March 2010 Newsletter of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Visalia

Worship Service Calendar For March 2010
Mar. 7	Organic Farming	Speaker: Paul Buxman	It is our pleasure to have this Reedley organic farmer and peace activist who is talented in music and art, speak with us about this topic.
Mar. 14	Pagans, Magi and Witches, Oh My!	Presented by Sam Webster	Where do they come from, who are they and what is the Pagan Agenda? Beyond the hype and condemnation lies a religion in harmony with science and technology as it is with nature. Let the Pagan priest who is your minister explain.	A Choir Day and a Social Justice meeting after potluck
Mar. 21	Water and Sustainability	Speaker: Greg Kirkpatrick	Come and listen to a local farmer, environmentalist and past city council member speak about local resource issues. We are happy to have him join us.	Choir Day and a Worship committee meeting after potluck
Mar. 28	The gift of silence	Presented by Janet Wood	Come and learn how compassionate silence can open a path to deeper levels of communication and understanding.
Please Note, Service topics are subject to change
The 5PM Worship Service is followed by a potluck supper at 6 PM to which all are welcome! Please do not hesitate to come to church and join us for dinner potluck. Even if you forget to bring a dish, we always have enough and your company is most welcome.

UU Visalia Fellowship News March 2010

The winner is: "Freedom of Belief, Joy of Service" - for our official UU Fellowship of Visalia bumper sticker.

Please Label Ingredients of Potluck Dishes. Some members and visitors have serious food allergies and we want them to enjoy dinner without worry. We've started making a list of the ingredients of our potluck contributions on a post-it or index card. Particular concerns are peppers and wheat gluten. Secondary benefits are for vegetarians who may not be able to tell if meat is in a dish. Also, if you are willing to divulge your whole recipe, we will collect the cards to include in the Fellowship Cookbook Version #2.

Please Use your S.H.A.R.E.S. Card for grocery shopping! Our Fellowship's S.H.A.R.E.S earnings from Oct. 09 to Dec. 09 was $240. Our total earnings for 2009 is $890! The goal for 2010 is $100 every month and $2400 for the year. If you take one of our S.H.A.R.E.S. cards and give it to the clerk at the check-out counter, our Fellowship will receive 3% of your grocery purchases. Your SHARES cards are good at SaveMart, FoodMaxx and Lucky. All it takes is for you to swipe your S.H.A.R.E.S. card when you go shopping. If you need a S.H.A.R.E.S card, contact Jolene.

UU Visalia is sponsoring Menu for the Future, a six-session course exploring the connection between food and sustainability, beginning on March 4, 2010 for six alternate Thursdays, and a Wednesday evening lass beginning March 10. There is still room in the Wednesday evening class if you are interested in participating in this course - we have one extra copy of the book in hand! If interested, contact Marilyn Giese at ww@uuvisalia.org

Discussion Course Goals:

To explore food systems and their impacts on culture, society and ecological systems.
To gain insight into agricultural and individual practices that promote personal and ecological well-being.
To consider your role in creating or supporting sustainable food systems.

For further information about the course or to sign up, contact Harold at harold@uuvisalia.org harold@uuvisalia.org or (559) 739-8527.

More details are available on the Northwest Earth institute website:
http://www.nwei.org/discussion_courses/course-offerings/menu-for-the-future

Please visit our online bookstore!
Anything you buy from Amazon.com after clicking on

will provide a percentage to help support our Fellowship.

Editors Suggestion: Spiritual Literacy: Reading the sacred in everyday life

By Frederic Brussat, Mary Ann Brussat

From Amazon:A book that belongs in every seeker's home, Spiritual Literacy answers the universal question, "How can I live a spiritual life every day?" Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat reveal a way to read the texts of our lives and of the world around us for sacred meaning. http://uuvisalia.org/uuv_bookstore.html
See our bookstore for a further description

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UU Events

Haiti Relief: In the wake of devastation wrought by the earthquake which struck the island of Haiti on January 12, 2010, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) and the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) are launching a joint relief effort to bring aid to the impoverished island nation. The Haitian Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) estimates 2.2 million people are immediately affected in this nation of 9 million people. Contributions may be made by going to the UUSC website: http://www.uusc.org/haiti See also info about the Earthquake in Chile: http://www.uusc.org/chile

NCUUCC Spring Thing at Asilomar (April 23-April 25, 2010) Come to a weekend in the beautiful seaside setting of the Asilomar Conference Grounds on the tip of the Monterey Peninsula. It is a relatively unstructured gathering of about 40 UUs and friends. The days are free for your own activities, exploring the Monterey area, with conversation and games in a friendly atmosphere in the evenings. Cost is $230 per person, double occupancy in historic Scripps Hall, for 3 days / 2 nights, 6 meals, maid service, and use of all Asilomar amenities, including jitney service. Children 3-17 yrs. are $160 and children under 3 years old are free. Registration deadline is January 17, 2010. For a registration form, contact the Registrars, Kathi and Murray Bullis, by telephone at (925) 829-4419, by mail at 9033 Craydon Circle, San Ramon, CA 94583 or e-mail mbkb2@comcast.net

May 2: Come join us for District Assembly 2010! This is always a fun-filled event with many opportunities for worship, education, seeing old friends, and making new ones!

Community Events

The Visalia CropWalk is scheduled for the second Saturday in March—3/13/10. Walker collection envelopes are available now and may be picked up on Saturday Feb 6, between 4-5PM at St Paul's Anglican Church, 120 N Hall (at Center Street) in Visalia. The Visalia Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Social Justice Team plans to participate more this year, so join us in walking or donating! If you're not with the Fellowship, please talk with your church or other organization about participating in this 34 year old Visalia event, which benefits FoodLink and global relief efforts (you may choose a group!) At the February 6 rally, tempting treats will reward you for coming to pick up collection envelopes with posters, hunger education activities and recruiter tips. For more information, please contact April Hill at april@uuvisalia.org or phone Richard Pieart at 786-2109 to make special arrangements to pick up collection envelopes.

PEACE FRESNO'S PEACE AND JUSTICE FESTIVAL: 9th Annual Rally in the Valley; Sunday March 21, 2010 12:30 – 5:00 PM Fresno Fairgrounds, Jr. Exhibit Building Free admission and parking The festival will be the largest convergence of peace activists in the Central Valley, marking seven years of U.S. war on Iraq. The event will include speakers, music, informational tabling by the progressive community, food, and handcrafted goods. Featured speakers include Kathy Kelly, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, who has visited Iraq 24 times in the past decade and Rick Reyes, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran and leader of Iraq Veterans Against War. Musicians Blake Jones and the Trike Shop, Ibice, the Sanger Academy Charter School Guitar Ensemble, and the Raging Grannies will perform. Actor Thomas Ian Nicholas will deliver a speech in the persona of Abbie Hoffman. Go to www.peacefresno.org for complete information and updates. Additional information: Dan Yaseen 251-3361. Stand up for peace!

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Two UU Gift Ideas

The Church of the Larger Fellowship offers UU themed gifts for that special UU in your life -- note cards, pendants, lapel pins, and posters. Check out the CLF Shop. Check out this link:http://clf.uua.org/catalog/
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Out of the box

Panic, all about it.

Ye olde panic
Campus Panic
Paperwork Panic
Commie Panic
Devil Panic

There have been books and books upon copious articles written about the "deep conspiracy/moral panic", phenomenon. I still don't think there are satisfactory answers as to why this happens. It's also interesting that theologians who should have the most to say about this seem to speak the least; It's left to the philosophers and psychologists to take educated and not so educated guesses about what is at the base of some of history's most interesting, powerful and dangerous phenomena.

There should be a class in every progressive church titled something like "We went hog wild about something once and here's how we are trying not to do it again". I'm not so sure how well this would go over but studying the who and why of these panics, large and small, has to be about the most morally instructive thing around. How can a religion guard against the wrong flavors of faith?

- Bryce

Unitarian Universalists welcome worshippers of every age, color, sexual orientation, and religious belief (or unbelief). At UU Visalia, you'll sit next to Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, and seekers of every variety. (No wonder we adapt our hymns!) We have only one absolute requirement: We covenant to treat each other with respect. As we call each other to spiritual growth, we also challenge each other to build Beloved Community not just in our congregations, but in the wider world. We stand on the side of love for marriage equality, for immigrant rights, for climate justice." - Rev. Fred Small pastor of First Parish in Cambridge, Unitarian Universalist, 12-23-09 from UU World.

Ongoing Fellowship Events

Invite Your Friends to the Fellowship! We have a convenient way for you to invite your friends and acquaintances to our Fellowship. Many people are turned off by "organized religion" but they have no clue that there is such a wonderful religious alternative like Unitarian Universalism that that is guided by a quest for truth and meaning, not by a set creed or dogma. So we've created handy "pocket coupons" to help you share the good news! The "coupon" entitles your friend to a FREE potluck dinner, "A Message to Celebrate Life," "Lively Discussion" and Free e-mail Newsletter. A brief summary of the seven principles and time and place with directions to our Sunday services are included. You can download our "Pocket coupon" from our website, and print your own with text back-to-back, then cut the page to provide yourself with four handy pocket coupons to carry with you. The pocket coupon is available on the public portion of our website, on our "Welcome to Visitors: page, here: follow link or http://www.uuvisalia.org/visitors/ That's a good page to refer your friends to so they can learn more about our Fellowship, and learn the good news of the liberal religious alternative!
Ongoing Meditation Sessions, Each Wednesday, 6:30-8PM at Friends Meeting House. An opportunity to practice this universal spiritual discipline and discuss mindfulness.
Caring as a Fellowship, If you know of any Fellowship member or friend experiencing a life challenge (including yourself!), please tell a board member so we can offer support. E-mail your request to: info@uuvisalia.org or mention during "Joys and Concerns."
Please Use your S.H.A.R.E.S. Card at Save-Mart, Our Fellowship is participating in the Save-Mart S.H.A.R.E.S program. If you take one of our S.H.A.R.E.S. cards and give it to the clerk at the check-out counter, our Fellowship will receive 3% of your grocery purchases from Save-Mart, at no extra cost to you. Please get your own S.H.A.R.E.S. card from Jolene. And... bring your receipts for the Raffle! Contact Jolene for a free S.H.A.R.E.S. card!
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK, An increasing number of our members and friends are networking with each other and our Fellowship on the social networking website, Facebook.com. Please join our UU Visalia Facebook group and have some fun with online interaction and sharing! It's a good way to learn more about each other, and to keep in touch between Sundays!
Friday UU Visalia Social Lunch Group, Join us every Friday at 12:15 p.m.for lunch - we'll be visiting different locations each week! If you'd like to attend, contact Harold at 739-8527 or email harold@uuvisalia.org to be added to our weekly notification list.
Join Our Choir The Choir practices at 4 PM for rehearsal on several designated Sundays each month. If you are interested in joining the choir, contact Ken Elias at kelias@prodigy.net or phone: (559) 561-0610.
Carpooling Save money, gas, and the planet! Sign up to commute to Fellowship Worship Services from Hanford, Three Rivers, Tulare, or Visalia. Look for sign up sheets at the Meeting House or e-mail info@uuvisalia.org if you're interested.
Reminder to GoodSearch, Search the World Wide Web and support our Fellowship at the same time. GoodSearch: You Search...We Give. Use GoodSearch to support our Fellowship. Identify "Unitarian Visalia" as "who you search for" and earn monetary points for the Fellowship.
Bring Your Used Printer Cartridges, Recycle your cartridges and earn cash for the Visalia Fellowship. Please place in the Empties4Cash box in the entry.
Share Your UU Magazines, After you have read the UU World, Interconnections and/or CLF Quest publications, please contribute them to the library.

Contact Info: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Visaliainfo@uuvisalia.org(559) 477-4214 We're now listed on yellowpages.com http://www.yellowpages.com/info-22106135/Unitarian-Universalist-Fellowship-of-Visalia

If you're searching for a spiritual home that is guided by a quest for truth and meaning, not by a set creed or dogma, we invite you to discover Unitarian Universalism.We are an open-minded religious community that encourages you to seek your own spiritual path, offering you resources to help you make your own decisions. Unitarian Universalist congregations are places where people gather to nurture their spirits and put their faith into action by helping to make our communities and the world a better place.