SUNDAY SERVICES

10:30 am

Children & Youth

Religious Education

10:30 am

Minister

Ron Phares    

rdphares@gmail.com 

579-7094, 661-0791 

Office Hours:

T, TH, Fri 1:30-4:30  

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 

Charity of the Month

The Green Basket Charity for May is Humane Borders.   

Cholla Chowtime

Registration closes Sunday, May 19. See Jane Paul, or contact her at janerpaul47@gmail.com.

Stewardship Conversations

Big Thanks & Fear No More

I had my moment of terror in December at a holiday concert put on by the Reveille Men's Chorus at Grace St. Paul's Episcopal Church. I looked around that building and wondered what path that church took to arrive at that particular moment in time with that sanctuary. And the thought, "What if I mess this up (the Financial Commitment Drive)? Where will MVUU be then? What have I gotten myself into? OM!!! (not comfortable with the G part)." Of course these were merely egotistical fears, and the issue had little to do with me. We, and I, are a reality that is welcomed, cared for, and inspired by many. We are a mighty melded matrix, a healthy helping herd.

Now that the Financial Commitments Drive is sort of over (It is never really over.), it is time simply to say THANK YOU!!! Thank you to our leaders for providing us something to give to. Thank you, board. Thank you, minister. Thank you, lay leaders. Thank you, stewards. Thank you, testimonial givers. Thank you, All Commitments Dinner organizers. Thank you, Wanderlust Band. Thank you, those who set up chairs and tables and took them down in the sanctuary for the dinner.

Thank you, Jan Anderson, Peter Becskehazy, Evalyn Bennet-Alder, Leon Bennet-Alder, Sandy Braun, Lara Brennan, Mike Brennan, Adria Brooks, Larry Castriotta, Martha Castriotta, Michelle Deeney, Ray Deeney, Hobie Denny, Pat Desai, Sanjay Desai, Eb Eberlein, Margaret Fleming, Wally Gerrard, Gwen Goodman, Chuck Grabiel, Jim Gessaman, Sher Hakes, Catalina Hall, Jan Hatunen, Larry Jagnow, Gary Kern, Meg Kidwell, Anne Leonard, Betty Meikle, Ron Meikle, Dan Oved , Conrad Paul, Jane Paul, Katie Phares, Ron Phares, Donna Pratt, Pat Reddemann, Elizabeth Reed, Emily Ricketts, David Sattinger, Joe Scott, Darcey Spears, Anne Tatum, Chuck Tatum, Sybelle van Erven. Thank you (and please forgive me), any person I left out. And thank you to my long-suffering and loving wife, Ruth.

Thank you MVUU, for your generosity. My fears were laid to rest.  

Tom Bunch

Stewardship Chair and Financial Commitments Team Leader.

Diary of an Awesome Gardener

Well, not really. But things are coming up. Okra are growing like weeds. Maybe a bumper crop? There are four green tomatoes on the three plants. And this is just in front.

In back the green beans are looking good and so are the cukes and zucchini. On the down side, the beets are maybe going to grow. I first planted them a month or so ago. Nada. Now some have come up but are barely hanging on. Too bad. I love beets. Pull them when young and cook with the tops. Yummy!

Back to the front, now there's a contradiction, the lettuce is going to seed. Well actually most of it has already gone. I have just a couple more. A workman told me once that he had a customer who never planted lettuce, it kept coming up all over her yard. Now I see why. For those who are not in the know, the seeds have little parachutes like dandelion seeds.

I also planted some sunflowers. So far only one has sprouted.

On a different note. I had a great horned owl hanging out in my big ash tree for about a week. Then he left. I guess he found another tree more to his, or her, liking. No matter where I was in the yard, if I looked up, he was watching. Even when I was behind him, he was watching. Amazing how they can turn their heads backward.

I have also seen a lot of lizards this spring. They seem to hang out in the garden. This is a good thing, right? Since they're carnivores I may have built-in bug control. Should I be feeding them so they'll stay?

All for now.

Alberta Gunther

Grocery Gift Cards

Ron's Ordination / Installation May 19

The ordination and installation service will start at 5:00 pm on Sunday, May 19 at Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, just 2 blocks from MVUU. In the sanctuary there you will see a large wooden cross and Jesus looking down at it (or at us?). It is a Christian church and this is their symbolism. If this bothers you, please focus on the beautiful stained glass windows, or on the Unitarian Universalists around you, or on the fantastic fact that we are ordaining and installing our new minister! We chose to be at a different church, because our main goal was to have all of us together in one space. There are several ministers participating in the service who have been asked by Ron to do so, because of his relationship with them. We promise you will find the service engaging.

Families are encouraged to come and bring their children. Ron will be minister to young and old at MVUU, and having young faces in the church will be just right! You are encouraged to bring something to entertain your little ones, like coloring, or small books. If your baby or small child becomes a little too noisy the church has a "crying room." Don't be fooled by the name! It is set up for parents to be able to follow the service through a very large window, with the sound into the room. If for some reason the sound does not work, or you need help in any way, or you really want to go back into the sanctuary, there will be several people in this room to be with your child. Find out from the greeters where this room is as you arrive. Please transport your own children to MVUU for the reception. Childcare will be provided there also.

The team asks you to please carpool to Beautiful Savior. Please do not park at MVUU before the service. After the service we will be going to MVUU for the reception.

During the reception we'd like to ask you to be careful with food and drink in our newly carpeted sanctuary. It looks so nice after all the work Ambiance put in, and we all would like to keep it that way.

We still need some people to be willing to help clean up after the reception. If you can help, let one of us know.

There will be a guestbook for you to sign. Don't forget to do so!

We'd like to thank everyone who has stepped up to help make this a great event in the history of our congregation. We are joyfully looking forward to it!

Your ordination/installation planning team,

Jan Anderson, Lara Brennan, Ron Phares, Sybelle van Erven

President's Column

Betty Meikle

So much has happened during this year, and it's almost over. New minister, new board, new leaders, new members, new energy, new levels of generosity, new financial clarity and reporting, new adult religious education programs, new music groups, biggest choir ever, more smiles, more hugs, more welcoming, caring for and inspiring, more love--all these come from connections. What a discovery! When we make connections with others, we enrich our lives.  

Many of our snow-birds (and our rain-bird) have flown to climates where the summers are cooler than in Tucson. They renew connections in their other homes. Some of our regular members have taken off for places east and north, making connections as they travel. Some of us remain. Even with these absences, we continue to make connections right here, no matter the season.

At the annual meeting, new trustees and officers were elected to the board by the congregation to take office July 1. The congregation will officially change its name to Mountain Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation, MVUU, nice ring. Mountain Vista UU sounds good, too. No more confusion about the name. Needed repairs and upgrades for safety are being made to the Sanctuary and the Goldblatt Building. We paid UUA and PSWD all of our Fair Share for this year. Our staff is receiving pay within the guidelines set by UUA for a congregation of our size (mid-size) in this geographic location. We received a balanced budget from the last board, and we pass on a balanced budget to the new board. As a congregation and its leadership, we have taken on very large tasks this year and found ourselves more than equal to them. Small steps have made big steps possible. And, we continue to make connections.  

Before we are finished, we shall ordain and install our minister. Perhaps fund new A/V equipment for the sanctuary-movable to wherever we make our home in the future. And we still have several thousand dollars to put into reserves that will help us build that future.  

I sometimes feel a bit unhappy that I will not be "Madam Pres" for much longer. It has been fun and challenging and more work than I expected. From this vantage point I can see the dedicated, diverse, robust, liberal faith-based congregation we have become here at MVUU, so I can't be sad for long. I will find ways to participate in the life of the congregation and keep making those all-important connections that welcome, care for and inspire those among us and beyond our walls. Please join with me.

Joys and Sorrows

You are all beautiful people with kind hearts, good humor and good intentions. I know that. You know that.

Even so, there have been a couple of occasions where Joys and Sorrows have side-tracked our experience of worship. I am grateful for the wise counsel of the worship associates and for the input I have received from all concerned. My job, at least on Sunday mornings, is to present you each individually and all of you together with the opportunity to experience something profound. Together with the worship associates, I hope to craft a time where through words, songs, and deeds, you may encounter a sense of expansion, connection, and groundedness. That is why we come together for worship.

You do most of the work. I can do nothing but provide the framework. I can only inspire you. The work, the worship, the experience is yours.

Part of that work is the creation of community. That is profound. So I hope to inspire you each individually and all together to take care of this community even when sharing from your heart. Even when listening.

As freedom-loving religious liberals, our isolation is always near and our bonds delicate. If you are inspired to share a joy or concern, I hope you do. And when you do, there is a question you might ask yourself. "Does what I am about to say compel people to agree or disagree with me?" If your answer is yes, then you have a clue that what you are about to say is probably divisive. Joys and Sorrows is not the venue for division.

Healthy debate is wonderful in the right context. This is not that context. This is the context for opening our hearts and treating with kindness the happy or tragic moments of our emotional lives. If what you say will cause agreement or disagreement, maybe a simple shifting of subject from an issue to your feelings will work. But please do this with care.

And should someone not be able to thread that needle deftly, should someone forget in their good intentions how what they say may divide us from each other in the midst of worship-as is bound to happen, I promise-then I would ask you to treat that moment with mercy and patience and address the issue gracefully after service. Mercy and grace.

In order to establish the appropriate mood and not get all naggy about it, I have composed a brief invocation.

Here is how we will invoke joys and sorrows from now until some time later:

We have declared who we are and heard the call to the eternal quest. As we now enter with open hearts into the encounters at the heart of worship, we begin with a tender moment, a moment of peace. We begin with an invitation to share a joy or a sorrow, some personal circumstance that, when shared, may contribute to the happiness of our community or promote the healing of a hurt. 

Growth Conversations

Tom Bunch

Betty and I met under the tree on a beautiful spring evening to discuss It's Not What You Sell, It's What You Stand For: Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven by Purpose, by Roy Spence. We both agreed that for us it was preaching to the choir-- but the choir sometimes needs reminding, and it is fun to sing the song. Or as Dori Klass, a member who originally recommended this book, told me when I said it was common sense, "As I tell my clients, this is common sense but not common practice."

Two gems in the reading (pages 92-151) included:

• Create feedback loops communicating the good in the organization. Southwest Airlines has a Culture Committee whose function it is to 1) seek out wonderful people and happenings that make the company a great place to be 2) and the celebrate these people and happenings. Want to be part of this at MVUU? Stewardship has a team, Joyful Giving, whose main job is just this sort of thing. Yes I am recruiting new Stewardship members.  
•  And a quote from Whole Foods Vision Statement:

"It is our dissatisfaction with the current reality, when compared with what is possible, that spurs us toward excellence and toward creating a better person, company (change to "church"), and world."

Much more was discussed regarding the topics of "purpose-based (not personality-based) leadership principles" and "stewards of purpose." In reflection the talk was about caring for, and inspiring our congregation. It was a meeting with purpose and mission. You all are welcome to come join us next time (May 20th), whether you did the reading (pages 155-201) or not. Come, even if you'd just like to comment on how you think we (as a congregation) are doing in promoting and fulfilling our mission.

Our Mission: to welcome, care for, and inspire those among us and beyond our walls, we

• Encourage freedom of thought and belief
• Respect differences and celebrate diversity
• Promote positive change in the world

Consumer Connections

Interested in connections between consumption and congregation? Believe there is a time and place for "What must I spend?" and "What can I give?" Let's make connections and savings (or spending) directed towards adding meaning in our lives. We are consumers. As a community we can be better consumers.

Do you have the time, passion, desire, maybe skills to make this happen? Stewardship encourages a group of members or friends to come together to create a Consumer Connections Group to bring our congregation:

Savings to MVUU through regular communications: For instance, "I just (14 days ago) signed a 2-year contract for trash and recycle pickup with Waste Management for $13.95 per month (that is total, taxes, fees, everything) , and for switching they give me 2 free months. If you are with WM now, and have been for years, they are probably not calling you and letting you know about this deal. You need to call them, let them know what your neighbor is paying, ask if they will match this or if you need to start calling other companies for more competitive rates."

Socially responsible consumption opportunities: It could list farmers' market times and locations, food co-ops, retailers of locally raised, grass-fed beef; or solar panels; or socially responsible mutual funds.

Services provided by members or friends of MVUU might be listed. Need a plumber? A band? A Lawyer? Real estate agent? Referral for help with addiction? Conflict mediation? An electrician? Gardener? Florist? We may not have within our ranks these specific specialists but we likely have referrals.

Stewardship would like to know if there is a group of you who  would truly love to bring this Consumer Connection to MVUU. It is currently an idea in search of bodies. T.J. Boothroyd has already responded saying he is keen on making this a reality. Will you join him?

If you are interested, please let me know. If you know of someone who may be interested, please let them know and have them contact me.

Tom Bunch, Stewardship Chairperson sparky9132000@yahoo.com  or 797-2725.

Volunteers of the Month

Elizabeth Reed and Bill Casey

Ever since Elizabeth and Bill joined our congregation they have been active in both visible and invisible ways. Bill served two years (or was it three?) as Treasurer of the Board. This is often a hard position to fill since it requires some specialized skills. Fortunately for us, Bill had experience with the finances of non-profit organization and was willing to take on the job. He also has helped with less specialized jobs like moving furniture, cleanup, and landscaping.

Elizabeth has served on the Communications Committee, the Search Committee for the Interim Minister, and is just finishing 2 years as Secretary of the Board. In this position she has added something we didn't have before. She summarizes each meeting so it can be published in the newsletter and posted on the bulletin board. That way the congregation gets a sense of what has been decided without plowing through the detailed minutes of every meeting.

In addition, Elizabeth sends out press releases to the local newspapers, both the dailies and small regional papers. This is an invisible task, but she's been doing it for years. Another slightly more visible contribution is her buying of Fair Trade coffee and distributing it to congregation members. Bill helps with this.

Together Elizabeth and Bill have organized and managed the Finding Heart program for the last two years. We're lucky they found their hearts-and ours-here.

Weekly Activities

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

Thursdays, 7:00 pm, MVUU Choir Practice

Saturdays, 6:30 pm, AA Beginners Meeting 

Bi-Monthly Activities

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

At UU Church of Tucson. Karla Brockie 269-9573. 

Monthly Activities 

Movie Night May 18

"Promised Land," Saturday, May 18, 7 pm,at Conrad and Jane Paul's, 9922 N. Sumter Creek Place. "Promised Land" stars Matt Damon and Frances McDormand and is about what a fracking company does to a small farming town. Please bring a snack to share. You don't have to be able to host movie night to attend. Please sign up with John at john.wilcox2008@comcast.net or at 531-1413. Directions are available.   

Adult Religious Education May 19

12:00-1:30: "Touched by Adoption,"  facilitated by Sybelle van Erven. UUSybelle@gmail.com (520) 471-3557

Bookaholics Unanimous May 29

 

Bookaholics Unanimous meets the last Monday every month at 7:00 PM. We select a variety of books based on what has intrigued members. The one who suggests the book generally leads the discussion of that book. We welcome newcomers and members. For more information contact: Anne Leonard anne@alartworks.com or 825-3449.

The book for May 29 is The Life of Pi, by Yan Martel. We take a summer hiatus in June and July, but will meet again in the heat of August 26 for a quick trip to Antarctica to discuss Endurance, Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. (1914, complete with photographs.) Author: Caroline Alexander.

 

May 19, 2013

"What Do Inmates Most Desire?"

The UU Gateway Fellowship

Members of the UU Gateway Fellowship at La Palma Correctional Center in Eloy will present some of their original works, read by Mountain Vista volunteers. This is a chance for members of our congregation to get to know this amazing group of men and what their lives and thoughts are like as participants in this prison fellowship.

May 26, 2013

"What a Preacher Wants"

Ron Phares