USH-Enews for March 20, 2008 Print Only Edition

Home Page for the website of the Unitarian Society of Hartford.
Word Version of this document in color with photographs, which will print nicely for those who use Microsoft Word.
Link to various "normal" newsletters.

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 the web 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 - Services at 9 & 11 AM

Sunday - 23 March - Easter: A Spring Hilaritas - Wear your most creative Easter bonnet to either of our intergenerational services in celebration of springtime and the renewal of life! During moments of reflection, we will explore those things that impede our full experience of resurrection, and will continue encouraging each other in ‘rolling away the stones’ which ‘entomb’ our spirits. - Rev. Jamestone

Music - The Children's and Adult Choirs join together for our Easter service in singing Tom Schmutzler's "Psalm 150" at 11. "Day By Day" is a popular song from the musical "Godspell" that gets a rocking treatment
by the adult choir. On the Postlude our favorite jazz pianist Walter Gwardyak is joined by a drummer friend and by our baritone soloist Tony Nasto playing trombone. Who knew we had such jazz powerhouses in our midst? Join the jazz "When the Saints Go Marching In"!

REflections on Children's Programming
Intergenerational Service
On Sunday, March 23rd we will celebrate Easter with an intergenerational service. Please join us in your most creative and festive Easter bonnet! There will be no regular classes held.

Coming of Age
There will be no COA class this Sunday, March 23rd. Classes will resume on Sunday, March 30th at 10 AM.

Fourth & Fifth Grade Field Trip
The Fourth and Fifth grade class will be traveling to the Humane Society on March 30th to deliver our donation of more than $100 raised at the bake sale! Permission slips can be obtained from Gail by emailing dre@ushartford.com.

From the Editor: We frequently say we stand on the shoulders of those who came before. This is surely true and well illustrated in the life of Dick Morton. Kayla has written a nice summary of a productive life including significant contributions to the USH community over many years. The "baton" has been passed to you to carry forward.

This Week’s Feature Articles

Stewardship Update
Easter Bonnets!
Past Contributors to USH Success remembered
Now is the Time
Charrette Begins Collective Thought Process
Kira's Ski Trip
USH-Noah Webster Partnership Project Off to a Great Start

photo

A Message from the Stewardship Folks:

First Stewardship Update -- Great News! - As you know, because of our terrific success last year, we need only ask for an increase this year to cover inflation and fair salary increases for our great staff. We need an average 7% increase to meet our goal of $350,000 for the coming year.

We ask everyone who's not already giving your fair share of at least 2% of gross income to get to that level, and everyone who is to increase your pledge by at least 7% if possible. Since we know that
some people won't be able to do that, we ask everyone who can to increase their pledge a little more.

We received 68 pledges at Bringing in the Green, and by Tuesday of this week we were already up to 120 total pledges. Better yet, 88% of all pledgers at Bringing in the Green, and 2/3 of all pledgers so far, have increased their pledges significantly from last year, almost all by 7% or more (in some cases much more -- up to 200% and beyond)! In fact, the overall AVERAGE increase in renewing pledges so far has been 13% -- a terrific show of support and commitment to our community. We're up to total pledges of over $263,000 towards our goal of $350,000 -- well over two-thirds of the way. If everyone else pledges at this pace, we'll meet our goal, but if you don't, we won't!

If you missed Bringing in the Green, you should have already received your pledge card in the mail. Please return it his week, following the example of your friends who have already pledged, and give all that your heart allows. - Joe Rubin

Easter Bonnets! by Rev BJ

photo

In the South we UUs typically do Norbert Capek's Flower Festival as our Easter Tradition. No matter how early Easter falls on the calendar, there are flowers! (I have it on good authority that the daffodils and forsythia are blooming in Alabama this week!) Since New England does not make flowers so readily available for a flower festival in March, we'll be doing that celebration later in the Spring.

Recalling those UU Easters of my past, I yearn for some meaningful tradition that we can establish at USH for ourselves and our children. Our culture celebrates Easter; on first blush it appears to be because the Christian church celebrates the resurrection of Jesus on that day. My view is that Easter continues to be a strongly celebrated cultural holiday because it captures some core human experience and emotion--the yearning for renewal, restoration, and for life to prevail over death in all the ways that can be possible in our daily lives.

Resurrection is a powerful theme in the arts....and in our own gardens every time a flower emerges from a dry brown bulb.

This year I will be continuing the ritual “rolling away the stone,” which I introduced last year. The allusion is of course to the idea that we are entombed by certain obstacles in various areas of our lives; that we are deprived of transformation and evolution into the fullness of our humanity by heavy, dark thoughts, habits, and attitudes. We will be providing stones and encouraging you and your family to identify areas of your life which you'd like to transform, to discuss what obstacles are in the way of that transformation, and to do the ritual, “Rolling away the stone,” which I introduced last year.

We are also offering everyone the opportunity to dress in a way that reflects our belief that Spring does come to light even the darkest areas of our lives. You are invited to engage creatively with your family and to wear some Easter bonnet or finery which capture the Easter theme. (What about dying your hair green.....and attaching some colored eggs.....or wearing a cotton tail? Or balancing an Easter Basket to the top of your head, or dressing like a certain flower?

Some of you will remember those new clothes you got at Easter, and some fewer of you will recall having been told WHY we got new clothes on Easter. It was all about showing outwardly the joy one felt inwardly at the triumph of life over death and making all things new, however that played itself out in the circumstances of one's own life.

The eggs were about that same pregnant promise of newness of life. You've invited on Easter Sunday, to wear a summery hat or some other bit of Spring finery as a metaphoric witness to our own faith that life and death circle together on the dancing grounds of our lives, affirming the promise of Spring and creating a powerful connection between us.

With your help, it will be something of a Spring Hilaritas (joyful celebration) this Easter, and a memory for our children to carry as they grow up (and possibly away) from the Meeting House.

Saturday March 15th Services Remember Past Contributors to USH Success - Saturday was a day that made me glad to be alive and a part of the Unitarian Society of Hartford. You might think this a strange comment to make on attending memorial services for two members of the USH but not when you consider the outpouring of love and affection that were part of the services for Richard Morton and Dr. John Bennett.

The service honoring Dick Morton began with mournful but beautiful bagpipes at 1 PM at Avery Heights, where the 93 year-old and his wife Kay lived for many years. Dick’s son, Rev. Richard Morton, a minister for 14 years, shared the pulpit with Dick’s brothers, aunts, uncles and grandchildren. Dick was known for his love of learning and asking questions; one of his favorites was, “What is the universe?”

Dick was Director of Audio Visual Education for the West Hartford school system for 35 years, where he built a film library of 5,000 films. At the USH, he served as Director of Religious Education for 17 years; he also was the Society’s ombudsman. John Stowe remembered the days when Dick was his RE teacher and, of course, he brought in movies for his class.

Ed Richardson told the attendees, “Dick was the closest thing to a saint that I’ve ever known.” Dick loved post cards. A relative remembered receiving one for a special occasion, with a note, “Please return.” Many family members, treasuring his words, saved his email messages. The service ended with a moving prayer sung by one of his grandsons accompanying himself on a guitar.

John Bennett’s service began at 11 AM at the Meeting House. Rev. BJ and John’s son-in-law, Anthony Brown, offered prayers, readings and comments. Friends and relatives told stories which offered personal insights about their relationship with this renaissance man who excelled in math, science and computer science but also owned, during the course of his 73 years, five Porsches, an Alfa Romeo and a Fiat Spyder.

During a fund-raising event at the Meeting House many years ago, John’s late wife Bessye won a magnificent quilt filled with colorful chalices, hand-made by our own Carolyn Soutter. Following Bessye’s death in 2000, John returned the quilt to the USH with a beautiful letter saying it was time for it to come home. The quilt hung on the chancel during the service. Rev. BJ said it will be returned to the Chapel and showed the attendees a new plaque honoring John and Bessye that will now hang next to it.

The service ended on an upbeat note with Kimberly Hicks’ incredible singing of “Oh Happy Day.” During the sumptuous feast following the service (I told a member of John’s family that we are also known as the Unitarian Eating House), we thumbed through a scrapbook of his life and enjoyed a video presentation of important occasions including graduations, weddings, & children's events. - By Kala Costenoble

Now is the Time - “By turning outward in service, I stepped off the hamster wheel and sat down” was how Rev. BJ described her first day as a tutor at Hartford’s Noah Webster Elementary School. It was a “miracle,” she told the congregation during last Sunday’s service, that for one wonderful hour, her mind did not leave to think, plan or organize. Instead, she was present to the “eternal now” as she tutored three small second graders and heard and felt “school life bustling around me.”

TIME was the theme for the last in Rev. BJ’s Month of Sundays services. In her opening remarks, she said, “Now is the accepted time—not tomorrow…Today is the seed time; now are the hours of work; tomorrow comes the harvest.”

During the weekly “A Time for All Ages,” she asked the kids sitting with her on the chancel floor, “How do we decide what we’re gong to do next?” The answers she sought included looking to others and thinking about what is the next right thing, as people and as a church.

Rev. BJ reminded us that UUs have a long and proud history both of turning inward with intellectual and spiritual pursuits and turning outward to honor those who need help. In an historical aside, she talked about Joseph Priestly, scientist, teacher, philosopher, who dissented with the Church of England, came to America and was one of the founders of the first UU congregations in America (in Philadelphia). He believed in tolerance and equal rights for all.

There is a connection between outreach and spirituality, Rev. BJ said. Our outreach to the world is what we do with what we’ve created. She urged members of the congregation to join the Noah Webster partnership with five other area congregations.

Bill LaPorte-Bryan, chair of the USH Social Justice Council, was home sick and unable to give his scheduled Testimonial on tutoring at Noah Webster. Instead, it was read by Shai Cassell. Bill wrote that school has become a major focus of his life and he had been wondering how to connect us and another social service organization. He became a tutor at Noah Webster and urges others to get involved.

Immediately following the service, members learned some specifics about the Noah Webster partnership, supported by the Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice (GHICEJ). The opportunities include morning tutoring at Noah Webster School, after-school tutoring at First Church of the Living God (across the street from the school), mentoring and sharing career skills by visiting a classroom and talking with the students about your work.

Dee Cole, principal of Noah Webster, explained her school and her goals using words and slides. “Every single moment has to be a learning experience for our children,” she insisted. UU members who sign up to become tutors will be given a structured training program and all the necessary material for tutoring in reading. There are 611 students in the school, which goes from kindergarten through eighth grade. Noah Webster has been a magnet school for the past five years; its theme is a Micro Society.

This involves a mini-society created by students, student-run ventures and agencies (such as a bank, a post office, a museum) and an emphasis on real-world learning opportunities.

Dawn Anderson, a member of the First Church of the Living God, explained that her church has offered after-school tutoring to give kids a place to go. Some kids, she said, have no one at home and need the homework help, the snack they get and someone to talk to and listen to them. “Without us, they have no future,” she concluded. - Kayla Costenoble

Charrette Begins Collective Thought Process - by Kelly Lyman and BJ

On Sunday afternoon, March 9, more than 50 members of the Unitarian Society of Hartford came together to envision the future.

Using a process known as a “charrette,” the participants spent several hours considering why USH was important in their lives and what they hope to see here in the future. Working in small groups, a monthly calendar of events was developed. These calendars describe Sunday programming, worship details, and suggest “a month of activities.”

The Council on Spiritual Life (COSL) will continue to work with these calendars with the help of both charrette participants and a variety of sub-councils to advise BJ and the Board on direction for our community. The work done on this afternoon provides direction as we continue to grow and expand our programs while maintaining meaningful worship experiences.

Members of the Council on Spiritual Life would like to thank the 50+ members of the congregation who joined us in this exciting afternoon of imagining the future. Look for more details about this work and other research conducted by the COSL that will help set direction for the Unitarian Society of Hartford. - Kelly Lyman

And more through BJ's pen: - Calling All Ears - What a grand time we had at the Charette on Sunday the 9th. Many thanks to all who planned and participated in the creation of those dreamy perfect month long calendars I saw!

On March 25, the Charette production team will be meeting to look over their findings and determine how to bring them together so that lots of folks can see the results.

If you attended the Charette and would like to continue feeling that fabulous energy and excitement about our future together, please plan to attend this meeting on March 25 at 5:30 PM at the Meeting House. If is likely that you heard some comment which didn't make it to newsprint, which we'd like to capture! (If you missed the Charette, and want to be part of organizing and analyzing things we learned, you're welcome to attend as well!) - BJ

Kira's Ski Trip - On a bright, sunny, Saturday morning, the Youth Group along with Denise and several other adult volunteers, piled into an assortment of cars and minivans and left the Meeting House for an overnight trip to the Otis Ridge Ski area.

Although this is an annual event for the group, it was my first time making the trip, so I didn’t really know what to expect. The drive didn’t take as long as I thought it would and we arrived at the ski area before lunch. The scenery was just spectacular on the mountain and we were all excited to get skiing. Since I hadn’t been skiing for a while, I decided to take a lesson and start out on the smaller slope. Several others in the group made the same decision. It was really fun getting back on skis and I felt like I was able to pick up where I had left off.

We spent most of the afternoon either on the slopes or taking snack breaks in the lodge. At the end of the day, it was time for us to head off to our cabin, it had been snowing pretty heavily for some time by the time we left and I was wondering if it was snowing back at home.

On one of my last runs of the afternoon, Denise and I went up on the ski lift and on the way down we saw some old cabins that, lets just say, “had seen better days.” Denise told me that those were similar to the cabins we were going to be staying in, and I thought, “oh she must be exaggerating.” Well the second we arrived at the cabin, I figured out that she wasn’t! The cabin turned out to be a lot more “rustic” than I had expected. The bunk mattresses were a little rusty (especially not great for me since I had forgotten a sleeping bag!), a bathroom sink leaked, the dishes needed to be washed before we could use them, and there were signs that some mice thought of the place as home. After dinner, the idea of going out for some evening skiing sounded more appealing than sitting around the cabin so a bunch of us got our gear on and headed back outside. Skiing at night turned out to be a lot of fun.

After a while of frustrating jigsaw puzzle, singing, and saxophone, some of us went to sleep, while others stayed downstairs and didn’t get to sleep until 5:00 AM.

The next morning when we looked outside, it looked like a blizzard had fallen overnight. The people in the cars managed to dig out and start off for home, but those of us in the 2 minivans, found ourselves stuck in the snow! We had to wait for what seemed like hours (back at the cabin), until a snowplow came, and even then we still had a lot of trouble. We were lucky that cells phones worked up there, so we were all able to call our parents and let them know about the delay. We were finally able to get out and on the road and I arrived home mid afternoon—tired, hungry, glad to be back, but happy that I had made the trip.

It was a great way to get to know more of the other kids and chaperones. We had a tear jerking talk about the people who have impacted our lives, we had fun cleaning and cooking, we had fun skiing and snow boarding, and most of all we had fun bonding together. I would definitely go on the trip again, but next year I’ll remember to bring a sleeping bag and pillow! - Kira Philips

USH-Noah Webster Partnership Project Off to a Great Start - Many USH members and friends stayed for a very informative session after last Sunday's 11AM service to hear about the new USH-Noah Webster Partnership Project (ideas for an acronym, anyone?). Principal Dee Cole narrated a very helpful slide show illustrating the many ways that our congregation can get involved and how NWS is such a vibrant school with endless possibilities. USH members and friends came through in flying colors with thirteen people signing up to volunteer!!

Volunteers will be contacted individually in the coming weeks to find out more about how they want to contribute and to place them in the appropriate activity.

Bill Laporte-Bryan will be the the Coordinator of the Volunteers for the USH-Noah Webster Partnership Project. If you haven't already signed up or just want more information, please contact Bill at billlb@ushartford.org or you can also call him at (860) 953-0192. - Shai Cassell

What Else is Happening & Announcements

B&G Needs You! The Building and Grounds group will be happy if you will join them this Saturday, 22 March 9 AM -12 for a general cleanup of the Meeting House grounds. Give Ed Sax a call at 286-9688 if you can attend as that will help with the planning, and come anyway if you are not sure prior to Saturday. And plan to return for the evening program. See next..

The Re-Education of George W. Bush : No President Left Behind. It is a terrific opportunity when the Performing Arts group is able to bring remarkable programs to our Meeting House. Among the advantages are known location, parking available and familiar facilities. Come this Saturday March 22nd to enjoy this remarkable show. Tickets will be available at the door More - Background discussion

photo

Easter Plants - Various cheerful Spring plants will be purchased for display in our chancel on Easter Sunday, March 23. They will then be distributed to friends who are part of our community but unable to attend services. If you would like to help purchase these plants, you may write a check to “USH”, marked “Easter plants” and get it to the office by Thursday, March 20. Thank you for your participation.

Board Meeting Minutes for March are available.

What Would Universal Health Care Look Like? - On March 29, 9 AM to 3:30 PM, join CT clergy, political and medical leadership at the Unitarian Society of New Haven in Hamden for a day of education and action. Our system is broken and CT is ready for a change. We have collective power to fix it. What could Universal Health Care look like and how can we get there?

Keynote address by Juan Figueroa, head of the Universal Healthcare Foundation. (He and his family came to USH prior to his moving away.) Registration forms on display boards in Fellowship Hall, or at the coffee table. Join us for carpools. More Joan Kemble

The Children Need You! - Last week on Palm Sunday we were introduced to the idea of tutoring at the Noah Webster school. Across the street from Noah Webster is the First Church of God, and they are running an after school tutoring program. A group of hard working kids walk across the street to First Church of God's Basement for a healthy snack and help with homework until their parents can come and pick them up.

The program is run by a volunteer staff and they are currently in need of:

1. more volunteers - this is a good chance for folks interested in tutoring but are not particularly alert at 8:30 AM.
2. bookshelves, their "library" is a room with boxes upon boxes of books.
3. afternoon snacks.

For more information on how to help contact Jen Cook at jenc00k(at symbol)mac.com (the ohs are zeros, C-zero-zero-K, if you write ohs a nice lady in Kansas gets the e-mail) or Shai Cassell at shaileen(at symbol)sbcglobal.net

Bring in Those Food Contributions

photo

- Recently food donations have been skimpy: hunger is not a seasonal condition. Try to bring one food item each Sunday for each person who comes to USH. You can still issue a check to USH (memo line Horace Bushnell Food Pantry) and the donation will be matched. Questions? ask Peter Magistri or Kembles

Sisterhood at its Best - – sponsored by the Unitarian Alliance Ministry for Women

Sunday, April 6 at 1:00 PM come to Fellowship Hall and see the film, Strangers in Good Company. Bring a sandwich or buy soup during coffee hour and then stay to experience this touching and extraordinary film. This is also a chance for you to mingle with women in our Society who support the UAMW and its many programs. No charge. Bring a friend. We will supply the popcorn.

Film synopsis: "Strangers in Good Company" is charming, cheerful, and poignant, all thanks to a wonderful octet of mostly octogenarians who have never acted before. Eight elderly women are stranded at a deserted farmhouse when their bus breaks down in the wilderness. They have only their wits, their memories, and eventually some roasted frogs' legs, to sustain them. Through the long days and nights this remarkable group of strangers share their life stories and exchange intimate thoughts; turning the crisis into a magical time of humor and spirit.

With its non-professional actors and spontaneous dialogue, this memorable film dissolves the barrier between fiction and reality, weaving a heartwarming tale of friendship and courage.

"Picking up the Pieces" is the title of the UU-UNO spring conference April 3-5 in NYC. More

Attention All You Closet Artists - A group show will be on display in Fellowship Hall from April 6 to 27. Up to two original framed, two-dimensional works by any member, 18 or older, may be dropped off in the church office between 9:30 AM and 3:00 PM on March 29 and 31, or following the service on Sunday, March 30. More

From the Adult Programs Sub-Council: There will not be a Programs Table this Sunday. If you would like to register for the following programs, you may call the office at 233-9897. Please note, coming in April, the return of recent pulpit guest, Ellison Findly.

photo

Sunday After-Service Program, April 6, 1-3 PM. Unitarian Alliance of Ministry to Women (UAMW) invites all women in the USH community to a showing of "Strangers in Good Company". There is no fee nor is reservation necessary.

Friday Dinner and Movie, April 11. Join others for a friendly movie night including a catered candlelight dinner, dessert, and coffee. The featured movie will be "Avenue Montaigne." Registration required.

Working with Nonviolence: The Ethical Traditions of Gandhi and the Dalai Lama in the Modern World, Three Tuesdays, April 15, 22, 29, 7-9 PM. Ellison Findly will discuss traditional systems of non-violence in Asian cultures as well as their influences from sources in the West, such as the Bible and the writings of Tolstoy and Thoreau. Discussions will follow on how these systems of non-violence apply to the contemporary world. Registration required.
Ellison Findly, a professor at Trinity College, teaches religions of Asia, Hinduism, Buddhism, and traditions of non-violence. She was a pulpit guest last June when she spoke to us about "The Practice of Compassion."

Caring Network - Live your life so that your children can tell their grandchildren that you not only stood for something wonderful - you acted on it.- by Don Zadra

- You are the ears of the Caring Network. Diana Heymann is the Chair of the Caring Network. Please tell Diana (heydiana(at symbol)comcast.net) 860.461.0908, or call the office when you learn of any of our members enduring the stresses of life so we can reach out to those in need. - Offer your services. A wide range of community services are available to help you. Call InfoLine at 211.

Further Down The Road (About 30 Days)

Is anyone interested in having a lot of fun on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 15? Yes, of course you are! More

On the Calendar

Thursday, March 20
9:30 am International Women’s Circle, Fellowship Hall

Friday, March 21
1:00 pm Transitional Group, Library

Saturday, March 22
9:00 am Work Day, Building and Grounds
10:30 am Rental, Chapel
7:30 pm “The Re-Education of George W. Bush”, UPA Presentation, Sanctuary

Sunday, March 23, EASTER SUNDAY
8:00 am Music Rehearsal, Chapel
9:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, CHAPEL
10:00 am Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
10:00 am Children’s & Youth Choirs, Chapel
10:00 am Chancel Arts Sub-council, Library
11:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
12:00 pm Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
3:00 pm Rental, Chapel, then Fellowship Hall

Monday, March 24
7:00 pm NVC 4, Emerson

Tuesday, March 25
5:30 pm Council on Spiritual Life, Library
7:00 pm Concert Pro Femina Choral Rehearsal, Sanctuary
8:00 pm AA, Fellowship Hall

Wednesday, March 26
5:15 pm Tai Chi for Health, Fellowship Hall
6:00 pm Dharma Gathering, Emerson
6:30 pm Tai Chi, Fellowship Hall
7:30 pm Choir rehearsal, Sanctuary
7:30 pm NVC practice group, Emerson

Thursday, March 27
7:00 pm BTWWDA, Fellowship Hall

Friday, March 28
7:00 pm Hartford Sound Alliance, Sanctuary

Saturday, March 29
9:00 am UU Conference on Universal Health Care in CT,
Unitarian Society of New Haven, Hamden
12:00 pm Composers Workshop, Sanctuary
2:00 pm Local Composers Concert, Sanctuary
7:30 pm Concert Pro Femina - 8th Annual Women Composers’ Concert, Sanctuary

Sunday, March 30
8:00 am Music Rehearsal, Sanctuary
9:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, CHAPEL
9:30 am Great Decisions, Library
10:00 am Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
10:00 am Coming of Age, Fuller
10:00 am Council on Social Justice, Murray
10:00 am Youth Choir, Chapel
11:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
12:00 pm Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
1:00 pm The Secular Mind, Library
3:00 pm Rental, Chapel, then Fellowship Hall

Italicized entries are non-USH events.
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

Getting to Know the Lay Listeners

photo

Kayla Costenoble (And here we leave the photo background, the history of USH, to which Kayla regularly contributes through these pages - DCN)

Earl and I joined the USH in 1976, which makes me the senior member of the Lay Listeners team. Now retired, we both volunteer daily at Rawson School in Hartford, helping elementary kids with math. My USH activities over these many years include serving as secretary to the council (twice), producing the monthly Meetinghouse Messenger for four years, serving as co-chair of the Comfort Shawl Ministry, becoming addicted to small group ministry, and reporting on sermons, special programs and interesting events for USH publications.

BJ's initial description of what she wanted/needed in a Lay Listeners team immediately appealed to me. it gives me a chance to listen to and learn from church people, and also gives me the opportunity to re-connect with members and friends with whom I have been out of touch.

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's a movie that I saw last month at the First Baptist Church of West Hartford called, "Working the Land". It's produced by what seems to be a collaborative effort by the CT Farm Bureau, CT Humanities Council and a couple of other organizations. It's a great movie describing the various CT farms still in existence and gives a history of farming in CT.

I was amazed to learn that this state was the biggest supplier of food and provisions for the Revolutionary Army and that for many years we sent our agricultural products to the Caribbean. The movie shows the various farms that still exist in our state and what efforts are being made to preserve them from development. I'm sure our parishioners would thoroughly enjoy this film. I went to the library to see if they had it and it's not on their list. There's a web-site and guess what, to my surprise, yours truly is in the film buying veggies from a farm stand in Simsbury. - Helen Michaels

Did You Know? - Earlier today I was listening to an oil company executive talking about the cost of gasoline. He noted, we have the lowest price gas in the world in constant dollars. Today we spend less a proportion of our household budgets on motor fuel than previous generations.

So, what have we done? We moved further from work, decided to drive low mileage SUVs and build far larger houses, apparently with very large mortgages.

Think about it. - DCN

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