Congregational news, Winter 2011

Brief congregational news items from the Winter 2011 issue.
By Michelle Bates Deakin And Julia Angley
Winter 2011

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Matching chalices (Julie Yeats)

Artist Loren Jones made matching chalices for the Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins, Colo., and the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tenn. (Julie Yeats)

RELATED RESOURCES

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Knoxville, Tenn. (tvuuc.org)

Foothills Unitarian Church. Fort Collins, Colo. (foothillsuu.org)

First Church of Houlton, Unitarian Universalist. Houlton, Me. (uuhoulton.org)

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Knoxville UUs receive twin chalice

Members of the Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins, Colo., have given a chalice to the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., to show their solidarity with their Tennessee peers who witnessed a gunman open fire in their church in July 2008. Two people were killed and seven injured in the shooting. (See UU World’s coverage of the shootings and aftermath.)

Bonnie Stegner, a member of the Foothills church, had long thought about the shooting in the Knoxville church, where her sister, Pat Bing, is a member. After an artist in Stegner’s church created a beautiful handmade chalice for the Foothills congregation, Bonnie asked the artist, Loren Jones, to make a sister chalice for the Knoxville church as a gesture of caring.

The Foothills church held a “Passing of the Flame and Dedication of the Chalice” ceremony in January 2011, before sending it to Tennessee. The Rev. Dr. Marc Salkin, minister of the Foothills congregation, said that while support is often widespread immediately after a tragedy, many forget the ongoing suffering as the healing process continues.

—M.B.D.

Maine church marks 200th anniversary

The First Church of Houlton, Maine, celebrated its 200th anniversary in October. The church was organized on October 13, 1811, as the Congregational Church of Houlton. In 1835, a portion of the congregation formed the Unitarian Society of Houlton, which built a meetinghouse in 1837.

The First Church of Houlton celebrated its shared heritage with the Congregational Church in a joint bicentennial service on October 16 at the Unitarian Society’s meetinghouse. Other bicentennial projects include a portrait restoration of the Unitarian Society’s first minister and an historical exhibit at the Houlton Museum.

—J.A.

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