Sabbatical Report February 21-March 16, 2004 Kenneth W. Phifer For the past dozen years I have been taking sabbatical time one month a year rather than saving up the months to take a six month sabbatical at one time as I did in the 1980's. I have found this to be a congenial arrangement as it gives me a break in the middle of the year to catch up on reading and sleep, visit with my scattered family, and pursue various projects I have no time for in the regular course of my ministerial duties. This year was primarily a time of rest and reading and reflection on the near future when I shall be retired from the ministry of this church. The first eight days were spent on Tortolla, British Virgin Islands, with friends who own a home there. The weather, of course, was wonderful, the wind and water warm, the food delicious, the pace slower, and the people delightful. We learned about a culture previously unknown to me but fascinating in its history and modern day form. The burden of slavery affected these islands as did the greed of various European nations. It may be a wonderful dream, as one reggae singer on Tortolla sang, to "take me to my paradise," but in point of fact you quickly come to understand that even paradise is not paradise, that even in the most beautiful of places, danger lurks, and disease and sadness and failure. The trick is, as it is everywhere, to enjoy each moment as fully as you are able. The islanders seem to do that, and we returned to Ann Arbor with a CD of island songs that remind us of that truth. I had one day in Ann Arbor to get ready for the second trip I took, this time without Tawnya, to the west coast. I visited my daughter in the midst of her packing to leave Olympia, WA, and return to live in northern Indiana. I saw my son in Livermore, CA. as he prepares to move to the law school that accepts him when he graduates from college this June. I attended a conference in Santa Barbara and then I spent three days with my brother in Los Angeles. I returned home in time to be at the church on St. Patrick's Day fully greened. The world in which we live is beautiful. From the lovely fish in the waters of the Caribbean to the majestic snow that caps Mount Rainier, from the surging waves of the Pacific to the exquisite flowers of Montecito. I strolled on sandy beaches, hiked in the mountains, chased butterflies with my granddaughter, jogged through Pacific Northwest woods, and gazed through the evening light to see Catalina rising out of the ocean. I saw San Simian, the fabulous home/castle built by William Randolph Hearst, a showcase of ostentation, whimsicality, and conspicuous consumption. The night before seeing this amazing sight, we watched RKO 281, a movie about the making of Citizen Kane, to which Hearst took such exception because he thought it was biographical and which is generally regarded as one of the best movies ever made. I watched a pitching coach tutor my 6'2" 14 year old grandson, who looks like Randy Johnson without the scowl. Up close, his fast ball, even at 14, is intimidating. I saw his brother, age 11, don the catching equipment we gave him for his birthday and beam with pleasure. I was privileged to attend a concert in the new Disney Concert hall in Los Angeles and could not help but envy the magnificent acoustics of that hall. Every gentle, quiet note could be heard in the most distant corner. I saw the moving (what the architect did) and grandiose (what Cardinal Mahoney has done) Cathedral of Our Lady and deepened my conviction that religious organizations should not be run in hierarchical, authoritarian fashion. The J. Paul Getty Museums were a tribute to the creative arts and the genius and skill of human beings to invent and produce such loveliness in painting, sculpture, drawings, and other artistic forms. The conference I attended was a gathering of the senior ministers of large (600 plus members) UU churches. One day was devoted to discussion of antiracism work. Laura Spencer was one of the presenters and Bill Sinkford, the UUA President, was there for the discussion. One day was devoted to discussion of how we run these large churches. One day was devoted to the future. All of us who have been around for a while were impressed by the several young ministers who attended. The future is very bright indeed with such people in leadership roles. There is no question in my mind that racial issues remain a matter of great concern in our midst, in the UUA and in the larger society. None of us had brilliant solutions to the problems but more than has ever been the case there was a recognition that the way things are is not the way we want them to be. We are committed to checking in with each other on at least an annual basis to inspire and learn from each other, and committed to giving support to working with Bill Sinkford in some of the programs he outlined to us but is not ready to speak about publicly yet. Bill Sinkford also made clear that we Unitarian Universalists will continue to be in the forefront of the battle to gain full rights for the bisexual, gay male, lesbian, and transgender community, especially in regard to the right to marriage. Bill, as an African American, is uniquely situated to speak to this issue because so much of the black religious leadership is vehemently opposed to gay marriage. He has started a Freedom To Marry Fund to raise money to enable him to do more about publicly supporting this right. We are the only religious movement that has committed itself wholeheartedly and without reservations or qualifications to the cause of the right of every person to marry whom they choose. Hooray for UU's. The Ann Arbor congregation is one of the 25 or so with a membership in excess of 700, the current definition of a large-plus church. We are at the top in terms of paying pension benefits and health care benefits, but are at or near the bottom in compensation for ministers. This could be a problem in finding a successor when I retire and it is something the whole congregation needs to be aware of. On the whole, I find our congregation very strong, having adopted numerous changes, experienced steady growth, and borne several capital campaigns and construction projects in a very short span of years (12), while never losing sight of our commitment to care for one another, to grow spiritually, and to care for the larger society in which we live. Hooray for AAUU! I returned three days shy of the four weeks I take for sabbatical, three days that I shall use in June when my younger son, Dave, graduates from college at UCal-Hayward and joins in a commitment ceremony with his polyamorous family the next day. BIBLIOGRAPHY One of the major values of a sabbatical period is the time it gives me to read, time I do not have when I am engaged in the daily and weekly work of being a minister. Pastoral responsibilities, sermon and class preparation, community activities, and administrative tasks simply do not allow much time for serious and sustained reading. I do this on sabbatical and on vacation. Below is a list of the magazines, journals, and books I read this year during my sabbatical. Magazines 1. American Prospect 2. Christian Century - three issues 3. End of Life Choices 4. Funny Times 5. Harvard Magazines - two issues 6. New Yorker - four issues 7. The World 8. World Press Review Journals 1. Elysian Fields Quarterly 2. Monthly Review - two issues 3. Religious Humanism Books 1. Dr.Deborah M. Anapol, POLYAMORY: THE NEW LOVE WITHOUT LIMITS; SECRETS OF SUSTAINABLE INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS, Intinet Resource Center, 1997. A good introduction to this new social phenomenon, in which I have a keen interest because of my son's polyamorous family. 2. William W.Baker, MORE IN COMMON THAN YOU THINK: THE BRIDGE BETWEEN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY, Defenders publications, 1998. Given to me by a Muslim friend, this little book is an excellent introduction to the ways these two religions intersect and also the ways in which they differ. Written in a truly open-hearted spirit. 3. Wendell Berry, CITIZENSHIP PAPERS, Shoemaker and Hoard,2003. One of the most eloquent voices for a society that is committed to non-violence, to persons, to small farms and local places, to truth-telling and to integrity. 4. Bill Bryson, I'M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF: NOTES ON RETURNING TO AMERICA AFTER TWENTY YEARS AWAY, Broadway Books, 1999. Full of laughs and good insights about who we areas a people and what we look like to someone who's been away for a while. 5. Pema Chodron, WHEN THINGS FALL APART: HEART ADVICE FOR DIFFICULT TIMES, Shambala Publications, Inc., 2000. A book to calm the soul and give hope to the heart and provoke the mind, a book to help us face the hardships of life. Written from a Buddhist perspective. 6. Dorothy Dunnett, NICOLO RISING, Volume one of eight in The House of Nicolo series, Vintage Books, 1999. Set in the 15th century, this tells the tale of merchants and political leaders in western Europe. Dunnett is arguably the best writer of historical fiction ever. Fascinating. 7. Suzan Erem, LABOR PAINS:INSIDE AMERICA'S NEW UNION MOVEMENT, Monthly Review Press,2001. A very personal story of working in a labor union in today's world. 8. Jeffrey Eugenides, MIDDLESEX, Picador,2002. This is a novel about a hermaphrodite, a Greek family, a teenager, an immigrant family, Detroit, race and ethnicity, sexuality, business, family life, hope, and much else--a superb read. 9. Christopher H. Evans and William R. Herzog II (eds), THE FAITH OF FIFTY MILLION: BASEBALL, RELIGION, AND CULTURE, Westminster John Knox Press, 2002. The title tells the contents--the relationship between baseball and religion/ethics. 10. John Izzo, Ph.d., SECOND INNOCENCE: REDISCOVERING JOY AND WONDER; A GUIDE TO RENEWAL IN WORK, RELATIONSHIPS, AND DAILY LIFE, Berrett-Koehler Publishers,Inc.,2004. A New Age style guide to happiness. Easy reading. 11. Wes Jackson, BECOMING NATIVE TO THIS PLACE, The University Press of Kentucky, 1994. One of the most important books I have read recently, Jackson speaks for our coming to terms with our locality, our region, our place, and living according to the traditions and the constraints and the spirit of that place. I think that is what we have been trying to do at 4001.This book gives inspiration. Not insignificantly it is dedicated to Wendell Berry. 12. Marjorie Kelly, THE DIVINE RIGHT OF CAPITAL: DETHRONING THE CORPORATE ARISTOCRACY, Berrett- Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2001. A businesswoman and writer, Kelly proposes the radical--but in my view wise and moral--notion of of running corporations not for stockholders but for employees, for customers, and last in order of priority stockholders. 13. David C.Korten, WHEN CORPORATIONS RULE THE WORLD, A Copublication of Kumarian Press, Inc., and Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 1995. Korten argues that corporations do rule the world now and that it is harmful to them and to us. A powerful indictment. It is a good companion to Berry's book, Jackson's book, and Kelly's book. 14. Michael Kosztarab, TRANSYLVANIAN ROOTS: THE TRUE LIFE ADVENTURES OF A HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN, Pocahontas Press, 1997. Someone left this book in my box and I read it with interest, given our partner church relationship. Thank you, someone, and if you would identify yourself would gladly thank you in person. 15. Lawrence Kushner and David Mamet, FIVE CITIES OF REFUGE: WEEKLY REFLECTIONS ON GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, and DEUTERONOMY, Schocken Books, 2003. A rabbi and a playwright, with rather different views of life and society, offer comments on the weekly portion of the Torah. An excellent book for a daily meditation guide--or a weekly guide. 16. Jill K. McAlister, Andrew M. Hill, and Clifford M. Reed, A GLOBALCONVERSATION: UNITARIAN/UNIVERSALISM AT THE DAWN OF THE 21ST CENTURY; PROCEEDINGS OF A THEOLOGICAL SYMPOSIUM, 25TH-30TH JUNE,2001, International Council of Unitarians and Universalists,2002. An interesting assemblage of thoughtful speeches about the future of Unitarian Universalism not as a national movement but as an international one. 17. Mary Oliver, WINTERHOURS: PROSE, PROSE POEMS, AND POEMS, Houghton Mifflin Company, A Mariner Book, 1999. Beautiful and wise, as all her work seems to be. 18. Michael Perry, POPULATION:485: MEETING YOUR NEIGHBORS ONE SIREN AT A TIME, Perennial, 2003. Perry is a firefighter in a tiny town where he grew up. He writes with wit and humanity about his fellow townsfolk as he encounters them through his work as a voluntary firefighter. 19. Jan Rogozinski, A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CARRIBBEAN: FROM THE ARAWAK AND THE CARIB TO THE PRESENT, A Meridian Book, 1994. After spending eight glorious days in the BVI, I wanted to learn something about the way the island societies came to be. This is a superb, very well written introduction. 20. Henry David Thoreau, WALDEN, OR, LIFE IN THE WOODS, Collier Books, 1962. I have been working on this book, a few paragraphs at a time for more than a year, and decided to finish it now. It is full of insights, strange ideas, humor, and suggestions for living a fully engaged life with the world around us. I am glad to have re-read it after a forty five year lapse. If there are any questions about any aspects of this report, please feel free to ask them of me.