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SEPTEMBER

2011

PLEASE COME TO THE INGATHERING  BREAKFAST

Sunday, September 11, starting at 9:00 a.m.

There will be an Ingathering Breakfast again this year on the first Sunday of the church year.  You will have a choice of eggs, bacon, sausages, pancakes, fruit salad, cornbread, and the usual beverages. Food should be ready at 9:00 a.m. and will be served until 9:45 a.m. Cost for this all-you-can-eat breakfast is $6 for adults; kids eat free!  So come eat, register for Church School, socialize and find out what your friends have been up to.

CHURCH SCHOOL

Parents will have time to register their children for Church School during the breakfast. 
Registration is $15 per child with a maximum of $35 per family.

WELCOME BACK!

September 4 at 9:00 a.m.:     Vi Fairweather & Bob Waterman

                               Our 3^rd Principle                                          

Vi Fairweather with the help of Bob Waterman will invite the congregation to explore our 3^rd Principle, "Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations."  As we prepare to begin a new church year, we want to be as welcoming, inclusive, nurturing and caring as possible.

The Sunday Worship Services and Religious Education Program begin at 10:30 a.m.

September 11:         Ingathering – A House For Hope Tracey Robinson-Harris

Welcome and welcome back!  This is an intergenerational service with child care provided for our youngest.  The sermon, entitled A House For Hope (taken from the book of that name by John Buehrens and Rebecca Parker) will explore Unitarian Universalism as an opportunity and a source for hope. The choir will be singing this morning.  Annie Giddings is our storyteller today.

September 18:         Questions From The Edge           Tracey Robinson-Harris

The sermon explores how questions can help create a shift in perspective, in focus, in response that can, in turn, move us toward changes that will deepen and strengthen our life in community.  The theme is in keeping with the focus for our 6^th - 7^th grade Religious Education Class - “The Questing Year.”  Erik Lindgren and the Goli Consort (flute, piano, cello & marimba) will provide special music for our morning worship.  The quartet will present an exciting “crossover classical program” in concert at the Middleborough Public Library on Saturday evening, September 17, at 7:30 p.m.

September 25:         To Turn Round Right Tracey Robinson-Harris

The coming week brings the Jewish High Holy Days – Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  In the spirit of those days, the sermon, entitled To Turn Round Right, will explore the nature of accountability, forgiveness, and right relationship in a congregational context.  This morning the choir is singing.

Large print hymnals, plus hearing assistance devices, are available. Nursery care is provided. Bring a friend!

Our worship services are videotaped and broadcast over local cable television on channel 9, usually at 4:00 p.m., on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Joys and Sorrows are excluded.

In The Interim

Welcome!  Welcome back! 

 I look forward to our Ingathering Sunday and the beginning of a conversation about Unitarian Universalism as a house for hope.  The recent “debt ceiling debacle,” the apparent rebel victory in Tripoli, drought here in the U.S. and famine in Somalia . . . all lead me to look for reasons for hope.  In their book A House for Hope, Unitarian Universalist minister John Buehrens and Starr King School for the Ministry President Rebecca Parker use the framework of a house as a metaphor for exploring and building faith.  The Ingathering Sunday sermon will draw from their work.  And starting later in the fall, I will be offering a class for any who are interested to explore and build your own theology, using their framing and ideas as guides. 

 As prelude to the sermon and the class, I’ve started to think about questions that need to be/can be asked.  We live in a culture that emphasizes having the “right” answers, where “wrong” answers or apparent ignorance of the topic are usually and at least embarrassing. As UUs, we make a lifelong journey in faith, declaring that along the way old truths will be replaced with new insight, and new directions will be revealed. Our faith encourages us to ask hard questions to which there are no quick and easy nor once and for all replies.  By the affirmation of our many sources, we are called to look for far more possibilities and consider many and differing answers – more than either/or thinking can hold.  In keeping with our Principles, we are given the opportunity to explore, build, and celebrate our faith in community with others where our mutual promise is support, encouragement and challenge.

 As this new year begins at FUUSM, let us consider questions of faith like:

What’s possible here, and who cares? 

What question, if answered, could make the most difference to the future of FUUSM?

If our success was completely guaranteed, what bold steps might we choose to take?

What conversation can we begin that could ripple out in ways that create new possibilities for our future?

 What assumptions or beliefs are we holding that are key?  How would we come at this question if we held entirely different assumptions or beliefs?

 Enjoy the questions!!

Tracey Robinson-Harris

MONEY

Just a reminder from the Stewardship Committee that your pledge amount for Fiscal Year 2011-2012 began on July 1, 2011.  Please be sure to continue to bring your pledge to church or send it to the church c/o J.R. Pucillo-Dunphy, Treasurer.  Thank you.

Chris’s Comments

This is my first missive as president to you in a newsletter. It has been suggested that I use this space as an introduction.

I started coming to First UU in 1994 when I moved to MIddleboro.  I had had some prior experience with Unitarian Universalism in Jamestown, NY, and in Falmouth, MA.  A friend told us about the Gay, Lesbian, BiSexual Support Group that met here twice a month, and we came several times before deciding to check out a Sunday service. 

By early spring of 1995 we had signed the Membership Book - we, being my wife (then partner), Pam, and I.  Almost immediately Bud Soule invited me to a meeting of the Membership Committee, and I got involved with that.  I then became Chair of Membership.

In June of 1996, General Assembly was held in Rochester, NY, which felt accessible; and so Pam and I attended, along with about 8 other members of this congregation.  We also attended GA in Quebec City and Boston over the years.  It was at GA we learned about district events and began to attend the Spring and Fall Conferences of the BCD.

After Tricia Tummino became the minister, she suggested I become involved with the BCD Board.  In 2003 I was nominated and elected to the BCD Board of Directors.  I served on that Board for 6 years. 

I was raised Catholic by parents who would have been much more comfortable in a UU church. They did not seem to mind at all when I became engaged to a Jewish man and began the process of formally converting to Judaism.  I studied several places, learned a tiny bit of Hebrew and formally converted in 1973.  I am sorry to report that while there are things I love about the Jewish tradition, I am not a very good Jew.  I have long identified as a Pagan; and although I cannot identify the God of my understanding, I am certainly a theist. 

I am a Capricorn in western astrology, and a Rabbit in the Chinese one.  I can sound very sure of my position and even adamant about it.  At the same time I can frequently be persuaded to see another side and to change my mind.  I am shy and sometimes know I appear stuck up when, in reality, I just don’t know what to say.  I am passionate about horses and people and bringing them together.

I am very aware that the church has been facing a number of challenges during the past year.  For anyone who doesn’t know, Pam and I traveled from December 15 to February 27 and so were not at the church for some of those challenges.  I am confident that the new Parish Committee is going to do the work necessary to make this the amazing, loving, caring, hardworking community that some of us have known for many years and some of us are just getting to know.  It will be different than it has been, and yet parts of it will not change.

In Spirit,

Chris Korben, President

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION PROGRAM

Welcome back to a new year of religious education! An exciting year of exploration and learning awaits us with some wonderful new (and old) curricula and great teaching teams. 

Using the curriculum We Are Many, We Are One, the Pre - K and Kindergarten class learn about their religious community and traditions while being given the freedom to discover and express their uniqueness. Children in grades 1 - 5 will learn to seek guidance in life through the lens of our Unitarian Universalist Sources with an emphasis on love with Love Will Guide Us. And grades 6 & 7 will be using The Questing Year where they will engage in four quests - the Mystery Quest, the Inner Quest, the Action Quest, and the UU Quest - designed to help them seek and develop their own answers to deep life questions about human faith and the web of all existence. And there will be Social Action Sundays for children in grades 1 - 7, Children’s Chapels, and special events.

Registration begins on September 11. We can’t wait to see you there!

Annie Giddings

COMING OF AGE YOUTH GROUP

The Youth Group ran a lunch/snack table at the August Yard Sale for the second year, earning $246.90. The youth will decide how they want to use this money.

We begin the new church year on September 10 with a hike at Betty’s Neck in Lakeville, and a swim and cookout.

After two years of intensity, with the OWL and Coming of Age programs, this year will be more relaxed, with a focus on fun and bonding. We will look at handling many types of situations, viewing the world from a more responsible viewpoint.                     

Cindy Benard, Group Leader

Dear Fellow FUUSM Friends,

When I registered for the MS Challenge Walk, I took on not one, but two significant challenges: to complete the rigorous event, and to raise money for funding services and research to help create a world free of multiple sclerosis.  At some point during the MS Challenge Walk, my feet might ache or I might feel tired, but my thoughts will never be far from those who must every day move forward with the fatigue, immobility, and other symptoms of multiple sclerosis.  That's why I'm asking you to support my fundraising efforts with a donation.  You may make a donation online at http://challengemam.nationalmssociety.org or, if you prefer, you can hand your contribution to me, or send your contribution to:

MS Challenge Walk

National MS Society - Greater New England Chapter (To whom you make the check out)

PO Box 845945

Boston, MA 02284-5945

Donations are accepted anytime.  However, the deadline for the Challenge is September 8.  Please include my name, Louisa Place #416, and the name of the event in the memo section of the check.  Any amount, great or small, helps to make a difference in the lives of people living with MS.   I appreciate your support and look forward to letting you know how I do. 

Thank you for your support!

Louisa Place

WE NEED YOU!

On September 18, TEAM LEXIE AND KRISTEN will walk the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk.  Most will walk 13 miles from Babson to Boston.  You can join us, or walk the full Marathon, 26 miles, or another distance of your choice, 5 miles or 3 miles.  Most everyone can walk 3 miles!  If you cannot walk, you can still help our cause.  You can sign on as a Virtual Walker and raise money with no fundraising minimum, walking around your block on that day or from the comfort of your living room! 

Lexie Williams needs you!  The Walk is only a month away.  If each of us can do our part, we will continue to move groundbreaking research forward and find a cure for Lowgrade Astrocytomas.  Join today at http://www.jimmyfundwalk.org/2011/teamlexieandkristen.  For more information, speak with Lexie or Alice Williams.  Thank you!                                       Alice Williams

CHANGE

I just looked up the word “change” in the dictionary and was amazed to find twenty  different definitions. No wonder some people say “I love change” and others say “I hate change.”  The definition I want to use for this communication is “become or make different.”  I want to talk about changes and choices and how we decide and what to do if we don’t agree.  I want to move things around and try it, and if it doesn’t work, try something else.  There is a wonderful Judy Collins song in which she sings that “Everything changes except that sun lights up the sky, rain comes falling down and hummingbirds must fly.” 

I hated it when the Rev. Elizabeth Tarbox left, and I did not know if I could manage to stay here.  I have seen numerous people come and go and lived through the changes.  I have seen the Parlor floor painted.  I have seen different decorations at the front of the church. I’ve seen the stage removed and a new floor (twice) put in the parish hall.  I have seen Tiana go from the baby seat rocking on the pew to the first time she lit the chalice to being well on her way to being a lovely young woman.  We all get older; people die or move away.  Things change. That is a given.  We cannot go backwards.  So please could we go purposely forward.

We are hoping to get the new dishwasher installed, but it turns out it requires bigger changes than removing the old dishwasher and inserting the new.  There is a group of people who are working on that. 

We need to maximize our space for the coming year to accommodate Religious Education classes and the exciting things that are happening at the church.

An example of something that I consider a small change is that I would like to try moving all of the lovely wooden mission furniture which is in the sanctuary and the parlor someplace else.  This furniture takes up a lot of space and is not very comfortable. I do not know where that furniture came from nor if it has any value besides as uncomfortable seating. I think we could better utilize our limited space with different furniture.  Let’s try it out.

I want to move the very back pew on the left out of the church.  We will keep the pew in the garage so it could be moved back.  If we moved one of the pews from the “choir” – at the front of the church near the organ to replace half of the pew, we would have a space for people in wheelchairs to sit without transferring out of the wheelchair.  It would also create a space at the back of the sanctuary that might be used to set up a table and some chairs and be a meeting space. 

I want to try to find a time for a second service of some sort during the week. I am not thinking of a mirror of Sunday morning but rather something different – maybe louder, maybe softer, maybe more theist, maybe more humanist.  Maybe an evening something.  Want to work on that?  Let me know. 

I want to increase our opportunities for adult enrichment.  Chalice Thursdays feed us both literally and figuratively but only for a few weeks.  What else do we need?  A drop-in group to study…what?  A UU history course?  A yoga class?  Bible study? Let’s do it! Saturday mornings, evenings, Sunday afternoon, during the week?  Make it work for you.

UUs have a long history as agents of change.  We can start by changing our own little corner of the world here at 25 South Main Street.  What do you want to change – at First UU Middleboro, in Middleboro, in Massachusetts, in this country and in the world?  Let’s do it!

Chris Korben

FROM THE SETTLED MINISTER SEARCH TASK FORCE

The task force is already hard at work! We met several times during the summer to begin the process, and many tasks are under way.

Our first task is preparing a congregational packet telling prospective candidates about us, which will be posted on the UUA Transitions website. This is a chance to emphasize all our best qualities. The packet will include a survey of the congregation’s opinions about the church’s needs and priorities and the type of minister who we believe can serve us best.  In the coming weeks, look for ways you can participate, including a survey and face-to-face focus meetings, which we’ll announce. In preparation, please be thinking about the above questions.

Many of you have expressed interest in how it’s going. Please remember that a search for a UU minister is quite different from other hirings. We don’t use ads or traditional networking. The UUA Transitions office defines the process and timeline that all churches searching for a minister need to follow.  In brief: