Take your thoughts about time priorities fourth 4th dimension Guide to Importance of November 11, 2011 Time At eleven minutes and 11 seconds after 11am on the 11th of November this year, the time and date will be 11:11: 11:11:11 11 and 11 11 11 11 11 11 11:11:11 11/11/11 give tell me help when I want in 2011 2012 key importance features meaning sublime purpose of search in life vital engaging open-minded faith deepening interfaith intercultural sites ethics forum blogs most common lists activities What is it to be part of a community download archives about World Religions online Moral compass core human values humanist gay-friendly church comfort confidence compassion friendship inspirations call to liberal Religious education Worship Services for spirituality prayers topics ideas events samples examples rituals rites of passage thoughts for souls promoting tolerance diversity approach to ethical principles divine in nature all answers bible passages old new testament actions belief blessings critical covenant concept celebrations customs ceremonies growth free will definitions dreams dialogues dialog essays God Jesus of Nazareth histories honor hospitality hymns index information links love intentions lore legends memories maxims ministers mottoes music occasions origins opportunities famous pastors parables phrases pity planning preaching prose proverbs poetry poems peace quotations programs progressive modern liberal readings same gender weddings questions ranking relevant Resources recommended respect sayings stories special projects subject symbols spiritual songs studies sermons traditions trust Spanish Espa&ntilte;ol English Where beliefs meets reason home for GLBT bisexuals transsexuals Lesbians families children couples singles widows Pre adolescents juvenile infantile infants Truth volunteers UUs Virtues websites wisdom Words Wiccans priciples Uniterian 9.07.10

Lighting the Chalice

Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence:

The bliss of growth
The glory of action
The splendour of beauty

For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow only a vision
But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore to this day!
Such is the salutation to the dawn.

- Kalidasa, Indian Poet

First Reading

A thought About Time and A Time for a New Beginning

For our reading this morning I have put little slips of paper with thoughts on time, through the centuries into this basket, please take one, read it aloud and pass the basket along.

On January 1, 1972, the definition of a second was designated as the atomic second -- 9,192,631,770 oscillations of the cesium atom -- and Coordinated Universal Time was set by international agreement ... the time, abstract, universal, monotime. But. There is no such thing. Despite its seemingly ubiquitous global dominance (anyplace where Western capitalism -- which has forever linked money to time -- has made deep inroads), the ideology of Western time is just one of thousands upon thousands of other, different ideologies that are literally more natural than our synthetic time, that of plastic plants pretending to a perennial summer and year-round Astroturf trampling on real spring's grass seedlings. In countless other cultures past and present, time can be embodied only in the natural world and in nature's processes, where it has true immediacy and radiance, where it is a sensual perception, not a notation.

Affirmation:

From "Now is the Time"

Now is the time, the time to live.

All:

Tomorrow is a guess, today you can see and feel

All:

Now is the time, the time of your life.

All:

Readings found in the basket:

-- Jay Griffiths, "The Nature of Time" (Body & Soul, September/October 2002)

Never say that you have no time. On the whole it is those who are busiest who can make time for yet more, and those who have more leisure time who refuse to do something when asked. What we lack is not time, but heart.

- Henri Boulard, Egyptian Jesuit

In the now is all time, and to understand the now is to be free of time. Becoming is the continuation of time, of sorrow. Becoming does not contain being. Being is always in the present, and being is the highest form of transformation.

- J. Krishnamurti

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.

- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac

It has often been observed, that those who have the most time at their disposal profit by it the least.

- William Ellery Channing

The years are too short, the days are too long.

- Joseph Heller, Something Happened

We must use time as a tool, not as a couch.

- John F. Kennedy

Time does only co-exist with creatures, and is only conceived by the order and quantity of their changes.

- Gottfried Leibniz

If nothing happened, if nothing changed, time would stop. For time is nothing but change. It is change that we perceive as occurring all around us, not time. In fact, time doesn't exist. What exists are just "nows."

- Julian Barbour, British physicist

Whether, if soul did not exist, time would exist or not, is a question that may fairly be asked; for if there cannot be some one to count there cannot be anything that can be counted.

- Aristotle

A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.

- Anne Dillard

Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past. If all time is eternally present All time is unredeemable.

- T.S. Eliot

Time rushes by and yet time is frozen. Funny how we get so exact about time at the end of life and at its beginning. She died at 6:08 or 3:46, we say, or the baby was born at 4:02. But in between we slosh through huge swatches of time�weeks, months, years, decades even.

- Helen Prejean

There is never enough time, unless you're serving it.

- Malcolm Forbe

Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.

- Theophrastus .

Song:

Turn, Turn, Turn

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep.
A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together.
A time of war, a time of peace
A time of love, a time of hate
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing.
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time of love, a time of hate
A time of peace ... I swear it's not too late.

Second Reading

Time is not precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious in not time but the one point that is our of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time-- past and future-- the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.

Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

Discussion

Time ... each of us has the same 24 hours of it in the day and the same 365 days of it in the year. But each of us perceives that time differently -- and the way we perceive it can affect our lives in fundamental ways. The questions below might help you uncover your own personal "philosophy" of time.

What metaphors describe how you feel about time? Do you think of time as a placid pool or a raging waterfall? A puddle or an ocean? Linear and sequential, or without beginning and end (or, to put it another way, a line or a circle)? A stern taskmaster or a friendly helper? A seamless whole or bits and pieces? A crowded room or a vast landscape? Personal or impersonal? Alive or inanimate? Tame or wild? Infinite or limited? Timely or timeless?
How does your perception of time affect your daily life?
Have you experienced "expanded time" (when a period seems much longer than it actually is according to the clock)? Have you experienced "compressed time" (when a period seems much shorter than it is by clock time). Have you ever had a feeling of timelessness?
We're all allotted the same 24 hours a day. Why, then, do some people seem to have more than their share of time and others have less? In which situations do you have too little time? Too much time?
Which colors your life more: the future (anticipating, planning, worrying) or the past (remembering, obsessing, storytelling) ? Have you ever lived in the past or the future more than in the now? What have been the consequences to you of living in the future or in the past?
How has your vision of and perception of time changed as you've grown older?
Would you like to change your relationship with time? In what way?
Some religions believe that time as we know it is finite, that the world will end and there will be a general judgment followed by the final consummation of all things. This greatly influences how Christians, among others, lead their lives. Is there any relationship between your perception of time and your spiritual life?

Closing circle of hands

(Holding hands or link arms as you read the closing words together)

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. - Carl Sandburg

Congregation of Unitarian Universalists

Take Your Time
A Time for a New Beginning

Importance of November 11, 2011

At eleven minutes and 11 seconds after 11am on the 11th of November this year, the time and date will be 11:11:11 of 11/11 /11

Prelude

Lighting the Chalice

Joys and Concerns

Prayer: ( followed by a moment of silent meditation)

Story for All Ages

Hymn:

First Reading

Affirmation:

Song: Turn, Turn, Turn

Second Reading

Discussion

Closing circle of hands

Amen. Shalom. Blessed be.

Hymn: Go now in Peace

Final Words:

Congregation of Unitarian Universalists

Take Your Time A Time for a New Beginning

Importance of November 11, 2011

At eleven minutes and 11 seconds after 11am on the 11th of November this year, the time and date will be 11:11:11 of 11/11 /11

Prelude

Lighting the Chalice

Joys and Concerns

Prayer: ( followed by a moment of silent meditation)

Story for All Ages

Hymn:

First Reading

Affirmation:

Song: Turn, Turn, Turn

Second Reading

Discussion

Closing circle of hands

Amen. Shalom. Blessed be.

Hymn: Go now in Peace

Final Words:

Take Your Time
A Time for a New Beginning