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
• Stewardship
• Announcements
• Notes From the Board
• Events This Week
• Connect to the Monthly Theme
• Connect to Our Faith
• Last Sunday
• Caring Team

Building Our New Way

Lay Leader Paul Utts

As with many religious denominations, the pandemic has affected our community. As the pandemic ends, we see our community starting to grow again. As we adjust to our new reality, what have we learned that will help us going forward? How can we each contribute our time, talent, and treasure to insure that a strong center for religious learning, social justice, and community support continue to not just survive, but thrive? How can a strong community here help support each of us as individuals? Charter member Paul Utts will discuss how an investment in this community has paid dividends for him and his family, and how we can share this blessing while enriching our own lives.

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.

*Masks are currently optional at UUCSJS.

March 5 to April 16, 2023

The programs and services we are able to provide each year are made possible through the generous financial support of our members and friends. So, each year we have a season of stewardship to receive advance pledges of support from members and friends to help us in planning our programming budget in advance (planning for July 2023 to June 2024). Our stewardship campaign this year will run from March 5th to April 16th. It is the collective generosity of our community that makes UUCSJS possible! You will be hearing more about stewardship on Sunday mornings and in the mid-week message.

~ Karen York, Stewardship Chair

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

March's Book: THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI by Akwaeke Emezi

What does it mean for a family to lose a child they never really knew? Propulsively readable, teeming with unforgettable characters, THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI is a novel of family and friendship that challenges expectations – a dramatic story of loss and transcendence that will move every reader.

Book club meets on ZOOM (www.tinyurl.com/uucsjszoom) at 7:00 pm Friday, March 17th.

All are welcome to join the discussion.

PLEASE NOTE: We are looking for any congregants that would be interested in being a part of our Solar Committee. Our solar panels are in need of repair or replacement and we are looking for people that would be interested in being a part of the selection process. Please reach out to Marty mdwquish@outlook.com for more info.

Thank You to all who have been helping with Coffee Hour each week!

Punch bowls and glasses: We have two sets of punch bowls with glasses and ladles. One set since we moved in but never used and another set that did not sell at the auction and no one wanted. Maybe it's time they go to someone who could use them. Your feedback this Sunday would be helpful. It's getting to be spring cleaning time!

Thanks,

Richard S.

Now is the time to obtain your copy of Defunding Fear by Zach Norris, and possibly start reading. However, the discussion concerning this book will not take place until the third Sunday in June after the service. This is a UU common read. Jess has ordered three copies which can be borrowed. It is an easy short read loaded with facts. For example, a 2019 study in the American Journal of Medicine, found that guns kill more kids than on duty police and active military personnel combined. This book not only includes facts, but recommendations as well. It’s a very worthwhile read.

The first Circle Dinner will be held on Saturday, March 18th.

Circle dinners are a way for people to get together for the purpose of getting to know each other better over a meal and enjoying each other’s company. There are usually 8 people at each dinner, and there are as many dinners as the sign-ups for them can support. Each couple, or singles grouped as a twosome, are assigned a course. Hosts hold the dinner in their home, or the UU Center, and provide appetizers, water, coffer and tea. Other assignments are Main Course, Salad and Bread, Dessert. Sign-ups will begin this Sunday and continue until March 5th. The hope is that there will be enough interest to schedule two more dinners this Spring.

Sign-up sheets along with a complete description will be available at the back table in the Sanctuary. The schedule with course assignments will go out shortly after the March 5th deadline. You may also sign up my emailing mariet@comcast.net, be sure to include your name, email, address and phone number.

Circle dinners are a great away for newer members and friends to get to know us in a fun,

relaxed atmosphere. Please consider joining us.

Do you love the arrangements you see on the chalice table each Sunday? Are you feeling creative? Sign up to bring floral or other arrangement for our chalice table!

Let Colby know ahead of time or text 609-442-0967 to schedule your arrangements.

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 be meeting on Thursday, March 2, at 1:00pm in the sanctuary. Following our joys and concerns, Debbi Dagavarian will lead us in a karaoke experience. She will bring the lyrics of many songs from the 1930s through the 1970s and we can sing along to the music that will be provided. The songs will be familiar ones, and the group will choose which songs to sing. All women of the congregation are invited to attend.

Welcome to The Path of Vulnerability!

It may be that when we no longer know what to do

we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go

we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

~ Wendell Berry

We will be exploring what it means to travel the path of vulnerability this month in our Sunday services, our Soul Matters small groups, in our RE space, on our social media, and here in the Midweek Message. So start this month off by finding some time in the week to check the video below The Power of Vulnerability with Brene Brown and see where vulnerability takes you!

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.

March 1st, 2023

We, the Board and Undersigned Members of the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA) are deeply troubled by the wave of hate sweeping the United States, targeted at our queer families, most especially families with trans, nonbinary and/or gender exploring children and youth. We express our unequivocal support and love for the trans people in our lives: our families, our colleagues, and the children, youth, and adults we serve.

We call on congregations to mobilize. We call on congregations to offer the course Transgender Inclusion in Congregations from the Transforming Heart Collective, and continue the work of moving towards inclusion of all those with targeted identities. We call on congregations to support our families with gender exploring children by investing in religious education resources specifically for them - including books, trainings, and pastoral support. We call on congregations to offer tangible support to Unitarian Universalist families who are fleeing states attacking their children’s right to exist. We call on congregations to not only offer Our Whole Lives to their church community, but to their wider community as well.

We call on the UUA to mobilize. We call on the UUA to mobilize all staff groups to identify what is in their staff group’s purview to implement that will support our trans families. We call on the UUA to use its prophetic pedestal and champion trans families in a publicity campaign - our progressive religious voice must be used to counteract the conservative religious voices driving these campaigns. We call on the UUA to make financial resources available for Unitarian Universalist families forced to move to another state to protect their children from hate. We call on the UUA to make trainings freely available, led by trans, nonbinary, and/or genderqueer educators, for volunteers and staff in local congregations to support their work with trans and/or nonbinary youth and supporting trans families.

We call on ourselves, LREDA members, including religious educators, those serving music ministry, administrators and ministers, to mobilize. We call on ourselves to recognize the important relationships we have with those most directly impacted by these dehumanizing actions. Now is a time to center these voices, to listen, and to ask what is most needed. We call on you, colleagues, to expand the diversity of our congregational libraries and to incorporate more stories featuring trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer characters in our Times for All Ages.

We call on all of us to lift up the experiences and needs of our trans, nonbinary and genderqueer colleagues and to ensure our professional organizations are offering pastoral support to trans colleagues.

How are you responding to the call?

It takes a village to raise a child. It takes every Unitarian Universalist to protect our trans families. We all can do more and we all have a part to play. Let’s mobilize.

-Signed,

Aisha Hauser, LREDA President, Co-Lead on the Ministry Team, Church of the Larger Fellowship

Mx. Katharine Childs, LREDA President Elect, DRE, Unitarian Church of Montreal

Lauren Wyeth, LREDA Vice President, Director of Spiritual Growth for All Ages, First Universalist Church of Minneapolis

Tuli Patel, LREDA Treasurer, Executive Director, Beacon UU Congregation in Summit, NJ

Tim Atkins, LREDA Secretary, DLRE, First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City

Kirsten Hunter, LREDA Leadership Development, Director of Lifespan Ministries, South Church UU, Portsmouth, NH

Lauren Strauss, LREDA Professional Support, DRE, First Parish in Framingham UU, Framingham MA

Courtney McKenny, LREDA Continental Events, DLFD, Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham & Unitarian Universalist Church of Tuscaloosa

Juliet Donaldson, LREDA Executive Director, Franklin, MA

If you would also like to sign this letter, complete this short google form before the end of Tuesday, March 7th.

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

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 11 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