UUCSJS Midweek Message

• Minister's Midweek Meditation
• Announcements
• Notes From the Board
• Stewardship Campaign
• Events This Week
• This Sunday
• Call to Action
• Explore Our Monthly Theme
• Connect to Our Faith

Rev. DC is available for pastoral care appointment Wednesday through Friday 10am to 3pm. 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

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.

Margaret Circle will meet in person at the UU Center on Thursday, April 7, from 1-3 pm.

Debbi Dagavarian will be presenting the program in April, which will allow each person to share their thoughts on different topics.

Feel free to bring a snack and/or drink, if you like, as we are not yet serving food in the building.

Margaret Circle is open to all women.

Book Club is open to anyone who likes to read.

April’s book is PAPER WIFE by Laila Ibrahim, who will be joining us on Zoom! Ms. Ibrahim calls herself “a devout Unitarian Universalist” and has had an interesting life.

Please join us on Zoom on Friday, April 15, at 7:00 pm to discuss the book. It follows a young Chinese woman who migrates to California in 1923 as the wife of a Chinese-American man whose first wife has died. The book is readily available through most libraries or bookstores.

Use our usual Zoom link to participate.

will be held on Sunday, April 10th

Our participation in “Adopt-a-Road” had been in jeopardy…

… UNTIL we turned out in such force on January 23!! It was a wonderful response and thank you all. Eleven stalwart UUs +1 turned out that Sunday in below freezing temperatures, although walking warmed us up quickly. So many turned out, in fact, that we ran out of safety vests and even grabbers; both of those two necessities, and gloves, too, have since been obtained from ACUA (along with more recycle and trash bags).

What I’m saying is that we’re now ALL READY for you on Sunday, April 10 – whether you’re coming for the thirtieth time or the first time ever: new vests, new grabbers, new gloves, so please don’t hesitate. We have this one more cleanup to do to fulfill our quota (4) before Earth Day, April 22, 2022.

After this last one is done, our new coordinator will be Nancy Watson. I’m grateful that she has graciously stepped forward and she will be wonderful at the task. Nancy just told me she and Mike Hannisian will not be going to Florida after all, so they will be here for this, our last cleanup for Earth Day Year 21/22.

And finally, point of privilege: since I happen to know that Sunday, April 10 is also Betsy Searight’s birthday, I hereby take this opportunity to excuse her publicly from road cleanup on that day; Betsy, please honor this decree!

Special thanks to you who rescued road cleanup from jeopardy in January; can we keep it up? Namely: John Brilla, Jesse Connor, Mike Hannisian, Barbara Miller, Jack Miller, Alice Miller, Barbara Morell, Judy Pereira, Maryellen Riche, Betsy Searight, Nancy Watson, and David Weesner. (We missed you, Diane.)

Thank you for your participation over the years since I took over from Michele Bellinger. I’ll still be there (most but not all the time).

Judy Pereira

Harriet Tubman Museum

https://www.harriettubmanmuseum.org/

Are you interested in learning the local history of American abolitionist and political activist, Harriet Tubman? We are offering an opportunity to explore her history in OUR region by attending a private group tour at the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cape May, NJ. Located at 632 Lafayette Street in Cape May, NJ the museum opened June, 2020 and offers $10 (per person) tours on weekends.

What we know:

• The trip is planned for Saturday, April 16, 2022
• The private group tour is Limited in Space
• Stay for Lunch and Discussion after the tour
• Deadline for sign-up is Wednesday, March 30, 2022

For more information or to sign up, please contact Colby Tippins at 609-442-0967 or Shelee McIlvaine

Worship Committee Forming

The Worship Committee has not met for months. Those who are interested should meet and select a chairperson. A few members have already stepped forward. If you have an interest, please write to me and Deb Dagavarian. We’ll let you know when that meeting will occur.

Staff Compensation

The ad hoc committee that reviewed the compensation we provide to UUCSJS staff recently reported to the Board. Although it would be impolite to share the individual recommendations in the newsletter, I hope that all members will be glad to hear that we made this effort to fairly reward the staff members who help our congregation go.

Great thanks to committee members Karen York, John Brilla and Paul Utts.

Kit Marlowe

UUCSJS Board President

Come to a Stewardship Sharing Circle!

Following a fantastic turnout for our first Stewardship Sharing Circle we will have a second Stewardship Sharing Circle after service on Sunday, March 27, 2022. A light lunch will be provided.

Pledge cards and a stewardship brochure will be available for all on Sunday.

If you would like to pledge remotely using an electronic pledge card, here is the link: https://forms.gle/5GJUQ7WfasVBRKDQA

~ Karen York, Stewardship Chair

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.

Rev. DC Fortune

Jessica Dunn Safonof

Join us for an all ages interactive worship service focused on renewing our faith.

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.

Currently, we are aware of a need for tutors of English for Afghan refugees. This can be done in person (at a local library) or on zoom. These are folks being served by Catholic Charities, a partner of ours. If you are interested, please provide the following information.

• What time of day/day of the week do you prefer to tutor?
• Where do you live (if you wish to tutor in person.)?
• Do you prefer to tutor in person or via zoom?
• Is there a specific population you prefer to work with?
• Do you speak any language other than English?
• Do you have any teaching experience (of any subject) or experience tutoring ESL? (These are not requirements.)

After we hear from you, we will forward your information to Vincent Mancuso at Catholic Charities Dept of Refugee Resettlement & Immigration. Vincent makes matches between tutors and students. Please contact Deb Dagavarian if you have any questions.

Volunteer to be a worship associate! Contact Sheila Stoner or Rev. DC today!

More often than not, we can’t renew our faith on our own. It takes others. Their commitment to justice renews our faith that a better world is possible. Their compassion and kindness (even when they have struggles of their own), renews our faith in humanity. Their bravery reignites our faith in ourselves.

So who is that “other” for you? Whose faithfulness renews your own? And most importantly, have you told them?!

That’s exactly what this exercise is all about: telling them!

Why is that so important? Well, simply put, telling them they sustain your faithfulness helps them sustain theirs. It keeps them going. It’s a gift to them. A gift that honors the gift they gave you.

So get busy. Do it in a letter. Or maybe over coffee. Maybe come to a Stewardship Sharing Circle. Maybe even in some clever or playful way. Tell them their faith and faithfulness has sustained your own.

(From Soul Matters)

For more inspiration this week, check out this video The Low Road, Marge Piercy on renewing faith in the work of joining forces for the common good.

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.

Click on the image above to learn more about:

• The UU Institute
• UUA General Assembly
• A Second Slice of Pi: An Online Conference for Smaller Congregations
  
• Jubilee 3 Anti-Racism Training
• Spring for Change in 2022: A Season of Sacred Activism
• Intergenerational Spring Seminar: “Displacement & Human Rights: All in for Climate Justice”
• News from the UUA
• and a full calendar of Central East Region events

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