Summary of February Board Meeting

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At our February meeting, the Board: Discussed

  • 2024-25 Stewardship season which will begin on Sunday, April 7, with a sermon and three subsequent after-service discussions on pledging as a vital component of our shared ministry. Pledging will commence on Sunday April 7.
  • Treasurer’s report, which shows the Fellowship to be in good financial shape
  • Questions and issues related to a potential new policy related to payments to Fellowship members and friends for tasks otherwise covered by volunteers
  • Fellowship justice commitments and related next steps
  • Anticipated internship of a Eugene-based candidate for the UU ministry
  • Upcoming reboot of the UUcorvallis.org website
  • User-problems on Breeze, of which Breeze is aware and working on
  • Agenda and logistics of the upcoming Board retreat Approved
  • Changes to the policy related to the Care of Shared Ministry
  • Reaffirmation of the Fellowship’s commitments to divestment and climate justice
  • Removal of two dangerously and increasingly leaning incense-cedars

Democracy Action Team – Get Out the Vote in 2024 Letter Writing Launch, 3/10

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Join us to launch our letter writing campaign for 2024 with snacks and coffee in the Social Hall on Sunday March 10 at 1:45pm after the Social Action Lunch. We’ll write letters together, help you get started, and answer questions. You can get started on your own by signing up with Vote Forward (https://votefwd.org/). They’ll provide addresses and letter templates. Critical elections are decided by tiny margins and our letters can make a difference!

Special Dance Planet, 3/2

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This Saturday, March 2, we’ll come together for a special Dance Planet at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis. From 7:30 to about 8:45 we’ll move, each in our own way, to a rhythmic flow of music from around the world and across the decades.

But starting at 7 we’ll have a special treat: a 30-minute musical soundscape provided by our own amazing pianist Lauren Servias with a little help from George Beekman. Feel free to bring a yoga mat if you’d like to stretch, breathe, or roll while you warm up.Admission to this family-friendly event is a suggested donation of $5—15. 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to local environmental organizations.

Spiritual Practices Part 2! 4/1 – 5/6 @6

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It’s almost time for the second block of the Spiritual Practices Workshop! You DO NOT NEED TO HAVE TAKEN PART 1 of the Spiritual Practices series to participate in and benefit from part 2 of this series!

This 6-session series will help participants develop regular disciplines of the spirit – practices that help us connect with the sacred. This series affirms religious diversity while seeking unity in our communal quest for meaning and wholeness. Each session offers a forum for learning, sharing, and growth that can enrich our personal faith journeys.

In part 1 of this series, we explored potential daily practices to which one might choose to commit. For part 2, join Skyla King-Christison on Monday evenings, April 1st through May 6th, from 6 to 7 pm in Room 7 as we explore the topics of creating a sabbath, the art of hospitality and belonging, work and service, spiritual retreat, life as a spiritual practice, and pilgrimage.

Please register for this workshop using this form.

Faith-based Climate Action, 2/17/2024

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Faith-based climate action this week

Good News

Climate-action Opportunities

Of Note

Save the Date Vote Forward: Solving the climate crisis requires a functioning democracy!  The UUFC Democracy Action Team is partnering with Vote Forward volunteers, who encourage fellow citizens to participate in our democracy by sending handwritten letters to unregistered and low-propensity voters.  Letter writing will begin early March with Zoom and in-person writing events!

CAT sign-ons: CAT worked with the Board to establish criteria for Justice Teams sign-on to and/or endorse justice causes. Applying those criteria, CAT has signed-on to and/or endorsed:

> Support Fossil Fuel Non Proliferation Treaty (11/1/23), 

> Support Overnight Cooling Center at OSU (11/4/23), 

> Oppose GTN Xpress Pipeline (12/14/23), 

> Oppose  Removal of Councillor Chalynn Ellis (2/2/24), and  

> Support  Pause on LNG exports (2/13/24). 

CAT’s notifications to the Board of these sign-ons are in this folder.

Bottle Drop:  Support the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition by using its blue Bottle Drop bags. These are in the lime-green bucket on the window-ledge behind the snack table in the social hall. The Corvallis Bottle Drop is behind the WaFa bank on 9th St.

Citizens’ Climate Lobby: Short video describing CCL’s success with respect to advancing the PROVE IT Act.

TED Talk:  Executive director Jonathan Foley presents the Drawdown Roadmap, a science-based framework for identifying the best solutions to use at the right time and in the right place to address climate change while improving human well-being, equity, and justice.  This talk is sure to inform and inspire you as much as it did the live audience of hundreds. 

Oregon Treasurer’s Net-Zero Plan: Divest Oregon response (generally positive) to this plan

Emergency Preparedness – Thank-You team!

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Thank-you, thank-you to the Emergency Preparedness team: Craig Olbrich, Wolfgang Dengler and Denis White, for providing training for leaders, Sunday volunteers and more last Saturday Feb. 10, focusing on how to help evacuate the building especially in case of fire. (And how interesting that our fire alarm system began to malfunction the following day — we’re looking now at a system upgrade). Here’s a take-away for everyone: if a building evactuation is needed, everyone head out toward the parking lot to the gathering point at the corner of Firwood and Elmwood.

Daily Practice: A Weekly Reminder

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To begin a day with notes of thanks is never a waste of time. It is a courageous way to orient oneself to a day, given how easy it is to start with complaints. To sit quietly for a few minutes to see what gratitudes emerge can feel like what the phrase “heart song” might mean. Thanks for the chorus of frogs and the response of an owl last night; for the shape of Marys Peak on the horizon; for the snow drops and crocuses and three tall daffodils already in bloom; for the busyness of birds who share this place; for the smell of moisture-filled morning air; for the thriving vibrant green of lichens; for gifts from friends and family – a poem, a photo, a message; for the wisdom of teachers and of students; for being part of a supportive working team; for knowing I am held in a circle of connection and love. I try to begin the day smiling, which is always what happens when I pause to count blessings. As I’m smiling, I’m bowing my head to my heart in a spontaneous prayer for so much that is so painful – for people living in wars in Ukraine and Gaza and elsewhere; for children in danger; for families struggling to survive; for generations of trauma of racism and patriarchy; for losses and mourning; for the state of the earth’s living systems. I look to this day with hope, and words from W.E.B DuBois as encouragement: “ The prayer of our souls is a petition for persistence; not for one good deed but deed on deed and thought on thought, until day calling unto day shall make a life worth living.” May this be our daily practice.

“Shared Ministry as Improv,” 2/18/2023

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So much is changing in our world, faith, and congregational lives. As we engage this changing reality, we need tools to help us meet the needs of this liminal time. Improvisation can provide us with a framework for shared ministry, and life!

Our guest preacher, The Rev. Darrick Jackson (he/him), is the Director of Ministries for Lifelong Learning of the UU Ministers Association. He is one of the authors in the book “Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity and Power in Ministry.” Rev. Darrick is active in DRUUMM (the UU ministry for people of color) and is the treasurer for Healing Moments (a ministry for caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s). He is pursuing his D.Min in Theology and the Arts at the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. Rev. Darrick and his husband, Dr. James Olson, live with their two cats, Merlin and Morgana. After Service Continued Conversation: Treat yourself refreshments at the Coffee Hour, then join Darrick and Jill McA at 11:45 AM in the Sanctuary for further conversation about improvisation for congregational life and life in the world. All are welcome.