The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis
Holiday Fair Volunteers. It takes a UUFC village to put on a successful Holiday Fair. We need greenery makers, furniture movers, bakers, greeters, and cashiers. Won’t you volunteer a few hours of your time?
MORE Holiday Fair Help Needed!
2-3 hour shifts.
In our hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition, reading #468, by George Odell, is this: “We need one another when we mourn and would be comforted. We need one another when we are in trouble and afraid. We need one another when we are in despair, in temptation, and need to be recalled to our best selves again. We need one another when we would accomplish some great purpose and cannot do it alone. We need one another in the hour of success, when we look for someone to share our triumphs. We need one another in the hour of defeat, when with encouragement we might endure, and stand again. We need one another when we come to die, and would have gentle hands prepare us for the journey. All our lives we are in need, and others are in need of us.”
This is a beautiful description of interdependence! If, as we considered last Sunday, we need to acknowledge more fully the facts of our deep and complex biological interdependence, we also need to understand our social interdependence as well. We are, biologically, “wired for connection,” and this need informs and affects how we relate to other people. If we strongly value interdependence, then we also value learning how to live more interdependently. After generations of the veneration of individuality as the highest value, and now recognizing the damage that veneration has caused to the social ties which support us all, it is important begin to take the well-being of the whole community into account as much as the well-being of each individual.
This is the truth at the heart of the South African / Zulu philosophy of Ubuntu: “I am a person through other persons. My humanity is tied to yours. I am because we are.” This week for daily practice, consider listing, reciting, cataloging each day the ways in which your humanity depends on others. (Not just your life, but your humanity). Consider being intentional about practicing interdependence. Re-read the piece by George Odell several times, and see if it helps you in this practice. Then let’s share what we learn.
As strange as it may sound, grieving does not necessarily come to us naturally. And, culturally for most of us, it has not been well-modeled or taught. We need each other in order to learn how to tend to our grief, to practice, and to learn to carry it. When we can’t tend to our grief, our capacity for joy and happiness is too often diminished. What can we learn, and how can we help each other?
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.
Thank you to Nick Houtman and Russ Anderson for getting a new, leak-free, skylight installed in the mezzanine of the RE wing. It looks great!
The Secure Housing and Food for all UUFC Team sends a big thank you to everyone who contributed to the South Corvallis Food Bank October collection. Thank you for your support! More than $1,000 was raised to help purchase food for individuals and families who are experiencing food insecurity. To continue helping the community through the winter you could bring a can or a box of food each Sunday and put it in the food basket near the entry to the sanctuary. We will deliver to the food bank. Thank you again!
When food is involved, we have a full house. Attending the October Board meeting/pot luck were Sheryl Stuart (facilitating), Carl English-Young, Jema Patterson, Gavin Araki, Rev. Jill McAllister, Jamie Petts, Mary Craven, Jack Elder, Michael Hughes, John Bailey and Scott Bruslind; joined by two members of the Committee on Ministry: Nancy Kyle and Gary Barnes.
The focus of our October meeting was to begin a conversation on the Charter of Shared Ministry, and the charge to the Committee on Ministry, which has not been updated since 2014.
What does Shared Ministry look like?
It looks like this:
UU congregations call a Minister to help fulfill the Mission of their beloved community.
OUR MISSION… Explore. Love. Act. We gather as an inclusive religious community to search for meaning, build deep connections, and inspire action toward a better world for all.
In Shared Ministry, some responsibilities fall to the Minister while others belong to the board and to all the members the congregation. The Committee on Ministry parses out the thin line between: a line that’s fluid and contingent on the strengths of the two parties.
What are the roles of the Minister and staff and where do Fellowship members (mostly volunteers) fill in? Shared Ministry means partnership, based on covenant – which is much more than a simple employer / employee relationship. Helping and guiding all of us to understand the balance of this important work is the mandate of the Committee on Ministry. Congregations rise and fall on how well a Committee on Ministry navigates the currents of current affairs. The Board is working with the Committee on Ministry to clarify and document their important work.Minutes of Board meetings are posted here. We’ll meet again on November 21, 2023. Visitors are welcome to observe and share in whatever snacks we rustle up. Let us know if you’d like to attend. You are most welcome.
If you have a birthday in October, November, or December, please sign the sheet by the Happy Birthday bag outside the main Sanctuary entrance. We’d like to celebrate YOU when we celebrate the 4th Quarter birthdays.
Are you looking for a meaningful way to celebrate each of your years? One good way that helps our congregation is to write a check to UUFC for the number of years you will be on your birthday, put “UUFC Birthday Club” in the memo line, and mail it to UUFC.
It takes a UUFC village to put on a successful Holiday Fair. We need greenery makers, furniture movers, bakers, greeters, and cashiers. Won’t you volunteer a few hours of your time? Find the sign-up sheets at our Holiday Fair webpage: https://uucorvallis.org/holiday-fair-2023/ Sign up to Volunteer for the Holiday Fair
Our November Justice Outreach offering will support the Corvallis Daytime Drop-in Center (CDDC). CDDC is a community-based resource hub providing information, referral, and direct services for people experiencing homelessness and poverty in Benton County and beyond.
November 5 – Interdependence – with Rev. Jill McAllister
(*Reminder Daylight Savings Ends Nov. 5, so fall back an hour!)
November 12 – Tending our Grief – with Rev. Jill McAllister and Susan Sanford
November 19 – Transgender Day of Remembrance
November 26 – “Disguised As Our Life” Reflections on god and thanksgiving, with Revs. Monica Jacobson Tennessen and Jill McAllister
December Services and Activities
UU Advent Daily Email, December 1 – 24. Register at bit.ly/uuadvent
Fail Fest December 15
Wheel of the Year – Yule Sunday Service, December 17
Winter Solstice Vesper Service Thursday, December 21 at 7 PM
Holiday Sing-Along Friday, December 22. Christmas Carols and UU winter songs, for all ages
Christmas Eve Sunday, December 24, 10 AM Sunday service and 5:30 PM Candlelight Service
Post-Holiday Parents Break Activities for children, December 28 1-4 PM
New Year’s Eve 10 AM Sunday Service, Dec. 31. Any ideas for a later-in-the-day gathering?