|
50 Bloomfield Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105
Tel: (860) 233-9897 / FAX 233-1333
Email: firstunitarian@ushartford.com
Reverend Barbara Jamestone, PhD
USH-Enews For December 28, 2006
Jump to: Calendar; What's happening; A matter of opinion; External events; Further down the road; Our roots; The bottom Line
Sunday December 24th services moved to Fellowship Hall because of a boiler failure. The space was reasonably warm, full of holiday spirit and the service was well organized and inspirational!
The USH-Enews is a weekly email newsletter sent to 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 USH-Enews click here.
MEETING HOUSE HOLIDAY OFFICE HOURS. The Meeting House office will be open through Friday, December 23, during the regular hours: Monday though Friday, 9:00 am to 3:00 PM. The office will be CLOSED during the following week Tuesday, December 26 thru Friday, December 29, and will reopen Tuesday, January 2, 2007. Happy New Year!!
Office hours: M-F 9-3 (excluding W 10 -11); Rev. Jamestone: Phone: 860 233-9897; Email: RevBJ@USHartford.com - Office hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday - Available at the noon hour and at other times by appointment.
Worshipping Together Since 1830
Services held at 9 and 11 AMSunday (Note special Time of This Service) December 31st will bring ONE service, at 10:00 AM, led by member Patrice Fitzgerald. We will hear poetry appropriate to the season, some of it written by our own accomplished poet, Marye Gail Harrison. Don’t miss this gentle, thoughtful service, which will leave you uplifted by the power of words.
Music: singers include soprano Teresa Pelham, tenor David Klotz, and bass (and sometime choir member) Paul Hansen. Music both gladsome and solemn will be presented by our ad hoc New Year’s quartet (which includes Patrice on alto).Last week John Jesensky sang, Christmas in the Trenches. We are beginning to work with sound on the web. Here is the music page. It would be a great help if most of you would try to download John's offertory presentation, an MP3 sound file.
The download take a few minutes with DSL, less for cable, and for those with dial up connections, quite a bit of time, so do it when you can walk away and let the machine chew on receiving this file for perhaps 20 minutes.
Then, let the editor (dcnewton@ushartford.com) know how this worked for you. For some, you can play the sound file on your computer. You may also place this song on your iPod or other MP3 player. I need to know how many of you can hear this selection successfully given your equipment and abilities. Do give it a try.
Now, do you like this sort of thing? Does it work for you? Is it worth the time and trouble for your editor to make such recordings and get them onto the website so you can hear them? You feedback is deeply appreciated and will guide future offerings of this nature.
What Else is Happening & Announcements
The Meetinghouse Messenger for January is now available in web and pdf format.
Collection of backpacks, suitcases and duffle bags continues. Drop them off at Sunday services. - Traci Hardison
A new display appears on the bulletin boards at the foot of north stairs giving information about the fall class of new members as well as information about staff and Board members. Thanks to Anne Bailey for this super display!
SMALL GROUP MINISTRY - Daytime Small Group Ministry (SGM) starts February 1st.
While most Small Group Ministry groups will start at the end of February, one will be starting earlier. Our daytime Small Group Ministry experience will have its first session on Thursday, February 1, at 10 AM This group will meet at the home of Cecelia Roehl in Glastonbury and will be facilitated by Barbara Fraher. Please register early if this group is your choice.
For additional information on other groups and registration see: More information.
USH Annual Winter Spirituality Retreat - NEVER BEEN ON A RETREAT? USH will go on it’s ANNUAL WINTER RETREAT from Friday 1/19 at 5 PM to Saturday 1/20 at 3 PM at CONNRI Conference Center in Ashford, CT. You say you’ve never been on retreat? You’re wondering if it’s for you? We hope you will contact Marye Gail Harrison, retreat facilitator, to answer your questions: maryegailh [at sign] comcast.net. Our retreat will be one part adult ed. course, one part worship, one part nature walk alone, one part laughing and playing games together, one part slowing down to think deeply, one part communal table talk over meals. All this happens in a simple, comfortable motel type setting on spacious grounds. Follow the link for details.
More information.LET'S DO IT AGAIN ! You can register for a new round of Circle Dinners. More information.
Invite Someone New to Sunday Services - more
From Adult Programs - Tai Chi and Feldenkrais will be postponed at least one week to Wednesday, January 10, 2007 for 8 weeks*** SPECIAL FREE OFFER for those of you who would like to try one session. You are invited to come to the first class of Feldenkrais, 5:15 - 6:15 PM or Tai Chi, 6:30 - 7:30 PM.
Movie scheduled for January 12 - Please note, this event may be cancelled if necessary. Please see feature story - dinner movie information.Caring Network: He who gives when he is asked has waited too long. ~Sunshine Magazine - 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.
ON THE CALENDAR:
Monday, December 25 thru Friday, December 29
OFFICE CLOSED -- HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Sunday, December 31, New Year’s Eve – NOTE TIMES!
9:00 am Music Rehearsal, Fellowship Hall
10:00 am Worship Service, Fellowship Hall
11:00 am Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
Monday, January 1
OFFICE CLOSED -- HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Editor's Note: Because of the boiler problem (see lead story), these events may be moved, rescheduled or cancelled. We leave them here for the record, but you need to check with group leaders to learn of alternate arrangements of various sorts.
Tuesday, January 2
6:00 pm Finance, Library
7:00 pm Religious Education, Servetus
8:00 pm AA, Fellowship Hall
Wednesday, January 3
10:00 am Staff Meeting, Minister's Study (Office Closed)
5:15 pm Feldenkrais, Fellowship Hall
6:30 pm Tai Chi, Fellowship Hall
7:30 pm Choir, Sanctuary
Thursday, January 4
7:00 pm UPA, Servetus
Saturday, January 6
Circle Dinners, various homes
(see note above)
Sunday, January 7
8:00 am Music rehearsal, Sanctuary
9:00 am Worship Service I, Sanctuary
10:00 am Coffee Hour I, Fellowship Hall
10:00 am Youth Group soup making, Kitchen
10:00 am Growth & Renewal Task Force, Library
10:00 am Adult Programs, Murray
10:00 am Welcoming Congregation Interweave, Channing
10:00 am Children's Choir, Chapel
11:00 am Worship Service II, Sanctuary
12:00 pm Coffee Hour II, Fellowship Hall
12:15 pm "C Cubed", Coffee, Carrots, & Conversation for first time visitors, Minister's Study
To get on the calendar, call 233.9897Further Down The Road (About 30 Days Max)
Save the Date and Plan to Join Us
on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 for the
3rd Annual Public Meeting of the
Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice. moreUUSC JustWorks Camp - Participate in the Katrina rebuilding effort by taking part in the JustWorks camp in New Orleans FEB. 3-10. More information
From the Editor: It is truly remarkable what can be accomplished when all hands pull in the same direction.
***
This Week’s Feature ArticlesA building is similar in many ways to an anthill. It exists because of the efforts of its inhabitants, who scurry about every day checking, palpating; fixing something here and something there. Those busy ants can be found on their roof, in adjacent areas, and in every chamber of their arboreal or underground homes.
When adversity strikes, it calls forth the inhabitants who immediately exercise their skills as, builders, maintainers, protectors, organizers and those who look after the young.
And, so it is going with our USH home since our boiler irrevocably died. The B&G organizers and protectors continue to scurry about, checking, adjusting; moving about temporary heat sources that have "migrated" to USH from homes and businesses. Hugh Schweitzer, one of two invaluable B&Gmembers with architectural experience, has been hustling first to uncover replacement boiler options and then to provide information to decision-making bodies. Ramco has been summoned and currently is removing asbestos and the failed boiler.
Personnel associated with the Sunday school and those associated with worship services are scurrying about to accommodate to the current situation. Those associated with budget and finance are at work to secure funding necessary for the capital expenditures involved in replacing our boiler-furnace system.
USH has : contracted with Ramco to remove asbestos in and around the old boiler, cut the boiler into suitable size chunks and remove the debris.
Above - Asbestos removal containment including airlock and shower in the foreground and boiler containment chamber in the background. Work moving forward as of 12-26-06.
The B&G Sub-Council meeting in emergency session evaluated boiler replacement options and unanimously passed this motion –
That we pursue immediate acquisition and installation of condensing boilers and associated controls and recommend this course of action to the Board and Endowment Committee.
In making this unanimous recommendation, the B&G Sub-Council noted, The boilers selected are state of the art and the additional cost incurred will be recovered during the life of the boiler. The recovery period for increased expense over more conventional older technology is likely to be reduced as natural gas costs inevitably increase.
Boilers are not stocked, consequently locating and obtaining them and delivery to our site is likely to take three to four weeks. The Sub-Council recognizes a somewhat shorter period might be required for “last year’s technology” but felt given the size of the investment and a perspective of a twenty year or more life span for a boiler, the additional time, if any, is worth the current substantial inconvenience.
The condensing boiler solution is a fully green decision. This is in keeping with Unitarian Principles. The boiler will use less fuel and capture a greater proportion of the chemical energy in the natural gas burned than conventional boilers. Thus, we will be both conserving precious fuel and liberating far less greenhouse gasses as a result of combustion. Our old smoke stack will be removed and the new furnaces will basically exhale relatively cool water vapor and carbon dioxide directly through holes in the furnace room walls.
As this article is prepared for publication, the Board stands ready to vote upon the B& G recommendation as soon as refined contractual costs are identified. Already a contract has been signed for asbestos abatement and removal of the old boiler.
Faced with several weeks without boilers (Yes, we are replacing one with two as that will be more efficient and also provide some redundancy should there be a failure with one of them.) efforts are underway to protect the building and plan space availability.
Currently, plans are to keep the office open with electrical heat, keep Fellowship Hall warm with auxiliary heating sources such that the heaters can be removed for sufficient time to hold Sunday Services and perhaps some selected other events in that space. Rest rooms on the Fellowship Hall level will remain open while those on the Sanctuary level will be closed.
Water pipes in the cement ceiling of Fellowship Hall will remain above freezing because of the heat sources in Fellowship Hall. Areas with running water on the Sanctuary level are being protected with small heat sources. Strategically located lights are being left on all the time because of the heat they generate.
Certain doors are left open to allow heat to enter spaces and others are closed to prevent heat from escaping. Consequently, light emerging from unusual places such as the cabinets under the sink in the library, lights clamped to the water fountains and lights left on in the rest rooms are not to be touched. It is expected the peripheral radiator loop(s) will be drained in a few days.
B&G Co-Chairs Stuart Spence and Ed Sax are actively mapping efforts to look after all these temporary measures, assess their success, and make modifications as the external temperatures challenge our efforts.
These and many other adjustments to protect the building will continue for several weeks.
Meanwhile, many adjustments are required from all quarters to accommodate to these temporary circumstances. Some meetings will undoubtedly be moved elsewhere, some may be cancelled, and others may be postponed as necessary. Concerning Sunday services, President Huntington said,
” ..unless we really cannot use the Meeting House, I feel that something important is derived from our continuing to hold services in our wounded building until she recovers.”
As soon as the condensing boilers can be secured and transportation and installation schedules determined, you will be informed so appropriate meeting and other event plans can be formulated. Watch for special edition(s) of the USH-Enews reporting the probable schedule for installing the new boilers.
Also, be sure to check with your Sub-Council chairs if there are questions about previously scheduled meetings and events.
In summation, whether you view the Meeting House from outer space, or from Bloomfield Avenue, or from Fellowship Hall, you can see from the people hustling in and out and around the building (our anthill) that all is well and adversity has once more called forth the best in our Society as it does among the ants and other social insects.
We are aligned. We are just doing it! All is well with USH. - DCN
A Matter of Opinion: (space for comment on USH issues) - Editor retains the right to make minor changes – letters should be issue oriented)
External Events and Educational Notes
Do you dream of inexpensive vacation travel to interesting destinations where you can stay in the homes of friendly people who share your ideals and are happy to provide directions and advice for their area?
The UU bed and breakfast directory UU’re Home (formerly Homecomings) can fulfill your dream. For 27 years, we’ve provided a network of hosts in the United States (and a few abroad) who enjoy meeting new friends and who are happy to open their home to like-minded people.
You can also become a host and be listed in the directory. Contact us at 828-281-3253 or at info@uurehome.com, and we will gladly send you information about listing your accommodations.
Host listings on the UU’re Home website at www.UUreHome.com are updated whenever changes are made or new hosts are added. The paper edition is published every year in April (and has many listings different from those on the website). For a copy of the 2007 directory, please send a check for $20 (or $25 and your e-mail address for both the book and a year’s access to the website) to UU’re Home, 43 Vermont Court, Asheville, NC 28806.A Few Words About Our Roots From The Book, Hartford Unitarianism 1844 -1994 by Freeman Meyer:
In the mid-1980s Lauriat began to consider the possibility of "moving on." He wrote to the U.U. A. headquarters in Boston: "Sometime when you find a little church in the desert, that would be good for my wife's arthritis, let me know." Much to his surprise, an offer came through rather quickly from a congregation in Sun City, Ariz. There were only 132 people, no building to worry about, and almost no program. For Nat, it seemed to offer the "quieter life that he was looking for, so he resigned in the spring of 1985, but not before offering some final observations on his Hartford experience:
As for people that were rich and memorable, Lord, there were a thousand of them, literally, adult and child, over the years... Each one was fascinating, a few of them aggravating, and one or two I would have enjoyed punching in the nose, but not many and not often!
Income USH
Members &
FriendsOperating Expenses Endowment contribution to Operating Budget
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 12/28/06)
