December 2

“Do You Have a Prayer? How Can Unitarian Universalists
Use Prayer? What Is Prayer?”

Worship Leader:  Rev. Hilary Landau Krivchenia

Worship Associate:  Kat Braz

Pianist:  Kaye McSpadden

Sound Operator:  Mike Marsh

Opening Our Doors!  
Stewardship Campaign Update

Finally in our new home, we celebrate having enough space because of our congregation’s generosity.  Many thanks to all who have contributed to this year’s successful capital campaign, as well as to those who have committed their financial support to UUC for the 2008 annual budget. 

As of Tuesday, November 27, Opening Our Doors! has received 96 pledges totaling $170,850, 79 percent of our $215,000 goal for 2008 pledge income, with $44,150 to go.  The average pledge has increased substantially to $1,796—Thank you! 

At this time, the Finance Committee is finalizing the 2008 budget, which will be presented at the Congregational Meeting on December 16.  The proposed budget maintains current expenses with congregation-approved increases to support social justice efforts; strengthen connections with visitors and new members; promote greater community awareness about our church and Unitarian Universalism; train congregational leaders to guide us through challenges as we grow; and enhance our worship and music offerings. 

The Board had anticipated that it may take some time to “grow” into financially supporting the increased costs of our new space.  While it would be awesome to reach our $215,000 goal for 2008 pledges, we realize that many of you have already stretched with contributions to both the capital campaign as well as the Opening Our Doors! campaign.  Fortunately, we have the option to bridge the gap with funds already raised by the capital campaign until we sell our other properties. 

This is a time of optimism for this congregation.  As our space is explored and the warmth and vitality of our congregation, worship and programs are discovered, we will grow in new ways.  For our doors to be open and to support all that happens within our doors, we each need to explore the challenge of visionary generosity—to find our own balance point.

 If you have not yet returned your pledge card, please bring it to the church or call Kim to arrange for someone to pick it up.  If you have not yet made a financial commitment to UUC for the 2008 annual budget and would like to ensure UUC can count on your support to realize our mission, please contact Kim. 

If you have questions about what to pledge or how to pledge—please contact Kim or Rev. Hilary Krivchenia, 743-8812.  With everyone’s support, we will grow into our financial commitment to adequately support our new building and to keep our doors open wide. 

Please stay after church this Sunday, December 2, for a pot-luck and dance to celebrate the end of the Opening Our Doors! Stewardship campaign, the Holiday Art Fair, and the exciting, although hectic, Move, Open House and Dedication.  We hope you will all bring a dish to share and stay for a fun, relaxing afternoon in our Fellowship Hall.  Thank you for helping with Opening Our Doors!

      Kim Harden, Chair                                                      

      2007 Stewardship Team for 2008
    If you have any doubt that we need your support, please know that your contribution makes us a stronger beacon for liberal religion in Greater Lafayette.      

Thanks to all who have updated contact and family information for our database.  

There will be an exhibition at the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette January 19 – March 22, 2008 entitled “Through the Lens of Robert Reed: A Retrospective.”  Opening reception will be Friday, Jan. 18, 7:00 – 9:30 p.m.  This exhibit was planned before Bob’s death on Aug. 28, 2007.

Need a Desk?  Need a Chair?

There are two metal office desks in very good shape and two office chairs with wheels at the Union Street property that are available to anyone who can haul them away.  Just go by and pick them up, or if questions call Caroline at 474-5764.

                  ~Caroline Barnhart

Church Mouse Award

The December Church Mouse Award goes to Michael Lewis and Denise Wilson! 

Our gratitude is extended to these two members for the work they have done to help smooth the move to our new building.  Michael and Denise have invested many hours of their time in separate areas of the process:  Michael to the church exterior, coordinating the purchase and installation of signs and overseeing some needed building maintenance; and Denise to the Transitions sub-committee where she oversaw the production of a new brochure for our congregation, and brought guest leaders to our congregation for a membership enhancement workshop.

Special Appearance by the Big Cheese!

Each month we celebrate a Church Mouse – someone who performs many quiet tasks in our religious community that may go unseen, but are always of benefit.

In November, the Board voted the entire congregation as a Church Mouse because so many people helped in our move.  As is traditional with Church Mouse Awards, there will be cheese awarded.

 If you would like to celebrate all the good that your hands have brought to pass here, come see the Big Cheese at our potluck on Sunday, December 2.  And . . .  thank you!

                                          ~Anonymouse

 Minister’s Musings

Well, whew, the great celebration is over.  We got into the newspapers and made a name for ourselves in the local community.  We have plenty to do ahead but it’s time to breathe a sigh of relief.  I was grateful to Gale Kvam for delivering a timely, useful, and humorous sermon on Post-Turkey Stress Disorder.  It was a good reminder of how to rethink the holidays by tossing out some of the superfluous stress producers and reaching for some real meaning.  A good reminder to find more joy and less “oy” at this time of year. 

In my family, one of our traditions was to get together with my uncle David’s family each Christmas.  David’s wife – my Aunt Louise, creator of magic and chaos – was not Jewish and she had a sense about the holidays that the rest of us lacked.  In the days before we had an actual Christmas tree, she could get my Uncle David stuffed into a Santa suit and surprise us all at midnight with stocking stuffers.  My cousins and I would play and I really loved the house being filled with other kids. 

At the beginning of November, my Uncle David died at age 90 in Wilmington, North Carolina.  On December 8, we are going to hold a memorial for him there.  It doesn’t matter that he was 90; my small side of the family needs every member it can hold onto.  So I’ll go to North Carolina to be with my family and especially with my cousins for a couple of days.  It won’t be like Christmas, and it’s really strange not to be the minister planning the memorial.  I am used to getting families together and listening to stories and learning the meaning that a family has made out of a life and of a loss.  But it will be a good Unitarian Universalist service in that it will be more about life and relationship than about death and fears or conjectures about the afterlife.  And having the family together will mean that we can share our memories and meanings and work together to create newer ties and stronger connections as a family.  It will be a chance to listen, support, comfort, and honor.  It will be chance to condense a lifetime of history and connection into healing and meaningful hours of conversation.  Being part of a weekend of remembrance – a memorial and the family gatherings that happen around it – is to have an opportunity to heal wounds, speak things that need to be spoken, to honor life by recognizing loss.  I will be off to take my own good counsel. 

Because of my strong memories of my cousins at the holidays, it will be an especially sharp experience.  But the reality of the holidays is that they are always mingled with our losses and sadness, with the memories of those who are no longer with us, with recent pain and more ancient pain.  It is part of what makes the holiday challenging, but it can, if we are able to scrape away the commercial glitter, help us to find the precious thing that really shines.  What I appreciate about our faith tradition is that we do not labor to frost over the reality of human existence, to pretend that all is calm and bright, but that we hope and wish that all might be calm and bright.  The people you miss can be really at the table with you – you can speak their names or give them ornaments on the tree, light them a special candle along with the others, or eat their favorite dessert in their honor.  It does not need to cast a pall over your celebration, but to speak aloud what is really hidden in people’s hearts so that real brightness can be shared. Yes we have known loss, but also we know immediate, ongoing, living joy.  We are human and that, alone, is worth celebrating. 

I am convinced that there is no joy at the holidays, or at other times, without living life as it really is – a bone-deep experience of joy mingled with sorrow.  So I wish you joy, real and authentic, not at holiday time alone, but on every day.  I wish you a holiday that really reflects your real family – chosen or born into – a holiday made of traditions but also of new realities and new meaning, a holiday that may be made of many religious traditions bundled together, and of ideas and traditions your family is just beginning.  May each of your traditions and all of your holidays bring you a deeper awareness of the blessings of life and may those blessings abound for you and for our congregation.  Happy Holidays!

                  ~Rev. Hilary

Lafayette Urban Ministry Report

Homeless Shelter needs:

Coffee, sugar, tube socks, hats, gloves, toothbrushes, toothpaste and disposable razors.

LUM Jubilee Christmas:

      Jubilee Christmas 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.  Families also receive holiday food items such as hams and gift certificates for local supermarkets as well as 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 congregation of another church will be hosting Jubilee Christmas on Saturday, December 15 right here in our new location.

Our church is responsible for providing age-appropriate gifts as well as food and non-food items for ten families.

Gift tags will be available for distribution after each service following Thanksgiving.  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, to help with setting up before the Jubilee and to clean up afterwards.

Contributions of money as well as non-food items are also needed. Our church will need to contribute four hundred dollars 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, 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 December 9.  This will allow us plenty of time to have everything in place by December 15 – Jubilee day!

If you would like to contribute something but are unable to get it to the church by December 9, let us know and we will work something out.  If you would like to host a family, see Rae Brandt.  If you would like to volunteer to help set-up, clean up or wrap presents, see Jean Tyner, Mary Finley, or John Finley.  With your help, this year’s Jubilee will be a big success!

                  ~Mary Finley, LUM representative

Atheism Discussion Group

The Atheism Discussion Group – finding meaning and morality without belief in the supernatural – meets every second and fourth Thursday of the month from 6:30-8:00 p.m. in Room 106 at the church.  Go to http://atheists.meetup.com/521/ for more information.

                  ~Todd Barton

Wanted:  A Few Good Futons

Wanted:  several reasonably clean old futons for the No Shoes Room, so that people who have trouble sitting on the floor, may have corner-free seating.  If you have a futon or two to donate, please contact Michele Tomarelli  at tomarelli@insightbb.com or 497-7792.

Adult Religious Education News

For the following Wednesdays, Adult Religious Education is continuing to show Bill Moyers’ Genesis: A Living Conversation. 

These shows, filmed in 1996, are a stimulating interfaith conversation between leading scripture, scholars, artists, and writers, and present a fascinating approach to the Hebrew Bible.

All are welcome to join us at the church from 5:30-7:00 p.m.  We leave ample time for our own lively discussion. Some bring their own dinners. (ARE Room)

December 5 A Family Affair: The relationship between Sarah and Hagar and its implications.

December 12  The Test: The Binding of Isaac – a story that remains a challenge.

December 19  Blessed Deception: Jacob and Esau – on honor and blessing.

January 9  God Wrestling: Jacob at the Jabbok and wrestling with God.

January 16  Exile: Joseph’s years in exile.

After these sessions are over, we will return to the first and third Wednesdays alternating with Adult Education offerings such as Haunting Church and others.  Join us to discover in dialogue!

                              ~Rev. Hilary

Scrapbooking Anyone?

Each month we post a significant number of news items involving congregation friends and members from area newspapers and magazines. Eventually all these items are taken down, and we don’t really know what to do with them.  We don’t really want to throw them out, but there is no place to keep them. 

A church scrapbook would be the perfect thing – we could place it out by the office entranceway so there is a record of all the neat-o, keen-o things we are up to.  (St. Andrew had a similar book but they limited it to obituaries, which is not the general theme that I would suggest we follow.) 

Is there anyone in the congregation that enjoys scrapbooking?   If so, talk to Barny Dunning.

Winter Solstice Spiral on December 22

Don’t miss the seventh annual Winter Solstice Spiral on Saturday, December 22 at 7:00 p.m.! 

When the Winter Solstice arrives, we have come to the darkest time of the year. On Saturday, December 22 at 7 p.m. we will celebrate the return of the light together in a circle ceremony. All are welcome to attend.

We’ll share songs, poems, and prayers as participants walk the spiral (made of evergreen boughs) and rekindle their inner light from the one great light in the spiral’s core. It is a meditative and an intergenerational service to be held in the fellowship hall. Light refreshments will follow the one-hour (or possibly longer) service. This year marks our church’s seventh annual Solstice Spiral. Anyone interested in contributing to the music, the set-up, or the delivery of the event, please contact Martha Gipson

Writing Group Changes Meeting Time

The Writing Interest Group is a lively and creative group that meets on the first and third Mondays of each month in Room 106.  The meeting time has been changed to 1:30p.m.  Anyone who enjoys writing is welcome.

Questions?  Call Caroline

Program Council Meets December 4

Program Council will meet on Tuesday, December 4 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 102 at the church.  All committee chairs are expected to attend to discuss issues impacting all of us – some of which include, but are not limited to: creating meeting room use guidelines, appointing a steering committee to oversee the capital funds currently under the watch of Transitions but which will soon be turned over to Program Council, and planning our annual committee fair.  Questions?  Contact  Joan Marshall     Program Council Coordinator

World AIDS Day Commemoration

      To commemorate “World AIDS Day” in December, the Social Justice Committee will host a forum at the church on Saturday, December 8 from 1:00 p.m.– 3:00 p.m. in Rooms 101-103, featuring Cameron Coley and Charles Coley.  Cameron recently completed a two-year Peace Corps term in the nation of Togo (western Africa).  During his Peace Corps service, Cameron incorporated the commemoration of “World AIDS Day” into the life of his Togolese village.  In addition to this, Cameron will provide an overview of his Peace Corps experience as well as a brief cultural history of Togo. 

Charles Coley serves as Homeless Liaison for the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, and in this capacity, he oversees Indiana’s statewide allocation of the HOPWA funding stream (Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS).  Charles will detail HIV/AIDS service delivery statewide and discuss current prevention efforts federally.

Light desserts and coffee will be served during the forum.  Please join the Social Justice Committee for this very worthy discussion!  Anyone with questions regarding the event should contact Social Justice Co-Chairperson Charles Coley.

                  Charles Coley, Co-Chair

                  Social Justice Committee

News from Greeting & Membership

Many greeters helped welcome the many visitors that came for the opening of our new church.  Thanks to all of you.  I know for sure the Poindexters, Marty Becker, Suzan Windnagel, the Patchens, Frank Arnold, Adriana Vintila and Beverly Seese were there.  Please forgive me if I have missed someone.

We will be holding a one-hour training for greeters sometime in January.  It will probably be a brown bag affair so please sign up on the form posted in the hallway if you can help out with this very important opportunity. 

                  Della Willmann

                  Chair, Greeting & Membership

November Attendance Figures

      November 4                 105

      November 11               97

      November 18               104

      November 25               71

Sunday Morning Forum

The Sunday Morning Forum meets at 9 a.m. in Room 101.  We are using the back entrance to the building.  Drive around the church to the right until you reach the parking places at the rear.  We will meet you at the door and show you to the Forum room.  Everyone is welcome!  Childcare is provided.

Dec. 2.  Della Willmann:  “Can Anything Come of a One-Week Volunteer Experience?”

Della will share her experiences with a huge influx of worldwide folks from Global Volunteers working in Browning Montana, Blackfeet Indian Reservation and in Worthington, Minnesota. Della is a retired Hoosier social worker, still questing for meaning and ways of seeing the world from other viewpoints.

Dec. 9.  Rosemary Leary:  The Atomic Bomb: A Personal Perspective

Should we have developed the atomic bomb?  Should we have used it once we had it? What might have happened if we had not used it?  Rosemary Leary’s father was a machinist who worked on the Manhattan Project during WWII.  Rosemary will discuss these issues from the perspective of one who grew up in Los Alamos.

Dec. 16.  Bill Keirce:  The Nature of Tragedy–Aristotle, Tolstoy, Dreiser

Based on a theory of tragedy defined in Aristotle’s Poetics, Bill will offer some comments on the place of tragedy in human life as represented in the novels of Tolstoy and Theodore Dreiser.  Bill was educated at the University of Louisville, Duke, the University of Pittsburgh and at Harvard.  He taught English literature at Purdue.

Dec. 23.  Nick Schenkel:  Great Holiday Reads

With somewhere around 190,000 books published this year in the United States, it may be difficult to narrow the field down to the two or three books one might want to read over the holidays.  Nick is the ideal person to suggest a few.  He is the Director of the West Lafayette Library. 

Dec. 30.  John Wilms:  Continuum: How Science, Psychology, and Mysticism Point to a Life Beyond ... and to an Extraordinary Kind of God

John’s talk comes from the title of a book published in 1974 by Robert Casselman.  The book influenced John’s thinking and was “an early map of my spiritual journey.”  John is a retired physician and Co-Chair of the Forum.

Grab Your Ice Skates!

The UU Outdoor Group will ice skate at the Riverside Skating Center, located at 100 Tapawingo Drive North in West Lafayette on Saturday, Dec. 15 from 1–3 p.m.  We’ll meet at the skating center at 1:00 p.m.  Admission is $3.00 per person and skate rental is $2.00 per pair.  Adult supervision required.  Contact Tandy Easler for more information.

Editors and Designers Needed!

New writers and editors are needed for the Lighted Chalice! This is a creative, independent task for which you’ll need e-mail as well as desktop publishing software such as Word, Publisher, Pagemaker, or InDesign.

Preparation of each newsletter requires approximately one working day.  The job can also be divided up, so you can volunteer just for editing copy, or just for laying out pages. Please contact us at lightedchalice@yahoo.com

More Hymnal Donations = More Hymnals!

Last month we announced that over 30 congregants had made generous donations to “adopt” hymnals that had been purchased to fill the pew racks in our new church home. A handful of “orphans” were left — five copies of  Singing the Living Tradition (STLT, the gray hymnal) and 25 copies of Singing the Journey (STJ, the new blue hymnal supplement).

Shortly after the newsletter went to press, other donations were received which allowed the “orphans” to be adopted. Thus, our original order was covered.

From this point on, all donations will allow us to purchase even more books. During the past few weeks, several more donations have allowed us to order five new copies of each hymnal. Many thanks to everyone for your generous support of this important project. 

Donations still needed! We have still not been able to fill all the hymnal racks. Donations will continue to be accepted. (We especially need more copies of STJ.)

We would appreciate it if you would add the cost of shipping to future donations. With the cost of shipping, STLT is $35. STJ is $21. Make your check out to the UU Church and write “new hymnal” on the memo line. Please include any dedication information you would like on the bookplate. You may place your donation in the Sunday offering plate (special envelopes are available in the pew pockets) or mail to the church.

If you have any questions, contact Kaye McSpadden

“Guest at Your Table” Box
Distribution this Sunday!
(Box return Dec. 23 - Jan. 14)

As we have done annually for many years, our congregation will participate in the 2007 Guest at Your Table program sponsored by the UU Service Committee (UUSC).  

The date for distribution of collection boxes was changed from Nov. 25 to this Sunday, Dec. 2. 

Friends and members are asked to take a box home, set it on your table, and make a contribution to the box at each meal. 

By doing so, we are reminded of those in the world who are not fortunate enough to be sitting before a plate of food, and we are invited to share our bounty with them by contributing to the collection box. 

Please plan to bring your box back on Sunday, Dec. 23 – there will be a special time during the service to turn it in. 

You may return it with all the money inside, or you may convert your coins and cash to a check made out to UUSC. 

Be sure to fill in your name and contact info on the side panel and note that your contribution may qualify you for a UUSC membership ($10/student, $20/senior, $40/regular).

 If you’re not able to return your box on Dec. 23, you may return it on a later date – Jan. 14 is the deadline. 

There will be a collection box in the fellowship hall, or you may return it to the church office. Thank you!

      Kaye McSpadden

      Social Justice Committee

Religious Education

Director of Religious Education Michele Tomarelli

If you walk down the halls and look into the RE classrooms, you can see the different personalities of the teachers and team leaders reflected in the décor.  Some of the classrooms are calm and uncluttered, while others have toys, projects, and learning exhibits all on display.  It is easy to guess the age ranges without looking at the door signs; you can tell from the artwork and the materials in the rooms! 

      The new space we have now has allowed us to blossom into this happy individuality of classrooms, and the teachers have worked hard to make their rooms welcoming to their particular students.  The topic of World Religions has added an exotic flavor to the children’s creations, and the teachers are generous about showing them off.

      A lot of our work is tucked behind closed doors: each of the RE closets also have slightly different characters.  The closet in the old wing near the Sanctuary, is the “grab closet,” containing supplies most commonly needed.  The closets near the Adult Education room are the “often-used supplies closet” containing craft supplies that we use a lot, like paints, glue, and so on, while the next closet over is the “kits” closet with packaged art kits, and other seldom used supplies.  Finally, the Holiday and Special Event boxes are all tucked away in the Preschool room closets.  Every bin in each closet is labeled, and the teachers’ hours of careful sorting and packing both prior to and after the move has paid off in efficiency on Sunday morning.

      If you helped pack up the old building, then you might have been surprised when you stumbled on a cache of curricula under boxes or behind the stairs.  One of the results of restricted space was that curricula were stored away all over the first floor of Seventh Street.  Now it is all in the DRE’s office, sorted and on the shelves.  The most intriguing part of the move for me has been the surprises that appeared as we packed and unpacked! 

      Our teachers and team leaders put in hours and hours of work to create inviting classrooms, classrooms that are suited to the children in each class, so that teaching can take place in an environment that makes learning easier and more fun.  And we aren’t finished yet.  There still a couple of boxes that went “walkabout” during the move, and some jobs that are still being completed.  Moreover, we are testing our decorating choices.  As we teach and learn in these new spaces, we are making adjustments to them, such as painting, adding new artwork, ordering demonstration materials, or discarding unused furniture.

      So, as you walk down the halls on Meridian Street, peep into the rooms and admire the work of the teachers, team leaders, and the students.  Congratulate the teachers on a job well done, ooh and ah over the children’s work, and pat yourself on the back for your contribution to our congregation’s new home.

.     Nursery             PreK     K-2^nd     3^rd – 5^th Jr. Hi.    Sr. Hi.

12/2            Claire    Beth     Coder    Dagmar TBA      C&G

12/9            Margret             ………Music Service: Child Care Only…………

12/16          Emma   Beth     Coder    Jennifer TBA      C&G

12/22          Soltice Spiral in the Evening: Child Care Only

12/23          Addie……Holiday Pageant Intergen: Team Leaders and Helpers……

12/24          ………….Christmas Eve Service: Child Care Only……………………

12/30          Claire    ……………………Child Care Only…………………………

We have only two regular services this month, and the children and youth are invited to attend the rest. That they are invited to the Pageant goes without saying!

Food Galore!

Thanks to all of those who contributed food for the Open House refreshments and the reception after Bill Sinkford’s address. 

The following may be only a partial list:  Sue and Marisa Beyerlein, Keith Brown, Ruth Ann Ferris, Brian French, Mary-Claire Holst, Janice Kritchevsky, Mark Krivchenia, Rosemary Leary, Virginia Lewis, Nancy Patchen, Jean Tyner, Adriana Vihtila, Trudi Wildfeuer, Della Willmann, and Denise Wilson. 

Food kept magically appearing, so some donors may not receive the recognition they deserve!  Also, some donors contributed twice!

                  ~Mary Ann Foley
                        Special Events Committee

Capital Campaign Update

      Late last spring, we began a three-year capital campaign to raise funds for the transition and subsequent transformation of our new space into our spiritual home.   Some of these transformations, such as improving the handicap accessibility within and into the building, renovating the exterior, widening and altering of interior doors, and enhancing building security have already occurred.  We still, however, have many, many more identified needs to be met. 

      To date, we have received $231,942.50 in pledges and have already received almost $90,000 in contributions.  Thank you all for your financial commitment and the promptness of making your contributions!!!  The earlier these pledges are received, the more flexibility the Transitions Committee and area teams have to fund the various projects.  Our campaign goal is $300,000 so we still have a ways to go to provide support for all our desired changes.  If you are not yet participating in this campaign and would like to, or you have questions regarding your current commitment, please contact Bruce Craig

 ~Bruce Craig

Board of Trustees Report

Meetings and Events

Dec. 4 – 7:00 p.m.- Board Meeting to finalize 2008 budget to bring to the congregation for approval on December 16.

Dec. 9 – Canceling regularly scheduled December Board Meeting if all necessary business can be accomplished at December 4 meeting.

Dec. 16 – Congregational Meeting following Sunday Service. Business: Consideration of 2008 budget.

Highlights of November 11 Board Meeting

• Policy and procedure recommendations from Nancy Combs-Morgan, District Executive. Board will be working on implementation in coming months.

• Stewardship Report – Commitment drive is going well and should have results to the Finance Committee in time to construct a 2008 budget to present at the December 4 meeting.

• Seventh Street property price has been dropped to $249,000. Several different religious groups have shown an interest.

• Union Street property is being held at $209,000 plus $22,000 for side lot.  Showings were up in October.

• Meridian Street water main repair completed and paid for from Emergency and Building Maintenance budget line items.

                  ~Beverly Seese, Board President

Change for Change:  Thanks for Your Support!

The Social Justice Committee would like to acknowledge the generosity of our UU congregation in the Change for Change collection on November 18.  In one Sunday, we collected a little more than $300 in support of the ICUU Africa Leadership Conference. Thank you for your generous contributions.                                                                              Jean Tyner, Co-Chair

                  Social Justice Committee