ISSUE 99

SEPTEMBER 2024

As summer draws to a close, like me, you may be feeling you are quite ready to let it go. Perhaps, like me, you are longing for cooler weather, but still find you want to hang on to the promise of more time or different time or more connections or different connections. It is hard to let go of anything, let alone the wistfulness of summer’s freedoms and our hopes for what might have been.

There is spiritual work in naming and noting with gratitude the gifts which the summer months brought to us. I will note two of the gifts I received this summer. First, has been our speakers for our summer worship series “The Power of Naming.” Every year, as winter’s cold has me indoors noodling on ideas for a summer series, I wonder who will speak and what will be offered. And every year, as Labor Day approaches, I think, “My God, wasn’t that extraordinary!”

Yes it was. I am powerfully moved, as I know were many of you, but the courage and vulnerability of each of the speakers who shared stories about naming: their values and living them in community; the power of not doing and finding time to reflect, finding hope, the richness of continuing with family names and living into them in empowering ways; the blessing of allowing for the possibility that relationships can change; the gift of returning to one’s birth name; the worthiness of taking a stand religiously as a matter of conscience; and the willingness to pursue names reflective of soul in addition to role. If you missed any of them, watch the recordings here.

Second, during a very tumultuous time, I was out of the country. While I was in England, there was an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and President Biden ended his reelection bid. Always when privileged enough to travel beyond our borders, I gain an enlarged perspective on, among other things, our country. In the land where a palpable gratitude for the United States still exists because of our role in World War II, I felt anew the premise and the promise of our democracy. I was in the company not just of Brits, in my seminar, but other Europeans. I heard and felt the hope that other nations still draw from us.

All of this has me thinking about a South African Unitarian minister who taught me and my classmates the word Ubuntu. A Zulu word he shared meaning “I am because we are.” Such a short phrase to remind us that we need one another. That none of us exists alone. And that, in the wisdom of M. Scott Peck “the salvation of the world lies in and through community.” None of us could be an “I” without first being a part of a “we.”

So, this year at JUC, our themes will invite us into a rediscovery of the “we.” You may have noticed that our mission is now displayed on banners in our sanctuary. “We nurture religious community in which we deepen spiritually, connect authentically, serve respectfully, and love radically.” It will be a powerful year naming and claiming this place and this faith of belonging. I can’t wait to continue the journey together.

We always begin the church year with a new set of monthly themes. Many years we get these themes from Soul Matters , which is a company that networks UU churches around the country, providing them with source material for the monthly themes. This church year, however, we are using our own JUC mission and values as our themes. We will focus on the mission for the fall and move to the values in January.

Our mission comes in two parts - the tag line, and the set of four ideas. It is often written this way:

We nurture religious community in which we

deepen spiritually
connect authentically
serve respectfully
love radically

It is easy, when we are talking about the mission, to leave out the tag line - We nurture religious community in which we. As we have been preparing for the fall, Rev. Wendy has been stressing to the staff how essential these words are to the mission. Each of the four ideas exist first within the context of our religious community. We “nurture” our community so that we are then able to take our mission out into the world.

Last Sunday we celebrated the “we” in our Faith Exploration (FE) kick-off. We gathered together all of our children and youth - Pre K-12th grade for one big event. We sang songs, got to know each’s names and broke into small, multi-age groups to explore our church values.

Each group created a garland of ribbon which we linked together as one long symbol of our religious community. You can see our creation hanging in the FE hall.

We are often separated in Faith Exploration by grade level. What a wonderful experience it was to truly become the “we,” if only for an hour!

I hope as you are entering this new church season you will find multiple ways to be part of the “we” at JUC - where you can nurture and be nurtured in our wonderful religious community.

Board of Trustees

Meeting Summary

Our August meeting began with a contemplation of our Mission Statement, and precisely what it means to “nurture a religious community in which we deepen spiritually, connect authentically, serve respectfully, and love radically.” What does it mean to be part of that “we,” and what can help each of us (and the congregation) realize how integral they are to the religious community we attempt to nurture at JUC?

The bulk of our meeting was focused on preparing for the 2024-2025 church year. The Board will have a retreat in September and the Fall Congregational meeting in October, and we discussed how to use these events to frame and prepare for the work of the coming year. Two big topics of discussion remain improving the church’s fiscal sustainability and living into the church’s racial justice mission, particularly in light of our vote on the 8th principle.

We ended the meeting with a thorough discussion evaluating how the church leadership has supported the church in achieving each of its eight ends.

Deepen Spiritually and Planned Giving

We believe that all people have spiritual needs and that spiritual deepening is

essential to our mission. We also respect a variety of spiritual practices and that

each of us is free to follow a spiritual path that best meets our individual needs. By integrating planned giving into one’s spiritual practice, we can deepen our sense of purpose, connection and fulfillment, creating a legacy that reflects our highest values and aspirations. Many spiritual traditions emphasize generosity as a fundamental practice. How do you see planned giving fitting into your spiritual journey? We invite you to include JUC as a beneficiary in your estate plan.

Contact the Planned Giving Team BJ and Bud Meadows or Carol Wilsey.

UUSC Task Force – Guatemala

June LeCrone

It’s time for the Guatemala Fiesta! On Sunday, September 22 please join the UUSC Task Force as we celebrate our Guatemalan students and your support of the scholarship program. We will gather on the patio at 12:30 for tamales, music, fun, and an update of the possibility of a trip to Rabinal, Guatemala. Please bring the whole family and friends. If you are not familiar with the JUC Guatemala connection, we support approximately 60 Mayan students by funding their school expenses. This is our time to celebrate the success of the program and to celebrate JUC’s partnership with these amazing students.

Watch the Weekly Connection for more information about how you can sign up and participate. If you have an interest in helping with food preparation, decorating, or setting up for the event, you can earn points in the Social Justice Challenge that begins Sunday, September 22. We hope to see you there.

It’s hard to believe summer’s already just about over, huh? We’ve had a great summer of member reflections at JUC on naming. I’m so grateful for their willingness to share their stories. There is so much wisdom in all of our lived experience, all of our stories. And just as each individual’s story is a way of making meaning of their lives - their values, their hopes, the hard lessons learned, and the joy of being alive - our congregation’s story is our community’s way of making shared meaning of our relationships with one another and our purpose in the world.

In this month of September, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to continue writing our story as a congregation. For the rest of this calendar year, our monthly themes will center on our congregation’s mission:

We nurture religious community in which we:

Deepen spiritually
Connect authentically
Serve respectfully
Love radically

While the four bullet points would seem to be the “substance” of our mission, I want to ask that you don’t miss that first line. “We nurture religious community in which we…” What does it mean to truly nurture religious community? What words and actions does nurturing community - feeding it, caring for it, guiding and protecting it - entail?

Well, good news - this month will present plenty of practical opportunities to explore! At the beginning of the month, our Family Promise task force will be hosting unhoused families at our church. It takes 90 volunteers to host for a week, so please sign up (and notice there are many tabs for different opportunities at the top of the sign up page).

Our Social Justice Challenge is in September this year! It will begin on Sunday, September 22 and run for five weeks, during which you’ll have lots of opportunities to participate in the work that our justice teams do in our community. As a congregation, we’ll set a goal of a number of hours served for the event. Last year, we recorded 1400 hours! The Challenge this year will kick off with the Guatemala Fiesta after second service, during which our UUSC team will talk about their experiences in Guatemala and the good work our scholarship money does there. The team could use some volunteers for the Fiesta (food prep, set up, take down) - and as it’s the beginning of the Social Justice challenge, your volunteer hours here count towards our congregational goal!

And on Saturday and Sunday, September 28-29, JUC will be participating in the Climate Justice Revival, along with 300 other UU congregations! The revival will challenge us as a congregation to recommit ourselves to climate justice and will give us some fun and exciting tools to determine how we as a community can enter joyfully and creatively into this work! (Please see the separate article in this newsletter for more information.)

I am so excited, friends, for the growth, the exploration, and the nurturing of community that we’re embarking upon this year. May we all find challenge and comfort, old assurances and new truths together in the coming year.

Groups Update

We have been diving into groups over the past many months and seeing how we can change the organization to make it a bit easier to understand and fair on all levels. We want to create a space where people learn and groups grow. We want to be a place where all feel welcomed and know they belong.

Groups are so important to a growing community. They are what bond so many of us together. From interest groups like drumming or gaming to spiritual groups like CUUPS or Tai Chi. We have so many ways that we all form that community. With so many groups they must be easier to form, run and maintain. With new ways to do this comes a refreshed system. YAY NEW GROUPS!

We’re all in this together and the better the health of our groups then the more fun and

interesting things we all get to do together. If you have thought of forming a group or want

information about the changes, let me know. I would be happy to show you all the great stuff the

whole staff has been working on. Let’s make it easier for all of us to be in community together!

Musing on the DNC

Mary LeBoeuf

There have been so many things during the recent Democratic National Convention that have impressed me. I will start with Tim Walz stating, “We named our daughter, Hope.” With all that we have been doing here at JUC this summer, I was moved hearing another person speaking about his and his wife’s experiences and their choice in selecting the name for his daughter. And to remember how much thought my husband and I put into naming our children. I was also touched by the presentation by Michelle Obama when she talked about people of color not getting to fail forward or to have second chances. What most touched me about that was Jonathan Capehart’s response when he said that this was something he lived every day. How amazing it is that we live in this world with all its problems and so many times are so unaware of what other people face. Let me remember that everyone struggles with something, and I can help change the world if I live up to our commitment to love radically rather than stay small thinking so constantly of what’s wrong with me. We are told regularly in our services that each of us is enough. To continue to doubt that I am enough is self-indulgent, self-destructive and keeps me from moving forward. It’s time to get unstuck.

I am absolutely thrilled to be writing to you for the first time as your new Director of Music Ministry. These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of excitement as I've gotten to know the church, the staff, and, most importantly, all of you. Each day, I am filled with joy as I begin to see my place within the vibrant spirit of JUC.

What I see in this congregation is a Symphony of Sparks. I see the spark of welcome in our greeters, volunteers, and group leaders. I see the spark of wisdom in our ministers and staff. I see the spark of creation in the band's boundless talent, our inimitable accompanist Jude, and the seemingly countless musical members of JUC.

The task for all of us is to weave and bend these sparks into a flame of spirit, connection, service, and love. Your individual contributions, whether it's through singing, playing, or praying, are what make our collective flame burn brighter. As we explore our mission as a church in the coming months, I invite you to offer your spark to the we of JUC. Together, we can light the path toward a unified, joyful, and impactful future for ourselves and one another.

Finally, each month, I’ll offer a song that is sparking my spirit. For September, I offer Witness Me by Jacob Collier (featuring Shawn Mendes, Stormzy, & Kirk Franklin). Jacob is one of my favorite artists, and this song speaks to the power of connection and community.

May you be the light someone needs.

New Communications Manager

Darcy Stanton will be greatly missed as our communications manager, but we’re excited to introduce her successor, Kurt Kontour.

Kurt brings a unique blend of experience and passion to the role. With a background as a journeyman graphic designer and a decade of award-winning leadership in customer service, Kurt is returning to his roots in merging spiritual growth with impactful communication. Born in the Colorado mountains, Kurt has traveled to 17 countries, including a year spent in Asia, and has explored half of the U.S., cultivating a profound appreciation for diverse cultures and their rich narratives. Alongside his wife, he’s raising two daughters and enjoys quiet moments immersed in mythology, movies, philosophy, and crafting miniatures. We’re thrilled to welcome Kurt and look forward to the fresh perspectives he’ll bring to our team.

Jeffco Interfaith Partners (JIP) Update

Bruce Martin

First, we had a JUC build day for Metro Denver Habitat for Humanity on Thursday, July 11 (which we discovered is also free Slurpee day at the nearby 7-11 convenience mart). Cathy and I were joined by Nancy Collard, Kathleen Whitney, George Hill and Jeff Pederson to do a fence and siding restoration project on a home in Denver.

Second, the Sunday offering on August 18 was dedicated to JIP and Metro Denver Habitat for Humanity as partner organizations in our JUC social justice efforts. Thank you for any contribution

you might have made to this effort.

Third, if the kids are back in school it is time to think about pumpkin spice… mmm. No, actually it is time to think about the JIP pumpkin sales coming up in October. The pumpkin patches are held in Lakewood at the Mile High Church (Alameda and Garrison) and in Arvada at Trinity Presbyterian Church (78th and Wadsworth). Though there will be additional information about helping out with sales at these sites next month this is a “save the date” note about the pumpkin delivery dates. This is a coordinated effort to empty a semi-truck full of pumpkins (over 2500 pumpkins each) with volunteer (you?) effort. So, these dates for Lakewood are Thursday, October 3 at 4 pm and Sunday, October 13 at 11 am. (Yes, you can make it over there after the 9 am service.) And for Arvada the delivery will be Friday, October 11 at 4 pm. It usually takes three to four hours to empty a truck depending on the number of volunteers we have. And any of our youth who are in need of community service hours these events do qualify.

Cathy and I hope to see you out there in October, “chuckin’ punkins” for a great cause.

Climate Justice Revival

For the first time in…ever…the entire UU ecosystem is organizing for climate justice action. We all know how desperate the situation is, but even those of us who have been climate and environmental activists for a long time feel powerless. But, there’s power in numbers and thousands of UUs around the world are getting ready to join hands in September for a denominational Climate Justice Revival. Sponsored by the UUA, UUMFE, UUSC and a whole lot of other UU organizations—as well as our own leaders and thinkers on this subject—this Revival is designed to kick-start our activism and ongoing engagement in climate justice work.

Our congregation will:

Create a complex representation of the challenging realities and liberatory possibilities for climate justice in our unique context
Develop a vision of a flourishing future
Identify a clear set of potential actions that we can take to realize this vision
Enable participants to understand their roles in the interdependent ecosystem of creating climate justice and collective liberation.

These kinds of things don’t happen often. Our churches all stand alone and apart. Collaboration is difficult, let alone a decision for every UU congregation to join in this Revival at the same time. We’ll all have the same materials, our leaders were trained with other UUs, and when it’s over, we’ll be part of the national conversation moving our climate work forward. It’s exciting just on the face of it, and the day itself is looking like a lot of fun.

Watch for more information soon.

STAY INFORMED for NOVEMBER

JUC CAN (Community Action Network)

Save the Date

Looking for some information to help you make informed decisions in the upcoming election? Check out these events at JUC! All events are free and open to the public.

Thursday, September 26, 6 to 8 pm: Jeffco

Commissioners Candidate Forum

Meet the candidates for the Board of County Commissioners and hear their visions for Jefferson County. Presented in partnership with Jeffco League of Women Voters.

Sunday, September 29, 6 to 7 pm: Jeffco Revenue Retention Ballot Measure Discussion

Join Commissioner Dahlkemper, Treasurer DiTullio, and Sheriff Marinelli for insights into the proposed ballot measure and get your questions answered. Presented in partnership with Jeffco League of Women Voters.

Sunday, October 6, 12:30 to 1:30 pm (after services):

Immigration Myths, Misinformation & Disinformation

Explore the complex issues surrounding immigration with JUC members Margie Robinson and Piper Perry, who will provide a counterpoint to common misconceptions. This event is presented in partnership with the JUC Racial Justice Team.

Tuesday, October 8, 6 to 8 pm: Colorado Ballot Measures Overview

Presented by the Jeffco League of Women Voters, this session will cover the pros and

cons of various statewide ballot measures, along with the League's positions on what they’ve researched. Jefferson County will have a crucial revenue retention measure on the November ballot. This ballot measure asks if Jefferson County can keep the property taxes it collects each year rather than returning a portion of the revenue at the end of the year. Importantly, this is not a request to increase the tax rate or mill levy rate. The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), a 1992 amendment to Colorado’s Constitution, limits the growth of state and local tax revenues. For counties, TABOR limits revenue increases to the previous year’s actual revenue cap plus adjustments for local inflation and new construction. Any revenue collected beyond this limit must be refunded to taxpayers unless voters approve retaining the excess. In Jeffco, the current revenue growth cap has not kept pace with the rising costs of providing essential services. What’s the solution?

If you have questions and/or would like to be added to the JUC CAN Action Alert list to receive

occasional important alerts and updates about housing issues and legislation, please send an

email to communityaction@jeffersonunitarian.org. Please include your city.