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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 For February 22, 2007
Jump to: Calendar; What's happening; A matter of opinion; External events; Further down the road; Our roots; The bottom Line
The 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. And, to read the monthly Meetinghouse Messenger (newsletter) on line, or past issues of the weekly USH-Enews click here.
Office hours: M-F 9-3 (excluding W 10 -11); Rev. Jamestone: Phone: 860 233-9897; Email: RevBJ@USHartford.com - Rev. BJ office hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday by appointment.
Worshipping Together Since 1830
Services held at 9 and 11 AMSunday- 25 – Feb. Money and the Meaning of Life - In the introduction to his book, Money and the Meaning of Life, beloved philosopher Jacob Needleman, writes, “The true measure of someone may be taken by how they handle, sex, time, and money.” Let’s start with money, and Needleman’s notion that it makes our lives hell, because we give it, not too much importance, but too little.
Music: - We celebrate the new year’s energy with a pair of energetic anthems:
Giuseppe Pitoni's "Cantate Domino" (Sing a new song) and Randall Thompson's "Glory to God."RE: Classes will be held in their usual classroom locations this week.
WANT TO GET INVOLVED WITH OUR YOUTH? In a week and a half, on Saturday, March 3rd, our very own our Meeting House will be the site of the 11th annual UU Middle School Rally for the Clara Barton District. Over two dozen youth from our Middle School class have registered for this terrific event and we need two additional adult chaperones to ensure we have the appropriate complement of adults to youth attendees.
Spending the day with our teens will be both enlightening and energizing. The Rally runs from 9 AM and to 4 PM. Everything has been planned...all you just need to do is join in. Youth from around Connecticut and Massachusetts are coming together for worship, fun activities and fellowship. Interested? Contact Nina Binin or Laurie Kelliher to learn more.
What Else is Happening & AnnouncementsConcert of Organ Music This Friday Feb. 23rd More Information
On Saturday, February 24, there will be simultaneous town meetings in CT to oppose the war at 2 PM. Check www.ctcow.org for your town's location (especially if you are in Bloomfield). If your town is not listed, sign up to organize a meeting (see also the New Britain Event noted under External Events)
Find out what a local group can do to end the war. Organize your town to attend the 3/17 anti-war rally in Hartford. Connect with other towns via a conference call.UUSC Works in New Orleans, This Sunday, February 25, at 12:30 PM in the chapel. Come to hear Joan Kemble speak about her volunteering experience with the
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, an independent human rights organization. The program, offered to the USH community by the Adult Programs Committee and co-sponsored by the Council on Social Justice, is free and open to all. People staying after services for the talk may want to bring a brown bag lunch to eat before the program.
UUSC volunteer Elandria Williams (right) of Powell, Tenn., helps load cleaning supplies at the Resurrection of Our Lord School in New Orleans. With her is a member of the school's staff. (Photo by Nikki Rivera/UUSC) (Nikki Rivera/UUSC)
Joan will speak about her experiences of heart and hand in New Orleans at 12:30 PM on Sunday, Feb. 25, in the USH Chapel.The UUSC website describes the week-long camp as one of two JustWorks camps the UUSC is organizing this winter to help make the Gulf Coast area more livable. The UUSC has operated more than 40 JustWorks camps across the United States since 1996 as short-term projects that help volunteers examine and understand the root causes and damaging effects of injustice.
One goal of the New Orleans work camp was for participants to go home and spread the word about the needs they saw in New Orleans. According to one of the program coordinators, “Things are going great. . . People here are happy to see us. . . .Right after the holidays they felt like they’d been forgotten.” Some people think New Orleaneans are reasonably settled by now, but that’s not the case. “We’re just starting to get into the repair stage now,” she said. “There will be much more to do.”
Save the Date: SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 1 PM
Drumming – a way to move in harmony with our heartbeats?
Drumming – a way to make a joyful noise in this universe?
Drumming – a way to externalize internal stress?
Drumming – a way to pull together the musical traditions of the ages, of diverse cultures?
Drumming – a happy program on Sunday, March 4, at 1 PM in Fellowship Hall at USH!
Free and open to all, this program is a way for adults, children, teens, families, and “children of all ages” to experience the uplifting fun of drumming together. It’s an interactive intergenerational event.
Leading us will be Alvin Carter Sr., also known as Abu, who has been involved with conga drums for over 45 years, developing a personal style he calls Afro-Caribbean. Abu has taught his style of drumming at the S.A.N.D. Everywhere School, the Artist’s Collective, and the Charter Oak Cultural Center. He has performed and lectured at schools, churches, libraries, community centers, and colleges statewide. Abu, having originated the name, is a founding member of People Of Good Will.
In the past, when he and his wife Joyce were raising their now–grown children Jeremy and Sarana in the USH religious programs, he presented drumming programs at USH in the sanctuary and in Fellowship Hall. And he’s agreed to this return engagement!
For a small cost, soup and pb&j sandwich makings will be available in Fellowship Hall after the second service; you could also bring a brown bag lunch from home to eat during the coffee hour. Bring your rattles and percussives, too!
We will have cookies and milk after this free 1 PM program. This is the third presentation in a new free series offered this year to the USH community by the USH Women’s Alliance.Performing Arts Presents "Doin' Time"- - at the Unitarian Meeting House presenting two performances Saturday on March 10th (At 2 PM and 7:30 PM) of West Hartford-resident Peterson Toscano's one-man comedy "Doin' Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House - How I Survived the Ex-Gay Movement." Toscano has recently been featured in the NY Times, Hartford Courant, People Magazine, and Wall St. Journal. Toscano, a gay man, had spent 17 years and over $30,000 receiving ex-gay therapy designed to make him straight. He weaves together humor and outrageous eyewitness accounts to form a piece that is hilarious and inspirational. See for yourself if our hero comes OUT alive! (Poster-Flyer)
Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, $10 for students. For tickets and information, call (860) 233-9897.
Save the Date!! Saturday Evening March 17 “Bringing in the Green” - Did you know
they are going to name the boilers? March will usher in Spring’s warmth and light and also the “greening” of the Meeting House with our 2007-08 Annual Stewardship drive. Look for many surprises during the month (Beware of people in large green hats!) and be sure to come to the main event at the Meeting House on St. Patrick’s Night. We will celebrate “Bringing in the Green” as we are treated to a musical biography of BJ, sample decadent desserts, and pledge our financial support. See you there!!
Living on $4 A Day? February 28 - Did you RSVP? More Information
Adult Programs: Registrations will be taken during the coffee hours on Sunday until 12:30 PM. The Winter - Spring Programs catalog is available online under adult programs along with a PDF registration form. You may also register for programs by calling the office at 233-9897. Payment can be made with credit card, check, or cash.
Ember Days, Session 1, Wednesday, February 28, 12-2 PM, Friday, March 2 and Saturday, March 3, 6-8 PM. Rev. BJ will facilitate these contemplative gatherings that include spiritual exercises and time for personal introspection in silence. The theme will be "Hunger". No fee, but please register on Sunday or by calling the office at 233-9897.
Coming soon:
Friday Dinner and Movie, March 9, featuring Capote (see below).
UU Questions, Tuesday, March 6 and 20, 6:30 - 8:30 PM.
Tai Chi, 8 Wednesdays, starting March 7, 6:30 - 7:30 PM.
An Amazing Journey - The Universe and Me! 6 Thursdays, starting March 22, 7:00 - 9:00 PM.“Capote” is the story of how Truman Capote researched and wrote In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences, about the murder of a Kansas farm family in 1959. Capote claimed to have created a new type of book, the nonfiction novel by applying traditional literary conventions to crime reporting.
The movie will be shown on Friday, March 9, as part of the Friday Dinner and a Movie series at USH. The menu features shepherd’s pie, but vegetarians may request a veg entrée when making reservations. Reservations may be made until Monday, March 5, through the registration table during coffee hours in Fellowship Hall or by calling the USH office.
The evening begins at 5:30 with libations and popcorn, dinner at 6, and the movie on large screened TV at 7, with optional discussion afterwards. We will likely discuss reactions to Capote’s identification and friendship with the alleged murderers. “Quietly dazzles not just as a character study of the immensely complex author but also as a fascinating look at the relationship between a writer and his subject”, according to a review in the Des Moines Register.
Caring Network: Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. - Anonymous - You are the ears of the Caring Network. Tell Janice Newton 677-1121 when you learn of our members enduring the stresses of life so we can reach out to those in need. - Offer your services. An infinite range of community services are available to help you. Call InfoLine at 211.Thursday, February 22
10:00 am International Women’s Circle, Fellowship Hall
Friday, February 23 7:30 pm Vaughn Mauren Organ Recital w/Anhared Stowe, SanctuarySaturday, February 24
10:00 am The Way Ministries, Chapel
10:00 am - 12:00 noon Six Healing Sounds Workshop, Channing
1:00 – 3:30 pm Feldenkrais Workshop, ChanningSunday, February 25
8:00 am Music Rehearsal, Chapel
9:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, CHAPEL
10:00 am Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
10:00 am Children’s Choir, Chapel
10:00 am Great Decisions, Library
10:00 am Disabilities, Channing
10:15 am Music Rehearsal, Sanctuary
10:30 am Chalice Choir, Emerson11:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
12:00 pm Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
12:15 pm "C" Cubed, Minister's Study
12:30 pm “The UUSC in New Orleans”, ChapelMonday, February 26
1:00 pm Farmington Valley Home Educators, Library/David’s Den
6:30 pm SIA, Murray
7:00 pm Pathways SGM, LibraryTuesday, February 27
8:30 am ICEJ, Library
7:30 pm Less Than Ten, Chapel
8:00 pm AA, Fellowship HallWednesday, February 28
12:00 pm Ember Days, Chapel
6:00 pm Tai Chi, Fellowship Hall
7:30 pm Choir, SanctuaryThursday, March 1
6:30 pm Stewardship, ServetusFriday, March 2
6:00 pm Ember Days, ChapelSaturday, March 3
9:00 am CBD Middle School Rally, Various
5:30 pm UU Singles, Library
6:00 pm Ember Days, ChapelSunday, March 4
8:00 am Music Rehearsal, Chapel9:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, CHAPEL
10:00 am Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
10:00 am Children’s Choir, Chapel
10:00 am Great Decisions, Library
10:00 am Growth & Renewal Task Force, Murray
10:00 am Youth Soup Making, Kitchen
10:15 am Music Rehearsal, Sanctuary
10:30 am Chalice Choir, Emerson
11:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
12:00 pm Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
12:15 pm "C" Cubed, Minister's Study
1:00 pm Women’s Alliance Family Event, Fellowship HallTo get on the calendar, call 233.9897
Further Down The Road (About 30 Days Max)
My Sister's Place Volunteers Needed for Upcoming Shelter Move - We could sure use your help!!! We will be moving our shelter to our Pliny Street address, so we will need packers, cleaners, and painters. If you are available any day between March 16 through March 26, please contact Celia Tvrdik at 860 549-1634, extension 30.
Clara Barton District Spring Conference April 14th 2007 More Information
From the Editor:
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This Week’s Feature ArticlesIn Fellowship Hall last Sunday, 75 people viewed "An Inconvenient Truth" with great interest. When introducing the movie, Virginia deLima urged the audience not to believe global warming is too large a problem for them to influence. While we can't all afford to buy new energy-efficient cars, small life style changes by everyone will have an important impact. Many tips were listed on handouts from various sources.
After the film, Peter Magistri described a survey he and two others have designed to help CT towns assess their energy use and ways they can conserve energy.
Peter's presentation was followed by the appearance of Roger Smith, of the Connecticut Climate Coalition. Roger described his organization's efforts to get CT citizens to promote laws to reduce vehicle pollution from diesel vehicles and power plants, and to create strong consumer efficiency programs for use of heating oil and natural gas. Individual states, like CT, which is a leader, are developing programs which will serve as models and impetus for the Federal government to take a much more active role to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.
We need to reduce global warming by about 80% by 2050 to avoid dangerous global warming.
An appropriate follow-up on the above program is a USH program, "An Amazing Journey - The Universe and Me". It is described on page 12 of the new catalog of USH programs: It will involve discussions about the evolution of the universe, based especially on the writings of Brian Swimme, Thomas Berry, and Michael Dowd, Thursday at 7 PM., March 22 through April 26. For more information, contact Marye Gail Harrison, 860-242-4716, maryegailh(at symbol) comcast.net - Marion Kelliher
February 18 – A Very Busy Sunday at the Meeting House - It was a come-early-stay-late day at the Meeting House last Sunday. Your faithful correspondent arrived there a little before 10 AM and left a little after 3:30 PM. Here’s some of what went on during all those hours.
Great Decisions: 10 to 11 AM - UU member Virginia deLima, director of the U.S. Geological Survey Connecticut Water Science Center, led a discussion on Global Warming for the third session of this eight-week discussion group. Great Decisions has been going on at the USH for some 25 years; many of its members have been enjoying these discussions for almost that long. Virginia emphasized the need to take a long-term view of global warming, the need to make conscious decisions about how we use energy and to think about the consequences of our actions. Coming up during the discussion were gas mileage, SUVs, individuals, industry, coal, emissions, carbon dioxide, thermostats, air conditioning and nuclear energy.
Guest Speaker: 11 am to noon - Margaret Steinegger-Keyser, Lead Organizer of the Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice (GHICEJ) and Director of the Center for Conflict Transformation in Hartford, spoke on what is required to build a social justice movement. In her native country South Africa, she said, they speak of “standing in a man’s feet” (rather than in his shoes), and this makes life more uncomfortable and more complicated. For any social justice movement to be successful, she maintained, we must stand with one another, rather than one above another. We have to examine and name our self-made barriers. Getting to know hearts and souls is what builds a social justice movement.
“Our humanity is tied up with each other,” Ms. Steinegger-Keyser suggested. She said there is a contrast between our western culture—where we see a problem and we want to fix it—and some other cultures which, when approaching a problem, say “I don’t know the answer but can we jointly look for an answer?” A social justice movement, she said, is “nourished by a strong foundation of relationships.” These relationships must be built with those closest to the problem. “People in power and privilege have to understand the lives of others.” She also maintained that we “need a shift in economic power for social justice to be effective.”
Ms. Steinegger-Keyser was also a pulpit guest at the USH on November 28, 2004. During that service, she said she created the Center for Conflict Transformation after the shocking shooting of an African American teenager in Connecticut in 1999. It is important, she said, for us to recognize how divided the Hartford area and surrounding communities are. She echoed this sentiment in last Sunday’s message.
USH Public Policies Task Force Meeting: noon to 1 PM - Members of this relatively new task force continued their discussion on how the congregation might take a stand on public issues. This involves making controversial decisions after creating a safe environment in which to do so.
Pizza, Brownies and Soda: noon to 1 PM - Members of the Society’s Youth Group helped raise money for their causes by helping assuage the hunger of those waiting for the 1 PM movie. Good stuff—just forget the calories and enjoy.
Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth Movie: 1 PM to 2:30 PM
Our own Virginia deLima was back, to introduce the showing of the Gore movie on global warming and talk about the discussion to follow it. Mr. Gore began his movie by saying, “I’ve been trying to tell this story for a long time and I feel I haven’t gotten the message across.” He acknowledged that he had given his slide show “at least 1000 times.” In talking about making what he feels are necessary changes he said “We have everything we need except, perhaps, political will. But political will is a renewable resource.” He concluded his presentation with, “Global warming is different from any problem we’ve ever had before…It concerns our ability to live on planet earth.”
Post-Movie Discussion: 2:30 on - Peter Magistri and his “Less Than Ten” - USH member Peter Magistri described a 21-question survey he and two friends (hence the name of the group) have developed for all Connecticut towns. Concerned that our “towns don’t talk to each other,” this survey is designed to raise awareness about common problems, he said.. So far, town officials in Windsor, West Hartford and Farmington have completed the survey. Peter said surveys should be conducted by persons living in each town and, by the end of Sunday’s meeting, he had volunteers from Society members for 13 more towns.
Roger Smith, Coordinator, - Connecticut Climate Coalition - said Connecticut has a comprehensive plan to reduce global warming by reducing emissions from power plants, supporting mass transit, reducing diesel soot, increasing energy efficiency, using less heating oil and natural gas, and increasing the use of alternate fuel sources such as wind and solar.
The Climate Coalition is an umbrella organization for more than 90 groups. A report/critique issued this month warned that the state’s strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2010, and lower than 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 will fall short of its state-mandated goal unless fully implemented soon.- Kayla Costenoble
A Matter of Opinion: (space for comment on USH issues from members and friends) - Editor retains the right to make minor changes – letters should be issue oriented)
There has been some good discussion regarding incorporating a "Joys and Sorrows" segment into our Sunday services. Some have responded strongly, others have expressed a variety of beliefs and opinions. I'd like to set out some of what I hoped for when I served on the Worship Sub-Council. The idea is to incorporate an opportunity to share joys and sorrows during the Sunday service -- its frequency, format, manner and style yet to be determined. The idea is to integrate this important spiritual experience into the Sunday service, not to exorcise it, segregate it and put it someplace else, physically or symbolically.
Without a recent history of this practice in our congregation some may wonder, Why do we need to communicate our joys and sorrows to others? After all, the Unitarian spiritual experience is uniquely individual -- a spiritual journey for each of us that emanates from within. That we share some important things in our lives with our spiritual brethren on a Sunday, however, deepens our Unitarian religious experience in a way not dissimilar to other components of our Sunday service. For example: why do we sing hymns together? Why do we read our Covenant aloud? Why do we sing the children off to their classes as a congregation?
Having experienced joys and sorrows opportunities as a member, friend or visiting guest at many Unitarian congregations across the country I know it is and can be a meaningful spiritual and religious experience. It certainly has been for me.
There are some logistical issues to be addressed: One is, where do we put it in the service? Sunday service is at its maximum length, so something would need to be replaced. And secondly, there is a danger that providing an "open mike" allows for verbal expansiveness which none of us wants to see; or hear. To address the latter I am proposing, to Worship Sub-Council, in conjunction with others interested in implementing a workable solution, one possible means to avoid that; we will see if it receives some traction.
I'm sure we can proceed forward to develop a way to incorporate a joys and sorrows segment of some type -- again, yet to be determined -- and expand the reach of our Sunday religious experiences.
Peace, - Richard Roznoy
External Events and Educational Notes
New Britain Opposes the War - Town Meeting February 24, 2007 - 2:00 PM- 3:30 PM - South Church (Cooper Hall) 90 Main Street, New Britain, CT - Free parking in garage across the street. More information call 860.796.2398
Sweet Honey in the Rock March 8 moreThe Humanist Association of CT will be trying to hold some of its monthly dinners in Hartford over the next few months. more
A Few Words About Our Roots From The Book, Hartford Unitarianism 1844 -1994 by Freeman Meyer: Rev. Jon Luopa
The story we have attempted to tell is worthy of preservation as we prepare to move into the next century. But it is equally useful to remember that, in Jon Luopa's words. "to live exclusively in the past is to live without hope. If life is to be meaningful we must live for the future."
The Bottom Line - Did You Know?
From our 06-07 BudgetClara Barton District Payments $4,794
UUA Fair Share $14,946
Employee Insurances $22,710
Snow removal: $5,500
Electricity: $8,340
Natural gas: $21,500
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 Hartford
Let us know of any comments, errors and corrections - thanks (revised 02/22/07)
