Writers and Editors Needed!

                Two of the Lighted Chalice editors are rotating off the committee, so we need new writers and editors to join the Lighted Chalice newsletter team.

                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 the newsletter takes approximately one working day. We’ll explain and share the needed specifications and graphics.

                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

 Heartline Goes Online

                The Heartland District quarterly newsletter, Heartline, has been discontinued.

District news has gone high tech and is now shared via email with the new bi-weekly e-newsletter, Heartline Online.  This is a quick and easy read for those who want to keep up on what’s happening in the district.  To subscribe to Heartline Online, email the District office at office@heartlanduu.org with your

name, email address, and congregation name. 

                                ~Barbara Hamilton

                                District Administrator

                                Heartland District of the UUA

 

---

---

Full Agenda for Program Council Meeting

                The November Program Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 6 at 6:30 in the Fellowship Hall.  All committee chairs should plan to attend to continue the discussion from last month’s all-church summit. 

                We will assess where we are with the action items identified at last month’s meeting and move on to other items on our agenda: management of program related capital funds after Transitions Council phases out, developing a process for room naming, effective scheduling of space and events, establishing user groups for different areas of the church and writing guidelines for room use.

                As you can see, we have much to do.  Please join us on November 6 at 6:30 to express your views!

 

                                                ~Joan Marshall, Council Coordinator

                                                  Fritz Smith, Chair Elect     

 

---

Access Codes for Building Security

                In approximately two weeks, the temporary numeric codes that many folks are using to enter the church through the fellowship hall will no longer work. These are the codes that were issued prior to October 26, 2007.

                Karin Bergman, our administrative assistant, has a new list of codes to issue to each individual who is currently listed as having a code to enter the building.   In some circumstances, the new code issued will work only during the time you listed with Karin as needing access to the church.  . 

Please be mindful of all the times you will need access to the church and inform Karin when requesting your new code  Please be aware of others who might be able to obtain your personal code by watching as you enter it.  These new codes will be unique to each individual and must NOT be shared.   

                                                                                                ~Robin Poindexter

 

---

 Board of Trustees Report 

            Meetings and Events   

     Nov. 11: Board of Trustees Meeting following Sunday service

     Dec. 2:  Stewardship Campaign Celebration and Potluck

     Dec. 4:  Special One Item Board Meeting to consider Budget for 2008

      Dec. 9: Board of Trustees Meeting following  Sunday service

      Dec. 16: Congregational Meeting to Approve Budget for 2008

       (We need to hire someone for childcare for the Dec 16th meeting.  Any youth interested??)

 

                Highlights of Oct. 21 Board Meeting

        --Received inside audit report with recommendations of improved tracking

                                of expenditures to be given to all committee chairs to review

        --Received water main repair update and given information about how the expense can be covered from emergency and maintenance funds

        --Passed a resolution of understanding regarding non-endowment funds that have been assigned to the Endowment Board for investment

        --Received update on the good progress of the Stewardship Campaign

 

                                                                ~Beverly Seese, Board President

 

---

  

 The October Church Mouse Award goes to:

 

                Everyone in the church, for all the hard work they did getting everything moved and set up in our new location on Meridian Street in West Lafayette.

 

Join Us at MCL

                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 PM.

 

---

Greeters Much Appreciated

                  This has been a busy time at the front door with many visitors coming.

   The following have been so appreciated for their willingness to help with making our visitors feel welcome:  Robyn & Dianna Poindexter, Rae

Brant and Dave Shelton, Nancy and Marty Patchen, Beverly Seese, and Suzan Windnagel.

                We really need three people at the front door so would welcome those who would like to help.  Thanks  from  the Greeting & Membership Committee.

                                ~Della Willmann

 

                  

---

Atheist Discussion Group

                The Atheist 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 pm in Room 106. Go to http://atheists.meetup.com/521/ for more information.

                The meeting on the fourth Thursday of November will not be held due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

 

                                                                                ~Todd Barton

 

Minister’s Musings

 Friday October 26^th I saw His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama.  It was the first time I had the privilege of seeing this world leader in person.  As I’d been told, he was unassuming and humorous.  He warned us that he didn’t have magical powers.  I laughed – a skeptic -- of course I hadn’t gone thinking that he had magical powers!  He warned us not to think of him as someone with healing powers and to be cautious of anyone who claims to have them or to have special wisdom.  He warned, as the Buddha did, not to take things second hand – but to sound your own soul for wisdom.

                The challenge in Buddhist teaching, as with our own tradition of Unitarian Universalism, is that it doesn’t depend on conversion ex-nihilo – out of nowhere – but depends upon attentive listening, diligent practice, and living with the intention of an ethical life.  There are differences between Buddhism and Unitarian Universalism but those are things we share.  It takes practice and work to grow into a better person and the path is not direct. 

                HHDL is clearly a world leader with a message of peace and a teacher who teaches by example.  I was reminded of the time that he was giving a public talk and news came that Mao Tse Tung had died.  He wept.  He didn’t hate Mao but cherished a wish that somehow Mao would, not only for the sake of the Tibetan people but for his own soul, awaken and choose a path of compassion and generosity.  But with death it was too late for a change of heart, for Mao to know the sort of peace that Tenzin Gyatso (HHDL) has achieved in a lifetime of careful practice.

                The Dalai Lama is the ruler of Tibet. By virtue of his position and the religious nature of Tibetan culture, he could rule with any sort of hand he wants.  This Lama has chosen steadily to lead toward fairness, to speak for human rights and to live as his people live.  He works for progressive realities. He can’t save the world alone. That would be magic or messiah-ship, the very thing he warns against.

 

                 Buddhism reveres teachers but always pushes people back to their own work and responsibility, just as Unitarian Universalism pushes us back to our own work and responsibility.  But to have our work amount to more than just making our own lives more comfortable we have to know ourselves deeply and well, to know our demons: our anxieties and control issues, angers and resentments, old wounds and haunted hearts.  They’re like a whirlwind inside us.  We have to learn, through reflection, insight, where to turn within ourselves for centering, how to get out of the whirlwind. 

                Buddhism offers for this work the teachings of the Buddha, which aren’t so much religions ideas as they are psychological observations and suggestions – rigorous and profound.  And Buddhism offers the notion of the community of practice where you can touch base, do your work, get perspective, reach out for help, and be accepted.

                 Our congregation is a vital place for the healthy unfolding of Unitarian Universalism.  It’s a place where we can check out our perceptions, be called to conscience, reminded to practice what we preach, supported in illness, rejoiced with in success, and called back to our real center. 

                In this exciting time of growing into our new space, meeting so many new people each Sunday, opening our doors onto the future, we need to practice with everyone the work of mindful attention, equanimity, care, and curiosity.  In this way we will grow more surely in spirit and not only in size.  In this way we will be, as Unitarian Universalists are called to be, people who are the change we hope to see. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ~Hilary

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.

                November 4. Jim Anderson: “The Veto of the Children’s Health Bill…What’s Behind It?”

                A half dozen more congressional votes and health care would be extended to millions of additional children. But President Bush’s veto stands.  What is behind this contentious debate and will these issues carry into the next national elections?  Jim Anderson, Professor of Sociology at Purdue, specializes in medical issues   

                November 11. Fritz Smith: “Just War, Just Us”

                In our violent world we are faced with complex ethical questions about the use of force. It is appropriate on this Veterans Day to reflect on the concept of Just War, military service, and the "orthodoxy of patriotism". Fritz Smith studied military history at Purdue and, after graduation from the Naval Academy, served on a nuclear submarine during the Cold War.

                November 18. Rocky Killian:  “What’s on the Mind of the New Superintendent of the West Lafayette Schools? 

                The tyranny of testing, shrinking student population, increasing budget and the ever present pressure for a winning football team could all be keeping the superintendent awake at night.  Compound these with the task of getting to know the people and the procedures of a new system and it is anybody’s guess what is keeping Rocky Killian awake.

                November 25. “Nick Lilovich: “About Pugwash”

“Here then is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?” Written in the shadow of the atomic bomb, these words by Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein stimulated the first conference at the village of Pugwash, Nova Scotia in 1957.  Nick Lilovich, President of the Purdue student chapter of Pugwash, reports that the conversation is continuing today.

                                                                                                                                ~Ernie McDaniel

 

---

Opening Our Doors! 

 

We are Opening Our Doors!  On Sunday, November 4, we are Opening Our Doors!  We hope all UUC members and friends will come to our Open House to greet our new neighbors and to let the Greater Lafayette community know who we are and where they can find our open doors. 

 

We are Opening Our Doors! (and raising them!), offering a brand-new ramp to make joining us not only welcoming, but also smooth, accessible and safe.  The contractors were impressed that we chose to install the ramp to make our church building accessible on principle: UUA Principle #1, respecting the worth and dignity of every person.  As Kaye McSpadden, coordinator of the construction project, noted, “Everyone will use this ramp.  It’s not just for people in wheelchairs.”   This is how a ramp can be beautiful, from the inside of us.

 

We are Opening Our Doors! to our connection with our denominational association of UU congregations.  On Friday, November 16, we are Opening Our Doors! as William Sinkford, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, joins us to celebrate the dedication of our new building and the possibilities and opportunities our new UU home allows.  Please join us for UUC’s Dedication Weekend events, November 16—18. 

 

We are Opening Our Doors! by opening ourselves to reflection:  Are my choices based on trust in abundance, or fear of scarcity?  What part does generosity play in being my best self?  How does this church encourage me to be my best self?  How would UUC better fulfill its/our mission by my being more my best self?   Our Open Door Dinners provide an opportunity to explore these and other questions with other thoughtful, caring people while enjoying a feast.  We can reflect on our own generosity, stewardship and financial commitment to this religious community and its mission.  A Stewardship Team member will visit each Open Door Dinner to explore stewardship as an opportunity for spiritual growth, and to emphasize the importance of our individual commitments to realizing UUC’s mission and vision through our varied and growing programs.  Pledge cards will be available at the Open Door Dinners, completed confidentially, and collected that evening or at any Sunday service through November 11.  If you have not been able to participate in an Open Door Dinner, or have not received an invitation (databases and people aren’t perfect!), please take the initiative and contact Amy French, Open Door Dinners Guest Coordinator (aka Shared Hearth Suppers Coordinator):  765-418-2009 or amyfrench@insightbb.com.  We want you to participate.

 

As we enter this creative and exciting phase of our church life, we ask that you be as generous a steward of UUC as you possibly can by giving of your best self and making your commitment to UUC your philanthropic priority within your means.  We are glad you are with us as we celebrate Opening Our Doors!  Thank you for your generosity and your commitment to making love the spirit of this church and service the law of our covenanted community. 

 

~2007 Stewardship Team

 Kim Harden, Chair

---

Grocery Store Funds for School and Church

                Both Kroger (Payless) and Meijer have fund raising programs.  Marsh’s fund raiser is for schools only. Meijer will donate 1% of items purchased with the Meijer loyalty card. You can apply for the card on line at http://www.meijer.com/mcr/rewards.jsp. Kroger (Payless) will donate 5%.  The program involves gift cards obtained by church members that can be reloaded like any other gift card. The program returns (5%) $250.00 for every $5000.00 spent

on the gift cards.

                Kirsten Reynolds is the church contact for this program.  See her if you have any questions regarding the program or to obtain a blank re-loadable gift card.   This is another way to make a financial contribution to the Church without taking a hit to the pocketbook!

 

---

 

Let’s All Join In to Put on the First Holiday Art Fair in Our New Church Home!

 

 

            What has sometimes been known as the UU Art Sale is now definitely a UU Art Fair, and planning is underway.  The dates are Friday, Nov. 30, 5:30 to

9 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 1, 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. This year we are excited about using and showing off our new space by putting a bigger emphasis on the overall atmosphere, with live music throughout the fair, more food, and on-site massage on Saturday. 

 

We have time for 6 to 10 musical performances (depending on how long you want to play), so if  you are a musician who might like to perform during the Art Fair, please let Jennifer know and  hopefully we can find a time to plug you in.  Think coffeehouse/piano-bar, as opposed to outdoor rock-fest).   

 

We would also like to have a children’s area this year, which would offer supervised kids’ craft-making for a small fee. This would take place on Saturday (and possibly Friday evening if there are people who want to do it), in an RE room.  We will need someone – or a few “someones” – to  take charge and help organize this.  Nothing   fancy, but a good place where kids can make  some simple “art”. 

 

We really want everyone involved in some way, so please think about how you might help with this year’s fair.  In addition to it being a big fund-raiser, it is also a great fun social time.  Some of the things people can help with are; decorating, greeting, coat checking, shop keeping, café serving, cashiering, and bagging.  In addition, we’ll need help with checking-in art and doing inventory at the end, and helping in the kids’ area. 

 

Questions can be addressed to Jennifer Cominetti-Craig.   We are still open to ideas – this is an all-church event!  Please feel free to share your ideas, and help us to make this the best Art Fair ever!

 

---

  

Change for Change to Help African UUs

            During the Dedication Service on Nov. 18 we will have a special Change for Change collection. Coins placed in the offering plate that day will help support the  "Africa Leadership Training Conference," an exciting event that will be held in February 2008 for leaders of emerging UU congregations in Africa.

                Sponsored by the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU), this first-ever conference will help African UUs who live in situations of extreme economic stress develop leadership skills, build strong congregations, and strengthen regional ties. Groups are developing in Burundi, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Congo and Uganda.

                If you would like to contribute more than your coins, please consider writing a check, made payable to ICUU Africa Leadership Training Conference, and place it in the collection plates (or mail to the church). Rev. Jill McAllister, Minister of People’s Church in Kalamazoo, MI, is one of the organizers of the conference. She will be with us to share in

the dedication of our new space that day. Many thanks for your generous support of the African project.

                                                  ~Kaye McSpadden

                                                    UU Social Justice Committee

 

---

 

Religious Education               

 Director of Religious Education Michele Tomarelli

The Pilgrimage

                Some of the youth and their team leaders and I went to Bloomington on Saturday to see the Dalai Lama speak.  On the way they discussed Buddhism, fiction, Islam, the best snacks, politics and music.  I can’t say that the discussion was entirely sophisticated, but the kids knew whom they were going to see and why. They concluded that if UUs can go on a pilgrimage, then this trip would surely qualify.  Once we arrived, we were searched and seated two hours early, as recommended by the security people.  While we waited, the discussions continued, altered by the educational information about Tibet and Mongolia offered on the large screen projections.

 

                The Dalai Lama was more than we’d hoped, and he won the youth over immediately.  He is a charming man, well-educated, witty and he chuckles a lot.  His English is spotty, but his pantomime is excellent. His talk was mostly about compassion and kind heartedness, and how it should be taught in schools.  We are not taught about our emotions. Human beings are not fundamentally cruel, wars to the contrary.  Indeed even predators like cats sheath their claws when they play because they have compassion.  As an aside he added that in Tibet cats are said to be chanting “Ohm…” when they purr. His Holiness (as they call him) said that he has studied with behavioral scientists and concluded that not only are we born with a capacity for compassion, but that it can be further developed through training as well.  Infants are born with a need for love; they will not thrive without it, and the love and affection received from their parents influences them all their lives.

 

                Compassion does not have to be a religious value, he said, and it is a value found in all religions.  Secular training can include compassion as well. The Dalai Lama is interested in settling a semantic debate: his German friend insisted that the word secular excludes religions, while His Holiness insists that the word includes all religions and none. He continued by saying that that sort of secularism is a very good thing. The kids glowed at one another: the Dalai Lama is a Universalist and doesn’t know it yet.  The adults glowed at one another: the kids know what it means to be a Universalist.

 

The Dalai Lama said much more, but he concluded that we must persist in compassionate behavior.  People who behave badly are people who desperately need love and compassion. It is hard sometimes to love difficult people: the Dalai Lama, for example, said that the last time he met with Mao Tse Tung, Mao told him that religion is poison. “That made me uncomfortable,” he said wryly. 

 

It will be years before we can know just how strong an impression the Dalai Lama made on our young people, but they can tell you what he said.  They regard themselves as UU hadjis.

 

---

 

Shadows for RE Kids

                We have a nice group of volunteers to help shadow special needs children needing one-on-one assistance during RE class time.

                 Thanks go out to all of you who have volunteered so far to help in this very important capacity.  We will rotate through this list each time we expect a child needing a helper to be in attendance. 

                So that we can minimize the amount of times each volunteer is called upon to assist, we need all the helpers we can get! Shadows have no teaching responsibilities and need no previous RE experience.

  

                                ~Jill Salem

                                  RE Committee Chair

 

---

 February 2008 Service Auction Planning :  Gypsies in the Palace?

 

                In days of old, when knights were bold, and journeyed from their castles,

                Trusty men were left behind, knights needed not the hassle.

                They helped themselves to pig and peach, and drank from king's own chalice,

                Ah, it was a stirring sight, those gypsies in the Palace.

                                                                 ~Jimmy Buffet

 

Top Five Reasons you should plan on attending the UU Service Auction:

                5. You don't have anything else to do on Friday, February 23, 2008.

                4. You might find a bargain.

                3. Where else can you find items like computer help, organizational

                       assistance, and parties offered by people you know and trust?

                2 .You always thought of yourself as a gypsy.

                1. It's a chance to do good, while actually having fun.

 

                Alanna Steffen and Amy French will be holding the first planning meeting for the service auction on Wednesday, November 14th at 7:30 p.m. at Puccini's restaurant on Main Street in downtown Lafayette.

                If you are interested in decorating, organizing, cashiering, soliciting, or assisting in anyway, consider stopping by.

 

---

 

Potlucks Made Easy

    Potlucks after church are usually held on the fourth Sunday of the month, so mark your calendars!  When you bring your dish to the church, plenty of refrigeration is now available for cold foods, warming ovens are available for hot foods, and plenty of plug-ins are available for crock pots.

                Please be responsible for placing your food or drink items on the serving table after church.  (The kitchen committee does not know what last minute preparations you have in mind to make your dish truly delectable!)

                Also, please be responsible for collecting your leftovers afterwards.  Do not place your leftovers in the refrigerators and assume that someone else will know what to do with them.  The refrigerators will regularly be cleared of decaying food, a very unpleasant job.

                Please bring your own table service to the potlucks or use the church’s permanent tableware and stay to wash your own dishes. 

                Recycling bins are available for clean plastic, cans, glass, and paper.  Remember that washing out recycling bins is no one’s idea of fun!

                Help keep our new kitchen neat and tidy.  Only kitchen related items should be stored in the kitchen.  Luckily, there is ample storage elsewhere.

                                                                                ~Mary Ann Foley

                                                                                Kitchen Committee

 

Dollar$ for Darfur $chool$

     As the Darfur Genocide continues, the future of the children in the region is bleak. Darfurians live in refugee camps along the border, and the educational process has been interrupted for many of them for years. An interfaith effort to raise funds to support education in Darfur is being launched by the Social Justice Committees of three local congregations: Temple Israel, St. Thomas Aquinas Church-Purdue, and The Unitarian Universalist Church. Money raised in the community will go to Darfur Peace and Development Organization to establish K-8, co-ed schools in remote regions of Northern Darfur which are not accessible to most international organizations. (Note: DPDO is the organization founded by Suliman Giddo, who presented a program on Darfur to our congregation last spring.) 

    What will your dollars buy?

                $18 funds 1 student for 6 months

                $110 funds 1 teacher for 1 month

 

    Please donate to bring schools to displaced and neglected children, who have lost years of education, and to promote peace and reconciliation. A display with additional information and a collection box will be available in the narthex of our church in the near future. Alternatively, you can send checks, made payable to Darfur Peace and Development Organization – put “Schools Project” on the memo

line, to: Darfur Peace and Development Organization, P.O. Box 90, Washington, D.C. 20044. Thank you for your generous support.

                                ~Jean Tyner

                                 Social Justice Committee

 

---

Notes from the Office 

             It’s been a busy month with all the construction taking place inside and out! The water main replacement project undertaken by Brenneco after a serious leak was discovered coming into the basement, continued to be problematic when installation of the new line left all but the Office area without water.  A separate connector line had been installed in the past during one of the church additions.  When this line was located and connected to the new line, water was restored to the entire facility.

              New filters are now in the furnaces, and the boiler has been repaired as well—a broken valve rendered the boiler useless in heating the Fellowship Hall but is now functional for oncoming cold weather. 

             A new tracking software system for the Fellowship Hall keypad door has arrived; Robin Poindexter has programmed new codes into the system. Committee chairpersons will soon receive new individual codes, not to be shared with anyone. 

             Items for inclusion in the Order of Service must be received by the Administrative Assistant on Wednesday morning for Sunday publication. Please leave articles or found objects in office mailboxes rather than on the desk, with identification information.

             Meetings continue by leaps and bounds, as new groups request renting our facility—please reserve rooms so the calendar is kept up to date.  We recently hosted a Purdue University Bengali Hindu Durgha Puja, the first ever held in West Lafayette, receiving excellent press coverage.  Durgha is the Goddess of protection against evil.  The following week the same group held a celebration in honor of the Goddess of fortune, Lakshmi, Durgha’s daughter. 

             Thank you everyone, for your patience and help!  A special thanks to those who helped pack and unpack (still in process),  the office area; and to Kathleen Peyton and Nancy Bergquist for the plants they donated which beautify our church.

                              ~Karin Bergman.

                               Administrative Assistant