Janus 

This month we celebrate the ancient Roman god, Janus, for whom January was named. 

Order of Service - Script 

for Sunday: 

January 1, 2023

NIUU, Jeanie Donaldson, Pastor Fred 

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Prelude - Jeanie Donaldson - "Arietta in E flat Major" by Haydn

Welcome and Announcements: 

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.   

Lighting the Chalice: 

Chalice Lighting for the New Year

By Lisa Doege

For the new year, 

beginning today,

always beginning:

We light our chalice,

symbol of faith, perseverance, and hope,

in astonished thanksgiving and irrepressible praise.

For beginnings that

emerge out of endings,

appear amidst continuity,

become visible in hindsight:

We light our chalice,

symbol of faith, perseverance, and hope,

in astonished thanksgiving and irrepressible praise.

For all the times,

and all the ways,

we have begun anew, together:

We light our chalice,

symbol of faith, perseverance, and hope,

in astonished thanksgiving and irrepressible praise.

Opening Words: ­­­

Like Janus we gather with part of us looking backward

and part of us looking forward.

We gather on the edge of the new year

saddened by our losses,

cherishing our joys,

aware of our failures,

mindful of days gone by.

We gather on the cusp of this new year

eager to begin anew,

hopeful for what lies ahead,

promising to make changes,

anticipating tomorrow

Hymn #350: 

The Ceaseless Flow of Endless Time 

1 - The ceaseless flow of endless time no one can check or stay;

we’ll view the past with no regret, nor future with dismay.

2 - The present slips into the past, and dreamlike melts away;

the breaking of tomorrow’s dawn begins a new today.

3 - The past and future ever meet in the eternal now:

to make each day a thing complete shall be our New Year vow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLIvxisUh5E  

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. 

Joys and Concerns (with lighting of candles of caring) 

Story: 

 

THE RAVING

A Mother's Chilling Post-Holiday Tale  

(with apologies to Edgar Allen Poe) 

by Ellen Meister [from Dorothy Parker]

 

Once upon an evening dreary, while I toiled, weak and weary

Over many a desperate dirty dishrag and forgotten chore,

While I leaned down limply lugging toys from off the carpet rugging

Suddenly there came a tugging, tugging at the skirt I wore.

“'Tis some little kid,” I muttered, smoothing out the skirt I wore,

“Only this and nothing more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December,

Action dolls not yet dismembered lay across the playroom floor.

Each new toy was still unbroken, yet the child still was pokin'

And the only word there spoken was the whining more, “S'more.”

This he whispered then his sister murmured back the word, “S'more.”

Only this they did implore.

Then the silly, sad, incessant clangor of the season's presents

Chilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;

So that now to still the beating of my heart I stood repeating,

“Darling children, I am pleading, let's return some to the store--

Darling children, I'm entreating, let us give some to the poor.”

Still they said, “We want s'more.”

“You still want more?” I blurted feeling slightly dizzy, my head reeling,

“Get thee back into the playroom where your playthings line the floor!

Go before I need to yank you! 

Leave my kitchen and I'll thank you not to ask for any more.

Take thy sighs from out my sight and thy form from off my door!”

Quoth the child, “I want more.”

And the child, so demanding, still is standing, still is standing

Near a portion of my pantry just beside the kitchen door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming

Sights of toys and trinkets gleaming on the shelves of every store.

Unaffected with respect to his demands for even more,

Quoth I, the mother, “Never more!”

 

Meditation: 

Meditation for a New Year

By Amanda Poppei

My friends, we have arrived: we are here, in this new year.

We have crossed the boundary of time, into the next year, with all its resolutions and plans and schedules ahead of us.

Let us pause, for just this moment, before we move boldly onward.

Let us pause to hear the breathing of those around us,

to feel their presence in this room; to know their presence in our lives.

Let us pause to consider the trees, their branches stripped bare,

their elegant architecture on display.

Let us pause to feel the spirit of life and love that ties us to each other, that winds its way through our very bones and settles in our hearts.

Before we move forward, armed with resolutions that will shortly be forgotten in the day-to-day of living, let us notice what it is that remains every year, every day. What exists beyond schedules and months, beyond time. It welcomes us to life, not just at the start of the year, but every day. And let us answer... Amen. 

Hymn #123: 

Spirit of Life 

Spirit of Life, come unto me.

Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion.

Blow in the wind, rise in the sea;

move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice.

Roots hold me close; wings set me free;

Spirit of Life, come to me, come to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9pkaWqeuMQ 

Sermon: 

Happy New Year, Everybody! 

Here’s hoping this year will be memorable in good ways. 

The passage of time is marked by the holy days each year to help us make every day holy, that is, meaningful. 

New Year's Day seems like a holiday (holy day) custom designed for us UU’s. 

It would honor no particular deity unless we were citizens of ancient Rome. 

They honored the god Janus at the time of the New Year, and the month of January was named for him. 

Janus had two faces, one facing the past and the other facing the future. 

In other words, he was portrayed as having a face on the front and a face on the back of his head! 

Like Janus, we ourselves often look backwards, and we often look forwards too. 

In our times as in most times we can watch history unfold. 

Time will tell what many events and choices will mean in the long run. 

The perception of meaning is generally the result of our preconceived notions. 

Meaning is not an objective category. 

As history unfolds it reveals to us who we are and what is truly important to us. 

Our understanding of ourselves and our societies is not determined by the events of history, but history has a strong influence on our point of view. 

For example, attacks and hatred toward us do not exactly endear the attackers to us. 

In understanding the way we become who we are, the metaphor of Janus is a helpful approach to the influence of the unfolding of events because history leans into the past and into the future. 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the U.S. Congress three days before Christmas in 2022. 

Winston Churchill visited the U.S. Congress on the day after Christmas in 1941. 

In both cases, the visits took place in times of crisis and war. 

Churchill visited the U.S. when his country was fighting the autocratic Nazis, and Zelensky’s visit took place while his country was fighting (and is still fighting) the autocratic Russians. 

Both visitors, Churchill and Zelensky, were looking to the United States to provide essential aid to their countries’ war efforts. 

As Mark Twain once said, “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” 

As the events of history rhyme, we can find meaning through understanding. 

We can learn many things by looking both backward and forward.

We do need to be careful not to concentrate too much either on the past or on the future, but it’s possible to maintain a balance between the two. 

If we spend too much energy on the past, we may be weakening ourselves by concentrating on feelings of nostalgia. 

There is nothing wrong with memory as a way of dealing with our feelings. 

Sometimes we can only resolve issues that come from our past by looking at them and what they meant to us. 

At the same time, the past can weaken the present if we lose ourselves and our present experiences by staring at the past too much. 

So we need balance in looking at the past. 

We can’t afford to repress our memories, but similarly, we can’t afford to live in them. 

Balance is needed also as we think about the future. 

We don’t know - and we can’t know - much about the things that are to come. 

We can lose ourselves in thoughts about the future as easily as we can lose ourselves in thoughts about the past. 

At the same time, thinking reasonably about the future can bring hope in new ways. 

Hope is important in convincing us that our lives are worth living here and now. 

Sometimes thinking about the past can help bring hope. 

Sometimes we can get discouraged if we spend too much time and energy on issues that remain unresolved from the past. 

We can best find the balance we need between past and future as we concentrate our thoughts and energy on the present. 

A good symbol of the balance between looking toward the past versus looking at the future can be the two faces of the Roman god, Janus, with one face looking toward the past and the other face looking toward the future. 

A supernatural Greek spirit provides similar symbolism in the form of a dog named Orthus (or Orthrus) with two faces, one looking toward the past and the other looking toward the future. 

Finding the past and the future in a single being (like Janus or the Orthus) is a good symbol for us all to call us to concentrate on the present rather than trying to live in the past or the future. 

Our lives will be much more meaningful if our energies can be concentrated on the needs of the here and now, with the things we have learned from the past and the things we continue to hope for the future very much in mind. 

We can be like Janus with awareness of the past and the future without being two-faced if only we are willing to keep our experiences and learnings as well as our opportunities for new beginnings in our hearts as our focus is on the present moment. 

The great masters of all faiths, whom we as UU’s can claim as our teachers, are wonderful resources for doing exactly this: We are taught to live in the here and now without forgetting the things that have been, but not letting them rule us. 

We can look forward to the events that are coming in our lives, remaining unafraid, while at the same time not having to shape all our present actions to try to keep them as we want them to be. 

There is wisdom in non-attachment. 

We don’t have to cling to the past, we don’t have to hold on to our desires for the future, and we can let go of what is past, releasing the things that are present, and looking toward the future without holding on to any of those things. 

Then our lives can be informed by the wisdom of the ages. 

Amen 

Let it be

Blessed be

Congregational Response 

Offering Information 

Charity of the Month: GAYT - Guest at Your Table

Current Theme: Hope, Courage, Action

The injustices and crises of the past year have underscored the importance of our shared goal—a world free from oppression, where all can realize their full human rights. They also have emphasized just how big a task that is.

To meet the enormous challenges of today and build a more just future, we need big ideas and bold change. We must fundamentally transform the way things are so that we do not perpetuate systemic inequities and repeat the harms of the past.

At the UU Service Committee, we believe that the transformational solutions we need come from communities most directly impacted by injustice. Join us for this year’s Guest at Your Table program to learn what UUSC partners are doing to address immediate injustices – as well as what they envision for the future. At this extraordinary juncture in history, we think their stories will offer inspiration and guidance on the path toward justice.

NIUU

P.O. Box 221

CDA ID 83816

Extinguishing the Chalice : 

More Than One Life

By Lee Huebert (altered for this service by Pastor Fred)

Lighting a candle is somewhat like the beginning of life. If that is true, then perhaps extinguishing a candle is like the ending of life. But death may not be the end of us. We live on in the memories of friends and loved ones. The influence we possess in life works on, moving persons or causes forward. Let us not forget that most candles have more than one life, and so, perhaps, may we, as we look forward as well as looking back.

Closing words: 

An ending, or merely prelude to more glorious beginnings?

By Michael A Schuler (altered for this service by Pastor Fred)

We have reached the end of this time

For the gathering of memory

And for letting the imagination play with future possibilities.

We have enjoyed magic moments and edified each other.

Shall it be concluded, then?

Or will this adventure, now commenced, continue?—

Our separate paths converging, meeting, merging

In the unending quest for love more perfect,

The joyous struggle for meaning more sufficient and life more abundant.

Is this ending to be an ending,

Or merely prelude to new, more glorious beginnings?

I pose the question;

In your hearts lies the answer.

All we have to do is look forward toward the new beginnings 

As well as backward toward what has been. 

Closing Circle