Unitarian Universalists of
the
Online
Newsletter for July
2006
August Newsletter
Deadline is Monday, July 24
Submit items to kivana@comcast.net
Planning
Ahead for Sabbatical Leave
Grocery
Shopping Benefits UUCV
Longaberger
Basket Raffle Results
July 2 “Just What Is the American Gospel?”
The Rev. Judy Welles and Ellen Lyon, Worship
Associate
We hear a lot these days about
how the
July 9 “A Report from General Assembly”
The Rev. Duane Fickeisen and Kathy Ellis,
Student Minister
The annual meeting of delegates
and observers from the 1000-plus member congregations of the Unitarian
Universalist Association is held each year in late June. Over 4000 UUs will gather in
July 16 “Do We Live in Healthy Communities?”
Rev. Judy Welles and Virginia Jackson,
Worship Associate
As citizens of local municipalities, what do we have a right to expect from local governments and other entities for the maximum social good? Current issues around discrimination, victims’ rights, and social networks are raising qeustions worthy of careful thought.
July 23 “Bees of the Invisible World”
The Rev. Duane Fickeisen and Judy Marti
The poet and essayist, Rainer Maria Rilke, referred to our souls as the "bees of the invisible world," going out every day to gather the honey of the visible world and storing it in the golden hive of the invisible world. We'll explore the linkage between body and soul and the notion that we're here in the physical world in order to collect and store experience for the mysterious other world.
July 30 “Mothers and Daughters”
Bev Motich and Kim Van Alkemade, Worship
Associates
Two women, both now mothers themselves, reflect on the profound and complex ways in which mothers influence their daughters, and explore some strategies that daughters and mothers might use to communicate more openly with each other.
Our monthly minister’s column, this month from Rev. Duane Fickeisen
Well, I finally get it. It took a very long time to sink in, but I finally understand the claim by the radical right that permitting same-sex couples to marry is a threat to traditional marriage. In fact, it threatens a whole worldview and political agenda. Don’t worry, I haven’t flipped—I’m still firmly convinced that same-sex marriages or civil unions do not threaten heterosexual marriages.
In his book Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate, linguist George Lakoff suggests that there are two fundamental frames for understanding families—a strict father model and a nurturant parent model.
Lakoff describes the nurturant parent worldview as follows: “Both parents are equally responsible for raising the children. The assumption is that children are born good and can be made better. The world can be made a better place, and our job is to work on that. The parents’ job is to nurture their children and to raise their children to be nurturers of others. …”
In contrast, the strict father worldview is “The world is a dangerous place, and it always will be, because there is evil out there in the world. The world is also difficult because it is competitive. There will always be winners and losers. There is an absolute right and an absolute wrong. Children are born bad, in the sense that they just want to do what feels good, not what is right. Therefore they have to be made good. What is needed in this kind of world is a strong, strict father who can: protect the family in the dangerous world; support the family in the difficult world; and teach his children right from wrong. What is required of the child is obedience, because the strict father is a moral authority who knows right from wrong. …”
In the strict father model, it is assumed that the only way to teach kids to obey is through harsh corporal punishment in order to help them develop internal discipline and act morally. It also assumes that one can prosper by pursuit of self-interest and through moral behavior. If you don’t prosper, it’s either because you aren’t trying hard enough or because you are a bad person.
On the other hand, the nurturant parent model assumes that parents have a responsibility to care for their children. Empathy with the child leads to the need to protect the child from harm and to strive for happiness and fulfillment.
It’s not just about marriage and family, though. The idealized family frame you operate from influences your view of the role of government and society, too. If you frame your worldview around the nurturant parent model, you’re likely to favor strong public education; broad access to health care; a robust social safety net; and energy and environmental policies that protect natural resources, mandate efficiency standards, and promote alternative and renewable fuel use. You’re likely to want a foreign policy based on collaboration and limited use of force.
If you frame your worldview around the strict father model, you’re more likely to favor less governmental intervention in education, health care, social services, and energy and environmental policy. Your foreign policy is likely to be based on mistrust, fear of threats, and use of force.
The ‘problem’ with same sex marriage is that there is no identified male head of household to be the strict father. If two men are married, it isn’t clear which is in charge, and if two women marry, there isn’t even a candidate for the role. And that threatens the strict father frame. If the frame falls apart, so does much of the rest of the policy agenda that derives from it.
But of course from a progressive viewpoint, grounded in the nurturant family model, the lack of an identified male to fill the role of the strict father is not a problem. Two men or two women in a loving relationship can as readily fulfill the model as can one man and one woman in a relationship.
So same-sex marriage does threaten the strict father worldview, and if that’s how you define traditional marriage and a whole political agenda, the recent rapid social movement to acknowledge and support loving, mutually supportive relationships regardless of the genders of the people involved is a major assault.
Unitarian Universalist principles call us to respect the inherent worth and dignity of every person; to pursue a free and responsible search for truth and meaning; to practice justice, equity, and compassion in human relations; and to strive for the goal of world community. We recognize that we are a part of an interdependent web of all existence. These values we lift up are an antithesis to the strict father worldview and are affirmed by the nuturant parent model.
In my view, the sooner the strict father model falls, the sooner we can get on with our congregation’s mission — the work of transforming lives and caring for the world.
The present battle — and make no mistake about the intensity with which the strict father model adherents will pursue it — is over amending the state and federal constitutions to enshrine the model by defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman and by precluding any equivalent sanction by another name.
Fortunately the US Senate has — for now — turned back the effort to amend. But the Pennsylvania House has accomplished the first step toward amending the state constitution. At this point a committee in the state Senate has removed some of the language from the House version, but attempts to reinsert it are anticipated on the floor. You can learn more about the status of the bills at www.center4civilrights.org.
UUCV’s board of trustees, acting on the recommendation of the Social Action Council, voted to join the Faith Coalition for Pennsylvania Families, an interfaith group that is fighting hard for the nurturant family model by opposing the amendments. It’s an important step, but only a beginning in what looks likely to eventually become a major statewide ballot issue. As justice-seeking people of faith, with a worldview grounded in universal love, we are called to stand firmly for the values of the nurturant parent model — to stand on the side of love.
See you on Sunday! Duane
By UUCV’s Director of Religious Education,
Kevin Snow
Summer is always an unusual time at UUCV and this summer is no exception. With so many people going on vacations and the nice weather luring people outside on a nice Sunday morning, attendance numbers waiver a lot. This doesn’t just effect numbers upstairs, but downstairs in RE as well. But don’t forget!!!! Your RE Committee has put together some really great plans for you and your kids for Summer RE and we need your help.
Now, at this point you are probably saying to yourself this guy can only play one note, and with that you might be right, but as I look at my summer teaching schedule I see too many holes and not enough Sundays filled up with teachers. We need you and we need your kids to participate and make our program successful. Please join us at UUCV this summer by signing up for a class. Our younger kids are using a great book, What If Nobody Forgave?, as their curriculum and our older kids are reading the Newberry award-winning book The Bridge to Teribithia.
Also, please don’t forget Peacemaker’s Camp is almost upon us. Camp will run from July 19-22 this year and registration forms and letters of information are now available on the RE table in the Social Hall. Save us a stamp and join us for services by coming by and picking one (or several!!) up. The rough deadline for camp registration is July 7th.
Ok, I have said my piece and now I will quietly go away until the next month. Oh, who am I fooling . . . I will be there next Sunday and every Sunday banging the RE gong. See you on Sunday!
On June 11, we welcomed the following new members into the UUCV community. Please greet them and tell them how glad you are that they’ve joined us.
Rebekah Feeser and Greg Bear have returned to
Rachel Teates moved to
Letty Kress was born in
Ann Marie Wolf and Letty were married in
Eileen Wolfe lives in Mechanicsburg with her husband, Mark, and five cats. They have a daughter, Wendy, and a son-in-law, Howard Brown, who are the parents of their grandson, Noah. Eileen volunteers with the animal group PAWS and works out of PetSmart in Mechanicsburg. Talk to her if you are interested in adopting a dog or cat.
Margery Andrews came to
Both from western PA, Mary Lynn and Drew Lynch first met in
college at IUP. Two years after
graduation, they married and moved to
Submitted by Liz Hoffman, Committee on Ministry
At its June meeting, the Board of Trustees approved a request for sabbatical leave for our ministers to begin late in 2007 and end early in 2008. (The Board must approve the sabbatical plan at least one year in advance.) The proposed leave will take place starting a year from next September. Each of our ministers will be on leave for a total of ten weeks, which will be split so that there will only be four weeks when both Judy and Duane are away.
Sabbatical leave is customary for ministers in the UU denomination and is provided for in the Letter of Agreement that we have with Duane and Judy. Sabbatical leave is used for study, education and renewal. Duane and Judy will travel and attend continuing education programs, workshops and retreats that are relevant to the ministry.
As the time approaches for the
sabbatical, Duane and Judy will have a clearer idea of their plans. For now, it
appears that they will travel to southern
The last sabbatical, 12/1/03-5/31/04, may have been too long for our ministers to be away. After their return, it seemed to take several months for the congregation to recover from leadership burnout and poor canvass results. The current plan was designed by Duane and Judy to avoid similar difficulties. (That is why they are taking a shorter sabbatical a year from this Fall instead of a longer one a few years from now.)
The Committee on Ministry (consisting of Joan Bechtel, David Bateman and Liz Hoffman) and the Board of Trustees are supportive of the sabbatical plan and are committed to help the ministers and the rest of the congregation take good care of each other and continue to meet our goals. Please talk with us if you have any questions or suggestions.
Grateful thanks for the very
large donation of 70lbs of food in June, particularly
needed this time of year when donations are typically low. If you have time, Project SHARE is in need of
volunteers—families (supervised children welcome), groups or individuals—to glean
crops on summer evenings and fall afternoons.
Also needed are volunteers for the Wednesday afternoon (
Did you know that the average American household spends about $3,114 per year on groceries? Do you know how much your family spends? Wouldn't it be nice if every time you shopped at the local Giant, Weiss, Karns, or Shurfine store, that smiling cashier gave you a little money back? Well, I can't help you out there, but you can help UUCV profit from your healthy appetite by purchasing grocery gift cards on Sundays after services. It doesn't cost you a penny because it's money you have to spend anyway, but UUCV gets back 5% of every purchase you make using the gift card.
You say you don't want to take
the time to buy gift cards every couple of weeks? If you shop at Nell's we can
make it even easier for you. Shurfine Markets are a
group of locally owned and operated independent supermarkets in
Thanks to those of you who participated in the Longaberger Basket Raffle, and especially Kim Clark who coordinated the sale, Lischa Walters as a main seller, and to Jane Troain as our Longaberger consultant. Of course, definite appreciation goes out to so many of you who bought and sold tickets. We'll likely make in excess of $300 from this fundraiser, and should know the final results next month.
Fourteen lucky folks will be receiving their baskets by August as a result, as
follows: Trudy Talhelm, Mary McCarthy, Wendy
Schaffer, Flip Oberdick, Peggy Innerak,
Kit Franklin, Darlene Smith, Jennifer Smith, Mary Troain,
Missy Wagner, Wendy Adams, Carol Lindsay, Joyce Lukima,
Thelma Snyder.
Bev and Elizabeth Motich travelled
to
July 7 at
Ministers Rev. Duane Fickeisen & Rev. Judy Welles
Email ministersATuucv.net. Home study telephone: 241-0410
Office Assistant Elena Yarlett Hours:Thursdays from
Phone: 249-8944
Address:
Dir. of Religious Ed. Kevin Snow,
249-8104, dreATuucv.net
UUCV Board of Trustees
Kit Franklin (president), akfrankATepix.net
Ed Glasgow (vice-president), edwinglasgowATaol.com
Leslie Carr (clerk), lgcarr22ATyahoo.com
Larry Berger-Knorr (treasurer), bergerknorrATgmail.com
Priscilla Laws, lawspATdickinson.edu
Tom DeWall, thdewallATpapsy.org
Carol McAnulty, paulandcarol913ATearthlink.net
Jon Tarrant, jwtarrantATcomcast.net
Sue Roberts, b.s.roberts.ivjlATstatefarm.com
Committee Chairs and Other Leaders
Building and Grounds Committee: Rick Heckman, heckmanrATcomcast.net & Paula Terry, loonsATpa.net
Music Committee: Ken Laws, lawsATdickinson.edu
Finance & Fundraising Committee: Bob & Wendy Hankes, galt1627ATcs.com
Membership Committee: Doug Spencer, jbsandmsATepix.net
Committee on Ministry: Liz Hoffman, hoffpsychATmindspring.com & Joan Bechtel, bechteljoATaol.com
Religious Education Committee: Ann Berger-Knorr, annabellejATcomcast.net
Social Action Council: Priscilla Laws, lawspATdickinson.edu
Caring Circle: Sylvia Hardman
Coffee Coordinator Jeb Boyd, jeb101904ATearthlink.net
Sunday Music Coordinator Nancy Bittinger, nbittingerATcomcast.net
Newsletter Editor: Kim van Alkemade, kivanaATcomcast.net
Flowers Coordinator: Mary Lynn Lynch, marylynn_lynchATyahoo.com
Potluck Coordinator: Tom Vernon, tlvernonATblazenet.net
Small Group Ministry: Ed Glasgow, edwinglasgowATaol.com