June 6^th through September 5^th – One Service – 10:30 a.m.

June 6^th

“Persistent, Patient, and Persuasive”

Rev. Khleber Van Zandt

In their new book, A House for Hope, John Buehrens and Rebecca Ann Parker explore the promise of progressive religion for the 21^st Century.  Buehrens says, in our work together, we must be persistent, patient, and persuasive.  To do so, Parker suggests we gather the courage of a “responsive hope” grounded in gratitude for the gift of life itself.

June 13^th

David Wiseman

“Thoughts on attending a Family Reunion”

David, a long-time church member will talk about family reunions and take a look back on the first season of two services per Sunday.

June 20^th

“Thinking about What God Is Not, and Some Implications”

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

Is God in any way like human beings?  Are humans created in the image of God, or is God created by humans in their image?  Could God be a mind without a body?  Does the classical "problem of evil" prove that God cannot be both all-powerful and all-good?  Does it prove that God doesn't exist at all in any sense?  If God does in some sense exist, where is God?  What difference does it make whether God exists or not?

June 27^th – At church

TO BE ANNOUNCED

Mark Wolff

June 27^th   – At Tower Grove Park

in Saint Louis

“Natural Religion”

Rev. Khleber Van Zandt

We’ll meet at 10:00 am at the Van Zandt’s home and walk one block to Tower Grove Park for a half-hour worship before strolling a few blocks to South Grand Avenue to march in the Pride Parade.

Picnic in the Park

When: Sunday, June 6, after services.

Where: On the lovely grounds next to the church.

What to bring: A dish to share.

Games & Prizes - Family event for all ages - Soda, bottled water, grilled hot dogs & hamburgers available for small donation.

A First Glance

        I awoke on a Tuesday morning in May to a newscast reporting that several tornadoes had devastated Oklahoma City the previous evening.  I have friends at First Unitarian Church there in that fair city and my first thought was to hope they had fared all right through the storms.

The next news story concerned the continuing failure of British Petroleum to staunch the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from their broken drilling rig.  The first gigantic dome they lowered into place over the spewing well had failed when liquid methane mixed in the oil froze and stopped up the contraption.  A new, smaller dome was being readied with the intent to inject more chemicals into the erupting oil in order to keep the methane from freezing when it reached the seawater.

Oh, great, I thought.  Millions of gallons of oil aren’t enough - now we’re pumping even more chemicals into the sea.

But that’s not all.  The third story, this one about a thousand-point drop in the Dow during a sixteen-minute period the previous Thursday, said no one knew what had caused the panic but that speculation centered on the possibility that someone somewhere had mistyped a number while performing a financial transaction - left off a couple or three zeros at the end of a billion dollars or so - and the resultant mistake had set off a frenzy of automated selling.  The Dow bounced back, but the underlying weakness hasn’t been fixed - it hasn’t even been found.

All that, and no mention of the attempted bombing of New York City’s Times Square nor of the Nashville flood.

Tornadoes, floods, man-made disasters, economic upheaval - it’s enough to make you believe the end-times are near!

In her new book, A House for Hope, Rebecca Parker reminds us that such thinking falls prey to a destructive tradition of apocalypticism in this country, a tradition of placing one’s hope in a perfect future instead of doing the best we can today and staying focused on caring for each other and our world.

“We come to know the world as paradise,” says Parker, “when our hearts and souls are reborn through the arduous and tender task of living rightly with one another and the earth.  Generosity and mutual care are the pathways into knowing that paradise is here and now.  This way of living is not utopian.  It doesn’t spring from the imagination of a better world, but from a profound embrace of this world.  It brings hope home to today, to this moment and its possibilities for faithful love.”

None of us alone can hold back the floods, quiet the tornadoes, staunch the flow of oil, or fix the markets. But with a generosity of spirit, mutual care for one another, and a faithful love, we can know ourselves in paradise here and now.

See you in church,

Saturday Movie Nights at Church

June 5^th and June 26^th

Our church, together with the Racial Reconciliation Committee of the UCM Alton Area Cluster, will be hosting two movie nights in June.   Note that the scheduled time is an hour earlier than our usual movie night time.  Snacks will be available.

June 5 – The classic “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” is a 1967 American drama film starring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn. The film was groundbreaking for its positive representation of the controversial subject of interracial marriage, which historically had been illegal in most of the United States, and was still illegal in seventeen southern American states up until June 12, 1967 when it was legalized by the Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia.  The film tells the story of Joanna "Joey" Drayton, a young White American woman who has had a whirlwind romance with Dr. John Prentice, an African American man she met while in Hawaii. The plot centers on Joanna’s return to her liberal upper class American home in San Francisco, bringing her new fiancé to dinner to meet her parents, and the reaction of family and friends.

June 26 – “Guess Who” is a 2005 romantic comedy starring Bernie Mac as Percy Jones, Ashton Kutcher as Simon Green, and Zoe Saldana as Percy’s daughter Theresa.  In a reverse of the 1967 film, the Jones family is Black, and Theresa brings her White fiancé home for her parents to meet on the weekend they are renewing their wedding vows.  

4^th Saturday Lunch

June 26^th

Watch for a signup sheet at church and emails requesting volunteers to provide food and help.

Our lunch buffet line opens at 12 noon.  We ask that if you are bringing food that you arrive at least by 11:45 am.  Set-up help is welcome anytime after 10:30 am and cleanup help is always needed after lunch is over.

You are also welcome, and encouraged, to stay and have lunch with our guests. Usually we have between 30 and 40 guests, including children ranging from toddlers to teens.

This month’s lunch is being coordinated by John Herndon and Sayer Johnson, representing the Church Board.

Community

Outreach Offering

June’s C.O.O. will be given to Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, Inc. The Alton office is up the street from our church.  Land of Lincoln is a not-for-profit corporation providing free civil legal services to low-income persons and senior citizens in 65 counties in central and southern Illinois. Their mission is to pursue civil justice for low-income persons through representation and education. Their goals are:

• to promote economic security, adequate shelter and health care;
• to alleviate domestic violence and improve family stability; and
• to advance the interests of vulnerable populations.

Photo 2009 Parade

St Louis Pride Fest 2010 Parade

Members and friends of the church are invited to march in the Gay Pride Parade in St. Louis on Sunday, June 27^h.  This will be the fourth year we’ve participated in this parade. Hopefully those individuals inclined to support the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Community will be able to join me in the parade on the 27^th.  The Parade begins promptly at noon near Gravois and Grand in south St. Louis City and it will proceed north on Grand until it ends north of Arsenal St. near Magnolia across from Tower Grove Park.  Further details and parade meeting place will be announced later.  If you have questions, or want to participate, contact me, Linda Van Zandt, your faithful parade participation coordinator.  A signup sheet will also be available at church.

________________________________________

World War II Honor Flight

One of our church members, Bob Copley, will take a special honor flight to Washington DC early morning on May 26^th with 35 other area WWII veterans.  On arrival they'll have a ceremony at the WWII Memorial, then visit other historically significant sights and fly back to St. Louis later that evening where family and friends will meet the plane with whoopla and congratulations.  Bob served as a Sergeant with the U.S. Marine Corps in the South Pacific from 1943 to 1946.

Most people enjoy getting a card or email or phone call on their birthday.   Below is the list we have of church members and friends celebrating birthdays this month.  If you don’t think the church office has your birthday on file, please contact Becky Green at church@firstuualton.org)  and give her that information.

  1 June – Sayer Johnson

  3 June – Kris Tucker-Loewe

  4 June – Marcia Custer

  4 June – Mark Wolff

  4 June – Jennifer Herndon

  7 June – Ruth Shaw 1920 (She’ll be 90)

  7 June – Jan Allen

  9 June – Wayne Politsch

  9 June – Nancy Copley

16 June – Melanie Hill-Rogers

17 June – Jeanne Sturley

20 June – Meridith Koch (2000)

21 June – Joy Hoeft

21 June – Justin Herndon (2008)

22 June – Cole Chapman (2002)

23 June – Bailey Brunner (1991)

24 June – Devin Johnson (2000)

25 June – Lea Eichen (2006)

30 June – Ruth Maskow

Welcome our Newest Members and add them to your Church Directory.  Phone number and addresses are not given in the online version of the newsletter.   

Grippi, Tony* & Amanda* [5/9/2010]

Strawn, Tim* [5/9/2010]

Church Directory Updates

Robyn Berkley has a new address:

Check the print version of the newsletter.

Teri Brickey has a new email address.

Jason & Sarah Drury Dothager have moved to:

Virginia.  Check the print version of the newsletter.

CHOIR REHEARSAL SCHEDULE

1^st, 2^nd, & 3^rd Thursdays from 7 to 8:30 pm (June 3^rd, June 10^th, June 17^th).  The choir will sing for the worship service on the Sunday following the third Thursday rehearsal.  

  There will be no choir rehearsals in July.

  All voices welcome.   For further information contact Willis McCoy.

Chalice Circles

Renegade Women’s Chalice Circle

SATURDAY, June 19^th at church

2 to 4 pm.   Contact:   Marcia Custer.

Parents Seeking Peace Chalice Circle

SUNDAY, June 20^th – 12:00 to 1:30 pm in Emerson Place at church.
Contact: Diane Thompson or Sayer Johnson.

Belleville Chalice Circle

Will not meet this month.

Men's Chalice Circle

TUESDAY, June 22^nd – 7 p.m. at church

Contact: Khleber Van Zandt.

Treasurer’s Note

 Total budgeted income for April 2010 was $9,302.79; this was 6.8% of our annual budget.

Total budgeted expenses for April 2010 were $10,015.93; this was 7.3% of our annual budget.

As we near the end of our fiscal year, I have started doing year-end work, such as making the final payments on our dues to the UUA and to the Central Midwest District.

At 83.33% of the way through our fiscal year, our expenses are at 83.11%, which is pretty good. Our income is at 84.49%. The last two months of the fiscal year are usually the most anxious for me, as everything hinges on continuing to receive pledge payments and on avoiding unexpected expenses.

Jerry Johnson, Treasurer

Anna Ds

Women’s Alliance

The Anna Ds will meet at the home of Ginger McCall on Thursday, June 3^rd at 11:30 am in Edwardsville, IL 62025.   RSVP by Tuesday, June 1^st to Ginger.

Spiral Scouts 

Men’s

 Lunch Group

The Men’s Lunch Group will meet on Thursday, June 10^th at the St. Louis Buffet, 672 Wesley Dr., Wood River, IL. Contact Dick Blanton for further details .   All men in the church are invited.

Confluence Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS)

CUUPS will meet at 6 pm on June 11^th.   Contact Kristen O’Steen or Jimmy Christodoulou.

Joys, Milestones & Concerns

Peg Flach’s son, B.J. Hotson and his wife are the proud parents of Cooper Joseph “C.J.” Hotson, born April 29^th.

Nelson Shaner is now at home following a stay at Christian Hospital.   He welcomes visitors, phone calls, and cards.   He will return to the hospital in a few weeks for additional surgery.

June RE Program News & Notes

Sunday Summer RE Program

Our spring program ends Sunday May 30.  With summer, we adopt a more casual approach.  You may elect to have your children attend worship service with you or attend our RE offering.  For children remaining in the service, we have some quiet activities and fidget toys in the vestibule—ask an usher for assistance.

• June 6 — Teacher Recognition; All Church Picnic; no formal RE programming; children are in the sanctuary during service
• June 13 — Khleber Van Zandt leads RE; Emerson Room; ages pre-K through 5^th grade
• June 20 — Mary Johnson leads RE; Emerson Room; ages pre-K through 5^th grade
• June 27 — Tower Grove service and Church service; no formal RE programming.
• Nursery services available throughout

July-August

For July and August, the RE Committee is developing a “co-op” style program where adults and parents will be requested to sign up for one week.  Two curriculums are under consideration to provide support to volunteers and add a little structure to the offering.  The summer co-op program is for Pre-K through 5^th grade.  More information from the RE Committee as it becomes available.

An Amazingly Amazing Thing

The Internet is an amazing thing.  Unitarian Universalists question everything except what they find on the Internet, so this must be true.  Look what I found there:

15th Century Illuminated Manuscript Panels Discovered in Torda, Romania

Vlad Zapolja, Professor of Antiquities, and his colleagues at Kolozsvar University, have unearthed incredibly rare fragments of an illuminated manuscript. The 15th century panels appear to date from a period of time after King John Sigismund’s Torda diet, circa 1568.  The Diet (debate) in the city of Torda was convened by Sigismund to determine which of the established religions in the area would be declared the official religion of his realm.  Francis David, founder of the Unitarian faith, held his ground against all the other established religions in the region and convinced King John Sigismund to proclaim religious freedom throughout his realm, the first such declaration known in history.

This discovery has excited religious scholars throughout the world.  The fragments were found by laborers repairing stonework in the Egy az Isten Unitarian Church in Torda.  A section of the wall crumbled, revealing a small workroom that had been closed off during renovations to the structure sometime in the 1690’s.  The manuscript fragments were found along with other simple tools and rough furnishings.  The fragile condition of the panels prevents public display.

Professor Zapolja said, "The surviving fragments may represent only a small fraction of the number produced for inclusion in a larger work apparently related to Unitarian religious education. Only careful study and preservation of every part of this important cultural evidence will shed light on what is arguably a central feature of what later became know as the ‘free religious tradition’ of Unitarianism.”  Other scholars have argued that if this find is validated, it will advance by several hundred years, the position of vital importance that the religious education movement of the Unitarian faith assumed.

Commenting on the rare find, representatives of the Unitarian Universalist Association in Boston, Massachusetts, said “We’re delighted to have these fragments brought to light and are very excited about what they can tell us of early Unitarian religious education practices.”  The Association declined to speculate further until the fragments can be accurately dated and considered genuine.

The three surviving panels have been translated as follows:

1.       And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.  It was an RE teacher—all be praised.  Sign up to volunteer!

2.       Yea, even if our curricula speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but we have not Teachers, they are only a silent song or an empty bowl.  Teach in the RE program!

3.       The lips of the righteous teacher feed many, but children die in life for lack of understanding.  Save a child.  Teach in the RE program!

So, there you have it folks, apparently from our earliest days we Unitarians have been recruiting volunteers for the teaching ministry.  What they knew 500 years ago is just as true today:  our children are important.  Believe what you read.  Volunteer to teach this fall.

Fall 2010 Religious Education Program

This fall we switch our “Pillar” from Unitarian Universalist Heritage to World Religions and Wisdom Traditions.  This pillar explores many sacred and secular sources from which Unitarian Universalism draws from and is informed by.  This includes familiarity with Jewish and Christian scriptures and stories, how these stories came to be written, and what they teach us about living in today’s world.  Curricula may include basic tenets of the faith, symbols, events, people, rituals, and for older children, the differences and similarities to other religions.  Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are included as are Chinese and Japanese religions, and Native/Earth centered religions.  Here is what is planned:

·                     Pre-Kindergarten/Kindergarten ages continue with Spirit Play by Nita Penfeld, 2008; http://www25.uua.org/lreda/content/Spirit%20Play%20Brochure.pdf

·                     First through third grades begin with Picture Book of World Religions by Kate Tweedi Erslev, 2006; http://www.uure.com/picturebooksWR.html#anchor_12880

·                 Fourth through sixth grades begin with Spirit Play Holidays and Holydays; by Nita Penfeld, 2008; http://www.spiritplay.net/HolidaysHolydaysforSpiritPlay.html

·                 The Youth Group grades 7-12 continues a self-directed program which may include a variety of curricula—but one that is particularly appropriate to our studies this year is Sacred Threads—Asian Religions by Jeff Liebman, 2004, http://www.pitt.edu/~jdl1/UUcurric.htm#Sacred%20Threads

Steven Mead, Director of Religious Education

steven.mead1776@gmail.com

RE Flower and Vegetable Gardens at Church

Notice when you come to church the colorful flowers planted in the front of the sanctuary and next to the RE entrance porch.  These plantings were done on May 16^th by kids and adults from the RE Department.  Additionally, there are all sorts of vegetables growing in the garden in the back of the church.  Not only RE but kids in the KNOW program helped with planting tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, etc.

Unitarian Students in the Khasi Hills of India

School started in February in the Khasi Hills area of India, and here are the three students your Community Outreach Offering from last September is supporting through the Unitarian Partner Church Council Scholarship Program.  They are from the Madan Laban Unitarian Church in Shillong.

We will have an ongoing correspondence with these young people.  We have pledged to financially support their education for two more years through the Community Outreach Offering.

Diamond Kharbithai – Class XI – Science

Lady Keane College , Shillong

Rynsong Suting – Class IX

H. Elias Secondary School, Shillong

Indahun Maring – Class VIII

Presbyterian High School, Bhoirymbong

There will be no Church Pot Luck Lunches in June and July.

Volunteers and Tools Needed for Alton Community Garden Project –

Saturday, May 29^th

The City of Alton and the newly established Caring Corps are creating community gardens in various neighborhood sites in Alton. Our church, along with others, has been asked to get involved.  The Caring Corps is working with master gardeners from LaVista and Lewis & Clark to provide expertise, but need others to help with the planting, tending, etc., as well as bringing with them, or donating, tools.  The garden will be already tilled when volunteers begin their work. The first garden will be at Ridge and Union and the first workday is Saturday, May 29^th from 9 am to noon.  There will be additional workdays over the summer.  If you would like to volunteer to work in the garden, or provide tools, please contact Pat Murrell.