11:00 am

Sunday, May 16, 2010

featuring…

The Ron Vincent Quartet

Tim Armacost, saxophone

Jay Bianchi, piano

Dean Johnson, bass

Ron Vincent, drums

with the

Choir and Soloists of the First Unitarian Church

William Peek, director

On Sunday, May 16, we are delighted to present the annual Jazz Service. Our first Jazz Service was offered in 1999, and it has since become an eagerly anticipated (almost) annual tradition.

Our choir and soloists are again privileged to be working with the Ron Vincent Quartet.

Tim Armacost, saxophone, Jay Bianchi, piano, Dean Johnson, bass, and Ron Vincent, drums, are four of New York’s leading jazz veterans.  Individually, they have worked with many legends of jazz, including Gerry Mulligan, Phil Woods, Lee Konitz, Wynton Marsalis, Ravi Coltrane, and many others.  They have appeared on dozens of recordings and have performed in concert halls throughout the world.  All are active jazz educators, teaching at colleges in New York and presenting master classes and clinics throughout the United States.

The jazz service is always spiritually rewarding as well as fun!  Mark your calendars and bring a friend!

The Religious Education Council announces the formation of our very first Parent Association for parents and guardians of children enrolled in our Religious Education programs!  The opening meeting of this new P.A. will be held after Coffee Hour this Sunday. 

We need ALL parents and guardians to attend so that we can introduce the current leadership and outline the role we envision for the Association.  We will also use the P.A. meeting to introduce you to our Religious Education programs and help you all better understand what exactly our 1st U children can expect this coming RE year.  

Please attend the meeting and come see how you can involve yourself in the process of developing your child’s faith.  Come learn about the curricula being taught this fall.  Learn about the social activities we’re planning for all our young members and come see what we think your child can expect from this year of Sunday School.

Please join us in a meal of if community sharing with our Muslim friends and neighbors. Food contributions are welcome: no pork products please.

Interested in helping with setup or cooking? Please contact Alex Wolf at alexmwolf@gmail.com or Rita Pearl at rdpearl@optonline.net

We are looking for a few handy people to help out with this summer’s work project: upgrading the Undercroft Ladies Bathroom!  You don’t have to be a lady to care about the state of our facilities!

The Project will be over two Sundays: August 23rd and August 30th.  (You don’t need to volunteer for both days to be involved! )

We’ll be plastering, painting, doing some minor repairs, and putting in new lighting.

To get involved or to donate for materials, please contact Paul Eisemann or Becky Huffman

becky7676 @hotmail.com, 917 640 3488

Joined the Congregation this year?

Had fun at the last Welcome Dinner?

Please join us at the next…

First UU Welcome Dinner!

Friday, August 28th 6:00pm

“End of Summer BBQ”

on the patio of 48 Monroe Place, or if rain, in the Frances White Room

Bring a beverage or dessert to share!

RSVP: Becky Huffman & Andrew Bongiorno:

 becky7676@hotmail.com

917 640 3488

New to First UU?

Joined this year?

Please join us at a BBQ on the church patio!

Friday, June 19th at 6:00PM.

BYOB

All are Welcome!

Hosted by Juliette and Cooper Miller-Richey

For questions or to RSVP, please email coordinator Becky Huffman at becky7676-at-gmail.com

SAT, MAY 16:  10 AM TO 4 PM
SUN, MAY 17:  NOON TO 2 PM

• Air Conditioners
• Answering Machines
• Batteries (Including Household Batteries)
• Cables and wiring
• Cell Phones
• Copiers
• DVD Players
• Electric Typewriters
• FAX Machines
• Hard Drives
• Laptops
• Mainframes
• Modems
• Pagers
• Personal Computers (CPUs, monitors, keyboards, mouse and peripherals)
• Printers
• Printed Circuit Boards
• Radios
• Remote Controls
• Scanners
• Servers
• Tape Players
• Telephones
• Televisions (CRT, Plasma, LCDs)
• Testing Equipment
• Transparency Makers
• Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) Systems
• VCRs

Contact: Nancy Wolf (jlnwolfinc-at-aol.com)
Church Office: (718) 624-5466

FREE admission!
(except Friday 9a – 10a: $10 admission)

Books, videos, DVDs, CDs and LPs! Used children’s books, cookbooks, art books, paperbacks, trade and hardcover, fiction and nonfiction, how-to and whodunit, plus music and movies in all formats.

Book Drive
now through May 5

Clear off your shelves and donate your unwanted books, videos, DVDs, CDs and LPs! We want your unwanted children’s books, cookbooks, art books, paperbacks, trade and hardcover, fiction and nonfiction, how-to and whodunit, plus music and movies in any format.
 
Bring them all to the Church on Sunday, or to the church office Monday through Thursday from 10 AM to 4 PM, and Friday from 10 AM to noon.

Also, help is needed to sort books the week before BookFair, and to during the sale. Let’s all do our part to make this important service to the community a successful fundraiser for First U.

We want to hear what you think about these projects and any ideas you may have to improve them. There will be two opportunities for input, so these concepts can be finalized prior to the Annual Meeting:

1)     HOUSE MEETINGS on Sunday, April 26, 5-7 pm
      Our Bodies, Our Spirits, Our Lives – at the Church 
      Simple Gifts – at the home of Vonda Brunsting, Cobble Hill      
For the house meetings, please RSVP to Jocelyn Smith at jsmith929@hotmail.com OR
2)     INFORMATIONAL FORUM after service on Sunday, May 3, 12:45pm

Project descriptions:

  Our Bodies, Our Spirits, Our Lives:

Equal Rights and Equal Care for People of All Sexualities and Genders

This project proposes that the congregation spend the next year working for equal rights for people of all sexualities and genders. Unitarian Universalists have been at the forefront of the struggle for gender and sexuality equality. Our own congregation has a long history of supporting women’s rights, reproductive rights and gay rights. This year finds our state and our nation at a tipping point where goals we have hoped to achieve for many years now appear to be within reach.

If we choose this project as First Unitarian’s social justice focus for the coming year, we would have the opportunity to apply our progressive faith’s values toward justice issues pertaining to sex and sexuality discrimination. The project will allow congregants to work on activities such as promoting comprehensive school-based sex education in NYC, legalizing civil marriage for gays and lesbians in New York State, preserving legal abortion in the U.S., joining with local UU congregations to implement a young adult OWL (Our Whole Lives) sexuality curriculum, joining with UU congregations nation-wide to advocate for the repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy in the military, and supporting federal financing of comprehensive family planning programs — including abortion — around the world.

Simple Gifts

“Simple Gifts” proposes that the congregation work with other institutions to create a social and economic justice network. The idea was brought to us by the Coordinator of Community Service at St. Ann’s School, and partnership with local schools and with other faith institutions would be an intrinsic part of this effort. We would join together to coordinate monthly “drives” to collect necessities such as food, clothing, books, computers, etc, and make sure they are delivered to people who need them. We also hope to establish one-on-one partnerships with groups serving those we intend to help. Finally, we would host forums on social and economic justice issues.

This project would help us address the needs of those who have been hit hardest by this economic downturn, take an active hand in reusing valuable resources that might otherwise be discarded, and allow us to strengthen our ties with other institutions and individuals in the community. Congregants could get involved in a number of ways, including by publicizing or coordinating the “drives,” by planning the forums, and by taking part in volunteer opportunities with the groups serving the individuals we are helping.  

Free and open to the public

Speakers:

Rabbi Joseph Potasnik – Executive Vice President, NY Board of Rabbis; spiritual leader of Congregation Mt. Sinai of Brooklyn Heights

Mohammad Soleymani – Assistant Professor of Economics at Borough of Manhattan Community College

Presentations followed by Q&A

Come learn about the history and economics that have created and continue to inflame the current dire situation in Gaza. These topics are generally downplayed beside the religious and/or ethnic differences, but are critical factors to examine in order to gain a complete understanding and enable an informed discussion about the realistic potential for the future.

Sponsored by Weaving the Fabric of Diversity.