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Newsletter - September 2010


There's so much to talk about! Sometimes we have more to say than can be included in our email news. Below is additional information about upcoming events and programming:

Capital Campaign Update - Resetting our Mission

Mission Weekend set for Sept. 17/18/19

Please join us Sept. 17 or Sept. 18; Your Input is Crucial

The Mission Weekend—where our congregation develops a new mission statement that will guide our church activities leading up to and following a possible capital campaign—has been set for the weekend of September 17/18/19. Here is the schedule:

The proposed mission statement will be voted on by the congregation on October 3. The vote will be a simple yes/no vote, without wordsmithing or amendment. If passed, the new mission statement will guide our strategic planning process, our future growth and development, and the scope of a possible capital campaign.

What happens in the small groups? Groups of 8-12 people each will focus on personal and collective visions of our future church and then develop, with the help of facilitators from the congregation, rough drafts of mission statements, goals and activities for our church for the next five years. This experience will be somewhat similar to, but more focused than, the pledge circles of last fall where we developed lists of likes and wants for our church. (NOTE: The output from the pledge circles last fall led directly to the formation of a strategic-planning task force and a task force that explored ways to improve our community visibility.)

Everyone is invited to participate. Broad participation is crucial to the success of the vision/mission process. We will have multiple small groups meeting simultaneously and will accommodate any and all who can participate on either Friday evening or Saturday morning. These will be your only opportunities to participate in the process so we hope you will make plans to attend one of the sessions.

Child care will be available; youth are encouraged to participate in the small groups. You can sign up for your choice of Friday evening or Saturday morning by calling the church office and leaving a message or by signing up in person in the Fireplace room after Sunday services

Chelsea Maitland is our new Religious Growth Director

The big news of course is that we have hired a new Religious Growth Director. Here is her statement which appeared in the bulletin on Saturday, August 21 for the RGD Candidate Forum and Interview:

Hello Lincoln UUs!
I am delighted to be your candidate for the position of Religious Growth Director.

As some of you may know, I have had ties to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lincoln for almost twenty years. My UU roots were planted at this church. As a child I began exploring UU identity and was embraced by the community as I participated in worship services and RGL class experiences. As a teenager, I took the lead in facilitating church conferences and creating youth worship services as well as serving as a youth liaison between this church and the Prairie Star District. I am also a graduate of the Coming of Age program which helped solidify my understanding of my own religious beliefs and convictions.

In the years that followed, I stayed connected to this church by intermittently providing childcare and teaching the Preschool class. I also regularly read the church newsletters as I filled my life with University studies and a multitude of jobs within the field of education. I graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree and teaching certification in Secondary Education with an endorsement in Social Sciences. I am now continuing my studies as I pursue a Masters degree in ‘Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education’.

I am fortunate to have worked as the half time Director of Religious Education at Second Unitarian Universalist Church of Omaha this last year. My work there has allowed me to help others explore what gives their lives meaning, as well as enriched my own life as I grow in my career as a Religious Educator. Working with Unitarian Universalists is very rewarding, and I am particularly excited about creating connections between generations. I am interested to hear YOUR thoughts about how we might enhance the richness and depth of your Religious Education program together.

I feel very blessed to have this opportunity to be presented as your candidate for the position of Religious Growth Director. I look forward to our meeting time on Saturday, August 21st, when I can hear from children and adults alike about your dreams for the Religious Education program. I am also anticipating the questions which you may have for me about my hopes and visions for working within this church community. I am hopeful that we might walk together on the path of religious exploration in the years ahead. I believe we have much to learn from one another, and I am excited by the possibilities. Chelsea

Our Religious Growth Director Search Team (Mark Weddleton, Education & Membership Coordinator; Trish Lanning, Tonya Haigh, Debbi Barnes-Josiah, Religious Growth & Learning Committee Members; Julie Enersen, Worship Arts Director; Fritz Hudson, Minister) received 22 applications for the position. We conducted preliminary interviews with six applicants and final interviews with two.

We recommended Chelsea because:

ANGELS THEATRE COMPANY

The Angels Theatre Company announces its upcoming collaboration with the Sheldon Museum of Art. The Shrewdness of Seduction is a collection of 4 short plays presented in the Sheldon galleries as part of its Seductive Subversion (Women Pop Artists 1958 – 1968) exhibit. The Shrewdness of Seduction performs Tuesday September 7 & Tuesday September 21, 2010, starting at 6:30 PM.

The running time for the performance is approximately 75 minutes. Both performance evenings will be followed by informal discussions and a reception in the Museum rotunda. Admission is free.

The 4 short plays are:

Dead Right, by Elaine Jarvik – starring Ian Borden & Sarah Imes – directed by Mary Douglass
A friend's tedious, grammatically incorrect obituary plunges Penny and Bill into a prickly discussion at the breakfast table. How could Bill read the paper when they have their own obituaries to plan? A touching comedy about how we hope to be remembered.

The Islands, by Lincoln playwright Norm Simon – starring Rachele Brown, Kate Honeyman & James Aitkin – directed by Judy Hart
Elise and Anne-Marie meet in a café in a beach town on the fringes of Europe. Anne-Marie owns a summer house there, Elise is a visitor. The conversation turns to a local legend about children stolen in the town and spirited out to remote islands. Both Anne-Marie and Elise have children. Elise’s is missing.

Train to Brooklyn, by Theresa Rebeck – starring Mary Douglass, Pippa White & Lori Martinez-Lessman – directed by Mary Douglass
Three women on their way to a friend’s baby shower are stuck on a subway train under the east river. What they have to share may surprise you!

Seven Jewish Children, by Caryl Churchill – starring Judy Hart & Pippa White – directed by Judy Hart
Seven Jewish Children is a controversial short play by British playwright Churchill written in response to the 2008-2009 Israel military strike on Gaza.

UUSC, UUA Launch Pakistan Flood Relief Fund

The massive flooding in Pakistan continues to worsen, compelling UUSC and the Unitarian Universalist Association to launch the UUSC-UUA Joint Pakistan Flood Relief Fund. Please consider supporting the UUSC-UUA Joint Pakistan Flood Relief Fund to ensure that women and refugees in Pakistan can access the immediate relief they need. The situation in Pakistan is dire and worsening. Your support can make a big difference.

The floodwaters are overwhelming relief efforts, and the number of affected people is estimated at 17.2 million and climbing — nearly one-fifth of the country's population. The sheer force of the floodwaters is sweeping away everything in its path, having destroyed 1.2 million homes, thousands of roads and bridges, and 8 million acres of standing crops. Vast areas of the country are under water, and huge numbers of people are on the move in search of food, water, and shelter. The damage is extraordinary and recovery will be long and slow for this country of 170 million people, where one in three lives below the poverty line.

The scale of the disaster has caused enormous complications for the global humanitarian response. Areas inaccessible to aid are growing in number, including large expanses in northern Pakistan that have been cut off from aid for weeks. By the beginning of this week, only 1.6 million survivors have received food aid. Just two million survivors have access to clean water. Millions of people have no access to safe drinking water or sanitation, and desperately need food, emergency shelter, and basic health services. The current aid response cannot meet the vast needs of the survivors, of which nearly half are children.

You can call the church office 483-2213 for more information or go to www.uusc.org and click on the tab "Pakistan"

UUSC, UUA Declare Support for Lower Manhattan Mosque

On Monday, August 9, UUSC and the UUA sent a joint letter to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressing strong support for the Cordoba Center. Read the full text below and raise your voice for religious tolerance by sending your own letter of support. Then take further action by cultivating understanding in your own community with our Building Bridges Tool Kit.

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

As leaders of a religious movement with a significant presence in New York City and nationally, we are writing to express our strong support for the planned mosque and Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan. The unanimous vote of the Landmarks Preservation Commission and your own endorsement reaffirm values of religious tolerance and the promotion of interreligious understanding. We commend you for resisting the shortsighted arguments of the Anti-Defamation League and various political ideologues, such as former House speaker Newt Gingrich and former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Leaders of both major political parties have made it abundantly clear that the tragic attacks of Sept. 11 in no way reflect mainstream Islamic values — values that are embodied in the proposed center.

The shortsightedness of the center's critics is especially evident when one considers that, over the long run, the voices of moderate Islam hold the key to defeating extremism. These are the voices that represent the overwhelming majority of those within Islam, including the millions of Muslim American citizens, who disavow and repudiate violence. Accordingly, the mosque and community center near Ground Zero should be welcomed as an important effort by moderate Muslims to reach out to interfaith communities in New York and beyond. To demonize them is at odds with the geopolitical interest of the United States and our cherished — and constitutionally protected — tradition of religious freedom.

Because it is a noncreedal faith tradition, Unitarian Universalism has always been at the forefront of promoting intercultural understanding. This work assumed special significance after the Sept. 11 attacks. Unitarian Universalists have also worked to help defend Muslim Americans against some of the worst consequences of the erosion of civil liberties resulting from post–Sept. 11 security policies. Over the past two years, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee has joined with Unitarian Universalist congregations to conduct a series of workshops with Muslims in major U.S. cities in efforts to further promote interreligious understanding. The Lower Manhattan mosque and community center would represent a major endorsement of interfaith understanding and a symbol of support for the peaceful teachings of Islam.

We look forward to the successful completion of this project and to supporting further your efforts to heal the wounds — physical, emotional, and spiritual — inflicted upon New York and the nation nearly nine years ago.

Sincerely,
Rev. Peter Morales, President, Unitarian Universalist Association
Rev. William F. Schulz, Interim President, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee