ISSUE 39                                                                                                                                                                                  SEPTEMBER 2019
White Fragility Book Discussion 
Tuesdays, September 24, October 1, and October 8
7 - 8:30 p.m.

Join Rev. Wendy Williams for a three-part discussion of Robin DiAngelo's "White Fragility."
Books available for purchase at the UUA Bookstore and other retailers.  Class limited to 12. Sign up online today .
Heroes and Planned Giving
JUC Legacy Circle members are heroes. These members of our community demonstrate at least two qualities:

1. They care enough for themselves and their loved ones to make known their wishes for their end of life.

 

2. They pay their blessings forward to sustain the values and causes they have found important in their lives. 

 

Like many heroes, our legacy contribution to JUC may be large or small and take several forms.  Contact JUC's planned giving coordinators: Bud & B.J. Meadows , Mike Kramer or Carol Wilsey
Breaking News: JUC Craft Faire Gets Underway
JUC crafters, it's time to get creative. The 2019 JUC Annual Craft Faire will be held on December 6 and 7 Application forms will be available soon. M embers and pledging friends will get early acceptance into the Faire, so submit your application early.  Help is also needed planning the Faire.  Contact: Nancy Bolt  
Expectations - In Love
September is almost here, and with it comes expectations. Not only in our monthly theme, but also in some of the churnings at Jefferson Unitarian Church. As your new Director of Religious Educator, I am holding some of those expectations - which is to be expected. I have spoken to parents who want to know what their children should expect when they arrive at their new RE classes; what will they be learning, what will their class experience be like? Some parents want to know if changes are to be expected, and others have shared what they expect to be changed. Teachers have important expectations of the lessons and the kind of support they will receive.

Children have expressed their own type of expectations. They would like to have fun and school on Sunday is not fun. They do not expect to sit around all the time, and they expect not to be bored - their words, not mine. I am listening and expecting a wonderful year ahead of us. I am also expecting a few bumps in the road because I have been a religious educator long enough to know there is no avoiding bumps. 

Let us hold one another's expectations - In Love.  
 
And expectations are a lot to hold. If we look at expectations in our personal lives, there is vulnerability all around us. There are expectations that our bodies will work in a particular manner, and it no longer does. This can be a devastating shift in existence that changes everything once known about ourselves and the world. There are work, home, or family expectations, pulling from all sides until there feels like there is nothing left to give. There are those collections of expectations that are unattainable and create cycles of disappointment and feelings of failure. But then there is the ability to break free of expectations and every moment is a victory in being our own compass. 

Let us remember to hold each other's known and unknown expectations - In Love.
 
No matter where we are in understanding what expectation means in our lives, I look forward to journeying with all of you this month, and for the many months and themes to come. We have so much to create together. A dear colleague and creator of Full Week Faith; Karen Bellavance-Grace invites us into "experi-learning." A place where we are free to vision and try new things together. A place where we hold onto what we learn and release what doesn't work, without it being wrong. As we learn to be in this new ministry together, let us remember that we get to make mistakes. This allows us to be our authentic selves, which includes the mistakes we make. 
Let us be wonderful, let us grow and become- together; with mistakes and expectations - In Love.
 
Greetings to my new friends at JUC!
My name is Jenny McCready, and I will be your new intern minister for the next two years. While I have attended many services and other events at JUC, my home congregation has been First Universalist for the last 16 years. 

I grew up in Bear Valley, in southwest Denver and went to Notre Dame for elementary and Kennedy for high school. After some college, I took off and lived in the Bay Area, Virginia and Missouri, before getting an Irish passport and spending most of six years in England and Ireland (it's handy to have Kitty Cunningham as one's grandmother!). I spent most of my twenties building ecovillages in all of those places and driving horse carriages. I was wild and free and eager to explore the world, and save it, of course...
When I was nearly 30, I imported an Irishman, married him at First Unitarian, and we have four children, Devon (19), Grainne (16, pronounced grawn-yuh), Conall (nearly 12) and Cliodna (9, pronounced klee-UH-nuh). In 2015 we were divorced and we continue to live near each other in Lakewood to share parenting the kids. The older kids are with their dad most weekends, so you may not see too much of them around JUC. 

In 2017 I met my lovely partner Jason, a widowed carpenter living in Shawnee, and his little boy Kyle. Last summer, Kyle (now 6) asked me to be his mommy and I accepted, so now I have five! 

I am a seminarian at Meadville Lombard Theological School. It is a low-residency program, so I will be spending a few weeks here and there attending classes in Chicago, as well as most of January. As part of my program, I have just spent the summer as an Intern Chaplain at Collier Hospice in Wheat Ridge.

I still love driving horses, though I haven't had much time to since I started seminary. I love hiking, biking, swimming, camping and travelling. I have a great camper and we enjoy taking it all over the place. Of course, I love reading and writing and I look forward to developing my preaching skills. I used to be a spinner, knitter and cross stitcher and I hope to find time to work those relaxing activities back into my life. Jason is a Nichiren Buddhist and part of a home study group. We enjoy chanting together or in groups and we like to spend our free time at his mountain house in Shawnee.

I'm looking forward to meeting each of you as I start my internship September 1. Thank you for the opportunity to serve your congregation as I learn and grow in my ministerial formation. 
 
hero with a Small "h"

In a recent board meeting, we were asked to describe what JUC has done for us as members of the congregation. With the Summer Heroes series still fresh on my mind and heart, the lasting impression it made reminded me of the opportunity that JUC provides us as members - to become everyday heroes. 

It wasn't long ago that my wife and I joined JUC. Soon after we joined, my long-anemic social consciousness slowly awakened. I began volunteering as a greeter and usher, then as a driver and host for Family Promise, and then as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. My experience in each new activity was incredibly rewarding, and only increased my desire to give more of myself. And so I did. 

Sunday services during the Heroes series were highlighted by inspiring stories shared by members of the congregation. One presenter described his hero as one "without a capital H", without cape and spandex, but with a small "h" and a briefcase full of lesson plans and stories that tugged on the heart strings. It was a well-deserved and inspirational tribute to our teachers. 

Before joining JUC, I felt that I'd lived my life as a good person, but one whose social contributions were less than stellar. I was a good dad and husband, but I was no hero. Not with a capital "H" nor small "h." No "h". So after pondering the Board Meeting question a bit, and a quick glance back through my transformation from sleeper to contributor, my answer was easy. 

And I am grateful for the gift that JUC has granted me--the opportunity to be a hero (with a very small "h" of course). 

I believe that this church needs us all to be heroes. It needs us to work together to help JUC evolve as we evolve, to face new challenges and set new goals as it moves forward. So, with my Governance handbook, meeting notes, Board Greeting cheat sheet, and Family Promise driver instructions stuffed into my backpack, I'm off to do my part. And I look forward to worshipping and working with you, my fellow heroes, as we lean in together to realize the mission of our wonderful church. 
 
Kermit Was Wrong!

It's actually not that hard to be green! But it does take some critical mass, so consider helping JUC's Green Task Force to make a positive impact at JUC and beyond ours walls. For starters, let us add you to our low volume email list to keep you posted.

Already in the works is an event Sunday, September 15 at 7 p.m. near worldwide Youth Climate Strike where we'll learn from Nick Venner, a Lakewood high school student, about why he joined a youth lawsuit alleging our government is criminally negligent on climate issues. These youths are fighting for our future and we'll learn how we can support them. Visit the Colorado Climate Strike website for more info on what's happening around the state.

Later this fall we'll offer two trainings on reducing your family's climate footprint, one at JUC and one during the JUC retreat in October. 

Because transportation is a big chunk of our climate footprint we're also encouraging people to switch to electric vehicles with an upcoming  "show & drive" and are working on a group buy for 2019 long range Nissan Leaf EVs at around 60% of MSRP. Several people at JUC already bought one under earlier group buys or own EVs from other manufacturers and can share their overwhelmingly positive experiences. Let us know if you're one of them.

Another task ahead is making the case for how our new campus, once chosen, can meet Green Sanctuary criteria and work on a complete list of green features of our current location to eventually facilitate its sale. 
We're also sponsoring the volunteer training for the Metro Denver Green Homes ( Thursday, October 3 at 6 p.m.) which then takes place Saturday, October 5. Volunteers first learn about all the ways homes can be made more efficient and then spend half a day at one of the tour homes guiding visitors. The tour is a great way to visit homes that show what is possible.

Currently our monthly speaker series is at the core of our activities. Our next talk on Thursday, September 16 at 7 p.m. features the co-founder of  Swift, Becky English, on " Rapid Transit:  Electric, automated, elevated, and hyper-energy-efficient!". Most past presentations, such as the one from August with Golden architect Peter Ewers making the case for the all-electric building, are available on our YouTube channel.

If you have suggestions on anything green or relating to sustainability don't hesitate to share it, whether it's for a new documentary, an inspiring presenter, or practical workshop topic.  Contact Martin Voelker to get involved or simply to get notified of upcoming Green Task Force events.
 
Habitat for Humanity Update

JUCers Build Homes

Many thanks to the JUCers who turned out on Friday, August 2 to work on the house we're sponsoring at Swansea Homes: Stephanie Wells; Jim Mayer; Nickie Harris and Nickie's daughter Chelsie Emmerson; Diane Flannery and Diane's sister Patricia Flannery; Linda Hartman and Steve Stevens. The house is a lot farther along than it was on our last build day back in May. We mostly put up siding, both ground level and higher up from ladders and scaffolding. See photos below. Hard work on a hot day, but worth the feeling of accomplishment at day's end knowing how much it will benefit the hard-working family that moves in when the house is done. Safe, stable, affordable housing is the foundation of opportunity. Habitat for Humanity has made that possible for 1,000 families in the 40 years H4H has served metro Denver.

JUC is a member of Jeffco Interfaith Partners, a coalition of seven congregations which sponsors one H4H home every year.  Sponsorship means raising the seed money ($40,000-$80,000) and supplying the volunteer labor. We're on our 20 th home this year.

Pumpkin Patches

Once again, Jeffco Interfaith Partners' primary fundraiser will take place in October at two locations: Mile-Hi Church in Lakewood and Trinity Presbyterian Church in Arvada.  We will be looking for many volunteers to unload pumpkins in early October, and many more volunteers to take shifts selling pumpkins until Halloween. Stay tuned for sign-up details. If someone who lives near Trinity Presbyterian in Arvada area has the time and willingness in October to relieve JUC's indefatigable Judy Douglass as Pumpkin Patch supervisor, please contact me via email.