October 7, 2011

Calendar of upcoming events:

Saturday, 10/8
   Coming of Age/YRUU
   Beach Bonfire at Dockweiler!
Sunday, 10/16
   Neighboring Faiths field trip to Malibu Hindu Temple
   Children’s Choir rehearses (9:00-9:15 in the cottage)
Sunday, 10/23
   Faith in Action Sunday in RE – Trip to Westside Food Bank
   Children’s Choir rehearses (9:00-9:15 in the cottage)
Sunday, 10/30
   Day of the Dead Multigenerational service
   Children’s Choir performs in service

This Week in RE:

9:00

Preschool: “Congregations are Places of Caring”  This week our preschool class will explore our church community as a place where people care about and help one another. Meets in the NW room of the cottage.

Kindergarten-1st Grade:  “The Rooster Who Learned to Crow” This Sunday we’ll explore our third UU principle – in Spirit Play referred to as the “Yellow Promise”: “Yearn to learn throughout life.” – with a story about a rooster who had to look inside himself to find the answer to his question.  Meets in the SE room of the cottage.

2nd-3rd Grade:  “Loss Workshop” This week we’ll continue our exploration of October’s theme of LOSS with special stories and activities that help children think about the losses as well as the gains that come as they grow and change.  Meets in the NE room of the cottage (formerly known as “the couch room”).

 4th-5th Grade:  “Out of Africa” This week in the UUniverse Story program, we’ll learn that all humans come from Africa and to physically walk the map from Africa to the continents of our ancestors to present day North America. Meets in the mural room at the end of the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

 6th-7th Grade:  “Hinduism Visitor” This week our Neighboring Faiths classes will continue their study of Hinduism with a special visit from UUCCSM friend Smitha Chandrabose, who will talk with the class about her own Hindu faith and practice.  Meets in Room 3, the third room down the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

 8th Grade:  This Sunday in Coming of Age UUCCSM historian Rob Briner will visit to share some stories about our own church’s history, and then we’ll head down to the sanctuary to hear the “It Gets Better” message in the service.  Meets in Room 2, the second room down the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

 9th-12th Grade:  This Sunday we’ll start out by attending the “It Gets Better” service together in the sanctuary, then will meet in the YRUU room to plan YRUU’s involvement in next week’s service (youth are invited to lead the chalice lighting, welcoming words and offertory – we need to decide who’s doing what as well as prepare the message for the chalice lighting). This week, we’ll start out in the sanctuary together, in the section of pews near the Forbes Hall doors, then will move upstairs to Room 1, the first room at the top of the stairs above Forbes Hall.

 11:00

 Preschool: “Congregations are Places of Caring” This week our preschool class will explore our church community as a place where people care about and help one another.  Meets in the NW room of the cottage.

 Kindergarten-2nd Grade: “The Girl who Loved Animals” This Sunday we’ll explore our second UU principle – in Spirit Play referred to as the “Orange Promise”: Offer Fair and Kind Treatment to All – with a story about a young girl and a community of animals who learn to play together despite their differences.  Meets in the SE room of the cottage.

 3rd-5th Grade:  :  “Out of Africa” This week in the UUniverse Story program, we’ll learn that all humans come from Africa and to physically walk the map from Africa to the continents of our ancestors to present day North America. Meets in the mural room at the end of the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

6th-7th Grade:  “Hinduism Visitor” This week our Neighboring Faiths classes will continue their study of Hinduism with a special visit from UUCCSM friend Smitha Chandrabose, who will talk with the class about her own Hindu faith and practice.  Meets in Room 3, the third room down the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

8th grade meets at 9:00 only.

 9th-12th Grade:  YRUU for 9th-12th grades alternates services from week to week; this week they will meet at 9:00.

 Announcements:

NEW Tending the Flame:  Copies of “Tending the Flame: The Art of Unitarian Universalist Parenting,” by Michelle Richards, are available for sale at the UUCCSM book cart on Sundays, along with many other great resources for parents and families.  From the book description: “In this first of its kind guide to UU Parenting, Richards encourages a practical and proactive approach to raising UU children.  This comprehensive resource offers suggestions for incorporating spiritual practices into family life, teaching the Principles in age-appropriate ways, answering difficult questions on religious matters and dealing with religious disagreements.” 

Support Group for Parents of Middle Schoolers Forming – First meeting Nov. 6:  Resa Foreman will host a gathering of middle school parents and youth at her home on the evening of Sunday, November 6th, at 5pm.  Please bring a dish for a potluck dinner.  Youth will have a movie night while parents gather in a separate room for support and encouragement.  Please contactCatherine@uusm.org for the address and to rsvp.

Assistants Still Needed in Nursery & Preschool:  We have a strong need of volunteer assistants in these classes.  Assisting with our youngest children is one of the easiest ways to help out – and make a big difference – in our RE program.  Assistants sign up for one Sunday each month, and just show up at the beginning of church time to be an extra adult in the room with our younglings. An extra bonus – you’ll be among the first to really get to know our fantastic new nursery and preschool staff members, ZaNyaa and Carmen!  If you’d like to help out, contact Catherine@uusm.org.

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:

RE Furniture
Kid-size bean bag chair (we’d like to install a reading corner in the Spirit Play classroom)
Roll-up-able rug, medium-sized

General Supplies:
Drawing paper
Large foam board
Candle lighters
Chart markers
Flip chart paper (post-it or standard)
Pipe cleaners
Colored poster board pieces
Sheet protectors for use in binders

Backup snack supply
Cheddar Bunnies (like goldfish crackers but with fewer preservatives, additives)
Graham crackers, goldfish crackers okay as alternative
Granola bars, rice cakes, other non-sugary dry good snacks
Dried fruit (apricots, raisins, apple rings, banana chips, etc.)

RE Books Wish List on Amazon:  Another arm of the “master wish list” for the RE program, is an Amazon Wishlist of books that will be used in RE lessons for this year’s program or that will be valuable resources for teachers & families in our church.  We do have some money budgeted for book purchases, but we are running on a tight RE budget since the congregation’s budget cutback a couple of years ago, and donations are happily accepted.  If you’d like to help out by donating a book or two to the program, check out the Amazon list at http://tinyurl.com/rewishlist.  (Used books in “good” condition are just fine!)  THANK YOU to the members who have already sent books our way – they are so appreciated!

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

Chalice Lighting Words of the Week (October’s Theme – LOSS):

October 9:
May we carry our lamp into dark places;
for we too have been lonely, and without a light.

 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, and in September our theme is LOVE.  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 October - LOSS

Taking it Home – Let’s Talk about Families and Loss: (by Carol Galginaitis)

The document linked below is a fantastic resource designed to help UU families explore the topic of loss with one another. It offers information about how children understand loss. This booklet also provides a wealth of activities and resources to help families examine their own histories of, and reactions to, loss over their lifetimes.

Families have so much to gain from these discussions. As adults, you will have a chance to reflect on your own assumptions and beliefs about loss, gain greater understanding of your responses to it, and become more comfortable sharing your thoughts and feelings with others. If your family includes children, parents (and grandparents) can help children accept loss as a part of life and find ways to cope with it rather than deny its impact. Just as importantly, you can communicate your willingness to accompany children not only through the joys of life but also through its struggles and hardships.

http://www.uua.org/documents/galginaitiscarol/familiesloss.pdf

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

October 5, 1655:  Having determined that John Biddle was so controversial that any court decision on his case would endanger the Puritan government, Oliver Cromwell, the lord protector of England, exiled him and imprisoned him on the Scilly Isles.

October 6, 1779:  Nathaniel Appleton was born in Ipswitch, New Hampshire.  He was a merchant, manufacturer, financier, politician, and philanthropist.  A mill owner and operator himself, he was concerned about the human suffering caused by the factory system, and sought to change working conditions in the United States.  Appleton believed the Unitarian principle of the goodness of human nature could be combined with sound business practices.  He was an active member of the Federal Street Church (now Arlington Street Church) in Boston under the ministries of William Ellery Channing and Ezra Stiles Gannett.  As one of the 10 richest men in Boston, he engaged in large-scale philanthropy and public service.  He served six terms in the Massachusetts legislature and one term in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Nathaniel Appleton died on July 14, 1861.

October 6, 1967:  The Emergency Conference on the Black Rebellion began on this day at the Biltmore Hotel in New York City.  Organized by the Unitarian Universalist Association in response to racial strife in American society, this conference marked the beginning of what is known as the Black Empowerment Controversy within Unitarian Universalism.  The controversy focused on the creation and funding of a Black Affairs Council (BAC), which would be run by African-American leaders within the UU movement.  At the 1968 General Assembly in Cleveland, Ohio, the delegates voted in favor of the BAC but complications arose regarding funding and the all-black nature of the council.  A year later, a substantial number of black delegates walked out of the General Assembly in Boston in protest over the failure of the UUA to fully support the plan.  In 1970 the BAC disaffiliated with the UUA.  The failure to fully fund BAC called into question the UUA’s commitment to racial justice, and over 1,000 black Unitarian Universalists left the church over this controversy, including William Sinkford, recent president of the Unitarian Universalist Association (2001-2009).

October 8, 1793:  John Hancock, a Unitarian merchant, political leader, and signed of the Declaration of Independence, died at age 56.

October 11, 1564:  The anti-Trinitarian Martin Cellarius died in Basil, Switzerland, at the age of 65.  Considered the first self-proclaimed Unitarian, he was imprisoned in Germany for his beliefs. Cellarius is the author of several biblical and philosophical works, and he influenced both the Polish and the Transylvanian Unitarian movements.

October 12, 1576:  Adam Neuser, minister of St. Peter’s Church (Unitarian) in Heidelberg, Germany, died.  Said to be the first Christian to insist on the complete humanity of Jesus, he disputed church authorities over the Trinity.  Neuser is credited with introducing Socinianism into Germany.Five years before he died, he fled to Turkey to escape persecution and became a Muslim. 

October 13, 1841:Thomas Lamb Eliot was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr.As a student at Washington University, he suffered a serious eye injury that often required him to have someone read materials to him.Nevertheless, he graduated from Harvard Divinity School and became minister-at-large and then associate minister in St. Louis.  Repeating his father’s legacy, Eliot headed to a frontier town of 6,000 inhabitants – Portland, Oregon – and entered the ministry of its new Unitarian church.  He built up the congregation, founded Reed College, and was a civic leader with great impact on the cultural and political development of Portland.  In later years, his eye injury forced him to accept his son-in-law, Earl Morse Wilbur, as an associate minister.He died on April 26, 1936