How We Care for the Earth

This year for Earth Day, we are sticking close to home. This congregation has a commitment to earth care that goes back long before I became your minister. Our commitment to “the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part” has led us on some wonderful adventures, and we hope some of the stories we share today will give us some grounding and hope, remembering how we have made a difference, and perhaps will inspire us in thoughts of re-commitment and action as we continue to strive to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

I remember the first green sanctuary team meeting back in October of 2010. I remember Katie, and Jack and Diane, and John and carol, Jane was there,  we were crowded around that table. And we were so full of ideas!

The Green Sanctuary program was created by the UUA to help congregations “bringing congregational culture into greater alignment with environmentally aware faith and practices” First, there was an assessment, to see where we were, then the action plan, the congregational vote. Then the UUA would approve the plan and we could get to work, but this little church that could we were already working on our action plan even before we had our application complete,.

We don’t have a lot of pictures of those days, but here’s a photo of me and my friend Andria and Sarah Christianson at a workshop about how to process and preserve fruit, after the kids went to an orchard and picked a massive amount of apples for us to use. This was just one of our Foodshed Education programs which also included workshops in drying and canning.

You can kind of see over my shoulder the “green sanctuary bulletin board” Which had some suggestions from Carol Doscher about recycling,

But we don’t have any pictures of our effots, but I remember Carol and Katie so mobilized about reuse and recycling, making church collections of things that might not normally get recycled [like plastics, grocery bags, building materials, computers and light-bulbs]

I found this picture of me and Katie and Aileen McEvoy. Part of Green Sancuaty plan was a program called “feed a friend” that we invented to try to bring our love of gardening and food into a community outreach program. [this picture is of us going door to door in the neighborhood giving out plants and letting folks know about the program] When Project Grow was being formed in our community, we noticed it had overlapping goals, and decided to fold up Feed a friend and put that energy into becoming a founding partner in Project Grow instead.

Here's a photo of a fun event of creek walking with mike Lovegreen to learn about our watershed, and how climate change might impact us here in the valley in a real way.

Mike Lovegreen Leads our Creek Walk

You’ll have to make your own mental pictures of our citizen science project, where our members took water samples in local creeks to see if toxins form the Fracking process had ended up in our watershed.

One of the biggest projects we did was almost invisible. I want to give a special shout out to Jane Land- the Green Sanctuary program assessment required an audit of our building, and because of Jane’s work experience before she retired, she brought in experts to create a very detailed building audit. See, most congregations when they think of going green they think “solar panels” but actually, you can save a lot of energy just by filling in the holes and helping the building be more energy efficient. Jane prepared a multi page summary with different options, and after the board considered carefully and voted to approve the funds, Jane brought in contractors and oversaw the work of making the building more energy efficient. In my first years int eh church I wore a coat and gloves in the pulpit when I fist got here, but now on Sundays sometimes I have to take my sweater of when I’m preaching. If you are not cold every time you come to church, now you know why!

That garden bed out front started as part of the Earth-centered religious education program our children and youth RE would do each spring.

One of the many CSN Public Forums

Of course our work with the Community Shale Network was a major part of Green Sanctuary.

And Chris Eng, who was worship queen in those days, was in charge of assessing our worship, and helped us bring Earth care into our worship traditions.

What was wonderful about the Green Sanctuary program was it encouraged a holistic look at how we could weave our care for the interdependent web into so many aspects of our lives together. We believe that caring for the earth is not a separate activity, it is a guiding principle in all we do.

I loved the creativity and the passion from our members. I loved how practical we could be. For example, thinking about what dishes we use at coffee hour- we could buy compostable plates, we thought at first, but why not just use the plates in the cabinet? We realized that using up all the bits and bobs of plates salvaged from birthday parties and picnic even if they were plastic or Styrofoam was better than buying new places, better than buying brand new even the most eco-friendly plates made today.

This became part of our “covenant of sustainable purchasing” -which is on the fridge:

“We will encourage members to provide post-consumer or compostable cups, plates and flatware or to use reusable dishes when planning a church event. We will use up existing stock of non-sustainable items (e.g., plastic flatware) before purchasing new items.“

We noticed that earth care lined up well with the natural frugality of our congregation- use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.

Being the little church that could, we completed all our actions as planned, but were daunted by the task of filling out the paperwork to submit our application to the UUA. I want to give a huge hand to Katie, who committed to working on that paperwork and getting our accreditation, which we received in 2017.

The Letter we got from the UUA says:

“Congratulations on work so well done! The review team agreed that your program is commendable…In the environmental justice arena, your multiple projects we think should be shared broadly. Your [education series on Hydraulic Fracturing- also called Fracking] is a commendable and inspiring example of broad collaboration. The team felt your collaboration with Community Shale Network is particularly important. Project Grow, conceived to promote local agriculture Valley-wide in collaboration with churches, school systems, and food pantries seems an excellent contribution to your local economy.”

Yes, Green Sanctuary program inspired us to do some things we might not have done otherwise, but it also showed us how much we were already doing, had already been doing for years -- like composting, or turning the water heater off when we leave the building, like preaching and teaching about the principles of sustainability and earth care. I hope hearing all these stories -- our stories -- reminds us that being a green sanctuary has been part of the fabric of our lives together for a long time. Let these stories remind us of our commitment back in 2017 as we sent in our final application to the UUA “we reaffirm our congregation’s commitment to continue growing in awareness and action to honor and protect the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part.”

Living our Values Part 2- Our Own Dr. Strowbridge

Female Doctor Wore Pants by Jennifer Conkling [from a newspaper clipping in the UUCC archives]

A female trousers-wearing doctor was an unusual site in the 1800s, especially in Cortland.

Dr. Lydia Hammond Strowbridge was a female physician who was born Nov. 21, 1830 in Freetown to Mr. and Mrs. Silas Hammond... She was married in May of 1851 to John W Strowbridge, a Solon native... They came to Cortland in March of 1853. He enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War and was captain of Company F, 185th regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, when Lee surrendered at Appomattox...

Strowbridge, who before her marriage was an invalid, had begun the study of medicine. When her husband entered the army she decided to continue the study and graduated from the Hygeio Therapeutic Medical College of New York City.

Dr. Strowbridge made a specialty of the diseases of women and children, said Anita Wright of the Cortland County Historical Society...

She was also a member of the Universalist Church, the woman’s Relief Corps and a charter member of the Lincoln Lodge.

Strowbridge was one of the few women to wear a bloomer outfit, she knew that tight corsets and dresses that women wore were unhealthy, so she wore straight-legged bloomers underneath a short skirt, known as a Turkish style of clothing.

Strowbridge was arrested for being involved in an abortion, Wright found in her research. She said the doctor must have gotten out of it somehow because nothing was mentioned in the newspaper and there was no reference to a trial.

Strowbridge died Oct. 4, 1904. After an illness of three years form internal cancer, according to her obituary. She continued to practice after she was sick and she worked up until the time she was forcedto be in bed, it said. 

When we found this article about Dr. Strowbridge, I was curious how active she was in the church, and was delighted to find find her name all through our history of those years.

If you’ve ever had a cup of coffee in our social hall, you have no doubt see the history of the wonderful speakers that came to speak at the Unitarian Universalist church of Cortland. Well it turns out it was Dr. Strowbridge who brought many of those famous women speakers.

From an article on our church history:

“During the 1870s Dr. Lydia Strowbridge, one of the first women physicians to graduate in New York State, moved to Cortland, joined the church, and brought speakers to the church such as Clara Barton, educator and founder of the Red Cross, [born into a Universalist family] Lucretia Mott, quaker leader who was ref used a delegates seat at London’s famous anti-slavery conference as a result of her sex, thereby establishing women’s rights as. Primary goal for reform, and Susan b Anthony, feminist and suffragette.” 

As  I read about Dr. Strowbridge, a picture came into focus of a woman who was very active in many reform causes, and especially the rights of women. I found an article by Tabatha at the history center who says in a Facebook post:

“She was a member of the National Dress Reform Association and served as its president, 1857-1858. In addition to dress reform, Strowbridge was also active in the suffrage movement.”

You can see in the photo above she is pictured wearing the bloomers and skirt promoted by Ameila Bloomer, another local hero, who was also a leader in the Dress Reform movement.

The Homerville Museum found a description of Dr. Strowbridge in the bloomers:

“In 1869 she and seven male speakers took part in the 21st anniversary of the Friends of Human Progress, at Waterloo, New York. Its theme was the failure of our social system as well as our moral and physical lives. A female reporter from New York City described Lydia's appearance as "dark complexioned, about 37 years old, with sharp brown eyes, a pleasant demeanor, clad in a bloomer costume of gray trousers being loose and hanging well, and her skirt descending an inch or two below the knee. The body of her coat fitted lightly…"

A website called Women and the Vote NYS tells us that:

“She brought attention to many social issues, including abolition of enslavement, women's suffrage, the temperance movement and women's dress reform. Dr. Lydia was a speaker at the first New York State women's convention held at Congress Hall in Saratoga Springs. [July 13–14, 1869]”

But she was not just one who brought issues of reform to our congregation, she was a founding member of the Ladies Aid society. Our own History of Ladies' Aide Society tells us that when the Society formed 1883 “the First VP was Mrs. Strowbridge. We find that just 2 years later the society hit a rough patch and the notes from Sept 24 1885 tell us that “A meeting was held at Mrs. Parson’s for the purpose of disbanding. But a few of the faithful ones clung together and the words of encouragement spoken by Dr. Strowbridge kindled the smoldering embers into a flame and the fire ss still burring. The obituary of the Ladies’ Aid was not written”

The notes form 1894 mention that “The pulpit chairs bought in 1895 from money received at Dr. Strowbridge’s supper . This is to be done so that in years to come we will have something in a substantial way as well as pleasant memories to remind us of Dr. Strowbridge and her kind hospitality.”

It seems like she may also have served as congregation president, which was quite unusual as near as I can tell- it seems women mostly had leadership in the Ladies Aid, with men serving on the board [do let me know if you are aware of other exceptions and I’ll update this post]. It says in our congregation history that in 1898 a special was “called to order by president Strowbridge. Dr. Strowbridge asked the pleasure of meeting in regard to extend a call to Rev. Kenyon for another year. Much discussion followed. It was decided it would be impossible to give any advance in salary under the present financial conditions of the church and the Rev. Kenyon tendered his resignation, which was accepted.”

Now this is a special bit coming up here, that reminds us how our history repeats itself. The history continues:

“In 1898 upon the resignation of the Rev. Kenyon, there was a committee appointed to confer with the McLean Church and see if they would unite with Cortland Church and receive part time service with the Cortland Parish. A delegation came over from McLean, liked the sermon and decided to unite with this parish, holding their services in the evening. Later Upper Lisle united with Cortland and our minister held services there on Wednesdays for a number of years." 

Isn’t that wonderful, to hear that back over 125 years ago we teamed up with other congregations and shared a minister?

But Back to Dr. Strowbridge. She was written about in book of “ Biographical Setches of Leading Citizens, Cortland county, NY” published 1898:

“She endears herself to her patients by her sympathetic manner, and the womanly, kindly skill displayed in the treatment of the sick. She makes a specialty of the diseases and ailments of women and children, to which she has give especial study, but is also quite as successful in treating all other kinds of sickness, and has gained a reputation for skill and success that is second to none in the country. She was a member of the Baptist church in her earlier days, but later united with the Universalist Church of Cortland, in which she is an active worker. She is the mother of 3 children, Clarence, Silas H, and John W, Diseased."

Our own church history reports: “In 1904 Dr. Strowbridge died. The loss of such an active member was much felt here and in the Women’s Aid Association as well as the many organizations in which she had worked.” She was burried here in Cortland, and we can still visit her headstone at the Cortland Rural Cemetery [Section S, Lot 40] They note that “there is a historical marker dedicated to her that is in front of the hospital on Homer Avenue in Cortland."

I love this story of our own Dr. Strowbridge. She was a dedicated church leader - hosting dinners, cheering on discouraged volunteers, pitching in for fundraisers. She was a caring parent, and dedicated physician. All  the while working for women's rights, for abolition of slavery and bringing her reformer's passion into our community. What a wonderful story of a life guided by our Universalist Values.

 

Photo from the History Center Blog

 

Living Our Values Part 1: The Story of the Lady's Society

It’s been wonderful reading through the archives of the Cortland congregation, having a scavenger hunt through history for ways our congregation has lived our values over the generations. Too many stories to tell today, but what spoke to me was the strength and generosity of the women of this church, and our role in the struggle for women’s suffrage.

Back in the 1960s, when the second wave of feminism was just beginning to rise, the women of our church took the time to write their own history. What touched me as I read through this history written in 1967 was to see the women of our congregation -- year after year -- doing what we still do today; sewing, cooking, supporting the families of this church, (and making up a good part of the budget of the church through their sewing and the meals they served and financial good sense.) And, just as we see today, their caring for others in need far and near, and “putting their hands” to what needed doing.

Selections from “History of The Women’s Organization in The Old Cobblestone Church of Cortland NY written by Mrs. Grace B Buck & Mrs. Mable Wing, 1967:

“The Aid Society in the beginning no doubt grew out of groups of women who met together during the Civil War to sew for the Army. In 1883 organized by Mrs. Hand (wife of Rev Hand) “To secure systematic and efficient aid to the church in meeting its many expenses, we the ladies of the first universalist parish of Cortland co-operate together and agree to devote to the service of the church such portion of our time and labor as we shall deem practicable and which shall be prescribed in our constitution”

1887- Many of the records relate the numbers of quilts made and even noted a missing block. “Slaking the quilts” was no doubt quite a ceremony [removing the quilt from the frames ready for binding.)

Much work was done for charity or for the army and Mrs. Godfrey or provided this work.

1888 “as each quilt was finished pieces which were left, inspired the starting of another one and so an endless chain of quilts went on and on”

1891 The Binghamton Church was being built at this time (on exchange street) and asked the society at Cortland to hold a supper for their benefit. In November, 1891, the supper was served and $17 sent to the Binghamton Church.

1899 There was no limit to their generous work, and no choosing of what their work would be “whatever their hands found to do” -- they truly did it with all their might. We find they voted to buy flowers for a woman’s funeral and started sewing for her children at the same time.

1906 ‘the lives of famous women were studied in the meetings but suppers and quilts had their usual importance”

1938 “The traveling apron was made by Myrtie Cortright with extra patches to be sewn on with a silver piece underneath. This traveled from each member until it had completed its journey, then returned to the treasurer or the chairman. Clara Barton stocking coin cards were passed out to be filled with dimes, the proceeds to be send to the Clara Barton camp for diabetic girls.

1941: Grace Buck, chairman of the Red Cross work reported the ladies of the society were highly complimented on the finished garments handed in to the Red Cross headquarters, also for their service on the Mobile Unit. As there was a shortage of tin, the group earned $2 on what they saved.

1945 A memorial plaque was presented by the ladies aid to the church in honor and memory of our boys and girls serving in World War 2, also gift packages were sent to those in service.

1956 The group was asked for books of green stamps, which they sent so a vacuum cleaner could be obtained for Camp Unirondack, also $5 was sent to the housekeeping department. The association paid the expense of shipping the clothing collected by the Religious Youth Group” to Hungary.

1957 Mrs. Philip Spring , director of Friendly Red Door of the American Cancer Society explained the work being done, following her talk the group made cancer dressings.

1958 The association voted to give $10 to the operating fund of the St. Lawrence Theological school $7 to the scholarship fund $10 to the housekeeping fund at Unirondack, usual amounts to the Jordan Neighborhood House and Japanese Project, and to increase the contributions to $25 each for the Clara Barton Diabetic Camp For Girls and the Elliot P Joslin Diabetic Cam For Boys. The group decided instead of the usual Christmas party and exchange of gifts, they would send a remembrance to shut ins.

1966 During the evening news was received of the death of Rev. James Reeb. Telegrams were sent to President Johnson, Senator Robert Kennedy… urging immediate federal intervention to maintain law and order and advance justice in Selma, Alabama. Motion was made and approved to give $50 to help finance the Freedom Pilgrimage trip. Those going were Rev. Payson, Roger Scales and James Cappy.

In his introduction to the history – Rev. Robert E Payson, who was pastor from 1961-67, writes:
“May all who read this document of the living history of this women’s organization find in it the encouragement and inspiration to follow in the footsteps of this, their finest example of living.”

How heartening to look back at our history and see the values that connect us in one unbroken line. To imagine our beautiful sanctuary at capacity as our congregation brought here to Cortland great reformers, fomenting new thought in our community,

And I imagine there in the social hall, the hundreds of acts of care; feeding each other and the community… bringing tokens of care to nursing homes and shut ins one quilt leading to another. The story which began with sewing for our soldiers in the civil war, ends its telling in sending forth our delegation to the great Civil Rights march in Selma.

The habits of care and connection, of transforming the world for justice, of putting our hands to work wherever help is needed, these I see each time we gather.

Let us be proud that we stand in these same spaces, doing the same good work, part of this same great tradition. May the spirit of this church guide our hands in what they find to do.