As a result of this meeting, future First Friday “Circles of Ministry” will be devoted to Sunday School. This will provide the opportunity for those who will be teaching in the coming month to see lesson plans in advance. We will talk about the scripture or Bible story that will be part of the lessons.  Lily will be there to help us reflect theologically on the experience of working with children. The Circle will always be forming and reforming as various members in turn, take their part in the religious education of our children. Chances are we’ll learn a lot about our own faith in the process!  And there is always the pizza…

The celebration is Monday, January 19th at Town Hall: 6 pm potluck Tapas dinner (please bring finger food or dessert to serve six); at 7:30 the featured speaker is Professor Hassel McClellan, Associate Professor of  Statistics and Management at Boston College. A free-will offering will benefit the Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington, DC, the African American Society Scholarships and the Arlington Public Schools.

The celebration is Monday, January 19th at Town Hall: 6 pm potluck Tapas dinner (please bring finger food or dessert to serve six); at 7:30 the featured speaker is Professor Hassel McClellan, Associate Professor of  Statistics and Management at Boston College. A free-will offering will benefit the Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington, DC, the African American Society Scholarships and the Arlington Public Schools.

She suggested three dimensions to spiritually nurturing children and adolescents: provide experiences that deepen the child’s loving relationship with God; support a child’s participation in the community of the church; and help the child cultivate a practice of prayer.

Dr. Burnside’s particular interest is in helping children nourish their spirituality by the practice of mindfulness.  She defines spirituality as something that gives meaning and purpose to life.  Mindfulness is a practice of intentionally paying attention to the current moment, without judgment or censure.  Mindfulness contributes to prayer, which she understands to be the conscious recognition of the sacred, inside and outside ourselves.  Teaching children about the practices of mindfulness and prayer give them ways to cultivate meaning and purpose in life.

A theme underlying the evening was that adults can be richly nourished through their involvement in the spiritual development of children.  Participants were invited to reflect on the beginnings of their own relationship with God.  They talked about how they view children, in general and in COS specifically.  Each person identified key values they wanted to shape their efforts to help the young members of COS deepen their relationship with God.  It was a nourishing evening for all involved-and there was pizza, too!

Amy Carman remembered driving along a country road, when it has been overcast or rainy.  Suddenly, you may see sunshine in one or two places, streaming down from the dark clouds above, to fields below.  It doesn’t take too much imagination to connect this vision with the heavens sending a message to us, even if only to notice this lovely field.  In our house a stream of sunshine starts with Martin Luther King Jr. and ends at a 7 year old girl.  She has a strong connection with this man and his words.  A fierce flame of righteousness burns in her.  She reminds us often to be thankful, . . . and mindful.

Chris Wilbur said: Saturday I just had to see the whistle-stop train.  So I found myself flipping on CSPAN, where they sometimes let the camera rest on a scene with no commentary, and found myself at a station in Maryland with maybe a hundred others, people of all types, in the camera’s wedge, with a low wall behind them in front of tracks.  Though the light was somewhat somber, the crowd I could see was exuberant and relaxed. You could hear people chattering and laughing, one shouting, “No more Bush!,”  But I realized that I certainly was not relaxed at all watching this, that in some way I had not been relaxed for some time.

The camera stayed fixed on the scene and suddenly the train arrived on the left with a rumble and loud whistles.  The crowd cheered.  The engine passed.  The passenger cars rolled slowly by the camera, car after car, which seemed to take a long time as the train had evidently slowed to a crawl.  Then an old-fashioned coach which must be the last one, and sure enough, now the end of the train and just Barack and Joe standing on the tiny platform and waving.  My eyes fixed in on Barack, who continued to wave, at us and perhaps not just us.

He looked relaxed indeed, a friendly, delighted expression on his face as the end of the train angled away on the right side of the screen (the camera never moved).  As he disappeared I realized again how un-relaxed I was watching this, how I wouldn’t be able to breathe well until high noon on Tuesday, Inauguration Day.

And I felt with some sadness how hard it has been sometimes to breathe well in a racist society.  But whatever may happen later on, I said to myself, things will be better indeed come Tuesday noon.

Rose Udics said: In one of the scripture readings for this day, Samuel did not recognize the voice of God calling him to become a prophet. What does the voice of God sound like to us today? I believe God’s voice is in the kind of call that groups like the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization make-to help us recognize our God-given power when we work for Justice and Truth on behalf of our brothers and sisters, in Boston and elsewhere. I hope that we, as a faith community and as individuals, can heed that call. Though we may be tired after a long day of work and not want to use precious free time to lobby at the State House with hotel workers and personal care attendants for better working conditions, we can still sign a petition or make phone calls, or simply “be there”: show up at a meeting where having a crowd present sends an important message. When we do these things together, we are the inspiration, the “breath of fresh air” we all hope to find-the power of the Spirit at work in and among us.

Jim Gomes said: Rose and I adopted our daughter Elizabeth from South Korea when she was an infant. She became an American citizen when she was three years old. When Elizabeth was about eight or nine, she was studying the American Revolution in school. One evening, in telling us about how some of the colonists were part of the rebellion and some were not, Elizabeth casually remarked, “We were all British then.”

I was struck by how totally this little girl from half a world away had taken ownership of more than two centuries of American history. Only later did it occur to me that Rose’s and my families had not migrated to America from various corners of Europe until the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, and that therefore all of the Paul Revere/Thomas Jefferson/Abraham Lincoln stuff was just as “adopted” for us as it was for Elizabeth.

For all the mistakes the U.S. has made throughout its history, the fact remains that it, more than any other nation, has aspired to bring together people of all races, religions, and countries of origin into a nation based on ideals rather than tribe. This week, with Barack Obama’s ascension to the presidency, we will do something that is unimaginable almost any place else on earth. That is reason enough to be hopeful for the future.

We were all British then; we are all Americans now.

Amy Carman remembered driving along a country road, when it has been overcast or rainy.  Suddenly, you may see sunshine in one or two places, streaming down from the dark clouds above, to fields below.  It doesn’t take too much imagination to connect this vision with the heavens sending a message to us, even if only to notice this lovely field.  In our house a stream of sunshine starts with Martin Luther King Jr. and ends at a 7 year old girl.  She has a strong connection with this man and his words.  A fierce flame of righteousness burns in her.  She reminds us often to be thankful, . . . and mindful.

Chris Wilbur said: Saturday I just had to see the whistle-stop train.  So I found myself flipping on CSPAN, where they sometimes let the camera rest on a scene with no commentary, and found myself at a station in Maryland with maybe a hundred others, people of all types, in the camera’s wedge, with a low wall behind them in front of tracks.  Though the light was somewhat somber, the crowd I could see was exuberant and relaxed. You could hear people chattering and laughing, one shouting, “No more Bush!,”  But I realized that I certainly was not relaxed at all watching this, that in some way I had not been relaxed for some time.

The camera stayed fixed on the scene and suddenly the train arrived on the left with a rumble and loud whistles.  The crowd cheered.  The engine passed.  The passenger cars rolled slowly by the camera, car after car, which seemed to take a long time as the train had evidently slowed to a crawl.  Then an old-fashioned coach which must be the last one, and sure enough, now the end of the train and just Barack and Joe standing on the tiny platform and waving.  My eyes fixed in on Barack, who continued to wave, at us and perhaps not just us.

He looked relaxed indeed, a friendly, delighted expression on his face as the end of the train angled away on the right side of the screen (the camera never moved).  As he disappeared I realized again how un-relaxed I was watching this, how I wouldn’t be able to breathe well until high noon on Tuesday, Inauguration Day.

And I felt with some sadness how hard it has been sometimes to breathe well in a racist society.  But whatever may happen later on, I said to myself, things will be better indeed come Tuesday noon.

Rose Udics said: In one of the scripture readings for this day, Samuel did not recognize the voice of God calling him to become a prophet. What does the voice of God sound like to us today? I believe God’s voice is in the kind of call that groups like the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization make-to help us recognize our God-given power when we work for Justice and Truth on behalf of our brothers and sisters, in Boston and elsewhere. I hope that we, as a faith community and as individuals, can heed that call. Though we may be tired after a long day of work and not want to use precious free time to lobby at the State House with hotel workers and personal care attendants for better working conditions, we can still sign a petition or make phone calls, or simply “be there”: show up at a meeting where having a crowd present sends an important message. When we do these things together, we are the inspiration, the “breath of fresh air” we all hope to find-the power of the Spirit at work in and among us.

Jim Gomes said: Rose and I adopted our daughter Elizabeth from South Korea when she was an infant. She became an American citizen when she was three years old. When Elizabeth was about eight or nine, she was studying the American Revolution in school. One evening, in telling us about how some of the colonists were part of the rebellion and some were not, Elizabeth casually remarked, “We were all British then.”

I was struck by how totally this little girl from half a world away had taken ownership of more than two centuries of American history. Only later did it occur to me that Rose’s and my families had not migrated to America from various corners of Europe until the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, and that therefore all of the Paul Revere/Thomas Jefferson/Abraham Lincoln stuff was just as “adopted” for us as it was for Elizabeth.

For all the mistakes the U.S. has made throughout its history, the fact remains that it, more than any other nation, has aspired to bring together people of all races, religions, and countries of origin into a nation based on ideals rather than tribe. This week, with Barack Obama’s ascension to the presidency, we will do something that is unimaginable almost any place else on earth. That is reason enough to be hopeful for the future.

We were all British then; we are all Americans now.

According to McClaren, the book asks two essential questions: What are the world’s top crises, and what do the life and message of Jesus say to those global crises?  He believes many young people see Christianity as a failed religion because it fails to address systemic injustice, poverty, and dysfunction.  He thinks we can do better.

You may have an opinion on one or the other of these questions.  The group continues in February on the first two Thursdays, 7:30-8:30.  No need to read in advance-just come and join the conversation.