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Our Newsletter... This section of our site is created as another communications tool
to our members and those wondering who we are.
The paper newsletter goes out the last friday of the month - if you are interested in receiving it in your email, please email the office at firstunivsalem_@_verizon.net (minus the underscores).
TEXT VERSION of our NewsletterFirst Universalist Society of Salem Summer 2008 Longer Days Summer is upon us and as we prepare to march in the Boston Pride parade on June 14th and take part in the Pancake Breakfast at First Universalist on June 15th I am well aware of the importance of slowing down and transitioning into summer. June 20th marks the beginning of the summer and there are several wonderful lay-led Sunday services scheduled for you to attend beginning June 22nd through July and services will be held at First Church in Salem Unitarian during August. Please check the schedule of services in this newsletter for more information. Several of you have asked me what I am planning for the summer and how pastoral care will be handled during my hiatus. I will not be readily available during my time away so if you have a pastoral care emergency please contact Joyce Prior, who is the scheduled Care Core Deacon on-call for July. If you have a concern about the church administration you should contact Rosa Palomino, the church administrator, or Christine DiSaia, the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the church. During my time away, I plan on reading an inordinate amount and would like to share some of my reading list with you in hopes that you might be interested in some of these books and possibly in the fall we can set aside time to discuss them for those who are interested. There are three that I am particularly interested in reading. The first is Eckhart Tolle’s, A New Earth: Awakening Your Life’s Purpose. Amazon.com states that Tolle explains "how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world." The second book that I have on my list is The Audacity of Hope by Barak Obama. Here is a man who is so compelling that thousands of people choose to stand in lines that are miles long for hours just to hear him speak. A description of his book explains that Obama engages themes raised in his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, shares personal views on faith and values and offers a vision of the future that involves repairing a ‘political process that is broken’ and restoring a government that has fallen out of touch with the people. And finally, I will be reading Krista Tippet’s book, Speaking of Faith: Why Religion Matters and How to Talk About It, described as "written by the host of the weekly NPR radio show Speaking of Faith, offers a challenging book that is part intellectual autobiography, part rumination on the issues of the day." For the weeks that I am off this summer I look forward to reading, meditating and renewing myself for the fall. September will be here before we know it . Take care over these long days of summer, enjoy them, be gentle with yourself and know that you will be on my mind and in my prayers as I imagine each of us taking time to renew ourselves for the exciting journey that we have ahead. In Faith, Rev. Marjorie Matty PANCAKE BREAKFAST Sunday, June 15th Come start your Sunday morning off with pancakes for breakfast before the Sunday Worship Service (in lieu of Coffee Hour following). All are invited to attend; bring along neighbors and friends. If you would like to donate, please contact Brenda Briana or put your name on the sign-up sheet you’ll find in the Coffee Hour room. Share this event with others by posting flyers (which can be found in the foyer) at work, in the corner store you frequent, at the library, dry cleaners, telephone poles, train station, boat yard, everywhere you can possibly think of. We look forward to seeing you all for breakfast. A HAPPY ENDING TO A WONDERFUL DAY I want to tell you of a sweet serendipitous moment I had as I was walking to my car after attending Rev. Marjorie’s May 4th Installation. Coming towards me, on a motorcycle, was a bearded man, oh, in his late fifties I'd say. Sunglasses on — very cool. And here's the best part. He was playing his radio loud so that anyone within the block could hear, Louis Armstrong singing, "It's a Wonderful World." The motorcyclist gave me a smile and a nod as Louis sang the part, "I see friends shaking hands, sayin' "How do you do?" They're really sayin' "I love you." Neat, huh? Here's to you, Marjorie. May you get a lot of love from us, your new congregation. Love, Gretchen Westphal BOARD OF TRUSTEES I can hardly believe that another Church year is winding down. We have accomplished so much this year. I am feeling as exhilarated and exhausted as I did the first time I got off the Matterhorn ride at Disney Land when I was just nine years old . . . and just as excited to get back on the ride. It has been wonderful working with and getting to know our settled minister, Rev. Marjorie Matty during her first year with us. After much planning and preparing, we finally celebrated her installation last month. And what a great celebration it was. (I managed to take home some leftover chocolate mousse Carla Smith used on the cake. I allowed myself one spoonful per day until it was gone . . . delicious. Carla – anytime you need a taste tester or kitchen helper, please let me know!!) We also held the Annual Meeting on May 17. We voted to use the funds currently in the Memorial fund to upgrade our sound system and to purchase a new chalice for the altar. They should both be installed by Rally day. Our officers for the new fiscal year were approved by a unanimous vote. Thank you to Mark Stevens and Agnes Buchanan, our Nominating Committee, for putting the slate of candidates together. Thank you to the Trustees of Permanent Funds and Greg Stevens from Cabot Management who provided an update of our current holdings and some sage advice on the stability and maintenance of our permanent funds. Copies of the Permanent Funds Report and a list of our current holdings are available. Finally, we approved the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Just a few highlights: Our income from pledges increased significantly, thanks to a great canvass effort. Our income from rentals also increased as our Church will be the new home of the Symphony by the Sea. We approved 4% raises for all staff. We are increasing the hours for the DRE and for the Sexton. I am including a copy of the budget in this newsletter. If you have any questions, comments and/or feedback, please feel free to contact me. I want to thank the members of the Board of Trustees this year: Jan Brick, Jan Costa, Laurie Heigl and Bill Smith. You all have worked hard and it has been a pleasure working with each of you. Brenda Briana and Chris Makary served as clerk and treasurer this year – their help and participation at Board meeting was invaluable. Jan Costa and Jan Brick will be continuing as Board members and we will be joined by Brenda Briana and Kathleen Riley. Brenda and Kathleen will be installed on Rally Sunday. Chris Makary is staying on as Treasurer and Michelle Rust has committed to being the Clerk for the Board. I look forward to another productive year. Rest up during the summer, my friends, we have much to accomplish next year. I know that this year has been exhilarating and exhausting, not just for me but for all of the members and friends as we rode this year’s Matterhorn together. I was thinking that for next year, I might like to have a different theme – maybe “It’s a Small World.” Or “Storybook Land Canal Boats” . . . but I like the thrill of the Matterhorn, I’ve never ridden on Splash Mountain and wherever the ride takes us, I’m hopping on and am glad to be on it with such a great crew. In peace, Christine DiSaia PERMANENT FUNDS One of the tools we use to evaluate the ethical context of the stock purchases made on our behalf of our actively managed invested funds, over and above Cabot Money Management’s automatic screens, comes from the Ethical Consumer’s Research Association in Great Britain, a nonprofit dedicated to ethical consumer behavior. Information about the organization, started in 1988, can be found at www.ethiscore.org, where their rigorous list of areas of concern are stated. Following their link to their corporate database at Corporate Critic (corporatecritic.org), we find their constantly updated and searchable database of the Corporate Social Responsibility records of "over 50,000 companies." There we’re able to type in the stock ticker or company name, and get a score based on a compilation of the different ethical areas, based on ethical treatment of the Environment, People, Animals, Political Activity and Product Sustainability. Put in, for example, British Petroleum, keeping in mind that a 9 or below is rated as "Poor." You’ll see that Corporate Critic rates BP at a very poor 4.5. The irony is that BP was a holdover in our portfolio from our old management company, Trillium, which we had thought had been performing a very good automatic ethical stock screening for us! It was of course sold immediately. In this lightning-quick economy where stocks rise and fall in a relative instant, we sometimes need to screen our stocks differently. A recent buy, "Market Vectors ETF Trust Gold Miners Fund," for example, did not pull up a report of any kind at Corporate Critic. Method 2 involves mining the extensive available data on publicly traded investments, which we usually perform by an internet search. Googling the above company and the word "ethics", for example, brought up a 4 page company-wide code of ethics at secinfo.com. As a result, we’re keeping Market Vectors ETF Trust Gold Miner’s Fund, and of course are keeping our pledge to follow the ethical guidelines we’ve been given. Tom Gifford Trustee of Permanent Funds SALEM PANTRY Greetings from The Salem Pantry! The church year is winding down and we are getting ready to enjoy our summer...I know I have lots of hiking and bike riding planned! I would like to let people know that during the summer, The Pantry will still be running every month and, unfortunately, the need for food is greater than ever before. The past few months have shown the number of clients to be on the rise and we have been busier than ever. Additionally, other pantries in Salem are reducing or possibly eliminating their emergency food assistance programs. The Salem Pantry is committed to keeping our emergency food assistance program at a consistent level. To do so, we need volunteers. If you've already been helping out...THANK YOU! If you've been looking for a new volunteer opportunity...this could be the one you've been searching for! We usually ask for volunteers on the last Wednesday evening of the month to bag groceries and on the last Saturday morning of the month to complete set-up and hand out food. Won't you consider spending a few hours to help our neighbors? Please contact me at: woods_dragonat@hotmail.com if you'd like to become a Pantry volunteer. Thank you and have a great summer! Elizabeth Black Director, The Salem Pantry ECO TIP OF THE MONTH From Rebecca Green Here are a couple more car eco tips that the majority of people are probably already doing as gas prices race up. Combine multiple chores into one car journey. I drop the kids at school, go to the PO, the gym, food shop, fill up with gas and then home again all in one trip rather than multiple trips. If your household has more than one vehicle, drive the more fuel efficient model when you have a choice. MEMBERSHIP NEWS On May 10 about a dozen church goers attended our Movie Night with a pot luck dinner and a movie, Peaceful Warrior. This was followed by a short discussion. This has been a wonderful year for us with these opportunities to get together on several Saturdays for a game night or movie night --always preceded by a pot luck dinner. We began these nights early at 5:30 PM. Please let us know if you have any suggestions for next year. We try to schedule these fun nights once a month. Please contact Sally Millice, Rebecca Greene, Ann Wickberg or Marjorie Matty. Thank you, Ann A NOTE FROM NAGLY Thank you for a memorable and successful evening on May 17th, "CELEBRATE THE FUTURE" . We have surpassed our expectations. We are proud to be with our community members, supporters, friends, family and loved ones. Many Thanks to everyone who supported, volunteered, and attended. CHURCH OFFICE Church Office Hours go into summer mode the week of June 22nd. My summer office hours will be Wednesday and Fridays, 8 AM to Noon. I will also check email and voicemail when I’m not in the office. My normal hours will resume August 19th of 8 AM to 1 PM, Tuesday through Friday. I plan on creating and mailing the September newsletter that week as well. For administrative emergencies, please contact a Board member. Our Board Chair, Christine DiSaia, can be reached on her cell phone at (781) 367-8641. For Pastoral Emergencies during July and August, please contact Deacon Joyce Prior at (978) 927-7569. Another date to keep in mind for September: The Symphony by the Sea starts their concert series within our Sanctuary on the evenings of September 23—27 (rehearsals on Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and ending with their first concert on Saturday evening. They are a 35 piece symphony and we are very excited to have them. www.symphonybythesea.com Have a great summer! Rosa Palomino, Church Administrator SALEM MISSION On the second Wednesday of each month, our church joins the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead and First Church in Salem in preparing and serving dinner for the Salem Mission, 56 Margin Street. It’s simple – you just show up at the mission between 4:30-5:00 to help with preparing and serving the dinner until just before 7:00PM. There's no worries because there's always someone else in charge who knows (or at least seems to know) what needs to be done and best of all -- there is NO cleanup! We only need about 2-3 volunteers each month. So, if you are interested in helping out or just want a little more information, please contact Chris Weis. You can also sign up for a month on the volunteer board in the Anna Hill room. Don't worry about forgetting, you'll be contacted a few days before to ensure that you can make it. Thank you, Chris Weis SCRIBES WANTED Join the Signboard committee and express yourself on our "wayside pulpit." This rewarding job entails changing the message once a week for a month every third month during the year. Give it a try for a week or so without commitment! Please contact Agnes Buchanan. CRAFT CIRCLE As the summer approaches and the mountains call to me, I find myself wanting to be outdoors all the time. I don't think I'm alone in this feeling, although I may be the only one who immediately thinks...it's hiking season! With that thought, I draw to a close another great year of Crafting. This year has seen our little group grow and become really cohesive. We came up with a name (the M.A.D. Crafters...thanks Joyce and others who developed it!) and helped each other through knitting, sewing, jewelry making, crocheting, painting, drawing and other artistic ventures. We shared our stories, our advice, our talents and our lives in a warm, cozy corner of the church every other Saturday. I thank everyone who joined us, who offered great advice and assistance and who helped out when I was unable to open the space. I look forward to seeing you all...and anyone else who'd like to join us!...in September. Bring your talent, your crafts, your thoughts, yourselves. I'll have the kettle on... Elizabeth Black MUSIC COMMITTEE The Music Committee has had a very busy year! The Committee consists of Donna Murphy, Brenda Briana, Helen Jacoby, Becky Christie, Marjorie Matty and Christine DiSaia. The Committee provides support for the choir director and accompanist, along with scheduling special music for non-choir Sundays and numerous other behind-the-scenes- tasks. Over the past year, the Committee has supported the choir in initiating a new system of learning anthem music. A recording is made of the anthem and each part then transferred to a CD. Each member can then take a CD and the music to practice on their own time. Hopefully, this makes rehearsal time more productive and less time is spent on learning music note by note. The system is still a work in progress. The annual Music Sunday theme on 2/3 was "Music as Medicine." It featured hymns and songs about health and healing. All the choir robes were cleaned prior to Music Sunday so the choir could look their best for the service. The choir will be changing the rehearsal day to Thursday this fall instead of Wednesday. The choir is always looking for new members and welcomes anyone who would like to stop by on a Thursday evening. Special music has been wonderful this year. On non-choir Sundays, we have had both vocal and instrumental music provided by a number of church members and friends. The Committee is always looking for people interested in providing or collaborating with others for special music Sundays. The church has many members with obvious or hidden talents and the Committee actively solicits their participation for non-choir Sundays. Please see any Committee member if you are interested. Our choir began holding a hymn sing once monthly starting the first Sunday in October. The Hymn sing is from 10:30 to 10:45. Members and friends are invited to join the hymn sing to learn new hymns to be used in that day’s service or in the future. The idea behind the hymn sing was to help us incorporate new hymns from the blue books so thoughtfully donated by Mark Stevens and Tony Keck. The committee is sad to share that Anna Akmuradova will no longer be the accompanist. Michael Mazurkiewicz will provide the accompaniment for the remaining church services. In addition to searching for a permanent accompanist, the Committee will also be scheduling two separate organ concerts. The first will be a Carol Sunday celebration in early December. The other will be a free organ concert funded through the Dennis Fund and scheduled for sometime in early 2009. Both the piano and organ were tuned last fall and again right before Majorie's installation. The annual choir party will be held on June 22 at the Lunn/Briana residence. Anyone interested in joining the Committee should see a member. Our music is a beautiful part of each service and vital to the creation of a spiritual place each Sunday. We look forward to continuing this work during the next church year. Have a good summer! Becky Christie, Chair GAY PRIDE PARADE In the past, First Universalist has participated in the Gay Pride Parade, but it’s been a few years. This year a group from our church will be marching again on Saturday, June 14! We’ll be meeting at the Arlington Street Church in downtown Boston for the service promptly at 11:00 a.m. After the service, we will march in the parade. In 2007, there were 10,000 marchers and 300,000 in attendance, so we can expect a big crowd. Put your name on the sign-up sheet in the Anna Hill Room (or just meet at Arlington Street Church) and don’t forget to bring water and sunscreen. The parade is happening rain or shine! Jan Brick, Trustee ~THE END OF THE Summer 2008 FUSS NEWSLETTER~ NewsFriday, September 7, 2007 in the Salem News "It is just alive with energy right now. We want to invite as many people as we can, honoring who they are, to come and join the community." -The Rev. Marjorie Matty SALEM - The First Universal-ist Church in Salem begins a new church year on Sunday with a new minister. The Rev. Marjorie Matty, a graduate of Andover Newton Theological School, is not only new to Salem, but starting her first assignment as a minister. "Salem just spoke to me," she said. "It was the only church I really applied to." She will preach this weekend at "Rally Sunday," a 10:45 a.m. service that is the official kickoff to the church year. It is an important start for the 1808 Bridge St. church, which has struggled in recent years as membership dropped to under 100 families. "It is just alive with energy right now," Matty said. "We want to invite as many people as we can, honoring who they are, to come and join the community." Matty, who grew up outside Syracuse, N.Y., did not follow the usual well-worn path to the ministry. "I went to architectural school," she said of her years at the Boston Architectural Center. For about 10 years, she traveled the world as a product manager for a company that sold architectural software. One of her customers was the Walt Disney Company. "They used a lot of our software," she said, to build the Animal Kingdom theme park at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. In her business travels, Matty met a lot of people, sometimes visiting their homes or attending religious services with them. "I've been to Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, mosques and cathedrals all over the world," she said. "That experience alone was transformational." Matty, who was raised as a Catholic, was successful in business but wanted more spiritually. "I was sitting on a ledge - a metaphorical ledge - in southern England, and I just thought: How am I going to make meaning for myself and my life?" she said. "I chose to come home and change my entire life." That journey led her back to Boston and to Andover Newton, a nondenominational school of theology. There are connections, she says, between her love of architecture, which she called "the spirit of space," and the calling she answered a few years ago. It is thst spirit, she said, a need to feed that spirit, that has led her to this little church trying to get back on its feet. "We are ready to begin again," she said of the 199-year-old church. "It is very exciting." Newsletter Archive: You may also download our lovely and illustrated PDF version - just right click and choose save as. -July/August Newsletter with Calendar -September 2007 Newsletter (391K) -October 2007 Newsletter -November 2007 Newsletter -December 2007 Newsletter -January 2008 Newsletter -February 2008 Newsletter -March 2008 Newsletter April 2008 Newsletter May 2008 Newsletter Older newsletters available upon request |
