Congregation established 1836

Newsletter of the

First Unitarian Church, Alton, Illinois

www.firstuualton.org

Rev. Khleber Van Zandt, Minister

January 4^th – Epiphany 

“Room for Mystery”

Rev. Khleber Van Zandt 

Many of us fall prey to the belief that we can know all there is to know.  Yes, our base of human knowledge expands each day, but it often seems the more we know, the less we understand.  Instead of fearing the mystery, perhaps we can celebrate it.

January 11^th

“What Stance Should the UUA Take on War and Violence?”

Dr. Ronald Glossop

Professor Emeritus,

Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville

The UUA will vote next June at its General Assembly in Salt Lake City on what kind of statement we should adopt concerning war and violence.  Some UUs want the UUA to become a "peace church" like the Quakers and Mennonites by adopting a pacifist statement that we oppose any participation in war and violence. The traditional view of the UUA has been that sometimes wars (such as World War II) are justified.  The Commission's draft statement says that UUs should move beyond these two alternatives to a statement which affirms "Peacemaking" with specifications of what that means both internationally and domestically.  But does it go far enough toward a commitment to abolish war?

January 18^th

“The Ashes of Truth”

Rev. Khleber Van Zandt

A staunch defender of biblical authority and the unity of God, our Anti-Trinitarian forebear Michael Servetus was convicted of heresy and burned at the stake by John Calvin in 1553.  Even as we honor our heretical traditions, we’d do well to examine our own tendencies to reduce to ashes anything that threatens our current worldview.

January 25^th

“After the Baptism”

Rev. Khleber Van Zandt

In Carol Bly’s short story, “After the Baptism,” the oh-so-polite owner of a chemical weapons factory plans and executes the perfect baptism for his new granddaughter.  An unlikely menagerie of participants helps author Bly raise all kinds of questions about family, ethics, and the importance of thinking clearly. 

-- If you’d like to read “After the Baptism” before this sermon, it can be purchased in any bookstore.  We will also have copies available for borrowing from church. --

Jan. 4 – Non-Theist/Humanist Roundtable discussion.

Jan. 11 – DVD – Humanity Ascending: A New Way Through Together.

Humanity Ascending is a groundbreaking documentary series featuring futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard.  The first DVD in the Humanity Ascending Series OUR STORY: The Untold History of Humanity As Seen Through Evolutionary Eyes, spans the history of the evolutionary journey of our species from the big bang to current times, where we find ourselves precariously standing at the edge of conscious evolution or self-destruction.  Our story is seen through evolutionary eyes as the unfoldment of a fourteen billion year journey of transformation, now pressing us forward to give birth within ourselves to a universal human and a universal humanity capable of co-evolving with nature and co-creating with spirit.  This compelling vision of hope sees us at an evolutionary edge where the old world is dying and the new world is being born.
http://www.humanityascending.com/AboutHumanityAscending/index.html

Jan.  18 – Creating Just Language. A look at how we use language and how maybe what we does not reflect how we can treat each other justly. Facilitated by John Herndon

Jan. 25 – Peacemaking.  Led by with Ron Glossop.

A First Glance

I always enjoy visiting other churches whenever I can.   Beyond addressing my yearning for spiritual rejuvenation, sometimes it spurs my thinking and gives me ideas for different ways to do the things we do.   And often it reminds me that our own church is doing pretty well with our programming and our outreach and our being welcoming to each other and to our many visitors.

On one of those recent trips to another congregation, a person heard me talking about my ecumenical and interfaith community connections and sidled up to ask me a question.  He said he had seen large signs posted in front of a variety of other churches that read, “Celebrate Recovery,” and he wanted to know if I knew what that meant.  I responded that I hadn’t heard about it before, but that I assumed it indicated that the churches might host 12-Step groups in their buildings as part of their community outreach programs. 

(Since that conversation I have learned that “Celebrate Recovery” is a Christian revision of the 12 Steps of AA, copyrighted by and administered out of Rick Warren’s evangelical mega-church at Saddleback, but that is beside the point.)

As I spoke to my new friend about 12-Step meetings and about churches that host them, I offhandedly asked if he might just phone one of the churches that display the signs and ask them what it all meant.  He surprised me by replying, “I don’t like to ask questions I don’t know the answer to – I might not look very smart.”

I was left to wonder about this on my drive home.  If I only asked questions I already knew the answer to, what would be the point of asking?  And if I quit asking about things I didn’t know for fear of not looking very smart, it seems like I would be that much the poorer – intellectually, emotionally, relationally.   I do very much appreciate my friend’s honesty in his simple statement, whether he meant to appear foolish or not.   Like I think he was admitting, the fear of appearing foolish can stifle our inquisitiveness and keep us stuck in ignorance.

It seems to me a shortcoming of many of our congregations that we UU’s expect so much of our fellow human beings – and so much of ourselves – that we fail to admit our imperfections and our brokenness, and we therefore fail to allow for the possibility of real suffering.  In that case, what we end up saying to people is that they shouldn’t come to church with their hurts and their fears. 

As a new year begins in a climate of intense economic anxiety and uncertainty, let us resolve once again to treat each other with respect and dignity, allowing for the possibility that we don’t know everything there is to know and allowing each other to express and share our real hurts and our real fears.  

At the risk of sounding foolish, I believe that’s what being a church is all about.

The Happiest of New Years to You and Yours,

Mark Your Calendars:

       A Quick Guide to this Month’s Happenings

Community Women’s Drum Circle

Sunday, January 18^th from 6 to 8 pm. All women in the church are invited to come.   You may bring any kind of drum (even children’s plastic drums, maracas, any percussion instrument will do.)   No experience in drumming is necessary.   Drum whatever comes through you, carefree, easy going.   For further information contact Layne Simpson.

Treasury Note

The total  budgeted  income   for November 2008   was  $9,855.28; this was 7.1% of our annual budget.

Total budgeted expenses for November 2008 were $10,558.89; this was 7.6% of our annual budget.

This month’s deficit of $703.61 is a lot better for our budget than last month’s much larger deficit. A partial explanation is:  there were five Sundays in November and we also received the quarterly dividend from our UUA endowment.

Our Community Outreach giving for the year-to-date is $2,279.50.  This is almost equal to one-half of our Donations Income of $4,712.66.  This evidences the popularity of outreach donations, but our budget plans had specified that Outreach Expenses would equal one-fourth of our Donations Income.  This means that the church operations budget might receive only $4,000 from Donations Income instead of the budgeted $6,000.

The way Outreach works is that one-half of the cash and one-half of the undesignated checks on the second and fourth Sundays goes to outreach. Many people who drop checks into the collection plate on Outreach Sundays designate that all of their donation should go to Outreach.  I don’t want to discourage outreach giving, but I would like to find a way to encourage people to give more equally as generously on non-outreach Sundays.

Jerry Johnson, Treasurer

Green Sky Sangha

The Buddhist Group meets every Sunday at 6 pm and invites anyone interested in Buddhist forms of meditation to join them.

No prior knowledge of Buddhism or meditation is required.  We have developed a format for the hour long meeting.  We do Kum Nye Yoga for ten minutes, sitting meditation for ten minutes, walking meditation for ten minutes, another sitting meditation, and then a Dharma talk and discussion for the rest of the time.

Dee Evans

Come to “WYM” …Walking, Yoga, Meditation …

This weekly gathering will now be held on Tuesday mornings, from 8 to 9:30 am, starting up again on January 6th.  We will walk briskly for a half hour near the church, then do yoga for another half hour, then meditate for around 20 minutes.  We should be done by 9:30 am.  Rain or shine or cold … dress for the weather, and bring a yoga mat if you have one.  Paula Tarbell is the facilitator.  Let her know you plan to come; due to illness or extreme/icy inclement weather, a week may be cancelled.

All Men in the Church are Invited to the

Men’s Lunch Group

The Men’s Lunch Group will meet on Thursday, January 8^th at the St. Louis Buffet, 672 Wesley Dr., Wood River, IL.   Contact Nelson Shaner for further details.

Our deepest sympathy goes to Tom Allred on the death of his wife Virginia (Ginny) on December 8^th.  Tom and Ginny joined the church in September, 2001.  Ginny loved to travel, and enjoyed scuba diving, rock climbing, and spelunking.  She was an avid reader and loved working in her yard and spending time with her six grandchildren.  Memorials may be made to the American Liver Foundation.

http://www.liverfoundation.org/donate/

Thank You.

Sayer Johnson writes “My family and I would like to thank everyone for their outpouring of support during this difficult time.   My father's death was unexpected and so was the loving support the church provided us in our time of need.  Thank you for the cards and encouragement.  Your support continues to ease our grief and has left us all feeling very supported by our church family.” 
Our deepest gratitude,

Sayer, Sharon and Children

Congratulations to
Lorna McElhone and Roger Thorogood who will be celebrating their 30^th wedding anniversary on January 6^th.

CRISIS FOOD CENTER DONATIONS

Please give generously during this cold wintry season when many are having a hard time making it though a week without help from agencies like the Alton Food Pantry.

Jen Politsch

One of the goals of the Social Justice Committee is to provide opportunities for church members and friends to engage in social justice activities by supporting the efforts of other organizations

Project Homeless Connect

sponsored by Madison County Continuum of Care

Five church members – Pat Moore, Jamie Gross, Ginger McCall, Dick Blanton, and Mary Johnson – volunteered at Project Homeless Connect on Wednesday, Dec. 3^rd at the Chestnut Health Systems site in Maryville IL.  PHC is a national initiative to help homeless persons get goods and services they need at a one-day / one stop event. This was the first year for PHC in Madison County but planners hope it becomes an annual event.

Alton Community Christmas Donations

Thanks to all of you who so generously donated clothing, blankets, toys, and other items to the Alton City Community Christmas campaign.  The collection box was overflowing when we took it to the 12^th St. Presbyterian Church where items were sorted and distributed.

Thanks also to those of you who helped the Riverbend Food Pantry volunteers working out of 12^th St. Presbyterian to sort clothes and prepare for distributing food and clothing to perhaps 200 families on December 19^th.

Join the Choir!  We’d like to expand the choir and we encourage all who enjoy singing to come to a rehearsal and see how much fun we have.  All voices and ages are welcome.  Rehearsals begin at 7 pm on the 1^st and 3^rd Thursdays of each month and around noon on the 2^nd and 4^th Sundays.

The choir will not meet on January 1^st.

Dates for the rest of the month:

Sun., Jan. 11 – Thurs., Jan. 15 – Sun., Jan. 25.

Contact Willis McCoy for further information.

CHALICE CIRCLES

Renegade Women Chalice Circle

Saturday, January 17^th – 2 to 4 pm.  

Contact Marcia Custer for more information.

Third Sunday Chalice Circle

January 18^th – 11:45 am to 1 pm at church.

Contact Sandy Shaner Sandy Shaner.

This is a “general” chalice circle welcoming all.

Parents Seeking Peace Chalice Circle

Sunday, January 18^th – 12:00 to 1:30 pm in Emerson Place at church.  

Contact: Diane Thompson or Cheryle Tucker-Loewe.

Men's Chalice Circle

Tuesday, January 27^th – 7 pm at church.

Contact: Khleber Van Zandt.

January 25^th
Potluck Lunch

Bring a dish to share and plan to stay after church to join in food and fellowship!  If possible please bring a dish that serves at least 6 to 8 people. 

In an effort to be more conscious of the environment and to reduce the trash that our church might add to the ever growing area landfills, we are using the church’s china plates instead of disposable ones.

A-Mc will do Table Set Up

M-Z will do Clean Up

Everyone needs to help.  Please do your share in setting up and cleaning up.  Kitchen camaraderie helps you know someone better.

“4^th Saturday Lunch” –

A New Social Justice Venture

January 24^th is the date for our next “4^th Saturday Lunch.”  A signup sheet will be available so you can decide how you would like to help us keep this lunch program continuing.  We have had a successively larger number of guests at each lunch along with enthusiastic volunteers.

If you have questions about this new program, contact Mary Johnson mejohnson@mindspring.com

New Members

Jason Dothager and Sarah Drury Dothager joined the church on December 7, 2008.   Please get acquainted with them and their children, Rowan, Maia, Vivienne and Lily , and make them all feel welcome.

RE MINDERS

Please remember to bring in your ink jet cartridges for recycling in the bin in the foyer.

Shop the RE book hutch for all of your Beacon Press and Skinner House Book needs.

January 18, 2009 – Vegetarian Lunch hosted by the RE department.  Suggested donation $3/child, $5/adult.  Proceeds benefit a St. Louis area Hindu temple charity fund.

January 18, 2009 – Second Semester Teacher Training at 9:30 am.

Anna Ds

(Anna Davenport Sparks Women’s Alliance)

The January luncheon meeting of the Anna Ds will be at

11:30 am on the 2^nd Thursday – January 8^th at United Methodist Village, 5201 Asbury Ave, Godfrey, IL.

Please contact Pat Colclasure to let her know if you will be coming to the January meeting.

Anna Ds Hosting schedule Feb. – June, 2009

Feb.    5 – Ginger McCall – Place to be decided.

March 5 – Pat Moore – At restaurant.

April   2 – Audrey Wiseman – Place to be decided.

May   7 – Brynda McCoy – At restaurant.

June   4 – Lorna McElhone – At church – Book dis-cussion of “A Mercy” by Toni Morrison.  Read the book ahead of time.

Most people enjoy getting a card or email or phone call on their birthday.  Below is the list we have of church members and friends celebrating birthdays this month.  If you don’t think the church office has your birthday on file, please contact Becky Green (church@firstuualton.org) and give her that information.

  2 January – Alex Gross

  3 January – Lisa Smithe

11 January – Glenn Brunner

12 January – Meredith Nalick

21 January – Rowan Elizabeth Dothager (2002)

25 January – Caleb Tucker-Loewe (2000)

25 January – Erin Herndon (1992)

26 January – Doug Leavell

30 January – Deb McNaughton

30 January – Lily Dothager (2007)

30 January – Vivienne Dothager (2007)

31 January – Pat Blanton

Quilting Anyone?

The women at Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Alton warmly invite anyone interested to join them in their Tuesday morning quilting activities.  No experience necessary.  They make simple “tie” quilts.  They meet at 9 am in their church fellowship hall.  The church is at 801 Blair Ave in Alton.

During 2008 the quilting circle created over 200 quilts that were sent to over 20 countries in support of Lutheran World Relief.  From Afghanistan to the Ukraine, quilts made by women at Trinity Lutheran Church now help keep people warm

Besides inviting you to join them in their humanitarian efforts, they are also accepting donations of material – fabric pieces for tops; old blankets, mattress pads for batting; gently used sheets, used curtains or drapes, large pieces of yard goods for backs.

If you’d like more information please contact Karen Veith kveith@charter.net at Trinity Lutheran or talk to Mary Johnson at church.

RE NEWS

Dear Parents and Friends,

As I write this the Holidays are still in full swing, but by the time you are reading it we should all be finally catching our breaths.  January means that school is back in session and that Children’s Chapels and Religious Education classes start up again after the December break.  The return of Children’s Chapel also means the return of our Pennies for People project. 

The Pennies for People jar is available at the beginning of each Children’s Chapel service on the first Sunday of each month.  Children are invited to bring in a spare change offering, although we do also accept paper money, and place it in the jar.  When the jar is full of change the children will get to take some time during that chapel to decide which people to give their pennies to.  The jar has so far only been filled once and the children chose Habitat for Humanity as the people they wished to help at that time.  The basic concept of this is to teach the children that even small amounts of change are able to help people if that change is done consistently over time and that even as children they are able to help others in need.

This project has been in place for just under a year now, and has so far gotten off to a slow start.  How can you help make this project a success?  Parents can remind their children on the first Sunday of the month to take change into chapel with them for the jar.  Other adults can participate as well.  If you have any spare change that you would like to contribute to this worthy cause, find a child before service on the first Sunday of the month and give it to them for the Pennies for People jar.   What if you forget?  The beauty of this is that it is an on-going project so you will have many, many second chances to help others.

Thank you,  Jamie Gross, DRE

Travel to Egypt in 2010

Several of us are planning a trip to Egypt in January 2010 with OATS (Overseas Adventure Travel).   If you are interested in further information, contact Pat Moore.

Community

Outreach Offering

One-half of the cash collec-tion and any undesignated checks put in the collection on the 2^nd and 4^th Sundays are given away to charitable causes.  The money donated does not include pledge checks or money otherwise earmarked by the giver.  Earmarked donations are distributed in accordance with the giver's instructions.

Under discussion as possible recipients of upcoming outreach offerings are Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance; the local YWCA; the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council; the Urban League; and the Good Samaritan Shelter.

CHURCH FUNDRAISER –

BRING A BOOK – BUY A BOOK  (or two or three or more)

We now have a book sale table set up in the Wuerker Room.  Bring your books that you no longer want and add them to the sale collection.  This will be an ongoing sale.  We’re selling hardback books for $1.00 and paperback books for 50 cents.  All kinds of books – fiction, non-fiction, children’s books – are welcome.  Once you buy a book you might want to read it and return it to be re-sold.

SEMI ANNUAL MEMBERS MEETING

Friday, January 16^th – 7 p.m. at the church.

All Members are invited to attend the Semi-Annual Meeting.   Please come to hear updates from committee chairs about all the wonderful programs going on at church.  Also come to exercise your rights as members and vote on two important questions.  First, the Board of Trustees is proposing to reduce the number of board members from 9 to 7, this would be accomplished through attrition by term expiration.  See Proposed ByLaws Change in next column.

Second, the UUA is asking all congregations to vote on the Draft Statement of Peacemaking, which will be finalized at the 2009 General Assembly. Copies of the Draft Statement are available at: http://www.uua.org/documents/csw/pm_soc_0811_draft.pdf.
Dr. Ronald Glossop will be focusing on this topic during his January 11^th sermon.

Proposed ByLaws Change

The Board of Trustees proposes to reduce the number of trustees from 9 to 7.  This will be accomplished by not filling at-large positions as they are vacated.  Currently, we are operating with 3 at-large members rather than the usual 4, and we would therefore reduce that to 2 as the next term expires in 2010.  We have over the last two years begun to implement a Program Council that assists the Board of Trustees in church governance; a smaller board seems like a natural evolution of this process, and this change will be voted on at the Semi-Annual Meeting of the Congregation scheduled for January 16^th, 2009, at 7:00 pm in the Kate Wuerker Room.

The proposed by-law change would read as follows –

Article VI - Trustees

Section 1:  The Board of Trustees shall, after June 30, 2010, consist of seven elected members and the Minister, who shall be an ex-officio, non-voting member.  The seven members shall include the five officers (i.e., President, President-elect, Past-President [most recent available], Secretary, and Treasurer) and two members-at-large.  All Trustee terms are for three years and begin on July 1^st.  Elections shall be held at the annual meeting.  Trustees shall not be eligible for re-election to the Board of Trustees for one year after the expiration of a full three-year term.  Vacancies that occur between congregational meetings shall be filled by the Board of Trustees until the next congregational meeting.  Until June 30, 2010, the Board of Trustees shall have an additional at-large member, for a total of eight elected members, provided however, that if one of the existing at-large members of the Board of Trustees resigns or is removed prior to June 30, 2010, the Board shall not fill that vacancy.

If you have any questions, please contact any Board member.

Thank you, John Herndon,

President of the Congregation