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Unity Church of North Easton News
(Unitarian Universalist)
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"Welcoming people into community to grow in thought, spirit, and service to others."
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Volume 4, No. 12, February 27, 2015
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 Letting Wishes Guide Us
by Jason Gold, President
The lion Grograman, Lord of the Desert of Colors, explains to Bastian, a young boy, "You must go from wish to wish. What you don't wish for will always be beyond your reach... And wishing is not enough. You must wish to go somewhere else and let your wishes guide you... Without a genuine wish, you just have to wander around until you know what you really want." This is from one of my favorite books, The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende. I just finished rereading it to my kids. This passage beautifully captures the purpose of our visioning work and why it is so important.
Earlier this year the EC made three wishes rooted in Unity's vision statement. They are:- Visibly reflect our UU values and traditions.
- Provide relevant and inspirational worship and programs.
- Courageously attempt something new.
Each of these three wishes are tied to a part of the vision statement, which you can find below. They will guide us through this church year and into next. Each committee developed objectives guided by these wishes.
Worship Committee
Simplify the process for interested members to participate in worship leadership so that members can feel engaged and to allow the committee to become more involved in helping lay leaders create relevant and inspirational worship.
Develop more dynamic services and draw inspiration from area churches and spiritual organizations.
Lifespan Religious Education Committee (LREC)
Institute an innovative curriculum (Spirit Play) to reinforce our UU principles and values in the Religious Education program.
Fellowship Committee
Attract and retain folks who express an interest in the church and who we are.
Actively engage visitors during and after services and reach out to regulars we haven't seen for a while.
Fundraising Committee
Plan fundraising efforts that benefit our community as well as Unity.
Unity Church Aiding Neighbors (UCAN)
Become actively involved in broader social issues as well as serving as a resource to our local community.
Now it's up to you, and all of us, to make these wishes come true. How exactly will we do that? "That is another story and shall be told another time".
Vision Statement
Unity Church of North Easton's work toward wholeness is a beacon for individuals, couples, families, our congregation, and wider communities. Through creative worship, programs for all ages, and outreach efforts, we continue to deepen our work to build a healthy community. We are a dynamic congregation that grows and changes with the needs of those we serve.
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When the Weather Outside is Frightful
For the safety of our friends and members, in case of extreme weather conditions, please call the church office (508-238-6373) after 8:30 a.m. on the day of the Service or church event for a message about whether the Service or event has been canceled.
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Five area Unitarian Universalist Churches (Canton, Easton, Foxboro, Sharon and Stoughton) have been exploring how we can join or share common interest and experiences to enhance and support our missions, initiatives, programs and communities.
This event helps our communities get to meet in the spirit of community and common faith over food, fun and a bit of entertainment!
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Executive Committee News
by Melanie D'Aiello, Clerk
Affirmations
At the beginning of every Executive Committee meeting, we go around the table and ask if there are any special affirmations anyone would like to make. Though they do make it into the EC meeting minutes every month, we thought it would be nice to express this appreciation in a more public way.
So, they are included in our Unity News regularly! Here are the
recent affirmations:
- Ernie Cohen for taking such good care of the church grounds during this snowy weather and all year round.
- Kate Haven and Deanna Greenstein for their lay leadership during the last month.
- Michael Gold for his performance during the intergenerational service and Victoria Gold for her help behind the scenes.
- Marie Pires and Carolyn McCafferty for gathering meals for Rev. Kristin and getting them to her.
- Athena Codianni for making cards for Rev. Kristin and giving them to church members to fill out.
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The Average Age
of a Homeless Person
in Massachusetts
is 8 Years Old
Hello Unity Church! Unity Church Aiding Neighbors (UCAN) will have a team in the upcoming School on Wheels of Massachusetts Outrunning Homelessness 5K/Fun Walk for the third year! The race is on Saturday, April 25th at 9 a.m. at DCR's Borderland State Park. Runners, walkers, and volunteers are we  lcome. Despite the rain, we had a great time last year and are hoping for awesome weather this year!Bring your family and friends out for a morning of fun and fellowship in a beautiful setting. There will be kids' activities and music, along with the main event. Your support will make a difference for kids impacted by homelessness.
Sign up by April 1st to get a free race tee shirt!.
UCAN Sponsor Again?
For the past two years, UCAN raised enough funds to be a t-shirt sponsor (see the UCAN logo on the shirt to the left). If you would like to be part of the effort to raise $750 so that our small but mighty, mighty congregation can once again put that might and intention behind support of kids impacted by homelessness, please see Melanie D'Aiello.
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Our Caring CommUnity
As a loving, spiritual community many of us feel the call to serve our members and friends who so graciously and gratefully receive it. Unity Church's Caring CommUnity seeks to serve the short term caring needs of members and friends of the church as best as possible.
To let us know how you might help with this service, or if you need a hand from us, please complete one or both of the forms below:
You can download and print the form and manually fill it in, or complete it electronically from your computer. Once you have completed it, please either:
- mail it to the church office, to the attention of Edie Marsden and the Caring Committee, or
- drop it in one of the Caring CommUnity boxes at the back of sanctuary or Parish Hall, or
- e-mail it to Edie Marsden.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Edie Mardsen or Marie Pires.
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UUA Unveils a New Website
"We're proud to introduce the new UUA.org, website of the Unitarian Universalist Association! Serving newcomers and lifelong Unitarian Universalists alike, this site is home to thousands of pages of information, tools and resources about the Unitarian Universalist faith and our 1,000 local congregations..."
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Fundraising Events
We've been busy planning several exciting fundraising events to raise much needed funds and to reach out to our community. Several people are needed to help plan, organize, and execute them. There's no need to join the committee - just commit to one fundraiser. Here's what is in the works:
Paint Night
Just in the planning stages now - we are hoping to offer a Paint Night to the community sometime in April. Paint Nights are growing in popularity. An artist guides participants through each painting so that everyone comes up with their own unique masterpiece at the end of the night. Food and drink is often included too.
We will once again host them, April 24-26, 2015. Church members register to provide a bed and/or floor space, a shower, and a continental breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings for a nominal charge that goes directly to Unity Church. This was a wonderful success last year, generating good will and funds for our community. This is our fourth successful year. You can find more details about this event on the NEFFA page of the Unity web site under the Calendar & Eventsmenu.
Casino Night Benefit
Also just in the planning stages we are gearing up to hold a Casino Night open to the community sometime in July. Hosted jointly with UCAN, we will split our proceeds with a partner charity. A Casino Night is a big event where players are given a stack of fake money to use for the games. Prizes donated by sponsor companies are raffled off at the end of the night. This is a big one with the potential to raise thousands of dollars for both Unity and our parnter, so planning needs to start immediately.
Change for Unity
In the planning stages this would include a box similar to the Guest at your Table program only spare change would be added to the collection plate. If each family collected a $1 a week in spare change we could add 1 to 2% to our bottom line for the year!
Please contact Jason Gold or Anna Linzi to learn more or to pitch in. We need your help to get these great ideas off the ground!
The Fundraising Committee
Anna Linzi, Jenn Gold, and Melanie D'Aiello |
Do you shop on Amazon.com?
Be sure to visit Amazon through Unity's homepage first. Every time ANYONE uses the Amazon widget, Unity Church receives up to 8.5% of the transaction - at no cost. HOW COOL IS THAT?
How easy would it be for every family who uses Amazon to simply do so through the church's web site? And next could we get friends and other family members to do so? Do you work for a business which orders from Amazon? In order to get credit to Unity Church you MUST use the link on the church's website. It's easy to make a short cut on your desktop to take you straight to our fundraising page or home page, both of which display the search widget on the right sidebar. Just open a new shortcut and insert
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in the target box, then label it Unity-Amazon! Simple!
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District Annual Meetings in April
Combined annual meetings for three New England districts will take place April 25, 2015 at First Parish Church in Weston, MA from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. District business will be conducted, such as hearing reports, adopting budgets and electing officers and board members for the 2015 fiscal year. Registration available soon.
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Looking for Executive Committee and Church Meeting Minutes, or Member Contact information?
You can find it all on our web site under the Member Access menu, after you log in as a member.
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New to Unity Church?
New to Unity Church or want to Join Our Mailing List?
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Photo/Graphics/Video Credits for this Issue of the Unity News
Cathy Adler, Nancy D'Uva, Ellen Dehm
Unity News Contact Info
For questions or comments regarding this message, please contact Cathy Adler, Unity News Managing Editor & Web Administrator,
at welcome2ucne@gmail.com . |
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