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Bring A Flower To Share On
Flower Communion Sunday
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Springtime brings us another Flower Communion Sunday on June 7-just a short time away. Please make plans to bring from your garden or neighborhood store a flower to add to the collective bouquet during the worship service that Sunday.
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Social Action Committee Recycling Caravan
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Janda Raker and Linda Cook will lead a caravan out to Four States Recycling at 4110 E. Amarillo Boulevard for those who are interested in checking out the facility and/or would like to take items out to be recycled. We'll meet in the parking lot of UU on Monday, June 8, at 3 p.m.
If you don't have a lot of material to recycle, you may want to ride with Janda or Linda, just to get familiar with the location and procedures so you can go on your own when you have a good collection of recyclables.
Four States will take paper, plastics, and aluminum cans. Please sort them into white office paper, mixed paper (consisting of junk mail, magazines, catalogs, etc.), and plastics #1 separated from #2. Linda is checking to see if they accept light cardboard, and that info will be posted here as soon as it's available.
Contact: Yvonne Moore, Chair, Social Action Committee
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| Children's Religious Education Update |
Our Children's Religious Education (CRE) program is divided into two groups by age. In CRE, which meets each Sunday at 11 AM, we challenge our children with interactive studies about religion and science.
During upcoming weeks, our elementary-age children will continue their study of homes, using the Creating Home curriculum from the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).
In the Nursery, the lesson plans for the month of June will be taken from the Preschool Curriculum: We are Many, We are One. We are on Unit 3: We are Alike, We are Different. The lesson plans focus on various aspects of how we are alike and different (i.e., Boys and Girls Both Can, the subject of race, things that make us angry and/or afraid, our goals/wishes), with a brief break from the scheduled lesson plan on June 14th to talk about Summer. Unit 3 will carry on through most of July as well.
This coming Sunday, the nursery will be talking about recycling--caring for our Earth. The older children will continue their study about home by making fleece blankets for the homeless. We could use a volunteer helper. We also are still in need of baby food jars (or other small containers). We will be making barbeque rub for our fathers.
Contacts: Vicki Schoen and Sarah Brown
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In addition to the events described in this newsletter, you can find a complete listing by clicking on the Calendar icon to the left.
Want more detail? Check both the News and the Events sections of our website, uuamarillo.orgAlso on our website, you can learn more about our Fellowship and our faith, Unitarian Universalism.
All events are held at the Fellowship, 4901 Cornell St., unless otherwise noted.
If you are unsure how to reach any of the individuals named as contacts, please email the AUUF office or call our Office Administrator, April Myers, at 806.355.9351 and leave a message. She will return your call during her office hours, which are M-W-F from 9 AM to noon.
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Sunday Worship - 9:30 and 11 AM
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David Green and others will lead Flower Communion, a traditional Unitarian Universalist observance at the start of summer. Adopted from Czech Unitarian churches by American congregations in the 1940s, this communion has each member to bring a flower to a central place in the worship space and then select a different one to take home at the end. The service symbolizes our variety as unique and beautiful beings and acceptance of one another as a lovely bouquet.
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David Green speaks on Taking a Stand for Science and Reason, discussing the "New Atheism" movement as described in the book of that title by Victor Stenger.
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June 21, 2015
David Green speaks on Where the Hell?, discussing how Dante's Inferno forever shaped beliefs and imagery about the dark side (or downside?) of the afterlife.
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First Sunday Potluck Lunch
Sunday, June 7- 12:15 PM or immediately after 11 o'clock service
A Feast for Body and Soul!
Bring a covered dish and join the camaraderie of sharing a meal with your friends and neighbors in the lavish environment of love and communion. Even if you don't bring a dish, enjoy sampling the cooking (or purchasing) skills and hospitality in abundance.
Contacts: Rosemarie &
Bill Kirkland
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Nothing Much Buddhist Group
Monday, June 8 - 7:30 PM
Join us at the Amarillo UU Fellowship to discuss the ideas in the first four chapters of Dan Harris's book 10% Happier.
Contact: Rick Todd
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Women's Simply Salad and Soup Fellowship
Wednesday, June 10 at 6 PM
Our women's group meets every 2nd and 4th Wednesday for good food and great conversation. The meetings on the 2nd Wednesdays of each month are at the Fellowship - potluck-style. On the 4th Wednesdays, the women meet at a different restaurant each month.
Contact: Ann
Benedetti
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Thursday, June 11 at 7 PM
(2nd Thursday every month at 7 PM)
 Skeptics are welcome!
Are Christian ideas still relevant in today's world? Living the Questions is a discussion group using curriculum and media for the "church alumni association" for anyone whose questions about traditional Christian beliefs and ways of interpreting scripture have made them unwelcome elsewhere. The group meets once each month in the classroom at the Fellowship, with discussion facilitated by Lyle Raker
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 The UU book group meets June 23 to discuss Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather.
Cather's highly regarded historical novel unfolds the 19th century settlement of Santa Fe primarily through the perceptions of the town's most revered archbishop and his irrepressible sidekick as they struggle to establish the Catholic Church for a resistant people. Both the landscape and the social environment of New Mexico come fully alive in this classic American novel from 1927.
Contact: Dick Moseley
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Men's Fellowship Reassessed
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The AUUF Men's Fellowship is our beloved community's longest existing covenant group. Like any longtime group, periodic assessment is needed to keep the group vital and members inspired.
Many discussions and conversations with longtime men's group members and prospective members have produced the unanimous opinion that we need to re-envision the group. Some ideas that have emerged include:
* Emphasize specific issues that affect men of all ages
* Serve AUUF better with regular, beneficial projects
* Engage new Fellowship members, especially our younger men
* Create a safe and confidential space for discussion
* Organize the group in a more structured way
To kick off the re-imagination of the group, our first focus will be the study of Mend: Being the Man She Needs by our very own minister, David Green. David's book is a meaningful and thoughtful way to begin our new beginning that will appeal to men of all ages. And, David will join us for our discussion of the book.
The form and emphasis the new Men's Fellowship takes will be set by consensus. If you would like to be part of this collective exploration of what it means to be a man, join us on June 24th in Chandler Hall to help build a vibrant and relevant Men's Fellowship.
Contact: Eric Berg
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"Gay pride was not born out of a need to celebrate not being straight but our right to exist without prosecution. So maybe instead of wondering why there isn't a straight pride month or movement, straight people should be thankful they don't need one."
- LZ Granderson, CNN Correspondent
AUUF has been a Welcoming Congregation since 2013; we celebrate the richness that comes from diversity. Again this year, we are a sponsor of the events of Panhandle Pride, the only organization working to promote a thriving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning/queer (LGBTQ) community in the Texas Panhandle. Their mission is "to enhance individual self-worth and cultural pride;" their vision is "that all persons are equally accepted and respected."
From June 26-28, Panhandle Pride will have a full weekend of 3 events. Visit their website at PanhandlePride.org for full information - and LIKE their Facebook page.
The kickoff event is a Film Festival at AUUF on Friday, June 26: a special screening of the documentary Stonewall Uprising. Are you curious about why we have Pride events? Then join us for this special screening, made possible by Panhandle PBS and American Experience, and take part in the discussion which will follow the screening.
The City of Amarillo Department of Public Health will be providing free and confidential HIV testing at AUUF on Friday night beginning at 6:30 PM , June 26, during the Film Festival and again Sunday, June 28, at Memorial Park noon-6 PM.
The 2nd event will be the Sunday afternoon Picnic & Community Celebration at Memorial Park. AUUF will have a booth with information and fun things for kids of all ages. AUUF will also coordinate the park clean-up after the event - and take the recyclables to Four States Recycling.
How may you be a part of showing that our congregation is indeed Standing on the Side of Love?
- Contact Yvonne Moore or Megan Schwartz to sign up for booth setup, staffing, and/or breakdown.
- Contact Janda Raker or Megan Schwartz to volunteer to be part of the park clean-up team, throughout the day with the final cleanup beginning at about 5:45 PM. Invite your friends!
- Donate materials to Linda Jackson for the kids' project. She needs tissue paper and pipe cleaners for making large tissue paper flowers in all the colors of the rainbow.
Contact: Martha Baird
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In this series, AUUF member Gary Biggers provides his personal summaries and recommendation ratings for books related to our faith.
John A. Buehrens. Universalists and Unitarians in America: A People's History: A People's History. (2011)
The author organizes his insightful examination of the history of Universalism and Unitarianism as well as the consolidation of the two through seven eras beginning in 1770 and ending in 2011. Buehrens accounts the many known and often uncelebrated contributors to the development of thinking and organization of the movement, making this book the most revealing documentation of the many people responsible for the church's many ups and downs in its history. The level of documentation is extensive!
Recommendation level
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 King of the Road Block Party
Saturday, June 6 from 12 to 2 pm
* Join AMoA for a family-friendly journey exploring the truck inspired work of John Himmelfarb.
* Indoor and outdoor truck-themed art activities
* Design your own truck and take it for a 'road test'
* Outdoor games and prizes
* Take a road trip, and hit all the 'truck stops' along the way in a museum gallery hunt
* Children's book readings with your favorite truck characters
* Hot dogs provided by Amarillo National Bank Cook Team
* Drinks and other refreshments by AMoA Alliance
* Limited edition exhibition posters available for sale
* Visit with the artist and get your poster signed
King of the Road: The Trucks of John Himmelfarb
Opening Reception Saturday, June 6 at 6:30 pm
Why Trucks? A Conversation with John Himmelfarb at 7:00 pm
John Himmelfarb is an artist based in Chicago, who's creative work is inspired by the workhorse of American industry...the truck. This exhibition includes drawings, prints, paintings, sculptures, and a repurposed 1946 Chevrolet farm truck! Come hear from the artist about why and how he is inspired by the truck to create such animated artworks saturated with life and character.
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