UUCSJS Midweek Message

• Minister's Midweek Meditation
• Explore Our Monthly Theme
• Announcements
• This Sunday
• Last Sunday
• Events This Week
• Connect to Our Faith

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

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
• Denise O'Meara at (610) 316-7495 email: denome53@gmail.com
• Helen Utts at (609) 338-3391 email: HelenUtts@aol.com
• MaryLou DeMaria-Berhang at (201) 247-5635 email: MLberhang@gmail.com
• Tony Zitelli at (201) 463-2800 email: happy85a@aol.com

Join us in building community and cultivating relationships as we work together to create the first ever UUCSJS All-Together Quilt! If you missed the Time for All Ages this past Sunday, you may be wondering "what is the UUCSJS all-together quilt?" UUCSJS is embarking on a project of relationship building through quilt-making! And we need YOUR help!

Throughout the month of October you will have the opportunity to sew quilt blocks for our quilt. These blocks will be sewn together into a beautiful patchwork quilt that will symbolize the community we are rebuilding here at UUCSJS. We will learn together, sew together, talk together, and grow together. We will get to know one another again and in new ways. (No sewing skills or knowledge required. Come learn something new!)

Will you be represented in our all-together quilt?

Here's how you can participate:

1. Sew along during Sunday service. There is a basket of materials available in the back of the sanctuary.
2. Meet out front at the sewing circle table AFTER Sunday service. Come sit, chat, and sew each Sunday afternoon.
3. Volunteer in Children's RE and help the children and youth add their presence to the quilt during RE Learning Lab.
4. Attend a sewing circle event: Thursday, October 14th or Saturday, October 30th 1-3 pm. RSVP to these events by emailing religiouseducation@uucsjs.org.

Help us make the UUCSJS all-together quilt a reality!

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

Planning a special event? The Communications Team can help. Visit https://uucsjs.breezechms.com/form/42685e for more information.

All are welcome to attend the monthly meeting of the Board of Trustees on Thursday, October 14, 2021 at 6:30 pm. You can attend via Zoom at www.tinyurl.com/uucsjszoom or in-person at UUCSJS.

Meeting Friday, October 15th at 7:00 pm using the UUCSJS ZOOM link. (www.tinyurl.com/uucsjszoom) All are welcome to join the discussion! Marsha Hannah will lead the discussion.

UNDER THE UDALA TREE by Chinelo Okpapanta

Inspired by Nigeria’s folktales and its war, this book is a deeply searching, powerful debut about the dangers of living and loving openly. It uses one women’s lifetime to examine the ways in which Nigerians continue to struggle toward selfhood. This story offers a glimmer of hope – a future where a woman might just be able to shape her life around truth and love.

Questions: morellb@msn.com

November selection: BELOVED by Toni Morrison

Help raise money to support UUCSJS!

1. Purchase a shopping pass for $5 each

2. Shop at Boscovs (in-store only) on October 20th and receive 25% off your purchase

3. UUCSJS receives all funds from purchased shopping passes!

Passes are available by emailing Nick Bonar (or admin@uucsjs.org) and will be available at in-person services beginning Septmeber 12, 2021.

UUCSJS is sponsoring a Rainbow Library in South Jersey! GLSEN's Rainbow Library is a program that sends LGBTQ+ affirming K-12 text sets to schools for free!

October is LGBTQ+ History month and National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is an annual LGBT awareness day observed on October 11, to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people ( a.k.a. the LGBT community, sometimes also called the queer community) in "coming out of the closet". So it is the perfect time to donate to this worthy cause.

Our goal is to raise $1,500! Visit our donation page at http://uucsjs.org/online-giving/ and select "Rainbow Library" to get this campaign started! Keep an eye out here for more information and updates!

Contact Betsy Erbaugh or email admin@uucsjs.org for more information.

-Rev. Dawn Fortune

In order to be in relationship with one another, there must be some degree of trust. Trust allows us to share parts of ourselves that are tender, knowing that we will be safe. In Unitarian Universalism, we share a core set of principles that guide how we interact with each other. We'll explore how those values support us as we develop and grow relationships. Join us to grow together!

This service will be held inside the sanctuary at UUCSJS (masking and social distancing required). The service will also be livestreamed on our Facebook page.

In October we are focused on "Cultivating Relationships" and many of our members have important relationships with the animals in our lives. Saint Francis of Assisi was said to have a deep spiritual connection to all of the animal kingdom, and many traditions celebrate our connection to our companion animals with a blessing service.

If your favorite companion animal is willing and well-behaved, you are encouraged to bring them with you to worship on October 17 to be blessed. All animals must be on secure leashes or in appropriate cages during the service.

If neither you nor your pet is up for a joint trip to church, you can bring a photograph of the animal and Rev. Dawn will offer a blessing with you and the image of your animal companion.

If you have a particularly large or unique animal that might require special accommodations, please reach out to Rev. Dawn at minister@uucsjs.org

If you were unable to join us, you can watch the video of last week's service below.

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.

Margaret Circle will meet on Thursday, October 7, at 1:00, at the UU Center.

Arlene Yacka will be presenting our topic, which will be which will be based on the book “The Decade Matrix” by James O. Gollum. The premise of this book is that the decade you were born into made you what you are today. This will take us back in time, so dig up those old memories. This promises to be a very interesting discussion.

Contact Betsy Searight or email admin@uucsjs.org for more information.

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.

The Fall Issues Conference is at the heart of our ministry together as UU social justice advocates in the state of NJ. Register today!

The conference will convene 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, with an optional coffee hour opening at 9:00 AM.

Registration is free and open to all New Jersey Unitarian Universalists and friends of UU FaithAction NJ. Youth are encouraged to attend, and FAIR Youth Co-Leaders extend a special welcome to high-school-aged youth to meet them in the FAIR breakout group.

The 2021–2022 UU Common Read is Defund Fear: Safety Without Policing, Prisons, and Punishment by Zach Norris, published by Beacon Press. The Common Read builds community in our congregations and our movement by giving diverse people a shared platform for reflection and a shared focus for action. Further, a Common Read can take us on a powerful faith journey as we explore—individually and together—what it means to be human and accountable in a pain-filled world.

Read more about the UU Common Read HERE.

Sunday Services 10 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
Phone: (609) 965-9400
Facebook: facebook.com/uucsjs
Twitter: @UUCSJS