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| February
2003 Newsletter All services begin at 10:15 a.m. There is religious education for children and child care for babies and toddlers.
We will honor the challenge and responsibilities in welcoming those who
have joined this community of hope and memory over the last year.
Being practical people, we don't shy away from the realities of what
it requires to keep an institution such as the UUFD alive and well. It
takes, among other vital elements, money. Thus, in anticipation of the
March pledge drive, a study into the relationship money has played in
religious institutions seems appropriate. I will go back to the Hebrew,
Greek, and Christian traditions to help in this sermon.
Ms. Quigg is executive director of the organization that encourages new
mothers. Baby TALK promotes reading, conversation, developmentally appropriate
play and music for children. Families in Decatur are served in Baby TALK
programs at more than 20 sites around the community.
Dr. Paludan, Distinguished Lincoln Scholar, will discuss Abraham Lincoln's views on African-Americans and respond to recent criticism from some black historians that Lincoln was a racist. Dr. Paludan is professor of history at the University of Illinois - Springfield, affiliated with the school's newly organized Abraham Lincoln Presidential Center for Governmental Studies. Wednesdays at 11 am -- Decatur area peace group, to which Pastor Biedler belongs, meets at the Dove offices, 788 E. Clay St. Wednesdays at 1 pm -- The Men’s Lunch Group, “We’re Only UU Men”, new Red Lobster. All men are welcome! Feb. 5 at 2-4 pm -- Wednesday Covenant Group at UUFD. Visitors are always welcome. Feb. 6 at 1 pm -- UU Women’s Lunch Group, Applebee’s. All women welcome. Let Joan Brown know if you plan to come, 877-0880 or JoanGracias@aol.com. Feb. 9 at 12 noon -- UUFD Board meeting. All UUFD members are welcome to attend! Feb. 9 at 2:00-3:30 pm -- Covenant Leadership Training, Fellowship Hall. Feb. 12 at 6 pm -- Women’s Book Group, Rosemary Idelman’s, 717 W. Prairie Ave., Apt. 1B. Empire Falls by Richard Russo will be discussed. Bring a dish to share. People should carpool because of limited parking. The March book is Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf. Feb. 14 -- Happy Valentine’s Day! Feb. 19 at 2-4 pm -- Wednesday Covenant Group. Feb. 20 at 1 pm -- UU Women’s Lunch Group, Cheddar's. RSVP with Joan Brown. Feb. 20 at 7 pm -- UU Buddhist Group at UUFD. UUFD members and friends are welcome. Following the Sunday, Feb. 2 service at the Fellowship. Bring a dish to share. Table service and beverages will be provided. For further information, contact Jeanne Robertson, 877-6729. We will get together for more food and conversation on Saturday, Feb. 15, at 6:30 pm. You may sign the sheet in the foyer to be a guest and bring a dish of food, or be a host and provide hospitality at your home. If preparing food is not convenient for you, you may contribute a bought item, such as a salad, vegetable or dessert from a deli, a bread item, or a bottle of wine. Before the event, you will be contacted regarding the food item to bring and the location of the dinner. Contact Jeanne Robertson at 877-6729 if you have questions. . . . and start lining up your items to donate. Our big rummage sale is set for June 7! New Office Computer by June Allison Recently, UUFD received a very nice computer for our office! The Clinton nuclear power plant upgrades their computers every so many years and donates their old ones through their employees to charities. UUFD is the lucky recipient of one of these computers! UUFD member Evan Zaker has checked out the computer and Evan is an engineering student at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. While on his holiday break and working as a computer assistant at ADM, he installed the new computer for us. We thank him much for all his help on this! Dollars and Sense by Julie Pajer, Treasurer As we near the time for preparing the budget for next fiscal year, I wanted to share some general information about where your pledge dollars are going. There are a couple of areas in which we have controlled costs very well: utilities, office supplies, and child care (of course, it would always be a pleasure to have more children to care for!) Within these areas, we have only spent approximately 25% of the combined budgeted expenses. There are some areas that have been surprises, and costs have been significantly more than expected: building and grounds, insurance and music. Already this year we have overspent the total annual budgeted amount in these areas by approximately 75%. As I mentioned in last month’s newsletter, these expenses consisted of resealing the parking lot, fixing glass in the doors and adjusting the workman's comp insurance per the audit from Traveller's. Oddly enough, at the six-month mark, the cost savings in the first group almost exactly equals the overspending in the second group! I'll let you know how the trend continues as we move into the second half of the fiscal year. Unitarian Universalist Association President William Sinkford, who will be our guest on May 3, was thrust in the middle of a controversy in January. He was quoted in a Fort Worth, Texas, newspaper article as saying he would press for God to be acknowledged in our UU Principles. Many UUs felt this would alienate many UUs with varying beliefs about God. However, Sinkford says he was misquoted. "I did not call for the Principles to be rewritten," he said. "I spoke of the need for individuals to consider supplementing the language of the Principles with religious language in describing their own faith." He said his sermon to the Fort Worth UU church included these thoughts: "But ‘religious language’ doesn't have to mean ‘God talk.’ And I'm not suggesting that Unitarian Universalism return to traditional Christian language. But I do feel that we need some language that would allow us to capture the possibility of reverence, to name the holy, to talk about human agency in theological terms -- the ability of humans to shape and frame our world guided by what we find to be of ultimate importance." Sinkford’s column in the March-April UU World magazine will expand on his beliefs, about personal theology and language. He hopes this newspaper misunderstanding can spark discussion about how we voice our deeply held beliefs. Plans are taking shape for our special service on May 3, marking our
50th anniversary and featuring the Rev. Sinkford. Contact Dick Zaker at
secretary@uufd.org or 429-1355
if you can help. There’s nothing like being around committed, enthusiastic Unitarian Universalists to make you feel good about your religion and your role in it. One golden opportunity to enjoy just that kind of feeling will come up April 4 and 5. The annual meeting for our multi-state Central Midwest District will be held right here in Illinois. "Pushing the Comfort Zone: Engaging in Diverse Community" will be held at the Unitarian Church of Evanston. The featured speaker will be Dr. Sharon Welch, professor of Religious Studies at the University of Missouri at Columbia. She is the author of Sweet Dreams in America: Making Ethics and Spirituality Work and A Feminist Ethic of Risk. Another highlight will be the Friday evening opening ceremony, with performances by Chicago-area choirs with drums and bells and a banner parade. Then, there is a variety of workshops Saturday morning and afternoon. Topics include "Public Witness in Troubled Times", "Worship Through the Visual Arts", "Covenant Groups for Life" and "Working Positively with Conflict." There will be worship services Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
Adult registration is $60 if postmarked be-fore March 2 and $80 afterward.
For more information, call 708-236-0831 or go to the Central
Midwest District website. In a snappy one hour’s time on Jan. 12, Board members:
That Feb. 2 is Candlemas, a holiday celebrated for hundreds of years?
At one time, people thought that the weather on Candlemas would predict
weather for the rest of the winter, as reflected in this old poem: Sound like another holiday? Minister’s Office Hours Newcomers know the process of becoming a Unitarian Universalist isn't as simple as signing a membership book, but we don't talk much about the process of conversion. The religious sense of the word conversion means "to turn around," to find new ways to live your life based on your beliefs and convictions. Daniel O'Connell, minister of the UU Society in West Redding, Conn., says there are four steps in the process of conversion to Unitarian Universalism: 1. Identify your history: We each are born into a world we did not create, speaking a language not of our choosing, to parents we had never met before. To some degree, we are not responsible for the world we were born into or the religious heritage we were immersed in. And yet, here we are. To plan your journey, you would do well to know your own map of where you have been. 2. Articulate your history: We never finish the process, it seems. But too many never really get started. With questions like: Why are we here? Where is the joy in my life? What do I believe about life, death, the divine, spirituality, religious experiences and ethical living? 3. Take some spiritual risks: For instance: If you don't believe in God, try prayer anyway. If you've never practiced meditation, join our UU Buddhist group Terry Ankrom is forming. If you don't like being around the poor, work in a soup kitchen. If you're not creative, write poetry or paint; if discouraged, journal or try writing a song. If you've never had the challenge of sharing your spiritual journey within a safe and supportive environment, I encourage you to join one of the Covenant Groups in our congregation. Use your spiritual fear like a Geiger counter -- not to steer away, but to run headlong toward. Such risk-taking will help you grow spiritually and it will modify your theology, which in turn will suggest new spiritual risk-taking. 4. Become an elder: When we first get involved with a congregation, we need to pay attention to our spiritual needs. Many of us come here for the first time fresh from or possibly in the midst of crisis. It is natural and important to find how the church can serve your spiritual needs. But the path to a depth-oriented Unitarian Universalism cannot stop there. Once we identify our history, articulate our theology and take some spiritual risks, we must take our "ministry" of service out into the larger world. We can move from being just a spiritual seeker to being a spiritual helper -- it means to help meet the needs of others along their path. It means coming back full circle. Where are you on your own journey? We are glad you have decided to come travel with us. In Faith, If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I
am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of
prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have
a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I
give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but
have not love, I gain nothing. -- 1 Corinthians13:1-7 Our past minister, the Rev. Mary Moore, recently was reading a book on British Unitarian history and discovered that Sir Henry Tate, the founder of the Tate & Lyle company, was a lifelong Unitarian. Tate & Lyle is the parent company of A.E. Staley. Mr. Tate was born on March 11, 1819, in Lancashire, the son of a Unitarian minister. The Hibbert Assembly web pages provide this information. "Sir Henry Tate (1819-1899), well-known as the Tate of Tate and Lyle, and as the founder of the Tate Gallery in London, is typical of many 19th century Unitarians who combined a simple religious faith with quiet philanthropy and a shrewd sense of business. He was born on 11 March 1819 at Chorley, in Lancashire, the son of a Unitarian minister. His fortune was based on his patenting a means of cutting sugar into dice-sized cubes. He used it to endow colleges, hospitals, and libraries. The National Gallery of British Art, popularly known as the Tate Gallery,
was built at his expense. Tate's own collection of 65 paintings by contemporary
artists -- most notably Millais (1829-1896) -- provided the nucleus of
the Gallery. He was created a baronet in June 1898. He died on 5 December
1899. " God is that indefinable something which we all feel but which we do not know. To me, God is truth and love, God is ethics and morality, God is fearlessness, God is the source of light and life, and yet God is above and beyond all these. God is conscience. God is even the atheism of the atheist. -- Mohandas Gandhi
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