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.

The Newsletter deadlines are the 12th and 24th of each month.

 

 

UUA eBook

 

To help you gain a deeper understanding of the conditions in the Maricopa County justice system, we published Resistance: A Memoir of 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!

Grocery Gift Cards

EASIEST way ever to help our church! Just see Alberta Gunther and let her know which store you frequent. She will explain how each time you visit the store can result in money to MVUU! She has accounts set up with Albertson's, Fry's, Basha's and Safeway. It is quick and easy to get started. Help our church each time you shop! Please sign up today.

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.

Council Meeting January 19

 

9:00-12:00 in the Fireside Room

All committee chairpersons are expected to come to the meeting or send an informed representative. Team leaders are invited to attend and share or can "speak" through their committee chair. Please be prepared to share what your committee has been doing and planning for the next several months.

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. 

State of the Congregation Meeting January 27

 

Sunday, following the service and a light luncheon

 

Come and see what is going on in our congregation. How are the finances? What's all this new stuff in the sanctuary? Where do we go from here? On January 27 a meeting to update all congregants on what is going on and what is planned will begin at 12:15 pm. A salad and sandwich lunch will be provided. Please join us to see what's happening right now and help plan for the near future.

Education on Death and Dying, Starting January 16 

 

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

February 20: What Is a Good Death?

 

March 20: Learning to Live with Loss

 

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.

Religious Education News 

 

Sunday, January 20:

 

MLK Service (Students in service entire time.)

YRUU Meeting

 

Sunday, January 27: Regular RE Classes

 

If you have any questions, please call Donna, the Director of Religious Ed, at (520) 441-0870 or e-mail her at cdpratt1@live.com

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

Like to Cook? Like Helping People?

Volunteers needed by the Pastoral Care Committee.

This is something you can do in your own home at your own time!

We need several people to be available to cook/prepare meals for others in our congregation when they are ill. Can you help out from time to time? If so, please email the office at office@uucnwt.org or Judy Carlson at MTJudy28@hotmail.com.

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. 

I was born and raised Presbyterian in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.  I was educated at Drake University and Washington University in Physics and Electrical Engineering.  My early career as an engineer and technical trainer in the communications and semiconductor industries afforded me the opportunity to travel internationally quite a bit (nice to do before settling down with kids!).

I am active in the pure food movement; I've been assisting with the GMO-Free Project of Tucson, working with the Pima County Food Alliance, and exploring and supporting local agricultural development.

I enjoy reading (anything and everything except books about sports), making music, creating new and delightful masterpieces in the kitchen, any outdoor activities (hiking, biking, camping), traveling (I'm always up for a road trip!); and (especially now with three LOUD children), I enjoy QUIET.

UU Gateway

 

Our UU Gateway Fellowship at the Eloy prison continues to inspire and motivate us. On Friday, January 11, six volunteers went there to meet with the inmates. About 17 of them were present. We had a wonderful service, with a poem by one of the men, a meditation led by Paula, Joys and Sorrows, and small group discussions of the theme of the month from The Church of the Larger Fellowship. The highlight of the meeting was an inspiring performance by an interfaith choir, led by an inmate who was a professional musician on the outside.

 

The party we had planned for December was canceled at the last minute, but the choir did their Christmas program for us this time. The singers were incredibly, fantastically good. Even the most cynical among us were moved to tears by the power and the beauty of their music. When they came to the lines, "Fall on your knees; O hear the angel voices," we could actually hear those angel voices--right there in the prison. Inspiration comes unexpectedly and sometimes in the most unlikely places.

 

The head chaplain will be conducting an orientation/ reorientation for all the volunteers on Friday, January 18, here at MVUU, at 1:00. All volunteers have to go through it again every year. If you are interested in becoming part of this energetic and growing fellowship, please plan to attend the orientation. Questions? Contact Margaret Fleming or Paula Trahan.

Enjoy Gardening? Garden Plot Available

One of my friends is volunteering for a year with a small Haitian health and education program (Two Catholic sisters). They have a young man, age 20, with a serious heart condition, who has been accepted for surgery and care at an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital. He will need a host family for his recuperation time. Room and board, local transportation and moral support are requested. If anyone has contacts in the Omaha, Nebraska area, would you ask them to email my friend, Laurie A. Olson, at laurieaolson@yahoo.com. Thanks! Anne Tatum

 

Stewardship Conversations

 

It's All Connections

 

From The Righteous Mind, Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt (the current book being read by the Sunday Morning Book Discussion Group).

 

According to analysis by Putnam and Campbell "religiously observant Americans are better neighbors and better citizens...they are more generous with their time and money, especially in helping the needy, and they are more active in community life."

 

"Whether you believe in hell, whether you pray daily, whether you are a Catholic, Protestant, Jew or Mormon..." (or Unitarian Universalist?) none of these things correlated with generosity. The only thing that was powerfully associated with the moral benefits of religion was how enmeshed people were in relationships with their co-religionists. It's the friendships and group activities (dare we add committee meetings), carried out within a moral matrix that emphasizes selflessness. That's what brings out the best in people."

 

Enmeshedly yours,

Tom