Good News 

All humans need good news to bring hope into hearts and minds. The Greek word for good news is evangelion, and those who bring it are evangelists. The English word for good news is gospel. 

Order of Service - Script 

for Sunday  May 29, 2022: 

NIUU, Jeanie Donaldson, Pastor Fred 

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Welcome and Announcements: 

(from Tracey and Fred) 

Where do we go from here? 

  NIUU Semi-Annual Meeting

   The time has come for us to re-envision how we manage all that is NIUU. How we meet, how we organize, and we move forward. Please join us for our semi-annual meeting on June 12th at 10:30am on Zoom or in person at the Harding Center. We will not be having a Sunday Service prior to this meeting as it will require our full attention and participation. The NIUU board requests that you consider the questions: Where do we go from here? What is required of us as a UU congregation? What does it mean to you to be a member of this beloved community? How do we continue to seek truth in love and support for one another? Together we will explore these questions and share our unique perspectives. 

Come into this circle of love and compassion,

Come into this community where we can dream and

Believe in those dreams—

Welcome to North Idaho Unitarian Universalists where we accept, we support, we transform:  Ourselves, Our Community. Our world.   

Offering Information 

Charity of the Month:

Family Promise of North Idaho

"Family Promise of North Idaho is an affiliate of 

Family Promise® which was created in 1986 in response to the growing need to provide shelter, meals, and comprehensive support to families without homes. We are a nonsectarian charity and we welcome all clients who meet our eligibility and admission requirements. Our staff and board of trustees work together with our interfaith and community partners to extend support to the homeless families in North Idaho."

NIUU

P.O. Box 221

CDA ID 83816

Lighting the Chalice and Opening Words: ­­­

Forged in the Fire of Our Coming Together

By Gretchen Haley

We are all connected; stronger together; love's hands in the world; called to create justice; responsible for one another and the Earth.

What's going to happen?

Will everything be ok?

What can I do?

In these days we find ourselves, too often,

Stuck with these questions on repeat:

What's going to happen? / Will everything be ok? /What can I do?

We grasp at signs and markers, articles of news and analysis,

Facebook memes and forwarded emails

As if the new zodiac

Capable of forecasting all that life may yet bring our way

As if we could prepare

As if life had ever made any promises of making sense, or turning out the way we'd thought

As if we are not also actors in this still unfolding story

For this hour we gather

To surrender to the mystery

To release ourselves from the needing to know

The yearning to have it all already figured out

And also the burden of believing we either have all the control, or none

Here in our song and our silence

Our stories and our sharing

We make space for a new breath, a new healing, a new possibility

To take root

That is courage

forged in the fire of our coming together

and felt in the spirit that comes alive in this act of faith:

that we believe still, a new world is possible

That we are creating it, already, here, and now

Come, let us worship together.

Hymn #346: “Come, Sing a Song with Me” 

Covenant: 

Love is the spirit of this church, and service its law

This is our great covenant:

To dwell together in peace,

To seek truth in love,

And to help one another. 

Greeting each other  (Those present in person can leave our seats for this, if we wish.) 

Joys and Concerns (with lighting of candles of caring) 

Story: 

A Day At The Lawn

By Erik Walker Wikstrom

Once upon a time there was a girl named Wendy. She loved grass. What can I say? She loved grass—she loved the feel of it between her toes; she loved the smell of it when it was freshly mown; she loved its bright green color. Wendy loved grass more than just about anything.

One day her family decided to go to the beach. Wendy wasn’t too sure about it. “Come on,” said her older brother, “we can go swimming.” “And we can collect rocks and shells together,” said her mom.” “And you can bury me in the sand,” said her dad. It sounded like fun, so they all piled into the car, and off they went.

When they got to the beach it sure looked great. Like nothing Wendy had ever seen. But when she first touched the sand it was way, way, way too hot. “This isn’t cool like grass,” she said. “I wish this sand was grass,” she cried!

Now, Wendy had a good luck fairy who followed her around, and he heard her wish and decided to grant it. With a flash, all of the sand, turned into grass. Now it was her family’s turn to be “not too sure.” (Wendy, of course, was delighted.) “I guess I won’t get buried today,” said dad.” “That’s okay,” said mom. “Let’s collect some shells.”

Everyone went down to where the water lapped the edge of the grass. There were polished rocks and beautiful shells lying all about. They all set to work looking for the shiniest or the biggest or the most colorful. Everyone except Wendy. “Ouch,” she said. “Oooch.” “Eeech.” The rocks and shells hurt her feet. “I wish these rocks were soft like grass,” she thought to herself, and as soon as she did, her good luck fairy—who could hear her thoughts as well as her words—made it so. The rocks and shells turned to grass too!

The family looked at one another. “Well,” they said, “at least there’s swimming.” Everybody laid their beach towels on the grass and changed into their bathing suits. “Last one in is a rotten egg,” Wendy’s older brother cried, and he ran into the waves followed closely by Wendy’s sister, their delighted squeals trailing behind. Wendy followed tentatively. But when her toe touched the water she said, “Yuck! Too wet and cold.”

This time she didn’t even have to think it—the fairy changed the water into grass without her even having to ask for it! Everyone turned to her and said, “Wendy!” but what was she to do? But her family was very understanding—they were, after all, Unitarian Universalists—so they decided to try to make the best of it. “Let’s have lunch,” said mom and dad. So they got out their picnic basket, found a nice spot on the now wide lawn, spread out the checkered cloth, and they all set to it.

Wendy was in heaven. After all, didn’t she love grass more than just about anything? But she had to admit, she was beginning to feel a bit bored and something just didn’t feel right. After all, every where she looked there was nothing but grass. And all of the sounds of the beach—the waves, the seagulls, all of it—they’d gone too. Grass was nice, but maybe not so much when that’s all that there was.

“Well,” said her mom, “we went to the beach and we’re at a lawn. This isn’t the way it’s supposed to be.” “What do you mean?” Wendy asked.

Her dad said, “You made it all the same—the sand, the rocks, the water. Each was different, and you made them the same because their differences made you feel uncomfortable. But those differences also made them special and beautiful and without them there’s a whole lot missing. In fact, everything that makes this place what it IS, is missing. And that means that you are missing out on everything you really came here for.”

Wendy thought about this for a while. She did want to collect rocks and shells; she’d seen some really beautiful ones. And the water was cold, but her brother and sister looked like they were having a lot of fun, too. And the idea of burying her father in sand was too good to pass up. “I wish it was all back the way it was,” she thought, and the good luck fairy made her wish come true.

Wendy and her family had the best time that day. She still loves grass more than just about anything, but she’s learned to love other things too. And she’s come across some things that she doesn’t like much, and that’s okay too. But she’s never, ever wanted everything to be the same again. Because she knows that things are supposed to be different, each thing as it is, and that exploring new things makes life so much more fun!

Meditation: 

A Buddhist / Taoist Meditation: 

Being Present

By Elena Westbrook

Let every moment be a prayer.

With every sip of tea,

let your lips move in thanksgiving.

Be fully present to every stroke of the hairbrush,

every cup of milk you pour for the children.

Be present, without judgement or regret,

without plans or expectations,

or even dreams,

And every moment

becomes a prayer.

Sermon: 

I love to tell stories. 

Some of my favorite stories 

  include aspects of my own experiences. 

I haven’t gotten too many complaints 

  about my sharing personal stories, 

    so I plan to continue. 

One story that I have told before 

  is relevant to our theme for today. 

I grew up in San Antonio, Texas, 

  and as a result I am (to this day) 

    functionally bilingual 

      in English and Spanish. 

That came in very handy 

  in the first opportunity I had 

    to serve in ministry in a congregation. 

On Sunday mornings, 

  I taught a class in Spanish 

    on the Augsburg Confession. 

I was also the organist 

  for the same Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. 

The pastor was Norb Oesch, 

  who is well known to this day in the Mo. Synod 

    as a leader in church renewal. 

He had a small, hand lettered card 

  taped on his pulpit. 

It said, “Dear Norb, If you have good news, 

  stand up and speak it. 

    If you don’t, sit down and shut up.” Love, Jesus 

The fact that I still remember the little card 

  after all these years (about 50 years) 

    tells us that it’s important to me 

      in life, ministry, and preaching. 

If I call something a sermon, 

  it means that I intend to convey good news. 

If I don’t have or convey good news, 

  I may be giving a talk, a speech, or a presentation, 

    but it would not be a sermon in my view. 

Sermons are important in our times of worship 

  because we all need good news in our lives.

Good news brings hope, 

  and sometimes hope can be hard to find 

    in the world around us. 

We gather here in the hope that we can find 

  some good news to take with us. 

That’s the heart of what I’m trying to do 

  week by week in the things that I share 

    with our congregation. 

Some of the best news for our congregation 

  is that we have been able to stay 

    in community with each other 

      during the difficult times of the pandemic 

        when it has been impossible for us 

          to meet together in person. 

Even better good news will be 

  our holding together 

    in the face of the continuing challenges 

      of our times.

Our spiritual lives and principles provide us strength 

  to cope with our own circumstances,  

    the circumstances 

      of people we love and care about, 

        and the circumstances 

          of the communities around us. 

This is an approach to the Good News 

  according to us Unitarian Universalists. 

The English word for this kind of good news 

  is Gospel, and in its old English form we can see it: 

    Godspel, like the Rock Opera from the early 70's. 

From Greek, the word for people 

  who bring good news is evangelist. 

People who follow the evangelists 

  are traditionally known as evangelicals. 

Enough of the language study, 

  but I want to point out 

    one of the ironies of our time.

When we think of evangelicals, 

  good news would not likely come to mind. 

Combine the term with another word of their use, 

  and fundamentalism would be another example 

    of bad news in the subject of religion. 

Originally, fundamentalists were simply those 

  who tried to be faithful to the ideas 

    they believed were basic 

      or fundamental to their faith. 

Now they are all too often the people 

  who try to impose 

    their religious rules and beliefs on others. 

Our dearly departed Beth 

  sometimes used the words, “funny mentalist” 

    to refer to them. 

That seems all too appropriate, 

  especially in our time. 

In our society today, they seem to be ascendant. 

While their star may appear to be rising, 

  we can be sure that a strong, contrary movement 

    is also forming all around us. 

As Unitarian Universalists, 

  we proclaim a faith that can encompass 

    a wide variety of points of view, 

      in keeping with our 4th Principle.

It advocates, "A free and responsible search 

  for truth and meaning." 

Among the religious movements of our time, 

  ours brings hope of peace and progress, 

    surely some of the best good news 

      we all sorely need. 

In ways similar to our present circumstances, 

  I've often noticed that our own good news 

    may be contrasted with news that is not so good. 

Our UU faith with all the affirmation 

  of different points of view 

    can be contrasted with the ever-narrower 

      religious point of view of the so-called 

        Christian conservatives, the fundamentalists. 

From a certain point of view in history, 

  Jesus of Nazareth was condemned 

    for false teaching and turned over 

      to the Roman authorities for execution 

        by the fundamentalist Pharisees of His time. 

Not all Pharisees were fundamentalists. 

In fact, despite the Pharisees having been often 

  and severely criticized in the New Testament, 

    they were long known 

      for trying to adapt the ancient teachings 

        of their faith 

          to the needs of their contemporaries. 

Ironically, Jesus Himself was probably one of them: 

  a successful Pharasaic reformer 

    who was one of the founders 

      of Rabbinic Judaism as we know it. 

This is surely a wildly alternative view of Jesus, 

  but I believe that He brought a message of hope 

    for all people. 

It would be a controversial view among Christians, 

  especially fundamentalist Christians, 

    but not so much among Reform (Progressive) 

      and Conservative Jews in our time. 

Fundamentalist Pharisees of the 1st Century 

  and Fundamentalist Christians of the 21st C. 

    share something important in common. 

They believed - and believe - 

  that they alone have the truth. 

Those of us who want to be people of good will 

  can rightly disagree that any fundamentalists 

    have the truth all to themselves. 

The good news of our UU faith 

  is that we emphatically do not believe 

    that we alone have the truth. 

We accept the idea 

  that truth may be found 

    in a variety of religious traditions. 

We are open to learning 

  from almost anyone, 

    with the possible exception 

      of those who would claim 

        that they alone believe and teach 

          truth and goodness

            and that all others teach lies and evil. 

In contrast, we have hope and we trust 

  in the possibility of human beings 

    learning from each other, 

      especially in matters of faith, 

        and this hope and this trust 

          is exactly the good news that our world needs. 

Our freedom in matters of faith is one of the gifts 

  that we UU's bring to our world and our times. 

It's one of the reasons that I believe 

  in the importance of our particular approach 

    to religion and spirituality. 

Simply by being ourselves 

  and continuing to find 

    renewal of the mind and heart 

      we are providing an alternative path 

        into the future for our nation and world. 

Amen 

Let it be  

Blessed be! 

Congregational Response 

Extinguishing the Chalice and Closing words: 

Interfaith Benediction

By Gary Kowalski

Gathered in our varied faiths,

We give thanks for the blessings of world community

As we share our common dream:

Homes and schools where children thrive,

Neighborhoods that are safe and clean,

A city rich in colors and cultures,

An economy where no one is expendable,

A beloved community where rich and poor alike have access to the

opportunity for a dignified and productive life,

Churches, mosques, synagogues and temples 

Where our deepest hope is to be of service to a hurting world.

Enable us as we leave this place

To carry forth this prayer into the coming week,

Turning our thoughts toward charity,

Our hearts toward justice,

And our hands toward the work of peace.

Shalom and Amen.