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Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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 Mary Kay Wells remarked during her sermon last Sunday that she wanted people to visit the website online that had the full text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to listen to Sir Laurence Olivier reading the Preamble and Eleanor Roosevelt reading from the declaration. Now you have those links to pursue. |
| 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 December, the students will be watching brief videos and discussing their content.
Dec. 20: Do We Want Us to ? - Pacific Northwest - Totem Poles, Clans, History, Potlatch
Dec. 27: Earth Shapers - The Mound Builders
The nursery group will be focusing on the following topics during December:
Dec. 20: Yule: Winter Solstice
Dec. 27: Christmas, a Christian Tradition
Lesson plans are subject to change, but this is the plan.
Contact: Wes Phillips and Sarah Brown
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 "The political role of the church is prophetic-dropping Amos' plumb line of righteousness; with Isaiah loosening the bonds of injustice, with Micah doing justice and loving mercy, with Jesus blessing the poor and the imprisoned. And so what is required of Unitarian Universalists is to become a 'saving remnant,' a militant minority mobilized to protect human rights, to raise hard questions, to insist on different answers, to advocate for peace and justice." -Richard S. Gilbert, Growing Up Absorbed.
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2015-2016 Common Read for UUs
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 Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2015). A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice-from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time. One reviewer compared its power and eloquence to that of To Kill a Mockingbird. Available at UUA Bookstore or Kindle edition.
From UUA: "Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn't commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship-and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever."
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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 above.
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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December 20, 2015
Holiday Music Service with various artists-including a congregational sing-along led by Jason Hudson and performances by other musicians, including Mike Fuller and Those Guys and more in lieu of a sermon.
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December 27, 2015
Tony Tackitt speaks on Bibliolatry: When the Words Get in the Way, discussing the many ways that words have been misused in "traditional" religion, and how words can get in the way of discovering and experiencing our deeper Self.
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January 3, 2016
Dr. Rolf Habersang speaks on the Myth of New Year's Resolutions.
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Sunday, December 20, 9 AM
The Women's Simply Salad & Soup Fellowship provides a delicious breakfast every third Sunday at the Fellowship. Help yourself before going to 9:30 AM worship service or to the Adult Religious Education class at 10 AM. Bon Appetit!
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Adult Religious Education
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Please join us at 10 AM each Sunday.
We are rotating three subjects. Each covers a different aspect of Adult Religious Education. All are welcome. No advance reading is necessary and no test will be given.
Dec. 20: In Natural Law and Human Nature we will continue our discussion of Aristotle by watching/discussing "Aristotle on Justice and Politics."
Dec. 27: The New Testament subject this week will be "John-Jesus the man from Heaven," based on the book of John.
Jan. 3: Lecture # 9 of Science and Religion examines "Geology, Cosmology, and Biblical Chronology."
Contact: John Gay |
JUST A REMINDER! The Women's Covenant Group will NOT meet on December 21. Women's Simply Salad & Soup Fellowship will NOT meet December 23. Enjoy your holidays!
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Wednesday, December 23 - 6:30 PM
 Every 4th Wednesday of each month the Men's Brotherhood meets from 6:30-8:00 PM in Chandler Hall. This covenant group provides men a private place for discussing feelings, for developing the trust to share without judgment in a confidential and safe environment, for permitting open discussion of concerns and receipt of the collective wisdom of others who have dealt with similar problems, and for finding ways to use new insights to improve one's everyday life.
Contact: Rick Todd
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Christmas Lunch at Fellowship
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Friday, December 25 - 12:00 PM at Fellowship
 Our fellowship will continue the tradition of hosting lunch on Christmas Day. Signup sheets will be posted on the "kitchen" bulletin board--for those bringing food, for those who will help with the setup and the taking down of the tables, and to let us know how many plan to attend. The plan is to begin preparations at 12 noon and begin eating around 12:30 p.m.. Hopefully there will be a good crowd, with much visiting and merriment! If you have questions or suggestions, e-mail Janda Raker or call 352-0589.
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 According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, winter inspires both joy and woe. Some people can't wait for the cooler weather, snow, skiing and ice skating, curling up by a fire, and the holiday spirit. Other people dislike the frigid temperatures, blizzards, and wild weather.
The word solstice comes from the Latin words for "sun" and "to stand still." In the Northern Hemisphere, as summer advances to winter, the points on the horizon where the Sun rises and sets advance southward each day; the high point in the Sun's daily path across the sky, which occurs at local noon, also moves southward each day. At the winter solstice, the Sun's path has reached its southernmost position. The next day, the path will advance northward. However, a few days before and after the winter solstice, the change is so slight that the Sun's path seems to stay the same, or stand still. The Sun is directly overhead at "high-noon" on Winter Solstice at the latitude called the Tropic of Capricorn.
Winter solstice is the day with the fewest hours of sunlight during the whole year. In 2015, winter begins on December 21, 10:48 P.M.CST. Unfortunately, most people in Amarillo will be unable to measure the exact hours of sunlight at that hour, but we can snuggle between the sheets comforted by the rhythm of nature as it passes from season to season as easily as a child slips into sleep during a bedtime story.
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Saturday, January 9 at Brookplace Apt. Clubhouse
 The Nothing Much Buddhist Covenant Group is hosting a Zazenkai (a day-long Zen retreat focusing on meditation practice led by Zen teacher Tony Tackitt) from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM. Included in the program are a Meditation 101 talk/discussion, two Teisho (dharma talk), Zazen (seated meditation), and Kinhin (slow, organized walking meditation). Participants bring their own sack lunches. There is no fee; however, seating is limited, so attendees will be on a first-come first serve basis. Familiarity with meditation is recommended but not required. Contact Tony Tackitt to reserve your space. More information is available on our website. Map of location:
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SouthWest Unitarian Universalist Women Conference 2016
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 February 26-28, 2016
Lawton, Oklahoma
Registration opened December 1, 2015
A non-profit organization that supports women through worship, learning, leadership, community and social justice, SWUUW addresses women's issues, explores feminist theology, promotes friendships and celebrates the diversities that make us unique women on our individual spiritual paths.  SWUUW is an organization open to all UU women, particularly those women in the Southwest District of the Southern Region of the UUA.
Keynote speaker, Lauren Zuniga, is an internationally touring poet, activist and teaching artist. She is the author of two poetry collections. Her work has been featured in Upworthy, MoveOn.Org, BoingBoing, Autostraddle & Everyday Feminism.
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 Nathan C. Walker, Exorcising Preaching: Crafting Intellectually Honest Worship (2014).
Nate Walker, minister at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia (established in 1796), uses his own sermons to illustrate how much more effective sermons can be by making them directly, almost theatrically, relevant to congregants' lives (to dispel the myth that people actually listen to me preach) and that clergy are not their own audience. He argues, "preach or die"; make sermons powerful and diversified in form; democratize the pulpit by incorporating congregants in the selection of topics for sermons; plan the development of a sermon (preempt procrastination) because time management is essential to the process; and eliminate theological clichés. Walker's sermons are amazingly engaging and transformative. Anyone contemplating, clergy or laity, taking the pulpit on Sunday morning should read this book for excellent hints about how to improve worship messages. Even if you do not aspire to the pulpit, this discussion of the process and reasoning and forms of a sermon gives congregants insights that help them appreciate better the Sunday morning worship. He even has videos of various sermons at www.exorcisingpreaching.com so you can experience the delivery and the appendix contains complete sermons on a number of topics.
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FireSongs Songwriter Series
Wednesday, December 16, 6:30-8:30 PM
 FireSongs Songwriter Series is a new, weekly series that is unique in Amarillo, in that each Wednesday night, a different area songwriter or combo will perform entirely original material---no covers. We have a wealth of creative energy here in the Panhandle and this series aims to celebrate those who express this energy through songwriting.
The shows are at Fire Slice Pizzeria (7301 SW 34th Space 10, Summit Shopping Center) on Wednesdays from 6:30 - 8:30 PM. It's a listening environment, so talking is discouraged in the concert room while the show is going on, but this makes it a much nicer environment, and of course Fire Slice has wonderful food which may be enjoyed throughout the show. There is no cover, but reservations are suggested to guarantee seating in the listening room. Call (806) 331-2232. The songwriter performing on December 23 is Tammy Stamps. Mark your calendar for the December 30 performance of Ray Wilson.
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