Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations General Assembly

I'm on my way back from our General Assembly. It was another full intensity, spirit powered, information packed, worship-filled, relationship forming, soul-nurturing, belief-challenging, change the world and ourselves event. Our association is poised to make history. It will take a while to digest. Please watch my blog for further reports, and expect me to carry the love, vision and passion from the 49th GA of our UUA.

Rev. Phil Schulman - minister@nwcuuc.org
Comments are welcome on this, and other articles, at Rev. Schulman's blog.

Hello, fellow NWCUUC folks!

August looks to be a very busy month for NWCUUC! There is a lot on our calendar, and many different ways for us to support each other in community.

We will welcome back our two Board members from Dwight Brown Leadership Experience. I remember when I returned last year from my DBLE session, how excited I was! I am grateful that Rev Phil, John Hammer, and I found support and encouragement for the ideas we put forward for some changes. While two terms as President was not part of my plan when I started, I am honored to have the opportunity to help the church maintain consistent leadership. By taking on one extra year, the Board now has the time to send on-coming members to DBLE. How wonderful to have the training and the time to do something with the new knowledge!

We will also send quite a number of folks off to SWUUSI – Southwest UU Summer Institute. This is summer camp for the whole family, UU-style! Folks at SWUUSI will have the chance to experience different worship styles, which we can then try out here in our pulpit. There are workshops for both leadership and faith development. The NWCUUC folks who attend – and actually we have several folks hosting workshops this year, too! – will invariably come back fired up about what they learned and want to share with all of us.

August 22 will be our official “coming together”, our annual Water Ceremony. Bring water from your summer trips – virtual and representative water also welcome! We will have our Souper Sunday lunch that day, so we can all chat over good food. After some time for fellowship, we will begin our Mission and Visioning time. Full workshops will be scheduled later, but the process can begin with all of us together. This will include a discussion about 2011 – the end of our lease. Where do we want to go from here? Remember, too, that we are collecting visual representations of this future church for our Wall of Dreams.

And as always, we come together every Sunday to support each other in our spiritual and faith development. I realize that over the summer, attendance is lower. Some folks are on vacation, spending time with family or communing with Nature.  But if you are here, be Here! Come to church on Sundays. Lifespan Faith Development team (formerly Worship Committee and a few others) has been working hard over the last 1 ½ - 2 years to really improve the Sunday experience. We have Rev Phil, for one! Teams of folks who have listened to what you have said you wanted and needed have selected our speakers for the other Sundays, and they have done their best to provide this for us all. It is our responsibility, collectively, to build a just and loving community. So come to church, even if you aren’t sure of the topic, and build our community together.

See you next Sunday,

Tracy Cook

Tracy Cook - president@nwcuuc.org

We had been trying the three-committee model for a several months, and had noticed that two of the three committees were functioning well. When we looked at the structure, we found an obvious affinity of tasks in the two groups that were working well. The third group was arguably a catchall committee to hold those functions that weren't easily mapped into one of the two main committees. At Spring Conference, we learned that other faiths use two committees until their membership requires more. For some churches, this is the size of 400-600 members. The two committees are Deacons and Elders. One is set up to handle spiritual matters and the other for everything else. Our Lifespan Faith Development and Admin committees seemed to follow this example already, so we decided to fold the functions of our third committee into the two high-functioning committees.

Our Lifespan Faith Development committee is considering asking for more time. With the addition of tasks from the third committee, this looks even more necessary. Some functions that were unclear were placed with the Admin committee, partly because of this. Every act related to the church could be seen as spiritual, but we need to make a division somewhere or collapse to a single committee. Personally, I consider financial contribution to the church a spiritual act, but I don't expect finance to fall under Lifespan Faith Development.

Some wonderful work is being done in these committees. I hope that many of you will accept our invitation to come join us on the third Saturday of the month and join the conversation that shapes our future. Thanks to all who attend for helping with the work of the church.

As always, I welcome your questions and comments. I look forward to working with everyone to make our church as successful as I know that it can be..

Thank you for your time,

John Hammer - programcouncilchair@nwcuuc.org

The 2011 Task Force has been taken up as a board responsibility. The charge of the taskforce had been to examine options for the board to approve at the end of our current lease. The results from the previous 2011 committee have been passed to the board. The board has determined that it would expedite the process and improve the board by-in and approval process if we work through this process as board members. We will continue to take input from the congregation as the work proceeds.

Please watch this space for updates on our progress.

Thank you,
John Hammer - 2011@nwcuuc.org

I am quite certain that the readers of this column will think that I am biased, but listening to Joanna’s sermon on how we as UU’s are called to be missional resonated with me so much. I don’t think it was a coincidence that we were then part of the group that prepared and delivered 100 lunches and water to the homeless as part of the You Matter project.

At least some of you are now saying, “That’s great, Tom, but what does it have to do with Stewardship?” The point is that we don’t give to the church because we have a deep spiritual need to see the light bill paid. We don’t give to the church because we love the building so much. We don’t give to the church because we want to pay the district dues. It doesn’t mean that these things aren’t important, but they are all the “have to’s”.

The key is that we do those things to help us create an environment where we can do the things that make a difference in the community and in ourselves, whether that is handing out lunches to the homeless or working the Houston Pride event or going to SWUUSI and U Bar U. That is what moves me, and that is why I give to the church, and I am so glad that I was reminded of that fact with everything our church has done over the past month. 

- Tom Crawford

For more information on Stewardship please contact Geoff Sanders - stewardship@nwcuuc.org

Low water pressure continues to be a problem in the bathrooms and we'll be getting an estimate for repairs soon. The dead tree on the south side of the parking area has been targeted for removal. I am happy to report that no roof leaks were detected after the recent heavy rains. Thanks again to Jack Fort for his roof repair job last summer. The next workday will be August 14th.

Thanks,
Tom Parker - buildingandaesthetics@nwcuuc.org

You Matter Project Sack Lunches - 4th Saturdays

The fourth Saturday of each month we will host the lunch making for www.YouMatterProject.org, and then join the caravan to downtown Houston to deliver sack lunches to the homeless. People of all ages are encouraged to participate! We will meet at church at 9:30, and the caravan will leave the parking lot at 10:15. So that we can include children who spend different weekends with different parents, the schedule will shift after a few months to be on the first Saturday of the month. Oktober Stone-Spoonemore has taken over as area coordinator for the Northwest Houston! Please contact oktober@youmatterproject.org for further information. August 28 is the next date.

Dana Ashrawi - faithinaction@nwcuuc.org

Religious Education will be on Hiatus for the summer.  We hope all the children and teens have a great summer.  

Next year will bring some changes to the Religious Education Program, which we hope will allow us to better meet the needs of all the children. Opportunities abound to help guide and learn with the next generation of UUs.    

If you would like to be involved in our Religious Education Program for next year please contact the Lifespan Development Committee (lifespan@nwcuuc.org).  If you have a special story related to one of our seven principles please contact me, so we can work on including it within our program.

Beth Hammer - ChildrensRE@nwcuuc.org

Community Calendar

You can find out what events are happening at area UU congregations on our website calendar. You can also check out the Houston UU Network website for lots of resources and information at www.uuhouston.org/.

Andy Savidge is our representative to these meetings that occur on the second Tuesday of each month. We will be posting the minutes that he receives from the UU Network secretary in our documents repository. These meetings are one venue for helping with the logistics of things like the Spring Music Fest.

Soup, Glorious Soup!!!

Souper Sunday

This month, we will return from all of our vacations, stay-cations, and wish-I-could-have-cations and come back together. In the past, many churches would close for the summer We don’t do that any more! But we do still take the time to formalize our gathering with our annual Water Ceremony.

On August 22, which is the 4^th Sunday of the month and not our regularly scheduled 3^rd Sunday, we will also return to our monthly Souper Sunday event. We will need at least four soups, two salads, and several loaves of bread. If you would like to bring something, please contact Tracy Cook.

During lunch, we will begin discussions about Mission and Vision for the church – it has been a few years, time to see if we are on track, or if our “track” needs some updating. Along with this, we will also discuss what we want for our next location. The Board will research different options, but there are so many out there! A little direction would help narrow the focus so our Board can bring us good choices deeply researched.

Thank you!

The Soup Queen

Tracy Cook - fundraising@nwcuuc.org

The Dinner Club will get together again only for 3 more months! (July 10th, August 21 and September 18). Those who have participated have enjoyed meeting in a casual setting and breaking bread. If you are new to the church this is a great way to get to know us a little better. I hope you decide to join us.

Dinner Club Q & A

Q- If I attend a dinner at someone elses house, am I expected to have a dinner at some other time?
A- No. No one is expected to host. We understand that for some of us hosting is not a possability. But we love having you to come dine and chat with us.

Q- What if I don't really "cook". Can I still attend?
A- Yes, your host(ess) will assign you a dish or side dish that you can bring.

Q- I have a really unusual diet. Will that be a problem.
A- No, all dietary needs are taken into consideration. (EX. high protein, no meat, no dairy, only whole foods, no blue cheese, no shell fish, etc. are a few requests we have had so far.)

Q- What do I do with my children.
A- Bring them along! Let me know the ages and how many you have and I will try to put you with others in the same age bracket if possible.

Please let me know of any questions, concerns or ideas you may have.

For more information - contact - Rita Cusack - Social Representative.

NWCUUC Social Committee
Social@nwcuuc.org