7PEAT Update Dec, 2019

The 7th Principle Environmental Action Team (7PEAT) would like to provide some reminders, compliments and an inquiry regarding our church’s waste reduction efforts.
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First, please take the time to review this poster (open PDF) showing what CAN go into our recycling stream. Many folks have put in the effort to learn and practice these guidelines over the past couple years, so THANK YOU! Please do not put anything else into the blue recycling bins, including used paper cups, plates, and napkins, plastic cutlery, and film plastics. Those are the most commonly misplaced items that we relocate into the landfill bins each Sunday.
 
We heartily commend all church members, friends and visitors who regularly use their own mugs and bring their own tableware for lunches, dinners and receptions, rather than using disposable items that fill up our landfill bins. We encourage everyone to make this your habit! 
 
Further, in partnership with Building & Grounds, we are seeking volunteers who’d be willing to help our waste diversion divas (thank you, Kappy Paulson, Joyce Sattler and Linda Pietrzak!). Often weekly, they toil in the UUCV trash enclosure picking, stomping, sorting, and planning so that as little as possible goes to the landfill, and so that our church remains beautiful and in compliance with local laws.
 
If anyone is able to sign up to be a trash monitor alongside a B&G volunteer, spending about a half-hour on a given Monday (in advance of Tuesday trash day), please let Mark know at mmendels33@gmail.com.
 
Also, email me if you have any general waste sorting questions. Thank you again for embracing our 7th Principle!

Socks, Please

Help Our Riverhaven Friends Have A Merry Christmas!
Once again this year we will be providing a larger, more festive meal and gift bags for residents in December. Our delivery date will be December 23.

A sign-up sheet is available at the Social Action table for the dinner. Our goal for the gift bags is to provide each resident with a package of new socks, a knit hat that Jim is making and some holiday candy.

What we need from YOU is donations of packages of socks. We will be collecting your donations at the bookstore. We appreciate your support of this important holiday project!

From the President’s Desk

The Holiday Season is upon us and with it the many feelings and emotions that usually accompany this season of hope. This is a time to be reflective as individuals and as a faith community. It is a time to cherish family and friends. A time to remember the blessings of the year now passing and to consider the possibilities for the year ahead. Here are some things that we can say about where we are now.

We are moving along with creating our next 5-Year Plan thanks to the work of the 545 Task Force following the speed visioning event held last month. Committees and teams have begun working on writing specific goals based on the information gathered over the past year. It looks like our new Plan is shaping up to be a road map to boldness in the coming years.

Some other highlights from this year include: 

  • Adding Jimmy Vasquez to our staff as Membership Coordinator. 
  • Beloved Conversations began last year, and this year will be hosted by our congregation. 
  • The Auction was a great success with lots of fun for everyone. 
  • Our parking lot is scheduled to be re-coated the end of January. 
  • The Art Gallery in the Green Room is a constant source of inspiration. 
  • A Capital Campaign started to fund a sound system for the sanctuary. 
  • We have expanded our circle of relationships.

Most importantly the UUCV has changed lives for the better. We do that every day of the year with our Lift Up Your Voice advocacy, with our Safe Sleep overnight parking, and with our Inreach/Outreach program of giving away the Sunday Plate to other non-profits and folks in need. We make a difference by donating food each Sunday to Project Understanding; by supporting River Haven; and by providing support to numerous organizations that use our facility for meetings. And those are only some of the things that we do at the UUCV!

Please take a moment to read the letters of thanks and appreciation from those receiving our gifts. They can be found on the bulletin board by the copy machine. This then is the work of Unitarian Universalism where our first principal states : “We affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person.” That’s a message for every season! Finally, on behalf of the Board of Trustees,

Happy Holidays to Everyone! Thank you especially to our Staff, to Rev. Dana Worsnop, Congregational Administrator Jennifer Luce, Music Director Carolyn Bjerke, A/V Technician Brian Fortune, DRE Emily Carroll, Membership Coordinator Jimmy Vasquez, and to all of the RE Aides for all that you do in support of the UUCV. We have much for which to be grateful.

May peace and joy be yours this season.
Bryan Buck, President

Holiday Season at UUCV

Holiday Season Schedule

  • Dec. 1 – Everyday Awe
    Gregory Carrow-Boyd, guest speaker and Worship Associates Jim Merrill and Maura Raffensperger. Greg is a religious educator and Aspirant for the UU Ministry. He is on the Board of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
  • Dec. 8 – Too Many Holidays: Surviving December in America
    Rev. Dana Worsnop and Worship Associate Joe Hutchins. We’ll celebrate the last day of Chalica and oh-so-many other holidays.
  • Dec. 15 – One More Redeemer
    Music Sunday. Rev. Dana Worsnop, Carolyn Bjerke and Worship Associate Krista Mendelsohn.
  • Dec. 22 – A Light Shines Beyond Fear
    Rev. Dana Worsnop and Worship Associate Maura Raffensperger. Dec. 24 • 5:30pm – Making Room at the Inn: a Las Posadas Christmas Eve (Bring the whole family) Rev Dana Worsnop, Carolyn Bjerke, and Worship Associate Sue Brinkmeyer.
  • Dec. 24 • 9:30 pm – We Will Seek A Quiet Awe
    Lessons and Carols at a more contemplative service Rev. Dana, and Worship Associate Jim Merrill.
  • Dec. 29 – Offer our Love-Power and Heal.
    Guest speaker Roberto Vargas and Worship Associates Joe Hutchins and Andy Edgar-Beltran.
    Dr. Roberto Vargas, organizational psychologist, planning consultant, and leadership coach works with proactive organizations throughout the country assisting them to be their best. Author of the book, Family Activism, Roberto’s current focus is encouraging activists to recognize the role of radical love to create the billion miracles required to ensure a sustainable human society and Mother Earth

AWE

Our Theme for December is Awe

Being awe-struck can sometimes be a feeling of being a small part of something so vast as to almost be beyond comprehension. Yet it can also be something that makes us feel profoundly connected – even at home in a vast universe.

We are all made of the same stuff as the stars, which means we are all made of stardust. Some physicists say that contemplation of the vast universe doesn’t make them feel smaller, it carries them into a deeper awareness of our connections. Looking up at the stars, contemplating the cosmos can also allow us to look across at each other.

Let us do both in this season on longer nights – best for seeing stars and for seeing each other in firelight and candlelight.
Rev. Dana

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