From the Interim Minister

It has been an exciting fortnight.  I returned to Detroit 18 August and have been hard at work since. It was a pleasure to see many of you at church on 22 August, my first Sunday in the pulpit.  I am getting to know you by name, and informing myself about the issues and promise of our life together here at First UU.

I thank all of you for your warm welcome to Detroit and for your help in showing me the ropes.  Especially I thank Wendi Winston, office administrator, Joe Brimmer, buildings and grounds manager, and Colleen Dolan-Greene, moderator. 

The big news is the Board's decision in late August to create three task forces, respectively on Building and Finance, Worship and Ministry, and Growth and Outreach.  You are invited to join whichever task force interests you.  The task forces will make a preliminary report to the congregation at the church service on Sunday, 12 September.

I visited Bob Teed in hospital and at home.  He's doing fine.  Arlene and Jennifer were at home during the latter visit.  It was good to have time with the whole family.

I am thinking of offering a reading-and-discussion course on "The City."  Examining the writings of Jane Jacobs, Lewis Mumford, and Max Weber, we will explore the history and culture of cities with special attention to Detroit.  We will probably meet for four 90-minute sessions.  Contact me if you are interested.

Charlotte Allen is our new Lay Leader Coordinator. Charlotte accepted the Worship Committee's invitation to schedule lay leaders for future Sunday services. If further lay leader training is needed, Charlotte will be involved.

I regret that my voicemail maxed out over the summer. I may have missed your call.  Here's how to reach me:

Home phone: 313-396-5228.  Office phone: 313-833-9107. Email:  

I will be in my office at church on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.  I am in and out of the church throughout the week and welcome requests for appointments.  Thursday and Friday are sermon days.  I write my sermons at home because that is where my books are.  Saturday is a day for meetings, pastoral visits, pastoral counseling, etc.  Please contact me if you would like to speak to me on any matter. Monday is the minister's day off.

The minister's office now has a computer.  Len Zettel transferred a computer from room 212.  Thanks, Len!

Happy greetings to all!  David.

 

From the Moderator

August30,2004

Dear First UU Members and Friends:

On Saturday, August 28, 2004, Mary Andrus-Overley, Heartland UUA district executive, facilitated a start-up workshop for the Board of Trustees and David Parke, interim minister. If you come to the church service on Sunday, September 12, 2004, you will have an opportunity to hear what priorities we set during this workshop for our church year. You will also understand how members of the congregation will be involved in working on these priorities. You may even be inspired to volunteer to join one of three task forces that will do this work. Let me quickly tell you we did on the 28th.

We began by reviewing brief incidents from our history and how they relate to our congregation's identity and demonstrating how we see ourselves. Using these stories we then identified what lessons we learned from them, both helpful and problematic ones. Next we shared our personal yearnings for new directions for this congregation's ministry to ourselves and to the wider community.

While reviewing these new directions the Board agreed that it remains important for the congregation to develop a viable strategic plan during this year while David Parke is serving as interim minister. This plan will set our future direction as well as be used as part of our recruitment package for a settled minister.

In order to create the strategic plan we agreed to focus our efforts over the next few months utilizing three task forces to develop action pr oposals for our plan rather than using our traditional committee structure. The task forces will meet to develop action proposals in the following areas:

1. Worship and Ministry: How to develop a caring and supportive community that provides spiritual enhancement and promotes social justice.
2. Growth and Outreach: How to connect with and serve the larger community, especially WSU students, faculty and staff members, and use better publicity to promote what we do.
3. Building and Finance: Review and improve our building management, fiscal health, office administration, and security and safety procedures. Included here is also our relationship with UU Community Place and building users.

I would like to thank each of the trustees, as well as David Parke, and Jennifer Teed for giving up their Saturdays to participate in this workshop. In addition, three church members, Mildred Robinson, Jon Schultz and Janet Thompson, deserve special recognition for coming and adding their valuable ideas to our efforts. I am also grateful to Mary Andrus-Overley for facilitating our workshop and for Carole Porambo, Heartland District small congregation consultant, for joining us.

Please come to the church service on September 12 and you will hear a five-minute report from each of the three task forces. We hope you will be inspired to volunteer too!

Colleen Dolan-Greene

First UU Church of Detroit Moderator 2003-2005

From the Office

Please let the office know what your regular meeting times for the church year will be so it can be placed on the monthly calendar.

 

New office hours:

Monday 9:00 A.M. - 1:00 P.M.

Tuesday - Friday 9:00 A.M. - noon

 

Committee News

Development

Thanks to Janet Thompson and my friend, Kathy Tschaich for helping at the garage sale on Saturday, September 3^rd.  Also thanks to Joy and Richard Marks, the Fowlers, and my neighbors, Chris and John Andrews for donations of items.  We raised $155.00 making the total for the year $1840.00.  I still have many nice items in my garage for sale - a maple dining room teacart for $50.00, a chair with a green cushion for $20.00, and a very nice record player and tape deck.  If you are interested please call Margaret Beck at 313-882-7775.

Entertainment Books sales have raised $100.00 with hopes to raise more.  Books are sold at coffee hour for $20.00. 

 

Women's Alliance

The Fall season of Women's Alliance opens Wednesday, September 22 (note special 4^th Wednesday date) with noon luncheon in Memorial Hall.  We are pleased to have as our after-luncheon speaker Rev. David Parke, our new interim minister.  Make luncheon reservations by noon, Monday, September 20, by phoning the Church office at 313-833-9107 or by phoning Eiko Takemoto.  The luncheon is $6.00.  We will resume our usual 3^rd Wednesday noon meeting schedule on October 20, 2004.

 

Women's Book Club

 

 In honor of Banned Book Week (last week of September) we will be discussing banned books during our October meeting which will be held on Sunday October 3, 2004 from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM. in Memorial Hall. Each participant is asked to have read a banned book, any banned book.  You will be given 5-10 minutes to summarize the book, explain why you choose that particular book and explain the circumstance under which the book was banned.  

 

Our November selection will be Brown Girls, Brown Stones by Pauline Marshall. In December we will discuss children's literature. All are welcome. Contact Maria Majer at 313-899-1694 or email for more information.

 

Banned Book Group

This is a spin-off group from the Women's Book Group and will be meeting on the 4^th Sunday of each month beginning on September 26 at 1:00 in Memorial Hall.  All are welcome to join. We won't have a book to discuss at that meeting but will be choosing one at that time for the October meeting.  For more information contact Irene at the email address on the cover of the Newsletter or call.

 

Choir

Our choir is open to all who enjoy singing and being with some really nice people. Rehearsals are in Memorial Hall, unless otherwise noted, and begin at 9:30 A.M.  The schedule for Fall follows:

September - 19 with performance on the 19^th

October - 3, 10, 17 with performance on the 17^th

November - 7, 14, 21 with performance on the 21^st

December 5, 12, 19 with performances on the 19^th and 24^th (Christmas Eve)

 

October Birthdays

Happy September 25^th birthday to Rev. David Parke

1. Marilyn Grosteffon

2. Earl Harvey

4. Jonathan Schultz, Donna Walker

6. Robert Lauer

7. Nora Holt

26. Allison Parks

29. Ruth Dockerty

Ed. note - If you haven't seen your name on our birthday list, it's because we don't have it.  Please jot down your name and birthday (year not needed) and leave it in the Newsletter box outside the church office.

 

All in the Family

We are saddened to say Virginia Mudie died on August 12, 2004, she will be greatly missed.

Dolly Rose Wagner is recovering from recent throat surgery and would appreciate hearing from you. Her address is 2700 Marfitt Rd. Apt. 304, E. Lansing, MI 48823.

Debi Rutherford is in the hospital and would enjoy calls and cards.  Her hospital phone number is 313-745-6397 and her home address is 4709 2^nd Detroit, MI 48201.

Please send thoughts and prayers to Howard Malzberg who was recently in the hospital.

 

All in the Family continued

Bob Teed had surgery a couple of weeks ago and is recovering nicely at home.

James Robinson had knee replacement surgery a few weeks ago and continues to recover at home.

 

COMPUTERS NEEDED

As our staff has gotten more computer savvy, the church need for computers has increased. Our minister and RE director need your help! We are currently looking for donations of two machines, with the following capabilities or better: 200 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 10-gigabyte hard drive.

Contact Len Zettel email or call (313) 277-3711 if you can help us out.

 

Noel Night

There will be planning meeting for Noel Night on Sunday, September 26 at 12:30 in Memorial Hall after the coffee hour.  Noel Night happens on Saturday, December 4 this year.  Topics to be covered include publicity, First Friday activities, decor, bazaar, and others.  As the area for Noel Night expands, our church site is less on the fringe than in the past, which translates into the potential for more visitors.   We welcome your ideas in what often turns out to be a fun and gratifying event.  See Dan Wiest for more info.

 

Community Ministry Explores:

"MONEY"

In our Community Ministry planning session, the topic -money- usually surfaces, with all saying, "why don't we examine our issues (we have them!) around money more deeply?"  On Thursday, September 23, 2004, at 6:30 p.m. we will begin to do just that, starting with a dialogue about money.  Do you desire to engage in a "money and faith" journey?  Join us at our next Community Ministry gathering when we begin our dialogue to explore how we relate to the place and priority of money in our lives.  This is a special invitation to those of you who at one time or another expressed an interest in the "ministry of money" - exploring money and spirituality" a willingness to align our faith life and our money life.  Join a compassionate circle of seekers as we move from a place of fear to investing our lives fully in the Spirit.

"Money is a limited and competitive resource," said Jon Pratt, The Non-Profit Quarterly.  Is it?  What meaning do you give to money?  Do you want a personal change in your consciousness on money?  Finish the following sentence: Money is___________. Can our belief systems move us to a church-wide appreciation that revenue-source issues are in the interest of freedom and the future?  Pick up a copy of Making Money, Creating Wealth: Your Guide to Financial Independence by Philip E. Humbert, Ph.D. in the church office.  It will be the source of our design for this first dialogue.  What follows September 23^rd will depend on you. Please bring a dish to share.  Coffee, tea and water will be served.  Also, please donate $10.00 to cover costs for copying and snacks.  PLEASE call me at 313-832-2928 (or Barbara Stevenson at 313-863-6891) if you have an interest - if you will attend.  I look forward to hearing from you.  Gwen Winston

 

Community Sunday, October 31

Invite family and friends to what has emerged as our sacred UU Witness Sunday. If you want to join in the fun of designing Community Ministry Sundays (every 5^th Sunday), call Gwen Winston. We are especially looking for cultural artists and musicians who will bring to light our diversity of spirit.

 

Heartland District

The Heartland District is offering Fall training from October 15 - 17 in Louisville, KY. The deadline for registration is October 8 and can be made on-line by credit card.

 

Items from the Internet

With thanks to Caroline Taylor, this is in response to the last Items from the Internet regarding Canada prohibiting poor people from entering the country ...Government of Canada Immigration Law 1906 Section 28... "No immigrant shall be permitted to land in Canada who is a pauper, or destitute, a professional beggar, or vagrant, or who is likely to become a public charge; and any person landed in Canada who, within two years thereafter, has become a charge upon the public funds, whether municipal, provincial, or federal, or an inmate of or a charge upon any charitable institution, may be deported and returned to the port or place whence such immigrant came or sailed for Canada."

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First Unitarian-Universalist

Church of Detroit

Rummage Sale!

Items for sale:Clean, usable kitchen utensils, Household items, clothing, etc.

September 17th and 18th @ 10am - 5 pm

4605 Cass Ave.

Detroit MI 48201

For more information call: (313) 833-9107

Enter through the red door - Parking lot on Forest & Cass

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2nd Story Church

Halfway Up the Stairs

This time of year is always exciting for me, however, for some reason this year I feel even more eager to got going than usual. Last year I was able to got to know many people better, as well as the workings of the church. This year I will be able to focus in on many other issues. I am especially excited about our curriculum, all ages will have a social justice focus, with many service projects throughout the year. We also have some groat new teachers- Carolyn Reed Tim Brown and Danielle Troia. I will introduce you to them in future newsletters. I believe all interested families have received information regarding 2nd Story if you still need info, please lot me know.

Our summer storytelling was fantastic! We had some great stories and tellers! Thanks to everyone who participated. We will be repeating the series for our 1st Friday events, stay tuned....

Peace Camp was another great event that happened here this summer, see our photo boards in McCollster Hall- created by a young woman, who was actually born in this building many years ago. The week brought many new and familiar faces with warm feelings and open hearts into our building.

UU University (Adult R.E.) will begin soon.

Please share interests with me. Read The Da Vinci Code for discussion in October.

Wore Events, Wee

Dates for your calendar:

September 29

We will meet at the Cathedral of St. Paul to serve Breakfast to those in need at 8 a.m.

Back at Church we will participate in the first part of the service in the sanctuary. All are invited to bring in water from a vacation or with any special meaning for our water communion.

After lunch we will share in a potluck lunch, please remember to bring a dish to pass as well as canned goods for St. Leo's Soup Kitchen.

Sept 26

RE Meeting 1:00

October 1

First Friday - join us for this evening of family fun!

October 3

(1st Sunday) Souper Sunday

Growth & Outreach

Task Force Meeting Monday Sept 20

Young Adults

DIA Friday Fun - 3rd Fridays @ 6:30 (Sept 17,Oct 16)

Social Action

MOSES Event @ U of D Mercy- Sept 26

Welcome WSU Event Saturday September 25th

Ice Cream Social, UU Info Table, Entertainment in the Sanctuary, Speakers, Used Book Sale, Church Tours and more!

For more information or to volunteer at any of the above events, contact Jennifer Teed

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Attention High School Teens

This year the religious education program will be focusing on social justice. There will be an opportunity one Saturday a month to participate in a community service project. The hope is that this will become a yearly tradition for the First Church high school teens.

Below is the schedule through December. I am still in the process of filling the months of January thru May. If you would like more information on these service projects or have any ideas, please feel free to contact me. I look forward to working with everyone this year.

Peace,

Danielle Troia (Subject: 1st UU Service Project)

September 18 - Rummage Sale Sleepover

The Women's Alliance will be completing their rummage sale and we will be spending the night at the church to help clean-up. Also there will be games and other fun activities. (Starting at 7pm and ending 1 lam Sunday morning)

October 23 - Preparation for the First Church Haunted House on October 29th and 30th.

This is a great opportunity to use your creative artistic or acting abilities to host this event for the young children in the community, We need volunteers to decorate, run crafts & games, and dress in various characters for the Haunted House itself.

November 20 - Empty Bowls Part One*

We will be collaborating with a local ceramics studio to create bowls for an empty bowls fundraiser. At a later date, we will return to the studio to glaze. The fundraiser is scheduled to take place on a first Friday in the spring.
*event date subject to change

December 4 - Gleaners Food Bank warehouse in Detroit. Sam to Noon

We will meet at First Church and then go to the warehouse as a group. There is a group reservation for 20 people. Sign up is on first come first serve basis.