Feb-11
From Our Minister:
Dear friends,
What wisdom have you gained from your lateryears? This spring I plan to lead a service here on TheThird Age, a time I have not yet experienced in my ownlife. Will you write to me and share some of what you'velearned in your 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s that you could nothave guessed at an earlier time in your life?
What has surprised you? Pleased you? What hasbeen most challenging? (And a bonus question: what doyou wish I'd thought to ask you?)
Speaking from your own experience and sharing ananecdote or two, in the area of 200 to 500 words, andemailing or mailing it to me at the church by February28 would be particularly appreciated.
In other news, I am looking forward to celebratingtogether at my service of installation on Sunday, February 13, at 3 p.m. This is a time when we affirm the uniquerelationship between minister and congregation in ourdemocratic, participatory faith; when we share ourhopes and expectations with one another; and when weformally celebrate my call to serve this congregation asyour ninth settled minister.
In this church, such a formal ceremony is quite rare.This will be only the third service of installation held inthis sanctuary since 1956. Several of our honored speakers and guests will travel across the country to attend,including our Minister Emerita the Rev. Judith Meyerand her husband David Denton. The Rev. Ernie Pipesand Maggie Pipes will also have special roles. SteveWight will direct our Celebration Choir, including guestmusicians from the UU Church of Long Beach. We willalso gladly welcome clergy colleagues from Santa Monica, Greater Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, andthe Pacific Southwest District. See you there!
In faith,
- Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur, Minister
From Our President:
February on the East Coast is often a month of doldrums. The holidays have faded and spring isn't quitearound the corner. Here we are not so subject to thedeep of winter, but I find people can still be anticipatingthe longer amount of sunlight promised later in the year.The doldrums that lead us to feel stagnant or in a slumpcan still get hold of us.
Not this year!
On February 13 we will install Rebecca Benefiel Bijuras our ninth settled minister. As Unitarian Universalistswe do not have a lot of occasions that involve formal ritual and ceremony. An installation is one of those eventsthat allow us to hark back to our Christian roots andinvoke all the ceremony we care to. Rev. Bijur has beenplanning her installation with the able help of some ofthe former search committee. She has invited mentors,friends, and family to speak at the installation. Musichas been chosen, food is ordered, and a program hasbeen planned. Our ministers emeriti Ernie Pipes andJudith Meyer will both be on hand to participate andlend continuity. We as a congregation will seal ourcovenant with Rev. Bijur that began when we called herto be our minister last May.
This installation is an all-congregation event that Ihope you will attend. It is a ceremony we have heldinfrequently in the history of UUCCSM. We tend to keepour ministers for a long time. We are hoping Rev. Bijurfollows in that trend. If she does, you may have to wait along time to have the opportunity to be present at aninstallation at UUCCSM again. Please join us and makethis a very memorable occasion.
The installation is one event that reminds me thatthe church is like that proverbial river that can never bestepped in twice to find the same place. We are dynamicand flowing. Sometimes that flowing takes people awayfrom us. This newsletter has been very ably put togetherthrough my whole presidency by many hands led byDayla McDonald. Dayla's life is now taking her a littlefurther afield, and she has chosen to let go of thenewsletter. I want to thank her for all the energy andcare she has put into our newsletter, including, on themonths that I have let time slip past me, those littleemails that have come my way saying, "Madame President, do you care to submit an article this month?"Thank you, Dayla.
Another coming change on our horizon is that SteveWight has decided that he will end his tenure as ourFrom ourPresidentmusic director in June. I was on the pulpit committeewhen he was hired, have been in the choir for a numberof years, and will usher him out as I end my tenure aspresident. Steve is a fine musician, an intelligent andcompetent choir leader, and is keeper of a unique senseof humor. As mild-mannered as he looks sitting up onthe dais on Sunday mornings, he has a manner and sensitivity for music that is dynamic. I have learned muchfrom him about singing and music and will be sorry tosay good-bye.
So, there never seem to be any February doldrumsfor us here at UUCCSM. The rhythms of our church yearare punctuated by change and metamorphosis on a frequent basis. May February be a month full of promisefor you also. Happy Valentine's Day! After all, love is thedoctrine of this church.
- Sue Bickford
Featured Articles:
Our effort to update and re-design the church's electronic communications wound up its primary researchphase in January after the Project Dazzle Committeeconducted interviews with many key stakeholdergroups for the uusm.org website. Over the past threemonths, we have spoken one-on-one with individualssuch as the Rev. Rebecca Bijur, administrators MelindaEwen and Holly Nguyen, and Director of Religious Education Catherine Farmer Loya. We also interviewed ourBoard of Directors, as well as committees representingFaith in Action, Music, fUUsion, Long-Range Planning,Adult Programs, and Membership and Leadership. Inaddition, we gathered comments from individual members. In each case, the goal was to hear first-hand whatthese often very different users and groups would like tobe able to do with a website and how a new site couldenhance their particular programs and goals.
The next phase of our development process will betranslating the wants and needs of the many stakeholdersinto specific features for the site and designing the site's"architecture"-the organizational scheme that pullseverything together into a cohesive, logical, easy-to-navigate whole. Hand-in-hand with this task is designing the"look and feel" of the site to reflect our church's cultureand the image we want to project to visitors.
Don't worry though-our formal interviews may bedone, but if you still have comments or ideas for the newsite, we're still listening. Just drop us a note atdazzle@uusm.org to share your thoughts. The websitewill continue to evolve and change in the years to come.Our goal is to give all of the stakeholders satisfaction,and that includes you.
- Liz Fuller, CommUUnications Committee
The Fifth Annual UUCCSM Malibu Campout
SAVE THE DATE! MARCH 18 - 20
Join 50 of your fellow Santa Monica UUs at the LaJolla Group Campsite, near Point Mugu, Malibu (just 30miles from church!) for a weekend of hiking, beachcombing, games, campfires and s'mores!Nominal per-person fee to cover campsite. Tentcamping. Hot showers, flush toilets, running water.Meals are potluck. More details to come.For more info contact Chris Brown.
Dining for Dollars Event List
This is a preliminary list of the events offered for the biggest fund-raising effort ofthe year. Bidding will take place on February 20th and 27th after the early service,from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., and after the second service, from noon to 1:00 p.m. Therewill be a final list available on the days of bidding. Look at your calendars now, soyou can bid on as many events and goodies as possible. Please note that the moneydonated (paid) for the winning bids is non-refundable. (The board-approved cancellation policy is available from Melanie Sharp, chair of D4$ Committee
1 Sun 3/13 2 - 6PM Tea & Symphony (Young Musicians Foundation) HELEN BROWN & KATIE MALICH
2 Sat 3/19 10:30AM - 2PM Outdoor Performance of Celtic Music with Pizza Lunch TERI BOND & KATIE MALICH
3 Sat 3/19 6PM Texas Hold'em & Texas Bar-B-Q JERRY MOORE
4 Sat 3/19 6:30PM Traditional Saint Patrick's Day Dinner CYNTHIA COTTAM & TOM EARLY
5 Fri 3/25 6:30PM Italian Dinner Soir
Faith in Action News:
Donate homegrown produce toWestside Food Bank on Sundays
Let's face it, there are times when you can't even give away all thoselemons or zucchini, let alone eat them. Well, now you can give them to individuals and families who desperately need them.
We invite you to add your contributions of fruits and vegetables fromyour trees and gardens to the weekly collection of non-perishable foods wecollect for the Westside Food Bank at our Sunday morning services.
Our contributions will change with the seasons. Right now some of ourSouthern California gardens are producing a bounty of beautiful citrus -oranges, lemons, grapefruit, limes, and tangerines. Cool-weather greens, lettuces, and peas are abundant and will be through the spring. Come summer,some of our gardens will be overflowing with zucchini, tomatoes, and beans.And throughout the year herbs are plentiful in our Mediterranean climate.
In addition to your own gardens, you may know of neighbors who havebountiful gardens. We'll be happy to accept donations from anyone. Just bag the produce and placeit next to the basket for the non-perishables. Ifyou anticipate a bumper crop that might be better transferred from car to car, just let me (SueStoyanoff ) know in advance.
For more information, including easyways for your neighbors to drop off their excessproduce at your residence, please contact me.
-Sue Stoyanoff, Hunger Task Force
The Hunger Task Force needs YOU!
There are many ways you can lend a hand to thehungry and homeless right here in Santa Monica. Ourchurch is involved with four agencies from the WestsideShelter and Hunger Coalition: Westside Food Bank, Daybreak, Turning Point, and Step Up on Second.How can you help?
BRING non-perishable food items to church onSunday for the Westside Food Bank; items are distributed to low-income families and to 65 agencies servingthe homeless in our community.
MAKE a casserole. On the first Sunday of eachmonth we deliver frozen casseroles to the women atDaybreak, a homeless drop-in center in Santa Monica.Bags of fresh fruit are also welcome.
PARTICIPATE when UUCCSM hosts the meal atTurning Point, a transitional housing program for people getting back into the work place. Our church provides a meal three times a year: Martin Luther King Day,Mother's Day, and Labor Day.
DONATE your time by volunteering to serveUUCCSM's monthly meal at Step Up on Second, anagency in Santa Monica working with mentally ill homeless folks on their way to recovery. Our church providesthe afternoon meal every fourth Saturday of the month.
PUT YOUR FAITH INTO ACTION!
To learn more, please contact Denise Helton for Daybreak, Marsha Smith for Turning Point, and/orRhonda Peacock for Step Upon Second.
Green Living Committee:
Green Living Events
The Green Living Committee is off to a running startthis year with our first Green Living Series Movie Presentation on January 8 in the cottage. The movie was"Trashed" and the event was well attended. We followedup with a small group discussion on January 16 aboutrecycling and compost. Our presenter was memberBryan Gordon, Sustainability Manager at SempraEnergy and long-time environmental activist.Please join us for our next event, a documentarymovie showing on February 26 in the cottage at 7 p.m.We'll be showing "Ripe for Change" (2005). This is a documentary about food in California. Farmers, chefs,authors, activists, scientists, and children involved inThe Edible School Yard project are featured in a powerful film about food.
Splinters from the Board:
Victor Paddock introduced the board to KateSchlesinger, who has accepted the position of ActingDirector of Administration. Kate has an MBA in nonprofit management and has broad experience in bothnon-profit organizations and commercial business. Theboard approved hiring her. Kate began full time on January 24. The Rev. Rebecca Bijur and Kate are working outher schedule.
Beth Brownlie and Brian Oakes of the FacilitiesDevelopment Committee presented the board with asummary of items of major concern and a spreadsheetof ongoing items and the status of each. The big item isthe roof on the sanctuary for which decisions will haveto be made concerning financing.
Peggy Rhoads of the Faith in Action committee presented the background and plans for Peace Sunday andasked for approval for the fundraising as the bylawsrequire. Action about Peace Sunday funding wasdeferred.
In staff reports, Catherine Farmer Loya, Director ofReligious Education (DRE), announced that she will bemoving her office to the cottage in February. Beth Rendeiro of the RE committee reported that rather than theexpected eight or nine participants in the Our WholeLives (OWL) program foreighth- and ninth-gradeyouth, 18 have enrolled,some of whom are notmembers of the church.
As part of learningabout our church, The Rev.Rebecca Bijur sat in on theparent orientation for theOWL program and enjoyedthe capable presentation.Rebecca also reportedthat Steve Wight hasresigned as Director ofMusic effective in June. Itwill be a challenge toreplace him.
Steve Wight reportedon plans to continue theexcellent music we enjoy,including working with themusic director of the LongBeach UU church choirthat will join us forRebecca's installation.
Melinda Ewen, Director of Administration, reportedthat Christine Agnew moved to Atlanta; Felicity Nussbaum, Anne Gallagher, and Lindsay Pinkham resigned.Kim and Nalani Santiago-Lalmanson, Bettye Barclay,and Valeo Schultz and Hayley Dawkins are new members. Membership now stands at 386.
Alan Brunell, Treasurer, reported that there areincreases in expenditures in some areas, and decreasesin other areas. It is still expected that the deficit will beabout $32,000 at the end of the fiscal year.
Beth Rendeiro reported for the Stewardship Committee that the canvas for pledges is almost completeand totals are only slightly higher than last year, butaverage pledges are greater.
Sanna Egan reported for the Membership and Leadership Committee that the UU101 class has beenchanged from two classes on successive weeks to oneslightly longer class.
In new business Past President Ron Crane reportedthat church member John Zinner has received wordfrom the Santa Monica Conservancy that UUCCSM willreceive an award for adaptive re-use of the cottage.
- Geralyn Lambson
RE News:
From Our DRE
This is an exciting time of year in the RE department, as the RE Committee and I launch into an assessment of our current programs and do a lot of dreamingand asking around and planning for what next year'sprogram will look like. September may feel far awaynow, but it will be here before we know it. Because ofthis, I've been thinking a lot lately about what RE is. ButI wonder what we might learn about RE if we also thinkabout where it happens.
The easy response is that religious education happens on Sunday morning in our classrooms. It happenswhen we gather together in groups to learn about ourfaith and its history and about the world's religions, andit happens when we ask our young people to think forthemselves and to find meaning in the world and intheir lives. It happens when we lead our kids in creatingcaring communities right there in their classrooms, andit happens on Social Justice Sundays when we worktogether to make the world a better place.
That's not the only place where religious educationhappens, though. Religious education includes everything we do at church. Religious educator and authorMaria Harris proposed that there are three kinds of curricula: explicit curricula (what we intentionally teach),implicit curricula (what is learned from the patterns andstructures that surround the explicit curricula), and nullcurricula (what is learned from the things we don't seebecause they are missing). Learning doesn't stop whenclass is over. Our young people are learning about beingUU and about our community when they come toForbes Hall and see how the adults interact at coffeehour, and when an adult who isn't their RE teachergreets them by name, or doesn't. They learn something,too, by whether they feel known and loved when they areat church. Don't we all?
But is that the end of the story? Does religious education stop when we leave the church grounds? Is onehour a week (assuming perfect attendance) enough togive our young people a grounding in what it means tobe UU, to teach them to think for themselves, respect allpeople, and take action to make the world a betterplace? Of course not. Parents, you are your children's primary religious educators. They watch what you say andwhat you do. How are you living your own faith? Whatare you doing at home to help your kids develop and livetheir own UU identity and values? What more could wedo to support you in this role? Remember, friends, thatours is not just a Sunday religion. In the words of Unitarian religious educator Sophia Lyon Fahs, "Life becomesreligious whenever we make it so."
- Catherine Farmer Loya
UU Pals is coming!
Q: What is UU Pals?
A: UU Pals is a beloved UUCCSM program that encourages communication between the generations. Manytimes it has been the foundation of lasting friendships. Itis a great way for children, youth, and adults of our community to learn more about one another in a wonderfully fun way!
Q: How does UU Pals work?
A: Adults, children and teens sign up for UU Pals in February. Then, on Sundays during the month of March, theUU Pals will exchange notes, small handmade items, orthoughtful tokens of friendship. Each child or youth ispaired with an adult and they exchange informationabout themselves by writing notes to one another. Eachnote contains clues about who they are-their likes anddislikes, personal gifts, and talents or hobbies, or "list offavorites." We have a special "double-blind" Pal systemfor matching younger and older pals. One young personand one adult will be paired with each other, and thepair will be assigned the name of a famous UU to use.For example, one young person will be known as "RalphWaldo Emerson Jr." and will have "Ralph Waldo EmersonSr." as an adult Pal. Make sense?
Q: How do I sign up?
A: Signups will begin on February 13 after each serviceand last through the end of February. After signupsclose, each participant will receive specific informationabout the exchange dates, UU Pals Reveal Party, andhelpful hints for giving clues to your Pal.
Q: What else do I need to know?
A: If you have to miss a Sunday or two, don't let that stopyou from signing up-you can leave items with us aheadof time and we'll make sure they get in your pal's bag onSunday. And mark your calendars now for April 1, from 6to 8 p.m., for our April Fools' Day UU Pals costume party,when all identities will be revealed! So, whether you're akid, a youth or a grown-up, don't miss out on this greatopportunity to get to know more about someone new atUUCCSM. For more information, contact CatherineFarmer Loya at the church office.
Girl Scout Cookies are Coming Soon!
Watch theOrder of Service for moreinformation.
Music News:
Last month two musical events were featured in thesanctuary. "Out of the Blue" describe themselves as "YaleUniversity's only coed pop/rock a cappella chorus." OnJanuary 7, they filled the hall with amazing energy, closevocal harmonies and a crowd-pleasing repertoire. Thegroup of 18 students performed their own arrangementsof tunes by Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and others.Even if the repertoire was unfamiliar to some, there wassomething to please everyone. At the end of the evening,Out of the Blue alums Reverend Bijur and her husbandJonathan joined the choir onstage in a rendition of "TheParting Glass," after which all Yale alumni in the audience were invited up to sing the school's alma mater,"Bright College Years." A splendid time was had by all.
On January 9, The Arrogant Doormats played downan innovative set of charts ranging from jazz standardsto songs by Bob Dylan, Tears for Fears, and Alanis Morissette. Our own Louis Durra was joined by long-time fellow musicians Larry Steen on bass and Jerry Kalaf ondrums. If you missed this entertaining evening, you cancatch their next appearance in the sanctuary on Sunday,March 13. They can also be heard every week at theSouth Beverly Grill in Beverly Hills.