USH-Enews for November 29, 2007 Print Only Edition

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The November 18 intergenerational Thanksgiving service at the USH got off to a rollicking start with the Children's Choir belting out "Rock-a My Soul." (Photo by Anne Bailey)

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.

Sunday - 2 December - Moments that Change our Lives – Three moments that transformed my life. What can be spiritual about such moments for all of us? - Al Herzog.

Al is a longtime members of USH, is retired from his position as VP/Medical Affairs at Hartford Hospital and is a practicing psychiatrist/psychotherapist. His special interest is long term, intensive psychotherapy.

Music - The Connecticut Baroque Ensemble provides the music for this service about “unexpected moments.” Our Music Director, Mattie Banzhaf, joins flutist, Lauren Skau, and viola da gambist, Laura Mazza-Dixon, in a trio sonata by Jean-Baptiste Loeillet, a multi-talented performer and composer of the French Baroque. His charming music is quite different from our usual musical fare. Mattie will be playing piano, but some day she’ll be able to play harpsichord with this group when the instrument is ready.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service - Please join us in the Chapel on December 24th at 10 PM for a reverential, contemplative Christmas Eve service. Candlelight, participatory traditional carol singing, and the Christmas story will complete this lovely worship. In lieu of a monetary offering, please bring a nonperishable food item to donate to the Horace Bushnell Food Pantry.

Council Chair Quarterly Reports are available as submitted to the Board. Read about the activities of the Councils on Administration, Community Within, Social Justice and Spiritual Life. Glasnost or open government, a goal of USH only needs your participation as minutes, financial documents and written reports and posted on the web for your knowledge.

USH Sponsors Andrew Millard - USH member Andrew Millard moved to Denver in 2006 to begin his studies to become a UU minister at the Iliff School of Theology. For those who are working toward becoming a minister, there is a “fellowshipping process.” It involves a number of steps and requirements for the candidate working with the Ministerial Fellowship Committee and the UUA Department of Ministry.

One of the requirements is sponsorship of the candidate by a UU congregation. The purpose of this requirement is to help ensure familiarity of new UU ministers with UU congregational life, and to encourage congregations to take a responsible role in the recruitment, preparation and assessment of future ministers.

Andrew has requested sponsorship and the USH Board of Directors has agreed to sponsor him as a candidate for fellowship in the UU ministry.

We are honored to work with Andrew, supporting his development and that of a strong professional UU ministry. - Bill Young, President

Close to twenty of us, from kids to elders, gathered last Sunday evening for Hanging of the Greens. We first made sprays and decorated the Sanctuary creating the festive look and woodsy aroma that will greet you at the next service. Many hands made the decorating project go quickly, after which we gathered in the Meditation room for a service that BJ conducted honoring earth-centered traditions.

Readings and hymns were followed by a Celtic ritual in which we moved from dark to light to hilarity: after snuffing the lights and candles, we were free to explore and express dark areas in our lives, impediments to our effectiveness. With lights back on, we moved next to the joys in our lives, and then finally to expressing our dreams, even our wildest dreams. We ended on a high note and feeling of community - and a sense of looking forward. Wonderful stuff! It was a memorable evening. - Word-of-mouth will no doubt draw a larger group next year. - Anne Bailey

Social Justice Action and Advocacy - On October 30, Bill LaPorte-Bryan led the Council on Social Justice in a meeting with BJ and the Committee on Ministry. The group enjoyed many comments about Halloween costumes – allowing some tricks and treats, but only with complete Unitarian dignity.

Bill introduced the business part of the meeting with an illustrated diagram showing that social justice, informed by spiritual commitment, may be seen as both action and advocacy within the congregation and externally in the rest of the world. There is a close connection between the internal and external information and advocacy tasks.

BJ affirmed our commitment to create a SJ program, which will nourish us as persons, as a congregation, and be of service in the world and a witness to our faith. We seek some way to have our SJ actions emerge organically from our identity as members of USH, our spiritual commitment, and church community.

--How to determine the interests of the congregation, the discretionary time actually available in our generally 'maxed out' lives? How many of our congregants are involved with social justice issues outside of USH? Some educational 'talk back' type congregational gatherings may do the trick.

--How to nurture, encourage, and support the individual interests of our SJ team, should the congregation opt for programs other than the ones currently available? This could be a treat.

--How to determine the viability for ICEJ or CCC for ongoing USH financial commitment?

--we might be a model for our sister churches regarding a mental health ministry,

--the Noah Webster school could conceivably be "the time and place" where most of our members and most of our SJ advocates could find a service niche,

--a “Celebration of Family” after services could enhance our awareness of 'family'; most importantly provide lunch; AND be a fun and intergeneration community building event.

-- a vision for a vibrant LGBT program which includes gay and straight members, that furthers this justice cause, and that draws folk to our church family.

It was fitting that we adjourned just a few hours before Halloween day. - John Clapp 11/19/2007

The Peaceful Purple Gratitude Game - Speak peace for a complaint-free Society. Coming soon, a game for all of us to play to focus on gratitude for the blessings that this Meeting House Society has for each of us.

We'll have purple dots to wear and to stick everywhere to awaken our memories of the blessings of the moment. We'll have purple stretchy wristbands to wear to remind us to speak two gratitudes before one complaint. We can switch them on our wrists whenever we remember. What would such a congregation-wide spiritual practice of gratitude look like?

Stay tuned for the arrival of our purple game pieces and more details! We could have them as soon as this Sunday.

Aging Gracefully - a resource guide to aging issues for USH members, family, and friends, has been compiled by
the Aging Resource Ministry (ARM) of the Caring Network. This guide lists numerous Federal, State, and Local services available to Seniors as well as practical
advice on how and when to seek advice.

In addition, The Guide continues to be available in print - call the Meeting House Administrative Assistant, Rosie Rindfleisch (860-233-9897), or Diana Heyman (860-461-0908 )of the Caring Network for a copy.

USH Thanksgiving Service - The November 18 intergenerational Thanksgiving service at the USH got off to a rollicking start with the Children’s Choir belting out Rock-a My Soul. The hour was a potpourri of old and new.

Beloved and traditional Thanksgiving songs ('We Sing Now Together" and "Come, Ye Thankful People") gave a sense of rightness. Plus, of course, what Thanksgiving service would be complete without “our” Tom Schmutlzer’s "For Wondrous Things" (and our annual welcome to Kermit frogs and faded jeans)?

The offering benefited the Bushnell Children’s Food Pantry, and what better time of year to give food to those who need it? The Food Pantry began in 1972, and the USH has been a major contributor for many years. Its mission has been expanded to include seniors and others in need. Sunday’s collection earned $1,107 for the organization.

In the “new” column was the introduction and commissioning of 15 members of the Society as the new Meeting House Lay Listeners. Their mission is to reach out and offer empathy and support to fellow church members. The Lay Listeners are Kayla Costenoble, Helen David, Carol Davidson, Katherine Doyle, Ron Friedman, Misha Hardison, Diana Heymann, Geralyn Laut, Esther McKone, Leona Mae Page, Betty Palmer, Paul Quin, Bruce Robbins, Julie Smith and Amanda Zymroz.

There were lots of members lighting candles of memory and hope as they, in the words of Rev. BJ, “remember those who once shared Thanksgiving with us in love.”

During her homily, Rev. BJ posed several questions for members to ponder: Were we made to be thankful? Or were we trained and encouraged to express the sacred? What are you thankful for? What makes life more wonderful for you here? What if we developed the spiritual practice of gratitude at the Meeting House?

What if we made this a complaint-free Meeting House?

Rev. BJ reminded her congregation that, as privileged persons, we live in a country which allows us the autonomy to actualize ourselves. We have the capacity to live well and should be thankful that we can reap the benefits of life. Rev. BJ announced that “this pulpit is my strategic post in my war against poverty and in serving others.” She said there are moments when we know “we were created to be more grateful.” - Kayla Costenoble

Photo

On Thanksgiving Day at the Meeting House, about 27 happy folk dined on turkey with all the accoutrements, including a surfeit of vegetables and plethora of pies.

Participants were aged from nine to 90s, including USH members and friends with their guests from out of town, out of state, and also several foreign students from Hartford Seminary.

Before the sumptuous banquet (pot luck, buffet style), host Ron Friedman carved the two 20 lb turkeys. Rev BJ gave a reading and led a moment of meditation as all stood in a circle prior to eating. There was even a shrimp cocktail first course, traditionally provided by one of the TG regulars. The hall and tables were festively decorated. And, there was sufficient food so everyone could take some home for a midnight snack. - Nita Hansen

On the Calendar
Thursday, November 29
7:00 pm NVC II, Emerson
7:00 PM SGM Steering Committee, Library

Friday, November 30
Festival of the Season set up, building wide

Saturday, December 1
3:00 – 5:00 pm Festival of the Season Crafts and Coffee House, upper level
5:30 pm Festival Worship Service, Sanctuary
6:00 - 7:30 pm Festival of the Season Dinner (fee plus food dish), Fellowship Hall

Sunday, December 2
8:00 am Music Rehearsal, Chapel
9:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, CHAPEL
10:00 am Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
10:00 am Youth Soup Making, Kitchen
11:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
12:00 pm Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
1:00 pm School of the Americas Watch, Fellowship Hall
2:00 pm Collin Baby Dedication, Chapel, Library
3:00 pm Rental, Chapel

Monday, December 3
6:00 pm Worship Arts Sub-council, Ballou
6:30 pm Survivors of Incest Anonymous, Fuller
7:00 pm Artist’s Way, Servetus
7:00 pm SGM Creativity, Murray

Tuesday, December 4
6:00 pm Info & Advocacy Sub-council potluck & mtg, Library
6:00 pm Volunteer coordination, Minister’s Study
7:00 pm RE Sub-council, Servetus
8:00 pm AA, Fellowship Hall

Wednesday, December 5
6:00 pm Dharma Gathering, Emerson
6:30 pm Tai Chi, Fellowship Hall
7:30 pm Choir rehearsal, Fern St Universalist Church
7:30 pm NVC I practice group, Emerson

Thursday, December 6
9:30 am International Women’s Circle, Fellowship Hall
7:00 pm Nonviolent Communication II, Emerson

Friday, December 7
6:00 pm Welcoming Congregation Sub-council, Library

Saturday, December 8
10:00 am Rental, Chapel
Evening Circle Dinners, var. sites

Sunday, December 9
8:00 am Music Rehearsal, Sanctuary
9:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
10:00 am Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
10:00 am Building and Grounds, Murray
10:00 am Comfort Shawl, Lower Lobby
10:00 am Youth Choir, Chapel
10:30 am Children’s Choir, Chapel
11:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
12:00 pm Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
3:00 pm Rental, Chapel

Italicized entries are non-USH events. - Please notify Brian Mullen (233.9897) of all additions or changes to the calendar. More general calendar information covering several months may be found here

Thank you to Karl Peters for designing and providing our "Attitude of Gratitude" stickers to remind us of our many blessings!

Holiday Poinsettias - As is our custom, we will don our chancel with poinsettias for our holiday services on December 23. Many of these plants will be delivered to members of our community who are unable to come to the Meeting House. You may sponsor a plant for this purpose, or for your own use! Place a check in the offering basket, or send to the office, for $10 per plant payable to “USH” and clearly marked “POINS.” Let us know if you plan to personally pick up your plant following the 11:00 AM service on the 23rd and we will put your name on it!

The Giving Tree - welcomes hats and mittens and GIFTS, oh my! This year you will find WISHES on the tree. Please take one or more and return the ornament with your unwrapped gift by December 16th. These gifts of love will be delivered by Traci Hardison, Misha Hardison, and Eric Gatlin to My Sister's Place, a shelter for battered women and their children in Hartford.

The Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice (GHICEJ) invites the public to attend its Second Annual Social Justice Worship Service on November 29th at 6:30 PM at Philips Metropolitan CME Church located at 2500 Main Street in Hartford.

30th Annual Festival of the Season - This Saturday, December 1 USH will have the 30th Annual Festival of the Season. This is an intergenerational event for USH members and friends.

Beginning at 3 PM there will be various crafts and a Coffee House (offering music and light refreshments). At 5:00 Carol singing will fill the Meeting House followed by a short Worship Moment. At 6:00 PM Fellowship Hall will be filled with diners enjoying a delicious Potluck dinner, good fellowship, piano selections by Sid Garvais and, of course, John Stowe’s legendary rendition of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

If you have not purchased your tickets, come anyway, we want you to join us – just bring potluck food and buy your ticket when you arrive! Tickets for the dinner - $5.00 individual and $15 family - AND a potluck dish (the rest of the day’s events are free!).

When you join us for the Festival of the Season, please consider bringing mittens, hats, jackets, or backpacks to donate to kids who need them. Remember to bring some canned goods for the Horace Bushnell Children's Food Pantry. And, thanks!

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Did you sing with your school's a cappella group? Join our Festival of the Season Coffeehouse this Saturday, December 1st. Come sing choral arrangements, from Mel Torme's "Chestnuts Roasting..." to real madrigals such as "Sing We and Chant It"! Come make harmony together -- invite your friends too!

Want to keep singing? After the Coffeehouse (before the worship service) we'll go caroling around the ambulatory between 5:00 - 5:30. Everyone is welcome to join in! Let's make music for the season.

Come to the Coffeehouse! It's free, and it includes delicious munchies as well. Here's the lineup for this year's sensational Coffeehouse entertainment, 3:00 - 5:00 PM in the Chapel during the Festival of the Season, on Saturday, December 1st:

Is There a New Baby in Your Circle? - In recognition of the holiness of every child, names of new babies born this year into our community will be read aloud during the 4:00 PM Christmas Eve service on December 24. Please send the names of those 2007 babies precious to you and your family to Gail Syring at dre@ushartford.com, or call 233-9897 and leave the name (and spelling) at the office.

Women’s Alliance annual Holiday Bake Sale - Sunday December 9 in Fellowship Hall.

The UAMW has been busy baking delicious Pumpkin Walnut Bread and Cranberry Pecan Bread as well as Double Chocolate Biscotti and Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti. Many other goodies will be available for purchase as well - all delicious, of course!

Holiday Fun - sponsored by the UAMW: Thursday, December 13 12:00 noon wine and cheese; 12:30 luncheon.

The Unitarian Alliance Ministry to Women is sponsoring a holiday event for all women. On Thursday, Dec. 13, come to the library at noon and bring a hearty salad or dessert to share and $2 to cover the cost of wine, cheese, nibbles, coffee and tea..

Also bring TWO new greeting cards - not Christmas, but birthday, anniversary etc. - in their open envelopes. Following lunch we will have our traditional reading, The Night Before Christmas in a Liberated Household. After enjoying this favorite Christmas story, we will begin a New Tradition of sharing cards. All who participate will select two different envelopes to take home. All those who would also like to swap a Christmas ornament or decoration are invited to bring those – unwrapped – to be shared amongst ourselves. Any items not “adopted” will be donated to My Sister’s place.

But, don't forget our Old Tradition of bringing toys and supplies for the children at Interval House. Toys, games, crayons, books will be welcomed by the children (don't wrap so mothers can select items) and disposable diapers and other baby supplies will be happily received by their mothers.

This annual event has always been fun and a great opportunity to spread the holiday cheer.

Sign up sheets are on the WAMW bulletin board in Fellowship Hall and the bulletin board in the lower lobby - or you can call or email Louise Schmoll. Do sign up so we can set a place for you!

From the Adult Programs Sub-Council: Don't miss the "School of the Americas" Watch, this Sunday, December 2 at 1:00 pm in the Chapel (no registration needed). USH members Maggie Greene and Fred Louis are ardent participants in this annual November demonstration at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Stop by the registration table on Sunday following the 9 and 11 am services to register for the next Friday Dinner and Movie on December 14. The featured movie on the new big screen TV will be "The Constant Gardener".

Mark your calendars for Ember Days," Wednesday, December 19, 12:00 - 2:00 PM, Friday and Saturday, December 21, 22, 6:00 - 8:00 pm. Led by Rev. Jamestone, this second of four seasonal observances will include spiritual exercises and time for personal introspection in silence. Come to any or all of the sessions. No registration needed.

If you are interested in presenting a program during the Winter/Spring term, course proposal forms are available at the Registration Table and need to be completed by December 14 and given to Rosie or any AP member.

Caring Network - We have learned Joanne Orlando is scheduled for total knee replacement surgery on December 6th at Hartford Hospital. She expects 10-14 days of inpatient rehab thereafter and asked that we keep her in mind with positive thoughts during this holiday season.

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.

Randall Thompson’s Peaceable Kingdom - will be the featured work when the Unitarian Society of Hartford and the Universalist Church of West Hartford combine their choirs for services on Dec 9 and Dec 16, 2007. The services on 12/9 will be at USH on Bloomfield Ave in Hartford at 9 and 11 AM. On 12/16 they will be held at the Universalist Church at 433 Fern St. in West Hartford at 9 and 11 AM. More

External Events and Educational Notes

A Community Discussion on Sheff The Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice (GHICEJ) and the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN) invite the public to attend a community discussion on “SHEFF: WHAT’S IN IT FOR HARTFORD PARENTS?” a community discussion to be held December 11th at 7:00 PM to 8:30 at United Methodist Church, located at 571 Farmington Avenue in Hartford.

Registration begins at 6:30 PM and the program will start promptly at 7PM. Light refreshments will be served. Childcare is available for those who call in advance. For details about the event you can call 860.930-4278 or email: shaileen@sbcglobal.net. You can also call 860.231-9440 for information.

This is a chance for Hartford parents and others to hear some of the key players in the Sheff decision discuss various aspects of the case and its impact on the City and region. Panelists will include:

~Elizabeth Horton-Sheff, 15 year veteran of the Hartford City, Program Director of Neighborhood Services at the Community Renewal Team and Lead Plaintiff in Sheff vs. O’Neill case

~Beth Bye, Connecticut State Representative and early childhood education advocate

~Merva Jackson, Executive Director of AFCAMP, the African Caribbean American Parents of Children with Disabilities

If you do (or even if you don’t), get thee and thy family to the Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut (VRCM), which opened to the public in October in its new home in Windsor.

Three stalwart members of the Unitarian Society of Hartford have been volunteering at this 17-year-old organization for many years. Chris McClurg, Ed Sax and Gordon Horn are among those who have joined the “caravan of old radios being pushed along the sidewalk from one place to another” (EastHartfordGazette.com). That’s because the museum started in New Britain and has been located in three different places in East Hartford and two more in Windsor before it arrived at its new and permanent home at 115 Pierson Lane in Windsor.

What do you do there? According to the museum’s web site (http://www.vcrmct.org), you can “Tune radios over 80 years old, talk over candlestick telephones like your grandparents used… send a message in Morse Code…crank a phonograph and listen to 100-year-old records…see what television was like when the only color choices were black and white. Learn about the telegraph, telephone, mechanical sound recording, wireless telegraphy, radio and television, and the seeds of computers, satellite communications and the internet.”

As with any move of a museum, it is in need of visitors, income and word of mouth publicity. USH members and friends, this is a great place to teach children and refresh adult memories. Take a virtual tour right now!

What do Chris, Ed and Gordon do there? Chris has spent the past couple of years on the Radio Museum’s Board, and has been treasurer, bookkeeper, docent and general contractor for the new location. Once, before one of the museum’s many moves, he developed a huge computer spread sheet to inventory everything in the museum. Although he recently resigned his “official” positions, Chris hopes “to hang out at VCRM on my own schedule.”

Ed Sax’s association with the museum goes back to 1995, after its move from New Britain to East Hartford, but his fascination about the mysteries of radio tubes and sets goes back to his Boston childhood. As an adolescent, he had his own radio repair business. Ed has been a steady Thursday volunteer since 1995.

One of the USH’s more recent members, Gordon brought his BC (before Connecticut) knowledge and talent as an amateur (HAM radio operator to the museum. In the four years since he moved to Windsor, he has recruited eight helpers at the museum and built a amateur radio station there. He also helps restore old equipment, cleans, and paints bathrooms. His wife Clara also volunteers at the museum and serves as a docent on Fridays and Saturdays.

To learn more, get directions or ask questions, please call the Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut at 683-2903 or visit their web site at www.vrcmct.org. - Kayla Costenoble

Further Down The Road (About 30 Days)

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