Weekly Update

10/15/10 Weekly Update
This is the last weekly message I will write to you for a while . . . BUT, we have been so blessed with so many people stepping up to help out while I am away. And this job will be held by Lara Martinsen-Burrell. If you have anything you want included (most particularly information about church members--those Pastoral Updates, or calendar notices) please contact Janet in the Church Office who will be assembling most of it on Thursday morning.  After Thursday noon, you will have to go directly to Lara who will be adding the message on and sending it out.

While I'm away things may come up. Here are a list of people willing to help:

Weddings, Funerals, other ceremonies of life: John Miller, Sue Hill, Deblyn Russell, Staci Chenanie-Hill, Lara Martinsen-Burrell.

Pastoral Care: Stephen Orsborn, Staci Chenanie-Hill

Hospital Visits, Death in the family: John Miller

Festival Sundays & Drama Team: Lara Martinsen-Burrell

Scheduling the Building: Janet Sanders, in our Church Office

Facebook Updates: Mica Lorenz

New Program Ideas: Michaela Rich

Not sure where to go? or who to talk with?  . . . Please contact John Miller and he will help. If you are willing to organize a Caring Committee, we could still use that help--especially while I am gone. Let John know if you are able to do this.

While on sabbatical, I will be stepping back from life in the church and your lives. This will allow me to spend my time in different ways. While I am in town, if you see me around, feel free to say 'hi' but let's not talk 'shop' while we are together. In the next few weeks, I don't have a lot of travel plans, and so if you want to get together for a personal good-bye time, feel free to contact me and we can go out for coffee or take a walk or share a meal. I've been busy getting things set up to be away and have not had time to set up some of those appointments you've been asking me for. So this will be a nice, gradual way to say 'good-bye for now'.

Some people are wondering about Facebook . . . we didn't have it back when I went away last sabbatical in 2001!  But I have decided that I will be hiding your status updates on my feed. That way you can still see what I am up to, and any pictures I post, but I won't be reading about all of your lives and tempted to comment, or reading church gossip! As for e-mail, if you normally have me on your list, you can keep me there--I will have all the church email filtered into a big folder while I am away. That way I'll have a record of things to refer to when I return.

Thank you again for all the extra effort you are each giving to make this sabbatical possible for me. I am ready for it. Ready to use the time and come back with a fresh spring in my step and life flowing in my veins. Greet the new people for me . . . I'm sure there will be some new one's join while I'm away. And love each other, with kindness and care. You know these things, but like a good mother--I have to say them anyway before I leave. (Oh yes, and don't burn the house down!)

Warm hugs to you!
Hope to see you at the party!
~Eva

This Sunday 10/17/10
8:30 am Music Rehearsal
9:30 am On What I Hope the Church Learns While I'm Gone: Saying Good-bye Part II ~~ Rev. Eva Cameron, Deblyn Russell (Worship Associate)
A sabbatical isn't just for the minister of a church, but also for the church itself.  It can be a wonderful time of reflection and restoration, before we continue again in love.  Eva
10:30 am Fellowship Time
10:45 am Creative Spirits Art Sale--rescheduled to Nov 7 (with Alternative Gift Fair)
11:00 am Children's Chapel (balcony)
11:15 am Sunday School for Children & Youth
11:15 am Adult RE Sixty for Six: "Articulating your UU Faith" (balcony)
11:15 am New Member Session NEW, extra for this month (Eva's Office)
12:15 pm Bon Voyage Potluck for Eva (Fellowship Hall)

Calendar Updates for this Coming Week
Tuesday

7:30 pm Board meeting

Wednesday    **Calendar Deadline**

11:00 am Friendship Village ministry

5:00 pm Children's Choir

5:30 pm Dinner (Please RSVP to administrator@uusbhc.org by noon on Monday)

6:15 pm Adult Choir

6:30 pm Painting Workshop

6:30 pm Cedar Valley Meditation Group (Junior High room)

7:30 pm Theoretical String Band

Thursday

7:30 pm Buddhist Path (balcony)

Friday    **Calendar Deadline**
Saturday

11:00 – 3:00 pm Rental

Other items

Our Band: the TSB (Theoretical String Band) will be hosting a sing-along following the farewell potluck on Sunday. Bring your instruments to strum along, and warm up your voices!

The Creative Spiritz art sale is now being coordinated with the Alternative Gift Fair, on Nov. 7 and will not be this Sunday.

You can still join us for "Articulating Your UU Faith" during Adult RE at 11:15 this Sunday.  We will be starting on Session 3 but it's not too late to join us in practicing how to respond when asked, "What is Unitarian Universalism?"  There are some short homework assignments so if you would like to keep up with the class, send Mica your email at mikemica@gmail.com.  For this Sunday there is a short reading assignment.  Here is the link for Oct 10th's reading assignment. http://tinyurl.com/24mkyo8.  Hope to see you Sunday - Mica Lorenz

Office Update
The Calendar Deadline is this Wednesday Oct 20th.  Please let me know of your group's events for November.  Thanks!  Janet

Pastoral Update
Roger Hahn is recovering nicely at home. I just spoke with him today. Please continue to hold him and Cindy in your thoughts and prayers . .. and check in with Cindy from time to time to see if she needs any respite from her role as caretaker.
Glenyce Butschy  and Mildred Peirce remain in the Assisted Living in Western Home. I'm sure they welcome your cards, notes, and calls.
Dottie Forsberg went through a series of medical difficulties in the past couple weeks, and was close to death. She is back to her fragile state of health, but able to do a few things with her husband Gordon Harrington. Please hold her in your thoughts and prayers, and touch base with Gordon to make sure he is supported through this. They reside at Friendship Village.

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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Weekly Update

10/8/10 Weekly Update
Happy Friday!!  I hope you are enjoying all this gorgeous fall weather. The brilliant blue skies always lift my spirits, and remind me of the immensity of life.

I've had some questions about my Sabbatical, so I thought I'd give you a bit of information about this whole "sabbatical" thing. A sabbatical is a common practice for a UU Congregation to offer to their minister. Here's a bit from my letter of agreement about the Sabbatical Policy:
"The Society agrees to provide the Minister with one (1) month of sabbaticalleave for each year of service. Such leave shall not be taken prior to the completion of four (4) years but before the seventh year of service. No more than six months of Sabbatical Leave may be used within any twelve-month period. Sabbatical Leave shall be used for study, education, writing, meditation, and other forms of professional and religious growth." It later goes on to state that I agree to return and serve at least one full year before moving on. In this way, a sabbatical should not be a time for minister to be searching for a new church, or a church searching for a new minister. They do, however, serve as a good time for discernment . . . . It is a chance to say, "what is next for our time together?" It is time to reflect on what is going well, and what might change. It shakes things up a bit, while I am gone and you are tending to your own needs as a congregation. And that is a good thing. You will stretch and grow. And find your feet as you dare to do new things.

I certainly will miss you, and our common life together! It hard to imagine you going though this year, and me not being around for all of our events that have been such a rhythm of my life in these past years. It will be a different time, as I use this time to focus more on myself and my larger ministry. I'm looking forward to having some time to organize some books I've been working on, to getting some work done on my house, to doing some traveling, and to following our Pilgrimage of Life discipline of writing and contemplation.

This past week I was up in Minnesota at our Annual Prairie Star District minister's retreat. We spend a lot of time journaling, sharing from our heart with one partner, and then some deep listening in groups of four. We practiced active listening, by praying for our fellow ministers in that group of four--and it was a beautiful thing to listen to humanists, pagans, atheists and theists all praying each in their own way. And it was a powerful thing to receive the prayers of others, as I prepare for this year of discernment and growth. Thank you again for this gift. I know that not everyone is so blessed as to be able to take a sabbatical. And I promise to use this gift of time wisely, and in deep gratitude for the congregation (that's you!) who has gifted me with it!

See you in church!
Eva


Sunday 10/10/10
8:30 am Music Rehearsal
9:30 am On What I Hope to Learn While I'm Gone: Saying Good-bye Part I ~~ Rev. Eva Cameron, Lara Martinsen-Burrell (Worship Associate)
I'm busy making plans to learn and grow, as well as rest and be renewed while I am gone.  Giving a minister a sabbatical is a lovely gift, so come and hear what I have planned!
10:30 am Fellowship Time
11:00 am Children's Chapel (balcony)
11:15 am Sunday School for Children & Youth
11:15 pm Adult RE Sixty for Six: "Articulating your UU Faith" (balcony)
12:15 pm Traveling UU's
2:30 Sunday Afternoon Small Group

Calendar Updates for this Coming Week
Tuesday

7:15 pm Religious Services Council

Wednesday

5:00 pm Children's Choir

5:30 pm Dinner (Please RSVP to administrator@uusbhc.org by noon on Monday)

6:15 pm Adult Choir

6:30 pm Painting Workshop (Intermediate classroom)

6:30 pm Cedar Valley Meditation Group (Junior High room)

7:30 pm Theoretical String Band

Thursday

7:30 pm Buddhist Path (balcony)

Friday

7:30 pm Community Drum Circle

Saturday

4:00 – 11:00 pm Rental

Other items
You can still join us for "Articulating Your UU Faith" during Adult RE at 11:15 this Sunday.  We will be starting on Session 2 but it's not too late to join us in practicing how to respond when asked, "What is Unitarian Universalism?"  There are some short homework assignments so if you would like to keep up with the class, send Mica your email at mikemica@gmail.com.  For this Sunday there is a short reading assignment.  Here is the link for Oct 10th's reading assignment.  http://tinyurl.com/24mkyo8.  Hope to see you Sunday - Mica Lorenz

Its time once again for the Public Radio Fundraiser. If you are planning on giving them a gift, please consider giving it to them via us--so that we can bundle our gifts to them with UU's all over Iowa, and buy all those underwriting spots you hear about UUIowa! Just send us the check with Iowa Pubic Radio in the memo. Thanks!

Office Update
I will be on vacation this coming week October 11th through October 15th.  Please continue to send me calendar updates as you have them.  The calendar deadline is soon after I return (Oct 20th). Thanks!  Janet

Pastoral Update
Roger Hahn had heart surgery this past week. A couple emails have been sent to this list separately by John Miller. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers . . . and check in with his wife Cindy to see if she needs help, after he comes home next week.

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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Weekly Update

9/30/10 Weekly Update
Its been a lovely week, weather-wise . . . which has helped to remind me of the beauty of the universe, even as my heart has been heavy with the news of several bright young children killing themselves due to taunting and bullying by their classmates over their sexuality. Its hard to look hatred in the eye, and yet there are times that the bright light of day illuminates such realities for us to truly see, and let linger in our hearts. The temptation, for me, is to push them away . . . my heart doesn't want to be so heavy. But when I do allow them to linger for a time, it reminds me just how important the work of our church is. I think, in the busyness of life, to think of church as just one more thing, like soccer practice or music lessons, to get on the calendar and to get the family out to . . . but yet, in reality, we are quite different. We serve to mold and shape people into being peacemakers, into being citizens of a world that is just and fair, into understandings that one of the most powerful kinds of prayer is the actions of your life. Ours it not just one more thing, in a long list of things . . . children are dying due to the suffering and pain caused by other children not being raised to eschew hatred. Around the world, we witness the suffering of others at the hands of those who were raised to hate others who are different from them. Coming to church may just seem like another thing, on a long list of things, but its different . . . and important.
Thank you for working together to create this amazing, justice-loving community.
See you in church!
~~Eva


Sunday 10/3/10
8:30 am Music Rehearsal
9:30 am Association Sunday: 50th Anniversary ~~ Rev. Eva Cameron, Bill Chene (Worship Associate)
Our UUA celebrates fifty years since the merger of the Unitarians and the Universalists.  Join thousands of UU's on this day for Association Sunday, a special service and collection that will celebrate the past fifty years of UUism and the future of our faith.  Proceeds from this year's Association Sunday special collection will go to ensuring that our faith thrives for generations to come.  Beginning in spring 2010, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) embarked on an in-depth strategic review of leadership and growth in order to develop an action plan to strengthen our community for future generations.
10:30 am Fellowship Time
11:00 am Children's Chapel (balcony)
11:15 am Sunday School for Children & Youth
11:15 pm Adult RE Sixty for Six: "Articulating your UU Faith" (balcony)
12:30 – 2:00 pm Worship Associate Training-CANCELLED

Calendar Updates for this Coming Week
Tuesday

7:30 pm Executive Committee Meeting

Wednesday

5:00 pm Children's Choir

5:30 pm Dinner (Please RSVP to <administrator@uusbhc.org> by noon on Monday)

6:15 pm Adult Choir

6:30 pm Painting Workshop

6:30 pm Cedar Valley Meditation Group (high school room)

7:00 pm Small Group Facilitators meeting

7:30 pm Theoretical String Band

Thursday

7:30 pm Buddhist Path (balcony)

Other items
Helpers for Sunday School Needed
We always have 2 adults in a room with children. We have a teacher who prepares the lesson, and a helper who is just there to provide support. Could you agree to just show up on a few Sundays and help our Children's program? Please sign-up with Michaela Rich or Diana Harwood.

WOW - Painting!
Do you like to paint? Or, have you always wanted to try it? Join us this Wednesday, October 6, from 6:30-8:00 pm, as local artist and UNI graduate Kristy Cutsforth will  be offering a painting class at the UU. The first class this week will be an opportunity to ask questions, talk about what you'll be painting and discuss logistics, cost for the course and supplies. No experience is necessary! Come express yourself with paint! Find out more about Kristy and her work at http://www.kristycutsforth.com

"88 Notes" was created during August, 2010.  The sculpture evolved on its own, after the keys of our old moldy piano were bleached and left on the back porch to dry. It was obvious from the first time I saw them in numerical order, radiating solidly from the center, that this was a chalice in the making.  There was nothing else it could be.  Once the concept was there, I found that I couldn't stop looking at the form. It drew me in and wouldn't let go.  Now I'm sharing it with you.  Enjoy.  Moria Brown

Office Update
Office hours are Monday & Thursday mornings from 8:30 am to 12:30pm and Wednesday afternoons from 1:00 to 5:00 pm.  I will be on vacation the week of October 11th.  Thanks!  Janet

Pastoral Update

Sunday night Esther took Mildred Pierce to Sartore with a broken wrist. She's had surgery, and as of yesterday she is now in room 461 in the Stanard Assisited Living Center, Western Home, 420 E. 11th St. Cedar Falls, Iowa.  Here phone number is 277-3675.  Her son Bob and wife Jo will be here until Saturday and daughter, Pat, will be coming Sunday or Monday. Please send her cards or call on her, if she knows you. This is a difficult time for her, as many of you know, she is over 100, and has been determined to remain in her own home.

As Eva is preparing to go on Sabbatical, you may be wondering where to send your messages and updates about our church members in need of love, prayers, light, support, etc. Please send them to Janet in the office by Thursday at noon, and she will include them in the Weekly Update that our Worship Associates will send out. <administrator@uusbhc.org>

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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Weekly Update

9/24/10 Weekly Update
Its fall! Its fall!  What a lovely day its turned out to be after all the rain. What a change! Life is all about change, but sometimes we forget. Fall is the perfect time to consider what has changed in your life, what is about to change, what really needs to change. Do you still have the right 'tools' for your life . . . from the 'stuff' we keep in our houses, to the emotional resources for who we want to be . . . unless we take the time to assess our situation, and perhaps re-stock, or de-clutter, we may find ourselves sorely unprepared. Life is a Pilgrimage! Are you ready to take the next steps on the journey? Take a moment and prepare. 

See you in church!

~Eva

Sunday 9/26/10
8:30 am Music Rehearsal
9:30 am Festival Sunday: "Fall Equinox" Festival Sunday Team.  Worship Associate: Stephen Orsborn
Continuing with this month's theme we will harvest our spiritual tools for the journey of life!  Join us for a celebration of the full abundance of life.  We will also have the Social Action "Walkin' the Talk" collection for "One Iowa".
10:30 am Fellowship Time
11:00 am Children's Chapel (balcony)
11:15 am Sunday School for Children & Youth
11:15 pm Adult RE Sixty for Six: "Current Events" (balcony)

Calendar Updates for this Coming Week
Monday

6:00 pm Cedar Prairie Vegetarian Potluck

Tuesday

7:00 pm Committee on Ministry

Wednesday

5:00 pm Children's Choir

5:30 pm Dinner (Please RSVP to administrator@uusbhc.org

by noon on Monday)

6:15 pm Adult Choir

6:30 pm Cedar Valley Meditation Group (high school room)

7:30 pm Theoretical String Band

Thursday

7:30 pm Buddhist Path (balcony)

Friday

Nature Group Campout through Sunday (contact Sheri Huber-Otting)

Saturday

7:30 pm Comedy Café

Other items
New Art in the Sanctuary
"88 Notes" was created during August, 2010.  The sculpture evolved on its own, after the keys of our old moldy piano were bleached and left on the back porch to dry. It was obvious from the first time I saw them in numerical order, radiating solidly from the center, that this was a chalice in the making.  There was nothing else it could be.  Once the concept was there, I found that I couldn't stop looking at the form. It drew me in and wouldn't let go.  Now I'm sharing it with you.  Enjoy.  Moria Brown

Office Update
Office hours are Monday & Thursday mornings from 8:30 am to 12:30pm and Wednesday afternoons from 1:00 to 5:00 pm.  If you are in charge of any event at the church, please let me know the time, date and location of your meeting.  I will be gone the week of October 11th so the sooner you send me any calendar information, the better.  Thanks!  Janet

Pastoral Update

Our sympathies to Del Carpenter who's mother died this past week. He is in Nebraska for the funeral and then will be in Indiana for the burial. You can send him messages of love and condolence at <delcarpenter@cfu.net>

Glenyce Butsch fell last Friday and was taken to Allen Hospital.  She is now in Skilled nursing at Western Home.  Her daughter is here and the diagnosis was congestive heart failure I believe.   Her address is Glenyce Butschy, 1100 Grove St. Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613

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.