February 1:
"It’s Not a Card; It’s a Whole Deck”
Marta Pearson will speak. Today we will be discovering how racism affects us all.
Music: Weintraub Duo
February 8:
"Listening for the Call: Discernment"
Rev. Dee Graham will speak. Often when we have to make the biggest decisions it happens in the most difficult times of our lives. With so much stimulus coming at us in the digital age, how do we filter out the static and focus in on our deepest voice? We'll consider the challenges of decision-making and how we discern our true direction.
Music: MUUF Choir
February 15:
“Yes! Here I am”
Rev. Rachel Baker will speak. Answering the call to do that thing you just cannot not do may lead us to places we never expected to go and learn things we never expected to learn. However, there will be those times when we wonder why we answered the call to begin with. What do we do when we ask ourselves, "Why me?"?
Music: Chuck & Liz Kercher
February 22:
“Our Stories:
Affirmations from Members and Friends”
Members and Friends will speak. What brought you here to MUUF? What makes you stay? Today, a few members and friends will share their stories with us.
Music: MUUF Members
March 1:
“A Caretakers' motto: Giving to Live!”
Rev. Dee Graham will speak. When we care for a beloved, we give the gift of ourselves. If asked why, the caretaker might answer, "Why not?" Pastor/professor Henri Nouwen explained, "The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy." We will look at how stewardship can give us a new dimension to our lives.
Music: MUUF Choir
February 2015Sun / Mon / Tue / Wed / Thu / Fri / Sat
1
9:00 Choir Practice
10:30 - Speaker
Marta Pearson
Music – Weintraub Duo
12:00 RE Comm Mtg / 2
10:00 Cottage Mtg
7:00 Occupy Bradenton
Discussion / 3
6:30 Zen Meditation / 4
6:00 Toastmasters / 5
12:00 Al-Anon Mtg
6:00 Choir Practice
7:30 Meditation / 6 / 7
12:00 Prism
Get Together Dinners (offsite)
8 SILENT AUCTION
BEGINS
9:00 Choir Practice
10:30 - Speaker
Rev. Dee Graham
Music – MUUF Choir
12:00 Social Justice
Comm Mtg
12:15 Cottage Meeting / 9
7:00 Occupy Bradenton
Discussion / 10
10:00 Chalice Cir B
6:30 Special Board Mtg
6:30 Zen Meditation / 11
6:00 Toastmasters / 12
12:00 Al-Anon Mtg
4:00 Membership
Comm Mtg
6:00 Choir Practice
7:30 Meditation / 13
6:00 UU Lite
6:00 Share-a-Dish
“Hispanics in Our Midst”
Sponsored by MUUF
Social Justice / 14
12:00 Prism
15SILENT AUCTION
ENDS
10:30 - Speaker
Rev. Rachel Baker
Music –
Chuck and Liz Kercher
12:00 Luncheon and
Live Auction / 16
7:00 Occupy Bradenton
Discussion / 17
6:30 Board Mtg
6:30 Zen Meditation / 18
6:00 Toastmasters / 19 UPDATE
ARTICLES DUE
9:00 Our Daily Bread
12:00 Al-Anon Mtg
4:00 Friend to Friends
Network/Caring
6:00 Choir Practice
7:30 Meditation / 20 / 21
9:00 – 4:00 Healing
Practitioners Workshop
22
10:30 - Program
Stewardship
Testimonials
Music – MUUF Members
1:00 UU History Movie
CROP Walk / 23
7:00 Occupy Bradenton
Discussion / 24
10:00 Chalice Cir B
6:30 Zen Meditation / 25
6:00 Toastmasters / 26
12:00 Al-Anon Mtg
4:00 Play Reading Grp
6:00 Choir Practice
7:30 Meditation / 27
6:00 UU Lite / 28
10:00 Healing Circle
12:00 Prism
10-1:30 Mission/ Purpose Meetings (tentative)
President’s Message
February 2015
Bill Peruzzi
I certainly knew that the very welcome judicial system decision that overturned the ban on same-sex marriages was a huge event for Florida, but I never thought that the results would be so enjoyable for me personally. First ABC TV news interviewed the Reverend Dee Graham, Ed Kobee, Al Usack and I on our reactions to the decision. The words of the first three mentioned here were brilliant and achieved great publicity for MUUF and UUism on several time slots of the news. I anticipated that for lack of time, the editor would not use my words and sure enough my words were cut. To compensate I enhanced the chance that they would use images of Al, Ed and myself for voiceover bits if I got the two of them laughing raucously. Ask Ed or Al the question I asked that got them guffawing…
Then there were the 3 same-sex weddings and 1 vow renewal for eight lovely brides performed by Reverend Dee on Sunday January 11. Two of the brides were traditional enough to want to be walked down the aisle. I was honored to stand in as ‘father of the bride.’ What a thrill. I started the day having one daughter and two daughters-in-law and ended the day having three daughters and four daughters-in-law!
Much less pleasant this month was that we had to end our relationship with our new Office Administrator Susan Bryant. Shortly after beginning her probationary period and training with us, Susan became ill, eventually underwent surgery, and has had very bad luck during her recovery efforts. We waited four months while looking forward to her return, but with MUUF now entering a period of intense activity involving change decisions having to do with the congregation, reluctantly we could wait no longer.
MUUF is fortunate that Maggie Bayliss, who had been our salaried Office Administrator a year and a half ago, and has been replacing Susan as Office Administrator on a contractual basis, has agreed to return again as our salaried Office Administrator. I interviewed Maggie in preparation for this message and have included her words here:
Bill P: “Maggie, you were salaried before, then served on a contractual basis, and now will be salaried again. Tell us what these various arrangements have taught you.”
Maggie B: In fact, I served here three times through a contractual arrangement, I trained my first replacement, when she left I began training Susan, and then I filled in for Susan for what I expected to be a temporary arrangement. Prior to these contractual arrangements, I had become a MUUF member and had gained new perspectives through being the chair of the MUUF Personnel Committee. Believing my latest work at MUUF was to be temporary, I took pleasure in helping to design some new protocols that have been put in place that will improve the position of Office Administrator. These particularly have had to do with “guidelines” and “deadlines” for various MUUF events. What I learned is that things I struggled with in the past can be improved. Previously, it had been a constant struggle for me to get the work of the Fellowship completed within my allotted hours.
Bill P: “Tell us more about the changes in guidelines and deadlines that you and administration worked out together.”
Maggie B: One deadline that was set in place has to do with weekly production of the Sunday Bulletin. Previously if a contributor to the Bulletin was slow getting their copy to the Office Administrator, and it was too late to make time adjustments, the Office Administrator would end up working extra hours without receiving appropriate compensation. Lately missing deadlines has had consequences. Now the outcome typically is that the Bulletin appears lacking the information that had been submitted late. Contributors now tend to submit their items in a timely way.
Bill P: “You worked out some other arrangements with the ad hoc committee that rehired you. Tell us some of them that are of importance to you.”
Maggie B: In particular, we made some time changes. Instead of working 9am to 2pm, typically I now will be working 8am to 1pm. The MUUF office has very little visitor, call or email business from 1-2pm, peak time being 9am-noon. I look forward to starting work at 8am and for the most part having an uninterrupted hour to accomplish work during my most creative time of the day.
Here is another example. From experience, I know that there is much less work for the Office Administrator to do during the three summer months, than there is during the rest of the year. My hours now will be reduced back to what they were (five hours less per week in summer) when I previously was salaried. The 60-hours of extra available time accumulated then will be used during the rest of the year during those times when additional labor is needed. I am talking particularly about certain time-intensive annual events such as the Stewardship drive and the Annual Meeting preparation and reports; and those Memorial Services that occur with little or no advanced notice. With the President’s permission, such events will find me working extra hours that will come out of the accumulated 60 hours not worked during the summer. I will continue to keep my hours of work down to the allotted time, but I will be compensated for all the hours that I do work. A source of irritation will have been removed.
Bill P: “Is there anything else about you or the position for which you want to make us aware?”
Maggie B: Yes, there are a couple more things I would like to relate. I have:
* noticed that a limitation of our MUUF building is that there is no private workspace for the Office Administrator. For instance, the copy machine, the paper cutter, and all of the paper products are housed in the Office Administrator’s office. This creates problems in that when I arrive Monday mornings, others who have a true need to use these items and my office on Sundays are not always good about returning items to the proper locations and causing whatever mess they have created to disappear. I may need to get more strident about that situation.
* decided to resign as a Member of MUUF, because I do not ever want to be in the position of voting on items related to my position, nor do I want to attend worship services where I would be expected to answer work questions, rather than being able to enjoy services in my own way.
* changed. I no longer am the Maggie that worked here a year and a half ago. I was too much of a softie back then in that I was not adept at dealing with persistent problems, such as requests that I perform tasks that are outside my job description. You will soon discover that the new Maggie has matured and acquired new skills. At first, you may not like some of the changes that I have described, but in the long run: administration, the congregation, and the Office Administrator will be better off.
MEMBERShIP TEAM
There have been discussions lately of the importance of stewardship. Our board works diligently to come up with a budget and to work within that budget.
Your membership team has been working equally hard, along with Leslie Roell, to produce a 2015 directory. You can help us with this. If you see any mistakes or omissions in the 2014 directory please call the office.
Don’t forget to participate in our Awesome Auction … it is our biggest fundraiser!
“One pebble thrown into a pond can change its whole surface. When one person steps into a pond the pond's surface will be changed by that act.
Can I make a difference? The important thing is not whether we are individuals with average endowments or great abilities, but whether or not we make use of what has been given to us through our Fellowship.
Each one of us has something important to contribute, for we are unique in our experience. We have something to say and do that no one else can duplicate.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE”
Quoted from A Pebble in a Pond. C.A.L
MUUF is at a serious crossroad with serious decisions to make. YOUR membership team needs YOUR help! We need one more member on our team. Please contact me if you can help.
AND don’t forget to put the April 10, 2015 Share-a Dish on your calendar. We have a sing along and welcome our newest members. Please join us!
Kim Gardner, Membership Team Captain
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
February 2015
Lisa Bohn, DRE
First and foremost, I’d like to thank the members and friends of our Fellowship who supported the children, youth and families in this year’s madrigal, “7 Principles - The Musical.” As fundraisers go, it was a great success. As joyful, crazy, heart-happy, bonding, Fellowship events go…it was Awesome!
The other heart-happy event that we experienced lately was “The day of the 4 weddings”, in response to our state, finally legalizing same-sex marriages. Witnessing the four same-sex marriages was such an honor, though I knew none of the participants personally. The love and joy in our sanctuary gave me goose bumps. And speaking with a friend later that day brought the reality of it front and center. Her lesbian daughter has a steady girlfriend and had expressed thoughts of a marriage possibility in the future. Isn’t it wonderful that should she choose, she can get married in her home state! I imagine that, in the future, we will look back at this event and wonder why it was such a big deal, but right now, it feels like a really, big deal!
RE Calendar
January 4February 1First Sunday- Children attend service
with family until the sermon, then
gather upstairs for music and activities
February 8 RE Classes
UU History Movie, 1:00pm
February 15RE Classes, National Standing on the Side of Love Day, 2/14
February 22Fourth Sunday Community-building and fellowship on the playground
DeeScriptions
February 2015
Rev. Dee Graham
Joy filled the air at our congregation’s Wedding Party, which happened the Sunday following Florida’s court order to allow marriage equality. If you check out the photos on our website ( you’ll see happy faces, a full sanctuary and even a “best dog,” who stood up for one of the couples.
That’s what happens when we work devotedly on an issue and, finally, justice arrives. The people rejoice!
It was Transcendentalist Unitarian minister the Rev. Theodore Parker, who inspired both President Abraham Lincoln and the Rev. Martin Luther King, civil rights leader, when he said:
“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice."
That same inspiration drives today’s Unitarian Universalist challenge to stand, work, and live “on the side of love.” And that’s what we need to keep in mind when the opportunity to live as justice-seeking people occurs over any issue of human dignity.
In Florida, we often see immigration issues come to the fore through serious needs like modern day human slavery and worker rights. But we also know the challenge of racism in cases like Ferguson, Mo., and in our state’s blunder with the tragedy of Trayvon Martin.
Racism, as well, takes center stage in this struggle. Black Lives Matter (or #BlackLivesMatter) is a movement and a stance in response to this reality: the United States was built on a legacy of slavery, racism, and oppression that continues to take new, ever-changing forms. To say that "black lives
matter" doesn't mean that black lives are more important than other lives, or that all lives don't matter. The systemic devaluing of Black lives calls us
to bear witness, even as we acknowledge that oppression takes many intersecting forms.
As we are reminded of love in this month of February, let us look around ourselves to see how we can best live on the side of love, not on the side of fear.
The Rev. Audette Fulbright Fulson expressed this in her in memoriam for Eric Garner:
Do not think we are finished - oh
no
we will never be finished
never just done
until the light of justice is lit behind every eye.
Do not think we will be silent - oh
no
there will not be silence until the world has sung the
names
of the dead with full throats and still
we will sing on.
Do not think fear is the end of us - oh
you
are broken in mind and heart if you even imagine
that our fear for our lives is the end of this story.
We are braver than you have ever conceived
and you
will not be the end of us.
We have come to take back the world
the world that is the inheritance of better children
better lovers
better days.
There will be love again but justice is our demand
now.
You will not take us down
We are endless
firelit
determined
and we
are coming
for you.
Let us strive to take love seriously in our hearts and manifest it in our lives.
February 14, 2015
SOCIAL JUSTICE NEWS
Congratulations and Best Wishes to the three couples who were married and the one who renewed vows after Florida made LGBTQ marriages legal! We were delighted to participate in these joyous, historic weddings in Manatee County.
In January members from Social Justice committee and Bradenton Occupy welcomed members of NAACP in demonstrations on the corner of Manatee Avenue and 43rd Street West. On MLK Jr Day many of us attended the Public Safety Program: Bridging the Gap between Law Enforcement and the Minority Community, as well as the several movies during January at the public libraries honoring Martin Luther King Jr. We also attended the LWV's Hot Topic featuring Susie Copeland, NAACP President, Manatee County Sheriff Steube and the Bradenton and Palmetto Police Chiefs.
The Share A Dish on Friday, Feb 13, will feature presentations by the young leaders in the educational program at Unidos Now Hispanic advocacy center. The educational program helps students who have never had a family member attend college to understand and maneuver through the maze of college applications and financial statements.