CUUCSA ON-LINE NEWSLETTER/ VOL. 12, NO. 2/February 2000

Editor: Margaret Batschelet, mbatsche@aol.com

Nosotros, las congregaciones miembros de la Asociación UU, convenimos en afirmar y formentar el valor y la dignidad propria de cada persona.

Valentine's Day Potluck

A REMINDER if you've already heard, or an INVITATION if you are just now hearing:

WHAT: Valentine's Day Potluck Dinner and Opportunity to Welcome Newcomers
WHEN: February 12th at 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Janet and Peter's home at 3415 Hunters Run
WHAT TO BRING: A dish to share for the dinner and a party spirit! Beverages (including Janet's famous Love Punch) and Dessert (Chocolate Mints) will be provided.

Guest at Your Table

Our contribution to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) totaled $285.50 through the Guest at Your Table program. Thanks to all for your commitment to peace and justice projects throughout the world.

Revised Phone Lists Available

A phone list for members and friends which includes e-mail addresses has been compiled and is available at in the coffee room at church. Please pick up a copy for your household. This is something of an experiment. The idea is to provide updated lists several times a year rather than produce a more formal directory on a less frequent basis. Feedback on both the idea and content is welcome. Catherine McKee, Membership Chair

Fellowship Dinner Coming Up Soon

YEEEEEEEHAW! It's roundup time at the old corral. The date for the annual fellowship dinner has be set for March 4, and this year, cowboys and things Western are going to rule the evening. The entertainment committee is looking for a few good vaqueros or reasonable imitations thereof who can regale us with cowboy music, cowboy stories, cowboy poetry, rope tricks, bull riding, and things of that sort. If yer interested, give Henry (henry@quiensabe.com) or Mary Grace (mketner@lonestar.utsa.edu) a shout.

Indian Dinner

SATURDAY, MARCH 25th, 6:30 p.m. At the McKees. Catherine,Lisa, & Carol will plan the menu and provide recipes for an Indian Buffet. If you would like to participate, sign up by MARCH 4th. Sign up sheet in the coffee room at church or by contacting one of us. Catherine 681-4197, Lisa 493-8092, Carol 522-1526.

RE News

Our elementary students will be following the UU In Our Hands curricula and the Martin Luther King Kindness and Justice Challenge from the Do Something organization. Acts of kindness and justice will be tallied and posted on their web site as they participate in a National challenge. Teachers for this exciting activity will be: Catherine McKee, Steven Boyd, Reg Veilleux, David and Anita Hinebaugh and Joan Bradshaw. These children are a delight to work with and we value their participation. REgards Joan

Gift from the Bridge

Last December 19, CUUC put on a caroling party at The Bridge, the short term care facility run by Youth Alternatives. The children residing at The Bridge are there due to some sort of family crisis that necessitates temporary shelter in a caring environment. The caroling party was well received, and, as a token of their appreciation, the children at the bridge have given us a millennial gift in the form of a photo collage of the party. Don't miss it when you come to church on Sunday.

Soup Lunch

Soup lunch this month will (sigh) be delayed by one week and will therefore be offered on Sunday, February 20. It will be sponsored this month by the Worship Committee.

Letter from R.S.

he board of trustees recently received the following letter from Carol Christens, the Secretary of the R. S. Group that meets in our church. The board felt that Carol's comments about the new sanctuary should be shared by the entire congregation.

Two Sundays ago we had a guest speaker from Houston who brought his family with him and also had, just 3 weeks earlier, experienced open heart surgery. Because our group was larger than our usual 8 to 12, we began to carry chairs in from your sanctuary when someone suggested it would be wiser to meet in there, both because of adequate seating and the fact that it as warmer. We were concerned about our speaker's comfort.

Well, we loved your sanctuary! It is so light and warm...it just feels holy.

And because we've watched how hard you've worked over the last 2 years, we know it is a place filled with great love and dedication. So we are moved to ask your consideration in permitting us to meet in your sanctuary on Sundays.

We would treat it with great respect, honoring the spirit-filled place we recognize it to be.

Whether you are able to approve this request or not, may we take the opportunity to thank you, once again, for your generosity and graciousness to us over the past 2 years. May 2000 bring you great peace, prosperity, joy, and all that you hold as your highest good.

(The board, in case you are wondering, granted Carol's request.)

What Brings Us to CUUC?

At the January 9 service, each member of the congregation wrote on a card what, of a spiritual nature, brought them to church. Because the answers to this question tell us a good deal about ourselves, we'd like to publish one of them in each newsletter. We welcome any additional contributions from those not in attendance at the January 9 service or those who were.

Here is February's selection.

I come to church because I need to replenish the sense of purpose, of wanting to do good works, to make this a better world as I can. I also come because it is part of the way to maintain balance and a sense of peace in my life.

Note: Many thanks to Henry Halff for transcribing these notecards and putting them into electronic form!

Special Collection

On January 9th of this year, we rededicated ourselves to growth. As part or that rededication we resolved to form a growth committee (which is all but formed) and to apply to the Southwest District Growth Initiative consulting services. Our application has been filed. Last week, the district asked all of its member congregations to contribute a small amount ($25-$75) to a special program, Friends of the District, that will expand the scope of the Growth Initiative. The board decided that we should let our members themselves speak to their commitment to growth through a special collection for Friends of the District. That collection will take place this Sunday, February 13. So, in addition to your contributions to the service, don't forget to bring a little cash or your checkbook. What we give to this program will be returned many fold.

Upcoming Services

The Experience of Love: A Congregational Sharing Service on the day before Valentine's Day
Coord: Jim Hoar and Peter Van Dusen

When the angels ask you to recall the thrill of them all, what will you say?
How do you know when you've experienced love?
Where do you look for love?
Where do you find it?
What has been your greatest disappointment?
Did it make you a more loving person?

Use any of these questions, or one of your own, to share with us a moment of love from your own life. (Soup lunch--normally held on the second Sunday of the month--has been rescheduled in February for 2/20.)

2/20: Living in the Present Moment; Speaker: Moby Warren Phillips
Coord: Mary Grace Ketner Note: soup lunch Sunday

2/27: TBA We're hoping for the return engagement of Rod and Patti Radle on this Sunday, but it has not yet been confirmed. (Last year they used their guitars and voices to sing stories about their personal experiences with Inner City Development.)

Worship Notes

In April we are looking forward to a service with Ann Helmke from the Peace Center on 4/2, and on 4/9 the youth group from FUUC (including our own Ben Batschelet) will be conducting the service. March dates have not been scheduled yet, but we're planning a sharing service on UU attitudes towards sin and virtue. We're working on some other ideas as well (yes, Lisa, I still need to make that phone call!), but if there are particular topics or speakers you would like us to consider, please speak to someone on the worship committee.

District Dreams by Penny Ramsdell, SWUUC President

I will be writing more about this in my column in the next district newsletter, but I would like our member congregations to have as much time as possible to consider some major decisions that we will face at the SWUUC Annual Meeting, to be held during the Spring Conference in San Antonio, April 28-30. I hope every congregation will be sending delegates to the meeting. The district board has recently been engaged in a process of seeking feedback from congregational leadership about (1) the programs and services we currently offer through district staff and volunteers and (2) what is needed in addition to, or possibly instead of, what we are currently doing. With the feedback we received, we spent some time at the January board retreat sharing our dreams and visions for the district and then prioritizing the needs we saw and possible mechanisms for meeting those needs.

One need/dream, which was first articulated by the district Religious Education Committee several years ago, was for the district to employ a fulltime Lifespan Religious Education Consultant to help us develop RE programs for all our congregations. That dream has been slowly becoming a reality. We first employed a half-time consultant for children's RE, the position now held by the Rev. Marjorie Montgomery, and then a year ago we added a quarter-time consultant for young adults, the position now held by Alva Dennis. Both programs have been well-utilized and well-received. Marjorie is, however, retiring at the end of June 2001, and, with Alva's agreement and support (her contract with the district is co-terminus with Marjorie's), the RE Committee and the District Board are recommending that we raise district dues to convert the two part-time positions into a fulltime lifespan position so that we can begin to provide consultation related to youth and adult programming, as well as maintaining the existing services for children and young adults.

The dues increase being recommended is $3 per member, to be voted on at the 2000 annual meeting, to take effect for fiscal year 2001-2002. This dues increase would raise district dues from $12 per member to $15 per member. We realize that this is a significant increase and feel strongly that congregations should have an opportunity to consider it seriously. I know that our congregations frequently operate from a sense of scarcity and competing needs, and I do not want to discount the real financial limitations that some of us face, but I have also seen that greater commitment--psychological and financial--to one part of our movement--the local congregation, the district, or the UUA--can lead to greater commitment to the other parts. I genuinely believe that the services our district offers enhance all of us, directly or indirectly.

I, and others, will be spelling out this recommendation in more detail in the next district newsletter, so I will only add here that (1) at $12 per member, our district dues are lower than a number of other districts, although we have one of the largest districts in terms of congregations and members and geography, i.e., travel expenses; (2) at our current dues, not only can we not staff for youth and adult RE, we also have had to dramatically slash several budget line items for 2000-2001, such as the Dwight Brown Leadership School, the district newsletter, and most committees, and are still potentially in a slight deficit spending position; (3) without the transition to a fulltime lifespan RE consultant we are likely to lose the portion of financial support that comes from the UUA for the current halftime position, which would necessitate a reduction in services; and (4) our youth deserve and require more attention at the district level than we have been able to give them--this need has been articulated clearly by ministers, youth advisors, and the youth themselves.

Thank you for considering this recommendation. I look forward to seeing you in San Antonio.

Dates to Mark

February 11-13 - SW District Religious Education Conference, Camp Copas, Denton, TX
February 12 Valentine's Day Potluck, 7 p.m. 3415 Hunter's Run
February 13 The Experience of Love, Coordinators: Jim Hoar and Peter Van Dusen
February 16 Women's Support Group, 7:30
February 18-20 - SW District Women's Conference, Dallas, TX
February 20 - Living in the Present Moment, Speaker: Mobi Warren Phillips, Coord: Mary Grace Ketner
February 20 Soup Lunch
February 27 Service To Be Announced
March 1 Women's Support Group, 7:30
March 4 Fellowship Dinner
March 15 Women's Support Group, 7:30
March 25 Indian Dinner, 6:30
March 29 Women's Support Group, 7:30
April 2 Speaker: Ann Helmke
April 9 YRUU Service
April 18-20 - SWUUD Spring Conference, First UU, San Antonio, TX

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