The Anvil - August 2011

Newsletter of Second Unitarian Church of Chicago

August 2011

The annual Blessing of the Animals service is this Sunday, August 14th at 2U. All healthy, friendly, leashed or otherwise contained pets are invited to join their families in the sanctuary for this one of a kind service. As stated by Suzanne Clothier, "A life lived in relationship with an animal has the power to make us both fully human and more fully humane." The human/animal bond is a deep relationship that has brought great joy to people of all walks of life for centuries. At this service, we will explore how these relationships have enriched our lives and give thanks for all that animals have given us.

From the Ministerial Search Committee

The ministerial search committee has learned so much since we got together this spring. The process of organizing and attending the 2U Cottage Meetings taught us all so much about the diversity of history and ideas that exists in the 2U community. Through conversation and fellowship, we've gotten to know this community better. Now it's time to crunch some numbers.

The 2U Ministerial Search Survey is ready and waiting for you! We will gather data about the congregation's demographics, as well as calculate information about the personal theologies, practices and preferences of 2U community members. This provides us with a valuable snapshot of what the Second Unitarian Church congregation is comprised of right now, and gives us concrete information to use as we prepare to interview candidates and help them learn more about us, as a community. Complete the survey online. If you need a paper copy, those will be available at 2U in the Palmer Room. Thank you for your contributions to this process - we couldn't be successful without you!

Orientation to 2nd Unitarian Church

Sunday September 4, 11:45 - 1:45

If you are interested on participating in this event, please sign up on the "What's Happening" table in the Palmer Room or send an email to membership chair John Broome (broomejv@att.net) so that you have a spot reserved just for you. Childcare is available upon request.

Orientation begins at 11:45 with light refreshments and ends at about 1:45. Although the focus of the orientation is to provide information about Unitarian-Universalism and 2U history, attending one of these sessions is a requirement for joining the church.

2U Young Adults Upcoming Events

On August 21th, we will have our August Circle Worship, which we will also use to start planning our September kick off for the new church year. On the evening of the 25th, we will have our monthly yoga class, please RSVP to Arcenia Harmon at oya7@yahoo.com if you can attend. As always, please email Arcenia for more information about these and other events!

Welcoming Words

Second Unitarian is a church community that welcomes everyone. At each service we say, "We cherish the diversities that make us whole."

The Board of Trustees has resolved to add new written words of welcome to the back of our order of service to more explicitly welcome the various diversities we cherish and diversity in general. The oral words of welcome will remain the same.

A driving purpose behind this has been for 2U to be as clear as possible so that each person is welcome at this church. By including written words of welcome, we are affirming the worth and dignity of each person and sending a statement to the world that we not only value diversity, but embrace it. We believe these words complement all the many other actions we do to welcome people at 2U.

The idea of creating a welcome specific and broad enough for our congregation was raised at the Religious Services Committee (RSC) more than one year ago. At that time, some liked the idea of an oral welcome; others preferred a written welcome. In keeping with 2U principles, RSC fashioned the compromise of having both. The oral words have been read for some time. We now have draft written words.

Our process has taken months. We first reviewed statements we already have in places such as 2U's Bylaws, website, and brochures. We also examined welcome language from other UU and neighborhood churches. We realized newcomers to our services would read the entire order of service to understand our principles and how to join so we decided the back of the order of service would be the most visible and appropriate place.

The draft words of written welcome (below) were brought by the RSC to the Board in July. To encourage broader congregational conversation on this, there will be two Board Chats (Aug. 28 and Sept. 25). The RSC values your input and suggestions and will edit the words of welcome accordingly before submitting the final document to the Board for approval.

If you prefer, you may email your comments to the RSC at: rsc@secondunitarian.org or contact Rev. Adam Robersmith at minister@secondunitarian.org.

DRAFT WRITTEN WORDS OF WELCOME: We welcome you. As Unitarian Universalists, we offer a spiritual home for people who seek liberal religion in a caring community. We cherish the diversities that make us whole, including those of race, age, sex, abilities and disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity, culture, ethnicity, theology, religious background, politics, social and economic class, and the infinite variety of families who come through our doors.

New Members

Nancy Kloetzli (pronounced "Klutz-lee") grew up in LaGrange Park. After attending the University of Illinois at Champaign where she received a degree in English, she worked downtown for the Federal Government. Realizing this was not her cup of tea, Nancy returned to school-attending the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. She practiced medicine in Topeka, Kansas and also attended the UU Fellowship there. She returned to Chicago recently and works at Swedish Covenant Hospital in medical coding. In her leisure time,

Nancy enjoys cooking and theatre. She feels at home at 2U and may be interested in joining a small group.

Samijean ("Sami") Nordmark was born in Oregon, but grew up in Joliet. After attending Northern University, where she earned a degree in nursing, Sami spent most of her career teaching nursing at Joliet Junior College. She retired a year ago and moved to Chicago with her husband, John. From Joliet, they had become involved with "The Saints" who provide ushers for various plays and arts events in Chicago, and decided that since Chicago had so much to offer, they wanted to move here. They live in Lakeview and their two adult children live nearby in Uptown. Sami provides volunteer gardening for the Zoo and for the Garfield Park Conservatory. In addition, Sami and her husband volunteer at the Inspiration Café and for the Lakeview Pantry. Sami found 2U by wandering by one day. She has been attending since the first of the year. She is interested in learning more about 2U's small groups.

A warm welcome to Nancy & Sami!!

Remember Me?

by John Houck

When evacuating for an emergency one must choose what is precious and useful to you, since not everything can be taken along. Most of us choose living things first, of course, but a constant choice in modern life is photographs - the visualized warp and woof of our lives. We make room to take and keep safe images of family, friends, and other images that have meaning and resonance for us. These images stir our souls and nourish the connectedness, which is the skeleton supporting our humanity, which is a vital part of ourselves that we reflexively preserve despite of crisis.

As we contemplate the world that Unitarian Universalism hopes to build and our place in it, a stronger humanity is one cornerstone. To hew and fit that cornerstone though, we must be vigilant to avoid a familiar, comfortable assassin of faith - silent assent. Ample fuel for our vigilance can be found in looking to the past, where examples of assent and its terrible results abound. For instance: the Methodist assent to slavery that gave us Collyer, the German people's assent to Hitler's "progressive" policies. Policies that did ensure the average Germans were better off as he led the recovery from their economic morass, but that is not the lesson I'm getting at here. I hope you'll agree to some extent that feeding our humanity keeps our hearts tender and our minds open to how much help is going out every day, and how much more we can each provide when we see the need.

I've recently browsed an archive of 1100 photographs of children with their names, hosted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum called "Remember Me?" I was so amazed at my own emotional reactions to the photos that I've returned several times, each visit a different spiritual event for me. (Don't worry, in most images the children are smiling, a potent hook in itself.)

The archive is posted in hopes that many of the children can be identified, so information about their wartime and postwar experiences may be shared to renew connections within and among families and people involved in their care during those times. On the Web site there are new identifications posted every day, but those who may directly identify the children are not growing younger. I encourage you to visit the site, where you can wander among the images, or search by name. Perhaps learning what your reaction might be, or consider why, if you have no reaction. And if you know of anyone who may need to see the images to help the identification, if only to themselves, please pass this opportunity along. Shalom - that is, to be complete, perfect and full.

Money Matter$

Fiscal Year 2011-12 Operating Budget Status: YTD through July

Income

Pledges & Collection Plate 16,243

Other Income 2,161 Total YTD Income $18,404

Expenses

Collection Plate Sharing 573

All Other Expenses 19, 101

Total YTD Expenses $19, 674

Total Annual Budget $284,722

Balance Sheet Snapshot - July

Total Reserves & Investments 207,077