From the Desk of the President
by Mary Francis
All is right in the world.  At least in my little world. I hear thunder outside. The rainy season is upon us which is what normally happens with Florida summers.  My garden is happy to have the rain even though some plants are gone because of the heat. 
At UUCT we are settled into our "lite" summer schedule.  We are in transition with Rev Sara, our settled minister, retiring on August 31st.  While she will be sorely missed, we do have an interim minister (see below).  So, no stress worrying about we will find that perfect choice.  We have the perfect interim minister.  We can breathe easily, sit back and drink a mint julep . . . at least for a couple of weeks and enjoy what we have right now!  Nice isn't it?

Blessings, Mary

Fri., July 12th, 6:30-9pm

This fun evening of games and fellowship occurs on the 2nd Friday of each month, 6:30 - 9pm in the Multi-Purpose Building.  Play our games or bring your own.  Great snacks are provided.  Our next Game Night will be on Friday, July 12th.

Mexican Train Dominoes is a perennial favorite.  We also have chess, UNO, Blok-Us, Word Winder, Rook, Skip-Bo and Scrabble sets, as well as cards and whatever YOU want to bring.

Questions? Contact Jeannette Manning, 813-857-0468, manningjea@yahoo.com.

        Medicine and the Value of Life

        Justice and Just Wars

Interested in a wee bit of money for helping out with the wee ones?  If you would like to help with childcare, send your name, qualifications, and availability to bot@uutampa.org.  A background check will be done for all candidates before names are added to our approved list of compensated child care providers for services and other church activities.

How does end of life care for pets and end of life care for people differ? What are the elements common to each-and what can we learn about life from the death of a pet?

Speakers-and participants-at this year's second annual Emerson Forum will discuss these questions and other issues on Saturday, September 7th, at 10 a.m., at the Stetson College of Law Center, 1700 N. Tampa Street, in downtown Tampa, three blocks north of the Straz Center.  There is free parking on campus.
This year's keynote speaker, Dr. Dani McVety, is the founder of Lap of Love (www.lapoflove.com), a national network of veterinarians devoted exclusively to hospice and end of life care for pets and their owners.  Additional end of life care experts have been invited to participate in a panel and small group discussions. 

Multiple Ways For You To Participate
In addition to the speakers, you can participate in several different ways.

If you purchase a ticket before August 7th, you will be also invited to email a picture of your pet for inclusion in a special video tribute at the conference.  Tickets purchased by August 7th are $ 25.  The online ticket office is www.emersonforum.tix.com. Ticket holders will be sent a dedicated email address for pictures by early August.

Whether or not you can attend, you may include a written tribute to your pet in the conference program.  You may do so by sending your name(s), the name of one or more of your pets and a $10 contribution by August 7th.  Checks should be made payable to the Emerson Center of Tampa Bay, and sent to our church.  Tributes will take a standard forum:  Mary and Todd Joseph honor the memory of their pet dogs, Lady and Happy.
                           
The following day, is National Pet Memorial Day, which is celebrated by many congregations on the second Sunday in September.

UUCT members and friends may make a tax deductible donation to our community-focused programs by mailing or leaving a donation to the "Emerson Center of Tampa Bay" at the church office.

We reached a significant milestone today in recognizing the dignity, diversity and equity of all members of our community including the GLBTQ community.
Today the voices of many in our community united as one to assist in moving the BOCC to repeal the ban on acknowledgment, participation or promotion of Gay Pride Events. The vote was unanimous (7-0) led by the unwavering strength of Commissioner Beckner, who declared that "anything less than a full repeal of the ban would constitute a position of continued discrimination of an entire class of people," and supported in debate by Commissioners Miller and Sharpe.  Pat Fearns, Social Action Chair, was there and represented the GLBTQ community and UUCT Interweave and Social Action Groups by addressing the meeting.

A portion of her speech is below:

"My name is Pat Fearns and I stand before you as an activist in Tampa Bay's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer community; and a member of an over eleven year relationship with my wife.

But more importantly, I stand before you as an advocate for equal rights and representation for all people of Tampa Bay. It is time that this body recognizes the equality and diversity of all of our citizens. The measure before you today is an ideology of tired politicians that for the most part are no longer representative of what the citizens of Hillsborough County want in their leadership; as indicated by the fact that they are no longer on this commission. And the lone commissioner that was part of the vote in 2005 to ban any county government participation, promotion or even acknowledgment of anything to do with gay pride, has since then seen the error of and regretted his decision.

The GLBTQ community is just as important to this community as our Native American, African-American, Asian, European, Hispanic, Irish, Italian, or Middle Eastern communities, many of whom have county sponsored festivals or parades throughout Hillsborough County. Similarly, the diversity of each of these unique groups is frequently on display throughout the County and in our County libraries; where the main focus of this ban originated and has been held since implementation of this discriminatory ordinance in 2005.

None of us are here today to elicit any type of endorsement of particular events. What we are here today for is to say that there should never be discrimination of any class of people. No citizen should feel that they are any less worthy than another. This is about the celebration of the diversity of all. For it is in the diversity of each of us, that we are able to come together and create the wholeness that is representative of us all. The ban of participation, promotion, or even acknowledgement of any class of people is wrong. It is divisive, and unjust. That a governing body of your magnitude ever thought that this type of class discrimination was needed or warranted was indicative of misguided and misplaced moralistic values that have no place in government."

On May 26th the Partnership Church Committee held a Skype call with our partner church from Sepsikoraspatak Romania.  Attending were: Marjorie Acker, Pat Busbice, Diane Gainforth, Pat Fearns, Joan Lund, Rev. Sara Zimmerman, and Rev. Erno Tordai.   The call was at 9am our time and 4pm in Romania.  
Rev. Erno was just returning from a commemorative worship at the Reformed church in town.  They were celebrating the artist that painted the ceiling in the reformed church.   He is concerned about the lack of rain this year but he is glad that they are able to work on the church exterior and parish ceiling without weather delays.  We discussed our recent Mother's Day and they are very similar.  His sermon that Sunday was about mothers and the children came in and sang for the congregation that day.  They do not celebrate Father's Day but will be celebrating Children's Day on Sunday June 2nd where the children will be invited into the service and afterwards there will be games and a potluck, interestingly enough, they also call it "potluck."   
We discussed Rev. Sara's retirement and Rev. Erno said he is very grateful for Rev. Sara's role in reinvigorating the partner relationship as it had been dormant for many years.  Both he and Rev. Sara are interested in future visits to Sepsikoraspatak.    We discussed the General Assembly and Rev. Erno said he actually attended in 1996.  His district meets every year for approximately two days to discuss common issues and share what they are doing in their congregations.  There are 19 Unitarian churches in two counties in his district and there are over 100 Unitarian congregations in Romania.  The nearest Unitarian church is very close to Rev. Erno's church.   It was discussed that the roads are so bad that it is not easy to travel the distances that we do here.  
Rev. Erno also discussed his family.  His wife and daughter were at the worship that day and they had stayed there while he returned for the Skype call.  His parents are doing well and live nearby in his hometown, Brasov which is a beautiful town.  Rev. Erno and his church are hosting the upcoming Vorosh meeting where he will welcome five nearby multicultural congregations to an outside sermon on the hill (known as Vorosh Hill).  Afterwards there will be socializing and food.  In our last Skype, Rev. Erno kindly invited us to this occasion and we have declined but discussed the intention to travel there in the future.
The committee has a Skype call 3-4 times a year and it is the main way that we communicate with our partner church.  If you are interested in attending the next call, please see one of the members listed above and you can be included in this special time. 

 

Good Book

Throughout all the ten regions of the Universe there is no place where the Source is not.  - Hakuin

There's an old story about a young man who's freezing on the side of the road in Alaska.  He's hitching a ride to Miami.  He's so cold he can barely hold up his handmade sign.  After a long wait, a friendly trucker stops and says, "I'm not going to Miami, but I'm going as far as Fort Lauderdale."

Dejectedly, the young man says, "Oh," and turns the ride down.

This is a folk myth of our modern culture that warns us against our want for perfection. How often do we refuse our fate under the guise of holding out for the right thing?  How often do we turn down the path presented like a gift because it's not exactly what we're dreaming of?  How often do we hold out for the perfect partner, the perfect job, the perfect house?  How often do we martyr ourselves to some imagined ideal?

How often do we lose sigth of what we're really after, insisting on all or nothing, when there is so much abundance wherever we are and so many opportunities that can help us on our way?

Source:  The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo