Worship and Spiritual Practice
Contact: Dave Creswell, 238-1234 or
email dcres0@hotmail.com
The temple bell stops.
But the sound keeps coming
out of the flowers.
Bashô
A major focus of the Worship and Spiritual Practice task force is
to design at least one lay-led eco-spirituality service each year
and to help significantly with an Earth Day service. There is always
an ongoing need for help with these endeavors. Please contact Dave.
Recent lay-involved services have included:
Living the Local Life
by Joyce Carey, Kelly Crocker and Andrew Kerr (July 22, 2007)
Gaia, Mother Earth and the Oneness of Everything
by Jim Scott (July 9, 2006)
At Home in the Living Tradition
by William Cronon, Ph.D. (Feb. 19, 2006)
Summertime, When the Living
is Easy –
Our Second Annual Green Sanctuary Service
by Nancy Vedder-Shults, Ph.D., Lay Minister (July 31, 2005)
Celebrating the Winter Solstice
led by Nancy Vedder-Shults, Lay Minister (Dec. 21, 2004)
In the Temple of the Oaks
by Kelly J. Crocker Minister of Religious Education and
David Creswell (Dec. 4&5, 2004)
Eco-spirituality: Inner Transformation
in the Service of Sustainability
by Kelly J. Crocker Minister of Religious Education and
David Creswell (July 25, 2004 at Uniity Chapel in Spring Green)
Reverence for the Interconnected Web
by David Creswell and Nancy Vedder-Shults (July 20, 2003)
Other recent and relevant services include:
Heat, Light and Life (Sept.
16, 2007)
by Michael A. Schuler, Parish Minister
This Good Earth (Sept. 9, 2007)
by Michael A. Schuler, Parish Minister
Water Communion (Sept.
2, 2007)
with Kelly Crocker & Karen Gustafson
How to Grow a Great Garden (March 11, 2007)
by Michael A. Schuler, Parish Minister
Four Simple Principles for Sustaining Ourselves, Our Community, Our World
by Michael A. Schuler, Parish Minister (April 29, 2007)
What Have We Wrought? (Dec. 31, 2006)
with Scott Prinster, Associate Minister
Wild at Heart: A Service for All Ages (Nov. 5, 2006)
by Kelly J. Crocker, Minister of Religious Education
Saying Yes! to Life (Oct. 8, 2006)
by Scott Gerard Prinster, Associate Minister
Water Communion (Sept. 3 & 9)
with Michael A. Schuler, Parish Minister and
Kelly J. Crocker, Minister of Religious Education
Flower Communion (June 4 2006)
with Kelly Crocker, Minister of Religious Education and
Michael A. Schuler, Parish Minister
Sentimentality and Common Sense: an Earth Day Prescription (Ap. 23, 2006)
by Michael A. Schuler, Parish Minister
Signs of Progress (Jan. 8, 2006)
by Michael A. Schuler, Parish Minister
Water: Sharing and Celebrating
the Elixir of Life (Sept. 4, 2005)
by Kelly J. Crocker, Minister of Religious Education
and Scott Gerard Prinster, Associate Minister
Flower Communion (June 5, 2005)
by Michael A. Schuler, Parish Minister
and
Kelly J. Crocker Minister of Religious Education
What Does it Profiteth Us? (April 16-17, 2005)
by Michael A. Schuler, Parish Minister
A Service for All Ages with Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow
Water: Sharing and Celebrating the Elixir of Life (Sept. 5, 2004)
by Michael A. Schuler, Parish Minister
and
Kelly J. Crocker Minister of Religious Education
Book of Nature, Book of Scripture (Sept. 26, 2004)
by Scott Gerard Prinster, Associate Minister
The Big Bang, The Buddha and the Baby Boom: A Comic Monologue (October 13, 2004)
by Wes (Scoop) Nisker
Life Blooming All Around Us: Our Annual Flower Communion
by Kelly J. Crocker Minister of Religious Education and
Scott Gerard Prinster, Associate Minister (June 6, 2004)
Is Population the Problem?
by Michael A. Schuler, Parish Minister (April 18, 2004)
What's All the Fuss About Darwin?
by Scott Gerard Prinster, Assistant Minister (November 16, 2003)
Do Critters Go to Heaven?
by Michael A Schuler, Parish Minister (October 25-26, 2003)
What's All This Juice and Joy?
by Jodi Whelden, Practicum Minister (March 16, 2003)
Unplugging the Christmas Machine
by Scott Gerard Prinster, Assistant Minister (October 12, 2002)
Contact: ... (adult) or Teresa Stabo 233-2962 or email fortkendall@tds.net (youth)
Religious education for adults aims to enhance our understanding of UU history and heritage, scripture and tradition from the Bible and the world religions, theology, ethics and justice, and spirituality and personal development. FUS has an EnAct team in the Fall of 2006 led by our co-Chair Liz Wessel and EnAct program manager Kevin Coleman. There will be 8 sessions on Monday evenings 7-9 p.m.:
September 18, October 2, 16, 30, November 6, 20, and December 4 & 18. Members learn from each other and work together to make changes in their daily lives that can help both the environment and their own pocketbooks.
One of the objectives of the Religious Education program for young people is to help children and youth develop respect for the interdependent nature of all existence and environmental issues are sprinkled throughout UU classes (such as the Web of Life class for K-1 kids).
The FUS Global Warming Initiative
(Contact Doug Mitchell 238-7232 or train2bu@yahoo.com)
“Earth is our home. We are part of this world and its destiny is our own. Life on this planet will be gravely affected unless we embrace new practices, ethics, and values to guide our lives on a warming planet. As Unitarian Universalists, how can our faith inform our actions to remedy…global warming and climate change?”
So begins the 2006 UU Statement of Conscience regarding the Threat of Global Warming / Climate Change. Confronting this threat is one of the major initiatives of the FUS Environmental Action Committee in 2007. We intend to do this in a number of ways:
1) By keeping our members up to date on the latest information about the threat.
2) By providing a calendar of local events related to the topic of global warming
3) By listing actions our members can take to minimize their contribution to greenhouse gas production and global warming
4) By ensuring that FUS attains carbon neutrality for the third straight year by quantifying and offsetting our carbon footprint
5) By providing assistance and energy to ensure that FUS's new addition is built and operated in accordance with the most sustainable practices possible.
Ecotip: Energy Star Offers
Tips to Keep Warm or Stay Cool while Saving Money and Energy. Go to
http://energystar.gov/ia/products/heat_cool/GUIDE_2COLOR.pdf
There are two venues where people are encouraged to reduce, reuse and recycle items. One is the private household. The second is at First Unitarian Society.
Residents of Dane County can use two Web facilities called the Madison Stuff Exchange and Freecycle. Established to help reduce the amount of waste going to the Dane County Landfill, they provide area residents and businesses with a convenient way to exchange, re-use, sell, or give away items no longer needed or wanted. Parties can both post listings of items and materials they wish to dispose of and browse through those currently available. Each listing contains a description of the material or item, contact information, and in some cases cost and delivery information. The actual exchange transactions are carried out directly between the interested parties. In the Madison area, one can also look up Craig's List.
At FUS, we have been working on efforts to reduce consumption and generation of solid waste (paper, cans, glass & plastics), and we try to recycle what we can. The buildings are sprinkled throughout with collection bins that are emptied regularly by Waste Management Company. The most ubiquitous kind of disposable material is paper (newsletters, orders of service, announcements, information sheets distributed at parish meetings, office correspondence, signs, materials used in religious education classes, decorations at special functions, toilet paper, and paper plates and napkins). Much of the paper used is recycled, and after we use it, recycled again. The biggest use of paper is to print the newsletter, and we are encouraging people to receive electronic copies instead of printed ones.
FUS kitchens are stocked with permanent dishes, glasses, cups and utensils, and people are encouraged to use reusable ware at all events. People are also encouraged to bring their own mug for coffee or tea after service. The use of "green" building, maintence and landscaping material is also being encouraged in the present and any future site. Finally, FUS has its own Virtual Recycling Center where items can be exchanged and reused.
Back to the Main page for the Environmental Action Committee
last updated 12/08/06
