Psychiatrist D. W. Winnicott writes that we often go about our lives with an attitude of compliance, as though the world is something to be fitted in with, demanding adaptation. The attitude of compliance tells us to put our dreams away in the back of the bottom drawer of the chest of drawers. But our dreams are part of creative living, Winnicott says, which makes life worthwhile. On this Sunday, we stand up for the world of dreams and for pulling dreams through into reality as a way of transcending a life dominated by compliance.
Worship leader: Rev. Dr. Jeanne Foster, Professor Emerita Saint Mary College of California, is a Unitarian Universalist minister who has spoken in pulpits as wide-ranging as London, New Orleans, and San Francisco. She studied at Starr King, was ordained by the Monterey church, and was minister of the UU Fellowship in Modesto. She earned a Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union in the interdisciplinary area of Religion, Literature, and the Arts. A poet and translator, she studied with James Arlington Wright and co-translated with Alan Williamson The Living Theatre: Selected Poems of Bianca Tarozzi, which won the Northern California Book Award for Poetry in Translation. She has published four books of poetry, the most recent being Your Form Became My Own. Poet, Rodney Jones, writes, her “gift is to witness again and again the timeless in a single glimpse.” Ascoltando una conchiglia, her selected poems translated into Italian, is scheduled for publication this Fall by Editor Molesini,Venice. Former Poet-in-Residence Tulane University, she is recipient of the QRL Poetry Award, MacDowell, New York State CAPS, Saint Lawrence, and Lannan Foundation grants. Her passions are ballroom dancing and Tuscany and, in particular, ballroom dancing in Tuscany.
Special music: Steven Chanan, piano
If you prefer to join the community of those attending online, there are two options. One, join the service via Zoom bit.ly/uucpa_service_1015am_v3. To get the passcode, email sundayservice@uucpa.org or call UUCPA’s outgoing voicemail message, 650-494-0541. It is also included in the weekly update emails. Two, to watch the service live on our Facebook page (no passcode required), visit UUCPA’s live Facebook feed. You can follow along in the order of service, which will be posted here closer to the service date.
Photo by Carlos Fernando Bendfeldt MD on Unsplash