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Yonder Come Day, Oh My Soul!
Rev. Katie's Animas View
Our minister at All Souls Church in NYC, Galen Guengerich, believes that gratitude should be at the center of Unitarian Universalist theology. As he expresses it, "The two forms gratitude takes in our lives are natural outcomes of the two elements of religious experience. The experience of awe leads to the discipline of gratitude, and the experience of obligation leads to an ethic of gratitude."
We might say that this life that we live allows us to see and feel a grandeur, and then, that we feel some sense of duty to the larger life which we share. Every day we wake up provides us with the opportunity to live out this theology (theology =
what difference do your religious beliefs make in your life?).
In the month of November, I feel that the world provides us with an extra special reminder of gratitude opportunities.
I'd like to invite you to join me in a month full of thank-yous. I can look outside and express my appreciation for the view, but I'd like to thank you instead.
- Thank you to all of the wonderful people of this fellowship, filled with wise folks who step up to leadership to the Board of Trustees, who have taken on extra responsibilities and tasks in these years of "breakthrough."
- Thank you to all the people who give their talents to lead worship. From our Music Director, Choir Director, our Worship Associates, our Pulpit Guests...and to all those who make Sunday happen: the Sound Associates, Greeters and Ushers, Coffee Wranglers, Director of Faith Formation, Teachers, Assistants, Nursery Care, Sexton...Building and Grounds caretakers, and people who attend the service.
- Thank you to all those who serve on committees and teams, who have stepped up to participating in a new way of doing Social Justice and Responsibility, and to those exploring how we might create Pastoral Associates.
- Thank you to the many people at UUFD who offer your gifts leading groups and classes.
- Thank you to those who offer rides to people, to those who reach out to make new friends with people who come looking to create community.
- Thank you to you who are willing to step out on faith, to grow a congregation that can serve the world in Durango and that leads to the disciple and the ethic of gratitude.
- Thank you for allowing me to serve you at this special time in the life of the fellowship.
Yonder come day - sun is a risin' in my soul!
Love,
Rev. Katie
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November Sunday Services
November theme: "Yonder Come Day"
The Gullah culture of the Georgia Sea Islands sings "Yonder Come Day," which has a variety of meanings. One is to simply be glad for the day that is upon us. Yet this song had been sung by enslaved people, who might have found new meaning once their freedom was won. In this month of November, we have an opportunity to look more carefully around us at where there are struggles that need our attention.
Concepts: Gratitude, freedom, brokenness
***Daylight Savings Time ends--turn your clocks back!***
November 1
The Dead Are Not Dead -Rev. Katie Kandarian-Morris and Lisa McCorry
Come, bring a photo or memento and join us for El Día de los Muertos celebration. How can we remember our ancestors? Where might we find ourselves?
November 8
Scraps of Life: A Story of Transformation -Judith Reynolds, pulpit guest
History gives us examples of people who have found methods for expression, whose legacies offer us ways to learn from the lives they have lived. Where might we discover those stories and how are they gifts for us?
November 15
When Day Breaks -Aaron Norris, pulpit guest
What must we give up to truly be grateful and why should we feel grateful in the giving up? We'll explore the relationship between bounded and broken, and the gratitude that follows.
November 22
Trouble and Woe -Rev. Katie Kandarian-Morris
For some people, the time where we gather together around a table filled with blessings is their most favorite of the year. As we approach the family holiday of Thanksgiving, let us consider how we make a world that is not only filled with trouble and woe, but joy and mystery.
November 29
This is My Story -Pulpit Guests
How have you come to your spiritual understanding? How did you find yourself here in this fellowship? Come hear stories of our members, and maybe find some of yourself in their words.
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President's Message
Teresa Jordan
We're under construction at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango. It's not the brick and mortar type of construction with piles of sawdust everywhere; nevertheless, a little messiness is to be expected as we're building our ministry and governance. The help of the congregation is needed to complete this construction project.
In 2012, our congregation began exploring the idea of hiring a developmental minister to carry out the normal responsibilities of congregational ministry such as worship, spiritual growth, and pastoral care. We also recognized that a minister could help us develop an effective governance structure to accommodate our growing congregation. Someone was needed who would be the "point person" for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango and enhance our presence in the greater community. And we wanted help to expand our social justice efforts. These were the goals identified for our minister to help us in building Beloved Community.
So how are we doing in our efforts to achieve these goals? What progress have we made toward these goals? Are these the correct goals for our congregation?
Led by Susan Koonce and Tom McCampbell, the Board of Trustees is developing a conversation process to help answer these questions. Every member's voice needs to be heard. The Board will share details about our "cottage conversations" as we firm up the plans. So, count on participating in some interesting discussions about the future of UUFD this winter.
The Board is also working with other members of the congregation in task forces to plan for future developments. The by-laws are being reviewed by K. Redford, Lois Carpenter, and me. Any proposed revisions to the by-laws will be presented for your vote at the Congregational Meeting in May 2016. Donna Nelson and I are leading a review of the Long Range Plan. Tom McCampbell is organizing a team to plan for the facility needs of our growing congregation. Past President Bonnie Miller is helping me prepare a draft document of board policies and procedures. Graham Smith, Jim Dahlberg, and Rev. Katie are working with Lois and Ken Carpenter in planning the 2016 Retreat at Pine Song. If you have an interest in assisting on any of these task forces, please contact me, any other Board member, or Rev. Katie.
Members of the Board of Trustees include:
- Teresa Jordan, President
- Tom McCampbell, Vice President
- Donna Nelson, Secretary
- Graham Smith, Treasurer
- Jim Dahlberg, Assistant Treasurer
- Susan Koonce, Member At-Large
What an exciting time for our congregation! With all these projects under construction, I am reminded of the words from our hymn
We'll Build a Land:
Come build a land where sisters and brothers,
Inspired by love, may then create peace:
Where justice shall roll down like waters,
And peace like an ever flowing stream.
I invite you to join this construction underway at UUFD. With the energy and enthusiasm of all our members, our congregation will build Beloved Community.
Teresa Jordan, BOT President
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Homelessness in Durango: Dear Editor
News from the Social Responsibility and Justice program
Your Social Responsibility and Justice program i
s focusing on bringing information and ideas to use as our fellowship together pursues a more active role of service and compassion for our community and our world.
Though there are several "teams" focusing on "different" areas of interest, all of us--fellowship wide--are working on one thing, our 6th principle: the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. All of the different areas are interwoven and all of us support each other's efforts and goals. Starting on November 12, Ron Garst will present an enhanced report on income inequality, considering the real numbers, the why, the effects, and the what can we do. (See announcement, below.) You can expect future presentations on other topics in January, April, and July. We will be learning and seeking answers to what we can do in service to our community, both local and global.
We are continuing to help at Manna once a month. If you would like a turn at chopping, stirring, and serving, please contact John Schwob (johnschwob@msn.com). You may have already heard Dennis Aronson talking about Crop Walk, a food support/hunger elimination project that affects local and global communities. Those focusing on affordable housing are volunteering to teach life skills through Housing Solutions for clients in transitional housing. Also, wider efforts include introducing non-traditional but effective solutions, particularly Housing First concepts. These are explained in the Letter to the Editor (reprinted below) that we will be submitting to the Durango Herald.
- Letter to the Editor -
Give the Homeless Homes
It is a simple idea that sounds unsophisticated, yet the evidence is rolling in that this simple idea is so effective that towns all across the country have been adopting the model known as "Housing First". Salt Lake City has seen a 70% reduction in chronic homelessness and has done so while saving the community considerable amounts of money once spent on social services.
What these communities have realized is that it costs society less to provide a home than it does to provide necessary services to homeless individuals. Yes, between spending on jail time, mental health, addiction treatment and emergency medical care, it is considerably cheaper to just provide the homeless homes.
Salt Lake City is not an isolated example of the effectiveness of this concept. In Medicine Hat, Alberta, the community embraced Housing First and has virtually wiped out homelessness. Mayor Ted Clugston says, "it costs about $20,000 a year to house someone. If they're on the street, it can cost up to $100,000 a year. "This (Housing First) is the cheapest and the most humane way to treat people," he says.
"Housing First puts everything on its head. It used to be, 'You want a home, get off the drugs or deal with your mental health issues,'" Clugston says. "If you're addicted to drugs, it's going to be pretty hard to get off them, if you're sleeping under a park bench."
The Mayor has a point, for decades mental health educators have been teaching students that until individuals meet their basic needs they are unable to focus on other issues of import in their lives.
Housing First programs have some basic principles in common. First, providing housing with no requirement to engage in other programs. Second, that individuals only need to comply with basic lease requirements to maintain their housing and finally that housing is provided throughout the community avoiding clustering clients into social service areas. Another feature is that all the programs provide but do not require participation in intensive case management, allowing persons the dignity of choosing their own direction and encouraging them to become part of the community.
In Durango social service organizations are highly engaged in providing services to the homeless population while they are still homeless. It does little good to hand an appointment card to an individual who is still sleeping in a makeshift homeless tent city and expect that they will be able to follow through on the their commitments.
It is time for Durango to turn the corner in terms of the homeless problem. Real solutions exist that deliver real results. As a community we need to move towards this evidenced based solution in our collective desire to manifest real help for those most vulnerable in our community.
Authors
Peter Dybing is the Affordable Housing facilitator for the Durango Unitarian Universalist Fellowship's Social Responsibility and Justice Program and a national activist for Social Justice issues.
Betty Bozeman assists with the Affordable Housing group and is a coordinator of the Social Responsibility and Justice Program of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango.
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Social Justice and Responsibility Presents...
Income InequALitY
A presentation by Ron Garst
Thursday,
November 12, 2015
7-9 pm
UUFD Sanctuary
Ron Garst will present an enhanced report on income inequality, considering the real numbers, the why, the effects, and the what can we do. Look for future presentations on additional topics in January, April, and July.
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Recital Series 2015-16
Look what's coming up!
 The second recital in the 2015-16 series will feature M. Brent Williams, violin, and Marilyn Garst, piano, in a duo program of works from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries on
Friday, Nov. 20, at
7:00 p.m. The program will open with the Sonata in E Minor, KV 304, written by Mozart (1756-1791) in 1778. The second work will be the neo-classical Suite italienne (1933) by Stravinsky (1882-1971), a work based on Stravinsky's ballet Pulcinella. The program will close with the great Romantic-period Sonata in D Minor, Op. 108, written by Brahms (1833-1897) in Thun, Switzerland, during the summers of 1886-1888. Dr. Williams is Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola at the college and serves as Concertmaster of the San Juan Symphony and the Albany Symphony Orchestra in Georgia. He also performs in the Red Shoe Piano Trio and his award-winning chamber ensemble enhakē. Before moving to Durango, Dr. Garst was a faculty member for 25 years at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, where she taught piano, harpsichord and keyboard ensembles, performed in recitals, and served as Keyboard Studies Coordinator. Please see your Recital Series brochure or the
UUFD website for information about ticket purchase.
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Don't take a seat - GIVE one!
Everyone deserves a comfy place to sit.
 Help provide a seat for our growing congregation. Additional chairs for the sanctuary are on order, and you can help purchase one. Each chair costs $150, but donations of any amount are appreciated. Please, note "chairs" on the memo line of your check, and drop it into the collection plate, or mail it to UUFD, 419 San Juan Dr., Durango, CO 81301.
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UUFD pays a living wage
We applaud La Plata County Thrive! Living Wage Coalition
 Did you know that UUFD is certified as a living wage employer by
La Plata County Thrive! Living Wage Coalition? That means that each of our employees is paid at least the identified living wage for Durango. Many of our members and friends are very involved in the Thrive! Living Wage program, and we celebrate with them their continued success.
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Children's and Youth Ministry
UUFD kids ponder hospitality
"True hospitality is marked by an open response to the dignity of each and every person. Henri Nouwen has described it as receiving the stranger on his own terms, and asserts that it can be offered only by those who 'have found the center of their lives in their own hearts.'" -
Kathleen Norris, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography
UUFD Kids Say...
WHAT IS HOSPITALITY?
Eat
Have coffee hour
Talk
Share your home
Feel at home and welcome and safe
Spend time with others
Include everyone
Be helpful
Visit someone who is sick
Make someone feel welcomed and safe and comfortable
Manners
Gratitude
Non-judgemental
Send cards
Keep in your heart
Special activities and symbols to show you care
Make room for others
Groups including others
Keeping conversation circles open for joiners
Be friendly
Opening your heart to other people
Loving others
Hugs
Smiles
Meeting new people
Introducing others
Include others ideas
WHAT IS WELCOMING?
Help people feel safe and comfortable, like at home
Be helpful
Be kind
Be generous
Reaching out to people
You help people feel comfortable together
Making hospitality happen
Hospitality Sunday: Thank you to all who helped make Hospitality
Sunday a success. The children planned and executed a delicious Halloween themed buffet of snacks for hospitality hour. In preparation, the children discussed the meaning of hospitality. (See their thoughts, above,)
Dia de Los Muertos: Remember to bring photographs and mementos of lost loved ones and pets for the Dia de Los Muertos worship on
Sunday, November 1st for the ofrenda.
Celebration Lunch: On Sunday, November 1, please join us for a celebration lunch immediately following the worship at
11:00 in Bowman Hall.
UUSC Guest at your Table Boxes: Please take a Guest at your Table collection box home with you. Collect your spare change or dollars in your box. All donations will go the UU Service Committee. Boxes will be collected later this year.
"UUSC advances human rights through grassroots collaboration. In more than a dozen countries throughout the world, UUSC fosters social justice and works toward a world free from oppression. UUSC's innovative approaches and measurable impact - in promoting economic justice, bolstering environmental justice, and protecting rights at risk - are grounded in the belief that all people have inherent power, dignity, and rights."
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http://www.uusc.org/
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CUUPS Corner
Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans
As we move along the wheel of the year, we move into the season that is for gratitude. What are you grateful for? As we look at our life, we realize an abundance of blessings that we have been given. But what about others? To share our own abundance, we can help others to feel blessings as well. This topic of Sacred Regard and Activism will be presented this month by Peter Dybing.
As we start the new year according to the Celtic Calandar, we will be having an Organizational meeting as well this month to cover many topics that are important to CUUPS of the Half Moon. Plus, our Druid Reading Group will meet on Tuesday Nov 17th in Bowman Hall at 6:30 pm. We hope to see you there!
For more information please email cuupsdurango@gmail.com or call Linda at
970-764-5731
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Introducing Marsha Porter-Norton
Membership Spotlight
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| John and Marsha Porter-Norton |
Marsha Porter-Norton grew up in Southwest Colorado in a small town 12 miles north of Cortez. That little berg, Lewis, was named after her great grandfather. So Marsha's roots are deeply set in this area where she is a fourth generation Coloradoan. Her parents still live in Cortez and she says her extended family of uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews keeps her busy.
Marsha finished her education in Colorado as well (Colorado State & University of Denver) and in 1994 she and husband, John, headed for Durango. Here she served as executive director of nonprofit Operation Healthy Communities and in 2001, started her own businesses doing facilitation, training, special projects, and consulting. Her focus has been on natural resource issues and she currently facilitates three area river management groups. John's professional life as an
MAI commercial real estate appraiser goes hand-in-hand with Marsha's natural resource group work, since his focus is on land being placed into conservation easements.
Marsha's business pursuits working with natural resource groups seem to have migrated into her leisure interests - or vice versa perhaps. She enjoys outdoor activities as well as reading and crafts: beading, scrapbooking, photography, and cross-stitching. Although Marsha is talented working with groups and people, when asked about volunteer interests, she first mentions a desire to give back to the community through gardening, particularly using her attention to xeriscape.
Like many UU's, Marsha came with a host of religious experiences. Back in Lewis, her family was in a Methodist Church and also then in Cortez. Later in college she came to realize "that all religions should be valued" and that there is not just one savior or path. Marsha relates that she gets her spiritual strength from the Earth, Christian teachings and values, and Buddhism.
Marsha and her husband practically live right around the corner from UUFD. It was through walking and biking scores of times past our campus that she was drawn in - the sanctuary windows in particular. She noticed the variety of religious paths depicted iconically on the lower windows and knew that UUFD would be an accepting place to be.
In November 2014 she started attending, and soon after made the commitment of membership.
Marsha explains, "I decided to join because of the diversity of beliefs; how welcoming the fellowship is; the open, caring people; and the fact that I wanted a spiritual home, but one that honors everyone and all world religions within the context of a positive framework."
Welcome Marsha!
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Join UUFD for Thanksgiving dinner
Do you know anyone who would like to join us?
 Once again UUFD will be hosting Thanksgiving for all UU members, friends, and families. If you know of someone who will be alone on the day, please invite them. Come celebrate in gratitude for our bounty and many blessings.
We will gather in Bowman Hall on November 26th at 3PM.
As soon as we have an approximate head count, there will be a sign-up sheet for the various traditional (and non-traditional) side dishes, appetizers, desserts, salads, etc., so be thinking of what you would like to contribute to the feast.
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"Good-to-Go" meets monthly
Addressing end-of-life issues
The Good to Go group meets on the third Tuesday of each month from 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm in Bowman Hall. This group focuses on issues related to the end of life. If interested in joining this group, please contact Juanita at juanita.ainsley@aol.com or (970) 884-7309.
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Pause for Poetry
Join with the Poetry Circle on
November 9
, (second Monday), at 6-8 PM for readings of your own or favorite poems. Light refreshments in Bowman Hall. Inquiry:
durangofolk@frontier.net
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