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First Unitarian Universalist Church of Detroit4605 Cass AvenueDetroit, MI 48201Phone 313-833-9107Fax 313-833-0127November 6, 2005 |
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First Unitarian Universalist Church
Organizational Chart 2005 - 2006 Officers Moderator Jim Harvey Vice Moderator Dan Weist Immediate Past Moderator Colleen Dolan-Greene Board Secretary Leonard Zettel Treasurer Dan Secrest Staff Interim Minister Rev. Diana Heath Minister Emeritus Rev. Larry Hutchison Director of Religious Education Jennifer Teed Music Director Todd Ballou Choir Director Lyle Brown Church Secretary Wendi Winston Building and Grounds Joe Brimmer Trustees Lencha Acker Alicia Biggers Jim Brown Linda Darga Carolyn Ludwig Mary Lou Malone Jackie McNaughtonM/I> Irene Schultz Newsletter Irene Schultz |
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At its October meeting, the Board considered a series of contentious
matters and arrived at conclusions. The Board determined that UUA
policies for Safe Congregations should be implemented at First UU.
These policies relate to checking backgrounds of 2nd Story
teachers to ensure that students are not placed in situations of
risk. It was recognized that the Church can be liable for
failure to take appropriate action to protect the childre
in the Second Story Church Program. Another difficult issue was
confronting the fact that we have some building users who have not
made appropriate payment for use of church facilities after the Board
had adopted a policy that building donations would be increased. It
was determined that such individuals cease occupancy by November 1.
Further, because of financial irregularities which came
to the attention of the Board regarding the operation of UUCP, the
Board determined that it was appropriate to encourage UUCP to seek a
dissolution and that the Board also clarified that it did not
consider itself or the church to be affiliated with UUCP. The
Board also had to consider the issue of two individuals whose
behavior (and refusal to abide by reasonable requests by church
leaders) brought about the question whether they should be excluded
from the church. A careful and prolonged discussion took place
(and there had been some discussion at the Board level at previous
times regarding this general subject). The determination was
made to exclude these individuals from the church. The Board
made a further determination that all paid staff would be supervised
by the Interim Minister.
As a consequence of the
determinations made, it appears that some parties are not necessarily
pleased with the Board's determinations. Since some of the
determinations made may be the subject of Board reconsideration, it
is not appropriate for me to comment upon the merits of the Board's
determinations.
What I am interested to do is to salute the Board on seeking solutions to
difficult problems. I hope that those who may be disenchanted with
some elements of the decisions will seek an understanding of
the reasons for the Board's actions. The Board carefully
reviewed these issues. Please also recognize that the Board trustees
are your duly elected representatives in operating the church. Your
board members are giving up a significant amount of time to provide
their services to your church. Perhaps we have another context
in which the "holy conversations" metaphor is appropriate.
A civil discourse will more likely serve the best interests of
First UU Church of Detroit.
With Respect, Jim Harvey
We will be meeting on December 4 at 1:00 p.m. in Memorial Hall. We will be discussing a children’s book of your choice and donating children’s books to Second Story Church. Please come prepared to discuss the book selection and bring a snack to share.
Come take a risk with us.
Join the choir for Christmas Eve
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out for another is to risk involvement. To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ridicule. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to
risk nothing. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has
nothing, is nothing. She may avoid suffering and sorrow, but she
cannot learn, feel, change, grow, or love. Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave. She had
forfeited her freedom. Only a person who takes risks is truly free.
Anonymous
The following is the rehearsal and performance schedule for the rest of 2005. All rehearsals begin at 9:30 and are in McCollester Hall unless otherwise noted. All are welcome.
November 20 - rehearsal and performance
November 27 - off
December 4 – rehearsal and performance
December 11 – off
December 18 – rehearsal
December 24 – rehearsal and performance
Rehearsal time is 4:00 P.M.
The Center for Women’s Culture will reconvene as a ministry on Saturday, November 19, 2005 from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at the home of Janet Thompson (Grosse Pointe). A dozen women have answered Gwen Winston’s call and will gather on that day to develop our mission, vision and values – the foundation on which we will build ways to assist women in developing, expanding and celebrating our UU identities and women’s ways. Our intention is to help one another live with more clarity, purpose, and authenticity. We will explore spirituality and our faith, host sacred circles and rituals, honor and strengthen one another through small and large group interaction and relationship building. Will you bring your ideas, gifts, and talents to our work of shaping a culture of belonging? Call Gwen at 313-574-8463 or the Church office at 313-833-9107 t let us know if you are interested in being a part of this exciting ministry and whether or not you will join us on November 19th.
We were very fortunate with the excellent weather Saturday, November 5. Thanks to help from Mildred Robinson, Ruth Seifert and John O’Connor we raised $189.00 for the church budget at our November garage sale. The total for this fiscal year is $1985.00. There are still Entertainment Books for sale during coffee hour at $25.00 each with $5.00 going to our church. Theater tickets to the Detroit Reparatory have all been sold with $125.00 raised for our church. In todays paper the play Heart Attack is listed as one of the top 10 things to do this weekend. Hopefully we can have a holiday and winter garage sale during coffee hour in November and December. Thanks, also, to Janet Thompson for bringing many lovely items to sell, John O’Connor, Nicole Kozub, the Bendures, Jeanne Slazur, the Cotmans, Robinsons, my brother Tony Zelinski and other buyers. Margaret Beck
Noel Night is rapidly approaching – Saturday, December 3 – and we are looking for a few good people to lend a hand with cookie bringing, cider stirring, decorating and such. Please call Dan Weist to let him know what you can do or if you would like to sell things at our Noel Night Bazaar, please contact Irene Schultz by November 16 for table reservations.
Meet your Ministerial Search Committee: Dr. James Robinson is Chair; Sharlene Gage, Treasurer; Celeste Headlee, Secretary; Dr. Ivan Cotman, Arranger; Marilyn Mitchell, Survey Coordinator; Fran Morgan, Reference Checker; and Kathe Stevens, Packet Editor and Distributor
The MSC has had six enthusiastic meetings. We’ve met with Rev. Diana Heath, who imparted knowledge and insight of the process. We met with Rev. Lisa Presley, Settlement Representative for the Heartland District, who filled us in on many important details. We sat in on a Finance Committee meeting and presented a report at the last Congregational Meeting>
As you may already know, Marilyn drafted the Congregational Surveys, they were distributed to the Congregation, and now Fran is arranging to have an outside source tabulate the results.; The surveys will be part of the packet sent to prospective candidates. Ivan has been busy making arrangements for pre-candidating. As Treasurer, Sharlene drafted a proposed salary package. The proposal was presented at the Congregational Meeting on October 23rd and the Congregation voted its approval. This too will be part of the packet.
Now we turn our attention to completing our Congregational Record.
We are charged with a great responsibility and we are working
diligently, with a great deal of thoughtfulness, occasional mirth,
and waves of exuberance.
Your Ministerial Search Committee:James,
Sharlene, Celeste, Ivan, Marilyn, Fran, and Kathe
The current office hours are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday – 9 a.m. – noon
Thursday – 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Women’s Alliance
The next meeting of the Women’s Alliance will be Wednesday, November 16. Lunch will be served at noon, followed by a talk on energy efficiency in your home. To make reservations, please call the church office at 313-833-9107 or Eiko Takemoto at 313-869-6389. The deadline for reservations is noon on Monday, November 14th.
Over 100 UU Congregations will host at least one public screening of “WalMart: The High Cost of the Low Price” as part of the movie launch of Robert Greenwald’s new eye-opening documentary about Wal-Mart. At least 20 more are hosting private screenings. That means that 120 UU Congregations – and there are probably more – in up to 39 states are involved in holding Wal-Mart accountable. First UU will show this movie on November 13 at 1:00 p.m.
Friday, October 14, 2005 was the first day of the WDET-FM, fall fundraiser on
the Ed Love, Destination Jazz program. Ed is the long time friend of
Dr. Barry D. Harris, the featured pianist of our Kwanzaa Jazz
Concert. Ed has hosted our Kwanzaa celebration for many years. The
congregation at 1st. U.U. overwhelmingly demonstrated our
appreciation for Ed's dedication by launching a telephone alert among
our parishioners to make pledges in support of Ed's program on
WDET-FM, 101.9 Radio. Thanks to the Black Concerns Working Group,
who initiated this idea, and for continuing to come up with ideas to
make us more visible in metro Detroit.
Mildred Robinson
Ed. Note…Thank you, too, Ann and Earl for all you do.
At the church on, oddly enough, Thanksgiving. The time is 2:00 P.M. and everyone participating is asked to bring a dish to pass, preferrably with food in it. To reserve a place, call Linda Darga.
On October 13th, our brother-in-law, Harold Dye, passed away. Harold was an athlete and union leader, s well as the husband of Cherie Stevenson Dye, sister of Carter Stevenson. Carter wrote the poem, copied below, and read it at the funeral. I wanted to share it with our church friends at First UU.
If I am your friend:
I can walk ahead of you when you need a scout
I can stand behind you when you need to lead
I can work next to you, shoulder to shoulder, and
make life sweet.
If you are my friend:
You listen to me with your eyes
You check me with your memory and make
sure I am the person now that you knew when we became friends
You speak to me when danger is near,
from within me or from the world.
Because we are friends:
We can celebrate our sameness and
observe our differences and see more
We can travel to a common destination -
one of us on the sidewalk the other in the street
We can share the answers and the truths
that we have found in this life and clarify and pass on to others
like us the questions as the mystery of life unravels.
Michigan UU Social Justice Network is co-sponsoring an "Ideas Behind the News" series of forums organized by the Oakland Branch of the ACLU of Michigan. The topic for November 16 at 7 p.m. is "SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE: THE CHALLENGE TO EVOLUTIONARY THEORY -- INTELLIGENT DESIGN" Birmingham Unitarian Church
…”I want to thank you in the name of our committee for your generous and wonderful cooperation with us during the Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit conference and the organic lunches that you helped to facilitate. As you know, the conference and the lunches were a great success! I am enclosing a check and please extend our gratitude to all of your congregation’s members….Gloria Rivera, IHM
Every year the President officially pardons the National Thanksgiving Turkey - along with its mate, unofficially kicking off the season. While origins are murky, most sources say presidential tenderness toward turkeys began with Abraham Lincoln. It seems his son Tad grew fond of “Jack”, a turkey intended for the holiday meal. When poor Jack received his final “invitation” for dinner, Tad begged his father to spare the bird’s life and softhearted Lincoln agreed. The tradition will continue this year when the turkeys are taken to Frying Pan Park in Herndon, VA where they will retire and spend the rest of their natural lives.
On Tesco’s tirimisu desert – “Do not turn upside down” – printed on bottom of box.
On a Korean kitchen knife – “Warning: Keep out of children”.
On Japanese food processor –“Not to be used for the other use”.
On Sainsbury’s Peanuts – “Warning: contains nuts”
On an American Airlines packet of nuts – “Instructions: Open packet – eat nuts”
On a Swedish chainsaw – “Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands”.
On a package for a Rowenta Iron “Do not iron clothes on body”.