August 2005 Worship Services

Ministerial Cognitions

We are all on a journey together...to the center of the universe..look deep into yourself, into another. This is the holy journey...first you need only look: notice and honor the radiance of everything about you...play in the universe. Tend all these shining things around you: the smallest plant, the creatures and objects in your care. Be gentle and nurture. Listen...As we experience and accept all that we really are...we grow in care. We begin to embrace others as ourselves, and learn to live as one among many...

We gather together to begin our new church year this month. We come from our many solitary journeys back to reaffirm our journey together. We are called each year, as we gather, to tend to many things. First and foremost among those is to tend to our relationships with one another, to express our care and concern for one another, to aid one another in this difficult, painful, joyful, demanding, rewarding, growing life journey we are all on. Some of our members have had difficult times this summer, and we need to check in with them to see if they need our support and our love. We may look around and notice that some of the people who have joined us in worship, our covenant groups, our celebrations, in any of our gatherings, may not be around. I think we need to call them, check on them, let them know that they are missed. Sometimes, someone can be gone for many weeks before we notice their absence. Let us commit this year to let the members and friends of Spindletop Unitarian Church know that they are valued by this community, and that they are missed when they are absent.

We are also called to care for our church. May of 2005, during the congregational meeting, we affirmed the need to work on the church. There are a number of repairs that need to be done to our facility. As a community, we will need to be part of this evaluation, repair, and reconstruction of parts of our church building. Please help when you are asked to do what you can--our church is our little beacon of liberal religion in the Greater Beaumont Area, we need to keep it in good working order.

We are also to care for our world. This year we will again need to consider how we will reach out in our community to aid others and to work for justice. I hope we continue to sponsor a family in need at Christmas. I know we will have fund-raisers to be able to give to worthy causes in Beaumont. I wish we would find other ways to help those in need, those in pain, those with significant struggles. Perhaps this year, we can decide as a faith community to pick one area of need and put ourselves wholly into it. I heard on National Public Radio of a women who started a program that gives out diapers to poor and single mothers. I know that there are many people in Beaumont who need help finding their way through the various public and private agencies to get the help they need. Perhaps this year, we can find a cause and work together to make a difference in our community.

Our church year is beginning, let us embrace ourselves, embrace each other, and embrace our community. Let us notice and honor the radiance of everything about us. Let us tend to all those shinging things around us. Let us grow in care, and live as one that makes a difference among the many.

Rev. Tom

Worship Services:

August 8

Spiritual, not Religious Presented by Cathy Allen, member

Cathy Allen will be reading a sermon by Dr. Laurel Hallman Senior Minister of First Unitarian Church of Dallas.

August 14

Working For Justice as a Faith Community by Rev. Tom Capo

Our Principles call us to work for the goal of a world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. Many of us do this as individuals. How do we do this as a faith community? I know it is difficult for us to agree on which issues need our attention in this world, but that shouldn't keep us from working together to somehow make this world a better place.

August 21

We Need Some Myths in Our Lives by Rev. Tom Capo

I believe our faith helps us cope with problems, and many times helps us to get a different perspective on our lives and our world. Stories, myths, and fables can aid us in living our lives--helping us see the bigger picture or the greater good. I have recently found that myths can also help me understand what it is to be in right relationship with others.

Anyone who became a new member of Spindletop Unitarian Church between May 2004 and August 2005, please attend the service on August 21 for our New Member Recognition

August 28

Ingathering by Rev. Tom Capo

This is our annual water communion service. Each of us brings Water from our various journeys this summer. We come together to share these journeys of the mind, heart, and body with each other as we celebrate the start of our new church year.