Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover http://uuandover.org A Liberal Religious Voice in the Merrimack Valley since 1847                                                     A Welcoming Congregation Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:06:41 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 We invite you to join us on the journey… http://uuandover.org/archives/559 http://uuandover.org/archives/559#comments Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:10:31 +0000 UUCiA http://uuandover.org/?p=559

We hope you will find among us an invitation: to celebrate life together in a caring community, to welcome children in the communal experience, to honor the diverse religious backgrounds of an interfaith constituency, to engage in personal spiritual growth, to be present for others who also search, to cooperate in supporting the community centered in worship, deepened by educational and social opportunities, and to work together with others for a just world. If the journey begins with the first step, we hope it may be in our company.

We, the members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover (affectionately known as the UUCiA), join with one another to create and sustain a caring community which:

  • nurtures spiritual growth
  • shares our Unitarian Universalist tradition
  • values and celebrates diversity, and
  • is a liberal beacon, grounded in hope, for a just world.
Our Mission: To Seek the Light of Truth, To Share the Warmth of Love, To Live the Energy of Action

Our Mission: To Seek the Light of Truth, To Share the Warmth of Love, To Live the Energy of Action

Please read our Mission Statement and our Vision Themes & Provocative Propositions to find out more about what matters most to us.

Our congregation is free and self governing. In North America, Unitarianism and Universalism arose as alternatives to Puritanism in New England and the religious establishments in the middle and southern colonies. It reflected the same impulse in religion that the American Revolution did in political life. We are affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association to support our wider work and outreach. Within the UUA, we are a member of the Massachusetts Bay District, a group of 57 congregations in north eastern Massachusetts.

Unitarian and Universalist traditions in the western branch of human culture extend back to the time of Jesus (in practicing his Judaism, his theology was unitarian). It continued in various forms (usually persecuted as heresy by the majority faiths) until it emerged in such places as Transylvania (with the tutelage of a Unitarian king), Poland, England, and the Netherlands. Consistently we practiced freedom and tolerance, writing the first edict of religious tolerance in Europe, always with an openness to new truth. In time among us, there has emerged a truly global orientation to religious practice, finding among the many branches of world religious tradition insights into our shared humanity and guidance for the spiritual life.

]]> http://uuandover.org/archives/559/feed 0 News from Refugee Immigration Ministry http://uuandover.org/archives/2578 http://uuandover.org/archives/2578#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:06:41 +0000 UUCiA http://uuandover.org/?p=2578 We had twenty RIM clients arrive in the Boston area within three weeks before Christmas — four separate families, two have settled in Lynn, one is in Chelsea, and one is in Waltham . . . with lots of kids of all ages.

Three of the families are from Congo but coming via a refugee camp in Rwanda, the other family is from Somalia.  Anyhow, the cluster volunteers are pretty much going crazy trying to get everyone comfortably settled and while the basics are in place, we are still looking for a number of items and help . . . All of the families are great people, very appreciative and fun to work with…too bad it’s so coooold!   No doubt this week was the first view of snow for them!

Please see the list below and if you have things to contribute, you can let Ellen Prokopow know  and we will work out the logistics of getting the items to the families.

The most immediate needs are for:

 

            One car seat or if possible two for the Waltham clients

 

  • Back packs…as many as possible, kids need them immediately for school, but adults would probably also use them to carry things to classes and training programs.
  • Also school supplies: 3-ring binders, filler paper, pencils, pens, erasers, colored pencils, calculators, markers, pencil pouches, rulers, whatever else your kids need for school or things that might be needed at home for homework/projects.
  • Twin/single bed frames…as many as possible
  • Warm blankets and double or queen sheets
  • Rugs of varying sizes
  • Two straight chairs for the dining room (or folding chairs)
  • An armchair or loveseat or two
  • Digital-to-analog box and antenna for an older TV (to allow the TV to work without cable)
  • CD player/radios
  • Alarm clocks
  • Winter boots:  5 1/2 women’s
    5 1/2 boy’s
    8 1/2 men’s (2 pair)
    9 women’s
    11 men’s
    8 men’s
    also boots More for high school age people and adults
  • Winter shoes, same sizes.
  • Warm winter socks
  • Warm pajamas
  • Lots of warm long-sleeved clothes for young boys…fleece tops, sweaters, sweatshirts, long-sleeved shirts, warm pants, snow pants.
  • Lots of warm long-sleeved clothes for older teens/early twenties, both boys and girls
  • Warm long-sleeved clothes for a size 14, tall, long-armed woman…particularly skirts and dresses
  • A continuing supply of things that food stamps don’t pay for:
    • paper products like paper towels, kleenex, toilet paper and napkins,
    • personal care items like moisturizing lotion, soap, shampoo, toothpaste,
    • cleaning products like Mr. Clean, bathroom cleanser, dishwashing liquid, and lots of laundry detergent…the two families of seven have a lot of dirty clothes! 
  • Toys/activities/books for a three-year-old girl, 11 year-old boy, and boys who are 7, 9 and 13…maybe Legos?  puzzles?  concentration?  especially stuff to help with vocabulary and numbers and alphabet but just anything fun.
  • Things for older kids too…17, 20, 21, etc. A DVD player, while a luxury, would be much appreciated.
  • MONEY…for socks and underwear and things that don’t get donated and the point people have to go out to buy, laundry expenses.

 

Anything you have, you can bring to Nancy Toney’s porch at 334 East Foster Street in Melrose or just email her at  toneybn@gmail.com and she will put the info out to the point people so it can get where it’s needed.

 

                  HOW ELSE CAN YOU HELP?

 

These clients are all wonderful, appreciative, warm people. Knowing them will

enrich your life.  Please help us help them!  You could:

 

Teach English or help them practice…we have a RIM curriculum that comes with

training materials and is easy to teach.

 

Take clients to the library to get a library card and show them the resources that are available and how to get there on their own.

 

Take the clients food shopping.  They have food stamps but need a ride.

 

Take clients to the Laundromat to wash their clothes.  Families of seven have a lot of dirty clothes!

 

Show them how to take the bus into Boston or wherever else they want to go.

 

Take clients to a supermarket that has African food, which may be at a distance from their house.

 

Drive the Waltham family to Boston Medical Center.  They need to go once a month.

 

Be on a call list to drive people to appointments.

 

Invite the clients to your home or take them somewhere like a museum or visit them in their home and show them how to play a game.

 

Take clients shopping for items that are not donated, like shoes, boots, underwear, socks, or do some shopping alone for us.

]]> http://uuandover.org/archives/2578/feed 0 We invite you to join us on the journey… http://uuandover.org/archives/1325 http://uuandover.org/archives/1325#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:09:40 +0000 Rev. M. Lara Hoke http://uuandover.org/?p=1325

Services begin at 10:30am.

Directions

Rev. Lara Hoke

Rev. Lara Hoke

Welcome!  I am so glad that you have found the website for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover, which we affectionately call the UUCiA.  The tagline of this congregation is “A Liberal Religious Voice in the Merrimack Valley since 1847”.  I would go a step further and say that the UUCiA is an important haven in the Merrimack Valley for those who enjoy worshipping in a warm, friendly, and open-minded environment.

The UUCiA provides a spiritual home to many who would not have felt as sustained and supported anywhere else.  This is a congregation of people from different walks of life and different religious backgrounds.  We are people from different cultures, people of different ages and family configurations.

We are people who don’t all believe exactly the same things, but who share core values.   Members of the UUCiA are (as I once heard Unitarian Universalism described) “open to truth and meaning wherever it may be found” just as they “work compassionately for social justice”.

The UUCiA is a proud Welcoming Congregation. (The phrase “Welcoming Congregation” has a particular meaning among Unitarian Universalists. Namely, this congregation has made a commitment to be inclusive and supportive of those who are bisexual, gay, lesbian or transgender; we have made a commitment to work for justice around BGLT issues as well.)

I think you will find that people at the UUCiA care deeply about each other.  I have had the privilege of serving as the half-time minister of this congregation since July 2009, and I never cease to be amazed.

I am so pleased that you have found this website, and hope that you will visit us some Sunday soon.  I hope that you will be as delighted with this congregation as I have been.  In the words of Rumi (found in our hymnal), “Come, come, whoever you are! Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving… ours is no caravan of despair.  Come, yet again, come.”

]]> http://uuandover.org/archives/1325/feed 0 Gloves on thanks to helping hands http://uuandover.org/archives/2562 http://uuandover.org/archives/2562#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:06:59 +0000 UUCiA http://uuandover.org/?p=2562 GlovesLast week, DRE Thea Shapiro, a regular volunteer at Bread and Roses,  noticed that many of the  dinner guests waiting in line for their evening meal were gloveless. When the wind chill is  hovering around zero, bare hands can be painful and even dangerous to your health.

The good news: Thanks to UUCiA members’ many generous Helping Hands, Thea is dropping off 40 pairs of new gloves and mittens of all sizes at the Lawrence soup kitchen. Your generous donations at last Sunday’s service made it posssible.

 

 

 

 

]]> http://uuandover.org/archives/2562/feed 0 RE Corner: No RE program January 1 http://uuandover.org/archives/2500 http://uuandover.org/archives/2500#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:14:57 +0000 Thea Shapiro, DRE http://uuandover.org/?p=2500 We will not be offering our Religious Education program this Sunday, January 1. Our RE program will resume next Sunday, January 8. Thank you!

]]> http://uuandover.org/archives/2500/feed 0 Recipe: Butternut squash Soup http://uuandover.org/archives/2487 http://uuandover.org/archives/2487#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:58:32 +0000 UUCiA http://uuandover.org/?p=2487 Summary: Makes about two quarts – all or partial can be frozen.

Ingredients

  • 1 large butternut squash – peeled and cut into rough 3/4″ pieces – not too critical on size.
  • 1 large Vidalia onion peeled and cut into six wedges
  • olive oil
  • fresh ground black pepper
  • one to two diced carrots (1/4″ dice)
  • one to two diced celery stalks
  • two minced garlic cloves
  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
  • one teaspoon+ of crushed dried sage
  • sour cream or Greek yogurt

Instructions

  1. Mix butternut squash and onion in large bowl with fresh ground black pepper and olive oil until completely coated.
  2. Bake on one to two cookie sheets in 400 degree oven for 1 hour, turning pieces after 1/2 hour
  3. Saute carrots and celery in olive oil. After 3-4 minutes, add 2 minced garlic cloves and continue sauteing for another minute.
  4. When soft, add stock and bring to warm simmer. The amount of stock determines how liquid the soup is. The flavor is very strong so adding more stock does not really dilute the flavor too much.
  5. Remove squash and onion from oven and puree in food processor in batches using some of the chicken stock with each batch.
  6. When finished, add sage and mix thoroughly.
  7. If you are looking for a really elegant soup, drain through a wire mesh to remove solids. Press mesh to squeeze out all the good stuff. Garnish with sour cream or Greek yogurt.

Quick notes

From Bob Rougvie

]]> http://uuandover.org/archives/2487/feed 0 Recipe: Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake http://uuandover.org/archives/2471 http://uuandover.org/archives/2471#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:12:17 +0000 UUCiA http://uuandover.org/?p=2471 From EatingWell: November/December 1996, The Essential EatingWell Cookbook (2004)

Ingredients

  • Crust
  • 1 cup gingersnap cookie crumbs, (about 20 cookies)
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • Filling
  • 20 ounces low-fat cottage cheese, (2 1/2 cups)
  • 12 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, (1 1/2 cups), softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 large egg whites, or 4 teaspoons dried egg whites, reconstituted according to package
  • directions
  • 8 ounces reduced-fat sour cream, (1 cup)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 3/4 cup unseasoned pumpkin puree
  • 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons unsulfured molasses
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Put a kettle of water on to heat for the water bath. Coat a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Wrap the outside bottom of the pan with a double thickness of foil.
  2. To prepare crust: Combine crumbs and oil in a bowl. Press into the bottom of the pan.
  3. To prepare filling & bake cheesecake: Puree cottage cheese in a food processor until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the workbowl once or twice. Add cream cheese, sugar and 3 tablespoons cornstarch; process until smooth. Add egg, egg whites, sour cream, vanilla and salt; blend well. Measure 3 1/2 cups of the batter into a separate bowl; stir in lemon juice. To the remaining filling, add pumpkin, brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and the remaining 1 tablespoon cornstarch; blend well.
  4. Pour about 1 cup of the vanilla filling into the center of the crust. Then pour about 1 cup of the pumpkin filling into the center of the vanilla filling. Alternate the remaining fillings in the same manner; concentric circles will form as they spread. To create a marbled effect, gently swirl a knife or skewer through the fillings.
  5. Place the cheesecake in a roasting pan and pour in enough boiling water to come 1/2 inch up the side of the springform pan.
  6. Bake the cheesecake until the edges are set but the center still jiggles, about 50 minutes. Turn off the oven. Coat a knife with cooking spray and run it around the edge of the cake. Let stand in the oven, with the door ajar, for 1 hour. Transfer from the water bath to a wire rack; remove foil. Let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. Refrigerate, uncovered, until chilled.

Quick notes

Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. | Equipment: 9-inch springform pan

Preparation time:

Calories: 221

Fat: 6 g

Protein: 9 g

]]> http://uuandover.org/archives/2471/feed 0 Recipe: No-Knead Harvest Bread http://uuandover.org/archives/2457 http://uuandover.org/archives/2457#comments Sun, 04 Dec 2011 20:01:32 +0000 UUCiA http://uuandover.org/?p=2457 The official bread of UUCiA Sunday coffee hour. Plan ahead for this easy bread—an overnight or all-day rise gives it terrific flavor. For the best crust, bake in a ceramic bread crock, or a covered clay baker.

Ingredients

  • 3 1/4 cups Lancelot Hi-Gluten Flour or King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 cup King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour or King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
  • 1 3/4 cups cool water
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup golden raisins
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts

Instructions

  1. Mix the flours, salt, yeast, and water in a large bowl. Stir, then use your hands to mix and form a sticky dough.
  2. Work the dough just enough to incorporate all the flour, then work in the fruit and nuts.
  3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rest at room temperature overnight, or for at least 8 hours; it’ll become bubbly and rise quite a bit, so use a large bowl.
  4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and form it into a log or round loaf to fit your 14″ to 15″ long lidded stoneware baker; 9″ x 12″ oval deep casserole dish with cover; or 9″ to 10″ round lidded baking crock.
  5. Place the dough in the lightly greased pan, smooth side up.
  6. Cover and let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, until it’s become puffy. It should rise noticeably, but it’s not a real high-riser.
  7. Place the lid on the pan, and put the bread in the cold oven. Set the oven temperature to 450°F.
  8. Bake the bread for 45 to 50 minutes, then remove the lid and continue to bake for another 5 to 15 minutes, until it’s deep brown in color, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers about 205°F. Remove the bread from the oven, turn out onto a rack, and cool before slicing.

Preparation time:

Cooking time:

Number of servings (yield): 12

]]> http://uuandover.org/archives/2457/feed 0 December 4, 2011 http://uuandover.org/archives/2438 http://uuandover.org/archives/2438#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:27:55 +0000 Thea Shapiro, DRE http://uuandover.org/?p=2438 Join us to make ornaments for our Christmas Tree with Sandy and Sherry.

]]> http://uuandover.org/archives/2438/feed 0 Recipe: No-Knead Harvest Bread http://uuandover.org/archives/2434 http://uuandover.org/archives/2434#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:47:27 +0000 UUCiA http://uuandover.org/?p=2434

Recipe: No-Knead Harvest Bread

Summary: Plan ahead for this easy bread—an overnight or all-day rise gives it terrific flavor.

Ingredients

  • 3 1/4 cups King Arthur Bread Flour
  • 1 cup King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour or King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
  • 1 3/4 cups cool water
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup golden raisins
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts

Instructions

  1. 1) Mix the flours, salt, yeast, and water in a large bowl. Stir, then use your hands to mix and form a sticky dough.
  2. 2) Work the dough just enough to incorporate all the flour, then work in the fruit and nuts.
  3. 3) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rest at room temperature overnight, or for at least 8 hours; it’ll become bubbly and rise quite a bit, so use a large bowl.
  4. 4) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and form it into a log or round loaf to fit your 14″ to 15″ long lidded stoneware baker; 9″ x 12″ oval deep casserole dish with cover; or 9″ to 10″ round lidded baking crock.
  5. 5) Place the dough in the well-greased pan.
  6. 6) Cover and let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, until it’s become puffy. It should rise noticeably, but it’s not a real high-riser.
  7. 7) Place the lid on the pan, and put the bread in the cold oven. Set the oven temperature to 450°F.
  8. 8) Bake the bread for 45 to 50 minutes, then remove the lid and continue to bake for another 5 to 15 minutes, until it’s deep brown in color, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers about 205°F. Remove the bread from the oven, turn out onto a rack, and cool before slicing.

Quick notes

Using Hi-Gluten or Bread Flour, with its higher protein level, allows this bread to rise higher than it will with all-purpose flour. Walnuts sometimes give this bread a faint purple tinge. If this bothers you, use pecans instead.

Number of servings (yield): 12

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