Our April 2003 Newsletter, the Universalist AnchorAround the ChurchObituary: Janice Bodor We regret to announce the March 22 death of church member Janice Bodor, until recently a resident of Charlestown, West Virginia. She and her late husband, Andre Bodor, last lived in our area in 1985, but they (and then, she, after his death in 1990) continued their church participation and generous giving from afar. She is survived by her son Timothy Bodor, now living in London, a sister, and three grandchildren. Ms. Bodor was seventy-eight years old at her death (from cancer) in her native Brattleboro, Vermont. At this writing, there is no scheduled local memorial service. Putting First Things First Some thirty UNMC members and friends participated in discussions last month to help the board of trustees focus on the congregation’s top priorities in the face of budget shortfalls and shrinking membership. The board will consider the results at its April 7 meeting. Special thanks goes out to discussion hosts Al and Mary Templeton, Vicki and Brian Pepper, and Kathryn and Dennis Desmond and especially to Al for facilitating all the meetings. To get a copy of the presentation made at the meetings or to offer your feedback, please contact Sue Mosher at [deleted for web; call the church office at (202) 387-3411 instead] or any member of the board. Youth Visit from Reston The middle school Coming of Age class from the Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston visited UNMC last month. While they have visited houses of worship of other faiths, their visit to UNMC and an earlier visit to All Souls Church, Unitarian, were special trips to take them to the roots of their faith. The kids enjoyed the first part of the worship service from the balcony, then joined the UNMC youth group for their regular Sunday meeting. Leland Place We are scheduled to cook and share dinner with the men of Leland Place on the first and third Saturday of the month — April 5 and 19. We meet in the church kitchen at 3:00 p.m. and serve the meal at Leland at 5:00 p.m. Volunteers share the cost of the meal, usually $10 to $20. As always, we will be collecting groceries and men's toiletries on Easter Sunday, April 20, so bring your groceries to the church kitchen and place them on the counter by the microwave. To sign up, in advance of the scheduled events, please contact Dave Skidmore at [deleted for web; call the church office at (202) 387-3411 instead] or . Leland Place, a residential facility on North Capital Street for men in recovery from homelessness and addiction. Leland Place to Expand In its latest newsletter, SOME (So Others Might Eat) announced that a volunteer project is under way to renovate the townhouse next to Leland Place to create an annex for Leland, plus additional office and meeting space. SOME holds its annual Empty Bowls Supper this month, on Friday, April 11, at the Washington-Lee High School cafeteria in Arlington. For a $15 donation, you can select a handmade pottery bowl, enjoy delicious soup, and help support Leland and other SOME services. For more information, visit http://www.geocities.com/empty_bowls_nova/. Get Married on Easter Monday; Tell Friends As an outreach to the community, and in thanksgiving for his own parents' Easter Monday wedding, Pastor Wells will open the doors of the church and marry couples in a simple ceremony on April 21. Same-sex couples may also solemnize their union. There will be a mandatory clearance and orientation meeting for the couples. The usual fees are waived. Know a couple which might be interested? Ask them to contact Pastor Wells directly at the church as soon as possible. Old Testament Class to Organize Drawing from her research for the children's religious education class, Jennifer Sandberg is organizing an adult religious education class on Moses and the Exodus. Contact her [personal information deleted for the web; contact the church office instead] for more information. UNMC Attends Religious Education Workshop On March 23 after worship, Jennifer Sandberg and Vicki Pepper attended a Children’s religious education (RE) workshop presented by Carol Taylor, Acting Lifespan Religious Education Programs Consultant for the Joseph Priestly District (JPD) of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). The workshop was hosted by the UU Church of Loudoun and attended by the Shenandoah UU Church along with UNMC. (Thanks to our friends at Loudoun and especially UNMC’s former RE Director, Betty Jo Middleton for inviting us.) UNMC’s situation is a little different from the other two churches, which have space problems for the number of children in their programs (we offered to swap them a couple of classrooms for some of their kids!). But all attending churches had some issues in common, such as, a desire to improve involvement and volunteerism in their programs, and Ms. Taylor offered several practical tips to attendees. One suggestion she made was that churches look for other ways to involve seniors who might not want to be Sunday School teachers in their children’s RE programs. Moreover, in response to UNMC’s particular interest in training for volunteers who have limited experience teaching or with children, Ms. Taylor suggested that UNMC ask to join the RE training course of one of the larger UU churches in the metropolitan area. She also said she’d explore putting on at UNMC a one day training course on teaching methods, emphasizing classroom management. (Perhaps UNMC could invite the other small churches we met at the Cedarhurst Seminar in January; they had expressed curiosity about our beloved building.) To set the tone for the RE workshop, at the outset Ms. Taylor told an anecdote about the “Flying Fish,” based on the ECPs (Essential Creative Principles), which include:
The story involves a fish market in the Pacific Northwest trying to figure out how to save its struggling business. A young employee offered a simple solution: “Let’s just become famous?” Applying the ECPs, the fish market began to turn things around, and an inefficiency they discovered in their business is that they found with more customers in their store, it was difficult to get some of the larger fish from the area where they were stored up to the counter. One day, rather than wade through the crowded shop, a burly fish monger just picked up a large salmon and heaved it to a colleague up at the counter. This spectacle set the customers abuzz, which did not go unnoticed by the fish mongers. They decided to continue the practice, and the fish market became something of a tourist attraction in the area. Their business continued to grow and today is thriving. Now is an exciting time at UNMC. As a result of last year’s strategic planning exercise and this year’s recent follow-on priorities exercise, UNMC finds itself zeroing in on its own “Flying Fish.” If you'd like to know more about children’s RE or how you can get involved, please contact Vicki or Jennifer, and if you’d like to explore other opportunities for more involvement at UNMC to further your own spiritual development, you also may contact Sue Mosher or Paul Hannah, or, of course Pastor Wells. Deadlines for Anchor The deadline for submissions for the May Anchor is April 21. Submissions may be received by email or in writing, sent to the church office. |