Volume 14, Number 7 – January 2013

We Are a Welcoming Congregation

Upcoming Services

January 13 - 10 am Rev. Suzanne Wasilczuk “Some Sins for a Life Worth Living”

January 27 - 10 am Rev. Suzanne Wasilczuk “This House for Hope: A Faith for our Times”

February 10 - 10 am Toni Lieppert Polfus

February 24 - 10 am Rev. Denise Tracy

Events

January 15 - 5:00 pm Community Table at St. Matthias, NUUF serving

January 27 - 2:00 pm “Standing on the Side of Love: Continuing the Work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” at Nicolet College Theater

Adult R.E.

January 6 - 10 am World War II Misconceptions and Myths; Was the Cold War Inevitable?

January 20 - 10 am The Real Blunders of the Vietnam War; Myths about American Wars

February 3 - 10 am Who Matters in American History?; History Did Not Begin with Us

Meetings

January 13 - 8:30 am Program/Spirituality Committee meeting

January 15 - 4:30 pm Finance Committee meeting

Happy New Year!

Time to welcome 2013. I for one am looking forward to starting a new year. In general, 2012 was a hard year for many in our fellowship and around the world. This time of year is traditionally for looking back upon the last year and planning for the next year. I’m leaning more towards the looking-forward part.

We as a fellowship have a few things that are coming up in the near future. First up our Martin Luther King Day speaker: On Sunday, January 27, Lecia Brooks, outreach director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, will be speaking about the state of hate and extremism in America.

In February we have the second annual Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras event. A good time and a good cause.

In April, the UUA District Assembly will vote on the combining of districts. I suggest everyone take a moment to check out the information available on the CMWD website. This will hopefully be the first step towards financial saving and streamlining of available services.

We also have a survey and opinion sharing coming up from the Spirituality/Program committee. This is your chance to be heard. Share those opinions!

The art exhibit schedule is posted. Start getting those works of art ready to display. Share a part of yourself with the fellowship.

The book discussion group will be starting soon. They will be getting together to share their thoughts on the New Jim Crow. Many things to look forward to, along with speakers and events yet to be scheduled.

So long 2012. Raise a toast to 2013. Here is to a peaceful, safe, healthy, prosperous year for everyone.—Laurie Figueroa

Standing On the Side of Love Against Hate: Continuing the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sunday, January 27th at 2pm, Nicolet College Theater

Speaker: Lecia Brooks, Outreach Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama

Each year the Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Woodruff honors the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a speaker who supports the beliefs and ideals of Dr. King. This year we have invited Lecia Brooks from the Southern Poverty Law Center to speak on the growth of hate groups.

We ask how the tragic murders at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek could have happened in Wisconsin. And how do we keep this from occurring in our own communities? What is our responsibility in responding to the kind of hate and misinformation this massacre has brought to light? The Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama was thrust into the national spotlight after the murderous rampage at the Sikh temple this past August and reinforced the Center’s warnings about the rising threat of domestic terrorism from far-right extremists. Because of its expertise in tracking hate groups and its extensive database, the SPLC was the first to publicly identify Wade Michael Page as the shooter. SPLC also was able to confirm that Page was a member of the Hammerskin Nation, a violent federation of racist skinheads that has long been monitored by the group.

In July, a month before the shootings, SPLC was already in the midst of an effort to help Georgia’s Sikh community respond to anti-Sikh harassment and violence at school. Our invited speaker, Lecia Brooks, will highlight the nature of hate groups, the rise in the number of hate groups since 2000 (69% increase), and the ways the Southern Poverty Law Center combats these groups.

How do we as religious groups, community leaders, parents and concerned citizens combat this religious and racist violence? What do we look for as warning signs for hate crimes? This event is free and open to the public. Join us in hearing how we can identify hate groups and protect our children from joining these groups.

To Friends of Don and Joyce Barnes:

Thank you for the lovely poinsettia plant sent after Christmas.

I thank each of you who showed loving concern to Don and me during this last year. As you all know, there were many struggles and challenges facing Don as a result of the Parkinson’s Disease alone, and more difficulties after the cancer diagnosis in July. Throughout the many twists and turns of Don’s last journey, each day brought him and me kind notes, phone calls, food, and visits from our treasured UU friends, offering comfort and support. It all meant so much to both of us, and each gift of time and energy on our behalf relieved worries and stress, knowing we were not alone in our struggles. What a gift you have all been to us! Don loved and appreciated the deep friendships we shared with our UU friends and so regretted his inability to communicate the last few months of his life.

Don was the least judgmental person I ever met. He looked for and found the good qualities in those he met, overlooking and minimizing the flaws present in most of us. He was comfortable with responsibility during his many good years, always doing his share and more, while giving credit to others. What a wonderful partner I was blessed to have for almost 30 years! Happy memories of our life together will sustain me, but the sadness of his absence from my side will remain. I will turn to my friends among you for comfort on lonely days and I know you will be there. And there will be many opportunities to celebrate happy times together, as well. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your friendship!

Joyce Barnes

January Community Table - please contribute a dish or time

3:30-4:30 Bringing food; 4:30-5:00 Juice and coffee; 5:00 Begin serving. Clean-up done by 6:30.

Please contact Pat Bickner if you are able to bring something or come to help. 715-356-9130 or bickner@gmx.com. Thanks very much!

Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is responsible for January, May, and September meals, along with Cirillis (who are there every month), United Methodist Church of the Pines and Faith Free Evangelical Church. Originally our teams were to include Baha’i and Christian Scientists.

The plan is simply this: Prepare food at home, and bring it to St. Matthias between 3:30 and 4:30 to be cooked/warmed. NUUF is responsible for ten entrees and/or side dishes, plus two desserts, which should be bars or cookies, servable on a plate. We’re expected to have five people there to help serve and clean up. All food should be ready to serve at 5:00 sharp!

All workers are encouraged to mix with those who come to the meal and eat with them. The idea of the Community Table is to get folks to know each other and get rid of the “us/them” kind of thinking. The Lakeland Area Ministerial Association envisioned the monthly meal as “an opportunity for folks in our area from different economic, social, cultural and religious backgrounds to get to know one another.”

Unfortunately, very few of us UUs sit down to eat. Although the hoped-for bridging of religious differences may not be measurable, we do meet volunteers from the other churches. But it may be time for LAMA to mix it up a bit. If we had a minister to represent us the issue might be raised, or perhaps the LAMA might be raised, as it appears to be defunct. In any case, the meal has become a local tradition.

Five Meals to Claim at NATH

In January, Judi Maloney, Candace Zahn-Cain, Barb Mochon and Dan Rondello will serve a Sunday meal at Frederick Place.

We still need volunteers for February through June. Please contact Jana Mirs janamirs@frontier.com or 715-356-4746 to sign up for a date when you will be available and willing to help out.

Nonviolent Communication Study Group

For anyone interested in learning about and practicing Nonviolent Communi-cation (a.k.a. Compassionate Communication), there will be another book study group forming in February on Friday evenings at the NUUF. We will again be discussing the book, Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Life, by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D. (Participants are responsible for obtaining their own copy of the book.) We will gather at the NUUF at 5:30 p.m. to share food and conversation, then create our study circle from 6-8 pm. The month of February will be a “try-out” time; in March the group will “close” to newcomers, and the remaining participants will commit to meeting each Friday evening through the month of July, to study the book and related material.

For an informative approach to this subject, you may want to consider attending the following event at Many Ways of Peace in Eagle River (manywaysofpeace.org): Thursday, January 24, 6:30PM-8:30PM, “Compassionate Communication” with Kathryn Gonzalez, an introduction to Compassionate and Nonviolent Communication, based on the work of Marshall Rosenberg.

Fellowship of the Arts

JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2013: “Self Portrait”

The inherent worth and dignity of every person.

MARCH–APRIL 2013: “IN OR OUT”

Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.

MAY–JUNE 2013: “GO WITH THE FLOW”

Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth.

JULY–AUGUST 2013: “WHY ARE WE HERE?”

A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2013: “I AND WE”

The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process.

NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2013: “FLOWER POWER”

The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.

JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2014: “LIFE IN HARMONY”

Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Floral Arrangements?

If someone is interested in coordinating the decoration of the sanctuary with flowers, let me know and I’ll put contact info in the next NUUSletter.—Pat

Warm for Winter

Warm for Winter has begun distributing warm coats, hats, boots, -mittens and -bedding to families in need at the Friendly Village in Rhinelander. We will take donations all year long to restock the supplies. There is a bin in the entry at the fellowship.

The Care Committee

Joan Hauer 715-356-6540,
Barb Bratcher 715-356-6110, Mary Ann Fields 715-385-2975, Candice Zahn-Cain,
Jan Reed, cereed@centurytel.net; Pam Thul-Immler

Dwight and Barbara Logan

Milestones

Departed:

October 28 Don Barnes

December 7 Jim Williams

Please send errors or omissions to
bickner@gmx.com

NUUF and NEWSLETTER INFORMATION

Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

P.O. Box 1881
Woodruff, WI 54568-1881

https://nuuf.com/joomla4

Laurie Figueroa, President
president@nuuf.com

The NUUSLetter is published monthly.

Next Deadline: January 27, 2013 Please send submissions to Pat Bickner at bickner@gmx.com. Please put “NUUSletter” in the subject line.

For distribution of announcements between newsletters or email/address corrections, contact Candy Sorensen at sorencan@yahoo.com.