The UUCF CommUUnicator The Newsletter of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Fullerton 1600 North Acacia Avenue, Fullerton 92831-1207 July 2017

Rev. Jason Cook, Minister

Sunday, July 2, 10:30 a.m. – Worship Service: To Be a Sanctuary— Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kūpono Kwong, Guest Speaker. What does it mean to be a sanctuary when our religious values are being assailed in the public arena? Does it mean providing a physical space for refugees? Or safety until the coast is clear? Or is there more behind this loaded word? Come explore the critical role our UU congregations can play for such a time as this. Bio: Born and raised in the Philippines (but of Chinese descent), most of Jonipher's adult life was spent in California and Hawai'i. He served several congregations during his over decade-long ministry including: First Unitarian Church of Honolulu (where former President Barack Obama attended Sunday School), Sepulveda UU Society, Temecula Valley UU Community, 'Ohana Metropolitan Community Church in Honolulu and Resurrection Beach MCC in Orange County, CA. His non-profit leadership included serving as Executive Director of the Counseling & Spiritual Care Center of Hawai‘i and API Equality-LA. Raised in an ecumenical background, Dr. Kwong values his pluralistic upbringing – from Evangelical to United Methodist, Episcopalian to Calvary Chapel. He was christened at a Gospel church and baptized as a Chinese Mennonite. In Hawai‘i, Jonipher was a member of the Honolulu Mindfulness Community, a sangha influenced by Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn. Prior to getting “the call,” Jonipher worked in the film industry for three years, followed by two years as a Graphics Specialist at McKinsey & Company in LA. Sunday, July 9, 10:30 a.m. –Worship Service: Pilgrimage—Michael Eselun, Guest Speaker. Popular guest speaker and UCLA Oncology Chaplain, Michael Eselun will explore the idea of pilgrimage - our pursuit of inspiration and enlightenment. Internal journeys and external ones—and some in between. Sunday, July 16, 10:30 a.m. –Worship Service: Searching for Character in Troubled Times—Rev. Jon Dobrer, Guest Speaker. Change comes faster than we can comfortably adjust to. How do we act when life turns from everyday routine to crisis, from romance to farce and from comedy to tragedy? How can we indeed keep our heads while all about us people are losing theirs. Bio: Jonathan is the Minister Emeritus of this congregation where he served for 23 years. After retiring he resumed his first career as a standup comedian. A native of Southern California, he’s a graduate of USC and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and teaches at the University of Judaism. Dobrer is a frequent contributor to the Op-Ed page of the Daily News and writes Out of My Mind, for the Fullerton Observer. Sunday, July 23, 10:30 a.m. –Worship Service: Pressing on When Things Aren’t Going Your Way—Paul Swendson, Guest Speaker. Partially inspired by the recent election, Paul Swendson will be sharing his personal internal dialogue as he struggles to keep engaging with a world that seems to be going the wrong way. When things seem hopeless and we feel like giving up, what truths can we draw upon to keep working to make a better world? How do we keep speaking truth as we see it when it seems that so many people do not want to hear it? Bio: “I have been teaching history for about 25 years, working for the last 16 years at the community college level. I have been a member at UUCF for about 12 years, and this is the fourth time that I have been the guest speaker here. My wife Sangeeta is currently helping to direct the junior high group at UUCF, and our daughters Priya and Divia have grown up in the RE program.”

Sunday, July 30, 10:30 a.m. –Worship Service: I Owe God a Death!—The Rev. Dr. Tom Owen-Towle Consenting to die and saying goodbye to lost dreams, fading capacities, or irreconcilable bonds is a lifeenhancing choice, to be practiced every day of our lives. As mature mortals, we are always preparing for our final farewell. Bio: The Rev. Dr. Tom Owen-Towle always delights in returning to our Fullerton UU pulpit. This is the 50th year of his ministerial ordination. Tom is the author of two dozen books, several of which will be available following the service for purchase. He currently sings with seniors, mentors youth-at-risk, and volunteers at a local homeless center. Rev. Cook will return August 25 and will be in the pulpit August 27.

July Newsletter Minister’s Column

Rev. Jason Cook

I write this after an exhausting, challenging, and jam-packed week of General Assembly in New Orleans. As always, it was deeply satisfying to be with thousands of other Unitarian Universalists, both clergy and laity, from all across the globe. To say it was an eventful week is an understatement: from changing the language in one of our Six Sources (from “words and deeds of prophetic women and men” to “words and deeds of prophetic people” in order to be more inclusive of trans people) to commissioning a study about potentially adopting an Eighth Principle (focused on anti-racism work), it was a General Assembly where a lot of important business was accomplished—not the least of which was electing a new president. Our Unitarian Universalist Association can now proudly claim its first elected female president, the Reverend Susan Frederick-Gray. Leading up to the election, the youthful and charismatic Frederick-Gray repeatedly characterized the UUA as “a voice for love and justice.” She told the assembly: “We have much work to do. I believe we are up to it. I look forward to working with you on this transformative path ahead.” It was deeply moving for all of us to be part of the traditional laying on of hands as Frederick-Gray was installed in the role of president. Thousands of people held on to each other with Frederick-Gray at the center, soaking up our good wishes for her as she moves into this challenging role. One of the greatest challenges she faces is dealing with the recent concerns over the clumsy and unintentionally inhospitable way our community has sometimes dealt with concerns of people of color in past and recent years. This General Assembly took great pains to center the voices of people of color throughout the week. I am well aware that the language being used around this issue—calling it systems of “white supremacy”—is extremely challenging, and even offensive, to some at UUCF. Yet this is the language I heard used repeatedly throughout my time there: not used as a weapon, not used to blame, and not to be deliberately offensive. Naming these systems as white supremacist ones is done because we all—people of color often included—participate in a larger cultural system that was long ago set up to favor white people. I hope those of you who are struggling with this terminology will seek out the General Assembly videos available online; the testimony of many people about this concern is, in my opinion, both edifying and moving. As a faith movement, we are being looked at by other progressive movements as a model of how to dialogue around challenging topics. Rather than driving people away, our willingness to dialogue about this terminology is attracting at least some people to us as a courageous faith movement willing to tread upon uncertain ground. I hope you will continue to wrestle with the complexity of this terminology

because General Assembly indicated that it is now, indeed, inextricably part of our larger movement. Please know I do hear your concerns. In line with this work to create a movement even more deeply dedicated to anti-racism and antioppression, I am delighted to say that it was announced that some dear people I know—Arnold and Julia Bradburd—gave a million-dollar gift to the UUA to further their work in this area. Arnold (“Brad”) and Julia were the people who funded my own theological education, and I spent some time catching up with them at this General Assembly, little knowing that they were making such a substantial gift to our movement. This money will be used to help groups like BLUU (Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism), an organization that was presented this week with the President’s Award for Volunteer Service for their tireless work in making our faith movement more inclusive. I am so grateful to people like Brad and Julia who are willing to support our community even as it must look very different from the Unitarian Universalism they entered into many years ago. Finally, I want to mention a full circle moment, one that I am sure will find its way into one of my sermons in the near future. Around fifty years ago, our movement faced something that has come to be known as the “Black Empowerment Controversy.” At a General Assembly in the late 60s, a large group of Black leaders and allies left Unitarian Universalism because of the resistance they met to working through issues of race within our movement. One of our speakers this week was one of those leaders who left so many years ago—someone who has come back to tell us how much love he still holds for us. Mtangulizi Sanyika’s presence at General Assembly indicates that as a movement we are perhaps now ready to do the work—as hard as it is—that we were not all those years ago. As always, I come away from General Assembly a bit changed. Gathering with thousands of excited Unitarian Universalists, hearing our hymns played by a great New Orleans jazz band, attending thoughtprovoking workshops, and voting on business that shapes our future has inspired and invigorated my ministry for the coming year. Most importantly, tapping into the larger conversation that our faith movement has been engaging in has pushed me into new places of understanding and appreciation for the courageous work we are doing as a whole. Knowing that we—at last! —have a female UUA president indicates to me that the way forward will continue to be marked by growth, innovation, and our continued commitment to the work of justice. Being the most progressive faith movement is not an easy task—but it is a challenge we have historically risen to, over and over, even as we continue to find further work to do. May this be a time that we once again rise to the occasion.

We were well represented at General Assembly this year. Roz Joyce at the microphone addressing the delegates.

President’s Award for Volunteer Service

New UUA President Susan Frederick-Gray. She is currently a minister in Phoenix, AZ.

Astoria Music Festival - An interesting tidbit from the Astoria Music Festival - the closing celebratory dinner after "The Barber of Seville" on Sunday is honoring the mayor of Astoria SHE IS A UU!!! They have a very tiny church in Astoria. And another UU in Astoria is on the Festival board! – UUCF member Doris Dressler-Clark, her husband is the conductor and organizer of the Astoria Music Festival in Oregon.

To serve human need . . . June was a very busy month for the “action” part of Social Action at UUCF! A group of UUCF congregants joined in a rally to support the EPA at the Nixon Library on June 11, and then on June 13 a small but mighty group from UUCF attended the OC Board of Supervisors meeting (along with several others from Anaheim Poverty Task Force, OCCCO and others) to ask for funding to end homelessness. The 59 letters signed by UUCF congregants to support this funding were also delivered to the Board of supervisors at this meeting. We then turned our efforts to support the Healthy California Act, SB562, with letter writing and hosting a Town Hall on this bill on June 25.

The final check was cut to Planned Parenthood after our successful production of The Vagina Monologues. After the fundraiser, a few more donations came in and the Social Action Committee voted to put the remaining dollars from our FY16/17 budget towards this worthy cause, bringing our grand total to $4267.32. The Social Action Committee voted to donate to the national matching grant (which gives the donation amount to the local Planned Parenthood and then gives the same amount to the National organization where 63% goes to direct care and about 15% to education) thus doubling our donation to $8534.46. Many, many thanks to all who helped make this event a success - our wonderful UUCF Players, those who donated raffle prizes, brought baked goods to sell, volunteered in other ways, and/or made a donation! The Anaheim Poverty Task Force will be following up their very successful rally and presentation to the Board of Supervisors (http://www.ocregister.com/2017/06/13/homeless-advocates-pressure-orangecounty-supervisors-to-spend-more-money-on-housing/) with a number of actions, including “Summer of the People” which will include vigils and rallies in public areas around Anaheim to protest income inequality and low wages, as well as lack of affordable housing in OC. This will be another great opportunity for UUCF to show our support! The rallies will be on an almost weekly basis beginning July 14 at Disneyland and July 22 at Angel Stadium. Please watch for further details. The new year-round homeless shelter at 1000 Kramer Place has been open for a little more than a month now and some of our UUCF congregants have been volunteering. Some congregants have also volunteered with CareerWise that has provided assistance with job search and interviewing skills since the shelter opened. The process to volunteer is quite different from how we organized weekly groups at the Armory. Please see the related article on how to volunteer at Bridges, the new year-round shelter. Debbie Langenbacher, Social Action Committee, co-chair

June collection for Pathways of Hope is pasta we ousta donate pasta!

Why and How To Volunteer At the Bridges Homeless Shelter The short answers are: 1. Because service is our prayer 2. Ask Chantelle Aguilar at [email protected] and she will take care of you. UUCF has faithfully supported the "cold weather" homeless shelter at the Fullerton Armory for many years. Now "Bridges", a new, year-round, 24/7 shelter, is open nearby. Most of the staff and the clients are the same people as at the Fullerton Armory. They need help in 6 shifts daily, 7 days a week. They currently are getting only about 5% of the volunteer slots filled. There are openings on every shift, every day, including weekends.

The usual daily tasks include serving meals and snacks, helping store and retrieve clients’ personal property from storage, doing laundry, handling donations, and cleaning up. The need for volunteers will actually increase now that they are preparing for the second phase of construction to greatly expand the shelter. This will require reducing and rearranging clients’ living space to make way for construction, so there will be many associated miscellaneous tasks. They really need help soon. Yesterday Barry and I were the only volunteers to show up for 2 days. The first step is to fill out, sign, and send an application to Chantelle. You can get it by email, from Chantelle, or download it from http://langenbacher.org/Volunteer.pdf. Fill in " volunteer" for "Volunteer Position you are applying for" on line one. Answer questions on 3 pages and sign in 5 places. Ignore the "For office use" sections. No further documentation is required. No fingerprinting, no testing, no money - nothing, nada, nichts. You can email the signed form, fax it, or use US Mail. Email: [email protected] FAX: 714-285-4203. Include a cover page saying "ATTN Chantelle/Irene". US Mail: Mercy House Attn: Chantelle Aguilar P.O. Box 1905 Santa Ana Ca 92702 Then Chantelle will perform a simple vetting of you, and contact you with instructions to sign up for a shift of your choice. THERE IS NO COMMITMENT BEYOND ANY SINGLE SHIFT YOU SIGN UP FOR. You can sign up for one shift on one day and never come back, or sign up for any shift, any day you like. Each shift is signed up one at a time. Chantelle will send you a "user name" and password, and a link to the web page to sign up. You can sign up with 3 clicks - click the day you want, click the shift you want, click "sign up". You will automatically get an email reminder one day in advance. I will be available to answer questions (or take the usual donations) in the social hall on Sundays. Harry Langenbacher

Support today and your donation will be doubled! We never seem to be finished with improvements at Camp. And having replaced all the waterlines in in the past five years, we now face the task to secure our water collection

source: a new, larger tank ready to sustain Camp through drought, earthquake and fire. And we need to have the money in place by the end of August 2017 or we can't move forward with the installation of the new tank, which means we will have to go back to the drawing board with the US Forest Service. With your help now, we can: Add a second tank to capture mountain spring water so we have ample water for drinking and swimming at camp Install a bypass system so that we can perform tank maintenance without shutting down camp Add a hydrant by the tank, so the USFS can easily access water in case of fire. Right now, we have a $50,000 challenge from a wonderful camp lover at the UU Fellowship of San Dieguito. That means that every dollar you donate will be matched dollar for dollar! Thank you for making an investment in camp’s future with water storage at de Benneville Pines!

What should an atheist dinner guest do when invited to lead or participate in saying grace? Answer provided by Elke Weiss, Follower of Inayat Khan (I have seen all souls as my soul, and realized my soul as the soul of all.) via Quora Digest “I’ve been asked to do it. Non-Christian atheist, So, I bowed my head. “How Good and Pleasant it is for Brothers to Dwell Together in Unity. May we always share this brotherhood and sisterhood of friendship. Amen.” Quote is from the bible, no Godly stuff and everyone loved it.”

Town Hall meeting sponsored by Social Action Committee on June 25, 2017. This was an excellent opportunity to learn more about this pending legislation. At present, it has been passed by the CA Senate but is not moving forward in the assembly. For more information go to www.HealthyCA.org, all major newspapers have also covered the pros and cons.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

President-Sherlan Neblett, Roslyn Joyce, Barbara Cutts, Barbara Nelson, Linda

Duarte-Wolf, Mark Umbriaco, Jim Cruess, Will Nettleship, Mike Mendleson

Thank you, Jody Biloon for your service as our Board President. Welcome Sherlan Neblett as our new Board President.

CHURCH INFORMATION Phone: (714) 871-7150. Email: [email protected] Website: www.uufullerton.org. Rita is the church administrator.

All articles need to be submitted by July 19, 2017. Please submit all items to Randi Hetrick and put newsletter (very, very helpful) in the subject line. Articles need to be in a Word document format. You may also request events are put on Facebook or on the web page. Send submissions to [email protected]. The ComUUnicator is published monthly.

Child dedication of Anastasia Faith Bubar with her minister Rev. Jason Cook, her father Aaron and her paternal grandparents.