Coronavirus – an early warning

by WUUC | May 28, 2020 | Announcements

By John Hartman
Pandemics like the coronavirus may occur more often when climate change is unabated. Warming and changing weather patterns shift the vectors and spread of disease.

Heavily polluting industries also contribute to disease transmission.  Studies have linked factory farming — one of the largest sources of methane emissions — to faster mutating, more virulent pathogens.

Similarly, the same populations that are bearing the brunt of the health and economic effects of the coronavirus are the same populations that bear the brunt of fossil fuel pollution — which in turn makes them more vulnerable to serious complications.

Dealing with the impacts of coronavirus while addressing climate change doesn’t have to slow down the economic recovery.  Outside of war, climate change is the only issue large enough to provide the economic recovery needed to help employ the millions of people out of work.  A climate-focused economic recovery.

Silver Linings of Online Services

by WUUC | May 28, 2020 | Announcements

Compiled by Donna Johnson
We asked the congregation to tell us what they like and appreciate about online services.  Turns out, there’s a lot to like. Here’s what you said:

Come Together, Right Now

• I appreciate having services at all during this time of social isolation.  It’s good to feel the connection to a larger community.
• It has reminded us all how much meeting together on Sunday means to us — “You never know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.”
• I’ve enjoyed seeing a glimpse of people’s homes and how they/we play with Zoom backgrounds.

Transformative Experiences

• I can close my eyes and focus on the words, meaning, and emotion of what’s being said without feeling self-conscious or being a distraction. 
• Amazingly, we still tear up, or have chills during a great opening, sermon or song.
• I find that it is easier to focus during meditation without thinking about what’s going on in the sanctuary like I tend to do when we are in the church building.
• Evocative pictures add so much!!!!
• It is giving us new ideas about what church means and what we can do during services.

Go Team

• “ZoomKeeper” is so wonderfully reminiscent of zookeeper, and so appropriate for us WUUCies.  Makes me smile every time. Like an inside joke.
• Such a great team effort!!
• The services are very smooth and professional — you’re all doing a great job!
• I love that different people are coming together to create each service.  The team is larger and richer.

Easy Like Sunday Morning:

• As a self-admitted “Not a Morning Person” I love having the extra time on Sunday morning.  A little more sleep, a slower pace: What’s not to like?
• Mini-commute…. Usually takes about 30 seconds, unless there is a cat occupying the hallway.
• Come as I am!
• Okay to step away from my Tai Chi, Qigong, or treadmill desk and show up for church 30 seconds later all warm and centered and sweaty without a shower.
• I can still sit next to and hold hands with my husband.
• No flipping through the hymnal to find the hymns.  All is projected!
• Honestly, it’s that I can clean the kitchen while I attend church, because yes, that’s my routine most weeks.

Coffee!!!:

• I can drink (and refill) my coffee all during the service.
• Coffee or breakfast at the same time? Works.
• The church is saving a lot of money on coffee.

Break out rooms

• The Breakout Rooms for coffee hour have ‘let’ me talk with folks I haven’t formerly spent much time with, along with catching up with friends.
• Coffee hour with random folks means meeting new folks. And it’s somehow always a croissant experience instead of a donut. And I always stay longer than I intended, ’cause it is something I find more important than I thought it would be.

Music

• I am enjoying the music. I hadn’t heard Matt sing, so I love hearing just how good his singing is. I always love Terry’s playing, but it seems even better now.
• If we don’t know the hymns well as a congregation we can still enjoy them without being embarrassed about our challenges singing them.
• Watching the choir sing “Come, Come, Whoever You Are” together, but each in their own homes was amazing!
• The only issue I have, Lulz, is listening to my own voice during the hymns.             

Expanded Attendance

• Attendance is up!!!
• It has allowed us to maintain/regain contact with church members who have moved away, are on extended vacation, or find it difficult to come to services in person.
• Much easier for visitors to see what the church is about without committing to a visit.
• I love the online services, especially since I’m out of state. I feel like I’m right there with all the other WUUCies.
• People from all over the country can join us.  My brother has been joining from out of state.

It’s Environmentally Sound

• The parking lot is returning to a meadow.
• We are reducing our carbon footprint.

Candidating

• It has allowed us to call a wonderful minister without the congregation ever seeing him or his family in person. Indeed, the way it was conducted probably allowed more of our congregation to meet with him, individually or in small groups, than if he had come here personally for the traditional week visit.

Theme: Thresholds

by WUUC | Apr 30, 2020 | Announcements

From the WUUC Worship Team
The May 2020 theme for worship, RE, and small groups at WUUC is: What Does It Mean to be a People of THRESHOLDS?  Our monthly themes and resource materials come from Soul Matters Sharing Circle, a network of Unitarian Universalist congregations.  A small sample of thoughts about thresholds from Soul Matters:

• If you go back to the etymology of the word “threshold,” it comes from “threshing” which is to separate the grain from the husk. So the threshold in a way, is a place where you move into more critical and challenging and worthy fullness.   John O’Donohue

• What if the true invitation of a threshold is not to successfully move from here to there, but instead just to sit and pause? What if thresholds help us “become” by asking us just to “be” for a while?  Less traveling and more listening. The Rev. Sara LaWall writes, “a threshold is a space to imagine a new way, a new self. Not moving or pushing but sitting and cultivating…the goal is to allow you space and time to reflect on your past, present and future. To imagine a new beginning.”

• At that moment of realization, a threshold is crossed. The idea, the dream, the recognition suddenly takes on gravity.  And that gravity creates an inevitability that transforms us, sometimes, whether we like it or not. What seemed unthinkable becomes thinkable.  Once that realization has emerged, you can either honor or ignore it, but you cannot forget it. What has become known cannot become unknown again.    Gary Zukav

Here are some wise words on Thresholds to ponder this month:

• Those who stand at the threshold of life always waiting for the right time to change are like a person who stands at the bank of a river waiting for the water to pass so they can cross on dry land.   Joseph B. Wirthlin

• Our only security is our ability to change.   John Lilly

• The purpose of the journey is compassion.   The return is seeing the radiance everywhere.  Joseph Campbell

• The truth is, indeed, that love is the threshold of another universe.  Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

For spiritual materials on our monthly theme, go to https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DDxTZvrp7ZD2w-AKSu-yaGAxjNXn_331/view?usp=sharing

For spiritual materials on the Sacred Words supplement on Blessing, go to https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ouaPHSMESzsToEeQ9jiZaKdy14XmCUuM/view?usp=sharing

WUUC’s Get Out the Vote Project Takes Off

by WUUC | Apr 30, 2020 | Announcements

By John Hartman
Are you looking for something meaningful to do while you’re cooped up in quarantine? How about spending an hour or two sending letters encouraging potential voters to get to the polls? You can do that through WUUC’s partnership with Vote Forward.

Vote Forward is a national organization who’s core mission is increasing civic participation. Right now, this means writing letters to people who belong to groups such as racial minorities who have historically been under-represented in the electorate compared to their share of the population.

Last year WUUC’s Climate Justice team identified getting out the vote as one of their major goals for the year in order to increase the chances of getting people elected who support the climate justice agenda and to increase the voting power of groups most impacted by climate change.

In January we partnered with Vote Forward based on their reputation of developing quality lists of under-represented voters and a user-friendly letter-writing program. When the coronavirus hit and people started quarantining, the Climate Justice team thought it would be a good time to launch Vote Forward as part of the WUUC Social Distancing Service Project — an Advocates for Social Justice initiative.  

We set an initial goal of signing up WUUC members to write 1,000 letters.  We achieved that goal in the first 10 days. We have increased our goal to 2,100 letters. Want to write a few letters?

Here’s how the program works. You don’t actually write a whole letter.  Most of the letter is pre-printed. Your biggest job is inserting a personal message in the body of the letter telling the recipient why you vote in every election. You sign the letter, address and stamp the envelope and — voila — you’re done. 

Help us reach our goal. Write a few letters. Here’s how. Go to the Google docs spreadsheet. Put in your name, address, email, phone number and the number of letters you want to write (multiples of 50, please). We will print out the letter template for the number of letters you signed up for and provide stamps, envelopes and instructions. A packet will be delivered to your front door within a few days of signing up. When you’re done writing the letters, we’ll pick them up and be sure they get mailed in late October.

Questions?  Contact John Hartman (ajhjr1001@yahoo.com)