UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST COMMUNITY OF EL PASO
Transcription
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST COMMUNITY OF EL PASO
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST COMMUNITY OF EL PASO 4425 BYRON STREET EL PASO, TEXAS 79930-4905 NON-PROFIT ORG. US POSTAGE PAID EL PASO – TEXAS PERMIT NO. 2488 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED TELEPHONE: (915) 562-4001 CARRIE VINE, CONGREGATIONAL PRESIDENT REV. DR. JUDITH WALKER-RIGGS, CONSULTING MINISTER GINGER DUPLISEA, OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR E-MAIL: [email protected] WEB PAGE: WWW.UUELPASO.ORG FAX: (915) 562-9708 PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST COMMUNITY OF EL PASO APRIL 2007 G.I. RIGHTS HOTLINE MEETING Please join us on April 14, 21, and 28 from 9:00 to 12:00. For further information, contact Anne Herman at 351-2643. FOURTH SUNDAY COLLECTION Our 4th Sunday collection for April will be for the Minister’s Discretionary Fund. The Caring Committee currently oversees this fund. Sometimes our members need a little financial help that we can give them from this fund. At the present time, we have used up most of the fund. SUNDAY MORNING SERVICES START AT 10:30 A.M. Unitarian Mass (Christian services) will be held at 9:00 a.m. ****************************************** April 1** It’s All Fun and Games Till Someone Loses an Eye UU Jihad (Alex Ceely) Our April Fools service will be a call to arms! We declare a Jihad on seriousness, self-righteousness, and mean people! Come and laugh with the UU Jihad. WARNING: Not for those who take themselves too seriously or who are easily offended. April 8** Easter Stones Rev. Dr. Judith Walker-Riggs You don't have to be Christian to understand the experience of rebirth -- but stones? April 15** Fundamental Constants, Anthropic Principles, and You Alan Dean – Professor Emeritus of Physics, UTEP After the failure of Creation-Science and the court problems of Intelligent Design, yet another attempt at natural theology arises as anthropic principles. First the earth was the center of the universe, then it was the sun, then the Milky Way, then there was no center. Anthropic principles go backward a long way – humans are proposed to be the center of the universe. April 22** A Cosmic Theology? Rev. Dr. Walker-Riggs Could there, after all, be such a thing? What might it look like? April 29 ** The Resurrections David Johnson 2,000 years ago the disciples of Jesus the Nazorean told the remarkable story of how he defied the Jewish Parliament and survived a crucifixion attempt. 300 years later the Roman Empire commanded its inhabitants to believe that there had been a god called "Christ" who literally came back from the dead and ascended vertically into the sky in a supernatural body. How did that happen? ** Details of R.E. Programs are found on the Child & Youth Religious Education page. ****************************************** APRIL BIRTHDAYS Jessica Miller Kati-Jo Wyatt John Lockhart Atticus Baldwin Kelly Higgins Frances Kramer Anna Mattersdorff Marjie Day Barbara Herron David Harvey Vic Ward David Wyatt Patricia Apostolides Sally Spener 04/02 04/04 04/07 04/13 04/14 04/14 04/16 04/17 04/19 04/21 04/22 04/22 04/23 04/28 Donald E. White 04/29 INTERESTED IN MEMBERSHIP? If you have been visiting and feel that you would like a more vital role in our Community, we would welcome you as a member. Please complete a Membership Application card and give it to a greeter to start the process. OPPORTUNITIES TO GIVE & RECEIVE SERVICE CONCERNS: If you have concerns for you or others or need a ride, please call 562-4001. FOOD COLLECTION: Clear box with a blue lid next to the Sanctuary information table. Food is donated to the Missouri Street Shelter. CHALICE LIGHTING, FLOWERS, MUSIC: For opportunities to help with Sunday morning programs, call 562-4001. President’s Points Minister’s Moment It is officially spring in El Paso. The yellow poppies are starting to pop out in inconspicuous places .The mulberry trees are dropping the green caterpillar-like pollen filled seed pods. The wind is ripping off doors and blowing things away. Yes, it is officially spring in this West Texas town. There is plenty going on within my home and within the community this sunny, blustery season. At home we are settling in from a move, which added 3 people, 3 cats, 1 dog, 1 snake, and 6 gerbils to the household. We are trying to juggle kids’ activities and schooling. It has proved to be a tad challenging, but very worth it. Christopher and I are planning our 10th anniversary celebration. We will be celebrating at Ardantane in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico. We have chosen to do a Handfasting Ritual at the Sunfest Festival. Everyone is invited. ☺ Within the community there are a few major projects I am involved with. The Vision, Mission, Covenant process will have its last meetings in April. Please attend these gatherings they are extremely important for our community The board has also approved to sponsor the GI Rights Hotline. The GI Rights Hotline is answered by a coalition of nonprofit, non-governmental organizations who provide information to members of the military about discharges, grievance and complaint procedures, and other civil rights. We are starting small and could use more volunteers. The annual Canvass is upon us. This year we may adjust our bylaws to change our fiscal year to coincide with the calendar year. These changes will be voted on at the annual meeting in May. Officers and chairs will also be voted on at this meeting. Watch next month’s newsletter for more details. I hope all of you have a blessed spring. I am sure everyone has been as busy as we have! One of the great strengths of this El Paso congregation lies in the variety of its people and the ideas and personalities they bring in with them as they come. In Your Service, Carrie Vine [email protected] 915-565-5371 915-217-8288 As a demon quilter these days, I am oh, so aware of what a dull quilt it would be with only one color or pattern to it. It is precisely the variety that gives a quilt, or a UU congregation, it's particular power and beauty. Of course, and how often we UUs (well me, and maybe you) forget, with this variety of people, ideas, personalities and programs comes the sheer fact that we can never, and should never, expect things to be exactly the way we happen to prefer them. As I was piecing together a complicated Victorian quilt top today I wondered idly, does that piece of rose colored cotton want one just like it next to it? Is it offended by that olive green pattern? Does it wish it would just shut up and get pink like good fabric should be? No, for UU congregations there is a rule different from the rules of most other religious organizations. It is this: If your UU congregation is doing its job, there should always be things going on there you do not like, and even, do not know about. Otherwise, your UU congregation is only serving you, or people exactly like you. Which, it has to be said, is, as the business world would put it, an extremely limited market. Or as my quilt would say, a bit monotonous. So next time you feel the acid rising in your throat about something going on at UUCEP not exactly to your taste, or something going on you don't know all about, instead of working up a head of steam to complain, how about a cheer! Perhaps it just means UUCEP is doing its job. Rev. Dr. Judith Walker-Riggs [email protected] 505-524-4967 DENOMINATIONAL AFFAIRS – PAT WHITE MOUNTAIN DESERT DISTRICT (MDD) OFFICE District Executive: Rev Nancy Bowen [email protected] 2242 S Albion Street Denver, CO 80222 (303) 756-1378 (303) 756-1407 FAX See Carrie Vine for more information if you are interested in attending Leadership School, GA or the MDD Annual Meeting: o General Assembly for 2007 will be held June 20-24 in Portland, Oregon. o Russell Lockwood Leadership School will be held July 22 – July 28, 2007 at Alta Lodge in Alta, Utah. The registration cost is $900 before May 15 and $1000 after that. o The MDD Annual Meeting will be held October 12-14 in Billings, Montana. Check the UUA homepage for some interesting new sites and email lists: http://www.uua.org. TREASURER – CAROL IRWIN CHECKING ACCOUNT ALERT!! UUCEP's checking account is alarmingly low. Not coincidentally, pledge checks are coming in slower than usual for this time of year. So CHECK your pledge statements, CHECK your CHECKbook, and write a CHECK ASAP. Thank you the next eight months. We will then do a canvass in the fall for next year. ON-GOING FUND RAISERS: Our on-going fundraisers include the Albertsons Community Partner card and E-scrip. If you don’t have an Albertsons card please see Carol Irwin or me to get one. Present your Community Partners card the next time you shop at Albertsons when you present your Preferred Customer card and the cards will be linked. Present your Preferred Customer card to get Community Partner benefits even if you don’t buy any specials. The E-scrip system is just as easy. Register your Master Card and/or Visa Card at www.escrip.com. We get a percent of your purchases made with registered cards at participating merchants credited to our checking account. Stores in the area that are in the program include Pep Boys, and several restaurants including Bangkok Pepper, Jando’s Italian Cuisine, Panache, Ye-Ye Kitchen, La Cuesta, Michelino’s, Downtown Sports Bar, Medallions Restaurant, Cincinnati Club, Bar 26, Cappettos Pizzeria, Café Central, and Hudson’s Grill. Macy’s is also in the system but you need to have a Macy’s card to register and use. Go to www.escrip.com for more information about what stores are in the system. We are also selling UUCEP t-shirts and cookbooks on Sundays; T-shirts are $15 for adult sizes and $10 for children’s sizes, and cookbooks are $10 each. ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE – PAT WHITE MEMBERSHIP – CAROL JACKSON-LONG CANVASS: We are in the middle of our noncanvass. As of the middle of March, we have 39 pledge cards in for a total of $43,328.64 (which would be $64,992.96) on a 12-month basis). If you haven’t received a pledge card yet, please contact Pat White. If you haven’t turned in your pledge card yet, please do so ASAP. We’d like to finish by April 10. On the basis that the congregation will agree to change the fiscal year to coincide with the calendar year, we are asking you to continue your pledge for Keith Thompson will join with Mike Priester as the newest members to participate in the induction service for the UUCEP for 2006 with Rev. Dr. Judith Walker-Riggs. Cora I Jensen will become the third new member to be inducted at this time. NEWSLETTER DEADLINE: THURSDAY, APRIL19 Please give hard copy items to Ginger to be typed and sent to the editors, or email submissions directly (include all three email addresses): [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] MOVING? NEW PHONE OR E-MAIL? Any time you move, change your phone number or your email address, please let Ginger (our office administrator) know so she can update our church records. Just send her an email with the information at [email protected]. RAY ASHWORTH MEMORIAL TRUST Applications for grants from the Trust are now being accepted through April 30, 2007. Please submit in writing, and place in Trust mail slot at lower right on large desk, or give to Ginger. For camperships, please apply to Camp Thunderbird Board. CHOIR PRACTICE Choir practice is held Tuesdays at 7 pm in the Fellowship Hall – new members welcome! Call Stanley Ross, 845-5847. CAMP THUNDERBIRD Our annual family camp will be held Tuesday, July 3 – Sunday, July 8 this year. Have you saved the dates and remembered to get your leave requests in early so that you can join us for a wonderful time in the cool Gila Mountains? If you enjoyed camp last year, it will be even better this year. Brochures will be out soon and will contain a financial aid form for financial assistance in the form of jobs or camperships. If you don’t get one in the mail, we have more at UUCEP. The fee is only $32 a day or $160 for the entire camp (half-price for children). Can’t come for the whole time? That’s okay. You can still come for part of the time at the daily rate. Cabins are available or you can bring your own gear. Remember, the fee is the same whether you stay in a cabin or bring your own gear. Contact Carol Veit, Pat White, Joe Knapka, or Alex Ceely for more information. VISION, MISSION, AND COVENANT PROGRAM Do you want a say in where the UUCEP is going, how we are going to get there, and how we treat each other along the way? Do you want a say in defining what is important to UUCEP? Do you think CYRE is important? Social Justice? Great sermons on Sunday? Then, please come and participate in the UUCEP Vision, Mission, and Covenant. The Vision, Mission, and Covenant task force is leading small group programs to help us define where we are going, how we are going to get there, and how we treat each other along the way. The Covenant programs will be held on the 2nd and 4th Friday of April. Your participation in one program is kindly requested. Please contact one of the facilitators listed below to let them know you will attend. 2nd Friday April 13, 2007 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm 4th Friday April 27, 2007 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm Janet Kincaid – home Ann Singer – home Joe Knapka – UUCEP John Padalino – home Byron Chesbro – home John Pearson – UUCEP UUCEP sessions will meet in the Fellowship Hall, and childcare will be provided. MEN’S GROUP The Brother Spirit Men’s Group meets at UUCEP on the third Sunday of every month at 6:30 pm to drink beer, eat pizza and discuss topics ranging from “What is Truth?” to why the Lone Ranger is our hero. If you need more information please call John Pearson at 838-3816. We hope you can join us. NON-VIOLENT COMMUNICATION CIRCLE OF LIFE If you want to explore the different ways of communicating with an interesting, supportive group of people the NVC Circle of Life has brown bag lunch discussions on the 2nd & 4th Sundays of every month at 12 noon. If you want to know more please talk to Janet Kincaid, Anne Herman, Kimmy Cleven or John Pearson after services, or call John at 838-3816. UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST BUDDHIST FELLOWSHIP (AKA BORDER ZEN CENTER) Meets: Tuesdays, 6:30 – 8:30 pm (Sanctuary) El Paso’s only Zen practice group welcomes newcomers for meditation, readings, tea and discussion. Synthesis of Workshop Conducted at UUCEP in December 2006 by Rev. Dr. Judith Walker-Riggs Things We Want the Minister To Do Think – and reflect thought in sermons (19) Be a caring person (17) Provide a bridge between our members, bringing unity (11) Be active in local social justice (9) Encourage the growth of the Community (9) Be participatory and sociable (8) Present UUism to the El Paso community (8) Be half-time/part-time (5) Respect us (4) Inspire us (4) Encourage all spiritual paths (4) Perform ministerial work with members (4) Conduct rites of passage (4) Be a positive role model for the kids (3) Be bilingual (2) Be appreciative of the uniqueness of our border culture (1) Things We Don’t Want the Minister to Do/Be Be authoritarian/dictatorial (13) Focus too much on one path/doctrine (7) Push us into too many projects for our energy (4) Be a politician/take sides (3) Support cliques (3) Overly spiritual services (3) Be complacent/disengaged (2) Child-Youth Religious Education Program 2006-2007 Mark Your Calendar for Monthly Events… April 1st: RE Students will be putting together Easter Baskets for the elderly and children. If you wish to.donate any items, please leave them in the large tub located in the RE Room at the Community. April 7th: Delivery of the Easter baskets to the Horizon Health Care Center and Annunciation House-- We will depart from the Community at 10:00 am. April 8th: Easter egg hunt for the elementary students and toddlers- bring Easter baskets or containers to hold goodies! April 14th: CYRE Meeting at the Crane House is scheduled for 12 noon. Anyone interested in teaching or working with the youth, is cordially invited to attend! CYRE Sunday Class Schedule: April 1st: 10:30 am: CYRE classes will put together 50 Easter Baskets for children and the elderly. Lower Elementary RE: Teacher: Janet Kincaid Upper Elementary RE: Teacher: Pat White Teen RE: Teachers: Carrie Vine/Sara Chesbro April 15th: 10:30 am: “The Balanced, Brick, & Jellyfish families. How does your family stack up? Lower Elem. RE: Teacher: Janet Kincaid Upper Elem. RE: Teacher: Pat White Teen RE: Teacher: Violet Gilson April 8th: 10:30 am: Teens will hide Easter April 22nd: 10:30 am: “Is Eggs while the elementary there a bully in your students participate in a family? What are the characteristics he/she “Colors of Spring” exhibits at home? Is there children’s chapel. a difference in behavior Toddlers will have their when he/she is outside the hunt in the backyard. family unit? Older children will be Lower Elem. RE: Teacher: supervised in the front. Lower Elementary RE: Teacher: Janet Kincaid/Sara Chesbro Upper Elem. RE: Teacher: Alex Ceely Janet Kincaid Upper Elem. RE: Teacher: Alex Ceely Teen RE: Teachers: Nick Emerick/Carrie Vine April 29th: 10:30 am: “What tools and strategies can be implemented by the family when dealing with a bully at home?” Lower Elem. RE: Teacher: Janet Kincaid Upper Elem. RE: Teacher: Alex Ceely Teen RE: Teacher: Violet Gilson Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it politic? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular—but one must take it because it’s right. Martin Luther King Jr. *Worth reading once more! Teen RE: Nick Emerick CYRE AT A GLANCE Easter Basket Deliveries: On Saturday, April 7th, the CYRE youth and teens will once again deliver 50 Easter Baskets to the Elderly at Horizon Health Care on Mesa and to the families staying at Casa Vides/ Annunciation House! We will depart from the Community at 10:00am and play “Bunny Bingo” with the residents at the center. Winners will receive an Easter basket as a prize. Of course, everyone is a winner. Children team up with a partner and get to play as well. Then it will be off to Casa Vides/ Annunciation House. After all deliveries are completed, we will then hop over to Baskin Robbins for a tasty treat! If you are interested in driving or participating in our Easter Vigil, please contact Janet. The CYRE philosophy is always, “the more the merrier!” Easter Egg Hunt: Just a reminder that we will have an egg hunt for the children on Easter Sunday! Don’t forget to bring a container or basket for your child to place his/her eggs in. Four golden eggs will contain special coupons that may be exchanged for cool prizes. Of course, “cascarones” and candy filled eggs will also be a part of this traditional event. Come join us after the service! Anti-Oppression CON: 1st Universalist in Denver will host The Antioppression Con on April 27th-29th. The Con begins Friday evening at 9:00 pm and concludes on Sunday by 8:30am. If enough teens are willing to participate, Janet and another adult will drive and supervise. Deadline for registration is April 14th! Checks for $35 may be made out to MDD. Summer Program: Anyone interested in participating in the CYRE Summer Program is encouraged to contact Janet Kincaid. Summer is all about having fun!! Come share your hobby or special talent with the children or teens. Check your May newsletter for more information!