We now send out this Monthly Newsletter (so you can plan ahead) as well as a Weekly Update. (Monthly newsletters are archived here.) If you missed the announcement of changes to how we communicate, click here for all the details. That link also outlines what process to use to submit news and calendar changes. Thank you! 

 

How fitting that we contemplate Peace during this month of celebrating the birth of Jesus, called "The Prince of Peace".  And Hanukkah celebrates the victorious end of a struggle for freedom from oppression and the miracle of light continuing to burn long after everyone thought the fuel had run out.
 
This month, you are invited into practices of personal peace through calming practices of meditation and spiritual reading.  You are also invited to notice when your personal ocean of peace is stirred into choppy waters by the time pressures and expectations of the holiday season.  In a world with many distractions, the call for peace within ourselves is hard - just like living our Unitarian Universalist Principles is hard. The best we can do is to remain mindful and strive for the best we have to offer each day, moment by moment.    

There are plenty of opportunities each day for us to be angry, frustrated, agitated, filled with disdain or hatred. One does not have to look far - our sick are homeless, people die for loving whom they love, war rages over oil and land and power, children die from hunger or guns or violence in their homes, people suffer without adequate healthcare in one of the richest countries in the world, the political divide seems to widen with each election, hardworking people are not making a living wage, mysterious chemicals invade our food. It is enough to preoccupy the most mindful and peace-loving among us. It is sometimes easier to turn a blind eye than to gain knowledge of all the wrongs we don't have time, energy, or resources to make right.

Still we stand on the side of possibility! Still we stand with peace! Still we love! Still we walk with faith and hope! Still we believe in human goodness!    

In this month of pondering Peace, I invite you to listen deeply to the rhythms within, to pay attention to what rises in your heart and mind as you encounter love and hate, compassion and disdain, compassion and anger. What simple thoughts or actions might change the beat of your response both internal and external? How might you be peace?

Come relax into the peace of the season with Nancy Baker's "Light Left On" program on December 7.  The focus will be on quietude, stillness, and inner peace, including Gregorian chant and other music. And, as she always does, Nancy will also offer some intellectual sweets as we learn about nativity art.   

Peace is in the air; breathe deeply, walk humbly, love generously.

Barbara

Rev. Barbara McKusick Liscord  

Worship Services 

Rev. Barbara McKusick Liscord

We yearn for inner peace, peace within our closest relationships and peace around the world. Yet, Krista Tippett has called the topic of peace "strangely divisive." During this service, we will practice moments of touching peace within ourselves, while considering complexities of peace in the world. Our Story for All Ages will tell the tale depicted in our sanctuary's southern stained glass window. For your own contemplation, you'll want to check out the resources on December's theme of PEACE, available on our website.  And stay after the service for a Peace theme discussion and meet the minister. 

 

Sunday, December 14 at 10:30am  
Holiday Music Celebration - There Would be Peace  

Rev. Barbara McKusick Liscord and Carolyn McCreary, Music Director

Join our musical celebration of PEACE with Christmas favorites and new music offered by a variety of musicians and our choir, joined by our youth at the beginning of the service.

 

Sunday, December 21 at 10:30am   Winter Solstice Spiral  

Linda Goodman with Rev. Barbara McKusick Liscord

This special ceremony is filled with wonder, seasonal music and quiet anticipation for all ages, especially children. You will be invited to walk a large spiral path laid out in evergreen boughs. At the center, you will receive a gift of candle's light by an "angel". As you walk the spiral path out, you will place your light on a star along the path. After everyone has walked the path the room is filled with the light of many candles shining on sparkling crystals. Come share the wonder. Please call Linda Goodman (673-6567) with questions or to offer assistance with planning and set up.

 

Wednesday, December 24 at 5pm      

Children's Candlelight Christmas Eve Service  

Rev. Barbara McKusick Liscord, Sandy Frades & Cyn Fennelly, DLRE

The best Christmas Eve service for families with children and those young at heart. We'll enjoy a skit about how some take a journey and find the true meaning of Christmas along the way. We'll sing some Christmas carols and light candles for all babies born since last Christmas Eve. As is our tradition, we will light candles while we sing Silent Night at the end of the service.

 

Wednesday, December 24 at 7pm    Candlelight Christmas Eve Service  

Rev. Barbara McKusick Liscord & Carolyn McCreary, Music Director

Candles, music and readings celebrate the enduring light in a dark season. Candles will be lighted for babies born since last Christmas Eve.

 

Sunday, December 28 at 10:30am   Peace Offerings
Morgan Keating and Rev. Shayna Appel

This Sunday we invite our young adults who have returned for the holidays to share a song or an instrumental composition. Readings, poems and short homilies are also welcome. Do you have a young adult who has something to share? Or perhaps you are not so young and you want to share anyway? Please be in touch with Morgan at mhkeating67@gmail.com or Shayna at kshaynaappel@gmail.com. Morgan Keating is a member of the Russell Hill Band and has hosted many an open mic. Rev. Shayna is a gifted worship leader and musician.  

 

Music! Music! Music!

Lifespan Religious Education

As I look toward December, I am reminded of just how important peace within is. I am grateful to be driven indoors by the cold and intend to use the opportunity to focus on what peace means to me, how it refreshes my soul, restores my balance, leaving me free to truly experience gratitude for the blessings I am gifted with.

 

 Gratitude is the music of the heart, when its chords are swept by the breeze of kindness. 

          ~ author unknown

In Faith,

Cyn Fennelly, DLRE

(603) 716-0327, dlre@uucm.org
 
Purple People Group (Grades K-2) and Green Youth Group (Grades 3-6)
Beginning Nov. 30, these groups will be following the Peace theme and wrapping it into our preparation for the early Christmas Eve service. We will explore Peace through cooperation, sharing ideas, making decorations and costumes, and using our varied acting talents and reading skills as we prepare to put on a very special program.

We encourage you to attend the Dec. 21 Multigenerational Solstice Service and one or both of the Christmas Eve services.

Can You Help?
We are now recruiting teachers for the Purple and Green groups for a January curriculum titled In Our Hands: A Peace and Social Justice Program. Ideally we'll have two teams of four so no one teaches more than two classes a month. Curriculum and schedules will available by Dec. 15 and classrooms will be stocked with all the supplies you need. Contact Cyn.
 
OUUL (Our Unitarian Universalist Lives - for 7th & 8th Grades)
Dec. 7 - Meet with Pastor Shayna Appel to hear about UU Roots.
Dec. 14 - Explore what makes it difficult for us to truly see others as they see themselves using a method called Life Lens.
Dec. 21 - Winter Solstice Spiral service.
Dec. 28 - Participate in Peace Offerings, an open mic worship service.
 
Senior Youth Group News
The Senior Youth Group Steering Committee is currently considering youth advisers for their group. If you are interested, please contact Cyn.
Dec. 4, 6pm - Planning meeting of the Senior Youth Group Steering Committee.
Dec. 18, 7-9pm - The Dessert Dash - Youth are invited to come and explore restarting the UUCM Senior Youth Group.
 
Wanted:  Nursery Room Attendant for Sunday Mornings
The RE Committee seeks to hire someone to attend the nursery room on Sunday mornings on a regular basis.  Interested parties should contact Cyn.

December 7, 2014   11:45am-12:45pm

Rev. Barbara McKusick Liscord looks forward to facilitating a conversation about themes raised in the worship service and meeting newcomers.   

The Light Left On: A Monthly Exploration of the History of Theology and the Search for Spirituality

Sunday, December 7, 5-7pm

The December session of The Light Left On will be a little different. Divided into two parts, it will first offer some insights about peace that are helpful at this time of year and let you relax with Gregorian chant. The second part will be a presentation "Painting the Word: The Nativity in Western Art". This section was developed for the Currier Museum of Art and traces the story of the birth of the Prince of Peace. This program offers a look at 75 images as it explains the difference between religious and sacred art, how to decode a sacred painting, why some of the traditional aspects of the Nativity are not found in the Bible that you know, how the Nativity fits in the iconography of Jesus, and why images of the Madonna and Child vary so widely in religious art. You'll never look at a Nativity on a Christmas card quite the same way! There is a signup sheet in Barnum so that we know how many to expect for dinner.

 

Friday, December 12, 7-10pm
Aligned with our December theme of Peace, we will be screening Doctor Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Starring Peter Sellers as an insane general who triggers a path to nuclear holocaust, this dark comedy brings the horror of nuclear war into sharp focus and reminds us how vitally important it is to pursue peace. The film is directed by the incomparable Stanley Kubrick and is rated PG.

December 14, 12-1:30pm led by Rev. Barbara McKusick Liscord

This is a great way for folks who are new and those who have been around for awhile to learn about our congregation's history dating back to the 1820's. We will learn how our building was funded and how the site was chosen. We will also gain a deeper understanding of our current Bylaws and the governance structure of our congregation. The best part is that we will get to know one another in the process.  

Community Outreach 

UUCM Community Supper News  

A Thanksgiving Dinner with all the trimmings was served to over 150 guests on Wednesday November 19 -.a new and impressive record!  Many thanks to the 28 UUCM volunteers who produced a great dining experience for our guests.  Our UUCM visibility within the greater Milford area continues to grow.   

 

The next UUCM Community Supper will be on Wednesday December 17. This is a great way to deepen your friendships within our UUCM congregational community. If you are interested in joining the team of volunteers or need additional information, please contact one of us: Nancy Danzinger  UUCM Community Supper Coordinator ndanzinger@comcast.net (603) 673-9561, Barbara Smith brbsmith@me.com  (603) 673-6629, Dona Eaton donageaton@gmail.com  (603) 673-7526

 

Community Supper at SHARE 

We will be co-hosting with Amherst Congregational Church every other month on the first Tuesday of the month.  Beginning December 2  we will  co-host our first Community Supper at SHARE since the completion of their renovations. The UUCM small group ministry of New Boston has agreed to be the UUCM volunteers, doing food preparation on Monday and serving on Tuesday as well as helping to clean up. 

 

On January 6, we will co-host the Community Supper at SHARE serving a spaghetti supper, and will need additional volunteers.  This is a wonderful opportunity to further UUCM Community Outreach. Please consider becoming a volunteer.  For additional information contact Nancy Danzinger Community Suppers at SHARE Volunteer Coordinator ndanzinger@comcast.net (603) 673-9561.

 

Anne-Marie House is a program of services for families who are experiencing homelessness in the greater Nashua area. It is interfaith based, and UUCM has been supporting this program with volunteers & financial donations since the program started in 2004.  

 

The Milford area congregations who are involved have been asked to donate cleaning supplies, such as liquid dish soap, window cleaner, and bathroom and kitchen cleaner. If you would like to help in this way, please bring your donated items to the blue storage container marked "Anne-Marie House donations" in Barnum Hall. If you have some favorite "green" cleaning products to share that would be wonderful. Any questions please call Jean Lovely at (603) 595-2611, jlov181@aol.com.

 

UUCM News & Activities

 Click the 2Click Fundraising button (to the left) or on the UUCM home page, then select Amazon (or another online shopping service). Just 2 clicks and then you are on your Amazon account - same as always.  See a YouTube video to learn how this works.  Go to 2Click before you go to Amazon, and UUCM will get a %age of Amazon's commission.  Ask Bryan Higgs or Dona Eaton how easy it is.
 

Want something quiet for rainy days when stuck about the house?

Books are what you need, you see: to laugh, to thrill, to learn

And if you buy December thirteenth, you'll help our church to earn.

 

The Toadstool Bookstore is the place, a bibliophile's dream.

For every purchase we get a cut, to augment our income stream.

They have small gifts like bookmarks; or calendars, to track your time,

Books on tape for busy folks, and poetry books that rhyme.

 

There's picture books and chapter books; the kids they will delight.

There's self help books and history, and fantasy and fright.

And if you can't make up your mind and find it hard to choose.

Just get a Toadstool gift card; with that gift you just can't lose.

 

Make your holiday book purchases at Toadstool on Saturday, December 13 and UUCM gets a percentage of your total purchase (including gift certificates!). Print the coupon to submit with your payment. Coupons will also be available at the Holiday Fair and on the shelf near the garden doors, too. Books, calendars and certificates make great holiday gifts for family, friends and teachers.  

Weather Cancellations
Weather Cancellations on Sunday

It's Snowing - Are Church Services and/or Children's Programming Cancelled?
To find out whether church is closed:

• Check the uucm.org website
• Call the Church office at 673-1870
• Check WMUR-TV or www.wmur.com 
• Check the websites of: WZID.com, 965THEMILL.com and WFEA1370.com (no on-air announcements on these three stations)
• And listen or look for the "Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Milford."

Closings on Other Days

If the office is closed, there will be a message on the answering machine. It is best to call ahead to assure someone is in the office.  For meetings or activities, check with the group leader. 

 

Greater UU Community

Find Your Inner Storyteller - Dec 11 from 7-8:30pm

Join us in the Youth Room as the UU Church of Nashua's Young Adult (18-35) Group welcomes John Sanders &  those who are young-ish (not 18-35, but those who ever have been) for a storytelling workshop.

 

We are all born storytellers! Come sit around a fire and learn how to find some of those stories that are already inside you. Awaken the storyteller hiding within you, and learn how much fun storytelling can be. Please RSVP by emailing Monica at monica.staples@gmail.com 

Save the Date

We will be trying out a new way of raising money for the 2015/2016 church year. More details to follow - but in a nutshell, we plan to conduct a single day of fundraising and then turn our attention to other work that aligns with our values - building community, connecting with one another, reaching out beyond the four walls of UUCM! Stay tuned for more details! If you can't wait, contact Leslie Bennett (603) 672-4865, leslieyingling1@aol.com

Reminders 

December:   John Bigl (554-5620 or johnbigl@hotmail.com)

Please leave contributions in the SHARE basket in Barnum. This month's needs: Canned fruit, apple juice, condiments, cooking sauces & seasonings, cooking oils