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
The Kitchen team donates an assortment of sweet and savory refreshments, including gluten-free and vegan choices, for our enjoyment at the social hour following Sunday worship. These items are purchased and prepared by the team to encourage donations to the Outreach Offering. Collection baskets are always found at the ends of the refreshments table. The next time you’re eyeing something tasty on the table, consider putting a donation in the basket first to show how much you appreciate having that treat ready and waiting for you!
I’m envisioning beautiful, dainty pinky-white cherry blossoms floating down over all of you at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis. Spring will come soon, and with it will come change. Indeed, the petals of the blossoms will float off the trees in the breeze. I envision each of them symbolizing a blessing. One of the blessings is patience. Patience to live fully in each moment without over-focusing on the outcome of the ministry search process. The other blessing is integrity. Integrity means to be integrated within yourself, with other members of the congregation, with your community, and with your vision for the future. With these two blessings of patience and integrity, I envision you having a beautiful experience in the year to come as you live into the ministry search process.
SEARCH TIMELINE:
Spring 2026: Congregation works together to elect search committee that they trust to represent their future vision to a ministerial candidate.
Summer 2026: Search committee begins working together 5 to 15 hours a week for the next nine months.
Fall 2026: Search committee gathers information to present to potential candidates.
Winter 2027: Search committee confidentially interviews a few candidates at sites outside of Corvallis.
Spring 2027: Search committee presents one final candidate. Candidate visits on site to meet congregation. Congregation votes, and candidate is only likely to come if over 90-95% of the membership vote yes. If this proces does not lead to a candidate approved by the congregation, the congregation may form a new search committee for the next year.
The Endowment Committee is dedicating funds this year to help families and individuals attend an Eliot Institute summer camp. Eliot offers two 7-night camps – July 11-18 and August 1-8 – with a featured speaker & small group discussions for adults, and full programming for infants to young adults. There are generous incentives available from both the UUFC and Eliot Institute to help cover registration fees, and both are easy to apply for.
The UUFC scholarship applications are due Monday, March 9, and can be downloaded by clicking the button below. You can submit your paper form to DRE Skyla King-Christison, or via email to dre@uucorvallis.org.
For more information contact Linda Hardison, or visit the info table in the Classroom wing after the service this Sunday. Learn more about Eliot at https://eliotinstitute.org.
Your UUFC lawn mowing team needs one more person to complete our eight-person team for 2026. We have quiet (relatively) state-of-the-art electric lawn mowers and associated lawn trimmers and blowers. You can listen to the radio or your favorite podcast while you mow. While mowing takes time (1-2 hours, once per month on your own schedule), it is a pleasant workout experience (1.5 to 2 mi of walking). The UUFC lawns are divided into front and back sections. We need a mower for the front section – less lawn but more maneuvering. If you have interest, please contact the team lead by filling out this form and we can arrange to talk further about this opportunity to be a member of the UUFC’s elite mowing team – a future summer Olympic sport? Thanks for your consideration!
The UUFC Endowment team is offering scholarships to help individuals and families attend an Eliot Institute summer camp this year. See the Eliot website https://www.eliotinstitute.org for more information, or contact Linda Hardison. The UUFC scholarship form is available to download below; deadline for submitting your application is Monday, March 9.
Within the past few days there have been multiple attempts by thieves to steal the UUFC’s membership directory and/or the credentials necessary to access our Breeze site. These types of attacks are not new, and are not unique to our Fellowship. But the frequency of these attacks is increasing, and it’s always worth reviewing active security risks. Membership information for religious institutions is extremely valuable for thieves, as it contains many forms of contact information that can be used in further scams. Below is more information about these types of attacks so you know what to be looking out for.
The attempts took the form of email messages requesting assistance accessing our membership directory and claiming that the sender could not currently log into Breeze. Some emails also asked for credentials with which to login to Breeze. These messages were sent from email addresses configured to impersonate people at the Fellowship by displaying the name of a Fellowship leader or Staff member in the ‘From:’ field. The actual email addresses used to send the messages do not belong to anyone at the Fellowship, and the person whose name was used can do nothing to prevent this.
If you receive a request like this, do not reply to it or send any information. Instead, please forward it to comms@uucorvallis.org and then delete the original email message.
Thank you for working to keep the Fellowship safe.
Romance and partnerships are what immediately come to mind when hearing “love” in February, but this compact little word is so much more complex and holds a multitude of meanings. You can love your significant other, your family of origin, your family of creation, your chosen family, your friends, and your dog. You can also love your neighborhood, your community, and those you teach or help. And, you can feel love for a little boy in a blue bunny hat who you’ve only seen on television, or for two strangers who are grieving the murder of their child, a healer whose last words to were to ask if someone was okay. Love can be romantic, platonic, hopeful or painful; it can be joyfully exuberant, or quietly steadfast. Today’s piano selections offered a glimpse of some of the ways love can appear in our lives: a promise, ardor, care, compassion, the sacred, healing, and affirming.
Make You Feel My Love is surprisingly simple in its presentation. There is no flowery language, dramatic imagery, or big musical/emotional climax; instead, the song is a quiet vow of steady, enduring love. Bob Dylan wrote this contemporary standard, but rather than hoarding the recording rights, he shared advance copies of the music with other artists, and the world was first introduced to Make You Feel My Love by Billy Joel. Bob Dylan eventually released his own performance, and as the song became a hit, countless other musicians covered this song, drawn to its tenderness and statement of unconditional love.
To Love You More sharply contrasts Dylan’s song about peaceful and plainspoken love with its sweeping, romantic intensity. Originally written as the theme song for a Japanese TV drama, it skyrocketed to the top of the charts around the world and is now one of the signature power ballads that Celine Dion is known for. With its theatrical dynamics, virtuosic vocal writing, and impassioned lyrics, To Love You More is a declamation of passion being shouted from the rooftops. Its energy and momentum are perpetual, and the fervor of both the text and music propel the song to its end, never relaxing.
Burt Bacharach’s What the World Needs Now Is Love asks us to think of love as a necessity; not just a personal emotion but a universally shared good that the world cannot function without. Its easy-going melody, conversational feel and repetition throughout the song send the message home that yes, “what the world needs now is love, sweet love. No, not just for some but for everyone.”
Elaine Hagenberg’s stunning O Love is probably the least known of all the music offered today but in the choral world it is considered a contemporary masterpiece and has been sung by choirs around the world. Its reverent text and luminous setting invite reflection and even played as a piano solo without lyrics, the harmonic dissonances and their resolutions evoke sighs that always transform into hope. The lyrics are based upon text by 19th-century Scottish minister George Matheson. Matheson’s words were originally sacred in nature, but can hold meaning for anyone whose heartache has been healed by love.
O Love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, That in thy ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be.
O Joy that seeks me through pain, I cannot close my heart to thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, And feel the promise is not vain That morn shall tearless be.
The smooth groove of the Bee Gees’ How Deep Is Your Love reframes the age-old query: I love you…do you love me? This question really is many questions wrap into one, as it is also asking: Do I matter to you as much as you matter to me? Can I trust you? Am I safe with you? Will you leave me? Does my happiness – or sorrow – mean anything to you? Feeling loved isn’t just something that gives people a warm fuzzy feeling; it provides security, strength, and hope. Feeling loved is more important than ever in the world we live in today. In addition to make sure that the people we care about know that we love them, performing acts of love – to those in our lives, to strangers, to whole communities – is a way to deal with our frustration, our fear, our insecurity. We may not be able to solve homelessness, erase racism, or provide justice for all who have been wronged…but any difference we can make, no matter how small, is putting love into action. Whether in personal relationships, in community, or in the pursuit of social justice, let’s answer the question “How deep is your love?” with both words and deeds.
For several decades, Corvallis has grappled with challenges of what it means to have safe housing for all and shelter accessible to those in need. This UU Fellowship has played a role in many ways. Come reflect on the history of the congregation’s collaboration with Unity Shelter, current local issues, and what might be possible in the future.
Shawn Collins, Executive Director of Unity Shelter, will be our guest speaker. Shawn got his first look at the realities of homelessness and poverty in the Willamette Valley through his volunteer experiences at the South Corvallis Food Bank. After leaving HP in 2016, Shawn worked at United Way of Benton & Lincoln Counties, as the Program Manager for the Housing Opportunities Action Council (HOAC) through 2019. He was instrumental in securing the site that would become the Corvallis Men’s Shelter in 2017.
The Secure Housing and Food for All team invites you to visit the Corvallis Museum to hear an in-depth talk and ask questions about how Unity Shelter is meeting the needs of unhoused people in Benton County.
Three dates: Friday, February 27th, 2026 Friday, March 6th, 2026 Friday, March 20th, 2026
Drop by between 2 – 3 pm for a 15 minute tour and talk by a Unity Shelter staff member.
Gallery talks are limited to 10 people and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The tours will repeat through the hour.
The Secure Housing and Food for All team would also like you to know that the South Corvallis Food Bank is still in need of food. Food that is easy to heat up and/or comes in pop-open cans is highly desired. The Corvallis Daytime Drop-in Center also needs donations of warm clothing.
