ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR SEPTEMBER 5, 2010:
 
NEXT SERVICE: September 12: Water, Water, Everywhere! It is Ingathering Sunday, when we  celebrate our fall reunion with the annual Water Communion ceremony we have come to love. Yet, we live on the edge of one of the greatest sources of fresh water on the planet, while others around the world struggle for rights to safe and secure sources of water. Bring some water that represents your summer stories to pour into the common bowl as we ponder what water as an “common” means to others around the world. Join Rev. Sally Hamlin and the Worship Associates.

NEXT DROP-IN DISCUSSION: September 12: Working America. Phil Ebersole will lead a discussion about how working people are faring in today’s United States, drawing on The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, by Steven Greenhouse. Discussions are at 9:15 am and 12 noon.  

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (RE) CLASSES: This Sunday will be the last day of our summer children’s activities program.  Bring your kids from ages 2-10 to the lounge during worship for structured activities and free play with Jan.  The September 12 service is multigenerational; religious education classes begin September 19.

CHURCH SERVICES WILL BEGIN AT 10:30 AM NEXT WEEK and throughout the church year. Drop-in Discussions will be held at 9:15 am and noon unless otherwise indicated. RE Classes for school age children begin next week.

SEM FOOD INGATHERING: We’ll be collecting paper goods and non-perishable food items for SEM (Southeast Ecumenical Ministries) beginning again next Sunday, September 12.  Our church has supported SEM very well for many years, and we hope this year will be a banner one.  Thanks for your donations.

PATH TO MEMBERSHIP: On September 19 and 26, we will show and discuss Voices of a Liberal Faith, a DVD which explores what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist.  This introductory session will begin at 11:45 and last for about an hour. Please visit http://uuroc.org/our-ministries/membership/ for more information.

FALL CLEAN UP DAY: Saturday October 9, 2010; from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM It is a time when all members of the Church have an opportunity to give some time and contribute to the maintenance of the building by cleaning, fixing, organizing, etc. There will be breakfast snacks at 9:00.  A light lunch will be served around noon. For more information, contact Alain Perregaux at 654-5793, or alpex@frontiernet.net or the Church Office at 546-2826 or firstuu@frontiernet.net

SPARE CHANGE COLLECTION:  We’ll be collecting spare change again in the fall, so this is a good time to start putting aside a few coins.  Every bit helps to keep our  budget in balance.

SMALL GROUP MINISTRY is designed to foster connection and caring, to provide an avenue for personal growth and spiritual development and, ultimately, to strengthen the fabric of our community. The Small Group Ministry program is open to anyone who wishes to participate.  All that is required is that participants commit to attending the full series of sessions.  Groups are led by trained facilitators and meet in the facilitators’ homes for two hours each session. Sign up for sessions, beginning soon, on our website or bulletin board in the Clara Barton Lounge. 

RECYCLING OPPORTUNITY AVAILABLE: Volunteers are needed to help with the church’s recycling. If you’re able to help, please contact Kris (office@uuroc.org or 546.2826).

THE BRIGHTON RECYCLING PROGRAM at the Farmer’s Market is now collecting plastics #3-7 (originally they were just accepting #5), wine corks made from cork, hard plastic bottle tops (eg- tops from milk containers), all kinds of batteries. We will collect these items at church and drop them off every Sunday.

UU LEADERSHIP WORKOUT: Come join us as we build leadership, strength, flexibility and muscle! Sat, Oct 2, 8:30am-4pm, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Syracuse. $22/pp includes breakfast. lunch, and snacks. Deadline to register is September 22. www.sld.uua.org.

CROSSING THE BRIDGE FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY: A 1.5 mile march Sun, Sept 26 at 2:00 PM, beginning at Monroe County Office Bldg, 39 W Main St ending with a free picnic at Charles Carroll Park. Register at www.meny.us/march or call Todd Plank at 585.278.4190

A CARING COMMITTEE REMINDER: When a family member enters the hospital, needs emergency meals, needs transportation to church, or wants home visits; please contact Marti Eggers, mceggers@gmail.com or 385-4342, Eileen Fernandez, eileenff2@yahoo.com or 225-2301.

HEARING LOOP IN SANCTUARY: Please use the T setting on your hearing aid or see an usher for a receiver.

ROCHESTER AREA INTERFAITH HOSPITALITY NETWORK (RAIHN) HOST WEEK

 Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (RAIHN) is a non-profit organization of faith communities assisting homeless families in achieving sustainable independence. This is done by supporting them with resources of food, shelter, personalized case management, and a broad network of caring volunteers. Every fifteen weeks, a faith community hosts RAIHN guests in their place of worship for one week. 

Our next RAIHN Host Week is September 26-October 3. If you are able to help, please contact Matt Comeau matthewcomeau@yahoo.com.

December 2008

As I write this, the first snowy blanket of the winter has arrived in Rochester, and the morning ride to church was so bright and lovely. I cannot help but feel happy when I see the fresh white cold cover arrive, even though I know that its presence signals the end to warm weather for a while. This change is part of the mix of things I enjoy about living in western New York. I love the seasons’ changes; I love the way the distinct shifts in climate, four times each year, invite me into seeing another type of pattern in my life. It is almost as if we get to start over, begin anew, with each shift and flow of season. A gift, truly.

And much else has been shifting and changing in our church community. This past fall has seen us with so many exciting events, worship services, lots of visitors, potlucks and guest speakers, old friends ans new ones coming into our Sanctuary. The Sunday visit of Rev. Dr. Mark Morrison-Reed, former co-minister with his wife, Donna, was one such highlight. What a legacy they have bequeathed this congregation. The impact of their ministry here is still strong, 20 years later.

It is my belief that each of us has the potential for such impact upon this community. Despite the challenges of change, we commit ourselves over and over again to start anew. Despite how we are challenged in our quest to create the beloved community, we keep our promise to stay in the discussion, to speak our truth with love and compassion. We must find ways to ‘disagree without being disagreeable,’ as my supervisor once said to us, her team, as we struggled mightily with how to work creatively with one another in our struggling community health care center.

And so it is here, in our church community. Let us promise to stay in the game, to stay on course, to use what two authors (Rendle, Mann – Alban Institute) call ‘holy conversation’; a “people’s understanding of their identity as a faith community, their sense of purpose and their relationship to God” to find out what we mean to on another and to the world. Let us find our way to one another in these exciting and uncertain times.

As the season of seasons comes upon us, and we find ourselves stressed and over-scheduled, stretched financially and emotionally, may we remember to find times to enjoy the peace and quiet of a new winter’s day; find small ways to celebrate with and listen to our loved ones; pay attention to all the ways we are blessed in this world; and continue to create moments where the abundance of hope and joy can hold court in our lives, speaking truth into life.

For each moment is sacred. Each moment is unique. Each moment is a gift.

See you on Sunday.

November 2008

Dear Ones,

As I ponder what it is I want to write to you this month, I am thinking about how much you have taught me already. In just a short time, I have learned so much about this community and how much you love this congregation. It shows in all the ways you step forward to care for one another, and in the depth of passion which each of you brings to the beloved community.

I have found in you models for how to care for the world, for what it takes to step out, over and over again, in courage and in hope, to be good stewards of this faith we love.

The times in which we live are not for the faint of heart. There is so much going on that threatens to disturb all the foundations we took for granted in the past. Not the least among these is the upheaval we have seen in our country’s financial status.

I hear on the radio and on the TV the warnings to stay calm, to stay the course, to not panic, to avoid rash decisions, and all this makes sense to me. At the same time, I wonder about how those among and around us will make do with less, how people will learn to stretch further and further the meager dollars they have to get through the month. It takes courage to step forward, into the unknown, over and over again.

I take comfort in the knowledge that we are survivors of all sorts. Those of us from the northeast, particularly upstate and western New York, have already had too many years of being smart about making dollars stretch. I think we could be the people who write books about this for others to read in detail, so good are we at this, instead of the ones reading and listening to the pundits telling us what to do.

But then I wonder: What else can we learn?

Perhaps the question should be: What else is it that we have to teach?

I think there is still much to be hopeful about and much to celebrate. This congregation has stood through many years of hard times, within a community that has withstood hard times, and yet you still meet and sing with joy and heart every Sunday morning.

You still gather here in this building on the corner of Clinton and Court and work with RAIHN or organize and plan your ministries. You teach your children, or one another; you know every square inch of this building, top to bottom, and you love its peculiarities, even as you struggle with its challenging and aging design. And you write notes of care and concern, make visits and phone calls, check in with one another, always looking to the future, while relishing the present moment.

I look forward to our time together whenever we meet; I know I still have so much to find out about who you are.

In the coming season, as we anticipate ramping up for visitors, special celebrations and times that have, in the past, called for spending extra money, when we can expect to feel swept along with the holiday hype, let us take some time instead to listen to one another, plan in some quiet reflection time, take walks in the brisk fresh air sweeping in off the lake, make tea or cookies and invite the elderly neighbor to come and visit. Find and create new ways to recall what it is that has named us into being in the first place, and practice one of the most important of the ‘holy manners’: that of listening for the voice within that calls us into full interaction with life.

May First Universalist continue to stand proudly here and remain a symbol for the future. May we continue to grow in our knowing of one another and the world, and may we continue to find ways to fill our mission to “Nurture the Spirit and Serve the Community.”

In love and faith,

Universalist Unitarian Association (UUA) news can be found here.

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) news can be found here.

UUWorld, the magazine of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, can be found here.  

National organization of Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU) news can be found here.

New York State Convention of Universalists (NYSCU) news can be found here.

Saint Lawrence District (SLD) news can be found here.

If you just look around our region, there are lots of celebrations. There are harvest festivals, spring festivals, winter festivals, celebrations of music, culture, art, food and neighborhoods. Around the country, people celebrate history, the black-backed gull, the paddlefish and other regional delights. What do these sometimes zany celebrations tell the world about those who celebrate – and about ourselves? Join us for a chance to laugh and learn!

-with Mary Louise Gerek and Ann Rhody