January 19, 2012

 

Calendar of upcoming events:

 

Sunday, 1/22

            RE Faith in Acton Sunday – trip to Turning Point shelter for K-5^th grades

            First day of class for 5^th-6^th grade O.W.L.

Sunday, 1/29

            5^th-6^th O.W.L. meets

Saturday, 2/4

            COA/YRUU Overnight at UUCCSM (details to come soon)

Sunday, 2/5

            Neighboring Faiths field trip to Taoist Temple in Chinatown

5^th-6^th O.W.L. meets

Sunday, 2/12

5^th-6^th O.W.L. meets

Lifespan RE-sponsored Valentine’s Potluck Supper, 5-7pm (see announcement below)

 

 

This Week in RE:

 

PRESCHOOL (Ages 3-5 at 9:00 & 11:00): “Celebrating a New Year (Chinese New Year)” This week our preschool class will learn about some special rituals that are part of the Chinese New Year celebration.  We’ll even make our own New Year’s Dragon! Meets in the NW room of the cottage.

 

Kindergarten-5^th Grade:  “Turning Point Field Trip” This week children in our elementary RE program are invited to take part in this month’s Faith in Action field trip, a visit to the Turning Point transitional housing shelter for a tour and to prepare lunches for the residents.  Be aware: we will make one full-morning trip, leaving after the story in the first service at 9:20 am, and returning at about 11:30  If you would like for your child to participate in the trip, please make sure to come to the first service, or meet us in the cottage at 9:20 for the walk to the shelter, located about four blocks from UUCCSM at 1446 16^th street.  After returning to the church, children can be picked up right away or will participate in an activity in the cottage until the 11:00 service has concluded.  There will be alternate activities offered during each service for children who choose not to participate in the trip. Note: Volunteers are needed to accompany us on the trip, and families are invited to contribute ingredients for sack lunches.  A separate email with information about what is needed was sent out to K-5^thfamilies on Sunday.  If you have questions or would like to volunteer to help, email Catherine or call her at 210-829-5436 x105.

 

NEIGHBORING FAITHS (6^th-7^th at 9:00 & 11:00): “Buddhism Integration” This week our Neighboring Faiths classes will conclude their study of Buddhism with a special wrap-up lesson to help participants integrate their experiences from our Buddhist visitor and two field trips.  We’ll also be finalizing plans for participation in the 1/29 Sunday service – Neighboring Faiths will lead the chalice lighting.  Meets in Room 3, the third room down the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

 

COMING OF AGE (8^th at 9:00 only):  This Sunday in Coming of Age Rev. Silvio Nardoni will visit the class to talk with us about spiritual and ethical themes in the film screened last Sunday, “Contact.”  If you were not in class last Sunday, please make sure to watch the film before coming this week.  Meets in Room 2, the second room down the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

 

YRUU (9^th-12^th alternates 9:00/11:00):  Meets during the 11:00 service only this week (note meeting time is out of sequence due to special plans with Rebecca).  This Sunday YRUU will attend the service together in the sanctuary, then will meet in the YRUU room after the service for a special lunch with Rev. Rebecca, to talk about putting a service together, in preparation for the YRUU service at the end of March.  We’ll provide pizza; youth are invited to bring drinks or side dishes to share.  This week, we’ll start out in the sanctuary together, in the section of pews near the Forbes Hall doors.

 

 

Announcements:

 

 

·         THIS SUNDAY Elementary RE Field Trip on Sunday, 1/22: Children in our elementary RE program are invited to take part in our second Faith in Action field trip for the 2011-12 year, a visit to the Turning Point transitional housing shelter for a tour and to prepare lunches for the residents.  Be aware: we will make one full-morning trip, leaving after the story in the first service at 9:20 am, and returning at 11:30.  If you would like for your child to participate in the trip, please make sure to come to the first service, or meet us in the cottage at 9:20 for the walk to the shelter, located about four blocks from UUCCSM at 1446 16^th street.  There will be alternate activities offered during each service for children who choose not to participate in the trip.  Note: Volunteers are needed to accompany us on the trip, and families will be invited to contribute ingredients for sack lunches.  A separate email with information about what is needed will be sent out soon to K-5^th parents.

 

·         NEW Time to Register for Elementary Winter Camp:  The Pacific Southwest District’s Elementary Winter Camp at de Benneville Pines, is over President's Day Weekend next month, Saturday February 18 - Monday February 20. 

 

Family and Elementary Winter Camp – Treasure Huunting!  

February 18-20, 2011

Register at www.uucamp.org

Dean: Danielle Bell 

Pricing - Child Camper or Adult: $145.00; Accompanying child: $85.00

 

Families with elementary age campers (or just the campers themselves) are invited for a weekend of treasure hunting with us up here in the snow. We’ll work on an actual pictorial treasure hunt while discovering what fantastic gifts we all carry, regardless of age or ability. Join us for tons of snow play, hot cocoa by the fire, games, crafts and community worship. Campers grades 3-6 may attend without parents and will be supervised by trained cabin counselors. Come to camp and find your own treasures!

 

 

·         Valentine’s Craft Party & Potluck, 2/12:  All families are invited to a very special Second Sunday Supper on Sunday, February 12^th, from 5-7pm.  At 5:00 we’ll gather for a Valentine-making project – come and make some for your friends and families, as well as some for UUCCSM members who are ill or otherwise in need of special messages of care.  Then at 6:00, take part in a potluck dinner – bring a side dish to share, and we’ll supply the main course (pasta). Don’t miss it!

 

·         Snack Signups for RE Classes:  Parents of each RE class will be contacted soon to request that you sign up to bring snack for your child’s class.  Snack is a highly valued part of the RE experience – just ask your kids – and we need your help to provide the supplies.  If each parents signs up just a few times per year, we can cover all of our classes without placing the burden of bringing snack on the volunteer teachers who are already donating so much of their time to make our RE program happen.  Sign ups will be available at the Lifespan RE table on Sundays during coffee hour – please stop by to sign up, to save us some time making phone calls.

 

·         RE Wish List:  I am currently developing a “master wish list” for the RE program, which includes general and lesson-specific RE supply needs for this year’s classes.  While the RE operating budget does have some money for supplies, this year’s budget is very tight and donations are happily accepted.  The list so far includes:

 

 

 

UU Everyday (resources and ideas for practicing your UU values at home):

 

Chalice Lighting Words of the Week (January’s Theme – WISDOM):

 

 

January 22:

Blessed are the man and the woman who have grown beyond their greed and have put an end to their hatred and no longer nourish illusions.  But they delight in the way things are and keep their hearts open, day and night.  They are like trees planted near flowing rivers, which bear fruit when they are ready.  Their leaves will not fall and wither.  Everything they do will succeed.

                        --Stephen Mitchell

 

 

 

For the 2011-12 church year we’re trying out a new way of living as one lifespan religious community: congregation-wide ministry themes.  Each month we’ll explore a new theme.  The chalice lighting shared here will be used on Sunday in all of our RE classes, and I hope that your family will also share it at home during the following week.  I’m tickled by the idea of all of our UUCCSM families sharing a reflection in common each week as we go about our daily lives. 

 

 

 

At-Home Activities to Explore our Congregational Theme for January - WISDOM

 

 

“A Birthday Tribute”: (from How to Bury a Goldfish by Virginia Lang and Louise Nayer) 

 

No spring, nor summer beauty hath such grace,

As I have seen in one autumnal face.

                        -John Donne

 

It is sad to admit that our culture associates aging with loss.  After a certain age, birthdays are often greeted with crude jokes about crow’s feet, hair loss, and other declining capacities.  We focus more on what we cannot do than what we have become

When we see the beautiful autumnal face of a woman (or man) whose life has been richly lived, we know there is much to celebrate and acknowledge on the day of her birth.  Here is a ritual intended to honor an elder for all she/he brings to the lives of those who love her/him. 

What you Need:  A blank journal, a person to act as coordinator, a pen.

What you Do: If the elder is fortunate to live near most of her friends and family, buy a blank journal and paste a recent photo of the honoree on its cover.  With the help of an organized family coordinator, circulate the journal among the honoree’s dear friends and family members.

Ask each person to write about a quality that she appreciates in the honoree.  For example, “Grandfather, you are my model of honesty and compassion.  Happy Birthday!”  You may wish to recall a treasured memory: “You are the most patient grandmother who has ever lived; I would have failed algebra without you!”  The sentiments need not be long, just heartfelt and personal.  Present the book as a group on the honoree’s birthday.  It is sure to be a most treasured gift.

When Louise’s grandmother turned eighty, she took part in a “card shower” coordinated by her godmother’s daughter.  Each person wrote a heartfelt sentiment on a blank card and sent it to the daughter, who created a master scrapbook of all the cards.  If distance is a challenge, this is a good option.

 

 

This Week in UU History: (From This Day in Unitarian Universalist History, by Frank Schulman)

 

January 19, 1561: At the 19^th Synod of Pinczow, Poland, Peter Statorius formally accused Socinian George Blandrata of heresy.  Blandrata was forced to sign a confession of faith, disavowing his heresy.  He left Poland for Transylvania, where he served as court physician to Prince John Sigismund.  There he used his influence over the prince and the court to support Unitarianism.

 

January 20, 1566:  Francis David, who later converted Prince John Sigismund of Transylvania to Unitarianism, gave his first Unitarian oration in the main church of Koloscar, Transylvania.

 

January 20, 1839: The Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson preached his last sermon, “The Miracle of Our Being,” in Concord, Massachusetts.

 

January 21, 1825:  George Blaurock received the first adult congregational baptism in Zurich, Switzerland, thus establishing congregational Anabaptism, which later merged with Socinianism to enlarge and strengthen the Unitarian movement.

 

January 22, 1556:  Peter Giezek declared his Unitarianism at the Calvinist Synod in Secemin, Poland.  He went on to form the first Unitarain organization in Europe, the Minor Church, later called the Minor Reformed Church.

 

January 23, 1830:  The first Brahmo Samaj Temple opened in India.  Brahmo Samaj is a Unitarian form of Hinduism.  (Visit http://dcwi.com/~uuf/Sermons/012305.html for the text of a sermon that explores the relationship between Unitarianism and Brahmo Samaj.) 

 

January 24, 1556:  The second Synod of the Reformed Brethren (Socinians) in Poland at Secemin adopted Unitarian positions and rejected the Nicene and Athanasian creeds.  Gregory Pauli, the pastor of Pelsnick, Poland, avowed his anti-Trinitarianism.

 

January 25, 1759:  Robert Burns was born in Ayershire, Scotland.  He is the national poet of Scotland and a beloved figure in Scottish history and literature.  His birthday is the annual occasion of Burns Night festivities.  Though he had no formal connection with Unitarianism, Burn published several satires of orthodox revivalism, for which he is celebrated by the Unitarians of Scotland as a religious forbear, and there is no doubt of his Unitarian beliefs.  Such Unitarians as Joseph Priestley and Theophilius Lindsey influenced him.  His heretical views were notorious, as were his irregular romantic alliances.  Some of his contemporaries shunned him, but his poetry and songs are now familiar everywhere.  He wrote and adapted many Scottish songs, including “Auld Lang Syne” and “John Anderson, My Jo.”  Known as “Rob the Ranter,” Burns was concerned about the repressive measures against reformers and founded a debating society.  He died on July 21, 1796.