October 1 – “Love As Spaciousness” with Rev. Jill McAllister. A new generation of UUs suggests articulating our values in new ways, beginning with Love at the Center
October 8 – “Not So Like-Minded After All” with Rev. Jill McAllister. We’re learning a lot about the real differences in how brains work – neurodiversity. Turns out we’re more different than we imagine.
October 15 – “What is Transformation?” with Rev. Jill McAllister. Have you ever experienced transformation? How is it part of religious and spiritual growth?
October 22 – “God Is Not One, Neither are We” with Rev. Jill McAllister. One of the unique characteristics of our religious movement is pluralism – the willingness to be different and be together at the same time.
October 29 – Wheel of the Year – All Ages – Samhain / Halloween
~Worship is our shared Unitarian Universalist practice of exploring, connecting to, and creating the ways that our individual lives fit into a larger whole. Not all UUs share the same beliefs or opinions–our religious tradition doesn’t expect or require consensus—but our shared worship forms a vessel for us to find meaning together. By devoting ourselves to a regular time of encountering and engaging that which is greater, wiser, and more compassionate than our individual selves, we create opportunities for transformation and meaning-making. The UUA offers many resources for worship – for congregations, small groups, and for home practice. Find out more at uua.org/inspiration.
~Braver / Wiser — Courage and Compassion for Life as It Is : A weekly reflection from the UUA Life is full of hard edges and complicated choices. Braver/Wiser gives you weekly message of courage and compassion for life as it is. Every Wednesday we deliver an original written reflection and brief prayer, grounded in Unitarian Universalism. Join the Braver/Wiser community and sign up today!
Our October Justice Outreach offerings will support the South Corvallis Food Bank which provides food for low-income families and those in need of emergency food services.
Information about the Monthly Outreach Offering as well as about UUFC Justice Teams is posted on the bulletin board at the northeast corner of the Social Hall or at uucorvallis.org/justice. .
Join us for a lively conversation as we explore The Sum of Us, by Heather McGhee. The book invites us to engage in constructive, shared solutions to some of the greatest challenges we face. If 289 pages seem daunting, please watch the video Random Review of The Sum of Us offered by the Benton County Library featuring Dr. Dwaine Plaza, OSU Sociology professor.
October 23rd we will be concentrating solely on the book’s inspirational final chapter – “The Solidarity Dividend”.
It’s raining, again, finally. I am relieved, again. It surprises me how much I worry about the change in our local climate (and everywhere else!). My worry is about the whole thing – here and everywhere else. My surprise has more to do with feelings and memories I have about this place – a temperate rain-forest in my mind and body. A place of nearly constant moisture – mist, drizzle, rain, rivers, oceans. (When I first moved here in the early 1980’s, I heard someone say that this climate was good for thinking, having something to do with negative ions generated by moving water….) I think this is a very common human trait: in our deep need to know and understand, we make assumptions about the way things are. We translate the way we think things are into the way things should be. Hot, dry summers in Oregon? No. And yet, over and over and over again, Life offers us the teaching that things change, and rarely meet our needs or expectations. If we are willing, we help ourselves to begin again everyday, to let go of our assumptions and meet the world anew.
That’s the work and the journey we share as members of the Fellowship – to help each other be able to grow and change as everything changes. And yes, to support and comfort each other when that work is hard – which is most of the time! We do that best by continually meeting each other, by listening, and conversing, and sharing time and activities. Everything we do is for the aim of helping each other grow and change as everything changes. As October arrives, I am grateful again to be part of this learning, helping community. I am wondering what this new season will bring – including what the trees will look like – so many have brown edges from the heat of the summer. Will the colors arrive? Will they meet my hopes and expectations? I’m relieved that whatever happens, I am part of this beautiful companionship with all of you, and we’ll meet what comes together.
Our September Justice Outreach offerings will support our Partner Congregation in Bozod Korispatak, Transylvania, which is in Romania. Our partnership is 28 years old! In that time we have supported tuition for many students, plus stipends for ministry and elders. Our partners have hosted Fellowship members many times, and we have hosted them as well. The Korispatak congregation is part of the Hungarian Unitarian Church, the ancestral home of Unitarianism.
Information about the Monthly Outreach Offering, as well as about UUFC Justice Teams, is posted on the bulletin board at the northeast corner of the Social Hall. Learn more about our Partner Church there.
Advance tickets $23 – on sale at UUFC Sept. 17 and 24 (cash or checks only), $25 at the door ($26 for credit cards.) Roy Zimmerman’s signature blend of heart and hilarity has never been more necessary. In a career spanning more than thirty years, Roy’s songs have been heard on HBO and Showtime, and his videos have garnered hundreds of millions of views.
No Depression Magazine says, “Without a doubt, Roy Zimmerman is among the most important political commentators of the last few decades, and in the end, it’s the music that unites and disarms. With music this good and humor this insightful, there is good reason to be optimistic.”
The L.A. Times says, “Zimmerman displays a lacerating wit and keen awareness of society’s foibles that bring to mind a latter-day Tom Lehrer.”
Tom Lehrer himself says, “I congratulate Roy Zimmerman on reintroducing literacy to comedy songs.”
Check out his YouTube videos — Roy has garnered hundreds of millions of views. Here are a couple of our favorites (co-written by Roy and his wife Melanie Harber):
Each year we begin again to renew our leadership skills and commitments. This year, we will pay lots of attention to where new ways are needed. Therefore, all leaders of teams, groups, projects, events and councils are invited and needed on September 30. Please rsvp to let us know you’ll attend this all-day Leadership retreat, at this link: https://uufc.breezechms.com/form/d5a3de
Anyone who is not currently leading, as described above, but who is interested in becoming part of this wide leadership team, is welcome. Please reach out to Rev. Jill McA if you have questions. We’ll begin at 9 AM and continue to 5PM. Lunch and snacks will be provided. If childcare is needed for you to participate, please indicate that on the RSVP Form.
Together we will map out the new Fellowship year, learn skills together, and live into our new covenant of Right Relations. We’ll cover some nuts and bolts of facilitation and collaboration, of Fellowship structure, current needs, and new ideas. There is much to both rebuild and build anew. You are needed – please join us! Questions: Contact Rev. Jill McAllister. NOTE: We’ll celebrate a good day with an evening concert by Roy Zimmerman!
I’ve been traveling with family this week, and this morning we woke up to rain. As I paused to listen to the gentle, steady drizzling, and to breathe in and feel the day begin, the listening became its own kind of morning prayer. Do you ever hear or feel a prayer as you begin a day? What words do you say, to yourself, to the day? Or do you enter into quiet, into silence, without words? It makes a difference how we begin, whether or not we make a space, a way, some time to rest our minds from constant grappling and explaining. Whether or not we open the edges of the stories we tell about the way things are within us and around us, to let more in.
One of my teachers says that spiritual growth, or becoming wise, is a process of discovering at your core a story that can hold all the other stories. A foundation that makes room for everything that comes your way, for everything that is. In that place, that story, vulnerability and courage are the same thing. Courage is not simply the energy or power to defend our expectations or habits or “knowledge.” Courage is the ability to keep the doors of our minds and hearts open, to change direction, to leave things behind and keep moving, even – or especially – if we are mourning as we go. “What would it be like to wake into our bodies, our relationships and our work as if seeing them for the first time?”, the teacher asks. Yesterday there was sorrow and joy; today there is sorrow and joy – but today we are not the same as we were yesterday. Nothing is the same.
This is a daily practice – to find ways and time to open ourselves and our stories to the way things truly are. To be willing to be lived by pain and sorrow and fear in all the ways we are willing to be lived by happiness and love and joy. To move as life moves, in us and around us. For the days of this week I wish for you, and for me, the gift of of opening to the day, beginning with breath, and with thanks. Sending love to you all — Jill
~What is love calling you to do? The world needs Unitarian Universalists to show up for justice with spiritual grounding, generosity, humility, courage, and concrete skills. It is a spiritual practice to choose love over fear, to be brave, to show up when we’re called, to occupy space with loving resistance rather than fearful retreat. We are most powerful when we understand that all the issues we care most deeply about are fundamentally interlinked, and that each of us has a role to play in building a world in which all people can be free and thrive. When we bring our best selves to our justice work, whichever specific issue or campaign it might be, we are choosing to Side with Love.
The work that we do together to build a world in which all of us are free and thriving is interrelated. When we ground our spirits, grow our skills, and act strategically for justice in deep relationship with each other and our Movements, we choose to Side With Love.
Action Center is a place where we unite in work towards a world where we all thrive. Together we take action, Side With Love, and make deep impacts in this critical moment. Side with Love Action Center
