Calendar of upcoming events:

Sunday, 10/7
          Teaching team meetings between services, 10:15-10:45
          Lunch between service & Town Hall meeting to benefit UCLA campus ministry group
Friday, 10/5-Sunday, 10/7
            YRUU Youth Con in San Diego
Saturday, 10/20
            Coming of Age/YRUU Beach Bonfire at Dockweiler!
Sunday, 10/28
            Day of the Dead Multigenerational service

This Week in RE:

·         Preschool-Kindergarten: “Memory Game” This week our preschool class will take part in a special memory game, introducing many of the sights and people of our own UUCCSM community.  Meets in the NW room of the cottage.

·         1st-2nd Grade (Spirit Seekers):  “Tenzin’s Deer” This week our 1st-2nd graders will further explore the story shared during the Time for All Ages in the service, about a boy who learns how to love and let go.  Meets in the SE room of the cottage.

·         3rd-5th Grade:  “And Then There Was Light” This week, we’ll explore the nature of visible light and invisible light (as part of the larger electromagnetic spectrum).  We’ll experiment with lenses and prisms, and prepare for our exploration into the origins of the universe in the weeks to come.  Meets in the mural room at the end of the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall. Note: THIS WEEK ONLY – Room change for 9:00 class – will meet in Room 2, the second room down the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

·         6th-7th Grade (Compass Points): “What Do I Carry With Me?”  This week we’ll explore the gifts and talents each participant possesses which can help them on their spiritual journey, and will think about personal priorities and develop ways to understand the consequences of the choices we make. Meets in Room 3, the third room down the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

·         8th Grade (Coming of Age) – 9:00 only:  This coming Sunday we will be create our class covenant, an agreement we will make with each other about how we will treat each other in the class.  For the students, please be thinking about how you want to be interacted with and what is important to you regarding how we relate to one another. We will then talk about famous Unitarian Universalists throughout history.  Note: THIS WEEK ONLY – Room change – will meet in the mural room at the end of the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

·         9th-12th Grade (Young Religious Unitarian Universalists) – 9:00 only: This week YRUU will talk about social justice ideas and projects for the year, and play some fun group-building games.  Meets in Room 1, the first room at the top of the stairs above Forbes Hall.

Announcements:

NEW Jr. High & Sr. High Youth Camps at de Benneville Pines – Registration Open:  Youth are encouraged to head to Camp de Benneville Pines this winter for a camp experience like no other!
·         Jr. High Camp is Nov.30-Dec.2, and this year’s theme is “Our Amazing Race!”  Teams of youth will move through the weekend travelling to different countries “around the world”, completing quests, puzzles, challenges and races that emphasize community building and teamwork. There will be road blocks, of course, bonus opportunities and UU fun along the way.  All regular camp activities (raps, workshops and snow play) will be folded into this amazing adventure. This weekend is sure to be a new experience for all and a way to explore the world at beautiful de Benneville Pines!  For more information and to register online, visit http://www.uucamp.org/camps/2012/PSWD/jrhigh_fall/JrHFall2012.html.
·         Sr. High Camp is Dec. 27-Jen. 2, and the theme for this year is “Camp ApUUcalypse.”  Live like you're dying at Camp ApUUcalypse, a winter weekend of survival and growth!  Master the art of zombie fighting. Finish off your bucket list. Come for new friends, laughter and an awesome UU experience! And even if the world does end, then what could be a better send-off than a weekend with our fabulous district-wide youth community? All the traditional workshops will be available during the week, as well as new activities, so we will have fun up until the moment of doom!  For registration online and more info, visit http://www.uucamp.org/camps/2013/PSWD/srhigh_winter/SrHWinter2013.html.

RE Class Snack Signups:  Parents, please sign up to provide a snack for your child’s RE class this year.  If each family signs up for 2-3 Sundays during the year, we will be covered!  Younger children’s classes have signup charts posted next to the classroom doorway.  Parents for grades 6-12 are invited to sign up via email; contact Catherinedre@yahoo.com to volunteer to help.

RE Registration & Parent Commitment Form for 2012-13:  Every child and youth who participates in our RE classes needs to have a registration form and parent commitment form filled out and signed each year.  The registration form helps us make sure we have current contact information for your family as well as information about your children’s needs, your dreams for their experience in our RE program, and the areas in which you’d like to help support our church’s educational ministry.  The parent commitment form asks for parents of children in our RE program to help out as volunteers during the year to ensure that our program is fully supported and of the highest quality we can make it.  We’ll have plenty of blank forms at the LRE table in the courtyard before and after the services on Sunday mornings in September, and they are also posted on the UUSM website at http://uusm.org/sundays-and-services/lifespan-RE/registration-permission.... Please bring yours on Sunday, or stop by the table to fill them out.  It is very helpful for us to have our registrations right away, so we can begin to build our class rosters and update our church records for this year.

RE Books Wish List on Amazon:  Another arm of the “master wish list” for the RE program, is an Amazon Wishlist of books and supplies that will be useful in RE classes this year or that will be valuable resources for teachers & families in our church.  We do have some money earmarked for purchases, but we are running on a tight RE budget, and donations are happily accepted.  If you’d like to help out by donating 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 or other supplies 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 – LETTING GO):

October 7:
Some think it’s holding on that makes one strong; sometimes it’s letting go.
-- Sylvia Robinson

For the 2012-13 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 FORGIVENESS.  The chalice lightings shared here will be used in all of our RE classes, and I hope that your family will also share it at home during the 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 Reinforce this month’s theme of LETTING GO:

Possible Activities:

·         Simple living is in large part the discipline of letting go. Spend some time considering what “things” in your life you can let go. Take a good look at your calendar and consider if there are activities that can be let go in order to simplify your life.

Resources:

Books for Children:

·         “The Boy and the Filberts” from Aesop’s Fables
·         Letting Swift River Go by Jane Yolen, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 1995
·         “The Monk’s Heavy Load” in the book Kindness: A Treasury of Buddhist Wisdom for Children and Parents, collected and adapted by Sarah Conover, Eastern Washington University Press, 2001

Resources for Parents:
·         Living Simply With Children: A Voluntary Simplicity Guide for Moms, Dads and Kids Who Want to Reclaim the Bliss of Childhood and the Joy of Parenting, Marie Sherlock, Three Rivers Press, 2003

Resources for Adults:
·         Explore the following readings in Singing the Living Tradition published by the Unitarian Universalist Association. (Our hymnal)
o   # 482 by Jacob Trapp
o   # 583 by Wendell Berry
o   # 522 from the book of Luke
o   # 526 by Inuit Shaman Uvanuk
o   # 527 by Richard Jeffries
o   # 529 by Rabindranath Tagor
o   # 541 by Denise Levertov
o   # 552 by Nancy Wood
o   # 556 adapted from Ralph Waldo Emerson
o   # 595 adapted from the Bodhisattva vows
o   # 654 by Ralph Helverson

·         Love is Letting Go of Fear, Gerald G. Jampolsky & Hugh Prather, Celestial Arts, 2004
·         Learning to Fall: The Blessings of an Imperfect Life, Phillip Simmons, Bantam, 2003
·         “A Lifetime Isn’t Long Enough” Sermon from the Service of the Living Tradition 2009 by Mary J. Harrington http://www.uua.org/documents/harringtonmary/090626_lifetime_not_enough.pdf
·         Poem “In Blackwater Woods” from American Primitive by Mary Oliver, Back Bay Books, 1983
·         Story “Letting Go” in the book One Hundred Wisdom Stories From Around the World, Margaret Silf, The Pilgrim Press, 2003

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.