ISSUE 29                                                                                                                                                                                    NOVEMBER 2018
Our theme this month is memory. For those of us whose lives touch someone with some form of dementia, the very word memory can render us a bit tender. We see in such people that memory plays an important role in our lives. Memory, among other things, ensures that we don't have to learn basic life skills anew each day.

Of course, you know as I do, that memory is more complicated than that is important in a multitude ways. Memory shapes our identity and our identity shapes our memory. According to psychologist James Hillman we "re-member" the story of our lives throughout our years. We not only revisit our memories, but sometimes we reinterpret them and occasionally, we even revise old events in the light of new information.

Memory is also about remembering, that is, recalling people who have died or from whom we live a distance or with whom we have complicated or unresolved relationships. Some of our memories are welcome and some are painful and some don't fit neatly into any category.

Memory isn't true or untrue. It is a personal record of our perception. And sometimes, writes Hillman, memory and imagination find each other with memory supplying the raw material of our experiences and imagination establishing connections and conclusions about the world and who we are.

David Keck, a pastoral counselor, wrote a book called Forgetting Whose We Are. In it, he argued that whatever else religion might be, religion is deeply connected to memory because it attempts to narrate a coherent story of human existence. Religion offers us ways to find ourselves in that story.

Thus, when we say, as we sometimes do, welcome to this community of memory and hope, we are speaking of more than any of our individual memories. It is community memory of a story which we inherited and are still writing. JUC's memory is long and strong. And for Keck, this invites us to imagine the community as container for shared memory. He calls this keeping faith with memory. Being held in community means we are held in the world because the community (as well as our loved ones) know who we are. This community remembers us into the world. The community also remembers us into our deepest values.

As we approach the upcoming election, as well as the busyness of the holiday season, we will need to find ways to remember one another to the best we can be, remembering what we have been and what we yet may be. We need one another. Without each other, we can so easily forget whose we are and what we are in the world to do. Let us remember together.
In October I was honored to help with the memorial service of a long-time JUC member. When I went to talk with his widow about the memorial service I found that both of them had well prepared themselves for this moment. There were folders filled with stories, quotes, pictures, and songs. 

For the front of the order of service he wanted the closing words of Merrit Malloy's poem, " Epitaph."

Love doesn't die,
People do.
So, when all that's left of me
Is love,
Give me away.
 
That is so much of what Unitarian Universalist memorial services are about. We do far fewer funerals than memorial services as a church. And I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a casketed funeral in a Unitarian Universalist setting. There's no rule against it, but by and large our members have decided that what they want when they are gone is a time for memories. The naming of the joys of life, and the loss and sorrow of grief. A chance to retell the old stories about who a person was.
 
When planning a memorial service I often sit down with the survivors, the family left behind, to gather up the memories. To work to craft a service that will help to name the things known to some, but not all, because in our lives we most often know a person from one time or one context, but not the full range of their lives.
 
So much of what a memorial service is about comes from first having memories to share. Maybe a life-changing trip, or maybe the dedicated presence to help with homework, or move out of a house and a relationship that went bad. Maybe it's fishing together, or dancing together, or just the quiet joy knowing you can always count on someone, because they've always been there for you or with you. There's no one right kind of life to live, there are many. But when the end of our days come, it is a sad thing to have a memorial service without memories to share. Which, for me, is the deeper meaning of Merrit Malloy's poem. It's about living a life that will be remembered in love. It's about giving ourselves away in love.
 
And that's my wish for everyone I know, and for myself. That I might fill my days in ways that mean when it is time for some minister to sit and craft a eulogy with my survivors, that there are memories worth sharing. And I hope you do, too.
I get to spend time each month with three different, wonderful groups of JUC people. The first Sunday of most months, I have lunch, reflection and conversations with many of the folks who lead Religious Education groups of children and youth. We have thirty-eight RE Teachers and Advisers this year who love and lead our young people.

On second Thursdays, I meet with the Family Ministry Team. They just planned and led an extremely successful retreat for JUC moms with great community and respite time for them all. By the time you have read this, they will have hosted, with help from lots of good people, our annual Halloween party. This group is charged with welcoming and integrating families into the life of Jefferson Unitarian Church. You can see their photos and names on the green bulletin board in the RE hallway.

On second Tuesdays, I meet with the RE Theme Team. These folks are charged with taking the monthly themes and creating lesson plans for the kindergarten through fifth grades, and creating a Full Week Faith guide for families. The idea is that families (read all of us) spend most of their lives away from church. So, for our themes, values, principles and theology to have meaning we must help families find ways to integrate what we talk about, sing about, pray about at church into their daily lives. So, this team creates a reflection guide as well as the lesson plans. Both are based on an agreed-upon set of weekly 'take-aways'. One member of the RE Theme Team, Jerica Cadwallader, wrote this reflection on JUC's Full Week Faith.   

"Mom, mom, mom!!! This song is about Courage!!!" Driving home one day, my five year old son and my three year old daughter and I were listening to the Trolls soundtrack for the 500th time. We were all singing along to Get Back Up Again when my son made a beautiful connection to his learning at church, where Courage was the monthly theme. I realized how many tiny moments in our abundant lives could be utilized to help our children connect their everyday lives with church.

Our lives are all abundant. We want to support the spiritual development of our children and ourselves and yet it is a challenge to fit it in between all the necessities of family life. So we've developed a collection of resources for each month's theme and ideas of how to incorporate songs, quotes, movies, books, and car chats into our lives. The purpose of this collection is to offer ways to fit spirituality into your life in meaningful, non-stressful ways.  Please don't try to do all of them! Pick a few that feel right for your family. Use them as a springboard to make your own family rituals.

There are some prime times for connecting with our children....

Breakfast time:  Share a quote or set an intention for the day.

Drive Time: Listen to a playlist of songs about the month's theme and discuss!  Ask informal reflection questions.

Dinner Time: Do a chalice lighting together.  Read Family Reflections and discuss.

Bedtime:  Read a picture book together related to the theme. Even older kids often love and can benefit from learning and processing from picture books.

Family Time: Watch a theme-related movie together and talk about it.  Do something in nature together related to the theme.  Create something together.

Additionally, our hope is that you will see that you can build on the themes and ideas presented at church in meaningful, everyday kinds of ways. And also to see that perhaps you already do things that support your family's spirituality; maybe you can do so even more intentionally. You can help your children see the connections between their work on Sunday and singing a song at the top of their lungs in the car or reading a book together at bedtime.

Church on Sunday gives us a seed to tend to throughout our weekly lives. Ideas that must be tended to and given time and space to grow. When we put in the time, energy, and love, we can live into our values.

The first Sunday of each month, you can find a printed copy of that month's Full Week Faith, on the Family table in the RE hallway.

Each Sunday afternoon, that week's Full Week Faith will be posted in our JUC Families Facebook group or you can go to the JUC website and see all the  Full Week Faith  guides for this church year. One gets added each week.

We invite you to share stories, pictures, and ideas on Facebook or Instagram at #FullWeekFaith so we can benefit from each other successes and even failed attempts.

These three groups, RE Teachers & Advisers, the Family Ministry Team and the RE Theme Team are guiding and shaping the programs that, we hope, are helping equip you and your family to be your truest, best selves. The names of all group members can be seen on the bulletin boards as you enter the RE hallway.
Seasonal Pop-Up Sale

Autumn has traditionally been auction season at JUC. We've donned themed costumes just weeks after Halloween in the spirit of fellowship and fundraising. It's been a great time but the auction committee has decided that it's time to make a change this year. So, the annual auction for this church year 
will be held Saturday, March  9, 201 9. B e sure to mark your calendars and tune in here for more information as it becomes available.

But what about your favorite auction items that take place between the traditional date and the new one? Have no fear! You can still purchase a spot at the Wilsey's Christmas Tree Cutting Party, sip warm soup on a cold winter's night, or attend a dazzling Academy Awards party! All of these items and lots more are available in our very first Seasonal Pop-Up Sale. The sale runs through the month of November so shop at your convenience but once items sell out, they are gone for good. Shop online with a credit card or visit the Seasonal Pop-Up Sale table in the commons on Sundays, Nov. 11, 18, and 25 to shop in person or pay with cash or check. 

Fill your Fall/Winter social calendar while benefiting the programming at the church you love. Happy shopping!

Remembrances: A Service of Music and Memory
You are invited to remember a loved one in our music services on  Saturday, November 17 and Sunday, November 18. Part of the service will be dedicated to singing the names of those in the JUC community who have passed away in the last year, as well as those who our community wishes to remember. If you would like someone's name sung in these services, whether or not they were a JUC member, please send that name to me by  November 15 at  keitharnold@jeffersonunitarian.org.

The service will feature our Children's and Radiance Choirs, Resonance Teen Choir, Treble Chamber Choir and full JUC Choir, as we bring to mind those who have gone before, in a service of remembrances of the past and hopes for the future. The Children's and Radiance Choir will sing an old gospel song, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," which is a hope for connection with loved ones throughout time. Resonance Teen Choir turns to the music of Michael Jackson, singing "Gone Too Soon."

The JUC Choir sings a number of musical pieces both traditional and new. The "Agnus Dei" from Fauré's Requiem  is a work of uplift and comfort. Writing in a letter in 1902, Fauré describes his work: 
"My Requiem has been said to express no fear of death; it has been called a lullaby of death. But that is how I feel about death: a happy deliverance, a reaching for eternal happiness rather than a mournful passing away.... Perhaps I have sought to depart from what is conventional because for so long I was organist at services of internment. I'm fed up with that.  I wanted to do something different."

A newer piece titled " Requiem" by Eliza Gilykson is a response to the Asian tsunami of 2004, an invocation of compassion dedicated to victims of natural disaster. And a new arrangement of "Let the Life I've Lived Speak for Me" is a poignant reminder to make one's time on earth a message to the future.

The service concludes with a tribute to Matthew Shepard, " All of Us," serving partly to honor the legacy of Matthew Shepard and partly to offer a hopeful wish that we may all be free of fear so that no more untimely deaths may occur at the hands of neighbors.

The service is not to be missed, and you can attend either  Saturday  evening,  Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. , or  Sunday  morning,  Nov. 18 , at 9 and 11 a.m. And if you wish for a loved one's name to be sung, please send it to me by  November 15 .
 
Online and Mobile Church Directory
Have you ever been at home with your clunky paper directory, looking for a church member's contact information only to find out they've moved or changed their phone number? Or worse, have you ever looked for a church member who isn't even in your directory because yours was printed years ago? On Friday, November 2, JUC is rolling out a convenient solution to these problems by introducing our new online/mobile church directory. Not only will the online directory provide all members' current, up-to-date contact information in a secure and password-protected format, it will also contribute to our green sanctuary goals by reducing our paper use. Best of all, you'll be able to access the directory from your computer or your mobile device.

While we are very excited about this new development, we understand that new technologies can be uncomfortable or intimidating for some people. Therefore, we will be offering training sessions to assist anyone with the directory's web-based access and/or mobile application. You can come into the main office any Tuesday or Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for personalized assistance with Trinity Saffer, or you can attend a training session on Sundays, November 4 or 11  from 10:15-10:45.  a.m. In the meantime, look for an email on Friday, November 2 with the subject line: "Your IconCMO Log-in Information from Jefferson Unitarian Church." This email will contain your log-in credentials and will guide you to the web-based directory. If you wish to have the mobile application, simply search for "IconCMO" in your App Store. When you log on be sure to change your password AND your username to something you can remember.

You can still pick up a paper copy of the directory in the office if you prefer.

If you have any questions, please contact Trinity Saffer on any Tuesday or Wednesday from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. at 303-279-5282.
 
In This Issue
Welcome Our New Members
Nickie Harris works as a physical therapist and has two teenage kids, Chelsie and Baylie.

Suzanne Henry has two young children, Zane and Dax. Suzanne enjoys reading, languages, and movies.

Greg and Linda Lauer are both retired, and they enjoy volunteer work, skiing, and reading. 

Sabrina Stirling works as a dog trainer, and her interests include environmental preservation and politics.

Anne Schwertfeger is a student who enjoys music, writing, and reading.

Marlene Lindenlaub is retired, and her interests include yoga, skiing, music, and reading.

Bruce and Catherine Martin have worked in medical field, and they enjoy travel, hiking, and skiing. 

Margey Grady has two young children, Mae and Molly, and her interests include fitness, writing, and interior design.

Karla Smith and Melinda Bowers are both retired, and they like to hike, bike, and read.  

Mariska Hamstra has two children, Esther and Arthur, and her interests include science, education, and travel. 

Diane Flannery is retired, and she is interested in exercise, travel and health.

Tricia Spencer has worked as an in-home caregiver, and she has two grandchildren. 

Peggy Lentz and Rus Wheeler are both retired, and they enjoy hiking, traveling, gardening, and geology.
Making Room: Digging for Details for a Possible New Campus
Architect Kevin Keady holds up his hand to signal "wait a minute" as he quickly adds to his already copious notes. He doesn't want to miss any juicy comments from the church staff on what they'd like have in a new JUC campus.

This is the first day of "nitty gritty" design sessions as the Making Room campaign continues its effort to move From Dreaming to Defining . All JUC staff members have given most of their Sunday afternoon to delve into questions such as: How close should the nursery be to the sanctuary? What classrooms need their own sinks and child-sized toilets? Should filing cabinets be in offices or in the central copy room? What's the optimal capacity for a chapel?  

Before the end of the month, JUC members with deep knowledge and history in certain areas are attending similar sessions. They're digging into the specific needs for Accessibility/Inclusion, Hospitality/Food, Justice and Community Events and Sustainability.

Keady, who is a JUC member volunteering his time and expertise in the planning and design phase, will have a LOT of notes when the meetings are wrapped up. And by the end of the year, the notes will become what's called a Design Criteria Document, which should be an immense help to future architects when we finally find a property for a new JUC.
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. 

November Menu:
Wednesday, November 7:
Italian
Friday, November 16:
Mexican
Sanctuary and Planned Giving
Sanctuary evokes feelings of safety, refuge, retreat, brave space, shelter for our hearts and hopes. JUC provides a place to cultivate sanctuary which ultimately exists within us. It helps us create renewal so that we may provide sanctuary for others.

Estate planning is a tool that can help us understand our deepest wishes to pass our tangible possessions on to others. It can also make our wishes around our leaving this journey known so that they may be realized within the sanctuary given by others.

Your legacy gift to JUC will keep it strong to embrace the challenge of sanctuary for future generations.

Contact JUC's planned giving coordinators: Bud Meadows , Mike Kramer or Carol Wilsey .
Benefit JUC with your Holiday Shopping!
JUC's scrip program carries gift cards for over 100 popular retailers, all of which return rebates from the retailers to JUC. 

Some JUCers use scrip for many of their regular expenses, such as for  Amazon.com , Starbucks, restaurants and clothing stores, or for travel, with Southwest, Delta, or American Airlines, and multiple hotels. Lots more do so at least for the holiday gift giving season.  

We carry the most popular retailers in stock and can order many more.The Scrip Table is set up in the south commons after services on 1st and 3rd Sundays, but starting on  November 18,  scrip will be available every Sunday through December 23. Help raise funds for special projects at our new home!
Family Tree Holiday Gifting Program Kicks Off in November
Sunday, November 25  begins our long tradition of partnering with Family Tree for the holiday season. By supporting Family Tree's "Adopt-a-Family" program, we can help to brighten the holidays for families affected by homelessness, child abuse, or domestic violence. Please look for the Holiday Gifting Program table in the commons after services on Sundays,  Nov. 25 , Dec. 2 , and Dec. 9 .

There are three ways to participate in the Holiday Gifting Program:
  1. Make a cash donation (any amount would be appreciated!) at the Holiday Gifting Program table - donations will be used to purchase gift cards for the families;
  2. Adopt an entire family and buy gifts for the family; or
  3. Buy one or more of the "wish list" gifts - look for the "Wish List Tree" at the Holiday Gifting Program table.
Family Tree is a local charitable organization that provides innovative, life-changing services to end homelessness, child abuse, and domestic violence. If you would like more information about the Holiday Gifting Program, please stop by the Holiday Gifting Program table or contact Heather Hagemann.
JUC Craft Faire
The JUC Craft faire has three goals: Build community within JUC; help JUC craftspeople display their talent and wares (and make a little money as well); and raise funds for JUC. 

In order to be successful, the JUC Annual Holiday Craft Faire needs three things:
  1. Crafters to sell their wares and donate 20% of their sales to JUC. The application to be a vendor is available in the JUC office, and can be found at the Holiday Faire table in the south commons after church .  
  2. Volunteers who can staff the finance table, bake goodies, serve as customer greeters, help children buy presents for their friends and family, help prepare and serve food, and help set up and take down tables and chairs. Sign up to volunteer in the south commons every Sunday until the Faire.
  3. Shoppers! If you are not crafty and can't spare the time to volunteer, then just come and buy your Holiday presents (and one for yourself as well).
I recently took up a new spiritual practice. This may sounds odd since I have been talking each month in this space about practices that I have. 

I suppose I could say you can't have too many spiritual practices, but I don't believe that. So here is what I can say. I wanted a practice that was physical and gave me sense of inner well-being. I spent some time talking with my spiritual director about what would work for me and we settled on a practice of trail skating - which is something that I love and definitely gives me sense of inner well-being. Yet somehow it never happened. What did happen is that I found myself taking a long walk or hike every Monday.  Hiking/walking in nature also gives me that deep connection and sense of well-being that I get from trail skating. I had fallen into a practice. Upon recognizing this I then did the next step, which is to be intentional about it. I am naming this as a practice and deliberately making time for it each Monday. 

But what about your other practices you may ask? One of the things that I am coming to learn about spiritual practice is that they change. The change for many reasons. Sometimes we grow beyond what the practice provides for us. Sometimes our life changes in such a way that the practice is no longer feasible. Sometimes we just lose our connection to the practice. Any and all reasons that a practice no longer works for us are legitimate. Which means that there are times in our life when we are looking for a new practice - and that is also OK. Starting this month I will be leading a monthly class exploring different spiritual practices. If you are curious about spiritual practice in general, this class is for you. If you would like to try a practice with some instruction and accountability, this class is for you. If you want a chance to try something more than once but don't want to have to commit to something without trying it first, this class is for you. If you want to learn more about practices from a variety of faith traditions, this is the class for you. Maybe it sounds like I am saying spiritual practice is for you - and I am! 

This year we are incorporating various practices into worship, into the Going Deeper Groups and offering more opportunities in specific practices. I hope that as the year progresses you have a chance to participate in one of these spiritual practice programs.
JUC's Mission

Guided by Unitarian Universalist principles and powered by the energy and resources of its members, the mission of Jefferson Unitarian Church is to nurture our spiritual community, grow Unitarian Universalism, and transform the world outside our church walls.

On Sunday, October 21, 2018, we held our fall congregational meeting. During the meeting we communicated regarding the progress that has been made on the congregational mandate to pursue the idea of finding a larger campus for our beloved church community. 

Dea Brayden, Debby Bower, and Chris Sealy (the Making Room Posse) have been working hard with Kevin Keady (JUC member and Architect) to advance the design process where we identify our needs, improve our functioning, and move more fully into living our mission. To achieve these ends, the posse is meeting with subgroups of the church over the next two weeks to get their input. By early December we will have a comprehensive design criteria document that any future architect can use to tailor and help design a future property to "make it JUC."  

We will keep you posted as things develop!  And be sure to check out the Making Room website!
Work ahead for JUC's Green Task Force

Earlier this year our sister congregation First Universalist Church of Denver completed a massive retrofit which turned its buildings net zero energy. That was no small accomplishment as their board had stipulated that the added cost needed to be financed separately from the budget for the remodel and that annual energy costs remain the same. How their Green First Task Force members figured it out is quite a story, and we asked John Bringenberg and Milt Hetrick to tell it in our speaker series. The video "How they built a Net Zero Church" should provide guidance once JUC identifies possible properties for its new campus.

Going green would reflect our members' overall goals for the Making Room project as presented at the Fall Congregational meeting. It certainly fits well with our Seventh Principle - Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. After all, buildings are responsible for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions, and as Chuck Kutscher stated in his keynote at JUC in October, we only stand a chance in fighting climate change if we build to much higher standards. 

Chuck, a long-time JUC member, just retired after almost forty years at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, but continues his life's work advising on climate change mitigation. His opening keynote at Activate Colorado, a conference co-sponsored by JUC's Green Task Force, is called "The Race to Net Zero" and gives a hopeful perspective on effective solutions to the looming climate crisis. The video is here is available online.

"Responding to Climate Change" is also the subject for Phil Nelson, who will be presenting in our speaker series on  Thursday, November 29. A long-time member of JUC, Phil is a retired geologist who now chairs the Golden Chapter of Citizens' Climate Lobby, a volunteer, nonpartisan, nonprofit group that promotes legislation to counter climate change. Sponsored by the Green Task Force, CCL meets at JUC on first Saturdays at  10:30 a.m.

You may get the impression that the Green Task Force revolves around Climate Change, and that isn't far off the mark. But our group is always looking for people with fresh ideas who want to participate on a regular basis or just help here or there with our monthly speaker series (every 4th  Thursday at  7 p.m).  Join us for a dinner conversation on  Saturday, Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. Contact Martin Voelker for details.
 
Why Guatemala?
June LeCrone & Gretchen May,  UUSC TF co-chairs 

JUC started its relationship with our ADIVIMA partners when some members of our congregation made the trip to Guatemala to learn more about the needs of the people of Rabinal. Little did we know then that this relationship was going to grow us spiritually as individuals and as a faith co mmunity. By traveling to a place very different and far away, and by being with the people in that place, we learned with our hearts, not just our minds, about injustice. We learned that social change is about relationships with strong, determined people who have more to give us than we give them. We learned that we are not more important than others and that we need to change ourselves. We learned that we really are a part of the interdependent web of all existence and that everyone has worth. Those of us who have been fortunate to
journey to Rabinal have the voices and faces of the people we have met embedded in our hearts and memories. We are better people for the experience.

Our partnership with the Mayan community of Rabinal and with ADIVIMA began when the parents told us that education for their daughters would make the greatest difference to their impoverished lives. The first year our donations supported three students. Eleven years later through the generosity of many members of the JUC community, our Guatemala Scholarship program supports sixty students with the commitment that we will support them through their graduation from secondary school.  The average cost to support one student for one year is $560. In addition we provide funds for a full-time tutor to work with the scholarship students.

Five years ago we expanded our relationship beyond the monetary donations through the Sewing Project, Books for the Library, Skyping with each year's HS graduates, and the first of five cultural exchange trips. When travelers return from a visit to Rabinal and share their transformative experiences, we are all impacted and the relationship between our two communities is strengthened and enriched.

We encourage you to come be a part of this partnership whether through donations, one-time or monthly, celebrating the graduates at a Skyping or by joining the next cultural exchange trip. Look for information soon about the 2019 cultural exchange trip for teens and parents planned for early July.
Keeping the Promise
Jeffery Pederson

Jefferson Unitarian Church uses a year round pledge system in which each household is asked annually during their pledging month to renew.  Pledging is part of our regular work all year rather than just one big push, and so you will be seeing some messages like mine over the course of the year.

I will mark my JUC membership as 4 years in December. After relocating to Golden from New Mexico, I looked for a spiritual home but did not want a typical church. After completing confirmation at age 14, I had mentally challenged most of the central tenets of the Christian tradition and they did not hold the essential truths for me. This was true despite attending a church-related college for my undergraduate degree, but I attended because they had a fantastic foreign studies program and required only that I take two religion courses.

Here I signed up for a membership seminar, a half day on a Saturday, and then committed myself to be a member. Why not? I had avoided being a church member for so many years, I may as well attempt another course with JUC because I wanted to. The candle ceremony in front of the service was very meaningful to me, and it marked the beginning of belonging to a spiritual community later in my life. As you can see, I am well advanced into my Medicare years.

When I say I am a church member, and then have a discussion with a relative or even a stranger, it is difficult for others to understand what kind of church JUC is! Yesterday I donated blood and while being prepped on the padded gurney, the phlebotomist asked if I had any weekend plans. Yes, I replied, I will be speaking at JUC Sunday morning. We had a polite exchange, during which I explained you could be Bible-inspired or not, but yes we had services with music, tried to be better people within the JUC community, and did not define a particular spiritual path.  

JUC has given me the opportunity to continue as a humanist at my core. At the same time, sometimes I feel the door is open to a divine presence that may be more perfect than we can imagine. At these times, such as when the minister asks us to reflect in the spirit of prayer, I can feel uplifted and very glad to be at JUC and be accepted for me.

JUC is about being good people and striving, learning to do better. I have benefitted from the Osher Lifelong Learning Program in our buildings, attending and facilitating classes. I have worked for Habitat for Humanity on a job site with other JUC volunteers, and for three years have worked several shifts selling fall pumpkins to support Habitat. I have ushered on Sunday mornings. There is more I could do.

I will be able to increase my pledge for the next year by at least 10 percent. I know not everyone can. Please pledge what you are able, and increase your investment if you can. JUC does indeed need our investments to remain a special place for us. Please give.
Dreams as Spiritual Practice

"All dreams come in the service of health and wholeness and ...only the dreamer knows for certain what his/her dream means." J. Taylor [1]
 
Cultures from around the world have long looked to dreams and visions as sources of spiritual wisdom, of information about the world around them, and of insight into healing in community [2]. Exploring possible meanings of dreams is a form of spiritual practice, allowing one to look inward using the language of symbols and myth. 
 
Our JUC Dream Study Affinity Group engages in this spiritual practice twice a month. We use the approach of a UU Minister, Jeremy Taylor, where everyone has time to share a dream and discuss with the group in a respectful, non-judgmental practice [1]. After some discussion, often (though not always) the dreamer will have an "aha" moment where a new insight arrives. Through sharing this practice, we also grow closer in community. 
 
We welcome new Affinity Group members to join us in this practice. Before someone new joins the group, we like to have a one-on-one chat to go over the group philosophy  and ground rules. Our practice is quite different from how psychologists approach dreams [3]. (It's not group therapy.)  Dreamwork predates psychology by at least thousands of years, and has been a central part of how shamans and healers work in many traditional cultures [2]. Though our practice differs, we can look to this ancient tradition as a guide. 
 
If you are interested in exploring this spiritual practice, please contact Valerie Stone.

References
[1] Taylor, J. (1983). Dream Work. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press; Taylor, J. (2017). Dream Work Ethics Statement. From  http://www.jeremytaylor.com/dream_work/ethics/index.html.
[2] Brody, H.  (1997). Maps & Dreams. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press; Eliade, M. (1951/1964). Shamanism(transl. W.R. Trask). Princeton, NJ: Princeton U. Press. 
[3] Corey, G. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (8th ed., pp. 245-248). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole;   Van der Linden, S. (2011).  The Science Behind Dreaming. Scientific American Mind, July 26, 2011, pp.