WVUU June 2007 Newsletter

Board Sends an Open Letter Of Thanks

To Reverend Charles Gaines

This is an open letter of thanks to you from the Board of Directors and many other of your "new church friends" at W.V.U.U. Who knew in October 2006 when we contracted with you to be our Consulting Minister that so many of us would grow to appreciate your strength, your commitment to us, and your hard earned wisdom?

Your charge was to help us focus on growth and the long term institutional health of our church. We also asked you to meet with and work with committees with the concentration on membership and finance. And so you did.

In January 07 you presented a thorough analysis of our community and our church. You looked at our strengths but you did not spare us from the reality of our weaknesses and our needs. You presented us with 21 recommendations. To date at least 7 of those are in place, 7 are in progress, and 5 are on hold.

But behind the scenes you did much more than asked for. You sorted and answered myriad emails, you wrote "the day after" group letters to us following your twice a month sermons. You held a leadership workshop. You provided canvass training and helped us have a most successful canvass. You provided the perspective of someone who has been involved in many congregations. You helped us to see past emotional issues to keep in focus the long term health of our church.

And you did this by enduring a Tucson to Phoenix round trip

twice a month, you were with us even during the time of your wife's rehabilitation from a worrisome fall,

Tylee Horner was born in Illinois in a small town on the south side of Chicago and lived there until she was 13.

Her unusual name came from her father who was from Florida and who also spent time in Asia; Tylee is a combination of two masculine names and also a Korean surname. When her mother tired of the snow, they moved to San Diego where Tylee attended a nontraditional high school for two years, graduated, and started college when she was 15. Her family moved here in 1988 and she attended GCC and then ASU.

Larry Lorenzen and

Mia Laine were married Saturday afternoon, May 27, 2007, at Our Church by WVUU's own Zen Priest, Randy Nowell.

They are now Mr. and Mrs. Larry Lorenzen.

This is WVUU's First Wedding! Congratulations to them both.

Larry is a long time member of the Church. Mia started coming in the Spring of 2006.

and kept up communication even from the east coast while visiting family.

Then above and beyond what we had asked of you, you helped us locate a promising Intern Minister to work with us through 2007-2008. Fortunately for him and for us, you will serve as Terry Robinson's supervisor during his internship.

But May 27 ends your contracted work with us as a Consulting Minister and we are the better for it.

West Valley Board of Directors

As a result of a silent auction purchase, Ida Krall, Maryke Des Champs and Kathleen Preece have been meeting to knit.

Perhaps you've noticed some of the darling purses that have been showing up at services?

We have been enjoying our get togethers so much that we have decided to continue meeting monthly, and to invite other members of the congregation who enjoy any kind of handwork and stimulating conversation to join us.

You are invited to join us for our next meeting, June 11th at 10:00 a.m. at the home of Ida Krall. Bring a sack lunch and we can eat together before going our separate ways. Drinks will be provided.

Call Ida at 623-825-3525 with questions and for directions.

Kathleen Preece

Her major was in history with an emphasis on European cultural history, religion, and women's studies. Her plan had been to be an archeologist, but then she met Perry, married him in 1993, and dropped out of school. She worked in real estate, obtaining her license in 1995. She completed her college degree in 1999. Terran was born in 2000 and she went back to work in real estate in 2004. She likes her firm, Windermere, because they are involved in the community. She is Vice-President of Membership for the Women's Council of Realtors, and a member of the Community Services Committee at Windermere.

Reading is her favorite pastime (next to spending time with Terran); she likes nonfiction biographies, spiritual and motivational books, classical literature, and science fiction. She also enjoys cooking, traveling, and stamping.

Tylee was allowed to explore all religions as a youngster and her mother offered information about a wide variety of religious beliefs and practices. They occasionally attended a Presbyterian church and a Roman Catholic one where her grandfather was music director.

As an adult, she was interested in neo paganism and had eclectic beliefs. While exploring those in Wikipedia, the UU church kept popping up and thus she decided to look it up. She was searching for a church for Terran who was bothered that his evangelical friends were going to church and he was not. She is pleased with West Valley's R.E. program and believes it will offer a good foundation for Terran.

Tylee has accepted a position as Trustee at Large, is spearheading a blanket drive with the Social Action Committee, and is a greeter as well. Please welcome this wonderful person to our church community.

Sandra Mahoney

We have lots of activities planned for the summer, too.

Olivia will be available most Sundays to care for preschoolers.

June 23rd, Randy Nowell will conduct a Parents' Workshop on Buddhism and Mindfulness while the children swim.

July 21st we'll have amid-summers' night Bounce and Pizza Party

August 25th we'll have a potluck and workshop on Einstein's Ethics.

And our Camping Trip will start the new Sunday school year on Sept. 9th & 10th.

If you have any questions about

Sunday School or Children's Programs, contact Kathy A during the summer at:

Kathy@abramowitzes.com

2006 - 2007 Sunday School Year Ends

We completed our Sunday school year on May 20th and will resume classes again in September.

Here's what we've got planned for the fall:

Ages 5 - 7: Stories about God, which offers children a variety of experiences with the concept people call God.

Ages 7 - 9: Spirit of Adventure, which features exciting activities from themes in engineering, exploration, medicine, sports, holidays, food and nature

Ages 10 - 14: Sources of Strength and Wisdom (continued). Next year, we will revisit mythology, and spend a considerable amount of time discovering what we can learn from philosophy and psychology.

Your cost is that of your time, and close attention. You must take a comfortable soft chair with you, and situate your self just to the left or right of home plate - right up against the fence - where you can hear Blue's (the umpire's) calls and see the expressions of young players. Sipping a cool drink, your are in for two hours or so of pure platonic sportsmanship, and for those of us that can still recall, the rush of a long-ago childhood dream.

Incredibly difficult is the task of the fearful batter to hit a speeding little white ball thrown in so many devious spinning ways. He or she must assess that the speeding orb is not going to knock the head off altogether. Every now and then that ball does bounce off Batter's helmet. Nevertheless, the ball is addressed by every batter, swung at, and missed or hit in so many unpredictable ways, making batter either a momentary hero or . . fool.

Ninety feet or so away labors the pitcher. Hurling as hard as possible, pitcher must somehow fool the batter into missing the ball - not an easy thing to do once the batter comes to know how pitcher likes to throw. Ah, and in this contest betwix batter and pitcher lies the patient drama of each individual at-bat. Which shall prevail? Tis real life; nobody always wins!

Working between batter and umpire is the irrepressible catcher. Working in harms way directly behind batter, catcher is replete with the very best of baseball armour, helmit with face plate and throat-guard, chest-protector, shin-guards, and heavy mit. A good catcher does many things, like advising pitcher what kind of throw is most likely to cause a strike out. With runners on the bases he watches to prevent them from stealing another base. His

throwing skills are feared by these runners - are not to be tested unless the catcher is somehow pre-occupied. The art of stealing is comedy in motion.

Many are the reasons these days to shut off T.V., and instead seek some

fresh air. The players will not disappoint or disaffect you. They love and

honor the game, and each other. That's baseball. What better to watch?

a fellow traveler

Joel Foster

At 12:15 p.m. on June 3rd there will be a free showing of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" in the sanctuary followed by a discussion. This movie discusses global warming from a global perspective. If you haven't seen the movie, this is a convenient time and place to see it for free. Plan to stay after Church and invite friends to Church and/or the movie.

The following Sunday, June 10th, M. Scott Johnson will continue focusing on the issue in his talk "From Inconvenience to Innovation: Responding to the Global Climate Crisis".

The generous response to the second call for 2005-2006 resulted in a check for $14,000 being presented to PSWD District Executive Rev. Ken Brown for Tapestry, A Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Mission Viejo, California.

This $14,000 grant resulted from the response of less than 600 Chalice Lighters. How much more support for growth we could offer our congregations if a mere 20% of the 8000+ UU's in the PSWD became Chalice Lighters and contributed to each call? (Let's see, $20 times 2000 equals $40,000!) Consider asking others in your congregation to get involved and help make a difference. It's so easy and it is another way of affirming our shared values and expanding our beloved community.

Our next call is designated for Summit UU Fellowship, now in Santee, CA. Approximately a year ago, this congregation moved into their first permanent home and have since then been blessed with incredible growth, especially in the Children's Religious Exploration program. They have expanded from 20 children in the fall of 2005 to 45 currently. While wonderful, this growth is at least two years ahead of the growth projected by their Comprehensive Plan (which is currently being revised).

In order to meet the needs created by this rapid membership growth and also to help attract and support additional families in the community, Summit is planning to use the Chalice Lighters grant money as a bridge to help allow them to increase their DRE from 1/2 to 3/4 time, and to enable them to provide more childcare services on Sundays and at Fellowship events, for the next two years, after which they project the growth in income and stewardship will have caught up with their staffing needs.

Rev. Ken Brown

UURev@aol.com

Options are being researched with Qwest to upgrade the Phone Services package to include Wireless Internet Access.

Bring your Laptop to WVUU this Sunday,

3 June 07, for a little Wi-Fi Internet Café after

the Service ?

Please consider contributing your Surplus Computer and Network Equipment to WVUU.

Wayne Daniel Noticed

The Rio Salado River Cleanup

From the Arizona Republic, if anyone is interested: "Volunteers will take part in a River Cleanup from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. Saturday June 2" at :

The Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area,

2439 S. Central Ave.

Information: 602-262-6863.

Board Meeting

Highlights May 2007

The Facilities Committee Chair, Ann Harper, was in attendance to present a Written and Verbal Report.
Air Conditioning problems are being corrected.
Options are being researched with Qwest to upgrade the Phone Services package to include Wireless Internet Access.
Reviewed and refined the Policy on Rental of Church Facilities.
The top two concerns from the Social Action Committee poll are homelessness and environmental issues.
Conducted planning for the Spring Congregational Meeting.
Continued to refine the Safe Church Policy. More research is needed on procedures to perform background checks for people who work with children of the congregation.
Granted Reverend Terry Robinson authorization to Perform Marriages.

Kathy Dugan,

Secretary

Sunday, June 3, 2007, Speaker: Dr. Alexander B. White will speak on "Survival and Liberation at Mr. Schindler's Camp". Dr. White, a native of Poland, will give the congregation a glimpse of the 5 years under Nazi occupation during World War II and his survival and liberation as a result of being on the now renowned Schindler's List. He will concentrate on the lessons to be derived from this tragic war in which he lost his entire family.

12:00 p.m. Showing of the Al Gore movie "An Inconvenient Truth"

Sunday, June 10, 2007, Speaker: M. Scott Johnson "From Inconvenience to Innovation: Responding to the Global Climate Crisis" Scotty Johnson of Tucson, Arizona was recently chosen as one of a select group of individuals to train with former Vice-President Al Gore and his Climate Project faculty. Johnson will do a power point presentation about the underlying science and emerging solutions for global climate change.

Sunday, June 17, 2007, Speaker: Kenneth A. Schei "Rescuing Jesus (and America) from the Religious Right." He is the founder of Atheists for Jesus and the author of Christianity Betrayed and An Atheist for Jesus: A Personal Journey of Discovery. He will travel from southern California to speak to our congregation. His talk will be based on ancient documents that demonstrate the original teachings of Jesus.

Sunday, June 24, 2007, Speaker: Eleanor Eisenberg "The Status of Choice" A recent Supreme Court case, for the first time, made it clear that a woman's health is not the primary concern of the government in reviewing abortion cases. Is this the death knell for Roe v. Wade? The talk will review the current state of the law surrounding contraception, sex education and abortion.

West Valley Unitarian Universalist Church

5904 W Cholla Street

Glendale, AZ 85304

Phone: 623-846-6004

Editor: Dorothy Ward, Publisher: Doug Pope

602-246-1246

Newsletter E-mail: UniqueDorothy@cox.net

This Church provides a safe place to celebrate diversity, draw inspiration for our lives, foster

social and environmental justice, and compassionately support each other in our spiritual searches.

We currently have 75 members and many more friends.

Our Sunday Services begin at 10:30 AM followed by a coffee house style social hour and light lunch.

PURE FUN!

May I suggest a refreshing respite - little league baseball - from common commercial rubbish usually offered to us in the name of entertainment? Even if you don't normally view baseball as a suitable spectator's sport, I contend being up close and in person while watching two children's teams compete against each other, just for the love of the game, is a splendid casual experience, at least as good as any film you might go to see.