Unitarian Universalists of
the
Online
Newsletter for February
2007
February Newsletter
Deadline is Monday, February 26. Submit
items to kivana“at”comcast.net
Caregivers Support
Group Offers Services
Congregational Happenings in February
Sunday Morning Services begin at 10:30AM. Please look over these upcoming service topics and consider which ones would be especially suitable for you to invite a friend to come to UUCV with you.
February 4 “The
Only Legacy You Need”
Rev. Judy Welles; Ellen Buller,
Worship Associate; Julie Moffitt, musician; with an anthem by the choir.
The one thing we can be absolutely certain about is the fact that we will die. Yet death is a matter to which we give little thought for most of our lives. Perhaps that is well, as we are so busy with our living! But, as Hamlet said, “The readiness is all.” How shall we prepare for death when it is so difficult to think about?
(This service serves as an invitation to participate in an Adult R.E. program on Planning for the End of Life, to be offered on five Wednesday afternoons beginning in mid-March.)
February 11 “An Undivided Life”
The Rev. Duane Fickeisen
and Virginia Jackson, Worship Associate; Music will be offered by Pat Spader.
In this intergenerational service, we'll introduce the fifth principle of Unitarian Universalism, "the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process." Exercising your conscience (and walking your talk) requires deep commitment and the courage to stand by your convictions, which can be difficult in an increasingly fragmented and polarized world. We'll draw on Quaker wisdom and explore how we might foster wholeness and support each other in living with integrity.
February 18 “The Spirituality of Singleness”
Kim van Alkemade and Carol Lindsay, Worship
Associates; Pat Spader, Musician.
We routinely celebrate weddings and anniversaries, but don’t those of us living singly have something to celebrate, too? This service explores how singleness can offer a satisfying experience of spiritual and personal fulfillment that is worth choosing.
February 21 (Ash Wednesday) 7:30 p.m. “Confession
and Communion”
The Revs. Duane Fickeisen
and Judy Welles
We will gather in an intimate circle to give voice to our shortcomings, confess the faith that gives us hope, and make commitments for Lent as we participate in the ancient ritual of breaking bread and sharing wine from a common cup as symbols of the ties that bind us in covenanted community. This annual confession and communion service is conducted in the tradition of our Rakovian Unitarian religious ancestors from the 17th Century Radical Reformation. All are welcome at this table.
February 25 “Wage Peace”
Rev. Judy Welles; Kathy Ellis, Student
Minister; Julie Moffitt, musician; with an anthem by the choir.
The second of a two-part series on war and peace, this service invites us to live our lives peacefully and thereby begin the ripple effect that will bring peace to the world.
Our monthly minister’s column, this month by
Rev. Duane Fickeisen
The National Arbor Day Foundation
has just published an updated map of plant hardiness zones in
While the US Department of Agriculture, which issues the ‘official’ zone map, uses a 30-year record of climate, the Arbor Day Foundation argues that with global climate change and rapidly changing conditions it makes sense to base the map on only the most recent years and on trends in climate.
Thus according to the new map
hardiness zones have moved northward and to higher elevations. Here in central
The change is rather like moving
Carlisle into northern
It means it will be time to start the seedlings of many plants that you plan to transplant later before the end of February. I’ve been cleaning up the basement potting area, sterilizing my seed starting trays, and getting ready for the first planting of peppers, tomatoes, and petunias. If you intend to be competitive in the race for the first ripe tomatoes on your block, you’d be wise to pay attention to the shift.
It remains to be seen whether this is ultimately a good thing for home gardeners or not. Warmer winters not only mean an earlier start for planting, but also an increased likelihood that pests and diseases will have a higher survival over winter and two weeks longer to multiply and do their damage in your borders, cutting beds, and kitchen garden. Some weeds have continued to grow through the winter and the early start just might give them an advantage over native plants and desirable ornamentals. I found a dandelion blooming in our yard in mid December!
Meanwhile we’ve just had the first light snowfall of the winter. Officially it’s just a trace, and therefore we may yet break the record for latest measurable snowfall. Remember those warm December days? I was out pulling weeds in my shirtsleeves on a couple of days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the ground didn’t freeze until mid-January. My artichokes were still standing on New Years!
It is becoming increasingly difficult to deny that the climate is indeed changing. While we can’t say for certain that climate change is responsible for the heavy snowfall in the western US this winter and the deaths it caused, for the magnitude of hurricane Katrina last year, or for drought and floods across the globe, those are all consistent with a warming trend that puts more energy into the atmosphere, causing more frequent and stronger storm events and shifting precipitation patterns.
You can fly by helicopter onto
mammoth icebergs off the coast of New Zealand — ice that has broken off of the
Antarctic and is moving northward away from the South Pole, as it has never
done before in recorded history. In the
These are precursors of the much larger anticipated impacts of global warming. It’s already too late to stop climate change, but there are many things you can do to slow it down. Most of them are things that make darn good sense even without climate change and they will save you money.
You can start by installing compact fluorescent light bulbs. Sure they cost a little more to buy than the old fashioned incandescent ones, but the compact ones last much longer (ten times) and use only a quarter of the energy to produce the same amount of light. So you save two ways — longer bulb life and less energy use. If you pay labor for someone to change your bulbs in a business, you’ll save even more by changing bulbs less often. You can’t use them with conventional dimmer switches and they don’t always fit in every fixture, but they make awfully good sense to use wherever you can. The newest ones are more compact and fit more fixtures. You can even get three-way compact fluorescent bulbs now for the lamps that have multiple levels. You could buy some and use them to replace your conventional bulbs as they burn out, but you’ll save even more money if you put them in right away and throw out the old incandescent bulbs or set them aside to use in the fixtures where you still can’t use a compact fluorescent bulb. They come in multi-packs at home improvement stores and many grocery stores and the cost has dropped significantly since their introduction just a few years ago.
Most of the lights in the Meetinghouse have already been converted to compact fluorescent bulbs. Between them and last year’s upgrade of the heating system controls, we’ve been using noticeably less electricity at the Meetinghouse. It’s saving money on our utility bills and reduces the amount of carbon dioxide that goes into the atmosphere, thus slowing down the rate of climate change — a bit. But those bits count.
It’s not just about global
warming, of course. Reducing your energy footprint also moves your household
and our country a little closer to energy independence and reduces the
justification to wage a war over oil supplies in
And of course you’ll walk or bike to the store or at least combine your trips to reduce your use of fuel for transportation, thus doing even more for the climate.
The simple act of converting your lighting is a step toward accomplishing UUCV’s mission of caring for the world and it honors the interdependent web of existence. It’s walking your talk. See you in the light bulb section of the hardware store!
Duane
By Kevin Snow
It would appear that winter has finally arrived in South Central Pennsylvania! Whether or not you see that as a good thing or a bad thing is very individualistic, but I know the recipients of this year’s clothing and mitten tree drives will be very thankful for the generosity that the members of UUCV have displayed over the past few months. I must admit a bit guiltily to enjoying the bizarre warm weather in December and early January, however I do not like what it might imply. If there is one thing that is constant about PA weather it is the unpredictability of it, which is all the better reason that needy members of our community have the hats, gloves, coats and other clothing items that you have been donating. It does pay to be prepared, to paraphrase the Boy Scout motto.
I also want to thank everyone for the generosity they have displayed through the Guest at Your Table program. There is still one week left to collect the boxes as I write this column, so I don’t have a total for you this month, but the boxes are piling higher and higher in my office which is a fine symbol of our generous spirit. Next month I will provide you with the total and then we can really be proud of the help we are bringing to people around the world and our neighborhood.
So, now it is time for new things to go onto the RE agenda now that the main festivities of winter have passed. The RE Committee is working hard to plan this summer’s and next fall’s RE program. A tentative idea for the summer will be to hold summer camp like activities, such as a nature hike, game day, and possible outing to swim, on Sundays. We want to try something different this year in our never ending quest to provide fun activities that teach UU principles to our children. If this idea sounds interesting to you, we will need lots and lots of help. Maybe you have a special skill with regards to a fun summer camp-style activity that you would like to share with our kids? Maybe you have special knowledge about summer animals or the birds and bees (the real ones not the euphemism) that you could share with our kids? Please start thinking about this now. I know summer is a long way from now, but for us in RE it is tomorrow!
I also want to give a little report card on the current RE year. The new format we have been following, with different teachers for each principle followed by an intergenerational service to kick off the next principle, has been a rousing success in my opinion! I might be biased, but I think this is one of the best year’s for RE! It has been awesome to have new teachers downstairs and I think the teachers have appreciated the fact they can focus on a 4 or 5 week period and then return to “upstairs” life. I genuinely hope that we can continue this format for next year. Those of you who have been teaching already can help us out by sharing the experience with others, if it was a good one, and perhaps thinking about joining us for next year. I am continually amazed with the quality of programs we can provide to our kids with your generosity. So, even though this year is only half over, let’s start looking into the future. Save room on your calendar for RE. See you on Sunday!
Pledges continue to track right on schedule. Thank you- everyone- for your continued effort to support the congregation. Total income is ahead of schedule due to increased sales of grocery cards, a terrific response to the Mozambique Bursary initiative, and the annual auction. If we collect only the remaining pledges for the rest of the year, we will end the year with a seven thousand dollar surplus. Expenses are tracking lower than expected due to restrained spending and a warmer than usual Winter.
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UUCV - Year To Date Financial Summary |
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Actual Figures As of 1/21/2007 |
Annual Budget |
Actual % of Annual Budget |
Expected % of Annual Budget |
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Pledge Receipts |
$85,168 |
$152,460 |
55.86% |
55.77% |
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Total Income |
$184,107 |
$244,470 |
75.31% |
55.77% |
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|
Total Expenses |
$109,911 |
$244,470 |
44.96% |
55.77% |
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NEWS! THE NEW
It’s that time again! The new pledge drive will start off with a congregational gathering in the meeting house at 12:30 P.M., just after the Service and Coffee Hour on Sunday March 4. Our treasurer, Larry Burger-Knorr will make a presentation. John Kallmann has accepted the position of pledge drive coordinator for this new fiscal year.
We ask our membership to consider hosting a Soup Supper event. John will be calling all previous hosts and hostesses of these home events and will urge others who may wish to have such an event to join in. The hosting family provides the soup and attendees can supplement with wine, juice, bread, salads, casseroles, etc. Typically the groups are about eight to ten persons. Outside of the fine opportunity for fellowship, the purpose of the event is to present to small groups of members of our congregation information on financial stewardship and its importance to UUCV.
The Soup Suppers will take place between March 4 and April 8. More details will be available at the sign-up tables in the social room in the near future. If you can help out in any way, please contact John or Gisela at johnkallmann@earthlink.net or at his bookstore 245-0411 or at home 245-2360.
From Kit Franklin, UUCV Board President
After our morning service on Sunday, February 11, members of UUCV are invited
to a Town Meeting led by the Committee on Ministry. Get a cup of tea or
coffee and bring it back to the sanctuary to learn more about how your fellow
members feel about UUCV’s progress. The
Committee on Ministry will review with us the results of their evaluation of
our collective ministry - how are we doing in such areas as caring for one
another, making use of our fiscal, human and other resources, bringing in new
members and making them feel like important contributors to the UUCV community,
helping our children to flourish as future UUs and
reaching out beyond our walls. The last time we did a similar periodic
evaluation was in 2003.
Hopefully, all of us have completed a questionnaire and/or attended one of the three evaluation meetings held in January. At this Town Meeting on February 11, we will discuss what actions we think are needed. Please plan to attend and give us your input. We need to know how you see us, and what you think we are doing well or need to improve.
UUCV is your church community. Help make it what you want it to be.
Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
A Discussion Group devoted to
topics in foreign affairs has been formed under sponsorship of the Social
Action Council. All are welcome. It is planned to meet once a month
at the Meeting House, and to use the current Great Decisions booklet as a
discussion guide. The first meeting, on the
Coming Round Table
Discussion
With the situation in Iraq worsening by the day and the Administration about to embark on a “surge” of additional troops to try to secure Baghdad and Anbar Province, it is time we had a chance to compare ideas, see whether we in UUCV have any sort of a consensus on this or other courses of action for our country, and what if anything we would want to do about it. The Round Table will be held under the auspices of the Foreign Affairs Discussion Group in the Meeting House dining room at 7 pm on Friday, Feb. 23. All are welcome. Questions, Alan Franklin akfrank@kuhncom.net. Watch Pre-Views for further information.
Participating in Social
Action
At times members of the
congregation have ideas for social action projects that they have interest in,
would like to work on, and that would contribute to congregational work in
fulfillment of our mission. If you would like to see these things happen,
and you want to be involved with others who are working for such things, there
is a place for you! Get in touch with any member of the Social Action
Council [Priscilla Laws (Chair), Kathy Bell, George Fohs,
Alan Franklin, Julie Ham, Harold Piety, and Jon Tarrant), or better yet, come
to a meeting of the Social Action Council after alerting Priscilla that you
will be doing so, and discuss your idea there. The next meeting is at 7 pm on
Tuesday, Feb. 6, at Priscilla’s house,
Change For
The World
Change for the World has seen a terrific increase in donations since its humble start at UUCV in 2003. December's change added up to $284 that will go for the $30 for 30 women program at Muncy correctional facility. That means during the 2006 calendar year members and friends of UUCV contributed a total of (drum roll, please) $3121.20 for all the various causes.
We have received thank you
letters from Domestic Violence Services of Cumberland and
In February, the RE students have
selected C.A.R.E.S., a
S.H.A.R.E. In
the News
On January 25, Project SHARE celebrated its 22nd anniversary. That day the food bank opened its doors for the first time serving 72 clients. Today its client base is over 1,000 and its annual budget over one million.
In January, UUCV contributed 49 pounds of food and non-food items to the food bank. For February, the designated food item of the month is Tuna, and UUCV’s signature item is pork n’ beans but, as always, all contributions are welcome. Ingathering will be Sunday, February 13th. Thank you for your continuing support of this very important agency.
In December we welcomed the following new members into our midst:
Karen Brown recently moved back to
Gisela Roethke came to this country from
Congratulations to Earl and Darlene Smith, whose granddaughter
Ama Eden Smith was born on January 6 in
The Caregivers Support Group has begun making its resources available to the UUCV community.
---If you need equipment for a recovering friend or family member (walker, wheelchair, crutches, etc.), call Bea Miller at 776-9451. She would also like to hear from anyone who has equipment to lend.
---If you're looking for a book or other reference material on care giving, call Beth Shank at 243-5558 or contact her at bethscandles“at”paonline.com.
---Anne Gero is the contact person for social service referrals. She can be reached at 249-4262 or annegero“at”mac.com.
---Information about aging and end-of life concerns may be had from Bobbi Bassett at 243-1026 or bobbiclay“at”aol.com.
---Ann Sheehan is our source for legal questions and referrals or info about wills and living trusts. Call her at 249-7681 or e-mail her at sheehanhsd009“at”earthlink.net.
The Caregivers group meets from 1 to 2:30 p.m. the second and fourth Thursdays of each month in the church library. It is open to anyone caring for persons of any age, or those who have care giving issues or issues of aging. Anne Gero is the group facilitator.
Many thanks to the Communications Council, and especially to Marilyn Durr, for all the good publicity that UUCV has received in the local newspapers recently. And many thanks to Greg Bear for the design of our new web site (still at www.uucv.net). The sub-pages are still a work in progress, but the new look of the home page will be carried through all the sub-pages (currently linked to the old site). Lots of you stepped forward on short notice to help with the Roe v. Wade Commemoration service on January 21; your cheerful help was much appreciated!
February 2 Pot Luck Supper 6:30pm
The
pot luck supper will be held on Friday, Feb. 2. The music will be
February 10 Generations Workshop
Talkin’ bout my Generation . . . and Yours and
Yours: Congregations and Generations. February 10, 2007 from 10 to 3. Different generations have
differing needs and expectations of their religious congregations. These
differences can be confusing and may lead to conflict. Or congregations can use
these differences to create dynamic communities. Understanding and accepting
generational personality pattern can lead to vibrant, healthy and growing
congregations. Please come. Plan to have
lots of fun and to learn something about people in your life. This workshop is
open to many and will be most effective with representatives from all adult and
young adult generations. Look for, complete and bring the generations
handout. Y ou can find it on the sign-up
table.
February 18 UUCV Family Game
Time
On Sunday February 18, immediately after the service, please join us in the dining hall for a family game time. You do not need to have children to attend! Bring a few dollars to chip in for pizza, some fruit or vegetables or beverages to round out the meal, and your favorite game. Questions? Contact Virginia Jackson at virginialaws@yahoo.com or 249-7937.
February 16 Movie Discussion
Join us for movies and
conversations on race and ethnicity. On February 16th, we will watch and
discuss Crash.
February 17 Writer’s Group
The Writer's Group will meet on
Saturday, February 17 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the home of Charlotte Klein,
February 28 Women’s Spirituality Class Begins
Kathy Ellis will facilitate Cakes for the Queen of Heaven, an adult religious education course on women's spirituality. We will meet on Wednesday evenings from 7:30 to 9:00, beginning on February 28th. This is a nine session exploration of women’s religious history, women’s spirituality and feminist theology. Topics include reclaiming the feminine divine and the female voices in the Bible. Sign up by February 25.
February 25 Serious Stuff Bookgroup
February
25, 2007 from 6:30-8:00 PM in the meetinghouse, Serious Stuff will discuss Godless Constitution: A
Moral Defense of the Secular State by Kramnick
and Moore, a compelling rebuttal to those who claim that