Interim Reflections

Thank you all for your warm and gracious welcome.  The details of moving can be more than disconcerting sometimes.  Your welcome and support have made even the annoying details “do-able” and even enjoyable.  In my study, I keep these words of Rainer Maria Rilke next to my computer.  They remind me of what an interim time can be.  I shall continue to keep them before me as we create our ministry this year.  May they speak enthusiastic participation and opportunity to all of us during these times of change.
 
“My eyes already touch the sunlit hills, going far ahead of the road I have begun.  So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp.  It has its inner light, even from a distance, and changes us, even if we don’t reach it, into something else, which, hardly sensing it, we already are. A gesture waves us on, answering our own wave, but what we feel is the winds in our faces.”
--Rilke
 
As you began to experience in your ministry last year, there are some different goals and priorities for ministry during an interim time.  The priorities listed in my contract with UUMAN are to carry out the normal responsibilities of ministry, including worship and pastoral care, and also assist the congregation in addressing the following interim tasks:
  • Claiming and honoring its past and engaging and acknowledging its griefs and conflicts.
  • Recognizing its unique identity and its strengths, needs and challenges.
  • Understanding the appropriate leadership roles of minister, church staff, and lay leaders and navigating the shifts in leadership that may accompany times of transition.
  • Making appropriate use of District, UUA, and other outside resources.
  • Reaching beyond the dominant culture to include the multicultural world in social service and social justice, and
  • Renewing its vision, strengthening its stewardship, preparing for new growth and new professional leadership, ready to embrace the future with anticipation and zest.
 
In these first two weeks in Roswell I have begun to imagine how it will be for you and me to engage in ministry together.  These six interim tasks will serve as guide and roadmap.  I am beginning to appreciate you and feel at home among you.  I look forward to our year together. 

It's Always Time for OWL

article submitted by Kirk Bogue
“Time for OWL” can mean several things.  It could be that it’s that time in the calendar year when OWL meetings show up on the church schedule.  It could mean it’s that time in our children’s life when they will benefit from participating in our OWL program.  For me, it means that facilitating the OWL program is a “big rock” in my life. Said another way, it means there is no other more important way to invest my time than to join with youth to explore an important part of their life at an important time in their life.
 
I’m fortunate to have two daughters who both benefited from UUMAN’s OWL experience.  I had the good fortune to co-facilitate one of those programs and am excited about being part of OWL this fall and winter.  Being informed truly is empowering. 

Nowhere is that more evident than when youth have the chance become presented with the facts of sex and the complexities of that as it relates to their own sexuality and values and those of the world around them, including those of their closest peers and society at large.
 
As a parent, it’s a wonderful feeling to know what your child really knows when they’ve graduated from OWL. Our children are confronted with the need to make decisions about relationships and their sexual behavior at increasingly earlier ages in their life. Kids armed with their own OWL experience are far more informed than their peers and, as a result, more confident about making good decisions in high pressure situations.  The last time I saw statistics about pregnancy rates in teens categorized by religion, teens in UU settings had the lowest pregnancy rates of all other faith backgrounds listed.  No doubt that is a result of the environment we foster for our kid’s to learn and explore topics that are relevant to their own search for truth and purpose.
 
I hope families who are eligible to participate in OWL take advantage of this unique experience.  The other facilitators and I welcome eligible families to participate and look forward to being part of an experience that participants will always value and never forget. 
 
I'm looking forward to a great OWL experience!

Calling on participants for our Yom Kippur Service

Article submitted by Martina Queenth
UUMAN’s Yom Kippur Service will be held on October 9 at 6:30pm. Our committee (which at press time is Martina Queenth and Carolyn Lee) has begun to get this important service organized.
   
The ideas and concepts of this important Jewish holy day are universal and worthwhile to all, regardless of religious background or spiritual beliefs.  Just as all are encouraged to attend, all are encouraged to be participate in the service. After the service there will be a potluck supper.
 
We will need readers, and two people who will write and deliver a short homily on the subjects of grief and forgiveness, along with setup/cleanup volunteers. 
 
This is solemn holiday, grounded in our need for right relationship with our families, friends, communities, nations, and our planet.  We also take this time to think about our loved ones who have passed on. It provides a quiet place to reflect on the past year and to think about those words and actions that we regret.
 
If you have any questions, please contact Martina Queenth  - martinaq@uuman.org. Please let me know if you will be able and willing to help.

Commence rummaging for our sale (sooner than you think!)

Article submitted by Carolyn Lee
UUMAN's Annual Rummage Sale will be held Friday, October 17th and Saturday, October 18th, 8am-3pm each day. Set up starts immediately after service in Fellowship Hall and the Sanctuary on Sunday, October 12th. (All groups that meet in one of these locations will have to find another meeting place during the week of the set up and the actual sale.)

Please start rummaging through your closets, cabinets and storage areas for quality donations. This is one of the largest yearly fundraisers for UUMAN and we need everyone's good stuff! There will be volunteer opportunities so watch for announcements and the inevitable sign up poster in the coming weeks.

For more information contact Kathy Sexton - kisexton@uuman.org or 678-446-6428.

September Sunday Worship Services

September 7, 2008

"Sauntering As Shared Spiritual Practice" Reverend Sue Turner
Henry David Thoreau, in his essay “Walking”, described ways in which the simple act of walking becomes a valuable spiritual practice.  Join me in Thoreau’s metaphor and reflect on some of the many ways that this year is a time out of usual time. You have hired me to walk with you this year as your Interim Minister, as you engage in a period of discernment, search and decision making required of you in your search for the one you will call as your settled minister.

Three times during this year, I will speak about issues of shared interim ministry. I will address other key issues on a Sunday mid-year, and again toward the end of our time together.
 
September 14, 2008

“Do Unto Others” Dave Hudson
Regardless of the faith tradition from which we come, we know some variant of the Golden Rule. It is one of the things we first learned in kindergarten, perhaps. Why, then, is this precept so difficult to put this simple precept into practice? How can we make it easier to do so?

September 21, 2008
“Fragile As Gossamer, Stronger Than Time Itself" Reverend Sue Turner 
Inspired by the qualities of gossamer, I will explore the nature of covenants (spoken or unspoken) that form our relationships and our organizations.  What is this fragile yet strong essence that has held our Unitarian Universalist strength through history? 

September 28, 2008
“I am open minded, it’s just that you’re nuts”  Cliff Brown
 Encouraging civility in a community of diversity is a challenge.  Just how do we promote a “free and responsible search for meaning” when what’s meaningful to you isn’t always that meaningful to me.  A cautionary tale seasoned with lot’s of “do as I say, not as I do” and “don’t let this happen to you.”

Ministry with Children and Youth

articles submitted Toniann Read

Caring + Responsibility = Safety

Not a single day goes by that I am not thinking about the care & safety of our UUMAN community. It seems to me that safe practices are really about caring for one another in a deeply responsible way. As Director of your MCY, I get to stand with & by you as we grow in practicing this awesome responsibility that we share…

We have envisioned a beloved community, a safe place to worship, play, serve, learn and grow together. Safety is not something that we can have delivered, or that we can expect because we have all the right policies in place. The policies are necessary & important, but the safety we seek is found way beyond the policy folder or even the promises that we make one another. The safety that we long for is something that we each create for ourselves & then share with each other as we practice ‘right relationship’. This practice asks a lot of us. We care, because that is when we find that we are willing to do whatever is takes to protect those we love. Our caring is deepened & strengthened when we act with integrity and responsibility, affirming our Principles & bringing health to our relationships.

As we start this new program year, your MCY Council & I have a goal of strengthening and integrating the structures (covenants, procedures & policies) that we have in place and ask you to take time to learn about them. We ask that you attend Volunteer Trainings & carefully read though Parent & Family Agreements. As we work together, we can use these structures to support us with guidance, limits & inspiration as we keep practicing responsible & caring relationships on our journey toward the safe, beloved community that we have envisioned for us all at UUMAN.   

Seeking Youth Advisors

Are you interested in creating intergenerational community?
Are you intrigued by the idea of Youth/Adult alliances?
Do you like playing games, deep conversation & worshipping at midnight (followed by breakfast at Waffle House)?
Are you over a UUMAN member over 25 years old?
We have a program waiting for YOU! Please see Toniann about joining our MCY as a Youth Advisor.
"Job descriptions" are available at the MCY Table on Sunday mornings

Family Ministry Team Meeting

Held on Friday, September 26th from 5.30-8.30 pm, our topic will be "Nurturing Relationships". Pizza will be served promptly at
5.45pm, followed by childcare and a "Covenant Group" style Parent’s meeting from 6.30-8.30 pm.

Ministry with Children and Youth Calendar Highlights 

Sept 7 – OWL Parent Orientation (12-2.30pm)
Sept 19 – MSD YAC Meeting  (Tuscaloosa, AL)
Sept 26 – Family Ministry Team Meeting (5.30-8.30pm)
Sept 28 – MCY Council Meeting (12-2.30pm) in Discovery Hall

Contact Toniann

Office Hours:
Wednesday 10.00am-3.00pm
Friday 10.00am-3.00pm
Sunday 9.30am-2.30pm
 
Office Telephone
(770) 992-3949
Email: dmcy@uuman.org

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