Sunday Services Committee Meeting – Minutes from Sept. 14, 2014
Attendance: Wayne Walder, Gordon Thorne (co-chair), Moira MacDonald (chair), Susanne Mazaiarz, Kristina Kiil, Allison Kabayama (recording secretary), Margaret Evans, Helen Armstrong, Peter Marmorek, Margaret Hazlewood, Kurt Thomsen
- Purpose of meeting: To map out the services for the coming year.
- Wayne explained this year’s themes and his direction for services in 2014/15. Said the danger of liberal religion is that it’s “all about me,” when in fact people must be called upon to build the common good. We don’t keep the gift for ourselves, but offer it out to the world. The “hero” is a metaphor for learning to be big enough to do this.
- The Call (October) – When life asks us to do something.
- Seeking Wisdom (November) – The place where we seek wisdom when we’re feeling lost or shaken; sometimes we think that that is too hokey
The Unknown – Realizing every one of us is going to die, so we must welcome the time while we’re alive
- Discussion of fall planning calendar:
Discussion of intergenerational services, significant holidays, building in rituals.
Possibilities for guest speakers: Curtis at First UU, Dying with Dignity, Yvette Roberts on death, Alanna Mitchell, Katherine Wright (T.O. School of Theology; eco-spirituality teacher), Rod Solano-Quesnel, Lori Kyle (UU Minister), Carly ( our previous intern)
- Need for AV Technician and AV Team: Need to recruit a cheerleader/head technician at the Sept. 28 volunteer fair who can take this role on and start to build a team; folks who can oversee all technical elements at each service and help us develop capacity to adopt other technology and features into our services.
- Announcements: There has been discussion about whether announcements could be removed from the service time and instead posted elsewhere; possibly during coffee time. Much pushback on this as some feel that it is an important part of service time for them, community-building. Susanne M. expressed an interest in no longer having responsibility for announcements. The role was taken on by her because service leaders were turning to read them, embellishing announcements, etc. More discussion is required.
- Next meeting: Sunday, November 23.