About the Green UUs

Many of our members of our congregation are environmentally active in their personal and professional lives. We have a great pool of expertise available from green building designers, solar power scientists, community planners, bicycling advocates, master naturalists, authors, poets, and agricultural innovators. I personally tend to pull on my engineering experience with energy audits in buildings, and working at Camp Drake for five summers as the Eco-Stud. So my dream merit badge might have to do with recycling soda bottles to make solar hot water panels for camp showers. (If you’ve never taken a shower under the stars you’ve missed a religious experience.)
The goal of the UUA Green Sanctuary Program is to encourage living the UU 7th Principle: Respecting the interdependent web of existence on our planet. The program requires 12 projects in 4 program areas: Worship & Spirituality, Religious Education, Environmental Justice, and Sustainable Living.
Over the past couple of years we have completed seven of these projects and have three more actively in the works. Highlights include:
-A Deep Ecology Chalice Circle led by Emily Laugesen and Amy Hassinger, which allowed us to explore our spiritual connection to our environment.
-We have led several Worship Services including Amy’s memorable “On Pests” short story and the upcoming flower service and monarch waystation dedication June 19th with help by GreenUUs, Barbara Jauhola and Gail Hueting.
-Monarch Waystation Garden with the kids of RE including planning by Renee Cogill, Karla Peterson and with master gardeners Japhia Ramkumar, Mary Kay Solecki. Look for a dedication in conjunction with the 5-19 flower service.
-Green Cleaning and Beauty Products and information with Patrick Stewart.
-Ethical Eating Together (October 2010 local harvest potluck).
-Walnut tree recycling with help from Ann and Dave Sharpe.
-Building efficiency improvements with Property Committee and Myron our sextan. (Some projects are small such as new LED bulbs for five exit signs which will save $30/yr each. Then some projects are large like a new boiler which might cost $20k but save a couple of thousand each year.) Note that our new wing already has fairly high efficiency heating and cooling. In the far distance wouldn’t it be an awesome goal to offset our energy impact with renewable energy credits or solar panels on the roof?
We were able to share some of these accomplishments this last fall with other congregations at a workshop put on by Faith in Place, a religious environmental advocacy group based locally and in Chicago. It was good to hear from other local congregations about their efforts.
Future projects might include: stewardship gardens with Faith in Place, bike for kids workshop or rodeo, adult RE class on our sense of place, and battery recycling (which will hopefully be able to re-use the pennies for peace jars). The UUA has a challenge of having 20% of its congregations certified by 2012. We feel that this is a good goal for our congregation too.
Many of these projects are done in close cooperation with other committees. When we are brainstorming, you will hear the names of people in RE, Property, Membership, and Social Action. We would like to give appreciation and thanks to all the members and volunteers that have helped. The GreenUUs can help you or your committee with your own Green projects.
I would like to leave everyone with the task of doing their one simple thing. Perhaps that’s doing something financial like switching to buy your electricity from a renewable source or purchasing a carbon offset for your home from a company like Sterling Planet. Or maybe that’s just taking the time this weekend to stop and enjoy the weather and appreciate how much this beautiful Earth means to you and your family. Whether we are gardeners of this earth, or part of the garden, we have a responsibility and the evolutionarily granted ability to treat it with kindness and respect. I was always taught to leave a campsite in better condition than I found it and I hope we all can do the same. Thank you.
Find out more about the Green UUs at our website: http://uucuc.org/green-uus
Or check out and join our Google group email list: https://groups.google.com/a/uucuc.org/group/greenuus/topics?hl=en.

Emmy Award Winning Phil Gulley to Speak at May 8th Sunday Service

Pastor Gulley is scheduled to speak at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Urbana IL on Sunday, May 8th at both services - 9:30 and 11:15 am. Please join us in welcoming him. His sermon title is "So We Must Think Anew". It is about the importance of religious and spiritual institutions moving society in a new direction rather than following "the quiet dogmas" of the past. It is based on a speech Abraham Lincoln gave to Congress a month before the Emancipation Proclamation was made.

Philip Gulley is currently the pastor at Fairfield Friends Meeting near Indianapolis. His theological works include "If Grace Is True" and "If God Is Love", both of which were coauthored with James Mulholland, and his current endeavor, "If the Church Were Christian". He is also a well-known author for the acclaimed "Harmony" series of novels chronicling life in the eccentric Quaker community of Harmony, Indiana, and the best-selling "Porch Talk" series of inspirational and humorous stories. He currently writes a monthly column for Indianapolis Monthly magazine.

Pastor Gulley has received two Emmy Awards for his Indiana PBS affiliate television program and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from his alma mater, Christian Theological Seminary. Prior to receiving his Master of Divinity degree in 1992 from the seminary, he attended Marian College in Indianapolis.

Click here for more information about Pastor Gulley.

Search for a Director of Religious Education

We are seeking a new DRE!! Our dynamic and growing church is looking for a new leader of our education program for curious UUs of all ages. This is an 11 month full time position, to start in August 2011. For more information: http://uucuc.org/dresearch. Questions can be sent to Cindy Loui, Search Committee chair at: dresearch@uucuc.org.

Third Sunday Outings with UU Families!

Keep these dates open for fun and adventure with other UUs in the Community. Each 3rd Sunday of the month some families from the church are planning to get together and do fun things. The following are tentative plans through the middle of the summer. If you would like to know more, please contact Sylvia McDermott at 398-1948 or email her at evdrew@aol.com.

March 20 at 2:00--
Krannert Art Museum--meet in the lobby entered from Fourth Street

April 17 at 1:00:
Meadowbrook Park in Urbana--picnic, play, and walking

May 15 after church: Kickapoo Park in Oakwood, IL:
picnic, boating, fishing, hiking--probably best to caravan fron the church & find a picnic site. Anyone who wishes to join us there can phone me ahead of time to get my cell phone number (Sylvia McDermott)

June 24-June 26 (Friday through the Fourth Sunday in June) Is anyone interested in camping at Moraine View State Park? Please call Sylvia (398-1948) or email (Evdrew@aol.com) to let her know if you plan to come.


Join us!

January Shared Offering: Eastern Illinois Foodbank

The Eastern Illinois Foodbank, which benefits from our January shared offering, likes to say it "puts the soup in soup kitchens, and the food in food pantries." Every day, there are more than 130,000 men, women and children across eastern Illinois who may not have enough to eat. Luckily, there are also hundreds of agencies-from small church food pantries to large homeless shelters-working diligently to help struggling families make ends meet. The Eastern Illinois Foodbank provides a reliable source of food for these agencies.

Bharata Natyam, Indian Dance Performance

Come join us for a free film showing and dance performance!
“The Smile of Tyagaraja” a documentary film about learning dance from another culture, and Bharata Natyam, classical dance from South India, performed by Anine Singh-de Grood

4:00 p.m. Saturday October 23, 2010
at the Unitarian Universalist Church
309 W. Green Street, Urbana
Deserts to follow the performance.

Church Photo Directory: Additional Dates Available

Don't forget to show up on your appointment date for the church photo directory photo shoot. Pictures are being taken from 2:30 to 9:30 Friday, October 8, and Saturday the 9th from 10:00 to 5:00. An additional date has been added, October 26 from 12:30 to 9:30, in case you you haven't already signed up, and you want to be included in the directory. To sign up, see the link on the homepage, under "Quick Links", then "Sign Up for Photo Directory". Please plan for your photo shoot to take an hour, beginning at the time of your scheduled photo time. Photos are scheduled to take place in the Children's Chapel.
We look forward to seeing you there! The Membership Committee