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IN THIS ISSUE
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 Sabbath: to Rest
Rev. Katie's Animas View
My ministerial agreement with you provides for one month of sabbatical leave for each year served. Usually, ministers take that time in their sixth or seventh year with a congregation. This is my sixth year here in Durango, and I will be taking just two months of sabbatical time in the months of January and February of 2020. Two months is easier for all of us to manage, and still offers a change.
My focus for this time will be "pilgrimage." I will be traveling to Tennessee and Alabama to visit pilgrimage sites and contemporary legacy memorials.
Pilgrimages have historically been a method for religious devotion and personal reflection. It's a time to notice our bodies as part of the journey. I won't be walking to my destination, but I will be taking seriously the needs of both body and spirit during this time.
While I am away, pulpit guests at UUFD will consist of members, local clergy and my clergy colleagues from Denver and Albuquerque. Please welcome them!
And, in the second weekend of January, we are planning a workshop to reflect on how pilgrimage can be a theme for you during this time, too.
When I return in March, I plan to bring with me new perspective, and a wider view. I look forward to sharing some of that with you, and I hope you will share your new view with me.
Always in the love,
Rev. Katie
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Theme: Attention
Spiritual Practice:
Reshaping our lives by shifting where we look
November 3
Dirt
-The Rev. Katie Kandarian-Morris
Don't forget to FALL BACK! It's the end of Daylight Savings Time.
Bring photos or mementos of loved ones passed to place on the altar. We'll remember them, and the ground on which we live. We'll welcome the new Environmental Justice Team, and feel the beauty of the Spirit Movers around us.
Reminder: Bring food items for the Durango Food Bank.
November 10
Why Do You Come to Church, Waldo?
-The Rev. Katie Kandarian-Morris
Each Sunday we post a sermon title, description, and the preacher's name. But is it like a movie, where we make the decision whether to buy a ticket? How is Sunday attendance anti-consumer culture? And if you're not sure about today, be assured, the choir will sing.
November 17
We Create Justice, Equity and Compassion
-The Rev. Katie Kandarian-Morris
How do we stand for human rights as a core value of our faith? Let's look at the intersection of our principles and our action. Take home a Guest at Your Table today.
Reminder: Stay afterwards for an introduction to Deep Stewardship.
November 24
My Story
-Bobbi Maiers, pulpit guest
We have a tradition of sharing our story of faith in this growing congregation, with members offering their history of how they arrived here. Today, we'll find ourselves in a story of meaning and purpose.
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President's Message
Tom McCampbell
HELP!!
There. I said it. And I used my outside voice. Your church needs your help.
Four months ago, when I began serving as president of the UUFD Board of Trustees, I was a little shy, a bit timid, about asking for help. But hey, no longer!
There is much to be done, and so many areas where your skills, time and energy can help
UUFD succeed in meeting the goals of our mission. Here are a few service opportunities you might want to think about or urge another to consider ...
Finance
Everyone likes money right? Mark Swanson, our very capable Treasurer will be leaving
his post the end of the year. The board is looking for an interim Treasurer to serve through the end of June 2020. You must be a member of the church. Previous experience in accounting, bookkeeping or financial management is important. Perks include free donuts (occasionally) and a generous supply of ball-point pens (courtesy of the Bank of San Juans).
Tim Miller, our Finance Committee Chair, will be stepping down as chairman after many years of service to UUFD. Tim has very ably guided our church through a period of sizable financial growth. We need a successor. If you are a member of the church and have investment or financial management experience, please let me know. Perks are same as above.
Personnel
The board has a Personnel Committee to help us bring best practices to the development of
personnel policies and emerging human resource issues. As UUFD grows, it is likely that the Personnel Committee will play a larger role in the governance of our church. If you have HR experience or know a member who does, I'd love to talk to you!
Risk Management
Our Risk Management Committee needs support. Dennis Brown has single handedly been attending to the work of this important committee. The Risk Management Committee offers recommendations, advice, and collaboration to the Board and to other committees regarding safety, risk reduction, and risk management. They offer the congregation periodic training in safety procedures and risk awareness.
These are just a few ways you can help - if any of them sound interesting to you, please drop me a line at president@durangouu.org. Many thanks!
In Covenant,
Tom
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A critical "money meeting" to attend this year!
Join the conversation about stewardship goals Nov. 17 after worship
 Join this VITAL "no numbers" conversation about UUFD's stewardship goals BEFORE the numbers go down on paper.
Sunday, November 17 following worship
Sanctuary
11 am: Light lunch provided
11:30-12: Conversation
There has been a call for a mission-driven discussion of UUFD's past funding choices and an exploration of how to best allocate future pledge funds. Join us as we work to align our individual spiritual priorities with our financial commitments. How can giving to our UUFD community nurture spiritual well-being across our congregation?
This process will help focus our annual pledge campaign beginning in January. Join us for the conversation -
more compelling than spring budget meetings. Choosing to come to only one money meeting this year? This is the one to attend.
Questions or input to offer? Contact Kathleen Adams:
970-676-1022.
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Dreams and plans for Faith Formation
Report from the "Future of Faith Formation" workshop
UUFD members and staff engaged in a lively and productive workshop for the future of faith formation on Saturday, October 5.
Here's What We Dreamed Of...
We are proud of how children have been involved in our congregation since its inception.
First, let's become radically welcoming by nurturing the cultural understanding that "all of us matter to all of us," and by understanding how the entire congregation benefits from the inclusion of families with children.
Let's welcome families by putting children front and center in worship, using them as worship leaders, including them in multigenerational worship, and featuring them as they progress in their personal search for truth and meaning.
We understand that young families are hungry for the support our fellowship can provide them.
We are willing to listen to what they need and are committed to creating a family ministry that will respond to those needs.
First, let's listen to what our young families need and want. Then let's commit to the ministries that feed those needs, their role as primary religious educators and guides for the next generation of Unitarian Universalists.
We will joyfully embrace our role as mentors to children and youth.
We will participate in ministries that provide meaningful relationships between adults, children and youth.
We will foster relationships by serving as assistants in faith formation classes, and welcoming children into the full life of the fellowship.
Here's How That Might Work...
We formed an Interim Advisory Team of volunteers to work with Sara to design, implement and test programing during the interim time.
This Team will further explore our wild imaginings, including but not limited to:
- Becoming radically welcoming to families and their children
- Addressing the hunger our young families have for our fellowship's support
- Embracing our role as adult mentors to children and youth
The group adjourned with positive energy about the future, a plan for how to continue the discussion, and gratitude for the time and talent of all those involved!
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Many thanks to our participants: From left to right, Dennis Aronson, Mike Trefy, Rev. Katie Kandarian-Morris, Annie Scott (UUA Staff), Becca Trefy, Sara Sautter (UUFD Interim Director of Faith Formation), Tom McCampbell, Steve Foster, Bonnie Miller, Estie Spargur, Mary Ocken, Nicci Unsicker, Warren Unsicker, Susana Jones (in colored scarf), Jackie Lee. Not pictured: Laurie Mieninger.
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What is the Caring Team, anyway?
The UUFD Caring Team is a group of members who coordinate response to needs - visits, meals, transportation, resource referrals etc. - which are requested by members of our fellowship. If you or someone you know has a need, please let us know. We will always ask for your - or their - permission to act on your information. What is permissible? Publicly lighting a candle, or reaching out to the Team to request assistance for delivery of meals, visits, or coordinating transportation or visits. Please be aware that we always honor confidentiality, and out of respect for the privacy of all individuals, we cannot answer questions about specific members unless we have their permission.
Finally, we invite you to partner with us. We are all part of the larger Caring Community! Sign up to help us fulfill needs. Reach out to each other in small and direct ways. Connect with new visitors, reach out to people whom you have not seen for awhile, work at building relationships... Please contact our new team leader, Susan Koonce, with questions or concerns at
bluesky3@earthlink.net.
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Social Responsibility and Justice special feature
 UUFD has a long history of commitment to UUSC, a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization advancing human rights together with an international community of grassroots partners and advocates. UUSC began its work in 1939 when Unitarian Rev. Waitstill and his wife Martha Sharp took an extraordinary risk, helping refugees escape Nazi persecution in Europe. They put in motion UUSC's more than 75-year legacy of advocating for human rights and social justice, maintaining a steadfast presence on the frontlines of crises and injustice around the globe. UUSC allows us to extend our helping hands to people in need around the world.
Currently, UUSC is committing many of its resources to three priority areas:
- Central American migrant justice. Thousands of Central Americans are fleeing violence and corruption in their country. Yet they continue to face dangers and abuses as they flee, including when they reach the United States where they can be detained, prosecuted, or have family members taken away from them. After years building their lives in the U.S. they may still be at risk of deportation. The political climate continues to escalate anti-immigrant sentiment and cruelty. UUSC is working with grassroots organizations to make changes that support the right to safety in Central America, the right to safety on the migrant trail, and human rights and the U.S. immigration system.
- Climate-forced displacement. Climate change poses dangers to everyone, but the world's most vulnerable populations are at greatest risk with the least resources to cope. Mass displacement and loss of lives is already occurring due to increasing temperatures and droughts, rising sea levels, and intensifying natural disasters. These impacts are increasing food and water insecurity and lack of access to shelter. UUSC is working to protect populations at risk and their right to self-determination, supporting relocation with dignity, and strategizing with communities on how to respond to risks of climate-forced displacement.
- Crisis response. Natural and manmade disasters around the globe can devastate affected communities, often including loss of life, loss of housing and livelihood, and loss of community. Whether it's the brutal military campaign against the Rohingya in Burma/Myanmar, the destruction and continuing impact of the earthquake in Haiti, the refugee crisis in Syria as innocent people flee the civil war, or the continuing struggle among poverty-stricken people in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina or in Texas after the historically destructive Hurricane Harvey, UUSC reaches out to provide emergency relief funds and support local, grassroots organizations who best know their affected community and its needs.
UUFD financially supports UUSC and its work through $1000 budgeted each year from our operating budget, along with individual contributions to the annual Guest At Your Table fundraising program. The fundraiser takes an intergenerational approach, encouraging all ages to learn about stories of hope, this year highlighting women leaders in human rights. Donations through GAYT enable UUSC and their partners to respond to the extraordinary human rights challenges of today, address root causes of injustice, and build capacity to respond to future crises. Watch for GAYT materials and information during November.
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The New UU workshop Nov. 10 and 17
For new, existing, and prospective members
 The New UU workshops are for you! Find out who UUs are and what we believe. Hear what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist, and take some time to examine your own personal story in the light of our Unitarian Universalist tradition and heritage. Plus, enjoy an opportunity to connect with others in our fellowship.
Developed by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), The New UU workshops will be interactive and facilitated by UUFD members and staff. It's perfect for new and existing UUFD members, and for non-members who might consider UUFD as their future spiritual home. Topics will include Theology and Worship, Where Do We Come From?, Social Justice, How We Grow in Faith, How Are Decisions Made?, and Membership.
The New UU will be presented as a pair of workshops, held on Nov. 10 and Nov. 17 from noon to 2:30 pm. Sign up at the
welcome podium on Sunday, in Bowman Hall during fellowship time, or email Shannon Beaver or
Laurie Meininger.
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Report from FROLIC!
Where will that money go, anyway?
The 2019 Frolic was a great success! Beyond the $10,500 earmarked for the operating budget, it raised approximately $10,000 more. On Nov. 19, at its regular monthly meeting, the Board of Trustees will evaluate proposals from various teams and committees and determine the allocation of those funds. The Board meeting will be at 4:00 pm on Nov. 19 in Bowman Hall, and members of the Fellowship are welcome to attend. This is a great opportunity to observe how your Board weighs the priorities of the Fellowship and how it allocates our financial resources to fulfill our mission.
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Transgender Day of Remembrance
November 17, 5:00 pm at UUFD
 When we show up for observances important to LGBTQ justice, we demonstrate our commitment as allies. Each year around the world, communities host a remembrance for transgender individuals who have been murdered in the last year, for no reason other than living out who they truly are. UUFD has partnered with 4STAR (Four Corners Support for Transgender people, Allies and Relatives) for several years, and this year Fort Lewis College is joining this partnership, to provide a remembrance service. UUFD members and friends who have attended previous services have expressed how moving and meaningful they found it to be. Please join us.
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Thanksgiving Dinner at UUFD
All welcome!
 Once again UUFD will host a Thanksgiving Day potluck for all UUFD
members, friends, and families. All are welcome to share in this
Thanksgiving meal, which will be held mid-afternoon in Bowman Hall on
Thursday, November 28. Starting Sunday, November 10, there will be
a sign up for food items available at each coffee hour.
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Youth Group News
Bonding over junk food, tie dying, tea leaves and a spontaneous worship!
Hey! Did you know we have a youth group at UUFD? We sure do! Our youth group attendance has been fluctuating in the past years but is now building momentum. The group meets most Sunday mornings at 10:30 am.
Youth Group held a Junk Food Breakfast in September (Coco Puffs annually, please!) and a lock-in in October. At the overnight, youth made tie dye shirts together that provided a sense of ownership and creativity (not to mention coolness) and helped the group bond by creating them together.
UUFD member Bill Wallauer joined us to share a spiritual practice he inherited from his grandmother. A tea leaf divination ceremony complete with tea readings was shared! Then Bill helped the youth interpret their own tea readings. By sharing this tradition Bill sparked curiosity and provided a connection with our youth.
The lock-in also included good ol' smores roasted with the most giant of marshmallows. During our open fire dessert celebration, the youth connected even more deeply with Bill and later with Kathleen Adams in the sanctuary - prior to a spontaneous worship service at midnight complete with Joys and Concerns!
We are lucky to have members like Kathleen and Bill interested in getting to know our youth and sharing their skills (thanks, Bill and Kathleen!) Do you have a spiritual practice you would like to share with our youth? Connect with Youth Group Teacher Jeff Hamner on Sunday or email faithformation@durangouu.org.
-Jeff Hamner, Youth Group Teacher
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Mangold Duo to perform Nov. 22
Performance is part of the 2019-2020 Recital Series
The Mangold Duo with Bonnie Mangold, cello, and Marilyn Garst, piano, will present the second recital on Friday, Nov. 22. The program will open with the solo piano sonata No. 28 by Beethoven, the first of Beethoven's last five great sonatas, written in 1816. The work begins with a short lyrical movement followed by a strongly rhythmic scherzo. A slow poignant introduction leads to the last and main sonata movement; the latter is full of contrasting ideas and counterpoint.
The remaining program will include works for cello and piano starting with the very short 1962 Suite by the prolific American composer Alan Hovhannes. The work highlights the too often ignored rich middle register of the cello, and it provides a quiet interlude before the fiery work that follows--the Rapsodia Concertante by Boris Papandopulo, Croatian composer and conductor. This 1987 composition is in three dramatically different movements--an improvisatory Introduzione, a slow lyrical Arioso and the final Danza or lively dance. Also on the program is Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch. The Kol Nidrei is a declaration in Aramaic that is recited or sung before the evening service on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). Bruch's version captures all the fervor and pleading qualities of the "prayer" and is well suited to the voice of the cello. This will be followed by four selections from Five Pieces in Folk Style by Robert Schumann, one of the greatest composers of the 19th century Romantic period. The recital will close with Libertango by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla. The title merges words for liberty and tango, symbolizing Piazzolla's break from traditional Tango by incorporating elements of jazz and classical music to create the Nuevo (new) Tango.
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Do you have flowers we could borrow?
Sign up to have your flowers grace the chancel on Sundays
Can you loan us your flowers? Our beautiful new chancel deserves to look even better with flowers on Sunday. If you buy flowers for your home once a week, or even once a month, could you loan them to UUFD? From 9:45 to noon they could grace our chancel, then return to your home after that. Click here
to see available dates and to sign up, or talk to Judy Hook or Teresa Jordan. Thanks!
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New or new-ish? Join us for Coffee and Connections
Pre-worship gathering for newer members and guests - 9:15 am Sundays
 Coffee & Connections is a special time for newer members and guests to get to know us and/or ask questions in a more intimate setting. Sunday morning worship may be a bit intimidating for people unfamiliar with UUFD, so we offer Coffee & Connections as a casual, friendly time to meet others and become familiar with our fellowship.
If you're a new member or guest who has been looking for a way to meet more congregation members or to become more involved, please come and join us for a cup of coffee (or tea, juice) and a bite to eat! And bring the kids too! If you have any questions please email Shannon at
connections@durangouu.org.
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My Story workshop: sharing your unique spiritual journey
Nov. 16, 9:30 - 11 am, Bowman Hall
Our church has a tradition of sharing faith stories to learn how our growing congregation's members arrived at UUFD. Through this process we connect to and understand one another in a richer, fuller way. Are you interested in crafting your own story and perhaps serving as a future pulpit guest to share it? In this workshop, we'll gather for a period of storytelling guidance and idea-sharing, as we develop our personal stories of faith and the courage to tell them.
Hosted by UUFD communications committee member Bobbi Maiers. To register, please contact Bobbi at bobbimaiers@icloud.com or 720-951-3176.
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