USH-Enews September 2, 2010 Print Only Edition

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.

Sunday 5 September: Poetry Sunday - Poetry: the Skeleton of Religion - Join Rev. BJ and musician, Mark Child, as they combine talents for our annual USH worship tradition of Poetry Sunday, celebrated on the Sunday before Labor Day. Mark sings from texts by great contemporary poets, Emily Dickenson, James Agee, Robert Hillyer and from older works of Romain Bussine (1830-1899) and Samuel Daniel (1562-1619). BJ explores poetry that gives form to the body of religion, and shares a few poems of her own.

Summer Program: Final Week - This Sunday, September 5th will be the last week of our Green Crafting: Protect the Environment while Having Fun! program. We will end the summer with Sit-Upon Making. Come join us to create your own portable seat for camping and outdoor play. Children ages three and up are invited to classroom D downstairs for this creative project!

Nursery Care is available downstairs as well.

Religious Education Registration

All children from nursery through youth group need to register for the Religious Education program. Please check your email this week for the opportunity to update your family information and register your children and youth for classes. If you have questions or are new to the program, please contact Gail at: dre@ushartford.com.

Classroom Clean Up Project

The Religious Education season begins on September 19th, and we need help setting up the classrooms to be ready for our children and youth. Please join the Religious Education Sub-Council on Saturday, September 4th at 10 AM to assist with this project. Children are welcome to join their parents and help in the classrooms.

Give Small Group Ministry a Try! - Registration for Small Group Ministry starts next week, and we urge you to “give it a try.” Registration will begin on Thursday, September 9th. You may register at that time by calling (860.677.1121) or emailing (dcnewton(at sign)snet.net) Janice Newton or registering at the Programs Table during Coffee Hour beginning on Sunday, September 12. Please do not call the Office to register.

Participation gives you opportunities to make new friends and to deepen relationships with old friends. More importantly, perhaps, Small Group Ministry gives you a chance to get to know yourself better. As we explore eight different topics, you get a chance to reflect on the life you have been living. You may find yourself celebrating the choices you have made. Or you may find yourself identifying areas where you would like some changes. No matter what you find yourself saying about a topic, you can be sure of one thing: You will be listened to. You will listen to yourself and what you choose to say. And you will find a circle of attentive people practicing their best listening skills while you talk.

In the past we have explored delightful places we’ve known and our relationship with nature, our childhood memories of coming home from school and our favorite teachers. We’ve talked about what we need from life and great surges of joy we have felt. We’ve explored shifting our perspective and saving the world. We’ve focused on loving kindness and our own greediness for life.

This fall we promise you eight readings to engage you and invite your personal reflection. If you choose the Creativity SGM, there will be four readings on creativity and four sessions of creative work. If you choose the Faith SGM, you will be able to share reflections on faith and belief, on knowing and not knowing. We keep the exact topics a secret until the SGM sessions start, because past participants have told us they like to be surprised. Join us and be surprised—in good ways! - Bev Spence

Music for September 2010 - After a varied summer of music provided by our Associate Music Director, Mark Child, including wonderful offerings of singing, violin and viola as well as piano and organ, the Chancel Choir will resume with its own blend of variety. Music Director Mattie Banzhaf has some new music in store plus many favorites. Note: The Choir welcomes new members who love to sing, to improve their singing, to explore lots of musical styles . . . and to eat!

We’ll start the new Choir season as always with a Potluck dinner in Fellowship Hall the Wednesday after Labor Day, September 8th at 6:15 PM. We invite all basses, tenors, altos and sopranos to join us. Share some delicious foods and try out our spirited music-making afterwards as we sing through some of the fall’s anthems.

Sept. 12– For Ingathering Sunday, we reprise a welcoming anthem. Several Chancel Choir members traveled to Argentina this summer with a Hartford-based interfaith chorus named Vallis Musicae. Vallis’s favorite encore is “Come Travel With Me” by California composer Scott Farthing, to a text inspired by Walt Whitman, and we’ve adopted this anthem. What a spirited way to begin the musical year, and what a good metaphor for our USH life together.

Sept. 19 – For this 3rd Sunday of the month, our Cantor Melissa Paul leads congregational singing and presents her own beautiful solo offering. The Choir is off.

Sept. 26 –In honor of the High Holy Days, the Chancel Choir sings a pair of anthems from the Jewish liturgical tradition. “Samachti B’omrim Li” is a beautiful setting of Psalm 122 by Cantor Charles Osborne, a graduate of the Hartt College of Music. “Set me as a seal upon thy heart” is a simple melody by Elliot Z. Levine of the vocal ensemble “Western Wind.” This setting from the Song of Songs can be sung chorally or as several types of rounds. Bring your courage – we may invite the congregation to join the singing!

Cool Music on a Summer Night was the latest roaring success at the Meeting House. Our former Section Leaders John Jesensky and Katie LaPorta enlisted their family (as performers) and friends (as part of the audience) in creating a magnificent musical mélange that raised the roof…or at least raised a sizeable sum in support of the USH Music Program, specifically paying the modest salaries of our Section Leaders.

Katie, who also served as our Children’s Music Director for several years, was a glorious soprano while singing on our chancel. Now, after a year of vocal study in New York City, she’s even better! She has grown so much in technique, vocal beauty and musical artistry that she’ll soon be auditioning for the Met! It’s hard to believe that this vocal superstar was our very own soprano Section Leader for four wonderful years.

John, our former organist, pianist and Music Associate, masterfully and modestly accompanied Katie and her twin sister Megan, and then let loose with his own versions of classic rock by Elton John and others. John used his familiarity with the Meeting House’s Austin/Walker organ by playing a duet with himself: pre-programmed organ and live piano. He started cleverly: he'd recorded some organ chords using the organ's MIDI ability with which he was very familiar. John sat at the organ, the organ music started, then after a bit he got up, went to the piano and played along with it. Everyone thought Katie must be playing, but no, he revealed the MIDI trick and the audience felt "in on the secret." That piece segued into The Beatles’s “Hey Jude,” with audience participation. He ended with Billy Joel’s “Piano Man,” complete with harmonica. In this he got the audience to sing along even more solidly: in fact, the piano dropped out leaving only singing – 80 people singing along together! This is BJ's dream for Sunday services, and John proved it is possible if the song is familiar enough and the folks in the pews feel comfortable.

But first, the vocal fireworks showed both Katie’s thrilling pyrotechnics and her sister Megan’s ability to move and inspire through beautiful singing. The music was spectacular. One famous coloratura aria after another electrified the listeners: Bernstein’s "Glitter & Be Gay" from Candide; “Caro nome” from Verdi’s Rigoletto, the amazing Doll aria from Contes d'Hoffman, the Fire aria from "L'enfant et les sortileges," Mozart’s Queen of the Night aria, & Musetta’s sweet song from Puccini’s “La Boheme.” Katie’s voice has a glorious sound, and her technique lets her hit the highest pitches in rapid-fire with astonishing accuracy...plus her acting ability and depth of feeling move us to tears.

So, Katie would sing three of these incredible coloratura virtuoso numbers, and then it was Megan's turn. How do you follow such virtuosity? Quietly Megan walked onstage and sang simple, standard songs - Over the Rainbow, You'll Never Walk Alone, I'll Walk With God. With her unforced, pretty voice and affectingly sincere delivery, rising to a heartfelt culmination, she stirred the audience just as much, and the contrast deepened - Mattie Banzhaf

Building and Grounds Schedules Workday - This Saturday, September 4th ( if serious rain, reschedule date 9/11)

Small Dinner Parties - Fall dates: Oct. 16, Nov. 13, and Dec. 11.

The purpose of these Dinner Parties is social camaraderie 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.

With advance notice, a substitute can be found if the registrant must miss a date. Also, we will try to accommodate anyone who is handicapped.

Not everyone can host, but we do need hosts, so participants whose homes can seat six may be asked to host one dinner.

Registrations will be taken in Fellowship Hall during Coffee Hour on September 12th , 19th , and 26th .

Dates: Oct.16th, Nov. 13th, and Dec. 11th
Fee: $2.00 per household for paper/mailing expenses.
Registration Deadline: September 26!

Adult Programs - Coming Soon:

Have you been wondering when you can sign up for Small Group Ministry, Friday Dinner and Movie, and Small Dinner Parties?

On Sunday, September 12, stop by the Programs Table in Fellowship Hall during coffee hour. You can review these and all the programs in the new 2010 Fall Programs For Adults And Families Notebooks. Questions and registrations will be taken at that time. Copies of A Chosen Faith will also be available to purchase at the Book Cart located next to the Programs Table ($16).

In September:

Ember Days - Autumnal Equinox Session, Wednesday, September 15, 12 -2 PM, Friday and Saturday, September 17 and 18, 6 - 8 PM.
Our Chosen Faith: Reflections and Dialogue on UUism, Introduction and chapters 1 and 2.
Wednesday, September 22, 7 PM.
Nonviolent Communication Practice Group, Wednesday, September 22, 7:15 - 9 PM.
Meditation and Dharma Gathering, Wednesdays ongoing, 5:45 - 7 PM.

Caring Network - Life is something like a trumpet, if you don't put anything in you won't get anything out. W. C. Handy - 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.- before 10:30 on Sunday. 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.

Women's Alliance Fall Retreat October 22- 24 Reading one Book Together - The Unitarian Alliance Ministry to Women is happy to announce its R & R weekend on October 22 - 24, returning to the Victorian retreat house called Senexet in northeastern CT. More

Rebuilding Hope - ( a documentary film about the Lost Boys of the the Sudan) will be presented by West Hartford Citizens for Peace and Justice on Tuesday, September 7 (7:00 PM) at St. James Church, 1019 Farmington Avenue, West Hartford.

In 2007 Director Jen Marlowe documented the return to Sudan of Gabriel Bol Deng, Koor Garang and Garang Mayoul to find surviving family members and help repair their war-torn homeland. A facilitated discussion will follow the movie. (Admission is free.) - Mike Winterfield

Production of Peter and the Wolf - September 19th at 4 PM Immanuel Congregational Church, 10 Woodland St., Hartford, CT. A benefit of the Hartford Catholic Worker and Camp Ahisma of the Voluntown Peace Trust. There is a poster outside of Fellowship Hall. See Joan Kemble for tickets and further information.

Columbus Day Farm Experience!
Monday October 11, 2010

A day of exploration, learning, and fun for kids ages three years old through 8th grade.

The activities planned for the day include tending to the animals and working in the gardens, a hay ride and nature hike, pumpkin art with age appropriate activities (pumpkin painting, sculpture, or carving a jack-o-lantern), a history lesson on Christopher Columbus, age appropriate stories about Halloween and Autumn, farm favorite games, and baking apple and pumpkin pies.

The day begins with drop off between 8:45-9:00am and ends with pick up at 3:30pm. Cost for the full day program is $69. Extended day is available from 7:30 am-5:00 pm. Cost for the extended day program is $15.

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.

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