Friday, May 20, 2011

Weekly Update



5/20/11 Weekly Update
Yippee! Wahoo! Our Children's Sunday School team has been offering fun and inspiring classes for our children and youth all year. Now's the time to show them some support and love for all their hard work AND to cheer on our kids! The kids will be presenting this Sunday's service along with their teachers. So set down your shovels (the gardening can wait a bit), put up your bikes (there's still a number of days until RAGBRAI--Mike Knapp can tell you exactly how many!), set down that iron (its close enough to summer everyone will expect you to look a bit rumbled anyway), and just don't start the New York Times until after lunch!
You are going to love seeing our kids in action! And they are going to love seeing your smiling faces!
You will learn about what they've been studying all year with their brand-new curriculum. Aren't you curious?
AND it's also time for our annual "Bridging" ceremony – where we gently guide our High School Seniors over the "bridge" that leads them away from their youth programming and into our midst as a bright young adult.
Come wish them well on their journey--wherever it is that takes them in the coming year. 

See you in church!
~Eva
(ps-please read the pastoral updates, there's some significant news)


Sunday 5/22/11
8:30 am Music Rehearsal
9:30 am Sunday Service: Religious Education Sunday REAP Council & WA Maureen Murphy
11:15 am Children's RE trip to Hartman Reserve
11:15 am Adult RE:  Sixty for Six discussion of Current Events


Calendar Updates for this Coming Week
Tuesday
7:00 pm Committee on Ministry
Wednesday
6:30 pm Theoretical String Band practice--all are invited to come out & give it a try!
Thursday
7:30 pm Buddhist Path--all welcome.
Saturday
3:00 – 5:00 pm Bryn's Graduation Party and Art Show (Carolyn Hildebrant and Thos Sumner's daughter) Come celebrate Bryn's graduation from University of Iowa with a B.A. in Music (Cello Performance) and a B.F.A. in Studio Art (Printmaking)! Next: an internship at the Women's Studio Workshop in Rosendale, New York.  




Pastoral Update
Don Wendt is in the Care Unit at Friendship Village. He has been doing rather poorly, and this is hard on Dorothy. I am sure that she would appreciate little notes, cards, and calls from those she knows to help boost her spirits (and give her something to share with Don when she visits). Dorothy Wendt 600 Park Lane, Waterloo, IA 50702

We've had an update from Betsy Brant today. Lynn and her son-in-law Iku died yesterday morning. She writes, "He had been unconscious for several days in the hospital hospice unit. We are all somewhat numb but working through funeral arrangements and so on.  The memorial service at [her daughter] Valerie's UU is Weds. We'll be back week after next most likely." You may reach her at <bbrant@cfu.net>

Eva's mother, Joan Reeves, will have her breast cancer surgery on Tuesday (May 24). Cards and notes can be sent to 98 Bedford Center Rd. Bedford, NH 03110. Please send energy or keep her in your thoughts and/or prayers. I'll keep you posted on what the prognosis and  further treatments turn out to be.




Meditation

This past week, I sense a weariness--as many are winding down the school year with turning in grades or preparing for the school year to end. The spring has been wearying for many as the weather has not been as obliging as we'd like to outdoor fun. And, I know, people have worked hard in my absence, (and the absence of a Director of Religious Education), to keep things going well at church. I've always found solace in Adrienne Rich's poem "All I Cannot Save" from Natural Resources in The Dream of a Common Language. I hope it brings a flowering to your spring.



My heart is moved by all I cannot save
So much has been destroyed
I have to cast my lot with those, who, age after age,
Perversely, with no extraordinary
Power, reconstitute the world.



Announcements

What's that? I can't hear you...
The tech team who runs the sound board on Sunday mornings is looking for some willing volunteers to be trained for the job.  It's easy once you've been trained and we work on a flexible rotation so you don't have be there every week.  Training takes about an hour and after a short apprenticeship, you'll be making everyone in the service sound great!  Contact Neil Martinsen-Burrell (290-6134, nmb@wartburg.edu) if you're interested.




And while we are talking about volunteers . . . .
this is the time of year that some people choose to shift their energy in the work they do for our church community. Please let us know if you are planning on resigning from one committee, and also let us know what things you are thinking might be fun to do next year!

I am aware that we will need lots of help with both our Children's and Adults' Sunday School programs. Our volunteers this year worked extra hard and will need others to take a turn next year. We will need those who like to organize, and those who like to teach.
Our Caring Committee needs new leadership.
Our Festival Sundays team needs creative people to help plan those monthly services.
Our Choir needs more singers!
Sunday services need Worship Associates each week to help with the service. Would you like to work in helping to plan and conduct services?
This summer, musicians willing to help bring music to our Sundays, should contact Tim.
And our Garden always needs those willing to weed and harvest this time of year!
Of course, any and all areas of the church life could use your loving energy. Both leadership and simple help are both welcome. And new ways of doing things are always possible! If you'd like to get involved, and aren't sure how . . . please contact Eva (minister@uusbhc.org or 319-610-6605)



Volunteers Needed for Green: What Does it Mean?
Exploring Our Sustainable Community
A science and environmental Field Day for Cedar Valley 9th Graders, May 24th at UNI.
Over 1000 9th graders from Cedar Falls and Waverly will be participating in a science/environmental field day at UNI on May 24th. This day will provide the students the opportunity to explore what it means to be "Green" in our society. They will attend interactive classroom presentations, visit an exhibit hall and hear a keynote address from Chad Pregracke founder of Living Lands and Waters (http://www.livinglandsandwaters.org/)
Volunteers are needed in many capacities! If you are available on the 24th we would love to have you be a part of this event.  If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Michaela Rich (michaela.rich@uni.edu).



Our Larger Faith aspires to give to their community
(and YOU can help!)
The UU community ministry in Turley, Okla., which UU World featured on the cover of the Spring 2011 issue, is competing for a free fruit orchard. Learn more about the difference an orchard would make in this "abandoned place," and vote daily for A Third Place Community Foundation. (Here's the story about A Third Place:<http://www.uuworld.org/news/articles/172162.shtml?utm_source=f>
And, here's the link to vote to help them win the orchard <http://www.communitiestakeroot.com/Plant/Index>







Rev Eva Cameron
minister
Unitarian Universalist Society of Black Hawk Co.
Cedar Falls, IA 50613
319-610-6605
www.uusbhc.org

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