This year UU Animal Ministry is celebrating its 40th anniversary! Founded in 1986 in New York City by four friends who cared deeply about animals, chapters of UUAM have now spread in Fellowships all across the country. Let’s celebrate the animals in all areas of our life and the interconnectedness of all living beings!
UUs Serve is still in need of a few volunteers to help serve on April 27. This will also be a wonderful opportunity to see the new space The Shalom Project has moved into and to continue our shared ministry of nourishment and welcome.
If you have the time and capacity, please sign up to serve the Flourish meals on 3/17 and 4/27. The guests at Flourish truly appreciate the meals we prepare and the care we bring.
If you’ve ever attended one of the Fellowship’s many food events, it’s likely you dined with friends in the Foyer.
This notice is to inform you that, in order to increase safety and provide maximum accessibility for everyone, All Fellowship dining events are moving out of the Foyer back to the Fellowship Hall.
What does this mean for you?
1. Most of our events are organized by members and friends which means we rely on those who attend to help with either setup, cleanup, or breakdown. Signing up in advance whenever possible and showing up prepared to pitch in if you’re willing and able makes these events more fun for everyone!
2. We ask that you remain aware of the potential need to exit the building quickly and safely. That means keeping all doorways clear and making sure there is an exit plan worked out in advance
Know that staff, leaders and teams are working on the safest ways to use our spaces. We are currently pulling together a group to develop some suggested seating plans.
If you’d like to participate in making plans to increase safety and maximize accessibility, please reach out to Skip at safecongregations@uufws.org and let him know you’d like to be a part of that team.
Thank you to the Sunday volunteers who joined one of the groups that makes our services run more smoothly!
It’s a new year, and we need a few more volunteers. With more people, no one has to serve too often, and it’s a wonderful way to make new connections. We’ll train you!
Check out the list below and contact our group leaders to try something new in the new year!
- Greeters: Welcome members and visitors to the morning services as they enter the Fellowship. Email Susan at greeters@uufws.org.
- Kitchen Crew: Make coffee and help with setup/cleanup during coffee hour. Email Pat at kitchencrew@uufws.org.
- Nursery Assistants: Provide a safe, nurturing environment for infants and toddlers. Email pam@uufws.org.
- Offering Counters: During 2nd service. CLICK HERE to learn more and sign up.
- Service Slide Creators: Some experience with Google Slides, Power Point or Canva is required. Email Jack at slides@uufws.org.
- Tech Team: Multiple roles for audio and video broadcast skills. Email Jack at techteam@uufws.org.
- Ushers: Hand out bulletins, find seats, pass offering baskets, and more! Email Nancy and Candy at ushers@uufws.org.
- Watchful Shepherds: Monitor building access and watch for anything that could disrupt services. Email Skip at watchfulshepherds@uufws.org.
For over three years, Mary Rouse and Bob Habermann have been monitoring the recycling at our facility for compliance with local requirements so that items can be recycled. (Most weeks there are items in the bins that are not recyclable locally or are food-contaminated!) They would love to train others so that the recycling can be placed outside more frequently. Training would take about 15 minutes. Please contact Mary for more information.
Over the last two months, we’ve been in the depths of some of the breadth of our theological diversity: Samhain, All Souls, Advent (coming soon, Hanukkah).
And we’ve had services of vastly different energy: we debuted our Fellowship Band with upbeat joy, and we had a spoken and sung prayer with contemplation.
More than one of you in the receiving line has said (on different Sundays) something like: “thank you for your message. The feel of the service was not for me, and I know it was for others here. Thank you for doing this.”
What a beautiful sentiment to receive. Sometimes in Unitarian Universalism we can become the muddled melding pot (where no one really shines, the least common denominator). At UUFWS, we’ve made the bold proclamation that we’d rather be a bright mosaic, where we all shine at different times, in different ways.
We believe we learn even from the experiences that aren’t “our thing”. And we wonder, perhaps, if we learn and grow most from these? We wonder, what might be there for us to learn in services that feel less in our own language (verbal, emotional or spiritual)?
And, we’re excited to explore this all together.
And – if you wanted to explore All Creation Waits, the advent calendar in a book we looked at this past Sunday, here are links for the children’s edition as well as the original edition and a gift edition.
