by Admin | Sep 4, 2018 | Finance Committee
- We expect to spend $496,607 for the operation and activities of our church this year, but that is an estimate, not a fact. We spent $450,881 during the year ending June 30, 2018, and that is a fact supported by our year-end profit and loss statement. Churches do not seek to make a profit. We strive to fulfill our mission.
- Our activities and programs are made possible by our minister, employees, lay leaders and volunteers.
- Our employment costs are expected to be 71% of our projected expenses this year.
- Automatic monthly payments can also be set up for you using a church vendor, and you pay no charges for this feature and it is easy to set up and manage changes.
You can make one time donations or set up automatic pledge payments at www.uuventura.org, by clicking on “Give” on the right side of the masthead area, then, click on the picture of the mouse and follow the instructions; or by contacting David Smith at 805/216-9331 or davidpaseo@verizon.net.
by Admin | Sep 4, 2018 | Building and Grounds
by Linda Pietrzak
The Building and Grounds Committee invites you all to come out to the newly created B & G Volunteer Day. It will be held on the third Saturday of the month at 9am. We meet in the garage and have some kind of treat(s) to sustain you when you take a well-earned break during the morning.
August was a work inside day. Bill Peltola changed two emergency exit light fixtures. Jim Merrill and Linda Pietrzak changed fluorescent lights. Wil Devine replaced a brass-plate in the floor. Mike Sixbey braced the fences around the HVAC units. Wil and Mike also worked with Merle on irrigation projects. Joyce picked up trash outside the church building. She and Linda emptied green waste into the Green Waste Totters as well as took some out to the Ralston side of the building.
We had a pleasant surprise when Rev. Dana showed up to participate in our fun Saturday morning. She swept up in the Outdoor Sanctuary and raked pine needles along the west side of the parking lot. She filled two totters so full that she also did some compacting.
Joyce and Linda worked in the kitchen killing ants. It takes more than just a couple of people working once or twice a week to keep the ants under control. Even if you don’t want to forcibly remove them from the kitchen, please don’t leave dirty dishes, cups, silverware, or water out for them.
In case you haven’t noticed the ants know how to climb into the trash cans. Please take any leftover food or food scraps home with you. If it is appropriate, the food scraps can go down the garbage disposal. Please use the same careful guidelines here as you would at home.
Thank You!
by Admin | Sep 4, 2018 | Minister
Our theme for September is Vision, fitting for us right now as we embark on a process to create and vision for UUCV for the next five years. Yet I confess that I am struggling to find an inspiring way to express our vision in our present context. Back in my Berkeley days I remember the bumpersticker, “Think globally, act locally.” It still has power, yet now thinking globally feels harder – especially in the realms of politics and economics – and can lead easily to an unhelpful sense of despair. It feels more manageable to think locally and act locally.
Luckily, we are all responsible for creating a vision for the church. I am grateful that we have such thoughtful, committed and caring people to dream together. I can envision many possibilities, yet perhaps my most significant role is holding the spiritual questions. What are you called to bring into the world – in your life and in the church? What inspires you? What spiritual connection will sustain you in that calling?
Together, over the next weeks and months we will be asking, “What is our story at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura? What is the story that we tell? What is the story we hope that others will tell about us?”
We ask those questions in the context of significant transitions.
- The irreplaceable Beverly Jordan will leave us – sometime between November and March – after nearly 5 years of service to UUCV. We are a better people, a stronger community because of her presence among us. She has helped us discover gifts we might not otherwise have seen. As sad as we are at her departure, we now have an opportunity to keep blossoming and living into what Beverly taught us we are.
- We are facing a significant budget deficit in the coming years. Deficits definitely produce their share of anxiety, yet once more we have an opportunity to evaluate what we need and want as a congregation and consider how and what we have resources for. My own anixiety is lessened by knowing that – even in the face of a deficit – the church is in strong financial shape. We have greater reserve funds than in any church I have experience with.
At least two more questions arise: What will we do with our gifts? As a generous people, what can we create in the world?
There are two opportunities to begin asking these questions.
- The board is hosting a Congregational Conversation to begin planning for addressing our deficit on Sept. 16 after church at 11:30
- The 5-for-5 Visioning (task) Force* will be holding a BIG Vision Saturday on Oct. 6 from 9-12. It’s only the beginning of a process that will need your participation and input in many formats. I hope many of you will be able to attend one or both of these events.
We’ll find our way through these transitions together.
In times like these – within the church and beyond – I have never been gladder that we share the ministry of the church.
With love, Rev. Dana
* George Owens has stepped down from our 5-For-5
by Admin | Sep 4, 2018 | Justice Actions
Sometimes it is a little challenging to write a regular monthly column. That means I am always on the lookout for inspiration. Here is what I found for this month. Back in 1738 “Poor Richard’s Almanac” contained these words from Benjamin Franklin: “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.” Franklin was known for his intellect and wit. He was also a Unitarian.
Then there is this gem that I found from Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) a writer, poet, artist and philosopher who wrote: “I slept, and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke, and I saw that life is all service. I served and saw that service is joy.”
My musing will never be confused with great literature. Which leaves me with writing about the wonderful things that happen here at the UUCV. This community we share is growing. The challenge is to find ways to be in relationship with each other. That’s everyone’s responsibility, to reach out to each other, and introduce yourself to people you haven’t met before. The making of connections, having friends who accept us as we are, is a spiritual quest for belonging and community.
In my case the past month brought opportunities to begin new relationships and deepen existing ones. There was time spent participating at Building & Grounds Day (3rd Saturday of every month); went on a hike with the UU Hikers led by Mike Sixbey (1st Saturday of every month); and enjoyed the camaraderie of the UUniques 50+ Potluck organized by Pat and Merle Oberg (4th Thursday of every month). There was also church work on a couple of projects. One involved research on the RE/Multipurpose room with Will Devine. The other project is with Neal Ortenberg and concerns the possibility of partnering with another non-profit organization to offer a shower service for the Safe Sleep participants on our property.
By reading the newsletter, or checking your email for the weekly church announcements, reading the back of the Order-of-Service, perusing the bulletin boards in Berg Hall, or stopping by the Connecting Table on Sundays you can learn of the many, many activities we have at the UUCV. I strongly encourage everyone to try new things. That would encourage adventure and exploration benefitting your spiritual well-being. By actively participating in the life of the church you will find your place at the table and you will be building a legacy of giving and receiving.
Living in Paradise,
Bryan Buck, UUCV Board President
by Admin | Aug 7, 2018 | Minister
My favorite metaphor for the church is a lighthouse. At our best the church is a light sent out into the darkness when seas are rough, guiding us to safe harbor, a place of rest and comfort. Yet it is also a beacon sent forth to proclaim truths the world yet needs to see and hear. The work of the church is finding the balance point(s) between reaching in – for sustenance and depth of spirit, and reaching out – speaking truth to power, learning to love the world and its people ever more expansively, widening the circle of justice, inviting all in.
Creating a vision and plan for the next five years can help us at UUCV manage this dynamic balancing act as beacon and sanctuary. The five members of our visioning task force will be considering all this as we gear up to begin creating our vision for the next five years. We have dubbed ourselves 5-For-5: the Five-Year Vision Task Force, or simply 545. I am so grateful to be working with Kim Prieto, who has agreed to chair the team, Janice Frank, George Owens, and Andy Edgar Beltran.
Not that we are going to write the plan ourselves, that’s where everyone (and we mean everyone) comes in. 545 will facilitate a congregational process to generate ideas and input from members and friends. There will be congregational gatherings, surveys, phone calls, coffee hour conversations, and more. We’ll ask committees and groups to balance dreaming boldly with being practical and strategic. And on the other side of a year or so – after conversing, discussing, wrassling, dreaming, developing the art of the possible – we will have a planning document to guide us through the next five years. We intend it to be a living document to be revisited throughout the years ahead.
The 545 team has already met twice, and you’ll be hearing from us regularly.
First, we ask some questions:
What is your metaphor for the church? My lighthouse is only one among many possibilities. How does the church make a difference in your life and the world? What metaphor captures the energy, inspiration, delight and power of this church community?
And lastly – In service to what? What is the larger purpose of all this visioning and planning? What greater good does the church serve?
We might not yet have answers. I can’t wait to discover the answers we live into.
The journey continues.
With love, Rev. Dana
