Editor: Margaret Batschelet, typea45@swbell.net
Nosotros, las congregaciones miembros de la Asociación UU, convenimos en afirmar y formentar el valor y la dignidad propria de cada persona.
If you enjoy yard work, join us on Saturday, January 18, 2003, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Please bring clippers and a tree trimmer if you have one. I am getting bids from companies to trim the trees branches overhanging the roof, but there are many areas on the grounds that we can do ourselves. -June Kachtik
Blue Moon Circle meets the 1st and 3rd Sunday at 7:30 pm of January (January 5 and 19).
The sign on E. Beverly Mae in the front of our church looks as if it needs some tender loving care. Anyone interested in renovating the sign with some fresh paint? Or in creating a new design? If so, please call June Kachtik at 342-0135.
January 19 - "Civil Rights and Affirmative Action," Speaker: Steve Boyd
January 26 - Worship Committee Service
The Woman's Support Group will meet on January 13 and 27, at 7 p.m. at the church.
The Remarkable Film Series continues to feature films of Peter Sellers. The film "Casino Royale" will be shown at 6:00 PM on Sunday, January 19, 2003. It is based on the first Ian Fleming novel featuring his famous secret agent but it is unlike any other James Bond films in the franchise. And on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2003, immediately after the Sunday Service, the Remarkable Film Group will host a Soup Lunch.
Since I'm not a coffee drinker myself, I've not thought much about the fact that we drink coffee in our sanctuary. However, now that I am the one responsible for the condition of the carpet, I have elevated coffee-in-the-sanctuary to a level on par with the really serious issues of the day, such as a pending war on one or two fronts, protection of basic civil liberties, etc. I admit that this is due in part to the fact that I spent time on Friday spot cleaning the carpet - and, wouldn't you know it - on Sunday someone spilled coffee in one of the areas that I had previously cleaned. I'd be interested in your thoughts on what to do about this. My E-mail address is: junekac@aol.com.
It's been a while since we've had service auction, but we're going to get back in that business this year. The church needs the money, and we all could use a little fun. In case you don't know how a service auction works, here's how.
Phase I: Everyone in the congregation (and I do mean everyone) offers a service to be sold at auction.
Phase II: Everyone (and I do mean everyone) peruses all of the donations except for a select few and makes bids, big bids. At the end of Phase II, there's a big party where final bids are taken and a few special items are auctioned off.
Phase IV: Everyone writes a check to the church and collects the services that they bought.
Phase I starts on Sunday, January 12 and ends on February 1. There will be forms available at the church (and by e-mail from Margaret B., typea45@swbell.net or by downloading the pdf version from the church Web site) for listing your donations. Now hold on, right there. I know you're thinking, "I'm a worthless slob. I don't have anything to donate." Balderdash! Take a gander at this list of potential donations. Pick one; pick more than one:
Serve dinner at your house
Pack a picnic lunch
Cater, butle, tend bar, ...
Lead a hike, bike ride, pub crawl, ...
Paint a portrait
Teach someone how to ...
Bake, roast, fry ...
Consult on computers, antiques, interior decoration ...
Design invitations, business cards, web pages ...
Paint a room, hang paintings, arrange flowers, decorate, ...
Parents day off--take someone's kids to the zoo, the Witte, ...
Serenade someone's sweetie
Conduct an auto or walking tour of ...
Write a poem, an essay, ...
Form B (also available at the church, from Margaret, or on the Web site) will take care of the people who don't recognize their own talents. Maybe someone in the congregation once brought some cookies to soup lunch and you've been lusting for those cookies ever since. Maybe you've wanted to go to dinner with someone in the church. Here's your chance to fulfill those dreams. On Form B, you put down something that you would like to buy at the auction. If you attach a name to the item, we'll make sure that it gets to the right person (anonymously, if you wish). If you don't put a name on the form, we'll just post it in hopes that the right person will find it. You can even place a bid for the item before it's offered.
Then get ready for the big February party/auction finale, and keep those cards and letters (and checks) coming!-Henry Halff
On January 26, we'll hold our semi-traditional Worship Committee service where we talk about the service we've had during the previous year and ask for service topics and possible speakers for the upcoming year. Please think about the services you enjoyed and services you'd like to see. You're also welcome to come to meetings of the Program Committee every second Sunday after services; the next meeting will be January 12. One of the joys of a lay-led church is having direct input into what happens on Sunday!
The Re classes for January will be called "Working Together, an Art Project" and will be for all ages.
Draft poem for new R.E. by Diana Ross 12/25/02
'Twas early December, hard at work in the church
were Joan and Dianna involved in the search
For a New Year new-fangled user-friendly R.E.
We thought and we pondered: "Now what could it be?"
So we strove to imagine, develop, design,
devise, coin, finagle, create and define,
propose and suggest, invent and intuit.
And don't you just know that we got right down to it.
It was simple, you see, for out of the void
Came a perfect idea from our own Sandi Boyd
for a UU curriculum with a modular scheme
Where each Sunday's R.E. class has a stand-alone theme.
A Curriculum Action Theme-CAT, as we say,
And a CAT in a bag to let out for the day
To explore UU principles with the kids that are here.
What a wonderful thing to be able to share!
Each Sunday the volunteer teacher du jour
Pulls the CAT from the bag to take kids on a tour
Of whatever the CAT's designer contrived
To help keep our UU principles alive
For our kids, for whomever steps up to the plate.
And we hope that each UU will participate.
We need teachers du jour; just sign up for a day.
And we need CAT designers, a diverse buffet.
We want music, philosophy, poems, awareness.
triangular, circular, ovoid and squareness.
We want politics, history, psychology, art,
And we're eager to make a most excellent start.
Reg has signed on, and Joan's still at bat,
and Di will be putting together a CAT.
So this is our introductory brag,
We hope that you'll each let a CAT from the bag.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The Membership Committee is overdue for a meeting. One relatively urgent piece of business is preparing our budget proposal for the board by the end of this month. The other item is the continuing agenda of the Pastoral Care emergency fund. We'll meet to consider these and other items on Sunday, January 19 after services.
The National Coalition Building Institute and SWUUC Leadership Development Committee will hold a joint program February 21-23 at the UU Fellowship of Waco, Texas. The cost for a congregation will be $50 for 2-4 participants; the individual's cost will be $100. Activities will include covenant groups, lectures, discussions, and small groups; breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be provided. For more information, contact the SW District Office at 217-446-0099 or 1-800-793-7062, or e-mail at swduua@aol.com.
This year's SWUUC Spring Conference will be held from April 25-27 in Tulsa, with the theme "Deepening Your Faith, Growing Your Soul." Workshops will take place at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, with accommodations at the Doubletree Hotel Warren Place. Brochures will be available in mid-January and can be accessed on the Web.
One of my resolutions for this year is to contribute a president's column to this newsletter. I made this resolution partly because I like to write, and partly because I have a few things to say about the church that aren't appropriate for church services and their captive audiences. I figure that I only have to gin up five of these columns, and I already have ideas for three. Perhaps this is one resolution I can keep.
I've been thinking about how we've (CUUC has) celebrated the holidays this season.
Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk
At our Christmas party
We were drinkin' champagne punch
And homemade eggnog*
We're a different church than we were a year or two ago. New people have joined us, and, unlike most U-U congregations, we're no longer all poured out of the same liberal, white, middle-class, pointy-headed intellectual mold. This is a good thing, but it doesn't come without problems.
Little sister brought her new boyfriend
He was a Mexican
We didn't know what to think of him
Til he sang Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
I had a taste of diversity on Christmas myself. Jean and I went over to my brother's house where we were joined by my parents; my brothers roommate, Dave; Dave's cousin, Heather; Dave's ex-wife, Dianne; and four of Dianne's five kids. Each of these kids has a different father; one of the fathers was Dave. The missing kid had been abducted by his father some time ago, but the consensus was that this was a good thing for the kid.
Brother Ken brought his kids with him
The three from his first wife Lynn
And the two identical twins
From his second wife Mary Nell
Those of you who have more than one kid know what can happen when more than one kid open Christmas presents at the same time. Strangely enough, what was supposed to happen did not--no fights, no tears, no whining about who got what. Somehow this thoroughly dysfunctional gathering made things work better than most normal families do.
Of course he brought his new wife Kaye
Who talks all about AA
Chain smokin' while the stereo plays
Noel, Noel, The first Noel
Getting back to CUUC, some of you may have noticed that more than ornaments broke this year. For example, yours truly made a special effort to find some Kwaanza music for the offering to our holiday service and then forgot to play the music and take the offering. This is just one example of the minor dysfunctions that afflicted us this season.
Fran and Rita drove from Harlingen
I can't remember how I'm kin to them
But when they tried to plug their motorhome in
They blew our Christmas lights
Dysfunction, it seems to me, is the handmaiden of diversity. Diversity itself is a funny thing. When planned for and sought after, it never comes. And when it does come, it often causes no end of trouble. Still, I'm glad that we're a more diverse congregation. I'm glad that we have military people and pagans, and that there's even some overlap. I'm glad that we have really old people who still work and young people who don't, that we have smokers and non-smokers, drinkers (like me) and non-drinkers, people that love computers and people that don't know diddly about them, new-agers and hard-nosed skeptics, artists, runners and professors.
I think also that I would not be satisfied if all this diversity did not lead to some dysfunctionality and discomfort. I'm not one who believes that churches should be comfortable places. The search for the spirit is not a guided tour. It requires that one go to dark, unfamiliar places and try on ill-fitting clothes. Hence, our church needs to be one where we hear many voices, even those that are not particularly polished, and especially those that upset and offend us.
At one point during Christmas dinner in San Diego, when the chaos had subsided for a bit, someone remarked that the table seemed to be returning to normal. Dianne's daughter, Wanda, wise beyond her years, remarked. "There's nothing normal about this table." I'd like to think that the same thing is true of our church. I'd also like to think that, as at my strange dysfunctional Christmas gathering, we're pretty good at rising above any of the problems that come with diversity, that miraculously, as Rodney King recommended, we all get along.
Cousin David knew just what went wrong
So we all waited out on our front lawn
He threw the breaker and the lights came on
And we sang Silent Night
Oh Silent Night
Happy new year Henry, the prez
*The doggerel scattered throughout this column is taken from Robert Earl Keen's well-known song, "Merry Christmas From the Family."
January 12 - "Selling War," Speaker: Margaret Batschelet
January 12 - Program Committee Meeting after services
January 12 - Civil Rights and the Patriot Act seminar, First UU, 7 p.m.
January 13 - Women's Group, 7 p.m.
January 18 - Yard Work Day, 9 a.m.
January 19 - "Civil Rights and Affirmative Action," Speaker: Steve Boyd
January 19 - Membership Committee meeting after service
January 19 - Remarkable Film Series, "Casino Royale," 6 p.m.
January 19 - Blue Moon Circle, 7 p.m.
January 19 - Civil Rights and the Patriot Act seminar, First UU, 7 p.m.
January 26 - Worship Committee Service
January 26 - Civil Rights and the Patriot Act seminar, First UU, 7 p.m.
January 27 - Women's Group, 7 p.m.
February 2 - Community Spirituality, Estella Boyes
February 2 - Soup Lunch after service, sponsored by Remarkable Films Group
February 9 - Barbara Cooeyman
February 9 - Program Committee meeting, after services
February 16 - Peter Van Dusen
February 23 - Bob Ireland
February 21-23 - Leadership Conference, Waco UU Fellowship
April 25-27 - SWUUC Spring Conference, Tulsa, Oklahoma
If you'd like to receive the e-mail version of this newsletter every month, send a message to Margaret Batschelet, the newsletter editor.