Movie Night
December 8, 2008
Dec. 12, 6:30 p.m., Eddy Hall
For the past two years, Bell Street Chapel has had a monthly movie night featuring films with gender identity themes. Viewing and discussing these films is an enjoyable way to live out our commitment as a U.U.A. Welcoming Congregation.
In November, we honored Transgender Day of Remembrance by viewing the sad and shocking, but artistically superb movie, “Boys Don’t Cry.” The December Movie Night will feature an entirely different sort of film – a holiday comedy. Of course, in keeping with our theme, one of the many colorful characters crossdresses.
As always, the film will be preceded by a potluck dinner and followed by a discussion led by Genevieve Peri. Come laugh with us – and help us choose the films for the 2009 Movie Nights. Bring your friends!
~Carol Crowley
On the Road to Providence: An Unexpected Blessing
December 8, 2008
The morning had been cold with a light drizzle. I had been walking through the Boston Common on my way to the Unitarian Universalist Association headquarters. Halfway up the path I needed to stop and rest for moment. Sitting on a park bench, I set down my nearly empty cup of coffee, drew my hood tighter and rested my forehead on my cane. A few moments later I sensed someone approaching, however before I could look up she walked away. It was then that I realized this stranger had dropped three quarters into my almost-empty coffee cup.
When I told my wife this story her initial reaction was, “What were you wearing!”
When I told this to some of my colleagues, some reacted with slight anger, “Why would someone assume that a Latino sitting in on a park bench was a beggar?!” However, most just laughed seeing the humor in the situation.
Admittedly my initial reactions were mixed. First I was slightly upset that my last gulp of coffee was ruined. Secondly I wondered where the stranger thought I could purchase another medium coffee for 75 cents. Then I, too, was shocked that she thought I was a beggar.
All those thoughts flashed through almost simultaneously. However, I suddenly realized what she had seen and what had motivated her. No doubt she, too, was cold and hurrying that morning. Suddenly the sight of someone slumped over a cane on a park bench with his hood drawn tight and a cup sitting next to them had jarred her out of her complacency. For a moment her heart compelled her to do something for someone whom she perceived as being less fortunate. She found some change and left it for this stranger not as a great monetary windfall but as a simple act that said, “I see you; I hope this helps a little; you are not alone.”
As the stranger walked away, I looked at the three quarters in the dregs of my coffee and called out to her, “Thank you.”
This holiday season may you take a moment from your hurriedness, connect to others around you and be an unexpected blessing to someone.
~Rev. Josè Ballester
Notes from the Field
December 8, 2008
Ministry at the hospital continues mostly unchanged. I am still privileged to go onto units – mostly locked units – to provide spiritual care to the patients of the Eleanor Slater Hospital, most of whom stay with us for a year or more, and many for several years. New admissions occur regularly, but they comprise a tiny portion of our population; in other words, I have known most of the patients for some time. It is a congregation of sorts, though with membership not necessarily voluntary and with religious and spiritual diversity even greater than the average Unitarian Universalist congregation. I am deeply moved by the longing I find in the persons I serve—longing, in most cases, to get out of the hospital (which feels to many like a prison sentence, tragically), and, in a deeper sense, longing to become more fully who each person really is, to live into her/his potential and truth. Though I can sense each person’s longing and share a desire for concrete change, I have to reckon with my own inability to make the situation better. Instead, paradoxically, by working to really get it, to get a glimpse of what it’s like to be in each patient’s shoes at that moment, I can be, at best, a way station of support, a touchstone of humanity (alongside other staff and patients who serve this need), on that person’s ongoing journey.
One change in my hospital ministry is that I have decreased my weekly hours from 40 to 32 in order to make space for my emerging focus on my music career, which is outside of the sphere of my ministerial identity. This is a very fulfilling and much needed shift.
Finally, life as a new father is a daily miracle and gift, involving a very significant daily (and nightly!) commitment of time, energy and heart space. Though Stacy and I sometimes struggle to get out of bed, we feel blessed to be knowing and caring for Ren, and to be her parents in all the world. I am very grateful for the support that so many of you in the Bell Street community have given and continue to give, and I always love when I am able to bring Ren to church to see you all.
In this season of giving, may we remember that the most valuable gifts—whether to people we know and love, or to people we meet on the street—are those that cannot be bought, cannot even be weighed or measured, except by the heart.
~Rev. Ben Hall, Community Minister
Guest at Your Table
December 8, 2008
Bell Street Chapel is participating in the Guest at Your Table program sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee again this year. The U.U. Service Committee with its program partners works to strengthen workers’ rights; to protect the right to safe, affordable water; to defend civil liberties and democratic processes; and to preserve the rights of vulnerable people after disasters. If you wish to join this project, you are invited to pick up a cardboard Guest at Your Table box at Bell Street and keep it on your table during the holiday season. As often as you can, insert coins or bills in the box. The boxes will be collected at the Christmas Eve service and on Martin Luther King Sunday in January. When you turn in your box, please count the money and replace it with a check made out to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. UUSC membership begins at $40 ($75 dual) or $20 for seniors ($40 dual), and just $10 for students and youth. Gifts of $100 or more from a family or individual are eligible to be matched dollar for dollar through a matching grant. For more information visit the UUSC web site www.uusc.org. Welcome a Guest at Your Table!
~Kate Gillis
Events
December 8, 2008
On Sunday, Dec. 7, at 3 p.m., members of The Providence String Quartet – Jesse Holstein on violin, Heath Marlow on cello and Jeff Louie on piano – will perform at Bell Street Chapel to raise money for the Community MusicWorks Fred Kelley Memorial Scholarship fund. Fred Kelley was a major influence and a major supporter of Community MusicWorks. Donations are welcome and proceeds with go to Fred Kelley Memorial Scholarship fund. The program will consist of the Mendelssohn D-minor and Tchaikovsky A-minor piano trios.
The full Providence String Quartet will perform at Bell Street Chapel on Saturday, Dec. 20, at 7:30 p.m. The program will consist of Alexander Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2, Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and Franz Schubert’s String Quartet No. 15 in G Major. General admission will be $15, $5 for students and children, and free for CMW families. As always, the proceeds from the concert will help to fund Community MusicWorks in doing the great work it does in the community providing low- or no-cost musical instruction and instruments to children on the South Side of Providence.
Going once, going twice! Thank you to Bell Streeters for great food, great company and the wonderful enthusiasm that continues to make our Thanksgiving potluck dinner and service auction a great success! This year we have raised around $1300! A special thank you to Ray Perreault (our auctioneer), Greg Greco and the members of the Events Committee for making the event fun for all.
~Tom Mack, Events Committee
Ethical Eating: The UUA Study/Action Issue (SAI) for 2008-2012
December 8, 2008
Our guest columnist for this month is Ellen Smith. She and her husband Stu were way ahead of the curve in providing healthy, homegrown, unprocessed food for their family. I think they also can refute the common belief that it is more expensive to eat locally raised, organic food. Anyone else who would be willing to write about the principles underlying their own food choices should contact Carol Crowley (ccrowley8@cox.net). Also, the Ethical Eating Committee will have its first meeting in January. Anyone willing to help plan activities related to this issue should also contact Carol.
My husband Stu and I began gardening during the first year of our marriage in 1973. This was the beginning of a lifestyle in which gardening became fundamental to our goal of eating healthy, unprocessed foods in support of our definition of what the good life should embrace. We would continue to garden for the next 35 years – indeed, we still do!
Our first garden was planted with great enthusiasm. We were always alert to articles about gardening. One of us read an article that identified seaweed as an excellent fertilizer. Unfortunately, we missed the paragraph about the need to rinse the seaweed; thus our greens were burned by salt and useless by the next day. Live and learn!
In 1974, we moved to Barrington and turned a large portion of the yard into a vegetable garden. As our family grew and needed more food, we needed more garden space. We rented two plots in the community garden. I would pull two sons in a wagon to the plots daily and they would help plant, weed and harvest. We froze as many vegetables as we could and we also learned how to make strawberry jam and can tomatoes and V-8 juice. We also picked bushels of apples at farms to can applesauce for the year. I always searched for quicker, easier methods to preserve our harvest.
In 1982, we moved to Scituate with our four sons. Our greatest desire was to continue a lifestyle that, among other things, embraced homegrown food. We found the perfect home with a couple of acres and a barn. We added cows, goats, pigs, sheep, turkeys and chickens to our expanded vision of supplying the family with untainted, unprocessed food. The goat was a pet but also provided milk from which we made cheese. The garden was planted where horses had grazed, resulting in incredibly fertile soil for a wide variety of crops. We still experiment with new plants and methods of growing. We never tire of the miracle of seeds bursting from the soil every spring.
As Stu puts the garden to bed for the winter by adding chicken manure and lime to the soil, we realize that we have made great progress toward our goal of living off the land. We have a large freezer filled with our vegetables. Our newest chickens are laying eggs regularly. Our turkeys will soon be in the freezer.
Best of all, we realize that we have passed down our love of gardening to our sons. In fact, our youngest has a large garden in his back yard in Brooklyn, N.Y. He actually surpassed us in producing certain varieties of vegetables. We are thrilled the love of the land has been passed to another generation.
So what’s for dinner tonight? Garden pesto and green beans from the freezer, simmered with pork chops and rice. Now, there’s something we haven’t tried – growing rice! Always new ideas on the back burner….
~Ellen Lenox Smith
Board Bits
December 8, 2008
In this monthly column we summarize the recent activities and decisions of the Governing Board of Bell Street Chapel. It is our goal to keep you as informed as possible about what we do at our meetings, as we represent and are answerable to you, the congregation. Also, we remind you that all our meetings are open. We would be happy if members of the congregation attended. If you would like to make suggestions for the agenda, speak to the president, Don Laliberte.
The November meeting of the Governing Board was on Nov. 11. We were joined by Richard Corso, chair of the Membership and Caring Committee. Before the official start of the meeting, we viewed and discussed another segment of the Unitarian Universalist Association (U.U.A.) video on leadership and change.
One of our yearly tasks is to certify our membership for the U.U.A. The number of members is used to calculate our “fair share” payment to the U.U.A. (in recent years, we have been unable to pay the full amount of our fair share). Richard and the members of his committee will draft a letter to send to people who are on our membership rolls, but who have neither attended recent services nor made a pledge for the current fiscal year. Those who do not indicate a desire to remain as active members will be moved to inactive status.
We discussed whether running the New U.U. classes on a weekday night is preferable to the usual Sunday morning schedule. We also discussed whether we are trying to do too many activities after services on Sunday (lunch-making, discussion group. cleaning blitz, etc.). We welcome input from the congregation on these points. No decisions were made.
All our plans for promoting Bell Street in the interest of attracting newcomers and growing our membership are being implemented. We have advertisements in Options and in the Gamm Theatre programs; we sponsor Gay Bingo; we have new signs and bulletin boards. We are hoping to establish a closer relationship with MERI.
The treasurer reported that income is ahead of budget for the fiscal year. We made $140 from the RIIFF Horror Film Festival. We still cannot afford many of the things we would like to do (increase the office manager’s hours, hire a cleaning service). We would like to replace all the money borrowed several years ago from the Handicapped Accessibility Fund.
Dan Greco and Tom Lamora will join David Gleicher on the Steering Committee of the RIUUSJ, giving Bell Street good representation for statewide U.U. social justice action.
The Trustees have approved the necessary repairs and maintenance to the outside of the chapel and the renovation of the children’s room. We will try to organize volunteers to paint Eddy Hall in 2009; the Trustees will reimburse us for supplies.
We appointed Greg Greco to the position of chair of the Finance Committee. Phil Smith is stepping down, but will remain on the committee.
That is a summary of the work of your Board in November.
~Carol Crowley, Secretary
Among us
December 5, 2008
“There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and
no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.”
-Henry David Thoreau
In this column we celebrate milestones and other life events, request healing thoughts for those in need, and remember departed loved ones. If you have information you would like to share in this column, or if you know of anyone in need of assistance, please contact Carol Crowley.
Many Bell Streeters turned out to support our favorite community actress, Meredyth Waterman. Meredyth played the role of Louisa, the female lead in “The Underpants,” an adaptation of an old German play. Steve Martin wrote the adaptation, so you know it was funny. Meredyth, you were terrific!
Carl Freese is doing extremely well, now several months after his heart transplant. He is at home, gaining strength every day and venturing outside more and more often. Carl says hi to everyone and sends his thanks for all the movies, books, and gifts we provided during his hospitalization. We hope to see you at church soon, Carl.
Love to Aeriel Arthur and Bev Hart. We miss seeing you.
Happy Birthday to Aaron Campanile Boyle and David Gleicher.
And Happy Holidays to all Bell Street Chapel members, friends, and staff!
~The Membership and Caring Committee
Holiday party, Dec. 6, 6 p.m.
December 5, 2008
The annual Bell Street Chapel Holiday Potluck Party will be held on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 6 p.m. at the home of Carol Crowley (see Carol for directions). The holiday party is a wonderful community-building event with good food, the singing of holiday songs and just being together outside of church. The more the merrier. Partners and friends are invited.
~Carol Crowley
Stuff
December 5, 2008
Audrey Greene
Cheap stuff, expensive stuff, so much stuff that we need to rent another space to store our extra stuff. Did you just get more stuff? Let’s talk about stuff.