Greetings, members and friends.
I am back at work now after a six-week medical leave to get treatment for clinical depression brought on by the stress of the pandemic and our national political reality. I was fortunate to have the support of the UUCSJS Board in being able to take this leave time, and am glad to be back at work. My journey of healing will continue in the coming months, but I am now well enough to return to the ministry role I was called to serve.
General Assembly is next week and will take most of my time, but I will be able to check my email and phone messages periodically for things that need addressing.
I am glad to be back and look forward to the gradual opening up of our building and worship space.
Be well,
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.
You can catch up on past Minister's Midweek Meditations on the YouTube Playlist.
Need Help?
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
By-Law Revisions
At the Annual Membership Meeting on June 6th, members voted on nominations, our budget, and by-law revisions. Every Board resolution passed with 90+% of the votes.
Discussion centered on the budget, which shows a deficit more than half of the money in our accounts. Members sternly told the Board to find a way to avoid deficits.
This article shares some of the limits the Board faces. We can reduce deficits only by increasing revenue or decreasing expenses. It seems Pollyannish to assume an increase in pledges. New fundraisers could help, but their success would require a significant effort on the part of every member.
The figure called “Expenses” shows that we spend 79% of our budget on staff. Everything else comprises 21%, and those expenses have already been pared to the bone. If we want to reduce expenses, it must come out of the staff budget, and that’s going to hurt.
The figure called “Staff Cost” shows that ministry consumes 65% of our staff budget. The other four job titles split 36%.
The options facing the congregation are these: Accept financial disaster, pull off a miracle, cut staff cost, or work awfully hard on fundraisers. Only the last choice sounds acceptable, but it will fail without every member’s help.
Respectfully submitted,
Kit Marlowe
Board President
Passing of Rev. John N. Marsh
UUCSJS Board of Trustees Meeting
Join Zoom Meeting
Online:
Meeting Number
224 677 6604
Passcode
306591
By Phone:
1-929-436-2866
Another Opportunity for brief and painless participation in a Sunday service!
Have you read a poem lately that you were awed by, or do you have a favorite poem that you love? Maybe you write poetry yourself and would like to read it to an audience. Deb Dagavarian is putting together a Sunday service on August 22 on poetry.
You can pre-record yourself on your phone and Jess will put it together with others for the service. This is a great chance for someone who doesn’t enjoy speaking in front of others to participate in a service. You don’t even need to be a member of the congregation to do this! All ages are welcome.
And feel free to select more than one poem, especially if you wrote it yourself.
Please email or text Deb soon with the poems you'd like to perform: dagbonar4@gmail.com or 609-233-8470.
Hell Is a Human Invention
-Barbara Miller, Lay Leader
Where did the concept of "fire and brimstone" in the afterlife come from? Is there any way that Hell could be seen as a positive thing? Take a deep dive into Hell with us.
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 the sermon 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.
Book Club
Book Club group will be meeting on ZOOM on Friday, June 18th at 7:00pm.
We will be discussing books for the 2021-22 reading list. This will be our last ZOOM meeting as we will be meeting outside or in the UUC building - possibly returning to ZOOM in the Fall as it worked out so well. All are welcome to join the ZOOM meeting using the http://www.tinyurl.com/uucsjszoom link.
We will also discuss the book QUICKSAND by Nella Larson which is available as an audiobook on the LibriVox free online app where the book can also be downloaded. This site has many free books available.
Quicksand, Nella Larson’s powerful first novel, has intriguing autobiographical parallels and at the same time invokes the international Dimension of African American culture of the 1920s. Born to a white mother and an absent black father, and despised for her dark skin.
Helga Crane has long had to fend for herself. As a young woman, Helga teaches at an all-black school in the South, but even here she feels different. The story follows her as she tries to carve out a comfortable life and place for herself.
Questions: morellb@msn.com
Heartfulness Meditation Update!
Updated schedule:
- Mondays at 6:25 pm
- Wednesdays at 6:25 pm
- Thursdays at 7:25 pm
- Fridays at 7:25 pm
- Saturdays at 7:00 AM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2219690745?pwd=dDlsdzZITEtqeXJOT1Q2bFVWcHJTUT09
Meeting ID: 221 9690745, Passcode: 123
Contact: Tanuj Harshe at (609) 457-1527
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Jersey Shore
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