A Message from Rev. Barbara

Leadership Development at UUFD

When you think of congregational life here at UUFD, what comes to mind first? In addition to Sunday morning worship, or connections through affinity groups, or service in the greater Durango community, I expect that many of you name some of UUFD’s many Committees, which are under the leadership of the Board, and Teams, which are under the minister. These groups of lay volunteers are the heart and soul of shared ministry in this fellowship. Are you aware that there are nearly forty volunteer groups at UUFD, depending on how you break out their subgroups? The list, from finance, to personnel, to faith formation, to membership, to social justice, speaks of a very engaged and committed congregation. If you want to learn more about any team or committee, see the display of these shared ministries in Bowman Hall, first floor.

At the January meeting of the Leadership Council, I offered some tips for leadership development which can make these groups, which are central to the life of this fellowship, all the more functionally effective and spiritually enlightening. The twenty-some chairs of the groups who attend Leadership Council heard my ideas. I want to review some of those comments here, since this newsletter reaches not only chairs but all of you who serve on Committees and Teams. Perhaps these ideas will inspire you to sign on to new volunteering, or to step up to leadership in an arena in which you have volunteered but not chaired. I trust that each and every congregant in this spiritual community is already involved in at least one area of volunteering. Our free church can’t exist without volunteers.

Here are a few tips for lay participation on UUFD’s committees and teams. 

1. Create clearly defined terms of service: I recommend three years as a reasonable time for service on any given team or committee -- long enough to learn the ropes, but not so long as to risk burnout. Regular rotation off is important to make room for new folks to engage in that particular area of congregational life.
2. Each team or committee currently has a chair to oversee operations. I urge each of your groups to designate a co-chair who can assume leadership in the case of absence of the chair (you are a congregation with more than average out-of-town travel), and to groom the next chair of the group. Chairs must be members of the congregation, while non-leader group members do not require membership.
3. A reasonable term of service on any group could look like the following: the first year as a member of the group, second year as co-chair, and third year as chair. A regular program of leadership training as provided during Leadership Council can help nurture leadership skills.
4. Similar to regular rotation within any given group, I also recommend that all group personnel and leadership changes occur generally at the same time of the year. Most congregations do this change-over in the summer. In 2024 this timing could coincide with the change-over of professional ministry. I assure you that a concerted, intentional plan for committee and team rotation simplifies record-keeping of these roles for the UUFD business office.
5. I also invite UUFD Leadership Council to return to an activity I understand existed pre-COVID: a Volunteer Fair, perhaps in June to prepare for turnover of group memberships in August. In a Volunteer Fair teams and committees create displays which explain the purpose and engagement of the group, with a chance especially for newcomers to learn more about the group. I encourage each congregant to consider volunteering in an activity you’ve never done before, or thought you had any talent for: if we can’t “stretch” at church, where can we expand our experiences?
6. Finally, as UUFD continues work on the all-congregation covenant started during on Jan. 21 under leadership of UUA Primary Contact, Rev. Sarah Gibb Millspaugh, I urge each team or committee to create your own covenant, to articulate your mutual promises for service to that group.

Our congregations of liberal faith, organized by congregational polity, depend on the stewardship of congregants, not only for giving of “treasures,” but also for their “time” and “talents.” What new areas of exploration, learning, and giving await your signing up?

Yours in Community,

Rev. Barbara

President's Message

It’s that time of year when the days are getting longer and my thoughts “spring” ahead a few months with anticipation of the warmer days that will soon be with us. Soon I’ll be fly fishing along a river or stream and, before we know it, we’ll be celebrating together at our annual Four Corners Retreat. The Carpenters are once again graciously providing their riverside pavilion at Pine Song. Nestled just south of Vallecito Lake on the banks overlooking the Pine River, Pine Song is a special place where all of us can relax and interconnect with each other and spiritually relate to what our planet has to offer.

During January’s Leadership Council Meeting your friends confirmed that this year’s retreat will be held the weekend after Independence Day, July 12-14. “Forging Connections” is the theme and reflects the outreach we desire with each other and our UU friends in our local region.

Sometime soon, maybe even prior to when you read this, we will have our first Retreat Team organizational meeting. Join Karen Klinger, myself, and others with making this an event we can all celebrate. Contact me by email at president@durangouu.org if you want to join our team!

In gratitude and respect,

Steve Govreau

Love courageously. Inspire spiritual growth. Work for justice.

Brenda Huffman's "My Story"

Note: Following is the transcript of Brenda Huffman's "My Story," presented during worship on Feb. 18.

Kathleen Adams asked me if I would “tell my story” today. Oh, I love stories—hearing them, reading them (especially to my son when he was little), making them up, experiencing them. So, what story should I tell? My love story? Hmm, that’s probably a story for another day. My mountain lion story? Well, that’s definitely a story for another day. 

How about my UUFD story? My Unitarian Universalism story has unlikely roots in the plains of northern Texas, in wind-swept central Wyoming, and in the hills of southeast Oklahoma. …that part of the story is also for another day.   

Today’s story is about this bike and UUFD. I love to bike. Don’t forget, Durango Derailers is our current “share the plate” partner. But what do UUFD and THIS bike have to do with each other? I started coming to UUFD looking for a new community—something different from my work community and my friends’ community, something spiritual and with music. What I found was so much more. What I found was THIS bike.   

A bike has many different parts, all necessary for it to work well: the frame, the stem, the seat post, the seat, the cranks, the pedals, the cassettes, the derailers, the handlebars, the gear shifters, the brakes, the wheels, and the tires. Oh - and the paint job and the fashion. 

Like THIS bike, THIS church has many different parts. I found a beautiful, well-cared-for facility, a wonderful variety of music with many congregants’ participation, and sermons and talks from our ministers and lay members, drawing from many different religious and non-religious sources—often challenging, always educational. I found so many different committees and teams with focus on social issues, environmental justice, healthy communication and - oh, the children—participating in services and their sweet voices coming from the back of the sanctuary.   

So I joined the church, and I got on the bike. I started pedaling. So many routes were open to me. Choir, new friends, new community, teams, additional education—history of UU and UUFD, online classes during the pandemic around White Fragility; and more recently, in person, on Repentance and Repair and creating congregational covenant. And I literally got on my bike and went biking with the UUFD biking group. All those bike parts need maintenance and repair—so we create covenant and have the HCC. 



Where do I or we go from here? What is our next story? Well, we look at that climb in front of us. We shift gears so that we can reach the next summit. It will be hard, and there will be conflicts, but we work as a team. We get in a pace line. When I am tired, I fall back and let others pull. When I am feeling strong, I move to the front of the line and pull for a while. But as a team, as a congregation, we can climb, we can pedal into the wind, we can support each other and move our team forward. We can….gear up for our future. That is our story for today. 

February News from Faith Formation

“When I change, the world changes.” 

―Ma Theresa "Tet" Gustilo Gallardo

March, the unruly month where it’s as likely to blizzard as it is to be a balmy 65 degrees. A month where winter transforms into a tentative spring here in Colorado. We long to plant our gardens, but risk plants freezing even under the hotcaps we may remember our grandparents using. By any definition, our season is in a moment of transformation. 

Faith Formation in March

Sunday Faith Formation Focus

March 3. Transformation: Change Happens.  An exploration of our living tradition and Article II

March 10. Transformation: Ramadan. How this Islam tradition calls the faithful to transform from the call of the everyday to the spiritual.

March 17. Transformation: Spring! The season of going from dormancy to growth.

March 24. Transformation: Holi. Change ignorance into learning.

March 31. Transformation: From sad hearts to hopeful hearts.  This is a multi-gen service, so the children and youth will be present for the entire service. 

Faith Formation Easter Canned Food Hunt: Seeking Donations for Grub Hub

The Easter canned food hunt was such a success last year that we’re doing a repeat this year with Fort Lewis Grub Hub as the beneficiary. Did you know that 49% of Fort Lewis College students experience food insecurity? We welcome your donations of non-perishable foods suitable for college students who may be primarily using a microwave as their mode of cooking and whose access to refrigeration is limited. Single serving sizes are perfect for this group. A non-inclusive list includes mac & cheese, gluten-free pasta, Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice, dried fruit snacks, single serve soups, fruit cups, protein bars, peanut butter,  canned tuna, canned salmon, canned chicken, Hormel Compleats, canned stew, and so on. If you’re drawn to make a larger donation directly to Grub Hub, a wishlist is posted on Amazon.   

Look for the decorated box at the back of the sanctuary to leave your donations between now and Easter Sunday (March 31).  

Introduction to Meditation Begins March 11

If you’ve been thinking about adopting a meditation practice, here’s your invitation to join a 3-session class that begins on March 11 and meets every other week for three weeks.  This class is for anyone who has thought about this but doesn’t know where to begin, or doesn’t want to engage in a rigorous Zen practice that requires hours of silence while sitting in a Lotus position. Some describe prayer as us talking to God or Spirit or a Higher Power. Meditation is the opposite practice: becoming present enough to become aware of the intuitive nudges that we may subscribe as an inner knowing or higher power or God. Meditation is a documented practice to help people be more focused, more calm, more able to handle the stresses of daily life, more in touch with that intangible something that makes us our best selves. This 3-session class will use The Meditation Book, which  is available at Amazon as both a paperback and Kindle (ebook).  To register, click here.  

Volunteers and a Teacher Still Needed

Faith Formation still has an open position for a teacher for elementary and middle school age children.  No formal teaching experience is required.  We’re looking for an active person who might enjoy off-campus activities with kids (bowling, biking, hiking) as much as being with them on Sundays. If you know of anyone interested, please put them in touch with Sharon Mignerey (faithformation@durangouu.org).

Every Sunday, we also need volunteers for both the youngest children and for the older ones.  Nothing is required of you except to like spending time with kids. If you’re like to join this pool of “teacher assistants,” please reach out of Sharon Mignerey (faithformation@durangouu.org).

Personal Faith Development  -- the Gifts of Transformation

i am a learning to be a part of the healing of the world

because i am willing to learn to be me

-Amy Lloyd

I’m especially drawn to these closing two lines of Amy Lloyd’s lovely poem “I am Learning” because it implies we continue to grow and change through our entire lives. At least, I hope we do. We are the beneficiaries of learners who came before us who gave up chiseling symbols into rocks for an ink quill on parchment for a fountain pen for a typewriter for a word processing program on a computer. And that is only one tiny example of the ever changing, ever transforming ideas and technologies our imaginations have created.  

Imagine that idea. I am learning. I am learning. I am learning … what? By now your imagination is tired of the repetition and is taking its own leap forward into that thing you’ve been considering. Notice how that makes you feel. A little bit nervous, maybe? A little bit excited, maybe? What do you want to learn? It might be playing the piano or learning to be a community organizer for social justice. It might be learning to scuba dive or becoming a master gardener. The what doesn’t matter. It’s the learning that counts.

Take some time this month to let your imagination soar. When those first daffodils and tulips poke their heads out of the ground, they are transforming winter into spring. Your own learning does the same thing in your life. Let it in the curiosity and the learning. Be transformed into some new aspect of self that longs to be seen.

“It is the closing of the heart far more than the closing of the mind that keeps folk from transformation and deepening.”

— Jean Houston in Search for the Beloved

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon Mignerey, Coordinator of Faith Formation

Special announcements from the Board

Please update your calendars

Notice of Special Congregation Meeting

A SPECIAL CONGREGATION MEETING will take place April 14 at 11:30am to vote on the proposed Bylaw changes extending Board member terms from 2 years to 3 years and providing for the election of officers by the Board rather than the congregation. It is the Board's intent that these and related changes will assist the congregation in its search for those willing to serve on the Board and enable a process for developing and growing experienced Board leadership. This will be a one-agenda-item meeting, and proxies will be allowed per our Bylaws. Click here for the Proposed versus Current Bylaws. (Note the proposed changes, and the rationale for those changes which are highlighted in yellow.)

Notice of change of date of Board Town Hall

The Board of Trustees Town Hall meeting following the March 26 Board Meeting, regularly scheduled for March 31st, is changed to April 7 due to a special Easter event.

Mission: Support Kids

Social Justice & Responsibility highlights foster child support organization

This month the Social Justice & Responsibility Team is spotlighting Mission: Support Kids, the brainchild of Alex Todak-Schwartz (pictured), a long-time UUFD member. Alex, as some of you may remember, is the adopted daughter of UUFD old friends Betty and Norbert Schwartz.  

Mission: Support Kids has been a long-time dream of Alex’s since she grew up in foster care before being adopted as a teenager.  She remembers the fear and anxiety around being removed from her “home,” with little to no notice, and given a trash bag for all her belongings. She wondered how she could help ease this trauma among other foster kids by providing them with something that was soothing and comforting. Thus, Mission: Support Kids was born.  

Since 2020, Mission: Support Kids has been providing foster kids with their own personal backpacks filled with items meant to help their often-abrupt transitions from home to home. Alex worked with child psychologists to determine age-appropriate items for the backpacks, and the Department of Human Services to set up a program for distributing them.  

In 2021, members of the UUFD helped Alex apply for and receive a UUA grant which launched her program. She and her partner, Hannah Letzler, from the River Church in Durango, began buying supplies and collecting donations for the backpacks. Hannah is a foster parent and had been running a small donation program for foster kids through her own church. 

To date, Mission: Support Kids has distributed 124 backpacks to transitioning foster kids. Alex and Hannah are confident that these backpacks serve as emotional support for the kids, and remind them that people care about them enough to give them new and special items that are uniquely theirs.

Please support Alex and Hannah’s endevour with your donations and your loving encouragement.

New membership classes March 9 and 10

All are welcome

Two events for new and existing UUFD members are coming up!

Do you have questions about our Unitarian Universalism? What is the UU link to Transylvania?! Do you know the history of our UU church here in Durango? Are you interested in membership at UUFD? Bring your questions to a membership class, UU History and Beliefs, on Saturday, March 9 from 12:30 to 3 pm! This is open to the whole congregation. Come meet with the Membership Team, Rev. Barbara Coeyman (a talented UU historian), and several leaders from our congregation.

On Sunday, March 10, from 11:30 am to 2 pm, join us for UUFD Opportunities and enjoy conversation and fellowship with new people over a light lunch on Sunday after the service. We will also introduce you to activities and opportunities for service within our congregation, in the community and beyond.

Mark your calendar: A reception of new members will take place at our service on March 24.

To sign up, please visit the Welcome Center on Sunday mornings, or contact Carroll at cgroeg@gmail.com.

Connect with other UUs in our region!

Register now for UUA Pacific Western Regional Assembly April 19-20, occurring in Denver and online

The 4th Regional Assembly will be held in Denver on April 19 and 20 at the beautiful First Universalist Church. You can attend either in person or online. The keynote address will feature a conversation between UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt and the new President of the United Church of Christ, Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson. There will be inspirational worship, workshops, and a craft room. There will be a reception Friday evening. We will also host a continental breakfast and catered lunch on Saturday. This is a family friendly event, with childcare.

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Courtyard Marriot Hotel Cherry Creek. Sign up for no-host dinner groups Saturday evening to continue the conversations. Register today by clicking here.

A drop in the bucket toward reparations

From UUFD's Anti-Racism Team

Perhaps you’ll recall the inspiring sermon from member Marianna Fischer back in August of 2023 entitled “Justice as an Expression of Love.” One of the questions she posed to the congregation still resonates: “If we think of racial justice as a critical force of love, can we mobilize to take greater action in our everyday lives?”

As part of this service, we acknowledged that many of the hymns and piano pieces included in the service were originally created by enslaved people. As you can imagine, the original creators of the music were not compensated for their creativity and their work at the time, nor have they or their descendants been systematically compensated since. We proposed a way to turn that acknowledgement into action: a financial donation to a local Black-led organization, as one small drop in the bucket toward reparations.

While planning the service, we looked into how other UU congregations have taken similar action, and appreciated how the UU Congregation of Columbia (Maryland) described the practice on their website. We encourage you to read more here: https://uucolumbia.net/uucc-spiritual-reparations-project/

At UUFD last August, at the end of the service at which Marianna spoke, we gathered a second offering, specifically in the spirit of reparations for use of the hymns and music in that service, with the intent to donate the funds to a local Black-led organization. We placed a basket at the back of the sanctuary and invited anyone who was inspired to donate after the service concluded. Our congregation raised a total of $335.22 that day, and we donated it to the Southwest Movement for Black Lives (SWM4BL, on Facebook here), centered here in Durango.

SWM4BL is a “collaborative, community movement wanting to raise awareness, educate and uplift Black and underrepresented voices in our community.” Some of you may have heard lead organizer Tracy Jones speak at the Durango High School Black Student Alliance fundraising dinner last week. SWM4BL is planning a Juneteenth celebration for this coming summer. Please keep your eyes out for details as we get closer to that time. We hope UU’s will show up!

Volunteer opportunities

There are so many ways to put your heart, skills and time to use at UUFD! Click here to see what's needed. You'll find a simple spreadsheet with current openings and all the information you need to raise your hand. Thank you in advance!

UUA takes official position on violence in Gaza

The Unitarian Universalist Association has released a statement condemning the violence against Gaza and urging a ceasefire. Read the statement here.

Announcement

A Celebration of Life for Robert Bogner will be held Saturday, March 16 at 11 am, with a reception to follow in Bowman Hall.