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IN THIS ISSUE
(click link to go directly to the article)
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 Beloved Conversations
Rev. Katie's Animas View
Thirty of us participated in a weekend retreat at UUFD building Beloved Conversations. Beloved Conversations
is a curriculum for exploring the role of race and ethnicity in individual and congregational lives. Our Healing Racism Team (a part of the encompassing Social Responsibility and Justice Team) has been planning this event for over six months, and it has been made possible by committed funds from both Social Responsibility and Justice and the Board of Trustee's Leadership Development.
The retreat has launched three circles of folk (meeting in small group ministry style), each with two facilitators, who will continue the curriculum in the upcoming months. They'll create
a supportive space for congregants to talk about their own experiences, while identifying places where growth is necessary.
If you are not a part of one of these circles, you still may be hearing about what's happening, through the enthusiasm of the members. Please feel free to ask them what they're learning. At the end of the sessions, the groups will co-lead a worship service (in May) to continue the conversation and consider action to accompany the reflection.
The central task of the religious community is to unveil the bonds that bind each to all. There is a connectedness, a relationship discovered amid the particulars of our own lives and the lives of others. Once felt, it inspires us to act for justice.
It is the church that assures us that we are not struggling for justice on our own, but as members of a larger community. The religious community is essential, for alone our vision is too narrow to see all that must be seen, and our strength too limited to do all that must be done. Together, our vision widens and our strength is renewed.
-Mark Morrison-Reed, UU Minister and Historian of UU Black History
I'm excited about our engagement with this important work. I believe it will serve to deepen and enrich our faith and our fellowship.
With love for you and our shared religious tradition,
Rev. Katie
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November 4 (Don't forget the time change Saturday night!)
The Memory Tree
-Rev. Katie Kandarian-Morris
When we tell stories about our loved ones, they live on and so do we. We'll celebrate All Souls Day and remember all those we have loved who are no longer with us. Bring a picture for our memory altar. Our Movement Choir will help us deepen and remember.
November 11
Living Hope Living Justice
-Rev. Mary Katherine Morn with Rev. Katie Kandarian-Morris
Since UUSC's founding, Unitarian Universalists have been fundamental to UUSC's work to advance human rights. With our shared values under threat, there is an even louder call to collaborate and even more we can accomplish together. We'll consider how we can come together, with hope, to advance justice in the face of some of today's greatest human rights challenges.
November 18
Beloveds, We See You
-Rev. Katie Kandarian-Morris
We reject any effort to erase transgender people. Come, build community together. Our choir will sing in support.
November 25
My Story
-Members of UUFD
We come together through telling our stories of faith and connection. Three of our members will share theirs. Come hear.
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Don't forget to FALL BACK
Daylight Savings Time ends at
2:00 am on
Sunday
,
November 4. Set your clocks back one hour!
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President's Message
Tom Miller
It's hard for me to challenge my own unconscious assumptions, the bases for my behavior that determine the ways I operate without really thinking about it; more specifically, how I interact with others in ways that can rub them the wrong way without me even being aware of it.
I participated in UUFD's kick-off workshop for Beloved Conversations. It was a little less than I might have expected in some cases, and a whole lot more in others. Less, in the sense that I expected that we would be talking about very difficult and intimate subjects, a challenge in a large newly formed group, which I and others might find threatening. We did talk about challenging subjects, naturally. However, the design and facilitation of the workshop created conditions where the level of threat was minimized. That fostered a climate in which real progress was made toward building a trusting, compassionate base for deeper conversations about race and class privilege which will happen in small groups over the next few months. We first focused on ourselves - how we relate to the issues of race, class, privilege - and then on how that plays out in our community of faith. I felt the surface being scratched up and look forward to what the ensuing dialogs in the small groups will uncover about me and us.
Everyone there (about 20% of our membership and a few very welcome non-members) expressed a willingness to enter into further dialog, with trust that those participating are genuinely interested in exploring differences and willing to accept the challenge to their historical and preconceived ideas. The small groups have accepted the invitation to deepening their commitment to self-exploration and justice. The small groups will become little learning communities that are likely to spread throughout the congregation and stimulate us to have more in-depth conversations on topics that matter. Stay tuned...
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Social Responsibility and Justice special feature
Letting the lesson of so many wise ones sink in, this month's article expresses gratitude for the gifts we enjoy and the opportunities we are offered to contribute to the lives of others.
VOTE!
However many the troubles in our country, we still enjoy the privilege of a democracy where we can speak our voice by voting for our political leaders and issues. Show your gratitude by exercising this extraordinary responsibility and privilege and vote. If you need a stamp, need a ride, or need a ballot to be dropped off, contact Bonnie
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Donate!
Two special opportunities are coming up where we can demonstrate gratitude for our blessings and our bounty by helping those less fortunate. Through the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee's Guest at Your Table program, we can contribute to their work on key human rights issues. The 2018-2019 theme is "Justice Across Borders." We can also help locally by bringing food donations to help the Durango Food Bank replenish their shelves of food for the needy. Details coming soon.
Volunteer!
Our Durango community is generous with its time and talent, with many opportunities to become involved in doing good work in the world. UUFD has four social justice teams working on issues and needs in the following areas: Immigration, Basic Needs, LGBTQ, and Healing Racism. Your help can make a difference. Stop by the SRJ table and see where you can become part of a team.
"We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count." -Neal A. Maxwell
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Four Corners Piano Quartet to perform
Join us for the second recital of our 2018-19 Recital Series
The second recital will take place on Friday, Nov. 16, at 7:00 pm and will feature the Four Corners Piano Quartet: Kay Newnam, violin, Danny DeSantis, viola, Anastasia Nellos, cello, and Marilyn Garst, piano. They will perform works from three centuries, including the Piano Quartet in E-flat Major written by W.A. Mozart in 1786; Circulo, a fantasia for piano trio written by Spanish composer Joaquin Turina in 1936, and the Piano Quartet in C Minor, written by Felix Mendelssohn when he was 13 in 1822.
Kay Newnam, a native of Los Alamos, is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She served as concertmaster and violin soloist of the Orchestra of Santa Fe and has been a member of the Ensemble of Santa Fe and the San Juan Symphony. Danny DeSantis is a member of the San Juan Symphony and the Grand Junction Symphony. He has also performed with other symphonies, his own jazz band, plus the Telluride Chamber Music Festival, the Telluride Music Fest, the Taos, N.M. Soundscapes and in local Durango music festivals. Anastasia Nellos is a performing member of the San Juan Symphony plus its Personnel Manager. She is also a member of other symphonies, the manager of and performer with the Giovanni String Quartet in Albuquerque, and maintains a cello teaching studio. Marilyn Garst was a faculty member for 25 years at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where she taught music, performed and served as Keyboard Studies Coordinator. Her past includes earning three degrees in music (BM, MM, PhD), college teaching in Kansas, and she is currently is a pianist for this fellowship and Artistic Director of this Recital Series.
Admission can be purchased at the door or by our website.
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Practicing Gratitude All the Time
Notes & News from Faith Formation
Kids' Samhain Prayer
as we celebrate the cycle of death and rebirth.
Tonight we speak to those through the veil,
the lines between worlds are thin and frail.
Ghosts and spirits in the night,
magical beings rising in flight,
owls hooting up in a moonlit tree,
I don't fear you and you don't fear me.
As the sun goes down, far to the west,
my ancestors watch over me as I rest.
They keep me safe and without fear,
on the night of Samhain, the Witches' New Year.
Thank you
to the UUFD CUUPS (Covenant of UU Pagans) for offering a special Samhain gathering on Oct. 27, the Sunday worship on Oct. 28 and to Gwyn Adams, CUUPS member, for providing resources for the kids Samhain curriculum. CUUPS gathers regularly at UUFD. Contact Linda Gumper or see
the calendar
.
Thank you
to all families with children and youth in attendance at October's 1st Sunday Family Meet-Up Breakfast (see picture). Next 1st Sunday Family Breakfast is Sun, Nov. 4 at 9:15 in Columbine House. Breakfast is provided with allergy-friendly options. Feel free to bring a dish to share but not necessary.
Thank you to the 30 Beloved Conversations participants and facilitators who gave of an entire weekend to do deep personal and congregational anti-racist training. The work will continue in small group gatherings over the next several months and include a worship service this spring.
Thank you also to all the support people who made the weekend happen.
Thank you to our Beloved Conversations trainer, Julica Hermann De la Fuente.
Thank you for sharing with us in the practice of giving as we begin the annual Guest At Your Table (GAYT) program for the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC). The event will kick off with pulpit guest Mary Katherine Morn, President and CEO of the UUSC. Pick up your GAYT box that Sunday.
 It is easy this time of year to be in awe while landscaping. Yesterday was one such day. The autumnal changes and colors easily call me into the present. I nearly snipped a Saffron Crocus while cutting back some Solomon's Seal. A barberry shrub summoned me into child-like wonder with it's indescribably vibrant oranges, reds and pinks. The yellow tops of trees bordering the Animas river below will likely be gone in 48 hours. At the end of this amazingly grateful day, I wondered how can I access this connection, this gratitude with things and moments which I perceive to be annoying, ugly or unkind. That connectivity is available to me all the time. It is always accessible. I can be grateful in all things, not just the beautiful things if I practice.
Gratefully,
Lisa McCorry
Director of Faith Formation
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Leadership experience 2019
Leadership development program for the Pacific Western Region
Only 7 spots left for UUA's Leadership Experience 2019 - Pacific Western Region's new hybrid in-person/online leadership development program beginning in January 2019 with a weekend retreat in Albuquerque. Click here
for more information. Please inquire with Allison Andersen if interested.
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 Artists' group to meet Fridays
Calling all UU artists and aspiring artists at any level or media. We meet every Friday 9-12 in Bowman Hall. This is not a class, but we may have the occasional lesson from a local artist. An RSVP is required so that we know how to set up the room.
Email Aline if you wish to be added to the list and receive notifications.
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