UUCSJS Midweek Message

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Email admin@uucsjs.org or call Jess at 609-965-9400 if you need assistance

• Upcoming Sunday Services
• Faith Development
• 2023 Service Auction
• Announcements
• Events This Week
• Last Sunday
• Connect to Our Larger Faith
• Caring Team

Reverend Clarence Skinner: The Out-of-the-Box Skinner

Presented by Rev Charlie Dieterich

A century ago "Behaviorism" proposed all actions come from reinforced behaviors. What is religion then? Our subject is Universalist Minister Clarence Skinner's understanding of the purpose of faith.

BIO: After a first career as a television system designer, Charlie Dieterich changed directions, attended Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley California, and then interned for two years in New Orleans. He was ordained by UUCSJS on September 30, 2012, serving the congregation for three years. He then moved to Norfolk, VA and Erie, PA, then retired home to Kingston in central NJ. Although no longer a parish minister, Charlie remains active in the UU Trauma Response Ministry, uutrm.org.

PLEASE NOTE: This service will be in person at UUCSJS and streamed live on our Facebook page. A recording will be available later in the day on our YouTube Channel.

Sometimes we lose touch with how generously overflowing life is, even when parts of our life are hard. When this happens, we need something to help us step back and renew our perspective. This is what this exercise is all about.

Look over the list below and rate how abundant or scarce each of these are in your life, on a scale of 1 (scarce) to 10 (abundant). Place your rankings to the right of each item.

Then make time to reflect on the results. What surprised you? How did you feel after finishing it? What insights or feelings arose as you ranked and thought about each item?

1. Friends

2. Long-time friends

3. Moments of beauty

4. Moments of micro-aggression

5. The ability to exercise

6. Financial comfort

7. Children who love you

8. An animal to love

9. People who have forgiven you

10. Sunsets

11. Financial worry

12. Freedom from pain

13. Reliable healthcare

14. Access to nutritious food

15. Regrets

16. Adventure

17. Laughter

18. A sense of purpose from your work

19. Consistent work

20. Physical pain

21. Time to volunteer

22. Access to food

23. Freedom from worry

24. Loneliness

25. Novels to read

26. Dinners where loved ones sit and talk

27. Play

28. Passion

29. Respect of your peers

30. People to talk to when tough times to come

31. Rich memories

32. Time for meditation/prayer

33. Self-care

34. Self-love

We will explore how being generous with others connects them and us more deeply. In other words, being generous helps moves us from isolation (“I am alone”) to community (“I belong.”) By being generous we receive and give the gift of connection.

We will learn a new song in sign language, play games that "widen the circle," and create art together.

Building multicultural, anti-racist Beloved Community is a counter cultural move; it requires leaders and congregants to work together to dismantle centuries of systemic oppression and to change unconscious or semi conscious ways of being that keep the human family divided.

Don’t forget our common read, Mistakes and Miracles, to be discussed this December.

Copies are available to borrow. See Janet Longo or Jessica Dunn Safonof.

The 2023 UUCSJS Auction Catalog below lists all offerings to date other than those in Chance. Download the catalog to plan your bidding!

This catalog is also on our website (uucsjs.org). A limited number of black & white photocopies will be available next Sunday in the lobby.

To have your announcement placed in the Midweek Message, please send an email to admin@uucsjs.org by Noon on Wednesday.

One of the roles of the Committee on Ministry is to monitor the health and functioning of the congregation. The congregation has changed since the pandemic and the ways that people engage with the congregation have also changed. You are invited to participate in this engagement survey. Your responses will help us in understanding how members and friends of the congregation are currently engaging with UUCSJS; where you see yourselves in relation to the congregation at this point. We also want to provide an opportunity to communicate other thoughts you may have about the congregation in an open-ended format.

A response before Nov. 15th will be most useful, we are looking forward to your responses.

Click here to access survey: UUC South Jersey Shore's 2023 Engagement Survey

We will be collecting food donations (bin in front area of UU) that will be used by ESWA to provide holiday meals for the community.

Donations will be received until Sunday, Nov 19th and distributed to families Tuesday, Nov 21st.

Suggestions:

• Canned fruit, vegetables and gravies
• Shelf-stable milk, powered milk
• Seasonings, stuffing mix
• Dessert mixes
• Canned meats/ protein of any kind including beans
• And anything else you can come up with !!

FROZEN TURKEYS will gladly be accepted Sunday the 19th. You can directly drop off food to ESWA in Pleasantville, just call 609 646-9814 first.

Thank you for all your help !!!

Book Club will be meeting Friday, November 17 at 7:00 pm on ZOOM (www.tinyurl.com/uucsjszoom).

All are welcome !

DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver

Demon Copperhead is a 2022 novel. It was co-recipient of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and won the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Kingsolver was inspired by the Charles Dickins novel David Copperfield and while the novel is similarly about a boy born into poverty, Demon Copperhead is set in Appalachia and explores contemporary issues.

December book is THIS YEAR IT WILL BE DIFFERENT by Maeve Binchy

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

CLICK HERE to reserve the Zoom Room or to add your event to the calendar.

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

Click on the images for more information.

UUA President, the Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, shares a statement on the recent tragic flare of violence between Israel and Hamas and encourages UUs not to turn away:

Statement on the Current Crisis

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) joins the chorus of voices urging an immediate and total ceasefire, the admittance of humanitarian aid, and the restoration of power and water to Gaza to prevent the further staggering loss of human life that is inevitable under the current conditions. We support the call from the United Nations for the evacuation order to be rescinded, warning it will have “devastating humanitarian consequences." We join a wide range of faith-based, non-governmental, and humanitarian organizations across the globe in condemning the government of Israel’s ongoing bombardment, “total siege,” and forced displacement through an evacuation order of more than 1.1 million residents of Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ atrocious October 7 attacks. We do so in line with our 2002 Action of Immediate Witness, “Toward Peace and Justice in the Middle East.”

To address the urgent humanitarian crisis in Israel and Gaza, and to prevent further catastrophic loss of life, the UUA reiterates, as a signatory of the October 12 statement from Churches for Middle East Peace, a call for:

1. Ceasefire, de-escalation, and restraint by all sides
2. All parties to abide by the laws of war, including the Geneva Conventions and customary international law
3. Prioritizing steps to secure the immediate release of hostages and ensure international protection for civilians

The UUA condemns the horrific terror attacks from Hamas on Israeli civilians, and the taking of innocent hostages. There can never be justification for such an attack.

The UUA condemns the harm to innocent civilians caused by the Israeli government’s retaliation against Gaza, and implores the Israeli government to do all it can to protect innocent civilian life and avoid further escalating military action.

We call on Unitarian Universalists to continue to witness against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and to side with love in this moment by urging their elected officials to leverage the considerable power of the US government to push for an immediate and humane resolution to the crisis in Gaza, including total ceasefire, humanitarian aid access, and rescinding the evacuation order.

Read full statement as well as background and context information here...

Contact a member of the Caring Team

Team members can provide you with support during/after an illness, a death in the family, or other loss or hardship. They can find you resources, run errands, or provide meals in time of need.

Reach out to:

• Tracey Catino at (609) 674-8721 email: Traceysnaps@msn.com
• Helen Utts at (609) 338-3391 email: HelenUtts@aol.com
• Tony Zitelli at (201) 463-2800 email: happy85a@aol.com
• Barbara Morell at (215) 805-7599 email: morellb@msn.com
• Janet Longo at (609) 748-8608 email: jilportnj@comcast.net
• Denise O'Meara at (610) 316-7495 denome53@gmail.com

Caring Team is looking for members who are willing to attend monthly Zoom meetings and help out when congregants are sick or suffering from hardships. Please contact Tracey Catino if you can join our confidential group.

Sunday Services 10:30 am in person and livestreamed on Facebook.

Email: admin@uucsjs.org
Website: www.uucsjs.org
Location: 75 S Pomona Rd, Egg Harbor City, NJ, USA

Mailing Address: PO Box 853, Pomona NJ 08240
Phone: (609) 965-9400
Facebook: facebook.com/uucsjs
Twitter: @UUCSJS