Nov-03
From Our Minister:
In the service each Sunday, I offer a few words of appreciation for our volunteers.This custom dates back several years now, when Helen Brown, as chair of theAdministration Committee, suggested that we institute regular volunteer recognitioninto our church life. I always appreciate tips from you about people who deserverecognition, so let me know if you have a suggestion.
Our staff deserve recognition from time to time as well. Peggy Butler, whoserved the church for more than a decade as church administrator, and assistedour current church administrator, Marie Kashmer- Stiebing, for a couple moreyears, has retired from our staff. It is time to thank her for her service toour church and to honor her in her retirement.
During Peggy’s time on the staff, she touched so many people in variousways. She worked closely with a cadre of volunteers and the staff, but her influenceextended far beyond that small group. She greeted the many people who come toour church each day, some of them church members, some not, looking for helpof every imaginable kind.
It was Peggy’s friendly voice that answered the phone, explained UnitarianUniversalism to countless seekers, and gave the first response to every query.
More often than not, Peggy was the one who told the ministers about an importantneed or crisis in a church member’s life. Her sensitivity and discretionwere always impeccable.
Since we are fortunate enough to see Peggy at church on Sunday, we still havethe benefit of her warm and caring presence among us. But that is not sufficientacknowledgment of the transition that has taken place, or of the place Peggyhas occupied in our church lives and in our hearts. To mark this occasion mattersnot only to Peggy, but also to those of us whoknow her.
I invite you to a tea in honor of Peggy Butler on Friday, November 14, at4 p.m., in Forbes Hall. There will be refreshments and some words for the occasionfrom some of us who have worked with Peggy as staff and as volunteers. Ernieand Maggie Pipes will join us. I hope you will, too. Please plan to attend ourcelebration and tell Peggy how much her service and friendship have meant toour church.
-- Judith Meyer
From Our President:
I was delighted to attend a dinner with Bill Sinkford, the UUA President, thispast month. I thoroughlyenjoyed hearing his perspective on the UUA generally and where it is headingin the near future. I also appreciated being able to spend the evening talkingwith him in a small group setting.
The evening highlighted the value of small group dialogues and building relationshipsthrough individual conversations. Our Stewardship Committee has been fosteringthat kind of specific dialogue around the subject of generosity and stewardship,and the stewardship meetings I attended certainly had the same spirit of candiddiscussion and passion for our church community as the dinner for Bill Sinkford.We have an opportunity this year, with the assistance of our intern minister,to develop small covenant groups under the umbrella of the Adult Religious Growthand Learning program (ARGL). I encourage you to look for these groups and participate.
I would also like us to spend some time and energy on enhancing the way we,as members, perceive and pursue "fellowship” with each other. Thereare going to be some stressful passages for this congregation over the nextfew years — the exciting but undeniably stressful process of buildinga new building on 17th Street and renovating the sanctuary; the invigoratingbut stressful challenge of continuing to grow our membership and meeting theneeds of our larger community; and the sobering but rewarding challenge of addressingthe reality of our current financial situation.
We will be able to successfully navigate each of these passages only if ourfellowship with each other is durable. I invite you to join me in this process,and of course, I am always available to discuss these ideas with you personally.
-- Caroll Kerr
Featured Articles:
Your Adult Religious Growth and Learning (ARGL) Committee has been busy preparingfor our fall classes, some of which have already begun. On October 4, we heldan all day class on adult relationships and adult sexuality, which was wellattended.
Our minister, the Rev. Judith Meyer, took a suggestion from ARGL and begana program of sermon talkbacks, the first of which was on October 1, and wasnot only well attended but interesting and provocative, with new ideas. ARGLappreciates Judith’s beginning this new series of sermon talk-backs. Weare pleased with our fall schedule of classes and
the signups have been encouraging.
ARGL is always looking for new people to teach a class for adults on the subjectof religious and/or spiritual learning. New ideas for classes are always welcome,as are new ARGL Committee members.
If you have not yet signed up for a class, please feel free to do so by callingthe church office. I think you will find the classes stimulating and a greatway to meet new people. We look forward to seeing you for new learning and newfellowship.
— Jean Allgeyer for ARGL
Some Results from the Web Survey
To find out how members and friends use our church’s electronic communications,Liz Fuller and Dan Kegel developed an online survey asking for feedback on theonline version of our newsletter, our website and the FIA Bulletin. There were72 responses. In this issue we highlight the results of the newsletter questions,and next month we’ll report on the responses regarding the web site andthe Faith in Action bulletin and give our conclusions.
Newsletter
For the past few years, we’ve been posting the monthly church newsletteronline, with a URL available only to members and friends who request it (thishelps protect the privacy of church members mentioned in the newsletter). Ofthe 72 people who
responded in our survey, 50 are aware that the newsletter is available on thewebsite. Nineteen of them read it every month, three read it most months, sixevery few months, six rarely and 20 people never read it. Those who don’tread it say they either forget, don’t like reading things on a computerscreen, can’t print the document or have trouble opening .pdf format files.
Of those who look at the newsletter online, 16 read all of it online, fiveprint it out to read and 14 glance at it online, then wait for the mailed versionto read it in full. Twenty-three intrepid souls are even willing to give upthe mailed newsletter in favor of the online version, while 14 still want theirpaper copies.
When we asked if people would prefer to have an abbreviated version of thenewsletter online, with a public instead of private URL, 29 people said theyprefer to have the entire newsletter online with a private URL and no publiclink, rather than an edited version suitable for the public.
Twenty-six respondents said they do currently receive our monthly email notificationswhen a new newsletter is posted, and 41 people said they don’t. Of those41, 33 said they would like to receive the notifications. Interestingly, however,when we went to subscribe the 33 people to our notification list, we discoveredthat most of them were already on it, which means they may already receive ournotifications but aren’t aware of it. (As of October 18, we have 261 subscribers
to our email announcements list (which includes notices of newsletter postings),and 192 subscribers to our email sermon distribution list.)
An alternative to posting the newsletter online would be mailing a .pdf filedirectly to a list of subscribers. Thirty-five of our survey respondents saidthis distribution method would be fine with them, but 14 said it would not andthat they prefer the website postings.
— Liz Fuller
News & Announcements:
We have a new UU neighboring church
At the recent board meeting the UUA trustees welcomed the UnitarianUniversalistsof the Santa Clarita Valley as an affiliated congregation.
Building News:
Santa Monica Planning Commission is Working on Our Building Proposal
There is still no date on our signboards, but city planner Laura Beck has deemedour application for a conditional use permit and parking variance complete.She tells us to expect our hearing before the Planning Commission by early February.
Questions remain, of course. One example: our 18th Street property appearsmust be reviewed and approved by the city’s historic consultant. We aremeanwhile considering various landscape and hardscape ideas, with the guidanceof Fran Hotchkiss.
We remain very pleased with the work of our architect, Ralph Mechur. He isconversant with the sometimes arcane workings of the city approval process andis a familiar face to many at the city offices. He continues to give generouslyof his time, meeting with the Building Committee and various subsets as needed.
The recent bequest to the church comes at a most opportune time. Althoughone million dollars has been pledged by our members toward the building program,this princely sum would suffice to build only one building, not both. Thanksto the extraordinary generosity of Earl Morgan, completion of the full buildingprogram is once again a realizable goal. With a still considerable gap of about$300,000 remaining, we must continue working to bring in additional contributionsand perhaps finance a small amount.
The congregation has taken on an ambitious program of facility enlargementand improvement in order to keep our church
home healthy and strong. As prospects for city action and full funding approach,our work is becoming more exciting by the day.
-- Barbara Kernochan, for the Building Committee
Faith in Action News:
November is FIA Month for the Gallery Wall
Faith in Action is responsible for the gallery wall each November. Last year,we emphasized peace andanti-war activities. This year the art wall emphasizes the pictures of peoplewho have led and/or participated in a wide range of FIA activities over theyear.
S. J. Guidotti and members of the Peace Committee have worked valiantly insupport of our church’s statement of conscience against unilateral, preemptivewar in Iraq. Dan Kegel and others initiated study/action related to civil liberties.This work meshes nicely with the thrust of work by the Unitarian UniversalistService Committee (UUSC). For manyyears our representative to the UUSC was Betty McDonald. During the past year,she has passed the mantle of UUSC coordination to Rachel Donaldson and SimonHuss. Max Epstein and a small subcommittee of the Peace Committee have workedhard to bring interesting speakers to our church. The gallery wall providespictures of some of these speakers, as well as a poster promoting FIA speakerseries lectures for November and December.
Charles Haskell and an editorial board of five have published three issuesof the FIA Bulletin. Last year, Julie Hill, Kathy Layton and Marguerite Spearscoordinated food sorts by church members at the Westside Food Bank. This comingyear, Paula Bernstein will coordinate this activity. Our next food sort is scheduledfor Wednesday, December 10. Cathie Gentile, Lyn Armondo, and Janet Goodwin haveled our effort to provide food for the hungry, homeless and mentally ill. Wedo this by donating food to the Westside Food Bank each week and by preparingfood periodically for Turning Point and monthlyfor Step Up on Second.
Judy Federick, Kris Langabeer and Ron Crane of Interweave have led our congregationaleffort to become a Welcoming Congregation. We are reaching out to the greaterwestside community as members of the Westside Shelter and Hunger Coalition.Some of our work with the coalition is illustrated on the gallery wall. We expectto expand this connection over the coming year.
— Charles Haskell, Chair, FIA Commission
Splinters from the Board:
Youth and Adults to Join for Worker Advocacy
At its October 21 meeting the board approved a proposal for our church andother nearby UU churches to work in partnership with CLUE (Clergy and LaityUnited for Economic Justice) on advocacy for 4,000 low-wage workers whose unioncontracts with 17 local hotels expire in April.
A request for $20,000 to pay a part-time employee to help manage the projectnow goes to a UUA funding panel, the Fund for Unitarian Universalist SocialResponsibility. Our church will be the fiscal agent for the money and use itto hire the employee if the request is granted. The project will involve youthand adult members in teaching low-wage workers how they can be more effectivein negotiating with corporate employers to provide living wages, benefits, andfair working conditions. There will be no expense to our church for the employee or needto supply an office; these will be provided by the CLUE office in downtown LA.
Our recent Faith in Action issues election voted advocacy for low-wage workersa priority issue after hearing a presentation from the Rev. Alexia Salvatierra,CLUE executive director, who also spoke at the board meeting. The three mainissues for the 4,000 hotel workers are health insurance, realistic and safework quotas, and coordinated contract expiration dates. According to Alexia, a study completed in 2000 found that over 30% of the familiesin Los Angeles County are “the working poor,” with an adult employedfull time but not able to cover the costs of food, shelter and basic medicalcare. In 1970, she added, the average CEO in the United States earned 30 timesthe salary of the lowest paid worker; today, it is 561 times that salary.
In other business, Barbara Kernochan, chair of the BuildingCommittee reported that our building/remodeling plan has passed “a hugemilestone” with the Santa Monica Planning Commission having concludedthat our application is finally “complete.” A hearing date on theplan will be set for late January or early February, and a landscape designis being requested.
The board voted to allocate the entire Earl Morgan bequestof nearly $500,000 to the building fund, bringing the amount in that fund, includingpledges, to $1.5 million. The total cost of the building/remodeling project,including allowances for contingencies and basic furniture, is estimated tobe $1.8 million. Warren Mathews, chair of the Finance Committee, said that ifwe could raise another $150,000 or so in pledges, we could close the final gapwith an affordable mortgage.
Carol Agate, treasurer, said that pledge receipts to dateare $10,000 behind budget; total receipts are $7,800 behind budget. Expenditures,on the other hand, are substantially better (less) than budgeted, and the forecastedyear-end deficit is about $1,000 less than was forecasted last month.
Current membership is 475.
— Paula Bernstein
RE News:
From the Desk of the DRE
Where does religious education happen?
I’ve been thinking a lot in the past few weeks about what RE is, buthave gravitated towards thinking about it in terms of place, perhaps understandable,given my recent move. So what can thinking about where RE happens tell us aboutwhat it is?
The easy answer is that religious education happens on Sunday morning in ourclassrooms. It happens when we gather our children and youth together in groupsto learn about our faith and its history and about the world’s faith traditions,and it happens when we ask our kids to think for themselves and figure out howto find meaning in the world and in their lives. It happens when we lead ourkids in creating caring communities right there in their classrooms, and ithappens when we bring them together on Worship Sundays to celebrate “beingyou and being UU,” and on Social Justice Sundays when we work togetherto make the world a better place.
That’s not all that RE is, though. Religious education includes everythingwe do at church. Among religious educators, we say that there are three kindsof curricula: explicit curricula (traditional-looking lessons, etc.), implicitcurricula (the things we see and hear around us), and null curricula (the thingswe don’t see because they are missing). Learning doesn’t stop whenclass is over — our kids and youth are learning about being UU and aboutour community when they see how the adults interact at coffee hour, when anadult who isn’t their RE teacher greets them by name, or doesn’t,when they see how kids and youth are incorporated into the full life of thecongregation, and so forth. The rest of us learn from those things too. Butdoes religious education stop when we leave the church a week (if we assumeperfect kids and youth a grounding in what it means to be UU? Is it enough timeto teach them to think for themselves, to respect all people, and to take actionto make the world a better place?
Of course not. Parents, you are the primary religious educators in your children’slives. They watch what you say and what you do — how are you living yourown UU faith. What are the things that you’re already doing to reinforcewhat we do on Sunday mornings? What more could you do? And what can we do tosupport you in this role? Remember, friends, that ours is not just a Sundayreligion. Everything we do is religious, and is educational. We are all religiouseducators.
— Catherine Farmer