April 30

Speaker: Andy Buckser
Worship Associate: Elizabeth Sternke
Piano: Richard Maddux
Sound: Jason Dufair

Come to the Potluck!

Sit with your neighborhood group at the potluck this Sunday, April 23!

There will be a potluck after church, to celebrate Earth Day and our neighborhood networks!  Please bring some food to share. 

If you don’t know what neighborhood network you are in, please come anyway!  We’ll have lists and maps for you to find out!  If you have any questions, please call Cheryl Fowler at 464-2907.

If you are asking yourself, “What are neighborhood networks?” . . .

Neighborhood networks are made up of homes located in determined geographic areas.  These networks are intended to widen the circle of caring and support within our congregation.  Each network is a natural phone tree, and it can be a way to make connections with people who may live nearby. 

Board of Trustees Schedules Special Meeting

A special meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for Tuesday, April 25, at 6:30 p.m. in the sanctuary.

The Finance Committee will join us as we discuss possible 2006 budget changes and possible future budget changes.

The New Building Committee Co-Chairs will participate in a discussion about the financial impact of purchasing St. Andrew.

As always, the board welcomes members and friends to attend this meeting.

-Robin and Dianna Poindexter, Board Co-Chairs

Congregational Meeting Hold Important Votes

Members and friends of the Unitarian Universalist Church are strongly encouraged to attend and participate in the congregational meeting on April 30, 2006 at noon.  The following topics will be discussed and may be voted on:

·        A June-December trial period for a monthly publication schedule of the Lighted Chalice church newsletter.

·        Sale of Union Street property.

·        Purchase of St. Andrew United Methodist Church building in West Lafayette.

·        Possible changes in 2006 budget to remediate budget challenges.

Childcare will be available and attendees may want to bring a sack lunch.

Nominating Committee presents slate of candidates

The Nominating Committee is pleased to present the following slate of candidates for the spring election:

·        Board Chair-Elect (3 year term)-Beverly Seese

·        Trustee (3 year term)-Kim Harden

·        Trustee (2 year term)-Pending (Note: this is the position formerly filled by Volker Thomas)

·        Treasurer (1 yr term) -Janice Sojka Kritchevsky

·        Asst Treasurer (1 yr term) -Volker Thomas

·        Secretary (1 yr term)-Dagmar Murray

·        Nominating Committee (3 yr term)-Kyler Laird

·        Endowment Committee (3 yr term)-Dan Lybrook

The election will take place at the annual congregational meeting on April 30. New terms will begin on June 1.

   -Nominating Committee: Kaye McSpadden, Noemi Ybarra, Lisa Pantea, Nancy Patchen 

April Board Meeting Highlights

April 11, 2006

·        Explored opportunities to edit poetry to go on city buses for the "Words on the Go" project.

·        Approved request from technology committee to purchase database software to manage church records.

·        Special board meeting will be held April 25 at 6:30 to discuss 2006 budget shortfall remediation options prepared by Finance committee.

·        Appraisal of St. Andrew came within what is believed to be within our budget.

·        Initiated formation of a capital campaign committee

·        Initiated formation of a team to be prepared to negotiate building church on behalf of UUC.

·        Voted that the sign at Union Street be taken down.

·        Recommends that the Union property be put on the market.

Complete minutes can be found at https://uufolks.org/groups/board/minutes

Church Mouse
This month's church mouse award goes to Beth Misner for her countless contributions to the church. 

Beth has dedicated countless hours, energy and love to all aspects of the religious education program. You can find her downstairs working with the kids practically every Sunday. 

She is active is planning and organizing and doing whatever needs to be done to keep our RE program an excellent and enriching experience for our children. 

Beth also organizes and runs the church rummage sale each year, a valuable fundraiser for our church and an excellent way to recycle items we no longer need. Beth contributes many other ways as well, and we greatly appreciate her.

Service Auction Anyone?

Amy French is interested in organizing a service auction this year as a fun way to increase congregational interactions. But she needs help.  If there are two or three enthusiastic volunteers, she and they can arrange for an auction in early September.

Money raised will be used primarily to help keep us a fair share congregation with the UUA and Heartland District. We are at the moment falling short of making timely payments. Revenues from an auction this year will relieve some of the pressure on what will need to be budgeted next year for denominational dues.

If members of the Social Action or Social Responsibility committees have ideas for a modest sharing of revenues from an auction, they should make a proposal to the Finance Committee for support of laudable projects and perhaps volunteer to help with the auction. 

Amy can be reached via email at amyfrench@insightbb.com.

John Carlson, chair, Finance Committee, jac132@insightbb.com

Sunday Morning Forum

Newspapers continue to express concern that an uncontrollable flu pandemic might be coming our way. Migrant birds and smuggled domestic chickens may contribute to the spread of the flu if, in fact, it materializes at all. A professor of biology and our own resident ornithologist help us understand some of the complexities behind the concerns.

April 23. "Influenza: Pandemic Preparedness and Vaccines--the Real Story."

David Sanders, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences.

The disastrous 1918 "Spanish flu" epidemic killed 20 million people worldwide. British scientists think that the 1918 virus likely derived from an avian virus. How likely are we to face another world wide flu pandemic and what are we doing to prevent it?

April 30. "Migration and Other Miracles."

Barny Dunning, Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology.

What is the danger that bird flu will be transmitted across continents by migrating birds? How do birds manage to find their destinations across thousands of miles? In this case, we can ask the man who wrote the book.

From the Editors 

    When submitting an item for the newsletter, please spell out the name of your committee or group in your first reference. After that you may use initials.

Example: "Unitarian Universalist Symposium (UUS) will meet on...

UUS plan to discuss..."

    This format is helpful and inclusive for readers, especially church newcomers, who are not familiar with all our activities.

Adult Religious Education

Every so often I remind you all that we have a nascent Adult Religious Education Program. 

A committee headed by Chuck Reynolds ( cbreynolds@iquest.net  or (765)893-8550) that is available to help you define the ARE classes or workshops you wish to see created.  

It is not hard to think up a new class, nor does it oblige you to become the group leader if you do not wish to take on that role. 

If you would like to devise your class without help, a workbook is available on-line on uuffolks.org under the listing of Adult Religious Education. The workbook is a work in progress, and your experience with it will help us with our revisions, but even in its first edition, it is a useful tool to define the who, what, when, where, and why of an ARE class that you personally would like to take.

There are several new ARE classes currently under construction

Agnostics and Atheists Within the Church

The first is a class for Agnostics and Atheists within the church.  

What are the spiritual needs of Atheists and Agnostics; indeed, what does "spirit' mean in this context? 

What are the roots of spiritualism?  

What does it mean to speak of faith: faith in what?  Jason C. Romero (aka JC, I kid you not) an atheist who has come to services here several times has volunteered to lead the class.   JC founded the Atheist and Agnostics Club at Texas A&M, and has led other study groups on the subject, and is pleased at the opportunity to offer one here.

Woman's Group

A Woman's Group is being re-formed, as well. 

The Woman's Group has a long, successful history here at the UUC.  The form that the class is going to take has not yet been decided: there are formal curricula offered by the UUA, and some of the new ones are new versions and sequels to the older, well-liked curricula.  

 It is not unusual for small support groups to form when the members discover similar life circumstances, so we may see the formation of these as well.

Body Works Groups

Two Body Works Groups are being considered. 

One is Tai Chi. Beth Misner and Michele Tomarelli are taking a Yang Style class with David McCain over in Delphi, along with Barrett Caldwell, a Quaker. 

Tai Chi is an "internal" martial art, and while you could truthfully tell folks that you practice Kung Fu, it would be more accurate to say that for the beginner, Tai Chi is a meditative art famous for increasing balance, flexibility and strength.  

Please note that we are not offering instruction in Tai Chi: in China people learn Tai Chi by imitating the rest of the class.  Beth and I don't know the form yet, but Barrett does, and if we can find an agreeable noonish meeting time, we can all imitate him!

Yoga Group

The second Body Works class being considered is Yoga Group.  In fact, if there is sufficient interest, instruction may be offered.   If not, those of you who already do Yoga can get together to practice and mediate.  Dianna and Robin Poindexter donated some wonderful mats, and at least until we sell the building, a class can meet at Union Street.

Want a class?  Be brave and talk to Chuck: ( cbreynolds@iquest.net  or (765)893-8550) Any other good ideas for ARE are welcome: don't be intimidated � we won't make you teach it!  

Other classes are already being offered:  if you have one, contact Chuck Reynolds, who is making a list for the bulletin board in the back of the Sanctuary.  

If you wish to participate in any of the classes described above, send a note to Chuck or to me, and we'll put you in touch with the right people.

Need to Hear If You Are Interested!

We need to hear if you are interested in any of these new or potential Adult RE offerings.  If there is enough interest, we will go ahead.

Seder Thank Yous

Thank you to all who participated in this years Seder and for seeking out and/or making special foods for the event.

Special thanks to Mark Krivchenia and Rosemary Leary for helping set-up and to Susan McConville and Jill Salem for their help the night of the Seder.

Many thanks to Ruth Ann Ferris for creating the beautiful and all important Seder Plates.  We could not have a Seder without them.

Extra special thanks to all who helped clean-up especially those people who did so during the tornado warnings!

As usual Hilary did a wonderful job with the beautiful service.

--JoAnn Darling 

Support UUs in Homeward Bound walk

Join the Social Action Committee and the Unitarian Universalist Symposium (UUS) as we participate in the Lafayette Homeward Bound Walk on Sunday, April 23 at 2 p.m. at Riehle Plaza.

The Homeward Bound Walk is a 5K walk-a-thon that benefits nine local homelessness prevention and affordable housing agencies. Assist UUS and the Social Action Committee in our goal of raising $1,000 for this very worthy event.

To make a donation, please contact Charles Coley at sroleg@yahoo.com or 474-7229. Checks may be made payable to "Homeward Bound" and all contributions are tax deductible. Thank you for your support of the Homeward Bound Walk!

Annual Summer Picnic: Sunday, May 21

The annual summer picnic has been set for May 21 after church at Shelter #4, Happy Hollow Park.

We have the shelter reserved from 11a.m. to 3 p.m. This is a potluck following the Sunday worship service, so please bring a dish to pass and your own place setting. Drinks and hotdogs will be provided. Frisbees, soccer balls, dogs are all welcome!

Volunteers are needed to help with setup and cooking hotdogs. Please contact or email Lisa Pantea, lpantea@hotmail.com, 746-1710. 

Newsletter Proposal on Agenda for April 30 Congregational Meeting

The newsletter editors propose that The Lighted Chalice shift from every two weeks to monthly publication starting with the June issue (for a six-month trial period). Reasons for this include:

1. Monthly publication will result in considerable savings in cost as well as secretarial and volunteer time.

2. Every week the Sunday Order of Service lists information that is simply duplicated in the newsletter.

3. Many congregants now read the newsletter on the church website and receive via church e-mail the same notices of timely activities and events that are in the printed newsletter.

The proposal will be on the agenda of the April 30 congregational meeting. We'd appreciate responses to this proposal at lightedchalice@yahoo.com.

-The Editors: Lynn Holland, Nancy Patchen, Kaye McSpadden 

Work to Help Community Agencies

Weeks of August 7, 21, 28

In order to continue to support community agencies in need, we have the opportunity to earn money at Purdue University's Ford Dining Court the week of July 2-7 and in the fall, the weeks of August 7,  21, and 28.  It's easy and you can sign up for breakfast, lunch or dinner meals. 

More information will come later.  If each person who worked a shift last year worked one more shift, we might double our earnings from $700 to $1400.  Just think of all the food we could buy! We will also support Social Action with a portion of this money.

Our annual clothing drive is coming up Saturday, June 6, from 9 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Keep the church in mind when you clean out closets.  No business clothes will be separated this year as the need doesn't seem to be there now.

Sue Robinson

Change for Change
With April being Child Abuse Prevention Month, we are collecting for T-CAP (Tippecanoe Child Abuse Prevention Council), a nonprofit organization that focuses on prevention.

T-CAP is sponsoring several events in April to raise awareness and promote family events. See a listing of events at the back of the sanctuary.

T-CAP members go into our schools with programs to educate our children to effectively protect themselves from physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. They sponsor several family events during the year to promote healthy family relationships.

T-CAP established and helps support the Heartford House, a neutral, child-friendly, home-like environment where the center aims to reduce the trauma of the interview process of an abused child by only having to be interviewed one time in one place.
T-Cap adopts the motto "It shouldn't hurt to be a child."

In the back of the sanctuary is a designated section titled "CHANGE." This area will have additional information on the agency we are collecting for each month!

Thank you for supporting "change" for our community's children and families!  
--Lynn Richardson, Social Action Committee member, Social Action Family and Children Subcommittee chair

Coffee Care-Givers:  Come Join Us.
After Hilary’s sermon two weeks ago (encouraging us to grow where we are planted), Virginia Lewis and I talked about trying to get some better organization around the coffee after church. 

Right now, it is a pretty hit and miss operation. We agreed we wanted to get it better organized AND include something to nibble on as well as a well planned coffee and tea service. 

It is a small amenity, but we both agreed it is welcoming to people who are visiting to be able to grab something to drink and nibble on while they bravely visit a new place.  Of course, those of us who are used to the place like the coffee and treats to allow us to visit without too much hardship to our appetites.  As my eldest daughter Lea is always wont to say “food and fire” are the keys to a successful UU gathering!

Here is what Virginia and I are proposing. First, we would like to get people to sign up for a regular time to do coffee and bring a treat.  Perhaps you can do it once a month, or once every two months or twice a year.  Whatever fits with your level of  comfort.

Next, we want to train everybody on how to do coffee right. While the directions are written down (and will be available), I am a firm believer in the process of learning directly with another person.  If you sign up for coffee, either Virginia or I will give you a first-hand training session!

Come join Virginia and I in welcoming both those who are visiting our church as well as our dear friends who we meet every Sunday. Sign up with Virginia or Mark, or on the sign up sheets are the back of the church!

--Mark Krivchenia

Book Group

7 p.m., Monday, May 8, 2006
        “Atonement” by Ian McEwan

7 p.m., Monday, June 12, 2006
        “Five Quarters of the Orange” by Joanne Harris  

The Book Group meets on the second Monday of every month at 7 p.m. at Borders Bookshop in Wabash Landing in the lounge area where it joins with Panera’s.  All are welcome to join us for discussions of books selected by participants. 

For more information contact Dagmar Murray

Clothing Drive Set

There will be a clothing drive on Saturday, June 3, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Goodwill bags are available under the back hall coat rack, but you may use any sturdy bag.  

GIVE A BAG TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO CONTRIBUTE! 

Please DO NOT bring your clothing early this year, we have run out of space to store the bags. If you will be out of town on the June 3, please give your bags to a committee member or another church friend for delivery. 

--Sue Robinson

MOVIE GROUP

Sunday, April 30, 7 p.m.

"Kim" 1984. 135 Minutes.  VHS. Made for TV

Directed by John Davies.  Peter O'Toole, Brian Brown, John Rhys-Davies,

Ravi Seth.  Based on Kipling's novel. 

In 1890's India, Kim, a fifteen year old orphan of a British soldier and an Indian mother is befriended by a Buddhist monk and a British spy who wants to use Kim in his work.  The youth who played Kim grew up to be a professor of Physics and Astronomy. 

Movies are shown at 221 South Seventh Street, a large brick house up on three terraces on the east side of South Seventh Street just past the old railroad corridor three blocks south of the UU Church.   Parking up the driveway at the south end of the lot.

MINISTER’S MUSE 

Once again the cycle of the year has rounded and spring has come. 

It is a time of feasting and celebration at the Unitarian Universalist Church.  We had our annual Seder – flawlessly coordinated by JoAnn Darling.  This year’s Seder was definitely shorter than in the past, the children seemed more engrossed, the conversations stretched on after dinner. 

The strangest moment came when the tornado siren went off and the entire gathering headed downstairs to avoid windows in case of high winds. We finished the Seder in the front hall of the church, with the children clustered in the center and people sitting up the stairs. 

Then we went into the hall and, in a warm and friendly crowd we visited, got to know each other better and even made room for the younger children to smash the special frog piñata that we had gotten to make the evening even more fun for the children. 

There was no shortage of food or good conversation. And when everyone slowly returned home it was clear that a memorable holiday was shared by all. 

   Then on Sunday we will have the Easter Service. Another holiday gathering.

On Friday, April 21, we will celebrate with our UU and You class. And the following Sunday we will celebrate Earth Day with an Intergenerational Service, a special child dedication for Miles Easler, and a special potluck after the service for the neighborhood groups. 

And that doesn’t even get us to the Congregational Meeting after church on Sunday, April 30 – a very important meeting in which the future of the church will be discussed and decisions will be made. 

   It is a time – a real spring time – bustle of activity. It is a good time to be at church and to be involved. A good time to catch up with old friends and make new ones.  A good time to let the energy of the community lift your spirits and give you hope. 

And hope is the key to the season – whether we are gathered for Easter, or Passover, or Earth Day, or Mile’s dedication, or the congregational meeting – the theme is, truly hope – new life.

   My wish for you at this time is that you find ways to be here and part of this lively time.

My wish for you is that the warmth of the sun will thaw your winter bones and give you energy and impart a sense of excitement to you at this time. 

 It is my springtime hope for you that you feel green in your bones, freshness in your mind, and blossoming in your heart.

 If you are struggling with great challenges – your health or the health of a loved one, doctoral challenges, weddings, losses, seasonal depression, worry that the world is going to hell in a handbasket – or whether you are on top of the world and celebrating new discoveries, accomplishments, feeling a surge of optimism about your own life or the life of the congregation, or feeling like you have the energy to help save the world – my wish for you is that you will remember this place and turn toward this church and this congregation – that you will take time to call me and/or maybe another congregant and reach out, or check in, or make plans and connect and get or stay involved. 

   May this new season bring you all health and strength.  And may it bring us all together, further along this rich path we travel together.

UU History Trivia

1961 - the Unitarian and Universalist religious organizations formally merged into one body, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).

A statement of philosophy for the Religious Education program was formulated.

1962 - 50 members called the Reverend R. Hoagland to be the part-time minister.

We shared him with his church in Park Forrest Illinois leading our services on the first and third Sundays of the month. Average Religious Education attendance during this time was 50.  We had 40 pledging units and our income ranged from $3,500 to $7,000.

A women's group was formed called the Women's Alliance. Their big money raising activity was to make Olde English Mincemeat to sell which became a   tradition.

Caroline Barnhart fondly remembers, " The recipe included the usual raisins and other fruits, pure beef suet and copious amounts of rum. We would gather in the

Fellowship House kitchen and install a large galvanized bathtub on a stand made of four folding chairs and begin mixing ingredients. We would then ladle into cartons. One time we had almost the entire batch into cartons when we realized we hadn't put in the rum! You cannot have Olde English Mincemeat without rum!!

We poured it all back in and laboriously stirred in the rum and repackaged."

Our membership book does not begin recording membership until mid 1965.

If you started attending or became a member in 1965 or before, could you please send me the approximate date you started attending and the date you became a member?

I will be recording these in our church database and would like to give honorable mention in our UU History Trivia. 

--Lynn Richardson

New Software Will Keep Names, Addresses

Several representatives from our church committees, the church secretary and representatives from the technology group recently met to find a direction for a needed centralized database!

Simply, a centralized database is one central place to add and maintain information such as household members, individual names, addresses, e-mail, contact information, information about our children for the religious education area, membership, visitors, attendance, who to mail a newsletter to and other reporting information.

Pastoral care has a need to know who has indicated they can provide meals for a congregant who is ill or provide transportation to assist those in need.

Pastoral care also needs to track who belongs to which neighborhood group and other information that is helpful to keep record of and retrieve when needed.

This information all has name and address information in common.

The secretary currently maintains part of this information with software that is not intuitive, and requires laborious time. Other individuals also maintain some of the information mentioned with their own list of name and addresses.

If someone changes their address not all those who have name and address information is informed lending itself to confusion and lost information.

The need is great now but as we prepare for our anticipation of growth, it is vital that we are able to organize our name and address data in one location (central database), with ease to enable our secretary, who has a limited time of

20 hours per week, to complete other vital church needs.

UUfolks was created over a year ago with the purpose as communication tool and our database housing. This past year has proven UUfolks to be a very effective tool for communication among our committees. It is a valuable tool and has capabilities to meet our centralized database needs. But with limited time of our volunteer technology group it has not been able to meet our growing database needs quickly.

We recommended to the board to purchase a packaged software that is church organization friendly, intuitive, flexible, has technical support and will meet all the needs mentioned and more. We have researched and found Church Windows at a one-time price of $529 with $99 annual support and upgrades on software.

The board recognizing the need for the software approved the purchase.

If you as an individual would like to contribute toward the purchase, alleviating the need to use part of a budgeted item, please make your contribution in care of Church Windows Software. Thank you!

UUfolks will continue to be developed as time allows and the new software will easily export name and address information to UUfolks to give up to date information available to you on the website.

You will receive a mailing in May asking for you current information so we can be assured we have up to date information on you and your household.

For those we do not hear back from, we will attempt personal contacts.

To make an address, phone number or e-mail change please call or e-mail the secretary.

In the near future, another option will be for you to update your information on

UUfolks and an e-mail will be sent to the secretary to update the centralized database.

Also in the near future a new directory will be available facilitated by the new software. 

If you would like a more detailed explanation of the needs and deciding factors to purchase software or you would like information about the new software feel free to contact me

---Lynn Richardson, Technology Committee member