The Overlook
Unitarian Universalist Church of Huntsville 
3921 Broadmor Rd., Huntsville, AL 35810  
September 13, 2018
Vol. 18 Issue 37
In This Issue
Upcoming Events
 
Thu. 9/13
Huntsville Feminist Choir 
6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Choir Room

PFLAG Support Meeting  
6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Adult RE Room


Sat. 9/15
Social Saturday 
Potluck Lunch 
11:00 a.m.
Fellowship Hall

John Jeter's Book Launch 
2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Fellowship Hall 


Sun. 9/16 
Soul Matters Small Groups
[Group D]
9:00 a.m.

Sunday Services
10:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Sanctuary

RE Fall Celebration
12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Church-wide Event


Mon. 9/17
Girl Scout Troop Meeting 
5:00 - 6:30 p.m.
Justice Room


Wed. 9/19
Wonderful Wednesdays Kickoff!
6:00 p.m.
Fellowship Hall

UUCH Choir
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Choir Room


Thu. 9/20
Huntsville Feminist Chorus 
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Choir Room


Sat. 9/22
Newcomers Party 
6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Off Site


Sun. 9/23 
Sunday Services
10:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Sanctuary

Book Sale Sorting Party
12:30 p.m.
BBVA Compass for Your Cause  

If you have a BBVA Compass account or are thinking of opening an account, you can use UUCH's organization code (136498) to help raise money for our church as part of the BBVA Compass for Your Cause program. See the link below for more information. 
 

Submitted by the Board 
Huntsville Assistance Program 
canned goods  
The Social Justice Committee has a goal to collect at least 100 items each month for the food pantry.
 
Please put your nonperishable food items or personal care products donation in the basket in the church foyer for the Huntsville Assistance Program (HAP).  
   
THANK YOU for your continued generosity! 
Awareness Through Movement
Returns Friday,
September 28, 
at 10:00 a.m.
 
The Feldenkrais Method of Awareness Through Movement class will start again with a series of lessons focused on improving balance and breathing by improving the use of the muscles that support the hips and lower back. These lessons will use small, gentle movement, imagination, and sensing. Mats will be provided, but feel free to bring anything you might need to make yourself comfortable lying on the floor. If you are unable to lie on the floor, please let us know, and we will make an accommodation for you.

This Adult RE class, led by Sally Locklear, is drop-in, with no experience necessary. Everyone is welcome. 

We will meet each Friday at 10:00 a.m., from September 28 to December 14.
 
UUCH Adult Religious Education focuses on the whole spiritual person --mentally and physically, so come join us!

For further information, contact Adult RE chair Nancy Finley

Submitted by the Adult RE Committee
UUkulele Fun Group
The UUkulele Fun Group is open to everyone, regardless of skill level.
 
The group meets every 2nd and 4th Wednesday at 5:45 p.m.
UUCH Choir
kids singing
The UUCH choir practices on Wednesdays in the Music Room. Our start time has changed to 7:00 p.m. Whether you know how to sing or would like to learn, we would love for you to join us! If you plan to attend but cannot, or if you have other inquiries, please contact Pam Siegler at 931-307-4994 or via email at  [email protected].
child
A New Year in Children and Youth Religious Education (CYRE)

The first day of the fall CYRE program will be September 16. If you have not done so already, please register your children and youth for this year's program. Paper registration is available at the church, or you can register online here.
 
Our usual age-based groups are listed below, and we will update you on any changes to this year's room configurations.

Nursery (ages infant to 3, staffed by experienced childcare providers);
 
Peace
(ages 4/Pre-K to grade1);
   
Justice  (grades 2-3);
 
Searchers  (grades 4-5);
 
Transformers  (grades 6-8);
 
YOUUTH  (grades 9-12)
 
This year's theme is INreach/OUTreach. CYRE groups will explore how to create a wonderful welcome at church and also how to reach outside our doors with special service projects. We expand on last year's theme, which explored our values as Unitarian Universalists and how we live our principles in the world. We have terrific curricula from UUA's Tapestry of Faith that incorporate "Faith in Action" projects. Lessons are highly interactive and story-based, with games, crafts, music, projects, and more! O lder youth will participate in an innovative program that engages small group ministry, learning, and outreach projects. 
 
We will continue to integrate our monthly Soul Matters worship themes with our stories, RE worship time, singing, and discussions. We begin the month of September with VISION! As always, children and youth are invited to pick up their name tags in the foyer and wear them while at church, just like everyone else. This is one way we welcome each other!
 
We are so pleased for your presence in the UUCH Children and Youth RE Program.
 
For more information, contact Erin Reid, Director of Religious Education (DRE), or Steve Rittenberg, CYRE Chair. 
 
Submitted by the Children and Youth RE Committee
Girl Scouts at UUCH

We are living the Girl Scout way at UUCH and looking for friends to join us! Girl Scouts at UUCH meet biweekly to enjoy adventures, friendship, and fun together. We are recruiting girls and helpers for the 2018-19 school year.

Please stop by our table in the Fellowship Hall after Sunday services to learn more about our troop! Or contact Harper Goodman for more information.

SHARE OUR POSTS!
Quick Links...
Join Our Mailing List
UUCH 2018-19
Board Members
 
President:  
Susan Coddington  
 
Vice-President: 
John Schulz

Secretary:
Nancy Finley

Treasurer: 
David Bollinger 

Trustees: 
Ed Bernstein
Theresa Miller

Nick Wilbourn
 
 
Interim Minister:
Rev. Edward L. Brock

Do you have an agenda item for the Board?  
The Board respectfully requests that all agenda items for the meeting be submitted to Board President Susan Coddington  no later than one week prior to the meeting (i.e. the Tuesday before). You may text or call her, or send a copy of your request to
[email protected]. The next UUCH Board Meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 25.

The Overlook is a publication of The Unitarian Universalist Church, 3921 Broadmor Rd., Huntsville, AL 35810


Interim Minister:
 

The Rev. Edward L. Brock

Board President:  

Susan Coddington    

Editorial Board:  

Kathy Heath
Nick Wilbourn 

 

Newsletter deadlines are each Monday at midnight.
Any committee with newsletter announcements should send submissions to news collator Willette Battle at
[email protected].  

 

Office Hours:

10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  
Monday - Friday

 

Office Phone: 256-534-0508
Email:
[email protected]

Minister's Email: [email protected]

Website: www.uuch.org 

 

Sunday Services are held 10:45 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Children's Religious Education held concurrently. Nursery available for age 3 years and under.

 

For more info on any event, contact the church office.

 
Upcoming Service
 
Sunday, September 16, 2018
        
" What Is Your Vision"
Reverend Ed Brock
 
Sunday I will explore the theme of vision by considering the question H ow does our history give us insight into a wise vision of where we want to go?
 
I want to explore our vision in terms of us as individuals, as well as each of us being a part of a community of faith.
This Sunday in Children and Youth Religious Education (CYRE)
 
It's the first Sunday of the fall RE program! Come rejoin old friends, make new friends, and launch your year in RE. Children and youth will begin new lessons on the theme of  INreach/OUTreach, exploring how to make a wonderful welcome at church and how to extend that welcome in service to our community and world. 

Stay after church for a CYRE Open House and Ice Cream Social. Ice cream will be served in the Fellowship Hall and on the playground. Take a look around the RE area, and enjoy the beautiful new art piece on the playground.
 
For more information, contact Erin Reid, Director of Religious Education, or Steve Rittenberg, CYRE Chair.

CYRE registration is now open! All families, new and returning, should register each year. Click here to register!   

We encourage all families to learn about the CYRE program and to register by September 16, our first day of Fall RE sessions.
Social Saturday - September 15 
Let's Do Lunch!
 
The second "Social Saturday" will be held on September 15, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. This event is a casual social time for people to get together, share a meal, chat, and maybe find out that they share a common interest. Anything can happen when UUs get together! So plan to come and join the group. 

It is a both a potluck and a brown-bag lunch, so your choice to bring a dish to share, or keep it simple and brown-bag it. Everyone is welcome, but seniors and new members are especially encouraged to attend, meet folks, and feel like part of our UUCH family. If enough interest is shown, it will become a monthly event. We hope to see you on September 15!

Sponsored by the Hospitality, Membership, and Care Committees


Snacks and drinks will be furnished. Doors open at 1:30 p.m., with book sale (at reduced rates) and signing from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. John  will discuss the stories, well as the writing process. Copies of John's 2007 novel  ...and the angels sang  will also be available.
Wonderful Wednesdays Kickoff!

Our first Wonderful Wednesday Supper for the season is planned for Wednesday, September 19, in the Fellowship Hall. Food will be served from 6:00 - 6:45 p.m. This is a Wonderful chance for Wonderful food and Wonderful fellowship with your fellow UUs in a casual, relaxed setting.

Family-friendly prices are as follows:
Adults -- $5
Children ages 3 to 12 yrs. -- $2
Children under 3 yrs. -- FREE
Family Maximum -- $15

So come alone, or bring the whole gang and enjoy a homestyle meal before choir practice or before you continue with the rest of your evening!

Sponsored by the Hospitality Committee
The Knit Wits
The UUCH Care Committee "Knit Wits" made and donated this beautiful quilt to Hospice Family Care.

The Knit Wits are part of the Care Committee. The Knit Wits make care shawls for church members undergoing health challenges, as well as baby blankets, and also take on a variety of other projects. You are welcome to join the group, and if you wish to learn to knit or crochet, there are good and patient teachers who would love to help you learn. You can also just come and chat.  No knitting skill is required!

The next Knit Wits meeting will be held on Friday, September 28, at 6:00 p.m. at Jefflyn's home in southeast Huntsville. We will be taking on a new project to extend the yarn-bombing on the playground fence with knitted and crocheted vegetables and fruit. 

Email Barbara Hitt  for more information. We hope you can join us for a relaxing evening with friends.

Sponsored by the Care Committee
2018 UUCH Book Sale

If you missed Sunday's service announcement, the 2018 UUCH Book Sale Committee's Coffee Cup Campaign has begun! We are gladly accepting donations of coffee and soup mugs that you may no longer need. Each mug will be tagged with all the necessary information about our sale from  Friday, September 28, to Sunday, September 30.

Mugs will then be distributed two weeks before the sale begins to those you know who like to read and buy books cheaply: neighbors; fellow UUCH members and visitors who may not have been to our Broadmor Road location lately; work colleagues; and relative strangers who you know could use a good book and free cuppa!

Information tags about the sale will also be made available after Sunday services for those UUCH members who wish to personalize their own invitations to the book sale by mug or other means.

Saturday, September 29, will be the ideal day for any UUCH member to bring a friend who might otherwise not be able to make it to our book sale. Mug recipients should be encouraged to bring them on Saturday (or Sunday for the lowest prices on books) for free hot cider, hot chocolate, coffee and tea. Baked goods will be available upon opening of Saturday's sale at 8:00 a.m.; soup and sliders will be available at 11:00 a.m. Coffeehouse music will be playing outside in our interior courtyard, which will be outfitted with cafe tables and chairs until Saturday's sale closes at 3:00 p.m.

Do you like Uno, Hearts, or board games? Bring your favorite form of entertainment, and contribute to our coffeehouse ambiance on both Saturday and Sunday! Our book sale provides just the right opportunity to familiarize others with our facility and the church family it supports.

Dates and times for the book sale are:
 
Friday, September 28
11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
 
Saturday, September 29
8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
 
Sunday, September 30
12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

We are requesting donations of baked goods for September 29. Please contact Dan McKitrick at [email protected], or by text at 256-426-6906, for more information. Pickup of books from your home will resume soon.
Come Out, Cook Out, Camp Out!
Interweave 's 7th annual evening of fun, camping, and cooking  out  on the fire will be Saturday, October 6. Join us beginning at 5:00 p.m. at Monte Sano State Park at our primitive camp site. 

Bring a lawn chair or blanket, and join us for food, fellowship, and campfire singing. If you'd like to bring some food or other supplies, please sign up Sunday in the fellowship hall or  online here.

Please note: you do not have to camp out overnight. You're welcome to drop by and stay for as long as you'd like Saturday night.

For more information, contact Nick Wilbourn . All are welcome!
 
Sponsored by Interweave
Board Report

 

The Board met for its regularly scheduled meeting on August 28, 2018. 

 

The Board worked on a draft of the new Policy for Children/Youth Safety. When the policy is finalized, it will be posted in the Fellowship Hall.  A section of a bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall will be devoted to communicating new policies to the congregation.

 

The Board also worked on fire procedures, evacuation plans, and fire drill scheduling.  A Safety Task Force is being formed.

 

A new Communication Task Force was formed with the proposed charter to develop policy and procedure surrounding the channels of communication used by UUCH, including Facebook, Twitter, email, and our general web presence. Such proposed policy and procedures will be sent to the Board for emendation and/or final approval. Denise Runnels will head the Communication Task Force.

 

The Board intends to set aside thirty minutes of each Board meeting to go through our bylaws, with the expectation of proposing extensive revisions to the congregation at the May congregational meeting. Rev. Ed has provided guidance for bylaws and policy models that may be useful for our congregation. 

 

The Board discussed playground use for non-members, recognizing the importance of being an open, neighborly church while also attending to liability and safe congregation practices. This is an ongoing discussion.

 

The next scheduled board meeting is September 25, 2018.


 

Submitted by the Board

Go, UUCH, Go! 

We've formed a team, and we have a date; now all we need are some teammates!

The 15th Annual Liz Hurley Ribbon Run will be on Saturday, October 20, 2018, and UUCH once again has a team sponsored by our Social Justice Committee. The 5K course will take walkers and runners through beautiful downtown Huntsville on a lovely fall day.  The race will begin at 8:30 a.m., followed by awards.
This year the Survivors' Walk will begin at 8:00 a.m., before the race. The race will start immediately after. 

Proceeds from the 2018 Ribbon Run will be used to purchase additional mammography diagnostic equipment.  

To register as a team member, go to www.hhfi.convio.net and search for Teams. Then enter Unitarian Universalist Church of Huntsville to find our team.

Support your fellow UUs who have already been touched by this and other awful diseases. Register now, and start stretching. All abilities are welcome! 

Additional information is coming soon. For questions, contact Becky Ellingwood
votives
Care List
 
This Sunday, September 9, 2018,  at our Circle of Candles:
 
Anonymous lit a candle of joy: It's been a long week, and we have survived!
 
Lynda Lamitie lit a candle of joy: Celebrating the hanging sculpture in the playground made of paint and yarn. Projects made by the Summer RE groups.
 
Ilene Sparks lit a candle of bewilderment: My new address is 4200 Chris Drive SW, Apt. 306, Huntsville, AL 35802-4186. Come to visit.  
     
Dan McKitrick lit a candle of joy: The UUCH Book Sale Committee now has Book Sale Gift Coupons available for sale in the Fellowship Hall after service. $2 and $5 coupons are available for you to give to your friends, neighbors, and loved ones. Find out more about our Girl Scout and Calvary Hill Library Kids initiatives during coffee hour.