The Overlook

Unitarian Universalist Church of Huntsville
3921 Broadmor Rd., Huntsville AL 35810

September 3rd, 2015

Vol. 15 Issue 36

In This Issue

Sharing Sunday!

ATM in September

Let's Sing!

Run-Walk-Give!

Coffee & Chocolate

Upcoming Services

This Sunday in RE

SoulCollage©

Board Report

We Share the Plate

Care List

This Sunday, September 6th, is a Sharing Sunday!

On the first Sunday of each month, we

Share the Plate during the offering,

Share our Lunch with each other during Potluck, and

Share our Bounty by filling the Food Basket!

Please don't forget to bring non-perishable food and hygiene items for the food basket, to be donated to the Huntsville Assistance Program.

All donations are welcome and appreciated!

Awareness Through Movement Returns September 12th.

Everyone is welcome! This Feldenkrais group class is designed to improve self-awareness and mobility. The class will be verbally guided through gentle movement sequences. These new movement patterns will enable you to move with greater ease and fluidity.

This Adult RE class is drop-in, no experience necessary, and will be led by Sally Locklear. Wear comfortable, loose clothing, and bring a bath towel to use as a head support. This Fall's Classes begin on September 12th, and will be held on Saturday mornings at 10:00 a.m. until further notice.

For further information, contact Nancy Finley at finleyn@uah.edu. If you need childcare for this event, please contact Nancy at least a week before the event.

Time to Join the Choir!
Rehearsals for our inspiring UUCH Choir, under the direction of Pam Siegler, have begun! Choir practice will be held every Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. Wouldn't you like to sing with the choir? Please join us!

RUN, UUS, RUN!!

(or walk...)

Social Justice Committee reminds us: When you exercise for a good cause, everybody wins!

NAMI Walk Update

Get out your UU T-shirts! We are signing up walkers. We are signing up sponsors. Join us to raise money for the Alabama NAMI chapters at this 1-mile walk on Sat. Sept. 26th from 9:00 a.m. to Noon on the Lee High School Track.

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness by providing education and support programs for affected families.

If you are interested in participating on the UUCH team as a walker or a sponsor, see Eleanor Schweinsberg at church Sunday or contact her (see directory). For additional information, click here.

********

Liz Hurley
Ribbon Run

Join the UUCH Team!

The Liz Hurley Ribbon Run 5K is Saturday, October 17th at 8:00 a.m. Meet up with other UUCHers at Huntsville Middle School to walk or run to help beat breast cancer!

To join the team, visit lizhurleyribbonrun.org. Click "Register Here" then "Join a Team" then enter "UUCH Ribbon Runners." Or, you can contact Jefflyn Weed or Tonia Betts (256) 882-9891.

This is a fun event--hope to see you there!

Together Again!

coffeecup

Chocolate and coffee...mmmm mmm good! If you are a coffee connoisseur, the Social Justice Committee invites you to visit the coffee table in the Fellowship Hall--where delicious Fair Trade chocolate is sold--to order your Certified Fair Trade and Organic coffee from the Kaffeeklatsch. Provide your name, contact info, type of coffee, grind, and amount you want, and deliveries will be made the following Sunday (unless you arrange otherwise). Should you not make it that next Sunday the coffee will go into the church kitchen's freezer with your name on it. All profits go in support of our Social Justice efforts.

EE Choc Bar

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Quick Links...

UUCH Calendar
UUCH Website

UUA Website

Mid-South District

Upcoming Services

Sunday, September 6th, 2015

"Clearing a Space"

Angel Hundley & the Reverend Alice Syltie

Everything we do in life involves accepting or extending an invitation. How can we use discernment to know what to say yes to as we seek rich, diverse experiences? What do we invite into our lives? Can we be still and open to invite in the otherness of our particular calling, our particular voice, our particular song?

Join us this Sunday as we explore these questions and our worship theme for the month of September, "What Does It Mean To Be A People of Invitation?"

Also this Sunday, we Share the Plate with "Meals on Wheels." To learn more about this program, please see the article below.

This Sunday in RE

It's Fun RE Clean-Up Day! Children and youth will partner with their teachers to organize, decorate, and set up their rooms for the year. As always, the Big, Bad RE Inspector will be on duty with her clipboard and her mighty cackle! Don't miss the fun!

The Children and Youth Religious Education Program is now registering for the fall and spring program, which begins September 20th. Registration helps us plan for facilities, leadership, and safety needs. It also lets us be in touch with your family with special announcements and RE information. All participants in the RE program (ages infant to 18) should register each year even if you've registered before. Register online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WS8LDNP. Paper registration forms are also available at the church.

For more information, contact Erin Reid, our Director of Religious Education (DRE) (256.694.6786 or eereid@hotmail.com) or Jessica Zelaya, RE Chair (256.322.2210 or asuriai@yahoo.com)

A New Year in Children and Youth Religious Education

Welcome back to the fall program of children and youth religious education at UUCH! Children, youth, and leaders will meet in their RE rooms beginning this Sunday, September 6th, for our annual FUN Clean-up Day in which they will set up their rooms for the year.

The first day of Fall RE will be September 20th with brand new curricula! As always, children and youth will begin the service in the sanctuary with our full multigenerational congregation and will go to their classes after the Story for Sharing. The worship service will include a ceremony of dedication for our RE leaders. After church the RE Committee will host an RE Open House and Ice Cream Social with Outdoor Fun. All are invited. Come on out September 20th to start the new year with old friends and new!

If you haven't done so already, please register children and youth for this year's program. Paper registration is available at the church, or you can register online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WS8LDNP

Our RE age-based groups for this year are:

Nursery (ages infant to 3, staffed by experienced childcare providers--THIS YEAR introducing a new UU activity station for 2- & 3-year-olds led by our own RE chair, Jessica Zelaya!);
Peace (ages 4/Pre-K to grade1);
Justice (grades 2-4);
Searchers (grades 5-6); and
Transformers (grades 7-12).

There are many children and youth transitioning rooms this year, which is VERY exciting! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Director of Religious Education, Erin Reid, or RE Chair, Jessica Zelaya.

This year's theme is "Heart Talk." Heart Talk for Kids is a Unitarian Universalist program created by Debbie Berkana and Veronica Lassen based on Marshall Rosenberg's model of Compassionate (Nonviolent) Communication. Children and youth, and people of all ages, are given concepts and tools to grow in our ability to communicate with each other in empathy--to understand and see our common humanity, and from that deep understanding and caring, find mutually satisfying ways of being together. Lessons are highly interactive with games, crafts, music, and more!

We will be continuing our special way of welcoming children, youth, and families to church this year. In the foyer as families enter, the RE Committee will host each week an RE Welcome Area. Visitors will be greeted and given information about the program and the activities for the day. Returning children and youth will come here to check in, pick up their name tags, and also get a big, warm welcome to church. We want to encourage this ritual of a special welcome for children and youth, and we encourage families to stop at the table on your way in.

Welcome back, and welcome for the first time! We are so pleased for your presence in the UUCH Children and Youth RE Program.

Please contact DRE Erin Reid with any questions at eereid@hotmail.com.

Adult RE Starts Monthly SoulCollage� Workshops

Join us at this unique Adult RE experience and create your first or fifteenth beautiful, image based 5" x 8" SoulCollage� card.

It's as easy as cutting and pasting! Choose from hundreds of prepared images, just cut and combine in unique ways. Move from your linear language based left brain into your creative image based right brain, even if you have never done art or would not describe yourself as creative. Explore your inner world and the connections to the larger spiritual-archetypal energies that shape your life.

This month we will review what we have covered before of the SoulCollage� process as described by Seena B. Frost's published works. So this is the perfect time to join us for those of you who have not done so before.

Denise Runnels and Sally Locklear will co-facilitate the workshop. We will meet in the UUCH fellowship hall Monday evening, September 14th, at 6:00 p.m. and create until 8:30 p.m.

Ask Denise (drrunnel@gmail.com) at least one week before the event, if you need childcare.

Board Report for August

Your UUCH Board met August 25th, 2015. At this meeting, your Board:

Called a congregational meeting on 8.30.15 for Property Sale and Purchase Committee to present a report on possible sale of former church property and to reduce the ten days notification time to call a congregation meeting for this purpose

Established a policy for members to receive US Postal mailings of church announcements

Took action on ways to improve accessibility for members with disabilities�

Called attention to the necessity for church events to be approved by the appropriate committees.

This Sunday, We Share the Plate* with Meals on Wheels

The Huntsville Area Meals on Wheels program operates out of the Huntsville-Madison County Senior Center on Drake Avenue in Huntsville.

Meals on Wheels serves Huntsville seniors age 60 or over, who are unable to cook for themselves, have no one available to cook for them, and are primarily homebound. Meals on Wheels provides one nutritious meal Monday-Friday, year round MOWlogo

(some holidays excluded). The meals include an entree, vegetable, fruit, bread, and milk. Volunteers deliver meals to the client's home between 11:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. There is no charge, but a donation based on income is suggested. Menus are planned by a Registered Dietitian. We cannot offer special diet meals. Our program delivers in the Huntsville city limits.

To see more about this program, visit the Senior Center Website: http://www.seniorview.com/meals-on-wheels

*When we "Share the Plate," all cash collected on the first Sunday of each month in the quarter (July, August, and September), along with any checks noted as "Share the Plate," will be halved with the Meals on Wheels program.

Care List

At our Circle of Candles on Sunday, August 30th, candles were lit for:

Kathy Fisher, a candle of joy: "Feeling blessed this week as our family celebrated mother's birthday by posting favorite pictures of her. She would have been 93 on August 27th."

"Also joyful gratitude to Susan and Tim Coddington for providing the climate control system for our grand piano! Now we won't have to worry about mold, rusted strings, a cracked sounding board, etc., and our investment will last longer and sound lovely!"

Dan Nielsen, a candle of sorrow: "My father's partner, Becky Martin, passed away from cancer, exactly 2 months after he did."

Kathy Fisher, a candle of concern: "Jack and Echo Long asked for a candle to be lit for prayers and positive support as Echo recovers from her extensive surgery in Nashville. Blessed be."

Pam and Brad Korb, a candle of thanks: "Thanks so much to Barbara and Gary Hitt and Jefflyn and Bob Weed for sponsoring an early Service Auction item Friday night when over 60 people enjoyed learning about their trip to Cuba. Over $600 was raised for the church that evening."

Brad and Pam Korb, a candle of joy: "We're very proud that our daughter Sarah auditioned for and has been selected to be in the Huntsville youth orchestra (symphonic section) as first chair clarinet."

Barbara and Gary Hitt, Jefflyn and Bob Weed, a candle of thanks: "Thanks so much for the people who helped with our Cuba presentation here at the church on Friday night. Fran Alexander, Betsy and Alice, Pam and Brad, Catherine Hall, Tim Miller, and Cheri Smith's granddaughters and friend, Isis, Aubrey, and Corey. The show took in $660 as an early Service Auction offering."

If you have pastoral care needs, please contact the

Reverend Alice Syltie at revaluu@aol.com. Barbara Hitt is Chair of the Care Committee, and may be reached at home, (256) 881.2531; on her cell, (256) 348.5845; or by email at bghitt1@comcast.net.

UUCH 15-16 Board Members

President: Laurel Bollinger

Vice-President: Angel Hundley

Secretary: Ed Bernstein

Treasurer: Jerome Belcher

Trustees: Millicent Simmons, John Fox, & Denise Runnels

Do you have an Agenda Item for the Board?

The Board respectfully requests that all agenda items for the meeting be submitted to Board President Laurel Bollinger, no later than one week prior to the meeting, i.e. the Tuesday before. You may leave a copy of your request in her Mailbox at the church office, or contact her at UUCHBoardPresident@uuch.org.

The next UUCH Board Meeting will be held Tuesday, September 22nd, 2015 at 6:30 p.m. Thanks for your cooperation!

From the Overlook is a publication of

The Unitarian Universalist Church,

3921 Broadmor Rd. Huntsville, AL 35810

Minister: The Reverend Alice Syltie

Board President: Laurel Bollinger

Editorial Board: Laurel Bollinger, Kathy Heath

Newsletter deadlines are each Monday at midnight!
Please send submissions to news collator Deedee Moore at uuch@uuch.org.

Admin. Office Hours: 10:00a.m. to 4:00p.m. Mon-Tue-Thu-Fri.

For Wednesday access, please call in advance.

Office phone: 256.534-0508, email: uuch@uuch.org.

Minister's email: revaluu@aol.com.

Web: www.uuch.org

Sunday Services are held 10:45 a.m. to 12:00 noon;

Children's Religious Education held concurrently.

Nursery available for age 3 years and under.

For further info on any event, call the church office:
256. 534-0508.