The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis
Elders Thriving in Community is hosting a finger-food potluck, book / puzzle exchange, and time for getting to know your peers. Wednesday, December 10, 3-4:30 PM in the Social Hall. Please bring cookies, fruit or other easy snacks to share, and 1-3 books, puzzles, or games to trade.
Free childcare can usually be arranged for any Fellowship event by using this link 1-2 weeks prior to the event.
WHAT: A celebration of the human urge to keep trying, and all the necessary failure along the way.
WHEN: December 29th from 5:30 to 8:30 (maybe earlier, but who knows?)
WHERE: The Social Hall
WHO: Any adults who needs to process the things that didn’t work out last year before moving on to plan with hope for the year ahead.
REGISTRATION REQUIRED: HERE by 12/20
There is no progress without failure. Yet, in our culture that is focused on sharing highlight reels, it’s easy to forget that there are no real overnight successes. The road to “what’s next” is littered with beautiful “almosts” and “not quites.” Before you start thinking about New Year’s resolutions, come share in a celebration of this past year’s failures that got you to where you are now.
The evening will begin with a comfort food potluck to ease into togetherness and connection. When we’re feeling full and ready, we’ll reflect on a year’s worth of things that didn’t quite go our way, grieve the dreams that maybe we’re giving up on, and celebrate the new vision that is forming as a result of our failures.
At this event, you can expect some tears, some laughs, and some dancing under disco lights. Best of all, you can expect to walk away with a deeper sense of community because vulnerable sharing and mutual support are an exceptional foundation for new friendships.
Don’t miss it! Come, let us celebrate you and your awesome, brave failures!
Rev. Ralph Roberts created a UU version of an Advent calendar, with little factoids about the influence that Unitarians and Universalists in history had on the winter holidays. We will once again be converting these tidbits into a daily Advent email series to land in your inbox every morning from December 1st through the 24th. You can register to be on that limited-run mailing list HERE by November 27th. Please note that, due to technological limitations, we will not be able to add any recipients to the list after the 27th.
Worship Web offers the following disclaimer about the Advent series: “Due to its temporal nature, many of the historic milestones in this Advent calendar aren’t necessarily recognized on the precise day that they’re celebrated (for example, Kwanzaa is recognized here on December 2nd instead of December 26th, and the December 12 image recognizes Clara Barton’s birthday (December 25, 1821). More than perfect historic accuracy, then, this Advent calendar is offered in the spirit of holding up and delighting in the ways that our Unitarian and Universalist ancestors had a foundational role in many of the winter holidays and the innumerable ways they’re celebrated by people everywhere.”
What a disappointment it was to miss out on our weekly dose of connection and community last Sunday. And that disappointment was compounded by the cancellation of the long-awaited Trick-or-Treat resource Fair scheduled to take place after the service. We can’t let all of the preparation (and candy!) go to waste, so we’re going to offer the resource fair, along with all of the trick-or-treating fun, after the service this Sunday, November 2nd.
I know that Halloween will have already passed, but give those costumes one more day in the sun and come as your favorite character or creature anyway. We will be having the Samhain service, followed by an evacuation drill, and then by the time you come back in to get your coffee or tea in the social hall, we’ll be ready to see your smiling face at the trick-or-treat tables in the social hall, foyer, and Rooms 6B, 6C, and 7 in the classroom wing.
Come play some games, eat some goodies, and learn what the various teams and councils of the Fellowship are up to, and ways to get involved!
Don’t forget to wear your costumes to the Fellowship this Sunday, and plan to attend the Trick-or-Treat Resource Fair happening directly after the service in the social hall, back deck, and patio. Many of the Fellowship’s teams and councils will be present with treats and games, as well as information about what they do and how to get involved. It will be fun for all! And who knows? You might find your new favorite activity!
What: sound bath experience
When: 11/21 @ 7:15PM
Where: UUFC Social Hall
Even in these too full, largely uncertain days, you give so much to make the Fellowship a warm and welcoming place to be. With that in mind, Religious Exploration is delighted to offer an opportunity to pause and spend an evening in deep relaxation and self-care. The talented Mark Clem of Sonic Journey will be offering a Sound Bath just for us! I especially encourage our leaders who always make time for others to take advantage of this opportunity to show up and tend to their own physical and spiritual bodies.
This experience consists of bringing what you need to lie comfortably on the Social Hall floor and settling in. Mark will then offer a short guided meditation to help us ready ourselves for an hour or so of wordless immersion in sound vibrations of all kinds. After this shared embodied experience, Mark will gently call us back into the moment, serve tea, and lead a reflection on what we experienced in our state of deep relaxation, as well as offer follow-up care tips for holding on to the heightened state of awareness and relaxation as we move back into our lives.
Because space is limited, you MUST PREREGISTER, and once the event is full, the registration form will be disabled. Additional instructions for what to bring and what to expect will be emailed to all registered participants on 11/16. Please contact Skyla (dre@uucorvallis.org) with questions.
The children and youth in RE will be making winter care kits for unhoused neighbors during the November 30th Children’s Chapel.
We need donations of gloves, hats, socks, and HotHands for our kits before November 30th. Please consider donating new or gently used physical items or cash to help us purchase these items for our kits. Donations can be placed in the marked box under the table outside of the RE office in Room 2.
Our goal is for every one of our 40 registered children and youth in RE to have a kit in their car ready to be handed to someone in need. Your generous donations will help us learn about and engage in community care.
Thank you in advance for supporting our RE programs!
“By their groups shall ye know them.” ~James Luther Adams
Let your group be known! It’s time to get registered for the 5th Annual Teams and Councils Trick or Treat event!
WHO: All UUFC teams, groups, and councils are invited to represent!
WHEN: October 26th, after the service
WHERE: Social hall, porch, and patio (under the market tents!)
DEADLINE to REGISTER: October 15th (earlier is helpful to our planning team!)
This event was born out of the RE Council’s understanding that we can only nurture a next generation of UUs when newcomers and whole families feel integrated into our wider Fellowship community enough to stay and take root here. Often, the missing first piece is simply knowing what’s available and how to join in.
Your participation in this event meets a 2-fold need by creating a joyful and lighthearted Fellowship experience in a time when our emotional and spiritual resources are feeling particularly taxed AND you are helping folx understand who we are and how they can expand their engagement with Fellowship life when they’re ready.
This isn’t just fun! It’s the sacred work of community building and memory making.
To participate, you must:
We would LOVE but don’t require participating teams to:
If you have any questions, please reach out to Skyla for help. We would love to see every group, team, and council join in the fun!
Due to the shifting nature of our Sunday morning services, several of our RE leaders have requested that we have a designated pickup time rather than trying to monitor the service progress and quickly wrap up at various times. We would like to experiment with having parents pick up their children from their RE spaces at 11:30, even if the service wraps up earlier than that. If it runs longer, you do not need to step out to pick up your children. We would simply like to have at least until 11:30 to move through our materials and enjoy each other’s company.
If you have any questions about the plan, please contact Skyla at dre@uucorvallis.org.
We are delighted to announce that the Inquirers Series is finally moving home to Room 7!
If you’ve been attending, you’ll be happy to know that your new space in the classroom wing will come with more comfortable and available seating, and far fewer interruptions. Why? Because Room 7 is a meeting space and not an administrative space.
If you’re wondering why our group was meeting in an office instead of a meeting space, it’s because our beautiful classroom wing was under renovation for the last 6 months and was unsafe for our purposes.
If you’re wondering what the Inquirers Series even is, I’m so glad you’re seeing this! The Inquirers Series consists of 8 regular sessions (outlined in the image below), offered 15 minutes after the Sunday service ends, and designed to help visitors and newcomers understand who we are, what we do, and how to plug into life at UUFC. It’s also an excellent space for folx who have been around for decades to jump in and reconnect with the way we describe ourselves and some of the newer ways of working in concert with others engaged in similar efforts. Whenever there’s a 5th Sunday in the month, Skyla King-Christison offers a special session called “Roots,” which is a deeper dive into our Unitarian and Universalist heritage.
Sessions can be taken in any order, and those who complete the entire series will be recognized with the gift of a lovely ceramic chalice for home or office use.
If you’re new and considering whether to become a member, the Inquirers Series is for you! If you have any questions about the series, please contact Skyla King-Christison at dre@uucorvallis.org.
See you at Inquirers Series!
