Participants

Judith Jenya, Hugh Tomlinson and Joan Wolf, Guest Speakers 

Mark Johaningsmeir, Service Leader

Cathy Cánepa, Coordinator

Liz Stone, Pianist

Betse Davies, Offering Intro

Jurgen Ahlers, Joys & Concerns

Dan Neuspiel, Zoom Host  

Diego Vargas, Lead Audio/Visual Technician  

Miguel Angel Espinosa, Audio/Visual Technician

Diana Amaya, Administrator/Back-up Technician  

Joseph Plummer, Video Editor & Communications

About Today's Speakers

Judith Jenya is a member of the UU Fellowship and the Jewish community of San Miguel. An attorney, psychotherapist and educator, she was named International Humanist of the Year in 2002, nominated for the Nobel Peace prize for work as founder-director of Global Children's Organization and programs for children in the war-torn Balkans and Northern Ireland. She lives with her husband Mark Johaningsmeirm in San Miguel, writes poetry, paints and is active in community work.

Hugh Tomlinson born in rural Vermont and one of six, grew up in the Congregational Church and regularly attended its services as a child. After high school he began a quest for a spiritual life. He grew away from a religious life and called himself agnostic.  Then he discovered Unitarian Universalism, felt accepted, and was able to explain his beliefs.  He now says he is atheist. He is a recovering alcoholic and a member of UUFSMA.

Raised in an Irish Catholic family in a Chicago suburb, Joan Wolf started her study of Eastern religions after reading "Autobiography of a Yogi." Like many in her generation, she found a rich spiritual path in the ancient wisdom of India and became a yoga and meditation teacher. Joan also worked for the Seva Foundation, an international non-profit helping to market the national lecture tours Ram Dass was offering in the 1980s. In 2013 she became a Buddhist by accepting the Five Mindfulness Trainings from Thich Nhat Hahn and now facilitates the weekly UUFSMA Sangha of the Heart via Zoom.

Chime/Bell

Prelude “Important Event”

By Robert Schumann

Welcome

Opening Words / Chalice Lighting

Welcoming Hymn #360 "Here We Have Gathered"

Words: Alicia S Carpenter; Music: Genevan psalter, 1543

Covenant

We respect the interdependent web of life and work for a just and peaceful world. We encourage the search for truth and meaning, strive for compassion in our relationships and seek values that will benefit our lives and the lives of others. This is our covenant.

Respetamos todos los estilos de vida dentro de su red interdependiente y trabajamos por un mundo justo y pacifico. Alentamos la búsqueda de la verdad y la comprensión total. Nos esforzamos por mantener compasión en nuestras relaciones y buscamos valores que beneficien nuestras vidas y las vidas de los demás. Este es nuestro convenio.

Reflection by Hugh Tomlinson

Joys and Concerns

Musical Meditation "Little Romance"

By Robert Schumann

Reflection by Judith Jenya

Offering

Offering Music "Cradle Song and The Poet Speaks"

By Robert Schumann

Responsive Reading #657 "It Matters What We Believe"

By Sophia Lyons Fahs

Reflection "We interare"

By Joan Wolf

Hymn #175 "We Celebrate the Web of Life"

Words: Alicia S. Carpenter; Music: Melchior Vulpius

Closing Words and Extinguishing the Chalice

Postlude “The Happy Farmer (returning home from work)”

By Robert Schumann

For the last eight years, as an advocate for students and teachers in rural schoolhouses, UUFSMA member Bill Wilkinson has devoted much of his energy to building resources for education in villages outside San Miguel de Allende. During this Sunday Service, he will describe his work as an independent, self-directed volunteer in a largely neglected domain of Mexican society.

Retired as a major international shipping executive, Wilkinson discovered this avocation after traveling throughout Mexico for about ten years in a motorhome with his wife Jane and their two dogs and finally making a home in San Miguel. Here while working with Jovenes Adelante, he met a nursing student, Ceci, from a very poor family living in a remote hamlet.

Wheeling his way into this work, Bill loves driving to campo schools and seeking receptive principals and teachers who invite him to assist with tutoring programs and resources. “I’m naturally shy,” he says, “but I feel empowered when I am speaking for resources for these children.” And he is also persuasive. He has convinced several people to provide time and money to his adopted schools.

Opportunities to help others drive his passion to work beyond his immediate surroundings and accept others for their self-worth. Rural Mexican culture amazes him for its work ethic, compassion, and welcoming attitude. His talk will recount assisting Ceci through nursing school, programs to improve kids’ reading skills, building libraries and computer rooms for three schools, contracting internet services, teaching English, and supplementing salaries for extended school days, all of which he accomplishes without speaking Spanish. “I have my ways and a great group of volunteers,” he says.

Wilkinson is an Oregon native with an MBA. He served for two years as a soldier in Vietnam. Bill learned to be a skillful organizer during a 30-year career (and worldwide travel) in international shipping. He and his wife, Jane, have visited all the “hidden gems” and nooks and crannies of Mexico, which have exposed them to its beauty and cultural richness as well as its poverty, illiteracy, and inequality. He and Jane recently incorporated this work as a 501(c)(3) called Apoyo Escolar.

UUFSMA donates fifty percent of its income to support nonprofit organizations that provide health, educational, and environmental services for underserved communities in the San Miguel region. Please support this work by clicking on the website home page Donate button. Now more than ever, your support is essential.

Tom’s Coffee Hour Discussion, Tuesdays (9:30am)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/442374895?pwd=NHljVm1LbHQydVBIUUkyWkIybVNHUT09
Meeting ID: 442 374 895
Passcode: 724450

Tuesday Discussion group, May 17, 2022 (11:00am)

The Tuesday Zoom discussion group is led by Lou Marines.

Topic: Life Lessons

Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81997626702

Friday Buddhist Group, Sangha of the Heart (10:00am)

Regular participation is encouraged or drop-in when you want. Please email Joan at joanwolf@umich.edu if you would like to be added to the Sangha of the Heart email list and receive the Zoom link in a weekly reminder.