SUNDAY SERVICES

10:30 am

Children & Youth

Religious Education

10:30 am

Minister

Ron Phares    

rdphares@gmail.com 

579-7094

Office Hours:

M,T,Th -- 1:30 to 4:30   

Director of

Religious Education 
Donna Pratt  441-0870

mklo@earthlink.net   

Choir Director

L. H. Brown

579-7094

lbrownvh@yahoo.com 

Congregational

Administrator

Donna Pratt  579-7094,   406-5121, (cell) 441-0870  

office@uucnwt.org  

Office Hours:

8 am - 1 pm  MWF

 
 Newsletter Editors John and Margaret Fleming
888-7059

margefleming@earthlink.net 

Deadlines: 12th & 24th

Board of Trustees

President:

1st Vice President:

Jim Gessaman 

Readers, Take Note

It really is there.

Certain software programs often cut off the end of the newsletter, which is not displayed unless the user clicks a button at the bottom of the first posting that says,

"SHOW ENTIRE MESSAGE"

Charity of the Month

The Green Basket Charity for November is Twilight Wish Foundation. Twilight Wish honors and acknowledges seniors for all they have given to others by bringing comfort and joy into their lives through individual wish granting celebrations.  

Twilight Wish grants wishes to deserving elderly, age 68 and older, who earn less than 200% of poverty level annually, or who live in a nursing facility. www.twilightwish.org

Please remember to make checks out to MVUU and put the name of the charity in the memo line.   

Guest at Your Table Kickoff Nov. 18 

The UUSC traditional holiday fundraiser Guest at Your Table (GAYT) kicks off Sunday, 11/18. Envelopes, boxes, and informational materials will be available at the Social Action & Justice Corner, west side of the Goldblatt Building.

Greeter Breakfast December 1

Chamber Concert December 8

Tucson Chamber Artists presents its immensely popular Christmas Lessons and Carols by Candlelight concert on Saturday, December 8, 7:30pm, and Sunday, December 9, 3:00pm, at St. Philip's in the Hills Episcopal Church.  

Fusing elements of a St. Olaf Christmas and Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, TCA presents choral chestnuts and new musical jewels, including the world premiere of new music by famed local composer Gerald Near. For discounted advance tickets: 401.2651 or www.TucsonChamberArtists.com.

Announcements  

Sermons Indexed

John Clark has been working for a long time on our archive of old sermons. The printed copies have outgrown our storage space, so John has scanned every page of every sermon since we were first organized as a congregation in 1988, as well as a few from even before that, and converted them to .pdf files so they can be stored electronically.  

Moreover, with his well-known penchant for sorting and classifying, he has indexed them all according to speaker, subject, and date. Thank you, John, for this Herculean accomplishment.

The files are all on our website now under Sermons. Check them out; they are fascinating reading.

Café Justo

Order your  Café Justo--the Coffee for Social Justice and Ethical Drinking too!

This coffee is fair traded plus shade and organically grown. To learn more about Café Justo and view what's available, go to http://justcoffee.org  

To place your order, contact Elizabeth at 520-269-3414 or reedeliz@gmail.com 

Once you order, you will be contacted each month for your next order.

Immigration Justice

Immigration justice is complex and multifaceted.

In order to help us better understand and engage it, the UUA and UUSC have supplied print and video resources as well as organizing tools. We also participated in a tremendous range of workshops and presentations during our Justice General Assembly in Phoenix, Ariz.

All of these have helped us deepen our work for immigration justice, as individuals and congregations. And yet sometimes the most powerful thing we can do to strengthen our own justice efforts is to go and see for ourselves.

The UU College of Social Justice [UUCSJ] offers two BorderLinks journeys this year: February 1-4 and May 24-27, 2013. These explorations are grounded in spiritual reflection and our Unitarian Universalist commitment to the long work of justice.     Join us on a BorderLinks journey. Inspire yourself for the work of immigration justice.

Did You Know?

There is a Global Chant Group, Crones of the Northwest Group, AA group, Wise Women Drummers, and a Tucson Women's Chorus Group that meet regularly in the Fireside Room? The groups rent our facility, but the events are open to anyone. Please check the MVUU calendar for dates and times, or email office@uucnwt.org for more info.

Save the Date: April 26-28   

This year we will experience another new way of meeting as UUs, April 26-28 we will go to San Jose for the first Regional Assembly for the Pacific Western Region. Our PSWD/deBenneville Pines annual meeting will be held as part of this event. So save the date to join with Unitarian Universalists from across the west.

 Service Auction November 16

Friday, November 16th, 2012, at 5:30 pm, here at the MVUU church, the Asian Fusion will start. Join us for this annual celebration, with food, fun, and the auction.    

Child care will be provided. Please let Donna know if you will need this.  

If you can't make the dinner, but would like to attend the auction, you are more than welcome. The auction will begin at 7 pm in the sanctuary.

Don't forget to bring your checkbook! 

No Adult RE Class this Wednesday 

Thanksgiving Feast November 22 

November 22 at 2 pm we will have a feast to celebrate the joy of living. We will offer our thanks for the good things in our life, especially our UU fellowship.

The event will be open to all of you; please invite friends if you wish.If weather is good, it will be held outdoors. If not, it will be in the Goldblatt Building. We will provide one roasted turkey.If the response is large, we may call on you for more turkeys.

In order for it to come together properly please send an email to me indicating:

1. How many people will be in your party?
2. What you are bringing: side dish, salad, dessert, (including vegetarian dishes).
3. Are you willing to work on set up? Clean up?

As we get your responses we will balance out the menu offerings and make adjustments.

Please bring your own beverage, plates and tableware and a gift of several non-perishable food items, or a toiletry care package to be given to those in need.

Please contact Hobie Denny at hobied@gmail.com or 253-857-5171

Religious Education News

Sunday, November 18: Thanksgiving Service (Intergenerational)

More Luncheons

Put the following dates on your calendar to have lunch at church after the Sunday service:

• December 9: a wonderful Winterfest is being planned and to follow it we will have a lunch of casseroles. Bring your favorite casserole (crockpot or easy to warm up), dessert or something to drink.
• January 13: this is our Tucson winter and we'll have hearty soups (crockpots or easily warmed up), breads, desserts and drinks.

Expect a sign-up in your email inbox for each luncheon. If you don't see it, you can always mail us to let us know what you'd like to bring. As always, we are asking you to keep our vegan and gluten-free congregants in mind. Sometimes a small adjustment makes a dish gluten-free or vegan. For example, keeping the cheese, croutons, sauces on the side, or using vegan margarine instead of butter. Look at it this way: almost everyone can eat gluten-free/vegan, even those who do not have special requirements.

We hope you will all join us for fun and fellowship. Requested donation per person is $5, but of course we never turn any hungry person away. Proceeds will benefit scholarships for our youth to go to camp at PSWD's de Benneville Pines.

Sybelle UUSybelle@gmail.com Lara Larabuggy3@gmail.com

Weekly Activities

Anyone interested in writing is invited to join the Writers' Workshop on Wednesday mornings from 9:30 to 12:00. Participants share their writing, critique each others' work, and offer suggestions for such aspects of writing as plot development, organization, tightening, and word choice. Come any time for one session or a series of sessions. If you have writing to be critiqued, please bring 10 copies.

For more information, contact Margaret Fleming at 888-7059 or margefleming@earthlink.net.  

Thursdays, 6:45 pm, Tucson Women's Chorus

Thursdays, 7:00 pm, Choir Practice

Saturdays, 6:30 pm, AA Beginners Meeting 

Bi-Monthly Activities

1st and 3rd Mondays, 6:30 pm, Global Chant Group

 
1st and 3rd Thursdays 4:30-6:00 pm, Grief Support    

For members of the GLBTQ Community, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson, 4831 E 22nd Street, Tucson. This is an informal and relaxed group for anyone grieving a loss of any kind, no matter how long ago it was. We are sponsored by TMC Hospice. Before attending, please call Karla Brockie 269-9573. 

Monthly Activities

Afternoon Movie Saturday, November 17

"The American President," at Hobie Denny's, 12419 W. Mile Wide Rd. A vegetarian soup lunch will be at 12:30, followed by the movie, a comedy Roger Ebert called one of the best movies of 2005. We are limited to ten persons by space considerations. Please coordinate your contribution to the lunch with John at john.wilcox2008@comcast.net

or at 531-1413. We need bread, cheese, salad or fruit. Directions will be provided.

Bookaholics Unanimous November 28   

WILD: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed   

Aren't you hungry for a book so good that you can't bring yourself to put it down? This, my UU friends, is the book that delivers what the reviews promise. Cheryl's life is a chaotic, sad mess; perhaps, she muses, hiking could solve her problems. She has no hiking experience, of course, but that's a minor detail. What emerges is fresh and engaging, compelling and funny. Read this book and come join us as we share our thoughts and reflections. We'll be here: The Fireside Room on November 28th, at 6:45 pm. It'd be a shame to gather without you. Contact: Elaine azbooklover@comcast.net 290-1026

In January we'll change our meeting times to the last Monday of each month. Upcoming reads: January 28th: Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James; February 25th: Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo; March 25th: Canada by Richard Ford. Naked or not, we've got you covered.

Contact: Elaine at azbooklover@comcast.net 290-1026

First Friday Hike December 7

Our next first Friday hike will be on December 7 at the Linda Vista trail. We will meet at 10 am at the trail head which is located on Linda Vista Blvd., just east of the intersection with Oracle Rd. It is a moderate 2 mile hike with a lot of steps and a fair amount of elevation gain. Wear good shoes, weather appropriate clothing; bring water and a snack. Walking sticks are recommended. You will be in the finest saguaro forest in the Tucson area.   

Any questions, contact Hobie at 253-857-5171 or hobied@gmail.com

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander has been selected as the 2012-13 Unitarian Universalist Association Common Read. We are forming a group to discuss this book following the UUA discussion guide.  

The discussion will take place on a Saturday morning, February 16 from 9 to 11 am in the Sanctuary. This date will give ample time to purchase and read the book. Anne Leonard will be the discussion facilitator.  

The books can be ordered through the UUA for $19.95. If we can get a group order there will be a discount. Please let Anne know if you want to participate and if you would like to get in on the group order. She will need to know about the group order by December 15. Contact Anne at anne@alartworks.com, or by phone: 825-3449.

Reminder

Please Clean Up And Lock Up Before Exiting Buildings! 

If you are the last person to leave the property, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure: 

 Thank You

Volunteer of the Month

Jan Hatunen

Jan Hatunen is a miracle worker. Nobody knows how she does all the things she does. She has served on the Board several times. She is currently chair of the Finance Committee. She has been an R.E. Committee member for years, and sometimes an R.E. teacher.

If a party or a meal is being planned, chances are Jan has a hand in it. She manages such things efficiently and works with others to get them done. She's arranged luncheons, congregational dinners, bake sales, picnics, camping trips--all types of meals and celebrations. She makes props for our children's skits. She sews costumes.

For her Service Auction items, Jan offers a meal every year, each time with a different ethnic theme. Additionally she offers hand-made baby sweaters and booties and intricate cross-stitch embroidery.

Jan is an avid camper and is on the board of SAWUURA. She will help anyone plan a trip to that camp or to Rocky Point for Luunitarian Weekend, or will give advice about visiting Mexico.

Jan's husband, David, is a choir member and an occasional actor in our dramatic performances. Their daughter Desirée has been active in R.E. since she was a little girl, and is now a mature and beautiful teen, helping with the younger kids in R.E.

In addition to all she does for the congregation, Jan fosters fragile babies, and has done so for years. She always seems to have at least one with her in a carrier. And these babies require even more loving care than most--with extra medications, trips to the doctor, visits from the social worker, and all the bureaucratic paperwork entailed by these requirements.  

How does she do it? She must have more than 24 hours in her day.  

Liturgical Theme for November: THE GRAIN

 November 18, 2012
"Bountiful Living"

Ron Phares

How does one cultivate an attitude of bounty? Why should one cultivate an attitude of bounty? What does one do with a bountiful attitude? In this special service we will celebrate the good fortune of our congregation by ceremonially welcoming a group of new members to our continental community.

November 25, 2012
"A Harvest"

Ron Phares

Join us for this celebration of the good in our lives. We will meditate on our contingency and contemplate our power. We will do this in words and also in deed as we ritualize our perspective with a ritual of communion that theologically encompasses our heritage, our present, and our future.  

Liturgical Theme for December: GIFTS