Face the Music & Dance
Here where
the stairways abound, “Where is the lift?” all the newcomers smile as they ask.
Let’s face the music, and dance.
Before the
bats chase us out, and stained glass windows—so drafty and so dear—fall out at
a glance, let’s face the music and dance.
Our liberal
church must stand,
Challenging
dairyland, and so...
Into our
pockets we’ll reach. Astronomical numbers, big visions, do we have a chance?
Let’s face the music and dance.
We sing some uncommon tunes,
Knowing that
quandaries loom, and yet...
So many tots
in our cribs, we’re dedicated to bright future promise—advance! Let’s face the
music and dance!
Opening Words – Rev. Paul Beckel
I woke up before my
clock buzzed this morning. My first thought was I must be nervous about today.
Then I heard sirens in the distance...and I became alarmed. The space heater. When I left my office I
could have sworn that I turned it off, turned off the power strip, AND
unplugged the heater from the power strip that it shares with 4 other
cords.
When I arrived I
discovered that I had turned off the
power strip and I did unplug a cord.
Unfortunately I unplugged the wrong cord. But we made it through another night.
Today we gather to consider how we might ensure that we make it through many
many many more days and nights in this incredible building and as an incredible
congregation.
2005 is our 135th
year as a congregation in
If you are
visiting today, welcome. Thank you for braving the cold to be with us for a
long awaited presentation by our Building Assessment Task Force and our
architect, Dan Helwig. You’ve come on a
good day. As opposed to a typical Sunday, when you might get the idea that the
message comes from the pulpit, today—and in the coming months—it will be clear
that Unitarian Universalism is not about a preacher’s pretty words, but about
the kind of community we build together. Today and the coming months will be
the perfect opportunity to watch us. See whether our ideals of mutual respect,
honesty, caring, generosity, and the democratic process are achievable in
practice.
No decisions
will be made today. Our focus will continue to be on a healthy, well-informed,
process for collective decision-making. Today Dan Helwig will talk to us for
about 15-20 minutes, then, during the offering we ask that rather than a few
bucks, you give us your best words: constructive thoughts and questions. Then
the committee and Dan will respond to your questions for another 15-20
minutes. And following the service, if
you wish, we’ll keep at it for as long as you have questions.
You can take the
photocopied reports home, though if you bring them back we will continue to
circulate them. If you’d like one of the
bound packets please sign it out with Kathy Schmirler.
When we look
back on this, I think whether we feel satisfied or not will not be about the
result, but about the process. Were we honest with one another? Were we
respectful? Generous? Forgiving? Grateful? Did we balance these (often
conflicting) spiritual and emotional ideals in a way that would allow us to continue to be a community?
Over the coming
months we need to do four things for one another: Show up, pay attention, be
and speak our own truths, and let go of results. For in the end we will need to
trust the collective wisdom, generosity, and hope of the congregation... and
the universe. Two entities that extend far beyond our individual grasps.
As we light the
flaming chalice, now, I invite you to stretch... and extend yourself to one
another in a way which may seem uncomfortable at first... let’s dance!
Observations
In envisioning
the future there’s always the danger that we may go too far. We may imagine
that we can be all things to all people, which of course we cannot. The key is to identify those things that we can do, and collectively wish to do.
What are our greatest resources, strengths, programs, and visions that we can
offer to this community in the coming century?
If our strengths
can somehow mesh with the needs of our growing community, we can see what the
fundamentals will be for our collective ministry.
I regret to
report that a few weeks ago we failed on one of the fundamentals. We were
unable to offer the ministry we might have offered to Bob and Edna Dalbec, who
have supported this church financially for 55 years. When Bob died, Edna and
her children were unable to plan a memorial service here because Edna could not
get in.
Our physical
realities also limit the music ministry to which we aspire. Despite an enormous
investment into our organ... substantial heating bills... and despite the fact
that we’ve had 6 different organists play for us over the past 3 months, it’s
not at all certain that they will continue to want to play for us. [Nancy Salli
spoke at this point about practicing when it’s 50-55 degrees in the organ
loft... and though we tuned the organ just a few weeks ago, many pipes are
already out of tune because they’re not kept sufficiently warm.]
Though bats seem
a little less quaint since the
May we carry on with
hope and love.
Dan Helwig,
Architect, Design Unlimited
A copy of the report from Design Unlimited may be picked up from the church office.
I would like to
take just a few minutes and offer my observations of the state of the RE
building.
It has its good
points and its bad points. It’s old and
I like everything old because I’m from
My favorites are
the nooks and crannies and I think probably a favorite of the children
too. I think if I was a kid growing up
in this church I would love all the little stairways and hidden rooms, and all
the little places you could go and kind of get lost. However, the nooks and crannies lead me into
the segue into the bad portions of the building. The nooks and crannies, the overall floor
plan does kind of go against us in a way.
New people come
and they get lost. I’ve seen them on the
stairway looking for their children and that’s got to be an uncomfortable feeling,
to come in to a church and put your children somewhere and have no mental idea
of where they are or how to go check on them.
Also because of the floor plan the children themselves are very
separated, different ages are far apart.
It takes a really long time for a simple task. We’re disconnected from each other. Of course there’s always safety in
proximity. That disconnection also makes
it difficult to establish the notion that we are in interconnected church
family. The adults are way over here and
the children are way over there.
Going back to
the nooks and crannies, the fire inspectors came and spent an afternoon with me
and spoke about the special challenges of the RE building. One of the main issues was that the nooks and
crannies create an atmosphere for the smoke that would be unpredictable and
strange in case of a fire, it would tunnel and gather. Because of this I added eleven new smoke
detectors. We also added one fire
extinguisher, replaced all the old fire extinguishers throughout the whole
church, and relocated two so that they would be more accessible and visible to
the classrooms and the office entry. The
inspectors pointed out different places as we were walking through the RE
building where there are holes in the plaster in the walls. They said that was really bad. In case of a fire, the air would come through
and draft in those holes and feed the fire in the walls. This is all moot; we hope there never will be
a fire.
We had fire
safety Sunday last Sunday, and we broke a window trying to show the kids how to
open up the screen to escape. The reason
the window broke was that the storm on the bottom was missing and the storm on
the top fell down when we took the screen out.
That all points to another issue with the building; the windows are all
bad. One of the things that I had to put
in the fire safety kits in all the classrooms is a prop stick. All the weights are broken in the windows so
if you try to open the window and exit, the window will come down on you,
possibly causing as much harm as a fire.
We don’t want to make the choice of being burned up or crushed by a
window.
Another issue is
all the space in the basement. There
are classrooms and extra space we cannot use because they’re full of mold. Another issue is the temperature fluctuation
in the rooms. Some classes are blazing
hot, I go in the rooms and perspire, and some of the classrooms are freezing
cold. Everyone knows you have to be in a
temperate climate in order to learn. You
can’t learn if you are uncomfortable physically.
There’s no work
room for the teachers. I am sharing my
office with the 4th & 5th grade class. I don’t mind, it’s not an issue, however it
would be nice to have a gathering spot for adults where we could plan, where we
could have meetings and share ideas. All
in all, I really love the RE building. I
can’t say anything emotionally bad about it but I do think its physical
problems outweigh its plusses and I do appreciate you letting me speak today.
Dan Helwig,
Architect, Design Unlimited
For a copy of Dan Helwig’s presentation please go to http://www.designunlimitedmfld.com/Church/index.htm
Tim Peterson – At the Annual Meeting last November, I
spoke on behalf of the Building Assessment Committee. At that time I used the analogy of an
‘elephant’ standing in the room that we all knew was there but chose not to
talk about. I hope today you have a
better understanding of what the elephant looks like and that we indeed need to talk about the elephant because
it is not going to go away.
Part of the
mission statement of our church reads “The church will encourage concern for
social and environmental issues and will support moral and responsible
action.” Isn’t accessibility a moral and
social issue? How environmental is our
70 year old heating system in the RE wing with its asbestos insulation? How responsible are we environmentally if our
gas usage, for a building our size, is two times what it should be? Is responsible action providing safe and fire
code compliant classrooms for our children?
Are we not the ‘pot calling the kettle black’? Our church building shows visitors as well as
prospective new members what we as a congregation hold dear to our heart. The stewardship of our building is everyone’s
responsibility. The elephant is waiting
to dance and it would be a shame for any of us to sit this one out.
Jerry Phelan -
Carrying on with the dance metaphor….. As a result of working on this
committee, I’ve been listening to the dance music for several weeks now and
have come up with a few little dance steps of my own. I caution you, this is my dance, not
yours. I may be able to help you out and
you may be able to help me, but we will each have a different dance. My dance starts with Step 1: Look left, look right, count the lumber
barons. I get zero. Then I take a little side step and say,
“That’s OK.” In the ninety years since
this church was built, our culture has evolved to the point where it seems
fitting that the next big step for this building would come through a more
egalitarian effort. So I move on to Step
2: Maybe a million dollars, or 1.6
million dollars … at worst, ten times our annual operating budget … ten times
my pledge. Can I do that? I think I can
do that. Step 3: Not everybody can do that. Step 4: If I had one opportunity in my lifetime to
make a significant financial contribution to something, would this institution,
would this project be it? My answer is
yes! Step 5: If we really want to make this happen, some
of us, perhaps people like me, might have to give 20 times our pledge. Can I do that? At this point, I consult my dance partner –
she’s a much better dancer than I am.
She doesn’t need all this warm-up stuff that I put myself through. So she kind of waltzes on. I’m struggling, but I’m catching on. So then, Step 6: What about thirty times? My partner keeps waltzing along. And at this point you don’t want to watch me
try to do that dance. It gets ugly;
there’s choking and gasping, stumbling and falling down. Maybe you can help pick me up and teach me
how to take that next step.
But if we choose
that we won’t do this – notice I didn’t say
“can’t do this” -- if we decide that it’s not important enough, I want
you to know I’m still happy to serve as one of the human elevators. I’ve done it a few times; the last being at
the Women’s Valentine’s Day Dinner last February. Coleen Kennedy called me and asked if Nancy,
her wheelchair-bound friend, would be able to attend the dinner? Being the sensitive diplomat that I am, I
responded, “Well, how much does she weigh?”
I’m certified to 120 pounds, and it turns out that
The most notable
human elevator service in this church dates back to a whimsical Goods and
Services Action offering in 1999. Eloise
Reavill bid and paid $2000 for a wheelchair ride down the Yawkey Hall stairs. Several of us carried her down, and a
photograph of the event was published in City Pages. That was six years ago, people! I don’t think Eloise thought her money would
sit around for six years. So,
it’s time, we can do this.
Bill Skarie
- It has been a privilege to be a
part of this committee. It’s always exciting
to learn about a place that you value.
We’ve learned a lot. The
committee was instituted by the Board of Trustees in early 2004 and we have met
regularly since April of 2004. We were
given the task of critically looking at all aspects of the physical plant of
the church building and to arrive at options, which Dan Helwig outlined this
morning. My part of the program this
morning of where this is taking us is to discuss that a committee is in the
process of being formed to discuss a capital campaign and to discuss
feasibility for a congregation of our size and makeup. There are resources through the Unitarian
Universalist Association to help congregations do this sort of thing so we’ll
be looking at that.
One of the
processes that our committee has not done much with, one we didn’t feel was
within our scope, was how to raise the money and search for available
funding. We talked about it a little
bit, but from now on, our task is
finished. Our task was to come up with
some options. At this point what do we
do? I think the next step will be
investigate, decide, discover, talk about the options that we have and try to
come to a common consensus. I think we
would like to accomplish that through this coming spring and summer. The next step would be to finalize the plan
and hire an architect to actually help do what ever we decide to do. That would be in autumn 2005, complete the
plans for the project in the winter of 05-06, and optimistically begin renovation
and construction in spring of 2006. So
this is the process and hopefully we can go forward. Today is really the culmination of this
committees’ endeavor, and we hope that you can help us now in making some decisions. Thank you.
Dolly Scott
- What I would like to tell you
about, is a Christmas card I got this year from a young couple new in our
church, that said they wanted to thank me and other members of my generation
for building this institution that they had felt so much at home in and that
meant so much to them.
This institution
goes back many generations before me.
Some of those generations are still living, many are not. We do that don’t we? We build for the next generation, not for
ourselves. I’m thinking that my
generation, which is aging just as this building has, has not done such a good job of maintaining this institution because it
has all these maintenance issues that we haven’t
been dealing with. Before we pass on
altogether we need to do something to pass it on in better shape physically, as
well as spiritually and emotionally to the generations that are coming.
So I ask all of
you sitting here today, “Twenty years from now, thirty years from now, is
someone going to write you a note and say, “Thank you for keeping this
institution going.” I say we haven’t
done such a good job yet. We’re shorting
both ends; the children who have their classes in a building that is not fire
safe for them. How would they get out if
there was a fire? We haven’t met the
needs of the aging generation. We need
an elevator, and we’ve known that for years and years. I think we have done a good job of meeting
people’s spiritual and emotional needs, but we need to think of their physical
needs as well.
This church is
important to us, the people in it. It’s
also important in the community. Look around town. Look at the Universalist names that you see
on buildings; on the streets, Yawkey and Woodson and Scholfield, and
others. Look around at the community
organizations. Look at their boards,
people who are active in them. Our church
does an enormous amount in the community as members. I think if we weren’t here, the community
would be poorer for it.
Who was it some
years ago that spoke out against the White Seed? Who was it that initiated the protest against
Fred Phelps and his protestors when they came to picket the Laramie
Project? Who was it that was
instrumental in starting a recycling center here in town many years before
there was an organized recycling center?
Who was instrumental in planning the Martin Luther King Jr, Day
celebration that we just had here? Look
at the page we have in the Daily Herald every once in a while, The Community
Builders. Have you noticed how many of
those people have been members of our church?
We have an
important part to play in this community and we need to keep going. But, if we don’t do something about this
building our members are going to dwindle, not grow. Parents are going to come in and look at the RE
wing and say, “I don’t want my kids here on a Sunday morning.” They’re going to say, “If the people in this
church now don’t care enough about it to keep it going, why should I
care?” I’m a retired school
teacher. I live on my pension and
social security, but will do my utmost to make sure that this church goes on,
because I love this church,
and I love the
people in it. This is my extended family
and I hope that all of you will feel the same way. And know that many years down the road
someone will say about you, “Thanks for keeping this going, because I need it
and I appreciate it.”
Richard Olson
- I am the newly elected vice
president of our Board of Trustees and this is my first duty. At our meeting last Tuesday the Board authorized
the formation of a Capital Campaign Committee.
The purpose of this committee is to investigate ways to raise money for
whatever option we decide to go for. As
of yet there are no members on that committee.
As with any committee we are looking for dedicated people to join us so
please let us know if you are interested.