Huntsville Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." --Helen Keller

Huntsville UU Services
Sun. Oct. 9: The guest speaker will be Dr. Karen Olson Williams, speaking on "Creativity in Education--Everyone Teaches and Everyone Learns." Dr. Karen Williams is a recently-elected member of the HISD Board of Education. She received her M.D. from the Baylor College of Medicine and is currently employed as a staff physician at the HMH Clinic. She and her husband are parents to five daughters ranging in age from one to ten years old. Karen is an active participant and mentor in children's programs at both her church and in the Huntsville schools.

On October 9th, Dr. Frank Schulman will be the speaker at the Emerson UU Church in Houston, where he is Minister Emeritus.

Sun. Oct. 23: On this Sunday designated as Loyalty Sunday, we celebrate the presence of our Unitarian Fellowship in Huntsville by inviting our friends and neighbors to attend. Show your support by joining us on this occasion. Our highest attendance was sixty on Loyalty Sunday in 2003.

Dr. Frank Schulman is scheduled to speak on the topic "God is One!--400 Years of Unitarianism." Unitarianism began in 1568, at the start of the Protestant Reformation, when the King of Transylvania (now part of Romania) converted to Unitarianism and decreed religious tolerance in his kingdom. It was the first time in Western history that a ruler had allowed his people to have a religion different from his own. From then until now, we have been characterized by generous tolerance and belief in authority of conscience.

If Dr. Schulman is not able to be with us on this day, Beth Williamson will read his sermon and lead a discussion on the topic.

Our hearts and our prayers go out to the Schulmans in their battle with Frank's cancer. We have been so blessed to have him as our minister for these past few years, and we are deeply touched by his commitment to us.

The "Music Therapy and You" Program To Be Rescheduled
Some of us felt ready for some therapy on September 25, but most of us agreed that taking care of basic needs created by the hurricane activity had to come first, and thus the scheduled service for that day was cancelled. We look forward to this presentation by James Johnson at a future date to be announced.

Huntsville UU Women
Wed. Oct. 5: The UU Women's Sharing Circle will meet at 10:30 a.m. at the home of Anne Sigler for a discussion on the topic of "Trends in Unitarian-Universalism: Religion, Spirituality, and Humanism." Beth Williamson will be the facilitator.

Wed. Oct 12: UU women are invited to join the Red Hat Society at 11:30 at Marlene Zang's house. Bring finger food to share. Gloria Hodges will take glamour shots of those wishing to participate, and an 8 x 10 may be purchased for $20. RSVP to Marlene before October 10. Carpools will leave the Penney's parking lot at 11:00.

Congregational Picnic
Sat. Oct. 15: Just plain fun! Bring a covered dish (extra chairs not needed) to the home of Pam and James Johnson at 6:00 p.m. and enjoy socializing with your fellow UUs. I'll bet there will be music too.

UU Book Club
Eight UUers met at the home of Ralph and Gail Phillips on September 18 to hear Ralph review Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter by Thomas Cahill, and all seemed to enjoy the discussion and the socialization.

This book club was originally formed after some of the men from the fellowship noted that although there are several book clubs for women in the community, there are few such opportunities for men or couples. The plan was to meet every other month on a Sunday when no regular church service is scheduled and to keep refreshments simple. It is also an opportunity for members to get to know each other better since our fellowship is not large enough to support Circle Dinners or Dinner Discussion groups.

Would anyone like to review a book in November or January?

Hurricane Havoc Hits Huntsville
(How's that for alliteration?) Members of our fellowship united in an effort to help the refugees of Hurricane Katrina, both individually and as a group. We donated $200. from our treasury to the local Hurricane Relief Fund at the First State Bank of Huntsville, and members of our congregation added another $321 to that from a special collection taken during the church service on September 11.

Additionally, other UUs helped as volunteers providing personal services to the evacuees in whatever ways were needed. Of special note, Joan Stringer gave many hours as a triage nurse, and Melissa Morphew worked to set up an art therapy program to provide an emotional outlet for the children and adults staying in the shelters.

Then along came Hurricane Rita, and many of our members opened their homes and hearts again to friends and relatives who lived further south on its predicted path. Even after the storms had passed over, many folks in our community were left without power for several days, and others pitched in to help them. We all know of the inconvenience, but crisis situations also remind us to be thankful that we belong to a fellowship which is like a family of caring people.

Diversity Forum Continues to Meet
Oct. 10: The Diversity Forum continues to meet the second Monday of each month for the purpose of raising awareness and finding solutions for racial tension in the community. The next meeting is October 10 at 7:00 p.m. at New Zion Baptist Church (the barbeque church) on Montgomery Road. We hope to have a good representation from our fellowship.

Huntsville UU Newsletter Deadline: To submit news to the UU newsletter, e-mail Gail Phillips. Please have any news or announcements that you would like to have in this newsletter to the editor by the 20th of each month.

Annual Meeting
On May 1, 2005, we elected officers and approved appointments to various positions listed below for the church year 2005-2006.

Officers

President: Carla McAdams

Co-Vice Pres./ Program Chairs: Scott and Anita Plummer

Treasurer: Lee Stringer

Secretary/Membership Chair: Joan Stringer

Immediate Past President: Karl Mahaffey

Appointed Positions

Organist: Dixon Lichtenauer

Keyboardist: Sylvia DeVoss

Co-Song Leaders: Melissa Templeton-Mahaffey, Beth Williamson, Dixon Lichtenauer

Co-Reading Leaders: Ann Staples, Richard Lane

Newsletter Editor: Gail Phillips

Order of Service Editor: Roberta Krock

Publicist: Stuart Williamson

Hospitality Coordinator: Pam Johnson