The Chalice News - Unitarian Society of Menomonie
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The Chalice News
Unitarian Society of Menomonie
A Welcoming Unitarian Universalist Congregation
105 NE 21st Street—Menomonie, Wisconsin
(Alano meeting room—across from Mayo Clinic)
www.menomonieUU.org September 2019
Find us on Facebook!
Calendar
(Sundays beginning at 10 a.m. in our meeting room unless otherwise noted)
September 8—Our Traditional In-Gathering Sunday lead by Karen Wiliams
Welcome to Autumn! To our new church year, and to our traditional In-gathering Service and
our Gathering & Sharing of the Waters ceremony, which reflects upon the summer experiences,
be it afar or at home! What insights did YOU gain over these halcyon summer months? Please
share by bringing a small vial of water symbolic of your recent summer experiences (if you
forget, we’ll have water available!). During the service, we’ll join these waters together in a
communal bowl, to highlight our sense of belonging in our fellowship community and in the wider
world, where water is a necessity of life for all………
Facilitator: Dave Greeter: Lynn Shaw RE: Lynne Childcare:
NOTE: We are seeking a childcare provider. $20/Sunday. Contact Lynne: 715-308-0455
September 15—Socrates Café. A wide ranging discussion, a forum for members and visitors,
an attempt to flesh out our understanding of a topic selected at the beginning of that meeting.
All thoughts are valid and lifted up for consideration.
Join us for a cup of coffee and conversation in our regular meeting space.
September 19—Fall Equinox Ritual: Come and celebrate the second harvest.
5:30-7:30 at Jack and Sherry Hagen's. Please RSVP by Sept. 18th sherryhagen0115@gmail.com
September 20-27: Global Climate Strike. Our house is on fire—let’s act like it. Join young
people in the streets for global climate strikes and a week of actions to demand an end to the
age of fossil fuels and climate justice for everyone.
September 22—Lay Minister Diane Light: Draw the Circle Wide. October is LBGT National
History month, and October 11 is National Coming Out Day for LGBTQ+ people. In a political
climate that promotes intolerance and hate, how can we as a welcoming congregation widen our
circle of welcome for all who identify as LGBTQ+?
Facilitator: Paul Greeter: Annette RE: Lynne Childcare:
September 29—Fifth Sunday Gathering of UU Communities from “this corner of the coun-
try” at the Unitarian Universalist Society of River Falls. Speaker: Jackie Brux, activist and
economist. "Chili Plus" luncheon follows the service, both with meat and vegetarian. If you have
diet restrictions in addition, call (715) 821-1435 to let them know. Please bring simple desserts
(bars or cookies) to share. NOTE: The service begins at 10:30am.
Juliana Schmidt,
Board Chair
I recently took a hiking vacation to Radium Hot
Springs, British Columbia; most of the hiking occurred in Koo-
tenay National Park, a very beautiful place. This was a little
outside my ken as they say but the challenge of hiking several
miles each day, some of it in back country, was gratifying and invigorating. I
had done some training before leaving, walking the hills near my house. My training did not pre-
pare me for the relentless seemingly vertical climbs sometimes up muddy trails wet from mountain
streamlets, and fording mountain streams.
I am grateful there are still many places where one can be in nature far from traffic and the
daily grind. The visit to Canada recharged my batteries, and I’m ready again to meet the challeng-
es of my busy schedule.
The quiet of the forest and the vistas of the mountains were very spiritual. As I would get
into the rhythm of putting down my hiking poles, and winding along the path, marveling at all the
vegetation that was similar to our own here in Wisconsin, I couldn’t help thinking about humans
seemingly at the top of the biological pyramid, and that we have so much power to destroy. But we
also have the power to preserve.
I tried to meditate as I walked. This was an interesting activity as I had never done this be-
fore. Frequently, I found my “happy place” as I focused on the rhythm of my hiking body and the
trail. Research shows that getting out into nature is beneficial. For all ages, the outdoors offers
one of the most reliable boosts to our mental and physical well-being. In fact, studies show that
what you see, hear, and experience in your environment changes not only your mood, but how
your nervous, endocrine, and immune systems work as well.
I often think about our UU principle, respect for the Interdependent Web of all Existence of
which we are a part, and how we are so often separate from this Web, and that if humans weren’t
here, that the natural world would thrive without us. Read The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
– it’s very humbling. We need the natural world more than it needs us for mental and physical sur-
vival. We are truly a part of the Web of all Existence because of our dependence, like it or not.
Therefore, it behooves all to work to preserve it, and do it in any way we can.
Traveling to places like British Columbia, I remind myself, often means flying, or driving
which is probably not very good for our Web. Here lies a challenge. I hope technology will give us
answers so that humans can continue to positively interact, and also discover the beauty of our
world. Another way to ameliorate the carbon footprint: one can offset one’s carbon emissions by
purchasing carbon credits. An idea that still boggles my mind.
Locally, we are truly blessed with a very beautiful
landscape, albeit without mountains. There are many places
to hike, and bicycle, away from motorized traffic. Hear the
rustling in the trees, singing birds, and the ripple of the Red
Cedar River along the Red Cedar Trail. Smell the pine air in
Hoffman Hills. It’s so very good for us. And a visit can natural-
ly cultivate our respect, and preservation into the future.
Social Action Chair Please email items for the newsletter—stories,
Chris Kvalheim poems, events, news— Next Deadline: Sept 25
judyferber625@gmail.com
The fall highway pickup will be
October 5th at 10:00. ************
Details in October newsletter. All UU fellowships and churches are
WIDELY different. The Size of a UU
Sam packing every 2nd and 4th Friday congregation ranges from smaller than us
beginning September 13 & 27 at 9am. here in Menomonie to membership over a
********** thousand.
Children’s Religious Exploration Worship habits are all over the map,
studies UU principles:
with some groups using Christian liturgy,
even prayers, and others avoiding the
word god or anything remotely biblical.
There are almost no rules we feel
obligated to honor except avoiding
anything that might violate our seven
principles.
www.UUA.org is a wonderland of
resources representing all this variety of
styles, interests and beliefs.
************* —-Reverend Nancy Holden
The Blanket Exercise
Menomonie residents will have an opportunity to ************
learn more about indigenous people and honor All isms are terribly woven into the fabrics
the City’s newly-named Indigenous Peoples Day of each of our lives, and it demands
at a workshop called The Blanket Exercise on vulnerability laced with courage to admit
October 14, 2019. The workshop will run from
this, explore this, and address this in
6 to 9 p.m., and is located at the fellowship hall
ourselves and in community. It’s one
of the First Congregational United Church of
Christ in Menomonie, 420 Wilson Avenue. thing to peek at the ever expanding web
of connections we are bound in, and it’s
The Blanket Exercise is a participatory effort to another to be in relationship with it.
help attendees understand how colonization of We aren’t ‘woke’ by simply acknowledging
the USA has impacted the people who were here it briskly and moving along. We don’t
long before Columbus and other subsequent set- elicit justice or equity by staying
tlers arrived. A long established exercise in
unmuddied and unbruised on the sidelines,
Canada, Australia and some other countries, the
protected by the illusion of otherness and
Blanket Project is a new effort here in America.
purity.
Elders from the Ho-Chunk Nation will be here to We are revolutionaries
assist with the exercise, which is open to 60 when we dare to be proximate
participants. Registration is required, and can be and cultivate healthy relationship.
completed by calling Mary Burkett at 235-5838. —Yadenee Hailu, Asst Minister
The Unitarian Society of Menomonie is a financial at All Souls UU Church, Tulsa, OK
co-sponsor of the Blanket Exercise.
Our mission is to engage people in an open, nurturing spir- Sing a song of seasons!
itual community, Something bright in all!
promoting intellectual curiosity, honoring human rights Flowers in the summer.
and religious differences, Fires in the Fall.
—Robert Louis Stevenson
and providing service to just causes.
***********
************* The secret to health for both mind and body is
not to mourn for the past or worry about the
future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the
“You reap what you sow.” My mom present moment wisely and earnestly.
used this maxim often when I was —Buddha
growing up, usually when she thought
***********
someone had made a bad decision.
LED Lights Initiative
It’s a saying that originates in the book
of Corinthians from the Christian tradi- The recent Justice on Earth book discussion
tion. In its original meaning, it’s intend- generated the idea to change lighting in our
ed to encourage generosity: sow wide- space to LED—a more environmentally
ly, give abundantly to those in need, and be joyous in friendly option. The board voted to make
the change in our office and sanctuary
your giving!
spaces. The cost is $14 for 2 bulbs for each
fixture, or about $400 total. Paul Helgeson
I’ve been thinking about sowing and reaping as I harvest has agreed to fund 50% of the cost. He
tomatoes this year from my new raised beds. It’s been a challenges our USM members and friends
good season for tomatoes and I’m bringing in buckets to match his donation. Please talk to any
board member if you wish to make a
full of ripe red fruit. This harvest began in May, as I set
donation to this worthy effort.
young plants in the soil. Summer was a time of tending:
weeding, watering, composting, mulching, pruning and **********
worrying. Will there be enough sun, enough rain, Menomonie Cares
enough warmth? Will this late fungus kill the plants? It
did not! Menomonie Cares formed in late 2016 and
has been working to make Menomonie and
Dunn County more welcoming and inclu-
This summer has also been a time of ongoing worries sive for all our residents and neighbors.
about our increasingly hate-filled political climate. Con-
centration camps, mass shootings, the rolling back of en- Among its activities have been a lawn sign
vironmental protections, lies and hate filled rhetoric. It’s welcoming effort, a resolution of welcome
easy to get discouraged, to hide in our bubbles, to stop by the City, re-examination of diversity
principles by the School Board, a regular
listening. But this is our time to prune out the weeds of
presence at the Farmer’s Market, and new
hate. For every seed of hate that is planted, we will scat- initiatives for welcoming back into the
ter seeds of love. For every right that is taken away, we community people who have been
will plant seeds of generosity. For every life that is taken, incarcerated or in rehab programs, among
we will plant seeds of compassion. several other efforts.
For more information about Menomonie
Sow widely, give abundantly, love with abandon and tend Cares, which counts several of our Unitari-
to each other with compassion. In this way you will reap an Society members, please contact Dave
joy and peace. May it be so. Williams at williamsda@uwstout.edu.
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