Cartoon Fodder and the Future

I used my failed quest for a pair of pants that fit as fodder for a cartoon today. I was not in the maternity section by mistake in case any one was wondering.

A friend and a mentor passed away Tuesday morning. She died peacefully, surrounded by family and in the home she loved. This had been a long illness and I knew the eventual outcome.

She founded the Insight Meditation group at our church. She and I were the only two members of the church in the group. We welcome all people regardless of their affiliation with Brazos UU. There used to be a third church member but he passed away.

Ann did leave a foundation upon which the meditation group could still go on. The two other core members can teach. I can ring the gong and give instruction on the basics (shut up and breathe). This summer, I'm the only one still in town so I've not gone to meditation. I need to inform the office administrator that the meditation group is suspended for the summer. We do get an occasional visitor to the group but rarely do they come back.

Ann did a lot of behind the scenes activities such as keeping the UU Buddhist people informed of our activities and letting other appropriate groups know of our existence. One of the other members has taken that on. I'm not ready for the designation of "the leader." If I always waited until I was ready I would have stopped getting out of bed around age 18.

I've been listening to "Drive Time Essays 2", a CD featuring various readings from "Interconnections", a publication for lay leaders in Unitarian Universalist churches. I made several copies which is encouraged and permissible by the UUA.

"Interconnections" calls itself a "relentlessly useful publication". The absurdity of Dilbert intersects with the absurdity of liberal religion. Conservative religion is absurd, also. I'm a UU. I'm allowed to say that religion is absurd. I'm even allowed to hold a position of responsibility within an UU church community. My problem is not with religion per se but with inappropriate adverb usage regardless of the theological leanings of said religion.

Most of the readings and Interconnections itself is quite useful in a non-relentless way. Some of the readings do nothing more than point out the inadequacies in my church. It is a great church but damn listening to some of the things that other churches are doing puts a great deal of doubt on that. My church has enough self-esteem issues.

I have listened to 15 of the 18 tracks on this CD. The solution to every problem highlighted in the CD involves various combinations of committees, meetings, potlucks, paid staff, chalice lighting, and social justice projects. Maybe, I'm becoming too cynical for this faith. Maybe, it's my Gen-X soul that is incapable of viewing anything non-ironically. [Insert snide anti-baby boomer tirade here]. Maybe, it's my introversion (Oh, God! more meetings! Hummus and fried chicken, mmmm.) that prevents me from looking at this more positively. Maybe the managerial bullshit at work has become too much to bear and it pisses me off when something that smells similar invades my religious life. Maybe I have read too much Dilbert.

In fairness to the UUA, our congregation can use some of the information and I made several copies of the CD to give out to leaders in the hopes that something on the CD will inspire them or help them. If I really thought the whole thing was useless I would not have made the copies. My view of the CD is colored by my somewhat negative attitude at the moment. I did find one reading especially useful and it has reignited my interest in a project. I want to revisit this project and reading once my term as Board President is over.

More information about licorice can be found at uua.org/leaders.