We need your help. Once in a lifetime, the opportunity presents itself to participatein something that makes the world a better place. A better place for now. Abetter place for the future.

Our capital campaign is in the beginning stage.

We are on our way to completing the funding to have a larger sanctuary, safeand adequate room for our kids, a lovely building and grounds.

UUs are renowned for their service to the community. Now is the time to providethat well-known service to our own community.

In the course of the capital campaign, more than 100 people will provide volunteerservice to make the campaign a success.

The campaign will need luncheon organizers, writers, stuffers, canvassers,designers, music makers, teachers, talkers, givers of time and money and hardworkers who share a desire to complete our building program.

Volunteer. It's what we do.

-- Ron Crane, Capital Campaign chair

 

New Telephone Outreach Program Will Connect Members One on One

If you don't have a lot of extra time, but would like to make a differencein someone's life, we have a new program you'll want to hear about. Can youspare half an hour each week?

Starting now, UUCCSM is recruiting members of our congregation to do telephoneoutreach to other UUs in our congregation who would welcome and benefit fromyour calls. The calls can be made on a day and time you reach by mutual agreement.The goal of the program is to enhance connection to the church community forour members who live alone, or are socially isolated or frail.

Soon there will be an initial two-hour training session for callers, and monthlyfollow-up sessions will monitor the program's progress.To learn more about becominga volunteer, please call Anita Brenner. We look forward to hearing from you.

 

An Invitation to Everyone from Small Group Ministry

A warm welcome to explore our Small Group Ministry is extended to each long-timemember, newcomer, and visitor. In the Small Group Ministry, souls are fed throughpersonal connections. An empty chair in the circle symbolizes a place for othersto join. Personal sharing is the process. Members of these small groups practicethe art of being present: breathing, listening, and just witnessing withoutjudgment. Being present provides the opportunity to understand oneself and othersby willingly working through conflicts and building relationships.

In this circle members who struggle to articulate their truth in their ownexperience and to trust an environment of acceptance, often have powerful insights.In the words of Robert M. Pirsig, "The place to improve the world is first inone's own heart and head and hands."

The current groups are growing roots; there is strong bonding, a high levelof member participation, and deeper exploration in the fifth month of meetings.

The Small Group Ministry is growing. Our minister will lead training in Marchfor eight facilitators, which will add at least two new groups in April andthen again in September, if all goes as planned. The Covenant Group ImplementationTeam is planning material to add to the actively-visited church website, consideringa permanent place in Forbes Hall for a display of photos and informational brochures,and polishing the resource guide and policy manual for future planners.

Valuable learning continues for everyone. There is pride, excitement, and hopeabout Small Group Ministry and what it can mean for individuals and the largerchurch community. This is an inclusive program where everyone is invited toshare in the expansion of our lives and what it means to be human.

Please visit the information table after Sunday services, during coffee hour.

- Carol-jean Teuffel

 

At the Newsletter Meeting, a Passion for Punctuation

What do your newsletter volunteers discuss when they get together for theirsemi-annual face-to-face meeting? They eat, introduce new volunteers, and reviewworkflow. But would you believe that the largest part of the February meetingwas taken up talking about punctuation - that these were not just intellectualconversations, but volunteers passionately taking sides of arguments?

Would you think that an em-dash - dash the length of an "m" setting off a parentheticalremark in a sentence, versus en-dash - used for numbers (3-5) but also createdautomatically when doing a space dash space in Microsoft Word - discussion wouldbring on equally vigorous loyalty from a majority of the writers, editors, anddesigners in the group? There was a clear split between those whose backgroundwas academia and those who worked in publishing. The decision was tabled fornow.

And it didn't stop with a dash. Other topics of passionate discussion includedwhether the hour of the day should be written 7 a.m., 7 am, 7 A.M., or 7 AM.One person opted for 7:00 a.m. And should our surrounding city be written asLA, which everybody says, but is also the abbreviation for Louisiana, or L.A.,which is an easily defensible standard? A corollary to the arguments was thatremoving the periods would make the line cleaner and free up valuable line space.The periods stayed in.

One of the designers was a passionate advocate for the academic style versusthe newspaper style. She brought down the house when she offered to trade AMfor an em-dash without spaces.

There was also a line drawn, and sides taken, on how to identify titles ofbooks, movies, etc. The book world italicizes books and movies; the newspaperworld uses quotes, always. There was one unanimous agreement though - no underlining(it's so typewriter). Final verdict: you will see quotes around titles fromnow on.

The nice part of this discussion was that it was full of laughter, becauseeveryone knew that though these things ARE important, they are not world- orchurchchanging. Carol Agate, the newsletter coordinator, commented that laughterwas not as large a part of other meetings she attends.

Whether you, the reader, know it or not, there is a payoff for you, too. Writers,editors and designers want the general reader to read an article and not bedistracted by word and punctuation confusions and inconsistencies. There isserious interest in making sure you can focus on content.

So twice a year you'll find the writers, editors, and designers laughing atthe serious job of making your reading of the newsletter easier. The other 363days the conversation continues electronically across the Internet.

- Nels Hanson