October 2005 Worship Services

Ministerial Cognitions

Hurricane Rita has taken its toll on the people of Beaumont and on the members of Spindletop Unitarian Church. You have been out of your homes and away from your faith community. Many of you came back to homes with some damage--with windows broken, trees fallen, roofs with holes or cracks. Our church had a tree fall on it, the air-conditioner detached from the roof, electrical lines cut, and water damage inside the church. And before the hurricane, we had been struggling with termite damage in the sanctuary, making it unusable.

So now we begin the process of cleaning, clearing, and rebuilding. We are fortunate that we are receiving help in this process. Members of Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church will join members of our church on October 8th and 9th to clear the brush, cut up the downed trees, and plug the open air-conditioned ducts in the roof. We hope to have electricity soon.

And we have been given grants by the Unitarian Universalist Association/Unitarian Universalists Service Committee Gulf Coast Fund to help us during this difficult time. I will have $10,000 in my ministerial discretionary fund to aid those who need help in rebuilding their lives after Hurricane Rita. My salary and Rachelsarah's salary will be paid for three months, taking some of the burden off our congregation. And we are hoping to receive $25,000 to aid us in rebuilding the church. The final grant of $25,000 has to go before a committee before we get the final OK that we will receive it. Then the money will be placed in a fund that will be distributed by a committee in our church consisting of myself and two congregants; this is part of the stipulation of the grant.

There are also congregations across the nation who have emailed me wanting to help us. They want something specific that they can do to aid us in our rebuilding process. For instance, they might purchase a new air-conditioner for the church. We will assess our needs and let them know.

I kept in contact with many of your through email and phone calls during this time of evacuation, but unfortunately I did not know how to contact some of you. Please know that I was concerned about you and tried to find out your whereabouts and if you were OK. I asked Tom Harlan, who stayed in Beaumont, to check on some of your homes to see if you were there or in need. I think we need a plan, if this were to ever happen again, to keep in touch with each other. I was deeply concerned when I was unable to find those of you I wasn't able to talk to.

We are going to start services back again on October 16th. This Saturday and Sunday, October 8th and 9th, if you are back in town, I encourage you to come to the church and aid us in cleaning the church and grounds, clearing trees, and repairing the church.

If you need to talk with me about how this time affected you or you family, I will come by to talk, just let me know. If you need help in the rebuilding process, please let me know, I have some funds to help. We are very blessed to have all the help we are getting. We remain a vital faith community.

Rev. Tom

Worship Services:

October 9

no church service scheduled by Rev. T. Capo

Come out and help clean-up the church grounds!

October 16

Reconnecting and Rebuilding by Rev. T. Capo

We are coming together after a very difficult time for many of us. We need and our church needs loving attention. Spindletop Church is our home, as well as a bastion for liberal religion in the Golden Triangle; we are called to reconnnect with one another/to support one another, and to repair our gathering space.

October 23

Yom Kippur, a Time of Atonement by Rev. Tom Capo

This Jewish holy day calls us all to measure what we have done and what we have become against our own highest visions of who we should and could be. Following this, we are then called to repentance. This does not mean recommitting to our good values or highest visions; this means considering what specifically we are going to do differently in our lives.

October 30

To Be Announced by Ms. Gini Courter