You, Me & Rising to Live

            Turning the corner, I stood before him, Henry David Thoreau, as if time merged together. He stood silently, and I saw before me the wide road that we call life.  And as my eyes looked upon this road, Thoreau's words sprang from it:

            "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

            Life was before me, like an ample road to be traversed.  But who ever thought of choosing how to live?  Yes, because there lies in life something unknown, something mysterious which permeates everything calling me to live consciously.  Call it the essential in life.

            "And how do I find the essential?"  I felt as though I had to shout, as if Thoreau were standing far away, at the other end of life.  His reply came soft and reassuring:

            "By removing what is not essential". He was pointing to his clothes.

            "Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes and not alter a new wearer of clothes."

            Happy Easter!  Working throughout summer and autumn, winter and spring, finally he proclaims that resurrection is possible: The rebirth of a new person from under the fallen idols of Wal Mart.

                        Peace and Love,

                                    Larry

 

 

In Memoriam

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Millie Jeffrey.  Millie died March 24, 2004 and will be greatly missed.

 

 

Summer Rummage Sales

The Summer Rummage sales will be starting soon.  See Margaret Beck for more information.

 

General Assembly

The 43^rd General Assembly is less than three months away.  The annual meeting of the UUA is in Long Beach, CA.  This year the church office has information about GA.  If you are interested in attending please call the church office if you need a program sampler, registration forms, hotel reservation forms, children's program registration forms, scholarship applications, pre-GA information, banner information, tentative agenda or get information on line

 

Committee News

Black Concerns Working Group

We will be meeting on Friday, May 7 at 6:00 P.M. If you would like to stay for dinner at First Friday please make reservations by the 5^th.

Choir

If you enjoy singing and want to have a good time, the choir is the place for you. There is no need to audition, just show up at the dates and time listed below.  All rehearsals begin at 9:30 A.M. and are usually held in Memorial Hall.  The rehearsal and performance schedule is as follows:

April 18 & 25 - no rehearsal

May 2, 9 & 16 - rehearsal with performance on the 16

May 23 & 30 - Off

June 6 & 13 - rehearsal

June 20 - rehearsal with performance

 

Development

I have tickets to the sold out performance at the Detroit Repertory Theatre production of Drawer Boy which Time magazine named one of the top 10 plays of 2001.  Tickets are for Saturday, April 24^th at 3:00 P.M.  Doors open at 2:00 P.M.  Tickets are $15.00 with profits going to the church budget.  Margaret Beck - 313-882-7775

Women’s Alliance

You are invited to attend the Women's Alliance noon luncheon and program on Wednesday, April 21, 2004, in Memorial Hall.  Reservations for the luncheon must be made by noon Monday, April 19 by phoning the church office at 313-833-9107 or Eiko Takemoto at 313-869-6389.  The luncheon cost is $6.00.  Our post-luncheon program will be a talk by a member of the staff of Alternatives for Girls.

 

Women's Book Club

The next meeting of the Women's Book Club will be on Sunday May 2, 2004 1:00 p.m. in Memorial Hall.  Our May selection will be The Pagan Book of Living and Dying by Starhawk.  The book for June will be Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik.  Our September selection will be Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.  The July and August choices will be announced at a later date. Please contact Maria Majer at 313-899-1694 for more information.

 

From our Moderator

Sunday, April 25, Lisa Presley, Heartland UU District Ministerial Settlement Representative, will be at First Church to meet with the congregation and the Board. Lisa said this meeting will ... "be one where I meet with the congregation members and the Board to talk about the search, what's involved, and how you get from here to there. This visit is usually about 90 minutes with the congregation members, and then an additional half-hour with the Board members. It is highly recommended that I visit before you undertake the process of forming the search committee, so that I can let people know what's involved before they say yes...." [Note: Lisa would meet a second time with the newly elected search committee to help them begin their process of working together to find the best possible settled minister for the congregation]

Please note the following dates:

 

 

 

Sunday, May 16: Congregational Meeting. This additional time will give the Nominating Committee time to recruit folks to serve on the Search Committee AFTER they know what the qualifications are for candidates based on Lisa Presley and the UUA's advice.

 

Please let me know if you have questions,

 

Colleen Dolan-Greene

313.867.4890

dolangreenegroup@hotmail.com

 

P.S. Board Members--On April 25, you need to plan on attending not only the 90-minute presentation to the Congregation, but also an additional 30-minute meeting with Lisa Presley. Arlene Teed promised to organize a soup and salad Sunday for all of us so we won't starve!

 

Qualifications for Candidates

1. One who has an overall perspective and commitment to the nature, purpose and activities of the Church. Contrary to what might be expected, we do not recommend that Search Committees be made up of representatives of special interests with the Church. This tends to create unnecessary conflict and to have people looking for "one issue" candidates. So instead of looking for "representatives," we recommend looking for "senators."

 

2. One who is committed to UU pluralism in every area: theology, life styles, social concern, etc.

 

3. One who is patiently able to work for consensus rather than insisting upon majority rule or minority tyranny.

 

 4. One with time to be thoroughly and continually involved. Members of the Committee may well devote a minimum of 20 hours monthly for ten months or so, to say nothing of the added time involved when the pre-candidating interviews get underway. Searching for a minister must be a top priority for members of the Search Committee.

 

5. One without rigid requirements regarding ministerial state, sex, marital status, age, etc.

 

6. One who constantly remembers the wishes of the Congregation, who will not permit the Search Committee to become an autonomous, independent (and finally irresponsible) entity.

 

7.  One with a history of UU involvement. This does not necessarily mean long-term involvement, but it does mean that people new to our religious community ought not to be asked to serve. It takes time for people really to accept and embrace our diversity.

 

8. One who very evidently has the confidence of the Congregation.

 

9.  One who can respect the confidentiality of the process, but who, nonetheless, is eager to keep the Congregation informed regarding the progress that is being made.

 

10. One of irenic, cooperative disposition: not disputatious.

 

         The kind of person to avoid:

(This is really the flip side of the suggestions above but it may be important to be explicit regarding a few characteristics)

 

1. One with limited and high-intensity interests; one who defines the Church in narrow, exclusive terms

 

 2. One with rigid, authoritarian ideas coupled with little respect for differences, e.g. the militant Humanist, the intolerant Christian, the rabid Peacenik, the gadfly

 

 3. One who readily accedes to any request, but who is unable, either by temperament or time-limitations, to follow through

 

  4. One who feels that "we know best," thus urging the Search Committee to ignore the expressed wishes of the Congregation

 5.  One who has a genius for stroking the cat from tail to head just to see the sparks fly

 

6.      One who is actively disliked by many people in the Congregation. Gadflies have their places, but not on Search Committees

 

Thanks for a Job Well Done

As always, the First UU Church of Detroit team came through on behalf of the Heartland District meeting.  You were fantastic, greeting and working in the exhibit hall and monitoring the workshops.  Without your generosity and dependability, the event wouldn’t have been half as nice.  If I was anxious, I apologize.  We worked hard and I hope you got a chance to enjoy one of the workshops or Mathew Fox, who was quite an inspiration for all of us.

 

Our Volunteer Thank You diner and conference debrief will take place on Friday, May 21 at 4:30.  More details to follow.  If you didn’t get a tote bag and would like one, please call me at 313-863-6891.  Barbara

 

Menopause, the Musical

I'm looking for theater-goers to attend this new musical at the Gem Theater.  Groups of 15 people receive a discount.  There are brunch and dinner packages.

 

The show only tickets are $32.00

Brunch/theater - $57.50  2:00 P.M. Sunday

Dinner/theater - $68.50

      Tuesday - Sunday   8:00 P.M.

       Saturday - 4 & 8 P.M.

 

A tour of the theater building is also an option.  The show, with 15 musical numbers, is selling out. I’d like to suggest we book in early June.  Call me if you are interested.  Barbara Stevenson  313-863-6891

Take a Vacation from the Modern World

For one enchanted weekend - June 4-6 - in Manassas, Virginia, you can step back into the past to a simpler time.  Walk in the footsteps of civil war soldiers.  Relive the age of the Iron Horse.  Indulge your tastes at a candlelit Victorian dinner.  Or if history is not your thing, you can golf on a championship course, shop for antiques or crafts, bike down a scenic byway or visit a National wildlife refuge.  No matter where your interests lie there is something for everyone at Historic Manassas Weekend.

 

You will stay in the home of a host from Bull Run UU on Friday and Saturday night and breakfast with the same folks on Saturday and Sunday.  You will enjoy Friday and Saturday dinners in our new fellowship hall with Bull Run UU’s and other UU visitors.  The tours and activities will be led by highly knowledgeable members of our congregation.

 

Details on all of these fun activities can be found on line or by calling Ed or Martha Walsh at 703-330-5963 or email.

 

Thank you for supporting our congregation.  We hope to see you in June.

From the Internet

Special Poem for Senior Citizens

A row of bottles on my shelf

Caused me to analyze myself.

One yellow pill I have to pop

Goes to my heart so it won't stop.

A little white one that I take

Goes to my hands so they won't shake.

The blue ones that I use a lot

Tell me I'm happy when I'm not.

The purple pill goes to my brain

And tells me that I have no pain.

The capsules tell me not to wheeze

Or cough or choke or even sneeze.

The red ones, smallest of them all

Go to my blood so I won't fall.

The orange ones, very big and bright

Prevent my leg cramps in the night.

Such an array of brilliant pills

Helping to cure all kinds of ills.

But what I'd really like to know...

Is what tells each one where to go!

 

May First Friday

Please make reservations for the May 7^th First Friday by the 5^th of the month.  Please call the church office at 313-833-9107 or Peggy Wilkie at 313-255-5048.