Post 26

Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Brainerd/Pine River, MN
December 15, 2013

On December 11, the Fellowship held a planning meeting at Lakes Latte in Pequot Lakes. The next few months calendar was discussed and set up, with allowances for flexibility. We discussed several matters in connection with this. One was to keep our contacts open with the Union Church in Hackensack; they are continuing with native American outreach projects, with which we could partner in some manner. Mary will keep in touch with them. In this season, they, with other local churches, participated in a shoebox gift collection for families in need. We could add to that. Also there is a person on the Leech Lake reservation interested in providing wild rice for resale; we do not really have a venue for sales like that, but file it away for sometime later, or individuals can follow up.....The UUA has suggested action on the Standing on the Side of Love issue (marriage equality) in the 30day campaign, Jan 18 - Feb 16; we will bring ideas on this to the December 21st meeting.....We did followup on the UU workshop ideas from the November 9th meeting in Underwood, and decided to ask a traveling UU minister to do a program for us in May, on spirituality. We also decided to make a goal for each us to find a new person to invite into the fellowship in the coming year.....We are also contacting Happy Dancing Turtle to partner with them on food issues in the spring, probably a series of programs, and this is already in the planning stages.

The tentative calendar looks like this:
Jan 18 "Spirit of Life" from the UUA Tapestry website.
Jan 25 Martin Luther King Jr program.
Feb 1 Back to Basics at PRB School. All day workshops. General public.
Feb 8 Standing on the Side of Love program.
Feb 22 Sermon from Tapestry.
Mar 8 Sprout and CSA talk by Arlene Jones.
Mar 22 National Alliance on Mental Illness speaker.
Apr 12 Flower Service.
Apr 26 Annual Meeting (elections).
May 10 STOP  program on sex trafficking.
May 17 or 31, guest minister.
June/July/Aug, second Sunday picnics, possibly attending a powwow...

Message from Pat: Save the date for a presentation at CLCC from 6:30 - 8:00, Monday January 27, on the Minnesota Safe Schools (anti-bullying) Act; HF 826, SF 783.

Our meeting on December 14 was held at Arbor Glen; Alison presented a talk on atheism, sharing a reading list from various writers on this topic, from various points of view. In the gradations of this philosophy, there are many on the continuum from the absolutists to the more agnostic humanists in definition. Deciding where one fits along this line, if at all, requires some self examination of beliefs and values. This was an interesting and enlightening talk; Alison will put out the reading list for us. We followed up with a concert by the local Legacy Chorale in downtown Brainerd with seasonal music and singalongs. Thanks to Luann Rice for hosting once again.

Submitted by Mary DeYoung, News Director    ......Happy Holidays.....