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Current Newsletter UPCOMING SERVICESNovember
2 At the moment the pennies aren’t coming from anywhere else, so this might be the time to hope for a miracle! And what is a miracle other than a usual event happening at an unusual time? This is the canvass sermon. Bring your checkbooks. November
9 Valerie discusses some of the prolific amount of work done at the United Nations by NGOs, religious organizations, non-profits and ordinary people who passionately support and believe in the UN. November
16 Julie will speak on ministerial responsibilities, ministerial authority, authority in general, and the basic concept of obedience for the greater good. If you have specific questions let me know in advance at revjuliedennyhughes@yahoo.com, 429-5500, or 404-2120, except Monday and Thursday. November
23 The ancient Egyptian architects and Unitarian Buckminster Fuller knew the beauty and power of triangles. The triangles we create within our human relations are also beautiful and powerful, but they can make a real mess of things. Please bring a pen or pencil. November
30 The God Delusion is a best seller by pre-eminent evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and religious faith is a delusion. Dawkin’s arguments will be presented and explored. Are they tenable? convincing? persuasive? Does Dawkins have a message for Middle East fundamentalism? for Middle American fundamentalism? For us? MINISTER’S PAGE
President’s MessageThe frost is now silvering the fields every morning, and the leaves are falling into blankets of gold on the roads; that means fall is firmly here and winter is coming. Last week’s Semi-Annual General Meeting reminds us of the continuity of our community and our ongoing commitment to UU values, including the joys of this wonderful interconnected web of life we share. I owe a great big thank you to Lars for managing the presidency for the last 18 months, and I look forward to continuing his calm leadership, and to working with Vestry on achieving our goals in future. I also look forward to working with the Reverend Julie as she helps us move toward growth in our lay leadership, in our membership, and in our presence in the community. There are lots of exciting things happening in the next few months, and I hope many of you are noting them on your calendars and planning to participate. We have several musical evenings planned, several training workshops in the works, and lots of fellowship and joy to be shared. We have plans to make for the Green Sanctuary Program, and food to bake for Hope Cottage and our social events. Read your newsletter carefully and sign up! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I’m looking forward to a great year – hope all of you are, too! Susan Stephen Religious EducationThis year we are learning about world religions. In September we learned about Judaism, finishing the month by making cards for Rosh Hashana and having a special holiday snack of apple slices dipped in honey. In October we have been learning about Islam, and started with a guest presentation on Ramadan. We will continue in November with a look at Hinduism. Some resources for further exploration are: The Illustrated Dictionary of Religions by Philip Wilkinson, Celebrations Around the World by Carole S. Angell and What I Believe by Alan Brown and Andrew Langley. The public library also has an excellent selection of books on religion for children. Angela Wood has a series on the sacred spaces of several religions, and Sue Penney has written a series called Discovering Religions. Both series are well worth investigating. As always, our goal is to provide a relaxed and enjoyable experience for the children. Weekly attendance is not required, although we are always happy to see you. We also welcome visitors from the congregation; please drop by upstairs if you are curious. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 422-7003 or lmalloch@gmail.com, or catch me after a service. Louise Malloch COMMITTEESMembership MattersWelcome to Marilyn Shinyei who joined on October 19th. Marilyn and Frank have moved here from Edmonton where Marilyn was active in the Unitarian Church there. Please be sure to chat with Marilyn and Frank because we are their church family now. About fifteen new people must like something about UUCH because they keep coming back! We will present a New UU Orientation for these friendly, interesting people on Saturday, November 29th. We’ll speak with each new person individually to explain more about this valuable, heart-warming experience. That name tag thing again... Think you’re immune to recent urgings to wear your nametag on Sundays because you lost yours? Well, guess what, you have one now! Look for your new badge on the rack and there it’ll be in glowing colour. Wear it proudly as you befriend visitors and newcomers to help them and Rev. Julie become acquainted with us. We are a small, more family-like group than big churches—so we can and should do this. Thanks, everyone. Etta Hamm Kitchen TalkRemember the “kitchen party” two years ago when we got our super-duper, industrial strength dishwasher? Well, we didn’t stop there. A small group of us subsequently de-cluttered the entire kitchen and tossed things that were bent, broken, stained, tired, useless, disgusting, superfluous, and taking up space for no good reason. This freed up space for what was
left (which was a lot) and enabled us to put everything
in its place (which is great). We marveled at the
kindness of members who had supplied our kitchen so
generously over the years. We bought a few small needs
and now enjoy a neat, well-stocked kitchen. Now don’t forget to take your bowls and pots and pans home after potlucks! Thanks. The Jolly Maids A UU FAMILY FEASTIt is likely that on Thanksgiving day some of our less fortunate citizens could not find their way to the free dinners at shelters and centres and missed out on a feast. I was one of the more fortunate people. I shared my Thanksgiving day dinner with my Universalist Unitarian Church family... and my sweetie, L.A. ... and my guide dog, Opal... and L.A's mum... and UU congregants and their friends and family members... and Reverend Julie (her first Canadian Thanksgiving). Reverend Julie asked us to speak out the name of one person who we would most want with us, but who could not be there to share with us; those who live away, those who are ill, those who have passed on. Voices sprang up around the room, "Ivy”, Billy", "Lorena"... I whispered, "mum". e food was potluck, but oh, how extraordinary. It was one of those unusually well-organized potlucks that went off without a hitch–many thanks to Belinda and her stalwart crew. No tables were set ablaze from the candles, no one choked on the turkey (regular, free range, and 'Tofurkey' my vegan contribution for Norm). None of the kids hurt themselves or others. We ate the best food, all carefully prepared by everyone, in a civilized, joyous mood. Yes there was wine, but unlike some nightmarish family dinners of my childhood, no one got drunk. Volunteers cheerfully did as they were requested; setting up tables, dressing tables, decorating, schlepping stuff from home, working collaboratively to eat as a large group. The dishes got washed instead of broken. Music played at an appropriate volume instead of deafening people. The leftovers were distributed to those with not much at home. Photographs were snapped, yet no one minded. I hugged my sweetie and held her hand and no one cared. Opal lay quietly as we feasted ( I fed her after). The rain stopped long enough for the kids to go out and play. People talked and talked like long lost friends, even though many of us had just been at service the day before. It was the perfect family dinner. It was so UU. Helen McFadyen HOPE COTTAGEMonday November 10th is our last Hope Cottage dinner date in 2008. Please add your name to the food contributor sign-up sheet posted on the entranceway bulletin board if you can contribute. Contact Kathy Spencer for further details. FellowshipWell the Thanksgiving Dinner was a huge success. I was just sad it was over so soon. I would like to thank the many volunteers without whose help this event would have been much harder to execute. The food contributions were fantastic…with an overflow on the buffet table. Alison you outdid yourself! Lastly, thank you to Mary Lu, the choir, and Allyn and Sandra Clarke for their contribution of the turkeys. On to the next fellowship event! In November we have the Canvass Kickoff on the 2nd, and the Gospel Night on the 22nd, put on by the Music Committee. Food may be required for either of these events. I will keep you posted via email and announcements. I suppose we should be thinking about December and the Candlelight Gathering, the Tree Trimming Party, the Mitten Tree, New Years Pancake Breakfast and many other events we could plan for this festive time of year. Remember I am a vessel for your fellowship needs and wants so speak up if you have an idea outside our usual events. Don’t forget to partake in one of Allyn’s outdoor events… they feed the soul. Please let me know if you want to come to a fellowship event but something is preventing you from participating. We are very understanding and will go out of our way to solve whatever issue you have whether it is transportation, dietary, or social. I’ll finish today with a quote from Meditation for Living in Balance, by Anne Wilson Schaef.
MUSIC NOTES
HISTORY CORNEROne of my daughters once wished that she went to a real church: a church with a steeple. The Church of the Redeemer (Universalist) was the home of this congregation from 1874 to 1949. Its steeple joined those of Trinity Anglican (victim of the wreckers ball last week), Brunswick Street Methodist, St. Georges Anglican and Saint Patrick’s in dominating Halifax’s skyline. This steeple was damaged in the Halifax explosion and subsequently shortened. The building was sold in 1949 to St. Patrick’s who used it as a bingo hall for many years. It was then sold to a developer and converted to condos. It is presently a centrepiece of a revitalized block of Brunswick Street. Pictures of this building’s exterior and interior are displayed on our history wall. Many artifacts from this building are part of our present church home. Our chalice table and pulpit are the two levels of the original pulpit from the Brunswick Street building. The dark varnish so loved by 19th century churches was removed in the late 1970s to reveal the natural grain of the wood. If you examine these pieces carefully, you can see where the lines for the original gaslights were run. The organ pipes displayed on the west wall of the worship room are some of the 525 pipes of the organ from the Church of the Redeemer. This instrument was built by George H. Ryder of Boston and installed in 1874. The arrangement of the pipes was the work of the Rev Dick Perry. We have two pews from this church. The one in the front ballroom is its original size while that in the front hall was shortened to fit. The original church had seating for 400; however, by the 1940s a number of pews had rotted due to chronic roof leaks and were replaced by 100 chairs. Our pews were survivors of that purge and remained in the building in its role as a bingo hall. In their original role, they were soberly encased in dark varnish. Finally, we have the three pulpit chairs, a large throne for the minister and two smaller side chairs. When the Brunswick Street building was sold, these items were loaned to the Jost Mission who was located on Brunswick Street opposite the clock tower. These items were returned to the church in the 1970s and a number of church members created bright new covers for their seats and backs through needlepoint. Given that it was the 70s, oranges and yellows dominated these covers. For a time, these pieces were used in our worship room; however, as our congregation increased it was felt they occupied too much space. Anyone wishing to see the throne can ask Allyn or Scott for a tour of our basement some Sunday morning. Allyn Clarke Atlantic School of Theology Arts NewsRecognizing the historical relationship between art and religion, the Atlantic School of Theology (AST) has begun a 2-year pilot project to cultivate awareness of the relationship between contemporary theology and contemporary arts through exhibitions and performances. This new initiative, which is expected to include sacred music concerts and artist residencies, begins with a program of visual art exhibitions utilizing the AST Library as its gallery. All events and exhibitions are open to the public. The first exhibition, work by Halifax photographer Margot Metcalfe, runs from October 16 to November 22, 2008. In January there will be an
exhibition of works by painter Don Pentz and
potter/sculptor Louise Pentz. For more information,
contact Exhibitions Director Regina Coupar through the
AST. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Service
Leadership Training and Fellowship Day
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