BUUF News – November 2014

Contents

Featured This Month

All Silent Auction

Claudia Fernsworth

Who knows what surprises will lurk in our South Wing Hall at our All Silent Auction— Sundays from November 2 to 16 at 1:00pm?

Shop for your family, friends or even yourself... Some items are under $5!

Sneak Peak after the very family friendly Pancake Supper and wear your costume event November 1!p>

If you still have items to donate it is best to use the online donation form. Hard copies of the donation form are on the Hospitality Table and across from Nancy's desk.

All money raised goes into our General Fund.

Call Claudia Fernsworth if you have any questions.

Ministerial Search Committee

Wanda Jennings, Chair, BUUF Ministerial Search Committee

You have been dreaming your dreams for BUUF and sharing them with the Ministerial Search Committee. We are compiling your ideas and will be sharing them with the ministerial candidates. They will look at BUUF and some will choose to apply to be our new minister.

One thing that was made clear at the Beyond Categorical Thinking (BCT) workshop was that even though we are calling a minister to help us to move in the directions we want to move; you, the congregation, are the ones who will continue to make things happen at BUUF. The new minister will guide us and help us to realize our dreams, but ultimately, you are the ones who will create the atmosphere to bring them to fruition.

If you were not at the BCT workshop you missed an opportunity to look at yourself and think of ways that you may be thinking categorically. You may want to challenge yourself to think beyond the ideas that you have.

For example, one exercise that we did was to imagine what would be different in your life if you had grown up the opposite of how you did. If you are male, what would have been different if you had been female? Rich or poor? White or a person of color? Disabled or not?

We were given scenarios of events that have actually happened with ministers and congregations. As we discussed these we discovered that we are the ones who choose to act and react in certain ways to create harmony in our congregations or not.

So, I encourage you to keep dreaming your dreams for BUUF. Talk about your ideas with others and then work to make them come true. Our new minister will make some changes, as Rev. Dana has done, and we will still be the wonderful congregation that we are as we grow in new directions.

The Search Committee has been in the data gathering phase. We're now working to understand the data we've gathered and to compile it into a packet to be given to candidates. Thanks to all who provided information via the survey, focus groups, or by talking with Committee members.

I am looking forward to the next great adventures at BUUF as we call our new minister and continue to create our lives together.

In The Interim

It was grand to see 80-plus folks come together at October's Congregational Gathering (and potluck!) sponsored by the Board.

This is a new way of thinking about congregational "reports" and vision that the Board came up with last year, the brain child of now past-president Robyn Broyles and enthusiastically taken up by the whole Board. It arose from a conversation about the Annual Report usually compiled by all groups and committees for the Congregational Meeting in May. Someone remarked that the year-end report took a lot of work to compile a thick document that hardly anyone actually read. Really how effective was it? What might work better for communicating accomplishments, challenges and most significantly forward-looking vision? There was also the awkwardness of a final budget report before the fiscal year was over....

The idea of the meeting was that the Board, the Program Ministry Council and others could set forth their plans for the coming year and beyond, perhaps even beginning to think now about resources they would need to fund the vision for the coming years. (Yes, everyone needs to start think 6-months to a year ahead for vision and budget!).

This is a new rhythm to church life and planning that may take some getting used to, and I think this was a great start. Imagine next year at this meeting with your new settled minister. You and he or she can begin your shared vision and ministry together, start dreaming and conspiring and planning together right away.

I hope this becomes a useful tradition going forward. And do always have it accompanied by a potluck. You're good at them, and the energy of fellowship was a beautimous thing that Saturday evening.

This is all part of a significant shift the Board is going through (or perhaps I should say a continuation and deepening of a shift already underway). They are considering the role of the Board as a vision-setting body that empowers others in the church to undertake the work and tasks that bring a transformative ministry into being. Indeed another shift that is subtle but real is to think of the work of the church as Ministries. Try calling your working groups as Ministries or Teams – as in Program Ministry Council, or Family Ministry Team, or Justice Outreach Ministry, or Fellowship Connections Ministry, or the Landscape Ministry Team....

What would a ministry of planting, gardening, landscaping look like? I've been watching Mary Ann Hedrich get back to planted and tending the garden patch at the end of the South Wing. It is her ministry and service to the community, and it seems to ministering to her soul at the same time. As I said it is a subtle shift and a significant one.

This is all part of your work in the interim, tending and caring for each other, the community and the wider world. You are preparing the ground well for your next minister.

It is so gratifying to me to see you growing and connecting this way. Tilling your soil, planting for the next years and for future generations.

May it be so.

With love, dana

President's Message

Roger Sherman, Board President

This is a big year for BUUF.

The thing that we know we have to accomplish is to call a new minister.

A lot of work is being done to make sure we get a person who fits who we are and who we want to be as a congregation.

We have done several things to plow the ground:

- We hired Reverend Dana to be our interim minister for two years to help us through the process.

- We looked at our past to see where we have been and to figure out what we want to keep and what we've outgrown.

- We've dreamed together through the Appreciative Inquiry process so that we could start to design our future.

We elected a search committee to focus on finding a minister but maybe more importantly to search the congregations hearts and minds. Nearly 250 people answered the Search committee's call to respond to a pretty long survey about ourselves. We'll be hearing more about that later in this gathering.

- And we challenged our thinking by participating in a Beyond Categorical Thinking workshop to make sure we keep our minds open to the gifts that diversity brings.

While the search is a dominant theme, it is not all we want or need to do going forward through the program year.

This board has committed to a larger vision and is asking the congregation through all its various ministries to help make this vision real. The question we tried to answer in coming to this vision comes from a book called Governance and Ministry by UU minister and congregational consultant, Dan Hotchkiss His question is "In what ways will we transform lives in the next 1 to 3 years?" This is a big year for BUUF.

Our first board ministry vision is for BUUF to become a more welcoming, transparent, and inspiring congregation and in order to accomplish this will create easily discoverable pathways to participation for newcomers and all others who seek to deepen their engagement.

Second, social justice ministries will guide and inform all aspects of BUUF's congregational life.

These visions were grounded in the congregation's appreciative inquiry process and hopefully resonate for you. Reverend Dana suggested a number of ways we make these visions real in her last newsletter column. She asks "What will the spirit of this place look like into the future if we take on these practices?"

Let's find out! Hopefully these visions can guide all of our actions going forward.

In my first couple of president's columns, I've discussed the idea of legacy and thought out loud about what we do with our assets, whether or not we build a sanctuary, start an endowment, encourage satellite congregations. These are open questions being raised by members of this congregation. Dan Hotchkiss tell us too, that sometimes is best to leave some questions open until they ripen. Our congregational survey suggests we are still split on what direction to go. During this next year we will begin some congregational conversation about what we want to see. The board feels that rather than forcing a decision on any of these questions before the discussion is ripe would be a mistake, but we do believe that the discussion should begin. We are scheduling a first conversation on November 9. We also believe that we should keep the question open while we settle in with a new minister to begin the next chapter of BUUF's life together.

May our shared ministry reflect the spirit of our doxology we sing each week: From you I receive/ To you I give/ Together we share/ And from this we live.

These are from my opening remarks at the congregational gathering on October 18.

Religious Exploration

Games at the Heart of the Family

Emmie Schlobohm, Director of Religious Exploration (DRE)

In the spirit of Full Week Faith, a strategy for engaging families at home in day-to-day faith development created through the Unitarian Universalist Association, I'm dedicating my monthly newsletter articles this year to themes based on favorite childhood games. The games will be familiar to most of you and you can play the traditional versions of them to your heart's content and enjoy the together time they create. My goal, however, is to suggest ways to go deeper with your children on your shared faith development journey using the template of a familiar game while expanding the rules and the "playground" to our community and the wider world.

November is a time of gratefulness and giving thanks for the gifts in our lives. This month's game is I Spy. Here are some ideas for a more spiritual spin on this beloved game.

While you're out and about together, whether it's on a family outing to the park, a Sunday stroll, or on your drive to school, to sports, or to church, you can play I Spy with an emphasis on finding the gifts of nature that you're all thankful for - a beautiful leaf or the sun streaming through a grove of trees at a low angle. Our seventh principle in Unitarian Universalism, affirms the respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. Appreciating the gifts of nature is a way to live that principle.

In your home, take some time to explore the gifts of your family by playing I Spy while walking around your house and noticing the things you may take for granted. Do you have a favorite family photo that brings back fond memories? How about your family pets or stuffed animals that bring comfort during sad times and joy at home-comings? Acknowledge your house plants that clean the air you breathe and bring beauty and green loveliness into your lives even when you're home with a cold or due to nasty weather outside.

Now it's your turn to think of ideas. I invite you to get creative and enjoy your time together as you discover what your children are thankful for and what brings joy to your hearts.

Committees

Party in the Pantry!

Congregational Care Team

The BUUF Food Pantry, in the coat closet off the south vestibule, has remained well-stocked, thanks to many generous folks who share with those who might be a little hungry. Now, with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, we would like to request donations of holiday-type nonperishable items: cranberry sauce, stuffing mix, canned pumpkin or other pie fillings, dessert mixes or canned desserts, canned sweet potatoes, dried mashed potato flakes, canned green beans/mushroom soup/French's onions for green bean casserole, and perhaps appropriate canned meats - ham, etc. $25 gift cards for WinCo or Fred Meyer are also great. Please remember we cannot store fresh or perishable fruits, veggies, meats, etc. in the food pantry. Thanks from your Congregational Care Team, and have a wonderful holiday season!

Justice outreach

Plate Partner News

Debra Smith

The votes are in, and I'm spilling the beans! The eight nonprofits who will be our Plate Partners (and who receive 25% of our offertory) for the 2014-15 program year are:

• Suicide Prevention Action Network (SPAN)
• Food Bank Backpack Program benefiting Whittier School
• Genesis World Mission Garden City Clinic
• Transform Idaho
• Story Link
• Sprouts Kids Club
• Add the Words Legal Defense Fund
• Starr King and Meadville Lombard Schools

The Plate Partner for November is the Add the Words Legal Defense Fund, to honor the recent victory in same-sex marriage, and also to honor this month's service dedicated to the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

The children and youth of our Religious Exploration Program will be selecting a Plate Partner. Should our children select one of the above organizations to be the focus of their justice outreach ministry, then we will select the next highest vote-getter and add it to our list of eight.

Thanks to all of you for voting.

Events & Activities

BUUF Bunco and Potluck

Come To a Fun Social Evening for our Third Saturday Potluck, Saturday, November 15, 6 pm at BUUF.

We will be Playing Bunco! Bunco is a fun parlor game played with teams and three dice, with opportunities to get acquainted. Newcomers and Oldcomers are especially invited to come and meet each other across the dice tables.

It is easy to learn and takes no skills! Prizes will be awarded!

Bring your own plates and utensils and label your potluck dish. Consider bringing a vegetarian dish.

Activities for Children available.

For more information contact Karen Raese at 853-3865 or craigraese2014@cs.com, or Wanda Jennings at 362-7563 or desertfox42014@cableone.net.

PNWD & UUA News

General Assembly is Coming to the PNWD!

The Pacific Northwest District is host district to GA 2015, June 24-28 in Portland, and General Assembly needs you!

When and where does it happen? June 24-28 (Wednesday afternoon through Sunday afternoon), in Portland, Oregon. We'll meet in the Oregon Convention Center and with some events in nearby hotels.

Who can attend? Anyone! All are welcome, of all ages.

Does it cost money to attend? Yes. To participate in General Assembly, you pay a registration fee. GA runs on a break-even basis. But there are opportunities for free registration by serving as a volunteer, as well as financial aid that you can apply for. And your congregation would make a very wise investment by financially supporting the participation of its delegates, its current and rising leaders and its youth—what you all bring back to the congregation is well worth the price tag.

Where can I learn more? The UUA's General Assembly website already has lots of information, and will have more as GA gets closer. Give it a look now, and keep going back to it. If you can't find what you're looking for there, ask me, or a district board member, or someone in your congregation with lots of GA experience.