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50 Bloomfield Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105
Tel: (860) 233-9897 / FAX 233-1333
Email: firstunitarian@ushartford.com
Reverend Barbara Jamestone, PhD
USH-Enews January 21, 2010
Jump to: Sunday Service; Calendar; What's Happening; Feature Articles; External Events; Further Down the Road; Social Justice Journeys; Green Topics ; A Matter of Opinion;
A Green Earth is Important to All of UsUSH-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
24 January - Sunday I am a Man--Our Human Need for Identity Part II) We continue the exploration of how real or perceived threats to our identity result in violence and how we might counter this tendency through our actions and as a religious community. More
Music this week- More
Calling all singing families, kids and parents - When kids (and parents) sing in Sunday services, people really sit up and take notice. The first kids' anthem of the year was really well received, and we began practicing a second one last fall.
"Thula Klizeo" is a great song by Joseph Shabalala, leader of Ladysmith Black Mambazo in South Africa. Shannen and Mattie are teaching the song, and we'd like to have it ready to sing in the service on Feb. 21st. We'll be working on it after Sunday services starting January 24th, and
continuing for the following three weeks. Please join us! Just come to the Chapel right after the service.
There's a place for you in the Family Choir!
Be sure to mark your calendars to attend the movie: 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.
REflections on Children's Programming
Religious Education Classes
Spirit Play: Jon Hus
Second & Third Grade: Heart Talk: Needs & Requests II
Fourth & Fifth Grade: Toolbox of Faith: Love
Sixth, Seventh & Eighth Grade: Christianity
Youth Group Activities: Discussion of Children's Literature
Gail M. Syring DRE
Things You Could Do for USH
SJ Folks Are Always Looking For Tutors, How about you?
What Else is Happening
Attention: Helpers at Huntington Memorial Service - If you missed all or some of the service honoring the memory of Charles Huntington due to fulfilling volunteer duties in other areas of the Meeting House, and if you’d like to hear the service, please contact Rev BJ to borrow an audio recording.
Kingian Non-Violence Training at USH - Rev BJ’s sermon this Sunday refers to the philosophy of “Kingian Non-violence.” Further, this will be topic for personal reflection and application at our February Ember Days (24th, 26th, 27th). Finally, if you are encouraged by these principles and steps that change is possible in our own lives and community, please consider this training, to be held Saturdays April 17 and 24 at USH.
See link to flyer for more information. - Rev. BJ
Donate - Bring your old, broken, and spare parts of silver or gold jewelry, tea sets, coins, flatware, and other items. They will be converted to support our General Fund and are not intended to replaces pledges.
Look for the box in the lobby. If you have questions or need a receipt for tax purposes (large items only please), contact Lisa Sementilli )vivalps(at symbol)comcast.net or 860.521-1220.
Join us for this movie, Food Inc., Sunday January 24, 12-2PM - All the Facts.
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. More
Hot Music on a Winter Night - Come join us for the Cabaret - and keep the Meeting House singing! January 30th 7 PM More
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. More
Adult Programs
- Sunday, January 24, Plan to bring a sandwich and/or purchase soup and stay to view the film Food, Inc. at 12:00 noon. (More)
The New Programs for Adults and Families 2010 Winter/Spring Notebooks are available for you to review on Sundays at the Programs Table. You may also see the complete listing of classes, programs, and events on the web. .
Stop by the Programs table during coffee hour to ask any questions you may have about the classes, etc. Registrations are now in progress for all of the Winter/Spring programs.
January & February offerings:
Tai Chi, a new 8 week session starting Wednesday, January 27, 6:30 - 7:30 PM.
Family Potluck Supper and Games Night, Friday, January 29. (More)
Benefits of Mindfulness in Everyday Life, Monday, February 1. (More)
Great Decisions, starting Sunday, February 7. (More)
Small Dinner Parties. (More)
Small Group Ministry. (More)Please, if at all possible, register for programs in person during coffee hours on Sundays. If you cannot register in person, please email Janice Newton dcnewton(at symbol)snet.net and note registration in the subject line, or call 860.677.1121 and leave a message (if we are not home) rather than calling the office. This procedure will be followed for all programs including Small Group Ministry. Your cooperation is deeply appreciated.
Benefits of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
Monday, February 1 - 6:30 – 8:30 PM - Unitarian Meeting House - 50 Bloomfield Avenue - Hartford More
Small Group Ministry for Spring of 2010 -
Sign up now for Small Group Ministry for this spring. Get to know other members and friends better while discussing spiritual and life topics openly and in depth. For a description of how SGM works, click here. We recently added an LGBT affinity group for LGBT folks and straight supportive friends, facilitated by Julie Smith. Register on Sunday or by calling Janice Newton at 860. 677.1121. These six new groups will begin in February and March 2010.
Start Dates/Locations:1. Monday evenings (7:00-9:00 pm), February 22, Farmington (Group is Full; sign up for waiting list) - 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 (two spaces left) - Facilitator Heather Ferguson-Hull, Host Betsy Mahaffey
3. Thursday evenings (7:00-9:00 pm), March 18, Hartford (five spaces left) - 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 (eight spaces left)- 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 (four spaces left) - Facilitator Esther McKone, Host Linda Ericson-Ebel6. Wednesday evenings (7:00-9:00 pm), March 10, Canton (seven spaces left)- Facilitator Julie Smith, Host Debbie Nardi - This SGM is an LGBT affinity group, with straight and supportive friends welcome.
Caring Network - I don't want cheese, I just want to get out of the trap. Spanish Proverb - 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)
Green Topics - Did You Know? - The food on the typical American family's dinner table has traveled an average of 1,500 miles.
From the Editor: Suggestions for Contributors.
This Week’s Feature Articles
Changes is Office Duties
Fabulous Music Event Planned
Spaces left Small Group Ministry
Music and "Keyboard Skills" at an Early Age
Mind and Feet in Gear
Math Tutor 's Testimonial
Hot Music on a Winter Night -- come to our cabaret! We are at the 20 ticket mark already, after only a week of sales. Warm up your winter with an evening of camaraderie, wine and munchies, and the hottest jazz in town. Invite your friends, support music at USH, purchase your tickets at coffee hour Sunday and enjoy a toasty evening of musical treats. Our goal is at least 100 tickets sold. Please help us make it happen! More
Mind and Feet in Gear - Pastor James Lane of Hartford’s Northend Church of Christ sought to answer a question posed to him recently by a member of his congregation—“Why is there so much disunity where I’m from (North Hartford)?”— - during his sermon at the USH on Sunday, January 17.
Pastor Lane, an active member of the Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition of Equity and Justice (GHICEJ), is a leading activist and healer in work related to youth violence and its impact on individuals and community.
In his discussion of unity (a word used often by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), Pastor Lane said we live in a world where we talk about unity quite often and we talk about what we need to do together quite often, but our minds “need to be bent by unity and our feet need to walk towards unity.”
He spoke of the “drum major instinct” which leads us to want to be in a position to benefit ourselves. The drive to be recognized is a dominant instinct; we need to be seen and heard at an advantage even when this puts someone else down. But people fear losing cherished beliefs and traditions and they fear change.
We think and talk about what needs to happen, Pastor Lane said—and as he started singing a song from his youth, You Talk Too Much, he was joined by many in the congregation who also knew the words. The song begins, “You talk about things you don’t know.” Pastor Lane suggested that the “instrument” that can tune us all together is justice.
He is currently collaborating with GHICEJ on a project known as Just Peace. This justice issue is at a grass roots level in Hartford. Those involved are looking for a common ground to “address issues of justice that affect us all,” he said. When we work together, Pastor Lane said, we learn about the people we’re working with and this leads to fellowship, kinship, and to calling each other brother and sister.
The USH has been a member of GHICEJ for more than five years. Members Bill Young, Joan Kemble and Tom Kemble serve on its Board of Directors. Reverend Josh Pawelek, senior minister of our sister church in Manchester, is currently president of the organization, which is made up of 32 faith communities in eight towns.
About a dozen members of the USH now tutor in GHICEJ’s tutoring program at Hartford’s Noah Webster School. This program has been recognized by the State Board of Education as an example of how faith-based organizations can partner with public schools. The program has been expanded to Hartford’s Rawson School and more tutors are needed. GHICEJ has also been working with clergy in the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Greater Hartford to train pastors and lay leaders to provide positive responses to urban violence and has established the Just Peace group. Pastor Lane is the immediate past president of Just Peace.
In introducing Rev. Lane and speaking of GHICEJ, Bill Young, at-large USH Board member for Social Justice, reminded the congregation that GHICEJ is primarily made up of volunteers and has a minimal staff and minimal money. Sunday’s collection will support the work of this group.
Dr. King galvanized diverse people around the cause for justice, Pastor Lane reminded the congregation. He said, “When you experience unity in diversity, it is a beautiful thing…the world won’t get any better if you just let it be.” - Kayla CostenobleMath Tutor’s Testimonial - “So what’s an old English teacher like you doing tutoring math in a Hartford elementary school?” friends from one of my former lives might justifiably ask me.
And my considered answer would be—after having done this for several years now—that it’s one of the most instantly-gratifying, enjoyable and rewarding things I have ever done.
You can find me, four out of five weekday mornings, sitting next to a bright and shining young uniform-clad boy or girl, going over and over and over again the basic addition and subtraction facts these kids need to get inside their heads so that, by the time they reach sixth or seventh grade they will have forgotten how they used to use their fingers to get the answers.
These Children Want to and Can Learn! Too many of them have not had the privilege of early learning at home. They respond wonderfully to individual attention and, as they progress, sometimes cry when they get a 97 rather than 100 on a math quiz.
Too many of these first and second graders would, without this focused individual attention, fall farther and farther behind, get lost in the crowd and end up quitting school the day they turn16.
But Earl (known throughout the Hartford school system as the “math guru”) and I are having trouble getting other folk to join us in tutoring math. Let me assure you—at this level you don’t have to be a rocket scientist; you could even be a retired English teacher. You just have to know how to count to 100, how to count backwards from 20, and how to add one more to a number. And you have to be patient.
If this has helped to persuade you to help, please give us a call at 860.243.2425 or email us at noblearl(at symbol)comcast.net. Kayla Costenoble
Music and Keyboard Skills at an Early Age - I’d warned everyone I’d be “out of touch” for a few days, hoping to do at least a little emailing, but I had no idea just how removed from normal communications I’d be this weekend. My daughter was on a 10-day business trip in Nicaragua. My son-in-law was with his brass quintet at a gig in Michigan for three of those days. That left their 2-year-old son in the willing hands of Grandma and Grandpa. Now, this was a daunting prospect, as this child doesn’t sleep well for his own parents, and I envisioned being pretty much awake for 72 hours.
As it turned out, that wasn’t an issue. Eli slept reasonably well (with the help of what seemed like dozens of bottles of milk), and he ate at least a few bites of actual food, broccoli being his favorite. We’d planned a full schedule of activities to distract him from the absence of both parents, and we had a grand time with him at the fire station, the library, the Boston Children’s Museum, and so on. All his favorite songs were on CDs. The interests of a 2-year-old are pretty basic, so a trip to the supermarket and walking in the snow were also of profound interest to him.
Unfortunately so was my laptop computer. In mere microseconds of my inattention, this little munchkin had done an effective job of e-demolition. I was able to reconstruct part of the keyboard, and I figured out work-arounds for some of the missing keys, but despite our vigilance he got back into it and removed the space bar quite effectively.I.was.able.to.send.a.few.emails.using.periods, then-some-more-using-hyphens,-andItriedafewwithoutspacesatall, but eventually it was hopeless. There’s a limit to how much I can inflict on people. So I gave up and assured myself that the world would keep spinning without my intervention.
Here’s what kept spinning musically at the Unitarian Meeting House over the weekend:
- the Sunday service incorporated a complex array of nonstandard music, all rehearsed in sequence on Sunday morning;
- preparations for our Hot Night fundraising cabaret refreshments proceeded apace, with more and more people offering to bring nibbles and brownies and wine. . . and to help set up and clean up too;
- plans for our Hot Night fundraising cabaret music continued to expand, with three of our section leaders on board and the choir excitedly developing a surprise novelty number;
- ticket sales for that Hot Night began promisingly with over 20 sold out of a goal of 100;
- the string players planned ahead for their next appearance this Sunday in spite of pneumonia and other ills;
- the singers for future non-choir Sundays continued to plan ahead;
- and our unflappable Associate Music Director Mark Child held it all together.
The service music for January 24th reunites our Meeting House string ensemble in the 8th Concerto Grosso of Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli. Violinists Ann Stowe and Ginny Allen and cellist Julie Hassler join Mark Child in performing movements from this beloved concerto. In conjunction with the sermon theme, the choir sings Purcell’s moving elegy, “Now that the sun hath veil’d his light, and bid the world goodnight.” - Mattie Banzhaf
On the Calendar - Please notify Brian Mullen of all additions or changes to the calendar. Follow this link to all our scheduled events
External Events and Educational Notes
Social Justice Journeys (From the UUA) And from USH
~ Concert for Haiti - Join the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and Choral Groups from Hartford and beyond for a benefit performance of Requiem Op. 48 Gabriel Fauré.The performance will take place on Sunday, January 24, 2010 at 3:00 PM
Immanuel Congregational Church, 10 Woodland Street, Hartford CT 06105
Admission is free.
A collection will be taken during the performance on behalf of the American Red Cross and its relief effort in Haiti. All of the people involved in the production of this concert have donated their time and talent. Please join us for a remarkable performance of a remarkable piece of music, and help us to raise funds to help the people of Haiti in their very present hour of need.
For more information, contact Voce at 860.246.8623
Nuts and Bolts: The member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association covenant to affirm and promote: the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity, and compassion in human relations; acceptance of one another and encouragement of spiritual growth in our congregations; a free and responsible search for truth and meaning; the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process, within our congregations and in society at large; the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all; respect for the interdependent web of all existence, of which we are a part.
Generally, USH-Enews will be posted on Thursday. Send email related to the USH-Enews to dcnewton at ushartford.com If you have announcements or articles you wish to be published, send them along with the subject line USH-Enews by 4:30 PM Wednesday evening. Comments are always welcome. If you wish to have your name removed from the distribution list or have learned of the electronic publication and wish to have your email address added, just ask. © Unitarian Society of HartfordLet us know of any comments, errors and corrections - thanks (revised 1/21/10 6:59 PM)
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