
reading”). It can also help establish a common spiritual
conversation that will further unite us as a community of
faith.”
You can find meditative quotes in a number of places:
• RRUUC Bookstore: ask the volunteer to help you find a
book of readings, poetry, or meditations.
• Search the Internet: search on “daily meditations,”
• Receive a daily meditation via email from our sister
congregation All Souls, New York at
www.allsoulsnyc.org, Worship & Music, A Common
Meditation. You will also find Rev. Galen Guengerich's
sermon, The Practice of Faith.
Here is the All Souls, NY suggested practice:
• Practice: Sit comfortably and take a few deep breaths to
remind your body that it’s time to focus—any time of day
•
•
•
•
7
(as short or long as you like), anywhere you have time to
yourself.
Reading: Read the day’s text carefully several times,
preferably aloud.
Reflection: Ask yourself which word or phrase provokes
your attention. Why that word or that phrase? You may
wish to jot the word or phrase in a journal. Reflect for a
short time on the word or phrase and ponder what it
evokes in you. Make a note or two.
Intention: Ask yourself what purpose your reading and
reflection suggests for you on this day. Set a specific
intention that you can reasonably fulfill. Perhaps jot it
down.
Contemplation: Expand your awareness from intention to
gratitude. Remind yourself that the world is full of
untapped wisdom and your life is full of unrealized
potential. Note a couple of things for which you’re
especially grateful.
Page 8
Inward Springs
Courage, by Anne Sexton
It is in the small things we see it.
The child's first step,
as awesome as an earthquake.
The first time you rode a bike,
wallowing up the sidewalk.
The first spanking when your heart
went on a journey all alone.
When they called you crybaby
or poor or fatty or crazy
and made you into an alien,
you drank their acid
and concealed it.
it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.
Later,
if you have endured a great despair,
then you did it alone,
getting a transfusion from the fire,
picking the scabs off your heart,
then wringing it out like a sock.
Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,
you gave it a back rub
and then you covered it with a blanket
and after it had slept a while
it woke to the wings of the roses
and was transformed.
Later,
if you faced the death of bombs and bullets
you did not do it with a banner,
you did it with only a hat to
cover your heart.
You did not fondle the weakness inside you
though it was there.
Your courage was a small coal
that you kept swallowing.
If your buddy saved you
and died himself in so doing,
then his courage was not courage,
Later,
when you face old age and its natural conclusion
your courage will still be shown in the little ways,
each spring will be a sword you'll sharpen,
those you love will live in a fever of love,
and you'll bargain with the calendar
and at the last moment
when death opens the back door
you'll put on your carpet slippers
and stride out.
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