We all use toilet paper. Many of us use paper towels, tissues, and/or paper napkins (please consider switching to cloth napkins if you do ! ) Did you know that very few manufacturers make these throwaway products from recycled paper? Here is an interesting statistic from the Natural Resources Defense Council: If every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper (500 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 423,900 trees. Wow!
Please consider buying only products made from recycled paper; we do it here at UUS:E as part of our Green Sanctuary status. Also consider sending a message to paper giant Kimberly-Clark, maker of Scott, Cottonelle, Kleenex and Viva, telling them to stop using virgin wood for throwaway paper products. It saves forests and helps reduce global warming pollution.
UUSE CELEBRATES EARTH DAY
SUNDAY, APRIL 27TH
Please bike, walk or car pool to UUS:E!
Starting Points:
Bolton Notch, Bolton: 7:45 AM (rail trail parking at I384)
Valley Falls Park, Vernon: parking lot - walk up to rail trail
Rockville Rail Trail Spur, Vernon: rail trail starting at rte 30
If you would like to bike in a group we will
coordinate a starting point for you depending on where you live - please let us know ASAP.
For more information contact:
Sylvia Ounpuu 649-8644 or Jason Corsa 432-0470
Upon arrival - please let us know how many miles you did NOT drive in comparison to a typical trip to UUS:E. We will estimate the pounds CO2 we do NOT put into the atmosphere!
The Sunday services on June 1st will include a special celebration of music, and the UUS:E Choir needs your voices! The choir will be singing a special anthem to celebrate the power of music: if you have sung in the holiday choirs, or even if you have never sung at all, consider yourself invited to come join us! Rehearsals will be held the four Wednesdays in May from 7:30 to 8:15 PM. Come join the celebration!
Dear Ones:
I suspect the
national hub-hub over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright will have subsided by the time
you read this. Racism will not have subsided, so I believe what I have to say
is still relevant. Here is some background: First, from 1972 until his retirement
last year, Rev. Wright was senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ
in Chicago. Trinity is the largest church (approximately 6,500 members) in
the United Church of Christ—a white, liberal denomination with the same
Puritan heritage as Unitarian Universalism. Trinity is one of a number of churches
established by the Congregationalists in the 1800s to serve people of African
descent. Trinity was in deep decline when Rev. Wright began his ministry there.
He says that when he began he understood the key to their revitalization would
be clarity of identity. He helped them grow into their current identity, captured
in their motto, “Unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian.”
Second, Rev. Wright is a liberation theologian. He believes God sides with the poor and oppressed. In his experience black people and people or color generally are overly represented among the poor and oppressed in the U.S. Like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he has continuously offered a searing critique of the U.S. based on this experience. In late February and into March people across the country became aware of selected statements from Rev. Wright that were highly critical of U.S. domestic and foreign policy—particularly its poor treatment of people of color. Finally, still other statements linked him to professed anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan and to a widely discredited theory that the U.S. government is spreading HIV among African Americans.
None of these statements would have registered on the national scene were it not also the case that presidential candidate, Barack Obama, is a member of Trinity Church and considers Rev. Wright his pastor. Suddenly, political and media pundits began calling Rev. Wright an unpatriotic hate monger and wondering aloud whether Barack Obama shares his views.
I have heard Rev. Wright speak twice and I have met him once. While I am certainly not familiar with the greater extent of his work, I find him to be one of the most principled, brilliant, wise and kind people I have ever encountered. He is also imperfect, and I remain deeply troubled by his connections to Louis Farrakhan and his statements about HIV. However, his statements on United States racism, in my view, are accurate, based not only on his personal experience and the collective experience of black people, but on rigorous academic study. As I listen to his sermons on U.S. racism, I hear not only a profound love and hope for the United States but a profound pain that our promise as a nation has not yet been fulfilled. Do his imperfections automatically discredit his impassioned call for an end to racism? I hope not. Good people make mistakes.
The fact that Rev. Wright’s statements about racism could be so blatantly taken out of context and used to discredit the first truly viable African American candidate for president of the United States is, in my view, a sign that racism is alive and well. I also take it as a call for UUs to be ever more vigilant in the struggle against racism.
My intent in writing this letter is not to endorse any political candidate, but simply to help shed some light on the complexities surrounding a great, though certainly imperfect, American pastor.
With love,
--Josh
Sunday, May 4, 2008: “When the Gods Stop Speaking, the People Start Thinking.” Rev. Pawelek will speak about the insights of psychologist Julian Jaynes as presented in his seminal work, The Rise of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. (This sermon was purchased at UUS:E’s 2007 Goods and Services auction!) Coordinator: Rev. Josh Pawelek.
“Spiritual Intimacy in Difficult Times”
Wednesdays May 7, May 21, and June 4 at 2:00 PM at UUS:E
Traumatic experiences—whether personal (such as the experience of being abused) or collective (such as the national experience of the 9-11 terrorist attacks)—often cause spiritual disconnection. They challenge our sense of self, our sense of connection to the sacred, our sense of safety, our faith in the inherent worth and dignity of every person. In the wake of traumatic experiences we ask, “Who am I?” “What is my relationship to the sacred?” “How can I forgive?” “What is the meaning and purpose of my life?” “Can the world feel safe again?” During this three-session course we will explore these questions and look at how spiritual intimacy can assist in healing through difficult times. Rev. Josh Pawelek and Lynn Dove will co-facilitate. Rev. Josh is the parish minister of UUS:E. Lynn Dove, along with being a member of UUS: E, is both a psychotherapist in private practice who specializes in working with adult survivors of trauma, and a survivor of trauma herself.
Please sign up for this class with Annie Gentile, the UUS:E administrator, at (860) 646-5151 or uuse153@sbcglobal.net by April 30. Please let us know if you will be needing childcare.
Back by popular demand, the Committee of Adults & Youth (CAY) is sponsoring a visit to the New Britain Rock Cats AA baseball game on Sunday, May 4th at 1:30pm. CAY encourages individuals, couples, and families of all ages to join us for a fun afternoon at the ballpark. Those interested can car pool to the multi-generational event from the meetinghouse following the second service. A block of field box seats has been set aside for our group. A ticket is $6.50 per seat. (Financial assistance can be available upon request.) Please contact Paul Lorenzo, CAY Adult Chair at pjlorenzo@sbcglobal.net or 657-3255 to reserve your tickets by April 20th.
There will be a pre-game breast cancer awareness ceremony sponsored by the Rock Cats (www.rockcats.com).
The Nominating and Leadership Development Committee offers Sat. and evening Workshops for leaders
and those who aspire to be leaders!
Find out more about our winter offerings on these topics: "Bringing Your Spiritual Self to Committee Work", "Working with Volunteers", and "Effective Group Dynamics". See more info under Other Groups, Nominating and Leadership Committee.
For over a year now, we have been videotaping many of the Sunday services at
UUS:E. After their run on the three community access channels (Cox in Manchester, Community
Voice Channel in Bolton and Charter Communications in Windham), the tapes/DVDs are
brought to the UUS:E office and are in a box next to the copier. Just come in and sign out the
programs you were unable to see. These videos may be borrowed by any of our members and
friends.
Miss a service? Check it out. We may have a copy you can borrow.
Bob Hewey, Video Editor & Mal Barlow, Videographer
Nancy Lister Communications Committee Chairperson
I have been noticing lately that my tips on making the newsletter more efficient have not included some items that are causing Annie more work than necessary.
Please try to do the following when submitting articles:
Joe Madar, Newsletter Editor
The Social Justice Committee is sponsoring a film series at UUS:E the second Friday of every month at 7p.m. This month’s movie will be shown in our main room. This is your chance to catch up with movies related to social and economic justice issues that you may have heard mentioned on public radio, saw a review of in a magazine, or that flew by you in a university film forum.
Contact Jean Labutis to volunteer at the Washington School.
For a Lively and Profitable Evening come to the 18th Annual
All are welcome. Bring your friends. Even if you don’t win any bids, you still have a terrific evening.
Doors open at 5:30. Hearty appetizers and drinks will accompany the Silent Auction which begins at 6 P.M. Stop at the reception table to pick up your bidder number. Be sure to bring your two catalogs, which will be sent to you by email in advance (also available the night of the auction).
Live Auction begins at 7:30 with auctioneer Bob Hewey. We expect to wrap it up at 9:30 P.M. We’ll schedule a break in the Live Auction for desserts and coffee.
If you need child care, please contact Stan McMillen at 742-8447 or Stanley.mcmillen@uconn.edu no later than Monday, May 5.
Instructions for Absentee bidding on Live Auction items will follow in the April Newsletter. There will be no absentee bidding on Silent items.
Place your Promissory Notes in the box in the foyer or have them put in the Communications Committee box in the office.
Volunteers for all aspects of the auction are needed now. Please contact Nancy Lister, nllister@aol.com to sign up.
We are in the process of prioritizing our needs and wants and will then engage building professions. Our primary goal is to expand our sanctuary and religious education space. Supporting goals are improvement of office space, kitchen and bathrooms and storage. To meet these goals within our principles and means, we will emphasize multi-use space, universal design and green construction.
You can be involved by completing the UUS:E Searn for Building Project Porfessional Help Form found under Building Expansion. Your help now is very much needed, Please complete and send us as many forms as you can. Thanks for your help.
Nancy Lister
Communications for the Project Executive Committee
See us on Cable TV
As our congregation grows, we recognize that there are many different ways to provide information to our members and potential members.
Updated: April 24, 2008
