ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR FEBRUARY 5, 2012:
 
NEXT SERVICE: Sunday, February 12: “Lust”: What is it? Are you getting enough?
Do you want more? Is its opposite love or something else? A service for Valentine’s Day. Rev. Martha Munson with Worship Associate Bridget Watts.

NEXT DROP-IN DISCUSSION: Sunday, February 12: Open Forum Discussion. We’ll meet for conversation without a set topic, or with a topic to be determined later.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: Kids ages four and older join us every week in the sanctuary for the first portion of our worship service.  Religious Education classes begin after the Message for All Ages.  Nursery care for babies and younger children is provided throughout the service on the second floor.  We also have seating in our second floor foyer, where parents can hold their little ones and listen to the service via speaker.

FOOD INGATHERING: Next Sunday donations of non-perishable food items, toiletries, and paper goods will be collected to benefit The Community Food Cupboard on Nester Street.

ORIENTATION CLASS: TODAY! Please join us in the Adult Lounge at noon to discuss the history of Unitarian Universalism and our church.  Karen Ruganis and Joy Leccese.

GUEST AT YOUR TABLE BOXES:  The UU Service Committee’s fundraiser, now is the time to return it.  Please bring it with you on Sunday and place it on the chancel.

SERVICE AUCTION 2012 has netted (including luncheon donations) over $5400. Huge thanks go to the entire congregation for donations of goods and services, the delicious soups, salads and desserts and all the volunteers to helped make this year even more successful than 2011.  And, if you were unable to attend,  here are still a few very choice items available for bidding.  The list will be posted in the Clara Barton or Paula Marchese at pmarchese@rochester.rr.com.  We’re still rockin’ it.

PARKING: Please remember that the church parking lot is reserved for first-time visitors and people who have difficulty walking long distances.  If you don’t fall into either of these categories, please park on the street or in one of the nearby parking garages.

FIRST BOOK GROUP MEETING: Sunday, Feb. 26th, at noon, in the adult lounge. Our initial book will be Jeremiah’s Hunger, by our own local author, Elizabeth Osta. Each month we will take turns choosing books covering a wide variety of genres. Come to any or all of the ones which interest you!

SMALL GROUP MINISTRY sessions starting soon.  SGM is an avenue for a spiritual, personal journey that fosters connection and caring with other UUs and is open to anyone who wishes to participate. Check the bulletin board or the website for more information. http://uuroc.org/our-ministries/small-group-ministry/

DO YOU LIKE PEOPLE AND BOOKS? If you do, you might consider joining the Library Committee and help manage our church bookstore and lending library.  Your obligation would be to staff the bookstore and library during coffee hour about once a month, and to attend a meeting roughly once every two months.  If you are interested, speak to Phil Ebersole.

COMING SOON: BUDGET SEASON!! If you are a committee chair or other church leader, watch for a budget request form coming soon.  If you have ideas or initiatives that you think should be part of our budget, please contact Ann Rhody or Lauretta Young by February 15.

CHILI COOK-OFF: Feedback (pun intended) from the first Bread Sunday was very positive, so this may be done again.  But Bill and Becky are now announcing a Chili Cook-Off with members and guests submitting their chili for a grand prize to be announced later. So, all of you who think you have the best chili, let Becky and Bill know and plans will proceed.  Tentative plans call for the Cook-Off to be held the last Sunday in February.

BOOK LAUNCH PARTY for “Liberty’s Vigil” February 15, 7:00-9:00PM, in the Clara BartonLounge. to celebrate the book and also to honor and recognize the labor, successes and sacrifices of Occupy Rochester and the Occupy Movement in general. Dwain Wilder and Karla Linn Merrifield are co-editors, of an anthology of poems about the Occupy Movement, “Liberty’s Vigil, the Occupy Anthology, 99 Poets among the 99%”.

MINDFULNESS CLASS: The Path to a Better You. Saturdays at 9:45 am, January 21-February 25, in the Adult Lounge. Contact Joy Lecesse coachingjoy@gmail.com to register or for more info.

ROCHESTER MODEL RAILROAD CLUB will hold its annual Open House Saturday, March 3 9am-5pm, and Sunday, March 4 1pm-5pm.

PEACE VIGIL: Each Sunday from noon-1 pm at the corner of Goodman St and East Ave. All are welcome to participate. Placards are available on site.

EASTMAN AT WASHINGTON SQUARE LUNCHTIME CONCERTS Thursdays from 12:15-12:45.  The concerts are free and open to the public. www.esm.rochester.edu

THE BOOKSTORE AND LIBRARY in the Clara Barton Lounge will be open during coffee hour for borrowing, browsing, and buying.

A CARING COMMITTEE REMINDER: When a family member enters the hospital, needs emergency meals, needs transportation to church, or wants home visits; please contact Ruth Fitzgerald rfitzgerald001@rochester.rr.com 225-0555,or 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.

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.

February 2012 Our Outlook

January 2012 Our Outlook

December 2011 Our Outlook

November 2011 Our Outlook

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