Friday, December 30, 2011

Weekly Update


Weekly Update of the
Unitarian Universalist Society of Black Hawk County
administrator@uusbhc.org  visit our website at  www.uusbhc.org  319-266-5640
Rev. Eva Cameron 319-610-6605 (cell)  minister@uusbhc.org


December 30, 2011

Hello!

With the soft rain falling, it seems like a good day to settle down by a fire with a good book, a cup of tea, and hopefully some loved ones (people, canine, or feline). Perhaps some of you are doing just that now. But whatever you are doing, as we prepare to enter into the new year, I hope you will take some time to do something that feels nourishing to you. This may or may not feel like cozying-up with a good book . . . . but you will know what it is. Perhaps taking some time to meditate, pray, or walk in the woods. Perhaps tea with a good friend. Perhaps making something you have meant to make this past year. Take this time as we begin the year to do what you can to start out feeling full, happy and content. This is a learned skill like any other, and there is nothing quite so satisfying as beginning something new with a sense of calm that comes from being prepared. Life is a spiritual journey as long as you accept the invitation to come along. . . .  I hope you will!
I wish all of you much joy and happiness in the coming year!

With gratitude for a ministry with you . . . .
See you in church!
~Eva

Sunday January 1st - No Service at 9:30 am
11:00 am Potluck Brunch
Welcome 2012 in the company of friends – old and new – at church.  
Michaela Rich will be hosting with Del Carpenter providing some reflections on the New Year.

NO Religious Education Classes
There are no children RE classes this Sunday, Jan. 1st. Classes will resume as normal Sunday, January 8th.
Calendar Updates for this Coming Week
Wednesday *WOW!*Workshops on Wednesdays
      5:00 pm Festival Sunday planning meeting
      5:15 pm Children's Choir
      5:45 pm Dinner: Pizza (+gluten free pizza), salad & fruit;      
      6:30 pm Adult Choir
      7:30 pm Theoretical String Band
Thursday
      7:30 pm Buddhist Path
Saturday
9:30 - 11:30 Yoga
1:00 - 3:00 pm Nature Lover's small group

**Change of Office Hours:
Administrator:  Janet Sanders will be out of the office Monday, January 2nd
but will have regular hours Wednesday & Thursday, January 4th & 5th.
        
Pastoral Update

Sending love and hope to anyone who is hurting in this season.

Do, please, let me know of any other pastoral updates to include from week to week. People want to know, and send you love, prayers or bring you a pot of soup!  ~Eva

Church Announcements

Mildred Pierce Memorial Service
We invite you to attend Mildred Pierce's Memorial Service on Sunday, Jan 15th at 11:15am. Please come with a story to share, and an open heart to listen to a life made rich with passion for our earth. If you know of anyone outside of the church who knew Mildred, please be sure to invite them.

Guatemalan Family
Heather Flory is still organizing all of the things and help needed for our Guatemalan family that arrived earlier this month. Housing has been located in Waterloo, and moving day is scheduled for Monday, January 2nd. For current information about the family and what help is still needed, please visit the new website and blog which have now been set up for Jimy and family: http://jimyandfamily.blogspot.com/
If you have furniture to donate or would like to help the family move, please contact Heather at heather.flory@yahoo.com

What happens after December? Will the UUSBHC continue to sponsor the family in some way? Although most of the family has now arrived in Waterloo, their journey is just getting started. The family members do not speak English, and most of them will not receive their work permits for several months. The NE Iowa Peace & Justice Center (www.neipjc.org) in Decorah will provide expense money for three months, however, additional support is needed in the local area. Join Sally Browne and Heather Flory on January 8 at 11:15am ET to discuss whether or not the UUSBHC would like to continue being involved with the family as a congregation. If so, in what ways would we like to help, and how might we use this as an opportunity to network with other churches and organizations in the local area? If we decide not to help the family as a congregation, there are still opportunities for those interested to help as individuals.


The Mitten Tree
The Social Action Committee and the children of our church have partnered up to gather mittens, hats and scarfs for the children of Khasi Hills. Please take an ornament off of the tree and return with a new hat, scarf or mittens for a youth or child and place your item under the tree. At the end of the holiday season, we will package up our gifts, along with messages from the children, and send it off to the Khasi Hills so our friends there can keep warm in their cooler months. Help us fill the bottom of our tree with colorful cold weather items!

Message from Rev. Mark:
Dear Eva Cameron

Greetings and hope you are fine and family ! Please send my warm Marry Christmas and prosperous New Year 2012 Greetings to all the Church members, Please thank them a lot for me for my support and Love they shown me when i visited.

Greetings

Rev. Mark Kiyimba.

Group Book Order:
Join us as we spend the some of January and February learning about what Karen Armstrong has to teach us about compassion. Her new book, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, provides practical advice on compassionate living. We can place a group order from Amazon and save on shipping. Cost is $14. Please contact Janet in the office, email Eva or sign-up in the Fellowship Hall by January 15th.

Stay Informed/Keep Us Informed:
Please send any information for the Weekly Updates to administrator@uusbhc.org or call 266-5640.

The January  newsletter is available as follows:
  • paper copies are available in the fellowship hall at church.


UU Christian Fellowship
You can change the world by keeping alive the free and radical spirit of Jesus in the world, especially in our historic home of Unitarian Universalism and through our UUCF life. Here you can join with us for the first time, renew or upgrade your membership, answer the call to contribute to specific projects and appeals or make special donations.

Are you already a Member of the UUCF? Great! Now is the time to renew your membership. Each and every year, the leadership team of the UUCF reviews the membership rolls and hopes that you will decide that the UUCF is important enough in your life to renew your membership.

The UUCF is a self-supporting and self-sustaining institution. The first and most important reason to stay connected to the UUCF is because we represent a liberal religious Christian presence in the Unitarian Universalist Association. We believe that Unitarian Universalism is broadened and deepened by our active presence and our faithful witness. We represent one of the few organization in the UUA that can claim an authentic theological position, and the only one that can claim a historical tradition that dates back to the beginning of our movement. We bring to one another spiritual support, meaningful worship, intellectual engagement, and serve as a powerful witness for liberal Christianity within our tradition as Unitarian Universalists.  Visit this link to join http://www.uuchristian.org/M_Join.html


Community Announcements
*******URGENT*******
The Greater Cedar Valley needs thousands of votes right now!
Your Blue Zone pledge improves The Cedar Valley's chance of being selected to become a Blue Zone Community and eligible to share $25 million for health and wellness projects in the Cedar Valley. This is a contest and lots of places in Iowa are competing and gathering pledges. If we don't get enough, we cannot win! We need thousands of people to do this and each person getting this needs to take the pledge for themselves, thenforward to family, friends, club friends and co-workers. We need people to be a part of it! Life will be better! It's an easy way to get resources in the community for real quality of health - the ultimate amenity!

The Cedar Valley's enthusiasm, shown by the number of residents that pledge to participate, will influence our chances for the $25 million!

With your pledge, it can be ours! Please complete the Blue Zone Personal Pledge toward living a longer, healthier and happier life. It only takes a minute and could change The Cedar Valley immeasurably!


What is a Blue Zone Project Community?

There are places in the world where people live healthy, happy lives well into their nineties or even 100s. Dubbed "Blue Zones" by National Geographic researcher Dan Buettner, these longevity hotspots share nine lifestyle habits - Power 9™ - responsible for their remarkable results.

About 75% of how long we live - and our chances of suffering from a heart attack, diabetes and certain cancers - is determined by our behaviors. By adopting Power 9™, we can transform our well-being and increase our longevity.

Blue Zone Project Scoreboard

Click here to see how our community compares to others in the state. We need to improve our score. Let this be a challenge to everyone! Please forward this email to  your family, friends and co-workers!

Contact Information

Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber
Sue Hansen
Admin. Mgr. Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber
shansen@CedarValleyAlliance.com
319-232-1156

City of Cedar Falls
Mayor Crews
joncrews@cedarfalls.com
319-268-5119

City of Waterloo
Suzy Schares
Mayor Buck Clark's appointed chair
suzy.schares@waterloo-ia.org
319-291-4522 #3008

Healthier Cedar Falls Task Force
MaraBeth Soneson, Co-Chair
msoneson@gmail.com
319.290.7733



Rev Eva Cameron
minister
Unitarian Universalist Society of Black Hawk Co.
Cedar Falls, IA 50613
319-610-6605
www.uusbhc.org
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Weekly Update


Weekly Update of the
Unitarian Universalist Society of Black Hawk County
administrator@uusbhc.org  visit our website at  www.uusbhc.org  319-266-5640
Rev. Eva Cameron 319-610-6605 (cell)  minister@uusbhc.org


December 23, 2011

Hello!
Sadie dog and I took Chuck's dogs, and went for a walk in Milo Woods--which is nearby Manchester and overlooks the Maquoketa River. Although the day was heavy with clouds, there was a small gap between the clouds and earth which allowed for the sun to peek through and light up the clouds with amazing colors. It is perfect way to send the day to bed. Solstice reminds us that even in these dark days, the sun is always there, and now slowly, ever so slowly is gaining strength.
For those of you who are having dark days during this holiday time, I wish you the courage to reach out with your heart, and seek these small promises of brighter days. Nothing stays the same, even pain and sorrow. For those of you have days of poignant memories that leave you nostalgic some moments and in tears the next, I wish you the strength to find gratitude in your heart for all those good times you had in your life. For those of you in the throes of busyness, not knowing which way is up and whether you will "make it", I wish you the peace that comes from knowing happiness is not in perfection, but in paying attention to all that is going well and right. For those of your with restless and impatient souls, unhappy with all sorts of small things that annoy you, I wish you some quietude. For those of you deep in contentment, and wish you many more days of the same.
A very Merry Christmas who will be traveling on this holiday . . . I will miss seeing you on Christmas Eve. And for those of you here, I am looking forward to singing and celebrating with you tomorrow night! I have a special story to share, and the children will be bringing us their joyful string music to sing along too.
Don't forget to invite friends to church during this holiday.

With gratitude for a ministry with you . . . .
See you in church!
~Eva
Our Christmas Eve Service is at 5:30 pm.  
Join us for a family holiday tradition!  Invite your neighbors and friends to join us as we welcome in the spirit of Christmas in carols, scripture, story and candlelight!  Please bring a treat to share for our holiday party after the service. There will be a social action collection for our Khasi Hills School.
We invite you to bring your Guest at Your Table Boxes in to place under the mitten tree.
(Please note that we will not have childcare, as our childcare workers have gone home for the holidays).

The Mitten Tree
The Social Action Committee and the children of our church have partnered up to gather mittens, hats and scarfs for the children of Khasi Hills. Please take an ornament off of the tree and return with a new hat, scarf or mittens for a youth or child and place your item under the tree. At the end of the holiday season, we will package up our gifts, along with messages from the children, and send it off to the Khasi Hills so our friends there can keep warm in their cooler months. Help us fill the bottom of our tree with colorful cold weather items!

       
  Sunday December 25th  
11:00 am Potluck Brunch
Calendar Updates for this Coming Week
Monday
      6:00 pm Cedar Prairie Vegetarian Potluck
Tuesday
    7:00 pm Committee on Ministry
Wednesday
No evening activities
Thursday
      7:30 pm Buddhist Path

**Change of Office Hours:
Administrator:  Janet Sanders will only be in the office Thursday Dec 29th from 8:30 am - 12:30 pm.
DCRE - Angie Stafsholt will be out of the office this week, between Christmas and New Years.

        
Pastoral Update

Dick Shane enjoyed his 100th birthday party. Thank you to all who participated.

Sending love and hope to anyone who is hurting in this season.

Do, please, let me know of any other pastoral updates to include from week to week. People want to know, and send you love, prayers or bring you a pot of soup!  ~Eva

Church Announcements

Mildred Pierce Memorial Service
We invite you to attend Mildred Pierce's Memorial Service on Sunday, Jan 15th at 11:15am. Please come with a story to share, and an open heart to listen to a life made rich with passion for our earth. If you know of anyone outside of the church who knew Mildred, please be sure to invite them.

Guatemalan Family
Heather Flory is still organizing all the things and clothing needed for our Guatemalan family that has just arrived. For current information about the family and what help is still needed, please visit the NEW website and blog which have now been set up for Jimy and family: http://jimyandfamily.blogspot.com/
Please take some time to look through your house over the holidays--The family will need plenty of things after they get an apartment in January. Think about setting up house--there are many, many things that help to make life work. What can you give? Contact Heather with questions. heather.flory@yahoo.com

NO Religious Education Classes over the holidays
There are no children RE classes on Dec. 25th and Jan. 1st. Classes will resume as normal Sunday, January 8th.


Message from Rev. Mark:
Dear Eva Cameron

Greetings and hope you are fine and family ! Please send my warm Marry Christmas and prosperous New Year 2012 Greetings to all the Church members, Please thank them a lot for me for my support and Love they shown me when i visited.

Greetings

Rev. Mark Kiyimba.


Group Book Order:
Join us as we spend the some of January and February learning about what Karen Armstrong has to teach us about compassion. Her new book, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, provides practical advice on compassionate living. We can place a group order from Amazon and save on shipping. Cost is $14. Please contact Janet in the office, email Eva or sign-up in the Fellowship Hall by January 15th.

Stay Informed/Keep Us Informed:
Please send any information for the Weekly Updates to administrator@uusbhc.org or call 266-5640.

The December newsletter is available as follows:
  • paper copies are available in the fellowship hall at church.



Huumanists are raising membership rates to $60/yr, $110/2yr, in 2012. So for another week you can still join the group which is THE HEART OF HUMANISM IN THE UUA, for $50 - LESS THAN 14¢/day! - or even less, $90 for two years. We are not discounting memberships any longer, nor will we at G.A. So NOW is the time to join - save as much as $20 - and get the next issue of the Religious Humanism journal, now in production. Just email your intent to Huumanists@yahoo.com; we will get back to you!


UU Christian Fellowship
You can change the world by keeping alive the free and radical spirit of Jesus in the world, especially in our historic home of Unitarian Universalism and through our UUCF life. Here you can join with us for the first time, renew or upgrade your membership, answer the call to contribute to specific projects and appeals or make special donations

Are you already a Member of the UUCF? Great! Now is the time to renew your membership. Each and every year, the leadership team of the UUCF reviews the membership rolls and hopes that you will decide that the UUCF is important enough in your life to renew your membership.

The UUCF is a self-supporting and self-sustaining institution. The first and most important reason to stay connected to the UUCF is because we represent a liberal religious Christian presence in the Unitarian Universalist Association. We believe that Unitarian Universalism is broadened and deepened by our active presence and our faithful witness. We represent one of the few organization in the UUA that can claim an authentic theological position, and the only one that can claim a historical tradition that dates back to the beginning of our movement. We bring to one another spiritual support, meaningful worship, intellectual engagement, and serve as a powerful witness for liberal Christianity within our tradition as Unitarian Universalists.

Visit this link to join <http://www.uuchristian.org/M_Join.html>


Community Announcements
*******URGENT*******
The Greater Cedar Valley needs thousands of votes right now!
Your Blue Zone pledge improves The Cedar Valley's chance of being selected to become a Blue Zone Community and eligible to share $25 million for health and wellness projects in the Cedar Valley. This is a contest and lots of places in Iowa are competing and gathering pledges. If we don't get enough, we cannot win! We need thousands of people to do this and each person getting this needs to take the pledge for themselves, thenforward to family, friends, club friends and co-workers. We need people to be a part of it! Life will be better! It's an easy way to get resources in the community for real quality of health - the ultimate amenity!

The Cedar Valley's enthusiasm, shown by the number of residents that pledge to participate, will influence our chances for the $25 million!

With your pledge, it can be ours! Please complete the Blue Zone Personal Pledge toward living a longer, healthier and happier life. It only takes a minute and could change The Cedar Valley immeasurably!


What is a Blue Zone Project Community?

There are places in the world where people live healthy, happy lives well into their nineties or even 100s. Dubbed "Blue Zones" by National Geographic researcher Dan Buettner, these longevity hotspots share nine lifestyle habits - Power 9™ - responsible for their remarkable results.

About 75% of how long we live - and our chances of suffering from a heart attack, diabetes and certain cancers - is determined by our behaviors. By adopting Power 9™, we can transform our well-being and increase our longevity.

Blue Zone Project Scoreboard

Click here to see how our community compares to others in the state. We need to improve our score. Let this be a challenge to everyone! Please forward this email to  your family, friends and co-workers!

Contact Information

Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber
Sue Hansen
Admin. Mgr. Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber
shansen@CedarValleyAlliance.com
319-232-1156

City of Cedar Falls
Mayor Crews
joncrews@cedarfalls.com
319-268-5119

City of Waterloo
Suzy Schares
Mayor Buck Clark's appointed chair
suzy.schares@waterloo-ia.org
319-291-4522 #3008

Healthier Cedar Falls Task Force
MaraBeth Soneson, Co-Chair
msoneson@gmail.com
319.290.7733



Rev Eva Cameron
minister
Unitarian Universalist Society of Black Hawk Co.
Cedar Falls, IA 50613
319-610-6605
www.uusbhc.org
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.