Congregation established 1836

Newsletter of the

First Unitarian Church, Alton, Illinois

www.firstuualton.org

Rev. Khleber Van Zandt, Minister

July 1^st

“Bonhoeffer and Hitler”

Jackie Lawrence

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a theologian and teacher who spoke truth to power when the world was at a crossroads before and during the Third Reich.  The forces of tyranny still operate in the world today, and it is critically important for voices of liberation to continue to speak out.

Jackie Lawrence is a student at Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves, Missouri. She is originally from Illinois and holds a degree in English from Illinois State University.  After graduation from seminary, Jackie hopes to work in the social justice arena, particularly with women’s shelters.

July 8^th

"Imagine"

Ken Hoeft 

Ken will discuss an alternative to the United States' current foreign policy and the war in Iraq.

July 15^th

“Moving the Fences,
Looking for the Left Hand of God
in Southern Illinois”

John Herndon

Our liberal faith allows us to look for relationships with all people thereby breaking down boundaries and helps us to look for God together no matter

what our spiritual path may be. Being a liberal UU in Southern Illinois presents its own challenges, we will explore how we can make that journey together and continue to move the fences that people tend to build in our way.

July 22^nd  

“Compassion and Awareness”

Ted Loucks

Ted will explore similarities and differences between Unitarian-Universalism and Buddhism.  Are their limits to UU compassion?  Is a pure Buddhist practice practical in modern western civilization?

July 29^th

“The Hacker Ethic”

Kevin McCarthy

The conjunction of the opposable thumb and shared language marked the beginning of hacker culture. Hackers are people who delight in meeting the practical challenges of the world; and eagerly share what they have learned. This sub-culture has a rich, deeply ingrained, philosophy that is seldom explored. What does the hacker have to say to us about our world and our way of being in it?

July 1^st – 9:30 a.m.  Common Fire: Leading Lives of Commitment in a Complex World 

Using the book by A. Parks Daloz we will examine the landmark study that reveals how we can become committed to the common good and sustain such commitments in a changing world. This is a continuing monthly series recommended for all UU's who are interested in social justice. Facilitators: John Crawford and Beth Nalick.

July 8^th and July 15^th – 9:15 a.m. – Video presentations from UUSC about Civil Liberties and the Democratic process

Ahead of the Wave. Unitarian Universalist defense of civil liberties public forum on October 17, 2002, featuring Rev. William G. Sinkford.

Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties. This film provides the facts and stories that illuminate administration lies, wrongheaded policies, and the real victims of these actions- the American people.

July 22^nd – 9:30 a.m. – “A Conversation Regarding the Environment”

July 29^th – 9:30 a.m. – “In Search of the Historical Jesus” – Facilitators:   Beth Nalick and John Crawford.

A First Glance

Linda and I took a scenic route home from church the other day and ended up crossing the Mississippi on the Brussels Ferry out west of Alton.  I can’t remember the last time I took a ferry, and Linda said she had never been on one before - her family stayed as far away from water as they could.  So when we drove onto the ferry and the platform started to move out into the current, we were both paying pretty close attention.

We could see through the railings that the river was going one direction, the trees on the bank seemed to be going another, and our car was going up and down with the motion of the ferry on the waves.  With a look of some trepidation, Linda said, “My world doesn’t look like it’s going the way I expect it to.”

She was articulating a much deeper truth than she may have meant.  Just when you think you’ve got some clue about what might happen, something comes along to shake the world up and give you a ride you haven’t anticipated.

Sometimes it’s a pleasant surprise:  the ferryboat ride across the big river that day turned out to be fun.  The afternoon with friends was invigorating.  The whole drive through the hills and dales overlooking the river road was beautiful and inspiring.

Sometimes it’s not so pleasant:  some of us are dealing with illness, our own or a family member’s.  Some of us are facing economic difficulties.  Some of us struggle with family issues, personal loss, uncertainties of many kinds.

That we have no control over these things should come as no surprise to the emotionally mature and spiritually astute.  But alas, it continues to hit me up ’side the head daily that I am not in control, that I can’t think my way out of every situation, that the world isn’t always going to go the way I expect it to.

Whether it’s the war in Iraq, global warming, personal loss, or the little inconveniences of daily life, we can only do what we can do.  The more we demand that our expectations be met, the more we will suffer. 

But that’s no reason to refuse to act.

I am reminded of the quotation from the eighteenth-century Unitarian minister Edward Everett Hale: “I am only one, but still I am one.  I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.  And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”

The world may not go the way we expect, for better or worse.  We’re not in control, yet we still shoulder a responsibility.  And like Winston Churchill said, “If you're going through hell, keep going.”

See you in church,

4^th Sunday

Sunday Pot Luck Lunch

July 22^nd 

Bring a dish to share and plan to stay after church to join in food and fellowship!

– PLEASE PLAN TO HELP –

A-Mc will do Table Set Up

M-Z will do Clean Up

Everyone will be responsible for setting food out on the buffet table.

(Note: when doing clean up please do not fold up all the tables.
We want two left up with chairs around them.)

Chalice Circles

Alton UU Pagans Chalice Circle

The Alton UU Pagans Chalice Circle will meet at the home of Stacey Wolff on the evening of June 29^th from 6 – 9 p.m.  Bring a dish for potluck, and celebrate the summer solstice pagan style.

Contact: Stacey Wolff at kartoffel@piasanet.com

Second Sunday Chalice Circle

Sunday, July 8^th – 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. in Emerson Place

The Second Sunday Afternoon chalice group welcomes new members. We meet from noon to 2 p.m. on the second Sunday of the month in Emerson Place and have been focusing on getting to know each other, deciding on a service project to benefit the Church, and various themes to deepen our individual spiritual growth. We would welcome anyone to the group who would like to join us. Our next meeting will be at noon on July 8. 

Contact:  Sandy Shaner sarapolarbear@hotmail.com

Parents Seeking Peace Chalice Circle

Sunday, July 15 – 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. in Emerson Place.

Contact: Cheryle Tucker-Loewe chtucke@siue.edu  or

Diane Thompson dianeelizabeththompson@gmail.com

Women’s Chalice Circle

Saturday, July 21 – 3 to 5 p.m. in Emerson Place

Contact:   Marcia Custer mcuster@siue.edu

Men's Chalice Circle

Contact:  Khleber Van Zandt kvanzandt@uuma.org

UU LGBT Chalice/Covenant Group

An area-wide, chalice/covenant group for the UU LGBT community is forming. If you are Gay / Lesbian / Bi-Sexual / Transgendered and a religious liberal, please join us, Sunday, July 22, 2007 at Eliot Chapel for lunch and conversation. We will go out for lunch before convening as a group. If you need a ride or more information, please contact Layne A. Simpson at Layne3030@hotmail.com.

Sierra Club

The Alton Chapter of the Sierra club will not hold regular meetings in July or August but will resume their programming in September.

CHANGE IN CHOIR REHEARSAL SCHEDULE

The Choir is changing its rehearsal schedule to better accommodate various needs.  Hopefully more people will now be able to attend rehearsals.  Rehearsals will be at 7 p.m. on the 1^st and 3^rd Thursdays of each month and at 12 noon (or there abouts) on the 2^nd and 4^th Sundays of each month.

July’s rehearsals will be on Thursday, July 5^th and 19^th and
Sunday, July 8 and 22.

Contact Willis McCoy for further information.

wbmccoy@charter.net

Crisis Food Center

Summer months are a difficult time for the Crisis Food Center. Very few churches or organizations sponsor food drives, and financial contributions are at their lowest. Because school is not in session, the free school breakfast and lunch programs that families rely on, is not available.  Please consider making a summer financial donation either directly to the center or bring it to church.

You can mail your contribution to:

        Crisis Food Center

        21 East 6th St             

        Alton, Il 62002

FALL SPLENDOR WEEKEND

The leaves will be changing color; the days will be warm and the nights cool.   Come to the Wisconsin Northwoods, the land of beautiful woods and water; come see the loons and the eagles!   The Northwoods UU Fellowship in Woodruff Wisconsin (www.nuuf.com) invites you to join us the weekend of September 28-30, 2007 to experience the most glorious time of year.   You will stay with a UU family for two nights; enjoy breakfasts and Friday dinner with your hosts and join the congregation for a special dinner with entertainment on Saturday night.   On Saturday, you can participate in any of our planned activities, such as hiking, fishing, birding, antiquing and more, or you can go exploring on your own.   On Sunday, join us for our worship service before you head home.  

The cost of $300 per couple (singles and families are welcome at special rates, as well!) will help support the new expansion of our building.  For more information or to make reservations, contact Joan Hauer at hauerj@verizon.net.

Building and Grounds News

Thanks to a few dedicated volunteers, several projects have been completed this month.  The broken toilet seat in the women’s restroom was replaced by Willis McCoy.  Peg Flach continues to make additions to the landscaping in front of the sanctuary.  New shelves were installed in the nursery by Jim Moore.  Mary Johnson and Pat Moore washed the windows in the Wuerker Room inside and out.

Pat Moore pulled weeds all around the building and sprayed the poison ivy. Paul Hebert helped to move around some furniture.  Pat Moore installed exit numbers over the doors to help make them easier to identify.  You can now just say, “Come to exit 3” instead of saying “Come to the door to the left of the main sanctuary doors but farther back from the street.” Marcia Custer and Gerry Gilman are gradually replacing old rusty heat vents with nice clean new ones. Gerry Gilman continues to water and maintain our potted plants. And last, but certainly not least, one of our newest members Bing Gibbs has used his expertise and spent many hours at the church (and the hardware store) replacing the old broken lights by the back doors with new dusk-to-dawn fixtures and replacing the old dim lighting in the downstairs hallway with new bright energy efficient fluorescent fixtures.  Take a look! Bing is hoping to get work as a handy man, and I can certainly recommend him, so if you need something done at home, give him a call.

We still need any old rugs or carpet scraps you have for use in the cellar.  Any condition is fine.  Bring them to the downstairs back hall and let me know you have left them there. 

Volunteers are needed now for sanding and painting the rest of the iron railings in front and back of the building, helping with weeding, taking care of recycling, and keeping soda restocked in the refrigerator.  If you have any knowledge of construction, I could use you to serve on a temporary committee to get bids on work to redo the façade and windows of the RE wing.

Pat Moore

Building and Grounds Chairperson

Here are the names of church members and friends who are celebrating birthdays this month. We have many new members and friends whose names possibly didn’t get on the birthday list. If this is ‘your month’ and your name didn’t get included, we’re sorry.  For future months please let Mary Johnson (mejohnson@mindspring.com) know the day and month of your birth.

  1 July – Stacey Wolff

  6 July – Brandon Harris (1995)

  6 July – Joan Hashimi

  7 July – Lois Fischer

  8 July – Kay Ott

  9 July – John Crawford

  9 July – Lucy McAneny

10 July – Zachary Alton (1999)

11 July – Amber Gleeson

12 July – Patrick Charlton

14 July – Brian Salisbury

15 July – Paul Berney

15 July – Chris Ilweski-Huelsmann

19 July – Katie Gibbs

20 July – Kevin McCarthy

21 July – Elise Rebmann

21 July – Paula Tarbell

22 July – Hugh Hallett

23 July – Veronica (Ronnie) Schoenborn

24 July – Irene Mondhink

24 July – Midget Hallett

25 July – Nelson Shaner

26 July – Cheryle Tucker-Loewe

27 July – Georgiana Raygor

28 July – Joyce Berney

28 July – Erkin Baker

29 July – Grace Madison

30 July – Alex Hoeft (1993)

30 July – Tom Sakalauski

RE NEWS

Dear Parents and Friends,

What does it mean to have a community of children? A few months ago in this column, I took you on a virtual tour of our Spirit Play classroom. This classroom is designed to help create a community of children. They are encouraged to make choices for themselves and help each other in those choices. The adults in the room are just there to tell the stories and offer guidance. Hopefully by starting the Religious Education experience in this way they will be empowered to help create the community that they need for themselves, but I wonder what we can do to help them after they leave Kindergarten and move on to the other classes.

This is one of the reasons that our other classes will be undergoing some changes starting this year. We will no longer be following the classroom model of education where the children hear a story and do a craft on a different topic each week throughout the year. Our 1-5 graders will be using the workshop rotation model. They will start out each month in Children’s Chapel with the rest of the RE department. The story that they hear there will be the topic that they use to learn together for the rest of the month.

When they go to their classes on the Sunday of Chapel they will be split into two classrooms and they will work on group bonding games in order to foster connections with one another. I believe that this is an important step in UU RE. Many of these kids are the only UU in their school. This should be a place where they feel safe to express their views and opinions without fear of ridicule by peers.

The remaining Sundays of the month they will be given the choice of workshops to attend for the morning. Each workshop will begin with a shorter retelling of the original Chapel Story to aid with continuity. There will be two different workshops each week that are related to the monthly topic. They will be going to the workshop based on personal interest rather than age group. This will give them the opportunity to interact with a wider variety of peers and find others with similar interests. Hopefully, this will keep them more engaged in the RE process. It is my sincere hope that your children will be looking forward to coming to church every week.

When you ask someone what they remember from their own church school experience, it is not likely to be a particular lesson or subject matter that was covered. They remember time spent having fun with friends and doing things rather than learning about things. Think about your own RE experience or ask someone the next time you are at church. It is more important to engage the children in the process than it is to plow through an entire curriculum.

Jamie Gross

Director of Religious Education

RE Calendar

July  1^st – Religious Education open house by the fireplace during coffee hour.  Come preview next year's RE classes.

July 13^th - OWL class at 5:00 pm followed by an overnight to help prepare for the rummage sale

July 14^th - rummage sale from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

July 14^th - final OWL class from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m.

RE IS HAVING A

The RE Department will be holding a Rummage Sale on Saturday, July 14^th.  If you have items you would like to donate to help them out you may bring them to church before July 13^th.  If you have any questions contact Jamie Gross.

News from Abigel

Below is a letter to Ruth Shaw from Abigel to let her know she is planning to be at church on Sunday, July 29th.  Abigel is the daughter of a Unitarian Minister in Barot, Transvlvania.  Our congregation helped her go to college, and her father spoke at our church one day when he was at seminary in Chicago.

Hi Ruth!

     Yes, our plans are holding up, we are planning on being at your house on Saturday afternoon somewhere between 6 and 9 p.m., JULY 28 and we are planning on going to the church on JULY 29.  I am very excited to go, it will be my longest trip so far, that I drive all by myself.  

My mom is coming in one month, on July 11th! And I am looking on the internet for things to do around St. Louis but I would love to have your suggestions as well. Is there any bus or train we can take to the city?  I don't really like driving in big cities that I don't know but I would like to spend a day in St. Louis, maybe do a river cruise, couple of museums, walk around.

     Everything is ok here, I am enjoying summer! I don't really mind the heat and I like the sun and being at the nearby lakes.

     Enjoy your time in Portland and I will be in touch after my mom arrives.

Much love, Abigel

SQUARE DANCE

 For EVERYONE – kids, youth, adults, singles, couples – bring friends

Bring a snack to share and join in the fun on Saturday, July 7^th at 7:00 p.m.  Contact Diane Thompson

dianeelizabeththompson@gmail.com if you need further information.

Summer WomanSpirit at Ronora

Ronora Lodge and Retreat Center
Watervliet, Michigan
August 3-5, 2007

Central Midwest District Women and Religion Committee and the Summer WomanSpirit Committee invite you to attend the Summer WomanSpirit gathering at Ronora Lodge in Watervliet Michigan, August 3-5. Our theme is "Sacred Circle - Haven for Discovery."

Come discover yourself and all of your potential in the safe and sacred company of like-minded women. Join us for workshops, rituals and ceremonies that celebrate who we are, and who we are becoming. Bring your special energy to the Sacred circle. Summer WomanSpirit provides a place to connect with the elements. We'll commune with the land and the women of our retreat.

The online registration is now LIVE at www.regonline.com/122135.
Please let Registrar Teri Dobson, know if you have any questions! Teri can be reached by e-mail at SWS@womenandreligion.org.  You may go to www.womenandreligion.org for all the details.

Anna D. Sparks

Women’s Alliance

The Anna D. Sparks Women’s Alliance will not meet in July or August.
The luncheons will resume in September.

UPDATE Your CHURCH DIRECTORY

The 2007-2008 Church Directory of Members & Friends will be published in July.  If you have any updates, a new address, phone number, cell phone, email address, or additions to your family, please let the office know.
Call the office at 618-462-2462 or email church@firstuualton.org

RENEWED MEMBERSHIP:

TARBELL, PAULA* [12/31/1995]

Email:         paulat721@gmail.com

NEWSLETTER MAILING UPDATE

As the cost of postage goes up and the need to become more “green” environmentally becomes apparent, we hope to reduce the number of newsletters that are mailed out.  Starting with the August issue, newsletters will be mailed only to those who do not have email or to those who have expressly requested to receive the newsletter by mail.

Additional copies of the newsletter and church calendar will be available at church and an email message will be sent out monthly to let people know when the current issue of the newsletter is up on the website from which you may print your own copy or simply go to the website and refer to the newsletter as needed.  

If you do wish to continue receiving the newsletter by mail and have not contacted the church office please do so now.

You may go to the Church Website at

www.firstuualton.org

to view the current newsletter anytime.

If you would like to remain on the mailing list to receive printed copies of the monthly newsletter please fill out the form below and place it in the designated box at church or mail it to the church office at:

FirstUnitarian Church mail list
  P.O. Box 494
Alton, IL   62002