6565 Oakley Drive NE, Fridley, MN 55432 Volume 49, Issue 8 April 2016 Interim Thoughts Dear ones, My second Fridley spring lurches forward into the final stretch of this interim time. For many of you this past month has been pretty much business as usual. Sundays have come and gone; there have been Sunday services and committee meetings and clean-ups and building repairs. There was a small flurry of activity when we all spruced things up a bit in honor of the secret visits of the pre -candidates vying for the honor of being your minister. No heroic efforts here except those of Land and Facilities to finish the arch in the middle of the expanded classroom and those of our DRE to clean out the supply closet. Thank-you one and all. On the whole, you all do a better than average job of keeping things tidy. For others, March was, well, a real march. Your Ministerial Search Committee has been exerting truly heroic efforts as it narrowed down the field of possible candidates and conducted weekend interviews with the final three. This month it will be your turn to choose and to be chosen. Please be ready. Here is a short list of readiness suggestions. Candidating week is scheduled from April 15-24. Watch for a schedule of activities and then put them on your calendar. These events will be designed to help both you and the candidate to get acquainted. Remember, this is a kind of courtship in which you are seeking the basis for a mutual connection. In all ways, come with an open heart and an open mind. The candidate will not meet all of your hopes or expectations on the first visit. You will not meet theirs. First impressions are important but that’s what they are. “First” impressions. It is the accumulation of impressions over time, received in hope and gratitude, that form lasting bonds between imperfect people and between imperfect churches and imperfect ministers. Prepare yourself by taking time to remember your own story and what you bring to and what you want from your church. A way to do that is to review the “Kinds of Commitment” sermon from March 20 that is linked on the MSUS website and answer the questions posed at the end. These questions also appear elsewhere in this newsletter. (see Page XXX) This is not so much about what you share in those first encounters as about the integrity you bring to the process. Be mindful of how you share the time you spend with the candidate. Be welcoming; be brief; be interested; be real. This is such an important time for MSUS. Your Search Committee has done an extraordinary job of courting and vetting your candidate. Please be sure to thank them and to do your part to forward this process. In love and gratitude, Karen P a g e 2 Michael Servetus Unitarian Society President’s Letter My adult daughter, Karen, has occasionally commented: "Sometimes being a grown up sucks*." This has usually been proceeded by a hefty car bill, an upcoming school loan payment, or trying to put a little ("very Inside this issue: little!" she laments) aside for retirement versus buying a new book or Interim Thoughts 1 doing something fun. Sometimes it has to do with being the adult when the little kids go screaming to jump in the lake and there are still dishes to clear and food to President’s Letter 2 Children’s Religious put away after the picnic, or when you want to stay out late but really shouldn't because, oh 3 yah, you have to go to work early; but mostly, it really has to do with money and obligations. Education Search Committee 4 Lots of grown up things have to do with money. Having a place to live. Having food to eat. 50th Anniversary Trivia 5 Paying bills, filling up the car with gas and/or buying a bus pass, buying a vacuum. (Karen says MSUS Membership 5 it's a sure sign of being an adult when you ask for that vacuum at Christmas and you truly Directory want it.) Sometimes it just isn't ...fun. And often it isn't just about you, but a significant other Questions from March 6 or family or a pet or pets or... In short, it's rarely simple. 20 Sermon Sunday Night Book 6 I sometime let her vent -I get that it isn't always fun to pay bills and wonder how to make Club MSUS Women’s Book ends meet‒ but sometimes I suggest she think about what she gets for that payment. A 6 working car? Gratitude for an education? [Hopefully] enough to live on after retiring? Group 50th Anniversary Trivia 7 Answers We also have conversations about where we spend our money. We both like books. A lot. (Some might say obsessively, but they're wrong.) We like to travel. But we also like to CSA at MSUS 8 donate to causes that we feel strongly about. Sometimes we ruminate about what we would Fridley Community do if we won the lottery. What would we spend our money on? Who would we share it Request: Volunteers 8 with? Would it change us? Needed Social Action 9 How we spend our money says a lot about what we value. Community April 2016 Services 10 It is that time of year when we at MSUS look at the budget and how we want to spend our money. And so I ask you: What is it we value? What do we need? What do we get for April 2016 Calendar 11 our money? 2016-17 Pledge Drive 12 It is also a time of year when people are asked for their plans for giving to MSUS throughout the year [i.e., to pledge.]. What people are willing to share is what drives what we can do at the church. I think the same questions apply: What is it we value? What do we get for our money? Our investment in our church can make a big difference in our lives, especially when sometimes it's tough to be an adult. And to me, that's a great investment. In Community, Lisa * apologies for the colorful language! Volume 49, Issue 8 P a g e 3 Children’s Religious Education Happy Spring! With this new season, the end of the church year is beginning to creep into view, which leads me to thoughts of next year. While our new Harry & UU curriculum has been fun and educational (a rare combination!), it is causing me some anxiety in selecting next year’s curriculum because it will certainly be hard to top. At our most recent RE meeting, we discussed several options that might hold their own against Harry, and I will make a final decision in the next few weeks. At this time, the plan is to keep all of the children together in a “one room schoolhouse,” multigenerational setting as we’re all loving the in-depth discussion and cooperative learning that has regularly been taking place in our new, larger space. As part of my continuing education plan, I will be attending Regional Assembly at the end of the month. I have registered for the following workshops as I felt they would be most helpful in my position: Adult Faith Development: Enhancing Spiritual Growth (led by Nancy Combs-Morgan and Rev. Philip Lund) and Resilient Youth (led by Jill Schwendeman and youth from the White Bear UU). I have also recently purchased several titles from the RE Credentialing booklist in order to expand my thinking about what RE can be and to learn from the work already done by others. I’d like to thank the Board, and entire congregation, for generously providing the funds necessary to support my learning and growth as DRE. On March 19th, April Anderson, Marti Reckdahl, and I attended the annual Teacher’s Café, which was held at Unity Unitarian this year. Our topic for the session was “Teaching As Spiritual Practice,” and was led by Dr. Mark Hicks, who is the Angus MacLean Professor of Religious Education at Meadville Lombard Theological School and Director of the Fahs Collaborative. We all came away from the event feeling like it was extremely beneficial to connect with so many others who also feel strongly about the value of RE, and were inspired to find ways to implement ideas from the discussion to improve our program at MSUS. The annual Beacon Interfaith Housing Night on the Street will take place at Plymouth Congregational Church on April 15th & 16th. Allison Champion-Anderson and Hailey Shager are both registered from our congregation, along with one of Hailey’s friends from school. Steve Shager and I will be chaperoning our students and I am looking forward to being a part of the experience for the first time! Need a Naming Ceremony?? Contact Rev. Karen Gustafson to schedule your Mother’s Day Naming Ceremony. (May 8, 2016) [email protected] P a g e 4 Michael Servetus Unitarian Society Search Committee Update By Kathy Burek, Search Committee Co-Chair Almost Done! Your Search Committee has been working especially hard this month. For three weekends in a row, we met with each of our pre-candidates, and in some cases, their significant others, too. We conducted extensive, formal interviews as well as meeting with the minister and their spouse/partner socially. Most importantly, we heard each of the three preach at another UU congregation. We’re pleased to report that they’re all good, each in their own way.