Commitment Sunday At First Unitarian

The Rev. Burton Carley (right), of the Church of the River, in Memphis was the guest preacher for the church's fourth Committment Sunday. His topic was "Lost in Translation" and was a stirring call to look past the institutional maintenance of the church toward what we are called to do in the world and in our own spiritual lives. He is shown here with Rev. Merritt immediately after the service.

At the conclusion of the service, congregants brought forward cards indicating the extent of their financial support of the church for 2008. Over 100 cards were turned in.
After the service, the Congregation came together for a congregational lunch over at the Crown Plaza hotel, across the street. Over 175 people came for lunch, which did NOT include any real speeches, but did include a dress up corner for the children and youth.

Rev. Carley composed the Common Prayer for our worship service.

O Holy One,

from the preoccupations that beset us

we come to this place of memory

and hope to rekindle our spirit.

We confess how busyness often takes us away

from relationships and actions that matter.

We confess how distractions kidnap our consciousness

and hold us hostage to trivial pursuits.

From cynicism and superficiality save us.

May we be touched once again by the gift and glory of life.

Let us be present to your call.

Quicken our faith, deepen our souls and renew our joy.

Turn us toward you

and in that meeting

come to understand what is required of us.

Opportunity Fair 2007

On September 30th, the Lay Leadership Council sponsored their third Opportunity Fair after the worship service.
Nearly every small group, committee, project, task force, or club in the church presented themselves so that people could ask questions or sign up. Food was served at every table, as well.



Dave Nase took a lot of pictures; here are some of them.

It's All About the Music on Monday Night

On Monday night, October 1, the Monday Night the Church program turned to Jerry Bellows for an "It's All About the Music" presentation. Using the Rise Up Singing Songbook, Jerry and his guitar led a sing-along of many folks songs: some humorous and some touching. Interspersed with the music, Jerry told the story of his life-long engagement with music: learning about music, learning to make music, learning to teach music, and loving music.

City Sponsored North Main Street Community Planning Meeting

On Saturday, September 29th, the City of Worcester's Department of Economic Development sponsored a community charrette at First Unitarian Church, to gather input for a plan to redevelop the North Main Street area. About 75 neighborhood activists, leaders of local institutions such as Worcester Art Museum and Tuckerman Hall, and civic leaders, including Mayor Lukes, State Senator Chandler, and several members of the City Council were in attendance.
The North Main Street area contains many important sites in downtown Worcester whose future is being considered. The Courthouse which is now empty as the new Judicial Center has opened, the Memorial Auditorium and the old Boys and Girls Club, now vacant as the Vocational High School, its last tenant has moved.
Many ideas were generated at the charrette for the future. First Unitarian Church is proud to have offered its facilities as a site for this important community meeting.

YRU2 Service Project

This last Sunday afternoon, we had 7 members of our youth group YRU2 join kids from the Westboro youth group in a local service project. UU Youth Day at the Community Harvest Project. We met at a farm in North Grafton, run by the Communty Harvest Project, http://www.community-harvest.org/ . There were about 20 folks altogether helping out that day. We spent a couple of hours harvesting tomatoes from the field and then washed and packaged them for delivery to the local food pantry. It was a fun experience for all those who participated. After our afternoon work we retired to the local Swirl and Scoop for ice cream. We are planning more events this year that will involve our youth group with our Westboro and Holden St sister churches.

Monday Night at the Church Watches Film about Heaven

On Monday night at the Church, following a community meal of ham, mashed potatoes, corn, peas and fresh tomatoes, the film "Five People You Meet in Heaven" was shown. Based on the book of the same name by Mitch Albom, the film follows the afterlife of Eddie, played by John Voigt. The film raises many questions about sin, forgiveness, redemption and the interconnections of all human life. Late in October, there will be a group discussion of the movie. The film and discussion are sponsored by the No-Read Book Club.

Scott Ritter speaks at First Unitarian

Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector, spoke on Thursday evening to antiwar activists about his analysis of the weaknesses of the antiwar movement, and what should be done to strengthen it.

The speech was sponsored by the Building Peace group of First Unitarian, Peaceworks, a community antiwar organization in Worcester and by Channel 13.

About 65 people attended the meeting; about one third was from First Unitarian.

Ritter presented a bleak assessment of the antiwar movement saying that is being isolated and defeated in an ideological struggle with pro-war elements. He argued that the antiwar movement needed to develop a greater capacity to engage in coordinated actions, and pursue strategic objectives rather disconnected tactics. His speech drew heavily on his new book: Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement, published by Nation Books.

On the current situation, Ritter argued that further actions against the war in Iraq should be placed on hold, while the antiwar movement directs its energy to educating people about a war with Iran, which is already covertly underway. The antiwar movement should be pressing Congress to rescind the resolutions authorizing the use of Military Force passed after 9/11 and before the Iraq war, which also authorize the use of force against other countries, including Iran.

Monday Night at the Church Discussion on Health Care in USA

Jeff Bailey reports:

We had a big turn out, 27 people. I began by saying that I would like to see and will attempt to help arrange a number of programs throughout this year on the state of healthcare in America. I also said that we have many people within our congregation that participate within the system and that their viewpoints would be solicited.

I started the discussion by going around the room and asking each person to give their name and one thing about our healthcare system that they perceive as a positive or a negative. I kept a list of our comments including:

- appreciation for Fallon (it was not noted whether they meant the health plan or the clinics - they are now separate.) - rave review of Michael Moore's Sicko

- a call for Socialized Medicine/Single Payer Medicine (noted by three people)

- a call to sever the employer/health insurance connection

- a case of a sick employee who kept working to keep insurance even though they could barely function was noted

- price gouging by pharmaceutical companies

- too many people without health insurance

- a call to end for profit healthcare and pharmaceutical companies

- an elderly person found it very difficult to understand what drugs they take because they keep changing

- noted that we are the only country in the developed world without a national healthcare policy

- long waits to receive test results (mammograms, etc.)

- gratitude for MassHealth coverage for children

- a call to start with national healthcare for all children from 0 - 18

- Western medicine lags behind in a holistic / integral approach to medicine (also, we have a "take a pill" mentality)

- Pharmaceutical com[panies have far too much money, lobbying power, and influence

- Advances in technology and treatments save lots of lives that would not have been in the past

- Noted that many mid-income people $40k - 75k are now without insurance and one illness away from ruin

- a healthcare provider noted the change from focus on the patient to focus on time efficiency

- new drugs and tests are rushed into use at high cost

- a very unhealthy and stressful environment for hospital workers

- the two worst places for nutrition are hospitals and schools

- a nurse quoted her hospital employer as saying, "the bottom line, we're a business!"

- changes in MassHealth qualification now makes many people have to choose between working without insurance and not working but having insurance

- a loss of personal involvement in own healthcare decisions

- good doctors are being restricted by the insurance companies and for profit healthcare institutions

Dr. Levine also noted:

- that there are problems with socialized medicine in some countries, so be careful what you ask for

- that the Reagan and "W" administrations racked up outrageous recording setting national debts and are the primary

reasons that we have not developed a national policy or healthcare system

- the lack of electronic healthcare profiles / medical records results in a tremendous amount of redundant testing and

treatments

- the cost of malpractice, i.e. the lawyers,. adds a tremendous cost to healthcare (it was noted that "Arnold" solved

that problem in California by putting caps on malpractice settlements.

- Doctors don't have enough standardization in the treatment of specific conditions (do to anti-trust legal issues)

- the high cost of healthcare is less because of greed and that most healthcare professional are not overpaid

- Pharmaceutical companies are a major part of the problem and have one of if not the most powerful lobby in the

country. Clinton allowed them to directly advertise to the public with skyrocketing pricing results

- there is a huge problem with drug interactions because of the pressure to prescribe more drugs by the

pharmaceutical companies and the lack of shared electronic records

- patients have been disempowered and that nurses are not allowed to do their jobs, and the biggest part of their job

that has been taken away is educating their patients

- there is now a severe shortage of physicians ( and a huge surplus of lawyers)

Obviously we have hit upon a hot topic and we have plenty of issues to explore including many that were not mentioned on Monday.

Sunday, September 16th

The second Sunday of the 2007-2008 year was marked by a sermon by Rev. Tom Schade entitled Silent Majority. It has been posted at the "Words Said Here" Blog.

The children had their first classes of the year. The Youth Group especially continues to have a very large turnout.

The second Sunday of the fall season has traditionally been a time when members of First Unitarian of Worcester and members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester retreat together to Ferry Beach in Maine. Vice-Moderator Liz Gustavson went on the retreat this year and sends this report:

About 40 people from First Unitarian joined the UU Church of Worcester (Holden St.) on the weekend of September 14-16, 2007 to Ferry Beach, a UUA camp and conference center on the shore ofCasco Bay in Maine. There was time to relax, to take walks on the beach, to do the Polar Bear dip, to eat very well, for the adults to have a cocktail hour, sharing dips, chips and beverages and to build community within our congregation and theirs. Everyone was assigned tasks, either cooking or cleaning up from a meal and then on Sunday, a general cleanup of the area. An energetic group of kids put on a talent show on Saturday, which was folleowed by a bonfire. Kids got glow sticks and looked like fireflies running around in the Grove. Families with small children enjoyed the improved playground area. It was a pleasant, fun and peaceful time.

Ingathering Sunday

September 9th was our annual Ingathering Sunday, marking the beginning of our church year.

The Prudential Committee (our governing board) hosted breakfast for the congregation at 9 AM, before the service.

Highlights of the service included Sierra-Marie Gerfao telling her first story to the congregation before the children and their teachers went to children's chapel.

Rev. Merritt preached on "Joy, Peace and Love".

After church, a great coffee hour and a start for the new year.

Watch this space for newsy reports on what has been happening at the church.