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Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church
www.cedarlane.org | ENewsletter Volume 4, Issue 26
December 23, 2011 2011
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December 24, 2011 Christmas Eve Candelight Services in the Sanctuary at 4:30 p.m., 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
4:30 p.m. A 45-minute service, ideal for young children and everyone who loves to feel excitement of Christmas in young children. Our Children's, Youth and Handbell Choirs will provide music for the service.
6:00 p.m. An hour service for older children and adults. We will light candles for the children born or adopted
10:00 p.m. Adult Choir, Organist, and Brass Ensemble. Music will begin at 10 p.m., with worship to start at 10:30 p.m.
Volunteers for the Service:
Ushers: 4:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.: Sophia King, Adrien Taylor, Alexandre Taylor, Sara Becker, Alex Green, Cami Lingenfelter, Miranda Lingenfelter, Elise Fisher, Corey Williams, Zoe Persons, Tess Rauscher, and Julia Meredith;
Coordinator: John Daniel
10 p.m.: Carol & Terry Ireland, Norman Grossblatt, and Bob Harrison
Audio: 4:30 p.m.: Bob Pechacek, 6:00 p.m.: Chris Dupre, 10:30 p.m.: Rich Clark
December 25, 2011 Christmas Day Service at 10 a.m.
in the Chapel
The Rev. Heather Janules and Nancy Pellegrini
"Our Stories Beneath the Silence"
Children are welcome but there are no Religious Education classes or child care.
With the joyous sights and sounds of Christmas Eve worship still fresh in our memory, we will gather this Christmas Day for a quiet, reflective service. In the spirit of a Quaker meeting, we will gather in both song and silence to reflect on how the symbols of this day-the beckoning star, an arrival, a celebration-speak to our lives and the life we share together.
Volunteers for the Service:
Ushers: Bob & Kate Harrison, and Carol & Terry Ireland
Coffee Servers: Carol & Terry Ireland
Poinsettias have been donated by the Member Services Committee
to welcome all newcomers and visitors. Happy Holidays!
Many thanks to Ann McLaughlin for sharing her large, white poinsettia plant with the Cedar Lane community for our holiday celebrations.
Sunday Morning Forum: There will be no Forum this Sunday, December 25. |
From the Board Chair
We need your help in selecting a Senior Minister Search Committee as our first step in hiring a new Senior Minister. The Board is working with the Leadership Development and Nominations Committee (LDNC) to solicit Search Committee nominations from the entire congregation. You will receive a phone call reminding you to be on the lookout for an email linking to a nominations form. The form will list considerations for Search Committee candidates, and provide space for you to offer up to five names (one of which can be your own). For those who prefer paper to email, forms will also be available at the back of the sanctuary under the name tags. One completed form is requested from each adult person in your household. Please be sure to put your name on the form in order for your nominations to be considered. Your nominations are important so that we will have the best Search Committee possible. The Board and the LDNC will collect the data and present a slate of seven Search Committee candidates for election at the Annual Meeting next April.
The Board and the LDNC also seek your involvement in ALL areas of church life. The Rev. Evan Keely's sermon on December 11 encouraged us not to wait, not to sit on the sidelines while Cedar Lane changes, but to be an active and joyous participant. So if you also get a call from the LDNC asking you to consider taking a leadership position on the Board or on a Committee, please say yes! And if you've thought of joining a committee, now is the time. We know everyone in our community is busy and stretched thin, and you may feel that you cannot possibly take on any more responsibility. But the decision to have more involvement in your faith community can have the greatest long-term dividends in terms of relationships and what is most important and rewarding. Please offer your talents. We nurture our community by working together.
Happy Holidays,
Bonnie Beavers |
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Upcoming Sundays
January 1, 2012
One service at 10 a.m. in the Sanctuary
The Rev. Evan Keely,
Interim Senior Minister
"High Resolve"
Lots of us make new year's resolutions. What if we lived our lives with resolve all twelve months of the year?
*No Religious Education this Sunday.
Forum: There will be no forum this Sunday.
Click here for future forums
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We Care
The We Care program is a network led by volunteers who reach out to address short-term needs - food deliveries, rides to doctor's appointments, a listening ear in the event of a loss. The Cedar Lane congregation is organized geographically by "neighborhoods"; each neighborhood has at least one chairperson to coordinate support. Look at your nametag or the map in the church office to find your neighborhood.
Healing wishes are with Ann McLaughlin (Neighborhood 8) who is recovering at home from surgery.
(Belated) congratulations are with Eric, Regina and Amelia Dull (N12) with the birth of Amelia's younger sister, Carrera Elyse Dull, on September 24th.
Update on Mimi Grimm (N10): Mimi has been discharged from Suburban Hospital and is now in rehab care at ManorCare in Chevy Chase.
Should you know of a member of our community in personal need, you are encouraged to reach out to them. If you learn that this person wishes to receive a response from the church, please contact Heather Janules at hjanules@cedarlane.org. All ministers offer pastoral care to our members so you are also encouraged to contact any member of the ministerial team.
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Music Notes From the Director of Music
Dr. Henry Sgrecci
December 24 - 10:00 p.m. service
Daniel Pinkham was Music Director of the Society of King's Chapel in Boston from 1958-2000. He composed his Christmas Cantata in 1957 for the Choruses of the New England Conservatory of Music. It was first published in 1958 and has since enjoyed thousands of performances in churches and concert halls throughout the world. Pinkham, who died in 2009, acknowledged the influence of the antiphonal style of the Venetian Baroque composer, Giovanni Gabrieli, his own love of medieval chant, which is prevalent in the second movement, and the incorporation of Renaissance dance rhythms in the final movement.
Special thanks to our guest musicians. Along with accompanist Thomas Guthrie and our magnificent choirs, their beautiful music and artistry has brought light and hope to our Christmas Eve worship services. |
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From the Church AdMinistrator
New Coffee System? Finally!
Thanks to the gift of a generous benefactor we will be installing a Bunn airpot coffee system that will provide us with better tasting coffee, still fairtrade. This will require improvements to the electrical service in the kitchen as well as renovations so look to the changes in January. Finally! |
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Calendar
Please visit the church calendar here.
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Around the Church
Please remember that on Sunday mornings the lower parking lot is reserved for RE teachers! Thank you!
SAVE THOSE HOLIDAY CARDS!
Please save the cards that your family receives this holiday season and bring them to church in January. They will be used for next year's Holiday Craft Day, particularly the Holiday Placemats, which were very popular this year. Look for the collection boxes in the lounge and at the admin table downstairs and drop them there. Thanks!
Manna Food
The 'first' Sunday in January will be January 8, at least as far as our collection for Manna Food, both the Smart Snacks and for the BLUE BINS.Thanks for all the generous giving in December, we have already collected 902 pounds of food so far.
Community Based Shelter
Cedar Lane's annual week begins on New Year's Day. During this week our volunteers will prepare and serve the evening meal for 35 women in the Rockville shelter. The SJC budget also pays for supplies and food for breakfast and lunch. We still have open slots for food preparation every day. We also need people to prepare 25 sandwiches on three days. If your family would like to volunteer, please contact Sandy Shaw; 301/642-0083 or alexandersha@gmail.com, or look for Sandy in the lounge after service on Sunday.
Auction 2012 will be a Passport to Adventure
Help Make It a Success with Your Donation
Ready to set sail? Fly away? Hit the road? Look no further than the Cedar Lane Passport to Adventure auction on March 24, 2012.
We will soon reveal the countries and cuisines that will be featured-and some of the vacation getaways you can bid on.
March 24 may seem far away, but it isn't too soon to think about what you would like to donate. All donations are welcome, but consider something that reflects the theme: hosting a dinner with an ethnic cuisine, a gift certificate from your favorite restaurant, a getaway at your vacation home, or taxi service to the airport.
If you have questions, or would like to volunteer to be on the auction committee, contact auction co-chairs Mary Beth Nowinski at mnowin@aol.com or 301-949-9410, or Kate Harrison at 301-652-5018 or katekathie@gmail.com. |
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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION FOR ALL AGES
Susan Archer, Minister of Religious Education
Vanessa Steck, Coordinator of Senior High Youth Ministry
Gale Ginther Luce and Jeannette Wilson, Administrators
For information and to register for classes and programs call 301-493-8300 x207 or e-mail RE@cedarlane.org.
Happy Holiday, with love, from the R.E. Staff!
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Thanks so much to all who attended "Mapping Cedar Lane's Journey Towards Multicultural Wholeness" last Sunday with Paula Cole Jones! It was exciting to have so many of us share perspectives on this important issue. Thank you for making time for this event, especially during such a busy time of year. It's clear that Cedar Laners are serious about working towards racial justice!
Many of you have asked the very important question: "What next?" We are eager to take a closer look at the responses, knowing, as Paula pointed out, that these are just a snapshot of where we were on a particular day and that our assessments may change with more reflection, additional input, and new experiences.
- As promised, we will summarize the data collected and share it back with those who participated and with the congregation as a whole, hopefully in January.
- Our results will also be posted on the Joseph Priestley District's "Journey Towards Wholeness" website, along with the results from other congregations in the district.
- We plan to repeat this assessment every year to help us evaluate our progress at Cedar Lane.
- In addition, we will explore bringing Paula back for a follow-up workshop.
In the meantime, if you are interested in exploring these issues in greater depth (and we hope you are!), we encourage you to consider Mapping Your Committee/Group's Journey Toward Multicultural Wholeness. If you are part of a Cedar Lane committee or group and would like to take that group through the same process we all went through in the workshop, please let us know. CLARITY* members can provide copies of the workshop materials and/or join you to facilitate a similar process. We are eager to support you in any way we can.
Watch for news of other upcoming events which will provide other opportunities to engage in planning for multicultural growth. Planning is underway for another film discussion series, other Adult Program offerings, and training for "White Ally-ship" within the next 6 months.
* CLARITY -- "Cedar Laners Against Racism -- In This Together --Yes!" is one of Cedar Lane's Social Justice groups. Our mission is to lead the process of Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church becoming a welcoming, multi-cultural, multi-racial congregation.
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It's not too late to support Alternative Giving (and have you seen the Alternative Giving box?)
There's still time to recognize a special friend or relative with a meaningful gift this holiday season though Alternative Giving: instead of buying another present, give a charitable contribution in someone's honor to one of the 11 organizations selected by Cedar Lane's International Concerns Committee. We have chosen a variety of causes that provide much
needed and appreciated assistance to people in many different regions of the world. Contributions of any amount are welcome.
You can download this year's Alternative Giving catalogue and order form from the website. Just print out the order form, and bring it to the church office or mail it in with your check made out to CLUUC with
"Alternative Giving" in the memo line.
Questions? Please contact Annette Scarpitta (annette419@verizon.net) or Carol Bertaut (carol.bertaut@frb.gov) for more information. We can also email you a giftee enclosure if you do a mail-in order. Thank you for your generosity!
Our Alternative Giving box of materials is missing!
We're sorry if you looked for Alternative Giving in the lounge this past Sunday -- but our box of materials is missing from the Volunteer Room. We suspect it's been moved or put away in the wrong place. If you happen to come across it, please let us know! It's a black and white shoe-box sized box containing catalogues, cards, and our giftee enclosures. Please contact Annette or Carol if you come across it. |
Are you interested in losing weight AFTER the holidays? If so, why not join 15,000 others on the January Kickstart program. It starts Jan 2 and is completed by Jan 23. It is sponsored by the Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and is a free 21 day plant based weight loss program. You will receive weekly grocery lists, menus, and recipes as well as daily emails with support and information on nutrition, research and correlation between diet and chronic disease including diabetes and heart disease.
I did this program in September with employees at a national nursing organization and 86% reported a weight loss and the average drop in cholesterol was 24 points with 3 participants dropping 42, 49 and 59 points respectively. As you know there is a high correlation between cholesterol and heart disease.
There are 2 books which are particularly helpful with this program which are the 21 day Kickstart program ($26) by Dr. Neal Barnard and the Food for Life Journal (12) which I co-authored with staff at PCRM. I am able to get both books for you for $20 for those that are interested.
If you would like more information about this program, I can meet with you after the service on Jan 1 in the Library. There is also information on the PCRM website at pcrm.org.
For additional information about this program, please email me at joanneevans@verizon.net
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January 13, 6:00 p.m., Cedar Lane Sanctuary
Presented by the International Concerns Coalition of the Social Justice Council
A Fundraiser and Silent Auction to fund couples literacy classes and
Orphanages in Afghanistan
Tickets will be available in the lounge after services, or by phoning Eleanor de Paola at 301-299-6236.
For the past 10 years, Cedar Lane volunteers have made it possible for hundreds of illiterate Afghan husbands and wives to gain literacy training in and around Kabul, offered by Kabultec. They do this by staging Kabultec's only full-fledged fundraising event, consisting of an authentic Afghan dinner and a loungeful of silent auction handmade items acquired from bazaars and women's cooperatives throughout Afghanistan. This past year, funds were also used to ship Cedar Lane-donated clothing and other goods to orphanages from around Afghanistan. Come hear Nasrine explain the journey of the donation boxes, which were challenged by the Taliban at the airport! In the end, all the goods were delivered to the orphanages safe and sound. Nasrine insisted on making large signs thanking Cedar Lane at the orphanages; photos will be shown at the dinner on the 13th. Come join us!
Would you like to take your Cedar Lane involvement to a leadership level for a great cause? The International Concerns Coalition invites willing individuals to step forward to take over the management of this special annual event. If you are interested, please contact Annette Scarpitta at annettecedarlane@spamex.com or find her in the lounge. You can receive mentor training with this year's event. Without new leaders, January 13 may well be the finale of this annual Cedar Lane tradition.
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Sara Deshler and Sara Davidson
Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church www.cedarlane.org 301-493-8300
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