by Kitty Merrill | Sep 18, 2017 | Justice Actions
Dear UUCV Community,
The amazing and dedicated RE team have gotten us through this summer beautifully. The kids had so much fun making cookies, art, exploring meteorites and fossils, and so much more. We had a lovely welcome back BBQ and pool party hosted by the Brinkmeyers! Thank you so much to all the RE committee and teachers that kept this program afloat!
Thank you also for your loving welcome and patience as I learn the ropes! Much gratitude to Rev. Dana and the staff, the RE committee who spoiled me with an amazing dinner and Welcome to Ventura care package, and the teachers I’ve enjoyed getting to know one by one.
September is a big month for us as we finish out the summer, enjoy an all generations service with water communion on September 10, and then launch the 2017-18 RE program on September 17! This includes a Harry Potter curriculum. Coming of Age for teens and so much more.
With recent traumatic events and prevalent violence, here are some highlights about how to talk to your children about Charlottesville. Please ask if you’d like the full articles!
- The biggest message to get across for children is that others may have a different point of view but that doesn’t mean it should reach the point of violence.
- The most important part of helping children deal with news of people being hurt or hurting others is to reassure them that you will always do anything and everything you can to keep them safe.
- “Always look for the helpers.” Mr. Rogers
May we stand and learn together in a church of compassion and love! One of my colleagues made backpack charms for the kids at her church with the message: “You are loved! You are valued. You are never alone. You have an important role. You have inherent worth and dignity.” What a beautiful and true message, applicable to all people!
With love and light, Emily Carroll, DRE
emily@uuventura.orgSeptember
by Kitty Merrill | Sep 18, 2017 | Justice Actions
Church Security and Safety
Our location in Ventura is best described as “urban” versus “rural.” We are in proximity to the walking path, shopping centers, and the county government center. There is a lot of activity surrounding our church. Not all of it good.
Recently the Whales Tail bench in the back corner of the parking lot was painted with graffiti, and on occasion we have had some unauthorized folks sleeping on our property.
Last month, in response to these types of concerns, the Board approved a request from our Safe Sleep volunteers to temporarily hire a security patrol service to check on our property during the early morning hours.
The purpose of obtaining the service was two-fold. First to help reduce night-time trespassing; and second, to aid in the monitoring of our parking lot related to the church ministry of the Safe Sleep program.
The initial use of the patrol service is intended to be short-term, two to four months. During this period, the members of our church who make the Safe Sleep program the successful ministry it is will be gathering data based on their observations and daily experiences. They will incorporate the reports provided by the patrol service into that data. The goal is to look closely at the information to determine if such a service should be included in our annual budget.
Some of the questions we are trying to answer include:
- Do we need a security service?
- Do we need a year-round service or one that is intermittent?
- Does having the service make a difference in caring for our property, members and guests?
A few years ago, we established a Safety Committee (currently inactive) that had the issue of security as one of its responsibilities. That committee was formed in response to problems that several churches around the country were experiencing. Churches rarely need more committees but it seems the time has come to re-establish the Safety Committee.
If issues of risk management, safety of our employees, members and guests, and the security of our property, interest you, please contact me for consideration in participating on the Safety Committee.
Living in Paradise,
Bryan Buck, President
by Kitty Merrill | Sep 18, 2017 | Justice Actions
I am so happy to be embarking on our second year in ministry together. Last year was full of firsts, and this year will have a few of them as well. We have welcomed two new staff members, Jennifer Seale as office-administrator and Emily Carroll as our Director of Religious Education. Both have hit the ground running, and folks are being welcoming and helpful to them as they join us. I do hope this staff team we are building will last a good while.
This year we will also begin planning and programming thematically using Soul Matters, a program from the UU church in Rochester, NY. More than 200 of our congregations are using it, becoming a kind of nation-wide UU community. Soul Matters has resources for worship and music, religious education and small group ministry, aka covenant groups. Though we will be easing into it, you will begin to see themes weaving into the life of the community.
Throughout the year, you may find yourself talking in a Covenant Group about some ideas that you heard in a sermon earlier in the month. Or your children may give you a whole new perspective on the same topic. And all the while we will know that UUs across the land are considering the same themes.
The resources provided are extensive and have been growing over the last five years or so as the program has deepened and expanded. I hope that we will also deepen and widen our spiritual growth as a congregation using these materials over the next years.
September’s theme is, fittingly, Welcome, and the first service of our “program year” will be a Water Communion service, as we gather together from our travels, near and far, and merge our waters as we sail on together once more.
In October will come Courage. November, we’ll explore Abundance; in December, we will consider Hope. The new year will bring us Intention. As you can see, the themes flow with seasons and holidays and church rhythms and events in the wider world.
My hesitation in taking on themes was that they might feel constricting. I’m not sure I want to link every worship service to a theme, and yet they are broad and deep enough that it is easy to imagine two or even three services each month to be linked in.
We may even see messages on our church sign linked to the themes. A couple of relative newcomers – Chris Chalquist and Peggy Anders – have taken up the ministry of changing the message of our sign every month or so. They hope to catch the eye of people driving by and perhaps draw some of them in. Check it out.
So much love and so much energy arising – thematically – at UUCV!
With Love,
Rev. Dana
by Kitty Merrill | Jul 29, 2017 | Justice Actions
The next Religious Exploration term starts September 17. Parents, teachers and volunteers, please visit the UU Ventura website at http://www.uuventura.org to register your kids for our Religious Exploration program, or to register yourself as a volunteer or teacher.
Choose “Childrens’ Religious Education” from the “Learning” menu, and then click Child Registration or Volunteer Registration from the menu on the left. This will help us get our new Director of Religious Exploration ready for the new year. If you’re already registered, you only need to re-register if you have information to update.
by Kitty Merrill | Jul 29, 2017 | Justice Actions
Are We in a District or a Region?
Jim Merrill, Board President, Pacific Southwest District
Yes, and yes. To paraphrase Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), the reports of the death of the PSWD – and other western districts – are greatly exaggerated. All four districts of the Pacific Western Region (PWR) – our own Pacific Southwest District, the Pacific Central District, the Pacific Northwest District, and the Mountain Desert District – remain independent districts within the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. We also continue to develop our cooperative relationship in our PWR Regional Collaboration arrangement, our own western approach to changes within the UUA.
All four of the PWR districts recognize that we represent vast territories, unlike many districts. Our region covers more than half of the territory of the United States. And, we are physically and perhaps psychically more distant from Boston than most U.S. UU congregations.
As PSWD board president, I am in monthly contact with leaders from the other three PWR districts, and we share our similarities and differences, as well as working on shared initiatives and the evolution of sharing district staff. The past couple of years have been a time of profound staff changes. Last year, we acknowledged the movement of the Rev. Tera Little from PSWD/PWR service to parish service. With the retirement of the Rev. Dr. Ken Brown at the end of June, 2016, your PSWD board began to learn what the shift from having a de facto District Executive to region-wide Congregational Life staff is like.
Each congregation in our district has a primary contact on the Congregational Life (CL) staff. The CL staff have primary-contact relationships with congregations as well as portfolio specializations. Thus, our district congregations may rely upon the services of our primary contact CL staff; but we might also be referred to the expertise of any staff member throughout the region. Contacts with CL staff are made by the minister or the board president.
After Ken’s departure, we have relied heavily on the good offices of PWR Regional Lead the Rev. Dr. James Kubal-Kumoto. As time goes forward, we’ll continue developing ways to become more independent in doing our work and interdependent in serving the congregations of the district.
by Kitty Merrill | Jul 29, 2017 | Justice Actions
Gudrun Eastham, Chair
In preparation for the fall church year, the Membership Committee will host a special Greeter Review after Worship Services on Sunday, August 13 at 11:45am in the Sanctuary. We’ll review greeters tasks before, during and after Services and include a chance to rehearse the “taking up the offering” ritual!
If you’ve ever been interested in being on the Greeter Welcoming Team, I enthusiastically invite you to attend this gathering. All current Greeters are invited, as well.
And, here is another opportunity to be involved with the Membership Committee: several openings are available. Committee works in tandem with Beverly Jordan, Membership Manager, and Rev. Dana Worsnop in presenting 3-4 orientation workshops during the year for those persons who want to know more about UU history and our church, and who might be interested in joining as Members or Pledging Friends. The committee also co-hosts with Beverly 2-3 “Newcomer Chats” to meet newcomers and share their stories and hear our stories. If you’d like to join the Membership Committee contact Gudrun: 805/479-4852 or druzel@msn.com.
May your summer days continue to be rewarding. May your summer nights bring restorative rest.
