What's going on....

Change of date for Coffee House II!! Please take note....

Our second Coffee House will be held February 21, 1998!! Due to a time conflict,

the date of our second Coffee House has been changed to Saturday, February 21. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. René Kerr is chairing the planning and organizing for this coffee house. Two newcomers to our congregation, Molly Scholz and Doug Fraser, are going to be instrumental (pun intended!) in putting together the program for the evening. Molly is actively looking for performers to provide vocal and instrumental musical performances, comedy and dramatic presentations, readings - any kind of entertainment or performance art for our non-smoking, non-alcoholic Coffee House. Please call Molly with suggestions for performers, or to volunteer your talent. Please call René to volunteer to help prepare beverages and food, to be a server at the coffee house, or any of a number of other things that need to be done before Feb. 21. Mark your calendar now to come to the church-in-the-woods for an evening of fun and entertainment!

New Year's Games Night

Saturday, Jan. 3, 7:00 p.m. Continue the New Year's celebration - bring a game, noisemakers, a snack to share, and a dollar donation. The games begin around 7:00 p.m. and will continue until…. a repeat countdown? Call René Kerr or Julie Halter for more information.

Women's Group

Women's Group meets the 1^st and 3^rd Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. Bring a snack to share, if you wish. We are bringing poetry or other writing - short story, fiction, whatever strikes your fancy - to read and discuss with the group. We are also open for suggestions for a book to read and discuss as a group, or any other type of activity - bring your ideas!

Coffee House

Planning Meeting - Wed., Jan. 7, 7:30 p.m., at the church. Call René Kerr for more info.

We Need You....to help prepare for the Sunday services held in our wonderful new santuary. Please sign up to prepare the building and the coffee and hot water for tea, or to be a greeter at a Sunday service of your choice. Sign-up sheets (and explicit instructions!) are located at the bulletin board to the right as you enter the santuary. Everyone is encouraged to become involved - if you are a relative newcomer, being a greeter is a great way to meet people! If everyone takes a couple of turns, we will be able to easily cover all the Sundays.

UU-Valdosta goes electronic!

Wanted: your E-mail address!

UU-Valdosta is now "on-line" with a website. Check it out at:

http://geocities.datacellar.net/SoHo/1918/

If you have access to the Web and e-mail, the newletter editor now offers an alternative means of receiving your newsletter. Simply send your e-mail address to Carol Stiles (cranfun@peachnet.campus.mci.net), and you may choose to receive the newsletter in one of two ways: 1) an e-mail message can be sent notifying you when the newsletter has been posted on the website, or 2) if you have software that can read Microsoft Word for Windows 95, v. 7.0 (*.doc) files, the newsletter can be sent via e-mail as an attached file. If you prefer to receive the newsletter electronically, this will help cut down on postage and paper use. However, if you also wish to receive the newsletter via 'snail mail' as well, that is okay, too. (Note that the electronic version may be a slightly different version than the printed format, especially if the old, manual "cut-and-paste" method is used to include news articles, photos, etc.).

In addition, in the future, we may be able to use e-mail to send announcements or reminders of upcoming UU events (for instance, things that come up after the newsletter is mailed). So, send your e-mail address and we will add it to the mailing list database.

Earl Daniels continues to work on the website, and welcomes suggestions. He has included the site in the "Interdependent Web Ring," so that anyone - anywhere in the world! - following this ring (or jumping randomly amongst the UU sites in the ring!) will visit our site as well. Ideas may be sent to him via e-mail (earl@technologist.com) or passed on through the newsletter editor, Carol Stiles.

Points from the President

A psychologist and friend once said to me, "Look into your rear view mirror only to get a glimpse of where you have been." I knew that his statement carried with it an encouragement for living in the present.

I am not always successful with my friend's advice, but I do know that it is sound advice.

Thus, I invite us to look together in our Unitarian rear view mirrors to get a quick picture of where we have been. See a congregation pulling together in a common effort to build a church and dedicate it, to carry out landscaping and cleaning, enjoying game nights, potlucks, Sunday luncheons, board meetings and informative and enlightening speakers from our congregation and the community.

Further, we are the recipient of the most recent Chalice Lighter donations from other UU members. This has enabled us to complete some of the necessary items in the church that our present budget would not carry.

We have been able to share our new building with the Metropolitan Community Church for their services. Now other community groups are inquiring about the use of our building.

We have all donated work, time, items, and money to make all these things possible.

In addition, we have continued to give to Lowndes Associated Ministries to People (LAMP), to deliver meals for Break Bread Together, and to be involved with Habitat for Humanity.

Now, let's look ahead to the next calendar year with the same enthusiasm. We can use a fund-raiser now, so let's all work and enjoy another Coffee House event February 21, followed exactly a week later by Super Saturday. These events will require a lot of work, so no matter what your talent, or what you consider a lack thereof, both of these events have a special place for you and require your involvement.

Talk to René and Molly about the Coffee House and for right now, to Dee, about Super Saturday. We will be forming Super Saturday groups a little later on.

Thank you so much for your loyal support.

-- Dee Tait, President

Super Saturday Seminar

UU-Valdosta will host the North Region of the Florida District UU for a Super Saturday Seminar, on February 28, 1998. This is a day-long seminar for all members and friends to gain a greater understanding of Unitarian Universalism, as well as learn ways to participate in the church in the areas of Religious Education, Worship, Leadership and Finance. Note: There will be many leadership roles to fill in carrying out this event!

Meditation Group

If you are interested in joining a group to meet for meditation, or discussion and support of meditation, please call Ann Bachrach.

LAMP needs donations

Please continue to bring non-perishable food items to the church and they will be delivered to the Lowndes Associated Ministries to the People program for persons in need.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

What a wonderful time of the year! Holiday spirit of giving and sharing and... excuse me just a moment while I answer this page from work... where was I? Oh, yes, holiday spirit of family fun and togetherness.... I'll be right back. Just need to get the young one ready for school... It has been a while since I wrote to you, I know. It is just that so many things have been going on lately. But now is the time for some much needed personal reflection and... I'm sorry, have to run get a tree and some decorations... Okay, I was talking to you about the spiritual uplift that this time of year brings, when we can count our blessings and pause to say 'thank you' to those special people in our lives who mean so much... Have to run for some last minute shopping...

Whew, all these interruptions! But seriously, I am so grateful, as I look back over this year's blessings for my Valdosta church family. I think about our special events. What a joyful dedication service for Courson Montgomery Eells and his family last month! And I enjoy the... oops, gotta go do some packing for my trip. Can't waste a moment in this hectic schedule, what with working 12-hour days to get this job finished in time for vacation... I enjoy the game nights organized by René, and the church looked so great for the Halloween party.

Well, the church just looks great, period. My gratitude goes out to Jim for his continued energies to get the kitchen finished. Also to Josette, Janet, Virginia, and the children and all others who helped prepare for the holiday events. Thanks to everyone who... rats, just one more interruption to pick up the groceries for our trip... everyone who, uh, helps with, I mean who comes together to create our spiritual community. I think that is what I was going to say. Anyway, let's all remember how important it is to take time out and meditate on the special significance of this time of year. Remember what is really most important in our lives, and all that good stuff... Uh oh, I have to go. I'm on my way to Key West for some of that fun, relaxing holiday! It was nice sharing this moment with you. We really should do this more often.

reverend jack

December, 1997

Religious Education (R.E.) Classes

All R.E. classes meet at 9:30 a.m., Sundays, before the 10:45 a.m. service.

The children's R.E. classes continue with their respective curricula. The curriculum for Class 1 (elementary students through 4^th grade) is We Believe, Learning and Living our UU Principles. The curriculum for Class 2 (5^th through 8^th grade) is Travel in Time. Both curricula are put out by UUA and concentrate on the seven UU principles.

In January and the upcoming year, the students plan to work on a nature trail and begin a community project of some kind.

(To volunteer to work with the students, contact Janet Andersen).

Adult R.E. will resume on Jan. 11, after the holiday break. The class is led by Hue Jacobs. The History of God, by Karen Armstrong, is the topic of discussion.

Don't forget that we deliver meals for the Break Bread Together program the 1^st and 5^th Tuesday of each month. The people who receive these meals are always appreciative - of the food and of the personal contact with those delivering the meals. There is a sign-up sheet to participate in this very worthwhile activity on the bulletin board to the right of the entranceway. Contact Dee Tait or any officer for more information.

Sam Halter 1/2
Cranford Sutton 1/17
Norma Tait 1/17

(Should your name be here, too? Please let the newsletter editor know your family members' birthdates, if you wish to see them in print....)

UU Activities

January 24, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m., Orlando
UUA Commission on Appraisal will hold open hearings on Membership.

February 28
Super Saturday Seminar, North Region, hosted by UU-Valdosta

July 28 - Aug 1, 1998
Southeast Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute (SUUSI '98), Radford University, Radford, VA

Check the bulletin boards in the church and R.E. building for more information and announcements! The Florida District Leadership School Committee is collecting names, addresses, and phone numbers of anyone who has been to Leadership school in any part of the country. If you have attended (anytime except 1992-94 in FL Dist.), please send this information to the Florida District Office.

A Note From the Newsletter Editor

Please consider submitting an article or articles to the newsletter - we print (almost) anything! Letters-to-the-editor, news articles, feature articles about famous UU's or other topics, announcements, poetry, maybe even serialized short stories! It is your newsletter - if you help to fill it, that gives us more time for "editing" and other sundry activities, like photocopying, stapling, and mailing. (By the way, thanks to Dee, Julie, and Ann, for helping with those activities over the last few months!)

Deadline for February issue:  January 18 - early deadline!

Contact:
Carol Stiles
c/o UU-Valdosta
1951 E. Park Ave. Valdosta, GA, 31602
e-mail: cranfun@peachnet.campus.mci.net

Famous UU's

Tim Berners-Lee, a British physicist who invented the World Wide Web, is profiled in the December 1997 issue of Scientific American, from which the following is excerpted:

Berners-Lee says he had a Protestant upbringing but rejected literal Christianity as a teenager because it was incompatible with science. He now describes himself as a Unitarian Universalist. "It tackles the spiritual side of people's lives and of values and of the things you need to live your life, but it doesn't require you to believe six impossible things before breakfast," he says wryly.

In 1990, Berners-Lee first wrote the specifications for HTML, HTTP and the precursor for URL, all of which are now used as the language and protocols to drive the Web. He now directs the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. W3C serves as a standards organization for the Web.