Newsletters & Sermons
September 2004
UUFD
NOW
A
Welcome Sight
Have you
noticed the spiffy new sign-in book we have for visitors in the
foyer? June Allison said brainstorming at a recent Membership Committee
meeting inspired her to redesign the pages to provide more room
for guests to put down important information. In addition, the pages
have a more attractive, vital look to them.
 Top
Women’s fall retreat set for
November
“Women'
s Spirit Retreat — Maiden, Mother, Crone — a Woman's
Spiritual Journey” describes the Central Midwest District,
Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation Retreat, Nov. 12-14, in
Lake Geneva Wis.
The theme
presentation is “Exploring and Knowing Desire in a Woman's
Life Cycle.” The presenter, Wendy Selene, is a Jungian analyst
from Chicago. Workshops include tarot, croning ceremonies, creating
rituals for life's stages, UU prayer beads and Cymbal, a beautiful
group of UU women making and sharing music. Registration materials
will be available in early September. To request registration packets,
e-mail or call 847-864-1330.
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Remembering
our fellow members
Seen Margaret
Hardgrove lately? None of us had; the last we heard, she was at
a nursing home in Clinton. Out of sight, out of mind, we’re
afraid.
Well, her
name came up at a meeting a few weeks ago, and Rev. Biedler made
it his mission to go visit.
He came
back with an enthusiastic report of his wonderful visit with “Peg.”
Although she’s been in the nursing home for about five years,
with no family nearby, she’s kept a mental sharp edge by reading
voraciously and speaks well on many topics.
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In
John's Words
In an intuitive
response to the concept of water as a symbol of our connectedness
to one another and to our place on the planet, the Water Communion
Ingathering Service is enacted annually around the world in UU congregations.
According
to research, the first water communion ceremony was held in Michigan
in 1980 at a convocation for Unitarian Universalist women.
Why water?
We know life cannot survive without this liquid, nor can the life
of the soul flourish without tending to the spirit of community
that flows around and through us all.
Because many of us scatter over the globe during the summer, UUFD
has this ingathering service in early September to mark the beginning
of the fall season and a return to the community of our Fellowship.
It is a
two-step process. The first is to gather a small quantity of water
from wherever you go during the summer as a reminder of where you
were, and that you carried your UU connection there with you, and
back.
The second
step is to bring that small bit of water (or representative water)
with you to the ingathering service. During the service, there will
come a time of sharing. Those who have brought water will be invited
to come forward, pour the water into a common bowl and briefly tell
where the water came from and how it represents your connection
to UUism and the Fellowship.
We have
had water from as far away as France and as close as someone's kitchen
sink or well. At the end of the service, a small amount of the commingled
water — now representing the commingled lives of the Fellowship
— will be reserved for use on occasions such as child dedications
and weddings. And some will be retained to begin the next year's
ceremony, as recognition of our lives flowing on together over the
years.
During
this service, I will be talking about a vision of the future of
this congregation. I will be asking who we are, why we are here
and what you see to be the ongoing mission of the Fellowship. Your
input —since you ARE UUFD — is vital.
Please be with us.
In Faith,
John
Minister's office hours in September will be each Tuesday from 1-5
p.m. at the Fellowship office, except Sept. 27 (when he will be
in Tulsa,Okla., conducting his daughter's wedding!).
Top
Joys
and Concerns
Birthdays
Marjorie Powell - Sept. 6, Kathy Kline - Sept. 23
Around the Fellowship
This isn’t music to our ears; Jeff Morton has moved to California.
We had really come to enjoy his company and his piano playing at
services. He has been teaching at Millikin but is now the music
director at a UU church in San Mateo. Also, a woman named Susan
“is a pretty large part of my decision to stay,” Jeff
says. We’ll miss him!
June Allison has completed the 40-hour training program at the Growing
Strong Sexual Assault Center in Decatur. She will be a crisis intervention
volunteer with their 24-hour hotline.
Scott Johnston will be teaching at Eastern Illinois University this
fall. He has been a philosophy instructor at the University of Illinois
in Urbana. He and his family are moving to Charleston, where EIU
is located.
Ask Larry Troy how he is enjoying downtown living. He has an apartment
in the historic Universalist Church building on Prairie Avenue.
Once again, Spider-Man (aka Chelso Frescura) swings into the media.
Chelso, in costume, was pictured in the Herald & Review Aug.
16.
Call Jane Brooks “Grandma.” Patrick Alan Brooks was
born July 26 to her son, Ben, and his wife, Lisa. Oh, the statistics?
Twenty-one inches and almost 7 pounds.
Joan Brown ought to be able to see eye to eye with us now. She had
cataract surgery Aug. 9. Could that same operation be in Marge Evans’
future?
Top
Board work
The main
activities at the Aug. 8 meeting centered around the upcoming plaque
commemoration and our Chalice Lighters application.
President
Marge Evans described how Mark Sorensen, John Biedler and she would
be involved in the Labor Day ceremony.
As for Chalice
Lighters, we have asked the Central Midwest District for a grant
for $9,575 to purchase a new roadside sign and hire a consultant
who would help us launch an advertising campaign. We want to reach
out to the people in our community “who are UUs but don’t
know it.”
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Greetings
from your Prez
By Marge Evans
My garden
is producing luscious and abundant ripe tomatoes! Love that bountiful
harvest!
So, too, are wonderful UU’ers coming forth with abundant good
deeds! Feeling blessed, I’ll make some brags!
Kathy Sorensen
wrote up a draft for a grant application to Chalice Lighters! After
review by the Board, the application was approved and it’s
in the mail!
Darwin
Shroyer has kept an eagle eye on our building. With some help from
his B&G committee some rotted boards are replaced, the roof
has been fixed, and the foyer again is air-conditioned.
Have you
noticed how nice the garden-by-the-entrance looks? Thank Terry Hogg!
We now have an updated list of members and friends, thanks to June
Allison! If you would like one, just ask. You may have noticed the
one we’re keeping by the phone in the kitchen — this
is great!
John Hays
did all the nitty-gritty work to get the bronze plaque ordered for
the old Universalist Church. He tells me as I’m writing that
it is here and will be mounted just prior to the commemoration ceremony
Sept. 6, Labor Day, at 11:30 a.m.
Unsung
are the many volunteers who have coffee, tea and goodies ready after
every service. Thanks to Marjory Powell, who is lining them up.
(she would love to hear that you will help) Thank Jeanne Robertson
for the fresh flower arrangements in the sanctuary!
The Devores and the Thistlethwaites are helping coordinate Books,
Bites and Botanicals, coming up Oct. 16.
From program
planning to keeping track of our finances, to writing our newsletter
— some of the greatest responsibilities are rarely acknowledged.
We do, indeed, have a bountiful harvest at UUFD!
Top
Books,
Bites and Botanicals beckons you
Our first
Annual Books, Bites & Botanicals is coming up Saturday, Oct.
16. Gather your volumes, hunt up your recipes, start your houseplants
and mark your calendar.
UUFD will
invite the community for our fall money-raiser from 8 a.m. until
noon. Carolynn Devore will head up the botanicals. Eric Devore will
organize the books and other paper items. Judy Thistlethwaite will
price the pies, cakes, cookies, breads and candies. And the workers
and donors are — you guessed it — the members and friends
of our Fellowship! Helping this succeed will help ensure all the
great things we’ve come to love from UUFD!
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Building
Your Own Theology
"Religion
is that core of ultimate meanings, values and convictions to which
we commit our lives. Theology is the reflection upon and criticism
of meanings, values and convictions. It is both a task and a privilege
to be part of a movement that takes individuals seriously and at
the same time sees them as members of a learning community,"
says Richard S. Gilbert, UU minister.
“Building
Your Own Theology” helps participants understand, articulate
and develop their own religious beliefs and values.
Rev. John
Biedler will be facilitating the course. The group will meet each
of the five Sunday afternoons throughout October from 2:30 to 4
p.m. at the Fellowship.
For more
information and to register, please call the church office and leave
a message for Rev. Biedler at 875-5442. Materials and workbook are
$20 per person.
Topics to be discussed:
1. Doing Theology — A Liberal Religious Model
2. Your Religious Odyssey — Autobiography with a Spiritual
Twist
3. Varieties of Liberal Religious Experience — UUs and the
Burning Bush
4. Human Nature — Some Self-Understanding
5. Ultimate Reality — Creating an Honest God
6. History — An Honest Backward Look
7. Ethics as Unenforceable Obligations — Importance of Being
Good for Nothing
8. We are the Meaning Makers
9. So What? Imperatives of My Theology
10. Wrapping it Up — a Covenanting Process
Top
Emily
Dickinson retreat
Emily Dickinson's
World weekend, Friday, Oct. 8 - Sunday, Oct. 10, will be hosted
by the UU Society of Amherst, Mass. The ninth biennial bed-and-breakfast
weekend of private tours, lectures, poetry and music will take place
at the height of New England's famed fall foliage season-a time
when, in Dickinson's words, "The Maple wears a gayer scarf
/ The field a scarlet gown."
The cost
of the weekend, $325 per person, includes two nights' lodgings,
four meals and all admissions. Bed and breakfasts are provided by
members of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst.
Visit the
Dickinson Homestead, Dickinson's grave, other historic sites and
The Evergreens, home of the poet's brother, Austin. New this year
will be a tour of the second floor of The Evergreens, including
the nursery where Dickinson's niece and nephews played with toys
still on view.
The weekend's
speakers will include Cynthia Dickinson, director of the Emily Dickinson
Museum. Guests will also be treated to poetry read by Doris Abramson
and performed in musical settings by New England tenor Peter Shea
and Friends.
For registration
materials, write to the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst
at Box 502, Amherst, MA 01004; phone 413-253-2848; or e-mail unitar@crocker.com.
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"Fixing a hole so the rain won't get in"
Our now
20-year-old building is requiring attention — and getting
it. The contractor who put the original roof on glued plywood and
shingles back together. He also installed a metal guide to keep
water away from the new siding that Vern Thistlethwaite, John Biedler
and Darwin Shroyer installed.
But Darwin,
who’s in charge of Buildings and Grounds, also reports that
one side of the building needs caulking or similar repair to prevent
leaking and rotting. Some painting in high places also will be called
for. Our thanks to Darwin
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In a nurturing
environment of openness, mutual respect, and friendship, the Unitarian
Universalist Fellowship of Decatur is a welcoming, diverse congregation.
We share values and seek to celebrate life and support one another
in our inward and outward searches for spiritual meaning, provide
a liberal religious presence, and strive for compassion and justice
in our community and our world.
Our newsletter
is printed monthly. Dick Zaker is the editor and Jennifer
Gardner makes it available on the Web. Articles can be submitted
through e-mail at newsletter@uufd.org,
by putting them in the newsletter mailbox at UUFD, by mailing them
to him in care of the fellowship, or by leaving a phone message
for Dick at 429-1355.
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