UUCSJS Midweek Message

Greetings, gentle people.

First, I want to apologize for switching the worship service this past week without letting everyone know. I was unable to lead worship, and the team stepped up and took care of things for me, but we (I) totally could have been better about letting people know about the last-minute change.

What A Year It’s Been!

It was almost a full year ago that the Board voted to stop holding worship services in person and to suspend all activities in our building.

Anniversaries are strange things – often our bodies will remember them even if our brains are busy doing other things.

After a year of social distancing, wearing masks, hand-washing, and overall elevated levels of anxiety, we are different than we were last year at this time. We are changed as individuals and as a community. These changes have brought loss and some achievements. For as many of us as have learned and mastered previously foreign technology, there are those who have been unable to adapt and have suffered loneliness and further isolation. Many of us have lost family members and friends and neighbors to the Coronavirus. Some of our number have even fallen ill and recovered.

All this is to say, we’ve been through a lot, and it may hit us extra hard in the next week or two. I urge you to be mindful of what’s going on with your body – where you might be carrying stress or tension. Make sure you drink enough water. You might be extra tired. It’s ok to allow yourself to get a little more sleep. Your body knows what it needs.

You may feel more irritable than is your normal style. That’s not an unusual reaction to such an anniversary. If you can, give yourself and those around you a little more grace this week. Chances are we’re all going to need it.

Keep breathing, friends. Keep breathing.

We’ll get through it. It looks like there is a light at the end of the tunnel now, and things should be much improved by mid-summer.

Blessings.

Rev. Dawn

Rev. Dawn is available for pastoral care appointments Wednesday through Friday 10am to 3pm. Please email minister@uucsjs.org to schedule an appointment.

After years of faithful and good-humored service to the UUCSJS, bookkeeper Kathleen Hartnett will be leaving that position and making room for a new person. Kathleen will stay on the job through the end of March to help with the stewardship campaign, and the Board hopes to bring on a new person early in March to learn that process as part of their initial training.

The Board and I are grateful for Kathleen's careful stewardship of the congregation's finances and look forward to seeing Kathleen participate in the parts of congregational life that she has always enjoyed.

On Friday nights at 7 p.m. through the season of Lent, a vespers service will go live on the UUCSJS YouTube Channel. Each service has scripture readings, music, and a brief reflection.

Tune in for a contemplative half-hour service! Visit uucsjs.org to learn more about the Friday Evening Vespers.

-Rev. Dawn Fortune

We sometimes think of beloved community as a utopian ideal where diverse people live together in harmony, but that is a myth. Beloved community calls us to embrace discomfort, to learn and grow in ways that stretch us beyond what we think we can bear, and to become stronger as a result of our efforts, both as individuals, and as the beloved community to which we aspire.

Join us to explore what it means to move beyond the warm and fuzzy, Sunday at 10 am at www.tinyurl.com/uucsjszoom or call in to (929)436-2866 then enter: 2246776604#, 0#, 306591#. Make sure to update your Zoom software before Sunday morning so you aren't late to church!

Information on upcoming services can be found HERE.

For those hearing-impaired, pdf copies of Rev. Dawn's sermons are available on our website at the link above. Also, entire services are uploaded to our YouTube channel each Sunday afternoon where Closed Captioning is available.

The programs and services we are able to provide each year are made possible through the generous financial support of our members and friends. So each year we have a season of stewardship to receive advance pledges of support from members and friends to help us to plan our programming budget in advance (planning for July 2021 to June 2022).

Our stewardship campaign this year will run from March 7th to April 11th. We will host small group Zoom gatherings to share what we value about the congregation and what we envision for the future. Everyone who is part of our covenanted community is invited to participate in one of these conversations.

It is the collective generosity from our community that makes UUCSJS possible! More information about signing up for the small groups will be coming soon.

~ Karen York, Stewardship Chair

Click on the graphic below or visit the calendar at uucsjs.org for more information on events and meetings.

To have your announcement placed in the Midweek Message, please send an email to uucsjsadmin@gmail.com by Noon on Wednesday.

Margaret Circle will meet on Thursday, March 4, at 1:00 pm on zoom.

MaryLou DeMaria Berhang will be leading the discussion. Here are her words about it:

"Cabin Fever: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Let's have a conversation focusing on how we are getting through the pandemic. Besides discovering good movies and zoom meetings, what was a bad choice? Desperately searching for Pepcid after munching on too much popcorn in the middle of the night? An ugly scene when ransacking the house trying to find where your husband hid the chocolate again! Has your heart opened more to others? That's a good thing."

For more information contact Betsy Searight or email admin@uucsjs.org.

Here you will find opportunities to connect with our larger faith and other UU's from outside our congregation.

Click on the images for more information.

UU Faith Action studies issues, proposes legislation, and lobbies for causes such as criminal justice and immigration. It is our faith at work.

You can support this important work by attending the UU Justice Gala to benefit UU Faith Action New Jersey March 5, 2021, from 7 PM to 8:30 PM. Details and registration at uufaithaction.org.

Click on the image above for the link to the live online auction happening right now! We have submitted a beautiful basket designed by Colby Tippins for bidding on.

Sunday Services 10 am on Zoom at tinyurl.com/uucsjszoom

Email: uucsjsadmin@gmail.com
Website: www.uucsjs.org
Location: 75 S Pomona Rd, Egg Harbor City, NJ, USA
Phone: (609) 965-9400
Facebook: facebook.com/uucsjs
Twitter: @UUCSJS