Priairie Fire

Prairie Fire

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The Prairie Fire is published by Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society on the 6th and 21st of every month. View past issues at www.uuprairie.org/ newsletter/

Input Deadlines:
Calendar items, announcements, and program descriptions are due on the 1st and 15th of each month. Please send to Dan Klock at admin@uuprairie.org or call 271-8218.

Calendar
April 26, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012 Prairie's Spring Retreat begins Sunday, April 29, 2012 Prairie's Spring Retreat ends. No service or RE at Prairie's Meeting House Monday, April 30, 2012 5:30 Memorial Service for Doleta Chapru at First Unitarian Society Sunday, May 6, 2012 10:00 Service - “Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is,” presented by Nick Abts. 11:45 Congregational Bylaws Meeting Saturday, May 12, 2012 Spring Fling Sunday, May 13, 2012 8:45 Choir rehearsal 10:00 Service - "Caroline Norton: Mothers & Women's Rights" presented by Mary Mullen. 10:15 RE Service Sunday 11:15 Soup Sunday 12:30 Humanist Union meets	Monday, May 14, 2012 7:00 RE Committee meets Sunday, May 20, 2012 8:45 Choir rehearsal 10:00 Service – Field Trip to Prairie Dock Farm Monday, May 21, 2012 6:30 Spanish Speakers Potluck 7:00 Prairie's Board meets Sunday, May 27, 2012 8:45 Choir rehearsal 10:00 Service 10:00 RE Game Day Sunday, June 3, 2012 8:45 Choir rehearsal 10:00 Service - Transition Service 11:15 Soup Sunday 11:45 Spring Parish Meeting Sunday, June 10, 2012 8:45 Choir rehearsal 10:00 Service - "Peer Mediation," presented by Christine Johnson.

Upcoming Programs

Sunday, April 29, 2012, 10:00 a.m. Key Log Ceremony at Prairie's Spring Retreat at Bethel Horizons. No service at the Meeting House

Sunday, May 6, 2012, 10:00 a.m. “Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is,” presented by Nick Abts.

Sunday, May 13, 2012, 10:00 a.m. “Caroline Norton: Mothers & Women's Rights,” presented by Mary Mullen.

Sunday, May 20, 2012, 10:00 a.m. Field Trip to Prairie Dock Farms

Greg David invites you to see and experience his family’s work in ecological restoration on Prairie Dock Farm in northern Jefferson County. The farm has been in the David family since 1987 and in that time, Greg and the family have run a CSA, installed orchards, prairie restorations, compost areas, rain-gardens and water containment swales, stick fences, mushroom culturing, hugel-culture, draft horses, free range chickens and geese, a low input anaerobic digester, biomass gasifiers, rocket stoves, geo-thermal cooling and lots of other Permacultural features. He looks forward to sharing a quarter century of ecological restorative experiences on the farm with Prairie on Sunday May 20th. He also has a horse drawn wagon for those who would prefer that to walking.

Contact Us:
President
Barbara Park
barpark@gmail.com
608-273-8775

Director of Religious Education
Rebecca Malke-Eliganti
dre@uuprairie.org
695-3435

Editor/Administrative Assistant
Dan Klock
admin@uuprairie.org
271-8218
Office hours: M – F
10:00 to 1:00

Prairie Websites:
Home Page
http://uuprairie.org

News Group http://groups.yahoo. com/group/prairie news/

Views
http://groups.yahoo. com/group/prairie views/

Social Action http://socialaction. madisonwi.us

Humanist Union http://humanist. madisonwi.us

Announcements

Memorial Service for Doleta Chapru Doleta passed last Saturday, April 21, surrounded by her greatest loves, family, friends, and music. A memorial service will be held Monday, April 30, at 5:30 p.m. at First Unitarian Society's Landmark Meeting House in the Atrium. The service was written by Doleta and is very upbeat. There will be time after the service for conversation and finger foods.

Prairie Family Retreat - April 27-29, 2012 Mark your calendars for the annual Prairie Family Retreat at Bethel Horizons in Dodgeville, WI. The fun begins Friday evening, April 27th and continues through noon on Sunday, April 29th. This is a great time for Prairie members to connect with each other in a less hurried environment, have a chance to play, sing, talk, or just linger over coffee. Any questions, please contact Kate Liu - kgliu311@gmail.com, 238-9153, or Phyllis Long - plong373@gmail.com, 608-325-7397.

Roy Zimmerman: Live From the Starving Ear at James Reeb UU Congregation Saturday, May 5th at 8 PM. Optional Potluck at 6! Roy's concert is a 90-minute juggernaut of funny songs and comic commentary on presidential politics, the Occupy Movement, the Tea Party, abstinence, Creationism and same sex marriage. In twelve albums over twenty years, Roy has brought the sting of satire to the struggle for Peace and Social Justice. Roy’s You Tube videos have garnered over six million views and tens of thousands of comments, many of them coherent. And yes, he has a website: http://royzimmerman.com/. Everyone is welcome to attend the potluck: simply bring a dish to pass at 6 pm. James Reeb UU is at 2146 East Johnson Street Madison. www.jruuc.org. 608-242-8887.

The Support Group for Aging Parents originally scheduled for May 20 after the service has been postponed to a later date.

The next Spanish Speakers Potluck will be on Monday, May 21, at 6:30 pm at the home of Audrey Shomos, 134 Grove St. in Evansville. Bring a dish to pass if you can. All are welcome! Please call Audrey at 608-882-4070 for directions, or Rosemary Dorney at 608-238-4382 for more information or to arrange a ride.

A congregational Bylaws meeting was held on Sunday, April 22. However, more discussion is needed, especially on absentee voting at Parish meetings. If you are interested in joining the discussion, please attend the next meeting after the service on Sunday, May 6.

News

Proposal for Summer Evening Services Last summer I admit, there were too many Sundays I couldn’t wait to escape to my air-conditioned car. If next summer is as unseasonably warm as this winter, I suggest we consider meeting in the cooler evening hours during the summer. This would give us all day to open the windows to air out the sanctuary.

In Lafayette, Indiana, we attended a start up church. We met on Sunday evenings in a large church building on Purdue’s campus. Many of us came to really like the evening schedule. Sleeping in on Sunday mornings allows you to not have to cut Saturday night activities short because you don’t have to get up the next morning. You could avoid the early morning scramble to get children up and ready to go. (This is especially true of teenagers.) Instead, Sunday mornings could become a family time over a relaxing brunch. In the summer, people like to go away for the weekend. This means either missing church or cutting the weekend a day short to get back in time for church. With the evening schedule, you would only have to return an hour or two early.

It would allow the program committee to invite ministers that would be otherwise unavailable to us because they are busy at their own churches Sunday mornings. Maybe we could have these ministers do a “My Favorite Sermon” series.

Evening services would also allow people who might be interest in a program topic to visit us without missing their regular church.

I suggest we talk about the possibility at the June congregational meeting.

Peace,
Penny Eiler

Prairie's Spring Parish Meeting will be held on Sunday, June 3, after the service and Soup Sunday.

Preliminary Agenda

Opening Words and Chalice Lighting
Thank you to the current volunteers
Approval of Minutes from the Fall Parish Meeting and from the Special Parish Meeting on Feb. 19, 2012
Committee reports
Review and approval of budget, July 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012
Election of Board Officers and At-Large Trustees
Vote on changes to bylaws
Discussion on proposed evening summer services
Announcements