Sky Island Unitarian Universalist Church
Weekly Connections

Minister:  Rev. Linda Lawrence
Office hours:  11am-3pm on Tuesdays &
by appointment on Wednesdays and Thursdays
Office, Service Location, & Mailing Address:
4533A N. Commerce Dr.
Sierra Vista, AZ  85635
Email Address:
[email protected]
Office Open:
Tuesdays & Fridays 11am-3pm
Phone:  520-378-0197

Sunday Services: 10:30am
Newsletter for the week of April 10, 2016

This congregation affirms and promotes the full participation of persons in all our activities and endeavors without regard to race, color, gender, physical or mental challenge, affectional or sexual orientation, class or national origin.
Click HERE for Important Links and Recurring Information for April.

The April Members/Friends Directory is HERE.  It is password protected. Contact Terry Z @ [email protected] if you need the password. Changes or corrections to the directory should also be submitted to [email protected].
Attention Perspective Members
Mark your calendars!  The next Exploring Membership class will be held Sunday, May 1st from 1- 4 PM.  More details to follow! 
Sunday Services Information

Sky Island UU Sunday Service
April 10@ 10:30 AM
The Spirituality of Islam
Through the Tacheria School of Spiritual Direction, our minister recently spent a day with Imam Jamal Rahman as he spoke about Islamic Sufi spiritual insights and practices.  With pleasure and with the imam's blessing, Rev. Linda will share some of those teachings to foster a better understanding and appreciation of an important religious tradition.

Presenter: Linda Lawrence
Facilitator: Richard Albright

Children's Religious Education for April 10
We'll continue with the Toolbox of Faith series using a compass to represent integrity.  

Instructors:  Carmen Griffin and Terry Zapotocky
 
Sky Island UU Sunday Service
April 17 @ 10:30 AM
The People, Yes!
Carl Sandburg, a Poet Laureate from Illinois, had an uncanny ability to capture the stories, language, and concerns of the ordinary, every day people he championed. Excerpts from his book-length poem will remind us that everyone's voice is important and that we Americans are a resilient people.

Presenter: Reverend Linda Lawrence
Facilitator: Gary Lawrence

Help Needed to "Create a Country"
Please contact Kathy Scott, RE Chair (940-597-7221) or Carmen Griffin, RE Coordinator ([email protected]) if you can assist Carmen who will be leading the April/May "Create a Country" program for our children. You may also sign up by putting your name on the sign-up sheet available on the information table in the Community Room.  Open dates are:  April 17, 24, May 15, 22, 29.

Walk for Your Mental Health (and Theirs)!
Saturday, April 16, 8:30 AM
If you are planning to meet Rev. Linda for the 3.1 mile NAMI fundraiser walk on  Saturday, April 16th, please let her know. We will congregate at  8AM by the bus stop (near the flagpole) in front of the main entrance to the Cochise College campus. There is ample parking available.(Take the first entrance on the right as you head north on Colombo).  Wear a Standing on the Side of Love or bright colored shirt and good walking shoes!

To participate on this 3.1 mile walk around Cochise College contact Phyllis Getz by calling 520-459-3228 or email [email protected].  Be sure to join the Sky Island UU Church team.  Participants will receive detailed information about when and where to meet closer to the time of the march.

To donate to our team effort to raise $500, go to the site listed above and click on "Participant Donation."  Be sure to choose our team!  You can also write a check to NAMI with SIUUC Team on the memo line, and leave it in Rev. Linda's mailbox.  

Thanks for donating to a good cause while increasing our church's visibility in the community.  

Final Session of Contemplative and Embodied Worship on April 13
The fourth and last session in our Contemplative and Embodied Worship Experiences will be led by Certified Dances Leader Janine Walters. Janine is coming from Tucson to be with us for the evening, and it promises to be a joyful and inspirational time together.  Because she is making the trip and we are paying her, we absolutely must have people sign up by Sunday, April 10th. There is no cost to participate, but we need a definite attendance commitment from a minimum of five people in order for this session to take place.  Please add your name to the sign-up sheet on the table in the Community Room if interested or email Rev. Linda at [email protected]. 

Sky Island UU Social Justice Committee to Present Film, This Changes Everything 
April 16 @ 7PM
 
Let's get the word out!
The film, This Changes Everything, is an epic attempt to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change. Inspired by Naomi Klein's international non-fiction bestseller, This Changes Everything  presents seven powerful portraits of communities on the front lines, from Montana's Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from the coast of South India to Beijing and beyond. Interwoven with these stories of struggle is Klein's narration, connecting  greenhouse gases in the air with the economic system that put it there. Throughout the film, Klein builds to her most controversial and exciting idea: that we can seize the existential crisis of climate change to transform our failed economic system into something radically better. 

The film will be shown at 7PM on Saturday, April 16 at Sky Island Church. Admission is free. Discussion and refreshments will follow.

More information is available at http://www.skyislanduu.org.  Check out the Sky Island UU Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SkyIsland UU.  Please share the post on your Facebook page with your friends. There are flyers available at church or go to our church website or Facebook site to print out flyers. Please help us get the information out about this exciting and hopeful film!
 
Questions? Contact Heather Borman at [email protected] (email preferred) or  (520) 576-7272.

Hearts and Minds
Wednesday, April 20, 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Our theme for April is Spirit: Relating to It All.  Our conversation will take place in a safe, guided format led by Rev. Linda and Mr. Gary Lawrence.  Teens and adults are welcome.
     
Some questions to think about: Have you ever experienced a sense of "oneness" with everything and everyone?  When are you most aware of the "interdependent web of all existence?"  Have you had occasions where you have realized that some small thing you did or said had much greater "ripple effects" than you could have imagined (for good or ill)?  Can we really relate to IT ALL?  What groups (age, gender, religious, political, interest-based, other) do you relate with most easily?  With most difficulty?  Not at all?

How can we expand our relational awareness and make ourselves better able to relate more broadly to others?



Reverend Linda's Letter:
Relationship Is All There Is 
I have long been fascinated with the idea of interdependence.  This subject has become even more interesting over time as quantum physicists discovered amazing interconnections between particles at the subatomic level.  Biologists and ecologists now know more than ever about the complex relationships between animals, between plants and animals, and within ecosystems.  

When describing family and organizational systems, I like to use the image of a mobile.  Imagine a brightly colored mobile hanging above a baby's crib.  Perhaps there are beautiful butterflies hanging at the end of each string.  What happens to the red, the yellow, and the blue butterflies when the baby's parent gently pulls and releases the green one?  Of course!  They ALL jiggle!  This is similar to the metaphor of the web we demonstrated with the children on Easter Sunday as we took turns pulling or pushing or twirling our little place on that web.

Process theology tells us that the examples of the mobile and the web represent the truth of reality.  In other words, relationship is all there is.  Relationship is ALL THERE IS.  It's inescapable!  We may try to deny it or pretend that it isn't so, but the truth is we are all interdependent.  

Of course no one can be continually aware of everything and everyone inside this interdependent web of all existence.  Process theologian Bernie Loomer said we must "bloom where we are planted" because what we do in our individual lives and locations has ripple effects.  We will never know what most of those ripple effects are.  Still, to nurture our awareness of the interdependent state of our lives, to increase the odds that our ripple effects are positive ones, there are some things we can do:  We can practice mindfulness, humility, empath and compassion.  Revere the preciousness of life in its many forms.  Make a commitment to nonviolent communication and action.  Strive to understand the consequences of our words and actions.  Take note of and learn from unintended consequences.  
 
What would it mean if we, as spiritual people, took interdependence seriously?  If we took the fact of interdependence seriously, I believe we would soon develop a deep understanding of these two things: (1) To change the world, we must change ourselves, and (2) EVERYTHING matters.  What we do, what we say, how we do what we do, how we say what we say, how we treat each other, how we treat strangers, how we care or don't care for plants, animals, and the earth...ALL OF IT MATTERS!  Pretty mind-boggling, isn't it? 
 
To live life with a growing awareness of our profound interdependence is really the highest of spiritual quests.  Putting this growing awareness into practice in our daily lives promotes radical, transformational change.  When and how will you begin to live with a greater awareness of your connection to everyone and everything? What steps will you take to be in right relationship with other people - those known and unknown, those like and unlike you?  What can you do to foster the well-being of plants, animals, the earth itself?  How will you live with greater accountability to the interdependent web of which you are a part?

In Relationship,
Rev. Linda 

Church Calendar
Recurring Events

1st and 3rd Sundays of the month @ 2:30-4PM:  Free Thinkers

3rd Monday of the month @ 4PM: Cooking at Good Neighbor Alliance.  Sign up at the Information Table in the Community Room

Every Tuesday @ 7PM:  Dharma Buddhists

1st Wednesday of the month @ 10:00AM: Sunday Services Committee

1st Wednesday of the month @ 6:30PM:  PFLAG

2nd Wednesday of the month @ 7PM: Contemplative and Embodied Worship Experiences at Sky Island UU Church  

3rd Wednesday of the month @7PM: Hearts and Minds Workshop at Sky Island UU Church

3rd Thursday of the month @ 11:30AM:  UU Men's lunch at the Landmark Cafe

2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month @ Noon-3PM:  UU Quilters. Beginners welcome 

2nd Friday of the month @ 9AM:  UU Women's Breakfast at the Landmark Cafe

1st and 3rd Saturday of the month @ 10AM:  Coffee House

2nd Saturday of the month at 5:30PM:  Rev. Tina Squire: Progressive Christian Community

One Time, or Irregularly Occurring, Events

Sunday, April 24, @ 1PM: Annual Congregational Meeting. Catered lunch after service. All may attend but only members may vote.

All meetings are open to members and friends unless otherwise stated. 

Last Session of Contemplative and Embodied Worship Experience: Dances for Universal Peace on April 13th @ 7PM
People of all ages are invited to attend the final session of our Contemplative and Embodied Worship Experiences series. All should sign up by April 10th by emailing   [email protected] or by signing the registration sheet on the table in our Community Room.

Meet the Rev. Peter Morales, President of UUA on April 22 ( Registration due April 11)
UUJAZ will be holding a fund raising event at it's Annual Meeting on April 22 at Valley UU in Chandler, AZ.  You are invited to register and attend, and meet the Rev. Peter Morales, President of the UUA.  A donation of $50.00 is requested, dinner will be provided.  You can register for the event at:    http://www.uujaz.org/2016-annual-meeting.html .  Deadline to register is April 11, 2016. For questions or additional information contact Sharon Travis,  [email protected]  or  520-432-2210 .

Who's a Goose??
The pictures below show Rev. Linda and Jay Jenkins playing with some of the children at HEPAC (El Hogar de Esperanza y Paz) in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico at their spring kids camp.  The playground picture is of a well-known game early elementary aged kids here in the US: Duck, duck, goose or Pato, pato, ganso!  Jay got to be "El Ganzo" a lot! Rich Kruger and Rikki Martin also  went  on the trip. Scott Nicholson took the photos.

 




Church Emails
Please send any emails regarding the newsletter, calendar or the website to the [email protected] . If you send church-related emails to personal email addresses, they may not make it to the newsletter, calendar, directory, etc. 
Submitting Items for Newsletter, Calendar, Directory, Etc.
The deadline for submitting newsletter items is Wednesday at 5PM.  For those without email, please place a typed copy in the folder in the wall file holder in the office marked "Newsletter".  For directory changes, calendar entries, or for issues with podcasts, the Sky Island UUC web site or the office computers, please contact:  [email protected]. 
Disclaimer:  The Sky Island Unitarian Universalist Church is responsible for keeping the congregation informed about local, regional and national UU news.  If you have decided that you are receiving more emails than you want, please use the SafeUnsubscribe link below to remove your name from our contact.
Sincerely,
Sky Island UU Communications    Sky Island Unitarian Universalist Church
520-378-0197    [email protected]