Resources

Here is a partial list of resources to get information and to provide relief of different kinds.


Send checks payable to the "UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Relief Fund" to:
Larry Stritof
UUA Stewardship and Development
UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Relief Fund
25 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108 –2800

For tax purposes: The UUA is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Our federal tax-exempt I.D. number is 04-210-3733. Your donation to the UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Relief Fund qualifies as a tax deductible charitable gift. Please consult your financial and tax advisors regarding your particular circumstances.

Here is a partial list of Hurricane Katrina disaster relief information:

National Organization for Victim Assistance: http://www.trynova.org
International Critical Incident Stress Foundation: http://www.icisf.org/articles
National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
Federal Emergency Management Administration: http://www.fema.gov
Louisiana Homeland Security: http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov
City of New Orleans: http:// www.cityofno.com
Louisiana Governor's office: http://www.gov.state.la.us

RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS

Unitarian Universalist Association: http://www.uua.org
Red Cross: 1-800-HELP NOW or http://www.redcross.org
Salvation Army: http://www.salvationarmyusa.org
FEMA Charity tips: http://www.fema.gov/rrr/help2.shtm
National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster: http://www.nvoad.org
To offer Housing to refugees: http://www.moveon.org
LA Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: http://www.la-spca.org

Pastoral Letter

Hello Friends:

What a pleasure to see you all back in our sanctuary this past Sunday morning. While I am excited beyond words to begin our ministry together; today, I write you with a heavy heart over the news that continues to unfold in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Our nation and most especially our neighbors in the mid-South states are facing the worst natural disaster in decades to visit U.S. soil.

First, please know that those among us who have lost family and friends are not alone. I invite you to phone me anytime at 207-594-8750 or 596-6069. As your minister, I am here for you and with you.

Second, please know that we can all help in the massive effort to restore lives and livelihoods. With the full support of our Board of Trustees, we dedicated our non-pledge plate offering of Sunday, September 4, to our UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Relief Fund. Our Unitarian Universalist Association has established this fund in collaboration with our Unitarian Universalist Service Committee to assist in the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. All contributions will be distributed under the auspices of the Southwest and Mid-South Districts of our UUA and will be used entirely for hurricane relief. You can make your checks payable to the “UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Relief Fund.” We raised over $500 Sunday, and our brothers and sisters in faith have already raised over $175,000 in the few days since the fund was set up. I am so proud of our church and our denomination.

Finally, we will hold a Service of Meditation and Sharing of Stories of Joy and Concern on Wednesday, September 7, at 7 PM in the sanctuary. This will be a time to gather in religious community in the wake of harrowing loss.
May our prayers be with all whose lives have been lost and whose lives have been turned upside down and inside out by this devastation. May we be generous in spirit and in deed.

I will post disaster relief resources a little later

In Gowing faith,


Mark

A Systematic Look at Systems

This past Sunday, we had a board retreat at Sue Crane’s house in Owls Head.

We spent time deepening relationships and widening our perspectives. We looked at First Universalist as an open, dynamic system and spent time mapping out that system.

Some lessons from systems theory:

Any system, from an atom to a Galaxy, is a whole; it is not reducible to its component parts. That is to say that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. We can’t understand the whole or the parts except in relationship to each other.

The church is a system; and so the basic unit of the church is not the individual but the church as a whole

Each part of the church is a whole in and of itself and also an integral part of the larger being. (Gives whole new meaning to the body of Christ doesn’t it?). So the church exists as a nested set of wholes within wholes: People, committees, ministries and church.

Neither the whole nor the parts can be understood unless the relationships of the parts are understood.

Systems always seek balance in a process that is called flux-equilibrium. There is a constant shifting within the system to keep status quo. Another way of saying this is that systems act like people, they resist change and self-regulate to compensate for changing conditions.

I know this sounds pretty scientific and if you are still with me, I’m grateful. Basically, what we need to know is that the church acts like an organic being. The members and friends and committees and staff that make up this system are all interrelated and everything we do and every person who walks in the door sends out little ripples which effect the system if only just a little.

At the board retreat, we began a process of discovery, learning about the relationships between the different parts that compose our church. The board asked itself, “How can we communicate and work more efficiently?” We asked, “ how can we manifest the mission of our church in all our actions, all our worship, all our teaching and all our interactions?” This ongoing discernment will bear fruit in the health and vitality of First Universalist as we offer a compelling experience of religious community on the mid-coast

Creative energy flowed as deep connections were revisited and formed. It was an excellent beginning for our work this year. The board began a process of covenanting and committed to:

♦ Marking board meeting time as sacred with chalice, check-in & check-out
♦ Exploring leadership development modules during board meetings
♦ Starting and ending meetings on time and coming prepared to work
♦ Becoming more intentional about communications between cluster groups
♦ Inviting more people into leadership roles in the congregation
♦ To remind ourselves of and revisit the covenant regularly

Ultimately, we are trying to create a warm loving creative atmosphere where our initial reaction to an idea is “Yes.” Part of my role as your minister is to help us stay focused on our mission and on our goals. The question you will hear from me throughout this year is:
How can I help you become who you want to be?

Many Blessings

Mark

A Different Kind of Startup

Hello Friends:

In an effort to communicate effectively and connect with members and friends of the church regularly. I am going to experiment with a blog.

I see it as an opportunity to reflect on the life of our congregation from a minister's perspective. I expect to post newsletter articles, worship pieces, and insights into life at First Universalist. There will be much to talk about as we shape and take these first steps in our shared mnistry, and blogs are wonderful tools for ongoing conversation.

Blogs can be genuinely interactive. At the bottom of each post from me will be a link marked "comment." If you want to respond to me or join a conversation on the topic of the post, just click on the link and you'll be able to add your ideas. I hope this will be one way to connect with each other and with some of the broader topics that concern us.

Of course, as with any form of conversation, we need to respect each other. The conversation we have here will affect our relationship to each other. Because of that, I ask that you abide by the following commenting guidelines that I am borrowing from another blog:

1. Take your time. Be thoughtful and creative in your response. It's easy to fire off a quick reply that doesn't really say what you meant to say. Pause before you post and make sure you are representing yourself and your views well.

2. Opinions are good, but they are only opinions. Remember to respect differences of opinions by stating your own views rather than tearing down the views of another. Most people listen longer to someone who is thinking through their own views than to someone who is attacking another.

3. Short and sweet comments are often the most effective.

4. Remember that this blog is a part of our congregation. As a congregation, we are committed to living by the Principles and Purposes of Unitarian Universalism. Please remember this commitment when you post. Blatantly inappropriate comments will be deleted.

Being mindful of these theese basic guidelines, we are ready to begin this adventure together. Welcome to Rockland UU Ministry

Mark


By your stumbling, the world is perfected.
Sri Aurobindo