WOW -- Welcome Myron Andes Our New Consulting Interim Minister!!

I am very pleased to announce that Consulting Interim Minister Myron Andes will join SCUU as our new Interim Minister starting September 1 of this year.

Myron Andes comes to us with glowing recommendations from the UU Church of Evansville in Indiana. He is highly qualified to help guide us through the transitions we face in this upcoming year, and I am excited for us to begin our work together. He will be with us for 11 months, supporting us as we embark upon the search process for our next called minister.

Special thanks to Carol Plummer, Terri Johnson, and Spence Hines for their dedicated service on the Interim Ministerial Search Task Force.

With warm regards,
Sara Hull

Postponed till July -- Snake Sauce aka (Cypress Knees) at the French Quarter!!

Hey everyone:

Because of a scheduling mixup, our Cajun Trio will NOT be playing this Saturday at the French Quarter. Instead, we have tentatively been scheduled for the 3rd Saturday in July.

Let me know if you would like to receive an update as we get closer to that date.

Sorry about the mixup.

Jim Schmidt
___

Heads Up!! Part II -- Yard work at the SCUU property on Saturday

Hugh writes -- Hi: We'll be doing lots of cleaning up of tree debris this Saturday starting at 9:30. Come and help. Bring your implements of destruction: chain saws, mowers, weed wackers, gloves, rakes, tractors, trailers (those last two would be Bob and Hugh), etc. See you Sat. Should be fun and we're hoping to get a lot of clean-up done.

Heads Up!! -- A Tree Sort Of Falls At Sugarloaf!

A tree has lost a large portion of its upper trunk and leans against another tree on the left side of the road on the rise as the drive turns up toward Sugarloaf House and the Yurt. The trees are next to the road opposite the lower driveway leading to the Pad of Sugarloaf House. I think the tree that lost its upper trunk could fall and the fact that it leans on another tree like a drunk returning home does not give me comfort.

I think both trees should be carefully taken down.

Gravity waits for no one.

Min writes -- Thanks for letting us know that! One of us will be out on wed. evening.

JP writes -- I had projected $500 being spent on landscaping through the end of the fiscal year (June 30th), and I think I have other places where I projected us spending (but we haven't), so spending up to $2,000 on tree removal is doable and already budgeted and (now) expected. Given the projected carryover at the end of 07/08 it doesn't affect the 07/08 situation materially.

Snake Sauce aka (Cypress Knees) at the French Quarter!!

Hi Everyone:

Our Cajun band was asked to play again at the French Quarter in Germantown this coming Saturday (9 June 2007) from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. The restaurant is located across the street from the new Germantown Library. Hope you can make it.

Jim Schmidt

Rev Amy -- Thank You All...A Beloved Community!!

SCUUer's,

Thank you all for the beautiful memory book that will always remind me of the wonderful memories we've made together. I love all the notes and pictures. Please know how much it means to me that you also cherish the memories of what we have made together - a beloved community.

Much love,
Amy

These are our aspirations. If they are yours, come join and help us achieve them!! Becoming a Member - Pamphlet

Link to "Becoming a Member" Pamphlet: A good read from the mothership...

I think this excerpt says it all...

"As Marjorie Achley says, 'Perhaps you have been looking for a church where:

Your doubts are not ridiculed.
Your guilts are lightened.
Your griefs are comforted.
Your joys are celebrated.
Your children are taught all religions.
Your talents are nurtured.
Your concerns are shared.
Your reason is honored.
Your friendships are deepened.
Your love of art and beauty is expanded.
Your need to serve others is fostered.
Your need to laugh is encouraged.
Your individual decision is treasured.

Then you have been looking for the Unitarian Universalist Church. These are our aspirations. If they are yours, come join and help us achieve them.'"

Thanks! & take care, love, hope, faith & holdfast..

Do You Want Fries With That?

At Sugarloaf, SCUU, we're small enough that we rely on volunteers for what we do. We're big enough that we have a place and staff and infrastructure; and we try to do many things.

Some people look for a church that has much to offer in the form of established programs and activities. Some people want their fries -- a menu.

Some people want to establish something new.

We at Sugarloaf are attempting to do both.

Fries are pretty complicated. You need potatoes. There are many types of fries. What kind of oil do you use? How long to do cook them? How big is the kitchen? Should we eat this? Should we offer fries in many sizes? I love metaphors.

"Do you want fries with that?": The question really is are you asking the question or are you answering the question? Our aspiration is to do both; sometimes you ask the question and sometimes you answer the question.

Sometimes you get to serve and sometimes you get to be served.

Stop Bitching and Start a Revolution - Redux

We were on our way to a movie down at Landmark Cinema in Bethesda. We walked in front of Barnes and Noble after parking the car. We resisted the urge to go into the bookstore. A woman approached us on the street selling a bumper sticker that said "Stop Bitching and Start a Revolution"... We looked at the woman and said "WOW that's a very Unitarian Universalist thing to say!"... She looked at us sheepishly and said "this is for a commune; but my mother is a UU minister." We laughed and bought a bumper sticker...

June WOW is On the Third Saturday!! June 16th...

We're going to have the WOW on the 3rd Saturday rather than the Second Saturday in June. Blog Trumps Calender... We'll attempt to update the Calender soon..

"You need not think alike to love alike" -- Francis David

At Orientation we listen to you, we tell you about UU in general and Sugarloaf in particular, and we share stories of our spiritual journeys.

An Evite will go out soon so we can get an idea of how many people will attend. We did not do Evites last month. We try will not to not do evites again.

After you attend a WOW, we encourage you to join a Sugarloaf Circle.

Remember: Multiple Mentors & Friends Found at Sugarloaf WOW's & Circles!

As our Circles fill up we'll make more...

We also would like to invite, suggest, encourage, nudge people to sign the membership book before our next scheduled new member ceremony...

The Birds and the ... Wait Where Did All the Bees Go?

Link to Bee article

A new job on the farm may involve small paint brushes and many people painting pollen on blossoms -- or maybe powderpuffs would be more effective... When I explained the issue to my son he said god is quite silly...

Link to "Why Do Plants Have Flowers?" article

Yes, You Too Can Be a Peter Mayer Fan [Groupie]!!

Link to Peter Mayer Music.. He's played at our Coffeehouses...

The Great Wow...

"...the voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers. If this is Paganism, then at present, at least, I am a Pagan" Gertrude Simmons Bonnin

One of my favorite lines...

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."

Wow - Excerpts from an Exciting Proposal for Developing a SCUU Youth Program!

Wow cool, the Youth Program Development Group has created a proposal and the following is an excerpt:

SCUU is committed to supporting the full participation of families and youth in congregational life. Although in the past family ministry at SCUU has focused largely on religious education, it is time we expand our family focus to address the congregational experiences of middle school and high school youth. To this end, SCUU will endeavor to develop a youth program so as to foster age-appropriate activities and events of interest to youth, and which invite youth to engage socially, intellectually and spiritually in the congregational life of our beloved community.

At a minimum, this will include developing the organizational framework for a youth program, attracting a dedicated group of Adult Advisors, and organizing stepping stone starter activities for middle school and high school youth, respectively, and for the expected growth in the numbers of youth in these age ranges.

The youth program will consist of two components each with separate activities: a middle school youth group and a high school youth group. The program will adopt as its basic structure the YRUU (Young Religious Unitarian Universalists) organizational format (intended originally for ages 14-18) supported by the UUA and active at the JPD level.

SCUU youth shall have the opportunity to deepen their UU and SCUU identities by interacting with same-age youth from sister congregations at both local and district levels. Middle school youth may participate in “cluster” events with nearby congregations; high school youth may participate in both “cluster” events and all-JPD youth “CONS” or conventions.

By the beginning of the 2007-2008 congregational year, we will have at least eight to ten middle school youth in regular attendance, not including visitors and new member families. New membership is expected to grow the numbers of youth significantly. Moreover, the youth program will be particularly important to high school youth visitors, and may make the difference between a family visiting and a family joining as members.

"Of Members & Toes" or "The Yurt of Toes"

There are certain inefficiencies in a democratic volunteer faith based organization... Goals are ultimately met but not necessarily as planned or estimated. It is important for the congregation and board and committees to continually deliberate and vote every step of the way.

I respect passion. Passion that translates into action is good... Everyone steps on toes sometimes... Everyone has their toes stepped on sometimes. The tricky part is be mindful of, or learn to be mindful of, every one's toes and to say excuse me and apologize and try not to step on toes and piss people off. The tricky part is also not to get pissed off if your toes are stepped upon and run [hobble] screaming into the night... If you like your toes to be stepped on then that's another problem entirely.

I would also like to avoid taking action out of fear -- fear of change, fear of scarcity, fear of speed, fear of deliberation, fear of congregational meetings, fear of voting, fear of others intentions, fear of others, fear of failure, fear of stepping on toes, fear of etc...

Action based on courage trumps action based on fear.

My mantra remains -- Make friends and meet mentors at Circles & WOWs... Organic volunteering without stress is the best way to go... Finding the balance is critical or you scare away the butterflies... Don't stress out the butterflies... Try not to become or let your friends become a stressed-out scared butterfly. We are all friends.

We are a robust, mindful and kind congregation.

May we all find a place here and may we help others and may we help ourselves...

WOW - Ours is a free faith!!

Rev. Marta Flanagan says "We uphold the free search for truth. We will not be bound by a statement of belief. We do not ask anyone to subscribe to a creed. We say ours is a non-creedal religion. Ours is a free faith."

Great Sympathy...

We are very sorry to hear that Jean Carr's mom, Josephine Carr, died. We offer our sympathies and prayers and kind thoughts and we hope that all are well.

We know that death is a part of life. However knowing the fact does not seem to diminish the sense of loss and finality we feel.

Jean, we hope that your love and your happy memories of your mother allay your grief. We have great sympathy and sorrow for you and for all your family's loss. Death has such a sense of finality which is at odds with our memories. May your memories be strong and your love be stronger.

There's no place like change... There's no place like change...

Joys & Concerns:

• After a 5 year tenure that feels like 5 minutes, Rev. Amy leaves us following her last Sermon tomorrow, we'll try not to fall on our knees and grab her ankles... May We All Do Great Things!!
• The Interim Minister search continues...
• We work to form a Ministerial Search Committee which will gear up to find a new called minister...
• We are in the process of acclimating to our new home (most of us are in the "pinch me I'm dreaming" phase)...
• SCUU prepares to start our new year commencing with our Congregational meeting June 10th...
• The pledge drive is finishing up...
• We pray for Jared diGenova to be well...
• We rejoice that Anjali Loria Dodd was born Wednesday night. She is healthy: born 9lbs 13oz and 21 inches long. Nadia is doing well...
• We pray that Jenny feels better...
• All the kids are chomping at the bit for school to be out for the summer...
• A new member ceremony tomorrow...

WOW -- 100 Questions That Non-Members Ask About Unitarian Universalism

Link to 100 Questions...