Post Chalica 2014

  “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”

― Jim Rohn 

A week since Chalica has seen much change in our lives as we slowly move into our new house.  Thanks to many friends and family members we have a start on the wall paper removal, the painting and the move of many, many boxes. Today we are having some repairs done on the Iowa house so I am here trying to finish up the boxing and organizing for another load or two tomorrow am.  After 23 years in this house we have collected a lot of stuff. Some I have had time to weed out and some that will be weeded out as we unpack.  Take care!

Blessed be,


Kathy

7th day of Chalica 2014

 Welcome to the 7th day of Chalica 2014!

We had a full and interesting day today. We started with the Annual UU Pageant (since 2008) And it seems as if everyone enjoyed it. The sheep, goats and dogs wandered around the sanctuary as usual producing a few laughs from the audience. I have always said that working with 3 & 4 year olds can be like herding cats always unpredictable! 

Then we went from that to seeing our good friend Gary Kroeger in the Christmas play downtown, then a pie party.

Followed by a Chris-moose lightening at our friends - Pam & Al. 

So I hope you got a few minutes or more each day to think about Chalica!

Sunday: We light our chalice for respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. Give gift(s) to our earth and/or its creatures

Examples:

- start a compost

- recycle bottles and cans and donate the money to an environmental / animal aid society

- rescue an animal from a shelter

- hold an outdoor worship service (dress warm/bonfire)

Blessed be,

Kathy

6th Day of Chalica 2014

 Happy Chalica!  Today is the 6th day of our seven day celebration. To build a fair and peaceful world. I am sure that to some of us this does not always seem possible.  How can one person obtain this goal? Reality - they can't BUT they and you and I can strive for it. We can try to live a fair and peaceful life. We can be nice to others. Even when times are tough we can try to lighten the burden of others by putting our own troubles in a box for a while.  I recently read an article about whether to use the words, Happy/ Merry/ Joyous Holidays, Christmas, Chanukah, etc. The article made sense that there are a lot of people struggling. I understand this having lost a young nephew one year in October and my mom died just before Christmas in 1999. And maybe they can't be happy, joyous or merry right now but isn't it our responsibility to try to bring a little light into their lives.  So for right now I will stay with Happy Chalica, Merry Christmas and Joyous New Year hoping not to offend but to bring a little light to all. And for those of you that think I am too happy or smile too much, I am sorry you feel that way but I am not going to change for you. I have seen sorrow and when I see light I want to let it out for the rest of the world.

Happy Chalica!

When I think of this Principle I of course think of Gandhi and of Nelson Mandela. Two people that did get some fairness for their worlds. 

Today we will be taping, covering floors and painting our new house! We are very lucky.

Saturday: We light our chalice for the goal of world peace, liberty and justice for all. Give gift(s) to honor our global community

Examples:

- volunteer with an organization that has global influence

- write a letter for amnesty international

- help your social justice committee hold a fundraiser

- donate to a cause such as UNICEF, Doctors without Borders, etc.

Happy Chalica! 

Art by Sophia Rose

Blessed be,

Kathy

5th Day of Chalica 2014

 Happy Chalica! Sorry my posting for Wednesday has disappeared, yes it even happens to us geeks! And thus my posting for Thursday was not inspiring! But mainly this blog is for the resources so I hope you are are checking them out and using what fits your needs.  I still get a happy feeling every time I print out my booklet for the children and pass them out to them. We had quite a discussion about Chalica this year as some people put forth the idea that Chalica was to start on the first Monday after the first Sunday.  The problem is we could not find this in any of the histories that have been written about Chalica. So evan & I both wrote Daylene (the creator of Chalica) She told us to start on Dec. 1, 2014 so we did here and on the facebook pages.  evan pointed out that one of the great things about Chalica is the idea and that many people are not focusing on specific dates.

UUHK (Hong Kong)'s celebration is on Sat. Dec. 6th at their church.

Other people are working on Chalica Celebrations that last 7 weeks - practicing one principle per week. 

Some times I think of this principle as even little people need a voice, especially when I am working with the 3-5 year olds in Sunday School.

What are you doing today for Chalica?

Here's an other interesting thought - since we have more than 50 countries that have checked out this site and over 1/2 of them are in a different time zone from me, when is the best time to release these blog postings? I am thinking of the UUs in Hong Kong at their celebration on Dec. 6th at 7pm there time here in Iowa it will be 5am. And for my friends in Malaysia at the same time it will be 6pm. So should we start releasing our posts about 9pm on the day before - for instance should I have released this post at 9pm on Thursday so that those people around the world can benefit from them in their mornings? Something to think about. Well it was another hectic day of packing and visiting with grandchildren today, tomorrow we do our walk through and sign the papers for the new house. We are excited and fearful at this new adventure. 

Blessed be,

Kathy

4th Day of Chalica 2014

 Happy Chalica! Today is the 4th day of Chalica, what will you do to celebrate our 4th Principle?

Thursday: We light our chalice for a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Give gift(s) to honor another tradition, to honor education

Examples:

- offer / take part in an event that celebrates another religion / tradition

- teach someone something you know and love

- learn something new from someone else

- give a book / read a book

The 2nd Day of Chalica 2014

Happy Chalica!

Last night we had the grandchildren and their parents over for a while. Tyler at 3 just didn't understand about lighting only one candle of my "kid" friendly chalice, so we let him light all seven as the most important part is being together.

Today we will be sending out invites to our New Year's Eve party to those of our friends that do not do emails or facebook and to our new neighbors! 

We are very thankful for this new adventure in our lives.   Now if Merri and Chris can find jobs the holidays will be complete.

Tuesday: We light our chalice for justice, equity and compassion in human relations. Give gift(s) to honor those in your local community that are less fortunate.

Examples:

- spend time in a soup kitchen

- donate clothes to a worthy organization

- display kindness and care to those around you

- take part in a political demonstration at city hall

 

Blessed be,

 

Kathy

1st Day of Chalica 2014

Happy Chalica!

How are you celebrating Chalica today?  We are working on getting our house packed up for our 1st move in 20 years, so it will be nice to take a bit of time to reflect on today's principle.

Please check out the tabs above, the links on the side and print out the booklet for your children. I have found few new sermons and ideas that I will be adding to this site during the week.

Also,  please check in at the Chalica! facebook page.
And feel free to make comments below or send me an email at klinkzeitz@hotmail.com

Monday: We light our chalice for the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Give gift(s) to honor those you do not understand / agree with / like.

Examples:

- a thank-you card celebrating differences

- words of forgiveness / apology

- a peace offering such as inviting someone to diner

- help someone in need

Blessed be,

Kathy

Exciting news - Besides the USA people from the following countries have been checking out this site!  And this year UU Hong Kong had a celebration!

	Canada (CA)	302
	United Kingdom (GB)	58
	Australia (AU)	49
	Russian Federation (RU)	41
	South Africa (ZA)	34
	Germany (DE)	26
	Italy (IT)	25
	Netherlands (NL)	22
	Brazil (BR)	22
	India (IN)	20
	France (FR)	13
	Philippines (PH)	12
	Belgium (BE)	12
	Hong Kong (HK)	10
	Taiwan (TW)	8
	China (CN)	7
	Ireland (IE)	7
	Czech Republic (CZ)	7
	Sweden (SE)	6
	Spain (ES)	6
	Mexico (MX)	5
	Indonesia (ID)	4
	Argentina (AR)	3
	Korea, Republic of (KR)	3
	Portugal (PT)	3
	Switzerland (CH)	3
	Colombia (CO)	3
	Norway (NO)	3
	Saudi Arabia (SA)	3
	Serbia (RS)	2
	Malaysia (MY)	2
	Thailand (TH)	2
	Bangladesh (BD)	2
	New Zealand (NZ)	2
	Europe (EU)	2
	Chile (CL)	2
	Japan (JP)	2
	Slovakia (SK)	1
	Mauritius (MU)	1
	Denmark (DK)	1
	Belarus (BY)	1
	Congo, The Democratic Republic of the (CD)	1
	Luxembourg (LU)	1
	Singapore (SG)	1
	Georgia (GE)	1
	Egypt (EG)	1
	Guam (GU)	1
	Sudan (SD)	1
	United Arab Emirates (AE)	1
	Dominican Republic (DO)	1
	Lebanon (LB)	1
	Iraq (IQ)	1
	Turkey (TR)	1
	Nigeria (NG)	1
	Greece (GR)	1
	Trinidad and Tobago (TT)	1
	Algeria (DZ)	1
	Bulgaria (BG)	1