Congregation established 1836

Newsletter of the

First Unitarian Church, Alton, Illinois

www.firstuualton.org

Rev. Khleber Van Zandt, Minister

June 4^th

“The Enlightenment Spirit”

Dr. Ronald Glossop, Professor Emeritus, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville

The Eighteenth Century Enlightenment provided the impetus for the creation of the United States of America, for the French Revolution, and for the Unitarian and Universalist Churches.  The Enlightenment represents one of the most progressive periods in the history of humanity.  Ron will survey the basic themes of this productive movement, several of which are under attack today.

June 11^th

“Transforming Congregations”

Rev. Khleber Van Zandt

Ken Wilber makes a distinction between what he calls translation and transformation.  He says “translation” simply props up the ego.  In “transformation,” however, the sense of self is enlarged.  Many people go to church for “translation,” fewer for “transformation.”  How can we become a transforming congregation that transforms people rather than simply propping them up?

June 18^th

“Summer Solstice Service”

Stacey Wolff, Church Member

For thousands of years the Earth’s indigenous peoples have celebrated the cycle of the sun and seasons.  Come learn and share with us as we celebrate some ancient summer Solstice customs UU Pagan style.

June 25^th

“How I Fell from Sainthood”

Jim Elliott, Church Member

My parents were missionaries in the Society Islands.  I grew up in a small town in which most of the people belonged to the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  No, that’s not the Mormons but close.   Finally after college and marriage, I decided to really think about religion. 

June 4^th – 9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.

“In Search of the Historical Jesus.”  Who was Jesus?  What was he like?  For over 2000 years people have pondered these questions.  In this DVD series we’ll view presentations by Professor Bart D. Ehrman as he approaches the subject of who Jesus might have been from a purely historical perspective.  This series is coordinated by the Rev. Khleber Van Zandt.

June 11^th – 9:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.

The “Welcoming Congregation Workshop” is a new series held on the 2^nd Sunday of each month.  This program is designed to help congregations develop individual and institutional strategies in order to become more welcoming to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their families.  This monthly program is coordinated by the Welcoming Congregation Committee.  This will be the last session in this workshop series until September 10^th.

June 18^th – 9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.

“Understanding the Bible” is a monthly class led by Gerry Gilman on the 3^rd Sunday of each month.  The class is based on a book written by the Rev. John Buehrens, former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. 

June 25^th – 9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.

To Be Announced

A First Glance

As I look back over the church year that ends later this month, I’m struck by the challenges we’ve faced, both individually and as a community.  Many of you have had illnesses or surgeries or other medical events, and many are still recovering.  Some have had issues in their extended families - my own father has been battling pancreatic cancer for many months.  Some of our families have been touched by death. 

We’ve had celebrations, too, though.  As for weddings, the McMurrays and the Adkins-Vogrins were married in our church, as were the two women who came to us seeking blessing of their same-sex marriage.

Kids are growing up and families are settling in as church membership grows by leaps and bounds.  The kids are all over the place, having fun, doing what kids do and learning because of it, causing us to open more classrooms and find more teachers.

Adult religious education is going great guns.  More people are involved in more classes.  Beth Nalick offers anti-racism and anti-oppression classes, Gerry Gilman offers Bible study, some of us search for the Historical Jesus, and every second Sunday we work towards becoming a Welcoming Congregation to lesbian, bi-sexual, gay, and trans-gendered people.

It’s still easy enough to find a seat for worship, but some Sundays have seemed pretty full and I’ve seen some of you stand in the back as you look across the pews trying to decide in which of the few empty places you wish to sit.  Midge Hallett said from the pulpit one day that she was shocked to see so many people at church.  And with so many people in coffee hour, it’s sometimes hard to find old friends easily.

This is surely a great problem to have.

At the same time, as many celebrate this “embarrassment of riches,” some of us may be feeling a little less connected because of so many changes in such a short time.  If you are one of those who feels discomfort from time to time, I hope you will either speak to me directly or avail yourself of the Committee on Ministry’s many ways to share your thoughts and feelings.  There is an electronic suggestion box on our website in the bottom left-hand corner at http://www.firstuualton.org and a physical comment box in the foyer at church.

Change is inevitable but often hard.  As we move toward a new church year and begin to solidify some of the gains we’ve made, we must also learn better to address the issues before us openly and forthrightly.  I look forward to working together even more in the coming months.

See you in church,

Annual Meeting Notes

The members attending the Annual Meeting on May 19^th unanimously approved a budget of $114,000 for the 2006-2007 church year.   Approval of this budget included increasing our minister, Khleber Van Zandt, to full-time ministry as of January 2007, and increasing the hours for Jamie Gross, our Director of Religious Education, to 15 hours per week.

In addition the proposed change to the bylaws was approved, changing the date allowed for the semi-annual meeting to take place between November 1^st and January 31^st.

The following people were also voted into office:

Ted Loucks     – President (term 2006-2008 – one year as President,

one year as Past President)

Beth Nalick     – President Elect (term 2006-2009)

Mary Weber    – Secretary (term 2006-2009)

Jerry Johnson – Treasurer (term 2006-2009)

The Nominating Committee members voted in for the 2006-2007 church year were Mona Hebert, and Mary Johnson.

In Our Church Family

CONGRATULATIONS to Mark Wolff who graduated on May 13^th from southern Illinois University – Carbondale with a Master of Arts degree in Geospatial analysis.

It was good to see Lucy Bouton at the Annual Meeting on May 19^th and David Wiseman at church on May 21^st. They have both been unable to attend church for some time due to surgery and related health matters.

We’re also glad to see Irene Mondhink back at church after some months of rehabilitation and recuperation.

Corinne Hawkins is progressing slowing, having to stay in bed one hour and be up one hour to keep her feet and ankles from swelling due to a heart arrhythmia.  The doctor will decide in early June regarding more specific treatments.  She says she’s been sorting her collection of straight pins and testing hundreds of old spools of thread to see if they’re still usable.

Lois Fischer is doing well after her heart attack of several weeks ago, and Audrey Glossop is recovering nicely from hip surgery.

Thumbnail Sketch of Upcoming Events

Read details in other parts of the newsletter.

Thurs., June 1^st – Anna D’s lunch at Pat Moore’s.

Thurs., June 1^st – Choir practice – 7:00 p.m.

Sun., June 4^th – UU & You! – 12 noon.

Tues., June 6^th – UU Pagans – 7:00 p.m.

Sun., June 11^th – UU & You! – 12 noon.

Sun., June 11^th – RE Volunteer Appreciation Lunch.

Tues., June 13^th – Men’s Lunch at Golden Corral

at 11:30 a.m.

Tues., June 13^th – Board meeting – 7:00 p.m.

Wed., June 14^th – International Lunch – 11:30 a.m.

 at Ramon’s in Collinsville .

Thurs., June 15^th – Choir practice – 7:00 p.m.

Wed., - Sun., June 21 - 25 – UUA General Assembly

  at America’s Center, St. Louis

Sun., June 25^th – Pot Luck lunch.

Welcome to Church Membership

Alex Gross from Glen Carbon (joined 5/14/06)

We’re glad you’ve become members of our growing church family!

Here are the names of church members and friends who are celebrating birthdays this month.  If this is ‘your month’ and your name didn’t get included, we’re sorry.  For future months please let Mary Johnson know your birth month and day. (mejohnson@mindspring.com)

  3 June – Kris Tucker-Loewe

  4 June – Marcia Custer

  4 June – Mark Wolff

  8 June – Ruth Shaw

  9 June – Wayne Politsch

  9 June – Eric Sturley

17 June – Jeanne Sturley

21 June – Joy Hoeft

23 June – Bailey Brunner (1991)

29 June – Beth Nalick

International Lunch Group Meets Again

The next gathering of the International Lunch Group will be at Ramon's Eldorado Restaurant in Collinsville, on Wednesday June 14^th at 11:30 a.m.  The address is 1711 St. Louis Road, near the Race Track in Collinsville.   Everyone is invited to join the group for lunch.  Cathy Tade, the Lunch coordinator will be out of town, so please let Mary Johnson mejohnson@mindspring.com know by Sunday, June 11^th if you will be coming as reservations will be needed.

ROAD CLEANUP

On Saturday, May 6^th, seven people participated in a very successful trash pickup activity under the direction of Mark Tade.   Forty-two bags of trash were collection in a space of three hours by Mark, Kirk Folk, Jim and Pat Moore, Gerry Gilman, Jerry and Mary Johnson .

CRISIS FOOD PANTRY

The Crisis Food Center served 578 families at Easter. Our church contributed 90 items for the food baskets. The center reported that 122 new families were served this spring.   The need continues during the summer months so please consider bringing extra canned goods and/or cash donations to the church for distribution. Food Drives usually take place during fall and winter so our support is very important at this time.  Thank you for your donations.  
Jen Politsch

Ted Loucks and Beth Nalick were selected by the Board to be the church’s delegates to General Assembly.  To learn about the day by day programming at GA go to http://www.uua.org/ga/prog.html#Program

Although a paid registration is required to attend GA itself, the Sunday morning worship service (9:30 a.m. – 11 a.m.) on June 25^th is free and open to the public.

Summer WomanSpirit at Ronora Lodge

Watervliet, Michigan

August 4-6, 2006

Summer WomanSpirit at Ronora provides a time and a place to connect with the elements. Come experience the "Passion, Power and Pleasure" of the Fire element as we commune with the land and the women of our retreat.  Remembering and experiencing ancient Earth-based religions, we celebrate these elements unencumbered by the restrictions of daily responsibilities.  We play and dance under the sun, moon and stars.  We synchronize with the Dance of the Universe.  We acknowledge our power and worth, and the power and worth of all. We find and become the joy of creation. 

Ronora Committee 2006 and the Women and Religion Committee, Central Midwest District of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Complete information on workshops and all the details, including registration form, are in the BROCHURE on our website, www.womenandreligion.org

RE NEWS

Dear Parents and Friends,

I think that this is a very exciting time to be part of this church community.  We have many more members this year than we had last year including doubling the number of children in our RE program.  These increased numbers mean that we are able to offer continually more programming for our children.  Starting on June 18 we will begin the first RE summer program that this church has had in my tenure here.  For this summer program, the children will start out in the sanctuary every Sunday.  When they are sung to their activities they will go to the newly air conditioned Place for an all-ages children's chapel that will be led by two volunteers per Sunday.  Please see me if you are interested in being a volunteer for this program this summer.  After the approximately 20 minute chapel service the children will either be taken outside for supervised free play, or in the case of inclement weather, they will be taken into the activity room where there are books, games, and art supplies.

As we look ahead into the next church year things will also be a little different there.  We will be divided into four different age groupings for the year instead of the three that we have had this past year.  The pre-school and Kindergarten class will be working with the curriculum "Story Time" as they did this year, but it will be modified to use in the model of Spirit Play which is based on Montessori principles to better incorporate the developmental needs of the Kindergartners.  There will be a training on Spirit Play which we are co-sponsoring with 1st Church, St. Louis, held in St. Louis on August 26.  I am hoping that many of the pre-school teachers will be able to attend this one-day event. 

The other age ranges will be divided as follows:  1st - 3rd grades will be together, 4th- 6th grades will be together, and 7th- High School will be together.

The Jr/Sr High group will be meeting at a different time than the rest of the classes.  They will meet at 9:30 on Sunday mornings instead of the 10:30 time slot that the other classes meet at.  During the 10:30 time slot the older children will have a choice of being a mentor in one of the younger classes or attending the worship service.  This is done with the goal that every class during the regular RE time will always have a teacher and a mentor present to help us keep in compliance with the safe congregations policies that are recommended by the UUA.

I still have teaching spots available for next year.  Please come and talk to me if you are interested in helping out or just learning what teaching is about.  I should be able to put you in the volunteer position that best suits your interests and comfort levels.  I am also starting a new category of RE volunteers.  This category is for people who do not feel comfortable teaching, but would be willing to help out as extra supervision for special events and holidays.

I would like to invite all teachers who have taught this past year to a volunteer appreciation lunch on June 11^th. RSVP to me by June 9^th if you will be attending.

Thank you

Jamie Gross

Join the Choir – It’s Fun!

Rehearsals

Thursday June 1^st – 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, June 15^th – 7:00 p.m.

The Choir will be singing at the June 18^th service.

Questions, want to learn more?

Contact Willis McCoy wbmccoy@charter.net

Sunday Pot Luck Lunch

June 25^th – the 4^th Sunday

Bring a dish to share and plan to stay after church to join in
food and fellowship.

A-L will do Table Set Up

M-Z will do Clean Up

Everyone will be responsible for setting food out on the buffet table.

Directory Updates

Please make these changes in your 2006 Church Directory.

Mark with an * indicating a church member:

Gross, Alex*

Schoenborn, Veronica *

Summary of May’s Board Meeting

Becky Green, Church Administrator:

Rigdon Sewer Service will come out to check the water seeping up from under the basement floor.  The church was broken into again.  The vandals got in through the already broken kitchen window.  The audio cabinet and RE book hutch were damaged, and money taken from the book hutch.  Jourdain Roofing will begin work soon on the roof and damaged fascia and Barrett’s will install the air conditioning in the RE wing.  Several people have called the church about weddings and a suggestion has been made to add wedding information to the church webpage. 

Khleber Van Zandt, Minister:

Attendance has been good this spring.  Easter saw a new high of 100 people in church; about 30 attended the Tenebrae service.  We’ve had good attendance at Adult Religious Enrichment programs.  Khleber continues to sit on the Institutional Review Board at Washington University and meet regularly with his mentor, Rev. Meyer.

Old and New Business:

Representatives from our church have not yet met with the United Congregations of Metro East but we need five to ten people to begin active participation in with this organization.  The Board decided to go ahead with leasing a copier machine.  Ted Loucks will check on the cost and details of installing an ADT security system.  Members who are interested in coordinating the Forum are needed.  Carolyn Hazzard, current church President will be moving to the Kansas City area this summer, and thus the Board decided to nominate Cheryle Tucker-Loewe to serve another term as Past-President.  Kevin McCarthy will serve on the Endowment Committee.

A Summary of Ruth Shaw’s Trip to Attend the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

I flew from Chicago to Hong Kong to Taiwan and traveled to the Fo Guang Shan Monastery.  I’ve gone to previous IARF conferences (every three years since 1978) in Tokyo, in Korea, India, etc.  This year the monastery hosted us, providing housing, all meals, and meeting places.  I had a roommate, Janet Bowering, a retired minister from New Hampshire, whom I’d roomed with before. 

It isn’t easy for me to “report” — what to include, funny things, extraordinary things, serious things?  So I’ll just “talk” for awhile and let my fingers do the work.

Three meals a day, all vegetarian.  For the women’s meeting at the beginning of the conference we ate on china plates, for the “big” meeting we used heavy paper plates, paper cups, plastic forks, etc.  The food was served buffet style, with huge round tray/plates heavy with food, at least six different entrees with fruit on the side, occasionally bread and butter (for the westerners) and dessert items.  Rice always.  The vegetarian foods were good to look at, delicious to eat, never boring, always generous.  Those serving us were not monks but volunteers of some kind, hustling to keep the food filled and to help.  No English, but smiles.

Housing was in a large hotel type building, air-conditioned, elevators, five-floors.  We westerners were on the 5^th floor, and I finally figured out why.  Those rooms had western toilets! 

The women’s group, which met for a few days prior to the IARF, is IALRW, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION. FOR LIBERAL RELIGIOUS WOMEN.  These groups were formed about 1900 in England, supported by British and American Unitarians.  The very first international interfaith group in the world.

Now I’ll tell you a little about Fo Guang Shan, a Buddhist group that has monasteries all over the world, including two in the greater St. Louis area!  This is the largest in Taiwan, with 1300 monks, very large buildings in a very large area, beautifully mountainous.  Since Taiwan is a very new country, this monastery was started by one man when the country was first started, and the one man is still very much alive.  He was the keynote speaker at our first meeting. 

More than half of the monks are women, called nuns – both all men and women have shaved heads (shaved every two weeks by themselves), and all are dressed identically in good looking reddish brown robes and identical shoes. They wash their own clothes by hand.  Nothing is manufactured at the monastery — they are there for study and meditation, not to work.  They seemed almost all very young, college age, and are there for only three years.  Then they are sent to other monasteries, never knowing which part of the globe.  They marched in unison to the dining halls, not looking right or left.  I guessed that those monks that were always near our group were chosen because they spoke English.  One was from Canada and had been there eight months, one was from the U.S.  They were all women in our area, the men and women are separated always!  The ones in our group were always smiling, always willing to help in any way. 

What other faith groups were there?  Unitarian Universalists from the US, a few Unitarians from Europe, one Muslim woman (a speaker) from Korea, many Buddhist groups from Japan and Taiwan, and perhaps others.  Simultaneous translations were made in Japanese, Chinese, and English as they were needed.  Our UUA President was there for the whole meeting.  The Rev. Olivia Holmes, formerly Int. Adv. in the Boston UUA office, was our “angel.”  She had been there before helping with planning.  She knew everything and everybody so could answer questions, helped with all program arrangements, etc.  And she drove the golf cart which took me and our Netherlands woman, who also couldn’t walk up the hills, to each event that required help.

I haven’t talked about the religious experience.  Each of the faith groups gave a program showing how they worship.  Other programs always emphasized our liberal religious goals.

Of Historical Interest

(From “Inside America’s Coolest Churches” Life: American’s Weekend Magazine, April 14, 2006) “The settlers of Hingham, 10 miles south of Boston, finished Old Ship Church in 1681.   Today, it is the oldest structure in continuous ecclesiastical use in the U.S.   ‘It started as Puritan, evolved into Unitarian, then Unitarian Universalist.’”