June 5 – 10 am

Recognition Sunday

An Intergenerational Service

“Being Religious”

Rev. Khleber Van Zandt

In our Religious Education program, we say we're not just teaching our children about religion, but about how to be religious.  Today we'll honor those who've accepted the joyful and challenging task of teaching, molding, and caring for our most precious resource.  And we’ll recognize the youth who are bridging out of the Youth Group.

June 12 – 10 am.

"World Citizenship"

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

The 6th Purpose and Principle of the UUA is "the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all."  To accomplish this, all of us must be world citizens.  That means seeing ourselves as Earthlings who belong to the community of all Earthlings.  It means being part of the crew of spaceship Earth, not just a passenger.  It means being committed to the welfare of the whole world community, not just a portion of it.  It means being able to communicate with other Earthlings in a global language, not just expecting all others to use our native language.  Are we doing our part?

June 19 – 10 am
Fathers’ Day

“The complexities of fatherhood … reflections and perspectives”

Sayer Johnson

Relationships with our fathers are often multi layered and complex. We all have the full spectrum of tales to tell of our own relationships with the first men in our lives. Sayer will discuss his own relationship with his father as well as reflecting on his journey and newly emerging identity as a Papi. Sharing his quest to define and eke his own unique role as a father.

June 26 – 10 am

At church and at tower Grove Park

1.  Worship at church

Title to be announced later

David Wiseman

2.  Worship at Tower Grove Park in St. Louis

“Pride Weekend”

Rev. Khleber Van Zandt

First Unitarian Church of Alton invites you to join with other area UUs this June 26 at 10 am for Worship in the Park!

In conjunction with Pride Weekend, we will meet for an outdoor worship service in Tower Grove Park near the intersection of Arsenal Street and Spring Avenue.  You may park on Arsenal or Spring or anywhere in the neighborhood.  Please bring chairs or blankets to sit on – we hope to gather in an open, grassy area surrounded by large shade trees.

You are further invited to march with us in the Pride Parade that begins around noon on that same day.  It will be our church’s 5^th year to march – last year, we had a large contingent including children and families, and we welcome your participation this year!

Directions:

From the west, take the Kingshighway exit off I-44.  Turn right (south) on Kingshighway, then left (east) on Arsenal, and continue towards Spring.

From the east, take the Vandeventer/Kingshighway exit off I-44.  Turn left (southwest) on Vandeventer, then left (south) on Kingshighway, then left (east) on Arsenal, and continue towards Spring.  Park on Arsenal, Spring, or anywhere in the neighborhood, and walk onto the top of the hill in Tower Grove Park to find us.

Please see the attached link to a Google map for directions, or call Khleber at 314 223-0551.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=100811447561465644091.0004891243fb614a18ac2&ll=38.611606,-90.257792&spn=0.022132,0.038538&z=15

Additional Sunday Morning Programming

A First Glance

Rob Bell is a young guy who felt a call to ministry a few years ago and started preaching to a few people in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  When he opened up a little theater space in a shopping mall there, people flocked by hundreds and then thousands to hear him speak.  His message at that time, though couched in catchy contemporary language, was from a generally orthodox, non-denominational, mega-church Christian point of view.  Now Bell has written a book that has gotten him into some trouble with his mega-church colleagues and his fundamentalist neighbors.  It's called Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.  It’s on all the best seller lists – hardcover, paperback, electronic, you name it.

I don't often find books that I think every Unitarian Universalist should read, or even that every person in our church community should read.  But for anyone who leans toward Universalism or is intrigued by that thread of theological thought in our UU traditions, Bell’s little book is a quick read that I think does justice to all the old-time Universalist arguments in a post-modern style and language. 

It all started for Bell when someone in his congregation left a note stating flatly that the Indian sage and teacher of non-violent resistance, Mahatma Gandhi, is in hell.  Bell’s response:  Really?  Gandhi’s in hell?  Somebody knows this without a doubt?  And they feel the need to share their assurances with us?  And then Bell asked himself, if it’s true that Gandhi’s in hell, what does that say about the nature of the God so many Christian preachers have preached about down through the ages?

Bell thus begins a long struggle with the exclusivity of the Christian gospel as preached by his conservative brethren and ends up coming oh-so-close to embracing my own conviction that if there is a God worth worshipping, that God must be Love in the most radically inclusive way possible.

Bell has now spent lots of time and energy defending his ideas against the broadsides of his former friends, especially against the incendiary charge that he is - oh, my goodness - a Universalist.  It may be a triumph for Christianity that he can claim to believe both in Jesus-as-savior and in God-as-radically-inclusive-Love.  That he can hang onto his reading about what is special in Jesus’ teachings while at the same time welcoming Gandhi into heaven may in fact be the game-changer we backwater Universalists have been waiting for in the public discourse.

Put Love Wins on your summer reading list if you dare – especially if you’re a Christian, or if you’re a Universalist, or if you want to join a group to discuss it more deeply in the fall.

See you in church,

Note from Church President, Cheryle Tucker–Loewe

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”  So the writer of Ecclesiastes said many seasons ago.  Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the seasons of things.  It seems like there is always some new ending followed by a new beginning.  Perhaps it’s relatively simple and routine, like the ending of the school year or the church year.  You may miss seeing your friends, but you know that the new year is just a few months away, and there are often fun summer activities on the horizon. 

Sometimes endings are more complicated, though, like the ending of a significant relationship.  Often in these more complicated situations, the new beginnings are more difficult to see.  In the midst of the ending sometimes there is only darkness and fear.  A new beginning seems far away, if it exists at all.  Sometimes we try to avoid an ending because we know it will be painful and scary. 

It takes courage to recognize that enough is enough.  Avoiding the ending of anything when it is time for it to end tends to produce even more pain in the long run.    Expectations become unrealistic, and people become stuck and unable to grow.  It takes courage to let go of what has been and begin to embrace whatever comes next. 

So when you find yourself in the midst of the darkness of the next ending in your life, consider that a new beginning will follow.  We can learn from the seasons.  Spring will come after the darkness of winter.  It will be muddy, and windy, and rainy.  And it will be full of beauty, and hope, and promise. 

St Louis Pride Fest 2011 Parade

Members and friends of the church are invited to march in the Gay Pride Parade in St. Louis on Sunday, June 26.  This will be the 5th year we’ve participated in this parade. The Parade begins promptly at noon near Gravois and Grand in south St. Louis City, proceeds north on Grand and 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, please contact   Linda Van Zandt.  A signup sheet and more information will also be available at church.

Church Picnic

When: June 5, 2011, immediately following church 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 a small donation.

Vegetarian options available

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

A Gathering of Wisdom in the Womb of Ronora:

"WOMEN OF STRENGTH"

August 5th to August 7th

You are invited to join us this August for our annual Summer WomanSpirit retreat
held at Ronora Lodge and Retreat Center in Watervliet, Michigan!

Registration Opens May 1, 2011

Summer retreat registration, e-mail sws@womenandreligion.org

For general questions, contact our chair at info@womenandreligion.org

Your Advance Directives

There is a file at church where you may leave a copy of your Living Will, Healthcare Directives, or other such end-of-life information.  Please contact Becky Green, in the church office at church@firstuualton.org or 618-462-2462 for further information.

   Chalice

            Circles

Fifty-Plus (50+) Chalice Circle – Saturday, June 4 from 10:30 am to noon – At Church.
Contact Brynda McCoy if you plan to attend.  New members are welcome.  Those who wish to can go out to eat together after the meeting.

Belleville Chalice Circle

Thursday , June 16 at 7 pm – At the home of Jan and Don Allen in Belleville.
Contact: Don or Jan.

Parents Seeking Peace Chalice Circle

Sunday, June 19 from – 11:30 am to 1 pm – in Emerson Place at Church.
Contact: Diane Thompson or Sayer Johnson.

Renegade Women’s Chalice Circle

Saturday , June 18 from 12:00 noon to 2 pm – At Church.
Contact: Beth Bourland.

Men's Chalice Circle

Tuesday , June 28 at 7 pm – At Church.

Contact: Khleber Van Zandt.

The GLBT Chalice Circle will not meet in June.

It will meet again at 11:15 am on July 31 and then again on August 28.
In Emerson Place at Church.
Look for us on facebook under “GBLT UU Chalice Circle - Alton, IL."
For updates on GBLT Chalice Circle topics, etc., please go to the website and join http://groups.google.com/group/stl-uu-lgbt-plus/topics. 
Contact Layne A. Simpson for more information.

Coming Soon!

A Music Chalice Circle

Most likely starting this summer music chalice circle will form, facilitated by Eric Johnson.   If you enjoy music, if you like to play, sing, listen to, write or even contemplate music please consider being a part of this chalice circle.  We will engage music in the following ways:

1) Explore music in the context of our liberal religious tradition –

2) Play and sing, and listen to music together in large and small group settings –

3) Facilitate the playing and singing of music for worship and special occasions at the church –

4) Explore how music touches our individual lives and how we use it to express, cope, thrive and celebrate!

That being said, putting this together is a complex operation!   Your input is invaluable and necessary for us to be successful.  If you are interested please contact   Eric, or pin him down at church on Sunday.  Look for an interest and ability survey about this at church.  PLEASE DON'T THINK THAT YOU HAVE TO BE A TRAINED MUSICIAN TO JOIN OR BE A PART OF THIS GROUP.  ENJOYING MUSIC IS ENOUGH.

THE FIRST ANNUAL BEER-OFF

(fundraiser)

Saturday, July 2, 2011

4 to 7 pm

Kate Wuerker Room

Bring what you believe is the “best” beer and enter it in the tasting for a chance to win!  Bring enough for the tasting party.  The entry fee is $10.  Tickets for beer tasting will also be sold at a minimal charge.  Grilled hotdogs will be available for a small donation.

More details will come out nearer the date and there will be a sign up sheet at church.  Only those 21 and older may participate in the tasting.  Nursery care will be available.

The Alton Fireworks begin around 9 pm with great viewing from the park next to the church.  Soft drinks and snacks will be sold prior to the fireworks.

Book Donations

Wanted

It's Spring Cleaning Time for your books.

Please go through your bookshelves and look for those books you bought and meant to read but haven't, the ones you thought you "should" read but won't, the ones you loved but won't read again – and donate them to the UU bookshelf for your friends to enjoy.  It's a win-win-win: you get needed space at your house, your friends get new books to enjoy, and the church gets the donations offered for the books.  Such a deal!

Sandy Shaner

No Choir Rehearsals in June and July

Rest your voices and plan to join the choir when we start up again in August.

Willis McCoy.

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.

06/01   JOHNSON, Sayer 

06/03   TUCKER-LOEWE, Kris 

06/04   CUSTER, Marcia

06/04   HERNDON, Jennifer  

06/04   WOLFF, Mark   

06/07   ALLEN, Jan

06/07   SHAW, Ruth

06/09   POLITSCH, Wayne

06/13   BERKLEY, Samuel (9)

06/19   ANDREWS, Aurora 

06/20   HULL, James  (6) 

06/20   HULL, Victor (6)

06/20   KOCH, Meridith (11) 

06/21   BROWNE, Elizabeth 

06/21   HERNDON, Justin (3) 

06/21   HOEFT, Joy 

06/22   CHAPMAN, Cole (9)

06/23   BRUNNER, Bailey (20) 

06/24   JOHNSON, Devin (11)   

06/30   MASKOW, Ruth 

INTEREST GROUPS

Anna Ds Women’s Alliance

The Anna Ds will be meeting on Thursday, June 2 at 11:30 am at the home of Joan Hashimi – 1089 Prestonwood Drive; Edwardsville, IL 62025.
RSVP to Joan by Monday, May 31.

All women in the church are welcome to attend.

This will be the last Anna Ds meeting until September.

Men’s Lunch Group

All Men in our Church Family are invited!

The Men’s Lunch Group will meet at 11:30 am on Thursday, June 9 at the St. Louis Buffet, Wood River, IL. Contact Dick Blanton for further details.

SpiralScouts

Spiral Scouts will meet on Sunday, June 5 from 1 to 3 pm at the church.  June’s topic is Painting.

Contact Stacey Wolff for further information about Spiral Scouts.

4^th Saturday Lunch – June 25

This program to provide a tasty and nutritious meal started in October, 2008.  Since then, our congregation volunteers have shared a lunch table with over 1,500 adults and children.  Some of our guests are regulars, some come once.  We appreciate everyone who had contributed to this lunch, and we need everyone’s support in carrying on this program.

There will be a signup sheet in the Kate Wuerker for June’s meal. Please sign up early for what you will be bringing so those organizing the lunch won’t have to scramble at the last minute to get enough food.  For the last couple months we’ve had 40 to 50 guests.

Coordinator:  June, July, & August – Mary Johnson

Coordinator: September – Linda Van Zandt

Community

Outreach Offering

Due to the devastating storms in April, May’s Community Outreach Offering, originally scheduled to be given to the agencies below, was donated to the Federation of Southern Cooperatives for tornado relief work. 

On June 12 the Community Outreach Offering will be given to benefit the Senior Services Plus Meals on Wheels program.  Currently each year SSP Meals on Wheels delivers over 125,000 meals to homebound seniors in over 22 townships and cities throughout Madison and St. Clair Counties. 

On June 26 the Community Outreach offering will be given to benefit Alton’s Hope Animal Rescues, an Illinois licensed, non-profit, no-kill animal rescue center http://www.hoperescues.com

Campfest 2011

 Looking Ahead to Summer
for First UU Alton!!

Love the great outdoors? Want to get to know your church community members better? Want to learn how to make a heck of a s’more?  Well, mark your calendars for the first Campfest!!  We have reserved a group camp at Pere Marquette State Park.  

Camp:  Ouatoga

Arrival:  7/29/2011 to Departure: 8/4/2011

Rustic cabins ... swimming pool ... community meals games … talent show … chalice circles … memories for a lifetime … more details soon.  Questions:  please contact Sayer Johnson.

CHURCH POT LUCK LUNCH

Sunday, June 26

Everyone is welcome to stay on the 4^th Sunday of each month to share in a Potluck lunch.   If you can, bring something to serve 8 to 10 people.

Set-Up Help is needed with placing the tables and chairs, putting out placemats and silverware, and getting food onto the buffet table

Clean-Up Help involves clearing off and wiping down the tables, carrying dishes (not just your own) to the dish bins or the kitchen, scraping dishes, and washing dishes or preparing them for the dishwasher, folding up all but four tables, putting chairs away, vacuuming, and straightening up the furniture around the fireplace area.  Trash also must be taken out.  All this takes a long time if only a couple people are working at it, but if lots of people give a little time, then fewer people have to give a lot of time.

PLEASE help with either set-up or clean-up.

A through Mc will do CLEAN UP

Me through Z will do SET UP

Food Ministries

Coffee Hour

We need people to take their turn in coffee hour clean up. I know everyone has a busy life and this is one of the main reasons we need to respect everyone and take our turn.

1. Stay until everyone is finished with their drinks and snacks
2. Clear away all of the dirty dishes and food leftovers (this may involve putting some things in bags or containers and placing them in the refrigerator)
3. Cleaning all of the used dishes by washing in the sink, drying and putting away or loading them into the dishwasher and running it.

Group Members

Anyone interested in being a regular member of the Food Ministries group (i.e. willing to set up coffee hour, work Saturday lunches, or be called on in the event of funeral services or other food related work) please make sure I have your name on my list so that I am able to call or e-mail you when we are in need of people to fill in or help out.

Reminder: There is a jar in the kitchen for collecting BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION.

Kathryn Chapman

2011-2012 Teaching — Participate on First Unitarian’s Teaching Ministry Team

The religious education of the children and youth in our church school is the responsibility of the entire congregation.  This cooperative concept implies that everyone is invested in a commitment to excellence in religious education — the nurturing of young minds and sacred souls.  Our program relies on this community spirit — it relies on the belief that this is our church school and we are all involved in it.  Our children benefit because they encounter a wider cross-section of adults than they might otherwise.  Adults benefit, not only because they are interacting with joyous and curious young people, but because they also get a chance to see how Unitarian Universalist religious education is taught, what UU values are, and more about UU history than they may have learned before.

Teachers are supported throughout by materials, curriculum, staff, and fellow teachers.  Deepen your relationship to one another, to our community, and your faith experience.  With a full complement of teachers, teaching is a commitment of about 12-15 Sundays out of 52.  To volunteer, please contact Steven Mead, Director of Religious Education (DRE).

Join us for Chalice Theater this summer!

Myth:  a true story that never was.  Chalice Theater is an exciting, active program for 1^st through 6^th graders.  For eight weeks beginning July 17th, we will explore what fable, folklore, legend, and sacred stories have to say to us about right relationship.

Chalice Theater is minimal theater that explores the meaning of life through drama and story.  There is no memorization — scripts are held; there are no costumes — maybe just a partial or suggestive one; there are no sets.  We will learn a little about theater craft and a lot about ourselves and what it is like to “put ourselves in someone else’s shoes.”  At the end of each session, we will reflect on what our drama has to teach us about ourselves, our relationships, and our UU principles.  Led by Steven Mead in the Emerson Place room.

Steven Mead, DRE

314.239.5694 (cell)