Minister Musings 

Dear Ones,

Every morning I read from Mark Nepo's The Book of Awakening. In his meditation for June 8th he starts with a quote from Buddha's Little Book on Instruction, which says, "Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a great tree in the midst of them all."

He goes on to say that it is really hard to remember to rest like a great tree when gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow, praise and blame are swirling about you. In trying to avoid the difficult aspects of life we can be like a tree that is never fully open to the sky. Dwelling on our difficulties is like a tree trying to hold on to a storm that otherwise would pass.

Things may seem stormy right now. However, the storm will pass, and all the more quickly and safely the less we hold onto it. The storm will pass and the tree will remain because our roots are strong, the bedrock of our principles sound and good. "No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to this rock I'm clinging," says one of our hymns. So let us hold firmly to what is most important, and do our best to let the storm pass.

Yours,

Tess

Minister's Schedule

From July 17th- 31st I will take the remaining two weeks of vacation. After that, I will most likely take an additional two weeks to do some college touring with my son.

As usual, I have arranged for nearby colleagues to cover for pastoral call for me. So call them. Even when I am away and someone is covering for call for me, in case of a crisis you can reach me at 781-366-5701.

Pastoral Care Coverage

July 2nd - 14th: Ed Hardy will cover pastoral call. 

revedhardy@comcast.net (cell) 508-221-4346 (home) 774-501-2625

July15th- August 17th: Jim Robinson the minister in Sharon will cover pastoral call  

revrobinson@uusharon.org 781-784-3652 extension  2

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Michael Achey at  mdamd@aol.com, or Chris Pender at 508-238-9181 or  cbpender@comcast.net.