Month: October 2022

In the little things: November 2022 Series Invitation

October 28, 2022 /
When my kids were little, one of the things that used to annoy me was when one of them would be pushing my buttons in public, and I’d be visibly struggling with them, and then a stranger would walk by and say to me, “you’re going to miss it someday.” 
 
I’d be like, miss what? Will I miss my child asking for every other item in the store? Or miss losing my focus on my list so often that it takes me double the amount of time it should? Or will I miss my other child repeatedly throwing their toy and then crying that they lost their toy? 
 
Now that my kids are teenagers, I can officially say I miss none of these things. But, I do miss that squeal of joy when the toy re-appeared. And sometimes when my daughter comes home with exactly the right things from the store without any real prompting or direction from me, I smile with deep appreciation for all of her early awareness of what was on the shelves. 
 
Not everything in life is worthy of praise. But somehow, in every moment of our lives, there is something that invites our delight, if only we are willing to pay attention. In the cold dark, the glory of the fall night sky. In the crowded hiking trail, the shared sense of a common experience with strangers. In the threatened democracy, the power of working together for a better world.  
 
All of these ordinary moments of beauty in the midst of struggle are God, close in. God, whose steadfast presence reminds us we need not reach for some other world or some future time for solace or happiness or peace. Everything we need is here.
 

Our task is only to pay attention and tend to delight like a discipline. To practice joy as an act of resistance. And, as Mary Oliver says, to instruct ourselves over and over in joy and acclamation, praising this broken, and still beautiful world. 

This is the invitation of our worship series starting October 30 and continuing throughout November. To find delight in the little things. To experience the persistent presence of unconditional love available with each in, and out of breath, and to say yes, and to pass it on.
 
Join us this Sunday for More than enough in the little things. We do not need to strive or reach for something else, somewhere else, someone else – everything we need is here, and it is more than enough.
 
 

The Building Bulletin: October 2022

October 24, 2022 /

The news about our new building this month is concrete. We’ve had two con concrete pours, creating the footings and a stem wall for the foundation. First, forms are built, and rebar is installed. Every intersection between horizontal and vertical rebar is wired together to keep it from spreading.  Before concrete is poured, the structural engineer inspects the forms and rebar to verify that everything is at the right depth and installed correctly.

On the day of the pour, a pumper truck with a concrete boom arrives. Mixer trucks arrive at scheduled intervals to add concrete to the pumper truck. It’s like clockwork; when one mixer is empty, the next is waiting to take its place. The logistics of construction are amazing! 

During the pour, our testing company takes samples from 3 random mixers. Initial inspection verifies that the mixture is correct. The samples are saved and tested for strength at seven days and 28 days. Concrete is fully cured after 28 days. The testing process is to apply pressure to the sample until it breaks. Two of our samples are already testing at the necessary strength.  

It’s a little harder to see the site now since wooden walls have been erected and braced behind the footings. This is to provide some additional protection from concrete breaking through the forms. Once the footings are solid, the ditch behind is backfilled. This ensures that if the dirt wall collapses, no one will be trapped in a deep hole; the dirt level will always be even with the top of the footings.  Construction is very a dangerous occupation, and it is gratifying to see how much attention our contractor pays to safety.

A new feature became visible last week – basement windows! The forms for the next pour include leaving an opening for the eventual windows. The big hole is beginning to look like a building.

In partnership and with excitement,

The Building Expansion Team
Chris Bettlach, Jerry Hanley, Peg MacMorris, and Margaret Cottam

Sign up for the building expansion newsletter!

Until All of Us Are Free: Intersectionality at Foothills

October 24, 2022 /

Intersectionality is a phrase coined by Black feminist Kimberle Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and leading scholar of critical race theory. Intersectionality acknowledges the links between and among injustices and the ways that different identities and experiences co-exist within people – so that queer justice is Black justice is climate justice is immigration justice. Rather than competing for resources or overwhelming us, intersectionality helps us to understand the structural and systemic connections that create the conditions for oppression and injustice and invite us to address those conditions at their source.  
 
None of us are free until all of us are free, and the work toward freedom and justice is shared work. When we come together and seek out and respond to the places our passions and causes weave together, we can have a more significant impact than any of us could have on our own. By responding to the intersections – by approaching justice holistically – we can seed the most lasting structural and systemic change.

In 2018 Board of Trustees drafted a justice-oriented vision grounded in intersectionality, especially in our 6th vision statement: 
 
Foothills is a leader in Northern Colorado in developing sustainable, innovative, intersectional approaches to caring for our earth and its people to ensure a greater flourishing of all life.
 
The board was aware of the many different justice commitments our mission and our faith require of our community. And they were aware of the tendency for these commitments to compete with each other, or quickly become overwhelming to the point of inaction – especially for a predominantly white congregation like ours. By centering intersectionality in our justice work, we can maximize our resources to have the most impact and collectively ground in the commitment to liberation for all that our faith requires of us.
 
Activist Ericka Hart reminds us that “Intersectionality is more than just talking about the numerous identities a person holds. It is about the overlapping, multiple sources of oppression that people experience due to their multifaceted identities.” As we look ahead in our shared justice work, the lens of intersectionality reminds us to seek not just the places where injustice overlaps. Intersectionality directs us toward those places where our efforts can have the greatest impact and the farthest reach and, as our vision encourages, ensures a “greater flourishing of all life.” 
 
With all this in mind, the Foothills Intersections Group was born. The group is comprised of two leaders from each of Foothills’ Justice Ministries. The group’s goal is to address social change more explicitly and social justice at the intersections, share knowledge/lessons learned, support each other, and improve communication and cross-pollination. 
 
Sign up for the Intersections Newsletter to stay up-to-date!

Music Newsletter: October 2022

October 13, 2022 /

Hello again!

October is a big month for music at Foothills! The Foothills Choir will sing this Sunday for the first time this year. The choir will be joined by our new choral accompanist, Hsin-Hsuan Lin, who will be at the piano during both services. Be sure to say hello after the service! This Sunday, we will also welcome back our Children’s Music Coordinator, Kara Shobe, in leading our Holiday Children’s Choir rehearsals.

Next week, you’re invited to sing in a one-rehearsal pick-up choir on Saturday afternoon, then sing in services on Sunday, 10/23. The services that week will tie into the Singing Revolution event we held in September: exploring peacemaking efforts around the globe and how we can be a part of them from our own community here in Fort Collins. If you are interested in exploring how music can be a part of peace and reconciliation efforts, I encourage you to attend! No musical experience is required––all are welcome!

Here are all the details for both the Pick-Up Choir and the Children’s Holiday Choir:

Global Peace & Justice Pick-up Choir
Rehearsal on Saturday, 10/22 from 1:00 to 3:00pm
Perform in services on Sunday, 10/23 (call time 7:30 a.m.)

Join our Music Director, Benjamin Hanson, for an exciting one-rehearsal musical opportunity! Participants in this pick-up choir will attend a single Saturday afternoon rehearsal to learn two songs which will be performed during services on Sunday, 10/23. These Sunday services will acknowledge peacemaking efforts around the globe, and how we can be a part of those efforts from our own community in Fort Collins. The Pickup Choir will learn a Ukrainian folk song which was arranged by an Estonian composer to raise awareness for the current conflict in Ukraine, as well as a stirring musical call for peace titled “I Choose Love,” by American composer Mark Miller (composer of “Draw the Circle Wide”).

All are welcome—no musical experience is required! This opportunity is open to anyone who wants to explore how music can be a part of non-violent protest and reconciliation efforts. Come join the choir to help make these services a moving experience for our entire community!

The rehearsal will take place in the sanctuary on Saturday, 10/22, from 1 to 3 p.m. Warmups before the service on Sunday, 10/23, begin at 7:30 a.m. Please contact benjamin@foothillsuu.org for more information.

Holiday Children’s Choir Rehearsals Begin
Sundays from 9 to 9:50 a.m. beginning 10/16
Perform in services on Sunday, 12/18

This Sunday marks the return of the Holiday Children’s Choir! Kids in Kindergarten through 5th grade are invited to join our wonderful Children’s Music Coordinator, Kara Shobe, in singing together every Sunday morning from 9 to 9:50 AM. This is a great group to learn about singing, making music with others, playing musical games and building a spiritual practice through making music. The choir will perform in services on Sunday, December 18th.

Rehearsals begin Sunday October 16th, 9:00 am – 9:50 am and continue on all Sundays in November and December through December 18th. Please register here.

A Parent Circle will meet during the Children’s Holiday Choir rehearsal, offering parents a nice spot to gather and find community with other parents over a cup of coffee or tea. Attend the 10 a.m. service with Groups for kids right after choir rehearsal.

Benjamin Hanson, Music Director
benjamin@foothillsuu.org

October 2022 Board Update to the Congregation

October 11, 2022 /

At our last board meeting on the first Thursday of October the board approved receiving and publishing the long-awaited Foothills Unitarian History book. We have all perused the draft and it is a remarkable narrative of our 125 year history.

We also finalized our goals for the 2022-2023 board-year and we wanted to share these with all of you so you can know what we will be working on this year.

  1. A linkage plan to our sources of accountability and authority. This is a UU process where the board reaches out to the congregation and our other sources of accountability and authority to find out exactly what direction you all feel we should be going as a church. This is an important tool for long range planning.
  2. Get our updated bylaws finalized and up for congregational vote at the June 2023 meeting. Some time in the late fall or early winter we will provide our revised bylaws for congregational review and set up meetings for feedback and discussion by interested congregants.
  3. Align our bylaws and policies with monitoring schedule. It is important in a policy/bylaws-based church governance structure that we as a board monitor that the policies and bylaws that we have set up are being followed. This is monitoring. Every board does this, but this schedule needs to be modified to reflect the new bylaws updates.
  4. Appoint a replacement board member to replace Richie Nelsen. Per board policy the board should replace a resigned board member for the remainder of the board-year.
  5. Review current board committees and decide which makes sense under the new policy-based governance and fill those committee positions.

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