the nUUsletter

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS, BETTER NEWS AND THE BEST NEWS!

The bad news is that our Birthday Party at the Warehouse, scheduled for
Saturday, January 29th, has been cancelled due to weather and driving
conditions.

The good news is that we have re-scheduled it for Friday night, February
4th. Same time, same place.

The better news is that Patsy Cline cleared her calendar so that she'd
be able to attend, too!

The best news is that you have more time to make reservations to attend
and have fun! Please call the office for details, 624-2985.

When to Call the Minister

by the Rev. Jeff Briere, with apologies to Peter Lee Scott

When you haven’t met me yet,
but would like to.
When you have problems
to discuss.
When a sympathetic ear might help.
When you’re going in the hospital
or know someone else who is.
When someone close to you dies or is critically ill.
When you’re planning to be married,
or might need to be.
When your daughter graduates from college.
When you have a child to be dedicated.
When you’re pregnant but wish you weren’t.
When you’ve been arrested, or ought to be.
When you want to learn more
about Unitarian Universalism.
When you’re scared.
When you’d like to talk religion with me.
When you’d like to make a bequest to the church.
When your son gets a big promotion.
When you’re considering joining the congregation.
When you’d like to show us
what a good cook you are!
When a friend of your wants
to know more about our faith.
When you have suggestions
about the programs for the church.
When you have suggestions for a sermon
or about the worship services.
When you’d like to help with committee work
or congregational activities.
When you want to discuss community issues
or would like my involvement.
When you’re mad at me.

I am at the church on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons and Thursday mornings. I also work from my home office, 423/624-8152, and my cell number is 423/667-0855. You can also send a message to minister[at]uuc.org. I read my e-mail several times a day. Please do not feel you are bothering me. I am happy to talk to you about any topic.

Services and Morning Groups

Please see the Community Calendar for details about January's Sunday activities, including the discussion forums, Buddhist group, Music rehearsal, and the general service.

JOIN THE PARTY!

JANUARY 29 - 6:30 P.M. - SAVE THE DATE!
UUCC 53RD BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
AT THE WAREHOUSE - 5957 DAYTON BLVD.
On Saturday, January 29, we are having our 2nd Annual Party celebrating UUCC’s 53rd Birthday! Bax and Velvet Walker, owners of The Warehouse, are our hosts in this step-back-in time event. The Warehouse is sans alcohol—adult only—and great fun! This year’s musical theme is Patsy Cline. For those who didn’t get there last year, be sure you don’t miss this frolicking party on the 29th. Cost is $15 per person which covers pizza, soft drinks, a banana split, and loads of fun and entertainment.

Make reservations with the church office, Nicky Ozbek, or Margaret Hudson but DON’T miss the fun!!

Our Hats Are Off To...

We know, we seem to always be thanking some member or members of the congregation. That’s because so many are so generous. However, we haven’t mentioned STEVE SMITH in a long while. Steve has donated so generously his time and energy to keep the church grounds in beautiful shape. Steve, with the help of Sonny Carson, worked almost all day on December 22, getting everything shipshape for the Christmas Eve Service. A portion of this day there was a very cold rain and, to top this off, Steve was here again for a good portion of the day on December 23 in freezing temperatures! Thanks STEVE!

The Interdedpendent Web

by STEVE HOLLINGSWORTH

Take courage friends. / The way is often hard, / The path is never clear, / And the stakes are very high. / Take courage. / For deep down, there is another truth: / You are not alone.
—Wayne Arnason

Another New Year and, while I'm not much into New Year's resolutions, I take energy from indulging the widespread fantasy that turning the calendar page seals some of the worst behind and gives us a chance to be and do better than before.

Every church community eventually must confront abusive and/or violent persons whose presence is intolerable. Even though such persons may be banished from the church, it takes more than just saying forget about it for those who remain to turn the page and move on. Elsewhere, I saw play out first-hand a story where the book closed with finality—a rare gift for the living—but it echoes still whenever I hear stories of similar trauma.

Henry (In my brief recounting real names would serve no purpose.) was an interesting and artistic man but he had a serious drinking problem. We did not know anything of his dark side when we purchased his services at a church auction. We only knew his roommate, Matthew, who was a pillar of our church. But finding Henry passed out from drinking our liquor while he had been working alone in our apartment led us to forego his doing the work he had promised and to exclude him from that part of our lives.

In the church at large the breaking point came when Henry trashed a decorating party for a church function, got into a fist fight with another member and had to be physically restrained.

What was eye-opening in this case was what came out as church members and the board realized they must act. Henry's irresponsible behavior and abuse had been widely experienced personally and collectively ignored. In short, we had been trying to live our first principle of affirming the inherent worth and dignity of every person without due consideration of our seventh principle, respecting the interdependent web of all existence.

When people merely disagree or have hurt feelings, we have learned the value of confronting the person directly—preferably one-to-one. Remember, however, to respect your own worth and dignity if you begin to feel you are being abused. The common good will be best served if you seek trustworthy brokers who can begin collective action sooner rather than later.

Hope itself requires us to believe in second chances. Henry moved on to another UU church in another state and got a new start. Sadly he died only a couple of years later of AIDS, but Matthew was at his memorial service. That was another important lesson: If you know how to safely be a friend to someone troubled, do not forsake them even though others must.

Parking Expansion

by FRED TREGASKIS

The start of the project to build a new parking lot has been quite evident with the clearing of the land. Most of us look to the left when climbing the driveway to see what progress is being made. Wet weather has slowed that progress, but work will resume as soon as the ground is dry enough to accommodate the heavy equipment.

The next step will be to complete the clearing of trees and brush. Consideration was given to leaving some of the larger trees. However, experts agree that the trees would die because of the damage to the roots. Planting new trees on the perimeter may be possible after completion. After clearing, the land will be graded and the topsoil will be removed in preparation for the gravel surface. John Spehar is in charge of this project. Watch it happen, but drive carefully!

Wednesday Night Out

Please see the Community Calendar of Events for dates and locations!

Board Highlights

The treasurer reported that income and expenses are in accordance with the budget. The church banks accounts have been moved from AmSouth to First Volunteer Bank. A method to accurately count Sunday attendance was determined and will be included in the instructions to ushers. The Service Auction produced a profit of $5200, as budgeted. However, attendance was fewer than past years. The Ways and Means Committee will seek new ways of fundraising because of the declining attendance and income from the Service Auction and Rummage Sale. Construction of a sound system alcove was approved. The minimum pledge of $120 per member was established. This will apply to members who join after December 8, 2004 and for all members in fiscal year 2005-2006.

The next Board of Trustees meeting is Wednesday, January 19, at 6:30 p.m. Meetings are open to all.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES FRED TREGASKIS, President SONJA HELMHOLTZ, Secretary KARL HUNT, Treasurer MARGARET HUDSON, VP, Development LESLIE WALTERS, VP, Programs MONIQUE LEWIS, VP, Religious Education CAROLYN MOORE, VP, Ways & Means BUCK O’ REAR, Immediate Past President REV. JEFF BRIERE, Ex-officio

Committee Meetings

Membership - 5:00 pm, Monday, January 3
Committee on Ministry-6:00 pm, Tuesday, January 11
Finance Committee - 6:30 pm, Wednesday, January 12

A New Dishwasher

Funds for a new commercial dishwasher have been donated by George and Linda Helton in memory of George's mother, Louise Helton Miller. The existing dishwasher cannot accommodate enough dishes for our growing attendance. Replacing it with a new commercial machine will result in quicker cycling, thereby avoiding the laborious (and less sanitary) hand washing which has been required. Everyone will want to tell George and Linda how grateful we are for this generous gift!

Interfaith Hospitality Network

We will again be hosting IHN families January 9 through January 15. Monique Lewis has begun enlisting volunteers for the week. Check your calendars and use the signup board or call Monqiue to volunteer. Thanks!

Art on the Walls

by Bill Hull

Our art work for December and January features photographs of a father daughter team. Lawrence Witten and Susan Anderson enjoyed travel and taking photographs. In his absence, Susan Anderson has created an exhibit she took in Western Ireland and that Lawrence Witten took in Israel. Enjoy!

Knitting Group

The Knitting Group meets on Monday, January 10 at 7 p.m. in the Sanctuary. Bring your projects and yarn for a night of koffee, konversation and, of kourse, knitting!

Angel Nuus

First, the acknowledgements

Since last month’s report about angels in the church, several more have been spotted. The old playground destruction was accomplished thanks to Victor “Angel” Brown.

The kitchen crew and the Fellowship Committee are first in line to express their gratitude to George “Angel” Helton & Linda “Angel” Helton for the gift of a commercial dishwasher. Dishes will now be sanitized and washed in 180 seconds, making potlucks a lot easier and fun for all.

Bruce “Angel” Hollingsworth donated a United Nations flag and stand, which will be displayed in the fellowship area.

If you are focused only on getting in the door, you may miss the pansies planted by Velma “Angel” Whittle. In the midst of winter cold and darkness, they remind us of the colorful summer flowers to come.

Now here’s the “rest of the story.”

Even though these angels have been spotted flying around the church, we need two new angels to relieve a couple of older angels who are unable to complete their angelic missions. We need a Flower Power Person. The Flower Power program puts flowers on the altar every week for the enjoyment of the congregation and the enhancement of the worship experience.
The flowers are purchased by people to honor special occasions and after the service, donors can take the flowers home or leave them or give them to someone.
But we need an angel to coordinate the program and pick up the flowers on Saturday. Since joining the church, Kate “Angel” Briere has been the Flower Power Person, but finds that she has less time for it now that she is caring for her mother. The Flower Power Person works about an hour a week on this project.

We also need a sound technician to record the services, place microphones and assist in the worship services. Rich “Angel” Dwyer has been doing this for some time now, but cannot be in three places at once, even though he is angelic.

Please contact the minister or the office if you feel angelic. We are sincerely grateful for all the work that all the angels, named and un–named, do for our church. Thank you so much.

UUs Who "ChUUse" to Not "UUse" E-Mail

by Linda Helton

When a quick announcement goes out from the church by way of the Internet, we want everyone to be “connected” by a buddy who will call those who choose not to have access to Internet “e-mail.” If you wish to have such a buddy, a sign-up sheet is posted on the Bulletin Board.

How About You?

...if you have a special skill or a desire to add something to the life of the church, make it known to the administrator or the minister. Help this church be what it needs to be to serve the interests of liberal religion in Chattanooga!

CHIONS

The CHIONS meets January 8, at 10:30. Guest speaker Paul Von Ward is a minister, cosmologist, peace activist, parapsychology researcher, and scholar of prehistory. Mr. Von Ward will be discussing his latest book.

UU Book Club News

The Book Club meets Thursday, January 20, at 7 pm at the church to discuss My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. Our newest book club attendee Priscilla King will lead the discussion. Join us for a lively discussion!

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

The Church Office recently received a thank you letter for supporting the work of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Our special collection to the UUSC was $113.80. This is in addition to gifts from our members who choose to participate with their direct gifts to UUSC.

Welcome New Members

On Sunday, December 5, we were fortunate to welcome the following new members into our church family:

Elijah & Vivian Anderson-Barrera: Vivian Anderson-Barrera was born in Guatemala and lived in California. She studied at the Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, majoring in sociology and women’s studies. She teaches at Northwestern Tech and at Chattanooga State. She and husband Eli have three children. Elijah Anderson-Barrera recently moved to Red Bank from S. California via Puerto Rico. Having grown up Catholic, Elijah is new to Unitarian Universalism. He teaches Spanish at Baylor school, and is father to two teenage sons and a young daughter.

Rebecca Cruz: Rebecca Cruz was born in Oneonta, NY, and raised in Venezuela and yes, bilingual. She is an accomplished drummer, and her 15 minutes of fame came as the drummer for the Big Hair Band, an appropriately named rock band that left no trace of its musical influence. Rebecca enjoys music, dancing, outdoor activities, good friends, and her two sons are her favorite things in this world. She’s a news reporter for Channel 12, with lots and lots of side projects and future dreams. She was introduced to our church by Jeff Styles and her friends Leslie and Michael Walters make her want to stay around.

Scott & Missy DeLap: Missy DeLap grew up in Chattanooga and attended college at Chattanooga State, Kennesaw State, and UTC. She and husband Scott married New Year’s Day 2003. Missy has seen forty-four of the fifty states, loves working with computers, and volunteers at her stepsons’ elementary school. She has a passion for research and, she says, will stay awake for days learning something new. Scott DeLap comes from Wisconsin and yes, he says he is a cheese-head. He has lived in Minnesota, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and Florida. Scott has a wife, Missy, and two sons, ages 8 and 10. For his wife, Scott is making a Christmas stocking that he has worked on for thirteen months.

Kim Hopkins: Kim Hopkins spent most of her life in Southern California where she developed a love of the outdoors. Her parents, who now reside in Knoxville, taught her to sing at an early age and she is looking forward to singing in our choir. Kim is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Social Work at Dalton State College, and hopes to go into international adoption after graduation. She and husband Dave, a long-haul truck driver, met while hiking in the Mojave Desert. During their four years of marriage, they have enjoyed reading and heated discussions on about anything from Star Trek to Emerson.

Brian & Priscilla King: Brian King grew up in Montreal and Washington, DC. Originally Catholic, he joined the Unitarian Fellowship of West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1991. He studied business and city planning in college, sold manufacturing equipment, and now creates food brands and markets business services for Five Star Food Service. He enjoys music, theater, art, food, and conversation. He also likes hiking, travel, and game playing with his family.

Priscilla King is a third generation Unitarian. Born in Illinois, she was raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia and Schenectady, NY. She worked in finance at GE and then worked expanding a general aviation airport and the industrial park surrounding it. She enjoys cooking, reading, game playing, hiking, Jazzercise, volunteering at school, theater, and symphony.

The Kings have recently moved from Charlotte, NC. Married for 23 years, the couple has two teenage sons.

Sharon Locke: Sharon encountered Unitarian Universalism in 1984 when looking for a religious community in rural Appalachian Kentucky. Upon settling in Chattanooga in January of this year, she discovered our church to be a vital source of joy and strength as well as of solace. Sharon is the mother of one son, Andy Gill, aged 26, who resides in Richmond, Virginia. She is employed as an assessment specialist with the Crisis Response Team of Tennessee’s Volunteer Behavioral Health Care System.

Harold Linn: Harold Linn’s parents were Rosicrucian and Southern Baptist, so naturally he had to shop around some before making his commitment to membership in this church. He visited Unitarian Universalist churches in Denver and Pueblo, Colorado, and Daytona Beach, but did not feel moved to join until he came here. He said the people in this church showed him so much love, he just had to join up.

Scott and Tonja Milner: Tonja Milner was born and raised in Flintstone, Georgia, where she lives now with her family in the house where she grew up. She attended UTC, majoring in Spanish, and went to work at Erlanger until the children were born. Tonja and family went to a Baptist church until Maddie Kertay invited them here. Tonja likes the UU church because it’s not judgmental and not hypocritical. She and husband, Scott, have two children. Tonja likes photography and gardening.

Scott Milner of Flintstone, Georgia, says that his mother sent him to a Baptist Sunday school, but he went instead to the candy store. He lives with his family and works at Erlanger in medical records. He attended UTC and took the BA in history. Scott and wife, Tonja, have two children. His interests are chess and history of Renaissance Scotland and ancient Rome. Scott has volunteered to complete the cataloging of the library that was begun by Peggy Cottam.

Daniel Justice: Daniel Justice hails from Memphis. After the army stationed him at Fort Ord, California, he met Jesse and soon thereafter joined the crew at King City Bookkeeping. By the time Daniel graduated magna cum laude from UTC with a degree in Secondary Education in English, he had helped found Haney, Mozzini, and Justice, Inc.. Unwilling to give up self-employment and feeling just as comfortable with the tax code as with Chaucer, Daniel remains an accountant.

Jesse Mozzini: Jesse Mozzini grew up near Monterey, California. After high school, he bought a bookkeeping firm in King City, California. When he sold that business and moved to Chattanooga, Jesse worked for a local accounting firm for five years. In 1998, together with his partners, he founded Haney, Mozzini, & Justice, Incorporated. In 2003, Jesse reached a lifelong goal when he achieved Enrolled Agent status with the IRS.

Jerry Smith: Jerry Smith lives in Lookout Valley, Tennessee. His wife, Barbara, is a nursing student and has engaged her husband to help collect clothing for needy patients. Jerry is working on the church website and the newsletter. He has two teenaged stepsons, Matthew and Jesse Hartman. Jerry has recently re-vamped the church’s web site.

Margaret “Skip” Stephens: Margaret “Skip” Stevens was a member of the Tarpon Springs, Florida Unitarian Universalist Church for some years. Skip moved with her husband and four children to Signal Mountain in 1965. When her children were grown, life took her to Lexington, Kentucky and to Florida. She has moved once again to Chattanooga. Skip sings in our choir and in the Scenic City Chorale, goes to book clubs, travels, volunteers at the Newton County Center daycare nursery, and keeps up with her thirteen grandchildren and one great grandchild. Skip is matriarch of eight families spread all across the US. (She has been active here for some time, dividing her time been Tarpon Springs UU and UUC of Chattanooga.