COMMITTEE ON MINISTRY:
Congregational Assessment

One purpose of the Committee on Ministry is to consider the health of our church community. In recent months we have become aware of conflict and unhappiness among members of our church. In an effort to better understand these concerns, the Committee on Ministry is working with UUA Regional Congregational Life Staff to convene focus groups designed to help us evaluate these concerns. These one-hour focus groups are scheduled for Saturday, February 20 to Monday, February 22. The focus groups will be led by Ken Brown, our UUA Congregational Life Staff member, and multiple UUA Regional Consultants.

The focus groups are part of UUA-endorsed steps toward bringing our community to more open communication, compassion, and healing. Everyone is encouraged to participate in order to ensure a fair, representative, and compassionate process. 

From a historical perspective, a year ago the Committee on Ministry conducted a survey — something we thought of as a continuing conversation with our congregation. Though the response was small, we learned from a few courageous people there was and continues to be unhappiness among us. And we were reminded that all of us, regardless of the level of unhappiness or the issue at hand, love this church of ours. In the months since, we have heard from more of our members and friends, and conflict, unhappiness, hurt feelings and sorrow continue to be important issues.

The initial UUA-led assessment will consist of focus groups of 8 to 10 people, led in conversation by Regional Staff. These focus groups will not be led by members of our congregation. Focus group questions will be open-ended, designed to provide members the opportunity to communicate their concerns. Ground rules will provide guidance for fair, respectful communications. There will be many focus groups, scheduled over many different days and times, to accommodate all who wish to participate. After the focus groups have been convened and completed, UUA Regional Staff will prepare a written report reflecting what we told them during the focus groups, and they will provide recommendations for our next steps. The report will be made available first to the Committee on Ministry and the Board and will then be shared with the congregation.

Please stop by the Committee on Ministry table in Forbes Hall after services throughout January for additional information. We will be there every Sunday, and there will be many other opportunities to learn about this important, nurturing endeavor.

Let us come together to start the healing process and honor one another in this beloved community of ours. Respectfully submitted,

— Committee on Ministry: Leon Henderson-MacLennan; Barbara Kernochan; Margot Page; Tom Peters, Co-Chair; Sue Stoyanoff, Co-Chair; and the Reverend Rebecca Benefiel Bijur

FROM THE COMMITTEE ON MONEY:  
December 6 Meeting Summary and Recommendations

81 ATTEND TOWN HALL MEETING ON MONEY; YOU CAN SEE THE POWERPOINT BEFORE THE FEBRUARY 14 VOTE.

On December 6, the Board, led by our president, Patricia Wright, presented a PowerPoint summary followed by discussion of the proposed motions prepared by the C on $. Ron Crane, David Olsen, Vicki Foxworth, and Steve White from the C on $ were present and responded to questions.

To recap, the background of the formation of the Committee on Money (C on $) evolved as our church received some very large and unique bequests and donations over the past five years or so. There were two types of bequests: 1) the member leaving us the money “directed” or restricted what it could be spent on, and 2) the member leaving or giving the money did not restrict its use, generally called “unrestricted reserves.” At the May 2014 annual meeting, the congregation voted to appoint the C on $ to research, evaluate, and make recommendations as to how we should handle these unique financial donations.

It was noted that approximately half of the $880,000 we originally had in unrestricted reserves has already been spent or is now set aside to pay for projects already approved by the congregation, such as the $80,000 set aside to update the lighting and sound system in the sanctuary. (Note: A separate accounting is being prepared setting forth the expenditures of the prior unrestricted reserves.) Although some of the funds were spent on much delayed repairs and maintenance, it is projected that there will be approximately $430,000 of the “unrestricted reserves” left by June 30, 2016.

In summary, the PowerPoint highlighted that, if the C on $ resolutions pass, there will be an endowment and four separate “reserve funds” created as follows:

TYPE OF ACCOUNT AND INITIAL ALLOCATIONS
1. Catastrophe reserve - $150,000 with a goal of $750,000
2. Capital building reserve - $50,000 with a goal of $250,000
3. Contingency reserve - $30,000 with a goal of $30,000
4. Endowment Fund - $150,000 with a goal of $2,000,000
5. Budget deficit reserve - $50,000 (for 2016-17 fiscal year)

A lively discussion, with comments, questions, and answers followed. There were several questions regarding the large deductible for the earthquake insurance coverage. The explanation is that UU Santa Monica is lucky in that we are “grandmothered in” for earthquake coverage for the main church building. However the deductible for earthquake coverage is 25% of the damage. (The Cottage cannot be covered by earthquake insurance as no insurance carrier will provide coverage for commercial buildings in California.)

There were questions regarding the use of these funds for the past several years to make up a yearly deficit budget. In May 2015 the congregation voted to use another $52,000 for the current fiscal year (which ends on June 30, 2016), and the Finance Committee and the C on $ anticipate in their motions that we will need at least another year to work towards a sustainable budget at our church where our annual income closely matches our budget. Members expressed concern that we are using our unrestricted reserves to supplement our annual budget.

Several questions pertained to the implementation of the endowment, and if, as a congregation, we could “undo” the endowment if we need the funds or change our minds. The C on $ representatives confirmed that our congregation can dissolve or withdraw principal from the endowment by a 2/3 vote of the congregation. The C on $ explained that the amounts in the reserve accounts could be moved or changed by a vote of the congregation or by the Board, depending on the amount of money being rebudgeted.

Patricia Wright took the lead in preparing the PowerPoint and worked in collaboration with the C on $ representatives, Ron Crane (chair), David Olsen, Ken Alexander, Vicki Foxworth, Leslie Reuter, and Steve White (recording secretary for C on $) as well as Kim Miller, Treasurer. Steve White drafted the voter summary for the C on $ resolutions. 81 people attended the town hall meeting.

Copies of the Committee on Money resolutions and voter summary as well as the PowerPoint itself are in the church office. If you would like this information sent to you by email attachment, please request it from Nurit Gordon in the church office. Everyone is encouraged to review these documents now and well in advance of the February 14, 2016, business meeting vote on the Committee on Money’s resolutions. Anyone with further questions may direct those to any member of the C on $, or Kim Miller .

— Kim Miller

Numbers at the UU Church of Santa Monica

One way of measuring the health of our church is to consider quantitative indicators of financial status, membership, and attendance. These kinds of measures cannot replace qualitative indicators: do congregants feel fulfilled, happy, and satisfied with the direction of the church? Nevertheless, numbers can be helpful.

PURPOSE. This report, which is available on request from the church office, presents numbers for membership and financial status from 2008 to 2015 and for attendance over time from 2011 to 2015. These numbers address whether these indicators are declining, stable, or increasing.

SUMMARY: First, attendance shows a slight decline between 2010 and 2014. Membership and pledges are relatively stable between 2010 and 2014. Second, rental income and other giving have increased. Third, expenses have increased rapidly and consequently there are larger deficits. Fourth, there is an increase in income given per member and even greater increase in expenses per member.

IMPLICATIONS: Based on these numerical indicators, the church appears to be stable but is not growing in membership or attendance. Stable pledge income has implications for the kind of spending plan that the church implements. Because pledges are not increasing at the rate of expenses, it would be prudent to decrease expenses. On the other hand, the question of how to cut expenses (which would likely affect staff and salaries) is beyond the scope of this report.

— Vilma Ortiz

FROM A MEMBER OF OUR FINANCE COMMITTEE:
When Will We Adopt a Sustainable Operating Budget?

A sustainable church budget is important because it doesn’t push problems into the future. When we spend more on operating expenses than our current income, we must withdraw money saved from prior years’ income or inherited previously. That is not prudent because future bequests are unpredictable. Bequests are best used for endowments, contingency reserves, and building (“capital”) improvements.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, we took about $60,000, or $5,000 per month, from our legacy (bequest) funds to pay our regular operating expenses. We’ve been doing this since 2008-2009, the year of the Great Recession, when we spent $2,445 per month on income shortfalls. We’ve gotten in the habit of doing so — living beyond our means — every year since, except for 2009-2010.

At our congregational meeting in May, we voted to approve and accept a budget that will require us to take up to $52,000 more from our one-time legacy funds by next June to pay recurring expenses.

However, as of November 30, we were on pace for a projected $87,000 deficit by June 30, $35,000 more than the Congregation has authorized. While we work and hope for a major improvement in pledging, fiscal year-to-date pledge receipts through November 30 are more than $10,000 lower than for the previous three years! Prudent management says that spending savings for current expenses only makes sense when there is a specific plan in place to get back in balance as soon as possible after a sudden shock. However, our leaders have advocated that we must maintain the vitality of our church and enable it to grow, regardless of our deficit, by maintaining the current, growing level of expenses. We’ve tried that for five years and it hasn’t worked — all trends are down.

To my knowledge, 18 months after the $72,000 deficit budget was approved in May 2014, specific plans for reducing expenses or increasing revenue have not yet been proposed or developed. The Garden of Eternity has been the only significant new or increased source of revenue, with 14 bricks at $500 each sold to date in addition to Ray Goodman’s initial $10,000 gift. Pledges have not increased over the last six years and membership has decreased yearly for the last 10 years. Annual expenses have steadily gone up.

Everyone knows that balance requires cutting expenses and/ or increasing income. Cutting expenses is hard when most of our budget pays for staff costs and fixed operating costs, but cutting had to be done in 2008 when the Great Recession of 2008 suddenly dropped our income. For me, cutting staff is a desperate measure when there are no other options. If we had not had legacy money in the bank, we would have had to cut staff for the last 18 months, or indeed for the last six years!

However, there are other options which have been used in the past and need to be considered. None are easy, as they are all worthy expenses, but we may prefer them to cutting staff or programs. It makes no sense to me to spend one-time money on recurring, annual expenses on a continuing basis. Let’s face reality, now, not later! 

We currently send $25,000 per year in per-member dues to the UUA and the UUA district/regional offices. We have worked hard for years to bring both closer to 100% of our “fair share” per member, and are proud to have done so. Does it make sense to keep spending one-time bequest money to pay annual dues?

We generously and fairly approved $15,000 in staff raises for the current fiscal year, even though we didn’t know the total cost at the time. Does it make sense to spend one-time bequest money to pay for both this year’s raises as well as next year’s raises on top of this year’s?

We have had a wonderful Facilities Development Committee with volunteer professionals leading it for the last several years. This has been terrific, helping us recover from decades of deferred and neglected maintenance.

• We raised $200,000 to replace the leaky roof over the Sanctuary while bringing the north wall of the Sanctuary up to earthquake standards.

• We used $233,000 of Drew Still’s bequest to improve our administrative offices.

• We have used $200,000 of other bequests on building and campus (“capital”) improvements,

• Over the last seven years, we invested more than $630,000 in building improvements.

• This was on top of about $2 million raised by previous capital campaigns.

However, during these same seven years, we used $244,000 of bequest money (average of $35,000 per year) to pay for ordinary operating expenses! Do we really want to approve a third massive deficit of $50,000 or more for 2016-17 this coming May?

If all our operating expenses are considered vital by our congregation, why have we, the congregation, not raised enough money and made sufficient pledges to pay for them at any time over the last several years?

Our leadership must do more toward building financial support for their spending plans, or scale them back.

The choices are hard, but only get harder each passing year. I ask every member of our church community to consider our options to get us back on track to being a financially healthy and sustainable congregation. Let’s take action now, not later.

— Steve White

The Pledge Team will donate:

• $5 for every pledge card turned in by December 20

• $10 for 3% increase in your pledge

• $15 for 5% increase

• $20 for 10% or more increase

(We have collected $1,150 to date for the Food Bank)

Please take time now to make a financial commitment to our beloved community at a level that is deeply significant for you. And many thanks to all who attended house parties!

With gratitude from your Pledge Team:
Beth Brownlie, Barbara Gibbs, Gretchen Goetz, Kit Shaw, Kim Miller, Jackie Weber, Patricia Wright, Advisors: Abby Arnold, Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur, Rev. Tera Little

UU SANTA MONICA MEMBERS AND FRIENDS WITH PLEDGES FOR 2016 RECEIVED IN DECEMBER:

Abby Arnold, Kirk Attebury, Francois Bar and Alison Kendall, Bettye Barclay, Rebecca and Jonathan Bijur, Harvey and Sheila Bjornlie, Bonnie Brae, Leslie Beauvais and Edward Brand, Christopher Brown, Helen Brown, Patrick Burrows and Nancy Shinno, Leonard Cachola, Teresa Castelli, Kathy Cook, Cynthia Cottam and Tom Early, Rebecca Crawford, Dorothy and Philip Curtis, Steven DePaul and Beth Rendeiro, Janine Venable deZarn, Bob Dietz and Ellen Levy, James Duckman and Emily Linnemeier, Sarah Edgington, Sanna Egan, Joe Engleman, Michael Eselun, Melinda Ewen, Jan and Bruce Ferguson, Dwight Flowers, Resa Foreman, Clayton Fossett, Vicky Foxworth and Jeff Pressman, Roberta Frye, Norbert Gallery and Rima Snyder, Steve Garboski, Barbara Gibbs, Wendi Gladstone, David and Gretchen Goetz, Marion Goldenfeld, Patricia Gomez, Melissa Goodnight, Janet Goodwin and Karl Lisovsky, Rayma Greenberg, Alice Hall, Nora Hamilton, Charles and Christine Haskell, Denise Helton, the Henderson-MacLennans, Emily Hero, Lawrence Howard, Glen and Nancy Howell, Mark Huberman, Gerry Hurst, Jay Johnson and Rachel Sene, Cynthia Kelly, Barbara Kernochan, Margaret and Yacoub Kharraz, Geralyn Lambson, Ann and Carl Lekven, Anne MacQueen, Katie Malich, Joyce and Warren Mathews, Patricia and Richard Mathias, Laura Matthews, Patrick Meighan and Amy Thiel, Ralph Meyer, Kim Miller, Liam Mina, Francine and Stuart Moore, Jerry and Sue Moore, Helene and James Morison, Susana Nierlich, Beth Brownlie and Bryan Oakes, David and Kitsy Olson, Vilma Ortiz, Tony Patel, Dan and Karen Hsu Patterson, Lorenzo Pelayo, the Rev. Ernest Pipes, Ruth and Allen Potts, Barbara Powers, Joan Reitzel, Leslie Reuter, Carol Ring, Elaine Roark, Scott Roewe, Anne Saldo, Kit Shaw, Catherine Gentile, Temitope Sonuyi, Diana Spears, Marguerite Spears, Andrea Steffan, Dorothy Steinicke, Isabel and Bayard Storey, Susan Stoyanoff and Stephen White, John Sussman, Jila Tayefehnowrooz, Pamela Teplitz and Rick Teplitz, Linda van Ligten and Greg Wood, Jennifer Westbay, Jessamine Winston, Edward and Patricia Wright, Michael Young, Joan Zierler, and John Zinner.

December Festivities

Friendly Beasts Christmas Pageant, led by Kris Langabeer

Christmas Eve Services

From Our Pledge Committee: Living our Commitment by Funding our Movement

The Civil Rights Movement is an inspiration in so many ways — the women and men who drove each other to work for over a year during the Montgomery bus boycott; the brave youth who integrated the University of Georgia and other southern universities; the people who faced the police on the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma.

Searching for new ways to inspire financial giving in our beloved church, I found an article in the Grassroots Fundraising Journal describing how the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s raised the money to pay organizers, print posters and leaflets, feed demonstrators, and cover all the costs of building a massive social movement.

Like all authentic mass movements, nearly all of the funding came from contributions by the housekeepers, sanitation workers, and kitchen staff in the pews of the black churches where nightly meetings were held. The article, by Holly Fincke, quotes Reverend T.J. Jemison, leader and spokesperson for the Baton Rouge 1953 bus boycott as saying “The black citizens, mainly, and a few whites, contributed enough money to pay for all the tires, and batteries, and gas and my bodyguards. And we owed nobody nothing. The black community paid for all that.”

Similar experience in Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia led one leader to say that it was “the black community that financed efforts aimed at its own liberation.” When funding did eventually come from national foundations, which happened later in the NOVEMBER 8 “Oh We Give Thanks” Rev. Tera Little, preaching NOVEMBER 15 “From Locusts to Honeybees” Rev. Tera Little, preaching NOVEMBER 22 “For this we are thankful?” Kikanza J Nuri-Robins NOVEMBER 29 “A Fish Out of Water” Kikanza J Nuri-Robins movement, “foundations put pressure on the movement to downplay more radical strategies,” writes Fincke. The Civil Rights Movement was able to raise the funds it needed from those who believed most deeply in the cause, most of whom had very limited means.

Like the Civil Rights Movement and virtually all churches, UU Santa Monica operates on the income we receive from our members and friends. Each member makes an annual commitment to donate meaningfully to our pledge income, which makes up more than three-fourths of our annual budget. Because we are an old church without a mortgage, nearly all of our expenses involve paying the wonderful people who staff our programs and maintain our infrastructure. The gasoline, batteries, and bodyguards of the early Civil Rights Movement are the salaries, supplies, and services of our church. If the members of the early Civil Rights Movement were able to support their movement from their own very modest pockets, shouldn’t we be able to do the same?

We’ll have an opportunity to talk about our involvement in Unitarian Universalism and our commitment to our church at a series of ten house parties organized by the Pledge Team in the next few weeks. It is a time for us to come together, as the people of Montgomery and Selma did, and share our personal stories about what brought us to our church, and how deeply we care about its future. I am looking forward to hosting one of these gatherings, when I will learn more about the people with whom I am building a beloved community on Sunday mornings.

My financial commitment to the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica supports our inspiring Sunday services, vibrant religious education programs, and social justice agenda. I’m so proud to belong to this church, and I’m happy to express my pride through an automatic monthly deduction from my bank account. I invite you to find a path to meaningful giving for the life of our church and our community.

— Abby Arnold

Heart to Heart Circles: Listen Up!

Listening is powerful. When you listen to other people, you pay value to them and make them feel more important and worthwhile. Motivational speaker Philip Hesketh says “rapt attention is the highest form of flattery.” Yet how many of us feel that we get that “rapt attention”? Most people are so concerned with their next comment that they barely listen to one another. They merely wait for an opportunity to jump in when the other person takes a breath. People tend to spend more time evaluating what the speaker is saying or mentally composing their responses than they do actually listening. Listening is what makes Heart to Heart Circles a unique church program. Here, we gather together once a month to listen to one another share from the heart. Each month we have selected readings along with questions to consider regarding a particular topic. The circles give participants time to pause, reflect, speak what’s in their heart regarding the topic, and to hold the space silent while others share their truth. It requires tremendous discipline to listen attentively without interrupting. It is challenging to turn off your own mind and direct your attention completely to another person. As with most other social skills, to master listening, practice is required.

“Listening is a very deep practice… you have to empty yourself. You have to leave space in order to listen.” —Thich Nhat Hanh

Listening builds trust. Attentive listening helps you learn more about other people. The more you listen to other people, and genuinely try to understand and empathize with them, the more you develop yourself. Each of us has something to say. Having the space to speak your truth without judgment or comment, is a gift we give to one another in Heart to Heart Circles.

Heart to Heart participants also complete two service projects as a group: one for the church community and one for the wider community. This year, registration for Heart to Heart Circles will take place during the month of December, closing on January 10. New groups for the 2016 session will begin in February. You are invited to participate!

— Rhonda Peacock

Quotes About Gratitude

Bettye Barclay has provided this list of quotes about our ministerial theme for November. Daily quotes also appear in the weekly electronic announcements.

Week 1. Gratitude is the sign of noble souls. — Aesop

Week 2. We learned about gratitude and humility – that so many people had a hand in our success, from teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean…and we were taught to value everyone’s contribution and treat everyone with respect. — Michelle Obama 

Week 3. We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives. — John F. Kennedy 

Week 4. Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude. — A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Week 5. For each new morning with its light. For the rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

From Our Treasurer: Defecit Spending

1. Deficit spending so far for 2015/2016

The deficit so far is $34,876. This is contrasted to our “projected” year to date deficit of $24,233. However this deficit number also includes payment for chairs in the amount of approximately $9,500 from money deducted from the facilities maintenance fund so our actual deficit to date is approximately $25,376. Even assuming that our deficit is the $25,376, one way to project our anticipated deficit by the end of June 2016 would be $101,504. This is not the only way to roughly project deficit or spending but it is one way. As a community we can expect more incoming funds after the start of our annual fall pledge drive and by year-end as some members make a one-time or year-end pledge at the end of the calendar year. However the above number is roughly twice what the congregation approved in May of 2015 as a deficit.

We are starting our annual pledge drive and I hope everyone will consider increasing their pledge by a number that is meaningful to you and your family.

2. Status of pledges

Pledges are down by approximately $14,478 adjusted for seasonal variations.

3. Reduction of our unrestricted funds In May of 2014 we had approximately $661,000 in unrestricted reserves. However in projecting what has already been spent and/ or what is now “set aside” and authorized to be spent, it appears that a reasonable projection, even if we don’t authorize another penny of spending from the unreserved funds from now until June of 2016, will be approximately $420,000. In two years we will have spent at least $240,000 of the unrestricted funds we had. While these funds are being expended as approved by either the board or the entire congregation, we are making substantial depletions of these funds on a piecemeal basis.

As of yet there is no plan in place, nor has there been in the past two to three years, as to how our congregation wants to focus our spending on unique bequests. There have been no other sizeable bequests or donations to replenish this fund. If we keep spending these unreserved funds at the same rate they will be gone in approximately 3.5 years. In my view deficit spending using reserves should only be done with a comprehensive purpose or goal such as a capital campaign, or intentionally adopting church programs and mission. For example we could use our funds to actually start and sustain a program that would help our larger community such as hunger, homelessness, or climate justice. I strongly feel that we need to bring the Committee on Money’s report to a vote so we can plan for our financial future in an intentional and consensual way.

I am always interested in talking to anyone in our community who would like to speak with me.

— Kim Miller

Quotes About Forgiveness:

Bettye Barclay has provided this list of quotes about our ministerial theme for September. Daily quotes also appear in the weekly electronic announcements.

Week 1. Forgiveness means letting go of the past. — Gerald Jampolsky

Week 2. When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free. — Katherine Ponder

Week 3. A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers. — Robert Quillen

Week 4. The willingness to forgive is a sign of spiritual and emotional maturity. It is one of the great virtues to which we all should aspire. Imagine a world filled with individuals willing both to apologize and to accept an apology. Is there any problem that could not be solved among people who possessed the humility and largeness of spirit and soul to do either — or both — when needed? — Gordon B. Hinckley

Week 5. Let us forgive each other — only then will we live in peace. — Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

UU Humor
(from the First Unitarian Congregation of Ontario)

Q. What is a Unitarian Universalist?
A. Someone who believes in life before death.
A. Someone who faces all questions with an open mouth.

Q: How many Unitarians does it take to change a light bulb?
A: We choose not to make a statement either in favour of or against the need for a light bulb. However, if in your own journey, you have found that light bulbs work for you, that is wonderful. You are invited to write a poem or compose a modern dance about your personal relationship with your light bulb. Present it next month at our annual Light Bulb Sunday Service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions, including incandescent, fluorescent, 3-way, long-life, and tinted, all of which are equally valid paths to luminescence.

A UU is told “I hear you deny the divinity of Christ.” “That’s not true!” said the UU, “We don’t deny the divinity of anyone.”

Q: Why can’t UUs sing very well in choirs?
A: Because they’re always reading ahead to see if they agree with the next verse.

Q: Why did the UU cross the road?
A: To support the chicken in its search for its own path.

“I know my humor is outrageous when it makes the Unitarians so mad they burn a question mark on my front lawn.” — Lenny Bruce

Q: How does a UU walk on water?
A: She waits until winter.

Visitors on a tour of Heaven noticed a group of Unitarian Universalists, who were arguing about whether or not they were really there.

“A Unitarian very earnestly disbelieves in almost everything that anybody else believes, and he has a very lively sustaining faith in he doesn’t quite know what.” — Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage

Unitarian Universalist prayer: “Dear God, if there is a God, please save my soul, if I have a soul.”

A Unitarian Universalist died, and to his surprise discovered that there was indeed an afterlife. The angel in charge of these things told him, “Because you were an unbeliever and a doubter and a skeptic, you will be sent to Hell for all eternity—which, in your case, consists of a place where no one will disagree with you ever again!” 

The Supreme Court Stands on the Side of Love!

Group photograph of UU Santa Monica’s marchers in the L.A. Pride Parade on June 14. On June 24 the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is constitutional and that it is now the law of the land. Photo by Dalia Al Kassar

Our UU Santa Monica marchers had a truck to carry weary marchers and those who were unable to walk. Photo by James Witker.

Heart to Heart Circles — Always an Open Seat 

“Small Group for me is an opportunity for inner landscapes and shared stories about life’s meaningful moments.” -Carrie Lauer, Heart to Heart Facilitator

“The Heart to Heart Circle is a bright spot in my month, giving me a time for deep reflection and attention to personal meaning-making. My life is very full of time spent caring for others — this is a lovely time of caring for myself, in a supportive and loving circle.” -Catherine Loya, Heart to Heart Facilitator

Our Heart to Heart Circles (formerly known as Small Group Ministry) are in full swing! For 2015 we have six groups meeting monthly. Heart to Heart Circles are a space where participants gather to speak from the heart and to listen deeply to others speak from the heart. We have a monthly topic, which is usually the church theme for the month, along with selected readings and questions to consider about the topic. The goal is to connect in a meaningful way with those in the circle, and to connect more deeply to one’s self. It’s a unique meeting in that there isn’t a back and forth discussion; we’re not there to “fix” anyone or give advice. In addition to our heartfelt meetings, each group does a service project for the church and one for the wider community.

Often people seek a church community in order to find deeper meaning in their lives and to find relationships with others who share their values. For people new to the church community, Heart to Heart Circles offer an opportunity to form friendships with others and to more easily become involved with the church. In each of the Heart to Heart Circle meetings we have an empty chair. This chair symbolizes the person yet to participate; it reminds us that our circle is open to others. Perhaps you missed the initial registration in January and you’d like to become part of the Circle? Let us know — we’d love to welcome you! Groups meet once a month for two hours. Five of our groups meet during the week in the evening, and there is one daytime group. Contact sgm@uusm to get more information or to participate in a group.

— Rhonda Peacock

Heart to Heart Circles facilitators for 2015-2016: Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur, Margot Page,Pat Gomez, Phillip Bonacich, Bettye Barclay, the Rev. Carrie Lauer, and Catherine Farmer Loya. Photo by Carol Ring.

Quotes About Creativity

Bettye Barclay has provided this list of quotes about our ministerial theme for July. Daily quotes also appear in the weekly electronic announcements.

Week 1. The chief enemy of creativity is “good” sense. — Pablo Picasso

Week 2. Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right or better. — John Updike

Week 3. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create. — Albert Einstein

Week 4. Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. — George Bernard Shaw

Week 5. When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong. — Buckminster Fuller