By Donna Johnson The Worship Team is making plans to welcome and work with our new minister, Dan Lillie.
Minister Dan joined us for our July Worship Team meeting, and we set a course for the first weeks of his time with us. Worship services for late August and early September have been planned by WUUC Worship Associates and Lay speakers; Minister Dan will participate in those services and provide a ministerial presence. Then, beginning with Ingathering on Sept. 13, Minister Dan will be fully “in the pulpit,” taking on all the worship roles of a full-time minister.
In late September, Minister Dan and the rest of the Worship Team will come together for an extended worship retreat of four zoom sessions over a long weekend. We are looking forward to getting to know each other, talking about worship goals and philosophies, and planning for the future.
By John Hartman When WUUC’s Climate Justice team started WUUC’s get out the vote initiative in conjunction with Vote Forward, they set a goal of writing 1,000 letters. We’re now five months into the initiative and our letter writers have committed to writing 4,200 letters (!) – with about two and a half months left in the campaign.
John Hartman, left, (300 letters) and Hilarie Cash (300)
From left, Blue Forte (150), Carol Taylor (50) and Lou Anne Maxwell (300)
All of our letters are going to registered voters in Texas who have been infrequent voters in past elections. Each of our letter writers insert a personal message in the letter template with their reason for voting in every election.
Clockwise from top left, Holly Beck (50), Cindie Cobb (150), Janice Anthony (300) and Jan Anderson (400)
We currently have 42 people writing letters in the Vote
Forward campaign. Here are pictures of
some of our dedicated volunteers with the letters they’ve written.
Winny Schnitzler (50)
If you’d like to join WUUC’s Vote Forward Get Out the Vote campaign contact John Hartman at ajhjr1001@yahoo.com.
By Donna Johnson This summer, during our time-between-ministers, lay members of WUUC and other local churches will fill our Zoom worship time with inspiring and transformational services.
July 5: Rachel
Eddy and friends will lead us in commemorating Independence Day with music and
a voice choir.
July 12: We will be treated to a unique version
of our annual, always popular, “Joyful Noise” service by Michael Lawson, Brad
Hull, and friends.
July 19: Chuck Fowler will share a paper that he
was invited to give at a national meeting about science and religion.
July 26:
We will join the Puget Sound Worship Collaboration for “church with
neighbors.”
Find more details about our July services elsewhere in this
newsletter.
The worship team will finalize plans for late August soon.
Here’s what the beginning of the month will look like:
August 2:
Cora Goss Grubbs will explore how we might advance our anti-racism work
by examining our shame and rage through a trauma lens.
August 9:
Rachel Eddy will help us to understand the lives of the families she
works with who are Asset Limited Income Limited Employed (ALICE).
August 16:
Jack Brandt will talk about his experiences as a member of the WUUC search
committee.
Join us on Friday, July 24 at 7 p.m. at the WUUC Church Campout at Bay View State Park for a meeting of the WUUC Nonfiction Book Club. We will be discussing “Thick: And Other Essays” by Tressie McMillan Cottom. RSVP to Alaine, alaine.davis@yahoo.com. RSVP not required, but helpful for planning purposes.
If you aren’t attending the campout, but are still interested in reading and discussing the book, consider volunteering to lead a Zoom discussion on the same day!
“To say this collection is transgressive, provocative, and brilliant is simply to tell you the truth.” —Roxane Gay
In these eight piercing explorations on beauty, media,
money, and more, award-winning professor Tressie McMillan Cottom embraces her
venerated role as a purveyor of wit, wisdom, and Black Twitter snark about all
that is right and much that is wrong with this thing we call society.
This book fills an important void: a modern black American feminist voice waxing poetic on self and society, serving up a healthy portion of clever prose and southern aphorisms as she covers everything from Saturday Night Live, LinkedIn, and BBQ Becky to sexual violence, infant mortality, and Trump rallies. “Thick” speaks fearlessly to a range of topics and is far more genre-bending than a typical compendium of personal essays.
An intrepid intellectual force hailed by the likes of Trevor Noah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Oprah, Tressie McMillan Cottom is “among America’s most bracing thinkers on race, gender, and capitalism of our time” (Rebecca Traister). This stunning debut collection—in all its intersectional glory—mines for meaning in places many of us miss, and reveals precisely how the political, the social, and the personal are almost always one and the same. -Adapted from an Amazon review
Four times a year, the WUUC Book Discussion Group gathers to read and talk about a nonfiction book. You only attend the meetings about books that interest you, so we end up with a different group of participants every time. We meet to connect and talk about a book in depth. Anyone is welcome to suggest a book and/or lead a discussion. Contact Alaine to RSVP, suggest a book, or offer to host a future discussion.
By John Hilke Our collective Covid-19 experiences raise quite a few questions about several aspects of our lives. Some of our past Notes 4 Earth have highlighted the impact on our future carbon footprint associated with potential increases in online work relative to office work, changes in what we buy and where we buy from, and changes in how we spend our time.
This month, I raise some questions about post-Covid-19 life
at WUUC and the potential impacts on WUUC’s carbon footprint.
Worship: Although it may be some months from now, we will likely be returning to in-person worship at some point in the future. Might we want to continue with online worship opportunities too? For some, online worship may be the only way to attend WUUC worship due to illness, travel, mobility issues, or moving to another area. I’ve noted that attendance at worship is higher on average than it was at most in-person worship services before March, remembering that many people participate in our worship with a significant other or with young folks. Does this reflect the convenience factor of attending worship remotely? Would providing alternatives to in-person worship change how often you would attend in person?
Coffee Hour: More than a few have noted that coffee hour seems more likely to be meaningful and less likely to fall into “taking care of church business.” Some important connections seem to be in the making and sometimes in-depth conversations emerge. We miss the hugs.
Committee and Small Group Meetings: Some have noted that there are plus factors and minus factors about online committee and small-group meetings. Weather and night risks associated with driving are largely eliminated with online meetings. We miss the hugs, but sometimes we have an easier time taking turns and being reflective. Do we want to continue online alternatives to in-person meetings?
Food for thought, perhaps?
Take care and be as safe as possible under the
circumstances.
