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Carol Meyer, Minister:	W: Noon - 2:00 pm. TH: 10:00 am - Noon. Day Off: Fridays
Greta Porter, DRE:	T, TH: 10:00 am - Noon
Sheila McCall, Secretary:	M - F: 9 am - Noon
Website:	www.uucnh.org

Sunday Services run from 11:00 A.M. to 12:15 P.M. Nursery Care is provided and the religious education program is held concurrent with the service. Coffee and conversation for adults and children immediately follow the service. Parents should supervise their children during coffee hour.

CAROL’S COLUMN:

BE IT RESOLVED

It’s that time of the year when many of us have made New Year’s resolutions, and may already be struggling to keep our vows. This Christmas I received a framed copy of the following quote by Mother Teresa. In the spirit of making and keeping resolutions, I offer this wise woman’s thoughts for your consideration.

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.

It never was between you and them anyway.”

Mother Teresa

UPCOMING SERVICES

January 4:

Humble Pie
The Rev. Carol Meyer preaching

Humility is a virtue often overlooked in western culture, yet essential to spiritual growth. Come this morning as we begin the New Year by considering what this virtue has to offer and how we might practice it.

January 11:

The Instinct to Pray
The Rev. Carol Meyer preaching

Some say prayer comes as naturally to us humans as breathing, whether or not we believe in God. What kinds of prayer do we offer instinctively? What is prayer, anyway? This Sunday we will also be naming Christina Newhill and Dean Leahy’s baby daughter.

January 18:

From Personal Quest to Public Ministry
The Rev. Carol Meyer preaching

On this Martin Luther King Sunday, we’ll consider how the personal quest for transformation and spiritual growth can become one with the quest for communal healing and transformation.

January 25:

Reconstructionist Judaism
Ivan Baumwell, Lay Service Leader

Carol Schubert, an active member of Dor Hadash Synagogue, which means “Light of the Generations,” joins us this morning to share her enthusiasm for Reconstructionist Judaism. Learn what this newest expression of Judaism is, and how it differs from Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism

FROM JOHN’S WOODSHOP . . .

Well, the New Year is here, and again, I wasn’t done with the last one. However, its not permitted to stop the world while I catch up! There are so many neat things to do in the woodshop and so little time to do them. New opportunities to do new and more interesting things while finishing off old projects requires us to ‘stop, evaluate, and prioritize’ those things we want to get done. The New Year asks for new commitments and new support.

As stewards of the church, the Board has initiated the ‘stop, evaluate, prioritize’ cycle for 2004 and beyond. But you, the congregation, are the decision makers. The New Year is our future at UUCNH: what should we make of it together? What does living our principles mean to you? What does the New Year bring that affords the opportunity to share these principles with a troubled world? What commitment can you make to our principles and our church? The Board of Trustees is at work already and needs your input! Let us know what you think!

Happy New Year!
John

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR MILLIE COOKE

Millie Cooke, our second oldest member, died at her home early on the morning of December 2. Millie was a long-time member of UUCNH and very active through the years, especially with the Craft Rummage Group, coming to sew just about every Thursday morning for over thirty years. She is missed. We will have a memorial service for Millie in the West Room at 3:00 on Saturday, January 17. All are welcome.

CONGREGATIONAL SYMPATHIES

It is with deep sadness that we mark the passing of Michael Patterson. Michael was the son of Ruth and Tom Patterson. All three Pattersons were active members of our church for many, many years and Michael was dear to us. The congregation offers its most sincere, heartfelt sympathies to Ruth and Tom.

CARING FRIENDS

In keeping with our mission to “be a loving community,” we’d like expand our caring program to include trained lay visitors. These Caring Friends will visit UUCNH members and friends who are either chronically or temporarily unable to get out to church. Such a visitation program focuses primarily on helping the person feel connected to the larger UUCNH community, communicating our caring, providing a listening ear and companionship, and perhaps allowing the full-time care giver to have a bit of respite time. For example, a Caring Friend might call on someone regularly bringing a video to watch together, or play cards with a shut-in while the caregiver went grocery shopping. No “counseling” is involved. If you have some time to spend with someone who would welcome companionship, enjoy chatting with and getting to know people, and have the ability to listen to someone who needs to talk, please let Rev. Carol know by calling or emailing her at. Hopefully we’ll get enough volunteers to start training in January.

FACILITIES PLANNING COMMITTEE UPDATE

We wanted to remind all of you of the upcoming meeting so that you can put it on your calendars and be sure to attend!

Date: FEBRUARY 8, 2004
Time: 12:41 - 3:00 pm
Place: WEST ROOM

This is the final meeting with our architect to review the schematic plans that they are preparing for us. The drawings that we will be looking at will be very close to the design of our new addition and renovations. The next step is to hold the Capital Campaign Planning Study in the spring. Dates and times for that to be announced later.

2004 will be an exciting year and we are looking forward to it.

Dorinda Depp,
Chair, Facilities Planning Committee

ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Here’s what we’re offering for winter. Please sign up on the bulletin board in Friendship Hall or by contacting Carol Ballance. You can also check it out on the Web at www.uucnh.org. We will provide childcare but it is imperative that you let us know when you need it!

Ongoing Groups

Spiritual Growth: Set aside some time twice a month to pursue your spiritual journey. Opportunity to engage in silent reflection/meditation. Share personal spiritual issues and hear responses from participants. Group provides companionship and insight. Meets throughout the year on the second and fourth Sunday. Facilitator: Carol Meyer

Simplicity Circle: Is one of your New Year resolutions to simplify your life? Come share ideas, and get motivated with some like-minded people. We will be starting a new book with the New Year. We will read one chapter a month (beginning with Chpt.1 in month 1) of Janet Luhrs The Simple Living Guide. Begins January 4 at 7 p.m. continues on every first Sunday of the month. Facilitator: Carol Ballance

Eve’s Seed: In Jan., how Jesus Christ, (Super GenderBender) contributed to the feminization of his followers [and his God]; how his followers took the next 20 centuries to undo most A few words about the contributions of other male-oriented religions.

In Feb., the most horrid word in the English Language - Four letters that strike fear and consternation in media censors everywhere. This word, unprintable here, summarizes the misogynism of 5,000 years of male domination...in ways one barely realizes. Find out why.

Eve’s Seed meets throughout the year after church on the third Sunday of the month. Facilitator: Tony Palermo.

Community Circle: Monthly meetings, usually in members’ homes, to provide the opportunity to connect, check in and deepen friendships. The groups also explore religious/spiritual issues chosen by group members

NEW Winter Classes

What I Believe: Explore and articulate your personal beliefs. Topics will include human nature, sources of authority, good & evil, suffering, death, god/goddess, human salvation, social justice & ethics, church & society. Six sessions on alternate Sundays beginning Jan. 11 at 7-9 p.m., ending 3/6. Facilitator: Carol Meyer

Our Whole Lives (OWL): Adults will clarify their values and understanding of human sexuality. This class will help you be more comfortable discussing sexuality and may well enliven your sex life. Meets third Sat. in Jan., Feb., March and April. See flier in Intercom. Facilitators: Marsha Albright, Greg Jarold. Learn more here

Our UU Story: Explore our religious identity as UU’s. To understand our future we must understand our past. Learn about struggles, contributions and sacrifices of our forebears. Six sessions based on a program written by Carol Meyer. Class will be on six Mondays beginning Jan. 12 or six Thursdays beginning Jan. 15. Make your selection on the sign up sheet; the class will be scheduled by majority. 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. Facilitator: Carol Ballance

A Chosen Faith: This book is an excellent introduction to UUism based on our six sources. Whether you’re a long-time UU or just shopping, this book is an excellent way to learn about our UU faith tradition. Class will be on 4 Tuesdays beginning Jan. 13 from 7:30-9:00 p.m. Facilitator: Lance Kennelty

FRESH FLORIDA CITRUS SALE!

Want a great opportunity to treat yourself and help a neighbor in need at the same time? Then consider purchasing some fresh, high quality Florida citrus this month to benefit North Hills Community Outreach (NHCO). NHCO provides services to families in the North Hills communities who are experiencing crisis, hardship, or poverty. Last year, NHCO made a difference in the lives of over 2,719 local families through their Employment, Food & Emergency Services and Support & Resources programs. NHCO offers these services from their main office located on Ferguson Road in Allison Park, along with satellite offices in Millvale and the North Boroughs.

The fruit is freshly picked in Florida, then driven straight up to NHCO, sorted and delivered to UUCNH. It's picked on a Tuesday and in your house by Sunday - you can't get it any fresher at the reasonable prices that NHCO charges. You can purchase the following items:

Temple Oranges-easy to peel navels (small [32 to 50] or large [64-100] box)
Ruby Red Indian River Grapefruit (small [16-24] or large [32-48] box)
Honey Tangerines (30)
Citrus Sampler (24 oranges/12 red grapefruit)
Fresh trio (12 oranges/12 red grapefruit/12 pears)

Small boxes and tangerines are $14, large boxes are $21 and the mixed boxes are $23.

There will be order forms at church each Sunday. Orders are due by January 25th, with delivery on Sunday, February 22nd. See Chris Hill or Sue Luebbert for more information or forms.

So be good to yourself and good to others - order some fresh Florida citrus!

PIIN BANQUET AND AD BOOK

Save the date! March 20, 2004, for the Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN) banquet. This is PIIN’s major fundraising event of the year. You can support it in several ways. First, plan to come. The ticket price is expected to be $35. Second, help to plan the event. The committee needs a few good members. Finally, contribute to the ad book, which will be the primary fund-raising vehicle. A business, organization or an individual can place an ad in the banquet program/ad book for $500 for a full page, $300 for a half page, $175 for 1/4 page and $100 for 1/8 page. If that’s too steep, you can be listed as a friend or patron for contributions of between $5 and $99. A group of friends could do a joint ad. A community circle, perhaps? Craft group? Contact Sue Broughton to get an ad sales packet to take to your employer or to submit an ad yourself -- or to help with the event planning. Check out the sample ad book from a similar event in Detroit, which will be on the membership table.

WHAT I BELIEVE

Sort of know what you believe but find it hard to put your beliefs into words? Know more about what you don’t believe than what you do? Interested in finding out what you believe? Then this adult RE program is for you! Join Rev. Carol for six Sunday sessions designed to help you define and articulate your beliefs about basic religious questions and issues. “What I Believe” will meet on Sunday evenings at 7:00 on Jan. 25, Feb. 1, Feb. 15, Feb. 29 and Mar. 14. If you can’t make all the sessions, come to the ones you can attend. For planning purposes, please do sign up on the sign-up sheet on the RE bulletin board in Friendship Hall

Saturday, February 14, 2004
8 – 11
West Room

The Carl Arter Trio

A very special evening at the

Mardi Gras Cabaret

Bring your Friends and Neighbors!

New Orleans Pot Luck

Brought to you by
Bill Sprague and the FUUN Club
Reprising locally famous performances
At our Twin Towers Arts Festival
By this nationally famous jazz pianist

Questions? Volunteers?
Contact Tassi Bisers

DOWN UNDER COFFEEHOUSE at AUUC

On January 24th, the DownUnder Coffeehouse will welcome back the First Unitarian Folk Orchestra from 7:30-9:30pm. The Down Under Coffeehouse is open monthly on the third Saturday of the month, Sept through June. It is located in the newly renovated basement of the Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church on the corner of North Ave and Resaca Place, in Pittsburgh's historic North Side. See http://trfn.clpgh.org/auuc/dh/ for directions.

PAINT BRANCH UNITARIAN UNIVERALIST CHURCH FIRE

On Dec. 9, 2003, at Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church, a fire broke out in the back end of the RE Building. The blaze was controlled relatively quickly, but not before that room was gutted, floor through roof. The rooms on either side were also destroyed, and all contents in the entire building were contaminated by smoke, including the church offices. No one was in the building at the time and there was no damage to any other nearby structures. Staff and trustees from the church plus the owners of the Montessori School that rents the building were on site very soon, anguished and concerned.

The burned and smoky building is now uninhabitable and off-limits to everyone except workers. All its contents will have to be removed (either discarded or professionally cleaned and stored) so the stripped-down building - built in 1965 - can be thoroughly decontaminated. Preliminary indications are that general building insurance will adequately cover the cleaning, renovation and refurbishing, but coverage for rental income loss and upgrades to meet newer codes is limited.

The co-ministers and RE director now have no office space, and RE classes will begin again on Jan. 4 at an off-site location still to be determined. All on-site meetings will have to share the Meeting House, which is essentially one large room, surrounded by a lobby, rest rooms, corridor, kitchen and some storage areas. Montessori classes are temporarily being held in there as well.

There is now a Paint Branch Fire Recovery Fund. Ohio-Meadville District Consultant, Rev. Rod Thompson, is gathering contributions. To help our sister church as we would wish to be helped, please send any contributions to:

Rev. Rod Thompson
Ohio-Meadville District Consultant

200 W. Main St., Suite 19
Ravenna, Ohio 44266-2721

Please note that you are from UUCNH on your contribution. Further updates and pictures are available on the church website: www.pbuuc.org.

WINTER FEST IN RUTLAND VERMONT!

Announcing the Unitarian Universalist Church of Rutland Vermont’s third annual WinterFest 2994 - Feb 14th -16th with 2-Nights lodging with UU families - Breakfasts and Dinners included. UU-Guided Snowshoeing and X-country Skiing
$225 - Adult - $100 - Child (5-12)

Let us help you plan
An unforgettable winter weekend!

For more information, please email: uuskivermont@yahoo.com or call us at 802-775-4002.

STAR ISLAND 2004

The conference on Star Island, Isles of Shoals, NH offer programs to inspire young and old alike to explore new ideas, assist religious educators in selecting curricula and teaching creatively, provide an opportunity for study and inspiration in science and the arts and for all to enjoy a warm sense of community in a unique island setting. A listing of Star Island conferences is posted on the Denominational and District bulletin board in Friendship Hall. If you would like to receive their conferenc brochure, please contact the Star Island Corp. at 10 Vaughan Mall, Suite 8, Portsmouth, NH 03801. Or you can call 603-430-6272 or email office@starisland.org. You can also learn more about Star, including taking a guided tour of the island, by visiting their website at www.starisland.org.

SOCIAL ACTION FOCUS PROJECTS FOR JANUARY

Here you will find out where and how our church is socially active within our community and how you can become involved. If you know of a project or event to add to the list, please contact Chris Hill and Sue Luebbert, co-chairs of the Social Action Committee.

Here’s this month’s list of projects

* EQUAL EXCHANGE COFFEE

Equal Exchange cuts out the middlemen, ensuring that more money reaches the farmers. Their guaranteed minimum of $1.26/lb means a far better standard of living for these farmers and their families. UUCNH is proud to be selling Equal Exchange coffees. See Chris Hill or Sue Luebbert to take some home today!

* IF IT'S MADE OF PAPER, RECYCLE IT!

At UUCNH, we collect all forms of paper and cardboard for recycling. Most of the paper is recycled through Agents of Change recycles, located on Rt. 8 just south of Glenshaw Glass.

We collect the following categories of paper and cardboard:

* Any Corrugated Cardboard can be flattened and placed in the left-hand dumpster.

* Office Paper is any good quality paper from mailings, photocopies and notepads. This is the premium category, so please remove and place in separate bins any glossy materials, woven or fiber products, or newspaper. The bin for office paper is in the church office, in front of the desk.

* Paperboard includes cereal boxes, shirt cardboard and other containers of non-corrugated cardboard. Please flatted these containers and place them in the bins in Friendship Hall, underneath the window to the office.

* Newspaper should be collected in paper bags and placed by the bins in Friendship Hall. Please remove all the glossy ads and magazines and place them in the Mixed Paper bin.

* Mixed Paper is everything else. And we mean everything-glossy advertisements, mailing, catalogs, telephone books, other bond materials, woven or fiber products (like Express Mail bags), even rinsed and flattened milk & juice containers. These can be collected in your own bags, or placed in the bin in friendship Hall.

We take the items down to Agents of Change every Saturday or two. If you would like to help out one Saturday per month, we could use the help. If you have any questions about the recycling system, please speak with Chris Hill at coffee hour, or call him.

Thanks for recycling and SAVING TREES!!

* (NHCO) FOOD BANK
Donations are requested for the North Hills Community Outreach Food Bank for January. NHCO has requested that we bring “Cooking Oil and Bags of Flour and Sugar” to UUCNH. Laundry detergent, toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo and bar soap are always needed. Our donation box is located in Friendship Hall near the entrance of the church and the East Room. The UUCNH Social Action Committee sponsors collection for the Food Bank. Thanks to all who have contributed to reaching our goal of 100 items a month!

* PLEASANT VALLEY MEN'S SHELTER

Thanks to the UUCNH Youth Group for volunteering to prepare and serve dinner at the Pleasant Valley Men's Shelter on Monday November 24th! As always, the Shelter has a list of other dates available for UUCNH members and friends. If you haven't volunteered, please consider volunteering for a dinner in 2003 or planning ahead for a dinner in 2004. Contact Greg Jarold at with questions or interest. The UUCNH Social Action Committee sponsors our participation in this worthwhile program.

Check back next month for more information on social action at UUCNH.

UUCNH GROCERY CERTIFICATES

UUCNH is selling Giant Eagle and Ingomar Sparkle grocery certificates. This is an excellent fundraiser for the Church and it is so easy for the purchaser. You pay $100, $50 or $25 for a certificate that is now the size of a credit card and is worth the same dollar amount at the checkout counter. Please participate in this easy church fundraiser.

Look for them during coffee hour!

INTERCOM SUBMISSIONS

The next Intercom will be published on January 21, 2003. That makes the Intercom deadline Wednesday, January 21, 2003.

Submissions may be made in handwritten form, on diskette, or emailed to the editor at WESDFS@nauticom.net. Please include YOUR NAME AND TELEPHONE NUMBER on the submission so that the editor can contact you should there be any questions or problems concerning your submission.

Please email your submissions IN PLAIN TEXT ONLY; NO HTML emails - they are NOT compatible with the Intercom format; check your format box on your actual email and choose plain text. When sending email, please include the word “INTERCOM” in you subject line - my spam filter will sometimes label one as spam. DO NOT FORMAT THE ARTICLE!

Diskettes may be in Word, but please, PLEASE, do not format the article in any way. Thank you!