Join Black Lives Matter Grand Junction on Thursday, November 17th at 6:15pm – 7:30pm at the Mesa County Public Library central branch for a non-political discussions about race.
     This community event will talk about some of the big events happening in the world in regards to race. This will be setup in a forum style that will introduce you to your local Black Lives Matter community organization. This will give participants the ability to ask charged questions in a safe environment. 
      This event is being co-thrown by the Black Student Alliance of  Colorado Mesa University.
      All participants will be asked to treat each other with respect, to listen and be polite. 
     There will be an anonymous card box at the beginning of the session where people will ask questions without fear or anxiety. 
     Even though this forum will start out with talking about world issues, it more specifically will examine local racial hardships while at the same time, addressing stereotypes. 
     Black Lives Matter Grand Junction's mission is to hear and protect black voices, empower people of color, and educate the community on racial hardships through empathy, a sharing of stories, and an expression of love

This year’s GVIN (Grand Valley Interfaith Network) Interfaith Thanksgiving service will be 7:00 PM November 22, 2016 at First Congregational Church UCC located at 1425 N. 5th Street Grand Junction, CO.  The theme for the service will be “Blessings in America” and it is an opportunity to gather together and share the rich ways in which the various faith traditions celebrate and say thank you.  The offering to be taken this year will go to the relief work being done in Haiti after Hurricane Matthew devastated much of this country.   Refreshments will follow.

This is a monthly column helping us to get to know our friends and members in a deeper way. We thank Monte High for taking the time to do these in-depth interviews for us every month.
 
     Around 2:30 in the afternoon of July 3, 1991, Tim O’Brien walked into the Westside 15th in Victorville California. He sat down at the bar and ordered himself a beer.
     Tim had just recovered from a bad relationship, which was preceded by a long line of bad relationships. During Tim’s conversation with the bartender he mentioned that this time he really needed to find a nice guy. The bartender pointed across the bar and asked, “like that guy over there”? Being that the Westside 15th was the only gay bar in the high desert, Tim had seen that guy a few times before. He was interested.
     Yes, the interesting nice guy was Jay Martinez. Tim and Jay have been together ever since.
     I could not decide whether to interview Jay or Tim as the subject for this month’s article. I thought about putting it all on them to decide who had to do the interview, let them fight it out. Yet, I didn’t want to be responsible for inciting one of their famous quarrels, even though it would have been entertaining and I would have made a mint by charging admission.
     In many ways Tim and Jay are, as a couple, glue that holds the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Grand Valley together. Congregants often switch their names around, calling Jay Tim, or Tim Jay. And their presence is seen and felt everywhere. Do they have superpowers allowing them to be in more than one place at a time?
     Tim is the treasurer on the Board of Trustees, Jay is a member of the TLC (the Team Leaders Circle). Historically, between the two of them there are very few committees or teams that haven’t experienced their helping hand. From planning to heavy lifting (the oddest being dismantling and selling a conveyor belt system that needed to be removed during the remodeling phase of our current building), there aren’t many tasks that one or the other of them hasn’t done.
     If not for Jay and Tim’s hard work and creativity, the past decade and a half of UUCGV Service Auctions would not have been as successful, or fun, and a couple of them might not have happened at all. Also, those who have been fortunate to win the bidding know about their delicious auction dinner parties (the food is also excellent). And their abiding, super fun auction Super Bowl party.
      Anywise, back to the story – how Tim and Jay found their way to the UUCGV (then named the Uncompahgre Unitarian Universalist Society).
     (Gospel according to Jay) after several dates it became clear that Tim was mostly living at his shop, sleeping in a small camper out back. So Jay talked him into shacking up; attempted to civilize the wild man. In the beginning Tim’s palette couldn’t handle the spicy food, so Jay fixed a separate plate for him. At the time, Jay was supporting his parents, so he was cooking for four.
     It wasn’t long before Jay’s parents figured things out. They asked Tim and Jay if they were a couple. Picture Jay and Tim sitting rigidly, with big eyes, with that nervous uh-oh is all hell going to break loose look. But Jay’s parents were thrilled! They said they’d worried that Jay would never find anyone. How’s that for a coming out party?
     Later, when Tim and Jay were in school, Tim studying graphic engineering and Jay computer science, Jay suddenly had an aortic dissection. It was touch and go for a while. He spent a month in the ICU.
     When Tim’s parents moved to Colorado (Grand Junction) Jay and Tim moved into their vacated house in Apple Valley. The house survived fire and flood, yet they began wondering if it might be a sign that it’s time to move on.
     And then, after Tim’s dad died, they decided to move to Grand Junction to be near Tim’s mother, Shirley. (Shirley is also a UUCGV member.) They found a cute place Downtown on Colorado Ave., and have been fixing it up over the years.
     A couple years later, Jay and Tim met Shari Daly-Miller while they were all volunteering at Western Equality, and Shari introduced them to the UU’s. They spend a lot of their time running Tim’s shop, spending time with family, and hanging out within the UU community.
     And life goes on...    In endless song...

Summer Osborne and Crys Matthews are offering a concert on Saturday, October 22 at 7:00 pm at the church. They will also be our speakers for our October 24 service at 10:30 am. All are welcome.

Osborne is an award winning American singer-songwriter who entertains audiences throughout the US and Canada with her magical brand of melodic and lyrically potent genre-jumping performances. Two time nominee for spiritual song of the year and folk song of the year by International Music & Entertainment awards, Summer masterfully amalgamates the human condition, spirituality, truth, love and healing. When Osborne’s kaleidoscope of music is infused with her charismatic stage presence and naturally humorous personality, every show leaves the listener wanting more. Summer Osborne’s only goal:  to change the world by changing people’s minds about themselves. It's the evolution of the soul... one song at a time.

DC’s Crys Matthews blends Americana, folk, jazz, blues, bluegrass and funk into a bold, complex performance steeped in traditional melodies and punctuated by honest, original lyrics. Having been compared to everyone from Toshi Reagon to Tracy Chapman to Ruthie Foster, Matthews’ eclectic infusion of genres has won her honorable mentions at the 2013 and 2014 Mid-Atlantic Song Contest and extensive radio play from Woman of Substance radio to WTJU-Charlottesville and WMRA-Harrisonburg to KBOO-Portland.

Sunday, September 11 is our annual Ingathering/Water Communion. You are welcome to bring a small amount of water to the service, taken from special places you have been over the summer, or that is otherwise significant or symbolic in some way. We will pour the water into one container, tell the congregation where it is from and the meaning it has for you, and join it with water from years past. 

This is a monthly column helping us to get to know our friends and members in a deeper way. We thank Monte High for taking the time to do these in-depth interviews for us every month.
 
As she was in the beginning (of time), is now, and forever shall be. Muse over all the begetting and circumstance, the improbable possibility. She was, she is, she shall be the twinkle in her parents eyes. Her father Jim, her mother Kathie, meeting on a blind date – a sparkle that is the precious jewel Elizabeth High, becoming.
Elizabeth was born beneath the Flatirons in Boulder, Colorado. She was born on a New Moon (the phase of the moon when it is in conjunction with the sun) on the first day of the Lunar New Year, 1973, the year of the ox. She is (in accordance with pseudo-Chinese lore) a stabilizing force that perpetuates the cycle of life. She stands immobile against the test of adversity. She seeks to serve integrity.
Elizabeth’s childhood was full of music. She began taking piano lessons at age 5 and flute lessons in fifth grade. She played flute in the junior high and high school orchestra.
The Dewey family – Kathie and Jim, Elizabeth and her older brother Nick – spent many weekends exploring the Colorado high country, backpacking trips in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter.
In the spring of 1979, when Elizabeth was in kindergarten, the Dewey family visited the Soviet Union for about two months.  Jim worked for the US Geological Survey. The trip was conducted as part of a scientific exchange on earthquake studies, yet they were able to get in a good bit of sightseeing.
The Soviet trip roused in Kathie a passion for Russian culture that lasted her entire life. Kathie poured over Russian literature, attended classes at the University of Colorado, and engaged with the local Russian immigrant community. She was involved in the Boulder-Dushanbe Sister City project, which helped establish the landmark teahouse that was gifted by Dushanbe. The teahouse was disassembled piece by piece in Dushanbe and then reassembled in downtown Boulder. Dushanbe, Tajikistan was one of the places the Dewey family visited on their trip to the USSR.
Elizabeth attended Grinnell College. At first she didn’t know what she wanted to study. She discovered that the Russian studies professors were extraordinary. She loved to study languages, even though the pronunciation of foreign languages is difficult for her. And, she found out that Russian majors also studied Russian history and literature. What decision was there to make, really? Elizabeth also played flute in the Grinnell orchestra and performed a senior flute recital.
After a 2 ½ year struggle with ovarian cancer, during Elizabeth’s sophomore year at Grinnell, her mother, Kathie, passed away while Elizabeth was home for Thanksgiving break. Kathie was much beloved. Her death sent waves of pain surging through the Dewey family. (Jim later married a wonderfully kind, loving and inspiring woman – Selena – who has been a blessing to the family.)
In 1993 Elizabeth ventured to Krasnodar Russia for a semester abroad, and in 1994 to St. Petersburg, Russia for a summer internship at a seed bank.
After Grinnell, Elizabeth worked for a year at a plant nursery while taking botany classes at CU. In 1996 she went on to work at a supported-employment service for adults with developmental disabilities, where she first considered a career in occupational therapy. Elizabeth took night classes at Front Range Community College for two years while working full time, in order to get her prerequisites for OT school.
In 2001 she took the short trip north to Fort Collins to attend the occupational therapy graduate school at Colorado State University. Despite the demanding curriculum, Elizabeth began to notice a prodigiously peculiar man gliding around her periphery. His feet seldom touched the ground. One day, out of the blue, she tripped and fell flat-on-her-face in love with him.
In 2003 Elizabeth Dewey put on her walking shoes. She walked through graduation and walked down The Aisle to become Elizabeth High.
In 2005 the Highs headed up, up and over the continental divide and gravitated into the Grand Valley. A while later they found the UUCGV and Grand Junction began to feel more like home.
Elizabeth works as a home health occupational therapist for Home Care of the Grand Valley. She finds her job challenging, yet she finds many rewards.
Elizabeth feels a meaningful connection to the UUCGV community, which in turn helps her to feel more connected to the community at large, the universe and beyond. Her spiritual community helps to keep her awake and aware. Her daily spiritual practice drives a deeper connection. Elizabeth practices the teachings of Eknath Easwaran, through the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation – an eight point program of daily meditation and mindfulness training.
             Let Elizabeth be; let her be what she is becoming.
             Life goes on...   In endless song...
 
[If you want to feel more connected to the UUCGV community – check out the covenant groups that are starting up in September – led by Elizabeth High and Martha House.]
 
Yes on T
 
     During the election this November you will notice a ballot measure called No Exception to Involuntary Servitude Prohibition Amendment.  It will appear as Amendment T.  
     As the Unitarian Universalist ministers in Colorado, we urge you to vote YES on this measure.
     We know that slavery is not a Colorado value. But for more than a century our state constitution has preserved the right of the state to enslave people as punishment for a crime. This archaic and hurtful language must be removed.
     You may be asking yourself, what impact might this have on people who are currently incarcerated? The measure will not end prison terms as punishment for crimes committed in our state, but it will help us move forward the conversation about what justice truly looks like in our communities. There are many conversations to be had about what justice looks like, but we believe that we can all agree, that no matter what conclusion we come to about the appropriate measures to address crimes, our response should never include slavery.
     As Unitarian Universalists we hold dear our heritage of abolitionists who fought to end slavery in the 19th century. Ministers like Theodore Parker who is reputed to have kept a pistol in his desk to protect runaway slaves. We are called to continue his heroic work by standing against slavery today.
     We believe that by changing the way we talk about what prison is, and why people are there, we can begin to change the conversations and outcomes and move toward right relationship in our communities.
     The measure would amend Section 26 of Article II of the Colorado Constitution. The following struck-through text would be deleted-
Amending Section 26 of Article II
Section 26. Slavery prohibited.
There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
 
Yours in faith,
Rev. Keith Arnold, Jefferson Unitarian Church; Rev. Eric Banner, Jefferson Unitarian Church; Rev. Barry Bloom, Unitarian Universalist Church of Greeley; Rev. Kelly Dignan, Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder; Rev. Lydia Ferrante-Roseberry, Boulder Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship; Rev. Shawna Foster, Two Rivers Unitarian Universalist; Rev. Gretchen Haley, Foothills Unitarian Church; Rev. Jann Halloran, Prairie Unitarian Universalist Church; Rev. Wendy Jones, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Grand Valley; Rev. Katie Kandarian, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango; Rev. Laurel Liefert, Namaqua Unitarian Universalist Congregation; Rev. Dana Lightsey, High Plains Church, Unitarian Universalist; Rev Julia McKay, Columbine Unitarian Universalist Church; Rev. Mike Morran, First Unitarian Society of Denver; Sean Neil-Barron, Assistant Minister, Foothills Unitarian Church; Aaron Norris, Ministerial Resident, First Universalist Church of Denver; Rev. Nori Rost, All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church; Rev. Jeannie Shero, First Universalist Church of Denver; Rev. Wendy Williams, Jefferson Unitarian Church

This is a monthly column helping us to get to know our friends and members in a deeper way. We thank Monte High for taking the time to do these in-depth interviews for us every month.
 
     Kathleen Hedlund currently finds herself cycling through another major life change. She navigated the labyrinth from birth through childhood and adolescence, and into adulthood. Then, when Kathleen had come to believe that it would be just her and Jeremy growing old together – conception. At the age of 42 Kathleen became a mother. Into the world came Julian, the thoughtful one. [Over the years, many of us were fortunate to see Julian grow up within the congregation. We witnessed the bridging ceremony, and heard him speak with wisdom beyond his years.] When Julian was born Kathleen found herself again experiencing birth, childhood, and adolescence. And then burgeoning adulthood – which brings her around to her current state – seeking to reinvent herself. Sifting through various colors of yarn to weave into her spacious nest.
     Kathleen came into being in Berkeley California. Her sister says that’s proof that she’s hippie all the way. She spent most of her formative years in a rural area North East of the Bay; although, she lived in Southern California for five of her growing-up years, where she learned to love the desert and the ocean. She loved the water, and one of her favorite childhood memories is of bobbing in the ocean, waiting for a wave.
     Kathleen went to college at UC Davis. She wanted to go to Berkeley, but her parents thought it was too dangerous. The joke amongst her peers was that Davis was the school to go study cows. What she remembers most about Davis is the joy of riding her bike everywhere. She graduated with a psychology degree in 1975.
     After graduation, Kathleen’s Grandma took her on a two week trip to her home country of Sweden, introducing Kathleen to her roots. Kathleen would later repeat this voyage with Julian.
     Time to get a job. Kathleen liked the idea of moving east to live near her relatives in Northern Virginia. She assumed that she would work for the government in some capacity, but ended up working in a shirt & tie shop owned by a New York family. It was a wonderful culture shock to be a part of that family culture and the culture of downtown DC. It seemed to Kathleen that the family argued about everything before they could agree on anything. And she met and befriended people from many different cultures.
     The shop was just up Connecticut Avenue from the White House. They made custom formal shirts for a clientele that ranged from Senators and business tycoons, to pimps. It was an exciting place to be.
     Yet, always, tugging at Kathleen’s sleeve – a strong desire to help people. She started working at an institution for the mentally handicapped. She began taking sign language classes at Gallaudet University.
     Kathleen plotted to become a sign language interpreter. She found a school for interpreter training on Colorado’s Eastern Slope. She stepped into the whirlwind and headed west.
     Kathleen eventually discovered that she simply liked to talk too much. She thought maybe it would suit her better to use her hands for touching, for healing. Kathleen enrolled in nursing school at Auraria College in Denver.
     While Kathleen was living in downtown Denver, attending nursing school and working as a house counselor for transitioning mentally handicapped women, she met Jeremy.  After graduation, she clasped his hand and the whirlwind set them down in Grand Junction.
     Kathleen’s core desire is compassion. She is digging a well of empathy. She has been practicing these qualities as a nurse at St. Mary’s hospital for 30 years. Every day she continues to learn from her patients, their families, and her coworkers.
     When Julian began to grow into his curiosity and ask significant questions about the world, Kathleen began searching for a religious community. She wanted a community that would foster spiritual growth. The Unitarian Universalists were a good fit. She liked the Religious Education and Our Whole Lives (OWL) programs. Julian benefited greatly. It seemed like a natural transition to start giving her time as a teacher. Kathleen has been teaching religious education and middle school Our Whole Lives (OWL) for many years. When she first dipped her toes into the waters of teaching, the Valley’s Unitarian home was still called the Uncompahgre Unitarian Universalist Society.
     Kathleen is grateful that she found the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Grand Valley. She is grateful for the Services and programs that she takes in, and she is grateful for all that she learns from the children while teaching RE and OWL. She says she thoroughly believes the UU tenet that “through continually learning and growing together we encourage and support one another, and our children, to know and express our moral agency”.* (uua.org/re)
 
Planned Giving
 
Planned Giving gifts are essential to a strong financial future for church organizations. There are many different methods of making planned gifts, many with income tax advantages or guaranteed income streams, or ease of disposing of tangible assets. Each month we will present a different method for doing planned giving to a charitable organization.
One simple way for an individual to leave a gift to a charitable organization is to direct the proceeds of a life insurance policy to the organization. The original intention of the insurance policy is often to help meet the financial needs of the family if the policyholder dies prematurely.  As often happens later in life, family members may become  more  financially secure and less dependent on “crisis” funds. Also, the family members may inherit other assets such as real estate, stocks, bonds, heirlooms etc. from the deceased’s total estate.
Making a charitable organization, like UUCGV, a beneficiary or co-beneficiary, of life insurance gives some, or all, of the  death proceeds to the organization when the donor dies. The donor can control precisely how the proceeds are to be split up among beneficiaries. Changing or adding a beneficiary requires obtaining a simple form from the insurance company, describing the details on how the proceeds are to be split, and then signing the form.
Besides the death benefit,  some “permanent” forms of life insurance policies have redeemable cash values that are built up over the years, say $12,000 on a $100,000 policy. The policyholder can assign the ownership of the old policy to UUCGV. The policyholder gets an income tax deduction for the immediate $12,000 cash donation given to UUCGV. If the policyholder continues to make premium payments to keep the policy building more cash value (and maintaining the death benefit) those premium payments are also income tax deductible each year. Assigning ownership just requires obtaining and signing proper forms from the insurance company/agent.
Disclaimer: the information above is not intended to be technical advice. Individuals should always discuss such matters with their insurance agent, financial advisor or attorney before taking action.

     The Grand Valley Interfaith Network is thrilled to announce the beginning of an on-going series of interfaith discussions called Compassionate Conversations: An Interfaith Dialogue (Practicing compassionate communication from a faith perspective.)
     The first conversation will be held on Friday, July 15, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Grand Valley at 7:00 pm.
     Interfaith perspective on issues of the day: Our first conversation will be based on the question, how does/should our faith inform our decision making processes?
     Keep your eyes open for more information!

This is a monthly column helping us to get to know our friends and members in a deeper way. We thank Monte High for taking the time to do these in-depth interviews for us every month.
 
     Dale Foreman didn’t want to spend much time talking about his war experience, yet the five months he spent flying over Germany getting shot at were the most intense times of his life. At the age of 19, a few weeks into the spring semester at Texas A&M University, Dale was drafted into the Army. He was soon off to basic training, ground school and pre-flight training, and then on to B-17 training. In September of 1944, he was sent overseas to Peterborough, England. He flew 35 missions. More than 4000 B-17s were shot down during World War II.
     Dale’s favorite story from the war happened after he completed his missions, when he was stationed for two months in France, near the tiny town of Merville. The assignment seemed on some days to consist mostly of playing cards from breakfast to bedtime. It didn’t take him long to get bored, so he decided to check out the town and learn a little French. He was fortunate to meet a seven-year-old girl, Monique Delanoy, who offered to teach him French for an hour every day, in exchange for a candy bar.
     After having dinner with the Delanoy family, Dale began to realize the full impact of the war on the French people. On top of all the destruction and violence, there were five years of extreme rationing. He and his fellow serviceman were much better off, even with their meager rations, than the people of the town. Dale returned to the Delanoy’s home three evenings a week for the remainder of his stay. As a way to thank the Delanoy family for teaching him French, he brought them food and supplies, including coffee and soap, of which they hadn’t seen in five years.
     When Dale returned from the war he went back to school under the G.I. bill. He is very grateful for the G.I. bill, which helped many servicemen returning from the war. Dale decided not to return to Texas A&M University because it is a military school, and he’d had enough of the military. Instead, he enrolled at Texas Tech University.
     Dale met his first wife, Maxine, in a geology class at Texas Tech. Maxine graduated in 1946, and they were married shortly after. Maxine taught classes in the biology department until Dale graduated a year later with a degree in civil engineering.
     After college, Dale decided to try his hand at farming with his brother. He thought it was a noble, honest and healthy way to make a living. The farm was 640 acres, 540 of which they farmed. It was located about halfway between Amarillo and Lubbock Texas. Maxine and Dale had two sons, Auben and Olen.  He decided to give up farming in 1955 because the family was never able to fit in within the local rural community.
     After they moved to town (Lubbock), Dale worked as an engineer for the city for about a year until Maxine and he decided to become teachers. Their thought was that with both of them teaching they would have a good living and have the summers off. So Dale and Maxine enrolled in grad school at the University of Colorado, where both of them would once again teach classes along with their schooling. They loaded up the family and headed to the mountains. Dale and Maxine developed a good routine of teaching and studying and raising boys, so they decided to keep at it for a while. Why not get our PhD’s?
     During this time at the University of Colorado, tragedy struck the Foreman family. On August 12, 1965, Dale and Maxine’s son Auben died. He stepped out of a swimming pool, touched a light pole and was electrocuted. He was 16 years old. This would affect everything for the remainder of Dale’s life.
     After receiving their PhD’s, Maxine taught at Denver University and Dale at the Colorado School of Mines. Dale taught civil engineering at Mines until he retired 26 years later.
When I think of Dale, I think warmhearted. I think true gentleman – gentle man. Greathearted. I’m sure these qualities served him well during his 35 year teaching career. Teaching was very important to Dale. His door was always open.
1989 was another sad year for Dale. Maxine died of complications from Parkinson’s disease. Dale and Maxine were married 43 years.
     In 1990 the world again opened a door for Dale. Dale found Betty, with the help of Betty’s sister who set them up. Betty and Dale have been married 25 years. Between the two of them they have six grandchildren and one great grandchild.
     Betty and Dale moved to Grand Junction in 2003 to be closer to Betty’s daughter Bea. Grand Junction has worked out well for them, and Bea has been a blessing. She has been a great help to Betty and Dale.
     Dale was born and raised in Amarillo, Texas. He was raised in the Methodist faith. Dale had never heard of Unitarians until he was 34 years old. When he found out about them, he joined right away. He liked being able to do his own thinking. He liked that individuals were not told by the church what they had to believe. Dale has been a staunch UU ever since. He just turned 93.
     Life goes on... In endless song...