At its regular monthly meeting on Thursday evening, July 15, our Board of Trustees selected Melissa Ensign-Bedford as President-Elect and Ginny Winter as Treasurer for the 2021-22 fiscal year that began July 1.
Under church bylaws, Melissa will become President for the 2022-23 fiscal year that will begin July 1, 2022.
President Tim Dickerson said the board expects to select the Secretary at its next meeting on Aug. 19.
This will be my last column because our settled minister, the Rev. Molly Housh Gordon, will be back from her sabbatical in August. It has truly been an honor to serve you as Sabbatical Interim Minister. All of you have been tremendously kind and supportive of my ministry in your midst. Thank you. In my 40 plus years of ministerial service, I have never served a congregation more committed to justice and truth. You are special, and I want you to know that I believe in your work, and I love you.
Since I am coming to the end of my tenure with you, allow me to leave you with the following challenges. Beloved, I urge you to:
I wrote about this in the last newsletter, but I want to re-emphasize the concept. As a congregation you have everything you need to numerically grow. You have a minister who can preach and is a gifted administrator. You have a Board of Trustees that is responsible and handles business with transparency. Your staff in excellent and committed to the success of this church. You have a history of justice.
There are many people who will want to join this fellowship if you commit to attracting them. Respectfully let me remind you that it is not the responsibility of the minister to grow a congregation. The minister’s role is to equip you to grow this congregation. From the Black Church motto, “Shepherds don’t make sheep, sheep make sheep.” Your calling is to make members, and your task is to tell your story as a UU member. Your story will grow your church.
Once upon a time, because of your socio-economic advantage, stewardship drives campaigns were activated once a year and the budget would be secured. But this phenomenon is no longer the case, and the reality is that all of us must think about stewardship in a wholistic manner. Stewardship is not just about money; it is also about time and talent.
Once we were taught that passion and intellect are mutually exclusive. Yet, everything we do in life, that is important to us, demands both passion and intellect.
Thus, I encourage you to bring both head and heart all you do in the life of this congregation. Sing like you mean what you say. Give Rev. Molly or the lay leader an “Amen” sometime. Greet visitors with enthusiasm. Do your individual ministries with all the passion of your heart. I share with you that the things that come from the heart reach the heart of others. Give your all and do not be ashamed to feel the faith you claim.
Rev. Erin Margit Dajka Holley, who serves as Digital Liturgist during Rev. Molly’s sabbatical, agrees that you are a healthy congregation, which is no small compliment. There are so many toxic congregations out there. It is obvious that Rev. Molly has put in the work to create a healthy atmosphere of service and worship. You have been doing the work of growing spiritually. I encourage you to continue to grow in your journey together. Let it be so and amen!
– Rev. Dr. C.W. Dawson, Jr.
The UUCC Safe Summer Social Planning Team has joined with the Youth Religious Education program for a combined event.
For the second offering of our Summer R.E. Program, we will meet on the church grounds to imagine the world we wish to create…and then build it with Legos! Bring your imagination, ingenuity, creativity, and sense of fun.
Adults without children are welcome to take this time to gather and chat. Bring a chair, or not. Bring something to drink, or not. But please plan to come and visit, and reconnect in person. Please review the Board of Trustees’ updated Covid-19 policy, and remember to drive about carefully, as young ones will be gathered.
Thank you, UUCC, for your support of our sponsorship of a Guatemalan family seeking asylum. The mom Lilly, her 5-year-old son Manuel, and her 8-month-old daughter Lakshmi, arrived in Columbia on May 26. Church member Christine Heath has generously offered to host the family in her home. Many of you have indicated a willingness to offer financial support of the sponsorship, and we greatly appreciate your interest in helping. There are two suggested ways to consider making contributions.
Please designate contributions to the church for the “Sanctuary Fund.” If donating at https://uucomo.org/donate/, please select “Other” and specify “Sanctuary Fund.”
Contributions to the church are tax deductible. We as a congregation have expressed a willingness to see the sponsorship of an asylum-seeking family as an extension of being a sanctuary congregation.
Although we are unable to make a direct transfer to the family of contributions made to the church, the Sanctuary/Immigrant Justice (SIJ) Team will do its best to use money in the Sanctuary Fund wisely. The financial needs of our sponsorship of Lilly and her family are significant, and we anticipate using money in the Sanctuary Fund for that purpose. However, there is also the possibility that money in the Sanctuary Fund may be used for other immigrant justice purposes, such as helping with unexpected expenses for the Honduran family we have been helping to support, or if there is an unexpected need for sanctuary that UUCC agrees to provide.
At this time please send contributions for the family to Allie Gassmann at 1700 Princeton Dr., Columbia, MO 65203. Please make checks payable to Allie. Allie and Dave Gibbons, as co-chairs of the SIJ Team, and Christine Heath, as host of the family, have opened a joint account for the sponsorship needs of Lilly and her family. They will coordinate all expenditures from the account for sponsorship needs and make a periodic accounting to the SIJ Team. Contributions sent to Allie as gifts for the family are not tax deductible.
We truly appreciate the interest of people at UUCC to help support the sponsorship of Lilly, Manuel, and Lakshmi. The immigration courts are significantly backed up, so our sponsorship could be for quite a while. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns, or if you need any additional information.
With much gratitude,
Allie Gassmann and Dave Gibbons, Co-Chairs
Sanctuary/Immigrant Justice Team
The Social Action Team continues to collect nominations for Faith-to-Action collections for the coming church year. As of this writing, we have received nominations for:
Please consider nominating one of your favorite organizations for a FTA collection. Applications are available online.
The UUCC Board of Trustees has updated its guidance for in-person summer gatherings based on recommendations from our Covid-19 Advisory Task Force, the Centers for Disease Control, state and local health guidelines, and the Unitarian Universalist Association. The updated guidance, effective Tuesday, June 22, is as follows:
Watch upcoming issues of The Searchlight and emails for guidance on fall gatherings, worship services and religious education classes.
Additional resource: “Choosing Safer Activities” – a chart comparing the relative safety of various indoor and outdoor activities for unvaccinated and fully vaccinated people.
After our May 2 online Annual Congregational Meeting, 82 members cast written ballots that overwhelmingly approved our 2021-22 operating budget and elected three new Board of Trustees members. The number of ballots far exceeded the quorum requirement of 44.
The budget can be viewed here.
New board members who will take office on July 1 are Melissa Ensign-Bedford, Susan Even and Connie Ordway. View their photos and biographical statements here.
Leaving the board at the end of their terms on June 30 will be Mark Johnson, Past President Mindy McPherson and current Secretary Jan Swaney.
President-Elect Tim Dickerson will become President July 1. Other current board members who will continue on the nine-member board are current President Rebecca Graves, current Treasurer Jeremy Duke, Ginny Winter, Kara Braudis and David Leuthold.
The newly constituted board will elect the 2021-22 President-Elect, Secretary and Treasurer. This election usually takes place at the board’s July meeting.
Starting Wednesday, May 12, Music Director Jeremy Wagner will be holding weekly group sings in the parking lot at UUCC from 6 to 8 p.m. Singers will be socially distant and compliant with current studies from the CDC and the University of Colorado that state that singing outside with 6 feet between each person (or family) is safe to do.
The group sing on May 19 will be a special tribute to our former Music Director, Desi Long, before she moves from Columbia to be closer to family.
For those that are vaccinated and/or belong to the same group of people, if everyone in your group feels comfortable not wearing a mask, that is a decision that at this time is safe to make. Groups that do not normally see one another will be kept separate. Jeremy will handle distribution of needed resources, including masks and sanitary wipes.
Jeremy’s ultimate goal is to have music that speaks to participants and the congregation printed and ready for each group to have at least one hymnal, though order of songs will not be chosen nor strictly stuck to. He wants to provide an opportunity to sing the songs that we have held in our hearts all these months and share them together once more. He stresses that participants do not need to be in choir or be able to read music to participate. The point is to sing as a community in a safe manner that hopefully will be healing for us all. There will be no obligation to stay the entire two hours.
If you have music that you want for sure to be sung at the first group sing, or any future ones, send Jeremy an email so he can make sure it is available.
Jeremy plans to feature a tribute to Desi Long during the May 19 group sing. Our former Music Director has been a part of this congregation for decades and holds a special place in many of our hearts. The group sing will focus on the music Desi loves to sing/play/listen to. Jeremy hopes as many of us that can safely fill the parking lot on May 19 will be there to share our gratitude and well wishes as Desi moves away from Columbia.
Tuesdays 10 a.m. to noon
https://zoom.us/j/96047161907?pwd=MHZjcGpBQmZBRkZNc28rWjJ5SFp0dz09
Meeting ID: 960 4716 1907 Passcode: 089681
Thursdays 1 to 3 p.m.
https://zoom.us/j/97512148919?pwd=elBmdlorajNBQ2RUM2xzY0NOWk02dz09
Meeting ID: 975 1214 8919 Passcode: 180937
On Saturday, April 17 the Grounds Team continued the battle against the invasive bush honeysuckle in the woods behind UUCC.
If you’ve got a giant green thicket in your woods, you may have a bush honeysuckle infestation. These invasive plants are shrubby natives of Asia. Here in America, where they have no natural controls, they leaf out early, grow fast, spread fast and form dense thickets that crowd out Missouri’s native forest plants.
Bush honeysuckle blossoms are white to yellow, fragrant and bloom in April and May. The leaves are narrower and more pointed than native honeysuckles, and they are attached by short, slender petioles to the main stem.
In comparison, Missouri’s beneficial native honeysuckle is a vine, and its roundish leaves are closely attached to the stem. The blossoms are yellow to red and trumpet-shaped and appear late April and early May. For more great information, see this article on the Missouri Department of Conservation website.
Thank you to all who helped with the cleanup! Are you interested in being notified of upcoming activities? Email Patty Daus or Jeanne Murphy.
“The mind that comes to rest is tended
In ways that it cannot intend:
Is borne, preserved, and comprehended
By what it cannot comprehend.”
– Wendell Berry
Dear UU Churchers,
This is my final message to you until September, as my sabbatical begins April 5 and ends Aug. 2. I am beyond grateful for this opportunity to take extended sabbath time for rest, creativity, and renewal. Theologian Walter Brueggeman writes: “Sabbath is not simply the pause that refreshes. It is the pause that transforms.” By stepping back from the workaday world for an hour, for a day, for a season, we find spaciousness that allows for transformation.
During this sabbatical time my plans are to write poetry, read abundantly, spend deeper time and fuller attention with my family, and rest from the pace of ministry. My dream is that through these things a small transformation works its way through me – a further opening of heart and deepening of spirit that I will bring back to our life together in August with great joy. My dream is that a spaciousness opens for you, too, as well as a new inspiration from the exciting sabbatical ministry of the Rev. Dr. CW Dawson. I can’t wait to see what transformations unfold for you in my absence.
Though I believe this time will be rich for you and for me alike, I want you know that I will miss you very much, dear ones. I cast my heart toward a reunion in the fall that I pray will be not just in spirit but in body too, as I dearly hope we find ourselves re-gathering from this pandemic time. I hope to see some of your masked faces on Easter Sunday afternoon on the church grounds (drop by from 3 to 4 p.m.) to say a very fond farewell-for-now.
With Love, Rev. Molly
After a year that was taxing for all of us, I am so grateful to be able to take this time for renewal before our eventual return to in-person worship. I plan to be back in plenty of time to plan for the new church year – in high hopes that we will be able to re-gather in person sometime in the fall or winter.
Sabbatical is a long tradition in ministry and academia alike, allowing for an extended time of study, reflection, rest and renewal – all ingredients for effective ministry. In our Unitarian Universalist tradition, sabbatical leave is part of the congregation’s covenantal agreement with their minister, who generally earns one month of sabbatical per year of service up to a limit of six months.
I know this opportunity for extended renewal is a rare gift in our American culture of overwork and grind, and I am humbled and grateful for the chance to re-charge my batteries in this way, especially after the grueling pandemic year we have all experienced. I hope to rest, do a lot of reading to renew my wells of preaching fodder, and also take on a small writing project that has been tickling my brain. I hope to return refreshed and full of fresh ideas and rekindled energy for a new church year and an eventual return to in-person worship!
The board has been saving for sabbatical coverage since I arrived. We will have a part-time sabbatical minister to fulfill my executive and pastoral capacities and preach twice per month, as well as a “digital liturgist” to help keep online worship running smoothly.
Rev. Dr. C.W. Dawson has been hired as our sabbatical minister, as originally planned. The Rev. Dr. Dawson is a progressive pastor, professor of philosophy and religion, prolific columnist, and a regular and beloved guest preacher and teacher here at UUCC. I am elated that he is available to work with us in this way – to guide the congregation and to provide new perspective to our ministry during this period.
Yes! A sabbatical can be a time of mutual growth and exploration for minister and congregation alike, as the congregation has the chance to benefit from different perspectives and ideas. Rev. Dr. Dawson will be exploring multi-culturalism and growth with the congregation through his role as sabbatical minister.
I will be on full leave from all church duties and will not be available for anything church-related, including pastoral care. But I will mostly be in town as my family members go about their usual pandemic-era lives close to home. If we run into each other around town and you recognize me all masked up, please do feel free to say hello. Just know I won’t be able to talk church business with you!
Email them to our sabbatical minister, Rev. Dr. C.W. Dawson.
The UU Life Writers’ Group is pleased to announce the publication of its second anthology, Stories, Just Stories. The stories are mini-memoirs about family, growing up, social activism, romance and pets. A big section of poetry is included. The anthology also contains tributes to those writers no longer with us.
Copies are $8 and can be ordered by email to Fran Reynolds. Pay on the UUCC donation page by selecting the “Other” option and specifying “Life Writers Anthology” as the purpose of the donation.
March is Women’s History Month. UU Life Writers will be writing stories about women who have been important to them, the church and the community. Everyone is welcome to join us on Zoom. We will meet March 6 and 20 at 10:30 a.m. For more information contact Fran.
Our congregation has for many years been in a relationship with a community in the Cangrejal River Valley of Honduras. Groups of UU Churchers have visited every couple of years to work on projects and have maintained relationships between trips with communications and material support for things like the health clinic. This has been mutually rich in learning and connection for both communities.
Two years ago our Social Action Team undertook a project to establish an Education Fund to aid community leaders in furthering their education and building skills to help in their community. The Honduras Education Fund provides scholarship funding for these local leaders, but it is currently running low on funds! The team is seeking individuals or families to pledge $160/year (about $15/month) for two years to keep the Education Fund up and running! One time gifts of any amount are also accepted on our online donation page – select the “Other” option and note “Honduras Education Fund” for the explanation.
Can you help? Email Caya Tanski with any questions.
Our CommUUnity Connections Project invites individuals and families of all configurations to join in strengthening our congregation’s intersectional bonds. Interested families will be paired up with each other to connect virtually or in person at least once in March, April and May.
Read more below, and click the following button to sign up:
CommUUnity Connection Project Signup
The project’s goal is to strengthen interpersonal bonds within the congregation by connecting interested families.
Project organizers have covered everything they can think of below, but if you have additional questions, their contact information is at the end.
Any size family can participate. You can be a family of one, a couple, a nuclear family, a multigenerational family, or a blended family.
After you sign up by clicking the button above, our project organizers will partner you with another family and provide each family with contact information.
We have no firm deadline for sign up, but if you are interested, aim to sign up before March 7.
Some folks have lots of experience meeting new people. Others less so. Here is a script and some questions for getting a conversation going. Adapt and improvise to make it feel right for you. You can use email to set up a time to meet by phone, online, or face to face for your first contact.
Discuss making plans for your next contact. Will it work best to communicate by email or phone? When will it be? Will it be virtual? Would you consider meeting outdoors? Refer to Ideas for Ways to Connect below for ideas.
The ideas below are just a few of the things that you may consider doing together. The relationship you develop may be limited to the 3-month time frame or it could be the start of something more long term. It’s all up to you.
When you signed up for this project, you expected to have enough time for full participation, including one contact per month. If your situation changes, be sure to let your partner family know that you won’t be able to continue because of the new circumstances and contact the project organizers. That will allow us to help them find a new family partner if they wish.
Jan Weaver, Susan Even, Todd Iveson, Steve and Joan Mudrick, Jamila Batchelder, and Rev. Molly Housh Gordon. If you have any questions, please email Jan Weaver.
Download all information as a PDF
The Rev. Sally Fritsche, daughter of our members Lisa and Kevin Fritsche, joined the UU Church of Urbana-Champaign (UUCUC) as Associate Minister for Congregational Life on Sept. 1. Her duties will include pastoral care, membership, leadership development, small group support and alternative worship opportunities. She will also lead one Sunday service per month. She delivered her first sermon there on Sept. 13.
Rev. Sally grew up in our church and had a keen interest in world religions from a young age. After earning undergraduate degrees in sociology and religious studies, she first felt the call to ministry while serving in Americorps in rural Indiana. She was both disheartened by the poverty and suffering she witnessed and inspired by the activism and compassion she saw in local congregations. Newly reminded of the power religious community can have to change lives and sustain people, she turned away from her doctoral aspirations and instead applied to and was accepted at Harvard Divinity School.
While a divinity student, Sally served as an assistant chaplain to the Suffolk University Interfaith Center, as a chaplain intern at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in downtown Boston, and as an assistant director at the Boston Nature Center summer day camp. After graduating with her Master of Divinity in 2018, she served as ministerial intern at First Parish UU in Needham, MA, where she was ordained as a UU minister on June 20 this year.
Rev. Sally and her husband Miles Faaborg, also a Columbia native, moved to Urbana from Massachusetts and had a few weeks to get to know the area before she started her ministry at UUCUC. Miles also attended Harvard, where his field of study was applied physics, and he was a research fellow at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The couple married in July 2018.
Rev. Sally can be contacted by email. You can read more about Rev. Sally here.
Below are additional photos of Rev. Sally from this summer.
Jan Swaney, Rosie Geiser, Susan Even, Barbara Carter, Cande Iveson and Larry Lyle were appointed by the Board of Trustees as members of the COVID-19 Advisory Task Force at the board’s meeting on Aug. 20, 2020. As the board representative on the task force, Jan Swaney will convene the group’s meetings.
The board approved the following charge for the task force at its July 16, 2020 meeting:
The task force is charged with making recommendations to the board and the minister in regard to how best to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both Jan Swaney and Susan Even are physicians.
The UUCC Grounds Team did some work – at a social distance – on the grounds recently. Chain saws were buzzing, and when they were quiet, the birds were chirping and the insects buzzing. The breeze and the sun on our faces was lovely, and we were happy to see each other and enjoy the outdoors.
Purple coneflowers, black-eyed susans, wild petunia and butterfly milkweed are in bloom and are attracting monarchs and supporting diversity in our flower beds,
The church building remains closed (see the UUCC website for details), but if you are looking for a shady spot on our grounds for your small group meeting, we recommend the following areas:
Chairs, tables and benches have been placed in these areas. Please follow safety recommendations and enjoy our grounds.
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 Memorial Garden |
 Playground Area |
 Office Entrance Area |
You can donate to our church’s benevolence funds here. Be sure to note “benevolence funds” as the purpose of your donation.
Other community organizations working to help those in need during the crisis include:
Community Foundation of Central Missouri’s COVID-19 Regional Relief Fund
https://cfcmfoundation.org/donations/covid-19-regional-relief-fund/
COVID-19 Crisis Shelter for the Unhoused
http://comocrisisshelter.com/
The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri COVID-19 Response
https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E164454&id=77
We in the Reparations Working Group have begun our work! Just what exactly is that work? Our charge, first articulated by Rev. Molly in her February 2019 sermon, “Reparations and Soul Repair,” is to conceive of a small-scale, hyper-local reparations project. How might we leverage and redistribute a portion of our congregation’s resources to African American residents of Columbia and/or Boone County as an admittedly small act of repair to the systemic impacts of slavery and ongoing racial injustice? We will grapple with this question and present a detailed project proposal to the congregation by late fall 2020.
To get from here to there, we have formed sub-teams in these three intersecting areas:
We are clear in understanding that our work:
We move forward with this hope – that the work of small-scale repair, while modest, can still be profound. Small steps can also be bold. We meet twice monthly.
Working Group members are Amie Burling, Andrew Twaddle, Charles Swaney, Dan Bugnitz, Dave Gibbons, Fred Young, Gretchen Maune, Kim Wade, Rev Molly Housh Gordon, Sam Otten. Let Rev Molly know if you would like to join us.
– Kim Wade
A group of ten members and friends of UUCC spent a week in Honduras from Dec. 28 to Jan. 4 building latrines and deepening ties and friendships with people in the Rio Cangrejal Valley. As they worked on the latrines, they learned more about the hardships people in the valley face. They also had many opportunities for laughter and companionship.
A group of activists from Guapinol joined them to tell them of their struggles to defend their land from mining companies. The poverty the majority of people in Honduras suffer as a result of the depth of corruption and criminal activity of the government is staggering.
Click the following button for a more complete description of the trip including many photographs:
2019-20 Honduras Trip – Full Report and Photographs
It will be another three years before the Honduras Ministry Team goes back to Honduras. In the meantime, the team will be in close touch with their friends in the Valley. The team will continue to raise funds for the health clinic in El Pital. The healthcare and educational systems are in shambles in Honduras, so providing funds for basic necessities at the clinic is of vital importance. The team would like to fund a few more latrines and continue supporting the microfinance organization Adelante.
– Allie Gassmann, Honduras Ministry Team Chair
From Rev. Molly:
In expression of our partnership with Missouri Faith Voices and our intention to leverage our facility for the work of liberation, the UU Church of Columbia is proudly donating office space for Missouri Faith Voices Columbia Organizer Brittany Hughes.
Brittany is making use of our volunteer work room as well as sharing space downstairs with Music Director Jeremy Wagner. If you’re around on a weekday you just may have the chance to share a warm UUCC welcome!
Brittany is the regional organizer for Columbia’s chapter of the grassroots organizing group Missouri Faith Voices. Originally from Aliceville, Alabama, Brittany spent most of her school age years in St. Louis, Missouri. Her passion for this work is derived from her love of black folks and the desire to see the collective liberation of BIPOCs not only in America but globally. When she isn’t working, Brittany enjoys a good book, cooking, music, and grabbing drinks with friends.
Hans Bridger Heruth became our staff collaborative pianist in September 2019. Hans is an award-winning composer as well as a conductor, pianist, singer, and violinist. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Composition at the University of Missouri-Columbia. As our collaborative pianist, Hans will help shape our music program.
Hans was born in Kansas City, Mo. and began studying both voice and piano at age 3, training as a boy soprano. He began studying violin at age 9 and started composing shortly after. His chamber opera, “A Certain Madness,” based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, premiered with critical acclaim and sold-out houses. His current projects include a new work entitled “Wytchkraft” for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Gemma New.
An active collaborative pianist, Hans is also a staff accompanist at MU, where he accompanies the flagship choral ensemble, the University Singers. As a budding conductor, he has made a number of appearances with various ensembles. Most notably, he conducted Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” with the Show-Me Opera Program.
Starting Sunday, Sept. 8, you will notice that the front two rows of chairs on the west side of the Sanctuary have been removed and replaced by a large rug for children to sit on.The rug will have quiet items like crayons, paper and foam blocks. Parents, teachers, and other adults are invited to join the rug community too!
The reasons we are trying this are several. The first and most important is that we have designed the first part of the liturgy to be engaging to children and meaningful to folks of all ages, but it is hard for children to see and participate when they are sitting in the back of the room behind a bunch of adult heads! We believe children will feel more comfortable in our sanctuary, learn our rituals, and begin to engage more fully when they are nearer the “action” on the chancel.
The second is that creating a designated space for children front and center communicates that their presence in our worship life is important to the adults of our community and that learning to be a part of our services is an important part of their religious education, one we know takes time and patience.
The third is to create a clearer pathway in the back of the sanctuary for people with all kinds of mobility needs to get where they need to go. We know families with children often sit in the back for easy access to the door in case a child needs to take a break in the Greeting Area. By placing the rug at the west side of the sanctuary, we hope families will still have easy access to the exit if they need it. Additionally we hope to continue fostering an atmosphere that truly welcomes the energy of children!
We’ll check in after a while to see how it’s going, and we are always happy to hear your thoughts directly – email either Rev. Molly or Director of Religious Education Jamila Batchelder, or both.
From Rev. Molly and the Music Director Search Team:
We are very pleased to introduce to you our new Director of Music Ministry, Jeremy Wagner!
Jeremy stood out to our search team because of his passion for building community through music and his gifts for working with singers of all ages and levels, including a gift for working with children and youth. He was recommended by his mentors and peers as an excellent and accessible conductor and showed himself through conversations with our search team to be dedicated, effective, and creative! We are so excited to begin working with Jeremy.
Jeremy will be getting oriented this week and next, and his first Sunday with us will be July 28. He also looks forward to gathering and meeting the choir in mid-August, and will be available for a meet and greet to the whole congregation after the service on July 28. Please plan to stay for coffee on Sunday the 28th and welcome Jeremy to our beloved congregation!
Jeremy is a promising music educator, performer and conductor who recently earned a Bachelor’s of Science-Education degree (with an emphasis in Vocal Music), as well as a Bachelor’s of Music in Vocal Performance degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Growing up in Edmond, Oklahoma, and living in New York, Texas, and Missouri, he found that no matter where he lived he was able to find friends and nurture his love for music through school choirs. During his time in both the School of Education and the College of Arts and Science at Mizzou, he was able to work alongside and learn directly from his mentors, Dr. Wendy Sims, Dr. Brandon Boyd, and Dr. R. Paul Crabb.
Additionally, he was given opportunities to work with local public educators and students from Columbia Independent School, Rock Bridge High School, Locust Street Expressive Arts Elementary School, and Jefferson Middle School. Through his participation in the community, he has also established himself as a performer, singing a number of roles with Show-Me Opera’s productions and Missouri Symphony Society. His musical gifts and focused work ethic led to him being named the Director of Music at First Christian Church in Centralia, Mo., where he served for three years. He also worked as an intern for the Choral Arts Alliance of Missouri.
In Glad Song,
Rev. Molly & Your Music Search Team – Pack Matthews, Jamie Meadows, Neil Minturn, Jeanne Murphy
On Sunday, March 24, the Accessibility and Inclusion Ministry (AIM) Team presented the lay-led service, “Living Up to Radical Welcome,” and made a small change in the sanctuary while we were at it. As we’ve heard a number of questions about this change, we thought it was about time we shed some light on it.
If you’ve been to services during the past couple of months, you have likely noticed a section of chairs in the back of the sanctuary topped with yellow pillowcases. This sunny addition was inspired by feedback we’d received from congregants who have fragrance and chemical sensitivities. These individuals had been unable to enjoy services because of the migraines, allergies, and other reactions caused by these products, which many of us don’t think twice about applying. While we can’t control what products each person uses before joining us for worship, we can create a space in which people who live with sensitivities or allergies to those products can, hopefully, be more comfortable and feel more radically welcome.
The AIM Team requests that the fragrance-free seating area be reserved for individuals who are not wearing perfumes or scented products. We thank you for your help with this step towards being more accessible to and inclusive of all members and guests.
– Gretchen Maune, Chair
Accessibility and Inclusion Ministry Team
After a two-year lapse in the availability of UUCC T-shirts, the UUCC Social Action Team now has three designs of T-shirts available for purchase at $20 apiece. The shirts are perfect for rallies and other activities and events. Look for them in the Greeting Area.
Some of the shirts feature the design that first became available in 2017 before the UUA General Assembly. On the front this design includes the official church logo and the church motto. On the back, it features the logo and the following words from our Mission Statement: “Courageous Love, Radical Welcome, Deep Connection – Healing the World.”
The other two designs are specific to the Social Action Team.
You can see the shirts in the photo slideshow below. Click the arrows to see the next or previous photo.
We invite all church members and all friends who have an interest in social justice issues to join our Social Action Team to help us shape and strengthen our work.
There are five important aspects of UUCC Social Justice Work
Besides joining the SAT itself, we encourage participation in any of our subcommittees or other teams such as the Sanctuary Team, the Missouri Faith Voices work, or the Green Sanctuary team. Together we create the change we want to see while being who we want to be in the world. We welcome your comments, suggestions – and of course action items.
– Caya Tanski, SAT Chair – email
From Rev. Molly Housh Gordon:
I am very pleased to introduce to you our next Church Administrator, Suzanne Clark.
Suzanne has recently returned to Columbia after a number of years residing near family in Rochester, NY. She spent the last 15 years working at Temple B’rith Kodesh, a Reform synagogue in Rochester, where she performed administrative duties as assistant executive director. Congregational life and the rewards of working with a community were main motivators for her in applying for the position with us. She is looking forward to meeting everyone and adjusting to a new working environment.
Suzanne will start Monday, Sept. 17, and work with retiring Administrator Kathie Bergman for the next two weeks learning the ropes. Kathie’s official retirement date is Sept. 30, although we are very grateful that she will remain available to Suzanne for a time for any questions that may come up.
Save the date for Sept. 30 after church to celebrate Kathie’s long and wonderful tenure, and get excited to welcome Suzanne warmly among us!
Our YRUU youth carried our church banner in the banner parade at the opening
session of the UUA General Assembly in Kansas City, Mo. on June 20. In the first part
of this short video, they are seen on their first pass through the convention hall.
After the transition, they are seen on their way out of the hall.
The Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly was held this year from June 20 to 24 in Kansas City, Mo. What is GA? It’s part inspiration and spiritual sustenance. It’s an opportunity to mingle with UUs from all over the country and some other countries and engage in issues important to our UU faith. But also, it’s a time to conduct a lot of the business of the association.
This year there were 2,814 registered attendees, including 134 youth. 522 congregations from all 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Mexico were represented by 1,570 delegates, including 199 off-site delegates.
Our voting delegates this year were Rev. Molly, Todd Iveson, Peter Holmes, Gretchen Maune, Connie Ordway, and Steve Scott. About 15 other members of our church also attended all or part of GA, and a number of them served as volunteers performing various tasks to keep the show running, in exchange for which they received free registration for GA. For example, Maria Oropallo and Kathie Bergman staffed an information booth to answer questions from attendees, and Larry Lile assisted with the tech staff that provided audio/video services.
The business of the General Assembly takes place in General Sessions. All registered attendees are welcome at these sessions, but only voting delegates can vote.
At the business sessions there was broad consensus for aggressively challenging the criminalization of migrants, people of color, and indigenous people. Delegates overwhelmingly selected “Undoing Intersectional White Supremacy” as a multiyear Congregational Study/Action Issue.
Delegates also endorsed three Actions of Immediate Witness, which all emphasize the urgency of supporting people of color and indigenous people. The first calls for congregational action to draw attention to predatory medical fees charged to incarcerated people, who are disproportionately people of color; the UUA’s Church of the Larger Fellowship developed the resolution in partnership with its 870 incarcerated members.
A second resolution pledged solidarity with indigenous “water protectors,” who have been fighting the placement of liquid natural gas pipelines near Native American lands and who face federal charges for disrupting construction of the pipelines.
The third resolution demanded immediate action to improve U.S. treatment of asylum seekers and migrant families to keep families together. Among other demands, the resolution advocates the abolition of Immigration Customs Enforcement “and the implementation of a system that understands the causes of migration, provides a non-carceral solution while asylum seekers await a decision on their case, and has a fundamental commitment to keeping families together.”
Delegates also approved a group of bylaw changes to bring the UUA’s governing document up to date with current understandings of gender diversity. A proposal introduced last year to change Unitarian Universalism’s “Second Source” from “words and deeds of prophetic women and men” to “words and deeds of prophetic people” passed easily.
A second bylaws amendment changed all gendered pronouns in the bylaws to the gender-inclusive “they/them/their.”
A third bylaws amendment will allow religious educators who are active members of the Liberal Religious Educators Association to serve as voting delegates at future GAs.
The assembly also approved bylaws changes adding two youth trustees to the 11 at-large trustees on the UUA Board of Trustees; allowing the role of moderator at GA to be filled by more than one person; modifying the length of terms of service on committees; and simplifying the social witness resolutions process.
The mission of the Member Connect Program is to assist UUCC members and friends in finding their place in our church community through deeper connection, service, and spiritual exploration. To do this a team of connectors is available to have a conversation with every member of the church who is interested. These conversations will give members a chance to reflect on their spiritual journey, their connection with the church, and their level of involvement in church life.
If you would like to participate in a meeting with a connector or would like to volunteer to be a connector, email Peter Holmes or Rosie Geiser.
– Peter Holmes and Rosie Geiser, co-chairs
Our observance of the 67th anniversary of our church’s founding at worship services on Jan. 28, 2018 included dedication of a beautiful new metal chalice purchased and given to the church by a member couple.
The late Naoma Powell made the chalice we had been using since 2006 after the congregation’s previous chalice broke, and it was always intended to be temporary. Naoma’s chalice served us long and well, but was showing signs of wear. To protect this beloved artifact, it is being officially “retired” from active duty but will always have a place in our sanctuary and will still be used for special occasions.
The new chalice is larger and will be easier to see from all parts of the sanctuary, in keeping with the needs of our growing congregation. It was dedicated with Naoma’s own January 2006 words of dedication of the chalice now being retired:
Though chalice changes, the flame burns bright.
Not holder, not cup but flame that offers light.
Flame that lights the darkness.
Flame, in its burning, illumines night.
Flame, its double halo, bringing light to shadow, warmth to shade.
Flame, re-igniting
Constant.
Our new chalice that was dedicated at the Jan. 28 worship services was crafted by Ryan Schmidt, a metal artist based in Cumberland Gap, Tenn.
Ryan owned and managed a motorcycle repair shop in Kansas City before moving to Tennessee in 2015. Shortly after moving he met a neighbor, William Brock, a traditional blacksmith who taught Ryan the art of blacksmithing. Ryan’s passion is creating custom-made functional objects, ornamental ironwork, sculptures, and furniture. He is a member of several professional blacksmithing groups.
When Ryan is not creating art at his shop, Mitty’s Metal Art (https://www.mittysmetalart.com/), he likes to get out and explore the surrounding Appalachian region on his Harley or mountain bike. Ryan is not a UU but is familiar with our denomination through friends.
Do you do online shopping at Amazon? If so, your purchases can now benefit our church with a contribution from Amazon of 0.5% of the purchase price.
Here’s how to get started:
1. In your browser, go to https://smile.amazon.com.
2. Sign in using your normal Amazon username and password.
3. Next you will see a screen with a box on the right asking you to “Select a charity.”
4. In the bottom of that box, where it says “Or pick your own charitable organization,” type “Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia” in the box and click the “Search” button.
5. Next you will see a screen showing our church with the location listed as “Columbia MO,” and there may be other churches listed. Click the “Select” button next to our church’s name.
6. Finally, you will see another screen with a checkbox to indicate that you understand that you must always start at https://smile.amazon.com to support our church. After clicking the checkbox, you can click the “Start Shopping” button which will take you to the main Amazon screen.
A tutorial covering the above steps and including screenshots is available in a printable PDF.
In the future, always start your Amazon shopping at https://smile.amazon.com so that your purchases will benefit UUCC. You will find all the same Amazon products and prices there as regular Amazon.
Tip: If you have set up a bookmark or favorite for Amazon, be sure to change it to the new address.
UUCC was given an award recognizing our social action work and Rev. Molly’s exemplary leadership in social action – particularly our sanctuary work – at the annual dinner of Mid-Missouri Peaceworks on Saturday evening, Nov. 11, at the Missouri United Methodist Church.
Allie Gassman of our Social Action Team accepted the award on behalf of our church.
Allie said, “It was a great honor to be able to accept the award on behalf of our church – especially in the presence of all the seasoned activists in the room.”
The framed award certificate, shown in the photo below, is on display on the credenza in our Greeting Area.
Please welcome our new Sunday Morning Assistant, April Rodeghero, who began her work with us in October.
April is mother to a seven-year-old and to one-year-old twins. She has worked with MU Adventure Club, Missouri Afterschool Network and the Columbia Housing Authority. Now she works as a postpartum doula, supporting parents in their new roles. She has attended UUCC occasionally in the past year or so.
April will welcome your friendship and your help in the church kitchen – especially on potluck days for setup and cleanup! Please let’s show April our radical welcoming spirit!
Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray was selected by delegates as the first elected woman President of the Unitarian Universalist Association at the June 21-25 General Assembly in New Orleans. She had been the lead minister of the UU Congregation of Phoenix, Ariz., where she became well known for her work on behalf of immigrants, since 2008. Read more.
More than 4,000 UUs attended G.A., including some 1,800 delegates from more than 500 UU congregations. UUCC’s delegates were Rev. Molly Housh Gordon, Patty Daus, Tracey Milarsky, Jeanne and Dennis Murphy, and Gena and Steve Scott.
Also attending from UUCC were DRE Jamila Batchelder along with four YRUU members and one 9-year-old. The young people carried our UUCC banner in the banner parade at the opening celebration on June 21.
Our UUCC banner was carried by five of our young people in the banner parade at the Opening Celebration of the UUA General Assembly (G.A.) in New Orleans on June 21, 2017. In this short clip they are seen entering the Great Hall of the New Orleans Convention Center and later proceeding out of the hall.
Read more about the many important actions taken by delegates and the UUA Board of Trustees at G.A.
Our Social Action Team sponsors a food collection year-round for the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri.
Donations of canned meats and fish, stews, peanut butter and powdered milk are especially appreciated, but other non-perishable food items are welcome.
Help us to help individuals in need! If you wish to have a receipt for a tax deduction, talk to Suzanne Clark, church administrator.
