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November 16, 2017
Issue #427
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YRUU Youth and Rev. Joy Atkinson
Join us for our annual community event, where we will enjoy a skit created and presented by our youth - a retelling of the classic Stone Soup story. Rev. Joy will offer a Thanksgiving homily. We will also break bread together and enjoy some soup near the end of the service.
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Upcoming Topics and Leaders
11/19/17: The Importance of Sleep
Kim Holscher
11/26/17: Wisdom/Humor Sharefest: Bring a joke or quote you love
All Comers
The Sunday Circle is held from 9:00 am to 10:00 am each Sunday in the Fireside Room.
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We officially welcomed seven new members to the congregation in a new member ceremony during the service on November 5th. The biographies they wrote so Thomas Ervin, Membership Chair, and I could introduce them to you at our ceremony follow. We are thrilled to add them and their amazing talents to our roster of members.
If you are interested in joining our congregation, please speak with our Membership Chair Thomas Ervin, or with me (
[email protected]
510-821-2394). We would love to welcome you in our next ceremony (or quietly if you prefer).
New Member Bios
Glynda Christian
Glynda is a lifelong Unitarian who came from the East Coast, Boston area, to lead Napa libraries in 2002. Besides library director, she has taught at the college level and before that the secondary level, which has always been a rewarding endeavor. She loves the ocean on both coasts and built a home by Portuguese Beach in Bodega Bay. Now she is the teacher of our Nursery through K-1, and leads our Wee Ones with enthusiasm and adoration, knowing this is the time to learn and develop as our UU souls and minds process knowledge. She has facility with French, Portuguese and Spanish. She loves libraries, learning, doing, creating, and says "all are part of great cuisine, great literature, great minds and great fun."
Rich Panter
Glynda's husband Rich Panter has been a secular humanist Unitarian at three congregations in three states over the past 30 years. He's a semi-retired documentary filmmaker, mainly historical documentaries for public television, and he did one on global religions called "Divining the Divine." He's also an extremely proud father, father-in-law, and grandfather to Juliet, Jon & Phoebe.
Juliet Christian, daughter of Rich and Glynda
Juliet grew up in UU congregations in Winchester, Massachusetts and later Columbia, South Carolina. During college at Smith, she found herself teaching RE at the Northampton Massachusetts fellowship as a way to connect with people off of campus. Juliet has always enjoyed the multigenerational aspect of the UU community, providing an opportunity to forge friendships with people younger and people wiser. Juliet came westward to pursue a PhD at Cal in environmental science and policy. She is a freshwater expert and most recently developed and ran the water and climate program for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Oakland. Three months ago, she became a senior program officer at the water foundation.
She lives in El Cerrito with her husband, Jon (who wore the squid costume in the Halloween parade) and their 3 year old daughter, Phoebe (the mermaid). Phoebe loves church school and Juliet loves meeting all the fascinating people here, listening to Rev. Joy's sermons, and enjoying the beautiful music and surroundings.
Karen Glikman
Karen says" After spending two wonderful Sabbath days in Israel back in 1999, Jerene, my wife, and I decided to put a Sabbath day back into our lives when we came home. "Such a sensible practice to rest one day each week!" Jerene was reared a Unitarian and Karen was reared in the Jewish faith, and they decided to visit UUCM. They were met with an extremely warm welcome and became members rather quickly. Karen was very active in both UUCM and the Pacific Central District serving on their respective Boards. She loved being in the larger UU world and visiting other congregations. Karen and Jerene became UU Gypsies for a while back in the mid-two-thousand-zeroes. They changed status from UUCM members to pledging friends because they were not very active in congregational life during that time. But, as they began attending UUCM more frequently and, as Karen says, "friends began to pester us to rejoin," they decided to change their status back to members. Karen is looking forward to reengaging with this community in a deeper way.
Jerene Delaney
Jerene too was an active member and even though they were on hiatus for awhile they remained connected to their UU friends here. But, as Jerene says, "as Dorothy longed for Kansas we realized there is no place like Home so we changed back from pledging friends to members. I might add that another incentive was Rev. Joy is in the pulpit."
Maria Sylvester
Maria, who grew up in the Presbyterian Church, moved here recently from Cape Cod, where she was active for 30 years as a member of the Brewster UU congregation. She is the widow of a UU minister, Jerry Sylvester. Maria was a pre-school teacher in Arkansas. She and a friend founded a pre-school in Little Rock for a Jewish community. She loves play reading.
Meg Jordan
Meg Jordan is a happy contributor to the Sunday morning contemplative circle, and is delighted to have found this thoughtful, caring community. She lives in San Rafael but is selling her home, hoping to move to Novato soon. Her personal life centers around caring for a wide circle of family and friends, including her great animal companion, Wilhelm the German Shepherd. Her two adult children, Adam and Claire, are sources of joy. She works full-time as a department chair and professor, directing a master's degree in Integrative Health at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her doctorate is in clinical medical anthropology, and as an RN, she has specialized in behavioral health, integrative medicine studies, and coaching psychology. She loves to paint, golf, kayak, and explore museums, music, dance, and win the motorcycle ride at the auction!
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Being in and building community. Serving family, friends and strangers. This winter holiday season is about to come roaring in and will ask us once again to connect to our deeper values. Remember to take some reflection time for yourself and then some also in community and with family. We can create small moments of reflection and gratitude wherever we go.
Stone Soup Sunday
Nov 19th. This UUCM tradition is a community building event which all families are encouraged to participate in. Please arrive around 9:00 AM, 9:30 at the latest if you can help with set up. In the past, some families have brought breakfasty-type things to eat and share.
By the way, there is a role for even the youngest in helping set up for Stone Soup. I will be inviting the families of our youngest to come a little early and help put out crayons on the tables and do some taping of the paper "tablecloths". Everyone can contribute, no matter how tall.
This year, in conjunction with the Food Drive we ask people to bring the non-glass food items. These children pictured below will come pick them up from you at the tables where you sit during the Stone Soup service.
STAR WARS outing for the whole congregation. We are trying to get a fun mid-December outing for the youth, families, and any other people who want to join us. If interested please take
THIS Survey Monkey survey.
All are invited to help
feed the children
with a snack. You can sign up for one or two Sundays and help the whole religious exploration experience for children. This supports the teachers and parents as well as the educational process of the kids.
All of the parents have been assigned a Sunday, but we have many more mornings that need a friendly snack maker. Please
CLICK HERE
to sign up. Or email
Jeffrey Melcher.
We hope to see you on Sunday for this year's Stone Soup service.
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Upcoming dates link to the UUCM calendar for saving on iCal, Outlook etc.
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
6:30 PM - 9:00 PM
12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
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Help Defeat the Hunger Horcrux!
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Join the 2nd-6th graders in their fight against hunger in our community. Leave non-perishable items in the SF-Marin Food Bank barrel located in the UUCM foyer. Most needed foods are peanut butter, cereal, tuna, soup, canned meat, chili, granola bars, and baked beans. No glass, please! Monetary donations can be made at
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Remarkable Returns Yet Again: Friday, November 17th Fireside Room 7:00 to 9 pm
Our ongoing Remarkable People series creates the opportunity to learn about each other from the interesting stories of individual lives. Whether you already know them by name or not, you will learn what you don't know in this evening of sharing and community. Each person talks and there is time for questions and general sociability and usually some sustaining snacks.
Janice Prochaska and Doug Kerr are our November people of the month.
Janice Prochaska was born and raised and schooled in Michigan - and though she has since lived on both coasts she still identifies as a Midwesterner. After she earned her MSW and moved to Rhode Island with Jim, she started a family and worked for 30 years at Child and Family Services in Newport, developing new programs to enhance the well-being, especially of the disadvantaged children, adolescents, families and older adults. Along the way (she does like to keep busy) she earned a Ph.D. at Boston College and became CEO of Prochange, which provides international training and consultation in the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change. Janice and Jim moved to California in 2015 to repurpose, be near their children and five grandchildren, and learn about the west. Come learn more about her long-established love of the UU family camp at Star Island and what she is learning now about how to move from "Aging to Saging".
Doug Kerr lived in one place and in one house in Portland until he left for college - but since then he has lived and worked in Chicago, Boston, Ann Arbor, Atlanta, and Chicago again before migrating back to the West Coast. His high school experience with UU Liberal Religious Youth (LRY) was a start on the UU path and he found that again when starting a family which led to coming up our hill. He admits that while he came "for the children" he is one among us who ends up staying for what he gains as a member. You might already know he is a Ph.D. psychologist and organizational consultant but come learn more about how gospel music, jazz, electric cars, the OWL program, and sailing are part of his life story.
Come learn from and about these good people.
Be remarkable yourself and come enjoy.
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Tenants' rights and protections in Marin County:
Tuesday, Dec. 5th at 1:00 PM at Marin Civic Center:
PLEASE join me and some other concerned community
members to make our voices heard at the Marin County Supervisors' Meeting.
I'm looking for stories from TENANTS as well as LANDLORDS regarding
fair housing practices. Contact Linda Haumann.
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Notes from Developmental Ministry Meeting
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The Fruits of Developmental Ministry in San Francisco
Rev John Buehrens
Reporting over lunch on his assignment as a developmental minister at the First UU Society of San Francisco (UUSF.org), Rev. John Buehrens gave examples of how he "trimmed the deadwood and did some new plantings" that bore fruit.
The role of a developmental minister is to collaborate with the board and the congregation and to set achievable goals after deep listening. He reported three major changes at UUSF:
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With a focus on young adults they went from zero to 200!
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With a focus on social action they went from 39 committees to a Social Justice Council focused on three projects.
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With a focus on funding they had a capital campaign which had the unexpected result of people increasing the annual pledges 50%!
Key is establishing priorities and a tactical plan to achieve them. He challenged the entire congregation to be the membership committee and gave a prize one month for the person bringing the most visitors -- the winner had invited 14 people.
Only after inquiry can a congregation identify transformative change. Take a look at what are the opportunities for change.
Congregations have to overcome the naysayers who say:
We need stewardship of morale as well as money.
The goals have to be broadly shared with the "owners" in the congregation. Key to hiring is a minister who is not afraid to exercise initiative.
Submitted by Kat Braeman, UUCM Board Secretary
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From the Partner Church Committee
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There will be a Transylvanian Christmas tea on December 9 at 2:30 pm at Starr King school in Berkeley to honor this year's Balazs scholar from Transylvania, Lidia-Emese Bodor. The tea will include photos from Transylvania. Contact Marilyn Nelson (415 456 7534) if you're interested in attending the tea. Several of us hope to go and learn more. Lidia will be visiting us at UUCM in March.
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Food Delivery Person needed for Mill Street Shelter
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UUCM provides a
first-Sunday-of-the-month food delivery to the Mill Street Homeless Shelter. The need n
ow is for a "younger-than-80" someone, or a team of someones to make this food delivery. A run to Costco once a month would do the trick! You will be reimbursed from the funds raised by this year's annual homeless appeal letter that just went out to the congregation.
Joan Nelson - 415-506-4166 - c: 415-595-6221
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Basket Share Participants Needed
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Are you involved as a volunteer or recipient of the services of a local 501(c)(3) agency or program?
You can help that organization raise money by initiating a 50/50 UUCM Offering Basket Share.
Complete the
application form on the UUCM website Social Justice page. Or find one at the Social Justice Table on a Sunday morning. Send it to
[email protected] or leave it in the SJ box in the Community Room.
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New Book Group Forming:
Kat Braeman and Kim Holscher are forming a monthly book group. Please join us for an organizing meeting on
Sunday, Nov. 19 at noon in the Fireside Room.
Books will be chosen by the group. We will start with poems by Alice Walker for the first meeting.
We expect to meet in members' houses, and envision potluck refreshments.
Can't attend this meeting but are interested in joining? Drop us an email, and we will include you in the announcements of which book to read and where to meet. Kim
[email protected]
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Web Site Help Still Needed
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Web Site Help Still Needed
The Communications Team is updating the UUCM website. We are migrating the site to a WordPress template provided by the UUA and in use by over 100 UU Congregations in the US. And we are looking for help!
We need a few people to help migrate material to the new site, edit text, and add some functions to the new site. If you have experience with WordPress, website maintenance, or editing, and would like to help with this project, please email
[email protected]
, or call Valerie Taylor.
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Sending Announcements for the Order of Service
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If you have an announcement for the back of the Sunday Order of Service please send it to
[email protected]
instead
of sending it to the office. Please send by 5 PM on Wednesday, any later submissions will be considered for timeliness and room. The Worship Committees members are now putting together the Order of Service and Janette will print it.
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Save the date for 2018 Retreat
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Retreat 2018
Please save the date. Your annual All Congregational Retreat at Walker Creek Ranch will be held the first weekend in May 2018 -
May 4, 5 and 6. Details and registration starting in February.
Thomas Ervin
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Social Justice Education/Action
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We have a newsletter list to inform you about
UU Social Justice actions and local issues. Sign up by
replying to this email and typing
"Yes to Social Advocates".
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Contribute to the 3rd Tuesday night dinner at the First Presbyterian Church.
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Do you know of an inspirational activist who would be a good speaker for one of the Social Justice Committee's education-action luncheons? If so, please contact Joan at [email protected] (415-506-4166, Cell: 415-595-6221)
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Continue your commitment to environmental and economic justice by shopping at
http://shop.uusc.org
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Visitor's Box
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We cherish diversity and welcome among us
people of all races, cultures, ages, abilities, sexual
identities/orientations, and faith perspectives.
GUESTS
are always welcome. Sunday worship is a time for inspiration, renewal, and connection.
CHILDREN AND YOUTH join adults during the first part of the service, and then attend Religious Exploration classes. Nursery and toddler care is provided during the 10:30 service. There is a speaker system to bring sound from Fellowship Hall to the nursing room and the pre-K area.
REFRESHMENT HOUR
in the Courtyard or
Fireside Room follows the services.
There are four "Sunday First Time Visitor" parking spots at the top of the parking lot.
Come, join us!
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Staff Links
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Office Hours:
Tuesday, Thursday 11AM - 6PM
Other times also available. Call/email for an appointment.
phone 415-479-4131 ext 102
Office Hours:
Sunday 12:30 - 1:30 PM
Tuesday 10:30 - 1:30 PM
Thursday 12:30 - 3:30 PM
phone 415-479-4131 ext 104
Nursery Teacher: Glynda Christian
Don Beck: 415-892-0642
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I appreciate any feedback about this weekly newsletter.
eWeekly Deadline for Thursday issue:
Tuesday by 7 am - activities and announcements, Staff columns, committee reports
Weekly articles can contain:
- Notices of UUCM sponsored events, meetings, or other activities which involve the entire congregation.
- Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) or Pacific Central District (PCD) announcements of interest to the entire congregation.
(Staff article length 250 words)
Production, UUCM Connect and Special Announcements Editor: Lisa Cohen
Backup Production Editor: Valerie Taylor
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin
415-479-4131
240 Channing Way
San Rafael, CA 94903
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