Storytelling is the oldest form of education. Cultures have always told tales as a way of passing down beliefs, traditions, and history to future generations. Stories are at the core of all that makes us human.

Stories are the way we store information in the brain. A list of facts will be forgotten, but stories are remembered. Stories help us to organize information and tie content together. Stories go straight to the heart. Because humans are emotionally involved creatures and truly enjoy storytelling, it can help to create a positive attitude toward the process of humanizing us. 

Telling stories from around the world creates an awareness and appreciation of different peoples, cultures, ethnicities, genders, orientations and all of the many ways we live our human experience.

Theme for March:  Commitment
The phenomenon of commitment is a cornerstone of human social life. Commitments make individuals’ behavior predictable in the face of shifting sands in their abilities to be present. This manifests in our personal desires and interests, thereby supporting the planning and coordination of joint actions involved in communal or congregational life. 

Moreover, commitment also facilitates cooperation by making individuals willing to contribute to joint actions to which they wouldn’t be willing to contribute if they were expected to show up on their own. Think about any of the things we do together, the food pantry, or fighting for justice, or participating in a congregational clean up service or a party  Our connection to commitment makes all the difference in our shared lives, our shared ministry. Long live our desire and abilities to make and live up to our commitments.

Continuing Conversations 
March 2021
Some Empowering Ways To Celebrate Women's History Month
 
Some years ago in March, I read an article by MIA MERCADO entitled - 31 Empowering Ways To Celebrate Women's History This Month. (March 2, 2017). I was so impressed with her take that I’ve borrowed a bit from her and shared a short list with you.
 
So while I won't share all of her brilliant ideas here, I would like to offer a few thoughts as we at UUCLV celebrate, acknowledge, learn from Women’s History Month with services, a lunch time conversation, children's RE and Adult RE, continuing conversations and important dialog all month long about the amazing women that shape, mold, change, inspire, and create a better world for all of us.
 
I also want to remind you that our own women, UUCLV women, PSWD women, Clark County women, and of course, our denominational Unitarian Universalist Women have been so vital in changing our beloved faith, nation and world. So, let's lift up women this month and all year long! Let's celebrate the amazing accomplishments of more than half of the human family. Let's give love to all of the women that have made a difference in our own lives.
 
Check out my short list and please let me know if any of these ideas resonate with you?
 
There are 31 days in Women’s History Month. So, here are a few ways to empower yourself and the women around you this month.

Black History Month Matters: Why it is still relevant

Every February when the nation recognizes Black History Month to celebrate the accomplishments of Black Americans, some inevitable questions are raised.

     Do we still need to celebrate Black History Month?
     Isn’t this an archaic idea?

Black History Month is not only still relevant but necessary. But first, let’s take a quick look at how this observance began.

While earning a master’s degree from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from Harvard, both in history, historian Carter G. Woodson saw how Black people were underrepresented in history books. He was determined to correct this marginalization, which he viewed as dangerous.

“If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile traditions, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated,”
Woodson said of the need for such study.

Woodson began to realize his hopes of raising awareness of African-American contributions when he and the organization he founded, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), conceived and announced Negro History Week in 1925.

Negro History Week was first celebrated during the second week of February in 1926 because it is the birth month of both President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

In response to the creation of Negro History Week, Black History clubs sprang up across the country and teachers sought and demanded materials to instruct their pupils.

In 1976, the nation’s bicentennial, the celebration was expanded to a month. President Gerald Ford urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often-neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

That’s the brief history.
There are many reasons we should continue to celebrate Black History Month today.
First, the month long celebration is needed because African-American history is still largely unknown and underappreciated.

The uplifting film “Hidden Figures” is a great example of how much African-American history remains unknown. The movie, based on a book of the same name, is about African-American female mathematicians at NASA during the 1960s space race. “Hidden Figures” is an example of the stories of many other African-American scientists and inventors that still remain hidden history for too many Americans.

Or more recently  the film “One Night In Miami” which depicts the night of February 25, 1964 in Miami Beach, Florida, as the heavyweight boxing champion Sonny Liston met Cassius Clay in the ring for the first of their two famous bouts. Clay emerged victorious, earning the championship and skyrocketing the career of the man who would later be known as Muhammad Ali.  “One Night In Miami,” is a fictionalized account of what happened before and after that fight that day, when Clay and his friends Jim Brown, Sam Cooke and Malcolm X got together to celebrate, debate, argue and pontificate about life in the USA . These men were all celebrities in their own right, but to each other, they’re friends and acquaintances unafraid to challenge each other’s views on the present and future of Black America, White America and our place on the world stage

Secondly, though many people understand that Black American culture is essential to the understanding of American culture, many do not know how African-American history is intractably tied to the founding, development and evolution of America — politically, economically, spiritually and culturally.

In fact our own Unitarian Universalist denomination has benefited from Black members, administrators, religious educators, ministers and leaders like Whitney Young and so many others.

Also, the history of the U.S. The Civil Rights Movement is too important to an accurate understanding of U.S. history for citizens not to know it. Yet a Southern Poverty Law Center study showed that most states fail when it comes to teaching the Civil Rights Movement to students let alone teach the fullness of Black participation in securing our independence or serving disproportionately in our armed services.

In addition, I argue that greater knowledge and understanding of African-American history would have cautioned us against making the mistake of assuming the election of Barack Obama as the nation’s first African-American president would lead to a post-racial America. There were prominent African-American officeholders during the Reconstruction Era from 1863 to 1877, including two U.S. senators from Mississippi and even the governor of Louisiana. Reconstruction was followed by a racist backlash to gains made by African Americans. An understanding of African-American history teaches us that progress is not always inevitable. History teaches us that progress results from collective and protracted struggle.

An understanding of Black history would help us, as the late writer Albert Murray would say, “reject the folklore of white supremacy and the fakelore of Black pathology.”

The history of Black Americans is a testament to the human spirit. Despite enslavement and centuries of brutal discrimination, many Black Americans became creators of a strategy for living and triumphed over their conditions with faith, resilience and dignity. Knowledge of this history can inform and uplift those who are struggling to overcome life’s challenges.

Those who argue that Black history should be integrated into America’s history books are right. Black history should not be relegated to one cold, short month.

However, Black History Month was never supposed to be the end goal. It is the beginning — a small spark that hopefully will bring light to the minds of all Americans to seek more information for greater knowledge and understanding.

It is one of my goals as our minister to share my love and knowledge of pan African peoples with UUCLV and maybe even more importantly is my efforts to open pathways of understanding and engagement with the BIPOC world which is all about us.

In the words of a great Unitarian Universalist: The Rev. Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley

Lunch with the Minister happens every Third Wednesday of the month from 12:00 – 1:30 PM. Please join The Reverend Gordon C. Bailey via Zoom for our monthly "Lunch with the Minister" event.  The format will include a topic based on the monthly theme, possibly a short TED-style Talk or other informational piece, and then a discussion  to follow.  Please message the Reverend for more information at minister@uuclv.org

​Visit our CALENDAR for dates.

Happy New Year!

Dear UUCLV family and friends,

I wish you all a Happy New Year with lots of health, peace, and love. These are the sentiments I was holding on to as 2021 this New Year opened.  These are the thoughts I still have despite the difficult situations that are everywhere.

The challenges for our congregation, our communities, our nation, and our world couldn’t be higher!  All of the values we share as Unitarian Universalists, our work for justice, the communities we love, and the beloved community we seek to create are feeling the pressures of a world struggling with Covid-19 along with the sociopolitical realities of our time. Our denomination, this UUCLV, we the individuals that name and claim Unitarian Universalism as our chosen faith must speak with moral courage and act with prophetic clarity in these times.

Hatred must never win!  Ignorance must never be allowed to prevail! Anti-oppression is our duty to promote. We seek not just tolerance but a dismantling of anti-Semitism, anti-immigration, anti-black racism, anti-Latinx, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia and all things that demean or oppress the human family.  The cycles of hate have taken an enormous toll on our world, our nation, and this community we love. In short, racism and all that separates us must be dismantled and replaced with systems that are built with love, equanimity, and affirmation.

In the words of the UUA President, Rev. Susan Frederick- Gray: - “Our UU values of interdependence, democracy, and the inherent worth and dignity of all people are direct antidotes to the fear, bigotry, and inequity that define our world. In this political moment, UUs are called to join forces with all people who want to organize our communities and our nation to #DefeatHate.”

Dear friends, in the words that the great Pete Seeger sang: -

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome, some day!

Deep in our collective hearts and minds, I do believe we UUs can make a difference today!
May each of us have healthy, prosperous and engaged seasons filled with love,

Rev. Gordon Clay Bailey

Dear UUCLV, let's get serious about our spiritual growth. SoulMatters has offered us a direction and my hope is we may follow. In the possibilities available to us this month I hope the use of our imagination will give license to expansive thoughts.

In The Conduct of Life, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “We live by our imaginations, by our admirations, by our sentiments. The child walks amid heaps of illusions, which he does not like to have disturbed.”

I find Emerson’s words spot on. In fact I think that most adults don’t want the dreams or flights of fancy disturbed.  Yet we must always be mindful of the context, the locus, the place we find ourselves.  I hope we can use this month and this theme to dream and imagine this community of ours and this congregation rising to new heights. It is my prayer and a hope of mine that the adage that you must imagine it before it becomes so may happen for us as we imagine the very best for us all.

In faith,
Rev Gordon 
​

The Need for Being Still & How to Begin the Practice

     “Be still
          Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity” 
                    ― Laotzu

Stillness is not one of the spiritual practices that comes easy for me.

From Chalice Home-
Stillness can help stop worries and bring you back to your center. We all know what it’s like to be overwhelmed by our emotions. For example, when someone makes us mad, when we feel sad, or when, especially during this time of year, we are worried about picking out the right presents, or whether we will be able to see our loved ones at all because of COVID. All of it adds up to the feeling of being off-balance and even dizzy. Which is why it’s so important to develop the practice of stillness and find your center. Stillness helps us find peace in the midst of being overwhelmed by the holidays and at any time.

So, Dear UUCLV family, let me both share my great joy at being here with you and celebrating my first Holiday season with you all.  The days from Halloween to Three Kings Day fill me with joy, some worry about eating too much and optimism about the future.  

Finding myself in the midst of this strange season of Covid-19 isn’t cool at all.  I really like to let go and eat, drink within reason and above all be merry this time of year.

Nevertheless here I am, and here we are.  I’m hoping for the best possible outcomes for each of us, all of us, heck our entire human family.

What is the role of men in feminism? For men, feminism can provide the inspiration for shifting towards a true era of equality. Men's participation in gender justice movements can support and hopefully strengthen feminist and womanist and all people seeking balance, wholeness and healing within the human family. Join us for a service filled with possibilities, hopes, and dreams.

#UUCLV #UU #UnitarianUniversalist #UnitarianUniversalism #UUCLVEvent #SundayService #Healing #Feminism #Patriarchy #Equality #GenderJustice #Balance

You Don't Own Me by Lesley Gore 
​You don't own me
I'm not just one of your many toys
You don't own me
Don't say I can't go with other boys
And don't tell me what to do
Don't tell me what to say
And please, when I go out with you
Don't put me on display 'cause
You don't own me
Don't try to change me in any way
You don't own me
Don't tie me down 'cause I'd never stay
I don't tell you what to say
I don't tell you what to do
So just let me be myself
That's all I ask of you
I'm young and I love to be young
I'm free and I love to be free
To live my life the way I want
To say and do whatever I please
And don't tell me what to do
Oh, don't tell me what to say
And please, when I go out with you
Don't put me on display
I don't tell you what to say
Oh, don't tell you what to do
So just let me be myself
That's all I ask of you
I'm young and I love to be young
I'm free and I love to be free

Musical Interlude by Sky
Let’s Talk About It: 
     1.  What would our world look like if we all were actively feminists/dismantling the patriarchy?
     2.  How does the intersectionality (Race, class, creed, gender, ableism, etc) of oppression slow the progression of freedom for all?
Closing Song: I Am Woman by Betty Wright 

I Am Woman by Betty Wright 
​I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back and pretend
'Cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again

Oh yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman

You can bend but never break me
'Cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'Cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

Oh yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my loving arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long, long way to go
Until I make my brother understand

Oh yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman

I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman

Much of our language around healing is not about wholeness, but about ableness. Shifting our ideas from the ideals of ableism to a deeper understanding of wholeness can help us heal ourselves. This change in perspective might also enable us to be supportive towards the wholeness of others, whether they are healing by our definition or not. Join us with the UUCLV family for an important service about our journey into understanding our whole human family.

#UUCLV #UU #UnitarianUniversalist #UnitarianUniversalism #UUCLVEvent #SundayService #Healing #Wholeness #ableism #family

Introduction/Zoom Orientation
Ringing the Bel
Invocation
Opening Words
Chalice Lighting
Song #108 My Life Flows On In Endless  (How Can I Keep From Singing)
Performed by the NYC Virtual Choir and Orchestra

Reflection/Sermon: 
Healing into Wholeness (Audio)
with ​The Reverend Gordon Clay Bailey​
Click here to listen or right click to download the sermon

Healing Our Nation, Healing Ourselves
Sunday, November 1
with The
Reverend Gordon Clay Bailey

As a spiritual, religious, covenantal community, when we come together we can model and create the Beloved Community. We have an opportunity to develop a culture of Love where we can all thrive. This nation of ours, this world of ours is in crisis. The crisis is so much more than the pandemic, this election season, or even the climate issues facing us all. We can no longer afford not to work together in a holistic way. Let this service be  a beginning for reconnecting the values espoused by sages and profits from across the ages. Together we stand and divided we fall. Let's get to work UUCLV - our community and world needs us!

#UUCLV #UU #UnitarianUniversalist #UnitarianUniversalism #UUCLVEvent #SundayService #Connections #Healing #Community

Musical Interlude by Sky
Let's Talk About It
     Questions to discuss:
          What is your experience of healing?  
          How do you heal others who are different from you? 
Closing Song: We Shall Be Known

Our nation has so much turmoil within it now.  Maybe it always did and some of us if not many of us weren’t listening.  Beginning with the initial colonial period extending through our separation from Great Britain and moving past the Civil War, Jim Crow, into the present time we’ve failed each other in so many ways.  Deep listening to our indigenous peoples of the world;  America, Australia and Africa would begin to alter many of our views about life if we could really hear them?  Join us at UUCLV as we deep dive into ideas and narrative from other sources and hopefully listen well.

#UUCLV #UU #UnitarianUniversalist #UnitarianUniversalism #UUCLVEvent #SundayService #Brother #BrothersKeeper #IndigenousPeople

National Hispanic Heritage Month traditionally honors the cultures and contributions of both Hispanic and Latino Americans as we celebrate heritage rooted in all Latin American countries. During this service let us acknowledge, share the history, heritage, and accomplishments of Hispanic and Latino Americans of the Unitarian Universalist world, past and present.

#UUCLV #UU #UnitarianUniversalist #UnitarianUniversalism #UUCLVEvent #SundayService #Connections #HispanicHeritage #LatinX #LatinoAmericans

Ringing the Bell
Welcome
Invocation (Rev. Gordon)
Opening Words

In our society today, so many people are in pain.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of us could practice deep listening so we could begin the journey towards healing a broken world.  Join us as we engage our active listening skills and begin yet again to hear our heart's yearnings and maybe come to understand each other a bit better by practicing a skill so many need to learn.

#UUCLV #UU #UnitarianUniversalist #UnitarianUniversalism #UUCLVEvent #SundayService  #Listening #DeepListening

​Chalice Lighting
Singing Together: #1054, “Let This Be A House of Peace”

Of Our Hearts
Pastoral Reflection & Silence
​Pastoral Hymn: #354, “We Laugh, We Cry” 

We Laugh, We Cry
Words & Music by Shelley Jackson Denham
​
We laugh, we cry, we live, we die; we dance, we sing our song.
We need to feel there’s something here to which we can belong.
We need to feel the freedom just to have some time alone.
But most of all we need close friends we can call our very own.
And we believe in life, and in the strength of love;
and we have found a need to be together.
We have our hearts to give, we have our thoughts to receive;
and we believe that sharing is an answer.

A child is born among us and we feel a special glow.
We see time’s endless journey as we watch the baby grow.
We thrill to hear imagination freely running wild.
We dedicate our minds and heart to the spirit of this child.
And we believe in life, and in the strength of love;
and we have found a time to be together.
And with the grace of age, we share the wonder of youth,
and we believe that growing is an answer.

Our lives are full of wonder and our time is very brief.
The death of one among us fills us all with pain and grief.
But as we live, so shall we die, and when our lives are done
the memories we shared with friends, they will linger on and on.
And we believe in life, and in the strength of love;
and we have found a place to be together.
We have the right to grow, we have the gift to believe
that peace within our living is an answer.

We seek elusive answers to the questions of this life.
We seek to put an end to all the waste of human strife.
We search for truth, equality, and blessed peace of mind.
And then, we come together here, to make sense of what we find.
And we believe in life, and in the strength of love,
and we have found a joy being together.
And in our search for peace, maybe we’ll finally see:
even to question, truly is an answer.

Lyrics from https://farfringe.com/stlt354-we-laugh-we-cry/

Musical Interlude by Sky
Let’s Talk About It
     1. •  Have you been a person that seeks to understand before being understood?
     2. •  Do you have experiences of being given undivided attention?
     3. •  What would it take to become a nonjudgmental person?  Is it possible? 
Closing Song #318, “We Would Be One” 

A Note from Our Minister
Continuing Conversations
Fall 2020

"People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy." — Anton Chekhov

Greetings dear UU’s, family, friends, and soon to be acquaintances.  

Welcome to the first of four seasonal columns.  My continuing conversations have been offline since summer and I'm finally ready to delve back into the dialogue about subjects ranging from Unitarian Universalist theology to interpersonal relationships.  Along with the usual and very UU things I’d like to engage in this late summer and fall.  I’m looking at the political issues facing our state and nation.  I can't help but pay attention to climate change and the effects that the changing realities are bringing us. Lastly I’m trying the thematic approach to monthly worship and engagement and here are some headings to keep in mind-

September: Renewal, 
October: Deep Listening and 
November: Healings.  

As always I've got lots to say maybe, in fact, too much, but nevertheless here we go - let's have a deep and abiding time engaging our faith, seeking more connections with our partners in seeking justice and in this time of Covid 19, finding ways to stay healthy, have fun, and stay connected to one another.

So, here we go.  Yes, this is new.  Yes, this is strange.  Yes, we will survive even the worst of times if we hold onto the light;  Hold onto our joys;  Hold onto the love and promise of better days ahead.  

As I sit here now, I’m learning of Ruth Badger Ginsburg's death.  Our nation has sustained a great loss.  She has been a tower of strength and resilience; a caretaker of our precious Constitution.  She will be missed, but she has shown us by her actions, by her grace, by her indomitable will, that if you keep your resolve you can persevere in the midst of mind-numbing ignorance.

I'm giving my time this season to getting to know you, Las Vegas, Clark County, and Nevada.  I am involved with DRUUMM (Diverse and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries) and hope to open a chapter here in our beautiful community for POC who feel UUism is for them.  I am on the CENTER Committee of the UUMA (Unitarian Universalist Minister Association). The Mission of C.E.N.T.E.R. is to design and deliver excellent continuing education that inspires, nurtures, and transforms members of the UUMA (our ministers).

I am honored to serve CENTER as it is a resource for the UUMA and the UUA in its mission to organize, plan and support collegial networks of education and training for our UUA clergy.

I am a member of CPSP (College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy). This is a credentialing body of clergy and chaplains, psychotherapists and pastoral counselors that teach, preach, provide mental health services and offer care in the midst of the lives of people far and wide, rich and poor, and people of all faith across our country.  I will be looking to develop a connection for this body within our fair city.

So dear UU’s and friends, your willingness to engage with me is critical for my immersion into our beloved UUCLV and into this region.  I've got to be on point about how I learn, grow and absorb knowledge about each of you and about the needs of our community.

So, let's look at each other via zoom and in small groups and let's dance a bit with each other; maybe on a monthly zoom dance party, and let's get to building the very best UUCLV we can possibly create and live into the wonderful mission of this congregation that says -

As a beacon in the desert,
we gather as a multi-generational, spiritual community
to build a place of love, acceptance, and justice
dedicated to worshiping, learning, and working together here and throughout southern Nevada.

We started the year at UUCLV (the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Las Vegas) with our opening service last Sunday with the Water Communion.

So, let's go!  Let's dance!  Let's engage!  Let's bring about a new season for UUCLV.  One in which we go beyond our wildest imaginations.  A renewed connection to our vision, mission, and covenant for our beloved congregation.  

All in all, we are on the move and we are offering worship services, volunteer opportunities, and fun that should excite children and families and bring our community closer together.  Ours is a faith that goes out into the world offering hope. Let's keep Hope, Faith, and Love alive as we remember our relationships, stay mindful of all around us, and find ways to express gratitude for the lives we share.

In faith,
Rev Gordon Clay Bailey

If you were able to attend the worship meeting last Sunday and stayed for the vote afterwards, you know that UUCLV has a new minister! The Reverend Gordon Clay Bailey will be joining the congregation in September 2020! We are all very excited and look forward to the new road we will travel upon together moving forward! 

Growing up in NYC, the Reverend Gordon Clay Bailey spent his early adult life searching for a job where he could make the most difference: a home for abused boys, Catholic Charities, Job Corps, the New York City Public School System, and ultimately,ministry. His call to ministry in his thirties led him to serve in the Unitarian Universalist denomination due to its rich tradition in social justice and its non-dogmatic approach to worship.

Rev. Bailey is a Board-Certified Clinical Chaplain and Pastoral Counselor with a dual BA in Anthropology and Sociology and a Master of Divinity, with a focus in Urban Ministry.

Rev. Bailey is married to Lisa Stiffler Bailey and between them they have four children (Jennifer, Devin, Ethan, and Darien) and one granddaughter (Kai).