January 2001
NEWSLETTER
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST
CONGREGATION OF WHIDBEY ISLAND
PO BOX 1076
FREELAND, WA 98249
(360) 321-8656
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST
CONGREGATION OF
WHIDBEY ISLAND
2000-2001 Board Members
Peggy B., President
Mitch H., Secretary
Sarah R.s, Treasurer
Anne W.
Cheryn W.
Bill G.
Ken M.
NEWSLETTER DEADLINE: If you wish to publish an item, article, announcement, poem, etc. in the newsletter, please submit it to Ken M. by 5:00 p.m. on or before the twentieth of the month, or email.
Newsletter Committee:
Ken M., Editor
Sandy W., Church Coordinator
CHURCH CONTACTS: If you wish to contact any of the Board members, call UUCWI voice mail at (360) 321-8656
I am grateful for the fine and supportive Board with which I serve and the many of you who chair committees and serve on them. We are fortunate to have such a capable staff person as Sandy who sees to the details behind the scenes and captures our Board deliberations so articulately. I am particularly grateful for the music which issues forth Sunday after Sunday for our services. Thank you Linda G. and Jean H. for all you do to make that happen.
Onward to 2001 ! Blessed be. Peggy B. pres.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A VIEW FROM THE DISTRICT
Anne Heller, District Executive
Over two-thirds of PNWD congregations attended FTP Day on October 28th. Many of you want to know what happened, and what happens next. Here is the word, straight from the source:
The Fulfilling the Promise Committee reports they had a wonderful experience meeting with the PNWD geographic clusters on the weekend of October 28-29. UUA President, John Buehrens wrote: "Please convey our gratitude to everyone who arranged logistics, provided hospitality, and worked so hard to help us with our project. The congregational self-assessment materials that we field-tested are now going through extensive revision, based on the feedback that we gathered.
"It is likely that we will do another round of field-testing, probably for small, midsize and large congregation versions of the material. The enthusiasm for shared congregational self-assessment was overwhelming, however. We were especially gratified that, even on short notice, a number of congregations did interviews with community leaders. If we can keep asking ourselves 'What are the unmet spiritual and moral needs in this community that we are called to help fill?' then we are bound to grow. It's when congregations ask only the consumer questions ('What do I personally like about my congregation?') that we fail to have a vision and mission strong enough to keep our young adults and to attract newcomers. To fulfill the enormous promise in Unitarian Universalism we must help meet the religious needs of the world around us, and plan strategically how to do so. Thanks for helping the whole Association as we work together on becoming both more covenantal and more mission focused."
And from the Pacific Northwest District, thanks to all of you who participated, and especially to our host congregations in Spokane WA, Vancouver BC, Portland OR, Corvallis OR, Seattle WA, Olympia WA, and Anchorage, AK. It was an exciting day, and especially so since it saw the beginnings of the Greater Oregon UU Council. Congratulations to all of us!
EVERYDAY UNITARIAN MIRACLES
from Baird B.
I love my little church. I used to be a church janitor in my early college years. I throw these skills into each Sunday service. But I still go to church looking for the miracles that were held out to me as a child. Oh, yes, I became an atheist (or was it an agnostic?), but that was more for show, braggadocio, and an assertion of independence than deeply held conviction. I just didn't want to be made a fool of with all those weird stories.
There are miracles close at hand. Look across the strait to Port Townsend and the Quimper congregation or a little further West to Sequim and the Olympic Fellowship. They both started with congregations the size of ours and now have land and buildings to call their own. Are they really different from us? How did they get away with it? What is their secret? Is it a miracle?
Our long-range plan calls for us to be in a facility that we can call our own in two years. Will we wait for a thunderbolt to strike? Is it now time to challenge the best in us and see whether or not we are worthy of such miracles?
Let's take the Sequim Story because I have just inquired about it. They have 63 members, a budget of $32,000 and a very small CRE. They have a 1/3rd minister wanting to go to a half time minister. For some time they have had two acres of land costing $60,000. A year ago in November an 81 year old congregant said that before he died he would like to see a Unitarian Church built. He was willing to give the church $50,000 if this was matched by the congregation. He wished to be anonymous.
Unusual gifts poured in. A father-in-law from Texas sent $10,000. There were $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 gifts so that by spring there was $100,000 in hand. Some of this was in the form of three-year pledges but the fact is that most have already been paid. $30,000 came from outside the congregation because of the excitement that was generated.
A member of congregation had a CD worth $80,000 and was happy to lend the principal to the church at 7 % over 25 years. (Forget about a bank loan!) A Rod Stewart Grant from the PNWD for $50,000 over 25 years at 5% interest brought the total to $270,000 plus the land.
The roof is on this 2,700 sq ft building. This is not the 3,200 sq. foot sanctuary of their final plan but it is a place of their own in which to worship after its completion and dedication in the spring.
Let's plan to attend the dedication service and see what God hath wrought.
CHECK THIS OUT
from Al G.
I noticed in the latest UU World a web address for the Journal of Liberal Religion which is published by Meadville/Lombard Theological School (one of ours). I looked it up and found a number of great articles in the Spring, 2000 issue. The Fall issue is now on line and also looks as if it has some great articles. You might check it out, and if you agree, highlight it in a short notice. The URL is: http://www.meadville.edu/jlr.htm
It's at the top of page 58 in the World as part of a short news article that starts on the previous page.
I especially liked the article "Salvation by Character" in the Spring issue.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUNDAY VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers for ushering during the service and bringing refreshments for the social hour that follows are needed. You need not be a member to volunteer! Please contact Sandy to sign up or for more information. And, many thanks to those who regularly volunteer.
SOCIALLY AND ECOLOGICALLY RESPONSIBLE IN THE HEREAFTER?
Interested in establishing a natural site for alternative funeral practices? Memorial Ecosystems Inc. was founded as a socially-responsible business to provide services and products that help achieve a combination of the following:
· Lowering average funeral-related costs up to 60%,
· Establishing multiuse areas serving both as a nature preserve and for either burial or the scattering of cremains,
· Placing remains in permanent natural settings,
· Conserving land through unique teaming arrangements involving nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and funeral-related businesses,
· Memorialization of remains coincidental with establishing or upgrading brick paving, bollards, retaining walls, light poles, flagpoles, ecologically functional sculpture, etc.
· Restoring low-maintenance, native ecological conditions to graveyards.
How can this happen? An example is our award-winning Ramsey Creek Preserve. The Ramsey site serves as both a nature preserve and cemetery. Ramsey Creek demonstrates how alternative disposition practices allow the transformation of bodies to exist with the natural world as part of it, not confined and isolated in tomb-like conditions within manicured landscapes. Scan our website at www.memorialecosystems.com and judge for yourself. We will earnestly work for you, or members of your religious group, to create less expensive socially considerate funeral arrangements within the simple dignity of nature. If you want to discuss possibilities or begin using these services, contact Kimberly Campbell or Ken Stoner through one of the following methods: Email: information@memorialecosystems.com
Phone: 864.647.7798 Fax: 864.647.7796
Address: Memorial Ecosystems Inc, 113 Retreat Street, Westminster, SC
We promise the following:
· Flexibly tailoring services to meet the desires of organizations and/or individuals,
· Charging nothing beyond the cost of expenses if services are not effective,
· Meeting the standards of regulators and standard-setting industry leaders such as the Funeral Consumers Alliance (www.funerals.org).
Sincerely,
Billy Campbell, MD, President, Memorial Ecosystems Inc.
SOAPBOX
from Ken M., newsletter editor
The week between Christmas and New Year's Day generally finds me in an emotional funk. I love Christmasthe gatherings, our friends, our family, the kidsoh, the kids are sheer magic, and I wallow in their joy. It was particularly powerful this year now that Evan has entered what I consider to be the prime Christmas kid age (which is six to "Santa is a crock and I want a Nintendo or else Christmas sucks"). I think I'm safe for maybe two or three more years.
But the week after Christmas, besides being an anticlimax of epic proportion, is the last week of the year and gut-check time for us neurotic, procrastinating, underachievers. How can I possibly get all my New Year's resolutions from last year done in less than a week? Okay, maybe I'll have to give up on getting my first novel published this year, but 185 lbs is a distinct possibility if I avoid that eating thing for . . . say . . . five or six days.
On top of that, I have to come up with next year's resolutions, which will, in their turn, rise up to haunt me next year. It's a vicious circle. And yet I keep plotting, planning, hoping, and dreaming year in and year out. Why, you ask. Well, the pop psychologists would say it's because trying to reach your goal without a plan is like trying to get from Chicago to Abilene without a map. That's cute but it's not the right answer (if we made it to Abilene, we'd just start thinking, "Now what?").
The reason we resolve every year to be better at something, or achieve another thing, to mend a fence, or be a better person, to get something done, or stop doing something else is that we're glad to be alive. It's kind of like kissing the ground after a rough airplane ride. We've come through the crucible of another yearscarred, changed, wiser, but here. We made it. When we make our resolutions we're saying, "Thanks, God (or whoever you thank), for getting me through another one. It's good to be alive, and I'm not going to waste this gift of my existence."
Plan big. And don't get depressed next year if you've fallen a bit short. Just be glad you made itthat you're available to wallow in the joy of kids at Christmas. That's my New Year's resolution.
THANK YOU
Dear Friends and Members of UU,
Whidbey Island ECEAP wishes to express our sincere gratitude for your generous contributions to our Family Holiday Baskets. Your monetary donations helped to provide gifts of clothing and food to a family in need. Thanks to all who gave gifts as well. You have helped make a family's holiday a joyful one.
Thank you,
Chris Phillips and The ECEAP Staff
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------