The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis
Last Sunday, the YRUU participants went on a scavenger hunt around the building to see if they could find evidence that UUFC members act on their values. Thanks to your awesomeness, they found plenty of clues that the adults in our congregation are actively living into our faith! Thanks for being such excellent UU role models!
UU minister Ralph Roberts has created an Advent series to help us learn and delight in the ways that our Unitarian and Universalist ancestors helped shape many of the winter holidays.
You are invited to engage with this offering in 2 ways:
1. Anyone can register HERE to receive a very short daily email from December 1st through the 24th. Each note will contain a sweet piece of our religious heritage to warm your winter days and help you reflect on your place in this long line of justice makers and creative souls.
2. Children who attend the Holiday Fair on December 2nd will be able to make a UU Advent calendar at our craft table with the fun UU history facts attached to a small daily treat bag.
You may already know that Ginny Gibson courageously took an Adult RE workshop assignment and transformed it into one of the most beloved Sunday services of the year — her Knowings and Callings talk for Pride Month. What you might not know is that last week she quietly took her moving presentation on the road to the Church of the Brethren in La Verne, California. In this full circle moment, Ginny spoke in the Spiritual Formation program as a kind of thank you to the congregation that once supported her so well and that featured prominently in her presentation. She was welcomed by old friends and an evening reception where members of the LGBTQIA+ community came together to reflect on several decades’ worth of social change.
Ginny, we are so proud of you! Thanks for being brave enough to shine your light near and far!
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.
We will 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.
The evening will conclude with a potluck snack dinner and discussion. Please bring your favorite comfort food to share!
Don’t miss it! Come let us celebrate you and your awesome, brave failures!
The Brilliant Minds Workshop on January 20th, will invite participants to explore and share their personal experiences with neurodivergence and psydivergence. Please consider taking this very brief survey to assist the planning team in their efforts to meet the most immediate needs of our community.
The Holiday Fair Team, in conjunction with Religious Exploration, would like to offer the gift of a free children’s book to any child who attends the holiday fair. Please consider donating a new children’s book for this event. Need help deciding on a book? Skyla can help! Donations can be left in the box outside of the RE office anytime between now and November 26th. Thanks for giving the gift of reading to our children and youth this holiday season!
Acting on our commitment to fostering cross-congregational youth connections, UUFC kicked off the new year by hosting a regional overnight for teens from Washington and Oregon with worship, arts, and small group exploration centered on this year’s theme, building a new way.
Special thanks to this event’s youth deans, Michi Araki, Kameko Araki, and Haven Christison, as well as supporting adults Mark Aron, Becca Bedell, Steve Ferrell, Brandon Abbott, Ryan McConnell, Tyson Bryant, and Anya Ballinger. You represented the spirit of our congregation beautifully and created a memorable weekend for all in attendance. Thank you!
Maybe you’ve got an awesome minister (If you’re at UUFC, you do! ☑️), and a caring Religious Exploration team (Lucky you! You’ve got that too!☑️), and excellent friends and family support (I sure hope you do! ?). Did you know that even with all that, parents and grandparents are still a child’s first and most influential spiritual guides? Yes, YOU! You’re the biggest factor in your child’s spiritual growth and development. How cool (and maybe scary) is that?
In an effort to support families as they raise faithful and spiritually grounded children, we offer you the Family Faith Formation Toolkit with you! On the 4th Sunday of each month, I’ll be adding a new tool to our toolkit below. Each tool will come with resources and practical ideas for how to explore matters of the spirit with your family, and grow in confidence as a spiritual leader. As always, if you have immediate needs relating to your family’s faith formation, I’m available to chat. Just reach out to dre@uucorvallis.org to set up a time.
Today’s story is the first in a quartet of elemental stories. In honor of the Joining of the Waters, this is a story of Yemaya, the Orisha of water. The Orisha are personifications of the forces of nature, aspects of the divine as they are understood in the faith of the Yoruba religion, as well as other faith traditions in the African diaspora.
This story was inspired by an article in Teen Vogue that was written in response to the oddly heated internet discourse surrounding the casting of a young Black woman to play Ariel in the recent live action adaptation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. It argues that in the context of Yemaya, who is often depicted with a fish tail, a Black mermaid actually makes a great deal of sense!
Sound and Music Attributions
Easy Lemon (30 second) by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/3695-easy-lemon-30-second-
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Winter Night by Frank Schröter
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6910-winter-night
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Cinematic Epic Emotional by Alex-Productions
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/9193-cinematic-epic-emotional-
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Mystical Universe by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7646-mystical-universe
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
“Thunder, Very Close, Rain, A,” InspectorJ
https://freesound.org/people/InspectorJ/sounds/360328/
Wednesdays, Sept 27 – Oct 11
5:00pm-6:00pm PST on Zoom
This three-week series guides participants through developing an “elevator speech” about their Unitarian Universalist faith. The next time someone asks you “what is Unitarian Universalism?” you’ll be ready with a brief and meaningful statement.
Because UUFC’s RE department subscribes to the Faith Forward program out of the First Unitarian Church of Dallas, our members are invited to this online workshop for FREE! We will register as a group, so please fill out the REGISTRATION FORM BEFORE September 20th, and I will send them our information. You will receive a link to the online platform Teachable, sometime after September 24th.
Direct questions to Skyla King-Christison at dre@uucorvallis.org