<div dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial black,sans-serif">Not pontificating!! Discussing what is very important and necessary to Unitarians and Universalists. Again, it is something we can profit from discussing, if only to understand the beliefs of others.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial black,sans-serif" dir="auto"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial black,sans-serif" dir="auto"> I forgot to add the following from the beginning of Singing The Living Tradition "We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association covenant to affirm and promote :....The Living Tradition we share draws from many sources by...Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves" (and note "god is capitalized)</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial black,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial black,sans-serif">I am glad you brought it up and to do so is very appropriate if you do so with the intention to engage in discussion. Of course, there are no "right' answers. I certainly respect that you don't believe in "god" but ask that you also respect my beliefs which are different. Not right, not wrong, not correct or incorrect, but different.🥰🥰🥰</div><div><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Stephen L. Finner, Ph.D.</div><div dir="ltr"><a href="mailto:finnerstephen@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">finnerstephen@gmail.com</a><br><div>(802) 598-4317 (cell) (802) 461-2528 (home-wifi)</div><div>27 Highland Avenue, Apartment 3</div><div>Barre, Vermont 05641</div><div><br></div><div>Director of Music, UU Congregation of Washington VT (summer congregation)</div><div>Minister of Music Emeritus, St. Johnsbury Vermont UU Congregation</div><div>(he, him, his)</div><div>"There must always remain in everyone's life some room for the singing of angels" Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman</div><div>"May you know the joy of living sometimes comes with pain lived through" </div><div>Steve Finner (1998)</div><div>"Nothing stays the same after we find the God within" Sr. Joan Chittister O.S.B.</div><div>And just in case you were wondering <font color="#1c1e21" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14px">"Faith without works is dead" James 2:26<br></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div><div id="m_-3231534141681769933DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br>
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</tbody></table><a href="#m_-3231534141681769933_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2" width="1" height="1" rel="noreferrer"></a></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Jun 3, 2022 at 2:34 PM Lani Seifert <<a href="mailto:lani.seifert@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">lani.seifert@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto">Sorry I brought it up. Just another opportunity for pontificating.</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Jun 3, 2022 at 2:14 PM Stephen Finner <<a href="mailto:finnerstephen@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">finnerstephen@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif">I disagree that it is "more appropriate" given that we have sung about Jesus's bloody hands while on the cross (Ave Verrum Corpus" . We also make reference to "God" is lots of other things we sing, and I invite you to go through our two hymnals and you will see many times that word is used in hymns we program all the time. I think your statement is a very dogmatic arms folded 'not me!!!" and probably will start an interesting discussion here. I would be happy as would Donia, I am sure, lead a discussion about text because it is important. When discussing text in worship and related activities ("God Danced" is not a worship song, the three most important variables are context , context and context, and did I mention context? 🥰🥰</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif">And not only do we UU's sing the word "God" often, but also (GASP) "Lord". 🤣🤣<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif">The relation between what we believe and what we sing as individuals (and not just UU's but many other faiths) is very nuanced and varied. I certainly don't believe in an interventionist deity and I qualify as an agnostic or even an atheist ( and survey research shows many people are atheists about some things and not others) and I am very comfortable singing the word "God" , depending of course on context (there's that word again). 🥰</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif" dir="auto"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif" dir="auto"> I like to refer to the Goddess of my Misunderstanding and can easily hold that in my mind while singing "God" or even the L word. So you will hear me sing "God" often and I will pray to the Goddess of my misunderstanding that you don't put me on the church lawn in stocks with a sign saying "Believes in God"🤣🤣</div></div></div></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif"><br></div><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Stephen L. Finner, Ph.D.</div><div dir="ltr"><a href="mailto:finnerstephen@gmail.com" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">finnerstephen@gmail.com</a><br><div>(802) 598-4317 (cell) (802) 461-2528 (home-wifi)</div><div><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/27+Highland+Avenue,%C2%A0+Apartment+3+Barre,+Vermont+05641?entry=gmail&source=g" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">27 Highland Avenue, Apartment 3</a></div><div><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/27+Highland+Avenue,%C2%A0+Apartment+3+Barre,+Vermont+05641?entry=gmail&source=g" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Barre, Vermont 05641</a></div><div><br></div><div>Director of Music, UU Congregation of Washington VT (summer congregation)</div><div>Minister of Music Emeritus, St. Johnsbury Vermont UU Congregation</div><div>(he, him, his)</div><div>"There must always remain in everyone's life some room for the singing of angels" Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman</div><div>"May you know the joy of living sometimes comes with pain lived through" </div><div>Steve Finner (1998)</div><div>"Nothing stays the same after we find the God within" Sr. Joan Chittister O.S.B.</div><div>And just in case you were wondering <font color="#1c1e21" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14px">"Faith without works is dead" James 2:26<br></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Jun 3, 2022 at 1:56 PM Lani Seifert <<a href="mailto:lani.seifert@gmail.com" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">lani.seifert@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto">Not everyone believes in god, Stephen, so the Happy Birthday song is more appropriate to<i> all beliefs.</i></div><div dir="auto">Lani</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Jun 3, 2022 at 1:54 PM Stephen Finner via Choir <<a href="mailto:choir@unitarianchurchofmontpelier.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">choir@unitarianchurchofmontpelier.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif">Or better yet, God Danced The Day You Were Born, by Andrew Lawrence of Toronto</div><div style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif"><br></div><div style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhAaOeypmsU" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhAaOeypmsU</a><br></div><div style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif"><br></div><div style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif">By the way, the traditional happy birthday song was written by two schoolteacher sisters, Patty (lyrics) and Mildred (tune) Hill in the 1890's for kindergarten students and the original lyrics were "Good morning to you" 3x, "Good morning dear students, good morning to you". Contrary to false belief it is in the public domain (as is "God Danced...").</div><div style="font-family:"arial black",sans-serif"><br></div><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Stephen L. Finner, Ph.D.</div><div dir="ltr"><a href="mailto:finnerstephen@gmail.com" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">finnerstephen@gmail.com</a><br><div>(802) 598-4317 (cell) (802) 461-2528 (home-wifi)</div><div><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/27+Highland+Avenue,%C2%A0+Apartment+3+Barre,+Vermont+05641?entry=gmail&source=g" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">27 Highland Avenue, Apartment 3</a></div><div><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/27+Highland+Avenue,%C2%A0+Apartment+3+Barre,+Vermont+05641?entry=gmail&source=g" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">Barre, Vermont 05641</a></div><div><br></div><div>Director of Music, UU Congregation of Washington VT (summer congregation)</div><div>Minister of Music Emeritus, St. Johnsbury Vermont UU Congregation</div><div>(he, him, his)</div><div>"There must always remain in everyone's life some room for the singing of angels" Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman</div><div>"May you know the joy of living sometimes comes with pain lived through" </div><div>Steve Finner (1998)</div><div>"Nothing stays the same after we find the God within" Sr. Joan Chittister O.S.B.</div><div>And just in case you were wondering <font color="#1c1e21" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14px">"Faith without works is dead" James 2:26<br></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div><div id="m_-3231534141681769933gmail-m_4710776050073450550m_1495973810533788901m_5011221755765041529gmail-m_2963478545307216339m_-3972525851181300959DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br>
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</tbody></table><a href="#m_-3231534141681769933_m_4710776050073450550_m_1495973810533788901_m_5011221755765041529_m_2963478545307216339_m_-3972525851181300959_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2" width="1" height="1" rel="noreferrer noreferrer"></a></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Jun 3, 2022 at 12:28 PM Vamarie via Choir <<a href="mailto:choir@unitarianchurchofmontpelier.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">choir@unitarianchurchofmontpelier.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<div style="color:black;font:10pt arial">Lucky us -- looks like we could sing "Happy Birthday" three times tomorrow! Three Gemini ladies who each bring so much talent to our plucky little choir have birthdays this weekend: June 4th is Tamara's big day, and then Heather and Liz shared June 5th for their birth! So much to celebrate at our social tomorrow!
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<div>Happy birthday Tamara, Liz and Heather!!</div>
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<div>Ginny</div>
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