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DECEMBER 2007 Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,”which means, “God is with us.” Matthew 1:23 Beloved Friends, Christmas is here, and may the Christ be reborn in you this Christmas! Maybe this story will help explain the importance of Christmas… A woman was sitting in front of her fireplace, all alone, contemplating the Christmas story. The more she thought about it, the more incredible it seemed to her. Why would God decide to send Jesus here to live among us? And if God actually did do this, why would God choose have Jesus born into total poverty in a shelter for animals? The whole thing didn't make sense; in fact it seemed absurd to her. Just then she heard a strange sound outside. She went to the window and looked out. There in the moonlight on the snow-covered lawn she saw about a dozen geese. They were staggering about, crying out, dazed and confused. The geese had apparently been separated from a formation of a larger flock flying south for the winter. The sight of the exhausted geese stumbling about in the cold snow touched the woman’s heart. She went outside and opened the door to her warm garage, trying to herd the geese into the garage. The more the woman tried to help, the more frightened the geese became. Soon they were scattered all across the lawn. She realized she was only making matters worse. Finally, after about twenty minutes, the woman gave up. As she stood there in the moonlight, looking at the frightened geese, she realized that they had no idea that she was trying to help them. They had no idea that she was their friend, not their enemy. Then a strange thought came to her. She thought that if just for one minute she could become one of them – an ordinary goose – and talk to them in their language she could explain to them what she was trying to do. And then it hit her. That's what Christmas is all about! It is about God looking upon the human family, dazed and confused like the geese in her yard. It is about God looking upon the human family with Divine Love and Compassion, as she had felt when she looked at the geese in her yard. It is about God looking upon us and saying what this woman said about the geese – “If just for a minute I could become one of them, and talk to them in their language, I could tell them how much I love them and want to help them.” At that moment the Christmas story suddenly made sense. It was no longer incredible; it was too beautiful for words. And that is what Christmas is all about. It is about God looking upon the human race seeing us frightened, confused and lost. It is about God birthing the Christ into the hearts and minds of each one of us, through Jesus. It is about an ordinary human being that was sent to speak to us in our language, to communicate to us the hope, peace, love and joy of God. May God touch your heart this Christmas, and illuminate the Christ within you! One in Christ, Rick’s Reflections Last month was the beginning of our new fiscal year, a year that already looks to be as exciting and prosperous as last year was. October 14th we held both our general meeting where we elected two new board members Joe Skinner and Michael Goldreyer. They replaced Mark Groblewski and Mary Pat Gunn who served a very dedicated and successful three year term. Although Mark and Mary Pat will be missed we know that Joe and Michael will take up where they left off. This fact was already in evidence at our first board meeting for the year which was held November 13th. In addition to the general meeting we also held a Special Membership meeting to vote on approving the builder for our build-out project. After a question and answer period, the members in attendance voted in favor of approving Herring Construction to do the work. It was also decided that with the holiday season upon us, we would not have construction begin until after the first of the year. After consulting with the builder, he has agreed to this. Another reason for waiting until after the first of the year is to give us time to increase the amount of our Building Fund. The bid from Herring Construction (the lowest bid) came in at $160,000. At the time of the Special meeting we had only $130,000 in our Building Fund. The builder agreed to remove items from the bid that we felt we could wait to do or do ourselves. By doing this we were able to arrive at the $130,000 we had in our Building Fund. Although this is doable we feel that if the builder did everything included in the bid we would end up with a very professional and proper build-out. Reverend Steve suggested we follow our Unity principles with the law of attraction and know that we could raise the money we needed to have the builder do everything. All present agreed. As of the board meeting the Building Fund was up to $138,000. Thank you God! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous Happy New Year. Please come celebrate and rejoice in the joy and beauty of Christmas at our UCBA services. Sincerely, Youth & Family Ministry I am so blessed to be a part of our growing spiritual community at UCBA! Every Sunday, I receive so much from our children. They continue to delight, entertain, teach and remind me what it truly means to be a child of God. They embrace all that God is, just by being who they are. We had so much fun talking about all that we are thankful for in our lives and then making thank you affirmations to place on the tables to share with those who stayed for our Thanksgiving potluck. It allowed our children to be involved with our yearly family celebration. However, I will tell you that the dessert table was a bit of a distraction for them during class…OK, and me too! I am so excited that Ramona Garza has accepted the position of Nursery Attendant and will be with us every Sunday! She has two young children of her own and is a very loving young lady whom I work with during the week. Although she is new to Unity, she is already excited about joining us and learning more while providing a safe and loving presence for our very youngest children. Please stop by, introduce yourself and welcome her into our church family. Our children and teens will be working on a special Christmas presentation this year that involves teddy bears. So we ask that you bring new teddy bears for our annual Critter Corral. (Although, we will certainly not turn away any other animals…stuffed ones, that is!) We will have a very special way of sharing teddy bear experiences and blessing the collection so that each becomes a new loving friend to another child. May a child’s excitement, joy, hopes and dreams for Christmas fill each of us every day of this sacred holiday season and throughout the year! Youthful Blessings! ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS SERVICES 2007 The Season of Advent is sacred and exciting – sacred because of the celebration of the birth of Jesus and exciting because of the transformation we can anticipate during this special time of spiritual preparation. May this Advent Season be a time of learning, growing, giving and receiving for you! We will have our traditional Sundays celebrating Advent this year. Our Christmas Eve Service will be special, with Mariénne Kreitlow and Jerry Ford offering a beautiful weaving of scripture and music as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. This year, we will be adding our writing our Letters to God to our Burning Bowl Service on December 30th. You will definitely want to be here for this incredible experience of releasing the old and infilling with your heart’s desires for the coming year. December 2, 2007: HOPE! BOOK SALE AND JEWELRY EXTRAVAGANZA! Stop by our Church Bookstore for this special sale of books and jewelry. All jewelry is 50% off, and the book table has many new and used books (some older Unity treasures out of print) for $5. What a great way to do a little early Christmas shopping! Christmas Caroling Before Sunday Services in December! Get in the Christmas Spirit! Jill Kastle invites everyone to come to church early for a little Christmas Carol Sing-Along at 8:20 and 10:20 a.m. before Sunday Services. Come join in the fun!! Christmas Giving Projects This year we will be again adopting a family and providing them with the Christmas of their dreams! We will have the family member list the first of December, so stop by church and see what you might want to provide. You can also contribute financially if shopping for gifts does not fit your busy schedule. Simply write “Christmas Family” on your check or credit card information on our contribution envelopes. Also, the Critter Corral is back! Our children in Youth & Family Ministry are asking everyone to bring in teddy bears to the Critter Corral. They are creating a special project around teddy bears in their classes on Sunday mornings. All “bears” will go to either Toys for Tots or other local areas for last minute Christmas gifts for children.UNITY BASICS 101 Unity Basics 101 Class continues through the holidays on Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. on a love offering basis. We are studying the Five Basic Principles, the history of Unity and New Thought, along with other material to help understand the rich heritage of the Unity Movement. It is a class where you can stop in any Wednesday and feel right at home. TREASURER’S REPORT for OCTOBER 2007 General Fund Income $ 19,340.67 Expenses - 18,924.56 Net General Fund Income + 416.11 Building Fund Income + 5,093.00 Total Income $ + 5,509.11 Building Fund $ 135,719.02 Unity Church of the Bay Area's tithe for June was $2,354.00. It was blessed and $588.50 each was sent to the Association of Unity Churches and Unity School of Christianity. $588.50 each was sent to Interfaith Caring Ministries and M.I. Lewis Ministries, agencies in our area that help people in need in ways that surpass our church’s present capacity. Your continued financial support allows our church to grow and flourish and carry the message of positive, practical Christianity in the Bay area. Thank you, and thank you God! ***BUILDING FUND UPDATE – We are still raising funds towards the goal of $160,000 to complete the inside remodel of our church. We recently received information from the League City Fire Marshall that new fire safety codes may increase our costs by $4500. Safety is an important value for us, especially for our children, whose new rooms will have maximum fire safety protection. Do we have a donor who would like to make this contribution? The blessing will be returned multiplied, with the gratitude and appreciation of your church family, especially our children!
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