UUCSJS Midweek Message

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

Rev. Dawn is available for pastoral care appointments Wednesday through Friday 10 am to 3 pm. 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

The Atlantic County Highway Department will begin road widening and resurfacing activities on Pomona Road. For the next 30 days, Pomona Road will be closed to through traffic from Duerer Street to the Garden State Parkway.

Please see the following alternate routes and map for ways to access our building during this time.

1. Exit the Parkway at exit 41 (North or South) to Jim Leeds Road (west) going toward Stockton, take the right fork near the pizza place (Duerer Rd), pass Pomona Rd and turn right on Zurich to the end of Zurich which is a T intersection with Liebig. Turn right on Liebig. UU center on the left. (This path indicated in light purple on the map.)
2. Exit the Parkway at exit 44 turn right from Pomona Rd onto Moss Mill Road (toward Egg Harbor City), Take a left on Odessa (yellow and dark purple line) Take a left on Liebig, UU center is on the left.
3. Enter Stockton's campus from Jim Leeds Road. Park in the parking lot across the street from the UU center and carefully walk across the street. (Feasibility depends on actual construction activity).

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.

UU faith action recognizes the importance of five crucial social action causes.

• criminal justice
• environmental justice
• gun violence prevention
• immigration justice
• reproductive justice

All are actually state-level committees. The interesting thing is, in the age of zoom, we can be on any of these task forces. All you have to do is figure out which one appeals to you the most, go to UUfaithaction.org, learn the name of a chair or co-chair of the task force which interests you, and then email the chair or co-chair about your desire to be on the task force. It is as simple as that. It’s an opportunity to learn, form alliances with other groups, and bring back information to us. They meet once a month. I have met some task force members. They lobby, write regulations, and attend vigils such as the one held at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. Evidently, political pressure does work. I read governor Murphy has shut down the facility. So with some effort, change is possible. Let me know if you are interested.

-Janet Longo

Find your ministry with these or one of our other groups or committees!

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Jersey Shore is a caring religious community committed to supporting the individual search for truth, meaning, and spiritual growth. We are accepting of each other's diverse beliefs and backgrounds, and we aspire to be compassionate caretakers of our fellow humans and our planet.

In the past year and 5 months, we have learned for sure that a building is not a congregation. We maintained our community and even welcomed new friends. We continued worshipping together, challenged and comforted by words and images and music that kept us connected and encouraged our personal spiritual growth.

Now that we are preparing to re-enter our building, we turn our attention to caring for and improving our physical home.

This work of building and grounds is spiritual work. Values become real when we get our hands dirty. Seeing each other, not showered and groomed, but sweaty and disheveled embodies what could otherwise become a cerebral faith.

We already have 6 dedicated people doing this work. We are not "desperate." I am inviting you to join us because I believe it can bring you joy and enrich your life. Our first meeting will be on August 16 at 6:30 pm on Zoom. If you cannot make the meeting and still want to pitch in, please contact Barbara Miller or email admin@uucsjs.org.

Decisions need to be made concerning signage on route 575. We have input from our focus groups; now it’s time to make recommendations to the board and in turn, the board will submit their recommendations to the congregation for approval.

We have two meetings set: August 20 at noon on a Friday and September 24 at noon also on a Friday. Those meeting dates are during the day. We will gladly change those dates to the evening dependent upon who would like to be part of this committee.

Contact Janet Longo or email admin@uucsjs.org for more information.

Rev. Dawn Fortune

After 18 months of various levels of shutdown, isolation, and pandemic-fueled social anxiety, many of us find it challenging to return to familiar places and behaviors. What does it mean to gather again? How will we redefine the concept of community? Let us explore together some of the hopes and fears we share of returning to something we might eventually call “normal.”

Sunday at 10 am IN PERSON, OUTDOORS at UUCSJS or live on Facebook.

If attending in person, please bring your own chair and water bottle and remember your sun protection.

Join us on August 22nd for one of our favorite special worship services - "Poetry Jam." When members and friends will share their own and their favorite poems. Coordinated and shared online by Deb Dagavarian.

And on August 29th for the annual history service presented by the Margaret Circle also coordinated and shared online by Deb Dagavarian.

Information on upcoming services can be found HERE.

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

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.

The UUCSJS Board of Trustees will meet tomorrow, Thursday, August 12, 2021 at 6:30 pm on-site and online. All are welcome to join.

Zoom link: www.tinyurl.com/uucsjszoom

By phone: +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)

Meeting ID: 224 677 6604

Passcode: 306591

Building and Grounds Committee will meet at 6:30 on Monday, August 16. Please join us at the regular zoom link.

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.

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

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