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May Theme: Creativity
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Have you noticed that our monthly themes often flow easily one into the other? In this calendar year, for example, we began with intention and moved directly into perseverance. Who among us doesn't appreciate that it takes perseverance (commitment and energy) to maintain that intention? From perseverance we examined balance, noting that from time to time we can be so focused on something new that we lose our sense of balance. In April, then, our first month of spring, we paused to see what might have emerged from it all.
So, now May comes and invites us to imagine what it might mean to be a people of creativity, well, it feels like an abrupt change.
However, I think it is an excellent fit. After all, as new things emerge, even when it is something we wanted and hoped for, it is rare that our trajectory with it is smoothly onward and upward.
We may push against a theme like creativity, defensively arguing "I'm not creative." However, more and more I realize that creativity is not something we possess. It is not something we have or don't, but rather it is something that happens when we are open and engaged with others and with life.
Neuroscientist Beau Lotto speaks to the reality that as a species we evolved as a result of our forebears ability to avoid predators. They knew friend from foe and developed a high twitch response to danger. Now, Lotto says, "We do almost everything to avoid uncertainty. And yet the irony is that that is the only place we can go if we're ever going to see differently. And that's why creativity always begins the same way: it begins with a question. It begins with not knowing. It begins with a "why." It begins with a "What if?""
For JUC, of course, this is a wonderful time to explore creativity. Our congregational meeting last month with its exceptional attendance and submitted absentee ballots had us fully engaged with the question of whether we should continue to look for a larger property. While the vote was not unanimous, it did illustrate just how much we care about our congregation and its future. In deciding that our search for a different place for our church, we quite clearly are embracing a "what if?" The work is just beginning and it will be supported by the creativity of all of us and our process.
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Spring Congregational Meeting
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Sunday, May 20 - 12:30 p.m.
Please plan to attend! Light lunch will be available for a donation and child care is provided.
Agenda items will include:
- Making Room Update
- 2017-18 Annual Report;
- Introduction of 2018-19 lay leaders;
- Elect Board Trustees (nominees for 3-year terms: Andrea Aikin, Case Collard, Heather Hagemann; nominee for a 1-year term: Paula Menten);
- Elect Leadership Nominating Committee members (nominees for 3-year terms: John Hambright, Dorothy Smith);
- Elect Endowment and Memorial Gift Trust Directors (nominees for 3-year terms: Rachelle Trujillo, David Entwistle; nominee for 1-year term: Lark Birdsong);
- Approve 2018-19 annual operating budget (please see the article below regarding the budget process)
Friends and newcomers are welcome to attend and will be given the courtesy of the floor, but only members who have signed the Membership Book no later than April 20 may vote.
Absentee Ballots will be available from the church office by Friday, May 4 and are due back no later than 9 a.m. on Thursday, May 17. A 15% quorum is necessary to conduct the business of this meeting; absentee ballots will not count toward this quorum.
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2018-19 Budget Process
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The Congregational Meeting scheduled for
May 20
includes a vote on the JUC 2018-2019 Budget. The budget process includes these steps:
- Staff members coordinate with group lay leaders to create budget requests for program areas.
- The Administrator creates a Compensation Review document including data from various UUA and non-profit/church resources for each job position.
- The Senior Minister, in consultation with other supervisors recommends position and salary changes.
- The Administrator completes budgeting for building and grounds, and other operational expenses.
- The Administrator and Senior Minister recommend a budget to the Board of Trustees which is then brought to the Congregation for a vote.
There will not be any Budget Forum meetings. Carol will address individual questions. Please call (303-279-5282) or
email her by Wednesday, May 16. She will be on vacation beginning Thursday, May 17.
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Transitions
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Joan Cattanach
will be held
Saturday, June 2 at 1 p.m.
A memorial service for
Chet Cromwell will be held
Sunday, June 3 at 3 p.m.
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Welcome Our New Members
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Kate Kyanne
comes to us from Wheat Ridge, and her hobbies include kayaking and hiking.
Katiana Brenner is a 3rd grade teacher whose interests include reading, community service, and hiking.
David Holle and Laura Lizut both enjoy music, kids, and the outdoors.
Bob and Elinor Williams are both retired and their varied interests include energy research, hiking, knitting, gardening, and camping.
Bradley Cook is a realtor whose interests include music, fiction writing, and cars.
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All-Church Picnic
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Sunday, June 10 at 10 a.m.
Maple Grove Park
We'll begin with a short worship service under the blue Colorado sky followed by fun for all ages.
Food trucks will be on hand or bring your own lunch. Music will be provided by some of JUC's favorite musical talents. There will be bounce houses, multi-generational games, and more. It promises to be a fun time for all!
Please bring your own blankets or chairs.
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We Are Family
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1st Wednesdays
in May and June
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:30 p.m. Worship
Join us twice per month for a fellowship dinner ($5 per person) followed by a lively and brief family-centered worship. We use ritual, song and story for a multi-age worship that fills the heart and grows the spirit. All ages are encouraged to attend.
May Menu:
Wednesday, May 2:
Chicken Enchiladas
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Emergence and Planned Giving
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Rev. Wendy proposed that emergence is an invitation to risk our way into a bigger becoming. Rev. Eric observed that: What we are, came from what was before us. We pass on what we become to those who come after us, to use for themselves and pass on to those who follow them. We are a part of the community of life. Planned giving is a tangible way to keep the fruits of life moving through the human community to benefit those we love and the institutions we cherish.
We invite you to include JUC in your estate plan so that it can carry on its creative vital work to future generations.
Contact JUC's planned giving coordinators:
Bud Meadows
,
Mike Kramer
or
Carol Wilsey
.
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Call for General Assembly Delegates
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General Assembly is the annual meeting of our Unitarian Universalist Association. Attendees worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy for the Association through democratic process. Anyone may attend; congregations must certify annually to send voting delegates.
The 2018 General Assembly will be June 20-24 in Kansas City, Missouri. Most General Assembly events will be held in the Kansas City Convention Center.
If you would like to serve as a
delegate
for JUC, apply using this form.
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Shop With Scrip at Amazon.com
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Want to help JUC earn
5 times more
than with
Amazon Smile?
You can do that when you pay for your Amazon purchases using
electronic scrip purchased through JUC's scrip program at:
Choose one of these ways to begin!
If you'd like help: Stay after either service one of the Getting Started Sundays on May 6 and 20
Stations in the commons will be staffed with people to make it easy. Make an appointment or show up for the first available spot.
If you want to try it on your own:
Swing by the table on the above dates and pick up an instruction sheet.
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Travel the World
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The JUC Travel The World group meets on the second Tuesday of the month. Our next meeting on Tuesday,
May 8 at 7 p.m.
will be about travel in Scandinavia... Norway, Sweden and Finland... and if time permits, an extension in glorious St. Petersburg, Russia! Everyone welcome - bring your traveling friends!
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Music and Creativity
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The Music Ministry at JUC is at its heart a creative ministry. Music, in the minds of most of us, falls into one of the areas of life that is inherently creative. When someone makes music, silence becomes sound. Something that did not at first exist, is created and fills the space.
I agree that music is by nature a creative act. Perhaps less obvious, I also believe that music is never a solitary creative act. Music must be and always is a result of interaction and is therefore a communal act.
But what about the painfully beautiful violin solo? What about the solitary midnight guitar jam in the garage? Yes, I believe even these are not lonely moments but interactions, and here's why.
Music is movement. Music is created by air moving, sound waves, vibrations. There can be no music without something moving through space, and if there is movement, something eventually receives the movement. There is a physical point where the sound wave is created and a point where it is received. Every vibration is an interaction of string, wood, metal, animal skin, reed, and of course the ears of those who hear the music.
I would also argue that the best music is designed to be created in community. Think of your favorite band playing Red Rocks. Think of an orchestra playing Mozart.
Think of our beloved JUC choirs, the voices of long-time dedicated members and children and teens, blending and harmonizing to create something no one voice can produce alone. Think of our bells ringers, each in time adding one strike of a bell, and all the bells together resonating through the church.
Think also of yourself, raising your voice, no matter how musical you may think you are. Your voice becomes part of the creation of music in all our worship experiences together. That vibration you make, be it tiny or vibrant, is sound in motion, and therefore you are a creative music maker too.
On Sunday, May 13, I hope you will be present in the Sanctuary for an especially creative service, a service where you will be part of the creation of the music in a very fun and unique way. Through sounds and singing together, the choir and I will lead us all through a community music making experience that rhythmically and musically embodies this month's question: What does it mean to be a people of creativity? I hope you will join us.
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Parking Etiquette at JUC
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 As most of you have experienced, parking can be a challenge at times here at JUC. Here are some options to make it easier on you and others:
- Use the east lot at Maple Grove Park 1/2 block west - we have an agreement with the park district that we can park in the east lot. The west lot is reserved for Arbor House users, so please don't park there.
- Park at the Applewood Golf Course - they have a HUGE lot, so take advantage of that and good weather to get a little bit of exercise. Your fitbit will show results.
- Please be sure to leave the Accessible Parking spots for those who need them. You should have documentation of need in or on your vehicle to use one of those parking spots.
- Please do not block the fire lane or park where there is not a marked spot.
- Please do not park on 32nd Ave. as it is not safe to do so.
- The neighbors on Gardenia Street are not too happy to have churchgoers parking there. If you do choose to, please be considerate. Don't use driveways or private property to turn around, and watch for children and pets.
Please also be very careful turning in and out of our lot. Especially now that the weather is good, there are a lot of bicycles. They may be moving faster than they appear - as do some cars. Safety first!
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It's Official, We Are Making Room
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By now, the news has spread - JUC members have voted to
Make Room
. To be specific, the motion at the April 15
th
Special Congregational Meeting to authorize the board to look for a new location was approved 300 to 40. That was nearly 88% of us saying YES to the vision of a larger campus to grow our ministries and better fulfill our mission. To everyone who took part in the conversation, thank you for participating in the important business of our beloved church.
Now the real work begins.
At the meeting, Tom Goodreid, a member of the Property Evaluation Task Force (PETF), mentioned that a potential property has risen to the surface. Now the PETF will dive into the details of this leading contender while also scanning the horizon for other possibilities in our search area. With such a momentous project, there's a lot to figure out, and since it's early in the process, most information must remain strictly confidential for now. Once the PETF recommends a property to the Board, and the Board approves, the very next step will be to announce the property to the congregation. At that time, there will be a plan in place for strong congregational involvement.
We will discuss and dream about this property together before scheduling a congregational vote to purchase.
So when will we figure out what we can afford? Our outside stewardship consultants advise that we wait to begin the Financial Feasibility Study (FFS) until we have a property clearly identified. There's no way to precisely predict that timeline, but that will probably take at least six weeks, and possibly more. The FFS itself will take time to conduct and evaluate. Following this, alongside much additional work and input from architects, designers, and our members, the Board will decide whether to recommend a specific property to the congregation for a vote. Yes, that's a lot to accomplish. And yes, it will take a lot of patience.
In the meantime, check out the Making Room website for the latest updates.
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The 2018-19 Budget
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Tom Goodried, Trustee
Perhaps contrary to appearances, not all of the Board's time and energy of late have been spent on the Making Room initiative. In addition to work on that project, the Board also has continued to tackle its regular slate of tasks.
Among these is the review and adoption for approval by the Congregation of the Church's annual budget for the 2018-2019 church year. Deficit spending typically is not in vogue anywhere outside the hallowed halls of Congress. In our Church, the Board has always, at least within memory, succeeded in presenting a balanced budget to the Congregation. This year is no exception as a balanced budget again will be presented for approval at next month's regularly scheduled, semiannual Congregational meeting (Sunday, May 20 at 12:30 p.m.).
However, the Board struggled with the budget this spring perhaps more so than most years. This was caused not by a lack of any soundness of the Church's finances, but rather by the desire to move towards the accomplishment of a long cherished goal: fair and adequate compensation of the Church's extraordinary staff, including our senior minister. The proposed budget does include raises for Wendy and for other staff members, but the increases are not yet significant enough to bring these individuals' pay and benefits into line with those of others in similar sized churches within our movement. We are making progress. Without delving into the fine details of pledging, programmatic budgeting, and wages within the narrow confines of this column, let us agree for the moment that our Church still has work to do in this area in the years ahead.
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Support JUC's Team for the NAMI Walk
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 Join your fellow JUCers on Saturday, May 19 in Centennial Park.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness is a strong advocate that works to combat the stigma of mental illness and provides a variety of free resources to help people deal with the challenges of Mental Illness. Considering recent disturbing events in our country, we hope you will take this opportunity to stand against the stigma of Mental Illness and support the work of NAMI.
You can help to continue the work of this valuable organization. Register to walk with us on or to make a donation on behalf of a member of our team. You can also contribute to the Special Plate Collection for NAMI on Sunday, May 20. Visit us at the Mental Wellness Advocates table in the commons between services on Sundays May 6 and 13. We'll be happy to answer your questions and provide information on NAMI and the upcoming walk.
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Green Task Force "Pathways to Personal Sustainability" Workshop during Earth Month: April 2018
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This month, the Green Task Force offered
the
"Bringing It Home"
themed
4-week
program Paths to Personal Sustainability.
This idea was initially
conceived after Steve's
Chalice Lighting on Sunday April 23, 2017
when there was interest in knowing what we could each do as individuals.
Then in November 2017 and in January 2018, the JCRES/CRES Monthly Meetings covered
Motivations: Climate Science, Ethics, Generational Justice, Social Justice
and Personal Responsibility
. Also, there
were two case studies of lifestyle energy turnarounds.
Paths to Personal Sustainability covered:
Week 1: Calculating carbon footprints from personal food, water; sewer, transport and h
ome u
tility Usage.
Attic/c
eiling energy/insulation upgrade potentials.
Week 2: Energy aspects of walls, windows, doors, vestibules.. and potential upgrades which can be either DIY or contracted.
Week 3: Heating, cooling, hot domestic water, major appliances, controlling energy usage
, eliminating energy waste and selecting energy currencies which have the least carbon effects
.
Week 4: Incorporating renewables, DIY atmospheric carbon renewal, sociological factors, solar access,
case studies and
planning for personal transformation.
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 Sara Lohaus
JUC uses a year round pledge system in which each household is asked annually during their pledging month to renew. Pledging is a part of our regular work all year rather than just one big push, and so you will be seeing some messages like mine over
the
course of
the
year.
My husband Peter and I first walked through the doors of JUC on Sept. 11, 2002 to attend a one-year anniversary service of remembrance for those who lost their lives on 9/11. We stood with members of the community and sang the hymn "This is My Song," to the moving tune of Finlandia. The words etched themselves into my soul and I've never forgotten the impact of that evening.
At the time, we were actively involved members of a UCC church and weren't searching for another religious home. But having been members of Unitarian churches in North Carolina and Oregon, we kept wondering if JUC wouldn't be a better place for us. After visiting several times, we were so impressed by the dynamic sense of community, we became members 12 years ago. I can't count the number of times I've thought or said, "What did we ever do before we joined JUC?"
This community provides profound enrichment to my life. Worship services touch my heart as I recharge for the week. Small group discussions offer me opportunities to reflect on life questions and spiritual development. And I have the chance to focus on "we" instead of "me" through my involvement with Pastoral Care, Family Promise and Mental Wellness Advocates.
We were very thankful for the support our family received from the ministers and members of JUC during a very difficult time when our daughter-in-law lost her long battle with cancer last year, and our son became a single parent to our three teen-age grandchildren. Ambria, the oldest, moved here to live with us while attending Metro State. We are so grateful for the way she has been embraced by JUC while serving as a part-time office assistant.
It is very apparent that all the benefits we receive as members, and the social justice programs reaching outside our walls, are only possible because we pull together with our support. A recent sermon by minister emeritus Robert Latham helped me shift my understanding of pledging. Instead of considering it a sacrifice, I now see it as a privilege to make a financial commitment to a community that is so important to me.
I hope that when it's your time to pledge, you will
think about what this religious home for the liberal spirit means in your life, and consider making an increase.
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