Three UU staff members with long interest and experience in yoga offer a workshop on the aims and benefits of yoga practice for these times. 2 – 4 PM, Sunday April 13, in the Sanctuary. Experience not required. Bring a mat if you have one, chairs are available, wear comfortable clothes. We’ll do some gentle poses, talk about yoga wisdom and philosophy and how yoga is for the mind most of all. With Jill McAllister, Jamie Petts, and Skyla King-Christison. RSVP to minister@uucorvallis.org.
Zoom Coffee Hour Every Tuesday!
You are always welcome to the weekly Tuesday coffee hour from 1:45 – 2:45 PM on Zoom, where we share joys and sorrows and catch up with each other. Rev. Jill facilitates the gathering, Mary Craven hosts the Zoom meeting. If you have any questions, contact Mary using this link:
To join the Zoom meeting, click this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5412313219
Monthly “Transition Talk”, 4/6
The Committee on Ministry invites all to our next “Transitions Talk” on April 6. We’ll touch base on as many questions as come up, such as “How are you taking care of yourself in these challenging times? How are you feeling about this ministerial transition? What do you need to know or understand better? How do we say goodbye – both minister and congregation members – as well as we can? What will help us stay strong and vital in our ministries during the transition time?
11:45 AM, in the Sanctuary.
Speak Out For Detained Immigrants: Call Your Reps!
The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion team invites you to join us in phoning, emailing, and/or writing our Representatives and Senators to enlist their support for Rumeysa Ozturk (and others!), an immigrant who was detained with complete disregard for her rights. It will be a glaring omission in our fight for justice if we allow those wrongfully detained to “disappear” from our consciousness! Our representatives need to hear from us. Need more information? Have questions? Contact Elona Meyer using this link.
You can find the contact info for your members of Congress here: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member.
All About Hanuman Community Kirtan, 4/11
In honor of Hanuman Jayanti, our Community Kirtan on Friday, April 11 will feature local kirtan artists Rainbow and Dhara Rose with a program celebrating the Hindu deity Hanuman, who represents courage, strength and self-discipline. The session will also include breath work and a guided meditation if time permits. We hope you’ll join us at 7-8:30 PM in the Sanctuary.
Photo booth, 4/6
Have you submitted a photo of yourself to the Breeze directory? The Membership Team will set up a photo booth after the April 6 service in the Sanctuary and take photos of anyone who wants one for their Breeze profile.
Having a photo attached to your Breeze profile helps others in the Fellowship learn who you are and connect your name to your face.
You can read more about Breeze here: https://uucorvallis.org/breeze-account/.
Partner Church Team Meeting, 4/13
Please join the Partner Church Team on Sunday, April 13 at 12:15 PM in the Social Hall, north end. We will focus on the June 8th service with Rev. Mwibutsa Ndagijimana, the September Pilgrimage to Transylvania, and on articulating a vision for the future.
At the UUFC, we nurture our spirits and put our faith into action through social justice work in our communities and the wider world. Partner Church Team members are proud of our many decades of social action, yet so much remains to be done. In the hope of making our efforts simple, transparent and accessible, we are moving our team meetings back to the Fellowship Hall.
For more information, contact PCT lead Heather E. using this link.
Building Renovation Update
The renovation project is moving ahead – many changes can be seen! Siding on the east wall of the classroom wing was replaced this week. The major water pipe project (digging a trench though the parking lot) is mostly complete and scheduled for inspection next week. Fellowship volunteers will begin painting new drywall very soon. Updates to furnishings in Room 7 are being planned, as are updates in the classroom bathrooms. The building is going to be so much safer for all of us – very soon. Thanks to everyone for your help and patience during this project.
This beautiful spring! Days of looking through blooming trees at lingering snow on Mary’s Peak. Days of rain and hail, daffodils now fading and tulips beginning to bloom. And, this struggling world! Days of horror and cruelty, of war and destruction, of juvenile incompetent insane leadership. “This being human is a guesthouse,” Rumi said. All of the unexpected visitors – the joys and the sorrows, the beautiful and the horrible – let them all in, he said. (Because there is always something to learn). I’ve long appreciated these sentiments, but now – they feel a little too sentimental. This house is on fire, and has been for some time. Everything is at risk, including ourselves. Including our humanity.
Where we are today is in the position of taking stock of our humanity. (Thank-you Cory Booker!) Of letting go of our attachments to things and habits which kept us merely entertained and distracted. If there is love, if there is justice, if there is compassion and peace, these things live through us and must be our focus now. To be a covenantal community means to make these truly our highest ideals. There is in fact much to learn. That is what we are doing together.
All of the changes happening in the Fellowship – the renewal of our building, the coming changes in leadership at the Annual meeting, the re-imagining of our justice work, our continual welcoming of newcomers, our work on strategic planning for the grounds, my coming retirement and the beginning of interim and new ministries – these are all part of the learning and of the focusing of our energies. It’s hard some days, even harder on others, and also life-giving in many ways. For the changes we must be part of, we are just beginning to prepare. Stay with us, keep coming! May we each be a blessing to each other and the world.