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510 N Leroux
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
928-779-4492
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Submissions must be submitted by Wednesday at 4:00 pm to office@beaconuu.com
in order to be included in the newsletter.
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Sunday Service, September 8, 2019
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Autumn People
Rev. Robin Landerman Zucker
In the words of a colleague, "Autumn people slow down, enjoy a certain pace." Sounds appealing, doesn't it? Most of us run around being bouncy Spring people year-round and 24/7, not looking very closely at much except our watches and our smartphones. Can you "remember the kind of September that's slow and oh-so-mellow," and if so, would you (could you) follow? Do you value rest? As we settle into Fall as a congregation, we'll explore ways we might join the ranks of Autumn people in a sped-up, over-stuffed world.
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~ Robin's Bird's-Eye View, September 2019 ~
With 100,000 or so residents, Koloszvar is one of the largest cities in Transylvania, where a large population of ethnic-Hungarian Unitarians resides. A ministerial colleague of mine visited there many years ago for their General Assembly, with nearly 5,000 Transylvanian Unitarians in attendance! (Can you imagine?)
He tells me that during his strolls around the metropolis, he noticed something quite baffling and quirky. Many (most) shops had no signage whatsoever informing consumers what type of commerce took place inside. He could wipe a circle in the steamy shop windows and peer inside and figure out through deductive reasoning that Shop #1 was a butcher, Shop #2 sold candy, and Shop #3 showcased the famed local embroidery. But no signs!
Even more puzzling was the apparent dearth of cafes and restaurants. Where was that mouth-watering aroma of food coming from anyway? Playing the sleuth (and getting hungrier by the minute), he discovered a series of courtyards tucked away from the streets, also unmarked and only known to "insiders." Life was going on in those courtyards and shops - eating, drinking, laughing, vigorous conversation, connection - and he stumbled upon it all with a bit of perseverance, yet mostly by accident.
At times, I wonder if newcomers to our UU congregations might feel a bit like my colleague. Are they peering in "windows" attempting to figure out how to attend a potluck lunch or sign up for an adult faith development course? Do they wonder if they have to pay for nursery care? Is it okay if my child attends Sunday School and if so, where is it? Where are the restrooms? Do visitors sometimes find themselves wandering around trying to locate the appealing sounds and aromas wafting from the "courtyards" where church life takes place?
Those of us who have been regulars or "insiders" within our community can do so much to help visitors and newer members get their bearings and feel visible and known. Sometimes it's as simple as wearing a nametag (hint, hint), a brief chat with a new face at social hour, or introducing yourself to a visitor in the Sanctuary. Perhaps you might take the initiative to personally invite a newcomer to an event or activity you believe he or she would enjoy (or may not know about) such as the upcoming Circle Suppers! There is a chair at the table for you! (see the sign up sheet elsewhere in this newsletter)
Or, you could ask the ministers or membership chair, Carleton Sheppard, for a list of newer folks to involve in projects and committees. Or, join the Membership team itself. We might assess whether our signage is inviting and informative. Can folks passing by tell how we are different from the church down the street? In a real sense, we are all called to begreeters and guides at Beacon's front door. May the folks who enter feel not only welcome and affirmed, but also actively welcomed and informed. Hol van a kávézó? (that's "Where is the café" in Hungarian)...just in case!
In faith, Rev. Robin
STARTING POINTS - AN INTRODUCTION TO THE UU JOURNEY FOR NEW AND RENEWED UUS. - With Rev. Robin , starting in October.
Whether you are new to Beacon or have been around a while, consider signing up for our engaging four- part Starting Points program (An Introduction to the UU Journey) that Rev. Robin will facilitate on Sundays, October 6, November 3, December1, and January 5, from 11:15-12:45.
Session One
: Your Journey - Sharing Our Stories and Spiritual Roadmaps
Session Two
: The Unitarian Universalist Journey & The Journey of our Congregation
Session Three
: Our Journey Together - The 3 Paths of Unitarian Universalism, Part I
Session Four
: The 3 Paths of Unitarian Universalism, Part 2 & Finding Your Tribe
Lunch will be served at the first session. Bring your own brown bag lunch to the remaining sessions. Participants will be invited to sign the membership book after the fourth session. Please sign up through the office so we can plan for your attendance with materials and refreshments.
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~ Beacon Town Hall! ~
September 22 at 11:30 is an opportunity to get an update on our progress - "Here We Grow". The Building Expansion Team is hosting an informative meeting, during which we will:
- Hear about our project process to date, including a quick tour of the expanded and improved building spaces. This will be followed by an overview of some specific details and features, as well as learning about work yet to be done.
- There will be an opportunity to ask questions and to volunteer for project elements that are Beacon's responsibility:
Building new office space downstairs and relocating furnishings.
Interior painting.
Finishing the background to become an important outdoor space for us.
And, of course you will be urged to continue paying your capital campaign pledge (or to consider making one if you have not yet done so).
The SJA committee leadership has graciously agreed to share this time with the BET, even though their meeting was scheduled earlier. Both sessions will happen concurrently - and we hope that participants in one can sit in on the other if timing works out.
Carl Taylor, BET Chair
Theresa DeBoer, BET Project Manager
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~ Recognition from the Board ~
Beacon UU Board recognizes the acumen and strength of the following, Bill Owen, Bill Towler, Bill Stewart and Mark James, who moved a refrigerator, donated by Mike Loven, into the church.
Thank you to Mark James who successfully led us in our annual service at Bushmaster Park.
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Save the Date
For the 22nd annual Beacon fundraising auction! The Beacon fundraising auction serves to raise money to support our values, create community, and support the joy of giving and receiving. The theme for this year's lively and fun congregation event is.... Under Construction!
Saturday, November 2nd
6:00 - 9:00 pm
Aspen Valley Golf Club | 1855 N Continental Dr | Flagstaff, AZ 86004
Free Childcare | Hors d'oeuvre & Desserts | Raffles & Door Prizes
More details about donating items and services will be forthcoming. Stay tuned!
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~ Circle Suppers ~
SIGN UP Time for Circle Suppers at Beacon
Break bread with a few other Beaconites
How it works:
- Any Member or Friend of Beacon signs up (with your partner and family, if you wish) by Tuesday September 24. You are signing up to participate in 3-5 potluck Suppers (or brunches or whatever) during October-April. Each Supper is held in the home of one member of the Circle; nobody hosts more than 1 Supper. Hosting is not required, so you can sign up even if your home is too small to host 8 people.
- Paul Beier assembles participants into "Circles" of ~6-8 adults (plus kids in kid-tolerant groups), notifies you of the Circle to which you have been assigned, and assigns one person to be the Ringleader of each Circle.
- The Ringleader of each Circle works with Circle to set the date for the first Supper at the Ringleader's home. At each Supper, the Circle selects a date & host for the next Supper. Continue until all hosts have held events.
"A Beacon tradition for 30 years"
What to do:
By Tuesday, September 24, use this
online form to provide your name, email, phone number, and the names of other adults and names & ages of kids who will participate with you. The form will also ask if your home can accommodate babies (<36 months) and kids (3 years and older), and will allow you to provide other information, such as "my house is too small for me to host" or "I will be gone all of September" or "please put me in a circle with Barack" or "please don't put me in a circle with Paul."
*OR*
Find the clipboard (carried by Paul or Maryann or Dora or Carleton) at a Sunday service during September and fill out the information by hand.
If you can't remember if you already signed up for Circle Suppers, just sign up - I will find the duplicates.
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~ Chalice Circles ~
Fourth Tuesday of the month.
Touchstones Chalice Circles are designed to meet our needs for belonging (intimacy) and meaning (ultimacy) by building friendships and providing opportunities to ponder life's questions, small and large, with others who share the common values of our UU Principles.
Chalice Circle continues to meet on the 4th Tuesday of each month. Discussion examines subjects as provided in the monthly journal of Unitarian Universalism, Touchstones.
To meet the needs of the congregation, we have made attendance open.
For further information contact Char Tarashanti or Lynda L. Dorweiler at ChaliceCircles@Beaconuu.com
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~ Beacon Group-Volunteer Event ~
Food Center Meal Service. Last Wednesday of each month.
Contact
Office@Beaconuu.com
for more information.
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~ REI Building Project Update ~
The outside of the building is looking more and more complete, with the exception of the shingles. Construction is moving mostly inside, with insulation and drywall happening this week. Things will be pretty messy inside during week over the next couple of weeks, but we've been assured by the construction superintendent that things will be cleaned up and the building will be useable over the weekends.
We are continuing to do some painting ourselves, in order to prepare the old kitchen and former purple room to become offices.
We have also procured an almost new refrigerator, which is now in use in the old kitchen. Our old refrigerator will be donated to Family Food Center.
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~ Religious Exploration ~
What were the numbers last week? Total =33!
This pie chart represents all child and family interactions related to Religious Education from 8/26 - 9/1
Coming up:
- September 8 6:00-8:00: High School Youth group
- September 8 6:00-8:00: Parents of Teens support group
- September 10 5:00-7:00: Taco Tuesday Family night! The food is free, the company is good! Stop in whenever you are able for some food and fellowship.
- Building Bridges program for 6th-8th graders! Please contact Amy Huntereece by Sept. 1 if you are interested in participating in this program. We have five interested middle school youth and need a couple more to make this program a go! Adults are needed as volunteers to help with visitations and classroom instruction.
Adult RE:
This month's talk is by Jim Tull. It is the first one released. Jim is "a global leader in strategic negotiation, facilitation, communication and conflict management, his UU Talk details how Understanding x Ability x Willingness = Trust. This presentation was recorded at the UUA in Boston MA during our inaugural UU Talks event themed: "Collaboration" (Retrieved from
http://uutalks.org/featured-uu-talks-availabl
e
)
- Monday September 23 6:45-8:00: Esoteric book club, book will be determined by the group. Meeting location TBA. For more information about this group, contact Amy Huntereece re@beaconuu.com
- 4th Tuesday @ 7:00 PM and 4th Sunday @ 11:30 AM Chalice circles. The next Tuesday meeting is on 9/24/19. The next Sunday meeting is on the 5th Sunday this month, 9/29/19. Contact Char Tarashanti at biobalance240@charter.net or (507) 990-3888.
- Also...Rev. Robin will be offering new workshops! Stay tuned for more details soon.
Coming up:
More details about upcoming programming, resources for UU parents, and curriculum related ideas for you to connect with your children will be posted regularly on the
RE blog
.
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~ Social Justice Allies (SJA) ~
Yeaaay! Tuesday evening Flagstaff City Council voted unanimously in support of a resolution urging the Arizona State Legislature to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), amending the Constitution to create equal rights for women and men. That agenda item took (maybe) 5 minutes, start to finish.
City Councils around the state are considering similar resolutions. Thank you to all you Beacon folks who showed up!
The ERA has never been ratified by the Arizona Legislature, even though both houses of Congress passed it in 1972! If ratified by Arizona-or another of the 13 states still reluctant to ratify-we would be the 38th state to do so, constituting the required 75 % of state ratifications.
Let's keep after our legislators to do the right thing: Ratify the ERA!
For your calendar
- Sunday, September 22, following the service (about 11:15): The next SJA meeting (please be aware this is a change from our originally scheduled September date). Rev. Robin Zucker, our new interim minister, will meet with us!
We'll pick up where we left off in our recent meetings on...
- A schedule for collection of school supplies for Killip School (Faith Moore has met with Killip Principal Joe Gutierrez);
- Planning how we move forward with a process for collaborating with NAU students in social justice work (I will put together a list of promising student organizations, gleaned from a document I received from a Student Services official);
- A preliminary look at this year's UUJAZ (UU Justice Arizona) network's Issues and Action Day plans (see below);
- Reviewing Beacon Policies and Procedures for Political Activity, approved by Beacon's Board of Trustees last year.
- Saturday (and part of Sunday!), October 26 and 27, at the UU Church of Surprise (AZ): UUJAZ Issues and Action Day 2019.
An opportunity to learn more about this year's events is now on the UUJAZ website! You'll see that there are some schedule, content and cost changes, including provision for yoga, siesta, dinner (and overnight home hospitality, if needed), and a worship service Sunday morning.
We are exploring possibilities for scholarships for the "whole enchilada" (Saturday and Sunday programming) as well as one-day financial support.
To learn more, go online to uujaz.org and click on "Learn More" for the schedule of activities for Issues and Action Day 2019. But I suggest holding off on registering until we can provide more information on scholarship opportunities. Watch for clarification on our googlegroup and in the next Weekly E-News.
We have (2) $50 scholarships for attendance at the Issues Day on Oct 26
In community,
Roz Clark, SJA Journalist
To reach Social Justice Allies, email:
SJA@beaconuu.com
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~ Yoga Interest Survey ~
Please complete
this brief interest survey
to help us determine the interest level for the resumption of yoga classes at Beacon (once construction has completed). This will help the instructor determine the most appropriate day & times for class(es).
**The form has been fixed; if you tried to use it in the past and it wasn't working, please try again.
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~ September Share the Plate Partner ~
Beacon is sharing the plate with Poore Free Medical Clinic for September 2019
Founded in 1911 by Dr. Henry Poore, the clinic offers free medical and dental care to low income, uninsured individuals and families living in Coconino County. The majority of patients are the working poor who qualify because they live at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level.
Attending to patient's medical and dental needs enables them to better their lives. The clinic earned the title of Flagstaff Organization of the Year in 2013.
Services offered are Primary Care, Chronic Illness Care, Acute Illness Care, Children's Health, Sports Physicals, and Dental Care.
Dental Services offered are Full dental exam with x-rays, Filling cavities, Simple dental extractions, and Dental cleanings by a hygienist.
Undesignated contributions in this month's offerings above $350 will be presented to the Poore Free Medical Clinic. Nominations for 501c3 agencies can be made through a form located at the bottom of the stairs in the CAC folder. Office@beaconuu.com
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~ Events in the Community ~
This Saturday, September 7, there will be a Climate Change Town Hall at Coconino High School: 2801 N Izabel St, Flagstaff, AZ 86004,
10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
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Free Class: Stop the Bleed - Save a Life. Bleeding Control Basics Course.
Class dates available for September and October:
Sept 8th & 24th,
Oct 12th & 21st
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~ Beacon Calendar
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Choir Practice
Thursday, September 5, 2019
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
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Painting (kitchen)
Monday, September 9, 2019
All day
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Painting (kitchen)
Friday, September 6, 2019
All day
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Construction Meeting
Monday, September 9, 2019
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
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Worship & Religious Exploration
Sunday, September 8, 2019
10:00 am - 11:00 am |
Ted Talks
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
10:00 am - 11:00 am
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High School Youth Group
Sunday, September 8, 2019
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
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Taco Tuesday
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
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Parents of Teens Support Group
Sunday, September 8, 2019
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
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Finance Team Meeting
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm |
If you would like to submit a calendar event, send an email to
office@beaconuu.com
. With all requests, please indicate the following: proposed start and end time of the event, the space/room preferred, and a rough group size. On the occasion of a cancellation or rescheduling of an event, please let the office know in a timely fashion to ensure that your event is correctly represented in the newsletter and order of service. Thank you!
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Beacon Office Hours* & Contacts
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Office Phone (928) 779-4492
Minister,
Rev. Robin Zucker
Mon: 11:00 am - 4:00 pm
Wed: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Thurs:10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Or by appointment:
978-505-7245 - talk and text (confidential line)
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Director of RE,
Amy Huntereece
Sun: 8:00 am - 1:00 pm
2nd & 4th Sun: 5:30 pm - 8 pm
Wed:
8:00 am - 1:00 pm
Or by appointment
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Office Manager,
April Yax
Tues: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Wed: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Thurs: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Or by appointment
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*PLEASE NOTE CONSTRUCTION & VACATIONS MAY ALTER THESE HOURS UNTIL FALL.
Beacon board, committee, and staff email addresses can be found here:
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~
Unitarian Universalist Seven Principles
~
Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote seven Principles, which we hold as strong values and moral guides. We live out these Principles within a "living tradition" of wisdom and spirituality, drawn from
sources
as diverse as science, poetry, scripture, and personal experience.
Learn more at beaconuu.com!
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~ Website Updates ~
Dear Members and Friends,
Public users of the Beacon website see only the public facing information. There are many pages of additional information available to those who have registered and are assigned the role of "Member" or "Friend" by the webmaster. To get started click register.
Be sure to record your username and password somewhere safe. If you are listed in the Beacon directory send an email to
webmaster@beaconuu.com to set your role for access to information about what the leadership is up to, minutes of meetings, decisions of the Board, projects planned by the Core Leadership Council, as well as contact information for members and committee chairs. Your Beacon website is the place to go for copies of the bylaws, policies, and other documents that establish the business of Beacon.
Webmaster@beaconuu.com
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Beacon Google Group
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If you are not on Beacon's exclusive Google group, you are missing out on an important communications link within our congregation. It is useful for spreading information about something going on in Flagstaff, informing others of social action activities, offering an item for sale or to give away, sharing enthusiasm about a book or movie, requesting information or recommendations -- and more! It's simple to sign up! Email our Office Manager, at
office@beaconuu.com or Visit:
https://groups.google.com/d/forum/uuflag
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