UUCB 2015 Retreat at Allenspark
It is time to bring your talents to church, work in fellowship with others, and build more community.
Explore the range of activities available at UUCB’s Opportunity Fair on Sunday, October 4th after service. Learn about Committee needs, Fabulous Feasts, and how you can get involved in a deeper way.
As many of your know, our current budget intentionally left out many operational needs. We need volunteers to do various tasks and provide donations around church. Already, we have a volunteer crew that cleans the carpets, but we need more. In addition to your pledge, please consider donating your time to the church. Perhaps donate a roll of stamps to the office or volunteer to babysit for church events.
Mark your calendars for UUCB’s Work Day on Saturday, October 17th from 9AM to 3PM. We will be setting up teams to clean up the inside and outside of our beautiful building. Tasks include all levels of ability, from dusting and window cleaning, to woodwork and painting. Drop by when you can, hopefully for the whole day.
Mark your calendars for the All Church Workday! Saturday, October 17th, 9am – 3pm. We will clean up the church grounds, spiff up the building, and have some good old fashion fun. Please plan on a 2-hour work slot.
Our annual auction on November 8th and 15th is an important fundraising event for UUCB (and always fun). It is also a great way to bring people together.
Do you have a special talent or skill or unique item to donate? Can you host a dinner? Be one of the first to donate an item. Do it now!
Get ahead of the game, browse the auction catalog, and make bids right now. Check out this item:
Weekend in Beautiful Granby, Colorado. Donated by Lisa and David Hughes (Minimum bid: $100)
Come enjoy our 2 bedroom condo in Granby Ranch for a weekend during ski season or summer in 2016. Not available major holiday weekends. Must be completed by Labor Day 2016. Mountain bike in the Granby Ranch bike park, enjoy the pool, hike in nearby Arapahoe National Forest or Rocky Mountain National Park. Enjoy a round of golf at Golf Granby Ranch, or fish in the Fraser River. 2 night stay and dates to be negotiated with owners. 4 ski passes to Granby Ranch will be included if you come in winter.
To donate an item, peruse the catalog, or make an advanced bid, talk to Will Kropp on Sunday, call him at 303-859-9049, or go online at: http://togetherauction.
Tuesday, October 6, 7:00 – 8:30. UUCB. Even if you have not attended all sessions of the Power of Covenant led by Rev. Kelly, attend the fifth session to practice Covenantal Conversations. This is the model Kelly described in her sermon on September 13th. Folks over 10 years old are encouraged to join us.
October 15, 2015, 7:00- 8:30, Boulder Valley UU Fellowship.
Rev. Kelly Dignan and Rev. Lydia Ferrante-Roseberry invite you to a discussion based on articles written by UU leaders. We will hold these gatherings three times throughout the year.
Please RSVP for October’s session here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jcnRApU2w-62PwpA0QmiwqxLOSFV8kvAlM3hN0UDvk4/edit#gid=0
The articles we will discuss include:
A Unitarian Universalist ‘Black Lives Matter’ Theology by Kenny Wiley http://kennywiley.com/2015/03/26/a-unitarian-universalist-black-lives-matter-theology/
Showing Up for Racial Justice: One White Person’s Wading into the Waters… (Part II) https://irrevspeckay.wordpress.com/2015/07/19/showing-up-for-racial-justice-one-white-persons-wading-into-the-waters-part-ii/?preview=true
Second Tuesdays, every other month, 10:00 -11:30 in the Sky Lounge, Frazier Meadows
Join with others in a discussion about themes that have been traditionally valued by Unitarian Universalists. Rev. Kelly Dignan (UU Church of Boulder) and/or Rev. Lydia Ferrante-Roseberry (Boulder Valley UU Fellowship) will lead the sessions. Each gathering will begin with a reading. The dialogue will be related to the theme and geared to issues faced by elders.
Everyone is welcome, whether or not you live at Frasier Meadows or identify as a Unitarian Universalist. No need to RSVP – just come! October 13 – Letting Go; December 8 – Expectation; February 9 – Desire; April 12 – Creation; June 14 – Simplicity.
Think UUCB Grocery Card program. This program offers King Soopers and Safeway reloadable cards for sale nearly every Sunday that return 5% on your grocery purchases. If your household purchases $500 per month in groceries, the return to UUCB is $300 per year. So easy to do. We also offer LiquorMart and Ozo’s Coffee cards that return 10%, and Vitamin Cottage and Alfalfa’s at 5%. Cards are on sale on Sundays after Service. Check or Cash accepted. The table is usually set up in the Sky Room during Coffee Hour. If not, you can stop by the Office.
If you are having a health concern (illness, surgery, etc.), email the church office officeuucb@gmail.com. Or call at 303-494-0195 x3 (Office hours M, W, Th 10am – 1pm). Judith will forward your information to Beth Schmahl (Chair of Caring Committee) and Rev. Kelly. One of them or a Care Associate will follow up with you. Please don’t rely on Facebook! Neither the Caring Committee nor Kelly are tracking things closely there.
Practicing Gratitude: The Antidote to Entitlement
We live in an affluent society and many parents today worry about their kids having an attitude of entitlement instead of being grateful for all that they have been given. Short of refusing to give our children one more good thing or shipping them off to live in the slums of a third world country, what can we as parents do to fight this tendency of entitlement? I have had numerous on-going conversations around this theme with my sisters and other mothers, and we have come to the conclusion that the antidote to the assumption of entitlement has to be the active practice of gratitude.
If we shortchange the practice of gratitude in our lives, so much is at stake! Brene Brown says that in her research she has learned to pair gratitude with joy, because she has never found one without finding the other in a person. She also says, “People were quick to point out the differences between happiness and joy as the difference between a human emotion that’s connected to circumstances and a spiritual way of engaging with the world that’s connected to practicing gratitude.”
So how do we go about the practice of gratitude? What does that look like? I say make it as concrete as any other practice. Some people keep gratitude journals, do daily gratitude meditations or prayers, go around the table before eating each meal to comment on what they are grateful for that day. In our family we have done all of these things off and on. I also know my children have benefitted greatly from their father’s habit of voicing his gratitude. In the winter months he rarely comes home without acknowledging how cold it is outside and how lucky we are to have a warm house. He is appreciative of good food and quick to point out how fortunate we are to live in a day and age where we have access to such variety and abundance. He calls the kids outside to see a beautiful sunset or a rainbow or a storm- (we have watched many fascinating storms from our front porch wrapped in coats and blankets– they are our favorite.) Likewise there are few winter evenings when we don’t at least walk around the block to realize how good we have it indoors. (That is a spiritual practice that also improves everybody’s mood, I have noticed. ) Because of my husbands’ strong habit of verbalizing his gratitude I have often heard my kids do the same and I have become better at it myself.
I am looking forward to facilitating a parenting class in October called, ‘Parents as Spiritual Guides.’ You are all invited. We will meet from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., all the Sundays of October (and maybe one in November.) I am keenly interested in offering this program because I have struggled myself with what it means to have a spiritual life. As a parent I know I can’t give what I don’t have, so trying to help my children have a spiritual life is tied up in that sense of struggle. I don’t have all the answers but I do know that a group of people coming together can achieve more than any one of us trying to figure things out on our own. The last class I taught was ‘Build Your Own Theology’ and I guarantee that I came out of that series with a different and stronger theology from being part of a group, than I would have had I just studied the book and done the activities by myself alone in my room.
I am filled with gratitude for being part of this vibrant Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder. Although Howell will always have a special place in my heart, I am also grateful for getting to work alongside Rev. Kelly now and feel of her energy and love and enthusiasm for our people and our faith. I am grateful for all the teachers and all the kids in our R.E. program and all the inspiration they give to me. Indeed we all have so much to be grateful for that the practice of gratitude should come rather easily!
Janen Wright—Lifespan Faith Development Director
What Does It Mean To Be A People of Letting Go?
When cast into the depths, to survive, we must first let go of things that will not save us. Then we must reach out for the things that can. — Rev. Forrest Church
We cling. You name it, we’ve wrapped our grasping fingers and anxious hearts around it: success, safety, society’s standards of beauty, personal desires to be accepted, perfectionism, being right, duty, fear, grudges, hurts, hopes, stuff, shame and privilege. Whether the object of our grasping is good or bad is not truly the issue. It’s the grasping itself. That’s the real problem. Holding on too long and too tightly is never good for the soul. So our faith pleads with us, “Let it go!”
But here’s the twist: Our faith follows that up quickly with “Let it in!” This spiritual dance takes a two-step. As Forrest Church puts it, letting go must be followed up by reaching out. Or maybe it’s better to say opening up. Indeed, the tragedy of grasping so tightly is not simply that we anchor ourselves to that which burdens us, but that we end up shutting out that which is trying to save and feed us. Letting go is ultimately about letting in. It’s about making room. Unitarian Universalism claims this is what “salvation” is all about. Salvation is a journey of remaining open. When we cling, there is no room for openness or wholeness.
All of which means that letting go is really an act of faith. Yes, it takes strength, resolve, discipline and courage. But mostly it requires we believe that, once we release our grips, life will not leave us empty-handed.
Do you trust that making room will be worth it? Do you have faith that letting go will be met with a life-giving coming in? This month, let’s find out.
RESOURCES:
Our UU Role Model: The Iowa Sisterhood
One challenge for Unitarian Universalists is to let go of knowing and instead embrace learning. The women of the Iowa Sisterhood did that. They let go of the traditional Unitarian ways of doing ministry, pleasing the powers that be, and the need to know. They led with the heart, not just the head. The risks they took were criticized by the men in Boston, but they dared greatly and helped spread Unitarianism in the west.
http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/adults/river/workshop9/178592.shtml
Our Spiritual Practice: Mindfulness
Videos & Online
The Parable of the Trapeze
by Danaan Parry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWvV5N4hOGc
RadioLab with Oliver Sacks: “Memory and Forgetting”
http://www.radiolab.org/story/91569-memory-and-forgetting/
We let go of Oliver Sacks as he died this summer, but his wisdom about letting go lives on.
SLIP | @PhillipChbeeb & Renee Kester https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk00gbDwGqM
What happens when the most beautiful memories from our past end up doing the most damage to our future?
“Letting Go of God” by Julia Sweeney
http://www.ted.com/talks/julia_sweeney_on_letting_go_of_god?language=en
The Parable of Mussa and Nagib
http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/children/tales/session5/123298.shtml
Letting Go of the Pressure to Produce & Letting in a Little Useless Play
Try one of these sites:
http://weavesilk.com/ — create interactive generative art
http://thisissand.com/ — make virtual sand sculptures
http://myshards.com/ — design sharp textures and patterns
Songs
“Weightless” by The Becca Stevens Band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk_qfA9YIxg
Throw It Away” by “Abbey Lincoln
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2OO3vuk3r4
Lyrics:http://www.metrolyrics.com/throw-it-away-lyrics-abbey-lincoln.html
Letting Go – Steffany Gretzinger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_7XIKVgRGY
A beautiful theist expression of surrender and letting go
A Frozen Father (A bit of fun)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ud6B_NXoNc
Articles
Letting go of shame to embrace joy: an article engaging Brene Brown’s wonderful book, The Gifts of Imperfection.
http://www.yourtango.com/2015278444/dont-let-people-shame-your-goofy-open-hearted-happiness
Letting go of who one used to be
Letting go of fears
http://thespiritscience.net/2015/04/10/how-to-release-your-fears-before-they-manifest/
Fall as a season of letting go
Are we letting go of capitalism?
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/17/postcapitalism-end-of-capitalism-begun?CMP=share_btn_fb
White Privilege Weariness
http://austinchanning.com/blog/2014/3/weariness
Movies
Griefwalker
A documentary about the leader of a palliative care team who has been at the deathbed of hundreds of people.
http://www.nfb.ca/film/griefwalker
Amish Grace
A drama about forgiveness and faith after the 2006 shooting at an Amish schoolhouse.
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/20229/amish-grace
Wild
Based on the book by Cheryl Strayed.
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/27459/wild
127 Hours
A man lives in self-imposed isolation from the people who love him in order to seek out his own individualistic adventures. An accident and the loss of a piece of himself allows him to embrace connection.
Toy Story 3
Growing up, letting go and holding on to the blessings of our childhoods.
Books
Life Lines: Holding On (And Letting Go)
by Forrest Church
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
by Marie Kondo
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
After the Sucker Punch: a Novel
by Lorraine Devon Wilke
Tear Soup: A Recipe for Healing After Loss
by Pat Schwiebert & Chuck DeKlyen (written for children, but helpful for all ages)
A listing of books for children and families about letting go: https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/2TTP2FRYCZNKA/ref=cm_wl_sortbar_v_page_2?ie=UTF8&page=2
UUCB Chancel Choir Rehearsal, Please join us for choir rehearsal on Thursday evenings from 7:00 pm to 8:45 pm in the Earth Room. All levels of experience are welcome! Youth 10 years and up are invited to join us as well. The UUCB Chancel Choir will sing twice per month and offer two music Sundays during the 2015-2016 church year. We have a lot of fun, but we also work hard so that we may bring the best quality of music to enhance our vital Sunday morning worship services. Please speak to our Music Director, Deborah Berioli, if you have any questions, or simply join us on Thursday evenings. Thank you!!! music.uucb@gmail.com
We honor members, friends, visitors
Our thoughts and good wishes continue to be with: Steve Daudt who had major oral surgery last month to remove a non-cancerous tumor. The doctors have been amazed at his recovery, just as we were we when he appeared at Church the next Sunday! To Jim and Adrienne Hester as Jim is back in the hospital with an e-coli infection. He would appreciate funny get well cards. They continue to run further tests on him. Jim Hunter, husband of Judy Hunter, is recovering from gall bladder surgery which he had last month. Diana Maiden is happy to be home recovering from knee surgery, and would welcome calls & visits. Wonderful surprise when she attended church on September 20! Deborah Berioli is happy to report that she celebrated the six month anniversary since her liver transplant and all is well!! Barbara Molfese and family as her husband, and member, John died last month after a long and courageous battle with cancer. We honored him with a celebration of his life on September 20th. Barbara’s Mother died two weeks before John; so she was heading to Massachusetts on September 22nd to celebrate her Mother’s life. Continue to keep Tessa Davis in your thoughts as she has started her six month journey with chemo. Her attitude is awesome which is what it takes! Jenny Fitt-Peaster is recovering at home, from her recent surgery, but attended John Molfese’s Memorial Service.
Congratulations, Good Luck, Blessings, and Thanks to: Our own Emily Conger and Ted Burnham as they joyfully announced their engagement last month. Nina Peterson is happy to have both of her children, who grew up at UUCB, living on one continent (except its not this one) Europe here she comes! Jason English turned the big 40 last month. Fox Martin gets to use his passion and gifts, from our choir to his school (Eisenhower) where he was selected for their elite singing group, Fraternico! A very special Thank You to Phil Whitmeyer and his team, for the many hours that were spent in supervising the installation of our new, fully insulated, Church roof. We are now one huge step closer to becoming certified as a Green Sanctuary. Did you know that this is the second time in the building’s history that the roof has been replaced, as the result of a hail storm? We also said, “welcome” to the Fall Equinox.
Random Thoughts: On September 13th Fred was Worship leader, so I was greeting alone. I was swamped greeting all of our wonderful recent visitors. Jim Rowe & Whitney Wheeless were greeting at the front door when Jim asked if Eliot could help me. I said YES, and my special thanks to Eliot Rowe (13) as he did a great job meeting and greeting as well as assisting with name tags.
Little known fact — Fred grew up in Idaho Springs where his family ran a mountain resort, that they built entirely themselves. About the same time, my parents purchased a hotel in Manitou Springs where we lived six months out of the year. What do we have in common? We both can make a perfect bed, not using fitted sheets — “its like riding a bicycle!” At the All-Church Retreat, in August, as we both made up our beds we laughed at the memory it brought back for both of us. What a splendid event! The retreat planning team did an excellent job — Thank you all.
With Love & Care, Barb
The Circle Supper will be at the home of Mary Clough and George Brandon, starting at 6 pm.
Please join us for the next Wise Elder pot luck luncheon on Thursday Oct. 15 from 11:30 am to 1 pm. Rev. Kelly will join us and is interested in our ideas about having this group help prepare a Sunday Service in a few months. All are welcome (no need to be wise or an elder!)
Interested in learning more about Unitarian Universalism or about the process of becoming a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder?
Rev. Kelly Dignan and Membership Council will hold a two-session Path to Membership class from 12:00-1:30 pm on Sundays, October 25 and November 1.
Attending this class does not commit one to joining the church, but it is an opportunity to learn more about UUCB and Unitarian Universalism, so that you may decide whether to formally affiliate with UUCB as a member. Please contact Kelly (revkelly@uuchurchofboulder.com), if you have any questions about the class. A signup sheet is at the office. If you need childcare to attend the Path to Membership sessions, please let the church office know (officeuucb@gmail.com).
For those who wish to formally join our faith community after participating in this Path to Membership class, there will be a Welcoming of New Members at the 10:30 am Worship Service on November 15
Confused about what “LGBTQIA” means? Hoping to create a more open and welcoming community? Join us for “Living the Welcoming Congregation: Resources for Continuing the Welcoming Congregation Journey”. UUCB is a Welcoming Congregation and we need to continue deepening this meaningful work. These six sessions will help us become more informed allies, learn about ourselves and our identities, and send us down a path of creating a more welcoming community here at UUCB. Please try to attend all sessions as these build upon one another. At UUCB, Weds, 7-9 pm. Sep 30, Oct 7 (about children & youth), Oct 21, Nov 4, Nov 18, & Dec 2.
1 – Computer Lab “proctors” needed at our BRAND NEW HOUSING building (4747 Table Mesa) for Ready to Work Trainees — we have a fully-stocked new computer lab at our brand new building and are looking for volunteers to be Computer Proctors for every time the lab is open for our Trainees. These volunteers do not need to be computer experts, they just need to help answer simple questions and make sure our guidelines are being adhered to. *What would be most helpful is for your group to “sponsor” one day a week to supply 1 – 2 volunteers to be proctors for that day* So, kind of like you sponsor one night a month to serve at Community Table, this would be 1 day/night a week to supply the proctors and you could rotate who in your congregation comes in to be the proctor each week. A training will be provided. Please let me know right away if you would like to consider this option and we can discuss it further…we’re trying to open our computer lab next week and need lots of volunteer support asap to make that happen! Scott@BoulderBridgeHouse.org
2 – Toiletries needed at the Bridge House ASAP! We have been experiencing very high volume of clients these past couple of months at record numbers and we desperately need more small shampoos, soaps, razors, toothpaste, toothbrushes, feminine hygiene products, etc… Perhaps you have some of these at home from hotels? Or could ask neighbors and friends if they have some? This is an urgent need for us, so if you do have some available, please bring them to the Bridge House any Monday – Friday, 8am – 4pm (ring doorbell if it’s locked) – the sooner the better. The location is 1120 1/2 Pine St., which is on the alleyway running between Spruce & Pine going west from Broadway. Please e-mail me before you drop off just so that I can let them know it’s coming:Scott@BoulderBridgeHouse.org Thank you!
3 – On Oct. 19th – 23rd there will be a big push to connect homeless veterans with social services. If you would like to volunteer for the VOA during this initiative, they are looking for volunteers. Go to this link where you can sign up and request more information: http://www.voacolorado.org/
Thanks very much! We will have more special volunteer opportunities coming in regards to our new Ready to Work Housing at 4747 Table Mesa. This is a breakthrough step for us at Bridge House, where we are housing 48 people who are in our Ready to Work employment program…it is truly innovative and there will be various ways that volunteers can support later this fall. For now, the Computer Lab is the project we have in front of us and would love you to join us in that endeavor. Thank you!
Peace, Scott Medina, Volunteer Coordinator, Bridge House