The North Unitarian Universalist Congregation Newsletter

July 2010

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July News and Events!

Update on Mowing at NUUC As you may know, for this mowing season the Building and Grounds Committee is handling the mowing on a rotating basis with a little help from the congregation. The main area being mowed is around both the church and Nielsen House. The committee members are taking turns mowing each week except for one week each month, which is handled by a volunteer from the congregation. We got a great response from the congregation and the volunteer list was quickly filled. We thank the congregation’s volunteers for their willingness to help and for their good mowing work. Here are the congregation’s mowing volunteers: Congregation Volunteers Yvonne Clippinger – Week of May 2 Tracy Steinbrenner – Week of Jun. 13 Neil Kirby – Week of Jul. 4 Traci Aquara – Week of Aug. 8 Steve Mallett – Week of Aug. 28 Brad Dana – Week of Sep. 5 Fred & Nancy Kohn – Week of Oct. 17 The B&G Committee members handle mowing during the remaining weeks of the April through November season. We thank these B&G Committee members for their good mowing work: B&G Committee Volunteers John Rodeheffer Roger Orwick Don Dillemuth Bob Keith Lastly, we wish to thank B&G Committee member Gary Rusk for his work mowing the big field at the rear of our property. Gary has volunteered to take on mowing the field for the entire mowing season. As a result of everyone’s efforts helping with the mowing this season, we are saving several thousand dollars by not utilizing a mowing contractor, with the result that NUUC can put those dollars to other uses. Please consider giving your personal thanks when you see one of our mowing volunteers. Bob Keith Building & Grounds Chair bobkeith@verizon.net Delaware County Community Market The Delaware Country Community Market is a fascinating new venture in downtown Delaware. A non-profit market, you can shop there for groceries, handmade foods and other items, and household goods, and then direct 20% of the profits to your favorite non-profit. Yes, NUUC is on the list of nonprofits to choose from! The market is open 7 days a week (10-6 weekdays and 10-4 weekends). More information at www.dccmc.com. The store is located at 222 East William Street Summer Yoga Want to improve your health, your mood, your flexibility? Come try us out! After taking into consideration everyone's summer plans, we've decided on a summer mini-session of three yoga Classes to be held on Thursdays from 7:00-8:15pm, on July 1st, 8th and 22^nd (no class July 15).  Drop in for a relaxing yoga session for just $8.00 per class! We will not meet in early August, but our 10-class fall session will begin on August 26^th ($60 for full session, or $8.00 per drop-in class).  Certified Yoga Instructor Abby Dorn offers a blended style of hatha and vinyasa yoga with modifications and options suitable for all levels of fitness and experience, including beginners. No previous attendance or experience is required--all are welcome to come (our class is attended by both males and females). No need to purchase special equipment--a limited supply of mats and other aids are available to use that night. Classes are sponsored by the NUUC Adult RE & Enrichment Committee. For questions and more info about the summer session, see the bulletin board or contact Jeri Dill at the church office at 740-657-8081, ext. 1 or Adult RE Committee member Ruth Rusk at ruthrusk@midohio.net. Women of Spirit Program NUUC's women's group, “Women of Spirit,” is starting a new program that might best be described as “Looking for the Feminine Soul.” The program will consist of 10 sessions (session one began on June 27) and will meet every 6 weeks. Meetings will be 4:00-6:00 p.m. in Fellowship Hall or another agreed-upon location. We will be reading these novels: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker, and/or The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan. There also will be readings (provided) from The Dance of the Dissident Daughter (Sue Monk Kidd), The Goddess in the Gospels (Margaret Starbird), When God Was a Woman (Merlin Stone), Toward a New Psychology of Women (Dr. Jean Baker Miller), and the UU curriculum Rise Up and Call Her Name (Elizabeth Fisher). Men are welcome to attend meetings. They may be interested in “archetypes” or the bits of history that will be studied (see session six). Women and men: come to as many (or as few) sessions as you like. The sessions: 1 (June 27) Making the Paradigm Shift From Old Archetypes to New Views 2 (Aug. 8) Taking the Journey, part 1 Joseph Campbell's Hero's Quest becomes the question, “How do women leave home?” 3 (Sept. 19) Taking the Journey, part 2 Book discussion: The Secret Life of Bees, with questions to consider 4 (Oct. 31) Doing Our Own Naming 5 (Dec. 12) Reflecting “The Great Goddess,” inside, out 6 (Jan. 23, '11) Inviting Men Into the Quest: What's In It For Them 7 (Mar. 6) Assessing the Hard Facts: What is Still at Stake, part 1 Abuse world wide, and why 8 (Apr. 17) Assessing, part 2 Book(s) discussion: The Temple of My Familiar, The Kitchen God's Wife, or other 9 (May 29) Backing Away from Power: Why is That? The importance of conflict 10 (July 10) Unlocking It Just what have we “locked up”? The “Water Blessing” Contact person: Marty Keith (740) 369-1919 or martykeith@verizon.net Time to Renew your Kroger Plus Cards NUUC recently received $167.34, thanks to your registering your Plus card with the Community Rewards program. Thank you! Participation must be renewed annually, and now is the time to do it. Go to http://www.kroger.com and select Kroger Community Rewards at the bottom of the page. You’ll need your account information or your Plus card number to complete the registration. It is a little cumbersome, but the sooner you do it the sooner your purchases start counting toward another nice donation from Kroger. (Should you need it, our NUUC Nonprofit Organization Number is 84869). No Fair Trade Sales in July There will be no Fair Trade Sales of coffee, tea and chocolates in July or August (typically held the second Sunday of the month).  Fair Trade Sales are anticipated to resume in September.  See Launia White for more info. Fair Trade Coffee Organizers Needed: The Social Action Committee is looking for two people to take over the Fair Trade Coffee sales. If interested in keeping the Coffee Sales going please contact Launia White at launia@columbus.rr.com or Tracy Steinbrenner at tracystein@att.net Go to: Page 1 Page 3 Page 4

July Calendar Preview: (N) = Nielsen House (F) = Fellowship Hall (S) = Sanctuary July 1 7:00pm – Yoga (F) (Drop in rate $8.00) July 3 10:30am – Covenant Group (date subject to change due to holiday) July 4 Independence Day—regular worship service July 8 7:00pm – Yoga (F) (Drop in rate $8.00) July 11 Loose Change Sunday (benefiting annual School Supply Drive) No Fair Trade Sales July 11-17 Summer Institute – Kenyon College July 13 Worship Committee July 15 NO Yoga tonight July 20 Noon - Brown Bag Books (F) July 21 6:30pm – Immigration Reform Rally – OH Statehouse July 22 7:00pm – Yoga (F) August newsletter submission deadline July 24 9:00am – Board Meeting (F) July 25 11:45am – Stewardship Committee (S) July 30 5:30-7:00pm – NUUC Family Happy Hour (F) Family Happy Hour Set for July 30 Our NUUC monthly “Family Happy Hour” continues to be a pleasant respite in our busy schedules! Our June get-together was a delightful “alfresco” affair—we set up tables and snacks and enjoyed the pleasant breezes outdoors on the NUUC lawn… The next “Happy Hour” is scheduled for the usual last Friday evening in July (Friday, July 31, from 5:30pm to 7:00pm.—drop in whatever time fits your schedule). Bring an appetizer to share and beverages for you.  A casual gathering to socialize and get to know one another outside of Sunday morning.  Watch for Allison Fagan’s upcoming July e-mail E-vite, or e-mail her directly at fagan8385@gmail.com with number of adults and children in your group. If you have any questions, please contact Allison or Teri Cornell at tericornell@ymail.com. Brown Bag Book Group Please join us on Tuesday, July 20 at noon in Fellowship Hall to discuss the novel “Major Pettigrew's Last Stand” by Helen Simonson.  There is a waiting list for this book at the library, which has 37 copies available. Follow this charming English comedy of manners surrounding the very proper and delightfully droll widower of 68 who is also the accidental suitor of Jasmina Ali, the 50-something Pakistani widow and proprietress of the mini mart in their quaint English village. An old-fashioned love story that also touches on many of the big issues: the clash of culture and religions, the greed of unbridaled globalization, the tension between fathers and sons...and families in general. (Paraphrased from Amazon’s review…for a complete synopsis, check out www.amazon.com .) For those of you who like to get ahead on your reading or at least get on the waiting list for upcoming books, August's selection is “Anticancer:  A New Way of Life” by cancer survivor, David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD (meeting August 17). Our small group continues to grow, and we are having lively discussions each month.  Remember, we meet the third Tuesday of the month at 12:00 noon.  We look forward to seeing you! For questions, please contact group facilitator Ruth Rusk at ruthrusk@midohio.net . Happy Reading! July Music Notes One of my main goals as Music Director is to delight, uplift, and inspire you with live music at every worship service. It’s a year-round commitment, not just when the full choir is in session. In fact, I think that the music during summer worship services is in many ways the most reflective of who we are as UUs. Vocalists and instrumentalists across the whole congregation bring something of themselves as an offering. Perhaps the music will be a song from a Broadway show; perhaps it will be a modern piece for solo flute; perhaps we’ll sing hymns with guitar instead of piano. You may never know what exactly to expect, but it’s my hope that you will always be pleasantly surprised. This month, you will hear Prescott Hartzler playing piano, Sorcha Bell will be returning from Rochester to sing a solo, pianist Wade Jones will be choosing some of his favorite tunes, and Marty Keith and Darlene Tschudy will be singing a duet. Thank you to all the musicians who shared music with us in June. Bravo to the NUUC Youth Band, Traci Aquara, Tom MacLaughlin, and Wade Jones. August 15 is still available for anyone wanting to perform this summer. Please see me ASAP if you can help out! Happy summer! Marlene Hartzler, Music Director marlenemetz@yahoo.com Summer Update to 2010 NUUC Directory The Summer update to the NUUC Directory of Members and Friends was disseminated via e-mail just before Memorial Day. Additional updates will be sent out as new information warrants (about quarterly or more often if needed.) If you ever need a re-send of the directory, or you have no means to print out a copy of the directory and/or just wish to have a paper copy, kindly let Jeri Dill in the office know at nuucjdill@aol.com or 740-657-8081, ext. 1, noting whether you are able to pick it up at church (to save postage) or you need it mailed to you. June 7 Red Cross Blood Drive Results The Red Cross has deemed our annual NUUC blood drive held on Monday, June 7 a success! We had a total of 19 donors through the door, and were able to collect 17 units. Of the 22 blood drives in the region that day, only two hit their collection goals—NUUC was one of them. A special thank-you to all who donated blood and time—especially coordinators Yvonne Clippinger & Launia White, the MacLaughlins, Lyn Herron, Rev. Ritchie and Donna DeGeorge for her awesome cookies. NUUC Covenant Groups News Covenant groups provide a unique experience that differs from adult education, other groups, Sunday services, or anything else you do at church. In a covenant group you will get to: 1) Share your stories and views, which provide immense opportunity for spiritual deepening and connection to one another. 2) Discover what you really value and express those values to others. 3) Search, learn, and grow together. 4) Experience an open, supportive, and nurturing environment that welcomes every person. 5) Make friends and become closer to everyone in an enjoyable setting. The nature of being a Unitarian Universalist is to make a spiritual path that is personally meaningful rather than to walk down a paved path put there by religious authorities.  It isn't easy work and can be lonely. Covenant groups are a good way to share with others what you are thinking and how you are living. Once a month you get to say out loud what you often keep quiet from others and, of course, to hear the wide range of experiences and viewpoints that others hold. Please consider joining one of the NUUC covenant groups. The Saturday morning group will continue to meet throughout 2010 and welcomes new attendees. The Wednesday morning and Thursday evening groups have disbanded after their June meetings, and new groups will form in September. If you have general questions or other comments about covenant groups, please send a note to Rev. Susan Ritchie at RevRitche@aol.com. Saturday Morning Covenant Group: Meeting Day & Time: Monthly on 1^st Sat. at 10:30 AM except as noted Next Meeting: Sat. July 5 at 10:30 AM (date subject to change—check with Dick to confirm) Meeting Location: contact Dick Leavy to confirm location (usually Panera Bread Westerville) Facilitator: Dick Leavy (614-890-7319, rckleavy@sbcglobal.net ) Current dates, topics, and preparatory materials from the San Jose UU church (http://www.sanjoseuu.org/FUSJC_SGM/sgm_sessionLists.htm) are listed below, although these are subject to change: July 3              Freedom and Independence   S -134 (date subject to change due to holiday) August 7         Planting Creativity   G-057 September 4   Path of Forgiveness   S-95  (Rosh Hashanah is  September 9th) (date subject to change) October  2       Failure G-81 November  6    Accomplishment G-77 December  4     Finding Our Boundaries  G-161