First Unitarian Universalist
Church of Detroit

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First and foremost, our sincere thanks go to Donna Walker for her service as our Trustee and Secretary and we wish her well with her future work and opportunities both here at Church and her other volunteer commitments. In accordance to our By-Laws we, the Governing Board, can fulfill these positions in between Annual Meetings. Rather than rush to add a new Trustee or Secretary, our own Glenn Maxwell has accepted an invitation to be our “Acting Secretary”. This will provide your governing Board an opportunity to review our strengths to determine our next steps. If you have not noticed lately, your Board's motto is "inform, discuss, and decide" which allows us to look at policy and procedures with due diligence prior to any decisions. We understand our decisions have a long term, and sometimes ripple, effect in our Church community.

I hope you take the opportunity to join in the Wednesday Night Dinners & Vespers as well as participate in the various efforts to help define "why we matter on this corner." I hope you are aware of efforts such as the new youth program called Bridges; the Building the World We Dream About program (we are beta group for anti-racism for welcoming congregations); Worship Committee, Planning Team, Dollars for Sacred Places (building on all the work of the Future Facilities Task Force); 1st UU MOSES Core Team; and much more….

Are you aware of the social activities from ethnic dinners to movie nights to Noel Night? With so much going on, I invite you to join us and "connect" and if you are not sure where or how to connect, just ask one of your Board Trustees.

Finally, I invite each member to join us on December 2, 2007 at 1 pm for our Congregational Meeting. Your Governing Board will share progress to date as well as ask you to vote on key Congregational business. If you are not sure you are a "voting" member, again, just ask one of your Board Trustees: Linda Darga, Dave Lingholm, Trey Greene, Glenn Maxwell, Dan Wiest, Sally Borden or Lencha Acker.

Let’s continue to “liberate the truth, radiate kindness and love courageously”, together.

Alicia Biggers

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Consider joining us for our monthly lunch and program. All are welcome. Lunch is only $6.00 and reservations should be made by noon of the previous Monday by calling the church office. Dates and program topics for the rest of 2007 are:

November 14

Rev. Drew Johnston -- Our Church Mission

December 12

A Christmas Story and Sing-A-Long

Finally, get your cookie recipes out because the Women's Alliance will hold a Bake Sale on Noel Night (December 1) and would appreciate donations of delicious goodies.

NOTE: The November and December meetings are scheduled for the second Wednesday of the month.

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Why go to all the trouble to clean the house, cook a big meal AND clean up afterwards when you can enjoy wonderful food, great company and no clean-up – well, hardly no clean-up – at our traditional (over 30 years) Thanksgiving Potluck dinner on November 22 at 1:30 in Memorial Hall.

You need only do three things to attend –

1. Make a reservation by calling Linda Darga, Irene Schultz or the church office by November 19 to let us know how many people you will be bringing;
2. Bring a dish to pass – turkey will be provided; and
3. Let us know what you’re bringing so we don’t end up with 14 pumpkin pies and 18 pounds of cranberry sauce.
   (The 14 pumpkin pies are OK as long as you bring plenty of whipped cream to go with them!)

 

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Overview
It is now the beginning of November so that means Noel Night is only 3 weeks away. We have 12 wonderful vendors lined up but there is always room for elves to help out with cookie plate replenishing – and bringing; cider stirrers and greeters. This year the Faith Development folks will be offering soup and ask that some be donated. Please let Dan Wiest, Athena Kolbe, or Irene Schultz know what you can do to make our church really stand out on Noel Night.

Last Friday, November 30
That’s right: a twist on the usual First Friday. This is the big decorating night for the church house and Sanctuary. Come for the meal (pizza) to get the energy you'll need for the trees plus all the other items to hang, place, string and fuss over. Make your reservations by Wednesday, November 28.

Saturday, December 1

The exact schedule for the Sanctuary is yet to be decided. The performers will include our annual visit by the Edison Academy choir and the Ellington Conservatory of Music and Art (Choir, Band, Harps, Bells & Dance) Also performing will be Detroit Southwestern Choir and the Marygrove College Dance troupe.

McCollester Hall will be home to the Holiday Bazaar. See Irene Schultz for details.

Memorial Hall will host the best of First UU talent: musicians, storytellers and a singalong with the choir.

In addition to the usual free cider and cookies, First UU would like to offer complimentary soup to our visitors. (Not that we will turn away any donations for our trouble from our guests.)

We would appreciate volunteers for the following areas:

• Performer chaperones
• Sound system techs
• Stage set up and tear down
• Greeters, guides, food servers
• Craft helpers at the children’s table.

Multi-taskers are welcome.

As with much of our circumstance, our budget is tight. If you would like to donate toward the purchase of greens (trees, roping and wreaths) or other items, the following would be gratefully accepted:

1. Candles for the luminaries
2. Cookies cookies cookies
3. Soups
4. Cider

See Dan Wiest or Athena Kolbe for more info.

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Saturday, November 17th, First UU will participate with the HAND (Homeless Action Network of Detroit) Walk Against Homelessness. We will meet at church at 10:00 am for an orientation, then we will walk and talk about homeless services in the neighborhood around the church. We will join up with the HAND walk at Campus Martius and will be back at church by 3:00 pm. Cost for the walk is $10.00 and this money goes to HAND for their services for the homeless.

If interested, please look for the sign-up sheet on the hallway bulletin board outside the sanctuary or call Rev. Lynda Smith at 313.617.4615.

Thank you,

Lynda

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A big thanks to all who helped make the Oktoberfest dinner a big success --Anne and Earl Harvey, Marilyn and Jerry Mitchell, Alma King, Margaret Beck and Lencha and Al Acker! Faye Colling gave Marlena Dietrich a run for her money. A good time was had by all, and many hundreds of dollars were earned to support the church.

The next Ethnic dinner will be in January. Look forward to an Arab-American dinner with music and entertainment.

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A special one-hour UU Orientation session is scheduled for Sunday, November 11, 2007 at 1 pm. after Coffee Hour in Memorial Hall. Please let Wendi Winston in the church office or Sally Borden (313.533.1494) know if you plan to attend so we can have enough material. It's a great opportunity to learn more about UUism and yourself.
 

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More weird things everyone should know (or not)...

* A shrimp's heart is in its head.
* Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants.
* Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
* Most lipstick contains fish scales.
* The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
* More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.
* Butterflies taste with their feet.
* A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
* The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

 

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The deadline for printed material is Sunday, November 18, 2007 no later than NOON or the following Monday no later than 5:30 p.m. for electronically submitted material. Articles may be emailed, by the deadline date and time, to ieschultz1945@yahoo.com. If you email items, please specify that they are for the newsletter.