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
“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year!” – Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Greetings, Families!
I hope your Thanksgiving weekend was full of all the things you love most! It’s time to turn our hearts toward all the good things that December has to offer. Grab your calendar and let’s have a little look ahead!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
12/6 Seeker Space Kids & kids table at the Holiday Fair! 9-3 @ UUFC!
12/14 NO Family Breakfast this month!
12/11 Parent Peer Support Group meal prep night. Register ONCE Here!
12/21 Solstice Pageant during the service NO RE!
12/28 All ages Poetry service with activity kit available for kids NO RE!
Post Holiday Break for Parents: date, time, and registration information were emailed directly to parents. Check your inboxes!
***Childcare is still available in the Rainbow Room on no RE Sundays!
More information about our events can be found below, and info for all events can be found at uucorvallis.org by clicking “News” in the menu bar and then selecting “RE Council” from the drop-down menu.
Our 4th-6th graders in the Seeker Space have been making crafts and art for their booth at the Holiday Fair on December 6th! They learned about Entrepreneurship from our very own Rachel McGrath and have role-played sales etiquette with their advisors. They are ready to see you at the Holiday fair with their selection of magnets, Perler bead ornaments, and one-of-a-kind paintings! Come say hi and support their efforts!
If your Seeker Space kiddo isn’t signed up for a time slot yet, please pop over to register them HERE ASAP!
For the protection of our children, we will not post the date and time of children’s events where their parents and guardians are not remaining on the property. Full information regarding the Post-Holiday Break was sent directly to parents’ inboxes. Please check your email for the December newsletter for the date, time, and registration information. OR, if you are a parent or guardian of a school aged child, you can email me (Skyla) directly at dre@uucorvallis.org for more information.
In an effort to honor feedback from our families, we decided to do something a little different for the winter holidays this year. We will be hosting a Solstice Pageant featuring our children and youth at the center during an intergenerational Sunday morning service instead of holding a separate Christmas Eve service for families with children. This all-ages service will be on December 21st, and while our speaking roles are all spoken for, we do have room for a couple more woodland creatures if any of you missed the news in last month’s newsletter and have children who have an inner squirrel or raccoon just waiting to shine.
The Christmas Eve service is open to all, and we will have electric candles available for children and those who wish to participate but prefer not to handle fire. We will also have some soft toys in the social hall in case your littles need a little more room to burn off some steam while you listen to the service.
The following Sunday, December 28th, will be a second all-ages service, with a poetry theme. Children are invited to participate in all the ways the adults do, and I will have a poetry-themed collaborative art project for the kids to quietly work on together, in case the poetry isn’t quite their thing.
During both the solstice and poetry services, there will still be childcare available in the Rainbow Room for registered children.
Thank you to all who responded to my Coming-of-Age feeler email! Unfortunately, we did not get enough of a response to confidently plan a CoA program for this year. If you let that email slip through the cracks and want to immediately contact me, there’s a chance we hit our minimum needed youth to make a go of it, but…
On my recent trip to the Liberal Religious Educators Association Fall Conference, I connected with many DREs from across the continent and learned that the trend in Coming of Age spaces, since returning to full operations post-pandemic, is increasingly to hold a larger CoA experience once every four years during high school rather than every other year for middle school. The reasons for this shift include the smaller group sizes that are still being experienced nationwide, as well as a shift in developmental readiness for the spiritual content of the program after our kids spent well over a year out of community, both socially and religiously.
I share this to say, do not worry that your child will miss their Coming of Age experience. I will not let that happen! This program is central to what it means to grow up UU! We will be thoughtful about how we evaluate and implement this shift, if that turns out to be the direction we need to move. And I invite you to be in conversation with me about your child’s spiritual and developmental needs as we evaluate this potential shift in programmatic rhythms.
Those of you I’ve discussed this possible shift with have all said, “But what about OWL?” I know we have alternated these two programs annually as far back as anyone can remember. OWL has a wider reach and a waitlist of nonUUs hoping to get in, so as long as we can maintain an adequate number of trained OWL facilitators, there is no reason to shift away from our regular OWL schedule. If you are interested in becoming an OWL facilitator and helping to keep this vital program available to our community, come talk to me!
This past Sunday, we had our very first Children’s Chapel since the pandemic! Those of you who are newer UUs might be wondering what the heck a Children’s Chapel even is.
Whenever there’s a 5th Sunday of the month (about 4 times per year), instead of having our regular age-segregated RE groups, we have one larger group with all of the children and youth except those in the Rainbow Room. They’re a bit wiggly and disinterested in what we’ve got going on in chapel.
As I explained to the kids, each time we gather for a children’s chapel, we will have three primary elements: shared singing, some kind of seasonal ritual, and some form of service. These are three practices that are vital to our community life. Shared singing lifts our spirits, rituals allow us to honor and witness one another and the earth in all our seasons, and service reinforces our interconnectedness with one another and our wider community.
In November, our children’s chapel included learning and analyzing the song What We Need is Here, inspired by the Wendell Berry poem, Wild Geese, which was read for us by Michi Araki. Then we silently processed through electric candlelight to each gather a piece of bread and a cup of apple cider. In our quiet circle, we engaged in a mindfulness practice of thinking of the wide range of people and resources that went into us holding the food that we were about to share. From soil to farmers, millers to road construction crews, power grids and bank software, these kids thought of so many people and skills that made it possible for us to have bread and cider, including all in our Fellowship who give generously so that we can have a comfortable RE budget.
When we had gobbled up all of the bread and had our fill of cider, we assembled winter care kits for each child to have in their car for when they cross paths with someone living outdoors. We talked about safety, and not approaching unknown adults without a trusted adult with them. We talked about what it would be like to have wet feet and have no way of getting dry in the bitter cold of winter. And we learned about the cool ways that family members of some of our kids already keep resources in their cars and bikes for those in need who cross their paths.
It was a lovely return to our regular practice of Children’s Chapel, and I’m already looking forward to next time!
If you have any unmet needs for support, unanswered questions about how or why we do what we do in RE, please reach out any time! Our offerings exist because families share their dreams and needs, and we rely on your partnership! And if you ever want to be removed from our email list, just shoot me a note and I’ll make it so. May we hold Love at the center of all we do together!
The Justice Theatre Team is gearing up for its 8th annual production! This year’s show will take place on Friday and Saturday, March 27th and 28th, and the team will be staging 12 Angry Jurors, a play by Reginald Rose that will be directed by Sarika Rao. Proceeds from the production will go to the Campaign to Support Equal Justice in Oregon, a legal aid organization that provides free civil legal services to low-income and senior Oregonians.
Auditions will take place on Monday and Tuesday, January 26th and 27th at 7pm at the UUFC. NO experience is necessary to try out for these productions, and it’s a great way to make social connections while lending your talents to a great cause. If you have any questions about the team, the production, or the audition process, please reach out to justice.theater@uucorvallis.org.
Childcare is available!
Free childcare can usually be arranged for any Fellowship event by using this link 1-2 weeks prior to the event.
Our December Justice Outreach offering will support unity Shelter. Unity Shelter was founded in January 2020 as an umbrella organization for Room at the Inn, SafePlace, and Corvallis Men’s Shelter. They continue to grow programs and operations to meet the growing demand for shelter, respite, resource navigation, and community.
Each month, the Fellowship gathers donations for a certain charitable cause. These are our Outreach Offerings. You can contribute to this month’s offering in a few ways:
The Social Concerns team donate 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
Join the Democracy Action Team on Sunday, December 14 from 12 – 2 p.m. in the UUFC Sanctuary for a practical ICE‑Watch/Human‑Rights Observer training led by local attorney Lorena Reynolds. The session will equip you with clear, actionable steps for responding if ICE shows up, going beyond basic rights information. It’s a free, community‑focused workshop—please RSVP via this secure form so we can confirm attendance. Come help strengthen our UU community and learn how to support others safely.
If you cannot attend this training but still want to learn how to respond, here is a list of other instances of this same training around our Community:
December 7th 11:30am | Friends Meeting House 3311 NW Polk Ave All
December 10th, 6:00pm | Reynolds Law Firm 555 NW 5th St
December 11th, 6:00pm | Reynolds Law Firm 555 NW 5th St
Since arriving here in August, I have been impressed with the steady care that goes in to the finances of this Fellowship. I already knew, from studying the congregation before I came, that it was fiscally sound. But now, I have met the leaders and staff who daily are tending to the details, the long range, and the values that guide us.
Please know that this congregation works on a fiscal year running from July through June. That means it is off-set from the U.S. tax year and many other non-profits. So, as you plan your annual giving and budget for the year, please anticipate that UUFC pledge drive will occur in the Spring. At that time, a budget will be made based in part on the pledges we receive from you. This shared planning helps us all be stewards together.
The UUFC’s annual Holiday Fair is happening THIS SATURDAY, December 6, from 9 AM – 3 PM, at the Fellowship! Over 25 local artisans will be selling their handcrafted goods, which make perfect holiday gifts. Baked goods and festive decorations made with love by members of the Fellowship will also be available. A portion of all proceeds will go to the Fellowship, so anything you buy will support our lovely community!
Everyone is welcome to come, so invite your friends, family, and neighbors!
On the morning of Sat. 10 Jan., UUFC, through the Climate Action Team, will do our fifth annual collaboration with the City of Corvallis to plant street trees. In the past, we have twice planted along NW Conifer Blvd and once each in Willamette and Avery Parks. This year we will plant eight deciduous trees along the north side of SE Goodnight Drive, between Collins Pl and Aldrin Pl.
We need a dozen volunteer tree planters, no prior skill or knowledge required. Please email treasurer@uucorvallis.org to sign up for a couple of hours of fellowship and righteous physical labor on the morning of Sat 10 Jan, rain or shine.
Childcare is available!
Free childcare can usually be arranged for any Fellowship event by using this link 1-2 weeks prior to the event.
The recipient for UUFC’s 2025 Giving Tuesday campaign is the South Corvallis Food Bank where the need in these fraught times is greater than ever. You can contribute via (a) Breeze by selecting Giving Tuesday in the Give To drop-down menu, (b) check payable to UUFC with memo “Giving Tuesday”, or (c) cash in an envelope marked with your name and “Giving Tuesday.” Thank you! Questions: treasurer@uucorvallis.org
As of December 4, 2025, we have six 5-gal Willamette Valley Ponderosa pine and sixteen 3-gal Doug fir still available, at $30 & $25 respectively. They will be on sale at the Holiday Fair on Sat 6 Dec and after service on Sun 7 Dec, or you can reserve yours via the order form <https://forms.gle/re5Ei8KL5PQrEhms9>. After the holidays, you can plant your tree yourself, or return it to the UUFC on Sun 4 or Sun 11 Jan for us to have it planted. Questions: treasurer@uucorvallis.org
