Unitarian Universalist Church of Jackson

NUUSLETTER

 A Newsletter for our Members and Friends

December 2007 - Web Edition

Love is the spirit of this church, and service is our law.

To dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in love, and to help one another.

This is our covenant

I am always amazed when December rolls around how quickly the year has flown by.
Even as a kid when time supposedly dragged on in its approach of the holidays, I thought
the year went by at just too fast speed. There is so much to do for the Holidays. No
sooner has the house been cleaned after Thanksgiving that we are decorating for Hanukah,
Christmas, Solstice, or Kwanza and then New Years right after that.

I remember as a kid going out to a place known as Big Pond which was actually bog covered lake.
My dad would always caution me as to where to step because a false step could result in my
falling through to the dark waters below these floating islands. But out on these floating bogs
would be some of the best fir trees for Christmas. So we would cross the bogs a day before
Christmas to the islands where the fir trees were. Choose one and then drag the tree out of the
woods and prepare it for our living room. In my family Christmas eve was one of the rare family
times when the entire family would help in decorating the tree. The Christmas ornaments were
old family heirlooms that came from my Mom’s family. The paper and lace angels were from my
great aunt Ethel. The metallic painted spiral ornaments were from my great grandmothers. And
every year the stories of these women would be told. I had the fortunate blessing of knowing my
great aunt so I could see her in my mind’s eye when I heard her story. My great grandmother I did
not know but I enjoyed these stories anyway. When my Dad died, his story was added to the
annual tree trimming of how the correct way of placing tinsel on the tree had to be strand by
strand not just clumped on some unsuspecting branch.

What stories do you tell at this time of the year? Do you tell family stories? It is a way of adding
special meaning to our holidays. The religious stories and the family stories added become a way
of understanding ourselves just a bit more and they add nurturance to our spirits. Stories shared
can make a difference in the warmth of the season.

We will come together on Christmas Eve at 9 PM to tell some stories, sing some carols, and honor
the birth of a special being who graced our world a long time ago. Please join us in adding some
warmth to our family gathering this Christmas.

Blessings abound,

Fred

 

  President's Corner

 

The Board has recently been thinking about ways for UUCJ to be a good neighbor to those around 4866 North State Street. We are good neighbors to the larger community in several ways. We participate in Fair Trade Shopping with coffee, cocoa, tea, and chocolate bars. We have a program where we contribute underwear and soap to the detention center for guys in the GED program. We offer our recycle bins to those whose neighborhoods do not have a recycling program. We recycle reading material to Medical Mall waiting rooms. We accept contributions to our compost pile. But what can we do for our next door neighbors?

George Barnes came up with a great idea! Perhaps we could provide Thanksgiving Day dinner to the fireman on duty at the fire station down the street from UUCJ. Monique Champagne called the fire station to see if they would like us to do that. Boy, did they ever! Monique ordered the food and arranged the pick up and delivery times. Monique tells me that after the firemen got over some initial hesitancy (they didn’t know exactly who we are—were we selling something???), they were delighted that their neighbors wanted to share with them.

Natalie Maynor found an opportunity for us to be good neighbors with the loan of our tables to the neighborhood crime watchers street event. She even put up a little sign to let folks know we cared enough to lend our tables. Let’s think some more about our neighborhood and ways we can be a good neighbor.

May the blessings of this season of giving flow from our beloved community to those around us.

Gwen Combs

 

From The Desk of the DRE

 

Our R.E. year is in full swing and we’re looking forward to the winter holidays ahead. Our elementary children have been exploring stories from the Jewish scriptures while our youth have been learning about the life and teachings of Jesus. Ask them about what they have learned when you see them! Also, drop in to see some of the arts & crafts they have created during their studies!

We have also had three members attend training for the Our Whole Lives (OWL) comprehensive sexuality education curricula for 7th-12th grades. We are looking forward to being able to offer this vital experience for our community in the spring! Thank you to Amy Griggs, Brian Heffner, & Susan Knipe for volunteering to attend this training & lead the classes!

Across the Ages

Our children will join the adult service for a Story for All Ages on Dec 16th. We also have planned two intergenerational activities: a Shared Storytelling Night on Dec 7th with mysteries, legends/fairy tales, and a collective story web and a Night of Carols on Dec 16th to go caroling in the community! Please join our intergenerational social activities and take time to talk and get to know our children and youth!

How You Can Help

WE NEED TEACHERS for Sunday RE classes in the Spring for all ages! The youth will be exploring their own beliefs and developing their own ideas about theology. Please volunteer to help them with this very important step in their development! Call Stacy for details.

 

 

 At a recent Board Retreat, we revised the behavioral agreement into a covenant. I would like to have some discussion about this proposed covenant and have scheduled an Adult Forum in January to have this discussion. I include in this December newsletter this covenant to begin our discussion of how to be together.

Rev. Fred L Hammond

A Covenant of the UU Church of Jackson
 

Using the principles adopted by our association of congregations we covenant together to model to the best of our abilities these principles with each other:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person; We will listen actively, for understanding, and remember to speak, not for the group, but for ourselves alone.

• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations; We will offer direct and open communication talking with rather than about each other. We will address private conflicts away from public times and places. If mediation is desired, we will seek out the CALM committee members, instead of other uninvolved parties.

• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations; We will seek and value the opinions and knowledge of each other concerning the effective ministry of this church community. We will uphold the importance of both acceptance and boundaries within healthy congregational relationships. We will engage with those from whom we differ, not to discount or antagonize, but to deepen the relationships and to enrich ourselves.

• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning; Practicing patience with the process nature of group dialogue, we will avoid interrupting, monopolizing, antagonizing, digressing from the focus, and abandoning the dialogue.

• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in
society at large; We will be respectful toward group leaders and will honor democratic protocols of orderly conduct, such as “starting” and “closing” times, ensuring that everyone has opportunity to speak and be heard, and not distracting others while someone is addressing the entire group.
We will accept the conscience of the group, and the results of group process made both when we were either present or absent.

• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all; We will begin by seeking peace, liberty and justice for all within our own congregation and community in which we live.

• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. We will show respect of all existence by honoring each other’s presence and contributions as cultivating that independent web of our community and by honoring the gifts of the earth through conservation, stewardship and care in the fulfilling of our tasks.

 

Deadline for submissions to the January UUCJ NUUSletter: December 18. Please send your submissions to NUUSletter@uujackson.org.