Dear Members and Friends,
Don’t you love October. For the next few days, go outside and look for Venus just after sunset. It’s the brightest light in the western sky, just above the horizon. Look a little higher and to the right to see the streak of flaming gas that trails the icy comet, T-Atlas, a once-every-80,000-year celestial event you can see with your naked eye, but use binoculars or your camera to zoom in. It’s also fun to play with lighting filters on a digital image and see far more detail that your eye can perceive. Here is a link to this comet and the other nine comets that are near the Earth right now, https://theskylive.com/guide?geoid=4984500. Old and recent religions connect celestial events with whatever is happening just before, during or right after the event occurred in their milieu. Haley’s Comet might have helped spread Christianity in plague-ridden Ireland during the 14th Century. As far as omens go, they can be good or bad—it just depends on what just happened or what happens next. Many people like to think the universe and all its elements are focused on us. Others think that as elements of the universe ourselves, we are simply a part of it all in that regard alone, and that is all we can really know. Maybe you have your own ideas about your place among the swirling bodies and the interconnected powers around us. T-Atlas will be visible for an hour or two after sunset over the next few days. Then it will follow its deep space orbit for another 80,000 years before it returns to visit our descendants.
Our celebration of the celestial event, Samhain, is a tradition among our Earth-Centered Spirituality Group. It marks a cross-quarter day, which means it’s a day that marks the halfway point between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. The Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters, is visible almost directly overhead. Trunk or Treat is scheduled for Oct. 26 from 4:00-6:00 pm. Last year, we had so much fun despite the heat. This year, it will be cool and comfortable, and we expect another large turnout of our own families and visiting ones. Afterwards, relax and enjoy the Samhain after-party from 6:00-8:00 pm.
And it’s really time to enjoy our perfect fall. It’s cool enough to play and work outside, and it’s warm enough to pull that jacket off by mid-morning. With this in mind, our October Work Day involved planning for play—Hal got the nature trail cleared and outlined with limbs. The bee and butterfly garden is in full fall splendor. Hal also prepared a pickle ball court in the north parking lot so that everyone can enjoy the weather and get some exercise. Space for four square is being considered also. Lisa has been planting and cleaning up around the pavilion. We got a lot of cleaning and painting done, too, but plenty of tasks are left for another work day in the spring or anytime someone has extra time and talent to donate to our campus.
We’ve been out in the public again with the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. With our Third Sunday GATP (Give Away the Plate) this week, our donations will near $1,000. Thank you all and thank you, Judy, for taking over with our participation. If we live long enough, this disease could affect us and many of those we care about.
The History Binders are updated, one in the office, the other in the Library. Brenda and Joyce Hickson have written a synopsis for the website. Also, Brenda is reviewing and updating each page of website content. Check our website and learn what’s happening. Click that “menu” bar and learn about our Board of Trustees and our leaders who are out there doing things to make our fellowship strong.
Amanda Jones is one of those leaders. At the Children’s and Youth and Young Adults (YAYA) RE meeting on October 12, she proposed a new “Tweens” Program with members meeting at the same time as YAYA on Wednesday nights. This program fills a gap in including kids aged 9-13 in an evening exploration of UU values and goals. It’s designed to help the kids form lasting relationships that make a fellowship like ours grow, but more importantly, it guides them into becoming compassionate, engaged young adults.
We are planning for the holidays—celebrations of harvest and the Winter Solstice, and football and bonfires. Join in and have some fun. There will be plenty of work to do again in the Spring, but it’s time to enjoy everything we have accomplished and to celebrate our abundance and achievements together.
Kind Regards,
Connie Ussery, President
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Columbus