Category Archives: Sense of place

More Dr. Lyttle

Thinking about Dr. Lyttle yesterday prompted me to glance through some of the old church newsletters he produced from 1949 through 1964. At the top of the March, 1962, issue of “The Geneva Unitarian Pioneer,” Dr. Lyttle included this quotation:

“That worshipper of mine who cherishes no hate against any human being, but is full only of friendliness and compassion; who is free from self-seeking and the illusions of the self; to whom sorrow and joy are the same; always patient and content; given to meditation; self-controlled, resolute — he [sic] is dear to me. He [sic] before whom none is disquieted and who is disquieted before none — he also is dear to me….” (The Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita)

Further down the page, I find this announcement:

“‘The Ethical Teaching of the Major Oriental Religions’ has been chosen as the central theme of our pre-Easter sermon series. It will be interesting to note the ehtical unison amid the diversity of ideological counterpoint. The treatment of each ‘gospel’ will, however, be as realistic and practical as possible.”

What a religious inheritance we have been given in our church. What a privilege to be part of this historic church!

Remembering Dr. Lyttle

Today, I happened to be talking with Dave Johnson on denominational business. Like me, Dave is currently serving as an interim minister. The conversation meandered, as such conversations do, and we wound up talking about the congregations we’re currently serving.

When Dave found out where I’m serving, he said, “Geneva, Illinois? I spent some time out in the Geneva church.” Turns out he was a student at Meadville Lombard Theological School when Charles Lyttle was both a professor at Meadville Lombard and the minister out here in Geneva. And Dave was one of the student ministers Dr. Lyttle brought out to gain experience here in Geneva.

Needless to say, I asked Dave about Dr. Lyttle. Dave told me one story about Dr. Lyttle coming out from Chicago to do a child dedication. But when he got here, he realized he had forgotten to bring a flower. It was spring, so Dr. Lyttle went out the front door of the church and grabbed the nearest flower. The long stalk and the roots came with the pretty white flower, but that didn’t stop Dr. Lyttle. He marched into the church carrying the flower, roots and all, and the child dedication went on.

Dave added that photographs of Dr. Lyttle don’t adequately represent his sense of humor, and his sense of fun. Dr. Lyttle thought church should be fun, says Dave, and he made sure the Geneva church was a fun place. (I think you can see some of that in the portrait our church has of Dr. Lyttle — the artist has captured a definite twinkle in his eyes.)

Dr. Lyttle sounds like my kind of minister.

Knowing a city by its bookstores

One of the great things about being an interim minister is that you get to move around the country. In the past three years, we have had the luck to live near three of the great cities of the United States. Last year we were near Berkeley, California; the year before that, we lived outside Boston; and this year we’re living near Chicago. I define a great city as one that has lots of independent bookstores.

I just spent the afternoon and evening in Chicago, where of course I spent hours in a bookstore. I was up in the Lincoln Square neighborhood, and stopped in one of those used bookstores with books piled everywhere. “Should I check my backpack?” I asked the owner. “No,” he said, “but be careful going around corners. You don’t want to start an avalanche.” He wasn’t kidding.

You learn a lot about a city by its bookstores. I always zero in on the religion section. In Chicago bookstores, you always seem to find lots of historical criticism of the Bible and general hardcore theology books, which I attribute to the influence of the University of Chicago, and there always seems to be a smattering of “Christian inspirational” books. In Berkeley bookstores, you’ll find tons of books about eastern religions and east-west studies, partly due to the influence of the university, but also because Berkeley is a Pacific Rim city that looks west more than east. In the religion sections of Boston (and Cambridge) bookstores, you find lots of scholarly books about Western religious traditions, but also a surprising number of books on Confucianism because Harvard has become a center for neo-Confucian studies.

Each of the great bookstores of each city tell you a little more about the character of the city. Berkeley has Eastwind Books, specializing in East Asian writers, and where I first got books by Lu Xun, an amazing Chinese writer of the early 20th C. The Seminary Coop Bookstore in Hyde Park in Chicago is quite simply the best academic bookstore I’ve ever seen. And the Mass Bible Society in downtown Boston carries an excellent selection of books on liberation theology and liberatory theologies, as well as good story books for children. (On their Web site, click on the “Bookstores” link, and then on the link “The Bible and Homosexuality” — yup, they’re liberal Christians.)

Trivialobservations, I suppose. But I do find it interesting that different places address different religious questions. And what I’ve seen in the bookstores plays out in the UU congregations I’ve served in each of these three places. Trivial, perhaps, but fascinating.

Voice from the past

I’ve been looking through old copies of our church’s newsletter, The Pioneer, dating back into the 1950’s. In June, 1962, Rev. Charles Lyttle, then minister here in Geneva, printed part of an old letter from Rev. R. L. Herbert, who had been minister in Geneva from 1874 to 1880. Rev. Herbert went off to serve in the Denver, Colorado Unitarian church, and in 1881 he wrote this to his former church in Geneva:

“And to all of you in that dear congregation I write again to say: Do your best to banish superstition. Be brave for truth at any cost. Do not bow to any fashionable lie; and chiefly, in thought and life, teach the nobility and excellency of good character. Prove by these fruits that you believe in the best doctrines. Then, every day, winter and summer, you will make to be Flower Sunday and this earthly life heavenly!”

[If you’re a UU history nut like me, it’s clear that Rev. Herbert was moving into humanist beliefs even at this early date. Herbert was the one who got our congregation to substitute the phrase “practical goodness” in our covenant, in place of the original “practical Godliness.”]

Meditation for early March

A warm afternoon. The people out walking on Third Street wear shirt sleeves, no coats. The warm weather fooled some of the grass into greening up a little. We’re not fooled. More cold air masses pushing down out of Canada and everything will freeze again. At least one more snow storm sweeping in from the west dropping heavy wet snow. Deep snow in places, where you have to wade through drifts to uncover the car. Mercifully the car starts this time but there’s this new spot of rust just below the door looking ugly and lots more hidden under fading paint of that I have no doubt. No doubt spring will be fully here some day soon. In the meantime the car warms up enough to begin another winter journey home. This is what we know will come. More cold. More snow. Spring, eventually. But at the moment it’s a warm afternoon in early March with no reason to think any farther ahead than now.

Spring watch

Over the past two or three months, I’ve been hearing a Great Horned Owl calling when I’ve been in my office at night. Three weeks ago, I finally saw him, sitting up on the roof of the old Kane County court house building a block away from the church. No wonder he sounded so loud from my office.

I hadn’t heard him for a while, but I thought I heard him hooting last night, from somewhere further south in Geneva. He always gives four hoots at a time — hoo hoo-hoo hoo — which is how I know he’s male. I have not heard any females giving their call, of five to six hoots, at all this winter. It’s getting late for owls to try to find a mate, and I’m beginning to wonder if the male has given up on downtown Geneva and is moving further afield.

Spring watch

Red maples are often one of the earliest trees to put out blossoms in this climate and ecosystem. I’ve been watching a little red maple on Second Street, down a few blocks from the church. While its buds are quite red, they aren’t showing any signs of busrting forth.

On my afternoon walk today, I happened to look up at a tree on Fifth Street near State — it was a red maple I’d never noticed before, and up near the top of the tree it looked like a few blossoms had opened up.

That’s good news and bad news. Those blossoms mean spring is getting nearer. They also indicate the beginning of pollen season for hay fever sufferers.

Spring watch

Transcendentalist that I am, I’m always watching for signs of the turning seasons. Yesterday I was walking along the Fox River here in Geneva, near the wastewater treatment plant, when I heard a dozen or more male Red-winged Blackbirds giving their familiar “konk-a-reee” song. While these are undoubtedly birds that have wintered here, that was the first time this year I have heard them singing. It’s too early for the males to be setting up breeding territories, but their songs said that spring is not all that far off now.

Today I watched as a wintering Eastern Bluebird foraged along the river behind the Kane County office building. He was hawking low to the ground, flying out from a series of low perches, but I couldn’t tell if he was feeding on insects or some other invertebrates. He also spent some time feeding on Staghorn Sumac berries left over from last summer. He made a pretty picture, the rusty red of the berries matching his breast, and contrasting with his bright blue back and wings in the late afternoon sun.