School Year Sunday Schedule

8:30 a.m. second Sunday of the month
Forum in Fellowship Hall
10:00 a.m.
Service in Folgelson Hall (child care available)
11:30 a.m.
Service in Folgelson Hall
Religious Education in Fellowship Hall

Summer Sunday Schedule
(First Sunday in June to First Sunday after Labor Day)

10:00 a.m.
Service in Folgelson Hall (child care available)
Service in Folgelson Hall
Children and Youth Summer Program, World Religions and Cultures, in Fellowship Hall

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Fe » Lifespan Religious Education

Children’s Library Created to Honor Cynthia Josephs

The Cynthia Josephs Children’s Library has been created at UUCSF to honor Cynthia. Gene and Joan Farnum have donated the first children’s book, The Pink Refrigerator, for its shelves. Cynthia’s daughter Katy Vernacchio has sent three books and left memorial book markers for us.

Thanks to the following people for their generous donations to the children’s library fund. The list is current as of June 16.

Monetary gifts or children’s books are always welcome for Cynthia’s library.

There is a table of books for sale in the library and proceeds will go to the children’s library as well. If you have a good book for the sale, please leave it on the bottom shelf of the library cart. There is no need to mark a price on it—hardbacks are $2.00 and paperbacks $1.00.

Thanks for your continued support.

Lee Purcell
for the Library Committee

Tags:

* * *

Online Summer Adult Education

The Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) serves a UU congregation scattered all over the globe. Much of its ministry is via electronic circuitry. Some of its services are open to other UUs. Among them, the following online course is offered this July:

Writing a Personal Mission Statement: Guided self-reflection designed to clarify personal goals and purposes, articulate core values, and show how life choices express one’s principles and beliefs. Taught by Dr. Peg Shaffer, Assistant Professor of Religious and Educational Studies at Ball State University. Starts July 7 for four weeks. The fee is $40.

For more information or to enroll, go to www.clfuu.org/learn.

Mariana Bornholdt
for the Religious Education Committee

Tags:

* * *

DRE Dialogue: Lifespan Religious Education Update

At a recent meeting it was decided that for the time being, the two teams that comprise the umbrella Lifespan RE Committee will be designated Adult RE and Children/Youth RE. As we continue to transition and develop our visions for this combined effort, we will keep the congregation posted about our work. The primary mission of the combined RE teams is to offer classes and activities throughout the year that will support and foster spiritual growth for all ages and stages of life and faith development. By offering classes and activities appropriate for children, youth, and adults separately and also across the generations, we hope to provide opportunities for deepening our congregational ties, broadening our commitment to local and global issues, and gaining tools and support for our personal life journeys.

Our UUCSF Lifespan RE vision is ever evolving. Active participation, trial and error, opinion and discussion—all are needed to create a program that can successfully minister to a congregation like ours. On June 29 (and subsequent Sundays), please look for a display in the foyer asking for your preferences about prospective course offerings, preferred days of the week, and times of day for classes and workshops. There will also be a large poster asking for ideas for classes and recommended facilitators. Please look for this display and make your suggestions and opinions known. As always, I am also available to discuss ideas for classes and other RE topics. Contact me at the office, 982-9674, ext. 11, or via email.

Alice Springer

Tags:

* * *

RE Youth Nights Continue Through Summer

On Sunday evening, June 22, eight members of the junior and senior youth groups met for another night of tacos and outdoor games. A brief business meeting was held and dates for future summer meetings were decided. Youth Night activities begin at 5:30 and end at 8:30 and will meet every other Sunday on the following dates: July 6 and 20, August 3, 17, and 31, and September 14.

Other decisions made include: each youth may bring one friend to a Youth Night event but all youth in attendance will be asked to sign the UUCSF Youth Group Covenant, which has been developed collaboratively by the youth and their adult leaders. Some Youth Nights will have specified activities or perhaps a theme. “Off-campus” events like bowling or skating might also be planned. Parents of youth will share duties for these Sunday night events—two per week—and it is hoped that other members of the congregation might be interested to join parents as youth supporters.

Thanks to Pete Vogel, who has staffed the last two Youth Nights (and provided the taco ingredients) and to Mark Murdock and Judith Newman, who assisted. Each scheduled Youth Night will have two youth coordinators. If you would like to find out about the July 6 plans, please call Kira Flynn or Cameron Murdock. If you would like to be a supporting adult, please call me at 982-9674, ext. 11.

Alice Springer and the Youth Group

Tags:

* * *

From RE: An Invitation to Teach in 2008-09

Curriculum has been chosen, teacher orientation dates set, and supplies ordered. Now all we need are teachers for our Sunday morning program for Children and Youth! Our fall program begins on September 14 and ends on the last Sunday of May 2009. With several holidays and Teacher Days Off, we have fewer than 30 teaching Sundays in the upcoming year.

This year we will have a Sunday morning group for infants and toddlers and one preschool class for ages 3 and 4. As in the past, elementary age classes will combine ages: kindergarten/1st grade, 2nd/3rd grade, 4th/5th grade, and this year a 6th grade only class is being planned. For the fall, our 7th and 8th grade junior youth will focus on Our Whole Lives (O.W.L.) sexuality education. This program has trained facilitators, so additional junior youth leaders are needed in the winter and spring only. High school youth also meet on Sunday mornings and are looking for both male and female adult leaders.

Two-person teams lead weekly classes. Ideally we will have four teachers per class who can rotate Sunday responsibilities. In addition, there are many other ways to participate on Sunday mornings. For example, adopt a class and be a special friend or adopted grandparent of Roadrunners, Cats, or one of the other classes, visiting once or twice a month; be a substitute on standby, ready to jump in when a teacher has a last-minute emergency; assist a teacher in a specific class on a regular basis; assist in the nursery by holding babies or building blocks with toddlers.

Teacher Orientation and Training is set for Saturday, August 23, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. A follow-up session is set for the afternoon of Saturday, September 6. If you would like to review this year’s curriculum or have questions about any aspect of Sunday morning RE, please contact me at the office, 982-9674, ext. 11.

Alice Springer, DRE

Tags:

* * *

RE “Summer Sundays” Begin June 1

On June 1, Summer Sundays activities will begin and will offer nursery care, a weekly Worship Circle, UU-related arts and crafts, and outdoor games running concurrently with the 10:00 a.m. adult service.

Each week either RE Assistant Christina Barbachano or DRE Alice Springer, one adult volunteer, and one paid teen assistant will staff the morning’s activities. We will need volunteers to sign up to help out, so please call at the office, 982-9674, ext. 11, if you are interested. The summer program ends on September 7 and the 2008-2009 RE year begins on September 14. Come have fun with us and get to know the UUCSF kids.

Children and Youth RE Committee

Tags:

* * *

Adult Religious Education Event: Harmonic Healing Workshop, Wednesday, June 4, 7:00-9:00 p.m.

The Adult Religious Education Committee is sponsoring a workshop by Melanie Willette, member of First Unitarian Universalist Church in Nashville, Tenn. She will lead a Didgeridoo Meditation Workshop in harmonic healing in Fogelson Hall from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 4. The cost is $25 per person and Melanie will donate 30% of the fee to UUCSF.

Melanie says, “The Aboriginal, Australian didgeridoo is capable of producing sound waves in the inaudible 0-20 Hertz range, which is the same frequency as human brain waves.” The workshop will include a presentation on the history of the didgeridoo and its healing properties, a 20-minute group meditation with time to process and share, and a mini, personalized Harmonic Therapy Session for each participant.

In addition to playing the didgeridoo, Melanie has studied and practiced Kundalini yoga for several years and draws on these principles when working with the didgeridoo. Her goal is “to share the intense meditative and healing properties of the didgeridoo with as many folks as possible.”

Please pick up a flyer near the Adult RE sign in the foyer. Pre-register for the class at Melanie’s website, http://www.playwithsticks.com. There is just room for 12 participants, so register soon.

Alice Springer, DRE

Tags:

* * *

Sunday Services

Religious Education classes for children and youth run concurrently with the 11:30 service through May 25. Please note that as of May 4, nursery care will be available only during the 11:30 service. Religious Education classes end on May 25 with an all-ages art Sunday.

On June 1 our summer schedule begins with one service at 10:00 a.m. Nursery care and activities for preschool through elementary-age children will run concurrently with that service throughout the summer.

Tags:

* * *

Forum News, Sunday, May 11, 8:30 a.m.

Greg Mello, director of the Los Alamos Study Group, will discuss the unprecedented crises that threaten all of humanity and much of the life around us. These crises, and American global power in decline, open new political and moral possibilities. Redirection of policies is critical and tied to the issues of “national security” and nuclear “deterrence.” Come and join this important discussion.

Laura Clarke
Chair, Sunday Forum

Tags:

* * *

RE Youth News

On April 27 a meeting of junior and senior high youth and their parents was held in Fellowship Hall. We enjoyed a terrific potluck and then began making plans for resuming Youth Nights and organizing a Youth Adult Committee. We also thanked Fred Bowman for his past two years as our paid Youth Program Coordinator. Despite the fact that there is not money in the 2008-2009 budget to pay Fred, he has offered to continue organizing campouts and social justice trips when he is able. UUCSF is extremely fortunate to have Fred, who is so dedicated to our youth.

The first Youth Night, a movie night, was planned for May 4. The second is on Sunday, May 18, from 5:30 to 8:30, when there will be a game night (including badminton) and a taco dinner. At this meeting, plans will be discussed for this summer’s youth nights, camping trips, and other activities. Any youth who would like to participate in future youth group plans is welcome to attend. Two adults, including parent volunteers will be “on duty” each week.

Alice Springer, DRE

Tags:

* * *

New Books in Our Library: Teacher Man; Nothing but Trouble; Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. We’ve all read Angela’s Ashes, the prize-winning account of McCourt’s childhood in Limerick, Ireland. This book follows him through his 30-year teaching career in New York City schools and how this career formed his second career as a writer.

McCourt relates with high wit and sharp tongue his very unconventional teaching methods that leave a lasting impression on his pupils. (One assignment is to write “An Excuse Note from Adam or Eve to God.”)

Days in the classroom and evenings spent reading, writing, and drinking with other aspiring writers led McCourt to develop his ability to tell a great story as he works to gain the affection and respect of unruly adolescents. “The same dark humor, lyric voice, and gift for dialogue are apparent here…The teaching profession’s loss is the reading public’s gain, entirely.” Kirkus Reviews.

Nothing but Trouble by Michael McGarrity. Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney is asked by his old boyhood friend, now a professional rodeo rider, to serve as a technical advisor on a contemporary Western movie to be filmed along the Mexican border. Kerney agrees and shortly after beginning the job finds a dead man on a road near an isolated border crossing.

Thus the plot is set for the tenth Police Chief Kevin Kerney novel and all the assorted dangers, intrigues, and adventures told in the fast-paced and riveting manner that a McGarrity novel provides. “Michael McGarrity gets better and better. How good it is to follow a detective created by a man who has been there and done that.” Tony Hillerman.

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar…Understanding Philosophy through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein. Harvard philosophy majors Cathcart and Klein take us on a wonderful, dizzying ride through western philosophy loaded with limericks, one-liners, and cartoons. This is not your average textbook! Highly recommended by UUCSF member Bobbie Adelman.

Cynthia Josephs
for the Library Committee

Tags:

* * *

DRE Dialogue: Thoughts on a Youth Adult Committee

In order to better serve our junior and senior high youth, the RE Committee is considering the formation of a Youth Adult Committee (YAC) in our congregation. There are many UU congregations in both the U.S. and Canada that have such committees, including our neighbors in Los Alamos and Albuquerque. The Mountain Desert District also has a YAC, which plans district-wide youth conferences, trainings, etc. A congregational YAC not only benefits the youth program but also the wider ministry of the congregation that it serves. The membership of a YAC includes a cross-section of the congregation: junior youth, senior youth, parents, and adults who do not have teens in the program

Generally a YAC has three major functions, which are to

  1. help youth plan for activities and events that are of interest to them,
  2. provide an opportunity for learning leadership skills, and
  3. provide an avenue for adults and young people to find common interests and ways to combine efforts in fulfilling the mission of our congregation.

Communication between youth and adult members is greatly improved through the work of such a committee. The committee work itself sets an example for working together and youth-adult activities provide hands-on experience for the entire congregation. What better way to get acquainted than to work or play together?

I am still gathering information from other YACs. Meanwhile, UUCSF parents and youth will be meeting soon to talk about their ideas for such a committee. In our budget for the new fiscal year that starts May1, we will not be funding the Youth Program Coordinator (YPC) position. We are fortunate, however, that our current YPC is willing to continue working with our youth, especially to get them to conferences and away on interesting and transformative trips. We hope that by the next budget year this position will be funded once again — our children and youth are our future. In the meantime, a YAC has the potential for creating new and collaborative bonds that will strengthen our work together. If designing such a group sounds intriguing to you, please call me at the office. I will keep you informed as our work progresses. I hope that it will include some of you!

Alice Springer

Tags:

* * *

New Books in Our Library: Conversations with Gaia; The Soul of Politics; The Murder Room

Conversations with Gaia: Mother Earth’s Living Body of Wisdom by Ningay Nancy Sing. In recent years we have been asked to track our ecological footprint in order to measure human impact on the environment. Melting polar ice caps, disappearing species, and garbage-polluted beaches are the visible evidence of our human footprints. Professors in the field of ecopsychology, an academic field that studies the relationship between human beings and the earth, tell us that what we see in the environment are external symptoms of a much deeper systemic imbalance. They assert that the roots of the environmental crisis are energetic and spiritual in origin.

Conversations with Gaia is a guidebook for living as vibrant, energy-resourceful human beings and invites us to examine our own ecological footprint and address the unseen energetic relationship each of us has with nature.

Beautifully written with sensitivity and humor, … a wakeup call and practical instruction manual that calls us … to inspired action.
— Gail Larsen, founder of Real Speaking.

The Soul of Politics: Beyond Religious Right and Secular Left by Jim Wallis with a foreword by Garry Wills and a preface by Cornel West. This book responds to signs of cultural breakdown and political impasse with a resounding call to reintegrate politics and spirituality. Wallis shows us why both liberal and conservative visions are inadequate to the challenges before us. He argues for a new political morality that combines social justice with personal responsibility, and he looks outside the traditional centers of power to find the resources for a political movement that will empower the powerless, protect the environment, and foster true democracy.

The Murder Room by P.D. James. Here is another skillfully written and elegantly constructed Commander Adam Dalgliesh mystery by the well-known English author. Commander Dalgliesh is already acquainted with the Dupayne, a museum dedicated to the interwar years, with a room celebrating the most notorious murders of that time, when he is called to investigate a killing there. The victim was seeking to close the museum against the wishes of trustees and staff. I don’t think P.D. James has ever written an uninteresting and suspenseful mystery and she certainly doesn’t this time either.

A brief note to all who use our UUCSF Library: please look through your bookshelves and see if any books from the UUSCF Library are on them. We are missing a great many books and would be happy for their return.

Cynthia Josephs
for the Library Committee

Tags:

* * *

Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation Luncheon

Saturday, March 15, 11:30
Joan Logghe: Stirring Our Imagination & Touching Our Hearts

“Entertaining. Thought-provoking. Uplifting.” Words describing the poetry of our March 15 UUWF speaker, writer Joan Logghe. Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones, says “Joan Logghe is one of the most exciting poets in America today. Her words sing, slide, slip and jive. I love everything by Joan Logghe.” David Steinberg of the Albuquerque Journal calls Logghe “…a prodigiously gifted poet. I think Logghe is a New Mexico treasure.” Miriam Sagan wrote in the New Mexican Sunday magazine that “Logghe merges domesticity and the everyday with the divine.”

Writer of nonfiction, poetry, and reviews, Joan Logghe teaches writing and literature as “a bridge to emotional activism, cultural awareness and beauty.” She has taught at UNM-Los Alamos, in Bratislava, Vienna, Zagreb, Croatia, and since 1991, she has been on the faculty of Ghost Ranch Conference Center. Her numerous awards include a National Endowment in Poetry as well as the first Mable Dodge Luhan internship in Taos.

Joan Logghe lives and works “off the academic grid” in La Puebla, N.M., where she and husband Michael raised three children and built three houses. Logghe’s four books in print are: Sofia, Blessed Resistance, Rice, and Twenty Years in Bed with the Same Man.

Our March 15 program will assuredly be stimulating, entertaining, and exciting! We look forward to seeing you there.

For reservations, sign up on the clipboard in the foyer, call Juniper Stein at 986-1722, or e-mail her at stein1907@juno.com. Lunch is $6.00 for members of UUWF, $8.00 for nonmembers. Yearly membership dues are $30.00.
Pat Kutay, Karen Armitage & Dona Durham
Co-Chairs, Program Committee

Tags:

* * *

Forum News

Valerie Gremillion is a complex-systems scientist with a Ph.D. in neuroscience from University of California at San Diego. Her research interests span biochemistry and neurochemistry, ecology and ecosystems, human health, and a systems approach to solving both local and global problems.

Her illustrated talk is on the U.S. Forest Service plans to officially open roads and forest trails in our Santa Fe National Forest to Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs) under the “Travel Management” plan. Local areas to be opened for ATV/ORV use include Cañada de los Alamos, Glorieta Mesa, and Rowe Mesa. The destructive impact of these vehicles has been documented in western forests, and includes significant and sometimes irreparable damage to ecosystems, streams, watersheds, soils, and wildlife. Despite required “multiple use” of the forests, ATVs/ORVs disturb other “quiet” uses of the forest, including hiking, bird watching, stock grazing, horseback riding, and hunting. Allowing use of our forests for ATVs will destroy not only their natural beauty, but the integrity of these ecosystems and the clean air and precious water they provide us. No environmental impact study or money to enforce use has been done.

In an era of changing climate that is buffered by healthy forests, we cannot afford to compromise the ecosystems that sustain us. Dr. Gremillion will provide the details of the risks of officially opening our forests to ATV use, actions to be taken by the Forest Service in January 2008, and what you can do to voice your opinion on this crucial issue to both our local economy and our way of life.

Tags:

* * *

New in the Library

The library has received three fairly recent novels from a very kind anonymous donor.

Terrorist by John Updike Powerful contemporary fiction by a brilliant novelist! The story tells of 18-year-old Ahmad Ashmaway Mulloy, the devout Muslim child of an Irish-American mother and an Egyptian father who disappeared when Ahmad was three. As Ahmad practices his religion, ignoring friends and teachers who attempt to divert him from what he calls the “Straight Path,” he finds employment in a Lebanese-owned furniture store and soon the Department of Homeland Security works its way into the plot.

Thirteen Steps Down??* by Ruth Rendell.

In this novel Rendell masterfully interweaves the multiple narratives of an angry young man who longs for recognition, the young supermodel he is stalking, and his elderly spinster landlady who still believes that romance may find its way into her life. “Her [Rendell’s] clear, shapely prose casts the mesmerizing spell of the confessional.” The New Yorker.

The Lighthouse by P.D. James.

Combe Island, off the Cornish coast, has been owned by the same family for centuries. Now it serves as a getaway vacation retreat for distinguished visitors who need security and discretion as they relax. Thus when one of these distinguished visitors is found hanging from Combe’s famous lighthouse, events start to occur in a hurry and Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called in. “P.D. James raises the mystery genre to the level of serious literature with her finely crafted prose, playful wit, and keen eye for detail.” The San Francisco Chronicle.

Cynthia Josephs
for the Library Committee

Tags:

* * *

DRE Dialogue

Well, it’s not quite a “snow day.” Snow is falling but I am working at home (not relaxing by the fireplace,) writing this column and doing other religious education tasks. However, the quiet beauty of the snow-draped trees and lacy grasses brings a soothing atmosphere to my home office, making writing almost relaxing, even with a deadline hovering! This is the eighth New Year I have greeted you as your Director of Religious Education and each January brings new reflections about the past year as well as the upcoming year. I’d like to share some highlights with you here:

• Since the summer, the RE Committee has begun an active transition to a Lifespan RE Committee. We have completed our Fall Adult RE courses and are beginning the Winter 2008 session with a variety of classes (see p. __ for information on current Adult RE offerings).
• The RE Committee will hold its mid-winter retreat on January 26, where we will have a “tune-up” workshop led by Rev. Deborah Holder, our Mountain Desert District Program Consultant for Lifespan Faith Development. We hope to come up with a more effective structure for this transitioning committee—something that reflects the changing face of our UUCSF family and the time and energy of our volunteers.
• The volunteer teaching staff numbers 17—we are working toward having four teachers per class so that every teacher can attend the worship service twice per month.
• For teens, a high school Our Whole Lives (O.W.L.) sexuality education class has been completed and Coming of Age continues with eight youth and eight adult mentors participating.
• We now have three adults trained to lead Our Whole Lives for both young adults and adults, two trained for grades K-1 and 4-6, four trained to lead grades 7-9, and two trained to lead grades 10-12.
• Over the winter break, four UUCSF teens and two UUCSF adults joined an MDD youth project in Juarez, Mexico, where they built a house for a homeless family. This District event was led by our Youth Program Coordinator, Fred Bowman.

Admittedly, I have days when administrative tasks are overwhelming and I wonder what in the world I am doing here! Then comes a day like this past Sunday (January 6) when I chatted with three new families and led a discussion with our Coming of Age class about dealing with the “bad things” in our lives. Sometimes it takes a “snow day” to slow down enough to recognize the blessings.

Tags:

* * *

Mentors Still Needed

The 2007-08 Coming of Age (COA) program began on September 21 with a potluck and opening ritual for parents and their teenagers. We have nine participants this year and still need three men as mentors for these young people. The formal beginning of the program for mentors will be November 3, when there will be a mentor training/orientation session.

This year I have asked our COA families to think about members of our congregation they would like to have as mentors. Perhaps some of you have already been asked. Please seriously consider the invitation to be a mentor if you are approached by one of our youth. Since some of our young people are fairly new to the congregation they may not know any adults to share this important time with. That is why I am inviting you to volunteer to participate in this year’s Coming of Age journey.

Our first Coming of Age meeting with mentors will take place in mid-November and thereafter once or twice each month at 1:00 p.m. on Sundays. The final COA events (the Celebration Dinner and Coming of Age Service) will be held on May 17 and 18 respectively. Please contact me soon if you are interested in mentoring one of our outstanding young UUs or if you have questions about the duties and time commitment for mentors.
Alice Springer, DRE

Tags:

* * *

Covenant Corner

The Open Topic Covenant Group now has openings for four people who are interested in joining. It is a mixed-gender group that focuses on one topic at each meeting, allowing for a wide diversity of conversations without being limited to a single line of thought. It provides a rich environment in which topics arise from what is currently foremost in people’s minds and lives. The Open Topic group meets the second Wednesday of the month from 7:00 to 9:15 p.m. and the meeting place rotates among members’ homes. The host chooses the topic for the evening. The next meeting will take place on Wednesday, December 12. For more information please call me at 955-1727.

Nancy Burgas
Covenant Group Facilitator

Tags:

* * *

UUCSF Global Warming Task Force

Our fall UUCSF season is off to a great environmental start. As of 11:20 a.m. Sunday morning, September 9, there were 9—count ‘em, 9!—hybrids in our UUCSF parking lot. And a tenth parked at an adjacent curb. We’re getting the environmental picture!

Our Adult RE global warming/climate change film series is under way, with films on September 14, 21, 28, and October 5. We started with Who Killed the Electric Car?, to be followed by Bill Moyers’ Is God Green? on September 21. The last two films in the series will be the decision of course participants. Even if you missed the first showing, feel free to attend the rest. There is no charge.

Please sign up ASAP for our second Adult RE discussion course, Northwest Earth Institute’s “Global Warming: Changing CO2urse,” beginning on Thursday, October 11. We will need to order the discussion guides in advance. The sign-up sheet is in the foyer.

Doug Stewart
for the Global Warming Task Force

Tags:

* * *

Navigation

Search

Online Donations

You can make a financial donation to us with a credit card online, courtesy of the Network for Good organization. Just click on the logo below and follow the instructions.

Donate via Network for Good