A note of gratitude and good wishes from UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt.
Watch here, and look for some Fellowship folks in the photos!
wa_announcements
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Fellowship Job Posting: Communication Coordinator
We’re looking for a point-person for Fellowship communication, at 10/hours per week. The job includes editing Weekly Announcements and Monthly Journals, coordinating website content updates and event publicity, and interfacing with members’ and friends’ communication questions and needs. Skills needed include proficiency with Canva, Excel, and Breeze, Google docs and forms, strong writing and editing skills, strong interpersonal skills.
For more information and how to apply contact Rev. Jill McAllister, minister@uucorvallis.org.
LEGATO, 2nd Wednesday of Each Month
LEGATO: a monthly potluck where foods harmonize in a smooth and flowing manner to create a satisfying dinner.
Come join members of the choir and band at 5:00 on the 2nd Wednesday of each month and let’s enjoy a meal of laughter, goodwill, and perhaps song! Bring a dish to share (please identify all ingredients) and note the event ends at 6:30 as rehearsal begins at 7:00.
This is a Connect Up Event with the purpose of building community within the UUFC congregation.
New Leadership For Membership and Greeter Teams
Announcing new leadership for the Fellowship Membership and Greeting Teams: Joyce Standing is the new Membership coordinator, and Heather Emberson is the new Greeter Coordinator. These two teams have long been strong and vital parts of Fellowship life, and they will continue to be so with Heather and Joyce at the helm. As is common, with new leadership comes a chance to review and revise procedures and processes – this time including increasing the greeters team, revising the Membership “book”, and updating the New Members Welcome. The main tasks of these two teams are to provide Sunday morning greeting to all and accompany newcomers who decide to continue attending the Fellowship through the processes of orientation and membership if desired.
Thank-you Heather and Joyce, and thank-you to all who are part of our membership and greeter teams!
Green to White
There are many reasons to like the color green: often a symbol of safety, the color of nature, a mark of good luck, among others. At the UUFC, the GREEN name tag is a sign that you are new! We look for you and want to encourage your exploration of our Fellowship.
If you have been coming regularly for a month or so, then it’s time to sign up to get a WHITE name tag. This name tag is an outward sign that you are here, that you have decided to join us regularly, and that you want to continue your religious journey with us!
We’re SO glad you have decided to take this step. Please stop by the Welcome Desk to request your new name tag!
You Can Help Our Families Engage!
You’ve probably noticed that there are more and more families in our midst each week. Hooray! We love seeing faces of all ages in our sanctuary. With this uptick in family participation, we are experiencing a higher demand for childcare. At the same time, our list of able Grandfolks is dwindling due to illness and factors such as night driving.
A parent’s ability to engage in small group ministry and special events plays a large role in determining whether the family unit as a whole can continue to participate in the life of the Fellowship. If you are an adult of any age who has been with the Fellowship for more than 6 months, please take a moment to consider whether you would be able to give even one hour a month to care for children so that parents can have that time to commit to their own spiritual enrichment.
All Grandfolks will be interviewed, trained, and complete a background check before service.
If you want to help families stay engaged, please contact Skyla at dre@uucorvallis.org for more information.
December Holiday Services and Events
December is a busy month, with a wide variety of services and gatherings. You can begin to plan ahead now – more details will come soon.
Annual Holiday Fair – Saturday Dec. 7, 9 am – 3 PM
Sunday Services: Dec. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 – 10 AM
Blue Holidays Vespers – Monday, Dec. 16, 6 PM
Winter Solstice Service Dec. 20 – 7 PM
Christmas Eve Services – Tuesday, Dec. 24 5:30 PM Family Centered Service
9 PM Meditative Service
Fail Fest 2024 – Friday, Dec. 27 6 PM
Christmas Sing-a-Long – date TBD
A Cheat Sheet for Connecting with RE Kids!
Sunday morning Religious Exploration for children and youth is off to a great start this year. Have a look at what they’ve been up to so you’ll have an easier time striking up an intergenerational conversation in the social hall. Every adult in the building has a part to play in the religious education of our children, making them feel seen and valued, so take the time to meet them and let them know you!
This past Sunday, the Chalice Children toured the building and got to look behind every locked door and dig around in every closet. Ginny Gibson showed them all the cool things in the kitchen, Scott Bruslind showed them Jill’s stole collection and then walked them through the service to see if she was really wearing one (she was!) and then they got to pick out a book to read together from the library. If you see a preschool-aged kiddo in the social hall, ask them what their favorite space in the Fellowship is and tell them yours.
The Spirit Play kiddos learned a hand jive to help them remember that Love is at the center of all of our values, and made jetpacks out of silver-painted cereal boxes to start trying to remember the JETPIG values acronym. With the power of rhymes and perhaps a bit of chocolate bribery, we hope that all of the Spirit Play kids will be able to list the 6 values by heart by the end of the year. Can you list them yet? Consider inviting one of the kids into a contest to see which of you can list the most Article 2 values from memory, or share with them why you think Love is at the center.
The YRUU youth hosted Mate, all the way from our partner congregation in Transilvania! They discussed what justice really means, why it made the cut for our new set of highest shared values, and laid the groundwork for starting the Harvard Justice course next Sunday. When I popped in to snap a picture with our guest, they were discussing the challenges of having a death penalty in the context of our very fallible legal system. Next week they’ll be encountering the trolley dilemma and the moral theory of utilitarianism. Do you think the rightness of every action is determined by its consequences? Share your views with the middle and high schoolers on the deck after the service, and ask to hear theirs!
UUFC Merch Store
Check out the UUFC Merch Store for tee-shirts, hats, coffee cups, backpacks, umbrellas, and more! Support our Fellowship with great gifts for yourself and your loved ones. Find it under the “about” tab on the UUFC website.
Pema Chodron Study Group
Welcoming the Unwelcome Study Group
Monday evenings from 7:15 to 8:30 September 23rd – December 2nd
Facilitated by Joyce Federiuk
Please register HERE.
Try, once again, to let everything you do be done in love.
I am inspired by these words Rev. Jill uses to close our Sunday service. What would it be like to
live this way? Sometimes I speak or act out of love, and that feels like happiness. But not
everything I do or say comes from love, and when an alternative motivation (like ego, obligation,
guilt, anger, etc etc) takes over, the results are often not so good.
How can we move closer to this lovely ideal? Buddhist nun and teacher Pema Chodron has a masterful way of explaining Buddhist wisdom in an accessible and compelling way. After reading “When Things Fall Apart” I was intrigued by the idea that in our incessant quest to avoid suffering, we often make a mess of things and cause a lot of suffering for ourselves and others. When I attended a weekend retreat with Pema and learned to meditate, I learned that it is possible to train in loving kindness. Meditation allowed me to take these ideas to heart and start to apply them to actual situations. I then gained a new level of appreciation of the power of
Buddhist wisdom.
I’m planning a study group to read and discuss “Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World”. Here’s a blurb from the cover:
In her first new book of spiritual teachings in over seven years, Pema Chodron offers fresh wisdom, heartfelt reflections and the signature humor and insight that have made her a beloved guide in turbulent times. In an increasingly polarized world, Pema offers us tools to find common ground, even when we disagree, so we can build a stronger and broader sense of community. Sharing never-before-told personal stories from her remarkable life, simple and powerful everyday practices, and directly relatable advice, Pema leads the way in showing us how to become triumphant bodhisattvas- compassionate beings- in even the most difficult of circumstances.
Well, reading and understanding is one thing. But taking the advice to heart and trying it out in our everyday encounters is what I’m hoping to achieve in this Adult RE offering. We will read, we will discuss, we will do guided meditations, and we will try out these ideas in real life.