Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York

We are looking to expand our musical offerings for worship at Fourth U. We invite all instrumentalists who may be interested in playing at Sunday services to please call our music director, Tom McGinnis, at 646.379.1893.

On Sunday, November 9, at 4:00 PM, Thom McGinnis, our newly arrived pianist and Music Director, will present a piano recital in the Fourth U Sanctuary.  He will perform works by Bach, Mozart, Liszt, Debussy, and Menotti. Please attend and hear all the wonderful music our Music Director can make beyond weekly services.

Interweave, Fourth U’s GLBT advocacy group, is working to assist the Trinity Place Shelter for homeless GLBT youth. Donations of toiletries (including complimentary soaps, etc., from hotels), new socks and underwear, movie/theater tickets, non-perishable food items would be welcomed.  Please note our donation bin at the back of the sanctuary.  There are also many wonderful opportunities to volunteer in different capacities including Wednesday night meal hosting.  For info contact: Claudia Lorie at Ishariel@aol.com or Rachel Silver at Mvstar16@aol.com.

The invitations to our 3rd Annual Auction Gala, scheduled for Saturday, November 22, were mailed this week. Look for yours in the mail, and RSVP to let us know that you’ll be coming. The more people who attend this event, the more money we will raise, and the more fun we’ll have. So if there’s someone whom you’d like to invite, please let us know the contact information so that we can send a paper invitation. You can submit the information to Liz Daleske at lizdaleske@gmail.com or stop by our auction table after services on Sunday. We will have notepaper available for personal messages to your friends and family. You can write them yourself on Sunday and submit them with your list of names, or include your notes when you email your list to Liz Daleske.   Thanks for helping us get a bigger crowd than ever.

This workshop, to be held in Westchester county, will help UU congregations dismantle racism by allowing participants to examine both personal and institutional racism, empowering them to develop a realistic plan that can move their congregations forward in working for racial justice.  Days/times: Friday, October 24 from 6:00-9:00 PM and Saturday, October 25 from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM.  Registration includes all food (heavy snacks Friday evening and breakfast and lunch on Saturday). It’s $30 for non-students over 18 and $10 for students and youth.

To register, please use the on-line registration form, available at https://www.formdesk.com/uuforms/jubilee. If you don’t have Internet access, please contact Rev. Michael Tino at 914.241.1360 to register. The UU Fellowship of Northern Westchester is at NY Rte. 172 between Bedford and Mt. Kisco, NY, about 35 miles north of New York City. It is accessible by car (1 mile off Interstate 684). More detailed directions are available at the congregation’s website, www.uufellowship.org  <http://www.uufellowship.org/> or call 914.241.1360 ext. 3.

The Fourth U leadership met on September 20 for a day-long retreat to chart the future of the Society. One thing we agreed upon was that we wanted a larger, more vibrant and more engaged community. Growing our membership is a task for all of us, not just the leadership. As Rosemary often says: on Sunday, everyone is a member of the Membership Committee.  How welcoming are we to visitors and newcomers? We think of Fourth U as a warm and friendly place, where anyone would feel comfortable. But are we really making enough of an effort to reach out to those who are seeking a spiritual and religious home?

A few years back, UUA president William Sinkford asked UUs to develop an “elevator speech,” a description of Unitarian Universalism which is short and concise enough to be given in the space of an elevator ride. It is easy to get tongue-tied when describing our faith, a faith which defies description because it is as diverse as we are. Nevertheless, we can all be better spokespeople for our faith and for Fourth U. We tend to spend coffee hour catching up with friends and conducting church business. Let us use coffee hour as the fellowship hour it was intended to be, and spend more time greeting and getting to know our visitors. Let them know about Unitarian Universalism and what a special place this is. Share with them your religious odyssey. Perhaps Fourth U will be a part of theirs as well.

Matt Gilbert

If you know a member or friend of the Fourth U community who is in need, won’t you encourage him or her to reach out?  We want to help.

Your Pastoral Care Team:
Donna Garfinkel can be reached at 212.662.6375.
Rev. Pader can be reached at 212.765.6340.
Rev. Bowden can be reached at 845.641.4694.
If you have any questions, please call the Fourth U office at: 212.595.1658, ext. 21

Our fifth UU principle reminds us of our covenant to affirm and promote the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. We at Fourth Universalist have spent this past year living out this principle through our participation in denominational affairs. Many of you attended our Principles and Purposes workshop series last year where we helped shape the future of our faith.  Many of you also discussed and voted upon whether to pass the two draft Congregational Study Action Issues on to the 2008 General Assembly for a vote. It is now time for Fourth U to take the next steps on both of these issues.

The UUA Commision on Appraisal (COA) has posted its draft revisions to our Principles and Purposes and has asked that all Unitarian Universalists read this draft on the UUA website and send their feedback. The draft will also be posted in the sanctuary on the Denominational Affairs board. All comments are due to me by October 16 and will be reviewed by the COA soon thereafter.

Also, at our 2008 General Assembly, delegates from our congregation and others voted to choose our denomination’s next Congregational Study Action Issue: Ethical Eating. Thanks go to all at Fourth U who shared their views. At our next congregational meeting, on October 26, we will spend some time talking about this process and ways in which we might study and take action around the issue of ethical eating.

I am looking forward to our progress this year on these projects and on other ways to better connect us to our larger denominational community. Please be in touch!

Ryan Novosielski
Chair, Denominational Affairs Committee