Sunday, September 13, 12:30 PM, AUUF
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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.
The older children will be focusing on the following topics during September:
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.
The nursery group will be focusing on the following topics:
September 13: Cooperation
September 20: Autumnal Equinox and Autumn
September 27: Something to do with families
Lesson plans are subject to change, but this is the plan.
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 an 1828 sermon, 'Likeness to God,' [William Ellery] Channing declared, 'We approach the Creator by every right exertion of powers . . . [given] us. Whenever we invigorate the understanding by honestly and resolutely seeking truth . . . whenever we invigorate the conscience by following it . . . or encounter peril or scorn with moral courage . . . whenever we receive a blessing gratefully, perform a disinterested deed; whenever we lift up the heart in true adoration . . . think, speak, or act with moral energy . . . then the divinity is growing within us.'"
-John Buehrens,
A House for Hope, p. 112.
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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 May the Force Be With You, discussing religious concepts found in science fiction.
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David Green speaks on Lost Scriptures, discussing writings omitted from the New Testament but widely circulated among early diverse Christians.
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September 27, 2015
Guest Adair Buckner, Attorney at Law, speaks on Essentials of Estate Planning.
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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. 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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Nothing Much Buddhist Covenant Group
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 Monday, September 14 - 7:30 PM
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh is a global spiritual leader, poet and peace activist, revered throughout the world for his powerful teachings and bestselling writings on mindfulness and peace. Hanh has published over 100 titles on meditation, mindfulness and Engaged Buddhism, as well as poems, children's stories, and commentaries on ancient Buddhist texts. More information about the Zen Master and the Plum Village Mindfulness Practice Centers is available here. The Nothing Much Buddhist Covenant Group has elected to read and discuss Thich Nhat Hanh's latest release, No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering. Pick up a copy and join our meditation on 2nd and 4th Mondays every month.
We will discuss Chapter 4: "Ease" on September 14.
Contact: Rick Todd
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ICAM Monthly Seminar - Integrated Complementary Alternative Medicine
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Tuesday, September 15 - 7 PM (Every Third Tuesday)
Open to the Public-Free Admission
 This month's seminar focuses on Adrenal Glands, Adrenal Hormones, Stressors. Focusing on alternative health and wellness, this monthly seminar is led by Rolf Habersang, MD, Medical Director of the ICAM Institute of Amarillo, and Pia Habersang, EdD, CNS, MSN, APRN of the Pediatric Wellness Center of Amarillo
ICAM Seminar information: 806-468-4616
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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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Campout at Buffalo Lake - Update
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 Friday & Saturday, Sept. 18 -19 Several people have indicated they'd like to carpool to Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge. If you'd prefer to do that, contact Janda Raker at Ljraker@suddenlink.net or call 352-0589. She has a list of people who would like to do that, and she can give you contact info. Some are definitely planning to come down on Saturday morning in time for breakfast around 8 or others may be coming later, in time for lunch around 12.
Also there is not access to drinking water at the refuge, so if each of you would bring a plastic gallon jug of water, that would help. We'll provide about 25 gallons, so with your help, we should have plenty for drinking, washing up, etc.
Some have asked, so here is a bit more detail about finding the refuge and camp area. From Hwy. 60, going west of Canyon, go about 11 miles to Umbarger. Turn left at the brown sign referencing Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge. (That turn is right across the highway from Rafter G Barbecue, the restaurant there on the highway.) Head south about 2 miles. When you come to the first fork in the road, where the refuge sign with the blue goose is, take the right fork. That will lead you directly to the gate, where you can pay ($2 per carload) and get your permit. Then continue south about a mile until you reach a sign that indicates camping, and turn left there. Go about half a mile to the loop at the end of that road. There is a gate at the southwest corner of the loop. You can go through the gate and drive across the grass a hundred feet or so to the big shelter, with a pad for handicap access, and just park near that shelter or you can park out along the road near the gate and walk in.
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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 - Update
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 Several of you have indicated you would like to host a circle dinner in the autumn. Many want to do that so you can serve your meal outside. So we're planning for some dinners between late September and early November. (If anyone wants to host after Nov. 1, that's fine, but it's been suggested that we not have any the weekend of Nov. 13-15 as the UU Fall Conference will be held in Glen Rose, TX, that weekend, and as many Amarillo UUs as possible are encouraged to attend.)
So if you potential hosts will please sign up ASAP, we'll begin these festive get-togethers!
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Commit2Respond Review/Update
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Climate Change has received plenty of attention from UUs this year and more is planned. Here is quick reminder of what has gone on this past year and some idea of future events.
And wow-what a year! In our first year:
- We marched in the People's Climate March
- We got spiritually grounded during the first-ever Climate Justice Month
- We donated:
- $14,000 to counter fossil fuels transport impacts on Indigenous communities
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$16,000 for young adult climate justice activism
- $17,000 to help communities in California and Kenya protect their human right to water
Now it's time to take our collaborations and new connections to the next level, grounded in faith and an intersectional vision of climate justice.
In our second year we are gearing up for:
Mark your calendar!
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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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Tastes of India
Saturday, September 12, 2015 - 5-8 PM
Amarillo High School Cafeteria, 4225 Danbury
Explore the tastes and aromas of the food of India. Kids under 3 eat free. Tickets bought in advance are $10/ plate; at the door, $12. Contact Viju @ (806) 206-6886.
WTAMU Production -The Fantasticks
September 10-12, 16-19 at 7:30 PM;
September 12-13 at 2:30 PM
Happy State Bank Studio Theatre
The Fantasticks is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the play The Romancers (Les Romanesques) by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neighboring fathers who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into falling in love by pretending to feud. It includes the familiar song, "Try to Remember." Tickets are $16 for adult, $12 for seniors 60 and over. Box office hours are 2:30-5 PM and 1 hour before performance. For reservations call 651-2804.
Amarillo Museum of Art
September 17 at 7:00 PM, Amarillo College Concert Hall Theater
 The Ladd Lecture guest speaker, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Scott DeJesse, will be speaking about his experience and ongoing work as a modern-day "Monuments Man." He is one of only a few individuals serving as a Civil Affairs Officer in Arts, Monuments, and Archives and has deployed numerous times to both Iraq and Afghanistan. The lecture is free. The reception at 6 PM is $40 per person.
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