Special Congregational Meeting for Discussion of Budget: December 3 (after the service)

The Board of Trustees and the Finance Committee invite you to attend this meeting – immediately following the service.  Take advantage of this opportunity to share your comments and thoughts about the proposed 2007 budget, and to listen to the ideas of others.   The budget will be voted on at the December 10 Congregational Meeting.  All members and friends are invited.  Dianna Poindexter, Board of Trustees Past Co-Chair 

Congregational Meeting December 10 (after the service)

Important votes are on the agenda:  approval of the 2007 budget and approval of the proposed by-laws revisions.   All members and friends are invited to attend.   

Solstice Spiral Comes 'Round Again

This year we will honor the Winter Solstice on Wednesday, Dec. 20, at 7 p.m. in the church sanctuary. (The actual Winter Solstice comes one day later, so our celebration can serve as a warm up for the actual event!)

As in years past, people of all ages will be invited to walk along the spiral of greens to light a candle at the flame in the center. Then each one will place the lit candle along the spiral as they walk back out.

This way we will light up the spiral one by one, symbolizing both the majesty of the return of the light that comes at the Winter Solstice and what a community can do when we work together.

This ritual also reminds us of the spiritual journey we walk throughout the seasons of our lives, and offers a moment of peace. Everyone and guests are welcome to attend. If you have any questions, or would like to contribute to music at this event, please contact Martha Gipson

UP, UP, AND AWAY

Stewardship Campaign Moves Congregation in the Right Direction 

Volker Thomas and Lyn Richardson, Stewardship Committee Co-Chairs 

Thanks to all members and friends who returned their pledge cards, the Stewardship Campaign to raise funds for the 2007 budget has been quite successful.

As of Nov. 22, 2006 we have received 119 pledges with 19 pledgers from last year who have not returned their cards yet.

Total pledges for 2007 are $174,578. Last year’s total was $171,809. Thus so far we have raised almost $3,000 more than last year.

Of the 119 pledgers, 72 (61%) raised their pledges, 34 (28%) pledged the same amount as last year, and only 13 (11%) lowered their pledges. That is a great result and really moves us UP and UP in the right direction toward our new building on Meridian Street in West Lafayette.

A comparison between 2005 and 2006 pledges confirms the generosity of our congregation: 

The Stewardship Committee will continue to work until all members and friends who would like to pledge for the 2007 budget have had the opportunity to do so. Thanks to the Stewardship Committee members for their enthusiastic and creative work.

Please help me to extend our appreciation to all members and friends who pledged for the 2007 budget.

Social Justice Committee

The Social Justice Committee seeks volunteers to serve on a Peacemaking Subcommittee which will oversee the congregational response to the UUA 2006-2010 Study/Action Issue.  Our goals are to:

• Develop guides for understanding "just war" and making decisions of personal conscience.

• Examine issues of violence and non-violence in both foreign affairs and the Wabash Valley community.

• Establish links with interfaith and other community groups interested in the prevention of armed conflict or conflict resolution. 

• Solicit written opinions, informed perspectives and personal experiences on issues related to peace and conflict (possibly for printing at a later date). 

For further information contact Fritz Smith or a member of the Social Justice Committee. A sign-up list is in the back of the sanctuary.

December Caring Cans

In addition to children's gifts for Jubilee Christmas, we will give each family a laundry basket containing a blanket and items they cannot obtain with vouchers.  Please bring at least one of the following items to church and place in the designated food boxes by Dec. 10.  Thank you for helping our ten families have a great Christmas.

Laundry detergent, toilet paper, tissues, hand soap, toothpaste, shampoo.

Sue Robinson

Book Group

7 p.m., Monday, Dec. 11, 2006

        “A Changed Man” by Francine Prose

7 p.m., Monday, Jan. 8, 2007

       “The Devil in the White City” by Eric Larson

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.

UU History Trivia

As we move forward with excitement to a new church building, we are mindful to honor our history and pioneers whose visions and dreams built our UU community to the place we are today.

Our UU community has called several buildings our home since 1949 but with each move we take with us our pioneers’ visions and wisdom of experience and welcome new visionaries and dreamers as we continue to grow our UU community.

During the November 12 service, we began to create a UU history timeline. We started with a timeline taped along the south wall of our sanctuary with our significant milestones beginning in 1949 to the present. 

Before the service we invited each individual to sign their name next to the date they started attending or signed the membership book. Each of us is a unique and valued part of our UU history!

We recognized our children by asking them to place a star next to their family’s name.  During the service we invited all of our UU pioneers who have been attending UU for 25 years or more to go the to UU timeline, say their name and how long they have been attending our UU. A youth gave them a golden sun to place next to their name and date on the timeline.

We applauded our pioneers with gratefulness for following their dreams and visions to build a UU community that we now call our home.

If you were unable to attend this service, I invite you to sign your name next to the date you first attended UU or became a member. If you know of members who have moved away, please add their name to the timeline. If you currently are unable to attend UU and would like your name on the timeline, please send me your name and date and I will add you.

I invite you to look at the UU history timeline to visually see the milestones of growth and all the unique individuals who helped us to grow along the way!

We are all pioneers of our own futures, UU’s future and that of our children.

The UU History Trivia took a sabbatical but will resume again beginning in January’s newsletter.  If you have UU history trivia you would like to contribute, feel free to send to me

Lynn Richardson - December 2002!

MINISTER’S MUSE

My short journey to Israel/Palestine had many layers of purpose. 

On the primary level it was a pilgrimage into a land of conflict to learn about the facts on the ground – the realities of life for Israelis and Palestinians – to understand this geo-political situation that affects the geo-politics of the world, with greater clarity and depth.  It was, in many ways, also a pilgrimage into my own Jewish heritage. 

Often the gifts of a journey come in ways that you don’t anticipate – a pilgrimage of surprise. This was surely true for me.

My group of fourteen raced from meeting to meeting and in between – usually on the way to the next meeting -- we were taken to sites of historical and religious interest. 

Often we went through these sites at seeming breakneck speed – I often held the group up as I would want to stay at least long enough to take in a felt sense of the place – historically – religiously – spiritually – emotionally. 

Eventually I would hear the voice of our guide, Said, saying “ya’la! ya’la!” come on hurry up!  And I would have to tear myself away to get to the next meeting that was our purpose in traveling in the first place.

At racing speeds we visited the places of the Annunciation (2), the Nativity, the Stations of the Cross, the Crucifixion, Anointing, and Resurrection (2), Joseph’s house, the town of Magda, the Sea of Galilee (a total drive by), the village of Canna (at a distance), the Wailing Wall, Rachel’s Tomb (through trees from a distance), the Tombs of the Patriarchs (closed when we got there), and the Dome of the Rock where Muhammad was said to be taken up to heaven. 

I hadn’t counted on the depth at which these places might move me – having seen their pictures, read about them, and known them through story and verse. After all, I’m a skeptic and one who takes even the interpretations of history with a grain of salt. 

Still I was moved beyond all expectation – by the feeling of each place – the emotion of the people around me – the layers of history in each stone. I was constantly passing through time zones – not on my watch – but in architecture, sense-experience, and in my mind and heart.

On a visit to the Old City of Jerusalem through the Damascus Gate, I found a vendor selling hundreds of pairs of sneakers – smart high tops with space age design. Another vender selling cheap Chinese Holy Land knick knacks – but if I closed my eyes at any point in the Old City, the smell would take me back centuries – sage, thyme, cardamom, oranges, chickens, falafel, pipe and cigar smoke in the Muslim Quarter, incense in the Christian Quarter, ancient ground, and more baking in the Jewish Quarter.

I could feel at one with millions of lives lived and died in these places – the struggles for survival.  The hunger for meaning.  The yearning for home in all its permutations.

On our last day we traveled to Bethlehem – we visited Aida refugee camp and then had lunch with Zoughby Zoughby of the Wi’Am Project and, on our way to the next meeting we were whisked off to the Church of the Nativity to see the birthplace of Jesus.  I crouched to pass through a small doorway and emerged into a church built in the fourth century and restored in the sixth century. 

The incense was thick – a sure sign of being among Orthodox Christians. An opening in the floor revealed mosaics of Constantine’s mother’s time, when the church was first built.  A doorway at the front of sanctuary lead down stairs into the place that is commonly attributed as the birthplace of Jesus.

Once again I was up to my neck in history – over my head – really – and I had – as I often had while on this rapid journey – a very simple thought. Christmas, Hanukkah – all the Holy Days – will never be the same again. 

I felt eagerness to spend more time in all these places – to travel on my own schedule – and at the same time I felt excitement about having these experiences to deepen my understanding of the Holy Days to share in my congregational ministry.

This year I am looking forward to the holiday season with more eagerness than usual.  Don’t worry, I won’t drag out any incense – but I will never leave behind the rich sense of history that was the surprise gift of this journey to the Middle East. 

LUM Report

Homeless Shelter needs:

Coffee, sugar, and tube socks--white athletic type. 

Bach Chorale Tickets

This year the Bach Chorale will be performing "Fantasia of Christmas Carols" by Ralph Vaughn Williams and the "Gloria" by John Rutter.

LUM will receive half the proceeds of the ticket sales ordered through them. Order forms are available at the LUM office, online at www.lafayetteurbanministry.org or by calling 423-2691.

Tickets must be purchased using the special order form in order for LUM to benefit from their sale. The performance will be December 16 at 8 p.m. at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.

LUM Jubilee Christmas

Christmas Jubilee is a program coordinated by the Lafayette Urban Ministry that provides assistance to low-income families during the holiday season.

Families that qualify, based on their income, are invited to a celebration or "jubilee." Parents select gifts for their children that they then have wrapped by volunteers from area churches hosting the event.

This allows the parents to be "Santa Claus" for their children.

Families also receive holiday food items, such as hams and gift certificates for local supermarkets and essential non-food items such as laundry detergent and toilet paper that cannot be purchased using food stamps.

This year our congregation, along with the congregations of two other churches, will be hosting Jubilee Christmas on Saturday, Dec. 16 at the Mental Health Community Center in Lafayette. Our church is responsible for providing age appropriate gifts, as well as food and non-food items for ten families.

If you would like to purchase a gift for a child simply take a tag off the sign in the back of the sanctuary. Please write your name next to the name of the child's tag you choose so that we'll be sure to have enough gifts for all the children of the families we are hosting.

Jubilee Christmas is the largest undertaking of the year for the Lafayette Urban Ministry and its member churches. Many volunteers are needed to make it a success. Volunteers are needed to host families, help with setting up before the Jubilee and clean up afterwards.

Contributions of money as well as non-food items are also needed. Our church will need to contribute $340 to buy hams and supermarket gift certificates for each of our ten families. Checks should be made payable to "Lafayette Urban Ministry" and write "Jubilee Christmas" on the memo line of the check.

Because we will also need items that cannot be purchased with food stamps such as toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, etc, we are asking that Caring Cans donations be non-food items such as laundry detergent, toilet paper, and paper towels etc.

We would like to receive all contributions of toys, non-food items and money by Sunday, Dec. 10. This will allow us plenty of time to transfer everything to the Mental Health Community Center by Dec.16--Jubilee day!

If you would like to contribute something but are unable to get it to the church by December 10 let us know and we will work something out. If you would like to host a family see Rae Brandt. Rae has sign-up sheets at the back of the church sanctuary.

If you would like to volunteer to help set-up, clean-up, or wrap presents see Jean Tyner, Mary Finley, or Sue Robinson. If you have questions or concerns feel free to e-mail Mary Finley.

Thanks for your support!

-Mary Finley, LUM representative

UU Database

By now you should have received a call from one of our UU callers asking you for information to update our new database. If you have not received a call, it may be that we were unable to contact you. Please contact the church secretary at 742-0460.

Thank you to Cheryl Fowler who has made many phone calls to individuals and to all who have helped Cheryl make calls. These calls help to assure we have correct data and to add additional data about you and your family.

The data is nearly all entered. In January, we will publicize a new church directory. More information on how to receive your copy will be in the January newsletter.

To help us keep the database information up to date, which translates to

the directory being up to date, please contact the church secretary either by e-mail (uuc@uulafayette.org) or phone (742-0460) if you have a change of address, phone number, e-mail, name change, emergency contact information, birth of a child, or no longer wish to receive the newsletter.

In the near future in the newsletter, from the information in the database we will be able to print membership anniversaries by the month. We will also print birth dates (month and day only) for all those who we have a birth date in the database and who gave permission to print.  If we miss your membership anniversary or your birth date, please contact the secretary so we can be sure to include you.

Lynn Richardson

Change for Change

Your generous hearts continue to be heard with the jingle of your change as wecollect this year for services who support and advocate for our children andfamilies.

Your generosity totaled:

·        $360.67 in July and August for Hanna Center

·        $196.75 in September for Wabash Center Kids Connection

·        $173.24 the first four weeks of October for the YWCA Women’s Shelter children’s programs

·        $39.37 the last week of October for our UNICEF boxes

·        $142.29 the first 3 weeks of November for LUM Jubilee

We are making a difference in our community for our children and families! Be proud!

For the month of December, we will collect for Heartford House whose motto is ‘Their hearts are in our hands.’  Heartford House is funded by community support.  Statistics indicate child abuse rises during the holidays when families often feel more stress and children are home on school vacations.

When a report of abuse was made in the past, the child would go through a lengthy and stressful interview process being passed from agency to agency being asked to repeat the trauma over and over again.

With the establishment of Heartford House, the child is taken to a friendly, neutral, home-like environment, instead of a loud, busy adult-centered workplace. A multi-disciplinary team works together to create a list of questions but only one professional will interview the child. The process is videotaped and monitored by the team. The Heartford House’s mission is to reduce the trauma to the child, while improving the quality of evidence gathered to quickly and efficiently resolve the case.

Heartford House is child-focused all year but during the holiday season is especially mindful of a time that brings joy to many children can also bring hurt to children. During the holiday season, they provide special gifts for the children with a hope the child, in the midst of the pain, can feel a touch of kindness and joy!

Lynn Richardson - Social Justice, Child and Family Subcommittee

Outdoor Group Looking for Snow

The UU Outdoor Group is not planning anything official for the month of December. 

However, if we get a good snow this winter, know that the group is always up for cross-country skiing. There are about five of us who own skis and are always looking for that pretty white stuff to fall.  This can only happen on a spur of the moment event, but in case it does, call Tandy at 474-5485 and we'll set something up.

Relay for Life

The American Cancer Society Relay For Life represents the hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who face cancer will be supported, and that one day cancer will be eliminated.

Relay For Life is the American Cancer Society's signature activity. It offers everyone in a community an opportunity to participate in the fight against cancer. Teams of people camp out at a local high school, park, or fairgound and take turns walking or running around a track or path, having fun while raising much-needed funds to fight cancer, and raise awareness of cancer prevention and treatment.

Relay For Life brings together millions of people from all walks of life - friends, family, coworkers, caregivers - all with the common goal of eliminating cancer.  No matter who you are, there's a place for you at Relay.

Erika Thomas, the daughter of Volker and Edie Pierce-Thomas and an attendee of this UU church since she was six years old, is on the steering committee for Relay for Life in Columbia, Missouri, at the University of Missouri.

She is relaying in loving memory of Anna Dufair - a loved mother, wife, friend, and member of this church. She is asking everyone who loved and cared about Anna to help support cancer research by donating to her Relay for Life fundraising efforts in Anna's name. Erika is willing to accept checks and cash or you can donate online with a credit or debit card directly to her website:

www.acsevents.org/mizzourelay/erika

You can read more about Relay for life, the American Cancer Society, and its benefits on the website.

Please consider donating kindly to Relay in Anna's honor. Last year, members of the UU Church here in Lafayette helped Erika raise more than $770 in Anna's honor... this year her goal is to raise more than $1000 in Anna's memory.

Please help celebrate the life of this wonderful woman and help the fight against cancer by supporting Erika's efforts with Relay for Life.

From the Editors' Desk

    We'd like to invite any interested member or friend to become a rotating editor of The Lighted Chalice. This is a creative, independent task for which you'll need computer software, such as Publisher or Pagemaker, to format the newsletter. Preparation of each newsletter requires approximately one working day. We'll explain and share the needed specs and graphics. Please contact us at the lightedchalice@yahoo.com, see us in church, or call for further information! 

Monthly Lighted Chalice

In midyear, we adopted a monthly publication schedule for the Lighted Chalice newsletter.

That trial period is now about up, and a few folks have written to the Board with their opinions on whether the monthly schedule is a good or bad idea.  What is your opinion? 

The Board will decide at its December meeting whether to retain the monthly schedule, so please contact a Board member via phone, letter or email on this issue as soon as possible.

Regardless of the decision, the Lighted Chalice editors need help with the production of our most important mode of communication. 

If you are looking for a way to help the church, becoming an assistant editor would be extremely valuable to our church – contact the Lighted Chalice.  Thank you!

                                                Barny Dunning, Board Chair

Board Highlights

November 14, 2006 Meeting

• Heard from Alanna Steffen-Nelson, co-chair of transition task force.

• Discussed need to change board meeting time.

• Voted to sponsor Beverly Seese in her ministerial studies.

• Agreed to publish names of pledge donors in newsletter.

• Set policy that all-church emails must be sponsored by committee.

• Planned session after church Dec.3 to allow congregants to review and discuss proposed budget.

• Got results of successful pledge drive.

• A number of board members and congregants attended the Raising the Roof conference. 

• Plans to proceed with pianist search committee and hiring of nursery supervisor

• Establish Anna Dufair memorial fund

• Soliciting feedback from congregants on Lighted Chalice publication schedule

• Approved bylaw changes to be voted on by congregation Dec. 10

• Properties task force has leader: Mark Krivchenia

• New capital campaign coordinators: Edi Thomas and Lisa Pantea

• Annual report to be published with material submitted to-date.

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

Reminder: Congregational meeting on December 10, noon, to vote on By-Law changes and budget.

Church Mouse

This month's church mouse awards go to Virginia & Herschel Lewis and Mark Krivchenia for taking care of the coffee each Sunday morning that we enjoy during our fellowship time.  We greatly appreciate Virginia, Herschel and Mark.

Writing Interest Group

The Writing Interest Group meets on the 1st (1:30pm) and 3rd(7:00pm) Monday of the month.  The next meeting will be on Monday, December 4th .  There will be no meeting on December 18th, but we will meet again on January 8th.

     We invite anybody who enjoys writing and sharing their work to join us.

Questions ? Call C. Barnhart

Program Council Changes Schedule

Program Council has moved to the first Tuesday of the month. Our next meeting will be Dec. 5 at 6:30 p.m.

All are welcome and encouraged to come and participate in increasing our congregation’s communication. Please contact Alanna Steffen: for more information.

Sounds Divine

"Sounds Divine," a concert by the Indianapolis Women's Chorus, will be Sunday, Jan. 21, 2007, at 3:30 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church.

This 2007 Religious Arts Festival event is sponsored by Indiana Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Pride Lafayette, Lafayette Area Multifaith Advocates, and the UU Church.

Admission is $10 ($5/children) in advance; $15 ($10/children) at the door.

Buy tickets as holiday gifts! Tickets available at the UU Art Fair Dec. 1-2, at the Tippecanoe Arts Federation (soon), online at www.soundsdivine.eventbrite.com, by mail (IRCRC, PO Box 723, Lafayette 47902) or by phone (877-441-5797).

                                          -- Kaye McSpadden

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Note: Due to RE families being away for the holidays, services during the Holiday Season from Dec. 18 through the end of the month are intergenerational services or childcare only.

Spice and Beans

Spice and Beans will go on sale Friday, Dec. 1 to raise money for LUM Jubilee Christmas. 

This year we are offering our usual yummy soup mix of beans, plus a new set of three jars of blended seasonings to please your palate. 

To please your eyes, the children of our own Religious Education Program have decorated the containers for Christmas. 

Youth Advisor Training

In our efforts to create new offerings for youth in our church, on Nov.18 we had our third visit from Nancy Combs Morgan who this time brought us Youth Advisor Training (YAT). 

Youth Advisor Training was a five-hour educational session for anyone who is or may someday be working with the teens in the congregation. 

Nancy came primarily to teach us about what we need to do to keep our young people and our church safe as the kids test the boundaries erected by adults to prevent them from being eaten by the metaphorical bears that are waiting for them. 

We learned a number of other useful things as well about challenges to our youth programming, the things we are already doing well, and an evaluation of the plans we're making.

Coming of Age

One of the big challenges for RE is to offer programming that appeals to older teens and which provides them with a spiritual and educational base. 

Our older teens, the WUUTs, complain that RE is too babyish for them, and that the services have little appeal to their age group. Coming of Age should help us provide a program that meets their needs. 

Coming of Age is a UUA-approved preparatory program that is usually spread out over the course of a year. It generally ends in a rite of passage to acknowledge the transition of our offspring from childhood to young adulthood. I know our Bams (young youth, 5th through 8th grade) will bristle at the idea that they are still children, but I need to give you a little history to explain my choice of words. 

Most of you know that the age of puberty is dropping. Americans who experienced World War II reached puberty at about 15, and were then allowed most of the privileges of adulthood under the guidance of their parents. That is why we have driving permits at 15, a youth may leave school 16, and why so many states had 15 or 16 as the age of consent.  In our by-laws it states that one may join the church at 16.

The gap between childhood and youth that we now call adolescence didn’t exist then. Today children reach puberty often as young as 9, but they are not young adults cognitively until much later. The resulting split between puberty and young adulthood has caused some churches to offer their rites of passage, such as confirmation and bar mitzvas, at an increasingly young age. Because the child who says “Today I am a man,” at 12 has no actual prayer of being one, the ceremony loses some of its impact. 

Some UU churches offer Coming of Age at 12 or 13, but I would like us to offer a more mature version at 15 to 16. 

We have 7th to 9th grade OWL to cover the issues associated with puberty. A later Coming of Age program is genuinely intended to prepare youth for their place in the larger church, and generally includes the creation of personal credos, discussions of ethics and UU history, and an awful lot of fun. 

Each young person is paired with a mentor who is a guide through the process, and the entire group of youth and mentors meets as well. Many programs include challenges such as ropes courses, vision quests, and other adventures, as well as culminating in a trip to a site that is important to UU history. At the end of the process, if the young person is deemed ready by the adults, she or he may choose to join the church or continue in RE.

Every church does Coming of Age differently based on needs and funding, and we will need to work on the details. Our biggest need to make Coming of Age work is a pool of adults ready to offer themselves as mentors. The youth who participate will need choices among several mentors, and it will be a delicate task to match mentors and youth. 

Five congregants came to the Youth Advisor Training to prepare for Coming of Age. Their training will be a big help to the program, but if you would like to volunteer for the mentor pool, have no fear, we will train you. Send me an e-mail at tomarelli@insightbb.com or give me a call at 497-7792.

RE Calendar

Nov 27  Mon               Art Sale Set Up/decorate          6-8

Dec 1-2 Fri/Sat Art Sale           Fri 3-9 / Sat 10-9 Contact Lisa Pantea to sign up

Dec 3   Sun      OWL                           3-6:30

Dec 9   Sat       Xmas Pageant  Rehearsal          3-6

Dec 10 Sun      RE– Linda Lemar’s     10:30 –12:00

Dec 10 Sun      Toy’s R Us / Jubilee     12-3

Dec 10 Sun      OWL                           3-6:30

Dec 15 Fri        LUM / Jubilee / Set Up 7-9 Contact Gale Lockwood to sign up

Dec 16 Sat       LUM/ Jubilee               9-12

Dec 16 Sat       Xmas Pageant Rehearsal           3-6

Dec 17 Sun      Christmas Pageant        10

Fiberarts and the meth-baby quilts

All of the meth-baby quilts (28) have been quilted save one.  Ten have been blind-hemmed but 18 remain to be finished.

Patty will have the unhemmed ones in her car each Sunday.  If you would like to hand-hem one (or 2 or 3)  please let Patty know . 

They all need to be finished by the day after Christmas!  Thanks for your great response. The last quilt, hand-pieced by Jennifer Kelly, will be quilted on stage at the Christmas Pageant. 

                                                      --Patty Wood

Sunday Forum

At Forum Sunday, Ernest quoted Bishop Spong as contending that "… once the holy has been redefined in nontheistic terms, a revolution in the meaning of worship will be inevitable."

He continues: "Worship will not be oriented toward an external God but toward the world of our human community."

In the next Forum meetings we are going to enjoy some music, view some classical religious art and continue our conversation about things liturgical.

December 3

"What Music Means to Me" Marty Becker, Roberta Deagan, Chapman Flack and Elaine Gareis. Host: Edwin Layer.

Please note that we will meet in the Sanctuary for this program.

December 10

"Russian Icons" by Sally Lavignette

December 17

"Reflection on Things Liturgical" by Reverend Donald Nead

December 24

Christmas Eve – No Forum

December 31

New Year’s Eve – No Forum

MCL Dinner Group

All are welcome to drop in at MCL Cafeteria in West Lafayette on any Thursday evening, when UUs gather for casual conversation over dinner. The group varies in size from 4 to 16, and gathers in the lobby at MCL, then starts down the "line" at approximately 5:40 p.m.

Sponsor Flowers

You too can sponsor flowers! 

Either sign up on the sheet in the back of the sanctuary or call Judi, our church secretary, to make arrangements. The cost is $20, and you may take the flowers home with you after the service. Please return the vase so that we can recycle it.

Caregiver’s Support Group Meets Monthly

If you are caring for a partner, spouse, child, parent, family member, or friend facing a chronic or terminal health issue, you need support, too.

This small, confidential group provides a safe place to share the challenge of ongoing caregiving and receive insight and support from others – whose challenges are not exactly the same – but whose insights may prove useful. 

Each month group members remark on how helpful it is to share the puzzles, lessons, joys, and the struggles of caregiving. 

The group meets at the church on the fourth Tuesday of the month.  If you are interested in this group you can also call the minister for further information.

UU Symposium

The Unitarian Universalist Symposium (UUS) is a small group that gathers weekly for food and fellowship, meeting at a different location each week.

To find out where UUS is meeting this week, call toll free 1-877-UUC-UUS1 (1-877-882-8871).  The location for each week's meeting will be decided on at the previous week’s meeting, so if you know of a great local restaurant, be sure to come to the next UUS meeting and let UUS know.

Church Policy Regarding All-Church Emails

During recent months, many questions have arisen about sending All-Church emails.   These are emails that are sent from the church, by the Administrative Assistant, to all members who have listed their email addresses in the Church Directory.  It was becoming difficult to determine which emails were appropriate.  Sometimes requests were made from groups whose causes were supported by church members and friends, yet the information was not “church-related” and did not involve our congregation.

At the November Board of Trustees meeting, after thoughtful discussion, the board voted to establish a policy that would serve as a guideline for determining whether an email should be sent via the All-Church email.   By unanimous vote, the following policy was approved:

 “All-church emails must come from and be sponsored by committee or interest group chair, board member or church staff.”

If you have information that you would like to distribute using the All-Church email, please contact the appropriate committee or interest group and request their sponsorship.  If you are not certain which committee or interest group is appropriate, contact the Board of Trustees or the Program Council. 

It is hoped that this policy will help to ensure that our All-Church email serves the purpose for which it is intended – a vehicle for quick communication to as many church members and friends as possible about subjects of importance to our congregation.     Dianna Poindexter, Past Co-Chair, Board of Trustees