April 6              The Way Things Are
April 13            The Bhagavad Gita
April 20            Green Sanctuary
April 27            Lay Service           

From Severn 

There have been a lot of cases of flu and colds this long winter. Let’s hope we are all on the mend, AND that real spring (not just meteorological spring) will be here soon. We have at least a couple of fund-raisers ahead – the Jennifer Armstrong concert (and bake sale) and the church auction. Mark your calendars and let your friends know.

 You hear me say that change is the only constant, but sometimes it’s hard to like. John and Audie Lawrence will be moving to North Carolina and the Philippines (with occasional visits to Maine) sometime in May. And Karen Gillman is selling her house and has hopes of joining the Peace Corps. When the time comes, we wish them Bon Voyage and all good things (but we’ll miss them!).

 Remember April 11-12, the last annual meeting of the North East District and the first annual meeting of the new (combined ME/NH/VT) Northern New England district will be held in at the University of New Hampshire in Durham; the deadline for registration is March 29. Contact Jon Rogers or see http://nhvt.uua.org/ for details.

President’s Message

Happy Spring everyone! We are beginning the Bellringer's Campaign and I am hopeful we can meet our goals for this year's budget. Many thanks to Gi Reed and Tina Missbach who have agreed to take on this necessary duty. If we can all get our pledges in promptly, that would be wonderful.
           

We have a number of upcoming events in April and May. Jennifer Armstrong will be giving a concert in April organized by Edie Keller. The annual church auction will be May 10th. On a Saturday in May (date to be announced) we will have a garden party to weed, plant and renew our church gardens! Save the dates to enjoy and support our church community.

Thanks to all who attended the special meeting. Motions were proposed and accepted to:

 1) Build a pantry in Averill Parlors and the expenditure of up to $2650 to construct it, and

 2) To sponsor Bucky Rogers for a fellowship in a Master's of Divinity program along with a financial commitment of $5000 which will be matched by The Fund for Theological Education if he is accepted (the financial commitment is payable only if he is accepted for the fellowship).  I continue to be impressed by the love, generosity and good works perpetuated by our members. We are truly blessed. ---Diane Wheeler

 It's Auction Time!

 We will be holding the annual church auction on Saturday May 10th at 6:30pm. The preview will start at 6 pm. Please start thinking about items you would like to donate (no mattresses or exercise equipment please). Gift certificates for restaurants, services, vacations, etc. are always good. Auction items should be in good condition. They can be brought in to Averill Parlors and left on the stage starting April 27th.  Auction forms and sign up sheets to help will be on the bulletin  board. Don

Naber and Jerry St.Amand will be our co-auctioneers this year. Help make this a successful auction. It's always a fun night!

 A Note From Bucky

 Dear Fellow Congregants,

Thank you all so much for the overwhelming support that you have shown in offering to aid my effort to become a Fund for Theological Education Congregational Fellow.  I have witnessed many acts of deep and replenishing affirmation here, and to benefit from such a profound expression myself gave me cause to greatly rejoice.  As I continue to shape my vision of ministry, you have boosted my faith in the level of support it is possible for people to provide for each other in a community.  You all have nurtured and challenged me in many ways throughout my growth and development, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for that help as well.  I have clear memories of receiving advice and affirmation at each important juncture of my life from members of the church community, and this turning point has only caused an upturn in that trend.  I miss you all very much and look forward to delivering my thanks in person in July, when I return home from Turkey. 

 With sincere gratitude,

 Bucky Rogers

 April Greeters

April 6    Scott Price and Lisa Caswell
April 13  Bruce O'Donnell and Meg Wickes
April 20  Marian Flaherty and ___________
April 27  Karen Kusiak and Julia Kusiak-Carey

 Elementary Teachers for April
 
April 6th –  Tina Missbach
April 13th –  Scott Price
April 20th –  Cosmos Celebration:        intergenerational service – NO R.E.
April 27th -  Scott Price

 Nursery Volunteers

 Thanks to the following people who have signed on to be the adult presence in the Nursery during Sundays in April, helping our regular babysitter.

April 6  -  Lisa Covey
April 13  -  David Vaughn
April 20  - Jim Jarosz
April 27 –Martha Naber

 Jennifer Armstrong Concert April 12

 At 7:00 pm on Saturday, April 12, our church will host a show for the whole family (and a bake sale).

Jennifer Armstrong is a musical storyteller with songs and stories for all ages.  Her programs are interactive and weave together songs, tunes and
tales from the folk tradition and her own life experience. A wide variety of instruments enliven her shows including bagpipe, fiddle and banjo. 
 
Admission: $10 per adult, $1 per child.

If you’re willing to help this fund-raising effort by baking goodies or making soup-to-go to sell at intermission, please contact Edie Keller, who’s coordinating the event. 

Coffee Hour Caterers:

 April 6  -Bill & Linda Lee
April 13  - Hubert Kueter and Nancy Brooks
April 20   -Diane Wheeler
April 27 – ?? 

Ray and Connie Winship receiving an award at the Equality Maine dinner

 A Note from Connie and Ray Winship 

Dear friends,
We cannot tell you how much it meant to us to receive your card and good wishes! And it was just wonderful to see some of you at the dinner! All of it made the evening very poignant and special. Having been away for almost 7 weeks now, it felt great to be "home" even though it was so cold! We left Portland at 4:30 this morning, got here around 2:00. Long day but we are filled with such wonderful memories.
We're here for 3 weeks and then home for good as of April 3rd or 4th.

Thanks for remembering us. Love, Connie & Ray

The POINT Classifieds

Twin bed with trundle bed and frame.  $50.
Grace Peck 859-1990 or gracebpeck@yahoo.com

 Karen Gillman offers these items for sale:

 2 sets of dishes electric stove
dishwasher                   microwave stove
treadmill                       ab mouse
crystal vases                 suitcases
6 dining chairs               lots of books
cardboard file boxes     plastic filing trays
4 handwoven shawls     2 meditation cushions
Hummel figurines -- original -- best offer
lots of plants -- big and small
Queen size sofa bed  -- needs re-covering
Ping-pong table (may have a taker for this already)
Dining-room table (ditto)
Canadian rocker -- needs fixing
Old women's bike (bike is old; not women)
Someone to take my loving cat when I get into the Peace Corps
~~Karen Gillman
872-6367 

Lawn Sale/Auction Donations: Storage

 The Annual Church Lawn Sale isn’t until Saturday, July 12^th, but people have been asking about storage space for their donations. Ideally, donations should be brought to the church during the week before the sale, so we don’t have to move them multiple times. But if you have some things to donate now and CAN’T keep them until July, bring them to church on Sunday, April 6^th, and we’ll move them into the basement of 67 Silver Street right after church. If you’re bringing large items, please contact Claire Prontnicki first, to make sure it’s something that we are likely to be able to sell – cprontni@colby.edu, or 873-5894.

 Spring 2008 Women & Religion Retreat - Wings Set Me Free

There’s still time to sign up:   May 30th-June 1st, Rockcraft Retreat Center, Sebago Lake, Maine. The registration deadline is April 25th.  For a sneak peek of what is planned, please visit our blog at www.uuwomenandreligion.blogspot.com
 

Thanks to Rachel and Bill

During the RE Recognition Sunday on March 9th, Bill and Rachel were given kudos from students who were in their fan club as senior youth group members for the past many years. Here are excerpts from those messages: 

From Katherine Kusiak-Carey

I appreciate how comfortable and open the discussions were.  Our conversations started from the moment everyone gathered in the church base-ment and continued through the streets and into Jorgensen’s. I would often think back to what we talked about later in the week.

I remember the day we climbed Tumbledown Mountain in the pouring rain. We were determined to make it to the top despite the cold, wind, and snow.  Rarely am I happy in a car ride home with cold wet clothes, but that day I did not mind.

 From Dylan Jose:

Every other Sunday Sundays. What a great way to start the last day before Monday.  Thank you Bill and Rachel for all the mornings you spent with us, and for treating us so nicely, with such care, support and respect. You really gave us the chance to grow a little more, encouraged us to further explore our ideas, opinions, and beliefs about the things we encountered in every day life. We had the space to talk about anything from what new stuff had happened in our lives the past week, to current news stories and debates, to what we valued and loved about life, or what we thought death and after was all about. You gave us the right amount of structure and guidance to hold open discussions about issues, events, and relationships that interested us, to hear one another’s ideas and develop our own, and find new questions. I don’t think those discussions would have happened on their own. You reminded us to explore and examine all parts of our lives, spirituality and religious views included, and your openness made each of us know that we were appreciated. We’re very grateful to you. I can say personally that my time with you both has been most enriching, and has helped me to grow into a better person. Thank you for your years of energy and love for all us kids.   Love and respect, Dylan

 From Elise Rich-Colton:   

(Bill and Rachel) are unbelievably warm, kind people… Very pleasant and positive. I remember one particular "Jorgensens meeting" that Bill brought up a newspaper article he had read. The story was about a woman who had hit a man with her car, he was stuck in her windshield, and she parked in her car in the garage and went inside to bed. All of us (youngsters) had a very nasty reaction and began discussing how the lady was mean and evil and "dumb."  Bill did a very good job explaining that the woman was not "dumb," but instead, maybe the point where she went wrong was when she decided not to care about her fellow man. I thought that this was an ingenious way to 1) get our attention 2) get us involved and 3) teach a valuable lesson without letting us know that we were learning.  Maybe not your typical R.E. session but one that definitely sticks out in my mind.  Maybe its from all their time outdoors, working with the soil that they've managed to continue being very gentle and friendly folks. I'm proud to know them.
 

From Bucky Rogers:

Two things jump most quickly to mind when I think of the tenure of Bill and Rachel as YG leaders.  The first is that I am proud to have been able to continue to attend church all through high school, a feat that would have been far less meaningful and enjoyable without the help of those two wonderful people.  Now that I am planning to attend divinity school in the fall, I can look back and see that those years represented an extremely crucial link in my development as a spiritual person between childhood and adulthood.  Given this context, I don't think I can exaggerate how grateful I am that they decided to contribute to the church community in this way. 

I think lots of people didn't see their contributions because they took place at Jorgensen's or outside the sphere of normal church life, but I really can't overstate how important they were for me.  In loving gratitude, Bucky Rogers

From Emily Wheeler:

Rachel and Bill were wonderful RE teachers and we had some great discussions. I’ll miss them.

From John Ayotte:

I suppose that during this service Rachel and Bill will be showered with praise complementing their diligence, friendliness, and competence as teachers, parents and farmers. This should never be overlooked… I am one of the rare and unfortunate people to have made Rachel mad. It doesn't matter what the circumstances were, but the point is, when you can crack through the shell of patience and earth that is Rachel, you have really screwed up. …Rachel is forgiving. But seriously people, Rachel and Bill are not dead. This is not a funeral service. Don't go carving gravestones yet. You know very well Bill could still waste you in a bike race, and Rachel in all her patience and Buddha-like stillness will outlive us all. Be happy today and celebrate the gifts they have given us, free of charge, easy to digest as clean water.

 

From Mike Rogers:

 When I think of adults that have had significant impacts on my life my parents, a handful of teachers and Bill and Rachel spring most immediately to mind. Bill's Inner Child is probably the easiest to see of any adult I have ever known. Whether it shows through in building a miniature house 50 feet off the ground or the obvious glee he takes in his new biking equipment, his jovial nature is contagious and refreshing. When you're around Rachel you can’t help but be swept up in the feeling of unconditional love she exudes. I treasure the discussions they each facilitated in our Youth Group sessions, but I think the most lasting impression I have of them will be a sensation that I’ve always enjoyed when in their presence… The feeling that I, and the entire group had was that whatever we wanted to do as we grew older would be alright, that so long as we remained true to who we are, the rest didn’t matter. It was a feeling of unconditional acceptance. I carry that feeling with me today as the mind boggling task of "real life" looms ahead. Because of it, I know that in the end, every thing is going to be alright.

 From Andy Vayo:

 My fondest memory of Bill and Rachel is hard to pin down.  Being around them for so long leaves me stuck trying to pick between bonfires, treks through the woods, watching Bill (someone cover Rachel's eyes) climb over the top of the bonfires, playing ping-pong, sledding, and getting pounced on by dogs smaller than my shoes.  I could go on for a while, but instead, I'd say that my favorite memory was the way Bill saved Youth Group for me. Bill listened to us.  Sure, he would spark discussions, and keep them going from time to time, but he let us do the talking.  He made it interesting for us, and if he didn't have anything interesting to talk about (a rare occasion) he would give us free reign and just enjoy our company.  At least I'm assuming he did, because I sure enjoyed his.  Thank you, Bill and Rachel.

 ♥  The parents of these kids are grateful to you, Bill and Rachel; you helped keep our kids connected to their UU community in a special and effective way.    ~ Love ya!

Members of the Senior Youth Group on an outing with Rachel and Bill

 Capital Campaign
 
Your Capital Campaign Committee members have reached out to our congregation members and friends and received wonderful support! To date, we have ninety-four thousand eight hundred sixty dollars in commitments! These gifts and pledges will help our church accomplish much, including enhanced physical space for our worship services, religious education, and ESP, to be more visible and welcoming in our community.
 
Some folks are still considering how they can support the campaign. Will yours be the commitment that brings us over the ninety-five thousand or one hundred thousand dollar mark?
 
If you haven’t made your commitment, don’t hesitate to contact Jody Rich, Sue Cook or Rosemary Winslow.