New U.U. classes to begin
September 30, 2008
During the summer Bell Street Chapel has had many visitors. If you have been visiting and would like to know more about Unitarian Universalism and Bell Street Chapel, the Membership and Caring Committee invites you to join us for the New U.U. classes beginning Oct. 8.
This series of classes is designed for individuals who are interested in becoming members of Bell Street. Participants join current members of the chapel to learn about our Unitarian Universalist faith and the history and workings of Bell Street Chapel. Not only do we get to reflect on our spiritual journeys and get to know new people, but attending these classes is the first step toward becoming a member.
Classes run Wednesday nights in October at 7 p.m. with the following schedule:
Oct. 8 – Individual journeys toward Unitarian Universalism and Bell Street Chapel
Oct. 15 – Unitarian Universalism History and the Seven Principles
Oct. 22 – This class starts in the chapel with a tour and discussion of Bell Street Chapel’s history.
Oct.29 – Potluck Dinner – This is an opportunity for those who have decided to become members to enjoy good food and conversation about what it means to be a member of Bell Street Chapel. We will also review what to expect during the New Member Ingathering, scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 10.
A sign-up sheet will be available in Eddy Hall for those who are interested. If you have any questions, please feel free to speak with me or or consulting minister, Rev. José Ballester.
~Richard Corso
Chair, Membership and Caring Committee
Ethical Eating Art Show
September 30, 2008
Food, could there be a more loaded subject? Hunger, obesity, vegetarianism, hunting, locavores, omnivores, eating contests…The Unitarian Universalist Association has chosen Ethical Eating as its next four-year study/action issue. How can we start learning and talking and processing all the ways we humans relate to food? I’m hoping that we can start with art.
Art is a great way to think about emotional subjects without worrying about being right or wrong or normal or weird. Art allows us the freedom to just express. So I’d like to invite everyone, including kids, at Bell Street to start imagining what they could say about eating through art. And art could be anything of course, it could be sculpture, it could be performance, it could be song, it could be actual food, it could be a combination of all of the above or something else entirely. Art can also be a group project as well as a solitary pursuit. In the next few weeks we will offer inspiration through U.U.A. study materials. But I would urge folks, especially those of you who don’t feel artistic, to let yourselves think, feel, brainstorm, imagine. My son, who has been drawing and making art since he could hold a pencil, says that art is everything that isn’t necessary for existence, imagine that!
The Bell Street Ethical Eating Group will be mounting an Ethical Eating Art Exhibition on Dec. 13. We will be inviting artists from the Bell Street community as well as other area U.U. churches, local artists and neighborhood folks to submit art that explores what eating means to each of us. This will be a great opportunity to showcase Bell Street’s unique gifts.
While we need artists, both professional and amateur, we also need anyone who can lend their skills to make this exhibition a great success. We can use people throughout the next weeks and also on the days before, during, and after the exhibition.
Because this is a short-term project, it’s a great volunteer opportunity. If you can help, please contact Audrey Greene at audreyjgreene@gmail.com.
~Audrey Greene
War and peace workshop discussion, Oct. 26
September 30, 2008
Before the Iraq invasion, Bell Street Chapel passed a resolution against such an invasion. In the five years since then much has happened. The Parish and Social Concerns Committee thinks that Bell Street should consider whether or not another resolution about Iraq is needed. Also, we need to talk about what we can do to promote peace and justice.
A workshop to discuss the Iraq war situation has been scheduled by the Parish and Social Concerns Committee Sunday, Oct. 26, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Eddy Hall. Let us talk and listen together on this vital matter.
~Joanne DeVoe
Welcome, Bienvenue, Irashaimasu, Merhaba, Welkumme
September 30, 2008
During our September meeting, the Governing Board decided the church needs to focus its work this year on becoming a more welcoming congregation. Rev. José Ballester announced it to the congregation with our first hymn, Welcome, Rejoice, and Come In, and we announce it on our walls with a “Welcoming Congregation” sign. As a community, we pride ourselves on our friendliness and our open spirit. But what can we do to become more welcoming and grow our community?
Certainly, one way we can be more welcoming is to introduce ourselves to new people. Another way is to make our building attractive and accessible. We can offer social justice opportunities and adult religious education that are religiously meaningful. We can offer religious education and intergenerational services that nurture the religious life of families. We can reach our hands of support and friendship outside the walls of our community. Every committee, congregant and friend can make Bell Street a more welcoming place.
While our community is doing many of these things already, we are not doing enough of them. Too often, when we think of our community, we think of the people who we see every week, and not the new faces who come though our door. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of newcomers, to think of their needs at Bell Street as much as we think of our own. When we do that, the specific tasks of becoming a more welcoming community will become clear to us.
At our leadership retreat in early September, Bell Street leaders were asked how we see the Bell Street Community. We see it as a “loving, quirky, extended family with deep commitments to social justice and different paths to spiritual growth.” We all need to make sure that the picture of Bell Street Chapel we present to the outside world matches this community that we each love and celebrate.
In faith and fellowship,
Dan Greco, Governing Board
War protest and march – Saturday, Oct. 11
September 30, 2008
Want a chance to show resistance to the war in Iraq? Join members of the Parish and Social Concerns Committee on Oct. 11 as they march with the Bell Street banner.
Assemble and Rally, 12:30 p.m. at Dexter Training Ground, Cranston Street Armory.
March to Beneficent Church at Empire and Weybosset streets by 2:30 p.m.
Then march to Burnside Park, near Kennedy Plaza.
Rally 3:30 p.m. in Burnside Park.
The protest demands are:
- Bring the troops home NOW!
- No attack on Iran
- Protect families and stop deportations
- Defend civil liberties and our right to free speech
- Money for housing and health care, not for war
For more information, see www.ristopwar.org or call (401) 521-3584.
~Joanne DeVoe
Thank you from Tennessee Valley
September 30, 2008
We received a card of thanks from the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church for our donation of $181 to their relief fund for those affected by the attack by a gunman at their Knoxville, Tenn., church in July. The church, which lost two members and saw seven others wounded, was swift to send a handwritten thank-you card to us, and no doubt to many other U.U.s and others around the world who were moved to respond to the attack with contributions. The people of Tennessee Valley will remain in our hearts, and may our commitment to liberal values be strengthened as a response.
~Meredyth Waterman
Religious Education
September 30, 2008
A religious education class gives a child a chance to discuss important ideas. Children need to talk about their beliefs and values to help clarify how they will think and act. This fall Bell Street Chapel will be offering four religious education sessions for children in kindergarten through 6th grade.
The sessions will be held Oct. 26, Nov. 9, Nov. 30, and Dec. 14. The students will attend the first part of church with their families and listen to the story for all ages. Then they will go downstairs to their classroom with two teachers and discuss the story. They will focus on the Unitarian Universalist principles and purposes and the sources and how they relate to the story. The children will prepare and hold a short worship service based on the theme of the story. Then they will come upstairs and join in the closing “Carry the Flame” circle with the congregation.
For more information, contact Kate Gillis at (401) 823-7929 or ksgillis@netzero.net.
~Kate Gillis
Religious Education Chairperson
ProVisions Event
September 30, 2008
ProVisions United will be hosting its 6th annual masquerade ball and fashion show fund-raiser on Oct. 4.
Purpose: To raise money to help support local and global food initiatives to feed people. Proceeds benefit the earmarked food programs of Bell Street Chapel, Providence Rescue Mission, Crossroads RI and Manna Relief.
Where: Hope Artiste Village, 1005 Main Street, Pawtucket
When: Oct. 4, VIP cocktail reception 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., 8 p.m. to midnight, general admission, fashion show, entertainment, music and dancing.
Cost: General Admission – Includes admission, fashion show, entertainment, music and dancing, $50 per person if purchased before Oct. 1, $65 per person if purchased Oct. 1 or later (including at the door). VIP Admission – Includes admission, private open bar reception to meet the models, appetizers, preferred runway seating during the fashion show, entertainment, music and dancing. $100 per person if purchased before Oct. 1, $125 per person if purchased Oct. 1 or later (including at the door).
Established in 2002 by Bell Street’s own John Tarrats, ProVisions United unites a coalition of professionals in the hospitality, marketing, special events, entertainment and tourism industries to organize fund-raising campaigns in support of charitable organizations that help feed all men, women and children at risk.
The event’s theme, Earth, Wind, and Desire will inspire and lift creative and philanthropic spirits. This unique event emceed by Paul Mueller, anchor for ABC 6, will host audience participation in thematic masquerade and costumed fashions, a silent auction and giveaways as well as exciting entertainment, great food and dancing to raise money to support local and global food initiative programs.
Fifteen local area restaurants including Citron, Aspire, Bacaro, Hemenway’s and Waterman Grille will unite with models from Rhode Island Modeling Agency and Park Ave Puppy’s to create a spectacular fund-raising event that will be celebrated and hailed as one of the premier galas of the year. The delectable dishes, fabulous fashions and breathtaking décor provided by Party By Design will be a fest for the soul. Other sponsors that are helping to make this event possible are Amica Insurance and the Rhode Island chapter of the International Special Events Society.
For more information, event details, a complete list of participating restaurants and sponsors, or to purchase tickets please visit www.provisionsunited.org or call (401) 965-9292.
Parish and Social Concerns
September 30, 2008
On Sept. 13, the Parish and Social Concerns Committee had its annual retreat to discuss current activities and plan for future events. Although the Crossroads lunch-making has been a huge success, it has been a struggle to get the donated tuna needed to make the 100 sandwiches needed monthly. Due to the fact that tuna is quite expensive ($8.00 per/large can= $50 a case at BJs), we would like to have different people commit to either buying a case of tuna or donating the money for tuna on their assigned month. That means we only need 12 people to donate tuna or the money for this cause.
The committee also voted to support Books Through Bars which donates paperback books to prisoners across the country and is located in our parish house and needs support packing books on Sunday evenings.
Also discussed at the retreat was to revisit the resolution passed against the start of the Iraq war and what our congregation can currently do to support peace and standby our resolution through action and possibly generating another resolution. Please refer to Joanne DeVoe’s article in this edition for more details on how our congregation can take action against the war.
We are also planning to have a film series that will showcase films on social justice which will be
in conjunction with the Rhode Island International Film Festival.
There is a lot to look forward to from the P.& S.C. Committee, including our worship service on Oct. 26 about the upcoming election.
~Clara Hardy
Parish and Social Concerns Chairperson
Newsletter deadline
September 30, 2008
The deadline for the November issue of Bell Street Columns is Sunday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m. Please limit each submission to 500 words (and shorter is better – our newsletter has been packed lately, and that’s good, but hard to lay out when stories are long) and e-mail as a Word attachment to newsletter editor Meredyth Waterman at MeredythW@aol.com. Our newsletter is a great way to get the word out to the Bell Street community, so please think of writing for it as you look toward November and beyond.
~Meredyth Waterman,
Editor