Editor: Steve Botts, stbotts@texas.net
Nosotros, las congregaciones miembros de la Asociación UU, convenimos en afirmar y formentar el valor y la dignidad propria de cada persona.
President
Mary Grace Ketner
Secretary
Vicki Lee Mattern
Treasurer
Nancy White
At Large Member
Sonya Graham
At Large member
Peter Van Dusen
Operations & Maintenance Committee Coordinator
John Bradshaw, Patrick Shearer
Member Services Committee Coordinators
Clem Chow, Jeff Ketner
Program Committee Coordinators
Henry Halff, Stephanie Shearer
CUUC Website Manager
Margaret Batschelet
First, there's the column from our consulting minister, Phil Schulman.
Next, there's the monthly column by our president, Mary Grace Ketner.
Following that, there's a preview of upcoming services and something about the presenters, followed by some comments from the congregation on recent services.
After that, there's the report by RE director Glenna Jones-Kachtik.
And then Clem Chow, speaking for the member services committee, introduces new member Dianne Wilson and then goes on to give details about the CUUC dinner groups.
The following section has to do with CUUC and hurricane survivors. There are accounts of what individual members have been doing, as well as a report from the social action committee. This is followed by a letter from President Sinkford concerning a fund to help people made homeless by the hurricanes.
Then, there's some useful information given on the Fall Leadership Conference to be held in Live Oak in November.
And, for those interested in checking out some of the various affinity groups within the church, there's information concerning what they're about and what they do.
Finally, you will find information on this Saturday's Community Music Festival at First UU Church, which offers you the opportunity to hear CUUC's own Sally's Garden and other great performers.
To see what's happening when, check the calendar of what's going on this month and as far as we can see beyond.
As much as we tout the praises of diversity, I think its recognition of commonality that binds us together. There is something primitive and assuring about coming together with kindred spirits. "Oooh Oooh Oooh!" "There is one of our pack." We breathe deeper in the safety of numbers.
One way that I've noticed that you are like me is the consolation we take in doing something helpful. Several times in the past months, I have seen our faith in the redemptive value of service. Joan Raab put it this way, "I first went out to Kelly after reading posts by the Wiesens. I've kept going because it makes me feel good."
At a recent Parent Covenant Group we talked about the tendency to feel overwhelmed in the face of repeated natural disasters and enormous human need. We cope with the enormity of what seems beyond our control by doing what we can.
Certainly it has been one way that we have responded to Patrick Woosley's suicide. How can we accept that a man with so much to offer could end his own life? We talk to each other, sharing the gifts we've acquired and that keep us afloat. Perhaps more than the sharing of our collective wisdom is our being of service to each other. In the wake of this loss, I heard repeatedly "Is there something I can do?"
I have seen this spirit in the eagerness and excitement to help one evacuee family get settled in San Antonio. Sandi Boyd said "the congregation is good at helping out with short term crisis" Assistance during transition can be crucial. Virgin Island UU Melissa Gibbud relayed how a neighbor had expressed his disapproval of Unitarians. He said "you people don't believe in anything. You just go around trying to good things!"
The phrase "Do-gooders" is intended as an insult. It refers to people whose arrogant and patronizing attempts to help cause more harm than good. However, if like Joan, we can acknowledge our self-interest, we will be more likely to also be present to the needs of others.
Lilla Watson, aboriginal activist is frequently being quoted for having said "if you come here to help me you are wasting your time. But if you come here because your own liberation is tied up with mine, then let's work together."
I am not ready to let go of my "desire to help." I know some of you are with me. Perhaps we can balance our desire to help, and our need to feel better, with honesty and a willingness to learn as we go.
Perhaps one reason we find consolation in giving is that we recognize our inherent connection. Sometimes we see our own humanity in the eyes of those we seek to serve. "Ooh ooh ooh, there is one of my kind." We feel secure in the safety of numbers. We feel the web of life and have faith in it. We know that in giving, we receive.
Blessed Be.
Many of us have wondered: what is the appropriate term to use to describe those who fled Louisiana and southeast Texas to escape Katrina and then Rita? Refugees? Evacuees? The best answer I heard was from Jack Nokes, Executive Director of the Texas Association of Museums, who passed along a suggestion that the proper term is "neighbors."
When Jesus was asked, "Who is my neighbor?" he answered with the story of the good Samaritan; you know: the two people who passed by a fellow human being in need, and the third, who stopped to help--generously, unstintingly, personally. "Which of these was neighbor to the man who was hurt?" Jesus asked.
I'm reminding you of this parable, not as a biblical scholar or a disciple, but as a storyteller. It is an example of the way in which stories are always true. It is always true that more pass by than stop to help. It is always true that one alone can come up with the resources to match even a great task. And, if Jesus had finished reading his Brothers Grimm, he'd have known that it is always true that the third traveler (or third son, or youngest princess) who doesn't pass by but is a good neighbor is always rewarded in true fairy tale fashion: with happiness.
That is my wish for those of you who have generously, unstintingly, and personally befriended our neighbors in their time of special need: Joan Bradshaw, John Bradshaw, Markay Cheyney, Trent Cheyney, Glenna Jones-Kachtik, June Kachtik, Von Kachtik, Henry Halff, Huyen Nguyen, Joan Raab, Phil Schulman, Stephanie Shearer, John Wiesen, Sally WiesenÉ, maybe others I don't even know about who have put in whole days, multiple whole days, loving their neighbors.
May you live happily ever after.-Mary Grace
What!? Me Worship? For many UUs, worship is what we do for an hour on Sunday mornings. Do you expect worship to be served up to at the worship service just as MacDonalds serves cheeseburgers? Do you seek to leave the service spiritually transformed, and suffused perhaps with a heavenly glow? Do you look for nothing more than something to talk about during coffee hour, perhaps a screed against the political villain of the moment? Are services self-help sessions for you, leading you on the path away from co-dependence towards prosperity? Are worship services just something to get through before your committee meeting or soup lunch? If we find ourselves thinking about worship in these ways, and who has not from time to time, perhaps we need to re-examine the role of worship in our lives. What is the purpose of worship? What do we bring to the act of worship? What are our roles? What should we get out of worship? If these questions concern you, you should come to the September 25 service when we will take these questions up in the context of our regular Sunday worship service.
About Henry Halff
Henry Halff is a lifelong Unitarian. He has been a member of CUUC since 1994. He has served on the Board of Trustees as an at-large trustee and as President. He has also chaired the Member Services Committee. He currently serves the church as co-chair of the Programs Committee, Canvass Chair, member of the Nominating Committee, Service Auction Director, and member of the Membership Committee. He participates in the Men's Group, the Social Action Committee, and the Worship Committee.
His ambitions for the church are to see it thrive and grow as a force for good in the world, as a center for all manner of spiritual thinking, and as a source of support for its members. In his services, he strives for spirituality, participatory worship, intergenerational appeal, and personal growth.
His greatest love is his wife, Jean. His passions are competitive swimming, Texas music, and beer. His burdens, borne willingly, are the church and his 90-year old father. He occasionally finds time for research and development in the area of instructional uses of computers.
Please make plans now to be at church on the 30th. bring photos of your lost loved ones (pets count) and mementos for the altar and help the RE Class celebrate Dia de los Muertos. We will have a time for you to share memories and also to share the food from the altar after the service.
About Glenna Jones-Kachtik, RE Director
Glenna holds a BS in Elementary Education (grades 1-8); having graduated from Texas A&I (now A&M). She has taught in the public school system in grade 2, & in a private school in grade 5 - Language Arts grade 6,7 - Science grade 6. She was children's librarian at Butt Holdsworth Memorial Library in Kerrville for 5 years and put on some great puppet shows and plays during that time.
Glenna's hobbies are traveling and taking photos, reading, crafts and learning about new things! She is also a registered Massage Therapist and is always looking for new CEU classes to learn other modalities.
She looks forward to becoming a certified RE Director through the Renaissance Module of the UUA.
Holiday time means displaying the appropriate response on cue. YUCK! I should be thankful? If there is bearded white man in charge of the Universe, he will have hell to pay after the revolution! Is satiation and a tryptophan buzz as good as it gets for skeptics and free thinkers?
About Phil Schulman
Phil Schulman serves CUUC p/t as Minister. He graduated from Thomas Starr King School for the Ministry in '89, and pursued a community ministry for 12 years developing Peer Support Communities. He served previously as Minister of St John UU Fellowship in the Virgin Islands, and has extensive experience as a counselor, advocate, peace and human rights activist.
Bread seems to be one foodstuff that everyone from carnivores to vegans can appreciate. Join us on November 20 for our traditional pre-Thanksgiving bread communion. Share your favorite bread with other CUUCsters, along with the story of your bread--making it, eating it, and enjoying it. As UU's, we welcome bread of all sorts: homemade, store-bought, dark, light, sweet, spicy, or even Wonder: it's the stories we're looking forward to!
About Margaret Batchelet
Margaret Batschelet is a member of the Communication Department at UTSA, specializing in Web Design and other topics related to new media. She serves as CUUCSA's Webmaster.
Steven Botts
We experience CUUC services in many ways - intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and somtimes even physically. We act as presenters and participants as well as receivers of what is presented. The impression left by a service on a person may be the result of careful planning, good material, and well-honed organizational skills, or it may be the result of pure chance and dumb luck.
This was pretty much the case with the most memorable moment of the pet service in which I played the role of St Francis. While I was getting ready for the service, Joan Raab was walking toward the church carrying her cat, Sweetie when she stopped to greet the Rogers family from New Orleans, which CUUC has "adopted." The youngest child of the family, a little girl about two years old, came up to Joan and reached up for Sweetie. When Joan bent down to let the child touch the cat, it seemed that something wordless but meaningful had happened between cat and child.
Also, it was just a lot of fun getting to meet mutts like Max and Muffin as well as Sophie the poodle and Sweetie the cat along with all the parrots, ferrets and other creatures that share the homes of my friends at CUUC.
Other than that, I particularly liked Mary Grace Ketner's service "Unitarian Jihad." I had read the text of "Unitarian Jihad" previously, and it had pretty much left me cold. But Mary Grace managed to take a piece of second-rate satire and build a first-rate service from it. That takes some doing. The service used humor effectively to promote serious values, enlisted a group of members in the presentation, and asked something of the congregation that required some self-examination.
Clem Chow
The service that I was most impressed with was that on the Unitarian Jihad given by Mary Grace Ketner with Michael Burns providing music on guitar. It helps me to take in some of the more difficult to take events/developments in our world for the past few years.
Dianne Wilson
I very much enjoyed the UU Jihad.
Mary Grace Ketner
I almost always like the last service best! Last Sunday when Phil talked about leadership, I so enjoyed thinking about the ways in which different people in our church choose their place to be leaders, lead in their own unique way, and then step back and follow appreciatively when someone else is willing to take the lead. Like the geese in flight metaphor he gave about each of goose taking over the lead position for a while (or a for project, or on a committee) our leaders support one another in shifts, and that's what keeps our church flying high.
Stephanie Shearer
Worship happens in multiple ways for me, yet setting myself up for it seems to happen in a similiar way each time. I need to get prepared to notice the divine, clear my mind, focus on being open to new possibilities. And it takes faith too. Faith that I am not alone, but am connected to all life. I have to leave my preconceived ideas behind and become like a child, a little vulnerable, less defensive.
Our new minister, Phil Shulman, has facilitated that preparation for me more in his three services than everyone else combined in my UU churches. In fact, my biggest loss leaving Christian churches was leaving behind that group preparation for a divine experience, leaving behind prayer. Phil has taken us through meditations that give us an opportunity to choose to relax our bodies, free our minds, and for me, to pray. Those minutes alone have been powerful spiritual experiences for me.
This coming month we will be learning all about Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. The 9th we introduced the celebration and delved into some of the customs and the origins. We learned that there are 4 important holidays at this time of year that are all sort of connected: All Hallows Eve (Halloween), All Saint's Day, All Souls Day and Dia de los Muertos. We started making a decorative skull of our own and we learned about sugar skulls and pan de muerto and a bit about the Ofrenda or Altar.
On the 16th we will watch a film from the Institute of Texan Cultures and do some more activities that will help us to create our own altar. The 23rd we may have a visitor from the Celestial Celebration Circle who will let us know about the Pagan beginnings and we will be assigning parts for the 30th when the RE will be responsible for the service.
I have been planning the service and Paloma Diaz has offered to help with the altar and with helping the children make tissue paper marigolds. PLEASE MAKE PLANS NOW TO BE AT CHURCH ON THE 30TH. BRING PHOTOS OF YOUR LOST LOVED ONES (PETS COUNT) AND MEMENTOS FOR THE ALTAR and help the RE Class celebrate Dia de los Muertos. We will have a time for you to share memories and also to share the food from the altar after the service.
One of the things that will have been brought into focus by the end of this unit is that this is not Mexican Halloween and that there are real differences between Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. This celebration is truly a remembrance of persons lives and what they meant to us and is not about scary Halloween items. That being said, the service will feature a Halloween story for all ages written by our own Steven Botts.
By the time you read this we will also have sampled some foods from the region and the art of Jose Posada and his wonderful calaveras - skeletons doing human things.
We may plan an activity with the Parent's Covenant Group & as many members who want to attend to go downtown to Market Square after the 23rd and see the Ofrendas there and that could include a trip to the Institute of Texan Cultures.
Have a wonderful Halloween Season
Glenna Jones-Kachtik
Diane Wilson has just joined our congregation. Diane grew up in Northern Louisiana and married her kindergarten sweetheart, Jim who came from the same town. She graduated from Louisiana Tech. and has raised four children. Diane and Jim also have five grandchildren. Their children do not live in San Antonio, but three of them live in Texas and one in Ohio. The family is a closed knitted one and the children maintain their contact with Jim and Diane.
Diane has already jumped into services for the church. She is working with Mary Grace Ketner, our board president on our church calendar. Diane is also working with Marilyn DeKing as our official greeters to our church. Next time you are early for the Sunday service, make sure that you greet Diane and welcome her to our congregation.
Friday dinner groups are forming. A sign-up sheet has been posted at the coffer area for people who wish to join a dinner group. Normally, the first person or couple that signs on the sheet hosts the dinner at her/his/their home and provide a main dish. The other six people who sign up after the host agree to bring some dinner items to be coordinated with the host. October 21 has been set for this group, but the people who sign up can change to suit their needs.
A second Friday dinner group is also forming for folks with children. The rules are similar to the other dinner group. A second sign-up sheet is posted for this group. November 4 has been set for this group, but the people who sign up can make appropriate changes.
A third Friday dinner group is being formed for folks who prefer to dine out. The first person or couple to sign up will suggest the venue for the outing and she/he/they also has the option of providing dessert at her/his/their home after the dinner for the group. A third sign-up sheet is posted for this specific group. October 28 has been set for this group, but the people who sign up can make changes as needed.
Please make sure that you are signing up for the correct group and contact the host for details.
Here are the accounts of what some CUUC members have done to help people made homeless by the recent hurricanes.
Joan Bradshaw
Memories of individual encounters with victims of hurricane Katrina and Rita are what will remain with me, forever. As a volunteer with the Red Cross I was able to assist with the temporary care of the children at Kelly USA. Their spirits undaunted by their difficult experiences, they continued to express curiosity and playfulness. I provided craft activities, and considerable cuddling. The children invited me to spend the night with them in the shelter, but I declined regretting the opportunity to participate in what looked like the biggest slumber party, ever. Child care services were eventually dismantled because of a lack of security and State regulations.
On one occasion a woman flagged me down as I was walking between shelters. She said she needed assistance putting on her two artificial legs and a transport to register for FEMA. This took me by surprise but one never knew what would be expected of you next. The endless contacts to answer endless questions for which we were not prepared kept us on our toes and in constant contact with the other volunteers.
Another time I got into a political-discussion that led me to a deeper understanding of how the economic inequalities of New Orleans didn't benefit a majority of the population. This was made visible by the numbers of people unable to fend for themselves after the flooding. As a tourist and fan of Dixiland music my husband and I have visited New Orleans on many occasions. It always appeared to be an economically sound community. But now we see that the money did not filter down to a vast number of uneducated and minimum wage workers. We all have our "aha" moments and this was one for me.
I came away saddened by all the poverty and proud of my Unitarian-Universalist heritage. I was allowed to live and experience the application of our UU principles; those of honoring human worth and dignity, that of participating in a long a history of helping those less fortunate and also developing a stronger desire to bring social justice to all.
Joan Raab
9/22
I responded after several members of Community Unitarian Church in San Antonio put out an email that help was needed at Kelly Field. There were over 1800 people there at last count. I worked the first three days in food service there, setting up for meals, serving and cleaning up. Finally someone realized I was a licensed social worker, and so pointed me to the social work/mental health section. Many people there touched my heart. One man stood out my second day there while I was ladling out beans onto plates. He said he hoped that they would let him keep his two cots, even though he was alone. I thought he meant he just had too much stuff, and needed to keep some of it on the extra cot. Then he said, "the second cot is my wife." I realized then that he had somehow lost his wife. Then there was the white woman with a little black girl who did not belong to her. All she knew was that the girl was from New Orleans and had somehow gotten separated from her mother. The girl appeared trusting and clearly felt safe with this person who had reached out to care take her. One man who was totally blind said he didn't know how he would manage on his own outside the shelter.
One cannot express what it is like to experience all of this first hand. It's one thing to see this on the TV and another to be there. It's true that none of us have total control over our lives. However, the Katrina victims had lost most of the control that they used to have. Yet most of them accepted help graciously. The future is unclear for them. Many said they aren't going back to New Orleans. Many expressed that the people of San Antonio were wonderful, and they wanted to stay. Some were still undecided. Some are still hoping to find missing loved ones. Some didn't know what they were going to do.
John and Sally Wiesen
John and Sally have been working very hard to provide Katrina survivors with the essentials of life. They have also been keeping CUUC up to date on the current needs of those living on Kelly.
Sally was interviewed for an article on shelter volunteers that appeared in the September 25 edition of the San Antonio Express-News. You can read the story yourself at
http://www.mysanantonio.com/specials/katrina/stories/MYSA092505.1P.hurricane.vols.1bc1e2d6.html
Much of the Social Action Committee's first meeting in August was devoted to the problem of a committee name. Social Justice and Social Responsibility were two suggestions. (Indeed, the group's electronic mailing list is called CUUC-Justice, and you can join it by sending an email to cuuc-justice-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.) I prefer the term Social Action, partly from a feeling that the committee should undertake acts of compassion that go beyond justice or responsibility, and partly because the term "action" might actually spur the committee to take some action.
And lo, the committee has been spurred into action, not by its name, but by the forces of nature that visited New Orleans last month in the form of Hurricane Katrina. In fact, the Social Action committee started acting as soon as we learned of the magnitude of disaster. A number of us met with some members of First Unitarian Universalist Church here in San Antonio. After that meeting, many of us pitched in at the Kelly AFB shelter. John Wiesen set up lines of communication between our church and the UU Community Church in New Orleans.
This is the story of the Social Action Committee's third project, adopting a family.
This hurricane left many New Orleans families stranded in desperate conditions. Among them was the Rogers family. Karen Rogers, along with her six children and three nieces and nephews found themselves stranded on an Interstate highway in New Orleans awaiting a rescue that never came. After a couple of days with no hope in sight, they boated back their house, which was then filled with chest-high water. Only Karen was tall enough to leave the boat. She got on her cell phone and finally managed to reach a rescue team, who airlifted the family out to another patch of dry Interstate. From there, the family caught a bus to the airport and a plane to San Antonio, eventually settling in at the First Baptist Church.
Meanwhile, Roddy Stinson, a columnist for the San Antonio News-Express and a member of First Baptist, wrote a column excoriating local churches for not adopting families evacuated from New Orleans, not knowing at the time that his own church had adopted the Rogers family. Stinson's column appeared on the very day that our Social Action Committee met with some members of First Unitarian Universalist Church to think about providing relief for Katrina victims. Ever the opportunist, this writer suggested that we contact Stinson and ask him to provide a family that we could adopt.
Eventually, Roddy discovered the Rogers family in his own church and contacted us about adopting them. Naturally we took him up on the offer. By the time he turned the family over to us, the good folks at First Baptist had found them an apartment near Karen's mother and sister. They are also near Trent and Markay Cheyney of First UU Church, who are helping with this project. Joan Bradshaw, the Cheyneys and Roddy met with the family in something of a hand-off ceremony. Joan, the real angel of this project, and Karen worked up a list of household furnishings that the family needed.These needs ranged from toilet paper to a washer and dryer. Through both the generosity and hard work of many members of this church, and by donating some furniture from the church itself, the Rogers now have virtually every item on the list.
Karen and the church are now moving on to address some of her more long-term needs. Because Karen intends to settle here in San Antonio, her first need is for employment. Fortunately, Karen is an experienced nurse's aide and should be able to find employment without much trouble. Joan and Stephanie Shearen, my co-chair of the Programs Committee, have taken Karen to the Alamo Work Source Center near her home where they helped her write a résumé and file an application at the Center's job bank. Karen's younger sister, Ebony, went along and also got her application into the system. Stephanie and Joan continue to monitor on-line listings of jobs that might suit Karen, and have planned a visit to a medical job fair this week. If you, or anyone you know, has a position for a medical assistant, please ask me for a copy of Karen's résumé.
It now looks as if Karen has a bright future here in San Antonio. Once she has a job, the committee will turn to other pressing needs, ones that can only be addressed once Karen has a stable income. These include day care, a car, a computer, and a move out of public housing.
In the meantime we continue to support some of the family's social needs. Trent and Markay are looking into mentoring programs for their twelve-year-old boy, the oldest male in the family. We have pledged to make sure that the family is made welcome at all of our social events. Indeed, we have already made good on this pledge by inviting the family to an ice-cream social and swim party sponsored by the Parents Covenant Group. Social action is at the very core of any church. It is that church's commitment that its mission is not limited to its own four walls. If our work on Katrina relief is any indication, the Social Action committee has been quick to live up to its name and has, within the short space of two months become a vigorous addition to the church's programs.
October 11, 2005
Dear Friends:
It is with gratitude and joy that we share some very special news. generous challenge grant has been offered by the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock to benefit the UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Relief Fund. Beginning with contributions dated October 2, 2005, Shelter Rock will match each dollar given to the fund, up to a total of $500,000.
This tragedy has tested us like no other, but it has also given us an opportunity to respond in a way that is truly transformative. We ask you now to rise to the challenge offered by our generous friends in the Shelter Rock congregation, to envision what can be when justice-loving people join hands and hearts, and to make this vision a reality. Please give generously so that together we may extend hope and healing to more of our brothers and sisters through a widening circle of care and compassion.
In faith,
The Rev. William G. Sinkford
Charlie Clements, M.D.
President
President and CEO
Unitarian Universalist Association
For more information or to make a contribution, go to: http://www.uua.org/
By now, all congregations have received their brochures about Fall Conference, to be held at Live Oak next month! Pick one up as soon as possible!
There will be TWO theme speakers, Robert Jensen, well-known to progressives for his candid critiques of American society and journalism, and Marge Coroletti, nationally well known Religious educator.
There will be workshops for all interests: labyrinth, publicity, religious education, political activism, consensus, photography and many others. Registration includes admission to the Live Oak Coffee House on Friday night, featuring the well known folk group, Still on The Hill.
Early bird registration ends October 28th. For more information about the conference, scholarships and home hospitality, send a message to fallcon05@gmail.com
or visit the conference website at http://www.liveoakuu.org/leadership05.htm
All parents and those with an interest in children are welcome to join the PCG. The group meets for one hour after church on the third Sunday of each month for the purpose of getting to know each other better. By creating an open, supportive, nurturing environment, we promote and facilitate spiritual growth and mutual, interactive care for one another. We follow the typical covenant group rituals - opening words, a question everyone answers briefly for the purpose of transitioning to the group experience, discussion of a topic, and a closing question and words to send us on our way. Discussion topics vary from month to month. This summer we also went swimming on the Guadalupe River in Kerrville and explored Natural Bridge Caverns. In addition to regular meetings and family activities, as a covenant group we committed to providing a service to the church and to the community. PCG prepared and led the worship service of 8/28/05 and hosted a group of young people away from their families at one of our church picnics.
Facilitator, June Kachtik
The Women's Support Group is open to women and friends of the church. We meet every 2 weeks, on a Monday night at the church, starting at 7 p.m. and usually finishing before 9 p.m. Each woman usually talks for about 10 minutes about anything she wishes. However, you don't have to talk if you would rather not. What is divulged is kept confidential unless otherwise stated. It is a great way to get to know the women in the church on a more personal level in a safe environment. We invite you to come and join us and let us get to know you.
Jean Halff
The Cuuc men's group meets every other Sunday from 6:30 - 8:30 P.M. All CUUC men or visitors are welcome to join us.
Group leadership rotates from meeting to meeting. The leader for each meeting is also the host, and he is responsible for furnishing snacks and drinks.
We usually start off meetings with a clearing, in which each member is allowed to talk about recent events in his life, if he wishes to, for as long as he sees fit. Next, the facilitator introduces the topic for the evening. This may involve a short reading - a poem, an article or other text. The subject could be just about anything that the facilitator would like the group to address: What's going on at CUUC, religion, economics science, health, family, friendship, etc.
Around 8:30, we wind things up by deciding who is going to facilitate the next meeting, declare this one finished, clean up, and leave.
Steven Botts
The Remarkable Film Group consists of members and friends of CUUC who gather each month to view one feature film and discuss it afterward. Everyone is welcome to attend. The films are usually shown at church at 6 PM on the third Sunday of each month. Films are shown in a series. The attendees select the theme and content of each series normally compose of four films of a common theme, directed by the same person or featuring a specific actor or actress. Past film series have carried such themes as Women Messiahs or include films directed by John Sayles or those featuring Peter Sellers.
Clem Chow
Please join us and bring your friends!
What: First Annual Community Music Festival
When: Saturday, October 22, 2005, Noon-8PM
Where: First Unitarian Universalist Church
7150 IH-10 West
San Antonio, TX 78213
(210) 344-4695
http://www.firstuusanantonio.org/fallfest.htm
A celebration of the Alamo City's rich diversity with food, crafts and a variety of great music. Raffle tickets are available for only $1 each; the raffle offers great prizes, including CDs, a snare drum, acoustic guitar, gift cards Best Buy, Walgreen's, and others, gift certificates to local restaurants, handcrafted pillows, a quilted wall hanging, and many, many more.
Musical performers include: Bill Ross, Rick Henderson, [CUUC's own] Sally's Garden, Nonjohn, Janet O'Connor, Dana Clark, Black Bexar Pipe Band, Merrie Court Singers, The Tim & Bob Show, Jazz City, Glenn Allan & Kim Mackenzine Rachel Laven, Lee Ann Cook, Rev. Art Severance, Mike Phillips, Tim Keene, and a number of other performers.
Free admission to the grounds, $5.00 ticket admission to all musical events.
Join us this Saturday, October 22 at First Unitarian Universalist Church, near the intersection of IH-10 West & Loop 410. Directions available at http://www.firstuusanantonio.org/directions.htm
If you'd like to receive the e-mail version of this newsletter every month, send a message to Steve Botts, the newsletter editor.