Unitarian Universalist Church -- Newsletter, Current Issue

PLEASE GET IN YOUR RETREAT REGISTRATION!!

Registration forms are due NOW for the annual All-Church summer retreat Aug. 10-12 at Ross Camp, 15 minutes from West Lafayette along the Wabash River. Forms are available in the church sanctuary and by e-mail at uuc@uulafayette.org.

Camp organizers need a head count to do grocery shopping if folks want to eat well! Also help is needed to haul all the kitchen/cooking items from the church before and after the retreat. Everyone must pitch in at this event to make it a success. When you sign in at Ross Camp, you must sign up to help with cooking, clean-up, and other chores.

The fee for staying in a room and meals for two nights (five meals) is $35 (Children under 3 are free). One night (four meals) is $30 per person. Day campers are $20 per person for the weekend. Camp sites are also available ($5.25 /night for tents, $15.75/night for RVs). Retreat begins Friday night and ends Sunday after a worship service. There will be workshops, plenty of outdoor activities (see below), good food and good times as you get to know your fellow UUs. ~Lisa Pantea

The Outdoor Group will be very active at the retreat this year. We'll start off Friday night with a campfire, smores, songs and music. Saturday will be filled with a workshop focused on building outdoor skills, dog training, "living green," bike riding and hiking trails in Ross Hills. Sunday there will be a longer hike planned after lunch to a nearby NICHES property where we'll explore a beautiful little creek. Bring a pair of water shoes. There is camping for those of us who like sleeping outdoors all weekend. Hope to see you there! ~Tandy Easler

See “Why We Fight” on Sunday, August 5

Join us for the last in the summer series of videos sponsored by the Peacemaking Subcommittee of the Social Justice Committee. In June and July, our videos took us to the middle east and Africa; our August showing focuses on the “military industrial complex” right here in the U.S.

“Why We Fight” is a documentary film directed by Eugene Jarecki . It includes archival footage and recent interviews and quotes sources from both liberals and conservatives, as it explores the rationale for U.S. military involvement around the world. The video will be shown at 7:00 pm upstairs in the sanctuary on Sunday, August 5.

Bring your popcorn --we will supply the drinks--to watch and discuss this provocative and skillfully assembled film

~Joan Marshall, on behalf of the Social Justice Committee

The Homeless Shelter is in need of coffee, sugar,cereal, toothbrushes, toothpaste and disposable razors. Overnight volunteers are are also needed to work from 8:15 pm to 7:00 am. For more detailed information on this and other volunteer opportunities,you may refer to LUM's website at www.lafayetteurbanministry.org or call 423-2691.

Used inkjet cartridges of any brand would be greatly appreciated. LUM receives money for them. Also needed are childrens DVD's for the waiting area, such as Dr. Seuss, Disney movies, Sesame St., Barney etc.

Its time once again for LUM Camp. This year's campingtrip will be from August 6th to August 8th. LUM still needs 3 male counselors. If you are 18 or over and would like to volunteer, you may contact Joe Micon at the Lafayette Urban Ministry, phone 423-2691. I am told that LUM Camp is as much fun for the counselors as it is for the campers!

This year's Hunger Hike will take place on September 16th. Registration packets will be available soon. Go to www.hungerhike.org for more information.

On July 18th. the Board voted to purchase the Bundy/McNear building. The new building will be used for administrative purposes allowing more space in the old building to be used for existing programs as well as new programs. As with any real estate purchase the new building will need to be appraised, the cost of which could be as high as $3,000.00. If you know of anyone in real estate who would like to donate their time to this worthy endeavor please contact LUM.

The longtime mayor of Lafayette, James Riehle, left his mark – a transformed city. Forum will look at some of these changes, both old and new, concluding in November with the curious history of railroad relocation in Lafayette.

August 5 Nina Kirkpatrick, “A Week in Poland” Nina and her son, Joel, traveled in Europe this summer and will bring a report and pictures of their experience in Poland.

August 12 Church Retreat: No Forum

August 19 Ivan and Kellie Brumbaugh, “Upper Main Street – The Newest Thrust in Lafayette Development” Ivan and Kellie have opened a new wine and cheese store on upper Main Street and are taking a leadership role in developments in the area.

August 26 Steve Klink, “The Passing of the Neighborhood Drugstore” Steve Klink recently closed the oldest pharmacy in Lafayette, a victim of a variety of societal forces.

Minister’s Muse

Years ago, I drove to Canada. Much of the journey was torrentially rainy, visibility was poor. My friend and I were struggling to keep steady on the road. Nerve wracking. As we got closer to Canada on a big bridge, traffic slowed to a crawl. As the traffic slowed we looked around – first at the other cars and then up into the sky and there were so many rainbows I can’t remember how many I counted – so many that they crossed paths with one another and the sky was a dance of color. It was an interesting balancing act, to get our fill of the beauty in the sky and to avoid collisions. I can’t be sure whether it was an episode of gaper’s delay or another problem – but it was beautiful and a bit perilous.

Most transitions are a bit perilous and sometimes beautiful. This congregation is in the midst of a truly complex transition – and the thing that keeps coming to mind for me is how much anxiety can arise in transition – and how anxiety can be masked – by details – what piece of furniture goes where or a myriad other details. It isn’t just the move itself that is the challenge but all of the change that this move brings. Change in our size — our location, our ability to make room for programming, our need to make room for all the new people, our identity – how to retain a sense of where this congregation came from. And there is so much to do! Since we’re moving in the full swing of the program year – how to get, be, and stay organized so that chaos is at a minimum. Even with everyone helping it will be a challenge.

Pema Chodron, a Buddhist teacher, recounted a New Yorker cartoon: three little fish are swimming near a fishing line with a hook on the end – a juicy worm wriggles there. One fish says, in the caption – “the trick is non-attachment”. Now that’s a Buddhist joke, but the fact is that when people get excited they can bite and get hooked before realizing the danger and suddenly they’re far from where they hoped to be. There’s an old fishing method using chum – a big clump of fish bait that leaves a trail that attracts fish. Then a whole group puts their lines out and the fish get hooked one after another. Pema Chodron says it’s great to get excited but dangerous to get hooked because you can lose yourself. It is easiest to get hooked in transition by the temptation to hang on to something — a project, an opinion, a disagreement, a worry.

Some of you may be new here and not feeling a bit of anxiety about the move – only curiosity – great! – your energy and calm will be welcomed by us all!

For the rest of us, here are a few suggestions:

Remember to breathe

Remember to breathe while thinking -- before acting, speaking, or hitting send

Remember to ask (particularly folks on Transitions Steering: Christine Schertz, Robin Poindexter, Volker Thomas, Alanna Steffen, Fritz Smith, Michele Tomarelli, or me) what you can do to help

Remember to ask for help – not vaguely saying that “no one is helping” – but by actually going up to or calling someone directly – and asking for something specific.

Assume that more than one person can bring something to the table and invite them.

Check with Transitions, Religious Education, Worship and Music, and the Board.

Ask yourself if this is pressing, new, upcoming, or a distraction that can wait or may vanish with the move – my favorite thing that will vanish with the move is going to be a shortage of RE space.

Focus on making your work its best.

If we all can just remember these things and keep with them, the transition will be smoother, the excitement deeper and less risky, and this congregation will find itself more strongly connected and joyful as you cross the river toward the future. Oh - and remember that there’ll be so many rainbows ahead that we can hardly count them.

~Hilary

Purdue Dining Hall Fundraiser

Many thanks to the following people who worked at the Ford Dining Court during the recent Presbyterian youth conference: Frank Arnold, Bill Asher, Caroline Barnhart, Rae Brandt, John Carlson, Sallie Cooke, Don and Ruth Ann Ferris, Mary Ann Foley, Marge Hood, Nina Kirkpatrick, Dave Shelton, Kathleen Switzer, Jean Tyner, and Della Willmann. Together they worked 23 shifts and earned approximately $400 for social justice and community responsibility causes!

Another opportunity to serve is coming up soon, starting on August 13 and continuing through August 26. The Ford Dining Court needs two volunteers for each meal during that time. That means about 80 shifts are available! When you work, you will receive a free meal consisting of foods chosen from the many offerings of the food court! The work is not hard, but it does mean being on your feet during most of your shift. Probably you will be assigned to wiping tables. The church’s Social Justice Committee will receive $6.25 for each hour that you work.

To sign up, contact Mary Ann Foley or Sue Robinson

The August Program Council meeting will be on Tuesday, August 7 at 6:30 pm in Room 4 at the church. We will discuss our plans for the year and the role of program area delegates on the committee. We will also hear from a member of the Transitions Committee about the upcoming move. All committee chairs, interest group chairs, program area delegates and anyone else who would like to attend are welcome!

Contributions to Bridge Loan Sought

This fall we will be moving into our new church home on Meridian Street in West Lafayette. Before we can do that we have to complete the purchase of the building. We have paid 2/3 of the purchase price last year at closing. The rest is due when we take possession. Pending Board approval the date of possession is set for August 31, 2007. The plan was the use the money from the sales of our current properties on 7^th Street and/or Union Street. Unfortunately, neither of the buildings has sold yet, so that we will need a bridge loan to complete the purchase of the Meridian Street building until we sell our current buildings.

We have secured a bank loan that carries a 7 ¾ % APR interest rate. In order to save some interest payments we are looking for members or friends who are willing and able to loan the church money until we sell our buildings. The current CD rate is between 5-5 ½ %. Thus, we offer individuals who will loan the UUC a minimum of $10,000 (length of the loans are negotiable) 5 ½ % APR for the duration of the loan. This would pay individuals what they would get on the market and save the church 2 ¼ % points in interest.

If you are interested in loaning the church $10,000 or more please contact the Capital Campaign Co-Treasurers Volker Thomas and Edie Pierce-Thomas

Thanks for your consideration and support of the UUC, the Meridian Generation.

~Volker Thomas and Edie Pierce-Thomas

About The Committee on Ministry

Greetings from the Committee on Ministry! We would like to introduce the current members: Kelly Earnst, Malcolm Easler, Gale Kvam, Kitty Campbell Laird, Hilary Krivchenia, and Gary Fowler (Chair).

Our church’s bylaws reflect a more traditional function or definition for the COM by stating that it serves “as liaison between the members and their Minister and will make recommendations to the Board of Trustees on matters concerning the Minister.” The focus on the professional ministry alone is what makes the definition more traditional or more akin to what was commonly known in UUA congregations as a “Ministerial Relations Committee.”

The committee is exploring an expanded COM definition more commonly used in today’s medium and larger UUA congregations. This definition encompasses the “ministry” of each congregation member to one another. It seems to us that the expanded definition will become increasingly important as our church membership grows in our new home on Meridian St.

In searching the internet for ideas, I quickly came upon a description of the COM in the All Souls Church in Washington, D.C. Their congregation’s website describes the COM’s scope as one which works with the “professional ministry and members of the congregation to care for and strengthen the overall ministry of the church … One of the primary goals of the Committee on Ministry is to encourage direct and constructive communication among members of the congregation and between members of the congregation and the ministers and staff. Anyone with concerns about the health of our ministry and community is encouraged to contact any member of the Committee on Ministry.”

This is what our committee is exploring as we begin our new program year. I will close with a request for your thoughts on the above definition of congregational ministry and an invitation to contact any member of the COM should you have any concerns about “the health of our ministry and community.”

~Gary Fowler

An Amazing $1613.91 Collected in Change for Change Program!

The change was jingling to record giving for the months of May and June! The total Change for Change collection for Planned Parenthood totaled $537.97. The total was matched from the Jasper Foundation, courtesy of Kyler Laird and Kitty

Campbell-Laird, and matched by Bill and Dotty Asher, for an amazing total of 1613.91!!

Thank you Kitty, Kyler, Bill, Dotty and ALL who continue to support the change for change program, for your generous support to Planned Parenthood!

Your change for July and August will be collected for the local ARC program. The Indiana chapter of ARC was established in 1956 by parents of children with developmental disabilities. The primary focus was to provide a resource for families to come together and help advocate for a better life for their children. Also to be committed to progressive legislation to protect rights and improve services for people with developmental disabilities.

The local ARC program, located at Wabash Center, has several programs and services for the developmentally disabled and their families, including adult recreational programs, summer camps and outreach programs and advocates for quality life choices for individuals with developmental needs.

They also strive to educate the community about the inherent values, abilities and accomplishments of people with disabilities. They ensure that resources are available for teachers, direct support staff and caseworkers, health care professionals, finance and legal professionals and others - to support

individuals with disabilities and their families.

~Lynn Richardson, Social Justice Committee

Religious Education

Director of Religious Education Michele Tomarelli

In a theologically diverse faith, where we believe that the truth is always being revealed to us through science and human thought -- how do UU parents come up with answers for their children’s questions?

“Do you believe in God?” “What happens after we die?” “Do we belong to a religion?” “Do dogs have souls?”

Every year, the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA) offers the Sophia Lyons Fahs Lecture at the annual Unitarian Universalist General Assembly. This year’s speaker, William Doherty, Ph.D., Professor of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota, explained that how we answer questions like the ones above can influence whether our children become life-long Unitarian Universalists. He believes that in order to give our children a solid identity as UUs, we can no longer give our children wishy washy answers; we must instead tell them firmly what we believe as parents, and that the church must find answers that represent our beliefs as a community.

Dr. Doherty was a warm, engaging speaker, and his message was heartfelt: our children will not stay with the church until we abandon the fantasy that we can teach them a little about our own religion, and more about others’, and then allow them to find their own paths. That may work for adult seekers, but it leaves children adrift, and prey to the certitudes offered by other religions. As an example, Dr. Doherty offered us Joseph Smith, the lukewarm UU who invented Mormonism!

Dr. Doherty emphasized that “Religion is caught, more than taught,” that is; children learn more about religion at home than they do at church. We parents have to ask ourselves, what religious beliefs are we modeling at home? Do our children see us attending church services regularly? Do we participate in church activities? Do they see us caring for the earth and working toward social justice during the week or only on Sunday? Do we try to live our UU principles, or do we just talk about them?

And how have we answered our children’s religious questions? Often repudiating their own strict childhood religions, UU parents tend to respond to their children’s questions with ambivalent answers. A question like “What happens when you die?” is liable to be answered with a noncommittal reply about what various others believe. That answer is over the child’s head; he wants something more concrete and matter-of-fact, not what do others believe, but what do we believe? UU parents are reluctant to promote one religious perspective over another, including our own.

So how do UU parents come up with answers for their children’s questions? One way is by not waiting until the kids ask before thinking about the answers. Consider your own beliefs, and discuss them with your partner. Being UUs, you and your partner may not have identical belief systems, but if you explore further you are likely to find that you have similar values. Using those values as a basis, you may be able to find honest, simple, yet definitive answers upon which you both agree. Your statements of belief needn’t be complex, as most children want fairly simple answers. When they start probing for more complex answers, you’ll know that it is time to have deeper conversations.

—Michele

Atheist Discussion Group

The Atheism Discussion Group will meet from 6 pm to 7 p.m. on the second (Aug. 9) and fourth (Aug. 23) Thursdays of August in Room 3.

Please contact JC at JCRomero@purdue.edu with any questions.

All are welcome to drop in at the MCL Cafeteria in West Lafayette on any Thursday evening when UUs gather for casual conversation over dinner.

The group, which varies in size from about 4 to 16, meets in the lobby and starts through the cafeteria line before 5:40 p.m.