January 2019 Communicator
Volume 36 Issue 1
|
|
Come Worship with Us in January!
|
|
Possibility
In our New Member Covenanting “5 Smooth Stones” ceremony, one of the stones new members receive is the Stone of Possibility- the reminder that we as humans and as a human group (aka UUCFM) are full of possibility. Revelation is not sealed up and finished; it is ongoing. So this month we explore what is possible, for ourselves and for our world. A Perspective of Possibility opens the mind and heart to what can be learned and where one or we are called to grow. This month you are invited to cultivate this perspective, grounded in our UU Living Tradition.
Rev. Allison Farnum
|
|
Sunday, January 6th, 10:30am Service
Be sure to join us this Sunday when our Director of Religious Education leads us in understanding more about how everything we do at UUCFM is faith formation. As the great liberal religious educator Angus McLean once wrote,
The Method is the Message.
How we do things is as important as what we hope to do.
|
|
Community Sharing in January
The GRACE (Guatemalan Rural Adult and Childrens’ Education) Project began in 1997 and grew through collaborations between the Lee County School District’s Migrant Education Program, the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (FCAHT), the Florida Migrant Interstate Program at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), and our congregation's very own member Genelle G. Grant, Ed.D is the director.
At least 10% of the Hispanic population in Lee County are in farmworker or indigenous families, and speak an indigenous language first and Spanish for their second language. Some have only attended elementary school, some do not read or write in any language, and some are undocumented immigrants. Please be generous and remember our Community Sharing partner this month. Thank you!
|
|
|
|
The Humanist Forum meets every Sunday at 9:15 am in Hobart Hall. All are welcome to attend.
|
|
|
|
Sunday's Social Hour happens after the service every week. It is volunteer run- by the Women's Circle on the first Sunday, CUUPs on the second, Humanist Forum on the third, Men's Group on the fourth, and if there is a fifth Sunday, it is All Church. Any donations of food, snacks or cash are welcome.
|
|
|
|
SPARK
is our newest youth group. Exclusively for children ages five to nine, Spark meets weekly from 12-1pm in Room 2 to explore Unitarian Universalism and learn more about our church and each other.
[email protected]
|
|
Music News
The UUCFM Choir
rehearses most Wednesday nights from 6:45-8:15 pm, and on Sunday mornings from 9-10 am in the sanctuary. It's free and there are no auditions. Come join us in singing!
The UUCFM Band
rehearses most Wednesday nights from 6:00-6:45 pm, and on Sunday mornings from 9-10 am in the Sanctuary. If you would like to play your instrument during a Sunday service, please email me to coordinate the details.
Come join us in making music together!
Suellen Kipp, Director of Music
|
|
Membership
The Membership Ministry Team is making plans for our January New Member Ceremony. Anyone interested in becoming a new member, please contact
[email protected]
to receive your membership enrollment kit.
Have You Met These Members?
We have two Karen Browns, Karen Joyce and Karen Betty (KB) .
KAREN BETTY BROWN ,known as KB, joined 2 years ago. She is newly retired December 14, 2018 from being a Librarian at Indiana University of Pennsylvania,
Karen and her spouse, Carolyn Thompson, have been married 4 years and in a committed relationship for 24 years. They winter here in Fort Myers. They enjoy the Sunday services on the listen-live link on our website when not in Florida. KB's current interests include choral singing, pickle ball, and biking. She looks forward to discovery new interests as she transitions into retirement.
KAREN JOYCE BROWN, joined us on August 31, 2018. She says UU involvement has sustained her spirit for the past 40 years. Karen J. has had leadership positions in UU churches in Maryland, Indiana, Massachusetts and New Jersey. She volunteered for our Village Council and helped out at our recent Arts & Crafts Fair. Karen says "I'm elated that I found such a warm and welcoming congregation with you and look forward to spending my retirement years as a faithful partner in the service of our faith."
|
|
|
|
Family Friendly Good Old Fashioned Cookout
|
Leslie and Doc Gatto are holding a cookout on Saturday, January 12th at 12:30 pm. The menu is burgers (beef or bean), hot dogs, beans, chips, s'mores and soft drinks. If you would like to attend, make a $10 per person donation to UUCFM (children 12 and under are FREE! ) and let me know you are coming. This was an offering at last year's service auction. The more the merrier!
|
|
|
|
UUCFM will be having a fundraising Casino Night on Saturday, January 26th from 7:00-9:30 PM in Hobart Hall. Casino night will feature Roulette, Black Jack, Poker, and a Wheel of Fortune. $25 ticket includes
$3,000 in chips, and light refreshments. There will be a cash bar. Our Scout Troop is giving their time to present this night as a thank
you for being with us. Last year, Paloma Siebert won over a million "dollars" as the High Stakes person. We need everyone's support to make this fun evening happen by your help in
inviting friends and neighbors.
for her after the Sunday service in Hobart Hall.
|
|
|
|
Service Auction-Save the Date
|
The Annual Service Auction will be Saturday evening, February 16th. Stay tuned for details!
|
|
We want you to join the
UUCFM Men's Social Group.
We meet on the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 11:45 am at the Cross Creek Country Club Clubhouse/Restaurant off Daniel's Parkway. For 2019, we are planning fun social activities as well as action sessions on what the Men's Group can do to help UUCFM. For information, contact Denis Jensen at 215-436-5748 or email.
|
|
|
Calling All Women at UUCFM!
Starting January 22nd and continuing every 4th Tuesday, there will be a noon potluck in Hobart Hall. Bring a dish to share and your own beverage. The program for the 22nd is a vote on a nickname for us-
Sisters in Spirit?, Wonder Women? (bring other suggestions), and a Guided Walk about our 13 acres. Wear closed toed shoes for the gravel and natural areas.
Feb. 26th, Noon, Program: Memories, bring a very much younger photo and we'll Guess Who!
March 26th, Noon, Program: Adventure Travel, Dorothy in Egypt, Joy in Australia....Bring your travel pics and story.
April 23rd, Noon, Program:To Be Decided
For contact information: Dorothy Van Howe, 239-560-7238,
|
CUUPs
The Covenant of UU Pagans will meet on Sunday, January 13th at noon in Room 7. It is our first meeting of the year and lots of things are planned for this new year. It is our membership time, planning for Imbolc, Love portions and Laughter, and workshops with interactive hands on learning. We welcome all that wish to join in. Family with children are welcome. We would love to hear how we can best serve our larger community. May this year be from our hands working with each other for empowerment with, not over. With all Faith, love, hope and peace we hold each other, hand to heart and heart to hand.
|
|
|
Adult OWL begins Wednesdays 6:30-8:00 pm January 9, 2019 in Room 7. Honest and accurate information about sexuality changes lives. It dismantles stereotypes and assumptions, builds self-acceptance and self-esteem, fosters healthy relationships, improves decision making, and has the potential to save lives. For these reasons and more, we are proud to offer
Our Whole Lives
(OWL), a comprehensive, lifespan sexuality education. Contact
[email protected]
to sign up
|
|
|
The UUCFM 15+ Group is comprised of UUCFM members who have belonged to UUCFM for at least 15 years. Some churches call this type of group Church Elders -- but this group of "elders" chose to be called the 15+ Group! We will be meeting at noon in the Narthex on Sunday, January 13, 2019. If you would like to have an item put on the agenda, please contact Ellen Erickson
[email protected]
or 239-694-6833.
|
|
|
Next Connection Circle to Begin January 27th
Calling all visitors and new and long-time members who want to get to know each other in a deep and meaningful way to come to the next Connection Circle! Bond with others in this facilitated group by discussing different spiritual topics as they pertain to your life. Always lively and heart-felt, participation in the Connection Circle is a great way to meet new folks and to deepen connections to those you already know. This facilitated 6-session group will meet from 12:15-1:45 pm after church in a classroom (to be determined) beginning January 27th and continue on 2/10, 2/24, 3/10, 3/24, and 4/14.
Participants are expected to attend all 6 sessions.
For more information and to
register
, please contact Nancy Letts at
[email protected]
or call at 401-741-2712.
|
|
|
If you would like more information on our 2019 Great Decisions series, please email Helen Leddy at
[email protected]
. Great Decisions meets on Thursday evenings in Hobart Hall in February and March.
|
|
|
Join us on Monday evenings to explore the simple and satisfying practices of mindfulness and meditation. You don’t need experience with meditation, nor do you have to be a Buddhist. Please bring intention to quiet the mind and body in a supportive group of UU members and friends with a similar intention - people who want to carry mindfulness into their daily lives. We meet Mondays from 6:30-8:00p in the Sanctuary. If you have any questions, please contact Gary Robbins at
[email protected].
|
|
|
Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhist Group
|
The Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhist group meets Sundays in Room 1. All are welcome to join us. We have a new meeting time- 2:00-4:00 pm.
|
|
|
|
|
Please join us for Chef Joy's Community Wednesday Dinners at 6:00 pm each Wednesday. We will be serving salad, soup and entree. The price is $5.00. The meal is vegetarian, but every other week will feature a meat item alternate.
Community Activities for January:
6:00-6:45
Band Rehearsal in Sanctuary
6:45-8:00
Choir Rehearsal in Sanctuary
6:45-8:00
Spiritual Discussion group January 9th thru May 2019 in Room 2.
|
|
Thursday, January 3
6:30 PM
Hobart Hall
Pachamama Alliance is proud to host
Rob Moher,
President and Executive Director of The Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
Protecting Southwest Florida’s unique natural environment and quality of life…now and forever.
Understanding the World We Live In:
Southwest Florida is an ecosystem so rich with diversity it rivals the wildest places on earth. We are fortunate to live among the spectacular network of water, land and wildlife. For more than 50 years the Conservancy of Southwest Florida has been working to protect our natural assets for future generations. Learn about our unique approach to finding a sensible balance between a growing population, and preserving very reasons that attracted us to Southwest Florida. Find out more about who we are, what we do, and why it is important to you.
|
|
|
South Fort Myers Food Pantry
|
The support that UUCFM has shown to our pantry over the years is greatly appreciated and along with other coalition members' support it has helped the South Fort Myers Food Pantry (FMFP) to feed 23,000 people in need during 2017. The Harry Chapin Food Bank is vital to our mission, to feed the needy of South Fort Myers, at a very modest cost. They are however, making some changes at Harry Chapin.
In the past, members of our congregation have financially supported the pantry by donating directly to the pantry or by sending checks to the Harry Chapin Food Bank with the stipulation the funds were to support the SFMFP. The Food Bank would then place the funds in a "Designated Grant" account for our use to purchase food. They are eliminating these accounts. As of August 1, 2018 any checks they receive in support of one particular pantry will be returned to the sender. Therefore, our pantry is requesting that any monetary donations be sent directly to and made out to:
The South Fort Myers Food Pantry
If you feel strongly about your donation being only for food and not for operating expenses, write "for food only" on the memo line. The pantry relies on the support of the coalition churches for the funds and the volunteers needed. There are no paid positions and it takes hundreds of volunteer hours and thousands of dollars each month to accomplish our mission. If you have questions call Fran Rose and leave a message at 617-750-0470.
|
|
|
|
|
If you have any caring concerns, please contact our Caring Network coordinator, Neil Yesu at
[email protected]
|
|
Our UU Story
Michael Servetus Publishes "Errors of The Trinity"
Later Burned at The Stake
Michael Servetus (1509 or 1511-October 27, 1553), a Spaniard martyred in the Reformation for his criticism of the doctrine of the trinity and his opposition to infant baptism, has often been considered an early Unitarian.
While studying law at the University of Toulouse in France, he read the Bible, which the invention of the printing press had made newly and dangerously available. He was surprised to find the trinity nowhere explicitly mentioned, much less defined, in the sacred text.
In 1531, he published
De Trinitatis Erroribus
(
On the Errors of the Trinity
). He thought of the trinity as manifesting an "economy" of the forms of activity which God could bring into play. Christ did not always exist. Once but a shadow, he had been brought to substantial existence when God needed to exercise that form of activity. In some future time he would no longer be a distinct mode of divine expression. Servetus called the crude and popular conception of the trinity, considerably less subtle than his own, "a three headed Cerberus." (In Greek mythology Cerberus is a three-headed dog-like creature of the underworld.)
He charged orthodox trinitarians with creating their doctrine of the trinity, not to describe God, but to puff themselves up as central to God's concern. Because they defined God to suit their own purposes, he called them atheists.
When Servetus published the
Restitutio
in early 1553 he sent an advance copy to Geneva. The printed text included thirty of his letters to Calvin. Soon afterward, at Calvin's behest, the identity of "Villeneuve" was betrayed to the Catholic Inquisition in Vienne. After his arrest and interrogation Servetus managed to escape from the prison. On his way, perhaps, to northern Italy where, he believed, there were people receptive to his writings, he made his way across the border to Geneva. Recognized at a Geneva church service, he was arrested and tried for heresy by Protestant authorities.
The secular officials were unable to establish that Servetus was an immoral disturber of the public peace. Nevertheless, he made damaging theological statements in the course of a written debate with Calvin. The Council of Geneva, after receiving the advice of churches in four other Swiss cities, convicted Servetus of antitrinitarianism and opposition to child baptism. Calvin asked that Servetus be mercifully beheaded. The Council insisted he should be burned at the stake.
Public criticism of those responsible for his execution, the Reform Protestants in Geneva and their pastor, John Calvin, moreover, inspired unitarians and other groups on the radical left-wing of the Reformation to develop and institutionalize their own heretical views.
Widespread aversion to Servetus' death has been taken as signaling the birth in Europe of religious tolerance, a principle now more important to modern Unitarian Universalists than antitrinitarianism .
Edited by Joy F. Sokeitous
About My UU Story
Each month, the Membership Committee would like to publish your UU story- either converted or born UUs. How did you become a UU, or how did our religion affect your life? Alternatively, do you have a one paragraph remembrance of your first reaction to being in a UU church and/or learning about the religion? To share your story, please contact Joy Sokeitous at
[email protected]
Joy will help you edit and she will provide questions to help you develop your story.
|
|
We are preparing for another year of UUCFM’s Bed and Breakfast program. Through the generosity of host families within our congregation, we have raised $3000 to $5000 a year for the church operating budget for many years. We provide this service to UUs and/or their friends from around the country. This program cannot happen without volunteers and we need your help!
What’s needed to be a host? The host provides one bedroom and bathroom and a basic breakfast each morning of the guests’ stay. The guests are usually one or two people. The breakfast can even be a “do it yourself” if your guests are early risers or you have to go to work and they want to sleep.
Do I have to entertain the guests or take them places? You are not expected to provide entertainment, transportation or extra food. For the most part, guests are off doing their own thing most of the day and evening.
When and for how long? Guests stay from one to seven nights during the months of January through April. (Most stay only two or three nights.) guests. I usually send out an email to all potential hosts when a request is received and the hosts respond as to their availability. Even if you can only host for two nights in March, for example, that is a big help. February and March tend to be in the biggest demand.
All money received from the guests as they stay in your home goes directly to UUCFM operating funds. I haven’t even mentioned how interesting and fun this experience can be for the hosts. We have met so many great UUs through this experience! Please consider being a host. Before you say no, talk to me! Just try it once…
Mary Nies
, Program Coordinator
239-466-7933
|
|
|
Did you know your purchases can make a difference? AmazonSmile donates to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers when you do your holiday shopping at
smile.amazon.com/ch/59-1160337
.
|
|
|
|
|
Do you have something to offer, trade, or sell? Are you looking for something? Free ad space here for personal items only. Will run ad for 4 weeks. Email
[email protected]
.
*I woud like to get rid of my pool table for $100.00. It includes 3 Cue sticks, all balls and rack, and misc. items.
Please see attached picture. I can be reached at 239-738-3473. I will deliver with your help. ~Mickey K.
|
|
NAMI LCH Family Connection
|
LCH Family Connection is a new program designed to provide peer-led education, support and system navigation guidance to families caring for a mentally ill loved one. Drawing extensively from the evidence-based curriculum of the NAMIFamily-to-Family Education Course, this new program will delve more deeply into several of the topics covered in class and allow the time and flexibility for discussion, support and sharing of coping skills and lived experiences to help and guide others. It will be held at:
Lee Memorial Hospital2776 Cleveland Avenuein Medical Room 3 Fort Myers, FL 33901
(must check in at front desk with valid ID and receive a visitors pass)
January 8 and 22, 2019 - For many families the first and often biggest challenge is simply getting your loved one to accept that they need help. We will use Class 2: The 3 Major Mental Illnesses/Critical Periods to explore strategies for getting your family member diagnosed and receiving treatment.
February 5 and 19, 2019 - Sometimes communicating with your ill family member can be difficult and frustrating. Using shared experience and Class 8: Communication Skills Workshop as a guide, we will learn specific techniques that can help you communicate with your ill family member in a more positive, effective manner.
March 5 and 19, 2019 - Mental illness affects the whole family and a treatment plan should involve them too. Using concepts from Chapter 6 we will explore the challenges of HIPAA and how to work WITH health care providers to ensure your family member is being properly treated and supported in their recovery.
April 2 and 16, 2019 - Pulling from an array of information throughout the Family-to-Family manual. we will discover and discuss what you can realistically expect from your ill loved one during an episode and also during recovery.
May 7 and 21, 2019 - Caring for an ill loved one takes a toll on individuals, families, and marriages. Including material from Class 9: Relative Groups and Self-Care we will be discussing the importance of self-care and some different ways we can care for ourselves and our healthy family members while caring for our ill loved one.
The time is from 7-8:30 PM on the above dates. Since space is limited, call the office to register at 239-337-9024. Education of the family is often a predictor of recovery in mental illness so please try to get the word out.
|
|
|
January 2 Roy Green
January 3 Marshall Hoffman is 7!
January 3 Julie Clark Ireland
January 4 Bruce Leddy
January 4 Adam Trummel
January 4 Neil Yesu
January 6 Elyana Hutson is 16!
January 8 Margie Kolde
January 10 Ellen Erickson
January 10 James Kolde
January 15 Torben Snow is 13!
January 19 Declan Ireland is 14!
January 23 Mel Cooper
January 26 Emily Hutchinson
|
|
Board of Trustees
President
President Elect
Secretary
Treasurer
VP Finance
Vacant
VP Programming
VP Ministerial Services
VP Operations
Member at Large
Staff
Minister
Director of Music
Director of RE
Office Manager
Building Supervisor
Nursery Supervisor
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
