December 3 Signs of the Dead December 10 Why We Should Celebrate December 17 Saturnalia December 24 Mother Night December 24/6:00 Christmas Eve Service of Carols and Candles December 31 Lay Service
From Severn Our heating system is in and functioning! We’ve done some temporary clean-up before the next project, which is insulating the whole building. Later this winter, we will have a professional cleaning company come in to deep-clean, but we will also have some church work parties to do the more manageable cleaning projects. Eventually we will paint everything. Wow! It’s time, though, and since 2007 is our 175th anniversary, it is also timely.
The transition has been made to an “outside” accountant with an “inside” treasurer and collector.
Please, EVERYONE, thank Lisa Covey for her years of service as treasurer, and her patience as we found and set up the new system.
I don’t know if I do this next part nearly enough: Thank You! I feel we should shout to the world (the UU World at least) how wonderful you are. For a congregation the size of ours, we act at least twice our size, and we do things many mid-sized churches don’t even do. We do it without much conflict, without much fanfare.
Here is your deserved fanfare: TA DA!
Seriously, though, you have become a fair compensation congregation, you have coordinated a meal program for seventeen years (!), you made the commitment to give every month to a local charity, you are truly a Welcoming Congregation (one of the earliest in the District). You’ve repaired the building’s needs, bought the building next door. And more and more.
You feel free to express your ideas and opinions, and do so respectfully. And you don’t stomp away if a different opinion prevails.
I’d say we have a very great deal to celebrate as we approach our 175th anniversary!
Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!
President’s Message Our People Thanks to many dedicated people, our church continues to flourish and to provide support for our minister and our members. Of special note at this time is the extraordinary service of our newly-retired treasurer, Lisa Covey. She served us well in her four years as treasurer, keeping a careful watch over the accounts. Lisa served as “under-study” to Jerry Saint Amand before accepting the position, but thanks to his mentoring, she took on the treasurer’s position, adding her accounting background to what she learned from her mentor.
Lisa, thank you for your many hours of service to our church!
Another thank-you goes out to Jim Ashton, for taking on the task of doing repairs around the building in the aftermath of the heating system renovations. He has quietly but conscientiously been patching holes and doing other maintenance work.
Our Building People are the heart of our church, but we are grateful for the wonderful, historic building in which we share fellowship among ourselves and with the community. Like we need spiritual sustenance, our property and grounds need attention, and this has been a busy fall for church building work.
Please stay after the morning service for a special congregational meeting on Sunday, December 3rd to approve expenditures relating the steeple. By now, you probably have seen the steeple on the ground next the church. Two years ago, the engineering company gave it two years before continued deterioration would render it an extreme safety hazard. We have made progress toward the repairs, but the final plan is under consideration. In the meantime, the company that handles this kind of work in our area could do the work for us soon, before moving on to other commitments. Because of safety concerns, and because removing the steeple would be the first step to any repairs or renovations, the Board approved the removal of the steeple while we had the opportunity.
At the special meeting on December 3rd, we will discuss this further, and seek your approval of this $5,000 expenditure.
As approved at the Annual Meeting by the congregation, we have signed a contract for insulation to be installed/blown in to the church building. The congregation approved expenditures up to $20,000, and we have accepted a contractor’s bid of $14,000. This work will be done early in January.
Best wishes to you all in this season of many holidays. Sue Cook
Adult Program Beginning in mid-January (date TBA), Severn will offer, after church on Sundays, a five-week program on “Articulating our UU Faith.” If you are interested, let her know. If you need child care during that time (each session lasts about an hour), also call to let her know.
Among Ourselves We welcome new members Ave Vinick and Eric and Nancy Nickerson and Nancy’s daughter Sarah Klamparens.
Also, congratulations to Ave as he begins as Director of Development at Good Will Hinckley of Waterville, where he will supervise a staff of five and oversee both the development and communications departments.
Congratulations, too, to Lyn Mikel Brown, who was quoted in the Morning Sentinel last month by nationally syndicated Boston Globe columnist, Ellen Goodman in her column entitled, “Welcome to the Annual Halloween Horror Show: Where Post-feminist Women Can Be Biker Chicks.”
Worship Committee Need a quiet moment away from the holiday hustle and bustle? Want to reflect on a meaning of Christmas besides how many presents you still need to purchase and cookies you need to bake? Advent Quiet Times will be offered again this year on two weeknights in December.
The sanctuary will be open from 7:00 to 8:00 on Thursday, Dec. 14th and Thursday, Dec. 21st. We offer quiet music, candlelight and uninterrupted time to be quiet. Enjoy the peace for as little or as long as you wish on those two evenings.
The theme of the lay service Dec. 31st will be "Change in the New Year." It will be an interactive service, so bring along a poem, short reading or thought to share on that Sunday morning.
We welcome the newest member of the Worship Committee, Peter Burgher.
As always, feel free to share your thoughts on worship with any of us as well as Severn directly.
The Worship Committee Edie Keller, Committee Chair ekeller@fc.wtvl.k12.me.us or
Peter Burgher Joe Laferriere Mary Matson Gi Reed Margrit Thomas David Vaughn Nancy Wynne
GAYT We will be collecting the Guest At Your Table envelopes in early January. This money goes to support the international service work of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.
Forty dollars ($40) makes you a member ($75 for dual membership); ten dollars ($10) for students, twenty dollars ($20) for seniors (65+) and dual seniors $40.
MAKE CHECKS TO THE UU CHURCH (MEMO UUSC-GAYT) and give to Marilyn Wheeler (or leave on the office desk).
We have been a Banner Congregation for a great many years (that means that between 25% and 49% of our congregation have given). Let’s keep up the good work!
Remember, we will collect in early January.
Colby Celebration of Scholarship Piano Recital of Gjergji Gaqi
The Colby Celebration of Scholarship is intended to provide a forum for senior students to be recognized for various scholarly activities ranging from performances and artwork to scientific research presentations.
On Saturday, December 9th at 3:00 P.M. church organist Gjergji Gaqi will perform his Senior Recital at Given Auditorium (contiguous to the Colby Art Museum).
Church Christmas Wish List
Archives The Archives Committee has much for which to be grateful this month. First, Kit Alexander has become a member of the committee. We are eager to put her many skills to use. And, after several months of looking for bargains, we finally have a Compaq laptop computer that weighs just over 5 pounds and can be moved easily from church to anywhere we need to be to record data.
We had approached the Board of Trustees in mid-summer about the possibility of buying a church lap top for $500 or less, only to discover that there were none. Then Beth Schiller happened to see an ad in the Sentinel for a limited number of laptops available for under $400. Don Zarfous, who had been looking with the committee, was in line before 6:00 A.M. on a Saturday morning and was able to purchase the Compaq for us.
Sometimes it takes a whole (church) village to accomplish what looks like the impossible.
We expect to work on Sundays after church so we can have a workable index to all the documents we have that give an outline of the church’s history from 1832 to the present time.
Anyone who is interested in this committee and what it does may contact Linda Davis, Hilary Ervin, or Kit.
Salvation Army Seeking Bell Ringers The Salvation Army is seeking bell ringers for the upcoming holiday season. The funds raised stay in our community to help with food, shelter, clothing, or other needs that cannot be filled elsewhere.
Bell ringing will be done at Shaw’s on Kennedy Drive on Saturday, December 16th .
Interested bell ringers may sign up by listing their names on the bulletin board in Averill Parlors or by contacting Bill Lee (872-6003) or email at lhlee47@hotmail.com.
November 1st Sunday Offering Just over $600.00 was raised at the extra offering on Sunday, November 1st.
With this money, ESP was able to put together a total of twenty-five baskets which will be given to needy families.
Holiday Giving Program The Junior Youth group is going to be hosting a Holiday Giving Program. Donate $5 or more to a local charity of your choice, and you will receive a homemade ornament and a gift card to give to a recipient, acknowledging the donation in their name. This will be happening December 10th and 17th following services.
BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!!!
Nursery Schedule Adults scheduled to help our babysitters in December, with thanks for their willingness to be there, are: December 3 - Linda Davis December 10 - Kristin Majeska December 17 - Lisa Lichterfeld December 24 - Kathy McKay December 31 - Sue Cook
Pizza Eating and Ornament Making Night: The Junior Youth Group is inviting all interested people to join them on Saturday December 2nd at 6:30 P.M. for a night of pizza eating, ornament making, and good company.
We are working on completing the ornaments for the Holiday Giving Program December 10th and 17th.
Pizza and materials for ornament making will be supplied. If you have a particular type of ornament you would like to work on, please feel free to bring your own materials.
Contact Barbara Covey or Margrit Thomas if you have any questions.
The Youth Group (and parents) thank you for your support!
Thank you! Barbara Covey
Welcoming Congregation The First Annual Welcoming Congregation Conference at Ferry Beach on November 3rd-4th was attended by 60+ UUs from Auburn, Augusta, Bangor, Belfast, Brunswick, Caribou, Edgecomb, Ellsworth, Kennebunk, Norway, Portland, Saco/Biddeford, Waterville, Milford, NH, and Barre, VT.
Bruce O’Donnell, Ray and Connie Winship represented our local church.
In keeping with the Welcoming Congregation’s goal of outreach and support to the GLBT community (and their family and friends), the following pamphlets from the Human Rights Campaign have been placed in the rack at the entrance to the sanctuary:
Please feel free to take copies for non-church folks who may benefit from reading them.
New Year’s Resolution 2007 : Online Point Newsletter In keeping with the twin UU ideals of protecting the environment and practicing fiscal conservatism, we are asking that church members consider “reading” the Point online in 2007.
Printing/mailing hard copies has become increasingly more costly and uses large amounts of paper.
For those of you who would be willing to try this technology, it would be simply a matter of opening an attachment sent as part of an email, or clicking on to the church website (http://www.uuc-wtvl.org). From there, you could print out whichever sections are pertinent to you.
Going online additionally gives us the opportunity to include pictures of church activities.
For those who are willing to try this, here’s how it would work.
Each month, Connie Winship, Point editor, would send self-identified interested persons an announcement notifying them that the Point is complete and available online; for those who prefer getting the Point as an email attachment, Janet Ayotte, church administrative assistant, would sent the Point within an email.
For those who prefer to continue receiving the Point as a hard copy, we will continue to provide paper copies after services on the fourth Sunday and/or mail it to those of you who did not pick it up. As has been our practice to date.
Just to start the process, would those of you who are interested email Janet to let her know? Please email at her church address: welcome@uuc-wtvl.org.
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