Faith Formation 4 a Started Earlier, the HIP Parent Group Has Been President's Post 6 Meeting at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for the Last Four Years

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High Plains News “Building a liberal spiritual community that welcomes all to lives of wholeness” February 2018 High Plains Church - Unitarian-Universalist Vol 25, No 2

Columns Electric Safari & Unnecessary Caroling By Karen Clemmensen Minister's Musings 3 lthough some families Faith Formation 4 A started earlier, the HIP Parent Group has been President's Post 6 meeting at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for the last four years. Although invariably Features cold, it is always fun and a good opportunity for kids and Owl 7 adults to hang out. One evolution of this activity is the World Café 7 fire pit smorgasbord. What LDC Workshop 8 started as a cup of hot chocolate at the fire near the SCRIP 9

otters has morphed into: hot chocolate with Frangelico, creative S’mores of all kinds, lentil and potato soups, chili, and more. Often innocent by walkers are welcomed and fortified.

This year there was a twist as twelve hearty post Safari folks braved the 10 degree cold and startled Sue Neufeld's New Years Eve guests with a rousing rendition of Jingle Bells, then slipped not so quietly into the night. DO NOT open your door to strangers on New Years Eve!

High Plains Church - Unitarian-Universalist 1825 Dominion Way Colorado Springs, CO 80918 Page 2 Calendar & Services Events Calendar - February 2018 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 Stitchers Parents' Meeting 9:30 am - 11:00 am 5:45 pm - 8:45 pm Board Meeting 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 YRUU Youth Group Navigators USA Café Conversations * Church Council Faith Formation Team CUUPS Spirituality 10:00 am - 2:00 pm 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm Care Team Meeting 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 YRUU Youth Group Café Conversations * Stitchers Hip Parents Group Marian House 10:00 am - 2:00 pm 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm 9:30 am - 11:00 am 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm 7:00 am - 10:00 am LDC Class 6th - 8th Game Night 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm

18 19 20 21 11 23 24 YRUU Youth Group Navigators USA Café Conversations * CUUPS Spirituality 10:00 am - 2:00 pm 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm World Café #1 11:30 am

25 26 27 28 YRUU Youth Group Café Conversations * * At Pikes Perk on Academy Blvd 10:00 am - 2:00 pm 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Be sure to check the Events Tag on the website at www.hpcuu.org for additions and corrections to the calendar. February Services - Perseverance February 4: “Touching Stones, Casting Light”, Imbolc Ceremony with guest speaker Wanda Daniel. As we walk through the darkness of our winter and our world, our feet touch Earth and feel the wisdom found there. We carry this wisdom within us as we belong to Earth. Rooting into our spaces here and now, we reach and touch each other with wisdom that casts light into world. We grow strong with each other. With each touch we know winter shall end and spring come. NOTE: Rev. Wanda & Dianne are weaving an Imbolc/Candlemas service as part of our monthly theme, Perseverance. Please bring a small stone you are willing to place in a community bowl.

February 11: "Mardi Gras" with Dianne McRae. Mardi Gras, the blow out celebration proceeding Lent, has a quality of "the world turned upside-down". Come celebrate and consider with us the up, the down and the "I am directionally challenged". If you have them, wear your Mardi Gras finest and beads!

February 18: "Getting Right with the World" with Rev. Dana Lightsey. In January, we considered what it means to "get right with ourselves". This month, we are looking at getting right with the world. One doesn't just accomplish these things as a one-time task. Getting right with ourselves and with the world is life's greatest challenge which we face day after day. This fits well with our monthly theme of "perseverance". Ultimately, getting right with ourselves and the world brings us into harmony both within and without and gives our lives a great sense of purpose and meaning. These ultimate questions also apply to HPCUU as we re-engage with the church wide conversation of HPCUU's future. As individuals, we may ponder our greatest potential and destiny. The same is true for HPCUU. How does HPCUU fulfill its greatest destiny and potential and how does that inform our next steps into the future? This service will be followed by a World Cafe style meeting to discuss these (and other) questions about HPCUU. Please join us for this important day in the evolution of HPCUU.

February 25: Music Sunday with Joe Uveges Minister’s Musings Page 3 Minister’s Musings by Rev Dana Lightsey

ur monthly theme for February is “perseverance”. alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Just like O What does it mean to be a people of Perseverance? Dorothy and Toto who’s friends saved them when they fell asleep in the poppies, we are better together and can A week or so ago we had a Wizard of Oz party at travel much farther when we support each other on the HPCUU. It was great fun hanging out with so many of journey. you and singing along with movie. To your credit, this church is made of tenacious people It got me wondering, what kind of a person did Dorothy who know how to persevere. Understanding that we turn out to be? How did her experience change her? cannot afford to stay in our location, we put our facility What did she learn about herself when she went to Oz? up for sale about one year ago. We dropped the price Clearly, she discovered her ability to persevere, even last week to just under $1.3 million dollars. The board when she didn’t think she could. They were plagued by and I are working hard behind the scenes to come up evil, almost insurmountable challenges, great fears and with viable options for our next location. We feel threats, with dangers around every corner. “Lions and strongly that it is once again time to bring the tigers and bears, Oh, My!” congregation into the conversation much like we did The Wizard of Oz holds lessons for all of us in over a year ago. perseverance: We want to hear from you. We want to gather your 1. Not giving up in the face of danger and challenge questions, opinions, ideas, etc. To this end, we are planning two World Cafe style meetings to discuss a 2. Each of us has a piece of the answer, and we all help number of questions. The essence of these events are to each other discover and use our true gifts help us discern how does HPCUU fulfill its greatest potential and how does that inform our next steps into 3. The missing parts of ourselves are discovered within the future? Please ponder the questions listed below to ourselves through the help of our friends and prepare to participate in our first gathering. community. Rev. Dana Lightsey We all have to find ways of persevering. There is an African proverb that says, “If you want to go quickly, go

Day-long Spiritual Retreat Cafe Conversations With Rev. Dana Lightsey By Rev Dana Lightsey

ot the winter blues? Need a bit of peace in your his was a big success in January, so Rev. Dana will G life? This is a good time of year for turning inward T continue hosting Cafe Conversations during and taking time for personal reflection, so join us for this February. So, if you have something on your mind you’d winter retreat. This will include some meditation, like to discuss, or some opinions and/or questions about writing, discussion and Dances of Universal Peace. This what’s going on with HPCUU, or learn more about UU will take place at HPCUU and will begin at 9am and end history and theology, pop on over to Pikes Perk on at 4pm on Saturday, on February 10, 2018. Snacks and Academy on Tuesday evenings starting at 6:30pm to lunch will be provided. $35 donation requested but not 8:30pm. Pikes Perk serves both coffee and alcohol. They required. Please send an email to [email protected] or are located at 5965 Academy Blvd. call or text Rev. Dana at 970-590-6978 to register. Page 4 Faith Formation Faith Formation by Jessica Laikeman

What’s Happening in Faith Formation? All Month (every Sunday): Nursery from 10:00 am to 11:15 am PK-8th Grade Classes from 10:15 am to 11:15 am YRUU from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm

Monday, February 5: Navigators USA (a co-ed UU scouting group) from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm Thursday, February 8: Faith Formation team meeting from 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm Friday, February 9: CUUPS Spirituality Class from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm Thursday, February 15: Leadership Development Class from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm Friday, February 16: Open Covenant HiP Parents’ Group from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm Middle School Game Night from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm Sunday, February 18: Children’s Chapel Monday, February 19: Navigators USA (a co-ed UU scouting group) from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm Friday, February 23: CUUPS Spirituality Class from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm Sunday, February 25: 4th Sunday Youth Group Collection

If you have a group which you believe works toward the goals of Faith Formation please contact Jessica Laikeman at [email protected] about including your meetings on the monthly list of Faith Formation Programming events.

Jessica Increasing Hours in February As the twins and I are adjusting to my return to work, I am excited to increase my hours to 25 hours per week this month and I will be back at my full 33 hours per week in March. I will be working two Sundays this month, February 4th and 25th, and Jen’s last Sunday assisting the program will be February 18th. Jen will complete her time with us by helping out for 8 hours/week this month as I complete my transition back. I want to take this time to thank Jen for her great work minding the store (so to speak) while I was gone, allowing me precious time to spend at home with my new family.

I am thrilled to be back and please stay tuned for a more in-depth update and reflection on my time away in next month’s newsletter. Faith Formation Page 5

4th Sunday Collection for Youth Trip to General Assembly By Jessica Laikeman upport our youth! This month the 4th Sunday Collection will be going to support our high school youth trip to S the annual national gathering of Unitarian Universalists known as General Assembly (GA). This year GA is taking place in Kansas City, Missouri with a theme of “All Are Called”.

Grounded in a deep belief that we are all prophets, Unitarian Universalists ask, “How can we faithfully meet the demands of our time?” The call to witness and act for justice in our society and in the world is clear. So, too, is the call to examine our structures and practices, dismantling and transforming those which fail to recognize the full humanity of all people and to honor the interdependent web of life. We will join thousands of other UUs in Kansas City to dive deeply into questions of mission for our Unitarian Universalist Association, for our congregations and communities, and for each of us as individuals. Together, we’ll explore:

Who and how are we called to be at this time, individually and collectively? How are we called to act and to live? How does our Unitarian Universalist legacy strengthen us in living out our mission? In what ways does our legacy present challenges and impediments to answering our call? Taken from the UUA website description of General Assembly 2018.

This will be our sixth consecutive year to bring youth to this event, and each year our single largest fundraiser is this 4th Sunday collection. The true cost of this trip comes out to between $1000 and $1200 per youth, which covers transportation, registration, accommodation and food. Needless to say the majority of our families would not be able to participate in this trip at this cost. It is our goal each year to keep the out of pocket cost for this trip to $350 per youth or less, with additional scholarships and funds available for those youth with serious financial need. We are committed that finances never be the reason a youth cannot participate in a church-sponsored trip or activity, but it order to make this a reality, we need your help.

All funds raised by March 31st will be eligible for matching by our national association (the UUA), up to $500 per youth. For the past 5 years we have been fortunate enough to receive some grants and scholarships from the UUA, and we are hopeful this year will be no exception. However, those grants and scholarships are dependent upon the level of congregational financial support we are able to show, and very greatly depending on how many applications for aid they receive.

On February 25th you will have the opportunity to support our youth and this life-changing trip by giving during the 4th Sunday collection. Additional donations will also be accepted throughout the month, simply include “Youth GA Trip” on the memo line of your check and drop it off, or mail it, any time this month.

I want to leave you now with a few quotes from youth who have attended previous trips:

“Attending GA made me realize I might want to be a military chaplain. I feel more connected to my faith than ever before.” - Kendra Burdick, after GA trip 2013

“Not only was this trip a part of my growth in historical learning, but I grew spiritually as well. It allowed me alone time, time with my fellow youth, time with the adults and time for self-reflection in between it all. I believe that this and other trips I have been on with my UU community have led me to my calling.” – Morgan Day, after GA trip 2014

“I think I might want to be a minister!” – shared by Dezerai Maul during GA 2015

“I think everyone will agree any expectations we might've had were far beyond met. Not only was the trip a great learning experience, it was fun, exciting, and created memories that will last a lifetime.” – Logan Bliss, after GA trip 2015 Page 6 President’s Post The President’s Post by Glenn Rohlfing

https://soundcloud.com/glenn-rohlfing-jr/presidents-post-jan-2019

appy January and February. I hope your New Year explore open questions about our identity, about why we H is off to a prosperous start. There has been a lot come to High Plains, and about the role we play not only going on behind the scenes; recently, we’ve lowered the in the church but also in the community. This is a price of the building to 1.295 million. While we were conversation we need to have; not only will this bring us getting a lot of interest in the building, we were not into relationship with each other, but it will also help to getting offers. Why? The primary feedback that our inform the board of our congregation’s pulse, helping us realtors gave us is that the Golf Course in conjunction to build the best possible plans for our congregation. with the price is warding off buyers, so the board This leads us to the world café on March 4th, which will lowered the price to makes it possible for the buyer to also take place immediately after the service. Please mitigate the property. Additionally, we need to have the bring a brown bag lunch to both meetings; the building sold by October 15th per the UUA, who holds conversations we are to have over these two world cafés our loan. We do anticipate the need to ask the UUA for are vitally important to not only our identity as High another extension; however, the UUA wants us to focus Plains, but how we move forward as a community. our efforts to sell ASAP. In the meantime, your board Getting right with ourselves means that we reflect on our has had an insane number of meetings to explore our experiences, face our barriers, find support among our options and to nail down a sustainable and responsible community, and finally take action. budget for the up-and-coming years. This community needs leaders to step up to take the reins Critical to all of our conversations has been the basic of the stewardship campaign. This campaign is vital to premise of what’s best for High Plains Church; our board helping our church operate and fund its programing; we team has been working hard to create plans that are hope that if you have the skills to lead this vital church nimble and put us in the best possible position to thrive task, even as a co-lead, that you contact Tom Ward. spiritually and as a community, to be financial HPCUU needs you NOW. Change is hard and takes sustainable, and to create an inspiring vision. As your work, but as the caterpillar knows when it becomes a Board, we are also mindful that we need to bring the chrysalis: metamorphosis is beautiful. congregation into the conversation. Core to this path forward are two world cafés that will be coming up in You all have a lovely month; remember, any of us board February and March. After a short break following the members are available if you have questions. You all are service on February 18th, we are coming together to important to us.

wane, and we regress into our excuses. The Perseverance- “All That Time in Between” “honeymoon” is over, so to speak, and now the real by Jen Keating work begins. As with most things in life, running is mostly mental. Putting one foot in front of the other is sn’t it exciting to start things and then feel pride once fairly straightforward, but it takes emotional stamina to they’re finished? You bet! But all that time and work I endure the hills, inclement weather, and otherwise in between? Eh. I read recently that unless you like the uncomfortable scenery along the way. A commitment to process, you’ll never get far in life (another way of running (and life in general) must embrace all its forms, saying “journey over destination”, but PROCESS just exhilarating and exhausting. The trick is not to dread the resonated more for me). Excuse the worn-out sports obstacles, but to view them as learning edges and grow metaphor, but life really IS like training for a marathon into the challenge. Victory is not for the faint of heart- (take it from someone who’s actually run a marathon). for we can never come out of something without first The first few days of training can be exciting and usually going THROUGH it. Perseverance- “all that time in flashy- “look at me, I’m training for a marathon”! between” is a culmination of the everyday decisions we However as days turn to weeks, the initial excitement make that ultimately shape our character. Patience is the may begin to fade, attention from others may begin to mother of victory. Activities Page 7 Middle School Game Night: High Plains Book Club Friday, February 16 from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm By Heather Mitchell xciting news! The Middle School class (6th-8th igh Plains Book Club next meets on Wednesday, Grades) will be hosting their SECOND game night of E March 10th, 2018. We meet at 6:30 pm in the the year on Friday, February 16, 2018 from 6:30 pm to H church sanctuary. Our theme is Inspirational Religious 9:30 pm at High Plains. Backed by popular demand, and Spiritual Figures. You may read a book by or about game night goers are once again encouraged to bring a the person of your choice. Come ready to talk about this game or two and favorite snack to share. Teachers Kim person who inspires you. Doty and Sonya Bergeron will be facilitating. Conveniently, game night has been scheduled almost Some people who were mentioned when we were concurrently with the HiP Parents' Group that meets on discussing this topic were: Albert Einstein, Henry D. 3rd Fridays from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm, so if you were Thoreau, Deepak Chopra, Paulo Coelho, Siddhartha. already planning to attend that, this gives your youth a These are just a starter list, and not a requirement to pick fun outlet for the night while you have a chance unwind one of these. with other High Plains parents.

K-1 and 7th-9th Grade OWL s part of our ongoing commitment to offering comprehensive sexuality education for the children and youth of A our congregation, we are offering both the K-1 and 7th-9th Grade levels of Our Whole Lives this year in the Spring of 2018. Unfortunately, several of our recently trained facilitators for the 7th-9th grade level have moved away and will be unable to teach as originally planned. As such we are in need of ONE MORE non-cisgender female facilitator for our 7th-9th grade class in order to maintain our commitment to gender diversity in our facilitation teams. Training registration fees and curriculum cost are covered by the church. If you are interested in facilitating or have any questions about OWL, please email Jessica Laikeman at [email protected].

World Cafe #1 on February 18 After the Service. e want to hear from you your dreams, hopes, and wishes for HPCUU. Here are some questions to ponder W before our gathering: Individual Identity A. How do you identify with Unitarian Universalism? B. What do you bring to HPCUU? Community A. Consider your own identity, how do your experiences with HPCUU feed you? B. What do you see as the role of HPCUU for your life and in our community? Vision A. Where and how do your power, potential, passion, and talent meet the needs of the world? B. How does HPCUU get it right with the needs of the world? C. If you had three wishes, what would you wish for HPCUU in five years?

This continues to be a time of perseverance for all of us at HPCUU. It is also a time of preparing to create our greatest possible future. Together, we are HPCUU and together we will see our way into a strong and vibrant future. With deep gratitude, Rev. Dana Lightsey Page 8 Articles

LDC Workshops By Kim Holllm he Leadership Development Committee (LDC) will continue hosting a series (through May) of monthly lay T leadership workshop following the UU curriculum “Harvest the Power” around themes of self, community, leadership, and vision. This is open to all members and visitors who are interested- no leadership experience required!

Our next class will be on Thursday, February 15 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Classes are free of charge and facilitated by the LDC at High Plains. You are welcome to attend one, two, or as many classes as you feel called to. We’re so excited to share in this leadership journey with you!

Return participants-RSVP to [email protected]

New participants-Please fill out the following registration form to let us know you’re coming:

https://form.jotform.com/HighPlainsDFF/leadership-development-class-regist

We’re so excited to share in this leadership journey with you!

Remaining Class dates and topics for the year are as follows:

*Thurs, 2/15 Purpose: Integrity/ Imagination and Creativity * Wed, 3/14 Path: Facing Danger/ Understanding Systems in Your Congregation * Wed, 4/11 Path: Keeping Distress Productive/ Adaptive Leadership

Articles Page 9 The SCRIP program is getting a facelift! By Patricia Rose eginning Sunday, February 4th, you will be able order not only your favorite scrip gift cards but also a wide B variety of cards from other vendors, all on a pre-paid basis. A few examples of the 800+ cards available are:  OFFICE SUPPLIES: Staples & Office Depot

 SPORTING GOODS: Bass Pro Shops & REI

 PET SUPPLIES: Petco And PetSmart

 CAR RENTALS: Avis & Budget

 DEPARTMENT STORES: Dillard's & Macy’s

Go to the Great Lakes website to see a complete list of vendors: shop.shopwithscrip.com

A few very popular cards will be kept in stock such as Starbucks, King Soopers and Panera and available for purchase one or two Sundays per month.

These changes were prompted by a careful analysis of the profits and amount of work involved in sustaining HPCUU’s scrip program (more formally, the Merchant Discount Program). Our steadfast devotion to the King Soopers reloadable cards returned over $5000 last year, while over $11,000 in gift card purchases only brought in $600. Reloadable Safeway cards netted about $300.

Thus it’s no secret that the more of us willing to shop at King Soopers and buy gas there and at Loaf ‘n Jug convenience stores using reloadable cards, the better! If you’re not already doing so, why not make that one of your New Year’s resolutions! See Patricia Rose for your King Soopers reloadable cards right away!

20s and 30s Young Adult Group Furture Issues on Ageing Meetings id you know that we have a group specifically for By Sue Neufeld members in their 20s and 30s? This group gets D he frequency of our Issues on Aging meetings will together on a monthly basis for potluck, game, and become less in the future, but we will continue with movie nights (usually Friday or Saturday nights). Come T bi-monthly or quarterly offerings, facilitated by Sue join us and meet other UUs your age! Our next gathering Neufeld or Betty Davis. We may meet on a different day will be in mid-February, as schedules permit. Email Dan of the week as well. Stay tuned for our next Keating at [email protected] for more information announcement, and thanks for attending and caring this or to let us know you’re interested in joining! past few years.

High Plains Stitchers Bring your stitching project (knit, crochet, quilting, or any easily transportable craft) and join us on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month at La Tartine Bistro from 9:30 am - 11:00 am. Our group mainly works on their own projects - but we also create blankets for members/friends suffering severe illness, undergoing surgery or experiencing a loss, and to welcome new babies. The cafe is located in a small shopping center on the NW corner of Academy and Briargate Blvd (opposite Security Service bank, behind the Burger King). Don't stitch? Why not come anyway and just "hang out" with us?? Questions? Contact Ruby Doyle at [email protected].

Page 10 HPCUU 1825 Dominion Way Colorado Springs CO 80918

719-260-1080

Member of Unitarian Universalist Association Sunday Services at 10:00 AM Come Join Us!

Inside: Send Comments to: [email protected] Faith Formation Send Articles to: [email protected] Fourth Sunday Donation Our Whole Lives All articles for the March newsletter must be received by the end SCRIP of day on February 23, 2018.

Rev Dana's Hours: Office Hours: Tue, Wed, Thu: 11:00 am - 2:00 pm Mon thru Fri: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm Please don't hesitate to call her at 970-590-6978 if there is a serious or emergency situation.

Contact the Publicity team at [email protected] if you would like to place an add in the HPCUU Newsletter.

Revisions by Jonathan Specializing in Creative Home Improvements - Where ideas Become Reality Do you need something in your world - fixed, added, or removed? Projects include: Carpentry, Electrical, Plumbing, Painting, Plastering, Dry walling, Tiling, and many more... Decks, Kitchens, Basements, Bathrooms, Windows, etc.

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