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First Unitarian Universalist
Church of Detroit

4605 Cass Avenue
Detroit, MI 48201

Phone: 313-833-9107
Fax: 313-833-0127


December 16, 2007

First Unitarian Universalist Church
Organizational Chart 2007 - 2008

Officers
President
Alicia Biggers
Vice President
Glenn Maxwell
Immediate Past President
Linda Darga
Acting Board Secretary
Glenn Maxwell
Treasurer
Dan Wiest

Staff
Minister
Rev. Drew Johnston
Minister Emeritus
Rev. Larry Hutchison
Minister of Faith Development
Athena Kolbe
Community Minister
Lynda Smith
Music Director
Todd Ballou
Choir Director
Gwen Foss
Church Secretary
Wendi Winston
Building and Grounds
Joe Brimmer
Leonard Swint (Sunday)

Trustees
Lencha Acker
Sally Borden
Trey Greene
David Lingholm

Newsletter Editor
Irene Schultz

Drew’s News

Here’s an excerpt from the T.S. Eliot poem which provided the thesis for Drew’s sermon on Sunday, December 16. Due to the heavy snowfall that morning, only 30 of us were able to hear this wonderful sermon. Contact the webmaster to get an audio copy of the service…


O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark,
The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant,
The captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters,
The generous patrons of art, the statesmen and the rulers,
Distinguished civil servants, chairmen of many committees,
Industrial lords and petty contractors, all go into the dark,
And dark the Sun and Moon, and the Almanach de Gotha
And the Stock Exchange Gazette, the Directory of Directors,
And cold the sense and lost the motive of action.
And we all go with them, into the silent funeral,
Nobody's funeral, for there is no one to bury.
I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre,
The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed
With a hollow rumble of wings, with a movement of darkness on darkness,
And we know that the hills and the trees, the distant panorama
And the bold imposing facade are all being rolled away—
Or as, when an underground train, in the tube, stops too long between stations
And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence
And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen
Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about;
Or when, under ether, the mind is conscious but conscious of nothing—
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
Whisper of running streams, and winter lightning.
The wild thyme unseen and the wild strawberry,
The laughter in the garden, echoed ecstasy
Not lost, but requiring, pointing to the agony
Of death and birth.

Please visit our website for information on upcoming services.

In this issue:

Winter Scene
Women's Alliance
20th Annual Kwanzaa Jazz Concert
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Ceremonies in Dark Old Men
Middle Eastern Dinner
From our Community Minister
Items from the Internet
Newsletter Deadline

 

 

Women's Alliance

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Festive homemade cookies needed!! If you are planning on attending the Christmas Eve Service, please bring some extra special cookies for the cookie and cider time that follows. We keep it very simple so that clean up will be quick and easy because the volunteers don’t want to spend too long on it--what with parties or dinners to go to.

Upcoming luncheons and programs:
These are the first luncheons and programs for 2008. Cost is $6 for the meal that begins at Noon. Reservations can be made by calling the church office or Eiko Takemoto by the Monday before the luncheon. All are welcome.

January 16, 2008 (3rd Wednesday)
Travel to Peru
February 20, 2008 (3rd Wednesday)
Poetry Reading -- Bring a favorite to share.

 

 

20th Annual Kwanzaa Jazz Concert

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Saturday, December 29, 2007 -- 7:00 PM

The Black Concerns Working Group of First U.U. Church presents the 20th Annual Jazz Concert in our elegant church surroundings deserving of its creativity and genius.

Each year we attract more and more people who appreciate and enjoy this timeless art form. The concert has become the most popular "In Place" to go during the holiday season. This 20th Annual Kwanzaa Jazz Concert features Detroit's own internationally renowned pianist Dr. Barry D. Harris and Ed Love of WDET-FM as our Master of Ceremonies.

The Black Concerns Working Group plans all year to make this concert a financial success. YOU can be an "INTEGRAL" part of this success by becoming more involved with the presentation of the concert. An important fact to keep in mind is that the concert is a fundraiser for the church. Your participation is urgently needed for its success. Your ticket purchases are tax deductible. To help support the concert, you may consider purchasing tickets as holiday presents, and/or sponsoring a group party, and even mailing our flyers in your greeting cards.

Our goal is to involve EVERY church member and friend to participate in making this a successful concert, in every way.

 

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

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Are you considering making charitable contributions before the year ends? Please remember our Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, which assists reputable agencies around the world with their hands-on grassroots organizations with activities to raise local standards of living. The UUSC is dependent on our church members for donations to continue their critical efforts.

You can join or renew your yearly membership by donating the following amounts:

Look for contribution envelopes that will be available in the church soon. Talk to UUSC representative, Mary Neale for further information, or you can mail your contributions directly to: Unitarian Universalist Service Committee P.O. Box 835259 Boston, MA 02283-5239.

 

Ceremonies in Dark Old Men

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For the next few weeks I will be selling tickets to CEREMONIES IN DARK OLD MEN at the Detroit Rep Theatre on Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $15 with the church making $5. It is an African American classic masterpiece. We will be going out to dinner afterwards. It is a lot of fun, helps the church, and helps the Detroit Rep. Margaret Beck 313-882-7775 or margretbeck@comcast.net. If you can't make it on that date you can use the ticket for another Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

Margaret Beck

 

Middle Eastern Dinner

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Saturday, January 19, 2008, 6:00 p.m. Save this date for a Middle Eastern dinner. Enjoy the wonderful aroma of Arabic spices and, of course, plenty of tasty food, ending with an assortment of those lovely Arabic sweets with coffee/tea. Sorry! No belly dancer this time! But with such an exotic treat, you won't miss her! Call the office for reservations, 833-9107, $15.00.

 

From our Community Minister

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Let me introduce myself as your newly affiliated Community Minister. Even though I joined First UU Church in 1977 (yes, 30 years ago), I haven’t been around much lately. So I’m aware that I don’t know all church members now and I’ve lost touch with others. For the last four years I’ve been attending Northwest UU Church in Southfield, where I was a ministerial intern for a year, or Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple of Detroit, where I was a Dharma Student for three years. I still worship or give sermons with Northwest or Still Point sometimes, so I won’t be at First Church every Sunday.

In the year 2000, I retired from working as Disability Insurance Claims Examiner for 20 years (before that I was a teacher). I had put off a felt call to ministry till my last child had graduated from college. My daughter, Jeanette, lives in Indiana with her husband. My son, Martin, lives in Ohio with his wife and 3 children. We had a third child, Caryn, who died when she was 12 years old. Her memorial service was right in our beautiful, serene sanctuary. My husband, Stuart (who is currently a student at the Zen Buddhist Temple), and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary in August. We live in Detroit, next door to Al and Lencha Acker.

So my ties run deep with you. In the 1980’s I worked as your co-director of the Religious Education Program for children and youth. In the 1990’s I was on the Board of Trustees, including being President of the Congregation. But in a clear way, this new affiliation with you feels different and refreshing. UU Community Ministers are required by the UU Ministry Department to be affiliated with a congregation or congregations that recognize their ministry as legitimate. I’ll be sharing in future Newsletters specifics of my ministry and my call. I’m really enthusiastic and honored to be working with you and Drew and Athena for the new chapter in the life of First UU and in my life. Thank you for your vote of confidence.

Lynda Smith

 

Items From the Internet

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A Simple Test

Below are four (4) questions.
You have to answer them instantly. You can't take your time - answer all of them immediately, OK? Let's find out just how clever you really are....Ready? GO!!!

First Question: You are participating in a race. You overtake the second person. What position are you in?
Answer: If you answered that you are first, then you are absolutely wrong! If you overtake the second person and you take his place, you are second!

Now answer the second question, but don't take as much time as you took for the first question.

Second Question: If you overtake the last person, then you are...
Answer: If you answered that you are second to last, then you are wrong again. Tell me, how can you overtake the LAST Person? You're not very good at this, are you?

Third Question: Very tricky arithmetic. Note: This must be done in your head only. Do NOT use paper and pencil or a calculator. Try it. Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Now add
30. Add another 1000. Now add 20. Now add another 1000. Now add 10. What is the total?

Did you get 5000? The correct answer is actually 4100. If you don't believe it, check it with a calculator!

Fourth Question: Mary's father has five daughters: 1. Nana, 2. Nene, 3. Nini, 4. Nono. What is the name of the fifth daughter?

Did you Answer Nunu? NO! Of course it isn't. Her name is Mary. Read the question again! Not really so hard, was it?

 

Newsletter Deadline

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The deadline for printed material is Sunday, January 6, 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.