President's Pulse
by John Iacoletti
December 1999
World Wide Interdependent Web
It's rather fitting I think that the World Wide Web was created by a Unitarian
Universalist (Tim Berners-Lee), because the notion of an interdependent web of existence
has been part of the UU landscape for many many years. According to the Census Bureau,
Austin, TX is the number one city in the United States in terms of home Internet use
(32.4%), so you may not find it surprising that Live Oak has a newsletter mailing list of
about 150, and an email list of about 100. What you may not be aware of is what an
extensive network of online UU communities there are. When I first went around looking for
online UUs back in 1994, there was a discussion list (UUs-L) and a newsgroup
(soc.religion.unitarian-universalist). These two still exist and are quite active, but in
addition to these, there are now (at last count) 126 different UU-related mailing lists
sponsored by the UUA alone. These run the gamut from church finance (uu-money) to church
leadership (uu-leaders) and from religious education (reach-l) to administrator/newsletter
editor issues (uu-edit-admin). There is also a real time UU chat (#uujoint on IRC) that
takes place 3 or 4 days a week. There is far far more information than any one person
could possibly absorb, but it allows those who are interested to find a niche and a
community of people who can help you solve a problem your church committee is struggling
with, or people you can explore spiritual ideas and practices with. On one mailing list
(uu-community), our very own James Hamilton shared his response to the commonly asked
question, "What do UUs believe?" He gave me permission to include part of his
response here.
Usually, I think people are curious about what we might call theological beliefs when
they ask this question. I refer to two of the principles guiding our congregations:
"a free and responsible search for truth and meaning" and "acceptance of
each other and encouragement to spiritual growth." To simplify the first, I often say
that, while Catholics place spiritual authority in the Church, and Protestants in the
Bible, UUs place it with the individual. Each of us must decide what to believe anyway. In
a pluralist society, we all make the decision what to believe, even if that means deciding
to accept the Church's or the Bible's authority. Nowadays, we don't live in a society
where there really is no other option and it's just assumed that one will follow a
community-sanctioned religion. We all have that choice and it may be a choice not to
decide and just accept the faith (or lack of it) that we were raised with. So, to me, it
makes sense to explicitly assert this in my choice of faith community, which is one reason
I'm now a Unitarian Universalist. The second cited principle means that we accept that
people in our faith community can come to different conclusions about these beliefs, and
that we encourage each other to follow our "leadings" with sincerity, intention,
and benevolence toward the views of others. At least, I hope so.
It is gems like this that make the online UU community an important part of my own
religious education.
In community,
John
November 1999
Lift Up Your Voices And Sing
Like many of you, I find a great deal of my spirituality in music: creating it as well
as listening to it. If you missed the performance last week by Trey
Bone (a.k.a. Bill Dower, Sue Ann Kendall, and Austin Kessler) you missed a real treat.
I have had a lot of fun singing with all three of them in the choir, at campfires, and at
the karaoke party, but this coming together of voices and instruments on this day was
magical. I am not a music critic, but (as they say) I know what I like, and the
combination of songs I grew up with, along with Trey Bone's beautiful soaring harmonies
sent shivers down my spine. What made it extra special was that these are people who are
part of my community, people I care about, who are giving this incredible gift of their
talents and their souls, and radiating so much joy while they are doing it. That was what
made this concert transcend into a religious experience for me. And isn't that, after all,
why we come to church?
In Community,
John
October 1999
Stewardship And You
The Live Oak Canvass for the year 2000 ("Y2Kanvass"? Nahhh!) is now well
underway. Even though our church governance is by consensus and open to all, there are
many of you, for a variety of reasons, who have not had the opportunity to participate
directly in the decision making. The canvass is one opportunity for you to have a
face-to-face discussion, and the undivided attention of someone who wants to hear what's
going well, what's going not so well, and any other feedback you might have to help make
the church a healthy and meaningful community. It is so crucial that all members and
friends have a chance to participate and to be heard.
The canvass is also the time to reflect on what the church means to you, and to visit
or revisit your commitment and support. The canvass is the time to make your financial
pledge for the upcoming year, but that's only part of the picture. Your commitment of time
and energy is also what makes the church succeed and continue to be an important part of
our lives and the greater community. This is what is meant by "stewardship".
It's not just the latest buzzword from Boston. When you are a steward, you are much more
than a contributor: you are a caretaker, the keeper of visions, and the nurturer of a
legacy. You honor the commitment of the stewards who came before by helping to build and
preserve a community for the stewards yet to be.
So when your friend comes a-calling with a pledge card, don't just think about dollars.
Think also about your commitment of time, energy, and talents, and which piece of the
church needs them the most.
In Community,
John
September 1999
Welcome Back and Welcome In
You wouldn't know it by looking at a thermometer, but fall is in the air! By that I
mean the new church year has already started. The children are nestled all snug in their
R.E. classes, we're seeing familiar faces back from summer adventures as well as new faces
of friendships to come. And there is a renewed energy that is quite contagious as people
dive in to make our dreams and goals for the new year a reality. So welcome back and
welcome in. I'm glad you're here!
Greater Austin UU Community
I am very excited that there is a strong commitment among the leaders of Live Oak UU,
First UU, and the Austin UU Fellowship to do what we can to support and nurture community
and collaboration among our congregations. The first collaborative effort (and the
brainchild of Pat and Mike Pore from the Fellowship) is a joint flyer, with information on
all three congregations, that we will all make available to visitors interested in the
different UU opportunities in the area. So stop by the greeter's table and have a look! We
hope to expand this idea to include joint advertising, and also to coordinate our social
activities and social justice work to include more opportunities for building community
and working together amongst our congregations. In the works is a plan for a great big
Austin UU picnic sometime in October, so watch this space!
In Community,
John
August 1999
CHANGES
The prophet Bowie once said "turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes". Live
Oak continues to go through a period of intense change and uncharted territory as we
struggle to bring our church organization and structure in line with our size. One of our
growing pains has been that during our monthly steering committee meetings, we often find
ourselves being pulled on by two different but equally important needs. One need is for
steering committee to be more rigorously structured as an approval body, considering very
crisply defined proposals brought forth by committees. The other need is a venue for
committees and other interested parties to communicate, bounce ideas off of one another,
discuss issues that affect multiple committees, and brainstorm new ideas and approaches
for solving problems. What the steering committee has discovered is that it's difficult,
if not impossible, to do both on a single night without one or both needs getting short
shrift.
An innovative idea for resolving this dilemma was first floated by Jenny Carloye at the
June meeting. It generated much enthusiasm and was further fleshed out and ultimately
approved at the July meeting. The idea is this: Let's alternate months. One month we will
conduct new business, consider proposals, and approve them or send them back to committee
as appropriate. The next month we will discuss, brainstorm, hear committee reports, work
out calendaring and coordination issues between committees, and communicate, communicate,
communicate. Of course both months we will continue with the potlucks and social time that
has been so important in maintaining our community, as well as providing professional
child care.
As we figure out and refine the best methods for governing our community, I think it's
less important that we do everything perfectly the first time we try. What's important is
that we are doing it together.
In Community,
John
July 1999
RANDOM MUSINGS
In the spirit of soapbox Sunday, I offer some random thoughts that have been bouncing
around my head lately:
I notice that whenever a national tragedy occurs, legislators of all political stripes
deal with their anxiety by trying to make lots of new laws. Not much thought is given to
whether the new laws will actually address the problem they are reacting to, or if the new
laws are even constitutional. Perhaps what this country needs is a mandatory waiting
period for legislation!
More Boy Scouts battles: I learned that not long after a difficult compromise was
reached between the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the Unitarian Universalist Association
allowing us to resume offering the Religion and Life Award to UU scouts, the BSA changed
their minds once again. The compromise was that the UUA would remove all statements in the
Religion and Life manual that were critical of the BSA's policies which discriminate on
the basis of religion and sexual orientation. The UUA would then provide supplemental
material which explains our religious principles with regard to religious tolerance and
the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Even though they previously agreed,
they've now decided that this is still "inconsistent with Scouting’s
values". Frankly I'm amazed that UUA president Rev. John Buehrens has put up with
this for so long. This former Cub Scout lost patience a long time ago.
Kudos to Live Oak member (and Executive Director of the Texas ACLU) Jay Jacobson for
his appearance on a national political talk show, "Hardball with Chris Matthews"
on CNBC. Jay gave a very eloquent counterpoint to U.S. Representative Bob Barr's opinion
that Wiccans and Pagans should not be permitted to exercise their religion on U.S.
military bases. Jay was positive and reasonable in the face of some really nasty,
condescending, and outright bogus characterizations of earth-based religions. All
religions are equal, but some are more equal than others I guess. Way to go Jay!
In Community,
John
June 1999
THE HUMAN FACE OF WAR
Branislav Bajagic popped into our UU Internet discussion list last November. He said he
didn't really know anything about Unitarian Universalism, but found us by accident as he
was searching around the Internet looking for resources and contacts for his passion --
which is to promote village tourism in his country. Branislav not only wanted to share his
beautiful countryside with the world, but saw this as a way to give the villages an
economic boost as well. Branislav's country is Yugoslavia. He stayed a couple of weeks,
participated in some of the discussion topics, and then was gone as quickly as he came.
At the end of March, when the NATO bombing started, a few list members wrote to
Branislav privately to see if he was OK, and invited him to come back to the list and tell
us his impressions of the conflict. Amazingly enough, his electricity and Internet access
have remained stable enough for him to give us fairly regular reports about what's going
on over there.
It has been a real eye-opener for me. It's one thing to sit over here and get updates
on the nightly news about something that isn't quite real because it's so far away, it's a
complex circumstance to understand, and we are getting a certain amount of "spin
doctoring" from our government and the media. It is quite another thing to see the
reality of war through the eyes of somebody who is experiencing it -- somebody I know and
care about.
Branislav is very proud of his country and his history. Through his broken English
emerges a picture of a gentle man who is not that much different from me. He appreciates
the beauty of nature, he ponders the mystery of life, he wonders about spiritual issues,
and he loves his family and his community. And he doesn't understand why our country
thinks we are helping to solve any of his country's problems by dropping bombs on them.
I fear that one day my friend Branislav will stop writing to our mailing list, and we
will be left to worry and wonder if there is anything left of him or his villages for the
tourism he has dreamed about and has worked so hard for to become a reality.
Meanwhile back at home, a writer to the Austin American-Statesman -- in two sentences
-- summed up for me the Littleton tragedy better than all of the volumes that have been
written on the subject:
"Why wouldn't kids use guns and bombs to solve their problems? It's what the
grownups do."
In Community,
John
May 1999
A NEW UU CHURCH IN AUSTIN
We received word a few weeks ago that there were a couple of people exploring the idea
of starting a new UU congregation in South Austin, and would any of us charter Live Oak
members be willing to meet with them and share some of the fruits of our experience and
some of the nuts & bolts of how to get started. You bet we would! Although we're a
young congregation ourselves, we already have a history of helping a fledgling UU
community get started. Many of you will recall that Live Oak as a community, and Barb
Kemper-Nolan in particular, was instrumental in helping the Comal County UU congregation
in New Braunfels get started a couple of years ago.
Now I must point out that although I am a charter Live Oak member, I was only
peripherally involved in the initial organization of this church back in 1992.
Fortunately, Alice Sessions and Jon Durbin, two of the people who were instrumental in our
inception, were also eager to meet and to help. The three of us had lunch with Mary K.
Isaacs and gave her lots of encouragement and probably way too much information to digest
in one sitting! Many of you remember Mary K. as the mom of the singing family who graced
us with a wonderful and memorable Sunday service last September. I found Mary K. and Carol
Knight (who is working with Mary K. to get this started) to be friendly, very
enthusiastic, and strong leaders. I am confident that this new church will get started and
will be successful.
And this is good news for Austin and good news for Unitarian Universalism. Austin is
under served compared to similar sized cities. South Austin is the obvious choice -- all 3
of the existing UU congregations are north of the river, and South Austin is experiencing
booming growth.
So should we worry about the "competition"? No way! It benefits all of us to
have more UU opportunities in the city. Not only do we all benefit from the increased
exposure and visibility in the community, but we must remember that demographics tells us
that church attendees overwhelmingly choose a church within a 3 mile radius of their
homes. Wouldn't it be nice if that church could be a UU church?
Should we worry about people we care about choosing another UU congregation? I don't
think of it as losing a friend or two, but rather gaining a whole group of new friends --
people in South Austin who are UUs "but just don't know it yet". How do we
foster and nurture these "cross congregational" relationships? I have a vision
for a more unified community of Central Texas UU congregations that I will share with you,
but it will have to wait for another article!
In community,
John
April 1999
THE NEW CHURCH ON THE EDGE OF TOWN
Last week my kids were on spring break from school, so I took them on a trip to
Albuquerque, NM to visit family and to give Martha some well-deserved peace and quiet.
Usually when I'm in Albuquerque, I visit the big UU church that I grew up in. This time I
decided instead to check out the new congregation on the West Side. They formed just a few
years ago, currently have fewer than 100 adult members, have a part-time minister . . .
stop me if this is beginning to sound familiar! I walked in to discover a blossoming group
of people with a lot of spirit and a lot of heart. Everyone was very welcoming and
friendly. One nice woman chatted with us before the service started and showed Paul and
Stephanie the way to their R.E. classes at the appropriate time in the service. Many of
the trappings were familiar and comforting to me: we sang the Doxology (they called it
"Welcoming Song"), we did "Joys and Concerns", and we sang "Go
Now In Peace" at the end of the service. By the time we broke for coffee and
conversation, I really felt like I was part of a greater whole and a greater community --
one that is being experienced every week by people in thousands of different places, just
like this one, all across the continent.
THANK YOU JENNY
It seems like major changes always occur when I'm away on vacation. I returned to
discover that Jenny Carloye has stepped down as R.E. Hub. We all owe Jenny an enormous
debt of gratitude for her hard work over the last few years. Jenny's leadership,
organizational skills, and a lot of blood, sweat and tears have transformed the Live Oak
Religious Education program into a first-rate program that is the envy of even the large
congregations across our district. The fact that she did all this in an unpaid volunteer
position makes her accomplishments all the more impressive. Thank you Jenny, from the
bottom of my heart!
In Community,
John
March 1999
THE VISION THING
I attended the kickoff meeting of the new Vision Committee on February 7th, and I was
struck by a couple of observations: one is that we have such an inspiring enthusiasm and
commitment on the part of long-time members and newer members alike to make this community
work and make it succeed. My other observation is that becoming a "big" church
is exciting, but also scary.
It's something that we are still coming to terms with.
We have been flirting with the 100 member mark for a little while now. As I write this
column, the next new member Sunday is a week away, and we may get our 100th member then.
Or we may not. One hundred is just a number, but it represents a rite of passage in our
church. It represents a quantum leap of sorts from "small church" to "big
church". There are a lot of assumptions, spoken and unspoken, about what it means to
be a big church. Will we lose some of our friendliness and intimacy? Will it not feel
quite so warm and fuzzy and safe? Will I walk into church one day and realize that I don't
know everybody anymore?
At the Vision meeting Paul Brandner brought up a point that becomes more and more
profound the more I think about it: growth is not a goal unto itself. Growth is the result
of a church that is meeting the needs of its community.
If we are providing worship services that speak to every person's inner light, if we
are teaching our children (and ourselves) respect, tolerance, mindful living, and our
other shared values, if we are providing social activities where we can play together and
also form deeper, meaningful bonds with each other, if we provide social action
opportunities where we can reach out into the greater community and make a difference in
people's lives, then we cannot help but to grow! Growth is not a goal, but rather the
natural consequence of achieving our shared visions and goals.
This makes the idea of "big church" a lot less scary sounding to me. Live Oak
IS a friendly, welcoming, intimate place, no matter how many people find that out. But we
do need to be mindful about what exactly our shared visions and goals are if we are
committed to meeting the needs of the community. That's what the upcoming visioning
sessions are all about.
For this to be successful, we need to hear from everybody, and we all need to listen to
what we hear. So what are your visions for our church? How do we get from here to there?
And what are we waiting for?!
In Community,
John
February 1999
WHY SEXUALITY EDUCATION IN CHURCH?
For the next 9 weeks we will be teaching the About Your Sexuality (AYS) curriculum at
Live Oak to a group of our young people in grades 6-9. I am one of the teachers, along
with Patty Bissar, Mary McIntosh, and Roger Sessions. We have all been trained and
certified to teach the course and have taught it before.
AYS was originally published by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1971. It has
been revised seven times since then to provide updated information and to add new
material, for example about AIDS. I took AYS twice as a youth, once at age 11 and again at
age 15. It changed my life. Not only did AYS give me a positive, healthy view of
sexuality, but I am convinced that it was also a big influence in my not internalizing
homophobic attitudes from my peers and society.
AYS came under fire a little over a year ago when it was misrepresented on a national
tabloid news program. Live Oak swiftly issued a press release which was put together by
Roger, Chuck Freeman, Jillian Bissar, and myself. As part of that release, I wrote the
following:
"Having the opportunity to take this class when I was a teenager made a big
difference in my life. I learned that sexuality is a healthy, natural part of being human,
and I got the information and the skills that I needed to make responsible and informed
choices. These days it is more important than ever -- it can be a matter of life and
death. We cannot afford to hide our heads in the sand, or hope that fear and shame will
somehow protect our kids and turn them into responsible adults with healthy relationships.
They are bombarded with unhealthy, exploitive sexual images every day through the media,
through advertising, and through the popular culture. This course is all about balancing
those influences with positive, healthy images, accurate and honest information, and
responsible decision making."
This was a truly revolutionary concept in 1971. In many ways it still is. It still
boggles my mind how much our young people are being short-changed in the public schools,
and how much fear, shame, negativity, and just plain misinformation is passing for sex
education there. Why teach sex education at church? Because it one of the most important
things we can do as Unitarian Universalists.
Even with the updated information, AYS is showing its age. The UUA has been working
with the United Church of Christ for the last several years on a new set of curricula for
comprehensive, life-span sexuality education. It will feature age appropriate information
in five different components:
Kindergarten-1st grade, 4th-5th grades, 7th-9th grades, senior high, and adults. This
is called "Our Whole Lives" (OWL), and I'm looking forward to offering them at
Live Oak as soon as they are field tested and ready, along with trained instructors.
In Community, John
January
NEW HAPPENINGS IN THE NEW YEAR
Happy New Year! Way back in the olden days (1983), the artist formerly known as
"Prince" -- whose legal name is now a symbol or an odor or something - sang
about how he was "gonna party like it's 1999". Now we finally get to see if the
year lives up to the party.
There are a couple of initiatives from the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA)
that you will be hearing more about in the coming year. The first has actually been around
for a little while. It's called "Creating A Jubilee World", and it's the UUA's
anti-racism program. Carrie Stewart's timing in bringing this program to Live Oak is
especially fortuitous as it coincides with Austin mayor Kirk Watson's recent "racial
reconciliation" efforts which our minister Chuck Freeman has been involved in. The
challenge is how we can work for racial justice, equity, and inclusiveness without
becoming mired in the blame, shame, and guilt that can so easily keep us from moving
forward. I look forward to learning more in the months ahead.
The other initiative is a lot more fuzzy in my head right now, but I believe reflects
the UUA's primary goal for the next 3 or 4 years. It's called "Fulfilling The
Promise". A cynic might say that this is the "Bishops of Boston" trying to
make a power grab and undermine our great tradition of congregational polity
(self-determination) in our denomination. On the other hand, an proponent might say that
its goal is for congregations to build upon our shared values and resources to covenant
together and work together in a united voice to make a difference in our world and in
people's lives. I personally think we can do both, but I look forward to seeing how this
gets rolled out. We as a congregation need to decide in what ways, if any, we would like
to participate in these activities. If you are interested in denominational affairs and
"the big picture" as it affects our denomination, I invite you to be Live Oak's
contact person for Fulfilling The Promise". This would mainly involve disseminating
information, making recommendations to the congregation, and most likely participating in
activities at General Assembly.
Please let me know if you are interested in doing this.
In Community,
John
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