May 13th is the spring choir concert Sunday. The choir, the East Shore Ensemble and a few soloists will be singing for the service, and the congregation will be joining in on some hymns that celebrate spring.

Ave Maria – (Bach/Gounod) a gorgeous choral setting of this elegant version of the classic prayer.

Fairy Tales (Eric Lane Barnes) A benediction inviting us to look at how we can be the superheroes in our own stories.

Middle Child (Eric Lane Barnes) is a lament to everyone’s favorite 1970’s middle sister.

Lambscapes (Eric Lane Barnes) – a musicalogical journey through the ages using ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ as its inspiration. Each movement covers a specific style or composer: Gregorian Chant, George Frederick Handel, Franz Schubert, Giuseppi Verdi, Carl Orff, The Sons of the Pioneers and Contemporary Gospel.

Cantique de Jean Racine (Gabriel Fauré) is a gorgeous setting of a sacred poem by Jean Racine.

Today will be a day to engage your minds and your hearts in thoughtful reflection on people, planet and profits. Rev. Jim McEachran from St. Andrew’s will talk to us about affordable housing and his congregations’ Imagine Housing initiatives; and I will be reflecting on the Poor People’s March on Washington, a movement initiated by The Rev. Dr. William Barber II, author of our 2016-17 UU Common Read The Third Reconstruction. We will look at the effectiveness of Rev. Barber’s Moral Monday movement and the intersection of the many human and planetary needs that inspired this fusion moment in history.

Click here for information about the Poor People’s Campaign

Come celebrate Pride! This service will be a joyous, profound and glittering tribute to the rainbow warriors in our midst. The Mighty Choir will sing a collection of classical themes written by both gay – and straight – composers. There will be a test. (Everyone passes) . The children’s story will be ‘A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo,’ the delightful book John Oliver’s team wrote about a gay bunny who wants to marry a boy bunny. Everyone will be encouraged to wear rainbow-themed attire; the congregational songs will be rainbow-themed and there may well be balloons!

Information about PFLAG Bellevue can be found here.

We will celebrate through story and song the ministry to our children and youth by thanking our teachers and celebrating the transitions for our children and youth. We will also celebrate our high school seniors who will be transitioning from our youth programs into young adulthood.

The Rev. Jane Dwinell and Sky Yardley will speak about their personal experience Living With Dementia. Sky was diagnosed with probable early stage Alzheimer’s disease in the summer of 2016. Since September 2017, they have been speaking at UU churches around the country with hopes to erase the stigma and misunderstandings around dementia. They also have a blog: alzheimerscanyon.blogspot.com. Jane is a retired UU minister and author, and Sky is a retired family mediator. They currently live in Burlington, VT with their son, Sayer, and his partner, Emma. The family enjoys gardening, doing things in and on Lake Champlain, playing interesting board games, and taking in a round of disc golf whenever possible.

We Unitarian Universalists sometimes are hesitant to think of our selves as “a people of faith” because we’re not sure what “faith” means. What would it mean if we asked ourselves what it would mean not to have faith in something, but to live with fidelity?

Bio: The Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson spent his teenage years at East Shore, where he learned from Leon, Barbara, and Peter what ministry might mean. He has served as the Senior Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church, Rockford, IL since 2008. He’s the co-chair of the UUA’s Presidential Search Committee, the author of “Newborn Bards: A Theology of Preaching for Unitarian Universalists,” the parent of two inquisitive children, and a perpetual daydreamer.

Poem in Praise of My Husband, By Diane Di Prima

I suppose it hasn’t been easy living with me

either,

with my piques, and ups and downs, my need for

privacy

leo pride and weeping in bed when you’re

trying to sleep

and you, interrupting me in the middle of a

thousand poems

in the middle of our drive over the nebraska

hills and

into colorado, odetta singing, the whole world

singing in me

the triumph of our revolution in the air

me about to get that down, and you

you saying something about the carburetor

so that it all went away

but we cling to each other

as if each thought the other was the raft

and he adrift alone, as in this mud house

not big enough, the walls dusting down around us, a fine dust rain

counteracting the good, high air, and stuffing

our nostrils

we hang our pictures of the separate worlds:

new york college and san francisco posters

set out our japanese dishes, chinese knives

hammer small indian marriage cloths into

the adobe

we stumble thru silence into each other’s gut

blundering thru from one wrong place to the

next

like kids who snuck out to play on a boat

at night

and the boat slipped from its moorings, and

they look at the stars

about which they know nothing, to find out

where they are going

This traditional and moving service will introduce you to some of the youth in our community. The youth will present their credos to the congregation. Coming of Age is a time for the youth to tell the congregation what being a UU means to them.

We will honor the loved ones and community members we have lost, as well as learn ways we can keep the lessons they have taught us in our lives. Looking to our earth-based traditions, we will call on the four directions to give us strength and keep us connected to our ancestors.

May 13th is the spring choir concert Sunday. The choir, the East Shore Ensemble and a few soloists will be singing for the service, and the congregation will be joining in on some hymns that celebrate spring.

Ave Maria – (Bach/Gounod) a gorgeous choral setting of this elegant version of the classic prayer.

Fairy Tales (Eric Lane Barnes) A benediction inviting us to look at how we can be the superheroes in our own stories.

Middle Child (Eric Lane Barnes) is a lament to everyone’s favorite 1970’s middle sister.

Lambscapes (Eric Lane Barnes) – a musicalogical journey through the ages using ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ as its inspiration. Each movement covers a specific style or composer: Gregorian Chant, George Frederick Handel, Franz Schubert, Giuseppi Verdi, Carl Orff, The Sons of the Pioneers and Contemporary Gospel.

Cantique de Jean Racine (Gabriel Fauré) is a gorgeous setting of a sacred poem by Jean Racine.

Today will be a day to engage your minds and your hearts in thoughtful reflection on people, planet and profits. Rev. Jim McEachran from St. Andrew’s will talk to us about affordable housing and his congregations’ Imagine Housing initiatives; and I will be reflecting on the Poor People’s March on Washington, a movement initiated by The Rev. Dr. William Barber II, author of our 2016-17 UU Common Read The Third Reconstruction. We will look at the effectiveness of Rev. Barber’s Moral Monday movement and the intersection of the many human and planetary needs that inspired this fusion moment in history.

Click here for information about the Poor People’s Campaign