CONTENTS:
Note from the Congregation President
Lifespan Religious Education
September R.E. Calendar Events
How about an Organ Rebuild Fund Instead of Presents?
Fall Cleaning and Maintenance Day

From the Congregation President

Dear Fellow First U's:

On behalf of the Board, thank you for allowing us to serve this CHURCH. We have called Nina Grey to be our minister and have been preparing to ensure that her transition is smooth and warm. Cindy Carroll and Allen Harden are heading a committee for her installation and a special welcome her first day in the pulpit. We have a new board member, Allan Lindrup, and a new congregational secretary, Joanne Kent. This year in addition to the regular board retreat, there will be a Ministerial Start Up which will include committee chairs, board members, and council heads. The future includes recruitment and appointment of members to the newly created Committee on Ministry.

The format and focus of this column has also changed. It will no longer reflect just the style and opinion of the President as to what should be included or how it is expressed. You will hear from the members of the team, YOUR BOARD. The future looks bright and busy. We hope you will take time to look at your involvement and help wherever or however you can.

Norman Hines, President, First Unitarian Society of Chicago

Lifespan Religious Education

By the Rev. Beth Williams, Minister for Religious Education

As we near the start of another church school year, my thoughts are drawn to the idea of covenant. At its most basic, a covenant is a special and solemn agreement by two or more persons to do or to keep from doing some particular thing. Throughout history, religious people have made covenants with each other and with their God. Sometimes the covenant has taken the form of a promise and an obligation by the recipient of the promise. For example, the Hebrew scriptures tell the stories of the promises made by God, first to Abraham, and then to the people of Israel. According to the scriptural story, it was Moses who delivered the promise from God to Israel that they would have a special relationship with God, on the condition that they obeyed the rules of the Ten Commandments.

Many, many years later, the Protestant Pilgrims and Puritans would covenant how they would be together as they lived, worked, and worshipped in community. In 1985, the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly covenanted to affirm and promote a set of seven principles or guides to living. At the beginning of each church school term, each of our classes creates a covenant describing how the members of the class will treat each other, their teachers, their classroom, and their church, and how they will be treated in return.

Why don't we start the new church year with a covenant for the religious education program? Here is one that I propose: "We, the children, adults, and staff of the First Unitarian Church covenant to make the religious education program of this church, which assists us in clarifying the values we affirm and live, keeps the traditions and practices of which we teach and learn, and helps us to kindle the religious faith that we develop, one of the highest priorities of our lives for this year. To do so, we will give the religious education program our fullest support, attention, and participation."

That is my idea. What is yours?

September R.E. Calendar Events

Sundays, Sept. 5, 12: "Cocaine, Caffeine, and Prozac: Psychopharmacology and Society," Adult R.E. discussion group, Hull Chapel, 6:00 pm.

Tuesday, Sept. 7: "Writing as a Spiritual Quest for Women," Adult R.E. class, Chris Moore Parlor, 7:00 pm.

Thursday, Sept. 9: RE. Council Meeting, R.E. classroom, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 11: Intergenerational Apple Picking Outing, Garwood Orchards, La Porte, IN (meet at church), 12:00 pm.

Sunday, Sept. 12: Intergenerational Ingathering Water Communion Service, Sanctuary, 10:00 am.

Sunday, Sept. 19: R.E. classes and groups for Children and Youth begin, various locations in Pennington Center, 10:15 am. (Children and youth requested to attend the first fifteen minutes of Sanctuary worship at 10:00 am.)

Great Books

Great Books Discussion will resume on Sunday, September 12, from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. The book that will be used for discussion will be The Ant Heap. For more information regarding the Great Book Discussion, contact Gloria Gnatz, 773/643-9436.

How about an Organ Rebuild Fund Instead of Presents?

Richard Pardo and Cindy Carroll
[Editor's Note: Richard and Cindy are getting married in the church on September 25th. All are invited but must RSVP to (847) 823-4396]

Tom Weisflog, our church organist extraordinaire, has been warning us about the rapidly developing problems of our present organ. Most of those problems are focused on the organ console that was rebuilt in the 1960s with the most modern of technology (unfortunately) of the time. The result today is a console with many broken stop controls, nonfunctioning couplers, and many other misbehaving controls. Tom has proposed a major rebuild of the console at an estimated cost of $10,000. We have asked the church to create an "organ rebuild" account to begin to accumulate funds from all people interested in the church's music program. We have begun the fund with a modest sum.

A number of friends, in responding to our invitation to our wedding, have asked if we have a "registry." The answer is "no." You can imagine that combining two full houses into one house leaves us with very modest additional "equipment" needs. The presence of our friends at our wedding is quite a sufficient gift. But if you wish to honor the occasion in some fashion, we urge you to consider making a contribution to this new Organ Rebuild Fund.

Fall Cleaning and Maintenance Day

The Property Committee invites you to participate in a Fall Church Building and Grounds cleanup and fix-up day on Saturday, October 23, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. A wide array of projects are planned both inside and outside the building and on the grounds. Activities that will certainly be on our agenda include gardening, light-bulb replacement, wall washing in select areas, wood waxing and cleaning, carpentry repairs, and many more of your favorite house repair activities!!

A sign-up sheet has been placed on the church office hallway wall. Please sign up and indicate the general type of task you are willing to work on. Beside the sign-up sheet is an activity sheet for you to list your pet repair or cleaning project, just in case we didn't know about it. Please fill up both sheets.

See you on Saturday, October 23!