October Services

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

March 8, 2026 – Search

Search: What does it mean to be open to searching in life, and what are the practicalities and joys of the UU process for ministerial Search?

Jones Hollister will be our guest speaker. Jones served as chair of the search committee at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene. Jones went on to serve as board president, finishing their term last year.

March 15, 2026 – Stewardship

All of our efforts, time, and money blend together to make the UUFC community what it is and what it can be. Let us reflect on what it means to steward the gifts of the earth, to live in a capitalist economy with a household budget, and to thoughtfully discern a pledge for the coming year. Plan to stay after worship for a Town Hall on the pledge drive. Abundant snacks provided!

Rev. Alex McGee will preach

March 22, 2026 – TBD

More info to come!

March 29, 2026 – Gifts from Our Past

Did you know that the roads around UUFC weren’t paved yet when the buildings were brought here? Did you know that a school in Corvallis is named after a board president? Did you know that we used to have two services so that we had enough space to run RE classes for all the kids? Come learn more about our past so we can plan our future together well. Plan to stay after service for a slide show and timeline.

Rev. Alex McGee will preach

March 1, 2026 – Inspiration from our Partner Church in Transylvania

Last Fall, several members of UUFC went to visit our Partner Church in Transylvania. Today they will share information, illumination, and inspiration: history of partner churches at UUFC; how they observed resilience in action; how Unitarianism there reflects Christian roots; and rituals that were transformative.

Janet Throop, Linda Bruslind, Scott Bruslind, and Patricia Parcells will speak.

How to Check Out a Library Book (the fun way!)

All Fellowship friends and members are invited to request a library card and start using our digital checkout system. Of course, you can still use the notebook, located on the shelf to the left of the window, but by using your very own digital library card, you help reduce the administrative overhead involved in keeping the library up and running.

It’s easy! Let me show you how!

Apply for a card at THIS LINK. Your card will arrive via email within 3 business days.

Search the catalog HERE or use the QR code on the bulletin board just inside the library door. Or, you can just browse the old-fashioned way. The resources have now been sorted into general categories. If you find something in the electronic catalog that you want to check out, you can find it on the shelf in the section indicated by the red tag. The example below is a book that can be found in the Unitarian Universalism and Congregational Life section! Please note that tags may only show up in the desktop version of the libib catalog on some devices.

Once you’ve found the book you want to take home, you could sign it out in the check out binder OR you could use your handy dandy new library card at the kiosk! If the iPad has gone to sleep (it probably has), simply press the button at the bottom to wake it up. Then you’ll find the libib kiosk app and tap it to open.

You’ll immediately be at the checkout screen. There are directions on the screen. Let’s walk through them together!

The first thing you’ll do is tap the blue SCAN button. This will open the camera on the back of the iPad to scan the QR code on the back of your book.

Simply lower your book (or movie or card deck) behind the iPad so that the QR code shows up on the screen.

As soon as it scans the code, it will say Success! and then your item will appear listed on the screen. You can scan until your heart is content. I mean, let’s be reasonable, but yeah. Take all the things you plan to read in the next little while.

When you’re all done, you’re ready click the CHECKOUT button in the bottom corner. Sometimes it’s green. Sometimes it’s blue. Life is a mystery!

Finally! The moment you’ve waited for! The chance to use your super cool Fellowship Library Card! You could enter your patron ID in manually, but that’s so boring when you could tap the QR code and then just scan your card like you did the book.

As soon as it has registered your patron QR code, you’ll be greeted with another friendly Success! message and you’re ready to go tell your friends how easy and fun that was.

When you’re done with your items, please return them to the “returns” basket located on the shelf to the left of the window. One of your friendly neighborhood library volunteers will check it back in and reshelve it for you!

If you happen to run into snags, come find or email me. Skyla! I’m happy to help you until we find a new librarian. Or, you know, you could use the binder and move on with your day. That said, I’d really appreciate knowing your experience, what’s working and what’s not, as we learn this new system.

In the earliest stages of our rollout, there may still be books that have fallen through the cracks and haven’t been stickered, or they have an old sticker, and the kiosk doesn’t recognize it. All of these details are things we want to know about! Please, if you have the time, don’t just stick the books back on the shelf if you find an anomaly that isn’t in the system correctly. Let me know so I can fix it!

Thanks for being a Fellowship library patron! You rock!

Remember, the Snacks Support a Cause!

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!

Patience and Integrity

February 20, 2026
From Rev. Alex McGee

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.

Eliot Summer Camp scholarships due 3/9

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.

And then there was one (person needed on the lawn mowing crew)

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!

Info On Recent Phishing Attacks

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.