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October
2006
Jump Center: Services, President's Column, Reflections from the Reverend, Hidden Generosity, Music Notes, Clara Barton Fall Rally, New Ambulatory Art, Small Group Ministry, Emerson Brass, Board Initiates Search and Review of RE, Supper and Games Nights, Getting to Know You, Circle Dinners, Tax Relief For the Working Poor, Officers - Staff- Office Hours, Current Calendar Services at 9 & 11 AM, children’s programming and nursery 1 October - Faith and Forgiveness – Rev. BJ - As Jewish friends celebrate the “High Holy Days,” we turn our thoughts to themes of atonement and the at-one-ment it promises, to the faith that makes forgiveness possible. 8 October - If Homophobia Were Done In, What Then? Rev BJ - How might we UUs, though long supportive of GLBT concerns, maintain our vigilance for fairness for all people? 15 October- To Be Announced - Carl Dudley 22 October – UN Sunday - Joyce Milliken 29 October - An All Souls Day Service – Rev. BJ - The practice of recognizing the dead in the Fall of the year has roots in ancient paganism. We will explore these roots. Please bring a photograph or other memorial object to the worship service to honor the blessed memory of a loved one who has died. President’s Column - Staying True to our Vision The members, leadership, clergy, and staff of the Unitarian Society of Hartford have invested an incredible amount of time and energy over the past five years in deciding where it is we, as a religious corporate body, would like to go in the future. Early in the tenure of Rev. Terasa Cooley over 200 members of the congregation participated in an exciting an energizing visioning process. The results of that process were then used to develop a bold new strategic plan. Immediately on the heels of approving the strategic plan, a Governance Task Force was convened, which lead to the creation of a radically new governance structure designed specifically to focus our energies and resources on the achievement of our mission and vision. Implementing the recommendations of the Governance Task Force required what amounted to a wholesale revision of our Constitution and Bylaws. As if all of this were not enough, within the last year, we completed an exhaustive (and for some exhausting) ministerial search process, leading to the recent call of Rev. Barbara Jamestone, PhD. The search process required us to, once again, ask at the most fundamental level who we are and where do we want to go. Regardless of how much we have put into strategic planning, the sad truth is that most strategic plans are destined to collect dust on a back shelf. The challenge for the leadership group is how to make the strategic plan a living and breathing document giving expression to our deepest hopes and aspirations. How do we make manifest a vision of the future created through the soul search of so many for so long? It is a scared challenge; failing to find the means to achieve the vision of our shared future would be a tragedy and an abrogation of our responsibility to future generations. The next step in this process is a small, but important one. The USH Board of Directors, Council Chairs, staff, and others will participate in a “Start-up Weekend” early in November. A start-up weekend occurs as a traditional event soon after the call of a new minister. Lynn Thomas, the Clara Barton District Executive, will facilitate an opportunity to both look back at our USH history and look forward to the next steps in the direction of our shared future. Events like the upcoming Start-up Weekend give the leadership team an opportunity to focus on the achievement of our collective vision without the distraction of day-to-day demands. I
look forward to sharing the results of the
Start-up Weekend with you shortly after its
conclusion. Your
comments, suggestions, and responses will give
meaning to the time that the leadership spends
together. Hidden GenerosityMembers of some other denominations give 5% or more of their incomes to their churches – way ahead of Unitarian Universalists and in spite of the fact that UUs’ average income is higher than that of the members of most other denominations. There is some evidence that church members who donate more of their money also donate more of their time to their churches. Though this may be a topic for a future article, it is not the topic of this one. This article is about Hidden Generosity. Many of our members pay for food, paper goods and other supplies – sometimes hundreds of dollars-worth - for programs and activities sponsored by the Unitarian Society of Hartford and never tell us. Others provide transportation in their own cars to support USH programs and services. And still others donate furniture and equipment that help us avoid purchasing those items. I refer to this as Hidden Generosity because we rarely know the actual dollar value of these donations. We know that keeping donations hidden comes from a generosity of spirit on the part of our members and for this we are eternally grateful. The last thing we would want to do is to put a damper on these generous impulses; in fact, I suspect that we couldn’t survive without them, which is largely the point of this article. There are important advantages to bringing this Hidden Generosity into the open. The donors can deduct the value of these donations on their income tax. The value of these donations is part of the real cost of operating those programs. Knowing the real costs allows us to budget better and to manage our finances more responsibly. Finally, we can avoid inadvertently coming to expect that someone will donate what we need, putting unfair pressure on volunteers who can’t afford to make such a donation. How can we maximize these advantages? It’s simple. Members who donate goods or services to USH can complete a “Request for Reimbursement” Form– available in the office – listing what they donated and its value. If they truly want to make it a donation, they can check the appropriate box on that form. Their donation (a) will be shown as both revenue and expense to the program and (b) will be recorded along with their pledge payments and will appear on their pledge statements continuing to increase clarity and transparency – two fiscal goals for this year! Margaret Leicach Treasurer Oct. 1 – We acknowledge the Jewish High Holy Days with a much-requested anthem, “Ani ma’amin” by Max Helfman. This is a choral setting of the chant meaning, “In spite of all, still, I believe.” Jews have sung it through the ages at times of great trial, including on marches to the gas chambers of concentration camps. Oct. 8 – Ysaye M. Barnwell is a founding member of the women’s singing group Sweet Honey In the Rock. “Would You Harbor Me” is a remarkable musical message by this unique composer and singer, and is poignantly appropriate for GLBT Sunday. Oct. 15 – While the choir has a Sunday off, instrumental music creates our musical offerings. Oct. 22 – The choral styles of South Africa are captured in a set of Freedom Songs, which the choir sings in connection with all people of the world for United Nations Sunday. Oct. 29 – Mozart composed a beautiful soprano aria that emerges into the choral masterpiece, ‘Laudate Dominum.’ Our soloist and children’s choir director Katie LaPorta is the soprano of the day. Clara Barton Fall Rally Saturday October 28th The annual District Fall Meeting will host as its keynote speaker the dynamic moderator of the national General Assembly of the UUA, Gini Courter. The Dudley, MA gathering will offer a number of workshops including: Spiritual Activism, The Call of the 21st Century, The Green Sanctuary Forum; RE – Administration and Curricula, the Four Covenants (tools for congregational decision making). The conference runs from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM. More information is available in the front lobby and registrations forms are due by October 19th for the reduced fee of $35; more at the door. Join others in helping to represent USH at the CBD Fall Rally! 15 Oct. to 17 Nov, 2006 - Paul Martin Butkovich (1919-1996) Art Exhibit.Take this opportunity to admire the remarkable beauty of the Butkovich artwork, which includes his popular thoroughbreds and their jockeys, river landscapes, and his most powerful images, the anti-nuclear war series, and more. The artist’s son will be present to show his father’s work at a reception on Friday October 27th - 6 PM. till 8 PM. SMALL GROUP MINISTRY: MEMORIESThe Canton location was unfamiliar to me, and I was a little bit nervous about arriving on time for my first Small Group Ministry session—not too late and not too early. I was new to the Unitarian Society of Hartford and eager to make friends with a small group of people so I would know someone to talk to on Sunday mornings. I was the last to arrive for that meeting, but in plenty of time for refreshments. And, the experience turned out to be a good one. The facilitator was skilled in encouraging people to talk and especially good, I thought, at integrating his own experiences into the stories the rest of us told. There was one man in the group that I never saw at the Meeting House before or after this experience, so I learned that some people depend on Small Group Ministry for companions on their spiritual journeys. My second SGM experience involved a Bloomfield location, and, although the directions were good, I missed a turn and wandered for a long time in unfamiliar territory. (I have since come to acknowledge my geographic disability and always allow extra time to get to that first meeting.) The hosts at this house encouraged people to leave their shoes at the door and had slippers available for everyone. This somehow seemed an appropriate way to enter sacred space. And I have since learned that anywhere we trust others with our deepest sharing is sacred space. I was impressed also, that two members of the group had driven there all the way from Wethersfield, making me realize how important this program was to them. The facilitator here was firm in helping us to understand the rules for covenant groups, so we carefully listened to each other without responding or giving advice; during refreshment time we asked the questions that would have been inappropriate at other times in the session. I had two more SGM experiences in that same location, and I appreciated the differences among the facilitators. All followed the SGM format, but each had special ways of facilitating. One played hymns or other sacred music in place of opening readings. Another wrote up a special ending where she integrated our experiences with all eight topics and connected all of us in a very touching way. Two of our new facilitators came from that group, so I know it was a special experience for us all. The hosts invited all the groups meeting at their home to have the last session be a potluck supper if the group wanted one, and I liked the sacredness of sharing a meal. Another group was memorable for the way they found special meaning in two topics: Grief and Rituals. They decided to meet for two more sessions in order to cover these topics more fully. Each Small Group Ministry experience has been a treasure to me, although I have not listed all of them here. Each facilitator used his or her talents and expertise to take me through a series of topics I benefited from exploring. Each host made me feel welcomed into a home or to a designated space at the Meeting House. Each group member invited me into a deeper understanding of the human lives we share on our spiritual journeys. So
what if I forgot the date of one potluck supper;
the facilitator called to remind me and the
group seemed to want me there even without
the salad I was supposed to bring. We
bring our human failings with us and we are
welcomed and forgiven. Emerson Brass to Present Benefit for Loves Makes a Family Emerson Brass will be joined by organist Donald Funk on Sunday, October 22 at 4 PM in a concert titled Music of Main Street, USA at Immanuel Congregational Church, 10 Woodland Street, Hartford [near the Mark Twain House]. A free will offering will be received. Music of Bernstein, Campra, Copland, Stephen Foster, Gershwin, W.C. Handy, Mancini, a Sousa march, spirituals, New Orleans jazz and Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings transcribed for organ will be performed. Love Makes a Family may be reached at 860-525-7777 or www.lmfct.org. Board Initiates Search and Review of RE Programs and Needs At its September Meeting the Board announced the resignation of RE Director Ken Silberman-Bunn and decided to work with the Religious Education and Human Resources Sub-councils to initiate a search for a new, part-time Director of Religious Education. The Board created a task force to examine some overarching issues related to the USH religious education program. The initial charge to the task force is to consider and, as indicated, develop recommendations, regarding:
The task force is expected submit its preliminary report within the next two months. Serving on this task force are: Laurie Kelliher, Chair of the Religious Education Sub-council; Nina Elgo, Chair of the Council on Spiritual Life; Marye Gail Harrison, At-large Board member and representing the Strategic Growth Initiative; Charles Huntington, Board President; & Rev. Barbara Jamestone, PhD, Minister Supper and Games Nights - This is a community event. Bring the whole family to eat a delicious meal and play a huge assortment of board games, cards, or charades. Share in trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle. Work cooperatively on a tough crossword. You decide. Menus will include a main course (always a vegetarian option), salad, dessert and non-alcoholic beverages. If you would like to bring wine or beer, please feel free to do so. Each supper will have a regional or ethnic theme guiding the food offerings. We ask that folks call a week or more in advance to offer to contribute a dish that fits the theme. Prepare an entrée to feed 8 – 10 persons, deliver it to Fellowship Hall by 5:50 P.M., and we will serve it with a side dish of love. By the way, every food contributor receives a free ticket to the supper that evening. If you would like to join our team to help with table setting and other preparation, arrive at 4 P.M. at Fellowship Hall and the team will greet you with open arms. Welcome and thanks in advance. =>> Details: October 20, Southern dishes (in honor of Rev. BJ’s regional cuisine); Nov. 17, Tex-Mex; Jan 19, Greek and Middle Eastern; March 16, Comfort Food. Time: 6-8:30
P.M. Getting to Know You – In addition, leadership groups from various sub-councils or other less formal groups are invited to set up appointments to meet. These one-hour appointments should be booked with Rosie or Brian. Circle Dinners Are For Socializing We will eat and drink, but, mostly, we will be MERRY. So come and join us for our newly instituted CIRCLE DINNERS. The idea is to make having a fine meal and making new acquaintances less expensive and less work for everyone. No more paying for dinner. Now all you have to do is: sign up to come to at least two out of three Circle Dinners, bring a part of the dinner (to be determined by you and the host/hostess over the phone or by email), and have a lovely meal with 7 different, and fascinating adults each time. The point is to get to know more of the great folks who come to the Meeting House. We will try to arrange it so that you are socializing with different people at every dinner. This can only happen if enough people sign up. So, throw caution to the wind, commit to two evenings on your busy calendar, and let’s have some fun. Register at
the Programs Table in Fellowship Hall on Sundays. Deadline:
October 22. Tax Relief For the Working Poor Please come and join voices to support state legislation to provide tax relief to Connecticut’s hard working residents. First Church of the Living God, Thursday, October 5th, 6:30 pm to 8:00 PM 70 Whitney Street, Hartford CT (Registration and doors open at 6PM) Featured speakers: Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez, Rev. James Walker of the Phillips Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church, Jim Horan, Executive Director of the Connecticut Association for Human Services and testimonials from community representatives. Invited Guests: State Senators, Representatives and other public officials from the greater Hartford area and organizations that promote economic opportunity and equity for all our citizens". Sponsored by the Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice (GHICEJ) For more information call GHICEJ at 860-548-1744 and see USH Member Shai Cassell. **** Officers: Charles Huntington, President; Bill Young, President Elect; Margaret Leicach, Treasurer; Sue Kinney, Secretary; Nancy Mandly, At-Large Community Within; Marye Gail Harrison, At-Large, Spiritual Life; Peg Otto, At-Large Social Justice. Council Chairs: Hugh Schweitzer, Administration; Carol Sexton, Community Within; Fred Louis, Social Justice; Nina Elgo, Spiritual Life Our Constitution and Bylaws, Strategic Plan, and much, much more may be found on our website at www.ushartford.com/ Let our office know if you would like to receive the weekly USH-Enews online. STAFF: Rev. Barbara Jamestone, Minister; Ken Silberman-Bunn, Director of Religious Education; Denise Ackeifi, Youth Advisor; Brian Mullen, Business Manager; Rosie Rindfleisch, Administrative Asst; Mattie Banzhaf, Music Director; Vaughn Mauren, Organist: Peter Magistri, Sexton; Robert Gavin, Custodian; Maks Klmas, Security Office hours:
M-F 9-3 (excluding W 10 -11);Rev. Jamestone:
Phone: 860 233-9897; Email: RevBJ@USHartford.com Office
hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and
Friday - Available at the noon hour and at other
times by appointment. Dear friends, The welcome was grand. It was lovely to be greeted on my first Sunday by many of you wearing tropical fabrics-- I could imagine myself in Key West! Your wonderful whimsical hospitality can win the heart of any newcomer, and I look forward to helping you offer just that kind of welcome to visitors. For example, I’m offering “C-cubed—coffee, carrots, and conversation with the minister” in my study after the 11 AM service for first time visitors. (After the 9 AM service I tend to reflect in the chancel area as the choir practices, so I’m hoping to be forgiven for absence from fellowship hall these early months. Do make a half-hour appointment and come see me on a weekday!) Some of those visitors I meet in the study on Sunday will meet YOU the following week in Fellowship Hall, so keep wearing those winning tropical-flower openhearted smiles! (And be sure to join us in worship on October 29 as some of those newcomers commit to membership in our “New Member Ceremony”.) Anticipating cool nights, I’ve begun unpacking quilts, which remind me….My mother did ‘extension work’ when I was a child, which meant visiting ‘shut-ins’ who couldn’t attend church for some reason. I loved to accompany her when she visited Mrs. Stone the quilting lady. On ‘piece work’ days there were piles of fabric spread about and the snipping out of amazing shapes, then stitching them together with colorful thread into the big ‘patch work’ sheet. On ‘quilting’ day, a wooden frame would descend on cords from the living room ceiling. A sheet of solid colored “backing” fabric was stretched across the frame and covered with a layer of cotton ‘batting’. Then the patchwork sheet, which had been pieced together in previous weeks, was gently spread across the top of the batting, and the fun began. A bunch of women sat on all 4 sides of the frame, laughing, jabbing needles down through the fabric with one hand, and then poking needles back up with the hand that was underneath the fabric. I crawled around under the frame, or lay on the floor of my cozy tent lazily watching all those hands binding the patchwork to the solid base, creating something beautiful, and warm. Religious expression is like quilting. We take the patchwork fabric of our daily lives, full of varied design and delightful color, and spread it gently across the strong solid backing and batting of eternity, the rarely noticed or even invisible material making us multidimensional, and keeps us warm on winter nights. Then, in company of beloved companions, we bind the extra onto the ordinary, the super into the natural, the secular onto the sacred. Religion means literally to bind or to tie back. Theologian Paul Tillich called this quilt of ultimacy “the juncture of essence and existence,” the joining of the essential and the existential. I look forward to being a part of the quilting guild at our Meeting House, and to the lovely warm creations, which will keep us all warm on winter nights for generations to come. Warm regards, Rev. BJ |
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Let
us know of any comments, errors
and corrections - thanks
(revised 09/19/06) |
