ISSUE 33                                                                                                                                                                                  MARCH 2019
The first UU church I ever attended was James Reeb Unitarian Universalist congregation in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1965, Reeb responded to Martin Luther King's call to white clergy to come to Alabama to be in solidarity with the quest to gain voting rights for blacks. He left his wife and 4 children in Roxbury, Massachusetts in time for the march from Selma to Montgomery. Reeb was in the sea of marchers - 2000 African Americans, along with 400 religious leaders from outside the south - to begin the walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, in Selma. Peacefully, they began their walk but soon encountered a blockade of state troopers commanding them to disperse. When they held their ground, the marchers were attacked with club and tear gas until they ran for safety.

That day, March 7, 1965 came to be known as Bloody Sunday. The news footage shocked the nation.

Two days later, Rev. James Reeb ate dinner at an integrated restaurant. Following the meal, Reeb and two other Unitarian ministers, Rev. Clark Olsen and Rev. Orloff Miller were beaten by white men for their support of African American rights. Two days later, Reeb died from the injuries he sustained.

Less than 2 weeks later, a federally sanctioned march from Selma Montgomery happened. In August 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law.

This part of our Unitarian Universalist story is worth remembering, especially this month where our theme is Journey.

James Reeb's journey ended in Selma when the white hospital he was taken to refused to treat him and the black hospital had inadequate facilities to operate. And yet, his journey continues to live on in our shared journey.

King eulogized Reeb. In part, he said, "The world is aroused over the murder of James Reeb, for he symbolizes the forces of goodwill in our nation. He demonstrated the conscience of the nation. He was an attorney for the defense of the innocent in the court of world opinion. He was a witness to the truth that men of different races and classes might live, eat, and work together as brothers." In short, King named the essence of Reeb's journey when he said simply, "His crime was that he dared to live his faith."

As we examine what it might mean to be a people of journey, I appreciate the invitation to be a part of the legacy of James Reeb and to dare to live my faith. For in the end, what can be said of any of our lives, but that our living was a testament to the truths we held so dear we answered the call, put ourselves on bridges of solidarity, and moved with others toward something better than we knew.
I just got back from a weekend long event with ministers and lay leaders from 8 other Unitarian Universalist churches about how we encourage generosity in our congregations. Now, you might think this is just about Making Room, but we were the only congregation there considering a major capital project, and we were all there to learn together. A small team of us, the JUC Board President, Andrea Aikin, our Business Administrator, Carol Wilsey, and two dedicated lay leaders, Dea Brayden & Bill Finley, have been part of this team for months. And from the very beginning we've been striving to answer one question - how can your church nurture your ability to be generous?

Now if you think this is just about raising pledges, or getting capital campaign gifts, I can assure you it isn't. In fact, over the course of the last few months all of our team members have been interviewing members one-on-one, and the thing we've heard people say most consistently is "I guess I'm not a very generous person," only to be followed with stories about what I can only call extraordinary generosity. Which has led me to believe that for many of us, and we heard this from other congregations in this program, that for many of us we've come to define generosity in such extraordinary ways that you can only be generous if you're Bill & Melinda Gates. Or if you live like a hermit.
 
But neither of those things are true. You don't have to be able to give a million dollar gift to be generous, nor do you have to forswear evertraveling a distance further than you can walk. But rather than tell you what I think "the definition of generosity" is, I thought you might want to consider asking yourself some of the questions we've been asking in our one-on-one interviews-
  • Are there areas in which you find it easier to be more generous than others? Why do you suppose that is?
  • Who has most modeled generosity for you? How did they model generosity?
  • Complete the following statement: Sometimes I think I will never have enough __________.
  • Is there an area in your life in which you would like to be more generous?
  • If so, what would that look like? (Having more money in order to give more money doesn't work here, because generosity is about what we do with what we already have)
  • Are there ways the congregation could support that effort?
  • In what ways does this congregation call its members to greater generosity and nurture members' ability to be generous?
I'd love to hear your answers, whatever they may be.
I know that the experience of JUC for people of color and white people can be very different. As the staff person responsible for programming for children, youth and families, I'm aware that the experience of JUC for children and youth of color must also be different. I'd like to invite JUC families of color to engage with me in a conversation about your children's experiences here at JUC, to give each other support and to explore how we might better serve your children, youth and you. If you or your children identify as people of color, please join me on Sunday, March 10 at 9 a.m. in M3/4 for a gentle conversation about you and your children's experiences at JUC.   
 
On Sunday, January 20, Rev. Eric and I each shared a homily about abortion during the Sunday services. It marked the 46 th  anniversary of the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision. I shared my personal experiences with abortion as a breaking of the silence that is the cultural norm. We've heard from countless people about how touched they were by the service and about their experiences with abortion. Rev. Eric and I would like to invite anyone who's life has been touched by abortion to join us for a Sharing Circle on Wednesday, March 6 at 7:15 p.m. in the chapel immediately following the We Are Family worship service. We want to create a gentle, sacred time to share our stories and break the silence of this very common experience. If you have had an abortion and haven't regretted it for one day, you are welcome. If you had an abortion and it has been painful for you, you are welcome. If you are a man who was left out of a decision to have an abortion, you are welcome. If you experienced the pain of a mother who did not have abortion as an option, you are welcome. All whose lives have been touched by abortion are encouraged to join us. We will create a space to share our stories and witness for one another. Childcare will be available.
 
Coming this month is our annual JUC Children's Music Service on Sunday, March 17, both services. There will be Nursery and Preschool rooms open but all other children and youth groups are invited to attend one of the services with family or friends.
 
Coming in April will be our half-hour Family Easter Service on Saturday, April 20 at 4:30 p.m. followed by an Easter Egg hunt hosted by our Family Ministry Team.

The Theme Take Away's for the month of March for Kindergarten through Fifth graders are:
Week 1:  I am the hero of my own journey.
Week 2: I will always be the hero of my own journey.  
Week 3: Children's Music Sunday- children are encouraged to attend with their families.
Week 4: I can be mindful on my journey
Week 5: I can bring joy to my journey
In This Issue
All UU Need is Love

Saturday, March 9
6-9 p.m. 

Mark your calendars for an evening of  fun, food, libations, entertainment, fellowship, and of course fundraising! We'll have a photo booth, games, and fabulous entertainment. 
Costumes always add to the fun. 

Children will have their own special auction! Food, activities, and entertainment just for them! 

We still need lots of helpers to make the night a success!

So please. . . . 
and
today!

Contact:  Sarah Babcock
We Are Family
1st Wednesdays & 
3rd Fridays
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:30 p.m. Worship

Join us twice per month for a fellowship dinner ($5 per person) followed by a lively and brief family-centered worship. We use ritual, song and story for a multi-age worship that fills the heart and grows the spirit. All ages are encouraged to attend. 

March Menu:
Wednesday, March 6:
Cheese Tortellini (Vegetarian)
Friday, March 15:
Shepherd's Pie 
Trust and Planned Giving
Estate planning is all about trust. You can even establish an entity called a Trust to manage your assets while you are alive and after your death. In the documents you prepare, you are trusting and placing faith in the people you choose as your representatives. They can make decisions about your health if you can't. They can use and distribute your assets as you direct. You must trust the churches and charities you might give bequests to, to use those gifts wisely.

We invite you to include JUC in your estate plan so that it can be a creative source of trust for all generations.
Contact JUC's planned giving coordinators: Bud Meadows , Mike Kramer or Carol Wilsey .
UUA General Assembly
Spokane, Washington
June 19-23, 2019

General Assembly is the annual meeting of our Unitarian Universalist Association. Attendees worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy for the Association through democratic process. Anyone may attend; congregations must certify annually to send voting delegates. 

This year's theme is about collective power, "The Power of We," as well as the possibility, the purpose, the struggle and the joy of what it means to be together in faithful community. In the past two years, Unitarian Universalism has recommitted to the work of liberation inside and outside our faith community. The antidote to a time of dangerous dehumanization is a love that connects us to our deeper humanity. Come to Spokane to experience what our shared faith can become when we embrace the Power of We.

Registration and the Housing Reservation System open at 9 a.m. PST on Friday, March 1 at www.uua.org/ga

If you are interested in being a delegate to GA, please complete this application.
Many years ago I participated in a class based on The Artist's Way . It was a creative writing class, and The Artist's Way is ostensibly a program to tap into personal creativity. However, I feel The Artist's Way could just as easily fall into the category of a spiritual practices program. There are multiple reasons I say this, but the place I begin is with journey.

It's right there in the title, The Artist's Way . The word way can mean method or manner, but it also means direction, course, passage. When we think about spiritual practice, we often think about method and manner - the HOW. And yet, spiritual practice is also a journey. It's a journey with yourself and a journey with the divine mystery of life. A spiritual practice is a commitment to traveling deeper into your own heart and mind and to staying the course with your own understanding of life and universe. We don't do a spiritual practice just once - that would not be a practice. The act of repetition is not unlike a journey - an act of steady movement in a specific direction.

Sometimes it feels like our practice is not making any progress or that it's wandering off on some tangent. Yet, when we look back over the history of our journey we can see that we have been moving steadily towards self-knowledge and connection to deep mystery. The wonder of such a journey isn't that we are going to reach some final destination, but that we accept the ongoing process. Spiritual practice is a way - not only a method but a journey.

For many, just getting to JUC was a journey. It may have taken a lot of uphill movement to make it this far. The joy and challenge of our Unitarian Universalist faith is that whether you have been here your whole life or if you just arrived, we expect you to remain on the journey. Our seven Principles name the free and responsible search for truth and meaning as one of our covenants. It can feel like an invitation: we welcome your questions! It is also an expectation: it is your obligation to continue the journey. Whatever that process looks like to you, however your path takes shape before you, we welcome your search here. May you find companions for your journey.
Awakening to Blessing: A Front Range UU Concert
Six Colorado Unitarian Universalist Choirs are joining together with orchestra and marimbas and will fill Bethany Lutheran Church on Saturday, April 13, for a performance of the cantata that Wendy Williams (words) and I (music) wrote together in 2016 called "Awakening to Blessing." This concert is expected to sell out! Tickets can be purchased by following the link at the end of this article.

Awakening to Blessing was written and composed as a Unitarian Universalist exploration of the qualities of blessing. The six movements each focus on a particular aspect: some key quotes of the lyrics:

I. Original Blessing, "Called into this world, chosen for these days, we are blessed by this life."
II. Altar of now, "Your life is unfolding on the altar of now."
III. Becoming, "Awakened to love, being is becoming."
IV. These are the hands, "These are the hands that have shown love, blessed be the work of these hands."
V. If there are words to be spoken, "Let your voice speak them."
VI. We were born in love "May we be reclaimed by that circle of love."

Musically, the multi-movement work takes inspiration from film scores, latin beats, gospel choir, and marimba rhythms. One highlight of the cantata is a "blessing of the hands" where all who are present are invited to come forth and receive a blessing for the work that they do with their hands.

As the composer, I am honored and thrilled that the choirs of
First Unitarian Society of Denver, Columbine UU Church, First Universalist Church of Denver, Boulder Valley UU Fellowship, the UU Church of Boulder, and JUC are spending the spring learning this music to present in April. The evening of April 13 will be a special one not only because of the music being presented, but also because this will be the largest gathering of UUs in the Front Range in about ten years. The event will be an inspiring celebration of UU connection with a powerful point of view and may have you dancing in the aisles.

Awakening to Blessing
Saturday, April 13, 2019,  7 p.m.
Bethany Lutheran Church
4500 E Hampden Ave
Cherry Hills Village, CO

Tickets: $10 in advance; $15 at door (if available); $5 students;
12 & under free (must have free ticket)
 
"Not all those who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkien

I was reminded of Lord of the Rings and this quote when I thought about March's theme of the Journey. The Lord of the Rings series was, and still is, one of my favorite book series. It put fantasy literature on the map and discussed many concepts that fascinated my young mind: innocence, war, greed, mortality, all-powerful jewelry. One concept, however, was absolutely central to the Fellowship's story - the journey. The journey from the Shire to Mordor, the journey from innocence to experience, the journey from peace to war and back again. The journey of life itself.

Unfortunately, that journey and where you are headed isn't always so clear. Since graduating college, a persistent feeling of being adrift in the sea of life has settled in. A schedule of homework, exams, studying, and grades had made life seem orderly - a simple path from A to B. At any moment, from kindergarten to grad school, I could look ahead or behind me and orient myself with graduation as my true North. The aftermath of tracking the course of my life by the school system had left me feeling lost. Where was I going?

It took me a long while to remember what I had learned from the Lord of the Rings series. Life, like Frodo's trip from the Shire to Mordor, was not a straightforward path. There would be sylvan beauty and fiendish failures and the occasional dimly-lit, Gollum-ridden cave to pass through. Perhaps it was okay that I did not know where I was or where the end might lie. Tolkien's words could serve as a new compass, one guided by exploration and curiosity rather than a definitive endpoint. I still don't know the destination, but I intend to take some joy in the journey there.
The UU Service Committee Works for Justice Across Borders

The mission of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee is to advance human rights and social justice around the world, working in collaboration with grassroots partners who are confronting unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. The UUSC work in over 25 countries, with more than 75 grassroots partners is grounded in the belief that all people have inherent power and dignity.

In Central America the UUSC has been working with local human rights community organizers to fight abuses since 1978 when they sponsored a fact-finding congressional delegation to investigate war crimes in El Salvador. Through the next 40 years, the UUSC has partnered with local organizations in El Salvador and in Guatemala to bring about the signing of peace accords those countries. Following the peace accords in Guatemala, they collaborated with local organizations, including JUC's partner ADIVIMA, who were working on behalf of the victims and survivors of the massacres.

Today in the effort to promote Justice Across Borders, the UUSC is participating in the Central American Migrant Justice Initiative through partnerships with grassroots allies along the Central American migration trail including Freedom for Immigrants , Fundación Para la Justicia y El Estado Democrático de Derecho , No More Deaths and Rural Community Workers Alliance .

In their effort to address root causes, support migrants in transit, and protects the right to seek asylum, the UUSC is connecting groups across the migrant trail from El Salvador to Mexico to the United States. Their work is guided by three principles: the right to safety in Central America, the right to safety on the migrant trail and the protection of human rights as the U.S. immigration system is navigated.

You can find out more about the UUSC's Central American Migrant Justice Initiative if you visit the UUSC TF table in the south commons Sundays, March 10 and 17.  Information available will include the inspiring stories of four migrants whose lives have been changed because of the generosity of UUSC supporters. You will have an opportunity to support the Justice across Borders work of the UUSC when the Special Plate collection is taken Sunday, March 17 during the services. Or visit UUSC.org for more information and to become a member.
 
JUC Book Talk about Reframing Poverty
JUC's Housing and Poverty Task Force is pleased to sponsor a talk by JUC member Eric Meade about his new book, Reframing Poverty: New Thinking and Feeling About Humanity's Greatest Challenge . The event will take place in the chapel on Sunday, March 17 at 12:30 p.m. The Task Force is also inviting its partners from across the community who work on the important issue of poverty.

Eric's book broadens the debate over poverty's causes by arguing that our own emotional experiences of poverty shape what we think and do about it. This explains the wide range of explanations: e.g., that the poor are lazy, that there aren't enough jobs, that the stresses of poverty keep people poor, or that there is a poverty "mindset."

From there, Eric applies new concepts from diverse fields like physics and psychology to craft a broader way of thinking about poverty that allows each of these narrower views to be true at the same time. Eric's approach suggests new opportunities to reduce poverty and offers insight into what it means to be human in a world where poverty exists.

While the book is not written explicitly from a UU perspective, UU principles shape its arguments and conclusions. Here's what Galen Guengerich, senior minister at All Souls Unitarian Church in New York City, has said about the book:

"In this eloquently crafted and persuasively argued book, Meade makes the counter-intuitive claim that we can't address poverty mainly by using microscopes to examine ever more minutely the lives of people who are poor. Rather, we need to use mirrors to examine the hearts and minds of those of us who aren't. Interweaving compelling stories with incisive analysis, Meade makes a convincing and ultimately transformative case. Fair warning: if you are not poor, you will come away with a deep sense of humility toward your own good fortune, but also with a deep sense of responsibility for those who languish in poverty."

The Task Force hopes you will join them on Sunday, March 17 at 12:30 p.m. in the chapel for what promises to be a thoughtful and provocative discussion. Books will not be available for sale at the event, but can be  purchased online . For more information, please contact Judy Douglass or Eric Meade.
 
Keeping the Promise

JUC uses a year round pledge system in which each household is asked annually during their pledging month to consider their pledge for the following twelve months. In addition to being a pledging member of JUC, I serve on the staff here.

I am privileged to serve JUC as your Communications Manager. I am privileged to support an organization that I am passionate about. I am privileged to be in community with you all. I am privileged to be part of an incredible staff team. I am also privileged to have a spouse whose income supports our family so that I can make the financial sacrifice necessary to work here. My part-time hourly wage is supplementary at best and it definitely doesn't cover the mortgage.

By now you're all wondering if I'm actually standing in front of all of you, on a Sunday, asking for a raise. I'm not. That would be weird. What I am asking of you is to consider our other incredible staff as you fill out your pledge forms this year.

Any fellow parents of children in our Religious Education program know what a gift it has been to have Annie Scott serving as Director for the past few years. Through her expertise and love, she has transformed our RE program into something that truly holds all 260 of our kids. We know that Annie has made the decision to move back to her home state of Oregon this summer to be with family but do you know what brought her here in the first place? It wasn't our competitive compensation package. It was Annie's deep commitment to Wendy and her vision that brought her to Colorado to serve our church.

Now, the search is on for someone who can continue to grow this beautiful program for the church we love. I've been assured that there are lots of wonderful DREs in our denomination who are up to the task. However, without a prior commitment to our church, they may not be willing to make the same financial sacrifice that Annie and I have.

As our family's pledge comes due in March, we will consider the impact that our donation can have on the quality of our future DRE and will increase our pledge accordingly. I hope that you do the same.