Nora Unitarian Universalist Church 
December, 2005 December 4: “God and Darwin: Intelligent Design” • Musician:
Mimi Kamleiter December 11: “A Holiday Pageant” • Musician: Jordan Rathman December 18: “A Liberation Theology Christmas” • Musician: Mimi Kamleiter December 24: “Christmas Eve on The Hill” 
• Musician: Jordan Rathman
As always, Monday is Don’s day-off and he uses Fridays for sermon writing. He’ll be in Florida and Ohio from Christmas Day through New Year’s Eve. In case of emergencies contact a Board or Committee on Ministry member for Don’s contact information.
As part of Nora Church's social justice commitment we are providing the people power for the distribution of food for the Food For All program on Saturday, December 10. Food For All was one of the programs selected at our June annual meeting as a congregational response to our local area's needs. Food distribution is provided to anyone who registers at the Presbyterian Church in St. James. No applications are necessary. The program supports a large number of elderly and families who come from a wide geographic area. Members of the Coming of Age class and their mentors are participating in this service project. Anyone else who would like to join us is more than welcome. We will meet at church at 7:30 A.M. and carpool to St. James. We will finish around 11:00 A.M. Any questions - contact Jeanie or Darrell Hinsman, 507-359-7494.
At its November 20 meeting, the Nora Church Board of Trustees voted to set aside the undesignated cash from the collection on the second Sunday of the month to be donated to the Food For All program in St. James, one of the areas the congregation voted as a Social Justice area of focus. In other business, it was reported that the new chandeliers for the sanctuary had been shipped and should be received soon. New fans with reversible blade direction have been purchased and will be installed at the same time as the lights. The board plans to develop a loose-leaf notebook containing various policies and job descriptions for staff, board members and committees. It would also cover policies for use of the church facilities and other issues that have been developed over the years.
Jerry and I spent four days with the minister and his family in Szentmihaly, where they live. We attended the Thanksgiving Sunday service in Benced, which was interesting because it is one of three times a year they have communion, which we had not experienced before! It was quite nice, and had nothing to do with transubstantiation or anything - just a way of sharing as a community. Unfortunately, because of the flood devastation and the almost complete loss of crops and gardens of everyone, they decided not to have the usual community Thanksgiving dinner. Benced itself was not much affected by the flooding which was on the Nyikos River. Szentmihaly had quite a bit of damage. The minister and his wife had purchased a home for retirement which was in the next village, Kobatfalva, but the flood did such severe damage to the house that it will almost surely have to be razed. We gave the $500 Nora sent to the church president and board in Benced, and then $400 of our own money to the minister to use for his rebuilding, or any other more urgent purpose. All was greatly appreciated. There will be great need this year. I hope some folks from Nora can visit there sometime. It would be great if a group could go next summer and help rebuild the minister's retirement home. Working together with the people is the best way to get to know one another. ---- Sarah Oelberg
SUNDAY MORNING ADULT DISCUSSIONS (9:00 A.M.)
Movie Night
THANK YOU to the COA youth and their families for providing treats and serving coffee on November 13.
REMINDERS OWLS Letters explaining the program have been sent to parents of children in grades
4-6. If you are interested in having your child(ren) participate, please let Anne
know by December 25. UUFM needs to know how many children from Nora will be participating
by January 2, 2006. We can work out shared travel arrangements. We would like
the children from the Juniors and Tweeners class to join us during church,
however recognize * We are always looking for people interested in teaching or helping out with
RE and Sunday School.
Lee Schmitt’s new address is: 1st Sgt Lee Schmitt Battery B 125 THFA (Strike) Alon Chambard will be having artery repair done at Mayo on Tuesday, November 29. Bryan Becken is having health problems and we wish him the best in his therapy. LUNCH BUNCH The Lunch Bunch will be gathering on Wednesday, December 21 at 11:30 A.M. at Three Sisters Tea Room, 208 N. Minnesota Street, New Ulm. All are invited and bring a friend! We also welcome any ideas you have on places to meet in the months ahead! NORWEGIAN BAKING SCHOOL Our Norwegian Baking School on November 12 was full of fun and good fellowship! We made lefse, flat bread, and krumkake, and everyone who participated took home some of the goodies. For the number of people who wished to attend but couldn’t, we’ll be planning another baking day in the near future.
Newsletter articles for the January Mere Lys will be due by Sunday, December 18. If this is not possible, please let me know. You can send articles to my new email address: gilbertjua@sleepyeyetel.net; my mailing address: 15045 185th Ave., Hanska, MN 56041; or you can call me at 507-469-8912. Thanks! -Nita Gilbert
COOKIE EXCHANGE & GOODIE BASKETS We will be having a cookie exchange on December 11! For every dozen cookies you bring, you can take home a dozen cookies of another sort. We ask that you also include at least one dozen cookies for the goodie baskets which will be given to shut-ins. The goodie baskets for shut-ins will be packed at the church on Wednesday, December 14. Anything you would like to contribute to the baskets – especially homemade goodies – would be appreciated and should be brought to the church by Sunday, December 11. If you know of someone you think should receive a basket, please let Janet Rosenbloom or Carol Chambard know the name of the individual.
For Christmas Eve, the Nora Choir will be leading our traditional closing hymn “Silent Night” in four-part harmony. I hereby invite and challenge all enthused voices to sing one of the voice parts other than the melody line, be it alto, tenor or bass. You may also just want to acquaint yourself again with all the verses, as holding a candle and the words to the song can be tricky. You can obtain a copy of “Silent Night” at the front door of the church. And you are more than welcome to come to the Nora Choir Christmas Eve rehearsals, which will be every Sunday at 9 A.M. until December 24. The more the merrier!!!
The United Way of New Ulm has released its 2004-2005 Community Assessment. This assessment of community strengths and weaknesses is the result of almost two years of work on the part of the United Way Board and a variety of community members who provided input. The assessment includes results from surveys given to community leaders and a random sampling of households within the community as well as focus groups representing the perspectives of all age groups and a variety of family types. Community, state and local data are also a part of the assessment and provide validation of the other information obtained. The United Way of New Ulm decided to complete this assessment as part of an enhanced mission of the organization, which includes continuing to support local agencies AND collaborating with community partners to look for solutions to some of the bigger issues facing the community. The report itself details the major strengths of our community and our quality of life, as well as providing details on community perspectives on 11 different issue areas. These issue areas include the following: income levels and poverty, social issues, education, drug and alcohol abuse, crime and safety, mental health, the environment, unemployment and underemployment, health and domestic abuse. United Way Board members will be speaking to various groups within the community about these results and sharing some next steps we can take to collaborate to develop solutions that might address one or more of the issues identified in this assessment. Anyone who represents a group or organization who would like to have a presentation regarding the assessment, or any group who would like a copy of this assessment should call the United Way office at 507-354-6512.
The mission of the UU United Nations Office is to promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all, as reflected in the United Nations Charter. Through targeted education advocacy and outreach, we engage Unitarian Universalists in support of international cooperation and the work of the UN. Its goals include promoting sustainable development as a means to achieve peace, security and human rights and encouraging reform of the UN that enhances the effectiveness of the organization. One focus of the UN UNO is the Every Child is Our Child program which was born from the knowledge that education effectively curbs the spread of AIDS and can ensure the future of those left behind. According to the UN, 2,000 AIDS orphans and vulnerable children line in the Manya Krobo district of eastern Ghana, waiting their chance to go to school. Many are cared for by a committed group of local women who work with private and public institutions to break the stigma of HIV/AIDS. Through education, they have lowered the local HIV infection rate from 18% to 7%. Through Every Child is Our Child, the UU UN Office will
fund each child’s
school fees and basic health insurance for the whole foster family. We will
also help launch a community mentoring program. Our members will directly contribute
to the UN Millennium Development Goals of achieving universal primary education,
promoting gender equality, and combating HIV/AIDS. This program provides real
life opportunities to practice UU spiritual principles. A $60 donation provides
a year’s education for a child. Donations can be sent to UU United Nations
Offices, 777 UN Plaza Suite 7G, New York, NY 10017 or on- line at http://www.uu-uno.org.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Back to the Top