Congregation established 1836

Newsletter of the

First Unitarian Church, Alton, Illinois

www.firstuualton.org

September 11^th

Ingathering Sunday

“On the Centennial of our Sanctuary”

Khleber M. Van Zandt

As we begin the celebration of our sanctuary’s birthday, we’ll take a look at some of the symbolism in and on our building and see what it says about our past and our future.

Special Music by Kathie Price and Rich Heuermann.

September 18^th

"Evolution and/or Design"

Dr. Ronald Glossop

Is life on Earth, including humans, the result of evolution caused by purely natural forces, or can it be explained only on the basis of intelligent design? Does one of these answers exclude the other? What, if anything, does this debate have to do with accepting or not accepting the Biblical account of creation? Is this matter an important issue for religion?

September 25^th

“Why We Pray”

Khleber M. Van Zandt

Our religious language seems to have been usurped by the voices of the religious right even to the point of driving us away from things that can be helpful. This sermon is an examination of the act of prayer as we might begin to understand it.

September 11^th - “Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work For Racial Justice.” This is the first in a four-part series that will be continued on the 2^nd Sunday of each month. The moderator for this series is Beth Nalick.

Additional information about the book this class is based on will be found elsewhere in the newsletter.

September 18^th - An ongoing study of “Understanding the Bible,” will be led by Gerry Gilman. This book was written by the Rev. John Buehrens, former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. The discussion will start with the chapter “Frustrations: the Wisdom and Literature of Job.” Copies of the book will be available at church.

Also, starting on September 18^th and running concurrently every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. will be a program on DVD about the history of Unitarian Universalism entitled “Our American Roots.” Khleber Van Zandt will be coordinating this program.

September 25^th

“Our American Roots” - see paragraph above.

Other programming will be announced as information becomes available.

A First Glance

Autumn is just around the corner and that means the church is gearing up for a new year again. The next few months promise some exciting events that we hope you’ll put on your calendar and be sure to attend.

September 11 is Ingathering Sunday, the first Sunday of the church year, when we return to our full-fledged schedule. Children’s Religious Education classes will be at full-strength. Lots of folks will have returned from vacation and be ready to worship together again. Our prelude and postlude that week will be provided by Kathie Price and Rich Heuermann, UUs from Webster Groves who have performed music around the area for many years. So don’t miss church on Sunday, September 11!

Ingathering will begin the celebration of the Centennial of our Sanctuary, which continues for several Sundays and will include special speakers, skits, music, and photo displays to honor the building in which we worship and the people who worked so hard over the last hundred years to bequeath it to us. So don’t miss the Centennial!

Gazing farther into fall, on Sunday, November 13, we will be hosting people from far and wide to participate in a Service of Ordination and Installation. This should be quite a blow-out of an event - the last minister ordained by this church was way back in the previous century - 1989, I believe. This will be a time to show off our church to many out-of-town visitors and to our own larger community as well. So don’t miss the Ordination and Installation!

We are proud of our past and excited about our future. The upcoming season will be one in which we honor and celebrate the many gifts we have received from our forebears even as we look toward a renewal of our commitment to those that come after us. Our church has been healing, liberating, and transforming lives since 1836.

And we don’t intend to stop now.

See you in church,

Read details in other parts of the newsletter.

Thurs., Sept. 1^st - Choir Practice - 7:00 p.m.

Thurs., Sept. 8^th - Anna Ds - 11:30 a.m.

Fri.,     Sept. 9th - Edwardsville gathering to meet Khleber

and Linda - 7:00 p.m.

Sun.,   Sept. 11^th - Ingathering service -

church begins new year.

Tues., Sept. 13^th - Men’s Lunch Group - 11:30 a.m.

Tues, Sept. 13^th - Board Meeting - 7:00 p.m.

Thurs., Sept. 15^th - Choir Practice - 7:00 p.m.

Thurs., Sept. 15^th - Will Shaw lecture at SIUE - evening.

Fri.,     Sept. 16^th - Alton gathering to meet Khleber and

Linda - 7:00 p.m.

Sat.,   Sept. 17^th - Florissant gathering to meet Khleber and

Linda - 7:00 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 24^th & Sun. Sept. 25^th - RE has booth

at Heritage Days in Godfrey.

Sun.,   Sept. 25^th - Potluck Lunch following services.

Sun.,   Sept. 25^th - “UU and You” begins - 12:00 noon.

Thurs., Sept. 29^th - Choir Practice - 7:00 p.m.

Fri.,     Sept. 30^th - Hymn Sing and Snack Fest - 7:00 p.m.

Sun.,    Oct.  2^nd - Committee Sunday - 9:00 a.m.

Men’s Lunch Group

The Men’s Lunch Group will meet at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, September 13^th at the Chinese Buffet at 2610 Homer Adams Parkway in Alton. This lunch meeting is planned as a regular event on the 2^nd Tuesday of each month.

“Getting to Know You”

Our minister Khleber, and his wife Linda, are looking forward to meeting you all - long-time members, new members, friends of the church, folks who have just started attending the church, and any one reading this newsletter!

We will be having gatherings in members’ homes in Edwardsville, Alton, and Florissant on three separate Friday evenings in September so you can get to know Linda and Khleber.

So, choose a date and a place that is most convenient for you and join others for conversation and light refreshments. Specific directions will be forthcoming via email or telephone.

On Friday, September 9^th the gathering will be at the home of Suganya Dhanamitt and Andy Russo in Edwardsville (russo246@charter.net.

On Friday, September 16^th the gathering will be at the home of Corinne Hawkins in Alton.

On Saturday, September 17^th the gathering will be at the home of Pam and Ted Loucks in Florissant ( loucks@sbcglobal.net.

For purposes of planning, it would be helpful if you would let the host where you want to attend know that you’ll be coming.

Marcia Custer

CHOIR Rehearsals

The “Alton Occasional Singers” want to be more than occasional! To help us do that this year we will be having choir practice at the church every other Thursday evening from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The first practice will be on September 1^st, with additional practices on September 15^th and 29^th.

Childcare will be provided.

EVERYONE is WELCOME and ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE.

Please get in touch with Cheryle Tucker-Loewe if you have questions about the Choir.

Happy Birthday Dear Church …

Happy Birthday to You

OUR CHURCH BUILDING is 100 YEARS OLD!

Yes, friends, although it doesn't look a day over 99, we will celebrate our church’s 100th birthday on October 16, 2005.  (The church was dedicated on October 29^th, 1905.) Help this celebration come together.  There are 3 boxes in the Wuerker Room.  One is labeled "Church Memories.”  Do you have a favorite church memory?  How about a photo to share?  Do you know something extra special about anyone on our "Wall of Fame?"  Or anyone not on the wall? Please deposit your thoughts and photos in the box labeled "Church Memories."  All photos will be returned unless otherwise specified so be sure to properly label them. The goal is to collect 100 memories, so you can submit more than one.

 Another box is labeled "Gathering History."   Help construct a timeline between 1905 and 2005 by selecting a slip or two from this box.  Each slip has a particular year on it.  Find something in history that happened during the year/years you chose and return the information to the box labeled "Timeline" or give it to Nancy Brunner.

Sunday Pot Luck Lunch

September 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.

Anna D Sparks Alliance Meeting

This month the meeting is on the 2^nd Thursday

The September meeting of the Anna D Sparks Alliance will be at the home of Corinne Hawkins in Alton on Thursday, September 8^th. Please meet at 11:30 a.m. for lunch and a program to be given by Virginia Strohecker, formerly a member of the Alton Unitarian Church and now a very active member of the Unitarian Church of Champaign-Urbana.

All women of the church are cordially invited and reservations will be taken by Corinne or by Lorli Nelson who will do the calling.

“Come Sing a Song With Me”

We will be having church-wide (that means everyone!) Hymn Sing and Snack Fest on Friday evening, September 30^th starting at 7:00 p.m. Bring your favorite snack to share and help make the rafters ring! Childcare will be provided for the little ones, and older children will be encouraged to join in music making!

William Shaw Lecture at SIUE

The William C. Shaw Lecture is scheduled for Thursday evening, Sept. 15^th on the SIUE campus. The lecture will be given by the noted Cosmologist, Michael Turner, chairman of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Department at the University of Chicago. Further details regarding exact location and time will be sent out when they are available.

Will Shaw came to SIUE in 1959 and was active in the Alton Unitarian Church until his death in 1978. Lectures are every two years and open to the public at no charge. Will was very interested in promoting physics and astronomy to non-science students, and lecture speakers are asked to make the talks interesting to all.

RE NEWS

Dear Parents and Friends,

This is our annual time for new beginnings. We will begin our church year on September 11^th with an intergenerational Ingathering service in the sanctuary. RE classes will begin the following Sunday, September 18^th. We will again be divided into three different age groups for these classes. Please see the RE brochure for information as to what these classes will be covering. The pre-school class will serve those children ages 2-5. The primary class will serve those children in Kindergarten through Grade 4. The middle school class serves those in grades 5 through 8. If you have any questions or concerns about these age groupings, please do not hesitate to come and speak with me about them.

I will be handing out registration forms to all parents during the first few weeks of RE. Please make sure that these get filled out and returned to me as soon as possible. This is where I get important information about your children and families so that I can take care of any special situations before they arise as problems.

On September 24^th - 25^th, we are having a booth at Heritage Days at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey. We will have historical information on our church available to the public, and we hope to be able to do some fun demonstrations with flour grinding and composting education. Anyone who is interested in participating in this event, or helping plan and prepare for it should contact Stacey and Mark Wolff or me. Period costume is required. Again see either Mark and Stacey or me for information on costuming. This should be both a fun and educational event, and I hope that we have good participation from both children and adults.

Looking ahead at some other activities that are planned this year, as we have done for the past few years, the children will be invited to come to church in costume on the Sunday before Halloween, October 30^th. The only costume requirement that we have is that there be no overt weaponry please. During coffee hour on this day, the children will be trick-or-treating for UNICEF. This was done last year and was very successful. We raised approximately $140 for this cause in about 20 minutes. Please start saving your change now and bring it in on that date to help us to beat last year’s amount this year.

I still have some teaching spots available for this church year. Please come and see me if you are interested in helping educate OUR children. Any artists in the congregation may be interested in teaching the middle school class this year as their ongoing year-long project is to create a mythological wall mural.

As always the most important thing that you can do to ensure your child’s religious education is to encourage regular attendance. Our curricula often build from week to week, and having the same children show up week after week helps to foster UU relationships with our children.

I always welcome any comments or feedback that any of you may have.

Thank you, Jamie Gross

Uprooting Racism

by Paul Kivel

This book will be used in the 9:30 a.m. Adult Religious Enrichment program led by Beth Nalick starting September 11^th. Please plan to attend.

“Uprooting Racism” is a supportive how-to book by Paul Kivel designed to help white people act on the conviction that racism is wrong. It helps us understand the dynamics of racism in our society, institutions, and daily lives. The book features timely discussions of affirmative action, immigration issues, institutional racism, humor, political correctness, and the meaning of whiteness. It includes specific consideration of Latino/a, Asian Americans, African American, Native American and Jewish issues. It also explores how entrenched racism has been revealed in the new economy, voting rights, increased anti-Arab attacks, and health care policy .

Thank You to Work Day Volunteers

At our August Work Day fifteen church members and friends showed up to do their share in keeping our church and its grounds in good repair. The next Work Day will be in early November, and hopefully YOU will be able to give a few hours to help out. It’s fun - we socialize, share a meal, and feel good that we can see the difference our efforts have made.

A thank you goes to:

Jamie and Alex Gross

Mary and Jerry Johnson

Pat and Jim Moore

Marcia Custer and Gerry Gilman

Stacey and Mark Wolff

Khleber Van Zandt

Lisa Alton

Ken Hoeft

Lorna McElhone

Tom Allred

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)

1 September - Bill Fischer

3 September - Jim Moore

4 September - Elizabeth Leavell

10 September - Denise Maxwell

10 September - Mary Lu McManus

10 September - Roger Thorogood

13 September - Phil Finley

13 September - Bette Yakubian

14 September - Mona Hebert

19 September - Jen Politsch

20 September - David Kraus

23 September - Matt Hallett

COMMITTEE MEETING SUNDAY -
OCTOBER 2^nd

Please mark your calendars. The first Committee Meeting Sunday of the new church year will be on October 2^nd.

This is time made available for each committee to do planning for the upcoming months.

Refreshments will be available at 9:00 a.m. with committee meetings beginning at 9:15 a.m.

No other programming is scheduled from

9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 2^nd.

Childcare will be available.

Church Directory Updates 2005

If you have any corrections for the directory please contact the church office.

New Member

FINLEY, PHIL*

Address change

MURRAY, AMY*

RUSSO, ANDREW* and DHANAMITT, SUGANYA* 

VOZAK, FRANK H., JR.*

New Email

CARTER, BEVERLY* Ma6601@sbcglobal.net

FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH church@firstuualton.org