UU Day at the Legislature
Training January 19

UU Day at the Legislature is February 18, 2013. As we work to revitalize this annual tradition we hear two themes repeatedly:

1. Many folks are unfamiliar with the legislative direct advocacy process. In this area some of the questions are: How do we set up a meeting? How do we best deliver our message to the legislators?
2. People are also concerned about their issue knowledge---they want to be well prepared and current when they meet with legislators.

To respond to these questions, we decided to hold a Train the Trainer Workshop Saturday, January 19, at the UU Church of Surprise from 11:00 am to 1:30 pm. All leaders in the  congregation's social justice work are invited to attend this workshop. Each congregation will receive a Day at the Legislature Toolkit, with hard copy and digital files, that will serve as a resource for congregations to use in preparation for February's Day at the Legislature.  

The workshop will include:

• Meeting legislator training. A "How-To" for setting-up and carrying out meetings with legislators.
• Issue information sessions focused on Education, Immigration, and Health Care.
• Specific legislation information. We'll be tracking proposed bills.
• Detailed information about the schedule of events for the February 18th event.

We hope you all can attend the Train the Trainer workshop. If you are unavailable please pass this information on to another member of your congregation.

Tai Chi Basics--Four Easy Lessons

There's still time to join the folks who bought this auction item. Beginning on January 22 at 7 pm in the Fireside Room and continuing on the following three Tuesdays, find out what tai chi is all about. We'll practice some gentle, relaxing movements each week to get the "feel" of this flowing practice. Your "take-away" is one simple exercise (not a long complicated tai chi form) that embodies the five basic principles of tai chi. If you already do tai chi, this will deepen your practice.

Research shows that tai chi improves health through quiet supple movements-the quiet to cultivate the spirit; the supple to cultivate the body. This exercise is performed in a calm and peaceful manner, emphasizing relaxation, balance, and coordination.

Details: You will be on your feet for an hour (chairs are available if needed). Bring yourself dressed in comfortable clothing that allows gentle movement plus $20 payable to MVUU. This is a fund raiser for our Congregation. For more information, contact Elizabeth Reed at 520-269-3414 or reedeliz@gmail.com.

Greeters Needed

Here's an opportunity to meet a new people on Sunday mornings. We currently need friendly people to serve year-round or part of the year as regular or substitute Greeters. Don't worry that our standards might be too high. A few minutes of training is all that's needed for you to join the ranks of the GREETERS.

To explore further please email Jane Paul at janerpaul@yahoo.com or phone at 520-572-2011.

Media Matters 

Sher Hakes is a website apprentice, but we could still use one or two more. If you would like to learn how to create, edit, and maintain a website, contact John Fleming at 888-7059 or elfuturo@earthlink.net. 

UUA eBook

To help you gain a deeper understanding of the conditions in the Maricopa County justice system, we published Resistance: A Memoir Civil Disobedience in Maricopa County by Annette Marquis. Propelled to non-violent action by the passage of Arizona's S.B. 1070, Marquis was arrested and spent a night in Sheriff Arpaio's Maricopa County jail. She reflects on what compelled her to act and what she learned about the struggles of migrants and people of color in Maricopa.

For a limited time, we're making this remarkable eBook available for only $0.99 

This compelling personal tale is also included as free bonus material when you purchase Assembled, 2012: Select Sermons and Lectures from the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

MVUU Connect

A fun and easy way to stay connected to your UU Friends!
MVUUConnect@yahoogroups.com is our Electronic Community Bulletin Board. Use it to share short messages. Post any notices of interest to our community that would not be official MVUU announcements, newsletter articles, or posted on our website. This group is not intended for discussions on religious questions, church practices or policies.
If you have not received your invitation, and would like one, please let Donna know in the office, 579-7094, or email her at office@uucnwt.org

WhaleCoast Alaska Summer 2013

Have you always dreamed of visiting Alaska? If so, WhaleCoast Alaska 2013 is for you! Four Alaskan UU fellowships invite you to experience our eco-cultural and spiritual program this summer! See Alaska through the eyes of local UUs in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, and Sitka with friendly homestays and unique tour activities.  

See wildlife, including moose, bear, whales, bald eagles, seals, and caribou. Visit Denali National Park. Experience Native Alaskan culture. Enjoy all that our beautiful state has to offer. Programs led by Dave Frey, a member of the Fairbanks, Alaska UU congregation, an expert in Alaska travel.  

To find out more about your Alaskan trip of a lifetime, visit www.WhaleCoastAK.org, email dfrey@whalecoastak.org, or call 907-322-4966. We would love to share our Alaska with you!

Ambiance Committee Needs Help

The committee is developing an inventory of the artworks, including banners and certificates, that the congregation owns. It turns out that several people have been keeping items for safekeeping. The plan is to gather all the artwork that the church should be responsible for and arrange for their display or safe storage.

We have also published criteria for accepting artwork that members may wish to donate to the church. In the long run we would arrange for their display along two walls of the sanctuary, alternating shows as we get enough items to display.

Minister's Column

The liturgical theme for the month of January is cycles. Let's be sure to distinguish cycles from circles. Circles are geometrically perfect, without beginning or end. They represent wholeness and infinite, inviolate motion, which at some point is also the same thing as stillness. Circles are of the ideal. Cycles are different. Cycles may have a rhythm. While circles have but one shape, cycles may have as many different shapes as there are cycles. Now, they do repeat. But the path they take from beginning to beginning is not necessarily as placid and unrelenting and the infinite, cool path of the circle. Within a cycle there may be a cadence, a building and release of tension, a period of dormancy. Circles have no beginning and no end. Cycles have both.

Of course, our inspiration for the theme comes to us from the calendar. We are closing out the year and beginning a new set of 12 months. Cycles within cycles. The gears of time.

At any rate, it may be the case with all cycles and is certainly the case with the yearly one, that cycles prompt reflection. It is a time to look back and evaluate and mourn, learn or congratulate. It is also a time to look ahead, to plan, hope or dread.

At the moment, our church year fits a bit awkwardly into the calendrical year. In fact, we operate I three time-zones, as it were. We are, of course, in a calendrical year. But we are also operating in the church year, which is a decidedly unofficial designation, partly a function of UU heritage and partly a function of blazing mid-summer temps. The unofficial church year runs from September through May. And then, we have our administrative year. This is the fiscal year and it begins and ends when the unofficial church year is most dormant: that is, in the middle of the summer.

So church is an awkward fit into one neat cycle. This has consequences beyond the psychological, beyond the emotional accounting of our lives and lives together (while acknowledging that all matters beyond these categories still impact the emotional and psychological). However, I wish to remain in a state of emotional and psychological reflection for this column. My point in drawing attention to how church life is an awkward fit into the calendar is to acknowledge that, we as a religious body are in the midst of a cycle, rather than the beginning/ending/beginning of one. That is to say, we are only halfway through our unofficial year. You and I have only been together for half a year.

And yet, as I am prompted by the 12 month calendar to reflect on things, I find myself quite happy with all that has been accomplished or set in motion here at Mountain Vista Unitarian Universalist. One way that I look back on our spiritual journey together is to glance again at the themes (theme) and sermon titles (title/ title) we've worked through. So here they are: (Together - identified retroactively) Your First Kiss/ Roots Hold Me Close/ Wings Set Me Free. In these first three, I remember exploring the concept and power of covenant and the reasons for which we create one. (Mystery) Blind Spots, Denial and the Betrayal of the Self/ Mind the Gap/ Deus ex Machina. Here we delved into the convergence of theology and psychology. (The Grain) Seed to Seed, the cycle of life/ Bountiful Living/ A Harvest. A month of gratitude and discovering how thanks leads to giving. (Gifts) The Unexpected, Unlooked For/ Virgin Birth, The Christ Within/ Christmas Eve. We investigated what we have to offer the world, each other and ourselves. December was an extended meditation on grace.

In church life beyond worship it was an equally active (half) year. In this case I can not help looking ahead as I look back. We debriefed those lessons of justice which we learned from General Assembly and established a path forward that will utilize those lessons. The path forward takes many shapes, from prison ministry to animal ministry but is, perhaps, anchored by the forthcoming adult Religious Education offering being co-facilitated by Chuck Tatum and myself. One Wednesday a month we will gather to discuss and learn about racism, privilege, oppression and human rights and what our part has been and can be in the struggle for justice.

The Buildings and Grounds committee has been as active as ever. The most visible manifestation here comes through a B&G subcommittee - Ambiance, who have beautified our sanctuary and is about to blow your minds with even more contributions to our experience of sacred time. Meanwhile, over the course of some of the most stimulating and satisfying conversations you can imagine, the Stewardship Committee has reconfigured the definition of stewardship and thereby recreated the pledge campaign into a process that is sure to be rewarding to everyone who participates. Very exciting stuff.

These are just a couple of highlights. Were I to list all the energy, accomplishments and plans afoot, this would be a very long column indeed. Children's Religious Education is going strong, as is Interweave and our Social Justice Committee. The Green Sanctuary program is about to be reinvigorated and our Endowment Fund Committee is working hard to assure you that our endowment is being well managed. We have cleaned up our books! This gargantuan task was undertaken by board members, staff and finance committee members. Wow! And whoopee! A group of seekers continues to craft an opportunity to go deeper spiritually. The result of their efforts can be seen on 4th Wednesdays as we sit at the knee of Rumi and his fellow sacred poets in search of experience, meaning and beauty.

So much. So much. You all have made our first half year together an inspiring time. So many have contributed, even if only by your presence - which is magnificent and esteemed most high - that when you look around you on Sunday mornings, or in an RE class, or in a committee meeting, I hope that you understand all the good things that the people around you have brought to life or are bringing to life. I hope, when you look at them and see the gleam in their eyes that your heart sings, "thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Happy New Year. Rinse and repeat.

Ron

Community, Conversations, Connections

Here comes 2013. Are you ready? What's in store for you?
What will the New Year hold for our MVUU community? There are upgrades to our facilities and program offerings some of which are noted in this newsletter and others will be announced over the next few months. Buildings and Grounds will take care of maintenance around our campus, while other committees are working to improve our physical image and yet other groups are concentrating on better connections with congregants and the greater community.

If you have difficulties sorting through all the activities and events happening at MVUU, or you need to find the right person to connect with, try talking with the folks at the Time and Talent Table on the patio between the Sanctuary and Goldblatt Building on Sunday mornings. There are listings of happenings and opportunities to join in many of them. I've heard they even give away goodies to those that strike up a conversation!

We encourage conversations because they help us know one another. Good information is always helpful. Sharing one another's life-journeys is a great benefit of being a Unitarian Universalist. No one path is prescribed as the "right" path through life; we each are responsible for the quality of our connections to one another and to life's mysteries.

We encourage stretching the envelope of comfort built around ourselves, our congregation (and its beliefs) and our community. Experiencing the life-view of others through active listening enlarges one's personal circle of understanding and holds the potential to open each of us to more of life. Careful listening uncovers new horizons.

Being an active conversationalist can have a down-side: disagreements. When disagreements happen, talk to the person(s) with whom you disagree. A conversation between the parties to the disagreement is the only forum that has the power to change disharmony into consonance. I have found that I personally have to use caution when I'm not in agreement with another. Instead of reacting negatively on the spot, I hold my immediate negative rejection at bay for long enough to consider the encounter objectively. In solitude I revisit the conversation and invoke the guidance of our Covenant of Right Relations. Doing so, I am likely to find common ground that will allow a civil conversation. I can avoid dishonoring myself, the other or both. It also strengthens MVUU.

If you feel your thoughts, beliefs or ideas are being disregarded by another congregant, by the Minister or the Choir Director, a Worship Associate, or whomever else, have a conversation with them. Have a chat about the problem with the people who can make changes. Perhaps the other will change; perhaps you may change; perhaps both will change. Thus, the MVUU community will gain more strength and harmony.

I talked with Pastor Phares this past week because I had heard a rumor that some congregants are having difficulties with parts of his sermons. I could not say what those problems were specifically. I don't know who the congregants are. In this encounter, neither Ron nor I could change anything. We did not have the power of being the parties in disagreement. He assured me that he is open to criticism (and accolades when appropriate) and welcomes conversations with all congregants.

Start a conversation.

Submission Dates for Matters pertaining to Board of Trustees

Current submittal date for reports and proposals to be considered by the Board of Trustees is the second 2nd Tuesday of each month. Congregants who have a proposal for the Board may submit it to the affected committee or any board member. Committee chairs may submit their proposals through the appropriate Council Chair (Sybelle van Erven, Jan Anderson or Ron Phares) or email to Board President, Betty Meikle (bettyannmeikle@gmail.com).

May 2013 find us growing individually and as a congregation to meet the challenges of this infant century.

Peace,

Betty

MVUU Adult RE Discussion Group: "Race and Ethnicity" Begins Jan. 9

Monthly from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday for the next several months beginning on January 9. In addition, Anne Leonard will lead a discussion of the book, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, on Saturday, February 16 from 9 -11 AM in the Sanctuary. Facilitated by: Anne Leonard, Ron Phares, Chuck Tatum, Sybelle van Erven. For more information contact Chuck Tatum (ctatum@email.arizona.edu)

Drawing a wide range of sources (books, book excerpts, videos, articles), this adult RE discussion group on "Race and Ethnicity" will focus on the ways of categorizing people and populations along racial, ethnic, and cultural lines. Traditionally, race has been used to designate genetically related human groups whose physical characteristics are inherited and transmitted physiologically, while ethnicity has been applied to shared cultural practices and customs that are learned and acquired socially among people living in identifiable human groups. Also learned and acquired through human interaction, culture refers to such learned and socially constructed systems as language, religion, food and cooking, clothing, arts and crafts, sports, etc.

The group will begin with a discussion of "Race: The Power of an Illusion," a three-part documentary series produced by California Newsreel and shown on PBS several years ago. Some of the broad topics that we are proposing to discuss are: the history and evolution of the concept of the "savage" in Western civilization; the Doctrine of Discovery that the recent GA in Phoenix has identified as a study topic for UU congregations during the current year; popular--and highly erroneous--myths about the New World prior to the arrival of the Portuguese, the Spanish, and other colonial powers; the social construction of "blackness" in U.S. society; the new Jim Crow and our massive prison population; the rise of the privatized prison industry in Arizona and elsewhere; and negative attitudes towards immigrants as a manifestation of racial and ethnic prejudice.

A special session will be held for the book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, which 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. Anne Leonard will be the discussion facilitator. This is a very thought provoking book. Ms. Alexander explores the use of the drug war and imprisonment as an instrument of maintaining an "underclass" of primarily African Americans, but others as well, in poverty. For more information contact Anne at anne@alartworks.com, or by phone: 825-3449.

Other suggested readings:

• excerpts from Savage Anxieties: The Invention of Western Civilization by Robert A. Williams, Jr., a professor of law in the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program at the University of Arizona.
• documents related to the Doctrine of Discovery such as papal bulls and decrees, the Treaty of Tordesillas, U.S. Supreme Court decisions heavily influenced by the Doctrine
• excerpts from 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
• the Monroe Doctrine and the concept of Manifest Destiny
• excerpts from The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America by Khalil Gibran Muhammad who is Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library.
• excerpts from Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America by Juan González.

Path to Membership

Our next Path to Membership classes will be held for three consecutive Monday evenings: January 14, 21, and 28, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. There will be plenty of stimulating conversation and good company. We will learn about Unitarian Universalist history (which really is fascinating), theology, and the concept and practice of covenant. And most importantly, true to the Unitarian Universalist way of doing things, these classes are in large part based on the participants. We hope to learn something about ourselves and each other.

Please come if you are...

* Curious about the Unitarian Universalist faith, its history, and this congregation

* Considering becoming a member (there's no obligation)

* A committed UU, but new to Mountain Vista

Ron Phares will lead the group on January 14th and 21st. On January 28th, leaders will answer your questions and also provide overviews of activities, church operations, stewardship, and membership.  

Participating is an enjoyable way to meet other newcomers, form friendships, and learn. All are welcome. Those who may choose to join our congregation at this time would join us at a new member ceremony and signing of "the book" on Sunday February 10.

The first two sessions will be held at Jane Paul's home at 9922 N. Sumter Creek Place (near Linda Vista and Camino de Oeste). The last session will be held at the church.

To participate, or if you have questions, contact Jane Paul, Chair of Membership, at janerpaul47@gmail.com or 520-572-2011.

Religious Education News 

Sunday, January 6-- Regular RE Classes

YRUU Meeting, Noon

Monday, January 7-- RE Committee Meeting, 5:00 PM

Sunday, January 13-- Regular RE Classes

RE Fundraiser Luncheon

Monday, January 14-- YRUU Meeting, 6 PM

Sunday, January 20-- MLK Service (Students in service entire time.)

YRUU Meeting

Sunday, January 27-- Regular RE Classes

Sacred Poetry as Spiritual Practice January 23 

Co-facilitators: Bob Wallace and Ron Phares. We will be reading, discussing, and experiencing the effect of poems by great mystical poets from all over the world. To participate, you don't need to "like poetry" or know anything about poetry or mysticism; all you need is curiosity and an open heart. We'll read a bunch of Rumi (the great Sufi poet from the 1200s in Turkey), plus Han-Shan (Cold Mountain), Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and others.  

The group meets in the Sanctuary, 7:00-8:30 pm on the fourth Wednesday of each month, beginning January 23 and running through (at least) May 22. Join us when you can. For more info contact Bob at bob@robertmwallace.com or 414-617-3914

Animal Ministry Kickoff January 26 

MVUU's Animal Ministry Chapter is hosting an exciting kick-off event! On Saturday January 26th we will host a movie at 4:00PM in the sanctuary followed by a pot-luck dinner. The movie is the highly rated "Peaceable Kingdom-the Journey Home." This movie has won numerous awards from the Animal Kingdom including "Best Movie in a Language of Another Species" and "Most Creative Use of Cow Chips." Animals themselves give it rave reviews including "Until now I didn't know what a pork chop was," from a pig.

Reviews from the human species are no less laudatory. Janice Stanger, an Amazon reviewer: "The movie interweaves the stories of people who used to raise animals for profit, then were profoundly transformed by the animals themselves. The animal stars can bring you to the realization that the greatest role of chickens, pigs, goats, cows, sheep, and turkeys in your life is as loving companions."

In keeping with the UUAM's "Reverence for Life" we request that your pot-luck dishes be plant-based. 

Snowbird Seeks Tucson Nest

The MVUU office received the following letter from a former member of Michael Servetus UU Church in Vancouver, who says members there can give her references.

I am a baby boomer woman of southern European descent, born and raised in Portland, Oregon, who is looking to come south for a first time "snow bird" experience. I will be traveling alone with another stop in California on my way to Tucson. I plan to arrive in Tucson around January 20th and be there between one and two months. I love the outdoors and want to explore the area. I am an artist and will have my camera equipment with me.

I have been thinking about how I might go about the trip and connect with a community.

It would be nice to stay someplace where others of open minded attitudes dwell. UU fellowship sounds like a possibility. I will be gone for a month to two months. It would be great to have a home base (a room) at the end of my journey south. I intend to reimburse anyone who might be interested in this proposition. I am sorry I don't have more specific plans. I like to stay spontaneous about what I do on trips so I am responsive to what unfolds. I hope that make sense to someone.

Gaylene Angelos

Education on Death and Dying, Starting January 16 

The topic of death is not part of the family agenda. When it comes to the one crisis all people will confront, parents become mute. Embarrassed prudery and frightened withdrawal are manifest from our own gnawing anxieties about death. Because death makes people uncomfortable, we evade the issue or, by partially informing, succeed only in misinforming. Too often we meet inquiries about death with evasion and subterfuge. It is a form of ostrich adjustment to neglect one of the essential realities of life: a fraud perpetrated on ourselves, in ignoring death. People may build up fears about topics hidden from them, which fears grow to be worse than the realities.

Death is a biological reality, a cultural phenomenon, a spiritual event, an economic reality and a psychological process. The topic is taboo in our society, making it important to address the reality of death seriously, realistically and helpfully. We sorely need an objective and comprehensive kind of education informing our understanding of death.

3 classes to (better) educate us on this topic are being offered at MVUU on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:00 pm in the Sanctuary. Attend one, two, or three sessions.
Presented by UU friend and certified Fellow in Thanatology John Abraham, M.Div., F.T.
Contact John for more questions: 520-235-5646 or jlavet@earthlink.net orwww.DeathAndDyingHelp.com 

January 16: What Nobody Ever Told You about Advance Directives

This is not a session wherein we fill out advance directives. It is for those who do have or will have such directives. This class will give you the necessary knowledge about how to have your wishes honored regarding end-of-life care. Most of us (about 80%) will die some sort of managed death. The best decisions to be made are your own. The appalling fact is that 70% to 80% of the time, your wishes will NOT be honored, even with a living will and other completed documents. Discover how you can change this! We will also explore how our culture contributes to the need for such directives. Learn about the various kinds of directives and, most importantly, the one critical factor in getting what you do or do not want as medical care.  

February 20: What Is a Good Death?

In what way might you want to die well? Unlike other cultures and times, our society has no standard, no widely held concept of what constitutes a noble death, a virtuous death, a dignified death and therefore a good death. This has not always been true. We'll explore some aspects of goodness surrounding death, definitions of a good death gathered from several resources, and our own concepts. I'm not sure there really is a good death. Maybe the best we can achieve is the least worst death. After all, who wants to die? Who wants those they love to die? Nevertheless, it will happen.

March 20: Learning to Live with Loss

Loss is inevitable. Death is a natural, normal part of life. One may deal with death constructively and positively, or in ways detrimental to oneself and to loved ones. What is normal and not normal in grieving? How long? How can I help others? What is the one major exception to healthy bereavement? How will I know when I'm doing better? Are there different types of grief? We'll learn about complicated grief, anticipatory grief, disenfranchised grief, the five tasks of healthy mourning, and the "stages theory." We can learn how (and how not) to respond to those who have lost someone.

To sign up send an email to UUSybelle@gmail.com.
A $2 donation per session is requested, but if this is a hardship, please attend anyway!
Childcare will be provided if needed. Let Donna know a week before the class.

• Charter for The Mountain Vista (MVUU) Reverence for Life Project--a Chapter of UU Animal Ministry (included approval of $100 to UUAM)

• State of the Congregation Meeting scheduled for January 27, 2013.

Next Meeting: 6:30 pm, January 15, 2013, Fireside Room

Stewardship Conversations

Tears

In the holiday card from Pastor Ron and President Betty Meikle, I contributed the following:

To receive and enhance our gifts, Stewardship pledges to work for 50% more connections in the next 5 years; smiles, work, play, hugs, financial contributions, songs, stories, social action, and meaning. But why wait. Give generously of all your gifts and be prepared to receive.

I left out one important gift, but I was prepared to receive it on Christmas Eve: tears.  

On Christmas Eve, Eb Eberlein sang "Christmas in the Trenches," and we were transported to the World War I battlefield where English and German troops came out of their trenches and celebrated together Christmas Eve 98 years ago.  

Each year when Eb sings this song, my eyes and heart are flooded with tears. This is a big reason I come to MVUU, to be moved to tears. Tears for all that is wrong and all that is right and the connections between the two made in stories and song.

Thank you, Eb, for your song. And thank you, MVUU, for all the songs, stories, and acts of generosity and love. They move me to tears of happiness, elevation and awe.

Happy Tearful New Year!!!

Tom Bunch

Please address comments on this article or contribute your own Stewardship story to any member of the Stewardship committee, or its chairperson, Tom Bunch. Email Tom at sparky9132000@yahoo.com