Sunday Schedule Comments

Comments Received Responding to BJ's Request for Opinions

(At BJ's request your comments will be posted on the web for a short period of time in order to have them shared mostly among congregation members.)

The Push and Pull of Fall Sunday Programming -
Thank you all for your participation in our discussions regarding this plan which will affect us all. Our vision and mission are pulling us into a future, which though always uncertain, holds great promise. Though we may feel pushed to the edge, our faith insures that once there, we will find a solid next step, or we will fly.

Just for fun, which of the following would be most convenient for you, should we agree to follow it for the next year, then reconsidering this time next year? And what would you volunteer to do to make it happen? (Assume that the choir would sing once per month at the Full RE service and twice per month at the non RE service) Please send email vote for #1-#5 to Revbj@ushartford.com.

9:30 - 10:30 (youth? and full RE at this time)   and 11:15-12:15 (2 teacher volunteers per week for ‘one room school house’ RE at this service) (45 mins between services)

9:45 - 10:45 (youth? and full RE at this time)   and 11:15-12:15 (2 teacher volunteers per week for ‘one room school house’ RE at this service) (1/2 hr between services)

10:00 - 11:00   (youth? and RE at this time) and   11:30-12:30 (2 teachers per week for ‘one room school house’ RE at this service) (1/2 hour between services)

9:45-10:45 (50 other members making volunteer covenant to move from later service for one year) and 11:15 - 12:15 (youth? and full RE at this time) (1/2 hour between)

9:45-10:45 (50 other members making volunteer covenant to move from later service for one year) and 11:30- 12:30 (youth? and full RE at this time) (3/4 hour between)

(some comments were received before the above information was available; newest comments are posted at the bottom of this list.)

From Diana Heymann: Teens meet on Fri or Sat night as well as at varying times based on need and purpose. Keep 9:30 and 11 times. Keep plan for RE at 9:30 with open door to beginning RE at11 as we see a demonstrated increase in new families whose preference is the later service.

From Wendy Willinger-Jones: I know haven't been involved with this whole process of change, but I think we will lose people or families if we had most of RE at 9:30. I've always viewed weekends as a chance to sleep in so I assume others might feel that way.

From Sue Machol: Whatever you decide on I can accommodate to--9:15 is much easier for me than 9:00. But either is fine. The switch to the 9:00 service was too much for Joyce Bauer to handle, so she'll not be with us on those Sundays in the future.

From Teresa M. Pelham: Throughout this difficult process there has been one idea that just keeps coming back to me. If we spent this amount of energy figuring out how to make accommodating all of us (and our cars) in one service, I’m guessing we could do it. I loved reading about the 10 people who committed on the spot to start attending the earlier service. How many of our dedicated members and friends would be just as likely to commit to carpooling? Considering our eco-wise congregation, I’d bet a lot of us would do it. And how many of us would commit to parking next door at the Village on a regular basis? Sign me up! Regarding not having enough seating in the pews: There’s always room in the choir!

From Doug Liddell: As someone that attends with my daughter I have followed this discussion with interest. All of the times proposed are suitable for us and so we have not entered the debate. We do have a preference for RE to remain in one session if possible though we do not have strong feelings about this as well. Thanks for all the efforts so far and we trust a good solution will be reached given the open process that has been used.

From Louie Schmoll: I tend to go with the flow, after expressing an opinion. Personally, I prefer to sing at the later service. But I just
read BJ's comment about the choir singing twice a month at the early one and once a month at the later.That will do nothing to help those choir members with children in the RE program. The problem of having children with programs at each service is not helped when the adult has to come early and the children later. I know that does not involve many, probably only Teresa and Kim at the moment. But both live a long distance away and would find it most inconvenient. And I would hope we might attract more singers in the future with children involved in our programs. Also, many adults without children are involved in several programs that happen after the second service and would not be happy to hang around for two. Most, if not all, of the after service programs are aimed at people without children so if 50-70 of them come early, how can any group expect to have successful
programs at 12:30 or 1:00?

From Jeff Blanchette: The seating capacity of the sanctuary is 300. The largest attendance on record, over the past year, occurred on September 9, 2007. The 9AM had 56 in the chapel and the 11AM had 246 in the main sanctuary. That total of 302 also includes the choir. Perhaps consideration should be given to returning to one service. The scheduling benefits are many including music and RE. I would also be in favor of a return to a one hour and 15 minute service. I believe we lost substance when the service length was shortened to one hour. The challenges are parking and seating capacity. However, I believe that many would volunteer to park at The Villages. I do not believe it would be difficult to add some chairs to the sanctuary on the rare occasions when more than 300 attended a service. There may also be some financial benefits to holding one service.

From Ken Bartschi: We decided to move to two services to create space for growing our congregation. Growth is important both to the continued vitality of our congregation and our faith as a whole. The message that a full or nearly full parking lot and sanctuary sends to visitors is that we have no room for them. While we are better at engaging newcomers, that task is more difficult if a visitor’s first impression is that we’re full. Therefore, it is vitally critical that we make our two services work.

One way we can grow as a congregation, and more important, as a faith, is to retain our children as members. We wonder why we lose so many of the children raised as UUs to other faiths or no faith at all, but I wonder why we retain as many as we do when we exclude them from most of our worship services. How are children going to learn how to go to church if they only attend a full service occasionally and only when it’s “fun,” i.e., geared toward them? Perhaps if our children regularly attended the whole service, they would have a better context for discerning their own spiritual truths as adults. They might not enjoy church all the time—I didn’t when I was a child—but I don’t think our society has become so permissive that the desires of children for fun rather than for what is good for them drive all decisions. (At least, I hope that is not the case.)

To that end, I offer the heretical notion that we should have one RE program between two services. I see several advantages. First, it ends the angst about dividing families between services. Second, it offers those stalwart and selfless folks who teach Sunday school the opportunity to hear the whole service and sing in the choir if they want. Third, it increases the likelihood of evenly attended services as those with families won’t be tied to a particular service. Fourth, and most important, it offers children the opportunity to know what worship services are and the important role such services play in the lives of many on their search for Truth.

From Sheila Ward: I feel worried and disappointed about the proposed schedule change (RE at a 9:30 service except the youth group likely at 11:00). I feel worried because several current RE teachers have indicated that the earlier RE time may prevent them from continuing to teach. The Meeting House has struggled this past year to find enough teachers to fill the RE program needs, and it will be even more difficult if we lose some of the current teachers. I feel disappointed about the changes for three reasons: 1) My younger daughter will be in 8th grade next year, so she would need to go to the 9:30 service. I would no longer be able to get up at my leisure, and Sunday is the only day of the week that is possible for me; 2) My older daughter will be in 9th grade next year, and the youth group would most likely meet at 11:00, so I will have a child who needs to be at each service, creating an extra trip each way. 3) In two years, both of my daughters will be in the youth group, again most likely meeting at 11:00, which would meet my need for a leisurely morning. However, I have been teaching RE for 8 years, and I would like to continue to do so (especially considering the shortage of teachers). I’m not sure I’m willing to extend my commitment if it means having to attend both services, and return home inbetween services to get my daughters so they can go to the youth group at 11:00. The best solution for my family would be to have all RE at the same service, and have the service later than 9:30. While I prefer 11:00, we could work with 10:00. I don’t know if 10:00 would help those teachers who indicated that 9:30 is too early.

From Joan Kemble: I am a stand-patter, for keeping the hours we have. It allows committee meetings between services, which is more important than ever with the gas costs (and reduces carbon). Those of us who live at a distance need to consider this. It also allows for after 2nd service programs-many of which were held this year sponsored by various groups. The day is just too shot if we go even later. I hope the resolution conforms with parents of children and teens.

From: bmachol <bmachol@snet.net> The church service is becoming more routine from week to week. We sing the same hymn for a month--this can be good since this familiarity increases congregation participation, but maybe two weeks or just having the choir do the hymn one week and the congregation the second week would suffice. The musical dedication and covenant are the same each week--are there a variety of passages we could use? Some churches have some components at one service but not at all. Could the candles of Memory and Hope be once a month, or perhaps only at early service? That might give the early service a good reason for growing in participation.

Visitors to our church may be looking for more stimulation and less ritual. Our present plan does not lead to a lot of time for variety or extended sermons. We may be turning off the very people we want to encourage to keep coming.

Having an increasing number of families with children in the RE program will help swell church membership. Would it be feasible to move the RE program to the time between services? This would allow whole families, including the RE teachers, to attend a service either before or after the RE session. Could we consider going to one extended coffee hour to be held between services? Then those of us who want to see all of our friends could get to see both early and late service participants, which would also make for a more cohesive congretation.

Can arrangements be made to use the parking lots at the former Children's Village. Would it be feasible to blacktop a sidewalk down to those parking lots that could be used year round?

As for people being seated for the beginning of each service--at one time we closed the sliding glass doors part way--at another point a handbell was rung--concert venues blink the lights, would this work in our hallways and sanctuary? The people do need a gentle reminder to be seated on time. A signal before the music starts would be good.

Ann LaPorte-Bryan - My personal choice would be to keep our schedule as it is, in agreement with Joan Kemble and others. The changes would affect my family only in that I would not teach RE because it would be tough arranging to get to the meeting house early to teach, and also get my daughter to and from the meeting house for the later service.

My biggest concern is that our congregation is being asked to make a decision to change their basic Sunday schedule to the detriment of their family needs. We would lose committed long term families and break down the fabric of our USH community.

Louise Schmoll: First: How to even out attendance at the two services. Instead of trying to make both exactly equal. Attempt to make them different so they appeal to different people. For example, many christian churches offer communion at one service each week but not the other. Just this year we began to have this candle lighting service every Sunday. Personally, I do not like it every week. Two or three times a year on special days would be fine. But I have also heard comments from others that it is beginning to feel like a catholic service and when the final lit candles were held high before placing them on the fence the phrase "It looks like something the pope would do!" I shudder to think what first time visitors think when they feel they are coming to look for an alternative liberal church. A goodly number of long time members that I have talked also feel this is something that would be better if only done occasionally. So, my suggestion, make the services different by offering candle lighting every week at the first service only. Those that feel very strongly would come to that service, maybe adding enough to even things out a bit more.

Second: The music content of the service has changed and the hymn portion is rather boring. As a musician I like variety. With the institution of the hymn of the month and the candle lighting we now have three songs we repeat every Sunday. And we have dropped from three different hymns a week to only one on most Sundays. The congregation does not need to repeat a hymn four times in a month just to learn it. When an unusual hymn comes up, have the choir present it first with the congregation joining for a repeat. I believe the additional hymn was dropped when the Spirit of Life was added, so by moving that to the first service, an extra hymn could be returned to the service. This would bring a variety back to the music.

From: Liz Garmise: would hope, as one of the members from the hinterlands of CT, that we remember that we are NOT a neighborhood church, but a regional church. I hope that we can find a solution to our challenge by allowing families to worship together and not force them to split up. I believe that a solution that splits the "full RE" and the youth group meeting time will not only force some families to find an alternative place to worship, but it will also deter new families from joining.

I support car pooling and utilizing the Children and Families parking lot. I can offer that (once I can walk again) if we need to bring two cars on Sunday (which frequently happens) we will park one car at the Children and Families lot.

I also support an informal "pew" survey for people to complete that might help us better understand what attracts people to one service or the other.

I believe that we will be able to come up with a solution that will be palatable for all concerned.
Thanks!

From Mike Roy - I vote for Option # 4 (youth and RE at 11:15 service; 50 members volunteering to attend 9:45 service).I would gladly volunteer to attend the 9:45 service. We are all involved in a ministry of sorts at USH, where we often do what we can to serve and help others in need. I am willing to help out and sacrifice to make our services as friendly and accessible as possible to families and children. A primary cause of our drop in membership over the past 6-7 years was not offering an attractive and vibrant RE program. We are turning this around this year with a better program and RE Director, and we should continue to build on that momentum rather than making it harder for families and children. I also agree with the concept expressed by Louise Schmoll to explore making the two services different in various ways, which would make each of them attractive to different people.

Let us know of any comments, errors and corrections - thanks (revised 5/09/08)
4:30 PM