FIRST UNITARIAN FOCUS
Congregation established 1836 |
Newsletter of the First
Unitarian Church, Alton, Illinois
www.firstuualton.org
Rev. Khleber Van Zandt, Minister |
Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m. |
June 2008 |
June 1st “The
State of the Church” Rev. Khleber Van Zandt Our Free Religion is grounded in a long tradition of democratic principles, and we will practice those principles in our annual congregational meeting today. As we prepare to make decisions about governing ourselves in the upcoming year, we need to consider from whence we’ve come from, where we are now, and where we are called to go. – Please attend the Annual Meeting after worship today! Sunday, June 1st, following services. Every member
of the church is encouraged to attend the Annual Meeting on Sunday, June 1st. Non-members
are also welcome to attend but they may not vote. We will be
electing new board members and a church officer as well as voting on the
proposed church budget for ’08 -’09. It
is important for you to attend this meeting to have a say in the church’s
future as we discuss the current church year’s activities and look at what we
want to see in the upcoming church year. |
June 8th “Cash
and Contradiction” Rev. Khleber Van Zandt Few figures in recent history are more representative of American identity than the late music icon, Johnny Cash. In a new book called Johnny Cash and the Great American Contradiction: Christianity and the Battle for the Soul of a Nation, author Rodney Clapp calls for a truce in our culture wars. We’ll explore some of the contradictions inherent in the intersections between democracy and religion, using Cash as the spokesperson for us common folks. June 15th
– Fathers’ Day "Indispensable People" Dr. David Breeden Charles
de Gaulle once said, "The graveyards are full of indispensable
people." That's a true enough statement, and it may just be indispensability
that is putting many of us into graveyards a bit earlier than required. But how
do we stop being indispensable? Dr. Breeden is the DuBois
Ministerial Intern at Eliot Unitarian Chapel in June 22nd To Be Announced June 29th “Signs of Life” Rev. Susan Palmquist Rev. Palmquist is Chaplain at BJC Hospice in |
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Besides trying to learn a bunch of new names, the
first thing a new minister needs to do when they get to town is to find out
about the traditions and culture of the congregation they’ve been called
to. This entails reading all sorts of
histories and newsletters, bulletins and orders of service, all kinds of
printed and written material. More
importantly, though, they needs to listen to the members of the congregation
who’ve been around for a while and who remember the past and who can tell the
story of the congregation from a very personal standpoint. When I came to And I was told one more thing time and time
again: “This church does not talk about
money.” I have tried to honor that tradition when
possible. I believe I understand some of
the stigmas, some of the reluctances, some of the reasons people do not want to
talk about or hear about issues involving money: insecurity about one’s own situation, the
possibility of causing embarrassment to others, the just plain hard work of
figuring out one’s relationship to one’s resources. I honor those difficulties - I have often
struggled similarly. But a meeting was held recently that indicated to me
that a sea change may be taking place in some of the attitudes and culture of
this congregation. In mid-May, the Board
of Trustees called a meeting to be held after church and to which the entire
congregation was invited. The Board had
wrestled hard with money issues at its May gathering and wanted to share what
it had learned with the wider congregation.
Frankly, I was surprised when almost twenty people showed up to hear a
presentation by our President and our Treasurer outlining the shortfall we face
in this year’s and in the coming year’s budgets. In years past, a problem of this sort might have been
dealt with behind the scenes by one or two members. But the cultural shift is this: responsibility for a problem like this is no
longer understood as limited to one or two people. A problem like this is now seen as an
opportunity for the whole community to get involved and help. Please read our President’s column in this newsletter
outlining the issues. Please contribute
your thoughts and ideas in this process.
And please rejoice that you have this opportunity to participate in the
life of First Unitarian Church of Alton. See you in church,
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Message from the Church President How much money does it take to keep a church up and running? Why does
the church have a 10K budget shortfall?
How can we function with a budget cut down to the bare essentials? And how many UU’s can squeeze into About 90% of our church’s operating budget comes from pledged
contributions. At this time the total dollar amount of pledges for 2008-2009
falls short of the 90% needed by 10%. In dollars, that equals to a shortfall of
approximately $10,000. The board has already taken the knife to next year’s
budget, cutting expenses to the bare essentials. (See the Budget Discussion
Sheet emailed earlier or pick up a copy at church). So how can we make up the
difference? Members who attended the budget meeting suggested two ways: 1)
Every member
makes a one-time additional donation of $100.
2)
Members
reconsider their 2008-09 pledge and increase it by 10%. Just in case you are thinking about putting this message aside, I’d
like you to consider this. Prior to the
budget meeting while doing a little on-line research, I discovered a very
interesting fact about UU churches: It
takes about $1,000 - $1100 per member or $2,000 - $2,200 for a family of two
members to keep a church open and operating effectively. This appears to be the magic number for all
members in churches both large and small, with or without a minister, throughout
the country. I was curious, so I did the math.
Our pledge budget is $108,000 and we have about 105 members. That equals
to approximately $1028! Half of our
members give more; half give less. Our church’s next fiscal year does not begin until July 1st,
so there is still time to make adjustments to your pledge. Whichever of the two options above you
choose, complete a new pledge form (available at church) to either change your
pledge for the ’08 -’09 year or to make a one-time donation of $100. We are aware and certainly very sympathetic
to those of you who simply cannot give more than what you have already
pledged. But for those members who can,
seize this opportunity to experience a generous heart by making a financial
contribution to our religious community that so enriches our lives. Blessings,
Beth Nalick, President, Board of Trustees |
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Adult Religious
Enrichment Sunday mornings
@ 9:30 am in Childcare is
available. June 1 – TBA June 8 – TBA June 15 – TBA June 22 -- Non-Theist-Humanist Roundtable. A continuation
of Religious Naturalism - Why we don't necessarily need a God to be
religious. Discussion Leader: John
Herndon. June 29 – TBA Suggestions for summer Adult Religious Enrichment
programs are requested. If you have a
topic in mind that you’d like to present, or if you have a topic that you’d
like to hear about, but don’t know who would present it, please talk to John Herndon or email him at herndonj@wudosis.wustl.edu.
Mark Your
Calendars: A Quick Guide to this
Month’s Happenings Sunday, June 1 – All Member Annual Church Thurs., June 5 – Anna Ds at 11:30 am; Men’s Lunch at 11:30 am; Choir at 7 pm. Sunday, June 8 – Choir at noon. Mon., June 9 – Sierra Club at 7:30 pm. Tues., June 10 – Board Meeting at 7 pm. Sat., June
14 – Church Work Day 9 am.; Schoenborn anniversary Open House 2 to 5 pm. Sunday, June 15 – Third Sunday Chalice Circle; Parent’s Chalice Circle. Thurs., June 19 – Choir at 7
pm Sat., June 21 – Renegade Women Chalice Circle at 3 pm Sunday, June 22 – Potluck; Choir at noon. Tues., June 24 – Men’s Sunday, June 29 – Gay Pride Parade in St. Louis at noon. |
June 14th A workday is planned for June 14th from 9 am until 3 pm. There is cleaning, window washing, paint-ing, repairs, and gardening to be done. Everyone is encouraged to attend and work for all or part of the day. Childcare can be provided with advance notification. Pat Moore,
Building and Grounds Chairman Chalice
Circles The GLBT Chalice Group will be meeting
the 3rd Sunday each month after church at Eliot Chapel in Third Sunday Sunday, June 15th – 11:45 am to 1 pm at Church Contact: Sandy Shaner sarapolarbear@hotmail.com This is a “general” chalice circle welcoming all. Parents Seeking Sunday, June 15th – 12:00 to 1:30 pm in Contact: Diane Thompson at dianeelizabeththompson@gmail.com or Cheryle Tucker-Loewe at chtucke@siue.edu. Renegade Women Saturday, June 21st – 3 to 5 pm at Church The Renegade Women Chalice Circle meets at the church from 3-5 pm on the 3rd Saturday of each month. Members include women across adulthood and we invite you to explore with us. For more information contact Marcia Custer; Circle Facilitator (mcuster@siue.edu ). Men's Tuesday, June 24th – 7 pm at Church Contact: Khleber Van Zandt kvanzandt@uuma.org. |
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Members and friends of the church are invited to march in the Gay Pride
Parade in 15th annual Summer WomenSpirit at Ronora August 1-3 For a brochure go to: http://www.womenandreligion.org/Ronora2008.htm Theme: Walking in Balance Info from Ruth Shaw The Shaw Sky Lab at SIUE will offer public viewing for astronomers, with a favorable sky, from 9 - 10:30 pm on May 28th, June 25th and July 30th. For more information and a map go to http://www.siue.edu/PHYSICS/astroviewing.html. All Men in the Church Invited to the Men’s Lunch Group The
men’s lunch group will meet on Thursday, June 5th at the St. Louis
Buffet, |
To Contact Rev. Khleber Van Zandt Email: kvanzandt@uuma.org Cell Phone: Anna Ds
The Anna Davenport Sparks Women’s Alliance
will meet for lunch at “E.F. Carpenters”
http://www.efcarpenters.com/ 208/210
State Street, Jerseyville, IL on
Thursday, June 5th at 11:30 am.
Directions: Take Route 67 (it
becomes
Sunday Potluck
Lunch June 22nd 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. With an average attendance of almost 80
people on a Sunday we need to make sure there’s food for everyone. A-Mc will do Clean Up M-Z will do Table Set Up Everyone helps put food out. |
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CRISIS FOOD CENTER DONATIONS Food is always needed. Please remember to bring your donations of non-perishable food in regularly. Perhaps add a few items in your basket for the Jen Politsch
CARE AND CONCERN Corinne
Hawkins is home recuperating following shoulder surgery. Cards and company are welcome. Davona
Paul has returned to Please contact your Pastoral Care Team Leader or Rev. Khleber Van Zandt
if there are concerns that need to be brought to their attention.
Community
Outreach Offering The collection on the 2nd and 4th
Sundays is given away to charitable causes. The money donated does not include pledge checks
or money otherwise earmarked by the giver.
The Outreach Offering only includes “cash offerings” or checks
indicating that they are to be included in the donated funds. In June the outreach offering will go to Heifer
International http://www.heifer.org/. Starting in July the Outreach Offering will be done a
little differently. Only one half (1/2)
of the offering on the 2nd and 4th Sundays will go to
community efforts. The remaining half
will go to the church. |
CHOIR
PRACTICE
SCHEDULE You don’t have to be able to attend each choir practice to join the choir. Practice is held at 7 pm on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month and at 12 noon on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month.
June Rehearsals: Thurs., June 5th Sun., June 8th Thurs., June 19th Sun., June 22nd Contact Willis McCoy for further information. Meredith
and Isaac Nalick
joined the church on Sunday, May 18th. Meredith
and Isaac have been serving as part of the church’s Youth Advisory Team. Please welcome them and get to know them
better. NAMI Presentation “In Our Own Voice” Twenty-one
members and friends of the church, along with thirteen people from the
community, attended an evening presentation at our church on May 20th
given by members of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. This program was designed to de-stigmatize
mental disorders, giving us facts about mental illnesses and personal accounts
of living, coping and recovery. This
program was the beginning of what we hope will be an ongoing congregational
series in learning better how to support people with mental illness and their
families. |
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RE NEWS Dear Parents and Friends, Nice weather is finally starting to be here. School is finally ending. Children are excited and want to be outside as much as possible. As parents we are thinking “Wow, time spent being active not in front of an electronic screen of some point is a great thing.” As a church community we should also want to support this kind of development and group interaction (all of the children want to be outside together). However, safety concerns must also be addressed. As a faith community we strive to create a safe space for all to explore in developmentally appropriate ways. In order to further this goal our Summer Sunday Sessions of RE will incorporate a lot of outdoor time and activities as the weather allows. The children will be supervised outside during RE time and exploring what nature has to teach us with the curriculum “Keepers of the Earth.” This will allow the children to commune with each other and the natural world at the same time while also being in a safe environment. At times when they are not participating in RE it is up to you to make sure that the time they want to spend outside at church is a safe time. While we are fortunate to have a large lot full of grass next to the church that the kids like to play on, it is important to remember that this same lot also contains things like poison ivy, stone walls, holes, and no fence between it and the streets. Many things can happen when children are unsupervised in such a setting. Accidents can happen, especially when they are in a large group. Sometimes what an individual child would not consider doing, a group of children will do in the excitement of being together and having a good time. I have seen children walking along the tops of stone walls or very deep window wells, climbing up stone walls, and running around and through anything that may be growing outside, including poison ivy. Accidents are not the only possible outcome of unsupervised children. We all like to think of our church community as a loving community where no harm would come to a child, but in reality we are also open to the public. As the adults who are responsible for the children of this community we owe it to them to make sure that they are safe and supervised whenever we come together to celebrate this wonderful community that we have here at church. Thank you, Jamie Gross, DRE |
RE-Minders 1. Please stop by the RE Book Hutch for all of your Beacon Press and Skinner House books and support the RE department at the same time. 2. Please remember to bring in your used ink jet printer cartridges for recycling. Help the Earth and RE department by putting these items in the bins in the foyer. 3. Teacher Appreciation Luncheon for all those who served as teachers, mentors, or advisers this past year will be held on June 8 at the Alton Holiday Inn. Please RSVP to Jamie if attending so that reservations can be made. Families are invited as well. 4. RE Summer Camp will be held on July 14 - 18 from 5:30 to 8:30 pm with an Intergeneration Celebration to be held on July 19 at 6 pm. Volunteers are still need for this camp. 5. RE Summer Sunday Sessions begin on June 1 and
run through August. Anyone interested in teaching Summer Session should
contact Jamie Gross.
Bucket
Brigade Report Through out the
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Happy Birthday Most people enjoy
getting a card or email or phone call on their birthday. Below is the list 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. 3 June – Kris Tucker-Loewe 4 June – Marcia Custer 4 June – Mark Wolff 4 June – Jennifer Herndon 8 June – Ruth Shaw 9 June – Wayne Politsch 9 June – Eric Sturley 17 June – Jeanne Sturley 21 June – Joy Hoeft 23 June – Bailey Brunner (1991) 23 June – Jackie McDonough 29 June – Beth Nalick 30 June – Ruth Maskow
50th Wedding Anniversary
To celebrate
their love and their lives together, Kit and Ronnie Schoenborn invite family
and friends to an Open House on Saturday, June 14 from 2 pm to 5 pm on
Saturday, June 14th at their home. Newsletter
Deadline Send Newsletter items by 15th of the month to the Editor AND
to the Church office. Email: church@firstuualton.org Editor:
Mary
Johnson |
What
you'd say when you're going from the sixth floor to the lobby and somebody asks
you, 'What's a Unitarian Universalist?' Unitarian Universalism challenges
us to seek the spiritual truth which lives within our own hearts and minds, and
it supports us with a loving community of faith and hope even as we journey
together with those whose truth may appear different from our own. Cheryle Tucker-Loewe
Possible Future Social
Justice Initiatives At
the Volunteer Faire held in May many people expressed interest in several of
the possibilities listed for social justice ventures in the upcoming church
year. High
on the list was working with Habitat for Humanity. In April a small group of us met with Jan
Goodwin, the President of the Piasa Chapter of Habitat and were very impressed
with their current projects. We hope to
be able to be on Habitat’s next work project.
We don’t know when that will be because their work progress is dependent
on funding. If they don’t have money
they can’t build. But we will keep in
touch with Habitat and let you know. Another
popular interest group was a series of classes on Voluntary Simplicity. This will be taught at our church by Kevin McCarthy
sometime in the fall. We will be
inviting members of other churches to participate as this is part a “Green
Academies” program that is being developed by the Alton Cluster of the United
Congregations of Metro East. We
also hope to join in or initiate a “feed the homeless and hungry” program. Also
along with other churches in the Alton Cluster we will be starting an
“Anti-Racism” initiative which is to stretch over ten years. These
are just some of the programs that you expressed an interest in. If you have other ideas for Social Justice
efforts, or you want to work on the Social Justice Committee in planning such
activities, please let Mary Johnson
know mejohnson@mindspring.com. |
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