First, we will celebrate the installation of our new settled minister, the Reverend Adam Robersmith, on April 22, at 4 pm.  Please be sure to save the date and come with great rejoicing. 

Second, the kitchen is now functional and almost finished (there are still some cabinet fronts to be installed).  We will begin to have our new, improved coffee hour on March 25, with your Board of Trustees hosting.  Please consider having your small group and your committees sign up to host a coffee hour, too.  It's a great way, fun way to serve and also bond even more with your group.  Huge, enormous thanks to Kate Friedlob for keeping the coffee hour going during the maintenance while the kitchen was shut down.  And transcendent thanks to Lew Harding for his superhuman efforts in supervising the work. 

Third, the annual pledge drive is going on even now.  Please consider giving generously to the community of your time, talents, and treasure.  This beautiful community of ourselves takes what we each give and makes it into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.  The more we all give, the better we all get.  I truly believe that's what love does - makes a wholeness that's greater than the sum of its parts. 

Fourth, our congregational meeting will take place on May 20. We will celebrate the achievements and service of the past year, elect new members of the Board of Trustees (it's been an honor to serve as your Board Chair), the Nominating Committee, and the Endowment Committee, and generally hobnob with one another. 

Enjoy this beautiful spring weather, and I look forward to seeing you all at these super cool events in this season bursting with new life. 

August Staas

Our preacher for the Installation with be the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, minister of 4th Universalist Church in New York City. Born and raised in Chicago, Rev. McNatt has served on the boards of the UUA and Starr King School for the Ministry, and is also a widely published writer, adjunct instructor at Union Theological Seminary, and founder of the UU Trauma Ministry.

The Installation service will be on Sunday, April 22 at 4:00pm. Reception immediately after the service.

Please join in celebrating this momentous occasion in 2U's history!

Linda Groetzinger is our lay preacher for Social Justice Sunday, March 25th. On behalf of the Social Justice Council of 2U, and using the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee's Social Justice topic, "Water as a Human Right' she will help us together  more towards a UU WATER ETHIC! One that includes water's spiritual value, the right of universal access, the role of social justice work,  and our underlying principles,  as we rely on our membership in a community of faith to empower us in stewardship of the earth's most important resource.

• Board of Trustees (4 positions):  
• Council Chair (2-year term) 
• Treasurer (2-year term) 
• Trustee (3 -year term) 
• Chair-Elect (3-year progressive term)
• Endowment Committee (1 position): 3-year term
• Nominating Committee (4 positions): 1-year term

Please contact any member of the the 2U Nominating Committee; Dawn Kirschmann, Chair, Michael Bulak, Dana Hill, Sally Harding, Liz Krumwiede, Ian McPhaden, Jim Simonis,as soon as possible if you are interested or have further questions.

The 2U choir is a community of folks who love to sing - and love to welcome new choir members. The choir rehearses around the piano in the sanctuary every Tuesday evening at 7:30. Welcome spring! Sing! Join the choir! For more information, email music director Marianne Parker or just show up to a rehearsal. Or - for an in-between option - call me, Myra Epping, at 773-338-4086.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if everyone in the world had an attitude of open-mindedness, tolerance, concern for the planet, and support for each other that UUs do? For one week each summer, we experience such a world. That world is MUUSA!  

Join us on Sunday, July 1st to Saturday, July 7th at MUUSA, the Midwest Unitarian Universalist Summer Assembly, where you can vacation with other Unitarian Universalists in a beautiful natural setting with activities and fun for all ages. We invite families, singles, and couples to join us at our inter-generational retreat, where you can enjoy workshops, classes, and leisure time. We gather at Trout Lodge, located in 5,200 acres of pine and oak forest on a private 360 acre lake 75 miles southwest of St. Louis, Missouri, near Potosi.

Save the date now and make your summer vacation planning easy. The 2012 theme, "Living Once Upon a Time: the Stories Deep Within Us," will be led by Reverend Keith Kron.  Your stay includes three buffet meals a day, comfortable housing, relaxing at the beachfront, watercraft use, opportunities for horseback riding, creating in the arts and crafts center, your choice of morning and afternoon workshops, and much, much more!

We offer a nursery and day camps for our youngest campers and unique program with separate housing for our junior high and senior high youths. Our campers rave about MUUSA!  To hear more, visit YouTube and view our video to see what a week at MUUSA is like.  

You can register today at www.muusa.org.   

Have questions?  Contact Registrar Susan Porter at muusa@uua.org or Ed Jamison at, edjamison42@gmail.com, Executive Committee, MUUSA.  

We can't wait to welcome you to the most fabulous week of the year!