People come to our church for reasons that range from seeking out like-minded people, exploring spirituality, or furthering personal growth. In addition to the Sunday morning service, members and friends can also gather to study religion and religious history, morality and ethics. They might work to further a cleaner environment or provide help to one another, enjoy one another’s company and just have fun. Like in any organization, church life is enriched the more one participates. The following are some of the committees, events, workshops and programs that help shape this congregation. They are open to anyone interested. Visitors are especially welcome.
Acoustic Renaissance Concerts
Folk music reached its height in the 60s and 70s when baby boomers were united by the voices of Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and Judy Collins. Today, folk, Americana, and roots music continue to have a dedicated following among those who treasure this gentle form. In our sanctuary with its wonderful acoustics and a professional sound system, this series presents performers of considerable renown at a modest price, and is now going into its 15th season. Visit the web site at www.acousticren.com to see the latest offerings, or contact: Dan Bennecke at dtbenn001@gmail.com
Upcoming show dates:
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Harpeth Rising
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Kitty Donohoe and Craig Werth
Animal Ministry
UCH Animal Ministry is a chapter of UU Animal Ministry. The chapter seeks to expand the congregation’s awareness of issues involving cruelty to animals, compassionate consumerism, ethical eating, wildlife conservation and companion animals. We are the first congregation in the world to be certified under the UU Animal Ministry’s Reverence for Life program.
Animal Ministry normally meets on the second Sunday of the month at noon in RE Building Room 5. For more information, contact Tiff Bohn at AnimalMinistry@hotmail.com
Upcoming meetings are:
4/14
5/5 Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale
5/19
Baseball Outing
The DuPage County Hounds Baseball Team is the newest and hottest thing to hit the western Suburbs of Chicago. The team plays at the 1,100 seat Benedictine University baseball stadium, which is located in Lisle near where I-88 and I-355 intersect.
All of the games feature stadium seating, a full concession stand, FREE parking, in-game promotions, our mascot “Page the Dog”, a kid’s zone, run the bases and autographs from the players after the game for FREE.
Join us for UCH at the Game on June 21st at 7:00pm on All Faith Night. Tickets are only $5.00 and include a special logo t-shirt! Contact Pam Fodor at re@hinsdaleunitarian.org for more information and to reserve your seat.
Beltane Service
Join us on Sunday, May 5, at noon, for our annual Beltane celebration on the church lawn. Traditional cultures marked the start of summer at the beginning of May, and hoped and prayed for bountiful crops and healthy flocks. Our ancestors celebrated Beltane, around the first of May, with fires, festivals, and dancing around the Maypole. Our own Beltane celebration features music, food, drink, a pageant on the turning of the seasons complete with the Green Man and the Snow Queen, and of course our own Maypole. All ages are welcome.
Board of Trustees
Elected trustees meet on the second Tuesday of each month to conduct the business of the church. Members and friends are welcome to attend board meetings. If you are interested in serving as a trustee contact Julia Beckman at beckman110@comcast.net.
Bylaws Committee
Do you have a knack for paying attention to detail? The bylaw committee meets when called to examine the church’s bylaws document for contradiction and repetition. For more information contact Pam Fodor at re@hinsdaleunitarian.org.
Caring Committee
Because we are a loving community, there is no better way to show it than to reach out in times of illness, crisis, or celebration. These might be a kind word, a meal, or a gentle touch. Acting as a clearinghouse about our congregation members and appeals for help, they can respond by providing announcements during a church service, hosting events to help members in need or creating care shawls for members and friends that bespeak our concern. One need not be a long-time member to participate. If you have time to send a friendly note, make a phone call or drive someone to a dental appointment, your thoughtfulness will be rewarded with new friendships and abundant smiles. Contact Pam Fodor, Director of Programs at re@hinsdaleunitarian.org or 630-323-2885.
Care Shawl
Do you knit or crochet? Then this is the place for you. Join fellow knitters four times a year to share patterns and fellowship. Learn how to knit a Care Shawl which is crafted with intention, and positive, caring, healing and happy thoughts. They are then blessed in a special, simple ceremony and given to members and friends of the congregation in need of caring. For more information and the date and time of our next gathering please contact Pam Fodor at re@hinsdaleunitarian.org.
Celebration Singers
The Celebration Singers are a friendly group of adults who enjoy the musical challenges offered them by Director Julia Beckman, who founded the choir in 1974. She continues to consider it a privilege to lead them. One of the many benefits of singing for Unitarian services is the freedom to choose a wonderful variety of music, both secular and religious – folk songs, spirituals, great classical and contemporary works, with an occasional trip into the world of jazz. This variety is challenging, rewarding, and fun. Julia believes that humor and laughter improve vocal quality — and keep volunteers showing up early on Sunday mornings! If you can carry a tune and enjoy singing, give the group a try! Voices needed in every section. Rehearsals are on Sundays at 9:15am in Room 4 of the RE building, and performances are approximately once a month. Call Julia Beckman, 630-985-4688, or email her at beckman110@comcast.net for details.
Chalice Circles
Echoing the Unitarian symbol of inclusiveness, groups of ten or twelve come together to explore common concerns. Are you a cancer survivor or are close to someone that has cancer? There’s a chalice group where you can talk about it, no holds barred. Are you new to our church, wanting to understand more about it? How about trying to lose weight? Here is an opportunity for friendship with someone who really understands. A Chalice Group can have duration of a few weeks, months or go on for years. It’s up to the group. Don’t see one that fulfills your needs? You’re welcome to form your own with lots of help from the Unitarian Association, our parent denomination. Or if you’re not sure, contact the church office at office@hinsdaleunitarian.org or 630-323-2885.
Communications Committee
Having an exciting website and a presence on Facebook and Twitter is of paramount importance in today’s world. If you are a “techy” this would be a wonderful committee to share your talents. Contact Dan Bennecke for more information at dtbenn001@gmail.com
Endowment Fund Committee
Endowment Fund investments are selected and managed by a committee of five church members, elected by the congregation at the annual meeting. The Endowment Fund committee is responsible directly to the congregation. The terms of the committee members are five years in length, to ensure that the committee has continuity and that elected members are in place for sufficient time to learn how to manage the fund. One member is elected to the committee each year. Nominations for the Endowment Committee are made by the church nominating committee. For more information contact board trustee Steve Trout at steven_trout@sbcglobal.net.
Finance Committee
Are you blessed with the skill of managing funds? Consider joining the finance committee. This committee oversees the church’s financial needs by helping to create the yearly budget and meets each month to keep the church fiscally sound. Contact Steve Trout at steven_trout@sbcglobal.net.
Gardening & Landscape Volunteers
Do you appreciate a weedless garden and enjoy being outside? Join our team of volunteers to help keep the UCH yards and gardens beautiful. There are a few work parties scheduled throughout the year and/or volunteers garden according to their personal calendars. For more information contact Charlie Fischer at cfis@sbcglobal.net
Garden Committee
The Garden Committee vets new ideas and introductions, helping to shape the ever-evolving vision of UCH’s out-of-doors. The committee helps to ensure that the landscape garden interests of the church are met, and welcomes your thoughts, concerns, opinions, ideas, etc. For more information contact Charlie Fischer at cfis@sbcglobal.net
Green Sanctuary
Working to implement an environmental action program at UCH to save, protect and restore the planet, this group has collected discarded electronic equipment, transporting it to an ecologically safe recycling facility in West Chicago. It also demonstrates ways to conserve with light bulbs and insulate to use energy wisely. Contact: Dennis Sejut at sejutjanice@comcast.net.
Holiday Harvest
Yes, it’s a fundraiser but oh, what fun! There’s delectable gourmet food that delights the most discriminating palate along with toe tapping music. In addition, you can bid on all kinds of goods and services for an incredible bargain price. Everyone is invited to party and celebrate with our church friends and neighbors. Contact: Joe Pakovits jrpcdb@yahoo.com or Jay Van Cura at jvancura@sbcglobal.net or (708) 447-6500.
Membership Ministry
The membership ministry serves as outreach to visitors as well as ministering to members and friends of our church family. This group of dedicated people recruit ushers and greeters, help organize adult programs, contact visitors, organize neighborhood parties and more! If you are looking to become more involved in our church community this is a wonderful place to start! For more information contact Jane Foulser at jfoulser@mindspring.com
Upcoming meetings:
April 17
May 15
Mom’s Group
Join fellow UU moms for support, networking, idea sharing and camaraderie. This group is currently reading and discussing the book Tending the Flame: The Art of UU Parenting. This group meets the fourth Tuesday of every month from 7-9pm in room 6 of the RE Building and always welcomes new members. For more information contact Pam Fodor at re@hinsdaleunitarian.org.
New UU
Our denomination was well represented among the signers of the American Declaration of Independence and was on the forefront of women’s suffrage and the Civil Rights movement. To celebrate our history and inform visitors and friends of who we are, The Unitarian Church of Hinsdale conducts a series of meetings several times a year each session led by long-time members and staff. There are no lessons or books to buy! If you are interested contact Jane Foulser at jfoulser@mindspring.com or (630) 833-3028. Check back for our Fall dates.
Non-Fiction Book Group
Beginning as an animated discussion during coffee hour, the topic was archeology and who wrote the Bible. But the conversation soon expanded to include others and finally, into a monthly meeting that welcomed all comers. It is now entering its third year, noted for its lively conversation. Starting with books related to Judaism and Christianity, the group has since moved on to Islam and this year looks into the relationship of religion to science. Visitors are always welcome even when not having read the book. Contact person is Joe Pakovits jrpcdb@yahoo.com
Upcoming Dates:
Mar. 21
April 25
May 17
June 16 (this is usually a picnic!)
P-Flag
The rainbow has come to symbolize inclusiveness and that can serve the Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays as well. P-Flag serves those who love and embrace their sons and daughters, their sisters and brothers who have come out, sharing their pride with and love of those who are an important part of our community. For further information, check with Jackie Frett at (630) 920-1444, jackieKF@aol.com or www.pflag.com.
Play Reading Group
Play reading is a group of like-minded UUs who enjoy watching plays. Each month a member of the group hosts a play reading either at their home or at UCH. Plays range from tragedies to comedies, classics to recently debuted plays. The play readers are cast from other members of the group. If you enjoy watching plays or would like to try acting without having to memorize lines, give the Play Reading group a try. For more details, contact Jean Noble at jeannoble03@hotmail.com
Religion Lectures
Presented by Bruce Woll
Bringing the Bible(s) Back Down to Earth: Going backstage to visit the workshops of the Ancient Near Eastern, Ancient Israelite, Second Temple Jewish, and First Century worlds that produced the sacred scriptures of the West.
“On December 3, 1872, the Bible forever lost its immemorial prerogative of being ‘the oldest book known,’ ‘a book unlike others,’ ‘the book dictated, written, by God Himself.’” Behind that pronouncement were thousands of writings on clay tablets dug up from the sands of the Near East. Those discoveries, along with others such as the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s and 50s, hundreds of other writings and artifacts stumbled on or dug up from the earth by archaeologists, together with changes in historical scholarship such as the entry of women, minorities, non-confessional and non-Western scholars especially in the past fifty years, are producing a dramatically different picture of the writings and collections that make up our Western scriptures. The purpose of this series of talks is to draw a sketch, or outline, of a 21st century picture in a way that makes sense to anyone interested in what human histories have to tell us about ourselves, and, more importantly, acknowledges the moral ambiguity of the Biblical writings, a legacy of evil as well as good that goes all the way down. For information, contact Pam Fodor at re@hinsdaleunitarian.org
Lecture Dates:
April 7, 14, 21, 28 and May 5 from 12:15-1:30pm
Woman’s Health Care Clinic Escorts
Are you passionate about woman’s right to choose appropriate health care? You may want to consider being a health clinic escort!Call Velaine Carnall for more information 708-354-2477
Women’s Alliance
Beyond the days when churches relegated women to child care, quilting and preparing pot luck suppers, Hinsdale’s Women’s Alliance disseminates information on the status of women, ecology, local history and subjects of current interest in the arts, medicine and world affairs. Together they might visit local museums and areas of interest and support the social services in the denomination and the community. As part of the regional and national Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation (UUWF), they address concerns of the broad community. Meeting during the day enables members and visitors enough flexibility to pursue a wide set of interests. For more information, contact Betty Mathias at bettyloumathias@yahoo.com or (708) 482-0892
Upcoming Dates:
April 11, 2013 Luncheon at College of DuPage Culinary School in Glen Ellyn
May 9, 2013 Travelogue- Our Most Interesting Journeys
June 13, 2013 Pot Luck Luncheon
Social Action
“Reflecting Our Social Justice Values”
Social justice work at UCH carries on a long UCH tradition, engaging people of all ages in many ways:
It shapes and encourages programming that reveals the realities behind the challenges facing our world. It promotes interest in UU denominational initiatives, as well as other social justice concerns and identifies ways to complement the wide variety of UCH social action endeavors. Join the SAC for monthly meetings on the first Sunday of every month at 12:00Noon. For more information contact Kim Johnson kimjnsn@clear.net.
Spirituality on Tap
Informal discussions of spirituality and religion over a beer (or wine) held monthly on the 3rd Monday at 7:00 pm at Irish Times, 8869 Burlington, Brookfield, IL 60513. Phone 708-485-8787. We will be in a small room called Phelan’s Cove. A Monday night feature at Irish Times is $5 burgers. Veggie burgers are also available. Discussion facilitated by Marian Honel-Wilson. Questions? Contact Marian at mhonelwilson@gmail.com or 708-903-5370.
Upcoming Dates:
April 15
May 20
June 17
July 15
August 19
September 16
October 21
November 18
December 16
Soup Group
Soup Group meets on the third Monday of every month at the church for a soup lunch and good conversation. For more information contact Velaine Carnall at 708-354-2477.
Woman’s Health Care Clinic Escorts
Are you passionate about woman’s right to choose appropriate health care? You may want to consider being a health clinic escort!
Call Velaine Carnall for more information 708-354-2477
