USH-Enews January 7, 2010 Print Only Edition

USH-Enews January 7, 2010

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USH-Enews is a weekly email newsletter produced for members and friends of the Unitarian Society of Hartford. The USH web address is: http://www.ushartford.com/ Check at the end of this USH-Enews for information on submissions, subscriptions and escape from the mailing list or to find past issues of the weekly USH-Enews click here.

Office hours: Rev. Jamestone: Phone: 860 233-9897; Email: RevBJ@USHartford.com - Rev. BJ office hours by appointment.

Worshipping Together Since 1830
One Service 10:30 AM

Special Announcement: During the evening of Wednesday, January 6th the Ushartford.com website and all email boxes ending with ushartford.com will vanish for a time. Our email accounts and associated web will be moving to a new server and associated control panel. Please note normal email service will be disrupted for a time, perhaps a day or so, we do not know for sure.

If you need to reach BJ during this period, use bjamestone(at symbol)comcast.net and if you need the webmaster, use dcnewton(at symbol)snet.net. It is probable that there will be a significant loss of the listservs during an uncertain period at about this time also.

As in most things of this nature, probably later service will be better and more dependable. Thank you for noting this situation and whatever patience may be required until we are fully up to speed yet again. - David Newton, Webmaster

Sunday 10 January and 24, a 2nd and 4th Sunday sermon in 2 parts: I am a Man--Our Human Need for Identity - “I am a Man.” This simple statement of identity hung on posters around the necks of hundreds of sanitation workers as they marched in protest in Memphis the week that MLK was killed there.

Real or perceived threats to identity often result in violence, according to Amartya Sen, the distinguished economist, philosopher, Nobel Laureate, Harvard professor and author of “Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny.”

How might gang violence, riots, war, domestic abuse, human rights violations, school yard bullying, adversarial legal systems, work place disputes, pecking order in groups, and even personal gossip, simple manipulation, and the smallest gesture of violence be tragic expressions of our unmet needs for identity? How do the principles of non-violence taught by MLK and many others strengthen our own sense of identity? What strategies do they offer us for effecting change or for making, keep, or building peace, without presenting undue threat to the identity of others? How can we as a faith community discover and articulate perceived and real threats to our shared religious convictions, our USH culture, and our personal preferences regarding congregational life? Are there acts, words, and thoughts of violence among and within us which can be traced to these threats?

REflections on Children's Programming

Religious Education Classes

Spirit Play: Hanukkah
Second & Third Grade: Heart Talk: Feelings
Fourth & Fifth Grade: Toolbox of Faith: Listening
Sixth, Seventh & Eighth Grade: Field Trip to Temple Beth Israel
Youth Group Activities: Discussion

Gail M. Syring DRE

From the Editor: Suggestions for Contributors.

This Week’s Feature Articles

Web and Email to be disrupted
Our Finest Hour
Small Group Ministry for Spring
Hot Music on a Winter Night
Real Problem Demand Leadership

Hot Music on a Winter Night - Come join us for the Cabaret - and keep the Meeting House singing!

On Saturday, January 30th, at 7:00 PM., we’re holding a major fundraiser for the Meeting House music program. Tables will be set up cabaret-style downstairs in Fellowship Hall. There will be delicious food, as well as good spirits of every sort. We’re counting on you to come and bring your friends and neighbors – we need to pull in the biggest audience we can get.

Performing will be cabaret specialists Patrice Fitzgerald and her husband Richard Leslie, along with jazz vocalist Mary Ellen Lonergan, who will be backed up by a professional jazz trio. There will also be a special appearance by members of the choir... you’ve never heard them this way!

Patrice and Richard have volunteered to sing a dedicated song or two — for $50 a tune they will perform a song of your choice. Dedications must be requested by January 20. Remember, this all goes to the restoring the music fund, for which we need many thousands of dollars next year to keep it going!

The hot hits will run the gamut from jazz standards to torch songs and Broadway tunes. To cap it off, Richard will throw in some sizzling trumpet licks.

Tickets will be available in Fellowship Hall after services every Sunday, or can be reserved by phone at 860-233-9897, ext. 107. Only $15 per person, and $10 for students. That includes wine, soft drinks, and munchies. If you can’t come, buy a ticket anyway to support our music program. Without your help, there won’t be one.

We’re looking for volunteers to help sell tickets and refreshments, to help with baking, and to spread the word. Please contact Mattie Banzhaf at Banz(at symbol)hartford.edu to volunteer. If you feel moved to forward the details to anyone you think might join us, that would be wonderful!

Join us for this midwinter evening of camaraderie and music-making, and help keep the music in the Meeting House! - Patrice

Small Group Ministry for Spring of 2001 - Registration is now open for Small Group Ministry for this spring. The success of SGM continues for good reason! Get to know other members and friends better while discussing spiritual and life topics openly and in depth. Share insights you have gained and concerns you have been struggling with, and explore the spiritual dimension to your life in a non-judgmental atmosphere.

Groups of 7-10 people follow a common format at each meeting: check-in, chalice lighting, reading on a meaningful topic, questions and sharing of personal experiences following a covenant of close listening and right relationship, and closing reading.

Groups are scheduled for different days of the week in various locations and at different times, and normally meet eight times. Interested persons are encouraged to identify accessibility concerns (including assisted listening devices or allergies) to Mike Roy so we can address these concerns to the best of our ability. Pre-registration is required. Participants are notified of details before sessions begin. Register on Sunday or by calling the office at 233-9897. These five new groups will begin in February and March 2010, including a new “Green SGM” facilitated by Green Sanctuary Chair Bev Prager.

Start Dates/Locations:

1. Monday evenings (7:00-9:00 pm), February 22, Farmington - Facilitator Bev Prager, Hosts Janice & David Newton - This “Green SGM” will focus its readings and reflections on “living green.” Specially selected readings include passages from Henry David Thoreau, the Northwest Earth Institute, “Mindful Eating” by Jan Chozen Bays, MD, and the collection of essays in “Less is More: Embracing Simplicity for a Healthy Planet, a Caring Economy and Lasting Happiness.”

2. Tuesday evenings (7:00-9:00 pm), March 2, West Hartford - Facilitator Heather Ferguson-Hull, Host Betsy Mahaffey

3. Thursday evenings (7:00-9:00 pm), March 18, Hartford - Facilitator Carol Davidson, Host Bruce Robbins - This Mini-SGM is limited to four sessions, with the option for more sessions at the group’s discretion.

4. Friday evenings (5:30-8:00 pm), March 19, USH Meeting House - This Family-Friendly group is open to everyone, but will especially accommodate adult members and friends with younger children. Format changes are:
   • Six meetings, instead of the usual eight
   • Dinner of pizza and salad for adults and kids,       costs shared by all
    • USH provides childcare at no charge
    • Dinner from 5:30-6:30 pm; SGM from
       6:30-8:00 pm
    • Meet on Friday evening (no school next day!)
We welcome participation by parents, whether single or partnered. Both spouses or partners can choose to participate, or just one spouse or partner may participate. Facilitated by Hugh Schweitzer.

5. Wednesday afternoons (2:00-4:00 pm), March 3, West Hartford - Facilitator Esther McKone, Host Linda Ericson-Ebel

For more info, contact Mike Roy (860 561-4061), Michaelroy25(at symbol)comcast.net

Timeless and Urgent - All the choir’s music is stored in the music room, appropriately named “Bellows.” Each folder or file drawer includes information about past performances we’ve done. As I look at each Sunday selection, I muse over the times we’ve sung it in the past. Some of these musings are particularly striking.

Daniel Pinkham was the music director of historic King’s Chapel in Boston, actively from 1958 until 2000 and subsequently Emeritus. His death in 2006 was a deep loss to the entire music community, as he was a prolific and versatile composer, and to UU music in particular. “Come, love we God” sets a text from 1611 which quickly tells the story of the birth of the baby in Bethlehem and the visit by the three kings. It ends: They turn’d again full merrily, Each came unto his own country. They had heaven’s bliss at their ending, The which God grant us old and young. This piece looks back at Christmastime, and forward to our own “ending,” and the hope for “heaven’s bliss.” The text and the wish are timeless; the need for solace is immediate.

The organ music in this service is by Johann Sebastian Bach, whose timeless music is considered by many (including me) to be the greatest the world has ever known. These selections echo that same idea of extending the message of Christmas to today and throughout the entire year, every year.

For this mid-January service, our baritone soloist Miguel Vasquez takes the solo on a choral piece by Jeff Fuller and Mike Glick. “Dissatisfied” sets words by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I first learned this song as a member of Bread and Roses, a Hartford women’s singing group. I brought it to the USH Choir in 1989, and we’ve sung it a few times since then. The song says, “Today we are still challenged to be dissatisfied….The words he proclaimed still hold the truth for now; We’ve got to find a way to make his dream come true somehow.”

Every time I sing or direct this song, I’m struck by the truth of Dr. King’s words, and also by the “same old, same old” status where his dream is still unrealized. Yet it is the USH community, the tireless work of Shai Cassell, the Kembles, and so many others, including our ministers, that continue to give me hope for my grandson and his world. Dr. King’s message was both timeless and urgent. It is my hope that the music we bring to our services transmits both beautiful quality, which is timeless, and the urgently needed truths that speak to our hearts.- Mattie Banzhaf

What Else is Happening

Special Thanks - Thank you to all of you who helped with the reception for Charles Huntington's memorial service and to those whose offer to help will be used at a future occasion. Your response was overwhelming. It just shows that by working together we can offering caring and loving support to members of our community. We are extremely grateful. - Joan, Louise, Nancy and Janice

Donate your old gold and silver jewelry or gold and silver household items that you no longer want and are cluttering your life. Donate them to USH and we will turn them into cash for the General Fund. Just drop your unwanted items off in the box in the lobby. - Lisa Sementilli

Callings Support Group Continues – The Callings Support Group continues to meet at noon this Sunday and on the 2nd Sunday each month through May.

We are looking for those people who have a calling, think they have a calling, or don't know what their calling is, but want to investigate the matter. If you have struggled to bring greater satisfaction and fulfillment into your life, this is the perfect opportunity for you! Please contact Zean Gassmann (zeanzuber(at symbol)gmail.com) before the group's next meeting on January 10th to let him know you are interested. - Zean Gassmann

Family Potluck Supper and Games Night - Come along and enjoy a meal and a game with us. It’s January 29 in our Fellowship Hall. Arrive 5:00 - ish. Dinner 5:30 - 6:30 Games to begin around 6:30 after clean-up. Our Family Friendly Small Group Ministry participants will join us for the potluck supper and will then go to their own gathering and we will then let the games begin.

Bring a dish to share, a beverage, and your favorite game. All this for $5 for families and $2 for an individual. You can sign up and pay at the Programs Table during Coffee Hour; it helps us with set-up. Or just come with potluck… we’ll make room at the table for you. - Carol Davidson

Small Dinner Parties - In 2010 Small Dinner Parties will be on February 6, March 6 and April 17. With advance notice, a substitute can be found if the registrant must miss a date.

The purpose of these Dinner Parties is social comradery among new and old members of USH. Six to ten adults are randomly assigned in different groupings for each dinner. The host furnishes the entrée, beverage and bread. Guests are assigned to bring appetizers, salad, side dish or dessert.

Not everyone can host, but to meet the need for hosts, registrants whose homes can seat six are asked to offer to host one dinner.

Registrations will be taken in Fellowship Hall during Coffee Hour on January 10, 17 and 24. Fee is $2.00 per household for paper/mailing expenses.

Registration Deadline: January 24.

DATES: February 6, March 6, and April 17
FEE: $2.00
CONTACT: Marion Kelliher, 286-2740.

Adult Programs - Stop by the Programs Table during coffee on Sunday, January 10, to register for Small Dinner Parties (more) and the Family Potluck Supper and Games Night, January 29 (more). The complete listing of the Winter/Spring Programs for Adults and Families will be available later in January.

Other programs in January to take note of:

Our Chosen Faith, Wednesday, January 13 and 27, 7:00 PM. This ongoing class, led by Rev. Jamestone, is open to all. members, friends, and newcomers. The book A Chosen Faith by John A Buehrens and Forrest Church, may be purchased at the Programs Table or through the office. ($16)

Compassionate Communication Practice Group, Thursday, January 14 and 28, 6:00-8:00 PM. This group will meet bi-monthly to practice the principles of Nonviolent Communication as well as to give and receive empathy using the NVC process. Please discuss your needs with Joshua Schreier, 860-305-4381, Schreier.joshua(at symbol)gmail.com.

NEW Food, Inc., Sunday, January 24, 12:00 noon. This documentary film Food, Inc. provides a critical look at the industrialized nature of our country's food supply. It explores the relationship between how our food is produced and human health, workers' rights, animal welfare, and other issues. Award winning filmmaker Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) present how complicated the U.S. food system has become in the last few decades.

Nonviolent Communication Practice Group, most Wednesdays, 7:15 - 9:00 PM. This group welcomes anyone who has taken an introduction class, or has read the book, "Non-Violent Communication, A Language of Life", by Marshall Rosenberg, or equivalent book introducing the elements of NVC. For more information, contact facilitator Jan Bennett at 860-693-4479, chair_clinic(at symbol)juno.com.

Benefits of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
Monday, February 1
6:30 – 8:30 PM - Unitarian Meeting House - 50 Bloomfield Avenue - Hartford

Facilitator: Jean Esther, MSW
Open to:     Beginning & Experienced Meditators
Suggested Donation: $15 per registrant

In this world of change, we encounter life as it is, which is often not how we wish it to be. In response, we can sometimes find ourselves and others falling short of our expectations, resulting in chronic stress and dissatisfaction. In this two-hour session we will learn about and practice mindfulness meditation, a simple skill that can alleviate stress and access a greater level of calm in our lives.

Jean Esther has been:
·      training in meditation practices since 1975
·      practicing Vipassana meditation since 1982
·      teaching at Insight Meditation Center of                 Pioneer Valley
·      teaching at Smith College
·      an analyst practicing in Northampton MA for 29         years

Register:
Please pre-register to ensure sufficient seating for all.

Programs Table in Fellowship Hall on Sundays Call Office during business hours 860-233-9897 Cash, check or credit cards (pdf flyer) - Margaret Leicach

Caring Network - Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore! Dream! Discover! - Mark Twain - If you know of any member experiencing some difficulty, please contact Diana Heymann, Chair of the Caring Network heydiana(at symbol) comcast.net 860.461.0908 or call the office so we can provide some assistance. A wide range of community services is also available to those in need by calling InfoLine at 211. Please contact Diana if you are able to volunteer your services.

Further Down The Road (About 30 Days)

Social Justice Journeys (From the UUA) And from USH

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Green Topics - Did You Know? - You can send your used Christmas cards to be recycled to: St. Jude's Ranch for Children

Recycled Card Program
100 St. Jude's Street - Boulder City, NV 89005
877-977-SJRC (7572)

On the Calendar - Please notify Brian Mullen of all additions or changes to the calendar. Follow this link to all our scheduled events

A Matter of Opinion

(Feel free to send along your own thoughts about Charles)

Our Finest Hour - Our Unitarian Society of Hartford community lived its finest hour recently as we reacted with shock and grief to the death of our leader and friend, Charles Huntington. As I participated in the silent memorial gathering on December 29, and then Charles’s memorial service on Saturday, January 2, I saw my own feelings of overwhelming sadness and loss reflected in your faces and moist eyes.

At the memorial service, I was touched by the tenderness with which Maya reached out and stroked her mom’s face as Susan stood at the pulpit, struggling with her tears. That sight, which I will carry with me until my own death, is one that would not have been available to me had I not been a member of this community.

The numbers of us who turned out in Charles’s memory reflect not only his strength as a leader, but also our strength as we mourn the loss of one of that community’s pillars , united in grief even as we heard Susan’s revelation that Charles had been a closet shoe fetishist. That turnout also reflects the numbers of us who, even in this dark economic time, reached into our thinning wallets to avert staff furloughs and disasters in our music program.

If such an untimely loss had befallen a different member of our community, we all know that Charles would have been there in body if he had been able. He was with us in spirit that afternoon, though, strongly alive in our memories and hearts.
Bless you all for the support that makes us the loving community that we are. - Diane Cadrain

Poem
~ 12/29/09, after the USH gathering to grieve the sudden death of Charles Huntington,
-written through the heart of leona mae page for Wil, Maya, and Susan

I thought the love was
all the aching
oozing
impossible
messiness

all the biting
bubbling
snapping
wrongness.

But the love is
the together that comes
to surround the impossible messiness,
the quiet that contradicts
all the biting snapping wrongness ,
the hug
that holds all of it,
and the breath
that somehow holds all of us.

i love you.

External Events and Educational Notes

Real Problems Demand Leadership:
January 6, 2010

The Connecticut economy was spiraling downward before the current recession. It will continue to do so after it is over unless our elected leaders enact fundamental structural changes in state government. Certainly there are immediate, short-term challenges that must be addressed: Current revenues are not meeting expectations by as much as $600 million and multibillion-dollar deficits are predicted through 2014. - Josh Pawalek UUS:E (The complete article while this link remains accurate can be viewed )