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“Lighting Two More Chalices”

 Welcome! And welcome back! Another new year is upon us, the first year of an ambitious new strategic plan, calling us to grow into the liberal religious community we aspire to become, calling us to develop more fully into the individuals we hope to be! I look forward to the adventures of this year to come! I am glad to know that we will encounter them in each other’s company! Each one of us brings something unique and valuable to our shared endeavor!

 Believe it or not, we’ve already begun to implement several aspects of our new plan. One of the plan’s goals calls us to support the newly established Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations in Mt. Vernon and Cape Girardeau . We’re working to do so with Chalice Lighters! 

 As you know, each Sunday morning, in recognition that we have gathered as a UU community, we begin our service by lighting our flaming chalice. We think of the person who lights the chalice – often one of our children, or sometimes one of our newer members – as our “chalice lighter.” But there is also another sense in which many of us are “chalice lighters.” Our regional UU organization, the Central Midwest District (CMwD), coordinates a program called “Chalice Lighters.” Its purpose is to help us light the chalice of liberal religion for more people throughout the states of Illinois , Wisconsin , Michigan , Missouri , and (a bit of) Indiana . Chalice Lighters helps by raising funds in support of “growth-oriented” projects proposed by UU congregations within the area. Individual UUs become part of the Chalice Lighters program by signing up at the CMwD website (at http://www.cmwd-uua.org/chalice.html just to be specific). In signing up, one commits oneself to contribute at least $10 three times over the course of a year, in support of congregational grant applications considered most worthy by CMwD reviewers.

 We here in Carbondale have been fortunate to receive two Chalice Lighters grants to date. In Spring, 1999, we received a $7,700 grant award in support of our decision to support professional ministry. Five years later, in 2004, we received a $9,800 grant to assist us with the expenses of moving into (and paying for) our new facility. And now we have applied for a third grant from the program in support of our new “UU neighbors” in Cape Girardeau and Mt. Vernon as they each take their next steps forward.

 Over the past eight months, representatives of these two fellowships met several times with Judy Aydt, Vennie Anderson, and me to develop a three-way grant application. Cape Girardeau is working to acquire its own rental space, while Mt. Vernon ’s efforts will include greater regional visibility and community outreach.

 We should hear within a month or so whether our application has been selected. But whether it is chosen or not, I hope that you understand how important it is for us, as individuals, to support the growth of Unitarian Universalism in this region. If you are already a CMwD Chalice Lighter, I thank you! If not, I encourage you to consider what a difference the Chalice Lighters program has made here in Carbondale, and hope that you will want to join me in supporting this very valuable program! In the words of Dag Hammerskjold, “ Each morning we must hold out the chalice of our being to receive, to carry, and to give back.” Chalice Lighters is a very meaningful way that we can “give back” to the larger movement that has supported us!

 Again, welcome back! And thank you for the continued generosity with which you participate here, and support our larger movement!

 In gratitude, (signed) Bill S.