New and Updated Histories : Kansas
Manhattan
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Manhattan (UUFM)
A new congregational history — Manhattan was not represented in Part 2 of the original.
The Unitarian Universalist Oak Grove Fellowship of Manhattan (Kansas) was founded 50 years ago. The handsome new building is on a hillside overlooking the Kansas River valley and 2.6 acres of trees, grass and pathways. At the top of the steep hill is a Memorial Garden and a bench from which to view the valley and meditate. This is our permanent home, and we are an established part of the Manhattan religious community.
But it has not always been so.
According to Brock Dale, now the oldest member of the fellowship, and author of our history, The First Forty Years (2002), the earliest meetings were held in rented or borrowed spaces like the Girl Scout Little House next to a cemetery in Manhattan with no minister, no administrator — and run by volunteers. Brock goes on to say that
The group was, in some respects, quite homogeneous. Faculty members at (then) Kansas State College and their families comprised the large majority of the membership. They were philosophers, physicists, biologists, writers: scholars of various descriptions, and for the most part, politically liberal. They did come from a wide diversity of religious backgrounds: Jews, Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, and one Mormon. Nearly all had rebelled against the illogical aspects of some conventional religion. There were probably as many concepts of God as there were people, and they made of religion what was acceptable to them individually.
Programs were then as they still are in large degree now, a mix of literature, music, religion and philosophy, science, and scholarship. Now there are some more practical programs including interpersonal relations, and those that are inspirational and spiritual. Still, all programs end at the stroke of noon, followed by coffee and a snack. This has been called our one dogma, and with good reason.
In those first 30 years, rarely (not more than three or four times a year), a visiting Unitarian minister would preach. Usually this was Rev. Charles Stephen, minister at The Unitarian Church, Lincoln, Nebraska, 115 miles north. He and his wife, Pat, would drive down, often the day before, spend the evening with member–friends, and then drive back the next afternoon. Charles, now retired, still visits and gives his literate and extremely well attended sermons from time to time.
Membership was steady at about 20 for several years, then attendance declined in spite of the increase in the children’s religious education (RE) classes. The Girl Scout Little House could be used only in the evenings, and in an effort to find a place where the group could meet Sunday mornings, the owner of a downtown beauty school was contacted and agreed to provide space, free-of-charge. Attendance rose dramatically. Membership (and financial contributions) stabilized, and there was a movement to have a building of our own. One of our members, Inez Alsop, sold the fellowship a house at 709 Bluemont (in mid-town) at a reduced cost and financed it herself with low interest.
This was our home until the present building at 481 Zeandale Road was purchased and renovated in late 1983. Again membership increased. This building, a schoolhouse that the school district in later years of ownership used for storage, resembled nothing so much as a forgotten government building. However, for the next 16 years, it served us more or less well.
Our present home is a renovation of that renovation, as well as an expansion. A spacious sanctuary was added, including vaulted ceilings, large windows on both sides of the room, upholstered-chair seating (no more steel folding chairs!) for about 150, a complete kitchen, four rooms dedicated to children and teen use, an office for the administrator, and a pastoral study for the minister. The original sanctuary, named for the late Inez Alsop, our benefactor, is now used as a general meeting and dining room.
Until 1992 we had no regular minister. Then we hired Rev. David Grimm quarter-time, sharing him with the UU Fellowship of Topeka. Membership grew, there was more music from an excellent choir as well as congregational singing, hymn books, and a sermon at least once a month (often something based on Ralph Waldo Emerson). The format became standardized, and we began to meet every Sunday right through the summer.
A reading or telling of a story before the children were “sung out” with the “Go now in peace” quatrain for RE classes became a feature. Following the talk, whether presented by an outside visitor or a sermon by our minister or another, there was, and still is, a lively discussion period. Rev. Grimm became justly famous within the congregation as a leader of often brilliant discussions about the sermon he had just given.
In 2002 David moved on to an associate pastorate at Albuquerque, and Rev. Michael Nelson took his place. Michael was formally installed as our minister (slightly more than half-time, as he also leads the UU congregation in Salina) in March, 2006. He has brought to our fellowship his broad experience as a businessman, editor, and minister. A graduate of the Starr–King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, CA, he provides us with a sermon once or twice a month, visits the sick and housebound, does pastoral counseling, presents specialized programs (for example, a series of evening meetings/dinners on making a living will), and, most recently, he and our administrator, Sue Turner, organize and present a “Third Thursday” short program and buffet dinner.
Since its beginning in 1957 the education of our UU children has been important, often even a driving force in our congregation, and a reason for our fellowship to continue when other reasons seemed lacking. Up to now the teaching has been done entirely by volunteers. Most of the UU adults who are longtime members have at least a few times taught a RE class, and some have done so many, many times. The subjects have ranged from nature field trips to comparative religion. The possibility of a paid part-time professional RE person has been and continues to be discussed. About 20 children from infancy to teens are served by the RE program. Their education on a Sunday morning begins every Sunday during the regular service with storytelling by a lay person or the minister. After that, they are “sung out” with this quatrain:
Go now in peace. go now in peace.
May the spirit of love surround you,
Everywhere, everywhere
You may go.
Our congregation, like others, reflects our social concerns in activities within the community. We are active in support and operation of a breadbasket for the hungry and a “helping hands” program of donations one Sunday a month for selected charities. We ring the bell at Christmas for the Salvation Army, and members often participate in social action within their community and elsewhere. For example, one longtime member, Anne Cowan, was supported in her work in Nicaragua in part with funds from our fellowship.
The informal activities of the fellowship are extensive. There are regularly meeting lunch groups for men and women that are well attended, a drumming circle, a conflict resolution group, a book review group, a memoir writer’s workshop, and an accomplished adult choir. Our building is in daily use.
Years ago, member Charlie Grayden, now deceased, would sometimes ask, “How are we different from a social club?” We are, of course, also a social group with a very active Social Committee. We have dinners together and frequent entertainment. Often, members are our closest friends. We have watched each other’s children grow up and ourselves grow old. We have marked the days and the years together. We have had dedications, weddings, and funerals. Occasionally the building is rented out to others, but it is above all our mutual home away from home, and it is a monument to what people of like minds can do together within the supportive organizational structure of the UUA and the physical structure of a building.