The work of two local photographers, Cara Buettner and Jeff Adrian is featured this month on the North Wall Art Space. The exhibit shows how two different artists capture and interpret their surroundings. Jeff Adrian is a Friend of the congregation. If you wish to purchase any of the works, please contact Christy Dachelet at czdachelet@comcast.net.
As our tiny blue-dot home passes the summer solstice, I am thinking of calendars. For over five-thousand cycles, this day has been marked by the sun apparently “rising” over the heel-stone at Stonehenge. Although Copernicus’ heliocentric heresy has morphed into Hawking’s history of time , this solstice remains one of our most easily marked points in our recurring journey around our sun. Here on land held sacred by the first people before us and fifty cycles since we sailed a shiny ship to the moon, we mark the beginning of our church fiscal year – July, 2019 to June, 2020. And, like those before us, we make plans.
During four months of congregational conversations (“Planting Possibilities”) in 2017 we refreshed our vision, mission and ends statements. At that time, looking forward to the completion of our new building and wondering how we would use it to realize our highest and best, we listened to each other’s stories. We shared our personal “spiritual journeys” in coming to this time and place. Some of us had come from families of UU congregations. Many of us had come through disaffections with other religious traditions. All of us carried baggage from our travels. Like Caesar’s legions before their battles, we set down our baggage (he called them “impedimenta”) and took inventory. We found words and metaphors which had served and/or wounded us.
We lifted up these powerful words. We embraced our ambivalence about them. Our hope was to desensitize ourselves to words that can impede our ability to join others in solidarity for shared values and action. Continue reading →
Where (OFF SITE!): Lake Minnetonka Shores Club Room
4515 Shoreline Drive, Spring Park 55384
Lunch: Soup, salad, sandwiches, and a main dish are available to
purchase for $5-6 in the Bistro. You may also bring a lunch. Mary
will provide beverages plus dessert. Come a little early to
purchase food.
Host: Mary Opheim
Topic: Summer check-in.
Edna Peik is planning to attend – she turns 100 in August.
Also, Mary will give a tour of her apartment for anyone interested.
RSVP:
To Mary, 952-471-4120 by Tuesday, August 6. We do need a count.
Directions: Heading west on Hwy 12 from Wayzata, take the CR 15 exit.
Enjoy the scenic drive along the lake. Lake Minnetonka Shores is on the
left shortly after you pass through the stoplight in Spring Park. Parking is
available in the front lot and enter through the large covered
main doors (4515). We will be meeting in the Lakeview Club
Room to the left. To the right is The Bistro where lunch items can
be purchased.
The Performing Arts Series at UUCM offers concerts, musical events and church variety shows to the congregation and the entire local community.
In the current national nightmare, we need to laugh. And we need to hope. Roy Zimmerman’s signature blend of heart and hilarity has never been more necessary. In a career spanning more than thirty years, Roy’s songs have been heard on HBO and Showtime, and Roy has shard stages with icons like Ellen DeGeneres, Robin Williams, George Carlin and many more.
RiZe Up is Roy’s tenth album release as a solo artist. He co-wrote the songs with his wife, Melanie Harby, a three-time West Coast bluegrass guitar champion. RiZe Up is a funny and forceful expression of resistance in the age of Trump. “Satire empowers people,” says Roy. “To laugh is to fight back. To hope is to fight back.” Tickets $22 each, currently available on Eventbrite. More info on Roy here.
Prudence Johnson’s long and happy career as a singer, writer, and teacher has landed her on the musical theatre stage, in two feature films, (A River Runs Through It, A Prairie Home Companion) on national radio, (several long stints on A Prairie Home Companion) and on concert stages across North America and occasionally Europe. She has released more than a dozen recordings, including albums dedicated to the music of the Gershwins, Hoagy Carmichael, Greg Brown, and a collection of international lullabies. In recent years, her greatest focus has been on creating multi-media works for concert and theater stages that blend performance with her interests in history and literature.
Composer, arranger, producer, guitarist Dean Magraw has fine-tuned his “Heavy Meadow” approach to music from years of performing and recording with some of the finest musicians in the United States, Europe, and Japan. His first recording, Broken Silence, came out in 1994 and won the NAIRD award for Best Acoustic Instrumental Album of the Year. Dean has since produced myriad passionate albums, including his latest release, Fire on the Nile, a duo collaboration with renowned percussionist, Eric Kamau Gravatt. “Dean Magraw unveils soulful melodic grooves intricately designed to heal the broken dancer, confuse the boldest mathematician, and eradicate ennui in our lifetime.” – Nick Lethert. Learn more about Dean here. Tickets $20 each.
No meeting in August. Meets next on Monday, September 9 at 7:00 PM. Gather at UUCM in the Community Room (the first room you enter from the outside door) to discuss September’s book, The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell. Regrets only to billsuemcknight@me.com. If you have questions about the Women Who Read book club, please contact Christy Dachelet.
August meeting has been cancelled. Meets next on Tuesday, September 10 at 7:00 PM. Gather to discuss September’s book, The Bell Jar (F) by Sylvia Plath. A classic book, her only novel. The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under — maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther’s breakdown with such intensity that Esther’s insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic. If you have questions, please contact Adam Schenck or Gary Charles. New members are always welcome.
Meets on Monday, August 19 at 11:00 AM. Gather at UUCM to discuss August’s book, Gentleman in Moscow by Armor Towels. Please direct any questions to Bev Montgomery. New members are always welcome.
This year’s annual Auction will take place on Saturday evening, November 2nd. This is our largest fundraiser, and biggest social event of the year. Be sure you have it on your calendar, and more information will follow in early September. Have questions? Interested in volunteering? Please contact Fred or Karen Hulting.
Every Sunday, UUCM donates the entire open offering to a social justice cause (more details are available in the Social Generosity section on our website). The Social Justice ministry is happy to report that UUCM has collected and distributed $112,899.70 from July 2010 until June 2019 in our Social Generosity efforts. We want to thank the congregation for putting your money where your values are. You should be proud of your part in this ongoing show of support that this congregation practices each week during our Sunday services. I can testify to the fact that at certain times I can only afford to put $2 or $3 in the offering basket and I wish I could do more because UUCM feeds my soul every week and I want to help people and organizations that share my principles and values. After ushering one Sunday, as I was sorting the bills and checks, I noticed how many $1 bills were in the basket. One week there were so many I could hardly fit the collection in the bank envelope. This tells me that even a small donation is important because it adds to the total. Every dollar counts.
Thank you so much,
Fay LaVigne
Social Justice Ministry
