Author: Mary Bennett

We’re All Here – Chalice Choir Plays PuSh

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We’re All Here

by Leslie Hill (far left) 

UCV’s Chalice Choir spent an exhilarating evening Friday night (January 19, 2018) on stage in The Events, by David Greig, a play about a lesbian priest’s journey through the trauma of surviving a mass shooting that kills everyone else in the community choir she directs. Despite the darkness of the subject matter, the play is ultimately redemptive. The cast involves two actors and a choir – a different choir every night. Singers are required to learn the music and discouraged from reading or seeing the play in advance. The first ‘practice’ with the actors comes an hour before the audience arrives.

It’s unnerving, to say the least.

“You’re not supposed to act,” Richard Wolfe, the director, told us. “We want you to focus on the performance on stage just like the audience. You’re a kind of Greek chorus.”

Fair enough. I’m certainly no actor; in fact I was so mesmerized by the play, I didn’t even realize until the last scene that I’d been on the edge of my chair the whole night. Luisa Jojic as Claire, and Douglas Ennenberg as the Boy were riveting. Doug Ennenberg, of course, is one of UCV’s own, but I doubt any of us was prepared for the sense of menace he exuded, or  his extraordinary and raw physicality. He also portrayed a psychiatrist, the Boy’s father, a school friend, Claire’s partner, and a politician, shifting easily from one character to another. Luisa Jojic, a veteran actor from Bard on the Beach, was brilliant as the anguished survivor, a priest who has lost her faith, and is searching fruitlessly for answers. Under the supervision of Mishelle Cuttler, the production’s music director, we sang our own opening number and the seven songs that are part of the play on cue. In the last scene, we moved out and filled the stage to sing directly to the audience, ‘We’re All Here’, a community choir, participants and observers both. I teared up. It was an extraordinary night and a wonderful privilege.

Now I need to go back and see another night with a different choir.

The Events plays in the Russian Hall until January 28 as a part of Vancouver’s Push Festival.

Tickets click here. Note opportunity to volunteer and see for free.

A list of the choirs can be found here.

Drumming with Aline LaFlamme — More, Please!

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Drumming with Aline LaFlamme

  • by Mary Bennett

As part of our annual Women’s Gathering, Aline LaFlamme led a drumming workshop.

We learned three songs: Four Directions; Strong Woman and Gratitude songs. I, for one, hope to get a chance to sing and drum to these songs again. Like several other women in the workshop, I’d brought a drum I’d bought some years ago and very rarely used. Now it’s out, it wants to come out and play more often. We were told that all three songs are public songs and we are invited to sing and drum them any time.

The workshop was from 1 to 4 pm and Aline came back to join in the potluck dinner and also lead an opening round dance when we started the circle dance part of the evening.

7 Natural Ways of Healing

Aline tells us there are seven natural ways of healing that we can all use any time to help ourselves: talking, crying, screaming, singing, laughing, shaking and.. dancing!  Let it be a dance!

Aline and her group Daughters of the Drum led the recent March On – Vancouver march on January 20. She welcomed all to join her and the group at the start of the march.

Margo Elfert and Tamiko Suzuki of UCV are members of Aline’s group and would enjoy having other Unitarians join the march with them. The group includes both aboriginal and settler members.

Margo is exploring with Aline the idea of a monthly drum circle at UCV. Contact Margo if you’d be interested in joining in.

Here are youtube links for two of the songs we learned.

Strong Woman Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHVAzmfZAy4&index=4&list=RDar46tLpZKXg

The Strong Woman Song is performed by Raven Hart-Bellecourt and Lisa Muswagon.

Lakota 4 directions Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qeb4KhIMQ8&list=RD-qeb4KhIMQ8

I couldn’t find a link for the Gratitude Song.

You can see Tamiko and Margo here at the recent March On – Vancouver event with the Daughters of the Drum.

Jewish Celebrations

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Jewish Celebrations at UCV

Our congregation had a very successful Hanukkah party on December 9th with 60 people including about a dozen kids of all ages. There were dreidls and menorahs and yes, latkes! (Thanks, Patti, Tara and Elliott).

One of the biggest successes is that there’s an enthusiastic group of Unitarians with Jewish roots who then organized a Passover dinner.

Come along whether your background is Jewish or you just want to learn more–and enjoy a celebratory dinner with other Unitarians and their friends and families.

Link to Passover Seder/Dinner Event with details.

Rosh Hashanah 2018 will begin in the evening of Sunday, September 9 and ends in the evening of Tuesday, September 11.

Unitarian-Jewish connections

You might be interested in these links to learn more about how Unitarianism and Judaism have

connections. Our congregation hasn’t regularly offered gatherings to celebrate Jewish holidays in recent years, but now there does seem to be some enthusiasm for doing so.

Jewish Unitarian Universalists

From: https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/beliefs/judaism

Many Unitarian Universalists (UUs) have a connection to Judaism. Whether we are ethnically, culturally, or spiritually Jewish, whether we’re married to a Jewish person, or simply inspired by Jewish wisdom, we have a place in Unitarian Universalism. One of the six sources we draw upon in our worship and religious education is “Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves.”

We honour Jewish holidays with a progressive and inclusive twist. UUs with Jewish heritage hold Passover seders, celebrate Hanukkah, and mark the High Holy Days. When we worship together, Judaism comes into play in a variety of ways depending on the congregation. In the fall our Sunday services often draw on themes from Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Our winter holiday-themed services often tell the story of Hanukkah. In the spring, we tell the stories of Moses and the Exodus, and some congregations gather around an all-ages all-faiths table to join in a celebratory Passover Seder led by Jewish UUs. Any time of year in our congregations, we may hear wisdom from the Bible, some midrash, a Hasidic tale, or a funny story from Jewish culture.

From UUA

Passover Seder in Unitarian Universalist congregations

 

From:  Unitarian Universalists for Jewish Awareness

http://uuja.org/

Passover

• Dayenu ( a Passover homily) Rev. Marti Keller
• Daiyenu: What is Sufficient? A Jewish UU’s Struggle with Passover Lori Rottenberg and Rev. Lynn Thomas Strauss

Rosh Hashanah

• Homily for Rosh Hashanah 2012 Rev. Marti Keller
• We Begin Again, in Love Rev. Barabara Wells
• A New Year… and a New Chapter by Rabbi Howard A. Berman

Yom Kippur

• Atonement – Making Things Right Rev. Paul Oakley

Hannukah

Sermons

Here’s a personal essay on “being both” Unitarian and Jewish.

 

Mini Adult OWL Workshop

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Delicious. Intriguing. Satisfying.

This is Better than Chocolate!

(And it’s only for Adults.)

When was the last time you had a thoughtful and fun conversation about sexuality? Remember your high school sex education? Ugh! Society is highly sexualized today and yet people don’t REALLY understand sexuality and this robs them of deeper fulfillment. Our UU values, through the Our Whole Lives program (OWL), give us a unique opportunity to take a holistic look at sexuality so that we can enhance self-knowledge, clarify our values and understand our boundaries. This workshop also helps participants:

  • guide their kids/grandkids towards healthy sexual relationships,
  • increase physical and mental well-being as you age, and
  • have greater confidence to positively impact societal issues in this area.

No, you won’t have to talk about your sex life, nor hear about mine! Join a safe, non-judgmental group for exploration where you will learn as much from the other participants as you will from the facilitators.

Introductory session: Friday February 2, 2018 7:00 to 9:30 PM.

One day Mini Adult OWL Workshop: Saturday February 17, 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM.

Facilitators: Margaret Smith & Rev Samaya Oakley

Sign up: contact Margaret Smith 1-306-220-9668  [email protected] by January 28th.

 

 

Chalice Choir performing at PUSH Festival – Jan 19

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The Chalice Choir will be one of the participating local choirs in this production of The Events as part of the Push Festival

The Events: Chalice Choir does PuSh Fest, Friday January 19th

This month, our choir will be one of 13 choirs to join actors Douglas Ennenberg and Luisa Jojic onstage for a full-scale Canadian Premier performance of The Events. Secret Songs – Love, Fear, Beauty – One Night Only!

About the play:

Claire, a left-wing lesbian priest – and a young man with a violent design. The play is not filled with violent acts. It follows Claire’s attempt to understand how someone could do an awful thing. David Greig’s daring new play explores our destructive desire to fathom the unfathomable and asks how far forgiveness will stretch in the face of atrocity.
January 17-28 @ the Russian Hall. Tickets @ pitheatre.com

More details:

Douglas Ennenberg and Luisa Jojic will be performing in the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival with Pi Theatre at the Canadian Premier of “The Events” by David Greig. January 17-28 @ the Russian Hall. For one night only, January 19th, the Chalice Choir will be joining the performers onstage to sing specially prepared songs, and to act as the presence, or ghost, of a community.
Once again Pi Theatre is bringing Vancouver the international work it needs to see. The journey of Luisa’s character is at the height of any great Shakespeare play. Douglas will be playing 11 complex characters. The form balances experimentation with resonance. A different choir every night will fill out the full breadth of our little world.
Come to see some of our many collaborators – we will be joined onstage by 13 local choirs (that’s 250 community members!), and 5 guest speakers. Find the dates for your faves or friends on the Pi website.
There are great prices for PuSh Passes and Youth Passes available on pushfestival.ca or buy tickets through pitheatre.com.
Tell your friends!

About the Play

“I don’t want to understand what happened to me, I know what happened to me. I want to understand what happened to him.”  The Events tells the story of Claire – a right-on, left wing female priest who leads a choir in a community setting.  Claire experiences something terrible – a young man she vaguely knew turns a gun on those who ‘aren’t from here’ in an attempt to make his mark on society.  This is not a biopic of such terrible events.  The play is not filled with violent acts.  It follows Claire’s attempt to understand how someone could do such an awful thing, and how this leads her on a path to self-destruction.  The play focuses on the reaction of communities to acts of aggression and how hard it can be to move on.  David Greig’s daring new play explores our destructive desire to fathom the unfathomable and asks how far forgiveness will stretch in the face of atrocity.
This image was taken in December 2017 for our concert.

https://www.pitheatre.com/the-events

If you’d like to connect with other Unitarians to meet up for arts and culture events, you could join our email group, where we share recommendations and sometimes form a group to attend an event together.

Martha Saunders giving sermon on the Interdependent Web this Sunday

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Martha joined UCV in the fall of 2018.

Martha Saunders Ph.D., taught religious studies and women’s studies for many years at Concordia University, Montreal, and at the University of Toronto, specializing in religious and environmental ethics.
Since 1995 she has been one of the long-time leaders of an independent eco-spiritual community in Toronto, called Ruah. This community lives and celebrates a spirituality inspired by the works of Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, and others, based in love of the earth and exploring what it means to “reinvent the human” (Thomas Berry) in the evolving cosmos. We believe that an Earth-based spirituality must include a spirituality of liberation that challenges us into right relationship with all other creatures.

Aline LaFlamme Leads Drumming Workshop for Women – Must preregister.

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Aline LaFlamme has become something of a regular around Unitarian circles. Her next gathering is a drumming workshop for women on January 6. Preregistration required. Suggested donation $25 to Women’s Retreat Fund.

This is part of our annual women’s gathering that goes on till 9pm with potluck feast, regifting, collage party, tarot cards and circle dancing. Child care available 12:30 – 5:30 pm.

She is a Sun Dancer, pipe carrier, drummer, and Metis grandmother, teaches traditional Aboriginal culture such as on-the-land healing retreats including the sweat lodge.

Aline understands our human need to be spiritually and emotionally more connected with the Earth. In her forum on Connection with Mother Earth, she focused on how we can re-awaken our deep connection with Mother Earth and all things in creation.

Aline La Flamme and Daughters of the Drum

Our members, Tamiko and Margo are members of this group.

Aline La Flamme reading at Poetic Justice.

Canadian Colours Art Show with Judy Villett

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On Wednesday, November 29th, Mary Bennett from UCV is organizing a guided tour with Judy Villett. To start, meet at Judy’s studio at 100 Braid Street at 1:00 pm. The tour will continue at Place Des Arts at 2:00 pm. The tour will conclude with refreshments at a local café. Please join us!

Canadian Colours Textile Art Show

Judy Villett, Unitarian

Being born in Canada has always felt like a great blessing. I want to share my passion for this country through my textile art. I was 15 when the Union Jack flag was changed to the Maple Leaf. The clean, simple, graphic lines of the Canadian flag have become my framework forthe changing seasons, landscapes, politics and demographics of Canada.
I use very basic piecing techniques with a complex design process, assembling commercially printed fabrics, often cutting them to 2” squares and placing them on a design wall where I can study the value, colour and line before sewing them together. I use a domestic sewing machine to quilt three layers, adding texture and cohesion to the fabric design. One piece has words quilted into the free-motion design that emphasis my positive feelings about Canada, especially strong after living and travelling abroad.
Another, darker flag expresses my fears of government secrecy, repression, and isolation.
With gratitude for those who welcomed us here and helped us survive, and a hand open to welcome newcomers, my hope is to warm your heart with my love of this land. Help me celebrate the last 150 years of growth of this giant young country.

—Judy Villet

The Canadian Colours exhibit runs until December 22nd in Place Des Arts community centre at 1120 Brunette Ave, Coquitlam, BC V3K 1G2. Due to classes and activities the hours are erratic: Monday,Wednesday, Thursday 9–2:30; Tuesday 12:30–2:30; Friday 9–9; Saturday 3:30–5; and Sunday 1–5.
Photo: Jane Shoemaker (left) visited Judy Villet’s art show, “Canadian Colours” on opening night. Michael Scales and Judy Villet at right.

 

Unitarian Advent Calendar

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Traditions and Events for December

One of the creators of the Spirit Play program created a Unitarian Advent Calendar. Could we add Canadian Unitairian significant dates and people?

https://www.uua.org/offices/people/ralph-y-roberts

 

 

Most of the graphics have historical events and figures from U.S. connections. I chose these two to put here as they’re related to holidays and traditions that we celebrate at our congregation.

 

Here’s a youtube video of Malvina Reynold’s song Eight Candles.

Here’s more about Malvina Reynolds noting her Jewish background.

Resources Recommended by Harvard Square Library

Reynolds, Malvina and Emmy Lou Packard. The Malvina Reynolds Songbook. Berkeley: Schroeder Music Company, 1974.

 

Here’s a song called “Quiet” by Reynolds.