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July-August 2008
A Publication of First Unitarian Church of South Bend, Indiana

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July
Sun 6 10:00 am “The Examined Life”  
Tue 8 6:30 pm Finance Committee Library
Wed 9 9:30 am Parents’ Morning Out Primary Area
    6:45 pm Board of Trustees Library
Thu 10 7:00 pm Women’s Spirituality Group off site
Sun 13 10:00 am “The Death of a Salesman”  
Sun 20 10:00 am “Religious Opposition to Civil Rights of GLBT Community”
    11:30 am Brunch Bunch off site
Wed 23 9:30 am Parents’ Morning Out Primary Area
Sun 27 10:00 am “Religious Humanism” Rev. Roger Brewin
Wed 30 6:30 pm Wednesday Night Feasters off site
August
Sat 2 6:30 pm SPIRAL Lughnassadh Celebration off site
Sun 3 10:00 am “Looking Good – Feeling Better” Cynthia Harrington
Tue 5 6:30 pm Finance Committee Library
Wed 6 9:30 am Parents’ Morning Out Primary Area
Sun 10 10:00 am “Community Art Therapy” Valery Shuman
Wed 13 6:45 pm Board of Trustees Library
    6:30 pm Women’s Spirituality Group Sanctuary/Leeper Park
Sat 16 6:30 pm Round Robin off site
Sun 17 10:00 am “Extra-Terrestrials and Experts” Chuck Leone
    11:30 am Brunch Bunch off site
Wed 20 9:30 am Parents’ Morning Out Primary Area
Sun 24 10:00 am “Honoring Our Grandmothers” Women’s Groups
Wed 27 6:30 pm Wednesday Night Feasters off site
Sun 31 10:00 am “On Prejudice: The Trials of Travel” Julia Douthwaite

Summer Lay Led Services

July 6: “The Examined Life” A summary of what we learned from the survey that accompanied this year’s stewardship campaign.

July 13: “The Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller. Excerpts will be read by members of the congregation. Then we will discuss the play’s message and whether it is still relevant today, nearly fifty years after the play first appeared.

July 20: “Religious Opposition to Civil Rights for the GLBT Community” Come learn how the Religious Right has organized to protect their ability to discriminate against the gay and transgender community. Members of South Bend Equality will report on tactics used in our community.

July 27: “Religious Humanism – Oxymoron or Wave of the Future?” Rev. Roger Brewin, minister of the First Unitarian Church in Hobart, will present a humanist perspective from within the UU tradition. He is the editor of the Journal of Religious Humanism, and will have copies available for those interested.

August 3: “Looking Good – Feeling Better” Nutritionist Cynthia Harrington, owner of the Rose Quest Nutrition Center in Mishawaka, will talk about what a healthy diet really is.

August 10: “Community Art Therapy” Valery Shuman, LCPC, ATR-BC, and daughter of Bob and Marcia Shuman will give a short presentation about ArtWorks: A Community Art Studio that is dedicated to serving as a cultural bridge between diverse groups of people. In addition, we will engage in an art experiential designed to build community and foster communication.

August 17: “Extra-Terrestrials and Experts: striking the balance between rational belief and the surrender of the wisdom of community” Modern American society seems drawn in conflicting directions. We believe in God, but also in beings from outer space. We rely on the expertise of science, but don’t trust its methods. What’s left for our selves and our communities? Chuck Leone, speaker

August 24: “Honoring Our Grandmothers” A service led by the Women’s Spirituality Group and Women’s Drum circle celebrating with words and music our grandmothers and other women mentors in our lives.

August 31: “On Prejudice: The Trials of Travel” Julia Douthwaite, Assistant Provost for International Studies at Notre Dame, will explore the conflicts she has felt between the optimism she preaches about intercultural and interfaith understanding through education abroad, and the difficulties she has experienced on certain trips. She will describe crucible moments in Nagoya, Japan, Cairo, Egypt, and especially Jerusalem, to give a sense of how very difficult it can be, this effort to understand others without the cloak of prejudice getting in the way.

Our New Interim Minister

As I announced at the June 8 Service, we’re in the final stage of hiring our new interim, Jennie Barrington. Jennie received her M. Div. from Bangor Theological Seminary in 2001 and was ordained in May of 2004. She has served the UU Church of Winchendon, Mass. since August, 2001 in a part-time capacity, preaching 3 Sundays a month. While doing so, Jennie has also worked for Residential Services in Keene, NH as Educator and Advocate. Her previous positions in the ministry include Parish and Chaplain Intern.
A lifelong, third-generation UU, Jennie held a variety of lay leadership roles before her call to professional ministry. In addition to leading worship, Jennie most enjoys facilitating thoughtful gatherings such as covenant groups, adult RE programs, team meetings of church leaders and interfaith groups.
Prior to her preparation for and work as a minister, Jennie earned a paralegal certificate in Portland, Maine in 1991 and a BA in Theater and English Literature in 1984 from Long Island University, adding the diverse fields of law and theater to her rich background.
Jennie has been actively involved for several years in her local chapter of the UU Ministers’ Association, as well as the Winchendon Kiwanis Club. She loves to walk and swim; explore museums, galleries, the theater, and towns or cities with interesting histories; spend time with friends and family; read mysteries and poetry; and listen to the amazing things children say.
Jennie will assume her position in mid-August and conduct her first Service the Sunday following Labor Day. Before that she hopes to make a brief visit to South Bend to find an apartment and meet our Board. The Interim Task Force will ease her initial transition to our area and our church. Going forward, a Transition Team will collaborate with Jennie on achieving a sense of shared ministry in our congregation.
In Jennie’s words from a recent email – “I am so happy that soon I will be coming to beautiful South Bend; I know we are going to have a great year”. With good faith and great communication, we can all ensure that this happens.
Barb Carmichael,
Interim Task Force

Notes from the President

I would like to thank everyone for a wonderful year in the Church. There was much activity throughout the year, it was a warm, vibrant place. I hope to see that spirit continue through the coming year. There are lots of things planned and not yet planned but hoped for in the coming year.
I have been blessed with wonderful folks to work with on the Board of Trustees. A lot of work was done to move things forward and maintain the momentum of the congregation. Thanks needs to go out to Bob Asplund for all the work he did to get the year off to a grand start. I would also thank Denise for the gifts of her friendship and vast knowledge. She was there for me when I had no idea what to do next or how to proceed. I have learned so much from her.
As we reported at the Annual Meeting, an appraisal of the Church building and land has been completed and the value set at about $220,000. The next step, we believe, is to do a feasibility study. Where do we go from here? There are lots of decisions to be made in the coming year. We need to make some hard decisions and we know from the Search Committee that our current building is a concern to potential ministers. We will be asking from input from all of you, please help us out.
In her final recommendations to the Board, Denise charged us with the task of improving communication within and between Church members, leaders and friends. I hope to be able to do my part by filling you in as much as I can about what is happening as it happens, to be as transparent in all our dealings as possible. If you hear something and want to know more, please call me or any member of the Board. If someone says something you don’t agree with, it’s okay to disagree while still being kind and caring. We can’t all think alike on every topic but we need to find constructive and caring ways of saying so and we need to be direct, calling out meanness when we hear it. We must be mutually respectful of each other, to listen through, assume good intentions and answer directly to the person thoughtfully.
Without challenge, there is nothing to do and nothing to discover. We have chosen this common path with intentionality but without the benefit of common background. We are more like a patchwork quilt keeping each other safe and warm with beauty. It is a quilt that can be made larger to accommodate all who wish to take cover under its warmth. I’ll see you there.
In unity,
Kay

Message from the Church Treasurer

I expected somebody at the congregational meeting to question why we allowed increases in budgeted expenses. I was not prepared to answer that question at that time. I guess I did respond that the increase was mostly in personnel, which is correct but incomplete. Having meditated on these issues more since the meeting:
  1. Our stewardship drive, while quite successful, was not as large an increase as I previously thought. Actually last year’s pledge amount was under-reported due to needing to make a cut-off date, but more pledges came in later.
  2. The minister’s package increased more than I had fully comprehended. The search committee made a strong argument that we were not financially competitive, so we approved the requested increases. At that time we thought our deficit would be lower than it became.
  3. We did allow some non-personnel line items to grow, but really not excessively. The thinking at those meetings was that our stewardship success warranted improved funding of key services and committees, along with inflation in areas such as utilities.
  4. The interim minister’s moving expense really caught me (us) off-guard after the budget had been considered, to the tune of $4500. As Denise said at the congregational meeting, that amount was $0 for her, so we had forgotten such an expense existed as we did the budget. Somehow we knew the settled minister needed significant money to move a year from now, but did not think about that for the interim when doing the budget. In hindsight, (where my vision is sometimes 20/20) I wish the interim’s moving expense had been considered from the beginning, in which case we might have been stingier about the above mentioned increases. I consider this a blunder in this year’s budget preparation.
  5. This post-budget meditation leads me to feel I need to be a more conservative treasurer in the upcoming year. I can do that. In the past I have sometimes been casual about budgetary pressures. For the next year all checks above budgeted amounts will be scrutinized before being written.
  6. The board of trustees has already asked to have more committees represented in next year’s budget preparation. Certainly that has advantages, such as more people to remember to plan for moving expenses, and genuine representation of everyone who wants to say how our whole church should support its parts. Larger meetings can be inefficient, so we must plan next year’s budget process to keep to our timetable.
  7. Our reality is that we must be careful with expenses this coming year. We have significant commitments already, but we need to study our expenses as they actually occur. Perhaps we can have expense line items end the 2008-09 year below their budgeted amounts. We have done that before.
— Gary Metzler

New Member Bios

We received four new members on May 18. Their biographical sketches follow. Susan Siemers also officially re-joined at that time. And on June 1, Justin and Erin Ledyard became members.
Mike and Kristie Noguera and their two children, Daniel 5 and Isabel 2 moved to Niles in June of '07 from Brohman Mi. where Mike taught English as a second language in Fremont and Newaygo districts. Originally from Venezuela, Mike is now a Spanish and psychology teacher in Niles H.S. Kristie home-schools the children. They live on 4.5 acres and enjoy gardening, canning, have chickens and will soon have some milking goats. MMM... goat cheese.
Lois Stiffler came to this juncture through a life changing move to Ill. and many conversations with my brother led me to be certain that I am searching for answers. ONE way is too confining in this diverse world. I have a 25 year plus background in sales, Hudsons, Fields, Girl Scouts. Making friends along the way and enriching life experiences.
Joy Pletcher: I am a lifelong resident of South Bend, having grown up just south of town, and graduated from Riley High School. Currently I live in Rum Village and work at Nyloncraft in Mishawaka. I escaped from evangelical Christianity at the end of 2001 (in body; I escaped in soul at least a year before that), and began visiting other churches. I originally decided to visit First Unitarian in the summer of 2002 after remembering the words of my former pastor; “Whatever you do, don’t go to the Unitarian Church!” As no one seems to mind, I've been hanging around ever since. After some research (and prodding from Denise) I’ve decided to take the plunge and become a member. At least this time I don’t have to get dunked in order to join a church.

Transition Team Selection

In planning for our new interim minister, we are supposed to have a Transition Team rather than a Committee on Ministry.
Here’s some more detail on this group from the Interim and Consulting Ministries Handbook:
“Their role is to provide the Interim Minister with insight, organizational and facilitative talent, and willing hands as the ministry proceeds. Because the Transition Team is an interim minister’s “brain trust,” it would be inappropriate for any member of the Team to have served on the Committee on Ministry during the previous ministry or to be in relationship with a member of the Governing Board. The Transition Team’s first duty is to identify and meet with the leaders in the congregation: every member of the Governing Board, every committee chair, every other person the Transition Team views as a leader, and every paid staff member – as well as the Ministerial Search Committee and the Transition Team itself.”
Sounds like pretty heady stuff and as we know, so very important. To that end, I am requesting that everyone nominate 5 people in the Church that you admire and respect (who are not on the Board or on the Search Committee). We will use the names most often suggested as the slate of potential committee members. Pick up a form, available at Church at Sunday Services for the first 3 weeks in July, and place your completed form in the office In Box.

Brunch Bunch

On the third Sunday of each month, those interested can continue the conversation at brunch. No need to sign up on a list, just contact Birgit Sommer or Melanie Deschamphelaere if you’d like to go. Or you can simply meet them after church, but it will be helpful for planning if they have an idea of how many.
July 20 – Fiddler’s Hearth, downtown South Bend
August 17 – American Pancake House, Roseland

Round Robin

Chuck Leone and Kathy Curtis will host the one-time summertime Round Robin for everybody on August 16. Please call them by August 10 if you plan to attend.

Wednesday Night Feasters

The Feasters will gather on July 30 at Hana Yori, Mishawaka; and on August 27 at Tosi’s, Stevensville. For more information or reservations, call Cathy Duncan.
Future Feasts:
September 24 Reggio’s, Mishawaka
October 29 Mazatlan, Mishawaka
Tuesdays:
November 25 Francesco’s, Mishawaka
December 30 Carmela’s, South Bend

Parents’ Morning Out

Parents – bring the kids to the church July 9 and 23 and August 6 and 20 between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. Parents will chat while the children play. Parents’ Morning Out is now a Yahoo! Group. Call the church office for details.

SPIRAL

The wheel turns to Lughnassadh . . .
Lughnassadh is the first of the three harvest Sabbats on the Pagan Wheel of the Year. This is the harvest of seeds and grains, followed by the harvest of fruit and roots (Mabon, or the Fall Equinox) and finally, when cold weather is with us, the harvest of meat (Samhain on November 1).
So we are still enjoying summer at this first harvest, but the signs of fall are all around us, our lush lawns thinning out and growing more slowly. Ash and honey locust trees may already be losing a few of their leaves, brown and crinkly under our feet. There is a dusty smell in the air, and corn stalks and bean plants are beginning to lose their deep green color while they sit heavy in the fields with ripening grain.
It is a magical time, this balancing act between summer and autumn. Help us celebrate the magic at Susan’s farm, Saturday, August 2. Potluck at 6:30, followed by ritual to honor Lugh, and then plenty of drumming and dancing. And a bonfire, of course.
For directions to the farm, contact susan@ceres-co.com. Save gas - don’t forget to car pool!
This event is sponsored by SPIRAL, Supporting Pagans In Ritual And Life.

Women’s Spirituality Group

Thursday, July 10 at the Stevens’s Beach on Lake Michigan’s shore. Meet at the beach 7:00 p.m.
Wear swimsuits and bring food to share if you’d like. Drums are always welcome. Celebrate with a beach fire. Peggy is planning a nice ritual inspired by the “Cakes for the Queen” workshop she attended. Address is 14370 Lakeshore Road, Lakeside, Michigan. For directions or car pooling, please contact Peggy Stevens. Directions can also be found under the “files” page of the yahoo email group.

Wednesday, August 13: meet at the church at 6:30 p.m. for pre-ritual activites. Ritual will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Leeper Park Island.

Come celebrate Panathenea, the most important celebration of Athens and dedicated to the goddess Athena.
Each year in Athens, a splendid image of Athena was taken from the Acropolis, the hill on which her temple stood, and borne ceremoniously down to the sea. There the goddess was carefully washed and, renewed in strength and purity, was decked in a robe newly woven by the city’s best craftswomen. We will honor Athena and Panathenea in this month’s ritual as we too renew our strength and purity.
We will begin at the church at 6:30 and proceed to the Leeper Park Island promptly at 7:00. If you would like to help decorate Athena’s chiton, please arrive at 6:30 and bring scraps of fabric or decorations for cloth, which can be attached quickly and easily with hot glue. Items should not be bulky and should be as flat as possible. Bring your ritual robes or a symbolic set of scarves to wear, one old and one new to symbolize your renewed self.
For more information, or to help with this ritual, please call Heather Eschbach.
If you would like to host a Women’s Ritual or receive announcements about the Women’s Spirituality Group, please contact Heather Eschbach at heschbach@sbcglobal.net.

We’re an Amazon.com Associate

The church is an Amazon.com associate. That means you can click on the Amazon logo on our home page or anywhere you see an Amazon.com link on our site, do your shopping and benefit the church at the same time.

You can shop Amazon.com for books, videos, CDs, housewares, and much more plus shop online stores such as Target and Marshall Field, and we still receive a percentage of the sale price. [You must click through from an Amazon.com link on our web site each time you shop in order for the church to get credit.] Most books listed on our site have a direct link to Amazon.com.

September Newsletter