SUNDAY SERVICES

10:30 am

Children & Youth

Religious Education

10:30 am

Minister

Rev. Joy Atkinson

revjoy@aol.com 

262-8480

Office Hours:

10 am - 3 pm, T, W, Th

 
Director of

Religious Education 
Donna Pratt  406-5121

mklo@earthlink.net   

Choir Director

Lyle Brown

579-7094

lbrownvh@yahoo.com 

Congregational

Administrator

Donna Pratt  579-7094,   406-5121

office@uucnwt.org  

Office Hours:

8 am - 1 pm  MWF

Newsletter Editors  John and Margaret Fleming
888-7059

margefleming@earthlink.net 

Deadlines: 12th & 24th

Board of Trustees

President:

1st Vice President:

Treasurer:

Jim Gessaman 

Circle of Life

We send healing thoughts to:

* Pete Adams, whose father passed away recently.

Occupy Fundraiser at UUCT  
Saturday, February 4
Unitarian Universalist Church
4831 E 22nd St
Dinner at 6, Raffle at 7, Concert at 8

There's a concert with a man Pete Seeger calls "one of the finest singer/songwriters of our time." It's waiting for you at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson Saturday night February 4th, 2012. And it includes a remarkable woman whose voice not only blends with his, but is both soft and strong in its own right. And it's all preceded by a delicious vegetarian meal prepared by Maria Garcia of La Indita. And it's all FREE!

This year all the money thrown into the baskets will be donated to OCCUPY TUCSON. The OCCUPY idea has swept the nation, and the world, off its feet in some way.

If you want to find out more about the evening, the menu, the childcare we'll provide on site for those who attend, some of the raffle prizes, or if you want to contribute something even if you can't attend please consider writing to its@theriver.com.

Super Bowl Party Thrown for a Loss

Stewardship has canceled plans for the Super Bowl party because of the low interest. For those of you who did sign up, please enjoy the game at home or at friends' homes.

Firewood for Sale

Help SAWUURA raise funds to protect the 100 acres owned by UUs of Arizona:

Please ask friends and neighbors if they need firewood. Trailer load is $150 for ¾ cord and can be divided into ¼ cord deliveries.To arrange a purchase, please call SAWUURA Board Member Eb at 520-622-6966 or email eb@dakotacom.net

SAWUURA is the Sierra Ancho Wilderness Unitarian Universalist Religious Association. The SAWUURA-owned camp is located five miles south of Young, Arizona at an altitude of 5500 feet. SAWUURA is a
beautiful 109 acres of wilderness nestled in the heart of the Sierra Ancha Wilderness and surrounded by thousands of acres of national forest. For more information, visit www.SAWUURA.org

Family Camp Feb. 18-20 at Camp De Benneville Pines

PSWD Elementary/Family Camp - Treasuure Huunting
February 18th-20th
For more info: uucamp.org

ITZABOUTIME

presents

an OCCUPY Fundraiser

with

CHARLIE KING & KAREN BRANDOW

Saturday, February 4

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH

4831 E 22nd ST

dinner at 6, raffle at 7, concert at 8

meal and music and childcare

FREE

for information on the artists: www,charlieking.org

for information on the evening; its@theriver.com

Global Issues Forum February 19

UU Congregation of Green Valley has invited any interested persons to attend a forum on Sunday, Feb 19, 2012, 10-11 am. The forum will address the impending collision of a number of major global issues, how they will impact our lives in the near future, and how we as individuals and small communities can prepare; i.e., how we can build resilience. For more info: email kildahls@netzero.com  

GA/DA Reminders

By Carolyn Saunders, District Board VP and District Coordinator for GA

Important Dates

April 27-28  District Assembly--, First Unitarian Church, Las Angeles  For more information: http://www.pswduua.org/pages/district-assembly.php

June 20-24 General Assembly--, Phoenix
For more information: http://www.uua.org/ga/2012/index.shtml

Registration and Volunteer applications will be available on the website on March 1. Full adult early registration is $320; late registration (after April 30) is $365.

The main GA hotels are the Hyatt and the Renaissance where 1000 rooms have been blocked for UUs at $125 a night. But registration at these hotels must also be done online through the UUA housing office after March 1.

District Executive Ken Brown reminds us that as we get nearer to General Assembly, our own PSWD web site has a section on Migration and Border Issues which keeps getting bigger. This section is a resource for individuals and congregations in the PSWD and across the nation. Most of the material is there because in some way the issue or report may be part of events or education at GA and maybe our own District Assembly.Click here to access it.

Lending Library

After the service, please feel free to check out books from the lending library in the Fireside Room. The lending library is open to everyone. It's easy! Select the book you want to borrow, sign the card inside the book, place the card in the plastic bin and that's it. Return the book when you are finished, and replace the card in the book. There's a wide selection of topics to explore. Children's books will be coming soon.

Home Hospitality Needed

As part of our spring planning for the General Assembly, the UU Ministry for Earth Board of Directors will meet at MVUU this March 1-4, 2012. Your help will be greatly appreciated. In particular, we will be looking for homestays for the other six members. What has worked best in the past are nearby places with room for more than one spare bed, as most of the board will not have cars. In most cases, the board members make a donation to the church in lieu of paying for hotels.

Please contact Vincent Pawlowski by email at uuvince@ultrasw.com or phone at 520-887-4101 or 520-400-7517 with your offer, or for more information.

Words of Joy

Coming This Month: A Bonus Day!

Life is measured in years while it is lived in days...The gift of life is not a gift of great sweeps of years but in the exhilaration of a single day...Why can we not look at the gift of today and fall on our knees in gratitude?      -the Rev. Richard Gilbert

A year is normally 365 days, but because the earth takes (roughly) 365 and one quarter days to circle the sun, we get a Leap Year every four years. However, a century year-one that ends with two zeros-is not a Leap Year unless it is evenly divisible by four. And there are even more complicated counting devices that have been proposed to make the days of a year come out even (in whole days) in the much longer run, since the actual length of a circuit 'round the sun is 365 and a quarter days and (again roughly) eleven seconds (WHEW!). Anyway, what this means in our everyday lives is that in this Leap Year, 2012, we get a BONUS DAY on February 29^th.

Whenever a Leap Day comes around, I think about that bonus day as an opportunity to pause and experience gratitude for the gift of time that we have been given. So much of our lives, as Henry David Thoreau pointed out long ago, are "frittered away by details." How much time do we give ourselves to take a break from all the scurrying around, from all the obsession with dates, deadlines and details, to JUST BE? For so many of us in this fast-paced culture, the answer is: "precious little." We are all so very, very busy!

About a hundred years ago (OK, it was only 32 years ago, on another Leap Day), I saw the following quote by Daniel Berrigan, pinned under a magnet on a friend's refrigerator door:

"Don't just do something," the Buddha said, "stand there!"

Here was Father Berrigan, the twentieth century Catholic peace activist, turning a familiar expression on its head, to express the message of a third century religious leader-Gautama the Buddha. It's an important message in any age-a message about awareness, about living in the present moment, about stopping all the busyness and the mental chatter in our lives to simply enjoy being itself.

For heaven's sake, don't just DO something, STAND THERE! Maybe we can think of this upcoming Leap Day as a special little gift-a bonus day-and sometime during that day, even if we're working as usual, take an hour, a few minutes, even a moment, to pause in gratitude for this marvelous gift: the gift of time, of life, of being.

State of the Congregation January 29

MVUU's Annual State of the Congregation Presentation on Jan. 29 at 12:15 PM after Sunday's Service. A light lunch will be available between the Sunday Service and the Presentation (donations of $5/person suggested). Come hear the latest information about MVUU from our Board President, our Treasurer, and some Committee heads. You won't want to miss it.

Looking to Celebrate Valentine's Day?

The Hagels and Pauls are hosting a Valentine's Day Dinner as a fundraiser for MVUU.   The dinner for 16 will be on Tuesday evening, February 14, at Jane and Conrad Paul's home.  

Appetizers

Caesar Salad

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Rice

Green Beans

Dessert

Cost is $60 per couple. Book early, as there is a limit of 16 spaces.   Couples will be asked to bring either an appetizer, Ceasar salad, green beans, rice or a specified dessert, plus a bottle of wine or drink of their choice.

Book early! Please be prepared to pay soon after reserving your seats.

This will be a special evening of great food and fun. Contact Paulette Hagel at dphagel@gmail.com.   First come, first served.

Activities and Events

 First Friday Hike February 3 at the Sweetwater Trail

Anne and Jerry Sandvig will be at church at 9 am (leaving at 9:15) and collect all who want to carpool. Please call in advance so we will know who is coming, 818-6292 . We can plan on having lunch at the trail head parking lot afterwards.

Directions to the Trail head:
From Church- go south on I-10 about 2-3 miles and exit at Ruthrauff / El Camino del Cerro. Turn right on Camino del Cerro and follow it for about 5 miles until it dead-ends at the trail head. There are 3 or 4 signs along the way.

Wear weather appropriate clothing, bring water and a lunch. Walking sticks recommended. Call or email Hobie at hobied@gmail.com or 253-857-5171 if you have any questions.

Adult RE Class: "The God within Us" Mondays in February

Bob Wallace, a friend of the Mountain Vista UU Congregation, will offer a course entitled "The God Within Us: Inner Freedom, Love, and Philosophy's Heart" on Monday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 during February.  

Bob describes himself as a trained philosopher who has been bowled over by love. He will share his experience of becoming aware of this soul, this common heart within us, which is the kernel of truth in the traditional notion of God. The course is based on his book manuscript, which draws on Plato, Rumi, Hegel, Emerson, and his personal experience. This is material that he has taught at the First Unitarian Society in Milwaukee and at various colleges. There will be a charge of $10 for the class, to cover the cost of reproduction. February 6, 13, 20, and 27.

Please sign up ahead of time, so Bob will know how many copies to make. Contact him at www.bob@robertmwallace.com or sign up at church. 

Writers' Workshop

Anyone interested in writing is invited to join the Writers' Workshop on Wednesday mornings from 10:00 to 12:00. Participants share their writing, critique each others' work, and offer suggestions for such aspects of writing as plot development, organization, tightening, and word choice. Come any time for one session or a series of sessions. If you have writing to be critiqued, please bring at least 5 copies.

For more information, contact Margaret Fleming at 888-7059 or www.margefleming@earthlink.net .   

Choir News

The choir will be traveling to Chandler on January 28 to participate in the Arizona UU Choir Festival. Our own choir director, LB, will conduct the massed choir along with conductors from several other congregations.  

Marge Fleming has designed beautiful choir stoles for our singers to wear, and was joined by Helena Freedlund, Betty Meikle, Lisa Ponder-Gilby, and Jyostna Taggarse in making them. The new stoles will be on display here at Mountain Vista when the choir sings again in February.

YOU Can Make a Difference

Volunteer Orientation for Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network (TIHAN)

TIHAN's Volunteer Orientation is a great way to learn more about HIV/AIDS, TIHAN and our current volunteer opportunities, and how you can help make a difference in the lives of people right here in our community.

TIHAN's next Volunteer Orientation will take place on Saturday, January 28th from 8:30 am-12:30 pm at Grace St. Paul's Episcopal Church (2331 East Adams, near Speedway and Tucson Boulevard).

The cost of the orientation is $17 per person (to cover the costs of food and materials). If you are interested in attending or if you would like more information, please contact us at 299-6647 or volunteercoordinator@tihan.org. To download a Volunteer Application Packet, click visit www.tihan.org, then click on "Volunteer."

Also: TIHAN is accepting applications for a full-time Program Manager .A complete job description and list of required qualifications, along with instructions for applying, is at tihan.org

Ministerial Search Update

Some of you may wonder why the Ministerial Search Committee members seem to be absent from services frequently over the next several weeks. Our mandate from MVUU includes traveling to other congregations and listening to the ministerial pre-candidates as they preach. Those same weekends, we will spend many hours with each pre-candidate, at a formal meeting and in less formal settings and travel time.

This is a process outlined (and previously tested) in the Unitarian Universalist Association guidelines for "calling" a "settled" minister, one that helps to match the strengths and talents you told us you need and want, as expressed in your survey and focus groups. All of our pre-candidates have been "fellowshipped" by the UUA.

Each pre-candidate has read our online UUA records and studied the extensive packet we provided online. (You may read most of this on our website). We have conducted a Skype interview with these ministers, so we were able to select three as the best potential "fits" for our congregation. One has just recently withdrawn. And remember, the ministers are assessing us as well and deciding if they will choose to come here!

This is the process you selected to undergo last spring, after the visit of the consultant Bob Miess. We members of the MSC are all honored that you selected us and have trusted us with finding the best available UU candidate for this congregation.

You will get to meet and approve of the final choice in mid-April, when the candidate minister will be here for two Sundays and a whole week of meetings and events in between. We hope you will make time with this candidate a priority that week and that you will participate in the final Sunday's vote. We will announce those dates soon.  

Visit to UUs in Prison

One arm of our congregation's Standing on the Side of Love initiative involves contact with a group of UUs who are in a private prison in Eloy.

Seven of us (Joy Atkinson, John and Margaret Fleming, Donna Pratt, Emily Ricketts, Chuck Tatum, and Paula Trahan) made the trip there on January 18 to meet with the group. The purpose of the initial meeting was to see if we wanted to continue the contact, so we were not required to undergo the orientation that all permanent volunteers have to.

When we were checking in, we were told that wearing denim jeans was not permitted. Since we had not had the orientation, nobody had told us this, and 4 members of the group were wearing jeans. The warden was contacted, and an exception was made for this time only. But he would not make an exception for the open-toed sandals one member of our group was wearing. So he (John) had to wait in the car for two hours while the rest of us went inside. We were never given a credible explanation for these rules.

This is a private prison, operated by the Corrections Corporation of America, the largest such organization in the country. This particular facility is a California prison: all the prisoners are from California. It is a medium-security prison, so it doesn't house the most violent offenders. That's all we know about their offenses, but probably many of them are drug-related.

The group of UUs consists of 10 men, very diverse in ethnicity and age. They meet every week for two hours with one of the prison chaplains present. We found out that the group had been started by one man, who had been a UU in Berkeley. He had recruited all the others by getting material from the UU Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) and sharing it with those he thought would be receptive. At their meetings they read and discuss the CLF materials; they discuss inspirational sayings posted on their whiteboard. Sometimes they have book reports. Much like a men's circle, they share personal concerns and have found the group a safe community for this kind of intimacy.

When we met with them, we began by all introducing ourselves and telling briefly what got us interested in UUism. None of the prisoners except for the one who started the group had been members on the outside. Some of them had been in prison for 20 or 30 years. One thing they wanted was to get a better feeling for what it's like outside. So we agreed that next time we would present a typical UU service for them with a sermon, readings, hymns, and so on.

Before going again, however, we have to have the orientation, and we were told it may take a while till that can happen. So we are in a sort of limbo now, but everyone who went agrees that it was a really interesting and inspiring experience. We all want to go again.

Anyone who would like to participate in this ongoing program should contact Rev. Joy.

Margaret Fleming

Immigration Project

Good news! The Gateway Project has given us another $1500 from the challenge grant to match $1500 that the congregation raised through luncheons and gifts from generous members. We intend to use the money to send our youth who have worked on the immigration documentary to GA in June. We have applied for a slot in the program but haven't yet been accepted. In any event, the finished video, or maybe 2 videos, will be posted on YouTube.

Another piece of good news is that the challenge grant has been extended another six months. There is still $2500 available if we can match it.

The kids are now working on shooting scenes for the video. The idea is to make the scenes humorous like those of Charlie Chaplin or Laurel and Hardy, but with a serious point. They met today (Jan. 28th) for a 3-hour workshop and shot a number of scenes. It was a very productive day. 

Board Highlights January 18, 2012

Keeping Everyone Up To Date

NOTE: These Highlights are from the draft minutes. Final minutes in their entirety will be posted outside the Office after approval and include any reports submitted.

• We are now $9,500 behind in income compared with last year. We are way below predicted income.
• We are withholding three-fourths ($10,000) of our Fair Share to UUA and PSWD. It is hoped that the March pledge drive will allow us to meet facility infrastructure expenses, salary of staff, and contribute this amount to UUA and PSWD.
• Annual statements will be sent out by the end of January.
• State of the Congregation Meeting is scheduled for January 29 at 12:15 pm in the sanctuary.
• The Committee Fair will be on February 12.
• A Visioning Workshop will be held on Sunday March 4 for all board members, committee chairs, and other interested members and friends to contribute energy and ideas to our future.
• Our ministry to the UUs in the Eloy prison has begun. Others may join in the visits.
• Pima County is reviewing our submitted Development plan.
• Strategic planning task force has been formed.

Next Meeting: February 15, 2012 Fireside Room

Sunday Services for February

February 5,2012 

 Rev. Joy Atkinson

Elizabeth Reed bought this sermon at the auction last church year and designated the topic to be on the "Pareto Principle" or the "80-20 rule"-a phenomenon often invoked in the business world which postulates that 20% of the causes produce 80% of the results. How might this "rule" affect you in your personal life? How does it apply to congregations, or does it? If it applies, is this a problem to be solved or an inevitable fact of congregational life? Barbara Gates is Worship Associate.

February 12, 2012
Evolution Sunday: "When I Heard the Learned Astronomer"

Rev. Joy Atkinson

Evolution Sunday honors the Clergy Letter Project--an effort by clergy of many faiths to publically support science education in schools and refute those who would replace science with "creationism." The sermon will take us on a journey around the universe and explore the interface of science and theology. Romy Fouad is Worship Associate. The choir will sing.

February 19, 2012
"Whose Life Is It Anyway?"
Judith Snyderman

Judith Snyderman's early interest in death with dignity started when she gained first hand knowledge of how terminally ill patients were being kept alive in Intensive Care Units. She was selling medical instrumentation that monitored these patients and set off alarms so "life saving" treatments could be administered if necessary. She realized she never wanted to be in that position --no voice in the choice of care being given, no quality of life, no control over bodily functions, no dignity, and no contribution to society. She knew there had to be a better way! She will explore with us the right to die with dignity and the options available. Margaret Fleming is Worship Associate.

Judith joined Hemlock sometime in the 70's; it evolved into End of Life Choices and then Compassion and Choices. She joined Final Exit Network as well. She was instrumental in forming a Cincinnati Chapter of Compassion and Choices and served as its president from 2003 until 2007. She was elected to the Board of Final Exit Network in 2008 and to the position of Treasurer in 2010.

February 26, 2012
Auction Sermon: "Stonehenge to Chartres: Our Sacred Spaces"

Rev. Joy Atkinson

This year's auction sermon topic was purchased by Connie Armstrong. The sermon will explore the significance of special places in human history, in our lives and within religious communities. What makes a particular place "sacred?" What do the features of a sacred space say about the people who create and/or care for it? Irene Sattinger is Worship Associate. The choir will sing.