Let us have but one end in view, the welfare of humanity;
and put aside all selfishness in consideration of
language, nationality, or religion.
~ John Amos Comenius
Beginning this Sunday, June 22 and continuing through the summer, our services will explore new possibilities for meaning in religious language. Our guide will be the book Fluent in Faith: A Unitarian Universalist Embrace of Religious Language. The first sermon is Faith. Upcoming sermons in the series include:
Summer Worship Series: Fluent in Faith
June 29: Hope
July 6: Love
July 13: Covenant and Doctrine
July 20: Sacrament and Prayer
July 27: Sanctuary
Litha Ritual - Friday, June 20th at Deerfield Park
Covenant of UU Pagans (CUUPS) will gather in the UU parking lot between 6:00 and 6:30 p.m., carpooling to Deerfield Park, with ritual beginning promptly at 7 p.m. in the park. Our potluck will take place between 7:30 and 8 p.m. Please bring a dish to pass and/or a dessert to share. If the weather does not cooperate, we will meet at the UU Center instead.
RE News
- The RE end of year picnic will be this Sunday, June 22 from 12-3:00. We're doing things a bit differently this year. The picnic is BYOL&S (Bring Your Own Lunch and Swimsuit)! We'll be walking with the kids to Island Park where we'll eat and play on the splash pad. Please make sure your children bring a lunch and appropriate attire, including footwear they can get wet but also play in. Contact Bill with questions.
- **Please share this job search announcement! Find it on our UUFCM Facebook page and share it with your Facebook friends! The UUFCM is conducting a search for a quarter-time Director of Religious Education. The job description and application instructions are posted on our website (uufcm.org), with a link on the front page under Recent News.
As part of our transition this year, the board, the transition team and fellowship members revisited our mission statement and decided that it needed to be updated. By definition, a mission statement is a concise statement, which contains who we as a group are and what we are doing. It needs to be a short sentence, to be understood by a 12 year old and can be recited under duress! Our old mission statement did not fit those criteria. After many discussions, we arrived at a new mission statement:
Fueled by love, transforming our lives and our world
Fueled by love...: It captures the basic motivation of what we are doing: We are fueled by love, of each other, our community, the principles, and energy to bring about a positive change in our community.
...transforming our lives...: It captures the sanctuary we have created and the challenges we apply to each other to be better individuals. This is the inward scope of what we do for each individual member and visitor.
...and our world...:It captures the larger community and the social justice we have brought – and hope to continue developing – in central Michigan and perhaps in our state, country, and globally. This is the outward focus of taking action on our shared values.
Now each time we – the Board, Transition Team, Congregation, individual members, or all of us, face a question and we develop an answer, we can check to see if our answers are in line with our mission.
This is a working mission statement for the coming year. If it works for us, the congregation will vote on it at our annual meeting in May 2015.
Thank You, Tina!
We want to thank our Building Manager, Tina Christy, for the excellent volunteer work she did for so many years. Her expertise and her willingness to do lots of repairs herself saved us many headaches and thousands of dollars. We also appreciate that she guided us through the remodeling process with enthusiasm, perseverance and calm reassurance. She is passing the baton on to Kris Los (989-429-0425; [email protected]) and Hank Zeniewicz (989-854-8176; [email protected]), who have volunteered to share the tasks of Building Managers.
Still Getting Double Emails from UUFCM?
For the past few weeks, there have been some difficulties in which some people were not receiving emails sent from the [email protected] account. Please, reply to this week's eNews with just the message 'Got It'. If you get two eNews emails, please reply to both - it will help Kirsten to have a clearer picture of who is has been affected. She will develop a list of those still not receiving from the UUFCM account, but no longer send duplicates to everyone. Thank you for your help and your patience!
Green was the silence, wet was the light,
the month of June trembled like a butterfly.
~ Pablo Neruda, from “100 Love Sonnets”
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More detail about UUFCM activities and shared interest groups is available on our website.
The deadline for submissions to the Order of Service Insert and the UUFCM weekly e-News is Tuesday at 5 p.m. Please send all submissions to [email protected]
Important Contacts
Have a suggestion? a problem? a question? We can help!
Building Managers: Kris Los (989-429-0425; [email protected]),
Hank Zeniewicz (989-854-8176; [email protected])
Caring Committee: Mary Alsager (989.773.2595; [email protected])
Children’s RE Committee: Bill Tinsley (989.488.8505; [email protected])
Hospitality: Norma Bailey (989.560.3952; [email protected]),
Laura McBride (989.772.5512; [email protected])
Membership: Gisela Moffit (989.772.1602; [email protected])
Social Action: Norma Bailey (989.560.3952; [email protected])
Social Fun: Laura McBride (989.772.5512; [email protected])
Transition Team: Norma Bailey (989.560.3952; [email protected])
Worship Team: Vicki Chessin (989.463.3076; [email protected])