| 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.
The older children will be focusing on the following topics during September:
September 6: Prehistory in the Texas Panhandle; from Clovis Mammoth Hunters to the Comanches.
September 13: Geology from Volcanoes to Dinosaurs and beyond.
September 20:The Calendar and the Sun and Moon cycles.
September 27: Wildlife and Plant life (or) what you can eat and what eats you.
Lesson plans are subject to change, but this is the plan.
No information received for nursery group.
Contact: Wes Phillips and Sarah Brown
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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED for Children's RE
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We need a volunteer for the Elementary Classroom on September 6th, 13th and 27th. We also need a volunteer for the Nursery Classroom on September 27th. I'd love to get a habitual volunteer for the 4th Sunday of every month, and one for the 5th Sunday of every month (when there is a 5th Sunday).
I would also like some stern-ish figures to act as hall monitors. This position has been traditionally pretty flexible, and doesn't require you to miss the entire service. However, it has come to my attention that we (occasionally) need to be able to pull hall monitors from the service in case disciplinary action (time out in a separate classroom) is needed.
We could also use some volunteers for the Buffalo Lake camping trip on September 18th-19th. Since the camping trip is close to the autumn equinox, I am planning to focus on seasonal changes and will be telling some stories about pagan myths surrounding the equinox, perhaps some sort of traditional pagan equinox craft I am also envisioning a possible scavenger hunt.
One more thing we could use volunteers for is Science Club, which starts on Wednesday, September 16th at 6 PM. For the first Science Club meeting, I am thinking about focusing on the solar system, lunar and solar cycles, and astronomy. Email me directly if you are interested in helping out on the 16th, or with future Science Club meetings.
Contact: Sarah Brown
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Saturday, September 12 - 2 PM at AUUF
We will have a meeting at the Fellowship on Saturday, September 12th at 2:00 pm. We will discuss upcoming projects, including Beans and Cornbread as well as our ongoing efforts for Martha's Home, Another Chance House, Snack Pack and recycling. I am looking forward to working with each of you. If you have any questions or topics for discussion, please let me know.
Contact: Yvonne Moore
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Newsletter and Website Submissions
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As always, we are eager to publish information regarding committees, boards, Adult RE, CRE, events, and services, but we need your help. The website and Facebook page can be updated daily, but the newsletter cannot. New information needs to be submitted (submissions@uuamarillo.org) by noon Wednesday if you want it to appear in the Friday morning newsletter. If you need an event placed on the website calendar, you may submit that request with description, image (or we can provide one), starting and approximate ending time, specific location, date (or dates for a recurring event), and name of contact person. Help us help you get your message out in a timely manner.
PLEASE, EVERYONE CAN MAKE ALL THESE COMMUNICATIONS MORE EFFECTIVE BY READING THEM EACH WEEK--ESPECIALLY THE WEBSITE AND NEWSLETTER!
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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 Tuesday- Friday from 9 AM to noon.
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Sunday Worship - 9:30 and 11 AM
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David Green speaks on Faith Without Certainty, discussing the challenges and benefits of religious ambiguity, inquiry, and skepticism.
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David Green speaks on May the Force Be With You, discussing religious concepts found in science fiction.
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September 20, 2015
David Green speaks on Lost Scriptures, discussing writings omitted from the New Testament but widely circulated among early diverse Christians.
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Sunday, Sept. 6 - 12:30 PM
Bring your potluck dishes and join other members of the congregation to share in the camaraderie and dining pleasures this first Sunday in September in Chandler Hall. If you don't have a dish to bring, join us anyway for good food and great friendships.
Contact: Rosemarie & Bill
Kirkland
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Monday, Sept. 7 - 6 PM
The Women's Covenant Group studies and discusses feminine spiritual and social topics. We are studying a UU adult RE curriculum, Cakes for the Queen of Heaven, a woman-honoring curriculum by Rev. Shirley Ranck. Topic this week: Witchcraft
Contact: Keralee Clay
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Women's Simply Salad & Soup Fellowship
Wednesday, Sept. 9 - 6:30 PM
Our women's group meets every 2nd and 4th Wednesday for good food and great conversation. The meetings on 2nd Wednesdays 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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Adult Religious Education
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 Please join us at 10 AM each Sunday this month for a lively discussion of these topics.
Sunday, Sept. 6: This week we are watching and discussing Bart Ehrman's third lecture of The New Testament (the real story). The subject will be "Judaism in the first century." Please join us.
Sunday, Sept. 13: This week we are watching and discussing Fr. Keterski's third presentation of Natural Law and Human Nature, focusing on "Law, nature, and natural law." Please join us.
Sunday, Sept. 20: This week we are watching and discussing Lawrence Principe's Science and Religion lecture on "Faith and Reason; Scripture and Nature." Please join us.
Sunday, Sept. 27: This week we are watching and discussing Bart Ehrman's fourth lecture of The New Testament ( the real story). The subject will be "The earliest traditions about Jesus." Please join us.
Contact: John Gay
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Tuesday, September 8 - 7 PM
 Kristy is a published poet who used to write poems on tests for extra credit in high school. Mike is a singer-songwriter who has played gigs everywhere from package liquor stores to airport landing strips. (More here)
Together, they will share some of their work and discuss their creative processes.
This presentation is open to the public. Invite your friends and enjoy meeting these artists!
Circle the date on your calendar NOW!
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Thursday, September 10 -7:00 PM (2nd Thursday every month)
 Skeptics are welcome!
Reminder: Living The Questions will be Sept. 10th. The class is for UUs who think of themselves as liberal progressive Christians. I wonder: Did Thomas Jefferson think of himself as freely being a follower of Jesus when he wrote the Jefferson Bible? Anyway, in this class we will discuss Bishop John Spong's many books. Since Janda and I will be travelling shortly, would someone like to co-facilitate this liberal Christian class?
The group meets once each month in the classroom at the Fellowship.
Contact: Lyle Raker
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 We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling and other related cases, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
Read House Joint Resolution 48 introduced April 29, 2015, oftencalled "We the People Amendment."
The 2016 general election is still over a year away, and already candidates for Congress and the Presidency are lining up in droves to parade themselves in front of corporate billionaires looking to buy their next vote.
The floodgates of unlimited political spending opened by Citizens United has turned our electoral process into an open auction, and now more than ever we need a constitutional amendment to end corporate rule and legalize democracy.
We have the opportunity to make corporate personhood and money as speech a defining campaign issue this election cycle.
Reversing the SCOTUS decision to grant corporations personhood can only happen through Congress. You can sign the petition online. If you missed Minnie Venable's report on the General Assembly of the UUA in Portland, you can find information about this movement initiated by organizations and churches around the country on the AUUF website page. On September 13, the congregation will have an opportunity to vote whether to add the Fellowship to the list of affiliates in support of Move to Amend.
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Outdoor Day and Campout at Buffalo Lake
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 Friday & Saturday, Sept. 18 -19 For those planning to join us for the UU Outdoor Day and Campout, here are final details. Many of you will not be able to or may not choose to participate in the entire event, but we hope you'll ALL come for some of it. There are four parts: (1) Friday evening brown-bag supper and get-together at Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge, 2 miles south of Umbarger. (2) Friday night campout for those with tents, campers, or RVs. (3) Saturday morning breakfast. (4) Saturday lunch, with hot dogs provided by the fellowship and side dishes brought by the attendees. And interspersed between all that and all afternoon on Saturday will be nature activities for the kids, both young and "old," and lots of good conversation, hiking, bird watching, games, and whatever else you choose. We plan to begin to gather Friday afternoon about 4 p.m. or whenever you can get there. You'll have to be inside the gate before 8 p.m. That's when the gate locks. We'll try to have breakfast around 8 a.m. on Saturday and serve Saturday's hot-dog lunch around 12:30 or 1 p.m. Many of us will plan to stay until about dark and then head home.
To get to the Education Area where we'll be gathering, head south past the gate, and when you come to a Y in the road, keep right. You'll go west, down a hill, past lots of trees (YES, there ARE trees!), and turn at the first left. That leads through the camp area. Go to the end where there's a loop. On the far southwest corner, there is a gate that will be open for us. You can park in the caliche parking area or drive in, over the grassland, just a hundred feet or so, to the big shelter with picnic tables. (The pit toilets are back across the loop road to the east--new, very clean, and handicap-accessible-and just a few hundred feet from the Education Area where we'll be gathered.)
Your friends and family who are NOT UUs are also invited. To access the rest of the info-what to bring to eat on Friday evening, Saturday breakfast, and to supplement the hot dogs at Saturday lunch, etc.-click here to link to the website. For further info, contact Janda or Lyle Raker at Ljraker@suddenlink.net or phone 352-0589. More details on website.
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Fiction Book Group - Preview
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September 22, 7-8:30 PM at the Fellowship
The book for September is Lila by Marilynne Robinson: In Robinson's highly acclaimed 2014 follow-up to the Pulitzer prize winning Giliad, its narrator, Reverend Ames, recalls the challenge he found in the lost soul of the young, tenacious woman he married. As in Giliad, compelling characterizations are combined with theological ponderings to produce top shelf literature. Get your copy and begin reading.
Contact: Dick Moseley
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Autumn Circle Dinners, 2015
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 Many UU members have indicated they'd like to host a circle dinner in the early fall. In many cases, it's because they enjoy entertaining outside. So let's do it, in or out!
Once we start the sign-up sheets, we're going to ask that new UUs, those who have only been attending our fellowship (whether members or not) two years or less, sign up in the first couple of weeks, with longer-standing attendees signing up afterward. That way we can be sure that all the "newbies" get to attend. And it will ensure that almost everyone will get to dine with some folks they don't know so well.
Remember a "stranger is a friend you haven't made yet." And if they're UUs, you're going to love them! Prospective attendees, watch for further information.
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UUA Southern Fall Conference - Glen Rose, Texas
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Fall Conference is scheduled for November 13 through 15 at Glen Lake Camp and Conference Center near Glen Rose, Texas. The theme for this conference is "Into the FUUture!" Let's all register before October 26 (for discount) to boldly go where no UU congregation has gone before to gain tools and resources for charging ahead into the coming year, the next 10 years, or the next 10 decades. There are five tracks each designed to help leaders effect real cultural change toward growing a vital, healthy, effective UU community that helps its members achieve our vision of a world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. Click here for more information. Contact Nina Stein to coordinate transportation and off site room sharing.
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Doug Pagitt. Flipped: The Provocative Truth That Changes Everything We Know About God. New York: Penguin Random House, 2015.
Pagitt encourages us to change our mind when we are convinced of a better way of living and to see ourselves as being In God (according to Paul) rather than seeing God in us. His rethinking the parable of the widow's mite and story of the sacrifice of Isaac is worth the price of purchase. He points out numerous occasions when Jesus flips conventional notions of the spiritual expectations of established religion. Pagitt is the minister of Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis and owns three businesses. His approach has been labeled emergent or revisionist-- theologically liberal and openly questioning whether evangelical doctrine is appropriate for the post-modern world.
Recommendation level
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ASCA Labor Day Weekend Festival
Saturday, September 5, 2015 from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM
12th & Polk
The Amarillo Senior Citizens Association will be holding a benefit for their organization on Labor Day weekend. Festival includes a silent auction, bake sale, corvette club, craft tables, quilt show, bargain room, and much more! ASCA hopes everyone can come out and have a wonderful time. Admission is free and the public is welcome.
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